Welcome to Women Write About Comics’ June edition of our monthly AfterShock Comics Pubwatch!
2020 Hugo Awards Reviews: Short Stories – Part 1
The pandemic may have led to conventions around the world being cancelled, but many of their events have managed to survive in virtual form – Worldcon’s annual Hugo Awards for science fiction and fantasy being one example. The awards are scheduled to be presented in August, under different circumstances but retaining the same spirit as…
John Constantine: Hellblazer is Full of Complications and Compassion
Previous issues of John Constantine: Hellblazer have embraced the series’ legacy with open arms. Writer Simon Spurrier, artists Aaron Campbell and Matías Bergara, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Aditya Bidikar have crafted a story that is not only horrifying but explicitly political; its villains are demons and devils, yes, but aided by the literal powers…
Previously On Comics: Unending
Good morning. I guess it’s almost July now? Okay, sure. What started with Cameron Stewart and Warren Ellis has tumbled from a snowball into a full avalanche, with allegation after allegation of grooming, abuse, assault, and more. For a good roundup of that particular issue (and for a given value of “good”), I recommend this…
Last Week’s Episode: Justice for Breonna Taylor, and Other News
Embodying the cliche “the show must go on” the intimately intertwined industries of entertainment and politics have continued their push to return to a “new normal.” Will they learn any lessons from the events of the past few months? It doesn’t look like it. Theatres are planning to reopen mid-July and studios are starting up…
The Making of “The Blue Age of Comic Books”
Two years ago, I was presenting original research at the first annual Comics Studies Society conference. A week after that, I wrote my first WWAC article, in which I wrote about the paper I gave, “The Blue Age of Comic Books,” linking to an early version still (and for the foreseeable future) available online. A…
The Osiris Path Searches for the History of Humanity — in Space?
The Osiris Path is a brand new comic series from Behemoth, having launched with a first chapter entitled Ladder of the Gods. If you like space, if you like archaeology, and if you like alternative history, then you should definitely check out The Osiris Path, given that these all play central roles in the story…
DC PUBWATCH June 2020 Edition
Hi, friends! June just kinda flew by, didn’t it? But also it seemed to last forever too, right? In the June 2020 DC Pubwatch, we are almost back to a sense of normalcy in a small way with the number of books releasing being similar to pre-quarantine days. The biggest piece of DC news this…
We Served the People: Calming and Conflicted
Emei Burell’s graphic novel We Served the People: My Mother’s Stories depicts Burell’s mother, Yuan Ye Ping’s, experience of the Down to the Countryside Movement during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Through these stories, told through prose, art, and incorporating photographs, the audience reflects on the lived experience of the Cultural Revolution. It’s an important, subtle…
Bleed Them Dry: A Ninja Vampire Tale #1 Is a Sleek and Bloody Debut
The year is 3333 and immortals walk among us — except for the six that have been found dead, confirming that there is a serial killer in our midst. Up until then, vampires and humans have coexisted amicably. Now Detective Harper Halloway and her partner, Atticus Black, must solve the case of the vampire slayer…
Doctor Aphra #1: May the Curse Be with You
I’ve said it many times: Star Wars is a franchise that really excels when it focuses on stories and worldbuilding that’s not directly related to the Skywalker Saga, and when it uses mediums other than feature length movies to do it. This has been true of the television shows (like The Mandalorian and Rebels), the…
WWACommendations: Spy x Family, Junji Ito’s Uzumaki, A Girl Called Echo, and More
What comics have you been reading lately? This year has been painful and difficult in many ways, so I’m glad to hear many friends have found comfort in discovering new comics. Every month, WWAC contributors share the comics we’re especially enjoying. Let us know on Twitter what comics you’re enjoying lately!