On HU

Featured Archive post: Brigid Alverson on the Beano and other British kids comics.

Dirk Deppey from the archive on Lost Girls as reactionary propaganda.

I sneer at the vaunting tedium of Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem.

Isaac Butler on Jonathan Lethem’s Chronic City, the Internet, and complicity: Part I, Part 2.

Ng Suat Tong on Richard Corben’s adaptation/desecration of William Hope Hodgson.

Kailyn Kent on Craig Norton and the contradictions of gallery agitprop.

Bert Stabler reviews CAKE, the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I urge you to save the country by kicking a moderate.
 
Other Links

Alex Pareene on Kathryn Jean Lopez

The Boston Globe reviews Anthony Heilbut’s great new book, The Fan Who Knew Too Much.
 

News

I’m going to be moderating a panel on queer anthologies at the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) tomorrow. Here are the details.

3:30pm – 4:30pm, 8th Floor Auditorium

Queer Communities, Queer Anthologies

with Annie Murphy, Justin Hall, and Robert Kirby
moderated by Noah Berlatsky
sponsored by Little Heart, a Comic Anthology for Marriage Equality

A sense of aesthetic community is perhaps one of the most essential and undefinable aspects of assembling an anthology. Similarly, defining a queer community can be both incredibly tricky and unconditionally inspiring. The editors of three powerhouse LGBTIQ comics anthologies discuss the overlap and feedback between grouping and identity and what forms of community queer comics can build.

If you’re in Chicago, come see us! And check out the rest of CAKE programming too; it looks pretty awesome.
 
On HU

Featured Archive post: Bill Randall on Tatsumi covers here and in Japan.

I explain why the Watchmen movie sucks.

I ask Do you have a right to piracy?

Jones, One of the Jones Boys, argues ethics and aesthetics in Before Watchmen.

Ng Suat Tong on the original art of Howard Chaykin’s Time².

Cheryl Lynn Eaton on comics’ marketing confusion at Book Expo America.

Travis Reynolds on panels, closure, and blood in the gutters (part of our comics criticism 101 series.

I talk about gaze theory and Being John Malkovitch.

 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Atlantic I explain why reading doesn’t necessarily set women free. (An essay which has attracted some really unpleasant sexist trolling in comments for some reason.)

At Splice I talk about Kelly Hogan’s mediocre new album.

Also at Splice, I talk about the Melvin’s awesome new album.

Jeet Heer quotes me in his piece on gay superheroes.

 
Other Links

Andrew Hickey with a very convincing negative review of Darwyn Cooke’s Minutemen.

Why evolution vs. creation doesn’t really matter much.

Aaron Kashtan on some problems with Hillary Chute’s Graphic Women.

Alyssa Rosenberg on rape in Tomb Raider.
 

News

Did I mention that Jones One of the Jones Boys has joined us as a contributing writer? He has!
 
On HU

Our Featured Archive post this week was my massive interview with Johnny Ryan.

I talk about Katana, superheroine without cheesecake.

Alex Buchet on Prometheus and Ridley Scott’s fever dreams.

I argue that Before Watchmen is a shitty idea because of labor practices, not copyright.

Isaac Butler explains why Prometheus is no good. (Lots of spoilers.)

Domingos Isabelinho on M.S. Bastian, Isabelle L., and Lego concentration camps.

Ben Saunders in praise of Bendis and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Ryan Melcher on color in Heath and Murray’s “Hearts and Minds.” This post is a response to an assignment by Phillip Troutman. We’ll have more papers from his class over the next few weeks.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere
At Splice I write about men in Pretty Woman.
 
Other Links

Robert Stanley Martin on The Shark King.

52…eh.

Comic book publishers and desperate marketing gambits.

Dominic Umile on the Green River Killer.

At HU

I talk about the mundane blankness of Jason’s Low Moon

I review the autobiography of country great Charlie Louvin.

Ng Suat Tong on comics adaptations of Lovecraft.

Kailyn Kent on Jeff Gabel and gallery cartoonists.

Kurt Buseik on why why Batman is not Green Lantern.

Robert Stanley Martin on Tolstoy and heroes.

Richard Cook on the Smithsonian’s video games as art exhibit.

I talk about Roy Lichtenstein and the heartbreak of appropriaton.

An R&B, blues, and soul download mix.

 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Slate I explain why Alan Moore is right to be pissed.

At Slate’s double X blog I talk about the first queer superhero not Alan Scott.

At Splice I talk about the surprisingly positive results of Obama’s support for gay marriage.

At Splice I’m disappointed with the new Squarepusher album.

&mbsp;
Other Links

Nice Tucker Carlson hit job by Alex Pareene.

The Reader with some quality snark in the direction of their new owners.

Jones on comics’ crappy coloring.

Charles Reece on Mad Men.

Et tu, Tucker?

Nice Edie Fake cover.

The NYT on Anthony Heilbut’s great new book on (among other things) gospel and gayness in the black church.
 

News

Well, we’ve finally, finally got our entire archive over here. It was brutal, but finally finished. To celebrate, I’ve posted a bunch of things from the archive this week, including:

—Robert Boyd with a comment on TCJ’s mainstream coverage.

—Caroline Small on the fecundity of Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing.

—me on why women like boy’s love.

— Miriam Libicki on Terry Moore, Jaime Hernandez, and soap operas.

—A voices from the archive post highlighting a comment by Miriam Libicki on Lost Girls.
 
On HU

I talk about dick vs. fanny in male genre comics.

Ng Suat Tong on Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother?

Qiana Whitted on what cigarette warning labels tell us about comics.

Charles Reece with a two part explanation of why the Marston/Peter Wonder Woman is a fascist tool. part one; part two.

With Charles’ pieces, we’ve finally completed our Marston/Peter Wonder Woman roundtable. The index for the entire thing is here.

I talk about the Zen of John Porcellino’s Christmas Eve.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I review Rye Rye’s new album.

Also at Splice I ask why the fuck NATO exists, and why won’t they leave us alone.
 
Other Links

Isaac Butler interviews Laura Miller on fandom.

Alyssa Rosenberg on D’Angelo’s body issues.
 

News

Believe it or not, we’re still trying to move our archives over from the blogspot address. Apparently the blogspot content was just too large, and it’s caused various problems. It looks like we’re almost done (hopefully Monday.) There will still be a lot of cleanup after that, but hopefully it’ll be worth it to have everything in one place at last.
 
On HU

In our Featured Archive Post I explain that Darwyn Cook is no Marston/Peter.

I write about Bruce Springsteen, undisputed Boss of swollen bombast.

Derik Badman with the penultimate entry in our Wonder Woman roundtable discusses the style of Harry Peter.

Sean Michael Robinson on Anne Frank, the Carpenters, and copyright.

I put up a downloadable blues and gospel mix.

Darryl Ayo Brathwaite on why comics readings don’t work.

Read about the comic that broke Tucker Stone’s heart.

Ng Suat Tong is unimpressed with Guy Delisle’s Jerusalem.

I set up different interpretations of Zen for a duel to the death (or possibly to enlightenment, whichever comes first.

The Chicago Alternative Comics Expo (CAKE) is happening here June 16-17; check out details here.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Splice Today I talked about why straight people need gay marriage. (Andrew Sullivan linked!!

Also at Splice I review the industrial doom of Author & Punisher.

Also at Splice I talk about the paleness of Dark Shadows.
 
Other Links

Interesting post on polyamory and gay marriage.

Isaac Butler on theater, copyright, and public domain.

Freddie deBoer with a great post on the triumph of geek culture and the endless whining of geeks.

Some horrifying info about wrongful birth laws.

Darryl Ayo Brathwaite on superheroes making speeches to other superheroes and similar poor choices.