Podcast - Episode 99: Spider-Man 3 (2007)

We have reached the end of the Spider-Man road. Spider-Man 3 is a divisive movie, in that there exists a chasm and on one side stands Dave and me, and on the other stands everybody else on earth.

We like this movie, is what I am saying. We like it a lot.

Look, the portrait of Willem Defoe is the best. THE. BEST.

And Bernard the butler rules. Check it out:

That is just some insane line delivery.

We talk a bit about The Quick and the Dead at the end of this episode, and, guess what, that deleted sex scene is STILL kind of hard to find online. It was deleted so the movie wouldn't get an R rating. This is the best I could find, and it has a watermark right in the middle:

But if you want to see Sharon Stone and Russell Crowe go to town on each other when they are both in their prime, CLICK THAT ARROW.

And if you've never seen that movie WATCH THAT MOVIE!

And if you want to see something dumb I did, check out the post where I use RuPaul's Drag Race GIFs to depict the cast members of Marvel's Secret Empire.

It was not a weird thing to do.

Ok, see you guys in a couple of weeks for Spider-Man: Homecoming and the launch of our summer book club!!!

The Cast of Marvel's Secret Empire as RuPaul's Drag Race GIFS

I barely have any time for anything lately. I complain about it a lot. But I do have time to put together a character guide to Marvel's Secret Empire event using only GIFs from RuPaul's Drag Race.

You're welcome, squirrelfriends.

Steve Rogers:

Taskmaster:

Black Widow:

Rick Jones:

Tony Stark:

Maria Hill:

Sharon Carter:

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Bucky Barnes:

Sam Wilson:

Thor Odinson:

Helmut Zemo:

Madam Hydra:

Hawkeye:

Black Panther:

Namor:

Captain Marvel:

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Hank Pym:

Miles Morales:

All of the young heroes being trained by Black Widow:

Everyone in Manhattan:

Phil Coulson:

Deadpool:

Podcast - Episode 94: Captain America: The Nomad Saga

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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:

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:

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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!

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

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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:

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

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

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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 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:

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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:

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

For @rachellegoguen #stemo #captainamerica #baronzemo #jbone

A post shared by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on

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

Podcast - Episode 87: The Power of Nostalgia

The release of the new Power Rangers movie has gotten us thinking about the power of nostalgia, which seems to be the driving force behind everything these days. As our generation replaces the baby boomers as the target demographic for all nostalgic pandering, Dave and I are pondering this strange hold that things we enjoyed in our childhood has on us.

But, more importantly, Jeremy Renner released an app this past week. And it is SOMETHING ELSE.

I will never understand how these stars you can purchase work. Apparently you use them, after you buy them with REAL MONEY, to show your support for your favourite posts? To let Renner know you are his real, true fan? Gross.

Anyway, the app is worth downloading just so you can get this message when you delete it:

But enough about that wiener. Let's look at this shirtless bathroom selfie that Sebastian Stan posted:

Yes. Yesssssssssss.

Again, this seems wildly out of character for our boy. But for a first attempt, I am impressed. I mean, yes, he could have taken a second to move that fancy bottle of blue handsoap out of the foreground. And maybe move or block the 'slippery floor' sign in the background. Maybe tug the waistband of those Calvin Kleins down a little bit...maybe take the sweatpants clean off...

But overall, very good effort. And if this is just his 'en route to Winter Soldier' body, well...

To be fair, I can achieve that same effect of the underarm muscle wings by wearing a bra that is too small.

Anyway, he is lovely. Please post one of these a week, my darling.

Ok, enjoy the episode everyone! Rate us on iTunes if you have a second!