Category: Critiquing Comics Podcast

Critiquing Comics #158: “Bronze Age Boogie” and “Longdog”

Bronze Age Boogie + Longdog

In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss:

  • Bronze Age Boogie, by Stuart Moore and Alberto Ponticelli. An ambitious comic that tries to cram in too many ideas. The Bronze Age! ’70s pop culture! Time-traveling apes! Prose interludes! Meanwhile, the book’s backup feature is the bomb! Has Ahoy Comics gotten things backwards?
  • Longdog, by Josh Hechinger and Jorge Munoz. The authors of one of our very early critiques are back together with a story of Sasquatch hunting. It looks good, but is the tone a bit inconsistent?

Also, Mulele tells a story of recent tragic headlines here in Japan and how they intersect with comics and his life.

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Critiquing Comics #157: “Moderate Mania” and “The Starfall Saga”

Moderate Mania - Starfall Saga
This time, Tim and Mulele critique:

  • Moderate Mania, issue 1 of a comic about bipolar disorder by Charles Brandon Hayes and Randy Walker; and
  • The Starfall Saga issues 1 and 2, a post-apocalyptic slugfest by Akis Papakonstantinou and Chris Evagelidakis

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Critiquing Comics #156: “Off Girl” and “Sneaky Goblins”

Off Girl and Sneaky Goblins

Julia finds that, when she reaches sexual climax, men die. Off Girl, by Tina Fine and Mark Reihill, chronicles her quest for a non-lethal lay, to understand what is causing this problem, and (we’re told) become a superhero. But some storytelling problems are keeping us from getting off on this comic…

Dank, the goblin, flunks out of assassin school, answers an ad for an assassin, and is hired to be… a thief (although one who kills a lot). Rene Pfitzner’s Sneaky Goblins is well-drawn and interesting, but can we sympathize with the main character?

Tim and Mulele discuss both. And, will Tim catch up on the MCU?

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Critiquing Comics #155: “Raptor Cop” and “Equilux”

Raptor Cop and Equilux

A policeman splashed with chemicals turns into a reptilian human: that’s the idea for J. Pedicini’s Raptor Cop. While it has accomplished art, we find some problems that make it hard to follow the story.

Equilux, by Karterpiller, aims to present a real-time story of people living in a futuristic apartment building. The series is just on the edge of being considered a comic rather than illustrated prose. That’s fine, but Tim and Mulele have some suggestions for aspects that may need to be rethought.

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Critiquing Comics #154: “Some Strange Disturbances” and Tim sees a Marvel movie!

Strange Disturbances & Capt Marvel

This time, we diverge from the normal format and discuss a variety of topics:

1:17 Writer Craig Hurd-McKenny sent us three of his LGBTQ+-friendly comics, and we discuss them all: The Magic If (art by Gervasio, Melisa Jones, and Tyler Smith-Owings), The Brontes: Infernal Angria (art by Rick Geary), and Some Strange Disturbances (art by Gervasio, Carlos Aon, and Tyler Smith-Owings).

32:16 In Deconstructing Comics last week, Tim talked to some comics retailers in Chicago about the state of the industry. Tim and Mulele react to the retailers’ comments.

55:17 Tim talks about the movies he saw during his visit to the U.S.: Captain Marvel, Dumbo, and Shazam!

1:26:53 We read mail from creators whose comics we’ve discussed in past episodes.

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Critiquing Comics #153: “The Sequels” and “Metaphorical HER”

The Sequals and Metaphorical HER

That special, ’80s-movie moment in your life: What if you could bring it back? Writer Norm Harper and artists Val Halvorson and Bobby Timony explore this question in The Sequels #1: Curcuit Boarders.

Metaphorical HER, by writer James Maddox and artist David Stoll, is a comic employing eye-catching visual metaphors and exploring the world of poetry. Why is there hardly any poetry in it? Tim thinks Mulele’s got it figured out. Together they critique both books.

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Critiquing Comics #152: “Monogatari”

Monogatari

This time we look at the second anthology from Tokyo Collective, called Monogatari. The title is Japanese for “story” and is made up of words meaning “thing” and “talk about,” and the stories in this book do indeed talk about things —  things that are found in Tokyo. We discuss our favorites, and others that we found less compelling.

Also: Are America’s Big Two comics companies headed for a cliff? We look at recent articles by Matt McGloin on Marvel and DC‘s business woes, and consider what it might mean if the Big Two went under.

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Critiquing Comics #151: “Days of Dark Fire” and “Rage in the Shadows”

"Days of Dark Fire" and "Rage in the Shadows"

Days of Dark Fire (by Giovanni Smith and Mike Gaughran) is a somewhat lighthearted sword-and sorcery tale, about a screwup prince who’s trying to save his kingdom. Rage in the Shadows (by Ralph Henriquez and Emilio Utrera) is about a homeland security agent who’s been given a super-soldier type serum that’s killing her. Tim and Mulele discuss both comics, and give advice about how to make them better!

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Critiquing Comics 150: “These Savage Shores”

Last time, we started to review issue 2 of These Savage Shores by Ram V., Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone, and Aditya Bidikar, but we decided to wait and get ahold of issue 1. Now we have the first three issues, so we dig into this 17th-century story of India, including a vampire and a masked immortal.

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Critiquing Comics #149: “Gorky and Izzy’s Trip to Mexico”

Gorky and Izzy

Gorky and Izzy are partners in crime – literally – but Gorky’s been dumped by his girlfriend and he’s in a bad way. Izzy is struggling to deal with him in a way befitting a best friend. Tim and Mulele discuss Gorky and Izzy’s Trip to Mexico by F.E. Rahman and Jon Schwochert.

Also in this episode… oh, wait, never mind. Next time.

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