Reviews of Asterios Polyp blanket the Internet; why need we pile on? Well, for starters, to counteract all the reviewers who think that giving a story synoposis = explaining what the book’s about. That approach falls far short with Polyp, so Tim and Kumar are here to explain what they feel David Mazzucchelli’s masterwork graphic novel is really about!
Stumptown annotations of Polyp
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
A recent Comics Reporter article by Ng Suat Tong on “Writing, Collaboration, and Superheroes” (and a rebuttal to it from Chris Allen Online) got us to thinking: Do modern writers give sufficient instruction to artists? How much of what you see on the page came from the writer, and how much from the artist? Are some artists not carrying out the writer’s suggestions, and is that because the artist had a better idea, because the writer’s instructions were impractical, or because the artist is simply, um, not that good?
To explore these questions, Kumar, Mulele, and Tim chose four scripts from the Comicbook Script Archive site, and read them alongside the finished comics that resulted from them: Punisher Max #39, by Garth Ennis and Leandro Fernandez; Y: the Last Man #18, by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra; Daredevil 28, by Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev; and (the ringer of the lot) Batman: the Killing Joke, by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland. Here’s the resulting discussion!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
FLASHBACK! Osamu Tezuka is Japan’s “God of Manga.” Ode to Kirihito may be one of the reasons. Tim and Kumar review.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Rumiko Takahashi is Japan’s leading female cartoonist and has created series that are loved the world over. Tim and Kumar discuss two of her series: “Ranma 1/2”, about a gender-switching martial arts master, and “Inuyasha”, about a 16th-century demon, a 20th-century high school girl, and a powerful jewel.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Frank Miller produced two of the most influential Batman books ever, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Batman: Year One, within a short period in the mid-’80s. The stories present the end and beginning of Batman’s career, respectively. Tim and Kumar talk about what’s good, and in some cases maybe a bit annoying, about both books.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Though it had a lot of buzz when it first appeared in 1983, Howard Chaykin’s dystopian-future comic American Flagg! had fallen off the radar until recently. Now Image Comics has released two volumes containing the first 14 issues. Tim and Kumar discuss.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
6/29/09 Weird Crime Theater: A case study in comics collaboration
What are the good and bad points of collaborating with someone on a comic? What adjustments do writer and artist need to make to each other’s way of working? As a case study in collaboration, Mulele and Kumar discuss the ups and downs of their collaborations on the comics “Full Throttle” and “Weird Crime Theater.”
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
5/18/09 “Ghost in the Shell”: What in the hell?!
Masamune Shirow’s future tale “Ghost in the Shell” reads like someone’s private comic that wasn’t meant for public consumption. Tim, Mulele, and Kumar find that they can’t so much consume the story as gag on it uncomprehendingly… although the pictures are nice.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
04/28/08 The Four Immigrants Manga
FLASHBACK! The Four Immigrants Manga is the story of Japanese immigrants in early 20th century San Francisco. Tim and Kumar review.
The Four Immigrants Manga : A Japanese Experience in San Francisco, 1904-1924
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Paul Karasik and David Mazzucchelli’s comics version of City of Glass, a 1985 novel by Paul Auster, is an amazing adaptation of an unfilmable novel. Tim and Kumar assess the herculean task of adapting it, in probably the only medium capable of doing so: comics!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
