Between the Gutters Podcast

We're back! Just like Superman coming back from the dead, Between the Gutters has returned to life! This week, we're discussing Superman vs. Meshi volume 1 by Satoshi Miyagawa and Kai Kitago. It's a delightful slice of life food manga featuring Superman and his appreciation for fast Japanese cuisine! This is a different type of cape comic for those who are accustomed to Western superhero comics, b...

In issue three of Solo, Paul Pope takes the spotlight. This issue contains the Eisner Award-winning short story "Teenage Sidekick!" There are some other gems as well. Join us as we discuss Paul Pope's work and the bits of his career that we're familiar with. For a handy Spotify playlist featuring all of our episodes on Solo, click here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Cp7xN6T5JKdsqA2VvbUE1?si=5...

This is a story. This is a story about us podcasting about one of the best DC comics ever, and one of the last great Vertigo ongoing series. This is a story about the next entry in our top 25 DC comics countdown! Coming in at #22 on our list... Sweet Tooth by Jeff Lemire, Jose Villarubia, and more! This science fiction post-apocalyptic coming of age story about the boy and the big man is one of th...

The Seeds by Ann Nocenti and David Aja is an ecological, post-apocalyptic, science fiction, romantic, techno thriller. If that sounds like a lot, it's because Nocenti and Aja stuffed this four-issue story chock full of ideas and concepts. Perhaps The Seeds isn't a perfect comic book, but it's absolutely an intriguing one. It's a comic that demands your active attention. We tried to figure it out -...

Richard Corben... The man, the myth, the legend. About twenty years ago, he did the second issue of DC's Solo. This anthology series showcased a special artist with every issue, giving them carte blanche to do whatever they wanted. In 2024, we're dedicating one of our episodes every month to talking about one issue of this series, and after tackling Tim Sale's issue last month, it's time to turn o...

Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane is an underrated and underappreciated gem of a series, and we're here to shine a spotlight on it. In this episode, we're covering all twenty issues of Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane, plus the two preceding four-issue miniseries. All of these comics are written by Sean McKeever, mostly drawn by Takeshi Miyazawa, colored by Christina Strain, and lettered by Randy Gentile and D...

After an unplanned bye week, we're back with the first episode of our 2024 readthrough! In 2021, we read through Invincible. In 2022, we read through Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin. Last year, we read through Deadly Class. This year, we're reading through DC Comics' Solo! Once a month, we're dedicating one of our episodes to an issue of Solo, which lasted twelve issues. First up, we're discussing...

We're back with a discussion about another recently published Image Comics book, Immortal Sergeant by Joe Kelly + Ken Niimura! It's the newest collaboration from the duo that brought us the legendary I Kill Giants. Immortal Sergeant is about the dysfunctional relationship between a grizzled, old-school, bigoted detective and his adult, socially liberal son. The two of them are forced to spend an i...

It was released in English a little over a year ago, but we've finally gotten around to reading Shuna's Journey by Hayao Miyazaki, a gem that was originally published in 1983. It's not a long read, but it's absolutely gripping and worth your time and contemplation. If you're a fan of Miyazaki's films, then Shuna's Journey will certainly be of major interest. It's kinda decent timing, by our standa...

Happy New Year! For our first episode of 2024, we decided to read and talk about a new series from 2023: W0rldtr33 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, Aditya Bidikar, and Dylan Todd (edited by Steve Foxe). This science fiction horror story is by one of the biggest writers in comics at this particular moment. We haven't really talked about any Tiny Onion books on our podcast befor...

As 2023 comes to an end, we decided to read and discuss a comic that's also about an ending, of sorts. Namor the Sub-Mariner: Conquered Shores by Christopher Cantwell, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth, and Joe Caramagna is a "The End"-type of story for Namor, one of Albert's most beloved superhero characters. Conquered Shores takes place in a far future after the Earth has endured massive trauma,...

Twelve months, twelve volumes. We have finally completed our coverage of Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig! As we have been doing throughout 2023, in this episode we provide our usual issue-by-issue synopses and commentary of the last trade paperback collection of the series, which contains issues 53-56. We also discuss our overall thoughts and feelings about the series as a whole. This...

This week, we're continuing our top 25 DC comics countdown. We have Sleeper, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, at number 23 on our list! Nowadays, Brubaker and Phillips are household names for their creator-owned crime comics. Let's go back in time and take a look at this early work from the pair! Sleeper is a super powered espionage neo-noir thriller that contains a whole lot of tension and suspe...

We're getting very close to the end of our readthrough of Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. This month, we're covering volume 11, which is comprised of issues 49-52. Join us as we provide our issue-by-issue recaps and commentary! If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr....

We return from our bye week with our autopsy on The Marvels, the latest MCU flick! We've all heard the noise around this one. It's been a polarizing movie, especially if you spend time in online spaces. There's also the box office stats, which led to even more chatter. We're not too interested in the movie's financial success (or lack thereof). We're here to talk about the movie itself. Join us as...

We're continuing our countdown of the top 25 DC comics of all time! Coming in at number 24 on our list, we've got Sandman Mystery Theatre by Matt Wagner, Steven T. Seagle, and Guy Davis! This mature-readers crime noir series set in the late 1930s is a grounded and realistic reimagining of a classic Golden Age superhero. It's more than just a gritty remix of an old character, though. This is a seri...

This week, we're covering Deadly Class volume 10: Save Your Generation! This volume collects issues 45-48 of the series by Rick Remender and Wes Craig! As usual, we're providing recaps and commentary for each issue as we talk through the entire series, one volume per month. If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us...

At long last, we're here! When we began our podcast back in the halcyon days of 2017, we started with a series of episodes counting down the top 25 Marvel comics of all time. Eventually, we finished that list and made plans to do a top 25 DC comics list. In the past couple years, we've teased and tantalized with a few honorable mentions (and dishonorable mentions), but now it is time to begin the...

Continuing what seems to be an unintentional trend on our podcast, we're here to discuss yet another science fiction comic. This week, we're talking about Decorum, by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston! This is a story about the most well-mannered assassin in the known universe. Beyond that, we initially struggled to figure out what this comic was really about. However, throughout the course of...

Far Sector, written by acclaimed novelist N.K. Jemisin with art by the skillful Jamal Campbell, is undoubtedly one of the best Green Lantern tales in recent memory. It's a science fiction story about Sojourner "Jo" Mullein, a new Green Lantern, protecting the City Enduring, a massive city-planet of 20 billion people comprised of three distinct races. For the first time in 500 years, there's a murd...

In this episode, we're discussing one of Panel Syndicate's most famous publications: Barrier, by Brian K. Vaughan, Marcos Martín, and Muntsa Vicente! Someone once said that science fiction is social fiction. Barrier is a science fiction story about an alien abduction, but it has a great deal to say about today's social climate. Though it originally came out a few years ago, it feels just as releva...

We're back from our bye week with the next installment of our readthrough of Deadly Class! The ninth volume, entitled Bone Machine, comprises issues 40-44 of the series. As usual, we provide issue-by-issue commentary of the comic as we analyze, interpret, and discuss it. In our intro conversation, Albert shares about his recent vacation to New England and the east coast and talks about some of the...

Madi: Once Upon a Time in the Future is an intriguing experiment in producing a graphic novel. A science fiction story cowritten by film director Duncan Jones and comics veteran Alex de Campi, the comic's visuals were drawn and colored by around two dozen artists so that the book could come out sooner rather than later. Essentially a road trip story, the different artists drew various portions of...

With the recent release of Shortcomings, the film directed by Randall Park and written by Adrian Tomine, we decided to do one of our comic book movie autopsies! In this episode, we'll be discussing both the film and the original comic by Tomine. Whether you've only read the comic or only watched the movie, tune in to this episode to hear our conversation! We'll warn you in the audio before any ser...

It's time to talk about volume 8 of Deadly Class, which we are reading on a monthly basis. Follow along with us as we provide our usual issue-by-issue breakdowns, analyses, and commentary!