Episode 113: Jack Daniels Is My Agatha Harkness

It has been a stone bummer of a week when it comes to comic news. From the tragic loss of Darwyn Cooke to DC Comics having to release a statement on sexual harassment in the face of protests over allegations about Superman Group Editor Eddie Berganza, there haven’t been a lot of smiles in comics this week. Hell, when the most welcome news is that Supergirl was renewed and only has to reduce their budget and expatriate to Canada, you’re not talking a barrel of laughs.

But these things all happened, so we talk about them. Particularly the DC Comics harassment issue, as one of us was once harassed in the manner and circumstances in which Berganza is accused of harassing someone back in 2012, and therefore we wanted to share our perspective on it.

But we hate dwelling on negatives in our favorite hobby, so we spend more time than usual talking about actual comics this week, discussing:

• Southern Bastards #14, written by Jason Aaron with art by Jason Latour,
• The Vision #7, written by Tom King with art by Michael Walsh,
• Starfire #12, written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Elsa Charretier, and
• Powers #6, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Michael Avon Oeming!

And, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. We will ruin the ending of the latest Powers story line for you… but then again, since it’s been seven months since the last issue, you probably don’t remember how the story line started.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and therefore is not safe for work. Sure, the concept of a “kitten chaser” sounds benign, but do you want to risk your employment on it? Didn’t think so. Buy earphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:48 — 78.0MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 83: Mopey Dick

What with the search for a new Home Office thanks to continual incursions by vermin (It’s like Secret Wars, only with ants!), we’re a little scatterbrained and fried this week, but we don’t let that get in the way of putting together a great show for you! Or at least a show of roughly professional-ish quality!

Disney’s D23 Expo was this weekend, and since Marvel Studios was bough by Chairman Mouse, that means that the first real footage from Captain America: Civil War has been shown. Not released, and not leaked in any fashion we’ve been able to locate, but descriptions abound, so we discuss what we’ve heard, what was announced about Doctor Strange, and whether we will be allowed to openly carry liquor and firearms at the Mos Eisley Cantina Disney will be building at Disneyland.

And while we weren’t able to see the Civil War trailer, we have been able to see the pilot to Fox’s upcoming adaptation of Vertigo Comics’s Lucifer. We are big fans of Mike Carey’s Lucifer series (and Neil Gaiman’s Sandman that introduced the character in that form), so we have strong opinions as to how the original comic series, about a fallen angel exploring what it means to have free will through the creation of literal universes, jibes with this new series about a Devil who solves crimes with a former actress cop.

We also discuss:

• The Walking Dead #135, written by Robert Kirkman with art by Charlie Adlard, and:
• Starfire #3, written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art by Emanuela Lupacchino!

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 sudden tangent over which character in The Strain we want to kill with a pipe wrench (it’s totally Zach).
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be forewarned that we will reveal that people talk a lot in The Walking Dead.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Unless you think your employer is interested in the continuity ramifications of perverse Wookie sex, get yourself some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39:11 — 91.7MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 74: Like Billy Batson At A Pharma Party

We are back, after a week spent upgrading various parts of our online infrastructure! Which was exactly as exciting as it sounds! Provided you are Lex from Jurassic Park and know Unix! Unlike us!

And we came back just in time for an almost complete comics news drought. This happens ever year in the couple of weeks leading up to San Diego Comic-Con; the publishers save their big announcements for the show, while leaking only little things, like TV casting announcements.

So the news about comics winds up being news about comics at SDCC. So this week, we discuss a couple of announcements about the convention itself, including some of the… shall we say, odder… convention exclusives that some vendors are making available, to the announcement that Marvel Studios won’t be having a Hall H presence this year, while Star Wars and DC / Warner Bros. (probably) will be having a big one.

And we took the opportunity afforded by a relatively slow news week to talk about more of this week’s comics than usual, including:

• Starve #1, written by Brian Wood with art by Daniel Zezelj,
• Starfire #1, written by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Emanuela Lupacchino,
• Constantine, The Hellblazer #1, written by Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV with art by Riley Rossmo, and
• Batman #41, written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo!

And, as usual, 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 learning why putting a cape on your office chair means Gotham City is doomed.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, please be aware that we might ruin stuff for you.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Unless you want your employer to hear multiple references to a sketchy, ten-dollar party, get some headphones.

Enjoy the show, suckers!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57:28 — 106.6MB)

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Episode 70: I Cannot Super Today

It 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:31:13 — 80.0MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 67: C2E2 Panel Recap, Part 1: Spider-Man GWAR

We’re a bit later than we originally intended, but proud to present the first part of our C2E2 2015 panel recaps. But these aren’t your normal panel rundowns; these are chock full of audio from the panels, including quotes direct from Dan Slott, Brian Azzarello, Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner, Charles Soule, and a bunch of other creators!

We start by going through the Secret Wars: Last Days panel from Marvel, where the panel talks about the Last Days miniseries leading to Secret Wars for characters like Ms. Marvel, Black Widow, Silver Surfer, Punisher, Ant-Man and the Inhumans. While there’s not a lot in the way of revelations in this panel, there are one or two really interesting new tidbits… as well as the name a of supervillain that, by the end of the episode, will haunt your nightmares.

We then recap the New DC Universe panel, where the post-Convergence storylines of books including Harley Quinn, Starfire, Bizarro and Catwoman, as well as some details about the upcoming We Are Robin, are laid out. This was the panel where Dark Knight 3: The Master Race was made, and we have that audio (and our opinions) as well.

We plan to tape and release our recap episode about the Batman panel (where Scott Snyder talks openly about the Bat-Bunny) tomorrow or Friday, so stay tuned!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:39:07 — 91.0MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 42: Rear Admiral Cyberman

This week we added and installed a ton of new studio equipment for the show… and then used it to spend a few minutes laying in movie sound clips like middle-market Morning Zoo jocks.

Once we got that out of our system (and it is out of our system, we swear), we spent some time discussing the Doctor Who season finale, Death in Heaven. We talk about how the finale resembled a big comic book crossover event, whether the season theme of The Doctor-as-aristocrat really held water, the missed opportunity of Clara insisting that she was The Doctor, and why the English put so much stock in Christmas specials.

This week also brought us the solicitations for the first week of DC’s Convergence event on April 8th, so we go through each of the books and talk about what looks good, what looks great, and what it would take for us to even remotely care about some of the returning pre-New 52 characters (hi, Damian Wayne!).

On the comics front, we discuss:

• Captain America and The Mighty Avengers, written by Al Ewing with art by Luke Ross,
• Captain America #1, written by Rick Remender with pencils y Stuart Immonen, and
• Superior Iron Man #1, written by Tom Taylor with art by Yildiray Cinar!

And now the warnings:

• This show is recorded live to tape. While that might mean that this is a looser comics podcast than you are normally accustomed to, it also means that anything can happen.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that the spoilers you fear most will be uttered as the punchline to a dirty joke.
• Speaking of dirty jokes, this show contains adult, profane language, and is not safe for work. Having just bought a crate of recording studio gear, I can state with some authority that headphones are cheap. Get some.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:37:53 — 78.2MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!