Michael and Derek are back at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find for the first of two July on-location episodes. They visit the shop on Independence Day, and they use the occasion to discuss current trends and titles in the comics industry. Mike explores recent manifestations of The Avengersand Justice League, focusing on Marvel and DC through what he calls the "classic Coke" approach. His discussion takes him across the writings of Jason Aaron and Scott Snyder, and then circling back to Tom King's current work on Batmanand the recent marriage event. Looking at the non-mainstream side of comics, Derek talks about his reaction to the first two issues of Evan Dorkin and Veronica Fish's Blackwoodand the initial offering of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, part of Titan Comics' Hard Case Crime series. He also brings up Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boysand the recent announcement of new Perfect Editions from VIZ Media. And, it being July 4th, the Two Guys also discuss comics, politics, and the current state of the country. 

Time Codes:

• 00:00:24 - Introduction
• 00:02:18 - Setup of interview
• 00:03:49 - Interview with Julian Hanshaw

Many U.S. readers were introduced to Julian Hanshaw through his book Tim Ginger, released in 2015 from Top Shelf Productions, an imprint of IDW Publishing. It’s the story of man in his later years coming to terms with the decisions he’s made, including his choice to remain childless. As Julian discusses in this interview, the text was largely autobiographical in nature. And the same can said of his new book, Cloud Hotel. The story was inspired by a UFO encounter he had as a young boy and the psychological affect such an experience had on him afterwards. As Julian discloses during his conversation with Derek, Cloud Hotelis the second of what will be a trilogy of autobiographical works, beginning with Tim Ginger. But they also discuss some of his earlier works that may not be familiar to American readers, such as The Art of Phoand I’m Never Coming Back. Julian also talks about his upcoming book from SelfMadeHero, I Feel Machine, a collection of six comics stories that he edited with Kent Able, all by different creators and all focusing on how technology has transformed the way we communicate and frame our culture.

Happy Independence Day! It's the beginning of the month, so it's time for another look at the latest Previewscatalog. On this episode, Paul and Derek highlight many of the upcoming titles solicited in July. And this is a long episode, running for just over 3 hours and 20 minutes, so strap in and get ready for a long ride.

First, they begin the episode by sharing a variety of listener correspondences they've received over the past week...and there are a lot of them. Then they jump into the July Previews. They start with the offerings for this October's Halloween ComicFest, and then they turn to the catalog proper. Among the many publishers and titles that they focus on are:

• Image Comics - Man-Eaters#1, MCMLXXV#1, Cemetery Beach#1, Green Monk: Blood of the Martyrs, Me the People, and My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies

Time Codes:

• 00:00:24 - Introduction
• 00:02:25 - Setup of interview
• 00:04:11 - Interview with Luke Healy

Luke Healy was first on The Comics Alternative at Small Press Expo in 2016, where he briefly spoke with Derek about his provocative self-published minicomic The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion, which was nominated that year for an Ignatz Award. A couple of months later Luke came back on the show, this time for a long and more in-depth interview about his new book at the time, How to Survive in the North, released from Nobrow Press. And now, Luke comes back on podcast to discuss his most recent work. His brand-new book revisits some of his older writings and places them within an entirely new context. Permanent Press has just been released from Avery Hill Publishing, and it’s a mock autobiographical text that explores the world of independent comics creators and the relationship between a cartoonist and his ego. What’s more, the new book incorporates the previously self-published The Unofficial Cuckoo’s Nest Study Companion, but it does so in a way that brings a fresh perspective to the story and even underscores its experimental nature. In this interview, Derek talks with Luke Healy about the origins of Permanent Press, its highly satirical tone, and the process of looking inside of himself and pulling out a narrative that is not entirely autobiographical, but at the same time, not purely fiction. As you’ll hear, Luke is certainly one of the medium’s most meditative creators.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:27 - Introduction
• 00:02:32 - Back on schedule!
• 00:04:24 - Claudine

This is the June manga episode, and unlike Shea and Derek had been doing the past couple of shows, this month's manga episode actually comes out on the appropriate month...on time! And on the June show, the Two Guys discuss Riyoko Ikeda's Claudine(Seven Seas Entertainment), a shōjo narrative set in historical France. The titular figure is a trans man, feeling trapped inside of his female body. Claudine's journey takes him through several relationships, a lot of disappointments, and frustrations on not being understood. Next, Shea and Derek discuss the first volume of Akiko Higashimura's new series, Tokyo Tarareba Girls(Kodansha Comics). While the style of this josei series is similar to Princess Jellyfish, the focus is more mature -- and even more comedic -- than that of her previous series. The guys discuss both the comedy and the messaging that seems to come through the story proper, and then contrast that tone with that of the "Bonus Story" that ends this first volume.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:27 - Introduction
• 00:02:37 - Setup
• 00:04:06 - A Strange and Beautiful Sound

On this month's Euro Comics episode, Pascal and Derek discuss two recent French-language translations. They begin with Zep's A Strange and Beautiful Sound, the second of his books released through IDW Publishing. This is a story of a Carthusian monk who, because of a dead relative's last will and testament, reenters the everyday world after 26 years of seclusion. The art and colors of this narrative are quite striking, and while the subject matter is significantly different from his previous A Story of Men, both Pascal and Derek find a common style between these two texts.

Next, they check out the latest work in Dark Horse's Moebius Library, Inside Moebius, Part 2. The guys begin by contextualizing the first part of this improvisational journal, released earlier this year, and then go into detail about Part 2. This second book is much more metafiction and self-referential than Part 1, but like the first installment, it includes multiple representations of the author himself, along with encounters with his most notable creations, Arzach, Major Grubert and Malvina, Stel and Atan, and of course Lieutenant Blueberry. The text is free-flowing and surreal, but this is what makes Moebius's self-investigation so notable. Both guys eagerly await the third and final part of Inside Moebiuslater this fall.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:26 - Introduction
• 00:02:30 - Media attention!
• 00:05:16 - XTC69

The Two Guys with PhDs are back with another publisher spotlight, this one focusing on the spring releases from Koyama Press. (In fact, this is the third spotlight on Koyama, with the guys having previously discusses their seasonal releases in April 2015and May 2017.) All of these books debuted at TCAF last month, and Paul and Derek indulge in exciting discussions of these six new releases.

They begin with Jessica Campbell's XTC69, a wild science fiction narrative about gender relations and female empowerment. It serves as a great companion piece to her earlier Koyama book, Hot or Not: 20th-Century Male Artists. After that they discuss the largely wordless text, Soft X-Ray/Mindhunters. As with his previous work, Mighty Star and the Castle of Cancatervater, A. Degen challenges the boundaries of storytelling, and Paul and Derek have fun attempting to decipher the text. And it says something that, compared with the work of A. Degen, Michael DeForge's latest book A Western World is understandable and more "traditional." This is a collection of various DeForge stories, some of them previously published in his Loseseries, and it would serve as a great introduction to the creator's style.

Next, they focus on the latest installment of Ben Sears's Double+ world, The Ideal Copy. Following 2016's Night Air and last year's Volcano Trash, this book has Plus Man and Hank out of work as treasure hunters and having to take temporary jobs as caterers...and while doing so inadvertently discovering adventure. Perhaps the most abstract and narratively challenging work of the bunch, Michael Comeau's Winter's Cosmos, is a curious mix of media, photography and illustration. Its the offbeat story of two space travelers on a mission, each with varying degrees of seriousness and dedication. Paul and Derek wrap up their Koyama Press spotlight with a discussion of Fiona Smyth's Somnambulance. This is the longest text of the bunch, and it's a fascinating retrospective of Smyth's comics from the 1980s to present day. For those unfamiliar with this creator's comics, Somnambulanceis the perfect overview.

Time Codes:

• 00:00:24 - Introduction
• 00:02:23 - Setup of interview
• 00:04:03 - Interview with Sean Karemaker

Sean Karemaker’s comics are a different kind of reading experience. He illustrates in a highly detailed textured style, and his stories flow in a dreamlike manner, free from the constrictions of sequential paneling. In fact, he creates many of his comics in a scroll-like manner, writing out his narratives across a broad horizontal field, and then later deciding how to break up his illustrations across pages. The result, as we find in his latest book Feast of Fields (Conundrum Press), is story whose unveiling reflects the process of memory, a sort of streaming of experience with a zig-zagging quality between past and present.  In this interview with Sean, Derek talks with his guest about this style of cartooning and especially the genesis of his latest book. It’s largely the story of his mother during her time in a Danish orphanage, but Sean contextualizes her narrative by placing it within his own life experiences and revealing what his mother’s past has meant to him. Derek also talks with Sean about his previous book from Conundrum, The Ghosts We Know, a collection of short pieces that are largely autobiographical in nature and provide a wonderful introduction to Karemaker’s style of comics storytelling.

It's another on-location recording at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC. But with this episode the podcast is doing something different. The on-location show will be going up twice monthly -- schedules permitting -- and joining Derek on these Heroes shows will be Michael Kobre, another guy with a PhD talking about comics. On their on-location shows, Mike and Derek will discuss very recent comics, those being released in the week or two before the recording, that have caught their attention. Mike will primarily focus on the DC and Marvel mainstream titles, while Derek will concentrate on non-mainstream, or alternative and indie, comics. And, of course, they will invite customers and employees of the shop to join in on the conversation.

On this episode, Mike discusses the work of Tom King, including the recent deluxe edition of The Sheriff of Babylon, his work on Marvel's Vision, and his run on Batman. Derek comments on recent issues from Image Comics -- specifically Farel Dalrymple's Proxima Centauri#1, Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox's The Weatherman #1, and Joseph Keatinge and Bret Blevins's Stellar#1-- as well as the minicomics he recently discovered from Natalie Andrewson.

Stay tuned, because Mike and Derek will be back at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in a couple of weeks!

Alonzo Cunningham, Zyg Furmaniuk, and Michael Kobre

Alonzo Cunningham and Zyg Furmaniuk

Time Codes:

• 00:24 - Introduction
• 02:16 - Setup of interview
• 03:40 - Interview with Erin Nations

In December of 2016, Top Shelf Productions published the first issue of Erin Nations’s Gumballs, the one of four issuesthat would be released over the course of the following year. This quarterly ran as a one-personal anthology, a collection of stories and observations, many of which were autobiographical in nature. Gumballsstood out among its peers in that it recalled the kind of comic books we used to get from other alternative creators such as Seth, Daniel Clowes, and Chris Ware. Now those creators have turned to the “graphic novel” or book form, and it’s a rarity that we get a comic book like this, making Gumballsstand out as a title of note. Now those four issues have been collected as a trade, one that has just been made available in the direct market and next week will be out for wider release.  In this interview, Derek talks with Erin Nations about the genesis of his Gumballsseries, his thoughts on being an autobiographical cartoonist, how he uses comics to chronicle his transitioning, and the various tones he strikes among the many stories contained within his series.