Between The Gutters Podcast

In this month's installment of our Deadly Class readthrough, we cover volume 6: This Is Not the End, which collects issue 27-31. We get some answers to a couple of burning questions, some great character building, some social commentary, and plenty of fantastic art. Join us as we provide our issue-by-issue commentary! Throughout 2023, we're reading through Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. Each month this year, one of our episodes will be dedicated to coverage of one volume of 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

Paul Chadwick is one of the best writer-artists of our lifetime, and his most famous creation, Concrete, is an absolutely tremendous series. Critically hailed and extremely well-respected back in its heyday, today Concrete seems to be a bit forgotten compared to some of the more famous works from Chadwick's contemporaries. This is unfortunate. We're here to shine a light on a diamond that should never be forgotten. In this episode, we discuss Concrete and Paul Chadwick in general, and we specifically zero in on Dark Horse Comics' 2005 trade paperback edition of Concrete volume 1: Depths, which collects the first five issues of the series and a smattering of short stories. Although this trade paperback is technically out of print, you may be able to find a copy at cover price at your local store. It's also readily available digitally on digital library services like Hoopla, as well as on Amazon Kindle. Seek out any Concrete you can find! It deserves your time and attention, especially if you love beautifully

This week, we're taking a look at a pair of Green Lantern graphic novels, Legacy and Alliance, by Minh Lê and Andie Tong! These comics are aimed at younger readers, but they're perfect for superhero fans of any age. Green Lantern: Legacy introduces us to young Tai Pham, the latest member of the Green Lantern Corps. Alliance expands upon Tai's world, introducing new threats and allies. Not only are these great superhero comics, but they're also sensitive and authentic portrayals of Asian American culture without being hamfisted or corny. For a couple of graphic novels aimed at elementary readers, these comics are more sophisticated and more worth reading than many cape comics on the racks today. Check 'em out, and tune in for our discussion about Green Lantern as a general concept and, of course, our deep dive into both of these books! 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, q

We're back after a bye week with May's installment of our Deadly Class readthrough! This month, we're covering volume 5: Carousel, which comprises issues 22-26. After last month's shocking cliffhanger, we were pumped to find out what happens next, and we were not disappointed! If anything, Rick Remender and Wes Craig subverted some of our expectations to take us on an unexpected, yet logical, ride into a new school year at King's Dominion. Tune in for our usual issue-by-issue synopses and commentaries, as well as some tangents about eighties Marvels like GI Joe, The Punisher, and The 'Nam! 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've been reading through Deadly Class in 2023, and we thought we'd supplement our Rick Remender coverage with a podcast about Seven to Eternity, which features art by Jerome Opeña! In this episode, we discuss the entirety of this seventeen-issue series. It's a compelling story that subverted our initial expectations based on the first issue, and it ended in the only place it could. Seven to Eternity is a lavishly illustrated space fantasy story about integrity and compromise. There's some fantastic worldbuilding, gripping character drama, rich subtext, and thoughtful conceptual ideas lurking within this comic. We'll warn you in the audio before we go into full-spoiler mode! 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

It's time to dissect Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3! Here's our autopsy of the latest MCU feature film. More than merely a movie review, our dissection begins with an overview of the GotG concept and a broad discussion regarding our general thoughts about the comic book source material. We then provide a spoiler-free review, and then we'll warn you in the audio when we go full spoilers. 0:00:00 - Intro Discussion 1:23:25 - Spoiler-free Review 1:43:30 - Spoiler-filled Dissection 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

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

Quantumania was a movie that was released in February 2023. This is our autopsy of that movie. Do you have love for the Ant-Man family of characters? Do you have love for Kang the Conqueror? Do you have love for formulaic, paint by numbers, middle of the road, expensive Hollywood blockbuster action movies featuring the typical stylings of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? If so, there's a chance you may have watched Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a movie that exists. We watched it. We recorded our thoughts. This is our autopsy. 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