Last week, images of a brand new Spider-Woman design hit the internet, compliments of Robbi Rodriguez. Calling the fan response anything less than excited would be the comics understatement of 2014. It had people like me, who are currently only reading Hawkeye, pause and take note. It had artists like Ramon Villalobos knocking out a […]
The Fault, Dear Brutus, is Not in The Fault in Our Stars
The title of what is likely the hit young adult romance of the decade—The Fault in Our Stars—is a riff on Shakespeare’s famous lines from Julius Caesar: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings. Volumes could be written about this couplet, about its implications for privilege […]
Having Your CAKE and Eating it Too
As a lifelong Illinoisan, Wizard Worlds and hotel lobby “cons” served as my only respite for the drought plaguing the midwest comics scene. Cholera-laden wells if ever there were any, I quickly learned that there were few other options than to either drive or fly a significant distance from Central Illinois or to accept the […]
Burn Down the Superhero Ghetto and the Graphic Novel Library
There’s a pretty good chance many of you have already seen Rolling Stone‘s “50 Best Non-Superhero Graphic Novels” list. If you haven’t, I invite you to go read it before continuing on; it’s a nice profile of some of the better work in comics. As with all such lists, even allowing them to expand to […]
Faithful to a Fault: Where Amazing Spider-Man 2 Went Wrong with Gwen Stacy
Warning: Some spoilers are contained in this editorial The new Spider-Man films have had their issues, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find even the harshest critic not give credit to the casting choices. Although much of the development of characters and relationships seems to occur off-screen, the strongest traits of characters like Gwen, Peter, and […]
Advance Review: Genesis (Image Comics)
I don’t scour Previews to see how frequently it happens, but if I had to guess, the square-bound 64-page comic is a rarity these days. Complete with ISBN, this is the kind of low-priced release that is targeting the bookstore-driven sales records like New York Times Best Sellers lists with tactics that have worked pretty […]