Podcast Episode 51 - Indie Roundup / Roger's Crapsack Spectacular

Like a glorious phoenix that just properly could not be bothered for a bit over Christmas, we're back! We're covering some indie comics we picked up last year, and a load that were in a slightly wet bag in Roger's house. Pretty good stuff.

Plus: watch a sad man's life disintegrate before your very ears when he learns that never again will he get to taste the sweet, sweet nectar of a Panda Pop.

Also: learn which member of the team accused a small local police force of being child abusers on local TV news show Look East!

We covered:

• Sandman: Overture - Neil Gaiman, J.H. Williams III
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Limbo - Dan Watters and Caspar Wijngaard
• Strugglers - Tim Fish (the other one appears not to be online, sorry folks. WE TRIED.)
• Public Information 1989 - Philip Trenerry
• Never Ever After - Chris Baldie & Holley McKend
• Damn days - Tim Levang
• Misc. Anthology - Martin Simpson
• Wytches - Scott Snyder, Jock, Matt Hollingsworth
• SuperMutant Magic Academy - Jillian Tamaki
• Long John Silver - Xavier Dorison, Mathieu Lauffray
• Dick Cream - Jordana Globerman
• Mean Girls Club - Ryan Heshka
• Hand Me Down - Kristyna Baczynski
• Kaptara - Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod
• Jupiter’s Circle - Mark Millar and Wilfredo Torres
• Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal - Jeffrey Kripal
• Street Dawgz - Lizz Lunney
• In Situ - Sophie Yanow

Prose we yapped about:

• SPQR - Mary Beard
• Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal - Jeffrey Kripal
• The Ministry of Nostalgia - Owen Hatherley

Seriously, just how good is Martin Simpson's stuff onMisc

Le passion de chien.

Podcast 47 - Halloween

It's Halloween (hypothetically), and that means time for spooky comics. We'll lure you into a false sense of security with dazzling insight into a range of comics before shitting you right up with the jump scare that is our horror roundup. So this week we talk about:

• Wet Moon - Sophie Campbell
• Shadoweyes (and hey, there's a Kickstarter for a new printing) - Sophie Campbell
• I Hate Fairyland - Skottie Young & Jean-Francois Beaulieu
• Super Giant Battle Gecko - Naniiebim
• Rumble - John Arcudi & James Harren
• The City - James Herbert & Ian Miller
• The Fox Sister - Christina Strain & Jayd Aït-Kaci
• Space Dumplins - Craig Thompson & Dave Stewart
• The Twilight Children - Gilbert Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke, Dave Stewart
• Doctor Strange - Jason Aaron & Chris Bachalo
• Two Brothers - Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá, adapted from Milton Hatoum

And here's some horror for ya:

• When the Darkness Presses - Emily Carroll
• The Hole the Fox Did Make - Emily Carroll
• His Face All Red - Emily Carroll
• Out of Skin - Emily Carroll
• The Groom - Emily Carroll
• The Prince and the Sea - Emily Carroll
• All Along the Wall - Emily Carroll
• Through the Woods (print collection) - Emily Carroll
• Gunnerkrigg Court - Tom Siddell
• Cradlegrave - John Smith & Edmund Bagwell
• Shadows of Salamanca - Christophe Bec & Stefano Raffaele
• Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath - I.N.J. Culbard, adapted from H.P. Lovecraft
• Wytches - Scott Snyder, Jock, Matt Hollingsworth
• Rat God - Richard Corben
• Delphine - Richard Sala
• Adamtine - Hannah Berry
• Anya’s Ghost - Vera Brosgol
• Mercury - Hope Larson
• Kate Beaton's Family Halloween
• Uzumaki - Junjo Ito
• Bongcheon-Dong Ghost (really scary if you switch adblock off, we think) - Ho Rang
• Ghost in Masung Tunnel - Ho Rang
• This extremely spoopy comic - Kris Straub

• Complete Lovecraft eBook

Did you sign up to our newsletter? We have so many brilliant things in it that we never put on the site. For Halloween we made spooky masks of Stan Lee and our own Roger Hart, so when all of your friends are dressed as nonagenarian comic creators and rancorous food and comics bloggers, you don't need to feel left out. Like what you see? There's a signup at the top of the page. Need help making your mask? Have a handy instructional video!

Podcast 46 - Comics Continuity (Where To Start With Marvel and DC)

Do you want to get started reading the lycra-clad adventures that Marvel and DC peddle, but you're put off by the huge gnarled continuity that has built up over the best part of a century? Batman, X-Men, Superman - all have accreted a vast mythology full of plot holes, reboots, crises many and various, but fear not - we're here to help with some surefire techniques to get you past the initial confusion, and to make sure you find the good stuff. Thanks to Tom Howard on Twitter for the setup.

Leap straight to the 1 hour, 1 minute mark if it's just that that you're after, or stick around for: plenty of new things! A series of crimes done in Dave's house! An introduction to homebrewing! Haikus! The secret history of nutmeg! Who could want more? It's a bumper episode!

We covered:

• Check Please! - Ngozi Ukazu
• Fires Above Hyperion - Patrick Atangan
• Descender -  Jeff Lemire & Justin Nguyen
• Aama - Frederick Peeters
• Paper Girls - Brian K Vaughan & Cliff Chiang
• Space Dumplins - Craig Thompson & Dave Stewart
• Sex Criminals - Matt Fraction & Chip Zdarsky
• The Fifth Beatle - Vivek Tiwary, Andrew C Robinson
• Nathaniel's Nutmeg - Giles Milton

The suggestions for starting points:

• All-Star Superman - Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely
• Batman: Year One - Frank Miller & David Mazucchelli
• The Ultimates - Mark Millar & Bryan Hitch
• Astonishing X-Men - Joss Whedon & John Cassidy
• FF - Matt Fraction & Mike Allred
• She-Hulk - Dan Slott, Various
• Hawkeye - Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth
• Moon Knight - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• DC: The New Frontier - Darwyn Cooke
• Daredevil - Brian Michael Bendis, various artists
• Spider-Man: Blue - Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale

Even Batman knows Cyclops is a dick.

Podcast 41 - Warren Ellis' Spies

In the run-up to Warren Ellis' James Bond comics launch, we look at the espionage highlights of Weird Uncle Warren. The man writes about the fallout and faded glory of the intelligence agencies with a weird panache. Plus new releases and the end of Hawkeye, because we're good to ya.

We read:

• Empty Zone - Jason Shawn Alexander
• Aama - Frederick Peeters
• Parallel Lines - Richard Swan
• Hawkeye - Matt Fraction, David Aja, Matt Hollingsworth
• Island - Brandon Graham et al
• Injection - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Godzilla in Hell - James Stokoe
• Desolation Jones - Warren Ellis, J.H. Williams
• Planetary - Warren Ellis, John Cassady
• SVK - Warren Ellis, D'Israeli, Berg
• Red - Warren Ellis, Cully Hamner
• The Man Who Saved Britain - Simon Winder

Podcast 40 - Shiny! New!

Roger and Dave find themselves alone again this week, but rather than fighting to the death with sexy blades, they've thrown themselves into a vast raft of new releases (issue 1s and new trades) for your edification and amusement. If that's not enough, they still find time to get themselves a-frothy over Image Expo and the upcoming goodness. Onwards!

We read:

• The Spire - Si Spurrier and Jeff Stokely
• We Stand On Guard - Brian K. Vaughan, Steve Skroce, Matt Hollingsworth
• Arclight - Brandon Graham and Marian Churchland (part of 8House)
• Autumnlands - Kurt Busiek and Benjamin Dewey
• Rumble - Greg Arcudi and James Harren
• Supreme: Blue Rose - Warren Ellis and Tula Lotay
• Wytches - Scott Snyder, Jock, Matt Hollingsworth
• Kaptara - Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod
• #WicDiv
• Starve - Brian Wood, Danijel Zezelj, Dave Stewart
• Empty Zone - Jason Shawn Alexander
• The Art of Flying - Antonio Altarriba
• The King in Yellow - I.N.J. Culbard, adapted from Robert W. Chambers
• The Case of Charles Dexter Ward - I.N.J. Culbard, adapted from H.P. Lovecraft

Podcast 37 - Queerness In Mainstream Comics

While independent comics are a home for diverse creators and stories, the mainstream hasn't dealt so well with representing a range of races, sexualities, viewpoints or much beyond white people hitting other white people.

We shout about this for a while. Maybe we figure out how to solve it? (SPOILERS: NO JUST YELLING)

Also: nitrous huffing teens! Lucy gets angry at Young Avengers! Sass!

• Moon Knight - Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey, Jordie Bellaire
• Robert Moses - Pierre Christin, Olivier Balez
• Kaptara - Chip Zdarsky & Kagan Mcleod
• The Desert Peach - Donna Barr
• Rock & Riot - Chelsey Furedi
• Young Avengers - Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Hollingsworth
• Low - Rick Remender & Greg Tocchini
• God Hates Astronauts - Ryan Browne
• Chip Zdarsky's Watchmen Sequel