Podcast appearances and mentions of Tom Spurgeon

Michael Dean has been an editor at The Comics Journal since 1999 and is the co-author (with Tom Spurgeon) of the oral history of Fantagraphics Books, Comics As Art: We Told You So. He's currently editing Fantagraphics' Lost Marvels series, which restores forgotten Marvel classics in beautiful hardcover editions. Volume One reprints the never-before-collected 1969 horror and suspense series, Tower of Shadows. It hits shelves on April 29th and is available for preorder now from Fantagraphics' website and your local comics shop.For 70 minutes of bonus content — including more of our conversation with Michael, our coverage of the Trial of the Falcon in Captain America #191, and our Mighty MBTM Checklist feature — support us at patreon.com/marvelbythemonth. Subscribers at the $5/month level get instant access to our bonus feed of content that contains over 150 extended and exclusive episodes.  Stories Covered in this Episode: "The Tarantula Is a Very Deadly Beast!" - Amazing Spider-Man #147, written by Gerry Conway, art by Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, and Dave Hunt, letters by Joe Rosen, colors by Stan Goldberg, edited by Len Wein, ©1975 Marvel Comics"Jackal, Jackal... Who's Got the Jackal?" - Amazing Spider-Man #148, written by Gerry Conway, art by Ross Andru, Mike Esposito, and Dave Hunt, letters by John Costanza, colors by Petra Goldberg, edited by Len Wein, ©1975 Marvel Comics"Even If I Live, I Die!" - Amazing Spider-Man #149, written by Gerry Conway, art by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, letters by Annette Kawecki, colors by Janice Cohen, edited by Marv Wolfman, ©1975 Marvel Comics"Spider-Man... or Spider-Clone?" - Amazing Spider-Man #150, written by Archie Goodwin, art by Gil Kane, Mike Esposito, and Frank Giacoia, letters by Joe Rosen, colors by Petra Goldberg, edited by Marv Wolfman, ©1975 Marvel Comics "Marvel by the Month" theme v. 4 written by Robb Milne and performed by Robb Milne and Barb Allen. All incidental music by Robb Milne.Visit us on the internet (and buy some stuff) at marvelbythemonth.com, follow us on Bluesky at @marvelbythemonth.com and Instagram (for now) at @marvelbythemonth, and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/marvelbythemonth.Much of our historical context information comes from Wikipedia. Please join us in supporting them at wikimediafoundation.org. And many thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, an invaluable resource for release dates and issue information. (RIP Mike.)

Comics librarian and curator Caitlin McGurk returns to the show to celebrate her amazing new book, TELL ME A STORY WHERE THE BAD GIRL WINS: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund (Fantagraphics). We talk about Caitlin's shock at her 2012 discovery of Barbara Shermund's incredible gag-comics and illustrations in the archive of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, how her interest in Barbara evolved from blog posts to a museum exhibit to a book, the challenge of writing about someone who did no interviews or press and had no close relatives, and how easily women get erased from history. We get into the gestalt of Barbara's fantastic linework and washes and her wry sense of humor, why Caitlin wound up writing an academic press version of the book before rewriting it for a trade publisher, the challenges & rewards of designing a book to showcase so much art, how Barbara helped create the look of The New Yorker in its early years, why Caitlin speculated (but not too much) about Barbara's sexuality. We also discuss the malleability of history, how the Billy Ireland has changed in the 10 years since Caitlin & I last recorded, the pep talk she wished she could have gotten from our late friend Tom Spurgeon, time Al Capp (!!) advocated for allowing women into the National Cartoonists Society, the incredible story of tracking down Barbara's remains and giving her a proper funeral 35 years after her death, and a lot more. Follow Caitlin on Instagram and the Billy Ireland blog • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal and via our e-newsletter

FLASHBACK! In episode #300, we took a look at the sometimes wacky and cartoony Love & Rockets work of Jaime Hernandez. This week, Tim and Kumar are again joined by Tom Spurgeon to look at the somewhat darker, more violent and yet rather hard-to-pin-down work of Gilbert Hernandez in his stories of (or, sometimes merely … Continue reading #305 “Love & Rockets”: Gilbert Hernandez

FIVE-HUNDRED EPISODES of The Virtual Memories Show?! Let's celebrate this milestone episode with tributes, remembrances, jokes, congrats, non-sequiturs, and a couple of songs (!) from nearly 100 of my past guests, including Maria Alexander, Jonathan Ames, Glen Baxter, Jonathan Baylis, Zoe Beloff, Walter Bernard, Sven Birkerts, Charles Blackstone, RO Blechman, Phlip Boehm, MK Brown, Dan Cafaro, David Carr, Kyle Cassidy, Howard Chaykin, Joe Ciardiello, Gary Clark, John Crowley, Ellen Datlow, Paul Di Filippo, Joan Marans Dim, Liza Donnelly, Bob Eckstein, Scott Edelman, Barbara Epler, Glynnis Fawkes, Aaron Finkelstein, Mary Fleener, Shary Flenniken, Josh Alan Friedman, Kipp Friedman, Michael Gerber, Mort Gerberg, ES Glenn, Sophia Glock, Paul Gravett, Tom Hart, Dean Haspiel, Jennifer Hayden, Glenn Head, Ron Hogan, Kevin Huizenga, Jonathan Hyman, Andrew Jamieson, Ian Kelley, Jonah Kinigstein, Kathe Koja, Ken Krimstein, Anita Kunz, Peter Kuper, Glenn Kurtz, Kate Lacour, Roger Langridge, Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, John Leland, David Leopold, Sara Lippmann, David Lloyd, Whitney Matheson, Patrick McDonnell, Dave McKean, Scott Meslow, Barbara Nessim, Jeff Nunokawa, Jim Ottaviani, Celia Paul, Woodrow Phoenix, Darryl Pinckney, Weng Pixin, Eddy Portnoy, Virginia Postrel, Bram Presser, AL Price, Dawn Raffel, Boaz Roth, Hugh Ryan, Dmitry Samarov, Frank Santoro, JJ Sedelmaier, Nadine Sergejeff, Michael Shaw, R Sikoryak, Jen Silverman, Posy Simmonds, Vanessa Sinclair, David Small, Sebastian Smee, Ed Sorel, James Sturm, Mike Tisserand, Tom Tomorrow, Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, Kriota Willberg, Warren Woodfin, Jim Woodring, and Claudia Young. Plus, we look at back with segments from the guests we've lost over the years: Anthea Bell, Harold Bloom, Bruce Jay Friedman, Milton Glaser, Clive James, JD McClatchy, DG Myers, Tom Spurgeon, and Ed Ward. Here's to the next 500 shows! • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Cartoonist Noah Van Sciver joins the show to celebrate the release of two fantastic new books, Joseph Smith And The Mormons (Abrams ComicArts) and As A Cartoonist (Fantagraphics). We get into his history with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the challenges he had in making a graphic biography of the church's founder (incl. the realization he'd need 200 more pages than he was planning to use), the visual modes he used to separate fact from myth and the influence of Chester Brown's Louis Riel biography, and how the book affected Noah's relationship to the church and faith. We also talk about the cartoonist life and the strips he chose for his new collection, his comics-origin story, the influence of Tom Spurgeon on his art & life, becoming a father in the past year, the advice Dan Clowes gave him about balancing parenthood and comics, and what it means to be present for his son's life. Plus, we discuss his own comics-podcast, the stories he started making during the pandemic, his stance on paper vs. digital drawing, and what it's like to live on the other side of his dreams. Follow Noah on Instagram and YouTube, and contribute to his Patreon • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Writer Jonathan Baylis joins the show (in person!) to celebrate the latest issue of his autobio comics series, So Buttons (Tinto Press/Alchemy Comix). We talk about how he found a home in the Pekar mode, writing scripts for cartoonists to draw, and how he went all-Harvey for a strip with Noah Van Sciver. We get into his comics upbringing and his work experiences at a variety of comic companies, how his time at NYU film school informed his storytelling style, the artists he's hoping to work with, and how his body of work has revealed meta-themes about his stories. We also discuss being a subject in his wife's monologues (she's comedian Ophira Eisenberg), our reminiscences of Tom Spurgeon, working with his cartooning idols, our weirdest Tarantino-moments, and more! Follow Jonathan on Twitter and Instagram, as well as his professional site • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Tim and Emmet begin a series on Stan Lee biographies with the 2003 book Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book by Jordan Raphael and the late, great Tom Spurgeon. What’s the tone of this book, and how does it portray Stan? How much of the Marvel Universe is he … Continue reading #692 “Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book”

By Walt HickeyWelcome to the Numlock Sunday edition.This week, I spoke to Abraham Riesman, the author of the electric new book True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, out last week. It's another podcast Sunday edition. Let me know what you think of these.I have been waiting for this book for ages, I'm a huge fan of Abe's and the topic could not be more prescient. We talk about the actual role Lee played in making the characters, how Stan Lee was ahead of his time when it came to making a living as a proto-influencer, and the undercovered, complex and unsavory period from the 1970s through his death. It's a complicated portrait of a complicated guy, and is deeply reported at every stage.True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee can be found wherever books are sold, and Riesman can be found on his website and on Twitter. This interview has been condensed and edited.The book is out, you've been working on this for quite a while at this point. It was delayed back in September. It's all about one of these people who have become a very central figure in modern American pop culture, Stan Lee. What got you interested in him as an individual?Oh, geez, what got me interested in him? I guess you have to go a long ways back for the beginnings of it in that I grew up reading comics and being interested in Marvel. I think I first became aware of Stan Lee when I was very young, watching the now mostly forgotten Marvel Action Hour cartoon show. He used to introduce the animated segments there. And basically he remained this figure in the background of my life, in the way that he's been in the background of the lives of countless people who have engaged with Marvel superhero products. And long story short in 2015, I started writing a profile of Stan for my then place of employment, New York Magazine, and it came out in 2016. Then in 2018, when Stan passed away, an editor at Penguin Random House who had read the 2016 profile approached me about writing a full biography, and that's where it began.He's interesting because he had a fairly seminal role at a company that has become incredibly central to American pop culture, but he himself has appeared in a lot of these entities. How did you get at the question of who is Stan Lee in terms of both the public and private and the individual person?Well, it's a big question, isn't it? I tried to base it on as much evidentiary stuff as I could, as opposed to surmise and opinion. So, I did more than 150 interviews. I went through thousands and thousands of pages of his personal and professional documents, which were mostly ones that I got from the University of Wyoming, their American Heritage Center, which is where Stan's papers and other archival materials are stored — long story about why it's in the middle of nowhere in Wyoming. But, yeah, in addition to reading through documents, I also watched a bunch of home movies. There was this Holy Grail moment of the last day I was at the archives — I only had five days there — I found this box among the almost 200 boxes of materials there that was just a bunch of unlabeled home movies.I started popping them in the little VCR they had at the reading room, and was just blown away by the fact that right under my nose there had been all this stuff that the Lee family either advertently or inadvertently had left behind for posterity. So, you take that, you take the documentation, you take the interviews, you take the comics, you just throw everything in a blender and try to sort it out in your brain and then put it on paper. There's no magic recipe to it. You just have to engage with the source material and then see if you can craft something from it.It's fascinating because this is an individual around whom a couple of major corporations have attempted to construct a mythology.A lot of your reporting, whether it was in that feature from a few years back or in the book itself, it's not poking holes, but really saying a lot of what we held up to be the myth of Stan Lee, is it necessarily as black and white as it might appear. Do you want to go into some of what you found?There's a lot that Stan was less than truthful about, a lot of things he just outright lied about and then other things where there were sins of omission or misdirection. And the big thing that matters when it comes to talking about Stan's dissembling — there's a lot of things that matter with that — but the big one, as you mentioned, is the corporate claim on Stan and the characters that Stan was credited with creating. What my research turned up was there's literally no evidence Stan created any of those characters.There's not?No, there's none. There's nothing. There's no presentation boards. There's no diary entries. There's no contemporaneous accounts from friends saying Stan was working on this and told me about it and then he created it. Nothing. It was a fly by night industry, so there wasn't a whole lot of documentation of anything to be fair, but there's significant evidence — it doesn't prove it, I don't have a smoking gun — but there's significant evidence or at least testimony that goes against Stan's word and says that one of his main collaborators, Jack Kirby, was the guy who came up with almost all of those characters.Jack was also an artist. So he, according to him and his defenders, created the characters from whole cloth, whereas Stan at best can only claim to have come up with the idea. He was not an artist, so he didn't come with the visual look of these characters. It's a sticky thing because, again, you're not going to find a smoking gun. There really was just terrible documentation and a large lack of professionalism at comics companies circa the 1960s.These were not the glossy corporate entities that they are now. Marvel was not a Disney subsidiary as it is now back in 1961. So, we don't really know who created those characters, but what I wanted to do in the book was just say the fact, which is we don't know that it was Stan. We've just taken it for granted that Stan was presented to us factually as the progenitor of these characters, usually at best you'll get people saying, “Jack was the co-creator, Jack did it with Stan.” Now that may be the case, but we don't know that. We can't say that with any certainty. It may well be that Jack was the only one who was actually coming up with these characters and that he was doing them from whole cloth. That's not even getting into the stuff that Stan more transparently lied about when it comes to crediting his collaborators for the actual comics they made. It's a long, complicated thing, but basically the process by which the classic Marvel stories were created was not "Stan sits down and writes a script, and then hands the script to the artists to draw." Stan was not writing scripts. He was having brief conversations with the artists who would then go home and write the story. So, really they were writer-artists.They would go home and just draw out the entirety of the narrative that they were working on in the comic, add in little notes sometimes in the margins about what dialogue should go in there, and then they would hand this completed story, or more or less completed story, to Stan who would then add in dialogue and narration. Now, the dialogue and narration were very important, I don't want to discount that, and he also wrote the letters columns in the back, which were enormously influential and helped create the Marvel phenomenon. But he wasn't crediting his artists as co-writers, which they were. You can even argue that they were the primary writers since they were the ones who were actually coming up with the structure of the narratives. Anyway, I could go on and on like this, but that's just one area in which I wanted to cast some light on the disputes and force people to live with the ambiguity, which no one likes, of not knowing who actually is responsible for these things that are so enormously popular and prominent.We always talk about people who were ahead of their time, and oftentimes that's indicated as a very unambiguously positive statement, but the idea of a person who is a brand creator, that seems fairly prescient for a couple of reasons. It's not the first time that, again, not necessarily negatively, not necessarily positively, somebody has been able to float to vast cultural influence through basically brand definition and steering.You're exactly right. Stan was, in a time when we didn't talk about branding the way we talk about it now or being an influencer or any number of pop-y terms that we use to describe the present day media landscape, he really was an influencer and a brand himself. His personal brand and the brand of Marvel were intimately intertwined, and he was so good at promotion. There are very few people in the history of American life who have sold better and at a higher profile than Stan Lee, and that's huge. Jack may have been the person coming up with the characters, but Jack was a terrible salesman in terms of public relations and advertising and slogans and all of that. That was not something he was good at or enjoyed, whereas Stan, that was what he lived for.He loved being a raconteur. He loved creating a fan base. He loved all of that. And without him, I don't think we would have the Marvel phenomenon, even if the creative material had been in there, it wouldn't have become this — again, to use a modern term to describe something not so modern — it wouldn't have gone viral in the way that it did. He was ahead of his time. I find myself, as I promote this book, often looking in the mirror and thinking, well, I've become my subject. There's so much in just the modern publishing landscape that requires you to be a Stan Lee if you want to succeed. It's all about individual hustle and getting your name out there. I wasn't alive in the ‘60s, but I don't presume these things were talked about in quite the same way that they are now, and they were skills that Stan had that, if anything, in the ‘60s were maligned.That was back when the biggest object of joking that you could put into a satirical pop culture thing was about ad men. That was one of the reasons that Mad Men was the show that it was, because it was set during a time when being in advertising was in a lot of ways like having a tech gig now in that there was good money to be made, it was very much a hotly discussed industry, it was all based on bluster, et cetera, et cetera. And at the time you could really make fun of somebody for being a big promoter and advertiser, but Stan was really good at it! Now it's something we look at with a great deal of admiration, or at least grudging admiration when people can pull that off. And Stan really did.Partially because they're both owned by Disney now, but you have a guy like Jim Henson who was very much in the trenches of making the art that he was promoting pretty consistently, and then Stan really was a little bit more hands-off than I think people tend to think when it comes to developing characters.For the most part. Again, we don't know because we can't go back in time and figure out exactly who said what inside a closed room. We'll never know for certain, but even when it comes to creating individual comics as opposed to just creating the characters, yeah, he was relatively hands-off when it came to an individual comic, because he wasn't writing a full script. He was not being the auteur of these comics. He was saying, “okay, here's some ideas,” and then people would go and run with them. And a lot of the time it wasn't even, "here's some ideas, go run with," it was the writer-artists would come to him and say, “we're going to do this.” Stan would maybe have some tweaks, but would largely just say, “okay.” Then the writer-artists would go home and do that. So, it's not exactly like you say. It's not like Jim Henson going and tinkering away with his characters, it's much more of an ambiguous and distant creative role that he had.Over the course of Marvel's history, obviously, the company had I think some of the most tumultuous possible business situations through the ‘80s, ‘90s and 2000s. What of Stan Lee's later life and pops culture ascendance do you track in the book?All of it. There's nothing that was off-limits for this book. It's the full arc of his life to the best of my ability. I tried to keep it short, it's not a Robert Caro, but I talk a lot about what happened later because I think that that's the most interesting stuff to be honest. I think we're pretty well-covered — not as well as we should be — but prior to the release of my book, we were pretty well covered in terms of stories about Stan's life and work in the ‘60s. People have written about that stuff pretty extensively. Now, I have things to add to the ‘60s narrative that hadn't been there before, but comparatively, not that much, because it's been so heavily excavated. But when it comes to things that happened to Stan from 1971 and onward, basically no one had written in-depth about any of that.There've been some attempts at it. The comics journalist Tom Spurgeon and his collaborator Jordan Raphael, who's now a lawyer, wrote a book together, the first biography of Stan in the early aughts. It had a lot of really good stuff, but it too was heavy on the ‘60s and some of the ‘70s and then drops off. And I just felt, well, there's got to be something in there and turns out, I think that's where the whole story was. That's where you see the vast majority of what Stan's life was like, both in terms of just the numbers of years— he was alive for much longer than that one decade of the 1960s — but also because that's where you start to really see what fame and success and money did to Stan.What was it?Well, a lot of things, but one was he wanted more. He was never satisfied. He didn't like comics, particularly. He didn't like superheroes, particularly. He said that on the record — that's not me inferring — it's just people don't pay attention when he said that because he would also talk out of the other side of his mouth and say he loved the medium, and he loved the genre. But evidence points toward that not really being the case. Every time he tried to break out of comics, which was basically every day of his life since he got back from World War II and went back to his comics job he had left to go be in the service, every time he was trying to escape comics, it was never to make more comics. It was never, "I want to go do superhero stories in another medium either." It was, “I want to go make movies and I want to be taken seriously as a novelist or as any number of other things that are not comic book writer.”Later in life, once he had the taste of fame that he got from his work in the ‘60s, he just spent the rest of his life from 1971 until 2018 just trying to be something else. That led to a lot of disastrous incidents. I trace the history of his two post-Marvel companies. His first one was a Dot Com Bubble-era company called Stan Lee Media. The other one is one that still exists now as a subsidiary of this big Chinese conglomerate, but it's called POW! Entertainment, and both of them were accused of enormous criminal, or at least unlawful, malfeasance, of bilking investors and juicing a stock and all kinds of stuff. No one had talked about that, no one had looked at that. And yet that's where Stan's true colors — in a lot of ways, I don't want to say always — but where a lot of his professional true colors came through. He wanted to have money, he wanted to be famous. He wanted to break out of just being thought of as the Marvel guy. And it never happened.Around the end of his life, or by the end of his life I should say, he was world famous for being the Marvel guy, but he was not world famous for anything else. No one talks about the great triumph that was Stan Lee's Stripperella, or Stan Lee's The Mighty 7, or Stan Lee's Superhero Christmas. All of these silly tossed off things that didn't really go anywhere. No one talks about them. They just talk about the work he did in the ‘60s, and that's something that Stan found very frustrating. He wanted to be known for more.It's an incredibly powerful story and it's so deeply reported. It's gotten a lot of love from folks within the comics industry, many of whom have seen this, but have not had a chance to really see the real situation laid out. I suppose coming to the end, what do you think your main takeaways about this are? What do you think the main difficulties are? And where do you think this goes next?Well, I don't know. I'd love to see what people have to say about it. I've been very gratified to get some nice responses so far, but I want this to be something that opens up discussion, not just about — this is all highfalutin, I don't know if any of this will happen — but I would love for this to be the beginning of a discussion about the ‘great man' theory of business. I hate it. I hate this fixation we have on having singular geniuses who are responsible for the products that we like. We want there to be an intimate one-to-one relationship between us and the creator. If you want to get really heavy about it, you can talk about it in religious terms.Maybe we want to feel like we have a relationship with one who creates, with one who has this godlike ability to make something out of nothing. That leads us down dangerous paths because we start avoiding the truth. We're not looking for the actual ways in which something does get created. The other problem is we then throw under the bus all of the many people who are not the one great man, who are in some part, or sometimes in most part, responsible for creating the thing. So, I would hope that if there's a lesson to this book, it's question what you're told about people, and especially what people tell you about themselves. People have regurgitated Stan's version of events for more than a half a century now. We just have widely taken this one man's word as gospel.I would love for this to be something that prompts journalists and historians to think more carefully about who they believe, because oftentimes we just go with whoever the most charismatic and nicest seeming person is and say, well, their version of events is probably true, and then we print it uncritically. I get it. I'm a journalist. A lot of times you don't have enough information to be able to make a claim that you know something is one way or another, but that shouldn't be an excuse to do a shoddy job of describing what you know, or acting like you know something that you don't know for certain.So, I guess that's the last thing. I would like for this book to be something that encourages us to live with the awful agony of ambiguity. We're not necessarily going to know what happened in the past in order to influence things that we like in the present. You sometimes have to sit with the fact that these things are unknowable, and that's hard for people. It's hard for me, it's hard writing a piece to admit that you don't know, but it's also sometimes the only intellectually and morally honest way to approach a subject.So, there you have it, the definitive answer on Stan Lee. It is unknowable. And we must be content with ambiguity within the art that we like. Abraham, thank you so much for coming on. The book is True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, where can folks find it?Easiest way is to go to your one-stop shop for all Abraham Riesman needs, which is Abrahamriesman.com. I'm on Twitter, @abrahamjoseph.All right. Thanks so much for coming on. I appreciate it. And we'll want to hear why all of Stan Lee's stuff is in Wyoming at a later time.Some other time. If you have anything you'd like to see in this Sunday special, shoot me an email. Comment below! Thanks for reading, and thanks so much for supporting Numlock.Thank you so much for becoming a paid subscriber! Send links to me on Twitter at @WaltHickey or email me with numbers, tips, or feedback at walt@numlock.news. Get full access to Numlock News at www.numlock.com/subscribe

This episode was originally broadcast on November 27, 2019. We present today's episode as a side dish of comics for your Thanksgiving Day festivities! First up, the lads remember the late Tom Spurgeon, giving thanks for the varied and considerable contributions he made to comics as a whole, and his inspiration to this show's hosts in particular. Then it's time to spin the wheel for another game of Longbox Roulette (Marvel Edition), where Mike chooses a random issue from the Marvel Unlimited service for Greg to identify in 10 yes-or-no questions or less! And in honor of Mr. Spurgeon, several 'Five for Friday' topics are mixed in with the Roulette questions, prompting answers from both sides of the microphone. Something for everyone fighting off the day's tryptophan coma on this episode! Robots From Tomorrow is a weekly comics podcast recorded deep beneath the Earth’s surface. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or through the RSS feed at RobotsFromTomorrow.com. You can also follow Mike and Greg on Twitter. Enjoy your funny books.

Lawyer, ethics advisor and comics nerd Jeff Trexler joins the show to talk about his new role as Interim Executive Director of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. We get into his plans to help rebuild the CBLDF's reputation and ethics code after the sexual harassment scandal of its previous director, his experiences helping people pursue their harassment claims and launching antiharassment campaigns in the fashion world, how the Fund's role has changed over the decades, and why he's comfortable with that interim title. We also get into his obsessions with comics and design, the broad meaning of First Amendment law (and why R Sikoryak's recent Constitution Illustrated should be required reading), how to learn from ethics disasters, how nonprofits can grow and how they can become sclerotic, his childhood McLuhan-inspired interpretation of the theme to the Batman TV show, how our mutual friend Tom Spurgeon was the hub of the comics industry, and what it's been like to live without him. Follow Jeff on Twitter • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Cartoonist Karl Stevens checks in from Boston, to talk about how his life hasn't changed all that much during the pandemic (outside of one COVID case in his co-op). We get into how he's trying to find unique humor for gag comics, and playing mix-and-match with The New Yorker's unofficial list of humor topics, his deep dive into Jack Kirby's 1970s comics, having his new book postponed until next spring, the festivals and conventions he misses most, his reflexive morning click on comicsreporter.com almost 6 months after Tom Spurgeon's death, and more. Follow Karl on Twitter and Instagram and check out his work at The New Yorker • Listen to our full-length podcast • More info at our site • Find all our COVID Check-In episodes • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Cartoonist James Sturm checks in from Hartland, VT. We talk about how COVID-19 has affected learning at the Center for Cartoon Studies (he's the founder and director of that institution), his weekly digital Sabbath, recording video-dispatches with cartoonists about this experience, missing Tom Spurgeon and how he would have helped us cope with this, and more. • Follow James Instagram and follow CCS on Twitter and Instagram • Listen to our full-length podcast from 2019 • More info at our site • Find all our COVID Check-In episodes • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

00:00:00 - Asher Elbein (@asher_elbein) is still back but this time he and Ryan get really nerdy (if you believe that’s even possible after the last episode). The first half of super nerd talk begins with a brief remembrance of Tom Spurgeon, who passed away last year. But it is mostly about the new status quo regarding the X-Men, which kicked off with Johnathan Hickman’s House of X and Powers of X. Ryan has also discussed this topic over on iFanboy. 00:30:28 - Time is a flat circle so Ryan is still having the Thai spice teas from Running Byrd Tea Co. Tweet about your first tea with hashtag #firsttimeteatime, for some reason. 00:31:47 - In the second half of their chat (or really, the fourth quarter if you think about it), Asher and Ryan dig deep on some Star Wars (this was recorded just prior to the release of Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker). It gets real, feelings are felt. 01:04:03 - PaleoPOWs are a lot like wars in the stars, they can sometimes end in disappointment. But no disappointment today because we have a lovely 5-star iTunes review from Crue Taylor. Thanks, Crue! More cool rewards await you if you decide to support us on our Patreon! Music credit: Not The Droid - Podington Bear

Tom Spurgeon, a comics advocate, historian, and journalist, passed away on November 13, 2019. Tom was a frequent guest on this podcast, and had a huge impact on comics in general. In this episode, Tim and Kumar discuss his effect on the comics industry and his appearances on DCP. Then, Tim talks to three people … Continue reading #647 Tom Spurgeon Remembered

"I had an amazing life, and my love for my family is unsurpassed, followed nearly as much as the love for my closest friends. Be kind to yourselves, and live in laughter as much as possible. I love you. Thanks for everything." This special episode of The Virtual Memories Show features the memorial service for Tom Spurgeon, held December 14, 2019, at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. The speakers (in sequence) were Whit Spurgeon, Sunny McFarren, Rob Eidson, Dan Wright (slideshow here), Fred Haring, Eric Reynolds, Jordan Raphael, Me, Jeff Smith, Laurenn McCubbin, Rebecca Perry Damsen, and Caitlin McGurk. The following people spoke during the open comments session: Bruce Chrislip, Christian Hoffer, Carol Tyler, Evan Dorkin, Darcie Hoffer, Shena Wolf, and James Moore. To get a greater understanding of Tom's life and his impact on the world around him, please listen to these heartfelt, emotional, and sometimes funny remembrances of our friend. If you'd like to make a donation in Tom's name, he requested that your gifts go to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, but he also would have been happy to know you supported your favorite artist, writer, or creator, however you can. • More info at our site

Paul and Al are back with a new episode, where they remember Tom Spurgeon, Howard Cruse and Tom Lyle, talk about delays at Marvel, the announcements of Hellions and Strange Academy, Chris Samnee's Fire Power and Vault Comics' Myriad line and review Annihilation: Scourge - Silver Surfer and Dying Is Easy. And don't overlook the hotly-awaited audio from the SILENCE! To Astonish panel live at Thought Bubble 2019, with Gerry Duggan, Ram V, John Allison and Emma Vieceli!

Today (Dec. 16) would have been Tom Spurgeon's birthday. To honor my best friend after his untimely death, this mini-episode has my remarks from his memorial service this past weekend at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum in Columbus, OH. • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

*Theme Music: Chartsmasher – Dial Up* chartsmasher.bandcamp.com/releases specialdudescomix.bigcartel.com/ [Go to Little Heroes Comics & Fair Spark Books: Bring a massive smile to comic’s creativity today] littleheroescomics.co.uk/ fairsparkbooks.co.uk/ “Get some culture! READ A F*****G BOOK” Tis the season to be jolly! Hello and welcome to our second Christmas present to you all and the gang is back together. Something a little different this time as well. We are discussing books that are about comics. Bloody Books! Don’t worry though. This hasn’t become some after school book club get together. The folks still get their comics on and in full swing adoration. There’s Alan Moore, Tim Pilcher, Marvel, Tom Spurgeon, Pat Mills, Penguin books, Will Eisner, you name it! There is soooo many books and we had a ton of fun. We hope you do too. Grab a mulled wine, some mince pies and hell of a lot of Christmas cheer. This and all the usual comics chat on the only comics podcast to make a list, check it twice… That Comic Smell! Follow us on Twitter & Instagram @thatcomicsmell Get us on… Soundcloud: tinyurl.com/y8vzeh3c Spotify: tinyurl.com/y2qtu2cs YouTube: tinyurl.com/yajnxcno Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/hwbqxab Podbean: tinyurl.com/yxvecykj and most places you find podcasts. Don’t forget to Like, Share, Subscribe, Rate & Review. Thanks again for listening and supporting the podcast Graphic Borders: Latino comic books past, present and future (Frederick Luis Aldama, Christopher Gonzalez) Words for Pictures: The Art and Business of writing comics and graphic novels (Brian Michael Bendis) Eisner/Miller (Interview Conducted by Charles Brownstein) Will Eisner's Shop Talk (Will Eisner) Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books (Jean-Paul Galbilliet) How Comics Work (Dave Gibbons, Tim Pilcher) The International Book of comics (Denis Gifford) 1001 Comics you must read before you Die (Paul Gravett, ed.) The New Comics (Gary Groth, Robert Flore, eds.) Marvel Museum: The Story of the Comics (Ned Hartley) Marvel Comics: The Untold Story (Sean Howe) Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud) The Supergirl: Fashion Feminism, Fantasty and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Mike Madrid) Looking for Calvin and Hobbes (Nevin Martell) Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! (Pat Mills) From Hell Companion (Alan Moore, Eddie Campbell) Super Gods (Grant Morrison) Art out of time: Unknown comic visionaries, 1900-1969 (Dan Nadel, ed.) The Penguin book of Comics (George Perry, Alan Alridge) Stan Lee: The Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book (Jordan Raphael, Tom Spurgeon) Tales to Astonish (Ronin Ro) Adult Comics: An Introduction (Roger Sabin) Comic Book Hero (Barrie Tomlinson) McSweeneys 13: The Comics issue (Chris Ware, ed.) The Caped Crusade: Batman and the rise of Nerd Culture (Glen Weldon) Peter Bagge Conversations (Kent Worcester)

Today on a brand-spankin’ new episode, the gang discuss a few snippets from the comics world, including: • David Bowie bio-comic coming from Insight comics • A few notable passings should be mentioned: Tom Spurgeon, Gahan Wilson, and Tom Lyle • Asterix to get US rollout in 2020 • Breena... Continue reading →

We present today's episode as a side dish of comics for your Thanksgiving Day festivities! First up, the lads remember the late Tom Spurgeon, giving thanks for the varied and considerable contributions he made to comics as a whole, and his inspiration to this show's hosts in particular. Then it's time to spin the wheel for another game of Longbox Roulette (Marvel Edition), where Mike chooses a random issue from the Marvel Unlimited service for Greg to identify in 10 yes-or-no questions or less! And in honor of Mr. Spurgeon, several 'Five for Friday' topics are mixed in with the Roulette questions, prompting answers from both sides of the microphone. Something for everyone fighting off the day's tryptophan coma on this episode! Robots From Tomorrow is a weekly comics podcast recorded deep beneath the Earth’s surface. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or through the RSS feed at RobotsFromTomorrow.com. You can also follow Mike and Greg on Twitter. Enjoy your funny books.

Tom Spurgeon 1968-2019 http://comicsreporter.com/ Thanks to Shelton Drum, Seth, Karla, Heather, Rico and the rest of the Heroes Aren't Hard to Find family for hosting the Kings of Kayfabe for this week's Weekly Shoot. http://www.heroesonline.com/ Snail Mail! Cartoonist Kayfabe, PO Box 3071, Munhall, Pa 15120 Grab your "Frederic Wertham can eat a !@%" T-shirts, and more Cartoonist Kayfabe merchandise at our new storefront: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/cartoonist-kayfabe/men?q=D1 --------------------- Connect with us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cartoonist.kayfabe/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CartoonKayfabe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cartoonist.Kayfabe Ed's Contact info: https://www.instagram.com/ed_piskor https://www.twitter.com/edpiskor https://www.amazon.com/Ed-Piskor/e/B00LDURW7A/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1 Jim's contact info: https://www.instagram.com/jimruggart https://www.twitter.com/jimruggart https://www.amazon.com/Jim-Rugg/e/B0034Q8PH2/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1543440388&sr=1-2-ent

The Dark Knight of Podcasts Returns! What? Yes. Hi! Here we are again, quite randomly. Mike & Zack talk comics, life, editing, auteur theory, productivity, carpal tunnel, digital drawing, early graphic novels, reading comics on the iPad, Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns, and Tom Spurgeon's recent passing.

The Dark Knight of Podcasts Returns! What? Yes. Hi! Here we are again, quite randomly. Mike & Zack talk comics, life, editing, auteur theory, productivity, carpal tunnel, digital drawing, early graphic novels, reading comics on the iPad, Frank Miller, The Dark Knight Returns, and Tom Spurgeon's recent passing.

Rising star Tauhid Bondia visits Blockhead to talk about his life, career, and his two great comicstrips on GoComics.com; the politically charged, “A Problem Like Jamal” and the new Instagram sensation, “Crabgrass”!  (This episode is dedicated to the memory of Tom Spurgeon)

Fecha de Grabación: Domingo 17 de noviembre de 2019.Algunas de las noticias y temas comentados:Falleció Tom Spurgeon, periodista de cómics fundador de The Comics Reporter y figura muy querida en el medio estadounidense.Damos nuestras impresiones de los primeros dos episodios de The Mandalorian, la serie de Star Wars exclusiva de Disney+.Contestamos preguntas de la audiencia.¡Y más...!Comentario de cómics:The Weatherman, escrito por Jody LeHeup y dibujado por Nathan Fox, con color de Dave Stewart (Image Comics).Isola, escrito por Karl Kerschl y Brenden Fletcher y dibujado por Karl Kerschl con color de Msassyk (Image Comics).Pueden escuchar el Podcast dentro del sitio a través del reproductor que está en la columna lateral del Blog o en este reproductor incrustado.Descarga Directa MP3 (Usar botón derecho del mouse y opción "guardar enlace como"). Peso: 72,0 MB; Calidad: 128 Kbps.Descarga Directa OGG (Usar botón derecho del mouse y opción "guardar enlace como"). Peso: 39,5 MB; Calidad: 128 Kbps.El episodio tiene una duración de 1:17:48.Recuerden que a partir de este episodio está nuevamente activa nuestra campaña en Patreon. Cada episodio se publicará en esa plataforma al menos 24 horas antes que a través de los canales habituales. Habrá también un especial mensual, y pueden sumarse a nuestros patreoncinadores™ con aportaciones desde 1 dólar al mes.Comicverso en PatreonPuedes encontrar el podcast en los siguientes agregadores y servicios:Comicverso en SpotifyComicverso en iVooxComicverso en Apple PodcastsComicverso en Google PodcastsComicverso en Archive.orgComicverso en Overcast.fmComicverso en Pocket CastsComicverso en RadioPublicComicverso en CastBox.fm¿Usas alguna app o servicio que no tiene a Comicverso? En la barra lateral está el feed del podcast, mismo que puedes agregar al servicio de tu preferencia. Como siempre... deja tu comentario o escríbenos directamente a comicverso@gmail.com o a podcast@comicverso.org. Nos interesa conocer opiniones y críticas para seguir mejorando.Si te gusta nuestro trabajo, por favor ayúdanos compartiendo el enlace a esta entrada, cuéntale a tus amigos sobre nuestro Podcast, y recomiéndalo a quien creas que pueda interesarle.Hasta pronto.Deja tus comentarios o escríbenos directamente a comicverso@gmail.com

Today on Heroes #332 episode for Collider Heroes, Coy and Amy welcome pundit and host Jason Inman to talk about the latest news from the world of superhero movies including the latest news that Black Adam is officially a go with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on board. They also discuss how real the possibility of a releasing of the Snyder Cut of Justice League is now that Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck have joined the fray on social media. They also send out some special remembrances for Tom Spurgeon and Tom Lyle. Plus Coy & Amy’s comic book pull list for the week. You can watch #ColliderHeroes every Tuesday at 5pmPST/8PM EST. Plus, every Thursday search for “Collider Heroes” wherever you get your podcasts to listen to Heroes Giant-Size, a weekly deep-dive into the sweatiest comic book entertainment news, along with interviews with comic creators, actors and directors. Follow Coy Jandreau: https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau Follow Amy Dallen: https://twitter.com/enthusiamy Follow Jason Inman: https://twitter.com/Jawiin Subscribe to Collider Videos ? ? https://bit.ly/2n1MZb7 Breaking Entertainment News ? ? http://collider.com Get Social! ? https://twitter.com/ColliderVideo ? https://instagram.com/ColliderVideo ? https://facebook.com/colliderdotcom More from Collider ? ? ??Collider Live: https://bit.ly/1qU5ENT ??Celebrity Interviews: https://bit.ly/2OyLjSU ??Video Games: https://bit.ly/2vszg0Z ??Sports: https://bit.ly/2Au5rmv ?????Pro Wrestling: https://bit.ly/2LKhWzy ??Podcasts: https://podcastone.com/network/Collider

Recorded in Challengers River North! We’re actually pleased with our progress thus far. Less than 2 weeks until opening day! R.I.P. Tom Spurgeon. Orbital Comics in London has stopped carrying single issue new comics. There was a time when we considered that, too.

In the latest episode, the Fanbase Press staff welcomes guests Jason Inman and Ashley V. Robinson (comics creators - Science!, Jupiter Jet / founders - Jawiin Comics Drive) to discuss the latest geek news stories of the week, including honoring comics journalist Tom Spurgeon, how HBO's Watchmen has better served its female characters, whether The Mandalorian is continuing Star Wars' themes, and our weekly trailer roundup with What If?, Harley Quinn, and Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Following the death of Tom Spurgeon, my best friend and an inveterate supporter of the show, I've re-posted our 2012 conversation, along with a new (and emotional) introduction • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

On the Comics Syllabus today, guest co-host Johnny Hall (@johnnyhall3) and Paul (@twoplai) discuss Frank Santoro’s graphic novel “Pittsburgh,” (starting at 12:30) a potent reminiscence and contemplation of Santoro’s immediate family and upbringing in the city. But first, Johnny and Paul remember Tom Spurgeon, comics reporter extraordinaire and example for us all. After talking about […]

Tom Spurgeon, The Twilight Man: Rod Serling and the Birth of Television from Life Drawn/Humanoids, Fantagraphics-O-Rama: Maria M by Gilbert Hernandez, The Comics Journal #304 and Simon Hanselmann, and The Empress Cixtisis by Anne Simon, Far Sector from Young Animal/DC, Locke & Key: Dog Days from IDW, Space Bandits #5 from Image, The Punisher: Soviet, The Mandalorian, November Volume 1: The Girl on the Roof from Image Comics, plus a whole mess more!

So sad to hear about the passing of Tom Spurgeon, whose comics criticism was an important point of view for 25 years. His work at the comics journal and his own comics reporter blog was so vital in covering all aspects of comics.I'm proud to say Tom was a friend to me and this podcast and was always delighted when he'd link to my interviews in his blog. I will miss our after hours conversations. We lost a true advocate of the medium.I hope you'll join me in celebrating his life as I re-present our 2015 conversation

Because of a last-minute guest cancellation, I had no show lined up for this week! Rather than take a second week off this summer, I decided it was time for another Gil Roth AMA episode, since the last one was almost 5 years ago. Thirty-two past and upcoming guests and Patreon supporters came through with questions for me, including (in the order I answered them): Ken Krimstein, Hugh Ryan, Barry Corbett, Joe Ciardiello, Glynnis Fawkes, Kyle Cassidy, Ian Kelley, Kate Lacour, Dean Haspiel, Eddy Portnoy, Kate Maruyama, Tom Spurgeon, Jonathan Hyman, David Leopold, Paine Proffitt, David Townsend, Boaz Roth, Chris Reynolds, Liniers, Caleb Crain, Bob Eckstein, Ersi Sotiropoulos, Andrea Tsurumi, Henry Wessells, Vanessa Sinclair, Jim Ottaviani, Maria Alexander, Mary Fleener, Stephen Nadler, Charles Blackstone, Lauren Weinstein, and David Shields. We cover everything from creative lessons learned to "why so many cartoonists?", from what books I re-read and why to who is on my Mount Rushmore list of dream guests, from the comics and GNs that have affected me most to what I think about the Peak TV era, from how running has affected my podcast-practices to who my most obstreperous guest has been, and plenty more! And it was all done in a single two-hour take, so give it a listen! • More info at our site • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal

Our hero has passed. We celebrate his life and achievements in this special biographical episode. Discover the origin of the man, the myth, the legend: Stan Lee.Special Thanks to the book "Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book" written by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon.Music Credits:-Luminous Rain-Americana-Impending Boom-Despair and Triumph-Dark TimesThe above songs are attributed to:Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/uvp/Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/Other Music:https://www.purple-planet.comhttps://www.bensound.com

Our hero has passed. We celebrate his life and achievements in this special biographical episode. Discover the origin of the man, the myth, the legend: Stan Lee.Special Thanks to the book "Stan Lee and the Rise and Fall of the American Comic Book" written by Jordan Raphael and Tom Spurgeon.Music Credits:-Luminous Rain-Americana-Impending Boom-Despair and Triumph-Dark TimesThe above songs are attributed to:Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/The Temperature of the Air on the Bow of the Kaleetan by Chris Zabriskie Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Source: http://chriszabriskie.com/uvp/Artist: http://chriszabriskie.com/Other Music:https://www.purple-planet.comhttps://www.bensound.com

From 2008: If you’re a cartoonist—writer or artist—an editor, a fan or someone in the business, there are three sites you must check daily: Alan Gardner’s DailyCartoonist.com; David Astor at EditorandPublisher.com and Tom Spurgeon’s ComicsReporter.com. Joining me today is Alan Gardner, founder of DailyCartoonist.com.

This one's a Mike & Zack episode, all Jibba, no Jabba! Ok, actually there's plenty of Jabba. Mike talks about feeling a bit nervous about an upcoming comic featuring some of his local politicians, Zack has a new short comic up on Study Group and discusses what goes into collecting serialized work into a satisfying book experience, specifically in relation to his long running Secret Voice series. We also talk Rose City Comic-Con, which Zack just got back from, and the coming week's show SPX. Unofficial episode producer Tom Spurgeon provides multiple questions for us to riff on, which mainly sends us down to a little place we like to call Memory Lane. We *may* spend some time talking about that time we elbowed a famous cartoonist in the head, as well as the immortal Warriors of Plasm. It's a real Process Party Potpourri!

This one's a Mike & Zack episode, all Jibba, no Jabba! Ok, actually there's plenty of Jabba. Mike talks about feeling a bit nervous about an upcoming comic featuring some of his local politicians, Zack has a new short comic up on Study Group and discusses what goes into collecting serialized work into a satisfying book experience, specifically in relation to his long running Secret Voice series. We also talk Rose City Comic-Con, which Zack just got back from, and the coming week's show SPX. Unofficial episode producer Tom Spurgeon provides multiple questions for us to riff on, which mainly sends us down to a little place we like to call Memory Lane. We *may* spend some time talking about that time we elbowed a famous cartoonist in the head, as well as the immortal Warriors of Plasm. It's a real Process Party Potpourri!

We meet with the Comics Reporter himself! Tom Spurgeon comes to the party floor to talk the recent Fantagraphics oral history "We Told You So: Comics As Art." It's a book we loved digging into and Tom brings a wealth of behind the scenes magic to the story OF THE STORY (of the story?), very high concept this is. We also cover Tom's work at CXC and the future of The Comics Reporter! PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about their bedtimes!

We meet with the Comics Reporter himself! Tom Spurgeon comes to the party floor to talk the recent Fantagraphics oral history "We Told You So: Comics As Art." It's a book we loved digging into and Tom brings a wealth of behind the scenes magic to the story OF THE STORY (of the story?), very high concept this is. We also cover Tom's work at CXC and the future of The Comics Reporter! PLUS: Mike & Zack talk about their bedtimes!

For Thanksgiving 2016, more than two dozen past Virtual Memories Show guests chime in on what they're thankful for, including Glen Baxter, Roz Chast, Liz Hand, Hayley Campbell and Tom Spurgeon! (Think of this as a time capsule for what life was like among writers and artists immediately after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.) And there are more contributions, including photos by Jonathan Hyman and cartoons from Bob Eckstein, at chimeraobscura.com/vm/thanksgiving-2016 • Support The Virtual Memories Show via Patreon or Paypal, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

Longbox Heroes podcast co-host Leonard F Chikarason (@LFChikarason) is back to talk about the latest goings-on in popular culture. We talk San Diego Comic-Con news (4:00), which leads to a discussion of comic book movies, our preferences and Trekkies vs Trekkers. We discuss new comics (23:15) we are enjoying including Batman by Tom King (@TomKIngTK) and David Finch and Detective Comics by James Tynion IV (@JamestheFourth), the Archie line of books including Archie by Mark Waid and Veronica Fish, Betty and Veronica by Adam Hughes,, Jughead by Chip Zdsrsky, Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Francesco Francovilla and Robert Hack, Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston-Flores, the FIx by Nick Spenser and Steve Lieber (including a great story about Lieber) and Future Quest by former podcast guest Jeff Parker (@jeffparker), Doc Shaner @DocShaner), Jordie Bellaire (@whoajordie) and Steve Rude (@steverudeart) We move on to luchadors working in the US (34:05), including for the two promotions where Leonard does commentary: AIW Wrestling (@aiwrestling) in Cleveland and Chikara Pro (@chikarapro). We discuss the popularity of Pentagon Jr at an AIW show earlier this year and luchadors working at King of Trios Labor Day weekend. We close with a deep dive on Marvel Puzzle Quest (39:41), some upcoming characters and strategies we employ when playing the game. Also, behind the scenes news about Longbox Heroes schedule (58:48). 1:04:03 - The show ends with a brief remembrance following the passing of MAD Magazine artist Jack Davis and Cul-de-Sac cartoonist RIchard Thompson. I recommend Mark Evanier;s obituary for Davis. I would also expect that Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter will have a thorough obit for Thompson in the coming days.

Two interviews that look at the art/alternative comix scene. How is it playing out while the superhero books are seeing massive attention at Conventions and from Film and TV projects?First Dean Haspiel and Gregory Benton talk about their new books from Hang Dai studios. Haspiel is presenting his real life adventures moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan in Beef With Tomato. Benton has released an ambitious silent comic called Smoke. Hang Dai is also releasing Schmuck the graphic novel written by the late comics photo journalist Seth Kushner . The guys talk about Kushner's continued inspiration in the Hang Dai Studio, and how they plan to promote these books in the upcoming conventions and comic arts festivals. We also talk about Dean's love of superhero comics particularly the Fantastic Four amd Greg's current obsession with Jack Kirby's Fourth World. Then Comics Reporter  Tom Spurgeon joins us for a talk about his blog The Comics Reporter, and new patreon campaign to fund his new monthly online magazine The Comics Report  . It's a chance to compare notes on the changes we've both seen in the comics market. Tom is also organizing a Columbus, Ohio Comics Arts Festival in conjunction with Ohio State University CXC Festival. 

Two interviews that look at the art/alternative comix scene. How is it playing out while the superhero books are seeing massive attention at Conventions and from Film and TV projects?First Dean Haspiel and Gregory Benton talk about their new books from Hang Dai studios. Haspiel is presenting his real life adventures moving to Brooklyn from Manhattan in Beef With Tomato. Benton has released an ambitious silent comic called Smoke. Hang Dai is also releasing Schmuck the graphic novel written by the late comics photo journalist Seth Kushner . The guys talk about Kushner's continued inspiration in the Hang Dai Studio, and how they plan to promote these books in the upcoming conventions and comic arts festivals. We also talk about Dean's love of superhero comics particularly the Fantastic Four amd Greg's current obsession with Jack Kirby's Fourth World. Then Comics Reporter  Tom Spurgeon joins us for a talk about his blog The Comics Reporter, and new patreon campaign to fund his new monthly online magazine The Comics Report  . It's a chance to compare notes on the changes we've both seen in the comics market. Tom is also organizing a Columbus, Ohio Comics Arts Festival in conjunction with Ohio State University CXC Festival. 

It's a semi-tradition that when the Eisner Award nominations are announced, Derek and Andy are there to discuss them. So on this special episode of The Comics Alternative, the guys get together to deliberate over this year's nominees, what kind of patterns they discern, and what surprise choices there may be. Joining them on the show is noted comics journalist and former Eisner Award-winner, Tom Spurgeon. Together they look over the list of nominees that was released just last week and try to figure out what is going on with the choices. They begin by looking at the bigger picture, giving their takes on any possible direction or pattern coming from this year's judges. Both Andy and Derek comment on the fact that both DC and Marvel -- and mainstream superhero comics, in particular -- seem to be getting slightly more love than they have in recent years, with properties such as Ms. Marvel, Rocket Raccoon, Grant Morrison's Multiversity, and various Batman and Spider-Man titles getting the nod. Tom is pleased with some heavy hitters, such as Sergio Aragonés and Charles Burns, who are up for awards, yet at the same time he's glad that there are brand-new faces that could shake up some of the stolid categories. The guys also note that many of the nominees have been covered on The Comics Alternative podcast and blog, wondering if the creators appreciate the fact that they're benefiting from what Andy has called the "Comics Alternative bump." In fact, every single entry in the Best Graphic Album - New category was reviewed on either the podcast or blog over the past year! Even though he has been a past recipient of the prize, Tom wonders if there's any logic to having a Best Comics-Related Periodical/Journalism, since, it seems to him, it's an award for creators giving a prize to someone who merely watches the medium. It would be like the Oscars giving an award to Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, or IMDB for their reporting. Derek tacks in a completely different direction, uncomfortable with the Eisners lumping all forms of media together and wondering if perhaps they should break up the periodical/journalism award into at least a couple of different categories. The guys also observe some notable absences from this year's selection. For example, and unlike previous years, Dark Horse Presents is nowhere to be found on the list. And why is something like Superior Foes of Spider-Man nominated in the Best Humor Publication category while unique and intelligently funny titles such as God Hates Astronauts, Punks: The Comic, and Eel Mansions are not? And then there are the kinds of discussions that have been coming up on the podcast in years past, such as issues in defining the Best Publications for Teens category, the growing presence of webcomics on the list, possible trends in the Best Scholarly/Academic Work category, and the juggernaut presence of Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples. There is a lot to pick through in this year's nominations, the good as well as the not-so-good, and the Two Guys with PhDs are happy that Tom Spurgeon could join them to share in the conversation.

  Brandon and I really wanted to talk to Tom Spurgeon while we are all at SPX, unfortunately a long and chatty breakfast got in the way. Now that all of the inkstuds roadtripping is finished, Brandon and I are … Continue reading →

Frank Santoro is a Pittsburgh-based cartoonist. He self-published his first major work, Storeyville in 1995 while living in San Francisco. Upon its republication twelve years later, Tom Spurgeon wrote, "Frank Santoro's Storeyville may be the book of 2007, which is doubly amazing when you realize that it may have been the book of 1995 as well." After spending time in the New York art scene, where he painted and assisted painter, Francesco Clemente, he returned to making comics in the early 2000s with Cold Heat - an unfinished collaboration with Ben Jones. He cofounded the influential comics criticism blog and publication, Comics Comics, with Dan Nadel and Tim Hodler. In 2011, he founded the Santoro Correspondence Course. He writes a weekly comic for tcj.com and runs comicworksbook (currently in the midst of the comicsworkbook Composition Competition 2013). This fall, Picturebox, Inc. will release Santoro's new graphic novel, Pompeii -- a historical romance set in the days before the eruption.

I was joined by Tom Spurgeon, Bill Kartalopoulos and Joe McCulloch to discuss a variety of comics from 2012. This survey is not a best of, but instead works that we wanted to cover for better or worst. There is … Continue reading →

After quite some time, Inkstuds returns with another edition of a critics roundtable. As usual, I am joined by a stellar group of amazing critics. Jeet Heer, Tom Spurgeon and Joe McCulloch round up this edition and bring their top … Continue reading →