Look up. That’s the Orion Nebula, a site of massive star formation. It’s certainly dramatic. Some bright points of light. Huge clouds of dust colliding. Who knows what will come out of it? Well, we do know. Stars are what’s coming, big and small. Imagine that’s an arts industry. Pick one, any will do. Ok, we’ll go with publishing. What was…
Inquisition Diaries #2: Hinterlands 4LYF
SPOILER WARNING: These diaries will contain spoilers for Dragon Age Inquisition (DAI), as well as its predecessors, Dragon Age: Origins (DAO) and Dragon Age II (DA2), and may also contain spoilers from the tie-in materials. If you’re new to this whole Dragon Age business and want to know what the hell I’m going on about,…
The Thursday Book Beat: Ferguson Library Gets Huge Support From All Over!
Ferguson Library After the announcement on Monday night that Darren Wilson would not be indicted for the death of Michael Brown, protests exploded in the town of Ferguson and beyond. Due to the riots that were happening, it makes sense why some organizations such as schools would like to close their doors for safety reasons (FYI…
Durarara!! Cover Stories: Judge a Book on Whether You’d Buy It
Manga! Those lovely small-sized books of satisfactory thickness. They’re a compelling buy, if perhaps higher priced than is strictly desirable. Especially as volumes in a series are far less skippable than your average cape comic. Weigh it up: long-form story by one creative team (or creator!) But how do you find out what’s good? You…
GIF: Motorcycle Dreams: 2014 in Bike Comics
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……
Get Your Game On Wednesday
Some weeks I feel like the Rolling Stone magazine With Us, Against Us Threat Assessment. Take some time to catch up on this week’s news, then cheer up with something fun, like Color Sheep. Barbie can be a game designer, but not a game developer Last week’s fun was over the 2010 children’s book,…
Thought Bubble: Blood On the Dancefloor
My Thought Bubble experience had a shamefully late start. This was partially because my cosplay preparation took a bit longer than I had expected. To look remotely like Cassidy from Preacher, I needed another round of hair dye (Mango Copper) as well as convincing smears of fake blood on my chin and shirt. Since I…
Girls in Tights: The Fever by Megan Abbott
The Fever Megan Abbott Little Brown and Company Deenie’s life is turned upside down when her friend Lise collapses into a unexpected and violent seizure in class. One by one, other girls throughout her school fall ill as well. Soon Deenie, her brother Eli (the school’s star hockey player and womanizer), and her father, Tom…
Top Ten Tips for Being a Vigilante On a Budget
My friends and I got into a discussion on vigilantes this past weekend, or, more specifically, what it would be like to be Batman on a budget. It was fun throwing ridiculous ideas into the air but I started to really think about it. I’ve noticed that the only way you can be a decent and successful…
Cook Your Comics: Thanksgiving Spectacular, Part 4
Previously, in Cook Your Comics Thanksgiving Spectacular: Part 1: Green Bean Casserole, Glazed Carrots, Holiday Sweet Potato Casserole Part 2: Corn Casserole, Cornbread Dressing, Annie’s Fresh Cranberry Sauce Part 3: Pecan Pie, Chocolate-Bourbon Pecan Pie And now for the grand finale and main event of the evening: turkey! Roasting a turkey feels a bit intimidating…
The Importance of Libraries in Times of Crisis
Last year, my area was hit by an ice storm that knocked out power to a huge swath of people — people of all ages, races, economic classes. It was out for days, during a cold snap (that “polar vortex” of lore) that meant temperatures dipped into the single digits, and even the negatives, every…
Incredible Indie Tuesdays: Time-Traveling Ladies in Love!
The big indie comic news of the week was Rat Queens artist Roc Upchurch’s arrest and subsequent removal from the book. Check out that post for more detail on the topic, and good on Kurtis Wiebe for taking swift action on it. A new project that has me pumped is coming off a successful Kickstarter campaign…