Spoilers, alright? Quiet is the single woman combatant in the list of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s primary characters. Men outnumber women nine to one in this list, at time of writing, if personality-imprinted AIs count as people (nine to three if not). Other than Paz, the tiny blonde latina beauty who was…
Lara Croft, Ledge Hanger: However Much She Weighs, She Can Lift It
I like Lara Croft. I have always liked Lara Croft. The Lara Croft that I understand—which is not always the Lara Croft described by her production companies, or her fans, or commentators. I look at Lara Croft and see: a woman in her thirties of independent means who does what she most wants to: running…
Yes, There’s Rape in Lobo #9
(Content Warning: This article contains discussion of rape) The warning-free preview of Lobo #9, written by Frank J. Barbiere and Cullen Bunn, art by Szymon Kudranski and Cliff Richards, and colors by Blond, opens with villain Countess Fabria Odessa taking control of Lobo via mechanical spiders. She has him spread eagled on a bed, unable to fight back, and she straddles…
Age Appropriate Toys: Abuse, Recovery, and Playing Barbies as a Teen
Welcome to WWAC Game Section’s summer Barbie series. These months are often the time that children are free from commitments, away from their friends, and ready to let their imaginations take over. For many of us that meant playing with Barbies, and over the next few weeks you’ll see the many different ways Barbies affected…
Dissecting the Asian Drama: Gender Boundaries, Perception, and Performance in You’re Beautiful and Hana Kimi (Part 1)
Should you ever find yourself perusing Netflix, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll come across “foreign” TV shows. They’re usually shorter than the average American TV series—ten or eleven episodes in length and rarely more than one season long—and more often than not, they are romantic comedies with Asian characters and settings.
Transphobia in the Year 3001: Superman A Super Jerk, No Justice For Guy Gardner
“These great heroes called themselves the Justice League — protectors not just of Camelot, but of all the universe,” rambles an insect-like robotic being on the first page of Justice League 3001. It’s part of a speech used to set the stage for the futuristic superhero comic by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Howard Porter….
The Pregnant Belly: A Narrative Prison for Mother and Child
I’ve been pregnant twice. I won’t say I loved being pregnant. There were definitely down sides to the reproductive process, though compared to some my pregnancies were relatively easy. I do not say that to brag. Pregnancy is a frightening thing. A dangerous thing. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 800 women die daily from pregnancy or…
Gin & Kate Review IDW’s X-Files Season 10 Volume 3: How One Scene Ruined An Entire Volume
The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 3 Joe Harris (scripter), Matthew Dow Smith (illustrator), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, & Chris Mowry (letterer) IDW December 2, 2014 The anticipation for The X-Files continues to grow. David Duchovny admitted that the new script made him cry, and The A.V. Club is speculating that the revival…
I’m Not Charlie, and Neither are You. So Who ARE You? Where’s Your Stand?
Using cartooning to provoke and punish people makes cartooning an instrument of cruelty. It’s easy to say that nothing can devalue or tarnish a form of art or a medium, but it’s harder to sit down your human emotions and sense of connection and tell it that a scene isn’t souring and widely dangerous. Headlines…
Fat Hate at Lilly P: When Cartooning is Used For Evil
Lilly Pulitzer! Not usually our bailiwick. An American clothing brand for the modern-day Jackie O throwback, if Jackie were more of a follower and went for ditsy prints instead of block colour. But they’ve gone and brought cartooning into their PR yard, and they’ve used it for evil, and that makes it our business, awrite?…
Why We Switched From Trigger Warnings to Content Warnings
The modern world thrives on labels, categories, and vast organizational structures that reduce friction between the billions and billions of us crowding this tiny rock (I blame Aristotle and an assortment of other historic labellers). But more often than not, we humans love labels: introvert, extrovert, endomorph, exomorph, side chick, ride or die chick, and…
Do Not Read In Public: Let’s Talk About Sex (In Comics)
Content Warning: Discussion and depiction of sexuality. So I’m just a girl in a comic book store. I’m aimlessly walking around, letting my gaze go from cover to cover, waiting for something to catch my eye. I glance over a shitload of caped crusaders, lots of skintight catsuits, a couple of combat action sequences. Nothing really…
