Fifty years ago, four students died when national guardsman inexplicably opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University. The craziness of 2020 has hindered planned observances of the craziness of 1970, but we do get this: Derf Backderf’s Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio
In this episode, Tim and Kumar review the book, to be released September 8, and then Tim chats with Derf himself, answering our questions about the tragedy and the book.
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Chad Bilyeu’s Chad in Amsterdam series has been a favorite of ours on our Critiquing Comics spinoff show. In this episode, Chad talks to Tim about what it’s like living in Amsterdam, how he puts together his comic, and what’s coming up next from him!
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This time our comic is Miskatonic High, by Mike Shea and Ryan Mendoza. The comic features high school students who have creepy adventures. If you’re into H.P. Lovecraft, you’ve probably recognized that this comic is referencing his work. Does the comic do enough to bring the non-Lovecraft-fan onboard?
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A couple of past guests return to the show with new material! Mike Baron, best known as writer of the Nexus series, talks about his comedy graphic novel (with artist Todd Mulrooney) Florida Man, and Jason McNamara has reunited with artist Greg Hinkle for a slightly creepy comedy series, Nocturnal Commissions. Both writers share with Tim their thoughts about crowdfunding (which was the publishing mechanism for both comics), story writing, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on fiction writing.
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Many of us have dreamed of getting paid to make comics. Except in rare cases, working in American comics means being a freelancer. While a creative career can be rewarding, there are plenty of downsides, too.
First, there are the day-to-day problems. Tim talks to Howard Simpson, a freelancer in Los Angeles, about time management, letting friends and family know you’re not ALWAYS free, dealing with lack of health insurance, and more.
Then, Asher Elbein talks about his recent article in The Daily Beast about how the recent allegations of top freelancers abusing their power to seduce young women, or certain publisher staff members outright abusing freelancers and others, are of a piece with the well-documented problems of freelancers like Alan Moore or Siegel and Schuster, who were vastly undercompensated for making wildly successful comics like Watchmen and Superman!
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Starting in 1999, Dave Cooper (accompanied at first by Patrick McEown) had a collection of work published by Fantagraphics as a magazine called Weasel. The magazine featured Cooper’s story “Ripple”, later published in one volume. “Ripple” is a disturbing story, masterfully told; we hope Cooper is not lying that it’s “not autobiographical,” but for fiction it’s remarkably detailed and heartfelt. In this episode, Tim and Mulele explore the first five issues of Weasel.
WARNING — ADULT CONTENT
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Jason Lutes’ Berlin shows us scenes from the lives of many characters in Berlin as the Weimar Republic disintegrated and the Nazis rose to power. Historical events (including the fallout of World War I) affect the characters while the characters continue trying to control their own lives, or each other’s, and they cross paths in ways that are sometimes easy to miss. And the art is detailed and spellbinding. Tim and Kumar dig into this 542-page masterwork, more than twenty years in the making.
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In our December 25 episode, we reviewed two more comics from David Dye. While we’ve generally been very positive about his work, there was one bit that Mulele called “Racist AF” and Tim was also uncomfortable with (see below). David’s email in response to the episode made clear to us that the intent wasn’t racist… but then, what was it?
To find out, we invited David on our show, and he joins us from his home in Australia to discuss where his portrayal of space-terrorists went sideways, and to talk about his comics career so far.
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Ann Nocenti is a journalist and filmmaker who also has had quite a career in comics. She wrote Daredevil for several years and created the character of Typhoid Mary. In this interview with Koom, she talks about why writing ol’ horn head was difficult for her at first, and why she created Typhoid Mary, as well as her two new comics “Ruby Falls” and “The Seeds.”
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Jorge Munoz has been a favorite of ours for a while. Recently he sent in several recent works (Longdog, Quin Reyes and Hao Delivery, a sketchbook, Yon Kuma, Sea), and this episode we sit down and take a look at them.
Also, Mulele recounts his visit to a New York exhibit called Illustrating Batman. (switch to grid view to browse)
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