Chad Bilyeu, an American living in Amsterdam, has been a favorite of ours over on Critiquing Comics for the past several years. With the sixth issue of his Chad in Amsterdam series, we’ve promoted talk of his comics to the flagship, Deconstructing Comics. You’ve arrived, Chad! Seriously, this issue gives us more interesting storytelling that serves as food for thought. Mulele is even back to discuss the book with Tim!
Brought to you by:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Sometimes comics adaptations of movies can have as much, or more, significance than the films themselves. Marvel‘s 1984 adaptation of David Lynch‘s Dune film, for example, marked Bill Sienkiewicz‘s upgrade from the realistic art he did on Moon Knight, to the mind-blowing, weird work he became known for on New Mutants. It’s also arguable that Ralph Macchio‘s script is better than that of the film.
Likewise, Topps‘ 1992 adaptation of the Francis Ford Coppola film Bram Stoker’s Dracula, written by Roy Thomas, marks a turn for artist Mike Mignola from Batman to more supernatural work, leading straight into his magnum opus, Hellboy.
Kumar and Jordan, patiently awaiting the delayed Australian release of the new Dune film, decided to indulge their obsession by doing this week’s episode, discussing both films.
Brought to you by:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ghosting is about a bus driver in a budding relationship with a woman who suddenly disappears from his life. Has he simply been ghosted? Or is there more to it? Emmet was captivated by the book (winner of the 2020 Best Irish Comic award), and this time he chats with its author (and fellow Ireland native), Debbie Jenkinson about this book and her forthcoming followup, the Dublin comics scene, how being an outsider affects the art one produces, and more.
Brought to you by:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Purgatory, by Don Juan Mancha III, anubisazp, and nikokosi, is an unusual comic in that most of the character in it claim to be dead. But in most cases, it’s unclear if they really are. Or is it a way of talking about schizophrenia? Unclear. What’s the plot of this comic? Also unclear. At least, to Tim and Graeme it is. In this episode, they try to put the pieces together.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
“How much Stan can you stand?” Tim and Emmet’s look at books on Stan Lee continues with The Man’s graphic novel-memoir Amazing Fantastic Incredible, by Stan Lee, Peter David, and Colleen Doran. Can we recommend it?
1:18:40 Also, Tim looks back at a few of the many high points in the history of Deconstructing Comics, complete with old show clips!
#224 Our Notes on “Death Note”
#165 Mo Willems’ Dirty Little Secret
#173 Diamond and the U.S. Comics Market
#595 Mulele and other DCP connections at TCAF
#299 Detroit Metal City vs. Metalocalypse Dethklok
Brought to you by:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
We’ve discussed Joseph Hewitt’s work on the show before, and even met him at a comics festival. Now he’s back with a collection of well-chosen gems from his back catalog. DCP co-founder Brandon makes his first Critiquing Comics appearance as he and Tim try spreading some of these Jellied Feels.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Way back in 2014, Tim and Mulele discussed the first volume of R.u.N. (Remember Ur Nature), a comic in shonen manga style about the sport of parkour. Now, at last, volume two is available, and Tim is joined by a new voice, Ryan Carey of SOLRAD, to discuss the book (by Kariofillis Chris Hatzopoulos, Rafail Voutsidis, Luis Figueiredo, Roberto Fernandes De Oliveira, and Vasilis Fotsinos). The comic is a spot-on imitation of shonen manga made in Japan — but is it good?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This week we present the second installment in a proposed new podcast series: The Law of Equivalent Exchange, a chapter-by-chapter discussion of the manga Fullmetal Alchemist. Tim and Patrick discuss chapter two of the series; while we remembered it as not having much of an impact on the overall story, the chapters in volume 1 turn out to do a lot of orientation to help prepare us for future volumes. We point out these signposts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
