11 O'clock Comics Podcast

Jason returns to the fold as we launch erudite excursions into Incredible Hulks #613, Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story and Cuba: My Revolution from Vertigo, Fear Agent #29, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs and The Dead, Magnus, Robot Fighter from Dark Horse, Paul Gulacy, artists that fall out of favor, Image and Valiant's Deathmate crossover, Rob Liefeld, pruning the pull list and playing the mainstream game, Kurt Busiek and company's Avengers volume three, DC's new/old war titles, and a whole mess more!

Technical difficulties prevent a West-coast Wooooode from joining us in discussion on The Mighty, our attachment to paper, Cameron Stewart, Frank Miller, Dark Horse Presents #100, Tom Grummett, Trencher, Tim Seeley's Hack/Slash, Vampirella, the EC Archives, Warren Publications, Gil Kane, John Buscema, Pat Broderick, Paul Pope, James Jean, Brave and the Bold, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Astonishing X-Men, David Finch and Brightest Day, Brand New Day, Humberto Ramos, the damage caused by Civil War, House of M, Peter David's X-Factor, JMS' Thor, editorial decisions, Shadowland, Daredevil, Coreyyy S. Lewis' Seedless, and a whole mess more!

A simple start -- discussing Ike Turner, Batman: The Brave and the Bold Season One, Part One DVD and Bruce Timm's take on the character, THB: Comics from Mars #2 from Paul Pope and AdHouse Books, our preliminary, off-the-cuff picks for the forthcoming 2010 11 O'Closcars (Earth One, Afrodisiac from AdHouse, Batman: Odyssey, The Sixth Gun from Oni Press, Action Comics, Walking Dead, American Vampire, Daytripper, Asylum Press' Fearless Dawn from Steve Mannion, Top Cow's Artifacts and Ron Marz, Fred Van Lente, Greg Pak, First Wave, Solar: Man of the Atom, G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds, The Amazing Screw-On Head and Other Curious Objects, Wood and Templesmith's Spawn: Hellspawn, Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo, and more...), Magnus: Robot Fighter #1 by Shooter and Reinhold, Image's Nancy in Hell #1 by Juan Jose Ryp and El Torres, The Abominable Charles Christopher, White Wolf's Mage: The Awakening and Michael William Kaluta, Vertigo Crime: Fogtown, Matt Kindt's Revolver, The Alcoholic, Shadowland: Power Man, and Daredevil

Jason is back and bettah than evah as he helps us suss out the second volume of the Sam Kieth Sketchbook from IDW, Bill Sienkiewicz, Wizard World Chicago 2010, buying original art, Jim Rugg, The Beats: A Graphic History by Harvey Pekar, Ed Piskor, et al from Novel Graphics and Hill and Wang, Spider-Man: Fever, the Walking Dead trailer from AMC, Scott Pilgrim, Haunt, Science Dog, Guarding the Globe, Cyberforce/Hunter-Killer and Kenneth Roquafort, the David Choe monograph from Chronicle Books, vampires and the X-Men, Jeff Lemire's Superboy, Teen Titans, Mike Mignola, Rick Remender, Hickman's Fantastic Four, and much, much more!

Tom Katers sits in for a vacationing Wooooode, wringing his trademark blend of wry humor out of topics like Brightest Day, The Smurfs from Peyo and Papercutz, One Piece and Silver Age sensibilities, Paul Grist's The Weird World of Jack Staff, Queen and Country, Dexter, Tom Defalco and Archie: The Man from Riverdale, Simpsons Comics #168 from Bongo, Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft and Keys to the Kingdom from Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, Showcase: Enemy Ace and Essential Man-Thing volume one, Howard Chaykin, Angelus #1-4 from Top Cow, The Luna Bros' and The Sword, Bakuman volume one from Shonen Jump/Viz Media, The Return of Bruce Wayne, JMS, Kanigher's Wonder Woman, and a whole mess more!

In this colon-infested commentary, we touch upon Predators, Ken Meyer Jr's awe-inspiring Ink Stains for Comic Attack, CLiNT, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Batgirl Vol. 1: Batgirl Rising, Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #2, Morning Glories #1 from Image, Baltimore: The Plague Ships #1, Fear Agent: Out of Step part one from Dark Horse, Pilot Season: Stellar, The Sixth Gun from Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt from Oni Press, Steve Pugh (with Warren Ellis) and Hotwire: Deep Cut #1 from Radical (with a bit of Legends: The Enchanted for not-so-good measure), Thor, the Mighty Avenger by Chris Samnee and Roger Langridge, Vertigo's Unknown Soldier, Hack/Slash: My First Maniac, Officer Downe from Joe Casey and Chris Burnham, Scarlet #1, The Sword (part the first) from Image, and much, much more!

Unspeakable horrors come knock, knock, knock-in' at our dimensional door as we talk about Alan Moore, Anthony Johnston, and Jacen Burrows' The Courtyard (by way of the Courtyard Companion and Moore's Neonomicon #1) from Avatar, Walking Dead (No spoilers!), Vertigo's American Vampire, Forrest J. Ackerman and Famous Monsters of Filmland #251 from IDW, Batman: Under the Red Hood, Wonder Woman #601, The Amazing Spider-Girl, expectations of the long-term comic fan, James Robinson, more on Brendan Leach's Pterodactyl Hunters, Artifacts #1, Ron Marz, and the Top Cow universe, Superman/Batman: World's Funnest, Comic Book Guy #1 from Bongo, Eric Powell's Buzzard from Dark Horse, Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom by Shooter and Calero, more Age of Apocalypse, Brightest Day: The Atom and Jeff Lemire, Fractured Fables from Silverline, and much, much more! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!

Neseman is out and Scoutmaster Brion "Sal" Salazar steps in to give us the lowdown on Fanboy Scouts and help us recount our favorite announcements from last weekend's San Diego Comic Con, including: Scottie Young and Eric Shanower's OZ, pro Wrestling, the return of Dark Horse Presents to print, Power Man and Iron Fist, IDW's Rocketeer anthology, Frank Frazetta and Painting with Fire, Abnett and Lanning's Rocket Raccoon and Groot miniseries, Strange Tales II, Chloe Sullivan in Action Comics, Smallville, Fantagraphics' reprinting of classic Floyd Gottfredson Mickey Mouse, new Frank Miller 300, Battle Chasers from Image, Batman Inc., Fables #100, Mark Millar's CLiNT, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, CrossGen at Marvel, Marvelman, Roy Thomas and Conan, Fear Agent, David Lapham and Deadpool MAX, Aaron Lopresti and Weird Worlds, Collider Entertainment, the end of Brand New Day, Ultimate Comics Thor, Steve Rogers and Mark Waid, the Green Lantern and Thor movies, Chris Evans as Captain America, the new Man without

Rock-solid proof that what goes up must inevitably come down as we wander through Warren Ellis and John Cassaday's mighty Planetary, Hunter S. Thompson, Scott Pilgrim, IT!, the Terror from Beyond Space from IDW's Midnite Movies line, the Absolute and Omnibus format, X-Force: Sex and Violence #1, Brendan C. Leach's Pterodactyl Hunters in the Gilded City, Michael Avon Oeming and Mice Templar, Robert Kirkman's Skybound imprint and AMC's Walking Dead, characters and series that have lost their luster, Vertigo and the miniseries format, listener goodies, and much more!

Drivin' on holy gasoline! In this alcohol-fueled, three-hour catastrophe, we get all silly and stupid over Dr. Who and Farscape (with a little Lexx thrown in for good measure), Uncanny X-Force and Second Coming, Random Comic Book Countdown: Casanova #1, Mario Bava's Danger: Diabolik!, Pood #1 and Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca's USApe, Neal Adams' Batman: Odyssey #1, Aqualad, I, Zombie, J. H. Williams, R. Crumb's Genesis and Basil Wolverton's Bible stories, Harvey Pekar and American Splendor, Jim Valentino's Normalman, Darkness: Shadows and Flame, Hellboy: Mexico and Richard Corben, Abe Sapien: The Abyssal Plain #1, Sonic the Hedgehog #213, Micah Gunnell and Dellec from Aspen, Adam Warren's Empowered Volume 1, and, in addition to the requisite whole mess more, Chris falls asleep.

We earn our explicit tag with talk on Crossed and transgressive art (Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, XXXombies, Walking Dead, Andres Serrano's Piss Christ, Pontypool, Body Bags and Jason Pearson, Art That Kills by George Petros, Mike Diana, and more), Mr. Monster's Hi-Octane Horror #1 (Michael T. Gilbert, Jerry Grandenetti, Basil Wolverton, and George Evans), Chris Burnham, Wonder Woman #600 again, DC Legacies, Action #890 and Paul Cornell, Sea Bear and Grizzly Shark, Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 01 and 2000 AD, Banimon, Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham Volume 1, I, Zombie, Captain Swing and the Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island by Warren Ellis and Raulo Caceres, Alan Moore's Neonomicon, Young Allies #1, Aliens Vs. Predator: Three Worlds War, Micronauts, and a whole mess more!

We're four once more as we discuss Torpedo Comics, the Black Lantern drink, X-Men/Teen Titans and JLA/Avengers, Wonder Woman #600 and JMS, No Way Back and Jonah Hex, Splitting Image #2 and Don Simpson, Kenneth Rocafort's Velocity and the Filipino Invasion, the Bronze Age, Steve Gerber, Howard the Duck, and Underground comics, more on comic tattoos, Michael T. Gilbert, Stephen Platt, Bryan Lee O'Malley's Scott Pilgrim, the (Vince) Colletta letta, Fall of the Hulks, the Curse of the Mutants Saga, listener email, Comicopia, and a whole lot more!

Woooode's nowhere to be found and audio problems abound, but it's not enough to stop us from talking about Duncan the Wonder Dog Volume 1: Show One from Adam Hines and AdHouse, Asylum Press' Zombie Terrors and EEEK! Volume 1 collections, Dynamite's Vampirella Archives Volume One, The Weird World of Eerie Publications, Creepy #3, Spawn: Origins Volume 1, Bulletproof Coffin #1 by Hine and Kane, '90s Image, DC's digital comics, Fringe: Tales from the Fringe #1 out of Wildstorm, BOOM!'s 28 Days Later, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, the Jonah Hex movie, New Avengers #1, Shield #2, Brightest Day, Fraction and company's Thor: Ages of Thunder, Amazing Spider-Man: SHED, and sooooo much more!

Chris "New Leaf" Neseman returns just in time to join us in spoiler-free talk about David Lapham's Stray Bullets, Jason and Gerry Conway, Desert Island and Smoke Signal #4, the Invincible Ultimate Collection volume five, Paul Pelletier and Incredible Hulk #610, Milestone Forever, Frank Miller's Dark Knight and Ronin, Brubaker's Captain America: Reborn and The Marvels Project, Stuart Immonen and New Avengers #1, Creepy #3 from Dark Horse, Omaha, the Cat Dancer and Blacksad, First Wave #2, Fantastic Four, Brandon Graham's King City from Image Comics and Tokyopop, John Arcudi and Peter Snejbjerg's A God Somewhere from Wildstorm, Unknown Soldier, Michael Turner, Black Comix, and a whole mess more!

Chris plays hooky yet again, so we double-time it with a rousing roster of comic talk, featuring the last word on Jim Rugg's Rambo 3.5, Dan Clowes' Wilson from Drawn & Quarterly, a Cartoonist Profile on Mike Zeck, Secret Wars, the Mortal Kombat short, Joe the Barbarian #4 and #5 and Sean Murphy, Spider-Man: Fever, the Act-I-Vate Primer, Pilot Season: Stealth from Top Cow, Milestone Forever, Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors from Udon and Capcom, Green Lantern: Willworld and Seth Fisher, Marvel U.K. Magazine, Skaar: Son of Hulk, 120 Days of Simon from Simon Gardenfors and Top Shelf, Avengers Forever, Nemesis #2 by Millar and McNiven, and a whole steamin' pile more!

We prove we're more than capable of cooking up a well-balanced comic book meal as we talk about Michael Deforge's LOSE from Koyama Press, a clarification on Adams and Maroto's Zero Patrol, Zack Kruse's Mystery Solved and Big Jim Miller, Avengers #1, Legion #1, Secret Avengers #1, Thunderbolts #144, Fraction's Iron Man, The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 and #2 and Morrison's Batman and Robin, Doop, David's thrift store escapades, Age of Apocalypse, Astro City #1/2, Cable: Blood and Metal, Todd McFarlane and company's Spawn #1-25 and Image comics from the same period, Jim Valentino's Shadowhawk Chronicles, more on Jim Rugg's Rambo 3.5, Hellboy in Mexico, Richard Corben, and the Hellboy films, Scott Pilgrim Volume One, James Kochalka's Superf*ckers, Avengers Prime #1, and a whole lot more!

Chris is back to fill our ears with tales of the Summit City Comic Con, leaving us enough time left over to talk about Jeffrey Brown's Process Packets, FCBD 2010: The Stuff of Legend, Green Hornet, War of the Supermen #0, Doctor Solar/Magnus, Robot Fighter and G.I. Joe #155 1/2, G.I. Joe: Hearts and Minds #1 and Klaus Scherwinski's Origins #15 featuring Snow Job, Girl Comics #1 and Marvel themed months, Urasawa's Pluto, 28 Days Later and 7 Psychopaths from BOOM!, Jim Rugg's One Model Nation and Rambo 3.5, Zero Squad from Continuity Comics, IDW's Mystery Society, LOST (*sniff*), Atlas #1, and a whole mess more (including two stranger-than-usual Hotline calls)!

Chris Samnee steps in to talk to us about Thor: The Mighty Avenger (Two issues in July!), The Age of Heroes, Siege: Embedded, Capote in Kansas, Avengers Day, Iron Man 2, Area 10, original art and commissions, Jersey Gods from Image, X-Factor Forever, The 6th Gun, Paul Pope's 100%, Siege and Siege: Fallen Sun, the Gold Key adaptation of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine, New Avengers: Finale, Bobgar "Slurmo" Ornelas' solo title B-One: Comics for Broken Hearts and Apocalypse...Meh with Jonathan "Homicidal Drummer" Westhoff, Patrick Scullin's Super Siblings, and a whole lot more!

Chris takes a breather, affording us ample opportunity for spoiler-free discussion on Siege #4, Alan Davis and the Marvels Project, Hulk #22 and Incredible Hulk #209, Ed McGuinness, The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 by Grant Morrison and Chris Sprouse, Dash Shaw's Bodyworld from Pantheon, The Black Terror and the Champions RPG, more distaste for the cut 'n' paste, Frank Frazetta, the Stumptown Festival: Bear Fight from Banner Year Press and Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel by Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett from Abrams Image, Batman & Robin, the Superman titles, Daredevil's crap-ass ninja skills, the Punisher and Shadowland, One Piece, video games, Julian Lytle's ANTS, and a whole lot more! Plus, at the top of the second hour, we're joined by a very special guest to help us wade through this mess! Vootie!

Our comics cup runneth way, way over as we delve into Free Comic Book Day 2010, Ben 10 and Generator Rex, Artifacts #0 from Top Cow, The 6th Gun #1 by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt from Oni Press, Marvel's Thor/Iron Man offering, Archie Summer Splash, Zorro: The Complete Classic Adventures by the legendary Alex Toth, a battalion of IDW G.I. Joe books (Cobra I and II, A Real American Hero #155 1/2, the flagship Joe #9-17, and the amazing Robert Atkins), Sonic the Hedgehog, Amazing Spider-Man #630 and bombastic Chris Bachalo, Rob Liefeld, Mike and Laura Allred and I, Zombie from Vertigo, Terry Moore's Echo, the Blackest Night Director's Cut, West Coast Blues and Jacques Tardi from Fantagraphics, Chris Burnham, Tony Harris and Twitter, and gobs of gushing praise (at least from one of us) for Kirkman, Ottley, McFarlane, and Capullo's Haunt! Plus, the requisite listener voicemails and a few emails, too!