Crisis On Infinite Midlives

This weekend, the first full trailer for DC Films' Wonder Woman dropped, and as big DC Comics fans, we desperately want this one to be known forever as "The First Really Good DC Comics Flick." So we spend a little time talking about the trailer and the movie,.We specifically talk about how by using World War I they're simultaneously covering historical ground that existed before even comic books, while also forcing comics fans to say, "Yeah: Captain America: The First Avenger, only older and crustier." We also touch on the fact that the average American public school graduate would could only identify a major "bad guy" of WWI if spotted an hour, Google, and their family members as hostage in the event they failed.

We also discuss: Man-Thing #1, written by R. L. Stine with art by German Peralta and Daniel Johnson, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys: The Big Lie #1, written by Anthony Del Col with art by Werther Dell' Edera, and: Action Comics #975, written by Dan Jurgens and Paul Dini with art by Doug Mahnke and Ian Churchill!

First, we discuss some long-awaited and welcome comics news: Matt Wagner's announcement at ECCC that Mage: The Hero Denied, which has been promised since the conclusion of the first Mage series in 1986 and the end of the second in 1999, will begin this July. Mage is rarely mentioned in the same breath with other 80s classic series like Watchmen, but it's one of the first examples of urban fantasy out there, and one of our personal favorites.

And then there's Logan. Which was Rob's choice for most-anticipated genre movie of 2017 (a choice for which he took some static), and for once, it's almost like Rob knew what he was talking about. We discuss Logan, how it's less a superhero movie than it is a western (and, as a western, the Unforgiven of comic book movies), and, even with all those qualifications, one of the best comic book movies ever made.

We also discuss Batman #18, written by Tom King with art by David Finch, and Savage Things #1, written by Justin Jordan with art by Ibrahim Moustafa!

As we move slowly into convention season, there is kind of a dearth of interesting comics news to work through some weeks. Oh sure, we could weigh in on Marvel's comments at ComicsPRO that the reason their sales are down is because of DC shipping cheaper books, but that's a little inside baseball even for us. And besides: we all know that the people at Marvel will say absolutely anything if it means Issac Perlmutter turns his Sauron doom-eye back toward Kevin Feige.

So this week, we stick with talking this weeks' comics, including: Justice League of America #1, written by Steve Orlando with art by Ivan Reis, Darkness Visible #1, written by Mike Carey and Arvind Ethan David with art by Brendan Cahill, The Old Guard #1, written by Greg Rucka with art by Leandro Fernandez, Hulk #3, written by Mariko Tamaki with art by Nico Leon, and The Amazing Spider-Man #24, written by Dan Slott and Christos Gage with art by Giuseppe Camuncoli!

We are living in an age where we are spoiled for choice, when it comes to comics-related television shows. From The Flash to Supergirl to The Walking Dead to Cinemax's Outcast to the (possibly) upcoming Scalped on WGN America, there's something for everyone... which is why we weren't particularly excited for FX's Legion, based on a mid-90's New Mutant and set in the oldest and arguably stalest of the modern comics cinematic universes. We only decided to watch it because we have a comics podcast, which means that you need something to talk about.

But watch it we did, thinking we were taking one for the team, but finding one of the smarter and more intriguing comic book television shows - if not filmed genre properties, period - we've seen in recent memory. It's a show based on a funnybook that made us unironically namecheck David Cronenberg and use the word "Kubrickian." That doesn't happen every day.

We also discuss Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #5, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung, and The Wild Storm #1, written by Warren Ellis with art by Jon Davis-Hunt!

For the past few years, DC Films seems to have gauged whether or not to proceed making live action films of some of their lesser-known comics properties by releasing direct-to-video animated versions of them to see if they'll stick. They did it with Suicide Squad three years ago, and now they're doing it with the cast of the proposed Dark Universe movie with Justice League Dark, which was released last week.

We are big John Constantine fans (and kinda fans of the New 52 Justice League Dark), so we watched the movie and discuss the return of Matt Ryan to the role, how Batman fits into a mostly magical cast, why Black Orchid is almost literally filler, and why seeing Green Lantern being lightly tazed is almost always worst nearly any price of admission.

In addition: this week gave us the first two issues of what will become Marvel's next event, Secret Empire. We have been nothing if not vocal here about how much a bummer Civil War II was, and now that we're staring down the barrel of a story about a literal Nazi taking over the United States, well, we have strong opinions. And we even try to have those strong opinions without talking too much about current American politics.

As a palate cleanser, we also discuss Deathstroke #11, written by Priest, with pencils by Denys Cowan and inks by Bill Sienkiewicz!

It was a weird week for comics and genre news. Having recorded this episode one day before the announcement of the official title of the new Star Wars movie (spoiler alert: the spoiler is that the title is Star Wars: The Last Jedi), the only comics related news was whether it was still kosher, so to speak, to sucker-punch a Nazi, Captain America style.

So this week, we skip most of the news, and go straight to the comics. We discuss:

Batman #15, written by Tom King with art by Mitch Gerads, The Amazing Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #4, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung, The Ray: Rebirth #1, written by Steve Orlando with art by Stephen Byrne, Angel: Season 11 #1, written by Corinna Bechko with art by Geraldo Borges, and Curse Words #1, written by Charles Soule with art by Ryan Browne!

It's awards season, and you know what that means: networks will cynically use the concept of an awards show to fill time by looking back at old entertainment rather than looking forward and creating something new. By which we mean: welcome to the third annual Crisis On Infinite Midlives Crises awards!

2016 was a weird year for comics and genre entertainment: there was some spectacular work from areas that no one would have guessed even a year ago, and some real garbage fires from people and organizations who one would think we could count on. And we go back and sift through all of it, one last time, before we move onward and upward into an uncertain year where Wolverine will retire, Spider-Man will come home, Warren Ellis will regain his authority, and we choose to believe that General Leia Organa will, to coin a phrase, just fade away.

It is the holiday season, and while that means things like delayed flights, family political battles and regifting, it also means the annual Doctor Who Christmas Special. And this year’s, The Return of Doctor Mysterio, was a double whammy: not only was it the first Doctor Who story in almost a year, but it was […]

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opened this past weekend, and, if you're any kind of regular listener to the show, you know that we're from Generation X, and therefore addicted to Star Wars. And not only that, but everyone we know is from Generation X and feels the same way. And luckily, most of the people we know are professional stand-up comedians.

So this week, we're joined not only by frequent guest, New York comedian Benari Poulten, but a long time friend, Boston comedian and original member of the Star Wars Fan Club Greg Boggis. And while we're Star Wars fans all, we all had differing levels of enthusiasm for this movie, differing levels of advance knowledge aboue the flick, and certainly differences of opinion about what we wanted from the first live-action Star Wars movie that didn't follow the main plot.

So we discuss the movie, how it fit into out own personal Star Wars canon, whether or not we're sick of lightsabers, how to deal with Cutscene Tarkin and Realdoll Leia, and the hazards of living in a world of Stormtroopers in a stop and frisk world where walking while blue is a crime.

So we're on our third person playing Spider-Man since the last time we had a Glutton Bowl, which seems not only unfair, but kinda wasteful. However, this time we have a Spider-Man working within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, played by an actual (almost) teenager, and who seems able to tell a joke better than, "Hi! I am Tobey Maguire, and I am seventeen years old! Why are you looking at me like that?"

And since the first trailers for Spider-Man: Homecoming were released last week, we spend a few minutes talking about some of the details, how some elements of Brian Michael Bendis's Mile Morales seem to have been integrated into Peter Parker's story, how cool it is to see Michael Keaton in a real superhero movie again, and how none of this gets around the truth about how hard it is to get excited about our third Peter Parker less than ten years.

But talking about a trailer does not a podcast make. So we also discuss Spider-Man: The Clone Conspiracy #3, written by Dan Slott with art by Jim Cheung, Wonder Woman '77 and The Bionic Woman, written by Andy Mangels with art by Judit Tondora, Batman #12, written by Tom King with art by Mikel Janin, and Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #1, written by Kieron Gillen with art by Kev Walker and Salvador Larroca!