#152 Women in Comedy Strips

Rhymes with OrangeFLASHBACK! Is writing funny female characters a bigger challenge than making male characters funny? Or is it all a matter of approach? Paige Braddock (Jane’s World) and Hilary Price (Rhymes with Orange) join Tim to discuss a topic we picked up from Webcomics Weekly episode 35!

This episode was originally published November 3, 2008.

Contrasts studied in Tezuka’s “MW”

by Kory Cerjak

Title: MW
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher: Vertical

MWOnce again, we’re back with the God of Manga, this time with his 1976 manga published in Big Comic by Shogakukan and it’s called MW. Also, does anyone else think Garai looks like Duke Togo of Golgo 13 fame?

MW is about a 20-something banker named Michio Yuki and a Catholic priest named Garai. Garai has committed two grave sins—shielding a murderer and having a sexual relationship with a man—and he’s conflicted over his responsibilities as a priest and his own moral compass. Garai first became a priest to come to grips with the slaughter he witnessed on a small island near Okinawa. The slaughter was caused by a chemical weapon, named MW, which was designed to kill massive numbers of people in the Vietnam War. And the event was also witnessed by Yuki, who was partially affected by MW, making him unable to feel emotion.

The main conflict, of course, is Garai’s own. He’s a partner to Yuki’s crimes of murder and blackmail because Yuki comes to confess his sins to Garai after every time. This is a beautiful conflict where Garai, in a forbidden and often unwilling relationship with Yuki, Continue reading Contrasts studied in Tezuka’s “MW”

#288 “Changing Ways” and “Heroic: A Womanthology”

Changing Ways FLASHBACK! A creepy, rainy night. Mysterious red scars appearing on animals and people. Vicious wild pigs roam the streets. Justin Randall’s “Changing Ways” Book 1, published by Gestalt, reviewed by Tim and Brandon.
The Womanthology Heroic: A Womanthology, an anthology of comics created by women (some famous, others not yet) is currently in development and expected later this year from IDW. Tim talks to Athens-based participant Eugenia Koumaki, and IDW editor Mariah Huehner, about the background of and expectations for this project.

This episode was originally published August 1, 2011.

#384 R. Crumb’s “Weirdo” Years Revisited

weirdoWeirdo was a magazine started by R. Crumb, which featured Crumb’s work alongside that of a number of other underground-type comics creators. Crumb’s work from Weirdo’s 28 issues has just been collected as R. Crumb: The Weirdo Years, 1981-’93, released in the U.S. by Last Gasp. It features an astonishing variety of comics work, from Crumb rants and confessionals to a 1906 psychiatric report on sexual deviancy, fumetti, parodies, and more. This is a book that Deconstructing Comics can’t help but review, so this week Kumar and Tim do their podcasting duty!

R. Crumb’s Snapshots: Source Material of the Legendary Comic Artist (TIME.com)

#383 Sean Michael Wilson: Adaptations & Collaborations

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What are some factors to consider when adapting a novel to comics? What about comics presentations of historical events? What should you do to promote your work once it’s out there? Sean Michael Wilson, writer of 18 published graphic novels (many of them adaptations of novels or historical events) shares his experience and advice with Tim.

“Vinland Saga” Omnibus 1 beautifully drawn, written, packaged

by Kory Cerjak

Title: Vinland Saga
Author: Makoto Yukimura
Publisher: Kodansha USA

Vinland_SagaVinland Saga is an epic history story on the level of Koike and Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub or Ryoko Ikeda’s Rose of Versailles. Written by Makoto Yukimura of Planetes fame, this manga delivers an exciting story that has kept me on the edge of my seat through the first omnibus.

First published in Weekly Shonen Magazine by Kodansha, Vinland Saga was moved to Afternoon, a monthly magazine. After making the space story that is Planetes, Yukimura took about a year off, likely researching Vinland Saga’s history, before he returned in 2005 with the comic.

Kodansha USA’s publication is absolutely beautiful. It’s an omnibus of the first two volumes in an amazing hardcover with five glossy color pages at the beginning. The book is also a little bigger than most of your typical manga—about a half inch or an inch larger—and the text is larger and so easy to read as a result. As far as books I own, this Vinland Saga book is second only to Viz’s Nausicaa hardcovers.

In the first two chapters, we get such an amazing sense of character agency from the main character Thorfinn that those perfectly placed flashback chapters mean so much more for the audience than they would in lesser hands. We know that he wants revenge Continue reading “Vinland Saga” Omnibus 1 beautifully drawn, written, packaged

#382 “Chew”: Disgusting and Delightful

chew_02Is there any other book quite like Chew? So minutely plotted by John Layman, so compellingly rendered by Rob Guillory, so disgusting (blood, vomit, cannibalism) and yet so much fun (mock-scientific names for the various types of food-based powers, wacky character names, the sheer volume of stuff packed into each issue… and of course, the world’s most badass rooster).

Ryan Haupt (from the Science…Sort Of podcast) is back to help Tim wade through the icky loveliness that is Chew.