“Tim Catches Up with the MCU” continues with our look at “Guardians of the Galaxy.” How does it rank in Tim and Mulele’s MCU viewing so far? Also, are we each using different criteria to evaluate these films? And, oh yeah, these films have music – how do we feel about it? (Originally published on … Continue reading “Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)

Deconstructing Comics

“Guardians of the Galaxy” (2014)

FLASHBACK! Saga, by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, has been a bestselling book for Image Comics for years, and fawned over by critics and readers alike. While Emmet finds a fair number of things to like about it, hardly anything about it is to Kumar’s taste. For this episode, both of them have read … Continue reading #609 “Saga” (a non-gushing review)

#609 “Saga” (a non-gushing review)

Tom Scioli’s Jack Kirby: The Epic Life of the King of Comics is a bio in comics form and written in the first person, from Kirby’s perspective. Why did Scioli handle it that way, and does it work? Why does Kirby look like a Tezuka character surrounded by normal humans? Was the tension between Lee … Continue reading #711 Tom Scioli’s “Kirby”

#711 Tom Scioli’s “Kirby”

Texas Tracts, by Rachelle Meyer, is a series of three short comics, modeled in format after the Christian evangelical “Chick Tracts” by Jack Chick. Rachelle’s well-drawn comics, in contrast, reflect doubts about things she was taught in Catholic school as a kid in Texas. Tim and Mulele discussed part one, Holy Diver, back in January; … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #207: “Texas Tracts”

Critiquing Comics #207: “Texas Tracts”

In this episode of “Tim Catches Up with the MCU”, Tim and Mulele discuss the political thriller “The Winter Soldier”. Brought to you by: The Quarter-Bin podcast Our supporters on Patreon

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier” (2014)

You’re probably aware of the Osamu Tezuka character Astro Boy (called Tetsuwon Atom in Japan). Starting in 2003, Naoki Urasawa (the creator of Monster) began his own take on a particular Astro Boy story in his series Pluto, as a murder mystery of sorts. The story includes plenty of robots, but is more concerned with … Continue reading #710 Naoki Urasawa’s “Pluto”

#710 Naoki Urasawa’s “Pluto”

Root and Branch is a comic that flirts with the fantasy genre, but is more concerned about a clash of cultures: a traveling elf meeting humans for the first time. This is a web comic, created by Pink Pitcher, that’s still going strong in its seventh year, and currently has a Kickstarter going. Tim and … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #206: “Root and Branch”

Critiquing Comics #206: “Root and Branch”

Shonen manga are known for putting their protagonists in systems that they must work their way up through in a series of competitions. In Air Gear, by Ito Ougure under the name Oh! Great, the competitions are races on gravity-defying inline skates. While this manga also includes some aspects that could be judged age-inappropriate, there … Continue reading #709 “Air Gear”

#709 “Air Gear”

Is Matt Canning‘s Honeymoon in the Afterlife about dying? Is it about life? Unlike some inscrutable comics we’ve discussed recently, this one isn’t frustrating; it’s intriguing, layered, and nuanced, and stands up to — no, demands — repeat readings. Tim and Ryan C. (who wrote a review of the book last fall) discuss. The In … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #205: “Honeymoon in the Afterlife”

Critiquing Comics #205: “Honeymoon in the Afterlife”

Cathy Guisewite‘s longrunning comic strip Cathy is still a topic of discussion, 11 years after it ended. While it may sometimes seem as if topics like sexual harassment and body image are new fields discovered in the last five or ten years, Cathy was bringing them up in the ’80s and ’90s. Comedian Jamie Loftus … Continue reading #708 Aaack! “Cathy” is still relevant!

#708 Aaack! “Cathy” is still relevant!

Purgatory, by Don Juan Mancha III, anubisazp, and nikokosi, is an unusual comic in that most of the character in it claim to be dead. But in most cases, it’s unclear if they really are. Or is it a way of talking about schizophrenia? Unclear. What’s the plot of this comic? Also unclear. At least, … Continue reading Critiquing Comics #204: “Purgatory”

Critiquing Comics #204: “Purgatory”

After fifteen years of cartooning for The New Yorker, Joe Dator has a deep catalog of published work – and a pretty deep catalog of UNpublished work as well (it’s a competitive business!). So in his new book Inked: Cartoons, Confessions, Rejected Ideas and Secret Sketches from the New Yorker’s Joe Dator, Joe includes not … Continue reading #707 Joe Dator and “Inked”

#707 Joe Dator and “Inked”

Prolific manga creator Taiyo Matsumoto’s Ping Pong is, nominally, a sports manga, but it doesn’t stick to the tropes. It presents table tennis matches that take place in a small town, not at a major tournament in Tokyo; often it doesn’t even show the end of a match! In some ways it functions as a … Continue reading #706 “Ping Pong”

#706 “Ping Pong”

Midnight Highway is a horror comic on which all the creators are firing on all cylinders. Well, most of them. Tim and Jason discuss the first issue of this comic by Mike Tener, Alex Maday, Dave Lentz, Alexander Malyshev, Hedwin Zaldivar, and Alex Monik!

Critiquing Comics #203: “Midnight Highway”

This week, from our archive of Patreon podcasts, Tim and Mulele discuss the movie Thor: The Dark World in another edition of “Tim Catches Up with the MCU”! It’s one of the lowest-rated MCU movies on Rotten Tomatoes. How do our opinions track with the RT users? Wayne Manor Memoirs podcast Our supporters on Patreon

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Deconstructing Comics

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