Deconstructing Comics – A podcast about the craft of comics

#693 Manga’s Scary Cats!

There’s a history of horror manga featuring cats, especially humans with cat features. What are some of the prominent titles in this genre? Where does this come from? Patrick has been studying this association and is here to tell us about some of the prominent titles, including Shigeru Mizuki’s Mysterious Neko Musume (featuring a character later modified for Mizuki’s Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro) and Kazuo Umezu’s Cat Face, The Girl with Cat Eyes, and Cat-Eyed Boy.

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Critiquing Comics #194: “Realm of Owls”

Realm of Owls

Part comic, part children’s storybook, Realm of Owls is heavy on world building and a bit light on characters, at least in the early going. How does it stand up as a reading experience? Tim is joined by Adam Pasion to discuss this web comic by Gheralf and Vayandil.

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#692 “Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book”

Raphael/Spurgeon book on Stan Lee

Tim and Emmet begin a series on Stan Lee biographies with the 2003 book Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael and the late, great Tom Spurgeon. What’s the tone of this book, and how does it portray Stan? How much of the Marvel Universe is he actually responsible for, and what were his motivations for taking more credit than he deserved? We discuss, and then Tim gets some background on the making of the book from co-author Jordan Raphael!

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Critiquing Comics #193: “The Zombie Game”

The Zombie Game

At what was ostensibly a rave, some kids are turned into zombies. How do the remaining kids deal with it? And– why didn’t THEY get turned into zombies? That’s the scenario of The Zombie Game, by Dan Bridges, Gary Ambrosia, Pablo Ayala, Lucase Gattoni, and Emily McGuiness (currently on Kickstarter). Tim and Jason try to make their way out of the house.

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#691 Moore and Andrade’s “Crossed +100”

Crossed Plus 100

It’s debatable whether Garth Ennis’ series Crossed, about a disease that causes people to act in the most reprehensible ways possible, had any redeeming qualities, but when Alan Moore steps in to write the next chapter, you know it’s going to be worth discussing. And so we have Crossed +100 by Moore and Gabriel Andrade. In Moore’s hands, what is it, exactly, that the disease does? Is his attempt at writing future dialects of English annoying or fascinating? Kumar and Jordan settle in for a fascinating, but depressing, sequel.

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Critiquing Comics #192: “The Corona Bible”

The Corona Bible

Pier Dola has sent us another of his comics. Another of his very, very long comics, filled with very well-drawn grotesque images. This one is called The Corona Bible, and it’s about COVID and … other stuff. Tim and Emmet try to figure it out.

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#690 “Dragon Age: Dark Fortress” and “Haha”

HAHA and DRAGON AGE

Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir, following up on their appearance in episode 653, are back on the show to discuss their upcoming miniseries Dragon Age: Dark Fortress. How does the Dragon Age fan base compare with other ardent fan bases? How is Christina and Nunzio’s relationship with Dragon Age artist Fernando Heinz Furukawa? They discuss this and more with Emmet.

Then, Emmet and Tim discuss another miniseries, Haha, by W. Maxwell Prince with a variety of artists. The first two issues feature Vanessa DelRey and, a favorite of ours from episode 674, Zoe Thorogood!

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Critiquing Comics #191: “Confederate Monster” #1

Confederate Monster

A German doctor treats amputee Confederate soldiers in 1864 Virginia. But then his secret is found out by a desperate Southern army that will go to any lengths to get the doctor to do what they want. In this episode, Tim and Patrick discuss Dave Swartz’s Confederate Monster.

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#689 Priest’s “Black Panther”

Priest's Black Panther

In 1998, under the “Marvel Knights” banner, Christopher Priest began the first ongoing Black Panther title in nearly two decades. Panther was a relatively unknown character to many Marvel readers at the time. With the aid of “Emperor of Useless White Boys” Everett K. Ross, and artists like Mark Texeira and Joe Jusko, Priest (a.k.a. Jim Owsley) made Panther a must-read and brought the nature of his character into sharper focus. Kumar and Tim discuss the first 17 issues (the ones included in Black Panther by Christopher Priest: The Complete Collection Volume 1) and see if it still stands up 23 years later.

Michael Hoskin’s 4-part article