Quarantined Comics

They're the world's most fearsome fighting team

They also shoot the shit out of everybody.

This week, we welcome back friend of the pod Penn Genthner to talk about our childhoods. By which we mean, of course, the TMNT. While we all loved the cartoon, all played with the action figures, and all LARPed around the playground, none of us had read the comic -- which with its gritty black and white art, retained a mystique promising strange and violent adventures. Perhaps a TMNT more suited for adults?

Did it deliver? Was the nostaliga strong enough to pull us through six volumes of childhood memories?

Words cannot even describe the moment that we're living through. Russia invaded Ukraine, impacting millions. Day by day, the situation continues to get worse, because there are no winners in war.

Please do your part for the Ukrainian people and donate to ANY / ALL of the following

other podcasts Raman's talking about the CURRENT situation:

This week we're talking about The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks: Life and Death Under Soviet Rule — written and illustrated by Igort, the award-winning Italian graphic novelist in 2014, and recently translated in English.

The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks is a collection of two harrowing works of graphic nonfiction about life under Russian foreign rule. After spending two years in Ukraine and Russia, collecting the stories of the survivors and witnesses to Soviet rule, Igort was compelled to bring those stories to new life with in-depth reporting and deep compassion.

In The Russian Notebooks, Igort investigates the murder of award-winning journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkoyskaya, who spoke out against the Second Chechen War, criticizing Vladimir Putin. Igort follows in her tracks, detailing Anna’s assassination and the stories of abuse, murder, abduction, and torture that Russia was so desperate to censor.

In The Ukrainian Notebooks, Igort reaches further back in history and illustrates the events of the 1932 Holodomor. Little known outside of the Ukraine, the Holodomor was a government-sanctioned famine, a peacetime atrocity during Stalin’s rule that killed anywhere from 1.8 to twelve million ethnic Ukrainians. Told through interviews with the people who lived through it, Igort paints a harrowing picture of hunger and cruelty under Soviet rule.

With elegant brush strokes and a stark color palette, Igort has transcribed the words and emotions of his subjects, revealing their intelligence, humanity, and honesty—and exposing the secret world of the former USSR.

This week, we invite back friend of the pod and Bat-fanatic Paresh to share his thoughts on "The Batman." This latest movie adds an article to the title and subtracts all sunlight from the world. Director Matt Reeves' version of the Dark Knight detective is failing in his mission to rescue Gotham City from itself.

If Tim Burton's Batman was grim and Christopher Nolan's was grimmer, then Reeves' take is grimmest of all.

This week, BEFORE we risked life and lung to go see THE BATMAN on the big screen, we decided to read BATMAN IMPOSTER, written by Mattson Tomlin, and illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino. Tomlin happens to also be an (uncredited) screenwriter of the latest film, so it's an... interesting look into what feels like it could be in the same tonal universe but not quite. What feels like a Batman Year 1.5 story has Batman alone and at odds with his city, and the few people remaining in his personal circle. Gone is Alfred , and confronting him is Dr. Leslie Thompkins, the young doctor who cared for him after his parents were murdered. Also, Jim Gordon is swapped out for plucky Asian detective that Bruce has to collaborate with. Set atomic batteries to power, because this is a dark one...

Special Guest: Paresh Jha.

Sex, clubbing, unionization, and street fights. All part of the life of a 50-something woman in South Korea struggling to find meaning in the latter half of her life. "Moms" was inspired by creator Ma Yeong-shin's own mother. Soon after moving out, the cartoonist Ma was surprised by how exhausting maintaining a household could be. He asked his mother to jot down details about her own life because he found himself wondering what she had gone through.

Her stories are the basis for "Moms," which opens with the main character, Soyeon, getting into a fist fight in the street with her romantic rival.

And it's pretty much downhill from there.

Soyeon's world is at once vibrant, complex, and mundane, as she navigates between frenemies, lecherous bosses, and loser dudes.

"Moms" was recommended to Quarantined Comics by Eisner-winning graphic novelist Jen Wang ("Stargazing," "The Prince and the Dressmaker," among others) who drops in to co-host this episode.

Our journey to China continues...this time, for the kid...friendly? Namely 2 kids comics: "My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder" by Nie Jun,

"My Beijing" tells four stories in the hutongs...or interior neighborhoods of urban Beijing in mostly the modern day - with a little bit of time travel thrown in for good measure, following the adventures of a little girl and her "Grampa," holding onto idyllic memories of how it once was.

Both books captured a feeling of China that was both familiar and eye opening.

In "Night Bus," Zuo Ma is dreaming of the past and invites us along for the ride. Just as Chris Reynold's "The New World" was a surrealist romp through the English countryside, "Night Bus" presents an alternate reality version of China. Though don't take it too literally.

"Night Bus" is deeply personal, and though the narrative tends to warp and bend, dipping into the realms of fantasy and sci-fi with its organic spaceships, underground elevator networks, and anthropomorphic animals, it defies any sense of plot-driven cohesion. Yet, there's always an emotional core that runs through Ma's work, whether he's nostalgic about the past, mourning a lost pet, or trying to dignify a relative going through a terrible disease.

"Night Bus" is really unlike any comic you've ever read.

This week, in honor of the Chinese New Year (恭喜發財) we revisit favorite cartoonist Gene Luen Yang for his 2013 two-volume epic BOXERS & SAINTS - which tells the story of the late 19th Century Boxer Rebellion, from two sides, injecting magical realism injected into the complexity of historical events. It's got everything - bald dudes with pony tails swinging ancient Chinese swords channeling the ancient spirits of Chinese lore. a converted Chinese Christian youth channeling the spirit of Joan of Arc, and a historical fiction allegory (or one-sided commentary) on the follies of our "civilized" hubris. This 2-part graphic novel was Yang's sophomore follow-up to his award-winning comic "American Born Chinese" — BOXERS & SAINTS lays bare the foundations of extremism, rebellion, and faith. Fighting for the glory of China...but at what cost?!?

Raman & guest-host Ryan have a chat with award-winning comics creator JEN WANG on Raman's other podcast Modern Minorities (modmypod.com) - where each week we have conversations on race and gender, through the eyes of our guests from all sorts of backgrounds .

Jen Wang's works include “Stargazing,” “The Prince & the Dressmaker”, “In Real Life” and “Koko Be Good”. Her books are not-quite-autobiographical (always), but there are seeds of truth and real life in almost every story she tells. Being Asian American, having a major healthcare scare as a kid, and more. But most interesting about our chat with Jen was diving into her unconventional journey and decisions along the way. We challenge you to give Jen’s books a try - for you and your kids - and NOT find your eyes start leaking.

Jenwang.net

This week, we dig into the first three episodes of Vagabond, by the legendary manga creator Takehiko Inoue. Admittedly, that's not a whole lot of Vagabond considering the epic is currently at 37 volumes... and counting. Vagabond has been on hiatus since 2015.

We'll talk about what we feel works and what doesn't, as well as the incredible fluidity with which manga artists tell a story, and how we're responding to these comics as a pair of geriatrics in our late 30s/early 40s — well past our sell-by dates and significantly older than the target demographic.