Podcasts about Understanding Comics

Join co-hosts Adrian M. Gibson and Greta Kelly as they delve into a writing masterclass on Writing for Different Mediums with author/actor Luke Arnold. During the episode, Luke breaks down his approaches to four different mediums (prose, comics, screenwriting and video games), including expressing your creativity through various mediums, learning from other mediums, researching and understanding your medium, as well as comparing story structure, pacing, expectations, character development and worldbuilding across mediums.NOTE: This is part two of a two-part chat with Luke. Click ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to check out part one.RESOURCES MENTIONED:- Scriptnotes Podcast- Save the Cat books by Blake Snyder and Jessica Brody- Kurt Vonnegut's “Shapes of Stories” lecture- Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud- A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George SaundersOUR SPONSOR:Transference by Ian Patterson is a sci-fi dystopia that dissects the medical industry, economic inequality, and what it means to be human in a city where diseases can be transferred. Purchase Transference ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.SHOUTOUT TO THE 'SFF ADDICT' PATRONS:Thank you Ian Patterson, David Hopkins, Luke F. Shepherd, Christopher R. DuBois, Tai, Luke A. Winch and GavinGuile for supporting us on Patreon at $10+.SUPPORT THE SHOW:- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (for exclusive bonus episodes, author readings, book giveaways and more)- Rate and review SFF Addicts on your platform of choice, and share us with your friendsEMAIL US WITH YOUR QUESTIONS & COMMENTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠sffaddictspod@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ABOUT OUR GUEST:Luke Arnold is an actor and the author of The Fetch Phillips Archives. His latest release is Whisper in the Wind, which you can purchase ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠. You can also wishlist his video game Shoot for the Moon on ⁠Steam⁠.Find Luke on ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠his personal website⁠⁠⁠.ABOUT OUR HOSTS:Adrian M. Gibson is the author of Mushroom Blues, which you can purchase ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠.Find Adrian on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠his personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Greta Kelly is the author of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Queen of Days⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, The Frozen Crown and The Seventh Queen.Find Greta on Instagram⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.M.J. Kuhn is the author of⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Among Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and⁠⁠⁠ Thick as Thieves⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Find M.J. on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠her personal website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.FOLLOW SFF ADDICTS:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Linktree⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MUSIC:Intro: "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Into The Grid⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by MellauSFXOutro: “⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Galactic Synthwave⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠” by DivionAD ATTRIBUTION:- Music: "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Corporate Advertising Music⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by SigmaMusicArt / "⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Synthetic Deception⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠" by GioeleFazzeri- Video:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Svavar Halldorsson⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Gorodenkoff⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠artlab⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jacob Wackerhausen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ FHP Animation Studio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SweetBunFactory⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shivkantsharma07⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠iLexx⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ circotasu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Astragal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ /⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Alasabyss

We're back from our break to discuss Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics! Does this 30 year old breakdown on the artistry of comics still hold up?! We also talk about Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle, Hunter x Hunter, and more!!! Send us emails! mangamachinations@gmail.com  Follow us on Twitter! @mangamacpodcast Check out our website! https://mangamachinations.com Support us on Ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/mangamac  Check out our YouTube channel! https://www.youtube.com/mangamactv Check out our new commentary channel! https://www.youtube.com/@MangaMacWatches Timestamps: Intro - 00:00:00 Listener Email - 00:03:26 The Legend of Kamui - 00:11:38 Darfox & dakazu's Gaming Channel - 00:13:10 la la books - 00:16:33 Battle Angel Alita Mars Chronicle - 00:20:28 Ashen Victor - 00:23:58 Hunter x Hunter - 00:26:14 Next Episode Preview - 00:33:31 Understanding Comics - 00:34:21 Outro - 02:04:46 Song Credits: “Hopscotch” by Louis Adrien “Jiggin the Jig” by Bless & the Professionals “Green Light” by Emily Lewis “Tasty Bites” by ZISO

In this episode of Locust Radio, Adam Turl interviews R. Faze, author of the My Body series published in Locust Review. This is part of an ongoing series of interviews with Locust members and collaborators on contemporary artistic strategies. R. Faze's My Body series in Locust Review: R. Faze, “I Live an Hour from My Body,” Locust Review 4  (2021) R. Faze, “My Body Got a New Job,” Locust Review 5 (2021) R. Faze, “My Body Planned Something,” Locust Review 6 (2021) R. Faze, “My Body, Interrogated,” Locust Review 7 (2022) R. Faze, “My Body's Long Term Plan,” Locust Review 8 (2022) R. Faze, “My By Body's Revenge Plan,” Locust Review 9 (2022) R. Faze, “My Body Found a Portal to Another Dimension,” Locust Review 10 (2023) R. Faze, “My Body's Claims, Verified,” Locust Review 11 (2024) Some other writers, artists, texts and artworks discussed: Mikhail Bahktin, Rabelais and His World (1984); Bertolt Brecht; Raymond Chandler;  Jefferson Cowie, Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working-Class (2010); Rene Descartes; W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (1903); Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (2009); Karl Marx, The Philosophic and Economic Manuscripts (1844); Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (1993); Pablo Picasso and Cubism; Edgar Allan Poe, “William Wilson” (1839); Francois Rabalais, Gargantua and Pantagruel (1564); Don Siegal, Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956); Sister Wife Sex Strike, “From the River to the Sea (2024); Robert Louis Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886) Locust Radio hosts include Tish Turl, Laura Fair-Schulz, and Adam Turl. Locust Radio is produced by Alexander Billet, Adam Turl, and Omnia Sol. Opening music and sound elements by Omnia Sol and Adam Turl. 

Comics, like cinema, is an eminently modern medium. And as with cinema, looking closely at it can swiftly acquaint us with the profound weirdness of modernity. Do that in the context of a discussion on Charles Burns' comic masterpiece Black Hole, and you're guaranteed a memorable Weird Studies episode. Black Hole was serialized over ten years beginning in 1995, and first released as a single volume by Pantheon Books in 2005. Like all masterpieces, it shines both inside and out: it tells a captivating story, a "weirding" of the teenage romance genre, while also revealing something of the inner workings of comics as such. In this episode, Phil and JF explore the singular wonders of a medium that, thanks to artists like Burns, has rightfully ascended from the trash stratum (https://www.weirdstudies.com/20) to the coveted empyrean of artistic respectability—without losing its edge. BIG NEWS: • If you're planning to be in Bloomington, Indiana on October 9th, 2024, click here (https://cinema.indiana.edu/upcoming-films/screening/2024-fall-wednesday-october-9-700pm) to purchase tickets to IU Cinema's screening of John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness, featuring a live Weird Studies recording with JF and Phil. • Go to Weirdosphere (http://www.weirdosphere.org) to sign up for Matt Cardin's upcoming course, MC101: Writing at the Wellspring, starting on 22 October 2024. • Visit https://www.shannontaggart.com/events and follow the links to learn more about Shannon's (online) Fall Symposium at the Last Tuesday Society. Featured speakers include Steven Intermill & Toni Rotonda, Shannon Taggart, JF Martel, Charles and Penelope Emmons, Doug Skinner, Michael W. Homer, Maria Molteni, and Emily Hauver. Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies). Buy the Weird Studies soundtrack, volumes 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2), on Pierre-Yves Martel's Bandcamp (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com) page. Listen to Meredith Michael and Gabriel Lubell's podcast, Cosmophonia (https://cosmophonia.podbean.com/). Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! REFERENCES Charles Burns, Black Hole (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780375714726) Clement Greenberg's concept of “medium specificity” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medium_specificity#cite_note-2) Terry Gilliam (dir.), The Fisher King (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101889/) Seth (https://drawnandquarterly.com/author/seth/), comic artist Chris Ware, Building Stories (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780375424335) “Graphic Novel Forms Today” (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/677339) in Critical Inquiry Raymond Knapp, The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780691141053) Vilhelm Hammershoi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhelm_Hammersh%C3%B8i), Danish painter Ramsey Dukes, Words Made Flesh (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780904311112) G. Spencer-Brown, [Laws of Form](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LawsofForm) Dave Hickey, “Formalism” (https://approachestopainting.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/19135319-hickey-7-formalism-036.pdf) Nelson Goodman, [Languages of Art](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LanguagesofArt) Chrysippus (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysippus), Stoic philosopher Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780060976255)

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our series on rotoscoping with a fun chat with Jordan Mechner, of Karateka, Prince of Persia, and The Last Express fame. We also talk about his new graphic memoir: Replay, Memoir of an Uprooted Family. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 00:50   Interview 1:01:50 Break 1:02:03 Outro Issues covered: his history, train trips, caricatures and making stuff, not living up to the greats, improvising into his games, animation not holding up, filming his mother's karate teacher, his father, and his brother, handcrafting for rotoscoping, taking silent film classes, cross-cutting and wipes, the moment it came to live, the power of abstraction vs the uncanny valley, the impact on what we wanted for animation, caricature and capturing someone, finding the essence of a person, specialization and stepping into direction, drawing ten real people and getting into the graphic memoir, caricature and selling the big moments of small animations, abstraction and universality, adapting to higher resolution, breaking the illusion of interactivity, not being photorealistic but still having the nuance of real actors, highly compressible art and fluidity, uncanny valley of interactivity, picking the right constraints, the train's limitations enabling the possibility of depth, the fascination of interactive theater, holding up better, physical recording separated from voice, allowing for improvisation or variability, being attracted to historical fiction, his family's history, drawing the real things into the memoir, experience, technical nuance and caricature, moments of impactful character interactions, committing to a high bar. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Karateka, Prince of Persia, The Last Express, Smoking Car Productions, Disney, Replay: Memoir of an Uprooted Family, LucasArts, Space Invaders, Apple, Hitchcock, Thief of Baghdad, Sabu, Conrad Veidt, 1001 Nights, MAD Magazine, Al Hirschfeld, Frank Sinatra, Broderbund, Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud, MYST, Dragon's Lair, Buster Keaton, Robyn Miller, The 7th Guest, Rebel Assault, GTA, Agatha Christie, Hercule Poirot, Deadline, The Witness, Infocom, Sleep No More, Assassin's Creed, Zoetrope Studios, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Seven Samurai, Fathom, Michael Turner, The Last of Us, Uncharted, Templar, Count of Monte Cristo, Emily, Michel Ancel, Eric Chahi, Ubisoft, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia.  Next time: TBA! Links: Jordan Mechner's website Twitch: timlongojr Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com

"...the reader's mind is filling in the blanks in between those panels and as a lip reader, that's what I do. I fill in the blanks. I'm trying to piece together what that person says. So, comics really make sense to me.” - Cece BellI first came to know Cece Bell through her groundbreaking semi-autobiographical graphic memoir novel, “El Deafo.” It was SO good that I had to read more by her. That's when I found out, through reading aloud with our (then younger) kids, that Cece's work is hilarious. Her zany, expressive storytelling combined with her vibrant illustrations create her unique style which she dubs, “absurdism for children.” During our conversation, Cece explains that it is in fact a style born out of misunderstandings, of her trying to make sense of the world around her while navigating it with deafness. While Cece is best known for "El Deafo," which received a Newbery honor, most of her books are for a slightly younger set. These include her laugh-out-loud funny "Chick and Brain" series, and her earlier Sock Monkey trilogy. Cece's journey to pursuing a career as an artist was first dependent on her discovering confidence in her abilities, and also in her disability. Something that she didn't fully realize until she wrote “El Deafo.” In this episode, Cece shares insights into her creative process, revealing how her experiences navigating the world with deafness have shaped her storytelling and sense of humor (and draws the connection between her deafness and her love for puns). She also tells us about the gory job that convinced her to pursue a career as an artist. For any budding comic creators, she also reveals the only book you need to read before your write your first graphic novel.***Connect with Jordan and The Reading Culture @thereadingculturepod and subscribe to our newsletter at thereadingculturepod.com/newsletter. ***For her reading challenge, Sibling Stories, Cece has curated a list of books that highlight the special relationships between siblings, something that has always fascinated her. In case you wondered, Cece has two older siblings. You can find his list and all past reading challenges at thereadingculturepod.com/cece-bellThis episode's Beanstack Featured Librarian is Amanda Maslonka, a 26-year veteran in education, and an elementary school librarian at Pasadena ISD in Texas. She tells us a funny and heartwarming story from her days working with first graders.ContentsChapter 1 - Funny Family (2:02)Chapter 2 - No One Makes Fun of the Funny Kid (6:23)Chapter 3 - At The Dentist (13:54)Chapter 4 - Understanding Comics (18:08)Chapter 5 - El Deafo (24:21)Chapter 6 - High Tech Hearing (26:46)Chapter 7 - Absurdism for Children (31:05)Chapter 8 - Animal Albums (37:08)Chapter 9 - Sibling Stories (39:24)Chapter 10 - Beanstack Featured Librarian (41:04)LinksThe Reading CultureThe Reading Culture Newsletter SignupCece Bell (@cecebellbooks) • Instagram photos and videosCece Bell Animal Albumsscottmccloud.com - Understanding ComicsLittle Nemo ComicsCece Bell on El Deafo at the National Book FestivalCece's Reading Challenge: Sibling StoriesThe Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)Beanstack resources to build your community's reading cultureJordan Lloyd BookeyHost: Jordan Lloyd BookeyProducer: Jackie Lamport and Lower Street MediaScript Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Jackie Lamport, Jordan Lloyd Bookey

Bio Luke Hohmann is Chief Innovation Officer of Applied Frameworks. Applied Frameworks helps companies create more profitable software-enabled solutions. A serial entrepreneur, Luke founded, bootstrapped, and sold the SaaS B2B collaboration software company Conteneo to Scaled Agile, Inc. Conteneo's Weave platform is now part of SAFe Studio. A SAFe® Fellow, prolific author, and trailblazing innovator, Luke's contributions to the global agile community include contributing to SAFe, five books, Profit Streams™, Innovation Games®, Participatory Budgeting at enterprise scale, and a pattern language for market-driven roadmapping. Luke is also co-founder of Every Voice Engaged Foundation, where he partnered with The Kettering Foundation to create Common Ground for Action, the world's first scalable platform for deliberative decision-making. Luke is a former National Junior Pairs Figure Skating Champion and has an M.S.E. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan. Luke loves his wife and four kids, his wife's cooking, and long runs in the California sunshine and Santa Cruz mountains.    Interview Highlights 01:30 Organisational Behaviour & Cognitive Psychology 06:10 Serendipity 09:30 Entrepreneurship 16:15 Applied Frameworks 20:00 Sustainability 20:45 Software Profit Streams 23:00 Business Model Canvas 24:00 Value Proposition Canvas 24:45 Setting the Price 28:45 Customer Benefit Analysis 34:00 Participatory Budgeting 36:00 Value Stream Funding 37:30 The Color of Money 42:00 Private v Public Sector 49:00 ROI Analysis 51:00 Innovation Accounting    Connecting   LinkedIn: Luke Hohmann on LinkedIn Company Website: Applied Frameworks    Books & Resources   ·         Software Profit Streams(TM): A Guide to Designing a Sustainably Profitable Business: Jason Tanner, Luke Hohmann, Federico González ·         Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers (The Strategyzer series): Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur ·         Value Proposition Design: How to Create Products and Services Customers Want (The Strategyzer Series): Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, Alan Smith, Trish Papadakos ·         Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play: Luke Hohmann ·         The ‘Color of Money' Problem: Additional Guidance on Participatory Budgeting - Scaled Agile Framework ·         The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Eric Ries ·         Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change 2, Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres ·         The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering: Brooks, Frederick Phillips ·         Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art, Scott McCloud ·         Ponyboy: A Novel, Eliot Duncan ·         Lessons in Chemistry: A Novel, Bonnie Garmus, Miranda Raison, Bonnie Garmus, Pandora Sykes ·         What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce D. Perry ·         Training | Applied Frameworks   Episode Transcript Intro: Hello and welcome to the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. I'm Ula Ojiaku. On this podcast I speak with world-class leaders and doers about themselves and a variety of topics spanning Agile, Lean Innovation, Business, Leadership and much more – with actionable takeaways for you the listener.  Ula Ojiaku   So I have with me Luke Hohmann, who is a four time author, three time founder, serial entrepreneur if I say, a SAFe fellow, so that's a Skilled Agile Framework fellow, keynote speaker and an internationally recognised expert in Agile software development. He is also a proud husband and a father of four. So, Luke, I am very honoured to have you on the Agile Innovation Leaders podcast. Thank you for making the time. Luke Hohmann Thank you so much for having me, I'm very happy to be here, and hi everyone who's listening. Ula Ojiaku Yes, I'm sure they're waving back at you as well. I always start my conversations with my guests to find out about them as individuals, you know, so who is Luke? You have a BSc in Computer Science and an MSc in Computer Science and Engineering, but you also studied Cognitive Psychology and Organisational Behaviour in addition to Data Structures and Artificial Intelligence. AI is now making waves and is kind of at the forefront, which is interesting, you had the foresight to also look into these. So my question is, what took you down this path? Luke Hohmann Sure. I had a humble beginning in the world of technology. I worked for a large company, Electronic Data Systems, and it was founded in the mid 60s by a gentleman named Ross Perot, and it became a very, very large company. So my first job at Electronic Data Systems was working in a data centre, and we know what data centres are, but back then, data centres were different because they were predominantly mainframe-based data centres, and I would crawl underneath the floor, cabling the computers and cabling networking equipment. Now, when we think networking, we're really thinking one of two kinds of networking. We think of wireless networking or we think of some form of internet networking, but back in those days, there were varieties of network protocols, literally the standards that we use now weren't invented yet. So it was mainframe networking protocols and dial ups and other forms of networking protocols. From there, I worked my way from beneath the ground up. I had some great managers who saw someone who was worthy of opportunity and they gave me opportunity and it was great. And then eventually I started working in electronic data systems and there was, the first wave of AI came in the mid 80s and that's when we were doing things like building expert systems, and I managed to create with a colleague of mine, who's emerged as my best friend, a very successful implementation of an expert system, an AI-based expert system at EDS, and that motivated me to finish off my college degree, I didn't have my college degree at the time. So EDS supported me in going to the University of Michigan, where as you said, I picked up my Bachelor's and Master's degree, and my advisor at the time was Elliot Soloway, and he was doing research in how programmers program, what are the knowledge structures, what are the ways in which we think when we're programming, and I picked up that research and built programming environments, along with educational material, trying to understand how programmers program and trying to build educational material to teach programming more effectively. That's important because it ignited a lifelong passion for developing education materials, etc. Now the cognitive psychology part was handled through that vein of work, the organisational behaviour work came as I was a student at Michigan. As many of us are when we're in college, we don't make a lot of money, or at university we're not wealthy and I needed a job and so the School of Organisational Behaviour had published some job postings and they needed programmers to program software for their organisational behaviour research, and I answered those ads and I became friends and did the research for many ground-breaking aspects of organisational behaviour and I programmed, and in the process of programming for the professors who were in the School of Organisational Behaviour they would teach me about organisational behaviour and I learned many things that at the time were not entirely clear to me, but then when I graduated from university and I became a manager and I also became more involved in the Agile movement, I had a very deep foundation that has served me very well in terms of what do we mean when we say culture, or what do we mean when we talk about organisational structures, both in the small and in the large, how do we organise effectively, when should we scale, when should we not scale, etc. So that's a bit about my history that I think in terms of the early days helped inform who I am today. Ula Ojiaku Wow, who would have thought, it just reminds me of the word serendipity, you know, I guess a happy coincidence, quote unquote, and would there be examples of where the cognitive psychology part of it also helped you work-wise? Luke Hohmann Yeah, a way to think about cognitive psychology and the branch that, I mean there's, psychology is a huge branch of study, right? So cognitive psychology tends to relate to how do we solve problems, and it tends to focus on problem solving where n = 1 and what I mean by n is the number of participants, and where n is just me as an individual, how do I solve the problems that I'm facing? How do I engage in de-compositional activities or refinement or sense making? Organisational behaviour deals with n > 1. So it can deal with a team of, a para-bond, two people solving problems. It can deal with a small team, and we know through many, many, many decades of research that optimal team structures are eight people or less. I mean, we've known this for, when I say decades I mean millennia. When you look at military structure and military strategy, we know that people need to be organised into much smaller groups to be effective in problem solving and to move quickly. And then in any organisational structure, there's some notion of a team of teams or team engagement. So cognitive psychology, I think, helps leaders understand individuals and their place within the team. And now we talk about, you know, in the Agile community, we talk about things like, I want T-shaped people, I want people with common skills and their area of expertise and by organising enough of the T's, I can create a whole and complete team. I often say I don't want my database designer designing my user interface and I don't want my user interface designer optimising my back end database queries, they're different skills. They're very educated people, they're very sophisticated, but there's also the natural feeling that you and I have about how do I gain a sense of self, how do I gain a sense of accomplishment, a sense of mastery? Part of gaining a sense of mastery is understanding who you are as a person, what you're good at. In Japanese, they would call that Ikigai, right, what are the intersections of, you know, what do I love, what am I good at, what can I make a living at and what do people need, right? All of these intersections occur on an individual level, and then by understanding that we can create more effective teams. Ula Ojiaku Thank you. I've really learned something key here, the relationship between cognitive psychology and organisational behaviour, so thanks for breaking it down. Now, can we go quickly to your entrepreneurship? So there must be three times you started three times a company and you've been successful in that area. What exactly drives you when it comes to establishing businesses and then knowing when to move on? Luke Hohmann Sure. I think it's a combination of reflecting on my childhood and then looking at how that informs someone when they're older, and then opportunities, like you said, serendipity, I think that's a really powerful word that you introduced and it's a really powerful concept because sometimes the serendipity is associated with just allowing yourself to pursue something that presents itself. But when I was young, my father died and my mum had to raise six kids on her own, so my dad died when I was four, my mum raised six kids on her own. We were not a wealthy family, and she was a school teacher and one of the things that happened was, even though she was a very skilled school teacher, there were budget cuts and it was a unionised structure, and even though she was ranked very highly, she lost her job because she was low on the hiring totem pole in terms of how the union worked. It was very hard and of course, it's always hard to make budget cuts and firing but I remember when I was very young making one of those choices saying, I want to work in a field where we are more oriented towards someone's performance and not oriented on when they were hired, or the colour of their skin, or their gender or other things that to me didn't make sense that people were making decisions against. And while it's not a perfect field for sure, and we've got lots of improvement, engineering in general, and of course software engineering and software development spoke to me because I could meet people who were diverse or more diverse than in other fields and I thought that was really good. In terms of being an entrepreneur, that happened serendipitously. I was at the time, before I became an entrepreneur in my last job, was working for an Israeli security firm, and years and years ago, I used to do software anti-piracy and software security through physical dongles. This was made by a company called Aladdin Knowledge Systems in Israel, and I was the head of Engineering and Product Management for the dongle group and then I moved into a role of Business Development for the company. I had a couple of great bosses, but I also learned how to do international management because I had development teams in Israel, I had development teams in Munich, I had development teams in Portland, Oregon, and in the Bay Area, and this was in the 2000s. This is kind of pre-Agile, pre-Salt Lake City, pre-Agile Manifesto, but we were figuring things out and blending and working together. I thought things were going pretty well and I enjoyed working for the Israelis and what we were doing, but then we had the first Gulf War and my wife and I felt that maybe traveling as I was, we weren't sure what was going to happen in the war, I should choose something different. Unfortunately, by that time, we had been through the dot-bomb crisis in Silicon Valley. So it's about 2002 at the time that this was going on, and there really weren't jobs, it was a very weird time in Silicon Valley. So in late 2002, I sent an email to a bunch of friends and I said, hey, I'm going to be a consultant, who wants to hire me, that was my marketing plan, not very clever, and someone called me and said, hey, I've got a problem and this is the kind of thing that you can fix, come consult with us. And I said, great. So I did that, and that started the cleverly named Luke Hohmann Consulting, but then one thing led to another and consulting led to opportunities and growth and I've never looked back. So I think that there is a myth about people who start companies where sometimes you have a plan and you go execute your plan. Sometimes you find the problem and you're solving a problem. Sometimes the problem is your own problem, as in my case I had two small kids and a mortgage and I needed to provide for my family, and so the best way to do that at the time was to become a consultant. Since then I have engaged in building companies, sometimes some with more planning, some with more business tools and of course as you grow as an entrepreneur you learn skills that they didn't teach you in school, like marketing and pricing and business planning etc. And so that's kind of how I got started, and now I have kind of come full circle. The last company, the second last company I started was Conteneo and we ended up selling that to Scaled Agile, and that's how I joined the Scaled Agile team and that was lovely, moving from a position of being a CEO and being responsible for certain things, to being able to be part of a team again, joining the framework team, working with Dean Leffingwell and other members of the framework team to evolve the SAFe framework, that was really lovely. And then of course you get this entrepreneurial itch and you want to do something else, and so I think it comes and goes and you kind of allow yourself those opportunities. Ula Ojiaku Wow, yours is an inspiring story. And so what are you now, so you've talked about your first two Startups which you sold, what are you doing now? Luke Hohmann Yeah, so where I'm at right now is I am the Chief Innovation Officer for a company, Applied Frameworks. Applied Frameworks is a boutique consulting firm that's in a transition to a product company. So if this arm represents our product revenue and this arm represents our services revenue, we're expanding our product and eventually we'll become a product company. And so then the question is, well, what is the product that we're working on? Well, if you look at the Agile community, we've spent a lot of time creating and delivering value, and that's really great. We have had, if you look at the Agile community, we've had amazing support from our business counterparts. They've shovelled literally millions and millions of dollars into Agile training and Agile tooling and Agile transformations, and we've seen a lot of benefit from the Agile community. And when I say Agile, I don't mean SAFe or Scrum or some particular flavour of Agile, I just mean Agile in general. There's been hundreds of millions of dollars to billions of dollars shoved into Agile and we've created a lot of value for that investment. We've got fewer bugs in our software because we've got so many teams doing XP driven practices like Test Driven Development, we've got faster response times because we've learned that we can create smaller releases and we've created infrastructure that lets us do deployments automatically, even if you're doing embedded systems, we figured out how to do over the air updates, we've figured out how to create infrastructure where the cars we're driving are now getting software updates. So we've created for our business leaders lots of value, but there's a problem in that value. Our business leaders now need us to create a profit, and creating value and creating a profit are two different things. And so in the pursuit of value, we have allowed our Agile community to avoid and or atrophy on skills that are vital to product management, and I'm a classically trained Product Manager, so I've done market segmentation and market valuation and market sizing, I've done pricing, I've done licensing, I've done acquisitions, I've done compliance. But when you look at the traditional definition of a Product Owner, it's a very small subset of that, especially in certain Agile methods where Product Owners are team centric, they're internal centric. That's okay, I'm not criticising that structure, but what's happened is we've got people who no longer know how to price, how to package, how to license products, and we're seeing companies fail, investor money wasted, too much time trying to figure things out when if we had simply approached the problem with an analysis of not just what am I providing to you in terms of value, but what is that value worth, and how do I structure an exchange where I give you value and you give me money? And that's how businesses survive, and I think what's really interesting about this in terms of Agile is Agile is very intimately tied to sustainability. One of the drivers of the Agile Movement was way back in the 2000s, we were having very unsustainable practices. People would be working 60, 80, death march weeks of grinding out programmers and grinding out people, and part of the Agile Movement was saying, wait a minute, this isn't sustainable, and even the notion of what is a sustainable pace is really vital, but a company cannot sustain itself without a profit, and if we don't actually evolve the Agile community from value streams into profit streams, we can't help our businesses survive. I sometimes ask developers, I say, raise your hand if you're really embracing the idea that your job is to make more money for your company than they pay you, that's called a profit, and if that's not happening, your company's going to fail. Ula Ojiaku They'll be out of a job. Luke Hohmann You'll be out of a job. So if you want to be self-interested about your future, help your company be successful, help them make a profit, and so where I'm at right now is Applied Frameworks has, with my co-author, Jason Tanner, we have published a bold and breakthrough new book called Software Profit Streams, and it's a book that describes how to do pricing and packaging for software enabled solutions. When we say software enabled solution, we mean a solution that has software in it somehow, could be embedded software in your microwave oven, it could be a hosted solution, it could be an API for a payment processor, it could be the software in your car that I talked about earlier. So software enabled solutions are the foundation, the fabric of our modern lives. As Mark Andreessen says software is eating the world, software is going to be in everything, and we need to know how to take the value that we are creating as engineers, as developers, and convert that into pricing and licensing choices that create sustainable profits. Ula Ojiaku Wow. It's as if you read my mind because I was going to ask you about your book, Software Profit Streams, A Guide to Designing a Sustainably Profitable Business. I also noticed that, you know, there is the Profit Stream Canvas that you and your co-author created. So let's assume I am a Product Manager and I've used this, let's assume I went down the path of using the Business Model Canvas and there is the Customer Value Proposition. So how do they complement? Luke Hohmann How do they all work together? I'm glad you asked that, I think that's a very insightful question and the reason it's so helpful is because, well partly because I'm also friends with Alex Osterwalder, I think he's a dear, he's a wonderful human, he's a dear friend. So let's look at the different elements of the different canvases, if you will, and why we think that this is needed. The Business Model Canvas is kind of how am I structuring my business itself, like what are my partners, my suppliers, my relationships, my channel strategy, my brand strategy with respect to my customer segments, and it includes elements of cost, which we're pretty good at. We're pretty good at knowing our costs and elements of revenue, but the key assumption of revenue, of course, is the selling price and the number of units sold. So, but if you look at the book, Business Model Generation, where the Business Model Canvas comes from, it doesn't actually talk about how to set the price. Is the video game going to be $49? Is it going to be $59, or £49 or £59? Well, there's a lot of thought that goes into that. Then we have the Value Proposition Canvas, which highlights what are the pains the customer is facing? What are the gains that the customer is facing? What are the jobs to be done of the customer? How does my solution relate to the jobs? How does it help solve the pain the customer is feeling? How does it create gain for the customer? But if you read those books, and both of those books are on my shelf because they're fantastic books, it doesn't talk about pricing. So let's say I create a gain for you. Well, how much can I charge you for the gain that I've created? How do I structure that relationship? And how do I know, going back to my Business Model Canvas, that I've got the right market segment, I've got the right investment strategy, I might need to make an investment in the first one or two releases of my software or my product before I start to make a per unit profit because I'm evolving, it's called the J curve and the J curve is how much money am I investing before I well, I have to be able to forecast that, I have to be able to model that, but the key input to that is what is the price, what is the mechanism of packaging that you're using, is it, for example, is it per user in a SAS environment or is it per company in a SAS environment? Is it a meter? Is it like an API transaction using Stripe or a payment processor, Adyen or Stripe or Paypal or any of the others that are out there? Or is it an API call where I'm charging a fraction of a penny for any API call? All of those elements have to be put into an economic model and a forecast has to be created. Now, what's missing about this is that the Business Model Canvas and the Value Proposition Canvas don't give you the insight on how to set the price, they just say there is a price and we're going to use it in our equations. So what we've done is we've said, look, setting the price is itself a complex system, and what I mean by a complex system is that, let's say that I wanted to do an annual license for a new SAS offering, but I offer that in Europe and now my solution is influenced or governed by GDPR compliance, where I have data retention and data privacy laws. So my technical architecture that has to enforce the license, also has to comply with something in terms of the market in which I'm selling. This complex system needs to be organised, and so what canvases do is in all of these cases, they let us take a complex system and put some structure behind the choices that we're making in that complex system so that we can make better choices in terms of system design. I know how I want this to work, I know how I want this to be structured, and therefore I can make system choices so the system is working in a way that benefits the stakeholders. Not just me, right, I'm not the only stakeholder, my customers are in this system, my suppliers are in this system, society itself might be in the system, depending on the system I'm building or the solution I'm building. So the canvases enable us to make system level choices that are hopefully more effective in achieving our goals. And like I said, the Business Model Canvas, the Value Proposition Canvas are fantastic, highly recommended, but they don't cover pricing. So we needed something to cover the actual pricing and packaging and licensing. Ula Ojiaku Well, that's awesome. So it's really more about going, taking a deeper dive into thoughtfully and structurally, if I may use that word, assessing the pricing. Luke Hohmann Yeah, absolutely. Ula Ojiaku Would you say that in doing this there would be some elements of, you know, testing and getting feedback from actual customers to know what price point makes sense? Luke Hohmann Absolutely. There's a number of ways in which customer engagement or customer testing is involved. The very first step that we advocate is a Customer Benefit Analysis, which is what are the actual benefits you're creating and how are your customers experiencing those benefits. Those experiences are both tangible and intangible and that's another one of the challenges that we face in the Agile community. In general, the Agile community spends a little bit more time on tangible or functional value than intangible value. So we, in terms of if I were to look at it in terms of a computer, we used to say speeds and feeds. How fast is the processor? How fast is the network? How much storage is on my disk space? Those are all functional elements. Over time as our computers have become plenty fast or plenty storage wise for most of our personal computing needs, we see elements of design come into play, elements of usability, elements of brand, and we see this in other areas. Cars have improved in quality so much that many of us, the durability of the car is no longer a significant attribute because all cars are pretty durable, they're pretty good, they're pretty well made. So now we look at brand, we look at style, we look at aesthetics, we look at even paying more for a car that aligns with our values in terms of the environment. I want to get an EV, why, because I want to be more environmentally conscious. That's a value driven, that's an intangible factor. And so our first step starts with Customer Benefit Analysis looking at both functional or tangible value and intangible value, and you can't do that, as you can imagine, you can't do that without having customer interaction and awareness with your stakeholders and your customers, and that also feeds throughout the whole pricing process. Eventually, you're going to put your product in a market, and that's a form itself of market research. Did customers buy, and if they didn't buy, why did they not buy? Is it poorly packaged or is it poorly priced? These are all elements that involve customers throughout the process. Ula Ojiaku If I may, I know we've been on the topic of your latest book Software Profit Streams. I'm just wondering, because I can't help but try to connect the dots and I'm wondering if there might be a connection to one of your books, Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play, something like buy a feature in your book, that kind of came to mind, could there be a way of using that as part of the engagement with customers in setting a pricing strategy? I may be wrong, I'm just asking a question. Luke Hohmann I think you're making a great connection. There's two forms of relationship that Innovation Games and the Innovation Games book have with Software Profit Streams. One is, as you correctly noted, just the basics of market research, where do key people have pains or gains and what it might be worth. That work is also included in Alex Osterwalder's books, Value Proposition Design for example, when I've been doing Value Proposition Design and I'm trying to figure out the customer pains, you can use the Innovation Games Speed Boat. And when I want to figure out the gains, I can use the Innovation Game Product Box. Similarly, when I'm figuring out pricing and licensing, a way, and it's a very astute idea, a way to understand price points of individual features is to do certain kinds of market research. One form of market research you can do is Buy-a-Feature, which gives a gauge of what people are willing or might be willing to pay for a feature. It can be a little tricky because the normal construction of Buy-a-Feature is based on cost. However, your insight is correct, you can extend Buy-a-Feature such that you're testing value as opposed to cost, and seeing what, if you take a feature that costs X, but inflate that cost by Y and a Buy-a-Feature game, if people still buy it, it's a strong signal strength that first they want it, and second it may be a feature that you can, when delivered, would motivate you to raise the price of your offering and create a better profit for your company. Ula Ojiaku Okay, well, thank you. I wasn't sure if I was on the right lines. Luke Hohmann It's a great connection. Ula Ojiaku Thanks again. I mean, it's not original. I'm just piggybacking on your ideas. So with respect to, if we, if you don't mind, let's shift gears a bit because I know that, or I'm aware that whilst you were with Scaled Agile Incorporated, you know, you played a key part in developing some of their courses, like the Product POPM, and I think the Portfolio Management, and there was the concept about Participatory Budgeting. Can we talk about that, please? Luke Hohmann I'd love to talk about that, I mean it's a huge passion of mine, absolutely. So in February of 2018, I started working with the framework team and in December of 2018, we talked about the possibility of what an acquisition might look like and the benefits it would create, which would be many. That closed in May of 2019, and in that timeframe, we were working on SAFe 5.0 and so there were a couple of areas in which I was able to make some contributions. One was in Agile product delivery competency, the other was in lean portfolio management. I had a significant hand in restructuring or adding the POPM, APM, and LPM courses, adding things like solutions by horizons to SAFe, taking the existing content on guardrails, expanding it a little bit, and of course, adding Participatory Budgeting, which is just a huge passion of mine. I've done Participatory Budgeting now for 20 years, I've helped organisations make more than five billions of dollars of investment spending choices at all levels of companies, myself and my colleagues at Applied Frameworks, and it just is a better way to make a shared decision. If you think about one of the examples they use about Participatory Budgeting, is my preferred form of fitness is I'm a runner and so, and my wife is also a fit person. So if she goes and buys a new pair of shoes or trainers and I go and buy a new pair of trainers, we don't care, because it's a small purchase. It's frequently made and it's within the pattern of our normal behaviour. However, if I were to go out and buy a new car without involving her, that feels different, right, it's a significant purchase, it requires budgeting and care, and is this car going to meet our needs? Our kids are older than your kids, so we have different needs and different requirements, and so I would be losing trust in my pair bond with my wife if I made a substantial purchase without her involvement. Well, corporations work the same way, because we're still people. So if I'm funding a value stream, I'm funding the consistent and reliable flow of valuable items, that's what value stream funding is supposed to do. However, if there is a significant investment to be made, even if the value stream can afford it, it should be introduced to the portfolio for no other reason than the social structure of healthy organisations says that we do better when we're talking about these things, that we don't go off on our own and make significant decisions without the input of others. That lowers transparency, that lowers trust. So I am a huge advocate of Participatory Budgeting, I'm very happy that it's included in SAFe as a recommended practice, both for market research and Buy-a-Feature in APM, but also more significantly, if you will, at the portfolio level for making investment decisions. And I'm really excited to share that we've just published an article a few weeks ago about Participatory Budgeting and what's called The Color of Money, and The Color of Money is sometimes when you have constraints on how you can spend money, and an example of a constraint is let's say that a government raised taxes to improve transportation infrastructure. Well, the money that they took in is constrained in a certain way. You can't spend it, for example, on education, and so we have to show how Participatory Budgeting can be adapted to have relationships between items like this item requires this item as a precedent or The Color of Money, constraints of funding items, but I'm a big believer, we just published that article and you can get that at the Scaled Agile website, I'm a big believer in the social power of making these financial decisions and the benefits that accrue to people and organisations when they collaborate in this manner. Ula Ojiaku Thanks for going into that, Luke. So, would there be, in your experience, any type of organisation that's participatory? It's not a leading question, it's just genuine, there are typically outliers and I'm wondering in your experience, and in your opinion, if there would be organisations that it might not work for? Luke Hohmann Surprisingly, no, but I want to add a few qualifications to the effective design of a Participatory Budgeting session. When people hear Participatory Budgeting, there's different ways that you would apply Participatory Budgeting in the public and private sector. So I've done citywide Participatory Budgeting in cities and if you're a citizen of a city and you meet the qualifications for voting within that jurisdiction, in the United States, it's typically that you're 18 years old, in some places you have to be a little older, in some places you might have other qualifications, but if you're qualified to participate as a citizen in democratic processes, then you should be able to participate in Participatory Budgeting sessions that are associated with things like how do we spend taxes or how do we make certain investments. In corporations it's not quite the same way. Just because you work at a company doesn't mean you should be included in portfolio management decisions that affect the entire company. You may not have the background, you may not have the training, you may be what my friends sometimes call a fresher. So I do a lot of work overseas, so freshers, they just may not have the experience to participate. So one thing that we look at in Participatory Budgeting and SAFe is who should be involved in the sessions, and that doesn't mean that every single employee should always be included, because their background, I mean, they may be a technical topic and maybe they don't have the right technical background. So we work a little bit harder in corporations to make sure the right people are there. Now, of course, if we're going to make a mistake, we tend to make the mistake of including more people than excluding, partly because in SAFe Participatory Budgeting, it's a group of people who are making a decision, not a one person, one vote, and that's really profoundly important because in a corporation, just like in a para-bond, your opinion matters to me, I want to know what you're thinking. If I'm looking in, I'll use SAFe terminology, if I'm looking at three epics that could advance our portfolio, and I'm a little unsure about two of those epics, like one of those epics, I'm like, yeah, this is a really good thing, I know a little bit about it, this matters, I'm going to fund this, but the other two I'm not so sure about, well, there's no way I can learn through reading alone what the opinions of other people are, because, again, there's these intangible factors. There's these elements that may not be included in an ROI analysis, it's kind of hard to talk about brand and an ROI analysis - we can, but it's hard, so I want to listen to how other people are talking about things, and through that, I can go, yeah, I can see the value, I didn't see it before, I'm going to join you in funding this. So that's among the ways in which Participatory Budgeting is a little different within the private sector and the public sector and within a company. The only other element that I would add is that Participatory Budgeting gives people the permission to stop funding items that are no longer likely to meet the investment or objectives of the company, or to change minds, and so one of the, again, this is a bit of an overhang in the Agile community, Agile teams are optimised for doing things that are small, things that can fit within a two or three week Sprint. That's great, no criticism there, but our customers and our stakeholders want big things that move the market needle, and the big things that move the market needle don't get done in two or three weeks, in general, and they rarely, like they require multiple teams working multiple weeks to create a really profoundly new important thing. And so what happens though, is that we need to make in a sense funding commitments for these big things, but we also have to have a way to change our mind, and so traditional funding processes, they let us make this big commitment, but they're not good at letting us change our mind, meaning they're not Agile. Participatory Budgeting gives us the best of both worlds. I can sit at the table with you and with our colleagues, we can commit to funding something that's big, but six months later, which is the recommended cadence from SAFe, I can come back to that table and reassess and we can all look at each other, because you know those moments, right, you've had that experience in visiting, because you're like looking around the table and you're like, yeah, this isn't working. And then in traditional funding, we keep funding what's not working because there's no built-in mechanism to easily change it, but in SAFe Participatory Budgeting, you and I can sit at the table and we can look at each other with our colleagues and say, yeah, you know, that initiative just, it's not working, well, let's change our mind, okay, what is the new thing that we can fund? What is the new epic? And that permission is so powerful within a corporation. Ula Ojiaku Thanks for sharing that, and whilst you were speaking, because again, me trying to connect the dots and thinking, for an organisation that has adopted SAFe or it's trying to scale Agility, because like you mentioned, Agile teams are optimised to iteratively develop or deliver, you know, small chunks over time, usually two to three weeks, but, like you said, there is a longer time horizon spanning months, even years into the future, sometimes for those worthwhile, meaty things to be delivered that moves the strategic needle if I may use that buzzword. So, let's say we at that lean portfolio level, we're looking at epics, right, and Participatory Budgeting, we are looking at initiatives on an epic to epic basis per se, where would the Lean Startup Cycle come in here? So is it that Participatory Budgeting could be a mechanism that is used for assessing, okay, this is the MVP features that have been developed and all that, the leading indicators we've gotten, that's presented to the group, and on that basis, we make that pivot or persevere or stop decision, would that fit in? Luke Hohmann Yeah, so let's, I mean, you're close, but let me make a few turns and then it'll click better. First, let's acknowledge that the SAFe approach to the Lean Startup Cycle is not the Eric Ries approach, there are some differences, but let's separate how I fund something from how I evaluate something. So if I'm going to engage in the SAFe Lean Startup Cycle, part of that engagement is to fund an MVP, which is going to prove or disprove a given hypothesis. So that's an expenditure of money. Now there's, if you think about the expenditure of money, there's minimally two steps in this process - there's spending enough money to conduct the experiments, and if those experiments are true, making another commitment to spend money again, that I want to spend it. The reason this is important is, let's say I had three experiments running in parallel and I'm going to use easy round numbers for a large corporation. Let's say I want to run three experiments in parallel, and each experiment costs me a million pounds. Okay. So now let's say that the commercialisation of each of those is an additional amount of money. So the portfolio team sits around the table and says, we have the money, we're going to fund all three. Okay, great. Well, it's an unlikely circumstance, but let's say all three are successful. Well, this is like a venture capitalist, and I have a talk that I give that relates the funding cycle of a venture capitalist to the funding cycle of an LPM team. While it's unlikely, you could have all three become successful, and this is what I call an oversubscribed portfolio. I've got three great initiatives, but I can still only fund one or two of them, I still have to make the choice. Now, of course, I'm going to look at my economics and let's say out of the three initiatives that were successfully proven through their hypothesis, let's say one of them is just clearly not as economically attractive, for whatever reason. Okay, we get rid of that one, now, I've got two, and if I can only fund one of them, and the ROI, the hard ROI is roughly the same, that's when Participatory Budgeting really shines, because we can have those leaders come back into the room, and they can say, which choice do we want to make now? So the evaluative aspect of the MVP is the leading indicators and the results of the proving or disproving of the hypotheses. We separate that from the funding choices, which is where Participatory Budgeting and LPM kick in. Ula Ojiaku Okay. So you've separated the proving or disproving the hypothesis of the feature, some of the features that will probably make up an epic. And you're saying the funding, the decision to fund the epic in the first place is a different conversation. And you've likened it to Venture Capital funding rounds. Where do they connect? Because if they're separate, what's the connecting thread between the two? Luke Hohmann The connected thread is the portfolio process, right? The actual process is the mechanism where we're connecting these things. Ula Ojiaku OK, no, thanks for the portfolio process. But there is something you mentioned, ROI - Return On Investment. And sometimes when you're developing new products, you don't know, you have assumptions. And any ROI, sorry to put it this way, but you're really plucking figures from the air, you know, you're modelling, but there is no certainty because you could hit the mark or you could go way off the mark. So where does that innovation accounting coming into place, especially if it's a product that's yet to make contact with, you know, real life users, the customers. Luke Hohmann Well, let's go back to something you said earlier, and what you talked earlier about was the relationship that you have in market researching customer interaction. In making a forecast, let's go ahead and look at the notion of building a new product within a company, and this is again where the Agile community sometimes doesn't want to look at numbers or quote, unquote get dirty, but we have to, because if I'm going to look at building a new idea, or taking a new idea into a product, I have to have a forecast of its viability. Is it economically viable? Is it a good choice? So innovation accounting is a way to look at certain data, but before, I'm going to steal a page, a quote, from one of my friends, Jeff Patton. The most expensive way to figure this out is to actually build the product. So what can I do that's less expensive than building the product itself? I can still do market research, but maybe I wouldn't do an innovation game, maybe I'd do a formal survey and I use a price point testing mechanism like Van Westendorp Price Point Analysis, which is a series of questions that you ask to triangulate on acceptable price ranges. I can do competitive benchmarking for similar products and services. What are people offering right now in the market? Now that again, if the product is completely novel, doing competitive benchmarking can be really hard. Right now, there's so many people doing streaming that we look at the competitive market, but when Netflix first offered streaming and it was the first one, their best approach was what we call reference pricing, which is, I have a reference price for how much I pay for my DVDs that I'm getting in the mail, I'm going to base my streaming service kind of on the reference pricing of entertainment, although that's not entirely clear that that was the best way to go, because you could also base the reference price on what you're paying for a movie ticket and how many, but then you look at consumption, right, because movie tickets are expensive, so I only go to a movie maybe once every other month, whereas streaming is cheap and so I can change my demand curve by lowering my price. But this is why it's such a hard science is because we have this notion of these swirling factors. Getting specifically back to your question about the price point, I do have to do some market research before I go into the market to get some forecasting and some confidence, and research gives me more confidence, and of course, once I'm in the market, I'll know how effective my research matched the market reality. Maybe my research was misleading, and of course, there's some skill in designing research, as you know, to get answers that have high quality signal strength. Ula Ojiaku Thanks for clarifying. That makes perfect sense to me. Luke Hohmann It's kind of like a forecast saying, like there's a group of Agile people who will say, like, you shouldn't make forecasts. Well, I don't understand that because that's like saying, and people will say, well, I can't predict the future. Well, okay, I can't predict when I'm going to retire, but I'm planning to retire. I don't know the date of my exact retirement, but my wife and I are planning our retirement, and we're saving, we're making certain investment choices for our future, because we expect to have a future together. Now our kids are older than yours. My kids are now in university, and so we're closer to retirement. So what I dislike about the Agile community is people will sometimes say, well, I don't know the certainty of the event, therefore, I can't plan for it. But that's really daft, because there are many places in like, you may not for the listeners, her daughter is a little younger than my kids, but they will be going to university one day, and depending on where they go, that's a financial choice. So you could say, well, I don't know when she's going to university, and I can't predict what university she's going to go to, therefore I'm not going to save any money. Really? That doesn't make no sense. So I really get very upset when you have people in the agile community will say things like road mapping or forecasting is not Agile. It's entirely Agile. How you treat it is Agile or not Agile. Like when my child comes up to me and says, hey, you know about that going to university thing, I was thinking of taking a gap year. Okay, wait a minute, that's a change. That doesn't mean no, it means you're laughing, right? But that's a change. And so we respond to change, but we still have a plan. Ula Ojiaku It makes sense. So the reason, and I completely resonate with everything you said, the reason I raised that ROI and it not being known is that in some situations, people might be tempted to use it to game the budget allocation decision making process. That's why I said you would pluck the ROI. Luke Hohmann Okay, let's talk about that. We actually address this in our recent paper, but I'll give you my personal experience. You are vastly more likely to get bad behaviour on ROI analysis when you do not do Participatory Budgeting, because there's no social construct to prevent bad behaviour. If I'm sitting down at a table and that's virtual or physical, it doesn't matter, but let's take a perfect optimum size for a Participatory Budgeting group. Six people, let's say I'm a Director or a Senior Director in a company, and I'm sitting at a table and there's another Senior Director who's a peer, maybe there's a VP, maybe there's a person from engineering, maybe there's a person from sales and we've got this mix of people and I'm sitting at that table. I am not incented to come in with an inflated ROI because those people are really intelligent and given enough time, they're not going to support my initiative because I'm fibbing, I'm lying. And I have a phrase for this, it's when ROI becomes RO-lie that it's dangerous. And so when I'm sitting at that table, what we find consistently, and one of the clients that we did a fair amount of Participatory Budgeting for years ago with Cisco, what we found was the leaders at Cisco were creating tighter, more believable, and more defensible economic projections, precisely because they knew that they were going to be sitting with their peers, and it didn't matter. It can go both ways. Sometimes people will overestimate the ROI or they underestimate the cost. Same outcome, right? I'm going to overestimate the benefit, and people would be like, yeah, I don't think you can build that product with three teams. You're going to need five or six teams and people go, oh, I can get it done with, you know, 20 people. Yeah, I don't think so, because two years ago, we built this product. It's very similar, and, you know, we thought we could get it done with 20 people and we couldn't. We really needed, you know, a bigger group. So you see the social construct creating a more believable set of results because people come to the Participatory Budgeting session knowing that their peers are in the room. And of course, we think we're smart, so our peers are as smart as we are, we're all smart people, and therefore, the social construct of Participatory Budgeting quite literally creates a better input, which creates a better output. Ula Ojiaku That makes sense, definitely. Thanks for sharing that. I've found that very, very insightful and something I can easily apply. The reasoning behind it, the social pressure, quote unquote, knowing that you're not just going to put the paper forward but you'd have to defend it in a credible, believable way make sense. So just to wrap up now, what books have you found yourself recommending to people the most, and why? Luke Hohmann It's so funny, I get yelled at by my wife for how many books I buy. She'll go like “It's Amazon again. Another book. You know, there's this thing called the library.” Ula Ojiaku You should do Participatory Budgeting for your books then sounds like, sorry. Luke Hohmann No, no, I don't, I'd lose. Gosh, I love so many books. So there's a few books that I consider to be my go-to references and my go-to classics, but I also recommend that people re-read books and sometimes I recommend re-reading books is because you're a different person, and as you age and as you grow and you see things differently and in fact, I'm right now re-reading and of course it goes faster, but I'm re-reading the original Extreme Programming Explained by Kent Beck, a fantastic book. I just finished reading a few new books, but let me let me give you a couple of classics that I think everyone in our field should read and why they should read them. I think everyone should read The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks because he really covers some very profound truths that haven't changed, things like Brooks Law, which is adding programmers to a late project, makes it later. He talks about the structure of teams and how to scale before scaling was big and important and cool. He talks about communication and conceptual integrity and the role of the architect. The other book that I'm going to give, which I hope is different than any book that anyone has ever given you, because it's one of my absolute favourite books and I give them away, is a book called Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. Comics or graphic novels are an important medium for communication, and when we talk about storytelling and we talk about how to frame information and how to present information, understanding comics is profoundly insightful in terms of how to present, share, show information. A lot of times I think we make things harder than they should be. So when I'm working with executives and some of the clients that I work with personally, when we talk about our epics, we actually will tell stories about the hero's journey and we actually hire comic book artists to help the executives tell their story in a comic form or in a graphic novel form. So I absolutely love understanding comics. I think that that's really a profound book. Of course you mentioned Alex Osterwalder's books, Business Model Generation, Business Model Canvas. Those are fantastic books for Product Managers. I also, just looking at my own bookshelves, of course, Innovation Games for PMs, of course Software Profit Streams because we have to figure out how to create sustainability, but in reality there's so many books that we love and that we share and that we grow together when we're sharing books and I'll add one thing. Please don't only limit your books to technical books. We're humans too. I recently, this week and what I mean recent I mean literally this weekend I was visiting one of my kids in Vermont all the way across the country, and so on the plane ride I finished two books, one was a very profound and deeply written book called Ponyboy. And then another one was a very famous book on a woman protagonist who's successful in the 60s, Lessons in Chemistry, which is a new book that's out, and it was a super fun light read, some interesting lessons of course, because there's always lessons in books, and now if it's okay if I'm not overstepping my boundaries, what would be a book that you'd like me to read? I love to add books to my list. Ula Ojiaku Oh my gosh, I didn't know. You are the first guest ever who's twisted this on me, but I tend to read multiple books at a time. Luke Hohmann Only two. Ula Ojiaku Yeah, so, and I kind of switch, maybe put some on my bedside and you know there's some on my Kindle and in the car, just depending. So I'm reading multiple books at a time, but based on what you've said the one that comes to mind is the new book by Oprah Winfrey and it's titled What Happened to You? Understanding Trauma, because like you said, it's not just about reading technical books and we're human beings and we find out that people behave probably sometimes in ways that are different to us, and it's not about saying what's wrong with you, because there is a story that we might not have been privy to, you know, in terms of their childhood, how they grew up, which affected their worldview and how they are acting, so things don't just suddenly happen. And the question that we have been asked and we sometimes ask of people, and for me, I'm reading it from a parent's perspective because I understand that even more so that my actions, my choices, they play a huge, you know, part in shaping my children. So it's not saying what's wrong with you? You say, you know, what happened to you? And it traces back to, based on research, because she wrote it with a renowned psychologist, I don't know his field but a renowned psychologist, so neuroscience-based psychological research on human beings, attachment theory and all that, just showing how early childhood experiences, even as early as maybe a few months old, tend to affect people well into adulthood. So that would be my recommendation. Luke Hohmann Thank you so much. That's a gift. Ula Ojiaku Thank you. You're the first person to ask me. So, my pleasure. So, before we go to the final words, where can the audience find you, because you have a wealth of knowledge, a wealth of experience, and I am sure that people would want to get in touch with you, so how can they do this please? Luke Hohmann Yeah, well, they can get me on LinkedIn and they can find me at Applied Frameworks. I tell you, I teach classes that are known to be very profound because we always reserve, myself and the instructors at Applied Frameworks, we have very strong commitments to reserving class time for what we call the parking lot or the ask me anything question, which are many times after I've covered the core material in the class, having the opportunity to really frame how to apply something is really important. So I would definitely encourage people to take one of my classes because you'll not get the material, you'll get the reasons behind the material, which means you can apply it, but you'll also be able to ask us questions and our commitment as a company is you can ask us anything and if we don't know the answer, we'll help you find it. We'll help you find the expert or the person that you need talk to, to help you out and be successful. And then, and I think in terms of final words, I will simply ask people to remember that we get to work in the most amazing field building things for other people and it's joyful work, and we, one of my phrases is you're not doing Agile, if you're not having fun at work, there's something really wrong, there's something missing, yeah we need to retrospect and we need to improve and we need to reflect and all those important things, absolutely, but we should allow ourselves to experience the joy of serving others and being of service and building things that matter. Ula Ojiaku I love the concept of joyful Agile and getting joy in building things that matter, serving people and may I add also working together with amazing people, and for me it's been a joyful conversation with you, Luke, I really appreciate you making the time, I am definitely richer and more enlightened as a result of this conversation, so thank you so much once more. Luke Hohmann Thank you so much for having me here, thank you everyone for listening with us. Ula Ojiaku  My pleasure. That's all we have for now. Thanks for listening. If you liked this show, do subscribe at www.agileinnovationleaders.com or your favourite podcast provider. Also share with friends and do leave a review on iTunes. This would help others find this show. I'd also love to hear from you, so please drop me an email at ula@agileinnovationleaders.com Take care and God bless!   

How can we use comics to present ethnographic research in new and unique ways? In this episode, we talk with Dr V Chitra about the fieldwork and comics in her soon-to-be-released book Drawing Coastlines. She talks about the ethnographic insights on contamination and climate change that came from sorting fish, and her process of developing comics that portray the everyday experiences and environmental degradation of coastal communities in Mumbai. She also discusses future problems on human-insect and human-dog relations, questioning our own capacity to accept the feral.  Finally, she ends with a few recommendations of ethnographies for our listeners: Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice Across Andean Worlds, Marisol de la Cadena; Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India's Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan; On Line and On Paper: Visual Representations, Visual Culture, and Computer Graphics in Design Engineering, Kathryn Henderson; and When Species Meet, Donna Haraway. And related to comics: Making Comics, Lynda Barry; Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud; and Forecasts: A Story of Weather and Finance at the Edge of Disaster, by Caroline E. Schuster and illustrated by Enrique Bernardou and David Bueno. Sneha Annavarapu is Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College. Alex Diamond is Assistant Professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

How can we use comics to present ethnographic research in new and unique ways? In this episode, we talk with Dr V Chitra about the fieldwork and comics in her soon-to-be-released book Drawing Coastlines. She talks about the ethnographic insights on contamination and climate change that came from sorting fish, and her process of developing comics that portray the everyday experiences and environmental degradation of coastal communities in Mumbai. She also discusses future problems on human-insect and human-dog relations, questioning our own capacity to accept the feral.  Finally, she ends with a few recommendations of ethnographies for our listeners: Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice Across Andean Worlds, Marisol de la Cadena; Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India's Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan; On Line and On Paper: Visual Representations, Visual Culture, and Computer Graphics in Design Engineering, Kathryn Henderson; and When Species Meet, Donna Haraway. And related to comics: Making Comics, Lynda Barry; Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud; and Forecasts: A Story of Weather and Finance at the Edge of Disaster, by Caroline E. Schuster and illustrated by Enrique Bernardou and David Bueno. Sneha Annavarapu is Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College. Alex Diamond is Assistant Professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

How can we use comics to present ethnographic research in new and unique ways? In this episode, we talk with Dr V Chitra about the fieldwork and comics in her soon-to-be-released book Drawing Coastlines. She talks about the ethnographic insights on contamination and climate change that came from sorting fish, and her process of developing comics that portray the everyday experiences and environmental degradation of coastal communities in Mumbai. She also discusses future problems on human-insect and human-dog relations, questioning our own capacity to accept the feral.  Finally, she ends with a few recommendations of ethnographies for our listeners: Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice Across Andean Worlds, Marisol de la Cadena; Animal Intimacies: Interspecies Relatedness in India's Central Himalayas, Radhika Govindrajan; On Line and On Paper: Visual Representations, Visual Culture, and Computer Graphics in Design Engineering, Kathryn Henderson; and When Species Meet, Donna Haraway. And related to comics: Making Comics, Lynda Barry; Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud; and Forecasts: A Story of Weather and Finance at the Edge of Disaster, by Caroline E. Schuster and illustrated by Enrique Bernardou and David Bueno. Sneha Annavarapu is Assistant Professor of Urban Studies at Yale-NUS College. Alex Diamond is Assistant Professor of sociology at Oklahoma State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

we're kicking off our seventh module with two firsts for the pod: a guest (heather antos) and discussing a book in the intro episode (understanding comics: the invisible art by scott mccloud). after learning about our histories with comics, we spend a while talking about dilbert and scott adams (please read this) as well as our favorite “sunday funnies.” we share love for sam and max, learn about shreds's childhood as a science-fiction kid, and discuss the current state of comics. shreds gives mccloud a big compliment before we discuss understanding comics and the many lessons it has to impart. we talk about reading comics digitally vs. physically. we share the reading list for the rest of the season (to which heather adds context). shreds compliments joey in a way that immediately requires explanation. heather gives insight into where to start watching star trek and offers recommendations for comics she's worked on. reading list for season seven understanding comics: the invisible art by scott mccloud coyote doggirl by lisa hanawalt the private eye by brian k. vaughan, marcos martin, muntsa vicente no longer human by junji ito the seeds by ann nocenti, david aja bitter root by david f. walker, chuck brown, sanford greene this one summer by mariko tamaki, jillian tamaki asterios polyp by david mazzucchelli kingdom come by mark waid, alex ross prison pit by johnny ryan ragnarok by walter simonson

Welcome back to Color/Break, your third favorite comic book podcast. In this episode, Kody and Christian talk about some Marvel Comics 2023 series they've enjoyed, some we...didn't, and then we gave them a grade. Some we liked: Guardians of The Galaxy by Jackson Lanzing, Immortal Thor by Al Ewing and The Incredible Hulk by Phillip Kennedy Johnson. Some we didn't like: The Amazing Spider-Man by Zeb Wells, Ghost Rider by Benjamin Percy and Venom by Al Ewing. We also talked about some recent collected edition comic book pickups, like Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen, Blankets by Craig Thompson, Captain America Lives Omnibus by Ed Brubaker, and Immortal Hulk Omnibus by Al Ewing Finally, we talked about some recent comic book reads like Superman by Patrick Gleason and Peter J Tomasi, Department of Truth by James Tynion IV, I Hate This Place by Kyle Starks, Immortal Hulk by Al Ewing and Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. Thank you to all of our write-ins! Find their links below: JJs_Comic_Stuff (linktr.ee/jjscomicstuff) drewxdeficit (linktr.ee/drewxdeficit) Hillbilly Comics (https://www.tiktok.com/@hillbillycomics) RomezGuide (https://www.tiktok.com/@romezguide) ThatNerdyPapaBear (linktr.ee/thatnerdypapabear) DamonToksComics (https://www.tiktok.com/@damontokscomics) Every_Spiderman-Ever (https://www.tiktok.com/@every_spiderman_ever) Thanks so much for listening/watching! New episodes released every 2 weeks.

My guest this week is comedian Rebecca Kaplan! Have you read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics? What was The Yellow Kid? Why was he called that? What's the deal with Krazy Kat? How much does Brett like Fun Home? Has Brett seen Fun Home the musical? What is Barnaby? What do you learn about history by reading newspaper comics? What the heck is Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend? Who was Windsor McCay? Where does Brett get most of his comic strips these days? What happened with the comic strip Nancy? What happened with For Better or Worse? What is Hark! A Vagrant about? Who is Sarah Vowell? What is xkcd famous for? What is Dilbert really about? What happened to Dilbert? What did Scott Adams say? What is Dinosaur Comics?  Reading list: The Yellow Kid Krazy Kat Pogo Barnaby (free on Comixology Unlimited) Fun Home The Annotated Alice in Wonderland xkcd books Peanuts Dreams of the Rarebit Fiend For Better or Worse (free with Kindle Unlimited) Watch list: Citizen Kane

Fifty listener questions taking the form of “What is the ___ of video games?” are defeated by the full panel of the Insert Credit Show. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: Vanilla Bean asks: What is the Aphex Twin to Radiohead to Coldplay of video games? (07:32) John H: What is the Studio Trigger of video games? (08:46) Danimal: Who (or what) is the Wednesday Campanella of video games? (10:14) Henry: What is the Action Comics #1 competition of video games? (11:42) Tomarrow: What is the meat and potatoes of video games? (12:49) Kiko b: What is the peanut butter and jelly on white bread of video games? (13:42) Ian: what's the everything bagel of video games? (14:52) Gaagaagiins: What is the 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner of video games? (15:37) Chris B: What is the “walking by a store on a hot day that has the front doors wide open with the AC blasting and you catch a sudden blast of freezing air” of video games? (16:52) Justin: What's the “Live Free or Die Hard” of video games? (18:24) BrillPickle asks: What's the Normcore of video games? (20:10) BrillPickle asks: What's the healthgoth of video games? (21:09) Spencer: what is the “going to the movies but spending the whole time on your phone” of video games? (22:08) Cwumble Fletkh: Who is the Oedipus of video games? (23:08) Fighting fudon: What is the “I've had too much coffee and now I feel like death” of video games? (23:58) JackOakLeaf: What is the Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in The Godfather of video games? (25:24) Jimi: Who are the Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer of video game characters? (26:21) Jomch: What is the Frasier of videogames? (26:39) Dillson: What is the Hatsune Miku Guitar Synthesizer Stompbox of video games? (28:00) kory: What is the Jaws 19 from Back to the Future Part II of video games? (28:34) Anonymous: What is the finding an onion ring in your fries of video games? (29:12) Classic Anonymous: What is the Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud of video games? (31:22) U G: What is the Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves of video games? (32:29) Shlooter McGavin: What is the “reading a magazine back to front” of video games? (33:26) gordon “matty” freeman: What is the “vinyl just sounds better, dude” of video games? (34:31) Insert Credit Quick Break: Patreon listeners, please check your info because Patreon screwed up (34:57) Maybesheforgot: What is the O Brother Where Art Thou of video games? (35:37) Jeff Mangum: Who or what is the Neutral Milk Hotel of video games? (36:43) Skeletoncounter: What is the Wes Craven's New Nightmare of video games? (38:16) Gaagaagiins asks: What is the comparison between the theatrical and extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy? (40:52) LeFish: What is the finding out Santa isn't real of video games? (42:42) Anonymous: What is the going back in time to kill baby Hitler of video games? (44:09) Charlie: Who, or what game, is the first Mark Twain of video games? (45:28) Arvid: What's the “built like a brick outhouse” of video games? (46:05) Buy Gebord: What is the Society of the Spectacle of video games? (47:20) Marxseny: What is the “It's not a phase, mom” of video games? (48:19) Barclay: What is The Illuminatus! Trilogy of video games? (49:20) Crumbling Kwelfis: who is the jean-luc godard of video games? (50:29) Dustin: What is the high school reunion of video games? (51:31) Cole: What is the Nissan Sileighty of video games? (52:43) La_cuna: What or who is the Ricky Jay of video games? (53:35) Kyle: What is the Mission Impossible of video games? (55:32) Torbjorn: Who is the Søren Kierkegaard of video games? (56:42) Antho: What's the Canadian tuxedo of video games? (57:40) ana: What is the cinéma-vérité of video games? (59:06) Snowtire: what is the Star Citizen of video games? (01:00:08) Smander Jettz: Who is the Ezra Miller of video games? (01:01:03) Brayden Bunker: What is the aeropress of video games? (01:02:53) Samf Sankey: who is the Jim Varney of video games? (01:05:47) Swift Justice: What is the BABYMETAL of video games? (01:07:03) nate: what is the 4'33 of video games? (01:09:06) Recommendations and Outro (01:09:27) Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED: Super Mario series Super Mario Bros - Star The Stars and Stripes Forever Turkey in the Straw What's The Buzz Koji Kondo Django Reinhardt Limehouse Blues The Entertainer (rag) 1812 Overture La Marseillaise Happy Birthday to You Aphex Twin Radiohead Coldplay Bayonetta Devil May Cry series Ninja Gaiden series Final Fantasy XVI Dragon's Dogma Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories SNL “Dear Sister” Parody Studio Trigger WayForward Gainax Wednesday Campanella Castlevania series Final Fantasy XIV Online Bonk's Revenge Action Comics 1 StarTropics EarthBound Call of Duty series Angry Birds Destiny Yakuza / Ryū ga Gotoku series Sonic Mania Days Gone Assassin's Creed series Resident Evil series Raw Danger! Die Hard (film series) Normcore Roblox Health Goth Bullet Witch P.N.03 Rez Indiana Jones Oedipus David Cage Men in Black (1997) MadWorld JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future Shenmue Skies of Arcadia Marlon Brando The Godfather (1972) God of War Seinfeld Frasier Cheers Virtua Fighter Banjo-Kazooie Diddy Kong Racing Donkey Kong Country Liquid Television MIKU STOMP Undertale Groove Coaster series Back to the Future Part II (1989) PlayStation 9 Halo: Combat Evolved Understanding Comics A Grammar of Gameplay House of Leaves What Remains of Edith Finch Doki Doki Literature Club! Yesterday's Enterprise Christopher McDonald Tasha Yar Grand Theft Auto series O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) Raising Arizona (1987) Brütal Legend Guitar Hero Neutral Milk Hotel Final Fantasy IX Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Bubsy series Broken Age Monkey Island series Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Fable series Blaster Master series A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Lord of the rings extended edition Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Portable Santa Claus Tool-assisted speedrun Castle Wolfenstein series FarmVille Cyberpunk 2077 Mark Twain Octopath Traveler The Society of the Spectacle The Righteous Gemstones Succession The Illuminatus! Trilogy Xenogears / Xenosaga universe Jean-Luc Godard Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) Game Freak François Truffaut Super Smash Brothers series F-Zero Nissan 180SX Initial D Ridge Racer 6 Ricky Jay Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible Søren Kierkegaard Michael Brough Cinéma vérité The Stanley Parable Among Us Star Citizen Star Ocean Baldur's Gate III Ezra Miller Reginald VelJohnson Family Matters AeroPress Aero the Acro-Bat Mulholland Drive (2001) Jim Varney Ernest P. Worrell Paul Reubens Nintendogs Babymetal BioShock 4′33″ What's Inside the Box? Super Mario Clouds Recommendations: Frank: Listen to episode 300 Tim: Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants Brandon: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), Trader Joes Rice Cracker Medley Jaffe: Sandman Mystery Theatre This week's Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you. Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

Fifty listener questions taking the form of “What is the ___ of video games?” are defeated by the full panel of the Insert Credit Show. Hosted by Alex Jaffe, with Frank Cifaldi, Tim Rogers, and Brandon Sheffield. Edited by Esper Quinn, original music by Kurt Feldman. Questions this week: Vanilla Bean asks: What is the Aphex Twin to Radiohead to Coldplay of video games? (07:32) John H: What is the Studio Trigger of video games? (08:46) Danimal: Who (or what) is the Wednesday Campanella of video games? (10:14) Henry: What is the Action Comics #1 competition of video games? (11:42) Tomarrow: What is the meat and potatoes of video games? (12:49) Kiko b: What is the peanut butter and jelly on white bread of video games? (13:42) Ian: what's the everything bagel of video games? (14:52) Gaagaagiins: What is the 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner of video games? (15:37) Chris B: What is the “walking by a store on a hot day that has the front doors wide open with the AC blasting and you catch a sudden blast of freezing air” of video games? (16:52) Justin: What's the “Live Free or Die Hard” of video games? (18:24) BrillPickle asks: What's the Normcore of video games? (20:10) BrillPickle asks: What's the healthgoth of video games? (21:09) Spencer: what is the “going to the movies but spending the whole time on your phone” of video games? (22:08) Cwumble Fletkh: Who is the Oedipus of video games? (23:08) Fighting fudon: What is the “I've had too much coffee and now I feel like death” of video games? (23:58) JackOakLeaf: What is the Marlon Brando as Don Corleone in The Godfather of video games? (25:24) Jimi: Who are the Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer of video game characters? (26:21) Jomch: What is the Frasier of videogames? (26:39) Dillson: What is the Hatsune Miku Guitar Synthesizer Stompbox of video games? (28:00) kory: What is the Jaws 19 from Back to the Future Part II of video games? (28:34) Anonymous: What is the finding an onion ring in your fries of video games? (29:12) Classic Anonymous: What is the Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud of video games? (31:22) U G: What is the Mark Z Danielewski's House of Leaves of video games? (32:29) Shlooter McGavin: What is the “reading a magazine back to front” of video games? (33:26) gordon “matty” freeman: What is the “vinyl just sounds better, dude” of video games? (34:31) Insert Credit Quick Break: Patreon listeners, please check your info because Patreon screwed up (34:57) Maybesheforgot: What is the O Brother Where Art Thou of video games? (35:37) Jeff Mangum: Who or what is the Neutral Milk Hotel of video games? (36:43) Skeletoncounter: What is the Wes Craven's New Nightmare of video games? (38:16) Gaagaagiins asks: What is the comparison between the theatrical and extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy? (40:52) LeFish: What is the finding out Santa isn't real of video games? (42:42) Anonymous: What is the going back in time to kill baby Hitler of video games? (44:09) Charlie: Who, or what game, is the first Mark Twain of video games? (45:28) Arvid: What's the “built like a brick outhouse” of video games? (46:05) Buy Gebord: What is the Society of the Spectacle of video games? (47:20) Marxseny: What is the “It's not a phase, mom” of video games? (48:19) Barclay: What is The Illuminatus! Trilogy of video games? (49:20) Crumbling Kwelfis: who is the jean-luc godard of video games? (50:29) Dustin: What is the high school reunion of video games? (51:31) Cole: What is the Nissan Sileighty of video games? (52:43) La_cuna: What or who is the Ricky Jay of video games? (53:35) Kyle: What is the Mission Impossible of video games? (55:32) Torbjorn: Who is the Søren Kierkegaard of video games? (56:42) Antho: What's the Canadian tuxedo of video games? (57:40) ana: What is the cinéma-vérité of video games? (59:06) Snowtire: what is the Star Citizen of video games? (01:00:08) Smander Jettz: Who is the Ezra Miller of video games? (01:01:03) Brayden Bunker: What is the aeropress of video games? (01:02:53) Samf Sankey: who is the Jim Varney of video games? (01:05:47) Swift Justice: What is the BABYMETAL of video games? (01:07:03) nate: what is the 4'33 of video games? (01:09:06) Recommendations and Outro (01:09:27) Discuss this episode in the Insert Credit Forums A SMALL SELECTION OF THINGS REFERENCED: Super Mario series Super Mario Bros - Star The Stars and Stripes Forever Turkey in the Straw What's The Buzz Koji Kondo Django Reinhardt Limehouse Blues The Entertainer (rag) 1812 Overture La Marseillaise Happy Birthday to You Aphex Twin Radiohead Coldplay Bayonetta Devil May Cry series Ninja Gaiden series Final Fantasy XVI Dragon's Dogma Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories SNL “Dear Sister” Parody Studio Trigger WayForward Gainax Wednesday Campanella Castlevania series Final Fantasy XIV Online Bonk's Revenge Action Comics 1 StarTropics EarthBound Call of Duty series Angry Birds Destiny Yakuza / Ryū ga Gotoku series Sonic Mania Days Gone Assassin's Creed series Resident Evil series Raw Danger! Die Hard (film series) Normcore Roblox Health Goth Bullet Witch P.N.03 Rez Indiana Jones Oedipus David Cage Men in Black (1997) MadWorld JSRF: Jet Set Radio Future Shenmue Skies of Arcadia Marlon Brando The Godfather (1972) God of War Seinfeld Frasier Cheers Virtua Fighter Banjo-Kazooie Diddy Kong Racing Donkey Kong Country Liquid Television MIKU STOMP Undertale Groove Coaster series Back to the Future Part II (1989) PlayStation 9 Halo: Combat Evolved Understanding Comics A Grammar of Gameplay House of Leaves What Remains of Edith Finch Doki Doki Literature Club! Yesterday's Enterprise Christopher McDonald Tasha Yar Grand Theft Auto series O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) Raising Arizona (1987) Brütal Legend Guitar Hero Neutral Milk Hotel Final Fantasy IX Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Bubsy series Broken Age Monkey Island series Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) Fable series Blaster Master series A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night Lord of the rings extended edition Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 - Portable Santa Claus Tool-assisted speedrun Castle Wolfenstein series FarmVille Cyberpunk 2077 Mark Twain Octopath Traveler The Society of the Spectacle The Righteous Gemstones Succession The Illuminatus! Trilogy Xenogears / Xenosaga universe Jean-Luc Godard Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983) Game Freak François Truffaut Super Smash Brothers series F-Zero Nissan 180SX Initial D Ridge Racer 6 Ricky Jay Mission: Impossible Mission: Impossible Søren Kierkegaard Michael Brough Cinéma vérité The Stanley Parable Among Us Star Citizen Star Ocean Baldur's Gate III Ezra Miller Reginald VelJohnson Family Matters AeroPress Aero the Acro-Bat Mulholland Drive (2001) Jim Varney Ernest P. Worrell Paul Reubens Nintendogs Babymetal BioShock 4′33″ What's Inside the Box? Super Mario Clouds Recommendations: Frank: Listen to episode 300 Tim: Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants Brandon: Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films (2014), Trader Joes Rice Cracker Medley Jaffe: Sandman Mystery Theatre This week's Insert Credit Show is brought to you by patrons like you. Thank you. Subscribe: RSS, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and more!

A 30 años de su aparición, nos metemos a fondo con el seminal libro de Scott McCloud, y recibimos la visita de Sebastián Tabany. Leer más

We're back! All the Export pods had to take a pause while I recovered from covid, but Coffee & Comic Books returns with an episode about this classic of comics theory. We were joined by Mark for a 90 minute conversation where we get into all the things that have got us to return to the book over the years, and all the things about it that are frustrating and worth criticizing. Follow Autumn on Twitter and Cohost! Follow Rick on Twitter and Patreon! Our art was done by Cam! You should follow their excellent webcomic, Matchmaker! To support the show and get access to an extra episode each month, go to exportaud.io! "Bass Vibes" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Drew Dietsch joins the podcast to discuss Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. We talk about some of our favorite moments from the book, why everyone should read it, and more.  ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Steve finally convinced Joe to read Understanding Comics and it's safe to say it was a hit! The guys chat about the finer points of this work, which, when it came out in the 90s completely changed the face of how comics were viewed. If you're a comics fan and you've never read it before, you've got homework. Give it a read, then load up this cast and hear what we've got to say.Full episode archive: Bubbling Up PodcastFollow us on Instagram or Facebook! Full episode archive: Bubbling Up PodcastFollow us on Instagram or Facebook!

This episode was taken from a live conversation you can find here: https://youtu.be/eBgw5PVanKgWelcome back to the Comix Experience Graphic Novel Club! To join, please head to https://www.GraphicNovelClub.com/startSUBSCRIBE TO THIS CHANNEL TO GET THE LATEST CONVERSATIONS, AND HIT THE BELL TO GET NOTIFIED OF ALL THE NEWEST STUFF!MUSICRocket Power by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4303-rocket-power License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

I cannot overstate the importance of Cece Bell's EL DEAFO. For both us, as a society, and for the prestige that it brought to graphic novels with the citation of that Newbery Honor, the first graphic novel to earn that shiny silver sticker! Get to know how Cece Bell came to be in her Origin Story!Jarrett: Hello everyone. My name is Jarrett Krosoczka and I wanna say hello to my friend, Cece Bell. Cece: Hi everybody. Hi Jarrett. It's so nice to see you. Jarrett: Oh, it's nice to see you. You're I miss you. I haven't seen you in so long. Even... Before the pandemic, we hadn't run into each other on book tour. Cece: It had been a long time, I guess we probably haven't seen each other for four years. Maybe. Jarrett: It might be. Yeah, it might be. I always see your silly and goofy posts on Instagram. So I really feel like we, we haven't missed a beat because I've been following along, you made a beautiful drawing for your mom on her birthday. Cece: Oh, yes. I did. Yeah. I, yeah, we, I've actually been off of Instagram for a little while because I was finding that it was too much of a pull away from, my productivity. So I'm allowed to look at it every Sunday. Jarrett: Ah! Cece: Nothing for the rest of the week. It's hard. Jarrett: I feel like if I did that, my thumb would always be like, ah, I need to look and scroll and see things. That is some amazing willpower, Cece Bell. So I, we know your story somewhat from your book, El Deafo, and as a person who's also written a graphic memoir, you decide like what you're gonna put on the page, what doesn't make it to the page.And I've said this to you a bunch, and you've heard this a million times, but El Deafo is... Such a powerful book and it's a pillar in graphic novel history because your book was the very first one ever to get a Newberry silver sticker like that really pushed the whole medium of graphic novels forward.And of course, when you sat down to make that book, that was nowhere near in your head. And we'll get to that. But before we do, I'm interested in how Cece Bell became Cece Bell, the graphic novelist, the cartoonist, the author. What are your earliest memories of drawing and making and reading comics tell us a little bit more about what your house was like growing up in regards to like the creative sources you consumed and created.Cece: Okay. Wow. Let's see. I think I always like drawing and mark making and that kind of thing. And let's see. I do remember when I got very sick in 1975 when I was about four and a half which is where the book El Deafo starts, that I did a lot of drawing there in the hospital. And my parents think that I drew probably 100 drawings of the same thing over and over again.It was just a little girl with a green face underneath the rainbow. Her body was shaped like a triangle and I just drew that repeatedly over and over. And that was probably an early experience of drawing being therapy in a way. But I always drew that was basically the only book that I would check out of my school library every Friday, the same Ed Emberly book; Make a World. And I really wasn't interested in reading that much. I could read, I didn't have trouble with it, but I just wasn't interested. I wanted to be making things. so Ed Emberly was a major part of my life.And gosh, my... My home life, I was really lucky. My father was a doctor and my mother was a nurse. And I wasn't limited financially, basically. And it was a very supportive household, but in the book, there's this feeling that that my parents are fairly normal people and my siblings are fairly normal people.And if I had focused on my family instead of on just the story of me coping with my deafness in school and at home it would've been much, much stranger. My family is bonkers weird and they are very funny. Oh, my goodness. They are just so weird. My mom is so weird. My dad is... We're just weird.And so I, I tamped that down a lot because... The focus wasn't on that. It was on deafness and feeling isolated. So anyway, but my family was, yeah, there was my mom. There was a picture of my mom. Nuts, very dramatic and funny. And I think I get a lot of my storytelling abilities from my mom's side of the family and word play and nicknames and all that stuff comes into play.And then my father's side is very really talented with hand skills. My grandmother was an amazing seamstress and my great grandmother was an amazing seamstress, but she was also a sign painter. I always found that really cool. A sign painter. Wow. I think that sort of some of the mix of who I was growing up and a huge focus on weird and probably Ed Eberly and the fact that my father got weekly issues of the New Yorker were major influences the New Yorker cover and then the New Yorker cartoon in the inside.That's a little bit of, a little bit of what was going on around me. Jarrett: Okay. So I want to meet these people who are more cuckoo bananas than Cece Bell, because you are so wonderfully and beautifully... Goofy and fun. And you might be the only person I know who consistently uses the hot dog emoji in text messages, so... Cece: That's the best one ever!Jarrett: I imagine that must have been, yeah, I guess that makes such sense. What - may I ask? What did your siblings grow up to do? Cece: My siblings they struggled more than I did in terms of - this is gonna sound strange, but in a lot of ways, my hearing loss ended up being a real gift and the main way that it did that is I ended up getting attention from our parents.That... More attention from our parents than my older siblings did, which was extremely unfair, but that's just how it happened, how it played out. And so they really struggled. They struggled with that lack of attention and just, they are my sister is five years older and my brother is seven years older and they're growing up was very different from mine, even that slight not generational, but time period was different.And so they, they are probably the funniest, most creative people that I know, but neither one of them has found that lifelong dream career, which is something I struggle with them. That sense of guilt, even though what happened, wasn't my fault. I'm deeply aware of how much it changed things for them.And it's a, it's an interesting thing, but they are so funny. If you think I'm funny, spend time with them and you'll just think that I'm as dull as a brick because those two and when we all three get together, it is just, it's pretty magical. And I'm so grateful that we get along and that we're as close as we are.They're terrific siblings. Yeah. Jarrett: Wow. What that is a, what a beautiful testament of your love for them. And their love for you comes across so clearly in the book, in regards to you, the baby of the family and they're concerned for your health that's, and I connect to that as well, because I too was, the baby of the family, and there was a lot of trauma going on.And with that, I got a lot of attention. And I loved drawing as a form of escape. And I'm so touched to hear that your time in the hospital was spent drawing because that is a testament to the power of creating in the arts to get you through some hard times. Did you ever have an epiphany along the lines where you realized this thing could be a career for you?Like this drawing thing? Cece: That took a while. I was in school, in high school and the first part of college I was really super academic. And some of that was pressure from my own self, but also pressure from my dad. I think my dad wanted me to be a doctor like him, and I've have found that's a theme among a lot of cartoonists and illustrators that there was this parent who pushed, but pushed them to be something that they didn't want to be.And that child like me in my case I think [inaudible] has a similar thing. And the name is leaving me... American born Chinese? Jarrett: Oh, Jean Yang.Cece: Helped me. Yeah. Yeah. Just that, that pressure. And There was that, but in school I was really academic trying to fulfill this thing for myself and for my father and overcompensating for the deafness.I didn't want people to think of me as "that deaf kid". I wanted them to think of me, " that smart kid". And so I worked really hard and I never considered art as a career because it didn't seem like it was even doable. It wasn't doable. So when I got to college, I was an English major and I hated it.I hated it. I don't know what I was doing. Having to write papers and read books and but while I was in college, I met Tom Angelberger, who ended up becoming my husband and he was an art major and I did take some art classes. There he is! There he is. He's so smart. And we started hanging out and I think he recognized that I was pretty good at it.And I think he also recognized that I was unhappy as an English major. And so it was Tom who encouraged me to switch majors and just go for it. And I did, and suddenly I was happy and it was the best move I ever made, but it took a while longer to figure out what I was going to do with it. Jarrett: Wow. You know... I obviously I know that you and Tom really support one, one another artistically, but I didn't realize he was really such an integral part of your origin story of you becoming the Cece Bell that we all know, that we know is the name on the spine of the book, the name on the front cover with all of those shiny stickers. And, yeah. And so you were college sweethearts, and then you both got catapulted out into the real world. And so what happened from there? Did you graduate with an English degree?Cece: We, no, no. I got out of that as quick as I could. I keep saying I don't like reading and I do, but the book has to get me.Or it has to interest me from chapter one. And if it doesn't, I throw it out. So there were a lot of books that didn't interest me in chapter one in the English department, but I was out of there, but no, we I ended up getting a degree in fine arts and Tom did two, and we went to the college of William and Mary, which is in Williamsburg, Virginia, and which isn't really known for art. It's known for like business and physics and science. But we finished school and then we took a trip around the country together in an old Volkswagen van. And then we decided, because we survived that we could get married and survived that too. So we got married and I decided to go to graduate school at in Ohio. And so we got married right before that. And so at this point we were just 22. We were super, super young. And I decided I needed to, I wanted to become an illustrator. That I wouldn't have fit in with the whole fine arts crowd. I had this vision that I would have to go to New York city and drink champagne and talk about art and that just founded atrocious.So I thought; "Illustration!" And so I decided to go to a graduate degree in design and illustration, and Tom went with me and basically... He worked in a factory and juggled on the weekend, and that... And he paid for all of the time I was in graduate school. And then and then I finished and then we moved back to Virginia.He learned a lot from what I was learning. So it was neat. I would share my projects with him and talk about everything with him. And I think he picked it up through osmosis, but he actually, his path was really different. He was working in a factory, but then eventually ended up becoming a newspaper reporter, both in Ohio and then back in Virginia.And he was really good at it. And I think that's how he became a writer, was through newspaper writing. And his first book, which was about a group of kids exploring the local sewage department. That was based on a story that he wrote for the newspaper. Anyway he's a huge - Tom Angelberger is probably the reason I'm talking to you right now is because he put me through school.He was the one that, I think he understood me before. I understood me in a lot of ways. Jarrett: Wow. Wow. Wow. I, that's beautiful. I feel like that story you just told us could be... Like a limited series on a streaming service. That is just such a beautiful, that could be a romantic comedy or something, Cece, that's amazing. Wow. So you landed back in Virginia, you got hitched you got hitched and smart to travel across country together to see if you could survive that your relationship could survive that before marriage that's smart. That should be a requirement. So why, so he was writing for the newspaper.And were you like what were you hoping to do with your illustrations? Did you have books for kids in mind? Did you like what were you thinking? Cece: Gosh, when we moved back to Virginia, I was, we were both 25 and we moved back mostly because Tom was homesick for the mountains. I would've stayed in Ohio.And I actually applied for a job at American Greeting, which was, or I think it's still in Cleveland and did not get that job. What were they thinking? But I didn't get hired by American Greeting. And I was bummed cuz it was in a, that the office space was just beautiful and the employees would get these like every other year sabbaticals and it was beautiful.So I was pretty sad, but Tom wanted to go back to Virginia and I did. And so we did, and when we first came back Tom had trouble finding a newspaper job, but I got a job as an illustrator and designer for a small company. That made exotic pet supplies.So for three years I was making packaging and writing copy and doing all this stuff for this little company in Virginia. And the work was really great because it forced me to learn how to use Photoshop. And at the time it was called Freehand, like illustrator. You may remember Freehand.Jarrett: Yeah.Cece: And it forced me to learn to use the computer. I, my time in graduate school, the computer stuff was just starting. It was more, we were using a Xerox machine and cutting and pasting and using all that old, Ruby list kind of stuff. So the computer was still really new. So that job was good because it forced me to learn those things.But I was working for the devil. Satan himself was my boss and I had to get outta there. And so I don't know if you've ever seen this show, The Prisoner, the it's that British show and the beginning, the introduction has the prisoner is an FBI - not FBI, Secret Service agent. And he he quits his job and he like throws his keys down and storms out.I had visions that, that, that was how I was going to quit. But instead I got up like at 5:30 in the morning and I wrote a note and I put it in an envelope with the key. And I crept into my boss's office and put the envelope on his desk and it basically said I quit and don't contact me ever. And then I snuck out and I was at no two weeks notice.Ugh, I was pretty shabby, but I was so glad to get out in there. And then from that, I started freelancing at this crazy local paper... Paper product place that licensed stuff. Like I got to make folders that featured N-Sync and the, whatever those boys are called, those boy bands. Yes, I Want it That Way.And I got to make all these school supplies for N-Sync and with the Crayola stuff on there, and it was this crazy hodgepodge. It was the best job. And so when I was doing that, it freed me up to start thinking about kids books and my graduate thesis had been this wackadoodle children's book that will never is the light of day, but the illustrations are great.And the story's not so good, but I thought the illustrations were great, but anyway So then I started to think; "Maybe I can do this." And I finally had an idea that I felt like it was good enough to pursue, and I pursued it and I made this really polished dummy that I could that I could send out.And at the time Candlewick Press was accepting ,accepting work without an agent, unsolicited stuff. So I sent it to Candlewick and like three months later there was a message on the answering machine. Which of course I didn't understand because I don't understand that. I don't understand answering machine messages, but Tom was there once again, Tom did a rescue and he is; "Oh my gosh, it's Candlewick Press!".And So I didn't, I, that was it. That was my end. And the rest is history . Jarrett: And what book was that? Cece: That book was "Sock Monkey goes to Hollywood."Jarrett: Oh, yes. I remember the Sock Monkey books and, wow. That's right. Wow. So what and what year was that? Cece: Oh, my gosh, that came out.Oh yeah. So the, that was the year 2000 was when I got the message from Candlewick, but it didn't come out until 2003 because I didn't have an agent. And I had to get a lawyer to help me read the contract as those contracts are... It wasn't until later that I got an agent, and God bless agents because I never wanna read another contract ever again. But it just took a long time because it was my first and I didn't have representation at the time. So that came out in 2003. Jarrett: Yeah. Cece: Yeah. Jarrett: Yeah. And because now I'm connecting all of the dots, because then... It was maybe a few years after that is when I first met you and Tom at, we were in a gallery show together and I had just thought; "That's the famous Cece Bell, she's been around. "These books have been out for years now. And I don't know if I'm allowed to talk to the famous Cece Bell who makes the Sock Monkey books." And there, you were just getting started. Cece: Yeah. Oh, I really was just getting started and I wasn't famous at all. I remember Ashley Bryan was there and Grace Lynn was there.Jarrett: Yeah. Cece: And at the time I was a huge Grace Lynn fan, still am, but I think, I still think of her as this icon. She already felt iconic that all the way back then. And I was so in awe of her and that sensation that I had, then it's still there. Anytime I see her, I just turn a jelly like; "Oh, it's Grace Lynn! Baah!"And so she was there and I remember the book that you were talking about was the the animal punk rock band. Jarrett: Yeah. Cece: Book. Yeah. Jarrett: Yeah. Punk Farm! Cece: And you already had the JJK thing going on. You were like Mr. PR and... Jarrett: No, but I was only a few years in then too, that my first book was 2001 and Punk Farm was 2005, I think.Cece: Punk Farm.Jarrett: Still trying to get my stuff out there, and learning how to be on stage. Cause I used to have incredible stage fright. I hated performing. I hated going on stage. And then that became part of the job that I have. So I'm curious and because I know for me, I had been working on Lunch Lady that whole time.But the world wasn't quite ready for kids graphic novel. So you're plugging away on these picture books. How does El Deafo thread into that? I'm assuming that was something that was knocking around your head for, so for some years, right? Cece: It, in fact it was not knocking around my head at all.And honestly I was purposefully not writing about my experience on purpose and it's much like how I was in school. I don't want anybody to know this thing about me. And I want everybody to think I'm smart. And I had the same feeling about my picture books and early reader books. I just wasn't ready to talk about it in any way, not just in books, but in any and every way.There was an event that happened in which I had this really difficult interaction with a grocery store cashier. And she made me feel like the lowest person on earth. And it was all because I couldn't understand her. And I was so upset by that interaction and the person I was most upset at with myself, because at no point during that interaction, did I ever say; "I'm deaf!" Or; "I have trouble hearing." Or; "Could you please repeat that?"Because I had so much trouble saying those things. I still had not come to grips with a lot of it. And at that point I was 40 years old. 40! And I was so mad... At everything. And I was mad at hearing people for not understanding and just frustrated and mad at me. And so I started a website and the website was called, eldeafo.com.And El Deafo really was the nickname that I called myself, as a kid, but only to myself, nobody else knew about it. And I just started writing about it. And my post were more about more directed at hearing people like; "This is what you should do if you're talking to a lip reader." That kind of thing.But then I wrote a little, my, my origin story. I wrote that up and a friend of mine who was a wonderful writer named Madeline Rosenberg. She was reading it and she said; "Oh my goodness, you have got to turn this into something. Please turn this into something, please turn it into a graphic novel." And so we have Madeline Rosenberg to thank for this.And so it was her encouragement and I had just read Raina Telgemeier's Smile, and that thing's a masterpiece. And I could see, I could tell that Raina's methods would really work for a story like this. And I was really excited about it because from the word go, I knew that they were gonna be rabbits.And I knew that the speech bubbles were going to be... The most important part of telling the story of my experience with deafness. So that's how that all came to me. And I was ready. I was ready. I felt like this book is going to be my calling card. This book is going to tell the world for me that I'm deaf.And then sure enough, after the book came out, I was finally able to talk about it. It was like, it worked. Yay. Jarrett: Yeah. Cece: And it was such relief. Jarrett: And I, and again, I could understand that journey. So earlier when I was talking about I, I was making Lunch Lady I probably should have compared it more to Hey Kiddo in that for me too.When I was first getting published and news reporters would wanna ask, they ask; "Why were you being raised by your grandparents?"" And I thought, I don't want that to be, I don't wanna be labeled as the child of an addict. I wanna be the Jarrett, who's making the books and I wanna be the Punk Farm guy or the Lunch Lady guy.And, but then there's this thing that you've lived and you're processing it and it's trauma and you're an adult, but you're still dealing with it. And then suddenly this thing that you've wanted to put inside a box your whole life, you're gonna put in a graphic memoir, like a hundreds of pages for everyone to see what was the creative process like for you?And I love that you made them rabbits. That's it's so perfect cuz of the ears, but also because you're Cece Bell, it's just so silly. Like they could have been talking hot dogs and it's still would've worked, but could you tell us a little bit about... The creative process and how that intersected with the emotional journey you had.Cece: Wow. I was, when I decided to commit to it, I was really excited about it. And I think because I didn't have any experience with graphic novels. I knew that I had to do a little bit of studying up and probably like a lot of folks who were in this business. I started with Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, which is, probably the most important book about comics I've ever seen.And I read it three times. I was just amazed by the whole thing. I read it three times. Once I, after the third time I thought to myself, I'm ready. I'm ready to go. And the process was just, I basically did a a notebook dump. I just wrote down everything I could remember, but I limited myself to the moment that I lost my hearing to fifth grade, and I just wrote all my memories down all my experiences and then tightened that up into an outline.And it was the outline and a a chapter. I drew out a chapter and that's what I sent to Susan Van Metre at Abrams Books. She was at Abrams at the time and she was Tom's editor for the Origami Yoda series. And I was really impressed with her. I had met her a couple of times and something told me she was the right person for it.That's what I sent to her, but the process was just a lot of back and forth between doing just these little sketches for each page kind of blocking out what's supposed to happen and then writing out what people are supposed to say, and then just mushing it together. And the process felt very organic compared to picture books, the picture books, I always feel like you've gotta get the text absolutely perfect. And there was a lot less of that for me, with the graphic novel, it was so much looser and more fun, I think. And that's all I can, that's all I can say. It was just, it was a really good experience. Jarrett: That's and that, that book is such a gift. I still have. The advanced reader's copy that they handed out to promote the book.I'll never, that's maybe in 50 years, I'll sell it on eBay to get me through . But I think it's only with the medium of comics, like a prose novel would not have worked to tell this story as effectively, because with your visuals, you are able to play with the word balloons and the size of the text to really help me and hearing people understand your journey and, and that obviously that's a help to us with hearing, but for, the whole generation of kids who are growing up with hearing loss and who are deaf.Have you - that - I can't even imagine what this book has meant to them. And I'm assuming you hear from readers with hearing loss and deafness could you share a few stories like that must get emotionally overwhelming at times? Cece: Sure. There have been, the response was just so positive.The kids that I've heard from who have had experiences like mine, they just get so excited to see their story and to see something that's familiar to them. It's not exactly their story maybe, but they get it. And they're really happy to have something to show their families and their friends. "This is what it's like!"And... Also just a lot of kids have had the experience of hearing their teacher in the bathroom. And it's great to have that validated. "Yeah. I've been there too. Yay." That's probably, everybody's favorite part in the book. That's my favorite part in the book. That was the chapter that I submitted to Susan that yeah. Hearing teacher. Jarrett: That's perfect. Cece: Yeah. So the kids have been great. And, but somehow the more affecting stories for me were the adults who had grown up in a very similar way that I had with the same equipment, even the phonic ear and the microphone and many of them said; "This is the first time I have ever seen anything remotely, like my story in a book."And I ended up making friends with a lot of adults with hearing loss, which wasn't something I had a lot of, I'm very much in the hearing world because my family is all hearing. And I think for so long, I thought of myself as a hearing person. I am, I'm a hearing person when I stick my hearing aids in and I'm a deaf person when they're out, but I'm both of those things all the time I'm in between all the time.And so it was just really cool to get this new group of people who completely understood and just... Those are the ones that get me. But then in terms of the kids, probably my favorite story ever was a little girl who was struggling with having to get hearing aids. And she was very afraid of it all.And so she found my book and read it, and that helped her be less afraid. And she was at the audiologist office. And at that point she was very comfortable and okay with everything she was going through. But there was a little boy at the office who was crying and she happened to have her copy of El Deafo and she gave him her copy. Ugh. And that was just that really got me so...Jarrett: Wow!Cece: It was just neat. It's neat that it's being used in a helpful way. And I never thought that I would ever create a book that would help people, my other books that are just silly and funny and goofy. Sometimes I feel guilty for those books. I'm like; "Sure, maybe they help kids read, but what good are they doing?" So it's really nice to have this one book that I know helps people, Jarrett: Yeah. Yeah. And, that's something that I struggled to... Especially when we're seeing every awful, horrific headline in the news. And there have been times where I've worried; "But what does this silly story matter?"But they do, those silly stories do matter. I under- I understand that inner struggle because you have made something that connects with readers on this whole other level. So I'm curious, I'd like to know a little bit more about this Apple TV+ limited series of El Deafo. It, my kids requested to watch it because they had read the book and what you did with the visuals in El Deafo, the book to help hearing people understand your deaf experience.The sound scape in the TV show helped me understand on a, on an entirely different level. And it, I had to say Cece, it felt like a animated special we've had for decades. It felt like a Charles Schulz, Peanuts, Charlie Brown, Snoopy, special. Like it was that level of just beauty and taking the time to tell the story.How did that come about? Cece: Wow Jarrett. You just said the magic words to me. That was what I wanted. I wanted that peanut feel that Christmas special Peanuts feel. Where it's not exactly perfect, but the imperfections or what make it interesting, there's something really unusual about that Charlie Brown, Christmas special that on paper, it shouldn't work at all. It's a mess. Even some of the story doesn't make sense and yet you stick it all together and yay. It works. But so thank you for that. That means a lot. So that television show came about a he's my friend now, but back then, he wasn't my friend.He was somebody. Greatly admired and still admired, Will McRob who is one of the co-creators of one of my favorite TV shows of all time, the Adventures of Pete and Pete, which was on Nickelodeon in the 90s, he, out of the blue sent me an email and said; "I like your book. Let's turn it into a show!"And so that was how it got started, but it took him a long time to convince me because I felt like the book was I don't know, to me, at least it felt sacred and I didn't wanna mess that up. And I knew that there were a lot of fans of the book who also felt that love for it. And I didn't wanna mess that up, but I started to think, there's not many, if any characters on TV who are like me in that we are deaf people who have chosen or because of our circumstances, we have gotten through life with hearing aids, not without, but with, and you don't see very much of that on TV and in a movie. And in fact, when there are deaf characters in movies, at least, like back in the 70s and 80s, when we grew up not only was the deaf character made fun of, but the equipment was too, the actual hearing aid was somehow part of the... Was being made fun of, and, hearing aids are not perfect and they're greatly flawed little things, but they've really helped me and the phonic ear from the book I'm in... Once again, I would not be here talking to you without that piece of equipment. I don't think maybe I would've, but I don't think so, but anyway I just started to think, this kind of needs to be this could be really good for deaf kids and hearing kids to have a show like this. So that's how it came about.And I signed on once I I was very demanding. I had to put on those big girl pants and be like; "Ra ra ra!" Which is not my usual way. But anyway I said it can't be just a series that, goes on a, goes off on its own. It needs to be based on the book. And I want it to look like the book and it can't be 3D animation.I was like; "Absolutely no 3D, has to be 2D." And my other thing was; "We have to mess with the audio. The audio has to reflect the book in some way." So those were some of my demands. Also the main character had to be played by someone, a kid who also has hearing loss, but is using adaptive equipment to help her.And in that case, we got a lovely young lady, Lexi Finigan who uses cochlear implants a little bit different from what I do. But she was just fantastic. So I was very demanding. Jarrett: I I'm so glad that you were because, so often these animated adaptations of work the author of the underlying material is the last person they wanna work with. And I think that the work suffers from that cuz so it really, you went in there with, a limited amount of things that would really like you're quote-unquote "demands". And I, and I get it cuz you have to be assertive in these situations. To say; "Here's what's really important to me." And understanding like a book is a book and a and a TV show is a TV show. Like you're telling story with anything that's animated or film. You're telling stories with visuals and sounds, and time, which is different than a book. And you all just hit it right out of the park.I, when it comes to the Emmys, I hope you win all of the awards for this piece. It's an instant classic. It's just so perfect. And you narrat I could, I didn't know that. So I put it on and I, and my wife, Gina was in the other room she came and went; "Is that Cece? Cece's voice is coming from the TV?"Cece: Yeah, that was pretty neat. At first the director who is. From Lighthouse Studios in Ireland, a woman named Gilly Fogg, who was absolutely terrific, when she first heard that I wanted to narrate it. Oh, not that I wanted to narrate it, but just the idea of a narrator. She said; "Oh no, we don't want that. That's, no thank you." But Will, and I, when we were writing the script together, we realized that if we were going to mess with the audio, that it was going to be confusing and that we needed there to be a voice ex- kind of just explaining, giving kids a few clues that no, your TV isn't broken because the narrator's voice would come on and it would be clear.And and like I think every now and then the narrator says something like, everything was quiet and I think the audience needs that. Otherwise they're gonna be, hitting their TV. "What's wrong?" She did not like that idea. The director said; "No, no narrator." And so Will said; "What if Cece narrates it?"And then she just lit up and she said; "Aha, yes, that's what we need to do." Because it did need to be my voice. You've probably heard people talking about the deaf accent, where there are certain sounds that I don't hear very well. And so my voice is a little different and that was important.People need to hear what that voice sounds like, which is why one of the reasons why we cast a deaf actress, because we need to have that specific sound. And I used to be very ashamed of that deaf accent, but not anymore. I don't really, that's just how I talk. So that is how that came to be, but I had to take acting classes, Jarrett, I am now... That's the end. And the woman - I know I am acting.And she was fantastic. I think I had about three or four sessions with her and it was almost more like therapy. I don't know she was magical and she's a lovely woman. And just, it actually really helped just, it was more about "here's how to take direction and then use that direction and go with it."And this all happened during COVID. And so I recorded all of my lines in my bedroom. They sent me all this equipment and Tom and I set it up and I was pretty much in my closet. And that it was pretty neat. It was pretty neat getting to do the whole thing from home. Jarrett: You, but, okay. But you do deserve the limo.That's gonna bring you to the studio. So I hope that we get something more so that you can have a personal assistant that you throw your phone to, and if you don't like the food, they prepared, you just throw it against the wall in a fit of rage. I guess you could do that for Tom.I guess you could like Tom, could, he would do that for you. If that's gonna make you happy, like he would totally be game for that Cece: It was frustrating that I didn't get to have some of the experiences, like I was supposed to be able to go to Ireland and hang out with the animation studio for a couple weeks.Wow. So that got canned. And I was supposed to go out to LA to to work with the audio team. That didn't work. But the funny thing is that because we had all of our meetings on zoom, it was actually better because when I'm in a meeting, oh, like around a table in real life, I miss probably 70 or 80% of what's being said, because I lose the thread.If that makes sense. I can't, I can only do, one or two people. And then I'm lost because of their lip reading. But with everybody's face right in front of me, everybody's facing me, look at me, , they're all facing me. That makes me sound like they're looking at me, we have to look at our computers, right?You have to look at our computers when we do them. And so I didn't miss anything. And... That gave me a lot more confidence to help run the show. Oh yeah. So it was actually a benefit in a weird way that we were all stuck at home Jarrett: A as well. You should run the show Cece, wow. That all of your hard work as a team made for a beautiful animated program, and there's, as I said, it so reminded me of the Charlie Brown specials, cause it also took its time. There was moments of silence. There, there were moments where it wasn't just a lot of fast cuts and my five year old son who... Has a very short tension span. Loves video games. Like it, it actually was very calming to him. We'd watch it at the end of the day, as a treat, as a family watch and he would ask for Cece, he wouldn't call it El Deafo, he'd say, could we watch Cece?And so they all connected with you on this whole other level. So we're gonna wrap things up in a bit be before we do in the chat. So what I'll give you one audience question, cuz I don't wanna keep you too much longer. What are you working on Cece? Is there anything you can tell us about? What do we have to look forward to? Cece: Oh so I am working on of all things, an alphabet book. That's crazy, but so I love music and that's something that a lot of hearing folks are surprised by that.Deaf people can love music and my hearing aids are pretty good. And I grew up with my older siblings bringing in all this great music usually from thrift stores. And we had this fantastic turntable, that we used at home. That is mine now. Thank goodness. Great speakers. And so I really love music and I especially love the visuals that went with the music, the album covers.So this is an alphabet book of fake album covers that are animals playing different genres. And and all I'm making memorabilia and writing songs and smushing it all together in this book. So part of it is hopefully it'll be fun, but it's a very personal project because as I've gotten older, I am losing more hearing.And now it's a genetic hearing loss because my father and his grandfather and father, on down the line, they all had pretty significant hearing loss. So I'm starting to lose. My ability to appreciate music, which sucks in a big way. So this is my my outpouring of love visually for music.And it's been so much fun. I'm doing all the hand lettering. I'm doing weird paintings and it's been a lot of fun so far, but a lot of work because it's so personal, I'm taking my time with it. And my editor is Susan Van Metre, the same one who is working, who worked on El Deafo with me.And I just got an extension, Jarrett. Yay! The best thing ever to happen is when you tell your editor, "I need more time" and they give it to you. So that's what I'm...Jarrett: Awesome. Cece: Very personal and I just wanted to do something that didn't have so much of a story, just fun. And there's thought of a story that the story of my own personal relationship with music, but but that's what I've been working on.Jarrett: Oh we will be patient Cece Bell! It has been very challenging, challenging times and concepts lately, cuz of the pandemic deadlines have seemed like wonderful suggestions. I know my editors won't want to hear that, but it's been, to get that art out of you also need to be in a pretty decent enough Headspace.So I'm glad to know that. Yes, you're getting more time and we are gonna get more Cece Bell and the world and we're also, we're lucky to have you in this world. We're lucky that you make art. We're lucky that Tom Angelberger supported you and took you off that track and put you on a different track that you wanted to be on.And what a beautiful thing to have anyone in this world who would love you so much to show you your true self and what an amazing story from the exotic pet packaging to N-Sync. I did not think I would be able to run a thread between Cece Bell and N-Sync in this interview, but wow. Wow.That's very cool. I will think of you whenever I see an N-Sync lunch box at a thrift store or something like that. . Cece: Oh, please. Yeah. If you ever find school supplies like a notebook and folders, I should have sent you pictures. They're they're just I know everything about Justin Timberlake.Let me tell you, I know everything about, the way he looked and his signature, we got to use all this stuff that they sent us. It was great. Jarrett: Ah I'm gonna make...Cece: I would say a lot of the same things about you. Your work has been so important and inspiring and funny and and your support of other authors and illustrators is amazing. I think I'm a little bit more self-centered honestly, you're just like "everybody else is fantastic!" And I really appreciate that. You're really good about doing that. So thank you.Jarrett: I appreciate that your kind words, but in a way, what we all do is self-centered because we're scratching that creative itch we've always had.And, we're lucky enough that we love to make books and we didn't forget who we were as kids and kids find those really funny or entertaining, or they get to see themselves reflected in that true life experience. I...Cece: Yes.Jarrett: ... Cannot pass up a chance to make a really bad pun in this moment.Cece, I'm gonna sign off by saying... Bye bye bye. It was so bad, right? That was so stupid. That was such a bad joke. Ain't no bad joke. Ain't no lie. I say it. It might sound crazy, but it ain't no lie. Cece I appreciate you. And thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. Cece: Absolutely. Thank you, Jarrett.

Shishir Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Coda, and formerly head of product and engineering at YouTube. In this episode, he shares his insights on growth strategy, how he evaluates talent, a peek at his upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams, why reference checks are the most important step in the interview process, and so much more. Join us.Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, Pocket Casts, and YouTube.— Where to find Shishir Mehrotra: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/shishirmehrotra• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra/— Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ —Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: • Coda: http://coda.io/lenny• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/— Referenced:• The Rituals Of Great Teams Brain Trust: https://coda.io/@shishir/join-the-rituals-of-great-teams-braintrust• Bing Gordon: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/people/bing-gordon/• Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752• PSHE Diagram: https://coda.io/@shishir/pshe• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/1627652736• Only Murders In The Building: https://www.hulu.com/series/only-murders-in-the-building-ef31c7e1-cd0f-4e07-848d-1cbfedb50ddf• Wanda Vision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WandaVision• Fidji Simo: https://twitter.com/fidjissimo• Daniel Elk: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/• Reid Hoffman: https://twitter.com/reidhoffman?• Marmoon Hamind: https://twitter.com/mamoonha• Quentin Clark: https://twitter.com/quentinclark• Sarah Guo: https://twitter.com/saranormous—In this episode, we cover:[0:00] Teaser[4:13] Shishir’s background at Google and current role at Coda[7:53] How Shishir got on the Board of Spotify[8:58] Black loop and blue loops and how Coda uses this internal diagram [9:52] The black loop is how a product is naturally shared[12:15] The blue loop is the emotional loop on why products are shared[14:55] Why you should think in loops instead of funnels[18:20] Mining for your business’s loops by looking at what you tell job candidates[24:37] Shishir’s upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams [26:30] The 3 Golden Rituals Of Teams[27:10] Coda’s Golden Ritual: Dory and Pulse[31:29] Shishir’s most impactful rituals: Arianna Huffington’s Reset, Gusto’s incredible hiring call, and Coinbase’s RAPIDs.[40:38] How do you find your own team’s rituals[42:50] How to change things when change is hard[45:01] AirBnb’s unique rituals[46:45] A back story on YouTube and valuing consistency over comprehensiveness[53:00] Eigenquestions: What it is, how to use it, and examples of it[59:05] One of Shishir’s favorite *retired* interview questions [1:03:11] How to evaluate talent, a story about YouTube and breaking down PSHE[1:15:20] How to approach reference checks and what questions to ask[1:24:33] Favorite books[1:25:50] Favorite shows/movies[1:26:50] Favorite interview questions[1:28:44] Who in the industry Shishir respects as a thought leader[1:30:10] Go-to karaoke song[1:30:40] Where you can find Shishir— Production & marketing: https://penname.co/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

We have a very fun conversation with Dr. Natalie Swain about her work on classical reception and the polar regions — the Arctic and Antarctic — science fiction, and comics. And Natalie and Mark find lots of overlaps and connections between their interests!“Between the Sheets: Reading the Coverlet as Comics in Catullus 64.” Image [&] Narrative 22.2 (2021)Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics@mazonianfeline#ClassicsTwitterComicsTranscript of this episodeThis episode on YouTubeOur Patreon pageRedbubble storeThis podcast is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International LicenseThe Endless Knot RSS

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

The 30-year-old comic book that became a Silicon Valley bible. Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs. "We discovered severe thermal throttling with Apple's new M2 MacBook Pro." iFixit teardown shows M2 MacBook Pro is just a recycled laptop with a new chip inside. Apple forced to cut iPhone 14 orders by 10%, despite anticipating strong demand. Apple not releasing their own 5G Modem Chip relates to a long-standing patent battle with Qualcomm and not because of a development failure. EU lawmakers pass landmark tech rules, but enforcement a worry. Gurman: Apple Watch Series 8 to feature body temperature sensor (as long as it passes internal tests). Apple TV+ makes San Diego Comic-Con debut. President Biden to award Steve Jobs with posthumous Medal of Freedom. Pokemon Go creator Niantic cancels four projects, cuts 8% of staff. MKBHD Easter egg latest clue to suggest 2022 MacBook Air pre-orders will start on Friday. Picks of the Week Alex's Pick: Grey Matter Podcast Andy's Picks: Understanding Comics & Commander X16 computer and emulator Rene's Picks: Geekerwan Chinese & Geekerwan English Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Rene Ritchie, and Andy Ihnatko Download or subscribe to this show at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Get episodes ad-free with Club TWiT at https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: ZipRecruiter.com/macbreak ue.com/fits promo code MACBREAK cachefly.com

Let's dork out about comics! Lexi & Ben share their essential comic reads from monthlies, graphic novels, comic strips, and webcomics: Lynda Barry, Osamu Tezuka, Hergé, Trudy Cooper, Gary Larson, Bill Waterson, Randall Munroe, Scott McCloud, Matthew Inman, Junji Ito, Meredith Gran and just, like, so, so many more! FURTHER DORKSCUSSION:Here are the comics we recommended:Louis Riel by Chester Brown (Lexi & Ben)Judge Dredd from 2000 AD (Jon)Astro Boy by Osamu Tezuka (Ben)Tintin by HergéCalvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson (Lexi & Ben)xkcd by Randall Munroe (Jon)Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud (Ben)Making Comics by Scott McCloud(Ben)Gyo by Junji Ito (Fiona)Uzumaki by Junji Ito (Fiona)Krazy Kat by George Harriman (Who's That Pokemon)Syllabus: Notes From an Accidental Professor by Lynda Barry (Lexi)The Death of Superman from DC Comics by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding (Jon)Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley (Ben)Tales from the Crypt from EC Comics (Fiona)Sharaz-de: Tales from the Arabian Nights by Sergio Toppi (Lexi)The Oatmeal by Matthew Inman (Lexi & Jon)Y: The Last Man by Pia Guerra and Brian K. Vaughan (Ben)Oglaf by Trudy Cooper and Doug Bayne (Fiona & Ben)Tank Girl by Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett (Lexi)The Far Side by Gary Larson (Jon & Lexi)Saga by Fiona Staples and Brian K. Vaughan (Ben, obviously)Love and Rockets created by Mario, Gilbert, and Jaime Hernandez (Fiona)Johhny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez (Lexi)Monstress by Sana Takeda and Marjorie Liu (Lexi)From Hell by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Lexi)Stardust by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Charles Vess.The Sandman series created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg (Lexi)It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken by Seth (Lexi)Smile by Raina Telgemeier (Ben)Octopus Pie by Meredith Gran (Ben)Bobbins/Scary Go Round/Bad Machinery by John Allison (Ben)Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine (Ben)Holy shit! That was a lot of comics!BONUS CONTENT:HoodoosIgnatzThe Secret Life of CanadaJess' comics offering: Cathy by Cathy Guisewite and Jamie Loftus' AackCastSOCIALS:Here's where you can find us!Lexi's website and twitter and instagramBen's website and instagram and where to buy his book: Amazon.ca / Comixology / Ind!go / Renegade ArtsDork Matter's website(WIP) and twitter and instagram and redditEnjoying dorking out with Dork Matters? Give us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods and help us spread the word.“To kill a man between panels is to condemn him to a thousand deaths.”  -Scott McCloud 

In Ep.110 of our SeerNova Podcast (SNP) we talk to our guest Sebastian Chow about comics theory and the understanding of comics with honorable mentions of Scott McCloud, Will Eisner, Tommy Lee Edwards, and Marcos Mateu-Mestre. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/seernovacomics/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/seernovacomics/support

Why comics are so popular? What's the secret in comics? How to read comics and most importantly for designers: what's the top tip/secret we can borrow from comics to our work? In this video, I want to share a few thoughts on Scott McCloud's awesome book: Understanding Comics.

为什么漫画如此受欢迎？ 漫画畅销的秘密是什么？ 如何阅读漫画？对设计师来说最重要的一个问题：我们可以从漫画借鉴到工作中的最高技巧/秘密是什么？ 在这期节目中，我想分享一些关于 Scott McCloud 的好书：《理解漫画》的想法。 Top Secret in Comics! Book Review on Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud Why comics are so popular? What's the secret in comics? How to read comics and most importantly for designers: what's the top tip/secret we can borrow from comics to our work? In this video, I want to share a few thoughts on Scott McCloud's awesome book: Understanding Comics. 关于： 「狗熊有话说」播客是由 大狗熊 于 2012 年创办的独立中文知识型播客节目，以阅读、科技、旅行和个人成长为主要话题内容，是 iTunes 中国区长期推荐播客，被苹果 iTunes 评选为「2013 年度精选最佳社会与文化播客」。 收听： 在苹果 Podcasts、Spotify、新浪播客、网易云音乐 、喜马拉雅FM 和 荔枝FM 等音频播客平台中可以搜索"狗熊有话说"并关注收听； 直接于【狗熊有话说】播客官网 voice.beartalking.com (http://voice.beartalking.com)在线收听； 在微信公号文章中可以直接点击音频按钮收听； 支持： 如果你认可大狗熊的节目，请向朋友们推荐这档节目，邀请朋友们关注公众号“狗熊有话说”； 大狗熊会在YouTube上更新更多关于设计、效率与学习类的内容，请在YouTube订阅频道 http://www.youtube.com/c/BearTalkVideo 如果喜欢英文内容，您也可以在这里订阅大狗熊的英文邮件email.beartalking.com/signup (https://email.beartalking.com/signup)，不定期收获学习经验分享。 联系： 微 信：bearbigtalk（公众号） 网 站：beartalking.com (http://www.beartalking.com) 邮 箱：bear@beartalking.com (mailto:bear@beartalking.com) 微 博：@i大狗熊 (http://www.weibo.com/bearbig) If like this one, why don't you subscribe to Bear? Every post, to your inbox. 100% true, and always keep it real. And of course, no spam, ever. Go ahead, click email.beartalking.com/signup to subscribe.

Microsoft and Nintendo battle over launch numbers Cell phones make gaming pervasive SNK is dead These stories and many more on this episode of the VGNRTM This episode we will look back at the biggest stories in and around the video game industry in January 2002. As always, we'll mostly be using magazine cover dates, and those are of course always a bit behind the actual events. Peter is on vacation so we have the pleasure of Mads from the Retro Asylum to join us. http://retroasylum.com and https://playthroughpod.com/ Get us on your mobile device: Android: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly92aWRlb2dhbWVuZXdzcm9vbXRpbWVtYWNoaW5lLmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz iOS: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/video-game-newsroom-time-machine And if you like what we are doing here at the podcast, don't forget to like us on your podcasting app of choice, YouTube, and/or support us on patreon! https://www.patreon.com/VGNRTM Send comments on twitter @videogamenewsr2 Or Instagram https://www.instagram.com/vgnrtm Or videogamenewsroomtimemachine@gmail.com Links: 7 Minutes in Heaven: Video version - https://www.patreon.com/posts/62682389 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Typing_of_the_Dead Corrections: December 2001 Ep - https://www.patreon.com/posts/60827058 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Understanding_Comics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy:_The_Spirits_Within https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioWare https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo 2002: Microsoft and Nintendo both claim victory in dual launch battle Edge 106 pg. 9 Edge 106 pg. 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_game_consoles https://www.mobygames.com/game/luigis-mansion https://www.mobygames.com/game/halo-combat-evolved Playstation 2 price drop in Japan Edge 106. pg. 11 Sony Prez says Microsoft is new rival https://archive.org/details/NextGen85Jan2002/page/n15/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/game/ghostbusters-the-video-game__ https://www.mobygames.com/game/ghostbusters-the-video-game Yamauchi establishes Fund Q Edge 106 pg. 11 https://www.consolewars.de/news/1958/yamauchi_spricht/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Crystal_Chronicles_(video_game)#Development https://www.ign.com/articles/2002/03/08/more-specifics-on-final-fantasy-announcement http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/7103/nintendo-and-square-settlement-details May 2001 Jump - https://www.patreon.com/posts/52306821 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XI Trip Hawkins bails out 3DO https://archive.org/details/GDM_January_2002/page/n3/mode/1up https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=kult/kultmags&km=show&id=5708 pg. 35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_3DO_Company Bioware cancels publishing deal with Interplay Edge 106 pg. 13 https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=kult/kultmags&km=show&id=5708 pg. 35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights https://www.mobygames.com/game/fallout-brotherhood-of-steel https://www.mobygames.com/browse/games/blizzard-entertainment-inc/offset,75/so,1d/list-games/ https://www.mobygames.com/game/flashback-the-quest-for-identity Sony introduces voice controls https://www.devuego.es/pres/revista/hobby-consolas/124 pg. 15 https://www.play-asia.com/dekavoice/13/7022k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS0T4lUBYuE Edge 106 pg. 19 https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=kult/kultmags&km=show&id=5708 pg. 34 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIBO House of the dead goes cellshaded https://archive.org/details/NextGen85Jan2002/page/n19/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/game/house-of-the-dead-iii Eidos causes panic with text message https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_111_January_2002/page/26/mode/1up https://www.mobygames.com/game/commandos-2-men-of-courage https://www.mobygames.com/developer/sheet/view/developerId,184101/ https://www.polygon.com/22924209/americas-army-proving-grounds-shutdown-servers-sunset-pc-ps4 Amstrad is buying up Spectrum game rights Edge 106 pg. 13 http://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/7697/Amstrad-E-Mailer-Plus/ https://manualzz.com/doc/o/hv01i/alchnews-z88-user-and-issue-38--march-2002-amstrad-emailer-plus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum#Amstrad_models https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_Research#Amstrad_acquisition_of_assets https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5 Pogo is bringing the internet to the palm of your hand Edge 106 pg. 13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogo_Mobile_and_nVoy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera_Mini Pervasive gaming hits mobile phones https://web.archive.org/web/20020802072853/http://www.itsalive.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20050224025131/http://www.itsalive.com/page.asp?sa=0&id=1069 https://www.gamespot.com/articles/mobile-games-are-alive/1100-2688599/ https://www.wired.com/2002/02/have-cell-phone-will-shoot/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BotFighters https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_210/page/n49/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niantic_(company) Segway revolutionizes human transport Edge 106 pg. 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway Bleem! is dead https://archive.org/details/gamestar-magazine-issue-01-2002/page/9/mode/1up https://www.devuego.es/pres/revista/hobby-consolas/124 pg. 15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleem! EA.com sees massive layoffs https://archive.org/details/GDM_January_2002/page/n3/mode/1up Gordon Walton Interview - https://www.patreon.com/posts/53726080 SNK ceases operations https://archive.org/details/GDM_January_2002/page/n3/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/NextGen85Jan2002/page/n15/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo_(system) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo_Geo NextGen is no more https://archive.org/details/NextGen85Jan2002/page/n7/mode/2up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_Generation_(magazine) Thalamus is back! https://www.kultboy.com/index.php?site=kult/kultmags&km=show&id=5708 pg. 36 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalamus_Ltd Scott McCloud foreshadows the Metaverse https://archive.org/details/Computer_Gaming_World_Issue_210/page/n54/mode/1up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_McCloud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaverse https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1016268/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0392439/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 https://frandallfarmer.github.io/neohabitat-doc/docs// Recommended Links: The History of How We Play: https://thehistoryofhowweplay.wordpress.com/ Gaming Alexandria: https://www.gamingalexandria.com/wp/ They Create Worlds: https://tcwpodcast.podbean.com/ Digital Antiquarian: https://www.filfre.net/ The Arcade Blogger: https://arcadeblogger.com/ Retro Asylum: http://retroasylum.com/category/all-posts/ Retro Game Squad: http://retrogamesquad.libsyn.com/ Playthrough Podcast: https://playthroughpod.com/ Retromags.com: https://www.retromags.com/ Sound Effects by Ethan Johnson of History of How We Play.

There is so much in the world for all of us if we only have the eyes to see it and the heart to love it. Enjoy this episode as Jimmy IV and Zach McCrary from (TheComicsThatWeLove) podcast discuss the interwoven connection between the history of comics, the characters and everyday life.Find out “Nerd” is the new Sexy!05:05 - find out what sexy cool means to Zach08:47 - the history of comics and different types14:16 - how comics connect us20:45 - passion for the new generation of comic lovers23:30 - the nerd army SHOW LINKS:Website: www.SexyCoolLounge.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/SexyCoolLounge/Instagram: www.instagram.com/SexyCoolLoungeApple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/jimmy-iv-sexycoollounge/id1557584270Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=650300Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0A8mEgFqF8nJWQCP1cDvHN?si=VuYsqrmLRAGp8f2HCV5SQA&dl_branch=1Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B08K56ZTV2&source_code=ASSORAP0511160006Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vamltbXktaXYtc2V4eWNvb2xsb3VuZ2U YouTube: https://youtu.be/qngj9249Z8ITwitter: http://www.twitter.com/sexycoolloungeGUEST LINKS:Podkite link for the show: https://kite.link/SclTwitter: https://twitter.com/Z_Irish_RedInsta: www.instagram.com/comicsthatweloveEmail: comicsthatwelove@gmail.comJoin our email list: Https://tinyurl.com/tctwlpod

Ed's Links (Order RED ROOM!, Patreon, etc): https://linktr.ee/edpiskor Jim's Links (Patreon, Store, social media): https://linktr.ee/jimrugg ------------------------- E-NEWSLETTER: Keep up with all things Cartoonist Kayfabe through our newsletter! News, appearances, special offers, and more - signup here for free: https://cartoonistkayfabe.substack.com/ --------------------- SNAIL MAIL! Cartoonist Kayfabe, PO Box 3071, Munhall, Pa 15120 --------------------- T-SHIRTS and MERCH: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/cartoonist-kayfabe --------------------- 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://Patreon.com/edpiskor 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.patreon.com/jimrugg https://www.jimrugg.com/shop 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

Sam Owen with Jump Tales Mag (on Kickstarter now) talks about his origin in comics (and manga), developing an art style, and their revolutionary comic/manga anthology Jump Tales! Plus an interesting discussion on Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/comicsunscripted/support

In this week's exciting episode, the Runners scroll their way through 2000's Reinventing Comics, the spiritual sequel to Understanding Comics in which Scott shares his visions of the future of comics around the turn of the millennium. Topics of discussions include how Scott's predictions have aged, the state of the comics industry, and the rate at which children crush YouTube content. Covering Reinventing Comics (2000)

It's a big one! The Runners continue their miniseries on Scott McCloud, tackling what is arguably Scott's seminal work, the graphic textbook/comics bible Understanding Comics. Discussion topics include Scott's cute graphic avatar, the concept of 'gutters', and the Runners' ignorance of the world of art.

Myq Kaplan joins the show with a ton of great reading suggestions from the Big 2 and beyond. What happened in Secret Wars? What is the appeal of team-ups? What's the great thing about going to the library and physical bookstores? What's better, print or digital? What was the Amalgam Universe? When did the Marvel Zombies first appear? Do you follow writers or artists? What does Savage Dragon have in common with For Better or For Worse? From Lynda Barry: "How old does someone have to be to make a bad drawing?" Reading tips: Secret Wars, Marvel Team Up, Marvel Two-in-One, Injustice, Fun Home, other Alison Bechdel, Batman vs Hulk, Marvel/DC Crossover Classics, What If?, anything by Neil Gaiman, Hitman, Preacher, The Boys, Criminal, Kill or Be Killed, Incognito, Sleeper, Daredevil, Iron Fist (all by Ed Brubaker), Fables, Y The Last Man, Saga, Paper Girls, Private Eye, Superior Spider-Man, Dan Slott's Silver Surfer, Fantastic Four and Iron Man, Jason Aaron's Thor, Savage Dragon, Understanding Comics, The Sculptor and Making Comics by Scott McCloud, Syllabus and Making Comics by Lynda Barry, Follow these artists on Instagram: Ramin Nazer, Joseph Karg Recorded 6/17/21 via Cleanfeed

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we begin a new series on Final Fantasy VI, which is often in the conversation surrounding the pinnacle of the 16-bit JRPG. We set the game in its time, and then turn to it directly, talking about world-building and how 2D feels better than 3D for these sorts of games, among other topics. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Sections played: Up to South Figaro Issues covered: who chose this game, stringing out the announcement of the game, how the numbering happened, the apex 16-bit JRPG, Square leaving Nintendo, 1994 in games, knowing what they're doing, feeling like a late-generation game, the transition from VI to VII, the expense of cartridges vs CDs, getting to the limits of cartridges, investing in the cinematics department, self-correcting the numbering scheme, how good the cinematics department was, moving to more of a cinematics-based storytelling style, caveat: this is our darned podcast, Nomura starting as a "debugger," the advantages of staying somewhere for a long time, compressed world-building on the SNES version, making the cinematic for people who already know the game, having expectations, 2D holding up better than 3D from this era, not being ready to compare with Chrono Trigger yet, feeling hyper-linear and not being able to pursue options you think you should, feeling like Chrono Trigger was better balanced for straight play, feeling more adventure-gamey, having moments that stick with you, being balanced towards easy early on, getting poor feedback from an enemy, leaning on Edgar's strengths, some parallels with other popular media, sticking with the given names, hoping for strong characterization, similarity in presentation across modes in 2D and late 3D, universality and abstraction, having a great moment in a combat, adding layers of confusion to presentation with multiple interpretations and writers, removing abilities at the end of the game, adding challenge, addressing adventure game dialog trees through time rewind. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Chrono Trigger, Ultima, Dragon Quest/Warrior, Earthbound, Level-5, Studio Ghibli, Ni No Kuni, Nintendo, Super Metroid, Warcraft, TIE Fighter, X-COM: UFO Defense, Earthworm Jim, Donkey Kong Country, Tekken, Namco, DOOM (1993), System Shock, The Elder Scrolls: Arena, Master of Magic, Theme Park, Aladdin, The Lion King, Sonic (series), Sega Genesis, Quake, PlayStation, Blizzard, Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase, Shigeru Miyamoto, Fallout, Vampire: the Masquerade, Troika, Hiroyuki Ito, Tetsuya Nomura, Tetsuya Takahashi, Nobuo Uematsu, Kingdom Hearts, The Spirits Within, Star Wars, Pokemon, Arcanum, Baldur's Gate, Scott McCloud, Understanding Comics, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, Ben "from Iowa" Zaugg, Symphony of the Night, God of War II, Life Is Strange (season one), Wasteland 2, Spider-Verse, Spider-Man 2, Tobey Maguire, Returnal, Groundhog Day, Death Stranding, The Last Story, Mistwalker Studios, Wii, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: Stay tuned! Twitch: brettdouville or timlongojr, instagram:timlongojr, Twitter: @timlongojr and @devgameclub DevGameClub@gmail.com

Let's head to our local comic shop and catch up with the archer of the Avengers – this is Hawkeye and comics writing!Summary: A story about the totally unmundane adventures of an assumedly mundane avenger.Further Research: Hawkeye: Blind Spot by McCann and Diaz; Understanding Comics by Scott McCloudThanks to John for being my guest on this episode of Encyclopodia. Be sure to follow John on twitter (www.twitter.com/ivwall)!Comics and Books mentioned in this episode: X-men #124; Secret Wars; Saga; Runaways (2003); Static; Vision (2015); Mister Miracle (2017); Immortal Iron Fist (2007); Hawkeye – Kate Bishop (2017); Old Man Hawkeye (2018); Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis; The Screenwriter's Bible by David Trottier; KamikazeEncyclopodia is a part of the Encyclopodia Network. Find other people talking about the things they love and support the network:Website: www.encyclopodia.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/EncyclopodiaNetPatreon: www.patreon.com/encyclopodiaThe Encyclopodia theme music is Bach's Concerto for 2 Violins, adapted by Val. Check her out at www.soundcloud.com/valerate

Mike Hawthorne chats about teaching art and art supplies. Mike is a comic book artist and graphic novelist mostly known for his Marvel comics of Spider-Man, Superman and Deadpool. Mike's graphic novel Happiness Will Follow: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Happiness-Will-Follow/Mike-Hawthorne/9781684155453 Mike’s gumroad store https://gumroad.com/mikehawthorne?sort=newest   Quotes: "Forgive yourself" "Focus on getting better at drawing one specific thing, instead of everything" "Look for incremental progress in your art. Be fair to yourself" ********************* The Brief & Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao is a book that inspired Mike’s friend to tell him he needs to write his memoir   https://www.amazon.com.au/Brief-Wondrous-Life-Oscar-Wao/dp/0571239730/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3EU9CJRM908I9&keywords=the+brief+and+wonderous+life+of+oscar+wao&qid=1611644262&sprefix=the+brief+and%2Caps%2C331&sr=8-2   Artistic Anatomy   https://www.amazon.com.au/Artistic-Anatomy-Paul-Richer/dp/0823002977/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UKDIHWESHBCY&dchild=1&keywords=artistic+anatomy+by+dr.+paul+richer&qid=1611644443&sprefix=artistic+ana%2Caps%2C338&sr=8-1   How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way   https://www.amazon.com.au/How-Draw-Comics-Marvel-Way/dp/0671530771/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1X5UZSIRH5GIU&dchild=1&keywords=drawing+the+marvel+way&qid=1611644498&sprefix=drawing+the+marve%2Caps%2C327&sr=8-1   Understanding Comics   https://www.amazon.com.au/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=understanding+comics&qid=1611644558&sr=8-1   *************************   Art Supplies   Strathmore paper https://www.strathmoreartist.com/home.html   Stillman & Birn https://stillmanandbirn.com    

Mental Health in Graphic Novels In this episode, we talk about the way graphic novels like I Kill Giants and Hyperbole and A Half deal with mental health issues. Molly sits on a pile of laundry and imagines Superman with ennui. Sarah stows away her grief and doesn't deal with her emotions. Instead, she plays Dungeons & Dragons. Daniel's ice cream falls off his cone, and his cat dies. Luckily, he is wearing his suit of impenetrable armor. And Dean uses his dog's trip to the vet as cover for his manly tears.  Cast Hosted by Dean Karpowicz, with Molly Krasel, Daniel Morbach, and Sarah Willis. Content 0:32: I Kill Giants "The book is always better than the movie!"                                      --Molly 6:00: All the Feels Dean: "I did not cry." Sarah: "You LIE!" 13:51: The Title                   "I'll kill you. Boom, boom. Lie down."                                               --Daniel 18:00: Lessons   Molly: "You must sublimate your emotions in a healthy way and accept change."   Sarah: "That sounds like an adult thing to do, and I'm NOT for it." 19:15: Hyperbole and a Half Dean: "Let's talk about the fun of depression!" Daniel: "Okay, you go first." 23:43: All the memes!                  "Let's give them the whole nine yards."                                                       --Dean 27:56:  Understanding Comics                 "If it's a stick figure, I can relate. If it's Brad Pitt in the movie Troy, not so much."                                                       --Daniel

About this episode Exploring comic book creation with the tidyverse and ggplot2, and updates to the showtext and shinycssloader packages on CRAN. Episode Links A visualization exploring types of comic transitions as described in Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics". (https://github.com/sharlagelfand/understanding-comics) {showtext} 0.9 (https://cran.r-project.org/package=showtext): Using Fonts More Easily in R Graphs {shinycssloaders} v1.0: You can now use your own image, plus 3 years' worth of new features! (https://deanattali.com/blog/shinycssloaders-v1.0/) Entire issue available at rweekly.org/2020-33 (https://rweekly.org/2020-33)

Andy and Derek are pleased to have as their guest on The Comics Alternative the artist who has done more than anyone to help us understand comics, Scott McCloud. He has just concluded an exhausting world tour -- traveling all over the United States and Europe, and then wrapping up at this year's TCAF -- and the Two Guys were able to catch him during a breather and talk with him about his latest book, The Sculptor (First Second). They begin by asking him about the reception of his new graphic novel and the kind of reader reaction he had experienced on the road. Scott shares some of the commentary he received, such as finding the book a quick read as well as questions regarding the story's ending. In fact, the guys spend a bit of time discussing the concluding section of the book -- without really spoiling anything -- and ask Scott about his thoughts on structuring his narrative. He reveals that The Sculptor was a long time in coming and that he's been thinking of the ending almost from the beginning, over five years ago. This leads Derek and Andy to observe that this is a meticulously crafted book, one that demands multiple readings in order to see the various clues and allusions that are buried throughout the text, linking the end to the beginning and revealing a solid narrative cohesion.  The guys also ask Scott to speculate on his current statue as one of comics' preeminent spokespersons. They wonder if his celebrity as "the guy who wrote Understanding Comics" has been eclipsing his reception as a fiction writer. That then becomes a springboard into a fruitful conversation about Scott's career as struggling young fan-turned-artist, the creation of Zot!, the critical reaction to his expository trilogy -- Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics -- his prescient advocacy for webcomics, his brief stint on Superman, the writing of The Sculptor, and his current project concerning visual communication. They even discuss Scott's recent work as editor on last year's Best American Comics, and how in many ways it brought him back into an awareness of current comics. Toward the end of the conversation, Scott shares his experiences as a teacher, and he even gives Andy and Derek useful strategies for using comics in the classroom. (Hint: The guys are going to fish out their copies of Shaun Tan's The Arrival.) All in all, this was an incredible interview. Derek and Andy had really wanted to have Scott on the show around the pub date of The Sculptor, but this later post-publication conversation turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Not only are they are able to talk with Scott McCloud about his latest project, but they also get all of the detail surrounding his world tour, his thoughts on the critical response to his book, and how his recent post-publication activities have impacted an already impressive career. This is an interview you cannot miss!

On this episode of the podcast, Andy and Derek discuss two thought-provoking books that challenge the way we look at sequential narratives. First, they explore François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters's The Leaning Girl, the first edition of the Franco-Belgian series, Les Cités obscures, currently being translated and published in English by Alaxis Press. The guys begin by giving a little background of The Obscure Cities, its spotty publication history in the US, and Alaxis Press' attempts to bring all eleven volumes of the series into print with new translations. The Leaning Girl is actually the sixth book in the series, although readers do not need any knowledge or experience with the earlier works in order to appreciate it. In fact, the guys emphasize the fact that The Leaning Girl easily stands (or leans) on its own, and its immersive narrative world, as fantastic as it is, effectively draws you in so that you quickly become acquainted with its many facets. There are three story threads that eventually tie together, much like the convergence between worlds that takes place in the book. Translated by Stephen D. Smith, and with photography by Marie-Françoise Plissart, The Leaning Girl is a beautiful European album-sized work of art, one that anticipates and sets the standard for the next planned volumes in the series, The Theory of the Grain of Sand and The Shadow of a Man. Next, the Two Guys with PhDs look at a completely different kind of book, Nick Sousanis's Unflattening. Published by Harvard University Press, this book is based off of Sousanis's doctoral dissertation at the Teachers College of Columbia University, and it focuses on alternative and diverse ways of experiencing the world, making our understanding of existence more "rounded" and less "flat" (thus, the title). This is an extended essay in comics form -- much like Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics -- and it's divided into ten main sections (not counting the extensive notes and bibliography that complete the text). Sousanis begins with references to Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland and then uses that romance as a springboard into his larger thesis. The first three chapters, or parts, provide a brief introductory overview of epistemology from a historical perspective. The themes presented here are played out over the course of the text. In the fourth section, "The Shape of Our Thoughts," Sousanis links his broader ideas with the medium of comics, and it's here where Unflattening becomes a kind of theoretical take on comics. After that, the book plays out the remainder of his thesis. Both guys are fascinated by this project, and as Andy points out, the book is exciting for what might anticipate with future graduate studies, comics and otherwise. Will we see other comics-based dissertations in other disciplines? And while Derek believes this to be one of the most notable books of the year, he nonetheless feels that the narrative flattens out -- so to speak -- about halfway in, after the "Shape of Our Thoughts" chapter, and that Sousanis merely revisits or repeats many of the points he made in the first half. Regardless, this is comic worth studying, even though it will probably fall beneath most readers' radar. But as the guys point out, it, along with The Leaning Girl, deserves serious and repeated attention.

The Two Guys with PhDs are back with another review episode, and on this one they explore three fascinating titles. They begin by discussing the much-anticipated recent release from Scott McCloud, The Sculptor (First Second). In fact, Derek and Andy begin their conversation with the very fact that this was a much-anticipated, and heavily reviewed, new book, and how all of that attention may be affecting the book's reception. They speculate on the ways in which the artist's prestige and reputation feeds into the expectations. Although McCloud has created memorable narratives -- e.g., the Zot! series and The New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln -- this is an author most famously known for Understanding Comics and the expository/instructional books that followed, Reinventing Comics and Making Comics. The guys question if the author can ever get beyond his reputation as primarily a theoretician of the medium, and if he can ever gain renewed recognition as a creator of innovative narrative forms. And both Derek and Andy feel mixed over the prognosis. Yet despite all of the extra-textual commentary, the Two Guys spend most of their conversation in a close reading of the text. Much of their talk centers on the book's protagonist, David Smith, and the author's possible attitude toward his creation. Does McCloud want us to see Smith as a heroic (possibly romantic?) figure, or are we expected to read the sculptor more critically and as a flawed artist? This is a question that remains unanswered, and perhaps it speaks to McCloud's talents that the Two Guys cannot put a finger on an exact character assessment. They also discuss The Sculptor as not only as a creative treatise on art and its place in our culture, but also, and perhaps more specifically, as a commentary on the comics industry today. Theirs is not a gushing, unequivocal endorsement of the new graphic novel -- there are already plenty of those out there -- but Andy and Derek do see this as a serious new work and give it the full Comics Alternative treatment...spending a little over an hour discussing the text! Next, the guys look at two new number one issues from some of their favorite creators. Matt Kindt and Trevor Hairsine's Divinity #1 (Valiant) is a beautifully rendered science fiction narrative that apparently rests just on the periphery of the Valiant University. This is the first of a four-part series, and Hairsine's cinematic style is the perfect platform for Kindt's complex storytelling. Both Derek and Andy love Matt Kindt as a writer/artist, but this time around they get their fix through his scripting only. They experience the same with Descender #1 (Image), written by Jeff Lemire and with art by Dustin Nguyen. Most times they discuss Lemire's work -- and the Two Guys have done this often -- they do so by looking at him as a sole creator, but his new series with Nguyen demonstrates without a doubt Lemire's developed writing chops. The first issue accomplishes what it sets out to do, establishing a premise and tone that will both frame and propel the first story arc. This is definitely not a title that encourages trade waiting. Indeed, with both Descender and Divinity, you'll want to get every issue as soon as they come out.

Bookrageous Episode 77; What We See When We Read Intro Music; Picture Book by The Kinks What We're Reading Jenn [1:15] Pluto Vol. 1, Naoki Urasawa, Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) [2:20] What Are People For?: Essays, Wendell Berry [3:30] The Monkey Wrench Gang, Edward Abbey Rebecca [4:15] Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson [6:20] The King, Tiffany Reisz [9:30] Just the Tips, Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky   Preeti [10:55] Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover, Sarah MacLean [13:40] The Queen of the Tearling, Erika Johansen [14:00] The Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson [15:25] Loki: Agent of Asgard, Al Ewing [16:50] Saga: Deluxe Edition, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples [17:50] Priya's Shakti Jenn [18:20] ODY-C, Matt Fraction, Christian Ward Josh [20:05] Down East Magazine [21:00] All New X-Factor, Peter David, Carmine Di Giandomenico [22:50] Brew Brittania, Jessica Boak, Ray Bailey [24:00] Hammer Head, Nina MacLaughlin (March 16 2015) --- Intermission;  Light Reading by Late Night Alumni --- Book Club: What We See When We Read by Peter Mendelsund [27:00] What We See When We Read, Peter Mendelsund [31:55] Men We Reaped, Jesmyn Ward [38:30] Saga, Brian K. Vaughan, Fiona Staples [41:00] Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud [48:20] Red or Dead, David Peace [49:50] Science Has Great News for People Who Read Actual Books by Rachel Grate, Mic.com Talking with Peter Mendelsund (apologies for occasional sound issues) [53:40] Cover, Peter Mendelsund --- Outro Music; Picture Book by The Kinks --- Find Us! Bookrageous on Tumblr, Podbean, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and leave us voicemail at 347-855-7323. Next book club pick: Citizen: An American Lyric, Claudia Rankine. Use coupon code BOOKRAGEOUS to get 10% off from WORD Bookstores! Find Us Online: Jenn, Josh, Preeti, Rebecca, Peter Mendelsund Order Josh's books! Get Bookrageous schwag at CafePress Note: Our show book links direct you to WORD, an independent bookstore. If you click through and buy the book, we will get a small affiliate payment. We won't be making any money off any book sales -- any payments go into hosting fees for the Bookrageous podcast, or other Bookrageous projects. We promise.

Bookrageous Episode 72; Summer Reading Intro Music; Pacific Theme by Broken Social Scene What We're Reading Jenn [1:15] Slash: Romance Without Boundaries [4:30] What We See When We Read, Peter Mendelsund [6:30] Glory O'Brien's History of Future, A.S. King, October 14 2014 [7:35] Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray Josh [9:00] Soil: A Novel, Jamie Kornegay, March 10 2015 [10:35] Morte, Robert Repino, January 20 2015 [13:50] Age of Ultron; X-Men: Battle of the Atom Rebecca [14:30] Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal, G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, October 28 2014 [17:15] Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud [19:30] An Untamed State, Roxane Gay [19:35] The Book of Strange New Things, Michel Faber, October 28 2014 [22:45] The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell [24:35] Broken Monsters, Lauren Beukes, September 16 2014 [28:05] Almost Famous Women, Megan Mayhew Bergman, January 6 2015 (Birds of a Lesser Paradise) Paul [29:40] The Fever, Megan Abbott [30:40] Bravo, Greg Rucka (Alpha) [32:15] Seconds, Bryan Lee O'Malley [34:50] Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Raccoon and Groot Steal the Galaxy!, Dan Abnett Preeti [36:15] Private Eye, Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin [38:30] Afterlife with Archie, Issue 6 [43:05] Hawkeye, Matt Fraction [45:30] Love is the Drug, Alaya Dawn Johnson, September 30 2014 [48:30] The Magician's Land, Lev Grossman --- Intermission; 4 Pow by the Beastie Boys --- Summer Reads (The Good, the Bad, and the Fluffy) [52:48] Vanity Fair; Red or Dead [55:20] The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt; The Vacationers, Emma Straub; Landline, Rainbow Rowell; The Fever, Megan Abbott [56:00] Where'd You Go, Bernadette? Maria Semple [56:50] A Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway [58:50] Democracy in America, Alexis De Tocqueville [59:00] Great Expectations, Charles Dickens [1:01:10] Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury [1:01:40] All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque [1:02:15] The Red Pony, John Steinbeck [1:02:50] The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien [1:04:15] China Wakes, Nicholas Kristof, Sheryl Wudunn [1:05:50] Boy's Life, actually by Robert McCammon [1:06:30] The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi [1:07:45] The Stranger; Heart of Darkness [1:09:00] S.E. Hinton and Supernatural [1:15:15] Skippy Dies; The Interestings [1:15:30] This One Summer, Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki [1:16:30] Seating Arrangements, Maggie Shipstead [1:18:00] The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner [1:20:25] Joyland, Stephen King [1:21:25] The Inimitable Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse   --- Outro Music; Pacific Theme by Broken Social Scene --- Find Us! Bookrageous on Tumblr, Podbean, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, and leave us voicemail at 347-855-7323. Come to the BOOKRAGEOUS BASH at BEA on May 28th in New York City Find Us Online: Jenn, Josh, Paul, Preeti, Rebecca Order Josh's book! Maine Beer: Brewing in Vacationland Get Bookrageous schwag at CafePress Note: Our show book links direct you to WORD, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn. If you click through and buy the book, we will get a small affiliate payment. We won't be making any money off any book sales -- any payments go into hosting fees for the Bookrageous podcast, or other Bookrageous projects. We promise.