August is coming to an end, and even though it’s been a few years since I’ve had the perversely strange pleasure of picking out new folders and pens, I’m thinking about school. I went to schools of varying degrees of quality and remoteness in a handful of Midwestern states, and while I’m appreciative in many…
3 Takes On Island #2
Island #2 Ed. Brandon Graham and Emma Rios Robin Bougie, Brandon Graham, Will Kirkby, Ludroe, Emma Rios, Simon Roy, and Miguel Alberto Woodward Image Comics August 19, 2015 Island is a new comic magazine edited by Brandon Graham and Emma Rios. The magazine includes prose, illustration, done-in-one, and serialized comics. We reviewed Island #1 here….
How to Tell Your Story: SMOO Comics Series by Simon Moreton
SMOO is an autobiographical comics series from Simon Moreton, one of the most exciting artists on the UK small press scene and co-founder of Bristol Comics and Zine Fair. SMOO is hauntingly brilliant, a series of comics self-published by UK artist Simon Moreton, they make for addictive reading. Whether you start at the beginning (SMOO…
Books That Shaped Me: The Body Farm
Content Warning: Discussion of The Body Farm by Patricia Cornwell includes mentions of child abduction, murder, alcoholism, serial murders, and adultery. With the content warning above, you’d think this was a book that shaped my adult life while I was an adult. This isn’t the case. To prepare myself for this article, I reread the…
Snack on More Comics with Taptastic
I love webcomics. Some would say I’m obsessed, but I like to think of my love in a more positive light: I’m just voracious. However, I’ve also got an Android phone, so the comic apps I can access are somewhat limited. While I’ve been dreaming about the day when Comic Chameleon is finally available for…
The Winners of the 2015 Hugo Awards: Puppies Lose, Translations Win
WorldCon opened this year in Spokane, Washington, amid roiling controversy that’s been brewing ever since Vox Day, editor, publisher, and blogger created a voting slate for the Huge Awards back in February. An industry award for science fiction and fantasy works, the nominees are voted on by fans who pay to become members of World…
The Ownership of Iris West: The Tricky Thing About Time Travel
I had no plans to write about the depiction of Iris West on The Flash because I thought my grumbling tweets were enough and that other people who were more moved by it could take it on. I didn’t think I needed to be the person because to be honest, the fun of the show…
Mighty Marvel Monday: Ms. Marvel and More
Welcome back for another edition of Mighty Marvel Monday! It’s a short and sweet link dump this week. Our largely positive review of Secret Wars: Secret Love #1 can be found here. Marvel took away two Hugos this weekend, one for Guardians of the Galaxy as Best Dramatic Presentation – Long, and one for G….
Organization, Freelancing, & Myths about Artists
When you tell the world—your parents, teachers, and friends—that you want to be an artist, they tell you that you will starve. They also don’t expect you to be good at organization. Creative means messy, moody, flaky. It means charcoal smudges on your sandwich because you’re choking it down quick to get back to that…
We’re Sick of This Beauty: All the Women in These Comics Have the Same Face
We all know the common problem with female bodies in comics: oversexualized, unrealistic, packed in tight suits, bent at unnatural angles and looking seductive even in the midst of a battle.
MAN PLUS: A Conversation/Review
MAN PLUS Titan Comics, July 8th André Lima Araújo, Arisa Rozegar, Luis Guerrero, Tom Williams Ghost in the Shell lifers J. A. Micheline and Claire Napier (that’s me!) discuss what was the first issue, but has since become just a section of Titan’s ongoing web release, of André Lima Araújo’s passion project Man Plus. Do they like it?…
Kickstarter of the Week: Comare, the Other Woman
Illustrator Ashley St. Lawrence and writer Mario Candelaria, are looking to fund the first issue of a six part mini set in mid-century Los Angeles. Comare is a jazzy, stylish romance comic with edge. It’s 1953 and American soldiers are slowly returning from Korea. While her boyfriend was serving overseas, Amelia was carrying on an affair with restauranteur…