Tim & Brandon discuss “Batman/Tarzan: Claws of the Catwoman” by Ron Marz and Igor Kordey! Also: Brandon talks about an online figure-drawing class he took, and we different philosophies of how to become a versatile artist. Is it better to start with figure-drawing training, or is it better to figure out your style on your own? How important is it to have experience drawing “Bigfoot” funny comics? (originally published November 13, 2006)
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Is Flex Mentallo just a superhero story or is it something far more? Does it speak only to comic book fans or can it say something for everyone? Is it about childhood, adulthood, drugs, loss, hope, despair, the comic book marketplace, pain, healing, or all of these at the same time? And do you have to be on acid to understand Grant Morrison, or does it just help? Writer Troy Belford and indie cartoonist John Linton Roberson go on and on about all of this, and it’s a bit beyond the usual. Have a listen to this special mega-length episode…IF YOU DARE.
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Due perhaps to the passage of time, poorly handled reprinting by DC, or some other reason, Alan Moore’s writing stint on Swamp Thing in the 1980s does not seem to get mentioned much today. Which is a shame, because it ranks with Moore’s best work. And the art by Stephen Bissette and John Totleben (and able fill-in artists) is worth the price of admission by itself, not to mention Tatjana Wood’s colors.
Tim and Kumar had a blast reading the early issues of the run (#21-37) and are here to share the experience with you.
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By Grant Morrison
Spiegel & Grau 2011
Grant Morrison is a decisive subject in comics. Many love his work. Many love to hate his work. Many just don’t know what to think of him.
What Morrison delivers with Supergods is a unique text about comics. It is part history, part deconstructionist analysis, part personal memoir, part reflexive view of his own work. It is a varied and interesting book that provides some fascinating insight into his ideas about the superhero.
The book follows a basic chronological structure that is divided along 4 ages: Golden Age, Silver Age, Modern Age, and Renaissance (starting the late 1990s). He deconstructs covers of famous comics such as Action #1, Detective #27, and The Dark Knight Returns #1. Certain key characters and stories are reflected on. It is not really any unique ground that is tread as far as the history of comics is concerned, were it not for Morrison’s uncanny intellectualizing of the materials in a way that augments their historicism with a psychological attention reflection on the material. Continue reading REVIEW: Supergods – What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human
Joe Kelly, writer. Doug Mahnke and Lee Bermejo, pencillers.
DC Comics, 2001.
“Masks are for hiding. Capes are for play. ‘Villains’ don’t share their plans before they smoke you — ‘cept in campaign speeches. Or the pulpit or in front of the classroom. Reality is a mite bloodier than sitcoms or comics. The greys stretch out farther… Evil scientists. Bogey-men. Gimps in tights who want to ‘rule the world.’ From now on they’re yours — and the rest are ours to do with as we see fit.”
— Manchester Black (leader of The Elite) speaking to Superman
Despite some things you might have heard me say, or what you might have read in my diary that I keep under my pillow, I don’t really care about Superman in the greater context of things. I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about the Clark / Superman dichotomy, or what principles Superman embodies. If anything, I agree with Gary Groth’s 1988 essay that really Superman is a symbol of commercialism, exploitation, and the gangster morality of the comics industry. I love the first Christopher Reeve movie. And I like the character to the extent that he opens the door to stories in which, say, Jimmy Olsen uses a “Helmet of Hate” to turn Superman into a red devil with horns and then the horns crack open and tiny Supermen fly out, all drawn in an almost inappropriately naturalistic way by Curt Swan.
If you’ve paid two seconds of attention to American comics recently, you probably know that DC “soft rebooted” its entire line, shipping fifty-two #1 issues last September. Since hyping the latest DC/Marvel news is not really our thing, we’ve been leaving that to other podcasts. But since Marvel zombie Tim, of his own free will, decided to pick up Grant Morrison’s Action Comics, and Kumar is a sometime Superman reader, we decided to present here our take on the first four issues.
Also, why reading comics on an iPhone is still a less-than-satisfactory experience; and, you too can be a DeconstructingComics.com columnist!
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Crossover events have become ubiquitous fare from Marvel and DC, with smaller publishers recently jumping on the bandwagon. Lots of us complain about them, and yet, buying ironically is still buying. Tim is joined by John Roberson to discuss why the past year’s main events, Fear Itself and Flashpoint, were particularly unsatisfying, what makes a (relatively) good event series, and why we read these books in spite of “event fatigue”.
John’s Comic Art Commissions page
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Tom Rasch is working on a comic, animated cartoon, and toy line for his property Black Alpha.
Billy Hogan, a fellow comics podcaster, is drawing a comic called Slipstream for the new site Clockwork Comics.
Jeffrey Taylor is writing Slipstream, plus podcasting at supermanhomepage.com, and he’s got an actual paying gig writing about Superman!
Tim interviews all three.
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by William Messner-Loebs and Sam Kieth
Piranha Press (DC Comics), 1989
Isn’t it weird how sometimes perfectly good comics can somehow completely slip through the cracks?
We’ve reached an era where it feels like eventually every comic ever published will be reprinted, possibly in a hardcover omnibus format. The two issues of Epicurus were apparently reprinted in 2003, but it never registered on my radar in either iteration before now.
Writer: Bob Haney. Pencils: Jay Stephens. Inks: Mike Allred. Color: Laura Allred.
DC Comics, 2008. 48 pages.
Reading this thing, you have to wonder if Bob Haney was aware of his own reputation.
