Episode 117 - Sunshine Superman

The March 1986 issue of Amazing Heroes, guest edited by Mark Waid.

After many years, I’m happy to say we have got Mark Waid (@markwaid) as a guest. And what better subject to discuss, fresh off his new book Dark Crisis - Big Bang, than the concept of continuity and the multiverse. Why has the idea of multiple worlds become so popular in the last decade or so, when it was something often thought as troublesome years earlier? We discuss how omnipresent it is now, in comics, movies and more. We also talk about the original Crisis in 1985, including Mark editing an issue of Amazing Heroes all about the post-Crisis landscape at DC following the series. There’s also talk about Hypertime and other attempts DC made to try and “simplify” continuity over the years and how things are going the other way now. There’s also a deep-dive on things like The Super Sons, The Inferior Five, Cancelled Comics Cavalcade and more. We also discuss Mark’s current books at DC, including Batman-Superman World’s Finest, Batman vs Robin and the upcoming Shazam (don’t call him Captain Marvel).

It was great to talk to Mark after seeing him for a few years and almost 25 years I sold him his weekly comics when Mark lived on the East Coast. Hopefully, we can get him back on the show in the future for more deep dives into DC lore.

Episode 113 - Fat Pigeons

Morpheus meets Hector Hall. (c) 2022 DC Comics.

Much like the comic itself, our podcast on the first season of the Sandman TV show is finally here. To do so, we’re happy to welcome back AP reporter Ashraf Khalil (@ashrafkhalil) to talk about it. It’s only fitting since Ash read many of those issues by borrowing them off me or reading them in our dorm in college, when the series was being originally published back in the 1990s. We’ll talk about reading the series in real time, the pain of publishing delays, favorite stories and such. Then, we’ll discuss the TV show, what we liked and didn’t like, being faithful to the source material, casting choices in 2022 vs how the characters were written or created 30 years ago, future seasons and more. We also discuss some of Neil Gaiman’s other work adapted to TV, like American Gods and Good Omens.

(1:43:00) We also managed to sneak in some wrestling chat. Ash talked about what he is liking about the two big promotions currently and I mention some of the other stuff I’ve been watching. We also talk about the recent death of Antonio Inoki, some of his matches and his out-of-the-ring notoriety.

At the end, there’s some brief futbol chat, about Egypt not making the upcoming World Cup and the rivalries between African futbol powers.

A shout out to Vintage Phoenix Comics in Bloomington, Indiana, where many issues of Sandman were bought in the 1990s and our friend Victoria who was often along for the comic shop trips back then. Hope you are well, Vic.

Episode Fifty-Nine - The Royal Flush Gang

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. 

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