All articles by Mark Clapham
Mark Clapham
On superheroes and the American city
Why do superheroes feel so at home in cities? Writers and artists were telling stories about the skylines outside their windows.
Where are Gotham City and Metropolis – and what do they have to do with New York?
If Gotham and Metropolis are both aspects of New York, then is there a New York in DC Comics? And where are all these made-up New Yorks anyway?
Ring and Dark Water: on Japan’s urban ghost stories
The ghost story naturally reverts to the archaic, the gothic, the rural. The genre by its nature tends to draw…
“Ciudad perdida”: on Dora & the Lost City of Gold, and the enduring appeal of the lost city
This article contains spoilers for Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a film for nine year olds. Dora and…
Rapture Ready: on the libertarian nightmare of BioShock’s objectivist city
Videogames have increasingly become a form of virtual tourism, allowing us to explore places both real and imaginary in ways…
City of Ruin: On Resident Evil’s Raccoon City
With the release of Capcom’s remake of Resident Evil 2 on Friday 25 January, gamers will return to the terrifying streets of…
“Both the Gods and the ideal city are always out of reach”: on the dream cities of H.P. Lovecraft
HP Lovecraft (1890-1937) is what we often call a problematic or controversial figure, which in this case is a nice…
Why exactly do rail services to the cities of the England’s South West keep getting cut off?
If you’ve ever looked at some picturesque photos of British railways, perhaps in a specialist railway magazine – we’re not…
Grimdark in the City: On Warhammer 40,000 and urban warfare
In the grim darkness of the far future – as the blurb of every Warhammer 40,000 product begins – there…
“The change of use can add to the history of a place, rather than diminishing it”
The news last week that the BBC is to close Maida Vale Studios and relocate live music to Stratford in…