Podcast 61 - Fantasy

We bravely set out to find the very best in fantasy comics, but we got badly sidetracked and got eaten by a Groo, a monster from a videogame that shares its name with a fantasy comic we didn't actually cover. Will that do? I tried.

There's a weird lack of fantasy comics, so we try to figure out why what Mr Hart so kindly refers to as "Elves and Swords and Bollocks" isn't as prevalent as other genres.

We covered:

• A City Inside - Tillie Walden
• Oishinbo - Tetsu Kariya, Akira Hanasaki
• Black Monday Murders - Jonathan Hickman, Tomm Coker
• Dicebox - Jenn Manley Lee
• Echo’s Rift  Jennifer Potter
• Unsounded - Ashley Cope
• Stand Still, Stay Silent - Minna Sundberg
• The Lost Oracle - Lho Brockhoff
• Cry Havoc - Si Spurrier, Ryan Kelly, Nick Filardi, Matt Wilson, Lee Loughridge
• Weirdworld - Sam Humphries, Michael Del Mundo
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Pretty Deadly - Kelly-Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire
• Ghastly - "Ghastly" (This is very not safe for work you guys)

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction entry on fantasy comics.

Podcast Episode 30 - Best Comics of 2014

2014, eh? Prick of a year. Still, there were plenty of great comics out there, and we've rounded up our favourites. One lucky soul will even win our two top picks, if you booked yourself a Bullshit Bingo card. All you have to do is listen for certain key phrases and mark them off when you hear them. The first person to yell "house" at us on

Twitter

or over

email

walks away with this fantastic prize*.

We have a winner! Thanks to those who joined in the Dionysian

bingo frenzy

Our combined longlists are way, way below, so as not to ruin the surprise.

• Mulp: Matt Gibbs and Sara Dunkerton
• Blacksad: Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido
• TJ & Amal: E.K Weaver
• Trees: Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• Will O The Wisp: Megan Hutchinson and Tom Hammock
• Moon Knight: Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Pretty Deadly: Kelly-Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire
• Beautiful Darkness: Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoet
• The Motherless Oven: Rob Davis
• The Wrenchies: Farel Dalrymple
• This One Summer: Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki
• Through the Woods: Emily Carroll
• Hip-Hop Family Tree: Ed Piskor
• Just So Happens: Fumio Obata
• The Wicked and the Divine: Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie
• Moonhead and the Music Machine: Andrew Rae
• The Collector: Sergio Toppi
• Shoplifter: Michael Cho
• Silver Surfer: Dan Slott, Michael Allred, Laura Allred
• Saga: Brian K Vaughan, Fiona Staples
• Hawkeye: Matt Fraction, David Aja, Annie Wu
• Mind MGMT: Matt Kindt
• Poorly Drawn Lines: Reza Farazmand

...and our special treat at the end, A Naughty Boy for Krampus.

Podcast Episode 19 - Pretty Deadly

This week we look at Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios' Pretty Deadly in depth, as well as the recently-reissued gay/civil-rights graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby. This week we were all sober. This week you might occasionally hear the crude verbal seepings of a mind come untethered from decency and reality. We cover:

• Stuck Rubber Baby  - Howard Cruse
• This One Summer - Jillian & Mariko Tamaki
• Moon Knight - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Basewood - Alec Longstreth
• Pretty Deadly - Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios, Jordie Bellaire

Podcast Episode 17 - Crime

CRIME IS EVERYWHERE. Well, there's a bit. There's a lot in comics too! We take a detailed forensic look at some of our favourite pulp and noir comics, talk about some real life crimes that may or may not have happened. They're pretty exciting crimes! Plus the usual filth and nonsense.

Comics we covered in this episode:

• Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
• Zombo by Al Ewing and Henry Flint
• Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba
• Parker by Darwyn Cooke, adapted from Donald Westlake
• Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Philips
• Mass Effect: Redemption by Various
• Blacksad by Juanjo Guarnido and Juan Diaz Canales
• Britten & Brulightly by Hannah Berry
• Batman ‘66 by Various
• East of West by Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta
• Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Rios and Jordie Bellaire
• Whiteout by Ed Rucka and Steve Lieber
• Lumberjanes by Grace Ellis, Noelle Stevenson and Brooke A. Allen
• Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
• Thief of Thieves by Robert Kirkman, Nick Spencer and Shawn Martinbrough
• Top 10 - Alan Moore and Gene Ha
• Gotham Central - Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark
• Identity Crisis - Brad Meltzer, Rags Morales and Michael Bair
• Sin City - Frank Miller
• Stumptown - Ed Rucka and Matthew SouthWorth

The Wilkinson Lewis family:

• Yes Hive Overlord
• Music!

Podcast Episode 10 - Thought Bubble

This week we're in Leeds, taking in Thought Bubble 2013, and squeeing a little bit over the assembled comics Luminaries.

Captain Crochet. Not for the delicate.