If the greatest painting of all time was never seen by anyone but the artist, does it matter that it was created? Even if that work was lucky enough to be seen by a large audience, who is to say whether or not an exact duplicate preceded it? Julia Gfrörer’s Dark Age centers on decay, the…
Manga Profile: Try Murder Incarnation
Hey, kid. Kid. Hey. Hey, you like a little story with a twist in the tale? You like a last-minute swerve? You like all that sweet tension ramped up in one final reveal that not only makes everything worse, but the whole story … better? Hey, kid, hey. Who would you kill to get that, huh? Who’d…
A Texas Broad Reads Preacher in 2016
This past March and April, I read Preacher for the first time, which feels like comics sacrilege in 2016. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s seminal late 90s creation about a man from East Texas who is burdened with glorious purpose—or, more accurately, the spawn of an angel and a demon—is held up alongside The Watchmen…
New York Videogame Critics Reward Best Games Journalism
Criticism is essential to a medium’s growth. This is especially true given the current climate of games journalism. Recognizing the important work that critics do in discussing the way games work and how they can be improved not just in a technical sense, but a cultural one, is imperative.
Brand New: An Analysis of DC Comics’ 2016 Logo
DC Entertainment released their new logo, along with a press release explaining its new branding and the motivations behind its decisions. See below for the full announcement. I have highlighted a few key phrases that point toward DC’s branding direction.
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…
2014 Hugos Versus 2015 Sad Puppies: What Could Have Been, Part 2
In the previous post in this series, I looked at the short stories and novelettes that were in the running for the 2015 Hugo Awards and may have reached the final ballot had the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies campaigns not taken place. Now, for the final post, I shall look at the candidates for…
Dita Von Teese’s Opium Den: Consuming Problematic Media
My partner recently surprised me with tickets to see Dita Von Teese’s Burlesque: Strip, Strip, Hooray!, purported to be a revue of high production-value, best-of-the-best burlesque performed by Dita and a cast of striptease superstars. Though I’d never seen Dita in person before, many of the supporting cast were performers I had seen in the…
Dear Amanda: Letters of Caution
Cathy G. Johnson’s Dear Amanda plays catch with you for a while. Then it knocks the ball out of your hands. You thought you were reading a simple diary comic? You were reading a rather complex meditation on perspective, in fact. It knocked the ball out of my hands, I should say. Reading experiences may…
Let Me Desire Myself: Sexy Drawings That Don’t Hurt [NSFW]
Erotica, one might hope, is intended to make people feel good. Erotica, as has been discussed at length on this site, can cause people to feel bad. All art containing bodies has the potential to push the viewer into a state of comparison. Desiring to encourage reflection upon the differences and the the reasons which span this…
When Romance Comics Hated Women
When I was a teenager and first reading poetry, I inherited (basically stole) my mum’s copy of The Penguin Book of Love Poetry. It’s from the 1970s, has her name written in the front in blue pen, and the cover focuses on a detail from Bronzino’s Allegory with Venus and Cupid. Here’s a photo of…
Iron Woman: Natasha Stark, Earth-3490, and the Case for Canon Genderswaps
One of my favorite things about the clamor of excitement surrounding any new comic-related movie is that every time a new film is released, more and more of my friends get interested in reading the comics a movie is based on. Captain America: Civil War is no exception to this, and Marvel’s first Civil War…