Hard Agree

A Hard Agree Christmas Carol 2023 (featuring Dave Gibbons, Michael Moorcock, Evangeline Lilly, Olly Smith, Julie Stark, David Leach, Kelly Yates & Will O’Mullane)

 

In this Christmas 2023 charity edition of Hard Agree, Andrew Sumner is joined by eight very special guests from the worlds of comics, movies, TV and theatre: legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock; BBC presenter & wine expert Olly Smith (BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith’s Home Cocktail Bible); author, actor & MCU star Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp); comic book legend Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, The Originals); West End theatre star Julie Stark (Chess, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You, Sister Act); comics editor & creator David Leach (Psycho Gran, David Leach Conquers the Universe); marketing guru & ComicBooks for Kids UK director Will O’Mullane (Titan Comics) and designer, artist & comics creator Kelly Yates (Amber Atoms, MonstHer, Doctor Who - Kelly also donated our annual Hard Agree Yuletide Players cartoon).

 

A Hard Agree Christmas Carol is the December 2023 edition of Hard Agree’s annual yuletide charity podcast and features Sumner and his guests performing Charles Dickens’ live version of his festive classic A Christmas Carol (in support of Comic Books for Kids).

 

As Sumner says: “ComicBooks for Kids is a wonderful charity founded by Mark Weiss that does amazing work getting comic books into the hands of children in long-term hospital care on both sides of the Atlantic. Myself and Kenric Regan & John Horsley have always admired Dickens’ timeless seasonal message of empathy & civic responsibility, and thought ‘what better way to underline & amplify ComicBooks for Kids’ mission than to return to the words of Charles Dickens himself, the great believer in human society pulling together?’ Please visit their website CB4K.org, please check them out and please do what you can to help.”

 

You can donate to Comic Books for Kids HERE:

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/donatestart

 

You can check out everything Comic Books for Kids does at these links:

https://CB4K.org

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/home

https://twitter.com/Comicbooks4kids

https://twitter.com/CB4KUK

https://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids

https://www.instagram.com/cb4kuk/

In this special Yuletide charity edition of Hard Agree, Andrew Sumner is joined by seven very special guests from the worlds of comics, movies, TV and theatre: legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock; BBC presenter & wine expert Olly Smith (BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith’s Home Cocktail Bible); author, actor & MCU star Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp); comic book legend Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, The Originals); West End theatre star Julie Stark (Company, Chess, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You); comics editor & creator David Leach (Psycho Gran, David Leach Conquers the Universe) and marketing guru & ComicBooks for Kids UK director Will O’Mullane (Titan Comics). A Hard Agree Christmas Carol is the Christmas 2022 edition of Hard Agree’s annual yuletide charity podcast and features Sumner and his guests performing Charles Dickens’ live version of his Yuletide classic A Christmas Carol (in support of Comic Books for Kids). Our annual Hard Agree Players cartoon was donated by artist supreme Kelly Yates (Doctor Who, Amber Atoms, MonstHer). As Sumner says: “ComicBooks for Kids is a wonderful charity founded by Mark Weiss that does amazing work getting comic books into the hands of children in long-term hospital care on both sides of the Atlantic. Myself and my co-producers Kenric Regan & John Horsley have always admired Dickens’ timeless seasonal message of empathy & civic responsibility, and thought ‘what better way to underline & amplify ComicBooks for Kids’ mission than to return to the words of Charles Dickens himself, the great believer in human society pulling together?’ Please visit their website CB4K.org, please check them out and please do what you can to help.”

You can donate to Comic Books for Kids HERE:

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/donatestart

You can check out everything Comic Books for Kids does at these links:

CB4K.org

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/home

https://twitter.com/Comicbooks4kids

https://twitter.com/CB4KUK

https://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids

https://www.instagram.com/cb4kuk/

https://www.instagram.com/comicbooks4kids/

Follow Evangeline Lilly on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial/

Follow Michael Moorcock on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/buggerly.otherly

Follow Dave Gibbons on Instagram:

https://twitter.com/davegibbons90

Follow Olly Smith on Social Media:

https://ollysmith.com/

https://twitter.com/jollyolly

https://www.instagram.com/ollysmith/

Follow Julie Stark on Social Media:

https://www.juliestark.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/juliejuliestark

Follow David Leach on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/davidleach2000

Follow Will O’Mullane on Social Media:

https://twitter.com/willomullane

https://establishingshotcomic.wordpress.com/

Follow Kelly Yates on Social Media:

https://twitter.com/kellyyates_art

https://subscribe.kellyyatesart.com/

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://.twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

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Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

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Sumner is joined on this week’s Hard Agree by his old comics industry pal, Professor Ed Catto. The always-cheerful-and-upbeat Ed has fulfilled many roles in the comics business: illustrator, marketeer, entrepreneur, founder & managing director at the Agendae consuting agency, co-owner of Captain Action Enterprises, pop culture columnist at Comic Mix and professor & instructor at Ithaca College. He’s also one of the nicest guys Sumner has ever met - and their freewheeling conversation in this episode covers: Ed’s diverse career history; his lifelong love of comics; working with Stan Lee; working with the Bonfire Agency; teaching at Ithaca College; working with Joe Ahearn and his business partners on Captain Action, DC Comics’ classic short-lived 1960s Captain Action series (created by Jim Shooter, Wally Wood & Gil Kane) and IDW’s beautiful collected edition of those comics (edited by the mighty Scott Dunbier), the ongoing brilliance of comics writer Mark Waid, the beauty & brilliance of James Robinson’s Starman and Giffen, DeMatteis & Maguire’s Justice League and Brubaker & Phillips’ Reckless, the majesty of Will Eisner; Michael T Gilbert’s groundbreaking research into the life of Eisner’s supernaturally-gifted letterer on The Spirit: Abe Kanegson; Ed’s own tireless work as a leading comics journalist & historian – and the power & importance of aspirational positivity.

Follow Ed on Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/edcatto

https://twitter.com//EdCatto/    

https://www.instagram.com/edcatto3/

Read Ed’s With Further Ado column:

https://popculturesquad.com/tag/with-further-ado/

Check out Captain Action Enterprises:

https://www.captainaction.com/

Follow Sumner on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

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Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

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Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

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Andrew Sumner is joined on this week’s Hard Agree by the renowned long-term president and publisher of DC Comics: Paul Levitz! Paul talks with Sumner about his unique career and his amazingly eventful 48 years on the payroll at DC, where he was involved with a massive amount of positive change that affected both DC and the entire US comics industry. Paul discusses working on DC’s war books, particularly Men of War (starring Gravedigger) and Star Spangled War Stories (starring The Unknown Soldier); enjoying My Favorite Martian and Get Smart; loving Mort Weisinger’s Superman line; working with the legendary Steve Ditko and co-creating with Steve the Prince Gavyn Starman and Stalker (inked by the unique Wally Wood); the brilliance of James Robinson’s Starman, working with his hero Will Eisner on DC’s complete The Spirit Archives; the acclaimed comic-book alumnae of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx; working with the illustrious Joe Kubert; the importance of family life and the delights of parenthood; working with the great Gerry Conway; his long association with the Justice Society of America; the underrated-but-abiding creative power of the Milestone Comics line; the brilliance of Curt Swan; the amazing publishing team at BOOM! Studios and Ram V’s best-selling, critically-lauded The Many Deaths of Laila Starr!

If you dig listening to these guys chat, you can watch another, earlier hour of conversation between Paul & Andrew at Sumner’s Forbidden Planet TV show on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/bcdhgZ2c-TU

Follow Paul on Social Media:

https://twitter.com/paul_levitz  

https://www.facebook.com/paul.levitz

https://paullevitz.com/

Follow Sumner on Social Media:http://twitter.com/sumnarr

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO Follow DENIO on Social Media:http://facebook.com/denioband/http://soundcloud.com/denioband/http://twitter.com/denioband/http://instagram.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/http://twitter.com/spoiler_countryhttp://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:http://twitter.com/y2clhttp://instagram.com/y2cl/http://y2cl.nethttp://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

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Season Two of Hard Agree begins with Andrew Sumner welcoming back the world’s greatest living fantasy author, Michael Moorcock, for the fourth instalment in their ongoing series of conversations about Michael’s life and work.

In this wide-ranging Season Two opener (aka Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse IV) , Mike starts out recounting his skiffle adventures with the tea chest bass before covering off: Pete Seeger & Woody Guthrie; subscriptions to Encounter magazine; the intricacies of CIA funding; Bob Calvert, Dave Brock & Mike’s association with Hawkwind; the abiding evil of Kensington Tories, William Shatner’s interpretation of Sonic Attack; P.J. Proby reading T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land; tornado season in tornado alley; anti-Moorcock sentiment at the BBC; the secret origin of The Deep Fix, 2021’s England vs Italy result, British soccer tribalism and mayhem in London’s Frith Street.

This is Moorcock’s Multiverse, we’re just living in it.

Check out Michael’s graphic novels here:

https://forbiddenplanet.com/catalog/?q=michael%20moorcock&page=1

You can order Michael’s books here:

https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Moorcock/e/B000AQ6Q6G

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Moorcock/e/B000AQ6Q6G

Follow Michael on Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/buggerly.otherly

Visit Moorcock’s Miscellany:

https://www.multiverse.org/

Follow Sumner on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

http://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry

Sumner is joined on this week’s Hard Agree by comics reporter supreme Rich Johnston, the

founder of the world’s leading comics news site Bleeding Cool. Rich has been at the top of his

game for thirty years, despite starting out as the ultimate outsider, living 3000 miles away from

the heart of the US publishing industry. Rich tells Sumner all about how an English bloke from

West Yorkshire became the world’s foremost source of comics industry news while also

name checking some of his favorite industry figures and celebrating his undimmed love of the

comics medium.

Follow Rich on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/richjohnston/

Follow Rich at Bleeding Cool:

https://bleedingcool.com

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

http://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry

Sumner is joined on this week’s Hard Agree by the creator of the Sumner Family’s all-time favorite Cartoon Network show, the always-cheerful and gentlemanly Van Partible! Van created the mighty Johnny Bravo for Hanna-Barbera when he was just 22 years old and, in this deep-dive conversation, he chats with Sumner about: his early years creating the show; working with Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartakovsky & Seth MacFarlane; working with prolific voice performer Jeff Bennett (who created Johnny’s unmistakeable Elvis twang); working with the legendary Joseph Barbera; working with the iconic Adam West; being given access to the original Hanna-Barbera Scooby Doo animation for his inspired Johnny team-up Bravo Dooby-Doo and his more recent work on projects like Amazon Prime’s Pete the Cat!

Follow Van on Social Media:

https://www.facebook.com/van.partible.7

https://twitter.com/vmpartible/       

https://www.instagram.com/vanpartible/

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

http://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry

Andrew Sumner welcomes actor & author Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp, South of Heaven) back to Hard Agree for the concluding episode of her seven-part podcast mini-series: Evangeline Lilly’s Library of the Soul. 

In this concluding episode, Evangeline and Andrew review their extended conversation, fuelled by five specific books that were influential on Evangeline at key points in her life.

This conversation has taken place across a significant divide: Evangeline is a passionate spiritualist and believer - and Andrew is a passionate agnostic and skeptic. Evangeline’s sanctuaries are churches, temples and the forest, while Andrew’s are comic books, movies and jazz.

Where, exactly, this conversation has led them is what this concluding episode is all about.

Welcome to the Library of the Soul.

Evangeline would love to hear your thoughts and reactions via her Instagram feed.

Follow Evangeline on Instagram:

https://instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO 

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

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Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry

Andrew Sumner welcomes actor & author Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp, South of Heaven) back to Hard Agree for the sixth episode of her seven-part podcast mini-series: Evangeline Lilly’s Library of the Soul. 

In this instalment, The Workaholics Anonymous Book of Recovery, Evangeline & Andrew discuss Evangeline’s fifth book selection and the circumstances Evangeline found herself in when she first encountered https://workaholics-anonymous.org/

As usual, their conversation takes place across a significant divide: Evangeline is a passionate spiritualist and believer - and Andrew is a passionate agnostic and skeptic. Evangeline’s sanctuaries are churches, temples and the forest, while Andrew’s are comic books, movies and jazz.

Where, exactly, this conversation will lead is what these seven episodes are all about.

Welcome to the Library of the Soul.

Evangeline would love to hear your thoughts and reactions via her Instagram feed.

Follow Evangeline on Instagram:

https://instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO 

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

http://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry

Andrew Sumner welcomes actor & author Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp, South of Heaven) back to Hard Agree for the fifth episode of her seven-part podcast mini-series: Evangeline Lilly’s Library of the Soul. 

In this instalment, The Presence Process, Evangeline & Andrew discuss Evangeline’s fourth book selection – The Presence Process by Michael Brown - and the circumstances Evangeline found herself in when she first encountered Brown’s work.

As usual, their conversation takes place across a significant divide: Evangeline is a passionate spiritualist and believer - and Andrew is a passionate agnostic and skeptic. Evangeline’s sanctuaries are churches, temples and the forest, while Andrew’s are comic books, movies and jazz.

Where, exactly, this conversation will lead is what these seven episodes are all about.

Welcome to the Library of the Soul.

Evangeline would love to hear your thoughts and reactions via her Instagram feed.

Follow Evangeline on Instagram:

https://instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial

Follow Hard Agree on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/hard_agree

Follow Sumner on Social Media & YouTube:

http://twitter.com/sumnarr

https://www.youtube.com/c/Forbiddenplanetdotcom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ/videos

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO 

Follow DENIO on Social Media:

http://twitter.com/denioband/

http://instagram.com/denioband/

http://facebook.com/denioband/

http://soundcloud.com/denioband/

Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:

http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/

http://twitter.com/spoiler_country

http://instagram.com/spoilercountry/

Kenric Regan:

http://twitter.com/XKenricX

John Horsley:

http://twitter.com/y2cl

http://instagram.com/y2cl/

http://y2cl.net

http://eynesanthology.com

Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?

https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ

Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:

http://patreon.com/spoilercountry