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

Awesomed By YOU

Ok, so it's Wednesday, and you're going through your stack, and as a loyal ABCP Listener you're thinking "Golly gosh heck, if I could pick hero of the week, it would be for this thing that Magog does right there!" or you're thinking "Gohgwhoh Gwohgogo, this sure is a pretty cover to Chew #10 - I hope Evie and Aaron give it some love."

THIS WEEK THAT GIVING CHANCE IS TO YOU FROM ALWAYS! OR SOME OTHER FORMATION OF THAT SENTENCE THAT MAKES MAYBE SOME SENSE.

Evie's abandone-ing her a-su-bebe for the weekend so I need you kids to fill in. No need to tell me to do the dishes or vacuum or feed the cats, I've got all that covered. Where I need you to fill in is in our show.

So here's where we at ABCP find out just how amazingly awesome our listeners and friends are.

I want you guys to send in something really super quick. Doesn't have to be anywhere near pro quality. Audio or video (if you have a webcam). Just has to be you, talking about a category you feel particularly strongly about this week, contributing to a very special awesome episode of what is far and away considered one of the most entertaining comics podcasts on the net with the initials "ABCP."

So here's what I need from you.

1) The first thing you should do, BEFORE your actual review, is say the phrase"....And from the internet, we're the listeners, and we're awesomed by comics!!!" I'll put all of them together in the intro and it will just be totally awesome.

2) For your segment, say who you are, what your category is, and why. Anywhere between 30 seconds to 3-4 minutes is cool - if you get going on a roll let it go as long as you want. "Hey, this is Aaron from New York - I want to talk about MY nominee for panel of the week - that panel in New Mutants 12 where the smiley face robots are blowing each other up. I remember the smile face robots from their first appearance in bla bla bla and they have a special connection to me because they were there when I was first reading bla bla bla and that led to bla bla bla and now I'm on meth," or what have you.

3) Record it however you want. If you've got a mic, do it in Windows Sound Recorder or Garage Band, or download Audacity (free, though a bit complicated) and do it there. Or just talk into your webcam if you've got one of those and you can pry yourself away from Chat Roulette for a few minutes. You can send me the audio file (mp3, wav, aiff, whatever) or post it to your website, or put it up on youtube, or whatever. Just get it to me somehow.

3a) Oh, and I totally meant it on the show. Ladies - I want these from you especially. (NOTE: edited out vulgar language used at 1:00 AM) We take pride in our gender diversity.

WE CAN MAKE THIS WORK IF WE ALL STICK TOGETHER!

Let's make this episode the episode to be the most awesomed by EVER!!

Everyone put your hands on the screen ... one two three GO TEAM!

Deadline is mid-day Sunday, say 2:00 Eastern. You can e-mail the audio files to awesomedbycomics (at) gmail.com. OR you can post it on your own page and send us the link to it, and I'll go get it. Whatever's easiest for you. Now get out there and let's try this thing.

ABC Podcast, Episode #82 plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by just the best most beautiful laptop ever, yes you are we love you so muchy much, you have no reason to ever get mad at us and not work when we're trying to record the show again, no you don't, you're just so perfect and hot, by the way have you lost weight? We LOL at X-Factor, have a sadz at the end of Ms. Marvel, and hype the skillz of Gail Simone, Matt Sturges and Joshua Dysart for Wonder Woman, The Web and Unknown Soldier, respectively. We also talk about Dwayne McDuffie's killer new Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths animated Timmverse movie, and wonder what possessed James Robinson to get so freaky in Superman. Also, Warren Ellis writes a parody of a Warren Ellis comic, and Aaron thinks it's totally awesome.

(An apology, while we're all here: in the show I note that Aaron Lopresti was the penciller for Wonder Woman, but it was in fact Chris Batista and Fernando Dagnino--it's miscredited on the cover, someone at DC did a cut-and-paste.)

Download/subscribe to the show here or 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 Fantastic Four #576, cover by Alan Davis:


Aaron's pick, from Thor #607, variant cover by Mico Suayan (plus whoever drew the squirrel, I'm not sure? Any help here?):


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from X-Factor #202 by Peter David and Bing Cansino:


Evie's pick, from X-Factor #202 by Peter David and Bing Cansino:

Yeah, no.

So, the studio computer is blitzed. We are beside ourselves with grief, Aaron even more than I as he also uses the studio for music, and we're going to need several days to work this out technologically, psychologically and financially. If I were a smart little media entrepreneur I would slap a PayPal button up on the blog here, but I just find that yucky, and then also when we ended up with like $42 total from a few nice folks we'd be like "well we can't get a new computer but we can get some nice pasta dinners!" and that wouldn't really help anything (in fact it would almost certainly hurt). Anyway, even the potential short-term laptop solution we were aiming for went totally pear-shaped, so we appreciate your kind patience more than we can say. We'll be back with bells on as soon as humanly possible. At least we're not Rolling Stone, which looked like this all day long.

*RAGE*

You guys. The computer caught on fire again and self-destructed when we were an hour-plus through recording Episode 81. And yes, we were saving each few minutes but apparently that's not how it works. So we're very sorry, we'll do it tomorrow night, which means we'll have to stay up late like college kids because Aaron works nights. Please do not complain, we are very grouchy about this. I think we know where the tax refund is going this year.

Wednesday is the New Monday, Which is the New Sunday, But Just For This Week.

Happy Ides of February to all. My computer caught fire this evening during the recording of our program, and additionally our house was raided by monsters, and also Evie's sick.

Due to scheduling conflicts we can't do the show tomorrow, but we will make another attempt on Wednesday, meaning you'll all get two ABCPs in the span of four days, which is pretty great.

YOU'RE WELCOME.

Now everyone wish Evie well, and come Wednesday, we'll have a show chock full of good stuff, including a special message from Marvel Comics and a new e-mail contest with the most fantastic prize ever.

Hint:

See you on Wednesday!

ABC Podcast Episode #75, plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by TECHMOLOGY, the kind that makes you sound like a hamster or a methfreak or a misogynist. In this first episode of twentyten, we cheer Peter David's lovable X-Men-mocking X-Factor: Nation X one-shot, fear Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller and Sweet Tooth's Mr. Jefferts, and jeer the idea that Wonder Woman would make a more logical Star Sapphire than Green Arrow. We also get a visit from a favorite friend of the show, and wax cautiously optimistic about Siege and the end (?) of the Osborn Era.

Download/subscribe to the show here or 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

Aaron's pick, from The Boys #38, cover by Darick Robertson:


Evie's pick, from Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1, cover by Marko Djurdjevic:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from X-Factor: Nation X #1, by Peter David and Valentine DeLandro:


Aaron's pick, from The Mighty #12, by Peter Tomasi and Chris Samnee:

Hurry up and feed your face

So if you listened to the Year-End Awards Show and are curious as to why we sounded like runners or cokeheads or 12 year-old girls, it's because for some reason the silence deleter was extra sensitive and erased every pause either of us took for breath or contemplation. So it sounds like we're tumbling over each other and tryingtogetthroughtheshowasfastaspossiblesowefinishbeforesantacomes or something. The truth is that this is overall probably a good thing, as the show is already a good two hours, and would have been even longer without the deletions--but from the comments I've gotten from a few people, it was a bit exhausting to listen to. So, many apologies, and I hope it was still enjoyable. Happy New Year, and congrats to our winners!

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

OH GOD DAMMIT. Many apologies, but you all are gonna have to wait until tomorrow night for the podcast, which is/was going to be a GREAT one--the computer just up and COLD DIED an hour-plus into recording and erased everything. I suppose as "professionals" we should keep these things to ourselves, but honesty is best. Anyway, it's late, it would suck if we did it again now, so tomorrow it is. Very sorry, but I promise it will be worth the wait, there's at least one piece of major awesome.

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).

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!

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.

Episode #39 fuxored?

Update: All dicks have been forcibly removed from all eyes, the episode should now be working.

So, a few hundred lucky souls procured Episode #39 before Libsyn's servers got dicked in the eye and messed up the file, so now it is somehow undownloadable. Trying to get answers, please stay tuned. If it's not resolved by the end of the day, I'll try to put the file up somewhere else. This kind of thing makes me batty in the membrane.

Blrrgh

Hey yo, so I've uploaded the podcast but I'm trying to do a test download and it's not working for me. Can someone let me know in the comments if it's working for you, so I don't pull it down and start all over for no reason? THX!

Ne'rmind, everything seems to be fine, carry on.

Podcast delay

Hey kids, just a note that if you're waiting for the podcast, it will probably be up some time tomorrow, apologies. We got a late start, and then Aaron's computer crashed 45 minutes into recording, so we had to slap in some enthusiasm and start over. Many thanks for your patience. Maybe I'll take the opportunity to write something here tomorrow, crazier things have happened.

Technomological difficulties

Just a note that the new podcast is going to be a little late, it's all done and edited and all that, but Libsyn's hosting servers to be having a bit of the flu this afternoon. Stay tuned.

Ok, I'll Embrace Change, anything but this shit we got

Is it just me, or is this Skrull PSA (which I assume is the ad played on ESPN2 last night--we never hit the right commercial breaks) completely fucking depressing? I mean, holy hell. Seeing that script written out in a comic book would be no big deal, but somehow, set to music with moving pictures, I'm kind of praying for a tyrannical alien invasion to put us out of our soulless misery.

Inspirational Message