Fairy Tales & Adaptations.

Fairy Tales and somewhat adapted characters are in focus this week.  We take a look at Vertigo’s Fables, the long-running series (over 11 years!) that tries to create something new and unique using characters from European fairy tales. Our quick look of the week is Elric: The Balance Lost, Boom!’s new series featuring with some of classic fantasy writer Michael Moorcock’s beloved characters in a new story.  There are good adaptations and bad adaptations. We discuss which is which and you’ll get a taste of each this week in this comic book podcast.

Next week we get to go a little more off the beaten path with Action Lab’s Double Jumpers, a 4 issue, comedy series about RPG players and their characters swapping roles.  We’ll also take a single issue (there is only one issue thus far) look at The Only Living Boy, an independent release that we hope is as cool as the cover looks.

Links:
Fables on Kindle
Fables on Wikipedia

Elric: The Balance Lost on Comixology
Elric on Wikipedia

Find us on iTunes:
The Counter Culture Comic Podcast on iTunes

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Nick Hemsing
Brock Beauchamp

The post Episode 5: Fables and Elric: The Balance Lost appeared first on SelfCentEnt.

The online fantasy graphic novel Aurorae by Brock Beauchamp. The Aurorae webcomic is property of Brock Beauchamp and SelfCentEnt, all rights reserved. The baker continues to beat himself to death, one blow at a time. Meanwhile, the strange man in Manon’s flashback turns the tide in the battle against the ancient dragon and prepares to deliver a knife blow to the head. Manon and Arnaud, stunned at what is unfolding before their very eyes, will have to leave quickly or the police will surely arrest them and haul them to jail.

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Crazy Scientists and Nefarious Headmasters

Things get a little weird when you switch your recording time and both of us are training for new jobs… so we went a little off the rails at the end. In this episode, it’s Image week at the Counter Culture Comic Book Podcast so we took a look at the twisted, alternate post-WW2 strangefest that is Manhattan Projects.  We also tried to get in touch with our teenage selves with a look at Morning Glories, a book that takes another crack at the oh-so-barren “Dark School with a Hidden Agenda” genre.  That’s not to say we weren’t a little surprised by the material contained within.

Next week we jump into Fables, Vertigo’s 12-year-plus (and still going) series that takes all our old nursery rhymes and fairy tales and dumps them all into one bag in a hidden town in New York City (shocker).  We’ll also see how Boom! takes another crack at Michael Moorcock’s classic angsty warrior/sorcerer in Elric: The Balance Lost.

Links:
The Manhattan Projects on Comixology
The Manhattan Projects Website

Morning Glories on Kindle
Morning Glories Website

Find us on iTunes:
The Counter Culture Comic Podcast on iTunes

Follow us on Twitter:
Nick Hemsing
Brock Beauchamp

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Original indie comics and taking swings at horrible abuses of classic literature.

This week we take a look at a one of the first popular indie comics, Cerebus, and a book under the label Grimm’s Fairy Tales presents Alice in Wonderland that we really tried to like . . . Okay, we didn’t.  We didn’t try to like Alice in Wonderland.  We kind of knew that we wouldn’t like it going in.  We gave it a shot though!  After that, we still didn’t like it.  So, you get our conversation about how we didn’t really care for a craptastic bit of “art” such as this. But hey, at least we talked quite a bit about the strengths and weaknesses of Cerebus. So we made at least a token gesture of reviewing a comic book in this comic book podcast.

Next week, we mercifully move on to a new book and talk about Image’s Manhattan Projects and Morning Glories.

Links:
Cerebus on Comixology
Cerebus on Wikipedia

I refuse to link the abomination that is Alice in Wonderland so here are some adorable puppies.

Find us on iTunes:
The Counter Culture Comic Podcast on iTunes

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Nick Hemsing
Brock Beauchamp

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While Aurorae and the Counter-Culture Comic Podcast are still in their relative infancies, I’m reeling back the amount of conventions I will table in the near future until I’ve established enough content to begin printing books. With that said, I’ll be tabling at the MCBA SpringCon event on May 18-19 in St. Paul, MN on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds property. I’ve attended both of the MCBA events in the past (SpringCon, FallCon) and they’re a blast, attracting some of the best artists in the Midwest and beyond. You can find a list of attendees on their website or by clicking here. Along with a bevy of great creators, there will be loads of dealers selling every back issue your little ol’ heart could desire. I highly suggest coming by the convention, especially if you’ve never attended in the past. The event consumes the main floor of the State Fairgrounds arena and is a good way to kill a weekend day as Minnesota kicks off its summer (if Minnesota plans to get a summer this year, that is).

Because I won’t have any books ready for Aurorae (I’m only 20 pages into the story, for crying out loud), the focus for this convention will be sketches, prints, and other assorted goodies, some of which you can find over at my personal blog site. By the time FallCon rolls around in October, I hope to have actual books to sell (quite a concept, I know). As always, I’ll be offering half-hour or hour sketches of any character you like (for a nominal fee), along with assorted buttons and paraphernalia of the sort.

The convention runs all day Saturday and Sunday and you can find all related information in the links above. If you’re in the Twin Cities area that weekend, be sure to come by and say hello!

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The online fantasy graphic novel Aurorae by Brock Beauchamp. The Aurorae webcomic is property of Brock Beauchamp and SelfCentEnt, all rights reserved. Arnaud is pursued out of the bakery by the angry shop owner and the baker is bearing down on him with a cricket paddle. Left no other choice, Manon, still in the midst of a flashback to an unknown time, leaps on the baker’s back in an attempt to save Arnaud. The baker throws her off his back, which angers Arnaud, who asserts himself and uses a power unknown to him before now…

The post Volume 1: Pages 17 & 18 appeared first on SelfCentEnt.

Writing Influences, Lackluster First Issues, & Skin Suits

This week was new book week so we took a look at Locke & Key, an Eisner award winning dark story from Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez.  Kind of soft ball of us to take on a book we both knew we liked, but we still had some fun with it.  We also go one issue deep into Terry Morre’s current series, Rachel Rising, to get our first impressions.  We had to scrap our initial idea of trying to review a free book every week since all the free books were previews.  So, we dropped a massive 64 cents on this one.  If anything, you can learn why you should never talk about dead air and how to make a Wilford Brimley skin suit.

Next week, we discuss the indy classic Cerebus by Dave Sim! Be sure to check back with us or subscribe to the podcast by clicking a link below or using the menu to the left!

Edit by Brock: In this podcast, I mistakenly refer to Strangers In Paradise as a book from the “early to mid-80s”. Obviously, Terry Moore did not appear on the scene until the early 90s. I was thinking one thing and said another. Also, I realize the title of his early work was “Strangers In Paradise”, not “Strangers from Paradise”. I was battling a serious case of stupid while recording this podcast.

Links:
Locke & Key on Comixology
Locke & Key Website

Rachel Rising on Comixology
Terry Moore Website

Find us on iTunes:
The Counter Culture Comic Podcast on iTunes

Follow us on Twitter:
Nick Hemsing
Brock Beauchamp

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Welcome to the first CCCP comic book podcast!

We rate and review alternative comic books for our listeners!  For a first effort, we’re glad we didn’t have 40 minutes of dead air and we did end up talking a little about ourselves and two comics.  Marvels, a four issue story from 1994 that shows the Marvel characters through the eyes of photographer Phil Sheldon, and Bad Machinery, a biweekly comedic webcomic about English high school kids.  We also compared comic book fans to Augustus Gloop and made at least five food analogies in less than 40 minutes.

Next week, we discuss Locke & Key and Rachel Rising! Be sure to check back with us or subscribe to the podcast by clicking a link below or using the menu to the left!

Links:
Marvels on Comixology
Marvels Website

Bad Machinery on Comixology
Bad Machinery Website

Find us on iTunes:
The Counter Culture Comic Podcast on iTunes

Follow us on Twitter:
Nick Hemsing
Brock Beauchamp

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