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Magazine
Jordan Thomas on Kickstarting and Frank at Home on the Farm #2
Frank at Home on the Farm is a wild and unique new book from publisher Mad Robot Comics. Created by writer Jordan Thomas and artist Clark Bint, Frank is a psychological horror mystery set in a… [more]
Grand Slam Romance #1 Review
Written by Olivia Hicks Drawn by Emma Oostherhous In the afterword for the first issue of Grand Slam Romance, both of the creators involved admit they do ‘not know much about softball.’ It is exactly… [more]
Strange Sentiments: Stranger Things and Nostalgia
“Stranger Things Season Three, and the Limits of Nostalgia” – the Week “In Stranger Things’ Third Season, the Nostalgia Well Runs Dry” – Slate “Stranger Things Doesn’t Know How to Grow Up” – Vanity Fair… [more]
“I won’t wear one of those damnfool spandex body-condom things. I don’t have the bust for it”: Superhero Costume in the WildStorm Comics of Warren Ellis, Part 3
In How To Read Superhero Comics and Why, Klock applies Harold Bloom’s concept of the ‘agon’ to Ellis’s treatment of superheroes in his work for WildStorm. For Bloom, poets can only escape the ‘anxiety of… [more]
Capes, Cowls, and Purple: How Prince Merged the Worlds of Music and Comics with Batman and Beyond
Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958-April 21, 2016), known throughout most of his career simply as Prince, had been an important part of music since his humble beginnings with the band 94 East in 1975,… [more]
Casino Royale: Taking It in the Cojones for Her Majesty’s Secret Service
The fifth and final installment of James Bond starring Daniel Craig as Bond, currently titled only Bond 25, is set to be released in 2020. It’s notable not only because it will be Daniel Craig’s… [more]
The Road to Vertigo: The Suppression and Eventual Rise of Mature Comics and Their Readers
The legacy of Vertigo recalls the very idea of comics finally being allowed to mature; letting people swear, drink, openly take drugs for recreation, and bringing in some serious ambiguity as to what it means… [more]
JLA: New World Order Revisited or, What Makes a Story Essential?
The world of cape-comics has a rather tortured relationship with certain sets of words used to describe a character, creator or project. ‘Iconic,’ for instance, is probably one of the most overused words in our… [more]
Finding Hulko: Secondary Colors
With the Infinity War storyline wrapping up, it might be useful to take a fresh look at a pre-MCU Marvel Film, the 2003 Hulk. 2003 saw the release of both Eric Bana’s Hulk and Disney… [more]
Maia Kobabe Discusses Eir Career and Eir Book Gender Queer: A Memoir
Maia Kobabe (pronouns e/em/eir) is a nonbinary, queer writer and illustrator. A graduate of California College of the Arts, Maia has quickly built a tremendous portfolio of work – much of which can be found… [more]
Captain Video: Forgotten Father of the Sci-Fi Franchise
Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Luke Skywalker, the Doctor, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, Captain Video… What do those names have in common? If you said they are protagonists that launched science fiction franchises you’d be correct,… [more]
Academics on Avengers: Endgame, Part 2
As mentioned in Part 1, we got so many contributions that we had to split this article up into two parts. Below is the second half, and we hope you enjoy it. And again…BEWARE…FOR SPOILERS… [more]
Ever to Ashes: The Unadaptable Nature of the Dark Phoenix Saga
INTRO As Hollywood takes its second big stab at The Dark Phoenix Saga, the most popular X-Men storyline of all-time, certain age-old arguments about the adaptability of comics properties find new footing in our collective… [more]
Academics on Avengers: Endgame, Part 1
Avengers: Endgame is a cinematic generational event. The epic conclusion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s first arc that began with 2008’s Iron Man and encompasses twenty-two films. As of this posting, Avengers: Endgame has grossed… [more]
“I won’t wear one of those damnfool spandex body-condom things. I don’t have the bust for it”: Superhero Costume in the WildStorm Comics of Warren Ellis, Part 2
The Authority’s ‘sister’ title, Planetary was also launched in 1999, following a preview story included in the WildStorm titles Gen-13 and C-23 in September of the previous year. Conceived as a series in which Ellis… [more]
Returning to The Island of Doctor Moreau
Every few years, HG Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau enjoys something of a rebirth. This summer, IDW will release a full-on comic version of the story, but before that we have a new illustrated… [more]
Jordan Peele’s Us: Untethered
“There we are – demented children mincing about in clothes that no one ever wore, speaking as no man ever spoke, swearing love in wigs and rhymed couplets, killing each other with wooden swords, hollow… [more]
Batman: Legacy Review
Sequels are a fact of life in entertainment, especially in comic books. Think of all the stories you’ve read in places like Narnia, Westeros, Hogwarts, Baker Street, Oz, Mars, etc. Think of all those stories… [more]
Suzanne Scott Discusses Her Career and New Book Fake Geek Girls
Currently an Assistant Professor of Media Studies at UT Austin, Dr. Suzanne Scott is a scholar focused on fan cultures, gender studies, popular culture, and the various ways they intersect. She has recently published a… [more]
Avengers: Endgame, Iron Man, and America
Disclaimer: this article includes spoilers starting in the third paragraph, so I wouldn’t read too far if you haven’t watched Avengers: Endgame yet. It also won’t make much sense if you haven’t watched Endgame and… [more]
Evan Peterson on Writing, Academia, and His New Video Game Drag Star!
Evan J. Peterson is a Swiss Army Knife of writers. In addition to being the creator of what he describes as the ‘Evan-verse,’ he has published non-fiction, poems, short horror and science fiction stories, and… [more]
The Invisible Art that Makes The Temple of Silence: Forgotten Works & Worlds of Herbert Crowley
Recently, I read an article by Noah Charney about Davie Bowie and William Boyd’s connection to an obscure American abstract expressionist artist Nat Tate, operating in the mid-twentieth century, who destroyed most of his paintings,… [more]
A Birthday Card for a Friend
One of my childhood friends turns 80 today. Perhaps he’s your friend too. [more]
Jordan Peele’s Us: One for the Ages
“Therefore thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.” -Jeremiah 11:11 “Hell’s… [more]