Between The Gutters Podcast

This week, we're covering Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka! It's an eight-issue miniseries from AWA, and it is a fun romp. Marjorie Finnegan is a very well crafted science fiction action comedy adventure about a mischievous time traveling criminal who ends up saving the timeline from a very, very evil man. We spend the first part of our discussion talking a bit about the creative team and the publisher, and then we dive into the book itself! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Deadly Class volume 4: Die for Me collects issues 17-21 of the series co-created by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. Each month in 2023, one of our episodes will cover one volume of this Image Comics series. This month's volume starts with some frenetic action, picking right up where the previous volume ended. There are also some major developments by the end of this trade, and neither of us has read the series before, so we've just been carried along for the ride! Read along with us and join us as we perpetuate our hopeless theories that are most likely incorrect and provide issue-by-issue commentary! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Last year, we did an episode on shonen manga that proved to be one of our most popular episodes, so here we are again with a roundup of the first volumes of four more prominent shonen series: One Piece, Naruto, My Hero Academia, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. One Piece and Naruto are two of the biggest of all time. My Hero is one of the hottest properties of current times, and as a comics podcast that's covered a ton of superhero comics, it made sense to check this one out. Frieren is a newer fantasy series that deserves all the attention and then some. Check out what we had to say about each of the first volumes of these popular series! Timestamps for book discussions: One Piece - 18:45 Naruto - 1:02:30 My Hero Academia - 1:58:45 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - 2:32:55 Here are some related links that may be of interest. Episode 129 is the prior shonen manga episode we did: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5GKngeXLo0rEIFUKOwNk9J Here's a link to a playlist of all of our manga episodes thus far: https

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is one of the most significant comics of the recent past. More than just a popular graphic novel beloved by millions, and more than just a sales juggernaut that became a phenomenon, Smile is just a straight up great piece of work that's worth reading whatever age you are. This is the episode where we discuss what makes Smile such a wonderful comic. We also take some time in the beginning of the episode to discuss some of the comics landscape that we often ignore in our often superhero-centric viewpoint... Because comics are truly for everyone! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

The Intimates by Joe Casey, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Lee, and others is a unique Wildstorm series that didn't have a massive audience. However, for the people it did connect with, it resonated deeply. This is a smart teen superhero book that's superbly crafted with much care and consideration. The high concept of the series is that it's about a high school for superpowered teenagers. However, the emphasis in this subversive series is on teenage life, and there is a relative lack of spectacle and superheroics in comparison to other teen superhero books. Although the book was unceremoniously canceled before its time, it's absolutely worth tracking down and reading today. Our intro discussion also contains Albert's report on the recent Wonder Con in Anaheim, California. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our s

It's time to continue our readthrough of Deadly Class! This month, we're discussing volume 3: The Snake Pit! This volume contains issues 12-16, and we'll be providing our usual issue-by-issue commentary, supplemented by our usual manly grunts, random noises, and meaningless side banter. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Here's a foray into a relatively recent comic, Catwoman: Lonely City, by the unstoppable one-man creative force known as Cliff Chiang. This is an outstanding DC book that deserves praise and accolades. It's not merely a definitive Catwoman story, but it's just a flat out great piece of work that deserves our attention. Join us as we broadly discuss Cliff Chiang's comics career and take a long look at Lonely City itself. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Miracleman by Alan Moore and his artistic collaborators (Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen, John Ridgway, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben) is one of the all-time greatest superhero comics ever. For a long time, it wasn't an easy book to find at reasonable prices, but now that it's widely available again, we are truly living in a blessed age. It's another extremely influential classic by one of the absolute greatest writers of our medium, so we had to discuss it. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

We're continuing our readthrough of Deadly Class with volume two of the trade paperback collections, which collect issues 7-11 of this series by Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge, and Rus Wooton. This is our first time reading the entire series, and we're discussing it as we go through it. Each month in 2023, we'll cover one of the volumes until we finish the series! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

The Men Who Created Gundam by Hideki Ohwada is a fictionalized version of the real story around the creation of Mobile Suit Gundam, the 1979 anime series that spawned a multi-billion dollar franchise that endures to this day. It's a gag manga that takes numerous creative liberties with real stories of the production history and key creatives (specifically, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and Kunio Okawara), and exaggerates things for comedic effect. Of course, depending on your sense of humor, your mileage may vary. There are definitely some things in this book that are a bit questionable. We thought it would be worthwhile to cover this book, seeing as how we read the entirety of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko last year. Think of this as a sort of postscript to our Origin coverage! If you want to check out our coverage of The Origin manga, we have a Spotify playlist here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3IEJYdVyNUan4qtqiDrLgv Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our t

Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert was a significant event comic that affected DC's entire publishing line back in 2011 as it led into the New 52 era. It's a comic book event that has been adapted into various other mediums and seems to be regarded as a major Flash story. In this episode, we take a critical look at this miniseries and try to figure out why we hate it. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguchi is an engrossing semi-autobiographical coming of age story about breaking into the manga industry. It's a one-volume manga that we warmly recommend. In this episode, we talk a bit about Taniguchi's work and our familiarity with him before going into our book discussion. This is an excellent comic that we hope you check out! It's another episode for our #mangamenagerie! The Taniguchi obituary written by Zack Davisson and published on The Comics Journal website, which is referenced in our episode, can be found here: https://www.tcj.com/jiro-taniguchi-1947-2017/ Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Each month in 2023, we'll be devoting one of our episodes to covering one volume of Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig! As we begin with volume 1, we also spend a chunk of the episode discussing our familiarity with the works of the different members of the creative team, particularly Rick Remender. From there, we go into our issue commentaries. Deadly Class was collected into twelve trade paperback editions, so that's what we're reading. The corresponding issues for volume one are issues 1 through 6. We hope you join us on this readthrough! In 2021, we did a readthrough of Invincible. Last year, we read Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. For handy Spotify playlists featuring our full coverage of those series, click on our Linktree below! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! W

Murder Falcon by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer, and Rus Wooton is under the scope in this week's episode! It's an exuberant piece of work that has earned a unique kind of praise from Albert. Tune in to hear our commentary and analysis of this exceptional comic, and laugh at our struggles to properly describe metal music due to our pitiful lack of knowledge. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

One of our favorite writers is J.M. DeMatteis. In this episode, we examine one of his more recent works, The Girl in the Bay. The comic features lineart by Corin Howell, colors by James Devlin, and letters by Clem Robins! It's published by Berger Books, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics, and maintains that Vertigo spirit. Not to shortchange DeMatteis' talented collaborators, but both of us have read a significant chunk of his works and it's primarily through that lens that we discuss this comic, picking apart recurring themes and, perhaps, his pet interests that we've seen crop up in some of his other stories as well. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Wildcats volume 2 and Wildcats Version 3.0 by Joe Casey, Sean Phillips, and Dustin Nguyen (and their other collaborators) took a moribund property that had the reputation for being lowbrow and transformed it into something truly exceptional. With enough creative freedom, Casey and his artistic collaborators were able to turn the WildC.A.T.s concept on its head and leave a mark on the landscape of American superhero comics. The passage of time cannot diminish the potency of their work, and we're here to encourage everyone to reread and re-examine this run - or read and discover it for the first time. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our new music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

To memorialize the end of 2022, we decided to look at a comic that's intended to serve as an ending of sorts. This week, we're discussing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, by Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird, Tom Waltz, Esau Escorza, Isaac Escorza, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado, Shawn Lee, Samuel Plata, and Ronda Pattison. The Last Ronin was released amidst great fanfare (and idiot speculator hype), but how does the comic itself hold up? We also spend the first chunk of the episode providing a general overview of the TMNT franchise, and we talk about our own personal histories and perspectives on the Turtles. Our book discussion begins at about the 1:03:25 mark. Here are links to a couple of the articles referenced in our discussion. The Comics Journal's interview with Kevin Eastman: https://www.tcj.com/you-guys-have-given-me-the-greatest-life-ever-a-new-interview-with-kevin-eastman/ TCJ's review of The Last Ronin: https://www.tcj.com/here-comes-tomorrow-the-last-ronin/ Thanks again to Corey J.

This is it. It's the culmination of all things as we complete our yearlong readthrough and discussion of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko! In this White Base-sized episode, we not only provide our commentary of volume 12, but we also take the time to discuss the intriguing bonus features in the book. Plus, because this is the final episode of our coverage of the series, we also share some reflections on the series as a whole. At the end of the episode, we even have a few recommendations for you all. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our new music. Check out all of his music on Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc. linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats?fbclid=P…wB8nO66vFoKtc6NAF-0c If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Atom: The Beginning by Tetsuro Kasahara is a prequel to Osamu Tezuka's beloved classic Tetsuwan Atom, known as Astro Boy in America. Titan Comics recently published the first volume of The Beginning and we decided to give it a shot! We also spend some time discussing our general thoughts on Astro Boy. Also, we have a brand new theme song! Thanks to Corey J. Beats for producing our new music. Check out all of his music on Spotify, YouTube, SoundCloud, etc. https://linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats?fbclid=PAAaYbC0zOMVVBD-59agjIoSe7mBAzBPuR8HNITKrwB8nO66vFoKtc6NAF-0c If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna is an important comic that we want to spotlight in this episode. It's a nonfictional account of the cartoonist's family and their experiences in the wake of the Khmer Rouge taking control of the country in the wake of the Cambodian Civil War. It's a story about family and survival against a brutal communist regime. At times heart-wrenching and brutal, it's also balanced with a sense of hope and perseverance. Year of the Rabbit is a powerful piece of work that educated us about events that the American public education system relegated to a footnote. It's worth your time. If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters