Episode 296: Reviews of Scratches #2, Now #4, and Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #1 - a podcast by Stergios Botzakis & Derek Royal

Time Codes:

• 00:00:31 - Introduction
• 00:02:38 - Getting ready for Halloween
• 00:06:29 - Scratches #2
• 00:49:27 - Now #4
• 01:22:19 - Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive #1
• 01:36:12 - Wrap up
• 01:37:27 - Contact us

On this episode Sterg and Derek check out two new anthologies, as well as a recent incarnation of Dick Tracy. They begin with Scratches #2, a comics and art anthology curated by Joost Swarte (and distributed in the Americas by Conundrum Press). They actually spend the majority of the episode discussing this collection, which includes mostly European artists. After that they eagerly jump into the latest issue of Eric Reynold's Now. This is Fantagraphics' exciting anthology that began last year. In this issue we see work by, among others, Walt Holcombe, Cynthia Alfonso, Roman Muradov, Tommi Parrish, Theo Ellsworth, Rebecca W. Kirby, and David Alvardo. Finally, they wrap up with Dick Tracy: Dead or Alive#1, the first in a four-issue limited series. Written by Lee and Michael Allred, and with art by Rich Tommaso, this is (to some degree) an updated handling of Dick Tracy in that the legendary detective is fighting crime in the current day. But although temporal setting is contemporary, the issue still has the feel of a classic comic-strip narrative, including big-presence villains, a detective with many tricks up his sleeve, and a storyline that at times seems outrageous...but in a good way. The Two Guys really hope that this Dick Tracy has a long life well after the limited series.

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