On HU

Featured Archive Post: Bert Stabler on Bloom County as the last realist comic strip.

Robert Stanley Martin with on sale dates for comics from mid 1944, including lots of Walt Kelly.

Chris Gavaler on Zorro, secret identities, and homosexuality.

Phillip Smith tries to figure out what cartoonist Brandon Graham is doing with the sex and 9/11 references. There’s a longish, interesting thread about porn and criticism and other issues, where Sarah Horrocks, Darryl Ayo, and other folks show up to chat.

Me on freelance pitching and how to get rejected while trying pretty hard.

Kate Polak on gun violence and the limits of empathy.

Jimmy Johnson on Mr. Monk and toxic masculinity.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Qz.com I wrote about

—why ending the drug war won’t address our incarceration problem.

—Southpaw and the dangers of masculine vulnerability.

At Vice I explained why Ant Man is white.

At the Guardian I wrote about the problems with the new Marvel hip hop variant covers.

At Playboy I wrote about

—Stephen Crane’s story The Monster, and white people writing about race.

—how nostalgia means the new Bloom County isn’t as good as the old Bloom County.

At Ravishly I wrote about Ant Man and shrinking men and women into their respective gender roles.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—why I’m glad blacklivesmatter protestors interrupted Bernie Sanders.

—my favorite albums at midyear.

The Shmoop study guide I worked on for Albee’s Zoo Story.

The Shmoop Study guide I worked on for Melville’s Piazza Tales.
 
Other Links

Shawn Pryor on Marvel’s hip hop variants.

James Kilgore on why anti-poverty and decarceration have to go together.

Hillary Rodham Clinton is good at politics.

Kathleen Gilles Seidel has put several books online for digital sales, including one of my favorites, “Again”.
 

News

Graphic Details: Jewish Women’s Confessional Comics in Essays and Interviews edited by Sarah Lightman won the Eisner for best scholarly book! I wrote a little blurb about Ariel Schrag for it, so I sort of not really just a little won an Eisner too. Below’s a pic of cartoonist Miriam Libicki (former HU writer!) and her daughter accepting the award.
 

 
On HU

Featured Archie Post: Cartoonist Jason Overby vs. Godard.

Robert Stanley Martin provides on sale dates for comics from early 1944.

Kate Polak on Hannibal, Laura Kipnis, and power.

RM Rhods explains to Grant Morrison that Heavy Metal Magazine isn’t punk.

Chris Gavaler on the swampy Heap and his thingy off-shoots.

I wrote about Ta-Nehisi Coates and the way of white critics.

I wrote about the first appearance of John Stewart and black superheroes saving white self-esteem.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Playboy I reviewed Go Set a Watchman, which is kind of a racist piece of crap.

At Splice I wrote about the establishment media’s embarrassing response to TNC’s “Between the World and Me.

At Quartz I wrote about:

—how POC don’t talk in films, and why Her and American Hustle are awful.

—the tradition of anti-country country music.

At the Guardian I wrote about Wesley Chu’s Time Salvagers, a sci-fi novel that cobbles together old tropes into an uncertain future.

At the Reader I wrote a short review of fuzak folk band Little Tybee.
 
Other Links

Arielle Bernstein on Rihanna, Taylor Swift, and female revenge narratives.

Julia Serano on how pseudoscience harms trans women.

Dianna E. Anderson on bisexuality and Christian ethics.

Michael Sonmore on feminism and his open marriage.

Lux Alptraum on funding research on sex and sex workers.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Robert Jones, Jr. on why he gave up reading superhero comics.

Robert Stanley Martin on on-sale dates for comics in late 1943—Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, and Crockett Johnson.

Ken Derry on L. Frank Baum and genocide (or the lack therof) in Oz.

Chris Gavaler on H.G. Wells in thigh boots.

Donovan Grant on Superman fighting for Ferguson, and why it doesn’t work.

Nix 66 with thoughts on Bree Newsome and the nonexistence of the law.

Jimmy Johnson on how cop shows believe in black criminality even when they present white supremacists as villains.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Quartz I wrote about the doc Mama Sherpas and how midwives can lower national Cesarean rates.

At the Awl I wrote about Ursula K. Le Guin’s Always Coming Home and how dystopia requires narrative, and vice versa.

At the New Republic I wrote about

—how Rihanna is a depoliticized Pam Grier.

—Self/Less and the dream of a rich guy everyman who will save us all.

At Playboy

—I reviewed Chauntelle Tibbs’ Exposed and discussed sociology and porn.

—I wrote about Miley, Captain America, Rihanna and how everybody is empowered by kicking someone else.

At Splice Today I wrote about the realness of country radio, and how poptimism will eat itself.

At the Reader I did a little review of Atlanta rapper Father
 
Other Links

Athletes allege racism at U of I, Urbana.

Jonathan Bernstein on how Obama’s been a crappy manager of the executive.

This is Ta-Nehisi Coates’ favorite review of his forthcoming book.

Indian studies scholar Andrea Smith responds to accusations that she has misrepresented her identity.

The Dissolve (where I wrote for a bit) has sadly gone out of business.
 

Song of the Week

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Me on the first episode of Agents of Shield, which is really racist.

Chris Gavaler on Jane Austen’s Clark Kent.

Robert Stanley Martin looks at on sale dates for comics in early 1943: Walt Kelly, Carl Barks and more.

Our Joss Whedon Roundtable continues!

Christopher Melkus on the Dollhouse and Philip K. Dick.

Megan Purdy on Firefly as whitewashed Western.

Darryl Ayo on humor and friendship in the Avengers.

Ana Cabral Martins on Whedon’s logistical talents on display in the Avengers films.

And a pause in the Whedon roundtable: Kim O’Connor writes about Charleston and Charlie Hebdo.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about strong female characters, farting horse, and Kate Beaton’s new children’s book.

At Playboy I wrote about

—writing about feminism for Playboy. (this article was up last week, then taken down, but is now up again for good.)

—Blade and superhero nostalgia.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

—why the Spy Museum is evil.

—music releases from Africa: Songhoy Blues, Mbongwana Star, and Nozinja.
 
Other Links

Jamil Smith on why Clarence Thomas’ anti-gay marriage argument is bad.

Andrew Sullivan on marriage equality.

Chelsea Summers on Caged Heat and Orange Is the New Black.