I threw out an entire draft before this one. It was about 500 words and it was picking, bit by bit, at my thoughts about these comics, without ever really digging into the meat of them. The meat is this: Failsafe is a bad comic book. It’s a bad enough comic book that it angers…
52 Facts About DC, By The Numbers: Aug Week Two 2017
Or However Many I Feel Like, And They May Not All Be Facts Welcome back to By The Numbers, the column where I count things in the first 5 pages of this week’s new comics from DC! This column will contain spoilers, but they’ll all be from the 5-page section of the book available in…
Sing a Song of Spiritus
Spiritus Tim Daniel (words & design), Michael Kennedy (art), Lauren Norby (letterer) The Vault, 2017 “This comic is like a song.” That’s something I say sometimes. I say it to mean I read this with my brain out of focus, like I saw the main strength of it with the part of my brain that processes…
Black Bolt: There Is A Good Dog In This Book
Black Bolt issues 1-4 Saladin Ahmed (writer), Christian Ward (artist & cover art), Virtual Calligraphy’s Clayton Cowles (letterer), Nicholas Russell (design), Jay Bowen (logo design), Charles Beacham (assistant editor), Sarah Brunstad (associate editor), Wil Moss (editor) Marvel Comics July-October 2017 Black Bolt is a king. He is a hero. He is an idiot. First, some…
Review: Lessons from The Woman Fantastic in Contemporary American Media Culture
With an interdisciplinary approach to the portrayal of the “woman fantastic” in contemporary American media, this collection examines her appearance across comics, books, and television.
Snotgirl #6: It’s Complicated
Snotgirl #6 Bryan Lee O’Malley (Writer), Leslie Hung (Artist), Rachael Cohen (Colors), Mare Odomo (Lettering) Image Comics July 5, 2017
Monthly Marvel Muster: Flux!
Welcome to Monthly Marvel Muster! It’s a new column where I’ll be taking a monthly look at some of what’s going on in the Marvel Comics universe – both the big events and the smaller stories – and highlighting some of my favourite series and creators. Let’s catch up. July was something of a transitionary…
Superwomen, The Eisners, & Leia Organa’s PhD: A Conversation with Carolyn Cocca
Editor’s Note: One of my goals for Comics Academe is to promote the work of women working as academics and scholars in the field of Comics Studies. I reached out to Carolyn Cocca about her Eisner Award-winning book Superwomen: Gender, Power, and Representation, and she generously agreed to an email interview even while in the…
Con Diary: ID10T Was Just OK
On June 25th I attended Chris Hardwick’s first ever ID10T Music Festival and Comic Conival, a festival that combines indie rock, EDM, stand-up comedy, TV, and comics books all into one event. If that sounds like a lot, it’s because it kind of is. “I’ve done comedy at music festivals. I’ve done comedy at comedy…
Saturday Flow: What’s Your Snotgirl Name?
I’m a big fan of Lottie Person, fashion blogger, mean girl, Snotgirl. Bryan Lee O’Malley and Leslie Hung have created a fun word of snotty characters at Image Comics, which got me thinking… what would Lottie name me?
Nicole Georges’ “Calling Dr. Laura,” Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home,” Graphic Memoir, and Something Strange About Time
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007) and Nicole Georges’ Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir (published by Houghton Mifflin Company, 2013) share some important similarities: they’re both graphic memoir texts that feature family dramas, and they both use the comics form to do interesting things with time. The similarities…
Show Your #TransComicsLove
Many comics fans are aware of the harassment that Marvel editor Heather Antos received on Twitter, which resulted in the #MakeMineMilkshake campaign of support. They may be less aware of #TransComicsLove and the circumstances that prompted that hashtag. The trolls who attacked Heather Antos lashed out at many other women, as well as people of color…