EPISODE 244 - THE KILLING JOKE

Episode 244 - The Killing Joke

In the first installment of Views From a Superstitious and Cowardly Lot (the series within a series where I talk about Batman) Andy Leyland and I talk about Batman: The Killing Joke.  To say that this is a controversial story is an understatement.  For years The Killing Joke was considered a seminal Batman story.  A must read.  A violent look at the relationship between Batman and the Joker.  A game changer.  Now the worm has turned and The Killing Joke isn't seen as a bastion for mature comic book storytelling.  It's an unnecessary story that damaged Barbara Gordon as a character and furthers the trope of killing or maiming a female character to further a male character's story.

For nearly two hours Andy and I talk about all of these issues and more.  We look at the story as a story and then look at how this story treats its characters.  Barbara Gordon is brought up more than once and the two of us get to vent about how we're sick of rape being used as a gimmick.  I'm not going to lie.  This episode has some fun points but Andy and I go to some pretty dark areas and we don't shy away from it.  We ask a lot of questions and try to judge this story fairly.  What are our final thoughts?  Listen and find out.

As I mentioned Andy and I talk about some pretty serious issues in this episode.  Normally I keep this a pretty light affair but for this story things get real.  Because of that I wanted to warn everyone because I know there are people out there that, for a variety of reasons, get very upset when they hear about sexual assault and violence towards women.  Because of that I am issuing Views' first ever trigger warning.  Some people think that trigger warnings are silly and that people should just suck up and get over whatever is bothering them.  To those people I say, "Too bad."  I have seen the effects of PTSD and if giving out a trigger warning spares someone an episode then it is totally worth it.

Besides...my show, my rules.  Don't like it?  I really don't care.

Andy Leyland was nice enough to stop by.  Be sure to check out his other shows, which include: Hey Kids Comics, The Palace of Glittering Delights, Listen to the Prophets: A Deep Space Nine Podcast, The Fantasticast and Keep 'Em Flying: A Firefly Podcast.

Next Time: I will finally release the awesome Suicide Squad episode Thomas Deja and I recorded.  It's keen.  

EPISODE 243 - KINGDOM COME 20 YEARS LATER

Episode 243 - Kingdom Come 20 Years Later

Kingdom Come turns 20 this year.  Alan and Emily Middleton help me talk about it.  

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What?  You want more than that?  I mean what else can I say outside of the fact that Kingdom Come is now 20 and that the wonderful daughter/father team of Emily and Alan Middleton were nice enough to stop by to spend about three hours talking about this epic story?

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Okay.  I'll put a little more effort into these show notes.

This time out I am joined by the previously mentioned Alan and Emily Middleton (hosts of Shortbox Showcase and Dorkness to Light) to discusses the already mentioned Kingdom Come.  There are many different ways we could have tackled this subject.  The art alone merits its own episode.  We chose to tackle the story from the standpoint of the characters so after a short history lesson and a somewhat entertaining synopsis the three of us dive into the main players of this story.  Superman.  Batman.  Wonder Woman.  Captain Marvel.  The now badly named Mankind Liberation Front.  All of them get thrown under the microscope as we talk about what the stories means to those characters, what those characters mean to us and where things went right or wrong.  I also go over the merchandise, the adaptations and the legal problems that crop up when you publish a companion book to a series put out by a large corporation.

I'd like to thank Alan and Emily for coming out to play and the fun isn't over.  This is actually part one of a two part podcasting crossover event and the second part should be up in a few days over at the Dorkness to Light podcast.  There Alan and Emily were nice enough to have me on to talk about the biblical and spiritual aspects of this story.  Be sure to listen to that episode and everything else these two produce podcasting and blog wise because they're awesome and deserve your support.

Next Time: Thomas Deja stops by to talk about the first eight issues of John Ostrander's Suicide Squad!