Category: Web comics

Critiquing Comics #133: “The Old Man of the Mountain” and “On Syntaphore”

Old Man of the Mountain issue 1, by Tom Rapka and Ariez Hernandez, includes an execution-style murder and three teens getting brutally, graphically cut to pieces. And yet, somehow it feels like it’s not meant to be a horror series. What is this comic trying to do?

That question goes double for On Syntaphore, by Lion’s Lips, because, while the art is attractive, the story is hard to discern — and even the reason for that isn’t quite clear.

Tim and Mulele discuss both, and also some listener mail, and Mulele’s upcoming trip to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

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Critiquing Comics #130: “Jynx” and “Dark Soul”

Jynx and Dark Soul

Two manga-influenced titles are up for critique this time. First, in Kyle Fast’s JYNX, a white-furred monkey takes off to find adventure, leaving his guardian in the lurch. Then, organized crime gangs face off in Kitito Minami’s Dark Soul. Tim and Mulele give their opinions and advice.

Check out Mulele’s Kickstarter project!

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Critiquing Comics #129: “The Goodes” and “Undergrown”

The Goodes - UndergrownTim and Mulele finish up their look at Irrational Comics’ 2018 PITCH page with L.J. Bell’s The Goodes (a superhero/kid-dealing-with-parents’-divorce tale) and Julian Dominguez’ Undergrown (exploring the idea of an earth with no humans on its surface). Irrational Comics gives each writer eight pages to rope readers into his or her tale; did these writers make the best use of the eight pages? Who won this year’s contest?

Also, Mulele fills us in on his new Kickstarter project!

 

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Critiquing Comics #128: “Osaka Mime” and “Pantheon’s End”

Tokyo Mime and Pantheon's End

Tim and Mulele progress through the 2018 Irrational Comics PITCH page in this episode with Tokyo Mime, featuring two cops going up against a monster that takes the form of the last person it ate, and Pantheon’s End, in which a superhero team is faced with an apparently unstoppable end to the world.

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Critiquing Comics #127: “Planet Wrestletopia” and “Dreamtime”

Planet Wrestletopia and Dreamtime

Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia #1 presents a washed-up wrestler who, though he doesn’t know it yet, is about to have to defend his 15-year-old claim to being “the champion of the universe”! Is this comic by Ed Kuehnel, Matt Entin, and Dan Schkade also a champion, or another also-ran?

Irrational Comics is again presenting its annual PITCH page, in which five writers submit eight-page scripts, drawn by the publishers artists, and then users vote for their favorite. In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss the first of the five, Shaun Kang’s Dreamtime, in which a man uses the Aussie Aboriginal “dreamtime” state to solve murders.

Attend the upcoming CANVAS Sequential Art Meetup on Comics & Visual Storytelling in Tokyo on February 15 at 7 pm, featuring Raul Trevino, and this podcast’s own Mulele Jarvis and Tim Young!

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Critiquing Comics #124: “The Adventures of Rage” and “The Big Sheep”

In this special Monday edition of Critiquing Comics, Tim and Mulele take on a couple of comics by our listeners:

First, Chris Calderon’s The Adventures of Rage drops us right into the middle of a battle. This is a time-honored approach, but is it being done well here?
   Then, Andre Mateus and Rahil Mohsin’s The Big Sheep gives us funny animals in a noir setting. How does this compare with Andre’s previous submission to Critiquing Comics?

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#582 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 2

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

This week, part two of the Kaigai Manga Festa 2017 roundup, recorded in Tokyo on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight.

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#581 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 1

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

It’s time for another Kaigai Manga Festa roundup! This year’s international comics festival in Tokyo was held on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight, alongside the Comitia festival as always. Tim caught up with some familiar faces and met some new ones as well!

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Continue reading #581 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 1

#578 Helioscope: Steve Lieber, Maria Frantz, and Ben Dewey

Steve Lieber, Maria Frantz, and Ben Dewey

Three more talks with the folks at Helioscope Studio in Portland in this episode!

Steve Lieber, an artist in his own right and also manager of the studio, gives us a brief history of the studio (including its self-naming woes) and tips on how to start your own studio.

Intern/mentee Maria Frantz, a university student and web cartoonist who grew up reading Calvin and Hobbes, explains her internship and the aims of her comics work, and how her generation approaches comics.

Finally, Ben Dewey (Autumnlands, Beasts of Burden) talks about his process of doing art (involving digital pencils and analog watercolors), why you shouldn’t get too fussy over your comics, managing your comics creating time, and what was good about Rob Liefeld’s work.

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#576 Helioscope: Cat Farris and Terry Blas

Cat Farris and Terry Blas

This week, two more creators from Portland’s Helioscope Studio:

Cat Farris is working on “Emily and the Strangers” for Dark Horse, and her own web comic “The Last Diplomat.” She talks about the learning curve of drawing digitally, pacing the revealing of story information, the down side of telling people what she does for a living, and more.

Terry Blas has done covers for such comics titles as Adventure Time and Rick & Morty, and is the co-writer of a forthcoming graphic novel from Oni Press called Morbid Obesity, a murder mystery set at a fat camp. He talks about how to make stories less formulaic and more emotional, and points out a neglected segment of the American comics market.

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