dc_rebirth_coverHere’s a warning about this week’s episode right out of the gate: details about DC Universe: Rebirth #1 have leaked to Reddit, including images from that issue. The user who leaked the pages has since deleted his or her account, but those images have been picked up and published by Bleeding Cool (Seriously: there are massive spoilers at that link, so beware), and have led to major spoilers about the book being published across the comics Internet. And those images and spoilers contain a revelation that is not only startling, but infuriating, if not downright rage-inciting, for fans of a particular classic comics property. Like, we sat down to plan this week’s show, found this news item, and chucked everything so we could fume about this move. It stands to possibly be bad, bad mojo for fans of DC who date back to the 1980s.

And we talk about that revelation. So if you want to avoid spoilers for DC Universe: Rebirth #1, you should avoid listening to this week’s episode until you pick up this week’s comics on Wednesday, May 25th. But if you’re not concerned about spoilers, and you care about the legacy of one of the great superhero comics works of the last thirty years, jump on in! We’ll never compromise! Not even in the face of Armageddon!

We also discuss:

  • Future Quest #1, written by Jeff Parker with art by Evan “Doc” Shaner and Steve Rude,
  • Chilling Adventures of Sabrina #5, written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with art by Robert Hack, and:
  • Civil War II #0, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Olivier Coipel!

And, the usual disclaimers:

  • This show contains spoilers. Like, terrible spoilers for DC Universe: Rebirth #1. So if you don’t want to have the terrible spoiler revealed, it’s up to you. I leave it entirely within your hands.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If your version of The American Dream is to get fired for listening to bad language at work, it’ll come true. You’re looking at it.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

multiversity_pax_americana_1_coverThe world of comics is big, complex, and sometimes even literary… and we are not. So we open this show talking about the return of Underoos. Which might sound frivolous, but when you consider that those underwear packs were the only place we middle-aged geeks could get a decent superhero t-shirt in the late 70s, it means something to us.

In addition, we also talk about the radical change in Batgirl to appeal to younger readers, we talk about whether that re-imagining of the character was the right way to go, and what other efforts the Big Two publishers might use to attract readers who aren’t middle-aged white guys with massive disposable incomes. We cover reboots like Batgirl’s, new characters in old costumes like Ms. Marvel, and the good old days, when Avengers and Justice League were places where new and B-List characters could get a fair shake at building a fanbase that could maybe carry a solo title for them.

We also go over the recently announced week two books of DC’s Convergence event, speculate on which titles seem most likely to hold hints about the permanence of this event, and again despair why some creators are on books that don’t seem like the best possible fit (why is Keith Giffen not writing Justice League International, for the love of God?).

And finally, we talk about:

  • Multiversity: Pax Americana #1, written by Grant Morrison with art by Frank Quitely, and:
  • Spider-Verse #2, written by Dan Slott with art by Olivier Coipel!

And now the disclaimers:

  • This show is recorded live to tape (There is one edit in this week’s episode to cover when I nearly revealed my secret identity). While this might mean a looser show than other comics podcasts, it also means that anything can happen. Like mangling the name of a classic comic to make it sound like Green Arrow is a gentleman of leisure who favors baseball bats.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to yell out warnings ahead of time, be aware that they can come at any time.
  • We use adult, profane language, and therefore this show is not safe for work. Unless you, like Green Arrow, are a gentleman of leisure, consider wearing headphones.

Thanks for listening, suckers!

ConvergencePromo_1200Pre-registration for San Diego Comic-Con 2015, for people who attended SDCC in 2014, came and went yesterday, and it marked the first disappointment for would-be attendees who didn’t manage to snag passes… including us. So we spend some time talking about the process, how it differed from registration procedures over the past ten years, and whether there are any other fair options that can balance the need to allow as many people as possible to experience the con, against the horrors of being forced to impotently watch the Blue Ring of Disappointment.

In addition, DC announced their spring crossover event, Convergence, and it was interesting in that it could bring back some pre-Flashpoint characters, it might roll back some New 52 changes, and it sounds suspiciously similar to Marvel’s upcoming Secret Wars event. So we talk about how these respective events might affect their greater continuities, for which publisher this might be a better and stronger move, and ultimately, which one we’re most looking forward to.

We also talk about:

  • Grayson #4, written by Tim Seeley with art by Mikel Janin, and:
  • Spider-Verse #1, written by Dan Slott with pencils by Olivier Coipel!

And now the legalese:

  • This show is recorded live to tape. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you’re used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like the observation that, if people bitten by radioactive spiders throw off irresistible pheromones, then Spider-Verse will become a very sticky place for reasons other than webbing.
  • This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that we might ruin everything you love.
  • This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Your boss doesn’t have Spyral’s nano-bugs, so all you’ll need is some headphones.

Oh, and here’s that Marvel Secret Wars video we talked about:

Enjoy the show, suckers!

tmp_amazing_spider-man_1_cover_2014871384253We’re a little late to the party on this one, but Marvel is already starting to hype the first big event of the soon-to-be freshly Peter Parker-centric reboot of The Amazing Spider-Man… because God knows that you need to market the living shit out of a book where you completely blow up the status quo to, well, return to the status quo. Jesus, Marvel and writer Dan Slott threw a pudgy, nearsighted, vainglorious motormouth into the Spider-Man suit for the past 15 months and have set sales records; I doubt you need to set the world alight to get people to read a Spider-Man book featuring the original dude.

Frankly, just seeing Peter Parker back in the saddle is enough of an event to get me excited… and yet this one sounds ambitious and kinda interesting. It’s called Spider-Verse, it’s gonna be written by Dan Slott with art by Olivier Coipel, it’ll be coming out in November starting in The Amazing Spider-Man #9, and it’s gonna feature Spider-Man.

Whaddya mean, “which Spider-Man?” Spider-Man! You know… all of them. Ever.

Seriously: check it out:

x-men_1_cover_2013Y’know, for a guy that had his DC exclusive contract politely allowed to expire about a month before the New 52 relaunch (and after DC announced, and then unannounced, that he would be the writer on the Supergirl relaunch in September, 2011), Brian Wood has had one hell of a busy – and big – year. Between the launches of Mara for Image, Conan and The Massive for Dark Horse – not to mention the big success of Star Wars for that publisher just last week –  the guy has a lot going on… including that new book for Marvel that they teased last week with a one-word poster reading only “XX”.

These’s been a lot of speculation about what “XX” means, from the idea Amanda floated to me that it was an X-Treme X-Men relaunch, to the one I insisted upon to my bartender that it was about Dos Equis. Actually, I was just ordering a Dos Equis, but that’s not important right now.

What is important is that Marvel has revealed what it’s all about. It’s an X-Men book. Titled X-Men. With no, you know, men in it.

the_most_interesting_man_in_the_worldWolverine calls him the best there is at what he does.

Cyclops believes that he is a dick.

It took Emma Frost longer to read his mind than it did for her to read Infinite Jest.

Hank McCoy calls him a beast.

He is the master of magnetism… according to Eric Lenshurr.

He is… the most interesting man in – ah, screw it; Marvel’s released another one-word teaser poster, and it says “XX.” Sure, I could have made a classy observation like “XX” is the chromosonal sequence for women, but there was a Dos Equis beer joke there, and I am only a man. A weak man. A weak man with a drinking problem. It’s pretty much all I can think about. It’s quite serious.

Right, the comic book. You can check the teaser after the jump.

Editor’s Note: Behold, I teach you the Spoiler! He is this lightning, he is this madness. 

Okay, so Avengers Vs. X-Men #6. Yeah.

Somebody’s read Miracleman.

This book is the spitting image of the end of Alan Moore’s Miracleman run; we’ve got superheroes with the power of Gods, who create a floating fortress above the cities of humanity. They use their powers to end hunger and drought, and make a dramatic statement to the United Nations flatly stating that all human conflict will end by their hand. This is a dead-on reproduction of the events of Miracleman #16, except instead of Warpsmiths we’ve got Phoenixes (Phoeni? Phoenixexces? Whatever.), and since we have Cyclops instead of Miraclemen, we have less detached alienation and 90 percent more colossal douchitude.

Yesterday Marvel announced that their big crossover event for 2012 will be: Civil War! Wait – I mean: Avengers Vs. X-Men!

In a streaming press conference with Editor-In-Chief Axel Alonso, SVP of Publishing Tom Brevoort, Senior Editor Nick Lowe, and Marvel’s Architect writers Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker and Jonathan Hickman, they gave the gist of what we’re in store for: about 300 clams to read the whole story! Wait, that’s not right

…the seeds for this story have been growing for a while. When [the 2007 X-Men event] “Messiah CompleX” introduced the so-called “Mutant Messiah,” a little girl with green eyes and red hair named Hope, it raised the obvious question, “Who is she?” and, of course, the specter of the Phoenix.

So if I had to hazard a guess, the Phoenix Force is returning to Earth, probably to infect the little girl who looks just like Jean Grey, if Jean Grey were redrawn by commission for loathsome perverts. The X-Men will want to protect their messiah, The Avengers will want to stop a potential extinction-level threat to Earth, stuff will explode, and dudes will get kicked.