Critiquing Comics #173: “Weasel”

Starting in 1999, Dave Cooper (accompanied at first by Patrick McEown) had a collection of work published by Fantagraphics as a magazine called Weasel. The magazine featured Cooper’s story “Ripple”, later published in one volume. “Ripple” is a disturbing story, masterfully told; we hope Cooper is not lying that it’s “not autobiographical,” but for fiction it’s remarkably detailed and heartfelt. In this episode, Tim and Mulele explore the first five issues of Weasel.

WARNING — ADULT CONTENT

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#664 Matt Baker’s Art of Glamour

Matt Baker

Matt Baker, one of the earliest African-American comics artists, worked in the 1940s and ’50s mainly on what’s known as “good girl” art. Good girl art went away with the comics code, and unfortunately Baker passed away young in 1959 and never got a chance to shine in the Marvel age. English prof Chris Gavaler joins Tim to talk about Baker’s crazy page layouts, what we do and don’t know about him, the what-ifs of Baker in the ’60s, and more.

Chris’ blog post about Baker’s layouts

CBLDF on Matt Baker

Matt Baker and the Art of Glamour on Amazon

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#663 Moon Knight Begins

It’s been some time since Moon Knight came anywhere close to being considered a top-tier Marvel character in terms of popularity. But in the early ’80s, he was riding high in a popular series by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz. In this episode, Tim and Paul look at the runup to that series, when the character appeared in solo stories and teamups in various titles, as chronicled in the Marvel Epic Collection line’s Moon Knight: Bad Moon Rising.

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Critiquing Comics #172 “Adventures of God”

All comedy comics about God are not created equal! Teo and Corey’s Adventures of God is funny at times, but does it measure up to the hilarious, irreverent Holy F*ck? Comparisons aside, does it live up to its potential? Tim and Mulele discuss.

Also: Is Deconstructing Comics doing enough to promote diversity in comics?

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#662 Warren Ellis’ Three Pieces of ‘Watchmen’

Black Summer

Warren Ellis’ Black Summer, No Hero, and Supergod are three separate stories, but if you put them together you’ve kinda got all the elements of Alan Moore’s Watchmen. But was Ellis really writing these books in response to Marvel’s Civil War? Kumar and newcomer Jordan evaluate all three books.

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Critiquing Comics #171 “Mythic Creature Trainer” #1

Mythic Creature Trainer

Last year we discussed Rene Pfitzner‘s comics Sneaky Goblins. Now Rene is back with Mythic Creature Trainer, a new series that he’s currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter. In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss the new comic, and Mulele talks about his other podcast.

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#661 Hydra Cap (pt 2)

Hydra Iron Cap

As leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America has been put in charge of the U.S. military and law enforcement (and, seemingly, become president of the U.S.) following an alien invasion. But he then reveals that he’s also the leader of Hydra, and the evil organization quickly takes over the country. In this episode, Tim and guests Joe and Kendall (from the Wayne Manor Memoirs podcast) complete last week’s discussion with a walk through the Nick Spencer-penned Marvel crossover event Secret Empire!

Vulture.com on the Hydra Cap controversy

Polygon.com: Was Secret Empire worth it?

CBR: Why Kobik didn’t undo the casualties

CBR: Yes, Secret Empire was worth it

CBR: No, it wasn’t

ScreenRant.com: Did fan reaction affect the ending?

ScreenRant.com: How Secret Empire should have ended

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#660 Hydra Cap (pt 1)

Hail HydraThe last two words that anyone expected to see in Captain America’s word balloon were “Hail Hydra,” but sure enough, that’s what happened in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 in 2016. The outcry Marvel heard back for this move was even bigger than they had anticipated.

Of course, it wasn’t a permanent change, but it wasn’t undone in the way we might have expected, either. How does it read a few years later, and what are the good and bad points of the event it led to, Secret Empire? Joe and Kendall from the Wayne Manor Memoirs podcast join Tim for the first of two episodes taking apart the controversy and a massive Marvel event.

IGN interview with Nick Spencer as Secret Empire began

Screen Rant’s take

CBR Nick Spencer video interview

Radd Titan Nick Spencer video interview

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#659 “Locke & Key”

Locke and Key

This week, Kumar and Emmet review Locke and Key, by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. There are a lot of murders in it, but is it a horror comic? They also discuss the series’ missteps in dealing with race and sexuality. Plus, in the second half of the show: Have you read this book but ended up with lots of questions? Emmet is here to help.

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#224 Our Notes on “Death Note”

Death Note

FLASHBACK! A bored, punk-dressing god of death and a genius high school boy are the main characters in Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and drawn by Takeshi Obata. The boy, Light Yagami, receives from the god a notebook with which he can kill people simply by writing their names in it. A plot with many twists and turns ensues. Tim and Kumar review — first without spoilers, and then, 38 minutes in, totally and utterly with spoilers.

(Originally published March 22, 2010)

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