Books and Literature, comics, Queer Art and Identity

To Support Queer Artists, You Actually Have to Know Who They Are

A discussion came up in on of my comic subreddits about the Marvel Pride issue coming out this month. There were a lot of good-natured jokes about Dakenโ€™s yassification on the cover and the nature of rainbow capitalism and how they pull these characters out once a year, then place them back on the shelves.… Continue reading To Support Queer Artists, You Actually Have to Know Who They Are

Books and Literature, comics, Media Literacy and Analysis

Media is More Fun When You Don’t Waste Time Hating It

Itโ€™s a very weird time to be a Venom fan with the current All-New Venom run. Iโ€™m genuinely enjoying it, curious to see where it goes, and think thereโ€™s some very clever use of language. Two of my favorite symbiotes, Toxin and Sleeper, got some panel time, and thereโ€™s clearly something happening there with SCAR.… Continue reading Media is More Fun When You Don’t Waste Time Hating It

Childhood, comics, Games and Gaming, Social Deconstruction

Surprise! The Patriarchy is the Reason You and Your Wife Fight Over Your Comic Book Collection

Iโ€™m an AFAB person with a handful of โ€œtraditionally masculineโ€ hobbies. Basically Iโ€™m woman-adjacent in a few men-heavy fields. So I get to live both sides of conversations like the one below. Let me tell yโ€™all: if this what your relationship looks like in terms of hobbies, youโ€™ve got it more fucked up than you… Continue reading Surprise! The Patriarchy is the Reason You and Your Wife Fight Over Your Comic Book Collection

comics, fandom, Media Literacy and Analysis, Writing Theory

Spectacular Spider-Man: The Hunger-A Case study in Major Narrative Shifts (Short Version)

Note: There are two versions of this: a shorter outline view and more detailed one describing my logic. This is the shorter version. I've determined there're two ways comics can approach a Big Narrative Change. There's the unexpected and the out of character. And this has nothing to do with fandom response or the quality… Continue reading Spectacular Spider-Man: The Hunger-A Case study in Major Narrative Shifts (Short Version)

comics, Media Literacy and Analysis, Writing Theory

Spectacular Spider-Man: The Hunger-A Case study in Major Narrative Shifts (Long Version)

Note: There are two versions of this: a shorter outline view and more detailed one describing my logic. This is the longer version. I've determined there're two ways comics can approach a Big Narrative Change. There's the unexpected and the out of character. And this has nothing to do with fandom response or the quality… Continue reading Spectacular Spider-Man: The Hunger-A Case study in Major Narrative Shifts (Long Version)

comics, fandom, Media Literacy and Analysis

The Failed Villain to Hero Pipeline as a Pop Culture Thermometer

The Punisher, Frank Castle, began as a Spider-Man antagonist. I donโ€™t think this is secret knowledge. If anything, itโ€™s one of the key issues of Amazing Spider-Man. The kind that people slab and grade. The kind of issue whose cover gets homages in other comic runs twenty years down the line. This is not unknown… Continue reading The Failed Villain to Hero Pipeline as a Pop Culture Thermometer