Episode 143: Purple Monkey Slashfic

As we move slowly into convention season, there is kind of a dearth of interesting comics news to work through some weeks. Oh sure, we could weigh in on Marvel’s comments at ComicsPRO that the reason their sales are down is because of DC shipping cheaper books, but that’s a little inside baseball even for us. And besides: we all know that the people at Marvel will say absolutely anything if it means Issac Perlmutter turns his Sauron doom-eye back toward Kevin Feige.

So this week, we stick with talking this weeks’ comics, including:

• Justice League of America #1, written by Steve Orlando with art by Ivan Reis,
• Darkness Visible #1, written by Mike Carey and Arvind Ethan David with art by Brendan Cahill,
• The Old Guard #1, written by Greg Rucka with art by Leandro Fernandez
• Hulk #3, written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Nico Leon, and:
• The Amazing Spider-Man #24, written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli!

However, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know how many of this week’s comic books actually feature The Hulk (hint: it’s one fewer than you’d think!), then consider yourself forewarned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Let’s just say that Rob curses enough about The Clone Conspiracy this week to make the phrase “Ben Reilly” an obscenity by association. So consider using earbuds.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:41 — 75.2MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 142: Polonium Whiskey

We are living in an age where we are spoiled for choice, when it comes to comics-related television shows. From The Flash to Supergirl to The Walking Dead to Cinemax’s Outcast to the (possibly) upcoming Scalped on WGN America, there’s something for everyone… which is why we weren’t particularly excited for FX’s Legion, based on a mid-90’s New Mutant and set in the oldest and arguably stalest of the modern comics cinematic universes. We only decided to watch it because we have a comics podcast, which means that you need something to talk about.

But watch it we did, thinking we were taking one for the team, but finding one of the smarter and more intriguing comic book television shows – if not filmed genre properties, period – we’ve seen in recent memory. It’s a show based on a funnybook that made us unironically namecheck David Cronenberg and use the word “Kubrickian.” That doesn’t happen every day.

(Oh: and we completely confuse the character Legion with Proteus in this episode. In our defense, these characters appeared in prominent mid-90s X-Men stories, making them, by their very nature, very, very forgettable.)

We also discuss:

• Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #5, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung, and:
• The Wild Storm #1, written by Warren Ellis with art by Jon Davis-Hunt!

And now, as usual, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know the greater plot of the Legion pilot, well, listening to this show won’t help you. But still: consider yourself warned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you don’t want your Mom to know which comics property we believe should have been called “The Brown Note,” get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:24:22 — 72.0MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 140: The Soft Emo Underbelly of Batman

It was a weird week for comics and genre news. Having recorded this episode one day before the announcement of the official title of the new Star Wars movie (spoiler alert: the spoiler is that the title is Star Wars: The Last Jedi), the only comics related news was whether it was still kosher, so to speak, to sucker-punch a Nazi, Captain America style.

(Editor’s Note: we discuss the Nazi-punching issue very, very briefly, only to come to the conclusion that, to paraphrase a famous American: if Jake Blues does it, it cannot be illegal.)

So this week, we skip most of the news, and go straight to the comics. We discuss:

• Batman #15, written by Tom King with art by Mitch Gerads,
• The Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #4, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung,
• The Ray: Rebirth #1, written by Steve Orlando with art by Stephen Byrne,
• Angel: Season 11 #1, written by Corinna Bechko with art by Geraldo Borges, and:
• Curse Words #1, written by Charles Soule with art by Ryan Browne!

And, as always, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to find out why, thanks to Catwoman, Batman is no longer the M Night Shaymalan, turn back now.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you don’t want your significant other to learn what happens when you mix juniper and romilar, get some of those Airpods or something.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:34 — 69.2MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 136: I Am The One Who Yubs

“That’s what I love about these [Spider-Men], man… I get older, they stay the same age.” -Michael Keaton (unconfirmed) (probably made up) (I totally made this up)

So we’re on our third person playing Spider-Man since the last time we had a Glutton Bowl, which seems not only unfair, but kinda wasteful. However, this time we have a Spider-Man working within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played by an actual (almost) teenager, and who seems able to tell a joke better than, “Hi! I am Tobey Maguire, and I am seventeen years old! Why are you looking at me like that?”

And since the first trailers for Spider-Man: Homecoming were released last week, we spend a few minutes talking about some of the details, how some elements of Brian Michael Bendis’s Mile Morales seem to have been integrated into Peter Parker’s story, how cool it is to see Michael Keaton in a real superhero movie again, and how none of this gets around the truth about how hard it is to get excited about our third Peter Parker less than ten years.

But talking about a trailer does not a podcast make. So we also discuss:

• Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #3, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung,
• Wonder Woman ’77 and The Bionic Woman, written by Andy Mangels with art by Judit Tondora,
• Batman #12, written by Tom King with art by Mikel Janin, and:
• Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #1, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Kev Walker and Salvador Larroca!

And, as always, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know who The Jackal offers to resurrect for Spider-Man, then you’re clearly not thinking about The Clone Conspiracy even a little bit, but still: consider yourself warned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. If you think your mom might be disturbed to hear what its like to “pull a trailer for Lyle Waggoner,” then get yourself some earbuds.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:38:10 — 83.2MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 118: Send In The Clones

This 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:50:18 — 108.3MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!