Today on the Comics Syllabus podcast, Paul is joined by Multiversity writer Kent Falkenberg to discuss “Sweet Tooth” by Jeff Lemire from DC/Vertigo. We discuss loss, longing, and the post-apocalyptic animal hybrid survivalist scenario.
[audio: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/330306091-twoplai-sweet-tooth-by-jeff-lemire-dc-vertigo-hassan-otsmane-elhaou-and-panelxpanel.mp3]And in the opening “General Ed” segment, Paul talks to Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou of “Strip Panel Naked” and the new “PanelxPanel” comics criticism digital magazine about comics analysis and commentary.
I’m Paul, and I’m inviting you to join us for another episode of The Comics Syllabus, a comics analysis podcast. Our mantra is, we read widely and we dig deep. Each week, I choose one work from a wide breadth of current and classic comics, including superhero fare, comics from independent publishers and small presses, global comics, newspaper strip archives, and various collected editions. We spend time digging deep into the work from various perspectives, sometimes in actual live conversation with others, sometimes with just me on a mic surrounded by a pile of comics studies and academic books. It’s like a comics seminar, where the only prerequisite is that you love comics.
SPOILER WARNING: The opening “General Ed” segment and the beginning of our discussion about “Sweet Tooth” does not contain spoilers, but soon (at 46:48), we start diving into close-readings of the chosen work. So if you don’t want to be spoiled on the events and details of this work, please go and read it first, and come back to finish the episode with us and enjoy it with us. Consider it homework, but more fun!
LANGUAGE WARNING: This episode contains some tastefully used swears. Hide the children.
AUDIO WEIRDNESS WARNING: Please excuse imperfect audio, especially Paul’s voice turning novocain-warped between roughly 1:10:00 and 1:20:00.
Download the podcast episode here.
NEXT WEEK on the Comics Syllabus: creator Ethan Young talks to us about his Eisner nominated “Nanjing: The Burning City” (Dark Horse), “The Battles of Bridget Lee” (Dark Horse), and “Pilgrim Finch” (STELA).
You can find archives for this podcast (previously named “Study Comics with Paul”) here: http://studycomics.club/
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Thanks for listening!
IMAGES DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE:
Note: All images featured below are from “Sweet Tooth” by Jeff Lemire, with colors by Jose Villarrubia, originally published by DC/Vertigo.
Intimacy and Loss, from “Sweet Tooth” #6 page 12
The Hybrid Cult Armies, from “Sweet Tooth” #14 page 10
Jepperd and Gus, and Lucy, from “Sweet Tooth” #21 page 19
But he loved you, from “Sweet Tooth” #38 page 5
Awesome, from “Sweet Tooth” #32 page 13
