Category: Kumar’s reviews

#765 “The Re-Up” #2 and “Megillah Sunday Funnies”

The Re-Up 2 and Megillah Sunday Funnies

This podcast continues to be a booster of Chad Bilyeu (“Chad in Amsterdam“), and he’s been busy lately! In addition to releasing the second issue of The Re-Up, his recollection of that time when he was a pot dealer, he’s also curated an anthology, called Megillah Sunday Funnies, that is also a museum show (through May 26, 2023) and auction of the original work in the publication, by 35 different indy creators. This time, Tim and Kumar dig into both.

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#764 “Past Tense”, Tough Translation, and Audio Drama

Past Tense

In the year 2038, invisible drones are sent to the past to pick up any event you want to see, if you have the money to pay for it. One woman using the service discovers a secret that puts her in danger in the present. Our friend Jason McNamara, author of such graphic novels as The Rattler and The Martian Confederacy, is back with the forthcoming Past Tense, his first work from Dark Horse, with art by Alberto Massaggia. Jason joins Tim to talk about the book, and then Kumar and Tim review it.

Kumar also fills us in on how his resignation as translator of Cipher Academy, a nearly untranslatable manga, went viral.

Also, Alex Squiers tells Tim about his audio drama The StarWell Foundation, in which a company which recruits superheroes and other celebrities to meet sick kids and the like, deals with one kid’s unusual request: they want to meet a villain.

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#761 A disturbing visit to “2120”

2120

George Wylesol’s 2120 is a choose-your-own-adventure horror graphic novel that blocks your progress and punishes the reader for cheating. Kumar and Emmet found it disturbing and fascinating. This week, they present their review.

Wylesol interview from The Migratory

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#760 “The Third Person”

The Third Person

What’s it like to be trans AND have Dissociative Identity Disorder? What’s it like to have a therapist who doesn’t have enough training to really help you? Emma Grove has experienced this and has produced an engaging memoir graphic novel, The Third Person, which exhibits an amazing memory for detail and a sharp understanding of the comics medium. Tim and Kumar review.

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#758 “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands”

Ducks

What happens when a group of people must work in the middle of nowhere, with virtually no supervision or accountability? Generally it’s not a good situation, as Kate Beaton, now well-known as the creator of the web comic Hark! A Vagrant, found in her younger years when she got a job on Alberta’s oil sands. This week, Kumar and Dana discuss her memoir of the experience, entitled Ducks: Two Years on the Oil Sands.

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#756 “Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour”

Tokyo RoseIf you’re at all aware of Tokyo Rose, it’s most likely simply as a woman heard over a radio in a movie set in World War II. But who was she, how did she end up in that situation, and what was the result for the war effort and for her? Tokyo Rose- Zero Hour is a new graphic novel by Andre Frattino and Kate Kasenow that fills us in on Iva Toguri, a Japanese-American woman who, under very odd circumstances, found herself working at Radio Tokyo during the war. Tim and Kumar review.

Iva Toguri demonstrates a sample broadcast

Toguri shooting some kind of a scripted scene

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#361 “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” marathon!

FLASHBACK! While this podcast has covered the odd League of Extraordinary Gentlemen book here and there, no one has dared think of trying to discuss all of Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill‘s series in one episode… until now! Kumar and Dana take on the task, with special attention paid to Black Dossier (and the record that was recorded for it), the Century trilogy, and the injustice that Kumar feels was done to Volume 2 way back in 2006, episode 21!

(Originally published June 24, 2013. Re-presented in observance of the passing of League artist Kevin O’Neill.)

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#755 “Best of EC Stories, Artisan Edition”

EC Comics, a name that brings to mind Fredric Wertham and the coming of the Comics Code, also brings to mind some very well-done comics by the likes of Wally Wood, Harvey Kurtzman, Al Williamson, and more. IDW has just released an Artist’s Edition of original EC art by Wood, Kurtzman, Williamson, Jack Davis, and Graham Ingels. Longtime EC fan Kumar is joined by the EC-curious Dana to discuss.

Read Squa Tront interview with Bernie Krigstein

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#754 “Peanuts”: Schulz’s Silent Sundays 1957-1961

Charles Schulz’s Peanuts is a master class in how to do a comic strip. This week Kumar and Tim are focusing on a five-year period of Schulz’s career, 1957 to 1961, and 25 Sunday strips that demonstrate Schulz’s skill at dialog-free comics. You might want to read the strips before listening; see below!

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#751 Rachel Pollack’s “Doom Patrol”

Doom Patrol

In the mid-’90s, Grant Morrison’s innovative run on Doom Patrol was followed by that of Rachel Pollack, who took advantage of Morrison’s legacy, the greatest variety of sexual minority characters of any mainstream comic at the time, to express her feelings about being trans and a lesbian herself. Her run also examines a number of standard comic book tropes. This run, which was far ahead of its time, has been unavailable in a collection for some time, but these issues (64 to 87) are finally to be made available this month in an omnibus. Kumar and Emmet discuss this gender-bending run.

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