Episode Eighty - Arm It In Rags

pilt.jpg

The Piltdown Man as Harold Hill. From Ragmop (C) 2019 Rob Walton.

The podcast is back and we’re happy to welcome two comics veterans folks should check out.

First up is Rob Walton (@robwaltoon), creator of the 1990s comic Ragmop. A few years ago, Rob decided to revisit his story about talking dinosaurs, conspiracy theories and slapstick comedy that was the hallmark of the original series (which was collected about 10 years ago. It’s out of print but you can get them straight from Rob himself). Now, he has taken those online stories and put them together as a new Kickstarter graphic novel: Ragmop. The World Needs Laughter. At the time of the episode’s recording, the project was 67% funded with a little over two weeks to go. During out chat, we talk about the book’s initial life as a small press book before becoming part of Image’s black and white boom in the mid to late 1990s. We recall some other great books from that era, including Replacement God by former podcast guest Zander Cannon (now of Kaijumax). We go through a lot of the book’s inspirations, including Jack Kirby, classic animation, the Marx Brothers and more. We also go into the history of Rob ended up writing Grendel Tales: The Devil’s Hammer back in 1993 (Now available in the Grendel Tales Omnibus Volume 1).

After that, we welcome back to the show Phil Hester (@philhester). The Wretch Omnibus from Ohama Bound (@omabound) is now out. We talked about it on the pod in 2017, but good things come to those who wait. We discuss the creation of the character, the name change, its move from publisher to publisher, how the trade came out, some of the most fondly remembered stories and more. We also talk about some of Phil’s current work. The first trade for Stronghold, written by Phil and drawn by Ryan Kelly (@funrama), is hot of the presses. And later this year, Phil is drawing Family Tree, written by Jeff Lemire (@jefflemire). We also discuss two of Phil’s favorite topics: DC’s Tattered Tatterdemalion Ragman and the pain and pleasure of buying original comic artwork.

Note: We know today (as the pod drops) is the start of hockey season. We were hoping to get some of our past puckhead pals on the show before the season started, but did not. Hopefully soon. And hopefully soon is another comics guest to discuss one of the biggest comic stories of the year. That is, actually discussing the stories, not stories about the business, although that will likely come up too.

Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode.

Episode Seventy-Six - Divided by Zero

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Sargasso, from Section Zero. (c) 2019 Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett

The pod returns with a guest we have been trying to get on for quite a while. Longtime comics creator Karl Kesel (@karlkesel) is here to discuss his current Kickstarter project Section Zero 1959, a continuation of the series he and Tom Grummett started almost 20 years ago. We talk about the creation of that series in 2000 and its return as a Kickstarter project in 2017., with the hardcover out now and the story being serialized by Image Comics in April. We talk about the book’s inspirations , notably the work of Jack Kirby. (I interviewed Karl way back in issue 27 of the Jack Kirby Collector about his love of the King and some of his more esoteric characters).

We also do a deep dive into Karl’s career, featuring some of our favorite books over the last couple decades. We chat about a few books he did with Stuart Immonen, Adventures of Superman, the Fantastic Four Annual from 1998 and the DC event series Final Night. We also discuss one of my all-time favorite (and all too brief) comic books series his run on Daredevil with Cary Nord.

On the day of our interview, Section Zero 1959 had two weeks left to go in its Kickstarter campaign and was just over 80% funded. For information on the book and some very cool incentives if you pledge, head over to SectionZero1959.com.

Two other pieces of business: We will soon be starting our series on the website called High Wire Act, which is an episode by episode break-down of the classic 1960s spy show Danger Man (aka Secret Agent). We hope to have a pod up soon discussing that with a returning podcast guest. Also, we are in talks to do our first convention in a few years in the summer. If we do the show, we will likely have a new issue of the magazine out to go along with the appearance.

Spidey Amuck. From Daredevil 354. (c) 2019 Marvel Comics

Spidey Amuck. From Daredevil 354. (c) 2019 Marvel Comics

Episode Sixty-Four - The Mad Titan

From the Death of Captain Marvel. (c) 2017 Marvel Comics.

From the Death of Captain Marvel. (c) 2017 Marvel Comics.

Just in time for San Diego Comic-Con, an over-stuffed episode about comics, movies, TV and video games. We welcome Craig from the Puzzle Warriors 3 podcast (@PuzzleWarriors3) to talk all that and more.

We start by going over what got Craig back into comics after a couple decades, what we are both enjoying right and looking forward to coming out soon. Plenty of good recommendations here. Also, why does Craig love Dazzler so mych?

From there, we talk about the just completed season of Doctor Who and what we could happen in the Xmas Special as well as thoughts on the new creative team and cast.

And lots of Marvel Puzzle Quest talk, including why he, Ian and Craig started the show, thoughts of some of the more powerful characters in the game, balancing PVE, PVP and DDQ, how much fun the special events have been of late and chat about the special plants for their 100th episode in two weeks time. 

Lots of random stuff at the end, including wrestling and hockey talk. We never got around to all the old TV show and cartoon talk that was on the docket, so hopefully Craig will be back in a future episode.

Note: We had a brief addition to the show for a mention of the passing of George A. Romero and Martlin Landau. As a huge Mission Impossible fan, I am working on lining up a special guest to talk about Landau's career. 

 

 

 

Episode Sixty-One - Masters of the World

Parejas Increibles. Valeria Richards and Victor Von Doom. (c) 2017 Marvel Comics

Parejas Increibles. Valeria Richards and Victor Von Doom. (c) 2017 Marvel Comics

Todd Rowker (@rowkerthejoker) from The Longbox Heroes Podcast (@longboxheroes) returns to the show for a chat about a variety of subjects. First, we talk about the new season of Doctor Who, what has and has not worked so far and a brief discussion of the rest of the season. Some small spoiler talk but only things shown in the teaser trailer.  We then talk about the Gallifreybirds project Todd and Joe (@joesposto) are doing this year on Longbox Heroes After Dark, We go over why Todd chose each episode of Doctor Who so far for Joe to watch, as well as thoughts on the wrestling he has seen so far. Then, some chat about current comics, including the Batman/Flash cross-over "The Button", Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps and another endorsement for Scooby Doo Team-Up. We briefly chat about some Marvel books, including thoughts after the deep dive re-read I did recently of Jonathan Hickman's run on Fantastic Four and FF. 

Also, as mentioned on the show, we will be setting up at the Powerbomb.TV Breaking the Barrier show on June 11 in Old Forge PA. Hopefully, there will be a new Odessa Steps Magazine debuting at the show. 

Episode Fifty-Nine - The Royal Flush Gang

Would you trust Noh-Varr? From Royals 1 by Al Ewing and Johnboy Meyers.(C) Marvel Comics. 

Would you trust Noh-Varr? From Royals 1 by Al Ewing and Johnboy Meyers.(C) Marvel Comics. 

Today on the show, writer Al Ewing (@Al_Ewing) stops by for a wide-ranging chat about his work.  First, we discuss his current work at Marvel, including the recently-launched Inhumans book Royals, including the book's creation, it's outer space setting, the inclusion of Noh-Varr and more. We also chat about his other current books Ultimates and US Avengers, and their predecessors, New Avengers, Mighty Avengers and Contest of Champions. Lots of fun stuff for you here, including the joy of C-list villains, serious vs fun superhero books and we even discuss Iso-8, the MacGuffin Mineral that features throughout Marvel's comics and video games. 

Then, we chat about Doctor Who in a number of forms. We mention the "Doctor What" story in 2000AD done by Al and Brendan McCarthy, as well as the Matt Smith Era Doctor Who comics Al wrote for Titan.  We also discuss the current season (following the season premiere), Peter Capaldi's performance as the Doctor and more. 

Finally, we go on a bunch of tangents and have a long chat about UK and US television, everything from World of Sport to Gladiators to The Great British Bake Off to QI and lots more.  If you are a fan of British Comedy, there's a lot of it mentioned, including Whose Line Is It Anyway, Blackadder, The Young Ones, Dad's Army, Morecambe and Wise, Fry and Laurie, but no French and Saunders.

Note: Stephen Fry left QI after the "M" season in 2015. Sandi Toksvig became host with the "N" season in 2016. Alan Davies' "magician murder mystery show" is Jonathan Creek. 

You can get Al's comics from your local comics shop, Amazon or Comixology. You can get The El Sombra Trilogy  from Amazon. 

Paste Pot Pete sketch by Phil Hester. 

Paste Pot Pete sketch by Phil Hester. 

Kirby's Sandman costume. From Fantastic Four 61. (C) Marvel Comics.

Kirby's Sandman costume. From Fantastic Four 61. (C) Marvel Comics.

Episode Fifty-Five - El Classico

The podcast remembers Chavo Guerrero Senior (Salvador Guerrero) who passed away at the age of 68. Chavo was the son of Gori Guerrero, brother of Hector, Mando and Eddy Guerrero and father of Chavo Guerrero Jr. Our condolences to his friends and family.

Magazine contributor Matt discusses Chavo's long career wrestling in Houston for Paul Boesch, including his singles feuds and matches teaming with Hector.  We mention their feud with the Fabulous Ones, amongst others. Lots of footage of Chavo in Houston can be seen on the NWA on demand streaming service. We also talk about some of matches available on the service, including a just-posted NWA title match from 1977 between Terry Funk and Harley Race. We also have a brief chat about new comics we are enjoying, including US Avengers and Ultimates 2 by Al Ewing.

Then, we have an exerpt from Winter Palace episode 7 with Vandal Drummond (@vandaldrummond). At the time, we discussed the passing of Roddy Piper and Vandal seeing him live in LA in the late 1970s and part of our discussion was about Piper's feud with a young Chavo.

We did not have a change to get someone on to talk about Chavo's career in Japan or his time as NWA Junior Heavyweight champion. We hope to try and get a guest to discuss that on an upcoming episode of the podcast. 

Below are a smattering of Chavo's work that can be found on youtube. 

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Episode Fifty-Two - In Like Quinn

From Casanova Avarita by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba.(c) 2017 Milkfed Criminial Masterminds, Inc.

From Casanova Avarita by Matt Fraction and Gabriel Ba.

(c) 2017 Milkfed Criminial Masterminds, Inc.

Writer Matt Fraction joins the podcast to talk baseball and comics. We discuss the Cubs World Series win, growing up a Cubs fan, the future of Cubs fandom, becoming a soccer fan in Portland, and the 1985 Bears. Turning to comics, we discuss Casanova, his long-running Image book. We talk about the 1960s spy influences, Howard Chaykin and American Flagg, metatextual references in the series, working on the series with Gabriel Ba (@gabirel_ba) and Fabio Moon (@fabiomoon) and more.  Then we talk about ODY-C, his gender-flipping space opera retelling of the Odyssey. We discuss its creation, working with artist Christian Ward (@cjwardart) and more.  We end with discussing potential upcoming TV work for Matt and Kelly Sue DeConnick (@kellysue), pitfalls of comics adaptations on the big/small screen, Iron Fist, Hawkeye, the gone-but-not-forgotten Fantastic Four twitter and being off social media. You can get the Mllkfed Criminal Masterminds newletter at milkfed.us.  Special thanks to Kit Cox for all her help in arranging the interview.

Episode Fifty-One - In Suburbia

Snapshot in the Family Album. From Vision 11 by King, Walta and Bellaire. (c) 2016 Marvel

Snapshot in the Family Album. From Vision 11 by King, Walta and Bellaire. (c) 2016 Marvel

The podcast returns from holiday/health hiatus for a look at the year in comics for 2016. We're joined in separate segments by (01:33) Joe Sposto (@joesposto) from Longbox Heroes, (40:22) magazine contributor Matt D and (1:11:20) Al Kennedy (@housetoastonish) from House To Astonish. There's chat about DC Rebirth, Civil War 2, the Inhumans' failed babyface push and other news from the past year. Then, it's lots of recommendations about what our favorite books and creators were from the past year. There are so many quality books now, things are bound to be forgotten, so apologies to those we should have mentioned during the show and did not. We still love your work, even if our collective memories are like a new kind of Swiss cheese,

Some of the books we did remember to mention include: The Vision by Tom King, Gabriel H Walta and Jordie Bellaire, Batman by King and multiple artists, Detective Comics by James Tynion IV and multiple artists, Wonder Woman by Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott and Liam Sharp, Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire and multiple artists, The Fix by Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber, Future Quest by Jeff Parker, Doc Shaner, Steve Rude and other artists, the Batman 66 books by multiple creators, Kaijumax by Zander Cannon, The Black Monday Murders by Jonathan Hickman and Tomm Coker, Southern Bastards by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour, Doctor Strange by Aaron and Chris Bachalo, the Thor books by Aaron and multiple artists, Giant Days by John Allison and multiple artists, Limbo by Dan Watters and Caspar Wijngaard, Another Castle by Andrew Wheeler and Paulina Ganucheau and plenty of other great books that you should check out to see if they are for you. It's a great time to be a comics reader, if you tastes run to action-oriented fare, indy slices of life or (hopefully) both. 

We also said goodbye to two amazing books this year that ended after 50 and 60 issues: The Sixth Gun by Collen Bunn and Brian Hurtt and Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory, respectively.

Also, I wanted to give a shout-out to some great collections that came out this year: The return of Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston-Flores, IDW's Artist Edition for the DC War books (featuring Kirby, Kubert, Kanigher and people whose last name didn't start with K) and the Master of Kung Fu omnibuses, books I never thought I would ever see collected.

There's some brief chat throughout the podcast about non-comics stuff, because we just can't stick to one topic for a whole show. We talk Marvel Puzzle Quest with Joe (our alliance leader), NXT wrestling with Matt and Chikara with Al. 

Episode Fifty - Ouroboros

The Devil Doctor. from LXG 1. (c) 2016 Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

The Devil Doctor. from LXG 1. (c) 2016 Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill

Author and academician Jess Nevins (@jessnevins) joins the podcast for big episode fifty. We talk the art of annotating comics, starting with Kingdom Come and most notably The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. We also discuss how his research methods have changed since the start of the internet age in the mid 1990s to the present. We also chat about current comics include the works of Ed Brubaker(@brubaker) and Sean Phillips (@seanpphillips), Bandette by Paul Tobin (@paultobin) and Colleen Coover (@colleencoover),  the new Moon Knight book and Black Hammer by Jeff Lemire (@jefflemire) and various artists, Vision and Batman, both written by Tom King (@tomkingtk), Scarlet Witch by James Robinson jamesdrobinson) and various artists, and other books.  We conclude by telling some stories about role playing Golden Age heroes while we both in grad school at Bowling Green.  You can find information about Jess' books available in print and digitally at jessnevins.com

Episode Forty Nine - Holy Cow

How about that kid in the sombrero?

How about that kid in the sombrero?

Egyptian-based journalist and Chicago native Ashraf Khalil (@ashrafkhalil) joins the show to talk Cubbies and the world of popular culture. First, we talk about what it was like to experience the Cubs World Series win while halfway around the world. We also discuss how Cubs fans will be viewed now that they are no longer "lovable losers." Then, we talk about watching American sports abroad, sports podcasts include those by Dan LeBatard and Tony Kornheiser, watching or not watching the NFL in 2016 and more.  Then, we talk pro wrestling, WWE getting mainstream coverage, watching the network vs youtube,  American wrestling versus lucha watching habits and reminiscing about old school grappling. Next, we talk current comics, what Ash is reading (Chew, Sex Criminals, Revival) and what he should check out next (Vision, Lazarus, Southern Bastards, The Black Monday Murders, Casanova, The Goddamned).  We end with a look at how the Presidential Election is seen in the Middle East and Red vs Blue dynamics across the country.

Note: We apologize for the podcast hiatus. Health issues of the ENT variety made doing a show problematic. Hopefully, things will be back to a more regular schedule soon. We tried to edit out any extraneous coughing and other issues, but some may have slipped through. Thank you for your patience. 

Episode Forty-Six - Baker Street

Doctor Who Weekly (now Magazine) issue 1(C) 2016 Panini

Doctor Who Weekly (now Magazine) issue 1

(C) 2016 Panini

Todd Rowker (@rowkerthejoker) from the Longbox Heroes podcast (@longboxheroes) joins the show for our big valentine to Tom Baker and classic Doctor Who. We talk about Todd's rewatch of the series from the beginning, currently up to Tom Baker's first series. We discuss our favorite episodes from his tenure as the Doctor, watching episodically vs entire serial, the longevity of many of the actors and more.  We also talk about issue 501 of Doctor Who Magazine, which featured a giant six-part interview with Baker, covering all facets of his time in the role, as well as his appearance as the Curator in The Day of the Doctor (see below). We discuss seeing elderly talent at conventions, be it entertainers or comics creators.

(33:05) - That seques into our discussion of current comics, including the Batman Family of books at DC (Batman, Detective, All-Star Batman), with dscussion of plot points from the current storylines.  We also recommend Old Man Logan, All-New Wolverine, Mockingbird and The Vision from Marvel and the Black Monday Murders and Chew from Image. 

Episode Forty-Four - O Wretched Man

Pete No so Nice. Don't Call Him the Trapster. Art by Phil Hester. 

Pete No so Nice. Don't Call Him the Trapster. Art by Phil Hester. 

Veteran comics creator Phil Hester (@philhester) joins the show to talk about his recent health issues, the 399kirbys project for the Hero Initiative (@heroinitiative), the upcoming Aftershock book Shipwreck drawn by Phil and written by Warren Ellis (@warrenellis), his current Image series Mythic, now in TPB, drawn by John McCrea (@mccreaman), the giant omnibus collection of The Wretch coming (likely) in 2017, working with Ande Parks (@andeparks) on Green Arrow with Kevin Smith (@thatkevinsmith) and Brad Meltzer (@bradmeltzer), working on Swamp Thing with Grant Morrison (@grant morrisoan) and Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar), giving us the art for the cover for Odessa Steps Magazine issue 3 featuring the Holy Terror, how his book Firebreather with Andy Kuhn (@andykuhn) went from an Image comic to a Cartoon Network feature and more.

At the end of the show, a brief tribute to the recently deceased Steven Hill, Harry Fujiwara (aka Mr. Fuji) and the legendary Gene Wilder. Condolences to their ffriends and family.

Episode Forty-Three - Girls and Boys

You're my girl, Bleu. Blue Monday: The Kids are Alright  (C) 2106 Chynna Clugston Flores.

You're my girl, Bleu. Blue Monday: The Kids are Alright  (C) 2106 Chynna Clugston Flores.

With Blue Monday finally back in print, we are thrilled to have Chynna Clugston Flores (@chynnasyndrome) on the podcast to talk about the series being reprinted at Image with colors by Jordie Bellaire (@whoajordie), the timetable for reprints and  new material, the return of Scooter Girl, writing the Gotham Academy/Lumberjanes cross-over book, working on DC kids books including the Mad Mod issue of Teen Titans Go, MTV Classics, use of music in Blue Monday, the cyclical nature of fads and culture, silent movies and more. 

Following that, we have a short list of podcast recommendations, including Monday Night Braw (@mondaynightbraw), Between the Sheets and Exile on Badstreet by Kris Zellner (@kriszellner) and David Bixenspan @davidbix), european football podcasts from the Guardian, the Times (of London), Second Captains (@secondcaptains) from the Irish Times,The Men in Blazers (@meninblazers), Talksport's European Football Show, the Jonah Keri Podcast (@jonahkeri) and the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast hosted by RIchard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) 

Episode Forty-One - Psycho Street

He's Back!  Art by Grant Morrison. (C) 2016 DC Comics.

He's Back!  Art by Grant Morrison. (C) 2016 DC Comics.

Longbox Heroes podcast co-host Leonard F Chikarason (@LFChikarason) is back to talk about the latest goings-on in popular culture. We talk San Diego Comic-Con news (4:00), which leads to a discussion of comic book movies, our preferences and Trekkies vs Trekkers. We  discuss new comics (23:15) we are enjoying including Batman by Tom King (@TomKIngTK) and David Finch and Detective Comics by James Tynion IV (@JamestheFourth),  the Archie line of books including Archie by Mark Waid and Veronica Fish, Betty and Veronica by Adam Hughes,, Jughead by Chip Zdsrsky, Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Francesco Francovilla and Robert Hack, Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston-Flores, the FIx by Nick Spenser and Steve Lieber (including a great story about Lieber)  and Future Quest by former podcast guest Jeff Parker (@jeffparker), Doc Shaner @DocShaner), Jordie Bellaire (@whoajordie) and Steve Rude (@steverudeart)  We move on to luchadors working in the US (34:05), including for the two promotions where Leonard does commentary: AIW Wrestling (@aiwrestling) in Cleveland and Chikara Pro (@chikarapro). We discuss the popularity of Pentagon Jr at an AIW show earlier this year and luchadors working at King of Trios Labor Day weekend. We close with a deep dive on Marvel Puzzle Quest (39:41), some upcoming characters and strategies we employ when playing the game. Also, behind the scenes news about Longbox Heroes schedule (58:48).

1:04:03  - The show ends with a brief remembrance following the passing of MAD Magazine artist Jack Davis and Cul-de-Sac cartoonist RIchard Thompson. I recommend Mark Evanier;s obituary for Davis. I would also expect that Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter will have a thorough obit for Thompson in the coming days.

Episode Forty - Zero Fear

Los Ingobernables. Each making news in their own way.

Los Ingobernables. Each making news in their own way.

Lucha Week concludes with a mega-length podcast with Dr. Lucha Steve Sims (@drluchajr). On the lucha front, we talk about La Mascara and the CMLL Anniversary show, the Rush vs L.A. Park feud, Sexi Star unmasking, breaking news as we recorded of Pentagon Jr. winning the AAW title in Chicago, WWE's interest in adding more luchadors to their roster, just what do they want, La Sombra/Andrade Almas in NXT, the viewer demographics of Lucha Underground, luchadors working in the US vs Mexico and more. On the non-lucha front, we talk about content delivery models in the future, a la care programming, baseball's draconian blackout rules, the All-Star Game (54:15) and Comic-Con (1:14:30) being held in Steve's hometown of San Diego, traveling to Tijuana in 2016 vs years past, being a genre fan in 2016 and not supporting all TV shows and movies out of loyalty, new TV shows vs old TV shows, change kits in European futbol and much more. 

Episode Thirty-Seven - Sim Sim Sallabim

Here comes trouble. Future Quest 1 by Parker, Shaner and Bellaire. (C) 2016 Hanna-Barbera.

Here comes trouble. Future Quest 1 by Parker, Shaner and Bellaire. (C) 2016 Hanna-Barbera.

Jeff Parker (@jeffparker) joins the show to talk about current and past work. We start with Future Quest, the DC/Hanna-Barbera team-up with Jonny Quest, Space Ghost and a raft of others. We discuss the book's creation, including the role played by Darwyn Cooke and continuing to work with (among others) Doc Shaner (@docshaner) and Jordie Bellaire (@whoajordie), who all worked together on the Shazam Convergence book. We also discuss working on the book with artist Steve Rude (@steverudeart), who drew the 1987 Space Ghost comic. Then, it's on to Batman '66, how the book started, getting image rights to the actors from the TV show, working with artists like Jonathan Case (@Jonathan_Case) and past pod Collen Coover (@colleencoover), the Batman/Man from UNCLE team-up and which villains were the most fun to write. There's also chat about Agents of Atlas, Flash Gordon, the Marvel Adventures books, the story behind the "Galactus playing baseball" in Marvel Adventures 26, Underground, Meteor Men and more. To wrap up, more Jonny Quest talk, including favorite monsters and bad guys, including how to modernize a yellow peril villain like Doctor Zin and the great Jonny Quest documentary on Youtube. 

Episode Thirty-Six - Wing Attack Plan R

He can fly, but he's no Sparrow. Jonathan Pryce in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

He can fly, but he's no Sparrow. Jonathan Pryce in Terry Gilliam's Brazil.

It's our love letter to the Criterion Collection (@criterion) in all its greatness. We're joined by film critic, comics writer and podcast Will Pfeifer (@willpfeifer) to discuss our favorite Criterions (some you may not even remember) and the just-released Criterion edition of Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove (spine number 821, for you collectors). We also talk about some of Will's comics work, including Finals with Jill Thompson (@thejillthompson) and H.E.R.O, with Kano (@kano_es). We also discuss Will's movie podcast Out of Theaters (@outoftheaters) that he does with Billy Kulpa (@billykulpa) and Kevin Haas (@kevinmhaas). Will has news about Out of Theaters' future, so stick around to the end of the podcast for that. 

If you thought Dean Wormer was bad. From Finals 1 (c) Will Pfeifer and Jill Thompson

If you thought Dean Wormer was bad. From Finals 1 (c) Will Pfeifer and Jill Thompson

Episode Thirty-Four - All Stars

Are things afoot?. From Baker Street Irregulars. (C) 2016 Roger Langridge and Andy Hirsch.

Are things afoot?. From Baker Street Irregulars. (C) 2016 Roger Langridge and Andy Hirsch.

Happy Anniversary to us. To commemorate our first year, it's the return of our first guest, Al Kennedy (@housetoastonish) from the House To Astonish podcast/website. We talk about the recent Chikara Pro Wrestling UK tour, including the show Al went to in Glascow and compare this year's show to last, what they ended up having in common and some of the recent Chikara angles. Also on the wrestling front, we talk about the future of NXT ahead of the next Takeover special and UK tour and what the future holds for wrestlers like Bayley and Samoa Joe. We also discuss some comics news (not THAT news) and reviews, including some of the DC Rebirth titles, Civil War II, The Baker Street Irregulars, Limbo and more. Finally, we talk about Marvel Puzzle Quest, how our alliance did during the recent Civil War event and how transitioning from 2-star to 3/4-star level and finding time to play as part of a competitive alliance.

Episode Thirty-Three - The God Phoenix

The Mod/Emma Peel Wonder Woman. (C) 2016 DC Comics

The Mod/Emma Peel Wonder Woman. (C) 2016 DC Comics

0:56 - @TKD_117 returns to talk about his recent trip to Mexico for the 2nd Anniversary @Caralucha show, including the Hechicero/Cavernario vs Black Terry/Bestia 666 and Flamita vs Mascara Dorada matches. We talk about some other recent indy lucha, including Hechicero vs Virus. We also discuss the AAA Lucha World Cup, the always frustrating CMLL booking and more. As always, your source for great indy lucha footage is @BlackTerry. Tweet him for his match lists. For more lucha news, check out Como Estaz with @luchablog and @robviper & Luchaworld with @therealfredo and @vandaldrummond.

43:45 - Magazine contributor Matt D discusses DC Rebirth and a possible shift for a brighter storytelling outlook for DC. We talk about the metatextual nature of the issue and which books we are excited about going forward (hint: listen to episode 32 of the podcast). We also discuss some of the lucha matches covered earlier with TKD. We end with discussion of the two new Marvel superhero movies and was Movie Zemo really such an affront to his comics counterpart?

As discussed in the pod,  Arena Coliseo Monterrey -- Negro Casas vs Rey Hechicero

Technical note: During the interview with Matt, I left my desk fan on and the interview is a little wind-tunnely.  Apologies if it is distracting. 

Episode Thirty-Two - Fantastic Foxes

That's not Old Hickory. From the Lazarus Source book. (C) 2016 Greg Rucks & Michael Lark.

That's not Old Hickory. From the Lazarus Source book. (C) 2016 Greg Rucks & Michael Lark.

1:19 - the return of Greg Rucka (@ruckawriter). First up, comics chat, including the new Gotham Central omnibus (co-written with Ed Brubaker) (@brubaker), the Lazarus HC (co-created by Michael Lark (@michaellark66) and Lazarus source book, the Black Magick TPB (co-created by Nicola Scott (@nicolascottart), returning to Wonder Woman with Scott and Liam Sharp (@liamrsharp) and doing Star Wars books and comics. (20:36) Then futbol talk recorded during the Bayern Munich vs Atletico Madrid Champions League semi-final. We talk Leicester City winning the Premier League, improper winners, Champions and Europa League predictions, the Portland Timbers and other MLS news and more.