Open World Chat

Seven Days film critic and editor Margot Harrison returns to OWC where we dare to ask whether the age of the giant tentpole blockbuster is winding down. The answer turns out to be a bit complicated.

Jim and John are joined by Hannibal Tabu and Quinn McGowan to unpack the modern fascination with evil Supermen and how it reflects our cultural mindset. And what a lot to unpack there is.

Jim and John have more fun than they deserve when they talk to legendary comics writers Gary Cohn and Dan Mishkin. Naturally we talk about their legendary creations Blue Devil and Amethyst Princess of Gemworld, but also other projects, their perspective on the industry then and now, a wacky Geoff Johns story, Halloween at Dan's house... even Leo Kottke comes up (?). Too much fun to squeeze into a paltry 40 minutes, but by god OWC is forever your trusted source for fun-squeezing.

Jim goes AWOL as John talks horror stuff with Screambox publicist and Bloody Disgusting contributor Alex DiVincenzo. We get the 411 on the horror streaming service and move on to other topics, including Alex's own film work and website.

Jim and John are joined by John's ol' pal John Thornberry to discuss the recently-wrapped Picard series from soup to nuts, or rather from the Borg queen to the musical score. Three Trek nerds telling you how it is! How can anyone possibly say no??

Jim and John nerd out on artificial Intelligence and microbiological robots with PhDs-in-progess  Piper Welch and Kam Bielawski, who keep them from spiralling off into an oblivion they don't understand. Give it a listen and let Kam and Piper blow your minds for 40 minutes.

Mark Russell (Second Coming Trinity, Red Sonja, God is Disappointed in You, Fantastic Four, etc) talks with Jim and John about the latest issue of Second Coming Trinity and his other work, and reflects on his writing process and how Christianity has informed his work. Jim holds it all together as religion and sociology dork John goes off the rails a bit.

Yet another from the vault (sorry!). In light of the recent announcement from Comic Book Workers United of a successful contract at Image Comics, it seemed like a great time to pull out the conversation Jim and I had about the then-new union at Paizo, right about the same time CBWU announced their campaign. I suspect a lot of us could stand a look back to a conversation about good guys winning... 

Rerun time! In one of our very first episodes, my then co-host Liane Allen and I pick the brain of film critic Margot Harrison on the history and the changing definition of the "strong female character" trope across sci-fi and horror films in particular, but also Hollywood in general.

Grant Patterson of Champlain College's Wednesday Night Fight Club and the WNFC esports Dojo talks to Jim and John (well, mainly Jim because John is clueless about games) on competitive gaming, game culture, and what life lessons there are to learn from fighting games.