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 82: Boston Comic Con 2015 – On Drugs And Putting Puppies In Microwaves

We 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:04:46 — 116.7MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 57: Toaster Babies

This was a big week of classic genre movie news for we members of Generation X: it was announced that not only will District 9 director Neill Blomkamp be directing a new Alien movie with Sigourney Weaver’s involvement, but that it will take place around the story timeframe of Aliens, and that there’s a possibility that it will disregard the events of Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection. You know, like most other Alien fans have been doing since 1992.

Further, Ridley Scott announced that he will be producing a sequel to Blade Runner, to be directed by Prisoners director Denis Villeneuve, and including Harrison Ford, who loved his experience making the original so much that he refused to talk about it for decades.

So Amanda and I discuss whether or not it’s a good idea for these actors to try to return to franchises they left behind 18 and 33 years ago respectively… but more importantly, whether either of these franchises even need a sequel or reboot, and what kind of stories set in these universes would be most exciting for we old school fans to see. And, ultimately, whether or not it is possible to ignore the Aliens Vs. Predators movies enough.

We also talk about:

• The recently released Power Rangers fan film starring James Van Der Beek and Katie Sackhoff (and why it reminds us of Alan Moore),
• Spider-Gwen #1, written by Jason Latour with art by Bobbi Rodriguez, and:
• Batman #39, written by Scott Snyder with art by Greg Capullo!

And now the disclaimers:

• 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 speculation that Harrison Ford’s copy of the Blade Runner 2 script read: “We’ll pay you 30 million dollars.”
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that a spoiler could come at any time. Like the revelation that Alien: Resurrection is truly horrible.
• This show contains profane, adult language and is therefore not safe for work. Your boss doesn’t want to hear about how we want to slap around “Sigourney Weaver’s bald convict”, so get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57:14 — 101.7MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Episode 35: Do The Brokeback

Between the new female Thor, Falcon taking over as Captain America, and this week’s rumors that X-23 will take over as Wolverine (after Sabretooth takes over as Wolverine), Amanda and I talk about succession in superhero comics in general. We start with the idea that DC is all about succession while Marvel never has been, the kinds of stories that could work as new people put on the old costumes, what probably couldn’t work, and what ulterior motives Marvel could have for such recent character churn.

We also discuss:

• Batwoman: Futures’ End One Shot, written by Marc Andreyko with art by Jason Masters, and:
• Edge of Spider-Verse: Gwen Stacy, Spider-Woman, written by Jason LaTour with art by Robbi Rodriguez!

And now the legalese:

• We record this show live to tape. Which might mean a looser show that you are used to from other comics podcasts, but it also means anything can happen. Like ruminations over the flat affect of people rescued by Superman in 1970s Hostess Fruit Pie ads.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out a warning ahead of time, consider this a master, blanket warning.
• This show contains adult, explicit language, and is not safe for work. You no longer need to sell Grit subscriptions to get headphones, so go out and do so.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:21:59 — 64.2MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Crisis On Infinite Midlives Podcast Episode 13: The Fist Of Rhino

Yes, we know, it’s been a couple of weeks since our last podcast, but we have a good excuse: we were drunk we were busy catching up on the latest in pop culture and comics after a weekend pretending we were still young reintroducing ourselves to classic video games!

So we are tan, rested and ready to talk about the biggest comics and geek events of the past week! Including:

• A discussion of a weekend spent playing video games at the American Classic Arcade Museum at the Funspot Arcade in Laconia, NH
• A talk about the highs (Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man) and lows (Jamie Foxx as Electro) of The Amazing Spider-Man 2
• A dissection of the upcoming death of Wolverine, why it feels empty and corporate, why most recent comic book death stories feel the same, and a few comic book death stories that break that mold (and why)
• A review of Jason Aaron’s and Jason Latour’s Southern Bastards, how it feels like a modern High Noon, and how it plays into (and stymies) views of the South from a couple of inveterate yankees
• Quick discussion of DC’s Futures End Free Comic Book Day release, and Batman: Eternal #4

And, as usual, here are the disclaimers:

• This episode was recorded live to tape, which means that there may be more dead air, ill-advised language, and “ummmms” than you are used to in your standard comics / pop culture podcast
• This show uses explicit and profane language, and is not safe for work. If you have the choice between listening to this show on speakers and being reprimanded for faking a disability for wearing an earplug to listen to this show? Take the write-up. Sure, your hearing-impaired co-workers will give you the stinkeye tomorrow, but at least you’ll still be employed to see it.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:12:48 — 66.7MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

You Don’t Get Much Without Giving – Review Of Wolverine #309

A couple of weeks ago, I sat through a handful of Marvel panels at SDCC and learned…not very much. Well, at least not a lot about anything related to the assorted members of the Avengers or X-Men – which was weird, what with the whole panel dedicated to them and their “summer blockbuster” event (yes, those were the, somewhat paraphrased, words of Marvel EIC Axel Alonso). At the AVX panel, much of the time was dedicated to cheerleading, with only modest time devoted to characters and titles. Most of those titles discussed ended up being related to books that will be released post AVX (Marvel NOW!). If Alonso sees the culmination of each year’s storylines as leading into a big summer time event, you’d think he might take a cue from the the actual “blockbusters” (hint – they’re often in Hall H or Ballroom 20 and you have to line up for them the day before…not waltz into them 10 minutes before they start.). Maybe have a panel that is balanced with more writers and artists on it than editorial. Talk about some of the individual books, both team and solo, of characters involved in your “summer blockbuster” in the here and now, rather than in, ahem, Marvel NOW. I’m sure it wouldn’t have killed Arune Singh to maybe take some time out from saying “How many of you love {insert event or movie}?” and get one of the architects on speaker phone, the way he did for the Amazing Spider-Man And Other Stuff That Was Marginally Related To Spider-Man panel we attended the next day. But, who knows? Rumor has it the entire staff of Marvel has to share a single bathroom in their building. Maybe they make him pay for his own long distance?

But what does this actually have to do with Wolverine #309? You’ll find out, with spoilers.