Podcast - Episode 118: Superhero Starting Points, Pt. 2

Time to use our comic book brains to come up with some recommendations of where new readers might want to start with some popular superheroes! This week we are making recs for Thor, the Justice League, and Daredevil.

So, I realized after recording this episode that we failed to mention Darwyn Cooke's The New Frontier as recommended Justice League reading. Obviously that is a fantastic starting point for the Justice League, and for DC characters in general. Hell, for superheroes in general. Anyway, we've talked about The New Frontier a lot. You know how we feel about it.

Here's what we do recommend for each character:

Thor

Thor The Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee.
Thor by Walt Simonson
Thor: God of Thunder by Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic
Thor/The Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman
The Unworthy Thor by Jason Aaron and Oliver Coipel

Justice League

JLA by Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Howard Porter, et al.
JLA: Earth 2 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely
Justice League International by Keith Giffen, J.M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire

Daredevil

Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Jansen
Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
Daredevil by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark et al.
Daredevil by Mark Waid and Chris Samnee et al.

Here are those panels from Justice League of America #9 where Brad Meltzer grossly overestimates the speed of a cheetah:

And you can read all about the time the Justice League invited Metamorpho to try out for membership (in the most insane way possible)

And finally, LOOK HOW GOOD BUCKY LOOKS GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm destroyed.

Thanks for listening!

Podcast - Episode 117: Justice League

We saw Justice League! It's the story of a badass woman teaming up with two beautiful teenagers, an impossibly sexy sea man, and Ben Affleck to bring Superman and his chest hair back from the dead. 

We didn't hate it!

Thanks for listening, and you're lucky I was even alive to post this episode because the cover of the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter damn near killed me:

I mean, come on, Hollywood Reporter. You can't just post that without a LOT of warning.

Armie Hammer for Warlock, 2020!

Podcast - Episode 51: Kingdom Come

It's the first week of the Living Between Wednesdays Summer Book Club!

We're kicking things off with the 1996 DC Elseworlds event, Kingdom Come, by Mark Waid and Alex Ross. It's pretty! It's dark! It has everyone! It inspired Jay-Z to return to hip hop (don't tell me I'm wrong about this, I don't want to know)!

Before we get to all that, we cover a few news items.

We talk a bit about the tragic and very sudden passing on Anton Yelchin. Man, what a devastating thing. It's going to make it really hard to watch that new Star Trek movie.

I mention that Yelchin had a memorable role on ER as a child. Here's a screengrab of that:

Awww. 

If you want to read about the unending hell that was the Suicide Squad set, io9 has a pretty good list here.

Here is the Key and Peele sketch about Ray Parker Jr. It cracks me up every time. Especially when 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' scrolls up the screen.

I would post a link to some stuff about the Justice League set visit, but, nah.

We talk a bit about race in comics, and the lack of available comics by Black creators in particular. Also, the weird kinda racist depiction of Black super heroes in many comics. There is a really good piece about Black representation in comics and the death of James Rhodes by Thaddeus Howze here.

I don't even think we got into how messed up it is that Rhodes was killed (another Civil War starting with the death of a Black super hero), or the fact that almost no one is talking about it (the death of a Black hero is not as interesting as a white hero being a fake Nazi, I guess). We mostly talk about the weird racist meeting of all the Black heroes in Sam Wilson Captain America last week.

You can't watch Arty, the film that Dave is in, online yet, but you CAN watch the brand new documentary short, Monster Man, also directed by Nathan Boone, right here:

MONSTER MAN from Heavy Water Studios on Vimeo.

I'm not going to link to the Captain America porn, but here's a promo image to give you an idea:

I forgot to mention that Bucky does not have a metal arm in this porn. That's weird, right? I expect better attention to detail to be paid in my pornographic entertainment.

And if you want some softcore, here is a legit video of Sebastian Stan working out recently, posted by his friend (and trainer, I think?). Or, rather, here is a version that a fan edited so it's just Sebastian moments:

And if you want more Sebastian Stan (yes), here is the Q&A he did in GQ Style.

And if you want to see some super awesome Stucky art by J.Bone, check this out:

For real this time #stucky #captainamerica #wintersoldier #winterschildren #jbone

A photo posted by J.Bone (@originaljbone) on Jun 15, 2016 at 5:21am PDT

Shriek!!!! I can't believe I didn't post this sooner!

J's Rocketeer comic comes out today, and I have it on good authority (his) that Steve and Bucky are hiding in the background somewhere.

Alright, let's get to Kingdom Come!

It's my boys! And my girl!

It was fun revisiting this book this week. I hadn't read it in awhile. And I am always here for silver fox Bruce Wayne:

And, um, shirtless farmer Superman:

Dave asked why people refer to this book as fanfic, and I don't think I explained it very well when we recorded. Basically, although, yes, all fiction written about characters that you didn't create and don't own is technically fanfic, this particular book contains more tropes of traditional fanfic than most (really, most of the Elseworlds did). This is what you might call a canon-divergent dark fic. Besides the premise, and the fact that, as I say, every character ever is worked in there somewhere, there is also the whole Alex Ross's-dad-as-original-character thing, the Superman/Wonder Woman thing, the pregnancy super happy ending thing...frankly that entire scene at the Planet Krypton restaurant read like fanfic. I'm saying this as someone who has read a lot of fanfic and a lot of comics. Some just seem more similar than others.

This would be the archive details for Kingdom Come, were it published online as fanfic:

Rating: T

Archive Warning: Major character death, 

Category: M/F

Fandoms: DC Comics (All), Superman (comics), Batman (comics), Wonder Woman (comics), Justice League of America (comics), Captain Marvel (DC)

Relationships: Superman/Wonder Woman, Superman & Batman, Batman & Wonder Woman, OC (male) & Spectre

Characters: Superman (Clark Kent), Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Captain Marvel (Billy Batson), Spectre, OC (male), Lex Luthor, The Flash (Wally West), Aquaman (Arthur Curry), Blue Beatle (Ted Kord), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen), Black Canary (Dinah Lance), Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Power Woman, various OCs

Additional Tags: Future fic, dark future, retired Superman, religion, Superman needs a hug, Batman is a bamf, Wonder Woman is a bamf, brainwashing, pregnancy, mortality, first kiss, major character death, eventual happy ending

Summary: OMG, idk. This was suppose to be a super short scene and it totally got away from me! Can't shut the muses up LOL! Set in the future, Superman has retired and the Justice League has been replaced by younger, more violent heroes. Lots of angst but a happy ending! I just really wanted to see Superman and Wonder Woman kiss! *hides* Possible prequel coming!

OK, and I looked into it. There have been a couple of female writers of Batman and Detective Comics, but very few issues written by them. As far as I could find, Devin Grayson wrote two issues of Batman and two issues of Detective Comics, and at least part of one Batman Annual. Louise Simonson wrote three issues of Detective Comics and at least part of one Detective Comics Annual. And I think...that's...it. At least for Batman and Detective Comics proper. Becky Cloonan was indeed the first woman to draw an issue of Batman. IN 2012!!!!! And...I don't think there has been one since? Correct me if I'm wrong?

So when I say it's challenging to find a lot of classic mainstream super hero comics by female creators, I mean it's VERY challenging. I'm glad to see that changing finally.

Sadly, there is no video feed or any information at all to confirm the rumours of the physical altercation between Waid and Ross at ComicCon but please please PLEASE be real. Dave thinks it would look a lot like the fighting you see in this trailer:

Alright, next week we are talking about Gerry Conway and Ross Andru's Spider-Man: The Original Clone Saga. It's a long one! Get reading, everyone! I still haven't unlocked Spider-Man in my Avengers Academy game!

Podcast - Episode 10: Animated Series

Animated series? Animated series'? Animated serieses?

Hey guys, it's my birthday today and that is super important! I am 35 today and to celebrate here is a solid hour of Dave and me talking about super heroes and cartoon shows! Like a couple of grownups!

In the This Week in Winter Soldier we talk about the super cute art that J. Bone made of Bucky and Natasha chilling out and watching Netflix. Here it is!

It's so cute I can't even...I hope Civil War is mostly this!

Speaking of Civil War, here is a link to that Civil War promo art that got released. And here you can see a very purple, one-sleeved Hawkeye (with a little buddy on his shoulder!), a stylish Sharon Carter, a fantastic-looking-as-always Captain America, a fancy new suit Falcon, and a salon-fresh, one-sleeved Winter Soldier:

I love that new Winter Soldier get-up. I also love that he has so many visible weapons (and probably like a couple dozen that you can't see). Still has the red star, though...interesting.

You know what these Marvel movies excel at? Boots. Great boots in every movie. They should release a line of boots.

We talk a lot about Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which we agree are kind of the gold standard for super hero cartoons. We got so into talking about those shows that we didn't leave time to talk about Batman: The Animated Series, so we will devote a future episode to that show.

But Justice League is awesome.

We also talk about some super hero cartoons from our childhood. I mention one that I can't remember the name of, and that possibly never existed, but guess what? IT DOES! And here is the theme song:

Dave mentions the intro for the Youngblood cartoon that never made it to air. The intro can be found on YouTube, and it's worth watching, especially if you are a fan of spelling 'Youngblood':

And, of course, the Swamp Thing cartoon intro, which had the best theme song ever:

We gave some love to both Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Avengers Assemble. Both very fun shows. Dave needs to watch Avengers Assemble. Here are some gifs to convince him:

So many great cartoon shows, so little time!

Hip-Happy Heroes Part 2

It's Fat Week, day 2, and here I come with another installment of Hip-Happy Heroes, that rollicking look at the temporary fatnesses of the heroes of yesteryear. Today: it's grab-bag day!

Hip-Happy Hero : Aquaman

Yes, even the beloved Aquaman was no exception to the rule that every character had to get fat at least once before the 60s were through, though in his case  it was less blubber and more blimp.

1. How'd He Get So Big?

One day, as Aquaman and Aqualad were patrolling the seas, they happened upon a raft-bound castaway. They towed him to safety, whereupon he made a startling revelation:

The old man explained that Aquaman could now transform himself into a big fat blimp, a wide thick wall, a stone giant and a long thin arc. Then he died, before he could go on to explain why he hadn't tried to use any of these powers to, you know, try to escape a hideous death on the pitiless waves.

2. What Were the Social Ramifications?

Of all of our Hip-Happy Heroes, Aquaman probably gets off the lightest (so to speak). There's nobody hanging around making cracks about how he should join the circus or complaining about having to pick him up or anything. Aqualad worries a bit about how he might burst, but then that kid always was a worrier. Plus: he uses his fatness to save a ship, so big bonus there.

Before you ask, yes, the Aqua-blimpiness does wear off on schedule six hours later. In true Silver Age form, Aquaman uses up his new abilities just as fast as he can, one after the other, and then they are never spoken of again.

Hip-Happy Hero: Wonder Woman (and Green Arrow, Kind of)

Another crazy adventure of the JLA lands Wonder Woman in the fat soup. Green Arrow too, kind of, though with him I feel that the shortness is more key than the fatness.

1. How'd She Get So Big?

Well, the Justice League were chasing aliens at a carnival, see, and they stumbled into a funhouse mirror-cum-trap, with hilarious results!

All in all, this mirror thing was a pretty fattening experience, as Wonder Woman and Green Arrow both chunk up pretty darn thoroughly, while Flash comes down with a bad case of Thunder Thigh. Heck, even Green Lantern's head looks curiously enormous.

2. What Were the Social Ramifications?

Social ramifications don't really come into this one, unless you count the fact that the Wonder Woman was rendered too fat to fight effectively and so humanity was almost crushed under the heel of an alien overlord. I'm sure that that would have led to some awkwardness at the water cooler.

Oh! and having to get help from Aquaman just to lift your arm, that's pretty embarrassing.

3. Well, How Did She Get Back to Normal?

Well, after the incredibly difficult fight for the future of the planet, Green Lantern remembers that he has a magic wishing ring that can do anything, so he fixes them right up. But only after the incredibly difficult fight for the future of the planet.

4. Can We Apply Her Method to Our Own Lives?

If you have access to a magic space ring then I say go for it. Plus, use it to make me a new computer.

Hip Happy Hero: Blue Beetle

Yep, poor old Ted Kord managed to snack his way to tubbiness, smack in the middle of the Giffen League's heyday.

1. How'd He Get So Big?

Snack food and a sedentary lifestyle were Ted's undoing, though just how he managed to be sedentary while fighting Despero and the like is beyond me. Anyway, he chubbed himself up good.

2. What Were the Social Ramifications?

As can be expected, ted got a lot of ribbing from his team-mates in the League, as well as super-villains, passers-by, Rocket Red's kids and society at large. And he got fired from the League over it. Plus, I think that it may have been one of the reasons that he got the hell beat out of him in a boxing match with at-his-jerkiest Guy Gardner. it was the least respect that... It was the second-least respect that he ever got.

3. Well, How Did He Get Back to Normal?

In the shocker of the century: through diet and exercise. I know, I know: what a chump. He knew at least four Green Lanterns, right?

4. Can We Apply His Method to Our Own Lives?

Well sure, if you're a chump.

And remember: Hip-happy means plump! Good night!

The JLA hits the streets in style!

Now I believe, left to right, that we are looking at Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, Batman, Superman, The Atom and Hawkman.

And now, left to right, I will review what they are wearing.

Green Lantern

If you were the Green Lantern, and your super hero costume was a high-collared green top and some black pants, would you choose to wear a green turtleneck and black pants for your street clothes? Basically he is only missing the flimsy domino mask here. That's a poor disguise, Hal.

The Flash

Ah, Barry Allen. A man of no style. Or, at least, a man of very conservative style.

Actually, I say that, but if I saw a man wearing a yellow or gold three-piece suit, I would think it was pretty daring.

Aquaman

As if it even matters what anyone else is wearing because the only guy you are going to notice in this crowd is Aquaman. This daring number seems to boast "Hey, Green Arrow, THIS is how you wear a lace-up shirt." It's possible, of course, that Aquaman really has no idea what "street clothes" are. And who could blame him?

Superman

We can't see Clark Kent from the neck down here, but let's assume he's wearing an over-sized, rumpled affair that his mom bought him. Or we can pretend that he is hiding behind Bruce Wayne because he is embarrassed to be wearing the same outfit as Aquaman. Whatever you prefer.

Batman

Ladies and gentlemen, Bruce MF Wayne. Here's a man who looks like a million bucks, because he spent a million bucks on his coat. And this really works as a disguise because you wouldn't look at this guy and think "I'll bet he's Batman." You think "I'll bet Batman wants to be this guy."

The Atom

We can't really see what The Atom is wearing. In fact, I am not even sure that is The Atom. I just assume it is. It could just be some guy running for the train who got caught up in the JLA posse at this exact moment.

Hawkman

So what has caught Hawkman's attention? An attractive lady perhaps? A police siren? I would actually guess that it's his own reflection in a shop window, because he looks so damn gooooood. He's just strutting down the street, singing his private themesong in his head ("Hawkman is swinging, Hawkman is swinging, Hawkmaaaaaan... Hawkman swinging") wondering if he should maybe undo another button. The fact that he's wearing a shirt at all, and not wearing wings and a hawk mask, makes this a pretty good disguise.

Panel taken from Justice League of America v.1 #89, one of the most insane and self-indulgent comics ever written.