ABC Podcast Episode #124, plus visual aids

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by Fantastic Fangirls and the friendly, fundamentally first-rate feelings of their founder*, the fabulous Caroline, whose name really should begin with a different letter. Big wins for Dr Faustus, Hercules, Joker, Human Torch, Twilight Guardian, an old camera, and I seriously think the rest was all Bendis, ultimate and otherwise. Evie is still AWOL, and she may or may not be back next week but YOU'LL NEVER KNOW BECAUSE THAT EPISODE WILL BE POLY-BAGGED.

*maybe? probably co-founder, but that breaks the alliteration. My sincere apologies to her partners over there if this information is faulty, false, fallacious, fictitious, fraudulent, or fishy.

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories. Also consider supporting the show with a donation of your choosing.

Cover(s) of the Week:

Aaron and Caroline's pick, from New York Five #1, cover by Brian Wood/Ryan Kelly



Other visual aids may come tomorrow, if I can get my computer to stop being a poop.

ABC Podcast Episode #123, plus visual aids

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by some pretty sweet aughts jazz, and the comic book analysis stylings of the delightful Kelly Thompson (from whom you can get lots more here, or here, or here, or here.) And please go get the latest episode of 3 Chicks Review Comics - it'll make us look influential. With Evie out of the country for the week, Kelly and Aaron stage a bit of a "getting to know your taste in comics" marathon, as you might expect from people who have never spoken to each other before, as opposed to people who have lived together for 6 years. Big wins for Wolverine and Jubilee, The Boys, Memoir, and ... Buffy! (Another first!)

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories. Also consider supporting the show with a donation of your choosing.

Cover(s) of the Week:

Kelly's Pick: Wolverine and Jubilee #1, Cover by Olivier Copiel




















Aaron's Pick: Power Girl #20 by Sami Basri




















Panel(s) of the Week:

Kelly's Pick, from Batman - Streets of Gotham #19 by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen



(Aaron's panel is too damn big to put here, but if you didn't get The Boys #50, flip through it on Wednesday. It's the splash page with the two teams facing off.)

Bonus Crap of the Week:

Kelly's Pick, Mangled Bat-bits from Batman 706, by Tony Daniel



Also, FYI, the issues of Superman/Batman referenced at the end are #'s 51-52 (the utterly brilliant Lil' Leaguers arc) and #78 (the Batman Vs. Superman imaginary battle)

TOP TEN REASONS PEOPLE BUY COMICS

Just call me Lex Lolthor.

ABC Podcast Episode #122, plus visual aids

This episode of Evie & Aaron and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Weekend is brought to you by compromised immune systems and the inability to STOP THE RUN. We give much respect to two future-tech-idea-driven comics at different ends of their runs (The Infinite Vacation and Vision Machine) pay tribute to the always exceptional Secret Six, and Aaron has a bit of trouble with the proximity of the "O" and "P" keys on the keyboard. Speaking of which, Heroes for Hire keeps rolling, Daredevil and Superman start to get back on track (despite a shit beginning and some ridiculous proportions for Lois) and we bid a fond farewell to Thor: The Mighty Avenger without having ever learned the identity of the mysterious "Mister K."

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories. Also consider supporting the show with a donation of your choosing.

Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's Pick, from Infinite Vacation #1, cover by Christian Ward



Aaron's Pick, from Daredevil Reborn #1, Cover by Jock



Panel(s) of the Week:

Evie's pick, from Secret Six #29 by Gail Simone and Marcos Marz



Aaron's pick can't be shown because SPOILERS!!!! so instead here's a bonus anatomy lesson for Allan Goldman, penciller on Superman #707

ABC Podcast Episode #121, plus visual aids

Happy New Year, again! This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Stump the Music Critic, in which Aaron puts Evie to the test about music trivia and naturally cheats like it's his job. This week's awards have praise, gasps and tears for Sweet Tooth, cheers for Thanos Imperative: Devastation and Who is Jake Ellis?, as well as predictable love for X-Factor, even with its questionable jokes. We hand out some thank yous for year-end gifts, and there is some extra Pokemon talk if you need to fast forward.

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories. Also consider supporting the show with a donation of your choosing.

Cover(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Batman Beyond #1, cover by Ryan Sook and Ed Benes:


Aaron's pick, all the DC logo-centric covers like the one above.

Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Sweet Tooth #17 by Jeff Lemire:

[REDACTED CUZ SPOILER]

Evie's pick, from Thanos Imperative: Devastation one-shot, but Abnett, Lanning and Miguel Sepulveda:

ABCP Year-End Spectacular!

Let's all start the New Year off right - by taking care of the stuff we were supposed to have done last week! Namely, our year-end show. We trot out dozens and dozens of nominee-nominees, some of which become actual nominees, and of those, some of them will win! "When, When, When," you ask? "Why, right now!" we reply, also in Italian. Also also, we are briefly joined by a special guest, which is this:



At least one of you has already noticed that we've added a donate button to the blog over there on the right-hand side (-->) after enough of you told us that you would actually welcome the opportunity.

So here's how the game is played - The following were nominee-nominees ... that is, they were nominated to be nominated. To find out who actually gets those nominations, and most importantly (or least importantly if your picks did not win) who wins.

These characters, creators, items, books and stories were all nominated to be nominated in their various categories:

Hero of the Year:
Firestar (multiple books)
Starlord/Peter Quill (Thanos Imperative)
Ivy Raven (Echo)
Tom Taylor (the Unwritten)
Dick Grayson Batman
Nova (Thanos Imperative, Nova, Secret Avengers)
Bruce Wayne Batman
Spider-Man and Ultimate Spider-Man
Justice (Avengers Academy, I am an Avenger)
Layla Miller (X-Factor)
Gus (Sweet Tooth)
Luke Cage (multiple books)
Thor (multiple books)
Speedball (Avengers Academy)
Wes Fischer (Underground)
Stephanie Brown (Batgirl)
Anya Corazon (multiple books, Spider-Girl)
Tim Drake
Booster Gold (Booster Gold, JLA: Generation Lost)
Power Girl
Sue Richards (Fantastic Four, Heralds)
Wee Huey (The Boys)

Villain of the Year:
Ghost (Thunderbolts)
Taskmaster (Siege, Avengers: The Initiative, Taskmaster)
Ragdoll (Secret Six)
Loki (multiple books)
Hela (multiple books)
Amanda Waller (Suicide Squad/Secret Six)
Rhino (ASM by Joe Kelly)
Wilson Taylor (the Unwritten)
Mikaboshi (Hercules, Chaos War)
Max Lord (Generation Lost, various)
The Homelander (The Boys)
Cancerverse’s Lord Mar-Vell (Thanos Imperative)
Abbott (Sweet Tooth)
Ultimate Reed Richards (multiple Ultimate books)

Writer of the Year:
Mike Carey (The Unwritten)
Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth)
Jeff Parker (Thunderbolts, Underground)
Fred Van Lente (Hercules, Taskmaster, Shadowland: Power Man)
Greg Pak (Hercules, Vision Machine)
Gail Simone (Secret Six, Wonder Woman)
Garth Ennis (The Boys)
Bryan Q. Miller (Batgirl)
Kieron Gillen (Thor, Loki, Generation Hope)
Peter David (X-Factor)
Terry Moore (Echo)
Paul Tobin (Spider-Girl, Marvel Adventures)
Ultimate Bendis
Joshua Dysart (Unknown Soldier)
Jen Van Meter (Black Cat)
Nick Spencer (Morning Glories, Jimmy Olsen)
Paul Cornell (Action, Knight and Squire)
Bryan Lee O’Malley (Scott Pilgrim)
Joe Kelly (Rhino, Superman-Batman, Four Eyes)
Abnett & Lanning (all the cosmic stuff)
Mark Waid (Incorruptible, Strange, Spider-Man)
Jonathan Hickman (Fantastic Four)

Artist of the Year:
Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth)
Peter Gross (The Unwritten)
Sean Murphy (Joe the Barbarian)
Dustin Ngyuen (Batman-related books)
Steve Lieber (Underground)
Max Fiumara (Four Eyes, Spider-Man)
Amanda Conner (Power Girl)
Sami Basri (Power Girl)
Nicola Scott (Teen Titans, Wonder Woman)
David Lafuente & Sara Pichelli (Ultimate Spider-Man)
Chris Samnee (Thor the Mighty Avenger)
Dave Johnson (Unknown Solider, Deadpool covers)
Gabriel Hardman (Hulk & Atlas)
Yuko Shimizu (Unwritten covers)
Doug Braithwaite (Thor)
Terry Moore (Echo)
J. Calafiore (Secret Six)
Becky Cloonan (Demo)
Colleen Coover (Girl Comics intros)

Crap of the Year:
The Rise of Arsenal
Superman: Grounded
The fiasco around Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
Brightest Day
DC’s Batman scheduling around bringing Bruce Wayne back
Box office performance of Scott Pilgrim
Marvel’s cancellations: Thor the Mighty Avenger, Young Allies, cosmic titles
The Sentry: Fallen Sun

Comic-related non-comic Item of the Year:
Scott Pilgrim
Red
Iron Man 2
Lost
Doctor Who
Kick Ass
Adam Warrock’s “The War for Infinity”
Harry Potter 7: Pt. 1
Planet Hulk movie

Best New Series:
Morning Glories by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma
Taskmaster by Fred Van Lente and Jefte Palo
Shadowland: Powerman by Fred Van Lente and Mahmud Asrar
Codebreakers by Carey Malloy and Scott Godlewsky, created by Ross Richie
Generation Lost by Judd Winick (and Keith Giffen) and multiple artists
Thor the Mighty Avenger by Roger Langridge and Chris Samnee
New Birds of Prey by Gail Simone and various artists
New Thunderbolts by Jeff Parker and Kev Walker
Spider-Girl by Paul Tobin and Clayton Henry
Joe the Barbarian by Grant Morrison and Sean Murphy
Avengers Academy by Christos Gage and Mike McKone
Chaos War & Thanos Imperative by Abnett and Lanning
Heroes for Hire by Abnett & Lanning
Astonishing Spider-Man and Wolverine by Jason Aaron and Adam Kubert
Highland Laddie by Garth Ennis
The Bulletproof Coffin by David Hine and Shaky Kane


Story of the Year:
Ex Machina: Vice by Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris
Codebreakers by Carey Maloy and Scott Godlewsky, created by Ross Richie
Taskmaster by Fred Van Lente and Jefte Palo
The Unwritten: The Many Lives of Lizzie Hexam by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
The Unwritten #12 by Mike Carey and Peter Gross
Gravel: The Last King of England by Mike Wolfer with Warren Ellis
Thanos Imperative by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Miguel Sepulveda
Sweet Tooth: In Captivity by Jeff Lemire
Amazing Spider-Man: Shed by Zeb Wells
Thor: The Fine Print, by Kieron Gillen and Doug Braithwaite
The Boys: The Innocents by Garth Ennis

Listen to find out who won, and to hear more Englebert Humperdinck than anyone probably should.