Tom Speelman

This weekend the live-action Ghost In The Shell film starring Scarlett Johansson hits theatres. Early reviews haven't been kind, and the audacious whitewashing at the heart of it all irritates me so much that I don't plan to see it. Instead, I decided to dive into the West's favorite chapter in the long-running GiTS franchise: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex!

Sesame Street is one of the longest-running kids' shows in history for a good reason. It's not just entertaining; it's also genuinely important, providing kids from all over --- and especially kids from low-income or disadvantaged families --- with lessons about letters, numbers, and the world around them. Since the show is produced by the nonprofit Sesame Workshop, with a planned curriculum and heavy research in consultation with educational and teaching experts, Sesame Street is constantly evolving to suit the needs of its audience, so it's no surprise that the show is introducing Julia, an autistic Muppet.

There's no getting around it; Danny Rand, the Immortal Iron Fist. the champion of K'un Lun, is an insensitively conceived character; a white guy who stumbles on an immortal race of Asian people and turns out to be better at their whole existence than them. That's the bedrock any creator has to deal with when crafting his stories. A similar challenge faces the blaxploitation-themed Luke Cage, who became Danny's partner in 1972 in Luke Cage, Hero For Hire, which became Power Man & Iron Fist, in order to save both characters from cancellation. Originally written by Chris Claremont, the book passed to Jo Duffy when he left to focus on the increasingly popular X-Men franchise. Duffy's solution to Iron Fist's problematic backstory? Make him an idiot.

Since she crossed over to comics in 2003 from the underrated X-Men Evolution cartoon, Laura Kinney --- AKA X-23, Logan's female clone and surrogate daughter --- has become one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel Universe. A survivor in every sense of the word who moved on from her bioengineered origins as a weapon to become her own person, Laura has been the current Wolverine for almost two years now and, if there's any justice, she'll stay Wolverine forever. Here, then, are eight songs that explore every facet of the All-New Wolverine's long and winding road from emotionless killer to the best there is at what she does.

This weekend sees both the long-awaited debut of Nintendo's latest game console, Nintendo Switch, and the even longer-awaited release of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. In a change from Screen & Page's usual focus on anime, we thought we would use this occasion to look at the media history of perhaps the greatest Zelda game, A Link To The Past!

It's Love & Sex Week here on ComicsAlliance and, while a quick glance at the internet will tell you there's a whole lot of anime that fit this subject, I decided to go with one that a) won't get me fired and b) is visually daring, funny, and occasionally just plain disgusting. Today, we're talking about Panty & Stocking With Garterbelt!!!

What if you were a big deal at your high school, but haunted by something you did as a kid? And what if you were a kid nobody noticed, but haunted by actual ghosts? And what if those two people were meant to be together? That's the story that drives the Korean webtoon Oh Holy.

Friends, how many times have you seen this story play out? Boy meets girl who ushers him into a hidden world beyond our own where he gets special powers. Girl mentors boy in use of said powers. Girl and boy, despite a solid bond formed in battle, argue constantly. But then, after enduring innumerable trials and hardships only to come out the other side stronger, girl and boy realize they can't live without each other and finally admit their feelings. Cue Big Dramatic Kiss and Sappy Montage of Happiness, right? Well, in the case of Tite Kubo's Bleach, which concluded last August after 15 years, the answer turned out to be a firm "no." And that still kinda bugs me.

In the long-running manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, author Hirohiko Araki tells the story of the flamboyant Joestar family and their battle with supernatural forces across multiple generations. With more than a hundred volumes across thirty years, the series has become a Japanese pop culture icon, so it's no surprise that a movie is in the works from Warner Bros and Toho, the production company behind the Godzilla movies. What is surprising is that they landed the perfect superstar director for the gig; Takashi Miike.

Today, we're talking about the much-hyped, very welcome return of Goku and friends, Dragon Ball Super! Finally legally available in North America, this sequel reunites Goku, Gohan, Piccolo and the rest of the Z Warriors in a show that's just as fun and suspenseful as its predecessor!