Kickstarter to Ban any Adult-Styled Comics and Content in General After Making Millions From Them for Years

Kickstarter has been a popular spot for years to fund a project/idea. Comic creators love it because Kickstarter can help take an idea that could be too niche for a mainstream publisher and allow them to sell directly to their audience. This can, at times, include comics with a more adult leaning/focus. A number of these comics appeal to heterosexual readers, and some have LGBTQ themes that bigger publishers would shy away from (some comic companies are okay with sex, but only if it's hetero). Kickstarter has made tons of money off comic projects, many of them adult-leaning. Perhaps they feel they've made enough to turn their back on a lot of people, because Kickstarter released new and extremely detailed rules about mature/adult content. I'm talking bullet points about, "Not allowing visible nipples poking through clothing in a drawing," levels of prudishness. It’s not just comics, it is everything (so look out, edgy video-games).

Friend of the blog (and general friend), Mike Wolfer penned an open letter to Kickstarter online, and Bleedingcool shared it along with the thoughts of other creators who are quite enraged. Kickstarter grew into what it is off their backs and has decided to cast them aside now that they aren't needed. The given reason? A credit card payment processor company called Stripe has, over recent years, become extremely anti-adult-anything. They don't like processing payments for things that are outright porn or at all mature under the guise of they, "Get returned more," but this seems more like a weird religious/prudishness thing than anything else. Extreme levels of violence are fine, so feel free to chop a woman's head off in your comic, but don't you dare have someone consensually kiss her exposed nipple! There has been a rise of anti-sex/eroticism vibes due to conservatives gaining/stealing power, and oftentimes a lot of this is framed as, "Protecting children," even though lots of this adult material usually demands you prove you are--you know--an adult. Plus, I mentioned how anything LGBTQ that even hints vaguely at sex oftentimes finds itself censored a lot more than straight people bumping uglies, which adds an extra flavor of homophobia and transphobia to this shit sandwich Kickstarter's users are being fed.

If you don't want sexy comics in your life, don't back them on Kickstarter or read them. If you like comics that sometimes feature sex or even some nudity, then go find yourself some quality comics that provide such a thing. It should be as simple as that, but credit card processors, Kickstarter, and oftentimes politicians want to rob you of making that choice and having independence--not very patriotic, I'd say. This is quite a mess, and I am curious to see how it shakes out.

eBay Declares, "No," Quite Clearly to GameStop's Acquisition Attempt

GameStop's attempt to buy eBay made zero sense to almost anyone. eBay had no reason to consider a smaller company with a rocky history approaching it. GameStop lacked much to offer or any reason to try to acquire eBay. The CEO of GameStop, Ryan Cohen, really wanted to force something to happen, however. Well, one thing that has happened is eBay responded to GameStop's unsolicited buyout offer with a resounding, "No." Declaring it, "Neither credible nor attractive," eBay's board reacted the same way you probably do when someone knocks on your door to sell you pest control services--politely turn them down and quickly shut the door. In this case, however, the rejection is very public, and all the news sites are talking about it. GameStop's whole attempt to buy eBay looked absurd and doomed from the start, so the only thing that surprised me was that eBay waited even a handful of days to turn GameStop down.

Marvel’s Midnight Universe Has Been Unveiled and It's a Bit Underwhelming

I wrote just a smidgen ago about how Marvel was hinting about a new, “Midnight Universe,” that would feature Marvel with more of a horror bent. Many people, myself included, thought this meant a lot of beloved and cult creepy characters Marvel has would be featured in dark, edgy tales. Well, Marvel just started releasing details this week. We’re getting X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man…but evil/scary. Yawn.  Oh, and the X-Men are, of course, vampires because Marvel always has had a weird affinity for making the X-Men hang out with or occasionally turn into vampires (hey, Jubilee).

A twisted universe with no heroes and only monstrous versions of Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, the Werewolf by Night, and Blade or such could be such a cool concept. Instead, we’re just churning out another iteration of the biggest characters Marvel has—but spooky! This news has evaporated much of my interest in the Midnight Universe. The creative teams are quite good, which is the only thing that hasn’t utterly erased a cautious optimism I feel. Jonathan Hickman with Matteo Della Fonte on the X-Men book, Benjamin Percy and Kev Walker doing Fantastic Four, and Phillip Kennedy-Johnson with Scie Tronc—the first-ever Marvel book he’s done art for.

I sincerely hope the Midnight Universe is indeed Marvel’s horror-heavy answer to DC’s immense success with the Absolute Universe. I want all comic publishers to do well, big or small, because then the comic industry itself remains strong. Healthy sales benefit everyone, but I just don’t know if this Midnight Universe sounds particularly interesting or all that new. The X-Men have had plenty of interactions with vampires, and Spider-Man has been a more spider-like beast on numerous occasions, too. The Fantastic Four comic does intrigue me a bit, however, because Percy and Walker are a Hell of a good team. Basically, I will try the first issues of each of these series, and we’ll see what happens from there.

Music Mondays: "Flex," By Cupid Remains a Straightforward and Catchy Tune

The song, "Flex," by the music artist Cupid, is not a complex tune. It involves him telling an unnamed person to flex their body because they are sexy, whilst he also shouts out dance moves for listeners to do. That said, the beat, melody, and crooning combine to make a strangely addictive tune that admittedly goes a bit long for what it is (almost four minutes), but still  makes you want to get up and move about. It's been out for some time, but it remains a big hit at parties. Have a listen here:

Do you see what I mean? I'm not sure what it is, but that jam gets me all hyped up and ready to dance! The song came out back in 2020 and has become a popular piece for everyone to line up and groove to at parties. I feel that six-ish years ago isn't quite long enough to dedicate a Flashback Friday to this song, so I put it where I thought it'd fit better, here in Music Mondays. Just know that if you're at a party and this tune comes on, you're definitely at a location that knows how to have fun!

Happy Mother's Day 2026

I want to wish a happy Mother's Day to all the moms or motherly figures. You are special, important, and make the lives of the people you care for better. I am thankful for my own mom, who was a very patient parent as I was growing up. I also want to send my love out to my wife (who is the mother of our children), Samii. Have a great Mother's Day, everyone!

Witchblade and Vampirella Are Getting Into the Publisher Crossover Craze!

We've seen a lot of crossovers between Marvel and DC lately. The trend has been that we get one comic with a character's name featured, followed by another issue that flips the headliner. Hence, "Deadpool/Batman," as well as, "Batman/Deadpool" and more. I suppose Top Cow (an imprint of Image) and Dynamite wanted to get a piece of the fun (and make some scratch) because, for the first time in 20 years Witchblade and Vampirella are teaming-up for, "Witchblade/Vampirella," #1, by Marguerite Bennett and Laura Braga as well as, "Vampirella/Witchblade," #1, by Erica Schultz and Valentina Pinti.

I'm all for different comic-book companies having fun crossovers, as in a worst-case scenario, we just get silly fan-service, but in a best-case scenario, we'll be able to enjoy some creative takes on popular characters having some new/rarely seen interactions. Both characters have a slight horror and sci-fi bent, are popular for occasionally cheesecakey art, and the creative teams are great writers and artists. Keep your eyes peeled for the first crossover issue in late August; it should be a fun read!

The Unwanted and Unneeded Return of the R-Word

I saw how NPR had a segment discussing, "The worrisome return of the R-Word," late last month. It is a good listen and only 14 minutes long. The general idea is how the word, "Retarded," started out in medical settings, became an insult/slur, faded away, and unfortunately clawed its way back into some of the cultural dialogue (and is nowadays often used to insult those with differing political views or say unkind things about politicians). Unlike slurs that are more specific to race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion, the general thrust of insults that suggest disability is that someone is somehow less-than and incompetent--as if those with a disability are too. You've doubtlessly seen folks claiming, "I'm not insulting the disabled, I'm just calling out regular people who are being stupid," but that's equivalent to claiming you didn't start a forest fire but are happy to throw kindling on it.

I never saw the appeal of using, "Retarded," as a slur when I was a child in the 1990's, even though it was at that time quite the common insult for some to utilize. It seemed like in the process of trying to hurt one person's feelings, you were being mean to those with an intellectual disability who did nothing wrong to you. It was never in my vocabulary and even as I've gotten older and will sometimes swear when upset you're more likely to hear me utter, "Shit," or tell someone they're an "Asshole," than to ever throw out an R-word or any other kind of slur related to a demographic. If you keep a word out of your vocabulary, there is little chance you'll purposely or accidentally use it. I quite dislike this word seeming to creep back into dialogues and arguments, be they in-person or via the internet. You could say I'm being oversensitive and whining, but I don't see why anyone desires to even hint at someone being disabled as a kind of insult. It makes little logical sense, is hurtful, and diminishes the struggles faced by those with a real disability, as well as what they are capable of despite any challenges they face. Basically, use your creativity when hurling insults instead of resorting to such a lazy and thoughtless word. Put some work into your put-downs, people!

Marvel Is Hinting at a New, "Midnight," Universe Coming This Fall

Marvel is in the process of wrapping up their reboot of the Ultimate Universe (I'm still shocked they are actually ending it) and just started hinting at something called the, "Midnight Universe," with the tagline, "A terrifying new universe from Marvel Comics arrives this fall." Upon seeing this my first thought was Marvel is going to try and do something similar to DC's smash-hit Absolute Universe, with some kind of dark or scary twist...hence the spooky-ish time of Midnight? Well, Bleeding Cool has announced with a big All-Caps, "SCOOP," that the Midnight Universe is a mix of Marvel's answer to the Absolute Universe and will have a horror focus. Jonathan Hickman, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, and Benjamin Percy will all be working together for a radically reimagined alternate Marvel Universe that will have a focus on Blade, Ghost Rider, Darkhold, Dracula, Morbius, and the good ol' Werewolf By Night.

This announcement has me feeling both a bit cynical and excited. I am rolling my eyes a bit at the idea of Marvel so unabashedly going, "Let's do our own Absolute-type thing!" but hearing it has a horror bent perks my ears up as someone who enjoys sci-fi and horror comics, as well as superhero stories that twist the genre a bit into those styles. Will there be enough interest in a more horror-styled alternate universe for this line to succeed or will it fall flat on its face? Nobody can (for sure) know as very few predicted the Absolute line would be as popular as it has become--I will say I am eager to learn more because I'm always down for a solid Blade or Ghost Rider yarn. Marvel will officially be revealing more next week, so let's stay tuned for the (official) details that will be coming before too long.

Ted Turner Has Died

Ted Turner has passed. He was 87 and had been open about having a diagnosis of Lewy body dementia. The man who brought us the 24-hour news cycle, Turner was dedicated to conservation and philanthropy. He was also quite outspoken and rubbed a number of people the wrong way with his statements—and made it known he didn't care if feathers were ruffled! At one point, he was married to Jane Fonda--a talented actress known for her own controversies. 

Ted Turner did a lot of good compared to some billionaires who one could quite easily classify as, “Awful people.” I’m not saying Ted Turner was some kind of unicorn, “Wonderful billionaire,” but by many accounts, he was a good guy considering how he could have turned out. I always found Turner to be a fascinating individual whenever I read about his life or saw interviews with him. It seems many folks will miss him, so he must’ve done something right in his life. Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

We Are Getting a New-ish, "Star Fox," Game After All

I wrote exactly a month ago how, "I'm Down for a (Good) New Star Fox Game," and Nintendo surprised everyone today with some news! Yep, we're getting, "Star Fox," for the Switch 2...albeit as a big remake of the beloved Nintendo 64 game. Due on June 25th, it looks pretty, will have online multiplayer, and has some folks excited and others saying it, "Looks fine." If we're being blunt, it does seem like Nintendo would rather infinitely remake Star Fox games than create a new one. I suppose some kind of, "New," Star Fox is better than none, hence, I do plan to check it out. They're remaking an awesome game, so it should at least be fun, after all!