The Comics Alternative

One of the things that has defined 2015 for The Comics Alternative has been the number of Publisher Spotlights it's presented -- seven, up until today. This week, the Two Guys are back with their eighth and final spotlight of the year, one on the fall releases out of Locust Moon Press. They begin their critical focus with a brief interview Derek conducted with Josh O'Neill, the publisher of Locust Moon Press. In that conversation, Josh shares the background and history of Locust Moon, first as a bookstore (which will be closing its doors early next year) and then as a publisher with an impressive catalog. They also discuss the press' success with Kickstarter, including last year's campaign with Little Nemo: Dream Another Dream and the current efforts with The Lost Work of Will Eisner. After that, Andy and Derek get into the nitty gritty of the show, a discussion of Locust Moon's fall releases. They begin with Prometheus Eternal, a short collection of stories inspired by Rubens's famous painting, Prometheus Bound. This work was created in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and including work by such creators as Grant Morrison, Paul Pope, Dave McKean, Bill Sienkiewicz, Farel Dalrymple, Yuko Shimizu, and David Mack. Next, the guys turn to another collection, this one the sixth issue of Quarter Moon. The theme to this issue is "Impractical Cats," and with cat-related contributions from a variety of creators including Farel Dalrymple, Tia McClelland, Mike Sgier, Lisk Feng, Jim Comey, Gregory Benton, J.G. Jones, Dean Haspiel, Jeremy Baum, and a host of others. After that, they look at Ben Kahn and Bruno Hidalgo's Shaman, a satiric and inventive mashup of superheroes, the supernatural, and humor. Neither Andy nor Derek were aware of Shaman before this spotlight episode -- they completely missed Kahn's Kickstarter from earlier this year -- but now they're totally on board and look forward to more of this series, because it's funny as hell. Finally, the guys wrap up with a long discussion of Little Nemo's Big New Dreams, a joint effort with Françoise Mouly's TOON Graphics. This is a smaller, more affordable, and more holdable, version of the broadsheet-sized Dream Another Dream, including more than thirty strips from the Eisner Award-winning collection. And like the aforementioned Prometheus Eternal and Quarter Moon collections, this TOON book is chock-full of impressive contributors, including Art Spiegelman, Craig Thompson, Carla Speed McNeil, Mark Buckingham, Roger Langridge, Box Brown, R. Sikoryak, Jim Rugg, Yuko Shimizu, Gerhard...and the list goes on. In fact, you could even see today's show as the most creator-packed episode that the Two Guys have ever recorded.

In yet another of the Two Guys' interview series, Derek is back to talk with one of the hardest working people in comics today, Ed Brisson. The first issue of his and Adam Gorham's new series, The Violent, will be released tomorrow, and Ed shares with Derek the story behind this new ongoing title from Image Comics. In fact, Ed reveals that the genesis of the narrative actually springs from his earlier webcomic (and later Dark Horse title), Murder Book. The protagonists, Mason and Becky, are a young working class couple with a checkered past trying to escape the drugs and crime that helped to get them where they are today. As Ed describes, their dilemma has very much a "Murder Book feel," making The Violent an ongoing extension of that story collection. The two also talk about his and Lisandro Estherren's upcoming four-issue miniseries from BOOM! Studios, The Last Contract, the story of a retired hitman who reluctantly finds himself forced back into the business. Along the way, they also bring in discussions of Ed's previous series such as Comeback, The Field, The Mantle, Cluster, and Sheltered. In fact, it's all that Derek can do to contain a conversation that includes such prodigious output. Ed's definitely a hard-working writer, but as he makes clear in the interview, he knows how to let loose, have a good time, and then let those experiences inform his art.

Tomorrow the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics will release a Publisher Spotlight episode devoted to the fall releases from Locust Moon Press. As part of that show, Derek talks briefly with the Locust Moon publisher, Josh O'Neill, about the history of the press, it's recent output, and its success with Kickstarter campaigns. In fact, Josh shares in detail Locust Moon's latest Kickstarter, The Lost Work of Will Eisner, which will wrap up on December 10th. As a way of teasing tomorrow's episode, and in order to give listeners more time to learn about and back this Kickstarter campaign, we are making Derek's conversation with Josh available today.

On this interview episode, Derek is pleased to have as his guest Jon Morris, the author behind The League of Regrettable Superheroes (Quirk Books). This is a book devoted to the heroes throughout comic-book history who just never made it to the big time...and for good reason. As Jon discusses on the show, his work chronicles some of comics' weirdest and wackiest superheroes, complete with backstories, publication history, and colorful vintage art. In the pages of The League of Regrettable Superheroes you'll find strange figures from the Golden and Silver Ages, as well as plenty of head-scratching curiosities from more contemporary times. Throughout much of their conversation, Derek and Jon discuss some of their favorite regrettables, including The Red Bee (a district attorney donning striped leggings and carrying bees hidden inside his belt, his favorite being named "Michael"), The Clown (a police commissioner turned crimefighting circus clown), The Eye (a giant, disembodied eye...that's it, just a floating eye), Nightmare and Sleepy (pro wrestlers dressed in white and with an apparent skeleton fetish), Captain Marvel (not who you think, but someone whose disturbing superpowers includes disengaging his body parts), Fatman the Human Flying Saucer (a green-wearing version of the Fawcett Captain Marvel, but one with a weight problem who turns into a flying saucer), Gunmaster (a pacifist who relies on an inventive arsenal of guns to fight crime), Adam-X The X-Treme (a hero embodying the X-treme worst of '90s culture), the New Guardians (DC Comics' attempt at multiculturalism gone horribly wrong), and Killjoy (Steve Ditko's silent Ayn Randian "mouthpiece"). Jon even discusses some of the earlier manifestations of very current heroes, such the Outsiders, Prez, and Squirrel Girl. What comes through in the guys' conversation -- and what is central to the success of the book -- is Jon Morris's sense of humor. Then again, you have to have one to write about this unlikely collection of crimefighters. A candy-inspired strongman named Captain Tootsie? A robot with an iron propeller beanie named Bozo?

Be sure to check out Jon's web presence:

As the end of 2015 draws near and the holiday shopping season is in full swing, Andy and Gwen have drawn up their lists of their favorite comics for young readers released during the last year. Although their choices run the gamut from texts for early readers up through to texts for teens, every text mentioned creates a fine balance between serious subject matter and engaging artwork and writing. Many of these comics would be great choices for parents and kids to read together. 

Andy’s List:

Gwen’s List:

Books that both Gwen and Andy Selected:

Andy and Gwen alternate leading discussion for each book and finish up by discussing two books that made both of their lists.

As Andy and Derek do at the beginning of every month, they use this first week of December to flip through the latest Previews catalog, highlighting upcoming series and notable new releases that capture their attention. Among the many soon-to-be-released titles they discuss on this week's show are comics from

Also in this episode: the guys enthusiastically welcome new Patreon supporters; complain about reading from PDF files; discuss the increasing weirdness of Neal Adams; speculate on the pronunciation of "Amontillado"; anticipate next year's new SyFy series, Wynonna Earp; pat themselves on the back for getting an endorsement blurb for a major upcoming book; and, of course, give a lot of love to Fantagraphics.

Another month, another healthy dose of manga! For November, Shea and Derek make it a themed episode, one whose binding tie is an unlikely and infamous historical figure. To coincide with the 70th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg Trials, the guys discuss two masters of manga and their takes on Adolf Hitler. They begin with Shigeru Mizuki's Hitler, released earlier this month from Drawn and Quarterly. Since 2011, the Canadian publisher has been introducing English-speakers to the incredible work of Mizuki, and this most recent translation is of a curious graphic biography originally published in 1971. Mizuki approaches Hitler's life as more of a character-study than as a historical determinant. Over the course of the book's first half, we see a very human, very pathetic -- and very troubled -- Adolf Hitler, a man whose failures far outweigh his triumphs. But both Shea and Derek note that as the text carries us into the 1940s, Mizuki's narrative is more rapid-fire and historically episodic, and the man that we're left with is the failed, unstable dictator most often depicted in popular media. Next, the Two Manga Guys turn to a more epic undertaking, Osamu Tezuka's A Message to Adolf (Vertical). Originally serialized in Shukan Bunshun magazine between 1983 and 1985, this is a work of fiction that heavily incorporates the historical figure. In fact, the entire narrative -- totaling over 1,200 pages in Vertical's most recent edition -- is driven by questions surrounding Hitler's possible Jewish heritage. The gist of the story, however, is devoted to the lives of two other Adolfs, both living in Kobe, Japan: one a German Jew growing up in the East, and the other a half-Japanese son of a Nazi Party official. The two become fast friends, only to have history, and fascist ideology, disrupt that relationship. Another character, a newspaper reporter named Sohei Toge, functions as the binding element of these various storylines, and both Derek and Shea highlight -- and marvel at -- the many moving parts that make up this narrative. This is a massive work that shows Tezuka at the peak of his artistry and storytelling abilities. There may be a lot of Hitler in this month's episode, but in the hands of both Mizuki and Tezuka, it's the kind of Hitler that the Two Guys can definitely stomach.

The guys are back with their third annual Thanksgiving show. This a special episode of The Comics Alternative where Andy, Derek, and other cohosts get together to discuss what they're thankful for in the world of comics and comics culture. This year both Andy W. and Gene are able to join in, so for this special holiday week you get a special episode with extra stuff: Four Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics! Among the various things Gene, Derek, Andy, and Andy are thankful for are

Much like the yams with melted marshmallows served during Thanksgiving, this is an episode that you can pass around to friends and loved ones and taking a generous portion and then savoring the smooth, creamy goodness of every bite (byte?). There's plenty to go around. And if you're listening to this podcast in a non-US location, you can appreciate this episode knowing that Thanksgiving is more than just gratuitous Pilgrim references and obscene gluttony; it's also middle-aged guys with advanced degrees sitting around and talking about comic books.

Over the past three and a half years, the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics have interviewed a variety of artists, writers, editors, publishers, educators, and scholars, but in all this time they have not yet interviewed someone from the retail side of comics culture. Until now. In this episode, Derek talks with Christina Merkler, the co-owner of Discount Comic Book Service, one of the largest online retailers of comics (and, in the spirit of full disclosure, an official sponsor of The Comics Alternative). They begin their conversation with a little background history, Christina describing what it was like when her husband, Cameron, came up with the idea for the business and decided to start with an all-online shop. What began as a small Internet-driven service out of their home in 1999 eventually turned into a brick-and-mortar store, multiple online storefronts, and the growing multi-state operation that it has become today. Christina describes how now, with the DCBS remaining in Fort Wayne, IN, and the InStock Trades warehouse being in Memphis, TN, the Merklers feel like they're all over the place and constantly on the go. But they've no plans to rest on their achievements, and instead, are at work on future growth plans. Derek also asks Christina about the competition they've had over the years, the ins and outs of pricing, their relationship with Diamond Comic Distributors, their attempts at getting into the digital comics business, the decisions that go into their monthly specials, and their strategies for good customer relations. In all, his conversation with Christina is a revealing look at the store-front business side of the medium and the many details of how, literally, the books by the creators the guys discuss every week get into the hands of the readers. 

After listening to this interview, be sure to head on over to Discount Comic Book Service and InStock Trades. And when you do, please send them an email and tell them that the Two Guys with PhDs sent you!

On this interview episode, Andy and Derek talk with Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber, the creators behind the new Image series, Ringside. The first issue will be released this week, and so the guys wanted to get the lowdown on what promises to be a fascinating and different title. Joe gets things rolling by laying down the premise of the first narrative arc, introducing us to Danny Knossos, the once-famous wrestler called Minotaur. In classic noir fashion, the protagonist in this first issue returns to the old haunts from his past to help out a friend in trouble, and in doing so inadvertently becomes embroiled in a darker world that he had thought he had put behind him. This is more than a mere wrestling story, Nick and Joe explain. It's a brooding, crime-infused drama that bumps up against the world of professional wrestling. What's more, the series will have an ensemble cast, giving us shifting focal characters and rotating perspectives so as to flesh out a larger and more haunting landscape. The creators also describe how they met one another and how the idea for Ringside came about. They discuss their working relationship, the division of creative labor, and the history behind pitching the story to Image. In fact, Derek and Andy really don't have to do much during this interview. They ask a few questions to get things started, and then Joe and Nick take it from there with their own stories, turning parts of the interview into a personal back-and-forth of a couple of guys catching up. And that's part of The Comics Alternative is all about, isn't it: bringing people together through comics?