Comic Book Bears Podcast

One of this summer's big movie hits was Thor: Love and Thunder, the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film is directed by Taika Waititi and stars Chris Hemsworth once again as Thor alongside Christian Bale, Tessa Thompson, Jaimie Alexander, Waititi, Russell Crowe, and Natalie Portman. In the film, Thor attempts to find inner peace, but must return to action and recruit Valkyrie, Korg and Jane Foster - who is now the Mighty Thor—to stop Gorr the God Butcher, a new adversary who is on a quest to eliminate all gods from existence! Steve and Bill are on hand to offer up what they thought of the movie along with discussing some of the news that came out of this year's San Diego Comic Con and head over to the virtual spinner rack to discuss a few new books. Also it is pretty much an Asgardian miracle that we are delivering this audio episode to you: we encountered Ragnarok-level problems with the mix.  There may be a few portions where Steve is a bit too low in the mix but we are proud to still be abl

The CBB boys are thrilled to welcome back Richard Rivera to the show! A veteran guest of ours and long time friend of the podcast, Richard is the Co-Publisher of Scout Comics and the writer/creator of the fan favorite series Stabbity Bunny. Stabbity is a plush toy rabbit that has been passed down generations in a family that has been hunted by supernatural forces for almost 100 years. It is now in the hands of young Grace Lee and we discover that Stabbity is far more than a toy! Richard is here to discuss the latest Stabbity-related Kickstarter campaign for collected editions of Stabbity Bunny Volumes 1 and 2 and much, much more!  

HeroesCon 2022 marked the return of the venerable North Carolina comic book convention for the first time since 2019 AND the show's 40th anniversary!  But on top of that it also marked the monumental first meeting in person of our own Bill Z and Caleb! So pop in those ear buds us as we recount the great time we buds had at the show!  And joining us on the show to celebrate our time at Heroes is another attendee, our good friend Jon Runyan of the A Comic Book Look podcast! And just where was NC native Steve during all this!?!? Well, hit play and find out!          

New Comic Book Bears audio episode! We are thrilled to have Bryan rejoin us after his time away to discuss a spate of new books in one more June episode! Steve and Bill enthusiastically reunite with him in the CBBearcave to chat about the DC Pride 2022 anthology, the first two issues of both Twig (Image) and The Rocketeer: The Great Race (IDW), Action Comics Annual 2022 (DC), Hulkling and Wiccan #1 (Marvel) and the latest graphic novel from one of our favorite creators Joe Glass (with Vince Underwood), The Miracles - and much much more! Hit play and enjoy!    

The CBB boys help close out Pride Month with this new audio episode recorded from our 6/6/2022 livestream! Listen in as we discuss a number of outstanding LGBTQIA+ books! Among the works that Bill Z, Caleb and Steve talk about this time around are Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Rockstar and Softboy by Sina Grace, The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse: Taking Risks in the Service of Truth by Andrew J. Kunka, Queer As All Get Out: 10 People Who've Inspired Me by Shelby Criswell, Rave by Jessica Criswell and the first issue of DC/Milestone's new take on Blood Syndicate! Happy Pride!

New Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode! The Comic Book Bears boys (Steve, Bill Z and recent recent law school graduate Caleb) head to the multiplex in this new audio episode as they discuss Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the 28th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. The movie is directed by Sam Raimi and stars Benedict Cumberbatch resturning once again as Stephen Strange, alongside Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez and Rachel McAdams. In the film, Strange protects America Chavez (Gomez), a teenager capable of traveling the multiverse, from an unexpected foe. On a much more somber note, the hosts also discuss the life and work of seminal comic artist artist and writer George Perez who passed away on May 6th, 2022. Listen in as we discuss his work on The New Teen Titans, Avengers, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wonder Woman and many other properties.  (Again we are aware that you won't be able with the audio version to follow along with the graphics as you wo

On this latest Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode, Bill Z and Steve don their Murderino caps and dive deep into Murder Book: A Graphic Memoir of a True Crime Obsession, a wonderful new original GN by Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell from Andrews McMeel Publishing. Campbell, who is best known as a cartoonist for The New Yorker, traces the murders that have captivated her through her life, details how this is a generational interest in her family and simultaneously offers up a love letter to her fellow true crime fanatics. Murder Book is a funny, thoughtful, and highly personal blend of memoir, cultural criticism, and true crime with a focus on the often-overlooked victims of notorious killers and provides the best answers yet as to why it can so much fun to read about death and dismemberment! Also we honor the passing of comics legend Neal Adams this past April 28th with our exploration of his life and work. (We are fully aware that you won't be able with the audio version to follow along with the graphics as yo

The last two months has seen a slew of new DC first issues so this time around Bill Z and Steve select the National Periodical Publications option and discuss five of them!  Hit play to hear our queer ursine takes on Beyond Flashpoint #0, The Rogues #1, Batman/Superman: World's Finest #1, Trial of the Amazons #1 and Naomi: Season Two #1! Add in some "geek gets" talk, a multitude of tangents and our Woofs of the Week and you got the latest Comic Book Bears audio episode!

Once again, we welcome back journalist and Archie Comics Chris Cummins expert to the show! Chris recently made the news when nearly his entire comic book collection was stolen from a Philadelphia storage facility. Chris details for us what happened and offers some tips just in case you do come across comics in your travels that may have come from his collection. Then it's roundtable time as Chris joins Caleb, Steve and Bill Z to discuss recent comic books which include Fire Power (Image), Derek Mark's new effort Legendary Spirits, Sensational Wonder Woman Special (DC), Geiger 80-Page Giant (Image), Chilling Adventures in Sorcery (Archie), the Star Wars: Life Day one-shot (Marvel) and much more! Also ... JESSICA LANGE IS NUMBER ONE!!!

We were surprised we were going to have all four CBBears available to be on the mic this week but it happened! Listen in as we talk about Ed Piskor and Jim Rugg's Red Room and the controversy around a planned Maus-inspired cover, the X Lives and the X Deaths of Wolverine and what's up with Moira McTaggart, Alison Bechdel's newest book The Secret to Superhuman Strength, a new Conan adventure found in The Cimmeriam: Hour of the Dragon from Ablaze, the return of Saga after a three year absence, a look back at Ed Brubaker's Captain America and much more!!

March 4th, 2022 saw the premiere of The Batman, the new film about the Caped Crusader directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson as the title character alongside Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, John Turturro, Peter Sarsgaard, Andy Serkis, and Colin Farrell. Caleb, Steve and Bill slide down the bearpoles to the CBB cave to discuss the new movie and also provide some of their picks at classic and recent Bat-related books that they think listeners may enjoy! So press play and join us in Gotham to find out what we thought about this new cinematic take on the Dark Knight Detective!

Once again we are delighted to welcome back Will Lindus of the Movie Bears Podcast! We love that we are able every once in a while to give this handsome gent the opportunity to talk comics on our show! We start the show off covering recent comic book news, primarily the universally despised changes to Comixology! This time the books in our figurative spinner rack include Super Massive #1 (Image), Stray Dogs (Image), Batman/Catwoman Special (DC), Catwoman: Special Day #2 (DC), Faithless III (Boom), Barbalien: Red Planet - From the World of Black Hammer (Dark Horse), Manor Black: Fire in the Blood (Dark Horse) and New Masters #1 (Image). A big guest like this deserves a big running time so strap in to join Will, Bill, Steve and Caleb for a 2-hours-and-change episode! (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band also factors in ... because why not?)

The Comic Book Bears Podcast is back with another new audio episode! Bill, Steve and Caleb gather together for another roundtable of four color (and some B&W) goodness! With books that range from manga to biography the discussion topics this time include Mister Miracle: The Great Escape, Hex Vet, Fire!! The Zora Neale Hurston Story, Kaiju 8 Vol. 1, Superman and Robin Special #1 and the Avengers by John Byrne Omnibus! When we hit the last one we stay on that subject for a while because ALL THE S%#T WENT DOWN IN WEST COAST AVENGERS in the 80s and 90s! Hit play and join us!  

The Comic Book Bears Podcast virtual cave has reopened for the first time in 2022! Join as Caleb, Bryan, Steve and Bill are all on hand for their first episode of the new year! A few days ago a Tennessee school district made international news by banning Maus, Art Spiegelman's landmark Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel about the Holocaust from being taught in its schools or being offered in its libraries. And we weigh in! As for comics discussed in our round table, this time around the subjects are Monkey Meat #1 (Image), Nightwing #87 (DC), Heartstopper Volume 4 by Alice Oseman (Hodder Children's Books) and Inferno #4 (Marvel).  In fact, there is a whole lot of X-Men talk if that is your thing!  We even managed to prevail in having all four of us on despite technical difficulties so hit play and enjoy!

HO HO HO!!! It’s the last Comic Book Bears Podcast episode of 2021!! Before we usher in Christmas and the new year, please hit play and join all four CBB boys – Bill, Bryan, Steve and Caleb - for two hours of four color talk! On the news front we talk about Dark Horse being acquired by gaming giant Embracer Group! And on the comic book front we discuss Inferno, Robin and Batman, Regarding the Matter of Oswald’s Body, The Illegitimates, Superman and the Authority, Action Comics, The Thing and much more! We wish all of you the happiest of holidays and a safe and super changing of the calendar year!  We will be on hiatus for a few weeks and will be rejoining you with new episodes in late January 2022!!!

Keeping on keeping on with the CBB audio episodes, please join us as Caleb, Steve and Bill Z reconvene after the Thanksgiving holiday to discuss what some of their Black Friday or (Black Friday-ish) gets were.  As for comic talk, Old Head by Kyle Starks, Barry Windsor Smith’s Monsters, Betty and Veronica by Adam Hughes, Frank Cho’s Fight Girls, Jim Mahfood’s Grrl Scouts and The Unbelievable Unteens: From the World of Black Hammer are among the subjects. And why are Caleb and Bill holding slabbed copies of The Killing Joke and Steve is not in the episode graphic? Well citizen, listen in and find out!  

The Comic Book Bears holiday audio campaign continues to bring you up to speed with episodes from our livestreams so harken all the way back to 11/18/2021 as Steve and Bill start the show off with a discussion of Eternals, the 26th Marvel Cinematic Universe film. Eternals is directed by Chloé Zhao with an ensemble cast including Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Don Lee, Kit Harington, Salma Hayek, and Angelina Jolie. In the film, the Eternals, an immortal alien race, emerge from hiding after thousands of years to protect Earth from their ancient counterparts, the Deviants. But the reasons for their re-emergence may not be what they initially seem. After the film talk comes the funnybook talk, with Steve discussing What’s the Furthest Place From Here? and Valiant’sThe Harbinger and Bill taking a tour of recent DC #1s and a working backward look at DC’s cosmic/sci-fi comics from 2021 to the late 1950s.

We know that you may need a few distractions from … let’s call them beloved relatives … during the Christmas break so the Comic Book Bears are proud to flood you with the first of four new audio episodes from our recent livestreams just before 12/25 hits in case you need them! In this episode, Bill Z and Steve talk about some smaller comic book conventions that they attended in November and then with Caleb the comic roundtable starts spinning with My Bad (Ahoy), Knighted (AWA/Upshot), Batman/Superman: The Authority Special (DC), Stranger Things: Tomb of Ybwen (Dark Horse), Pass Me By: Electric Vice (Renegade Arts Entertainment)  and Adventureman (Image) among the books that come up in discussion!  

Taken from our Livestream on November 4th, this episode finds Steve and Bill discussing what went down on Stargirl Season 2! We both waxed very poetically about Season 1 last year so tune in and find out what the CBB boys thought of this season that found Courtney and her fellow JSAers in Blue Valley taking on Eclipso as the big bad! Then we continue on with comic talk with this episode's spinner rack featuring Deadbox, Rainbow Bridge, ET ER and a round up of recent DC Comics from Bill with a special focus on the Locke and Key/Sandman Universe crossover concluding!

Join us for another convention wrap up episode, this time concerning this year's Baltimore Comic Con! Bill and Steve attended and had the pleasure of Jon Runyan of A Comic Book Look podcast joining them as their roommate for the weekend ... AND he joins us again for this episode! Listen in as we hear about encounters with creators, panels attended, treasures acquired and more! Then, Caleb joins in on a discussion of the new cinematic vision of Frank Herbert's Dune from director Denis Villeneuve! And of course a healthy dose of comic book talk!