Podcast - Episode 33: If We Ran DC Comics

Oh DC. DC might actually stand for 'dear child' because that's how I feel about them these days. I just shake my head whenever they announce anything and think "Oh, you dear, sweet, stupid child. You have no idea what you're doing."

Well don't worry, DC, because I am here to solve all of your problems with a well-thought-out plan. Don't be scared. I know well-thought-out things and plans are not things you are used to seeing around Burbank or wherever the hell your offices are now, but if you just read it I think you'll see that I'm right. (Reading, by the way, is also something you should do to your own comics that you publish. Before releasing them to the poor, comic-loving public).

So yes, this week Dave and I talk about how things would change if we were in charge of DC!

First of all, apologies for the slightly fuzzy sound this week, particularly when I am speaking. We will be all set up with fancy mics and a mixing board next week but this week we used the room mic and I turned it up a little too loud and sat a little too close. I did my best trying to mellow it out in post, but it's still a little crunchy. Next week will sound great!

We are on Instagram now! Check us out!

I don't think there is too much to put in this week's blog post. Not too many things were discussed that require links or visual references. Except maybe BONDAGE DAREDEVIL!

It actually took me a while to locate that gif in my image folder because I have so many bondage pictures of super heroes.

Oh, turns out the cast of Civil War did NOT appear on ET this week. So I was following bad information or it was canceled or something. I'm gonna blame Jeremy Renner.

As I mention, I unlocked Winter Soldier in the Lego Marvel's Avengers video game this week, which means I can assemble exciting teams like this one:

Just a couple of Buckys, out on the town.

We talk a little bit about Sebastian Stan's upcoming film, The Bronze, which promises to have a crazy sex scene. I'll prrrrrrrrobably see it...

Hmm...ok, that's probably it for this week. I'm pretty distracted now.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagram! Rate us on iTunes! Should we set up a Facebook group?

Podcast - Episode 31: Favourite (and Least Favourite) Marvel Characters

Coming at you after a week off. We recorded when I was fresh off my trip to Toronto, which was better than any trip to Toronto in the dead of winter has a right to be. Highlights include, in no particular order:

1. Seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (and sitting very close to the stage!);
2. Watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier with J.Bone;
3. Eating at Bahn Mi Boys more than once;
4. Drinks and strippers with J.Bone;
5. Not having any kids with me at all;
6. $hopping!;
7. Sleeping through the night in a dark, quiet room;
8. Hanging out with (ECMA-nominated!) Sean "Wordburglar" Jordan, and recording an episode of his Weekend At Burgie's podcast;
9. Did I mention no kids?;
10. Meeting Owen Craig from Panel Culture finally;
11. Just generally hanging out and talking to J.Bone, who I feel like I could talk to forever, honestly. So glad we finally got to hang out in person.

But, as The Boss says, you can't break the ties that bi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-ind, so now I am back in snowy Nova Scotia, and there is in fact a blizzard happening here as I write this. And both of my kids are home.

Also, a belated birthday shout-out to Dave, who turned, I dunno, a thousand last week? Oh shit! Don't invite me to a birthday roast! I will scorch that place!

So this week, since Dave and I were guestless for the first time in a few weeks, we decided to list our favourite (and least favourite) Marvel characters. We did the same with DC characters way back in our third episode.

Before we got to that we discussed some of the news from the past couple of weeks, first and foremost the announcement by DC of a new line of Hana-Barbara comics. And that line-up includes a batshit insane Scooby-Doo relaunch:

Where is the detective squad that will stop these monsters?!

I also talk about the Lego: Marvel's Avengers video game that was recently released, and how one of the levels is a PLAYABLE BUCKY'S DEATH SCENE! I put together some screengrabs in a Tumblr post:

http://rachellegoguen.tumblr.com/post/138287276943/dear-lego-marvels-avengers-video-gamethis-is-not

Bucky!!!!!!

This week's episode sees the return of MITCHELL, who joins us to share some of his thoughts on Marvel characters. His segment has a slow start, but it pays off, I think.

We do not see the return of HILLARY this week, though. She feels bad, but she just couldn't condense her thoughts on these new X-Files episodes into a coherent segment. This is a very exciting time for her. I completely understand because, as you may recall, we needed to devote an entire podcast episode AND bring in a special guest to discuss the first Civil War TRAILER. So having a hard time gathering your thoughts about two whole episodes of your very favourite thing in the world is understandable.

What I'm saying is that the Civil War movie will probably require five episodes to cover.

I am not going to mention the new Civil War trailer in this blog post, even though it's all I'm thinking about, because we will be talking about it on next week's episode. Probably at great length.

All the fun of Batman: Arkham Asylum...now a video game!

According to Newsarama, there is a new Batman video game in the works.

Batman: Arkham Asylum.

I know that, like, 99% of super hero video games suck, and yet I still get excited for each and every one.

I actually liked the Batman Begins game quite a bit. You got to be sneaky and clever, and I like that. This game sounds like it will be scary. Batman meets Silent Hill.

I hope it's actually based directly on the book, and that the Joker hits on Batman in creepy, creepy ways.

The Countdown to Lego Batman Starts Now

I haven't yet mentioned this in my blog, but I am absurdly excited for the upcoming Lego Batman video game.

I am a huge fan of the two Lego Star Wars games, and the Lego Indiana Jones game. I think the Batman one is going to be the best one. And the trailer is frigging adorable:

Look at Penguin waddle! And Catwoman is all smooching Batman!

Can I build myself and make myself smooch Batman?!!!!

If so then this is more exciting than The Dark Knight.

Justice League Heroes

I beat Justice League Heroes on PS2 yesterday. It only took me about a week on the regular setting. If I had been more dedicated, I could have beaten it in a weekend. I had been looking forward to this game's release for a long time, but I know not to get my hopes up about comicbook-based games.

This game is reasonably fun, but way too easy. There are some hard parts, but they are more tedious and boring than hard. It's a birds-eye dungeon-style game. You get to enhance your team's abilities and make stronger heroes. The good thing is that there is a continuous play feature that allows you to start the game over again using the same team from your completed game. I like this. Now I can get my money's worth. So I am now about a third of the way through the game on difficult mode, and I get to try out some characters I didn't have time to use the first time around.

The characters are Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (John Stewart), Flash, Martian Manhunter and Zatanna. Then there are some unlockable characters that you can buy: Aquaman, Green Arrow, Huntress(?!), Hawkgirl, Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner. I haven't unlocked the last two yet, but I've heard that there is no difference between them and John Stewart. Apparantly they even use the same voice. That's crap.

The voice acting is mostly good. Superman's voice is great. Batman's sounds a little sleepy and bored. Martian Manhunter's voice is ok, but he says things that make him sound like a robot. That's a Manhunter pet peeve of mine. ("I can't use my powers at this intensity indefinitely"). Like, he's a Martian. He isn't Data. Zatanna's voice is grating. It's very valley girl. And they all repeat annoying catch phrases a million times throughout the game. I had to hit mute a few times to keep myself sane (Although I could listen to Batman say "Just...give me a second to...catch my breath" all day).

You always play with two heroes on every level. Sometimes you get to choose which heroes to play with, but usually it's decided for you. If you get to choose, I recommend having Zatanna as one of them and letting the computer play as her. She has the ability to heal her teammates, and that's useful. She also has a pretty vicious fireball attack that she throws around.

For the most part, Wonder Woman is the best because she's very powerful and she has those awesome wristbands that deflect bullets. You can deflect bullets and lasers in any direction, and that's fun. Her lasso also gives you a lot of long-range attacks. Superman, as you can imagine, is pretty useful too. Basically you can't go wrong if you choose those two for any level. (Though it is annoying that everything hurts Superman. I guess it wouldn't be very challenging otherwise).

Superman says "ass" at one point in the game (as in, he's going to kick some), and I think that's awesome.

I really liked the Batman Begins game. It was both fun and stunning to look at. Considering that games based on movies usually suck, it's especially impressive. This game is not as fun as Batman Begins. There are way too many points in the game where you have to do something boring and repetitive for a really long time to beat an enemy. The whole game leads up to fighting Darkseid. You get to choose 8 team members for this, but use two at a time. As each member dies, they get replaced with another until you beat Darkseid, or kill all 8 heroes. I beat Darkseid with my first two heroes. I didn't even have to dip into the reserves. That just seems way too easy for a final boss.

But, overall, I can think of worse ways to spend an afternoon than controlling the Justice League. And this certainly isn't bad as far as superhero-based video games go. I do like that I can keep playing the game over and over again on more difficult settings while building up my team. I didn't even get to use Aquaman or Hawkgirl at all the first time around.

Thumbs up! If you need any advice on how to beat something in this game, lemme know. I got pretty frustrated at a couple of points.