PODCAST · arts
Deconstructing Comics
by Tim Young and friends
Deconstructing Comics is a podcast by and for comics creators — especially those who haven't hit their creative stride yet.Whether you've got a comic going and you're trying to promote it, or you haven't even started yet and need some help getting rolling, we hope you'll come here for inspiration and tips. And there's plenty of interest for non-creators, as well!
Episodes
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#889 "The Human Remains"
Have you ever wondered what it's like to go to medical school, take apart cadavers, take exhaustive exams over anatomy, illnesses, and treatments, then become a resident and work 30-hour shifts? Would you still have the passion to become a doctor after all that? This week, Emmet and I discuss the...
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#552 "Logan" (2017)
FLASHBACK! Kumar and Dana discuss Logan in what was, at the time, the first DCP movie review since Iron Man 2! Is Logan an action movie? The action scenes are limited, but when they occur, there are no limits. (Originally published June 19, 2017.) Brought to you by: Waxy Buildup podcast Our...
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#888 Jack Kirby's "Black Panther": Faded to Kirby Dots
Jack Kirby's 1970s Black Panther series started out kind of strange, with King T'Challa wandering far from his kingdom for no apparent reason, but the latter part of the series has pleasantly surprised us. Even the goofy Panther relatives Kirby introduced have turned out to be delightful. Just…
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#887 "The Dissidents": A brutally relevant book
Derf Backderf's latest book is The Dissidents, focusing on a group of political cartoonists in the late 1910s who did powerful political cartoons in a hair-raisingly horrible period in American history: World War I, anti-war protest made illegal, massacres of American blacks (encouraged by the...
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#886 LeUyen Pham and the magic of "As I Dream Of You"
If you think you've read a book like As I Dream of You before, you're probably wrong. Yes, it's about a romance between two teenagers, and yes, it turns tragic, but it's the way the story is told that sets it apart, intentionally misleading you in several ways that give it heft and make rereads...
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Critiquing Comics #250: "Ra no Tabi"
Well, it was probably inevitable: we were sent a comic made with A.I. The human creator cops to using it for the art, but the story also as an A.I. feel. Is it any good? Is it ethical to present it as "art"? Tim and Adam discuss. Brought to you by: Checkered Past podcast Our supporters on Patreon
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#885 A Slayer of 13 Demons & A Real Canadian Hero
This time we're rejoined by Adam Tierney, writer of Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla, as well as Italian artist Saspy. From opposite sides of the planet, they've collaborated on a new comedy/horror/YA graphic novel from IDW, 13 Demons Dead. Meanwhile, Koom has been at Fan Expo Canada. He's done a...
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#884 Jack Kirby's Black Panther: Take THAT, George Lucas!
This week we finally return to Jack Kirby's 1970s run on Black Panther, specifically issues 9 and 10. With Panther away during a crisis, his four relatives step up and become the Black Musketeers! Will they be comedically inept? Racially cringey? Or maybe they'll turn out to be so great that...
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#883 Hulk smash! Hulk stomp! Hulk wear rubber Hulk mask!
Consider the Incredible Hulk. He's often referred to as the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of the Marvel Universe. But is he really Jekyll and Hyde on a deep level? Paul has been studying the early Hulk comics, looking at the various framings that were tried soon after the character's debut. Does Banner...
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#882 "Supergirl" vs. "Woman of Tomorrow"
This summer's Supergirl movie, while not nearly as good as sliced bread, was compelling enough to make Tim curious as to how it compares with the comic it's based on, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow by Tom King and Bilquis Evely. Tim recruited Emmet to join in and consider questions such as: Why did...
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#881 "Doomwar": Black Panther vs. Dr. Doom
Doomwar is a 2010 miniseries in which Dr. Doom sponsors a coup in Wakanda in order to get his hands on all the country's processed vibranium. As we continue to celebrate 60 years of the Black Panther, Tim is joined by Professor Alan, whose Doomspeak podcast celebrates Dr. Doom, a character who…
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#880 Interviews: Emil Wilson ("The Nightingales") and William Bernhardt ("The Superman Wars")
Emil Wilson is the author of the new graphic novel The Nightingales, about a family in 1985 who take in an AIDS patient. The book shows us the panic and misinformation that prevailed about the disease then, and government apathy about a disease that was mainly killing gay men. Wilson is a former...
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#879 Comics Satirize Comics: "DESTROY!" and "Doom Force"
Superhero comics have been parodied for as long as they've existed. This time Tim and Kumar look at two books by comics insiders that satirized the predominant comics of their respective eras: Scott McCloud's Destroy! The Loudest Comic-Book in the Universe!! (1986) distills '80s comics to their...
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#878 Three fun graphic novels
A number of interesting graphic novels have been brought to our attention recently -- works with laugh-out-loud moments and deeper meanings as well. We review three of them in this episode: Heaven by Katie Skelly is a Fantagraphics book about a haunted strip club. Jason joins Tim to discuss it.…
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#671 Derf's "Kent State"
FLASHBACK! In 1970, four students died when national guardsman inexplicably opened fire during an anti-war protest at Kent State University. The craziness of 2020 has hindered planned observances of the craziness of 1970, but we do get this: Derf Backderf's Kent State: Four Dead in Ohio, a moving...
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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
While the characterization of Spidey in Amazing Spider-Man 2 is still spot-on, not much else in the movie is. Tim and Mulele discuss the myriad problems, and occasional strong points, of this 2014 film. (Originally published on Patreon July 4, 2020.) Brought to you by: Doomspeak podcast Our...
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The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)
After Sam Raimi bailed on doing any more Spidey movies, Sony decided to reboot. So, ten years after Spider-man 1, viewers got a new version of Spider-man's origin story - a long, drawn out one with no catharsis (or did we blink and miss it?). One could call this movie unnecessary, as Mulele does,...
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#877 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #7-8: The Truth about Vibranium
The adventure in the Samurai City comes to a close, and Panther attempts to get back to Wakanda. As a vibranium-related crisis unfolds in his homeland, various roadblocks appear in Panther's path to ratchet up the tension. Can he get home in time? Can his geeky relatives help stave off disaster?...
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#876 Marjane Satrapi remembered
Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi passed away on June 4. This week, Tim and Kumar recall their initial reactions to that book and talk a bit about her life and legacy. Then, we revisit segments of past episodes in which Tim and Brandon discussed Satrapi's work: Persepolis review from episode 91,...
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#471 "Crumb" and "Punk Rock Jesus"
(Concluding our review of past episodes featuring the work of R. Crumb.) FLASHBACK! Tim and Kumar meet in person for the first time! This calls for a podcast, but… what to review? We discuss the movie Crumb, which features not only the expected discussion of R. Crumb's work (including an…
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#415 Crumb's Confounding "Genesis"
FLASHBACK! Perhaps one of the most puzzling comics releases in years was The Book of Genesis, Illustrated by R. Crumb. While it's a virtuoso art performance, the exact purpose of the book was puzzling to Crumb fans ("It's not a parody?!") and religious readers ("This comic is not for kids?!")...
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#384 R. Crumb's "Weirdo" Years Revisited
FLASHBACK! Weirdo was a magazine started by R. Crumb, which featured Crumb's work alongside that of a number of other underground-type comics creators. Crumb's work from Weirdo's 28 issues was collected in 2013 as R. Crumb: The Weirdo Years, 1981-'93, released in the U.S. by Last Gasp. It…
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Critiquing Comics #249: "Westron"
Westron is about a private investigator who investigates crimes with supernatural elements. When a girl is murdered, he feels driven to solve the crime by the memory of a childhood friend who was killed. Tim and Jason look into the case of this comic by Shawn McBee, Maciej Jankowski, Nicolas…
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#875 Swamp Thing in Spaaaaace
At last we complete our look at Alan Moore's Swamp Thing run, looking at Swampy's battle with Gotham City, his seeming death, and his travels through space. Along the way, Tim and Kumar have totally different takes on a certain issue, and Tim finds a fact about it that scandalizes Kumar. Join us…
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#874 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #5-6: The City of Samurai
Typical of the Jack Kirby comics we've read from the 1970s, the 1977 Black Panther series is a wild ride. Issues 5 and 6 feature a city of samurai (apparently nowhere near Japan), a yeti (nowhere near the Himalayas), and a nuclear missile (which is far too close to Wakanda). Wait, did we say...
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#873 Adam Tierney: Godzilla comes to Verona
Adam Tierney, writer of the recent hit one-shot Romeo and Juliet and Godzilla, is a video game writer who dabbles in comics as a hobby -- and it's looking like a very successful hobby! This week he talks to Tim about choosing who Godzilla would cross paths with in his Godzilla's Monsterpiece...
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#872 Steranko's "Nick Fury," pt 2: The argument in favor of Stan Lee editing
Jim Steranko's Nick Fury stories from the late 1960s are lauded for the artwork, especially in the stories after Fury got out of Strange Tales and into his own book. The stories are wacky and kind of haphazard. The layouts are sometimes very innovative, but the storytelling is not always clear.…
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#546 "The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye"
FLASHBACK! Why read a biography of a fictional comics artist? What if it's also a history of Singapore — done in a style that apes more than a dozen seminal 20th century comics creators? Tim and Kumar take a look at the awe-inspiring (yet sometimes puzzling) Sonny Liew graphic novel The Art of...
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#871 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #3-4: A Time Machine, a Sweet Ride, and a Samurai
Black Panther continues his wild ride, courtesy of Jack Kirby -- but filling a role that could have been played by virtually any character. With Abner Little and Princess Zanda, we see him fight various treasure protectors, drive an incredibly stylish ancient vehicle, take on a samurai who's been...
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Critiquing Comics #248: "The Blossoming City" pt 1 and "Loon News: The Comic Strip!"
Ian M is a Japan-based Canadian creator whose work we've discussed on this podcast before. His work is often about Japan, but not necessarily about himself. In The Blossoming City part one, he begins the story (presumably true?) about a community garden in Sapporo, in a story that he tells in a...
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#617 Swamp Thing meets the monsters
FLASHBACK! We continue our look at Alan Moore's 1980s run on Swamp Thing— a run in which the title character met werewolves and vampires (as Moore and co. found a new way to use these old tropes), as well as new character John Constantine. Moore was aided by artists Stephen Bissette, John…
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#319 "The Maxx" (RIP Sam Kieth)
FLASHBACK! Even amidst the anything-goes craziness of the early Image years, Sam Kieth's The Maxx was an outlier. While it included some superhero tropes, it wasn't really a superhero book, nor was it like much of anything else on the market, then or now. While it definitely has its weaknesses,...
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#870 Steranko's "Nick Fury," pt 1: Spy or superhero?
Somehow it's taken us 20 years of podcasting to get to Jim Steranko's fabled run on Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. But is the early stuff really so fabled? There's lots of action and it's exciting, but don't dare think about it too much, because the seat-of-the-pants plotting is all over the…
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#325 Alan Moore's "Swamp Thing"
FLASHBACK! Due perhaps to the passage of time, poorly handled reprinting by DC, or some other reason, Alan Moore's writing stint on Swamp Thing in the 1980s does not seem to get mentioned much today. Which is a shame, because it ranks with Moore's best work. And the art by Stephen Bissette and…
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#869 Jack Kirby's Black Panther #1-2: A Ribbit-ing Time Travel Story
We begin our look at Jack Kirby's Black Panther series from the 1970s, introducing a new Kirby character who's a bit too similar to one who first appeared in Captain America! Panther has somehow gotten mixed up in the search for the mate to King Solomon's Frog, an oddball time travel device. The...
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#868 "The Pass": Are you living the dream, or is the dream killing you?
Sometimes, achieving your dream can be kind of a nightmare, even though it's also rewarding. Claudia, in Katriona Chapman's latest graphic novel The Pass, has started her own restaurant and enjoys creating in the kitchen, but everything else that goes with it wears her down. The book gives us a...
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#867 "Goodnight, Punpun"
Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun gives us what appear to be a family of ghostly birds living in a much more realistic-looking world. People within that world don't see them that way, though. It's a world where authority figures act like ADHD kids, where every parent seems to be abusive or alcoholic...
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#866 Fantastic Four 53: Black Panther meets Klaw
After "hunting" the Fantastic Four, the Black Panther reveals that he did it for practice, as he anticipated a battle against his father's killer: Ulysses Klaw. Sure enough, Klaw shows up right on schedule, and the FF help Panther take him down. Tim and Emmet discuss Fantastic Four #53 by Stan…
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#865 Harold Buchholz interview: Kids love comics!
At some point, the idea that some comics should be for adults took over to the extent that it became hard to find good comics for kids. Cartoonist Harold Buchholz was involved in starting an organization called Kids Love Comics that encourages making comics for kids and does events to hook the…
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#864 Black Panther Debuts
Sixty years ago, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby presided over the debut of the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52. The story presents the expectations of the average American for stories about Africa (Jungles! Natives! Africa is a country, right?) and defies those expectations by showing a rich,...
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#863 Jimmy Gownley interview
Jimmy Gownley is the award-winning creator of Amelia Rules, Tanner Rocks, The Dumbest Idea Ever, and more, as well as a co-host of the Unpacking Peanuts podcast. This time, he talks with Tim about why the earliest stuff sells the best (never mind how much his art has improved since then),...
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#627 Walt Simonson's "Thor"
FLASHBACK! One of the most acclaimed Marvel runs of the 1980s was by Walt Simonson on The Mighty Thor. He began writing and drawing it with #337, continued through to #367 (with a quick break in the middle), then gave up art duties but continued writing through #382. This run set aside Dr. Don...
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Critiquing Comics #247: "Lovers Quarrel" and "Digital Bardos" #2
A love triangle. One member feels jilted and goes off the deep end. A gun is involved. Tim and Adam talk about the thriller Lovers Quarrel by Rob Capili, Ikos Karimlan, and Joy Mateo. Lovers Quarrel Kickstarter Buy the book on Amazon.com Meanwhile, Digital Bardos has returned! Hippie "digital…
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#862 "Poor Helpless Comics"
Ed Subitzky did a lot of cartooning for National Lampoon back in the '70s and '80s. Much of his work revolves around comics done under certain conditions or showing a certain situation ("Fortune-Telling Comics" "Dull Comics" "Poor Reception Comics"). Neither Kumar nor Tim were familiar with his...
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#861 Jack Kirby's Captain America: Cap vs Magneto!
While it seems a bit odd to see Captain America fighting Magneto, they do have something in common: Jack Kirby had a hand in creating both! The battle takes place in Captain America Annual #4, from 1977; the story is titled "The Great Mutant Massacre" -- but no, not that one. It's an X-men -...
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#372 "Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary": Painful Personal Memoir as Wacky Comedy!
FLASHBACK! Autobiographical comics are par for the course, but in 1972, Justin Green broke ground for the genre when he published Binky Brown Meets the Holy Virgin Mary. Some of that broken ground hasn't been trod since; how many autobiographical comics about a battle with mental illness have you...
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#860 Chris Ryall on "Daredevil: Born Again"
Daredevil: Born Again, by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli, is one of those comics stories that continues to attract attention decades after it was published. Chris Ryall, co-founder and current publisher at Image imprint Syzygy Publishing, is the author of a new book on that story. He talks...
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#859 Jason Shiga: Choosing his own path
Jason Shiga is creator of the four-volume series Demon as well as many interactive comics. This week, Koom interviews Jason about his page layout strategy, his connections to Adrian Tomine, the pros and cons of comics where the reader gets a choice of paths through the story, his intriguing new...
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#858 Celebrating 20 years by reviewing a 20-year-old film ("Superman Returns")
Our first episode was released on December 5, 2005. After 20 years of changes in focus, format, and personnel, as well as Tim self-teaching audio editing, this time we look back at some of what's changed. Also: In our first episode, Tim, Brandon, and Mulele discussed the teaser trailer for…
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#857 Carol Tyler's "The Ephemerata": Making sense of the worst of all possible stretches
Longtime comics creator Carol Tyler went through a horrific stretch in her life where she lost numerous loved ones, from her parents, to a neighbor, to her dog, in just a six-year stretch. Many other things of varying levels of horribleness happened within that time, too. Her response is not so...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Deconstructing Comics is a podcast by and for comics creators — especially those who haven't hit their creative stride yet.Whether you've got a comic going and you're trying to promote it, or you haven't even started yet and need some help getting rolling, we hope you'll come here for inspiration and tips. And there's plenty of interest for non-creators, as well!
HOSTED BY
Tim Young and friends
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Deconstructing Comics have?
Deconstructing Comics currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Deconstructing Comics about?
Deconstructing Comics is a podcast by and for comics creators — especially those who haven't hit their creative stride yet.Whether you've got a comic going and you're trying to promote it, or you haven't even started yet and need some help getting rolling, we hope you'll come here for inspiration...
How often does Deconstructing Comics release new episodes?
Deconstructing Comics has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Deconstructing Comics?
You can listen to Deconstructing Comics on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Deconstructing Comics?
Deconstructing Comics is created and hosted by Tim Young and friends.
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