The Comics Alternative

Happy New Year from The Comics Alternative! To help bring in 2018, Gwen and Derek are back to meticulously go through the January Previews catalog, providing recommendations and insights on a variety of upcoming titles. This month's catalog is jam-packed with great solicits, so many, in fact, that this becomes an extra-long episode. They begin by looking at the various offerings announced for this year's Free Comic Book Day, and then they move on to the catalog proper. Among the many comic books and graphic novels that Gwen and Derek highlight are:

• Dark Horse Comics - American Gods: My Ainsel #1, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, Vol. 2 - The Outer Dark, Milk and Cheese: Dairy Products Gone Bad, Beasts of Burden: Animal Rites, The Battles of Bridget Lee, Vol. 2 - The Miracle Child, and Rocket Robinson and the Pharaoh's Fortune

Time Codes:

• 00:00:29 - Introduction
• 00:02:35 - Some context, and thanks!
• 00:05:19 - Battle Angel Alita: Deluxe Edition, Vol. 1

On this episode of The Comics Alternative's manga series, Shea and Derek discuss two recent publications that, in one way or another, explore a post-apocalyptic world. They begin with a classic, the first volume of Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita. Kodansha Comics has recently started to release this legendary cyberpunk series in nice deluxe hardbound editions -- the second deluxe volume is due for release in late February -- and the guys are excited that the title is back in print. Neither Shea nor Derek was familiar with Battle Angel Alita before, outside of hearing about the upcoming James Cameron/Robert Rodriguez film adaptation due out in 2018, but now both are hooked. In their overview, the guys highlight the kinetic quality of the illustrations, the ways in which Kishiro contextualizes even his most nasty characters, the complexities (and embedded mysteries) of his storyworld, and the ways in which he visualizes the title character...which, for Shea at least, is a little problematic.

Next, they look at Abi Umeda's Children of the Whales, Vol. 1 (VIZ Media). This is another post-apocalyptic narrative -- at least the guys think things are set in a post-apocalyptic world -- and the storyworld that Umeda maps out is quite complex. In fact, as Derek suggests, there are so many nuances in this first volume that the story runs the risk of toppling over due to sheer ambiguity. However, the author is able to maintain a comprehendible balance in her tale, although several passages may require more than one reading. There are a lot of questions posed in this book, and while Derek is willing to continue on in future volumes to get the fuller picture, Shea isn't as enamored of the story. While he admires Umeda's art, he feels that the story's premise, especially as it relates to the Committee of Elders, may be a bit too predictable. Still, Derek feel that the volume is worth checking out.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:25 - Introduction
• 00:02:12 - Setup of interview
• 00:03:56 - Interview with Craig Yoe

Welcome to 2018! And as The Comics Alternative has done for the past several years, they start off the new year with an interview of perennial   favorite of the podcast, Craig Yoe. These are called the annual Happy New Yoe shows. And this year, Derek talks with Craig about Yoe Books past, present, and future. They start off by discussing many of the books that Craig and his wife/partner, Clizia Gussoni, released in 2017. These include those published through Yoe Books/IDW Publishing -- e.g., Mummies!: Classic Monsters of Pre-Code Horror Comics; Behaving Madly: Zany, Loco, Cockeyed, Rip-off, Satire Magazines; Haunted Love Vol. 1; The Complete Voodoo Vol. 3; Jay Disbrow's Monster Invasion; and volumes of both Haunted Horror and Weird Love -- but also works that Craig published elsewhere, such as his book for younger readers, LOL: A Load of Laughs and Jokes for Kids, published through Little Simon. 

After that, Craig fields several questions asked by fans via Facebook...some sensible, others rather wacky. That eventually leads them into a discussion of books from Craig we have to look forward to in 2018. Among the various upcoming titles they discuss are We Spoke Out: Comic Books and the Holocaust, Super Weird Heroes: Preposterous but True, Lou Cameron's Unsleeping Dead, Drawing and Life Lessons from Master Cartoonists, Super Patriotic Heroes, and Reefer Madness. This is an extra long interview, running for almost two hours, and there's a lot packed into the conversation. Plenty to help carry listeners comfortably into the new year!

Time Codes:

• 00:31 - Introduction
• 03:51 - Greetings and apologies
• 05:36 - Good Night, Planet

It's the end of the year, and for their December episode of the Young Readers series, Gwen and Paul discuss three exciting titles as well look back at the past year's releases. They begin by discussing Liniers's Good Night, Planet, part of Françoise Mouly's TOON Books series. After that they look at Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi's The Dam Keeper, recently released from First Second. Then they wrap up with a comic-book series, Kirsten "Kiwi" Smith,‎ Kurt Lustgarten,‎ and Naomi Franquiz's Misfit City (BOOM! Box).

They also take a look back at 2017, where both Gwen and Paul discuss what they consider the best of comics of the year for young readers.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:27 - Introduction
• 00:03:10 - Happy Holidays!
• 00:04:32 - Cookies

It's the holiday season, and for December Sean and Derek discuss three holiday-related webcomics. The start off by looking at two shorter works, Kate Beaton's Cookies (available on her Hark! A Vagrant website) and Emily Carroll's creepy All Along the Wall. After that they look at the much more substantial Holiday Wars, written by Scott King and with art by Michael Odom. So sit back, plug in your earphones, and enjoy the holiday goodness of this month's webcomics episode.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:28 - Introduction
• 00:02:35 - In-between holidays
• 00:09:01 - Servant X Service

For November Shea and Derek discuss two very different kind of manga, but both that involve romance in one form or another. They begin with Karino Takatsu's Servant X Service. The complete series was released in two volumes by Yen Press in 2016, and the guys spend much of the episode discussing this strip-like series. The title concerns civil servants on the job -- a topic you don't really encounter much in comics/manga -- and both Derek and Shea have a lot to say about the unusual subject matter and format. After that they discuss the first volume of Takako Shimura's Sweet Blue Flowers (VIZ Media). As the guys reveal, this is an example of yuri manga, where two childhood friends who have lost track of one another become reacquainted in high school, although they attend different academies. As the story unfolds, romances and complicated relationships develop. However, the friendship of the series' main protagonists (at least in this first volume), Fumi and Akira, is what really anchors this text.

Time Codes:

• 00:01:26 - Introduction
• 00:03:48 - Post-Thanksgiving digestion
• 00:05:07 - Bad Mask

On this week's episode Gwen and Derek discuss three recent releases that, while all being quite different, nonetheless share a common theme of mystery. They start off with Jon Chad's Bad Mask (BOOM! Box), a multimedia project that explores perspective and interpretation. With its various components in multiple print formats -- comic book, trading cards, newspaper tabloid, mainstream news magazine, business reports, etc. -- it's an intelligent exploration of how we define "hero." Next, the Two PhDs Talking about Comics explore the first issue of Evolution (Image Comics). This is a different kind of comic in that it's written by four authors...and the result is solid and far from fragmented. James Asmus, Joseph Keatinge, Christopher Sebela, and Joshua Williamson contribute to the story, with Joe Infurnari providing the art. Finally, Gwen and Derek look at Noël Simsolo and Bézian's Doctor Radar #1 (Titan Comics). This is a translation that taps into the crime noir genre, expertly done and perhaps the highlight of the week.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:24 - Introduction
• 00:02:24 - Setup of interview
• 00:04:23 - Interview with Tim Lane

On this interview episode Derek talks with Tim Lane about his series Happy Hour in America, Vol. 2, the first issue of which is just being released from Fantagraphics Books. This isn't the first time that Tim has been interviewed on The Comics Alternative. In January 2015, Derek published on the blog a text-based conversation with him that he had conducted via email. That was a insightful and substantive interview, but the current one goes even further, allowing Tim not only to comment on his current work, but to delve into a variety of other topics, such as the business side of the medium, the state of comic books as a publishing platform, and matters of comics pedagogy. But the core of the conversation concerns Tim's latest efforts in this new volume of Happy Hour in America, his fascination with twentieth-century Americana, his previous collections -- Abandoned Cars and The Lonesome Go -- and the interpretive biography he currently has underway, Just Like Steve McQueen. This is an unusually long interview, running just over two hours, but it's an engaging conversation that will introduce you to Tim's "Great American Mythological Drama."

For this week's Kickstarter spotlight, Derek focuses on Swan Song: The Musical Anthology, a campaign underway from Cloudscape Comics. Discussing this project with him are Jeffrey Ellis and Oliver McTavish-Wisden, the assistant director/founder and the executive director, respectively, of the small Vancouver publisher and collective. Swan Song is an anthology including contributions from a wide variety of (mostly) British Columbia-based creators, all of which engage with music in one way or another.

Swan Song will feature a cover by Renee Nault, and creative contributions from:

• Ed Appleby
• Arden Belfry
• Anthony Biondi
• James Brandi
• Emily Cowan
• Jonathon Dalton
• Jesse Davidge
• Monica Disher
• Jeff Ellis
• Drew Gilmour
• Annalise Jensen
• Sam Keating
• K. Kelsay
• Yashaswi Kesanakurthy
• Reetta Linjama
• Riley Masters
• Tamiko Masters
• Oliver McTavish-Wisden
• Angela Melick
• Sfé R. Monster
• Hannah Myers
• Alina Pete
• Jess Pollard
• Anat Rabkin
• Simon Roy
• G. C. Joseph Seiler
• Karen Shangguan
• Bevan Thomas
• Ian Thomas
• Jason Wilkins
• Jeri Weaver
• Klara Woldenga
• Patrick Wong

This campaign will end on Saturday, December 9, so be sure to visit the Swan Song Kickstarter page and back this campaign!

UPDATE SINCE THE RECORDING: Oliver and Jeff have now included a support level for a soft-cover edition of Swan Song!

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and the folks at The Comics Alternative all gather around the virtual table to share what they are thankful for in terms of comics and comics culture. Pulling up a seat this year are Gwen, Paul, Sean, Gene, Edward, and Derek. Among the many things that they're thankful for are

• First Second's Science Comics and Secret Coders series,
• local comics shops (Comix Revolution in Evanston, IL, and Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC) and local conventions (such as CAKE),
• being able to meet your comics heroes, such as Gary Panter and Trina Robbins,
• the conclusion of Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun series,
• Fantagraphics and its always impressive output, such as this year's Now and How to Read Nancy,
• Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman's Resist!,

What more could one ask for in a holiday podcast episode? Well...maybe some pie.