On HU

Somewhat shortened week with the holiday, but here’s what we had:

Featured Archive Post: Caroline Small on Ellen Raskin’s Christmas illustrations.

My nine-year-old drew a Santa Tiger.

I talked about Nigerians invading London in John Christopher’s The Long Winter.

I suggested it might be worthwhile to think of comics as a genre rather than a medium.

I posted about Trollope and capitalism and lazy lordlings.

Kim Thompson on Tintin in the Congo.

 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice I argue that, contra Mike Huckabee, Jesus really would not have blamed children for getting shot.

At the Atlantic I talk about Jared Diamond’s new book and child-rearing among traditional societies.

 
Other Links

Karen Swallow Prior on Mary’s radical declaration of consent.

C.T. May detourns an HU comments thread.

Andrei Molotiu on abstract comics and systems theory.

Ta-Nehisi Coates with a great post on living prepared for violence or prepared for non-violence.

And I think I’ve seen this before, but it’s worth linking again to this nifty romance comics blog.

 
This Week’s Reading

I finished a preview copy of Bee Ridgway’s River of No Return; read Jason Mittel’s Genre and Television; read Trollope’s The Claverings, and read the second dreadful Fifty Shades of Grey book.

News

We’re headed into the holidays, obviously. Posting will be lighter than usual, though something or t’other will probably go up most days. In any case, have a happy season of happiness!
 
On HU

Featured Archive Post: me on Jack Cole’s pin-up art.

Vom Marlowe on the Inspector Lewis television cozies.

Bert Stabler on the radical feminism of St. Paul.

Subdee on Yamagishi Ryouko’s gender-bending Hatshepsut.

My nine-year-old provides a searing cultural critique of Brave and Django, Unchained.

I talk about how Bart Beaty’s ideas are my ideas, and comics scholars vs. comics bloggers. Beaty freaks out in comments, more or less confirming my thesis.

Alex Buchet on how the King drew Mickey, and other Kirby oddities.

Kim Thompson in comments on the rationale behind Fanta’s recent Kurtzman reissues.

I have some comments on the genocide against the orcs.

Domingos Isabelinho on the Brussels court and Tintin in the Congo.

Jog with the only epic contrarian Bollywood essay you’ll need this holiday season.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I have a piece on Peter Jackson’s violent betrayal of Tolkien. I think this is now close to the most read thing I’ve ever written.

Also at the Atlantic, they let me write about Quentin Tarnatino’s great Jackie Brown and masculinity.

At Splice I talk about Tokien’s Hobbit and children’s lit vs. epic fantasy.

Also at Splice, I explain why I am not metal enough for Velnias.

And finally I contributed to Splice’s poll of best albums of the year.

 
Other Links

C.T. May on Sean Howe’s history of Marvel Comics.

Brian Cremins on Captain Marvel, gender, and department stores.

Qiana Whitted on Delany and comics definitions.

Bart Beaty interviewed at the Comics Grid.

 
This Week’s Reading

For a review I finished the first 50 Shades of Grey; only two more to go, god help me. Finished Alasdair MacIntyre’s “Whose Justice? Which Rationality?” by skipping over most of the incredibly detailed discussions of historical philosophical traditions and going straight to the ranting about how liberalism abstracts ideas from their philosophical traditions. Read John Christopher’s excellent “The Long Winter”. Started for review “The River of No Return,” by Bee Ridgway, aka Bethany Schneider, a dear friend I went to Oberlin with many, many moons ago.
 

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Erica Friedman interviews Marguerite Dabaie.

Me on how comics scholars are defined by definitions and idiocy.

Jones, One of the Jones Boys on what happens when you mash up the Hooded Utilitarian with Cracked.com.

Michael Arthur on Jason, werewolves, and the furry subculture.

Matthias Wivel on racial representations, free speech, and censorship in Scandinavia.

Me on pop art vs. comics: which is more manly?

James Romberger on Josh Simmons, Harvey Kurtzman, Jane Mai, and a bunch of other comics.

Me on science fiction and who colonizes the colonizers.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I suggest we can maybe not freak out so much about the perfect time to have kids.

At Splice Today I talk about rock and the new man from Elvis to Ke$ha.

Also at Splice, how America loves me because I’m a Jew.

 
Other Links

Ta-Nehisi Coates on violence, guns, and the allure of standing your ground.

Shaenon Garrity on what webcomics there aren’t.

Feminist underwear prank on Victoria’s Secret.

DG Myers on critics and credentialing.

Monika Bartyzel on women, sex, and work in Hollywood.
 
This Week’s Reading

I spent most of this week trying to slog through Jared Diamond’s mammoth “The World Until Yesterday” for a review. Started Alasdair MacIntyre’s “Whose Justice? Which Rationality?” Finished Bart Beaty’s Comics vs. Art. Poked at Nel Noddings’ The Maternal Factor, which I should really read…but the evolutionary psychology thing is hard to hack. Also started Fifty Shades of Grey for an assignment — and good lord it’s wretched.
 

News

I’ve been invited to write a bit more regularly for the Atlantic’s Sexes channel — so keep an eye over there if that sounds interesting.

On HU

Caroline Small on authenticity and Aline Kominsky-Crumb (featured archive post.)

I review Biomega and Ikigami and see things blow up while learning life lessons.

I review Wu Tsang’s Wildness, a film about a Hispanic trans bar.

Me on whether Johnny Ryan or Raymond Chandler is more of a man.

Ng Suat Tong on Mattotti and Zentner’s Crackle of the Frost.

Tucker Stone on 100 Bullets (Voices from the Archive.)

Matt Brady on the horror comics of Emily Carroll.

Me on Raymond Chandler’s misogyny.

Kailyn Kent on Saul Steinberg, the cult of genius, and the status anxiety of cartooning.

Me on why liberals should stop worrying about creationism already.

Richard Cook on gender and Jaeger in Carla Speed McNeil’s Finder:Voice.

Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I think about why Katy Perry doesn’t identify as feminist.

At the Atlantic I review Playing For Keeps, and explain why infidelity doesn’t make the man.

And again at the Atlantic, I point out that Ross Douthat is a decadent tool of modernity who hates children.

At Splice I explain why the fiscal cliff is the founding father’s fault.

At Splice, I write about the smaller-than-life soul of Womack and Womack.

Other Links

The Magic Pixie Dust Prostitute (HT Alyssa Rosenberg.)

Amanda Marcotte rejects Ross Douthat’s population growth concern trolling.

Neil McArthur on stupid social trend articles.

C.T May dives into memeing.
 
This Week’s Reading

Read a bit more Auden poetry and then got bored; read a slim Alasdair MacIntyre lecture volume on atheism; read Stanley Hauerwas’ excellent memoir Hannah’s Child; started Jared Diamond’s new book The World Until Yesterday, hopefully for a review. Also started Bart Beaty’s Comics vs. Art.
 

On HU

Featured Archive Post: Ng Suat Tong on Tony Millionaire, love, and monkeys.

A electronica dance pop downloadable mix.

Jacob Canfield tries to find a motion comic that does not suck.

Kailyn Kent reviews Bart Beaty’s book, Comics vs. Art.

Jason Dittmer responds to my review of his book on Captain America and nationalist superheroes.

Me on Alun Llewellyn’s sci-fi classic The Strange Invaders, and why dystopias are always utopias.

RM Rhodes on Iain M. Banks and the problems with genre.

Charles Hatfield on why Maus is not glib (Voices from the Archive.)

Vom Marlowe puts together some links to Youtube videos showing artists inking.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

Slate kindly let me plug Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit #4.

At Splice I talk about Nate Silver and the morality of prediction.
 
Other Links

John Horgan on teaching evolution to creationist students.

Choice Joyce compares pro-life groups to anti-prostitution feminists.

Amanda Hess argues that porn stars aren’t any more likely to have been abused as children than other women (that is, they are fairly likely to have been abused.)

Alyssa Rosenberg on why James Gunn shouldn’t be involved in bringing Marvel’s Captain Marvel to film.

David Brothers on why he writes about race and comics.
 
This Week’s Reading

I reread the four volumes of Johnny Ryan’s Prison Pit, read C.L. Moore’s Vintage Season, and started Auden’s Selected Poems. Also read a preview of David Wojnarowicz/James Romberger/Marguerite Van Cook’s “7 Miles Per Second,” which is great. And reading John Christopher’s “The Possessors,” which is also pretty fantastic.