Comic Books

Another year, another shout into the void. I can only hope many of you are surviving as best you can while things continue to get weird, despicable, and hilarious in varying measures depending on the news day. But, despite everything, the medium we can’t tear ourselves away from persists. As has become a tradition at… Continue reading

It’s very nearly Christmas, so that means it’s time to talk about colonization. Last week’s look at Susumu Higa’s Sword of Sand from Okinawa focused almost exclusively on the events of World War II and how the residents of the Okinawan islands dealt with their homes becoming a large-scale battleground. In the second half of the book, Mabui, we see the impact of the… Continue reading

History tends to focus on the fighters, not on civilians. That gap is explored in the first chapter of Susumu Higa’s Okniawa collection, Sword of Sand. Okinawa is the smallest of Japan’s main islands. The Okinawa prefecture itself has a tenuous relationship with mainland Japan. When the Imperial Japanese Army arrives to the various islands surrounding Okinawa during… Continue reading

The last time I remember seeing snow was before the plague began. And even what I remember of it then was a fleeting slurry that hung in the air for a few moments before melting on the ground. It’s been even longer since I’ve seen snow that piled up high enough to support my weight… Continue reading