Comics Syllabus

In the first of an eight-part reading project, we look at Pluto v1 by Naoki Urasawa based on "The Greatest Robot on Earth" Astro Boy/Atom story by Osamy Tezuka. TwoPlai invites you to read along and contribute thoughts as we read each volume of the 8 part manga masterwork. Mentioned on this episode: Amazon Associates link to Pluto volumes: http://amzn.to/2d8QytN Deb Aoki: http://manga.about.com/od/vizmedia/gr/Pluto1.htm Understanding Manga by McCloud: http://sundaycomicsdebt.blogspot.com/2011/02/understanding-manga.html Seth Hahne on Pluto: http://goodokbad.com/index.php/reviews/pluto_review Comic Pusher's reviews: http://comicpusher.blogspot.com/search/label/pluto%20review%20series

Monday's Marvel is Death of X #1 from Marvel Comics, written by Jeff Lemire and Charles Soule, art by Aaron Kuder, colors by Morry Hollowell. Paul talks about the place of the X-Men and Inhumans in Marvel's Universe, both on the page and behind the scenes, and how we end up with a mini-series pronouncing the end of mutants... again. Let's dig deep.

For Small Press Saturday, Paul went to Alternative Press Expo http://alternativepressexpo.com/ , and while he didn't get to explore everything that interested him, picked up a pile of comics that caught his eye. Included in the discussion: Dan Vado and SLG http://www.slgcomic.com/ Jimmie Robinson https://imagecomics.com/creators/view/jimmie-robinson Latino Comics Expo http://www.latinocomicsexpo.com/ Daniel Parada's 'Zotz' http://www.zotzcomic.com/ Ben Seto and Skullbunnies http://www.blacksheepcomics.com/ Jen Hickman http://umicorms.com/ Society of Unordinary Young Ladies by Algarmi and Sigua http://souyl.blogspot.com/ Karate Petshop http://www.karatepetshop.com/ publisher of Rikki by Norm Harper and Matthew Folz-Gray http://www.foltz-gray.com/ Lee Marrs and 'Pudge' http://amzn.to/2emOEpB' Transcat by Knave Murdok http://parasomniacomics.blogspot.com/

'American Born Chinese' by Gene Luen Yang (First Second) is our Thursday Throwback (yeah, yeah, it's Tuesday already...). Paul talks about the decade-old graphic novel, a landmark in comics and culture, a landmark in his own comics reading life. Paul had the chance to speak with Gene Yang at the Alternative Press Expo recently, and he discusses the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature and MacArthur fellow's reflections on his breakthrough book a decade later. Find out more about the Paul List at http://thepaullist.com/ To find 'American Born Chinese' on the Paul List's Amazon Associates link: http://amzn.to/2dFE2kv (although we always encourage you to support local bookstores and comic shops) Let's dig deep.

Goldie Vance The Paul List Future and a Pluto reading project by Paul Lai

Monday Marvel --> Unbeatable Squirrel Girl 12, written by Ryan North, art by Erica Henderson, colors Rico Renzi, from Marvel Comics. This comic is very funny. If you like funny, read it first, before you listen to this, before @TwoPlai explains the haha out of it, analyzing the humor ("incongruities from social expectations"? wha?) for waaaaaayyy too long, squeezing all the fun out of it. TwoPlai makes grand claims that USG is the smartest kid in the room when it comes to Marvel Comics, but also suggests that the subversion of superheroes that USG accomplishes may indeed save us all. Let's dig deep.

Our Sunday Superfriend (DC) coverage of the Bat-family 'Night of the Monster Men' crossover manages to skip talking about monsters altogether... (yes, that's a Theme Fail), although TwoPlai does disappear into a rabbit hole about ethics and superhero team stories, like this one, where Batman's toughest challenge might not be the building-sized monsters traipsing around Gotham but the sundry and individual partners that are his Bat-family. Along the way, TwoPlai has some praise for Steve Orlando's writing prowess, as well as Tom King's Batman run so far, and for what superheroes can do to instill healthy questions in us about goodness and rightness. Let's dig deep.

This Smaller Press Saturday, our comics work is 'Finding Molly: Adventures in Catsitting' 1-4 by Justine Prado, Jenn St-Onge, & Carey Pietsch, from Emet Comics. Molly is a recent art school graduate trying to make her way and find herself in the LA arts scene, and this playfully illustrated and told story also explores AND exemplifies the search for authenticity between the commercial and the artistic. Let's dig deep.

'Trinity' 1 by Francis Manapul, with letters by Steve Wands, from DC Comics, is today's interruption of @TwoPlai's research break on the Paul List:Comics Analysis Podcast. In a bit of a meandering episode (sorry!), Paul describes why Manapul is the consummate current DC artist for his tastes, a perfect synthesis of various influences that works perfectly for the Rebirth moment. (Error correction: At one point, Paul says "Wildstorm" when he means "Top Cow." Sorry again!) The artistic and storytelling qualities that Manapul brings to this gathering table of DC's three iconic heroes is the kind of match that makes this book a treat to read. And while he's at it, Paul gets into why the Surface Pro that Manapul has been pitching is a pretty nice device for a comics person. Links: The Multiversity Comics interview with Brian Salvatore that Manapul did in 2013: http://www.multiversitycomics.com/interviews/artist-august-francis-manapul-interview/ The Detective Comics volume with Manapul and John P

Raina Telgemeier's 'Ghosts' from Graphix, word balloons and lettering, dialogue with kids about death, and cultural appropriation are the subjects in this brief interruption from Paul's research break. The Paul List Daily Comics Analysis podcast will be back in full force in October. Let's dig deep! Support your local comic shop or bookseller, but if you'd like to purchase Ghosts through The Paul List's Amazon Associates link: http://amzn.to/2cVt2yR

While announcing a break from DAILY podcasting for a few weeks, TwoPlai also pauses to reflect on things he's learned from doing the Paul List for two-and-a-half months (and around 75 episodes). Thanks for listening.

'Doctor Strange 11' is Monday's Marvel on the Paul List: Daily Comics Analysis Podcast. Written by Jason Aaron, with art and colors by Kevin Nowlan, Leonardo Romero, and Jordie Bellaire, 'Doctor Strange 11' is a well-timed intermission in the breakneck run that Aaron and Bachalo and team have had on Doctor Strange this year, one of the best superhero comics around in TwoPlai's opinion. Thematic recaps, story-element recoups, and origin-story rewrites make this a satisfying pause... just in time for TwoPlai to announce a bit of a pause for this podcast. Thanks for listening and let's dig deep!

Sunday's Superfriend is 'Aquaman 6' by Dan Abnett, Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, and Gabe Eltaeb (DC Comics). TwoPlai tries to describe the tensions that the creators have mounted so that the dialogue between Superman and Aquaman in this culminating issue of the mounting conflict between Atlantis and the US feels convincing and exploits the contradictions and turmoil that make for compelling stories. TwoPlai tries... but time runs out before the case can reach full cogency, further exemplifying the failures of language in tight circumstances. Haha that's just a rationalization for some of the gobbledegook plaguing this episode, but hey, give it a listen, see what you think. Sometimes, when you dig deep, you get a little messy. Thanks for listening.

Smaller Press Saturday’s pick on the Paul List podcast is ‘Niobe: She is Life’ by Amandla Stenberg, Sebastian Jones, Ashley Woods, and Darrell May, available from Stranger Comics. TwoPlai talks about fantasy stories in an agonistic world and the use of the widescreen panel in his analysis. (By the way, it's a late night recording, so TwoPlai says "Roxane Gray" once instead of "Roxane Gay" and cites one of his favorite novels, "The Strange and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"-- it's "The Brief Wondrous Life....," along with probably three or four other verbal flubs. Beggin' your pardon.) Let's dig deep!

The Friday Family Comic is 'Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean' in the Science Comics series from First Second by Maris Wicks. TwoPlai talks about information literacy and comics, how Wicks makes this unfamiliar subject so dang interesting, and how kids' comics inspire and train different kinds of reading.

Drawing heavily from Thomas Andrae's 'Carl Barks and the DIsney Comic Book,' this episode of the Paul List Comics Analysis Podcast looks at our Thursday Throwback, 'Walt Disney's Donald Duck Lost in the Andes by Carl Barks' published by Fantagraphics, all as a way of talking about Carl Barks, cultural studies of comics, and a phenomenal classic cartoonist's exceptional work within the Disney empire. Let's dig deep.

Wednesday's Webcomic is 'Barrier #2' by Marcos Martin, Brian K. Vaughan, and Muntsa Vicente, available at panelsyndicate.com at pay-what-you-want prices. TwoPlai compares Barrier, a scifi story about immigration and aliens (both kinds) with AmericaTown which he discussed on "yesterday's" episode. But first, he talks about his NCBD pull list and recommendations, including PB Soldier on Kickstarted and Black Comics Chat. Then at 7:00 he gets into Barrier 2, what doing immigration stories as scifi does for the politics and narratives connected to immigration.

Our Tuesday Trade Paperback is 'AmericaTown' from Boom Studios by Bradford Winters, Larry Cohen, and artist Daniel Irizarri. Apologies that this Tuesday Trade is neither a trade (it's a Hardcover) nor released on Tuesday. 'AmericaTown' tells the story of an undocumented immigrant... from America. In a near-future where the US economy has collapsed and migrants flood to places like Buenos Aires, AmericaTown's protagonist is smuggled into Argentina, into an enclave of American immigrants, trying to find safety and opportunity in this reversal of the standard US immigration narrative. TwoPlai discusses the idea of immigration narratives in this context, and how AmericaTown gets or doesn't get at the larger issues interlaced in a story such as this.

On a late Sunday Superfriend, @TwoPlai reviews-- er, analyzes-- Future Quest 4. But first, a few words about "analysis" vs. "review," some discussion about the nature of nostalgia, and then an honest response to Future Quest 4, an issue that pushes TwoPlai on the edge of jumping off a book that started very invitingly. You're free to disagree, and we're just glad you take the time to listen. Let's dig deep.

A bit out of order, Monday's Marvel is Silver Surfer 6 (or 200) by Dan Slott, Mike Allred, and Laura Allred, from Marvel Comics. Slott and the Allreds have been writing a very different kind of Silver Surfer story, and @TwoPlai offers analysis of how the epic drama of Surfer retains its high stakes when the story is "domesticated" by the new relationships Norrin Rad has with earth, Dawn Greenwood, and his newfound cultural attachments. But the focus of analysis is how those stakes are elevated even in scenes of talking heads between to normal ol' human characters. Let's dig deep.