Charlotte Finn
The Case for Superman’s Transgender Pal, Jenny Olsen [Pride Week]
There’s a term in the transgender community called “eggmode”; parlance for transgender or nonbinary people who haven’t figured it out yet. A while back on social media, #eggmode trended with tales of behaviors that in retrospect seem like giant neon signs. They include thinking constantly about what it would be like as a gender other than the one we think we are; undergoing experimental living as said gender; or reading and writing stories about characters who have transitioned (even if those stories get just enough wrong to put some warped ideas in our heads.)
Superman's pal Jimmy Olsen is totally an egg. Jimmy’s next startling metamorphosis could be into an actual egg, and it wouldn't make the character any more of an egg than they are now.
There Are Two Kinds of Perfect: Searching for the Best Superman
News recently broke that Superman will make his first appearance on Supergirl in season two, which is something of a surprise. Many people have commented that Supergirl's portrayal of Superman is the best there’s been on TV or the movies in years, even though he’s barely in it. He’s a distant figure, far away. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that’s not the best way to handle the character in the role many people want him to occupy.
The Recap Page: What You Need to Know Heading into ‘Lazarus’ #22
With so many great comics series to read, it can be difficult remembering what happened in a previous issue as we head into the current one. The Recap Page is here to help readers recall what they need to know as an important new issue looms!
This week, Lazarus makes its long-awaited return with Lazarus #22, as Greg Rucka and Michael Lark take us back to their all-too-plausible future dystopia of warring families, extreme class disparity and immortal assassins. Every piece on the game board is poised to get blown straight off, and a discovery’s been made that may change Forever Carlyle’s life for good…
Preacher Ma’am: How Does ‘Gone to Texas’ Hold Up Today?
As someone who thought she was a dude in the late 1990s, Preacher was the comic I looked forward to every month more than any other. As someone who knows she isn’t a dude in the mid-2010s, I’m looking back on this series and examining what still works, what doesn’t work, and what its lasting legacy is.
Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, with colors by Matt Hollingsworth, letters by Clem Robbins, and covers by Glenn Fabry, Preacher launched in 1995 from Vertigo. The first trade paperback, Gone To Texas, was published in 1996. The series is now being adapted for the screen as a TV series on AMC, and it was the moment that Jesse Custer pulled out a cellphone in the Preacher pilot that I realized that the mid-'90s were a long time ago.
ICYMI: All The Robots Got Super Emotional in ‘Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye’ #53
It used to be a truth universally acknowledged that any time a robot gets emotional, comics are about to get real bad. But bucking the trend and breaking the mold are the Transformers, and specifically the Transformers of the Lost Light in More Than Meets The Eye #53, by James Roberts, Alex Milne, and Hayato Sakamoto. Those robots are in a real devil of a pickle now, and they're making their peace with it the best they can.
Lost in Transition: ‘Cucumber Quest,’ Rosemaster, and the Making of a Transgender Villain
But sometimes a comic conquers these obstacles, finds an audience, excels at its craft on every level, has wonderful characters, and in the process showcases how to navigate that sticky quandary of how to write a marginalized character as a villain. The webcomic Cucumber Quest by Gigi D.G. is just such a series. There will be spoilers for the third chapter and third interlude, if you haven’t read them.
The Recap Page: What You Need to Know Heading Into ‘Sex Criminals #15′
With so many great comics series to read, it can be difficult remembering what happened in a previous issue as we head into the current one. The Recap Page is here to help readers remember what they need to know as a new issue looms.
This week, Sex Criminals #15 drops, with Matt Fraction writing and Chip Zdarsky drawing, and both of them telling jokes. Everything’s coming (tee hee) to a head (tee hee) as tensions bubble over (tee hee, okay I’ll stop now) and the antagonists make their move…
On the Barriers to Diverse Comics in the Direct Market
Over the past week there's been much discussion in the comics sphere about how books that have risen to the challenge of greater diversity have not in turn risen up the charts of the direct market. A debate is taking place over whether the audience is really putting its money where its mouth is, and this debate is more complex than a yes or a no, and requires a little unpacking.
Adam Frey at Pop Culture Uncovered has one take, asking if the failure of diverse books is a responsibility that ultimately rests with the market. Personally, I think a better question to ask when speculating if the market itself has failed is, “which market?”
The Recap Page: What You Need To Know Heading Into ‘Clean Room’ #7
With so many great comics series to read, it can be difficult remembering what happened in a previous issue as we head into the current one. The Recap Page is here to help readers remember what they need to know as a new issue looms.
This week, Clean Room #7 by writer Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt delves into the backstory of its pseudo-antagonist, Astrid Mueller --- a New Age self-help guru and the leader of a cult that might save the world, destroy it, or do both at the same time.
The Recap Page: What You Need To Know Heading Into ‘Archie’ #7
With so many great comics series to read, it can be difficult keeping track of everything that happened from issue to issue. With The Recap Page, we're here to help existing readers stay on track, and help new readers jump on board some of the best comics being published today.
This week's Archie #7, by Mark Waid and Veronica Fish, sees a war brewing in Riverdale as a recently injured Archie faces the wrathful vengeance of Hiram Lodge. But don't expect a typical Archie reset when the dust settles!