Jack Kirby’s final Fourth World story is the 1984 graphic novel The Hunger Dogs, which continues some of the themes we saw in Even Gods Must Die, such as the encroachment of technology. Tim and Emmet complete their reading of the Fourth World and ponder how aware George Lucas may have been of the New Gods.
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One of our favorite indie creators has long been Amsterdam-based Chad Bilyeu, who’s back with the start of a new series, The Re-Up. Chad tends to deal in nonfiction and memoir, and this time is no different: he reminisces here about the time he took over a marijuana retail business in Washington, DC. Of course, a new book from Chad brings Mulele temporarily out of podcast retirement, and he joins Tim this time to discuss Chad’s new offering.
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Longtime web cartoonist Don Ahé has asked us to look at his new story Bran Bionic: The Sable Peril, about a boy with some bionic body parts who’s stranded on an island. Tim and Adam looked around on the rest of his site and found both gag-a-day and serialized work in his Road Apples Almanac strip, and some nice art and good comic timing.
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In 1984, ten years after the last of Jack Kirby‘s Fourth World books was canceled, Kirby was brought back to do a brand new New Gods story in the final issue of a series that had been reprinting the original series. The story, Even Gods Must Die, is typical Kirby Fourth World: alternately horrifying and goofy, with sly commentary on the encroachment of computerized automation of life, and also, perhaps, on the very fact that DC was having him back. Tim and Emmet discuss the penultimate chapter in Kirby’s Fourth World.
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Blood Moon Comics has sent us another of their titles: Usher of the Dead #1 by Keith Rommel and Samir Simao. Will Tim and Jason find as many problems with it as they did with Blood Moon’s previous entry? Or will they be pleasantly surprised? Listen and find out!
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One of DC’s most fondly remembered ’80s series is Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo‘s Batman and the Outsiders. Tim, always a Marvel true believer, is just now reading it for the first time, but he’s recruited a lifelong fan of the Distinguished Competition, writer and podcaster John Trumbull, to join him in a look at the first volume of this beloved series. What was all the fuss about?
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Jack Kirby‘s Mister Miracle continued on for a year or so after his other Fourth World books had been canceled. This may be why much of issues 13-18 seem disconnected from the typical Fourth World narrative of Apokolips, New Genesis, and the like, and arguably Kirby doesn’t have as strong a message in these issues, but they’re fun. Tim and Emmet discuss.
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What’s creator Ron Randall been up to since we talked with him last? He’s continuing his comic Trekker, now 35 years since its inception, and is up to his seventh Kickstarter for the series. He’s back to talk about that, plus he and Tim talk about the rise of decompressed storytelling in American comics over the past few decades, what caused its rise, and its pluses and minuses.
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Tim and Emmet continue their read through Jack Kirby’s Fourth World comics with Mister Miracle issues 7 through 12. Is there as much meaning in these books as there was in the first six, or is it becoming a formula? What is it about Kirby’s work here that’s reminding Tim of R. Crumb? What’s a Mystivac? What does the character of The Lump represent? And more.
Kickstarter for The BeBop #2: Bao
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A drifter in the Old West gives confession to an alcoholic priest. Demons attack and the drifter, who has special powers, dispels them. That’s the opening to The 9 Circles: Marshal Law Issue One from Jaimie Engle, Kool as Heck, and Kristal Sayers. But is this really the best opening for the story? Tim and Jason find that the second part of this issue has somewhat more going for it. Here’s their critique.
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