Under a Painted Sky Stacey Lee G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers March 17, 2105 I never thought that I liked Westerns all that much until I read Under a Painted Sky. Or maybe I still don’t like Westerns that much, but rather I just really like feminist Westerns starring two kick ass women…
Domestic and Sexual Violence, Final Girls, and Strong Women in Home Invasion Films
Home invasion films are among the scariest in the horror genre because the idea of having one’s home and safety intruded upon is a real, everyday threat. Some of the most famous horror movies have a home invasion component, but these same films also tend to reinforce negative stereotypes about women. In addition to the…
Understanding the Da Vinci Code: Why Quest Thrillers Work
The first six or so pages of my paperback copy of The Da Vinci Code are taken up with a collection of praise and excerpts from favourable reviews, from publications of all types. People loved this book. And you know what? They were right. The Da Vinci Code is what they call an airport novel….
Gothic is the New Graphic: Crimson Peak is Not a Horror Film and That’s Wonderful
When I first saw the trailer for Crimson Peak, my initial thought was: Not for me. Dammit. This is because the trailer SUCKS for someone like me. The film’s marketing presented to us this dark, creepy story in this dark, creepy house full of dark, creepy creatures that were constantly after a woman who was neither…
Get On With Ron: Ronald Wimberly, Cartoonist in Profile
You may have heard of Ronald Wimberly. Perhaps you discovered him through The Nib when they published “Lighten Up,” in which he discusses being told by an X-Men editor to lighten a character’s skin, and then elaborates on the complexity of skin tone, race, ethnicity, and mainstream comics’ narrow view on the subject. Maybe you’re a…
My First Horror Movie: Jaws
Jaws Director by Steven Spielberg Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton Universal Pictures June 20, 1975 There are a lot of horror movies that have scared me. Poltergeist kept me from eating chicken legs for most of my life and maggots still bring back memories. Aliens convinced me that one of those creatures lived at…
Top Eleven YA Horror Novels for Scaredy Cats
Much to the dismay of my high school best friend, I’ve never been one for horror anything. She dragged me along to bad slasher movies at the discount theater or rented Stephen King movies for sleepovers. I was always terrified even if the movie was cheesy and terrible. House of Wax starring Paris Hilton, anyone?…
Five Trick Questions: Twin Peaks or Claremont’s X-Men?
With a variety of artist collaborators, Chris Claremont wrote the X-Men for sixteen straight years, and then came back later for more. Frost & Lynch’s Twin Peaks had a much shorter run, but is currently readying itself for a return. Both are definitive examples of whatever they are—imperfect, but unputdownable—and there is more than one place in which…
Sex Comics 2: You Learn From the Bad Times
We went over some nice sex comics, where everyone is happy, and I hope you found something to enjoy. This time, it’s Halloween month—and at Halloween, sex gets different. All sorts of sex-and-horror analysis is out there for you to find (or write! Wanna write something like that for us?), but right here right now…
It’s Different In The Comics: Black Widow
Characters are strange things. They exist in multiple forms, in various versions of “the same” story. They are many different things at the same time as being one unified identity. It can be tricky to navigate the differences without help, so here’s a friendly hand. First? Black Widow. Between Marvel Comics’ primary “Earth-616” timeline and…
Gin & Kate Review IDW’s X-Files Season 10 Volume 3: How One Scene Ruined An Entire Volume
The X-Files: Season 10, Vol. 3 Joe Harris (scripter), Matthew Dow Smith (illustrator), Jordie Bellaire (colorist), Robbie Robbins, Neil Uyetake, & Chris Mowry (letterer) IDW December 2, 2014 The anticipation for The X-Files continues to grow. David Duchovny admitted that the new script made him cry, and The A.V. Club is speculating that the revival…
Control Your Gun In Comics: Don’t Put the Muzzle There!
If you’d like a frank discussion over gun legislation, Second Amendment rights, or violence in comic books, this is not the article for you. There is a place for each of these, but what I’d like to bring to the table is a discussion about the respect given to the representation of firearms in comic books….
