power_man_iron_fist_9_cover_2016We’re back, after yet another interruption – this time, we left the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office to go to the American Classic Arcade Museum, where Amanda beat her personal best on Centipede, and Rob, after 30 years, finally learned the secret to escaping the building in Elevator Action (Take the elevator to the lobby and shoot everyone who gets in your way… which, to be honest, is a good strategy for getting out of any building, but what the hell? Rob is slow).

But we are back, and ready to discuss Marvel’s latest original Netflix series: Luke Cage. This is a series that touches on a variety of classic genre fiction, from pulp to blacksploitation to 70s cop TV to good old superhero comics, and provides us with a couple of deep, well-developed villains with sympathetic motivations and believable actions. And there is also Diamondback!

We also discuss:

  • Power Man & Iron Fist #9, and:
  • Glitterbomb #2!

With that said:

  • This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know why Luke Cage proves that Captain America is history’s greatest monster, consider yourself warned.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you don’t want to explain the definition of “rapscallion hobo” to your mom and / or employer, get some headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

clone_conspiracy_promo_poster_1This week, Marvel and Spider-Man writer Dan Slott announced that this fall’s Spider-Man event will be called The Clone Conspiracy, and will feature The Jackal and the clone of Gwen Stacy, possibly bringing a bunch of long dead Spider-Man characters back from the grave. We initially had a very negative reaction to this news, because any Spider-Man title that includes the word “clone” brings back memories of the 1990s Clone Saga… but then we realized that neither of us had actually read all that much of the original Gerry Conway clone stories from the 1970s, or the Clone Saga stories from the mid 90s.

So we ran out and purchased the trade of the original clone stories from 1975 through 1990, and one of the trades of the 90s Clone Saga, to see how we really felt about the clone stories in the face of the actual works. And we discussed, in the face of actual exposure to the clone stories, whether we wanted to see any more clone stories… and whether we did or not, if they could possibly overcome the reputation of the 90s Clone Saga.

We also discuss:

  • Civil War II #2, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by David Marquez,
  • Superman #1, written by Peter Tomasi with art by Patrick Gleason, and:
  • Batman #1, written by Tom King with art by David FInch!

And, the usual disclaimers:

  • This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to learn the ending of who wound up with the mantle of Spider-Man at the end of The Clone Saga 21 years ago, you are a wise person with good taste in serialized graphic storytelling! But we’ll still ruin it for you.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you don’t think your mom wants to hear how there’s a big bit of Hal Jordan in Carol Danvers, then get some headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

secret_wars_9_2016_coverSecret Wars #9 was released this week, marking the official end of the Marvel Universe as created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby (or by Kirby and Lee, depending on whose version you prefer) in the November, 1961 issue of Fantastic Four #1.

Purely by coincidence, this was also the week that our local comic store put used copies of the first two volumes of Marvel’s Essential Fantastic Four reprints on sale. And also purely by coincidence, this was the week we obtained a copy of last year’s Josh Trank-directed movie version of Fantastic Four, with the original plan being to watch it so we could, in good conscience, list it as our worst genre movie of 2015.

However, with both the beginning and the end of Stan and Jack’s Fantastic Four and Marvel Universe in our hands, as well as this wretched little celluloid deviation, we decided it was a perfect time to revisit the team, how much of the Marvel Universe just those first few issues laid down for decades to come, how the comic really was a product of its time (and how the movie was proof of that), and how Jonathan Hickman laid those characters, as they have been since 1961, to rest. And, ultimately, we discuss whether this team, that was born during the Space Race, when Kennedy was President and World War II was closer in history than the Y2K Bug is to us today, could have a future in 2016.

And now, the disclaimers:

  • We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like a discussion why Sue Storm makes Helen of Troy look like Willie Lumpkin.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that we will spoil the fact that the Fantastic Four movie just sucks.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and therefore is not safe for work. See that “Ring Job” in the title? Don’t let your boss hear about that. Get some earphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

BCC2015LogoLongWe conclude our coverage of Boston Comic Con 2015 first by bemoaning the nearly literal biblical weather and plagues that prevented us from releasing it on Thursday as we originally planned.

Once we get that out of our system, we discuss the panels that we were able to attend at this year’s Boston Comic Con: Spider-Verse, Marvel Universe, IDW Comics, and the DC Comics panel. And not only do we talk about them, but we share a load of audio we recorded at those panels, from creators like Brian Azzarello, Scott Snyder, Jimmy Palmiotti, Jason Latour, Ming Doyle, Annie Wu, Sara Richard, Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, and a bunch of others!

We also talk about the differences between the panel delivery styles of each publisher, why you seem to get more hard information from DC Comics than you do Marvel, and why the IDW panel gave us the best explanations of why publishers pursue licensed comics, and why colorists are more important than most of us think, than we’ve heard in 40 years of reading comics.

And, as always, the disclaimers:

  • We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might make this a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like learning why Rob’s childhood memories include armpits bleeding goo.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Convention panelists try to keep things clean. They are better people than we are. Get some headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

MarvelAllNewAllDifferentIt’s the final day of a long holiday weekend in the United States. We celebrated Independence Day in the ways of our forefathers: by getting drunk, listening to stuff blow up, and spending hours and hours playing Batman: Arkham Knight on our brand new XBox One. So we spend a little time talking about the new game, the new game system, our relationship to gaming, and how, no matter which next generation console you choose, you are now doomed to live with that company’s games until they, or you, die.

But this is a comics show, and there was big comics news this week: Marvel announced a huge chunk of the books that they will be releasing in October to follow the universe-rebooting Secret Wars. It’s up to 45 books, which means we don’t have time to talk about all of them, but we spend a little time with Amazing Spider-Man, The Ultimates, Captain Marvel, Karnak, Old Man Logan, and Doctor Strange. We discuss how we think they’ll work, how Amazing Spider-Man could be the answer to the prayers of both fans and haters of One More Day, and how the creative team behind Doctor Strange has Rob as excited about a comic book as he’s been in years.

We also discuss:

  • Secret Wars #4, written by Jonathan Hickman with art by Esad Ribic,
  • We Stand On Guard #1, written by Brian K. Vaughan with art by Steve Skroce,
  • Groot #2, written by Jeff Loveness with art by Brian Kesinger, and:
  • Little AvX Marvel #2, written and drawn by Skottie Young!

And now the disclaimers:

  • We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you’re used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like learning about Immaculately Manscaped Galactus.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that you will learn which X-Man takes balls to the face in Little AvX Marvel.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You want your boss to know the etymology of the word “crotchal”? Then get some headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

avengers_age_of_ultron_movie_logo_1301720927We are at peak Avengers: Age of Ultron backlash. The flick hasn’t been reviewed with nearly the nerd boner that the first Avengers movie got… and on some level, I agree. The first Avengers was better. That doesn’t automatically make AoU bad, but I can see how it would disappoint some people. You know, people who didn’t live through a time when, across a three-year span of time, the only comic book movie we got was Howard the Duck.

But the backlash has strengthened, for some, into legitimate anger. Consider this 4,200 word complaint that AoU is a failure on almost every level that one would want in a “popcorn movie.” Sady Doyle, the author, says she likes popcorn movies – big ‘splosions, giant robots, “pure, overwhelming spectacle.” She says she likes ’em big and dumb, kids. So then we’ll be on her side as she tears the flick apart, piece by piece, as useless.

She’s wrong, of course. Let’s figure out why! And I got my own 4,000 words to do it, so buckle up!

secret_wars_teaser_alex_rossIt is Mother’s Day today, which means a somewhat shorter and truncated show this week. Because when you’re a son or a daughter, you need to honor your mother on Mother’s Day. And it turns out that you need to do that whether you remember she’s visiting that day, or whether they need blind telephone technical support for several hours. Because she’s the woman who gave birth to you, and saying, “But we have a podcast to record!” isn’t a good excuse. Particularly when you don’t want Mom to know that you have a podcast.

So this week, we take advantage of the fact that Convergence is half over to discuss the previews of post-Convergence books, both new and old, that DC has released this week. The books run the gamut from humor to sci-fi to action to apparent political horror, so we talk about Doomed, Red Hood and Arsenal, Starfire, Midnighter, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Omega Men, Detective Comics, Section Eight, and Prez.

But the big deal in this week’s comics was the first issue of Marvel’s Secret Wars, where Jonathan Hickman spits on his hands and takes Marvel the whole Crisis route. However, Secret Wars #1 isn’t Crisis. So we talk about how Hickman has put Marvel through it’s own Kobayashi Maru test, and given us a superhero story where nobody acts like a superhero, everyone seems to act in their own self-interest, and heroes act like they never have before in order to make sure everyone’s in the right place to service the plot. Ultimately, we talk about how this is a story that is very consistent with Hickman’s general style… and how that might not be the best thing for some of these characters.

And now, the disclaimers:

  • We record this show live to tape. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like speculation about the musky flavor profile of Dead Guy Whiskey.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that you are going to learn exactly why Reed Richards is a d**k.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Unless you want your employer to learn our new cocktails based on Dead Guy Whiskey, get some headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

c2e2_logoWe are back in Boston after attending day two of C2E2 2015, and let me tell you: Saturday at that convention is a very different experience than Friday. The crowds are much, much bigger, the cosplayers are everywhere (you can’t swing a dead cat without hitting a Deadpool… note to self: try to sell Deadpool’s Pet: Dead Cat idea to Marvel), and the drunken rubberneckers began to rear their ugly heads.

But there were also cool creators to meet, awesome purchases to make (unless the purchase you want to make is, completely by accident, related to a major Hollywood announcement, in which case you were all out of luck), and some solid panels to attend. So we talk a little bit about the C2E2 Saturday experience in general, the Secret Wars: Last Days and Batman panels specifically, and why a certain Chicago restaurant will never be visited again in unfortunate detail.

Again, this is just another brief recap show. We will publish a detailed recap of the convention, including a lot of panel audio, tomorrow or Tuesday.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

secret_wars_teaser_alex_rossIt’s been three months since Marvel announced the Secret Wars crossover event, and since then, speculation has been flying about what it meant for the Marvel Universe: would it be a reboot, or just an event allowing Marvel characters from all their various universes to punch on each other for a few months?

Well, Marvel’s Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort and Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso did a press conference about Secret Wars this week, and it turns out the answer is: both!

So this week, we spend a lot of time poring over audio from that press conference, first trying to figure out if this reboot was planned before or after Alonso famously denied that Marvel was planning a reboot. We also discuss whether and what we’ll miss from the Ultimate Universe, what we want to see written out of Marvel continuity, and what we think is absolutely sacrosanct. Further, when it comes to Secret Wars itself, we talk about Battleworld, what battles we want to see between characters and universes, and ultimately, whether or not we’re excited by the idea of a Crisis On Infinite Earths-style reboot of Stan and Jack’s Marvel Universe.

We also discuss:

  • The Amazing Spider-Man #13, written by Dan Slott with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli, and:
  • Powers #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Avon Oeming!

And now, the disclaimers:

  • We record this show live to tape. While this might mean this is a looser comics podcast than you might be used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like discussions over whether we want to start a Kickstarter to fund the purchase of a Crisis On Infinite Midlives Kill-Bot.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that we’ve ruined the end of Spider-Verse for you.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and therefore is not safe for work. Unless you want your employer finding out what body part we want to use to trigger the machines guns on our Kill-Bot, get some headphones.

Enjoy the show, suckers!

all_winners_4_coverIt was a big week for Marvel’s Cinematic Universe this week, as the first two episodes of the limited series Agent Carter debuted on Tuesday. So we spend some time talking about that episode, its themes of sexism, how its mid-40s setting is a blessing and an opportunity, and how an obscure comic from 1942 might hold some secrets about the series.

Agent Carter also featured the debut of the first teaser trailer for Marvel’s Ant-Man movie. We’ve made no secret that we’re looking far less forward to this movie now that Edgar Wright is no longer directing, so we talk about whether this trailer changes our mind at all. Short answer: watch the trailer with no audio, and see if it doesn’t look like a prison flick with Paul Rudd as a convicted child predator and Michael Douglas as his lovesick warden.

We also discuss:

  • Ant-Man #1, written by Nick Spencer with art by Ramon Rosanas, and:
  • The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1, written by Ryan North with art by Erica Henderson!

And now the legalese:

  • We record this show live to tape. While this might mean a looser show than you are used to from most comics podcasts, it also means that anything can happen. Like the definition of “Cream of Swede.” It’s not what you think! It’s far more disgusting!
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout warnings ahead of time, just assume that we will ruin everything you care about.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. I refer you again to the phrase “Cream of Swede.” You’re gonna want some headphones.

Enjoy the show, suckers!