magazines

  • DC Comics’ Wonderful Swimsuit Covers Are Sexy and Tasteful

    DC Comics’ Wonderful Swimsuit Covers Are Sexy and Tasteful

    Back in the ‘90s, Marvel released several Swimsuit Specials, mimicking the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, but for its audience of horny nerds. The results were… well, tragic might be overselling it, but Marvel heroes (including some male ones) were stuffed in the skimpiest costumes imaginable, often contorted into overtly sexual (and frequently impossible) poses. Thirty…


  • Dungeons & Dragons Has Burned Up All the Goodwill

    Dungeons & Dragons Has Burned Up All the Goodwill

    As fans of tabletop roleplaying games debate over what to do about Wizards of the Coast’s new draft of the Open Gaming Licence for Dungeons & Dragons, the lack of goodwill might be thing that drives the most resentment between fans of D&D and the company moving forward.


  • How a ‘Playboy’ Centerfold Became Part of the Creation of the JPEG

    How a ‘Playboy’ Centerfold Became Part of the Creation of the JPEG

    In her new book, How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex: An Unexpected History, Samantha Cole traces the twisting history of the “Lena Centerfold,” an image from Playboy that became an international standard for training computers to recognise images. The image, taken in 1972, persisted for decades in computer science, even inspiring…