On Autonomy, Available Bodies and Asking For It Spoiler Warning: This essay contains spoilers for The Wicked + The Divine #13.
Outlander’s Top Ten Awesome Feminist Moments
by Zoe Gray and Angel Cruz After working as a British army nurse in WWII, Claire Randall took a trip to Scotland with her husband Frank in order to reconnect and discover their family history. Unfortunately, Claire got a little more history than she bargained for when she touched a group of magical standing stones and…
Noragami, a Tale of a Stray God and a Cat-Tailed Girl
Noragami: Stray God volumes 1-4 Adachitoka (mangaka); Alethea Nibley & Athena Nibley (translation); Lys Blakeslee (lettering) Kodansha, September 2014-April 2015 Note: this essay contains mild spoilers; review copies provided by Kodansha. You’ve got a sassy small god who wants to be a big god. You’ve got a girl who sometimes has a catlike tail. You’ve…
Human Rights in Mexico: Graphic Novelized
A new graphic nonfiction series is being released by Front Line Defenders (a group devoted to combating violence against human right advocates worldwide). The series debut is La Lucha: The Story of Lucha Castro and Human Rights in Mexico and was released by Verso Books on May 29th of this year. Written and illustrated by…
Bowed, Bent, and Broken: Responses to THAT Episode of Game of Thrones
Content warning: Discussion of sexual assault. The Internet has been buzzing since last May 17th’s Game of Thrones episode, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken”. What follows contains spoilers from both the book and show, as well as discussion of sexual assault.
Online Reviews and Trauma a.k.a. Wait, That’s What Rape Looks Like?
Content Warning: This post contains discussion of rape and abuse. The author has chosen to remain anonymous. I was raped fifteen years ago. It wasn’t a vicious scene. I wasn’t attacked by a stranger. I was not drugged. And it took me a decade to recognize it as rape.
Calgary Expo Responds Swiftly to #GamerGate Infiltration
Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo, the largest Canadian-owned pop culture convention, boasts an attendance of over 97,000 as of 2014. And as of yesterday afternoon, they have also been at the center of a harrassment-based media vortex following social media reports that a paying exhibitor was selling #GamerGate merchandise featuring the hashtag and the hate movement’s…
The Last Batgirl Story
The Killing Joke is touted as the “Definitive Joker Story,” and while it is certainly one of his darkest and most memorable chapters, it’s Barbara Gordon that is ultimately defined by the story. We’ve already talked about the disparity in consequences between the actual protagonists of the story, Batman and Jim Gordon, and its collateral…
Scary, Magical Women: Lilith of Borderlands
SPOILER WARNING: Borderlands, Borderlands 2 “Alright, you mindless gun-hands: you’re looking for a really hot chick with blue tattoos and mystical powers. A Siren. Specifically, one named Lilith. The official reports say she died in New Haven, but I’m positive she’s hiding out near Sanctuary. If you catch wind of her, tell me and I’ll pay…
That Batgirl Cover was Bad and DC Can Do Better
So that Batgirl/Joker variant cover got pulled, and that’s great. But it’s not enough.
Who Do We Listen To And Why Can We Hear Them? Criticism, Satisfaction, Responsibility, Service
It’s strange how so much isn’t surprising. Chris Sims, currently of ComicsAlliance and Marvel’s rose-tinted X-Men ’92–you might know him as @theisb or that guy with the laughing pink guy twitter icon, fan amongst fans– used to be the kind of fanboy who would lock onto hate like a dog on the last dear bone of their…
The Bloodied Vagina: Why the Batgirl Variant Cover is No Joke
Content Warning: Rape, Sexual Violence, discussion of the meat of bodies.