Penguin Random House joins diversity survey They join Macmillan and Scholastic, making a total of three of the Big Five publishers among the participants in the Lee & Low survey. The decision is a great step forward in acknowledging the very real lack of diversity in the publishing industry, and identifying the ways in which…
In the In Between: Make Your Home Among Strangers
Make Your Home Among Strangers Jennine Capo Crucet St Martin’s Press August 4 2015 Amid the chaos of her home life—her parents splitting up, her nephew’s father refusing to acknowledge his baby, and her demanding boyfriend—Cuban-American Lizet applies to a super elite college. She doesn’t tell anyone but the guidance counselor at her under-performing, troubled high…
Family and Survival at the Ottawa International Animation Festival
From September 16-20 I had the opportunity to attend the screenings for the four competing feature length animated films at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. At first glance the films could not have been more different from one another. There was The Magic Mountain, a Romanian/Polish/French film about a Polish refugee fighting the Russians in…
Top 10 Fantastic Female Characters of IDW’s TMNT
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) has always been a bit of a boys’ club. The franchise originated in 1984 as a comic made by men, for men (or you know, mostly for themselves, since it was essentially just Daredevil fanfic). It then became a cartoon targeted at little boys in 1987—and the trend has gone on strong…
Get Your Game On Wednesday
Howdy, gaming lovelies! Back in the day, I loved me some industrial metal music, so I’m tickled to find this post on heavy metal in video games. I can’t agree with getting excited for RockBand 4, but the music breakdown is cool. Lumino City coming soon to iOS The stunningly beautiful Lumino City is coming…
Geek Moms Shine with Halloween Costumes
Editor’s Note: As self-identified geeks, we really like Halloween around here, and I like to think that geek culture staples like cons and cosplay have contributed to Halloween being a bigger and bigger deal each year. Considering this, I asked our writers to share their stories about Halloween costuming. — Ginnis Tonik
Book that Shaped Me: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
When I look over the facts and the honest-to-god evidence of my childhood reading habits, the answer to the question What’s your favorite book? is clear as day: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. This is, most notably, because I literally read my copy to pieces. When I moved away from home and my…
Short & Sweet: Small Press Expo Edition!
On September 19 and 20, the 21st annual Small Press Expo was held in Bethesda, Maryland. WWAC writers Kat Overland, Rebecca Henely, and Kayleigh Hearn attended and wrote about notable new comics from the convention. Read on!
Zine Review: Hot Dog Beach #3
Hot Dog Beach #3 Art and words by Lale Westvind September 2015 Disclaimer: I received review copies of issues 1-3 of Hot Dog Beach from Lale Westvind. I discovered Lale Westvind’s comic zines when I attended a panel at the 2015 Chicago Alternative Comics Festival (CAKE) titled “Comic Books and Speculative Fiction.” When the conversation…
Incredible Indie Tuesday: Sex Criminals Controversy Surprisingly Sex-Free
The Harvey Awards were held this past weekend at Baltimore Comic Con with a slew of creator-owned books winning major awards, including Saga, Rachel Rising, and Southern Bastards. Though Chip Zdarsky won the Special Award for Humor thanks to his work on Sex Criminals, he refused the award because it ignored Matt Fraction’s contribution to…
Academic Shockwave: Japanese Universities Set to Cut Humanities and Social Sciences Programs
Forget the age-old rivalry between the hard sciences and liberal arts. Last June, the Japanese Education Minister requested that the country’s universities cut their programs in the humanities and social sciences. Instead of offering courses in economics, literature, and law, the proposal advised higher academic institutions to focus on the more “practical” STEM disciplines to…
Dogears: The Roots of Desire
The Roots of Desire: The Myth, Meaning, and Sexual Power of Red Hair Marion Roach Bloomsbury July 11, 2006 Considering the love that red headed literary figures get on our site (see here, here, and here), I was pretty stoked when I found this book. However, it certainly did not live up to its promises….