Zero Issues Comic Podcast



Thunderbolts* is not only out, it’s so out that that isn’t even the name of the movie anymore! This week, we talk about what we liked about the movie, and even what we didn’t, but there isn’t as much of that, because we really liked it! Turns out, if you write a good script, and get good actors to perform said script, and have the humour be character-based, and also actually film in places, you get a movie that feels pretty good! So, without spoilers, yeah, we liked the movie. Also, this episode is heavy on spoilers, so probably you should see said movie before listening to this!

But first, in the warmup, Kyle challenges Merk and Bry to a quiz of who-came-first with a whole bunch of Marvel and DC characters who are the same dang guy.

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DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN! Was it good? Was it bad? Why was Jason Mewes/Muse in it? The boys dig deep into the Disney+ show and the gloves are off! SPOILER ALERT … obviously.

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This week it’s a Power Records double-feature! We’ve got two Hulk stories to listen to and riff over, but not just any Hulk, the 1978 live-action television Hulk! (But don’t call him Bruce, you wouldn’t like him when you call him Bruce.)

First! In “Black Chasm”, David Bruce Banner wanders into a mining office and is just handed an accounting job because it’s the 1970s — and before you know it he’s working in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down! But because a Banner just can’t catch a break, David finds himself in the twisting tunnels of corporate sabotage, and also literally in a coal mine! Can getting extremely mad about it save the day??

Second! In “Monster From the Deep”, mysterious fugitive D.B. Banner takes in some relaxing sea air before he’s just offered another job working on a fishing boat! Out of nowhere! But his newfound life as a man of the sea is threatened by his deadliest foe — dread pirate JACK MAYO! Set a course for adventure, but check your engines for mayo first!! That’s his calling card.

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Get out of this world, get into my space ship! This week, we’re talking about aliens, both in comics, and in the greater pop culture sphere. Who’s better, the xenomoprhs of the Brood, and what is the Kirby connection to the Alien franchise? Who are our favourite weirdo Green Lanterns? How weird is it that Venom was just a little thing of goo when it was first introduced, and is went on to become the god of an entire species? Plus, Merk leads us through the history of aliens in pop culture, and how they have evolved along with society. This episode’s neat, we think you’ll like it!

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It’s an all games episode!

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Once again it’s time for adventure! One that a very dynamic duo chooses the outcome of! A real “Chooses the Doozes”, as it were. Kyle and Merk commiserate over the Bad Present we find ourselves in — when a cyborg Bry from a Worse Future suddenly arrives to recruit them on a mission to save their own! The boys must traverse the “BadFutureVerse”, battling deadly foes in dystopian worlds, collecting significant items, with only luck, chance, and dice to rely on! Their journey takes them from the X-Men’s “Days of Future Past”, to TMNT’s “The Last Ronin”, “Spider-Man 2099”, and the Snyderversian “Knightmare”, before they can find the secrets that lie beyond the Purple Portal! But can they possibly be prepared for the shocking return of an old friend — or are they a new enemy!? Roll the dice to find out!

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Here comes Daredevil! Again! He’s being born! Again!

This week, we’re talking about the first four episodes of the new really-really-in-the-MCU-this-time Daredevil show. What we liked, what we really didn’t like, and why every part of a story matters if you want to make it a good one. Big ol’ spoilers for the first four episodes, so please, if you don’t want the first few episodes spoiled, go watch them first.

Plus, in the Warmup: Merk finally watched Kraven (for some reason), and he didn’t much care for it! But it did give him the idea of trying to come up with more movies-based-on-villains-that-don’t-have-the-hero-they-normally-fight. So we hope you like Reverse Flash!

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JOSE LUIS GARCIA LOPEZ!!

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Fight on! It’s March, which means that it’s time for another March Madness episode, where we pick a bunch of comic book characters and make them fight for our, and hopefully your, amusement. This time, we’re pitting Nature versus Future (which sounds close enough to Nurture). So expect a team of robots and cyberaters and wind-up dudes fighting some hippie dippie treehuggers, just like Avatar! Both Avatars, kinda!

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It’s been a bit since we had a “Fix This Character” episode, in which we reimagine underperforming characters in wildly different ways! This time: CLOAK and DAGGER! And to be honest, Ty and Tandy are great and don’t really need “fixing”. But they seem trapped in the C-list, and maybe a fresh look could help fix that! Kyle reimagines Cloak and Dagger with a more 21st-century approach to the “war on drugs” as super-outreach heroes, helping people in (sometime super-science or magic related) crisis! Merk crafts a detailed and disturbing horror tale set in Victorian London, where the avatars of light and darkness stalk the shadow of Jack the Ripper, who hides a further gruesome secret! And Bry flips a few details in the duo’s origins as they go from unjust imprisonment, to being experimented on, to eventually as the leaders in a war against a deep corporate conspiracy that preys on vulnerable youth!

But first… some comic news!? The Newsflash rises again because Bry really wants to talk about new Superman comics: “Supergirl” by Sophie Campbell! “Krypto: Last Dog of Krypton” by Ryan North and Mike Norton! New old adventures of Clark Kent as Superboy in “Action Comics” by Mark Waid and Skylar Patridge! In which we discuss the ideal length of Super-Trunks, Merk takes us on a lovely tangent about the Godzilla-adjacent series “Monarch”. Oh, and Matt Fraction takes the “writer of Batman with art by Jorge Jiménez” title from his ol’ pal Chip Zdarsky! Is this betrayal, or just the setup for an official “Sex Criminals” crossover? Only time will tell!

CONTENT WARNING: some disturbing and extremely violent details from an actual “Jack the Ripper” case are discussed between 33:58 and 34:42.

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