Whitney Matheson of USA Today's Pop Candy blog has been compiling primers of her favorite podcasts, combining her own playlists with recommendations from her readership. Today she named her top ten comics podcasts, and we're thrilled that the iFanboy family of shows made the cut. In fact, iFanboy staffers are represented in each of the top four shows!
Tom Katers' hilarious, one-man Tom Vs. The JLA/The Flash/Aquaman placed fourth. Matheson concedes that it could easily have placed in last week's roundup of best comedy podcasts.
iFanboy itself came in third. "These guys have been podcasting for so long they have it down to a science," says Matheson. "The hosts are funny, informative and they don't always agree — which is a good thing." Well, we all agree on that. She also notes that the show appeals to "the medium nerd," promising that "Even casual comics readers will find something to enjoy here." As a fan first and staffer second, I'd have to agree. This is the show that got me into comics again after years of casual, fair-weather reading. And that predates my own bias.
Our Wall Street inside-man Jason Wood and Don't Misser Chris Neseman co-host the number two pick 11 O'Clock Comics with pals Vince B. and David A. Price. Matheson was daunted at first. "Need more comics commentary in your life? Yes, 11 O'Clock is long — like, two-to-three hours long. But once I started it, I found I couldn't stop, and I found the guys to be trustworthy experts in offering tips and reviews." We're big fans too. And I don't know what I'd do on my long train rides to NYC without 'em.
The top spot? John Siuntres' essential creator conversation show Word Balloon, posted right here on iFanboy. Word Balloon's the home of the legendary Bendis Tapes, Rucka Debriefs, Fraction Fireside Chats and so much more. "Every listener prefers a different kind of podcast. Personally, I go for the interviews, and the hands-down best in this category is Word Balloon."
So, a great day of celebration here at the ol' iFanboy brownstone. We're honored to have placed so high and to be included with some truly entertaining and insightful shows like Awesomed by Comics (yay, Evie and Aaron!) and Indie Spinner Rack. There's a metric ton of comic related podcasts out there for consumption, and Matheson narrowed it down to just a few of the real gems. To be in the top tier means a hell of a lot. We'd like to tank all of our listeners for recommending us.
Check out the full list of winners at Pop Candy.
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
Some rights reserved.
Awesome! Congrats on the visibility for everyone!
Congrats! well deserved cause its a great show. Keep it up!
Congrats to everyone on some well deserved recognition!
“John Sluntres”. Ha!
@BigE they spelled word balloon right…N U M B E R O N E
Well deserved recognition to all in the top 10, and a GREAT top 4.
@wordballoon Go team Siuntres!
I’ve been reading Whitney for a good while. As evidenced by her podcast picks, you can see that she has good taste.
Oh, and of course congrats to John, Tom, and I-boys on the placing and recognition. All very much well deserved. Cheers!
Notice I didn’t mention the 11 O’Clock guys. No, just messing. I forgot. Kudos to y’all as well.
That is tremendous. Well done and well deserved.
I started listening to comic podcasts just recently while at work. The ifanboys trio does a great job at covering a variety of comic books and comic book related topics that I care about. Thanks, and way to go guys!
…I wonder where I rank?
Seriously, congrats guys, but in my heart you’ll always be number one
I love 11 O’Clock but there are some things about it that drive me crazy and add to the length unnecessarily. The horrible phone messages from the fans. The drink roll call that goes on forever. (once in a while, or if you are drinking something interesting, but every week? for 15 minutes?) DAP’s inability to finish a sentence without huge gaping pauses. The talking over the music at the start (are we supposed to be listening to that or what?). On the other hand, they REALLY know their shit, especially Vince. My knowledge and taste have improved in leaps and bounds since I started checking out their recommendations.
In comparison, the iFanboy show is just so tight. The chemistry between the guys is great and they give just enough of a different viewpoint to spark discussion without it ever turning nasty. I love both but the POTW is #1.
Inkstuds sounds fantastic – will be checking that out today.
Great list. That top 3 could be in any order for me – I’d find it very hard to choose between them! We’re spoiled for choice at the moment.
Hey Cormac, yep, that about sums it up. We are far from perfect…which I think is sort of the point. It’s supposed to be four guys hanging out for a few hours shooting the shit about whatever we feel like talking about. If if makes you feel any better, we annoy each other sometimes, too! 🙂
@Cormac Yeah, drink roll call could be dropped. Just get to it.
John Sluntres nailed it
ha, i just noticed 11 o’clock comics beat iFanboy. Ouch!
let me just say if there was no drink roll call where would all the zima jokes go.i love it
I rnjoy & listen to a majority of the podcasts listed –WB, Ifanboy, 11OC, & ISR, Raging Bullets and they feel my podcasting time of the week (or ISR monthly-ish) among MANY MANY others. Congrads to the mentioned top 10 podcasts.
That said no love for CGS is a shame. Comic Geek Speak is both quality & quantity podcasting.
Matthew
Congratulations! I’ve don’t enjoyed 11 O’Clock quite as much as the iFanboy podcast. I simply don’t have time for a 3 hour podcast. You guys deserve all the accolades you get. Well done.
@wood Yeah, I get it! It’s not a highly-produced deal designed to win a Grammy, and we can’t complain about the price 😉 I like that it’s casual and fun and rambling, and I understand that nobody has hours upon hours to spend editing it every week. I’m also not saying I don’t enjoy the drink role call sometimes…but there are a shit-load of podcasts about micro-brewing etc if you’re into that. It’s kinda distracting to have that stuff upfront.
All things considered, I’d rather have it warts and all and be fresh from the oven rather than wait a few days and have it super-polished. Just picking nits.
Congrats to all the podcasts. I realized that I listen to half of them… ouch, I really seem to have no life at all.
Congrats to all the podcasts on the list. I listen to about half of them. I have a long commute. I like the variety of the podcasts I listen to. Sometimes I want to listen to something tight and about an hour. And sometimes I want to hear guys shoot the shit about comics for a couple of hours. Other days I feel like listening to interviews. But on fridays I listen to music to put me in weekend mode. But if it wasn’t for these podcasts, my commute would suck. Thanks and congrats again.
Congrats guys. I’m also so glad that Raging Bullets got a jersey too.
huh…I’ll have to check some of these other ones out. Right now I have three podcasts I listen to. iFanboy of course along with Comic Geek Speak (which is missing from this list for some reason and leads me to think this isn’t a valid list, lol) and Crave Online’s The Book Report.
I couldn’t tell you which one I like the most because, well, I love all three of these shows!
Well deserved congrats to the iFanboy crew, you guys rock!
Recognition at last! A well deserved congratulations to all!
Congradulations guys! I listen to all of them and have to agree with her choices. You guys rock!
Congratulations
All wll deserved for the top winners.
11 oclock- word balloon- ifanboy and awesomed by are all in my tops for the differentiated view they offer.
For me put them all together and you’ve got the whold comics world.
Congrats. I also got back into comics after a 12 year hiatus, mostly becasue of this podcast 🙂
No CGS? This list losses all cred. All these podcasts are a lot fun and have their own flavor. I have to credit this outlet for taking my reading to the next level. But no CGS ?
I’m not excited about comics every week, but I can always get excited about a good beer.
Drink Roll-Call is part of what we do. I understand why some people wouldn’t like it.
Regarding no CGS. Remember, this is one person’s list of what they like. Whitney may not listen to them, or just like the Drink Roll-Call, some people may just not like a show. It’s all taste. There’s no doubt that CGS is part of the landscape.
I have attempted to listen to the top 3 on this list. In my opinion, 11 o’clock comics is too annoying to be listened to, and Word Balloon is too boring to be listened to, but ifanboy is a great production week in and week out. How ifanboy finished behind those two podcasts, I’ll never know. I guess nobody is perfect.
Congrats to all…just wish I had more time to listen!
@WonderManFan Its not a competition, if you took the time to read Pauls post you would see that the top four are all part of the extended iFanboy family. But either way, thanks for at least giving our show a try.
@ChrisNeseman I love 11 oclock. Loved AC back then. But I honestly skip the first 20 minutes of every 11 oclock. Sorry, I like the rest though. I’m wiling to bet 10$ if you dropped the drink talk some fans would be upset. Can’t please everybody.
@JNewcomb Those first 20 minutse are often my favourite part of the episode 🙂
ifanboy is the show that got me back into comics so its always my #1. awesomed by comics and word balloon are my other favorites. 11 oclock is pretty good bu its just too long for me esp. in the first part of the show, but when they actually get to the content it can be really fun and educational.
Never heard of it. Didn’t even know USA Today had a section like that. Then again USA Today likes to hop on bandwagons.
@Mangaman Popcandy is one of the most popular pop culture blogs in the world, Whitney was doing this long before most.
ifanboy is by far #1 Tom v DCU a close 2ed then Raging Bullets
11 oclock is so boring all they do is talk about talking about comics they never actually talk about anything substancial
@gobo Well there you go!
@Superkal I think that may be a little unfair. They get lots of excellent, in-depth comic talk. Intro aside, that’s why the show is so long, they go in very far into their comics talk. Give them a fair shake once or twice more, I think you’ll find the 11 o’ quartet is a very insightful bunch.
@superkal1978 Thanks for giving us a listen. Lucky for us Whitney disagrees with ya 😉
I do 11 O’Clock to spend time talking to 3 of my best friends. I could really care less if it was offered as a podcast.