On Saturday, April 19, during a livestream event hosted by Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”) announced the finalists for this year’s Hugo Awards. The number of nomination ballots received this year hit a new response record. Nominations were held earlier this year, and members of the 2013, 2014, and/or 2015 Worldcons…
Smut Peddler Interview with Editor C. Spike Trotman
Smut Peddler 2014 met its $20,000 goal in roughly six hours. By the time I chatted with Spike on the Tuesday night after its opening week, the project had just hit $76,000 and was the most popular Kickstarter project of over 3,000 projects the weekend before. Smut Peddler’s editor, C. Spike Trotman, and I connected…
Interview with Lightspeed Publisher John Joseph Adams
Earlier this year, the digital science fiction and fantasy magazine, Lightspeed, ran a hugely successful campaign called “Women Destroy Science Fiction.” The original goal was set at $5,000 but the campaign raised over $50,000. Although the issue is being completely edited by women, the Kickstarter campaign was primarily handled by Lightspeed’s publisher, John Joseph Adams….
News & Things: Award Season’s Around the Corner
Love your comic shop? Be in a music video! The folks over at Geek and Sundry are putting together a music video for Free Comic Book Day. Record and submit your video by April 22 for a chance to be a part of it. 2014 Eisner nominees are out Did your favorites make the list?…
Amazon to Acquire comiXology
If you’re visiting the comiXology website today, you’ll see a “Message from the CEO” rotating on in the banner. After seven years of business, the message from David Steinberger announces that comiXology will become part of the Amazon family. The message also states that they will retain its identity as an Amazon subsidiary so they can continue…
Super MOOC March Check-In
It’s been a few weeks since the start of the Social Issues through Comic Books course. In its first module, Addiction, students were given tools to understand and recognize addiction so they could better identify addiction in the weekly readings. Weekly readings have included Buzzkill, Green Lantern V2 #85 & 86, Sex Criminals #1, and…
Webcomics Capsules: Superheroes and Feminists
Webcomics Capsules is all about short webcomics reviews—more like recommendations, actually. See what our writers are enjoying around the web, choose your favorites and get to reading! This edition has two of my favorite things: superheroes and feminism. Laugh with (at) Jean Grey and Scott Summers in Max Wittert’s parody, or the folks at The…
News & Things: Serious business
Archie dies in July Seems the days are numbered for beloved character Archie Andrews. Archie Comics announced that his death with conclude the Life with Archie series. How the war on terror has changed comics Tom Risen claims that since 2001, superheroes in comics have taken a more global view which often involves questioning the U.S….
Kickstarter of the Week: Crossed Genres Magazine
Crossed Genres Magazine is a monthly science fiction and fantasy magazine committed to telling stories of unrepresented, marginalized or ignored characters in science fiction and fantasy, such as characters of color, QUILTBAG, disabled, etc. The magazine relaunched in 2013 after a successful Kickstarter in the summer of 2012. Continuing to keep it running is the…
How Do You Feel About Jem: The Movie?
The recent announcement of a Jem live action movie was followed by a lot of buzz. Just as quickly as the excitement took off, the skepticism reared its head, as word got out that creator Christy Marx was not going to be included in the project. So how do fans really feel? We reached out…
News & Things: Awesome Art
21st Century Tank Girl on Kickstarter Original co-creator Alan Martin’s campaign to create an all-new Tank Girl book. Although it’s Alan’s project, original co-creator Jaime Hewlett has agreed to do art for the covers. Bra Week Features Busty Girl Comics Over the next week or so, Autostraddle covers the topic near and dear to our…
Kickstarter of the Week: Family Portraits
The video opening for the Family Portraits Kickstarter draws you in right from the start. Sam appears waving before the camera, then wearing a sweater vest, button down shirt and glasses he addresses the camera saying: “Hi, my name’s Sam and I’ve been drawing since I was a little girl.” Using different comic styles, Sam’s…