Jeremy shares a review from a recent issue of the Panel Discussion zine. This monthly zine is a print supplement to the Panel Discussion book club and can be found at the Main Library and select local stores. If you'd like a copy sent to your branch, email jeremy.estes@nashville.gov

The life of Stan Lee is a sad story from beginning to end.

Wonder Woman’s place in DC’s trinity--along with Batman and Superman--has never been in doubt, but finding a story which suis not only her messy backstory but also the near-omnipotence of her powers has proved difficult for many creators.

Panel Discussion is a monthly book club for adults focused exclusively on comics and graphic novels. We meet (virtually) at 12pm on the first Wednesday of every month. 

Snowpiercer takes the end of the world and puts it on a train. 

Rob Liefeld's 1990s creation John Prophet character was reimagined in 2012 to great effect by a new generation of comics creators. 

Comics from indie publisher Silver Sprocket are now on Hoopla! Here are just a few worth checking out. 

There would never be an easy time to read this book. 

Panel Discussion book club host Jeremy Estes selects some of his favorite comics of 2020. 

My favorite holiday tradition is watching an old Fruity Pebbles commercial in which Barney Rubble, disguised as Santa, tries to steal Fred Flintstone’s cereal. 

Right now, in the Pacific Ocean, is a widening gyre of plastic garbage, and among the junk food wrappers are heaps of forsaken toys, broken, exploded by firecrackers, and forgotten by spoiled children across the world. Intrepid explorers through this archaeological landscape will be able to timestamp their findings to the early to mid-1980s when they stumble upon the impressive figure of He-Man.

Science fiction writers of the past dreamed of futures, dark and bright, in which humans traveled to the stars, colonized other worlds, and encountered aliens both friendly and deadly. In all their imaginings, did they ever see their genre--ghettoized for so long as just that, genre fiction, said with a sneer--gaining prominence, even prevalence in the culture?

Science fiction teaches us not to bother. Don’t investigate that derelict spaceship. Don’t try to figure out what “soylent green” is, because figuring stuff out only causes trouble. Sure, there are wonderful discoveries to be made, but sometimes it’s important for buried secrets to remain hidden, deep in the ground.

Nostalgia is a valuable commodity. No generation is safe from it, but those of us on the cusp of middle age are particularly susceptible to it. Just ask the X-Men t-shirt in my closet.

Conspiracy theories are beautiful and dangerous. Beautiful because they connect dots across social, political, and cultural spheres, creating a mosaic of intentions which seems deliberate. They’re dangerous for the exact same reasons. 

Once, at a punk rock show in Kentucky, the lead singer of a Nashville band lamented the small turnout of the crowd. “I think Kentucky is more Southern than Tennessee,” he said. 

WARNING: This post contains spoilers for the film Avengers: Infinity War, because the internet is a cruel place.

I’ve been wrong about a lot of things. The first time I used the internet I typed “X-Men” into a search engine and, finding the results unsatisfactory, said, “This will never catch on.”

Lately I’ve been thinking about Superman. This is not all that unusual, as there are three different’ representations of the character sitting on my desk as I write this, but I’ve been thinking about what he means to the world.

Working in a library is a gift. There are no door-buster sales, no agitated customers (okay, maybe a few), and no Black Friday shenanigans. Instead of trampling over one another, our patrons wait patiently for the latest best sellers. Best of all, everything is free.

If you’ve ever read an article about comic books, there’s a good chance the author included the words “biff”, “pow”, or “zap” in either the headline or the lede. 

Part of the success of stories like IT is the transformation of something innocent or mundane--like a clown--and making it unspeakably evil.

There’s a scene in Karin Tidbeck’s Amatka where the main character, Vanja, goes into a locked archive in her office to file papers and surreptitiously search for secret details about her commune’s past. Outside, a stern secretary watches the clock to ensure Vanja doesn’t spend too much time alone with these secrets.

Winsor McCay looms so large over the world of cartooning and animation that no ordinary book can contain the majesty of his work. This is no ordinary book.

The end of Summer Challenge is bittersweet. It means school is starting up and the prizes have all been awarded. The good news is there’s a new Star Trek show premiering this fall, with a whole new cast and a whole new mission. Before the franchise begins this new chapter, let’s take another look at its past.