Comics have helped shape guest author Krystal Kara’s life. Through the many pages she’s read, she’s found both support and encouragement in the stories and actions of superheroes and now uses that strength to empower others. The non-profit Be Super initiative calls upon the superhero in all of us “to bring to life the heroism within people” and…
When Romance Comics Hated Women
When I was a teenager and first reading poetry, I inherited (basically stole) my mum’s copy of The Penguin Book of Love Poetry. It’s from the 1970s, has her name written in the front in blue pen, and the cover focuses on a detail from Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid. Here’s a photo of…
Carve Your Name in the Rockface: Arielle Soutar’s Art of Lettering
When I spoke to Zach Clemente about his Mountain cycle comics, he had plenty to say about his steady collaborator, Arielle Soutar. Clemente and Soutar have collaborated with a different cartoonist on each book, but she has provided the typography and logo work for all ClementeWorks scripts. And they’ve known each other since school! I wanted to…
Accessibility and Cons: If Comics Are For Everyone, Can Everybody Reach Them?
Last time we talked, I discussed my own work as a comics creator and the ways in which I’ve worked to create my own disability representation in comics. This month, I want to delve into an issue that is broader in scope, but in many ways just as vital: accessibility at comic conventions. It’s con…
Alison Rapp and Speech We Hate: Disentangling an Ugly Mess
When Alison Rapp was hired to work at Nintendo of America, her 2011 undergraduate honors thesis, Speech We Hate: An Argument for the Cessation of International Pressure on Japan to Strengthen Its Anti-Child Pornography Laws, had been publicly available in the Honors Review for more than a year. Then, as now, it was available freely for public, and certainly…
Colorist on Coloring: What Is a Flatter?
Hey there, have you been wondering just what the heck a flatter does? Well I am going to give you another long serious professional dissection of what a flatter does and why it is important. To further prove that I am a very boring person obsessed with minutia. [You’re very interesting actually — Ed.] A…
DC Devotees and Making Mine Marvel: What Does Brand Loyalty Mean In Comics?
Are you “a Marvel fan?” Dedicated to DC? Do you have a loyalty to a different publisher or publishing brand? Does this whole idea perplex or enrage you? Where do you stand in terms of publisher loyalty? We’re thinking about it.
Comics’ Infinite Scroll: To The Rim and Beyond
The launch of Stela, a new comics app which publishes titles optimized for the downward scrolling function of smartphones, has kicked up some talk about Scott McCloud’s Reinventing Comics. Published in 2000 as a sequel to Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics considers the kinds of innovations that McCloud believed would advance the medium. He paid particular attention to…
Colorist on Color: Interview with Jeremy Colwell
I am happy to share this interview with Jeremy Colwell as our first of many colourist conversations! Jeremy is a colorist for DC, IDW, Image and Dark Horse. In this interview we discuss a little about color, a little about his history and a lot about his love of his family. Since this was our…
5 Things I Learned from Watching Idol Scandals Unfold
It wasn’t long after my first tentative steps into learning about East Asian pop culture that I came across an inescapable and fascinating part of the entertainment industry: Idol scandals. They range from disrespect and rude remarks to full-on sex scandals and everything in between. Some idols emerge unscathed, the attention only fueling their popularity. Others…
Girls Loving Girls, In Comics? Yuri-n Luck! A Yuri Manga Primer
Content Warning: Several of the comics discussed include adult themes or adult situations. Yuri, the genre focused on female/female romantic relationships. It started in the early 70s with the publication of Shiroi Heya no Futari. These early works often ended tragically with one of the characters dying. This changed over the years, and in the…
Colorist on Color: The Introduction
Introducing the first of hopefully many articles on color. Our new columnist Marissa Louise is a colorist, but here she’s a color commentator. Why? She’ll tell you.