In 2021, Disney+ is slated to debut their Hawkeye series, starring Hailee Steinfeld as the eponymous archer alongside Jeremy Renner (who is also, of course, Hawkeye). The series appears to be loosely based on Matt Fraction and David Aja’s 2012-2015 comic. (Fun fact: in 2014, when I first read that comic, I told my partner…
Teaching Comics with Comics: On Meghan Parker’s Teaching Artfully
I first heard of Teaching Artfully in the second year of my doctoral program. I was just starting to grapple with the idea of drawing my dissertation as a comic and had reached out to Nick Sousanis, the author of Unflattening and the only person who I knew had drawn their dissertation. Nick led…
[PATREON EXCLUSIVE] Star Beasts and Spider-Gods: Doctor Who Comics of the Tom Baker Era
Our monthly Patron-exclusive essay series continues. You can read all of these incredible analyses for as little as a dollar a month on our Patreon. A science fiction series as long-running as Doctor Who could hardly avoid spawning its fair share of comics. By the same token, comics tying in with a science fiction series as…
Smalltown Fears: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
Vampire fiction has evolved considerably in the just-over-two centuries since the genre was codified by John Polidori. Each year brings with it a new take on the theme that becomes the latest contender for classic status, and for 2020 that work may well be The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix….
REVIEW: The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook Serves Up Distressingly On-Point, But Hilarious, Political Satire
“What if everything the right thought about the left was real?” That’s the driving premise behind The Antifa Super-Soldier Cookbook, the latest from The Nib’s own Matt Lubchansky. To be honest, the premise puzzled me a little at first. On the one hand, I’m automatically a bit wary of anything that might end up being…
Should You Tell Their Story: The Old Guard and Cultural Representation
The popularity of The Old Guard’s original run and recent movie inspired an expansion of the comics series. Specifically, a new historical anthology. News of this dropped via Polygon and the series will explore the histories of these long lived heroes. Unfortunately, the portions revealed offer a distasteful appetizer.
Revenge is the Abyss that Stares Back in Violation (2020)
Content Warning: Discussions of sexual assault and graphic violence.
Xs and I-C-Ss: Comics and Comix
There’s something about “comix” that signals “I’m not going to like it”. I know it’s partly the kind of person who recommends “comix” but it’s also the kinds of works that label themselves “comix” in the 21st century. However, this gut reaction made me step back and think, what even are comix and why do…
Jim Balent’s Tarot and the Haunted Vagina of My Heart
Content Warning: This piece contains mature themes, nudity, and sexual content and is NSFW
Murderbot Doesn’t Love Parenting. Murderbot Just Wants to Watch Its Shows.
With the upcoming release of Fugitive Telemetry, the sixth book in the Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells, I have been thinking about how Murderbot explores more and more of what it means to be a person in each book. Specifically, I’m thinking about the family relationships it encounters and participates in in Network Effect,…
[PATREON EXCLUSIVE] Wild, Weird Writing: Charlotte Brontë, Welcome to Die
Our monthly Patron-exclusive essay series continues. You can read all of these incredible analyses for as little as a dollar a month on our Patreon. Brussels, 1892. In a second hand book stall, a professor finds the leather-bound manuscript of High Life in Verdopolis, a novella set in the fantastic kingdom of Glass Town imagined by…
Spacewarp, Shift and The 77: Reviving British Anthology Comics
The phrase “British comics” has, over recent decades, seen a quite drastic shift in meaning. For a long time, British comics were affordable entertainment that youngsters picked up at the newsagent with their pocket money, and which covered a variety of genres from knockabout comedy to swooning romance, sporting exploits to high-flying sci-fi. Today, however,…