Action Comics #1 gets Superman’s origin story and “a scientific explanation of Clark Kent’s amazing strength” out of the way on the very first page, and the rest of the issue is devoted to his activities as a grown-up “champion of the the oppressed.” Though obviously his childhood with the Kents, and his infancy on…
One-eyed Butterfly: The Lone Queer Man of Basara
Disclaimer: This contains spoilers, so read at your own risk! Also, although Basara in general isn’t especially triggering, Ageha’s backstory, “Loquat” in volume 25, has instances of rape and child abuse. Ah, Basara, my love, my most favored manga. You are lovely and perfect. And yet, I wish you had better queer representation. What Basara…
Superman and Me
I grew up on Superman comics, Superman movies and Superman tv shows. Eventually this spun out of Superman and into the DC Universe as a whole. Superman led me to Supergirl— and that’s a fandom that has defined my life. I was asked to talk about the two most defining moments of my fandom, the…
The Perfect Squirrel Girl Shirt And Other Stories
It’s gift-guide season, and all through the house, we’ve got presents wrapping while we scream “what else??” The listicles listing the things we could buy make us ponder and wonder and start to ask why— Is it worth it to buy things all branded and fine? Are Pop Vinyls worth much when they lose Christmas…
The Subtle Horror of Japanese Comics
I’m a horror fan, and I didn’t realize it. Although I’m a wide reader genre-wise, horror and suspense were one of those genres I never really got into. Gore was gross, but not shocking. Jump scares just pissed me off. Silent Hill and its ilk were fun to watch, less fun to play when the…
I Don’t Want Sexy Leia Comics
Sexy Princess Leia is bad. Sexy General Leia might be even worse. (If you’ve come across sexy General Leia art, don’t tell me.) Late last year, Carrie Fisher died. She was sixty-one. This week her last on-screen performance, as General Leia Organa, leader of the Resistance, hits theatres. The Last Jedi is—not by design, though…
Shakespeare on the Page: A Better Way
I was recently rereading Manga Shakespeare: Twelfth Night, and found myself surprised all over again by how much I like it, and how well it works. The Manga Shakespeare series, published by Amulet/Abrams in the US & Canada or SelfMadeHero in the UK, uses a “manga” drawing style (but the western left to right reading…
Let Her Grow: The Importance of Poison Ivy’s Heroic Journey
“To discuss Poison Ivy is to discuss environmentalism. To discuss patriarchy. To discuss collective archetypes, and evolving narratives. To discuss Golden Age femmes fatale and black widows. To discuss thrill killers and team ups. To discuss redemption, and defiance, and friendship. To discuss narrative polemics, women in the sciences, the rush of urbanisation, and the…
Over the Garden Wall is a Fairy Tale Journey Out of Darkness
Nearly every bit of children’s media that adults also happen to enjoy inevitably gets twisted into some darker story: Ash Ketchum is in a coma, Hogwarts is an imaginary sanctuary for an abused child, and My Neighbor Totoro is really about a horrific crime.
How is a Mutant Like an ESPer: Tokyo ESP and X-Men
“Tokyo ESP? What’s that about?” “Oh, it’s like X-men for Japan.” Ever have one of those fridge logic moments where you say something off the cuff and it’s so brilliant, you wonder why you never saw it before? Okay, so I only just finished up the last volume of the manga not that long ago,…
Women in Men’s World: The Feminism of Basara
Stories about gender and women have always fascinated me. Seek me out as a kid and you’d find me watching Mulan with a copy of Bruce Coville’s The Dragonslayers clutched to my chest. Discovering a relatively obscure series called Basara during my college years was just an extension of that. Basara follows the journey of…
Fun Home On the Page and the Stage
Small and Big, Close and Far, Same and Different The award winning Broadway musical Fun Home, based on Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir of the same name, is now on tour. By the time this goes to press, the production will most likely be in Schenectady. Or Providence. And somewhere else after that. Whenever shows go…