The Girl Loves Ink | A January Return

Catherine Bathe’s comics column The Girl Loves Ink returns after a yearlong hiatus. Click here to check out previous editions. Header image is from the cover of Craig Thompson’s graphic novel Blankets.

So, I’ve been gone—and I’m not necessarily sorry about that, but I feel like it needs to be acknowledged.

Today I adventured to a local university campus to discuss their Media Studies program and I feel instantly (and equal parts) guilty about having set this space down and excited to get back to writing in it.

So, hi. <3

In writing, we talk about the shitty first draft—you give yourself the space to make mistakes and get through the grossness that is a first draft knowing that the goal is simply to complete the project you’re working on. You can always edit the bajeezus out of something, but you need the something to edit first. And, I think that’s where I’ve been stuck when it’s come to this column: how do I start again after having been gone for this long?

How do I start? I do the shitty first draft—or, in this case, the shitty first column.

So, it’s a new year—the year of 2020, and while I definitely missed the boat on #newyearnewme, I feel like that’s for the best. ‘Cuz this isn’t a new me, it’s more like a…return to the me-me.

Some things I want to talk about this year (in no particular order):

• Writing a graphic novel. (Because it’s something I’m doing and I have…thoughts. A lot of thoughts.)
• Gamora and Nebula in the MCU (It’s been a half-finished idea for a long)
• Elsa and Anna
• Comicsgate. Seriously? I’m off for a year and change and this happens? We need some adult supervision, y’all. Like, wtf.
• The Arrowverse
• Comics in Academia
• Star Wars (And our toxic fandom culture, in general)
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 and comic book video games / video games in general
• Comics! (I’ve been reading them, so there’s material to review.)

I’m sure there’s other stuff that’s happened that I’ll uncover and want to talk about, even if it’s severely after the fact. I’ve also been going to the movies a lot recently. I got one of those cool monthly movie passes and there’s definitely stuff to talk about there in regards to the animated movies coming out (Hi, Onward!).

I suppose that what I’m rambling on about is that I’m back, I hope you missed me, Inklings—I missed you. I’m looking forward to coming back into this pop culture space we all share with a renewed passion for participation and observation and a lot of others words, I’m sure, that end in -ion.

Oh, and I guess there’s going to be comic reviews. And graphic novel reviews.

I finally got around to reading Blankets—where has that been all of my life?

Ugh. So good. | Catherine Bathe