#292 Women’s Issues

women's issues

At a panel at San Diego Comicon last month, Dan DiDio (bottom picture at left) caused a stir by seeming belligerent when a fan asked why the DC reboot included fewer female creators — even fewer than had worked on for DC pre-reboot. DiDio seemed to think there were hardly any female comics creators he could consider. Hear it here

Jake Ekiss was probably not alone in expressing disapproval of this sentiment — in this case, on Twitter. So Tim invited him to come on the podcast and discuss it here. (Jake’s comic is Solomon Azua.)

Joining Tim and Jake is one of those female comics creators the mainstream isn’t hiring, EK Weaver, creator of the Web comic The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal (that’s Amal in the top picture at left). We discuss why women are so much further out of the comics mainstream in the US than they are in, oh say, Japan.

Also this week, Tim’s former day-job office mate Cassey, now based in Anchorage, joins Tim to discuss Bryan Lee O’Malley’s pre-Scott Pilgrim work Lost at Sea, the coming-of-age story of 18-year-old Raleigh (middle picture).

Review: DC Comics Presents Green Lantern: Willworld

written by JM DeMatteis, art by Seth Fisher

DC Comics, 2011.

If the idea of Green Lantern as a giant disembodied floating head who can’t even speak because he’s got his mouth full with a buxom six-armed bartender, an alien beatnik, and an angel in cutoff jeans and a t-shirt sounds appealing, then, boy, is this the comic for you!

Continue reading Review: DC Comics Presents Green Lantern: Willworld

#291 Justifiable Homicide? pt 2: MONSTER

MonsterPlanning a murder that you think will prevent future murders? That’s the premise — or, at least, one of the premises — of Monster, Naoki Urasawa’s 18-volume series. Set in Germany, the series focuses on the unintended consequences of Dr. Kenzo Tenma’s good deed; he saved the life of a boy who turned out to be a remorseless killer. Tim and guest reviewer Natalie Nourigat discuss.

A review on alltooflat.com

Critiquing Comics 001: “Birth of Venus”

Critiquing Comics

Birth of Venus

We inaugurate our new podcast series where we critique our listeners’ comics work!

This week: “Birth of Venus” (birthofvenuscomic.com)

Story/script/lettering: Andrew Makishima

Story/illustrations: Matthew JLD Rice

Colors Rory Walsh

#290 Justifiable Homicide? pt 1: NEXUS

Nexus

We begin a two-review series on comics that ask hard questions about whether murder can ever be justified. This week, Mike Baron and Steve Rude’s Nexus. Beginning in the early ’80s, Baron’s philosophical writing and Rude’s increasingly polished art presented the story of a the far future in which a man kills mass-murderers not out of revenge, but because he feels forced to “in self-defense.” Tim and Paul review.

Steve Rude’s Web site

Baron & Rude interviewed (May 2007)

Nexus no more (June 2009)

Steve Rude recalls making Nexus (video)

Review: Rocketeer Adventures #2

Rocketeer #2 cover

by Various.

IDW Comics.

This is issue 2 of an anthology tribute to Dave Stevens’s The Rocketeer. An homage to Dave Stevens’s homage to the 30s and 40s. I bet you can guess my review is going to be about how the creative energy here is diluted. Continue reading Review: Rocketeer Adventures #2

#289 Putting your stuff out there!!

self promotionPart of being a creator is promoting your work. But among all the other creators promoting their own work, how can you make yours stand out? (Aside, of course, from making your work really good!)

This week Tim talks with three creators who have found a variety of ways to promote their comics: Ed Luce, whose merchandising of his self-published Wuvable Oaf comics has helped to pay the bills; Reed Greenfield, who appears at conventions dressed as his character; and Jess Smart Smiley, who has a book coming from Top Shelf this fall, and is in the midst of a campaign to be invited onto — well, listen to the podcast and find out…

REVIEW: Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography

by Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colon.

Hill and Wang, 2010.

So, why does a publisher which doesn’t normally deal in graphic novels / comics decide to put out a book like this?

1) It’s a way to re-publish existing material. This is especially true for The Anne Frank Center whose mission it is to perpetuate her story.

2) They assume – mostly incorrectly – that graphic novels are currently trendy.

3) They assume that kids are too slow / callous to appreciate a prose presentation of the same material.

Continue reading REVIEW: Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography