Things I Like Month!: Comic Podcasts Edition
I figured, given my interest in comics, this was as good a spot as any to start the podcast week of Things I Like Month and I’m in charge here so that’s a-what we are going to do.
These are listed in no particular order. This is not a “best of” thing, just my favorites. And even then, probably not comprehensive. If you are sad I didn’t include your podcast, just assume I listen to it and didn’t highlight it here because of the power of it would overwhelm every other podcast on the list. That said, if you don’t see a podcast here, be it yours or someone else’s, and think I’d dig it, let me know. Always happy to add good podcasts to my listening roster.
And now…comic podcasts!
Let’s get this one out of the way now since it is my conflict of interest pick. My good friend and editor Benjamin J. Morse, DDS is one of the two chief hosts/architects here, doing it alongside Ryan Penagos, Mr. Agent M himself. If you love Marvel, this goes through every issue out in any week as well as covering multimedia offerings (usually with West Coast-er Mark “Strommy” Strom), and answering listener tweets. Thrill to the occasional tweet from me and Ryan barely suppressed contempt while answering.
These days, the best installments are the AGE OF ULTRON “half” installments with Ben, Tom Brevoort, and random guest stars. The “alternate universe” installment from a month or so ago was a great work of theatre as well as conveying information. If you listen to only one, choose that one.
Oh, and I’d be amiss not to mention the podcast MVP, the incomparable Blake Garris, the southern gentleman who’s not afraid to let his sensitive side through in his Children’s Corner.
Of course, as a Marvel freelancer, you can feel free to take this one with a grain of salt.
Released: Weekly, with a half installment usually bridging the gap
Twitter handles associated with the podcast:
Headed by former (and possibly current??!!) Comics Alliance staffers Matt D. Wilson (The Supervillain Handbook) and Chris Sims (Batmanologist Extraordinaire), WARROCKET is a well structure podcast that is ostensibly about comics but also about barbecue, wrestling, and hating on people in the comment section (sorry people of the internet). Beginning with a typically brief preamble, over the course of the next hour and a half (approximately), they cover Checks and Recs—what they’ve been up to and what they’d recommend reading, playing, watching, listening to in the week to come,— Reviews—two to three comics they’ve chosen to discuss, their near-monthly evisceration of the Justice League being a highlight but all worth listening to,—an interview—the biggest section, boasting a wide variety of comic professional from big names to indie favorites to new kids on the block (but never NKOTB, for shame)—before closing, usually, with some listener email.
Sims dominates, especially during the interview section, but Wilson keeps the ship afloat and on course and can drop a bone dry line like no one’s business. They work well together and their differences in his manner nicely gel on mic. Not the most thorough of comics podcast but arguably one of the best paced, favoring speed and humor over meticulous breakdowns of everything in the week of comics.
Released: Weekly
Twitter handles associated with the podcast:
Two denizens of the United Kingdom—Scots to be precise—Paul O’Brien and Al Kennedy, cover news and books released released between installments with an easy style that moves fluidly from topic to topic without the seams showing. They seem realistic but not cynical about the nature of comics and do a nice job of covering a variety of books and news items.
Something they do that no one else does is the “Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe” in which they review the history of a pretty obscure comic character from Marvel’s history before suggesting a new path for him or her to enter a new era. As a guy who loves to do this sort of thing in his head all the time, it’s fun to see what they choose that I would or would NEVER do if I had control of said character.
Great chemistry, good attitudes, and considerable comic smarts make for an excellent podcast here.
Released: Every two weeks
Twitter handles associated with the podcast:
The “house” podcast of the Savage Critics website (run by comic retailing giant Brian Hibbs), this one is where to go if you feel like not feeling good about comics. I joke, partially, but only because the hosts, Graeme McMillan (who, for the record, I like, despite his reveal a month or two ago that Marvel folks don’t) and Jeff Lester themselves admit they struggle to be positive while talking about a medium they are clearly passionate about.
Of all the podcasts featured here, this is probably the one I find the most to disagree with week to week, but that has value too. The duo are willing to admit their own shortcomings and hypocrisies even while asserting their opinions, which I appreciate, and they never seem to just “feel” something. The amount of thought they sometimes pour into things can be frustrating—I often find myself wishing they’d overthink things a bit less—but it never seems false or narcissistic. They overthink (and talk about those overthoughts) because that’s who they are, not just to hear themselves talk or to show off.
The podcast suffers from some technical difficulties fairly regularly, but the two work around it with considerably humor so it isn’t hard to ignore the hiccups as they occur.
Released: Weekly
Twitter handles associated with the podcast:
Wife and husband team Evie and Aaron review the week in comics shining a spotlight on, as they put it, comics (and items related to comics) that they are “awesomed by or considerably not awesome by.”
As one would expect, given that they are married, they have a great style working together with the sort of cute “getting on each other’s nerves” (mostly Aaron’s on Evie’s) that I consider a sign of strong couples. Not every good couple could host a podcast, of course, but they do it with aplomb.
The categories, ranging from best cover to best non-comic comic-related item of the week, are fun and allow enough play for them to discuss not just the item in question but others competing with it as well as broader issues in comics—the proliferation of human slave trading stories gets ripped apart on a regular basis, as well it should. The music and voiceover stings (by musician Aaron, I assume) are well done and not intrusive.
Released: Intended to be weekly, but since Aaron and Evie became parents, considerably less often than that. As a parent that started at roughly the same time as them, I get it and bear them no ill will for it. If you choose to start following their podcast, see that you do the same. Doing a podcast is tough under the best of circumstances and a child makes everything, EVERYTHING, more complicated.
Twitter handles associated with podcast:
Honorable Mention
I’ve discovered them too recently to fairly evaluate but I see promise. My only issue is I’m still having a hard time picking out who is who via their voices, but I’m sure I’ll get there.
As I said, suggest podcasts in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter or email. Also, I don’t have overarching topics for the last two weeks so reach out and let me know your ideas for them.
Tomorrow: News/Roundtable Podcasts