Podcast - Episode 98: Spider-Man 2 (2004)

Spider-Man 2 is widely considered to be the best Spider-Man movie made to date. But here's the thing: it's not!

Sorry, everyone. It's just not that good.

But anyway. Let's not fight. Instead, let's enjoy this photo that I mention on the podcast of George Lucas and Mickey Mouse from when Lucas received his Disney Legend award in 2015:

This will never stop being funny to me.

Look, if you think Spider-Man 2 is a great movie still, you really should watch this clip of the completely pointless and dumb fire rescue scene:

But, like I said, I don't want to fight about how wrong you are. Let's gaze upon the lucious full beard Sebastian Stan has been rocking lately (for BUCKY??!!).

And if we are going to fight, let's at least fight about who the two mystery friends are in Secret Empire #4:

In order of most sense to least sense:

1. Bucky and Sam;
2. Rick and Rhodes;
3. Rick and Sam;
4. Bucky and Rhodes.

Either way, I like the wacky world they exist in.

Thanks for listening! See you next week for Spider-Man 3!

Podcast - Episode 94: Captain America: The Nomad Saga

Awwwww shit! It's happening! Steve Rogers puts down the shield and sews himself a ridiculous new costume! Let's revisit the Nomad story line!

First things first: here is the link to the web comic Conceptual Heist by podcast listenter Jay D'ici and Matthew G. Gagnon.

And here are the final ECCE Sketch-off drawings of "Man-Thing eating a chocolate bar" by Nick Bradshaw, Mike Rooth and Tony Moore, respectively:

And here is a photo I took of the sketch-off as it was happening:

Sketch-off with Nick Bradshaw, Mike Rooth and Tony Moore (moderated by our very own Dave). Subject: "Man-Thing eating a chocolate bar". #ecce #eastcoastcomicexpo2017

A post shared by Living Between Wednesdays (@livingbetweenwednesdays) on May 20, 2017 at 9:13am PDT

Here are some of our favourite panels from the Nomad Saga. We can't possibly post every awesome panel because that would be every panel.

First, here is Roscoe and Steve having a chill post-workout conversation:

Here is the insufferable asshole known as The Golden Archer:

But wait! It's just Hawkeye! Wearing a mask over a mask over a mask!

Here's Steve breaking out of the Archer's trap...the only way he knows how:

Here's the dumb baseball player who tried to be Captain America and broke his arm immediately. His legacy is this hilarious panel:

Here's Steve Rogers tripping over his cape like an idiot:

And here is his somewhat dramatic reaction to young Roscoe being killed:

In case you were wondering how Red Skull feels about Betty Grable, here you go:

Such a crazy fun story.

Alright. Thanks for listening! See you next week!

Podcast - Episode 93: The Original Secret Empire (1974)

This week we decided to re-read Marvel's original Secret Empire story line from 1974. It seemed timely, for a few reasons.

Here's something we forgot to mention on this week's episode: the East Coast Comic Expo is happening this weekend in Moncton and we will both be there! Dave will be there in an official capacity, moderating panels and Q&A sessions with some great artists, including Nick Bradshaw, Tony Moore and Daniel Way! I'm just gonna be hanging out, hoping not to see the Pennywise cosplayer I saw there last year.

Here are some of our favourite panels from Secret Empire:

On the very first page, we see Sam Wilson, smiling and strolling through the surprisingly quiet streets of Harlem with his bird friend. Not a care in the world! 

Here is Sam telling his girlfriend that he would rather show Steve his new costume than have sex with her:

Here's Steve and Sam's excellent undercover "bum" disguises:

We forgot to mention this one, but Cyclumph! is my new favourite word:

Here's Steve dopily waking up after being stunned:

Here's Steve being less than thrilled to see Thor:

And here is pre-serum Steve VERY enthusiastically agreeing to be a military experiment:

Next week we will be reading the next Captain America story following Secret Empire (the one where he becomes Nomad). We encourage you to read along! It's a very fun story.

Podcast - Episode 92: Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2

We saw Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2! We liked it! It wasn't perfect, but what ever is? We talk about/spoil the hell out of that in the last half hour or so of the episode.

This week we say farewell to poor Rick Jones. He died as he lived: pretending to be an Avenger.

OH SNAP, RICK JONES!

I will always remember Rick best as the guy who tried to initiate some really kinky and messed up role playing with a freshly de-thawed Captain America:

Avengers #7 - Lee, Kirby, Stone

Why would Rick ever have thought that would be a good idea? Best case scenario, Steve is just going to clutch him close to his body and cry into his shoulder for hours.

One time in an all-ages Hulk comic Rick called Namor "Aqua Teen Excessive Force" and I laughed forever.

We also said goodbye to Joaquin on Riverdale this week. Maybe? Probably? I LOVE YOU JOAQUIN!!!!

You go after him, Kevin Keller! You go after him now! Where are you going to find another accomplice to murder with THOSE EYES?!

Anyway. Enjoy the podcast! Rate us on iTunes! Follow us on Instagram and Twitter! Let me know if you there are any super hunks you want rated!

Podcast - Episode 90: Social Media & Secret Empire

So Marvel's Secret Empire started in earnest with issue #0 this past week. To me the only thing worth getting riled up about with this event is the insistence of publishers to keep putting out issues numbered ZERO. Enough! No more zeroes, no more decimal points.

But that is a topic for another (very boring) episode.

This week we are talking about a bunch of stuff, but the conversation mostly keeps going back to two things: Secret Empire, and social media.

We did an episode eleven months ago, just after the big HydraCap reveal, about comic books in the age of social media. I was pretty frustrated then, and, almost a year later, I am frustrated still. And that episode was recorded shortly after I wrote out most of my feelings on the matter in a blog post. I stand by everything I said then.

So this week's episode is kind of a like a check in now that a lot of the questions about this story have been revealed. And Dave and I also discuss our individual frustrations with social media, especially Twitter, as it relates to comics. And we talk about people in the industry who are good at using social media...and some who aren't. 

But ALSO this week...Bucky is maybe dead. Probably not. But maybe a little bit dead.

But at least he went out kicking Zemo in the most ridiculous way imaginable:

And then he died as he lived: shirtless and thinking about Steve.

Sigh. If only he'd had some sort of useful device in that new arm of his to get him out of that trap. Like...a blade...or a flame thrower...or a tiny little robot arm. Alas.

Let's top this off with our pal J.Bone's latest Steve and Bucky make-out art:

I feel like I've already drawn this but kisses should always be repeated. #stucky #captainamerica #wintersoldier #jbone

A post shared by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on Apr 23, 2017 at 4:48pm PDT

Oh, and what's this! A little HydraCap/Zemo smooching?

For @rachellegoguen #stemo #captainamerica #baronzemo #jbone

A post shared by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on Apr 23, 2017 at 7:03pm PDT

Next week we will run down this year's Free Comic Book Day offerings! Thanks for listening!