ABCP Episode #133, plus fake special guest

This "back from a computer-imposed week off" episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by a very special episode of our very favorite other podcast, featuring a very special artist who has decided to charge a very special $200 for interviews because his very special art career is very especially over. Big wins for Uncanny X-Men's "point one" issue, a turning point for "Who is Jake Ellis," some hero/villain turns in Secret Six, a great start for the new Herc, a pretty good start for Nonplayer, and a pretty bad start for the Fear Itself tie-in book.

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ABC Podcast, Episode #114 plus visual aids

This Halloween episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by the combined forces of Lord Byron, John Stamos and the undead. Major awards this week go to the adorable Ultimate Spider-Man, the super duper adorable Hellboy/Beasts of Burden one-shot, the fierce and surprising Amazing Spiderman, and Tom Fowler's portrayal of Chris and Euge in Deadpool Team-Up. We talk about "Red," the movie that has about as much to do with the comic it was based on as this one does, and alert you that at least one of us will be out of town for the next two weeks, but we'll have at least one special thing with which to hold you over in the mean time.

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Cover of the Week

Evie and Aaron's pick, from Hellboy/Beasts of Burden one-shot, cover by Jill Thompson:


Panel of the Week

Evie and Aaron's pick, from Deadpool Team-Up #888 by Cullen Bunn and Tom Fowler (panel starring Chris Sims and Eugene Ahn of War Rocket Ajax and some other things):

ABC Podcast, Episode #87 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Speed Racer Has a Posse, because Jesus has risen. Punisher kicks tons of ass, Spider-Man goes on a satisfying date for once, and Cloak and Dagger don't do much of anything. We reflect at length on the throbbing whatever that was Blackest Night, and spend unprecedented numbers of minutes talking about the cripplingly depressive entity that is Funky Winkerbean. We also give a shout out to our friends at the War Rocket Ajax podcast and suggest you pay them a visit, because spring is for making new friends.

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Cover(s) of the Week

From Amazing Spider-Man #627, cover by Lee Weeks:


From Punisher #15, cover by Mike McKone:


Panel(s) of the Week

From Punisher #15 by Rick Remender and Tony Moore:


From Cloak & Dagger #1 by Stuart Moore and Mark Brooks:

Bonus Panels of the Week

From Incorruptible #4 by Mark Waid and Jean Diaz:


From New Warriors #9, by Fabian Nicieza, Ron Frenz and Mark Bagley:

Crap of the Week

Braniac lettering in Adventure Comics #9:

ABC Podcast, Episode #86, plus visual aids

This very special episode of the Awesomed by Comics Podcast is brought to you by Mysterius the Unfathomable, which we actually spend very little time discussing, despite the fact that the book's creators, Tom Fowler and Jeff Parker (collectively: "Forker!") join us for a full two hours. Power Girl, Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Regular Spider-Man, and the return of a certain Kitty (Hint: Not Honey Boy) all win big, as do a few Marvel Premieres from 1977, because they're AS GOOD AS THREE COMICS. And Tom can probably forget about pencilling next summer's 480-issue "Image United II featuring Deadpool."

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Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's Pick, from Uncanny X-Men #522, Variant Cover by Mark Brooks



Evie's Pick, from Power Girl #10, Cover by Amanda Conner


Tom's Pick, from Fall of the Hulks: Red Hulk #3, Cover by John Romita Jr.

Jeff's Pick, from Joe the Barbarian #3, Cover by Sean Murphy

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.

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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 #80 plus visual aids

This tardy episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by a very special message from Marvel Comics, as well as Awesomed By Comics' new slogan, whatever that might be. SWORD is sharp as ever, Secret Six explodes, and Unwritten kills like a Nazi. Barks, maos and pigeon coos of approval for Tails of the Pet Avengers #1, and an ever expected welcome for the dream team on Pixie Strikes Back. Also Aaron really loved Ultimate Comics Spider Man #7 and Colt Noble and the Megalords #1 and spent half the show talking about them, but there's no need to mention that in this post.

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Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #7, cover by David Lafuente:


Evie's pick, from Tails of the Pet Avengers #1, variant cover by Chris Eliopoulos:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from SWORD #4 by Kieron Gillen and Steven Sanders:


Aaron's pick, from Strange #4 by Mark Waid and Emma Rios:

ABC Podcast Episode #76, plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by another horse giving different bridge advice, so get out your notepad. Dr. Strange and various X-Men impress, as do their adorable Canadian boyfriends, and the reformed Rhino warms our hearts. Mike Carey's The Unwritten continues to kill it, and the ending of Christos Gage's Absolution sparks a lukewarm debate. We also get to the bottom of the misidentified Amazing Spider-Man cover artist controversy, which we admit was our mistake, but then they mess up the credits this week so WHO(M) DO YOU TRUST?

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Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from S.W.O.R.D. #3, cover by John Cassaday and Laura Martin:


Aaron's pick, from Amazing Spider-Man #617, cover by, uh, um, Max Fiumara?

Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Invincible Iron Man #22, by Matt Fraction and Salvador Larocca:


Evie's pick, also from Invincible Iron Man #22:

ABC Podcast, Episode #73 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by the world's only horse-engineered audio recording of our cat eating. I know, right, happy holidays! Shocking turns in Mark Waid's The Unknown: the Devil Made Flesh and Brian K. Vaughan's Ex Machina score big, as does Jeff Parker and Steve Lieber's simulated waterboarding in Underground. Kyle Rainer wins the All-Time Super Contest for Cheesiest Ways to Rejoin the Living, and Power Girl gets hit on by the supreme leader of Earth-Diggler. Also, do not miss us and many other special guests on the War Rocket Ajax Christmas Special, available Monday Dec. 21 at noon EST! We sing, like for real.

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Before we get to the comics visuals, here's that terrifying Lidsville theme that Aaron insisted I post. Seriously, you will question your own humanity after watching this:




Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Spider-Man #615, cover by Javier Pulido:


Evie's pick, from Dark Avengers #12, cover by Mike Deodato and Rain Beredo:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Fables #91, by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham:


Aaron's pick, from Ex Machina #47 by Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris, but it gives too much away if you're reading it in trade so I'll just put up these adorable penguins and bunnies from Tiny Titans:

Awesomed By Comics: officially better than This American Life

From the letters page of this week's Amazing Spider-Man #615, which editor Stephen Wacker wrote the week before Thanksgiving, wherein he lists the things he is most thankful for:

For the record, I am a professional music critic and think both Adam Lambert and George Michael are extremely talented and dynamic performers.

But anyway, what company, huh? From the bottom of our hearts, a real honor sir. Especially given the delightfully varied reviews we've given certain members of your book's creative team over the past year-plus. But the highs have been quite high indeed.

ABC Podcast, Episode #68 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Robo Zen, because it's pretty much the only combination we haven't tried yet. A slew of excellent debuts this week as we give it up for Kieron Gillen, Steven Sanders and Jamie McKelvie's stunning S.W.O.R.D. #1, Mark Waid and Emma Rios' superb Strange #1, and Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk's daring Dark X-Men #1. The Bat Books continue to inspire angst, and Unwritten remains a stack-toppin' smash. There's also an above-average amount of Pokemon stuff. Let's go Pats.

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Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Strange #1, cover by Tom Coker:


Evie's pick, from S.W.O.R.D. #1, cover by John Cassaday:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from S.W.O.R.D. #1, by Kieron Gillen, Steven Sanders and Jamie McKelvie (click to enlarge):


Aaron's pick, from Amazing Spider-Man #611, by Joe Kelly and Eric Canete (click to enlarge):

ABC Podcast, Episode #60 plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Thomas Kinkade, Painter of F&$%&* Light, how f*&%(^ awesome is that guy. We extend a warm welcome to new listeners brought via the recent recommendations of respected comics creators and commentators, and then swiftly proceed to go off the trolley like the walnut-brained mouthbreathers that we are. Beasts of Burden and Agents of Atlas get hearty nods, while M.O.D.O.K. demands pancakes, which is perfectly reasonable.

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Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Beasts of Burden #1, cover by Jill Thompson:


Aaron's pick, from Ultimate Armor Wars #1, cover by Brandon Peterson:


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Agents of Atlas #11, by Jeff Parker, Dan Panosian and Gabriel Hardman:


Evie's picks, the panel sequence above, plus runner-up from Chapter 3 of Amazing Spider-Man #605 by Brian Reed, Yanick Paquette and Mark Farmer:

ABC Podcast, Episode #56 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by the Lighter Side of the Coffee News, hey-o! Evie is back this week but doesn't do much to rein in one of Aaron's more fiery Hal Jordan-related rants to date, and there's a lot of love for the shrieking undead and projectile vomiting. Spunky redheads cash in this week, because what the hell else is new in comics, and the secret identity need-to-know standards in Amazing Spider-Man are getting out of hand.

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Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Mighty #7, cover by Dave Johnson:


Evie's pick, from War of Kings #6, variant cover by Mike Choi and Sonya Oback:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Chew #3 by John Layman and Rob Guillory:


Aaron's pick, from Agents of Atlas #9, by Jeff Parker and Dan Panosian (click to enlarge):

ABC Podcast, Episode #48 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by a special EXCLUSIVE sneak preview of a special upcoming Marvel special Noir special event, and also a shout-out to Iowa Lieutenant Governor Patty Judge. Abnett and Lanning give Aaron a double cosmic nerdgasm, while Joe Kelly continues his inexplicable killer tear by jumping on Amazing Spider-Man, because why the hell not. You'll never guess which new creator team RUNS AWAY with with the gold. Sigh, is it June already?

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Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Runaways #10, cover by David Lafuente and Christina Strain:


Aaron's pick, from Unknown Soldier #8, cover by Dave Johnson:

Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Amazing Spider-Man #595, by Joe Kelly and Phil Jimenez:


Evie's pick, from Amazing Spider-Man #595 by Joe Kelly and Phil Jimenez:

ABC Podcast, Episode #35 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Learning to Be Silent, a zen koan that we will never learn in a million years. We say goodbye to birds of the Prey and Robin varieties, get our Coraline on, and can't help giving a laugh-out-loud award to Jeff Parker's sort of mean joke in Mysterius the Unfathomable. Big wins to Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Factor, which we do not spoil, you're welcome Peter David.

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Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Guardians of the Galaxy #10, cover by Clint Langley:


Evie's pick, from Spider-Man Noir #3, variant cover by Dennis Calero:

Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Mysterius the Unfathomable #2 by Jeff Parker and Tom Fowler:


Aaron's pick, from Guardians of the Galaxy #10 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Brad Walker (this wins primarily due to monster with mouth on top of his head):