“Say It Loud!” Tyroc and the Trajectory of the Black Superhero (part 1)

Part one in an exploration of how the trajectory of Tyroc’s character provides a blueprint for thinking about the arc of other black superheroes.

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Reading Comics at the Threshold: A Round Table on Letter Columns & Other Comics Paratexts (Part 1)

Part One in our three part roundtable on comics paratexts focuses on letter columns.

Guest Post / Marvel Comics / Sexuality

(Behold?) The Vision’s Penis: The Presence of Absence in Mutant Romance Tales

Guest writer Anna Peppard’s meditation on presence and absence of the Vision’s penis – and if it even matters.

Comics / Gender / Music

All-Female Fanfare: Examining Marvel Fanfare #38

When it is a surprise to the editor that both stories in a comic are written and drawn by women, it takes an engaged reader to consider the actual significance.

Music / Politics

“Nobody Speak” – Pulling Back the Curtain on Trumpist Politics

You wanna hear a good joke? Nobody speak, nobody get choked.

Year-End Meta 2020: Additions, Corrections, Updates & Announcements

Cleaning up loose ends from the last year and making some announcements about the next.

The (re)Collection Agency #13: A Conversation with Anna Peppard

Discussing the intersection of collecting and desire, superhero sex, and avoiding spoiler aversion with Dr. Anna Peppard.

“On the Edge of Greatness”: First Ones’ Tech and the Non-Binary Politics of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Looking beyond representation in She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and towards the contexts that inform it to consider the narrative structures used to build queer storyworlds.

“Say It Loud!” Tyroc and the Trajectory of the Black Superhero (part 2)

Part Two of using DC’s Tyroc to consider the arc of the Black superhero.

WAUGH and On and On #8: The Duck is Dead. Long Live the Duck!

In the final (for now) installment of the Howard the Duck reading series, we examine the duck’s shift from social satire to Marvel Comics parody.

“There’d Be a Hanging!” – Spontaneous Authenticity and the Fluctuative Quality of Comic Art in Gilbert Hernandez’s “Human Diastrophism”

Exploring how NYC grafitti and Gilbert Hernandez seek to DESTROY ALL LINES.

Reading Comics at the Threshold: A Round Table on Letter Columns & Other Comics Paratexts (Part 3)

The third and final part of our round table on comics paratexts, looking at digital comics and representations of the digital in comics.

Reading Comics at the Threshold: A Round Table on Letter Columns & Other Comics Paratexts (Part 2)

Part two of our round table on comics paratexts looks at ads, peritexts, and disruptive backmatter.

WAUGH and On and On #7: Can’t Win For Losing

Steve Gerber’s final work on the first volume of Howard the Duck (for real this time!) feels like a losing gamble.

“Burn His Words”: Abbott and the Illumination of Whitestream Culture

BOOM! Studio’s Abbott and its illumination of whitestream culture in academia and journalism.

Don’t Wait for a White Knight to Abolish the Police

Batman: White Knight demonstrates the limitation of the white imaginary regarding a post-police society by simply not being be able to envision one.

The (re)Collection Agency #12: A Conversation with Rebecca Wanzo

In the 12th installment of our series of talks with comics scholars and teachers, we talk with Dr. Rebecca Wanzo, about her new book, the difference between caricature and stereotype, and not remembering a beginning of a political consciousness.

WAUGH and On and On #6: It’s the Bomb that Will Bring Us Together

Examining Howard the Duck #28 – when a Wolfman writes a duck man and ends up with a bomb.

WAUGH and On and On #5: It’s the End of the WAUGH as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)

“Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn. . ” as we come to the final arc of the first volume of Howard the Duck to be penned by Steve Gerber.

Harley Quinn’s Sexuality: A Tale of Three Lusts

Laura Grafton and Andew Deman examine the intersection of Harley Quinn’s three central relationships, with the Joker, Poison Ivy, and her audience.

“But We’re Out of Time”: Queer(ed) Nostalgia and The WB’s Birds of Prey

Thinking through how personal narratives also become mediated narratives that enable queer world-building through the example of The WB’s Birds of Prey.

“Jimmy Olsen—SUPER Freak!” – Disability and Superman’s Pal

How the limitations of Jimmy Olsen’s transformations limn the dynamics of superhuman embodiment.

WAUGH and On and On #4: Synecducky

Ten ways to look at Howard the Duck #24 – the part that reflects the whole, the whole that is just a part.

Brief Comic Book Reviews (January 1 to 15, 2020)

Brief reviews of comics released between January 1st and 15th, 2020 (like Miles Morales: Spider-Man #14 and Second Coming #6), plus a couple of outliers I picked up (like Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen #3).