Truth, Beauty, Comics

Karem of the yellow hills has murdered Ruthye’s father in cold blood. She’s out for justice and revenge but she’ll need help. Ruthye and Supergirl, who’s dealing with her own trauma, will join forces to hunt down Karem, on a trail that will lead them across a galaxy to the final showdown. It’s basically True Grit in Space. Today on the podcast we into this 2021 miniseries from Tom King and Bilquis...

Two daily newspaper strips, beginning as gag-a-day comics centering on the romantic foibles of their central characters, would feel the irresistible call of adventure: Popeye would step into E. C. Segar’s meandering Thimble Theater and transform it into something more like Treasure Island, with pirates, lost treasure and hamburgers. Wash Tubbs, a short, bespeckled, girl-crazy lead character of Roy...

What do you get when the Spawn of Satan carries a rosary? You get Mike Mignola’s Hellboy, a half-demon, half-human creature adopted by a kindly, devout catholic and raised to fight supernatural evil as a member of the ​​Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. Today Hellboy is a bestseller but his debut was a long-shot. Mignola was miserable and not playing to his strengths drawing typical supe...

After bursting on the scene in the first decade of the 20th century, newspaper comics were exploding in popularity: Weekend sections went from 4, to 8, then to 16, and even 32 pages in 1935. And all those pages made room for a flood of new strips by a talented group of cartoonists: Long-running stories, increasingly complicated characters and plotlines filled the newsprint. We’ll see the first app...

Up until now the world of Bleach has been contained to Ichigo's hometown, high school and circle of friends. That changes in a big way in Volumes 7 & 8 when we finally meet more of the mysterious Soul Society, who show up to arrest Rukia and bring her to justice. Ichigo will have to get stronger quick if he wants to rescue her from these warriors with seemingly unlimited powers.   Today we wra...

Yellow Kid, Little Nemo, Buster Brown – the first few decades of American newspaper comics saw a youthful cast of precocious heroes, villains and every shade in between. Subject matters ranged from the urban, practical jokes of Buster Brown to the vast, intricate dreamscapes of Little Nemo in Slumberland. In its first decades comics entered the world in a glorious explosion of art, vernacular dial...

Ichigo Kurosaki has been acting as a soul reaper for several months now, but how much longer can his secret last? It seems inevitable that his friends will discover the truth, and, more concerningly, new enemies will too. In volumes 4, 5, and 6, Bleach’s world gets bigger, raising questions about friendship, heritage, and the balance between good and evil. We're talking about it today on the podca...

It’s the holiday season in Duckburg and money is in short supply: Donald only has five dollars to scrape together for Christmas presents but nobody has it worse than the kids of Shacktown, the place where people in Duckburg live who are down on their luck. In a burst of Christmas Spirit, the ducks decide to throw a Christmas party for Shacktown with turkeys and a toy train. But to raise the money...

Ichigo is the quintessential steely tough-guy, never smiling, never crying. But he wasn’t always that way. In fact, before his mother was killed, he was altogether different. Today, on the anniversary of his mother’s death, old feelings and memories come back as he and his family visit her grave. But when a familiar ghost girl appears at the graveyard he’ll confront more than just memories from hi...

Today, on a Very Special Episode of Truth, Beauty, Comics we switch up the format to Truth, Beauty, Holiday TV Specials and discuss the 1973 cartoon, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. (It's highly comics-adjacent so we thought we could get away with it.) It's our own Thanksgiving Special so curl up with a huge bowl of gravy and a generous helping of turkey and enjoy!

Tintin joins Professor Alembic on a trip to the kingdom of Syldavia to study their royal seals as a guest of King Ottokar. But a mysterious group has taken a sinister interest in their trip. Tintin races across the landscape of Eastern Europe, trying to stay one step ahead of foreign agents and conspirators, so he can save the throne of Syldavia from a foreign coup. In a story that reflects the de...

Ichigo has always been able to see ghosts but after he meets Rukia, a member of the mysterious Soul Society, he is inducted into the order and becomes a Soul Reaper. Now he’s got to hunt evil spirits, called Hollows, protect his friends and family, and attend high school and keep his grades up. It’s Tite Kubo’s hit manga Bleach with over 130 million copies in circulation and we're talking about it...

Following the trail of a mysterious airplane, Tintin crosses the channel into the United Kingdom. Chased by the police and organized crime, Tintin has his hands full solving the mystery before he runs out of time. He’ll make his way up the length of the isle until finally reaching Scotland and the deadly Black Island. In a story that was drawn and redrawn three times by Herge over thirty years, is...

Valiant is no longer a boy, but he still is not a man. He’s had his first taste of love, which ended in heartbreak, and now he returns to Camelot with the hope of becoming a knight. When Saxons invade, how will Val react? And what will happen when the young man encounters a perfect kingdom with a death wish? Felix and Levi discuss it on the podcast today. As in the previous episodes, we'll be star...

A South American idol is stolen from a local museum and Tintin is on the case. The idol itself isn’t valuable so why are so many people hunting for it? The trail leads Tintin to South America, through a revolution, into the deep jungle and finally back to Europe for the surprising conclusion. It’s Tintin and the Broken Ear, a macguffin-chasing, globe-spanning mystery that could have been written b...

The young Prince Valiant has left the swamps where he explored as a boy and has ventured out into the wider world. He will meet with brave knights, powerful sorcerers, and, most frightening of all, a beautiful young woman! Along the way he’ll encounter adventure and tragedy as his horizons expand across England and beyond. Levi and Felix will chat about all this on today's episode. As in the previ...

Universally acclaimed as the most stunningly gorgeous adventure comic strip of all time, Prince Valiant ran for 35 years under the virtuoso pen of its creator, Hal Foster. It tells the story of a young prince and his adventures in King Arthur's England and beyond. Today we're joined by illustrator and author, Jordan Holt to discuss the beginnings of the medieval adventurer Val as found in Volume 1...

Today we cover the final three issues in the first volume of Jeff Smith's Bone, Out from Boneville. Our cast of characters is complete as Phoney and Fone are reunited with Smiley and we meet Lucius Down, the owner of Barralhaven Tavern--while on the borders of the forest a sinister hooded figure has taken an interest in Phoney Bone, "The One who Bears the Star". We're reading from the One Volume,...

Today we cover the second two issues in Jeff Smith's Bone. We're introduced to Thorn, Grandma Ben, and Phoney Bone returns to be a butt-head. We're reading from the One Volume, Black and White edition.

Today on the podcast we discuss a favorite: Jeff Smith's Bone. In this episode we look at the first issue of what has been called, "the best all-ages graphic novel yet published".  We're reading from the One Volume, Black and White edition.

For our last Fantastic Four podcast we jump forward fifty years to a modern run of the comic, specifically Jonathan Hickman's widely respected time with the characters. We're specifically discussing the "Solve Everything" arc, beginning in issue #570 and illustrated by Dale Eaglesham.   We're reading from Fantastic Four, the Complete Collection Vol 1 by Jonathan Hickman.

Today we discuss, the comic arc hailed as "The Pinnacle of the Silver Age", The Galactus Trilogy by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, where we meet classic characters like the Silver Surfer for the first time. The Fantastic Four and Marvel Comic dip their toe into cosmic horror and make comics history. But is this comic worthy of its high reputation? Felix and Levi give the definitive answer on Truth, Beau...

On today's episode Felix and Levi look at the first appearance of the iconic villains: Dr. Doom and Namor, the Sub-Mariner. What makes a good antagonist and what explains the staying power of these two? Watch the podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/4kkcCAEcwjA

Felix and Levi discuss the breakthrough 1961 Marvel comic, Fantastic Four #1 by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee. It was a bestseller and a breakthrough in its day but how does it hold up?

George Herriman had a secret identity, one that could have lost him his job, his reputation, and even his home. Did Herriman plant hints about his secret, or are people just reading too much into the madcap adventures of a black cat and a white mouse? Felix and Levi discuss Herriman and his work today on the podcast.