Episode 15: The Sandman vol. 1: Preludes and Nocturnes

Neil Gaiman is a household name in numerous mediums for his work in modern, dark, fantasy stories, and Sandman is considered one of his perennial stories in the genre. Today we will be discussing the first collected work, Preludes and Nocturnes, which covers issues 1 through 8 of the Vertigo series.

Join us as we discuss one of the few comic books Time magazine is comfortable calling a literary work.

Click here to buy volume 1 from Amazon.com.

Episode 14: Knock Your Heart Out!

George Asakura’s Knock Your Heart Out! is a collection of coming-of-age romance vignettes focused on that magical time in middle school when hormones run wild and we all think we know what love is and what we want out it.

There’s cheating, fights, blackmail, and oh, so much heartbreak. It’s the perfect read for this upcoming Valentine’s Day!

Unfortunately this story is not officially licensed in America, so we can’t give you a link for it. If your Google-fu is strong, I’m sure you can find it online. However, if you like reading about relationships that take the road less traveled, check out Stjepan Sejic’s Sunstone, which is about two women beginning to explore a BDSM relationship with each other. This was recommended by a listener, and it’s an oddly adorable story with some of the best artwork I’ve seen this year.

Episode 13: Blacksad

Blacksad is a unique detective noir series created by writer Juan Díaz Canales (writer) and artist Juanjo Guarnido (artist) using 1950s America as the setting and anthropomorphic people as the characters. It is an internationally acclaimed series, winning three Eisner nominations and the Angoulême Prize for Artwork.

With cat detective John Blacksad as our protagonist, we experience beautifully crafted mystery stories under the backdrop of poignant historical touchstones, such as segregration and the Red Scare, all shown through Guarnido’s expertly crafted water colored artwork. If you are even a casual fan of this genre, this (currently) five-book series is a must-read for you.

Click here to purchase the first book on Amazon.

Episode 12: A Classy Chat with Beautiful Scars co-creator, Guin Thompson

In this episode, we have the pleasure of talking to Guin Thompson, the co-creator of the graphic novel Beautiful Scars. This book is a story-within-a-story, where a young girl Maddie notices her grandfather’s scars, each one with a story of their own. His tales inspire her in adulthood, where Maddie’s published fairy tale run in symbolic parallels to her grandfather’s life. It’s a wonderful book that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike!

Click here to preview some pages of the book, as well as read an interview with the creators.

Click here to buy Guin Thompson’s and Durwin Talon’s Beautiful Scars!

Episode 11: New Lone Wolf and Cub

In this episode, we discuss the first volume to Kazuo Koike’s New Lone Wolf and Cub, the sequel to the seminal samurai manga Lone Wolf and Cub. We unfortunately have to spoil the original series’ ending, but come on that came out in the seventies and these things have an expiration date.

We discuss the new directions the story may be going in, the new artist, the Koike conventions of writing, and also how the deceased artist of the original series, Goseki Kojima was remembered and honored in the new book.

Check it out on amazon or wherever fine comics are sold.

Stream here:

 

Episode 10: A Classy Chat with Dan Dougherty

In today’s episode, we got the chance to sit down and talk to comics creator and illustrator Dan Dougherty, who we met at Indiana Comicon. The man has quite the bibliography to his name, with comics such as  Bob Howard: Plumber of the Unknown, Haunting Tales of Horrorbles and the award-winning auto-bio comic strip Beardo. He’s also illustrated children’s books such as Sam and the Jungle Band and You Got a Boogie. He also has a band called Dan Dougherty and the Tone Bone.

We talk to Dan about his experience with cons and collaborating with other artists. We also discuss his more recent works, such as The Apocalypse Plan and especially his supernatural thriller Touching Evil. Jake and I give Touching Evil a big thumbs up, and if want to be classy like us you should buy a comic, or even the current series. You can also check out Dan’s other works here. I can especially vouch for The Apocalypse Plan book in his store.

If you’d like to follow Dan, try his Twitter or his Beardo page on Facebook.

 

Episode 9: X-Men: Days of Future Past

In this episode, we discuss Chris Claremont and John Byrne’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, one of the most well-remembered time travel stories and a seminal X-Men tale. We also discuss the movie of the same name that is now out in theaters.

Did you know this story was only two issues long? You did? Oh well that’s cool I guess.

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Upcoming Episode! The Parlour Room, Featuring Dan Dougherty!

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Hello there, classy ladies and gents. This Friday, we will be having our first guest on the the Get Classy podcast. His name is Dan Dougherty, and he is an accomplished writer, artist, and musician. He is a winner of the Shel Dorf Award for comic strip of the year, and has acclaimed works such as:

• The autobio daily comic strip Beardo
• The Touching Evil comics, which he created
• The Apocalypse Plan, which he illustrated with frequent collaborator Rafael Nieves
• And much more!

We met Dan at Indiana Comicon, and he’s currently on a convention tour. He’ll be at Indiana Pop Con May 30 –  June 1. We’re looking forward to having Dan on the show so he talk about his projects and life as an independent artist. If you’d like to submit some questions for the interview, there’s plenty of options!

• Write to us at our email, daneandjakegetclassy@gmail.com
• Comment below this post
• Comment in the facebook fan page
• Tweet us some tweets on the Twitter

We look forward to hearing from you!

Episode 8: A Contract with God and other Tenement Stories

In this episode, we discuss Will Eisner’s A Contract with God and Other Tenement Stories, arguable the first graphic novel. This was my pick, and one of my favorite comics. It’s Eisner’s retelling from various memories of his childhood in 1930s New York City. It’s an incredibly honest and expressive book, and it gives you something to think about as well as just entertain you on a visceral level.

Jake and Emily of course kick in some great commentary on the nature of God and how hopes and dreams worked in the 1930s (Hint: Not well). It’s a beautiful book and worth a look for anyone who wants to see some of the potential that comics can aspire toward.

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Episode 7: Understanding Comics

In this episode, we discuss Scott McCloud’s educational comic about comics, Understanding Comics. We had a great discussion on how McCloud classified different storytelling techniques and just a good old academic talk on art in general. If you want to gain a better understanding of why you like comics so much, this is the book for you.

Stream here: