newsletter >> 09
:: message. Set your clocks, boys and girls! On September 24th, Jim Munroe and Jason Turner will be in Vancouver at Lucky’s Comics over at 3128 Main Street! They’re having a book launch and they’ll be selling copies of Zeroed Out and Vinegar 46. Be sure to check them out!
:: new arrivals dept. Speaking of new books, my sister Prof. Christine Kim has a new academic work out entitled Brutal Fantasies: Imagining North Korea in the Long Cold War from Duke University Press!
“In Brutal Fantasies, Christine Kim examines how Western cultural representations of North Korea depend on fantasies of the inhuman. Drawing on films, fiction, and defectors’ life writings from the last two decades, Kim analyzes how these representations construct North Korea as a site of brutality and inhumanity. She recasts these stories through Asian American and global Asian frameworks that move beyond common Cold War binaries to critique how US imperialism persists in global understandings of North Korea. Kim shows how human rights discourses simultaneously instrumentalize and dehumanize North Korea while demonstrating that North Korea is a site of contradiction that complicates Western interpretive constraints. She also explores the Korean diaspora’s complex relationship with North Korea and highlights the vulnerability and marginalization of diasporic subjects. In so doing, Kim pulls back the veil on prevailing cultural myths enshrouding North Korea, offering alternative ways of understanding its role in global and regional imaginaries.”
:: film. I've gone on a Jean-Claude Van Damme binge lately and managed to uncover some gems. Also, you may notice a theme here, possibly DOUBLING YOUR FUN.
:: sf dept. One of the things I’m doing this year is taking an SF literature course. I’m enjoying it greatly, also because it helps me trace out boundaries for the genre; how it differs from fantasy or horror, what ideas go into it, and the ways in which it can challenge the reader. I’m als quite happy to be able to support stores like Bakka-Phoenix Books, a mainstay in the Toronto and Science Fiction communities.
It also does make me think a lot about Prisoners of Gravity, a canadian tv show produced by Mark Askwith that helped shed some light on both comics and science fiction. It’s one of the few points in history that tie directly into the present, one thing that helped create the foundation of the pop culture industry that exists today.
In some ways, it’s a bit of an oddity compared to the present YouToob moment. It wasn’t interested in hype. It had tons of interviews with authors that had interesting perspectives, and wasn’t interested in gossip or drama. It asked questions and helped provide credibility. It’s one of my favourite things though, and helps create some historical context around the 90s, creators, and some works that I’ve read over the years.
:: drawing board. What’s next on the drawing board? Well, more Owl, of course! This year is looking quite heavy, but surprises await for summer of 2026! That work looks like it’s coming along quite well, so I’m looking forward to that. Anyways, will write to you all around Thanksgiving!
:: eric