Hi, my name is Heather. I seem to have a thing for comics, punk rock librarians and time traveling aliens. It's pretty serious. I have a lot of feelings about velociraptors.
Guest writer Heather Knight returns to discuss “Scream.”
I wrote this essay on Wes Craven’s SCREAM, one of my favorite horror movies & the source of my #1 Final Girl Sidney Prescott that gave me a lasting love of the genre. Within it I also talk a little about survival & trauma in horror, & finding your way out of the dark.
It’s a really personal series for me, as personal as the journey of the franchise’s reigning heroine who we not only see survive movie after movie, but evolve. So much of the Scream series is about legacy, the legacy of the horror genre itself, & the legacy of the Final Girl.
On a less serious note, I would also like to thank Scream personally for bringing this gif into my life & to Skeet Ulrich for forever giving me complicated feelings about hot villains.
Guest writer Heather Knight joins us to talk about “Thor: Ragnarok.”
My friends at Midwest Film Journal very kindly invited me to participate in their Marvel Decade series with an essay on Thor: Ragnarok, & here it is. In which I write on Asgardian drama while also getting personal about losing a parent, & I even compare Thor, seductive God of Thunder, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
As it happens, my dad had a really horrible biking accident over the weekend. He's doing okay for the moment but considering the severity of his injuries, it was pretty scary for a couple days & that experience definitely influenced the direction of this essay, making it an incredibly personal one for me.
The story of 'rebirth' isn't new in comics. Long gone are the days when most characters who are dead, actually stay dead. Some people don’t like the constant cycle of resurrected characters, but me? I'm a sucker for the idea of second chances. On this Easter Sunday, I thought it would be a good time to talk about some of my favorite resurrection stories in comics. So this is to the Jean Greys of the world, who always rise again from their own ashes. To all of the Robins, past and present, who have the worst luck in staying alive but eventually find their way back. To the Lanterns, the mutants, the Asgardians - May you ride eternal, shiny and chrome in Valhalla, until you inevitably return to us once more. Because sometimes you just need a do-over, you know?
JUDAS: This period piece picks up with a sad and confused Judas Iscariot going to Hell after betraying Jesus and committing suicide, with only Satan to comfort him down below. It’s a bittersweet story about love, betrayal, and redemption, as well as a powerful look at Christian mythology that challenges the reader to look beyond what you already thought you knew about Heaven and Hell. Yes, Judas has largely been known as the man who sold out Jesus, but if he hadn’t, the son of God would never have died for our sins. Is Judas the Bible’s villain, or a pawn of fate that we should feel sorry for? This might technically be Jesus’s resurrection story, but Judas is the real star of the show, otherwise known as the story of how Judas was in love with Jesus and it made Lucifer jealous. Created by Jeff Loveness, Jakub Rebelka, and Colin Bell.
WE(L)COME BACK: Mali and Tessa are Sequels, assassins who get reincarnated over and over again to fight on opposite sides of a secret war. They’re drawn together, destined to kill each other in every life. They’ve lived hundreds of lives, locked in an eternal cycle of death and rebirth, until Mali starts to question why they’re still fighting a war no one remembers the purpose of. It's an epic story of subversion, tragic queers, and a long standing war that feels rich in history and legend. This is one of the coolest concepts I've ever seen put into a comic book, and there’s something truly magical in this story. It should have gone on forever. Created by Christopher Sebela, Claire Roe, Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, Jeremy Lawson, and Jim Campbell.
UNDER THE RED HOOD: Jason Todd, the second son, the second Robin and teenage victim of the Joker. In <i>Death in the Family</i> he's beaten to death with a crow bar and then blown up for his troubles before eventually coming back years later with another bang, literally. Basically in a convoluted plot of some crises or other, Superboy-Prime punched reality, and the former Robin, back into existence. After a quick bath in the Lazarus pit, Judd Winick brings Jason back fully restored with a violent vengeance and a whole new bag of daddy issues in <i>Under the Red Hood</i>, looking to make people answer for what happened to him. Even Batman. Ironically published around the same time as Bucky was resurrected over at Marvel. Coincidence? Debatable. Anyway, I’m grateful every day for the resurrection of that gun toting sass machine. Made by Judd Winick, Doug Mahnke, Shane Davis, Eric Battle, Paul Lee, Alex Sinclair, Cam Smith, Pat Brosseau, and more.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: WINTER SOLDIER: Who the hell is Bucky? Bucky Barnes has been presumed dead since the 1950's, after fighting side by side with his BFF Captain America against Red Skull and the Nazis during World War II. Thirty years later, a mysterious man known by the intelligence community as the Winter Soldier has been terrorizing and killing people all up and down the streets of New York. Surprise, it's Bucky, after being frozen for decades and kept in reserve as Hydra's favorite brain washed pet assassin. The movie is one of my favorite MCU installments, but the book itself is almost an entirely different read, packed with some really engaging political and international intrigue, and elaborate spy games, with the bonus resurrection of a Marvel character that will go down in comics history. Made by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Michael Lark, J.P. Leon, and more.
THE WICKED + THE DIVINE: Gods are reincarnated every ninety years into young people for society to worship, and in our case, that means they're all pop stars. They're loved, they’re hated, and ultimately they’re also fated to die an inevitable, headless death within two years of reincarnation. The thing is, they always come back. Some sooner than others. This is one of my favorite comics currently being published, with powerful messages about loss and transformation, and the unique relationship between fans and the object of their idolatry. Everything really is more beautiful for the doomed, and even then death is only the beginning. If you only had two years to live, what would you do with it? Created by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson, and Clayton Cowles.
THOR: Ragnarok has come and gone, and all the Asgardians are dead. That is until Thor comes back all wax poetic and resurrects everyone in the hearts and minds of mortals, finding them all on Earth and bringing Asgard along with him to settle down in rural Oklahoma. This story takes place after the events of <i>Civil War</i> and the Superhuman Registration Act, so social and political tensions are already running high when Thor and his Asgardians invade Middle America, and the God of Thunder isn't willing to play along. I genuinely loved this comic. Come for the Norse mythology, stay for Lady Loki. Made by J. Michael Straczynski, Marko Djurdjevic, Olivier Coipel, and more.
REVIVAL: One day in a rural town in Wisconsin, the dead come back to life, and not as your more traditional zombies. They come back completely reanimated, and nobody knows why. The town is quarantined, the CDC is called in, and the dead are segregated from the living as everyone tries to move on. It's a haunting story with a lot of social, political and religious depths mixed in with a bizarre set of circumstances, raising questions of government and media interference, and the powerful influence of religion and fanaticism against the backdrop of a good, old fashioned murder mystery. It's like <i>Fargo</i> meets <i>Dawn of the Dead</i>, with less eating brains and chock full of more intrigue, while the living have to find a way to peacefully coexist with the dead. Created by Tim Seeley, Mike Norton, and Mark Englert.
PHOENIX RESURRECTION: THE RETURN OF JEAN GREY: Jean Grey is back! The X-Men are chasing strange, Phoenix connected events across the globe, meanwhile a young woman named Jean is starting to realize the quiet, suburban life she’s in may not be what it seems. With cracks in her reality starting to appear everywhere she turns, Jean needs to find a way out, and the X-Men need to find a way to stop the Phoenix. Again. For me it was the very last issue that made it memorable, wrapping the story up with the message that this was always more about Jean, and her connection to the Phoenix Force, successfully carrying the emotional weight of Jean's complicated and painful Marvel history. Made by Matthew Rosenberg, Leinil Francis Yu, Joe Bennett, Gerry Alanguilan, Rachelle Rosenberg, and Travis Lanham.
BLACKEST NIGHT: One of the most fun crises DC has ever had, where we see a bunch of beloved, very dead superheroes and some supervillains resurrected as zombified Black Lanterns and sent to attack the living. I mean, any story that starts off with Black Hand removing Bruce Wayne's skull from his grave and licking it is bound to be a great one, right? A+ action and general insanity, a great Lantern-centric event complete with zombie sharks! Made by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Julio Ferreira, Nick J. Napolitano, and more.
THE WALKING DEAD: Nothing says rebirth like your loved ones rising from the dead to come eat your face off. Maybe it's not your traditional resurrection story, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention this ongoing post-apocalyptic saga, where the undead now walk the earth and everyone else is pretty much screwed. No one is safe, and when it comes to the goal of survival, sometimes the people you run into on the road are even more dangerous than the monsters trying to eat you. You're technically still being reborn even if you're coming back as an undead cannibal, right? Created by Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Dave Stewart, Stefano Gaudiano, and Rus Wooton.
DESTROYER: When the last descendant of the Frankenstein family loses her son to a police shooting, she turns to science to make things right. All she wants is her son back, but her family's original monster has also returned with a thirst for vengeance against all of humanity. It’s a story of love, loss and the power of grief that’s even more tragic and exciting than its origin, with a unique take on one of literature’s most classic monsters while set firmly in the current political and social climate of modern-day United States. Created by Victor LaValle, Dietrich Smith and Joana LaFuente.
Conventions can feel like a days long performative party at which everyone but me can have fun. It spends energy in exchange for gratitude which, while great, ain’t energy. I like seeing friends on either side of the table, old and new. I like to shake hands and sign my name and say thank you to the people that afford me this ridiculous lifestyle. I like to hug people, total strangers, who look at me and i can see in their eyes that we are alike in ways other people can’t see, don’t know about, can’t understand. Mostly, though, I try to smile and say thank you and to occupy as little space as possible. I try hard to not ask for that exchange, for that transaction, with others who, like me, find themselves on the other side of the table.
I made an exception at Dragon*Con last year. Congressman John Lewis walked by me and I shouted – I mean straight-up SHOUTED – “Congressman!”
He stopped and turned and smiled, all pro. I told him that in a place that was all about superheroes it was nice to meet a real one, and I shook his hand. I said, “You know my wife. Red hair. We were all supposed to have dinner together –”
The Congressman cut me off as we shook. He brought his other hand up to mine and embraced it, turning a handshake into a – into I don’t know what. A gesture of sincerity. “Last year. And your father passed. I’m sorry. That’s terrible,” he said and, shaking his head said very quietly, again, “Terrible.”
He was right. I was a guest at the show the previous year when my father’s tenuous grip on his health slipped for the last time. I left the show and raced the reaper from Atlanta to Charlotte to be at his – and my mother’s – side when his time came that evening.
And indeed, had I stayed, the Congressman, writer/aide-de-camp Andrew Aydin, wunderartist Nate Powell, and Kel and I were supposed to have dinner together. In fact it was during that meal that I texted my wife to tell her dad had died.
And a year later the Congressman remembered.
I praised his book MARCH (Leigh Walton of Top Shelf, who shepherded the project, gave me a copy of the freshly-minted v3 then and there and the March team signed it and you coulda knocked me over) and thanked him for teaching me the virtues of “good trouble.”
Then, to make Kel laugh, Leigh and the Congressman and I took this:
In a crazy sea of humanity, where everyone’s got their game-face on, where everyone’s on their grind, when everyone’s hustling literally and figuratively, this man, this hero, straight-up remembered why, a year ago, we were supposed to meet but did not.
Put aside the man’s career, his history, his legacy – that small, true moment of humanity from anyone would’ve meant the world. That it came from him meant all the more.
So yeah, I’m pretty ride-or-die for Congressman John Lewis, you goddamn butterscotch nazi pissmagnet. Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
Folks... there are a lot of hot dads in comics. Happy Father's Day to us!
Calling hot male celebrities 'dad' isn't really my thing like it seems to be for a lot of the kids on the internet these days, but I did make a list of my favorite hot dads in comics yesterday for Father’s Day.
Let’s be honest – Donald Trump is a loser. Count all his failed businesses. See how he kept his father’s empire afloat by cheating people with scams like Trump University and by using strategic corporate bankruptcy (excuse me, bankruptcies) to skip out on debt. Listen to the experts who’ve concluded he’s so bad at business that he might have more money today if he’d put his entire inheritance into an index fund and just left it alone.
Trump seems to know he’s a loser. His embarrassing insecurities are on parade: petty bullying, attacks on women, cheap racism, and flagrant narcissism. But just because Trump is a loser everywhere else doesn’t mean he’ll lose this election. People have been underestimating his campaign for nearly a year – and it’s time to wake up.
People talk about how “this is the most important election” in our lifetime every four years, and it gets stale. But consider what hangs in the balance. Affordable college. Accountability for Wall Street. Healthcare for millions of Americans. The Supreme Court. Big corporations and billionaires paying their fair share of taxes. Expanded Social Security. Investments in infrastructure and medical research and jobs right here in America. The chance to turn our back on the ugliness of hatred, sexism, racism and xenophobia. The chance to be a better people.
More than anyone we’ve seen before come within reach of the presidency, Donald Trump stands ready to tear apart an America that was built on values like decency, community, and concern for our neighbors. Many of history’s worst authoritarians started out as losers – and Trump is a serious threat. The way I see it, it’s our job to make sure he ends this campaign every bit the loser that he started it.
Once upon a time, my coworker and I ended up on a variant of Sex Criminals #6 thanks to the wonderful Matt and Chip, a cover now lovingly known as “Brimpception”. More recently she sold two copies of the cover that’s gone down (heh, gone down) in comics history, and now I’m selling one of mine. Get them while they’re still hot! They’re always hot. But get them.
Brimpception
You can find more context here, but basically the creators of Sex Criminals, Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky, have been playing what amounts to a game of Internet Chicken with Heather & Juliette at Fantastic Comics.
It started when Matt & Chip celebrated their 4th printing by posing for a photo cover with the original printing of Sex Criminals #1, and Heather & Juliette responded by posing with that cover. Things spiralled from there.
It’s been as entertaining to watch as Sex Criminals has been to read (which, if you’re not already, you should be doing. Now.), so when the latest photo in the series was posted, and Kieron Gillen wondered whether anyone had made an infinitely looping video of it, I felt like I should make that happen. (Better quality video available here if the .gif is too small/grainy)
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