I’m writing this essay because I feel disgusted and betrayed. My name is Rachel Stevens, and I am a transwoman. I live my life in fear because of it, and I have a devil of a time finding fictional works to take in that aren’t actively hateful towards people like me. Unfortunately, I have to…
Nine Worlds: Days 2&3
Saturday/Sunday: Life is not non-stop suffering and the meanness of white people My second day at Nine Worlds began with a very well-attended debate between several writers – including Joanne Harris, author of The Gospel of Loki – over which was better: dragons, werewolves, vampires, or warlocks. Topics covered included each species’ body odor, fashion…
Ghost in the Shell: The Major’s Body (6) [Trigger warning: rape culture]
The Major, or Motoko Kusanagi, is the protagonist of each incarnation of the Ghost in the Shell manga-anime-merchadise franchise. If you care to google, Motoko Kusanagi is autocompletes to “a man” and “is hot,” then “in bed with a boy” and “in bed.” For a science-fiction philosophy character named for her military position, we (the audience — although I don’t…
Science Fictional and Fantastic — The Universe of IDW’s Transformers
This article goes into serious detail in examining the history of the Transformers in the IDW comics to explain the current status quo, and as such, spoils many plot twists. You have been warned. The thing about the premise of the Transformers — robots that turn into other things — is that there is an…
Dear Milo Manara…
Dear Mr. Manara, You remember the Spider-Woman variant cover you drew that’s being discussed all over Twitter and the news sites, right? No? Here’s a refresher: This is the solo Spider-Woman comic that Marvel announced at the Women Of Marvel Panel at San Diego Comic Con and Marvel has been pushing female led titles lately to reflect their growing female audience. It’s…
Voices in the Dark: An Interview with Larime and Sylv Taylor
Those colours. That face. That hair. That blood spatter. Everything about this cover demanded that I watch the trailer for Larime Taylor’s A Voice in the Dark from Image Comics. It promised me that this book was everything I wanted: “Featuring such pop culture commercial kryptonite like a female protagonist, realistically drawn women, persons of…
Gene Luen Yang on Comics in Education
For this installment of Kids Comics Go to Class we’re looking at Comics in Education, a website run by Gene Luen Yang. That’s right. Gene-Boxers & Saints–American Born Chinese-Yang. The site and the webcomic featured on it were his final project proposal for his Masters of Education degree at California State University. The project, a…
Sensation Comics #1: Wonder Woman in Gotham
There may have been someone out there more excited than me to hear that DC was launching (or re-launching, maybe) the Sensation Comics title as a digital first, but I’m totally not making it a competition, because we can all like the same things at different levels, right, pals?
Just Keeps Getting Better and Better: A Review of Storm #2
Storm #2 Greg Pak (W) Victor Ibanez (A) Marvel Comics Issue two of Storm’s new solo series is, put simply — just as good as the first. Okay, no, it’s better. The issue begins with a recap by way of a casual date: Ororo and Logan (that’s Wolverine to most people, or does he let…
Dynamite Entertainment Introduces DRM-Free Comics
DRM (Digital Rights Management) has been and remains a hot topic for fans of all kinds, and for content creators of all kinds. People want to be able to use the digital media they’ve purchased in whatever way they see fit. Dynamite Entertainment, as of August 20, has addressed this concern just in time…
Review: All-New X-Men #30
All-New X-Men #30 Brian Michael Bendis (W) Sara Pichelli (A) Marvel Comics The cover doesn’t lie. X-23 and Angel are an item, spending the night together after last issue’s ending saw them riding off into the sunset on Cyclops’s stolen bike. I was initially trepidatious when Marvel revealed #30’s cover–it was only a few months…
Calling all Cartoonists of Color
When indie comics creator MariNaomi started researching other person of color cartoonists for an article, the results motivated her to start the Cartoonists of Color database.
