WE3 by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, and the incomparable Todd Klein is a highlight of the past 20 years. This compact tale about three cybernetically modified pets who escape their government handlers as they search for home is one that resonates on multiple levels. It's a pulse-pounding action comic, an endearing animal story, a prescient commentary on modern warfare, and a treatise on the innovative ways to depict time, movement, and space on the comic book page. Join us as we b...
Sep 12, 2022•2 hr 54 min
Image Comics was founded in 1992, thirty years ago. It seems like a good time to do a retrospective look back at the publisher's history. Both of us grew up in the Image era and we have quite a few memories of the comics of that time period, but while there are some nostalgic feelings, it's fair to that the very early years of Image Comics' output don't stand the test of time, and neither of us are high on the books of our respective youths. That said, Image's evolution over the decades has prov...
Aug 29, 2022•3 hr 50 min
We are now on volume 8 as we continue reading through Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko this year, one volume per month. This month's installment is contains two particularly special storyarcs. One of them is an intensely personal, tragic story about the effect that war has on regular people. The other is the kind of war comic that deals with big picture, chessboard of life stuff that will affect human society moving forward. There's a lot of rich, beautiful storytelling that ...
Aug 22, 2022•2 hr 42 min
Because the She-Hulk Disney+ series is set to release soon, we thought it would be fun to do a little pregame reading and talking about the character and her comics. Between the two of us, we've read a variety of She-Hulk comics in our lifetimes, and several specifically for this podcast. The comics discussed in this episode include her very first appearance by Stan Lee and John Buscema, early issues of the John Byrne run, part of the Dan Slott run, the first part of the Charles Soule and Javier...
Aug 15, 2022•2 hr 23 min
We recently got around to watching Ms. Marvel on Disney+, so now it's time for the autopsy! In this episode, we discuss the things about the show that didn't work for us, as well as the elements that did. Spoilers begin around the 21 minute mark, but we'll warn you in the audio. Towards the end of the episode, we also chat a little bit about some of the recent MCU news that was announced at San Diego Comic-Con. Whether you enjoyed the Ms. Marvel show or not, we hope you join us for this episode ...
Aug 08, 2022•2 hr 17 min
Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, and Jared K. Fletcher was recently adapted into a live action Amazon Prime series. However, we're here to talk about the comics! In this episode, we discuss the entire series. If you haven't read the comics yet, don't sweat it. We start with a spoiler-free general discussion about the book and its creators. Full spoilers begin around the 42-minute mark. (We'll clearly warn you in the audio.) Suffice it to say, this is a comic book serie...
Aug 01, 2022•2 hr 40 min
In this month's installment of our readthrough of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, we're covering more flashback material. This volume encompasses Operation British, the Battle of Loum, and the early portion of the One Year War. It's packed with action, spectacle, and emotionally resonant human drama. Most of all, it's also a masterpiece of political theater. Join us as we provide our usual chapter-by-chapter commentary, packed with varied and sundry references and historica...
Jul 18, 2022•2 hr 32 min
Whattup, fam! It's time for another one of our patented movie autopsies as we dissect Thor: Love and Thunder, the latest MCU flick to be released! It seems like a lot of people online and elsewhere have been expressing feelings of superhero fatigue. As longtime comic book readers who have read way more than our fair share of cape comics (including tons of bad event comics), we've got way more stamina (and stronger stomachs) than the average bear, so we think our thoughts on the movie are general...
Jul 11, 2022•2 hr 42 min
It's a Bird... by Steven T. Seagle, Teddy Kristiansen, and Todd Klein is a DC book we've wanted to discuss on the podcast for quite some time now. Originally published by Vertigo during that imprint's 2000s heyday, It's a Bird... is a personal and powerful semi-autobiographical original graphic novel about the struggle of the act of writing, the pain of living with a family secret, and the difficulties of understanding the intricacies of a fictional character and whether that even matters. There...
Jul 04, 2022•2 hr 17 min
This week, we're taking a look at a couple of Ms. Marvel comics. First up is her origin story in Ms. Marvel volume 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona. The other story we look at is The Magnificent Ms. Marvel Volume 1: Destined by Saladin Ahmed and Minkyu Jung. By the time this episode goes live, the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series will be about halfway through its run, but we're still doing a pre-topsy! Before getting into our book reviews, we take some time to discuss the concept and...
Jun 27, 2022•2 hr 7 min
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Volume 6: To War continues the flashback/prequel material unique to this version of the First Gundam story. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko adds his thoughtful personal flourishes to the lore and legend of the Universal Century, and he spends an extensive amount of time in this volume covering key formative years of Char Aznable and the Zabi family. This political potboiler makes for a fascinating stew, and there's quite a bit of story here to digest, both in terms of plot and ...
Jun 20, 2022•3 hr 15 min
After a week off, we're back with another long episode! This time around, we're examining the category of shonen manga. It's one of (if not THE) best-selling forms of comics in the world, and obviously there's a lot of super popular anime based on shonen manga. Truth be told, though we read plenty of manga, neither of us tends to read much popular shonen, so we felt we needed to step out of our preferences and study something that millions of readers love. To wit, we decided to dabble by reading...
Jun 13, 2022•3 hr 18 min
The Moon Knight show on Disney+ recently finished its run, and we got around to watching it. Now we're gonna talk about it. We begin the episode with some general spoiler-free impressions. Spoilers begin at around the 21:15 mark. We've both read a good amount of Moon Knight comics, and if you're interested in hearing what we had to say about various Moon Knight comic book stories, check out episode 120, where we also discuss the elements of the character that appeal to us.
May 30, 2022•2 hr 27 min
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin volume 5 is a significant turning point in this epic saga. This volume, titled Char & Sayla, is Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's original material; these stories were not present in the First Gundam anime. There's a lot of political intrigue at play here as we witness the formation of the Principality of Zeon as well as the backstories of Char Aznable and Sayla Mass. It's a longer podcast episode than usual because this particular chapter deserves a close examination. In a...
May 23, 2022•3 hr 22 min
In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we're talking about one of our favorite Asian American comics creators, Adrian Tomine! Specifically, we're discussing three of his stories: Hawaiian Getaway, Amber Sweet, and Killing and Dying. These are stories that were originally published in his comic book series Optic Nerve, and can now be found in the book collections Summer Blonde (for Hawaiian Getaway) and Killing and Dying (the other two stories). These three stories were (loosely) adap...
May 16, 2022•3 hr 16 min
It's time for a Between the Gutters-style Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness autopsy! We tried to stay away from inane fanboy theories here, though, and we definitely don't whine about all the cameos we didn't see. We tried to keep the conversation about the film by looking at it on its own merits. (Maybe there was a tangent when we got on a soapbox to talk about how Disney and these corporations should reward the comic book creators upon whose work their movie empire is built.) The first ...
May 09, 2022•2 hr 48 min
Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics by Tom Scioli is a fitting biography of the King in comics form. Last week, we discussed the Stan Lee biography written by Abraham Riesman, and it's only fitting that we dedicate an episode to Jack Kirby, the man whose boundless imagination continues to captivate our minds. Tom Scioli's book provides an excellent overview of Kirby's life, and we definitely recommend reading it for yourself. In this episode, we discuss what we knew about Kirby when ...
May 02, 2022•2 hr 59 min
True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, a heavily researched and all-encompassing biography written by Abraham Riesman, is an elucidating examination of one of the most significant figures in modern pop culture. Originally released a little over a year ago, the recent release of the paperback edition precipitated our discussion of the book. It's a book we think that anyone who's remotely interested in learning about Stan Lee should read. For those who don't know too much about Stan Lee, th...
Apr 25, 2022•2 hr 45 min
Finally, White Base arrives at Jaburo, but at what cost? In this episode, we continue our exploration and analysis of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. We take examine volume four chapter by chapter and discuss the craftsmanship behind the storytelling, and we also talk about the character development and various plot developments. It's another exciting installment of this saga, and in this volume we really see the pain of youth who are forced to grow up fighting a war that t...
Apr 18, 2022•2 hr 44 min
Darryl Cunningham's recent biocomic, Putin's Russia: The Rise of a Dictator, is a particularly relevant piece of work, especially in light of current events. It's a comic published by Drawn & Quarterly in North America, and it was released earlier this year, just before Russia invaded Ukraine. In presenting a heavily researched laundry list of numerous transgressions against his rivals, detractors, journalists, the Russian people, the concept of democracy, and even the world in general, this...
Apr 11, 2022•2 hr 12 min
With the advent of the Moon Knight streaming series on Disney+, we figured it was time to do one of our signature deep dives into an MCU character to coincide with his onscreen debut. In this episode, we share about the first Moon Knight comics we ever read, we discuss the fundamental core elements of the character, and we talk about what we like in Moon Knight stories. The bulk of this lengthy episode is an examination of just about every era of Moon Knight in comics, and we take the time to ta...
Mar 29, 2022•3 hr 23 min
It's time for our continuing readthrough of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. In volume 3, we meet Ramba Ral, one of First Gundam's more honorable antagonists. We also get some more layered character development, a look at the rest of the Zabi family, and at least one major plot twist that recontextualizes what we've experienced so far. Yas delivers incredibly exciting and thoughtful storytelling. There's also plenty of sweet, sweet mecha action. Hang out with us as we inspec...
Mar 21, 2022•1 hr 54 min
In recognition of Women's History Month, we read a pair of short comic book biographies. In this episode, the two works we discuss are Marie Curie: A Quest for Light (written by Frances Andreasen Østerfelt and Anja Cetti Andersen, and art by Anna Blaszczyk) and Seen: True Stories of Marginalized Trailblazers: Rachel Carson (written by Birdie Willis, line art by Rii Abrego, colored by Kieran Quigley, and lettered by DC Hopkins). Marie Curie and Rachel Carson are two important and influential wome...
Mar 14, 2022•1 hr 49 min
Last week, The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves, was released in theaters. We watched it and then dissected it. So here is our autopsy report. Here is our Bat-topsy. This is THEEEE Bat-topsy. We discuss the film from the standpoint of a pair of longtime comic book readers who are big Batman fans, and take into account the comic book stories that Reeves stated served as inspiration. We also talk about what we thought the film did well, what it didn't do well, and what we appreciated and didn't lik...
Mar 07, 2022•3 hr 11 min
Maus by Art Spiegelman is universally recognized as one of the best and most significant comics of all time. It absolutely deserves the acclaim. With Maus having been in the news recently, it returned to the forefront of our minds, so we decided to reread it and discuss it. Our friend, ally, comic book comrade, and recurring guest Alexander Sheynis joins us. Before we dive in the comic and celebrate its numerous merits, we spend some time talking about the school board in Tennessee that unanimou...
Feb 28, 2022•2 hr 48 min
We're continuing our readthrough of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. Things get even more interesting in volume 2 as we start to see even more world building and characterization. We really get to see how Gundam is a story that's about more than giant robots fighting. The human drama is compelling, and that's what makes the story pop. Join us as we discuss and dissect the various plot developments, characters, emotional content, and subtext.
Feb 21, 2022•2 hr 40 min
This week, out of respect for Black History Month, we're discussing the March trilogy by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. This is an autobiographical work about the late John Lewis, specifically covering the period of his life as a young man, and his role as one of the "Big Six" in the American Civil Rights Movement. March contains important lessons for us all. It's both educational and inspirational. On top of that, it's exceptionally well-crafted as a comic book. March is truly an im...
Feb 14, 2022•2 hr 7 min
Shuzo Oshimi's Blood on the Tracks is an unusually paced psychological suspense about a young teenage boy and his overprotective mother. To say much more would probably spoil the surprise of discovery, but we recommend this story to mature readers who don't mind experiencing uncomfortable thoughts and emotions through fiction. We've read the first seven volumes that are currently available in English, and the first part of this episode is a spoiler-free overview. We'll warn you before we spoil s...
Feb 07, 2022•2 hr 21 min
Enigma by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo is an exceptional piece of work that was ahead of its time. Originally published by Vertigo, it's recently been reprinted under Dark Horse's Berger Books imprint in a dignified hardcover edition that befits its status as a bona fide classic. In this episode, we give Enigma its due and try to dissect, analyze, and interpret the concepts and ideas within the story. Whether or not you've read it before, we invite you to listen! If you haven't read Enigma ...
Jan 31, 2022•2 hr 57 min
This year, we're going to be reading through the entirety of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It's twelve hardcover volumes, so we'll be reading and discussing one volume a month, just as we did for Invincible last year. In this episode, we shed some basic information and historical context about First Gundam (the original 1979 anime TV series) and the Gundam franchise as a whole, and then discuss Activation, volume one of The Origin. We encourage you to buy yourself a copy,...
Jan 24, 2022•2 hr 31 min
