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#843 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Fant4stic” (2015) pt 1
Should a director re-interpret a property when nobody wanted it re-interpreted? 2015’s Fant4stic, directed by Josh Trank, turns getting superpowers into an exercise in body horror. Much of its inspiration comes from Bendis and Millar’s very straightfaced Ultimate Fantastic Four comics, Trank threw in a liberal helping of The Fly and Scanners. Tim, Kumar, and Jordan (in another crossover with the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast) look at the first appearance of the Negative Zone in Fantastic Four #51 by Lee and Kirby, and at Ultimate Fantastic Four v. 1, before beginning a look at the film itself.
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#842 Struggling with Kit Anderson’s “Second Shift”
After the (connected) short stories of Safer Places, Kit Anderson‘s new book is a full-on graphic novel called Second Shift (again from Avery Hill) which has gotten some breathlessly positive reviews from writers who give the impression they totally understand it. At Deconstructing Comics, our reviews tend to be more nuanced. What did we think of it? I’m joined by Loyala Marymount University professor Juan Mah y Busch to examine this book, and we’re not afraid to say we found it difficult to understand!
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#633 “Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun”
FLASHBACK! Eileen Gray: A House Under the Sun is a slim graphic novel by Charlotte Malterre-Barthes and Zosia Dzierzawska, about the titular famous Irish architect that most people have never heard of. Kumar and Emmet found it beautiful and intriguing; here’s their review. (Originally published August 28, 2019.) This episode includes a new intro from Emmet, referring to the recent film about Gray.
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#841 Ken Krimstein on Einstein, Kafka, and comics in general
Ken Krimstein‘s Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came up with the Universe builds on the fact that these two stars of the early 20th century were part of the same friend group at one point and builds it up into what NPR described as “Alice in Wonderland meets The Lives of the Poets meets Krazy Kat.” This week Emmet talks with Ken about the book, the two historical figures featured in it, and the nature of comics itself.
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#840 Joe Sacco’s books on the Middle East
Joe Sacco has been covering the Israel-Palestine conflict in varying forms since 1991: first in Palestine, then in Footnotes in Gaza, and most recently in War on Gaza. It’s too much for Kumar and Dana to contain in their heads all at once, both in terms of information and emotion, especially for poor Kumar, who struggles to form complete sentences through the entire episode. And it was a herculean task for Joe Sacco, too, as he confesses right on the page, but the end result is monumental.
by Joe Sacco and Art Spiegelman, from The New York Review (Feb 27, 2025)
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#385 The Legacy of “Starman”
FLASHBACK! The 1990s DC series Starman is one of comicdom’s most fondly remembered series. Interestingly, says series author James Robinson, it seems to be more popular now than it was when it was actually in production! James joins Tim and Ryan Haupt this week to look back on various aspects of this iconic series, including the theme of “legacy”, a sneaky crossover with another series, a story arc that never happened, the differences in how the Big Two have dealt with their Golden Age characters, and much more. (Originally published January 6, 2014)
James Robinson on Science…Sort Of in October 2009
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Critiquing Comics #243: “Fables of Fear” and “Black Plastic”
Fables of Fear is an anthology horror title by Karl Brandt and David Parsons. Tim and Adam discuss; there are some good short stories here, but maybe they’re a bit … TOO short?
Black Plastic, by Josh Tierney and Nicci Busse is, as its writer says, a “karaoke cyber-thriller” graphic novel. That’s his description; Tim and Jason aren’t quite sure what to think of it. Are we getting too old for this comics-critique stuff?
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#559 Drawn & Quarterly and Canadian comics
FLASHBACK! This week a wide-ranging discussion between two Canadians, Koom and Ian, about comics in Canada. The talk centers on Montreal-based publisher Drawn & Quarterly, and two books from their catalog: Michel Rabagliati’s 2005 book Paul Moves Out, and the latest from Jillian Tamaki, Boundless. Also, some deep background on the history and people behind Toronto comics shop The Beguiling. (Originally published August 7, 2017)
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#210 Jillian Tamaki interview(s)
FLASHBACK! Skim is a coming-of-age graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki, and drawn by her cousin Jillian Tamaki. Jillian works primarily in the field of illustration; how does she find that different from drawing a comic? Is it wrong to say that a comic is “illustrated”? She also discusses her perhaps unorthodox collaboration with Mariko on Skim, and reviews of the book that see meanings in it that were completely unintentional, in this interview. (Originally published December 14, 2009)
Also, Tim met Jillian at Kaigai Manga Festa in Tokyo in 2015. That interview, from episode 474, also appears in this episode. (Originally published November 23, 2015)
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#839 The Fantastic Four on Film: “Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007)
This week we look at the movie that was based on the “Galactus Trilogy” of Fantastic Four #48-50, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. How does it stand up against the comics, and against the 2005 film? How do we feel about Galactus being a cloud of smoke? Does Doom finally have a real plan in this one? Once again, Tim is joined by Kumar and Jordan of the Comic Book Movie Oblivion podcast to dig into this film, as we count down to the upcoming MCU debut of the FF.
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