95 mins. Yes, it’s our longest episode ever, but with good reason. It’s our X-Men special, in which we focus on the films, the cartoons and some forgotten TV appearances. Joined by Mat from popular podcast, Sequelcast we discuss the highs, lows and more of the merry mutants. Also, Jake Busey’s teeth, Paul Hogan and a heap of useless X-Men trivia to impress your friends.
55 mins. We focus on the hottest topic, the talk of the town, the big news that has superhero comics readers everywhere yakking – the relaunch of the entire line of DC Comics’ superhero line. We attempt to gather all the tidbits released so far and chime in with our opinions. Also, leg warmers, eye patches, and our mutual affection for April O’Neil.
Well, there’s not really much else to talk about in DC’s shadow, apart from a new convention dedicated to He-Man and ThunderCats. Woo hoo!
5:06 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Duncan Jones’ great Source Code film
The visually dazzling and epic Hellboy: The Fury #1, by Mike Mignola and Duncan Fegredo. Preview here.
The classic, detailed and violent Hard Boiled OGN from Frank Miller and Geof Darrow
The mature approach of toys in The Stuff of Legend Book 1 from Th3rd World Studios
15:15 DC Comics’ Relaunch
DC’s whole superhero line is relaunching in September, with new costumes and series for some of the world’s favourite spandex clad characters. There’s not heaps of official info released so far, but we break it down for those new to the…news.
As an added bonus, here’s the George Lucas Strikes Back trailer.
54 mins. We focus on the sparse comic adaptations of the popular Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. We also discuss whether we should be offended by the possible embarrassment of Geek Day. Also, Mladen’s legs, Kris’ musical tastes and Spider-Man on American Idol.
Supanova Pop Culture Convention in Perth and Sydney in June. Get your tix now.
Batman villain Bane as played by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises is revealed. Well, some of him anyway.
EDDIE DEIGHTON AND ANDI EWINGTON INTERVIEW 9: 35
Our first ever interview via the wonders of Skype. English creators Eddie Deighton (co-publisher of Com.x and co-writer of BlueSpear) and Andi Ewington (co-writer of BlueSpear and writer of 45-whcih we talked about here) talk to us about the 45 spinoff one-shot BlueSpear, which comes out in July.
The chaps talk about the business behind publishing Original Graphic Novels rather than monthly issues, what they look for in a story pitch, how they find new talent, advice for new writers and publishers, and a lot of laughs.
Also mentioned are subjects as diverse as our lack of sporting knowledge, amusing convention tales, the classic Marvels, I Kill Giants, Kingdom Come, and creator Bryan Talbot.
67 mins. In honour of the awesome annual tradition of Free Comic Book Day around the world, we discuss some of our faves – what you should definitely pick up and what you should avoid. Also, our usual rambling shenanigans.
FCBD is on Saturday May 8. Yay! We read a whole bunch of the many free comics on offer this year and give a rundown of what we like and don’t like this year.
SOME PRETTY GOOD FREEBIES
Bongo Comics’ Bongo Free-For-All, featuring a few The Simpsons stories, including cool ones by Evan Dorkin and Sergio Aragones
Dark Horse’s Avatar: The Last Airbender/ Star Wars: The Clone Wars flip book
Ape Entertainment’s Richie Rich/ Kung-Fu Panda flip book. This ain’t your daddy’s Richie Rich!
Bluewater’s The Misadventures of Adam West (the actor who played Batman in the ‘60s TV series)
FREEBIES THAT ARE OK, BUT NOT AWESOME
2000AD. The classic U.K magazine style format with a bunch of sci-fi stories inside, including a great Judge Dredd tale
Marvel’s The Amazing Spider-Man is good for fans who may have been away from the web slinger for a while and want to know what he’s up to these days
DC Comics’ Green Lantern Special Edition. Same as above, except for Green Lantern AKA Hal Jordan
OUR TOP PICKS (GET THESE IF YOU SEE THEM!)
Fantagraphics’ Walt Disney Mickey Mouse. A dog walking a dog. Yes, that’s right. Floyd Gotfredson’s rascally Mickey.
Archaia’s Mouse Guard/ Dark Crystal flip book, with mature fantasy stories and also Season of the Dapper Men and A Tale of Sand by the legendary Jim Henson
Marvel’s Captain America/ Thor: The Mighty Fighting Avengers! A fun, time travelling adventure featuring the two cinematic superheroes in ye olde Camelot
Super Dinosaur Origin Special from Image. Another fun adventure for kids and adults with a kid, his heroic T-Rex, a secret base and evil mutant dinosaurs
Jake the Dreaming from Radical. An illustrated novel, not a comic. Like most Radical books, it looks superb. For fans of Narnia and Harry Potter
Red 5 bring us the always amusing Atomic Robo at the National Science Fair. Also previews of ’50s heroine Moon Girl, and Foster Broussard: Demons of the Gold Rush
Elric: The Balance Lost #1 from BOOM! Studios. Michael Moorcock’s pale swordsman returns to comic. I liked it much more than Mladen though
CHECK OUT PREVIEWS OF ALL THESE FREEBIES AND MORE, RIGHT HERE AND THE EXCELLENT ROMBIES IS NOW ONLINE FOR FREE FROM GESTALT COMICS. YAY!
Shannon Wheeler ‘s I Thought You Would Be Funnier can now be read for free online
Captain America and The Avengers film info
Free Comic Book Day on May 7
8: 28 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Portal 2
Brightest Day #24 – John Constantine and Swamp Thing travel from Vertigo to the DC Universe
Avengers #12.1 – Spider-Woman gets captured by the evil smarty pants team, The Intelligencia. The Avengers rescue her and meet Ultron, who then vanishes. Not for newbies but great art by Bryan Hitch.
Action Comics #900 – The controversial landmark issue in which Superman renounces his American citizenship, plus some other cool tales.
54 mins. Some DC reviews and a discussion about Rombies #1 and the new Peanuts OGN. Also Joss Whedon’s apparent foot fetish, Snoopy’s cousins and Mladen plays Kris’ former sidekick. It’ll make sense once you listen to the ep.
Green Lantern’s toes (yes, you read that correctly).
Batman Live World Arena Tour has a press day with costumes and video. And confetti.
Michael Shannon cast as General Zod.
Tokyopop closes.
14: 44 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Brightest Day #23. Swamp Thing returns to the DC Universe and a few characters get turned into elementals.
Fear Itself #7. The Red Skull’s daughter Sin picks up a Norse hammer and brings madness upon the earth!
Batman: Arkham City game.
Tron Legacy: Reconfigured soundtrack.
28:05 The return of Panel Plays (because we demanded it!)
30: 40 FEATURE REVIEWS
Happiness Is A Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown. A Peanuts OGN from BOOM! Studios. We both liked it and found it rather funny, with a consistent visual style. Peanuts purists and newbies will enjoy its charms.
Rombies #1, an awesome new series from Tom Taylor, Skye Ogden and Gestalt Publishing. Zombies in Old Testament times. A father’s love brings death. This promising start to the new series is a great looking and highly entertaining comic.
59 mins. We chat about some of our fave comic book parodies, including poking fun at superheroes. Also the Star Wars episode of That ’70s Show, the beauty of modern video games and Scream 4.
Next DC animated film based on Tower of Babel JLA storyline
DC’s Retro-Active series of one-shots
Supernatural: The Anime Series to be released in July
The 4 minutes of the Green Lantern film that have been officially released
13:43 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Kris – Action Comics #899 filled with Lex vs Braniac and madcap action
Who Is Jake Ellis? #3 by Nathan Edmondson and Tonci Zonjic
Undying Love #1 by Tomm Coker and Daniel Freedman. Another winner from Image Comics about a human in love with a Chinese vampire.
Mladen – Crossing Midnight Volume 1 from Mike Carey and Jim Fern about twins born just before and just after midnight. Strange abilities, greedy demons and more ensue.
40 mins. Mladen and I occupy the same space once more as we talk about 2 new Image comics debuts we liked plus Ninja Turtles, April Fool’s Day office pranks, iPad 2 queues, and animated Plastic Man.
Elephantmen: Man and Elephantman by Richard Starkings and Axel Medellin. We find it to be a good intro for new readers, love the art and its effective colour palette and just the general noir vibe of the whole tale.
54 mins. We shall not let minor technical issues stop us from talking about comics! No sir! Gianni joins us again to form the geek trio in our special on comics related to video games and other pop culture products. We discuss all the below, plus Boston Legal, CSI guest stars, how to be a “pack leader” and more.
The new DC Nation TV show to be shown on the Cartoon Network
12: 05 WHAT WE’VE BEEN READING
Kris watched Battle Los Angeles and read the TPB of Image’s fun fantasy series Skullkickers and Erik Larsen’s amusing Herculian one-shot.
Gianni’s been reading the Dead Space mini-series based on the game as well as the new Mass Effect.
Mladen has been watching The Dog Whisperer. Yes, we laughed at him too. He also read Asterix and the Falling Sky, and Price Valiant Volume 3.
25:30 THEME-TIE-IN COMICS
Phew. Tomb Raider, Sonic the Hedgehog and more have been produced over the years, and continue to be made, for video game fans to become comic book fans, and vice versa. There have been many more video game tie-ins recently too, such as Dante’s Inferno, Prototype, Infamous, Halo, God of War, Batman: Arkham City, World of Warcraft, Warhammer 40, 000 and more. Plus, anime and novel tie-ins and movie adaptations, including Tron.
67 mins. Joined by our buddy Gianni we discuss the how, why and when of the coolness of comics and their popular acceptance. Also, the correct pronunciation of Ben Affleck, replacing beer with soda pop and the differing meanings of the word jocks. Plus, as an added bonus after the end song, hear some Skype shenanigans.
Mladen’s been reading Metabarons and likens it to Dune. It has nuns that fly in whales. So there.
Kris has been reading Superman/Batman #81. It has an armoured Superman, a bad future and Detective Chimp, who is a character who is exactly that. He also read Venom #1 starring a legless former Spider-Man bully.
Gianni saw Matt Damon and Emily Blunt run around in The Adjustment Bureau.
35:00 THEME-COMICS ARE NOW COOL. DISCUSS.
Which we do, despite me dropping off Skype occasionally.
70 mins. One of our most fun episodes yet, filled with rambling asides and pop culture recollections. Our brief theme this week is all about buying habits, ie, how, where and why we buy our comics. It’s more interesting than it sounds. Also – Jerry Maguire, singing actors and the street cred of How I Met Your Mother.
Thorgal, and The Chimpanzee Complex Volumes 1 and 2 from Cinebook
The disappointing All-Star Superman animated film
35:30THEME – BUYING HABITS
Mladen and I have different comic purchasing habits. We look at how ours, and others, have changed over the last few years and talk about digital distribution.
comicbookjesus 