Wait, What? Ep. 142: Out Like A Lamprey

Not mentioned in any way in our podcast but I do love how it captures what's most important about the holidays -- conquering and invulnerability.

Ho, ho, ho! Hoist high the Jolly Roger and all that! It is Christmas, when boys become men and Boy II Men become headliners at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.  (As always, I wish Graeme was doing this entry as the holiday spirit comes terrifyingly easy to him and is a much more uncomfortable fit for me.)

Oh, and before you read any of this, go read Abhay's post first because it is undoubtedly a million times better.  Really, I can't wait to stop writing this entry so I can go back to reading his...

After the jump, I leave coal in your stocking! And also show notes for our two and a half hour end-of-2013 episode!  Come, sit uncomfortably on my knee and realize you're close enough to smell what I ate for lunch! And other holiday tradition-like things!

First, because the show notes are sooooo extensive (well, really my poorly formatted, hastily assembled best-of list as mentioned in the show), let me do you a holiday solid and put the link to the show first, okay?

Wait, What? Ep. 142: Out Like a Lamprey...

Okay, now that you've got that revving, you can dig into these, our show notes for the last episode of 2013. We gave you something like 32 episodes this year--that's not so bad, right?  I don't even think that counts our lost episode, our minicast, or the number of hours or whatever.  I mean, we gave you well over sixty hours of entertainment--that's worth celebrating, right?  I mean, admittedly it may have been more like "entertainment" than entertainment but...

[Christ, I get needy during the holidays...]

Anyway....

00:00-3:21: Greetings! Graeme is happy that it’s almost Christmas; Jeff is happy he is one year closer to death!  So, yeah, we’ve got a lot of common ground there, as always.  Opening comments include: us talking about our lost episode, us trying to touch on the year on comics, but mainly doing a very good job talking about why we were so poorly prepared to talk about the year on comics. 3:21-39:05: We do, however, get around to talking about a certain Marvel editor’s move to a certain Marvel Animation on a certain West Coast. We also talk about the move of Will Moss to Marvel, the upcoming DC move, and more topics in which I can mindlessly use the word “move.” Unsurprisingly, discussions include the fates of Daredevil (and its relaunch), Captain Marvel, Hawkeye (and Hawkeye’s publication schedule), and Avengers: Endless Wartime (okay, maybe that last one is a little surprising). 39:05-58:53: On a related note, did Marvel in 2013 become DC in 2011 without anyone caring?  Graeme lays out the case.  Mentioned:  David Morell, Matt Fraction, Zeb Wells, roving feral gangs of art teams setting upon defenseless books and completing them, etc.  Also mentioned: a really good piece by The Outhousers, the importance of corporate narratives, and how those narratives change. 58:53-1:02:43: Graeme has read Harley Quinn #1 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Chad Hardin and has hope for it as an outreach book, as well as good things to say about the Green Lantern books.  And yet he has nearly no faith in DC?  Explain, Graeme! 1:02:43-1:26:23:  Graeme starts to talk about the “Best of 2013” as refracted in part through his picks for Wired’s Best of list, but we quickly change topics to discuss the recently released Slayground, the latest adaptation by Darwyn Cooke of Richard Stark/Donald Westlake’s Parker novels. Spoilers ahoy, as we try to figure out why our reactions to the book are what they are (including spoilers for Lemons Never Lie, because we are crazy out of control that way). 1:26:23-1:40:52: What else did Jeff buy this week (actually, closer to a month since he hadn’t been to the store since before Thanksgiving)?  Jeff quickly runs down the list because, um, I don’t know, I guess I thought we were squeezed for time?  Discussed in at least a sentence or two (although sometimes at most):  Batman #26 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo; Batman & Two-Face #26 by Pete Tomasi and Patrick Gleason and Mick Gray; Lazarus #5 by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark; Velvet #2 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting; Saga #16 and #17 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples, the latest issues of The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard; Mars Attacks Judge Dredd #4 by Al Ewing and John McCrea; and issues #2 and #3 of Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios. 1:40:52-1:48:40:  Jeff’s very incomplete, incredibly biased Best of 2013 list, reprinted here only with the proviso that there was so much great stuff in 2013, I didn’t even know about a lot of it, much less read it.  But from what I read, here's what I liked:

Bought at the store, loved in the home: Works by G-Mo: Batman Inc. and Action Comics Works by Al Ewing: Zombo, Jennifer Blood, Mars Attacks Judge Dredd, The Fictional Man. the Avengers Assemble one-shots I read Works by BKV: The Private Eye (with Marcos Martin) and Saga (with Fiona Staples) Works by Brandon Graham:  Multiple Warheads and Prophet (with Simon Roy, Giannis Milogiannis, and Farel Dalrymple) Works by Adam Warren:  Empowered Animal Style (with John Staton), Empowered Nine Beers with Ninjette (with Takeshi Miyazawa) 2000 A.D. (Stickleback! Zombo!) Copra by Michel Fiffe

Stuff I really dug on digital:

2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd Megazine, by various:  god, yes. Probably my most overall pleasurable reading experience of the year Kikaider by Shotaro Ishinomori Works by Akira Toriyama:  Sachie-Chan Good!! and Jaco the Galactic Patrolman. Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover Batman ‘66 by Jeff Parker (and various including Jonathan Case although it was really that Joker story with Joe Quinones that rung my chimes) Double Barrel by Zander Cannon, Kevin Cannon, and Tim Sievert (whose Clandestinauts was really a grotty shot of energy to the last third of the run) Chris Weston’s story in The Adventures of Superman...boy, that looked amazing. Jack Kirby’s Kamandi reprints (which looks as if they’ve finally been discontinued... which breaks my fragile heart)

Trade paperbacks or books or whatever: My Dirty Dumb Eyes by Lisa Hannawalt TEOTFW by Charles Forsman Zombo:  You Smell of Crime…And I"m The Deodorant, by Al Ewing and and Henry Flint Sin Titulo by Cameron Stewart Jack Kirby Omnibus Vol. 2 by Jack Kirby Superman: The Phantom Zone by Steve Gerber, Gene Colan, and Rick Veitch

Least favorite comic book movie of the year: Man of Steel (just saw it a few days ago and it bummed me out that the film had the best evocation of superpowers on film, but the worst evocation of Superman in just about any medium ever.  Jesus, that was depressing.)

Favorite comic book movie of the year: Fast and the Furious 6  (not as good as 5, but it was still pretty great. Some of those actions only make sense if you believe in Jack Kirby physics, which of course is my baseline)

[Oh, and the above two are bonuses for show notes readers as I had them on the list and didn't get a chance to mention to Graeme).

Weirdo one-shots: Avengers Assemble Annual #1 by Christos Gage and Tomm Coker Ant Comic by Michael DeForge Supermag by Jim Rugg Masters of the Universe: The Origin of Hordak by Keith Giffen in a Kirby homage that just felt oversized and stunning Optic Nerve #13 by Adrian Tomine Satan's Soldier by Tom Scioli (thank you for not leaving comics, Tom!)

The solid b-level books that keep me on the hook: Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Charlie Adlard Fatale by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips Batman & Robin by Pete Tomasi & Patrick Gleason Batman by Snyder & Capullo Archer and Armstrong by Fred Van Lente and...various?) Afterlife with Archie by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky Pretty Deadly by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios Zero by Ales Kot and various, including Morgan Jeske Lazarus by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark Superior Spider-Man by Dan Slott and various, whenever anyone would give me the code

Not this year but just the best: Hook Jaw by Pat Mills, Ken Armstrong and Ramon Sola Shako by Pat Mills, John Wagner, Roman Sola, and Juan Arancio Rogue Trooper by Gerry Finley-Day, Dave Gibbons, Colin Wilson and others Cat Shit One/Apocalypse Meow by Motofumi Kobayashi Chronicles of Conan by Roy Thomas and various The “White Zero” issue of 2001: A Space Odyssey (#5) by Jack Kirby Steve Ditko Archives: Shade The Changing Man by Steve Ditko The Boys by Garth Ennis, Darick Robertson, John McCrea and Russ Braun Yakitate!! Japan by Takashi Hashiguchi The Secret Society of SuperVilllains by a bunch of pitiful bastards including Gerry Conway, Bob Rozakis, Rich Buckler, Bob Layton & more Torpedo Vol. 1 by Sanchez Abuli, Jordi Bernet and Alex Toth

Whew! So yeah, like I said, there's a metric shit ton of great stuff that came out this year that I didn't read.  But that was a list of stuff I did.

1:48:40-2:00:59:  Graeme embellishes upon the list with some Marvel stuff Jeff justifiably overlooked including:

Young Avengers by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Mighty Avengers by Al Ewing and Greg Land Iron Man by Kieron Gillen and Greg Land (and others?) Iron Man Final Frontier cowritten by Kieron Gillen and Al Ewing (digital) All-New X-Men by Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen (and others) Wolverine and the X-Men by Jason Aaron and Nick Bradshaw (and others)

And non-Marvel stuff too: Green Lantern and Green Lantern Corps by Robert Venditti and others Flash by Manapul and Brian Buccellatto Bad Machinery by John Allison American Barbarian reprints on Comixology by Tom Scioli (co-signed) (and this is where Jeff finds out Scioli is writing and drawing a cosmic Transformers/G.I. Joe miniseries and makes a high-pitched noise incapable of being recorded) various Valiant titles Works by Chris Roberson:  Code Name: Action and The Shadow Kings Watch by Jeff Parker and Marc Laming (Graeme didn't mention Amelia Cole by Adam Knave, D.J. Kirkbride and Nick Brokenshire but probably only because he didn't have an actual list, and was mostly riffing off mine.)

2:00:59-2:07:46:  As mentioned above, it was a really good year for comics.  Jeff talks about the Comics Alliance Best of List which had stuff he is now eager to read. (In fact, I just grabbed that Ōoku: The Inner Chamber from the library just this afternoon.)  Graeme goes on to talk a bit about 2014 and titles he thinks are worth looking out for, including Action Comics by Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder, Green Lantern: New Guardians, Red Lanterns and more. 2:07:46-2:27:20:  Because you requested it!  We talk Matt Fraction being pulled from Inhumanity and the way Marvel addressed it,  Image books vs. Marvel books, what Grant Morrison is up to these days, the Affordable Care Act, and more. 2:27:20-closing: Closing comments!  With an important HEAD’S UP: we are transitioning to a fortnightly (week on/week off) schedule in 2014 in order to keep us a little more sane, fresh, and feisty as we head into another year of podcasting.  We are thinking of seeing if we can synchronize our schedule with House to Astonish, maybe?  Please watch this space for details!

Whew!  Okay, hopefully you won't mind if I play fast and loose with the tags for now?  I've got my holiday shopping done but would not mind a chance to sit down and read a few comics after a busy day of running around crazy.

As we say in the podcast -- thank you to everyone who listened to us, sent us emails, sent me comics, recommended things, argued with us and each other in the comment threads, and did so much more (or nothing more than just continuing to let us blab our ever-loving hearts out).  We look forward to doing it again in 2014.  Please have a wonderful holiday season, a happy new year, and, as always, thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy.