Episode 70 - Big Weird Sci Fi

Back, back again to the stranger edges of sci fi. We ponder whether sci fi has preemptively shifted to reflect our garbage fire times, or whether our reading habits have just taken a turn for the cynical.

Because of the garbage fires.

We covered:

• Black Monday Murders - Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker
• Those Fucking Dinosaurs (I have no idea where to find this, let us know if you spot it)
• Descender - Jeff Lemire and Dustin Nguyen
• Harrow County - Tyler Crook and Cullen Bunn
• Mare Internum - Der-shing Helmer
• Dept.H - Matt Kindt and Sharlene Kindt
• Quantum Teens Are Go! - Magdalene Visaggio, Eryk Donovan, Claudia Aguirre
• The Firelight Isle - Paul Duffield
• Leave Me Alone - Vera Brosgol
• Deep Space Canine - Comic Book Slumber Party (full list of contributors here)
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvie, Jordie Bellaire
• The Wild Storm - Warren Ellis and Jon Davis-Hunt
• Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
• Warm Blood - Josh Tierney, Saskia Gutekunst, Joysuke, Winston Young, Naomi Franquiz, Marina Julia, Olivier Pichard (so far)
• Epicurean’s Exile - Leia Weathington and Jack Cole
• Monstress - Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Kaijumax - Zander Cannon

Podcast 68 - Comic Shops

We really expected to just talk in gushing tones about our favourite comic shops and then come up with some great ideas for how we'd run our own.

So of course we're ranting about the comics Direct Market. But also some other stuff! 

We read:

• Mare Internum - Der-shing Helmer
• Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet - Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• The Arab of the Future - Riad Sattouf
• How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less - Sarah Glidden
• Critical Chips - Zainab Akhtar and various authors
• The Can Opener’s Daughter - Rob Davis

Comic shops we talked about:

• Gosh (London)
• Page 45 (Nottingham)
• Niche (Huntingdon)
• Dave's Comics (Brighton)
• OK Comics (Leeds)

Podcast 67 - Best Comics 0f 2016

Hot dang folks, it's the end of the year, and that means Best Of lists. We're no exception to this cheap and easy content format, but we will at least give some lucky scamp a prize of each of our picks for the best comics this year.

Our spoilery results way below, hidden beneath this very professional advert for  affordable bookkeeping:

Problem Chimp Will Count For You

(Not an official Problem Chimp Enterprises advert, but I do work in marketing, so, y'know. Sorry.)

Each of Our Top Three Books:

• AD: After Death #1 - Scott Snyder and  Jeff lemire
• For The Love Of God, Marie - Jade Sarson
• The Nameless City - Faith Erin Hicks and Jordie Bellaire
• Rolling Blackouts - Sarah Glidden
• Unsounded - Ashley Cope
• March #3 - John Lewis, Nate Powell, Andrew Aydin
• Vision - Tom King, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire
• Plutona - Jeff Lemire, Emi Lennox, Jordie Bellaire
• 5000 KM Per Second - Manuele Fior

Still Good:

• Saga - Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples
• Paper Girls - Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• Southern Bastards - Jason Aaron and Jason Latour
• Empty Zone - Jason Shawn Alexander
• Doctor Fate - Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew
• Giant Days - John Allison, Lissa Treiman, Max Sarin
• Harrow County - Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook
• Sixth Gun - Cullen Bunn and Bryan Hurtt
• Squirrel Girl - Ryan North and Erica Henderson
• Doctor Strange - Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Monstress - Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
• Check Please - Ngozi Ukazu

And also:

• Broken Frontier Anthology - Various
• The Spire - Simon Spurrier, Jeff Stokely, André May
• The Can Opener’s Daughter - Rob Williams

Podcast 36 - Sci Fi Roundup

Last time we did sci fi comics, we looked at the psychedelic end of things. Now we're looking at the current batch of sci fi comics. We're the complete package, is what I'm saying here. Also: Trago Mills! Colonoscopies! Beauty and the Beast visit Ikea! Limericks! The velvety softness of hamsters' testicles! And more!

We talked about:

• Brass Sun - Ian Edginton & I. N. J. Culbard
• The Fuse - Antony Johnston & Justin Greenwood
• SAM: After Man - Richard Marazano & Shang
• Gunnerkrigg Court - Tom Siddell
• Trees - Warren Ellis & Jason Howard
• Prophet - Brandon Graham et al.
• Transmetropolitan - Warren Ellis & Darwick Robertson
• Roche Limit - Michael Moreci & Vic Malhotra
• Copperhead - Jay Faerber, Scott Godlewski, Ron Riley
• Aama - Frederik Peeters
• Wild's End - Dan Abnett & I. N. J. Culbard
• Low - Rick Remender & Greg Tocchini
• Fear Agent - Rick Remender & Tony Moore
• Chrononauts - Mark Millar & Sean Gordon Murphy
• Punk Rock Jesus - Sean Gordon Murphy
• Material - Ales Kot, Will Tempest, Tom Muller
• ODY-C - Matt Fraction & Christian Ward
• Descender - Jeff Lemire & Dustin Nguyen
• Nameless - Grant Morrison & Chris Burnham

Podcast Episode 33: She Makes Comics

This week we watched Marissa Stotter's documentary She Makes Comics, a history of women in comics creation and fandom. We also run down some recent comics that we've been reading.

I've got to level with you, Lucy says "anus" repeatedly in this episode for no discernible reason. Also you can find out what swimming certificates we each have. Shall we?

This week we read:

• Saga - Brian K Vaughan and Fiona Staples
• Wytches - Scott Snyder and Jock
• Friends With Boys - Faith Erin Hicks
• I Don’t Like My Hair Neat 2 - Julia Schiele
• The Side Effects of the Cocaine - Sean T Collins/Isaac Moylan
• Satellite Sam - Matt Fraction and Howard Chaykin
• Velvet - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Elizabeth Breitweiser
• Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
• Casanova: Acedia - Matt Fraction, Michael Chabon, Gabriel Ba, Fabio Moon
• Miss Don’t Touch Me - Hubert and Kerascoet
• The Sculptor - Scott McCloud
• Nameless - Grant Morrison, Chris Burnham, Nathan Fairbairn
• Trees - Warren Ellis and Jason Howard

And that Matt Kindt comic Roger was talking about was Divinity.

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 18 - TCAF

Dave's been in The Canada, attending TCAF, so we talk about comics and comics shows and Canada. We also talk quite a lot about everything that is wrong with society, and some things that are wrong with Star Trek.

• Beautiful Darkness: Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët
• Hip Hop Family Tree: Ed Piskor
• The Undertaking of Lily Chen: Danica Novgorodoff
• Andre The Giant - Life and Legend: Box Brown
• Celeste: I.N.J. Culbard
• Pregnant Butch: A.K. Summers (and here's Roger's review / critique)
• The Spectral Engine: Ray Fawkes
• Trees: Warren Ellis and Jason Howard
• The Strumpet: Various
• Silly Kingdom: Katie Shanahan and Steven Shanahan (and their podcast which I cannot pronounce, but is very good, Shanahanigans).

We also mentioned Lucy Bellwood's Oh Joy Sex Toy strip, and the Kickstarter for the book of the first year's strips - get on that.