Time Codes: 00:00:27 - Introduction 00:07:03 - Brief comments on the 2016 Ignatz Award nominees for Outstanding Online Comic 00:18:07 - The Red Hook 00:57:28 - Kill 6 Billion Demons 01:21:11 - Interview with Jim McClain and Paul Schultz 01:41:15 - Rice Boy 02:13:55 - Wrap up 02:15:30 - Contact us On this extra-long episode of The Comics Alternative Webcomics , Sean and Derek cover a lot of territory on the webcomics front. They begin with a few brief comments on this year's Ignatz Award nominees...
Sep 12, 2016•2 hr 19 min
Time Codes: 00:00:25 - Introduction 00:02:28 - Setup of interview 00:03:38 - Interview with Peter Hogan 00:45:36 - Wrap up 00:46:10 - Contact us Peter Hogan is the guest on this episode of The Comics Alternative Interviews . His new miniseries in the Resident Alien line, The Man with No Name , begins next week with the release of issue #1. Derek talks with Peter about this ongoing Dark Horse series and what we can expect in this new narrative arc. They also spend a good deal of time discussing t...
Sep 09, 2016•49 min
It's the beginning of September, the first of the month, so that must mean it's time for the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics to look at the latest Previews catalog. As they do every month, Andy and Derek carefully go through the the Diamond publication, highlighting upcoming titles they're interested in, commenting on solicitations that sound interesting, and discussing creators they look forward to reading. Among the many comics they mention on this episode are from publishers such as D...
Sep 07, 2016•1 hr 42 min
Time Codes: 00:00:24 - Introduction 00:02:13 - Setup of interview 00:03:30 - Interview with Dash Shaw 01:02:39 - Wrap up 01:03:52 - Contact us On this interview episode, Derek talks with Dash Shaw about his latest book, Cosplayers (Fantagraphics). This "Perfect Collection," as it is called, brings together the Cosplayers stories that were previously released in the two earlier comic-book issues from April and July 2014, as well as the story that appeared in the 2015 Free Comic Book Day release o...
Sep 06, 2016•1 hr 7 min
Time Codes: 00:00:28 - Introduction 00:02:45 - Setup of reviews 00:04:37 - Spanish Fever 00:46:27 - The Longest Day of the Future 01:00:45 - Growing Up in Public 01:28:04 - Wrap up 01:29:12 - Contact us This month on the Euro Comics series, Edward and Derek discuss three works translated from Spanish, and all published by Fantagraphics. They begin with the anthology Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists , edited by Santiago García. This is a collection of contemporary comics comi...
Sep 05, 2016•1 hr 32 min
Time Codes: 00:00:29 - Introduction 00:02:10 - Setup of interview 00:03:55 - Interview with Gina Wynbrandt 00:27:16 - Interview with Will Dinski 01:03:48 - Interview with MariNaomi 01:39:32 - Wrap up 01:40:41 - Contact us The Two Guys have discussed 2dcloud comics in past -- see their review of Austin English’s Gulag Casual as well as the coverage of last year's Ignatz Awards -- but on this episode, they take a deep dive into the publisher's recent releases. They do this by interviewing three of...
Sep 02, 2016•1 hr 44 min
Time Codes: 00:00:35 - Introduction 00:02:39 - Setup of reviews 00:03:07 - Listener mail 00:06:13 - The Black Monday Murders #1 00:27:30 - Kingsway West #1 00:39:49 - Jeff Steinberg: Champion of Earth #1 00:54:04 - Superf*ckers Forever #1 01:06:47 - Wrap up 01:07:56 - Contact us 01:09:47 - " Superf*ckers Theme Song" This week the Two Guys decide to mix up their routine a bit and review nothing but recent #1 issues. They begin with Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker's The Black Monday Murders (Image...
Aug 31, 2016•1 hr 12 min
For the August manga episode, Shea and Derek go topless...at least that's a common condition that they sense in the two titles that they discuss this month. They begin with Hiroya Oku's Inuyashiki , the fourth English-language volume of which was released in June by Kodansha Comics. It's the story of an older Sad Sack of a salaryman, Ichiro Inuyashiki, whose slowly crumbling life is turned around after contact with an alien life form. As a result of this encounter, his body is replaced with a we...
Aug 29, 2016•1 hr 26 min
Time Codes: 00:00:25 - Introduction 00:02:42 - Setup of interview 00:03:56 - Interview with Nate Powell 01:10:11 - Interview with Andrew Aydin 02:12:26 - Wrap up 02:13:57 - Contact us On this interview show, Andy and Derek do something different. They talk with both Nate Powell and Andrew Aydin, the artist and coauthor of the recently completed March trilogy (Top Shelf Productions), but instead of interviewing both creators together, the guys talk with them separately and then combine the two re...
Aug 26, 2016•2 hr 17 min
Time Codes: 00:00:30 - Introduction 00:02:33 - Listener mail 00:11:07 - Smoke Signal #25 00:33:54 - Fool's Gold 00:44:49 - Briggs Land #1 01:00:28 - Wrap up 01:01:26 - Contact us On this week's review episode, the Two Guys with PhDs discuss three recent titles, a couple of which are probably not on most listeners' radar. They begin with one of these, the latest issue of Smoke Signal , a quarterly tabloid comics anthology published by Desert Island Comics (a shop in Brooklyn, NY) and edited by Ga...
Aug 24, 2016•1 hr 5 min
Time Codes: 00:00:25 - Introduction 00:02:07 - Setup of interview 00:03:01 - Interview with Leela Corman 01:06:25 - Wrap up 01:07:25 - Contact us On this interview show, Andy and Derek have the pleasure of talking with Leela Corman. Her latest book, We All Wish for Deadly Force , was just recently released by Retrofit/Big Planet Comics, and it's a collection of shorter comics spanning a wide range of topic and tone. These pieces have previously appeared in such publications as The Nib , Tablet ,...
Aug 23, 2016•1 hr 10 min
Time Codes: 00:26 - Introduction 03:33 - Announcement: the Young Readers series' one-year anniversary! 06:51 - Might Jack 22:26 - Ghosts 45:17 - Wrap up 45:37 - Contact us Although some kids may not be so excited to be heading back to school, Gwen and Andy (the Two People with PhDs) give young readers cause to rejoice this month with the upcoming release of two new graphic novels: Mighty Jack (First Second) by Ben Hatke and Ghosts (Graphix/Scholastic) by Raina Telgemeier. Andy starts things off ...
Aug 22, 2016•49 min
This month for the on-location recording at Collected Comics and Games in Plano, TX, the discussion table is rather crowded. Derek is joined by many of the regular Collected customers -- Craig, Matt, and Nick -- but joining the conversation for the first time are Tristan, Chris, and Carrie, as well as Brian, the shop's newest associate. The talk begins with Craig's recounting of his own experiences at this year's San Diego Comic-Com, but then it segues into a discussion of recent comics that fol...
Aug 19, 2016•1 hr 25 min
This week the Two Guys with PhDs visit grounds they rarely tread: superhero comics. Don't worry, they don't completely forsake their mission statement , but they definitely approach the line. While each of the titles they discuss reflect the mainstream and/or the superhero genre, in one way or another, they all nonetheless stand outside of the usual machinations of the Big Two. The guys begin with Tarzan: The Complete Joe Kubert Years (Dark Horse Books), a 600+ page omnibus collecting almost all...
Aug 17, 2016•1 hr 38 min
On this interview episode Derek has the pleasure of talking with Koren Shadmi. His latest book, Love Addict: Confessions of a Serial Dater was released last month from Top Shelf Productions. They begin the conversation by discussing the genesis of this semi-autobiographical project and Koren's own experiences on singles dating websites. He describes the challenge of making his protagonist, K., both identifiable and problematic, all the while walking a fine line between authenticity and potential...
Aug 15, 2016•1 hr 8 min
On this, the second episode of the new Euro Comics series, Edward and Derek discuss two recent publications that involve journeys, but in vastly different ways. They begin with the latest translation from IDW's EuroComics imprint, The Adventures of Dieter Lumpen . Written by Jorge Zentner and with art by Rubén Pellejero (and translated by Carlos Guzman and Dean Mullaney), this volume collects all of the Dieter Lumpen stories the two originally published between 1985 and 1994. The eleven tales co...
Aug 12, 2016•1 hr 37 min
On this episode of The Comics Alternative , Derek and Andy celebrate their 200th regular review episode! They begin by sharing some of the messages and well wishes they've received from listeners in the past couple of weeks. After that, they get into a discussion of this week's review titles. They begin with Eric Powell's new series, Hillbilly (Albatross Funnybooks), the second issue of which was just released last week. The guys focus on Powell's use of folktale tropes and storytelling techniqu...
Aug 10, 2016•1 hr 24 min
This month on the webcomics series, Sean and Derek delve into three tonally different titles. They begin with Sam Logan's long-running Sam and Fuzzy . This is a series that has been around since 2001, starting off as a gag strip in Logan's college's student newspaper and then becoming a webcomic in 2002. The creator diligently keeps his Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule of publication, and with almost fifteen years behind it, that's a substantive webcomic. In fact, the Two Guys discuss the intric...
Aug 08, 2016•1 hr 49 min
This week on the podcast, Andy and Derek discuss the August Previews catalog. Even more importantly, the Two Guys celebrate the four-year anniversary of the podcast! That's right, The Comics Alternative is now four years old, having its first episode published on August 1, 2012. So this episode begins with a brief assessment of the many episodes they've done over the years. But the core of this week's show is a discussing of the solicitations in the latest Previews ...and there are a lot of them...
Aug 03, 2016•2 hr 11 min
Andy and Derek take a few moments to make a special announcement. August 1st will be their four-year anniversary, and the Two Guys with PhDs would like for listeners help celebrate by responding with their well wishes! That's right, get in touch with them via voice message, phone, email, and various forms of social media to tell them happy birthday!
Jul 30, 2016•6 min
On the July manga episode, Shea and Derek discuss two recent publications that highlight, in different ways, the history of the Japanese medium. They begin with Seiichi Hayashi's Red Red Rock and Other Stories 1967-1970 (Breakdown Press). All but two stories that compose this collection were originally published in Garo , examples of the avant-garde coming from that publication in its heyday. Although not nearly as abstract and non-linear, Hayashi's manga reminds the guys of Sasaki Maki’s Ding D...
Jul 29, 2016•1 hr 30 min
This week the Two Guys with PhDs turn their attention to three recent noir titles. But before they jump into their reviews, they talk about comics news and recent awards. First, they congratulate Sonny Liew on receiving this year's Singapore Literature Prize for English fiction for his best-selling work The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye . This comes on the heels of him getting the Book of the Year accolade at the Singapore Book Awards, held in May. Next, Andy and Derek say a few words about the ...
Jul 27, 2016•1 hr 19 min
On this special episode of the Young Readers edition of The Comics Alternative , Gwen and Andy take a look at the 2016 Eisner Award nominees and winners in each of the three young readers categories. The Two People with PhDs discuss not only the books and their creators, but also the categories themselves, the changes they’ve seen in those categories over the years, and changes they’d like to see in the future. Gwen and Andy know you’ll find some great books here and hope you’ll share your thoug...
Jul 25, 2016•1 hr
On this interview episode, Andy and Derek are pleased to have as their guest John Porcellino. Issue #76 of his long-running (twenty-six year!) minicomic, King-Cat Comics and Stories , has just been released, and the Two Guys talk with John about how different this issue is from his previous one. That issue, a heartfelt memorial to his cat, Maisie Kukoc, was more of a long-form story that may have expanded his audience. Andy asks John what readers who came to his work through issue #75 might thin...
Jul 22, 2016•1 hr 18 min
This week on The Comics Alternative podcast, those funky PhDs, Andy and Derek, discuss three recent titles revolving around the mercenary side of crime fighting. They begin with Jules Feiffer's Cousin Joseph (Liveright Publishing), the second in a planned trilogy of noir-tinged graphic novels. It is the follow up to 2014's Kill My Mother , a text that Feiffer discussed with the Two Guys in a previous interview . The events in Cousin Joseph predate those of the earlier book, making it a sort of p...
Jul 20, 2016•1 hr 24 min
On this week's episode, the Two Guys with PhDs discuss three very different recent titles. They begin with the comics adaptation of Albert Camus's The Stranger , written and illustrated by Jacques Ferrandez (Pegasus Books). Originally published in French 2013 -- and translated by Sandra Smith -- this is a graphic retelling of the absurdist classic. What is most notable about their discussion is that the guys are coming at this book from different perspectives of awareness. Derek knows the work o...
Jul 13, 2016•1 hr 39 min
For the July webcomics episode, Sean and Derek discuss three titles that not only vary in content and genre, but are also different in the ways they are designed and consumed. They begin with two current and ongoing webcomics, Kenn Minter and Clarence Pruitt's Tales of the Emerald Yeti and Jim Francis's Outsider . The former is just one of the comics on the creators' publishing site, Near Mint Press. In fact, the Two Guys spend a bit of time discussing the presentation platform of this webcomic ...
Jul 11, 2016•1 hr 39 min
Derek is back at his local shop, Collected Comics and Games in Plano, TX, to talk with customers and shop employees about the comics they're reading. And for the month of July, the topic of conversation is summer reading. Many of the shop regulars are there, and store manager Sabrina and her associate, Stephanie, join in the discussion, as well. The conversation begins with DC Comics' Rebirth titles and how the quality of those stories are resonating with the gang (most of which are Marvel die-h...
Jul 08, 2016•1 hr 21 min
It's the first of the month, and that must mean that it's time for the Two Guys with PhDs to take a deep dive into the latest Previews catalog. For the month of July, there's a lot for Andy and Derek to discuss. And in between speculations on solicitation-writing strategies and disagreements on how to pronounce "gyros," the guys pack as much as they can into this almost-two-hour episode. Among the many solicits they highlight are from publishers such as Dark Horse Comics - Resident Alien: The Ma...
Jul 06, 2016•1 hr 58 min
For this interview show, Gwen and Derek talk with Benjamin Frisch about his new book from Top Shelf Productions, The Fun Family . In many ways, this is a parody of Bil and Jeff Keane's The Family Circus . The narrative concerns the family life of beloved cartoonist Robert Fun and chronicles the threads of domesticity as everything begins to unravel. Fun has a strip very much like Keane's, a family-oriented single-circular-panel daily, but Frisch doesn't demean the legendary newspaper strip or ta...
Jul 05, 2016•1 hr 2 min
