Between the Gutters Podcast

Happiness by Shuzo Oshimi is a rare foray into vampire fiction for us (notwithstanding all the Blade, Morbius, etc. comics we've consumed). Back in episode 113, we covered the the first seven volumes of Blood on the Tracks, the Oshimi series that's still currently ongoing. Reading that series garnered enough appreciation for Oshimi's work that we decided to go back and read one of this earlier, co...

The Disney+ series Secret Invasion recently completed its run, so we figured we'd do an autopsy. Before going into our dissection of the show, we first spend some time discussing 2008's Secret Invasion comic book event, specifically the eight-issue miniseries by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. The show got its title and basic concept from that comic, so we figured we'd examine that eve...

Ta-Nehisi Coates' run on Captain America is a thematically and conceptually rich interpretation of one of Marvel's most important characters. His thirty-issue series is intellectually dense but doesn't skimp on the action and thrills, either. It's a story that demands your attention and warrants multiple readings as an examination of what makes Captain America meaningful. Join us as we try to scra...

In this month's installment of our yearlong Deadly Class comic book coverage, we discuss volume seven, which is titled Love Like Blood. This volume collects issues 32-35 of the series. Read along and listen as we provide issue-by-issue commentary and discussion! Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats...

This week we're covering Superman: Space Age by Mark Russell, Mike Allred, Laura Allred, and Dave Sharpe. It's a story that examines Superman and the persistence of hope in the most dire of circumstances. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or correct...

The New 52 era of DC Comics was a particularly bad time for comics, but it did give us one diamond: Wonder Woman, by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Matthew Wilson, Jared K. Fletcher, and several other artists, including Tony Akins and Goran Sudžuka! This self-contained run is an evergreen Wonder Woman story. It's a series that not only provides a compelling plot and fascinating characters with dep...

Multiverses are all the rage right now. The latest big multiverse story is Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It's something we watched recently, so we figured we'd dissect it for the podcast. The first fifty minutes or so are spoiler-free, but we'll warn you in the audio when we go full spoilers. (Also, near the end of the episode, Albert will spoil The Flash a little bit.) Thanks again to Core...

In this month's installment of our Deadly Class readthrough, we cover volume 6: This Is Not the End, which collects issues 27-31. We get some answers to a couple of burning questions, some great character building, some social commentary, and plenty of fantastic art. Join us as we provide our issue-by-issue commentary! Throughout 2023, we're reading through Deadly Class by Rick Remender and Wes Cr...

Paul Chadwick is one of the best writer-artists of our lifetime, and his most famous creation, Concrete, is an absolutely tremendous series. Critically hailed and extremely well-respected back in its heyday, today Concrete seems to be a bit forgotten compared to some of the more famous works from Chadwick's contemporaries. This is unfortunate. We're here to shine a light on a diamond that should n...

This week, we're taking a look at a pair of Green Lantern graphic novels, Legacy and Alliance, by Minh Lê and Andie Tong! These comics are aimed at younger readers, but they're perfect for superhero fans of any age. Green Lantern: Legacy introduces us to young Tai Pham, the latest member of the Green Lantern Corps. Alliance expands upon Tai's world, introducing new threats and allies. Not only are...

We're back after a bye week with May's installment of our Deadly Class readthrough! This month, we're covering volume 5: Carousel, which comprises issues 22-26. After last month's shocking cliffhanger, we were pumped to find out what happens next, and we were not disappointed! If anything, Rick Remender and Wes Craig subverted some of our expectations to take us on an unexpected, yet logical, ride...

We've been reading through Deadly Class in 2023, and we thought we'd supplement our Rick Remender coverage with a podcast about Seven to Eternity, which features art by Jerome Opeña! In this episode, we discuss the entirety of this seventeen-issue series. It's a compelling story that subverted our initial expectations based on the first issue, and it ended in the only place it could. Seven to Eter...

It's time to dissect Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3! Here's our autopsy of the latest MCU feature film. More than merely a movie review, our dissection begins with an overview of the GotG concept and a broad discussion regarding our general thoughts about the comic book source material. We then provide a spoiler-free review, and then we'll warn you in the audio when we go full spoilers. 0:00:00 -...

This week, we're covering Marjorie Finnegan: Temporal Criminal by Garth Ennis and Goran Sudžuka! It's an eight-issue miniseries from AWA, and it is a fun romp. Marjorie Finnegan is a very well crafted science fiction action comedy adventure about a mischievous time traveling criminal who ends up saving the timeline from a very, very evil man. We spend the first part of our discussion talking a bit...

Deadly Class volume 4: Die for Me collects issues 17-21 of the series co-created by Rick Remender and Wes Craig. Each month in 2023, one of our episodes will cover one volume of this Image Comics series. This month's volume starts with some frenetic action, picking right up where the previous volume ended. There are also some major developments by the end of this trade, and neither of us has read...

Last year, we did an episode on shonen manga that proved to be one of our most popular episodes, so here we are again with a roundup of the first volumes of four more prominent shonen series: One Piece, Naruto, My Hero Academia, and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. One Piece and Naruto are two of the biggest of all time. My Hero is one of the hottest properties of current times, and as a comics podc...

Smile by Raina Telgemeier is one of the most significant comics of the recent past. More than just a popular graphic novel beloved by millions, and more than just a sales juggernaut that became a phenomenon, Smile is just a straight up great piece of work that's worth reading whatever age you are. This is the episode where we discuss what makes Smile such a wonderful comic. We also take some time...

The Intimates by Joe Casey, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Jim Lee, and others is a unique Wildstorm series that didn't have a massive audience. However, for the people it did connect with, it resonated deeply. This is a smart teen superhero book that's superbly crafted with much care and consideration. The high concept of the series is that it's about a high school for superpowered teenagers. However, the e...

It's time to continue our readthrough of Deadly Class! This month, we're discussing volume 3: The Snake Pit! This volume contains issues 12-16, and we'll be providing our usual issue-by-issue commentary, supplemented by our usual manly grunts, random noises, and meaningless side banter. Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms he...

Here's a foray into a relatively recent comic, Catwoman: Lonely City, by the unstoppable one-man creative force known as Cliff Chiang. This is an outstanding DC book that deserves praise and accolades. It's not merely a definitive Catwoman story, but it's just a flat out great piece of work that deserves our attention. Join us as we broadly discuss Cliff Chiang's comics career and take a long look...

Miracleman by Alan Moore and his artistic collaborators (Garry Leach, Alan Davis, Chuck Austen, John Ridgway, Rick Veitch, and John Totleben) is one of the all-time greatest superhero comics ever. For a long time, it wasn't an easy book to find at reasonable prices, but now that it's widely available again, we are truly living in a blessed age. It's another extremely influential classic by one of...

We're continuing our readthrough of Deadly Class with volume two of the trade paperback collections, which collect issues 7-11 of this series by Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Lee Loughridge, and Rus Wooton. This is our first time reading the entire series, and we're discussing it as we go through it. Each month in 2023, we'll cover one of the volumes until we finish the series! Thanks again to Corey J...

The Men Who Created Gundam by Hideki Ohwada is a fictionalized version of the real story around the creation of Mobile Suit Gundam, the 1979 anime series that spawned a multi-billion dollar franchise that endures to this day. It's a gag manga that takes numerous creative liberties with real stories of the production history and key creatives (specifically, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and...

Flashpoint by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert was a significant event comic that affected DC's entire publishing line back in 2011 as it led into the New 52 era. It's a comic book event that has been adapted into various other mediums and seems to be regarded as a major Flash story. In this episode, we take a critical look at this miniseries and try to figure out why we hate it. Thanks again to Corey...

A Zoo in Winter by Jiro Taniguchi is an engrossing semi-autobiographical coming of age story about breaking into the manga industry. It's a one-volume manga that we warmly recommend. In this episode, we talk a bit about Taniguchi's work and our familiarity with him before going into our book discussion. This is an excellent comic that we hope you check out! It's another episode for our #mangamenag...