Episodes
Derek says nobody reads these. Is he right? Let's find out!  This week: how is it possible that the follow-up series to a mediocre nostalgia bait 90s cartoon is the best X-Men adaptation ever? It's nuts! This first part of a three parter is the kind of stuff most shows hold for season finales! Meanwhile: who is Paul Walker Hauser playing in Fantastic Four? And was 2019 actually forty years ago? Come join our Patreon!
Published 05/03/24
Published 05/03/24
Gambit is dead. Real dead! Getting buried and everything. And Rogue is on a rampage - can Captain America stop her? Are Jubilee and Sunspot in their own TV show? And why did the X-Men wait a whole week before going to Genosha? All this and more on the latest X-Men '97! Also: is Zack Snyder in his Kevin Smith era? And is it surprising that two middle aged white nerds would find themselves sidetracked with Kevin Smith talk for far too long? Thanks for listening! Join the Patreon to support...
Published 04/26/24
To space, my X-Men! We finally catch up with Professor X, who has been walking around and boning down in the Shi'ar Imperium. Meanwhile, Storm has to confront her greatest fears to save Forge, even though it's his fault she has no powers. Do you like X-Men cosmic stories? If so, you're in luck. If not, you're Derek. And there's Marvel news, including a Captain America: Brave New World toy leak that may or may not reflect the actual film. Plus: what does that asterisk mean in the...
Published 04/19/24
This week things go nuts! This is the big episode towards which everything has been building, and it has everything you want in an X-Men story: romance! betrayal! intrigue! violence! tragedy! It's got it all! Plus: a bunch of news from CinemaCon. What's up with the asterisk in the Thunderbolts title? How about that new Superman logo? And what's up with Beau DeMayo? Double plus: Derek has a theory that ruins my whole day! Thanks for listening! See you next week as we discover the...
Published 04/12/24
This week: can we trust James Gunn? Does anyone want a movie where Superman fights Evil Superman? And will the Human Torch really have those little lines on him when he flames on? Plus: I have an amazing experience at the bank. It's better than it sounds.  On X-Men '97: Jubilee gets sucked into a video game by Mojo while Storm chills out at Forge's cabin... but something just ain't right. Was this a waste of an episode? You'll have to listen to find out what we think! Thanks for listening. 
Published 04/05/24
This week the X-Men cartoon sorta adapts the crossover event Inferno, and jams it all into about 40 minutes. Is it too rushed? Yes. Does it still mostly rule? Yes. In the news segment we have thoughts about Spider-Man 4 and the rumored directors. Plus: we talk more about bringing an It's Always Sunny attitude to Fantastic Four.  Thanks for listening and see you next week!
Published 03/29/24
First up, a programming note: we will be swapping the days we release our podcasts. We are going to release Marvelvision on Fridays and move The Bad Batch to Mondays. So expect another episode of Marvelvision this week.  On this episode: wait, the new X-Men cartoon is good? Like, really good? How did this happen? What miracle has occurred?  And in the intro: some small news, and I tried smelling salts. Wowza. They're not just in old movies, they're real, and they pack a punch.  Thanks for...
Published 03/25/24
As we get ready for X-Men 97 starting next week we take an episode to just catch up with the news, including the latest on Blade, Eternals sequels and the eternal production of Thunderbolts. Plus: they finished Wonder Man?!? Next week it's all nostalgia all the time as the continuation of the 90s X-Men cartoon hits Disney+. We'll be covering the first two episodes. See you there!
Published 03/18/24
This week we're talking about the 96th annual Academy Awards, the first Oscars Derek has watched in over a decade! And he picked a good one to return to, as the night had surprisingly deserving winners, big fun moments and also Godzilla.  Find out our thoughts on who deserved what they won and which losers should have been winners. Hear us discuss "I'm Just Ken" and also get into an argument about celluloid! This one has it all.  By the way, join our Patreon at the $5 or above level to get...
Published 03/11/24
This week we're doing something a little different. We're pulling an episode of Watch Men out from behind the paywall and letting you get a listen to it - free! The episode is about The Marvels, a much-maligned MCU film that we quite liked and that is now on Disney+ and finally picking up some appreciation. What better time to get this back in front of your ear canals? But don't worry - if you've already heard this we have a solid hours of news and putzing around, so you've got plenty to...
Published 03/04/24
The Dynamic Duo is born... and right off the bat there's something a little odd about their relationship. Now, we're not taking Wertham's side on this one but it is really strange for a rich guy to simply abscond with a recently orphaned little boy.  It's Detective Comics #38, the first appearance of Robin the Boy Wonder, the multi-murdering sidekick to the Dark Knight Detective. And there are backup stories galore, a few of which contain racism! Before that: the news! The Fantastic Four...
Published 02/19/24
When Captain America throws his mighty shield.... well, he's not throwing his shield yet, but he's already got a 9 year old sidekick who sleeps in bed with him? Yes, this is just one of the revelations coming out of Captain America Comics #1, where Joe Simon and Jack Kirby introduce the Star-Spangled Avenger and his nemesis The Red Skull.  And there are backup stories, and get this - they're first appearances of major Marvel mythological concepts as well! Pretty impressive for 1941. Next...
Published 02/12/24
Comics are for kids. We all know that. But don't kids deserve a little bit more respect? This is the question that hangs over the two stories in The Flash #110, which sees the introduction of Wally West, aka Kid Flash, aka a future Flash.  Before we get to the origin of this scarlet speedster we got ourselves some news, including pondering about whether they'll keep Israeli superhero Sabra in the new Captain America, which seems like it's going to do a complete reshoot in the coming...
Published 02/05/24
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.” We all know the Mighty Thor today, thanks to the MCU and of course his appearance with the Incredible Hulk on TV, but how did he start? The latest entry in our Secret Origins series has shown us that many of the most famous comic book characters were born with their fundamental DNA intact. Not so much with the Mighty Thor.  In fact, in his first appearance Thor is visually recognizable... but that's about it!...
Published 01/29/24
The finale of Echo is here, and the show was better than we expected - but how much better? We do not agree on this particular point, but we do find ourselves in agreement on a lot of elements that we actually did like quite a bit. And then there is the news - a lot going on in the world of comic book movies, including the groundbreaking news that Superman will have a sense of humor in the upcoming James Gunn film, and if you think that sent a certain segment of fandom into a rage spiral......
Published 01/22/24
This week I finally come clean about my serious case of John Krasinski Derangement Syndrome,  and we speculate about Pedro Pascal's schedule. Then it's on to the first three episodes of Echo, which showed up on Disney+ and Hulu this week. The whole series was released at once, but we're splitting it up because it would be a very, very long episode indeed if we did it all.  The big takeaway? Neither of us hated this show the way we expected we would. Maybe the most shocking thing - we both...
Published 01/15/24
You asked, we answer. This week we interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special Q&A episode. We asked your for your questions and you came through - so much so that we couldn't answer everyone! The questions range from the silly to the sublime, and if you listen you can find out why I would marry the Red Skull, who Derek's least favorite Flash is and whether we ever intend to do more podcasts on different subjects. Next week we will be talking about the first two...
Published 01/09/24
This week we are talking about all the episodes of What If...? season two all at once. That's partially because Disney+ dropped em one day after another and partially because I had COVID and we couldn't do this in two parts like we intended.  Was this a bad season? One of us thinks so! Was this a 'whatever' season with a few good eps and one great episode? One of us thinks so! Is What If...? wasting the entire concept by just doing rehashes and being afraid of killing any characters?...
Published 01/01/24
Trigger warning: someone farts on mic this episode.  And if that's not bad enough, my mic was not set properly for the intro of the episode. But don't worry, the bad sound quality only lasts fifty minutes. We talk about all kinds of news and stuff, and also there's a recorded fart, but it sounds very bad. So if you don't want to suffer through it skip to 50:19.  When we get to All-Star #8 we are faced with a stultifying Justice Society of America book-length epic before diving...
Published 12/18/23
A Cinema Sangha Special Presentation! This week we are giving you a free glimpse at one of our other podcasts, The Bad Batch. That's our weekly Star Wars show, and this week we're talking about the new documentary A Disturbance In the Force, about the legendary Star Wars Holiday Special. It's a pretty terrific documentary that gives you a good sense of the context of early Star Wars, of 1970s TV and just how the hell something as truly awful as the Star Wars Holiday Special even came to...
Published 12/15/23
This week it's a look back at the birth of the Marvel Age of Comics, and it's not completely what you might expect. It's weird, silly and not actually the Marvel Universe as we know it. For one thing, the Fantastic Four debut in a fictional city, not New York! Before that we have some news, and some movie talk - Derek has caught up with Napoleon and The Hunger Games: Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, while I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3. Find out what we think about these, what we think...
Published 12/11/23
Welcome to the debut of Batman... or should we say, The Bat-Man. In Detective Comics #27 Bob Kane and Bill Finger introduced a character who would impact the pop culture of the 20th century in ways nobody could have guessed. Hell, reading this entire comic book it becomes clear nobody would have guessed this stuff would still be around in ten years, let alone 80+ years later.  We attempted to read all of Detective Comics #27, but the length and the general crumminess stymied us! Still,...
Published 12/05/23
This week we're back to reading comics, and we are continuing our origins project. It's Amazing Fantasy #15, the historic first appearance of Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man! You can find this comic on Marvel Unlimited or for free on the Kindle app; what's nice is that Marvel has reprinted the whole comic, which includes a bunch of frankly terrible back-up stories... which we also read and talk about! How does this tale hold up? Did Stan Lee and Steve Ditko get it right the first...
Published 11/27/23
While we wait for What If...? to start, we decided to do more comic book readalongs. But we learned a lesson from Secret Wars II - we can't ask you guys to read 9 comics a week. So our interim activity will be reading first appearances of famous characters, and what more famous a character to start with than Superman himself, first appearing in 1938's Action Comics #1. But first: a whole lot of news! Pedro Pascal! We talk about Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (no spoilers)! Monarch: Legacy of...
Published 11/20/23