Deconstructing Comics Podcast, published every Monday, features comics creator discussion and comics reviews.
Luke Healy’s How to Survive in the North presents two different early-20th-century expeditions to the Arctic, and how they were connected. Well, except some of the connections are unclear, and Tim and Kumar both had the same misunderstanding about the book the first time through! Yet the book does present some amazing people and incidents. Here’s our review.
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Join Kumar and Koom as they discuss Alan Moore’s run on the palladium paragon, the alabaster avenger, the archetypical archetype: Rob Liefeld’s Supreme. Kumar tries not to lose it over the Image era ‘artwork’ while Koom attempts to reconcile supremium with revisionist theory. Supreme was Moore’s last outing with a true blue superhero in the classical mould. Both postmodern and nostalgic for lost comic values at the same time, this run sits Janus-like between Moore’s early work and his modern period.
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We’re back! Tim and Mulele sit down for some pizza and a football-related comic with an emotional gut punch: Adam Pasion’s “Wins and Losses”.
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FLASHBACK! Richard Thompson passed away on July 27, 2016. As his strip Cul de Sac ended four years ago, Tom Spurgeon joined Tim to bid it a fond farewell, and this week we re-present that episode in memory of Thompson.
We discuss some favorite moments of Cul de Sac, compare it with other classic strips such as Peanuts, examine what Thompson (and any other relatively new creator of newspaper strips) was up against as technology and economics teamed up against print media, and — Hey! Watch out for the UH-OH BABY!!
Originally published September 17, 2012
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The epic space opera Queen Emeraldas from Kodansha is the first release of manga in English by legendary cartoonist Leiji Matsumoto since 2002. Kumar and fellow Matsumoto advocate Ryan Cecil Smith dig into the recently-released first book of the 2-volume series and discuss Matsumoto’s relative obscurity in the West, the brutal morality of life in space, and potato heads on the sea of stars.
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FLASHBACK! Tim and Brandon give their thoughts on Guy Delisle’s Pyongyang, DVD movie Justice League: The New Frontier, Spider-Man One More Day, and Writing for Comics with Peter David!
Originally published March 24, 2008
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Most comics artists use photo reference at some point. But some artists can make it melt into their work fluidly, while others end up with stiff drawing or a glorified fumetti. They might also end up with a copyright lawsuit if they don’t choose their reference wisely.
One source of photo reference is Buddy Scalera, who has published several reference books, including Comic Artist’s Essential Photo Reference: People and Poses. Buddy joins Tim to talk about how he got into making photo reference books, choosing poses to shoot, and more.
Then, Stephen Bissette joins us with plenty of examples of the use and misuse of photo reference, the ups and downs of casting celebrities as your characters (Sting, anyone?), and more.
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Late-1940s boxer Harry Haft learned his trade under harrowing circumstances: he was a Jew who was made to box other prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp. The former Hertzko Haft showed a determination to get through the experience alive, no matter what, and Reinhard Kleist shows this beautifully in his biographical graphic novel The Boxer. Tim and guest reviewer Juan Mah y Busch discuss.
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FLASHBACK! Once upon a time, nobody sent us their comics to critique. Then finally, in the fall of 2007, our call was heard! Listener Vincent Morris sent us his comic, Kid Intense. All three of us weighed in.
Originally published October 15, 2007
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Comic Art Tokyo (CAT), organized by Adam Pasion of Big Ugly Robot Press and James Stacey of Black Hook Press, was held at 3331 Arts Chiyoda in Tokyo on July 31, 2016. Tim was there, recorder in hand, talking to tablers!
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