The TradeWaiters

The TradeWaiters read "Louis Riel" by Chester Brown, which gave us a chance not only to meet our Cancon quota, but to dive deep into Canadian history, as well as a discussion on biography and the journalistic integrity of the author. Canadians can look forward to feeling nostalgic over Expos 86 and 67, while listeners from away can look forward to finding out just how interesting (and how grim) Canadian history can get.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will be on volumes one and two of "Battle Angel Alita" by Yukito Kishiro.

In today’s episode our panelists finish out the extant volumes of Linda Medley’s "Castle Waiting" with volume two. This volume answers questions about the Doctor, Simon’s father, and Jain’s childhood. We also discuss the most important parts of history, fairy tale endings, where we hope the series will go next, and cartoonist death pacts.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will be on "Louis Riel" by Chester Brown.

After much delay, we can finally bring you the first of our two episode series on Linda Medley’s "Castle Waiting." The whole team reunites to do a close reading of this indy darling, which takes some familiar fairy tales in new directions. We’ll talk about story structure, sense of place, bearded nuns, and the Heroine’s Journey. Hashtag France is real.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will be on volume two of "Castle Waiting" by Linda Medley.

Happy 2018, time travelers. In this episode of the TradeWaiters, Jess, Jam, Jeff, and Jon read "I Killed Adolf Hitler" by the Norwegian cartoonist Jason. It’s a short episode for a short book, but it’s a book that isn’t quite what it seems. Have a listen and see for yourself.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will be on volume one of "Castle Waiting" by Linda Medley.

Our TradeWaiters haven’t read a NEW comic this week, but we do have a bunch of OLD comics we’d like to talk about that might be new to you. If you’re looking for a comic to give away this holiday season, or a comic to give to yourself, Jess, Jon, Jam, and Jeff have some carefully selected favourites for every type of comics reader. This episode is unusually spoiler-free, so give it a listen!

In this episode we talk about:

"Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy: Disco Fever" by Doug Savage

"Underground" by Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber

"Fables" written by Bill Willingham

"Meanwhile" by Jason Shiga

"Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi

"Lumberjanes: To the Max Edition" by Allen, Ellis, Stevenson, and Watters

"Batman: War on Crime" and "Superman: Peace on Earth" by Alex Ross and Paul Dini

"Arsene Schrauwen" by Olivier Schrauwen

"Minus" by Ryan Armand

"Saga" by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

"Skeleton Key" by Andy Watson

"The Gorgeous Harbour" by Mr. Clement

"Letters to an Absent Father" by Maré Odomo

"A Drifting Life" by Yoshihiro Tetsumi

"Sandman" written by Neil Gaiman

"Monsters" by Ken Dahl

"Age of Bronze" by Eric Shanower

"X-1999" by CLAMP

and "Swan Song," our anthology Kickstarting for one more week.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next book will be "I Killed Hitler" by Jason.

Welcome back for part two of our look at Akiko Higashimura’s "Princess Jellyfish." Jam, Jeff, and Jon have a lot to talk about for Volume 2 of this series, including our theories, hopes, and worries about where the story might be headed next. Also there’s an anime of this? But none of us have watched it, so our spoilers only cover Volume 2.

Music by Sleuth.

The book for the next episode is currently TBD!

On today’s episode Jeff, Jam, and Jon dive into the first volume of "Princess Jellyfish" by Akiko Higashimura. This is the first half of a two-part look at the world of the Amars otaku and the gender-bending “stylish” who invades their lives. It’s pretty hard to be compulsively obsessed with jellyfish (or trains or kimonos or old men or BL manga or The Three Kingdoms) when the outside world keeps busting down the door. Join us from the safety of your hikkikomori nest!

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will be on the second volume of "Princess Jellyfish" by Akiko Higashimura

At last we’ve reached the end of our Scott Pilgrimage. Join Jess, Jam, Jeff, Jon, and Kgros as we finish off Bryan Lee O’Malley’s "Scott Pilgrim" with volumes 5 and 6. In this episode we talk about character arcs, throwaway plot twists, background artists, and More Kim Pine. If you’ve traveled with us this far, take our hand and jump into the void with us one more time.

Also there was a movie based on this book. What’s the deal with that?

Original music by Sleuth.

Chip-tune adaptation by Beru.

Our next episode will be on the first volume of "Princess Jellyfish" by Akiko Higashimura.

And now, we continue our “Scott Pilgrimage” through volumes three and four of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s "Scott Pilgrim." In this episode we go even deeper into the themes, scenes, and subspace highway dreams of a twenty-something slacker who’s not very good at playing the bass. We talk about evil exes, what it’s really like to be inside Honest Ed’s, and we finally get to find out what Jess thinks of this series. CONTINUE?

Original music by Sleuth.

Chip-tune adaptation by Beru.

Our next episode will conclude the Pilgrimage with the fifth and sixth volumes of "Scott Pilgrim" by Bryan Lee O’Malley

GET READY! Today we start our three episode “Scott Pilgrimage” as Jon, Jeff, kgros and Jam read the first two volumes of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s "Scott Pilgrim." These books changed comics, and they changed each of our panelists. Join us as we talk about video game literacy, female coming-of-age stories, breaking the fourth wall, Can-con, garbage twenty-somethings, and how one of us used to have Bryan Lee O’Malley’s blog as her homepage. Today, today we’re all Scottaholics.

BEGIN.

Music by Sleuth.

Our next episode will continue the Pilgrimage with the third and fourth volumes of "Scott Pilgrim" by Bryan Lee O’Malley