Seems like every time I sit down to write one of these, I gotta lead with people in positions of power in the comics industry using that power to punch down. We start the week off with Action Lab. Sorry, Action Lab Danger Zone, because the first thing that both bearers of the Action Lab name…
Backlight: Hollywood Is a Hellscape But There’s Still Some Cool Projects to Look Forward To
The New York Times published a major investigative piece this week exposing decades of sexual harassment by Miramax head, Harvey Weinstein. NYT used a combination of named and unnamed sources, internal documents, and legal filings from settled claims to piece together a story of thirty years of using his position to manoeuvre women into uncomfortable…
Finding the Way Home: An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
An Unkindness of Ghosts Rivers Solomon Akashic Books October 3, 2017 During a particularly tumultuous phase of my early undergraduate career, marred by angry confusion at the unfamiliar metamorphosis of my identities, I stumbled upon a class about slavery. Of course, on my predominantly white, liberal-ass college campus, at the dawn of Obama’s second presidency,…
The Good Fight’s Marvelous Debut
There’s no orthodoxy quite so rigid or as routinely mocked in television as the spin-off. There’s only really one of two ways they get developed: choose a supporting character from the donor show and transplant them clear across the country to a completely new environment with a brand new supporting cast and probably even a…
Hearts on Fire: Diverse Romance for Fall 2017
Welcome once again fellow readers! We’ve already shared some of our most anticipated science fiction and fantasy reads, and now we’re back for round three of our recommendations. This time around, we’ll focus on the brighter side of life and indulge in a little romance for the remainder of 2017. Out of the many, many…
Colour in Thi Bui’s “The Best We Could Do”
The endpapers of Thi Buy’s The Best We Could Do are coloured in a wash of a sky blue hue, and depict a beach scene: shells of several sizes are scattered about, along with a pair of sandals. The effect of the opening endpapers, to which the reader turns from the cover image of a…
Finding the Hidden Stories in New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei
New Frontiers: The Many Worlds of George Takei Edited by Jeff Yang and Keith Chow SI Universe Media, LLC August 2017 Growing up with only a very casual knowledge of Star Trek, I did not know who George Takei was until around a decade ago. Certainly, I had seen his face, passing TV sets, and had…
BOOM! Bar: Rangers, Revenge, Regret
Hi-Fi Fight Club (BOOM! Box) develops its sweet and fresh central girl/girl romance, and starts to open up some of the secrets under the record shop. I don’t know how this story is gonna wrap up in only four issues, but it’s a very pretty book with an affirmational, welcoming perspective. We’ve got a longer feature…
Black Cop Engages Canadian Audiences on Police Brutality & Black Lives
Black Cop Cory Bowles (director and writer), Jeffery Wheaton (cinematographer), Jeremy Harty (editor) Ronnie Rowe, Sophia Walker, Simon Paul Mutuyimana (cast) Released September 11, 2017 (Toronto International Film Festival 2017) It seems like the best was left for last because I thoroughly enjoyed watching Black Cop on the final day of the Toronto International Film Festival. In…
Get Your Game on Wednesday: Say Hello to Mario’s Nipples
Happy Wednesday! I return to you, exhausted from PAX and Rose City Comic Con, having played too many games to list. Currently I’m into Cook, Serve, Delicious!! 2, which is great if you like to chase real-life stress with fictional stress, which I do. On to the news!
2017 Ignatz Awards Celebrate Diversity and Community
This year’s Ignatz Awards felt more charged than recent years, and the current political climate felt immediate and present even in the ballroom of the Bethesda Marriott where the ceremony is traditionally held. This wider perspective led to an evening of intensely personal speeches about the power of community, comics, and becoming an active participant…
Backlight: TIFF, Hellboy Casting, and the State of Women in Hollywood
TIFF 2017: Great Films and the Famous Descend on Toronto Megan and I covered some of the films at TIFF 2017, so you can check out the reviews on the site. The festival is usually really great at being organized and making the process of purchasing tickets not a terrible experience. That said, this year…