In Patrick Yurick’s Hipster Picnic, being a zombie serves as a metaphor for… what, exactly? Having anger issues? Does the metaphor work? Tim and Mulele discuss.
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Category: Podcast
Deconstructing Comics Podcast, published every Monday, features comics creator discussion and comics reviews.
#469 Fred Van Lente, timewalker
Time travel is a fascinating topic to many, and Fred Van Lente‘s current Ivar, Timewalker series from Valiant is timesurfing at both its most fun, and most scientific, with nods to Stephen Hawking’s writings on the subject. Van Lente did his own time jump to the past a couple years ago in The Comic Book History of Comics. This week Tim discusses both these works with him, along with Spider-Man, Archer & Armstrong, reassessing Fredric Wertham, and more.
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Critiquing Comics #078: Bullets and Angels
What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas… but how much is really happening in this comic that’s set there? Tim and Mulele discuss Bullets and Angels, by Brian Lee Byrd, Sarah Hollis, Saint Yak, Robert Nugent, and HdE.
Also up for discussion in this extended episode: Why are we having trouble lately finding new comics that we like?
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Critiquing Comics #077: Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!
This time we examine issues 2 and 3 of the Aussie anthology magazine Aussie Aussie Aussie Oi Oi Oi!
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#468 Harvey Kurtzman’s MAD
While early 1950s anti-comics hysteria eventually resulted in the cancellation of nearly all their books, EC Comics still had one thing going for them: MAD! Written by Harvey Kurtzman and drawn by some of the best comics artists of the age, this parody comic set the template for much that came after it. But can the humor still be appreciated today? What are we to think of some of the attitudes on display toward, say, women or certain ethnic groups? Tim and Kumar discuss.
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#467 Sophie Goldstein and “The Oven”
On a world with two suns, a young couple leave their city in a bubble and go to live in a small rural community. Is it the freedom they’ve been looking for? That’s the premise of Sophie Goldstein’s graphic novel “The Oven”. This week Sophie talks with Tim about “The Oven”, readers who have varying interpretations of her work, her warning for budding comics creators, and more.
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#466 Roland Mann, ’90s survivor
Remember the ‘90s? Remember gold foil covers and mutants with huge guns and toothpick feet? If so, then perhaps you also remember Malibu Comics, the company that originally served as Image Comics’ publisher. After Image broke off on its own, Marvel bought Malibu, only to shut it down when the comics industry imploded. Roland Mann was an editor at Malibu (on the Ultraverse titles, among others) and has also written a number of comics (including Cat and Mouse). This week Tim talks with Roland about the ‘90s and what he’s been doing since then, including a new comic, Citizens, that he’s working on with Terra Kaiju artist Joe Badon!
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#465 Stephen Bissette talks scary comics!
Artist Stephen Bissette is best-known for his work on Swamp Thing in the ’80s with Alan Moore and John Totleben, as well as 1963 and his solo project Tyrant. Currently he’s teaching at the Center for Cartoon Studies, and this week he joins Tim and Kumar for a wide-ranging discussion, including:
- The difference between comics schools in the ‘70s vs today
- What it was like growing up as the first Fantastic Four and Spider-Man comics were hitting the stands and why he liked the new FF movie
- Is the current state of Image Comics a new paradigm in creator rights, or is it more of the same?
- Making things scary in comics vs. media that include movement and sound
- His original plan for “Tyrant”, which ceased with the ‘90s comics industry implosion. Will we ever see more of Tyrant?
- Time management for comics creators
Steve’s list of artists who have taught at CCS
Continue reading #465 Stephen Bissette talks scary comics!
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#464 Brooke and her magical girls
Ogawa Burukku (a.k.a. Brooke Stephenson) has been enjoying great success with her magical-girl manga FaLLEN — both on the Web and in self-published books. This week she talks with Tim about her experience studying comics and being a manga studio assistant in Tokyo, why straight women get into a comic with nude women in it, why living in Japan is not like living in the future, tabling at Japanese comics events vs. American conventions, and more.
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Critiquing Comics #076: Blazing Quantum
Remember that time when…. No? You weren’t there? Or maybe you were there, but the memory just isn’t that special. It’s OK to draw on your memories for your story, but is it wise to simply make your memories be the story? Tim and Mulele discuss William Keops Ibanez’s Blazing Quantum. (More sample pages on Tumblr)
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