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#858 Celebrating 20 years by reviewing a 20-year-old film ("Superman Returns")

Release Date: 12/03/2025

#858 Celebrating 20 years by reviewing a 20-year-old film ("Superman Returns")

Deconstructing Comics

Our first episode was released on December 5, 2005. After 20 years of changes in focus, format, and personnel, as well as Tim self-teaching audio editing, this time we look back at some of what's changed. Also: In our first episode, Tim, Brandon, and Mulele discussed ; this time, Tim, Kumar, and Emmet review the film! Episodes mentioned: Brought to you by:

#857 Carol Tyler's "The Ephemerata": Making sense of the worst of all possible stretches

Deconstructing Comics

Longtime comics creator Carol Tyler went through a horrific stretch in her life where she lost numerous loved ones, from her parents, to a neighbor, to her dog, in just a six-year stretch. Many other things of varying levels of horribleness happened within that time, too. Her response is not so much to tell us what she's learned from the experience as to simply try to learn something from it by making a graphic novel about it, which she called The Ephemerata. This week, Tim is joined by Juan Mah y Busch to review. Brought to you by:

#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:

#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:

#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...

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:

#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:

#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:

#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:

#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....

More Episodes

Superman Returns

Our first episode was released on December 5, 2005. After 20 years of changes in focus, format, and personnel, as well as Tim self-teaching audio editing, this time we look back at some of what's changed. Also: In our first episode, Tim, Brandon, and Mulele discussed the teaser trailer for Superman Returns; this time, Tim, Kumar, and Emmet review the film!

Episodes mentioned:

Brought to you by:

- Checkered Past podcast
- Our supporters on Patreon

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