Digital Strips Podcast 291 – Red’s Catchup (Red’s Planet)

Olympic fever, mis muchachos! And what better way to complement the games, pitting one country against another in the spirit of sportsmanship and domination than a podcast about webcomics? Tying that all together with a nice, big bow, did you see this week’s Chainsawsuit(8:48) about the Olympics, specifically the oddball mascots that they chose to represent the world’s greatest athletes? Other first segment-type things to discuss…

  • Have you caught up with Wondermark (9:28) lately? If not, you’re missing out on the best, old-school, new-school writing featuring repurposed Victorian-era drawings on offer today.
  • Erfworld (11:48). It’s a comic that I possibly thought was something else, but which is very well done regardless of that fact.
  • No, it’s not the latest movie in the Indiana Jones franchise (though I’d take just about anything that might wash the taste of Crystal Skull out of my mouth). Rather, Tales of the Emerald Yeti (13:05) is a mix of the fish-out-of-water basis of Superman and the man-inside nature of werewolf lore. Steve found an entertaining take on the comic books of the Silver Age, but the style and feel seems hollow after a few pages. Certainly worth a look, though.

During a Facebook conversation with a buddy while editing the show, I asked him if he would like to contribute the episode’s song choice. When asked for a proper piece that followed the intergalactic theme that Red’s Planet inspires, he requested something from the Halo series, specifically the third iteration. Luckily, Overclocked Remixhad only one such work.

We take looks at comics, sometimes for Horizons Watches, sometimes for awards show wrap-ups, that are not nearly long enough to put together the aspects of the story, art, and other pieces of the ever-elusive comic puzzle. While we’re not sure if this will be a regular thing, Red’s Planet (17:53) fit that bill more than perfectly. As a Horizons Watch pick from all the way back in Episode 213, our time with this all-ages, space-faring tale was much too brief. Here, we get a chance to catch-up (hence the hopefully one-time title) with the archives thus far and it is a wonderful journey, indeed. As always, we mention other comics in our discussions:

All this, plus: A tutorial on Mac and Me, the zeitgeist of E.T. vs. the endearing, enduring legacy of Mario, a new perspective on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (Cameron Frye’s Ball-Trippin’ Day Off?), and Steve’s son makes his podcast debut while his dad focuses primarily on gentalia, particularly of the male variety. Join us!

Share