Year-End Meta 2021: The End Spaces. . .

As 2021 comes to an end and the site’s 10-year anniversary approaches, it is time to think of a closing strategy for The Middle Spaces.

“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

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).

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.

Alpha & Omega #4: El Gato Mató La Curiosidad

The fourth installment of our Omega the Unknown double-read through features cats, bullies and nano-bots.

The (re)Collection Agency #6: A Conversation with Aaron Kashtan

The sixth in our conversations with comics scholars. This time with Dr. Aaron Kashtan, discussing the backlash against diversity, fun comics as worthy of study, and how you shouldn’t be ashamed to love My Little Pony.

The (re)Collection Agency #3: A Conversation with Leah Misemer

The third in our series of talks with comics scholars; this time we talk letters columns, graphic medicine, and keeping comics studies fun with Dr. Leah Misemer.

The Private “I”: Identity in the Post-Internet Age

The social nature of personal identity in Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin’s The Private Eye.

The Pleasure of the Serial Comic Book

Thinking about the bliss of the incomplete comic book serial.

The (re)Collection Agency #2: A Conversation with Qiana Whitted

The second in our on-going series of interviews with comics scholars.

“Lo, There Shall Be An Ending:” Meditations on the End of the Fantastic Four

Marvel Comics hasn’t published a Fantastic Four title in over a year, and its absence marks a serious lack of imagination.

Super-Villainous Voting (Redux)

Voting is a right, not a virtue.

Archiving the Fringe: Chinese Indie Comics Collective Special Comix

Exploring the range of style, format, and content in China’s Special Comix 6.

Your Favorite Superhero Sucks (Review)

A voice in the wilderness crying out against superheroic hegemony.

Brief Reviews (8/3 to 8/17 – 2016)

Brief reviews of comics released August 3-17, 2016 – including Sam Wilson: Captain America #12, Wonder Woman #4, and The Flintstones #2.

The Queer Silence of The Killing Joke

The intimacy between Batman and the Joker calls for imagining a different “last Batman story.”

Reviews in Brief (6/15 to 6/22 – 2016)

Brief reviews of comics that came out the weeks of June 15 and 22, 2016, including Wonder Woman #1, Nighthawk #1 & #2, and Bitch Planet #8.

Marvel Five-in-One: Prominent, Notorious and Invisible Black Lives of the Marvel Universe

Exploring the limits of diversity in a white supremacist framework through a five-in-one look at 1978’s Marvel Two-in-One.

Reviews in Brief (4/13 to 5/4 – 2016)

Brief reviews for comics released April 13 to May 4, including Dept. H #1, No Mercy #9 and Spider-Woman #6.

The International Comics Art Forum 2016

An overview of the 2016 International Comics Art Forum conference in Columbia, SC.

“Yo Soy Yancy Street!” El Thing About Place & Identity

A recent Marvel story connecting Groot to Puerto Rican culture via a visit with the Thing to Marvel’s Lower East Side analog, Yancy Street got me thinking about place and identity.