Tag: comic books

Link Lineup – March 2021

Stitch

Getting to know Korean modern and contemporary art with RM

Until this point, we have mainly discussed paintings, but they are not the only works of art that embody Korean history and traditions. That is not to suggest that works that inherit from tradition are always excluded from the list of artistic genres, but no list would be complete without the ceramics of Kwon Dae-sup. RM, who uploaded a picture of himself with one of Kwon’s moon jars in his arms on his social media, admiringly referred to Kwon as a master of Korean aesthetics while viewing his work s at an exhibition. 

I have this absolutely irrational fear of museums that I will never address. As a result, I do a lot of my art-learning through art criticism and the flurry of coverage that comes whenever BTS’ RM goes to a new museum exhibit or purchases art (that he or the artist then posts about on social media). I’m super grateful for this piece by art critic Jangno Lee because it looks at the art RM has looked at and what he’s loved enough to purchase and then puts all that art into its contexts for a wider audience and reveals information on the techniques that many average fans who aren’t art nerds wouldn’t know. Now, I’m holding out for some uh… hip-hop focused content? Because I desperately need to know RM and Suga’s thoughts on M-net’s latest hip hop offerings and the general state of Korean hip hop… Just saying.

Read More »

[Stitch Likes Stuff] Fence

Stitch

 

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

If One Tree Hill and basically any sports manga out there had a literary lovechild that grew up to be queer and was also invested in fencing, that’d be Fence.

Written by Australian author C.S. Pacat and with art by Johanna the Mad and colors by Juana Lafuente, this series got me invested by the end of the first issue. Heck, from the moment character design posts went up on Tumblr in the months previous, I was hyped. I was intensely invested in Western creators’ comics that were obviously inspired by their love of Japanese sports manga as well as their own experiences with sports in the United States and Fence seemed like it’d be my thing.

And it was!

Pacat and Johanna (who created the series together) come together to make a charming and absolutely engaging sports-drama with diverse queer characters right on the page. I love everything about Fence so far. Six issues in and I’m beyond invested in the way that character development is revealing more and more about the complex characters and their backstories. The art is cute and crisp, the characters are interesting, and the drama is never-ending. It is everything I could’ve asked for from such a series.

Legit, from the first issue I had favorite characters and even some light shipping going on. It’s a series that seems tailor-made for fandom and I hope it gets a good one!

If you’re like me and you love Ngozi Ukazu’s Check, Please, I’d suggest checking out Fence as issues 1-6 are available now on Comixology/Amazon.

Don’t forget to reach out to the creators if you enjoy the series!

(And come talk to me about the series too!)

[Review] Six-Gun Gorilla: Long Days of Vengeance

Stitch

Six Gun Gorilla Cover

Writer: Brian Christgau

Artist: Adrián Sibar

Letters: Bram Meehan and Dave Sharpe

Support the creators and get the comic on: COMIXOLOGY | AMAZON (Link to the first issue only) | KICKSTARTER

Note: Brian Christgau provided me with this review comic. The thoughts expressed in this post are entirely my own (obviously because who else would write an intense ode to a fictional gorilla?) and are honest representations of my opinions.

There’s something cathartic about watching a gorilla shoot the hell out of bad guys.

When I was trying to describe Six Gun Gorilla‘s premise to one of my friends, I wound up saying that it was something close to what you’d get if the long dead Edgar Rice Burroughs and Quentin Tarantino had a baby and if that baby was cooler than its parents while also being a gorilla.

As far as descriptions go, it’s a bit nonsensical, but it’s also what makes Six Gun Gorilla my kind of comic book. It’s a comic set in the American West during the times of cowboys and cattle rustlers and there’s also a gorilla running around blowing people’s heads off.

I’m sorry, was I supposed to refrain from falling in love with this ridiculously awesome comic?Read More »

Look what came in the mail~

Stitch

20151125_182728.jpg

It really isn’t every day that you find out that one of your favorite authors in the world keeps up with your blog. Like, up until a few weeks ago, I’d have sworn up and down that that sort of thing just didn’t happen to little fish like me.

But apparently they do!!!

A week or two ago (I’m always shaky on recalling the passage of time), I get an email from none other than BEN AARONOVITCH. You know, the Doctor Who writer who’s also responsible for one of my FAVORITE urban fantasy series in the universe: the Rivers of London series. I’ve been reading the series for several years now and I’m now eagerly awaiting the next book which’ll be out next year. I genuinely think that the series is brilliant and that Ben Aaronovitch is a great writer.

Which is why, when I first saw the email from him (via my blog’s contact form) I proceeded to fanperson all over the place. I’m actually still fanperson-ing about it right now. He’s just so cool, okay. And so nice!

And he sent me the first five issues of Rivers of London: Body Work!! Because he liked my blog and thinks I’m awesome (I’m paraphrasing but still…).

I’m going to treasure them forever and pass them down to my descendants along with my kindle (if by then we can’t just beam books directly into our brains).

I’m absolutely the luckiest person in the world right now.

😀

Searching for Real Love: My torrid love affair with Golden Age romance comics

Stitch

This post was originally posted on Patreon for backers supporting me with $1 or more. If early access and exclusives are your thing, consider subscribing!

Page01_AllRomances001I love the Golden Age of comics.

Crime comics.

Horror comics.

Offshoots of the pulps that never quite got big.

You name it, I probably love it. I grew up in a household that was always nerdy but in different ways.

My parents are old. My dad was born in 1939 and my mom in 1948. For some reason, despite all the odds, they ended up together in 1990 and then like 9 months later I popped out.

They weren’t interested in whatever was new on television (except for the soap operas), but made sure that I had access to stuff that they liked as well as stuff that was slightly more age appropriate.

Instead of growing up with Star Wars and Star Trek, I grew up with soap operas. I grew up with the 1960s Batman show. I grew up able to hold my own in discussions on Westerns. And of course, there were the comics.

The comics were my mom’s fault (but my dad was a huge fan of the Flash and original Green Lantern). She grew up on a different island than my dad did and spent her teen and young adult years in New York living a very interesting life. Her experience was relatively less focused on religion and so she got into the post-code horror comics like it was her job. She passed that love of romance and horror comics down to me and I’m definitely going to be blaming her for my fascination with them.Read More »

Comic Review – Clean Room #2

Stitch

 

Clean Room #2 Cover

Writer: Gail Simone

Art: Jon Davis-Hunt

Letters: Todd Klein

Publisher: Vertigo Comics

Release Date: November 18, 2015

Last month, Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt started spinning a tangled web of psychological horror in Clean Room #1. This month, we get the second issue and things are so intense. From the start, I was turning pages with trepidation, unsure what I’d see in the next page and a bit frightened of what would come next. Tension ramps up higher and higher and higher until you’re just as anxious as Chloe is throughout the book.

In Clean Room #2, Astrid Mueller takes Chloe and the captive comic reader audience into the Clean Room and well –

It’s messed up. So messed up that I’m still not quite sure what I’ve read.

For the rest of this review (which gives the comic full marks and talks in-depth about how creeped out I am by the issue and full of speculation for the future), head to where the review is hosted over at Word of the Nerd!

Library Haul 11/02/2015

Stitch2 Comments

wpid-20151102_213136.jpgYesterday was my second attempt at getting the books I need for my story. I actually got a lot of good books for research day part two and a couple of books that are just for fun.

I’ve come to terms with the fact that my story will be superficially similar to Crimson Peak because it’s basically the thing I’m obsessed with. And I liked the feel of the film so much– gosh.

My planned pair of siblings (The Darlings) are messed up in different ways though and my heroine is a woman of color who is immediately suspicious of the duo.

What’s been fun is that in this early part of the planning stage it’s still something I can talk about with my nieces so we’ve been talking a bit about racism and we’re brainstorming monsters and what makes people monstrous. Normally, I can’t really involve them in the writing process because they’re still so little, but since I haven’t actually decided what I’m doing with the plot and I don’t have to skip over any sexual stuff just yet, we’ve been having a blast!

I’m having a ton of fun with research and taking down notes. I can’t wait to sit down and do more of the actual writing.

Now if you’re here, you’re here for the book info so let’s get into that!

Read More »

Comic Review – Gotham Academy #11

Stitch
  • Gotham Academy 11 - CoverWriters: Becky Cloonan & Brenden Fletcher
  • Art: Karl Kerschl with MSASSYK and Mingjue Helen Chen
  • Colors: Serge LaPointe & MSASSYK
  • Letters: Marilyn Patrizio
  • Publisher: DC Comics
  • Release Date: October 21, 2015

Last month, Gotham Academy #10 got downright Shakespearean when the search for the mysterious Calamity saw Olive Silverlock, Maps Mizoguchi, and the rest of the Gotham Academy gang of intrepid teen detectives placed right in the middle of Macbeth and Clayface’s vendetta against the school’s drama teacher Simon Trent.

This month in Gotham Academy #11, the gang heads off campus to Gotham City proper in search for the truth about Olive’s mother and the connection with the costumed villain Calamity. Oh yeah, and there’s a guest appearance by Red Robin (Tim Drake) because cameos by the Batfamily are always welcome!

For the rest of this review (and my first with Word of the Nerd!!), head on over to the site to check it out!

Comic Review – Gotham Academy #11 @ Word of the Nerd

Library Haul 10/13/2015

Image Stitch1 Comment

Today I went to the library to return some stuff and wound up getting some more books because I am weak. Here’s the haul (with handy Amazon links for easy reference): Pearl Pink v1 by Meca Tanaka Mars: Horse With No Name by Fuyumi Soryo Forever Evil: Blight with writing by J. M. DeMattis and […]

When the reaction to calling out racism is… More racism?

Stitch1 Comment

It’s been two months and I still get the best reactions to my post “Dear Comic Fans: We Get it. You’re racist and racebending scares you.” And by best, I mean that I get some of the most condescending and willfully ignorant responses out there.

Way to prove my point, fellow comic fans. How weird is it that the majority of the people that have sent me nasty tweets or left rude comments on my blog (the majority of which have probably been eaten by my spam filter because it’s super strict) are people who have gotten so angry about racebending and my calling out racism, that they need to react angrily to them?

It’s like they read my post, didn’t register anything, and decided to behave in such a way that validated my comments on fandom’s racist reactions to people wanting or working on more diversity in comic canon or superhero media.

Wild, right?Read More »

Robins: Individual Characters, Not Bruce Clones

Stitch

robin characterization post 2We’ve all seen that one Shortpacked comic where Bruce is taking inventory of the Robins and he’s pleased with the ones that look like him and lowkey annoyed with Stephanie, the lone Robin that doesn’t. She’s the only individual among the Robins and the whole point is that Bruce prefers his tiny clones over her.

It’s hilarious, but at the same time, it’s just a joke. It’s funny because like four out of five “main” Robins have black hair and blue eyes and yeah, they kind of look like Bruce, but they’re so not like him.

The reality is that if you know anything about the Robins, you’ll know that they have very different personalities and varied characterizations. They’re written as their own people and sure, their Mission lines up with Bruce’s and they share many of his ideals, but good Robin characterization hinges on them being separate from Bruce. If you’re reading a book with more than one Robin and you can’t tell Jason from Dick in either looks or temperament, you’re not reading a very good comic.

The Robins are Batman’s partners, not clones.

Not aspects of his psyche.Read More »