Happy Thursday! How’s your summer TBR pile doing, dear readers? I’d love to hear about any recommendations you might have for fun beach reads to take on vacation. My own TBR list is slowly becoming more manageable, so of course, I need to gather some more recs to pick up!
Firewatch, Gone Home, and the Power of a Good Bad Ending
Spoiler Warning: This piece contains spoilers for Firewatch, Gone Home, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. Two of my favorite games of the past few years are also two of the games I most frequently see criticized for having bad endings–Gone Home and Firewatch. These are quiet, simple stories told in only a few hours at most….
Feminism & Fat: Interview with Ragen Chastain
One of my biggest, long-time internet crushes on a person I have never, ever met goes to Ragen Chastain. I started reading her blog, Dances with Fat, several years ago as it not only affirmed some struggles and suspicions I had regarding the talk around bodies and health, but it also opened my eyes to the…
Not at All Rare: Why Mark Millar’s Relaunch of “Kick-Ass” Spells Doom for a New Female Character of Color
Trigger warning for discussions about rape.
Get Your Game on Wednesday: Diversity as a Pillar of Game Design
Howdy, gaming lovelies! I’m back from the road. Don’t you worry, though, I’ve been playing Pokemon Go throughout my travels and can’t help to think that Pickachu’s butt from Origins Game Fair was an omen of some sorts. In any case, on to the news! Diversity as a “pillar” of game design In a recent…
Gender Fluidity in Fiction: Symptoms of Being Human by Jeff Garvin
Symptoms of Being Human Jeff Garvin Balzer & Bray February 2016 Jeff Garvin’s debut novel Symptoms of Being Human is a contemporary young adult novel starring Riley Cavanaugh, the only child of a prominent California congressman. The story opens on the morning of Riley’s first day at a new school, detailing the process of eating…
Ghostbusters Opening Marred by Misogynoir
Ghostbusters released preview showings as early as Wednesday before its official opening on Friday July 15. By opening day, there were the handful of usual suspects we need not name who actually bought tickets to take photos of what they tell us are empty theaters where Ghostbusters is showing. Despite the dire imprecations of sexist fans stuck…
An Interview With ShortBox’s Zainab Akhtar
ShortBox is a quarterly box of independent comics and goodies that was founded and curated by Zainab Akhtar in collaboration with Thought Bubble’s Assistant Director Clark Burscough. If Zainab’s name looks familiar, it’s because she ran the fantastic comics site, Comics and Cola, for five years before she closed up shop this past April. WWAC’s…
A Voyage Home: Finding Our Star Trek
In part one of this roundtable WWAC contributors discussed queerness in Star Trek. In this part, they discuss which Star Trek was their first, which one(s) they have the most emotional connection, and their hopes of the upcoming film and TV series.
Previously on Comics: Bryan Lee O’Malley Focuses on Mixed-Race Characters in Future Work
Happy Tuesday! My week’s starting off a little hectic, but here’s hoping all of you get to enjoy the summer sunshine if you so desire and are able to! In the meantime, I’ve got some interesting developments in the comics world to share. Surprising very few comics fans, Marvel has renumbered several of their ongoing…
Comics and Controversy at the 2016 Hugo Awards
As anyone who follows the Hugo Awards will already be aware, the 2016 ballot was decided in large part by one man: Vox Day. As part of his Rabid Puppies campaign, the self-styled “national libertarian” provocateur sent his followers to vote for a slate that he himself assembled. The Rabid Puppies also affected last year’s Hugos;…
Against Body Policing: Get That Tattoo!
I got my first tattoo when I was 22. Initially, I thought ensuring my tattoo had some kind of “deep meaning” was the most important part, so I spent a year mulling over the design and what each piece of it meant until I had a mini speech about its symbolism memorized. Before and immediately…
