Deconstructing Comics

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.

Strap in for one of the wildest stories in comics – on the creator and publisher side of things! Miracleman, originally known as Marvelman, has been through two hiatuses of 20+ years each and a battle over rights to the character, plus the previously-mentioned name change. And that’s not to mention the dark, dark turn his fictional world took when Alan Moore got ahold of it. Now new stories from Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham still lie ahead. Kumar and Koom try to piece it all together.

Tim and Mulele are back with two critiques: Oscar‘s recent book Tabi (“Journey”) is another silent comic, this time featuring a sword-wielding rabbit. Is that sword to be used for good, or for ill? Ken Holtzhouser brings us The Quick and the Dad, in which a somewhat goofball dad tries to reconnect with his son and discovers that Junior is a superhero!

Matt Kindt (creator of Super Spy, Revolver, and more) recently ran a Kickstarter for an audio comic — on a vinyl record! — set in the MIND MGMT universe. He talks to Tim in this episode about how it went, why he wanted to do this project, and what’s coming next from him. Then, Jason McNamara joins Tim to discuss Love Letters to ‘Jane’s World’, a 20th-anniversary collection of Paige Braddock‘s Eisner-nominated strip.

Why does Ho Che Anderson, who has had several projects (including his latest, Godhead) published by Fantagraphics, call himself a “failed” comics creator? What does he wish he’d done differently, early in his career? In this episode, he talks to Koom about going to art school vs. making your comics mistakes in public (and how Frank Miller succeeded despite doing the latter), Godhead, his film work, and more.

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.”

Mike Baron has been a presence in comics for 35 years, from his own creations Nexus and Badger, to mainstream work like the Flash and the Punisher. Recently he’s turned to thriller and horror novels as a creative outlet, while still keeping Nexus and Badger going. He talks to Tim in this episode about switching from comics writing to prose, balancing grimness and comedy in a story, and more.

If you’re talking with a publisher about putting out your work, or you hope to be in the future, attorney Katie Lane is here to put you on the right track! In this episode, she talks to Tim about maddening contract stipulations (why they’re there and what to do about them), deciding when you need a lawyer (or an agent? or both?), what to do if you’ve already signed a bad contract (and didn’t mean to!), and more.

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!

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.

Steven Gilbert is not only a comics creator (of the crime comic Colville), he’s also a comics retailer. In this episode, he talks about how elements of real-life criminals and their crimes have sometimes gotten into his comic (which sometimes were so gruesome that he was reluctant to draw them!), and explains his approaches to retailing, drawing, and self-publishing.

Twenty years after the first collection of Hicksville was released, creator Dylan Horrocks talks to Emmet about how the comic looks to him now. Some of the work’s commentary on the comics industry turned out to presage subsequent developments, and in some cases he ended up not going far enough! Also, his source for a Jack Kirby quote that many experts were unaware of; the public’s misinterpretation of the term “graphic novel”; the explosion of female and minority comics creators, especially outside of the Big Two; and more.

A music star on a downward spiral is experiencing strange visions. It seems that everything he knows is wrong. What’s real and what’s not? Tim and Mulele discuss Eric by Tom Manning. ALSO: 25:25: Tim and Mulele’s podcast recommendations (comics-related and otherwise) 44:36: The saga of Mulele’s TCAF box reaches its denouement. 56:30: Mail from listeners

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.

Emmanuel Filteau’s surreal and interesting Tales from the Interface is worth a look — even if you’re not quite sure what you’re looking at. Tim and Mulele discuss.