The first female solo-created series in Cartoon Network’s 21-year history, Rebecca Sugar’s Steven Universe premieres with a lot of fanfare. Series openers “Gem Glow” and “Laser Light Cannon” drop us headfirst into Steven’s, um, universe, where the enthusiastic young boy protects Beach City alongside the mystical warriors known as the Crystal Gems—AKA Garnet, Amethyst, and…
Short and Sweet (or Sour): Time Travel, TV, and Monsters
Welcome to another exciting episode of Short and Sweet (or Sour). This week’s comics take us back and forth through time and explore how successful (or not successful, as the case may be) Dark Horse has been using classic creatures, like vampires and Frankenstein’s monster, in their books. We’re all over the place but don’t…
Code Monkey Steal Heart
Code Monkey Save World #1 (of 4) Greg Pak, Jonathan Coulton, Takeshi Miyazawa, Jessica Kholinne, Simon Bowland Pak Man Productions, 10 Print JoCo, Monkeybrain Comics Code Monkey Save World is a comic inspired by the songs of Jonathan Coulton (Code Monkey, Re: Your Brains, and more), featuring a literal coding monkey who must rescue the…
Short and Sweet (or Sour): It’s a Blood Bath in Here
Welcome to Short and Sweet (or Sour), where women who read comics write about the comics they’ve read. In our first outing, the lovely Claire Napier and I review some of the roughest and toughest comics out there, following hitmen, heroes, barbarians, and serial killers as they battle their way across the pages and into…
Review: The Cute Girl Network
The Cute Girl Network First Second Books MK Reed and G. Means, Joe Flood The Cute Girl Network is not a title that clearly flags a target market. It could be for pre-teen girls. It could be for teen boys, maybe? It could be for teenage girls for sure, or less than respectful young adult…
SPX: These Are a Few of My Favorite Zines
Small Press Expo 2013 was held on Sep. 14-15. For a first-time attendee like moi, SPX was an amazing experience, an intense gathering of passionate creators and fans, and contained more comics than the human mind was ever made to comprehend. (Remember the Honest Ed’s scene in Scott Pilgrim and The Infinite Sadness? It was…
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D: So far I hate it
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. opens with a soft-toned, unimpassioned voiceover: o brave new world, that has such super-people and super-agents in it. (No exclamation mark). It moves from there to a series of familiar situations, peopled with familiar characters. The sassy hacker. The loner super spy. The down on his luck dad-turned-hero. The tough girl agent…
Review: Battle of the Atom #1 & All-New X-Men #16
Battle of the Atom #1 & All-New X-Men #16 Marvel Comics Brian Michael Bendis Frank Cho & Stuart Immonen In 1980’s “Days of Future Past,” Kate Pryde travels through time to change the events that lead to her dark, Sentinel-overrun dystopian future. The year of that dystopian future? 2013. Now that 2013 is actually here—and…
All Star Lois Lane: Superman, icons, personhood and love
A look at All Star Superman, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, and Clark’s current date calendar
Review: The Wolverine, The Softer Side of Awesome
I’m going to say it. The Wolverine was my favorite X-men movie thus far (sorry, X-men First Class). Those who enjoyed the campy, super-power driven earlier movies might be disappointed though. The movie took its time, and took itself very seriously. That’s probably best for a movie that features atomic bombs and suicide.
Review: Batwoman #21
Batwoman #21 DC Comics J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman Francesco Francavilla Sometimes the best way to get to know a character is to see them through their villain’s eyes. That’s the case in DC’s Batwoman #21, written by J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman and drawn by Francesco Francavilla. The story focuses…
Batwoman: How Far The Mighty Fall
When DC first introduced readers to Kate Kane, the character and her story were met with universal praise. Not only was the story unique for featuring a gay female super heroine, but she was headlining one of DC’s oldest properties, Detective Comics, and shocking above all else? It was really good. The stunning artwork of…
