Awesomed By Comics Podcast Episode #149

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by the hurricane that we pretty much slept right through, and which did not give us an opportunity to bond while "hunkering down" but which was also far less destructive than it could have been which in the long run is a better thing for everyone. Winny wins this week for Mystery Men, Gotham City Sirens, Space Wolverines, Punishers, Captains America and Buckies and Confusingly-numbered Iron Man minis. We bid a fond farewell to this confusing iteration of Wonder Woman, and lament that the last-ever appearance of Oracle was as a side character in a hack-ass book. Plus Dr Who, Zelda, Vs. System, Pokemon Board Games, Iron Man Armored Adventures, The Origin of Stan, AND MANY MORE!

The 150th is nigh! Be aware of street preachers and disco remixes!

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 please always remember that you are more than welcome to list your own winners for our categories in the comments. Hell, you can list your own categories for our winners, for all we care. Or list your own winners for your own categories, from your own books. Whatever you want to do. And if you feel like donating, there's a button over there with which you can do just that! (Or save your money to buy my record when it comes out, which I also fully support.)

Covers and stuff later, probably!

Awesomed By Comics Podcast Episode #143

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by the fact that you can pay Nick Spencer three bucks or some 80 year-old painter a lot more (we're assuming) for basically the same idea. Great week for some old-school avenging, some classic X-Mens bantering, some Harley bitchery, and goddamnit, why isn't Bruce Wayne building schools and funding fire departments and neighborhood watch organizations and whatnot? Also despite Marvel's promise that Prelude to Schism will make us "understand what leads to the Schism that is coming!" why does it do no such thing? Also why does Montreal hate Pokemon? Also who is "Safeword?" Also should we get the Ocarina of Time 3DS remake? Or should Evie play it on the Wii? OR should we go get the N64 from the basement? SO MANY QUESTIONS HALP!!

Download/subscribe to the show here or in the right sidebar, and if you dig the show, please leave an iTunes review! Tell us what you think in the comments, and feel free to suggest your own winners for our categories. Also you are always welcome to donate a little bit to the show, over there in the right sidebar. But ONLY if you've already bought your fill of ABCP-inspired pocket monsters.

ABC Podcast #132, plus niffles

This episode of the Awesomed By Comics Podcast is brought to you by the debut of what will likely be a Summer-long feature, in which Aaron recaps how 11 listeners, creators, and fellow podcasters will most likely do much, much better than Aaron at fantasy baseball. Victories abound for FF, DD, Mon Mon, The Mission, Magic Batman, Superlamb, and the niffles. Also, since Evie doesn't listen to the show, there's a bunch of stuff Chris from WRA and I have already covered, including Poker Face, the WW Costume, and last week's Unwritten. Oh, and also we're on WRA this week, you should listen to find out about zoos near you!

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 if you've ever considered supporting the show, this would be the time to do so with a donation of your choosing over there at the top of the right sidebar.

Now, courtesy of our friend Joseph, here's Snorlaxtus, and the Silver Surfin' Pikachu!

ABC Podcast, EPISODE #100 AND WOOOOOOOO

Dudes! We did it! We made it to our centennial episode, which is a totally arbitrary thing to celebrate but AWWW YEAAAHHH. We start off this third season of Awesomed By Comics (50 shows per season, why not?) with a bunch of brand new categories, questions, cat stuff, and a very special musical remembrance of episodes of yore. Likely winners include various Wonder Woman-related things, Unknown Soldier, Thor and Batman Beyond; unlikely winners include Green Lantern and Action Comics. We also debut a new version of the theme song, and wish you a happy snappy Fourth O' July!

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 suggest your own winners for our categories!


And now, thanks to new listener and contest winner Marina, you all get the following recipe courtesy of the "have what Awesomed by Comics is having for dinner, for dinner" contest.

You will need:

1 copy of the album And by The Ampersands (my band)
1 stick of butter
1 egg
brown sugar
molasses (preferably ''robust")
flour
baking soda
ground ginger
cinnamon
allspice
nutmeg
cloves
salt

ABCPGingerbread

1) Put on the album And by The Ampersands (my band) which is available at fine online music retailers everywhere.

2) Figure out how to make that stupid little degree symbol thingy

3) Preheat oven to 350°

4) In a small bowl mix the following:
------- 1 3/4 cups flour
------- 1 tsp Baking Soda
------- 1 1/2 tbsp Ground Ginger
------- 2 tsp Cinnamon
------- 2 tsp Nutmeg
------- 1 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
------- 1 tsp Allspice
------- 1/4 tsp salt

5) In a large bowl, beat one stick of butter until softish, as though that ever works beyond just getting the butter stuck in the beaters, but whatever, that's what I always do and it works fine.

6) Add one large egg and 3/4 cup (tightly packed) brown sugar and beat until the butter isn't stuck in the beaters anymore, and the whole thing's relatively smooth.

7) Add 1 cup Robust Molasses and beat until well-blended. Regular molasses works okay too, I just really like the Robust kind.

8) Gradually beat in the flour/spice mixture until everything's in there and it's all nice and smooth.

9) Add 1/2 cup boiling water and beat the brains out of the stuff. I have no idea what purpose the water serves or why it has to be boiling, but every gingerbread recipe I've ever seen has told me to do this, so screw it, I'm putting it in my recipe too.

10) Grab an 8 or 9 inch pan (square, round, trapezoidenal, whatever) and grease it or line it with wax paper, or both.

11) Pour the stuff into the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Of course, oven temperature and climate and sea level and bla bla bla, just poke something into the middle after 40 minutes.

12) Top with vanilla ice cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg and enjoy while reading your favorite funnybooks!!!

ABC Podcast, episode #95 plus visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by HTTC, a new segment on the show that you just really don't want to know the origin of. We say goodbye to legendary runs on Wonder Woman and Power Girl, welcome back the Avatar of Death, cheer Jonathan Hickman's wise protest in Fantastic Four, and discuss whether Rise of Arsenal #3 is in fact the worst comic ever written, or just the second worst. Also make sure to stay through the end of the show to hear us take our cats to Taco Bell. This is not a euphemism for anything.

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.

Also, see below for more listener-named Pokemon and some special fan art!

Cover(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from X-Men Origins: Emma Frost #1, cover by Benjamin Zhang Bin:


Evie's pick, from Power Girl #12, cover by Amanda Conner:

Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Power Girl #12, by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner:


Aaron's pick, from Gotham City Sirens #12 by Tony Bedard and Peter Nguyen:


Also: Danny Wall's Mike Allred-Rob Liefeld mashup (explanation here):


And, more prizes for submitting discussion questions!

For Lydia:

David:

And LOTR Dan:

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:

ABC Podcast Episode #70 ON LOCATION UPSTATE BOYEEE and LOTS AND LOTS OF VISUAL AIDS

SO, ONCE AGAIN...pardon our appearance as we try out a new logo, please give your yeas and nays in the comments... This very special episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Fun Facts About Rochester, NY, where we have recorded the show on location at (a hotel a few miles away from) the Strong National Museum of Play. In addition to an exhibit on American Comic Book Heroes and the National Toy Hall of Fame, the museum houses a fully stocked '80s video arcade, a supermarket just for kids, a fantastic interactive Sesame Street exhibition, and enough wandering toddlers to feed a medium-sized nation. Big winners in the comics department this week include Detective Comics, Wonder Woman, Beasts of Burden, Ares, Dominic Fortune, Angela Robinson's The Web, and New Avengers, and hilarious, exasperated furor is reserved for the likes of Blackest Night and JLA. Be sure to peruse the exciting visual offerings below, as there is far more this week than the typical.

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 picks (tie), from Unknown Soldier #14, cover by Dave Johnson, and Beasts of Burden #3, cover by Jill Thompson:


Evie's pick, from Invincible Iron Man #20, cover by Salvador Larroca and Rian Hughes:


Panels(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Dark Avengers: Ares #2, by Kieron Gillen and Manuel Garcia:


Aaron's pick, from New Avengers #59, by Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen:


Bonus Crap of the Week Link: Here is way more than everything you will ever need to know in a thousand lifetimes about the film Lambada, relevant to this week's Crap of the Week discussion vis a vis Paco "Vibe" Ramone. God I want to die just writing all of that. Anyway, the link above is from something I wrote in 2004 after watching the movie, apologies for the hue and context and quality, etc. You'll know what I mean.

Choke on This Turktopus, Peter Parker: Lest you think Aaron and I are completely those crazy-comic-book-black-sheep-of-the-family types, here is what brother-in-law Chris spent several weeks and trips to Home Depot building for his Halloween costume this year, which we finally saw on Thanksgiving between potatoes and pie. Aaron's sister went as Black Cat, but we didn't ask her to put that on because Aaron would have thrown himself out the window, obviously.


Museum! Of! Play!

THESE ARE COCOONS HOLY SHIT



And finally, some of my favorite inductees in the National Toy Hall of Fame:

ABC Podcast, Episode #58 and visual aids

This episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by How Grass and Trees Become Enlightened, because those crazy monks are at it again. In a week full of some top-notch comicbookery, mindblowing art hails from Batwoman and Horse Thor, Wonder Woman gets dumped, Herogasm gets serious, and Guardians of the Galaxy makes all of Aaron's teenage dreams come true. Also, we give Peter David a suggestion for how to pluralize "Jamie Maddrox," because it could obviously come in handy.

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 Unknown Soldier #11, cover by Dave Johnson:


Evie's pick, from Wolverine First Class #18, cover by Skottie Young:


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Detective Comics #856, by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III (click to enlarge):



Aaron's picks, from Female Force: Caroline Kennedy by Neal Bailey and Ryan Howe:


And Beta Ray Bill: Godhunter #3, by Kieron Gillen and Kano:

OH MY GOD

I'M LIKE 27 COMIC BOOKS BEHIND. Did you know the X-Men moved to San Francisco?

Anyway. Sorry for the relative silence. Been deep in it here. But I have been prioritizing some comics, and can say that I will now only answer to Busty Meatloaf.

FYI

Just because I once wrote a post about Wonder Woman topless, doesn't mean I think it's ok that so many people come to this site by searching for "topless Wonder Woman". I'm just saying.

Also, I'm aware that San Diego Comic Con is going on right now, and yes I wish I were there, and yes I said last year that we were totally going to make a plan to go this year, but, well, you know. This week I've actually been at work till forever working on that hippie thing, so everything happens for a reason. I've only very sketchily been following news coming out of San Diego, but I do know there's a Red She-Hulk on the way, because OF COURSE THERE IS. Also some big news about Marvel buying the rights to Marvelman, the apparent excitement over which is the point at which my comic nerd cred dissolves into dust because I have no idea. I'll have to get learned up when I finish this hippie thing. Ok, back to work!

ABC Podcast, Episode #34 and visual aids

This week's episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Cheeseburger Facts, whereas last week's episode was not brought to you at all by orthomyxoviridae. Demons dominate with awards for Hellcat and Hexed, and Neil Gaiman makes everyone happy again. Aaron and Evie recap New York Comic Con ever so concisely and rave about the animated Princess of Paradise.

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 picks, from Batman #686, cover by Andy Kubert:


And from Vixen: Return of the Lion #5, cover by Cafu:


Aaron's picks, from 3 Geeks Slab Madness #2, cover by Rich Koslowski:


And from G.I. Joe #2, cover by Adam Hughes:


Panel(s) of the Week

Aaron's pick, from Captain Britain and MI13 #10 by Paul Cornell and Leonard Kirk:


Evie's pick, from Hexed #2 by Michael Alan Nelson and Emma Rios:

Some NYCC stuff!

Ok, I'm running out the door to the convention center, but since I didn't get to post after yesterday, wanted to tell you these things:

1) If you are going to NYCC at all this weekend, please be sure to stop by the Comic Foundry booth in Artist Alley--I forget the number but it has an orange table cloth, a "2008 Eisner Award Loser" sign and is across from Peter David--and pick up the $1 16-page preview of the next (and last, sniff!) issue of the magazine, out Feb. 18. Not only does it have lengthy interviews with Bryan Lee O'Malley and Grant Morrison, but Aaron and I wrote the first story, a Valentine's-themed ditty that you will probably enjoy. And you can imagine how much fun we had coming up with those candy hearts.

2) Saw the new animated Wonder Woman movie last night (produced by Bruce Timm, co-plotted by Gail Simone), and HOLY HERA was it fantastic. In general I'm a pretty big Timmverse junky, but I didn't much like the recent Superman Doomsday movie, and Wonder Woman certainly could have gone wrong. But it was pitch perfect, so satisfying. It's on DVD March 3rd, three days before Watchmen is out, so you know, whatever.

3) Marvel very much would like you to think about the fact that Hope, the messiah mutant baby currently being raised by Cable, has RED HAIR AND GREEN EYES, and that she will cause Cyclops to have a VERY COMPLICATED YEAR. Not to spoil anything of course.

4) Dan DiDio spent most of the DC Nation panel apologizing. But Greg Rucka proved an eloquent spokesman, and he could probably convince me to forgive all of DC's implementation issues if he were so inclined. But he also seems to know what's worth defending and what isn't.

5) I did not slap Joe Kelly, but I did get a chance to tell him how lovely I Kill Giants was, and that was very nice.

Alrighty, I'm off!

ABC Podcast, Episode #33 and visual aids

This very special episode of Awesomed By Comics is brought to you by Hilarious Reasons That It's Better To Be a Woman than a Man, am I right ladies? Abnett and Lanning hit one out of the space park with Nova #21, we say farewell to the Legion, Terry Moore quietly excels and Wonder Woman makes a move. Last but certainly not least, DO NOT miss our EXTRA SPECIAL EXCLUSIVE interview with the God of Sea Mammals of Comics, who answers ALL of your undoubtedly many, many, many questions about Final Crisis #7.

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

Aaron's picks, from Runaways #6, cover by Humberto Ramos:


And Greatest Hits #5, cover by Glen Fabry:


Evie's pick, from Legion of Super Heroes #50, cover by Francis Manapul, John Livesay and JD Smith (note: in the podcast I say something idiotic about not knowing who "Livesay" is, but that's because I didn't look two lines up to see that he was the inker for the book and in fact does have a first name. This is one of about six incredibly idiotic things I say during this episode, it's one of those days):


Panel(s) of the Week

Evie's pick, from Wonder Woman #28 by Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti:


Aaron's pick, from Daredevil #115 by Ed Brubaker and Michael Lark

Ho Ho Holy shit I have a lot of wrapping to do tonight

We'll be gallivanting around the Eastern seaboard for the next several days, but please be sure to download the two-part year-end podcast if you haven't already. Have an awesomed one everybody!!


(I almost went with this image, but then feared that anyone who hasn't been around here all that much might take it the wrong way.)