Recorded 24 Aug 2009
Babblers: Bjorn, Lone and Donny with guests Ivan Yeo and Sheldon Goh

Synopsis:   
Along with guests Ivan Yeo and Sheldon Goh, the babblers revisit comics and cover the gamut.  What are comics, graphic novels, and why you would want to broaden your reading horizons to include this medium.  Lone and Bjorn come through with some gems from Scandinavia that is wildly different from the commercial US fares you may be familiar with, and no less interesting.  Also, what are the standouts Ivan and Sheldon will want you to check out. 

Show Length: 1:10:07 mins

Links:

• Edward Gorey (List of works here)
• Superdickery
• Vertigo, imprint of DC Comics
• Joakim Pirinen, Swedish cartoonist
• Pixy, Max Andersson
• Pippi Longstockings
• Bloom County (strip here and here)
• Moomin
• Peter Madsen (gallery)
• Guest: Sheldon Goh (Twitter)
• Guest: Ivan Yeo (uhm, contact Sheldon).

Books Mentioned:

• A Contract With God, Will Eisner
• Maus, Art Spiegelman
• X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, Chris Claremont, Brent Anderson
• Understanding Comics, Scott McCloud
• Batman: Year One, Frank Miller, David Mazzucchelli
• Watchmen, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons
• Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Frank Miller, Klaus Janson
• Cerebus, Dave Sims
• Ex Machina, Vol. 1: The First Hundred Days, Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris
• Sin City, Frank Miller
• American Virgin, Steven T. Seagle, Becky Cloonan
• Bone, Jeff Smith
• Blankets, Craig Thompson
• The Chosen, Chaim Potok
• Alias, Brian Michael Bendis
• Mouse Guard, David Petersen
• Criminal, Ed Brubaker, Sean Philips
• The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore
• Shortcomings, Adrian Tomine

Notes:

• A note from Sheldon after the show:

The term "graphic novel" actually came into popular use after Will Eisner’s "A Contract With God" used it in the late 70′s. Marvel’s graphic novel line later used it to describe original comics works that were longer form and printed on higher quality, larger format paper. "God Loves, Man Kills" wasn’t even the first graphic novel of that series. The first Marvel graphic novel was actually "The Death Of Captain Marvel". The first ever use of the term "graphic novel" pre-dates even Contract With God (you can Wikipedia "graphic novel" if you need the actual details).

• Renee asked me to mention several works, which I did, albeit before I actually did the recording!  They are:
  • R. Crumb, a cartoonist who did works like America and Kafka, among many others.
  • Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, by Gilbert Shelton.  A 60s comics strip with hippies and, uhm, other things.
  • Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury.  An early collection can be found here.

Download episode here.

Synopsis:
You probably won’t know who Marcel is, who joined us a couple of episodes back.  But as we’re time traveling at the moment with Donny being behind on a couple episodes, suffice it to know that Marcel is *one of us*, and as with the other babblers, will dazzle you with his profound knowledge and book geekiness.  The group discusses what was read in the Bookbabble hiatus period, and goes from classics to accidental forays into fantasy to anime and other good stuff.

Show Length: 70:29 mins

Books Mentioned:

• Moby Dick, Herman Melville
• The Road, Cormac McCarthy
• Hardboiled and Hard Luck, Banana Yoshimoto
• A Late Divorce, A.B. Yehoshua
• A Drifting Life, Yoshihiro Tatsumi (Review by Marcel)
• Batman: The Resurrection of Ra’s Al Ghul (Review by Marcel)
• Arkham Asylum, Grant Morrison
• Bill Sienkiewicz
• Gloriana, the Unfulfilled Queen, Michael Moorcock
• Mother London, Michael Moorcock
• Electra, Frank Miller

Links:

• Shigekuni

Download the show here.

Synopsis:
Are graphic novels worth reading?  The babblers discuss the popular medium that is more often maligned and misunderstood, and makes it understandable to all.  Well, we tried, anyway.  Lots of recommendations for first time readers, and for those who’d like to try something new.  Also, Gem still doesn’t like what she sees on top of the book charts, and Wikipedia to be published?

Show Length: 53:40 mins

Recommendations from Scott Saavedra:
Midnight Sun Graphic Novel, Ben Towle
Zombies Calling, Faith Erin Hicks
Paris Collection, Andi Watson and Simon Gane

Links:

• Scott Saavedra (blog)
• SLG publishing
• Das Wikipedia – online resource goes into print

Download the show here.