99th Episode

Sean and Paul discuss the "Brief Lives" arc of Sandman.

This story arc is a turning point for the series, and transitions us into the home stretch of Sandman stories.

This is also a very plot-heavy arc, so we take a look at the plot and extract some meaning from this one. What can we learn from Dream and Delirium's journey? And what can we learn from Destruction at the end of their journey?

This episode continues our discussion of Sandman, and we have covered all the previous arcs in previous episodes. Take a look through our feed to find our discussion of your favorite Sandman stories.

Sean went to Star Wars Celebration! Paul watched wrestling! We find commonality!

Sean attended Star Wars Celebration and had a grand old time. Let's discuss!

Paul attended wrestling and had a grand old time. Let's discuss!

We talk about the storytelling elements of each of these, to understand what is compelling about each.

Tune in and enjoy.

Sean doesn't like those games that with a lot of swearing. That is what makes Grand Theft Auto and Cyberpunk 2077 so difficult to get into. The Show, however, has no swearing. This is apparently some sort of sports game.

Sean started reading the Criminal books, which are good stories told well. So we also talk about some other crime comics. This reading is courtesy of Humble Bundle, and we talk about the virtue of Humble Bundle and Hoopla for trying out new stuff.

What do we keep? What do we get rid of? That is the eternal question for a collector. We talk about this conundrum a bit.

Sean went to Wondercon! He talks about the joy of digging through boxes of comics. Also, the frustration! Some books go for a lot of money now for silly reasons. Some books sell for a lot for non-silly reasons, but Sean just didn't know.

We talk about the ins and outs of comic book purchasing also. Sean is dipping his toe into Doctor Strange comics with the classic stuff from the 70s. Paul finds his niche in collecting basketball cards.

Castlevania is a very difficult game. Why is Sean playing this? Let's talk about MetroidVania games while we're at it.

Plus, a conjuring universe movie update.

Paul found his way to horror in a very roundabout way, involving the YMCA and wrestling podcasts. Despite that long path, he has arrived at his destination! That destination is horror movies! He has started with Amityville Horror, and has moved on to The Conjuring.

This leads to a discussion of the whole sequence of Conjuring movies, which Paul has seen, but Sean hasn't. Some of them are closer to what Paul likes in his horror movies, some less so, so we talk about different types of horror movies, with different levels of reveal about the supernatural element, and different levels of gore.

We seem to narrow down on the type of creepy that we like in our horror, along the lines of The Ring and Paranormal Activity. Also, we talk about how horror movies can modify our consciousness. 

We finish up by talking about EVERY HORROR MOVIE that Sean has ever watched. Don't worry, it isn't too long of a list. It is a lightning round of discussion about the greatest hits of horror.  

Sean caught up on Westworld, and can now reflect on all of the tiny details that he didn't remember last time Paul and Sean talked about this show. It is a good show, but the way that Sean has been watching adds some insight into getting a lot out of each episode. The secret is podcasts. Podcasts are the secrets.

We argue about what amount of Legos is the correct amount. One of us has some wacky ideas about that. Is it like having a huge comics backlog? Plus, we talk about the way we played with Legos.

Paul has no time for Breath of the Wild. That game needs to get off his lawn. Link's Awakening, however, should stay on his lawn all day long. We also talk about Link To The Past and how it is a fantastic Zelda game.

Paul has watched Yellowstone, which is some sort of drama ensemble show that is apparently very good. Good enough to keep Paul up all night. It sounds complicated. Somehow this has something to do with Chang Shi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Back to video games, Sean has a mythological type of game that he wants to play, but he is not sure that it exists. Where is the complicated role playing game that is only 2 or 3 hours long? Maybe a remake is the way to go.

We continue our discussion of Sandman with the Convergence stories plus the Ramadan story from issue 50.

First up is "The Hunt" from issue 38, in which a grandfather tells his granddaughter a story from the old world about a young man that thinks he wants something, but may actually want something else.

Next is "Soft Places" from issue 39, in which Marco Polo gets lost in the desert and meets some interesting people. In the process of this, we learn about the power of stories to last through the ages.

The final Convergence story is "The Parliament of Rooks" from issue 40, in which a baby Daniel makes his way into the Dreaming to hear some stories from some of our favorite inhabitants of Dreams.

We also talk about "Ramadan" from issue 50, in which a king looks for a way to make his kingdom last forever. Will the King of Dreams be able to help him with this? And at what cost?

In honor of Sean's newfound status of Father, we discuss some fictional fathers that resonate with us.

Darth Vader is not a good father by any metric, but there is still a lot to learn from his story about the importance of fatherhood. After all, if losing his fatherhood status punctuated his fall to the dark side, gaining it back sparked his return to the light.

Splinter, whether a reincarnated father to adopted father figure, is the mentor that the turtles need, and he teaches them to understand and respect each other's differences, as any good father should.

Pa Kent and Jor El are both fathers to Superman, and both of them make him the hero that he is. Superman's two fathers also show us that families are made from deciding to be a family, even when that decision literally falls out of the sky.

Danny Tanner and Homer Simpson round out the conversation. Yes, Full house and the Simpsons. Behind that sitcom character status are characters that demonstrate the attentiveness that fathers should provide to their children, and the perseverance and effort to be there for their children.

Action Force from Valaverse is here! Sean talks about his shipment of these new action figures. Plus, wrestling figures and sports.

The day after Christmas was the greatest day as a kid. Now, as an adult, it is a little different. Still, it is a nice day to record a podcast.

But that is just warm up. Sean has Action Force! This is a new indie toy line of 6-inch figures in the same vein as G.I. Joe. Sean has the entire wave 1 and talks a little bit about these great figures.

The toy line has some interesting connections to the original G.I. Joe toy line, including Steel Brigade and Sgt. Slaughter, in addition to the name Action Force itself.

Paul has been enjoying his wrestiling action figures, so we get a chance to talk about what we like about action figures.

Somehow this also leads us into a conversation about sports, and some of our fvorite teams: Oakland Athletics, Lakers, and Dodgers. It turns out that no matter what, we like the teams that play with heart as a team.

A Game of You is the fourth long arc of Sandman, and we dive into this character-driven story. This story doesn't progress the main plot of Sandman very much, and so in many ways is a departure from what we have seen in previous long arcs like Doll's House or Season of Mists. This story is more about the journey for each character, so that is how we take this, one character at a time.

The main character of this story is Barbie, and so we discuss her character and what happens to her extensively. Her journey seems to be about accepting who she is, and coming to peace with the inner world of her thoughts and imagination.

Thessaly seems like just a bland vanilla milktoast character, then we find out that she is a vanilla milktoast ancient witch. We talk a bit about our reactions to her character.

Hazel and Foxglove show us a bit about relationships, and how to process through problems and feelings without losing sight of one another.

Wanda is a character that seems to be protrayed with a lot of understanding, and so we take a look at what we can learn from her story.

And, of course, there is the Cuckoo, the main villain of the story. What is the Cuckoo? What does the cuckoo show us about the other characters in this story?