It's easy to despair. Fear and frustration spread quickly, and their hold has hooks hard to shake. Don't fall into the discourse trap; free yourself by following the light radiating from the medium's champions. Find folks like Deb Aoki and Christopher Woodrow-Butcher and grab firm. Through their Mangasplaining podcast (co-hosted with David Brothersand Chip Zdarsky), they've become beacons of what the sequential art form can offer the human experience, and recently, they've taken their passion one step further (maybe several steps further) and actually manifested great comic works.

Mangasplaining, in partnership with Fantagraphics, first brought Susumu Higa's Okinawa into American comic shops and bookstores. Now, they're switching gears quite drastically, offering Atsushi Kaneko's radical reconsideration of Osamu Tezuka's iconic Dororo, Search and Destroy. The comic shifts the original story from feudal Japan to an apocalyptic future where machines enhance themselves using pieces stolen from a mysterious young woman. While they taste life with her tongue, she trudges across the sci-fi hellscape, sharpening her rage into a propulsive attack.

As we prepare for this week's San Diego Comic-Con International, we revel in the gifts all comics provide their readers. We chat with Deb Aoki and Christopher Woodrow-Butcher about their Mangasplaining origin, how it evolved into a comics delivery system, the types of conversations we should have about manga away from American Comics, and the conversations we should have about manga with American Comics. If you're looking for inspiration before America's biggest comic book convention takes over this week's discourse, this Comic Book Couples Counseling episode is ready to serve.

Relevant Links

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY

Join us at the Alamo Drafthouse in Winchester, Virginia, on 8/18 at 4:00 PM for our Atomic Blonde screening, co-sponsored by Four Color Fantasies.

Watch the latest episode of The B&B Show, where Brad and Bryan Review the Hottest Cinematic Releases.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter @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 Aaron Prescott @acoolhandfluke, podcast banner art by @Karen_XmenFan.

Mangasplaining Search and Destroy Volume 1

Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast