Critiquing Comics returns at last, with a look at Mike Dawson’s Angie Bongiolatti,
a story of twentysomethings in New York just after 9/11. The book has been published by Secret Acres, and Tim and Mulele can see why: the art and scripting are well done. And yet…something about this book is not quite there.
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In May, comics creator and educator Ben Towle wrote a post on his blog entitled “Let’s Stop Using Film Terminology to Talk About Comics,” in which he suggested that using terms like “camera angle” and “shot” to describe comics storytelling may prevent creators from innovating new storytelling ideas that couldn’t be done in film. The post generated a fair amount of discussion around the Web (including this take on CBR).
This week, the discussion continues here on the podcast, where Ben joins Tim and Mulele to talk about what inspired the post, possible reasons why we came to use film terminology in comics contexts, whether this really hobbles comics as a medium, and what (if anything) could or should be done to improve things.
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This week, Tim talks with two women who are mixing Japanese and Western influences in their comics!
First, Ana Moreno, former US Marine and writer of Marine Corps Yumi, drawn in a gag-manga style by Takeshi Nogami. A gag manga about joining the Marines?! (available in both English and Japanese)
Then, Aussie Madeleine Rosca, creator of Hollow Fields (reviewed on last week’s show). Why does her work read right to left? Does she get any guff from readers about imitating a Japanese style? Also, the art of revealing neither too many nor too few secrets as your story moves forward, and more.
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If you’re into American comics at all, you undoubtedly know how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others changed the industry with their work in the 1960s, and set the template for kinds of stories Marvel still publishes today.
That’s just part of the story that Sean Howe researched for his 2012 book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. Through interviews, research of media reports, and of course tons of comics reading, Howe uncovered the backgrounds of many comics stories and rumors that longtime readers may have wondered about. There’s plenty of intra-creator acrimony to be found in its pages, yet Howe found that the book helped some of those involved to move on from decades-old wounds.
This week Tim talks to Sean Howe about the research, the reaction, and what this book has to say to aspiring creators.
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Tim came back from his Tim Across America trip with an assortment of comics, including a couple from the New York Aspiring Comics Creators Club, and trove of self-published books that he bought at Isotope Comics, including one about a feline pirate captain. This week, he and Mulele read through those comics and review them:
Captain Kitten #2 by Jemma Salume
The Nomad Church #1 by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Jerks in Space #1 by John Karnes
Torchbearer vol 0.25 by Nicholas Dedual and Dennis Calero
Nippy Wallaboosh #3 by Jamie Cosley
Sara Rising #1 by Emilio Rodriquez, James Rodriquez, Michele St. Martin, and Wilson Ramos
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Tim talks with the members of Studio Revolver in Atlanta, some of whom are have done work for Cartoon Network and storyboarded TV commercials. Not beginners, these are folks who are accomplished and in demand.
So why’d they decide to make their own Web comics? Isn’t that how artists try to make names for themselves? Time times are a-changin’…
Irene Strychalski’s “Shaman Child”
Stephanie Gladden’s “Girls of Monster Paradise”
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Having grown up with feet planted firmly on both sides of the Pacific, Aya Rothwell has always been observant of cultural differences, and this shows up in her comics. Who else would do a comic about a human visitor to an alien world, with the biggest conflict being that the human keeps getting the aliens’ names mixed up?
Aya also fills us in on using watercolors in her comics, her journey to comics via the worlds of biology and film, and more.
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There are numerous ways in which you may have encountered Ted Rall‘s work. In addition to his political cartoons, he’s taken on a variety of other formats and other media: comics journalism (in central Asia, including Afghanistan), newspaper columns, radio, graphic novels, and MAD Magazine work.
While his political views are left-of-center, his tendency to question Democrats as well as Republicans has brought pushback from some on the left. Whether his target is a Republican, a Democrat, or another political cartoonist, Rall pulls no punches.
In this episode, he talks with Tim about his philosophy of political cartooning, filing comics from a war zone, why his editors at MAD just don’t “get” his character Fantabulaman, and much more.
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In a special bonus episode, we check out a few remaining tidbits from Tim Across America’s final state, California!
First, Stephenny Godfrey recalls the events that inspired her comics “Panorama” and “Two Buses”, leading Dale Wilson to try to top that story with another, about a weird occurrence from his childhood!
Then, Jason McNamara gives Tim some pointers on the novel he’s started writing.
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Tim Across America, part ten! The finish line of Tim’s trip is Los Angeles, home of our friend Dale Wilson, of BuyIndieComics and DWAP Productions. Dale hooks us up with Robert Roach, comics creator and Hollywood storyboarder. He fills us in on ways that storyboarding is much different from comics, and also talks about the importance of getting the details in your story right — regardless of medium.
For the Southern California edition of Ask a Retailer, a talk with Howard Chen at Legacy Comics and Cards in Glendale. Unlike most of the other Tim Across America retailers, Legacy still has plenty of manga on the shelves. But to what extent are those books flying off the shelves?
Finally, Tim and Dale are joined by Stephenny Godfrey (“Panorama”, “Two Buses”) and Richard Hamilton (“Return of the Super Pimps”, “Miserable Dastards”) to discuss the L.A. comics community and revisit a topic from the Chicago episode: should you make a comic as a step toward getting your story on film?
Also, don’t miss Griffin the Dog in his podcast debut!
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