wheelr:

Sometimes I have a whole day planned to write some fiction, and someone says something on the internet and I spend the whole day writing about that instead. This was one of those days. This is my article on Uncanny Avengers, written in collaboration with my friend and editor Joe Hughes.

comicsalliance:

Avengers Assimilate: Identity Politics in ‘Uncanny Avengers’

By Andrew Wheeler and Joseph Hughes

Uncanny Avengers #5 was mostly a strong issue, the best of the series so far, in part because it gave readers the clearest sense of the team’s dynamic and purpose, and in part because the guest art from Olivier Coipel was exceptional. Yet there was one part of the issue that didn’t hit its mark.

Uncanny Avengers #5 features the formal unveiling of the Avengers Unity Team, the public name of the book’s Avengers/X-Men mash-up roster. As part of the big reveal to the press, team leader Havok gave a little speech. And in that little speech he shredded the central thesis of minority identity politics. And that is a problem.

The pertinent section of the speech, by series writer Rick Remender, reads as follows: “I don’t see myself as born into a mutant cult or religion. Having an X-gene doesn’t bond me to anyone. It doesn’t define me. In fact, I see the very word “mutant” as divisive. Old thinking that serves to further separate us from our fellow man. We are all humans. Of one tribe. We are defined by our choices, not the makeup of our genes. So please, don’t call us mutants. The “m” word represents everything I hate.”

One can see the outline of good intentions in that speech. The fight for equality is predicated on the idea that our differences should not divide us. Minorities should not be defined by difference, and equal rights and opportunities should include freedom from the expectation that one will think or act a certain way based on one’s minority identity.

On Formspring, Uncanny Avengers editor Tom Brevoort suggested this reading; “I think that the point of Havok’s speech is that people aren’t all just one thing, and need not be defined by one aspect of who they are.” Others have framed the speech in similar terms; “How can anyone argue against someone wanting to be identified as a human being first? It’s a message of inclusion.” Remender himself said that Havok is “trying to make people stop seeing a ‘mutant’ and start seeing a ‘person.’”

All of which is admirable, but that’s not actually the speech Havok gave. Havok’s speech makes a huge leap from, “my minority identity doesn’t define me” to a rejection of minority identity. Havok is a mutant, but he says the word is divisive and that it represents everything he hates. He asks people not to use it. He is, definitively and explicitly, self-loathing about his identity.

READ MORE. 

scavengedluxury:

Postmodern gothic excess. London, March 2013.

(via theremina)

ruckawriter:

“Family - Prelude.”

This is the four-page short-short that Michael Lark, Santi Arcas, and I have done for LAZARUS, the first issue of which comes out this June. You can download the story at this link as a PDF, and please feel free to share the link and the PDF about. LAZARUS is published by Image.

The book is now available for PRE-ORDER from your retailer. The order code via Diamond is APR130420.

Michael, Santi, and I are very, very proud of this book.

I’ve described LAZARUS as a cross between The Godfather and Children of Men, but that’s a little disingenuous, frankly. Set in a not-too-distant dystopian future where power is now held by a handful of “Families” around the globe, it’s part action-adventure, part espionage, part soap opera. Our story centers on Forever Carlyle, the genetically engineered daughter of the Carlyle Family. As their “Lazarus,” she’s part spymaster, part secret agent, part bodyguard… basically, her Family’s secret weapon in their fight to keep what they have, and to acquire what they don’t. 

The book is most definitely rated ‘M.’ There’s profanity, there’s violence, there will be sex and likely nudity down the road, but, most of all, it’s dealing with some very dark, and fairly mature (I’d like to think, at least) themes. And some of the most depraved and corrupted individuals I’ve ever seen spring from my pen.

Please, please, please consider pre-ordering this book if you’re at all interested in what we’re doing.

valentinandthewidow:

Image: Eleanora Rosewood, the Lady Rosewood, by AK Fedeau

The Mandrake Machine is the first book in the action-adventure audio serial Valentin & The Widow, by Andrew Wheeler. First released in six free weekly episodes, the complete Mandrake Machine story is now available for download.

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(via wheelr)

valentinandthewidow:

Image: Eleanora Rosewood, the Lady Rosewood, by AK Fedeau

The Mandrake Machine is the first book in the action-adventure audio serial Valentin & The Widow, by Andrew Wheeler. First released in six free weekly episodes, the complete Mandrake Machine story is now available for download.

…

(via wheelr)

c-afemocha:

Coffee owl.

Coffee.

Owl.

Coffee owl.

(via fritokal)

budgie:

The Twelve Days of Fast Fiction - a prologue, an explanation, and a cast list #12DaysFF 

(via neuromaencer)

kristmort:

Death tarot

© Krist Mort

(via occults)