The culture of comics fandom has shifted so much over the last twenty years that it’s almost unrecognisable. It’s become this symbiotic thing that lives and breathes as part of pop culture, television, and film. The juxtaposition between the world after the Marvel Cinematic Universe and The Walking Dead — t-shirts on every second person on…
LEGO Batman Shows the Pitfalls of Toxic Masculinity
The LEGO Batman Movie Chris McKay (dir), Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern and John Whittington (wri) Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes (cast) Warner Bros. Pictures February 10, 2017 There’s a lot to be said about LEGO Batman. Written by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies author Seth Grahame-Smith,…
Powerless: Less about the Powerless, More About Those in Power
Powerless Developed by Ben Queen, Michael Patrick Jann, Patrick Schumacker (producers) Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Pudi, Christina Kirk, Ron Funches, Alan Tudyk (cast) NBC February 2, 2017 You have no idea how excited I was for NBC’s Powerless, a sitcom featuring Vanessa Hudgens and Danny Pudi (a biracial Filipina and a South Asian actor! In lead roles! As best…
Batman ’66 Meets Wonder Woman ’77 in a Ridiculous New Comic
Batman ’66 Meets Wonder Woman ’77 #1 Marc Andreyko, Jeff Parker (script), Karl Kesel, David Hahn (pencils) DC Comics January 18, 2017 I don’t read Batman comics. It’s been so long since I read one that when I mentioned on Twitter that I was finally reading one, a friend asked me if everything was ok. It wasn’t a cry for…
Batman: Arkham VR – Storytelling Gamers Deserve
Most VR games are fine sitting down, but this one recommends standing. Confident from my demo at EGX, I’m ready to don the cape and cowl, standing vigilant with a Move controller in each hand. I press “Start.” Spoiler Warning: This article contains spoilers for the first two acts of Batman: Arkham VR.
Suicide Squad Is Not the Film it Wants to Be
Suicide Squad Director: David Ayer Starring: Will Smith, Viola Davis, Margot Robbie Warner Bros. August 1, 2016 When it came to DC’s attempts at building a shared cinematic universe to compete with Marvel, Suicide Squad was under a lot of pressure. Critical reactions to the previous DC films, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,…
The Killing Joke Is a Bad Joke that Just Won’t R.I.P
The animated adaptation of the comic The Killing Joke was officially released on July 25th. So far, only a few WWAC contributors have seen it and all declined to review it. Instead we got together to discuss adaptation’s controversial addition of a sexual relationship between Barbara Gordon and Bruce Wayne, and our thoughts on the…
Beauty and the Geek: Tim Drake the Red Robin
For this addition to Beauty and the Geek, I wanted to do something a bit bolder than usual that also honored one of my all time favorite comic characters: Tim Drake as Red Robin. I recently had my first tattoo done, and it was of, you guessed it, the Robin symbol.
DC Daily Planet: Rebirth Takes Its First Steps
Welcome to the first week of DC Rebirth and the ongoing saga of What Is Up With Those DC Films. This week, four titles of the new DC Rebirth initiative came out, including Superman Rebirth #1, Batman Rebirth #1, Green Arrow Rebirth #1, and Green Lantern Rebirth #1. I’ve heard some surprisingly good things about…
Living Dead Boy: Jason Todd vs. The Culture That Killed (And Resurrected) Him
Here’s the thing: Robin was never intended to be a legacy character. There were no real reasons to assume or suspect that Dick Grayson, the original Robin, was going to give up the mantle. Sure, as Dick progressed in age, thanks to some very specific cultural anxieties, there were reasons to assume that he might…
Mental Health and Superheroes: The Problem with Labeling Sacrifice as Suicide
Content warning: This article discusses mental health, suicide, and depression. We, the fans, love our fandoms, so much that it’s possible for us to lose sight of the societal and personal impacts of our critical analyses. The past year has been a Thunderdome of fans who like or dislike the approach to characters they love. We’ve…
Supermoms: Martyred, Fridged, Forgotten
Mother’s Day is a day we celebrate the woman (or women) in our lives that fulfill the role of “mother.” Mothers—the good and the bad ones—are an important part of our lives. Moms that worry about what media teaches their children, what superheroes are really super, and so much more. Mothers are important; their absence…