Quarantined Comics

CHAR STUDY (2/4) ...from Teen-wonder to Disco-collar!

June 25th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  53 mins 21 secs

Dick Grayson - Character Study is a 4-part mini-series where Raman + Paresh examine the history of one of comics greatest superheroes, Dick Grayson. In Part 1 of 4, we relate to Dick’s TEEN years as Robin & his transition to growing up and becoming Nightwing

CHAR STUDY (1/4) ...holy origin story!

June 18th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  50 mins 32 secs

Dick Grayson - Character Study is a 4-part mini-series where Raman + Paresh examine the history of one of comics greatest superheroes, Dick Grayson. In Part 1 of 4, we unpacking the many early/origin stories of how Dick Grayson became Robin, the Boy Wonder

THE FURRY TRAP & THE FLAYED CORPSE... emotional thrusts and violent thrusts

June 7th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  51 mins 57 secs

comics, flayed corpse, furry trap, josh simmons

Indie cartoonist Josh Simmons is so polarizing, cohost Raman Sehgal walked out of the recording booth. Fortunately, journalist and author Alex Palmer happened to fall through a window at just the right moment to guest host.

MONSTERS... when father comes home from war

May 31st, 2021  |  Season 2  |  42 mins 37 secs

While Monsters uses the familiar language of superhero and horror comics, it tells a deeply tragic story about the long-lasting impact of domestic abuse.

THE FLINTSTONES ...existential dread in the modern stone-age

May 28th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  41 mins 53 secs

Let's ride with the family down the street, and meet the Flintstones - 2016's not-so-thinly-veiled commentary on our modern capitalist society. Written by the always subversive Mark Russel, and illustrated by Steve Pugh, many said this was the best comic of 2016. All the familiar beats are there, Fred, Wilma, Barney, Wilma - even Pebbles, Bam-Bam, and the invisible hand that his Gerald. Let's make Bedrock Great Again, we'll have a gay old, we'll have a gay old time.

MS. MARVEL ...fighting for truth, justice, and time management?

May 21st, 2021  |  Season 2  |  58 mins 57 secs

This week, we're reading MS. MARVEL - written by G. Willow Wilson. MS. MARVEL might've been Marvel's most important "all new, all different" character of the past decade. Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American teenage girl - just trying to get her homework done, write fan-fic, play MMORPGs, figure out her relationship with her religious brother, come to terms with her best friends, and meet the expectations of her immigrant parents. Joining us to talk about our new favorite Pakistani American superhero, is our new favorite Pakistani American geek Lena Shareef, co-host of the podcast GROUNDED GEEKS

PERRAMUS ...crying - and laughing - for Argentina

May 17th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  37 mins 4 secs

comic books, comics, graphic novels

When the writer Juan Sasturain and legendary cartoonist Alberto Breccia teamed up for the seven-year project Perramus: The City And Oblivion, they produced an odd and exhilarating mix of political satire, social commentary, and genre fiction.

SWORD DAUGHTER ...like a Julie Andrews movie, but with revenge

May 7th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  34 mins 36 secs

This week we're reading SWORD DAUGHTER, created by Brian Wood and Mack Chater. It's a short-and-sweet epic of one father and daughters' quest to seek revenge against the ruthless vikings that destroyed their lives. Set one THOUSAND years ago, a shattered father and his teenage daughter go off a revenge quest that will span the width of Viking Age Europe, finding that only the swords they carry may mend the damage in their hearts. It's a beautifully drawn, often heart-wrenching story of loss and guilt, on a quest for closure....but does it satisfy?

YOSHIRO TATSUMI ...3 books that just got odder, yet more poignant?

April 30th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  42 mins 41 secs

We continue our journey to post WW2 Japan, with the more obscure, but equally important manga master - Yoshiro Tatsumi (credited as being the creator of the darker, more realistic "Gekiga" movement in manga). We read THREE short story collections that reflect Tatsumi's delightfully (?) tortured ethos of the time: "The Push Man" (1969), "Abandon The Old In Tokyo" (1970 - also a great name for a band), and "Good-Bye" (1971-1972).

AYAKO... family troubles in post WWII Japan

April 26th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  34 mins 13 secs

comics, graphic novels, manga

Osamu Tezuka is known as the godfather of manga, particularly for his children's' comics like Astro Boy and Princess Knight. But his work for adults is among his most complicated and intriguing and in this week's episode, we'll look at Ayako, a complicated and politically-charged family epic set in post WWII Japan.

BLACK HAMMER ...heading to a farm upstate

April 16th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  45 mins 47 secs

This week we're reading Black Hammer, the Eisner award winning series by Jeff Lemire and Dean Ormston. This is an really fresh take on a lot of familiar tropes...which also brings our journey into subversive superhero stories to a close. It's got all your favorite superhero archetypes: the foul-mouthed lightning powered lass, the patriotic populist patriarch, the mellow morose Martian, the goth witch with butterfly wings, the Astronutty adventurer...and his wacky robot sidekick.

FANTASTIC FOUR 1234 & ALL STAR SUPERMAN... reimagining the icons, for better or for worse

April 11th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  39 mins 51 secs

comics, dc, fantastic four, frank quietly, grant morrison, jae lee, marvel, superman

In the early-2000s, Grant Morrison's aimed his mighty imagination at DC's Superman and Marvel's The Fantastic Four. In this episode, Raman and Ryan talk about the way Morrison brought out the very essence of these superheroes and argue over the extent to which it worked.

PLANETARY ...the secret fascist archeologists we deserved

April 2nd, 2021  |  Season 2  |  44 mins 2 secs

This week we're talking about Planetary, written by the now-controversial Warren Ellis and drawn by the always-astonishing John Casaddy - which ran sporadically for just 27 issues from 1998 to 2009.

Planetary follows the eponymous Planetary corporation, a global organization dedicated to unearthing the secret histories - and mysteries - of the world. The team trots the globe, encountering reminiscent phenomena like Japanese monsters, hardboiled Hong Kong cops, giant sized nuclear bugs, strange visitors from another planet, wild westerns, pulp action heroes...and even bizarro-world evil dick doppelgängers of the Fantastic Four...

WARREN ELLIS'S MOON KNIGHT & KARNAK

March 30th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  46 mins 2 secs

comics, karnak, moon knight, warren ellis

Moon Knight and Karnak of the Inhumans have largely been D-list afterthoughts in Marvel's superhero universe. How could they possibly have a starring role in their own titles? Simple, just make them crazy.

JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE SNYDER CUT ... everything is EPIC.

March 22nd, 2021  |  Season 2  |  1 hr 4 mins

comics, jla, justice league, zack snyder

No longer propelled by mystique, Zack Snyder's official, four-hour long version of Justice League finally became an actual thing. This week, we welcome back author Chandler Klang Smith, who gives her unique spin on Snyder's "novelistic" filmmaking, and how it helps and hinders Justice League.

JIMMY OLSEN (Matt Fraction) ...and arguing about Charles Dickens

March 12th, 2021  |  Season 2  |  31 mins 16 secs

This week we're continuing our "subversive superhero series" and reading Matt Fraction's 2020 reboot of "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olson," illustrated by Steve Lieber. Sure, Jimmy Olson is an ace photographer, turned content creator. He's a bow-tied bon vivant and adventurer. But as the book asks, why does Jimmy get to be Superman's best friend?

In a book that embraces it's own madcap weirdness, Jimmy wanders the weird corners of the DC universe to solve the mystery of his own murder with some zany characters old and new...marrying an inter-dimensional jewel thief, being tormented by blood vomiting cat, hanging with Metamorpho, decoding his crazy criminal conspiracy with Lois Lane, starting a prank war with Batman, and of course avoiding his best friend Superman. The narrations alone made this book an oddly fun read. But was that enough weirdness, or did the attempt at a plot get in the way?