Making comics – Page 11 – Deconstructing Comics

Critiquing Comics #133: “The Old Man of the Mountain” and “On Syntaphore”

Old Man of the Mountain issue 1, by Tom Rapka and Ariez Hernandez, includes an execution-style murder and three teens getting brutally, graphically cut to pieces. And yet, somehow it feels like it’s not meant to be a horror series. What is this comic trying to do?

That question goes double for On Syntaphore, by Lion’s Lips, because, while the art is attractive, the story is hard to discern — and even the reason for that isn’t quite clear.

Tim and Mulele discuss both, and also some listener mail, and Mulele’s upcoming trip to the Toronto Comic Arts Festival!

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Critiquing Comics #132: “A Light Before the Darkness”, “The Satsuma Rebellion”, and publishing contracts

Tim and Mulele critique a couple of history-based comics:

A Light Before the Darkness by Ken Mora and Cyrus Mescarcia tells the story of an artist named Michelangelo — but no, not that one. It’s about Michelangelo Da Caravaggio Di Merisi, often known simply as “Caravaggio”. Mora seems to have done his homework, but has he given us a reason to buy into his subject?

The Satsuma Rebellion is Sean Michael Wilson and Akiko Shimojima’s retelling of the titular event in Japanese history. We found it interesting — but then, we live in Japan.

ALSO: Mulele’s “PSA” about what to look for when signing (or, perhaps, NOT signing) a contract with a publisher.

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#590 Chris Stevens and “Once Upon a Time Machine”

Chris Stevens, a comics writer and editor who has co-edited two volumes of the anthology series Once Upon a Time Machine (the second volume is newly released) talks with Koom about Frank Miller’s work, Chris’ time with Philadelphia indy publisher Locust Moon, income inequality among comics creators, and of course, some of the stories he’s edited for the anthologies.

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#589 Dorman, Mackie, and McCrea at Toronto Comicon

This week, three interviews that Koom got at Toronto Comicon, in a special two-hour episode!

Dave Dorman is best known for his Star Wars art, as well as other fantasy work, and even some Batman. Here he talks about being one of the first students at the Kubert School, and the lasting friendships he made there with other now-famous names, and about his approach to painting, including doing likenesses.

Howard Mackie entered Marvel in 1984 as an editor, and eventually became the writer on such characters as Ghost Rider, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. He talks about that transition, working with the guys who would later form Image Comics, and what he’s done since leaving Marvel.

John McCrea is best known for his work with Garth Ennis on such works as Troubled Souls, Hitman, and Section 8. What’s it like working with Garth? Why should you avoid doing work that goes against your publisher’s expectations? Why did he set out to do a different kind of comics than the type he’s seemingly best suited for?

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Critiquing Comics #129: “The Goodes” and “Undergrown”

Tim and Mulele finish up their look at Irrational Comics’ 2018 PITCH page with L.J. Bell’s The Goodes (a superhero/kid-dealing-with-parents’-divorce tale) and Julian Dominguez’ Undergrown (exploring the idea of an earth with no humans on its surface). Irrational Comics gives each writer eight pages to rope readers into his or her tale; did these writers make the best use of the eight pages? Who won this year’s contest?

Also, Mulele fills us in on his new Kickstarter project!

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#587 Science in a comic: Dialogue about “The Dialogues”

This is the story of a very unusual project: a 250-page comic showing people talking about science. Not your cup of tea? Actually, the seeming lack of overlap between “comics people” and “science people” is part of this story. It was one reason this book took nearly two decades from inception to publication.

In this episode, Ryan Haupt joins Tim to review this book, called The Dialogues; then, the book’s author, USC physics professor Clifford V. Johnson, explains the arduous journey of this book, which explains a topic that’s poorly understood by the public via a medium that’s also poorly understood by the public.

Also including some actual science talk, including Ryan’s recommendations for other non-fiction comics about science!

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Critiquing Comics #128: “Osaka 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.

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#586 Flirting with death, and recovering your life

This week Koom interviews Prabal Purkayastha, author of Flirting with Death, about how he tried to use the structure of a comic to communicate music, and how his next project is just the opposite of this one.

Then, what would you do if you found yourself on a park bench along a city street, and you knew where you were but you didn’t know who you were? Your home, friends, family, job, all forgotten. Tim and Eugenia review the French graphic novel Blank Slate, by Boulet and Penelope Bagieu, in which a young woman in Paris encounters exactly this problem.

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

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#583 CAT 2017, and Bryan Lee O’Malley!

Comic Art Tokyo

Tim attended CAT 2017 on November 25, with job one being a talk with Scott Pilgrim and Seconds creator Bryan Lee O’Malley! O’Malley answers some lingering questions from those books, and discusses the inconsistent censoring of cursing in Snotgirl, giving characters body language, why autobio comics are so popular, and what, if anything, he would change about his published work.

Tim also talked with a couple of other creators (many of the denizens of Artist’s Alley were the same ones we met at Kaigai Manga Festa in the past two episodes) and covered a workshop on Risograph Printing presented by Natalie Andrewson, Ryan Cecil Smith, and Grame McNee.

Also in this episode, we’ll hear from CAT co-organizer Adam Pasion about how this year’s event went, and lessons learned for next year.

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Continue reading #583 CAT 2017, and Bryan Lee O’Malley!