EPISODE 238 - JLA: YEAR ONE ISSUE 12

Episode 238 - JLA: Year One Issue 12

This is it, folks!  The epic conclusion to JLMay!

What's JLMay you ask?

Well, a bunch of really cool people got together to podcast about the very awesome DC maxi-series JLA: Year One and they were nice to ask me to not only be part of it but close this mother down.  If you want the full story of this very awesome DC maxi-series use the following links...

• The Fire and Water Podcast covered the first two issues on episode 163!
• The Power of Fishnets covered the third and fourth issues on episode 6!
• Waiting For Doom covers the fifth and sixth issues on episode 57!
• The Lantern Cast covers the seventh and eighth issues on a special episode!
• Super Mates covered the ninth issue on episode 54!
• The Idol-Head of Diabolu covered the tenth issue on a special episode!   
• Comic Reflection covered the eleventh issue on a special episode!

Listened to all of that?  Yes?  No?  Either way...

After a short introduction where I talk about my favorite iteration of the Justice League I head into issue 12 of JLA: Year One and boy is it epic.  The Appellaxians are attacking.  The heroes of Earth are fighting back.  Flash and Black Canary are having a moment.  Animal Man bails Aquaman out.  J'onn feels guilty.  The League has to make an important moral decision.  It's a really cool book.  I liked it a lot but listen to the show anyway because I gots reasons why I liked it a lot.

Once again thanks to everyone for wanting me to be a part of this.  It was a lot of fun and hopefully we can do something like this next year!

There are a number of ways to comment on this or any other episode.  The email address is viewsfromthemailbox@gmail.com.  You can even leave a comment right here on the site.  The show has a page over on Facebook so be sure to give that a "like".  I'm also on Twitter through the handle @BaileysPodcasts.  Reviews are always appreciated over on iTunes and if RSS Feeds are your thing the one for Views is right here.  All feedback will be read on the show...eventually unless you want to keep it between the two of us which is fine by me.  

Next Time:  DC: New Frontier.

EPISODE 237 - THE SPIDER-MAN 3 COMMENTARY

Episode 237 - The Spider-Man 3 Commentary

Before you listen to this episode head on over to The Palace of Glittering Delights.  Andy had me on for Episode 50 to do a commentary for the first Sam Raimi Spider-Man film and I've been hanging on to this audio to release at the same time.  Anyway, listen to that and then listen to this.  Or listen to this and then listen to that.  And then listen to all of Andy's back episodes of Palace because it's a damn good show.

I think it's safe to say that Spider-Man 3 has become one of the comic book movie whipping boys for fandom.  Ask the average comics fan and they will lump this movie in with X-Men: The Last Stand, Daredevil and Superman Returns.  Well...I disagree as does my guest for this episode Andrew Leyland.  In between recording episodes of Hey Kids Comics, Listen to the Prophets: A Deep Space Nine Podcast, the previous mentioned Palace of Glittering Delights and Keep Em' Flying: A Firefly Podcast Andy was gracious enough to come on board and talk about this oft maligned film.

We don't just talk about the film.

We defend it.

Not all of it.  This movie has many flaws but Andy and I can't bring ourselves to hate on it like other people can.  So hear us discuss what went wrong with the film but also what went right and what could be saved with some firm editing.  After the movie we go on a few tangents, one involving Roger Stern's run on the Avengers but mostly we have a lot of fun, which is usually what happens when Andy and I get together to chat.

There are a number of ways to comment on this or any other episode.  The email address is viewsfromthemailbox@gmail.com.  You can even leave a comment right here on the site.  The show has a page over on Facebook so be sure to give that a "like".  I'm also on Twitter through the handle @BaileysPodcasts.  Reviews are always appreciated over on iTunes and if RSS Feeds are your thing the one for Views is right here.  All feedback will be read on the show...eventually unless you want to keep it between the two of us which is fine by me.  

Next Time: I am part of yet ANOTHER crossover with my installment of JLMay where I talk about the final issue of JLA: Year One.

EPISODE 236 - X-MEN IN THE NINETIES PART TWO: X-CUTIONER'S SONG

Episode 236 - X-Men in the Nineties Part Two: X-Cutioner's Song

My shameless attempt to tie into a big budget comic book film continues this time out as Jon M Wilson (The Giant Superman Podcast, New 52 Adventures of Superman and Avengers Inspirations) and J David Weter (Dave's Daredevil Podcast) join me to answer the question, "What do you do when your superstar artists up and leave your company after you gave them their own titles and a creative blank check?"  Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld (along with Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Jim Valentino, Marc Silvestri and Whilce Portacio) left Marvel in early 1992 to form Image Comics.  This left a giant hole in the X-Men offices because the editors had put all of their creative eggs in one basket.  How do you recover from such a loss.

The answer?  A crossover!

Specifically the X-Cutioner's Song, a twelve part storyline that ran through Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Factor and X-Force.  The story was pretty simple; the mutant terrorist Stryfe shoots Professor Xavier and infects him with a techno-organic virus.  Meanwhile Scott Summers and Jean Grey are kidnapped by Stryfe's forces and suddenly you have three different X-teams getting involved to search for Scott and Jean and a cure for Professor X.  Jon, Dave (because we can call him Dave) and I spend a little over an hour talking about the story.  What we liked, what we didn't like, the story, the art, the legacy (pun intended) of the story and what happened after this crossover wrapped up.

THOUGHTS ON DC REBIRTH...BEFORE THE BOOK HITS THE STANDS

DC Comics and I have had a rather complicated relationship over the past few years.  

...

You know, I just typed that sentence and now I immediately regret it.  It makes it seem like DC Comics and I had a romantic thing going on and that just isn't the case.  DC is a comics publisher and I am a person.  It's not like we can date or get married.  So saying that our relationship is complicated implies that there was something romantic between us and that just isn't possible.

The better thing to write would be that I have had complicated feelings about DC Comics over the past ten or so years.  See, I started collecting comics back in 1987 but until the summer of 1994 I mainly stuck to the Superman titles.  I would pick up the odd book here and there and follow the Batman books or Flash (especially when the first television series hit in 1990) and I went through my obligatory X-Men phase in 1991, which lasted about a year, but for the most part I stuck with the Man of Steel.  That changed in the summer of 1994.  I had just graduated high school and Zero Hour: Crisis in Time led me down the path of buying a bunch of different titles.  I jumped feet first into the DC Universe and stayed there for well over a decade.  At one point I was buying all of the Superman books, Flash, Green Lantern, most of the Batman titles, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, JLA, JSA, Martian Manhunter and a handful of other random books.  

To be fair I would take day trips and weekend hikes into the Marvel Universe and even take a peek at what Image and other publishers were up to but at the end of the day I was a DC guy.

Things started to change at the beginning of the twenty-first century, which strikes me as another overly dramatic way of beginning of sentence but that doesn't make it any less accurate.  Around 2000/2001 the party seemed to be ending.  I wasn't connecting with the books like I used to and slowly I started culling titles from my pull list.  It was weird to suddenly feel like I was losing touch with the comics I was reading.  Looking back this was a very natural thing but I didn't have that perspective at the time.

My mood picked up around 2003, which was weird because DC was going through some significant changes both editorially and creatively at that time.  Titles I still loved like Young Justice and Supergirl were being cancelled, so on one hand it seemed like the end of an era.  On the other hand I rather enjoyed Geoff Johns' Teen Titans and Judd Winick's Outsiders.  Winick also began writing Green Arrow and Greg Rucka started his run on Wonder Woman.  Then the build-up to Infinite Crisis began in earnest and I was completely on board.  Suddenly I was buying all the titles again and while things were different I was enjoying myself and felt part of that world.

EPISODE 235 - X-MEN IN THE NINETIES PART ONE: MUTANT GENESIS

Episode 235 - X-Men in the Nineties Part One: Mutant Genesis

X-Men: Apocalypse comes out this Friday and since I have been on the ball this year when it comes to putting together episodes that tie into the comic book films that are released I have not one but two episodes all about Marvel's Merry Mutants coming out this week.  Not only that both of those episodes feature special guest hosts Jon M Wilson (The Giant Superman Podcast, New 52 Adventures of Superman and Avengers Inspirations) and J David Weter (Dave's Daredevil Podcast)!

In this first installment of the series I decided to call X-Men in the Nineties Jon, Dave and I talk about the first thirteen issues of the adjective-less X-Men series that launched in 1991.  That's right...it's been twenty-five years since this series came out which means that kids born that year are now allowed to rent a car here in the United States.  We spend about two hours talking about Magento's "final" stand, the introduction of Omega Red, the crossover with Ghost Rider, how much I hate Mojo as a character, why Jim Lee leaving the title made me mad and how awesome Art Thibert's art was in issues twelve and thirteen.

EPISODE 234 - DINNER WITH ALAN

Episode 234 - Dinner With Alan

Back in March I was fortunate to have dinner with the one, the only Professor Alan Middleton.  You know Alan, right?  He's the host of the Quarter Bin Podcast and the co-host of Shortbox Showcase and Dorkness to Light as well as being supreme high commander...cultural attache...

You know I'm not really sure.  I know it has to do with Latveria and Doctor Doom.  Alan loves Doctor Doom.  I suppose we all should but Alan works for the guy.  

Hail Doom.

Despite working for a tin-plated despot supreme and loving leader of Latveria Alan is also one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and we had a lot of fun having dinner and then going to a comic shop and buying cheap books.  I recorded our dinner conversation and it's a mix of what we're currently reading and the economic realities of Disney buying Marvel and how small the comic industry really is and whether or not I should look into working for the Latverian Embassy in Atlanta.

Okay.  That last part is totally not true but if there was such a place I'd probably work there.  

I mean the benefits have to be pretty good.

I'd like to thank Alan for being on the show, for the comics he gave me and for buying dinner.   

There are a number of ways to comment on this or any other episode.  The email address is viewsfromthemailbox@gmail.com.  You can even leave a comment right here on the site.  The show has a page over on Facebook so be sure to give that a "like".  I'm also on Twitter through the handle @BaileysPodcasts.  Reviews are always appreciated over on iTunes and if RSS Feeds are your thing the one for Views is right here.  All feedback will be read on the show...eventually unless you want to keep it between the two of us which is fine by me.  

Next Time: Either a special Saturday edition of Views or the first part of a two part X-Men tie in episode.  

EPISODE 233 - COMICS COLLECTING IN THE '90s PART 2

Episode 233 - Comics Collecting in the '90s Part 2: Wizard Magazine 1996

STOP!  Before you listen to this episode head on over to Pop Culture Affadavit and download Episode 61 of that show for the first part of this conversation!  It's awesome and you should be listening to that show anyway.

This time out I am joined once again by Tom Panarese (he of the previously mentioned Pop Culture Affadavit blog and podcast as well as the fantastic In Country podcast) and we are going back to the '90s in this one to look at the late and somewhat lamented Wizard: The Guide to Comics.  Wizard was a big part of my comic book collecting in the '90s so I wanted to devote an episode to the magazine and Tom was game to join me on this trip down memory lane.  We kick things off with our Wizard origin stories as well as a brief history of the magazine.  After the break we go through Wizard #60 to give you an idea what a typical issue felt like.  Small tangents pop up from time to time and we take a few shots at the decade we love so much but mostly it's all about Wizard.

During the episode I mentioned an interview with Joe Quesada on Fatman on Batman, hosted by Kevin Smith.  That particular conversation took place on Episode 63 of the show, which you can find by clicking on this link and scrolling down.

Thanks again to Tom for coming on this episode.  This was a fun two parter and I can't wait to talk to him again.

Next Time: FINALLY...my dinner with Alan...and some other stuff.

EPISODE 232 - CAPTAIN AMERICA: MAN OUT OF TIME

Episode 232 - Captain America: Man Out of Time

This time out I wrap up my shameless attempt to gain new listeners and extra downloads by tying into an upcoming comic book movie with a conversation about the very awesome Captain America: Man Out of Time.  Joining me once again is my permanent semi-regular co-host Andrew Leyland (who hosts or co-hosts such shows as Hey Kids Comics, The Palace of Glittering Delights, The Fantasticast and Listen to the Prophets: A Deep Space Nine Podcast) and after spending eight minutes talking about the slate of DC Comics collected editions that are coming out in 2016 we talk about this seemingly little known Captain America story.  What was it like for Cap during the war?  How did he adapt to a future he knew nothing about?  What happens when he gets his fondest desire?  All of these questions are asked and answered either by Andy and me or by writer Mark Waid. 

(NOTE: Mark Waid is not actually on this episode.  He wrote the story limited series Andy and I talk about.  If Mark Waid would like to come on the show he is more than welcome but I assume he has better things to do.) 

We also talk about how Christian Kane (Eliot on the awesome show Leverage) NEEDS to be cast as Wolverine once Hugh Jackman steps down.  This is a moral imperative.  Kane was born to play Wolverine and if there is any justice this will happen.  Tweet the heck out of #ChristianKaneISWolverine.  We need to get a fire under Fox's collective asses.

Next Time: Tom Panarese stops by to talk about an artifact from the '90s!  Which artifact?  You'll find out next week.