Episode 266: Reviews of Red Winter, Motherlands #1, and The Archies # 4

Time Codes: 00:00:30 - Introduction 00:003:11 - We get significant listener responses! 00:07:41 - Red Winter 00:32:46 - Motherlands #1 00:50:03 - The Archies #4 01:14:34 - Wrap up 01:15:39 - Contact us This week Gene and Derek discuss, yet again, three diverse titles. They begin with Anneli Furmark's Red Winter (Drawn and Quarterly). It's the the first in a trilogy of graphic novels, although this is Furmark's first work translated into English. The narrative is set in the late 1970s and centers on two lovers struggling with complicating relationships, both marital and political. Each chapter focuses on a particular character involved in the drama, and Furmark's presentation is both contemplative and tonally provocative. The guys eagerly await further Furmark translations coming from Drawn and Quarterly. Next, the Two Guys check out the first issue of a new Vertigo Comics miniseries, Motherlands, written by Si Spurrier and with art by Rachel Stott. This is a sci-fi, futuristic story of a middle-age multi-dimensional bounty hunter, Tabitha Tubach, trying to earn a living, while at the same time struggling with her past and a mother who marked it (and not for the better). And as if familial matters couldn't get more any more trying, the end of this inaugural issue brings additional complications with the emergence of Tabitha's sibling, Bubbsa. Gene and Derek wrap up this week's show with Alex Segura, Matthew Rosenberg, and Joe Eisma's The Archies #4. It's unusual that the guys review an issue of a series beyond the first one or two issues, but this is a special case. The focus of The Archies #4 is a musical group near and dear to both Derek and Gene, The Monkees. That's right, Davy, Mickey, Peter, and Mike meet The Archies...which is not as unusual as you might think. After all, both groups have been perceived as "fictions," both have been categorized as bubblegum pop, both inadvertently find themselves in weird dilemmas, and both have a history with Don Kirshner. Hey hey...