comics – Kristen Brand

Turn Back the Pages: Gotham Academy

Turn Back the Pages is a feature where I spotlight a comic that is not fresh and new. It may have come out a few months ago or even a few years ago. Maybe it was hyped and popular, or maybe it was an underappreciated gem. Whatever the case, it’ll be a great comic that’s well worth a read.

I love gothic mysteries. I love Batman. I really should have read Gotham Academy sooner.

This book is full of gothic tropes. Gotham Academy is old, mysterious, and has a dark history. One building is even boarded up and abandoned for secret reasons. The girls’ dorm is possibly haunted. A group dressed in cloaks and masks conducts arcane rituals on campus in the dead of night. There’s even a vampire! (Okay, so he’s a bat-mutant made by science, but he looks super vampiry.) It’s seriously the best. Continue reading Turn Back the Pages: Gotham Academy

10 Female Supervillains (who are Cooler than most Heroes)

Superheroines can be powerful role models for girls. They show that women can be brave, smart, and control their own stories, which is an excellent lesson for both girls and boys. I can only imagine the impact movies like Wonder Woman and comics like Ms. Marvel and Moon Girl have on kids. Superheroes have always been beacons of hope, symbols of what humanity could achieve if we strove to be better. Though they may be fictional, superheroes can truly change the world.

But supervillains have more fun.

So if you’re in the mood for destroying the world rather than saving it, here are ten of my favorite female supervillains—and let me tell you, it was hard to narrow the list down to just ten. These ladies are powerful, brilliant and terrifying, and while they’d probably murder us in real life without a second thought, they’re super fun to read about. Continue reading 10 Female Supervillains (who are Cooler than most Heroes)

Turn Back the Pages: Red Sonja

Turn Back the Pages is a biweekly monthly feature where I spotlight a comic that is not fresh and new. It may have come out a few months ago or even a few years ago. Maybe it was hyped and popular, or maybe it was an underappreciated gem. Whatever the case, it’ll be a great comic that’s well worth a read.

My first exposure to Red Sonja was that weird movie from the 80s, so while I was aware the character existed, I wasn’t a particular fan. The chainmail bikini is not a fantasy trope I generally enjoy, and I doubt I’d have been interested when the comic series was announced if the writer hadn’t been Gail Simone—one of my all-time favorite people in comics.

I caught previews and snippets of the issues online and was hooked. When the first trade paperback came out, I had to buy it.

Best decision ever. Continue reading Turn Back the Pages: Red Sonja

The Superhero Dating Reality Show You Need to Follow

I don’t watch reality TV. It’s just not my cup of tea, but I’m starting to think I’ll be interested in anything if you throw superheroes into the mix.

Case in point: The S Factor.

It’s essentially The Bachelor but for superheroes, which I think is the coolest concept ever. Superheroes have a notoriously tough time dating with that whole secret identity thing. They’re always having to run off with a weak excuse to stop a giant monster attack, abandoning their date at the restaurant table and generally ruining the evening. Continue reading The Superhero Dating Reality Show You Need to Follow

Turn Back the Pages: Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris

I love when stories have circuses. From the magic and mystery of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern to the weird and eerie Dead Moon Circus in Sailor Moon, the setting has so much to offer. I can even appreciate the creepy circus aesthetic in horror movies even if I’m way too much of a wimp to watch them.

So I was hooked when I first learned about Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris. Here’s the blurb:

Pragmatic engineer Anna works as a psychic in the Samson Brothers Circus, but she doesn’t believe in anything supernatural—until her twin sister Kat is murdered and comes back as a very demanding ghost. Sharing a room with her sister was hard, but now they’re sharing a body while trying to identify the killer. With few leads, a troupe full of secretive folk, and strange paranormal occurrences popping up around the circus, solving the case seems near impossible. But the murderer in their midst may be the least of their problems… Continue reading Turn Back the Pages: Spectacle by Megan Rose Gedris

Why I Love Journals (And You Should Too)

I’m kinda obsessed with journals.

It’s not my fault. There are so many gorgeous journals out there just begging to be bought, and I’m a writer. A pen and paper are tools of the trade, so buying journals is a pretty much a business expense.

The thing is… I hardly ever write in them.

That’s awful, right? I have so many cool ones. Take a look at these:

My writing journals — Of course there’s a Wonder Woman one. You should know me by now.

They’re too pretty to write in. No, seriously. A blank journal is a book of limitless possibilities. I could write the greatest genre mashup novel ever inside one, or jot down ideas for characters and settings that eventually spawn off into a giant epic fantasy series. Or maybe tomorrow I’ll fall through a magic portal and need a journal to record my thrilling adventures. (Hey, it could happen.) Continue reading Why I Love Journals (And You Should Too)

Tag: comics