Podcast - Episode 9: What Kind of Nerd Are You?

We did it! We got Sean Jordan on the show! Our first guest!

On this episode we look beyond our love of super heroes to see what other things we are, and aren't, nerds about. Finally you'll know where we stand on things like Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Lord of the Rings, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stephen King and more! We also share some stories, good and bad, from working in comic shops.

I promised to show you the amazing thing that Jeremy Renner posted on Instagram, and then on Twitter twice. But, to be fair, it did have a really important and not-at-all confusing message about equality or something. So...here it is!

And here is that super sexy Hawkeye pin-up we were talking about from the MCU poster book, complete with Dave's text and my horrified reply:

It was really exciting to have another installment of the Renner Report.

In This Week in Winter Soldier we mentioned the image that was released from the set of Captain America: Civil War of Winter Soldier and Falcon running through an airport, and the inevitable meme it inspired. I did this to it:

And my friend Melissa Buote did all of this to it:

The 10 one is my favourite.

Dave and Sean and I told some of our favourite stories from working in comic shops, including some celebrity sightings! Here is a photo of Dave and the Rocketeer himself, Billy Campbell, at Strange Adventures in Halifax!

Adorable!

That's all for this week! Release the Civil War trailer, Marvel!!!!!!!!! This is me checking the internet every day to see if it's been released:

Podcast - Episode 8: Superhero Friendships

We are STILL waiting for that Civil War trailer. Guys, why won't they release it? WHYYYYYYY??!!!

Anyway, in the meantime, here is a new episode of our podcast.

When I gush talk about Planet Hulk this week I mention that the colours are amazing, but I do not mention that the colourist is Jordan Boyd. Seriously amazing art on this book.

I mention my adventures on Tumblr and some of the blogs I have been enjoying. Here is a link to parksandcap, which pairs Parks and Recreation quotes with Captain America stills and is HILARIOUS. Behold:

And now I just want to watch all of Parks and Rec again.

I also mentioned the textsfromcapscrew blog, which pairs tweets from the 'Texts from Last Night' Twitter account with Captain America stills. Also hilarious:

So funny. Go follow both of those blogs.

In the superhero friendships discussion part of this episode, we talk maybe too much (but never enough) about one of my favourite comics ever, Action Comics #241. I wrote about this story at length in a post on this blog here. It's seriously the best. I mean...

Some of the other specific comic issues that we mention/rec are:

Marvel Two-in-One #86 (The Thing hangs with Sandman)
Marvel Two-in-One #51 (Poker game with Beast, Wonder Man, Ms Marvel, Nick Fury and DumDum Dugan)
The Avengers #198 (Wonder Man and Beast shake off hangovers to fight a giant robot)
Wolverine: Weapon X #11 (Wolverine takes Captain America on a post-resurrection pub crawl around the world with Nightcrawler as designated driver)

We also mention the completely awesome (and completely out-of-print) Spider-Man/Human Torch series by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton. You can buy a digital version on Comixology if you can't find some old copies at your local comic shop. It is the best.

That about wraps it up for this week. And now back to anxiously awaiting the Civil War trailer. And looking at Chris Evans gifs from D23. Gifs like this one:

THANK YOU TUMBLR!!!!!  Source.

Go buy Dave's new comic, The Last Paper Route! You can buy it online here.

Podcast - Episode 7: Fantastic Four

We both re-watched the 2005 Fantastic Four, Dave watched the 1994 unreleased Fantastic Four, and then we went to see the new Fantastic Four movie on opening night together. So life has been PRETTY awesome lately.

Here's the thing: that 2005 movie is NOT THAT BAD. For one thing, my 5-yr-old son loved it, and isn't that worth something? For another, Chris Evans. For another, Chris Evans with chest hair.

Also, both of these guys were just great:

The new movie, however, is very bad and we clearly outline what was bad about it in the second half of this episode. I posted a bit of a rant about a specific problem with the movie here on Tumblr (Yeah! I have a Tumblr and I almost know how to use it! Dave has one too!).

Here is that J.Bone Devil Dinosaur print that he gave to my son, and the Marvel High print he gave me at Boston Comic Con:

Mitchell immediately called him on Superman being a DC and Devil Dinosaur being a Marvel.

Look at MODOK! Look at Captain America! Look at Tony Stark!!!

J.Bone is awesome.

And here is that Deadpool that Franco drew for Mitchell. Pretty adorable little mercenary!

To clear up any confusion, yes that Midnighter series I was talking about was by Garth Ennis and drawn by Chris Sprouse, then the writing was taken over by Keith Giffen. It was good. The new Midnighter series is by Steve Orlando and ACO. I forgot to mention that on the episode (of course).

I mention in the This Week in Winter Soldier segment that some images were leaked from the Berlin set of Civil War that feature my boy in them. Here's one of them and you can find the rest here.

Such a happy winter soldier! I want to buy him one of those ice creams and watch the sun set together.

We will be talking to Dave (and hopefully Sean Jordan) next week on the show about their new comic, The Last Paper Route. You can buy a digital version of the first issue here.

And you can buy the new Wordburglar album, Rapplicable Skills (featuring awesome cover art by Dave and Signalnoise) here.

Hopefully we will have Sean Jordan aka The Wordburglar, on the show next week to talk about both of these things. And probably Tigra. Dude likes Tigra.

TOUGH KID SQUAD

Overdue for a reboot, Marvel. Or maybe a movie! JK Simmons as Doctor Klutch! A cast of unknowns as the Danger Twins and the rest of the Squad! It'll be the Summer blockbuster of 2026!

(A cast of unknowns because I don't know the names of any child actors)

Getting Back into the Game

So: I recently returned to lovely Nova Scotia after a year away, a year in which I ended up going cold turkey on buying comics. Money was tight and every item I brought into the house was another thing that would have to be moved home, so I didn't even visit a shop in that time. Meanwhile, digital comics are a bit too bountiful a garden for me to visit without an infinite line of credit. So: I have read almost nothing in the last year.

Once we returned, there was a lot to do: we had a whole house to unpack and get in order while my wife was starting a new job - it was all very grown-up. I even did yard work because I cared that my yard looked bad!

So with one thing and another I didn't start unpacking any of my comic stuff until about a week ago. And then this happened:

For reference: those stacks are waist high.

Pulling out all of the trades and OGNs and strip collections was basically the equivalent of the a movie character having One Last Cigarette in a moment of stress. If I had actually been trying to quit comic booking, all of my hard work would have been in the toilet. Instead, I got to feel the familiar desire to read all comics everywhere reassert itself in my heart.

Eventually things got neater and a lot of stuff got packed away again, but I was left with this:

... which represents everything in those former piles that I thought I might like to read in the near future. And that's what I'm going to do, and then I'm going to write about 'em here. Not quite sure whether there's going to be a set format or if I'm just going to tell you about my feelings, so it's a good thing that my first choice of reading material was this:

Ignore the glare. I am not a professional

Hellboy is basically the prototype of the comics series that I will love. Tales of the supernatural featuring a big lug who solves most problems with punching? Deep dives into folklore? A story that evolves from fun vignettes into a cohesive and compelling tragedy over the course of years? 

And so on.

So, I'll see you later, cool kids.

Podcast - Episode 6: Crossovers!

drawn by carmine infantino and dick giordano!!!!!!!!!!!

This was a light week on all fronts. Barely any comics, barely any news, not a Winter Soldier for miles, and all quiet on the Renner front. Despite all this, we pull together a pretty entertaining hour of super hero chat. Because we're professionals.

I mention that J. Bone did some mind-shatteringly hot really great sketches of Winter Soldier this week, including a couple of my favourite bionic commando as a sexy auto mechanic. Yeah, that's what I said. Feast your eyes on these!

Good lord. How am I supposed to get anything done?

Meanwhile, my 5-year-old son, Mitchell, was doing a Winter Solider drawing of his own:

He did a whole bunch of drawings of super heroes, and they are all hilarious. Behold: Ant-Man, Iron Fist, Nick Fury, Storm, Hawkeye, Thor, and Falcon as Captain America.

The best, right? I drew a couple of my own for him, at his request. I worked way too hard one these, considering they look like they were drawn by an 11-year-old at best. I am especially proud of my Silver Surfer. Look out, Mike Allred! I'm coming for your job!

Clearly Dave is the artistic talent half of this podcast team.

We talk about crossovers this week, and speaking of crossovers, I crossed over to another Canadian comic book podcast! This week I am a guest host on Panel Culture. You can check out the episode here. It's also available on iTunes here (episode 219). It was very nice to finally talk to Owen Craig after corresponding online for years! Go Canadian comic book podcasts!

Hey, that reminds me! We are also on iTunes here and we would love it if you would subscribe or rate us!

I am away this upcoming week so there will be no new episode next week, but we'll be back with a vengeance after that!