Episode 107 - Children of the Night

Good Night, Funny Man. RIP Gilbert Gottfried.

It was a bittersweet podcast to do, reliving the life and career of the great Gilbert Gottfried with Longbox Heroes’ co-host Joe Sposto (@joesposto). Most of our memories revolve around Gilbert’s 122 appearances on the Howard Stern show. We discuss our history of hearing Gilbert on the show and many of his famous incidents over the years: Dracula Gottfried, the Jerry Seinfeld voicemail, arguing with Amy Heckerling’s assistant and many more. We also go over many of his other credits: from animation to TV to celebrity roasts to commercials. to his podcast and what futures does it have with his passing. We were both huge fans of Gilbert, so we hope we did his memory justice.

It’s been quite a while since Joe has been on the show, so we also caught up some of our other common interests. We talk about about what comics Joe and Todd have been discussing on their podcast and what he’s been enjoying lately. There’s mention of One-Star Squadron, Word’s Finest, The Nice House on the Lake, Marvel’s Spider-Man books and a few others.

There’s also wrestling chat, mainly about the success of Eddie Kingston, who Joe has been watching for almost 20 years in Chikara and other promotions. We also discuss about the folly of hate watching, watching what content you like, whether it’s new, old, international or some combination of all of it.

And we couldn’t not mention Marvel Puzzle Quest. We mention my passing day 3000 of playing, with Joe not far behind, the choice of new characters being introduced into the game and is it still fun to play after almost a decade of being around.

Apologies for the lack of formal introduction and the occasional cough throughout the show. Our long chat and the wacky spring weather left my voice a little froggy.

Episode Sixty-Four - The Mad Titan

From the Death of Captain Marvel. (c) 2017 Marvel Comics.

Just in time for San Diego Comic-Con, an over-stuffed episode about comics, movies, TV and video games. We welcome Craig from the Puzzle Warriors 3 podcast (@PuzzleWarriors3) to talk all that and more.

We start by going over what got Craig back into comics after a couple decades, what we are both enjoying right and looking forward to coming out soon. Plenty of good recommendations here. Also, why does Craig love Dazzler so mych?

From there, we talk about the just completed season of Doctor Who and what we could happen in the Xmas Special as well as thoughts on the new creative team and cast.

And lots of Marvel Puzzle Quest talk, including why he, Ian and Craig started the show, thoughts of some of the more powerful characters in the game, balancing PVE, PVP and DDQ, how much fun the special events have been of late and chat about the special plants for their 100th episode in two weeks time. 

Lots of random stuff at the end, including wrestling and hockey talk. We never got around to all the old TV show and cartoon talk that was on the docket, so hopefully Craig will be back in a future episode.

Note: We had a brief addition to the show for a mention of the passing of George A. Romero and Martlin Landau. As a huge Mission Impossible fan, I am working on lining up a special guest to talk about Landau's career. 

Episode Forty-One - Psycho Street

He's Back!  Art by Grant Morrison. (C) 2016 DC Comics.

Longbox Heroes podcast co-host Leonard F Chikarason (@LFChikarason) is back to talk about the latest goings-on in popular culture. We talk San Diego Comic-Con news (4:00), which leads to a discussion of comic book movies, our preferences and Trekkies vs Trekkers. We  discuss new comics (23:15) we are enjoying including Batman by Tom King (@TomKIngTK) and David Finch and Detective Comics by James Tynion IV (@JamestheFourth),  the Archie line of books including Archie by Mark Waid and Veronica Fish, Betty and Veronica by Adam Hughes,, Jughead by Chip Zdsrsky, Afterlife with Archie and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Francesco Francovilla and Robert Hack, Blue Monday by Chynna Clugston-Flores, the FIx by Nick Spenser and Steve Lieber (including a great story about Lieber)  and Future Quest by former podcast guest Jeff Parker (@jeffparker), Doc Shaner @DocShaner), Jordie Bellaire (@whoajordie) and Steve Rude (@steverudeart)  We move on to luchadors working in the US (34:05), including for the two promotions where Leonard does commentary: AIW Wrestling (@aiwrestling) in Cleveland and Chikara Pro (@chikarapro). We discuss the popularity of Pentagon Jr at an AIW show earlier this year and luchadors working at King of Trios Labor Day weekend. We close with a deep dive on Marvel Puzzle Quest (39:41), some upcoming characters and strategies we employ when playing the game. Also, behind the scenes news about Longbox Heroes schedule (58:48).

1:04:03  - The show ends with a brief remembrance following the passing of MAD Magazine artist Jack Davis and Cul-de-Sac cartoonist RIchard Thompson. I recommend Mark Evanier;s obituary for Davis. I would also expect that Tom Spurgeon of the Comics Reporter will have a thorough obit for Thompson in the coming days.

Episode Thirty-Four - All Stars

Are things afoot?. From Baker Street Irregulars. (C) 2016 Roger Langridge and Andy Hirsch.

Happy Anniversary to us. To commemorate our first year, it's the return of our first guest, Al Kennedy (@housetoastonish) from the House To Astonish podcast/website. We talk about the recent Chikara Pro Wrestling UK tour, including the show Al went to in Glascow and compare this year's show to last, what they ended up having in common and some of the recent Chikara angles. Also on the wrestling front, we talk about the future of NXT ahead of the next Takeover special and UK tour and what the future holds for wrestlers like Bayley and Samoa Joe. We also discuss some comics news (not THAT news) and reviews, including some of the DC Rebirth titles, Civil War II, The Baker Street Irregulars, Limbo and more. Finally, we talk about Marvel Puzzle Quest, how our alliance did during the recent Civil War event and how transitioning from 2-star to 3/4-star level and finding time to play as part of a competitive alliance.