Introducing… Our newest feature, a semi-regular, multi-author series of cartoons and short comics by WWAC staff, Embl-O-Matic. We’ll bring you sharp editorial cartoons on the state of geek culture, feminism, and other stuff we find interesting (like pie).This first cartoon, by Claire and Megan P, is in response to various recent news items — take…
Sort of Surviving the Steam Summer Sale
Last year, my husband saw me playing Saints Row the Third and promptly bought it on Steam for himself. At full price. I had to shake my head. Steam sales happen too often to ever justify paying full price on Steam for a video game. If a game on your wish list isn’t on sale,…
Cons & Panels: How Fans Drive the Conversation
I attended my first comic book convention ten years ago this summer. I was about to leave home for college and decided that it was time I fully immerse myself in my nerd habits. I made myself a Dark Phoenix costume and never looked back.
The Evolution of a Gamer
There have been all sorts of influential people and moments in my life that have shaped me into the geek I am today. One Christmas, my father, then a district manager at Radio Shack, brought home a Tandy Color Computer. He unknowingly started me on a path he’s never quite come to understand, but three decades…
We don’t need your fangirl/fanboy hating t-shirt
Fandom can sometimes be ugly. There are those of us who are thrilled to have more people join party. And then there are those want to be gatekeepers, telling people they’re not “fan enough” to join. A certain t-shirt appeared at last week’s Wondercon and has been causing a stir on the internet. The shirt…
Holy Inadvertently Marketing Rape Culture!
Marketing can be a tricky thing; I get it. There has been no shortage of ad campaigns, especially those directed primarily toward men, that have represented women in, let’s just say, questionable ways. Unfortunately, despite the fact that comic book readers and fans are—and always have been—comprised of a large portion of women, comic-books and…
Interview with Black Girl Nerds creator, Jamie Broadnax
Jamie Broadnax has been blogging since 2007, and in February of 2012 created Black Girl Nerds, a site for blerds (black nerds) to find fellowship around many geek fandoms. BGN has a great mission statement: “This is a website for every nerdy girl that can finally come out of the closet and tell the world…
What is geek culture?
What we talk about when we talk about fake fangirls. Back in the day–the non-branded, power-to-the-people, halcyon days of geek culture–being a fan was being a geek, was being an outcast, was being a fan. Or so I’m told. Everyone who could be said to be participating in geek culture was by definition a little…