Utilitarian Review 6/20/15

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Chris Gavaler with a proposal for Joss Whedon’s next project.

Chris Gavaler on Jane Austen, Mary Shelley, and superheroes.

Robert Stanley Martin chronicles on sale dates for comics in late 1942 (the first Carl Barks duck tale, and others.)

Our Joss Whedon roundtable continues!

Em Liu on Age of Ultron and the gender binary.

Anne Moore on how Whedon is no longer your best friend.

Philippe Leblanc on Whedon vs. the studio industrial complex.

Lisa Levy on Buffy and making you own family.

Jade Degrio and Desirae Embree on choice and consent in Dollhouse.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Vice I wrote about Orphan Black as soap opera.

At Playboy I wrote about Andrea Dworkin, men’s rights advocate.

At the New Republic I wrote about Goodfellas’ banal take on masculinity.

At Quartz I wrote about

—why making Magneto black is a bad idea.

Jurassic Park and the genetic abomination of working women.

not trusting teachers to do their jobs.

At Splice Today I wrote about Sense8 and utopia via television.
 

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Utilitarian Review 6/13/15

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On HU

Featured Archive Post: Ng Suat Tong on Joss Whedon’s signature covering (defacing) a comics cover.

Robert Stanley Martin with on sale dates of comics in early 1942: Wonder Woman, Walt Kelly, and cover eye-candy.

I interviewed artist and comics creator John Jennings about race and superhero comics.

Kim O’Connor in praise of The Toast and the worth of unserious things.

Madeleine Gavaler on how Whedon helped her get through high school.

We started our Joss Whedon Roundtable! Index to all posts is here.

Tim Jones on the insufferable cleverness of Cabin in the Woods.

Cédric Le Merrer on how Whedon substitutes violence for politics.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the New Republic I wrote about restrictions on professor’s speech. Hint: main threat is not liberal students.

At Playboy

—I wrote about the documentary Cam Girlz and how camming is a lot like freelance writing (though with more stigma.)

—I interviewed Vron Ware about her book Beyond the Pale, white women, feminism, and racism.

At Splice Today I wrote about:

Art Spiegelman’s crappy New Statesman cover and free speech as speaking for women’s bodies.

voting reform, and how partisanship is more likely to bring it about than bipartisanship.

And I wrote about the lovely fantasy anthology comic Cartozia Tales for Urban Faiths’ summer reading list.

Other Links

Alyssa Rosenberg on female robots.

Tracy Q. Loxley on what’s wrong with the campus rape discussion.

Jonathan Bernstein on how ignorant citizens can be good citizens.

Britney Cooper on McKinney, black girls, and white “safety.”

Track of the Week

Thought I’d maybe start posting a video every week, because what the hey. I’ve been obsessed with this track by July Talk. Reminds me of the Pixies; not enough things remind me of the pixies.

Utilitarian Review 6/5/15

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Waiting for the feminist revolution with Jack Hill’s Switchblade Sisters.

Robert Stanley Martin continues his survey of on sale dates for significant comics with 1940-1941.

Chris Gavaler on masked band music for masked men.

Phillip Smith wonders whether a feminist Wonder Woman is a defeminized Wonder Woman.

Kristian Williams on superhero forking paths and diversity.

Julian Chambliss on his art project burning and burying the Confederate flag.

Nix 66 on the bravery of Laura Kipnis. Oh so brave.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the New Republic I wrote about how women in recent country music have been marginalized.

At Ravishly I wrote about

Hot Girls Wanted, an documentary more sadistic than the porn it criticizes.

Fifth Harmony and why girl group pop is roots music.

At Playboy I wrote about:

—the history of black women in country music.

Caitlyn Jenner, and how we don’t know what gender is.

At the Guardian I wrote about Ms. Marvel, the Inhumans, the X-Men and dicey racial politics.

At Quartz I wrote about Tomorrowland and Hollywood’s vapid vision of political change.

At Splice Today I wrote about a really enjoyable indie band, July Talk.

At the Chicago Reader I did a short review of the latest Shonen Knife album.
 
Other Links

James Deen provides advice on faking orgasms.

Jeet Heer on the dudeness of libertarianism.

Jessica Luther on women in flat track motorcycle racing.

David Perry, from a bit back, on how to write an op-ed.
 

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Utilitarian Review 5/30/15

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Nora Olsen on the history of YA novels.

Robert Stanley Martin begins his series on comic on sale dates, first post from 1906-1939.

Phillip Smith wonders if Fury Road is all that feminist.

Michael Carson on how HBO killed art.

Chris Gavaler on his new novel, which features art by a Ditko impersonator (contact Chris if you want to be the artist in question!)

Me on N.K. Jemisin and race in fantasy vs. race in superhero comics.

Me on the meta-awfulness of Dollhouse.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I talked about how Fury Road borrows from and mainstreams women in prison films.

At Ravishly I wrote about Ex Machina and AI as femme fatale.

At Splice Today I argued, contra Conor Friedersdorf, that police brutality against white people is still based in systemic racism.
 
Other Links

Katie Kilkenny on whether action heroines can be too masculine.

Lydia Kokkola on Twilight and virginity.

Bert Stabler did an amazing piece of art on Obama’s death threats.

Great interview with Judith Butler on trans issues.
 

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Utilitarian Review 5/23/15

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Joy DeLyria on long fictions.

Me on slow, cheerful doom.

Me on whose gender is artificial.

Phillip Smith on Darna, the Filipino Wonder Woman.

Chris Gavaler on Raskolnikov and the problem with Hollywood super dudes.

Kim O’Connor on why we need to take the sexual harassment allegations against Louis CK seriously.

Me on Game of Thrones and comics to change your gender.

Kate Polak on sexual violence and implicating the viewer in Game of Thrones.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the New Republic I wrote about Game of Thrones and how critics write about all the same things all the time.

At Playboy I

—wrote about why B.B. King is the King of Rock, not just blues.

—interviewed Dianna E. Anderson about purity culture and creating a better Christian sexual ethics. .

—wrote about Game of Thrones and the complimentary media portrayals of sexual violence against women and violence against men.

8 Minutes and why sex workers don’t need to be saved.

At Ravishly I wrote about how erasing male victims of domestic violence hurts both men and women.

At Splice Today I wrote about books for white guys.
 
Other Links

Chris Blattman on that faked gay marriage study.

Barry Ritholtz on how the minimum wage doesn’t kill jobs; it just reduces corporate profits.

Rex Huppke on how the Mad Max movie is a feminist trick.
 

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Utilitarian Review 5/16/15

Wonder Woman News

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela reviews a bunch of Wonder Woman books, including mine, at Public Books.

The Dartmouth student newspaper is confused about the subject of the talk I gave there.
 
On HU

Janell Hobson and the context of global racism.

I am bitter that Paul Krugman gets to write pop culture crit at the NYT.

Should I try to run a patreon to write my book?

Kim O’Connor writes an open letter to Art Spiegelman about the PEN awards and Charlie Hebdo.

James Lamb with a long post on why diverse superheroes are an impossibility.

Chris Gavaler on how the KKK fit the definition of superheroes.

Phillip Smith on Saga and trauma.

Donovan Grant on the possibility of black superheroes.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about Wonder Woman, A-Force, and how super sexy may be better than super violent.

At Urban Faith I reviewed Robert Marovich’s history of Chicago gospel.

Jordannah Elizabeth interviewed me to ask me what I think I’m doing, anyway.

At Raivshly I made a list of lesser known torch singers.

At the Reader a little review of Jason Eady, the best country singer out there now.
 
Other Links

Nicole Cliff with a list of books all white men own.

Dianne Anderson on the demand that Christian bloggers be nice.

Tressie McMillan Cottom on how if academic institutions want their scholars to be public intellectuals, they need to support them when the social media firestorm erupts.
 

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Utilitarian Review 5/8/15

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Wonder Woman News

I am giving a talk at Dartmouth Sat. morning on WW; maybe even as you read this.

Matthew Cheney gave me a really nice review on his blog.

Joan Hilty reviewed my book at the Wellesley Women’s Review of Books.

On HU

Featured Archive Post: James Romberger on Marie Severin.

Me on how the success of Louis Armstrong doesn’t disprove Jim Crow.

Should I do a kickstarter for my next book?

Ibrahim Ineke with a devotional reading of Frank Miller’s Dark Knight.

Aaron Kashtan on whether comics geekdom can become more inclusive.

Chris Gavaler on the Nepal earthquake and superhero Orientalism.

Roy T. Cook on the paradox of comics; reading pictures and drawing words.

Nix 66 on 8 minutes, sex workers, and getting truth from women’s bodies.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about how the Black Widow/Hulk romance sucked.

At the Atlantic I reviewed an excellent historical comic about the Civil War.

At Playboy:

—I talked about cell phone’s important but limited role in holding police accountable.

—I reviewed Maya Rodale’s Dangerous Books for Girls, about why people hate romance novels.

—I wrote about how Age of Ultron is a slave narrative and you should root for the robots.

—I wrote about how you can’t have feminist liberation without choice.

At Quartz I reviewed Sam Magg’s Fangirls Guide to the Galaxy.

At Splice Today I wrote about how My dog is dumber than my cat.
 
Other Links

Katherine Cross on choice feminism.

Tara Burns on how sex workers killed 8 minutes.

Juniper Fitzgerald on discrimination against sex workers in academia.

Paul Thomas on the disappointing black Captain America.