by Matt Peters Content advisory: Bullying and gun violence in the book’s final section On top of their usual heroics, many of Marvel’s characters have had short-term roles promoting a variety of social causes and educational campaigns. Sometimes these secondary roles have been worked into their regular serial publications, usually at the volition of writers who want to address issues that are important to them personally. For example, in The Incredible Hulk #420, released in 1994, writer Peter David promoted AIDS awareness in a story that saw Hulk lose a close friend to the disease. Other times Marvel… Read More
Captain America – Drug War
by Matt Peters In World War II, it was common for soldiers to take government-issued amphetamines to help stay alert and confident in hostile situations. In fact, U.S. troops consumed an estimated 250 to 500 million amphetamine tablets over the course of the war. Cigarettes were also ubiquitous, and they were included in many military rations. Versatile in their effects, cigarettes could relieve boredom during periods of calm and stress during periods of combat. Although Timely Comics (later known as Marvel) created Captain America to be a symbol of virtue, even he enjoyed a bit of tobacco during World… Read More
here I am, I am me – An Illustrated Guide to Mental Health
by Anna Simonson Trigger warning: The book reviewed here contains information about suicide, addiction, and other forms of self-harm. The suicide/crisis lifeline phone number is 988 in the United States and Canada, and 999 in the United Kingdom. For other countries see (but not confirmed): https://blog.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines/ Over the last two decades, there has been an alarming increase in rates of anxiety and depression for adolescents around the world. In the U.S. alone, major depressive episodes for teens (ages 12-17) have increased 145% for girls since 2010, and 161% for boys [p. 24, Haidt]. Emergency room visits for U.S. adolescents aged… Read More
Paying the Land
awaiting review
Sky in Stereo
Book Review by Kevin Wolf I recommend this black and white graphic novel which is narrated in the first person by Iris. Starting in 1989 Iris’ mom, Gina, becomes a Jehovah’s Witness. Gina’s live-in boyfriend is skeptical about the Witnesses. Iris initially joins her mother’s new belief system through supporting “evidence” in the apocalyptic messages in her childhood Narnia books by C.S. Lewis. Iris finds the Kingdom Hall meetings tame relative to the end-times that they’re supposed to be awaiting. Iris becomes frustrated in her teen years, flees the conservatism of her mom’s religion, and turns to illicit drugs to… Read More
The Infinite Wait and Other Stories
Guest Review by Andrew Schechterman, July, 2015 I’m guilty of not having read anything by Julia Wertz. I got this book and read it twice. The first time was on a sun-never-goes-down, gain-a-day flight from China to the United States, always a kind of wrinkle in time for a dreadfully slow tortoise like myself. Second time though I was fully grounded. As I write this you should know I’m walking in the shadow of much more experienced prior press on the well-established Wertz from the likes of The LA Times (e.g., http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-ca-julia-wertz-20100829-story.html) and The Comics Journal (e.g., http://www.tcj.com/julia-wertz/), as well as… Read More