Category: Podcast

Deconstructing Comics Podcast, published every Monday, features comics creator discussion and comics reviews.

#310 Takehiko Inoue’s “Slam Dunk” and “Vagabond”

Slam Dunk/VagabondFLASHBACK! Takehiko Inoue’s Slam Dunk is easily mistaken for a serious sports manga. Pick it up, though, and you’ll find instead a hilarious ensemble comedy that just happens to involve basketball. Still, the series is credited with basketball’s 90s popularity in Japan, and led Inoue to create several other basketball-related series. But is oeuvre isn’t all hoops; he’s also the creator behind Vagabond, a sometimes-violent but intriguing take on the life of 17th-century historical figure Miyamoto Musashi. Tim and Kumar dig into both series.

Originally published February 27, 2012

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#480 (some of) the Best Comics from Kaigai

Best of Kaigai 2015You heard many of the artists who attended Tokyo’s International Comics Festival (Kaigai Manga Festa) back in November. But how are the comics themselves? This week Mulele and Tim read some of the comics they picked up at the festival and discuss some of the best!

Also, a quickie, spoiler-free review of The Force Awakens!

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Critiquing Comics #083: The Shepherd: Apokatastasis

The Shepherd

A man’s son unexpectedly dies of a drug overdose. The father senses that his son’s spirit hasn’t passed over to “the other side” and needs help, and the father goes to great lengths to help him — and also to avenge his death. Does the father — and the comic — go a bit off the rails? Tim and Mulele discuss Andrea Lorenzo Molinari, Roberto Xavier Molinari, Ryan Showers, and Heather Breckel’s The Shepherd: Apokatastasis!

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#098 Craig Thompson’s “Blankets”

BlanketsFLASHBACK! Tim and Brandon cover Craig Thompson’s award-winning Blankets. Also, we got an e-mail from this guy named (ulp) Larry Young…

Originally published October 22, 2007

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Can podcasting be a career option?

Greetings!

PatreonI’m planning to make some changes in my employment situation this spring. It would be great if I could start to move podcasting from “hobby” status and make it part of the “employment” picture!
My options for doing that are limited, though, so I’m trying to make a go of it with Patreon. This is a form of crowdfunding where supporters pledge a set sum as a monthly donation.
I’m currently doing four podcasts (all available via iTunes and other outlets):

* Deconstructing Comics
* Critiquing Comics (twice a month)
* To the Batpoles! (1st, 3rd, and 5th Thursdays)
* Machigai Podcast (English study for Japanese)

I enjoy doing them, but I have bigger aspirations for them that I can’t fulfill when I’m doing other things to pay the bills.
Your support now, as I’m making employment decisions for this spring, would be especially appreciated. Pledge here. Thanks.

Tim

#479 Some of the greatest Superman stories (or not)

Death of Superman

There’s no doubt that Superman is one of the most significant characters in the history of American comics. He ended up setting the template for what would be the dominant genre in American comics after the Comics Code came into effect. Of course, the types of stories told in those comics, and their tone, has varied wildly over the years, which makes it difficult to try to determine which stories are the best of the lot, but naturally people make the attempt, including DC Comics itself.

This week Kumar and Tim look at the 1980s collection “The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told”, as well as Alan Moore’s “Whatever Happened To the Man of Tomorrow”, which is currently being published in a collection with two other Moore Superman stories. Are these actually the greatest Superman stories?

Featuring Batman’s superior party prep skills, swimming the interplanetary water spout, and the symbolism of the ads in the original printing of “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow”! *Choke*

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#478 We ask Question No. 6!

Question No 6

Inspired by the ’60s and a variety of British TV shows of a geeky variety (including The Prisoner), Japanese artist Question No. 6 is turning heads with her Dr. Who variant covers, and her drawings and articles on UK shows for Japan’s AXN cable network. This week Tim catches up with her to discuss her comic Cupcake and Astronaut, the reasons many Japanese creators use pen names, her plans for exhibiting and drawing in 2016, and more.

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#477 Craig Thompson reaches for the stars

Space Dumplins

If you read Craig Thompson‘s Blankets and Habibi, you probably weren’t expecting his next book to be an all-ages space comedy with poop jokes — but that’s what Space Dumplins is — along with a message on the environment and class, and a good helping of inside jokes! This week Craig is here to tell us how this work came about, as well as his approach to writing for kids, working with colorist Dave Stewart, what bums him out about the Muppets, and the changing definition of “mainstream comics.”

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Critiquing Comics #082: Life in Japan

Life in JapanThis time, a comic about something with which both Tim and Mulele are intimately familiar: Life in Japan! The comic is by Victor Edison, who Tim just talked with at the International Comics Festival a few weeks back. Now we get a closer look at his four-panel daily diary comic…

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