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Nerd Lunch Episode 21: Comic Book Scenarios

Posted in comic books, podcast with tags comic books, DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts on January 25, 2012 by Paxton

Episode 21 has gone LIVE, my friends. This week we are down a man as Jeeg has flown off to Europe to find himself. In the meantime, we invited Vanessa and Erika from Girls Gone Geek to join us for a lively discussion about comic books.

Specifically we are talking about comic book scenarios. What sidekick would we like to have? What would we do if we ever got super powers? What character would we kill and make sure stays dead? These are the nerdy questions we ask ourselves and sometimes answer with very little geeky rambling. Well, some rambling.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

5 Reasons why the 1987 John Byrne Superman kicked ass

Posted in 80s, comic books, nostalgia, pop culture, Superman with tags comic books, DC Comics, nostalgia, pop culture, Superman on January 11, 2012 by Paxton

Last year I talked about the 25th anniversary of the John Byrne mini-series Man of Steel. That 1986 mini-series was a post-Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot of Superman which updated his origin and character and served to make him a little less powerful and thus, more interesting.

The reboot led to a revamp of Action Comics, a renaming of the old Superman book to The Adventures of Superman as well as the launch of a brand new Superman book. The new Superman book as well as Action Comics would be written and drawn by John Byrne. The Adventures of Superman would be written by Marv Wolfman and drawn by Jerry Ordway. And this month, the post Crisis Superman reboot celebrates its 25th anniversary.

Here is a DC in-house ad advertising the launch of the new Superman titles.

The three issues that started the reboot and featured in this ad are Superman #1, The Adventures of Superman #424 (previously titled Superman) and Action Comics #584. This reboot was a pretty big event and DC advertised it to the hilt.

For the most part, I wasn’t a fan of the Marv Wolfman Adventure issues, but I was a HUGE fan of the Byrne Superman and Action Comics titles. His art and action packed writing style made Superman fun to read. I still have many of the original issues.

Anyway, in celebration of the 25th anniversary, here are 5 reasons why the John Byrne Superman titles kicked so much ass.

Superman vs Legion

Superman got into fights with EVERYONE - Under John Byrne, Action Comics essentially became a free-for-all. It turned into a team up book starring Superman and another character (a la Brave & the Bold for Batman). Within the majority of those issues, Superman wound up getting into a fight with his co-stars, usually over some misunderstanding. But Byrne drew the fights with awesome jaw cracking detail. The regular Superman title was the same way with Supes fighting the Legion, Metallo, Supergirl and a giant mutant ape.

Superman fights 1 Superman fights 2 Superman fights 8

Superman fights 6 Superman fights 7 Superman fights 5

Superman fights 9

Superman didn’t always win his fights (Bizarro, Metallo, Superboy, Rampage, Supergirl) – So, as I said, Superman fought a lot. And surprisingly, he actually got his ass kicked…a lot. At least every other issue featured a panel of Superman getting either smacked in the face or being hit so hard he flies through the air. Check out the myriad of comic panels above showing the Man of Steel on the receiving end of a Bronx haymaker.

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Nerd Lunch Episode 13: Cartoon Crushes

Posted in cartoons, podcast, pop culture, TV shows with tags cartoon, cartoons, comic books, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcast, podcasts, TV shows, video games on November 28, 2011 by Paxton

Unlucky episode 13. This will probably end up being “creepy” episode 13. Our topic this week is to discuss our cartoon crushes. Yes we talk about cartoon people that we find attractive. And to up the creepiness factor, we categorize them into categories like “Dream Date”, “The One That Got Away”, “Bad Girl”, etc etc. So not only do we actually have to think about our crushes and put a label on them, most of the cartoon crushes we talk about are supposed to be, well, a little younger than us. So yeah, we toe the line of being awesome and getting a visit from Chris Hansen.

(Via mommysdirtylittlesecret.com)

In a move designed to make this episode seem less creepy and lecherous, we are joined by Kristin from the Geek Girls Network. You are going to love her, she’s hilarious. And yes, we actually talk about half human half turtle babies. We go there. And Kristin is the one to bring it up. I am so in love with this episode.

Anyway, download this episode from iTunes, Zune Marketplace or listen to it on Feedburner.

Again, this is a very visual topic (like the Nerd Decor episode) so I thought I’d give you guys a visual reference to some of my cartoon crushes. These are in no particular order, listen to the podcast to see what category in which I put these lovely ladies.

Supergirl (Kara-Zor El) – Introduced in Batman/Superman in 2003 by Jeph Loeb and drawn by Michael Turner.

Elise – From the SSX snowboard video game franchise.

Madelyn Pryor – AKA The Goblin Queen. Evil clone of Jean Grey. Created by Mr Sinister and featured in Marvel’s Inferno crossover event in 1989.

Invisible Woman – From the Marvel Ultimate universe.

Nerd Lunch Episode 7: Does it live up to the hype?

Posted in books, comic books, movies, podcast, TV shows with tags books, comic books, movies, Nerd Lunch Podcast, podcasts, TV shows on October 18, 2011 by Paxton

Welcome your faces to Episode 7 of the Nerd Lunch Podcast. This week we are joined by Robert from the blog To The Escape Hatch. Our topic is “Does It Live Up to the Hype?”

We each took a TV show or movie that has been recommended/hyped up to us over the years that we never got around to watching and…we watched it. Some of the things we watch include Braveheart, Mad Men and The Wire. Do they live up to the hype? Listen to the podcast to find out.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner.

AWESOME-tober-fest 2011: Batman vs Dracula

Posted in Batman, comic books, Dracula, Halloween, holiday, monsters, pop culture, vampires with tags AWESOME-tober-fest, AWESOME-tober-fest 2011, Batman, comic books, DC Comics, Dracula, Halloween, holiday, monsters on October 7, 2011 by Paxton

This the is final day of AWESOME-tober-fest 2011 comic book week in which I look at comic books featuring the character of Dracula. Today I’m going to look at the epic battle between the Lord of the Vampires and the Dark Knight Detective.

Today’s comic is Batman & Dracula: Red Rain from 1991. Yes, Batman vs Dracula in an Elseworlds tale. How badass is that? The book was written by Doug Moench and illustrated by Kelley Jones. This was a very popular graphic novel and spawned a cartoon movie that was loosely based on the story.

This graphic novel has Batman investigating a series of murders affecting Gotham’s homeless population. Batman discovers that the murders are by a family of vampires led by Dracula himself. Batman recruits a female vampire named Tanya who recently left Dracula’s family to help lure the vampire legions to the Batcave. Batman is accidentally bit by a vampire but still manages to destroy the majority of the vampire family except Dracula. Dracula kidnaps Gordon and Batman goes after him. Dracula and vampire Batman battle and Dracula is impaled on a broken tree trunk. Batman laments that Bruce Wayne is dead but states that now, vampire Batman can continue forever.