Podcast - Episode 102: Sexcastle (Image) by Kyle Starks

It's time to get crazy. This week we read Kyle Starks' hilarious love letter to 80s action heroes, Sexcastle. PLUS we've got a lot of news out of San Diego Comic Con to cover.

Before we get to Sexcastle, though, let's have a look at that Infinity War poster:

And let's just...zoom in. And enhance...

My. God.

Here's what I forgot to mention on the episode: he is wearing the same Captain America uniform here that he was wearing in Civil War. It's just all dirty and gross and hot now. And he, like, Sharpied out the star. Lord above.

Like...I've not even seen erotic Captain America fan art that was this hot. Why do there have to be other characters in this movie?!

Aw, I didn't mean you, baby. You're still my favourite. Looking forward to you and Steve rubbing your beards on each other.

Alright, let's look at some Sexcastle. This is some solid cartooning.

The Damn Twins!

This is a really fun book and a short read. Perfect for the beach or to get you through a really boring summer wedding.

Alright, next week we are talking about Christopher Priest's Black Panther comics. We are going to be reading and discussing the first volume of the Complete Collection. That contains issues #1-17 and that is over 400 pages of Black Panther comics, so get reading everyone!

I'll just remind you that I have the entire summer book club reading list posted on Goodreads here.

See you next week!

Podcast - Episode 81: The Lego Batman Movie

We got slammed by a giant, unending blizzard this week and it stranded us in our respective homes. So this episode was recorded over the phone, which means I sound FANTASTIC and Dave sounds like he's over the phone. But we are both bringing our A-game, don't worry.

Not gonna lie, it takes us awhile to get around to talking about The Lego Batman Movie, but we do discuss it.

First we talk about Marvel's upcoming Secret Empire event (aka - The HydraCap event). I am VERY into this cover for issue #0:

HydraCap can GET. IT.

We talk about the third episode of Riverdale for a bit. You can see my old blog post that breaks down the Archie comic where Dilton offers to write songs for The Archies, is rejected, and instead starts his own cool band, here.

Alright. Enjoy! My arms are tired and sore from shoveling.

Podcast - Episode 59: Captain America: Man Without a Country

Who likes Captain America? WE DO!

It's the penultimate week of the Living Between Wednesdays book club and we read the Mark Waid/Ron Garney Captain America stories, Operation: Rebirth and Man Without a Country. 

Here is the 1993 interview with Jack Kirby on Prisoners of Gravity that Dave mentioned:

Here is that really nice Marco Checchetto Thunderbolts #7 variant cover:

Enough with the mask, though. Seriously. I'm begging you. This is my Bucky:

Ok, so about this book we read. This is what we're talking about when we say that Steve's costume is in TATTERS:

And here is what we mean when we say Sharon is really cold to Steve:

And here is shirtless Steve sitting on the floor being sad with a cheeseburger:

And here is an example of some bad Photoshop title lettering AND some very romantic Steve/Bucky subtext:

This is an image of Steve's perfect fantasy world. I am not making this up. This is canon. Red Skull is basically writing Stucky fanfic in this book.

And speaking of Stucky, I explain a lot about Captain America fanfic to Dave this week. I legitimately love most fic in that fandom. Hit me up for recs!

Now, if anyone needs me, I'll be watching Civil War behind the scenes gifs until the movie is available on Friday (my birthday!!!).

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 24: Best of 2015

I thought before Dave goes into full Star Wars shutdown mode, it would be good to compile and present our Best of 2015 lists. So here they are!

I was going to write them out here, but nah. You gotta listen to the episode. Maybe I'll post them next week.

What I WILL post is my prediction for the Guardians of the Galaxy 2 soundtrack line-up. We'll see when the movie comes out how many I got right. I correctly predicted that Hank Henshaw was Martian Manhunter on Supergirl, so I am on FIRE here!

Rachelle's Guardians of the Galaxy 2 Soundtrack Predictions:

1. Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb
2. We Are Family - Sister Sledge
3. Jungle Boogie - Kool & the Gang
4. I Think I Love You - The Partridge Family
5. Build Me Up Buttercup - The Foundations
6. Sister Christian - Night Ranger
7. Starman - David Bowie
8. School's Out - Alice Cooper
9. Low Rider - War
10. Free Ride - Edgar Winter Group
11. Stayin' Alive - Bee Gees
12. Tide is High - Blondie
13. Tempted - Squeeze

Bonus tracks suggested by Dave:

1. Jim Dandy - Black Oak Arkansas
2. Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder
3. Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang

I think we'll have at least a 60% success rate with this list.

I mentioned some very exciting interviews on the subject of one Steve Rogers and one James Buchanan Barnes in Entertainment Weekly. You can find the full line-up of articles here.

If you want a taste of what that Charlie Brown Christmas concert was like that I went to, you can see some videos of Jerry Granelli performing the songs with the trio he put together on the CBC website here. It's pretty spectacular. I would especially recommend 'Skating.'

Owen Craig was kind enough to invite me back onto his comic book podcast, Panel Culture, this past week. So if you can't get enough of my sultry voice you can check that episode out here.

Podcast - Episode 21: Outsider Comic Writers

I love that review quote on the cover. So much.

So Max Landis wrote a Superman comic last week, and to, um celebrate(?) we decided to talk a bit about "outsiders" who try their hand at writing comics. Actors, musicians, directors, television writers, wrestlers, authors and more!

Still getting the hang of the new mics, but I think we're sounding better. You'll notice the sound gets better after the first couple of minutes (when we start talking about Supergirl) because we paused to fix some of the settings. Now I just have to remember to stay on the mic and we should be good!

It was a REALLY slow week for news, but a big week for comics. There was no Winter Soldier news to speak of, but that doesn't mean I didn't fill a few minutes with Bucky Barnes babbling.

Here's Chris Pine looking all hot as Steve Trevor:

I love me some Pine.

When we were talking about All New All Different Avengers #1 I voiced my concern about Sam Wilson hurling his shield through a car full of passengers. Here is what I was talking about:

And I also mention that Clint and Kate look a whole lot older than 'twenty years later' in Hawkeye #1:

When we are talking about Joss Whedon's run on Runaways, Dave and I both recall our favourite moment, when Molly punched The Punisher in the stomach (or nuts, if you like). Here are the panels:

We forgot to mention this on the podcast, but the comic Dave drew, The Last Paper Route, is now available to buy digitally on Comixology. Check it out!

I honestly can't think of much to write this week. Hopefully next week will be a more exciting comic news week. At least we'll have Jessica Jones to talk about! Thanks for listening! iTunes reviews are appreciated!