This week, we're covering Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka! It's an eight-issue miniseries from AWA, and it is a fun romp. Marjorie Finnegan is a very well crafted science fiction action comedy adventure about a mischievous time traveling criminal who ends up saving the timeline from a very, very evil man. We spend the first part of our discussion talking a bit about the creative team and the publisher, and then we dive into the book itself! Thanks again to C...
May 01, 2023•2 hr 30 min
Deadly Class volume 4: Die for Me collects issues 17-21 of the series co-created by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. Each month in 2023, one of our episodes will cover one volume of this Image Comics series. This month's volume starts with some frenetic action, picking right up where the previous volume ended. There are also some major developments by the end of this trade, and neither of us has read the series before, so we've just been carried along for the ride! Read along with us and join us as ...
Apr 24, 2023•2 hr 33 min
Last year, we did an episode on shonen manga that proved to be one of our most popular episodes, so here we are again with a roundup of the first volumes of four more prominent shonen series: One Piece, Naruto, My Hero Academia, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. One Piece and Naruto are two of the biggest of all time. My Hero is one of the hottest properties of current times, and as a comics podcast that's covered a ton of superhero comics, it made sense to check this one out. Frieren is a newe...
Apr 17, 2023•3 hr 46 min
Smile by Raina Telgemeier is one of the most significant comics of the recent past. More than just a popular graphic novel beloved by millions, and more than just a sales juggernaut that became a phenomenon, Smile is just a straight up great piece of work that's worth reading whatever age you are. This is the episode where we discuss what makes Smile such a wonderful comic. We also take some time in the beginning of the episode to discuss some of the comics landscape that we often ignore in our ...
Apr 10, 2023•2 hr 37 min
The Intimates by Joe Casey, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Lee, and others is a unique Wildstorm series that didn't have a massive audience. However, for the people it did connect with, it resonated deeply. This is a smart teen superhero book that's superbly crafted with much care and consideration. The high concept of the series is that it's about a high school for superpowered teenagers. However, the emphasis in this subversive series is on teenage life, and there is a relative lack of spectacle and ...
Apr 03, 2023•3 hr 33 min
It's time to continue our readthrough of Deadly Class! This month, we're discussing volume 3: The Snake Pit! This volume contains issues 12-16, and we'll be providing our usual issue-by-issue commentary, supplemented by our usual manly grunts, random noises, and meaningless side banter. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here....
Mar 20, 2023•3 hr 17 min
Here's a foray into a relatively recent comic, Catwoman: Lonely City, by the unstoppable one-man creative force known as Cliff Chiang. This is an outstanding DC book that deserves praise and accolades. It's not merely a definitive Catwoman story, but it's just a flat out great piece of work that deserves our attention. Join us as we broadly discuss Cliff Chiang's comics career and take a long look at Lonely City itself. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all ...
Mar 13, 2023•4 hr 16 min
Miracleman by Alan Moore and his artistic collaborators (Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen, John Ridgway, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben) is one of the all-time greatest superhero comics ever. For a long time, it wasn't an easy book to find at reasonable prices, but now that it's widely available again, we are truly living in a blessed age. It's another extremely influential classic by one of the absolute greatest writers of our medium, so we had to discuss it. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats...
Mar 06, 2023•3 hr 59 min
We're continuing our readthrough of Deadly Class with volume two of the trade paperback collections, which collect issues 7-11 of this series by Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge, and Rus Wooton. This is our first time reading the entire series, and we're discussing it as we go through it. Each month in 2023, we'll cover one of the volumes until we finish the series! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr....
Feb 20, 2023•2 hr 28 min
The Men Who Created Gundam by Hideki Ohwada is a fictionalized version of the real story around the creation of Mobile Suit Gundam, the 1979 anime series that spawned a multi-billion dollar franchise that endures to this day. It's a gag manga that takes numerous creative liberties with real stories of the production history and key creatives (specifically, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and Kunio Okawara), and exaggerates things for comedic effect. Of course, depending on your sense of hu...
Feb 13, 2023•3 hr 22 min
Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert was a significant event comic that affected DC's entire publishing line back in 2011 as it led into the New 52 era. It's a comic book event that has been adapted into various other mediums and seems to be regarded as a major Flash story. In this episode, we take a critical look at this miniseries and try to figure out why we hate it. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr...
Feb 06, 2023•2 hr 35 min
A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguchi is an engrossing semi-autobiographical coming of age story about breaking into the manga industry. It's a one-volume manga that we warmly recommend. In this episode, we talk a bit about Taniguchi's work and our familiarity with him before going into our book discussion. This is an excellent comic that we hope you check out! It's another episode for our #mangamenagerie! The Taniguchi obituary written by Zack Davisson and published on The Comics Journal website, w...
Jan 30, 2023•3 hr
Each month in 2023, we'll be devoting one of our episodes to covering one volume of Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig! As we begin with volume 1, we also spend a chunk of the episode discussing our familiarity with the works of the different members of the creative team, particularly Rick Remender. From there, we go into our issue commentaries. Deadly Class was collected into twelve trade paperback editions, so that's what we're reading. The corresponding issues for volume one are issu...
Jan 23, 2023•3 hr 21 min
Murder Falcon by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton is under the scope in this week's episode! It's an exuberant piece of work that has earned a unique kind of praise from Albert. Tune in to hear our commentary and analysis of this exceptional comic, and laugh at our struggles to properly describe metal music due to our pitiful lack of knowledge. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbea...
Jan 16, 2023•3 hr 13 min
One of our favorite writers is J.M. DeMatteis. In this episode, we examine one of his more recent works, The Girl in the Bay. The comic features lineart by Corin Howell, colors by James Devlin, and letters by Clem Robins! It's published by Berger Books, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics, and maintains that Vertigo spirit. Not to shortchange DeMatteis' talented collaborators, but both of us have read a significant chunk of his works and it's primarily through that lens that we discuss this comic, p...
Jan 11, 2023•2 hr 56 min
Wildcats volume 2 and Wildcats Version 3.0 by Joe Casey, Sean Phillips, and Dustin Nguyen (and their other collaborators) took a moribund property that had the reputation for being lowbrow and transformed it into something truly exceptional. With enough creative freedom, Casey and his artistic collaborators were able to turn the WildC.A.T.s concept on its head and leave a mark on the landscape of American superhero comics. The passage of time cannot diminish the potency of their work, and we're ...
Jan 02, 2023•4 hr 27 min
To memorialize the end of 2022, we decided to look at a comic that's intended to serve as an ending of sorts. This week, we're discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado, Shawn Lee, Samuel Plata, and Ronda Pattison. The Last Ronin was released amidst great fanfare (and idiot speculator hype), but how does the comic itself hold up? We also spend the first chunk of the episode prov...
Dec 26, 2022•2 hr 45 min
This is it. It's the culmination of all things as we complete our yearlong readthrough and discussion of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko! In this White Base-sized episode, we not only provide our commentary of volume 12, but we also take the time to discuss the intriguing bonus features in the book. Plus, because this is the final episode of our coverage of the series, we also share some reflections on the series as a whole. At the end of the episode, we even have a few reco...
Dec 19, 2022•3 hr 45 min
Atom: The Beginning by Tetsuro Kasahara is a prequel to Osamu Tezuka's beloved classic Tetsuwan Atom, known as Astro Boy in America. Titan Comics recently published the first volume of The Beginning and we decided to give it a shot! We also spend some time discussing our general thoughts on Astro Boy. Also, we have a brand new theme song! Thanks to Corey J. Beats for producing our new music. Check out all of his music on Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc. https://linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats?fbclid=PAA...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 55 min
Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna is an important comic that we want to spotlight in this episode. It's a nonfictional account of the cartoonist's family and their experiences in the wake of the Khmer Rouge taking control of the country in the wake of the Cambodian Civil War. It's a story about family and survival against a brutal communist regime. At times heart-wrenching and brutal, it's also balanced with a sense of hope and perseverance. Year of the Rabbit is a powerful piece of work that ed...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 48 min
Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales was a major superhero comic of the mid-2000s, one that left a pretty big impact in the landscape of DC Comics. It's a comic that sold very well at the time, and is still kept in print. Plenty of readers had a lot of love for this DC event back when it was new, and it still seems to have its fair share of fans even today. You can probably see where we're going with this. We don't disrespect Identity Crisis because it was popular, but we disrespect ...
Nov 28, 2022•3 hr 8 min
Major events happen one after another in the penultimate volume of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko! It's not just plot developments that we see, but also some truly meaningful character work, including the culmination of several character arcs. There's always so much to discuss when we cover a volume of this book and, as usual, we provide our chapter-by-chapter commentary. Even as we near the climax of the series, we're blessed with some gorgeous Yas art. There are some beau...
Nov 21, 2022•2 hr 52 min
This week, we're discussing the latest MCU movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler. This is a movie we were anticipating ever since the first trailer dropped. With Namor finally introduced in the MCU, you know Albert had to check this out! And of course, the passing of Chadwick Boseman made things feel heavy. We start the episode sharing some spoiler-free thoughts, so even if you haven't watched the movie yet, feel free to listen. We'll clearly warn you in the audio befor...
Nov 15, 2022•3 hr 22 min
This week, we're talking about Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra, the gritty and emotionally intense (but also controversial) crime series published by Vertigo. Spoilers do abound in this episode, so be aware of that. However, even if you haven't read Scalped, we hope that our discussion will give you insight into whether or not the series could be something you'd be interested in checking out. At some point in the relatively near future (the word "relatively" is doing a lot of work here, ...
Nov 07, 2022•3 hr 5 min
This week we're discussing Fury: My War Gone By, a superb piece of work by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. Eschewing the traditional lore of the mainstream Marvel Universe's conception of Nick Fury, Ennis and Parlov take the basic fundamental nature of Fury - a man addicted to war - and tell a realistic, compelling Cold War-era story that doubles as a painful parable of post-WWII America and a grim character study of Fury himself. Originally published in 2012-2013 as thirteen issues under Marvel's...
Oct 31, 2022•3 hr 59 min
The chess pieces are moving into position for the final act of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. We've also got some notable emotional beats as well as some political theater. Also of note, before we dive into the book discussion, we spend some time discussing the recent Yasuhiko-directed film Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island. Finally, we apologize for the sound quality in this episode. Due to a technical issue, Albert's audio is much softer than usual. Time stamps: ...
Oct 24, 2022•3 hr 19 min
With the completion of the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it is now time for one of our patented autopsies! Consider this our Shulktopsy. We discuss some of the online discourse/chatter regarding the show and share our own thoughts on it. Listen closely and you'll even hear a couple of vocal cameos from Albert's dog Pepper in this episode! What did you think of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law? Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betwee...
Oct 17, 2022•2 hr 53 min
Love and Rockets by the Hernandez brothers is one of the most influential and significant comics of the past forty years or so. In this episode, we discuss the first two collections from Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Maggie the Mechanic and Heartbreak Soup respectively. What are your thoughts on Love and Rockets? Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters
Oct 03, 2022•2 hr 17 min
DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke is one of the most deservedly acclaimed DC books of the past twenty years or so. It's a superhero comic that takes place in the transition period between the Golden Age and the Silver Age, and takes into account the sociopolitical zeitgeist of those decades. The New Frontier is also a work that we suspect contains a lot of Darwyn Cooke's heart and personality. This is a corporate-owned cape comic that manages to convey a singular and distinctive artistic visi...
Sep 26, 2022•2 hr 46 min
Volume nine of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko features a couple of major first encounters between key characters, and at least one major revelation. Join us as we continue our monthly deep dive into this timeless mecha classic! If you have any thoughts, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters
Sep 19, 2022•2 hr 59 min
