I am sick of articles and think pieces that tell us zines are back. The more I visit zine festivals, talk to zinesters, buy zines, and check out zine libraries, the more I realize that zines never left. Zines, and the people who make them, have grown, found new avenues to reach people, and continued…
Comics Academe: Calls for Action and CFP
It’s been a banner year in Comics Studies, with new series, edited collections, and conferences debuting. And with the growing opportunities come the Calls for Proposals, Calls for Papers, and Calls for Panels.
4 Colorism, or, the Ashiness of it All
A few Christmases ago my mom got me a couple comic books she’d found in a bargain bin. Her thought was: “These are beyond mortal comprehension…better give them to Zoe.” I sat there with two issues of Gold Key’s Brothers of the Spear in my hands and thought, gosh, mom, I don’t know where to…
Focus on Comics Scholarship: an interview with Frederik Byrn Køhlert
Routledge will be publishing a series of scholarly texts on “Gender, Sexuality and Comics Studies,” as part of its Focus Collection, which offers quick publication of peer-reviewed work, of a length generally associated with a too-long chapter, or too-short monograph: 20,000 to 50,000 words including notes and references. The editor for the Gender, Sexuality and…
“Don’t Get Eaten by a Tiger”: The Presentation and Safety of Othered Children in FF
Marvel Comics’ all-ages series FF (2012) is brought to us by team Matt Fraction and Mike, Lee, and Laura Allred and follows the adventures of the Future Foundation, a school for special youngsters, temporarily headed by Scott Lang, She-Hulk, Medusa, and pop singer Darla Deering a.k.a Miss Thing.
Project GraphicBio: Interview with Dr. Candida Rifkind
Professor Candida Rifkind has recently concluded a years-long project called Project GraphicBio at University of Winnipeg. Funded in part by a 2015-18 Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, she studied biographies in graphic form, with various groups of students for several semesters. I first heard about the project through…
Looking at Suffering: A Review of Ethics in the Gutter
Ethics in the Gutter: Empathy and Historical Fiction in Comics Kate Polak The Ohio State University Press September 20, 2017 CONTENT WARNING: This book includes discussions of genocide, alcoholism, sexual assault, and racism, as well as images depicting blood, gun violence, animal cruelty, and lynching.
Monstress and the Problem of Women in Pain
Please note this post contains discussion of violence against women. Also, spoiler alert for Monstress. Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s Monstress has—justifiably—been on fire lately. It won heaps of accolades at the 2018 Eisner Awards and major love and respect from readers. Liu was the first woman to win the Best Writer award (about time),…
Comics Academe: The Evolution of Comics in Education Educators
To quote Jill Gerber, “In an increasingly image-driven culture, it is important that we purposefully incorporate visual literacy into our curriculum and equip our students, not only to be better consumers of information, but also for them to effectively communicate to a global community.” Gerber is an award-winning, published author and longtime educator. In this…
Comics in the Spanish Literature Classroom
Teaching literature at a regional university in South Carolina can be a daunting task. As professors, we know that the success of a course is based, in part, on getting students to do the reading. When teaching Spanish literature, the language itself can be another factor that can put students off the reading. Now they…
Prism Stalker: A Primer on a Sordid Past
Content Warning: Generational/Historical Trauma I am not North American Indigenous. However, the least I can do as someone who lives on occupied land is to learn the history of, and about, the peoples who are Native to the North American Continent and advocate for others to learn more through my academic research on Native American boarding…
#LibraryConLive Was a Virtually Jam-Packed Event
When I first moved to my small town, I would have been shocked to find a comic book on the shelves of my local library. While the collection that exists now isn’t huge, or curated as efficiently as I’d like, the fact that there are graphic novels on those shelves is a big deal. There…