Zero Issues

 We love colours in our comics! There’s so very much that you can do with colours, and it’s wild, but we pretty much never talk about it! This week, we do our best ot fix that. So get ready for a brief history of comic book colouring (from newsprint to NOWsprint? Is that anything?), and the various growing pains that we had to live through in the ’90s, and the advent of digital colouring. Then, once that’s over, get ready for the three of us gushing over our favourite colourists, as well as lamenting our… well, we’re learning. We’re getting better at it, as artists! But it’s 90% gushing, 10% lamentation. Direct Download: MP3

 Mike Richardson, the founder and head of Dark Horse Comics for the past 40 years….. has been fired. This is pretty big news and a huge shift in a rapidly changing comics world. We discuss the history of Dark Horse and how Mike Richardson crafted this strange middle space in comics, the fabulous comics they’ve given us over the years, the Embracer Group responsible for Richardson’s exit and most importantly…. we discuss the why. We lean heavily on Matttttttt on youtube for much of his excellent information and insight, but we also talk about what may have been left out of that analysis. The Dark Horse ups, the Dark Horse downs, the Dark horse all arounds through the years. It was a bit of a zoot suit riot. Direct Download: MP3

This week: BLOOR! We dig deep into the archives of absurd and infamous golden-age comics to bring you a Dramatic Read of PRIZE COMICS #4 from 1940, possibly created by legendary Batman artist Dick Sprang! Join Power Nelson, the Future Man from 1982, as he battles not only a job-cutting dictator on Earth, but also against BLOOR, the Dictator of Uranus, who has absconded with Earth’s workers! And he refuses to pay them — why, that’s forced labour! Thankfully, ol’ Power Nelson (aka Gene) has a NEW DEAL for Uranus, and he doesn’t care how many Amazons he has to surrender to or robots he has to smash to deliver it! It’ll all make sense in the episode. Probably! Content Warning: This comic contains some visually racist depictions of East Asian peoples, as was unfortunately common in that era.

 Hey, look at the calendar! It’s March! And that means it’s time for March Madness, where we choose eight comic book characters and make them fight for supremacy! This year, we’ve chosen characters representing various elements. What element is your favourite? Personally, I’m a boron man. And speaking of elements, before we get to the fighting, Kyle presents an ELEMENTary Sherlock Holmes quiz in the warmup! Direct Download: MP3

 Trust us! That title will make sense! It’s POWER RECORDS week where the boys listen to not one, but TWO short vinyl record superfolk stories! 1-Spider-Man and the Return of the Conquistador! 2-Superman and the Mxyzptlk up Menace! It’s the real Superman vs Spider-Man event! We listen along and poke fun, MST3K style. All that AND Merk has a new warm up bit, ‘Notions’. Little things that have been bugging him. Does Superman give everyone cancer with his xray vision? How does Venom poop? I know you’re intrigued. Join us. Direct Download: MP3

We are taking Metamorpho, the Element Man, apart piece-by-piece in another installment of “Fix This Character”! Which we may want to rename because this dude needs no fixin’, but in the style of the segment, we are finding fun ways to reinterpret, reimagine, or just take the man of 1000-and-1 changes in a new direction! That could mean a weird “meta” journey past the fourth wall, or finding a cure for immortality in the world of magic, or challenging the unknown with some super-science friends, or maybe everyone else in the world becomes a Metamorpho too! Perhaps an artsy anthology series exploring the psychology of Metamorpho? And hey, what about Metamorpho fashion, while we’re at it? All this and more Rex-related tangents await! Direct Download: MP3

 Why do we call them Lightning Rounds? It’s an audio podcast: if anything, this kind of episode, in which we do a bunch of short segments, should be called a Thunder Round! Change is hard, thought, so Lightning Round it is! This week, we talk about the recent passing of Sal Buscema and celebrate his work, cover Wonder Man (spoilers from 11:42-29:48, but if you haven’t watched Wonder Man yet, come on, were you going to?), try to cast Amber Midthunder in more cool movies, take a chilly quiz, and come up with some Golden/Silver Age takes on modern comic book villains! KrakaKOOM! Direct Download: MP3

 Groundhog day in comics.  What does that mean? Apparently several different things as the boys mix up the topic proposed and come up with two different topics! lol Topic 1- Time loop stories Topic 2- recurring tropes and storylines used over and over again. We got ’em both!! Hear about Moira Mactaggert’s quest to get to a Red Lobster. Or Spider-Man’s poor hygiene. Secret identities revealed over and over and over again! But we start with a SNEAK PEAK at AVENGERS : DOOMSDAY! We toss aside our NDA and tell you EVERYTHING we saw! We swear it’s true! Pinky swear! Dr Doom! Richard Kind! Josh Gad! White Vision! AC/DC! and SO MUCH MORE! Direct Download: MP3

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! It may not feel like it, but often the most iconic characters don’t arrive fully formed. Sometimes there are some changes, retcons if you will, that not only stick but become fundamental to the character in a way you can’t imagine them being any different. Like the days when Superman could only leap over tall buildings but not fly, when Magneto was a campy and unsympathetic villain before being reimagined as a Holocaust survivor, when Alfred didn’t even have a moustache! Sometimes a supervillain is given more depth and skills, like Doctor Doom! Sometimes a manga hero goes from a li’l monkey-king boy to a long-lost member of an alien battle race, like Goku! Sometimes Peter Parker is a real asshole until he goes to college, but then we kinda forget he was such an asshole! Remember when the Summers family tree was actually comprehensible, or when Sabrina’s cat Salem was orange and a regular cat, or when Doug Ramsey was just a nerd who read a lot of books? Becaus

 Comic Book Death! No, not *that* comic book death, the character of Death, in comic books! This week, we’re talking about these personifications of mortality. From Death of the Endless to that skeleton that Thanos is more of an Eros about, and even the gender-specific Lady Death, and that one that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter melvin’d that one time. But before all of that, in the Warmup, we talk about the various controversies and legacy of Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, who passed away recently. We do not treat the subject matter with much respect, because, like the New Radicals said, you get what you give, and also bucket hats will be cool forever.   Direct Download: MP3

 Sidekicks!!! That’s what we’re talking about this week, but not your ‘regular’ sidekicks. No Robins, or Batgirls or whoever. We’re talkin’ Snapper Carr! Rick Jones! Newsboy Legion! Foggy Nelson! Jimmy Olsen! The weirdly regular folks, mostly teenagers, that hung out and went on adventures with (or totally got in the way and caused disasters- we’re looking at you RICK JONES!) superhumans & aliens & supersoldiers. We start with a quiz! How many answers do you know?!? Did you know Snapper Carr became a traitor? Did you know the character he was based on connects with Warner Bros Music’s first number one hit? Did you know Rick Jones should feel bad? And who’s Trucker Thor?!? Well listen and find out! Direct Download: MP3

The New Year has arrived, and it may already be doomed, but there are still comics, movies, and shows we can enjoy as the world burns around us! Superman and Spider-Man cross over for the third time, care of Mark Waid, Jorge Jimenez, and many other friends! Jimmy Olsen meets Carnage! And the classic ’70s crossovers are getting new facsimile reprints to complete the collection! “Ultimate Endgame” is here as the new Marvel Ultimate universe wraps up as the 616 universe faces Armageddon via Chip Zdarsky! DC’s Absolute line gets a Catwoman and a dead(?) Green Arrow, while the main DC comics reach the “Next Level” with new titles for Lobo, Batwoman, Deathstroke, and many more! Vertigo finally returns with new creator-owned comics and a revival of “100 Bullets”! Archie hits the reboot button again, but this time in collaboration with Oni Press, and with Archie in Hell! And did anybody say “Reign of the Superboys” — and the return of li’l Jon Ke

 So, what did we learn this year? More importantly, what do we read? Merk finally learns what happens to the Justice League re: Despero in a 40-year old comic, Kyle learns the he likes his reimagined universes to be finite, damnit, and Bry learns about sweet monkey love. Context within the episode! Direct Download: MP3

 Happy Holidays, ya filthy animals! It’s Christmas Eve and we’ve got a short, but fun dramatic reading for your holidays! “Santa will feed you to his reindeer”. That is straight from this Dell Comic from 1948. Nimble ‘Nick’ Needle, Santa’s tailor, who he threatens to kill, is up to no good this year. Santa puts up with it only as long as he can …. AND THEN HE SNAPS!! Or does he? Only we know (and anyone else who’s ever read this comic) so join us and come on a Santa killing spree adventure! Editors note- There may or may not be a killing spree in this story. Direct Download: MP3

 CALVIN & HOBBES. Yea, that’s probably all we need to say right? The amazing strip by Bill Watterson that ran for only a decade but changed the face of comics and comic strips is STILL revered to this day. And we’re gonna talk the $%#& out of it. It’s philosophical origins, the newspaper strip business, Watterson’s fights with the syndicate (not the mob), contemporaries of the time, and realizing that Calvin’s Dad is really cool. Join us won’t you? Direct Download: MP3

It’s episode number 501, so you know what that means: AN ALL JEANS EPISODE! The result is a 40-minute trip into madness that’s at least tangentially connected to denim. We begin with a look back at the famous and/or infamous button-fly Levi’s jeans commercial featuring Rob Liefeld and directed by Spike Lee, a real thing that happened. We debate button-fly vs. zipper, compare our personal experiences with social-media algorithms, and slip into some denim-related tangents. But what of our comics Jeans? Such as Jean Loring, who was put through the ringer in “Identity Crisis”, a superhero event mystery that does not make sense. And of course, Jean Grey, and we try to figure out if literally anyone in the Marvel Universe can defeat the Phoenix! Which superheroes and villains can pull off a costume with jeans, from Superman and the Superboys to Angar the Screamer, Jessica Jones, and even Conan the Barbarian? And just imagine Iron Man’s denim armour, the Mk. D! All this and Gene C

 500 episodes! Like, 500 complete episodes. Way more than Seinfeld has, I’m pretty sure. For this centennial celebration, this time? We’re just gonna sort of take it easy, with a chill-as-heck lava lamp of an episode, which are the kind of episodes that I think we like to do, now that we’ve discovered that after over a decade of getting together and recording, we’re actually kind of good at just talking to each other about comics and junk. Also, happy birthday, Merk’s sister! Direct Download: MP3

 It’s time for the FIFTH installment of the CELERY STALK SLAM!! That time between Halloween & Christmas, where we choose characters from each to square off…. and battle to end! Which holiday wins? Which characters will we pick this… Continue Reading →

CONTENT WARNING: This episodes includes a discussion on human trafficking, which some may find upsetting or triggering. This topic begins at 13 minutes into the episode. This week we interview a man who should need no introduction: TYLER MANE! From… Continue Reading →

In 1982, a young Wes Craven set out to make the ultimate horror character. He failed, and made a Swamp Thing movie, instead! To wrap up this year’s HowLenWein festivities, this week, we sit down and watch this thing. Do… Continue Reading →