An evil monster becomes President of the United States this week and we are coping by watching all of the X-Men movies. We kick it off this week with X-Men (2000). It's not bad, guys!
We're going to be continuing with this for as long as we can stand it. We will at least be watching the first three X-Men movies. I think we should force ourselves to watch the first two Wolverine movies as well. If anyone has copies to lend us, let us know!
There's been a lot of talk in the comic book world lately about formats, and the future of how comics will be published and distributed. Dave and I talk about some of our favourite formats, old and new, in this episode. It's more entertaining than it sounds.
Not much to write about this week. We got a new microphone to replace the broken one, and we got new headphones, so things are sounding pretty good.
Thanks for listening! Let me know if you see any hardcover copies of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omnibus vols 3 & 4 anywhere!
How were your holidays, everyone? Good? Great.
We're back and it's 2017 and everything is still looking pretty horrifying but at least there are superhero things to look forward to, right?
Here is the Chris Samnee sketch(?) that I bought myself for Christmas:
CAP & Bucky pic.twitter.com/JeESTaOBHH
— 🗣CHRIS SAMNEE (@ChrisSamnee) December 20, 2016
Chris Samnee said I deserve it. And, let's face it. I do.
It's so great! I can't wait to see it in person! Big thanks to my friend Heather Harkins for letting me ship it to her.
Let's look at some comic panels for context!!!
Here is some terrible hair from Thunderbolts:
Here are the little dolls that Kobik makes. I want them:
Here is Steve cradling Bucky's arm (or playing it like a guitar):
I didn't mention that Steve had a ridiculous-looking juicy butt in Thunderbolts this week. He did:
Here is Bucky's devastating "But I love yoooooooou" face after Natasha, once again, reminds him that she has no memory of their perfect, wonderful love:
I also want to point out that this full page Bucky is one of the best pieces of Winter Soldier art I have ever seen. Hats off, Mr. Samnee!
And here is the pillowcase that Cal gave me for Christmas:
Sweet dreams will be had!
It's the last episode of 2016! Dave and I went to see Rogue One (separately) and waited until recording this episode to share our thoughts. We have a lot of thoughts.
We also exchange Christmas presents!
Here is the Jabba the Hutt festive candy bowl that I gave to Dave:
And here's the Captain America toque that he gave to me!
Awwww thanks Dave!
And, for reference, here is the insane Suicide Squad toque I spotted in a store:
I mean, you could wear that with anything. This would have fit right in with the hats I reviewed on this blog back in 2010.
Alright, we're taking next week off and we'll see you in the new year. Let's end this garbage pile of a year with a very hot recent photo of Sebastian Stan.
Stop being so hot, Sebastian. It's gross.
Dave and I have decided to not do a Best of 2016 episode this year because those things are BORING.
Instead, we have taken a trip back to a simpler time by watching the 2014 documentary, THE IMAGE REVOLUTION, about the creation of Image Comics in the 1990s.
The documentary features clips from the 1991 series, The Comic Book Greats, which was hosted by Stan Lee. You can see full episodes of Stan the Man talking to "greats" like Todd McFarlane and Rob Liefeld on YouTube:
I didn't really read superhero comics that much in the 90s because they were so ugly and confusing and just didn't appeal to me at all. Besides the occasional Jim Lee X-Man comic, I mostly ignored them. Most of my 90s superhero intake was in animated form.
As a result, comic books in the 90s have always just baffled me. It's a bizarre island where no attention was paid to storytelling or art or character development. And yet it was the most successful the comic book industry has ever been.
But, like all things that are all flash and no substance, the bottom fell out hard. Fortunately, Image was able to continue on, and even flourish, and today is a place where some of the top talent in the industry have the ability to tell their stories the way they want to tell them. As much as we roll our eyes at the comics Image was putting out in the 90s, the idea of Image as a publishing house for creator-owned properties was important and is responsible for some of the best comics on the stands today.
Enjoy! We'll be back next week to talk about Rogue One!
This week we are talking about SUPERHERO ROMANCE!!!! Would it have made more sense to wait until February for this topic? Probably! Do I pretty much want to talk about superhero romances all the time? Yes.
Oh, superhero romance.
Before we get to that, here is that tweet of mine that went viral for whatever reason:
I feel like there's a disconnect between Chris Evans and his fans. pic.twitter.com/IjLKpb6xcv
— Rachelle Goguen (@rachellegoguen) December 2, 2016
Again, I want to clarify: the original tweet by @Glamourizes is poetry. I love it.
Oh! And you can follow Living Between Wednesdays on Twitter now!
Here is the Omaze contest where you and three friends can be trapped in an escape room in Boston with Chris Evans.
If I win he is never getting out of that room.
Alright! On to the romance!
Here is the final page in the the sad and epic love story of Black Widow and Winter Soldier. The evil Red Room assassin, Leo Novokov, made sure Natasha would never remember her romance with poor ol' Bucky:
Bucky's life is extremely good.
The depressing icing on the sadness cake is that Bucky refuses to even let SHIELD try to help restore that part of her memories because "She's better off without me." UGH! Bucky!!!!
Here's my girl Catwoman getting some late night action from Batman. I love how she handles him. And I super love that whip around the neck as she leads him down the stairs:
Flame emoji.
And here's my favourite Captain America love interest...BERNIE!!!
That's my girl!
Damn! Right off the bat she's laying it on thick! I love this woman.
"One what?" "A crush on Josh!"
Bernie!!!!
This is seriously the most comfortable I've seen him with a woman. But it might be because they are talking about classic Hollywood movies:
I picture Steve doing a bang-on Bacall impression here.
And here are a couple of panels from Captain America #289, when Bernie fantasizes about being BERNIE AMERICA!!!
Side note: it is very difficult to Google "Bernie America" these days if you want this result.
I see no difference here between regular Steve Rogers and this version of him.
And let's end it on this recent screengrab from my Avengers Academy game, which is extremely relevant:
Living Between Wednesdays is a place for people who love comic books and superheroes.
