morning, mister magpie

Britain:

Excerpt from a Moth GrandSLAM that is now part of my first solo show, Feelings: Because why pretend the show is about anything else?

The show is about the disaster of my love life dating guys and girls, and is secretly an exploration of bisexuality, gender, and learning to love and care for myself.

I’ve never seen my experience of love and attraction reflected anywhere else, and I think, probably, there are others who feel the same way. Or who maybe don’t even realize they do.

Introducing ShameOver: A Conversation About Men’s Mental Health

In our culture, men are expected to be “strong” or “tough.” We regard the expression of feelings as a weakness. Look no further than the Webster’s Dictionary definition of “man,” which uses this as an exemplary sentence: “Don’t cry, little boy: be a man!" 

The problem with comics is there is so much out there. I have had better luck finding DC comics I like than I have Marvel. Most of the people I am friends with prefer DC to Marvel. I’m a DC girl myself. 

Here are some titles I recommend if you are interested in getting into comics:

Bitch Planet- feminist comic that you will like if you like Orange is the New Black and feminist media. Trade comes out in less than a month, so you’ll get the first 5 issues for $10. It’s an original series so you don’t have to read comics to follow/enjoy it. 

Gail Simone’s run of Wonder Woman. They are issues 14-44. This is one of my favorite runs of Wonder Woman. You will get to see Wonder Woman save the world and she fights along side one of my favorite heroes, Black Canary! The trades are a bit hard to come by but you can get a lot of them on amazon. 

Brian Azzarello & Cliff Chaings New 52 Wonder Woman run. The first 6 volumes or issues 1-35 are by them. You can probably find these trades at your local library and will be easily available online. They create a new origin for Wonder Woman and Chaing is an amazing artist. The art is some of the best in any Wonder Woman comic I’ve read. Stop at issue 35, trust me. You’ll hate yourself if you continue. 

Birds of Prey. It’s everything you want in a comic. Oracle, a disabled superhero who is the smartest person in the world, and Black Canary make up the Birds of Prey in the early run. They are joined by Huntress in the later issues. The whole series is female superheroes being incredibly badass. You will not regret reading this. The art is utter crap at times but it gets much better by the end of the run. 

Secret Six. Maybe superheroes aren’t your thing. These are anti-heroes and the team is run by Catman, a failed super villain. He even has a catmobile. Need I say more? 

The Amazing Spider-Man by Michael Straczynski. Peter Parker is a sarcastic little shit who is amazing. If you want to start reading Spider-man, start with Straczynski’s run. The art is amazing and so is the story. 

Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick. Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel and she kicks ass. Her stories mostly take place i outer-space and she is a cat lady. They are really fast paced stories and very well written. I think the art is okay, I prefer the art in DeConnick’s first run of Captain Marvel. 

Ms Marvel. Kamala Khan is a Muslim teenager who becomes a superhero. She is a huge fan girl of the Avengers and learns to control her powers. She is pretty badass. I like the comics but would have preferred them more as a teenager. They are meant for a younger audience but can be enjoyed by anyone. 

Rat-Queens. Lord of the Rings meets feminism. 

Sex-Criminals. John and Suzie stop time by having sex and rob banks. It’s amazing, just give it a try. You will thank me.

Lazarus by Greg Rucka. If you like books like The Hunger Games, you’ll like this. Also, check out Rucka’s Wonder Woman run. He can write some amazingly badass women characters. 

Saga. If you like Star Wars and badass female characters, you will love this series. The art is also amazing, I really recommend this one. 

Copperhead. Clara is the new sheriff in town and she is a badass single mother. If you like cop dramas and outer space, you’ll love this. This is one of my favorite comics and I really recommend it. 

Fables. Everything Once Upon A Time should/could have been. If you like fairytales, I really recommend this series. It is very long and just ended but you’ll love it. 

Black Widow. If you like Black Widow in the Avengers movie, you’ll like her comics. She is much more badass. 

Gotham Central. Law & Order in Gotham. Seriously, this series is amazing. 

Batwoman. I really like the first volume. Kate is a badass but the quality starts going down hill after the second volume. 

Batgirl by Gail Simone. This was the comic that got me into comics. Read before you read Birds of Prey. Just trust me. 

Batman the Court of Owls. A great place to start with Batman. The story is incredibly dark. 

Batman: The Long Halloween and Dark Victory. The Long Halloween comes first. Two of my favorite Batman comics. You are introduced to many of his villains. When you are done with these I recommend Catwoman: When it Rome. 

Batman Hush. You are introduced to all the villains and characters in batman. Not the best Batman comic but you’ll get a good feel for Gotham and Batman. Good starting point. 

Superman Red Son. What is Superman landed in Soviet Russia? It’s an alternative universe but really good. 

Superman For All Seasons. Superman’s origin story. 

Superman: Birthright. Another origin story but it’s really good and the art is amazing. 

Superman/Batman. Their friendship is the best and the 2 stories are great. You also get Supergirls origin! 

Superman: For Tomorrow. The book that got me into Superman. People are vanishing without a trace and Superman has to figure out why. Wonder Woman also make’s an appearance. 

Spider-man: Blue. So good and it has Gwen Stacie, if you like her. 

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