Comics Alternative

This week on the podcast, Gwen and Derek look at three very different recent titles. They begin with Carlos Giménez's Paracuellos. The original first two volumes of this comic, published in Spain in 1977 and 1982, have now been collected into a single-volume English translation (by Sonya Jones) and published by IDW's EuroComics imprint. The Paracuellos strips are Giménez's autobiographical look at his time in several of the Social Aid "homes" that were a part of Francisco Franco's fascist Spain. As Gwen and Derek reveal, the stories are stark and heartbreaking, and Giménez presents a difficult environment where oppression and apathy (at least in the context of the adults) shape young and vulnerable lives. They discuss not only the socio-political atmosphere of Paracuellos, but also Giménez's stylistic strategies for rendering this world. Next, the Guy and Gal with PhDs Talking about Comics look at two #1 issues just released this month: Roger Langridge and Andy Hirsch's The Baker Street Peculiars (KaBOOM! Stu