Comics Therapy

Comics Therapy. No Reviews. Just Analysis.

Two comics from June 10, 2015.

Show Notes:

This week’s theme is dark days, darker nights. Lady witches. Ladies hunting witches. Ladies hunting lady witches. It’s almost as if there’s an overwhelming historical precedent for associating women with witchcraft.

Harrow County #2 9:35

1602: Witch Hunter Angela #1 33:00

Comics Therapy. No Reviews. Just Analysis.

Three (!!!) comics from June 3, 2015.

Show Notes:

Guys, reality bites. It’s a common theme in media - it’s the driving force in so much storytelling, from musicals to movies to television to comics. And we talk about that a lot on the show. This week, we’re focusing in a little more closely on the the characters themselves, who, (to pull again from musical theater because Andrea writes these notes and so she make the rules) are characters waiting for life to begin. On the cusp of greatness, but not necessarily mean that in a positive way. Something’s coming. I don’t know what it is is but it is gonna be great. It’s gonna change lives. In one way or another.

The Wicked + The Divine #11 15:00

Action Comics #41 29:50

Airboy #1 41:40

Comics Therapy. No Reviews. Just Analysis.

Two comics from May 6 and May 13, 2015. Plus a Second Opinion, featuring questions answered by a different listener each week, with Avi Chetlin.

Show Notes:
This week we’re talking about the realities we build for ourselves, and what happens when the walls come crashing down. Comics, video games, drugs, love. It’s all the same. Literally an opiate for the masses. Sometimes we work so hard to construct the world we want to believe is real, it’s all the more painful when the fantasy refuses to usurp real life permanently. And other times we’re so convinced by the illusion, that the reveal that it’s merely fantasy catches us entirely off guard.

Never Boy #3 20:00

Ms. Marvel #15 30:08

Comics Therapy. No Reviews. Just Analysis.

Three comics books from April 29, 2015. Plus a Second, Opinion, featuring questions answered by a different listener each week, with Ben Diederich.

Show Notes:

This week we’re talking about Avengers and New Avengers, the current runs of which will go down in history as the best large scale comic event ever. With issues #44 and #33 respectively, we end three years of complex build up of multiple storylines and infinite characters all leading to Secret Wars.

And in contrast, we’re also going to talk about Alex + Ada #14, which is about as different from an event comic as you can get. Understated, emotional growth between primarily two characters. Aaron suggested the theme be “there can be only one”, a tongue in cheek reference to a single Earth left in Avengers. But Andrea countered with “it takes two”, or three or four or twenty-seven. There’s plenty of room for all kinds of comics. Let’s dive into these polar opposites and see what we see.

Avengers #44New Avengers #33 13:35

Alex + Ada #14 36:12

Comics Therapy. No Reviews. Just Analysis.

One comic from April 22, 2015. Yup, you read that right: just one.

Show Notes:

Welcome to A Very Special Episode of Comics Therapy. This week we’re looking at some of the themes of identity brought up in All New X-Men, as well as their implications for representation in comics as a whole. We've never deliberately spent an entire show discussing a single book, but sometimes things happen in the world that we can’t ignore, and the existing plan goes out the window. Consider this our Isaac & Ishmael, hopefully with slightly less pretension, but with many of the same intentions.

All New X-Men #40 16:30