Chris and Steven dive into the first five issues of BLUE DEVIL (DC Comics, 1984), a comic book scientifically proven to be the most outrageously fun title of the 1980s; the madcap insanity of it all was written by Dan Mishkin & Gary Cohn, penciled by Paris Cullins, and inked by Pablo Marcos and Gary Martin. Join us, flashback party people… Circuits and Sorcery await you!

COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) and Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

⏱ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Intro + Theme Song

00:47 - So who is this Blue Devil guy, anyway?

03:47 - Pop Culture of the day in 1984

05:52 - Dick Giordano’s admirably bold thoughts on DC Comics’ mission in 1984

12:07 - What is the actual story for BLUE DEVIL?

18:49 - “Fun” comics vs. “artsy-schmartsy” comics

30:16 - The fascinating original “pitch document” for BLUE DEVIL

36:41 - Paris Cullins’ extraordinary creature design skills, epitomized by the unique look of the insectoid demon, Nebeiros

47:35 - Chris blows Steven’s mind by revealing that this one thing that comic artists do, y'know, that thing... Well, it has a name... Behold! "The De Luca Effect!"

01:05:06 - That good ol’ green metalhead, Metallo: B+ Superman villain or total clownshow?

01:10:42 - Holy Circuits & Sorcery, Batman! What happens when technology collides with ancient occult practices?!

01:21:05 - Blue Devil challenges Superman to a little arm wrestling match!

01:22:37 - Sparks fly! Instant romantic chemistry between Blue Devil and Zatanna

01:49:07 - The historically whimsical nature of most DC Comics as opposed to Marvel’s (mostly) scary “realism”

02:05:48 - THAT MOMENT where Zatanna grabs both of Blue Devil’s horns and kisses him on the mouth (no, really)

02:07:45 - So... How exactly is BLUE DEVIL remembered today?

02:13:16 - Alan Moore’s WATCHMEN and Frank Miller’s THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS -- how they brought about the “grim ‘n gritty” era of comics, ending the times represented by BLUE DEVIL

02:15:02 - The highwire tightrope act for writers of being simultaneously light AND heavy, detouring into critiques of DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, plus Quentin Tarantino’s entire oeuvre

02:23:18 - What modern comic books actually feel like BLUE DEVIL? Let us know!


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+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







#dccomics #vertigocomics #alanmoore #comicbooks #new #content #80scomics #explained #indiecomics #scificomics #marvelcomics #horrorstories #spaceopera #scifi

Chris and Steven explore the first few issues of Don McGregor and Paul Gulacy's groundbreaking series, SABRE — a surreal, post-apocalyptic spectacle.

COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) and Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.


SHOW NOTES:

00:52 - Some background info on the storyline for SABRE — the first “graphic album” for the direct market — a sci-fi story set in the “distant future of 2,018” LOL

4:40 - Don McGregor’s delightfully ornery introductory essay to the Image reprint of SABRE.

14:55 - The “throw you in the deep end”-style storytelling of SABRE — in media res, wildly expository and dense dialogue, the art of melodrama — all of it in service of casting a rather immersive spell.

18:33 - Soliloquies in Shakespeare and SABRE — “thought balloons” spoken aloud, and the eternal battle to believe in a smart audience that wants to be challenged.

23:14 - “Pure comics!” A post-apocalyptic ghost of an amusement park and the bizarre evildoer known as Grouse — a rapscallion refugee from an animated film/Nazi cat-rat… The high weirdness of stories built specifically for comics.

25:34 - The gloriously purple prose of Don McGregor and how Paul Gulacy’s stunning artwork is at risk of being drowned under a roaring river of words.

41:35 - Paul Gulacy in 1978 was merely 25 years old, and yet creating impressively lovely, Steranko-influenced art with a bizarre plasticine rigidity all its own.

43:14 - Paul Gulacy never read “How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way” …and that’s absolutely not a problem!

47:13 - Don McGregor making life Hell for Paul Gulacy — “Draw me a giant train crash and a massive gun battle with dozens of characters... on horseback!”

57:56 - Lord help us, we attempt to describe the psychedelic visual world of SABRE and its wild cast of characters.

1:06:14 - The inconcievable notion of releasing a comic book as narratively dense as SABRE in the ADD world of today.

1:12:53 - SABRE: THE EARLY FUTURE YEARS - a SABRE relaunch from Don McGregor …and Trevor Von Eeden?!! The Kickstarter that almost was.…

01:19:26 - SABRE is a story about battling conformity and this also appeared to be one of Don McGregor’s chief battles in life.

1:23:52 - The British Invasion in comics — and their florid, evocative prose stylings — owe a debt to Don McGregor’s poetic voice in his vast ouevre (BLACK PANTHER, KILLRAVEN, NATHANIEL DUSK, DETECTIVES INC, and, of course, SABRE), with a detour into how impossible it was to ink the amazing Gene Colan.

1:26:45 - McGregor’s impassioned, provocative text piece in SABRE #2, pushing back on the regressive culture

Drop us a line!

+ Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain

+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







#dccomics #vertigocomics #alanmoore #comicbooks #new #content #80scomics #explained #indiecomics #scificomics #marvelcomics #horrorstories #spaceopera #scifi

Steven and Chris embark on the paradigm-shattering psychedelic trip that is the first seven issues of THRILLER — published by DC Comics in 1983 — and find themselves awestruck in its wake. One thing is certain: Trevor Von Eeden is a goddamn genius.

COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

SHOW NOTES ++ See our YouTube vid for art! ++ https://youtu.be/V8VR90DYhIk

00:00 - Intro music

00:30 - Steven explains why this episode might be his FAVORITE EPISODE EVER of CRYB!

2:06 - Chris recounts what else was happening in pop culture in America in 1983 -- at the time THRILLER came into being.

03:21 - The “connection” between MJ’s THRILLER and RLF & TVE’s THRILLER

04:37 - The perils of being “too ahead of your time” as an artist

06:05 - The shockingly unprofessional and hostile conduct of THRILLER’s editor that helped to seal the comic’s fate

18:02- Discussing our first exposure to this unsung “shock-your-brain" idea bomb of a comic

27:13 - An attempt to summarize this unwieldy pulp beast of a story, with an assist from Robert Loren Fleming, as well as discursive detours into THE SHADOW, DOC SAVAGE, and the great Richard Pryor

37:14 - Unconventional pacing in THRILLER and the powerful "delayed cumulative impact" of its story rhythms

41:10 - Novel panel compositions ("an obscene amount of panels!"), storytelling innovations, and the downright psychedelic properties of THRILLER. “…an incredible sense of discovery... Trevor Von Eeden (TVE) is literally inventing new storytelling mechanics on every page." "It's impossible for us to convey verbally how inventive this guy was.”

55:50 - The rare artistic vision of Trevor Von Eeden --

1:01:23 - TVE’s atypical, kinetic, emotionally resonant approach to inking. "...no one was finishing their work with this roughness and gestural vitality... Von Eeden is all about the emotion..." With detours into the styles of Alex Toth, Neal Adams, and David Mazzucchelli

1:06:24 - Drawing characters "acting" without masks in non-superhero comics

01:21:08 - How David Mazzucchelli’s relatively small body of work that casts a huge shadow

1:29:11 - Why Von Eeden passed on BATMAN: YEAR ONE

1:52:14 - Dick Giordano’s inking of TVE, plus TVE being uniquely unrecognized for an artist of his caliber

02:05:18 - Celebrating the vibrant and unique voice of Robert Loren Fleming — way ahead of his time in his decompressed approach to comic book storytelling, as well as the bold originality of his ideas

02:00:29 - Reading from Heidi

Drop us a line!

+ Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.

+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain

+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE




©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!







#dccomics #vertigocomics #alanmoore #comicbooks #new #content #80scomics #explained #indiecomics #scificomics #marvelcomics #horrorstories #spaceopera #scifi