Michael Bailey's Views From The Longbox

Christmas is the time of year...for team up. Michael is joined by the Irredeemable Shag, Brad Douglas and Big Honkin' Steve to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year. They talk about their favorite Christmas comic book stories, gifts, music, specials and movies. Fun. Excitement. Christmas cheer. That and more in this extra sized episode of Views.

This week it's all about the Punisher. Michael gives his thoughts on the character before talking about two books bought from the dollar bin. Also there are some e-mails and an announcement.

Michael is solo again this week as he digs into the "epic" storyling from 1992 RISE OF THE MIDNIGHT SONS. All six issues are discussed in addition to Michael's broken glasses, an experiment involving Wolverine, Punisher and Ghost Rider and lots and lots of listener mail.

Michael and Steve are back for a second time this week and this time they are discussing a tale of two Hulks, or maybe of the Hulk and Rulk would be more appropriate. For this installment the "titans of podcasting" take a good long look at the first six issues of the current HULK series written by Jeph Loeb with art by Ed McGuinness. Hear what they liked, didn't like and why the name Rulk bothers Michael so much. All this and disco music too.

Michael once again teams up with Big Honkin' Steve in the first of two episodes this week dedicated to the Hulk. For the first part Steve tells Michael about why he likes the Hulk so much and there is much discussion about the television series, the revival films and the comics.

Shag and Mike are back with yet even more Batman talk. This time it's Batman Year Three and A Lonely Place of Dying, again two stories from 1989. Probably not at as good the first part, but hey Michael had to release it because if not Shag will hit him with bamboo canes. Seriously. Shag's abusive to Mike. This is a cry for help.

Shag and Mike are back with more Batman talk. This time it's Mud Pack, a story from 1989. Mike also says the phrase Kick Ass a lot. A whole lot.

It was 20 years ago last month Sgt. Pepper taught his band that with a 900 number you can kill a sidekick. Yes, Michael is back and joined by the Irredeemable Shag to talk about DEATH IN THE FAMILY, the story that two decades ago killed Robin only to have him return seventeen years later because Superboy Prime had a hissy fit. In this first part of a two part episode Michael and Shag go over the history of the Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis Jason Todd before starting to talk about DEATH IN THE FAMILY itself. All this and bad sixties guitar rock too.

It was 20 years ago last month Sgt. Pepper taught his band that with a 900 number you can kill a sidekick. Yes, Michael is back and joined by the Irredeemable Shag to talk about DEATH IN THE FAMILY, the story that two decades ago killed Robin only to have him return seventeen years later because Superboy Prime had a hissy fit. In this second part Shag and Michael finish their look at DEATH IN THE FAMILY and discuss the ramifications of the story. All this and bad sixties guitar rock too.

To coincide with the real life Presidential election, Michael teams up with Big Honkin' Steve for a two part episode dedicated to the election and eventual downfall of President Lex Luthor. In this first part Michael goes over the Post Crisis history of Lex and we discover that Steve has issues with the name Flamebird.