jose villarrubia

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 446 – “FCF: Sweet Tooth – The Return”

Art from Sweet Tooth: The Return (2020) by Jeff Lemire & José Villarrubia

Gobbledygeek episode 445, “FCF: Sweet Tooth – The Return,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

You can’t go home again. But you can return to the creator-owned post-apocalyptic fantasy saga that captivated comics readers for 40 twisted, beautiful issues. That’s exactly what Jeff Lemire did last year with Sweet Tooth: The Return, a sequel miniseries that takes place three whole centuries after the original Vertigo series’ ending. Considering that ending was perfect, does The Return need to exist? Paul and Arlo aren’t so sure. They discuss what The Return adds (or subtracts) from the greater narrative, the book’s alleged Twin Peaks influence, the story’s many “It’s like poetry, it rhymes” moments, and why you shouldn’t fuck around with elephants. Plus, they start things off by chatting about why Netflix’s Sweet Tooth is a great adaptation.

NEXT: Eric…Sipple? Does anyone know who this is? Why is he talking to us? Oh god.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:50  –  Intro
  • 00:03:24  –  Netflix Sweet Tooth adaptation
  • 00:15:50  –  Sweet Tooth: The Return
  • 01:17:13  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “Living Underground” by Nico Vega, Nico Vega (2009)
  • “The Elephant” by Pete Seeger, Birds, Beasts, Bugs & Fishes (Little & Big) (1998)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 443 – “FCF: Sweet Tooth: Deluxe Edition – Books Two and Three”

Art from Sweet Tooth: Deluxe Edition – Book Two by Jeff Lemire & José Villarrubia

Gobbledygeek episode 443, “FCF: Sweet Tooth: Deluxe Edition – Books Two and Three,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Nature is healing. For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo conclude the post-apocalyptic journeys of  The Boy and the Big Man with Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth: Deluxe Edition – Books Two and Three. The remnants of humanity fight tooth and nail for survival against the paws and claws of the human/animal hybrid children, who only seem to be increasing in number. Which begs the question, Whose apocalypse is this, exactly? The boys discuss the obvious influence of Lost on the book, whether or not Lemire should have thrown back a certain Fish, the series’ beautiful finale, and how horses are just really tough to draw.

NEXT: could be Loki, could be low-key.

CORRECTION

Paul and Arlo rave about Jeff Lemire’s use of watercolors throughout Sweet Tooth. That praise should actually be reserved for brilliant colorist José Villarrubia. Sorry, José!

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:55  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:04:40  –  Main Topic
  • 01:47:23  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “(Nothing But) Flowers” by Talking Heads, Naked (1988)
  • “Nature Trail to Hell” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, In 3-D (1984)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 440 – “FCF: Sweet Tooth”

Art from Sweet Tooth: The Deluxe Edition – Book One (2009) by Jeff Lemire & José Villarrubia

Gobbledygeek episode 440, “FCF: Sweet Tooth,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Imagine a world where a global pandemic killed millions and changed society forever. Spooky stuff, huh? Well, take a break from reality with this month’s Four-Color Flashback: Sweet Tooth: The Deluxe Edition – Book One, comprising the first 12 issues of Jeff Lemire’s offbeat breakthrough about a little deer boy and the post-apocalyptic hell that awaits him in the wilds of Nebraska. Along the way, he meets a Frank Miller-style tough guy named Jepperd, who seems to be the grizzled protector to Gus’ naive innocent. It’s a little more complicated than that, of course. Paul and Arlo discuss Lemire’s weird, idiosyncratic artwork; the way he uses the faces and especially the eyes of his laconic characters to convey so much; and how the new Netflix adaptation is radically different.

NEXT: dust off that mail robot, it’s time for The Americans season 2 with British secret agent Wesley “Wezzo” Mead.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:47  –  Intro / Banter
  • 00:19:38  –  Sweet Tooth: The Deluxe Edition – Book One
  • 01:37:00  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “My Father’s House” by Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (1982)
  • “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift, 1989 (2014)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Last Month’s Comics: ‘Uncanny X-Men’ Ends (Until the Next Issue), ‘Spaceman’ Lifts Off

Welcome to Last Month’s Comics, in which I discuss, uh, last month’s comics. I get my comics in bi-monthly shipments from Discount Comic Book Service, and as such, I can be a little behind. So here we are.

This column is later than usual, as I was a little preoccupied earlier this month, but for all those still madly wondering about what October 2011’s comics had to offer, here we go…

BEST #1

Spaceman #1
Writer: Brian Azzarello
Art: Eduardo Risso
Publisher: Vertigo

I’ve read only a fraction of Azzarello and Risso’s acclaimed 100 Bullets, which ran for ten years from 1999 to 2009, but one needs no familiarity with their past work to be immediately sucked in by the opening chapter of Spaceman, their new nine-issue mini-series from Vertigo. It takes place in a weird, sad future, just a few monsters and flying cars away from the one in Joss Whedon’s Fray. Our protagonist is Orson, a monkey-ish man genetically engineered to travel to Mars, a trip the human race never got to make. Orson and his low-class friends speak in bizarre, disjointed slang; “okee” is how they say okay, and they actually say “LOL LOL LOL” instead of laughing. In this first issue, Orson has ominous spaceman dreams and becomes involved in the kidnapping of the adopted child of reality TV stars. Eduardo Risso’s art is terrific, Brian Azzarello’s storytelling immediately compelling. Choice line, as Orson’s alarm chirps “New day, new day, new day” while he opens the door on a bleak, cloudless future: “Why, you lyin machine…it’s the same fuck old day it always is.” (Plus: $1!)

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