11 O'clock Comics Podcast

The floodgates open yet again as we unleash another torrent of comic talk, this time focusing (?) on wives and comics, the misunderstood genius of Neal Adams' Batman: Odyssey, Harvey Kurtzman and company's Humbug lovingly collected and presented by Fantagraphics, Cla$$war and superhero analogues (Squadron Supreme, Supreme Power, The Boys, Irredeemable, A God Somewhere, The Mighty, and more), Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, Mighty Samson #1 from Jim Shooter, J. C. Vaughn, Pat Olliffe, and Dark Horse, Skullkickers #1-5 from Image Comics, Comic Heroes magazine (with free gifts!), Hack/Slash and the coming comics apocalypse, Roy Thomas and Conan, Spawn, Madame Xanadu, Go Git 'Em Funnies, Sumfin' Silly from Act-I-Vate, and much more!

Your regular 11 O'Clock Comics programming returns, and with it comes talk of Phil Hester and Eric Powell's Godzilla, a spoiler-free look at Fantastic Four #587, Tarot, Witch of the Black Rose #66 from Broadsword Comics, Emperor Aquaman and Flashpoint, Jason Shiga's Meanwhile from Amulet Books, The Cape from Image, TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) volume four from Peter Laird, Jim Lawson, Eric Talbot, Michael Dooney, and Mirage Comics, Thundarr the Barbarian and other Saturday morning cartoons, The Sword from Image and the Luna Brothers, Avatar's Crossed and Neonomicon #3, Batman: Odyssey and Neal Adams, Taschen's 75 Years of DC Comics, Boundless and Brian Pulido's Lady Death, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, Cyclops: the Recruit, Ian Churchill's awesome Marineman from Image, listener voicemail, and a whole mess more!

Long and loud, it's our special 11 O'Closcars episode for 2010! Yes!

In one of the strangest episodes we've kicked out in quite some time, we take an extended tour of Gotham City (Batman, Inc. #2, Batman: The Return, Finch's Dark Knight #1, Batgirl, Paul Cornell's Batman and Robin, and more), with lots of time leftover to discuss John Byrne's Next Men #1 from IDW, Ian Churchill's Marineman #1 from Image, Joe Benitez' Lady Mechanika #1 out of Aspen, the writer/artist, U.K. comics, Mahmud Asrar, Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba's Daytripper, Deadpool Max #2, Fables #100 from Vertigo, Why we like... (Mark Buckingham, Phil Hester, and Matt Wagner), "dated" works, Grant Morrison, Monsterscene's Bela Lugosi's Tales from the Grave #1, Young Justice, and a whole mess more! Bonus! A hilarious triptych Hotline adventure!

Maximum Rock 'n' Roll #332 (Gary Panter, Jaime Hernandez, Ted May, John Holmstrom, Kaz, Shawn Kerri and the Circle Jerks, and more), Top Cow's Artifacts #4, Avatar's Neonomicon #4 by Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows, 100 Bullets, John Byrne's return to Next Men from IDW, Ryp and Huston's Wolverine: The Best There Is #1, Dick Briefer's Frankenstein (the first volume in Craig Yoe's The Chilling Archive of Horror Comics from IDW), Borders' financial troubles and the potential impact on the comics industry, our 2011 comic book-centric resolutions, Weird Worlds #1 from DC, Batman INC., James Stokoe's Orc Stain out of Image Comics, Axe Cop, Black Panther: The Man without Fear and Eddie Murphy, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, the Alan Moore/Jason Aaron brouhaha, and a whole mess more! plus, the Hotline kicks into high gear!

Happy New Year! In order to maintain our unbroken string of episodes, David and I throw down a quick and dirty episode on Artifacts #3 from Top Cow, Vampirella from Dynamite, Stepan Sejic, Previews, Halcyon from Image Comics, The Comics Journal #301 from Fantagraphics, Bookman and Arcreader, Major Bummer, EEEK! from Jason Paulos and Asylum Press, and a whole mess more! Plus, witness the triumphant return of the 11 O'Clock Hotline! YEE!

We ring in the holidays with some cheerful discussion on Joe Casey's Wildcats 3.0, Haunt from Image, Fantastic Four, Mike Wieringo, Moon and Ba's Details and Daytripper, Method Man and Redman, Hellboy Double Feature of Evil and Richard Corben from Dark Horse, Conan, mainstream events (Okay, so not all of the discussion was cheerful...), Fables volume 14 from Vertigo, Kiss: Psycho Circus from Brian Holguin, Angel Medina, and Image, comics on the iPad, Urasawa's Pluto, Humanoids, Jodorowsky, and Jimenez, creator-owned comics and work-for-hire, Marineman by Ian Churchill, R.E.B.E.L.S., and much, much more!

Casting our fates to the control of the almighty 11 O'Clock Orange D20, our extra-length holiday episode features Gabriel Hardman, Scott Pilgrim, Pluto, Doc Stearn: Mister Monster, Encyclopedia Deadpoolica, Giant-Size X-Men #1, Amazing Heroes, Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix from Abrams ComicArts, The Bizarre Comics of Boody Rogers from Craig Yoe and Fantagraphics, Crossed, Matt Murdock, more Adele Blanc-Sec, Winter's Bone, One Eskimo, Avatar, S. Clay Wilson, an impromptu Fanzine Flashback featuring John Byrne's Alpha Flight and Bill Mantlo's Incredible Hulk, Man-Thing, Tom Scioli's American Barbarian, Declan Shalvey, Creepy Archives from Dark Horse, Secret Wars II, Damage Control, Vandal Savage, The Horror! The Horror!: Comic Books the Government Didn't Want You to Read from Abrams ComicArts, Hal Foster's Prince Valiant volume one from Fanta, Ostrander and company's Grimjack Omnibus from IDW, Black Comix: African American Independent Comics, Art and Culture from Mark Batty, Quan

After a very rocky start, we slide into the sweet spot with talk of Tardi's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec and Luc Besson, Amy Reeder and Batwoman #0, Halcyon #1 from Guggenheim, Butters, Bodenheim, and Englert from Image, Garth Ennis' The Boys, The Incredibly Fantastic Adventures of Maureen Dowd (a Work of Satire and Fiction) #1 from Benjamin Marra and Traditional Comics, Highlander, the Spirit and First Wave, Art Adams, Jim Balent's Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose from Broadsword Comics, crossovers, Mice Guard and Templar, Hellboy/Beasts of Burden, R.E.B.E.L.S., Secret Six, Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer from Slave Labor, Sean Andrew's Moral Geometry, She-Hulks #1, Taskmaster, and a whole mess more!

The infamous Black Notebook returns and with it comes talk of our histories with mail order comics companies, Spawn, the results of Chris and Jason's friendly wager and John Byrne's Star Trek: Assignment Earth from IDW, Terry Austin, inking styles (strong voices, invisible entities, and the fabled Third Person), original art, Typhoid Mary, Urasawa and Tezuka's Pluto from Viz, One Piece, Spawn: The Dark Ages by Holguin and Sharp, Todd McFarlane and the Image founders, Erik Larsen and Savage Dragon, Lemire and Gallo's Superboy #1, Baltimore: The Plague Ships #1, and...the winner of the 11 O'Clock Comics logo contest!

Happy Thanksgiving! In this extra-length holiday special, we fight over drumsticks like Dynamite's Vampirella #1 by Trautmann and Reis, the rising price of BOOM! Disney comics, the Amazing World of DC Comics, more Duncan the Wonder Dog from AdHouse, Fist Stick Knife Gun, Dorohedoro volumes 1 and 2 from Q Hayashida and Viz Ikki, woman comics creators, Hellraiser, Marshall Law and Kevin O'Neill, King of the Flies from Fantagraphics, bootleg Charles Burns' X'ed Out, Chaos War: Alpha Flight, Batman Inc., Hack/Slash and Ant-Man and The Wasp #1 (by way of Deadpool and Rob Liefeld), Fantastic Four #585 and Alan Davis, the Ultimate Universe, Warlord of Mars from Dynamite, RockMelt, Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini's Last Days of American Crime from Radical, Steve Pugh, a roll call of recent G.I. Joe books, Walking Dead episode four, Previews, plasma vs. LCD (?), and a whole mess more!

Under the gun and in the nick of time, we produce another bevvy of buckshot comic book discussion, striking targets as far and wide as The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide #10 from 1980, mylar, Bill Ward, the Flesk Publications collection of Mark Shultz' Xenozoic Tales, Jacques Tardi's The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec from Fantagraphics, Adam Hines' Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One from AdHouse Books, Th3rd World Studios' The Stuff of Legend, the cancellation of Thor: The Mighty Avenger, a lil' bit on Walking Dead, Sherlock, and a whole mess more!

There's plenty to ponder as we talk about Charles Burns' X'ed Out from Pantheon, Johnny Ryan, A God Somewhere from Arcudi, Snejbjerg, and Wildstorm, Uncanny X-Men: Five Lights, the second episode of The Walking Dead on AMC, Lady Mechanika #0 from Joe Benitez and Aspen, Brian Lee O'Malley and the Scott Pilgrim movie, Jeff Lemire, Hulk #25 and #26 and Gabriel Hardman, Spider-Man: The Short Halloween, being "pulled out of the story", The Search for Steve Ditko, Stan Lee, and loads more!

After more than an hour of talk on the triumph that was the first episode of Robert Kirkman and company's The Walking Dead from AMC (via IDW's Famous Monsters of Filmland #252, Mike Mignola and Hellboy, Watchmen, and more), we hit the ground running on Skottie Young, our first impressions of Duncan the Wonder Dog: Show One from Adam Hines and AdHouse Books, The Sixth Gun from Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, and ONI, Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows' Neonomicon #2 from Avatar, Lost Girls, and pornography, Marvel Heralds and Her-oes, and a whole lot more!

In this heated episode, we talk Digested #1 by Bobby N and Gestalt Publishing, Walking Dead (this Sunday, 10 pm EST on AMC!), If 'n' Oof from Brian Chippendale and PictureBox, Fort Thunder and Providence, RI, the Jason Aaron Ghost Rider Omnibus, religion, Gary Frank, The Twelve, Tom Fowler and Deadpool Team-Up, Philip Tan, Hickman and Epting's Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., Jim Lee and Batman, RIP M.D. from Fantagraphics and Mike Vosburg, I, Zombie, Vertigo, Brian Wood, Angst, Brahm Revel's Guerrillas, Steve Lieber and 4CHAN, and much more!

Faulty Skype connections and fritzy mics can't stop us from talking about stolen copies of Kramers Ergot #7 and Pigeon Press, shelf space, MAD, Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Giant Robot #67 and Matt Furie, Rich Koslowski and J. D. Arnold's BB Wolf and the Three LPs from Top Shelf, Strange Tales 2 #1 and Rafael Grampa, Wolverine, John Sable: Freelance and Ashes of Eden by Mike Grell, old-style lettering, Turok: Son of Stone #1 by Jim Shooter and Eduardo Francisco from Dark Horse, Francis Manapul and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Knight and Squire #1,David Lapham and Kyle Baker's Deadpool MAX, Juan Doe, Sean Murphy, Darwyn Cooke's The Outfit, Grant Morrison, G.I. Joe: Cobra Special #2, Vertigo Crime: A Sickness in the Family by Denise Mina and Antonio Fuso, Howard the Duck and Spider-Man: Back in Quack, Steve Gerber, Die Hard: Year One from Howard Chaykin, Stephen Thompson, and BOOM!, Claws of the Panther and Doomwar, and a whole mess more!

It's our NYCC rundown featuring Jun Bob Kim, Nathan Fox and Fluorescent Black, Art Thibert and Chrono Mechanics, Gabriel Hardman, Jim Cheung, Pim and Francie's Al Columbia, Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon, Humberto Ramos, Gary Fields and Ren & Stimpy, Mahmud Asrar, Yildiray Cinar, Declan Shalvey, cosplayers, Archia, Top Shelf and AX: Alternative Manga anthology, Erik Larsen, Bergen Street Comics, Geoff Johns and Francis Manapul, Stan Lee, Jeff Lemire, Julian Lytle, Mike Norton and Tom Fowler, Mike Myers, Johnny Ryan's Prison Pit, A1 from Atomeka Press, Brian Pulido and Lady Death, Tricia Helfer, Kitchen Sink's Spirit Jam, Spawn, and a whole mess more!

NYCC looms large as David poses the question, "What moment in comics took you totally by surprise?" (incorporating Walking Dead, The Death of Jean DeWolff, Identity Crisis, the Teen Titans wedding, Susie's miscarriage, Crisis on Infinite Earths, Amazing Spider-Man, Hellboy, Starlin's Death of Captain Marvel and Dreadstar, Black Adam, Deathstroke and Terra, Kitty Pryde and the "N Word", Milligan and Allred's X-Force, the rape of Astoria in Cerebus, Preacher, Planetary, Squadron Supreme, I Kill Giants, and more). Plus, we find time to talk about the American Alan Moore, Skull Kickers #1, Boundless' Lady Death freebie, The Left Bank Gang from Jason and Fantagraphics, AX: Alternative Manga from Top Shelf, Darwyn Cooke's The Outfit, NYCC, Mort Drucker, the Street Angel short, Buscema's Conan, The Crusades from Image, Kelley Jones' Batman, Top Cow's Artifacts #2, Power Man #2, The Harvey Comics Treasury volume one from Dark Horse, Fred Van Lente, Shadowland, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom volume one, and a whole mes

The countdown to NYCC begins as we enter into another one of our rare extended discussions focusing on one subject (give or take), in this case Bendis' recent comments on the state of comics journalism. Plus, we've enough time to tackle The Comics Journal, critical response to Blacksad, Ultimate X #3, Brightest Day, Jeffrey Brown (Sulk #1-3 and I Am Going to Be Small), Jim Rugg, Mike Mignola and The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Oddities from Dark Horse, Daken: Dark Wolverine (Oxymoron?), Namor: the First Mutant, Guarding the Globe from Image, Freedom Fighters, Taskmaster and Fred Van Lente, 7 Billion Needles by Nobuaki Tadano and Vertical, DC's placement of Bob Harras, Mark Waid, and a whole mess more!

In a rare episode with an honest-to-goodness direction, we wonder aloud which works we would present to that rare beast, the first-time comic book reader (incorporating Wolverine: Enemy of the State and Old Man Logan, Planet Hulk, Frank Miller's Ronin and Sin City, Secret Wars, New Frontier, Marvels, Cuba: My Revolution, Watchmen, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Mark Millar and Ultimates, The Authority, 28 Days Later, Buffy Season 8, John Byrne's Star Trek, Hack/Slash, Joker, The Mask, Bill and Ted's Excellent Comic Book, Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror, Thor: The Mighty Avenger, Asterios Polyp, Three Story, Jeffrey Brown, Locke and Key, The Stand and The Dark Tower, Parker, American Splendor, 30 Days of Night, Ashley Wood and Metal Gear Solid, and more)! Plus, we have enough time left over to talk up The Best American Comics of the Year, Not Brand Echh #3 and Jack Kirby, Marie Severin, recent news concerning Wildstorm and Zuda, Parker and Hardman's Hulk #25, NYCC, Wild Pig, The Stuff of Legend, Alpha F