News

I’m supposed to be on NPR’s Weekend Edition, I think today, (Update: Nope, it’s on Sunday) talking about Johnny Cash and “Ring of Fire”. Not sure what time though….

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Sarah Horrocks on Salammbo.

Me on the sometimes pleasing but not this time crappiness of Bonnie Raitt.

I express skepticism about ev psych’s ability to understand the mind.

Me on conventions of violence in We3, Spy vs. Spy, and martyrs.

Richard Cook on the crappy Evil Dead remake.

Chris Gavaler on how a radioactive spider bite means you have puberty for all eternity.

A 50 Shades/Cthulhu ebook which you can purchase for your enjoyment, and/or to help us help you. Heaving tentacles! Thrashing bosoms! Limping ecommerce!

Ng Suat Tong on whether Joss Whedon deliberately defaced John Totleben’s art.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I wrote about how Johnny Cash sang a love song to himself.

At Wired I write about crazy Japanese fusion and how the internet killed the music bargain bin.

At Slate I talk about the feminist blogosphere, male writers, and Hugo Schwyzer.

At Splice I talk about:

Why Anthony Weiner’s penis is funny.

G.I. Joe, Mike Vosburg, and work for hire.

At the Good Men Project I talk about transgender kids and gender essentialism.

 
Other Links

Osvaldo Oyola on Spider-Man, Watchmen, and race.

Tom Spurgeon hosts a conversation about the direction of comics journalism.

Noam Scheiber on Obama’s boy’s club.
 

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Miriam Libicki on Terri Moore and Jaime Hernandez.

Ng Suat Tong on the Korean War, Kurtzman/Toth, and propaganda.

Jog on late Ditko.

Betsy Phillips argues Superman isn’t Jesus, but Moses.

Isaac Butler on the Walking Dead video game and narrative.

Ng Suat Tong on Krazy Kat, Jack Chick, comics and kitsch.

Chris Gavaler on supervillains, the Silver Age, and the Boston Marathon bombing.

Me on Kim Thompson, negative criticism, and loving comics.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I write about:

why psychologists are too much like superheroes.

Realism and banality in the Conjuring.

At Splice Today I talk about

The Trayvon Martin case and misandry.

how a client screwed me out of thousands of dollars.
 
Other Links

Domingos Isabelinho asks whether comics criticism ever existed.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on racial profiling.
 

On Hu
Featured Archive Post: Richard Cooke on Finder: Voice and gender.

Bert Stabler on the new Pixies video and race.

Peter Sattler on Dan Clowes’ agonized relationship with comics.

Me on Finder:Voice, power, knowledge, and penises.

Michael Arthur on furries, nostalgia, and the mainstream media.

Chris Gavaler says “I Am Tonto.

Jacob Canfield on how late Ditko is worse than Jack Chick.

Ng Suat Tong on Utsubora and the dangers of artsy erotica.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere
 
Other Links

At the Good Men Project I talk about how misogyny hurts men.

At the Atlantic I talk about racism, sexism, and the Pixies new video.

At Splice I write about:

Joy Stecher and Kate Brislin’s great version of Our Town.

How work for hire is not spiritual debasement.
 
Other Links
Jog writes about late Ditko.

On HU

Featured Archive Post Anja Flower on queerness and the uses of yaoi.

Nicolas Labarre reviews Blood Feast in 5 panels.

Me on W.W. Denslow’s beginning chapter illustrations for the Wizard of Oz.

Me on gender and comics in Dan Clowes’ Wilson and Like a Velvet Glove.

Ng Suat Tong on Graham Chaffee’s Good Dog.

James Romberger on gender and film in Godard’s Contempt.

Chuck Berry for the 4th of July.

Chris Gavaler on World War Z, stay at home dads, and Muslim zombies.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

I write about changes in fatherhood and the rising number of single dads at the Atlantic.

I wrote about confronting trafficking without arguing that all prostitutes are trafficked at the Goodmen Project.

At Splice Today I wrote about

People’s coverage of a transgender girl and the bedrock reality of gender.

Chicago Public Radio’s awful, eugenics-like marketing campaign.
 
Other Links

Kim Thompson on being an elitist comics critic.

On the Baffler’s new editor.

Abigail Rine on how he’s not sleeping through the night yet.

Ta-Nehisi Coates on manhood among the ruins.

Genevieve Valentine on harassment at cons and other places.

Amy Julia Becker on reading and disability.

Mary McCarthy on Internet trolls.
 

 
News

The lovely and talented Patrick Carland is joining us as a regular blogger. Welcome aboard Patrick!
 
On HU

I talk about the smaller-than-life soul of Womack and Womack.

Voices from the Archive: Marc Singer on morality in All-Star Superman.

Jones, One of the Jones Boys explains why all the superpowers have to be dull.

Chris Gavaler on Man of Steel, eugenics, and why do DC films have to be so dour anyway?

I did an extended analysis of the father’s day card my son made me. Because it’s my blog, damn it.

Subdee on Saint Young Men and divinities as boho slackers.

Patrick Carland on the Hunger Games, Battle Royale, and neoliberalism putting children to the scythe.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

I wrote about:

The Dan Clowes show at the Chicago MCA for the Chicago Reader.

Being a man trapped by the male gaze for the Good Men Project.

A doc about a gay couple and their 8 weddings for the Atlantic.

And for Splice Today:

The Scorpions’ first album was fucking awesome.

Why reading doesn’t make you more human.

Edward Snowden, Russia, and thuggish bullies.
 
Other Links

Tom Spurgeon with a magnificent, endless, amazing obituary for Kim Thompson.

Janet Potter on the Ladydrawers show in Chicago.

Jeffry O. Gustafson analyzes a kid’s comic about some stick figure falling into a vat of toxic waste.

Ben Schwartz with a sweet tribute to Kim Thompson.

Jonathan Bernstein on Wendy Davis and why talking fillibusters are still a bad idea in the Senate.

News

As most folks probably know, Kim Thompson, co-publisher of Fantagraphics, died this week. I had my first ever troll battle with Kim; he showed up in my inbox after my piece on In the Shadow of No Towers came out to tell me I was rash and foolish and an idiot. It was actually a really fun conversation; he was extremely gracious while telling me what a fool I was. It’s a treasured memory.

I don’t feel like I knew him well enough, or was familiar enough with his legacy, to write a full obit, but…I did just want to say that I always felt lucky when he came by to comment on HU, often to tell me again that I was an idiot. He was a friendly acquaintance rather than a friend, but like lots and lots of folks who he met, briefly or otherwise, online or elsewhere, I’ll miss him.

For a better sense of what Kim meant to comics, a nice place to start is with Chris Mautner’s discussion over at Robot 6.
 
On HU

Featured Archive Post: Ted Rall: Not Mean, Just Dumb.

I argue that you should get rid of comments threads if you’re not going to moderate them.

Chris Gavaler on Joe Shuster’s drawings of rape and torture.

Jog on how After Earth has that thoughtful take on violence all the critics are bemoaning the lack of in Man of Steel and everything else.

Patrick Carland on what to remember and what to forget about Ralph Bakshi.

Owen Alldritt on the alternating charm and irritation of One Piece.

Richard Cook on Bioshock Infinite, violence, and video games’ crappy aesthetics. There’s an interesting comment thread too.

I wrote the best post ever on the Internet if you want it to be.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I talk about Nancy Friday, sexual violence, and sexual fantasy.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

The liberal dilemma in giving taxes to Obama.

The Bechdel Test and Emily Dickinson.

how misogyny leads to sexism against men.

 
Other Links

Inebriated Spook on Daft Punk.

Jason Thompson on Peepo Choo.

Dodai Stewart on Miley Cyrus appropriating black people.