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ghcroal.bsky.social
@ghcroal.bsky.social
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comicsscholars.ca
During our ‘Anti-Heroes’ panel, George Croal explores the ecopolitics of Poison Ivy.
June 5, 2025 at 3:21 PM
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darrenmooney.bsky.social
I wrote at @secondwindgroup.com about #Thunderbolts, the best live action superhero film from a major studio in what feels like ages.

How the film uses the lens of “superhero fatigue” to explore millennial ennui and the end of American exceptionalism.

LINK: www.patreon.com/posts/column...
One of the most interesting aspects of Thunderbolts*, the latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is the film’s strong sense that the best days of the superhero genre in general and this mammoth franchise in particular are long gone. The film feels very self-aware about the diminished cultural cachet of the larger Marvel brand, and is actively interested in using that framing device to engage with bigger ideas. Thunderbolts* exists very firmly in conversation with The Avengers, to the point that the film’s closing credits reveal that its “real” title is The New Avengers. This makes a great deal of sense, The Avengers was a crucial moment in the evolution of mainstream superhero cinema. It was the first movie from Marvel Studios to gross over a billion dollars, it established the template for the modern cinematic shared universe, and solidified Marvel as a brand unto itself. By the time that Thunderbolts* begins, The Avengers feels miles away. Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the head of the CIA, addresses her impeachment inquiry by reminding the assembled public, politicians and press that the Avengers are gone. Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) muses to De Fontaine’s young personal assistant Mel (Geraldine Viswanathan) that the events of The Avengers – “the Battle of New York” – “must seem like ancient history” to her. Mel admits that she was “in high school” when The Avengers happened. However, she feels some pang of nostalgia for it. “It’s so strange that it’s over,” she admits to Barnes. De Fontaine tries to capitalize on that nostalgia, distracting attention from her shady dealings by hosting a fundraising gala packed with memorabilia from the first Avengers movie. Congressman Gary (Wendell Edward Pierce) is unimpressed, warning De Fontaine, “This gaudy Avengers propaganda reeks of desperation.”
May 2, 2025 at 3:26 PM
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matthew-hardy.bsky.social
Marvels current best book.

It is an almost counter-culture book but with highly commercial properties.

It really shouldn't work at all. But some carefully constructed storytelling and inventive world building by @denizcamp.bsky.social makes this gripping.
March 20, 2025 at 6:43 PM
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dynamicsymmetry.bsky.social
The people who did this are genocidal mass-murderers and they should not be allowed to hide from that fact

I get the sense Musk is genuinely uncomfortable with that framing which is why it should be used, aside from it being true
mckay4senate.bsky.social Bill McKay @mckay4senate.bsky.social · Mar 15
The New York Times is the first to put out comprehensive estimates on the cost of a year without U.S.A.I.D. and they’re higher than I thought:
- 1.65 million deaths from AIDS
- 500,000 from lack of vaccines
- 550,000 from lack of food aid
- 290,000 from malaria
- 310,000 from TB
amandamarcotte.bsky.social Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · Mar 15
Killing children is by design, I'm afraid. "Pro-natalists" like Musk claim they aren't racist, but their pressure to have children is solely focused on white women, while they back policies that literally kill of non-white children.

He's a eugenicist.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
March 15, 2025 at 6:16 PM