Hey there readers, your friendly neighborhood Angel here, back from a bookish weekend in New York City! I attended the 2016 Kweli Children’s Book Writers Conference this past Saturday, and was surrounded by amazing writers and illustrators of colour who are bound to do amazing things for kidlit. Here’s hoping we get to see some…
That Dr. Strange Trailer Sure Is Awful
The Dr. Strange trailer. So… it’s here. We hated it. Here’s why: Megan Purdy: This seems like a trailer for four movies in one: The Matrix, Inception, Eat Pray Love and a watery wuxia ripoff for white America. It’s visually confused and so derivative that it makes no argument for its own existence. It relies…
Good Girls Like Gambit
First, Fox delayed the planned Channing Tatum Gambit movie; now it looks like it won’t be made at all. Fox seems so impressed by Deadpool‘s monster box office that its interests have shifted: a Deadpool franchise looks like a sure winner, a Channing Tatum-led Gambit solo film like more of risk. But there are enough…
Urban Legends with the Crystal Gems: Review of Steven Universe #1
Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems #1 Josceline Fenton (writer), Chrystin Garland (illustrator), Leigh Luna (colorist), Jim Campbell (letters), Kat Leyh (cover) Kaboom! March 16, 2016 Disclaimer: A review copy of this book was provided by the publisher, and this review contains spoilers. In Steven Universe and the Crystal Gems, Steven treats the Gems to…
Get Your Game on Wednesday: Random Genders, Titanfall & Elektra
Howdy, gaming lovelies! PAX East is right around the corner and I’m getting flooded with all kinds of cool updates. If there’s something you really want me to cover, make sure you drop me a note in the comments. New (coming soon) to play Titanfall 2 – PS4, Xbox One & PC The beautiful mech…
Why I Love Erotic Fanfic and What I Learned From It
Fanfiction has a historical relationship to erotica and porn Slash: the subset of fanfiction that now encompasses all sorts of queer relationships that originally denoted a sexual relationship between Kirk and Spock through punctuation (K/S) as opposed to other punctuation markers which denoted friendship or non-sexual relationships (K+S). But contemporary mainstream media, thanks to stories like 50 Shades…
Commercialised Suffering Is Easy: Lemaitre’s Irene
Irène is crass, coarse, and shallow. Pierre Lemaitre’s novel is like the work of Jo Nesbø, in this way. Preoccupied with torture and awfulness, reluctant to engage with humanity or emotion beyond the ways that happiness can be revoked or twisted; used to make a person miserable; and underbaked as progressing narratives, these author, in…
Representation & Desire: A Plus Sized Male Model
Plus-sized female models are making inroads in mainstream fashion, and while this representation isn’t without its problems, it is telling that the question of plus-sized male models has only recently entered the conversation with the signing of Zach Miko as Target’s first ever plus-size male model.
Incredible Indie Tuesday: Exciting News from Image Expo!
Last Wednesday in Seattle, Image Comics held the 6th Image Expo, an all-day event for creators to meet with press, retailers and fans. But it’s not your typical convention: there are no vendors and panels focus primarily on discussing upcoming releases with writers, artists and other team members. The convention began with publisher Eric Stephenson’s inspiring…
Mighty Marvel Monday: Why Ta-Nehisi Coates Gives Me Hope for Comics
There’s been a few awesome announcements this week around Marvel, but all anyone is talking about is Black Panther #1 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Selfreeze, so it probably isn’t a surprise that I’m going to write about it too. This isn’t a review of the comic so much as it is an encomium of…
Review: Nintendo’s Miitomo App
After a long time of ignoring the culture surrounding smartphones, Nintendo has released its first social media app, complete with a dress-up game and pachinko-style minigames. I’m a sucker for virtual clothes and being Skinner boxed by “I nearly had it!” games, so I was eager to try out Miitomo.
Beauty & the Geek: Frankie Charles – Fashion Icon of Burnside
Hey everyone! This month’s Beauty and the Geek is a special one, the first ever joint character stealth cosplay tutorial! Insha and I recently began speaking about our shared love for Batgirl of Burnside and Babs Tarr’s amazing artwork on the title, especially since the series is so fashion forward and stylistically heavy. With Burnside ending soon…
