At first glance, this year has been terrible for motorcycles. In fiction. Kamen Rider, okay? Let me get my personal bias all shaken out first. Forty-three years of superheroes on motorcycles, oh yeah! There’s a new series every year, and this year said new series has a superhero… in a car. Ghost Rider? A bonehead……
Nimona: The End of an Era
Noelle Stevenson’s debut graphic novel Nimona wrapped up its digital release in October, leaving behind many Nimona orphans. The paper version won’t be available until next year, but it’s been a hell of a ride. To chat about shape-shifters, evil villains, and the webcomic experience, me, Carolina, and editor Claire Napier joined two contributors: Robin William…
Thought Bubble Cosplay
This weekend just past, Kelly Kanayama and I were both in Leeds, at Thought Bubble: the UK’s premier comics convention? I can’t promise that’s a fact, but hot damn, it’s a great con. Much content coming on that subject! But that’s for later. Thought Bubble does not have a very heavy cosplay focus; it’s the sparsest UK…
International Men’s Day: Spotlight on Cartooning from Trans Men
This interview (at the Good Men Project, but stay with me) with Dylan Edwards is a good introduction to his Lambda Literary Award nominated book, Transposes — stories of men who are both trans and gay. A foreword from Alison Bechdel and a cover that features tap-dancing both entice, and the focus of Edwards’ book is supported…
Sequential Sartorial: Why Does Fashion Matter In Comics?
Costuming is important in art. Clothing is more immediately communicative than body language, and art communicates. For example, Lana Del Rey’s video for her 2012 release “National Anthem.” It’s all Jackie & JFK pastiche. Towards the very end, there’s that last ride recreated, and Jackie/Lana has on the pink suit. WRONG. She wears goldenrod. Her hat…
GIFS: My First Game: Granny’s Garden
Wanna play a spooky game? Get yourself a glass of something fine. Get a blanket. Draw your chair up close to the computer screen. If you’re brave, you can turn off the light. Also, you need to become six years old. Can you do that? In your mind?
Wrestler CM Punk Writing for Thor Annual 2015
World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler CM Punk is writing a Thor short story. Wrestling fans Editor-in-chief Claire Napier and Staff Writer Rachel Stevens sat down to chat about this new venture. Rachel So, CM Punk is doing a Marvel Comics story for Thor. I’m enthused about this — I got into wrestling because a friend of mine linked…
What We’re Playing: November
Rachel Stevens is playing XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within on PC XCOM: Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within 2K Games/Firaxis Games Released: Enemy Unknown: October 9th 2012/Enemy Within: November 12th 2013 Developers: Firaxis Games, Feral Interactive (OS X, Linux) Publishers: 2K Games, Feral Interactive (OS X, Linux) Platforms: Microsoft Windows (what Rachel is playing it on), OS X, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Linux,…
Archie Andrews IS The Shield
Archie comics is relaunching The Shield with the title character making the switch to female. WWAC Staffers had some thought bubbles on what an Archie Shield would look like. Romona After reading the first half of the sentence, I pictured Archie rolling up a telephone book while entering the interrogation room, bald-headed and tightly black t-shirted. After…
Spoilers: EVERYBODY STAND UP: Naruto Has Left The Building
Spoilers Naruto is over. Long live Bolt, son of Naruto. Yup, friends and readers of a certain age: Naruto is finally done. The Masashi Kishimoto manga, Naruto, has concluded, leading straight into a sequel featuring the original characters’ kids. The anime, I don’t know, it’s probably eternal. But the point is that series-prime, the divining rod…
Multifarious: But the art of it
The rise of curation in popular culture Has the curator supplanted the creator in popular imagination? The Globe and Mail examines the rise of curation as a profession and an art form. The curator’s job has been, among other things, to find the through line. She provides a practical function, telling us who to trust…
R/W: Doing it Better
How to write? How to edit? How to history? This week’s literary links go instructive. Wonder Woman: The Weird True Story Sarah Kerr reviews two of the laterst Wonder Woman books in conversation with each other: The Secret History of Wonder Woman from Jill Lepore, and Wonder Woman Unbound by Tim Hanley. Wonder Woman was one…