Storied Arcs

Send us Fan Mail "It's not every time the world ends you're look at a click when it happens. Some girls... we're just lucky." This week, Mike and Alex continue their exploration of November by Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier with Volume 2 The Gun in The Puddle. The guys talk about how the various story threads begin to intersect in this volume, gently overlaying and cris...

Send us Fan Mail "I'm just a working man, trying to make a living, Dee. We're all parts of a machine we cannot see. A system. All of us have our function." Mike and Alex are back with another season of Storied Arcs, this time diving deep into the tangled web of November Volume 1 The Girl on the Roof by Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier from Image Comics. They start by discussin...

Send us Fan Mail On this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex will be diving into November, the graphic novella series by Matt Fraction and Elsa Charretier from Image Comics. Originally planned as a series of three OGNs, it ultimately expanded to four, which were released across the span of about 15 months. The guys start with a spoiler-free preview of November, giving the official synopsis that...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are thrilled to be joined by writer and co-creator of The Bunker, Joshua Hale Fialkov! They start with the origin of The Bunker and how the idea came to be, from the initial germ of a story idea to how Joshua linked up with Joe Infurnari. Joshua then takes up deep into the business and commerce side of comics, discussing how his initial experiences working...

Send us Fan Mail "Your job, your purpose is to tell people why they matter. To tell them the truth. Always. If you spend your life lying to the people you love, hiding who you are, and what you want... then we lose. Mike and Alex wrap up their deep dive into The Bunker by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari this week with Volume 4 (issues #15-19). The guys jump right into the ending, breaki...

Send us Fan Mail "This is about TRYING to make things better. Listen, the best part about all of this is that if we're wrong, we just start over again." In this episode, Mike and Alex break down the penultimate volume of Oni Press' The Bunker by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari with Volume 3 (issues #10-14). The guys jump right into things, exploring how the three-month ti...

Send us Fan Mail "-How do we know that we aren't the ones who killed these people, and started this whole thing? How do we know that we didn't do this all already? -We don't. And we never will." This week, Mike and Alex continue their exploration of Oni Press' The Bunker by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari with Volume 2 (issues #5-9). With some further examinatio...

Send us Fan Mail "We wrote these letters to tell you that its not too late. To inspire a future we hope can be made. That is a lie. If this works, and you are reading this, you need to understand something. This NEEDS to happen. The world HAS to die." This season on Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are delving deep into The Bunker by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari from Oni Press, start...

Send us Fan Mail This week on Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex crack open The Bunker from Oni Press by Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari. In this spoiler-free introduction, they shine the creator spotlight on Fialkov and Infurnari, exploring their past comic work, then set the stage for what makes this time-bending thriller worth your attention. Along their way, the guys discuss how they came acros...

Send us Fan Mail "We can set down our tools and, at last, rest. The next generation is no longer our concern. Because we are the last." Mike and Alex contemplate the end (question mark?) of human civilization as they dive into the final issues of Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque's Letter 44 with Deluxe Volume 3 (issues #25-35) from Oni Press/Image Comics. The guys star...

Send us Fan Mail "You're in command, sir. Everything you do is the right thing. Even when it's not." This week on Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex continue their exploration of Letter 44 by Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque with Deluxe Volume 2 (issues #13-24). The guys start by discussing the escalation in the storylines, both on Earth and in space, and dive into the d...

Send us Fan Mail "But in my opinion, if they can travel between stars then we can invent as many laser guns as we want and it won't make a damn bit of difference." Welcome to the new season of Storied Arcs, where Mike and Alex are diving into the political/sci-fi mash-up of Letter 44 by Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque from Oni Press and Image Comics with Deluxe Volume...

Send us Fan Mail In this zero episode, Mike and Alex get you primed for Letter 44 by Charles Soule and Alberto Jimenez Alburquerque from Oni Press (originially) and Image Comics (currently). The guys start with a quick synopsis of the book (sci-fi thriller in space combined with political drama on Earth) and recount its publishing history, providing a little background of Oni Press along the way....

Send us Fan Mail "Mindset's advanced habitat helps us all become free from manipulative social media algorithms. Because when a person knows how they're being influenced, they have the power to break free and change their mindset !" Welcome to the final entry in Social Media Summer! For this final discussion on the theme, Mike and Alex question who really is in control as they...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are here to intro the final installment of Social Media Summer, Mindset by Zack Kaplan and John Pearson from Vault Comics. They start by covering the creative team behind the book (including mentioning letterer Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, who's lettered seemingly every book they've covered that's been published within the last few years) before g...

Send us Fan Mail "I was showing everyone that technology is nothing but a monster." "Technology is just a tool. Human beings still do the heavy lifting." Welcome to book three of Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex dive into Thumbs (issues #1-5) from Image Comics by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman. They start by examining the slightly different angle this book takes tow...

Send us Fan Mail Social Media Summer continues this week as Mike and Alex jump a little further forward on the decline of social media timeline (June to August 2019) to introduce Thumbs by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman from Image Comics. As usual, the guys give a quick rundown of the creative team's comics history, as well as whatever projects they may be working on now (like maybe one of the...

Send us Fan Mail "It is no longer white noise. It is a deafening crescendo. News flits by in a millisecond. Who can tell what is truth? Every moment of every day... we are besieged." Mike and Alex close out book two of Social Media Summer this week with a dive into Unfollow Volume 3: Turn It Off (issues #13-18) from DC Comics/Vertigo. The guys grapple first with the ending of the story,...

Send us Fan Mail "I mean, what's the point of doing something unless you can tell the whole world?" This week on Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex continue to make their way through Social Media Summer with Unfollow Volume 2: God Is Watching (issues #7-12) by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling from DC Comics/Vertigo. The guys discuss how narrowing the story into two or three main threads wo...

Send us Fan Mail "The great terror comes form the universe's actions that do not have a cognizant mind behind them. What if all we are is swept away by something that wants nothing? That means nothing?" Welcome to book two of Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex begin their look at Unfollow by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling from DC Comics/Vertigo with Volume 1: 140 Charac...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex setup the next book in their Social Media Summer series, Unfollow from DC Comics/Vertigo by writer Rob Williams and artist Michael Dowling. They guys first give some background on the creative team, including colorist Quinton Winter and letterer Clem Robins, as well as acknowledge the handful of guest artists brought on the pinch hit for an issue here and...

Send us Fan Mail "I put the gun in their hands and I trusted them to use it wisely. Just like Tunisia. Just like Sirine. And they used it to kill. I have to stop them. There's no other choice, this is my responsibility. It's on my hands." This week, Social Media Summer continues with Hacktivist Volume 2 (issues #1-6) from Boom Studios by Alyssa Milano, Jackson Lanzing, Collin K...

Send us Fan Mail "It's Moore's Law. Every two years, transistors double on integrated circuits. This is a constant since 1958. That means that we the people, the ones with the technology, we're getting more powerful by the day." Welcome to the first entry in Social Media Summer! This week, Mike and Alex are jumping back to 2014 to dive into Hacktivist Volume 1 (issues #1-4...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Mike and Alex introduce their latest themed set of books (see: Death Month from January 2025), only this time, instead of just a month, it's going to stretch all season. They're calling it Social Media Summer and they're focusing on four comics that utilize and comment on society's relationship with technology, specifically social media. And th...

Send us Fan Mail This week, Mike and Alex are honored to be a joined by artist Marcus To, one of the co-creators of Joyride! They start with an quick overview on Marcus' work on Hacktivist with Alyssa Milano, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly (a comic you may want to consider picking up soon for discussion on this podcast) before diving into Joyride. Marcus lets us in on the origins of Joyrid...