One of the most highly-regarded English-language strips of all time is George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat,” featuring the odd love/hate triangle of Krazy, Ignatz, and Officer Pupp. Why was Krazy so gender-ambiguous? How did Herriman’s (somewhat mysterious) racial background influence the strip? Tim and Kumar discuss this and much more.
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In Deconstructing Comics #303, Tim talked to Tom Rasch about how he was monetizing his comics project Black Alpha, a superheroes-in-space story. Now he’s asked Tim and Mulele to critique the first issue. They find that, while it’s a nice-looking comic, it has some issues…
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It’s a 15-week comics course in 78 pages! Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice is about comics creation, but it’s less about technique or how-to than about shoving aside any preconceived notions and looking at the very basic pieces of sequential storytelling – or even boiling down an entire novel into a non-sequential single panel. Tim and his brother Paul use the book as a launching pad for discussing various comics-philosophy ideas, like: is there a difference between a “cartoonist” and a “comics artist”? What can you learn from a “bad” artist? Is it valuable to learn comics creation, or anything else, the old, low-tech way before digging into the modern, digital way?
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What do you do when your town monster just doesn’t bring the scary? Hire someone to get the big red guy out of his funk. Rob Harrell breaks out of the funny pages with his first graphic novel, Monster on the Hill; Tim & Mulele review.
Meanwhile, much scarier monsters lurk in the background of Justin Randall’s Changing Ways, Book 2. Tim & Brandon take a look and compare with Book 1. The monsters are scary, but is the book?
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Comics that you buy in comics shops or bookstores are facing enough business challenges, but how about newspaper comics? Their traditional delivery system is dying out, with many printed papers ceasing publication. The comic strip faces a number of challenges, but there are positive trends as well. How are Web comics and other new technology changing the game? This week, Tim talks newspaper(-style) strips with Tom Racine, host of the Tall Tale Radio podcast!
Stephan Pastis interview (gigaom.com)
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In more than seven years of doing this podcast, our coverage of European comics has been, um… underwhelming. This week, Tim tries to change that, discussing two European comics with European co-reviewers!
First, Nemi, the overzealous goth girl from Norway, whose eponymous strip by Lise Myhre has become popular in numerous European countries. Norwegian Line Olsson (of the Boston Comics Roundtable) joins Tim to discuss.
Then, the second Blacksad installment, “Arctic Nation”, by animators Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido. Is racism the point of this noirish “furry” tale, or is it just the framing device for something else? Eugenia Koumaki in Athens co-reviews with Tim.
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When you think of ’80s comics, Berke Breathed’s Bloom County is one that belongs in the pantheon with Watchmen and Dark Knight. It pushed many boundaries on the ever-conservative funnies page, from modern dating to issue advocacy, balancing cumudgeonliness with exuberance and hope. But how much of a hurdle are the pop culture references for modern readers? Is it still worth reading? Tim and Patrik dust off their memories and try to look at this classic strip with new eyes.
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Waaaay back in July 2010, Tim talked to David Steinberger of ComiXology about the emergence of digital comics. Since then, simultaneous release of digital with paper has become the norm. And, guess what – flying in the face of earlier fears of some in the industry, digital comics have actually helped, not hurt, the sales of paper comics. Tim talks to ComiXology co-founder John Roberts to find out why this is, and more.
Then we get the scoop on Mulele’s latest Web comic, a new version of Mindgator.
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As Richard Thompson’s strip Cul de Sac ends, Tom Spurgeon joins Tim to bid it a fond farewell. We discuss some favorite moments, compare it with other classic strips such as Peanuts, examine what Thompson (and any other relatively new creator of newspaper strips) has been up against as technology and economics team up against print media, and — Hey! Watch out for the UH-OH BABY!!
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When Doonesbury started nearly 42 years ago, Garry Trudeau was a hot young property, the undergrad student cartoonist who spoke the language of “today’s youth”. Now age 64, Trudeau can hardly make that claim, but instead he can take credit for a monumental strip chronicling the lives of his many cast members and their lives growing old in the social and political environments of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Tim and Kumar assess the strip’s legacy, discuss Brian Walker’s Doonesbury and the Art of G. B. Trudeau, and review the past year’s worth of strips.
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