Brandon Ingram, Dismay Comics, and Tales From Town's City
You wanted to learn all about German Riesling classification systems and bottle labeling laws, right? No? Oooops.
Brandon Ingram is the founder of Dismay Comics and creator of DISMAY AVENUE, GALLOWS MAN, and now TALES FROM TOWN'S CITY, a stand-alone spin-off featuring background characters from the Gallow's Man universe getting their own spotlighted short stories!
TALES is funding on Kickstarter until next Thursday, 10/5!
TALES consists of three short stories, two of which are illustrated by Juan Romera, the artist on previous guest Steve Urena’s Slow Pokes comic, and BOTH include a killer Sloth! (What are the chances?) We discussed Slow Pokes a few weeks back when talking to Steve about his latest FOUL MOUTH comic:
Steve Urena and Foul Mouth, plus Our First Livestream is tomorrow!
Cursing is Her Superpower! If that sounds like your cup of tea, you absolutely must check out Steve Urena’s FOUL MOUTH, currently raising funds on Kickstarter:
THE WINES
Dallas' Pairing
Schafer-Frohlich Spatburgunder Blanc de Noir Rose Nahe 2020
A very light-colored, “onion skin” (translucent onion skin color) rose, with virtually no skin contact, just a touch of pigment that I suppose comes from pressing the pinot noir in a way where the winemaker isn’t meaning to keep all color out of the juice.
This is a “trocken” or “dry” rose, no significant amount of residual sugar, so nothing directly sweet in the flavor. On the other hand Dave went with…
Dave's Pairing
Weinbiet 'Philipp Bassler' Riesling Grosses Gewachs
Get here (international) or here (USA - if it’s currently out of stock, sign up to be notified when it’s back in stock! Wine Access tends to be very consistent with bringing back listed wines seasonally)
Now this is also a “Trocken”, and and “Grosses Gewachs” (“Great Growth”, meaning what the winemaker considers the best of their lots that year!)
BUT…Dave actually thinks the perfect pairing with TALES FROM TOWN’S CITY or THE GALLOWS MAN is a “Kabinett” style Reisling:
As you can see above “Troken” or “Qualitatswein” are the completely dry classifications you’ll find on a bottle of German Riesling.
“Kabinett” is the first tier when entering the “Pradikatswein” sweet tiers. Kabinett is still mostly considered a “dry” style - we don’t even enter “off-dry” territory until the next “Spatlese” tier!
Kabinett is that level of sweet where you taste sweetness when it first hits your tongue, then it instantly backs off and the finish hits like a completely dry wine. TALES and GALLOWS MAN are similar - it’s sugary pulp hero adventure until…it isn’t. It’s fun and frolickin’, but with a gallows humor (buh-dum-dum) edge. You want a touch of sweetness, but nothing actually sweet.
Kabinett means, literally, cabinet, referring to the wines the winemaker would squirrel away in their cabinet to save for him or herself, because it was just that good. Just last weekend I tased a Kabinett Riesling for the first time, and it convinced me how balanced in the sweet/dry department this level of classification is. It must be a phenomenal food pairing wine, able to match an insane range of savory, sweet, and spicy, and not clash with any of it!
Also listen to the episode to hear about Eiswein ("Ice wine”) which is one of the best, densest damn dessert wines you’ll ever try alongside PX Sherry.
Brandon's Comic and Beverage Pairing
The Comic
ROGUES by Joshua Williamson and Leomacs (DC Black Label)
ROUGES is a mini-series about The Flash’s “rogues gallery” (his most common villains) who are literally called “The Rogues”. Here, they’re featured in a Black Label book, which is DC’s newest attempt to make an “mature readers” 17+ line of comics in the wake of abandoning their Veritgo label (the label that brought us SANDMAN, JOHN CONSTANTINE, SWAMP THING, PREACHER, and LUCIFER mong soooo many other classics of the medium.)
Written by longtime Flash scribe Joshua Williamson, and art by “Leomacs” (who is new to me), this is a “one last heist” style story, with the Rogues deciding to rob Gorilla Grodd’s (a member of the Rogues) Gorilla City. So Fast and the Furious meets Planet of the Apes?
Brandon says of Joshua Williamson’s writing: “He’s very consistent in quality.” (without defining that level of quality….)
DC Comics - are you looking to sponsor someone? We can get people to come on the show and say you’re very “consistent with quality”. Send us money now.
The Beverage
MTN DEW (wherever soda is sold, come on now, we're not feeding you links to this shit. Walk to a gas station, pharmacy, or a 7-11 you lazy, lazy turdie birdie.)
Brandon paired ROUGES with Mtn freaking Dew, because, in Brandon’s own words: “It’s not bad, it’s not great, it’s good.”
Mtn Dew - are you looking to sponsor someone? We can get people on the show to say you’re not great, but good. That sounds sincere and like truth. It’ll be a hit marketing campaign, trust us. Send money now.
Elsewhere on Substack
Comic Confessions:
- over at is at 51% funded for her Demon Bitch Kicstarter, which we featured here on Wine and Comics a few weeks back!
- at has 3 days left to raise the final $1K for his Neverland comic! He’s raised 4K out of 5 already with over 200 backers. Help him bring what he calls “his most important comic series” to the finish line!
We recently had writer
on the show, and he just dropped a post at his stack teasing a plethora of new projects he’s got brewing! They look…words fail. Go see the pictures that are each worth 1000 of ‘em.
Wine Windings:
- over at comments on wine brands that sound like desserts. (Layer Cake, Cherry Pie, etc.) I freely admit to being drawn to these when I was starting out in my wine journey, so maybe they do serve a purpose? Though I also admittedly have a sweet tooth bar none. Not that I ever liked that in my wine, per see, but the branding probably lit up those subconscious parts of my brain.
I shared this on Notes a while back, but it bears a special spotlight here:
over at posted a wonderful cookie recipe, album, and wine pairing (yes, all three together!) The album is really good, too. I’ll need to post something soon about why pairing wine with *anything* is such a beautiful practice and concept. It showcases the wild variety of the product, and how it can connect to our lives in ways other alcoholic beverages can only manage on a narrow bandwidth.- at talks about how Sexy the Fall season is, and I have to agree. Or maybe “more romantic” is the better way to say it. Summer is easy-sexy, simple sexy, eye candy and the like. Fall is the season that makes you really think through your wardrobe and decor. It makes you want to hug somebody close vs. just enjoying the views. And the red wines you get to drink have so much more going on with them than the chillable porch sippers of summer.
Just you guys wait!!
Ohhh yes! Great fall description!