Episode 75: White Walker Simba

We have a special guest this week: John Keating, a former Boston comedian who now lives in Los Angeles, working as an actor, who has a couple of geek-related projects in the works. He plays a primary character in the independent movie The Concessionaires Must Die!, a film about a bunch of genre geeks who work at a movie theater that’s about to close down, and which features a cameo by Stan Lee (playing someone other than Stan Lee for a change!). John’s also voice acting in a cartoon called Gen Zed, about a group of videogamers living together in a house, starring the first transgender voice actress in a lead role. So we spend some time talking about indie film production, the unique way that the directors and producers of The Concessionaires Must Die! got some early buzz and interest in the flick, and some of the basic ins and outs of voice acting in an animated show!

But John isn’t just an actor, he’s a longtime fellow geek with a huge interest in Game of Thrones. So we spend a lot of time talking about the fifth season of the HBO show, including our favorite and least favorite moments and storylines (hi, Sand Snakes!), some of the greater themes put forth in the season (like the effects of blind faith, and the perils of governing when you misunderstand your subjects), and whether the levels of violence and terror in some parts of the season were justified by the story and characters. And you know which parts we’re talking about.

We also discuss:

• Mad Max Fury Road: Furiosa #1, written by George Miller, Nico Lathouris and Mark Sexton, with art by Sexton, Tristan Jones and Szymon Kudranski, and:
• Thors #1, written by Jason Aaron with art by Chris Sprouse!

And now, the disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing (although a couple of parts were cut to eliminate old inside jokes you wouldn’t understand, and to protect our secret identity). While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like learning the perils of Al Goldstein’s film festival.
• This show contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen Game of Thrones fifth season, be forewarned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Unless you want your employer to hear the name of Al Goldstein’s film festival, get yourself some headphones.

And to get a sense of John’s current projects, here are the trailers for The Concessionaires Must Die!, and Gen Zed!

Thanks for listening, suckers!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:35:20 — 140.1MB)

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Back Into Hell: Spawn #218 Review

Let’s start by me coming clean: I don’t read Spawn. I’ve never read Spawn. I might be the only comics enthusiast who was actively reading back in 1992 who doesn’t have a dusty polybagged copy of Spawn #1 tucked in the back of some yellowing longbox somewhere. This is because, while Spawn #1 had the four words most likely to Pavlovianly excite any early 90s comics fan – “Art by Todd McFarlane” – it also contained one of the worst four-word curses in late 80s / early 90s comics: “Written by Todd McFarlane.”

However, I am familiar with Spawn thanks to the movie and the HBO animated series: Al Simmons, former special forces soldier, is murdered and returns to life imbued with the power of the Hellspawn. Spawn lives as a homeless person, defending the local winos and pining for his former wife, while forces of good and evil war over his soul. I think; Spawn aired on HBO on Friday nights, and it was the rare Friday in the 1990s that were conducive to my ability to form long term memories.

So, armed with that common knowledge, I returned to Spawn with issue 218 for the first time… well, ever, really. So I cracked the book, dove in and…

I have absolutely no fucking idea what’s going on. This, however, is not necessarily a terrible thing.

Occupy Gotham: Detective Comics #5 Review

EDITOR’S NOTE: Spoiler alert! No, not Stephanie Brown, I just ruin the story for you.

The first four issue arc of Detective Comics was one of the most pleasant surprises of DC Comics’ New 52: tightly written with an interesting new villain, excellent art, and with the best cliffhanger of all September’s comics where The Joker’s face is apparently torn off and nailed to a wall. And what was most remarkable about the run to me was that it was written by Tony Daniel, who is first and foremost an artist. Now we’re on issue five. And it turns out that as a writer? Maybe Tony Daniel is a hell of an artist.

This  issue really felt like Daniel said, “Okay, I put my all into those first four issues… now what the fuck am I gonna do?” He opens up with a riff on Occupy Wall Street – which means he probably only came up with this arc within the past couple of months – and since this protest is pro-Joker, it just falls flat to me. Don’t get me wrong, as a Watchmen fan, I am totally willing to accept the concept of a good anti-vigilante demonstration in comics, but pro-Joker? In Gotham City? That’s about as believable as a pro al-Queda rally in lower Manhattan, or a pro-Beiber riot in Max’s Kansas City. It just doesn’t ring true.

You Too Will Believe A Flightless Water Fowl Can Fly, Maybe – Review of Penguin: Pain And Prejudice #1-2

Oswald Cobblepot, aka The Penguin, made his comic book debut in Detective Comics #58 in 1941. Like Batman, he too was conceived by Bob Kane, but his origins have varied over the decades to suit the needs of the writers. In this most recent incarnation, as is being detailed in Penguin: Pain And Prejudice, written by Gregg Hurwitz with art by Szymon Kudranski, The Penguin’s back story seems to be along the lines of being from a well-off family, but rejected by his father, brothers and school mates for his short stature, beak-like nose and generally milquetoast personality. Indeed, the only person in the world who loves him unconditionally is his mother. He returns her love with a burning affection that would make Oedipus blush.

Well, a boy needs something hold onto in the crazy world of ours, right?

Nah.

It’s just kind of icky and sad.

But does any of this have to do with Ozzie’s rise to the top of the Gotham crime scene beyond making us feel vaguely uncomfortable as we read it?

Spoilers after the jump!