“I Think They Know Me Too Well:” Growing Against Expectation in Journey into Mystery: The Manchester Gods

In this essay, guest writer, Tiffany Babb uses the changeable figure of Loki in 2011’s Journey into Mystery to consider the liminality of identity and how it is shaped by expectations

The Other 80s: A Q&A with Editors Brian Cremins & Brannon Costello

Drs. Brian Cremins and Brannon Costello sit down to discuss their recent edited comics studies collection, The Other 80s: Reframing Comics’ Crucial Decade

Retuning Nostalgia: Anti-Black Racism and the Cultural Politics of Country Music

Nicholas Miller returns with an essay on whiteness, country music nostalgia, and charting a new course to re-imagine the past and the future.

Blue Becomings: Revisiting Excalibur #4

Dr. Anna Peppard re-examines a favorite scene from Excalibur #4 a decade after first reading it to consider how its meanings may have changed for her.

“That Wingnut is Insane”: Reality vs. Fictionality in Conspiracy Comics

Guest writer, Vincent Haddad examines three different comics exploring conspiracies to consider how they represent the hybridity of truth and fiction.

Autonecrohomoeroticism: Revisiting Richie Rich & Casper #31

The first in our new “Critical Nostalgia” series, revisiting single issue faves from younger days, considers Richie Rich’s desire for his own future ghost self.

Not So Fast! The Case for Revisiting the Costume Designs of 1990’s The Flash TV Show

Considering how 1990’s The Flash on CBS was a pivotal development to the television superhero genre through fashion.

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.

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.

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.

(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.

“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.