Episode 169: Sports is a Fantastic Album, Selina

After a couple of weeks off due to holidays, family travel, blizzards, arctic vortices, and professional obligations, and we’ve moved past holiday genre movies and into the pre-convention season lull. Meaning that until Marvel Studios’ Black Panther drops in about six weeks, there’s nothing to talk but comics.

And frankly, we’re kinda glad about that. Because as much as we like the comics-related visual entertainment, there’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned comic book to make you feel like a kid again. And sometimes, that kid is very, very angry about what has happened to the Watchmen universe.

So we talk about a few of this week’s new books, including:

• Batman #38, written by Tom King with art by Travis Moore and Giulia Brusco,
• Spider-Man #236, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Oscar Bazaldua, and
• Justice League #36, written by Priest with art by Pete Woods!

But no calendar can stop Rob from chiming in on a comic book about the character from Watchmen, so we also discuss the December 27th release, Doomsday Clock #2, written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank!

This show was recorded live to tape, with minimal editing. So if you want to find out what the mythical 102nd use for duct tape is (the dirty one), you’ve come to the right show!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:43:42 — 88.2MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 156: Weaponized Continuity, or: Michael Keaton’s Rhinoceros

We’re a little late to the party when it comes to Spider-Man: Homecoming, which opened a week and a half ago to the tune of 200 million dollars and 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. But late or no, there’s a lot to unpack in the movie, given that it’s the third reboot of the cinematic Spider-Man, which is a lot for a franchise that’s barely as old as its fifteen-year-old protagonist.

So we invited special guests – comedians Ross Garmil and Benari Poulten – to talk with us about it. And we dig into how Tom Holland stacks up against earlier actors, both as Peter Parker and as Spider-Man, whether there’s a place in classic Spider-Man for a costume that speaks with the voice of Jenny from The Rocketeer, how Michael Keaton stacks up against Marvel’s other (admittedly normally poor) cinematic villains, whether Spider-Man joked enough, and whether Tony Stark had any reasonable place in this movie that wouldn’t possibly hurt the plot.

Ah, the disclaimers:

• We encoded this episode at a slightly lower bitrate than usual. We did this to try to save bandwidth and to ensure we’d have enough space to deliver episodes from San Diego Comic-Con later this week. So we apologize if the sound isn’t quite as clean as it usually is. Luckily, you don’t need a lot of bits to record drunken profanity.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, just assume that we will be ruining the entirety of Spider-Man: Homecoming, plus Guardians of The Galaxy 2 and maybe Batman V. Superman just for giggles.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. At one point, we talk about Nickelback. If you think the swearing doesn’t come out there, you’re delusional. Listen with headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:18:43 — 51.1MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 154: Contractually Obligated to be Family Friendly

At face value, there is nothing impressive or exciting about crossovers between DC Comics and Looney Tunes or Hanna Barbara. We didn’t pay a ton of attention to these books when they started dropping last year, until we finally picked a couple of them up out of a combination of seeking relief from the impending invasion of Watchmen characters into the DC Universe, and the kind of base rubbernecking instinct that makes people slow down to look at car wrecks, or non-Mission Impossible Tom Cruise starring vehicles.

Man, were we wrong, Almost to a one, these crossovers have been some of the most fun comics on the shelves when they appear. A pile of these crossovers came out this week, and a bunch of interesting and unexpected, yet entertaining, pairings happened! Along with the expected, somewhat disturbing, pairing between Batman and Catwoman!

So we’re talking a pile of books this week, including:

• Batman #25, written by Tom King with art by Mikel Janin,
• Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #1, written by Chip Zdarsky with art by Adam Kubert,
• WMD: Weapons of Mutant Destruction #1, written by Greg Pak with art by Mahmud Asrar,
• Wonder Woman / Tasmanian Devil #1, Written by Tony Bedard with art by Barry Kitson and Ben Caldwell,
• Lobo / Road Runner #1, written by Bill Morrison with art by Morrison and Kelley Jones, and:
• Nick Fury #3, written by James Robinson with art by Aco!

Alas, cartoon books or no, the disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know whether or not the coyote gets the road runner, it’s because you’ve seen as many Saturday morning cartoons as we have and you know damn well what the answer is.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. We know the title says “Family Friendly.” Charles Manson also had a family. Listen with headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:25:39 — 69.4MB)

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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 133: The Dirty Batusi

It has been a weird couple of weeks here in the United States. Any week where the honest-to-God news in your local newspaper is more contentious, rancorous and secret identity-obsessed than your average comic book is one where talking about what comic creators are skipping what conventions in which American states, and which writers are retiring from what social networks feels redundant at best and depressing at worst.

But the good news is that, here at the Crisis On Infinite Midlives Home Office, we learned long ago that’s it’s an unwise decision to publicly discuss religion, politics, or inappropriate self-love over Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. The bad news is that we forgot one of those truisms during this episode. The answer will (probably not) surprise you!

Either way, we decided this would be a good time to take the long view and just talk about this week’s comics. Well, about this week’s comics, about how very different stories can come from similar ideas, and about unreliable narrators. So we discuss:

• Spider-Man #9, written by Brian Michael Bendis with art by NIco Leon,
• Batman #11, written by Tom King with art by Mikel Janin,
• Demonic #4, written by Christopher Sebela with art by Niko Walter, and:
• Kill or Be Killed #4, written by Ed Brubaker with art by Sean Phillips!

And, the usual disclaimers:

• This show contains spoilers. If you don’t want to know if Dylan from Kill or Be Killed kills or is killed, then skip this show (and next month’s Image Comics solicitations).
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. Do you think your mom wants to know what happens to a Daisy Buchanan when she’s bitten by a radioactive Gatsby (Spoilers: she gets greedy and whiny)? Then get some headphones.

And please note: from here on out, we will be publishing the podcast on Mondays, rather than Sundays. Thanks for sticking with us!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:57 — 96.1MB)

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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!

Episode 102: In Blackest G’nort

It’s been a couple of weeks since DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan DiDio and Jim Lee tweeted their first teasers toward something called “Rebirth,” and  since then, there has been, well, absolutely no concrete hard news whatsoever.

But what there are are rumors. Many, many rumors. From where did the rumors originate? Who knows? But rumors there be, about book cancellations, creative team changes, new books, new first issues, and partial to total reboots. So we talk about them, kick around which sound like good ideas, which seem like terrible mistakes, and wind up in a short-term, love-hate bromance with Dan DiDIo.

We also discuss:

• Batman: Europa #4, written by Matteo Casali and Brian Azzarello, with art by Gerald Parel, and:
• Spider-Man #1, written by Brian Michael Bendis, with art by Sara Pichelli!

And, the usual 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 finding a very valid, but… shall we say, alternative, use for your comics.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that you might find out that Batman talks like Phillip Marlowe, and why that’s maybe not a great idea.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You want your boss to find out what “Gank the wingman” means? Then get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:22:48 — 77.1MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 98: The Wang Splash

A long time ago, when we barely had the equipment to record people who weren’t in the same room with us, we interviewed a couple of comic creators who were on the cusp of releasing their first print comic through a proper comic book publisher. It was also our first interview with comic creators, on new and untested equipment, and even though everyone involved was on untrod ground, it was one hell of a lot of fun.

Now, a year later, we have much better and more trusted equipment, and a lot more experience talking to people remotely. In addition, those two creators not only released their comic, but got the greenlight to publish a sequel, a bunch of good press around the book, and visited San Diego Comic-Con. And since they are now on the cusp of releasing the trade paperback of the sequel to their first comic, it seemed like a good time to check back in and see how the last year of relative success in comics affected them.

So in this episode, we talk with Holy F*ck and Holy F*cked creators Nick Marino and Daniel Arruda Massa, ostensibly to talk about the impending release of the trade paperback of Holy F*cked…  but we also get into what it’s like to have some success in a local indie comics community, the pros and cons of variant covers for indie comics, how 90s comics affected Generation X vs. Generation Y, how San Diego Comic-Con arguably isn’t as big a deal for mid-level creators as it is for anyone else, and acting in reality TV. Oh, and we talk about how Crisis On Infinite Midlives might be the cause of one of the more graphic and talked-about panels in Holy F*cked.

Amanda and Rob also discuss:

• Spider-Man / Deadpool #1, written by Joe Kelly with art by Ed McGuinness, and:
• Swamp Thing #1, written by Len Wein with art by Kelley Jones!

And now, the disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape, with minimal editing (although we edited a tangent out of our interview that made no sense if you weren’t on the live video feed at the time). While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you are used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like not just a discussion about man-nipples, but a year-long continuation of a discussion about man-nipples.
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to yell out warnings ahead of time, just assume you will learn which son of a god will be crucified in Holy F*cked (helpful hint: the answer will totally surprise you!).
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You want to explain to your boss the particular Facts of Life that lead to a baby named “Rad Christ”? Then buy headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:10:58 — 124.5MB)

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Thanks for listening, suckers!

Episode 76: The Hiro Nakamura Experience

We’re a couple of weeks out of San Diego Comic-Con, and, even though we can hardly believe it, it turns out that one of the panels we’ll be missing the most? The Heroes Reborn panel on Sunday in Hall H.

I think we can all agree that Heroes kinda went sideways in its later seasons, but we’ve always had a soft spot for the show, ever since seeing the pilot at our very first San Diego Comic-Con. And all these years later, it’s easy to forget just how exciting the show was in its first season. So we discuss what was so exciting about the show in its first season, what went wrong as time went on, what we know about Heroes Reborn, and what we want to see from this miniseries.

We also discuss the Miles Morales-starring Spider-Man book announced by Marvel last week, including what this might mean for Peter Parker, why it was a foregone conclusion that Miles would not only get his own post-Secret Wars book, but keep the name Spider-Man, and what the timing of this announcement might have to do with recent Marvel Studios activity.

We also discuss:

• We Are Robin #1, written by Lee Bermejo with art by Jorge Corona, and:
• Gotham by Midnight #6, written by Ray Fawkes with art by Juan Ferreyra!

And, the usual legalese:

• 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 D-Man is to beautiful and ephemeral a character to ever be put on film.
• This show has a lot of spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, if you want to find out for yourself if they ever Saved The Cheerleader? Be forewarned.
• This show contains adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You want your employer to learn the finer points of performing a Spider-Mohinder? Get yourself some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:42:23 — 93.4MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!

Episode 60: Fluffy Plus Mosquito Plus Time Equals Tragedy

It has been, bar none, the crappiest week in comics news in recent memory – when the high point of the week’s news is that Larry Wilmore hosted a nationally televised round table discussion on how comics aren’t diverse enough (bookended by nerds-in-basement gags), it’s probably best to just pretend the whole thing just didn’t happen.

So that’s what we pretend. Instead, we took the occasion of the release of IDW’s The Fly: Outbreak #1, written by Brandon Seifert with art by Menton3, as an excuse to revisit one of our favorite movie franchises. Sure, The Fly might seem like simple Cronenberg body horror, but if you take a few steps back, what you really have is, starting with the original short story, a series of classic tales of science gone wrong, with unintended circumstances that imbue someone with extraordinary abilities in the face of terrible tragedy. Sure, it’s presented as horror… but if Jack Kirby or Steve Ditko had drawn it, we’d be arguing over which actor should be playing Seth Brundle right now.

We also discuss:

• The Amazing Spider-Man #16.1, written by Gerry Conway with art by Carlo Barberi, and:
• Batgirl #40, written by Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher, with art by Babs Tarr!

And now the disclaimers:

• We record this show live to tape. While this might mean a looser comics podcast than you’re used to, it also means that anything can happen. Like a discussion over why real superheroines know to avoid a stack overflow error (and why that isn’t a reference to a wardrobe malfunction).
• This show contains spoilers. While we try to shout out warnings ahead of time, be aware that we might ruin the ending of a 29-year-old horror movie (that’s based on a 57-year-old short story).
• This show used adult, profane language, and is therefore not safe for work. You want your boss to know how many Godzilla wangs worth of snow we got this winter? Didn’t think so. Get some headphones.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:03:36 — 109.0MB)

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Enjoy the show, suckers!