You are a digital reader. You’re probably reading this on a smartphone, tablet, or computer screen, but even if you were to read this off of a piece of paper, you’d still be a digital reader, because this essay was digitally mediated: typed into a word processing program before it was uploaded onto the website…
Sequential Sartorial: Give Me More Fashionable Superheroes
Once upon a time, I wanted to be a fashion designer. I was constantly sketching ideas, collecting fabric samples, and chopping up my sister’s Vogue and Bazaar. I was infatuated with Christy Turlington and Linda Evangelista and the original supermodels. I dreamed of visiting the runways of Paris. As with many of my childhood obsessions,…
Before the Hulk was Green: Pop Culture Literacy in the Composition Classroom
(This article was adapted from a presentation given at the TYCA-Northeast Conference in Fall of 2012) What is this professor talking about? I teach at a community college, which means I teach a lot of introductory classes. I can assume I’ll be teaching several sections of Standard Freshman Composition every Fall, and Writing about Literature…
About Those J. Scott Campbell X-Men Black Covers – Social Media Discourse in the “Blue Age” of Comics
A week ago, I was presenting original research at the first annual Comics Studies Society Conference. My paper, “The Blue Age of Comic Books,” was about the digitization of comic books and comic book culture (you can read an early version here). [Update: you can read the full, peer-reviewed “The Blue Age of Comic Books”…
Great Power Verbs Great Responsibility
It is common knowledge that Spider-Man’s heroism is driven by the realization that “with great power comes great responsibility,” but that tagline hasn’t always existed in that form. In the first appearance of Spider-Man in 1962’s Amazing Fantasy #15, the final panel of the story introducing the new superhero is overrun with words. It says,…
My First Comic: Enter Sandman
Four years ago, everything I knew about comics came from Saturday morning cartoons (X-Men, BTAS, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I honestly didn’t read comics. I knew we had a local comic shop, but had never been there. I really wasn’t all that interested in comics as a storytelling medium….
Marvel Rising: Why Does Marvel Hate New Readers #0
Back in April, or March, or some time long past, Marvel announced a new series. Marvel Rising is a new “multi-platform franchise,” aimed at young girls, a long-neglected audience, especially in the wake of DC’s smash success with DC Superhero Girls. The project includes a comic series that is focused on two of Marvel’s biggest…
My First Comic: Snikt, Bub
Honestly, comics have been a part of my life for so long that the details on where and when they first came in are fuzzy. They were one of the tools my cousin used to help encourage me to read, so I’m sure that I have a different, literal first, but the first one I…
We Attract Our Mirror Image – An Exploration of the Law of Attraction in Anya’s Ghost
Ghosted Friendships soured. Familial ties broken. Lovers lost. Over and over, people would either slowly fade away or they’d ghost completely. People have walked into my life, stayed for a short while, then vanish just as quickly as they had arrived. He or she ghosted. Why? This was something I always used to ask myself…
The Cultural Anthropology of Sarah Rees Brennan’s In Other Lands
Sarah Rees Brennan’s 2017 book In Other Lands is a finalist for the World Science Fiction Society’s Award for “Best Young Adult Book,” which will be awarded during the Hugos Awards ceremony at WorldCon. And it is a finalist for the “Young Adult Book” Locus Award as well! I read the book the moment it…
My Boyfriend Is a Bear: The Consequences of Fat-Shaming in Comics
We tend to avoid mirrors after we see that the number on the scale has ticked upward. Even if your body hasn’t visibly changed in shape, numbers seem like an immutable fact. There is a certain pressure surrounding the scale, which breeds an obsession with everyone else’s numbers. Then come the diets, the reluctant exercise,…
Look Harder: Choosing Comics for the Classroom
Editor’s Note: Comics Academe is back! This month’s Comics Academe is a feature article by guest writer Gina Brandolino, kicking off a summer series on teaching with comics. Check out some of our past articles about teaching with comics! Teaching Bitch Planet Roundtable Teaching Ms. Marvel – Part One Teaching Ms. Marvel – Part Two…
