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Test Tube
There is a rich tradition of cartoonists, novelists and filmmakers creating fictional towns that function as microcosms to which we can hold up a magnifying glass and examine ourselves. On these small...
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Puke Force and the Power of Satire
There is no better way to feel hopeful for the future than to consider the past. This fact struck me recently while I was reading The Great Mortality by John Kelly, a stirring account of the Black...
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Patience
Fragile male egos have long been the catalyst for conflict in popular fiction. Take, for example, this passage from the story of Aucassin and Nicolette, transcribed by an anonymous author in the...
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Brat
Last week I went on a three day Michigan getaway. It was a non-traditional family vacation of sorts, comprising five adults and three boys aged six months, three years and six years, respectively....
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Return To Romance
Although I am an avid lover of humor, sci-fi and horror comics, I had not delved into romance until recently (smut, its transgressive step-sibling, is another matter, and a topic for a different day.)...
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Ginseng Roots #1-3
Craig Thompson has led a fascinating life, and he depicts it with courage. Raised in the tiny town of Marathon, Wisconsin by Evangelical parents, he recorded his childhood sexual trauma, first love and...
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Unsmooth #1
The title of this slim but powerful volume is a bit of misdirection on the part of its author. It refers to his unnamed protagonist, a light-skinned black man with a sculptural pompadour who functions...
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For Real #1
It takes a lot of chutzpah to tackle Jack “King” Kirby, a master of the medium so beloved that his appeal unites every disparate tribe in comics from superhero fanatics to the art and poetry crowd, but...
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Holy Hannah
For the past three days, friends of mine have been visiting from New York City. Together with my partner Lane we’ve been to an art exhibit, a Bernie Sanders rally and a death metal show. We’ve eaten...
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Repulsive Attraction
This morning I woke up late, tired from hours spent marching in a Black Lives Matter protest. I nursed a coffee and scrolled past headline after headline about similar protests around the country, and...
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The Colony
In 2010, two of my friends from Chicago decided to move off the grid. Their project took them first to Appalachia, and then to the desert town of Abiquiu, New Mexico, the former home of Georgia...
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Trip Report – Chicago Comics: 1960s to Now
Visitors waiting to enter the members' preview. It’s 2006 and I’m a recent School of the Art Institute of Chicago grad. I’m working as a dog walker, and will be for years to come. Somehow, I learn...
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The Secret to Superhuman Strength
In her book Power of the Crone, Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés describes the freedom that accompanies aging. As children, we’re wide-eyed, curious, and receptive. With adolescence comes self-consciousness,...
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The Gift of Time
I’ve been a rabid fan of Lauren Weinstein’s work since my friend Becca gifted me a signed copy of Weinstein’s 2008 book The Goddess of War, published by PictureBox, when we were both confused...
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