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.

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.

“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).

WAUGH and On and On #3: The Dark Side of the Farce

A long time ago in a world he never made. . . STAR WAUGH! Third in an ongoing Howard the Duck reading series.

Unstable Masks; Or, The Whiteness of the Superhero (a preview)

A guest post in the form of a preview of the forthcoming anthology, Unstable Masks: Whiteness and American Superhero Comics.

“These Stories Are Out There” – Reclaiming Queer and Trans Histories with Melanie Gillman

Guest contributor, Tiffany Babb, interviews cartoonist Melanie Gillman about their work and the importance of envisioning queer and trans histories.

The Hidden Fortress: No Ivy League and Legacies of Whiteness

Interrogating the complex legacies of racial injustice in Hazel Newlevant’s No Ivy League and Jonathan Lethem’s The Fortress of Solitude.

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.