Quarantined Comics

JEN WANG'S ...modern minorities chat on stargazing + dress-making

January 28th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  49 mins 29 secs

Raman & guest-host Ryan have a chat with award-winning comics creator JEN WANG on Raman's other podcast Modern Minorities (modmypod.com). Jen Wang's works include “Stargazing,” “The Prince & the Dressmaker”, “In Real Life” and “Koko Be Good”. Her books are not-quite-autobiographical (always), but there are seeds of truth and real life in almost every story she tells — being Asian American, having a major healthcare scare as a kid, and more. But most interesting about our chat with Jen was diving into her unconventional journey and decisions along the way. We challenge you to give Jen’s books a try - for you and your kids - and NOT find your eyes start leaking.

VAGABOND VOLS. 1-3 ...I wanna be the very best / To stab them is my real test.

January 23rd, 2022  |  Season 4  |  38 mins 41 secs

manga, takehiko inoue, vagabond

Vagabond is a manga epic that follows the life story of the real-life warrior/philosopher Miyamoto Musashi. This week, in an episode dedicated to Ryan's late cousin Sam, we'll review the first three episodes.

KING & GODHEAD ...going beyond the MLK legend

January 14th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  46 mins 44 secs

In honor of MLK day, we're reading KING - Ho Che Anderson's critically acclaimed unauthorized graphic biography of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. But we ALSO decided to read GODHEAD, another book by Anderson, which tells a near future capitalist tale that juxtaposes the white corporate and black urban experience against a sci-fi backdrop of...finding God?

THE SECRET TO SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH... I hope you're jogging while listening to this podcast

January 7th, 2022  |  Season 4  |  34 mins 31 secs

Let's kick off the new year with some exercise, Alison Bechdel style.

YEAR IN REVIEW ...spoiling 2021's comic book TV/films you were supposed to watch

December 31st, 2021  |  Season 3  |  59 mins 2 secs

To close the year out we decided to recap ALL of the comic book movies + TV shows we coped with in 2021...basically the blatant cash grab that was every major DC + Marvel property we risked life-and-lung for: WW84, Black Widow, Justice League: The Snyder Cut, Falcon & Winter Soldier, WandaVision, Loki, What If?, THE Suicide Squad , Shang Chi, DUNE. Eternals, Spider Man: No Way Home

KLAUS... the santa and his slay

December 24th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  38 mins 52 secs

christmas, comics, grant morrison, holiday, santa claus

In this special holiday episode, we'll take a look at how legendary comic book writer Grant Morrison re-invents... Santa Claus.

ULTIMATE SPIDER MAN (2/2) ...so much spidey so little time

December 17th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  39 mins 1 sec

brian michael bendis, comics, spider-man

The EXPLOSIVE finale of our epic read-through of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

ULTIMATE SPIDER MAN (1/2) ...far from coming no way home.

December 10th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  59 mins 58 secs

INSTEAD of talking about the latest Spider MCU movie, we are reading ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, by Brian Michael Bendis' and Mark Bagley.

Ultimate Spider-Man ran from 2000-2011, re-imagining Peter Parker a modern day, fifteen year old orphan and prodigy living in Queens. With the bite of a genetically modified spider, Peter's all-to-relatable teen trials and tribulation are dialed up to 11, as he navigates a world far to similar to our own, grappling with the introduction of super-powered beings. What starts off as a very teen superhero drama quickly breaks out of classic origin territory and becomes an eleven year storyline that many say is among Spider-Man's greatest runs. For this episode well only be reading volumes 1-13 which represents the first 78 of 160 issues. Next week we'll get thru the rest, seeing the series thru it's inevitable, ultimate conclusion...

BLACK HOLE... The uncanny sex men

December 5th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  40 mins 20 secs

black hole, charles burns, comics, graphic novels

What if the X-Men all got their powers through STDs and their powers are totally useless?

HAWKEYE (RE-Fraction) ...bros, Bed-Stuy, and boomerang arrows? 

November 26th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  46 mins 18 secs

Replaying our 2020 episide about Matt Fraction + David Aja's seminal  2015 HAWKEYE run - that the NEW Disney+ Hawkeye show is obviously based on. This is a fun character-driven romp with Barton, Bishop, and...bros? 

GRAFITY'S WALL ...the misspent Indian youth we don't remember

November 20th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  46 mins 15 secs

Grafity's Wall is the 2018 graphic novel written by acclaimed creator Ram V, illustrated by Anand Radhakrishnan and colored by Aditya Bidikar. The book follows the follies of aspiring street artist Grafity and his friends on the streets of Mumbai. Across 4 individual yet interconnected stories, we get a glimpse into hopes and dreams on the cusp of adulthood... in an impossible city, while exploring the daily trials and tribulations of Indian Youth. A commentary on the gentrification and rapid change the culture of the modern-day subcontinent faces...far and away from the India our parents always told us about. This is anything but a Bollywood number.

ETERNALS ...the "best" of both worlds?

November 12th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  47 mins 35 secs

This week we are doing a double feature about THE ETERNALS. Both the MCU's latest film installment by Chloe Zhao, and also Neil Gaiman's 2006 comics reboot. Both adaptations of Jack "King" Kirby's original work posit the question... what if our species and civilization were not guided by the divine, but simply by space aliens with an ulterior motive, and their really good looking immortal agents?

DEMENTIA 21 ...elder care, parasitic dentures, and Santa

November 8th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  38 mins 53 secs

This week, we look at the mad manga creator Shintaro Kago's absurd and surreal comic series DEMENTIA 21, about aging out in modern day Japan.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS...acclaimed manga creator Gou Tanabe has a Lovecraftian nightmare

October 31st, 2021  |  Season 3  |  34 mins 41 secs

gou tanabe, lovecraft, mountains of madness

If you ever wanted to see a cinematic version of HP Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, Gou Tanabe’s adaptation is as close as you’ll probably get.

DUNE ...spicy desert rom-com, or messianic warning?

October 29th, 2021  |  Season 3  |  56 mins 10 secs

This week, we dig into Denis Villeneuve's DUNE, the latest film adaption of Frank Herbert's sci-fi classic. Spoiler alert - it's really damn good.

GRENDEL ...pointy sticks, little girls, and reincarnation?

October 22nd, 2021  |  Season 3  |  43 mins 36 secs

Matt Wagner's GRENDEL is a indie noir series of comics from the 90s about an anti-hero, which evolved into a study on the nature of aggression. The story follows Hunter Rose, AKA Grendel, an assassin who ascends to the top of New York City's criminal underworld, alongside his orphaned little girl ward and werewolf arch nemesis. Bookended by silly things like "plot" - the book dives into a bunch of one shots illustrated by various artists telling micro tales of Grendel's adventures in various styles and artists like Tim Sale, Mike Allred, Michael Oeming, and many more. It was recently announced that Grendel will get his own own Netflix series starring Abubakr Ali.