Why Did You Make Me Read this?

Today's episode is a deeper dive into the Hawkeye: Rio Brave trade paperback as Sam Guikema-Bode joins me in unpacking the beautiful comic book. We discuss color schemes,  humor highlights, character interactions, just what it is that makes this comic so damn good, and much more. 

Sam is a wonderful guy and a great guest. I had a lot of fun talking to him about some comic books. Check the show out and if you haven't listen to part 1 yet, go listen to that as well!


  

What do you get when you take an Avenger and pull him away from the fancy costumes and over-the-top fights of the superhero world? Well as it turns out, you get one of the best damn Marvel comic books of all time. In this episode, we go over the final installment of the trade paper backs that collected the Fraction and Aja Hawkeye run. Even if you don't like superheroes, even if you don't like the Avengers, even if you don't like that dude Clint Barton, it really don't matter. The book is so well written and illustrated that it could charm even the most ardent of superhero haters. And how does it do that? Well listen to the episode, ya goof!

This episode is part 1 of the Hawkeye coverage as I breakdown and discuss some of the book's finer points. Next week, we'll dive further into the comic's content during the interview for part 2.

All us counterculture 90's kids grew up with the subversive superhero in white makeup that went around murdering Detroit thugs on a revenge mission from the other side of the grave. But chances are you knew The Crow from the movie. Did you know it was based on a comic book? Because I'm that dude that will repeatedly interject that kind of information into a conversation any chance I can get and in no way is that something annoying that should have ceased long before I was in my thirties!

 Right?

Join me today as I do something a little different. This episode marks a new direction for the show, as I deviate from the structure of narrative retelling and dive more into peripheral and personal information about the comic book, its creator, and the influences that run through the soul of the story.   

In this episode, we travel back to feudal Japan to cover our first manga. 
Blade of the Immortal ran for almost twenty years of blood, brutality, sword fights, and immortality. The protagonist Manji, with his cursed blood worms and twelve blades, travels the roads of old Edo as he cuts down members of the Itto-Ryu, a samurai gang that murdered the parents of the young girl he vowed to help and protect. In this story arc, Manji has quite possibly met his match as he has a roadside showdown with three of their more dangerous members. Dismemberment and anachronistic slang abound as our scarred and immortal anti-hero locks swords with the Itto-Ryu members in a bloody chapter of a sanguinary story.  

In this episode, we explore one of the best portrayals of the X-Men ever put to paper. My personal favorite X-Men run begins with a bang (or an optic blast, a diamond skinned punch, an adamantium clawed slash, etc. ) as the OG mutant superheroes pull their team and their school back together to once again protect a world that hates and fears them. If you're looking for peak X-team characterization, look no further than Whedon and Cassaday's Astonishing X-Men. 

Joining me for this episode is fellow comic book junkie, Jalen Rodriguez. We explore not only the contents of this great book and how it highlights the X-Men's strengths, but also our own relationships with the X-Men and how much comic books mean to us. 
He's a great guy and it's a thoughtful and honest conversation about comics.   

Also, if you listen to this podcast while doing the Macarena, you've somehow already mastered the art of time travel. Tell me how you did that. TELL ME. 

Zombies abound in this episode, wherein which we cover the Ultimate version of the Fantastic Four. Behold in terror as supposedly smart people make some poor decisions and traverse to a nearby dimension where the undead versions of the Marvel heroes run rampant with unrelenting appetites for human flesh. 
YOU KNOW HOW ZOMBIES DO. 
In the introductory story of the subsequent Marvel Zombies series, we take a terrifying tour through an alternate universe and watch superheroes scramble simply just to stay alive. Remember kids, just say NO to Interdimensional teleportation. 
 

In today's episode we talk about everyone's favorite merc-with-a-mouth in one of his first solo series. The epitome of nineties nerd-cool, Deadpool chews the scenery of these panels as Siryn, Black Tom, Banshee, and The Juggernaut rampage through the night in NYC. We drag cheesy jokes, knife factories, failing healing factors, and Jay's cringe-worthy attempts at Irish accents through the deep waters of nostalgia in one of the best Deadpool stories of all time. The wise-cracks are worth the price of admission alone. 

This week I wade deep into the pool of nostalgia while reading the story of the antics of a twenty-something slacker who fills his abundant free time by playing in crappy bands, making doomed decisions about dating, and generally being a bit of a derpy dude. No, it's not a tale about me in my early twenties, it's the introductory story arc of the saga of Scott Pilgrim. It's a fantastic mixture of humor, music, video games, fight scenes, and all-around nonsense, presented in one fanciful indie-comic format. 

In the second half of the episode, we're joined by Lindsay "Peach" Sanderson who shares an affinity for this particular funny book. We talk about the impact the book had on us, the highs and lows of the comic itself, how we've known a few "Scotts" in our lives, and why it's a good thing we don't find him relatable anymore. 

Also, if you dance with this podcast in the pale moonlight, you'll undoubtedly gain the ability to think you have the proficiency of telepathy. 

In this episode we follow Wolverine through the tough streets of San Fransisco's Chinatown, where he has a complicated history with the locals who seem to  have a straightforward hatred for him. The ol' canucklehead claws and kills his way through time as we follow a story that's fifty years in the making. The battle for the position of The Black Dragon takes us through some super-powered urban warfare in this humorous and action-packed comic. 

Later in the episode we explore some of the potential pitfalls of racial stereotypes and white savior complexes that can emerge in stories such as this and we hear a message from Candice Kortlever, who offers some wonderful insights onto the subject and even shares some of her beautiful music with us. 

In this episode, we follow Tommy Monaghan and friends as they step out of the slums of Gotham City and take their particular brand of mercenary skills to attempt a hit on a scientist gone mad. 
And where does this misadventure lead them? 
To the aquarium! Join the league of chain smoking, beer drinking, gun toting, 90's tough guys as they shoot, explode, club, and chainsaw their way through legions of zombie aquatic animals in one of my personal favorite story arcs of the fantastically fun and ridiculous DC comic book HITMAN.