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.

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 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.