Posts

Nancy Drew and the Mystery of Queer Representation

-
Image
Flashback to the days of girl power and grunge. Back to those alphabet days of America Online, Beanie Babies, and Clueless . Back to 1995, for many a year in pop culture that is peak nostalgia. But as summer draws to a close, lost amid the shuffle of scandals and smash hits is an American icon. Nancy Drew, that venerable girl detective, celebrates sixty-five years in print by finally heading off to college. There she’ll encounter mystery, romance, and some much-needed diversity. Nancy Drew On Campus launched in a blaze of mid-nineties glory when its first installment, New Lives, New Loves , landed in bookstores on September 2. The series was the sixth Nancy Drew spin-off publishing giant Simon & Schuster had developed since acquiring the strawberry blonde super-sleuth back in 1979. Like The Nancy Drew Files , then already in its ninth year, Campus targeted a mature teen audience, this time placing the mystery elements on the back burner in favor of bringing the romance
1 comment
Read more

Fighting Evil with Moonlight: A Look at Sailor Moon and Her American Ancestor

-
Image
Since the early nineties, Sailor Moon has been fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight. Nearly a half century earlier, however, a different lunar lady of justice was busy punishing bad guys in the name of the moon. Created in 1947 as EC Comics' answer to Wonder Woman, Moon Girl was the brainchild of publisher Max Gaines, writer Gardner Fox, and artist Sheldon Moldoff. Appearing in only eight issues of her own series and a handful of stories printed in other magazines, Moon Girl failed to match the long-running success and lasting popularity of her Amazonian forebear. On the other hand, she does  manage to match up with a certain sailor-suited pretty soldier in a surprising number of ways. Below is a breakdown of some of the uncanny parallels between these two legendary moon maidens. Secret Identities Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) is a junior high school student. Clare Lune (Moon Girl) is a junior high school teacher. Usagi's name is a pun on the Ja
Post a Comment
Read more