It’s been a sweltering and stressful summer, but the work goes on. I’ve been contributing more to the comic book criticism website Comics XF and did a fun anime watch guide for Popverse. I also did some video game reviews for Superjump, reviewed a gorgeous YA novel-in-verse for Brain Mill Press, and some one-off pieces for the video game publication Unwinnable and the comic book criticism site Shelfdust.

Comics XF

On 10 years of Marvel’s Silk– When I heard that it had been 10 years of the debut of Korean-American female Spider-Hero Silk and that her live-action tv show had been axed, I felt compelled to voice my thoughts on her comic book history, her personal impact on me, and why she deserved better.

Spider-Punk Issue 4 review– Reviewing Cody Ziglar’s second Spider-Punk series was a highlight of my summer and the conclusion was immensely satisfying.

Here and genderqueer: 10 comics by trans and nonbinary creators– For Pride Month in June, I did a list of comic books, webcomics, Japanese manga, and indie comic books by trans and nonbinary folks to check out. While I haven’t personally read all of these, all of these comics were intriguing enough to write about.

The Comics XF bullpen share their favorite Krakoa Memories– Although I hadn’t kept up with the Krakoa era of X-Men comics, I and the rest of the Comics XF crew were sad to see it ending. In this retrospective roundtable, I discuss Vita Ayala’s New Mutants run and how it partly inspired my poem, “IIyana Rasputin Teaches Me Creation Magic”.

IIyana Lights Up The Night in X-Men Blood Hunt #1– While I didn’t care much for Marvel’s vampire themed comic book event Blood Hunt, I couldn’t resist reviewing the single issue revolving around one of my favorite comic book characters. The result is one of the best single issues I’ve ever read, showing Illyana’s fierce and softer sides all at once.

When There’s Trouble I Know Who To Call: How Teen Titans Helped Me Cope– For the 60th anniversary of the DC Comics superhero team Teen Titans and the 21st anniversary of the 2000’s animated series, I wrote about how the Teen Titans helped me cope with my teen angst.

DC’s Static Up All Night Is A Fun Night On The Town– When I learned that there was a graphic novel for the Milestone Comics superhero Static, I just had to review it. Static Shock was a groundbreaking 00’s animated series that showed me my first Black superhero in Virgil Hawkins and this graphic novel combined the spirit of the cartoon with modern aesthetics for a entertaining read.

Strange Academy: Bloodhunt Issue 3 Let The Right One In– I have a soft spot for magic superheroes. When I learned that Strange Academy had a Bloodhunt tie-in comic that was only three issues long, I decided to catch up and review the final issue. It was filled with camaraderie, magic fights, and unexpected resolve and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Brain Mill Press

Forever Is Now Is A Strong, Fierce, & Lyrical Reclamation– Another thing I have a soft spot for is novels-in-verse and YA novels about mental health. This book is the best of both worlds as the author uses poetry to tell the story of a Black bisexual teenage girl who learns to cope with agoraphobia after two painful events. It was so poignant and relatable that I decided to reread it for fun recently.

Popverse

How To Watch the Magical Girl Series Precure (or Pretty Cure)– As a 20 year old magical girl anime franchise, Precure is immense and only recently became legally available to stream online via Crunchyroll. For those who have been curious about it, I put together this comprehensive watch guide.

Superjump

6 Video Games Sailor Moon Fans Should Play– Speaking of magical girl genre stuff, did you know that there are video games inspired by anime like Sailor Moon? If you’re a gamer and fan of Sailor Moon’s sparkly aesthetics, LGBTQ+ characters, and female empowerment, check out these recs!

Stray Gods is a Campy, Engrossing Visual Novel With a Song in its Heart– I lowkey love visual novel games and high key love musicals, so a video game that combined both was totally up my alley. It was a delight to play so I review it to spread the word about this awesome indie game.

Unwinnable

The Rise of Miles Morales– Superhero comics can be overwhelming, but when a character is depicted in different media, it can make a huge difference. For the August issue of Unwinnable’s Exploits, I wrote about how Miles Morales portrayal in the film Into The Spiderverse and the novel Miles Morales: Suspended work in tandem to be a compelling coming-of-age story. This is also the first essay of mine for Unwinnable to be reprinted online in full.

Shelfdust

On The Maturity of Romance in Mildred Louis’ Agents of Realm– I was asked by editor Steve Morris who my favorite comic book romance was and I named the characters Jordan and Mackenzie from Mildred Louis’ webcomic Agents of The Realm. I was then asked to write about it for Shelfdust and so I happily obliged, discussing the sapphic romance between both young woman and their parallels to the depiction of romance in Sailor Moon.