The Comics Alternative

Episode 307: A Publisher Spotlight on Glom Press

Episode 306: Reviews of Now #5, Criminal #1, and Scratcher #1-3

Time Codes: 00:00:32 - Introduction 00:03:38 - Now #5 01:02:20 - Criminal #1 01:20:01 - Scratcher #1-3 01:33:04 - Wrap up 01:34:32 - Contact us On this episode of the podcast Sterg and Derek look at three exciting titles. They begin with Now #5 , the latest in Fantagraphics' outstanding comics anthology series. As the guys point out, they're dedicated to discussing every issue of Now that is released, and this one is chock-full of comicy goodness. Although all of the contributions in this issue ...

Episode 305: Reviews of The Unknown Anti-War Comics, Love and Rockets IV #6, and LaGuardia #1 & #2

Time Codes: 00:00:32 - Introduction 00:03:07 - Listener correspondence! 00:09:07 - The Unknown Anti-War Comics 00:53:57 - Love and Rockets IV #6 01:29:53 - LaGuardia #1 & #2 01:55:39 - Wrap up 01:57:53 - Contact us On this episode, Sterg and Derek discuss three recent titles that run the gamut from sci-fi to political to slice-of-life (or what the Two Guys prefer to call verite dessinée ). They begin with the latest collection from Craig Yoe, The Unknown Anti-War Comics (IDW Publications/Yoe...

Critical Takes: A Conversation with Keith Dallas and Jason Sacks

Time Codes: 00:00:25 - Introduction 00:02:20 - Setup of interview 00:03:54 - Interview with Keith Dallas and Jason Sacks 01:22:12 - Wrap up 01:22:52 - Contact us On this, the second show in The Comics Alternative 's new Critical Takes series, Derek has back on the podcast Keith Dallas, coauthor of the new book, American Comic Book Chronicles: The 1990s . Listeners might remember that he talked with Keith, along with John Wells, back last summer when their Comic Book Implosion was released by Two...

Episode 304: The January Previews Catalog

It's the first episode of the new year, and for the January Previews show the Two Guys decide to try something different: invite a third person to join them in discussing the current Previews catalog. This week Sterg and Derek are joined by Troy-Jeffrey Allen who works with community outreach at PREVIEWSworld. And given Troy's association with Diamond Distributors and the ins and outs of their monthly catalog, he's able to provide insights and additional commentary that results in an extra speci...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Happy New Yoe with Craig Yoe!

Time Codes: 00:00:29 - Introduction 00:02:38 - Setup of interview 00:07:14 - Interview with Craig Yoe 02:16:37 - Wrap up 02:18:05 - Contact us It's a new year, so that must mean that it's time for the annual Happy New Yoe show! On this, The Comics Alternative 's very first episode of 2019, Derek talks with Craig Yoe about what he's been up to lately. They spend much of the time talking about the year in review for Yoe Books. And it was a busy one for Craig and his companion/colleague, Clizia Gus...

Manga: Reviews of Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection and Dementia 21

Time Codes: 00:00:27 - Introduction 00:02:42 - Manga plans for the new year 00:08:52 - Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection 00:54:47 - Dementia 21 01:37:25 - Wrap up 01:39:20 - Contact us On this manga episode, their last of 2018, Shea and Derek look at two recent works of manga that are actually quite similar in a number of ways. They begin with Frankenstein: Junji Ito Story Collection (VIZ Media). This isn't the first time, by far, that the guys have discussed Junji Ito's horror work, and ...

Euro Comics: Reviews of McCay and Bear's Tooth

Time Codes: 00:00:24 – Introduction 00:03:11 – Getting caught up! 00:04:05 – McCay 00:34:54 – Bear’s Tooth 01:10:58 – Wrap up 01:12:04 – Contact us For their December Euro Comics show, Pascal and Derek discuss two recent French titles in translation. They begin with Thierry Smolderen and Jean-Philippe Bramanti's McCay (Titan Comics), a surreal narrative surrounding the life of comics legend Windsor McCay. But this work is not a biography. Smolderen takes historical moments in McCay's life and fr...

Webcomics: Reviews of Snow Daze, Snow by Night, and Overwatch: Reflections

Time Codes: 00:01:18 – Introduction 00:04:22 – It’s the holiday season! 00:06:25 – Snow Daze 00:29:20 – Snow by Night 00:58:06 – Overwatch: Reflections 01:19:11 – Wrap up 01:21:14 – Contact us On this webcomics episode, the last of 2018, Sean and Derek get into the holiday spirit. They discuss three titles that concern Christmas or the winter season (i.e., has the word "snow" in the title). They begin with Leonardo Faierman and Marcus Kwame Anderson's Snow Daze , a narrative about a group of ent...

On Location: The December Visit to Heroes Aren't Hard to Find

Mike and Derek are back at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC, for their December show. It's been a couple of months since their last visit to the shop -- this past fall was difficult for everyone -- but the guys are excited to sit down among customers and talk comics. And this being the end of 2018, they thought they'd discuss the year in review, the highlights, the news, and the notable titles that defined 2018. Among other topics, they cover the unfortunate passing of several comics ...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Talking Again with Jon Morris

Time Codes: 00:01:17 - Introduction 00:02:59 - Setup of interview 00:05:14 - Interview with Jon Morris 01:15:03 - Wrap up 01:17:05 - Contact us Jon Morris is back, once again, on The Comics Alternative , to share his research and sense of humor. His latest book The League of Regrettable Sidekicks (Quirk Books) is the follow up to his previous two works, The League of Regrettable Superheroes and The Legion of Regrettable Supervillains . In the spirit of the previous books, this one is a revealing...

Episode 302: A Review of The Best American Comics 2018

Time Codes: 00:01:23 - Introduction 00:03:26 - Live streaming again...and some context 00:06:25 - The Best American Comics 2018 01:39:33 - Wrap up 01:41:03 - Contact us As they always do, the Two Guys with PhDs use their penultimate show of the year to discuss the current volume of The Best American Comics . this year guest edited by Phoebe Gloeckner. Earlier in the week they released their interview with Bill Kartalopoulos , the series editor, about the 2018 collection, and in that conversation...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Back Again with Bill Kartalopoulous

Time Codes: 00:01:16 - Introduction 00:03:27 - Setup of interview 00:06:18 - Interview with Bill Kartalopoulos 01:13:04 - Wrap up 01:14:09 - Contact us As the Two Guys like to do every year, they are back talking again with Bill Kartalopoulos about the latest volume of The Best American Comics (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). This year the guest editor is Phoebe Gloeckner, perhaps best known for The Diary of a Teenage Girl . In fact, one of the topics of conversation with Bill is how different it mi...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Another Conversation with Tom Hart

Time Codes: 00:01:21 - Introduction 00:03:12 - Setup of interview 00:04:32 - Interview with Tom Hart 01:32:14 - Wrap up 01:33:38 - Contact us On this interview episode, Sterg and Derek are excited to have Tom Hart back to discuss his new book, The Art of the Graphic Memoir: Tell Your Story, Change Your Life (St. Martin's Griffin). Tom was on the podcast not quite three years ago to discuss his new memoir at the time Rosalie Lightning , but this time he's returned to talk not so much about story ...

Episode 301: Reviews of Che: A Revolutionary Life, The Lodger #1 & #2, and Die #1

Time Codes: 00:01:32 - Introduction 00:03:42 - Our first-ever live streaming recording 00:07:13 - Thank you to new Patreon backers! 00:09:33 - Che: A Revolutionary Life 00:47:02 - The Lodger #1 & #2 01:11:39 - Die #1 01:34:22 - Wrap up 01:38:05 - Contact us This is a very special episode of The Comics Alternative , in that it's the guys' very first live recording. That's right, Sterg and Derek decided to record this week's show via Google Hangouts. Yesterday -- Tuesday, December 11 -- they s...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Back with Noah Van Sciver

Time Codes: 00:01:15 - Introduction 00:03:32 - Setup of interview 00:04:53 - Interview with Noah Van Sciver 01:15:14 - Wrap up 01:16:39 - Contact us The Two Guys with PhDs are very happy to have back on the podcast Noah Van Sciver. He was first on the show back in March 2015 , and a lot of things have changed with him since the guys last talked with Noah (and not just his growing of a mustache). Most significantly, his output has been through the roof! One of the things Sterg and Derek discuss w...

Euro Comics: Review of Piero and The First Man

Time Codes: 00:01:23 - Introduction 00:04:25 - Better late than never 00:05:54 - Piero 00:40:32 - The First Man 01:23:26 - Wrap up 01:24:39 - Contact us Pascal and Derek are back with the latest Euro Comics episode...the very late November show. They begin with Edmond Baudoin's Piero (New York Review Comics). This is a fascinating and moving memoir -- or better yet, a series of remembrances -- from Baudoin and his relationship with his younger brother Pierre, or Piero. While the title and the st...

Manga: Reviews of Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Vols. 1 & 2 and Mob Psycho 100 Vol. 1

Time Codes: 00:01:26 - Introduction 00:03:27 - Late again 00:05:13 - Sailor Moon Eternal Editions, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 00:46:09 - Mob Psycho 100, Vol. 1 01:14:53 - Wrap up 01:16:01 - Contact us On this episode of The Comics Alternative /s manga series -- the November show, albeit a little late -- Shea and Derek take a look at two series that give us a varied understanding of the medium. They begin with the first two volume's of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon Eternal Edition (Kodansha Comics). This i...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Conor Stechschulte

Time Codes: 00:01:15 - Introduction 00:03:15 - Setup of interview 00:05:06 - Interview with Conor Stechschulte 01:15:57 - Wrap up 01:17:44 - Contact us On this episode of The Comics Alternative 's interview series, the Two Guys have the pleasure of talking with Conor Stechschulte. The third volume of his ongoing series , Generous Bosom (Breakdown Press), was released in the spring, and Sterg and Derek have an enlightening conversation with Conor about this narrative. While in the first two parts...

Episode 300: The December Previews Catalog

It's the first of a new month, and that must mean that the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics will be looking at the latest Previews catalog. This is a rather long episode -- going for almost three hours -- so you get your money's worth! But what makes this show extra special is that it's the 300th episode of The Comics Alternative 's weekly review show. As Derek points out, there are over twice as many episodes of the podcast that have been released since August 2012, accounting for the ma...

Webcomics: Reviews of Grass of Parnassus, Lavender Jack, and Take the A Train

Time Codes: 00:01:22 - Introduction 00:04:08 - Oops, we're late 00:06:08 - Grass of Parnassus 00:36:42 - Lavender Jack 01:04:20 - Take the A Train 01:27:54 - Wrap up 01:29:01 - Contact us On the November webcomics episode -- albeit a little late -- Sean and Derek look at three very different webcomics...especially different when it comes their hosting platforms. They begin with Stuart and Kathryn Immonen's Grass of Parnassus . This is a unique science fiction narrative that is relatively new, st...

Young Readers: Reviews of The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine and Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction

Time Codes: 00:33 - Introduction 02:55 - The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine 17:31 - Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction 37:06 - Wrap up 38:00 - Contact us On this episode of the Comics Alternative’s Young Readers series, Gwen and Krystal discuss two new releases: Tory Woollcott and Alex Graudins’s The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine , the most recent volume in First Second Books’ Science Comics series, geared towards upper elementary and ...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Katriona Chapman

Time Codes: 00:00:24 - Introduction 00:02:14 - Setup of interview 00:03:59 - Interview with Katriona Chapman 01:06:41 - Wrap up 01:07:15 - Contact us Katriona Chapman first came to our attention through her work at Avery Hill Publishing . She works in marketing there, and back in summer of 2015 she introduced Tillie Walden. Tillie’s first book, The End of Summer , had just been released, and Kat worked was instrumental in setting up an interview with the very young artist . But over the subseque...

Episode 299: Reviews of Recent Comics about The Beatles

Time Codes: 00:00:35 - Introduction 00:02:35 - Check out Sterg's blog ! 00:04:15 - Lennon: The New York Years 00:30:38 - Yellow Submarine 00:44:19 - The Beatles in Comics 01:10:55 - I Am Young 01:33:01 - Wrap up 01:35:02 - Contact us This is a special episode of The Comics Alternative , in that Sterg and Derek focus only on recent comics about The Beatles. Both of the guys are huge Beatles fans, and you can tell how excited they are in discussing these texts. They begin with David Foenkinos, Cor...

Comics Alternative Interviews: Liz Prince

Time Codes: 00:00:24 - Introduction 00:02:02 - Setup of interview 00:03:13 - Interview with Liz Prince 01:16:24 - Wrap up 01:18:11 - Contact us On this interview episode, Sterg talks with Liz Prince about her latest books, Look Back and Laugh (Top Shelf Productions) and the colorized Be Your Own Backing Band (Silver Sprocket), as well as several of her past publications. Over the course of the conversation, Sterg talks with Liz about self publishing, writing for certain age-appropriate audiences...

Episode 298: Our Sixth Annual Thanksgiving Show

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and Sterg and Derek gather around the ol' podcasting dinner table to share some of the creators, publishers, locales, and and concepts they're thankful for this year . Among the many things they mention are the plentitude of comics today Inio Asano's new series, Dead Dead Deamon's Dededede Destruction Charles Forsman VIZ Media's new Perfect Editions of Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys The Nib New York Review Comics comics-centric cons TwoMorrows Press Craig Yoe publish...

Episode 297: Reviews of DC Comics before Superman, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, and Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #1

Time Codes: 00:00:30 - Introduction 00:02:45 - Being away 00:04:40 - DC Comics before Superman 00:44:12 - My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies 01:14:21 - Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion #1 01:29:48 - Wrap up 01:30:43 - Contact us This week Sterg and Derek check out three intriguing, yet very different, titles. They begin with Nicky Wheeler-Nicholson's DC Comics before Superman: Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's Pulp Comics (Hermes Press). This is a collection of comics written or inspired by the ...

Euro Comics: Review of The Arab of the Future, Books 1-3

Time Codes: 00:00:27 - Introduction 00:03:02 - Being away in September 00:05:21 - The Arab of the Future , books 1-3 01:26:07 - Wrap up 01:28:05 - Contact us On this episode of the Euro Comics series, Pascal and Derek look at the first three books of Riad Sattouf's series, The Arab of the Future . Each of these volumes is thick in content, giving the guys a lot to discuss. And while they do a bit of close reading in their discussion, much of what Pascal and Derek do is provide larger overviews, ...

Webcomics: Reviews of The Zombie Hunters, Kim Reaper, and Nothing Is Forgotten

Time Codes: 00:00:27 - Introduction 00:03:39 - Support Poe and the Mysteriads on Kickstarter! 00:06:21 - The Zombie Hunters 00:33:06 - Kim Reaper 00:54:01 - Nothing Is Forgotten 01:12:30 - Wrap up 01:13:58 - Contact us On this, the Two Guys' annual Halloween webcomics episode, Sean and Derek discuss three horror-related titles, each of which is quite different one from the other. They begin with Jenny Romanchuk's The Zombie Hunters , a story that has been serialized since 2006. This is a post-ap...

Young Readers: Reviews of 3x4, The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall, and Sheets

Time Codes: 00:30 - Introduction 02:49 - Introducing Krystal, and a Farewell to Paul 07:24 - 3x4 17:44 - The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall 32:40 - Sheets 42:54 - Wrap up 43:42 - Contact us On this episode of the Comics Alternative ’s Young Readers show, Gwen is joined by her new co-host, Dr. Krystal Howard, an assistant professor in the Liberal Studies and English departments at California State University, Northridge. Krystal has been reading, writing about, and teaching ch...