Comics are great for using weird, pseudo-science to explain fantastical characters and plots. The Scarecrow is dosing all of Gotham with a poisonous gas that causes scary, psychedelic trip-outs and makes everyone kill each other? Buh? What? Well, he’s poured it all into the water system and now he’s using a giant microwave which vaporizes the water and make the air poisonous. Oh, okay. That totally makes sense.

Dr. James Kakalios, a Physics professor and comics lover, wrote a book called The Physics of Superheroes. He uses quantum physics, electromagnetic theory and astronomy to explain the whys and wherefores of all your favourite superheroes.

A couple of excerpts from his lectures are now up on YouTube. I love this one, about the Atom, the hero who has the ability to shrink to a minute size.

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Your average comic blog is easy to find in this crazy world called the internet. Just google “Final Crisis,” and you’ll find pages and pages of boys talking about comics. But there’s one that outblogs all the other blogs ever blogged.

Living Between Wednesdays is the best, most hilarious, funnest comics blog out there. It’s written by my co-worker/band-mate/BFF, Rachelle Goguen, but personal bias aside, it totally rules.

Rachelle has a deep, undying love of comics, coupled with a critical eye for sexism.

She is also hilarious. This is one for my favourite posts, about an Archie comic where Dilton starts a band.

Living Between Wednesdays might be best known for Rachelle’s Rating the Super Hunks posts. This is where she posts pictures and rates super hero guys on personality, sexiness of powers, costume, etc. My favourites are Daredevil and Iron Man. The comments page often turns in to a debate between readers who are outraged that like, Cyclops only got 7/10 on personality or whatever.

Rachelle also posts about the sexist crap that so often appears in comics. Her post about the now infamous Mary Jane statue started a huge inter-debate. The statue was of Spider-man’s wife, Mary Jane, looking anatomically insane, bent over with her boobs hanging out and a thonged butt, washing Spider-man’s suit in a bucket. Totally gross. Lots of people were outraged, while others argued that it was not sexist, but just “fantasy” so it’s okay to be totally unrealistic.

You can count on Rachelle to point out sexism in comics in the most hilarious, snarky way possible. I think she’s really part of a driving force that’s changing women and comics. It’s like, you know how when some dude says something creepy to you, and you’re by yourself, you feel all angry, and sad and scared? But when you’re with your friends, and a dude says something creepy, you can laugh at what a total idiot he is and basically think of the meanest possible things you can say about him? Yeah, that’s how Rachelle is making ladies feel in the comic world. Totally BACKED!

A few weeks ago, DC comics announced that they’d be cancelling the monthly Catwoman comic series. The next issue of Catwoman will be the last. It’s one of those times where I wonder if DC stands for Douchebag Comics.

DC has like, thirty super-hero titles starring men, and maybe five that are about women. (And sorry, but most of those suck. Birds of Prey is consistently good, and Wonder Woman sometimes, but, like, Supergirl is just awful.) C’mon, DC! Catwoman is my absolute favourite super hero. Don’t do this to me!

Catwoman, aka Selina Kyle, was once a Batman villain/love interest, but is now a wicked super-heroine. Or more like, an anti-heroine. She protects Gotham city’s east side, and she particularly looks after sex workers, and other marginalized people who she sees as being ignored by super heroes like Batman. She has a more complicated morality than most super heroes. She’s an expert thief, and steals from drug dealers and crime lords to do things like a build a community centre. But she also keeps enough money to buy herself fancy jewellery and nice cars. Catwoman looks out for her community, but still lives large, all on someone else’s dime.

I hate to use the term ‘role model’ but…

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I just got home from a week of touring with my band, and let me tell you, St. John’s, Newfoundland is a totally rad place.

While we were there, my guitar player mentioned on stage that it was Slayer Day, a day to celebrate the metal band. But several audience members immediately thought of that other Slayer, and called out “Buffy!!!” I love that Buffy has permeated people’s consciousness so much. Buffy was the slippery slope of nerdiness that lead me into comics. And now there’s a regular Buffy comic series, which acts as a gateway comic, luring girls in and getting them hooked on other comics.

For those who maybe don’t know - and think of Satan, not vampires, when they hear “Slayer” - Buffy Season Eight is a monthly comic series that tells what happens to Buffy and her pals after the series ended. It’s scripted by series creator Joss Whedon and, like the show, some issues are written by him, some by other writers. But our boy oversees the whole plot, so this is canon Buffy. I’ve been really enjoying the comics, and could blog all over the internet about it. But I want to point out one of my favourite parts of the series: Jo Chen’s covers.

Check this out:

Amazing.
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This on line comic strip was brought to my attention by Cate, Shameless‘ awesome new web editor.

Coco Wang is creating these amazing online comic strips based on news stories about the earthquake in China. They are the personal stories of the people affected, the stories that are missing in our CBC media coverage. The comics are moving, funny, inspiring and completely devastating.

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I am so pumped about women and comics lately. Not only are there some amazing ladies making comics, there are amazing ladies who make funny, cute, smart comics, live in my town, and are totally cool people in real life! Well, there’s one anyway. Faith Erin Hicks is an awesome cartoonist who happens to live in Halifax.

Faith is best know for her book Zombies Calling, which came out last year and was released by SLG publishing. The book follows a young woman, Joss, and her pals as their seemingly ordinary Canadian university is attacked by zombies. Joss, a movie fan and postmodern gal, realizes she can survive by following “the rules” of zombie movies. For example, when she decides to fight back against the undead attackers, she suddenly gains awesome ninja skills and is stronger than the Hulk.

My favourite part about Zombies Calling is that it’s not just about fighting against zombies, it also fights against the expense of post-secondary education in Canada! When Joss’ friend asks her why she doesn’t seem afraid of zombies, Joss answers that she’s way more scared of her student loan than having her brain eaten. Too true, friend.

The story also touches on some complicated issues of sexuality (like, being a virgin over the age of twenty), without getting too heavy.

The art is adorable, and Faith perfectly renders her nerdy but cute protagonist. Also, could these zombies look any more awesome? Nope!

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If you live in Halifax, and enjoy kicking it on two wheels, check out this awesome weekly event:

Every Tuesday from 6 until 8, there will be women/identified bike nights at the Bike Space at Bloomfield Centre. The idea is to have a casual, drop in style night where basic bicycle repair skills are accessible to women and trans folks. Bring your bike in and ask questions and we’ll move through some basic repair and maintenance info.

These nights are to bring folks together in a safe, non-competitive and friendly learning environment. The workshops are run by women/identified folks for women/identified folks because, many times, it’s just more comfortable learning that way.

Bloomfield Centre is at 2786 Agricola Street, at Almon.

One of my favourite things about working in a comic store is when someone comes in with a look of complete fear and confusion. Usually these are the people who have never read a comic before, or haven’t read a comic in decades or who just found out that comics aren’t always about Superman.

Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home is one of my favourite books to recommend to a non-comic reader (or I should say, new comic reader). It’s literary, intelligent and complex. It’s been recognized in mainstream press and was on the New York Times best seller list. Also, the art is real purty.

Alison Bechdel created Dykes to Watch Out For, a long-running comic strip that appeared in queer newspapers. Fun Home is her autobiographical story about growing up queer, in a funeral home, with a closeted gay dad.

The real meat of the story deals with Bechdel’s relationship with her father — their constant clashes, his obsessive, controlling tendencies, his secret gay affairs with his high school students, his suicide, and Bechdel’s reflections about how she was not so different from him.

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Ever thought your parents were evil? Ever feel like you were raised by super villains?

Playing on suspicions we all might’ve had about our families at some point, the kids in Runaways discover that their parents are part of an association of the most powerful super villains in LA. They band together against their parents (and other bad guys) and run away to make up for the destruction their parents have caused.

Runaways is a monthly series (one issue comes out each month, they’re later collected into books), put out by Marvel comics. It’s a mainstream comics series, but it has some of the most inclusive representations and stories of any comic series.

For example, Runaways features some of the best female characters in comics. There’s Nico, who learns her parents’ magic, becomes a wizard and eventully becomes the leader of the team. Karolina, who realizes she’s both an alien and queer. Gert, smart and sardonic, who would probably read Shameless, and has a psychic connection with a razor-toothed dinosaur. The youngest member of the team, Molly, is also the strongest. She’s a mutant and can beat up just about anyone.

The Runaways kids are diverse in gender, race, sexuality and even body types. Writer Brian K. Vaughn does an amazing job of having diverse representations without having any token characters. The kids talk about race, and sexuality (it’s part of who they are) but it’s only one part of their complex characters.

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