You may have been vaguely aware that a number of non-Japanese are drawing very manga-esque comics that are published in English only. They’re known as Original English Language (or “OEL”) manga, and many of them are published by Seven Seas Entertainment. Is this an area of comics worth exploring?
This week, Kory and Tim randomly pick up three of Seven Seas’ OEL titles (clockwise from upper right): The Outcast, by Vaun Wilmott and Edward Gan; Free Runners, by Bill Strauss and Jennyson Rosero; and Hollow Fields, by Madeleine Rosca.
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FLASHBACK! Though Asterios Polyp made the point that comics and (written) music are similar, doing a comic about music is not such an easy task. But Reinhard Kleist beautifully presents the music, and life, of a country music legend in Johnny Cash: I See a Darkness, recently released in English. How does it compare with the Cash biopic Walk the Line? Tim and Paul review.
Just because a story is full of tropes doesn’t mean it’s bad. Consider 
Tim came back from his Tim Across America trip with an assortment of comics, including a couple from the 
Tim talks with the members of 
Chris Ware’s 2012 work Building Stories attracted a lot of attention because of its unusual format: a box of 14 publications of varying shapes and sizes, which can be read in any order. Ware says the work is about memory, in various ways, and reading the story in various non-chronological ways can give us different points of view on how its characters remember (or mis-remember, or forget) various things.
Having grown up with feet planted firmly on both sides of the Pacific, 
A slimy gambler goes up against the Devil, betting his soul vs. half the money in the world. Score! He’s then approached by some people who promise him a great reward if he funds their plans. He joins them, going up against (and beating) the hapless Devil repeatedly. It’s hard not to have some sympathy for the Devil when he keeps getting trounced by a slimeball. Tim and Mulele take on Ross May and Brett Wood’s