Podcast - Episode 93: The Original Secret Empire (1974)

This week we decided to re-read Marvel's original Secret Empire story line from 1974. It seemed timely, for a few reasons.

Here's something we forgot to mention on this week's episode: the East Coast Comic Expo is happening this weekend in Moncton and we will both be there! Dave will be there in an official capacity, moderating panels and Q&A sessions with some great artists, including Nick Bradshaw, Tony Moore and Daniel Way! I'm just gonna be hanging out, hoping not to see the Pennywise cosplayer I saw there last year.

Here are some of our favourite panels from Secret Empire:

On the very first page, we see Sam Wilson, smiling and strolling through the surprisingly quiet streets of Harlem with his bird friend. Not a care in the world! 

Here is Sam telling his girlfriend that he would rather show Steve his new costume than have sex with her:

Here's Steve and Sam's excellent undercover "bum" disguises:

We forgot to mention this one, but Cyclumph! is my new favourite word:

Here's Steve dopily waking up after being stunned:

Here's Steve being less than thrilled to see Thor:

And here is pre-serum Steve VERY enthusiastically agreeing to be a military experiment:

Next week we will be reading the next Captain America story following Secret Empire (the one where he becomes Nomad). We encourage you to read along! It's a very fun story.

Podcast - Episode 92: Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2

We saw Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2! We liked it! It wasn't perfect, but what ever is? We talk about/spoil the hell out of that in the last half hour or so of the episode.

This week we say farewell to poor Rick Jones. He died as he lived: pretending to be an Avenger.

OH SNAP, RICK JONES!

I will always remember Rick best as the guy who tried to initiate some really kinky and messed up role playing with a freshly de-thawed Captain America:

Avengers #7 - Lee, Kirby, Stone

Why would Rick ever have thought that would be a good idea? Best case scenario, Steve is just going to clutch him close to his body and cry into his shoulder for hours.

One time in an all-ages Hulk comic Rick called Namor "Aqua Teen Excessive Force" and I laughed forever.

We also said goodbye to Joaquin on Riverdale this week. Maybe? Probably? I LOVE YOU JOAQUIN!!!!

You go after him, Kevin Keller! You go after him now! Where are you going to find another accomplice to murder with THOSE EYES?!

Anyway. Enjoy the podcast! Rate us on iTunes! Follow us on Instagram and Twitter! Let me know if you there are any super hunks you want rated!

Podcast - Episode 91: Free Comic Book Day Previews

Sorry this is late, guys. I was having trouble with the Squarespace login page yesterday and I was also too busy to deal with it.

So this week we run down some of the titles that will be available at Free Comic Book Day this Saturday. You can see them all here.

Also this week we discussed the Eisner Award nominees, which you can see here.

And here is that little 1978 documentary The World of Comic Books:

This week we introduced Rating the Super Hunks as a podcast segment. I think it worked ok. I'll let you decide. I think I should probably write out a blog post for each one, just for posterity. Please send us your requests for future hunk ratings!

See you next week! Read Secret Empire #1!!! It's so good!!!!

Podcast - Episode 90: Social Media & Secret Empire

So Marvel's Secret Empire started in earnest with issue #0 this past week. To me the only thing worth getting riled up about with this event is the insistence of publishers to keep putting out issues numbered ZERO. Enough! No more zeroes, no more decimal points.

But that is a topic for another (very boring) episode.

This week we are talking about a bunch of stuff, but the conversation mostly keeps going back to two things: Secret Empire, and social media.

We did an episode eleven months ago, just after the big HydraCap reveal, about comic books in the age of social media. I was pretty frustrated then, and, almost a year later, I am frustrated still. And that episode was recorded shortly after I wrote out most of my feelings on the matter in a blog post. I stand by everything I said then.

So this week's episode is kind of a like a check in now that a lot of the questions about this story have been revealed. And Dave and I also discuss our individual frustrations with social media, especially Twitter, as it relates to comics. And we talk about people in the industry who are good at using social media...and some who aren't. 

But ALSO this week...Bucky is maybe dead. Probably not. But maybe a little bit dead.

But at least he went out kicking Zemo in the most ridiculous way imaginable:

And then he died as he lived: shirtless and thinking about Steve.

Sigh. If only he'd had some sort of useful device in that new arm of his to get him out of that trap. Like...a blade...or a flame thrower...or a tiny little robot arm. Alas.

Let's top this off with our pal J.Bone's latest Steve and Bucky make-out art:

I feel like I've already drawn this but kisses should always be repeated. #stucky #captainamerica #wintersoldier #jbone

A post shared by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on Apr 23, 2017 at 4:48pm PDT

Oh, and what's this! A little HydraCap/Zemo smooching?

For @rachellegoguen #stemo #captainamerica #baronzemo #jbone

A post shared by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on Apr 23, 2017 at 7:03pm PDT

Next week we will run down this year's Free Comic Book Day offerings! Thanks for listening!

Podcast - Epsiode 89: Artists Behaving Badly

Man. Marvel can't go a week without something bad happening, huh? When they aren't talking some noise about how diversity negatively affects sales, they are dealing with artists sneaking racist messages into their X-Men comics. At least that Thor: Ragnarok trailer dropped!

The Star Wars announcement turned out to be a bit of a letdown. I mean, it's an Omaze contest, as Dave predicted, and the prize is, I suppose, good if you are into that sort of thing. You get to go to the premier of The Last Jedi, and you get to go to the set of the Han Solo movie. Plus you spend a night at Skywalker Ranch. Personally, I would rather win drinks with Oscar Isaac.

I know why you guys are here. You want to see the panel of Bucky with the penis drawn onto him. Well, here you go:

I mean...well done, right?

Alright, so we are taking next week off, and then we will be back to talk about two weeks worth of comic book news!

Here's a Thor trailer gif for the road:

Podcast - Episode 88: Let's Talk About Marvel

Oh, Marvel. Why can't you just stop saying dumb things?

David Gabriel says that fans are complaining about too much diversity in their books, and Axel Alonso says no one cares about artists (I am paraphrasing heavily here). Dave and I have some other ideas about what might be causing Marvel's sales slump.

I was going to post a bunch of terrible panels from Thunderbolts #11 here, but why beat a dead horse? Hopefully my beloved Bucky will find himself in a better looking book soon.

It's a fun episode! I can't think of much to post this week. Enjoy!