MatthewMG

All great examples. Added. Sin City's high up on the list already as is 300. Men With Brooms? I'm not sure. meg andI have already seen it. Is it a guy's film? I'm not sure, let me know what you think. Justify it and we'll throw it in rotation. I can't. I thought it might count as a chick flick but upon reflection most of the film is told from the guys' perspective. The suggestion is retracted. How about New Waterford Girl and The Rundown?

Sin City My Big Fat Greek Wedding The Devil Wears Prada Star Trek: First Contact Save the Last Dance 300 Sweet Home Alabama Hunt for Red October The Prince and Me Spawn Sense and Sensibility (1995) Master and Commander Mansfield Park (1999) L.A. Confidential Clueless Does Men With Brooms count?

I believe it's a hold over from the golden age when Wondie couldn't fly and the amazons were a technologically advanced society.

Awwww, that's too bad, I always liked the Go-Bots more than the Transformers

Re: Hippolyta's hair colour - IIRC, in the silver age Poly's hair was changed from brunette to blond to keep people from confusing the two characters.

Superman Batman Wonder Woman Justice League of America Fantastic Four Spider-Man Iron Man Avengers Daredevil Legion of Superheroes Aside from a few brief interruptions, these characters have been continuously published since their inception. Some of them have runs of over 800 issues. Most comics are lucky to reach 100 issue, and it's virtually unheard of for a tv drama to last 40 years or more (ok, ok, Doctor Who and Soap operas, but I can't think of anything else). That's pretty exceptional. Yet for some strange reason this sort of longevity is viewed as the norm, not the exception. Meanwhile characters like Aquaman and Dr. Strange who've been able to support runs of 70 to 90 issues at a time are viewed as failures. That's never made sense to me.

IIRC They shared some panel time in DC Vs. Marvel.

Personally, I think we've got a good compromise right now. We have the golden age heros and their legacy but Superman is still vitally important because he inspired the rebirth of the superhero movement after it was fairly brutally put down by Dr. Trapp.

Well, you've covered the big DC Comics origins, how about some Marvel origins, like Daredevil: Man Without Fear, or Wolverine: Origin? Or comics for kids, say Akiko, Leave it to Chance and Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade? Maybe collections of comic strips? Prince Valiant Vol 1 Complete Peanuts 1950-1952 Complete Terry and the Pirates Vol 1 1934-36 Or endings? The Dark Knight Returns Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? Thanos: Marvel Universe - The End You could devote an episode or two to major story lines that take up several trades: The Sinestro Corps Sinestro Corps vol 1-2 Tales of the Sinestro Corps The Death and Return of Superman Trilogy The Death of Superman World Without Superman Return of Superman Finally, there's the forerunner to the modern trade, the 80 Page Giant. A few years back DC reprinted some of their silver age 80 pagers as prestige format one shots. I've picked up a few dirt cheap at my LCS. They're interesting reminders of a time when back issues and trades were nonexistent.

Excellent episode guys! I wasn't going to see this movie but I enjoyed your review so much I stopped the podcast and checked out the film so I'd be able to follow along. Thanks a lot. The movie was a lot of fun. Utterly ludicrous, but fun. I have to disagree with you in one instance though. Whoah there. Black Manta is A-list. He's a baby killing, partnership ending, status quo changing, civil rights movement co-opting evil underwater Batman. All kidding aside, sending an army of super villains to kill Supes and Bats makes a certain amount of sense. the super hero squad might be more inclined to hear Superman out and switch sides (as indeed they did.) Greedy super villains would just attack. From Luthor's perspective the bad guys would be more controllable, and therefore the better choice. Re: Shazam! IIRC his costume is magically generated but it's still cloth. He has skin underneath it and he can take it off. As to whether he and Billy are two individual minds, it depends on the writer. Sometimes Cap is just Billy's mind in a grown up's body, sometimes he's a separate personality. But in both cases he and Billy share each other's memories. Also I think Billy would fake out Batman. He may be a little kid with a fairly black and white view of the world but he also spent a sizable chunk of his life struggling to survive on the streets. He's not above using a little subterfuge every now and then.

Re: Toyman being a pedophile, I can't recall any instance of that in the comics I've read. If anything he's moving in the opposite direction, with Rucka and Johns casting him as an overzealous protector of children, attacking people who hurt kids or kidnapping them because he thinks he can do a better job of raising them than their parents. The only story where I remember him hurting a child has been retconned into being a defective robot duplicate.

Re: The Web's premise has been done before in the last 25 issues of Azrael Vol 1 Also, IIRC The Shield predates Cap by about a year and wasn't a Simon/Kirby creation. They were responsible for a re-vamped version of the character called Lancelot Strong.

Apparently not everyone's on board with the Marvel acquisition. Io9.com reports that there's at least one serious lawsuit aimed at stopping the deal. I apologize in advance for the Mickey/Wolverine mash up art

Re: Comics - Boom! apparently has the rights to the classic characters, so we probably won't be seeing a Marvel Micky Mouse Comic for the moment. Tony Bedard had an interesting observation over at Newsarama; With the Mouse's deep pockets Marvel could start taking more risks with their comics line: TV: I'm not sure I understand the point you were trying to make about live action TV. You mentioned Smallville as an example of a DC show but for some reason thought a Marvel show would have trouble because they don't have a mainstream cable channel? But Smallville became a hit on a network that was even smaller than Disney owned ABC. IIRC The Mouse also owns ABC Studios, which produces successful shows like Lost and Desperate Housewives. If anything I'd say Marvel's in a better position than DC when it comes to live action TV. As a side note, according the Greg Weisman of Gargoyles and Spectacular Spider-man fame, Disney wanted to buy Marvel in the nineties but the company and it's film rights were such a mess that they decided to start from scratch with the Gargoyles universe. The rationale was that Disney needed a property to appeal to teenaged boys. If that demographic is the reason for this acquisition, then the speculation that this deal will lead to more teen girl friendly comics may be premature.

Bah! His rainbows are no match for J'onn's power to conjure ice cream from thin air!

Eh, the two I've read are alright but nothing spectacular. Their entertainment value lies more in the interesting ideas (the JLA as an anti-superhero mitlita etc) than the quality of the books themselves. If you see them in a back issue bin or on the free rack pick, them up. But I wouldn't go out of your way to collect them.

The Legion actually had four books in the 90s: Legion of Superheros - starring the original legion Legionnaires - starring the teenaged clones of the original legion L.E.G.I.O.N. - a prequel series featuring a mix of former and future Legionnaires, their ancestors and newer characters like Lobo and Garv and Valor - another prequel starring Mon-El before he was trapped in the phantom zone After Zero Hour Valor was cancelled and L.E.G.I.O.N. was relaunched as R.E.B.E.L.S., although you could still say the LSH had 4 books because Lobo was a L.E.G.I.O.N. spin-off (although by that logic the LSH had no titles, Superman had 12, 14 if you count New Gods and Mr. Miracle). Re: Guy Gardner; Beau Smith was responsible for "toning down" Guy's personality. He also hated the morphing powers as much as Mike does. He wanted Guy to be a two fisted Doc Savage/Indiana Jones type character but his editors forced him to introduce those powers because the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers were popular.

Darn, I just got drool all over my keyboard.

Another fine episode, although IIRC, Agent Lee's appearance isn't the start of a new plot line. She just has a new job with the police and this is the last time we see her

Fantastic episode! I started reading in the nineties so I've always had a soft spot for the decade, despite it's reputation. Don't feel too bad about putting Wizard on your list Mike, we all read it. Good point about the mag's efforts to spotlight lesser known books like Strangers in Paradise and Akikko. They really don't get enough credit for that. My own list is: 1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures The book that got me hooked on comics. Anyone who wants to write all-ages comics needs to read this series to see how it should be done. It was fun, exciting and smart. The stories tackled issues like environmentalism, apartheid and death. A memorable stretch of issues in the twenties and thirties had the turtles traveling asia learning about various religions, like Buddhism and Islam. 2) !mpact comics A short-lived imprint where DC writers revamped Archie super heroes. The idea was to create a line of kid friendly comics to lure in new readers. It failed to catch on but succeeded in hooking me. 3) Mike Parobeck's Fly was a particular favorite. TMNTA got me interested in comics but !mpact is what got me to stay. 3) Hawkworld People complain that this series screwed up Hawkman's continuity, but as long as you don't worry about how it fits with all previous Hawk stories, it holds up. Truman and Ostrander's Katar Hol is an intriguing character but their revamp of Hawk Woman is the main reason I love this series. The level headed housewife of the silver age is gone. In her place is as a hot head with a heart of gold who is torn between duty to her homeworld and the man she loves. Sound familiar? Every JLU fan should check this book out. 4) L.E.G.I.O.N. Yes, the first few issues come out in 1989. Yes, the last year and a half was pretty weak. Yes it gave us Lobo. In its heyday L.E.G.I.O.N. was the best team book on the stands. A sort of Farscape meets Homicide: Life on the Streets. The main cast consisted of heroes, egomaniacs, everymen, whiners and at least one dangerous psychopath. Characters died, disappeared mysteriously, ascended to near-godhood and changed genders. And that was only in the first year. You never knew what was going to happen. 5) Bone `nuff said. 6) Bat Books from roughly fall 1996 - spring 1998 After an avalanche of events (Knightfall, contagion etc.) Denny O'Neil decided the Bat family needed a break. For over a year there were no crossovers (except the line wide ones), no story ran for more than three issues, and every month at least one book featured a self contained story intended to act as a jumping on point for new readers. 7) Untold Tales of Spider-man For a time known as the "good Spider-man book". 8) Understanding Comics 9) Martian Manhunter: American Secrets The first time J'onn really worked for me as a solo character. IIRC DC held a contest asking readers to vote for the character they most wanted to see in a regular series. Death won, and somehow ended up with a standard format three issue mini series while runner up J'onn J'onzz got a prestige format mini. It's a dense, paranoid period piece about J'onn uncovering a conspiracy in the 1950's. The good guys are on the run, the enemy is everywhere and before it's over J'onn'll have to relive the worst moment of his life. The twist at the end has by this point become a Manhunter cliche, but that doesn't detract from the overall quality. I wonder if Darwyn Cooke read this. in many ways it's reminiscent of New Frontier but with fewer heroes and a more pessimistic POV. 10) Heroes Reborn Admittedly the reborn books themselves weren't great. Their effect on Marvel, however, was fantastic. With the publicly approved heroes gone, several third tier characters rushed to fill the void. This resulted in a line of terrific books like Ka-Zar, Alpha Flight, Heroes for Hire, and the shocking first issue of Thunderbolts. Plus, when the heroes finally returned the creative teams used Reborn to wipe away dreck like teen Tony Stark.

*crosses fingers for a live action Captain Boomerang*

Mania.com's posted some sketches and storyboard panles from the GL movie I'm not sure of how I feel about Hal's body armour costume. It looks neat, but all those extra details must be a pain to track.

Sigh, if they wanted to do Smallville with Batman why not just dust off the original proposal?: http://www.kryptonsite.com/brucewayne/outline.htm I really wish that Aquaman pilot had gone to series. Stupid CW merger.

Hell. Yeah. I. Concour. As do I, although Mike and Dan might want to wait for the soft covers, given how long it is. Flash: The Return of Barry Allen by Mark Waid and Greg Larocque JLA: New World Order by Grant Morrison or Howard Porter Doctor 13: Architecture & Morality by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang. A father/daughter pair of paranormal investigators team up with a child prodigy, a french caveboy, assorted ghosts, a futuristic alien and a vampire to confront Nazis, Geoff Johns, Mark Waid, Greg Rucka and Grant Morrison. Be warned: It gets a little trippy. Leave it to Chance: Shaman's Rain by James Robinson and Paul Smith. Kolchak: the Night Stalker meets Nancy Drew. A nice all ages book. Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? The end of Superman, as told by Alan Moore and Curt Swan. Legion of Super-Heroes: The Great Darkness Saga by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen. Still can't believe the cartoon never adapted this. Aquaman: Tide and Time by Peter David and Kirk Jarvien and Aquaman: Sword of Atlantis: Once and Future by Kurt Busiek and Butch Guice Spider-Man Visionaries: Kurt Busiek Some of the best Spidey stories since Gerry Conway left the book. The Brave and Bold: Lords of Luck by Mark Waid and George Perez. Soft cover's coming in December. Superman: Up, Up and Away Written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek, Art by Pete Woods and Renalto Guedes. Launched the current Geoff Johns run and features probably the best use of Clark Kent in years. Blue Beetle Vol 2, 3 or 4. Written by John Rogers and Keith Giffen, Art by Cully Hamner, Rafael Albuqerque and various others. During the Rogers run this was DC's most consistently enjoyable super hero book. Jamie Reyes is a great character, reminiscent of Kyle Rayner. They're both likeable everymen who find themselves in way over their heads. The book's got a fantastic supporting cast, laugh out loud funny dialogue, and the most creative alien conquest plot I've ever seen. And as my signature shows (assuming I used that control panel properly) Ted Kord's legacy is treated with a great deal of respect. Jamie actually starts studying Ted's old battle strategies. As the series continues he uses what he learns to defeat his villains, often admonishing himself to "think like Ted Kord." One story has a throwaway panel showing a WWTKD (What Would Ted Kord Do?) sign in Jamie's room. We even get a return appearance by Ted's Bug and a JLI reunion at one point. I love Ted and I hope he comes back someday, but until then Jamie's a great consolation prize. There's a reason this is the longest running BB series since the golden age. The only problem is I'm not sure which Volume to recommend. The first is pretty weak and while it introduces the characters, probably isn't the best place to start if you want a good read. Things pick up a lot with Vol. 2 with a fun New Gods arc but the Ted Kord elements don't appear until Vol. 3. However, because the original series wasn't written for the trade this volume might come off as a little disjointed. Vol. 4 is the best but it's also the climax of the run and I'm not sure if it'll have the same impact if you aren't familiar with the cast. Vol 4 also has a Sinestro Corps crossover that as far as I can tell isn't collected anywhere else. Like I said, I honestly can't pick one volume to suggest but I can't recommend this series enough. Yikes! that list turned out longer than I expected. Sorry if it's too much. I'm really digging this segment and can't wait til the Formerly Known as the Justice League and Batman and the Outsiders reviews.