Content Warning: This retrospective mentions abuse and sexual assault. It’s time for the finale of this rantrospective on Strangers in Paradise. From the characters to the execution of the premise, a lot of it falls flat on its face, and this time it’s not different. The third major problem that the comic talks about, but…
Comics Academe: Who are YOU Calling Monster?
Hello Sports Fans! As I’m writing this post, I’ve just returned to New York from San Diego Comic Con. I had tons of fun, and gave a little poster presentation at the Comics Art Conference that the wonderful Kathleen McClancy runs. My talk this year was titled “Monstrous Disruptions: Noelle Stevenson’s Nimona as Girl and…
Cancelled Deal with Weapons Manufacturer Shows Marvel Is Its Own Worst Enemy
Seventeen years ago, Marvel Comics introduced the Sentry, a retconned hero from the early days of the heroic age. While the Sentry was immensely powerful—one of the Earth’s mightiest heroes—he had a secret, unknown even to himself. The Sentry, it turned out, was his own worst enemy: the supervillain known as the Void. And, to…
Idle Animations: Playing and Not Playing in Cibele [GIFs]
Idle Animations is a recurring series in which I play games without playing them, exploring quiet, still moments, how games fill space and time, and what happens when you let a game play itself.
Before Lugosi: Vampires of the Silent Screen
With his slick black hair, Hungarian accent, suave costume and penetrating glare, Bela Lugosi emerged as the definitive screen vampire after starring in Universal’s 1931 film of Dracula. The actors who played Count Dracula afterward, such as Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman, sometimes homaged Lugosi and sometimes subverted him, but they always performed in his shadow.
Alien: Covenant Decenters its Female Protagonist in Favor of a Man
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Alien: Covenant, as well as discussions of rape analogies. Is the Alien franchise a feminist one? It depends on who you ask. If, and how, and why a film is feminist has always been up for debate in film criticism circles. Feminist films are often helmed by women who…
Diary of a Pathfinder Sex Idiot: The Goodest Boy in the Galaxy
RYDER FINALLY GOT LAID, Y’ALL. But, ahem, I’m probably getting a little ahead of myself here. After what felt like an eternity of flirting awkwardly, making my feelings known, taking him on every mission in the hopes of impressing him when I managed to use my jetpack successfully, I finally triggered the romance for Good…
Lea & Julius Antoine: A 1980s French Comic About Ephebophilia
Lea: The Confessions of Julius Antoine Serge Le Tendre (writer), Christian Rossi (artist) Fantagraphics, 1989 First published in French by Albin Michel, 1985 This article contains discussions of ephebophilia and paedophilia.
Pick a Card: How Tarot Finds New Life in Inspired Games
This tarot-into-digital media topic will sound like a bit of a stretch. I’ll tell you right now, the art of tarot itself is a stretch—it’s an odd intersection of personal relatability and interpretation of cultural and situational symbols, either ending with you having a huge card collection or an uncanny ability to relate anything to…
The Good Fight’s Marvelous Debut
There’s no orthodoxy quite so rigid or as routinely mocked in television as the spin-off. There’s only really one of two ways they get developed: choose a supporting character from the donor show and transplant them clear across the country to a completely new environment with a brand new supporting cast and probably even a…
Colour in Thi Bui’s “The Best We Could Do”
The endpapers of Thi Buy’s The Best We Could Do are coloured in a wash of a sky blue hue, and depict a beach scene: shells of several sizes are scattered about, along with a pair of sandals. The effect of the opening endpapers, to which the reader turns from the cover image of a…
Still Standing: Mister Miracle Escaping the Stigma of Mental Illness
As someone with depression and a love for comics, I often find myself looking to superheroes for escapism. A hero can always push forward no matter the difficulty, even if it takes a toll on them. More often than not, the trials and tribulations our favorite heroes are put through are those in the physical…
