by Alex Dueben

Trina Robbins is a legend among people who read and study comics. She’s a cartoonist who was active in the San Francisco underground in the ’70s and ’80s where she contributed to many publications including the East Village Other, It Ain’t Me Babe and Wimmen’s Comix. In recent decades she’s worked more as a writer on books including Go, Girl! and Chicagoland Detective Agency, in addition to working on Wonder Woman, Xena and The Spirit.

Robbins’ other claim to fame is that she is one of the great comics historians. In books like A Century of Women Cartoonists and From Girls to Grrrlz she writes not just thoughtfully and passionately about many cartoonists whose work has faded from consciousness, but she also reshapes our perception of comics past. In the book The Brinkley Girls, which she edited, the work of the artist Nell Brinkley was brought together, showing her incredible drafting skill and demonstrating why she was one of the most popular and important illustrators and cartoonists of her time.

[..]

by Aaron Colter

Last week I said this week’s post would be about beer. It’s not. Moving on . . .

With so much good new music from bands that incorporate a variety of styles into their sounds, sometimes I forget about a tried and true genre that for too long has been saturated with bands that seem to put style over substance – punk. Thankfully, The Taxpayers still embody the important D.I.Y. and iconoclastic spirit from which punk originated.

[..]

by A.J. Focht

Last week the comic world was rocked as DC announced they were rebooting their entire universe. DC has since released more details, as well as first edition covers. The Batman universe is getting a lot of coverage, with Batman getting three titles: Batman, Batman: The Dark Knight, and Batman and Robin as well as appearing in the first issue of Detective Comics. Other Bat related titles include: Batgirl, Nightwing, Catwoman, Batwing, a long awaited Batwoman, and one of my personal favorites, Birds of Prey. Meanwhile Superman is starring in Action Comics first issue (wearing some farm boy getup) as well as getting his own reboot with Superman #1, both Superboy and Supergirl are getting renumbered in September as well. All of your favorite super teams including Justice League and Teen Titans are being released then as well. All the heroes are getting fashion updates, including Wonder Woman who finally gets a makeover and a pair of pants.
[..]

by Keith Daniels

I first heard of Rebecca Watson in her role as the lone female host on The Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast, on which she appears as one of a quartet of co-hosts led by Dr. Steven Novella, but she first gained notice within the skeptic community because of her work with the collaborative blog she founded, Skepchick.org.

Skepchick advocates for the interrelationship between critical thinking, science, secularism, and feminism. One of the most passionate, articulate, and fearless secularists in the public eye, Rebecca divides her time between Skepchick, the SGU podcast, and frequent speaking engagements at atheist and skeptic-oriented conferences and conventions. In 2009 Skepchick started its own convention, SkepchickCon, which occurs annually as part of the larger CONvergence at the end of June in Minneapolis.

We spoke recently about Skepchick, the Religious Right’s war against women in the United States, and the difficulties women face even within the secular community.

Read our exclusive interview with Rebecca Watson on SuicideGirls.com.

by Morgan

I’ve spent long stretches of time the last couple of months without a computer, which means that when I had a working one in my apartment again I devoured new games with more enthusiasm then usual. And I usually have a lot of enthusiasm for games! I also spent a lot of time playing games on my brand new iPad. So for this casual game review column, I’m going to offer a grab-bag of different games for both PC and iPad. Also, to make up for the absence of a column last month, I’ll include a few quick recommendations at the end of this one!

1. THOR: Son of Asgard

First, there’s THOR: Son of Asgard. I know, I know, games based on movies are most often somewhere from mediocre to gorram terrible, but I really enjoyed this one. The tutorial level will get you comfortable with the easy to use, intuitive controls that allow you to use basic attacks and awesome foe-smashing special powers. The graphics are excellent and the game play engrossing. One of my favorite aspects is the storytelling cinematics, which play out in comic-book art form and are very nicely rendered. There are some downsides here though. I got the game for $.99 on sale, but it usually costs $4.99. The game does feel short and I generally do not like dropping five bucks on a shorter game, but for this one I probably would have as I could see myself replaying it several times. Also, from my understanding the game currently does not work well with iPods, so buyer beware if you don’t have an iPad!

[..]

by A.J. Focht

Welcome to your extra long conference edition of Ur W33K 1N G33K!

X-Men: First Class is being widely hailed as the best super hero movie since The Dark Knight, and it ruled the box-office this weekend grossing $56 million. The prequel to the X-Men series may have beat out other current films on its opening weekend, but it doesn’t measure up to any of its predecessors, or in this case protégés. First Class had the smallest opening weekend audience of any of the X-Men movies. Despite all the critics praise, the film appears to have suffered from the sins of its…future, as the past two X-Men movies (X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine) nearly destroyed all the credibility the series had built. Still, they’ve managed to win back many of their estranged fans and currently hold an audience rating of 88% on Rotten Tomatoes.

[..]

by Aaron Colter

There’s been a collective pants shitting in the comic book industry this week as DC Comics announced that they would relaunch nearly every series this September as a #1 issue, making the content available for download on the same day as print versions hit stores.

Shop owners are crying the death of the industry, and other publishers are trying to play catch-up. Meanwhile, DC Comics is taking a huge gamble on its latest venture. It’s no secret that the company has been playing second-fiddle to Marvel Comics, now backed by the giant Disney corporation, and cleaned house to make room for new executives from a more traditional background that owners Warner Bros. found necessary.

As harsh as it may sound, DC Comics can’t be supported by serialized issues that are sold to only a few hundred thousand costumers, at best, every month. The real money made by Batman, Superman, and all the other beloved characters, is in stupid shit, like T-shirts, movies, action figures, cartoons, and anything else you can slap a logo on to make it appeal to children and nerds.

[..]