Coming at you after a week off. We recorded when I was fresh off my trip to Toronto, which was better than any trip to Toronto in the dead of winter has a right to be. Highlights include, in no particular order:

Seeing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band (and sitting very close to the stage!);
Watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier with J.Bone;
Eating at Bahn Mi Boys more than once;
Drinks and strippers with J.Bone;
Not having any kids with me at all;
$hopping!;
Sleeping through the night in a dark, quiet room;
Hanging out with (ECMA-nominated!) Sean "Wordburglar" Jordan, and recording an episode of his Weekend At Burgie's podcast;
Did I mention no kids?;
Meeting Owen Craig from Panel Culture finally;
Just generally hanging out and talking to J.Bone, who I feel like I could talk to forever, honestly. So glad we finally got to hang out in person.

But, as The Boss says, you can't break the ties that bi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-ind, so now I am back in snowy Nova Scotia, and there is in fact a blizzard happening here as I write this. And both of my kids are home.

Also, a belated birthday shout-out to Dave, who turned, I dunno, a thousand last week? Oh shit! Don't invite me to a birthday roast! I will scorch that place!

So this week, since Dave and I were guestless for the first time in a few weeks, we decided to list our favourite (and least favourite) Marvel characters. We did the same with DC characters way back in our third episode.

Before we got to that we discussed some of the news from the past couple of weeks, first and foremost the announcement by DC of a new line of Hana-Barbara comics. And that line-up includes a batshit insane Scooby-Doo relaunch:

Where is the detective squad that will stop these monsters?!

I also talk about the Lego: Marvel's Avengers video game that was recently released, and how one of the levels is a PLAYABLE BUCKY'S DEATH SCENE! I put together some screengrabs in a Tumblr post:

http://rachellegoguen.tumblr.com/post/138287276943/dear-lego-marvels-avengers-video-gamethis-is-not

Bucky!!!!!!

This week's episode sees the return of MITCHELL, who joins us to share some of his thoughts on Marvel characters. His segment has a slow start, but it pays off, I think.

We do not see the return of HILLARY this week, though. She feels bad, but she just couldn't condense her thoughts on these new X-Files episodes into a coherent segment. This is a very exciting time for her. I completely understand because, as you may recall, we needed to devote an entire podcast episode AND bring in a special guest to discuss the first Civil War TRAILER. So having a hard time gathering your thoughts about two whole episodes of your very favourite thing in the world is understandable.

What I'm saying is that the Civil War movie will probably require five episodes to cover.

I am not going to mention the new Civil War trailer in this blog post, even though it's all I'm thinking about, because we will be talking about it on next week's episode. Probably at great length.

Yes, the Toronto Fan Expo was this past weekend and no, Those Who Live Between Wednesdays could not attend. Why the others could not do so I'm not at liberty to say (hint: you don't think that nuclear missiles just spontaneously defuse themselves mid-flight, do you?) but as for me it has something to do with being dead broke, plus in the wrong part of Canada.

But do not despair! I have received word that Owen Craig and Isaac Mills of Mondo Magazine did get to go, and what's more, they've written up a multi-part account of their good times for all of us to check out.

First, Owen checks out the DC Nation panel and meets some creators.

Isaac takes in a showing of Batman '66, complete with Adam West Q&A.

Owen comes back with Stan Lee, the Delorean and, most excitingly, hot yo-yo action.

Then Isaac speaks of the same day from his unique viewpoint, which involves fewer Deloreans and more Archie panels. The yo-yo action does remain though, never fear.

And then: Sunday. After two hectic days, our heroes take it a bit easier.

Owen catches some tips on breaking into comics from Dan Didio and some Scrooge McDuck collections from Boom Studios.

Meanwhile, Isaac takes in some artists' panels.

And that's that. As I mentioned, I spend a lot of my time sans money - and maybe the room full of comic paraphernalia has something to do with that, I don't know. What am I, a rocket mathonaut? - so I've never actually had the opportunity to go to a con. Or an expo. I will someday, though, and I'm glad that there are folks out there reporting the experience for guy like me with comical moths flying out of their wallets. Thanks, Owen and Isaac, because now I have a better idea of what I will find, and I will be prepared.