Category: Comics commentary

Comics commentary from our podcast regulars.

#440 “The Love Bunglers”

FLASHBACK! Did you think Love & Rockets was over?! Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez continue to release new work about once a year, and in this episode Kumar and Matt sit down and discuss some of it, with particular attention paid to Jaime’s The Love Bunglers. (Spoiler warning!)

Also: the tension between indy creators who want to do single-issue type comics, and the economic realities shoving them toward larger collections…

Originally published March 9, 2015.

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#305 “Love & Rockets”: Gilbert Hernandez

FLASHBACK! In episode #300, we took a look at the sometimes wacky and cartoony Love & Rockets work of Jaime Hernandez. This week, Tim and Kumar are again joined by Tom Spurgeon to look at the somewhat darker, more violent and yet rather hard-to-pin-down work of Gilbert Hernandez in his stories of (or, sometimes merely tangentially related to) the isolated Mexican village of Palomar.

Originally published January 2, 2012

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#300 “Love & Rockets”: Jaime Hernandez

FLASHBACK! The series Love & Rockets, featuring individual works by the Hernandez brothers, started in 1981 as a self-published magazine, but was quickly picked up by Fantagraphics. Over the last 30 years, the brothers’ work has continued to develop & astound. This week Tim and Kumar take a look at the Love & Rockets work of Jaime Hernandez, with special guest (and former Fantagraphics employee) Tom Spurgeon!

Originally published October 24, 2011.

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Critiquing Comics #233: “The World of Tomorrow” and “Prism Stalker”

World of Tomorrow - Prism Stalker

In this edition, we rejoin The World of Tomorrow, a comic we discussed the first issue of five years ago! This is the one about an actor in, roughly, the 1950s, who stars in a space ranger TV show that’s on the verge of cancellation. Now writer Giles Clarke has sent us the second and third issues, and Jason and Tim take a look at them.

Then, Adam joins Tim to discuss the first volume of Prism Stalker by Sloan Leong. It’s kind of a psychedelic science fiction book that touches on immigration and other issues, and it’s a bit difficult to get into at first. In this episode you can hear us warm up to the comic even as we’re reviewing it!

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#778 K. Briggs’ “Macbeth”

Macbeth

Flush with dark and mysterious symbolism, K. Briggs‘ adaptation of Macbeth from Avery Hill publishing is a challenging and visually exciting piece of work. Kumar and Emmet discuss the comic’s approach to the classic Shakespearean play and how it compares to other adaptations, as well as its unique juxtaposition of the unexpurgated text of the tragedy with an eclectic selection of mixed media visualizations.

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#777 Jack Kirby’s “Kamandi” #29-31: “Up, up, and away!”

Kamandi #29

As we continue through Jack Kirby‘s 1970s issues of Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth, Tim and Emmet keep slowing down! In this episode, nearly 30 minutes go into discussing Kamandi’s encounter with Superman’s (inexplicably undamaged) costume, and so only three issues, 29 through 31, are examined, but what issues they are! Kirby also references Gulliver’s Travels here, and… wait, didn’t we see this on a Queen album cover? Well, it’s not quite that simple….

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Critiquing Comics #232: “Sons of Thunder” and “The Lamb”

Sons of Thunder and The Lamb

Critiquing Comics is back, with discussions of two interesting comics from listeners. Stephen Grow sent us Sons of Thunder, a one-panel cartoon aimed at Christians and reflecting life in a small-town church, but likely with wider appeal. Then, Kristin Tipping (now going by “Tin Tipping”) returns with a creepy barnyard tale, The Lamb.

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#774 Jack Kirby’s “Kamandi” #24-28: Havin’ a look-see for some fight-fight

While Kamandi‘s exorcism story in issue 24 leaves something to be desired, never mind that: the subsequent four issues, as discussed in this episode, deliver the kinds of interesting concepts we’ve come to expect, as Kamandi and Ben visit the Dominion of Devils, fight Sacker’s Co. and their environment-destroying activities, and find out what the intelligent animals of Europe have been up to. Oh, and there are flying sharks!

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#773 Jack Kirby’s “Kamandi” #19-23: On to Monster Lake!

Kamandi pt 3

In this segment of Jack Kirby’s Kamandi series, we visit a version of 1920s Chicago that seems to be drawing on, or prefiguring, various other pop culture stories, and then move on to Monster Lake, home of intelligent, talking — and sometimes romantically inclined! — dolphins and killer whales. Kirby’s war experience again figures in a story, perhaps a fantasy about what he’d have liked to say to a warmongering general. Tim and Emmet try to get their sea legs for some very wet stories.


Jack Kirby, from Kamandi issue 1
Don Ahe

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#770 Jack Kirby’s “Kamandi” #11-18: Kliklak forever

Kamandi This week we continue our look at Jack Kirby’s run on Kamandi, another of the DC properties he created. Tim and Emmet find that issues 11 through 18 include a giant insect, a violent horse race, another standout issue in the mode of issue 7’s King Kong story, a clue as to how the animals became intelligent, and more.

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