Infidel, by Pornsak Pichetshote, Aaron Campbell, and Jose Villarubia, has drawn comparisons to the film Get Out for its mixing of horror with social issues. In this episode, Kumar and Dana discuss what they enjoyed in the comic and what they were irritated by, and brave the minefield of talking about this book on a podcast!
Also, Tim reads the lengthy response from Derf Backderf to our recent review of the film version of My Friend Dahmer.
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Michael Kupperman, best known for the likes of Snake ‘n’ Bacon and Tales Designed to Thrizzle, decided to go with a more serious and narrative-driven approach with his latest work, All the Answers. It’s the true story of how his father, Joel Kupperman, became famous on the radio and TV show Quiz Kids during and after World War II, an experience which not only scarred him for life, but had implications for Michael’s life as well.
In this episode, Michael Kupperman talks about his use of silhouette, the pointers he took from reading Grant Morrison’s work, and the common graphic-novel misfires that he tried hard to avoid. Then, Tim and Kumar review All the Answers, and identify other potential book topics hiding in its narrative!
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Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, has been a bestselling book for Image Comics for years, and fawned over by critics and readers alike. While Emmet finds a fair number of things to like about it, hardly anything about it is to Kumar’s taste. For this episode, both of them have read all the issues published to date — 54 of them!– and present this somewhat out-of-the-mainstream review.
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Last year saw the release of Marc Meyers’ film adaptation of Derf Backderf’s My Friend Dahmer, starring Ross Lynch, Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, Alex Wolff, and Vincent Kartheiser. How is the film different from the book, and how do we account for the differences considering Derf’s close involvement in the movie? Did the film’s budget hold it back? Kumar and Emmet discuss.
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Ed Piskor‘s comics work has been characterized by deep dives on big topics that the creator is really into: hip hop music and the X-Men. In this episode, Kumar and Dana dig into Piskor’s “Hip Hop Family Tree” and “X-Men: Grand Design.”
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When Ms. Marvel rebooted in 2014 as the story of Marvel’s first Muslim superhero, written by G. Willow Wilson, it gained a lot of mainstream media attention. Is the book worth the hype? Kumar and Tim go back and read the first four trades and debate what worked and what didn’t.
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Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, about a school for ninja, ran from 1999 to 2014. What’s appealing about this series to kids? In this episode, Kumar asks a kid — his own 10-year-old son, Ashwin! Kumar’s been reading it himself, so father and son exchange takes on the comic, including what it was about the anime version that didn’t measure up to the manga, and Ashwin’s favorite Naruto character.
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While Alan Moore and J.H. Williams’ Promethea, published from 1999 to 2005, is not one of Moore’s most remembered works, it’s not because the author wasn’t at the top of his game. Kumar and Emmet find it to be entrancing, even if you don’t buy into the various magical and spiritual elements that Moore built into it.
Also, inevitably, the incorporation of Promethea and other Moore creations into the DC Universe comes up; is it really just a business decision, or is the publisher singling out Moore’s work out of spite?
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Peter Bagge’s HATE was an amazing hit for a ’90s indy comic, outselling some Big Two titles. Tim, Kumar, and Tom Spurgeon talk about some of the amazing aspects of this strip, and discuss whether it’s accurate to classify it as a comic about slackers.
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Many Westerners feel a bit puzzled by Japanese comics — the subject matter, the art style, the pacing, etc. Koom has been trying for some time to grasp what he’s not “getting” about manga. Meanwhile, manga translator Kumar is about done with “explaining” Japanese comics to people, but he makes an exception for Koom (and the podcast). They discuss I Am a Hero by Kengo Hanazawa, and A Distant Neighborhood by Jiro Taniguchi — both translated by none other than Kumar!
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