Tag: Yeah No Thanks Rating

[Book Review] Marvel’s Black Widow – From Spy to Superhero edited by Sherry Ginn

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black-widow-cover

Title: Marvel’s Black Widow: From Spy to Superhero
Editor: Sherry Ginn
Authors: Malgorzata Drewniok, Heather M. Porter, Samira Nadkarni, Valerie Estelle Frankel, Jillian Coleman Benjamin, Sherry Ginn, Lewis Call, David Kociemba, and Tanya R. Cochran
Rating: Yeah, No Thanks
Genre/Category: Nonfiction, Superheroes, Feminism, Popular Culture, Comic Books
Release Date: March 1, 2017
Publisher: McFarland and Company

Order Here: AMAZON

Note: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review. All of the views in review are my own.

This collection of essays first came to my attention last semester when I looking for sources I could use in a paper for my Cold War literature class about the position the Black Widow held when it came to Anti-Cold War propaganda in comic books. This essay collection is both a celebration of Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) and a criticism of the cultural environments that led to her creation and subsequent (frequent) reimaginings/reinventions as a second-string to male heroes in Marvel’s various universes.

Out of the volume’s nine essays, I thought maybe three or four had serious worth and didn’t make me want to pitch my kindle.

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[Book Review] Pain Slut

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Title: Pain Slut (Subs’ Club #2)Pain Slut Rock
Author: J.A. Rock
Rating:  Yeah, No Thanks
Genre/Category: Contemporary, BDSM, Romance, Interracial, M/M
Release Date: February 1, 2016
Publisher: Riptide Publishing

Note: I will not be linking to the author, their social media, or any links to purchase this book because the good parts do not begin to make up for the horrible racism that peppers the text.

I picked up Pain Slut on a lark when I saw that the fourth and final book in J. A. Rock’s Sub Club series was coming out so I’m a bit behind on the series since this book came out in February.

The series seemed interesting enough (it’s about four friends who band together to change their local BDSM community after one of their friends and a fellow sub is killed at the hands of a neglectful Dom) but I decided to get the second book since I felt that the stress might be a little lessened as we’re one book past their friend’s death.

Here’s the thing about Pain Slut: despite its cute moments and some kink that I really found sexy, it had some incredibly problematic attitudes about race/racism, respectability politics, and how it portrayed the Black main character.Read More »