The Trades

The Trades vs Jokes, round one? Also: what can comics be, what is 'world building', Br--- Gr----, Orcstain, The Weatherman #1, and the power of friendship.

In a very The Trades episode of The Trades, we talk about: doing murders, comics about murders (Beneath the Dead Oak Tree), More Brian K Vaughn Discourse (Pride of Baghdad), and Aaron didn't realize I've had his copy of Rosemary Vallero-O'Connell's comic about a person growing a plant in their guts for probably a couple years now. Friendship's like that.

We're in the same time zone for the first time in two years, and it has not helped any with how tired we both are all the time. Still, good to be back (on our bullshit.) This episode: Shit talking certain award-winning comic tomes, Aaron's in a dark pit of Asano's making, and lesbian zombie exploitation comix. Plus, the long-awaited conclusion to Titan, and therefor the saga of The Trades reporting on Titan.

This one's kind of a doozy. We start with the Clue comic from IDW, which Aaron says is only sometimes condescending, and then we talk about how to (in)appropriately use awful shit in popular culture. Namely, that Image Comics thing. TWs for discussions of: antisemitism, depictions of nazis, depictions of islamophobic violence, racism.

The supernatural episode! FST is trying to get cursed, Aaron's reading about ghosts and gods in Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service and Godshaper, there's some grousing about Wonder Woman. We are both probably cursed by our own status as perennial malcontents.

FST and Aaron grapple with the small town, the small press, and some big ideas in this The Trades. Plus, our free comic book day recap, and Aaron issues perhaps the most scathing review of his comics criticism career. cw: dead dog, mention of drug use in a comic

In an extremely characteristic episode, we weigh in on comics controversies, shout about The Internet, and come up with like four moneymaking schemes, including a partnership with HGTV. Plus, Aaron read Someone Please Have Sex With Me, which sounds good.

Aaron reads The Abaddon, which is not an Abba biocomic, but rather an approximate adaptation of No Exit. He feels like maybe the young man in question's energies could be better employed in not being a sex idiot, but likes the pictures. I make some controversial claims about Ray Bradbury. To close, we discuss Captain America, the iconographic history of nazi punching, and The Future That Liberals Want.

Love is in the air! Or, love was in the air, like, three weeks ago, when we recorded this. Or, we anticipated that love would be in the air approximately a week after when we recorded this, which was like three weeks ago. Anyway, we talk about romance comics, Aaron's worst ever choice of media (Monster Musume, the Seinfeld of comics about monster girls who want to fuck), I double down on my claims that the only good romance comics is childhood friends......... or more? and some other stuff i've forgotten by this point.

Back at it again at The Trades Headquarters. The end is nigh, but not of our podcast. Aaron's reading Joan Cornella, I'm reading a bunch of stuff from the Retrofit kickstarter, we both muse about the value of satire in the dark times ahead. Spoiler: I'm not sold on it, honestly.

Happy end of year, everybody! This is what Aaron and I liked best this year: comics.

Harley Quinn! Kevin Huizenga! Dragon Ball Z! What do these disparate elements have in common? IDK, but we talk about them this month.

Just in time for Halloween, The Trades talks about Richard Sala's The Bloody Cardinal, Short Box #2, and our ongoing affection for.... mostly the same stuff we've been reading since episode one. This of this like our catchup episode. Are the things we like still good? Yes. Are we still the best? Also yes.

FST's life is destroyed by webtoons, Aaron's reading widely, and we have a wacky misunderstanding over how there's more than one comic called Tomboy, but one's extremely murderrific and the other is.... not? XoXo, Gossip Trades.

The Trades does not Keep the Scene Posi. The Borgias, Scarlet, Survivors' Club. We didn't like any of them all that much. TWs for mentions of violence, sex, racism in The Borgias, and police violence in Scarlet. Also, could Aaron survive an apocalypse? Probably, he thinks, because he has a lot of movies on his external hard drive. Welcome back to The Trades.

We are a good podcast, and He Is A Good Boy (Is a comic we talk about in this episode.) Also, Whit Taylor's The Anthropologists, a Linework Northwest recap that's now several months late, and also Aaron keeps us up to date on superhero comics, which are still bad. TWs for discussions of cartoony violence in HIAGB and at least one other point during the show.

In this Very Special episode of The Trades, we mainly do movie reviews! Come for me going off the handle about people who eat loudly in movie theaters, stay for me going off the handle about Everything That's Wrong With Superhero Comics. This also features some truly deathless lines from Aaron, his grudge against Delaware, and he explains the new-new 52 to me, or at least tries. TW: discussion of income inequality in the united states, offensively bad attempt at a 'texas' accent, joking about nazis in fiction (specifically, a Kevin Smith movie), brief jokes about gun violence.

It's a crossover with General Hospital! Just kidding, but I was actually pretty sick when this was recorded. We talk about whatever DC and Marvel are up to (lol who cares), propose a cool new horror comic we'd be happy to write, and we talk Kyle Baker a little bit. TW: i guess joking about murdering kids? That's all i remember for this episode.

This is a long one! The longest one to date! Hang in there though because it's PURE GOLD. We cover: Aaron's trip to MoCCA, Black Panther's pretty good we think, my bad opinions on Citizen Jack and 'satire', Aaron's hopes for lady friendship comics, I use Jonesy to open up about my depression or my depression to open up about Jonesy, aaaaaaaaand LL Cool J's career highlights. Brief CW for rape mention in our discussion of Black Panther.

Hello human friends! Welcome to the sleepiest-ever episode of The Trades. In this episode you will find: some gossip, some poop jokes, discussions of Goodnight Pupun, Mister Wolf, No Mercy, the MCU, aaaaaaaaand how to pronounce 'kitsch.' Brief TWs for mention of domestic violence in Goodnight Punpun, also Aaron makes a joke about becoming a drug mule and i could understand if that bothers you.

It's almost like we're making a habit of this. In this episode: we discuss favorite 20th century boys characters, Aaron spoils the plot of Gail Simone's Clean Room at my request, we both complain about a certain anthology, and I threaten to beat Aaron up if he doesn't get a library card. TWs: brief graphic mention of fictional suicide, extended and recurring shrek jokes.

Aaron and I discuss: new years, "hot clams in your mouth", the plausibility of genre conventions, Aaron has some stuff to work out about fairytales I guess, and I finally remember that I read a minicomic this year. Guest stars Maze T Cat yelling the whole episode.

Hello! We are back! Don't call it a comeback, because that implies celebrity! In this episode, Aaron asks what I think of harem manga, I admit to not knowing what Vampirella does for a living, and he thinks Dave Sim's required "not a misogynist" loyalty oath doesn't go far enough. Guest Star Maze T Catt throws up around 10 minutes in.

The first of our long-distance episodes! We talk about our dreams for reality TV shows, I'm vague about the concept of "meta" as it pertains to The Wrenchies, Aaron has trouble with supporting local businesses, and we get down to the REAL problems with constant reboots by the big two. I have preserved as much of Aaron's golden laughter as editing would allow, bc i know what y'all listen for. CWs in this ep: brief mention of depiction of domestic violence in a comic, brief mention of substance use.

Hello! Aaron loaned me Spaceman, we spend the first half of the episode talking about it, and, as always, we agree on nothing. The second half is mostly nonsense. CW: brief mention of sexual abuse of children in Spaceman, the cops, probably something else i forgot.

Newly imported from soundcloud, but in fact SUPER OLD. In this episode, we talk about the Future of Comics 2k15. (Which is now the past)

Freshly moved over from Soundcloud! This time we talk about Grant Morrison and Derek Robinson's "Happy" which Aaron likes and I don't, "modern cartooning" and what we would do with a Luke Cage title. CW: sexual assault in media, The Oscars, White Feminism

It's our third episode! We talk about this week in comix twitter, costume design, who we'd comix marry, and Aaron had a weird dream about owls one time.