Category: Comics commentary

Comics commentary from our podcast regulars.

#333 “Louis Riel”

Louis Riel

If you’re not Canadian, this week’s topic may be a bit of a head-scratcher. Louis, uh, who now? To Canadians, though, including our own Kumar and Dana, Riel is a famous historical figure of the 19th century who led a rebellion against the Canadian government. His story is the subject of Chester Brown‘s recent graphic novel which, while complete with end notes, also takes Shakespearean liberties with the historical record. And what’s up with the weird placement of characters on the page? An accident? No… nothing in this book is an accident.

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#331 The End of the Road for “Cul de Sac”

As Richard Thompson’s strip Cul de Sac ends, Tom Spurgeon joins Tim to bid it a fond farewell. We discuss some favorite moments, compare it with other classic strips such as Peanuts, examine what Thompson (and any other relatively new creator of newspaper strips) has been up against as technology and economics team up against print media, and — Hey! Watch out for the UH-OH BABY!!

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#330 “Doonesbury”: Polarizing and Unifying

Doonesbury castWhen Doonesbury started nearly 42 years ago, Garry Trudeau was a hot young property, the undergrad student cartoonist who spoke the language of “today’s youth”. Now age 64, Trudeau can hardly make that claim, but instead he can take credit for a monumental strip chronicling the lives of his many cast members and their lives growing old in the social and political environments of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Tim and Kumar assess the strip’s legacy, discuss Brian Walker’s Doonesbury and the Art of G. B. Trudeau, and review the past year’s worth of strips.

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#329 “Flex Mentallo” and related issues

Flex MentalloIs 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.

John blogs about Flex

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#327 Two Tales of the Near East

Prince of Persia and HabibiCall it Orientalism, but Middle Eastern culture still carries a hint of romance in the Western imagination. This week, Tim and Brandon discuss two books in that vein:

Prince of Persia, by Jordan Mechner, AB Sina, LeUyen Pham and Alex Puvilland, coasts on notions of romance and intrigue in ancient Persia; meanwhile,

Habibi, by Craig Thompson, takes hold of Arabian Nights-type notions — as well as Islam — and uses them to express more universal themes.

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#325 Alan Moore’s “Swamp Thing”

Swamp ThingDue 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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REVIEW: Supergods – What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human

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

The Dark Silliness of Fear Itself: Deadpool

The Dark Silliness of Fear Itself: Deadpool

By Neil Tomblin

Remember rapper MC Hammer? He was the rapper who always said, “It’s hammer time!” This catchphrase resurfaced in Marvel Comics’ Deadpool story arc of “Fear Itself.” “Fear Itself” was a big event that included many different books that feature various Marvel superheroes. The basis of each story deals with magical Thor-like hammers that fall to the sky and endow different Marvel characters with powers. These stories are also an analysis of current events that have brought fear to America. One of the “Fear Itself” stories that stood out for me was “Fear Itself: Deadpool.” This story arc was funny and action-packed.

One thing I kind of never understood about the Deadpool comics is all of the comedy. The name Deadpool sounds so dark and hardcore that one would think to make the Deadpool’s stories dark. Deadpool’s suit even looks hardcore. Instead of getting the ruff stories that are featured in DC Comics’ Deathstrike comic book series, we get the slapstick humor in Deapool’s stories. How does Spiderman get the dark stories, but Deadpool gets the stories that makes Deadpool look like a parody of himself? However, as I began to read more into this Deadpool story, the comedy began to grow on me.

Continue reading The Dark Silliness of Fear Itself: Deadpool

Critiquing Comics #026: “Super Haters” and our thoughts about critiquing

Super HatersDoes “giving a critique” mean “stating an opinion”? Or, as some fans of a comic we discussed a few weeks ago imply, does it demand total objectivity? Is that even possible? And, by the way, what’s the difference between a critique and a review? Tim and Mulele discuss these questions before going on to critique Super Haters by Nick Marino and Justique Woolridge.

Critique vs. Review:

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#324 The Dapper Men Have No Clothes

Return of the Dapper MenReturn of the Dapper Men, by Jim McCann and Janet Lee, is a great-looking book, all cloth binding and gold foil. It has an unusual feel for a comic, being a work of decoupage. And the story… um… iFanboy book of the month, you say? Eisner Award winner, you say? Um… Tim and Brandon just ain’t seeing it. Why is it so lauded?

Also, Tim is joined by Mulele and Paul to critique a small stack of mini-comics, sent in by our friend Dale Wilson:

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