One of the most prevalent and consistent themes in books about the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany is the belief foreign powers held that it was most important to not act rashly and judge Adolf Hitler and his peers prematurely. This is particularly prominent in Erik Larson’s work In the Garden of Beasts, which details the […]
A Tale of Two Entitlements: Is it Fandom or Comics That is Broken?
Last year, I wrote an editorial on Airboy and accusations of transphobia that were levied at that comic’s creators. Though I mixed in criticisms I had of Airboy from issue one, the main point I tried to get across was that the best possible strategy Airboy’s creative team could take was to listen and try to understand why fans were […]
Good Bad Guys: What Marvel’s Villain Problem Reveals About the MCU
“When was a kid, I wanted to be a Batman villain when I grew up.” – Jello Biafra By now you’ve probably heard about Marvel’s villain problem. After 12 movies and counting, Marvel studios has, despite its outrageous critical and commercial success, been pilloried across the internet for its perceived failure to establish more than […]
Marvel, You Need an Editor
If you’ve been following comics or the comics media sphere for a bit, you probably already know that beloved writer Mark Waid has come under some pretty harsh and entirely justified criticism for his collaboration with JG Jones at BOOM!, Strange Fruit. You can read J.A. Micheline’s take on it at Women Write About Comics […]
The NSA Took My Baby Away: Fighting for Personal Freedom in Captain America: The Winter Soldier
There’s a reason why most action films situate their heroes as rogues, combating authority even as they’re saving the day. Larger than life figures gel with audiences when there’s something to ground them and while most audiences probably don’t know what it’s like to, say, save a business tower full of hostages on your day […]