Between The Gutters Podcast

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. 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

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

Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer and Rags Morales was a major superhero comic of the mid-2000s, one that left a pretty big impact in the landscape of DC Comics. It's a comic that sold very well at the time, and is still kept in print. Plenty of readers had a lot of love for this DC event back when it was new, and it still seems to have its fair share of fans even today. You can probably see where we're going with this. We don't disrespect Identity Crisis because it was popular, but we disrespect it because it's an insult to our intelligence as readers. In this episode, we break down its many faults and explain why, despite its significance, it was never anything we considered for our our top 25 DC comics list. 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

Major events happen one after another in the penultimate volume of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko! It's not just plot developments that we see, but also some truly meaningful character work, including the culmination of several character arcs. There's always so much to discuss when we cover a volume of this book and, as usual, we provide our chapter-by-chapter commentary. Even as we near the climax of the series, we're blessed with some gorgeous Yas art. There are some beautiful color pages that are truly befitting of this volume's title, A Cosmic Glow. 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 discussing the latest MCU movie, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, directed by Ryan Coogler. This is a movie we were anticipating ever since the first trailer dropped. With Namor finally introduced in the MCU, you know Albert had to check this out! And of course, the passing of Chadwick Boseman made things feel heavy. We start the episode sharing some spoiler-free thoughts, so even if you haven't watched the movie yet, feel free to listen. We'll clearly warn you in the audio before we begin talking in detail about the movie. 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 talking about Scalped, by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra, the gritty and emotionally intense (but also controversial) crime series published by Vertigo. Spoilers do abound in this episode, so be aware of that. However, even if you haven't read Scalped, we hope that our discussion will give you insight into whether or not the series could be something you'd be interested in checking out. At some point in the relatively near future (the word "relatively" is doing a lot of work here, depending on when the world ends), we'll present our DC Top 25 countdown on our podcast, much like how we did our Marvel Top 25. Before then, there's a small plethora of other DC books that didn't really make our final list but we still have enough love for, and we basically just made up an excuse to talk about the comics we wanna talk about. 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/betweenthegutte

This week we're discussing Fury: My War Gone By, a superb piece of work by Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov. Eschewing the traditional lore of the mainstream Marvel Universe's conception of Nick Fury, Ennis and Parlov take the basic fundamental nature of Fury - a man addicted to war - and tell a realistic, compelling Cold War-era story that doubles as a painful parable of post-WWII America and a grim character study of Fury himself. Originally published in 2012-2013 as thirteen issues under Marvel's MAX imprint, it's now somewhat tough to find, as the physical trade paperbacks and hardcover are out of print. If you don't want to dive into the back issue bins, it's available digitally on Comixology. However you obtain it, this is a story absolutely worth your time. At this point in time, it's a bit of a hidden a gem of Marvel, but we've wanted to shine a light on it for a while now because it's a comic we really dig. We do spend a few minutes at the beginning of the episode talking about the new Black Adam movie

The chess pieces are moving into position for the final act of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. We've also got some notable emotional beats as well as some political theater. Also of note, before we dive into the book discussion, we spend some time discussing the recent Yasuhiko-directed film Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island. Finally, we apologize for the sound quality in this episode. Due to a technical issue, Albert's audio is much softer than usual. Time stamps: General nonsense, banter, and spoiler-free Cucuruz Doan's Island discussion begin at the start. 31:40 - Cucuruz Doan's Island spoilers begin 56:35 - Our book discussion and commentary for The Origin volume 10 begins. 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

With the completion of the Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, it is now time for one of our patented autopsies! Consider this our Shulktopsy. We discuss some of the online discourse/chatter regarding the show and share our own thoughts on it. Listen closely and you'll even hear a couple of vocal cameos from Albert's dog Pepper in this episode! What did you think of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law? Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

Love and Rockets by the Hernandez brothers is one of the most influential and significant comics of the past forty years or so. In this episode, we discuss the first two collections from Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, Maggie the Mechanic and Heartbreak Soup respectively. What are your thoughts on Love and Rockets? Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke is one of the most deservedly acclaimed DC books of the past twenty years or so. It's a superhero comic that takes place in the transition period between the Golden Age and the Silver Age, and takes into account the sociopolitical zeitgeist of those decades. The New Frontier is also a work that we suspect contains a lot of Darwyn Cooke's heart and personality. This is a corporate-owned cape comic that manages to convey a singular and distinctive artistic vision. What are your thoughts on DC: The New Frontier? Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters Before we get started with our proper DC Top 25 countdown, we're gonna discuss some honorable mentions that didn't make the final cut (as well as a few notable dishonorable mentions). If you've been following our feed for a while, you may have noticed several episodes in the past year falling under these categories.

Volume nine of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko features a couple of major first encounters between key characters, and at least one major revelation. Join us as we continue our monthly deep dive into this timeless mecha classic! If you have any thoughts, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters

WE3 by Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, and the incomparable Todd Klein is a highlight of the past 20 years. This compact tale about three cybernetically modified pets who escape their government handlers as they search for home is one that resonates on multiple levels. It's a pulse-pounding action comic, an endearing animal story, a prescient commentary on modern warfare, and a treatise on the innovative ways to depict time, movement, and space on the comic book page. Join us as we bask in the glory of WE3! What are your thoughts on WE3? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters Before we get started with our proper DC Top 25 countdown, we're gonna discuss some honorable mentions that didn't make the final cut (as well as a few dishonorable mentions). If you've been following our feed for a while, you may have noticed several episodes in the past year falling under these categories.

Image Comics was founded in 1992, thirty years ago. It seems like a good time to do a retrospective look back at the publisher's history. Both of us grew up in the Image era and we have quite a few memories of the comics of that time period, but while there are some nostalgic feelings, it's fair to that the very early years of Image Comics' output don't stand the test of time, and neither of us are high on the books of our respective youths. That said, Image's evolution over the decades has proven to be exceptionally fruitful, and they've published so many excellent, worthwhile books that are absolutely worth your time and money. In this episode, we talk a bit about our thoughts on the founding fathers of Image, and their works, and we also discuss our broader thoughts on Image as a publisher. We also each share individual lists of our favorite Image comics that we've read! What are your favorite Image titles? We'd love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We also have

We are now on volume 8 as we continue reading through Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko this year, one volume per month. This month's installment is contains two particularly special storyarcs. One of them is an intensely personal, tragic story about the effect that war has on regular people. The other is the kind of war comic that deals with big picture, chessboard of life stuff that will affect human society moving forward. There's a lot of rich, beautiful storytelling that is rife for thought-provoking discussion, and we invite you to join us. We provide summaries and personal commentaries of each chapter in the volume. If you've got any Gundam or mecha thoughts, feel free to hit us up! And don't forget to check out our previous episodes on The Origin to get all caught up! We also have a Linktree with just about all our relevant (and some irrelevant) links: https://linktr.ee/betweenthegutters