Storied Arcs

Send us Fan Mail "I had promised my dad I would never ben an 'uneducated pug' like him. He wanted me to be a lawyer and I made good on that. But it wasn't enough. I had seen how the law- which I still steadfastly believed in- wasn't always the same as justice." Mike and Alex are back diving deep into the selected works of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, this week moving over...

Send us Fan Mail "Folks tend to call him 'The Man of Steel' nowadays. I guess that he's the most famous person in the world... not that he was ever interested in being famous in the first place." Welcome to another week of the Storied Arcs podcast as Mike and Alex continue their look into the works of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, this time diving in Superman For All Seasons (is...

Send us Fan Mail "I made a promise to my parents that I would rid the city of the evil that took their lives. No matter what that evil looks like or becomes. I believe someday I will make good on that promise. I have to. I believe in Batman ." In this very special (and very long) episode, Mike and Alex are pleased to welcome their good friend Drew (aka the person we're pretty sure i...

Send us Fan Mail And now for something (not entirely) completely different. For this season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex are taking a detour away from creator-owned, independent comics and stepping into the caped and cowled world of mainstream, Big Two (that's Marvel and DC) superhero comics. But with a twist. The through line of the season isn't a character or title, but creators, wri...

Send us Fan Mail This is a very special one-off episode. Alex and Mike were asked to host a meet-up night at a local Cincinnati Manga shop (Manga Manga.) We recorded the entire discussion and you can hear us discuss western comics, manga, and more!  Keep your notes app open since there are a ton of great recommendations we gathered from people in attendance.  Here are some of the recommendations: ...

Send us Fan Mail "I... I want purpose. To contribute. I want to be accepted by society... live in a world I don't have to hide in... make choices without being in constant fear of them destroying me or the ones I care about." Mike and Alex are here to dive deep into the final arc of Alex + Ada (issues #11-15) and they do so by hitting on what they think may be the secret theme of th...

Send us Fan Mail "Technology will always advance. But we need to be careful as we advance that we have humans always at the center of our best interests." Mike and Alex are back to dive into right into Alex + Ada Volume 2 (issues #6-10) from Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna. The guys discuss how much they enjoyed this story arc versus the opening one and what they thought was improved betw...

Send us Fan Mail "It's complicated, what makes a person. I think... part of it is experiences- whether you seek them out or they come to you- and your reactions to them." In this new season of Storied Arcs, Mike and Alex jump back into the world of robots and androids and artificial intelligence as they begin their deep dive into Sarah Vaughn and Jonathan Luna's sci-fi love sto...

Send us Fan Mail For the next season of Stored Arcs, Mike and Alex are jumping back into the world of androids and A.I. as they dive into Alex + Ada by Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn from Image Comics. The guys talk about what drew them to this book (and why it maybe took a little longer for them to start reading it than some other books) and give a little, lightly spoiled, tease as to what it&apo...

Send us Fan Mail "He's always got some eminently pragmatic blanket solution for a world that's complex and irrational and... and human." We've come to the end of another season of Storied Arcs, but before we move on, we have to discuss the final part of Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' political-slash-superhero tale, Ex Machina Deluxe Volume 5 (issues 41-50 plus Spec...

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...