Representation articles

Health and Inclusivity: Embracing the New in SCHOOL FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL GIRLS

Health and Inclusivity: Embracing the New in SCHOOL FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL GIRLS

Adjustment is basically a synonym for adolescence. In Jeremy Whitley, Jamie Noguchi, Shannon Lilly, and Wilson Ramos Jr.’s School for Extraterrestrial Girls, Tara has to make some adjustments that neither she nor we would ever expect. In a matter of moments, Tara finds out she isn’t human, like at all, the people who raised her

Anatomy of a Panel: Alex Sanchez Brings YOU BROUGHT ME THE OCEAN

Comics history is intermedial, seeing its evolution as a journey of creative cross-pollinations with stage, photographic, musical, film, animation, radio,  and long and short form prose narrative arts. Along with this history, there have been notable creator cross-overs and bi-directional cross-flows. From comics to long form narrative fiction we have notables like Stan Lee, Alan

Health and Inclusivity: The Past, Present, and Future of STE(A)M in Gifted’s P.B. SOLDIER

Without knowledge, what do you do? When you don’t know the outcome, how do you take a step forward and challenge unhelpful vestiges of your past? Nat Cummings is an assassin employed by The Establishment, a seedy government group that often leaves its motives hidden. In the course of doing his job, he begins to

From Earth Angel to the Grave: Burying Peter David’s SUPERGIRL

During this period of upheaval and death due to the COVID-19 pandemic, who among us doesn’t fear for the future? Alongside trying not to get sick, I’m worried about keeping my comic shop open, the health of my parents, and the life of my grandfather (who just suffered a major stroke and has the virus).

Anatomy of a Panel: LA VOZ De M.A.Y.O. TATA RAMBO with Barajas and Gonzo

In case you hadn’t noticed, there’s an off-the-hook force of nature in the comics ecosphere: writer Henry Barajas and illustrator J. Gonzo. With Henry, think: razor-sharp instinct of a Joan Didion blended with the street-level acuity of a Carlos Monsiváis and the reportage panache of a Jorgé Ramos. With Gonzo, think: dynamism of Kirby, ligne

Health and Inclusivity: Coming into Power with Jessi Zabarsky and WITCHLIGHT

What would you do if you were all you had in a world that felt at odds against you, if the expectations placed on you diminished your ability to live life on your terms? That is the question asked of Lelek and Sanja, the protagonists of the upcoming graphic novel Witchlight.   Written and illustrated

Anatomy of a Panel: David F. Walker and BITTER ROOT

To say that David Walker is a creative super-force of nature would be an understatement. Prodigious author of award-winning comics. Author of widely acclaimed YA and adult fiction. Writer of incisive pop cultural criticism and journalistic scholarship. Maker of documentary films. Passionate and dedicated professor across all the storytelling arts at Portland State University. It’s

Transmyscira: Exorcising the Ghosts of the 20th Century with IRON MAN: EXTREMIS

Let us not become the evil we deplore. – Rep. Barbara Lee, September 14th, 2001   I couldn’t take it any longer. I grabbed a microphone and said, ‘I’m no fly on the wall. I am the hornet that stings.’ There was an immediate uproar, so not having anything more to say, I shouted out,

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA and its Debt to Shinji Wada

Do you know? Do you know? Have you heard this story before? A pink haired young girl seeks to protect her friend, a bullied young woman with a bindi mark on her forehead. What the pink haired girl doesn’t realize is there’s more to her friend then she’s able to recognize and the girl with

Anatomy of a Panel: John Jennings, Damian Duffy, and PARABLE OF THE SOWER

Extraordinary comics creators in their own right, when joining forces the inestimable John Jennings (artist) and Damian Duffy (writer/letterer) pull off the superheroic. For over a decade, this virtuoso dynamic duo have channeled their co-creative talents into radical revolutionizing of the comics scene. Already in 2008, they pushed the art of comic book storytelling beyond

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