The New Year has arrived, and it may already be doomed, but there are still comics, movies, and shows we can enjoy as the world burns around us! Superman and Spider-Man cross over for the third time, care of Mark Waid, Jorge Jimenez, and many other friends! Jimmy Olsen meets Carnage! And the classic ’70s crossovers are getting new facsimile reprints to complete the collection! “Ultimate Endgame” is here as the new Marvel Ultimate universe wraps up as the 616 universe faces Armageddon via Chip Zdarsky! DC’s Absolute line gets a Catwoman and a dead(?) Green Arrow, while the main DC comics reach the “Next Level” with new titles for Lobo, Batwoman, Deathstroke, and many more! Vertigo finally returns with new creator-owned comics and a revival of “100 Bullets”! Archie hits the reboot button again, but this time in collaboration with Oni Press, and with Archie in Hell! And did anybody say “Reign of the Superboys” — and the return of li’l Jon Kent!?

But there are also movies and shows aplenty heading our way! Wonder Man will take on superhero fatigue with Sir Ben Kingsley in mere weeks, while Fall will bring us “VisionQuest” — possibly with brand-collab Utron sex toys!? Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will have his Brand New Day this summer while Supergirl is having a red-sun-induced drunken birthday bash with Lobo! “Lanterns” is probably maybe actually coming out this year, while “X-Men ’97” and “Daredevil: Born Again” have a lot to prove after behind-the-scenes difficulties and creative shake-ups. “Avengers: Doomsday” continues to loom, as do about a million ugly fake AI teasers that are driving us nuts, but also a million real teasers that will probably also drive us nuts? Zero Issues Comic Podcast will return… right now! Give us the 25 million dollars!

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Happy Holidays, ya filthy animals!

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Comic book movies are dead! Now what?

This week, we talk about how we got here, what comes next, and what are we worried that we’re going to miss out on. How elegantly can we glue comic books onto other hot genres (elevated horror, anybody)? Are we getting into the deconstruction era already? Are we seeing the real-ass return of practical effects, or smaller theatres, or giving up and staying home? Do we embrace the future, or hide in our caves?

And in the Warmup, we have the triumphant return of the Comic Book Movies’ Actors Quiz! Play at home, you too can beat Kyle at this!

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CALVIN & HOBBES.

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It’s episode number 501, so you know what that means: AN ALL JEANS EPISODE! The result is a 40-minute trip into madness that’s at least tangentially connected to denim. We begin with a look back at the famous and/or infamous button-fly Levi’s jeans commercial featuring Rob Liefeld and directed by Spike Lee, a real thing that happened. We debate button-fly vs. zipper, compare our personal experiences with social-media algorithms, and slip into some denim-related tangents.

But what of our comics Jeans? Such as Jean Loring, who was put through the ringer in “Identity Crisis”, a superhero event mystery that does not make sense. And of course, Jean Grey, and we try to figure out if literally anyone in the Marvel Universe can defeat the Phoenix! Which superheroes and villains can pull off a costume with jeans, from Superman and the Superboys to Angar the Screamer, Jessica Jones, and even Conan the Barbarian? And just imagine Iron Man’s denim armour, the Mk. D! All this and Gene Colan, too!

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500 episodes! Like, 500 complete episodes. Way more than Seinfeld has, I’m pretty sure. For this centennial celebration, this time? We’re just gonna sort of take it easy, with a chill-as-heck lava lamp of an episode, which are the kind of episodes that I think we like to do, now that we’ve discovered that after over a decade of getting together and recording, we’re actually kind of good at just talking to each other about comics and junk.

Also, happy birthday, Merk’s sister!

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It’s time for the FIFTH installment of the CELERY STALK SLAM!!

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CONTENT WARNING: This episodes includes a discussion on human trafficking, which some may find upsetting or triggering. This topic begins at 13 minutes into the episode.

This week we interview a man who should need no introduction: TYLER MANE! From Saskatooner to globe-trotting professional wrestler to movie and television actor to comic creator, our guest has done it all! We dig into his wild and expanding career, his experiences portraying comic characters like Sabretooth, Torminox and Blackstar, and producing his graphic novel “The Last Spartan: Red Tape”! Based on the novels by John F. Saunders and inspired by real crimes in human trafficking, Tyler discusses how he and editor Renae Geerlings recruited legendary writer Christopher Priest, artists Will Conrad, Jimbo Salgado, Michael Montenat, and cover artist Marc Silvestri to bring the project to life, through every step of the creative process, how these stories can help in the real world, and where the series may lead next!

And guess what? This episode is also in video format! Watch below!

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In 1982, a young Wes Craven set out to make the ultimate horror character. He failed, and made a Swamp Thing movie, instead! To wrap up this year’s HowLenWein festivities, this week, we sit down and watch this thing. Do we watch the unrated version? Not all of us! And some of us are steamed about that. Mostly Kyle, because he watched it on YouTube like a chuuuuuuuuuump.

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