A werewolf. A female assassin. A grieving father. Varga Balint Bank and Vadas Mate’s Fallen Ones weaves their stories together in a well-thought-out way.
The Five of Us: It All Starts Here, from Sean Conway, Bangkit Myarso, Arief Reza Erlangga, and Dreadink, gives us a group of young African-American men who happen onto Power Rangers-type powers. Yeah, but what’s the actual story here?
Tim and Mulele review.
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Tim and Mulele critique a couple of history-based comics:
A Light Before the Darkness by Ken Mora and Cyrus Mescarcia tells the story of an artist named Michelangelo — but no, not that one. It’s about Michelangelo Da Caravaggio Di Merisi, often known simply as “Caravaggio”. Mora seems to have done his homework, but has he given us a reason to buy into his subject?
The Satsuma Rebellion is Sean Michael Wilson and Akiko Shimojima’s retelling of the titular event in Japanese history. We found it interesting — but then, we live in Japan.
ALSO: Mulele’s “PSA” about what to look for when signing (or, perhaps, NOT signing) a contract with a publisher.
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Peter Bagge’s HATE was an amazing hit for a ’90s indy comic, outselling some Big Two titles. Tim, Kumar, and Tom Spurgeon talk about some of the amazing aspects of this strip, and discuss whether it’s accurate to classify it as a comic about slackers.
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Tim attended CAT 2017 on November 25, with job one being a talk with Scott Pilgrim and Seconds creator Bryan Lee O’Malley! O’Malley answers some lingering questions from those books, and discusses the inconsistent censoring of cursing in Snotgirl, giving characters body language, why autobio comics are so popular, and what, if anything, he would change about his published work.
Tim also talked with a couple of other creators (many of the denizens of Artist’s Alley were the same ones we met at Kaigai Manga Festa in the past two episodes) and covered a workshop on Risograph Printing presented by Natalie Andrewson, Ryan Cecil Smith, and Grame McNee.
Also in this episode, we’ll hear from CAT co-organizer Adam Pasion about how this year’s event went, and lessons learned for next year.
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This week, a couple of old friends stop by to give us their thoughts and advice on comics creation.
First, artist Irene Strychalski (Gwenpool) talks about her 10 tips for thumbnailing a comics page. At this stage, your main concern is clear storytelling technique. Listen for some guidelines!
Then, writer Jason McNamara (The Martian Confederacy, The Rattler), now creative consultant for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, talks about recognizing when a comics collaboration isn’t gelling, and knowing when to let go.
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Our friend Kristin Tipping is back, this time as the artist on a graphic novel written by Jason Vandervort called The Ferocious Five. Their recent attempt to Kickstart the project failed; what should they do differently next time?
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This week a wide-ranging discussion between two Canadians 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.
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Our friend Matt Silady is back with us for the first time in five years, and he’s here to introduce us to a friend: Thi Bui, who recently completed her decade-long quest to create a graphic novel about three generations of her family in the context of Vietnamese and American history. After catching up with Matt, Tim talks with Thi about the book, The Best We Could Do, and how she now finds herself teaching comics!
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A noir thriller… that seems very reminiscent of a very different comic strip! Tim and Mulele discuss “Spencer and Locke” by David Pepose and Jorge Santiago Jr.!
Also, we talk about Marvel and the backlash toward “Secret Empire”.
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It’s Sherlock Holmes as a kid, with a talking dog for Watson! Tim and Mulele discuss Justin Phillips, Sean Gregory Miller, and Lesley Atlansky’s Kid Sherlock!
PLUS: Don’t miss Mulele’s story of the wild day-job situation that’s been keeping him from getting his comics done — but will now facilitate it!
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