Jennifer DeRoss (JD)
@jenniferdeross
I am a queer, poly parent and community college STEP coach. I also wrote Forgotten All-Star: A Biography of Gardner Fox! My next big project is a biography for Jerry Bails, who is often referred to as the father of comic book fandom.
I had a dream I was at some kind of a swimming event and Alan Ritchson was there. It had me excitedly speculating about him possibly getting cast as Aquaman again when he disappeared to get into costume. Then, my alarm went off. I feel robbed twice over now. And I am genuinely grumpy about it. 😂
If any of you are able to attend this, I would love to hear how it went!
Having spent summers in San Jose with my comics loving grandma, I was particularly proud that Forgotten All-Star: A Biography of Gardner Fox earned a "Highly Recommended" from Bud Plant. 😊
I just found out that Andréa Gilroy won the 2026 Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award!! Well earned!! 🎉🎉
Sell your book in five words: Gardner Fox: comics progenitor extraordinaire pulpheropress.com/books/forgot...
I guess Miss Mustachio’s markings have faded enough that we are getting random cats on our back patio again. It gave me bittersweet joy to see this one loving on her pot of plants. 🥹
Happy b-day, Grandma. 🎂 After her death, I got out the baby blanket she made for me. Stachio adored it. So did Amorous, who grew up with me. He was a tough cat with a long history of jumping on dogs' faces, etc, but loved me. I'm thankful I've had relationships that prompt this kind of mourning.
Cannon's girlfriend, who stayed over twice within the window of being able to say goodbye to Stachio, and even brought her treats, came back with flowers. I'm so glad the boys wanted to get the paw print. Being able to feel her little toes again makes me feel like she isn't fully gone.
Happy Birthday to Jerry Bails. I am feeling a bit too rough to wax poetic about why he deserves the work I am putting into him after the recent loss of my Miss Mustachio. But he still deserves the shout out. And he understood what it was to be chosen by a kitty. In this case, Kitty Cat. ❤️
That is very cool! But my kitty is actually snuggling in my Spider-Man hoodie. 😁
Reflecting pool gin and tonics. 😂 🤷 Happy Summer Solstice!
59) Bill Schelly books I really admire his work. Wish I could have met him. Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert is probably my favorite.
58) Fairy Friends I wish I had all of Yoshi Yoshitani's books. That was the most safe for work picture I could include. 😊😂🤷
55) Paper Girls My oldest son goes in and out of loving comics. Especially with superhero stuff. Paper Girls was a series that brought him back in for a while. Lots of great stuff around queerness and identity.
51) Horizon Zero Dawn Great game. And Aloy is a great character.
50) Goblin Market: A Tale of Two Sisters We may never know the true nature of their relationship....
I have some storyboard pages from The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian that Mike Vosburg gifted me. 😍
48) My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book Two Queer themes are present in both, but this one takes everything up a notch. Such a great series. And it really delivers on queer themes. 🥹
47) Magic: The Gathering Lots of queer folk in the game and playing it. I had to make a Bearscape deck after seeing these tokens on Etsy. 🌈
43) Wonder Woman Scholarship Did you know Jerry Bails was the first to kick off Wonder Woman scholarship? In the first "hero-history" segment from Alter Ego #1!
42) Scandal in Suburbia Written by Gardner Fox just before the lesbian pulp craze hit full stride, I was surprised by how well he handled the subject. Regardless, the book mostly seems lost to time. I found one reference in "The Lesbian Paperback Part 2" by Barbara Grier writing as “Gene Damon.”
40) Kim Reaper Making this list has made me realize I should show this series to my kids! It fits right in with those recent inclusions.
38) The Unstoppable Wasp Another series that my youngest would insist on me including.
37) Lumberjanes Going to my youngest son's stacks, Lumberjanes more than deserves inclusion.
36) Drama My youngest read this in middle school. Back when I was still writing for Sirens of Sequencials. He loved it so much he asked if he could write a review himself. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I just can’t engage with MTG’s Marvel at all anymore. I keep getting mad! The character who can only cast any given spell once is stripped down to a generic red card with a repeatable effect?!? Why not give her a -1/-1 effect? Why can none of the heroes be black? What are they even doing???
34) The People's Joker If you are a comics fan who hasn't yet watched this movie, you should rectify that. It will make you believe that superheroes should never have been controlled by corporations in the first place.