Comics Alternative Interviews: Happy New Yoe! - a podcast by Stergios Botzakis & Derek Royal

Time Codes:

• 00:00:25 - Introduction
• 00:02:13 - Setup of interview
• 00:03:20 - Interview with Craig Yoe
• 01:25:46 - Wrap up
• 01:28:58 - Contact us

It's a new year, and what better way to bring it in than with another Craig Yoe interview! In what has become a Comics Alternative tradition, the Two Guys with PhDs use their very first episode of the year -- not just their first interview, but their very first podcast release -- to talk with Craig and find out what he's been up to. It's what has become known as the guys' Happy New Yoe show!

The fun begins with Andy and Derek asking Craig about his 50th anniversary celebration. As he tells the guys, this year is the golden anniversary of Craig's first contribution to comics culture, a fanzine he published as a kid. And from there, he never looked back. A big part of this celebration is a string of new releases that began late last year. In fact, most of the interview is devoted to a discussion of one of those books, Super Weird Heroes: Outrageous but Real! This is the first of a two-volume -- and maybe a third? -- collection of really strange heroes from comics' Golden Age, written and drawn by some of the medium's most obscure as well as some of its best-known creators. The guys ask Craig about the compilation of this enterprise and its place within the Yoe Books pantheon. They also do deep dives into some of the weirdest of the weird, including the superhero of the cloth The Deacon and his sidekick Mickey; the disembodied hand, The Hand; the crossdressing Madam Fatal; phallic-prone heroes such as Black Cobra, Nature Boy, and The Dart; Kangaroo Man and his Nazi-bashing marsupial pal Bingo; the inexplicable Jeep and Peep; and the nearly naked Phantasmo. Actually, there is a lot of bared flesh to go round in this book.

But the Two Guys also ask Craig about some of his other recent books, including The Return of the Zombies, Jay Disbrow's Monster Invasion, Behaving Madly, Reefer Madness, and the next volume in his Weird Love series. It's an understatement to say that there's a lot to look forward to from Yoe Books in the coming year. Craig Yoe is still the most interviewed guest in Comics Alternative history, and you can rest assured that he'll be back a couple of more times to talk about even more releases in the coming year.

And a special Happy New Year goes out to Clizia Gussoni, Craig's partner and the engine that keeps Yoe Books running. Thank you for all of your help, Clizia!

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