Episode 235: Reviews of Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero and the DC Hanna-Barbera Specials - a podcast by Stergios Botzakis & Derek Royal

from 2017-04-12T15:15:12

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This week Andy and Derek discuss five new titles. They start off with Michael DeForge's latest book, Sticks Angelica, Folk Hero (Drawn and Quarterly). While this is an unusual story, it's nonetheless one of DeForge's most conventional stories, at least when compared to many of his previous works. It's an episodic narrative about its titular character, a multi-talented 49-year-old woman who moves to a Canadian national park to escape a scandal surrounding her rich father's finances. There she befriends a bunny named Oatmeal, a moose lawyer who goes by the name "Lisa Hanawalt," a love-struck eel, a "marked" young woman called Girl McNally, dumb geese, proxy ants, a bear chronicler, and the park's wannabe reporter "Michael DeForge." Did we mention that this is one of DeForge's more conventional stories? This title began as a webcomic on Tumblr, and while people can still find the complete comic up and available, the guys strongly recommend that listeners get the new book to fully take in the physical, tactile experience.

Next, the Two Guys with PhDs turn to the four new Hanna-Barbera one-shots from DC Comics: the Adam Strange/Future Quest Special (by Mark Andreyko, Jeff Parker, and Steve Lieber), the Booster Gold/The Flintstones Special (Mark Russell, Rick Leonardi, and Scott Hanna), the Green Lantern/Space Ghost Special (James Tynion IV, Christopher Sebela, and Ariel Olivetti), and the Suicide Squad/The Banana Splits Special (Tony Bedard, Ben Caldwell, and Mark Morales). They both enjoy all four of the titles, although Derek has some reservations about the Suicide Squad/Banana Splits team-up, and Andy feels that the Green Lantern/Space Ghost one is a missed opportunity. But they spend about as much time discussing the short backups in these four specials, with Howard Chaykin's Ruff 'n' Reddy being a standout. Is that any surprise?

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