Advertise on podcast: Army of Crime - Comic & Film Bulletins

Few people cast as unlikely a literary shadow over pop culture as H.P. Lovecraft, the New England resident and author of weird fiction who has since inspired video games, plushies, key chains and innumerable books, short stories and comic books. Providence is acclaimed comics author Alan Moore's entry into the ever-expanding cosmos of Lovecraft stories and Moore endeavors to leave no stone unturned. This is not only a sort of pastiche of Lovecraftian stories, but a story about Lovecraft himself as well as a running commentary on weird fiction as a genre and the time/place that created it. Strap yourself in for a scenic tour of haunted and macabre New England!    Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Providence by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows.   PROGRAMMING NOTE: This will be the last episode of Season 2. We will back with Season 3 in the near future.  

The oldest relationships in the world might just be the relationship between animals and humans. Cattle, sheep dogs, horses, our animal buddies have always been there for us. But what would the animals say about it? Duncan the Wonder Dog asks the deceptively simple question: What if animals were people? What would they say to us? How would society be warped and transformed by this simple but all encompassing twist? Duncan the Wonder Dog, an award winning graphic novel published in 2010, tries to answer these questions in a story of FBI agents, animal terrorists, and messiah figures using an impressive mixed media black and white art style.   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Duncan the Wonder Dog by Adam Hines.

Peplum, noun: a genre of Greco-Roman era costume adventure films, mostly made in Italy. See also: Peplum, a phantasmagorical fool's journey taking place in a fantasy version of Imperial Rome written and drawn by Blutch. It's Roman! It's dreamlike and ambiguous! It has beautiful black and white art!   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Peplum by Blutch.

Few names stand out in European comics illustration like Moebius, known for his highly imaginative and highly detailed sci-fi and fantasy art. Edena is a story that only Moebius could tell, about old classic cars, the human subconscious, nose diseases, insanity, and love.   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Edena and World of Edena.

There are few places more inaccessible in the world than North Korea, and while most of us will never visit the Hermit Kingdom, a handful of foreigners have gone there and back. One such account is the travelogue Pyongyang, written and drawn by cartoonist Guy Delisle. Pyongyang details his time working for a French animation studio that had a production office in the titular capital and the absurdities and oddities of living as a foreigner there.    Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Pyongyang.

Somewhere between a psychedelic dream and an epic fantasy tale is Yragael and its companion story Urm the Mad. Beautiful visuals by French artist Philippe Druillet finds a pairing with a story that freely mixes myth, legend, and dream-logic. It's not every day you read a comic like this!    Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode include Yragaël by Philippe Druillet and Michel Demuth and Urm The Mad by Philippe Druillet.

Fear is the mind-killer! For fans of the science fiction novel Dune, there was no greater fear than another failed attempt at adapting Frank Herbert's un-filmable novel. Did Denis Villeneuve pull of the impossible? How does it stack up against the previous adaptations? Is the third time the charm for Dune movies?   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode are Dune (2021), Dune (1984), Frank Herbert's Dune (2000), as well as the novel Dune by Frank Herbert. 

As the world spirals into political and economic chaos, many of us are faced with increasingly existential questions. How can we be happy in a violent and atomized society? Should anyone ever go on Reddit? How scared should we be of Facebook drones? These are the types of questions that The Hard Tomorrow, written and drawn by Eleanor Davis, grapples with in a near-future, slice of life setting.   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is The Hard Tomorrow.

What is Judge Dredd? Is it a cyberpunk dystopia action/adventure? A sci-fi satire? A cop story? The correct answer is "All of the Above". Join us in examining Judge Dredd: America, an acclaimed Dredd storyline from series co-creator John Wagner that tells a dystopian story about struggling for freedom in a totalitarian world that also doubles as a body horror sci-fi thriller.   Music is by Free Rap Beats.   Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode are Judge Dredd and Judge Dredd: America.

Batman has a comically huge cultural footprint, from SNES games, to animated cartoons, Hollywood blockbusters and children's underwear. Did you know that there was even Batmanga? Written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata, the three volumes of Batmanga tell sci-fi themed stories with original villains that have more in common with the Adam West TV show than Frank Miller. Should a curious Bat-fan check them out? I mean, do whatever you want, we're not the boss of you. We can help you make an informed decision though!   Music is by Free Rap Beats. Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode are Batmanga volume 1-3 written and drawn by Jiro Kuwata.

  The X-Men were a sort of Lee/Kirby also-ran for many years, sitting awkwardly between the sci-fi family styling of the Fantastic Four and the superhero dynamics of the Avengers. Now the X-Men are a longstanding staple at Marvel, with innumerable spin-offs and series. What are they all about though? In God Loves, Man Kills, Chris Claremont attempts to tell the quintessential X-Men story as a stand alone graphic novel. God Loves, Man Kills tells a story of prejudice, extremism, and organized religion that served as the basis for at least one blockbuster movie. Does it hold up? Is it good? Should you go read (or reread) it?    Music is by Free Rap Beats. Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topics for this episode are the X-Men franchise and God Loves, Man Kills.      

Epic gods once strode the Earth in times of yore. I am, of course, referring to comics creator Jack Kirby. I could also be referencing the crimson hued tyrannosaur from Devil Dinosaur, a lesser discussed Kirby series from the late Bronze Age of comics.  After his return to Marvel, with the Fourth World in the rear view mirror, Kirby returned to some of his familiar concepts like human deep history, the interplay between myth and supernatural figures as well as a love of big splash pages, ancient aliens, and lost civilizations. This found it's most well known form in The Eternals, but Devil Dinosaur hit on many of the same themes right as The Eternals was wrapping up. How much juice did Kirby still have left? Does Devil Dinosaur deserve a place alongside Kirby's other creations, or is it just a weird oddity? Or maybe both?   Music is by Free Rap Beats. Find us on Twitter at @armyofcrime and @dustin44444 or on the web at www.armyofcrime.com   Topic for this episode is Devil Dinosaur, written and drawn by Jack Kirby.