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It's Eisner Time!
🕑 Added 2020-01-19 22:41:05 +0000 UTCJanuary means we've turned our attention to our submission for the 2020 Eisner Awards and you get a sneak peek at what we've got to say about ourselves. Submitting our site for an award isn't a time to be humble, so we hope you can appreciate that we're pretty proud of the work we've done this past year. We hope that the Eisner judging committee will strongly consider our value to the industry just as much as you do.
As a volunteer-run online journal that has been nominated for this award in the past, and recently been notified of its inclusion in the United States Library of Congress, WWAC works hard to provide a vital viewpoint for the comic book industry. We press issues that are often ignored or overlooked by the rest of the community, highlight fresh and interesting ways that fandoms engage with their favorite comic books and comics-adjacent media, and deliver unflinching, well-thought out criticism from a variety of diverse voices.
Due to our specific mandate, WWAC prioritizes representation across the spectrum: cis and trans women, nonbinary folk, and other marginalized genders. In a time when these voices and communities are still underserved by the industry as a whole, we believe that our work in amplifying them is crucial to the evolution of comics. We are passionate about comics and want to see the industry be everything it can and should be. Comics are for everyone and criticism is how every art form learns and evolves. We are not afraid to bang the drums as the platform that reminds readers, creators, and publishers of this.
WWAC publishes content five times a week, covering all aspects of the comic book industry and comics-related transmedia. Our site is well-known for criticism, but equally commended for its reviews, interviews, news, investigative journalism, and event coverage. We are serious about comics, but we are also fun and funny — and sometimes even a little (a lot) horny on main.
The following are samples of the articles we have produced this past year that will show you our dedication and the range of our comics coverage.
Series
Over the years, we have developed a number of special series. Focusing on everything from academic coverage to spotlighting various aspects of the industry, we pride ourselves on writing about the topics that aren’t always at the forefront elsewhere.
One of our oldest series, Comics Academe is also one of the first spaces on the internet for public-facing comics studies scholarship, becoming a platform for young scholars. Several articles have been included on syllabi across the United States, Canada, and abroad.
Going well beyond solicitations and press releases, our team of Pubwatchers provide monthly rundowns on the news, insights, and mini reviews for various publishers.
Through a series of interviews and roundtables, this series explores the often overlooked role of letterers and their significance to the comics industry and to education.
The Vampyre's Legacy: Two Centuries of Blood
Two hundred years ago, the vampire genre was born. This heavily researched 12-part series moves through the decades of its transformation through film, prose, and comics.
The Wedding Issue Grand Finale: Superman and Lois Lane
Aside from “Who would win in a fight?” nothing gets comic fans more heated than the question of whether or not superheroes should marry. This series walks the aisle with the most significant times comic companies took the plunge and got their characters hitched.
We attend numerous events throughout the year, from the more well-known comics conventions, to smaller festivals and exhibits. On top of the varied coverage we provide from these events, we offer more personal, on the ground perspectives through our Con Diaries, often highlighting some of the aspects of conventions that are overlooked.
You can’t judge a book by its cover, but covers are what sell comics. In this monthly series, we analyze the cover of a recent comic that features one or more women.
Essays and Features
Our essays and features are where our passion truly shines. We feature articles that entertain and amuse, and those that come from a place of pain shaped by the harm caused by stories that ignore, co-opt, or deny the representation every fan deserves. We provide in-depth opinion pieces that can cut deep or make our readers smile because they feel that they have finally been seen through our words.
Questioning Chelsea Cain's Feminist Agenda
Chelsea Cain was back under scrutiny after the release of Man-Eaters #9 where imagery of propaganda posters in concentration camps featured text from fan tweets that had been critical of Cain’s work on the book. Here, Cain’s disingenuous conversations and actions, as well as the gender essentialism of Man-Eaters is called into question for the harm that it does in erasing nonbinary and trans masculine people from her narrative.
The Performative Horniness of Dawn of X
Marvel Comics’ Dawn of X has decreed "make more mutants," but while heterosexuality is depicted on a regular basis in X-Men stories, queer relationships remain poorly represented.
I Went to Narnia and All I Got was this Lousy Complex: Lewis, Gaiman, Grossman, Fearscape
This essay discusses The Problem of Susan and beyond, exploring Susan Pevensie being cast out of Narnia and what that has meant for a female character originally written by a man.
Comics and Kink: The Erotica Side Hustle of Superman Co-Creator Joe Shuster
What do you get when you mix Superman and hardcore erotica? A really good fanfic, for one... but also a look at co-creator Joe Shuster's secret side hustle!
He-Man, Hugos, and Who Benefits From Fandom
Kevin Smith’s plans for He-Man begs the question of why a person in their 40s requires an olive branch from a cartoon? Shouldn't He-Man instead look to a new generation of young fans and the untapped potential within them, spawning the kind of fandom engagement that resulted in AO3’s 2019 Hugo win?
Previously On Comics: Pointing Fingers at Comics Critics
Comics critics take a lot of heat for expressing critical opinions about work they review. Instead of taking the opportunity to learn, creators lash out — and are praised for their immature and unprofessional behaviour.
Fat Thor is a Joke. That's Why I Love Him.
Fatness in narrative, whether it be comedic or tragic, as shorthand for depression, as shorthand for failure, is fatphobic. Avengers: Endgame’s Fat Thor gave us something different.
The Violence in the System: Transmisogyny in Uncanny X-Men #17
When cisgender writers co-opt the experiences of trans folk, as Matthew Rosenberg did in Uncanny X-Men #17. When they depict the violence that occurs against them without bothering to depict them, trans people are not helped.
Do I Hate the Nine-Panel Grid or Do I Just Resent Watchmen?
An analysis of the use of the nine-panel grid in comics. How well can this format be used to tell the story that needs to be told?
The X-Men’s Storm is an iconic African American character, but it's rare to see her actually drawn with African American features to define her identity. This essay explores her creation and evolution as a character, and how she has been portrayed.
To explain why the Punisher isn't 80 years old, Mark Waid crafted the Siancong War to replace real world events and their significance, without consideration for the real people it erases.
Reviews
From large publishers to independent, small press, and webcomics, we pride ourselves on highlighting the diversity of comics as a storytelling medium.
- Soft But Not Precious: The Dream Labors of Annie Mok's Pink Juice
- House of X #1: All These Worlds are Yours—Except Krakoa
- Female Furies #1 Doesn't Hold Back
- The ABC of Typography is a Font of Knowledge
- Insta Made Me Read It: Scorching Romance and Let's Play
- Not with a Shabang but a Whimper: Ms. Marvel Annual #1
- The True Victim of Heroes In Crisis #8
- Benji Nate's Lorna is Cute, Violent and Relatable
Interviews
Often asking the questions other sites are missing, WWAC strives to make the interview process as fun and interesting for the interviewee as it is for our readers.
- Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen is Comics' The Good Place
- Matt Hawkins and Colleen Doran's The Clock is Ticking
- Yo Paul Allor! IDW and Hasbro's GI Joe Comic Reboot
- Carta Monir Loves Her Risograph Machine and Her Friends
- Project GraphicBio: Interview with Dr. Candida Rifkind
- Matthew Erman and Sally Cantirino Talk Emo, Horror, and the Upcoming Dead Beats Anthology
- A Flame Con Chat With Jen Bartel: Artist, Businesswoman, Superhero
