In this episode, Chris -- in his first one-shot solo episode -- discusses the fan favorite scifi adventure comic ATARI FORCE (1984), written by Gerry Conway and drawn by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez. A special projects DC Comics' series took inspiration for the legendary Atari 2600 video game console.

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Comics Rot Your Brain! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few noteworthy exceptions). Screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.

⏱ SHOW NOTES

00:00 Theme song
01:10 The origins of the Atari Force comic.
01:45 What does ATARI Force stand for?
02:23 Who were the original members?
02:59 The 80s SciFi staple - Mankind has crippled Earth
3:30 Pop Culture Minute of the Time
06:15 The main characters of ATARI Force
06:37 Discussing Issue One
13:09 Introducing the Nameless Villain
16:24 Kidnapping Bade harkens back to TransAtlantic Slave Trade
18:21 Praising Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez's Art
29:16 Discussing Issue Two
34:!5 Poignant Moment for Tempest
36:09 Introducing Martin Champion from the original team
39:46 Ciritique of First Mate on Slave Ship
44:10 Dart's background and how is shapes her internal conflict
49:00 The First Fact File
50:53 Gerry Conway explains how he got involved with Atari Force
53:16 Discussing Issue Three
1:01:10 Lamenting No TPB for Atari Force
1:03:14 Pining Over Lost Art of Thought Balloons
1:13:30 Andy Helfer's Confesson
1:18:14 Wrap Up Discussion


©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!

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In this One-Shot episode,.Steve does a solor discussion on Trevor von Eeden's work on the long-running Batman and Superman team-up book, WORLD'S FINEST.

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In this episode, Steve and Chris discuss the serialized story, GENERATION ZERO, from Marvel Comics' defunct Epic Comics flagship book, Epic Illustrated. A sci-fi story written by long-time comic industry luminary Archie Goodwin with painted art by the famed Spanish cartoonist, Pepe Moreno.

Check out more of Pepe Moreno's art at https://pepemorenostudio.com/

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0:00:00 - Music & Intro
0:02:55 - Primer on Generation Zero
0:07:26 - Contextualizing Contemporary Pop Culture
0:17:35 - Moreno on his love of America
0:20:46 - Praise of Archie Goodwin as Editor and Writer
0:24:09 - Discussing Chapter One (Epic Illustrated 17)
0:47:38 - The issues of Epic Illustrated that contain Generation Zero
0:48:10 - Irony of the collected version by DC Comics
0:50:00 - Obscure nature of Generation Zero
0:52:08 - Discussing Chapter Two (Epic Illustrated 18)
1:05:18 - Discussing Chapter Three, "Desert Hunt" (Epic Illustrated 19)
1:17:21 - Moreno's penchant of Suspect Page Design Readability
1:24:40 - Discussion Chapter Four, "The Rat's Nest" (Epic Illustrated 20)
1:27:00 - The Lived-In Detail to Moreno's Incredible Casablanca
1:30:00 - Inexplicable Cybernetic Arm Non-continuity
1:50:18 - Discussing Chapter Five, "Jungle Trail" (Epic Illustrated 21)
1:55:48 - Yonomani Tribe makes an appearance?
2:12:16 - Discussing Chapter Six, "Terror In Paradise" (Epic Illustrated 22)
2:25:50 - Shock at the giant story reveal!
2:26:55 - Discussing Chapter Seven, "The Last Battle" (Epic Illustrated 23)
2:29:22 - Odd letdown of exposing the lingering mystery of Juan's father
2:54:47 - Discussing Chapter Eight, "Face To Face" (Epic Illustrated 24)
2:55:00 - The inappropriate nature of the cover art
3:19:00 - Steve's Theory that there were supposed to a follow-up series
3:27:00 - Talk about what made Epic Comics line so special

Copyright © 2024 Comics Rot Your Brain

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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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#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!

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+ 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.

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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

In this episode, Chris and Steven confront highly disturbing revelations about the CIA and American global politics, courtesy of the explosive whistleblower comic, BROUGHT TO LIGHT (Eclipse Comics, 1988), written by Alan Moore and drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz. Buckle up, folks. This is a wild one. BROUGHT TO LIGHT really is the most dangerous comic book ever published!

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


SHOW NOTES
0:00 - CRYB! theme song

01:07 - The origins of BROUGHT TO LIGHT: The Christic Institute, Eclipse Comics, Cat Yronwode, Dean Mullaney, Alan Moore, Bill Sienkiewicz, Warner Books, the CIA, the U.S. government, and the target on everyone's back for even telling this story

14:49 - “How America Was Robbed...”

17:17 - An American eagle walks into a bar... A discussion of the audacious narrative conceit of this comic

23:42 - Swimming pools of blood as a visual metaphor ...for the horrifying worldwide death toll caused by far-reaching immoral CIA covert operations ...and for the U.S. government's secret involvement in a multitude of global assassinations and coups = “An infographic from Hell”

28:47 - “I want to talk about Sienkiewicz’s art.” “We need to.”

38:55 - A reading from the gospel of our CIA eagle-agent guy and his squawkings about the assassination of JFK

44:35 - “An assault on your whole belief in America.” In the spirit of Noam Chomsky & Manufacturing Consent

46:29 - The suppression and burial of BROUGHT TO LIGHT

57:30 - Peak Alan Moore and peak Bill Sienkiewicz -- reinventing comics with everything they do at this point

1:02:08 - Our eagle agent contemplates suicide with a gun to his own head; the brilliant juxtaposition between Moore’s words and Sienkiewicz’s pictures

1:15:00 - Things get meta. The eagle goes after The Christic Institute with vitriol and makes his final desperate case to us, the readers

1:21:17 - Creators who risk infusing their art with their own deeply held political beliefs

1:28:14 - Sienkiewicz’s stunningly-wrought hand-done lettering on BROUGHT TO LIGHT; Steven's eternal soliloquy raging against the dying of the light, as the scourge of font lettering comes over the hillside like a plague of end-time locusts devouring modern comics, etc.







©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!




#alanmoore #billsienkiewicz #sienkiewicz #comicbooks #new #content #explained #bronzeagecomics #80s #eclipsecomics #catyronwode #cia #whistleblower

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+ 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




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

Chris and Steven testify before you all, spilling their guts on how DC Comics’ OG Superheroes were laid low by the spectre of McCarthyism in “The Red Scare” era of post-WWII USA. This is their battle to rise again in THE GOLDEN AGE (1993), written by James Robinson, drawn by Paul Smith, colored by Richard Ory, and lettered by John Costanza. Will our motley gang of “dirty commies!” triumph in this Elseworlds tale? Featuring OG Hawkman, OG Green Lantern, OG Starman, OG Flash, OG Sandman, Robotman, OG version of The Atom, Hourman, Liberty Bell, The Tarantula, etc.

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


SHOW NOTES

02:01 - Introducing the creative team, explaning the concept behind DC Comics’ Elseworlds stories, and summarizing THE GOLDEN AGE

10:03 - Hot take alert! Chris makes the bold claim that THE GOLDEN AGE is “as good or better than WATCHMEN” …and, in fact, HE likes GA better!

39:44 - Richard Ory’s exquisite coloring in THE GOLDEN AGE — how the heck did he do it? Chris has the scoop, straight from the horse’s mouth — a CRYB! exclusive

43:27 - Paul Smith’s artistic influences, plus what exactly is his peak period?

57:35 - The rarely used literary device of “Second Person Narration,” deployed expertly by James Robinson here in THE GOLDEN AGE

1:04:10 - The art and design for Paul Smith’s classic covers

1:12:21 - THE GOLDEN AGE’s surprisingly disturbing hallucinatory imagery — rats, eagles, and folks’ faces being chewed off!

1:16:18 - Chris declares that when it comes to being a wordsmith, the Tarantula ain’t no Fitzgerald; we read some of the prose aloud, just to be sure

1:26:00 - Circling back on the comparison to Moore & Gibbons’ WATCHMEN with a detour through Lindelof/HBO’s WATCHMEN, expanding into a discussion of the built-in dramatic weight afforded one when telling stories with iconic characters

1:44:36 - The ability to make extreme choices in storytelling with non-mainstream characters, evolving into some ruminations on DC Comics’ Elseworlds line

1:49:43 - The “Eisners Situation” with THE GOLDEN AGE

1:57:24 - Rob Liefeld, Youngblood, Image Comics, Neal Adams, creators’ rights, and big personalities with big dreams

2:07:26 - Terminal City, Dean Motter, Michael Lark, Mister X, Vortex Comics

2:27:00 - More gushing about the amazing art of Paul Smith





©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!




#dccomics #dcuniverse #justicesocietyofamerica #comicbooks #new #content #explained

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+ 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