Storied Arcs
Welcome to Storied Arcs! A read-along deep dive into comics, one story arc at a time...
In each episode, we will discuss one story arc, typically in the form of a trade paperback, for a completed comic series. In general, we will be avoiding ongoing or continuing series so that we can discuss a work in its entirety.
We’ll also be avoiding the “big two” (Marvel and DC.) While we love those comics, there are plenty of podcasts covering characters like Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and so on. Instead, we’re excited to explore some of the great creator-owned stories. We’ll deep dive into the story while evaluating the prose, art, and all the easter eggs we can find.
Learn more at www.storiedarcs.com
Storied Arcs
Social Media Summer | Intro to Hacktivist
In this episode, Mike and Alex introduce their latest themed set of books (see: Death Month from January 2025), only this time, instead of just a month, it's going to stretch all season. They're calling it Social Media Summer and they're focusing on four comics that utilize and comment on society's relationship with technology, specifically social media. And those books are: Hacktivist by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Marcus To from Boom Studios, Unfollow by Rob Williams and Michael Dowling from Vertigo/DC Comics, Thumbs by Sean Lewis and Hayden Sherman from Image Comics, and Mindset by Zack Kaplan and John Pearson from Vault Comics.
Then the guys intro the first offering in Social Media Summer, Hacktivist from Boom Studios. Co-creators Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Marcus To were discussed a few weeks back in the intro to Joyride, and here, the rest of the creative team is covered, including actress Alyssa Milano, colorist Ian Herring, and letterer Deron Bennett (and if you haven't heard the interview with artist Marcus To about Joyride, the origins of Hacktivist are mentioned as well).
We'll be covering these books in chronological order as they were originally published in order to track the depiction of technology and social media within each story along side society's relationship to them at that time. That's January 2014 to January 2023; a fair amount changed in the world in that time span, and we're excited to examine it through the lens of these four comics. So go find Hacktivist Volume 1 (issues #1-4) wherever you get your comics and join us here next week to kick off Social Media Summer!
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