Signs & Portents

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Pagan News Beagle: Airy Monday, October 5

The inspirational power of Hermione Granger is examined. We take a look at the webcomic "Witchy." And Marvel debuts a new comic series about their sorcerer supreme, Dr. Strange. It's Airy Monday, our weekly take on pop culture as it relates to magic and religion. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

What makes the Potterverse's Hermione such an inspirational character? At The Mary Sue, Dr. Janina Scarlet takes a look at the psychology of pop culture's favorite witch and examines why it is that so many young women (and men) look up to her.

In a comic universe that can be overwhelmingly white, it's always nice to shine a light on minority faces. Science fiction and fantasy website covers last month's announcement that Marvel will be launching a new series centered on its first American Indian / Native American superhero, Red Wolf.

There's a lot of webcomic out there but how many of them are Pagan-themed? One is Witchy, a comic about a society where magical power and social status is determined by the length of one's hair. Comics Alliance gives their review here.

One can't talk about comics and magic without invoking in spirit Marvel's most legendary magician, Stephen Strange, aka the Sorcerer Supreme. Most of the talk about Strange recently has been focused on the upcoming feature film about him, schedule for 2016 and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, but Marvel's also launching a new title for the character, written by Jason Aaron and illustrated by Chris Bacalo.

Identity politics is always a complicated and controversial subject, no less so when discussed as a part of popular culture. But sometimes it's a necessary discussion to have. Lilian-Ann Bonaparte talks about the importance of so-called "race bending" (aka, changing the race of a character) to underrepresented ethnic groups in popular culture who feel excluded and ignored by mainstream media.


Top image by Stephen McNiven, Dexter Vines, Morry Hollowell, and Chris Eliopolous.

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Aryós Héngwis (or the more modest Héngwis for short) is a native of the Pontic-Caspian steppe, born some 5000 years ago, near the village of Dereivka. In his youth he stood out from the other snakes for his love of learning and culture, eventually coming into the service of the local reǵs before moving westward toward Europe. Most recently, Aryós Héngwis left his home to pursue a new life in America, where he has come under the employ of BBI Media as an internet watchdog (or watchsnake, if you will), ever poised to strike the unwary troll.

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