Shop Update: Double Barrel Achievement Unlocked!

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Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App Hey, everybody.  Jeff here with a double reminder that:

(a) Double Barrel #5 is out today; and (even better)

(b) all issues of Double Barrel are available for purchase from the Savage Critic store!

As regular listeners to the Wait, What? podcast know, Graeme and I are huge fans of this two-talent monthly anthology from Top Shelf.  Each new issue is $1.99 and usually features approx. 1oo+ pages of great comics and enjoyable comics crafting essays.  (Issue #4 is only 81 pages.)  But since Top Shelf drops the price on the previous issues, you can get issues #1-4 for at $0.99 a pop.  There are two main recurring serials: Zander Cannon's Heck, about a modern-day adventurer who uses his house's portal for Hell as a business opportunity, and Kevin Cannon's Crater XV, a sequel to his Far Arden graphic novel, about a washed-up cantankerous sea dog who gets immersed in arctic high seas adventure.  (Don't worry, I hadn't read Far Arden when I started in with issue #1 of Double Barrel and it didn't trip me up at all.)

So my quick notice here is sort of a two-fold plea:  for those of you who've picked up Double Barrel on our recommendation, I hope you'll consider purchasing the latest issue through our digital store. I know it's a bit of a hassle to flip between two different comics apps (Comixology and iVerse's Comics Plus viewer) but it would throw a small bit of change in our pockets.  And if you still haven't picked up Double Barrel--take the time, energy and the dollar and get the 122 page first issue.  It's great stuff, and both Cannons, Zander and Kevin, are more than just brave and daring adventurers in this digital wilderness: they're also top-notch cartoonists and storytellers.

Unfortunately, Double Barrel wasn't available in our shop from day one, and it took some emails and communication with the hard-working staff at Top Shelf (Thank you, Chris Ross!) and the people at Diamond Digital to make sure we had access to us.  Making this available was important to everyone involved--it certainly was important to me because I think Double Barrel is a great, affordable read (even more so now that previous issues are less than a buck!) and a possible outlier of the future of digital comics that can work in tandem with direct marketplace shops.  I hope it's an experiment you will be enough of a daring adventurer yourself to investigate...and I hope you consider investigating it through our shop.

Wait, What? Ep. 97: How soon is NOW

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waitwhat97Just listen.  Trust me.

Episode 97! We are getting very, very close to the triple digits!  And, as you can see with the show notes after the jump, we are still capable of bringing the high weirdness.

(After the jump: Hi, Weirdness!)

So, right.  Show notes.  You are still digging these, I hope?  Because they do add a bit of extra duty to my editing chores...

1:04-2:45: All apologies:  Jeff is late, Graeme is behind.
2:45-13:30: But we are once again quick to start talking comics--more particularly, The Essential Incredible Hulk volumes and the art of Herb Trimpe.  We also talk Hulk and the crucial Harvey character that Jeff can't seem to remember.
13:30-38:39: And since we are talking old comics, Jeff brings up the curious case of Aquaman #56 (1971).  He was able to explode Graeme's mind with this story; hopefully, he can explode yours as well.  (There's also a harbinger of our tech problems to come in the middle of this.)  Also included: words of praise for the mighty Jim Aparo and frustrations about accessing reprints.
38:39-43:30:  On to other comics!  Jeff talks highly of Double Barrel #3 (Master of Feng-Shui!), Amelia Cole #2 (story by Adam Knave!), and Archie #635 (art by Gisele!).
43:30-48:08: Also discussed:  The 64 page 2000 AD sampler (partially read, partially too-completely discussed) and our hopes for their offerings as they leap into the digital marketplace.
48:08-55:34: Unsurprisingly, this leads to talk of Dredd as Graeme has recently read a span of Judge Dredd and tells us about it.  How is Judge Dredd like the silver-age Superman?
55:34-58:33:  And somehow I work in Spider-Man, X-Men, and the near-impossibility of reading every appearance of a superhero character. I assure you it organically flows into our discussion of...
58:33-1:04:34: Miss Thing and the Marvel NOW! announcements.  Graeme makes his picks; Jeff suggests that the Fantastic Four are done with.
1:04:34-1:10:49: And why should that be, exactly?  The answer might lie in a very different area than is typically discussed.  Belated props are given, btw, to Jonathan Hickman and we also mention the Waid and Wieringo run.
1:10:49-1:25:59: Speaking of which, Graeme has been re-reading Waid and Kitson's Legion of Super-Heroes book. Also Waid-related: his recent Four Panels That Never Work  about which we (incorrectly, apparently) assume the worst.  But on the plus side, Jeff hypes vol. 13 of Bakuman which is god-damned delightful and highly recommended.
1:25:59-1:37:58: And then, even though Jeff tries to talk about the new Archer and Armstrong reboot from Valiant, we talk about the second Walking Dead lawsuit between Tony Moore and Robert Kirkman about which...hoo boy.
1:37:58-1:41:13: No, we weren't done talking about the lawsuit, but Skype or Jeff's microphone just up and gave up on us.  It takes a minute or two for us to get back into our groove.
1:41:13-1:49:10: Like, Joss Whedon and his exclusive deal with Marvel? Hell yes, we'll talk about that!
1:49:10-1:52:39: Oh, and Archer and Armstrong?  Jeff does get around to talking about it.  Graeme has some good things to say about other books in the Valiant reboot: the new Harbinger and the new Bloodshot.
1:52:39-1:55:08: Also, Becky Cloonan on Batman #12 is a little bit of all right.
1:55:08-1:58:42: Also, Jeff picked up G0dland, Book Thirty-Six from the other week and found it (and we quote) "Kirby as fuck."  Tom Scioli does tremendous work,Joe Casey ups his game, and Skype (or Jeff's microphone) shits the bed.  (Due to the number of awesome double-page spreads in G0dland, Jeff recommends you do not pick this up in digital.)
1:58:42-end:  Graeme has a closing question!  Also, next week is our skip week...so we will be back two weeks from now.
And, well, there you have it, eh?  I'm a little exhausted at the moment so lemme just point you to  the direct link in case you don't have access to our feed on iTunes:
And, as always, we hope you enjoy!

Wait, What? Ep. 94: The Basement Japes

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Uploaded from the Photobucket iPhone App Above: The Farm Fusion Waffle, which is a liege waffle topped with mushroom, spinach, roasted pepper, tomato and marinated chevre, from the Waffle Window, Portland, OR.

Yes, that is one mighty tasty waffle, let me tell you -- although let me be honest, I do not tell you in episode 95, I merely mention it to you now. But!  Trust me, it's darn good.

As for what we do discuss in this episode, join me behind the jump for... show notes!

1:20-3:24: The Basement Japes: an introduction
3:24-13:21: The front page of Time.com and how to get there; Jeff makes Graeme break down the process behind his recent Dark Knight Rises
13:21-22:03: Graeme has recently seen Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Netflix Watch Instantly  and would like to talk about it and a certain amount of contemplation transpires about the quote-unquote charms of Michael Bay.
22:03-32:02: By very sad contrast, Jeff has something to say about Melissa & Joey, which he mistakenly calls "Melissa Loves Joey" THE ENTIRE TIME.  Is Jeff really so damn old he would get the title confused with Joanie Loves Chachi?  The answer, sadly, is yes.  Fortunately, Graeme steers Jeff toward Sex House, instead.  Although that seems like a weird lead-in to mentioning Jarett Kobek's new book, If You Won't Read, Then Why Should I Write? (and yes, I also get that title wrong, too), it actually works quite well, honest.
32:02-32:22: This is the point where we acknowledge that we have not really talked about comics at all, yet.
32:22-34:18: So instead of talking about Transformer movies, we mention Transformers comics and GI Joe comics.  Woo!
34:18-40:51: Well, and so you can't really talk about GI Joe Comics without discussing Top Shelf's Double Barrel, can you? No, of course not.  Trust me when I say we speak glowingly of Double Barrel #2.
40:51-56:04: Jeff's other major comic read of the week was catching up on three weeks of Shonen Jump Alpha. Can Jeff handle jumping into Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal on its ninth chapter?  (Spoiler: no.) The pros and cons of reading a mass of serialized information all at a go also gets a bit of the ol' poke & prod.
55:04-1:00:24: This gets us talking about how jumping on points and story density can work both for and against a story's accessibility with mentions of Morrison's JLA in trade, Mark Waid's interview at the AV Club, and whether Marvel's recap pages work.
1:00:24-1:02:59: Kieron Gillen has his own podcast, DECOMPRESSED.  We haven't listened to it, but we are very excited about it!  Check it out here!
1:02:59-1:14:09: Graeme tallks about Dark Avengers #177 by Jeff Parker and Kev Walker, and Wild Children, the recent Image book by Ales Kot and Riley Rossmo
1:14:09-1:16:28: Graeme picked up the new Eddie Campbell graphic novel, The Lovely Horrible Stuff, digitally (for only five dollars, and you can too, here at the SavCrit Digital Store) and tells us about it.  It sounds quite good.  (I admit it, I've picked it up since and can sign off on Graeme's recommendation.  It really is quite good.)
1:16:28-1:29:00: Other books Graeme discusses:  Action Comics #11,which he likes more than Jeff did, Infernal Man-Thing; and Punk-Rock Jesus.
1:29:00-1:45:38: Were you still wondering why Graeme liked the first volume of the Greg Rucka Punisher trade even though he didn't like the individual issues he tried?  He tells us here, and we get in to a bit of a tussle over the nature of The Punisher, and the differences between Rucka's approach and Ennis's approach.
1:45:36-1:58:34: Does that mean we end up talking about Rucka's run on Elektra and his career at NuMarvel as well as his current webcomic, Lady Sabre?  Why yes, it does!
1:58:34-2:03:32: The end (of the episode) is nigh! Although promising earlier to spoil the hell out of Walking Dead #100, Jeff instead tells the comic book collection bet story from Bleeding Cool.
2:03:32-2:10:24: When we recorded this, Neil Gaiman doing Before Sandman was just a rumor.  Want to know what we thought of the announcement before it was announced?  We talk about it here!
...Oh, and also closing comments, which we are still not very good at doing.
If you've got iTunes, it may have already set the nose of your faithful RSS bloodhound stirring.  Alternately, you are welcome to have a listen to it here, and sniff at it dismissively at your leisure:
Oh, and a word to the wise, we aren't recording this week, which means we won't have an episode for you next week -- I've got a trip lined up for this week, and I realized it would actually benefit my life greatly if we baked this kind of thing into my schedule, so expect us to have one skip week a month from here on out.  (Think of it as an opportunity to catch up.)
As always, we thank you for listening and hope you enjoy!

Wait, What? Ep. 89: Accidents Will Happen

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Photobucket Oh, I just don't know where to begin: last episode was held up on account of spinal aggravation and this episode starts with a SNAFU of the kind that had me tearing my rich abundant hair out of my head. (Hmmm, now that I think about it? I think...maybe that was neither my hair nor head?)

But that's the kind of episode this is--the one where our minds are made up but our mouths are undone. Nonetheless, Graeme McMillan and I were committed to *finally* finishing up answering your questions (seeing as we didn't answer them in the same month you asked them...or technically the same season) and talking stuff like Action Comics #10; superhero movies and the geek comfort zone; Spawn and Glamourpuss #25; the superlative Zombo; Jennifer Blood; and Sonic Disruptors.

Also, don't miss our discussion of Minutemen #1, which manages to mention The Dooce, Abhay, Brandon Graham, Internet communication, and put Graeme and I on opposite sides of the Elvis Costello lyrics (see? You weren't just imagining them!) with Graeme being: "It's the damage that we do we never know" and me being: "It's the words that we don't say that scare me so."

Oh, plus the tremendous Double Barrel #1; the best reviewed comic in the world; James Ellroy and comics; American Flagg; Zenith; Detective Comics and much more, including exciting news for Wait, What? and a request (at least one!) for listener assistance. In less than two hours? Yessir. You may say, "I don't want to hear it cuz I know what I've done." (I know, I know.)

So many podcasts to catch up on and add to your collection, but iTunes can keep you hangin' on (until you're well hung). Your mind is made up but you can listen to us below:

Wait, What? Ep. 89: Accidents Will Happen

As always, we hope you enjoy and thank you for listening. (Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to cue up Oliver's Army.)