I could be standing behind the glass-front counter at my retail comic shop job, or behind the formica circulation desk the library where I serve as assistant manager, young adult services coordinator, and overseer of graphic novel collection development, but the parent will always be the same: looking at their phone, occasionally glancing over the…
Review: Pregnant Butch
Pregnant Butch A. K. Summers (W) (A) Soft Skull Press Pregnancy. The word alone is painful to look at. Bringing a new life into the world is no joke, but A. K. Summers’ Pregnant Butch brings a fresh perspective and some laughs to the whole ordeal/gift/whatever-you-feel-like-calling-it. Her story touches on experiences shared by almost all…
My Week in Comics Events, Part 1: (Super)Hero with 1000 Faces
Last week Monday, I attended the (Super)Hero with 1000 Faces event at the British Library. The event was associated with the Library’s Comics Unmasked exhibit, which focuses on themes of rebellion and anarchy in British comics. The lineup was a mix of academics and creative professionals: Drs. Sarah Zaidan and Will Brooker in the first…
The Chimpanzee Complex Reviewed: Intrigue, Love, & Rockets
The Chimpanzee Complex, volume 1: Paradox Richard Marazano & Jean-Michel Ponzio Cinebook Here’s a closer look at Helen Friedman, Floridian, NASA’s best astronaut in 2035, and protagonist of The Chimpanzee Complex, a bande-dessinee written by Richard Marazano, illustrated by Jean-Michel Ponzio, and published by Dargaud (French) before Cinebook (English): This is a space comic: a comic about astronauts, and exploration, and mystery,…
Get Your Game On Wednesday
GoT fan creates a 3D printed Cyvasse-inspired game You know you’ve always wanted a way to blend your love of Game of Thrones with your gaming. Thank Michael Le Page for creating this version, complete with a set of rules and available for printing from Shapeways. Online gamers help female gamer during armed home invasion…
Pakistan’s First Cartoon Feature: Three Braves, by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy
Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy already has an Oscar. (And an Emmy!) She won in 2012 for Saving Face, a documentary short that she co-directed with Daniel Junge that follows London-based surgeon Mohammad Jawad, who travels to Pakistan to perform plastic surgery on acid attack victims. The film examines the lives of individual survivors and the structural inequalities in…
A Day at the Pop Culture Expo
I ventured to the Pop Culture Expo, a fledgling convention held in Wilmington, Massachusetts. From the start the experience had a carnival feel, from the parking attendants directing me to park in the dirt lot, to the three food trucks in front of the worn out ticket booths, to the gym-esque auditorium complete with bleachers…
On IDW’s Transformers: The Robot Politique
The IDW Transformers books are smarter than comics about transforming toy robots that shoot lasers at each other have any right to be. It helps that their creative teams aren’t content to just follow a comic writing schema along the lines of “introduce new faction member who is going to be on the shelves in…
Keeper: Football Comics for Horror Fans
Football played by men is going on all around us, in this, the year of “World Cup 2014”. That’s not entirely interesting to me, but maybe it is to you, and besides — the irrelevance of American Football to my life did not keep me from enjoying Down Set Fight! A story is a story, no matter…
Incredible Indie Tuesday: Creator Interview Edition
Original Creators to Return to Quantum and Woody The relaunch of Quantum and Woody is a hit from Valiant Comics, but there’s nothing quite like the original. Two decades after their ’90s run, creators Christopher Priest and MD Bright are reuniting to produce Q2: The Return Of Quantum & Woody. The miniseries, which starts in October, reunites the original…
Mighty Marvel Monday: Shiny!
It’s Mighty Marvel Monday, home of suspicious eyebrow-raising regarding casting choices! Let’s dive right into it:
Black and White, Red and Green: Thoughts on 1989’s Batman, 25 Years Later
By strange coincidence, I rewatched the 1989 Batman film yesterday, with no idea that today was the film’s 25th anniversary. I don’t remember when I first saw Batman. I was only three in 1989, but looking back on my childhood, Batman was one of those movies that was always wonderfully there, and I saw it…
