"Batman (Without Batman)" comics, especially Gotham Central and Arkham Asylum: Living Hell, the brand-new Gotham Academy and Arkham Manor, as well as great collected series from the last two decades and a light primer on the work of Ed Brubaker.
Brought to you by
IDW Publishing: Check out Ripley's Believe It or Not!: The Classic Cartoons and Wonder Woman: The Classic Cartoons.
Special Guests
Ed Brubaker (comic book db/twitter/wikipedia) Did some of the most-acclaimed writing of the last ten years at The Big Two before recently signing five-year exclusivity with Image. His co-creation of The Winter Soldier and massive run on Captain America were covered lovingly on the longest episode of Giant Size that'll ever exist.
David Loehr is playwright-in-residence at Riverrun Theatre, radio playwright-in-residence for The Incomparable, and is @dloehr
Related Episodes
Extras 17: after-show discussion of Marvel/DC movie slates
Bonus episodes like the above post a day or so later than the episode they correspond to. If you subscribe to the Giant Size Channel Feed, you get everything in one feed.
Ed Brubaker Checklist
Gotham Central (Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka, Michael Lark) is what we spend most of the episode discussing. (TPB Books 1/2/3/4;ComiXology)
Velvet (one TPB so far)
Fatale (almost complete)
Criminal (new TPB from Image in January 2015)
Sleeper (Omnibus is the best way)
The Fade Out (newly-released and great)
Catwoman by Ed Brubaker and Darwyn Cooke is magnificent. (TPB 1/2/3; ComiXology)
Reading/Viewing List
87th Precinct by Ed McBain
Batman: GCPD was a sort of precursor to Gotham Central. It's an OOP 4-issue miniseries, but is not hard to find.
Maggie Sawyer debuted in Metropolis Special Crimes Unit (an OOP 4-issue miniseries)
Powers by Bendis/Oeming is great, and at long last making it to TV (Hardcover/TPB; ComiXology).
Batman: Court of Owls by Snyder/Capullo is a bright spot in the New52, no matter how you slice it (TPB; ComiXology).
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law is one of the best things to come out of Adult Swim.
Arkham Asylum: Living Hell by Dan Slott and Ryan Sook is a true trip into the heart of darkness (TPB).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is John's favorite movie. It still holds up.
Dynamite's Flash Gordon series written by Jeff Parker is a big favorite of both John and David (ComiXology).
Kurt Busiek revived Astro City in 2013.
Stray Bullets Killers (David Lapham) might be JOhn's favorite comic of 2014.
John Allison does Bad Machinery, which has started its process of release in TPB form from Oni Press (TPB 1,2, pre-order 3).
Gotham Academy and Arkham Manor both just began. Give them both a shot and buy the issues if you want them to succeed.
Batgirl #35 marks the shift to a new creative team and the magnificent art of Babs Tarr. You can start here having read nothing.
Robin by Chuck Dixon includes some great work, like A Hero Reborn, Robin: Year One, and Batgirl and Robin: Year One.
Birds of Prey by Gail Simone is a can't-go-wrong pick. (TPB 1/2/3; ComiXology)
Teen Titans Spotlight #13 features Cyborg and Two-Face.
Show Notes and Links
Gerry Duggan is not unloved by this show.
.Serial is one of the best podcasts going as we speak.
