Critiquing Comics #152: “Monogatari”

Monogatari

This time we look at the second anthology from Tokyo Collective, called Monogatari. The title is Japanese for “story” and is made up of words meaning “thing” and “talk about,” and the stories in this book do indeed talk about things —  things that are found in Tokyo. We discuss our favorites, and others that we found less compelling.

Also: Are America’s Big Two comics companies headed for a cliff? We look at recent articles by Matt McGloin on Marvel and DC‘s business woes, and consider what it might mean if the Big Two went under.

Critiquing Comics #148: Tokyo comics shows 2018, pt 2

CAT and Kaigai pt 2

Tim and Mulele discuss more of the comics they picked up at the recent comics events in Tokyo, Comic Art Tokyo and Kaigai Manga Festa.

2:49 The Pig Sleep by Cory McCallum and Matthew Daley
16:26 Alethia chapter one by Kristina Stipetic
22:29 Square Comix #17 by Ian M

Critiquing Comics #147: Tokyo comics shows 2018, pt 1

Comics from CAT and Kaigai 2018 pt 1

In this episode, Tim and Mulele discuss some comics they picked up at the recent comics events in Tokyo, Comic Art Tokyo and Kaigai Manga Festa.

2:05 Cicada by Shaun Tan
7:49 A Ticket to Nowhere by Nunumi
16:27 Detective Jones books by Felipe Kolb Bernardes
20:02 Mad Girl by Natalie Andrewson

#600 “Sky Doll: Sudra” and DCP history!

Six hundred episodes! How’d we do that?

A double-header to celebrate. First, Tim and Eugenia discuss the long-, long-awaited next installment of the Sky Doll saga, Sky Doll: Sudra. Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa continue to astound with their beautiful artwork and colors. But is the story a satisfying next chapter?

Then, in honor of the big, round number on this episode, we present audio of Tim’s presentation on the history of Deconstructing Comics at the Tokyo Sequential Art Meetup last February 15!

Critiquing Comics #138: “Hajime”

Hajime is an anthology (the first in a proposed series from new group Tokyo Collective, or ToCo) presenting four-page stories from seven artists about their first impressions upon arriving in Tokyo. Longtime Tokyo residents Tim and Mulele discuss.

Critiquing Comics #128: “Osaka Mime” and “Pantheon’s End”

Tokyo Mime and Pantheon's End

Tim and Mulele progress through the 2018 Irrational Comics PITCH page in this episode with Tokyo Mime, featuring two cops going up against a monster that takes the form of the last person it ate, and Pantheon’s End, in which a superhero team is faced with an apparently unstoppable end to the world.

#583 CAT 2017, and Bryan Lee O’Malley!

Comic Art Tokyo

Tim attended CAT 2017 on November 25, with job one being a talk with Scott Pilgrim and Seconds creator Bryan Lee O’Malley! O’Malley answers some lingering questions from those books, and discusses the inconsistent censoring of cursing in Snotgirl, giving characters body language, why autobio comics are so popular, and what, if anything, he would change about his published work.

Tim also talked with a couple of other creators (many of the denizens of Artist’s Alley were the same ones we met at Kaigai Manga Festa in the past two episodes) and covered a workshop on Risograph Printing presented by Natalie Andrewson, Ryan Cecil Smith, and Grame McNee.

Also in this episode, we’ll hear from CAT co-organizer Adam Pasion about how this year’s event went, and lessons learned for next year.

Continue reading #583 CAT 2017, and Bryan Lee O’Malley!

#582 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 2

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

This week, part two of the Kaigai Manga Festa 2017 roundup, recorded in Tokyo on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight.

Continue reading #582 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 2

#581 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 1

Comitia/Kaigai Manga Festa sign

It’s time for another Kaigai Manga Festa roundup! This year’s international comics festival in Tokyo was held on November 23 at Tokyo Big Sight, alongside the Comitia festival as always. Tim caught up with some familiar faces and met some new ones as well!

Continue reading #581 Kaigai Manga Festa 2017, pt 1

#534 Oscar’s “Kai”, self-publicity, and book design

Kai

Many of us are good at making our work (comics, podcasts, what have you), but not good at putting it out there, letting people know it exists. Mulele has been advising his friend Oscar, creator of the comic Kai (discussed in Critiquing Comics #100), on using social media and on choosing the best presentation style for a given book. This week, Tim talks with Oscar about his opening foray into comics, and Mulele talks about designing books and finding printers that can produce what he envisions.