Read Comics

This episode of the ReadComics Podcast is Florence, Jason, Mike, Marty and Susie discussing The Unwritten issues #1-5 (the first arc). We go off on tangents about meta-fiction (including Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series, Fables, and The Magicians by Lev Grossman), and talk about The Unwritten’s obvious comparisons to Harry Potter and Books of Magic. We do spoil these early issues, so you’ll want to stay away if you mind that. They’re well worth reading, so go pick up the TPB if you haven’t already!

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #041 (37 MB, 120 minutes)

No introduction can describe what will follow in this podcast. Mike says: “Listen, and godspeed.” Jason says: “Listen and god help you.”

This is actually only fifteen minutes of podcast #40, and the rest is podcast #41, since we lost everything of the first podcast after a hard-drive write-error. Mike, Jason, Susie, Florence and Marty all read and discussed the recent Marvel adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by Eric Shanower and drawn by Skottie Young.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #040 (35 MB, 77 minutes)

Yet another fascinating and tantalizing podcastical tribute to comics! This book club issueissode focused on the awesome Echo, by veteran comic creator Terry Moore.

Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason and Susie wax your ears off with unquestionable eloquence, only straying satirically from the subject for brief but satisfying interludes. (We’re segue savants, so of course you probably won’t even notice.) This episode is best enjoyed in the company of a well trained room full of monkeys with typewriters.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #039 (27 MB, 58 minutes)

This book club episode of the podcast was composed of the melodic and intellectual voices of Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason, and of course the disembodied Susie, whose choice it was to read American Born Chinese & The Eternal Smile, by Gene Luen Yang (with Derek Kirk Kim on The Eternal Smile). Both books are well worth a read, and we go into great detail about their plots and allegories and meanings contained therein. As with all our bookclub episodes, it’ll be a more entertaining listen if you’ve already read the books in question. Feel free to leave your own commentary and opinions in the comments.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #038 (24 MB, 52 minutes)

Join us tonight, dear friends, as we delve once more into the madness that is the ReadComics podcast. Subdued madness, in this case, as we talk about our trips to the comic shop and the library, and what we found there. Mike bought Marvel, Jason checked out some Tezuka, and Marty waxes wanly about Thor. We also prepare for the San Diego Comic Convention, which none of us will attend.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #037 (21.1 MB, 46 minutes)

Today we sat around and shared our impressions of the Annihilation series. This was Chad’s pick for the book club, and he, Florence, Marty, Mike, Jason, Susie (and Tony, who joins us after a while) all give their impressions of the series, or what they read of it.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #036 (36.1 MB, 78 minutes)

This is another “what are we reading” podcast, touching on the following topics: Bean World, The Unwritten, (and various other black-haired bespectacled wizard boys), Chew, The Gaylaxicon booth at Pride this year, Jan’s Atomic Heart, by Simon Roy, Richard K. Morgan’s sci-fi novels, including Altered Carbon and Market Forces, Hawkeye’s new limited series, The New Mutants, Garage Band by Gipi, Gigantic, Ignition City (Warren Ellis), Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil, Civil War, and the deaths and subsequent rebirths of various super heroes, including Captain America and The Flash.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #035 (34 MB, 75 minutes)

This comic book book club had us all reading Green Lantern. This book was selected by Jason J, who forced Chad to join our regular cast, Marty, Florence, Mike, Jason T. and Susie. We shared our opinions about the comic, and the many decades of backstory leading up to this run. We also allowed Chad to choose next month’s book club pick: Annihilation. Finally, special thanks to Ookla the Mok, whose song Theme from Super Skrull we use to close out the episode.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #034 (42 MB, 91 minutes)

The usual cast of pods in this episode: Florence, Marty, Jason, Mike and Susie. We hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we had fun making it. Topics in rough order of appearance:

• Handknit Heroes
• Love and Capes
• Piperka
• the new Star Trek Movie
• Star Trek the original series (on hulu and off)
• Wolverine
• possible Deadpool Movie
• Marvel Zombies
• Tony Kushner this Saturday
• superhero musicals, including spiderman
• Batman Cacophony, written by Kevin Smith
• Dollhouse & Fox TV
• various Simpsons comic topics

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #033 (22 MB, 49 minutes)

Jason, Marty, Mike and Florence are mostly all drunk, talking (slurring) about the following comic-related subjects (and many others less so): twitter and comics and facebook, Scott Pilgrim, Bomb Queen, New Mutants, Dark Avengers, Grant Morrison, Runaways, Frank Miller’s Daredevil, The Webcomic List, piperka.net, Susan Boyle and Marty’s mom. We hope you enjoy this rambling masterpiece.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #032 (17 MB, 37 minutes)

Tonight’s podcast was just Marty Florence and Jason when we began, but then Susie joins us about ten minutes in. It’s a shorter one, but we manage to at least mention offhandedly the following topics: The Muppet Show Comic Book #1, Boom Studios new Pixar licensing, DC’s After Watchmen …what next? campaign, Ex Machina TPB #7, Batman RIP, old standby topics: Grant Morrison and Walking Dead, Angel: After The Fall, Blank It webcomic, Menage A 3, Piperka, Sister Claire, Promethia, and all female comic book podcasts: Comic Racks and Birds of Geek.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #031 (18 MB, 38 minutes)

This bookclub podcast was all about Thor, issues #1-600 (all 13 issues). BRAKKA-DOOOOOOM! We have Florence, Marty, Jason, Mike, Susie (actually present!), and Jason Johnston with us for this lively discussion of Straczynski’s run of Thor.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #030 (26 MB, 57 minutes)

In this episode of the ReadComics podcast, Marty, Florence, Jason and Susie talk about the biggest comic book event of the week: the Watchmen movie. Marty and Florence saw a sneak preview of the movie last night, but we took pains not to spoil anything. (Short review: It’s AWESOME, go see it!!!) We also discussed the following topics: Marty and Florence’s visitor Flat Stanley, movie special effects and CGI (at length, including Watchmen, Star Wars, Hellboy II, Pans Labyrinth, the Oscars and Batman), Dr. Manhattan’s BIG BLUE PENIS, other movies we want to see this summer (Super Capers, Wolverine, Harry Potter, Year One), the possibility of an Elfquest movie, Johnny Hiro, Scott Pilgrim, a bunch of comics we have read recently (Wonder Woman, Tek Jensen, Ender’s Game, Batman), Kevin Smith’s batman, the trend toward comic book continuations of TV shows (Farscape, Buffy, Veronica Mars, Pushing Daisies), and Jason gives a shout-out to the GridCycle GeekCast, a new video game podcast.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #029 (30 MB, 66 minutes)

This podcast/book club features Florence, Jason, Mike, Susie and Marty, and is all about PS238: Volume 1, With Liberty And Recess for All, written and drawn by Aaron Williams. We stay mostly focused for the first 45 minutes or so, then veer off on a Dr. Who tangent in anticipation of Jason’s upcoming convention trip.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #028 (30 MB, 65 minutes)

Marty, Mike, Jason and Florence got downright philosophical tonight as they discussed the following topics: Smallville (Jason went on at length about the recent episode featuring the Legion of Superheroes, written by Geoff Johns), Smallville and Harry Potter “HoYay” and fanfic, the current Spiderman issue featuring Obama which none of us had read (and Jason’s idea for Oba-Man), Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead and which one is more “soap opera like”, Rasl, Kick-Ass (and the movie… not this, but this), Gaylaxicon, Prism Comics, I Hate Gallant Girl, Shirtless Superheroes (a website for hot male images in comics… we couldn’t remember the name of it), gay characters of Star Trek (including this fan-made episode written by David Gerrold, writer of the “Trouble With Tribbles” episode), Love and Capes, Invincible (and other stuff we dropped from our pull this week, including Gravel), Doctor Sleepless, and a rather long discussion about whether comic book creators should listen to their fans. We talked for quite a while tonight, but surprisingly, it never felt like there was a lull in the discussion.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #027 (33.9 MB, 74 minutes)

Tonight we had a rollicking good time. Florence, Marty, Jason, Mike and Susie (via Skype) all sat down to talk about what we’ve been reading. Topics included: Jack Kirby, Grand Morrison, Black Panther, Dwayne McDuffie, boom tubes, Fourth World, Reginald Hudlin, Dr Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, Zombie Unicorns, Scott Pilgrim, Farscape (& other TV shows continued as comics), The Messiah Complex, Buffy, Breakfast of the Gods, Mike’s desire to make a comic out of Mr. Roger’s make-believe neighborhood, Life Sucks, by Jessica Abel, Anders Loves Maria, Pax Romana, Transhuman, Astro City, and our opinions on THE BEST COMIC BOOK SERIES EVER MADE.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #026 (23.8 MB, 52 minutes)

Tonight Jason, Mike, Susie, Florence and Marty talk about Scott Pilgrim, our comic book Book Club selection of the month(s). We briefly touch on MANY other topics, from libraries to a pregnant Mystique.

Apologies in advance about the volume. I realized about 2/3rds of the way through that the input was turned way down, so you may have to turn your volume up to hear us. Sorry about that!

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #025 (25.5 MB, 55 minutes)

Jason, Florence and Marty talk about a bunch of stuff this time, including: Buffy: Season 8 #19, comic books at the Library, Umbrella Academy, Astro City, The Authority, the Luna Brothers and Sword, I Hate Gallant Girl, Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?, superdickery.com, Neil Stephenson and Anathem, The Last Will and Testament, Jason’s new G1 phone purchase, and how sick we all are.

Somewhere in the middle, Jason tunes out and Florence and Marty launch into Married with Comics and talk about this week’s comics (Authority #5, Sword #13 & I Hate Gallant Girl #2).

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #024 (23 MB, 51 minutes)

Our book club met tonight to discuss Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight. We had Marty, Florence, Jason, Mike and Susie via Skype. This may be our longest podcast yet, weighing in at more than an hour and a half. As Mike put it at some point, “We have the weight of 7 seasons of episodes on our shoulders.”

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #023 (45 MB, 98 minutes)

This week we talk about Spike, Angel, Buffy, Wonder Woman, Young Bottoms In Love, Michael Bendis, Alex Maleev, Spider Woman, Mrs. Marvel, Secret Invasion, Grant Morrison, JLA, Gigantic, Rick Remender, Eric Nguyen, Gene Ha, Strange Girl, Prism Comics, Google News, and Mike’s ribbiting belly.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #022 (17 MB, 36 minutes)

Tonight we had Jason, Mike, Florence, Marty, and a couple of new voices: Stephanie and Konrad. We talked at unusual length about The Walking Dead. Our focus was the first TPB, (Issues #1-6), but we definitely get into details from the second TPB, and even delve a bit into what’s happening in the series now (Issues #49-53). We highly recommend reading this book before you listen to this podcast unless you don’t mind spoilers.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #021 (47 MB, 102 minutes)

Tonight we had the immense pleasure of interviewing Thom Zahler, writer artist and creator of Love and Capes. He’s the self-professed “hardest working creator you’ve never heard of”. (It does sound like he works pretty hard. He was still the acting Mayor of his town for the duration of our interview.)

We had a lot of fun talking with him about his extensive experience in the comic book industry, as well as his opinions about everything ranging from sitcoms to the state of comics today. We talked about his inspirations and aspirations for the future. We even got him to sing a little for us.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #020 (26.1 MB, 57 minutes)

Florence interviews Marty and Jason who talk about their trip to Fallcon in Saint Paul, MN. (They didn’t have to go far.) Mostly we discuss who we met and talked to, but we also talked about what we bought, including New Warriors, Marvel Civil War, Don Rosa, Metal Men, Machine Man, Straczynski’s run of Dr. Strange, Wormwood, Frank Miller’s Give Me Liberty, and Blackgas written by Warren Ellis. Jason has his picture taken with an Aquaman impersonator. We also talked briefly about books in our pull this week, including No Hero and Top 10 Season Two. Get it while it’s hot.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #019 (23 MB, 51 minutes)

This podcast, featuring Florence, Marty, Jason and Mike, was recorded for our third ReadComics Book Club. We talked (for about the first two thirds) about Phantom Jack: The Collected Edition. Just in case you care, there are spoilers.

We also talked about our future picks for Comic Book Book Club (the next book club will discuss the most recent two arcs of Buffy, issues 12-19), House of M: Avengers, DC and Marvel action figures including this Marvel Legends Spiral build-a-figure (via Captain Toy), and the Wizard People voice over thing for the first Harry Potter movie.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #018 (30.1 MB, 65 minutes)

Join us tonight for the seventeenth ReadComics podcast. We talked about the Emmys, Neil Patrick Harris and his boyfriend, Prism Comics, Fallcon, Gaylaxicon, Windy City Comic-con, Echo, Sword, Runaways, The Goon, Spider Man Reign, PS238, Secret Invasion, and Final Crisis. Of course there was other stuff in there. Enjoy.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #017 (30 MB, 66 minutes)

Listen to us!

The sixteen-thousandth ReadComics.org podcast was recorded by Jason, Florence, Marty and Susie (via Skype). Marty bored everyone by talking about monetizing websites, but there is actual discussion of comic books… after Jason, Susie and Florence bore Marty by talking about which male character was the hottest in the “buffyverse” (and whether Andrew is/was gay). Other topics included Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, Superman and Brainiac in the latest Action Comics, James Marsters in Torchwood, Sky Doll, Wonder Woman, Runaways, Animal Man, Final Crisis, 52, Lobo and Wolverine.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #016 (30 MB, 64 minutes)

Today Florence, Jason and Marty talked a whole lot about Robert Kirkman’s video editorial about how to save comics. We also talked about Marvel, DC, Image, Dark Horse, Avatar and self-published comics. Other mentions included Runaways, Xmen, Archie, Power Pack, Richie Rich, Marvel Adventures, Hack Slash, Ex Machina, Brian K. Vaughn, Narcopolis, Jamie Delano, Ultimate universe, Michael Straczynski, Book of Lost Souls, Rising Stars, Little Brother and Cory Doctorow.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #015 (28.5 MB, 62 minutes)

Another conversational podcast with Susie, Florence, Marty and Jason. We talk about the recent announcement that there will be a Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story (via Neil Gaiman’s blog), various superhero movies, Batman in about a million forms, Fear Agent, Walking Dead, Persepolis and Embroideries (by Marjane Satrapi), Ex Machina, women comic book artists, Fan Fiction, Animal Man, Bratgirl, Batdude and Throbbin’ (and other superhero porn), Top 10: Beyond he Farthest Precinct, Ultimate Comics, Ultimatum, Ultimate Origins, Ultimate Galactus, Gay Comic Geek, The Clockwork Game, a bevy of game-related webcomics: The Order of the Stick; Penny Arcade; PVP, Control Alt Delete; Dork Tower; Full Frontal Nerdery, Deisel Sweeties, Rising Stars, Strangers in Paradise, Echo, Terry Moore, Spider Man loves Mary Jane, Dark Horse Presents, and comic book reviews in general.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #014 (36 MB, 78 minutes)

This podcast “issue” was recorded at our second ever ReadComics Book Club, where we talked extensively about Omega the Unknown, both the recently finished series, and also the “Classic” series from 1976. There are tons of spoilers, as we discuss plot points and compare and contrast the two series. Our regular podcasters Florence, Martin, Jason and Mike were all present, along with two new voices, Derik and Dave.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #013 (28.4 MB, 62 minutes)

We’re back! We wrangled Jason, Mike, Marty and Florence back into Marty and Florence’s dining room for podcast number twelve, in which we talk about: Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, musicals in general, comic book musicals, Batman, Ultimate Comics, What if..?, Superman: Red Son, Ant Man’s Big Christmas, Lobo/Authority: Holiday Hell, The Underburbs, Hereville, Castle Waiting: The Curse of the Brambly Hedge, Warren Ellis, Black Summer, Valerian, Soleil, Sky-Doll, Watchmen Motion Comics, the Watchmen movie preview, The Spirit movie preview, Neuromancer, Snow Crash, and comic adaptations versus movie adaptations versus any other sort of adaptation ever made.

Listen to ReadComics.org Podcast Episode #012 (34 MB, 73 minutes)