Familiar heroes join new faces in The Marvels #1, as the world reels from the events of a long-ago war. When a villain with unknown motives arrives, the world’s greatest superheroes will have their work cut out for them. But are they up for the challenge?
Harlequin Violet & Harlequin Pink: Manga Romance Fusion!
Harlequin Ginger Blossom, published in English by Dark Horse, are successful Harlequin novels adapted for the Japanese comics market. Every volume says “written by [American Name]” and “art by [Japanese Name]” on its cover, which doesn’t seem entirely fair; adapting prose to a sequential graphic narrative is a job in itself and it goes uncredited thanks…
Oscars Welcomes Abusers Gibson and Affleck
Content Warning: This article discusses sexual assault, racism and antisemitism. In July 2010, two women filed a $2m lawsuit against actor Casey Affleck, alleging repeated instances of sexual harassment from Affleck as they worked together on his directorial debut. The allegations included accusations of verbal abuse and physical intimidation, including one instance where a plaintiff…
Presence, Power, and Patriarchy: A Review of The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley
The Geek Feminist Revolution Kameron Hurley Tor Paperback May 31, 2016 There’s a seductive quality to belonging to a group, identifying as a member of a particular set of people, calling them home. We see it in how quickly people identify as a geek or a nerd, a gamer or bookworm, and how intensely we…
A Texas Broad Reads Preacher in 2016
This past March and April, I read Preacher for the first time, which feels like comics sacrilege in 2016. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s seminal late 90s creation about a man from East Texas who is burdened with glorious purpose—or, more accurately, the spawn of an angel and a demon—is held up alongside The Watchmen…
Kesha vs Dr. Luke
Content warning: this article discusses rape and abuse. The Kesha case against Dr. Luke now has it’s own Wikipedia page, which means that this shitshow of humans failing to be decent is officially ingrained in the collective unconscious. This lawsuit is unprecedented in a lot of ways, but legal disputes between musicians and their record labels…
When Romance Comics Hated Women
When I was a teenager and first reading poetry, I inherited (basically stole) my mum’s copy of The Penguin Book of Love Poetry. It’s from the 1970s, has her name written in the front in blue pen, and the cover focuses on a detail from Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid. Here’s a photo of…
Udon a Bad Thing: Frank Cho, Anuses, and Visual Impact
Much like many other areas of culture, monthly direct-market comic books are an industry, a scene, which is largely hostile to women even now, a place where harm is produced and reproduced, and objections are seen as shrill lies told for cheap thrills. I know it’s dull, but let’s talk about Frank Cho.
Alison Rapp and Speech We Hate: Disentangling an Ugly Mess
When Alison Rapp was hired to work at Nintendo of America, her 2011 undergraduate honors thesis, Speech We Hate: An Argument for the Cessation of International Pressure on Japan to Strengthen Its Anti-Child Pornography Laws, had been publicly available in the Honors Review for more than a year. Then, as now, it was available freely for public, and certainly…
Women Who Shaped Me: An Interview with my Mom and Comic Artist Cynthia Martin
When I was 14, my mother began training me to drink coffee. She would warm up a mug that was mostly milk and put a little coffee in it. Over time we adjusted the ratios until I ditched the milk entirely, and I still drink my coffee black—just like her. I love telling this story to explain…
Blood and Glitter: A Book of Art, Perspective, and Choices
“I don’t go into a session intending to make any kind of statement. I’m looking for the mysterious, how to explore the unique enigma of the situation. I think photography is as much about concealing as it is about revealing. The resolution lies in the art of freezing. The thrill is to seize the magic…
2014 Hugos Versus 2015 Sad Puppies: Short Stories
In 2002, the Hugo Award for Best Novel went to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Science fiction author Gregory Benford was not impressed, and he gave his views on the situation in 2005: “Fantasy has very, very cleverly managed to capture the apparatus erected by science fiction fandom and pro-dom, and fantasy writers now…