Elsewhere

This week, I wrote about Zero by Ales Kot and a whole slew of incredible artists over at PopMatters. That's been a gratifying book to follow so far, always doing new things and old things with equal skill and care. I also had my last ever Chemical Box"1987 and All That" column go up, on the final issue of Dakota North. The Chemical Box guys have decided to stop with written content on the site, but fear not, because I'm not going to stop writing the "1987" pieces, since they are maybe my favorite thing to work on. They'll have a new home next month, but more on that when it happens.

Something I Failed to Mention
I know that, at some point in preparing the Dakota North post, I made myself a note to talk about the cover. I have a vivid memory of typing that note. But apparently I didn't save it or didn't see it or something, because I made no mention of the cover at all when I actually wrote the thing, and it warrants mentioning. Real quick, check it out below:

What the fuck is happening with her arm? Is it just that the oversized sleeve makes it look misshapen, or is her elbow actually twisting backwards like that? I've stared at this a lot and I go back and forth on that one. There's also the fact that this whole pose is a bit on the brokeback side, inasmuch as Dakota's body is essentially in an S-shape so that her butt can be part of the foreground. But it's that arm that really bugs and distract and confounds me. Especially when I ask myself why, if she was whipping around with a gun out, presumably believing there's danger behind her, she would even have her other hand on her hip to begin with. Or her thigh or wherever it actually is. Like it should be out to the side, right? Helping carry her body through the spin? A very awkward bit of positioning, which is actually a fitting lead-in to the issue that follows.