Stick-Figure Hamlet

For our landmark 900th episode, Mya Gosling and her pocket dramaturg Kate Pitt discuss the epically comic A Stick-Figure Hamlet, Mya’s hysterical and surprisingly rich retelling of Shakespeare’s play from the creative mind behind GoodTickleBrain, the internet’s greatest (and possibly only) Shakespearean webcomic. Mya and Kate reveal the Hamlets they have known and loved; the marvelous elasticity of the comic form; whether Hamlet is legitimately a great play or merely an influential one; the fun of going behind the scenes of the play; how artists can transform the source material; the importance of bringing Ophelia to the fore; having a place to put all your favorite Hamlet Fun Facts; completely bonkers 19th-century productions of the play; and the immense value of taking not only Shakespeare’s play but the conversations about the play off their hifalutin pedestals. (Length 23:14)

Episode 604. Cartoonist John Kovalic

Failed astrophysicist John Kovalic certainly landed on his feet, becoming not only a fantastic cartoonist and board game designer, but the creator of Dork Tower and Apples To Apples, illustrator of Munchkin Shakespeare, the crafty current chronicler of geek culture. On our recent trip to Madison Wisconsin, we got to sit down and talk with John about the rise of geek culture, apologies to former professors, humble roots at the UW-Madison student newspaper, the wonders of crowd-funding, skipping Advanced Micro Economics, multiple interests across the arts and the sciences, how autobiographical comics aren’t, being directed by Dominic Dromgoole, the horrible dangers of Monopoly, and the startling and slightly bittersweet success of Apples to Apples. (Length 26:27)