Between The Gutters Podcast

Inuyashiki by Hiroya Oku is a ten-volume manga series that we confidently recommend to anyone who enjoys a dark but also different take on superhero fiction. It's also an inspiring story about an average old man who wants to do some good. Briskly paced and full of the cinematic, "widescreen" traits we Westerners typically associate with influential superhero titles like The Authority, Inuyashiki is a Japanese take on a very American genre that's not a spin on the sentai stories that populate Japanese pop culture. Tune in to find out why we devoured this series in such a short period of time!

Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire is one of our favorite comics of the past 10-12 years. With the recent release of the Netflix live action TV series, we decided to take some time to sing its praises. Join us as we engage in a (mostly) spoiler-free discussion of the comic book series! (Dru spoils something that happens in issue 5 of a 40 issue series that's over ten years old, but it's not anything that's going to ruin your enjoyment of the story.) We also talk a bit about the first episode of the Netflix show (as that's the only one we had a chance to view at the time of recording). Have you guys read the comic and/or watched the show? What do you think?

With the Loki television show set to begin on Disney+, we decided it'd be a good time to talk about the comic book Loki. In this episode, we discuss our opinions and observations of the character, and we speak about many of the various Loki and Loki-centric comics we've read. We also take a little time to talk about the MCU Loki, and what we expect to see in the show. What are your favorite Loki stories?

It's time to continue our monthly readthrough of Invincible! In this episode, we discuss issues 48-59, which are collected in volumes 10 and 11 of the trade paperback editions, or in volume 5 of the "Ultimate Collection" hardcover edition. You can also find the series digitally on Hoopla and Comixology. Join as we discuss the myriad developments in this year's batch of issues. We also take some time to engage in a mild philosophical debate about whether superheroes should kill, as that becomes a significant theme as Invincible's kid brother becomes Kid Omni-Man.

We're always on the hunt for cheap comics to read and to complete sets or full runs of stuff we wanna read. Longbox diving, bargain searching, and sale hunting are part of the quest. We have our fair share of hardcovers, trade paperbacks, and digital comics, but sometimes the cheapest way to read something is by tracking down the issues individually via quarter bins, three-for-a-dollar bins, fifty-cent bins, or even dollar bins. As hardened veteran comic book connoisseurs, we use every method at our disposable to obtain the high of sweet, sweet, reading material. In this episode, we talk way too much about the hunt itself. Consider this our oral war journal. What are your comic book-hunting war stories?

In honor and observance of AAPI Heritage Month, we're taking some time to discuss one of our favorite comics, American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (and colored by Lark Pien). This outstanding modern classic resonates deeply with both of us as Asian American readers, and we believe that it has a lot to say regardless of your cultural background or ethnicity. It's fifteen years old now and just as relevant now as it ever was. If you haven't read this acclaimed work, check it out as soon as you can - or you can just listen to us gush over it for two hours!

Girls' Last Tour is a six-volume manga series by Tsukumizu that we heartily recommend. In this episode, we discuss the entire run as well as the anime adaptation. A post-apocalyptic story about two young girls journeying through a bombed-out, empty wasteland while trying to scrounge for food and water, Girls' Last Tour is packed full of evocative moments that reach poetic heights, all in the service of showing that life is worth living no matter what the circumstances. Tune in to find out why we encourage you to read the manga and/or watch the anime!

We had a chance to watch the latest offering from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so join us as we perform an autopsy on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier! Our friend, ally, and recurring guest Alexander Sheynis joins us for (most of) this episode. We discuss our thoughts on various elements of the miniseries, from the comic book influences, the characters as they were depicted in the show, the social commentary and themes, and other bits of comic book nonsense. Hit us up and let us know your thoughts on the show!

In this month's installment of our Invincible readthrough, we discuss issues 36-47. These issues are in volumes 8 and 9 if you're reading the trade paperback collections. You can also find these issues digitally on Comixology or Hoopla. Invincible just keeps getting better and better, and the fourth year of the series definitely brings us a lot of fascinating developments in Mark Grayson's personal life, as well as in the larger overall plot with the Viltrumites.

Have you ever felt a longing to be somewhere you can't seem to reach? That's kind of what Space Brothers volume 1 is about. Its narrative about a man who dreams of becoming an astronaut (just like his more successful younger brother) was something that resonated with both of us. Join us as we discuss the first volume of Chuya Koyama's long-running manga series!

Alejandro Jodorowsky and Moebius are two giants of comics, and The Incal is one of their most famous and significant works together. In this episode, we read The Incal volume 1 for the first time and discuss this landmark comic. We need to read more European comics. If you've got any recommendations for us, hit us up!

Box Office Poison by Alex Robinson is the classic indie graphic novel we discuss in this episode. It's one of the early works from an underrated but highly talented cartoonist, and it's a sprawling slice of life story featuring an ensemble cast. It's about finding your way in life, art versus commerce, doing what feels right, growing in maturity, and so much more. And if someone out there can help us understand why the title of the comic is "Box Office Poison," give us a shout and educate us!

It's time for our monthly dive into Invincible! The animated series has finally begun streaming on Amazon Prime, but we've been doing our readthrough since January. This time around, we're talking about volumes 6 and 7, which comprise issues 25-35. You can find these issues at your local comic book shop or digitally on Comixology. It's a great time to read this series! After all, it's probably the best superhero comic book in the universe.

We revisit one of the most memorable comics of our youth and talk about Spider-Man: Revenge of the Sinister Six by Erik Larsen. It's not the best Spidey story ever, not even close - it's debatable whether these issues are even "good" comics - but it was something key in our formative comics reading years. As adults, almost thirty years later, we can appreciate it as an artifact of the past while acknowledging its failures as a story, yet still find something to enjoy about it. What are some of the stories that you read when you first got into comics? Can you still find something to appreciate in them today?

Here's a bonus mid-week episode for all y'all. It's our preview of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which is slated to start on Disney+ on March 19th. In this episode, we discuss the various characters that are known to be in the show, the potential influences, and the possible plots. We also speculate on ideas and thematic concepts we suspect the show may address to some degree. No clickbaity garbage here! Promise.

It turns out that the real House of M was always the House of Mouse. We've had a little time to digest the Disney+ series as a whole now, so now we've gotta do a deep dive into WandaVision. Join us as we examine the various facets of the show, from the comic book influences, the thematic content, the plot, the characters, and other extraneous nonsense (like whether the Hulk became a mass murderer when he used the Infinity Gauntlet in Endgame). What did you guys think of WandaVision?

In this episode, we review and discuss two different indie comics that creators have sent us: Parallel, by Jason Douglas and Ferris, and Invasion from Planet Wrestletopia, by Ed Kuehnel, Matt Entin, Dan Schkade, and Kendall Goode. We love checking out comics from indie creators, and this was a long-overdue episode. Reading these comics expanded our horizons, and hopefully you'll be inspired to check out something new!

We return for our monthly trek into Invincible, by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Bill Crabtree, and Rus Wooton! Hey, it's probably the best superhero comic book in the universe! In this episode, we dive into issues 14-24, which are collected in volumes 4 and 5 of the trade paperbacks. The issues are also in volume 2 of the ultimate collection hardcovers, and also in the first compendium. Of course, you can find these issues digitally on Comixology. Get caught up and read along with us every month as we set out to read the entire series this year! We started back in episode 62. The animated series is set to be released later this month, so now is a great time to get in on the ground floor!

In this episode, we talk about all of the comics we've backed on Kickstarter since the pandemic began. From webcomic collectives to smaller niche publishers to completely independent creators doing their thing, there's a lot of great stuff out there. Join us as we explore the comics we've discovered through the magic of crowdfunding. We're always down to check out new comics, so if you have any comic book Kickstarter suggestions that we should consider backing, hit us up!

What have you read lately? Our buddies Zach and Sheynis return to the show for a catch-up session where we talk about some of the comics we've read recently. The main comics highlighted are A Map to the Sun by Sloane Leong, Ales Kot's Secret Avengers run, Jack Kirby's Fourth World comics (specifically The New Gods and Mister Miracle), and Plutona by Jeff Lemire and Emi Lenox. Those are the starting points and the conversation takes off from there! What have you been reading lately?