Deconstructing Comics Podcast, published every Monday, features comics creator discussion and comics reviews.
The Law of Equivalent Exchange: We’ve arrived at the chapter that knocks us from our seats and tells us “This ain’t no ordinary manga!” It’s the shocking Chapter 5: The Alchemist’s Suffering!
Mangaverse newsletter: Patrick will become editor
Don’t Assume podcast: Tim appears in episode 10
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If you’re an American who grew up in a certain era, you may have a story about that time you ended up at a presentation about how “backmasking” was being used in your favorite music to subliminally deliver satanic messages. Artist Rachelle Meyer, whose work we’ve encountered once before in Chad in Amsterdam #4, presents her own story about such an incident in her short comic Holy Diver , a story which you might expect to be eye-rolly and cynical, but it’s not. Mulele pops in to join Tim to discuss this cool comic.
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The time for “setup” is over! At last, Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk, and Captain America meet! Tim and Mulele discuss 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers.”
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Film buff Mulele prods Tim to get caught up on alllll the Marvel movies he’s missed. This time, they watch and discuss the first MCU appearance of Captain America. What changed from the comics, and why? What worked, and what’s hokey?
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Liz Wynter isn’t special. She’s exactly like thousands of other people who have lived, with the same DNA, and she thinks in the same ways that they did, so the government can predict her every move. The same is true of everyone else in her world.
Wynter #1, by Guy Hasson and Aron Elkes, isn’t quite as predictable, but is it trying to be more special than it is? Tim and Patrick surveil this comic.
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What do you do when you want to talk about the MCU movies, but no one around you has watched them? Bug your friends to watch them! That’s how Mulele finally got Tim to find time to “Catch Up with the MCU”! Having discussed the first two Iron Man films on Deconstructing Comics a decade ago, and lacking much interest in the Hulk, we began our Patreon-exclusive show with Thor in May 2019. Here, Tim gives his first impressions, while Mulele takes the chance to go back and see what led up to Avengers: Endgame.
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The Law of Equivalent Exchange: Tim and Patrick discuss Fullmetal Alchemist chapter 4, which features both scary violence and violence for laughs. Why is Ed sleeping at his desk on the splash page? Plus, volume 1 back matter explained!
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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?
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Isekai is a genre, named in Japan, in which a character from our earth is suddenly transported to “another world.” This concept goes back at least to Alice in Wonderland, but these days the “other world” is often the inside of a computer game. Although it’s not explicitly stated (so far), that seems to be the case in The Last Tide, a book from new publisher Cloudscape and created by Pirateaba, Shane Sandulak, and Matias Zanetti. Our patron Gabe joins Tim to review.
Avery Hill, publisher of Zoe Thorogood’s The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott, has really gotten on our radar lately. This time, Tim and Emmet discuss a graphic novel called Breakwater by Katriona Chapman. The story takes place among employees of a movie theater, but it could (and does) happen in any situation.
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Is it comedy or violent action? Delivering fan service or gross-out scenes? Who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? Perceptions and expectations are constantly flipping in Q Hayashida’s Dorohedoro. Kumar and Emmet review.
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