Comics Alternative

For the past several weeks the Two Guys with PhDs have been looking mostly at book-length works, trades, original graphic novels, and archival collections. This week, Andy W. and Derek thought that they'd catch up with their single-comic-book-issue reading by focusing on six recent #1 titles: Paper Girls - Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang (Image Comics) Monstress - Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda (Image Comics) The Goddamned - Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra (Image Comics) Klaus - Grant  Morrison and Dan Mora (BOOM! Studios) Snow Blind - Ollie Masters and Tyler Jenkins (BOOM! Studios) James Bond - Warren Ellis and Jason Masters (Dynamite Entertainment) The guys note that there's an embarrassment of riches to choose from, as there have been many recent first issues from some powerhouse creators, including Brian K. Vaughan, Jason Aaron, Grant Morrison, and Warren Ellis. For the most part, each of the titles from these writers is a home run, although Andy is not quite impressed with Klaus, feeling that

While at the Small Press Expo in September, Derek had the pleasure of meeting Meags Fitzgerald, whose new book, Long Red Hair: A Graphic Memoir, had just been released from Conundrum Press. At the time he spoke with her briefly for the podcast, but now Meags returns for a more in-depth discussion. They begin with an overview of her new book and the significance of its title. Long Red Hair is an artist's story of growing up, finding your place, and defining yourself by the differences that you come to embrace. Highlighting important moments between 1992 and 2015, Meags traces the trajectory of a life in process. It is time when sleepovers, witchcraft, Dungeons and Dragons, gender questions, vegetarianism, and movies like Beetlejuice and Buffy the Vampire Slayer have deep meaning for  her. Behind it all is a supportive family that allows Meags the freedom to discover who she might want to be. And part of her identity is linked to photobooths, the subject of her previous book that came out last year. Meags also

Sean and Derek are back with their monthly pickings of webcomics goodness, and for November they have some great recommendations lined up. They begin by focusing on Peter Wartman's Stonebreaker, a fantasy adventure narrative with a strong potential for world-building. This is the sequel to the artist's earlier work, Over the Wall, which was also published in hardcopy by Uncivilized Books in 2013. The guys marvel at Wartman's handling of his narrative premise -- this webcomic is only in its second chapter -- and his abilities to subtly allude without confusing or distancing his readers. They're also blown away by his art, which is some of the best they've seen in recent webcomics. Next, the Two Guys move on to The Hues, Alex Heberling's post-apocalyptic tale of teenage adventure. Her protagonists are a diverse band of girls who discover that they each have a special power or magical ability. The complication, however, is that they make their discoveries right around the time that an alien force invades Earth.

On this episode, Derek is happy to have as his guest Sophie Goldstein. Her latest book, House of Women, Part II, came out in September, and her other book from this year, The Oven, was just listed by Publisher Weekly as one of the five best comics of the year. Indeed, 2015 has been fruitful time for the young red-headed creator. Regular listeners of the podcast will know that this isn't the first time that Sophie has been on the show. She spoke with Derek twice before at two different events, while at HeroesCon back in June and more recently at the Small Press Expo. This time, however, there isn't the hubbub and distractions of the crowd, and the two have a more focused and leisurely conversation. Derek asks Sophie about all of the attention that her work has been getting -- in addition to the Publishers Weekly selection, she's won three Ignatz Awards over the past two years, and her story "The Good Wife" was included in Best American Comics 2013 -- and if this recognition has brought any new challenges. She

Can it be true? Are the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics actually doing yet another publisher spotlight? Are they gluttons for punishment? Are their eyeballs going to fall out from all of the reading? Maybe so, but if their orbs do drop out of their heads, they'll do so while gazing at some of the great books coming out of Top Shelf Productions. In this episode, you'll hear Andy and Derek talking about the publisher's summer and fall releases, including: Bacchus Omnibus, Vol. 1, by Eddie Campbell Motorcycle Samurai, Vol. 1: A Fiery Demise, by Chris Sheridan Tim Ginger, by Julian Hanshaw The Story of My Tits, by Jennifer Hayden Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, adapted by Troy Little Junction True, by Ray Fawkes and Vince Locke Before they get into the titles themselves, Derek shares a brief interview he conducted with Chris Staros, the publisher of Top Shelf. They talk about the origins of Top Shelf, the authors who have helped define their line, and their recent acquisition by IDW Publish

Gwen and Andy are back this month to discuss two new graphic novels for young readers. First up, they discuss Monster  (Amistad/Harper Collins), a book for teens by Walter Dean Myers, adapted by Guy A. Sims and with art by Dawud Anyabwile. Based on the multi-award-winning young adult novel by Myers, the graphic novel version of Monster chronicles the tension-filled trial of Steve Harmon, a African American teen being tried as an accessory to the murder of a convenience store clerk. Gwen and Andy both agree that Anyabwile’s stunning black-and-white art delivers a powerfully effective treatment of this famous novel and in some ways enhances an already stunning look at how society looks at race and identity. Next, the two people with PhDs look at a book for younger readers, Barry Deutsch's Hereville: How Mirka Caught a Fish (Amulet/Abrams). If the title sounds familiar, that's because How Mirka Caught a Fish is actually the third book in the Hereville series, following How Mirka Got Her Sword and How Mirka Met a

It's the first week of November, and that means it must be time for Andy and Derek to go through the month's Previews catalog. As you may expect, there's a lot packed into the issue, and after a few words on Halloween and listener mail, they get right to the solicitations. Among the many upcoming releases they discuss on this month's Previews show are titles from Dark Horse Comics - Space-Mullet!: One Gamble at a Time and Snow Angel DC/Vertigo - Constantine, The Hellblazer: Vol. 1 and Egypt IDW Publishing/Top Shelf - Amazing Forest #1, Gutter Magic #1, Comic Book Apocalypse: The Graphic World of Jack Kirby, and Renée Image Comics - Cry Havoc #1, Pencil Head #1, Nowhere Men #1, and Nameless HC Action Lab Entertainment - The Cask of Amontillado AfterShock Comics - American Monster #1 and Strayer #1 Bergen Street Press - Copra: Round Three Big Planet/Retrofit Comics - Ikebana BOOM! Studios - The Last Contract #1 and Curb Stomp TP Canton Street Press - facsimile editions of Race for the Moon an

Over Halloween weekend, Derek was at the Wizard World Comic Con event in Austin, TX. There, he had the good fortune to talk with several creators, publishers, and a couple of fellow podcasters in attendance. In this episode you'll hear brief interviews with: Danielle, who was overseeing the Action Lab Comics display Jen and Angela of Anomaly, the geek girl podcast Victor Dandridge, president and CEO of Vantage: Inhouse Productions Amber, Melanie, and Isabella, students who work on  the comics section of the University of Texas' student paper The Daily Texan Jonathan Hennessey, coauthor of The Comic Book Story of Beer and Austin and Robert of Bogus World Books. Despite the heavy rains and flooding, the Wizard World con was well attended. It being Halloween weekend, one couldn't really tell whether the cosplaying left off and All Hallows' Eve began. Major creators as well as local artists attended the event, and Derek took the opportunity to talk with those whose work reflected the independent and s

Shea and Derek return for another month's serving of warm, creamy manga. This one includes a heaping helping of other worldly phantoms and pedagogical cephalopods. In keeping with the spirit (literally) of the Halloween season, the guys begin with Nukuharu's Anomal (Gen Manga), a collection of seven short stores originally serialized in the Gen manga anthology. They enjoy the narratives well enough, but they're not entirely sure they understand the premises that Nukuharu establishes. At times there are noticeable gaps in exposition, as if the reader is coming into the middle of a story world with little context. Nonetheless, there are some stories that really stand out for the guys, such as "Kaeshi" and "Kaguya." While Anomal might not have been the strongest collection Derek and Shea have read, they conclude that it is worth checking out. Next, the Two Guys discuss the first six books in Yusei Matsui's Assassination Classroom series (the latest volume having just been released from VIZ Media). Whereas severa

It's the scary season, and as they've done for the past couple of years, Gene and Derek talk about some of this year's Halloween specials and seasonal horror titles. In this episode you'll hear the Two Guys with PhDs discuss: Haunted Horror: Pre-Code Comics So Good, They're Scary!, edited by Craig Yoe, Clizia Gussoni, and Steve Banes (IDW Publishing) Upside Down: A Hat Full of Spells, by Jess Smart Smiley (Top Shelf) Monsterjunkies: An American Family Odyssey, Erik Daniel Shein, Theresa A. Gates, and Jay Fotos Studios (Red Anvil) The Goon: Theatre Bizarre, by Eric Powell and John Dunivant (Dark Horse Comics) Adventure Time 2015 Spoooktacular, by Hanna K. (Kaboom!) Spongebob Comics #49, edited by Chris Duffy (United Plankton Pictures/Bongo Comics) All Hallows' Eve #5, by Ty Thomas Luckman, Trevor Luckman, and Dave Mims (215 Ink) Elder House #2, by Drew Matthews and Carlos Trigo (215 Ink) Grimm Fairy Tales 2015 Halloween Special, by Joe Brusha, Ralph Tedesco, Troy Brownfield, and Mario Del Pe

On this special episode of the podcast, Derek moderates a roundtable discussion on comics and religion. Joining him on the panel are Elizabeth Coody (teaching at the Iliff School of Theology), Jeff Brackett (Ball State University), and A. David Lewis (Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences), all of whom are comics scholars focusing on representations of religious belief and faith. They begin their discussion by sharing their backgrounds in comics and how they have found the medium a useful means to approaching religious studies. In addition to describing the specifics of their scholarship, the panelists also discuss the various strategies they've employed when using comics in the classroom, along with the challenges that come when using comics to teach issues of faith. The subjects that come up during the discussion range from superheroes and myths, manifestations of the afterlife, adaptations of religious texts, biographies of religious leaders, expressions of heaven and hell, the crossroads o

On this episode of their interview series, Derek and Andy W. talk with Jonathan Case about his new graphic novel that was just released, The New Deal (Dark Horse Books). It's the Depression-era story of Frank and Theresa, a bellhop and maid working at the Waldorf Astoria who get caught up in a series of mysterious thefts. It's a kind of heist narrative with an old screwball comedy flair -- think of Cary Grant and Kathryn Hepburn -- and one that involves references to both Orson Welles and Ernest Hemingway. The Two Guys talk with Jonathan about his skills at characterization, both in the construction of his personae and his use of clean-line art to bring out each one's best defining qualities. They also discuss Case's background in the performing arts and how his sense of dialogue and timing manifests itself on the paneled page. Although most of the conversation centers on The New Deal, Andy and Derek also ask Jonathan about his work with Jeff Jenson on Green River Killer, a new edition of which will be coming

For this episode, Gwen and Derek team up for another Publisher Spotlight episode, this one on First Second Books and their fall releases. The titles they discuss include Paul Pope, JT Petty, David Rubin's Battling Boy: The Fall of the House of West; Balak, Michael Sanlaville, and Bastien Vives's Last Man: The Chase; Jean-David Morvan and Dominique Bertail's Omaha Beach on D-Day; Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes's Secret Coders; Maris Wicks's Human Body Theater; Ian Lendler and Zack Giallongo's The Stratford Zoo Midnight Review Presents Romeo and Juliet; and Chris Duffy's edited collection, Fable Comics.

This month on the webcomics series, Sean and Derek review three titles that all keep in the spirit of Halloween: Kris Straub's Broodhollow, Pascalle Lepas's Wilde Life, and Mike Walton's False Positive.

For this interview show, Andy and Derek are very pleased to have as their guest Peter Kuper, whose latest work, Ruins, has just been released through SelfMadeHero. As the author points out, this is a very different kind of book from his usual material, one that has taken over three years to complete. Ruins is the story of a young married couple who travel to Oaxaca, Mexico, for the wife’s sabbatical. There the two of them, George and Samantha, bear witness to, and become involved in, some of the political unrest unfolding during their visit. More importantly, each one undergoes a unique journey that defines the trajectory of the life that follows. Paralleling Sam and George’s experiences is the flight of a monarch butterfly as she makes her way from Canada to Oaxaca, hovering over much of the social, political, and environmental turmoil that has come to define our times. As the guys point out, this is a very politically conscious narrative, as many of Peter’s comics are — see, for example, The System, his wor

On this episode of The Comics Alternative‘s “Young Readers” series, Gwen and Andy are back to take a look at two books about robots. (They didn’t plan it that way, really.) Both titles actually have more in common than just robots in that they each address issues of friendship, belonging, and how technology has changed our lives and the lives of our youth. Both books also contain strong young female protagonists whose friends aren’t always human. Gwen starts things off with a look at Veda: Assembly Required (Dark Horse), by Samuel Teer, Hyeondo Park, and Kelly Fitzpatrick. Gwen and Andy both thought the premise of a young girl raised by robots in a factory was interesting and perhaps not as dystopian as you might think. The use of icons as a communication device takes a bit of getting used to, but most readers will quickly adapt to them and will no doubt find they are an essential component of the story. For younger readers, Andy describes Ben Hatke’s new book, Little Robot (First Second), a project writer an

On this special episode of the podcast, Andy and Derek take a look at a variety of Steve Ditko's self-published comics. Since 2008, Ditko, along with Robin Snyder, has been putting out original work on a fairly regular basis. These comics are created and distributed independently -- and for the past few years have been crowdfunded by Kickstarter campaigns -- and as such, they have fallen below the radar of most comics readers. Beginning with The Avenging Mind, Ditko has sporadically produced superhero stories, crime/noir narratives, psychological allegories, and comics that reflect his socio-political ideas and philosophies. Among the ongoing serials in these self-published comics, Derek and Andy discuss "Miss Eerie," "The Cape," "The ?!," "The Grey Negotiator," "The Madman," "Outline," and "E (e) and I (i)." There are several themes that rise to the surface of these stories, such as traditional heroics, the use of masks, and the tenants of Objectivism. And of course, there are the Mr. A strips that have come

On this episode of the interview series, Andy W. and Derek have as their guest Jessica Abel, whose latest book, Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio, was recently released by Broadway Books. In her conversation with the guys, Jessica discusses her history with narrative-based radio and how her earlier work, Radio: An Illustrated Guide (cowritten with Ira Glass), helped to open the door for her exploration of the medium. Out on the Wire is based on over three years of research and hours of interviews she conducted with the creators behind programs such as This American Life, Planet Money, Radiolab, The Moth, and Snap Judgment. The text culls the various storytelling strategies of these producers and dissects their effectiveness. This kind of expositional writing -- or "documentary comics," as Jessica calls it -- is something that the Two Guys rarely discuss, so they use this opportunity as a way into the genre. Along the way they also talk with Jessica about her podcast based o

Andy and Derek are excited to have as their guest on The Comics Alternative the man behind making Nikola Tesla even cooler than he already is: Brian Clevinger. He and his collaborator, Scott Wegener, have recently joined forces with IDW Publishing to bring us more Atomic Robo. And that's definitely something to celebrate! The newest story arc, Atomic Robo and the Ring of Fire, began last month, and on top of that, IDW has published the first of what promises to be multiple omnibus editions. Atomic Robo: The Everything Explodes Collection includes the first three story arcs -- The Fighting' Scientist of Tesladyne, The Dogs of War, and The Shadow from Beyond Time -- packaged in a hefty, attractive volume. Brian talks with the guys about his and Scott's decision earlier this year to self-publish Atomic Robo on their website, and then the unlikely and out-of-the-blue opportunity to partner with IDW to bring the title back into the direct market. Along the way, they discuss Brian's penchant for science and history

Welcome to October! And to celebrate the occasion, Andy and Derek do what they do at the beginning of every month: look through the current Previews catalog! And for October, the selections are plentiful and exciting. The guys find a number of upcoming titles from the premier publishers, but there are also many coming out from smaller presses, some of which the guys discuss for the very first time. Among the many upcoming releases they discuss on this month’s Previews show are titles from Dark Horse, Vertigo, Image, IDW, Fantagraphics, Alternative Comics, Creature, Dover Publications, Comicmix, Locust Moon Press, Humanoids, BOOM! Studios, and Viz Media. Also on this episode: Derek encourages everyone to support Salgood Sam’s Patreon campaign, Andy discusses his current situation moisture, the guys express and enthusiastic “Thank you!” to Box and Jared at Big Planet/Retrofit Comics, and Andy shares his deep and abiding love for steampunk comics.