ABC Podcast, Episode #43 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics actually happened! And is brought to you by a rehabilitated hard drive and One Note Zen. We read enlightening listener email, celebrate teabagging (never gets old!), turn a critical eye to editorial planning, disagree over Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader, and generally go off the rails, but adorably so, I'm sure. Join now and pay nothing until 2009.

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 The Outsiders #17, cover by Lee Garbett:


Aaron's pick, from Thor #601, variant cover by Marko Djurdjevic:


Panel(s) of the Week

From Invincible #61 by Robert Kirkman and Ryan Ottley:

Evie's pick, from Jack of Fables #33 (The Great Fables Crossover #2) by Bill Willingham, Matt Sturges and Russ Braun:

No means no, and early means late

So you know how last week I was all "dudes, not only will we not skip the show next week, it will be early?" Well so actually, we're not skipping the show, but the thing I was supposed to be tied up with today was canceled, and the whole computer thing is kind of a tedium that involves tiny screwdrivers and constantly missed UPS trucks, as do most tediums (tedia?), so we'll be doing it tomorrow night. Aaron has the day off tomorrow and will definitely be here to sign for the missing power supply, so we should be all set. Just think about HOW AWESOME it will be after ALL THIS TIME apart.

Here's a bonus: If you send me an email about what you did with your time while there was no ABC, I will read it on the show. Within reason, of course (I'm talking to you, JUGS subscriber).

And (half) the Winner(s) IS (are) ....

So what with there being no podcast this week, and what with Evie being in jail, I figured I'd share with you a handful of notes about my winners and losers this week. This is basically the document I do the show off of, with some pictures (or visual aids, in Eviespeak) thrown in for good measure.

Moon Knight 29 Mike Benson - Gabrielle DelOtto (cover )

cover of the week. DelOtto's art is always amazingly kinetic, and plus luchadores.



Punisher 4 Rememder Jerome Opena

panel of the week - Punisher getting all equipped to go take on The Hood. This is basically Frank co-opting the Taskmaster's schtick, although I don't remember Tasky ever using an Ant-Man hat. Just an awesome image.

SA Aftermath Beta Ray Bill - (the green of eden) Kieron Gillen Dan Brereton

Ridiculous title, but Beta Ray Bill is awesome. Some skrulls trick him into doing some stuff, then some other skrulls attack him, not sure if both skrull teams are working together or not - super skrull made up of "Warriors Three" - might need to read this one again to speak coherently about it.

Mysterius 4 Jeff Parker - Tom Fowler

Gaust Demons - villain of the week. This book has never not been fantastic. Anyone not reading this in single issues had better pick it up in trade, or you will be seriously missing out on some wonderful comicbooking.

ASM 591 Slott Kitson Eaglesham (GOD WITH THE OSBORN HAIR!)

Last week's crap, this week's surprise. Slott actually handled the Spidey unmasking moment well, although Peter seemed to have a pretty good handle on what had happened. Does he remember making a deal with Mephisto? Does he know what the deal is? I thought he had forgotten all about it? Shouldn't he have been "WTF are you talking about Johnny Storm? You've never known who I am." But the real surprise is JJJ as new Mayor. (yes, AMNY spoiled it, but really, who reads that?)

Also, did we know that Kyle's GF is Sinestro's kid? I don't think we knew that, but I don't know.

Oracle 2 Cure / Cowl Kevin VanHook Guillem March (cover)

Crap of the week. Seriously Guillem? One of the smartest people in the DCU, possibly the smartest woman in all of comics - in a book where she enters a VR world in which literally ANYTHING is possible ... and this is the shot you're going with for the cover?

Classy, Guillem. Real Classy. Also Peter David need to knock it off with the snide recap page comments.

Air 8 G Willow Wilson MK Perker / Fables whatever (crossover #1)

Should probably read these. Might need Fables for 1/L

Incognito 3 Brubaker Phillips

Book of the week. Now as good as the weakest of Criminal, but still getting better. Also have a crush on cover chick, despite corny-ass name.

Additionally..

WFT is all this?!@?

No new podcast this week, SORRY!

Hey loves,
A million apologies, there will be no new episode of Awesomed By Comics this week, due to the necessity of a complete operating system reinstall for the studio computer for a bunch of reasons that are not interesting. But we will be back next week, and in fact may have it done a day early because I have to be in an all-day training Sunday and will not accept skipping two shows in a row. Please take this opportunity to download an episode you missed, I know you haven't been entirely faithful, you scamps.

Behind the Curtain

Evie may not hate when bloggers write "why I'm not blogging" posts, but I sure do. So I figured this would be as good a time as any to let everyone out there see where the magic happens.

Here then is our little Sanctum Sanctorum, complete with eyes of aggamotto and wands of watoomb and toys featuring hot chicks in suits of cat.

Just like Dr. Strange's famous Greenwich Village manse, my home studio also appears to be something other than what it is. In fact, I distinctly remember when we first moved to New York City four years ago, walking through the village on a quest for macaroons, eyeing each building with a hint of suspicion, as though any of them could be hiding the true whereabouts of the universe's Sorcerer Supreme. (And while we didn't find Dr. Strange's hideout, or macaroons for that matter, we did pick up a neat toy which you will see in a minute.)

So lo! Here just outside our bathroom, sits this non-descript cabinet. (non-descript if you don't count the hanging guitars and the microphone stand directly beside it. And the tower of keyboard equipment to its right, which I did not photograph, as that would have ruined the comparison.)



O ho! But inside, there is a world of wonder!



Baubles and levers and switches and something called a "sonic maximizer" which I'm still not 100% sure what it does, but it will likely come in handy should Evie ever become posessed by an alien symbiote. This cabinet hides messes of wire so tangled, it rivals the far-outiest of the Ditkoverse constructed for the good Doctor.

So let's take a look at some of the toys that make my studio go go go go! No, not the devices and gadgets and preamps and that nonsense. Actual toys.



Here are the newest additions to the team, Snorlax, Driftblim and Guy Gardner. Why is Guy hanging with the Pokemons, you ask? Because the rest of my studio is populated by toy babes, whom I wish to protect from his inevitable advances.

Allow me to introduce to you the first of those babes, Fujiko Mine from my all-time favorite anime (and one of my favorite manga) Lupin III. This is Fujiko undercover as an extremely believable policewoman, who would certainly not at all raise any suspicions that she might not actually be a real policewoman.

Oh, and also her sidekick Machop. They're like Turner and Hooch.



Here are my other two Fujikos, one of which was picked up at the aforehinted-at Japanese import toy store in New York, the other of which may also have been, but I'm leaning towards ebay as the source for it. The one hanging from my lamp used to also have a motorcycle, until it fell and broke. Now she's on a covert mission to infiltrate the back of my monitor, or the top of my D8.





And of course, what would a studio be without a Firestar on a Dala Horse?



And while I'm at it, I may as well go ahead and introduce you to our occasional guest-stars, Stan and Pokey. They are also where the magic happens, whereas magic = cat poops.

Stan's the pink one.






You can see why Pokey might be less likely to appear on the podcast, given that this is his state of being about 95% of the time.

So now you know babies are made!

One of those posts

Hey kids,
You have probably noticed that the majority of posts around here lately have been podcast-related, with not so much of that "blogging" thing going on. Cold truth is I'm MAD BIZZY with full-time and freelance work at the moment, and so unpaid-fun-with-comix time is primarily going to the show, plus some brainless short-burst stuff that doesn't deserve bloggage (although I had a fantastic superheroine inspiration today that I may need to expand on here soon).

Anyway, I'm not going to say that I hate when bloggers do this, because I actually don't. I'm not so fussed for an air of mystery. Now I will be finishing a few things before going to Jill Sobule's album release show, for work, just so you don't think I'm complaining, and humming her song about a porn star to myself for the next eight or so hours.

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:

A note on the podcast, and ninjas

Happy Easter kids--while you're all out searching for eggs (mmm...eggs) and getting sick on chocolate bunny flesh, I'm spending the whole day rebuilding my computer from scratch, because some bitches in the devil army of haxor asshats planted some nasty crap all up in my ones and zeroes. As a result I'm way behind on comics, and therefore on podcast planning, and therefore on actually recording the podcast. Though we do have kind of a special treat this week that is already recorded, so you definitely don't want to throw your hands in the air and skip this one just because it's going to be late. Anyway, stay tuned, and have a very happy resurrection, I know my computer will.

ABC Podcast, Episode #41 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by comics-related pick-up lines, and yes this is a Batarang in my pocket. Abnett & Lanning, Jeff Parker and other unsung heroes prove yet again that we really don't need to be reading comics by anyone else, but we do anyway, so that we can be utterly underwhelmed by certain highly anticipated superstar snoozefests. Vertigo's Greatest Hits closes out a jolly good run, and a douche with a giant face for a torso doesn't get nearly enough time to shine.

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 Bang Tango #3, cover by Howard Chaykin and Edgar Delgado:


Aaron's pick, from Superman Batman #57, cover by Whilce Portacio:

Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Dr. Doom and the Masters of Evil #3, by Paul Tobin, Patrick Scherberger and Esdras Cristobal:


Evie's pick, from Seaguy #1 by Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart:


Bonus Cyclops, uh, one-eyed monster:

It's April, Fools

It's April 1st, which means the internet today is filled with HILARITY. Not really though, because pulling an elaborate stunt today is actually pretty hack. I did consider it for about 45 seconds though, before I had coffee, so here I give you some rejected ideas for How to Hoodwink ABC Readers, for Laffs:

- Awesomed By Comics changing to Awesomed By Bella Sara Online Princess Horse Community.
- Introducing guest column by Grant Morrison, who thinks we're hilarious.
- We've decided to boycott comics for the foreseeable future, because of Jesus.
- I'm humbly asking for donations because I lost my job. Not because of the terrible media climate in which half the people in my line of work are getting laid off, but because in a rage I called my boss a Poozer.
- Introducing guest column by Rob Liefeld, who thinks we're hilarious.
- Regretfully have to shut down the podcast, due to cease and desist letter from Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, and some precocious child.
- Militant feminist rant about the underrepresentation of Wolverine in mainstream comic books.
- Blog and podcast going on hiatus while in counseling--caught Aaron dressed as Firestar, rolling around in a bathtub full of ice cubes.