Episode 126 - Scheduling Stress

This week we are talking about scheduling in the comic book industry, and I swear it's more interesting than you would think. I hope so, anyway.

Hillary joins us again to talk about the latest episode of The X-Files. We are also joined by two fighting cats.

We lay down some unpopular opinions about Logan and The Shape of Water, in an effort to lose most of our listeners.

But, I will win you back with this link to Sebastian Stan's Hugo Boss modelling video:

Helllllllllooooo Summer Soldier!

Enjoy the episode. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Podcast - Episode 124: Fandom!

Hillary joins us again, and I used it as an opportunity for GIRL TALK!!!!!!!

Sort of. Hillary and I are both no strangers to fandom. Dave maybe has a different approach to the properties and creators that he loves. A *normal* approach, some might call it. One that allows you to function in your day to day life without thinking things like "Man, I'll bet Mulder would really hate this bus ride I'm on right now."

Anyway, we have a lot of thoughts about engaging with fandom, as opposed to merely being a fan, and why the fan experiences of a straight white cis male might be different from, y'know, everyone else when it comes to consuming culture.

But we also talk about comic books. And X-Files.

Anyway, LOOK AT DILTON!!!!!

Dilton, Riverdale doesn't deserve you.

Podcast - Episode 119: The Avengers: Infinity War Trailer!

Oh my god you guys! The Infinity War trailer is here! We have thoughts about it!

The issue of Catwoman that I really like, by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, is Catwoman #32. For my money it's the, ahem, better Batman/Catwoman relationship exploration one-shot.

And, as always, I recommend that entire Catwoman series. It's one of my favourite comic book series. Brubaker does a great job, and then Will Pfeifer takes over on writing and is also great.

I will share some links to my author website and social media accounts when I actually have some content to post there. For now I am just frantically revising my manuscript! But I am very excited to be with Riptide Publishing and I can't wait for you guys to meet Scott and Kip (those of you who are interested in a cute-but-explicit romance between an NHL superstar and an underemployed college grad).

Ladies Night is happening at Strange Adventures on Friday, Dec 15 from 6:30-8pm! If you live in the Halifax area, and are a female or identify as female, you should definitely check it out!

Podcast - Episode 118: Superhero Starting Points, Pt. 2

Time to use our comic book brains to come up with some recommendations of where new readers might want to start with some popular superheroes! This week we are making recs for Thor, the Justice League, and Daredevil.

So, I realized after recording this episode that we failed to mention Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier as recommended Justice League reading. Obviously that is a fantastic starting point for the Justice League, and for DC characters in general. Hell, for superheroes in general. Anyway, we've talked about The New Frontier a lot. You know how we feel about it.

Here's what we do recommend for each character:

Thor

Thor The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee.
Thor by Walt Simonson
Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic
Thor/The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman
The Unworthy Thor by Jason Aaron and Oliver Coipel

Justice League

JLA by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Howard Porter, et al.
JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Justice League International by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire

Daredevil

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Jansen
Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
Daredevil by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark et al.
Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee et al.

Here are those panels from Justice League of America #9 where Brad Meltzer grossly overestimates the speed of a cheetah:

And you can read all about the time the Justice League invited Metamorpho to try out for membership (in the most insane way possible)

And finally, LOOK HOW GOOD BUCKY LOOKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm destroyed.

Thanks for listening!

Podcast - Episode 116: Thor: Ragnarok

Thor: Ragnarok was so good, guys!

We spoil the hell out of it in this episode, so be warned.

I don't think there's anything I need to link to here, to be honest. Not many visual references in this episode. 

Oh! Except here's a link to The Case of the Missing Men, published by Nova Scotia's own Conundrum Press. Dave really liked it!

Talk to you in two weeks, because Dave is in Toronto next week (The Chilly Apple).

Podcast - Episode 100: Spider-Man: Homecoming

100 episodes!!!

First of all, thank you so much to everyone who has listened to the podcast. We really appreciate it. It's been fun to do and I'm very glad Dave talked me into it a little over two years ago. It gave me a much needed creative outlet.

We saw Spider-Man: Homecoming (of course) and we talk all about it for the last half hour or so of the episode, so if you haven't seen the movie yet, you might want to turn off the episode before that. It's full of spoilers.

The other thing that we do in this episode (besides bring back the Renner Report) is announce the line-up for this year's book club, which will start with the next episode. Here is the full line-up:

• July 19 - Trinity by Matt Wagner (DC)
• July 26 - Sexcastle by Kyle Starks (Image)
• Aug 2 - Black Panther: The Complete Collection vol.1 by Christopher Priest, Mark Texeira, Vince Evans, Joe Jusko, Mike Manley, Mark Bright and Sal Velluto (Marvel)
• Aug 9 - The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures by Dave Stevens (IDW)
• Aug 16 - The Thing: Project Pegasus by Ralph Macchio, Mark Gruenwald, John Bryne, Sal Buscema, and George Perez (Marvel)
• Aug 23 - Who is Wonder Woman? by Allan Heinberg and Terry Dodson (DC)
• Aug 30 - Ms Marvel: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona (Marvel)
• Sept 6 - The Valiant by Jeff Lemire, Matt Kindt, and Paolo Rivera (Valiant)
• Sept 13 - Young Avengers by Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung (Marvel)
• Sept 20 - Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck (Marvel)

I have also made a list of these books on Goodreads, to make it easy to follow along.

So we'll start next week with Matt Wagner's Trinity (by which we mean the complete collected edition, which includes vol 1 and 2).

Finally, if you are interested, my original rating of Steve Rogers as a superhunk is here. Poor bastard.

Again, thanks for listening! See you next week!