ABC Podcast Episode #122, plus visual aids

This episode of Evie & Aaron and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend is brought to you by compromised immune systems and the inability to STOP THE RUN. We give much respect to two future-tech-idea-driven comics at different ends of their runs (The Infinite Vacation and Vision Machine) pay tribute to the always exceptional Secret Six, and Aaron has a bit of trouble with the proximity of the "O" and "P" keys on the keyboard. Speaking of which, Heroes for Hire keeps rolling, Daredevil and Superman start to get back on track (despite a shit beginning and some ridiculous proportions for Lois) and we bid a fond farewell to Thor: The Mighty Avenger without having ever learned the identity of the mysterious "Mister K."

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Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's Pick, from Infinite Vacation #1, cover by Christian Ward



Aaron's Pick, from Daredevil Reborn #1, Cover by Jock



Panel(s) of the Week:

Evie's pick, from Secret Six #29 by Gail Simone and Marcos Marz



Aaron's pick can't be shown because SPOILERS!!!! so instead here's a bonus anatomy lesson for Allan Goldman, penciller on Superman #707

ABC Podcast Episode #119 and Spaghetti Bonus, For 'Tis The Season!!

This later-than-usual episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by The Sanctuary at Rutgers University, which has an amazing comics collection for an ice cream parlor. Try the ABCP Double-Pie, which is not called that and they will look at you funny if you ask for it, but is a scoop of pumpkin pie and a scoop of apple pie. Big wins for Chaos War, Birds of Prey, and X-Factor. Some interesting stuff going on in The Occultist. Aaron flips through Superman: Earth One and spots a painfully stupid mistake. And, surprise surprise, we gush about The Unwritten. Taking a bit of a break from the regular show for a couple of weeks, but our annual year-end spectacular will be here soon to more than tide you over.

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories.

WHOA BUT HEY WHAT IS THIS?






A spaghetti a day keeps the scurvy away.
Three spaghettis a week makes your underarms reek.
Twelve spaghettis a month ah fuck I have painted myself into a corner.

Evie's cover of the week is this:




And then Aaron's cover of the week is this:



And that GODDAMNIT, REALLY? Superman panel is this:



And the actual definition of active voice is this.

And we'll be back next week sometime with our year-end wrapup!

ABC Podcast Episode #117 and Visual Aids

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by Sue from DC Women Kicking Ass, who turns our show into ABCP Women (and technically also a guy, but whatever) Kicking Ass! Huge wins for some of our favorite creators, as Gail Simone's Secret Six, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning's Heroes for Hire, and Fred Van Lente's Taskmaster take home the big prizes, and most of the little ones too. Also, Crap of the Week has never been so literal. Plus, a dog!!!

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories.

Cover(s) of the Week:

Sue's pick, from Batman 80-Page Giant, cover by Dustin Nguyen



Aaron's cover, from The Boys #49, covery by Darrick Robertson



Evie's cover, from Sweet Tooth #16, cover by Jeff Lemire



Panels come from She Hulks #2, Generation Hope #2, and three from Secret Six #28, if I remember correctly, which I may not, but it doesn't really matter at this point because I need to get up early tomorrow and therefore no panels now. But I did better than last week at least!! HUZZAH!

ABC Podcast, Episode #84 plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Sausage or Death Metal Band? Feel free to play along at home, Google probably won't help you. A wonderful last issue wraps up Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders' tragically abandoned S.W.O.R.D., Criminal finishes another tense arc, Pet Avengers starts a delightful new one, and the Unwritten and Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man continue to rule. Also, Bruce Wayne is not the effing Riddler. Note that Evie will be away for SXSW next week, so Aaron may or may not have special surprises planned in her absence. Stay tuned.

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, or visit our show forum.

TECHNICAL NOTE: I (Aaron) accidentally used my bass compressor on my voice while recording, so you will want to turn the bass WAAAAAAYY down on your player. (Either that or put your headphones in your pocket and enjoy.)

Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from S.W.O.R.D. #5, cover by Mike Del Mundo:


Evie's pick, from Pet Avengers: Unleashed #1, variant cover by Roger Langridge and Jean-Francois Beaulieu:

Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Secret Six #19, by Gail Simone and J. Calafiore:



Aaron's pick, from the Mystic Hands of Dr. Strange #1, story and art by Ted McKeever:

ABC Podcast, Episode #82 plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by just the best most beautiful laptop ever, yes you are we love you so muchy much, you have no reason to ever get mad at us and not work when we're trying to record the show again, no you don't, you're just so perfect and hot, by the way have you lost weight? We LOL at X-Factor, have a sadz at the end of Ms. Marvel, and hype the skillz of Gail Simone, Matt Sturges and Joshua Dysart for Wonder Woman, The Web and Unknown Soldier, respectively. We also talk about Dwayne McDuffie's killer new Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths animated Timmverse movie, and wonder what possessed James Robinson to get so freaky in Superman. Also, Warren Ellis writes a parody of a Warren Ellis comic, and Aaron thinks it's totally awesome.

(An apology, while we're all here: in the show I note that Aaron Lopresti was the penciller for Wonder Woman, but it was in fact Chris Batista and Fernando Dagnino--it's miscredited on the cover, someone at DC did a cut-and-paste.)

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, or visit our show forum.

Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Fantastic Four #576, cover by Alan Davis:


Aaron's pick, from Thor #607, variant cover by Mico Suayan (plus whoever drew the squirrel, I'm not sure? Any help here?):


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from X-Factor #202 by Peter David and Bing Cansino:


Evie's pick, from X-Factor #202 by Peter David and Bing Cansino:

ABCP Episode #72 and visual aids

Tuesday is the new Monday.

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Aaron's mea culpa regarding microphone technique, which is ironic since his mic distorts for a minute at the very beginning, and he didn't notice. Secret Six and S.W.O.R.D. win big, partially because they're two of the four books Evie read, but mostly because they win everything when they come out anyway. Aaron gushes over Paul Tobin's Marvel All-Ages output, and claims to have coined the phrase "Tobinverse," although he may or may not have. (NOTE: A google search turns up only one Paul Tobin-related result for "tobinverse" - ironically posted just last week, by friend-of-the-show Douglas Wolk.) Also, we decide the X-Men anthology books are better than anything else X-related.

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, or visit our show forum.

Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Secret Six #16, cover by Daniel Luvisi:

Aaron's pick, from The Boys #37, cover by Darrick Robertson:


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from The Unwritten #8 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross:


Evie's picks, from Nation X #1 by James Asmus and Mike Allred:

ABC Podcast, Episode #42 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by recliners, mind-boggling technology failure, and a very special message from Marvel and the next best thing to Sally Struthers. Gail Simone buries the competition with a pitch-perfect, rump-busting, life-and-death-and-sex-affirming issue of Secret Six, and Jeff Parker's new Exiles series is pretty sweet too. Apparently we're also supposed to be worried about Tim Drake, but I think we all know better than that jazz.

Download/subscribe to the show in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, or visit our show forum.

Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Captain Britain and MI 13 #12, variant cover by Skottie Young:


Aaron's pick, from War of Kings: Ascension #1, cover by Brandon Peterson:


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's picks, from Secret Six #8 by Gail Simone and Carlos Rodriguez (for context, see Raging Bullets podcast):


... and from Exiles #1 by Jeff Parker and Salva Espin:


Evie's pick, from Secret Six #8, back-up story "Ragdoll Dreams" by Gail Simone and Amanda Gould:

ABC Podcast, episode #13 checklist

So you know what might be handy for several reasons? A list of the books we talk about on the show! Also, a knife that automatically detects human flesh, and refuses to cut it! The former would be handy as it would allow you, our dear listeners, to be alerted to what comics/things we're going to be talking about this week, that way you can more easily avoid spoilers, AND so that there'll be a reference guide, in case someone ever wants to go back and listen to a show about a particular issue long after the fact. The latter would be handy as it would cut down on both kitchen accidents (ow, my thumb!) and knife fights.

So as not to spoil the show itself, We're not going to list which books won which categories just yet.

ABCP13 Topics of Converstaion
Fables 75
Spider Man loves Mary Jane 2
Manhunter 34
Secret Six 1
The Authority: World's End 2
X-Men Origins: Beast
Marvel Apes 1
X-Men: Manifest Destiny 1
Eternals 4
Supergirl 33
Next Avengers (DVD)
Sub Mariner: The Depths 1

So if any or all of this stuff is on your list to read, read it before listening to us! And if any or all of this stuff piques your interest in what we think about it, then by golly, this episode is for you!

Top 20!

So I made a hypothetical comment below about "if I were to compile a list of my 20 favorite runs."

And within seconds of my fingers lifting off the keys, my brain kicked into gear, as the brain of a comic fan always does when presented with such an idea, and I decided to compile a list of my 20 favorite runs.

This list is not even remotely final or complete or even correct. (I probably have a few creators wrong.) But working off the top of my head at 2 in the morning last night, here's what I came up with.

New Warriors V1 Nicieza/Robinson
Avengers V2 Busiek/Perez
Ex Machina BKV/Harris
Runaways BKV/others
Y The Last Man BKV/Guerra
Daredevil Bendis/Maleev?
Ult. Spider Man Bendis/Bagley
Planetary Ellis/Cassaday
Warlock Starlin
Defenders Gerber/???
Ult FF Ellis/Immonnen, (Ellis/Kubert?)
Animal Man Morrison/???
New X-Men Morrison/Quitely
52 Morrison, etc.
Sentinel McKeever
Ultimates 1&2 Millar/Hitch
Fables Willingham/Buckingham
Ult. Galactus Trilogy - Ellis
Marvels Busiek Ross
Birds of Prey Simone

I figured I'd post the list here in its outline/barebones/incorrect form, and do a little series of posts tracking the changes until I get to my final list. Obviously there's a lot more modern stuff in here, because I've read a lot more modern stuff.

And besides. Why the hell not? I've got a comic blog. This is what comic blogs are for.

Um, Alfred? GET OFF THE GODDAM FLOOR.

Sorry dudes, I am so behind on my reading. All I know is that Batman is EFFED UP.

Oh, and if you want to read my thing on the intersection of the music and comics industries, and see a pretty picture of Gail Simone, go here.

Things I learned from my first few hours at NY Comic Con

1) Geoff Johns may have gotten the most audience questions and ass kissing at the DC Nation panel (deserved, he's rad), but Gail Simone got the most introductory applause, including a standing ovation by a handful of dudes. Who were mostly gay, but it's a start.

2) Geoff Johns is the hottest guy in comics. Which in theory isn't saying anything at all, but in his case it is. He obviously, like, works out and stuff. Even my fiance commented on his fineness over our post-Con cupcakes.

3) Geoff Johns doesn't really understand why everyone always calls him "Geoff Johns" to his face instead of "Geoff." But seriously, how can you not? It's like my friend Judy Wu, why on earth would you ever not say that whole name together.

4) Ok apparently I have a mini-crush on Geoff Johns.

5) Gail Simone is all the awesome I knew she was, and I'm really looking forward to interviewing her, which I am actually going to get away with doing for work.

6) There are some fanboys who think it's a real snooze that people keep bringing up how great Jaime Reyes is because he's the only really authentic, positive Latino superhero. God, how annoying and boring, they should just be happy that they get to have jobs and read comic books and stuff. It's almost as bad as those girls and gay guys who are always going on about how awesome Gail Simone is. SNORE.

7) The coworker I ran into at the convention center "never would have guessed in a million years" that I was a comic book fan. I will confess that more than 50 percent of me is taking that as a compliment.

8) Young women in comics get kind of uncomfortable when older women in comics start talking about feminism, because they've "never really had to think about it." Based on the young women's stated ages, I think there was some kind of bizarre reboot of socio-political continuity between my birth and my fourth birthday.

9) DC is going to launch a series about Supergirl in eighth grade. Despite any number of reasons for concern, I've tentatively decided that this rules.

10) There aren't many things cuter than little boys accompanied by their dads stepping up to a microphone and asking Joe Quesada if there's any chance that the Sentry could be a Skrull. Ok, if I meet a little girl who's being kept up at night by that question, that might be a little cuter.

Memememe

Madeley over at the Fractal Hall Journal tagged me for a meme, and who in the hell am I to say "Ow! You hit too hard! I did so stay frozen! You're such a cheater." Anyway, here's the question:

What creators who are usually associated with a certain company (or, indeed, medium) would you like to see writing someone else’s title? For example, would you want to see JMS on Hellboy? Which DC character should Bendis have a crack at? Should George Pelecanos write Batman? (Answer: Yes)

Ok, I've only been reading comics for a few years, so I'm not the totally most qualified to find the perfect crossover or quirky nonsensical match-up. But here's what I got:

Gail Simone writing Guy Gardener. She did such a bang-up job with Deadpool a few years ago, and Guy's such a hilarious douchebag, that... oh, hell. She already writes for DC. Ok, Gail Simone on Deadpool. Oh, right. Ok, uh... Gail Simone on X-Men! Yes! Pull them out of their navel-gazing, down-bringing, death-wielding confusotron and make them funny and noble and have Emma Frost stop mid-sentence and say "wait, what the crap am I wearing? Someone throw me a sweater."

Brian Michael Bendis on Fables. Because what's missing from that book is frequent panels of Snow White, Cinderella, the Wolf, the Frog Prince, Boy Blue, Rose Red and the miniature mice-riding agents in bobby uniforms squinting and saying "the hell??" when they don't understand something.

That's a joke. Willingham, carry on.

Greg Rucka on Nova. I love Nova. I love Greg Rucka. Nova is all cosmic and science fictiony and techy and spacey, but really well developed and character-driven. Rucka's stuff is all gritty and earthy and dark alley-y and soaked in intrigue, but really well developed and character-driven.

Ok, that's what I got. I'm the new kid who holds my tray and looks awkwardly around the cafeteria pretending I'm looking for someone, but I'll go out on a limb and tag Girl Friday K, Caleb and Sally.

See you this weekend, maybe!