#65: When a Podcast Becomes a (Graphic) Novel
Bello Collective newsletter — Week of July 23, 2018
Dear Bello,
Last week, The Wall Street Journal published an article on podcasters who adapt their shows into books. The next day, my copy of The Adventure Zone comic arrived. I first listened to The Adventure Zone last fall. It was, at the time, my longest marathon listening session. It was what pushed me into listening at far past 1x — after all, I had something like 86 hours of audio to get through. This spring, I listened to it again. All 69 episodes. All, more or less, in a row. Of course, I devoured the graphic novel with that same urgency.
It’s funny to go from a podcast to a comic book. On the one hand, they seem to be opposites: a time-based audio medium and a static visual one. But in another way, they’re analogous. Both comics and podcasts are dense with their own medium. Podcasts soak you in sound (perhaps TAZ less so than others, but still), while comics’ color-saturated heroes splat, whomp, and yoink across the page. Both press the imagination to fill in the blanks — creating the visuals or conjuring up the sound effects in the mind’s ear.
Of course, this graphic adaptation of TAZ filled in some blanks for me, too. It’s the same as any book-to-film transition: I didn’t imagine he would look like that. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the comic, but that new media pleasure comes at a price — maybe not for a podcast-turned-memoir, but certainly for a podcast-turned-visual. The characters now exist on the page, outside of our shared imagination, and I don’t know if I can get the Taako I once knew back.
❤
Galen
1. Before poet Franz Wright died, he spent two years making 546 recordings of himself. After he died, producer Bianca Giaever spent two years listening to them. From that experience, she made the Transom episode Two Years With Franz. There are a lot of lines of this episode worth quoting, but perhaps my favorite is this: “I was unburdening [Franz’s wife] of being the only person who knew what these objects meant.” This, I think, is why many writers write — to unburden ourselves of our solitary experience. (Galen)
2. If you like The Accidental Gay Parents series from The Longest Shortest Time, or Not by Accident, or the movie Boyhood, you will love Four Parents Two Gaybies from Earshot. It follows an Australian family (two moms, two dads, two kids) through two decades of life. It all starts when two gay couples decide to have a baby together. It’s a beautiful story and beautifully produced, right down to the whimsical music. (Galen)
3. Science Solved It was one of my favorite new podcasts of last year and they are back with a new season of solid science reporting. It kicks off with a great episode about Chemtrails, with the accompanying crazy conspiracy and all (apparently 30% of people think there is some merit to it??!!). (Erik)
4. The first episode of Everything is Alive felt like a transformative listen, like the first time I listened to Within the Wires or ars PARADOXICA or What’s the Frequency or any other show that’s made me rethink what this medium can do. It’s not quite a comedy, not quite a drama, not quite magical realism, but not quite anything else. It is truly its own creation, and it’s one that left me laughing, questioning the nature of life and death, and tearing up for a damn off-brand soda can out of maybe despair or maybe pride. (Wil)
Wil’s right; Everything is Alive left me asking questions about what else is possible in audio that I hadn’t even considered. It’s a strange and poignant dialogue that made me feel empathy and kinship with inanimate objects, just how Toy Story plays into your childhood loves and brings them to life. The minimalism of the show makes the sound effects that are so important to this first episode really pop. (Elena)
5. Tertulia’s bilingual, complementary two-parter about immersion schools in West Michigan centers on the privileges available to white, English-speaking homes as compared to the lack of access to dual-language education to students from Spanish-speaking homes. Emily Hunsberger ha pasado gran trabajo para compilar los datos de escuelas y los cuentos e historias de las personas hispanohablantes entrevistados. Como alguien que atendió una escuela de inmersión en inglés en un lugar hispanohablante, aprender más sobre las actitudes y el acceso a la educación bilingüe en el continente fue emocionante e informativo. (Elena)
6. If you’ve subscribed to Bello for awhile, you know that I only have eyes for one food podcast. Recently though, I stumbled on an episode about the dramatic history of Tootsie Rolls (yes, you read that right) from a new-ish podcast called Hungry. I think this show has a lot of potential. (Ashley)
7. Bello friend John Biewen is back with the third season of his powerful show, Scene on Radio. This time they’re tackling male supremacy, and the first episode is aptly named Dick Move. If you listened to Seeing White, last year’s 14-part documentary on powerful effects of whiteness in America, you know Men promises to be an equally considered and well-researched counterpart. (Ashley)
8. A colleague turned me on to Small Doses (with Amanda Seales), which is perhaps is a little bit of a misnomer since the episodes are more than an hour long and full of big truths and big personality. Each episode highlights the side effects in our lives from things like being an extrovert, having anxiety, or the right to free speech. Amanda and her team completely nail giving you a show with variety, heart, and hilarity. (The episode that brought me in — the Side Effects of White Women — was recommended by my colleague, a fellow white woman who wanted someone to talk about what type of white women we are.) (Dana)
9. If you’ve always wanted the chance to travel the world without ever leaving the comfort of your apartment and headphones, The World As We Know It is the show you need. Each episode features an in-depth dive into one country, and the episode featuring Montenegro is refreshing combination of charming wit and cultural immersion. (Liam)
The Bello Collective is a publication + newsletter about podcasts and the audio industry. Our goal is to bring together writers, journalists, and other voices who share a passion for the world of audio storytelling.
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