Tate McFadden

We also rave about a couple Bat titles: @mattfraction.bsky.social .social @jorgejimenezart.bsky.social Batman #3 and why we're stupid excited for it as well as Gotham Academy First Year #2 from @beckycloonan.bsky.social and @karlkerschl.bsky.social which is my favorite thing we discuss on the pod!

We discuss @joekelly.bsky.social 's Amazing Spider-Man, @denizcamp.bsky.social Assorted Crisis Events #6 and why you should pop a wellbutrin before reading it, as well as @derekmballard.bsky.social Nick Winn and Shawn Lee's Adventure Time

Episode 4: Perl No More!!

A new episode of the Absolute Ultimate Escapist Comics Podcast is up! This time we talk almost exclusively new monthlies, since Perl is busy testing a game! Give me and @plaguingpossum.bsky.social a listen!

open.spotify.com/episode/28nW...

It's crazy to read Grant Morrison nailing the tech billionaire rhetoric and jargon so early in its evolution. Elon Musk would absolutely harvest mutant organs to implant into himself all the while spouting transphobic insanity if he was in an X-Men comic

Big fan of the stories! I’d reply to them more often but I can never be concise enough!

Thanks for the nice review, I’m glad someone is following my million IG stories.

In this episode we discuss @dccomics2023.bsky.social Next Level from Scott Snyder, and various speculations on the artists and their series! We also talk @dandq.bsky.social Black Cohosh by @eaglevaliant.bsky.social Ben Passmore’ Black Arms to Hold You Up and much much more!

Absolute Ultimate Escapist Comics Pod Episode 3.1 just dropped on Spotify and Apple Podcasts! YouTube is soon to come once they verify my identity! Give it a listen!
open.spotify.com/episode/268O...

Another episode of Thick Lines pod from Katie Skelly and Sally Madden that I edited! This one’s on Junji Ito’s Uzumaki! Give it a listen!

open.spotify.com/episode/43eK...

A Year of Free Comics: Plumbing the Depths of Fear in Deep Dark Fears Deep Dark Fears investigates our irrational fears, each panel rationalizing the next until an inevitable, horrifying conclusion.

@comicsbeat.bsky.social just published the first iteration of my biweekly column on swipe comics "A Year of Free Comics!" This first piece is on @deepdarkfears.bsky.social whose work is really wonderful and creative!

www.comicsbeat.com/a-year-of-fr...

‘Lumberjanes: Book One’ - Trade Paperback Review - Fanbasepress Lumberjanes: Book One was created by ND Stevenson, Grace Ellis, Shannon Watters, Gus Allen, and Casey Nowak and published by BOOM! Studios.

My new review of Lumberjanes by @gingerhaze.bsky.social Grace Ellis, Brooke A. Allen, and Shannon Watter through @boom-studios.com for @fanbasepress.bsky.social ! This is one of my children's comics favs! Huge huge fan!

fanbasepress.com/press/review...

This is my favorite panel so far from @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social / New York Review of Comics’s wonderful and long overdue Hothead Paisan collection which everyone should be reading right now!
CHICKEN STOP VOGUEING!

*AIR HORN*

An R. Crumb Mr. Natural comic but it's Mr. Natural*s* and he has huge bazongas

We’re soooooooooo interestingggggggg you want to hear our takes sooooooo baddddd

Episode 2.2 Real Housewives of Jeff the Land Shark...Among Other Things Podcast Episode · Absolute Ultimate Escapist Comics · 10/25/2025 · 27m

And the second part of the second episode! Here we talk reading recs from the new stuff this week!

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Episode 2.1: Extra! Extra! Vertigo Returns & Ultimates Dies! Podcast Episode · Absolute Ultimate Escapist Comics · 10/24/2025 · 16m

The second episode is also up! We talk comics news in ep. 2.1

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

Y'all, go listen right now! From the brain that absolutely did not bring you Thick Lines podcast, but did cut out the bits that didn't have good sound quality or included Sally's dog barking, along with @plaguingpossum.bsky.social and Perl lastnameredacted comes Absolute Ultimate Escapist Comics.

I started up the Escapist Comics podcast! The first episode is live, it's funny and fun and co-hosted by Perl and Persephone from the store!
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

I'd encourage any dudes who are obsessed with like, Absolute Batman or something to read this and like...learn about female interiority or subjectivity or something.

Supergirl is allowed to be immature, kinda gross, grown up, and goofy all at once which just makes me happy for my girl. The book feels as much like an auteur-driven piece of comics as any of the high-concept stuff happening in other part of the big two, but in a totally distinct way.

You're very much along for the ride on this one which is SO enjoyable. You can really tell this was written by a trans woman too, because femininity and womanhhood has a very zany character to it with an underlying respect that is very palpable.

The current Supergirl is not a grand sweeping epic and it's better for it. It's got the funny, campy weirdness that you get from Buffy. Campbell & Bonvillain make for a wacky but quite compelling romp through the trials and travails of Kara Zor-El and I'm so down for it.

5. Supergirl by Sophie Campbell @mooncalfe1.bsky.social and Tamra Bonvillain @tamrabonvillain.bsky.social
It took me a bit to get really into this series in the first issue, but that's because I've been reading so much stuff like New Gods and Absolute Martian which have a very different tone.

Ricardo Federici is another guy that really stands out, his style paired with Ram V's story on New Gods feels like the @jasonaaronwood.bsky.social @esadribicart.bsky.social @deanwhitecolor.bsky.social and Ive Svorcina teamup on Thor. There's a scale to both series that begins to boggle the mind.

Other artists who are crazy good in this series(each issue features a new artist along with Cagle) are @andrewmaclean.bsky.social (the Maclean issue made me want to cry), freaking LIGHTRAY, MAN!

The main Cagle art is so dynamic and pleasing, with these really flowing lines that make a great balance of beauty but also the impact and horror of the violence on the page, which gels super well with the themes of the run.

4. New Gods by Ram V and Evan Cagle, along with many others...
I'm going to do a longer post about this, but New Gods is so good. It's got the narrative originality of Absolute Martian, the same mix of grand sweeping scale with beautiful art direction, and thoughtful intimate character writing!

JMS is doing some fun stuff in Torn, it's got a teen drama tone of an older era, which is enjoyable for a mini-series, and adding elements that scratch an itch for me: a magic evil book a villain wants, for one, if you want some fun ASM out of the regular ASM, Torn is probably a good choice.

3. Spider-Man Torn by @straczynski.bsky.social
ASM has kinda been in a rut for a while, they're reusing a few villains too much(who wants another Tombstone story), and neglecting their goofier but still totally classic Spider-Man Villains(Sandman, Mysterio, Electro, Hydro, hell even doc ock!)