Pick of the Week Podcast
Show Notes
With management off in Chi-Town for C2E2, iFanboy.com staff writers Ryan Haupt, Jim Mroczkowski, Mike Romo, and Paul Montgomery commune for another takeover of the Pick of the Week podcast! It’s a moose of a show, but it’s filled with divergent opinions, science, and behind the scenes drama. Plus, Jim has conniption over some frustrating photo referencing.
Running Time: 01:19:16
Pick of the Week:
00:02:05 – Conor’s Pick was Power Girl #22, and the guys all agree it was a blast from the prehistoric past.
Comics:
00:12:45 – Wacky cover aside, Fear Itself: Book of the Skull was not worth the Atlantean flesh it was printed on.
00:21:16 – There’s no mystery why Ruse #1 is the CrossGen title to latch onto. Everybody felt right at Holmes.
00:28:17 – Paul and Mike enjoyed the Reaver madness in Uncanny X-Force #5.1, but Ryan and Jim had more than a few reservations. Especially Jim. He got to growling.
00:35:16 – Xombi #1 was nun-stop fun, with a terrific reintroduction of a Milestone classic into the DCU.
00:40:18 – A new outfit in The Amazing Spider-Man #656 has the team mixed, but everybody’s got a greater appreciation for Spider-Sense.
00:48:27 – Bad Dog #4 sees the return of a much beloved series, but memories are a little fuzzy after a seventeen month absence.
00:51:31 – Jim is enthused by The Invincible Iron Man #502’s harkening to an old story Spider-Man storyline, but experiences berserker rage over the art.
00:55:46 – Paul crosses his vampires with his zombies sometimes, but Ryan really got a kick out of 28 Days Later #21.
00:58:58 – Much as Paul loves to see Ryan Sook pop up in a book, the art change in T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #5 threw him for a loop.
01:02:11 – Mike delights in the wanton destruction of Paris in Northlanders #38.
User Reviews:
01:04:30 – Neb loves the sight of Crossbones in the rain in Captain America and Crossbones #1.
01:07:29 – Invasionforce has mixed feelings about Avengers Academy #1.
Email:
01:10:52 – finbarbat is looking for villains with staying power from the past 15 years.
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Music:
“You Get What You Give”
New Radicals
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Brubaker wrote it because Fear Itself was going to be a Cap/Thor event for the upcoming movies and both Fraction and Brubaker were going to write the event. Brubaker realized that the story he wanted to tell was basically the Book of the Skull issue and let Fraction take the reigns.
the more you know
Beta Flight takes over.
Writers episodes are the fucking bomb!
Writers’ episode = please let’s do it quarterly.
As for new villains, I’m thinking Atrocitus.
However much I miss Josh, Ron and Conor, you guys did a really terrific job here.
As for the villains question, it’s true that the villains that have really made an impact recently have been the ones that have gotten new life, despite being around forever. Geoff Johns, especially, can take a lot of credit for this phenomenon. And, of course, Gail Simone in Secret Six as well.
Resolved: the sleepless nights are getting to me.
Isn’t this all writers episode a few weeks early? April hasn’t happened yet has it? Please tell me i haven’t lost a whole month again.
but anyway, i’m looking forward to hearing the writers veiws. downloading
@edward We usually do it around April 1st, but the guys were all in Chicago anyway, so they figured why not not do it this week.
preemptive april fool’s strike. i get it
Villains with staying power? JMS his power? Able to ruin good characters with a single storyline. Sins Past and Grounded anyone?
assistant editor’s week, wooohoo!
Bane is a recent-ish villian that has blown up. he’s in the next batman movie.
@Thechangingman That’s radically hilarious.
I feel photoreferencing real celebrities and people in comic art isn’t automatically a problem, but if done wrong, it can indeed be distracting. Using these people as references can really work if the artist can make the characters (for lack of a better word) act, meaning if they can strongly emote in the various ways that the referenced actor would emote. The best example of this working is Bryan Hitch’s Ultimate Nick Fury.
Jimski used the word “lazy” when describing Sal Larocca’s art, and that’s really the best way to describe photoreferenced comic work gone wrong. With his work in Invincible Iron Man and ESPECIALLY with Greg Land’s more recent work, we get traced faces with very limited emotion. It’s not necessarily terrible, but it’s certainly more distracting than if it weren’t based on a real person (Well, except for Land’s recent work…that art isn’t good in any way, shape or form).
Good show. i would listen to this team every week. Maybe Ifanboy should think of putting out a second podcast team.
I don’t listten to the pick of the week podcast to hear price bitching.
Enough of that is done in the individual comic discussion threads.
The best thing about the .1 issues is that we actually get one-and-done comics again, which Uncanny X-Force just nailed that format satisfyingly.
Thanks for the show.
What no middle-of-the-night, half asleep podcast from a con? I love those.
Still dug this though.
New villains with staying power?
Atrocitus which has been mentioned. And… Larfleeze?
Also, The Sentry?
This breaches the 15 year mark by a 5 or 6 years but… Cyborg Superman?
C’mon, there’s got to be one!
HARLEY QUINN!!!!!
Thanks for taking my question fellas. Venom comes to mind, but he is past the 15 year mark (though he is new enough to not be considered a legacy character). Hush was a good call. Bane, nice one. Sabretooth, perhaps? How about the recently deceased Prometheus? Max Lord… ? Uhh….where are all the new villains?
Black Flash?
@ScorpionMasada yes, it’s annoying when people bitch about silly things, isn’t it?
Re new villains: Hush. Before people think that is crazy. I am referring to what Dini has done with him in Bat; SoG, and not to what Loeb did when introducing him. He actually is pretty interesting now.
Also, Maria Hill. Mark my words, she will turn! 😉
The x-books have had a few new villains with some staying power over the last 15 years, at least within the confines of the x-books. Cassandra Nova and Ord seem to be sticking. Bastion has had a couple go rounds.
Not strong examples just the best I can think of so far.
Bendis didn’t resurrect the Hood. Dwayne McDuffie resurrected the Hood for BEYOND! And I really like the Hood when he’s handled by ANYONE other than Bendis.
Villains from the last ten years…. Any of the Lantern Corps? Parallax? Zoom(Hunter Zolomon)? The Black Beetle(Probably too soon to tell)?
This episode is music to my earholes. And by music I mean very eloquently expressed intelligent opinions.
Heading out the door this morning, PoW podcast is loaded and ready to play for my monday morning listneing pleasure, I pressed play as I opened the door and the New Radicals starts playing. I felt like I was in a 90’s movie, and that was a fun way to get Monday morning going.
Great podcast guys!
For the villain question: Zoom (Hunter Zolomon) and half the cast of Secret Six. Also, Grant Morrison and Paul Dini seem to churn out new villains hourly. Their memorability varies though.
Hush seems to be the best answer.
@RapidEyeMovement Hush yes.
Not Harley Quinn?
@JNewcomb Shit, yeah! Totally forgot about her. Harley Quinn wins.
When i started reading comics i hated superman for that exact reason alluded to – ie he seems sanctimonious and goody-goody. That was until i read All-star Superman and, just as importantly, witnessed the awesome pure goodness of the Fleisher cartoons.
Seriously, if you’ve not seen these, and you love good old fashioned superhero fun, you’ve gotta track these down!
I think the problems for Superman come in because he’s essentially very pure and otherworldly in character in a way that makes him seem out of place, or out of time in the modern world (a bit like a slightly less goofy Captain Marvel). Being almost godlike also makes it very hard to write; only seriously talented writers like Morrison can really grasp the philosophical implications of the story and how his character needs to be drawn.
Only way Book of the Skull could be important is if in Fear Itself, issue 7, Baron Zemo gets his revenge on Sin by taking her out. But watch, it’ll be a public kill, so the government will make him top cop of America and the Avengers and whatnot, leading to a year of “Zemo’s Reign.” Because no one would expect them to do it again.
I would answer Mister Negative for the villain question. He’s the only recent new spiderman villain that I feel will still be around in 10 years.
Casandra Nova… memorably appeared in Morrisons “New X-Men” and Whedons “Astonishing X-Men” (sort of). Barricuda? For a punisher villain he did remarkably well.
The best Power Girl issues to jump on at are Power Girl #7 and #8. The Vartox story is so funny and displays Grey and Pal’s great dialog and Conner’s wonderful character expressions. Plus, once you discover Vartox you will go on to discover Zardoz…prepare to have your mind blown…scantily-clad Sean Connery style.
Discovery the wonder that is Power Girl #7.
What no one is going to chime in with additional on screen T-rex beat downs?
finally remembered to check in–glad you liked the show!!
About villains:
Sin isn’t a new character. She debuted in Captain America in the early ’80s.
Cassandra Nova was the first villain(ess) who came to my mind. She’s used sparingly but has always been a HUGE deal and is sure to return to the X-mythos repeatedly in decades to come.
Dr. Hurt from Morrison’s Batman was the second name to pop into my head, although he’s technically just a revival of an old nameless character. I think he still counts, though, since he had no personality and no name before Morrison used him. The sticking point is that I’m not sure if any other writer will ever use him again. Morrison basically squeezed every ounce of creative use out of the guy and then the Joker buried him alive, so…
Continuing on the Morrison train, I know what you guys were referring to with the comment that the best villains don’t have origins, but Morrison has given plenty of details about Prof Pyg’s beginnings. We know his real name, we know how he was experimented on, under which real-world experimental psychological theories. Then add a dash of George Bernard Shaw in “My Fair Lady”/”Pygmalion”. Once you get what Morrison’s referencing, you understand pretty clearly what the guy’s deal is and where he’s coming from. He did appear on the scene in B&R #1 without any explicit explanation, though, which was great, and maybe that’s what Morrison was referring to.
I was thinking about Venom, realized that he’s been around for over 20 years and now I feel really old.