Storied Arcs

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"No matter where we hide, we die. But, even if they know they will die... even if they know they will die no matter what they do, they do not abandon hope. That's what it means to be a human."

At last, we have arrived at the epic conclusion of Naoki Urasawa's Pluto and of the Storied Arcs/Tankobon Podcast crossover event! Mike, Alex, and Cole are here one last time to dive deep into Pluto Volumes 7 and 8 (chapters 48-65) and discuss how it all wraps up. Endings are hard (as has been discussed on this show before) but the guys all agree that Pluto pretty much nails it. It wraps up its narrative and gives closure to its characters, but leaves the world open for continued thought and consideration. In the end, what does it mean to be the Greatest Robot on Earth? That's what we get into.

And with that, the first ever Storied Arcs crossover series comes to an end! We can't thank Cole and Tankobon Podcast enough for joining us on this trip and bringing his more-experienced manga palate to our discussions. You can find Tankobon on Instagram or anywhere else using their LinkTree. Big thanks to everyone for listening and if you have any ideas for another possible manga crossover for us to cover, hit us up and let us know!

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For the next season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex invite you to join them at the end of the world as they get ready to dive into the Apocalyptic Trilogy, a spiritual and thematic trilogy of comics from Boom Studios by James Tynion IV and Eryk Donovan consisting of the books Memetic, Cognetic, and Eugenic. As usual with these zero episodes, the guys will give a preview of the comics and discuss what drew them to the titles, why they want to talk about them, and why you should read them, too. Then they take a look at the creative team and touch on how some of their current work, especially from Tynion, the literal biggest writer in comics at the moment, has its roots in this trio of stories from early in their career.

As mentioned, this is a spiritual trilogy of stories, not a literal one, so technically, they can be read in any order since they aren't connected by character, place, events, etc. That said, we will be covering the comics in publication order (Memetic then Cognetic then Eugenic) and our discussions will progress as if you've only read what would have been available to you at the time. So for example, when we talk about Cognetic, we'll assume you've read Memetic but we won't spoil Eugenic. 

Now that that's clear, go find Memetic from Boom Studios wherever you get your comics and join us back here next week to talk about the end of the world, part one!

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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"If the stronger man wins, someone even stronger will just take him out. That's all there is to it."

The Storied Arcs/Tankobon Podcast crossover continues! In this penultimate episode, Mike, Alex, and Cole examine Pluto Volumes 5 and 6 (chapters 32-47) and discuss how Naoki Urasawa is able to masterfully juggle a murder mystery detective story-turned-global conspiracy with deeply compelling and interesting characters. Urasawa simultaneously widens the story lens while narrowing in on specific characters in these volumes, and it all feels seamless. The guys dive deep into how the bigger story beats and the smaller character ones all feed into the overall ideas and questions at the heart of Pluto- what does it mean to be human? Is humanity something you have or something you are? Is they anything creepier than a Teddy bear sitting alone in a dark room, speaking into the void?

It was hard for Alex this week to not read ahead and finish the series, but he resisted so if you're reading along with our release schedule, there are no spoilers here for how the story wraps up. But we can't to get there, so find Pluto Volumes 7 and 8 (chapters 48-65) in shop or at plutocomic.com and join us back here next Tuesday as we wrap up our manga crossover with Tankobon Podcast!

Find Tankobon on Instagram or anywhere else using their LinkTree. 

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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This week, Mike and Alex sit down and chat with the creator of Plume, K. Lynn Smith! They discuss her artistic and storytelling influences and look back at her origins posting her first work to the webcomic community. Then they dive into Plume, looking at why the Western genre was an appealing setting for her. They also examine how the immediate feedback from readers as the comic was being published page-by-page on the web affected (or didn't) the ultimate direction of the story. Finally, they wrap by teasing what K. Lynn has coming down the line (hint- more Plume, but in a different form). To keep track of everything she has going on, including appearances and commissions, hit up her website or follow her on Instagram, Bluesky, and Twitter (if that's still a thing at this point).

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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"A.I.? An A.I. is not created. It is raised. Terrible sadness, frustration... these are what nurture and A.I."

Welcome back to the Storied Arcs/Tankobon Podcast crossover, where Mike, Alex, and special guest Cole are jumping right into the next volumes of Naoki Urasawa's Astro Boy-inspired manga, Pluto Volumes 3 and 4 (chapters 16-31). The guys discuss the widening of the story, both in character and in scope, and take a look at how Urasawa is able to stay true to elements from the original Astro Boy story while deepening and expanding on it. They also touch on how specific American history and culture is viewed in Japan, and how that can translate (or not) when referenced and alluded to in manga or anime. 

As mentioned last week, Alex is not reading ahead so he can't (intentionally) spoil anything during our episode discussions (he's pretty sure Atom's coming back, though). The great manga crossover with Tankobon Podcast continues next Tuesday so grab Pluto Volumes 5 and 6 (chapters 32-47) where you can or read them for free at plutocomic.com and we'll see you next week!

Find Tankobon on Instagram or anywhere else using their LinkTree. 

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

Subscribe on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Google Podcast, or anywhere else fine podcasts are found!

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"Revenge is for the selfish, justice is for the brave."

In this episode, Mike and Alex head back to the wild, wild West and dive deep into the concluding arc of Plume by K. Lynn Smith with Volumes 3 and 4 (issues #10-17). They revisit the litany of Western-genre story tropes and discuss how Smith was able to once again subvert those genre expectations and deliver an ending that's both surprising and satisfying. Plume's a classic hero's journey that feels both familiar and new at the same time. But that doesn't mean the guys don't have some lingering questions, which they examine and debate with the full understanding that most of it is trivial and none of it takes away from their enjoyment of the comic. Nitpicking the minutia is kinda the whole get-down of this show. 

That wraps up our deep-dive discussion of Plume but that doesn't mean we're done with the book quite yet. Next week, the one and only K. Lynn Smith will be joining us to discuss not only Plume but her entire career in comics. We can't wait to share another exclusive interview with an incredible creator with everyone!

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

Subscribe on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Google Podcast, or anywhere else fine podcasts are found!

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"He kept waving his hand until I could no longer see him. It filled my hard with emotion. My robot heart."

Welcome to the Storied Arcs/Tankobon manga crossover event! This week, Mike, Alex, and Cole from the Tankobon Podcast dive right into Pluto Volumes 1 and 2 (Chapters 1-15) by Naoki Urasawa. The guys talk about the origins of Pluto, its ties to the classic manga Astro Boy, why it was was picked as the subject of this crossover, and rundokwn their personal experience with manga (Cole- a lot; Mike- a little; Alex- actively none). From there, they start breaking down the larger themes and ideas presented in the book and take a look at some of the influences the story draws from, from other manga to classic science fiction stories to real-world events.

In a change of roles from the usual, Alex is now the one who hasn't read ahead in the series, so as per usual, nothing in our discussion will spoil beyond the volumes we have covered up to that point. Go read Pluto Volumes 3 and 4 (chapters 16-31), whether you pick up a physical copy or go to plutocomic.com and read for free, and join us back here next Tuesday for our continued crossover discussion with Tankobon Podcast!

Find Tankobon on Instagram or anywhere else using their LinkTree. 

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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"My father once told me that revenge was like a plume of black smoke. It seems tangible... but when you reach for it... you're grasping nothing but air."

In this first episode of the new season, Mike and Alex head to the Old West to discuss Plume Volumes 1 and 2 (issues #1-9) by cartoonist K. Lynn Smith. They look into the history of the Western as a genre in popular culture and examine how Smith uses and manipulates those existing tropes and architypes to tell her own version of a Western. The guys also touch on Plume's origin as a webcomic and how that influenced both its narrative and art styles when presented now in print. They also go off the deep end of the pop culture reference pool this week, ranging from Indiana Jones to Firefly to the Mandalorian to Aladdin. But we swear it all makes sense.

As usual with multi-volume books, we don't spoil anything in this discussion about what happens beyond Volume 2, aka Issue #9 if you're reading in the omnibus version. Head over to plumecomic.com to continue reading along and join us back here next week as we conclude our discussion of Plume with Volumes 3 and 4 (issues #10-17)!

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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And now time for a special announcement!

On Tuesdays in the month of October, we will be dropping some bonus content on this feed that we're super excited about. We have teamed up with the Tankobon podcast for a manga crossover event to discuss Pluto by Naoki Urasawa, a story inspired by the classic manga Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka. There are eight volumes, or tankobons, and each week, the gang will dive deep into two volumes of the story at a time, looking something like this:

October 3rd: Volumes 1 & 2 (Chapters 1-15)
October 10th: Volumes 3 & 4 (Chapters 16-31)
October 17th: Volumes 5 & 6 (Chapters 32-47)
October 24th: Volumes 7 & 8 (Chapters 48-65)

If you can't find physical copies to read, you can always go to plutomanga.com and read the entire story for free. And if you follow along with our schedule, you'll be ready to watch the anime adaptation on Netflix when it drops on October 26th.

We're really looking forward to this crossover with Tankobon and we hope you are, too, even if you're not a regular manga reader (or a manga reader at all, like Alex). But either way, our standard episodes will be still be releasing on Thursdays as usual, so whether you're here for the Western comics or the Eastern comics, thanks for listening!

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

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Mike and Alex are back for another season of Storied Arcs, and for this outing, they are diving into the world of webcomics as they get ready to discuss Plume by artist/writer K. Lynn Smith, originally published on the internet (RIP Smack Jeeves) and then in print by Devil's Due Comics. The guys get you primed for this supernatural-tinged western saga by teasing how Plume plays with established tropes and architypes of the genre (no spoilers, obviously) and talking about about what drew them to the book. They also take a quick look at Devil's Due Comics, an independent publisher out of Chicago. Then the guys wrap it up with a discussion of K. Lynn Smith and her comic works to date.

We understand that print versions of Plume may be a little hard to come by. If you are fortunate enough to find physical copies, we'll be covering Volumes 1 and 2 (issues #1-9) next week for our discussion. For everyone else, you can read the entire comic for free online or download it as a .pdf at plumecomic.com. See you back here next week!

Thanks for listening to Storied Arcs

• Find us on your favorite podcast platform and leave a 5-star review!
• Find all links here: https://linktr.ee/storiedarcs
• Or specifically, find us on BlueSky, Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Twitter/X.
• Learn more about our hosts, the show, or where to find us at www.storiedarcs.com

Subscribe on Spotify, iTunes, Pocket Casts, Overcast, Google Podcast, or anywhere else fine podcasts are found!