Storied Arcs

Send us Fan Mail [Content note, the language in this interview get a little spicy, but hey, it happens sometimes.] After speaking with both the artist (Alexandre Tefenkgi) and writer (Pornsak Pichetshote) of The Good Asian, Mike and Alex had to keep it moving and snag the colorist as well, the great Lee Loughridge! We talk about his lengthy career to date and go back to his origins getting into th...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Alex are proud to present an exclusive interview with the Eisner Award-winning writer of The Good Asian, Pornsak Pichetshote! We discussed his origin in the comics industry, including his time as an editor at Vertigo Comics where he worked on such books as The Unwritten, Daytripper, Sweet Tooth, and many, many more iconic titles. We also talked about the...

Send us Fan Mail "You pay attention. When they're nervous. Whey they're relieved. All the different ways they think the world owns them happiness. They'll tell you everything about how they want to be treated. You just have to pay attention." Mike and Alex are back with another episode of Stories Arcs, this time discussing The Good Asian Volume 2 (issues #5-10) by Pornsak...

Send us Fan Mail "Chasing perfect's normal- it's the ones who get there you have be wary of. The perfect smile. Posture. Part in their hair... perfection takes sacrifice, so you have to be suspicious of anyone sad enough to go through with it." In this episode, Mike and Alex dive right into The Good Asian Volume 1 (issues #1-4) by Pornsak Pichetshote and Alexandre Tefenkgi from...

Send us Fan Mail After getting the chance to talk with Eisner-award winning artist Alex Tefenkgi last week, Mike and Alex felt it was only appropriate to focus the next season of Storied Arcs on the comic that won him that Eisner, The Good Asian from Image Comics. The guys discuss what makes this book special and why it stood out to them in a sea of new comics that are released every month. Then a...

Send us Fan Mail In the special episode, we have an exclusive interview with the great Alexandre Tefenkgi, the artist behind Outpost Zero, who was kind enough to chat with us all the way from his home in France. We discussed his origin in comics and how he got into the industry, then dove into his mindset when approaching projects. We also talked about his thought process and some of the creative...

Send us Fan Mail "You guys are asking questions I don't think anyone's asked in a long time. It's dangerous, what you're doing... but someone should be doing it." Mike and Alex are here once again to break down the finale of Outpost Zero Volume 3 The Only Living Things (issues #10-14). The guys give their overall impressions of the book before jumping into the ending...

Send us Fan Mail "When all is said and done, when it's all over... would you want to say you lived your life waiting to die? Or would you want to say something different?" In this episode, Mike and Alex return with you to Outpost Zero in Volume 2 Follow It Down (issues #5-9) and dive deep into the story as the characters dive deep into their home. The guys discuss how the creators e...

Send us Fan Mail "I wish I could be there. Wish I could see all the incredible alien things. If you're watching this... I guess you were lucky." Welcome to Outpost Zero and to another season of Storied Arcs! In this opening episode, Mike and Alex gravity-jump straight into Volume 1 The Smallest Town in the Universe (issues #1-4) of the Skybound comic and consider it's place amo...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to another season of Storied Arcs! For this outing, Mike and Alex will be covering the YA-focused (that's Young Adult) series Outpost Zero by Sean Kelley McKeever and Alexandre Tefenkgi from the Image Comics imprint, Skybound. They guys will talk about why they choose a YA book for discussion and what appealed to them about this specific comic (generational ship, last...

Send us Fan Mail "Role-playing games are conversations in quotations marks, letting you talk about true things with a little distance, as a fantasy. But for all of that, they're still conversations. And you should listen to what you are telling the game and what the game is telling you." We've reached the center of DIE and Mike and Alex are here to break it all down as they dis...

Send us Fan Mail "I'm presuming that's a reference I don't remember because I grew up and actually got a life." In this episode, Mike and Alex delve deep into DIE Volume 3 The Great Game (issues #11-15) as all the answers of DIE are finally revealed. Or are they? We see how all the pieces fit together, from the Brontë sibling's wooden soldiers to the dice that brought...

Send us Fan Mail "'What is Twitter?' 'It's a place devoid of any sentient life, entirely hostile to humanity. A lot like here, really.'" Welcome back to DIE! In this episode, Mike and Alex breakdown Volume 2 Split The Party (issues #6-10) from Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans. They dive deep into the mechanics of the game, what the rules are and how they govern t...

Send us Fan Mail "While our peers back on Earth were doing their A-levels, we were trapped here. The world of Die taught us different lessons. I was the Dictator. I learned how to tell stories." In this episode, Mike and Alex roll for damage as they enter the world of DIE from Keiron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, published by Image Comics. They dive right into Volume 1 Fantasy Heartbreaker...

Send us Fan Mail Mike and Alex are back with another zero episode to get ready for the next season of Storied Arcs, DIE from Image Comics. As always, the guys first focus on the creators of the comic, Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, before giving you a preview of why you should read the book. They review Gillen's vast resume of Marvel and creator-owned comics, as well as Hans' relative...

Send us Fan Mail "Humans are like a bucket with a hole in it. You try to fill it up with happiness, but you can't. It runs out as fast as you pour it in, so you're always trying to find ways to get more. Every wish we grant is the same wish. I wish I had enough ." In this one-shot episode, Mike and Alex jump into Charles Soule and Ryan Browne's recently concluded hit, Eigh...

Send us Fan Mail In this zero episode for the newest season of Stories Arcs, Mike and Alex discuss the creative team behind the recent Image Comics hit Eight Billion Genies, Charles Soule and Ryan Brown! They chat about the previous comic work published by the pair (with a fair amount of talk about Soule's Star Wars work, which is a must-read for any Star Wars fan), including their first comi...

Send us Fan Mail " I bet you're loving this. Hmm? The team at its best. It's just like old times. Best funeral ever!" In this special bonus episode of Storied Arcs, Alex flies solo as he discusses (with himself) Netflix's adaption of The Umbrella Academy. He touches on what he thinks makes for a good comic book adaptation before diving in on what he thinks The Umbrella Aca...

Send us Fan Mail "While I fully support revenge, now is not the time." In this week's episode, Mike and Alex take a look at Volume 3 of The Umbrella Academy, the final (for now) volume of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's comic from Dark Horse (The Umbrella Academy: Hotel Oblivion issues #1-7). They dive deep into what does and does not work for this in volume and how the long layoff...

Send us Fan Mail "But this one's something special. He's an idea . And what you can't take down with bullets... you have to take down with words . That's why I needed her ." Welcome back to another episode of Storied Arcs! This week, Mike and Alex travel back to Dallas 1963 to discuss Volume 2 of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's The Umbrella Academy (The Umbrella Acad...

Send us Fan Mail "Lacking in finesse, but... adequate. Can I interest you in destroying the world" In this week's episode, Mike and Alex jump right into their discussion of Volume 1 of Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba's The Umbrella Academy (The Umbrella Academy: Apocalypse Suite issues #1-6). They pick up a couple of threads from last week's zero episode and examine how Gerard W...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome to another season of Stories Arcs! In this zero episode, Mike and Alex take a look at Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, the creators behind the Dark Horse comic The Umbrella Academy. They discuss how Gerard Way's previous day job (being an internationally-famous rock star) may have colored they opinion of the book before ever reading it and how those preconceived notions wer...

Send us Fan Mail "Do you still cling to such binary oppositions? Do you believe everything must be wholly real or wholly imagined ?" In the Season 8 finale of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex talk about the apocalypse, aka The Unwritten Volumes 10 and 11 (issues 1-12 of The Unwritten: Apocalypse). How does it all end? What does it all mean? Does the ultimate payoff feel satisfying and earned?...

Send us Fan Mail "They're Fables from another place, another world. Stories told by stories made up by the stories to whom we are only stories." In this penultimate episode of Season 8 of Stories Arcs, Mike and Alex dive head-first into the world of Fables and the crossover that isn't really a crossover in The Unwritten Volume 9 (issues 50-54) and the original graphic novel The...

Send us Fan Mail "But in the end-- without story-- without the ability to step sideways from fact into hypothesis-- human life is untenable." In this episode, Mike and Alex discuss how everything finally comes together in The Unwritten Volumes 7 and 8 (issues 36-49). Random details and story beats that have been sprinkled throughout the entire run thus far all begin to converge here, whe...