If you were not at San Diego Comic Con this year, congratulations! You and countless others watched from afar, bitterly whispering to yourself “one day I’ll go”as you scrolled through the endless stream of announcements pinging your phone. You may also be saner for having stayed home, with more money in your pockets, too. It…
What Is Geek Culture? Redux
Geek culture is a term that gets thrown around a lot. But what does it meeean? Interestingly, “what is geek culture?” is usually one of our top incoming searches. And, hey! My 2013 post What Is Geek Culture is still being read, and read a lot, so I thought I’d supplement it with a brief…
First Impressions! Sailor Moon: We Shriek A Bit
Kayleigh: MOON PRIDE, MOTHERFUCKERS. I’m so excited that Sailor Moon Crystal is finally here. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the original anime–those were the days when you had to wake up at 6:00 am every morning before school to tape it–and like a lot of 90s kids, Sailor Moon was hugely influential…
Nerd Wedding Roundtable
The decline of marriage has been a hot topic in media lately, but one area of matrimony that is on the rise: nerd weddings. As more folks marry for love and mutual interests (historically, reasons lower on the list of marriage requirements), new traditions are being forged along the way.
Buffy, Buffy Comics, adaptations & portraiture: roundtable!
We get previews and alerts and review pdfs in our inboxes, and we don’t go full-interest on every one. (This is behind the scenes stuff, hold tight.) We don’t discuss everything, either, not by a long way; usually we each take a hold of what looks interesting to us, and occasionally one of our…
Hits=Dollars: The changing ethics of online journalism
We just did a roundtable based on The Sunday Times’ cherry-picked JKR quote, which was packaged to create Harry Potter controversy. I’m sure it generated a lot of ad revenue for them. And then there’s xoJane running IHTM: My White Yoga Privilege, and its followup. It looked like a strategic move on the part of…
JKR Regrets Ron/Hermione: The Roundtable
On Sunday, J.K. Rowling “admitted” that she married off the wrong characters in her still monstrously popular Harry Potter series. Ron/Hermione, she said, was wish fulfillment and literary bad form. Alas, alas, it was cliche. Instead, she should have changed direction mid-series, and hooked up Harry and Hermione instead. Our writers had a few things…
Race and Gender Roundtable: Part Two
Welcome to Part Two of our race and gender roundtable, where we talk about creators and authenticity, consumer threat levels, and the future of diversity in comics. You can catch up on Part One of the roundtable here.
Roundtable: Race and Gender in Comics
The race and gender roundtable is here! Mixing it up were our resident writer Mai Pucik; Arturo Garcia, a writer for Racialicious; writer and comics publisher/editor Talisha Harrison; blogger and webcomic creator Jamie Kingston; and moderator Kelly Kanayama. In part one (of two), we talked about “diversity” characters in comics, the gendering of race, and…
Summer Movie Roundtable: Part two
Our Megan Byrd, Mai Pucik, and Ashley Schmuecker, along with guest commentators/hecklers Shannon Rahe and Vicki Essex joined me to talk about summer movies. In this part we discuss Iron Man 3, Man of Steel, Wolverine, and the state of the comic book movie. You can find part one here. *** We haven’t talked at all about…
Summer Movie Roundtable 2013: Part one
Hey, it’s our second annual summer movie roundtable! This time we’ve got our own Megan Byrd, Mai Pucik, and Ashley Schmuecker on deck, along with guest commentators/hecklers Shannon Rahe and Vicki Essex. In part one (of two) we talk Pacific Rim, Kick-Ass 2, the Fast and Furious franchise, and so-called “diversity casting”. *** Ok team, let’s…
Marvel Roundtable–part two
Mary Jane, Miles, and the diversity dance in comics. Megan Purdy In part one of WWAC’s Marvel Roundtable, I talked to Skalja of @#$% Yeah, Spider-Wife!, Corrina Lawson of Geek Mom, RonchRonchRonch, and webcomic creator Indigo, about romance, mental health, and motherhood. In part two, we talk about Superior Spider-Man, Ultimate Spider-Man, and more generally,…