This week, Koom interviews Wahab Algarmi, author of Almost Sunset, a graphic novel about a Muslim American boy’s search for balance between his family traditions and the demands of life in Middle School. Koom and Wahab discuss their international family backgrounds as well as the merits or demerits of 1990s Image comics!

Almost Sunset on Amazon

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Ben Wickey has created a graphic novel, More Weight: A Salem Story, that gives us a very deep dive into the Salem witch trials: why they happened, who was to blame, and how the city has dealt with their legacy. This week Koom gets the scoop on what inspired Ben, why his art style seems to vary depending on what point in the past he’s writing about, and more.

More Weight: A Salem Story on Amazon.com

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The film is bloated, it’s busy, it showcases numerous failures at human communication, and doesn’t hit some points it needs to. And yet, Spider-Man 3 screenwriter Alvin Sargent managed to weave together the many plotlines thrust on him to make a script with a message – although not necessarily the one director Sam Raimi had in mind. Tim and Mulele examine Raimi’s final Spider-Man film. (Originally published on Patreon May 23, 2020.)

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Tim and Mulele begin reviewing the Sony (pre-MCU) Spider-man movies with a look at 2002’s Spider-man, directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire. After watching all the MCU movies, how does this film feel different? How was it affected by 9/11? And more. (Originally published on Patreon April 11, 2020)

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This week, a look at two great new comics submitted by their creators:

God Summoner, by Dio Zogaris and Manos Laouvardos, is a story in the fantasy genre. Tim and Jason thought “Meh” until they actually read it! This is a well-written story with beautiful black and white art.

The Keluarga Cable Ship Company, by Mereida Fajardo, gives us a father and son with communication problems, and a ship that lays down undersea cable through which, well, communication flows. Or doesn’t flow. But what makes the book stand out is its very unusual format that shows great thought and planning on the author’s part. Tim and Adam critique.

LD Comics Fair

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FLASHBACK! Jim Shooter, who was Marvel Editor-in-Chief from 1978 to 1987, passed away on June 30. He wrote a number of comics published by Marvel (including the original Secret Wars series) and by a number of other companies. Two years ago, Koom interviewed Shooter to find out what he thought about Marvel in its current incarnation, get his recollections of Frank Miller and Ann Nocenti’s respective starts in the comics industry, hear his theory that the nursery rhyme “Little Miss Muffet” can be a tool to teach good writing, and more. We re-present the interview this week in observance of his passing. (Originally published August 23, 2023.)

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In the 1960s, both Marvel and DC tried publishing humor books, often in a style reminiscent of MAD Magazine. One of these was DC’s Angel and the Ape, about a beautiful young woman and a comics-artist gorilla who run a detective agency. While it only survived for 7 issues (with two title changes!) in 1968-69, somehow it got a Phil Foglio reboot in 1991, and showed up again as a Vertigo book in 2001, co-written by Howard Chaykin and David Tischman. While it’s hard to explain the existence of these revivals, comparing the three versions gives us an appreciation of the changes in the US comics industry over 35 years. Tim and Kumar discuss.

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POW! ZAP! Comics may not be for kids anymore, but they still have sound effects! Our own Patrick Ijima-Washburn noticed that Japanese editions of American comics left the sound effects untranslated, and decided to put together a book on how common English sound effects should be translated. Life being what it is, it took well over a decade, but the book is finally out digitally, in both Japanese and English! This time Patrick joins Tim to talk about the genesis of the book, some sound effects trivia (what comic strip first used “ZZZZ” for snoring? Who originated adding “ker-“ to the beginning of a sound effect?), and take a quiz from Tim: if quoted a sound effect from an actual Marvel comic, can he guess what action it’s supposed to represent?

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While the last three issues of Captain America and the Falcon we looked at were rather underwhelming, issues 209 to 211 give us all the kooky science fiction and Kirby Crackle we could want! The appearance of Arnim Zola, in his first face-off with Cap, has revitalized the story. But Falcon seems shunted off to the side, and what the heck happened to Anna Maria’s personality?? Tim and Emmet discuss these three issues.

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