Cyberpunk police story? Corporate interests versus morality, in a mech-filled, nourished dystopia? Patching in–Old City Blues.
Political Cartooning and How to Survive the Pitfalls of the Internet
I’ve been cartooning a long time, and in the last year as our society has boiled over with all of its longstanding ills, drawing has felt like the best way I know how to preserve my sanity so, armed with a pencil, I took a sharp turn away from fiction and toward social commentary. I strongly encourage…
Women in British Animation: Thalma Goldman Cohen
“Sex has become very commercialized. But people are moving away from cheapness, it abuses them.” —Thalma Goldman Cohen In 1976, Screen International cast an eye over the position of women filmmakers in Britain. “If British Cinema, to its shame, can boast few female directors as yet,” read the article, “one field in which women…
Mantles, Crowns, and Knowledge: What RiRi Williams Needs
The second I see a panel of RiRi Williams sleeping without a bonnet or silk pillowcase, I’m gonna be waiting for my apology from Big 2 comics folks and their defenders. Black hair is important to me. I have it. My family has it. My friends have it. Black hair is simultaneously an outlet for…
Not Bad For A Girl: How Harley Quinn Became DC’s Hottest Property
Who is the real Harley Quinn? Is she the besotted lover of the Joker? Problematic “Hysterical Woman” trope? Feminist comic book icon? Fan favourite turned fourth pillar of the DCU? Let’s start at the beginning…
The Thursday Book Beat: Harry Potter and the Lackluster Curse(d Child)
I’m back from vacation, dear bookworms, and ready to dive right back into book news! While I was away, I got to read Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter and Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott by a lake, both of which are books you should definitely add to your TBR piles. But of course, I would…
Designed We Stand: How Basic Design Procedures Could Have Spared Marvel Embarrassment
We sometimes forget, in our passion projects and favourite serials, that comics are a business. An industry that exists to make money. And sometimes it appears that the people who forget that most are professionals working in comics. We’ve discussed bad or odd business before — but this time, it isn’t about money. We need…
Women in British Animation: A Short Introduction
While the United Kingdom never had an animation industry on the same scale as those of the United States, Japan or Russia, the country has long played host to a vibrant subculture of experimental animation. Animation, like any other medium, started out as an experimental endeavour. In Britain, it was pioneered by turn-of-the-century filmmaker Arthur Melbourne-Cooper,…
Morals and Magic: How The Wicked+The Divine Depicts Changing Western Views of Identity and Sexuality
Kieron Gillen is no stranger to diverse teenage characters. The author of the Young Avengers relaunch, Gillen is experienced at writing characters from a variety of racial groups and sexualities and even won a GLADD award for his work. The Wicked+The Divine (pronounced “The Wicked and the Divine” or simply “WicDiv” for short) takes it…
On Orlando and Supporting QTPOC Comics Creators
Early in the morning on Sunday, June 12th, 49 people were murdered and 53 injured at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It quickly became clear that these were QTPOC (queer, trans people of color). A quick scan of articles about the club revealed that Puerto Rican and other Latinx drag queens were scheduled to perform…
14 Times Steve Rogers Turned Evil (You Won’t Believe #5!)
Content Warning: this article contains Nazi imagery and images of Adolph Hitler, though it is in the context of an anti-Nazi story. So, we learned that not only is Captain America a Hydra Agent now, but that Evil Steve Rogers apparently makes for excellent clickbait! In case you haven’t heard, there’s been a great deal…
Manipulation of Manhood: Julia Gfrorer’s Comic Book Misandry
Content warning: penises, breasts, rape of men. EDIT, October 2016: this article is an analysis of Gfrorer’s work as a commentary on phallocentric patriarchy. Cis masculinity is consciously centred in the readings of these narratives. I never really managed to think of a penis as a vulnerable thing until I caught the first fifteen minutes…
