After much delay, we can finally bring you episode 101 of the TradeWaiters. This time we’re putting ourselves on the spot, and talking about our hopes and fears for the present and future state of comics. This is a continuation of our discussion from last episode on Scott McCloud’s "Reinventing Comics," and we are once again joined by Kathleen Gros. Our topics of discussion will include AI comics, fragmentation and discoverability, Webtoon convergence, the YA and New Adult audience, creators’ rights, libraries, bespoke comics, and experimentation. The future of comics, like its past, promises to have its highs and its lows. Music by Sleuth.

It’s episode 100! Special guest Kathleen Gros rejoins the TradeWaiters to help us celebrate our anniversary, and we read Scott McCloud’s "Reinventing Comics." This book made bold predictions of what the future of comics could be. More than twenty years later, we revisit Scott’s ideas to see where they’ve been prescient, where they’ve changed the landscape of comics, and where they’ve proven incomplete. We’ll talk about creators’ rights, the birth and death of the independent webcomic, the return of the middlemen, and whether or not we can declare the Great American (and Great Canadian) Graphic Novel. Music by Sleuth. Our next episode will be continue the discussion on the future of comics!

For this episode our intrepid TradeWaiters read "Dragman" by Steven Appleby. This hefty graphic novel cloaks a story about gender identity, predatory capitalism, and being true to yourself in a brightly-coloured superhero costume and sends it out to patrol the streets of London. Join us and listen in as we go TRANSatlantic. Music by Sleuth Our next book will be "Reinventing Comics" by Scott McCloud.

Today the Tradewaiters got lost in a fantasy manga with the first two volumes of "Witch Hat Atelier" by Kamome Shirahama. We’ll break down what’s great about this comic, a few things that are maybe not as great, but mostly have a good time reading a book about kids who learn magic, and the magic makes sense. Music by Sleuth. Our next book will be "Dragman" by Steven Appleby.

For this episode we read the first two volumes of "Barefoot Gen," Keiji Nakazawa's semi-autobiographical account of surviving the bombing of Hiroshima when he was six years old. "Barefoot Gen" is the best book about the worst thing. Be prepared for it to be super traumatic, but no other book is doing what this one does. Music by Sleuth For a complete change of pace, our next book will be the first two volumes of "Witch Hat Atelier" by Kamome Shirahama.

The TradeWaiters return like the rising sun to bring you "All-Star Superman" by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely. This limited series turned trade paperback takes us deeper into DC lore than we’ve ever gone before, and we bring you back tales of the unimaginable, opining on pacing, and the magic of character body language. If you ever wanted to know the secret formula for a really good Superman story, or to uncover what superheroes and Pokemon have in common, look no further. Music by Sleuth Our next episode will be on "Barefoot Gen" volumes 1 and 2 by Keiji Nakazawa.

"Sparks" artist Nina Matsumoto joins our panelists to talk about "The Batman Adventures: Mad Love" by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. This was the first appearance of Harley Quinn in a comic and the origin story of one of DC’s most iconic characters today. We talk about the behind the scenes story of Harley Quinn’s creation, the mainstream comics debut of two of superherodom’s most influential creators, and what goes into making a really good Batman story. Music by Sleuth On our next episode will be on "All-Star Superman" by Greg Morrison and Frank Quitely

Are you ready for a tale of tragedy and unrequited love (probably)? Come, sit down, and gather round as we read "Descending Stories" by Haruko Kumota. This series is “manga on hard-mode,” and is our first introduction to the Japanese art of rakugo, or “falling stories.” Join us as we struggle to grasp the key ideas of an art form none of us have any prior connection to, untangle some (possible) triangles, and discuss the life and death of art forms generally. Music by Sleuth On our next episode we will be joined by Nina Matsumoto to read "Mad Love" by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm.

This week we read "Space Boy" by Stephen McCranie. Discussion (and spoilers) for the episode will cover either volumes 1 and 2 of the tankobon-sized graphic novels, or up to episode 32 of the Webtoon. We’ll spend half of the episode talking about the Webtoon format, and then get into this soft scifi story about a girl from space (also there is a boy). We’ll talk about netgear, high school, and also learn that the antithesis of “manic pixie dream-girl” is in fact “moody emo dream-boy.” Music by Sleuth. Our next episode will cover volumes 1&2 of "Descending Stories" by Haruko Kumota.

This week we read "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist" by Adrian Tomine, diving deep into the most negative parts of one cartoonist’s psyche. We talk about the important place of “sad old man” comics in comics history, mumblecore, lonely book signings, and how cilantro salad is cringe (but only metaphorically). Also how important format is to the storytelling in this book. Music by Sleuth Our next episode will cover volumes 1&2 of "Space Boy" by Stephen McCranie.