On Exoskeletons and Assimilation: Revisiting the Latinidad of Marvel’s Araña
Considering the role of Latinidad in Araña’s comics despite a decreasing representation of of its so-called “authentic” markers.
Brief Comic Book Reviews (September 6 through September 25, 2019)
Brief reviews of comics that were released in September 2019, including Agents of Atlas #2, Wonder Twins #7, and Power Pack: Grow Up! #1
WAUGH and On and On #2: Duck Naked
What do Disney and “decency” campaigns have in common? The blandification of culture. Covering Howard the Duck #21.
Epic Disasters: Revisiting Marvel & DC’s 1980s Famine Relief Comics
How well do Marvel and DC’s 1985 comics meant to raise aid for famine relief in Africa tackle the tragic events they are addressing? Short answer? Not well.
Brief Comics Reviews (June 12 through July 3, 2019)
Brief reviews of comics released between June 12 and July 3, 2019, including Monstress #23, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur #44, and Wonder Twins #5
WAUGH and On and On #1: Neither Fish Nor Fowl
A return to Howard the Duck after a nearly three-year hiatus from the If It WAUGHs Like a Duck series. . .
1001 Variations: Narrative Mutation & Marvel’s Exiles
New and different, but not all-new and all-different, adaptation and change in superhero comics as narrative mutation.,
Despite the Genocide: Deconstructed Masculinity and Thanos Fandom
Critiquing Thanos and the limits of deconstruction.
Closing the Comics-Gate: On Recognizing the Politics of Comics
Comicsgaters are wrong because comics have always been political, but those politics weren’t always as great as they are sometimes made out to be by comics’ defenders.
Brief Comic Book Reviews (Dec 19, 2018 to Jan 16, 2019)
Brief review of comics released between (mostly) December 19, 2018 to January 16 – including Runaways #16, Bitter Root #3, and Fantastic Four #5.
Kept in a Jar: Broomhilda and the Representation of Enslaved Women in Reginald Hudlin’s Django Unchained
Does the 2013 comic adaptation of Django Unchained’s inclusion of an unfilmed sequence provide insight into the figure of the black woman slave?
Guess Who’s Coming Home for the Holidays: Intergenerational Conflict in Bitch Planet
Everyone’s Grandma is a Little Bit Feminist” from Bitch Planet: Triple Feature #5 asks us to imagine what makes an older relative inappropriate in a dystopic society.
YA = Young Avengers: Asserting Maturity on the Threshold of Adulthood
Young Avengers provides a fun and thoughtful exploration of the contradictions inherent to the transformation from adolescence to adulthood.
Brief Comic Book Reviews (August 22 to Sept 5, 2018)
Brief reviews of recent comics released August 22 to September 5, 2018; including Border Town #1, Black Hammer: Age of Doom #4, and Paper Girls #24.
Alpha & Omega #11: An Evolutionary Dead-End
The final installment of our reading series examining both version of Omega the Unknown, this time examining The Defenders #76 and #77, in which the original series was wrapped up after being cancelled.
Mind the Gaps 2018! The First Annual CSS Conference
An overview of Mind the Gaps 2018 – the first annual conference of the Comics Studies Society.
The (re)Collection Agency #9: A Conversation with Michael Sharp
In the 9th installment of our series of talks with comics scholars and teachers, we talk to Dr. Michael Sharp about what crossword puzzles and comic strips have in common, being a late comer to Marvel Comics, and the 1980s through the prism of Bloom County.
Brief Reviews of Comics (July 4 to 25, 2018)
Brief review of comics released in July 2018, including Astonisher #9, Captain America #1, The Quantum Age #1 and Paper Girls #22.
Alpha & Omega #10: Omega Without End
The not-so-final installment on the final installments of both versions of Omega the Unknown.
Digging Up Ghosts: Teen Titans’ Mal Duncan & His Token Power
Using Teen Titans #41 to think through token characters and slavery as a narrative trope.
Brief Comics Reviews (6/13 to 6/27, 2018)
Brief Reviews of Comics released between June 13th and 27th, 2018, including Runaways #10, Exiles #4, and Black Hammer: Age of Doom #3.
