Awash in the Halloween spirit, the panel compares two wildly different adaptations of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein:" Junji Ito's manga adaptation and Bruno Enna/Fabio Celoni's Italian Disney adaptation. Topics include visceral monstrosity, dramatic irony in adaptation, and the extent to which the Frankenstein myth informs the superhero genre at lar…

In this episode, we compare the sexy beasts of Mirka Andolfo's "Unnatural" to the sexy monsters of Sarah Andersen's "Fangs." Topics include sexual gazes defined by elite women creators, animalization, and representations of millennial sexual culture.By threepanelcontrast

In this episode, the panel goes cosmic existentialism with a look at Jim Starlin's "Magus Saga" starring Adam Warlock, and J.M. Dematteis's run on Silver Surfer, starring everyone's favorite chrome cosmos-cruiser. Topics include superhero sex/romance, Marvel's variation on Greek tragedy, and the bizarre connection between outer space and inner self…

In this month's episode, the panel goes noir with a comparison of "Criminal: Last of the Innocent" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to "Astro City: The Tarnished Angel" by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Topics include the juxtaposition of familiar comics genres with noir detective stories, the bounds of protagonist relatability, and the always tri…

In this month's episode, the panel embraces the dark side for a comparison of Gillen and Larocca's "Darth Vader" and Stern and Mignola's "Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment." Topics include the narrative challenges of telling stories around traditional antagonists, the artistic challenges of emoting through silence and masks, and t…

In this deeply romantic episode, the panel compares Steve Englehart and Richard Howell's "The Vision and the Scarlet Witch" to Ann Nocenti and Don Perlin's "Beauty and the Beast." Topics include queer subtext, machine sex, and the complex genre bending that occurs when mixing superheroes and soap operas.…

In this ep our panel takes a deep dive into a pair of comics-inspired audio dramas in the form of the podcast "Wolverine: The Long Night" and the classic 1970s "Fantastic Four" radio serial, featuring both Stan Lee and a young Bill Murray. Topics include transmediation, the thespian's approach to grunting and Michael teaching himself sound engineer…

In this episode the panel looks at a pair of 80s-themed comics with "Paper Girls" by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang compared to "4 Kids Walk Into a Bank" by Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss. Topics of discussion include male creators writing female protagonists, latchkey parenting, and 'are the 1980s the new 1950s in terms of media nostalgia?'…

For this episode, the panel compares the Bendis/Maleev run to the Waid/Rivera/Martin run. Topics of discussion include setting as character, problematic portrayals of disability, and the merits/pitfalls of morosity as a tonal aesthetic.By threepanelcontrast

In this month's episode, we pair Jack Kirby's legendary 1970s run on Jimmy Olsen with Matt Fraction and Steve Leiber's recent Jimmy Olsen maxi-series. Topics include the historic legacy of Kirby and his departure from Marvel; the challenges in fleshing out side characters into a protagonist role; the gap between irony and sincerity; and the most ep…

In this month's episode, the panel tackles the subject of sexual awakenings as they manifest in "Blankets" by Craig Thompson and "This One Summer" by Mariko and Jillian Tamaki. Topics of discussion include censorship in comics, how our hormones can lie to us, and the unique capacity for comics to visually embody profound physical experiences.…

In this episode, the panel compares "Excalibur" by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis to "Exiles" by Judd Winick and Mike McKone. Topics of discussion include franchise-branching in the X-Universe, alternate-reality storytelling challenges/opportunities, and character voice within a group dynamic.By threepanelcontrast

In this episode, the worlds of gaming and comics collide with a comparison of the cult classic "Diceman" by Pat Mills & various 2000AD creators to "You Are Deadpool" by Al Ewing & Salva Espin. Topics of discussion include procedural rhetoric in comics, the experience of peripheral time in layouts and the eternal question of which Deadpool is peak D…

In this episode, Anna, Michael and Andrew return from pandemic hiatus to discuss two stories about heroes and the bodies that define them....or perhaps don't. We're reading Box Brown's "Andre the Giant" against Osamu Tezuka's "Dororo," discussing ableism in comics, embodied identity, and the grim terrors of the Sengoku period of Japan weighed again…

For this episode, the panel compares the 1980s classic series "Justice League International" by Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis to the 2013 "Superior Foes of Spider-Man" series by Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber. Topics of discussion include the comedic potential of the superhero genre, the complex nature of group dynamics, and the relative punch-ablen…

In this episode, the panel looks at a pair of recent reboots of iconic intellectual properties, Mark Russell and Steve Pugh's "Flintstones" and Tom Scioli's "Transformers vs GI Joe." We discuss reboot culture, visceral escapism, farcical social commentary, and a vacuum cleaner who can crush your soul with its unflinching optimism toward its armadil…

For this episode, the panel compares Adrian Tomine's "Summer Blonde & Other Stories" to Daniel Clowes' "Ghost World," leading to an in-depth discussion of the 1990s alternative comics scene, the portrayal of isolated youth, and the trope of self-flagellating, sex-obsessed male protagonists. Andrew provides a review of Charles Hatfield's "Alternativ…

This month's episode compares Darwyn Cooke's "New Frontier" to Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross's "Marvels." Topics of discussion include trading on nostalgia, comics revisionism on a publishing house scale, and more discussion of phallic imagery than you'd think these two comics could possibly warrant. Anna will also present a review of Peter Coogan's "S…

This month is comparative ornithology with a close luck at Steve Gerber's iconic "Howard the Duck" comics alongside Don Rosa's "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck." Topics of discussion will include the figure of the duck as a vehicle for absurdist metaphor, the subversion of the American dream, and the questionable erasure of historic comics pro…

In this episode, we explore Chris Claremont's favorite Chris Claremont story in "X-men: Asgardian Wars," alongside the latest X-men sensation, Jonathan Hickman's "House of X/Powers of X." Topics of discussion will include X-men as a metaphorical vehicle, Hickmanisms, iconic visual styles, and the fact that Anna knows "Excalibur" issues better than …

This month's episode compares Dan Slott's beloved run on She-Hulk to Mariko Tamaki's more contentious run with the same character. Topics of discussion include character development vs character consistency, the complex sexualization of Jennifer Walters and the degree to which that defines the character, and an intern with a cinder block for a head…

In this horrifying Halloween haunt of an episode, the panel discusses the classic EC horror comics property "Vault of Horror" alongside the contemporary horror text "Through the Woods" by Emily Carroll. We'll also feature an academic review of Qiana Whitted's "EC Comics: Race, Shock, and Social Protest." Topics of the day include the unique rhetori…

This month's episode looks at the so-called "comics canon," iconic works from years passed that helped create the comics-as-literature movement and that are now considered sacred. We compare Art Spiegleman's "Maus" to Chris Ware's "Jimmy Corrigan" with an academic review of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics." In each instance we cast a fresh se…

It's all Mike Carey all the time this episode with a comparison of Highest House (art by Peter Gross) and My Faith in Frankie (art by Sonny Liew and Marc Hempel). We explore the role of religion, faith and deism in comics, the challenges that the medium poses for high fantasy works, and the collaborative nature of the form itself, whilst also takin…

In this month's episode, the panel looks to the stars, comparing Marvel's "Annihilation" event to DC's "Sinestro Corps War." Along the way, we discuss the artistic challenges of cross-title storytelling, the legacy of Marvel and DC's cosmic universes, and the extent to which all roads lead back to Jack Kirby. We'll also be reviewing Charles Hatfiel…

This month’s episode sees the panel discussing some speculative fiction that features a pair of strong, young, female protagonists. Topics of discussion include gender politics in genre fiction, the colonial metaphor in SF and Fantasy, and just how easily a male love interest character can be replaced with a cat. Tying things up this month, we’ll h…

In this episode, Anna, Andrew and Michael consume some food-based comics works with a comparative analysis of Lucy Knisley's cuisine-orbiting memoir "Relish" and Ryoko Kui's Dungeons & Dragons & Dining adventure manga, "Delicious in Dungeon." Topics of discussion include synaesthetics, recipes as metatext, and the visual aspect of contemporary food…

In this month's episode, Michael, Anna, and Andrew take a look at a pair of comics that recontextualize iconic heroes into the suburban sprawl. Through a comparative reading of Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta's "The Vision" and James Sturm and Guy Davis's "Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules," our panel will address such topics as character con…

In this episode, Anna, Andrew and Michael offer some deep cuts with a look at a pair of long-running, indie comics that have committed cult followings. We're reading Linda Medley's "Castle Waiting," and Carla Speed McNeil's "Finder." We'll consider long-form comics narrative, fantasy world-building, and the nature of the relationship between a loya…

In this episode (our first in stereo), Michael, Andrew and Anna will put on some nostalgia goggles and compare Bill Watterson's iconic comic strip, "Calvin and Hobbes", to Joe Kelly and J.M. Ken Niimura's "I Kill Giants." Topics will include the manner in which adults write children, the newspaper comic strip tradition, and the trope of the childho…

In this episode, Anna, Andrew and Michael look at a pair of iconic occult heroes with a comparison of Mike Mignola’s "Hellboy: Wake the Devil" to Garth Ennis’s version of John Constantine in "Hellblazer: Dangerous Habbits." Topics include the antihero, the intersections of horror and the superhero genre and trenchcoats: who wore it better? From the…

In this episode, Michael, Anna and Andrew tackle the issue of representation in a pair of teen team books with a look at Chris Claremont and Bill Sienkiewicz's "New Mutants: The Demon Bear Saga" alongside Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie's openly queer heroes in "Young Avengers: Alternative Culture." We'll discuss topics such as the handling of que…

In our third episode, Michael, Anna, and Andrew discuss the cultural juggernaut that is "Saga" by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples in contrast with Daniel Warren Johnson's "Extremity. We'll cover the intersecting subjects of aesthetics, sexuality, and brutality, among others, while also reviewing Hilary Chute's academic text "Disaster Drawn."…

In honour of Halloween, our second episode features a look at the cult classic "Tomb of Dracula" by Marv Wolfman and Gene Colan, alongside the more recent "American Vampire" by Scott Snyder, Stephen King (yes, THAT Stephen King), and Rafael Albuquerque. We'll talk about creating horror in a graphic medium, the treatment of women in the horror genre…

In this episode, Michael, Anna, and Andrew kick off the new show with a deep dive into G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona's "Ms. Marvel" series, alongside Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr's "The Batgirl of Burnside." Along the way, we'll discuss the representations of youth culture, of contemporary fashion, and of so-called "legacy …