elsewhere/strange horizons: indie boy strikes!

[iainpj]

Posted a week ago, and completely forgot to mention it here:

Strange Horizons Columns: Indie Boy Strikes!

So it occurs to me that with the past two columns on religion in comics, which concentrated on superhero stories, and the last one about rebuilding superhero universes, I may have given a somewhat misleading view of my comic reading preferences. After all, there's a reason why, amongst my comic-book inclined friends, a conversation with me may start, “OK, so this week over in Sinestro Corps War . . . oh, why am I talking to you about it? You never read this stuff anyway.” Which isn't entirely true–clearly, I do read some superhero titles. But the bulk of my reading is off on Image and Avatar and First Second and Archaia and Markosia and other independent publishers. I wanted to give a more accurate view of what I like and what I don't, and, to some extent, why. Never fear; we'll be getting back to the superhero stuff presently....

I have to admit, figuring out how to end what's effectively a literature review is something I've never quite figured out how to do. I mean, I was trained as an academic; the proper end for a literature review is supposed to be a 20 page research paper. And at that, this version is much MUCH better than the original; I wound up tearing it down and rebuilding it after I'd almost completed it. (And the original nearly was 20 pages, so it seriously needed tearing down.)