Comics will mend your heart. That's the energy we're taking into the new year and the thought we carried as we assembled The Stampies, our end-of-the-year award show celebrating The Best Comics of 2024 - ahem - (Part One). Over the last six years, we've turned to comics to understand ourselves and the world around us better. They've guided us through tumultuous times, and we know we'll need them even more in the coming months and years. Our award show is very much OUR award show. We have peculia...
Dec 20, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 274
It's easy to claim your comic as "Evil Dead for Blerds," but accomplishing the cheeky elevator pitch is far more complex. Writer J. Holtham and artist Michael Lee Harris grab their inspiration from the iconic Sam Raimi splatstick horror franchise but do so in service of an entirely different purpose. Motherfu*kin Monsters rages with a political fire, throwing their protagonist into a university setting shrouded with white faces. Their JJ eagerly wants to find his place within this system, while ...
Dec 13, 2024•45 min•Ep. 273
It belongs in a museum? On this week's podcast, we chat with friends and collaborators Vita Ayala and Skylar Patridgeabout their new comic, Finders Keepers, and why they were compelled to tell a "reverse Indiana Jones." Like the other comics in The Horizon Experiment, Finders Keepers flips a classic genre trope on its head and knocks the dust and cobwebs from a well-trodden idea. The hook is powerfully compelling, but as you read through the one-shot, the reader also begins to understand there i...
Dec 09, 2024•59 min•Ep. 272
After working through most of the Teen Titans, author Kami Garcia and artist Gabriel Picolo have finally reached the Tamaranean superhero, Starfire. Their latest collaboration finds Kori struggling to find her place amongst her peers while her sister Kira thrives in the environment. Kori strives for the stars above, but feels trapped in her Summer job and her body, especially after her Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS) diagnosis. On this week's podcast, we chat with bestselling author Kami Garcia abo...
Dec 03, 2024•48 min•Ep. 271
We don't know how to feel about violence as sports entertainment, but we cannot deny how much we love stories that center their emotional conflicts inside a ring. With their new series, Black Canary: Best of the Best, Tom King and Ryan Sook join the long tradition of tearing into internal torment by subjecting protagonists to regulated gladiatorial combat. Dinah Lance versus Lady Shiva, let's get ready to rumble. The first issue of the new series arrives in stores Wednesday (11/27). We won't spo...
Nov 26, 2024•56 min•Ep. 270
Art finds us when we need it most. Spectrum, the new Mad Cave Studios series from creators Dave Chisholm and Rick Quinn, is an astonishing sci-fi saga that begins inside the Seattle WTO protests of 1999 and propels its characters into a realm where music grants flight. The central character, Melody, can't quite discern what's real and what's not - a sensation you may very well be familiar with at this moment - seeing impossible beings floating amongst the crowds. Powers from within and without c...
Nov 19, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 269
What a difference a week can make, huh? When we recorded our conversation with Kelly Sue DeConnick, we were still weeks away from the American election, but now, here we are, living in its aftermath. We couldn't have been the only ones with three little letters rattling around our brains these last batch of days. FML. You're damn right. Kelly Sue DeConnick's new comic, done in collaboration with artist David López, colorist Cris Peter, and letterer Clayton Cowles, is very much about managing you...
Nov 12, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 268
Two weeks later, we're still recovering from New York Comic Con 2024. This may have been our third year attending, but we've never experienced a comic convention quite like this one, and it may take a few more months before we've actually processed everything that happened. A major factor differentiating this event from any that came before was our new gig hosting the Harvey Awards . So, we spend the first half of today's episode taking you behind the scenes of this event, detailing what you can...
Nov 04, 2024•1 hr 50 min•Ep. 267
It doesn't take long to recognize pop culture's influence on the work of Michael Allred. Whether we're talking Madman, X-Statix, or Silver Surfer, his comics radiate his passion for music, art, and life. Some references are easy to spot, a few a little trickier, and others impossible unless you know the man personally. For us, his comics mostly equal comfort, a place to rush into and join for an hour or a bit longer. We adore many of Michael Allred's influences. So, our primary mission on this w...
Oct 29, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 266
Dracula permeates everything. Before we're five years old, we know his story. It's baked into the cultural imagination. However, if you were to hold that story up to the light, you'd immediately notice a lot of holes. In Bram Stoker's iconic work, Dracula appears less frequently than you would think, and his backstory is referenced in short bursts and shrouded in mystery. His tale is perfect fodder for artists Kelley Jones and Matt Wagner to sink their teeth into. Last year, they published Dracu...
Oct 17, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 265
Hey, you. Stop doom scrolling. You've landed where you belong. Ben Clarkson and Matt Bors return to Comic Book Couples Counseling with another Justice Warriors book, Vote Harder. And they're back just when we need them most, weeks away from a critical, very American election. As in the best romantic comedies, Swamp Cop and Officer Schitt are torn apart early on in Justice Warriors: Vote Harder. Bubble City embarks on its first-ever election, and it's doing something strange to its populace. They...
Oct 15, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 264
In this article, the top ten reasons why reading comics criticism will increase your sex drive. Yeah, that's right, we need your clicks! We live in an apocalypse where thoughtful online comics criticism decreases in value every minute. However, you know comics criticism is essential to the industry's ecosystem and community because you're an intelligent person. All we need is a champion to keep this art form alive, and it is an art form, and she has arrived - Tiffany Babb. She's shaking The Comi...
Oct 11, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 263
It's been a trip to get to this moment. Since we saw Nick Dragotta's design for Absolute Batman, an intense anticipation took hold of us. However, if you think it's been a long journey from our Batman AF introduction at San Diego Comic-Con, it's been an even longer and more thoughtful one for Dragotta and his collaborator Scott Snyder. They've noodled over this new DC pocket universe for over a year, and now that we're all holding the first issue in our hands, we can take comfort in knowing thes...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 262
This week's episode is a full-circle moment. We began our podcast five years ago, discussing the romantic entanglements between Scott Summers and Jean Grey as depicted in The Dark Phoenix Saga. Now, we're honored, and in a bit of disbelief, to welcome writer Chris Claremont onto the show. His contributions to the medium have been some of the most significant to our collective imagination, and they directly inspired the personal journey the two of us have been on these last handful of years. Toda...
Oct 07, 2024•40 min•Ep. 261
If you think comic books and their audience resist continuity changes, you must consider the death grip comic strips have on their characters. Charlie Brown was never allowed to kick the football and was also denied a wardrobe. His life sentence was that yellow shirt. Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell accepts the pressures of his medium and believes there is nirvana in its structure. However, in the case of certain characters, he knew he had to free them of their decades-long consistency. Guard...
Sep 30, 2024•49 min•Ep. 260
Racing on the heels of Batman Day, we celebrate eighty-five years of the Caped Crusader by finally digging into one of our recent favorite Dark Knight stories, Batman: City of Madness by Christian Ward. Technically, this is our third conversation with Ward about this particular story, but it's the first one where we can dig into it page-by-page, going full spoilers and properly exploring its characters and themes. The hardcover is now available from DC Comics, so please grab your copy, snuggle u...
Sep 24, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 259
The instant the internet glimpsed Nick Dragotta's bold, BIG design for Absolute Batman, it lost its mind. Since the initial San Diego Comic-Con reveal, emotions have intensified around it, and the fan art has flowed like a dam burst. The first issue is still weeks away, but Final Order Cutoff is here (TODAY!), and Scott Snyder joins the podcast to discuss why they had to go thicc with the Bat. Absolute Batman is a radical reimagining based on the way our world is now. Bruce Wayne has no fortune ...
Sep 16, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 258
Sneak into any comic book geek's home, and you'll probably find copies of Marvels and Kingdom Come. What about Uncle Sam, though? The series hit shops in 1997 from DC's Vertigo label, and it sparked provocative thought from those who read it, but for whatever reason, it did not resonate as soundly within the direct market crowd as Alex Ross' more recognizably superheroic collaborations. It's time to reconsider Uncle Sam, just in time. We're months away from a critical American election as of thi...
Sep 10, 2024•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 257
When cartoonists like Daniel Warren Johnson and Riley Rossmo come together, the rest of us better take notice. The Moon Is Following Us drops its first issue on September 18th, and it's a jam comic with a fierce narrative engine and an even more assertive take-notice paint job. Set within the waking and sleeping worlds, Johnson handles the former while Rossmo takes the latter. The relationship between the two creates an electric reading experience not found anywhere else on the stands. From a sc...
Sep 03, 2024•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 256
We did it. We've completed our San Diego Comic-Con coverage. Twelve podcasts in August. Too much? Maybe, but no regrets, and there is no better way to wrap up our Comic-Con celebrations than with Star Trek group editor Heather Antos and superstar writer Ryan North discussing Star Trek: Lower Decks and its new mission at IDW Publishing. Since its streaming premiere, we've championed Star Trek: Lower Decks as the most human Trek. While it's wickedly funny, frequently teasing the ultra seriousness ...
Aug 29, 2024•56 min•Ep. 255
Hey, don't tell us. We'll tell you. The suits who bankroll the industry think they know what we want to read. They have no idea. Marginalizing voices is an active pursuit where financial concerns are frequently used as an excuse. The Horizon Experiment has faith in us, placing its future in our wallets, betting we'll support originality in genres gatekept by the fearful. Their first one-shot, The Manchurian, carries an irresistible premise steered expertly by Pornsak Pichetshoteand Terry Dodson....
Aug 27, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 254
Once upon a time, cartoonist JP Ahonen fell out of love with his art. He'd reached a wall. It was burnout. He'd lost the joy found in creation. Then, he just started to doodle, and an Inktober project became a runaway success. Belzebubs, the saga of a black metal family, significantly inspired by Calvin and Hobbes, sprung from his brain, and there is no stuffing it back in. These odd little outsiders reignited something inside Ahonen, but more importantly, Belzebubs ignited something in its read...
Aug 24, 2024•47 min•Ep. 253
In a few short years, James Tynion IV has become a beacon within comics. When you walk into a shop, you don't have to look long before you stumble upon one of his comics. He's seemingly everywhere, spreading beyond the four color realm, and no matter the title he's attached to, it's worth a perusal. Back in July, at San Diego Comic-Con, we sat down with Tynion inside the Dark Horse Comics booth to discuss the unique collaborative process that birthed The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chao...
Aug 22, 2024•41 min•Ep. 252
At this year's San Diego Comic-Con, the family was at the forefront of DC creators' minds. We couldn't escape the topic when discussing superheroics. Plus, we've been pretty anxious on the podcast, contemplating the ramifications of city saviors placing their loved ones above the citizens of Gotham City and Metropolis. Does the person on the street want Superman to have a son? A wife? A cousin? Thankfully, we can corner Mark Waid and Mariko Tamaki at the DC booth and force them to process our ri...
Aug 19, 2024•53 min•Ep. 251
This year's San Diego Comic-Con brought a lot of news. Possibly the most surprising and easily the most exciting was DC's announcement that The New Gods were coming back to comic shops and that their latest saga would be steered by writer Ram V and artist Evan Cagle. While these characters loom large over the DC universe, they've rarely carried a solo book for any significant amount of time. One reason for that might be that they're such pure Jack Kirby creations, and following in the King's foo...
Aug 16, 2024•52 min•Ep. 250
Last year, cartoonist Juni Ba had an epic Fall, releasing multiple all-timers in one month. We had him on the show and told him the output would be difficult to top in 2024, and he humbly said he had a few projects already lined up and would do his best. With The Boy Wonder about to wrap and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Nightwatcher #1 hitting stands today, Juni Ba reveals how he still has numerous killer comics inside him. Ba returns to the podcast this week for a lengthy discussion about Nigh...
Aug 14, 2024•59 min•Ep. 249
In October, DC asks its creators and readers to go All In regarding a new status quo. No matter their history with these characters or their knowledge of them, readers can pick up any single issue on the stands, begin a new adventure, and easily comprehend the event and its possibilities. It starts with The All In Special, released on October 2nd, written by Joshua Williamson and Scott Snyder and illustrated by Daniel Sampere and Wes Craig. While ongoing stories like Wonder Woman, written by Tom...
Aug 12, 2024•58 min•Ep. 248
As San Diego Comic-Con began its last day, we met with Joey Esposito and Sean Von Gorman in the Hilton lobby to thoroughly discuss their brand-new superhero, The Pedestrian. Just when you dismiss the genre's ability to create or support a new spandex character, architects like Esposito and Von Gorman come around to rejuvenate the space with an absurd concept told earnestly. Imagine if Bruce Wayne patrolled Twin Peaks rather than Gotham. We discuss the character's origins, the massive lore they'r...
Aug 09, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 247
We're mostly unpacked from San Diego Comic-Con, and we begin this week's podcast by discussing the show's big highlight. No, it's not RDJ as Doctor Doom. After working through the con highs and lows, we invite cartoonist Wes Craig into our Zoom room for the first time so we can thoroughly investigate his all-ages epic, Kaya. In an era where publishing beyond six issues seems nearly impossible, Wes Craig has already knocked out 20 Kaya comics, equalling three trade paperbacks, and promises five m...
Aug 07, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 246
Hopefully, you've had some time with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 by Jason Aaron and Joëlle Jones. The record-breaking comic seemingly found its way into everyone's pullbox last week. Despite San Diego Comic-Con taking over much of the discourse, the IDW Publishing relaunch snatched tremendous attention and fueled equal excitement. As promised, it's a comic for the loyal continuity consumer, curious first-timer, or once-upon-a-time Mirage Studios loyalist. Months back, shortly after he was an...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 245
