Category: comics

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Positioning the Reader in “The Teacher from Mars” and “Judgement Day!”

Last post, I wrote about the ways that Eando Binder’s “The Teacher from Mars” serves as a commentary on racism and Jim Crow during the mid-twentieth century. Today, I want to look at Otto Binder, Al Feldstein, and Joe Orlando’s adaptation of the story for EC Comics’ Weird Science-Fantasy #24 and at Feldstein and Orlando’s “Judgement Day!” Specifically, I want to focus on some … Read More Positioning the Reader in “The Teacher from Mars” and “Judgement Day!”

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“Memory is a wily keeper of the past”: The Narrative of Memory

Throughout our lives, we create memories, then we reconstruct those memories, and they appear again and again within our mind. For me, one memory that always pops up concerns a time when I was a kid, riding a four-wheeler at my grandfather’s camp. I sat down on the seat, my dad sitting behind me, and I pulled the throttle back with my right hand. … Read More “Memory is a wily keeper of the past”: The Narrative of Memory

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The Official Record in Van Jensen and Nate Powell’s “Two Dead”

The back matter of Van Jensen and Nate Powell’s new book, Two Dead, describes it as, “at once a white-knuckled and unputdownable thriller, a roman à clef inspired by true events, and a book about post-traumatic stress disorder and the underlying social traumas of how war and segregation affect their survivors on all fronts.” Today, I want to look at a brief section from … Read More The Official Record in Van Jensen and Nate Powell’s “Two Dead”

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Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel? Identity in “Ms. Marvel: No Normal”: Part III

Today, I’m going to wrap up my discussion of identity in G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona’s Ms. Marvel: No Normal by looking at some panels from the issues #3 and #4 of the volume. Specifically, I want to look at the scene with Kamala in the girls’ locker room at her school and the scene when the police arrive at the Circle Q. … Read More Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel? Identity in “Ms. Marvel: No Normal”: Part III

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Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel? Identity in “Ms. Marvel: No Normal”: Part II

Last post, I wrote about the opening pages of G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona’s Ms. Marvel: No Normal. Over the next couple of posts, I want to continue that discussion. Specifically, I want to focus on three sections/panels in the volume. These panels appear at different stages as Kamala struggles with her identity, but each, in its own way, highlights this struggle.