Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 67 – iZombie! Convergence! Archie Vs. Predator?!

It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time to talk comic books and preview new comics coming out this Wednesday, April 15, 2015. Between Convergence and the quite possibly the oddest crossover in the history of Archie Comics, we have a lot of new comic books to talk about this week.

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Plus, Dave and Billy both read iZombie Vol 1 by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred, and give their reviews, plus their thoughts on the pilot episode of the iZombie TV series. If you’d like to play along at home, the guys will be reading iZombie Vol 2 for next week’s episode.

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 65! Nick Returns!

Nick returns! Dave is on his honeymoon, so Nick is back to help fill in. Billy and Nick blow way past $20 each in this week’s 20, talk about what they’re both reading right now, as well as the new iZombie TV series, their mutual love of Mike Allred, and Nick’s recent reread of the Starman omnibuses.  Who’s ready for some comic talk?

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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 59 – New Comic Books for 2/17/15, Star Wars & Darth Vader Reviewed! A Look Back on Spider-Man: Blue! Spider-Man is Coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Billy and Dave preview new comic books coming out Wednesday, 2/18/15, and give their recommendations for where your money is best spent this new comic book day.

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Billy reviews Kieron Gillen’s Darth Vader #1 and Jason Aaron and John Cassaday’s Star Wars #2. The guys look back on Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Spider-Man: Blue and discuss the ramifications of the huge announcement of Sony’s deal with Marvel to allow Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 54 – SHIELD #2, Star Wars Returns to Marvel!, God is Dead reviewed!

Star Wars week is here! In the new episode of the Tuesday Night Comics podcast, Billy and Dave preview new comics coming out on Wednesday, 1/14/15, and give you their picks on what comic books you need to buy if you only had $20 to spend at your local comic book shop. You might be surprised by what and what doesn’t make the cut for us this week.

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Plus, reviews of what we read this week, including Jonathan Hickman’s God is Dead and Alan Moore’s Saga of the Swamp Thing vol 4.
Plus, listen to Billy make more mistakes when discussing the news than SNL’s Drunk Uncle!
Give it a listen! Happy Tuesday Night!

Best Comics of 2014

2014 was a great year for comic books. The hosts of the Tuesday Night Comic podcast were asked to list their top 5 favorite comics of 2014. Whittling the lists down to just 5 comics each was tough, but here they are!

Billy:

5. Andre the Giant 

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As soon as I started reading Box Brown’s biography of Andre the Giant, I could not put it down. Besides being incredibly well researched, it’s also a very good read. Box Brown really shows off his skills as a cartoonist on a subject that comes across as very dear to him. This might be the best biographical comic book I’ve ever read.

4. Copra

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At the tail end of 2014, fans of Michel Fiffe’s Copra worried that his deal with Marvel might mean Copra would be put on hiatus. Thankfully, Fiffe’s love letter to the Suicide Squad continued in 2014 with 6 new issues. The series shifted for Round 3, with each issue focusing on a specific character. As of this writing, Michel has exactly 8 subscriptions available for the next 6 issues of Copra available at his Etsy shop. Trust me, you will not regret treating yourself to this.

3. Silver Surfer 

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Dan Slott is writing the best Doctor Who comic on the stands, and it is Silver Surfer.

2. Ms. Marvel

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Month in, and month out, this comic book is so good! I can’t rave about it enough, and I know I’m not the only one. It was great seeing fans coplaying as Kamala Khan at NYCC this past year, and any panel attended by Ms. Marvel writer G. Willow Wilson was a packed one.

1. The Multiversity

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There’s a reason Dave and I go into lengthy conversations on the Tuesday Night Comics podcast about every new issue of The Multiversity. It’s because it’s that damn good!

Dave:

5. The New 52: Futures End

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This has really been a fun read.

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Can Grant Morrison write these series of books forever?
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Great series and a great end to the series.
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I just loved this series. I purchased this series during a sale and I’m all caught up. The world the Scott Snyder builds here is great. I can’t wait to jump on board the new series.
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Read this series this year and I couldn’t stop reading it. The speed at which I ripped through these books reminded me of binging on the Harry Potter novels.

Nick:

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…by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr, and Maris Wicks: I was a little hesitant to add this one, since we’ve only gotten three issues so far, but what can I say: good comics are good comics! And Batgirl is a great comic. Other than Snyder and Capullo’s run on Batman (another contender for best-of-the-year, by the way,) I’ve pretty much stayed away from DC since the New 52 started, but I love everything about this take on the character. The team got a lot of press with the redesign of Barbara’s costume, but, just like Silver Surfer, the emphasis is on fun, and the art (Stewart does the layouts, Tarr does the drawing) is rad. I’ll be picking this up as long as they’re making it.

4. Silver Surfer

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…by Dan Slott, Mike Allred, and Laura Allred: Look, I’m as surprised about this as you are; I don’t care about the Silver Surfer, I’ve never cared about the Silver Surfer – not even in the issues of Fantastic Four where he was first introduced. But this book is fantastic! It’s charming and fun, which shouldn’t surprise me, since it’s Mike Allred, but still. Much like Mark Waid’s Daredevil run, Slott and the Allreds have taken a character I had zero affinity for and put together one of my favorite books. Who’s going to do that next year?!?

3. Saga

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…by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: this was on my list in 2012, but like I said before: “good comics are good comics!” This year saw both the conclusion of the 3rd arc of the book and the whole of the 4th, which jumps ahead in time a few years. After pulling us in with the Romeo & Juliet-style love-affair between Marco and Alana in the first 18 issues, Vaughan and Staples then proceed to yank the rug right out from under us over the next 6. I’m not going to spoil things for you, but I will say this: we never did have to see Romeo & Juliet actually have to learn to live with one another.

 2. Sex Criminals

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…by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky: Another repeat, this time from last year’s list, the second volume of Sex Criminals hits the same note as Saga: in a relationship, what happens when the honeymoon ends? This arc is definitely darker than the first, although Zdarsky tosses in enough background jokes to keep everything fun. The end of the second volume hasn’t come out yet, but I have faith that Fraction and Zdarsky will not let us down. Also – if you’re trade-waiting this series, don’t! The letters page is the best!

1. Seconds

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…by Bryan Lee O’Malley and Nathan Fairbairn: Scott Pilgrim is one of my all-time favorite comics, so I was anxiously awaiting O’Malley’s follow-up ever since it was announced a couple of years ago. When the book finally arrived in July, I spent a morning reading the entire thing…then read it again that afternoon. Even though it probably gets the most attention for its video game references, Scott Pilgrim was essentially about figuring yourself out in your early/mid 20’s. Seconds follows the same path, only this time it’s about realizing you’re in your 30’s, and looking back on the decisions you’ve made and how they’ve brought you to where you are. The book replaces Pilgrim’s video game metaphors with a more supernatural flavor, which fits the subject matter perfectly. On the art side, O’Malley has grown as a comic artist by leaps and bounds – the book is stunning. I already knew going in that the colors would be great (Fairbairn has been doing an amazing job with the Scott Pilgrim color editions) but I was blown away when I read the final product – throw in lettering by my second favorite letterer, Dustin Harbin, and Seconds was not just the best comic I read this year, it might be the best book I read this year, period.

 

Alli:

5. Annihilator

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Grant Morrison’s Legendary comics debut with Annihilator this year really blew me away. With fantastic art from Frazer Irving and the story being written by one of industry’s best writers, this book had everything going for it and it did not disappoint. Ray Spass is a writer who has to team up with his own fictional character to save his sanity and the world in the process, Annihilator was a real welcome new book from this past year.

4. Black Science

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Take one part Sliders, one part Lost in Space, and add some of the best action in comics and you have Rick Remender’s Black Science. Parallel worlds and dangerous alien races with a cast of characters who are as expendable as the cast of Game of thrones. The action is intense and this book grabbed me from issue one and never let go.

3. East of West

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Jonathan Hickman is writing one of the most gripping post apocalyptic westerns ever and I just can’t stop reading it. I love this book and got the first 2 trades as gifts and have added it to my monthly pick ups. East of West is a harsh and uncompromising vision of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse and the Horsemen Death’s quest for revenge and redemption.

2. Saga 

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Saga is still good and still worth reading every single issue. Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples spent 2014 continuing the exploits of Alana and Marko and just keep offering the best story and dialogue in the business, hands down.

1. Rat Queens

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Kurtis J. Wiebe was at a signing this year and I missed him by 10 minutes. If i had met him I would have said “Thank you so much for writing one of the most important comic books in my social adult life.” Rat Queens was the book I gave to my girlfriend and she gave to her friends, and I gave to my friends, who in turn gave to their friends. Rat Queens is not a book made just for girls or women but it is a book about girls and women that is so important and necessary in our day and age. It takes archetype Dungeons and Dragons style characters and breaks down all of the tropes, stereotypes, and replaces them with characters who are incredibly deep and also kick ass and can be incredibly funny. Rat Queens is a book that is loud and crude and at the same time violent and depressing. It’s about mythical creatures who have real world problems and relationship woes.

 

Okay, these are our lists. Now it’s your turn. What are your top 5 comics of 2014?

Tuesday Night Comics Podcast Episode 28 – Live From the Tuesday Night Movies Beach House!

Welcome to the Tuesday Night Movies Beach House! Billy and Dave are joined by Nick, making his triumphant return to the Tuesday Night Comics podcast. The guys are recording live in front of an audience from the Tuesday Night Movies Beach House in OBX. It’s like MTV’s Beach House, but way (wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy) nerdier.

 The guys preview new comics coming out Wednesday, July 16, 2014, and talk about what they’re all reading now, how Marvel and Image today are like DC in the 90s (and how DC of today is like Marvel and Image in the 90s), Mike Allred, Saga, Fables, and…Bob Kane’s tombstone. And, as promised on the podcast, here is an image of Bob Kane’s actual tombstone, and what might be the saddest Superman cover of all time.
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Tuesday Night Comics Podcast – Episode 24

Billy records alone! It’s just Billy on the week on the Tuesday Night Comics podcast. He gives you his picks for the new comics he’s most excited about for the week of June 18, 2014, talks about Miracle Man: A Dream of Flying and Brian Woods’s Star Wars, and recaps this weekend’s big comic book convention in New York City, Special Edition: NYC.

Speaking of Special Edition: NYC, check out this awesome Spider-Man sketch I bought from Marcio Takara!

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Don’t worry, Dave fans. Dave will be back next week.

Busiek and Allred Talk at SE:NYC

Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred are two of my favorite comic book creators. So when it was announced that they would be in conversation at SE:NYC, I knew I would be going to this panel.

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Photo by Adrian King

 

The focus of the panel was to compare and contrast working for big comic book companies like Marvel and DC versus going it your own and self-publishing. At first glance, I figured Busiek would talk about Marvel and DC, and Allred would talk about self-publishing.

But early on in the panel, Busiek pointed out something that I never realized. He noted that Mike Allred made a name for himself in the 90s on the indie comic book scene with Madman and now works mainly work for DC and Marvel, while Busiek was the “company man” when he made a name for himself in the 90s, first on Marvels with Alex Ross, and then creating Thunderbolts with Mark Bagley, and his legendary run on Avengers with George Perez (not to mention Avengers Forever with Carlos Pacheco). For a while there, Busiek was Mr. Marvel. But Busiek’s current work is his creator-owned Astro City. It was interesting hearing these two legends in the field talk about the different ways they managed to break in, and how their points of view on working for big companies and self-publishing have changed over the years.

This was easily my favorite panel of SE:NYC. The only downside to the panel was the one guy in the audience who was snoring really loudly. I think the snoring threw Mr. Busiek during one of his answers, but he deftly played it off. Someone was nice enough to elbow the snoring guy in the ribs, and he was very apologetic afterwards.

After the panel, I had the good luck of getting into a conversation with Mike and Laura Allred for their entire walk back to their table in Artist’s Alley. They could not have been nicer and more accommodating. While we were talking comics, I had an almost out of body experience, where in the back of my head, 1997 me was yelling, “YOU’RE TALKING TO MIKE ALLRED! CREATOR OF MADMAN!” Thankfully, I managed to keep my cool….I hope.

Buddy Scalera moderated this panel, and did a great job. If this is any indication of the quality of panels that Buddy moderates, definitely look out for his name in future convention program guides.

Special Edition: NYC – Sunday Panel Guide

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11:15 – 12:15 – Marvel Unlimited+ Members Only Event – I went to the Marvel Unlimited+ member event at NYCC 2013 and can vouch for the quality of these events. Members received an exclusive variant cover comic, an exclusive print and an acetate production proof cover of Origin II #1. Plus, we saw an extended trailer of the Guardians of the Galaxy  movie months before anyone else.  And Marvel talent will be on hand to answer fans questions (and possibly sign some comics). These events, and the exclusive action figure that Plus members receive when signing up, definitely make the Plus option worth getting when you sign up for Marvel Unlimited, Marvel’s digital comic version of Netflix. If you’re a member, make sure you attend this. I definitely will. (Theater B – 1E21)

 12:15 – 1:15 – Self Publishing – Do you have an idea for a comic that you’d love to make? Yes, you could pitch it to a publisher. Or you could publish it yourself. Hey, it worked for Jeff Smith! He won’t be here, but Greg Pak, Amy Reeder and a few other creators who have had success with self publishing will be getting down to the nuts and bolts of self publishing. Be prepared to take notes. (Theater B – 1E21)

12:15 – 1:15 – DC Comics – Batman 75th Anniversary – Did Bob Wayne already retire? It’s going to be weird going to a DC panel without him moderating. Many Batman current Batman creators, including Gail Simone, James Tynion IV and Francis Manapul will talk about what’s coming  up in the Batman family of books in this special 75th anniversary year. (Theater A – 1E19)

1:45 – 2:45 – Sexy, Strange and Silly – Lost Superheroes of the Golden Age – This has the potential to be the most fun panel at Special Edition: NYC. Ben Saunders, the director of the Comics Studies program at the University of Oregon, will moderate this panel that highlights some of the most unique comic book characters who were spawned in the Golden Age and then faded into obscurity. (Theater B – 1E21)

2:45 – 3:45 – Marvel: 75 Years of Marvel – It’s not just Batman’s 75th birthday. It’s also the 75th anniversary of the publication of Marvel Comics #1, which featured the first appearances of Marvel’s oldest superheroes, Namor the Submariner and the Golden Age Human Torch. Marvel plans to celebrate their 75th anniversary in a big way. Come to this panel to find out the details. Panelists include Chris Claremont, Peter David and Ryan Stegman. (Theater A – 1E19)

3:00 – 4:00 – Creator-Owned Comics (vs. Corporate-Owned Comics) – I bet if this panel was called “Come Listen to Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred Talk About  Astro City and Madman” it would bring in more people. Just sayin’. Seriously though, come to this panel and listen to Kurt Busiek and Mike Allred talk about Astro City and Madman. (Theater B – 1E21)

 

 

 

Special Edition: NYC Saturday Panel Guide

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Special Edition: NYC is right around the corner, taking place at the Javits Center in New York City on Saturday, June 14 and Sunday, June 15. Unlike New York Comic Con, Special Edition: NYC is going to be strictly comic book focused. Don’t mistake this for a lesser show though. The Big Two publishers, Marvel and DC, will both be at Special Edition: NYC, and they (and others) are planning some very cool panels. Here’s our picks for the best panels happening on Saturday at Special Edition: NYC.

11:00 – 12:00 – DC Comics: Art Masters – Francis Manapul, Joe Prado and other DC artists will be talking art in this panel. I’m hoping this panel involves some live drawing on a big screen for fans to see. (Theater A – 1E19)

12:15 – 1:15 – Marvel’s All-New Young Guns – Once the DC art panel wraps, stay in your seat and listen to Marvel’s artists talk about their craft and upcoming projects. Mahmud Asrar, Sara Pichelli and Ryan Stegman will be on the panel, among others. (Theater A – 1E19)

1:30 – 2:30 – Mike Allred Spotlight – Okay, at this point, you can just stay in Theater A – 1E19 all day and witness some awesome lectures on comic book art. Any listener of the Tuesday Night Comics Podcast knows that I am a HUGE Mike Allred fan. This is must-attend for me, and should be for you as well. PS – Allred’s new Silver Surfer comic is a must-read. (Theater A – 1E19)

1:45 – 2:45 – Archie: Life, Afterlife and Beyond – Afterlife with Archie is one of the most unique comic books to debut in the past year, and takes Archie and the Riverdale crew into all-new territory. The creative team of Afterlife with Archie, Robert Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla, will both be at this panel. (Theater B – 1E21)

3:00 – 4:00 – Rocket Girl: Past and Futures – Rocket Girl was one of the coolest books to debut at NYCC 2013. Creators Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare will be at this panel to talk all things Rocket Girl. If you haven’t checked out this series yet, I highly recommend you do! (Theater B – 1E21)

4:00 – 5:00 – Reimagining the Female Hero – Some of the best female creators in comics today, including Amy Reeder, Jenny Frison and Marguerite Bennett, will be on this panel discussing evolution of the female hero in comics. (Theater A – 1E19)

4:15 – 5:15 – Comic Book Club – Live! – I’ve attended Comic Book Club – Live! shows in the past and absolutely love them. These guys produce one of the best comic book related podcasts around and are very entertaining. They also tend to give away comics at their shows, so…bonus! (Theater B – 1E21)

5:15 – 6:45 – Creator Connection – Are you a writer looking for an artist? An artist looking for a writer? Check out this networking event and you may find your next creative partner. It will be interesting to see what comics spawn from this event. (Theater A – 1E19)

Tickets are currently available to Special Edition: NYC at specialeditonnyc.com