Podcast: Batman #13 – 17 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo and a whole bunch of other fine folk.
Because we only cover the most recent events in comics, we decided to return to the New 52 and take a look at Death of the Family.
What we have here is a fine example of how one carries a podcast when 50% of your presenting team seems to have nothing to say. To be fair, Jon does admit this pretty early on but his struggle to get through this is both obvious and pretty funny.
It shouldn’t be a struggle for you though dear listeners, because of Simon’s herculean efforts – he’s like the Shawn Michaels of podcasting, carrying a useless lump to something much greater than he deserves to be involved in.
Warning! We start off this week by discussing the sixth episode of Game of Thrones Season 2, “The Old Gods and The New”!
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.
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.
This week we kick off with a rant about the Machiavellian, headline-grabbing antics of Mark Millar, a man whose lack of shame seems to know no bounds. Did you know he WROTE THE PLOT for the Avengers movie? Us neither.
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.
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.
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
After the shambles that was last week’s listless show we find our mojo again (and some crack!) and compare and contrast the beginnings of the Avengers Vs. X-Men and Night of the Owls events with AvX #2, Batman #8 and in a surprise reappearance, Nightwing #8. In doing so we hit upon exactly what Marvel needs to do with Cyclops after this is all said and done.
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.
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.
This week something happened in Demon Knights which we predicted way back in September after reading #1!
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.
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 week we randomly decided to take a look at something that wasn’t in the plan. As well as checking out Avengers Vs. X-Men #1, we saw that Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen promised that something called Avengers Vs. X-Men: Infinite was the future of digital comics. As digital devotees, well we had to check that out didn’t we?
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?
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.
The Thwipping Boys tackle the pick of the week’s comics, including Ultimate Ultimates and an intriguing new creator-owned Vertigo series from Dan Abnett with The New Deadwardians.
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.
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?
This week we cover Wonder Woman’s Invisible Jet, Doktor Mandrake, Fishing Spider-Man AND The Adventures of Big Face. What more could you want?
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.
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.
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!”
This week we randomly decided to take a look at something that wasn’t in the plan. As well as checking out Avengers Vs. X-Men #1, we saw that Mark Waid and Stuart Immonen promised that something called Avengers Vs. X-Men: Infinite was the future of digital comics. As digital devotees, well we had to check that out didn’t we?
Thwipping Boys 