#841 Ken Krimstein on Einstein, Kafka, and comics in general
Release Date: 05/21/2025
#856 Jim Keefe interview
Deconstructing Comics
The November 16, 2025, Sally Forth strip, with Jim's color guides at the top. Note the appearance of Gregory and Janine from Abbot Elementary in the first panel! is a longtime comics creator who has worked on the Flash Gordon (art and story) and Sally Forth (art) newspaper strips as well as being King Features' staff colorist. He has also done lettering and retouching for English editions of , and more. This week he talks with Tim about all of this, as well as his time as a student at the Kubert School, dealing with technological change, and more. Brought to you by:
info_outline
#855 Jack Kirby's "Captain America" 214 & Annual 3: Cap vs the Space Vampire!
Deconstructing Comics
Jack Kirby wraps up his run on Captain America and the Falcon with issue 214, the rather underwhelming conclusion of the Night Flyer story. But wait! Kirby also did a couple of annuals, so we dig into annual #3 from 1976. Yeaahhhh, that's the stuff! If you haven't been getting enough PULSE-POUNDING ACTION in your comics, this is the issue for you! Brought to you by:
info_outline
#410 Marvel Comics: Telling the Untold Story
Deconstructing Comics
FLASHBACK! If you’re into American comics at all, you undoubtedly know how Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and others changed the industry with their work in the 1960s, and set the template for kinds of stories Marvel still publishes today. That’s just part of the story that researched for his 2012 book . Through interviews, research of media reports, and of course tons of comics reading, Howe uncovered the backgrounds of many comics stories and rumors that longtime readers may have wondered about. There’s plenty of intra-creator acrimony to be found in its pages, yet Howe...
info_outline
Critiquing Comics #246: "Roy Beckwith and the Cursed Continent" and "A French Expat in the U.K."
Deconstructing Comics
is a western series by Nick Patch, Jarret Katz, and Fabi Marques. It looks great but it runs at a breakneck pace and seems to be introducing a few too many elements. Tim and Jason discuss. A French Expat in the U.K., by , was sold through the LDC Online Comics Fair last summer. It's a quick and evenhanded look at some of the differences between the British and French cultures, as experienced by the author herself. American expats in Japan Tim and Adam take a look. Brought to you by:
info_outline
#854 "Superman" (2025): Its commentary on other supermen
Deconstructing Comics
Last summer's Superman movie was a welcome improvement over many recent films featuring the character, and over much of the recent superhero film entries in general. Kumar and Emmet this week discuss how it comments on Zach Snyder's take, on internet culture, anti-immigrant sentiment, and more. They also address such topics as how the film distinguishes between Superman and Clark Kent, Superman's surprising vulnerability, and the Hall of Justice mural. Brought to you by:
info_outline
#853 The strange history of "Robotech"
Deconstructing Comics
What if your first Star Wars movie were Return of the Jedi? You'd have questions! That's how Tim felt once he got started reading Robotech II: The Sentinels volume 1, a comics continuation of the animated Robotech show that hit the U.S. in 1985. Robotech was a combination of three different anime -- why?? And why is it that, after all these years, the Robotech story doesn't really progress? Tim discusses with longtime Robotech fan Erik Amaya of . Brought to you by:
info_outline
#369 “Krazy Kat”: Show me the bricks
Deconstructing Comics
One of the most highly-regarded English-language strips of all time is George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, featuring the odd love/hate triangle of Krazy, Ignatz, and Officer Pupp. Why was Krazy so gender-ambiguous? How did Herriman’s (somewhat mysterious) racial background influence the strip? Tim and Kumar discuss this and much more. (Originally published September 2, 2013.) Brought to you by:
info_outline
#852 Dan Schkade and "Flash Gordon"
Deconstructing Comics
In 2023, King Features Syndicate decided to bring Flash Gordon, originally created by Alex Raymond and first published in 1934, back from rerun purgatory with new strips, written and drawn by . Dan was also the artist on Dynamite Entertainment’s Will Eisner’s the Spirit Returns in 2016, and is also known for his original work , which ran on Webtoon. This week, Tim talks with him about Flash Gordon and some of the trickier aspects of doing a newspaper strip, including refreshing readers’ memories and getting new readers on board while also moving the story forward a step every day....
info_outline
#358 Carl Barks, “The Good Duck Artist”
Deconstructing Comics
From 1942 to 1966, many of the Donald Duck comic books published by Dell Comics were written and drawn by Carl Barks. Like most comic book creators at the time, his name was unknown; the Duck comics were all credited to Walt Disney. Fans only knew that his work was by the GOOD duck artist. Barks created Scrooge McDuck and many of the other duck characters that are taken for granted as part of Disney canon today. What made Barks the standout Duck artist? Were they meant to be satirical, or simply enjoyable stories? Tim, Kumar, and discuss Barks’ work, particularly the...
info_outline
#851 Jack Kirby’s “Cap and Falcon” 212-213: "I love you, baby!"
Deconstructing Comics
Captain America and the Falcon #212 concludes the Arnim Zola/Red Skull storyline in somewhat perfunctory fashion, and gives a living castle with big teeth much less P.R. than it deserved! In #213 we meet the strange and underutilized assassin the Night Flyer! (Underwhelming name? Must've been named by Jack Kirby!) Tim and Emmet discuss both issues in this episode. Brought to you by:
info_outline
Ken Krimstein's Einstein in Kafkaland: How Albert Fell Down the Rabbit Hole and Came up with the Universe builds on the fact that these two stars of the early 20th century were part of the same friend group at one point and builds it up into what NPR described as “Alice in Wonderland meets The Lives of the Poets meets Krazy Kat.” This week Emmet talks with Ken about the book, the two historical figures featured in it, and the nature of comics itself.
Brought to you by: