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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 advertising man who went to comics school in his 50s. Tim talks with him about the book.
Novelist William Bernhardt also joins Tim to talk about his exhaustively researched nonfiction book The Superman Wars, a history of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s battle over ownership of Superman and recognition as his creators. All superhero fans know the outlines of this controversy, but this book fills in all the details.
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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 essence: superpowered guys punching each other; and Grant Morrison & a bevy of artists poke sharp satirical sticks at the comics of The Guys who Would Be Image in Doom Force Special #1 (1992), right down to the excessive speed lines, nonsense powers, and ankles that would never support an adult human’s weight.
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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:
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- Heaven by Katie Skelly is a Fantagraphics book about a haunted strip club. Jason joins Tim to discuss it.
- Was That Normal? by Alex Potts (Avery Hill) gives us a neurodivergent main character and a vague threat from a crumbling tower. Adam and Tim review it.
- John of the Night (Avery Hill) is a wild scifi epic by Darryl Cunningham. As Emmet and Tim will discuss, Cunningham normally publishes fact-based comics journalism, such as bios of Ayn Rand and Vladimir Putin, but this time he turns in a really enjoyable work of fiction.
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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
In this episode, Tim and Kumar review the book, to be released September 8, and then Tim chats with Derf himself, answering our questions about the tragedy and the book. (Originally published September 2, 2020.)
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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.)
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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, but Tim finally got the Spidey characterization he’s been waiting for! Tim and Mulele review. (Originally published on Patreon June 6, 2020.)
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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? Who knew this about vibranium? Tim and Emmet react to surprise twists in Wakanda’s past.
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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, published September 3, 2007.
- `Persepolis 2 and the film version of Persepolis reviewed in episode 185, published June 22, 2009.
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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 objective look at the question of whether some of the … discomforting subjects of his work should really have been published as “artâ€), but also a fascinating portrait of the dysfunctional family he grew up in.
Then, Tim and Brandon clash over Sean Murphy’s Punk Rock Jesus, in which a former Irish Republican Army member acts as a bodyguard in a reality show claiming to be creating the clone of Jesus Christ. Is it objective and well-written, or a promo brochure for atheism? (Originally published November 2, 2015)
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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?!â€) and religious readers (“This comic is not for kids?!â€) alike. Both groups have been taken aback by how straight Crumb plays it — neither parodying nor bowdlerizing the work. That’s not to say that nothing in it is Crumb’s own interpretation. Tim and John discuss the issues raised — both by Crumb and by his audience. (Originally published August 18, 2014.)
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