Three Panel Contrast

Ep 35 - Frankenstein & Frankenstein

Awash in the Halloween spirit, the panel compares two wildly different adaptations of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein:" Junji Ito's manga adaptation and Bruno Enna/Fabio Celoni's Italian Disney adaptation. Topics include visceral monstrosity, dramatic irony in adaptation, and the extent to which the Frankenstein myth informs the superhero genre at large.

Ep 34 - Unnatural & Fangs

In this episode, we compare the sexy beasts of Mirka Andolfo's "Unnatural" to the sexy monsters of Sarah Andersen's "Fangs." Topics include sexual gazes defined by elite women creators, animalization, and representations of millennial sexual culture.

Ep 33 - Warlock and Silver Surfer

In this episode, the panel goes cosmic existentialism with a look at Jim Starlin's "Magus Saga" starring Adam Warlock, and J.M. Dematteis's run on Silver Surfer, starring everyone's favorite chrome cosmos-cruiser. Topics include superhero sex/romance, Marvel's variation on Greek tragedy, and the bizarre connection between outer space and inner self reflection.

Ep 32 - Criminal & Astro City

In this month's episode, the panel goes noir with a comparison of "Criminal: Last of the Innocent" by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips to "Astro City: The Tarnished Angel" by Kurt Busiek and Brent Anderson. Topics include the juxtaposition of familiar comics genres with noir detective stories, the bounds of protagonist relatability, and the always tricky relationship between nostalgia and creative freedom.

Ep 31 - Darth Vader & Dr. Doom

In this month's episode, the panel embraces the dark side for a comparison of Gillen and Larocca's "Darth Vader" and Stern and Mignola's "Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment." Topics include the narrative challenges of telling stories around traditional antagonists, the artistic challenges of emoting through silence and masks, and the ethical culpability that lies in programming a torture-bot to do your dirty work.

Ep 30 - Vision and the Scarlet Witch & Beauty and the Beast

In this deeply romantic episode, the panel compares Steve Englehart and Richard Howell's "The Vision and the Scarlet Witch" to Ann Nocenti and Don Perlin's "Beauty and the Beast." Topics include queer subtext, machine sex, and the complex genre bending that occurs when mixing superheroes and soap operas.

Ep 29 - Wolverine: The Long Night & Fanastic Four Radio Serial

In this ep our panel takes a deep dive into a pair of comics-inspired audio dramas in the form of the podcast "Wolverine: The Long Night" and the classic 1970s "Fantastic Four" radio serial, featuring both Stan Lee and a young Bill Murray. Topics include transmediation, the thespian's approach to grunting and Michael teaching himself sound engineering and design for the sake of our most elaborate cold opening ever.

Ep 28 - Paper Girls & 4 Kids Walk Into a Bank

In this episode the panel looks at a pair of 80s-themed comics with "Paper Girls" by Brian K. Vaughn and Cliff Chiang compared to "4 Kids Walk Into a Bank" by Matthew Rosenberg and Tyler Boss. Topics of discussion include male creators writing female protagonists, latchkey parenting, and 'are the 1980s the new 1950s in terms of media nostalgia?'

Ep 27 - Daredevil

For this episode, the panel compares the Bendis/Maleev run to the Waid/Rivera/Martin run. Topics of discussion include setting as character, problematic portrayals of disability, and the merits/pitfalls of morosity as a tonal aesthetic.

Ep 26 - Jimmy Olsen

In this month's episode, we pair Jack Kirby's legendary 1970s run on Jimmy Olsen with Matt Fraction and Steve Leiber's recent Jimmy Olsen maxi-series. Topics include the historic legacy of Kirby and his departure from Marvel; the challenges in fleshing out side characters into a protagonist role; the gap between irony and sincerity; and the most epic cold opening in our podcast's history, courtesy of Michael.