Secondly, I decided to do a links round-up post today, of bookish and nerdy and feminist stuff that interested me this week. I always love link round-ups, and this week I got jealous enough to make one of my own.

In honor of the release of Marvel’s weirdest movie yet, Guardians of the Galaxy, I give you two conflicting reads on sexism in that film, one from Alyssa Rosenberg (formerly of ThinkProgress, now writing for the Washington Post) and one from Clare, The Literary Omnivore.

The Los Angeles Times suggests some important things to keep in mind when you read Amazon’s statements about ebook pricing. The short version is that production costs are the smallest of the costs that go into making a book. The article doesn’t say this, but please also note that Amazon evidently thinks the work it puts into distributing the ebook is 85% as valuable as the work an author puts in to write it and an entire publishing house to make it. I have some feelings about that, Amazon.

This Roxane Gay post on Tumblr about shopping while black will infuriate but not surprise you.

The always wonderful Anne Helen Peterson makes the moral case for watching Outlander. Thanks, imaginary internet friend Anne Helen Peterson! I do not have Cinemax but I will totally watch it when it shows up on one of the streaming services I possess. Also, I bet five dollars that everyone will write off Outlander for being fluff, while Game of Thrones goes on to have as many seasons as it wants. Go ahead, bet me.

In case you’ve been on the fence about reading Mary Robinette Kowal, can I remind you that she puts the Doctor into her books? And then can I point you to her recent blog post about hiring an Antiguan and Barbudan writer, Joanne Hillhouse, to fix her Antiguan Creole English dialogue? Joanne Hillhouse writers about the experiences here. This just fills my heart with bunnies and rainbows.

Over at Tor.com, Ada Palmer inquires whether Thor (who as a Marvel property belongs to Disney) can now be considered a Disney princess.

Anne Thériault of The Toast sings the praises of Anne Boleyn and ranks Henry VIII’s wives in order from best to worst. I’m with her every step of the way, except that I’m giving last place to Catherine Parr, who evidently helped her second husband sexually assault a teenage Elizabeth I. Gross, Catherine Parr.

And last but not at all least, something stupendously cool for you to listen to: A sound map of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, by sound artist John Kannenberg.

The post Things in my week that were awesome appeared first on Reading the End.

As Marvel became larger and more successful, and Stan Lee continued to insist upon keeping a finger in every comics pie, discontent in the “Marvel bullpen” began that would continue throughout the company’s history. Artists and writers and editors were perpetually irritated with each other, and creators of memorable characters retained no rights to the ideas they gave to Marvel. Management changes throughout the company’s history constantly shook up the stable of writers, as did contract and labor disputes, and particularly disputes about the future of the now-beloved characters of the Marvel series.

Sean Howe is obviously in love with Marvel Comics. (Go here to listen to a Grantland podcast where he talks about the book.) The stories of the original Marvel bullpen told by Stan Lee in the pages of the early superhero comics caught his imagination, and these writers and artists are the main focus of the book. This is very cool in a way, as it allows the reader to see the differences the changing staff made to various series, from the real-life focus of Ditko’s Spiderman to the soapy story arcs (I say that without any judgment at all ever) of Chris Claremont’s X-Men.

On the other hand, it can be difficult to keep track of everyone who comes and goes and loves Marvel and hates Marvel and loves superhero comics or hates them, and who thinks Jack Kirby is the best and who thinks Stan Lee is the best, and who got screwed out of millions of dollars of income from their intellectual property by shady doings (hint: everyone). I got bogged down around the mid-1970s and early 1980s with all the names that were flying around, and I nearly gave up the book. But then I listened to that interview with Sean Howe and it cheered me up and gave me the strength to continue.

My very favorite thing I learned was this (I guess there are spoilers for old Spiderman here, the comics?, if you care about that?): At one point Mary Jane was pregnant (PS, lame, Gwen Stacy is better), and they wanted Spiderman not to have a baby, so they had a sinister nurse come tell MJ that the baby was stillborn, and then you see someone, like, delivering a shady secret package on the dock. Maybe a dead baby? Maybe an alive baby? And nobody has ever picked up this storyline. Y’all, I know. This is clearly insane. I have invented a storyline for the secret baby, and I think they should let me write for comics (or else soap operas) because I would be amazing at it. Spoiler alert, my storyline ends with Spiderman feeling sad and guilty. It doesn’t end that way because I’m mad at Spiderman for not growing old with Gwen Stacy. That’s not why. Not at all.

Does anyone want to recommend me some good Marvel comics to read? I don’t know where to start! There are way too many!

I received this ebook for review from Harper, through Edelweiss.

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