Deconstructing Comics Podcast, published every Monday, features comics creator discussion and comics reviews.
Alexandra (her friends call her “Ax”) is trying to get in touch with hero team Steamgear Defenders; she wants to become a member. But will they turn out to be all they’re cracked up to be? Will she even get there, with so many people getting in her way? The comic is Steamgear Inc. by Snuffy Sam, with the most unusual art Tim or Adam have ever seen. Does that mean it’s good? We discuss.
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Marta Chudolinska (who-doh-lean-ska), the child of Polish immigrants to Canada, makes comics and other art in Toronto. Koom talks with her about her ongoing project Babcia, about her grandmother and her family’s history in Poland.
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This time, we critique the fifth installment in David Dye‘s “Amazing Tales” anthology series. In the main story, we again join the troops of Dropship Fifteen, in a story that gets a bit harrowing… but not without some humor. Adam joins Tim to talk through the issue.
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While Netflix’s Sandman series has gone over well with many fans, not everyone is pleased. This week Emmet talks with comics commentator Elizabeth Sandifer, who has found the series to be vastly inferior to the original comics, and gives us her reasons in a very entertaining and informative way.
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Suzanne Lenglen was a trendsetting tennis star in the 1920s, among the first to challenge the notion that tennis players had to be amateurs, running themselves into debt to keep competing, in order to participate in tournaments. Tom Humberstone‘s first full-length graphic novel Suzanne: The Jazz Age Goddess of Tennis, soon to be released, is a finely honed work of historical fiction on her life and influence. Tim and Jason review the book in this episode; then, Tim interviews Humberstone about the process of making the book, why he was inspired to focus on Lenglen, and what he hopes to do next.
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Patrick Ijima-Washburn (a.k.a. “Patrick W.”) has been doing some deep research on certain themes used in manga. Last year, he told us about scary cats in manga; this time it’s (mostly scary) mermaids — or, to be gender neutral, “merfolk.” Thinking it would be a topic easily covered, he was soon caught in a tsunami of manga fish-people, from adaptations of “The Little Mermaid,” to creepy human-like creatures that live in the water, Creature of the Black Lagoon style. He shares his findings here, focusing on merfolk in the works of (clockwise from left) Kazuo Umezu, Rumiko Takahashi, and Osamu Tezuka.
Patrick’s video about mermaids in manga
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Joseph Smith and the Mormons is an objective look at the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Author and artist Noah Van Sciver took a bit of heat from the church for not portraying things in line with church teaching. Adam interviews Noah in this episode, as they compare notes on moving on from their respective religious upbringings, plus Noah describes his process and tools, adjusting to fatherhood, and what kind of comics work to do next.
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If you’re looking for over-the-top — way, way over — action and violence, then Fist of the North Star, by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, is the comic for you! Kumar and Jordan breathlessly recount their experience reading the comic, which — despite the ridiculousness of the story — is done sincerely, not cynically.
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This week, a Critiquing Comics double feature:
During the U.S. Civil War, a confederate soldier is changed into a dangerous creature by a mysterious woman. His comrade, now a marshal, tracks him after the war as he takes more innocent victims. But is everything as it appears? Tim and Jason enjoy the twist in Rougarou, by Giles Clark and Jose Rondon.
Our second entry takes us further back in history, to 1790, when poet-painter William Blake claims to have met a horrific lizardlike creature, the Ghost of a Flea. GE Gallas’ The Poet and the Flea presents a take on Blake’s work and experiences. Emmet joins Tim to school all of us in Blake. What kind of image does it give us of Blake, and is it accurate? And, is this comic of interest to non-Blake fans?
Everyone is Tulip got an Eisner nomination! Hear our review and creator interview here.
Noel Fielding: Ghost of a Flea’s birthday song
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David Lapham’s Stray Bullets “humanist crime” series began in 1995 and shows a number of characters interacting between the 1970s and 1990s, with the stories told nonsequentially. Kumar and Matt dodge the bullets to turn in this review.
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