boom studios

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 492 – “FCF: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead”

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead – Art by Simone Di Meo & Mariasara Miotti

Gobbledygeek episode 492, “FCF: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Got a hankerin’ for god meat? Well, pull out your giant lightsaber knife and feast on a new Four-Color Flashback! For the first FCF of 2023, Paul and Arlo set out at warp speed to seek enlightenment with Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo’s We Only Find Them When They’re Dead. The BOOM! Studios series, whose 15-issue run wrapped in December, is set hundreds of years from now, when the primary industry is extracting proteins, enzymes, and minerals from the corpses of massive deities. Evocative title and crazy premise aside, the book is chock full of theosophical enigmas that our boys try to solve. Beyond the elusive quest for concrete answers, though, this comic certainly makes them feel a whole lot. Dig in. Plus, some bellyaching about the new slate of DC movies.

NEXT: a discussion of S.S. Rajamouli’s action epic RRR, which presumably concerns reading, writing, and arithmetic.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:30  –  Intro / Banter
  • 00:21:25  –  We Only Find Them When They’re Dead
  • 01:58:36  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica, Ride the Lightning (1984)
  • “Mystery Jack” by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 469 – “FCF: The Many Deaths of Laila Starr”

Art from The Many Deaths of Laila Starr (2021) by Filipe Andrade & Inês Amaro

Gobbledygeek episode 469, “FCF: The Many Deaths of Laila Starr,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

What happens when a child is born who will invent immortality? According to Ram V and Filipe Andrade’s The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Death is fired from her job, is cast into a mortal body, and attempts to find and murder this child. Oh, she also dies a lot. On this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul & Arlo discuss the book’s unique approach to Indian mythology, Andrade’s beautifully distorted figures, V’s ability to be self-serious without being pretentious, and more. Plus, Paul gets into Severance, the boys aren’t feeling This Is Us‘ final season, and Arlo reads more Superman.

NEXT: it’s an MCU catch-up session. The boys will discuss the trifecta of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals, and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:34  –  Intro / Banter
  • 00:27:39  –  The Many Deaths of Laila Starr
  • 01:32:20  –  Selecting the next FCF
  • 01:36:03  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight” by Cutting Crew, Broadcast (1986)
  • “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” by Blue Oyster Cult, Agents of Fortune (1976)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 465 – “FCF: Six-Gun Gorilla”

Art from Six-Gun Gorilla (2013) by Jeff Stokely & Andre May

Gobbledygeek episode 465, “FCF: Six-Gun Gorilla,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Sometimes a gorilla is just a gorilla. Sometimes, though, that gorilla–righteously bearing arms though he may be–is a gateway to a story about the power and fluidity of narrative. For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo go ape for Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely’s Six-Gun Gorilla, a sci-fi Western published by BOOM! Studios in 2013. The boys discuss Stokely’s glorious, hyper-exaggerated art; how the book’s entertainment conglomerate dystopia feels like a logical extension of our present; the way Spurrier weaves various pulp genres throughout his story; and more. Plus, Paul got sick in Gatlinburg again and Arlo admits he was wrong about Dune.

NEXT: Gobbledygeek will return.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:55  –  Intro / Banter
  • 00:21:30  –  Six-Gun Gorilla
  • 01:25:50  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz, Gorillaz (2001)
  • “Wayfaring Stranger” by Johnny Cash, American III: Solitary Man (2000)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Paul’s Top 10 Comics of 2014 (and AJ’s Lament)

'Saga' art by Fiona Staples.

‘Saga’ art by Fiona Staples.

Last week, we brought you our top 10 films of the year. It was different from past years in that while I still wrote words and words and words, Paul presented his list without comment. He continues that trend with his top 10 comics of 2014. Meanwhile, I’m getting into some unusual territory by admitting that I don’t have a list. Sure, I could have scraped something together, but it wouldn’t have felt right.

I adore comic books–look no further than the year-long Four-Color Flashback series on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman we just wrapped in December–but this was the year they unfortunately fell by the wayside of my pop culture habits. There are a few reasons: comics are expensive, often going for $2.99, $3.99, or even more for a bundle of 20-25 sheets of paper; reading is a solitary, time-consuming activity which requires laser focus, unlike a lot of movies and TV (I’ll probably get in trouble for that), and this year I chose to devote much more of my reading time to prose; and lately, I’ve grown to prefer sitting down with one-and-done graphic novels or trade paperback collections to only getting a single hit of a story each month.

Then there’s the fact that 2014 was the year I (and Paul, and frenemy of the show Eric Sipple) published a book. I’ve always considered myself a creative person, but actually putting blood, sweat, and tears into finishing a real product available for purchase left me with a lot less free time. Video games were the first casualty–I played the very comics-oriented LEGO Marvel Superheroes for a few days, but that was about it–and then, completely by chance, I noticed comics becoming the second. Which is ironic, considering how heavily indebted The Deli Counter of Justice is to superhero comics.

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Last Month’s Comics: DC Reboots and ‘Spider-Island’ Breaks Out

Welcome to Last Month’s Comics, in which I will discuss, uh, last month’s comics. The past couple episodes, we’ve pimped Direct Comic Book Service, which I’ve recently started using as a way to return to regular comics reading. The only downside is that I only get bi-weekly shipments (the weekly option is there, it’s just more expensive), so I won’t wind up reading all of my comics from one month until the beginning or the middle of the next. So I figured it’d be nice to sum up my thoughts, frustrations, and surprises about each month’s comics in a single column. It should be noted that, of course, I’m only reading comics that strike my fancy, there are some books I won’t get started on until a couple months from now, and that I also skipped out on all of DC’s books this month…with one exception.

Let’s get started with August 2011…

BEST #1
Angel & Faith #1
Writer: Christos Gage
Art: Rebekah Isaacs (pencils/inks), Dan Jackson (colors)
Executive Producer: Joss Whedon
Publisher: Dark Horse

Last year, Gobbledygeek called Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight the Worst Comic Book of 2010. It was more a symbolic award than anything: there were worse comics, but none that were more disappointing. Season Eight had a very strong first two-thirds, but in the last third, things went awry more than they went a-right (please forgive me). It all culminated in the bizarre, confusing, contrived “Twilight’s Last Gleaming” arc. However, the final issue was a stellar return to form, and Joss Whedon has promised that Season Nine will be smaller, more character-driven, less prone to jump-the-shark-ness. Judging from Angel & Faith #1, the first piece of Season Nine, I’d say he’s kept that promise. Though I still don’t fully understand what Angel was up to last season–“Your whole Twilight phase makes about as much sense as a David Lynch movie,” so says Faith–watching him again struggling with remorse over his actions and back in help-the-helpless mode is refreshing. Where once Angel was Faith’s mentor, the roles have reversed. Faith is now there to help Angel deal with his grief, though based on the last-page shocker, she’s got a lot of work to do. Christos Gage has all of the characters’ voices down pat, and Rebekah Isaacs’ art might be the best to ever grace any Whedon comic. Can she draw Buffy too?

(Paul and I reviewed Angel & Faith #1 in “Talking Turkey.”)

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