Frank Quitely was first up and I was confused, as the man has had one heck of a haircut. It’s definitely an improvement though. I told him that he was my favourite artist (like he hasn’t heard that before) while he signed my All-Star Superman Absolute box and All-Star Superman Absolute and New X-Men Omnibus slip covers.

While in the queue I realised I had accidentally bought more than the three allowed items so while I ummed and ahhed a nice chap called Matt offered to take one of my items – so I got Flex Mentallo signed as well.

I spent some time wandering among the colourful stalls next, deciding that I really should make the effort to buy something. I picked up the hardcover of Scott Snyder’s New 52 Batman run, was hugely disappointed to hear that Animal Man is apparently only coming out in paperback (?!) and after hearing great things about Steve Gerber for many years I grabbed a treasury edition of Howard the Duck where he teams up with The Defenders. I’m afraid to say that apart from the brilliant Byron Burger I had for lunch, I think that’s all I actually bought.

No matter, I wasn’t there to buy, I was there to meet three people, and I was one down. The question was, who next? Paul Cornell and Scott Snyder were clashing! Oh noes! I did a mental coin flip and headed for the Snyder queue…which was fucking immense. I had not expected that. With Warren Ellis doing a panel and Joe Quesada signing at the same time I had thought I would be alright to turn up 5 minutes beforehand and queue for 20 minutes or so. An hour later and I met the man who has gone from someone I had never read to one of my top current writers in 9 short months. That Batman hardcover, Gates of Gotham and Black Mirror were quickly signed, a photograph was had and as a special bonus, he said he’d listened to our podcast a few times and that it’s a good show! Huzzah!

This only left Paul Cornell, a man who I’ve heard interviewed on other podcasts and whose accent is so wonderfully British I thought I might not actually be able to bear its full might in person. Between Demon Knights, Captain Britain and MI:13, Knight & Squire and Saucer Country, he’s put out some of my favourite stuff over the last few years so my one regret is that I had only bought one Captain Britain trade with me as my bag had been getting too heavy (bad back!), and that I didn’t go off and buy his Wisdom and Black Widow trades there and then, since I’ve been after them anyway, and go queue up again to get them signed.

I mentioned to Paul that we had reviewed every issue of Demon Knights, Stormwatch and Saucer Country on our podcast and he said he had also listened a few times and liked the show. Double huzzah!

So, overall I had a good day and achieved everything I had set out to. I met some great folks – creators and fans both – saw some cosplay of wildly varying quality, got a fright when I turned around to see Warren Ellis stood right next to me having a fag and thankfully didn’t get into any uncomfortable conversations with Mark Millaaargh.

So thanks to everyone involved and especially to Nimo who gave me the ticket!

Jon

I met Paul Cornell, Frank Quitely and Scott Snyder today! I saw and considered buying a Pepsimus Prime, and I picked up a nice bit of Steve Gerber.

But yeah, the podcast. As usual it’s a bunch of comic books reviewed in an occasionally slightly humorous manner.

Left: Pepsi Optimus Prime and Right: Jon meets the awesome Scott Snyder.

By the way, this might be the best episode we’ve done. It takes a while to get there but it’s a gem.

Download Ep. 36 – Rabbit Holocaust

Show Notes for Ep. 36 – Rabbit Holocaust
02:00 - We talk GAME OF THRONES – specifically episode 7 of Season 2 – “A Man Without Honour”.
07:58 - Prometheus makes the JLA look like chumps as we look back at the classic arc from Grant Morrison’s JLA.
20:23 - Dark, weird and awesome – WONDER WOMAN #9 proves that this is still one of the finest comics around.
27:08 - The latest series by Brian K. Vaughan is getting better and better if SAGA #3 is anything to go by.
33:10 - BKV pops up again, this time as the surprise writer of our classic Batman issue of the week, BATMAN #590.
40:27 - MANHATTEN PROJECTS #3 can’t exceed the reach of the Thwipping Boys.
48:55 - With SAUCER COUNTRY #3, we have decided that aliens aren’t actually going to be a thing in this story. For now.
57:09 - We learn a new word every time we read a James Robinson book. With THE SHADE #8 it is “Braggadocio”.
65:45 - It’s time for WATCHMEN #11 – errr…did Veidt just look at me?
77:13 - With AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #4 we get Jonathan Hickman, so if this series is going become worth reading at any point, it would be now. At first, we thought we thought that too.

This week’s comic books discussion covers topics as diverse as the origin of King Arthur and whether Adrian Veidt is f*cking that weird cat thing of his.

We also have some fun with Rob Liefeld’s first issue of Deathstroke, catch up with those Demon Knights, come close to an argument while discussing Rupert Giles and have quite a long chat about the awesomeness that is the Rock of Ages arc from Grant Morrison’s JLA.

Download Ep. 35 – Bubastiality

Show Notes for Ep. 35 – Bubastiality
00:00 - We start off with a discussion about Free Comic Book Week and some of the revelations therein before chatting about Game of Thrones S2E06.
16:52 – A couple of us weren’t too keen on SUICIDE SQUAD #9.
22:24 - But it wasn’t half as bad as DEATHSTROKE #9…oh dear.
28:42 - Looks like we had a handover issue with ULTIMATES #10 and it has left us tentatively optimistic for the future of this comic book.
37:28 - It’s one of the most consistently brilliant books around so the quality of DEMON KNIGHTS  #9 should come as no surprise.
48:02 - BATMAN #9 brings us back to our theories about Alfred masterminding the Court of Owls (we called it first yo). Thankfully it seems like we’ll know one way or the other next month!
57:11 - We also disagreed on the quality of BATMAN AND ROBIN #9.
63:03 - Larold Hama wrote this week’s classic issue of BATMAN #578.
75:42 - It’s WATCHMEN CHAPTER X and the story is hurtling towards its dramatic conclusion. Chris has no idea what’s coming – this is going to mess with his mind!
86:36 - We read the awesome Darkseid storyline Rock of Ages from Grant Morrison’s legendary JLA run.

Then after catching up with the Game of Thrones chat it’s onto the week’s comic books, including a different type of Justice League Dark in Action Comics; more contrived, out-of-character punching in Avengers Vs. X-Men; and disappointing issues of Stormwatch and Swamp Thing.

We also continue to enjoy Ultimate Spider-Man and Animal Man, check out another classic Batman title, read Watchmen’s depressing ninth chapter and check out two completely new comics – Dial H by China Mieville and James Robinson’s Earth 2.

Download Ep. 34 – Too Few Drugs

Show Notes for Ep. 34 – Too Few Drugs
00:00 - We voice our displeasure at Mark Millar’s manipulative douchebaggery and catch up with Game of Thrones.
14:15 - After our hard fought match against the Grant Morrison comic book last month we give it another round with ACTION COMICS #9.
22:16 - AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #3 doesn’t show any signs that this is improving.
30:15 - We enjoyed DIAL H #1 but we are hoping for more from it.
34:00 - Chris was so annoyed by EARTH 2 #1 that he didn’t even finish it and therefore kinda missed the point.
39:16 - BATMAN #566 from June 1999 is the next to get the flashback treatment in our 24 year retrospective.
57:55 - Peter Milligan doesn’t get off to the greatest start with STORMWATCH #9.
63:29 - After a masterful build up for the first half dozen issues, SWAMP THING #9 continues its trend of fizzling out.
66:09 - David Marquez continues to knock our socks clean off with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #10.
74:13 - WATCHMEN CHAPTER 9 sees us questioning the point of life.
81:03 - Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh continue to impress with ANIMAL MAN #9.

The DC comics disappointed somewhat this week and we’re still not loving anything AvX related, so thank heavens we had another fun arc from Grant Morrison’s JLA, an interesting chapter of Dan Abnett’s The New Deadwardians and a bittersweet end to Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimates run.

Download Ep. 33 – 45 mph

Show Notes for Ep.33 – 45 mph
07:35 - THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #2
11:00 - AQUAMAN #8
13:45 - JLA #8/9
29:30 - JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #8
33:49 - I,VAMPIRE #8
36:52 - BATMAN #555 from June 1998
39:32 - AVENGERS vs X-MEN: VERSUS #1
48:44 - ULTIMATES #9

Marvel as the Thwipping Boys risk destroying their own elaborate mythos by appearing on screen together! Learn about genuine British customs! Debate as to how Jon is somehow still nervous despite being so hammered!

PS. If you’re waiting for the podcast, there is one of those coming soon as well too this week, so no reason to start calling up and inundating the customer service dept. at TB Towers.

In only a few hours time WWE goes EXTREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME with its EXTREME RULES pay per view, there will be tables, there will be chairs and there will be an amazing Chicago crowd. So what do I think is going to happen? Let’s get down to it and find out.

YOUTUBE PRESHOW

UNITED STATES CHAMPIONSHIP

SANTINO MARELLA vs THE MIZ

I’ve been a big fan of Santino for a while now, outside of the ring he is definitely the funniest superstar on the roster, and inside the ring he is incredibly entertaining, what certainly helps with that is that unlike a lot of other comedy characters, the crowd is behind him in a huge huge way, lets not forget his amazing performance in the Elimination Chamber when considering what he could do. The WWE saw to reward that performance by putting the US Title on him, and it isn’t a move I disagree with, however, there is a real lack of legitimacy to the title due to non-title bouts and generally Santino only feuding with people who wouldn’t be seen to be suitable for the belt (I am looking at you Mr. Otunga) and so WWE need to decide if they want to get behind him in a big way, or pass the title on to someone who can make it mean something.

I’m also a big fan of The Miz, his gimmick needs some fine tuning and revamping, but he has the look and the ring style to be amazing, he is a former US and WWE champion and can undoubtedly bring some relevance back to the title. Sadly The Miz has been in no mans land for 11 months now, doing absolutely nothing of note, even to the point where it was a surprise he found himself on the card for WrestleMania. The guy hasn’t even appeared on TV since then, and now finds himself in the Youtube Exclusive Pre-Show match (much easier when they would be called dark matches.)

The Miz HAS to win this title, if he loses to Santino (as much as I love him) it will destroy all the credibility he has, and with an already packed main event roster (on both shows, should he switch to Smackdown) I cant see any way back, which will be an absolute travesty for someone with his potential.

PREDICTION – THE MIZ

DIVAS TITLE MATCH

NIKKI BELLA vs BETH PHOENIX 

Beth Phoenix is the best WWE diva in 10 years and in my opinion, Nikki and Brie Bella are pretty high up there too (I wonder why), but lets face it, for years now, Divas matches have been considered toilet breaks and the only way I can see this being worth a damn is if Kharma returns or the following happens – Nikki defeats Beth due to interference from Brie, Kharma returns on RAW tomorrow night, completely dominates the twins to the point they are written out (and leave, if the rumours are true) the title is vacated leading to a match between Phoenix and Kharma in a months time.

PREDICTION – NIKKI BELLA

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH

THE BIG SHOW vs CODY RHODES

I’ll come straight out and say it, as much as I respect the guy for being able to do what he can at the size he is, I am not a fan of The Big Show, I don’t like how he has become such an out and out good guy and it annoys the hell out of me. On the flip side I am a HUGE fan of Cody Rhodes, I honestly believe he and Ziggler are the stars of the shows, and in 5 years time better be on top of the company. When Rhodes lost the Intercontinental title at WrestleMania I think everyone saw that it was his time to move in to main eventing, but things haven’t QUITE gone the way it was expected, yes, it will take some time to establish him as a star, but since WM I don’t think he has won a single match, and was even beaten clean by The Great Khali on this weeks Smackdown, that kind of booking, combined with the already discussed packed main event roster gets me worried for Cody.

So does Cody need the title? Yes, by beating Big Show tonight, clean (well, as clean as a heel can nowadays) it will help to further establish him as someone who can defeat the legends, it will also bring some more legitimacy to the title (since Big Show has barely mentioned it since winning) and a process of pushing Rhodes to the main event while holding the title would be incredibly beneficial, as he would become more and more established, but not be lost in the mix since he is a champion. I’d even like to see Rhodes become a dual Champion along with the World Heavyweight Championship, and in order to advance his heel status, simply discard the Intercontinental title since he has no use for it. The title means nothing around Big Shows waist (or shoulder in his case), as he will compete against main event talent 90% of the time in non-title matches, and the Intercontinental title is quite simply mid-card level.

Will Cody win? It is a toss up, it is generally believed The Big Show is retiring within the next 18 months, and in his 13 year run with WWE he had won every title he was eligible for with the exception of the Intercontinental title, a piece of the puzzle missing to make him a grand slam champion, so was this why they gave it to him? Maybe. Does this mean that now that it has been accomplished, he will drop the title? I hope so. Cody to win, purely because he needs it more.

PREDICTION – CODY RHODES

RANDY ORTON vs KANE

FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE

Lets face facts, both of these guys are two amazing workers, Kane is someone who has been underutilized for 13 years now, and Randy Orton is an intense worker (even if I don’t like his clotheslines) but, this feud has been a piece of crap, no build up, no reason, why should I care? Their WM match was ok, it wasn’t great, just ok, and I was happy Kane got the win that night, but this feud needs to end here and now with this match and it is obvious Orton is going to get the win. This match is going to be absolutely brutal, it needs to be to justify the stipulation, lets just hope that brutality masks the lack of interest in the feud itself.

PREDICTION – RANDY ORTON

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP

CM PUNK vs JERICHO

CHICAGO STREET FIGHT

Chris Jericho has been my favourite star since I saw him at 11 years old on WCW, and to see that he was returning to feud with Punk was EXTREMEly exciting. The two best mic & ring workers in the business facing off against each other, but while their WrestleMania match was all kinds of awesome, the feud has fizzled out due to the boring and tedious nature of this whole “alcoholism” storyline, it isn’t interesting, it isn’t new, and the mic work both Jericho and Punk have been doing for it pretty much sucks. But which way is the match going to go? Jericho has been getting the upper hand since WrestleMania, and if he doesn’t win the WWE title he wouldn’t have accomplished anything since returning and would have lost at 4 straight PPV’s, but on the flip side, Punk is the new generation, he is the reigning WWE champion and I think a lengthy reign (without the name Cena on the belt) is doing the world of good.

There are two extenuating factors though that must be considered, the returning Albert/A-Train/Giant Bernard/Lord Tensai is being pushed in to a feud with Punk, this has already been hinted at by Big Johnny. That knowledge, coinciding with the fact that Jericho is expected to leave the WWE around July to tour with Fozzy means he could win the title, have a decent enough (by todays standards) length reign before going, means that we could see some interference by Tensai tonight, costing Punk the match and the title.

There have also been a number of people stating that Punk will win because it is in home town of Chicago, I wouldn’t be so sure, just because he won his Money in the Bank match last year in his home town, it doesn’t mean he should be undefeated when returning there, a loss in his home town would be far more interesting (and gain a much better crowd reaction) than a win.

PREDICTION – CHRIS JERICHO

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP

SHEAMUS vs DANIEL BRYAN

2 OUT OF 3 FALLS MATCH

How nice it is to see the return of this stipulation, I love the concept for this and it really builds the intensity as the match goes on, and boy does it need it since the shambles of WrestleMania. I predict that Sheamus will gain the first fall in a repeat of the 18 seconds WM match, but that the next two falls will be a longer affair, Daniel Bryan will obviously cause Sheamus to tap out to the YES LOCK for the second fall, leading in to the decider.

Daniel Bryan has been on a hot stream since before WrestleMania and has turned in to the most entertaining man in the company at this point, his wrestling is always top notch, and his mic work is improving in leaps and bounds week in week out, but it is plain as a day to see WWE want Sheamus to be the future of the company, and so due to interference from AJ, Daniel Bryan will succumb once again to The Great White.

PREDICTION – SHEAMUS

BROCK LESNAR vs JOHN CENA

EXTREME RULES MATCH

The big one, the one that will really sell this card as EXTREME, the return of THE NEXT BIG THING. Brocks return came hand in hand with the best edition of Raw in years, and since he has been back I have been loving him, even his overly long promo last week on Raw, which everyone else seems to be moaning about. Now, I was never the biggest fan of Brock in the past, there was nothing wrong with him, I just had other people I cared for more, nor did I really care when he left, a mans got to do what a mans got to do, but I did follow his UFC career and knew what he was capable of, so I was happy to see him return and spice things up a little.

John Cena, conversely, is exactly where he should be, I don’t like him… At all, but I cannot deny he can draw big, big enough that he doesn’t need the title to be the most important man in the company, which is why I’ve been loving the position he has found himself in lately, staying well away from the title scene (and in truth, barely wrestling) and bringing in insane business for the company while letting other people have a bite of the cake.

Like I said, this match is going to be EXTREME, and with the bit of edge the WWE have been adding lately, a bit of blood on this most EXTREME of nights would not shock me in the slightest. In the end, Brock is going to come out on top, a loss straight after his return would absolutely demolish everything WWE have been doing with him and severely affect the impact he is going to have in the coming months.

PREDICTION – BROCK LESNAR

Additional Thoughts – GET DOLPH ZIGGLER ON THE CARD YOU ABSOLUTE FREAKING MANIACS.

We check out the week’s ongoing sci-fi awesomeness and insanity from Image Comics with Prophet and Manhatten Projects.

Simon reads another classic Batman comic and we cover the sad eighth chapter of Watchmen. Finally we enjoy Diana fighting demons and – along with the Justice League of America – angels in Wonder Woman #8 and the American Dreams arc of Grant Morrison’s JLA respectively.

Download Ep. 32 – Batman and Rubbin

Show notes for Ep. 32 – Batman and Rubbin:
00:00 – We talk some C2E2 news and catch up with GAME OF THRONES. 
12:16 - AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #2 shows that even at this early stage, this event has become a clusterfuck.
24:21 - We go on a slight tangent about the charming town of Bracknell despite the awesomeness of WONDER WOMAN #8.
31:30 - It’s all change in PROPHET #4 – but does this make it any less incredible/weird?
41:53 - Faceless attacks in BATMAN #543 from June 1997!
58:07 - It’s not kicking our asses yet but MANHATTEN PROJECTS #2 is exceptionally well-written and illustrated.
65:25 - BATMAN #8 is probably the first time this comic has had anything other that unreserved praise on the show. But still…
75:25 - We picked up NIGHTWING #8 to see some owl action and find out if it’s improved since we dropped it at issue 3.
81:15 - WATCHMEN CHAPTER 8 ends on a really sad note as yet another owl gets in the fight of his life.
94:58 - Superman and his lieutenants take on the cherubim hordes of Heaven in the AMERICAN DREAMS arc of Grant Morrison’s JLA.

Upon publishing that article, I made sure it went to numerous people at Amazon, at Titan Books and at DC. All of whom would no doubt have thought “what a prick” while reading the post. But they must have taken notice – they are businesses after all, and when customers start screaming “WHY WON’T YOU TAKE MY MONEY?!” at them then it’s clear that they are all missing out on valuable revenue.

Within hours, the Flex Mentallo product page on Amazon was fixed and people with outstanding orders had started to receive emails promising delivery much sooner than had already been communicated.

Of course, you could argue that Amazon just happened to fix all this coincidentally at that point. You know, if you really want to.

Is the issue fixed though? Dunno. The problem was never restricted to Flex Mentallo – the problem was that this happens with every single Vertigo title released in the UK. I won’t know until I preorder something else whether they have simply fixed the immediate issue or dealt with the bigger concerns.

I may have come across like a petulant child but I am about to sit down and start reading Flex Mentallo as a direct result, so job done I reckon.

Jon

We also take a look at two new creator-owned books in the form of Jonathan Hickman’s Secret and America’s Got Powers by Jonathan Ross and Bryan Hitch. We continue to enjoy Watchmen and JLA, say good-bye to Kyle Higgins on Deathstroke and enjoy some fine sci-fi with Paul Cornell’s Saucer Country and BKV’s Saga.

Download Ep. 31 – Compensation

01:00 - THE SHADE #7
05:13 - JLA – THE WOMAN OF TOMORROW
14:51 - AMERICA’S GOT POWERS #1
26:10 - SUICIDE SQUAD #8
31:20 - SECRET#1
34:30 - WATCHMEN CHAPTER 7
40:11 - BATMAN & BATMAN #8
47:04 - BATMAN #531 – June 1996
52:42 - SAUCER COUNTRY #2
59:45 - DEATHSTROKE #8
62:32 - DEMON KNIGHTS #8
69:00 - SAGA #1

This gargantuan task has been placed on the shoulders of a man that the vast majority of cinemagoers are never going to have heard of. When someone asked me a couple of years or so ago who would be the perfect person to helm The Avengers my immediate response was “Joss Whedon – but of course that’s ridiculous.”

An announcement made weeks afterwards had me wetting myself solidly for about a week.

A man with a rabid but tiny fanbase, Whedon is often said to be some sort of nerd deity, but in actuality more geeks appear to hate than love him. And like, properly hate, to a scary and quite weird degree. One look at a geek culture site such as AICN in the period between the announcement that he was both writing and directing and the debut of the first trailer, would have revealed an overwhelmingly negative reaction to the announcement.

Even the guy’s fans can’t give him a break, with sentiments like “While I like Whedon, I just don’t think he can pull this off” proving popular.

Doubting Thomas-es all! Or Thomii? Whatever. Before I move on to why he was the right man for the job, I intend to laugh at the most popular reasons people gave for why he was wrong.

“CAPTAIN AMERICA WILL TALK LIKE A TEENAGE GIRL!” This one came up a lot. The intelligent logic at work here states that since he is known first and foremost for creating and writing a teenage girl, therefore teenage girls are all he can write. Right? It’s sound logic I suppose. If you’re a fucking cucumber.

You know who doesn’t sound like a teenage girl? Rupert Giles. Or Spike. Or Mal Reynolds. Or fucking WOLVERINE.

Damn, we could go on all day here but let’s concentrate on Jayne Cobb for a second, probably the most base masculine character I’ve encountered in anything. A man who never stops talking about (or touching) his penis. A man who has to smell everything he encounters. A spitting, whoring, cattle-slapping sumbitch who is about a million times more manly than the kind of idiot that makes unfounded criticisms of people’s work on the internet.

Hell not even Whedon’s women sound like teenage girls, just look at Zoe Washburn, Jenny Calendar or Adelle DeWitt. Sure, quite a lot of his characters DO sound like teenage girls…which ones specifically? Yeah, that’s right, the teenage girls. And OK, Andrew.

“HE CAN’T DIRECT ACTION!” One of the things people have speculated about is what proportion of the film will be story vs. what proportion will be action – and the theory has been that the film will be overly “talky”. For anyone versed with Whedon’s work, this is a moot point, because everything he does is about story – including action. Of course this isn’t unique to him, but it’s something he does better than most.

It’s not story, story, action scene, story, action scene, etc. It’s all the same thing – they don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Important story points, character moments and lines of dialogue will occur during an action scene, while everything from the setting to the villain will also be saying something that adds to the overall story.

It’s also a weird criticism for a man who has made a living out of successful [and unsuccessful] action shows. Between Buffy, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, he’s been responsible for some of genre TV’s most memorable fights, his vampire shows doing so on minuscule budgets.

He may not be able to direct an action scene like Michael Bay can (and I’d argue that point anyway) but at least his action scenes can make you feel something. You know when you watch a spectacular action scene in a blockbuster but can’t seem to give a fuck about what is unfolding? I guarantee that will not happen in The Avengers – which, by the way will be the first time Whedon has been directing action scenes with anything resembling a budget. The Avengers will shit on all three Transformers movies in terms of action alone, as every punch will matter.

“HE’S A TV MAN!” I can only assume that anyone who says this is either a) braindead or b) hasn’t watched a television show in a long, long time. Same goes for the idiots that refer to someone as a “TV Actor”.

I would argue that for at least ten years, TV has been BETTER than movies. And Whedon is one of a select group of people responsible for making it so.

Is Bryan Cranston a TV actor? So you mean that a TV Actor is arguably best actor in the world then? It’s a nonsense statement, it doesn’t mean anything.

“ALL OF HIS CHARACTERS WILL SOUND FAGGY!” This is your astute analysis of Whedon’s ouevre is it? I’m not even going to bother attempting to refute something so banal.

“HE DOESN’T HAVE THE EXPERIENCE WITH SOMETHING THIS BIG!” This is a dumb argument. If you can’t give a major film to someone who has never made one, then there will never be new people making major films.

Peter Jackson directed The Frighteners before stepping up to The Lord of the Rings. That’s a pretty big jump. If you can watch someone’s low budget work and see their talent and potential, it’s not really a risk. Jackson’s talent was evident in Bad Taste, Whedon’s was evident in Welcome to the Hellmouth.

“HE ISN’T CINEMATIC!” OK, this one is popular. Except I get the impression that most of the time, they don’t actually know what cinematic means. They seem to be saying (and this isn’t really what cinematic means anyway) that his stories are small, as in – the space they are in physically.

This is the only criticism that carries any weight, because the simple fact of the matter is that we have no idea how cinematic he is yet (however you define it) – he has never been given opportunity to be. While Serenity might have been a Major Motion Picture, it was based on a TV show, meaning that he had established a visual language that he had to stick to unless he was planning on turning it into something else entirely. Serenity certainly had a bit more depth and detail as well as “wider corridoors to allow for better acting” but it was essentially still Firefly at heart.

Going by what some people mean…kind of “big enough in scope to be worth seeing on a cinema screen” – if the Reaver fleet bursting through the ion cloud and the subsequent battle aren’t “cinematic” then I’m not a Thwipping Boy.

First and foremost, Whedon is a storyteller more than a film director. What he won’t do is impede the story in any way by attempting to do anything unnecessary (JJ’s lens flare was cinematic, what did that add to Star Trek?). When the occasional opportunity arises during The Avengers, I expect we will see a few cinematic flourishes from Whedon.

But at the end of the day, “cinematic” is a subjective term. Either you interpret something from a camera angle, the mise-en-scène, or the composition of light and shadow of a scene – or you don’t. It’s hugely personal. What it tends to mean when this is someone’s main criticism of his work is that they don’t have anything more concrete.

Indeed a lack of concrete criticism seems to be the order of the day with Whedon-haters. Either they go full-on insane (“He hates lesbians because Tara died!”) or they simply can’t justify what they’re arguing:

Now that I have attempted (pretty fucking successfully if you ask me) to shoot down the reasons why he isn’t right for this film, let’s take a look at why he is.

TV HAS MADE HIM DISCIPLINED In terms of the budget and the time you have available, making a big budget movie must be a walk in the park compared to making a TV show. Eight days to shoot a 40 minute show that is to air, edited, scored and with effects, only a few weeks later? And repeat that 22 times, with, at one point, three different acclaimed shows running concurrently? That’s crazy.

His years in TV have made Whedon two things – fast and…thrifty.

A year ago at the time of writing, The Avengers hadn’t shot a single frame. It premiered last night. With a film of this scale, with that amount of post-production, that’s pretty impressive.

As for the budget, he’s always been able to make it look like he’s spent more than he has on something. I very much doubt the budget for The Avengers meant he got out of those habits. What it actually means is that he’s likely to have made $270million look like $770million.

ENSEMBLE CASTS ARE HIS THING Buffy and Angel may have been named after their star characters and the plots may have followed their lives, but the episodes themselves gave pretty much equal focus and time to a large group of distinct, believable characters. Firefly was especially successful, with nine clearly defined characters that seemed to allow for endless pleasurable combinations. If the underrated Dollhouse really lacked anything, it was a proper cohesive ensemble.

One of the strongest aspects of having ensemble casts is the ability to create drama by giving characters with equal status conflicting motivations and getting the audience to sympathise heavily with both sides of the divide. Expect this to come into play heavily in The Avengers – these guys are not going to be in any hurry to get on.

HE’S GOT SOMETHING TO PROVE He’d deny that he has anything to prove. Or admit it but make it into a joke. Either way, it’s got to be true. Whedon is the perennial Hollywood underachiever. He’s created one bona-fide cultural icon, but although everyone knows who Buffy The Vampire Slayer is, only about 12 people actually watched it. He’s had show after show cancelled. He’s had scripts directed appallingly. He disappeared from view for what felt like years to work on a Wonder Woman script only to have Joel Silver get cold feet and scrap it. He’s seemed like the kid on the verge of the big time for ever but finally (the kid is 47 now), between The Cabin in the Woods, The Avengers and Oscar-bait Much Ado About Nothing it looks like he’s going to tear tinseltown a new arsehole.

NOBODY KNOWS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE BETTER Whedon has always been clear about the things he’s passionate about. He loves Alien. He loves Stephen Sondheim. And he loves the Marvel Universe. He seems to have read more comics than anyone. He named Buffy after Cyclops and her story is essentially that of Spider-Man. His Astonishing X-Men run is arguably the best those characters have ever been written. (OK, so his Runaways arc was merely passable – fair point).

I bet the guy can write Rogers, Stark, Hulk and Thor as well as anyone ever has. These are cultural icons and getting it wrong would be easy. At the end of the day, Marvel Studios is going to have thought long and hard about who to give this gig to. This is make or break for them, and their characters are paramount to their current and future success. They chose Joss Whedon because he more than anyone else will do right by their flagship team.

HE’S MORE THAN THE RIGHT MAN I’ve heard some ridiculous suggestions for who could have done it better. Michael Bay! Or Louis Letterier, apparently [chortle]. People have even suggested Steven Spielberg. I’ve got as much respect for Steve as the next guy, but I cannot imagine a worse concept that “Steven Spielberg’s The Avengers”. At a push John Favreau or JJ Abrams could have put something decent together I suppose, but it still wouldn’t have been right.

My prediction: I think this film will be better received, and make more money, than The Dark Knight Rises. More even than The Dark Knight. You want to laugh? Do it after the summer.

Of course, I’m two weeks from seeing it as I write this and I could completely be wrong about how this will turn out – except I’m not. Joss Whedon isn’t merely capable of pulling this off. In fact now that I think about it, he’s more even than merely the right man for the job. I genuinely believe he’s the only person that could have made this film the triumph it is going to be.

Jon

I have worked in Ecommerce for forty years, man and boy* and it really is very simple. What happens is you get a supplier phone a buyer, and then:

SUPPLIER: Hello there. I have some new products coming out.
BUYER: Great! I will list them on the website for preorder.
SUPPLIER: Groooovy. I will send you a list containing the release dates and the RRP for these products.

Then they have a rather cute little bitchfight about terms. And the conversation ends with either the products being listed, or if they haven’t settled on terms, the products not being listed.

Then a customer, let’s say me, comes along and I exchange currency for a promise that goods will be sent via the postal system when the release date happens. In fact, Amazon tends to ship products out prior to this so they arrive for release day.

See? Sounds really fucking simple doesn’t it.

I preordered a long-awaited book that is out in the UK now, from Amazon. Do I have it in my hands? Of course not. And nor will I for several weeks yet if previous experience is anything to go on.

• 19th May 2011: Preordered Flex Mentallo
• 22nd October 2011: Received email from Amazon:

“We regret to inform you that we have been unable to obtain the following item: Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely “Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery Deluxe. Our supplier has informed us that this item is no longer available.”

So. Apparently, this item which had never been released, and which was still months away from being released, was “no longer available”. A term which, in case you don’t know, is reserved for products that were available, and which are sold out. Products which they are not planning on making more of.

The email then went on to state that Amazon had been kind enough to cancel my preorder. Thanks wankers! Had the product been removed from the site? No, it was still there, on preorder, so other customers could fall into the trap.

Now look, I’m not an angry person in general. I appreciate that mistakes can be made. But this shit happens EVERY FUCKING TIME! Every time! Exactly the same way! It’s happened on every volume of Saga of the Swamp Thing. It’s happened on every volume of the new editions of Transmetropolitan, it’s happened on Preacher and on every Sandman trade – a title so popular that you can’t even use the excuse that they’re prioritising shit that actually sells.

It’s gone on for so many years now that it’s highly unlikely it’s even just one hilariously incompetent person responsible for this. Of course, I have complained repeatedly to Amazon, who are so successful that they don’t give a shit.

I tried to find a video clip of Homer shouting “You just lost yourself a customer!” but I couldn’t.

Have you ever tried to tell Amazon their release dates are wrong? “I’m sorry sir, but this is the release date our buyers have confirmed”.

You waste your time, your money, to do them a fucking favour and in return are told that you must be incorrect, as you are not the person who works for them. You know, the one who gets this wrong EVERY FUCKING TIME. Remember kids, this is “the Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company” we are talking about here.

So, all you have to do to become the Earth’s Most Customer Centric Company is just state that you are? Wow. Did you know that the Thwipping Boys Podcast Is The Most Successful Anything In The History Of Motherfucking Ever?

I looked at the site last week, and the situation had got even sillier. I was looking at it on 5th April. The info on the page said “Preorder! Released 27th March 2012!”

What. The. Fuck!?

I’m not asking for much. Some vague level of competence from the Earth’s biggest retailer and Most Customer Centric Company might be a nice start. Some clear communication between Titan Books and Amazon about release dates could be good. And you know, maybe releasing stuff on the “Release Date” (the clue’s in the name, cretins)?

Amazon might not care but I absolutely flat out refuse to believe that Titan Books is swimming in so much money during this recession that it cannot be bothered to sell its books through the ecommerce colossus which made its name as a bookseller.

As it stands right now, I’ve had to re-pre-back-order it. Or something. They’ll probably cancel it again. Will I ever get to read the Morrison and Quitely masterpiece? Fucked if I know.

Update: I’ve just received an email from Amazon explaining that I won’t get it until [at least] next month. It seems Amazon have had some stock and sent it out, but not ordered enough units to cover orders. Of course, I would have been one of the first to receive a copy, since I originally preordered it the day they listed it – but if you remember, they kindly cancelled that for me.

*OK 12 years, boy and…older boy

Pissed off Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely fan,
Jon

Question: How can you be the future of a category you don’t even qualify for?

Also in this week’s packed show, we finally get around to something we’ve been threatening since Episode 1 – Grant Morrison’s JLA! We check out Game of Thrones Season 2, Ultimate Spider-Man, the next chapter of Watchmen, another classic Batman story and the best of the week’s DCnU titles.

And of course we get in the ring with Grant Morrison’s Action Comics. This is the first week it has become eligible for The Drop. Can we land our patented finisher?

Download Ep. 30 – Thwipping Boys Vs. Action Comics

Show Notes for Ep. 30 – Thwipping Boys Vs. Action Comics
10:39 – There were some twists and turns in the pages of STORMWATCH #8!
18:46 – We check out the start of the year’s big event with AVENGERS VS. X-MEN #1 and follow it up by looking at AVENGERS VS. X-MEN: INFINITE #1.
31:01 – BATMAN #519 from June 1995 was the subject of this week’s 24 year retrospective.
45:50 – We gazed at WATCHMEN CHAPTER 6 and hoped it wasn’t gazing back at us.
54:59 – ANIMAL MAN #8 was brilliant and horrible. As usual.
61:31 – Can SWAMP THING #8 match up to the brilliance of last month?
67:21 – We owe an apology to the guy who provided the stunning art in ULTIMATE-SPIDER MAN #9 – that idiot Jon thought it was Pichelli! David Marquez we are sorry – also: you are awesome.
73:02 – We check out NEW WORLD ORDER, the first arc of Grant Morrison’s JLA. Chris has had this in his pile for months, but the podcast got in the way…now there’s no excuse!
98:23 – It’s the main event! Thwipping Boys Vs. Action Comics as we take on ACTION COMICS #8.

Not Joss Whedon! The other one.

We all adore Grant Morrison. Jon was addicted to his Marvel UK work in 1986, at the tender age of eight. Many years later, it was Morrison’s JLA that taught him that the DCU was cool. Simon got through a particularly long and nasty hospital stay in his early teens with the help of the same JLA run. Chris joined the party late but has wasted no time, devouring the likes of All-Star Superman, Animal Man, The Filth and the entirety of The Invisibles.

Going into the New 52, it was Action Comics that we were most excited about. So it is with heavy hearts that it has come to this.

We started with all 52 books and we’re now down to 17 – we can be quite punishing! Some of the books we’ve dropped so far (let’s say Nightwing, or The Flash) were certainly not as deserving of that fate  as Action Comics.

But we keep repeating the mantra: “This is Grant Morrison. THIS IS GRANT MORRISON.”

Occasionally, a creator earns the right to some leeway and Morrison has earned that and then some. We’re not completionists and we don’t really care about continuity – we’ve stayed on this so far only out of a genuine belief that it’s going to get much better. Of course it is! IT’S GRANT MORRISON! The guy is the best in the business and arguably the best there has ever been.

But Action Comics is just quite simply not very good*. Repeatedly. After months and months of painfully admitting that to ourselves we have to start wondering where we draw the line.

And that line is issue 8, “the epic 30-page conclusion of Grant Morrison and Rags Morales’ majestic opening storyline!”.

Look, we aren’t going in to this looking to drop it. We want to stay with it and if Morrison gives us a reason to, we will jump at that chance.

In this fight, we hope we lose, we really do. Prove us wrong, Grant. Kick our asses.

* Our reasons? Episode 26 is as good a place to start as any.

(But not your money, don’t worry).

Since we exploded onto the podcasting scene flopped, gasping for air, onto the podcasting beach last September we have enjoyed more success than we could have really expected, considering our primary reason for doing it was to spend more time chatting about stuff we love, as we hardly ever see each other.

None of the three of us are natural self-promoters, so you’re unlikely to catch us ever talking seriously about how good our show is – but we are aware that what we are doing is quite unique and occasionally teeters on innovative. We’re quite chuffed with what we’ve accomplished so far.

It’s very difficult to measure how successful a podcast is, but between the stats we have from iTunes (yes we realise a Subscriber isn’t necessarily a Listener) and Soundcloud, the interactions and messages we get on Twitter, and our website stats which are pretty healthy considering that we hardly ever put new content up, it does appear that we have a decent number of regular listeners, including some industry names that have told us they like the show. This constantly surprises us, and we’re thankful for every one of you. Even that Australian guy we pick on.

We’re not doing this for fame and fortune and we’d be stupid to try. Sure, we’d like more people to discover the show but it is frustrating, as we have realised that iTunes appears to be set up to make it impossible for people to find new podcast content.

Here’s a question – can anyone name a podcast that has broken out in the last couple of years that isn’t in some way affiliated with an existing media producer (which can be anything from the BBC to The Nerdist) or which doesn’t have some kind of celebrity involvement (such as Kevin Smith’s SModcast, Mike and Tom Eat Snacks or The Tobolowsky Files)?

Jon considers himself a bit of a podcast nerd, and he can’t think of a single one. Where are the up-and-coming iFanboy or Around Comics type shows, hosted and produced by “normal” people without external support or affiliation to a known name? The ones that did get anywhere are the ones that had the foresight to get in at the dawn of podcasting and well done to them for that, we say! But surely that door isn’t closed now?

Now, we aren’t saying that we should rank at the top of a search for “comics” in the podcast section of iTunes (we have only been at this for six months after all, we’re still paying dues) but it might be nice if we ranked above a podcast that has not published a new episode in FIVE FREAKING YEARS.

One of the other podcasts that ranks much better than ours in the same section has not had an update since July 2008, one since November 2009, one since August 2010, one since August 2009, one since March 2011, and so on.

Why is this? It’s widely accepted that new subscribers play a role in the position, and we reckon people will most likely herd and click on the top podcasts, so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Having made it to the top when podcasting was in its infancy seems to mean that a podcast will now stay there in perpetuity.

Maybe it would be a sensible idea for recency and regularity to play a role in how podcasts rank? You’d think.

If you asked us to talk about the things that we think Apple stand for, one of them is that their products enable the man on the street to create and to share. We would also suggest that Apple was keen on pushing new, exciting and active content over stodgy, dated stuff. As listeners, we’ve also been caught out by subscribing to shows we think sound cool, only to find that these feeds are never updated with a new show – what’s the point of that?

Whether this glass ceiling has been imposed on purpose or simply by not thinking things through, we have no idea, but we would like to ask for your help in smashing through it, because we believe it’s possible.

Stop rambling on man!
Just tell us how we can help!

It seems widely accepted that iTunes reviews and rankings also help to boost a podcast’s visibility. We say “seems” because for some bizarre reason, Apple appears to be unwilling to discuss the situation with anyone.

So help us out. Please, go to the iTunes Store, and give us a rating and a review, and do this as soon as possible. We’re not going to ask for a good review – one of the things you’ll notice about our show is how honest we are, and we will respect the same in return. We cannot put into words how much this would mean to us. Will this help us move up the rankings? No idea, we can only hope – but we need to try something.

And maybe, while you’re there do the same for a couple more shows you like, we know it will be appreciated.

So please go! Go now!

Yours lovingly,

Simon, Chris and Jon – the Thwipping Boys

We continue our retrospective looks back at Watchmen, Batman and Identity Crisis, check out the horror side of the DCU with Justice League Dark & I,Vampire and get ready for Avengers Vs X-Men with #0. It ain’t off to a good start folks.

Download Ep. 29 – The Order of Dumbass

Show Notes for Ep. 29 – The Order of Dumbass
00:33 - Comixology were giving it away for free, so we checked out the first part of THE CURSE OF SHAZAM BACKUP.
05:15 - From Vertigo and Dan Abnett comes THE NEW DEADWARDIANS #1. Socio-political commentary featuring the undead? Yes please.
12:27 - We weren’t sure what the point of an Issue Zero was before this week. Reading AVENGERS Vs. X-MEN #0 didn’t really change that.
25:21 - Jonathan Hickman and Esad Ribic continue to wow with ULTIMATE ULTIMATES #8.
36:35 - If AQUAMAN #7 is any indication this series is on something of a slide.
42:24 - BATMAN #508 from June 1994 featured Azrael.
51:25 - We thought reviewing Alan Moore’s masterpiece might be hard work and WATCHMEN CHAPTER V is where we start to be proved right.
63:42 - JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #7 started the first part of a crossover with a certain DC title.
71:01 - I,VAMPIRE #7 features an appearance with a certain “Dark Team”…who could that be?
81:07 - As Jon has said before, he knew who killed Sue Dibney despite never having read IDENTITY CRISIS #7. Or did he?

Download the Special Edition – Marvels and Ruins

Welcome to a new Special Edition of the Thwipping Boys podcast as we continue our tradition of delving into a classic of the comics form by reading Marvels by Alex Ross and Kurt Busiek.

Originally featured in Episodes 10 to 13 of our show, we now present the review as one single piece.

But that is not all! Oh no it most certainly is not! Because this time we have also included an exclusive companion piece that never featured on our show…we try to make sense of Warren Ellis’ Ruins!

Misunderstood genius? A brilliant joke? A terrible joke? Or just offensive and insulting for the sake of it?

- Don’t forget you can also check out our Special Edition on Kingdom Come.

Batman #7 shows that Greg Capullo and Scott Snyder are just taking the piss now.

Plus, there’s droppage this week. It’s positively droppy, in fact.

Download Ep. 28 – Letting Go

Show Notes for Ep.28 -
07:07 - In WATCHMEN CHAPTER 4 Simon references Doktor Mandrake from Spaced to make a point about Dr. Manhatten.
12:42 - MANHATTEN PROJECTS #1 was what we have come to expect from Jonathan Hickman, which suits us just fine.
18:13 - Having followed Buffy like a religion from Season 1, the Thwipping Boys reaction to BUFFY SEASON 9 #7 is a bit of a shocker.
23:44 - We keep expecting the series to fall but SUPERGIRL #7 shows that hasn’t happened yet.
31:40 - WONDER WOMAN #7 leads us onto a story about Fishing Spider-Man, and the funniest article any of us have ever read courtesy of Cracked.com.
40:24 - Chris finds the sad story in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #7 quite funny.
44:34 - PROPHET #23 proves that this series is one of the best we’re reading.
53:57 - We are ready for this excellent series to give us its secrets after IDENTITY CRISIS #6.
63:01 - The two jokers behind BATMAN #7 are just taking things way too far now.

Download Ep. 27 – Whining Little B-tch

Show Notes for Ep. 27 – Whining Little B-tch
10:27 - Morgan turning into such a whining little bitch in BATMAN AND ROBIN #7 took some of the shine off this series.
15:29 - Grant turning into such a whining little bitch in DEATHSTROKE #7  took some of the shine off this series.
20:27 - SUICIDE SQUAD #7 was crazy, sexy and cool. As usual!
26:44 - RESURRECTION MAN #7 cements our opinion that this series needs to step up.
35:31 - The first arc comes to a spectacular end in DEMON KNIGHTS #7.
45:30 - SAUCER COUNTRY #1 gave us something a little different to anything else we’re reading.
62:22 - Every James Robinson comic we read makes us a bit smarter, and THE SHADE #6 is no exception.
65:13 - Due to poor communication Chris didn’t remember to buy GREEN LANTERN #7 but doesn’t seem to mind.
69:51 - SAGA #1 was funnier and more light-hearted than we were expecting.

Justice League: Doom is the latest release in the DC Animated Universe, and the final curtain for its writer, the late Dwayne McDuffie with a story very loosely based on Mark Waid’s fantastic JLA Tower of Babel storyline. Due to either paranoia or a desire for preparedness (depending on your point of view) Batman has covertly developed contingency plans for incapacitating earths mightiest heroes (not THOSE earths mightiest heroes) should they ever be compromised. As is fully expected, it is only a matter of time before these plans fall in to the hands of the dastardly villains of the piece, in the form of Vandal Savage and his LEGION OF DOOM (oooooouuuugh what a rush!)

The first thing I have to say about this piece is that it was a real joy to get such a stellar voice acting cast for this move, The DCAU titles have been incredibly hit and miss with their casting in the past, and so it was a pleasure to hear all the major players of the Timmverse return including the legendary Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly as Batman and Superman respectively. Filling out the heroes voice cast is everyone’s favourite maverick space cowboy Harrison Fo… No seriously, it’s Nathan Fillion, reprising the role of Hal Jordan that he was born to play, and Bumper Robinson as Cyborg, which unfortunately leads me to my first negative, as I felt Cyborg was horribly miscast here, and couldn’t mesh with the voice. Still, to make up for that, we got Alexis Denisof as Mirror Master!! YAY!

As a big fan of anime since my early childhood, I’ve always been attracted to animation that has a real sense of fluidity and energy coursing through it, and so it is more often than not how I tend to judge Western style animation as well, many animations have fallen at this hurdle, but I am happy to say that Justice League Doom passed with flying colours. The animation is smooth and crisp, the colours are bright and poppy without being distracting, and the action scenes have a real sense of energy and power to them, with one particular standout being an all-out brawl between the Martian Manhunter and his LoD counterpart (because we all need evil counterparts right?) in which they seamlessly mutate in to a variety of weird and wonderful creatures.

So what did I think of the story? This was something that I found very difficult to think about, as there are vast changes to a source material that is one of my favourite JLA stories. Overall I felt that once it entered the crux of the story it was a pretty strong adaptation, the change of the motivation behind the villains was; as expected, a ridiculously elaborate bad guy plan, but it worked within its context. The first of two big disappointments for me here was the opening scene, in which the Justice League do battle with The Royal Flush Gang (a villainous team I have always hated) which seems to serve as nothing more than to introduce a deus ex machina of sorts, as well as a rather trite explanation for why Cyborg deserved to be on the team. The second was that there is no real resolution to Batman’s actions, it could have paved the way for a rather intelligent discussion to cap off the movie, thus giving us older fans a secondary layer to enjoy the movie, but instead it was dispatched with rather quickly.

Overall this movie was a fun and entertaining slice of time, the animation was as good as it was ever going to be, as was the voice acting, but I felt some of the more interesting questions that could have been addressed were not. I was also rather unhappy with the inclusion of Cyborg in the story, he had little purpose, and was more than likely in there for no other reason than for DC to try and convince us that HE IS A JUSTICE LEAGUER DAMMIT, especially when other members of the DCU (I’m looking at you and your giant seahorse Aquaman) have been getting the short straw when it comes to animated adaptations for years.

If you’ve been a fan of DC’s other AU output, I’d recommend checking this out, whether this will win over any fans who have been disappointed with the past quality is another question, but what have you got to lose?

To sign off I must point to the funniest (unintentionally) moment of the movie – The Flash is floating in the sea unconscious when the Batplane flies overhead, and Cyborgs robotic hand on a cable swoops down, plucking The Flash out of the water… It was at this moment I shouted “GO GO GADGET ARM!”

8 out of 10 THWIPS!

Zombie Outlaw is a fun horror-comedy comic with a very individual, cartoony look and weird sense of humour.

Find out more about it and order Issue 1 at zombieoutlaw.com

As for us, we surprised ourselves by deciding we’d like to try a bit more of it – you can see what we made of it in Ep. 26 – Trashcan Edition.

If you’re going to Wondercon 2012 in Anaheim on March 16th-18th, you can meet the creators! Visit them at the small-press area, booth # SP-096.

Thanks to Brian for getting in touch and sending us such a cool package. You can follow him on Twitter where he’s known as @Capn_Midnight

Grant Morrison seems to have pissed off Chris something chronic with the quality of Action Comics. Our favourite comics writer has one issue left to please us, or we’re off! We also check out Stormwatch, Swamp Thing and Animal Man from the DCnU titles and catch up with Ultimate Spidey.

By the way, if you’re a new listener and you don’t understand our references to Pripyat, check out our Halloween Special.

Download Ep. 26 – Trashcan Edition

Show Notes for Ep. 26 – Trashcan Edition
07:45 - We thought STORMWATCH #7 was the weakest issue to date – we’re just itching for Peter Milligan to get started.
14:24 - Chris has a rant about the “utter shit” ACTION COMICS #7.
23:40 - ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #8 was cool but we’re desperately waiting for this to kick-off.
30:05 - Was Firestorm’s death in IDENTITY CRISIS #5 supposed to be funny? Well it most certainly was.
40:16 - Simon’s Batman retrospective covers 1993′s BATMAN #495.
48:36 - Our Underground Comics Challenge returns as we take a look at ZOMBIE OUTLAW.
64:40 - ANIMAL MAN #7 proves that while we will miss Travel Foreman, this book is not in trouble with Steve Pugh on art.
71:59 - Masterful, that’s the only way we can describe SWAMP THING #7.
81:47 - Oh Hello! It’s WATCHMEN CHAPTER 3 and we talk penis.

There’s no New 52 books this week…what are we gonna do? Last time we were so confused we took the week off. So we thought we’d catch up with six issues Buffy Season 9 as well as featuring the return of Simon’s Batman retrospective and the next chapters of Identity Crisis, Ultimates, The Shade and course, Watchmen.

Download Ep. 25 – Randy Macho

Show Notes for Ep. 25 – Randy Macho
06:44 - We take advantage of the lack of DCnU releases to catch up with BUFFY SEASON 9.
20:09 - We thought THE SHADE #5 was just wonderful. That’s 5 for 5 so far then. Simon’s opinion is rendered null and void as per his terms of employment.
24:30 - IDENTITY CRISIS #4 shows Superman and The Justice League in a more terrifying light than we’re used to.
37:24 - Rorschach has one of his finest moments in WATCHMEN CHAPTER 2.
59:02 - BATMAN #480 from June 1992 is discussed this week after a short break from Simon’s Batman retrospective.
71:33 - When discussing ULTIMATE COMICS ULTIMATES #7 we talk about how long a story Jonathan Hickman must be weaving with this – about an hour before learning he’s leaving the book soon. D’oh.

We also drop a book we were loving not so long ago – it’s not an easy choice by any means.

Oh, plus we start reading Watchmen.

Download Ep. 24 - No More Death!

Show Notes for Ep. 24 – No More Death!
01:40 - Jon clearly wants to like THE FLASH #6 but doesn’t, and this seems to confuse him.
08:13 – IDENTITY CRISIS #3 proves something to us that Simon has been trying to tell us since our earliest episodes.
17:58 – You would have been screwed if you read JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #6 before the following book on the show.
22:59 – I, VAMPIRE #6 was a series of genuine Holy Shit! moments. Jon’s actually rendered speechless at one point.
32:49 – With AQUAMAN #6 you get a comedy left-turn issue that doesn’t quite work out.
38:09 – PROPHET #22 proves that this series is developing into one of the best comics around right now.
44:46 – Like everyone else we’ve never read an issue of Ultimate Spidey we didn’t like. ULTIMATE COMICS: SPIDER-MAN #7 isn’t going to be the one that changes that.
53:27 – We take the plunge and dive into WATCHMEN CHAPTER 1, learning a shocking truth about Chris’ history with the book in the process.

Jon also puts the guys on the spot and asks them to take up the Paul Cornell Doctor Who challenge.

Download Ep. 23 – Shut Up, Stupid!

Show Notes for Ep. 23 – Shut Up Stupid!
07:16 – Green Lantern Corps #6
17:47 – Dr Who #14
22:26 – Identity Crisis Part #2
32:50 – Batman #6
41:01 – Supergirl #6
49:45 – Wonder Woman #6

Simon continues his Batman restropective, and we delve into another DC classic by checking out Identity Crisis #1.

Plus! Jonny has a bit of a mishap!

Download Ep. 22 – Batman’s Fridge

Show Notes for Ep. 22 – Batman’s Fridge
10:50 – An absolute treat for horror and comedy fans alike with the little-known film TUCKER & DALE VS. EVIL. Our spoiler-free review.
17:50 – After our reviews for Kingdom Come and Marvels went down so well we decided to read another classic and pipped for IDENTITY CRISIS!
36:10 – DEATHSTROKE #6 sidetracks us into a conversation about how much it sucks that we’ve come to like this character, since his time is nearly up.
44:28 – DEMON KNIGHTS #6 makes us ponder the question: What is a horse?
53:47 – We have to wonder when reading RESURRECTION MAN #6 why the doctors at Arkham allow the inmates to keep their costumes and other various accoutrements.
60:53 – We enjoyed GREEN LANTERN #6 but we’re only interested while Sinestro remains the main character.
69:50 – Simon continues his retrospective with June 1990′s BATMAN #449.
80:20 – BATMAN AND ROBIN #6 leaves us a bit disappointed about Batman’s terrible revelation. Turns out he once beat someone up.
94:37 – SUICIDE SQUAD #6 had us laughing from the first panel. We keep saying this but if any of you aren’t reading this yet you’re only depriving yourselves!

To make a hot toddy in the traditional Thwipping Boys way:

- Squeeze the juices from two lemons. Put aside.
- Grab cafetiere (or alternative infusing method), realise as usual that you forgot to wash it after your last coffee. Wash.
- Place a teaspoon of cinnamon powder and a small handful of cloves into the cafetiere.
- Place in required amount of boiling water (get a grown up for that bit) for whatever mug you are using.
- Place 1-2 teaspoons of Manuka Honey (minimum 10+ activity rating) into the mug.
- After 5 minutes or so, pour the hot water from the cafetiere into the mug. Stir until you are certain the honey has melted.
- Add the lemon juice.
- Add 1-2 shots of whiskey, to taste.
- Stir, and sip while it’s still warm. 

Download Ep. 21 - Chas and Dave

Show Notes for Ep. 21 - Chas and Dave
21:13 – One of us thought ACTION COMICS #6 was Grant Morrison finally kicking into gear.  The others were not convinced.
32:15 – Another Image #1? Yes please.  But can ALPHA GIRL #1 compare to the brilliance of Prophet #21?
37:10 – STORMWATCH #6 was a strong farewell from Paul Cornell which left us wanting more.
45:50 – BATMAN #434 featured an inept Jim Gordon, for some reason.
55:00 – We got something a little bit different with ANIMAL MAN #6.
62:50 – While Animal Man was a bit of a lighter diversion, SWAMP THING #6 threw us deep into the nasty muck headfirst.

Finally we jump onto Jonathan Hickman’s Ultimate Comics Ultimate Avenging Ultimates #6, just because of the cover. Nobody said we ain’t easily swayed.

Please note: Chris suffers from some minor sound issues this week, don’t worry it’s not you, it’s us.

Download Ep. 20 - AAAIIIEEEEE!!

Show Notes for Episode 20: AAAIIIEEEEE!!  to follow
03:18 – ULTIMATE COMICS: ULTIMATES #6
29:04 – JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #5
35:43 – I,VAMPIRE #5
50:18 – BATMAN #420
62:28 – THE FLASH #5
72:27 – AQUAMAN #5

As you will know if you follow our podcast, we’re steadfast converts to digital in terms of single issues – which in my particular case is quite fortuitous since there’s no comic shops around here. So I was quite perturbed when I read the following tweet from iFanboy’s Josh Flanagan:

And he’s not the only one who thought so.

This thread on the DC boards says that the digital comic has “Unacceptable Orientation Problems”.

This one seems to indicate ComiXology has actually been refunding people.

And there are many similar sentiments to be found all over the place.

Well I would like to say: Au contraire, Internet! You are wrong on this one.

When I first read that tweet, I messaged Snyder and Capullo saying that I don’t know what all this was about yet but that I hoped they hadn’t forgotten that for many, visiting a comic shop isn’t actually an option. Capullo immediately replied:

Cut to my experience reading it, and as you turned the tablet around, the swipe controls for Guided View would become confused and you’d find yourself swiping the wrong way a few times, causing immersion, confusion and disorientation at the moments when Bruce was feeling most lost.

I found myself thinking “Woah, hang on. I’m lost. Have I gone back on myself? What’s going on? Where was I? Where am I? I’m going round in circles, damn you, tormentors!” just like Batman was, with Snyder and Capullo playing the part of the Court of Owls themselves.

Indeed, the stuff the guys did with the way it reads digitially is far more impressive than “turning the comic around while you read it” which has been done before and when you think about it, isn’t really that impressive.

I then had a thought. Pity the poor desktop readers! They can’t turn their monitors around. They’d actually have to read it upside down. Suckers! But while recording our podcast the other night, I tried it and realised that not only are comics just as easy to read sideways or upside down as they are right way round, but that this was another spin on providing the disorientation that was different to tablet but still superior to the paper experience.

If anything, this shows the limitations of the paper form, rather than making a case for it. Contrary to what I have read everywhere else, I believe the guys were actually making a stronger case for digital and that tablet specifically was the superior way to read the book. There’s no way that the tablet experience was just an unexpected side-effect of what they did on paper.

What’s really clever is that they accommodated every format. Whether you read on paper, tablet, smartphone or desktop, it disorientated in a different way.

If you think the whole thing was a gimmick that you didn’t need, that’s fair enough. But saying the disorientation added a layer to it only, or more effectively on paper is nonsense. The only possible criticism I have is that the rotation lock business should have been explained somehow at the front of the book itself. As an iPad user for 6 months, I didn’t even know I could do that, and if I wasn’t lucky enough to have one of the creators explain this I probably wouldn’t have been able to get the most out of it, or I would have had to come out of the story halfway through to fiddle with the settings.

I would assume Mr. Flanagan hadn’t read the digital version when he tweeted. Indeed, I haven’t read it on paper, but I’d suggest it’s far easier to imagine the paper experience without having done it, than the other way around.

I hope ComiXology doesn’t reorient the panels like some people are asking them to, or at least that users are given the option to do so without the update being forced on us. This might be the most perfect comic of all time just the way it is thanks very much. The idea that ComiXology might be issuing refunds for selling this masterpiece to people makes me sad.

To hear us talk about Batman #5 in more depth, check out Ep. 19 of our podcast.

Want to add to the debate? Email thwippingboys@gmail.com or find us on Twitter at @thwippingboys

JonnyJon

If you love steampunk, robots, cool character design, imaginative world-building and protagonists with awesome names, we’d recommend you check out Red Angel.

Learn more at the website for WhatTheFlux.

Check out the review in Ep. 19 of our podcast. In the meantime, if you’re a creator who would like us to review your comic on a future podcast, email thwippingboys@gmail.com or find us on Twitter at @thwippingboys

We check in with the DCnU titles Wonder Woman #5, Supergirl #5, Green Lantern Corps #5 and the sublime Batman #5.

Finally, Simon learns he shares a very important link with his favourite character Nightwing, and Chris pushes things a step too far…

Download Ep. 19 – Segue Police!

Show Notes for Episode 19: Segue Police!
06:24 - We take a look at ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1-6 and shock! Horror! Jonny comes to the defence of Ultimatum.
29:49 - WONDER WOMAN #5 was great but we ended up digressing into the awesomeness that Chris is capable of frying up for breakfast.
38:37 - DR. WHO #13 turned out to be a little disappointing.
46:44 - Have we mentioned we love Guy Gardner? As usual he’s awesome in GREEN LANTERN CORPS #5.
54:40 - PROPHET #21 is actually really damn cool.
64:54 – Our Underground Comics Challenge returns with intriguing steampunk indie book RED ANGEL #1.
85:16 - We randomly check out BATMAN #408 and Simon learns something quite sweet. Awww.
93:48 – Jon was “floored” by how good SUPERGIRL #5 was. It’s about time he caught up!
100:40 – BATMAN #5. Well, what can we say? Devastingly good would only begin to describe it.

So grab a cuppa and relax as we review Batman and Robin #5, Deathstroke #5, Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. #5, Demon Knights #5, Suicide Squad #5, Green Lantern #5, Resurrection Man #5 and The Shade #4 with that unique Thwipping Boys mixture of nonsense chat and erudite insight.

Download Ep. 18 – Hump the Bunk

Show notes for Episode 18: Hump the Bunk
09:58 - DEMON KNIGHTS has been a brilliant series so far, if you aren’t reading it WHY NOT?!
19:28 - Sinestrooooo! We think GREEN LANTERN is about the wrong character.
29:45 - FRANKENSTEIN is growing on us, but the art is still causing trouble.
41:21 - Darwyn Cooke was on THE SHADE! How did we not know this?
56:21 - I’m trying to summon up the enthusiasm for DEATHSTROKE but I just heard today that there’s an creative team change approaching and that make me a sad panda.
63:45 - Mitch Shelly was an utter shit?! Whowouldathunkit!?!?
71:17 - Tomasi and Gleason continue to provide us one of our favourite comics with BATMAN & ROBIN.
78:41 - The fact that The Rot is confusing us doesn’t stop SUICIDE SQUAD being its usual fucking-awesome self.

Pencils – Paulo Siqueira

Music – @Chris_Thwipping

Part 1 – TV | Part 2 – Movie | Part 3 – Podcasts | Simon’s Awards

Welcome to the last instalment of my Best of 2011 feature, as I delve into the world of comics. 2011 was the year when digital comics made it possible for me to read single issues again, and I’ve had an absolute blast doing it, and talking about it on our weekly show.

Read on for the comics and creators that defined my year.

Best Writer

Brian Michael Bendis

OK, it’s become pretty clear if you’ve listened to the podcast that I abhor the loathesome way Marvel conducts business these days and as a result of their reader-hating, stunt-driven bullshit  I have barely read any of their books in 2011.

As much as I try not to let that affect my opinion of their creative output, it unfortunately does. Which makes it all the more impressive that Bendis takes this title.

I have actually lost count of the number of books Bendis is writing right now, both for Marvel and his numerous creator-owned series, while the sheer variety of books shows extraordinary versatility. Take into account the fact that he’s also writing TV and movie scripts and you have someone who must be more machine than man.

I don’t like everything he does, but much of what he does is brilliant – and if possible he seems to be getting better. It was his introduction of Miles Morales that swung this category for me. Yes it’s easy to dismiss it as yet another of Marvel’s stunt-before-story decisions but it’s really not. In an age when creating an iconic new comics character seems impossible, Bendis has managed it with aplomb - in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if Miles Morales is the first name people associate with Spider-Man in fifty years time.

Best Artist

Travel Foreman (DC – Animal Man)

I said in our first podcast that I didn’t like Travel Foreman’s art. That changed.

Best Creative Team

Francis Manapul / Brian Buccellato (DC – The Flash)

More than any other comic on the stands right now, The Flash feels like a real collaborative effort, with Manapul and Buccellato co-writing, Manapul handling art (he inks over his own pencils) and Buccellato colouring.

When the New 52 was announced, there was a trend where artists were suddenly writing books, and this had me very worried. In the cases of The Fury of Firestorm, Batman: The Dark Knight and Detective Comics, this was clearly justified, but Manapul and Buccellato on The Flash are truly a breath of fresh air, producing what must be one of the best ongoing titles around by anybody’s standards.

It’s hard to judge the actual “writing” in the book by itself in these early stages. It seems the writing is there to service the story rather to drive it, and it does that perfectly well. But in terms of pure storytelling there may be nothing better around right now.

It would be remiss to ignore the other contributors to the title, so props also go to Sal Cipriano (Letters), Darren Shan (Assistant Editor) and Brian Cunningham (Editor).

Best Panel

Justice League #2 (DC – Jim Lee)

I don’t even like Jim Lee’s stuff that much, but it’s hard to argue with this.

Best App

Comixology

Do I think the digital age spells the end of physical comics? Heck no, I love my collection and intend to continue adding to it. But I’ve never been convinced by the format of paper single issues and this year, mostly thanks to DC, I was able to start reading monthly again for the first time in 20 years.

When it comes to Apps, there’s really only one. With a huge range of publishers and titles to choose from, as well as the brilliant “Guided View”, Comixology is without equal, and I look forward every week to 7pm on a Wednesday when I can finally load it up and buy the new books.

Biggest Disappointment

Justice League (DC – Geoff Johns, Jim Lee)

If you asked a comics fan over the last few years which dream project they would like to see, it would have been this. Talk about a let down.

This isn’t an anticipation thing. I wasn’t expecting “more than they could conceivably have delivered”. I was simply expecting a good comic, and I’d have assumed that DC’s two premiere creators might perhaps have had one in them.

It’s not awful, it’s perfectly fine. A perfectly fine, flimsy, generic, lightweight superhero comic. I understand that this is perhaps meant to be more mainstream than other titles, but The Dark Knight Rises is going to be mainstream and you can bet that is going to have more depth than an episode of Power Rangers.

As perhaps DC’s flagship title, Justice League is simply not good enough.

Artist Who Has Definitely, Definitely, Mastered Drawing Angry People

Rob Liefeld (DC – Hawk & Dove)

Characters Who Already Need A Reboot. Again.

Green Arrow and Mr Terrific

Best Building That Looks Like Batman

Greg Capullo (DC – Batman)

Best Comic

Batman (DC – Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo)

Batman is the guy who’s always prepared to deal with any situation, whether he’s confidently despatching a group of super-powered White Martians or knocking out cocky intergalactic cops with One Punch. But it’s immensely satisfying to see him wrong-footed the way he has been in this peerless comic by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.

Finding out that Gotham might not be his city after all and struggling to play catch-up with a fantastic new group of villains who remain one step ahead at all times, Bats is being challenged like never before.

Snyder’s taut plotting and bang-on characterisation are unadulterated brilliance and Capullo’s art is simply a joy to behold.

Best of all, it seems this story is just getting started. Oh, and I still think Alfred is going to betray Bruce…

JonnyJon

In my round up of 2011′s Television, I gave the caveat that I hadn’t watched as much TV last year as I normally would, and there’s a reason for that. During 2011, I listened to podcasts almost constantly, getting in around half a dozen a day on average.

Having never been one for the radio (apart from Radio 4 – obviously) I would have called you crazy if you’d told me five years ago I would be sacrificing valuable TV hours in favour of listening to nerds talking to each other.

The ones I mention below are only a few of those I’ve enjoyed during 2011, so honourable mentions must also go to The Nerdist, Comedy Bang Bang, The SideKickCast, 20 Minute Longbox, Mike and Tom Eat Snacks, We Talk Comics and too many more to name.

Best Comics Podcasts (apart from ours, obviously!)

3 – Fuzzy Typrewriter

Fuzzy Typewriter is a podcast started by iFanboy writer Paul Montgomery, digging into the nitty-gritty of “Story and Storytelling, Art and Artists” in the world of comics, movies and novels with a regular cast of revolving co-hosts.

Soft-spoken Montgomery has a great voice for podcasting and is fiercely intelligent and passionate about the subjects he covers – I particularly enjoyed listening to him review all 52 of the DCnU #1 books, especially since we did the same.

It’s not [meant to be] the funniest or the slickest podcast in the world, but it’s always immensely listenable and once you hit play you can just feel yourself becoming more cultured by the minute.

2 – Word Balloon

I just pointed out that Paul Montgomery has a great podcasting voice, but John Siuntres is how all podcasters want to sound when they grow up. Hell, all MEN wish they sounded like this guy.

This isn’t meant to come across as mean, but  he really does sound like he comes from a different time, conducting ultra-classy, insightful and often hilarious interviews with…well, everybody in comics. Everybody. His Bendis Tapes are a particular gem.

Unlike other podcasts mentioned here, I don’t listen to every episode. It’s not a downside – Siuntres’ range of guests are so diverse, that due to time constraints I pick and choose which interviews to listen to, but that does mean there’s something for everyone and it’s testament to the quality that I’ve been totally gripped when I’ve found myself listening to interviews with people I’ve never heard of, who write things I’m not interested in.

Plus he’s got a great taste in films (crime and noir in particular) and you’ll always come away from a podcast with a couple of new recommendations to check out.

1 –iFanboy

I like that iFanboy is such a reliable constant in the comics universe. Every Sunday like clockwork you get a one hour Pick of the Week Podcast which follows a tight format and gives you a strong overview of the week’s comics. The guys that present it are smart and funny, and they have honed this podcasting thing down to a fine art by putting out hundreds of hours of quality comics chat.

I have listened to every episode of the PotW Podcast, and have found myself thinking in 2011 that it’s been lacking something it once had. If I could put my finger on it, I would elucidate. But I’ve found that it’s still the only podcast I download and listen to as soon as it appears on my feed.

iFanboy earns this spot on the strength of the PotW podcast alone, when you take into account the numerous other weekly shows they put out, including an always-entertaining video show, they’re clear winners in this category and if you could only listen to one comics podcast, it would have to be this (apart from ours, obviously!).

But not even they come close to the:

Podcast of The Year – Adam and Joe

Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish have been one of the UK’s funniest and most subversive comedy acts since they burst onto the TV scene with their unique brand of ramshackle nonsense in the late ’90s, and their podcasts are even better than the show was, especially since moving from XFM to BBC 6 Music.

Edited down from their Big British Castle radio show with extra content added, the podcast’s mixture of chat, brilliant homemade jingles and audience participation has gone from strength to strength over the years and 2011 bought us such gems as the G6 Lizard, Taffin, Nonsense!, Blah Boobidy Baya 2, Travellin’ Tales and another batch of awesome Song Wars episodes. And yes, I realise that just seems like a list of made up phrases.

The only real downside to their podcast is that stingy (well, strapped) BBC6 Music only offers a small selection of their shows on iTunes, meaning new fans may have to resort to other means to get hold of their back-catalogue.

If you’re not from the UK you probably haven’t heard of Adam and Joe – and even if you are, they aren’t that well known outside of their fanbase. Do yourself a favour and join Black Squadron (the elite listening force) today. Why be Denny Different? Why?

As an aside, if the name Joe Cornish rings a bell, he wrote and directed Attack The Block, which I named my Movie of 2011. Go Joe!

JonnyJon

Download Ep. 17 – Timeslide!

Show Notes for Ep. 17 – Timeslide!
14:14  – About the most interesting thing we discovered about AVENGERS: X-SANCTION #1 was that it looked like it had been drawn by Beryl Cook.
30:46 – After dropping the book with issue 3 we decided we missed Slade Wilson, so we picked up DEATHSTROKE #4.
42:07 – The story is finally starting to come together with STORMWATCH #5.
58:36 – SWAMP THING #5 continues to be an excellent series, despite some uncharachteristically clunky dialogue.
70:53 – ANIMAL MAN #5 sees the first arc of Jeff Lemire’s run come to a spectacular end.
84:45 - After reading ACTION COMICS #5 we’re still not completely convinced of why we’re hanging around.

Originally released as five acts in our Christmas Special, we now present our radio play “A Marvelous Christmas” as one piece.

If you enjoy this, check out The Horror in Pripyat

Download A Marvelous Christmas by Thwipping Boys

Welcome back to the round-up of my favourite things in 2011. I previously covered Television, and I’ve got Podcasts and Comics coming soon, but for now, these are the Movies I rated most highly last year.

Don’t agree with my picks? Maybe Simon’s Awards will be more to your taste.

Best Comedy – Bridesmaids

Bridesmaids was billed as a female counterpart to The Hangover, which had the opposite of the intended effect with me - although I was eventually talked into seeing it. While The Hangover was not much more than a vaguely amusing retread of the plot from Dude, Where’s My Car?, Bridesmaids is intelligently written and brilliantly directed with a series of standout performances.

As much as Kristen Wiig deserves the plaudits heaped on her for for outstanding portrayal of Annie in the film, both Melissa McCarthy and Rose Byrne also turn in some of the best comedy performances anywhere in 2011.

Throw in a likeable but weirdly out-of-place love interest played by The IT Crowd‘s Chris O’Dowd and you’re left with something unexpectedly special.

Best Comic Book Adaptation – Thor

Coming into 2011′s Summer of Superheroes, Thor looked like it could be the weak link, but for me it far surpassed Captain America, Green Lantern and X-Men: First Class.

There comes a time in adapting a superhero for the screen where the people behind it need to make a call on what aspects of the comic mythology are kept, and which are ditched for being too cheesy, silly or simply unsuitable for the screen.

Well it looks like Kennth Branagh said “screw that, we’re keeping ALL of it, ‘cos it’s ALL awesome” and as a result we get Frost Giants, Jotunheim, The Rainbow Bridge, Yggdrasil – all of it.

Best of all, between Hemsworth’s performance and the spot-on depiction of Mjolnir, Thor comes across like he’s stepped straight out of the pages of the comic.

Best Film – Attack The Block

Both a loving homage to John Carpenter’s late 70s output and yet fiercely original in its own right, Attack The Block is a massively assured debut from British comedian, podcaster and writer Joe Cornish.

For me this is probably the ultimate movie – dramatic, funny and action-packed with fantastically-realised monsters, but it’s also very thoughtful, with some beautifully understated performances (many from local kids with no prior acting experience), a watertight plot and a hugely impressive script.

Cornish is currently co-writing Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man screenplay, which must bode well for the Avenger’s introduction, but personally I’m much more excited for the day that Joe himself gets back behind the camera.

JonnyJon

I wasn’t going to do one of these myself, but having read and enjoyed Simon’s awards pieces, I felt the jealousy rising in me like a 9 year-old with siblings on Christmas Day. How dare he take all the glory!?

With this in mind I will give my own awards for the categories Simon used, starting with Television. I will admit that I have watched far less TV this year than I usually do, and I’m yet to watch an episode of Breaking Bad (I know, shocking) but I suspect my awards might have turned out pretty similarly to Simon’s if I had. Anyway, let’s do this!

Best TV Actor

Jon Bernthal – Shane Walsh, The Walking Dead

I literally only just started reading The Walking Dead after receiving the Compendium for Christmas (I just finished the chapter where Michonne —- off The Governer’s —- and — with – —– and scoops — — — — – spoon). And much as I am enjoying it, I think every single change the TV show has made has been for the better. Prime among those is Shane living on, and I’ve found that although I was coming for the zombies, I was staying for the Jon Bernthal. I’d never heard of him before, but have since discovered he’s an actor of astounding versatility, though he’s at his best playing wound up, intense and dangerous.

Most Shocking TV moment

Prime Minister Pig F*cker – Black Mirror

Once upon a time when I was a videogames journalist, I especially looked up to a particular peer of mine (though we never met). He wrote for PC Zone magazine, and had such a twisted sense of humour that he once caused the mag to be removed from the shelves of most of the UK’s newsagents.

That was Charlier Brooker, who has gone on to be involved with all sorts of brilliant stuff from Dead Set (Big Brother contestants unaware of a zombie apocalypse raging outside) to his collaboration with Chris Morris on the vastly underrated comedy Nathan Barley.

Anthology show Black Mirror’s first episode “National Anthem” was pure Brooker, and was the weirdest, funniest (yet simultaneously most upsetting) hour of TV I saw in 2011. I almost didn’t include it as a “shock”, because you’ve resigned yourself to the fact that it’s going to happen at least ten minutes before it does, but it doesn’t take away from the impact at all.

There was quite a lot of criticism that the scenario in this episode was unrealistic. I don’t see how this is justified - as unlikely as it may be, there’s nothing in the episode that is unfeasible.

For more on Black Mirror, we discussed the first two episodes in eps 13 and 14 of our podcast.

Best Show

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead came in for a LOT of criticism this year, and I suspect a lot of that has more to do with the behind the scenes kerfuffle than what actually happened on the show. Hell, we’re certainly not innocent, we laid into AMC execs in our Halloween Special for the same reasons. I think I said they were “twats”…

But where others saw “too slow” I saw almost unbearable tension building and where others saw “too much talking and not enough shooting zombies” I saw fascinating character development and relationship dynamics between interesting characters played by brilliant actors.

The last five minutes of the season retroactively improved everything that had come before it, as everything the writers had set up dropped into place for a gut-wrenching finale in which Rick stepped forward and proved that despite Shane’s protests, he’s definitely THE man in this group. Amazing stuff.

JonnyJon

Part 1 – Television

Part 2 – Wrestling

Part 3 – Movies

Now is the time for the final part of my Thwipping Boys Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, and I am on to that which we love the most… Comics. Unfortunately I must admit, this is very DC-centric, there are a number of books I have wanted to read this year but found myself without the funds or time, but I hope any non-DC fans enjoy this as well.

Best Writer

Scott Snyder (DC – Batman/Swamp Thing)

I’ll be the first to admit, I have not read all that much of Snyder’s work, I have heard so much positivity regarding both his work on Detective Comics and his creator-owned American Vampire that they are on the top of my wish-list, but before the DC relaunch I had only minimal exposure to him. All of what I have just said goes a long way to prove just how brilliant a writer he is when I say that with just eight issues (his DC books combined) he is incredibly high up on my list of favourite writers. With Batman, Snyder (and his partner in crime, the exceptional Greg Capullo) is undoubtedly crafting one of the most intriguing plots in recent history, intricately weaving the history of Gotham, of the Waynes and the current status of Batman and the city itself in to a rich tapestry brimming with murder, conspiracy and possible deception (yeaah we’re looking at you Alfred!). I haven’t even covered Swamp Thing, a character I only really knew from being a comics fan, but have read nothing starring him, despite this lack of knowledge Scott Snyder has been able to tell a story knee-deep in Swampy mythology that is easy to follow and most of all, enthralling and entertaining. I do not know what 2012 holds for DC’s comics, but what I do know is, I’d follow Snyder in to the gates of hell, and on to any books he decides to write.

Best Artist

Francis Manapul (DC – The Flash)

The winner of this award would be a surprise to nobody who listens to our podcast. Consistently for 4 months now I have sung Manapul’s praises on The Flash, almost as hysterically as a Justin Bieber fangirl. I was quite worried when I heard Manapul would be co-writing the book, not because of his lack of writing experience, but because I feared it would impact on the quality of his work, I shouldn’t have been worried for a micro-second, his artwork noticeably improved in its creativity undoubtedly due to the fact that no one knows how he works better than himself, so who better to write for him? He has one of the most unique styles in mainstream comics, instantly recognizable for his fluid panel layouts, kinetic penciling and integration of external comic tropes (such as sound effects) in to the very actions of the comic themselves, possibly only bettered in this endeavor by Will Eisner and Frank Quitely. Manapul has developed a strong working relationship with Brian Buccellato since Adventure Comics and that is showcased here with possibly the strongest creative team in terms of internal production – Manapul and Buccellato co-writing, Manapul providing pencils and Buccellato colours.

I have said time and again, due to the sheer beauty of the book, and the need to see it on gloss paper, I will definitely be purchasing the trade paper back of this, and I only hope they release an oversized, wishful thinking I know.

Best Creative Team

Jeff Lemire/Travel Foreman (DC – Animal Man)

In my previous award I stated Manapul and Buccellato on The Flash was one of the strongest creative partnerships in comics at the moment, however, as much as I love them, they are not the best, that goes to Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman on Animal Man. Jeff Lemire has some pretty crazy concepts and ideas inside that head of his, and the sole reason for this team being the recipient of this award is that it would be incredibly easy for those ideas to lose impact or feel ridiculous if they were not executed properly and Travel succeeds. From men with chicken hands, mutating animals, bodies being twisted and turned inside out, and cat skeletons drinking milk, Foreman has managed to convey Lemire’s (frankly sick) ideas in to gross-out moments that shock and surprise, but still feel understated and lack the gratuitous nature of a number of other books in the DCU at this point. I’ve said it before and I’m pretty sure I will say it again, but Animal Man would be adversely affected if either of these two great creators left the book, so I pray to god they are on this forever.

Best Panel

Batman #1 (DC – Greg Capullo)

The panel that, to me, put Capullo square in my mind as one of the coolest artists working at the moment, look at the bat symbol on the boot!!

Best Cover

Daredevil #4 (Marvel – Marcos Martin)

Gasp Yes yes I know, there’s actually something on here that is non-DC, and while I haven’t read Mark Waid and Marcos Martin’s run on Daredevil I cannot deny that #4’s cover, is an absolutely fantastic cover, and in my opinion the coolest of 2011.  I am a huge fan of the use of stark colours in imagery, so the image of the lone, red Daredevil flipping through the air, his cable coiling through the blank white sky is certainly a powerful one, combine that with the visual metaphor on gun barrels taking the place of skyscrapers, billowing smoke as if chimneys, and you have a clear representation of who Daredevil is and the dangers he faces.

Biggest Disappointment

Action Comics (DC – Grant Morrison, Rags Morales and other cohorts)

What on earth is going on with Action Comics? This book was THE birth of superhero comics, and it looked as though it was ready to reclaim the mantle of the flagship DC title at the relaunch with Grant Morrison writing, but what we’re left with is a book that doesn’t seem to convince in any area. Morrison’s writing, especially his dialogue, has been shoddy at best, he has failed to capture my attention through his interpretation of the retooled characters, especially what little we have seen of Steel and Metallo and his plot and action is mediocre. Let’s not even start on Rags Morales, he may have proven himself a more than capable artist on Identity Crisis, but for whatever reason quality is sorely lacking in the artwork for this book, it is wildly inconsistent, with characters looking vastly different from panel to panel and it just not having the bite necessary for Action Comics. We have spoken about this point a lot of times before in the podcast, and I think Jonnyjon may have a point that Morales is simply not built for a monthly comic, he works best on mini-series or in short runs in which he can build up a nice amount of completed work before the first issue is even released. Morrison has kept us on this book by the sheer power of his name alone, but how much longer can we read a book just in case it improves? I for one am questioning whether I want to read each month, and sadly, in 15 years of reading Morrison’s work, this is the first time I have thought it simply isn’t good enough to warrant my money.

The One I Missed

Daredevil (Marvel – Mark Waid and Marcos Martin)

For this additional award I just wanted to highlight one book from 2011 I wish I had read but simply haven’t got round to it, and I have already talked about that book in these awards and that is Marvel’s Daredevil. The reason I failed to pick up this books is because I am YEARS behind in terms of Daredevil lore, having last read the book not long in to Bendis’ seminal run, and I wished to atleast try and catch up before moving on to Waid’s new volume. I feel I may have to detour the past material and Wikipedia it or something, as numerous Best Of lists have it listed as the best comic of the year, and with it being only a few issues in, it may be quite easy to jump in to quite quickly, which is a good thing for us Thwipping Boys as we are always looking for non-DC books, but it is usually quite a struggle!

Best Comic

Animal Man (DC – Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman)

I’ve already rabbited on for hours on the podcast and earlier in this post about just how much I love Animal Man by Jeff Lemire and Travel Foreman, so I will not keep you long. Every month I seem to repeat myself by stating each issue is one of the best single issues of a comic I have ever read. Lemire and Foreman had big shoes to fill when they took over this book, as the only previous run on Animal Man anyone gives thought to is Grant Morrison’s, and it would be easy to have feared they would tread similar ground because of their link as “mature” comics,  but this team are crafting a dark and gruesome tale of such quality that if the trend continues, could make their run just as legendary as Morrison’s. This book will be a definite purchase for me when the trades are released, and I will continue to funnel money in to the pockets of Lemire and Foreman for as long as they make my first Wednesday of each month enjoyable.

So, there we have it! The end of 2011 and the end of my awards! DC ruled the roost this year, but who knows, we seem to be dropping books quite frequently at the moment, so maybe just maybe, Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, or hell… IDW will get a look in next year! Hope you enjoyed, and be sure to either get back to us with your thoughts and choices on Twitter @thwippingboys or in this here comments section!

Part 1 of the Thwipping Boys Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Awards saw me cover TV, with Part 2 I covered Wrestling. Now, after a technical delay (ie. me forgetting to save my word document and my computer crashing) I present my Movie awards! It has been an interesting year for me when it comes to movies, as I have not seen many of the films that could be considered the best of the year, so no… No Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy on the list.

Best Comedy

Horrible Bosses

 This was a film that I had little to no awareness of previous to actually seeing it, I had seen the trailer and thought it looked alright, but was shocked when I watched it to discover I couldn’t stop laughing. The film follows three honest hardworking guys; driven to the brink of despair by their bosses, fed up with their treatment they enact a plan to off their superiors. The main stars of Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis acquit themselves well, with Bateman providing the kind of sterling everyman comedy performance we have come to expect from him, and Sudeikis announcing himself as one of the funniest new comedy stars in Hollywood.  What really makes this film shine though are the surprising comedic turns from Kevin Spacey, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston. Spacey is perfect as a power hungry, arrogant and oppressive CEO, crushing Bateman’s spirit under his boot. Farrell subverts his pretty boy image by piling on the makeup, playing a drug addicted, careless and obnoxious heir to a company Sudeikis has dedicated his life to. It is Aniston who is most shocking, destroying years family friendly rom-com tosh by playing a sex-crazed dentist, intent of jumping the bones of Charlie Day’s assistant at any cost.

I suggest anyone who has not seen this film as yet, go and see it, if only because Jason Bateman is pretty much awesome in everything he does.

Best Action

Fast Five

Fast and Furious was crap, 2 Fast 2 Furious was even worse, Tokyo Drift was a pointless addition and The Fast & The Furious was mediocre at best, which really may seem shocking for me to announce that, to my knowledge, no action film gave me more enjoyment than Fast Five in 2011 and here is why. The FF (as I call it) franchise was born out of a short fad of mainstream interest in street races, when the world moved on, the franchise didn’t, it was only when they realised the possibilities of a genuine heist franchise that the concept began working. All of the major players from the previous films are back, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Jordana Brewster, Ludacris are all on fine form as their respective characters, buoyed by a few other inclusions that take the film to a new level. Yes… I am talking about The Rock, who is superb as a US Marshal/manhunter on the trail of Diesel and his crew, every moment in which The Rock’s mountainous form (larger in this film than undoubtedly ever before) was on screen was filled with a level of power missing from the previous films. While the bank vault chase that provided the climax of the film is undoubtedly the action set-piece, the one on one punch up between The Rock and Diesel is one of the most exhilarating fights in recent memory, it is brutal, powerful, and sorry but what more do you want in an action film than two 6ft plus hulking bald men (with only a beard to distinguish between them, and what a beard!) absolutely kicking the crap out of each other? And while I may not agree with how the fight ended (The Rock would lay the smackdown on Diesels candyass) I certainly enjoyed the ride!

With news that there are plans for a Fast 6 & 7 to end the series, and that EVERYONE will be back for them, there seems to be enough momentum to carry an otherwise dismal franchise to an exciting conclusion. Lets just hope the engine doesn’t blow just as it is getting up to speed.

Best Comic Book Adaptation

Thor

 Since we are largely a comics blog and podcast, I felt it was only right to dedicate an award to the best comic adaptation of the year, and it was a lot easier than I thought. The year has had a number of adaptations, from Green Hornet, to Cowboys & Aliens and Tintin, but it has also been a year of mixed responses, almost every film was met with either mild cheers or soft groans, no outwardly bad films, just a whole slew of missed opportunities. The only film that was an exception to this was Thor, based on the Marvel comic and directed by Kenneth Branagh (one of England’s finest thespians), which was met with consistently high praise, maybe not as an outstanding film, but certainly as a good fun one, there are so many reasons you could attribute to the success of Thor, but I wish to pinpoint just a few. The first was Tom Hiddlestone as Loki, it is incredibly refreshing to see the portrayal of a villain that is not one-dimensional, especially in a comic book movie, Hiddlestone’s Loki is flawed yet relatable, his motives, while unclear, have a humanity to them which make you sympathise with him, it is very rarely you find yourself wanting to learn more of the villain’s story than the hero’s.  Speaking of hero, Chris Hemsworth, Thor himself, had a lot resting on his shoulders as we entered the summer season, here was an actor who 99% of audiences would have had minimal exposure to, carrying what was undoubtedly the biggest risk of Marvel Studio’s small catagloue. Luckily Hemsworth pulled it off with aplomb, his Thor was certainly very different from the God of Thunder from the comics, but what differences there were mattered not in the end, much like Loki, Thor was an incredibly humanised character, he was arrogant, hot and hotheaded, but at the same time incredibly passionate, through all of this he felt incredibly grounded, and so instantly relatable. The final piece of the puzzle for me was the comedy element, not only in the writing but also in the delivery, the Marvel films have mostly been successful in integrating a light hearted sense of comedy through their films, and this was no different, every time I watch I find myself laughing at different things, the most important thing about this is that there was very little slapstick comedy (in fact, only one moment springs to mind) but plenty of witty dialogue to give a chuckle, Heimdall, The Warriors Three and Dr. Selvig all had some hilarious moments, but to me, this tops them all -

Best Film

Black Swan

I was intending to have a Best Drama category included in these awards, but that became pointless when I finally decided which film would win each category, and they were one and the same. Darren Aronofsky is one of my favourite directors, capable of blending captivating tales with beautiful storytelling and art direction, while The Fountain is one of the most confusing films I have seen in years, it is undoubtedly one of my favourite due to its sheer beauty. With Black Swan Aronofsky once again managed do that which I have expected of him; no other film this year has been so beautifully dramatic, so psychologically intense, and as disturbing as the tale told within Black Swan. The film seamlessly blends delusion and reality, to the point where it is questionable whether Nina (Natalie Portman) is truly transforming in to a devilish looking black swan, or whether this is merely a visual manifestation of her decaying mental state, as she spirals in to madness.  Aronofsky is always capable of producing films that end with despair, leaving the viewer incredibly uncomfortable as the credits roll, yet despite that, we cannot turn our backs and say the films were anything less than magnificent. Black Swan was released in early January here in the UK, and when I first saw it I instantly said to my friend “It’ll be hard to beat that this year”, it was an off the cuff remark, one I didn’t really felt, how wrong I was, because the 11 months that followed provided nothing better.

So there we go, what a year for film, lets hope next year is a knock out year as well! Prometheus, The Dark Knight Rises, Avengers, MIB 3 and many many more. The last section will be up soon, so make sure to check back and keep an eye out, thanks!

Plus, we lose two more books!

Download Episode 16 -Ramming Speed!

Show Notes for Episode 16 - Ramming Speed!
02:40 - What does Aquaman discover at the bottom of the trench in AQUAMAN #4? Indistinct pencilling and predictable plotting, that’s what!
11:11 - THE FLASH #4 doesn’t tell us anything new and doesn’t contain enough Flash for us, but when it finally does, it explodes into life.
22:50 – John Constantine turns up in I,VAMPIRE #4, and it’s every bit as awesome as you’d expect.
30:40 – Jon proves in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #4 that he doesn’t have a clue what is going on in this book. Who the heck is Madame Xatanna?
43:30 – We dropped Justice League in our issue 3 knockout round, but Simon saved it with his veto. Does JUSTICE LEAGUE #4 redeem the series?
52:10 - RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS #4 was Jon’s veto, maybe he should have saved Deathstroke instead.

In Part 1 of the Thwipping Boys Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Awards, I gave my thoughts on the best TV of the year, in Part 2, I now intend to look at another of my loves… WRASSLIN. So sit back, enjoy the body slams, and reflect on the past 12 months.

Rising Star Award

Dolph Ziggler

Truth is, I’ve been out of wrestling for a long time, my last regular viewing of the WWE product was 7 or 8 years ago. I kept ‘in the know’ through friends and the Internet, but nothing about the stars or the product interested me. It wasn’t until I began reading about a number of wrestlers called the most exciting of their generation that my interest was piqued again, and so for the past 3 months, I have been on wrestling like a fly on… You know.

So who would I choose as 2011’s rising star award? I could choose current World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan, or maybe WWWYKI Internet and US Champion Zack Ryder, or even ‘Best in the World’ WWE Champion CM Punk, but no, my choice is the #Heel Dolph Ziggler.

It is my prediction that Ziggler (despite a decidedly b-movie porn star name) will become an established main-eventer and WWE Title holder in 2012, in my mind he has everything he needs to be the top heel in the company, especially since WWE seem to have lost faith in The Miz and Alberto Del Rio. He has the look, with an awesome pair of boots, and slick back bleach blond hair. He has an awesome move-set, including the return of the Sleeper Hold and the Fame-Asser. Finally, he has the much needed mic skills to portray his confidence and arrogance. Every match I have seen involving Ziggler since I have been back (including a number I have gone back and looked at from earlier in the year) has been fantastic, the guy can sell like no one else, making every move look epic.

Despite Ziggler technically already being a former Heavyweight Champ (a reign of 11 minutes during his feud with Edge) he now has a REAL chance to prove he belongs on the main event, with a title shot against CM Punk this coming Monday on Raw. Will he win? No, Jericho will return and attack Punk, setting off their feud that would last until Wrestlemania, but following that, expect to see Ziggler as Champ.

Game Changer Award

Retirement of Edge

There were two major turning points for WWE this past year, and it was difficult to choose between the two, my runner-up is CM Punk’s shoot speech and eventual storyline. The winner of the award is Edge and his retirement. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of Edge in singles competition, I cannot deny his popularity with the crowd, week on week he would receive one of the biggest, if not the biggest, crowd reactions upon his music playing. After defeating Alberto Del Rio at Wrestlemania, Edge was told he should never wrestle again, due to neck injuries sustained throughout his career.

The next night on Raw was an impassioned farewell speech in which he announced immediate retirement, but why was this a game changer? For the first time in 16 years of watching wrestling I witnessed a man at the peak of his career, and an incredibly young age, forced to retire, there was no build up, no “I don’t know how much longer I can do this” he was there, and then gone. Not only that but Edge was the World Heavyweight Champion, he was the top guy on the Smackdown brand, whether he was heel or face, his retirement not only vacated the title, but also left a void in the company that WWE have tried to fill over the last 8 months and failed.

You will be missed Edge, more than I realised.

Superstar of the Year

CM Punk

Who else could this be given to but CM Punk? He is the hottest star on the planet right now, Cena may be the biggest, but Punk has the excitement factor. So why don’t we take a look back at Punk’s year?

Punk’s year started inauspiciously enough, he was the heel leader of ‘New Nexus’ a ragtag bunch of crappy rookies who graduated from WWE’s abysmal NXT programming. Using the stable, he proceeded to wage a war against Randy Orton, running through Wrestlemania and culminating at Extreme Rules. It was during the Elimination Chamber match in March that the first awesome Punk moment occurred.

Following the culmination of this feud we got the now infamous shoot promo, where Punk was given pretty much free rein by the WWE to say whatever he wanted about what he hates about WWE (with a hint of storyline exaggeration), and boy did he. This was an important moment in the year for many reasons, one it was the first real time WWE had allowed the blurring of reality and fantasy as a storyline, and the other was that Punk started the shoot as a heel, but ended it as a face, purely based on his charisma, go on, take a look.

Fast forward to 3 weeks later, Money in the Bank, John Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE Title in Punk’s hometown of Chicago. Now, what made this special, was that CM Punk’s WWE contract was expiring at the end of this night, a huge portion of this was not storyline, yes, Punk’s contract was originally ending that night, and had he not been able to strike a deal for serious changes to the company and his character, he would have been gone. But luckily McMahon and Punk came to an agreement, and the contract expiration was written in to a storyline which involved Punk leaving the WWE having just won the championship.

Punk returned to WWE a short time later to reignite his feud with Cena (who had won the WWE Championship back after it was apparently vacated by Punk leaving WWE) in a Champion vs. Champion showdown to determine the undisputed champion at Summerslam. Punk beat Cena, but lost the title to Alberto Del Rio (with some help from Kevin Nash) when Del Rio cashed in his money in the bank title shot. The next few months were a trying time for Punk’s character, he was still gaining in popularity, but it was obvious WWE had dropped the ball on his return, having lost the WWE championship a mere month after winning it. After 2 months of languishing in a stupid feud with HHH, Punk regained the title at Survivor Series, leading us to our two final videos for your pleasure.

And finally, at the TLC pay per view just a few short weeks ago, The Miz, Del Rio and Punk took part in a TLC match for Punk’s title. This was a pretty standard fare until a frankly awesome ending (follow the link to watch, 3 minutes in) that saw Punk retain his title.

TLC Title Match Last 8 Minutes

And there we have it, a recap of the major points of Punk’s year, combined with the moments that helped him win the award for Superstar of the Year, here’s hoping you have enjoyed the read, and will be back later tonight for my next part…. MOVIES!

With 2011 coming to a close, I wanted to wrap up my thoughts on my various interests by producing the Inaugural Thwipping Boys Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence Awards. This feature will run for the next 4 days, with a different category each day, so be sure to check back this time tomorrow for part 2!! I must warn you, throughout this series there will be spoilers, so with that over and done with… GET ON WITH THE CEREMONY!!

Best TV Actor

Bryan Cranston – Walter White, Breaking Bad

It would be very easy to attribute this win to the ole bandwagon, Cranston wins these awards left, right and center, he has to be a shoe in for all of them right? Well… No, to be honest, in Breaking Bad alone this year Aaron Paul was breathing right down Cranston’s neck for his blistering portrayal of Jesse Pinkman, Bob Odenkirk was suitably slimy as Saul Goodman and Giancarlo Esposito gave us the best TV villain in years in Gustavo ‘Gus’ Fring. Despite a tour de force of supporting cast, or perhaps because of it, Cranston was able to stay one step ahead, delivering mind-blowing moments capable of elevating him above the pack, making us love and hate dear old Walter White in equal parts.

Most Shocking TV moment

The Demise of Ned Stark – Game of Thrones

Fans of George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ saga would have been well aware of the events that transpired throughout the first Season of the books television adaptation, those new to the series were a different story entirely. Leading up to the Series Premiere, advertising had leaned in one direction in particular, pushing Ned Stark (portrayed by Sean Bean) as the main character, of which the series would revolve around. With all of this, expectations that had been previously established were shattered in one fell swoop when the dastardly little bitch King Joffrey executed Ned just because he could… Not that I am still bitter. This moment had viewers baying for the heads of everyone involved, vowing never to watch the show again, until the next week.

The following scene is so well shot, so beautiful, that even after the deed is done, there is a moment spent questioning whether it really happened. With the director of this episode  (Alan Taylor) recently confirmed as the director of Thor 2, Mjolnir looks to be in sturdy hands.

Best Show

Breaking Bad

What can I say about Breaking Bad that hasn’t already been said; in 4 short seasons this show has garnered unanimous praise and constant plaudits. It has truly been the most uncomfortable joy watching Walter White’s family life unravel as he is consumed more and more by the greed and power of the Crystal Meth industry. Season 4 ended with the confirmation that Walter’s actions have not been motivated by protection of his family or through uncertainty, but that, of all of the villains showcased on Breaking Bad, Walter is one of the most devious. With one season left it will be interesting to see just how the cards fall, what will be the fate of Walter, Jesse, Skylar and Hank? In my opinion, Jesse will get out alive, while Walter will be buried in a grave of his own making.

And there we are, part 1 is over and done with, I hope you have enjoyed the show, and check back tomorrow for part 2… WRESTLING!

What happens when a once powerful force for good turns evil and tries to spoil Christmas for everyone? We also catch up with The Shade, review a Christmas-flavoured Finnish horror adventure and Chris provides his own spin on some classic tunes.

Plus we open our presents, recorded live on Christmas Day 2011 (today!).

Download the Thwipping Boys Christmas Special

Show Notes: Thwipping Boys Christmas Special
00:00 - A MARVELOUS CHRISTMAS, PART 1
01:49  - Join us for a very special occasion as WE OPEN OUR PRESENTS, PART 1, as recorded live on Christmas Day 2011. At the time of writing, about two hours ago!
09.00  - A MARVELOUS CHRISTMAS, PART 2
11.29  - Join us around the Christmas Tree in Thwipping Boys Towers as WE OPEN OUR PRESENTS, PART 2
15.04 - A MARVELOUS CHRISTMAS, PART 3
17.28 - After missing it at the time we take the opportunity to catch up with THE SHADE #2 and #3.
25.28  - A MARVELOUS CHRISTMAS, PART 4
27.03  - Bored of the same old Christmas movies? We talk about RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE, and our usual spoiler warning rules apply!
35.52  - A MARVELOUS CHRISTMAS, PART 5

Also – shock of shocks! We drop a book!

Download Episode 14 – The Sacrifice of Steve Guttenberg

Show Notes for Episode 14: The Sacrifice of Steve Guttenberg
01:00 - We don’t agree whether Episode 2 of BLACK MIRROR (“15 Million Merits”) was better than Episode 1, but we do agree that you must be watching this series.
09:10 - After reading BATMAN AND ROBIN #4 we have our theories on where the awesome series is heading.
18:00 - DEMON KNIGHTS #4 has us desperate to see just how badass Sir Ystin The Shining Knight is capable of being.
27:45 - FRANKENTEIN: AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #4 sees the end of the Monster Planet arc where they travel to the Monster Planet and fight a big gorram bunch of Monsters.
35:15 - We learn in GREEN LANTERN #4 that Geoff Johns doesn’t have balls of steel. And the book also reiterates that as good as he can be, he’s a damned inconsistent writer.
43:50 - RESURRECTION MAN #4 sees this series pretty much developing as we’ve predicted since the first issue, but we still kinda like it.
53:30 - Quite a few comics in the DC relaunch surprised us with the #1 issues, but SUICIDE SQUAD #4 shows that this series is the only one to have kept it up ever since.
60:00 - We were so psyched up for the Superboy / Teen Titans crossover when this whole shebang started, but how do we feel about it after SUPERBOY #4?

Download Episode 13!

Show Notes for Episode 13: Hiccups!
01:35 - We meant to simply mention Charlie Brooker’s BLACK MIRROR and tell you to watch it, but we ended up reviewing it in depth and [almost] spoiling it.
09:40 - We review THE SHADE #1 to appease one of our listeners, and are glad we did!
21:22 - ACTION COMICS #4 sees us starting to sour on this series. Grant Morrison’s name alone has kept us on this so far, so we’re hoping it pays off at some point…soon.
39:45 - ANIMAL MAN #4 is so good it’s just ridiculous.
57:57 - We dropped the book after issue 3 but a veto from Chris bought OMAC #4 back into contention. Plus! We get sidetracked by the difference between US and UK sewer systems.
67:10 - STORMWATCH #4 still sees us confused by this series, and despite the team’s continuing insistence that they’re not just superheroes we’re not quite sure what separates them from the Justice League.
84:20 - While we review SWAMP THING #4 we discover a horrifying truth – Chris is not of the opinion that anything can be improved by simply adding dinosaurs.
102:10 - We desperately need a title for this feature about whether Chris thinks we should bring back classic characters to the DCnU or leave them buried forever. This week we discuss GLORIOUS GODFREY.
116:50 - Not even the hurricane raging outside can distract us from Chris’ take of the final chapter of the wonderful MARVELS.

People are talking about there being a problem with double page spreads and with constantly having to turn their iPad around in order to appreciate them, and something in the back of my mind can’t help but scream “YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!”.

When I first tried to read a digital comic, I hated it. I too was constantly turning it around. And then a moment of absolute clarity hit me, an epiphany – like a bullet between the eyes. OK I’m exaggerating, it was actually pretty obvious: Try it in landscape! I did, it was odd for a few minutes, but I was soon convinced and I’ve been reading like that ever since.

The thing is, there appears to be zero downside to reading them in landscape. Vertical panels work perfectly well that way! In three months of reading just about everything DC has put out I haven’t once felt the need to turn the iPad around to see a vertical panel.

My theory is that after years of reading comics, readers are simply assuming that the correct way to view them is the aspect ratio that most resembles what they are used to. Unless all you’ve ever read is Frank Miller’s 300. But reading on Guided View is a whole new (and quite brilliant) ball-game, which may require some changes to what you’re used to, if you want the best experience out of it.

So let us know. Are we the crazy ones? How do you read your digital comics?

To finish, let me say – if you read them in portrait, just try it in landscape. For me. It’ll feel weird at first, but I am sure you’ll come to be surprised at how much better it is.

If you’ve got any comments, email thwippingboys@gmail.com

JonnyJon

What did he make of this incredible work from Alex Ross and Mark Waid?

Download our Special Edition: Kingdom Come podcast!

Or get it on iTunes!

Postscript: Chris has admitted that he has grown to like the idea of super heroes not being killers, since the discussion we had about this book. Bravo!

Headphones are recommended if possible, and we dare you to listen in the dark!

Download The Horror in Pripyat by Thwipping Boys!

Or get it on iTunes!

A few years later, realising that this probably was a little excessive, I put all of my second copies on Ebay and was soon disappointed to learn what other comics collectors know all too well - that single issues of popular modern comics aren’t even worth pennies, even with variant covers.

I was having a clear out to free up space, couldn’t justify keeping them, couldn’t sell them and didn’t want to bin them. The upshot is, I had just about decided to find a random child to present the comics to (without getting arrested) as it seemed like the only choice left to me, when I spied my rubbish £12 Argos coffee table in the corner and had a crazy idea.

One pot of PVA, one pair of scissors, one pot of varnish and many, many painstaking hours later:

If you’ve got any comments, email thwippingboys@gmail.com

JonnyJon

However, despite my proclamation that for me, digital single issues trump paper copies, don’t let it be said I don’t like a book or two.

Recently, Simon was pondering what to get me for Christmas, and realised he didn’t know what I already had, so I offered to put a list together to help him avoid buying me a present I already own – an act for which I would never forgive him. While doing this I thought sod it, I might as well shove it on the blog, it’s always possible some nutter will be interested.

So before I break it down, here’s what the collection looks like in full.

And unfortunately this next book needs a section to itself.

DC:
Wednesday Comics
There really is nowhere else to store this big bastard.

DC:
Absolute All-Star Superman
Absolute New Frontier
Absolute Planetary Volumes 1 and 2
Absolute Kingdom Come
Absolute Watchmen
JLA Omnibus Volumes 1-4
Batman and Robin Volume 1

MORE DC:
Starman Omnibus Volumes 1-6
Swamp Thing Omnibus Volumes 1-4
The Spirit Book 1 & Book 2
Green Arrow: Year One
All-Star Superman Volumes 1 & 2
Because it’s good enough to own twice.
JLA Year One
Identity Crisis

EVEN MORE DC, PLUS SOME VERTIGO:
Akham Asylum
Justice Society of America: The Next Age
Justice Society of America: Thy Kingdom Come Volumes 1-3
The Mighty Volumes 1 & 2
Green Lantern: Rebirth
Green Lantern: The Sinestro Corps War Volumes 1 & 2
Green Lantern: Secret Origin
Green Lantern: Agent Orange
Green Lantern: Revenge of the Green Lanterns
JSA Vs. Kobra
JLA: Justice for All
JLA: Strength in Numbers
JLA: World War III
I kept these JLA trades when I upgraded to the Omnibus editions, as they all feature stories by writers other than Morrison which are not collected in those.
The Death of the New Gods
Superman: Red Son
JLA / Avengers
Justice League International Volumes 1 & 2
Sleeper Seasons 1 & 2
Planetary: Crossing Worlds
Checkmate: A King’s Game
Checkmate: Pawn Breaks
Checkmate: Fall of the Wall
Outsiders / Checkmate: Checkout
The Losers Books 1 & 2
Animal Man Volumes 1-3

VERTIGO
How to Kill Your Boyfriend
The Sandman Volumes 1-6
Preacher Volumes 1-9
Transmetropolitan Volumes 1-9
Fables Volumes 1 & 2
We3
Pride of Baghdad
Doom Patrol Volume 5
Haven’t read any Doom Patrol as yet, but the library was selling off this one for a quid so how could I refuse?

MARVEL
Marvels
The Mighty Thor Omnibus
New X-Men Omnibus
Astonishing X-Men Omnibus
Captain America Omnibus
The Death of Captain America Omnibus
Avengers Forever
S.H.I.E.L.D. Book 1
Marvel Boy
The Death of Captain Marvel
Squadron Supreme

MORE MARVEL
The Silver Surfer Origins
Fantastic Four: Doomsday
The Uncanny X-Men: Dark Phoenix
The Uncanny X-Men: Days of Future Past
Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E.
Infinity Gauntlet
New Avengers Illuminati
Death’s Head Volume 2
I was a big fan of Death’s Head as a kid, and Volume 2 features the stories I remember so fondly. Didn’t care much for Volume 1 so it went on Ebay.
Young Avengers Volumes 1 & 2
Supreme Power Volumes 1-3
New X-Men Volumes 1-7
See earlier comment about owning All-Star Superman twice!
Bullet Points
Fantastic Four: Authoritative Action
Fantastic Four 1-2-3-4
Fantastic Four Volumes 1-3 of the Hickman run
Civil War Young Avengers
X-Men First Class Volume 1
Captain Britain and MI:13 Volumes 1-3
Fantastic Four: True Story
Avengers: Galactic Storm
Another one I got from the library for a quid. I haven’t read it yet. Have heard it’s not good.
Inhumans
Astonishing X-Men Volumes 1-4
I own the omnibus, the trades, the single issues and the motion comic! Plus something else I will be posting about after this!

ULTIMATE MARVEL AND A BIT MORE 616 MARVEL
Ultimate Comics Doomsday
Ultimate Marvel Team-Up
Ultimate Origins
Ultimate Spider-Man Volumes 3-22
I gave 1 and 2 to Chris to get him into Ultimate Spidey…just remembered I still need to re-buy them!
Ultimate Requiem
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Volume 1
And this is where my Ultimate Spidey Collection starts to look stupid.
Ultimate Spider-Man Chameleons
“Ultimate Comics” didn’t last very long did it?
Ultimate Spider-Man Prelude to Death of Spider-Man
Runaways Volumes 1-8
Because it stopped being good after that.

THE JOSS WHEDON SHELF
Spike: After the Fall
Angel Season 6 Volumes 1-9
I know it’s not officially Season 6 but that’s what I call it. Most of this series is very underrated and was better than Buffy Season 8.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Vampires
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 Volumes 1-8
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale

MISCELLANEOUS
Charley’s War Volume 1
If the memories of my youth are correct, this is the greatest war comic ever. Need to get hold of the rest of this.
Godland Celestial Edition Volume 2
American Flagg Volume 1
Asterios Polyp
The Incal
Kick-Ass
Incognito
Afrodisiac
Star Wars: Dark Empire Trilogy
Queen and Country Definitive Editions Volumes 1-4
Barry Ween: Boy Genius
Incognegro
I attended a comic storytelling art course hosted by the underrated Warren Pleece, and he signed this excellent Vertigo book.

MORE MISCELLANEOUS
Scarlet Volume 1
SMAX
Promethea Book 1
Crecy
Godland Volumes 1 and 2
Fear Agent Volumes 1-3
The Pro
Chew Volume 1
Myspace Dark Horse Presents Volume 1
Think I bought this due to it having a Whedon story.
Scurvy Dogs
Milk and Cheese
Seaguy Volume 1
Simpsons Comics Unchained
Incorruptible Volume 1
Bone
Fortune and Glory
Penny Arcade Volumes 1-6
Pedro and Me
Project X Challengers: Nissin Cup Noodle
Project X Challengers: Seven Eleven

So there you go! I’m sure you found that hugely interesting, and hopefully Simon will be able to figure out a suitable present now.

If you’ve got any comments, email thwippingboys@gmail.com

JonnyJon

Download link is now available

Episode 12!

Due to technical issues, our hosting is currently down, which means only the latest episode will be accessible through Soundcloud. You can direct download from the Soundcloud player, but this does unfortunately mean  that no episodes, including the latest, will be available on iTunes at the moment!

Sorry about the inconvenience, and we will keep you posted.

Episode 11!

Show Notes for Episode 11: I AM PERLMON
09:00 - We might be way off base, but BATMAN #3 gives us the impression that Alfred might be up to something.
18:40 - Dissenting opinions abound among the Thwipping Boys when it comes to GUY GARDNER BEING A BADASS #3.
24:14 - I,VAMPIRE #3 was in the podcast plan, but since DC can’t seem to put accurate information on its website (or indeed IN the comics) we decided to randomly try MUDMAN #1 from Image Comics instead.
31:55 - We get our Casting Caps on and try to pick an actor to play the perfect DOCTOR STRANGE.
53:30 - JUSTICE LEAGUE #3 causes us to ask what the hell is going on with this book? Is Geoff Johns trying to illustrate Bipolar Disorder by way of a superhero team comic or something?
62:25 - NIGHTWING #3 wins some respect by featuring a bearded lady, but Simon senses this one is in trouble before we even start talking about it.
69:30 - The best bit of RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #3 featured neither The Outlaws nor Red Hood (not specifically), so where does that leave this book?
77:40 - SUPERGIRL #3 has glacial plot progression, but it turns out that’s fashionable, so that’s OK then.
86:55 - WONDER WOMAN #3 ruins her origin story for our friends in the Young Republican Society, but we quite like it.
96:25 - Chris is loving MARVELS #2 but asks the question we’ve all asked at one point or another, why hasn’t Alex Ross been more prolific, dammit!?

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Episode 10!

Show Notes For Episode 10: Beyond Thunderdome
02:30 - BATMAN & ROBIN #3 has us thinking this might even surpass Grant Morrison’s original run and Scott Snyder’s Batman title.
13:30 - The storyline in DEATHSTROKE #3 seems to consist of little more than one decapitation after another, and somehow this is way more entertaining than it sounds.
20:40 - DEMON KNIGHTS #3 continues to gather steam, as the forces of darkness close their grip on our ragtag band of Dark Ages characters.
26:25 - With FRANKENSTEIN #3 this series is starting to grow on us, but it pales next to Animal Man. Are we going to give Jeff Lemire another chance?
34:35 - GREEN LANTERN #3 continues to give us the impression that despite what we may have previously thought, Geoff Johns has certainly not done everything he can with these characters.
44:45 - GRIFTER #3 was forged in fire, but is it good enough to survive a roasting under our new knockout rules? Simon might know his DC but he proves he doesn’t know much about Will Eisner.
51:50 - RESURRECTION MAN #3 is continuing to impress, we love The Transhuman and even quite like The Body Doubles.
59:30 - SUICIDE SQUAD #3 causes us to go on a Google Image Search for pictures of Captain Boomerang, and we are not disappointed.
71:05 - Jonny needs some convincing after SUPERBOY #3 that the title deserves a place in our pile next time.
79:45 - We “cross the street” for the first time ever on the podcast and check out Marvel’s MARVELS. Marvelous.

Keep an eye out on the blog for the Casting Couch poll, which will be added shortly!!

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Episode 9!

Show Notes For Episode 9: Animal Manimal
02:10 – We thought ACTION COMICS #3 was a bit of a let-down, but does it give us enough to get through this knockout stage?
10:30 – ANIMAL MAN #3 shows Lemire and Foreman getting better and better. And much more horrific. Wasn’t last week’s show horrifying enough?
18:05 – We lounge back on the Thwipping Boys Casting Couch and try to work out who we would cast as THE FLASH: BARRY ALLEN.
37:30 – DETECTIVE COMICS #3 was a step up for the series, but this Batman has been on the ropes since issue 1 for some of us.
41:47 – Is OMAC #3 living up to the high opinions two of us have had of the series so far?
51:35 – STORMWATCH # 3 has various Thwipping Boys confused about the plot or the weird conceptual powers but how much did this taint a book we’ve all been enjoying so far?
56:50 – Scott Snyder seems to be playing one-upmanship with Jeff Lemire in the gross-out horror stakes, if SWAMP THING #3 is anything to go by.
62:00 – We finish our in-depth look at KINGDOM COME. It’s been a powerful journey!

WARNING: FOR OPTIMUM LISTENING PLEASURE OF THIS EPISODE, HEADPHONES ARE ADVISED!!

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Episode 8!

Show Notes for Episode 8: Halloween Special
00:00 - THE HORROR IN PRIPYAT PART 1
05.00 - Has ALL STAR WESTERN shot its load too early?
09:30 - AQUAMAN left Simon feeling cheated.
16:30 - The boys discuss the first trade of THE WALKING DEAD and compare it to the first season of the TV Show.
44:50 - THE HORROR IN PRIPYAT PART 2
47:45 - Continuing the horror / Kirkman theme, the boys have a quick look at new Skybound series WITCH DOCTOR.
53:30 - THE FLASH continues to impress.
61:12 - Why does IVAMPIRE have such awful covers?
67:30 - We check out ODDFELLOWS SERENADE in our Underground Comics Challenge.
76:40 - THE HORROR IN PRIPYAT PART 3
82:00 - There were plenty of funny supernatural shenanigans in JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK.
89:00 - I/We didn’t love TEEN TITANS, but it’s a fun book to rip into.
100:30 - THE HORROR IN PRIPYAT PART 4
104:00 - The Thwipping Boys engage in a 35-minute-plus conversation about Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the geekiness goes right off the charts!
140:30 - THE HORROR IN PRIPYAT PART 5

For the Thwipping Boys Halloween Special (coming later today) we reviewed Oddfellows Serenade, by Bob Freeman (Author, Artist and Paranormal Adventurer) and Chris Wilson.

Check out the podcast to see what we made of it, and if you think the occult detecting of Landon Connors sounds like your kind of thing then head over to Occult Detective for more info on Oddfellows Serenade and the various projects of the creators.

Thanks to Bob for sending this in and letting us do it.

www.occultdetective.com

We have come up with what we think is a great list of suggestions to think about…though Jon mentioned Gary Busey at one point and doesn’t know where the hell that one came from.

Simon’s Spidered-up the best of the bunch that we discussed to give an idea of how our ideas might look if they ever came to pass, so vote below, and let us know! If you don’t like our choices, you can choose someone else – we’ll reveal who won the public vote in two weeks, since we’re taking a break from the feature for next week’s Halloween show!

Just for reference, here is Spider Jerusalem in all his glory!

And now our choices and the poll!

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Episode 7!

Show Notes for Episode 7: Us Classy Types
1:10 – Marvel Studios’ THOR almost causes the boys to come to blows discussing the motivations of Loki. Jonny starts off certain it makes sense, but isn’t so convinced by the end.
27:05 – The Dickhanger from BATMAN’s last issue was quickly forgotten, but it didn’t take much away from this excellent issue.
34:26 – GREEN LANTERN CORPS continues this hugely promising run from Peter Tomasi and team in style.
43:36 – JUSTICE LEAGUE features a proper superhero punch up, causing Jonny to make an apology to Mr. Jim Lee.
54:03 – The featured character in this month’s Thwipping Boys Casting Couch is the very tough-to-cast SPIDER JERUSALEM.
73:24 – Simon’s still a fan of his poster boy NIGHTWING’s relaunch.
80:16 – We weigh in on the whole Starfire controversy when discussing RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS. Did we say controversy? Sorry, we meant total fucking non-issue.
92:30 – We check out the underground comic BARBARIAN in the Underground Comics Challenge.
107:55 – It was just a bunch of punching, but SUPERGIRL was still pretty cool.
113:54 – WONDER WOMAN is making us wonder why so many writers have had trouble getting her right in the past.
123:10 – We discuss KINGDOM COME issue 3 and Chris continues to find this a powerful emotional rollercoaster.

In Episode 7 (released later today) we are going to review BARBARIAN, which was kindly sent in by Scott Amundson. If you would like to check out the comic for yourself, it’s available digitally here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-BARBARIAN-ebook/dp/B005QR8ZR2

and here:

http://www.comixology.com/digital/6194/

There will be some more underground comics reviews to come in the following weeks, so thanks to the folks who have already sent stuff in – if you haven’t and you would like to, check out the post and get it over to us!

Now we want to know who YOU think should play the powerful, soulful martian in a big budget Justice League movie. After all, the reaction to the Avengers trailer will have the folks at Warner pooing their pants by now, so you can bet they’re already putting together a massive committee of useless movie execs to overcomplicate it and ruin things, as per the Green Lantern film.

Ahem. Anyway, Simon’s made it easier for you by tarting up everyone we discussed (discounting Morgan Freeman and Keith David who we were considering for voice only) to look like everyone’s favourite Oreo-snaffler, so vote below, and let us know! If you don’t like our choices, you can choose someone else – we’ll reveal who won the public vote in next week’s show!

JonnyJon

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Episode 6!

Show Notes for Episode 6: Disco Badger
5:17 – The boys are keen to find out what sort of riches are offered by the underground comics scene.
7:40 – BATMAN AND ROBIN’s baticide incident leads to a bit of a tangent and a heartfelt admission from Chris.
15:11 – What’s in the briefcase? DEATHSTROKE is still proving a surprisingly fun read but if we stick around for the reveal it had better be worth it.
21:14 – Vandal Savage continues to be one of many highlights in the brilliant DEMON KNIGHTS.
27:05 – It’s the debut of a new feature as the boys discuss The Martian Manhunter J’onn J’onzz on the THWIPPING BOYS CASTING COUCH.
39:48 – Disagreements over the art in FRANKENSTEIN: AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. aren’t enough to stop us liking this intriguing monster mashup.
47:11 – Geoff Johns has tapped into a fascinating new dynamic in GREEN LANTERN but new comics reader Chris falls afoul of that whole “cover not representative of the contents” thing.
62:02 – Simon does some ill-advised googling on the subject of explosives during our conversation about GRIFTER. We think it might be about a grifter, who does lots of grifting.
71:36 – We’ve got a brilliant idea for a future RESURRECTION MAN arc.
85:54 – SUICIDE SQUAD is gory, twisty, fun of the highest order.
98:25 – SUPERBOY was reasonably enjoyable despite lots of confusion about what actually happened in the issue.
115:00 – We check in with Chris and find out how he got on with the second chapter of KINGDOM COME.

If you’ve been listening to our podcasts you’ll know we don’t hold back much – so bear in mind that if we don’t like it, we’ll say so.

We do realise all comics aren’t for us, so we’re not going to penalise something that is clearly aimed at a different target audience for that reason alone. We might even try and make the feedback constructive.

Up for the challenge? Send your work to thwippingboys@gmail.com with a few random details about yourself.

JonnyJon

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Episode 5!

Show Notes:
1:44 There is dissention in the Thwipping Boys ranks as the movie ATTACK THE BLOCK, by writer / debut director Dr. Scornballs, is described as both an amazing debut, and totally mediocre.
26:30 – We might love the old “BBS” Superman but we’re really warming to this guy in ACTION COMICS.
36:00 – ANIMAL MAN was horrific, moving, funny and weird. We like.
42:30 – Only one of us liked DETECTIVE COMICS last month. But Tony S. Daniel is employing the last page cliffhanger tactic and so far it’s working. The scoundrel!
49:20 – OMAC still can’t convince one of the boys of its genius (he’s a maniac). If Chris and Jon have to read Detective, Simon has to read this.
57:35 – STORMWATCH continues to confuzzulate the Thwipping Boys, but this number two contains perhaps the funniest moments of the new DCU to date.
70:00 – Scott Snyder explained complex ideas with elegance in the very impressive SWAMP THING.
79:00 – Simon sorta apologies to JT Krul after reading some of his TEEN TITANS run. Kinda. Almost.
83:00 – There have been some sleepless nights at TB HQ but don’t feel guilty or anything.
84:30 – Chris took up the challenge of reading KINGDOM COME and we check in to see how he’s getting on with that.
98:00 – Who wrote SWAMP THING? The ever-professional Thwipping Boys make a disastrous error. Yes, we are including the outtake after the credits in the Show Notes. Mentile.

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Episode 4!

Show Notes
15:40 – ALL-STAR WESTERN kicked off with a speech about this DC relaunch, but two of the Thwipping Boys appear to need schooling in subtext.
22:15 – AQUAMAN from Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis was a far superior first issue, and indeed comic, than the disappointing Justice League was.
30:40 – BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT was the worst of the Batman books, only redeemed by a completely out-of-place piece of Jamaican slang.
35:45 – The most disappointing book of the week? BLACKHAWKS could have been brilliant, but really kinda wasn’t.
41:05 – Francis Manapul impresses with both art and writing in THE FLASH, but we’re disappointed that they didn’t take the opportunity to ditch the completely pointless ring.
42:25 – THE FURY OF FIRESTORM: THE NUCLEAR MAN was a touching tale of a nerd and a jock falling for each other. We’re just not sure it was meant to be.
66:15 – Chris thought that the flashback in GREEN LANTERN: THE NEW GUARDIANS was a flash forward. And why wouldn’t he? In fact, this lost us all a bit.
74:30 – I,VAMPIRE wasn’t going for the Twilight crowd like we thought, but the cover was still pretty shitty.
81:45 – The Justice League looked plain daft when they turned up in JUSTICE LEAGUE: DARK. Also, Chris spots something amusing in the pile of bodies.
91:10 – We’re sure the Hawkman character could still be salvaged but THE SAVAGE HAWKMAN sure wasn’t the way to do it.
96:10 – One of the Thwipping Boys really enjoyed SUPERMAN, the others…not so much.
106:00 – Chris has been laying into THE TEEN TITANS with prejudice in every episode so far, but what did he actually make of the book?
116:15 – VOODOO was another book that was all about boobies. This time it was acceptable. But why was that exactly?

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Episode 3!

Show Notes
10.50 – BATMAN by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo was arguably the best title of the relaunch to date. Greg where have you been all our lives?
25.12 – BIRDS OF PREY causes mainstream comics newbie Chris to ask the question: Why don’t Superheroes kill?
34.48 – BLUE BEETLE went for USM-esque decompressed origin storytelling, but it couldn’t have been too gripping, since the boys seem to spend more time discussing Guyver and Transformers: The Movie.
44.23 – CAPTAIN ATOM is a little bit of a redemption for JT Krul, but Freddie Williams II was the real star of the book.
52.40 – At least two of the Thwipping Boys attempt to tear CATWOMAN a new arsehole. Unfortunately Batman might have beaten them to it.
57.50 – And then they read DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS. And then they read this other book. And then they read that book. And then…yeah this one went on a bit.
66.12 – GREEN LANTERN CORPS makes it clear that Peter Tomasi is one of the stars of the DCnU so far.
72.54 – THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES is more palatable than LEGION LOST was. But not by very much. Colossal Boy, your Giant Growth is needed on Rimbor!
82.14 – NIGHTWING makes massive Dick fan Simon very happy. And makes Chris wish he had a billy club.
89.00 – RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS gets a thumbs up for great artwork and for its awful, completely unfunny, pathetic sense of humour. Which was hilarious.
102.30 – We’re impressed with the art and storytelling in SUPERGIRL. Chris applauds a different type of take on a female character but struggles to understand the whole cape situation and the monotard and that.
111.10 – Two books in a row with two positive female role models! WONDER WOMAN had wonderful artwork and great storytelling from Cliff Chiang while Brian Azzarello proves that in terms of script, less can definitely be more.

Podomatic, which is the hosting service for our podcasts that we use for our direct downloads and itunes downloads has unfortunately emailed us informing us that our monthly bandwidth limit has been exceeded! Obviously in one way this is brilliant news, we never expected the listenership we have gained in such short a time, unfortunately this has left us slightly unprepared.

We were given no advanced warning for this, and unfortunately all you will hear is a short advert asking for donations. WE DO NOT WANT DONATIONS OURSELVES that is podomatic talking, but we do ask you stick with us until it is updated properly, we will keep you informed on Twitter.

If anyone has any hosting suggestions (we are going to use the WordPress for now, but it is not ideal) then please email us, comment on this post or twitter.

Soundcloud – Due to Soundclouds time limit for free users we will only be hosting the latest podcast on Soundcloud, this is due to the ease of adding the Soundcloud player to our blog.

Podomatic – We currently use this to host the download links as well as alternative player versions, due to limited storage space for free users we will only be able to host the latest 3 or 4 podcasts, this will be ok for this week and possibly next week, but after that older ones will be removed, so we apologise profusely to subscribers through that site.

Luckily WordPress has a lovely and sizeable storage facility, which means we will be able to host a number of forthcoming for downloads on this very site, so straight downloads will not be disappearing.

And finally, WE ARE ON ITUNES! WOOP! All episodes are there and ready to subscribe to, all you ned to do is search Thwipping Boys, comics, or… to be honest, pretty much any of DC’s main heroes and we’ll come up.

Hope this does not affect people too much, and enjoy listening!

I am a self confessed DC fan, anyone who has taken the time to listen to our podcasts would know that for sure. Well, I just stumbled upon something I wrote last year, mainly for myself, and decided that with the DC new 52 and discussions on changes to characters I felt now would be as good a time as any to release it on to the world. I am not a scholar, a journalist or author, so I apologise profusely if this reads like it is written by a 4 year old, but I hope you enjoy!

Ok, so here I am, sitting in my room, it is 1.15am and I’m flicking through issue 2 of “The Man of Steel” the fantastic 1986 reboot of the Superman character, just reading the words, looking at the pictures, it makes me appreciate the importance of the character.

It reminded me of a discussion I had with Jon (now Jonny Thwipping) not long ago about comics, it was the standard Marvel vs. DC fare that usually crops up at one point or another between comic fans… See, I’m a DC fan, I read pretty much anything from any company, but DC is my home, I just love the characters and the stories. My brother disagreed, he said that outside the big 4 or 5 (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and maybe Green Lantern) there was nothing even remotely interesting about DC, and that even then those characters were so powerful that no problem would be too big.

It got me thinking about why I love the characters so much, what they provide that characters like Spider-Man, the X-Men etc. lack, sure I enjoy reading their comics, but they lack the passion of DC. After a hell of a lot of rambling, that is the purpose of this entry… Just what is it I love so much?

At his highest

If you went out on the street, people would know the name Superman, he is a cultural icon, recognised the world over as perfection, the perennial Übermensch, this, sadly, is his biggest strength, but also his weakness, because he is all-powerful people just lose interest, say he is boring, which is reflected in the writing. Lazy and unoriginal, some of these apparent pros just seem to fall in to a rut when writing him “Oh Superman, well he is so powerful nothing can be done, so lets just have him smacking a big bastard around a little bit”, which, frankly, is pretty piss poor reading… Pay a couple of quid to see Supes brawl with someone for 20-odd pages, no thanks! But man, when some writers actually pull their fingers out and think about what they’re writing, he can go from stale to intriguing in the blink of an eye.

I’ve always seen Superman as more of a tragic character than he has generally been portrayed, maybe it is my pessimism, my cynicism, and general outlook on life but I’ve always seen the reliance of a world’s population on one man as a burden, one to bear in unfortunate silence. Here is a god, rising above not only every citizen on the planet, but also the superhero community also, he catches people, stops bad guys, saves the world… Hell saves the universe… But sometimes, just sometimes, he fails and people die. Were he true to his alien origins (to tie back to The Man of Steel) he would be cold, emotionless, but this is a man, a farm boy, raised to know compassion and love. A fireman failing to save a girl from a burning building will feel the weight of that death on his shoulders for the rest of his life, imagine that feeling, that guilt, only amplified by hundreds, thousands, and in some cases millions, and you, a man who can fly across the world in seconds were powerless.

Never has this been more apparent than in the seminal work ‘Kingdom Come’, written by Mark Waid. Following an attack on the Daily Planet which resulted in the deaths of Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and Lois Lane, the man responsible, The Joker is unlawfully executed before he can be properly charged by the leading light of a new radical and anarchic group of Superheroes, named Magog. Superman, despite being distraught by the death of his wife and closest friends, still strives for correct justice to be enacted, only to find the public rallying behind Magog’s actions.

Disillusioned by what he see’s society becoming, and seeing his only human connections stolen from him, he retreats to his Fortress of Solitude where he stays for over a decade.
When Wonder Woman seeks him out after these 10 years he is a changed man, he has re-embraced his farm life, created a fictitious world around him, a reflection of his simple and safe childhood. Wonder Woman is there for a purpose, there to coax him back in to the role of protector following a tragic accident that cost millions of people their lives and wiped out his home of Kansas, caused by the rash actions of this new wave of violent heroes, eventually she succeeds, and the Man of Steel is back… Or is he? No, what we are instead given is a flawed character, a man fallen from grace, his physical strength remains, but his belief shattered, this is summed up brilliantly in the painted interiors by Alex Ross, single panels showing a morose man, a drawn face, hope lost.

And alternatively his lowest.

This is when I love DC, when they take a character so steadfast in his beliefs, and test them, when it shows you their failings, their humanity. With this version of Superman they have taken the status quo opinion of the character and haven’t changed it a bit, all they have done is approach it from different angles. Superman was still portrayed as the beacon of hope, the strongest of everyone, the moral compass of the DC universe, they took a classic idea of who Superman is and simply asked the question “What happens to a god when they fail”.

Some would question this as a reason for why I love DC so much, they would say “Yeah but Marvel have been creating and writing about flawed characters since the beginning. Tony Stark an alcoholic, Spider-Man going through the trials of a normal life, Hulk struggling with the monster inside”, but these characters do not resonate with me because these flawed characteristics are so ingrained that it is standard to have them face these issues.

In short, DC’s characters are just fine the way they are, in a time when über-violence is not only common but praised, there is such a wish for these characters to change to ‘get with the times’. You need look no further than with opinion on the new Man of Steel film directed by Zack Snyder, in which people say Superman should be as dark and gritty as Batman was in Begins and The Dark Knight. No Superman and Batman represent two sides of the coin; Superman should be as bright and hopeful, as Batman is dark and hopeless, it is how the character is and always will be.

You do not need to change a character, or compromise the core ideals they represent in order to make a character interesting, you just need a damn good writer who wants to push himself and the character to the limits of what they represent.

Signing off.

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Download Episode 2!

Show Notes
3.55 - Batman & Robin: A return to form for the title, thanks to Tomasi and Gleason. Buddabuddabuddabuddabuddabuddabudda.
13.15 - Batwoman by Sir Jarvis Hunter Williams the Third and Lord Winthrop Haden Blackman has been very highly acclaimed, but only connected with 33.3% of the Thwipping Boys.
25.25 - Everyone was pleasantly surprised by Deathstroke, but the boys aren’t sure how long this can be entertaining – despite the character’s taste in baby names.
36.50 - My cods say that Paul Cornell’s Demon Knights was clearly one of the best books of the week!
53.45 - Once you see what is on the final page of Jeff Lemire’s Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E. you will never un-see it.
61.55 - Jon knew that Simon was pronouncing Green Lantern artist Doug Mahnke’s name wrong but didn’t bother to correct him.
68.00 - Grifter was pretty cool but we were confused about the timeline of this issue, while Simon has a theory about who the bad guys are. Also: What the fuck is that noise?
76.15 - The worst segue ever takes us into what might possibly be the worst comic ever – Legion Lost.
83.00 - He might be the third most intelligent person on the planet but we’re guessing the writer isn’t, and we could do without the clunky, borderline racist dialogue too thanks very much. Mr. Terrific joins Green Arrow in the list of characters who were fine before the reboot, and already need a reboot again.
92.25 - Simon has a convincing theory for why Lord Evillo – sorry, Atrocitus, was naked in the flashback in Red Lanterns.
100.45 - Who else noticed that the monster involved in yet another rumble on a ‘plane during Resurrection Man was obviously an angel? At least one of the Thwipping Boys didn’t.
112.00 - Suicide Squad proved you can make a character likeable with a vocabularly of one word. Also, Simon has perhaps the most insightful reaction to Wallergate we have yet heard.
122.00 - As the drinking really starts to kick in, Chris liked Superboy but has some trouble getting his head around the concept of stupid teen versions of marquee heroes. He also asks the eternal question – are the Teen Titans…fools?

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Episode 1!