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!

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Digital Strips 234 – Horizons Watch: Corporate Skull and Kick Girl

UPDATED: Midnight here, filling in for Steve, who once again darted off to points unknown with nary a word beforehand. I’ll fill in the blanks for this episode via his hastily scrawled notes. Also, I promise not to sound so off-in-a-cave-somewhere-ish next time.

It’s only right to start this Horizons Watch episode with a comic that shows tremendous promise, despite only having one page posted thus far:

Next up, a mention of the perfect “WTF But This Is Awesome” comic on the web trifecta comprised of:

What is indie? What does this term mean for the various mediums it inhabits? Listen up in the first segment for our thoughts on the matter…

Definitely not in the WTF camp but certainly worth mentioning whenever possible:

This week’s Webcomics News Minute (10:45) has some great mentions, all in a neat, compact case you can carry in your pocket!

Other comics mentioned in our wake:

The music in the Music Break comes to us from the land of goodness that is Overclocked Remix. This particular remix is titled “Mega Man 2: QuickDraw” (17:36). I miss my arm cannon already…

Our Horizons picks this week are varied and awesome, as (nearly) always.

In our discussions we also bring up:

Finally, check the outtakes for that engaging conversation about the previously mentioned Messed Up Amish Guy.

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