Comics Alternative

This week on the podcast, Derek and Andy discuss three new titles. They begin by looking at the second book in John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell's March trilogy. Although the first volume from fall 2013 was a powerful debut, March: Book Two (Top Shelf Productions) is a decidedly more gripping work. There is more action and drama in this book -- and not only conflict between the protesters and the Southern white community, but perhaps more pointedly, conflict within the nonviolent movement's ranks -- than there was in the initial one. What's more, this is a much more emotionally charged work, in that readers are taken to the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement and Lewis's encounters with senseless beatings, attack dogs, firehoses, and bombings. The guys note that for younger readers, or those unfamiliar with mid-century American history, this book may be a bit of a shock -- or a wake-up call -- in that it paints a very different, starker picture of race relations in this country than experienced t