Welcome to Friday, heroes! (Or villains, I don’t know your life.) It’s been an uphill battle this week — punching trains, battling evil-doers, clawing my way back to sunlight from under a mountain of paperwork — and I’m about ready to kick off the weekend with a nice cup of Joe, a shot of definitely-not-whiskey,…
Picture This: Ruth Brown From an Early Childhood of Extreme Contrast to Master of Spooky Picture Books
Ruth Brown is the master of spooky picture books. She has written and/or illustrated dozens of books for young children covering a wide variety of topics, but her creepier works are the most distinctive with their balance between fear and charm. Brown was born in Devon, England in 1942. The first five years of her…
Truly, Truly Outrageous- IDW Publishing Announces A Jem and the Holograms Comic
In a move certainly related to the upcoming movie, IDW Publishing’s Dick Wood announced a Jem and the Holograms comic at the New York Comic Con. Although the creative team hasn’t been announced yet, the first issue is due for release in April. IDW’s done a fantastic job with their licensed comics in the past…
GamerGate Rolls On — Does It Affect Your Personal Behaviour?
How it all started: Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian released her latest installment of Tropes vs Women in Video Games and was promptly deluged with threats of rape and violence. She had to leave her home and contact with the police. Zoe Quinn, developer of the game Depression Quest, had nude photos and personal information released…
School’s In Session: The Gotham Academy Launch Party
Last week, the first issue of a brand new comic series, Gotham Academy, hit shelves. It’s a series set within the Bat-verse, but it focuses on the daily lives and hijinks of the students of an elite prep school. Think of it as the Gotham version of Hogwarts. To celebrate the release of this book, the…
The Thursday Book Beat: Nicholas Sparks Gets Sued and J.K. Rowling Plays Hide ‘N Seek With Our Hearts
J. K. Rowling Teases Fans With Cryptic Tweets On October 6th, J.K. Rowling was driving us insane when she sent out this tweet: Cry, foe! Run amok! Fa awry! My wand won’t tolerate this nonsense. — J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) October 6, 2014 It’s an anagram! What was it? Well, twitter had a fun time figuring that…
Get Your Game on Wednesday
Myst is coming to TV In a lot of ways, the release of Myst in the 90s helped show gaming’s more mature side with an elegant, immersive world where the gamer slowly solves puzzles. Cyan Worlds, the makers of Myst, has signed a deal with Legendary to make a Myst TV series and a companion…
How 2 MMO: So Now What?
In part one, we were introduced to the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Now that you’ve created your character, followed the tutorial’s instructions, fetched some supplies for a non-player character (NPC), and tussled with killer bunnies, what comes next?
Sexy Times with Dice: 10 RPGs That Deal with Sex and Sexuality
Tabletop RPGs are perceived to have a sex problem. Either they are a pastime you engage in because you aren’t getting busy, or there are half-clothed busty women leering from the covers in a display of oversexualized content. In this, mainstream tabletop RPGs reflect our society’s conflicted views on sexuality: we either giggle in embarrassment…
A Trip Down Fear Street: The New Girl, Fear Street #1
Welcome to the first review in the Fear Street reread project in celebration of R.L. Stine rebooting the series! You can read the introduction to the series here. Tagline He had to learn her secret or – die trying. Synopsis Originally published in 1989 then re-released in 1991, The New Girl is the first in…
The Apocalypse Isn’t The End of the World: Ragnarök and Reading Comics Narratives
After the initial media head-scratching about the announced title “Thor 3: Ragnarok,” people have latched on to the idea that the 2016 Thor movie will be about the end of the world. As a religion scholar, I have a hundred things to say about this! I’ll give you a few pointers for watching the end…
Why PANELS Will Be Good for Comics Journalism and Comics Readers
BookRiot launched a companion site dedicated to comics called Panels. I cursed. I vowed revenge. More competition? Fucking great. But while I was annoyed on a personal (financial) level to see another big, general interest, comics site sprout up, I was also pleased as punch on a professional level. More competition? Fucking great!
