Dungeons & Dragons’ attempted license agreement and the ripples it caused to the RPG community start this episode off, and finishes with facsimiles and reworked comics from the past.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Steve Robinson & Ed Woltil
Jaime Ramos joins us to talk about his work in progress John Heller The Liberator, a graphic novel that brings attention to social issues through storytelling. His published works include the Galgotha Novelettes and The Flame. Perseverance, collaboration and peer to peer support are the subjects of this episode. Enoy!
John Heller The Liberator By Jaime Ramos And John Howard.
Continue readingMel Cartagena joins us to talk about his webcomic The Plot along with storytelling techniques, influences and films.
Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger starts the discussion off, then go off onto page layouts, foreign language comics and convenient labels.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Winter Atlas
Showcase Presents: Phantom Stranger.
Continue readingMovies with steampunk or science fiction ties that have connections to innovative animators start this one off,which leads into influences artists have from one another and candy we liked (or didn’t like) as kids. Random comics finish this one out, including Al’s newfound interest in the Legion. Enjoy!
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Dan Souder
Al and Don are back and start it off with The Outer Space Spirit, Will Eisner, comic magazines of the seventies and Barney Google. Johnny Hazard By Frank Robbins leads into the influence of Milton Caniff and Noel Sickles on the newspaper adventure strip, and finishes with books by François Rivière and Marguerite Abouet.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Red Club
The Outer Space Spirit By Will Eisner, Wally Wood And Jules Feiffer.
We start off discussing the golden age we never saw, but thanks to The Digital Comics Museum it’s possible now. Creator credits issued in comic books, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers. Thunderworld Adventures, Indestructible Hulk, Xenozoic Tales, The Fade Out, G.I. Zombie, Afterlife With Archie Magazine 3, Eerie 6, She Hulk and Amazing Mysteries: The Bill Everett Archives.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Superdrag
We Used To Ask, What’s EC?
Destination Nightmare Is A Good Place To Visit If You Want To See Golden Age Work.
Al, Dallas and Don get together on this supersized episode to discuss comic artists who not only had fantastic drawing abilities, but were masters of graphic design as well.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Samaria
Alex Toth.
Seminal Works. Creepy Presents Alex Toth, Genius Isolated, Genius Illustrated, Genius Animated, Setting the Standard: Comics by Alex Toth 1952-1954 And Zorro.
Deep in the heart of Parts Unknown, Don, Al and Dallas discuss Slice Radio, Afterlife with Archie, some comic shop documentaries, the Origin of Rook Murphy, Warren comics, art commissions, Bernie Wrightson, Art Adams, John Buscema, Howard Chaykin’s Iron Wolf, Mike Mignola, Flex Mentallo, Charles Atlas, Count Dante, Jack and Stan’s Fantastic Four, civil rights in 60’s comics, the portrayal of minorities in 40’s and 50’s comics, and we wrap it up with Uncanny X-Men circa 1980’s.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Ruby Sting
The Rook From Warren Publishing.
Don, Al and Dallas talk comics. What comics? These comics:
She Hulk, The Winter Soldier, Sienkiewicz’s Voodoo Child and New Mutants, Robert Crumb’s Heroes of Blues and Kafka, All Star Superman, Whoa Nelly!, Fables, Walking Dead, Preacher, Howard the Duck and The Beatles.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Robert Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Winter Soldier By Rick Remender and Roland Boschi.
A Beatles centric episode as Al and Don discuss The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story and Baby’s In Black: Astrid Kirchherr, Stuart Sutcliffe, and The Beatles which lead to a long discussion on The Beatles and the songs they made. They finish up with The Dreamer by Will Eisner.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Alex Chilton (of course)
It’s the Christmas episode! Join Don, Al, and Dallas as they take a walk down memory lane and discuss their favorite Christmas-themed comics. Dallas chooses X-Men (of course), Al chooses Tales from the Crypt (of course) and Don is just a Scrooge.
After that, It’s gift time as the boys exchange presents on air and be merry to each other. The blissful times continue as we meet our once-per-episode quota of Walking Dead talk, before the show inexplicably becomes Two Dimension: The Music Podcast.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: BAD RELIGION!!!!!!!! (courtesy of Rook)
Al and Don start off discussing Marble Season by Gilbert Hernandez which leads into black and white comics and a brief bit about coloring comics. They finish with some League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen and and some more black and white goodness.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Jury
Once again, the whole gang is present, and thanks to Al we discuss letterers and the art of typography. What’s better.. digital fonts or traditional lettering?
We reminisce about some of the old school lettering masters such as John Workman, Moebius, and Tom Orzechowski. Don finds a way to slide in a Carl Barks comment,
and Dallas gushes about Dave Sim’s typographical masterpiece, Cerebus.
We then discuss “event fatigue” in the DC and Marvel universe, and Rook tastefully bags on DC’s New 52 concept. We talk about how boring the superhero “status quo” can be,
and how refreshing books like Spider-Man’s Brand New Day and Morrison’s New X-Men can be. There’s some creator-owned rights talk, and Don brings up symphonic music
to hammer home his point on artistic “innovators” and “cultivators”.
Oh, and Rook sticks up for Aquaman.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: The Brilliant Green
Not Only Could No One Draw Or Design Like Alex Toth,
No One Could Letter Like He Could As Well.
Yet, We Missed Talking About It On This Episode.
Don, Al and Dallas return to talk more comics!! Specifically Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli.
MUSICAL SPOTLIGHT: Steve Robinson
Some people say that Don is the glue that holds this show together. If that’s the case, then this episode is a hot mess. It’s Dallas and Al this time around, and we continue our multi-episode discussion on our favorite artists. We discuss the giants of the comic book industry, Neil Adams (duh!), Paul Smith, Al Williamson, John Buscema, Winsor McCay, Steve Rude, and Will Eisner.
