Join married couple Brad and Lisa as they explore the various dynamics of comic book relationships throughout pop culture and publishing history.
Episodes
17 minutes ago
17 minutes ago
Today, we begin our mission to bring San Diego Comic-Con International to you. That means four episodes in your podcast feed this week! First up is writer Alex Segura. He’s been handed the keys to the Star Wars kingdom, working on the new Marvel Comics ongoing series alongside artist Phil Noto and letterer Clayton Cowles. The new series fills the gaps between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The New Republic just slayed the Empire. Now what?
We chat with Alex Segura about his Star Wars origin, the responsibility of steering the ship during such a critical moment within the canon, and how he’ll test Luke Skywalker when he’s seemingly at his Jedi Knight peak. Some writers would throw all their childhood toys into the sandbox with a project like this one, but Segura is cautious not to stuff the story with wish-fulfillment. His Star Wars is a carefully considered narrative, beautifully realized by two top-tier collaborators.
As you’ll also hear, a franchise like Star Wars can be overwhelming for the audience as well. How do you push the envelope for diehard readers while not alienating potential new fans of the series? What’s that line in Hamilton? War is the easy part; governing is the hard part.
Star Wars is rolling out monthly from Marvel Comics. Make sure you keep up to date with everything Alex Segura has going on by following his Blue Sky, Instagram, and Substack.
This Week's Sponsors
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
This July, IDW Publishing's Eisner-nominated cozy horror hit series returns in Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1. Superstar Cartoonist Patrick Horvath's delightfully twisted tale about an anthropomorphic serial killer bear is returning to comic shops for a new story that is guaranteed to shock readers. Return to the seemingly idealistic suburban town of Woodbrook as Samantha, the bloodlusting brown bear, got away with her crimes and is now the town's one and only serial killer. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 is out now from IDW Publishing.
This July, one of the greatest creator-owned comic series of all time begins a powerful new chapter! From Oni Press, return to the Eisner-nominated world of The Sixth Gun as creators Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt reunite for The Sixth Gun: Battle for the Six #1 – an extra-sized comics' event told across three prestige format issues. The Sixth Gun is about to be Reborn anew - as it has been countless times across the centuries. This time, however, a brigade of familiar fighters is ready and waiting to challenge a secret cabal. The Sixth Gun: Battle for the Six #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on July 23rd.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
4 days ago
4 days ago
If you’re a comic book reader like we are, around the same time you learn about Batman and Robin, you’re introduced to the medium’s scariest boogeyman, Dr. Fredric Wertham. The publication of his Seduction of the Innocent in 1954 thrust Wertham into the popular consciousness, sparking hysteria and moral panic, hindering the medium’s growth, and significantly harming the artists who worked within it. We assumed that Harold Schechter and Eric Powell’s latest true crime collaboration would roast Wertham viciously, but Dr. Werthless is far too good a work to be an attack. Schechter and Powell reveal a much more complicated character, one who devoted years of his life to the Civil Rights movement and experienced tremendous horror while working with some of this nation’s most notorious human monsters.
Eric Powell, the creator of The Goon, knows a thing or two about this art form and how it can stir an intense reaction from “concerned citizens.” The era in which Wertham’s book dominated boob tube conversation does not feel too far away from 2025, as politicians charge against graphic novels and libraries. The concerns around what stories can be told and who should be telling them indicate their power to influence and broaden our perspectives beyond the tiny universe within our eyeline. The desire to police narratives stems from fear and a need to control. If someone tells you not to read a book or watch a movie, you must read that book and watch that movie.
As you’ll hear, we had a wonderful time chatting with Harold Schechter and Eric Powell about Dr. Werthless. We discuss comic books’ greatest boogeyman and all the complexities that brought him to write Seduction of the Innocent. We dig into this medium’s power, the artists who were hurt by Werthem’s attack, and how it all relates to what we’re seeing around us today. Also, we may argue about what is and is not a comic book. Fun stuff!
Dr. Werthless is now available as a hardcover from Dark Horse Comics. You can find more information on the comic by visiting Powell's site or Schecter's site. You can find Eric Powell on Bluesky and Instagram, and Harold Schechter on Facebook HERE.
This Week's Sponsors
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Do you want in on the biggest secret in comics today? IDW Publishing’s Godzilla line of books is comics' greatest secret weapon. They’re constantly snagging rockstar creators like James Stokoe, Tom Scioli, Andrew MacLean, Louie Joyce, Jake Smith, Eric Powell, Rosie Knight, and Oliver Ono to unleash their talents on cinema’s most significant kaiju universe. And this July, IDW is taking their Godzilla books to the next level by introducing the Kei-Sei era. This new shared universe line begins with Godzilla #1 by Tim Seeley and Nikola Čižmešija. There’s a new Godzilla design, a mess load of Kaiju antagonists…and protagonists - plus, superpowered human characters. Thanks to IDW Publishing, it’s a good time to be a fan of the Big G and quality comics.
In stores this June, Oni Press proudly presents a science fiction icon’s unlikely return to existence in Benjamin #1 - a new, prestige format limited series from Philip K. Dick Award winner Ben H. Winters and artist Leomacs. Do you remember the work of acclaimed novelist Benjamin J. Carp? Across more than 44 novels and hundreds of short stories, Carp established himself as a counterculture revolutionary. He died in 1982, after years of Southern Californian excess finally claimed his life...until 2025...when Benjamin Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel room on the fringes of Los Angeles. Explore the metatextual nexus between existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, this June in Benjamin #1 – only from Oni Press.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Friday Jul 11, 2025
Friday Jul 11, 2025
Not too long ago, the United States Government confirmed the existence of UFOs, but we had too much going on to care at the time. Maybe we needed more concrete evidence. What if ET arrived on our doorstep? But he was already dead? That's the premise of Alienated, the new Comixology Original written, colored, and lettered by Taki Soma, with art by John Broglia and covers by Michael Avon Oeming.
Alienated begins with one of our great mysteries solved, but done so in a horrifying, unsatisfying way. Alien arrival on Earth shakes society's core, spreading panic and existential dread...until people get distracted and move on to the next day's news cycle. There's only one problem: a single Alien survives, and it's on one disconnected family to keep them breathing.
We're ecstatic to have creative couple Taki Soma and Michael Avon Oeming on the podcast this week. We discuss how storytelling impacts every element of their relationship, their fascination with UFO mythology, and how Taki Soma's graphic novel memoir Sleeping While Standing impacted her method of creating fiction.
The first four Alienated issues are out now, and the fifth issue will arrive on August 5th. Please follow Taki Soma on Blue Sky and Instagram, and follow Michael Avon Oeming on Blue Sky, Instagram, and his Website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
This July, IDW Publishing's Eisner-nominated cozy horror hit series returns in Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1. Superstar Cartoonist Patrick Horvath's delightfully twisted tale about an anthropomorphic serial killer bear is returning to comic shops for a new story that is guaranteed to shock readers. Return to the seemingly idealistic suburban town of Woodbrook as Samantha, the bloodlusting brown bear, got away with her crimes and is now the town's one and only serial killer. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 is out now from IDW Publishing.
This July, one of the greatest creator-owned comic series of all time begins a powerful new chapter! From Oni Press, return to the Eisner-nominated world of The Sixth Gun as creators Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt reunite for The Sixth Gun: Battle for the Six #1 – an extra-sized comics' event told across three prestige format issues. The Sixth Gun is about to be Reborn anew - as it has been countless times across the centuries. This time, however, a brigade of familiar fighters is ready and waiting to challenge a secret cabal. The Sixth Gun: Battle for the Six #1 arrives in comic shops everywhere on July 23rd.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Friday Jul 04, 2025
Friday Jul 04, 2025
A new phase of Comic Book Couples Counseling begins today with The Stacks, our new YouTube series where we trap comic book creators inside Third Eye Comics in Annapolis, Maryland, and force them to discuss their all-time favorite comic books. Time Watis collaborators and Mangasplaining co-hosts David Brothers and Chip Zdarsky launch the series. As you'll see, they enthusiastically tease each other while naming some of the most brilliant comic books ever published.
The first season of The Stacks will be published weekly for two months. We filmed each episode at Third Eye Comics, one of the country's GREAT comic book stores, and each guest approached the mission of highlighting their favorites in unique ways. In addition to David Brothers and Chip Zdarsky, season one will consist of Benjamin Percy (Predator vs. Spider-Man, X-Force), Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Batman and Robin, The Incredible Hulk), Sanford Greene (Bitter Root, Doom), Chris Condon (Ultimate Wolverine, News From The Fallout), and Brad and Lisa Gullickson (hey, that's us!). Season One may include a few surprise guests, too. So, cross your fingers.
Here's what we need from you. If you dig this concept and you want to see more episodes with comic book creators standing in front of comic shelves yammering about their favorite comics, please, please, please share the video with your friends. Like, subscribe, and all that stuff you're tired of hearing about, but that's how the word spreads.
We're extremely excited about The Stacks and want to do a lot more of them, but we need an active and engaged audience to do that. Comic Book Couples Counseling listeners are some of the most dedicated comic book readers on the planet, and we know you have our back. Comics have deserved a format like The Stacks for a long time. Comics are the greatest storytelling medium on the planet. Let's show the world why and help find some new comic book readers in the process. Thank you, friends.
If you want to visit The Stacks in person, get yourself to the Third Eye Comics mothership in Annapolis, Maryland: 209 Chinquapin Round Rd, Suite 200, Annapolis, MD 21401. Phone: 410-897-0322. Email: info@thirdeyecomics.com.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Monday Jun 30, 2025
Monday Jun 30, 2025
We love a good comic book explosion. The Writer smashes superheroes, comic book history, Jewish Folklore, Indiana Jones, The Princess Bride, Mike Mignola, and a little Looney Tunes existential dread. It's born from a unique sibling collaboration between the Berkowitz Bros., Max and Ben, as well as actor Josh Gad, master illustrator Ariel Olivetti, and letterer Frank Cvetkovic.
At its center is the aggressively middle-aged Stan Siegel, a comic book writer avoiding life's next big chapter, who gets sucked into a supernatural battle with demons and nazis. And drags his mother and daughter into that war alongside him. The Writer is a meta feast for those steeped in comics and pop culture, nodding to the iconic and not-so-iconic characters who populate our collective imagination.
With the trade paperback now available from Dark Horse Comics, we were eager to have the Berkowitz Bros. on the show this week. We discuss their comic book origin stories, a particular Bob Kane painting, middle-aged hero worship, and celebrating family. The conversation stirs intense feelings about siblings and why they make the best and worst collaborators.
Also, during this week's introduction, we dive into our first HeroesCon experience. Did we meet all the creators we wanted to meet? Did we buy all the comics we wanted to buy? Are Rick Quinn and Dave Chisholm as cool in person as they are in our six Spectrum podcast episodes? We get into it.
And don't forget to follow the Berkowitz Bros. on Blue Sky, Instagram, and their website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Once again, fear and dread shroud the world outside our window. Chris Condon and Jeffrey Alan Love offer assistance with their terrifyingly relatable News from the Fallout, a zombie story that chews on the military-industrial complex, belief in apocalyptic certainty, and humanity's stumbling response. You can read their series as a scary, thrilling, atmospherically rich shock-fest or recognize its narrative as our past, present, but hopefully not future.
The zombie genre has served humanity well since Night of the Living Dead hit drive-ins in 1968. The Walking Dead subgenre allows creators to house all their political anxieties into a thrilling narrative, offering cathartic relief to their hungry audience. When there's no more doom to scroll, the dead will stalk your imagination.
Of course, News from the Fallout's shambling creatures is not necessarily zombies. They're the Rotten, poor fools who followed orders and got their face full of some unknown agent after a military test goes wrong...or right. Only Otis Fallows was smart enough to slap on a gas mask and flee across the Nevada desert. With beasts on his heels, the soldier finds solace in a diner full of patrons. They should all listen to reason and band together against a ravenous horde. Tune in next month for the second issue.
Until then, enjoy our hearty conversation with Chris Condon and Jeffrey Alan Love. We discuss George R. Romero's zombie legacy, the Criterion Collection, and how it feels to work in a terrifying narrative that doesn't look much different than what we see daily on TV and our phones. News from the Fallout looks unlike anything else in comic shops right now, thanks to Jeffrey Alan Love's incredible work, which embraces distortion and atmosphere to achieve emotional reality. So, naturally, we gotta dig into the whole look, too.
News from the Fallout #1 is out now from Image Comics. It's written by Chris Condon, illustrated by Jeffrey Alan Love, lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, and designed by Michael Tivey.
Follow Chris Condon on Bluesky. Follow Jeffrey Alan Love on Instagram and his Website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
Don't forget to grab your tickets for our June 29th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Monday Jun 23, 2025
Monday Jun 23, 2025
It's really not right that Fell Hound has taken this long to find their way onto the podcast, but we're grateful they're here now, and we get to discuss with them such an exciting bit of comic book action romance like S.I.R. While the delay is entirely our fault, Fell Hound has been busy occupying our imaginations with comics like Commander Rao, an award-winning debut book that's pretty much dominated our thoughts and social media feeds since its release. They make damn fine comics, and they're impossible to ignore.
Published under the BOOM! Box imprint at BOOM! Studios, S.I.R. is a properly melodramatic romance set within the violent arena of collegiate motorcycle jousting. No mortal comic book reader can resist such a setup. Fell Hound delivers heartache, action, villainy, heroism, and lewks. My god, the designs in this comic are truly craveable.
Fell Hound wrote and drew everything while Eleonora Bruni provided S.I.R.'s colors with assistance from Freddie Tanto. Becca Carey designed the letters and logo. The new trade paperback from BOOM! is out now. Put your mitts on it.
Also, make sure to follow Fell Hound on Instagram and Bluesky.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
Don't forget to grab your tickets for our June 29th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Two hundred and ninety-nine episodes ago, we could not have possibly imagined George Takei appearing on the podcast. Some version of the actor has hung in our imaginations for most of our lives, and we spent many days of our early marriage obsessing over Star Trek, the original series, and its subsequent films. Thankfully, through this beautiful medium called comic books, our paths have crossed, and we get to celebrate our three-hundredth episode with one of our creative and cultural heroes.
Takei's latest graphic novel, It Rhymes With Takei, reunites him with the same creative team behind They Called Us Enemy: artist Harmony Becker and writers Steven Scott and Justin Eisinger. Together, they tell the rest of Takei's story, which includes his time in the Japanese American internment camps during World War II. It Rhymes With Takei explores the many lessons George Takei learned from that experience, how it shaped his activism, and gave him the courage to battle through the numerous other injustices he would face and fight for and alongside others.
The word "dystopia" gets thrown around a lot these days. It's certainly a go-to for us, and when you look outside your window or scroll through your phone, it's an easy, seemingly apt descriptor. Star Trek has started to feel like fantasy, not science fiction. However, George Takei encourages us to hang onto utopian possibilities. He asks us to accept the inevitability of change but strive toward a brighter, better future.
As the news continuously fills us with dread, we needed this conversation with George Takei, and we're grateful to share it with you, beautiful comic book friends. Thank you for spending your time with us over these three hundred (or so) episodes. Your presence gets us to our recording table every week, and you've given new meaning to our lives.
It Rhymes With Takei is out now from Top Shelf Productions. Get it wherever rad comics are found. Follow George Takei on Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and his Website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
Don't forget to grab your tickets for our June 29th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
When you love comics, you become comics. Denis Kitchen began as a self-published underground cartoonist in 1969, but he quickly sprang into other roles, all serving the medium that first called to him. A year later, he launched Kitchen Sink Press, which would house numerous pioneers from the industry (R. Crumb, Howard Cruse, Art Spiegelman, Trina Robbins, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, etc). His role as publisher would eventually force him into the position of defender, fighting for the rights of his artists and creating the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Now, Denis Kitchen's career is the topic of a new documentary, Oddly Compelling: The Denis Kitchen Story, which is currently seeking funding via Kickstarter. The film gathers an astonishing array of talent to praise Denis Kitchen and offer context to a life that has shaped all comic readers, whether they know it or not.
In this week's podcast, we sit down with Denis Kitchen for a long chat about making comics and serving comics. The artist is an icon, but a humble one. He kindly accepts adulation while dismissing it in the same breath. We discuss how comics are "just pictures on paper," but simple images can have a world-altering effect. If you want to fall deeper in love with the art form, this episode is for you.
Please find the Kickstarter for Oddly Compelling: The Denis Kitchen Story here. Follow Denis Kitchen on Instagram and visit his website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
Don't forget to grab your tickets for our June 29th Alamo Drafthouse Winchester screening of James Gunn's THE SUICIDE SQUAD, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.
Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Wednesday May 28, 2025
Wednesday May 28, 2025
It's always a sunny day when Patrick Horvath wanders into our Love Nest. Two years after his first appearance on the podcast, he's back with another first issue, and this time, it's the sequel to the comic that made him a sensation. Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring takes us back to Woodbrook, years after the events of the original series, where Sam the Bear nearly lost control and many furry citizens lost their lives.
Sequels are scary. We crave them desperately, but too often, they leave us full of regret and not satisfaction. With our hands on our bellies, we grumble, frustrated at how we fooled ourselves into a second taste, knowing it could never be as delicious as the first. Patrick Horvath wickedly understands sour sequelitis and subverts its toxicity through revelation.
Danny the Duck, the first victim we saw Sam take in Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, haunts every panel of Rite of Spring #1. His sister, Monica, takes center stage, as does her tremendous grief, which threatens to annihilate the person she was and the person she could have been. We didn't know it at the time, but Danny's death would slowly drill Monica toward Sam, and we both fear and delight at their eventual confrontation.
In this episode, we ask Patrick Horvath why he couldn't stay away from Woodbrook. We discuss the function of the time jump between the first series and its new sequel, Monica's prominence in Rite of Spring #1, Danny the Duck's vengeance, and the beauty of childhood cliches.
Final Order Cutoff (FOC) for Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees: Rite of Spring #1 is Monday, June 2nd. The first issue will arrive in shops from IDW Publishing on July 9th. Continue this conversation with Patrick Horvath by following him on Bluesky, Instagram, and his Website.
This Week's Sponsor
We're sponsored by 2000 AD, the greatest comic you're not reading! Within its pages is a whole universe of characters, from Judge Dredd and Strontium Dog to Rogue Trooper, Shakara, Halo Jones, and the poor sods slogging across the Cursed Earth in The Helltrekkers. Get a print subscription at your door every week - and the first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, get free back issues, and download DRM-free copies of each issue for just $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible monthly comics for less than $10.
Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:
Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):
Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.
The Comic Book Couples Counseling TeePublic Merch Page.
And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.
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Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.
Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.