Episode 128 - Hellfire and Brimstone

L: Peter Wyngarde as Jason King. C: Jason Wyngarde and Jean Grey in Uncanny X-Men 132. R: Jason Wyngarde and Diana Rigg in The Avengers. Imitation and flattery, et cetera.

It’s been a while, but we are happy as heck to welcome back writer, journalist and From the Sublime editor Iain Hepburn back to the show for a long chat about some classic British popular culture (and other stuff).

We start with the recent passing of film and tv music composer Laurie Johnson at age 96. Although probably best known for The Avengers (and New Avengers) themes, he had a long career that includes Jason King and The Professionals on TV and films including Dr. Strangelove. We talk about his career and other British TV composers like Ron Grainer (The Prisoner and Doctor Who) and Edwin Astley (Randall and Hopkirk Decased, Danger Man). This leads into a chat about 1960 British shows, the ones that made it to the US and the ones that didn’t and the fun of spotting actors on those before before they were famous.

Then, there’s plenty of chat about Doctor Who and the return of Russell T. Davies to run the show. We talk about how the vast Doctor Who library is now on BBC iplayer, the Tales of the Tardis special featuring classic cast members, modernizing old episodes for a contemporary audience and the hunt for missing episodes. This segues into a chat about physical media, streaming services, the phenomenon of Talking Pictures TV in the UK, preservation and restoration of older programs, how that relates to classic wresting TV shows and more.

There’s also chat about Iain’s magazine From the Sublime, who third/fourth issue is currently in production. We talk about the previous issues and some of the topics, including a Buck Rogers-themed restaurant in Glascow in the 1980s and futbol kit culture, including an unexpected discussion of the NASL and MLS. If you want a copy of From the Sublime and you order from their website, enter “WINTERPALACE” for 15% discount.

It’s always great to talk to Iain about stuff, so hopefully it won’t be more than eight years before he is back on the podcast.

Episode 126 - Tokyo Giant

Godzilla vs The Marvel Universe. From Godzilla 24 by Doug Moench, Herb Trimpe, et al. (c) 2023 Marvel Comics.

After seven long years, we’re happy to welcome Zander Cannon (@zandercannon) to the pod to discuss the mad monster party, officially known as Godzilla Minus One. We basically go through the entire film plot point by plot point, so if you haven’t seen it yet, save the pod for after you’ve watched it. Short version: it’s as good or better than all the buzz you’ve heard about it. We talk about the main characters, both the humans and Big G himself, compare it to the original 1954 film (with and without Raymond Burr in the American version), the call-backs to previous movies, the drama at the heart of the movie and what very nerdy fan service thing I would have loved to see in the movie, even if most viewers may not have gotten the reference.

From there, we discuss the 1979 Godzilla comic from Marvel. Zander only read a couple issues as a kid, but I reread all 24 issues for the show. So, we discuss the creators and art style, which Marvel super heroes appear in the book and, of course, the giant Mattel Godzilla toy from that era (you know, the one with the spring-loaded fist you could shoot).

That’s a natural segue into Zander’s comic Kaijumax, which finished up last year and the third of three hardcover collections is coming out soon (it may be out when you hear this) from Oni Press. We talk about the evolution of the series over its 30 issues, the lack of monster vs monster splash pages in the series, all the tropes that got turned on their heads in the series and more.

We end with what could a general talk abou the comics industry, largely about original art, prices these days for older pages, creating comics digitally vs the old pen and ink days, color guides and how cool they are to see, retro technology and a bunch of other topics.

It was great to talk to Zander again on the show and hopefully it won’t take seven years to invite him back.

The Plot Podcast - Holiday Special - The Force of July

The Force of July, from their Who’s Who entry. (C) 2023 DC Comics

Every year on American Independence Day, I post a picture of The Force of July on social media, both as cheeky humor, but also to make a small comment about 1980s comics and authoritarianism. This year, instead of that, I decided to do an episode devoted to the short-lived DC Comics villains (Yes, if you couldn’t tell, they are the bad guys). We start by discussing their first appearance in Batman and the Outsiders Annual 1, by Mike W. Barr, Jim Aparo and others. We explain the original creation of the Outsiders and their patriotic-themed foes. If you’ve never read this issue before, get ready, because it’s a doozy, straight out of 1984, the novel and Reagan’s America. Then, we talk about the return appearances facing the Outsiders and later the Soviet Super Team, the Peoples’ Heroes. Then, it’s onto the Outisders/Infinity Inc crossover, not only featuring the Force of July, but also (spoiler alert) The Psycho-Pirate (hooray). We end discussing The Force of July appearing in the John Ostrander version of the Suicide Squad comic in 1989, and that can’t be good news for Major Victory, Mayflower, Lady Liberty, Silent Majority and Sparkler. (Yes, those are their names.)

I love C-list super villains and these guys are so of their time, that they are an intersting to examine from a historical and socio-political context. All of the issues discussed in the pod are available on DC Comics Unlimited App, if you want to read them for yourself.

Note: Had some coughing issues while recording. So, if some made it through the edit or it seems more choppy than usual, that’s why. Apologies

The Plot Podcast - Episode 14 - Stanley and His Monster

Stanley meets The (well, a) Sandman. From Stanley and His Monster 1. (c) 2023 DC Comics.

Inspired by the Sandman re-read that Joe and Todd are doing at Longbox Heroesv (@longboxheroes), we look at a tangentially-related series, the 1993 series Stanley and His Monster, by Phil Foglio.

We give a brief history of Stanley’s creation, in the mid 1960s in the funny animal comic Fox and the Crow, how Dennis the Menace/Ralphie Phillips mash-up Stanley Dover meets his pet monster and how he has to hide him from his parents.

Then, we discuss Foglio’s work before this book, both at DC (Angel and the Ape, Plastic Man) and elsewhere (Buck Godot, Zap Gun for Hire). And explain what happened in Sandman: Season of Mists sets up the mini-series.

We do an issue-by-issue breakdown, with all the main characters, including some guests from the DCU proper and what would become the Vertigo section of the spinner rack.

We close out by mentioning more recent appearances by Stanley and the Monster, including the great Scooby Doo Team-Up, which features Angel, Ape, The Inferior Five, The Maniaks and a couple suprise cameos as the bad guys.

If you miss the funny wing of DC comics, look for these books in your local comic shop. Don’t think the mini-series is available digitally yet.

The Plot Podcast - Episode 12 - Year of the Domino

Subliminal Messaging as seen by Reuben Flagg in American Flagg issue 1. (c) Howard Chaykin

We take a look at the use of subliminal message in two classic 1980s pieces of science fiction - Howard Chaykin's American Flagg comic from 1983 and the original British pilot for Max Headroom from 1985. We discuss the history of each project, how subliminals were used in the plot and just ahead of their time both projects were and would fit right in today's culture in 2023.

The Plot Podcast - Episode 11 - Conquistador

Kang meets Merlin in Strange Tales 134, July 1965, by Stan Lee and Bob Powell. (c) 2023 Marvel Comics.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men…”

To tie-in to both Valentine’s Day and the upcoming Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania movie, the plan for the podcast was take a look at the wedding of Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne from Avengers 60. But that story, and the previous issue, the first appearance of Yellowjacket, present a lot of stuff that is very totally out-of-place for 2023 sensibilities. So, we called an audible.

Instead, we look at the long and convoluted history of Kang the Conqueror, which, as it turns out, doesn’t even start with his first appearance in Avengers 8. So, let’s talk about Kang, Rama-Tut, the Scarlet Centurion, Immortus, Ravonna, Nathaniel Richards, Doctor Doom, The Council of Cross-Time Kangs, The Time Variance Authority, Mobius M. Mobius and more. We also (for the second pod in a row) discuss Omniverse, the 1970s fanzine started by the late Mark Gruenwald and the article in issue two of that magazine devoted to all those characters, or is it just one character?

(Note: this only goes up to the late 1980s. We don’t talk about the Avengers story by Kurt Busiek and various others in the early 2000s or anything from the last few years after the characters became part of the MCU in the Loki TV show.

This is a great companion piece to the recent episode of The Winter Palace where we talked to Mark Waid about continuity in comics.

Episode 117 - Sunshine Superman

The March 1986 issue of Amazing Heroes, guest edited by Mark Waid.

After many years, I’m happy to say we have got Mark Waid (@markwaid) as a guest. And what better subject to discuss, fresh off his new book Dark Crisis - Big Bang, than the concept of continuity and the multiverse. Why has the idea of multiple worlds become so popular in the last decade or so, when it was something often thought as troublesome years earlier? We discuss how omnipresent it is now, in comics, movies and more. We also talk about the original Crisis in 1985, including Mark editing an issue of Amazing Heroes all about the post-Crisis landscape at DC following the series. There’s also talk about Hypertime and other attempts DC made to try and “simplify” continuity over the years and how things are going the other way now. There’s also a deep-dive on things like The Super Sons, The Inferior Five, Cancelled Comics Cavalcade and more. We also discuss Mark’s current books at DC, including Batman-Superman World’s Finest, Batman vs Robin and the upcoming Shazam (don’t call him Captain Marvel).

It was great to talk to Mark after seeing him for a few years and almost 25 years I sold him his weekly comics when Mark lived on the East Coast. Hopefully, we can get him back on the show in the future for more deep dives into DC lore.

Episode 113 - Fat Pigeons

Morpheus meets Hector Hall. (c) 2022 DC Comics.

Much like the comic itself, our podcast on the first season of the Sandman TV show is finally here. To do so, we’re happy to welcome back AP reporter Ashraf Khalil (@ashrafkhalil) to talk about it. It’s only fitting since Ash read many of those issues by borrowing them off me or reading them in our dorm in college, when the series was being originally published back in the 1990s. We’ll talk about reading the series in real time, the pain of publishing delays, favorite stories and such. Then, we’ll discuss the TV show, what we liked and didn’t like, being faithful to the source material, casting choices in 2022 vs how the characters were written or created 30 years ago, future seasons and more. We also discuss some of Neil Gaiman’s other work adapted to TV, like American Gods and Good Omens.

(1:43:00) We also managed to sneak in some wrestling chat. Ash talked about what he is liking about the two big promotions currently and I mention some of the other stuff I’ve been watching. We also talk about the recent death of Antonio Inoki, some of his matches and his out-of-the-ring notoriety.

At the end, there’s some brief futbol chat, about Egypt not making the upcoming World Cup and the rivalries between African futbol powers.

A shout out to Vintage Phoenix Comics in Bloomington, Indiana, where many issues of Sandman were bought in the 1990s and our friend Victoria who was often along for the comic shop trips back then. Hope you are well, Vic.

The Plot - Episode 3 - Secret Six / Showcase 43

Introducing the team in Secret Six issue 2. (2) 2022 DC Comics.

We’re back with a new episode of The Plot and it’s back to the spies, this time in comic book form with two topics for discussion

First up is Secret Six, the seven-issue DC Comics from 1968 and 1969. We look at the creation of the book, its fairly obvious inspiration (see Episode 1), the members of the team, their mysterious leader and an issue-by-story description of their missions. We talk about the book’s premature end, the unsolved mystery surrounding Mockingbird and how that was unofficially resolved and how to read it today. (Note: This is about the Silver Age team, not the Gail Simone books of the 2000s.)

And then, it’s Showcase 43, cover dated April 1963, the DC Comics adaptation of Dr. No, the first James Bond movie starring Sean Connery. We look at the comic’s original home, how it got to DC Comics. how were it’s sales since it was published before the movie was released in the US and some of the major and minor changes back to the movie versus the comic. We also touch on, 60 years after being published, it’s quite the rarity in the collector’s world.

Special shout out to comics scribe and font of knowledge Mark Waid for research help. Check out the Irredeemable Kickstarter still going on as this episode debuts. And remember to check out the other podcasts on the When It Was Cool network.

The Plot - Episode One - Mission Impossible 1966

What happens when a safecracker breaks his hands? Willy (Peter Lupus) and Terry (Wally Cox) from the Mission: Impossible pilot episode.

We’re happy to debut a new podcast series in conjuction with the When It Was Cool network with the first episode of The Plot. What’s that, you ask? It’s going to be an examination of the spy/heist genre. It will look at film, television, comics, cartoons and whatever else that can fall under that umbrella.

First up, we go to the very top of the genre for me, the original Mission Impossible TV show, which ran on CBS from 1966 to 1975. Naturally, we start with the Pilot, which starred Steven Hill as Dan Briggs, the team leader, along with regulars Barbara Bain, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus, Martin Landau and guest star Wally Cox. We look at the background on the show and then some brief chat about the episode itself, where the team goes to a Caribbean country to stop a dictator from using newly-acquired nuclear warheads against the United States.

We also look at arguably the most-remembered episode of the show, Season 3’s The Execution. We have Peter Graves in his second year as Jim Phelps, the regular team and guest villains Vincent Gardenia, Val Avery and Lew Askew. The team needs to get the goods on a mobster trying to control food prices and must get a hitman to rat out his boss by making him believe he is days away from being killed in the gas chamber.

This episode was a little shorter than we planned, but didnt want to just add filler. It was the demo episode, so please forgive any hiccups or glitches. We’ll be back soon with another episode.

Thanks to Karl for the invitation. Make sure you sample the other shows on the When It Was Cool Network.

Episode 109 - Stray Cat Strut

The Injustice Society, from History of the DC Universe. Pencils by George Perez, inks by Karl Kesel.

(c) 2021 DC Comics.

We’re happy to welcome Karl Kesel (@karlkesel) back for his annual visit to discuss the latest Impossible Jones kickstarter. At the time of recording, there were two days left in the Impossible Jones / Polecat Kickstarter, which has been trying to reach its latest stretch goals in the final days. Karl tells about new character Polecat, what he has in common with last issue’s guest star Captain Lightning and some of the other new friends and foes in this issue. We also talk about the Even Steven back-ups this time around, with new origin stories being written by Alex Segura and Gail Simone. Karl also updates on us the state of the latest Section Zero project, on which he and Tom Grummett are still working. If you listen before the deadline, you can still pledge at impossiblekickstarter.com.

We also talk about some of Karl’s older work, starting with Final Night, the 1998 DC mini-series he created with Stuart Immonen, the Amalgam and Unlimited Access books and some of the projects he worked on with the late George Perez, including the great History of the DC Universe, written by Marv Wolfman, drawn by George and inked by Karl. We also discuss, in a wonderfully nerdy way, the differences between DC’s Who Who and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

Parish Notice: By the time you listen to this, we might have a new podcast officially launched over at the When It Was Cool Network. If you’re a long-time listener of the pod, the subject of this new project will not be a surprise. Be on the lookout on social media when it actually debuts.

Episode 106 - Bad Moon Rising

We’re happy tp welcome back Karl Stern (@WIWCool) from When It Was Cool to talk comics, comics TV, popular culture and classic wrestling.

We start the show talking about the first episode of the new Moon Knight show on Disney+. If you want to avoid spoilers, skip ahead to around the 15:00 mark. We discuss what we did and did not like in the first episode, where they might go from there, changes to the characters from the comics, Karl’s long-time love of the character since the 1970s and more.

From there, we have some general comics chat. We talk about the comics Karl has been reviewing on his podcast network, old comics vs new comics, comics reflecting society, popular culture and the fallacies of high culture vs low culture and more.

Then, it’s on to the wrestling discussion. We talk about wrestling perceptions, how opinion has been shaped over the years by the newsletters, how sources shaped the newsletter’s narratives, particularly in the 1980s, noticable blind spots and biases in newsletter coverage over the years, the “found” Southeastern Wrestling now on Youtube, heel Bob Armstrong, the history of the Original Midnight Express, Norvell Austin and other topics.

Always a fun show with Karl. We have an idea for a show that we hope to do in the future, either here or on his network.

Also, I was on a recent episode of Between the Sheets podcast, talking March 1984., specifically about the start of the Last Stampede, with The Cake and The Slap from the March 17 1984 episode of Mid-South Wrestling TV show. Be sure to check it out.

Episode 101 - Teenage Kicks

Impossible Jones and Holly Daze. (c) Karl Kesel and David Hahn.

I’m happy to welcome @karlkesel back to the show to talk about his newest Kickstarter project, Impossible Jones & Captain Lightning Team Up. With less than a week to go, Karl talks to us about the new project, the recently shipped Impossible Jones & Holly Daze Team Up, the creations of those characters and how they were influenced by his writing Harley Quinn, the creation of Captain Lightning, bringing childhood creators to life, the Ditko-like Even Steven and the back-up that will be written by Mark Waid and more, We also start about the nuts and bolts of creating comics via Kickstarter, the ups and downs, lessons he learned with the original Section Zero book and wearing multiple hats in the job, from creator to editor to fulfillment. We also talk about the popularity of King Shark, who he created back in the pages of Superboy and is now a popular culture phenomenon, thanks to the Suicide Squad movie. You can find more information about the Impossible Jones Kickstarter here.

Note 1: Former guest @jeffparker was supposed to be on the show too, since he also has a new Kickstarter project, but couldn’t make it. His book, also ending this week, is Blighter: Tracker of the Realm.

Note 2: We had talked to Friends of the Show @paultobin and @colleencoover about doing the pod to discuss their new book Wrassle Castle, but they too couldn’t make. It’s out now so pick up a copy and as always, read Bandette.

Episode 100 - Family Affair #3 - Caged Heat

The sons vow to avenge their father.

We had such great plans for episode 100. Unfortunately, life gets in the way sometimes. We had lined up a bunch of folks to discuss the night that changed Continental Championship Wrestling, when Robert Fuller turned on Bob Armstrong in a steel cage and joined the Stud Stable with his brother Ron and cousin Jimmy in August 1985. But, due to all the sad wrestling news from this week, we were left with the only piece of the show that was recorded before the deaths of Jody Hamilton, Bert Prentice and Bobby Eaton.

So, we welcome back Karl Stern (@WIWCool) from When It Was Cool to talk about the fateful evening. We discuss the build-up to the cage match, not just from the start of Continental in June, but seeds that had been planted for years in the long-running Armstrong family feud with the Fuller/Golden/Welch clan. Then we analyze the match and the angle, including one part of the story that bugged Karl for many years.

We follow that up with a more general discussion of Continental and Southeastern, including why some parts of the wrestling community have overlooked or ignore the contributions made by Roy Welch, Buddy Fuller and Ron Fuller over the years.

The show wraps up with some comic book talk, as Karl had been gushing online about the first issue of the new Moon Knight comic, so we chat about that and whether this version will tie into the new Disney/Marvel TV show featuring the man of many personalities.

We have some shows lined up in the future, so hopefully those will materialize. Given all the problems we have had with guests lately, we don’t feel confident giving a timetable anymore. But thanks for listening for any and all of the first 100 episodes.

Episode Ninety-Six - The Sheik of Araby

Sarge gets a “gift” from Saddam Hussein. Or so he says.

We welcome back Ashraf Khalil (@ashrafkhalil) to take about a dubious wrestling anniversary, the 30th anniversary of Iraqi Sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter winning the WWF title during the Persian Gulf War. We talk about the whole history of the gimmick, friom Sarge’s return to the WWF in the Summer of 1990, his initial heel gimmick, the pairing with General Adnan, his winning the WWF title, the Wrestlemania VII match with Hulk Hogan, the addition of Colonel Mustafa to the group, the split and face turn and blow-off. We discuss what was going in Middle East as all this was going on, as well as the WWF’s war with Dave Meltzer over his coverage of the angle in the National. (Check out the recent Between the Sheets Patreon episode for more on this topic).

This leads into a broader discussion of the depiction of Arab/Middle Eastern wrestlers, from the Terrible Turk in the late 1900s up until the present, including looking at the Iron Sheik, Sheik Adnan Al-Kaissie, Scandar Akbar, the Great Mephisto, Muhammad Hassan, the Original Sheik, Sabu and many more. Who were Arab-Americans, who were from the Middle East, who used a fake accent and who didn’t and other relevant questions. Shout out to Charting the Territories podcast for their recent look at the in=ring career of Scandar Akbar, which helped out conversation.

There’s also a lot of digressions in the show, including stuff about comics, Indiana University’s “eight front doors,” pre-Internet journalism and more. Thanks for listening.

Episode Ninety-Four - It's a Family Affair Number One

Ron Fuller on the Continental Championship Wrestling set.

We are happy to debut the first episode of the “It’s A Family Affair” Podcast, the companion piece to the website project of the same name examining Continental Championship Wrestling. And for our first show, it’s great to welcome back Karl Stern (@WIWCool) to the show. Not only is Karl a wrestling historian, but an Alabama native who grew up watching Southeastern Wrestling and saw its transition to Continental.

In a very wide-ranging discussion, we talk about the transition of the promotion in June 1985, the logistics of the change, why they changed names, format and even announcers, bringing in Gordon Solie to replace longtime host Charlie Platt. We talk about where the promotion was in terms of angles they were running at the time and what they did on the debut show, including bringing in world champion Ric Flair to kick off the first episode.

After that, quite frankly, we just all over the place, talking about just about everything related to the company, including their start in Knoxville in 1974, Ron Fuller acquiring the Gulf Coast terrritory and renaming it Southeastern in 1978, the towns they ran and where the TV show was seen in that part of the country. We talk about Ron Fuller’s career as a wrestler and promoter, including whether we think buying Knoxville cost him the change of being NWA World Champion .

And we discuss just about every name you can think of from this era: Robert Fuller, Jimmy Golden, all of the Armstrongs (Bob, Brad, Scott and Steve), Adrian Street, Rip Rogers, Austin Idol, Tommy and Johnny Rich, the Nightmares (Danny Davis and Ken Wayne), Tom Prichard, Tony Anthony, Jerry Stubbs, The Flame (also known as the Assassin), Roy Lee Welch, Bill Ash, Lord Humongous and more.

We also talk about Karl’s When It Was Cool website, a wide ranging popular culture site, very akin to our own. We even find time to talk about Southern Basterds, then now missing in action comic set in the part of Alabama Karl knows very well.

The goal of the podcast is not only have wrestling journalists and historians on the show, but also the wrestlers were that is possible.

Note: You can also hear me on an upcoming episode of Ron Fuller’s Super Stud Cast, where I can to ask Ron about the creation of Continental and hear how it happened from the man himself.

Be sure to check out the It’s A Family Affair section of the website for a look at the Continental television shows and other articles about the promotion. Thanks for your time.

Episode Eighty-Nine - The Force of July

The 1986 Great American Bash program cover

We look back at a special wrestling event that took place 36 years ago as we write this, the first date on the 1986 Great American Bash tour, held on July 1, 1986 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. The Winter Palace host was at the shot and has a couple guests to look back at the show.

First up is one of the hardest working man in the podcast business, Kris Zellner (@kriszellner), co host of Between the Sheets (@BTSheetspod) , Exile on Badstreet, Cover 2 Cover and more. We go over the card, match-by-match and talk about some of the infamous stories that happened backstage. We also talk about the 1986 Bash tour as a whole, where it was successful and where it was not. We also talk about a bunch of other subjects including the logistics of watching wrestling in the 1980s, the days of tape trading, how Kris managed to find the time to do all those shows and some recommendations of classic matches to watch online.

(52:18) Also on the show is Mark’s high school friend Jim, who, to protect his real identity, we will call Jim K. Fabe. Jim and Mark were impressionable 16-year old wrestling fans who attended that Bash show in Philadelphia. We talk about what we remember about the show live, other wrestling shows we attended back in the 1980s, favorites then vs favorites and more. We also talk about the current problem in popular culture of separating the art from the artist, centering about Jim’s teenage fandom for Jimmy Snuka and reconciling that with what we know about the death of Nancy Argentino. That branches out into the same problems effecting creators in film and tv, sports, comics and more. It was Jim’s first podcast appearance and we think he did a bang up job talking a trip down memory lane.

Check the show notes below for The Final Best of 7 match between Magnum TA and Nikita Koloff for the Unites States Title from JCP TV and Jim Cornette’s podcast where he discusses the Great American Basn tours.

Episode Eighty-Seven - Jazz Hands

Bix meets Louis Armstrong. from BIX by Scott Chantler. (C) Scott Chantler

I’m happy to welcome to the show for the first time cartoonist Scott Chantler (@scottchantler) to discuss his new book BIX and a number of his other books, along with some industry chatter.

BIX tells the life and times of Jazz great Bix Beiderbecke, from growing up in Iowa to playing with Louis Armstrong to his all-too-early passing. We discuss how Scott chose Bix as a subject for his book, separating fact from fiction and legend and some of the stylistic choices he made in designing the book.

We also discuss a number of his past projects, including Northwest Passage, Two Generals, the Three Thieves series, his Red Ensign strip in the True Patriot Canadian anthology projects, which features folks like J. Torres (@jtorrescomics) and Faith Erin Hicks (@faitherinhicks) and more.

The pod ends with a discussion of the comics business, comic shops and the book market. Scott talks the pros and cons of having books distributed in each one, while I tell some stories about working in both an indy friendly comic shop and as a clerk and manager at Borders (RIP). We mention how often one does not know the workings of the other (how many folks do not know Raina Telgemeier)) and how people like Jeff Smith paved the way for comics in the book trade.

Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the show.

Episode Eighty-One - A Pox on Both Your Houses

Charles Xavier in House of X #1. (C) 2019 Marvel Comics

It’s an old school Beat reunion as we welcome the other half of the House to Astonish podcast, Paul O’Brien (@ifdestroyed), to discuss the relaunch/reboot of the X-Men with the recently concluded House of X and Powers of X. As a long-time chronicler of the mutant corner on the Marvel Universe with his X-Axis column, who better to examine what Jonathan Hickman has done and might do with the new era of X-books. We chat about the events of HOX and POX, the portrayal of various characters in the book and the new line of books, some of which will written by Hickman.

Leaving the X-books aside, there’s also talk about noteworthy books that Paul and HTA co-host (and our first pod guest) Al Kennedy (@housetoastonish) have discussed on their show, including Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen by (former pod guest) Matt Fraction and Steve Lieber, Strange Skies Over East Berlin, Steeple and more.

We end the show with some quick wrestling chat, with the first shots of the new Wednesday Night Wars having just been fired a few weeks ago. There’s talk about the inaugural AEW shows, what worked and what didn’t, the booking so far, the new NWA Power show on Youtube, the greatness of Eddie Kingston and a few other things.

Episode Eighty - Arm It In Rags

The Piltdown Man as Harold Hill. From Ragmop (C) 2019 Rob Walton.

The podcast is back and we’re happy to welcome two comics veterans folks should check out.

First up is Rob Walton (@robwaltoon), creator of the 1990s comic Ragmop. A few years ago, Rob decided to revisit his story about talking dinosaurs, conspiracy theories and slapstick comedy that was the hallmark of the original series (which was collected about 10 years ago. It’s out of print but you can get them straight from Rob himself). Now, he has taken those online stories and put them together as a new Kickstarter graphic novel: Ragmop. The World Needs Laughter. At the time of the episode’s recording, the project was 67% funded with a little over two weeks to go. During out chat, we talk about the book’s initial life as a small press book before becoming part of Image’s black and white boom in the mid to late 1990s. We recall some other great books from that era, including Replacement God by former podcast guest Zander Cannon (now of Kaijumax). We go through a lot of the book’s inspirations, including Jack Kirby, classic animation, the Marx Brothers and more. We also go into the history of Rob ended up writing Grendel Tales: The Devil’s Hammer back in 1993 (Now available in the Grendel Tales Omnibus Volume 1).

After that, we welcome back to the show Phil Hester (@philhester). The Wretch Omnibus from Ohama Bound (@omabound) is now out. We talked about it on the pod in 2017, but good things come to those who wait. We discuss the creation of the character, the name change, its move from publisher to publisher, how the trade came out, some of the most fondly remembered stories and more. We also talk about some of Phil’s current work. The first trade for Stronghold, written by Phil and drawn by Ryan Kelly (@funrama), is hot of the presses. And later this year, Phil is drawing Family Tree, written by Jeff Lemire (@jefflemire). We also discuss two of Phil’s favorite topics: DC’s Tattered Tatterdemalion Ragman and the pain and pleasure of buying original comic artwork.

Note: We know today (as the pod drops) is the start of hockey season. We were hoping to get some of our past puckhead pals on the show before the season started, but did not. Hopefully soon. And hopefully soon is another comics guest to discuss one of the biggest comic stories of the year. That is, actually discussing the stories, not stories about the business, although that will likely come up too.

Thanks for listening. We hope you enjoy the episode.