DC Comics

Author and UC Berkeley professor of African American Studies Darieck Scott uses fantasy as an active engagement with reality in his widely appraised book Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics published in 2022. 

It renders everything that made Diana an appealing hero in her solo film — her unapologetic femininity, her compassion, her strength — depressingly inert.

Within one issue, we’re completely invested in Naomi’s inner life. Her yearning to rise above her small town’s uneventful confines is a well-trodden hero’s journey trope, but the issue is never bogged down by a sense of predictability.

The following selection of comics offers excellent, spine-tingling starting points for anyone looking to take a deep dive into the medium. So without further ado, here are four chilling tales of ghosts, demons and witches that will haunt your dreams (and one that probably won’t).

In DC Comics’ latest comic book limited series, “Heroes in Crisis,” the trauma of fighting crime casts a long shadow: At a clandestine hospital, superheroes get treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. But when its patients are murdered, it’s up to Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman to find the killer.

“Ant-Man and the Wasp” serves as an ideal slice of chill-the-hell-out catharsis after the awesome but exhausting buildup and conclusion to “Infinity War.”

If you're in need of a reminder, it’s the Fourth of July! The Berkeley Marina has a celebration planned from noon to 10 p.m.

This week, the movie theater and the comic shop are going to be the perfect places to escape Thanksgiving’s requisite awkward familial interactions. We’re taking social interaction off the (dinner) table by planning out an entire week of moviegoing and that most solitary of activities, reading.