Today the Panelists discuss a book that is more of a collection of Instagram posts than a narrative. We discuss our love for Mackesy’s finished but unfinished-looking art and our mixed opinions on the words and narrative in this book. And at the end, there is a reveal that changes everything.

• (00:00) - “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” by Charlie Mackesy
• (01:03) - Front Matter
• (01:59) - Impressions
• (08:14) - Kids don’t talk like this
• (08:54) - The art style
• (13:19) - The Structure
• (19:19) - Metatextuality
• (21:42) - Further Reading

• The animated adaptation and the documentary on Apple TV+
• A continuation titled Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm was released in 2025, if you want more of this!
• Apparently other Macksesy art might just Be Around You. He’s done political cartoons, a lot of art for charity work, and a lot of art for public spaces, especially in London.
• The Arrival by Shaun Tan

A comics podcast for everyone, proud to be a part of The Worst Garbage network.

Find us on Bluesky or Tumblr.

This week’s panelists can be found at:
Scout
Matt

Jillian

Editing this week by AJ Fillari.
Cover art by Scout Wilkinson.
Intro/Outro music by Boqeh.

The Panelists are back with episode 2 of our Fullmetal Alchemist readthrough. In these volumes, we learn so much about how the world of Fullmetal Alchemist works behind the scenes, the darkest plans of our villains, the atrocities committed by our heroes, and which characters make for the best horny fanart.

We spoil volumes 1-9 in this episode. Check out our episode on those volumes here!

• (00:00) - “Fullmetal Alchemist” by Hiromu Arakawa
• (02:33) - Spoiler-free summary
• (03:21) - Impressions vs last time
• (07:59) - Spoiler Zone
• (11:52) - Spoilery Summary
• (15:13) - Matt was late on his reading
• (15:45) - The Pride Reveal
• (17:30) - There’s a lot of war crimes going on here
• (30:25) - The openness of the big bads
• (35:14) - Brotherhood differences
• (37:35) - Arakawa loves big boobs
• (38:33) - Some FMA ships
• (41:42) - The chess pieces
• (43:38) - Scout’s favorite Elric brothers moments
• (47:55) - BIG ENVY
• (53:56) - 2003 differences
• (55:36) - Al’s body
• (56:13) - Hughes!
• (57:02) - Greedling
• (01:01:24) - Sloth’s transmutation circle
• (01:07:15) - Arakawa’s planning
• (01:09:22) - The human sacrifices
• (01:12:33) - Winry and Scar
• (01:22:12) - Dr. Knox
• (01:26:29) - Listener Questions
• (01:31:51) - Further Reading

• You can find more of Hiromu Arakawa’s work in her completed series Silver Spoon and ongoing series Daemons of the Shadow Realm (second of which has recently begun airing its anime adaptation!)
• If you find yourself thinking “man, these fight scenes are pretty cool, I wonder what they’d look like if someone animated the hell out of them,” Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood can be found on many streaming services
• If you find yourself thinking “wow, I’m really enjoying how this shonen adventure story is also about the horrors of war and government corruption”, I would recommend Hunter x Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi

A comics podcast for everyone, proud to be a part of The Worst Garbage network.

Find us on Bluesky or Tumblr.

This week’s panelists can be found at:
Scout
Matt

Jillian

Editing this week by AJ Fillari.
Cover art by Scout Wilkinson.
Intro/Outro music by Boqeh.

Come along with the panelists as we venture back to the mythical, long-ago land of 2012. Cape comics are on the show once more with Marvel's Hawkeye, as written by Matt Fraction and illustrated by a large team of artists (David Aja chief among them). The story of oft-ignored Avenger Clint Barton and his protege Kate Bishop takes us coast-to-coast and through half a dozen different art styles, but at the heart of it lies the question...Just how far can the lone wolf archetype actually get you?

• (00:00) - “Hawkeye” by Matt Fraction & David Aja
• (00:20) - Front Matter
• (01:19) - Non-spoiler summary
• (01:46) - Impressions
• (04:49) - Structure & time
• (06:40) - Art!
• (14:08) - Do you need to know the characters?
• (20:44) - Understanding this comic
• (24:29) - Some soul-searching
• (31:58) - SPOILER ZONE
• (32:46) - Bro
• (34:18) - The humor
• (39:01) - The women in Clint’s life
• (42:58) - Some great paneling
• (46:55) - The LA stuff
• (52:29) - RIP Encounter Restaurant
• (52:58) - The gay couple
• (55:18) - Madame Masque’s design
• (56:43) - When Clint loses his hearing
• (59:26) - Pizza is my business
• (01:06:59) - Issue 10
• (01:08:26) - Kate’s shirt
• (01:09:23) - Kate’s car
• (01:10:22) - The color script
• (01:14:27) - The last 2 pages
• (01:19:10) - Further reading

- Matt Fraction’s “Batman”
- David Aja’s “Immortal Iron Fist”
- Mark Waid’s “Daredevil”
- Jimmy Corrigan the smartest kid on earth - Chris Ware
- Gillen and McKelvie’s “Young Avengers”

A comics podcast for everyone, proud to be a part of The Worst Garbage network.

Find us on Bluesky or Tumblr.

This week’s panelists can be found at:
Scout
Matt
Robin

Jillian

Editing this week by AJ Fillari.
Cover art by Scout Wilkinson.
Intro/Outro music by Boqeh.