Critiquing Comics #128: “Osaka Mime” and “Pantheon’s End”

Tokyo Mime and Pantheon's End

Tim and Mulele progress through the 2018 Irrational Comics PITCH page in this episode with Tokyo Mime, featuring two cops going up against a monster that takes the form of the last person it ate, and Pantheon’s End, in which a superhero team is faced with an apparently unstoppable end to the world.

Critiquing Comics #127: “Planet Wrestletopia” and “Dreamtime”

Planet Wrestletopia and Dreamtime

Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia #1 presents a washed-up wrestler who, though he doesn’t know it yet, is about to have to defend his 15-year-old claim to being “the champion of the universe”! Is this comic by Ed Kuehnel, Matt Entin, and Dan Schkade also a champion, or another also-ran?

Irrational Comics is again presenting its annual PITCH page, in which five writers submit eight-page scripts, drawn by the publishers artists, and then users vote for their favorite. In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss the first of the five, Shaun Kang’s Dreamtime, in which a man uses the Aussie Aboriginal “dreamtime” state to solve murders.

Attend the upcoming CANVAS Sequential Art Meetup on Comics & Visual Storytelling in Tokyo on February 15 at 7 pm, featuring Raul Trevino, and this podcast’s own Mulele Jarvis and Tim Young!

Critiquing Comics #126: Kaigai and CAT 2017, pt 3

Kaigai and CAT pt 3

Tim and Mulele talk about four more comics they picked up at the recent Tokyo comics conventions, Kaigai Manga Festa and Comic Art Tokyo. Also, a response from the author of a Kaigai/CAT comic reviewed in a previous episode, and our take on what Erik Larsen’s recent controversial assertion about being successful in comics.

Himawari Share Himawari Share #1, by Harmony Becker
Teach English in Japan Teach English In Japan #1, by Jonathon Dalton and Jeffrey Ellis
Spaboon Spaboon by Chris Carlier
Florida Florida Folding Zine and Poster, by Natalie Andrewson

 

 

Critiquing Comics #125: Kaigai and CAT 2017, pt 2

Kaigai and CAT pt 2

Tim and Mulele talk about four more comics they picked up at the recent Tokyo comics conventions, Kaigai Manga Festa and Comic Art Tokyo:

Bourbaki, by Adam Pasion
 
  Run Boys Run, by Michiru Morikawa
  Do You Remember Kobot? by Ian M
 Haunted Haunted, by Natalie Andrewson

 

 

Critiquing Comics #124: “The Adventures of Rage” and “The Big Sheep”

In this special Monday edition of Critiquing Comics, Tim and Mulele take on a couple of comics by our listeners:

First, Chris Calderon’s The Adventures of Rage drops us right into the middle of a battle. This is a time-honored approach, but is it being done well here?
   Then, Andre Mateus and Rahil Mohsin’s The Big Sheep gives us funny animals in a noir setting. How does this compare with Andre’s previous submission to Critiquing Comics?

Critiquing Comics #123: Selected comics of Kaigai & CAT 2017, pt 1

This time, Tim and Mulele talk about some of the comics they picked up at Kaigai Manga Festa and CAT in November!

Critiquing Comics #122: “A Brief History of Feminism”

A Brief History of Feminism

This time we take on a rather unusual Critiquing Comics submission, a book from MIT Press called A Brief History of Feminism, written by Antje Schrupp and drawn by Patu. Yes, it’s a book on feminism reviewed by two dudes — same ones as always, Tim and Mulele — but since it’s Critiquing Comics, we’re mostly concerned with the technical aspects: Is this book actually a comic? How could the lettering have been better? But also: Swiss women got the vote when?!

 

Critiquing Comics #121: “Void Trip”

Void Trip

Ryan O’Sullivan, whose writing on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War we discussed a few months back, returns with a new Image book called Void Trip, with art by Plaid Klaus. The story features a couple of stoners traveling through space, with a mysterious pursuer. But what, exactly, is it about? Tim and Mulele ponder.

Critiquing Comics #120: “1985 Black Hole Repo #1”

1985 Black Hole Repo

It’s 1985, but the space race never slowed down, so space is busy with human activity. 1985 Black Hole Repo #1, by Seth M Sherwood, Michael Moreci, and John Bivens, is full of punk rock aesthetic and references to the real 1980s. Unfortunately, it can be a little tough to tell what’s happening in they story. Tim and Mulele explore this space.

Critiquing Comics #119: “The Ferocious Five”

The Ferocious Five

Our friend Kristin Tipping is back, this time as the artist on a graphic novel written by Jason Vandervort called The Ferocious Five. Their recent attempt to Kickstart the project failed; what should they do differently next time?