Critiquing Comics #158: “Bronze Age Boogie” and “Longdog”

Bronze Age Boogie + Longdog

In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss:

  • Bronze Age Boogie, by Stuart Moore and Alberto Ponticelli. An ambitious comic that tries to cram in too many ideas. The Bronze Age! ’70s pop culture! Time-traveling apes! Prose interludes! Meanwhile, the book’s backup feature is the bomb! Has Ahoy Comics gotten things backwards?
  • Longdog, by Josh Hechinger and Jorge Munoz. The authors of one of our very early critiques are back together with a story of Sasquatch hunting. It looks good, but is the tone a bit inconsistent?

Also, Mulele tells a story of recent tragic headlines here in Japan and how they intersect with comics and his life.

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#626 Wolverine ’82: a second look

Wolverine

The 1982 Wolverine mini-series, by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, was seminal in a number of ways: One of the first Marvel minis, a major fleshing-out of Wolverine’s character, a milepost on the road to the expunging of omniscient narration from American comics.

Six years back, Kumar and Dana had a lot of reservations about the story; in this issue, Koom, Rob, and Sam have a different take.

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Critiquing Comics #157: “Moderate Mania” and “The Starfall Saga”

Moderate Mania - Starfall Saga
This time, Tim and Mulele critique:

  • Moderate Mania, issue 1 of a comic about bipolar disorder by Charles Brandon Hayes and Randy Walker; and
  • The Starfall Saga issues 1 and 2, a post-apocalyptic slugfest by Akis Papakonstantinou and Chris Evagelidakis

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#625 Crowdfunding comics!

Kickstarters

Comics are booming on Kickstarter.com, and this week Tim talks to three who have turned to it multiple times to get their comics out to fans:

  • 01:30 Ron Randall has just launched his latest campaign, to fund the next volume of his long-running series Trekker.
  • 22:23 Arledge Comics’ Natalie Cooper explains how the publisher crowdfunds nearly everything it publishes! Its current campaign is for an anthology of Shakespeare-themed comics.
  • 33:39 Kelly Tindall, creator of the web comic Strangebeard, explains the challenges of duplicating your first project’s success.

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Critiquing Comics #156: “Off Girl” and “Sneaky Goblins”

Off Girl and Sneaky Goblins

Julia finds that, when she reaches sexual climax, men die. Off Girl, by Tina Fine and Mark Reihill, chronicles her quest for a non-lethal lay, to understand what is causing this problem, and (we’re told) become a superhero. But some storytelling problems are keeping us from getting off on this comic…

Dank, the goblin, flunks out of assassin school, answers an ad for an assassin, and is hired to be… a thief (although one who kills a lot). Rene Pfitzner’s Sneaky Goblins is well-drawn and interesting, but can we sympathize with the main character?

Tim and Mulele discuss both. And, will Tim catch up on the MCU?

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Critiquing Comics #155: “Raptor Cop” and “Equilux”

Raptor Cop and Equilux

A policeman splashed with chemicals turns into a reptilian human: that’s the idea for J. Pedicini’s Raptor Cop. While it has accomplished art, we find some problems that make it hard to follow the story.

Equilux, by Karterpiller, aims to present a real-time story of people living in a futuristic apartment building. The series is just on the edge of being considered a comic rather than illustrated prose. That’s fine, but Tim and Mulele have some suggestions for aspects that may need to be rethought.

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#624 “Conan: Red Nails”

Conan: Red Nails

In the 1970s, in an effort to diversify its line, Marvel began adapting Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian stories. To push (at least a little bit) beyond what the Comics Code would allow, some of these stories were published in magazine format, as Savage Tales. The second and third issues of this series featured an adaptation of the classic Conan story Red Nails, featuring writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith. In this episode, Koom talks with Rob and Sam about the basic idea of Conan, where the title “Red Nails” came from, the strengths and shortcomings of Smith’s art at this early point in his career, and more.

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Critiquing Comics #154: “Some Strange Disturbances” and Tim sees a Marvel movie!

Strange Disturbances & Capt Marvel

This time, we diverge from the normal format and discuss a variety of topics:

1:17 Writer Craig Hurd-McKenny sent us three of his LGBTQ+-friendly comics, and we discuss them all: The Magic If (art by Gervasio, Melisa Jones, and Tyler Smith-Owings), The Brontes: Infernal Angria (art by Rick Geary), and Some Strange Disturbances (art by Gervasio, Carlos Aon, and Tyler Smith-Owings).

32:16 In Deconstructing Comics last week, Tim talked to some comics retailers in Chicago about the state of the industry. Tim and Mulele react to the retailers’ comments.

55:17 Tim talks about the movies he saw during his visit to the U.S.: Captain Marvel, Dumbo, and Shazam!

1:26:53 We read mail from creators whose comics we’ve discussed in past episodes.

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#623 Remembering Ed; Asking retailers

Chicago Ed, Retailers

When someone you know, someone who had an impact on your life, leaves us too soon, it can be tough to process. Struggling to accept the 2017 death of comics creator and all-around renaissance man Ed Siemienkowicz (who appeared in DCP episodes 227 and 393) at age 43, Tim spent part of his recent visit to Chicago meeting some of Ed’s friends and family, to commiserate and share memories — and check the progress of Ed’s comic that his friends are finishing for him.

Also, Tim talks to Hamster Rage creator Brian Crowley about his ongoing Kickstarter and the state of the U.S. comics industry, and visits three Chicago comics retailers to see how healthy the comics market seems from their perspective, and how it could be better.

Challengers Comics

Graham Crackers Comics

G-mart Comics

Ed’s cousin Kristen, drawing group friend Garry Vettori, sister Renee, brother Bob, Tim, aunt Carol, online gaming friend Darrell Degreve

Tim, Kristen, Carol, Brian Crowley

Ed carved this Cesar Romero Joker into cardboard, and then spray-painted it green!

Ed with a bus he designed when he was employed by the Golf Channel.

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#622 “A Small Killing” – and also “Jerusalem”

asmallkilling-jerusalem

A man is being stalked by a child who wants to kill him. Who is the child? Or perhaps the question is, what does the child symbolize? Could this book be an autobiography in disguise? Koom and Mike discuss Alan Moore and Oscar Zarate’s underappreciated 1991 work A Small Killing— as well as Moore’s prose novel Jerusalem and simply the nature of Alan Moore.

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