Skim is a coming-of-age graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki, and drawn by her cousin Jillian Tamaki. Jillian works primarily in the field of illustration; how does she find that different from drawing a comic? Is it wrong to say that a comic is “illustrated”? She also discusses her perhaps unorthodox collaboration with Mariko on […]

12/7/09 Darrin Bell Darrin Bell, creator of the strip Candorville, talks about dealing with the expectations of a newspaper audience (and the thought processes of newspaper editors), the dynamic between characters Lamont and Susan, why he published his new book, Katrina’s Ghost, via Lulu, and, by the way, what’s up with the vampires?!

11/30/09 Apollo’s Song Osamu Tezuka’s “Apollo’s Song” came out in 1970, about the same time as “Ode to Kirihito”. It explores issues of love, sex, and death. How does this “adult” work of Japan’s God of Comics stack up against the masterwork “Kirihito”? Tim and Kumar review.

5/12/08 Ode to Kirihito FLASHBACK! Osamu Tezuka is Japan’s “God of Manga.” Ode to Kirihito may be one of the reasons. Tim and Kumar review.

11/23/09 Magical Mystery Podcast Tim and Mulele sit in a restaurant in Shinjuku, turn on the recorder, and see what develops. Topics include: Creator time management, Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto, Hope Larson’s Gray Horses, Caveman Science Fiction, the casting of the Popeye movie, podcast promotion, Mulele’s epiphany about his slow productivity the past three years, and […]

11/16/09 Web comics portfolio sites Another Web comics discussion, this time looking at two artists’ portfolio sites: Jordyn Bochon’s 8et8.net, and Aaron Diaz’s Dresdencodak.com. Both have their awesome points, but neither is perfect. Tim and Mulele weigh the good and not-so-good points.

11/9/09 What is “good coloring”? If you’ve been feeling like mainstream comics coloring is sometimes over-rendered, hyper-realistic, and/or muddy, you’re not alone. Ron Richards has been very vocal in, er, expressing his displeasure with it on the iFanboy podcast. Ron joins Tim and colorist Brian Miller of Hi-Fi Design to discuss the reasons the color […]

3/10/08 Brian Miller and Hi-Fi Design FLASHBACK! Marvel & DC colorist Brian Miller joins us to talk about how colorists get work in comics, coloring techniques, and more!

11/2/09 Hellboy In the beginning, there was Hellboy. Well, the beginning of Deconstructing Comics, anyway. Brandon and Mulele are both longtime connoisseurs of Mike Mignola’s work, and in early episodes, the work being discussed was often held up to Hellboy for comparison. And yet, until now, we’ve never actually reviewed Hellboy! Tim and Mulele rectify […]

10/26/09 Chris Bachalo clears things up Chris Bachlo’s art has long had a compelling style to it, and yet it was sometimes very difficult to decipher just what was happening on some of his pages. This was perhaps particularly pronounced in his work on Steam Punk with Joe Kelly, back at the turn of the […]