ConSequential

We're (most of us) back from a slight hiatus because it's NERD PROM again and we're at Thought Bubble 2017 in disconcertingly sunny Leeds. With special guests (probably) and new comics (yes) and ellipses (someone stop me)!

In which our heroes find quite a lot to say about a genre that barely exists in comics.

Southern gothic persists as a genre in all other mediums, so why is that deliciously swampy style so under-represented in comics? An investigation brought to you by big words, a fetish for Spanish moss, and that half-glimpsed face at the window of the ol' plantation house.

We talked about:

• Iceman - Sina Grace and Alessandro Vitti
• Winnebago Graveyard - Steve Niles, Alison Sampson, Stephane Paitreau
• The Unsound - Cullen Bunn, Jack T. Cole
• Grass Kings - Matt Kindt and Tyler Jenkins
• The Stone Heart (Nameless City Vol.2) - Faith Erin Hicks, Jordie Bellaire
• Bulletproof Coffin: The 1000 Yard Stare - Shaky Kane and David Hine
• Godshaper - Si Spurrier and Jonas Goonface
• Black Hammer - Jeff lemire and Dean Ormston
• Harrow County - Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
• Will O' The Wisp - Tom Hammock and Megan Hutchinson
• Swamp Thing - Alan Moore, Stephen Bissette et al
• Wet Moon - Sophie Campbell

Apologies for the occasional spurt of someone else's voice on the background of this one. Some people just don't know how to use their indoor voice.

Have we missed something obvious? Tell us in the comments so we can read it because looking forward to Snagglepuss is a sad state of affairs.

Spin-off! Is there any word more thrilling to the soul and/or corporate wallet?

This week we read a bucket of franchise-extension comics. From flaccid extrusions of long-spent IP, to comics an actual person might actually want to read, we talk about whether spin-off comics can be any good (yes), how it all works (it's complicated), and which ones are just utter, utter shite (surprisingly: not Pokémon).

Find out more about the "beautiful teat filled with dollars".

Don't call it a GodCast.

Actually don't, that sounded far better in my head. We're talking gods and mythology in comics, with drive-by reviewing of Hamish Steele's Pantheon, a revisit of The Wicked and the Divine, and a bunch of other stuff along the way because we're good to ya.

Benevolent, even.

Y'know that shade over half the population who make about ten percent of Big Two comics, probably about half of the rest, and whose work gets about five percent of the attention? Yeah, those folks: women?

You remember women, right - the ones who don't get to say "I done made a comic" without some internet dickdribble making death threats.

In the spirit of celebrating great work (and of not being that guy), this week we're spotlighting a bunch of comics with female creators. 

Back, back again to the stranger edges of sci fi. We ponder whether sci fi has preemptively shifted to reflect our garbage fire times, or whether our reading habits have just taken a turn for the cynical.

Because of the garbage fires.

We covered:

• Black Monday Murders - Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker
• Those Fucking Dinosaurs (I have no idea where to find this, let us know if you spot it)
• Descender - Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
• Harrow County - Tyler Crook and Cullen Bunn
• Mare Internum - Der-shing Helmer
• Dept.H - Matt Kindt and Sharlene Kindt
• Quantum Teens Are Go! - Magdalene Visaggio, Eryk Donovan, Claudia Aguirre
• The Firelight Isle - Paul Duffield
• Leave Me Alone - Vera Brosgol
• Deep Space Canine - Comic Book Slumber Party (full list of contributors here)
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvie, Jordie Bellaire
• The Wild Storm - Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt
• Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
• Warm Blood - Josh Tierney, Saskia Gutekunst, Joysuke, Winston Young, Naomi Franquiz, Marina Julia, Olivier Pichard (so far)
• Epicurean’s Exile - Leia Weathington and Jack Cole
• Monstress - Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Kaijumax - Zander Cannon

They say that the past is a foreign country, and as British citizens we are therefore left with an extremely limited window of opportunity to go there without a visa. We're looking back at books we loved, formative experiences, to see how they stack up now. Also: other comics! Is a hotdog a sandwich? More!

• Dirt - CJ Reay
• The Marionette Unit - Azhur Saleem, James Boyle,Warwick Johnson-Cadwell
• Paper Girls - Brian K Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
• On the Wings of the World: Audubon - Fabien Grolleau and Jeremie Royer
• Motor Crush: Babs Tarr, Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart
• Immortal Iron Fist: Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction, David Aja

• V for Vendetta - Alan Moore, David Lloyd, Steve Whitaker, Siobhan Dodds
• Watchmen - Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
• Daytripper - Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba

And hey, why not listen to We Will Fix You? All the us, none of the comics, several jokes. Is good. You listen.

We really expected to just talk in gushing tones about our favourite comic shops and then come up with some great ideas for how we'd run our own.

So of course we're ranting about the comics Direct Market. But also some other stuff! 

We read:

• Mare Internum - Der-shing Helmer
• Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet - Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• The Arab of the Future - Riad Sattouf
• How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less - Sarah Glidden
• Critical Chips - Zainab Akhtar and various authors
• The Can Opener’s Daughter - Rob Davis

Comic shops we talked about:

• Gosh (London)
• Page 45 (Nottingham)
• Niche (Huntingdon)
• Dave's Comics (Brighton)
• OK Comics (Leeds)

Hot dang folks, it's the end of the year, and that means Best Of lists. We're no exception to this cheap and easy content format, but we will at least give some lucky scamp a prize of each of our picks for the best comics this year.

Our spoilery results way below, hidden beneath this very professional advert for  affordable bookkeeping:

(Not an official Problem Chimp Enterprises advert, but I do work in marketing, so, y'know. Sorry.)

• AD: After Death #1 - Scott Snyder and  Jeff lemire
• For The Love Of God, Marie - Jade Sarson
• The Nameless City - Faith Erin Hicks and Jordie Bellaire
• Rolling Blackouts - Sarah Glidden
• Unsounded - Ashley Cope
• March #3 - John Lewis, Nate Powell, Andrew Aydin
• Vision - Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire
• Plutona - Jeff Lemire, Emi Lennox, Jordie Bellaire
• 5000 KM Per Second - Manuele Fior

• Saga - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
• Paper Girls - Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• Southern Bastards - Jason Aaron and Jason Latour
• Empty Zone - Jason Shawn Alexander
• Doctor Fate - Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew
• Giant Days - John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin
• Harrow County - Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
• Sixth Gun - Cullen Bunn and Bryan Hurtt
• Squirrel Girl - Ryan North and Erica Henderson
• Doctor Strange - Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Monstress - Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Check Please - Ngozi Ukazu

• Broken Frontier Anthology - Various
• The Spire - Simon Spurrier, Jeff Stokely, André May
• The Can Opener’s Daughter - Rob Williams

Sincerity is an odd topic for three soulless husks to confront, but we'll give it a crack. What's up with the increase in comics that are just lovely? Where have they come from? Why now? And what are the good ones? We'll tell ya!

Also: Competition time! Email us a description of the show you think we should be doing instead to [email protected] and win our books of the year!

We talked about:

• Khaos Komix - Tab Kimpton
• Feels Like Noodles - Jade Sarson
• Cowboys and Insects - David Hine and Shakey Kane (Roger wrote about it in depth here)
• Orbital -  Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pelle
• Performance - One Beat Zines
• Fascist Friends - Erin Lux
• The Backstagers - James Tynion, Rian Sygh
• Spill Zone - Scott Westerfeld & Alex Puvilland
• Geis - Alexis Deacon
• Postcards in Braille - Constanza Yovaniniz
  • “Real girls”
  • Disabilityawareness & education
  • Fantasy Comics #1 - Sam Bosma
  • Tetris: The Games People Play - Box Brown
  • Clear Blue Tomorrows - Fabien Vehlmann, Bruno Gazzotti, Ralph Meyer
  • Jeffery Fisch Boy - Jake Lava
  • The Final Cameo - Bastard Comics
  • Mulp - Matt Gibbs and Sara Dunkerton
  • The Foldings - Faye Simms and Joann Dominik
  • Marquis D’Anoan: The Providence - Fabian Vehlmann and Matthieu Bonhomme