Storied Arcs

Send us Fan Mail "The 'Great Machine' was nothing but a burdened White paternalist who thought he could swoop down out of the heavens to save the helpless people of the ghetto." We're into the home stretch as this week, Mike and Alex dive right into Ex Machina Deluxe Volume 4 (issues #30-40) by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. The guys work their way through the two major...

Send us Fan Mail "If the city gets too comfortable in the belief I'm going to personally fix everything, they'll stop striving to solve problems on their own." In this week's episode, Mike and Alex are here to discuss Ex Machina Deluxe Volume 3 (issues #21-29 plus Special #3) from Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. The guys dive into how the use of flashbacks is (or isn&apo...

Send us Fan Mail "I don't know when I went from hero to villain in this town, but it sure as s*** happened fast ." In this week's episode of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex tackle Ex Machina Deluxe Volume 2 (issues #12-29 plus Specials #1-2) from Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris. The guys jump right into the various storylines presented in this volume and discuss how they do or do...

Send us Fan Mail "Everyone was scared back then, and when folks are scared, they want to be surrounded by heroes. But real heroes are just a fiction we create. They don't exist outside of comic books." Welcome to the new season of Storied Arcs, where Mike and Alex are diving deep into Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' Ex Machina, originally published by DC Wildstorm. They guys...

Send us Fan Mail For the new season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex strap on their jetpacks and soar into the sky as they get ready to discuss Ex Machina by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris, originally published by DC under the Wildstorm imprint beginning in 2004 before moving over to the Vertigo imprint and then eventually to the Black Label imprint. The guys start off by giving the CliffsNotes of...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a very special bonus episode of Storied Arcs! This week, Mike and Alex are ecstatic to bring you a conversation they had with writer Lydia Sherrer, the author of the Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus series aka The Lily Singer Adventures! They get into everything here, from how Lydia built and planned her book series from the start to some specific storytelling choices she ma...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are pleased to be joined by writer and letterer Erica Schultz, one of the co-creators of Bylines in Blood. They start by covering the origins of Bylines in Blood, how Erica got hooked up with both Van Jensen and Aneke to create this comic, and what the experience was like working with a co-writer in shaping and scripting the story. They then dive a little...

Send us Fan Mail And now for something completely different (that isn't actually that different at all). Back in fall of 2023 at the Cincinnati Comic Expo, Mike got to chatting with writer Lydia Sherrer, author of the Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus series aka The Lily Singer Adventures. While not specifically comic-focused, Lydia has a passion for storytelling and world building, so we decided t...

Send us Fan Mail "Reality is, there is no truth. Everyone's got their own perspective. No one gets to be the arbiter of that. The only thing you can do is make your own truth." On this episode of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are ready to fight for the truth as they dive deep into Bylines in Blood by Erica Schultz, Van Jensen, and Aneke from AfterShock Comics. They discuss how the com...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to a new season of Storied Arcs! For this outing, Mike and Alex will be diving into their (and perhaps last, question mark?) series from AfterShock Comics, Bylines in Blood (issues #1-4) by Erica Schultz, Van Jensen, and Aneke. They start by pitching you on why they love this comic, including the way it balances multi-genre storytelling and the dynamic art and color that j...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are super excited to be joined by Kyle Starks, the writer of their most recent discussion, Assassin Nation, along with so many other great comics. They cover a wide range of topics, including how Kyle got started working in comics (and why that might be Matt Fraction's fault) and how he was able to find his niche in the industry. They also go into why...

Send us Fan Mail "So, what's the best way to stay safe from a hitman? Hire a bunch of better hitmen." Mike and Alex are here for another season of Storied Arcs, and this week they're discussing Kyle Starks and Erica Henderson's Assassin Nation (issues #1-5) from Image Comics. The guys jump right into things, looking at this story through the lens of the kinds of stories it...

Send us Fan Mail For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are diving head first into the crazy world of assassins and hitmen with Kyle Starks and Erica Henderson's Assassin Nation from Image Comics. They guys discuss a little about what drew them to this book and then give some background on both Starks and Henderson and the other comic work you might know them from. Then they give a sp...

Send us Fan Mail In this special episode, Mike and Alex were fortunate to chat with cartoonist Justin Madson, the creative force behind Breathers. They discuss Justin's origin in comics, and how and why he began writing and drawing his own stories. Then they dive into Breathers, from its initial conception back in 2007 to its eerie prescience in 2024. Justin talked about how the story and the...

Send us Fan Mail "Nothing's really all that different, is it? I mean, sure, we don't have to wear our breathers anymore, but we still have our scars. No amount of vaccines is ever gonna change that." Mike and Alex are back in the world of Justin Madson's Breathers with Part 2 of the extra-long discussion. As they being to wrap things up, the guys take a step back and consi...

Send us Fan Mail "Show me an idea that's not a little bit dangerous, and I'll show you a bad idea." Welcome to Part 1 of our discussion of Breathers from cartoonist Justin Madson! In the first part of this extra-long deep dive, Mike and Alex start by taking a look at Madson's storytelling approach and style, touching on the short story cycle-ness of the mini-stories presen...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to another season of Storied Arc! For this installment, Mike and Alex are going about as indie comic as they can get as they get ready to discuss Breathers by Justin Madson. They guys get you familiar with cartoonist Justin Madson, someone they understand is probably not that well known, if at all, by most comic readers, even the most dedicated ones, as well as some of his...

Send us Fan Mail In a special bonus episode, Mike and Alex jump back one season and revisit their discussion of Eat The Rich and Know Your Station because they had the privilege of chatting with the writer and co-creator of those comics, Sarah Gailey! They start as usual with Sarah's introduction to comics and discuss how they made the move from writing prose to writing comics and what the tr...

Send us Fan Mail "And if I learned anything from Damian Lake's betrayal, it's that every move I make from now on has to be two moves. So I'm not just sneaking back to the U.S.; I'm lighting a signal fire." The adventures of Velvet Templeton come to a close in Velvet Volume 2 The Man Who Stole The World (issues #11-15) and Mike and Alex are here to wrap up the series....

Send us Fan Mail "All these weeks on the run, I've just been angry ... self-righteous. And it's so stupid... I know... but I'd actually forgotten to be afraid." Mike and Alex are back on the hunt for the most dangerous woman in the world as they jump into Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting's Velvet Volume 2 The Secret Lives of Dead Men (issues #6-10). They start by examinin...

Send us Fan Mail "A group of highly-trained spies and killers. And she'd played each of us... with ease. That was when I realized just how dangerous Velvet Templeton actually was." Welcome to another season of Storied Arcs! Mike and Alex are here to plunge head first into the world of espionage and intrigue as they break down Velvet Volume 1 Before the Living End (issues #1-5) by Ed...

Send us Fan Mail For the next season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are once again revisiting the work of one of their favorite creators. This time, it's writer Ed Brubaker as the guys get ready break down Velvet, the noir spy thriller from Image Comics by Brubaker and comics legend Steve Epting. First, they give an intro to the book and tease a little bit about why they wanted to discuss it...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are pleased to be joined by artist and illustrator Liana Kangas to chat about their work on Know Your Station and all manner of other things! They start with Liana's origins as an artist and learn how they went from selling comics in an LCS to making them. Then they move to Know Your Station, touching on how they got involved in the book in the first...

Send us Fan Mail "They controlled every aspect of our lived on Earth... and they used that power to make it so being up here, waiting on them hand and foot, was the best future we could reach for. We're not people to them. We're punching bags, scapegoats, and test subjects. We're disposable." Mike and Alex are back and ready to dive right into Boom Studios' Know Your...

Send us Fan Mail "Ever since that first day, I keep trying to be the right kind of girl so you'll approve of me. But I'm not the right kind of girl , am I?" How does the saying go again- when the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich? Seems like a more than appropriate title for Mike and Alex's next discussion, Eat The Rich (issues #1-5) by Sarah Ga...