My guest this week is Dan Hort! What stores did Brett and Dan used to get their comics at? Is anime more popular than comic books? Why do people stop collecting comic books? Is the anime style easier for kids to draw? Is there money in collecting action figures and busts? What is the Galactus Tax on original art? Who were the big three in the early days of Marvel Comics? Did Stan Lee and Steve Ditko get along? Who is the greatest Spider-Man artist of all time? What's one way to put a value on original art? What was Steve Ditko really like? 

Reading list: Dragonball Z DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack Ultimate Spider-Man (new series) Star Trek Celebrations John Romita's The Amazing Spider-Man Artisan Edition

Watch list: Battle of the Planets Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Astro Boy My Neighbor Totoro Kiki's Delivery Service One Piece (live action) The Wind Rises The Boy and the Heron

Recorded 9-12-24 via Zencastr

Image credit

My guest this week is comedian Al Holiday! How was strength classified in the Marvel role playing game? How is Agatha Harkness different on TV versus in the comics? What was her background in the Marvel Universe? Does Deadpool tell too many jokes? Who wer e the original Guardians of the Galaxy? What's the deal with Starhawk? Was Deadpool and Wolverine too violent? What was the Comics Code? Is "superheroes don't kill" a hard rule? Whose responsibility is it to keep kids out of an R rated movie? What is the myth of Gilgamesh? Are superheroes modern day myths? Have superhero origin stories gotten too complicated? Who is The Maker? What's happening in the current Ultimate Spider-Man book? Who was Rachel Pollack? What is Warhammer 40k? What about the Neil Gaiman allegations? 

Reading list: Recent issues of the Hulk Ultimate Spider-Man (new series) Rachel Pollack Doom Patrol and Brother Power The Geek (DC Pride: Rachel Pollack) Sandman The Puma Blues Aliens vs Avengers

Watch list: Deadpool and Wolverine Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1 and 3 Crimes and Misdemeanors Hannah and her Sisters

Podcast: Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman

Image credit: Kyle Cassidy

Today Brett is flying solo with a stack of comic books to tell you about! Spoiler alerts for Doom, The Nice House By The Sea, The Nice House On The Lake, Hate Revisited/Buddy Bradley stories, Archer and Armstrong: Assassin Nation, The Pedestrian, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the latest book by Jason Aaron). What is the novel Bad Monkey about? What happened to Rodney Dangerfield when he was five years old? Will Brett ever get Sean Kelley McKeever on the show? Why does it bother Brett to pay for digital copies of comic books? What is The Nice House By The Lake/Sea about? What is Hate Revisited? What happens in the latest Archer and Armstrong book? How about The Pedestrian? Why isn't Brett going to buy more TMNT books? What is Deprog about? 

Reading list: Bad Monkey (not a comic) Rodney Dangerfield's book Outpost Zero Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Doom (one-shot) Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane The Nice House By The Sea Hate Revisited Archer and Armstrong The Pedestrian Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Jason Aaron Deprog They Call Me Bababooey (not a comic but it would make a good one)

Recorded live via Audacity on 9/5/24

My guest this week is Tom Higgins! What's the best era of Fantastic Four? When was Iron Man still drinking? What were EC Comics? Who is Flex Mentallo? What is The Maxx about? How great is the library? How did Tom get his kids into comics? What is The Invisibles about? When will we get a good Galactus on screen? How did Zack Snyder screw up Batman? How is Batman "the story of a man and his children"? Superheroes don't kill... but is everyone a superhero? Is Batman a bad father? Is it ok that The Boys tv show is different from the comics? Are we done with the Skywalkers? How good is We3? 

Reading list: Gold Key Classics Fantastic Four Doctor Strange Mr. President (I think it's actually this but I'm not sure) Iron Man EC Comics Tales from Psychiatry MAD Magazine Plop Comics The Sandman Flex Mentallo (on sale from Kindle) The Maxx The Tick The Invisibles Injustice: Gods Among Us (free on Kindle Unlimited) Lone Wolf and Cub Hellboy We3 (HUGE recommendation; free on Kindle Unlimited) DC Showcase collections Marvel Essentials (out of print)

Watch list: Tip: Check out the DC stuff on HBO Max Constantine Jonah Hex DC Legends of Tomorrow Doom Patrol The Boys Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Image Credit: By Sam Keith - http://www.comicvine.com/the-maxx-1/4000-30769/, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48089889

Spoiler warning for Crisis on Infinite Earths on the CW (and the comics). This week we present an encore presentation of Dimitri Wejaysingher's interview from 2020! What happened in the Civil War comics? What makes Punisher unique? What happened on the Daredevil TV show? How do kids know who Miles Morales is? What made the Spider-Verse movies so good? Is this the first generation growing up without a Spider-Man show? What did it mean that we finally got an actor who was young to play Spider-Man? What spinoff was there going to be from Smallville? How did Arrow start out? When did the CW shows get fun? What did the Suicide Squad movie do wrong and how was the CW version better? What was it like meeting Kevin Conroy? (JEALOUS!) What did the CW do right and wrong with Crisis on Infinite Earths? How great is Cress Williams as Black Lightning? How is Black Lightning a political show? How is race handled on the CW shows? When did Supergirl get better? 

Reading list: Civil War (Free on Comixology Unlimited) Miles Morales Frank Miller Daredevil Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer Black Lightning meets Static comic (Brave and the Bold by Dwayne McDuffie) Guardians of the Galaxy (Abnett and Lanning) Planet Hulk (free on Kindle Unlimited)

Watch list: Spider-Man cartoons Spider-Man movies Black Lightning Smallville Arrow Guardians of the Galaxy CW Crisis on Infinite Earths

Image credit: By https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTmBcURCRN0, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54085924

Recorded on February 27, 2020 at Comic Strip Live

This week we present an encore of James Mattern's interview from March of 2020. Why doesn't James like Superman? How great is Spider-Ham? Do the DC animated movies go too far in trying to be "adult"? Why is it OK for there to only be one season of Watchmen? Why does James like The Spectre? Does a British accent make things better? Why do you not want to bad mouth someone on a podcast? When does James do superhero stuff in his standup? Why is 80s Storm better than 90s Storm? What superpower does Brett question? Why does James like Hobgoblin more than Green Goblin? Why doesn't MTV play videos anymore? What's the deal with Speedball? Why does Brett prefer Marvel to DC? 

Image via Wikipedia

Reading list: Superman: Red Son Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Saga Watchmen Sandman  Swamp Thing Batman: Dark Victory Batman: The Long Halloween Uncanny X-Men World War Hulk Batman: A Death in the Family Amazing Spider-Man Marvel Team-Up Marvel Two-In-One What If...? Civil War (free on Kindle Unlimited) Transmetropolitan

Watch list: Thor Ragnarok Planet Hulk The Dark Knight Hunters Inglorius Basterds Spider-Man (90s cartoon)

Recorded on March 12, 2020 at Comic Strip Live.

Spoilers for The Boys tv show and comic books. This week Arielle Dundas returns to talk about the most recent season of The Boys! What show is Arielle doing at the Edinburgh Fringe? What is one key difference between the tv show and the comics? What's a big difference between The Boys and Game of Thrones? Why was this season less of an escape than previous seasons? How would you describe The Boys to someone who isn't familiar with it? If superheroes were real would there be some good ones? What politician is Victoria Neuman like? What happens to Victoria Neuman's daughter? Why did they call Sage Sister Sage and what is her power? Why did Homelander recruit Sage? Why does Sage help him? What happened to Hughie's father? What did they do to torture Tek Knight? How does The Boys compare to the MCU? How does this season compare with other seasons? 

This week we enjoy an encore presentation of my interview with Eitan Levine from March 5, 2020. What Broadway show did Eitan audition for? What mini series did Eitan get an incomplete set of in the hospital? How is the Torah like a comic book? Why is Magneto Eitan's favorite character? Who is Quentin Quire? Is it OK to depict the Holocaust in movies and TV shows? What's wrong with The Walking Dead? What is Eitan's joke about comic books and the Holocaust? How important is it that Magneto is a Holocaust survivor? How did Kitty Pryde fight off Dracula? 

Reading list: Southern Bastards The Walking Dead She-Hulk

Watch list: X-Men: Apocalypse Spider-Man Unbreakable X-Men The Walking Dead Thor: Ragnarok

Recorded on March 5, 2020 at Comic Strip Live.

My guest this week is comedian Zak Benedek! What did Bone have in it that little kids maybe shouldn't see? What's the right age for Bone? What did Zak read to learn about the Marvel Universe? Where did you used to be able to buy comic books? What comic book did Zak's mother pull out of his hand? How great is G-Man? What has Lewis Trondheim written? What did we think of Before Watchmen? When did Barnes and Noble start to kick kids out of the store for making trouble? Who is Great Man? What makes the Hulk such an interesting character? What's happening in Immortal Thor? Why does Zak like Doctor Doom? What happens in the latest Secret Wars, the one with Doctor Doom? What was better, The Death of Stalin comic or the movie? Is Hawkeye just shittier Bullseye? What's wrong with the way Aquaman comics are written? What was Dark Reign? 

Reading list: Bone Marvel Encyclopedia Secret Invasion (free on Comixology Unlimited) G-Man G-Man WebComic Mini Marvels Dungeon; Mr. O; Mr. I; all by Lewis Trondheim Watchmen Before Watchmen Immortal Hulk Immortal Thor Avengers: Twilight Secret Wars (Doctor Doom) The Death of Stalin Dark Reign/Dark Avengers

This week comedian Ian Koranek returns to talk about the comics that inspired X-Men 97! Spoilers for various X-Men comics. What comic predicted 9/11? Why didn't anyone blame mutants for 9/11 in the Marvel Universe? What happens in Uncanny X-Men #200, The Trial of Magneto? In what way did X-Men 97 improve on the source material? Which groups are X-Men an allegory for? How did we feel about Disney buying 20th Century Fox? What happens in the X-Men story Fatal Attractions? Why can't we take dialogue from comic books and put it on screen? What happens in Operation Zero Tolerance? What was one of the key changes they made in adapting the story for X-Men 97? Why does Ian hate it when people say "Magneto is right"? Who is Graydon Creed and who are his parents? Who is Bastion? Who are some mutants who don't want to join the X-Men? 

Reading list: Uncanny X-Men #200 Fatal Attractions: Uncanny X-Men #304 and X-Men #25 Operation Zero Tolerance: X-Men #65-70 and Wolverine #115-118