When I was younger, one of my favourite movies was Practical Magic, starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock. I loved the magic, the comedy, the sense of female camaraderie. Reading VenCo, the latest from best-selling author Cherie Dimaline, had all of the same vibes I used to enjoy from that movie. But instead of sisters,…
REVIEW: “To Strip the Flesh” Cuts to the Bone
To Strip the Flesh is an anthology by author Oto Toda collecting several of her short works together. It includes several stories of varying length about love and being yourself and features a wonderful headlining story about a transgender character titled “To Strip the Flesh”.
REVIEW: Boys Run The Riot Runs The Manga Section
Boys Run the Riot is an LGBT manga series with a transmasculine lead written and drawn by Keito Gaku (and team). This introductory volume to the series is a poignant and hilarious romp through gender discrimination, high school, punk philosophy, following your dreams, and how fashion is often a double-edged sword for queer people. Basically,…
REVIEW: The Dreaming: Waking Hours #12 Focuses Its Power Through A Trans Lens
As The Dreaming: Waking Hours #12 hits the stands, it comes time to say goodbye to one of the most well-crafted and brilliant comics to come out in the last decade, and maybe even in my life span. I couldn’t let this series go away without writing a love letter to it, so here it…
Angela and Sera: A Triumph of Queer Love and Existence
This is the second time I’ve written this piece. The first version of this was a perfectly serviceable summary of Angela, Sera, and their journey together from lovers to Queens over three volumes of series they share and how Marvel Comics utterly dropped the ball with one of the most exciting and bold queer storylines…
Questionable Content’s 17-year Journey From Edgy Shocks to Queer Comfort Food
Do you remember what you were like 17 years ago? I do, unfortunately. In 2003, I was a little 12-year-old shithead who was starting to discover the edgy humor of the mid-2000s. Jokes built around transphobia, homophobia, and ableist slurs were the funniest things on the planet for a good chunk of my teenage years…
Supergirl Tackles Transphobia in “Reality Bytes”
When I saw the trailer for this week’s episode of Supergirl, “Reality Bytes,” I was a little worried about how it would handle the subject matter. While the show has done a fantastic job with how it’s treated Nia Nal and trans-related issues, this subject in particular needs a lot of nuance, so I was concerned…
Fighting Against Fascism in Supergirl’s “American Dreamer”
Supergirl 4.19: “American Dreamer” Robert Rovner, Jessica Queller, Sarah Schechter, Greg Berlanti (Executive Producers), David Harewood (director), Joanie L. Woehler, Jennifer Lence, Carl Ogawa, Derek Simon, Chris Pavoni (producers), Jesse Warn, Gabriel Llanas, Dana Horgan (Supervising Producers), Lindsay Sturman, Rob Wright (Co-Executive Producers) Eric Carasco, Daniel Beaty, Aadrita Mukerji (executive story editors), Katie Rose Rogers (story…
Supergirl: Friend to Those Who Need It Most
Supergirl #19 Steve Orlando and Vita Ayala (writers), Jamal Campbell (artist), Carlos M. Mangual (letterer), Jorge Jimenez with Alejandro Sanchez (cover) DC Comics March 14, 2018 Supergirl has been my favorite character in comics for almost as long as I’ve been reading them. She means the world to me, and she is what drives me…
You’re a Comedian: Trans Characters and Jokes in “Comic” Books
You’re a comedian. You’ve been working in the comedy business for a few years, getting a few laughs here and there with your crude style. Things have been good thus far, and you’re feeling more and more confident in your dark humor. In fact, you’re in a whole new city with one of your first…
Happy Trans Lesbian of Colour: Why Sera Matters
It should be easy to imagine how important representation in the media is for trans people. Sadly, in comics, 2016 saw the active removal of a lot of trans representation, and some very poor cash-ins on the community too. One such removal was Sera, a trans woman of color in a lovely, committed relationship with…
The “Reveal” of Trans Characters in Comics
A year or so ago, I was going to write Diamond Jack, an urban fantasy comic featuring a stage magician who reluctantly was given actual magical powers. It read somewhat like if Zatanna and John Constantine had a baby, and until the artist had to take a sudden leave of absence, it was looking like…