In which Danica gets down to business. And talks about business!
Episode 69: Danica LeBlanc (listen here)
This week, I sat down with Danica LeBlanc, co-owner of Variant Edition Comics and Culture, to talk about what it’s like to be a woman in the comic world, what it’s like to run a business with your partner, and more.
Did you know that getting drunk on a podcast is a thing? Wild, right?
A little while back, Brandon was invited onto Drink This Podcast to talk about story. For regular listeners of Doctor Whooch, you’ll know it goes… as well as can be expected, as Brandon gets more and more incoherent over the course of two episodes.
Episode 74: HOW DO WE GET THERE? WE KILL THE WIFE? GREAT IDEA! (Listen here)
Today we are joined by new friend of the show Brandon Schatz, owner proprietor of Variant Edition Comics for our first Paul written docket, and another in our ongoing series about story telling and pop-culture narratives. We dive into our favourite shows, what kind of story telling we want to see, and how different mediums play off each and influence each other.
Episode 75: I ASSUME ITS WHAT DOING CRACK IS LIKE (Listen here)
Today we are joined again by our new old friend Brandon Schatz for part 2 of our conversation around narrative story telling. we attempt to abandon our TV conversation and move in to other forms of narrative, get drawn back into the same old podcast conversation, and then back to television, before settling on video games, and then it all falls apart, in the best possible way.
Hey there folks! We have some exciting news! A little while back, Danica was invited to take part in an episode of Radio Free Skaro, and this week, the audio is out there in the cloud, ready for your ears.
Here’s RFS’ description of the episode. (Click here to listen/download.)
Sad news to impart this week, with the death of Doctor Who director and television pioneer Paddy Russell, who directed “The Massacre”, “Invasion of the Dinosaurs”, “Pyramids of Mars”, and “Horror of Fang Rock”, along with many other non-Who programmes on UK television. We also have news of Shada on DVD in North America, the continued audio adventures of River Song, doings transpiring at Titan Comics regarding the Doctor Who comics line, and in Second Chances we look at “The Eaters of Light” with Doctor Whooch host and Edmonton comic shop owner Danica LeBlanc!
Speaking as the “Brandon” half of Submet Industries, I can wholeheartedly say this is worth a listen – especially if you want to hear Danica talk about her (and our) Moffat opinions with some folks who don’t hate the man.
In which we offend the southern states and maybe also most of the British.
It’s part one of our HUGE finalé to our companion of Doctor Whooch – featuring Doctor Who podcast luminaries Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky! This one has it all. Or it would if we hadn’t split it in two. So I guess this one has roughly half. BUT WHAT A HALF IT IS. We blame Saskatchewan for things, discover Steven’s superpower, decide that Arthur Darvill is British AF and toss out spoilers for Earthshock. So if you’re listening to this in 1982, uh… whoops.
Outro music is “Oceans Brawl” by Coeur de pirate
Podcast picture is by GIRL NAMED SHIRL PHOTOGRAPHY
Welcome back to a brand new season of YEGS AND BACON!
On this week’s episode – is the comic book industry doomed? Yes! Or… no? Maybe. Danica and Brandon discuss what needs to change if comic shops want to see tomorrow, and they have the math to prove it.
All this, plus traffic and weather from Devin R. Bruce – and our amazing theme song by Apocalypse Kow
Show Notes:
Gooooood morning Edmonton! Grab your coffees or your general morning beverage of choice, because YEGS AND BACON is here!
On this week’s PREVIEW show, we give our statement of purpose, ad talk about the days ahead. You want some feminism and general mindfulness in your comics culture? Then you’ve come to the right place.
Yegs and Bacon’s theme music is by the incomparable Apocalypse Kow. You should give them money, because they are wonderful.
In which we discover that Neil Gaiman likes his TARDIS’ like he likes his women.
We’re continuing our season of companions with Marina Reid Hale (@mrimm) who gets us into a double dose of episodes this week – The Unicorn and the Wasp, and The Doctor’s Wife.
We learned a lot. Such as the fact that it’s a bad idea to get impregnated by a giant wasp alien. And that wasp people are people too. And that concrete faces can not give consent. It was… a lot. So.
Outro music is “I Am Not A Robot” by Marina and the Diamonds
Podcast picture is by GIRL NAMED SHIRL PHOTOGRAPHY
In which we come into watching “Blink” with good intentions, and leave it lying in a ditch somehow.
Our Companions Season of the show continues with special guests Amber Chipman and Laury Plant, and we proceed to pull strings while we watch a modern classic. Marvel as Brandon can’t remember any names. Again. Be totally surprised when Moffat keeps a woman sad and waiting. There’s angels. There is dick pics, kinda. There are white girls named Sally. There’s… a lot. Get ready to hate us real bad, but please, remember that we love you.
Outro music is “All Star” covered by Tessa Violet & Dodie Clark
Podcast picture is by GIRL NAMED SHIRL PHOTOGRAPHY
Reflections on Bitch Planet: Triple Feature
Recently, I re-read Bitch Planet Volume 2 for WTF+ YEG Book Club. This led me to shamefully admit to the group that I had not been reading the mini-series, Bitch Planet: Triple Feature!, even though the issues were conveniently located in my comics subscription file. I read the 3 issues that had been released so far a couple nights later.
As I was reading the short stories taking place in the world of Bitch Planet, but on Earth rather than the offworld jail of the main series, I couldn’t help but think about my role in this world as a married woman.
It’s not news, and there have been countless articles on Bitch Planet, but here I am anyway.
In my teens, I grew a fascination for 1950’s culture. Drunk on my white privilege, I reveled in boomerang tile and ranch houses, never once thinking of the pervasive racism of the day and gender roles women were forced into. I didn’t dream of being a housewife, but I sure as hell created a future for myself that may have ended that way. Nowadays, I’ve moved past that obsession and only have an attraction to the aesthetic. My current ideal space is a cozy mix of 1940’s minimalism and 1970’s comfort, and deep, earthy tones(oddly, both decades where women were expected to step up to join the workforce and the waves of feminism rose higher).
I grew up with little interest in marriage. I assumed I would get married “someday”, but never put too much thought into it. When I was very young, I believe 28-29 was my “someday” range – perhaps it seemed old enough. Or perhaps I was raised by society to believe that 30 was the End Times for a woman, so never questioned why I had put my nebulous marker ahead of this dreadful milestone. In my early 20’s, I was in a long term relationship with a man who I assumed I would marry. We dated for around 4 years, and it became quite obvious he was never going to propose. Around that age, I was full force into thinking that’s what a relationship needed to move to the next level. Of course, it ended with us falling out of love with each other, so really nothing was going to improve anything.
As it happens, I am currently married. I did not end up a 32-year old spinster. The best man I’ve ever known saved me from the terrible fate of Being Alone In My 30’s(sarcasm heavily implied). I knew marriage could be hard, but I didn’t realize that much of the stress would come from myself. I didn’t realize I had put myself in a box of my own making until I had been married a couple years. I stressed about Having It All. I was bound and determined to work a fulltime job AND cook dinner AND keep the house tidy AND feed the cats. I felt guilty asking Brandon to help out with housework, as if I was shirking my duties. I felt as if I had poured my own glass of the proverbial Kool-Aid and given in to what I thought a wife should be.
It took a long time, and I still have difficulties. Brandon and I are equal partners in many ways. We live together, own a business together, plan together, we make sure the cats are happy together. Reading Bitch Planet has been healthy for me, because I can often readdress who I am as a wife and woman.
I’m going to leave this idea to simmer for a bit. Please leave a comment below if the series has, or has not, made a similar effect on you. If married, did you have to fight against any gender roles to find a comfortable way to live with your partner? If not, how do you see a married you? And if marriage isn’t in your plans, do you have any issues cohabitating?
My heart, it keens.
While on vacation with Danica in early August, I picked up The Book of Speculation on a whim. The book promised me mystery, circuses, mermaids and libraries, and the price was right, so I grabbed it, and… well, it wasn’t perfect. But holy shit, was it perfect for me.
The main thrust of the story concerns itself with a young man holding onto the past while the world begs for him to get the fuck on with things. As his life begins to crumble around him in both literal and figurative ways, he is given countless opportunities for change. He instead tries to let things wash over and away. Interwoven in this narrative is the idea of a curse or a coincidence that plagues a family. It’s a story about letting go of the things that hurt you, and loving the potential of what can be. It is also clunky and unsubtle as hell in such a way that made it beautiful.
Everyone is so god damn concerned with perfection these days. Things that are air tight, that exist without fault, platonic ideals manifest in prose or film or paper or whatever. This book… this book isn’t a classic. It has flaws and in this case, flaws built perfectly for me. The lilt of the prose slowly sunk its hooks into my skin. The story itself built in my guts and helped me transition into sleep and dream on many nights in the best of ways. It has a heart and it beats, and it filled me up for two weeks or so.
I loved it.
Have you ever had a book that did this to you? Or a TV show, or comic or anything? Has anything walked up to you at the perfect time, flawed though it might be, and spoke to you quite directly? Let us know. The comments are open, and we’re all over social media. I’m interested in hearing what you have to say.
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