Tales from the Short Box

It's the last episode of the season! Rj Is going to close us out with one last Ostrander and Madrake pick, Martian Manhunter: Sun of Mars. We had a lot of fun with this one. We get to take a much deeper dive into an otherwise overlooked member of the Justice League.  We talk about the origin of J'onn J'onzz, his unique powersets, and his many secret identities. We even go down a few of the tell-ta...

It's Rj's turn to pick an artist (or a creative team), and we are diving straight into Hell with The Spectre by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake.  We follow Jim Corrigan as he tries to fulfill his quest to understand Evil and confront it.  It's part police procedural, part monster of the week, part murder mystery.  It's got something for everybody! Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Pa...

It's part two of Shaun's Brubaker/Phillips series, and we're going back to Old Hollywood.  We follow a couple of blacklisted screen writers as they try to solve a murder from within the movie industry.  And in typical Brubaker fashion, a lot of bad things happen to good people, and there are not a lot of heroes.  Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/BraveNewWorldsCo...

It's Shaun's turn to pick an artist, and he has predictably brought us some Sean Phillips, and Ed Brubaker.  We're starting off the series with Incognito.  It's a hard boiled sci-fi neo-noir with an anti-hero metahuman twist. In typical Brubaker/Phillips fashion, there are very few likable characters, but somehow the story still pulls you in.  And you're rewarded with some hard-hitting concussive...

Cacey's got another one for us from one of our favorite duos, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely! This week we really stretch our brains with Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery. Join us as we discuss comics and storytelling as metaphysical concepts. And how comics will save your life.     Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/BraveNewWorldsComics   Check out Cacey's...

It's Cacey's turn to pick an artist to showcase for this season, and we're getting a double feature of Frank Quitely and Grant Morrison! We're kicking it off with WE3.  This book covers all 2 emotions: extreme violence, and extreme sadness.  It's like a cross between Homeward Bound and Weapon-X. Trigger warning: this book contains animal cruelty.  If you are sensitive to that kind of thing, feel f...

It's part two of our Alex Ross series as Adam takes us through Kingdom Come.  Mark Waid and Alex Ross team up to bring us a very stark warning about total power.  Set in the not-too-distant-future of 1997 (aka now), Superman returns from a long absence to reign in the new generation of superheroes.  With very mixed results. This book reads like a Where's Waldo of fun easter eggs and "what if" char...

We're back! It's been a long break.  Longer than we expected.  But we are excited to be back doing what we do here.  And that's talk about our favorite comics! This season we are each picking an artist to showcase.  We're coming out swinging with one of the best to ever do it.  Adam's pick is Alex Ross, and we're starting off with Fantastic Four: Full Circle.  This was a special project that showc...

Hey Everybody! We've been gone a long time, and we're going to be gone a little while longer, but we wanted to get in your feed and talk to you all about what is coming up next season.  We also have some changes coming that we wanted to give you a heads up for.  As always, the best way to reach out to us or stay informed is through our discord (link below.) See you all soon!  Support Tales From Th...

We dig into our back issues once again for another episode of TFTSB Classics.  This week it's TFTSB #190.  Frined of the shop and long time listener JenaLee brought us SHE HULK by Rainbow Rowell, with art by Roge Antonio, Luca Maresca, & Takeshi Miyazawa.  We had a lot of fun with this one.  This book has a lot of heart and gets close to the character in ways we haven't seen before.    Support Tal...

It's another round of TFTSB classics, where we're revisiting some of our favorite episodes.  This week we are coming back to TFTSB #192.  We are joined by close friend of the Shop, Faust.  They have brought us one of their favorite books, Rick Remender's run on Uncanny X-Force: Apocalypse.   SPOILER WARNING! We do spoil the end of this arc AND talk a bit about the ramifications that has on the res...

For this season's break, we are going back to some of our favorite episodes.  This week, we're going to revisit a conversation with one of our favorite writers (and friend of the show) Leah Williams (X-Factor, Power Girl, Gotham City Sirens). Leah brought us one of her favorite books, Land of the Lustrous by Haruko Ichikawa.  It's a weird, genre bending epic with a little bit of everything.  Take...

For this season's break, we are going back to some of our favorite episodes.  This is TFTSB episode 199, where we talked to Jackson Lanzig(NYX, Batman Beyond, Star Trek) about one of his favorite books Tale Of Sand by Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl, and Ramon K Perez.  In the spirit of re-runs, this felt like an obvious first choice given the infinite re-readability of this incredible visual story. This w...

It is our last episode of the season and it is RJ's turn to pick a title from last year.  He has brought us the wonderfully quirky and strange murder mystery, Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol 1: The Case of the Missing Men by Kris Bertin and Alexander Forbes.  This was such a fun small town mystery with some really strange elements.    Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.co...

It's Rj's turn to take us back to the year of his birth.  It's 1994, and we are diving head first into Starman by James Robinson, Tony Harris and Wade Von GanBadger.  It was a great year for comics, and this is a great pick.  We follow a reluctant hero as he deals with the generational baggage of being the third Starman.     Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/Brav...

It's time for Last Week's Comics! We've got a lot of fun, alternate universe action this week. Also Logan's body hair, gross science experiments, and Cacey over-shares.  Pull List (with spoiler time stamps): 00:09:55 - Batgirl #7 00:17:46 -  Ultimate Wolverine #5 00:25:23 - Absolute Superman #7 00:37:53 - Los Monstrous Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/BraveNewWo...

It's Adam's turn to pick a book from last year, and he's bringing us Deviant by James Tynion IV and Joshua Hixon.  This is a nailbiting ho-done-it that kept us all in suspense up to the very last panel.  We all had a lot to say about this one, as it landed right in each of our wheelhouses for different reasons.  It had a neo-noir style mystery at its core, it touched on serial killer lore, and als...

It's once again time for another hour of talking about last week's comics! We get into the important questions.  Like how would Martian powers manifest in a gorilla body? How much beef can a velociraptor eat? Who has the right of way on a two-way stop? And so much more!   Pull List (with spoiler time stamps): 00:13:53 - Justice League Unlimited #6 00:25:28 - Green Lantern Dark #4 00:38:21 - Absolu...

It's Adam's turn to take us back to the year of his birth. And why not also go back to the birth of comics? It's 1985 and we're talking about The Dreamer by Will Eisner. This is the semi-autobiographical story of not only Eisner's rise as one of the best to ever do it, but the story of comics itself. It's a love letter to comics as told in one of the first "Graphic novels."    Support Tales From T...

It's that time again.  Time for Last Week's Comics.  Join us as we celebrate the kickoff of Superman Summer.  Also bad films by great directors, squelchy reconstructions, and Wolverine doing  what he's best at.    Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/BraveNewWorldsComics  

It's Shaun's turn to pick a book from last year, and he has brought us the post-disaster coming of age story In Utero by Chris Gooch.  What happens when two monsters have a drag out fight under the streets of a major city? What kind of friends will we make along the way? Listen in and find out!   Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patreon.com/BraveNewWorldsComics  

It's Wednesday, so it's time for last week's comics! This week is full of some staple favorites.  Also late night double features, silent ninjas, and ghost gentrification. Pull List (with spoiler time stamps): 00:11:22 - Ultimates #11 00:21:00 - GI Joe A Real American Hero: Silent Missions - Jinx 00:27:17 - Batman: Dark Patterns #5 00:36:07- -Amazing Spider-Man #1   Support Tales From The Short Bo...

It's Shaun's turn to take us back to the year of his birth, and we are going back to 1988 with Batman: The Cult by Jim Starlin, Bernie Wrightson, and Bill Wray.  We find Batman at his lowest as he gets drawn into an underground murder cult.  We explore cult ideology, the masterful work of the creative team, and giant monster trucks!    Support Tales From The Short Box by joining our Patreon! patre...

Join us as we share our favorite comics from last week and our favorite popcorn recipes. Also more tales form the old-maniverse, Kal-El's crash to Earth, and DC resurrects an old forgotten favorite.  Pull List (with spoiler time stamps): 00:12:41 - Resurrection Man: Quantum Karma #1 00:28:48 - Daredevil: Cold Day in Hell #1 00:42:14 - Absolute Superman #6 00:50:51 - Poison Ivy #32 Support Tales Fr...

Get ready for a squealchy one! This week, we're peeling back the pages of Cacey's pick from 2024: THE RIBBON QUEEN by Garth Ennis, Jacen Burrows, & Dan Brown. One part supernatural revenge elemental unleashed upon some deserving monsters; one part modern social commentary on police brutality and accountability in America; and it all comes together as one powerful (and icky) narrative!             ...