Comics for Grownups: Recent Episodes
Joshua Malbin and Joe Wessely
We review Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna, Big Black: Stand at Attica by Frank Smith and Jared Reinmuth, and After the Spring: A Story of Tunisian Youth by Hélène Aldeguer.
Alex rejoins Joshua and Joe to run down our roughly 14 favorite books and cartoonists of the 2010s: Eleanor Davis, Rosalie Lightning by Tom Hart, Anders Nilsen, John Hanciewicz, Digger by Ursula Vernon, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris, Marion Fayolle, Frank Santoro, Joe Sacco, the comics journalism of The Nib, My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf, Daytripper by Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, and Marcelo D'Salete.
We review Bezimena by Nina Bunjevac, Drawing Power edited by Diane Noomin, Sky in Stereo vol. 2 by Mardou, Chicken Rising by D. Boyd, and La Voz de M.A.Y.O. by Henry Barajas.
We review The Hard Tomorrow by Eleanor Davis, Angola Janga by Marcelo D'Salete, Americana by Luke Healy, and Bradley of Him by Connor Willumsen.
In this episode we touch on This Woman's Work by Julie Delporte, Sweet Little Cunt: The Graphic Work of Julie Doucet by Anne Elizabeth Moore, BTTM FDRS by Ezra Claytan Daniels and Ben Passmore, Martin Peters by Patrick Allaby, and The Follies of Richard Wadsworth by Nick Mandaag.
We review Good Talk by Mira Jacob, How I Tried to Be a Good Person by Ulli Lust, Pope Hats #6 by Hartley Lin, and O Josephine! by Jason.
In this episode we review The Sea by Rikke Villadsen, Parallel Lives by Olivier Schrauwen, and The Scar: Graphic Reportage from the U.S. Mexico Border by Andrea Ferraris and Renato Chiocca.
In this episode we review Eugene V. Debs: A Graphic Biography by Paul Buhle and Steve Max, Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Schlitzie the Pinhead by Bill Griffith, and Cannibis: The Illegalization of Weed in America by Box Brown.
We review Retrograde Orbit by Kristyna Baczynski, On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden, Barrier by Brian K. Vaughan, The New World by Chris Reynolds, and Hobo Mom by Charles Forsman and Max de Radigues.
In this episode we talk about Chlorine Gardens by Keiler Roberts, One Dirty Tree by Noah Van Sciver, Piero by Edmond Baudoin, Bald Knobber by Robert Sergel, and Blackbird Days by Manuele Fior.
We discuss The Dead Eye and the Deep Blue Sea by Vannak Anan Prum, Drawn to Berlin by Ali Fitzgerald, You Can Try Again by Olivia Walch, the collection I Feel Machine, and Tongues #2 by Anders Nilsen.
We review Flocks by L. Nichols, The King of Birds by Alexander Utkin, Coyote Doggirl by Lisa Hanawalt, and Undocumented: A Worker's Fight by Duncan Tonatiuh.
In this episode we review Yellow Negroes and Other Imaginary Creatures by Yvan Alagbé, The Strange by Jerome Ruillier, All the Answers by Jerome Kupperman, and The Beef by Richard Starkings and Shaky Kane.
In this episode we review Land of the Sons by Gipi, Pervert by Michelle Perez and Remy Boydell, and Hasib and the Queen of Serpents by David B.
In this episode we review Why Art by Eleanor Davis; Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero by Michael DeForge; and Tenements, Towers & Trash by Julia Wertz.
We review Is This Guy for Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman by Box Brown, The Death of Stalin by Fabien Nury and Thierry Robin, Johnny Appleseed: Green Dreamer of the American Frontier by Paul Buhle and Noah Van Sciver, and NOW #1 and #2.
In this episode we review Verax by Pratap Chatterjee and Khalil, Run for It by Marcelo D'Salete, and The Senses by Mateo Farinella.
We review Alone by Chaboute, Present by Leslie Stein, and This World Is Not for Burning and Hedra by Jesse Lonergan.
We review The End of the Fucking World by Charles Forsman, Poppies from Iraq by Brigitte Findakly and Lewis Trondheim, and Tongues #1 by Anders Nilsen.
We review The Interview by Manuele Fior, Boundless by Jillian Tamaki, and Solid State, written by Matt Fraction based on a concept album by Jonathan Coulton.
Joshua and Alex review Pretending Is Lying by Dominique Goblet and The Excavation by Max Andersson.
Joshua and Joe review Hostage by Guy Delisle, The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia by Mary and Brian Talbot, Rolling Blackouts by Sarah Glidden, and Your Black Friend by Ben Passmore.
We review Peplum by Blutch, The 100 Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg, and The Flintstones vol. 1 by Mark Russell and Steve Pugh.
Joshua and Joe review Len: A Lawyer in History by Seth Tobocman, The Abominable Mr. Seabrook by Joe Ollmann, and Six Days in Cincinnati by Dan Mendez Moore.
Alex and Joshua review Exits by Daryl Seitchik, Untitled Ape's Epic Adventure by Steven Tillotson, and Soviet Daughter by Julia Alekseyeva.
Joe and Joshua talk about Last Look by Charles Burns and Everything Is Teeth by Evie Wyld.
Joshua and Joe review The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf, Tetris: The Games People Play by Box Brown, Cowboys and Insects by David Hine and Shaky Kane, and Disillusioned Illusions by Greg Stump.
In this episode we talk about March book 3 by John Lewis, Threadbare by Anne Elizabeth Moore, and a number of short works by Dave Ortega.
Alex and Joshua are joined by Josh O'Neill and Robert Berry to discuss The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye by Sonny Liew.
Joshua and Joe review Indeh by Ethan Hawke and Greg Ruth, The Fun Family by Benjamin Frisch, and The Experts by Sophie Franz.
Alex and Joshua review We All Wish for Deadly Force by Leela Corman, Cosplayers by Dash Shaw, and What Is Obscenity? by Rokudenashiko.
Alex and Joshua talk about Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus by Chester Brown, The Ukrainian and Russian Notebooks by Igort, and another chapter from Neil Cohn's The Visual Language of Comics.
Joe and Joshua talk about Paracuellos by Carlos Gimenez and Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine.
Joshua and Alex review Nameless City vol. 1 by Faith Erin Hicks and New Construction by Sam Alden.
Joshua and Joe talk about Through the Habitrails by Jeff Nicholson and Ganges #5 by Kevin Huizenga.
Alex and Joshua review March vol. 2 by Congressman John Lewis, The Imitation Game by Jim Ottaviani, and Rules for Dating my Daughter by Mike Dawson, and talk about the first chapter of Neil Cohn's The Visual Language of Comics.
Joshua and Joe talk about Soldier's Heart by Carol Tyler and Starve Vol. 1 by Brian Wood.
In this episode Joshua and Joe talk about Was She Pretty? by Leanne Shapton, Oyster War by Ben Towle, and Dressing and Lose #7 by Michael Deforge.
In this episode Alex and Joshua review The Oven by Sophie Goldstein and Beverly by Nick Drnaso.
Joe Wessely joins us as a sometime host in this episode, and we discuss The Envelope Manufacturer by Chris Oliveros, Trashed by Derf Backderf, Ruins by Peter Kuper, and Invisible Ink by Bill Griffith.
Joshua and Alex review Plans We Made by Simon Moreton, Curveball by Jeremy Sorese, We Are Going to Bremen to Be Musicians by Tin Can Forest and Geoff Berner, Two Brothers by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba, and Junction by Nathan Jurevicius.
Alex interviews renowned cartoonist, comics critic, and educator Frank Santoro, author of Cold Heat and Pompeii, among other works.
We review Fütchi Perf by Kevin Czapiewski, If You Steal by Jason, and SuperMutant Magic Academy by Jillian Tamaki.
In this episode we review The Boat by Matt Huynh (adapting a story by Nam Le), Fante Bukowski by Noah Van Sciver, and Loop de Loop comics by Ryan Cecil Smith.
Reviews of Poetry Is Useless by Anders Nilsen, Ghetto Brother by Julian Voloj and Claudia Ahlering, and An Entity Observes All Things by Box Brown.
In this episode: Unflattening by Nick Sousanis, BORB by Jason Little, Mowgli's Mirror by Olivier Schrauwen, and Day Glo Ayhole by Ben Passmore.
The conclusion of our interview with Josh Bayer, plus reviews of The Sculptor by Scott McCloud, Displacement by Lucy Knisley, and several comics by A.J. Poyiadgi.
In this episode we talk with Josh Bayer once more and also review 566 Frames by Dennis Wojda, Mimi and the Wolves by Alabaster, and Soppy by Philippa Rice.
In this episode we review Lynda Barry's Syllabus, Monte Beauchamp's Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World, Pascal Rabate's Street View, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen by Dylan Horrocks, FUNGUS: The Unbearable Rot of Being by James Kochalka, and The Palace of Ashes and When We Were Kids by Andy Warner.
It's our 10 favorite books of 2014, plus a few leftovers from 2013 we didn't know about in time for last year's list.
The Late Child and Other Animals by Marguerite Van Cook and James Romberger, Flocks #4 by L. Nichols, Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors by Mark Newgarden and Megan Montague Cash, and Isä by Hanneriina Moisseinen.
Reviews of Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue Deconnick and Emma Rios, A Cat Named Tim and Other Stories by John Martz, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant by Roz Chast, BUMF! Vol. 1 by Joe Sacco, Doctors by Dash Shaw, Hospital Suite by John Porcellino, and Earthling by Aisha Franz.
In this episode we discuss Jim: Jim Woodring's Notorious Autojournal, Hip-Hop Family Tree Vol. 2: 1981-1983 by Ed Piskor, A Cabbage in a Nutshell by Tin Can Forest, Hockey Ops #1 by Sam Page and Molly Brooks, The Second in Line by Mattias Adolfsson, Cringe: An Anthology of Embarrassment from Birdcage Bottom Books, and Vile Decay Ritual Three by Malachi Ward.
In this episode we review It Never Happened Again by Sam Alden, This One Summer by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, How to Be Happy by Eleanor Davis, God and the Devil at War in the Garden by Anders Nilsen, Demon by Jason Shiga, and How the World Was by Emmanuel Guibert.
In this episode Alex, Andrea, and Josh review Pictures That Tick vol. 2: Exhibition by Dave McKean, The River by Alessandro Sanna, Truth Is Fragmentary by Gabrielle Bell, Irene #3, s! #17, Darwin Carmichael Is Going to Hell by Sophie Goldstein and Jenn Jordan, and Red and Other Me by Ada Price.
Mike Dawson joins Alex, Andrea, and Josh for a conversation about his work (including Angie Bongiolatti, which Alex raved about last episode), followed by reviews of Julie Delporte's Everywhere Antennas, Kyle Baker's Nat Turner, Tom Beland's Chicacabra, Adrian Tomine's Optic Nerve #13, Edwin Vazquez's The Werewolf of NYC, Nick Bertozzi's Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey, and Lorenzo Mattotti's Vietnam.
In this episode we are joined by Pat Dorian, who talks about his work, his varied artistic background, and the Grand Comics Festival. We also review Box Brown's Andre the Giant: Life and Legend and Number 1, Mike Dawson's Angie Bongiolatti, Talya Modin's Blumpakind: Drinking Buddies, Nobrow #9: It's Oh So Quiet, Jesse Jacobs's Safari Honeymoon, Josh Bayer's Suspect Device #4, and Abel Lanzac and Christophe Blain's Weapons of Mass Diplomacy.
Andrea Tsurumi joins Josh and Alex as a permanent cohost, and the three of them talk with Josh Bayer about his work, his teaching, and the new upcoming issue of Suspect Device. Also the four of them review Philippe Squarzoni's Climate Changed, Rachel Hope Allison's I'm Not a Plastic Bag, Dash Shaw's Cosplayers, Carey Pietsch and Christopher M. Jones's Written in the Bones, Matt Lubchansky's Nature Show, Kriota Willberg's Pictorial Anatomy of 007, Sophie Yanow's War of Streets and Houses, Noah Sciver's Weekend Alone, and George Baker's Sad Sack.
Liana Finck joins for a great conversation about her new book A Bintel Brief and her other work. Also reviewed: Danica Novgorodoff's The Undertaking of Lily Chen, Keren Katz's Fire Theater, Sonatina Anthology, The Sleep of Reason: An Anthology of Horror, and Edie Fake's Memory Palaces.
Alex and Josh review Persimmon Cup by Nick Bertozzi, Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoet, Pimo and Rex by Thomas Wellmann, Gandhi: My Life Is My Message by Jason Quinn and Sachin Nagar, Basewood by Alec Longstreth, Nijigahara Holograph by Inio Asano, and Drive: the SciFi Comic by Dave Kellett.