“Say It Loud!” Tyroc and the Trajectory of the Black Superhero (part 1)
Part one in an exploration of how the trajectory of Tyroc’s character provides a blueprint for thinking about the arc of other black superheroes.
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.
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.
“Jimmy Olsen—SUPER Freak!” – Disability and Superman’s Pal
How the limitations of Jimmy Olsen’s transformations limn the dynamics of superhuman embodiment.
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).
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
“Be Glad of Your Many Sisters” – The Insular and the Exceptional in Wonder Woman: The Circle
In this guest post, Bruno Savill de Jong explores Simone and the Dodsons re-imagining of Wonder Woman’s origin and its connection to Amazonian notions of womanhood.
Striking Back: Black Lightning and Reading Race (part two)
When Black Lightning rejects the Justice League he is rejecting white supremacy.
Striking Back: Black Lightning and Reading Race (part one)
The clumsy way superhero comic books of the post-Civil Rights 1970s explicitly address race can provide a site for imagining productive racial consciousness for black characters, while also highlighting the limits of that kind of resistant reading.
The (re)Collection Agency #4: A Conversation with Brian Cremins
The latest in our conversations with comics scholars: this time Dr. Brian Cremins talks comics and nostalgia as pitfall and strategy in (re)constructing personal and historical narratives.
Brief Comics Reviews (12/21/2016 to 1/11/2017)
Brief reviews of recent comics including Wonder Woman #14, U.S. Avengers #1, and The Flintstones #7.
Brief Reviews (8/24 to 9/7 – 2016)
Brief reviews of comics released (mostly) August 24 through September 7th, including Wonder Woman #5, Ms. Marvel #10, and Sixpack And Dogwelder: Hard-Travelin’ Heroz #1.
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.
Reviews in Brief (7/13 to 7/27 – 2016)
Brief reviews of comics released on July 13th, 20th and 27th, 2016 (w/ some exceptions), including Nighthawk #3, Wonder Woman #2 and several Civil War II tie-in issues.
The Queer Silence of The Killing Joke
The intimacy between Batman and the Joker calls for imagining a different “last Batman story.”
