Anime, like every other medium, has its share of problems. One of the more frustrating and noticeable aspects of anime is how often female characters are portrayed as overly-sexualized fan service (even where the character in question is just a tween). These gratuitous depictions can often detract from the actual plot, undermine the character, or…
A Fistful of Comics: Crowdfunding Roundup, February ’21
It’s 2021 and WWAC’s own comics crowdfunding roundup is back, after an admittedly lengthy nap. Lockdown has gone on long enough that my interests are taking a decided turn for the introspective (we all have our escapisms), and Kickstarter this month was happy to provide.
Miss Zine Festivals? Shop at These Distros!
I’m not a social person, but I love zine festivals. In a typical year, I would have scrounged up some energy, tamped down my social anxiety and dragged my nervous self to at least a couple events. Despite myself, I always have a good time, and I spend a ridiculous amount of money on zines….
WWAC’s Best Big Press Comics of 2020!
2020 was a turbulent year for the comics industry, with the COVID-19 pandemic disrupting publishing schedules and closing direct market shops (sometimes permanently). Despite this chaos, a slew of excellent comics were published this year, from fantastic first issues to well-earned (if heartbreaking) endings. Selected by our contributors and featuring heroes, humor, and horror, these…
And the Eisner Award Goes To…These 2020 Winners
It was a one-hour, pre-recorded party on Friday night, with voice actor Phil LaMarr (Justice League, Static Shock) doing his best and no speeches from Eisner winners. There were a few speeches from or about this year’s hall of fame inductees (Nell Brinkley, E. Simms Campbell were the judges’ picks, and the voters inducted Alison…
Cook Your Comics: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Quarantine Delivers Deliciously
The recipe zine, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Quarantine, edited by Mel Gillman, dropped suddenly to great acclaim a few weeks ago! It features simple, easily-modifiable recipes from a large number of independent cartoonists. Designed to be beautiful, it’s welcome to those of us who may be getting tired of our own cooking all of a…
The Best (or Worst?) Villains Scooby-Doo Has to Offer
If you follow me on any social media, you know that I consider myself to be a connoisseur of Scooby-Doo. In anticipation for the Scoob! movie, I felt the need to bust out my Scooby-Doo DVD collection and rewatch all of them. In doing so, I realized most of the villains in Scooby-Doo share a…
3 Reasons to Re-Read Bleach
Tite Kubo’s sweeping manga finished up in 2016, but the final arc was never adapted into the anime. Fans were left wanting when the anime ended in 2012 and have always hoped to see the final arc be adapted, myself included! It was recently announced that Studio Pierrot is going to be adapting the “Thousand-Year…
Stellar Streaming Storytimes for When You Are Stuck at Home
Now that my husband and I are the chief facilitators of our kid’s remote kindergarten experience, in addition to both working from home at our full time jobs, I find weekday lunches to be a pretty exhausted time for me. Thus, I’ve instituted a lunchtime storytime practice, where some professional reads my kid picture books…
Virtual Book Clubs for Readers Who Want to Connect
Whether you call it social distancing, shelter in place, or hashtag Stay Home, your book club is probably not meeting at the coffee shop this month. There are, however, a number of virtual book club options, some well-established already and some cropping up now to meet the recent demand of people who wish to discuss…
One Order of Murder Mystery, Hold the Regressive Politics, Please
After seeing Knives Out, I, for one, felt a new resurgence of my love for murder mysteries. There are many great murder mysteries of course, but one of the reasons Knives Out felt so rejuvenating is that it sidestepped a lot of the conservative political assumptions of the genre. Excitingly, however, there is a rich…
Comics New Year’s Resolutions
It’s that time of year where we all vow to improve ourselves from the year before, be it more trips to the gym or getting out of debt. But what of comics New Year’s resolutions? What do you want to change for the better about your comics habits? Whether it’s trying manga for the first…