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.
Unfreezing the Past: The MCU’s Captain America and Traumatic Reenactment
Re-considering the arc of Captain America through the lens of trauma in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Alpha & Omega #9: Poetic License to Kill
The ninth installment of reading both versions of Omega the Unknown (from 1976 and 2007 respectively) against each other.
Colonial Hottie: Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman and Brand Israel
A crucial interrogation of how Gal Gadot’s Israeli identity and IDF experience are used to sell her authenticity in the role of Wonder Woman.
“Am I Black Enough For You?” The Respectability of CW’s Black Lightning
The CW’s Black Lighting represents the split between Black respectability and radical politics in a singular figure.
Alpha & Omega #8: Fixing a Hole. .
Both versions of Omega the Unknown #8 seem to be “nowhere plans for nobody.”
“Is There Anything Left to be Shattered?”: Reading Dazzler in the #MeToo Moment
Dazzler the Movie as an important fictional prehistory to the #MeToo movement and stories about abusive media figures.
Brief Comics Reviews (March 7-21, 2018)
Brief reviews of comics that came out between March 7 and 21, including Marvel Two-in-One #4, Black Bolt #11, and the Mighty Thor #705.
Alpha & Omega #7: Call Me By Your Name
In 1977 a fill-in writer accidentally highlights the queer mysteries of adolescence, while in 2008 the adventure ramps up towards conclusion.
The Middle Spaces 