Thinking Critical Comic Book Podcast

Comichron and ICv2.com released their 2020 comics sales numbers and there is much debate to what it all means. The traditional Western comic book industry (Marvel, DC, Image) numbers are down but not as much as many predicted coming out of the pandemic. This has led to some in the industry to pretend that stagnant growth isn’t an issue. (00:00:00) Perch from the Comics, by Perch Podcast joins Wes to take a deeper look into the 2020 comic sales numbers. (00:21:39) Leah Williams X-FACTOR series came to an end with controversy this week. Williams and others in the X-Men office have made it a point to court fringe elements of comic book readership. Perch and Wes talk about it coming back to bite them this week. (00:42:56) United States OF CAPTAIN AMERICA is supposed to be a celebration of 80 years of Cap. Washington Times journalist Doug Ernst talks about why it reads more like a eulogy. (00:59:53) As recently as 2019 writer Larry Hama maintained that his G.I. JOE creation Snake Eyes should not be Asian. Mark Pellegrini and Wes talk about his sudden 180 degree turn. (01:27:23) Mark then talks about the entertainment industries insistence on portraying irredeemable villains like Cruel as heroes in modern entertainment. (01:46:54) Comic super-fan Eric Breen and Wes discuss the growing trend of downplaying and marginalizing the importance of classic creators like Rob Liefeld, Bill Willingham and others. (02:13:53) Finally, writer Aaron Sparrow joins the pod to discuss why some companies can’t let go of hated characters like Admiral Holdo and the Ghostbusters reboot team (02:34:17) and then reviews LOKI episode 4 with Wes. The best episode of the series so far. (02:57:28)

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Wes, Pele, Uel Carter and Dok discuss all the latest developments in the comic book collecting community. Grading services across the board from GCG to To CBCS to GX are severely backed up. Even with expedited service customers can expect wait periods of up to 6 months. The panel discuss what can you collectors do and any loopholes around this issue. With key issue prices skyrocketing is now the time to adjust your comic collecting priorities? There are many ways to enjoy collecting outside having the most demand keys, many comic collectors are filling their runs in the meantime. 

YouTube Channel: youtube.com/c/ThinkingCritical

Support Thinking Critical at Ko-fi. Monthly subscriptions receive bonus content and early access to some channel content.

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Thinking Critical Comic Book Podcast is live on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon Music/Audible, TuneIn + Alexa, iHeartRadio, PlayerFM and Listen Notes.

Link: thinkingcriticalcomicbooks.podbean.com

Marvel Comics and Jason Aaron debuted images of their latest creating “Winter Hulk” from Aaron’s upcoming AVENGERS story ‘World War She-Hulk’. If the constant retreading up old stories isn’t enough, Marvel are obsessed with regressing Jennifer Walters She-Hulk to the point everyone hates the character. (00:11:35) Marvel announced not one but five writers are replacing Nick Spencer on AMAZING SPIDER-MAN. Kelly Thompson, Zeb Wells, Patrick Gleason and Cody Ziglar are replacing Peter Parker with Ben Reilly for their upcoming Spider-Man Beyond story. (00:33:09) Valiant Comics Upcoming NINJAK features some of the worst on in modern superhero comics. Many customers criticized the work, you won’t believe what Big Bang Comics in Dublin had to say about it. (00:46:19) Why are certain corners of the fandom obsessed with the sexual orientation and proclivities of fictional superheroes? Wes and Eric Breen have a thing or two to say about it. (01:02:30) Back in the day the belief was the customer was always right, meaning it was the responsibility of the service provider to ensure their customers were happy with their product or service. Does this rule still apply to the modern comic book industry? (01:19:04) Last weeks PLANET-SIZE X-MEN had an enormous reveal. Can one cool reveal save the Hellfire Gala Event from going down as one of the worst events in modern comic book history? (01:41:13) Disney+ LOKI is halfway complete, and its felt pretty underwhelming. Episode 3 is certainly the most exciting of the series thus far, but they have plenty of work to do to end this on a high note. (02:04:19)

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