I was pleasantly surprised by the podcast. Good job.
You hit the nail on the head about the Marvel online subscriptions. I would also add that by not allowing to buy a comic online individually, you can't get a good gauge on if the book was selling on the quality of the book or because a person had nothing better to look at with their subscription.
Also, where you referencing the BS Marvel put Kordey through while he was with them, ie the reduced page rates forced upon him because he did some work for a European magazine? That is something that seems to have been ignored by a lot of Marvel fans, the way they treated the guy.
Finally, hopefully Al realizes that everytime Tom Brevoort writes or speaks, 9 times out of 10 he's lying. When Brevoort says he's worried about being the dominant publisher, what he's actually saying is the more people who read the books he edits the greater his lack of editorial skills will show through.
Thanks for the Ultimatum review as well. Not even scans daily has anyone who could put it up.
And Gigantic ripped off a South Park episode more than anything else.
I though you'd sound more Scottish.
That said, nice work, although I was mildly disturbed when Kennedy objects that there was no ass-shaking in Morrison's first BATMAN arc.
Agreed 100% on Newsarama - I've practically stopped going since their buyout/relaunch, and what little I've seen has gone from "neutral" to "fawning", and generally poorly written.
*is far less surprised at the voice, actually being Scottish and having met plenty of people who sound similar to Paul*
*seems to recall an interview with Loeb a while back - around the time Ultimate Wolverine/Hulk and various Kevin Smith books were still expected to come out, and a few others that have since arrived by "Hollywood writers" like Allan Heinberg but were hugely delayed - where he was asked how he got his books out when other "HWs" didn't. And his response came down to (paraphrased) "I know when to stop writing." Essentially, it boiled down to a "That'll do" attitude.*
I've also seen speculation that the death of his son - who he did a tribute issue of Superman/Batman for, and a couple of other fairly high-profile things - had a big part in the downturn of his work, but, honestly... I don't see that his work before (on and about the Superman books mostly) was much better than his work now.
I'm not sure I mentioned ass-shaking at all...!
Newsarama has gone downhill in it's coverage, especially the way it just uses AP stories as filler.
Also, expanding an at-best 3 part interview with Grant Morrison into 10 parts was a joke. There was also the deletion of any comments critical to the creators attitudes in the Comics Industry for Obama "news" article. And of course the feeling that they don't care about the community/readers, which is what made the site the best to begin with. They have a new Q&A with Didio coming up, but will probably be filtered to have only the weakest, softest questions asked. "Can we Deadman written by Neil Gaiman with art by Brian Bolland?" and the like.
Loeb's Superman was good, with the exception of Our Worlds at War. The Loeb/Kelly/Casey Superman era was a very good one for the character. Luthor becoming President was a nice extension of the character, showcasing him being so evil to the readers but so liked by the people of the DCU, but towards the end of that fad the writers didn't know what to do with him so they made him return to the cackling villain with the fruity powersuit.
*wishes you hadn't mentioned Family Ness...*
AXM: Ghost Boxes #1 & 2 had a "Product Changes" correction on Diamond's site on the 48 pages/32 pages thing, so I don't think it's returnable (they stressed "no change in the contents", and that's happened with other comics, so presumably the other 16 pages were ads they couldn't sell). They've belatedly added a further correction for #2, noting that it contains "a 16-page story with director's cut-style extras."
I have Internet-Known you for nearly fifteen years, Paul.
INTERNET-KNOWN.
FIFTEEN YEARS.
And my entire world has gone all Kevin Turvey.
Good show, though. I've heard some bad 'uns, and you haven't made any of their mistakes.
APART FROM THE ACCENT.
//OO/\
Good stuff. Made a nice accompaniment to my morning crumpets and camomille tea.
Interesting podcast. The Hypno Hustler (or whatever he's called) bit was very funny.
Cool to hear you talking about Batman comics. I'd wish you would do that more often in the written reviews. 
Just wondering - Newsarama may have changed, but if it isn't the number one comics news website anymore, than who has taken over?
Big Thumbs Up.
I kind of groaned when you said 'Hypno Hustler' (I was hoping it was going to be Cardiac) but Paul's pitch for Hypno's musical genre tastes changing had me cackling.
Reminded me of a short story by (I think) Kim Newman which tries to describe just how daunting it would be for the average person to live in a comics universe that constantly revamps itself.
Looking forward to the next one now guys!
Ultimatum was definitely better than Ultimates 3 (that isn't hard mind you) and if they keep all the deaths then it really will shake things up. I love David Finch's art so I thought it was great.
I definitely agree that Loeb needs a break but from comics not his other work. Hopefully now he will be able to get things out on time for a change but I'd doubt it, since Ultimatum has gone off the rails already and I think his Ultimate Hulk Annual has had 3 shipping date changes. Plus the other hope is that his books will improve in quality but he has no motivation for that, he only needs to glance at the sales charts and see that the rubbish he is writing now is selling brilliantly.
Charging an extra buck for Ultimatum though is a joke and Marvel are really starting to take the piss with these price increases, they had two $5 books out this week. Astonishing X-Men - Ghost Boxes was just ludicrous, I flipped through it at the store and just laughed before putting it back. I only got the 3 Marvel books this week and it came to £8.60 ($12), which is pretty expensive.
Completely agreed on what was said about Newsarama too. They lost their identity ever since they changed over and you can that traffic is down whereas a story might have got 100+ responses in the past, it would be lucky if they got 20. It's still a pain in the ass to post comments with no edit or quote button. And the forums are still pretty unusable.
The whole show was really nicely done overall, I'm looking forward to more.
I like it, but I'd rather these not take precedence over the regular reviews. I don't usually have 43 minutes to kill.
It may not be the comment you were expecting, Paul, but here it goes: *Thank God* you don't sound more Scottish. As a Brazilian reader, I thought a Scottish accent would make it impossible for me to understand your podcast (I once tried to watch "Trainspotting" with English subtitles just to test my ears and vocabulary, and gave up after 10 minutes). But it was rather easy to follow, even though you DID remind me of Robert Carlyle's character in that film the way you pronounced the word "arrogance" .
Anyway, loved it. Looking forward to the next one.
Great listen, really enjoyed it. Thanks for making it!
@Ken B
When Brevoort says he's worried about being the dominant publisher, he's actually reminding people that Marvel is the dominant publisher and any criticism directed towards them is clearly wrong.
And House of Astonish is great. I'm going to start saving this to my ipod and listening to it in the car.
Really enjoyed the podcast, a lot more fun than other comics podcasts I've listened to although I did notice one small mistake. The Hypno Hustler made a brief come back in Kaare Andrew's Spider-Man: Reign.
You know, I've never listened to a podcast before, don't really know what a podcast is or why they're called "podcasts," but I really enjoyed that. You talk like you write, which surprised me, because you write really well, and usually good writers make poor speakers. And you're both really funny. Though I have to take exception to Al's comment that "Nguyen" is an unusual name. I'm guessing there aren't a lot of Vietnamese in Scotland, since just about every Vietnamese person I know is named Nguyen. It's like the Smith of Vietnam.
Now I have the theme tune to the Family Ness firmly wedged in my head, as well as awful childhood memories of Godzilla & Godzuki. Curse you both.
I am totally sold on this Hypno Hustler idea. :D
Yeah, sorry, I should clarify on the Nguyen thing - I meant that it was an unusual name in the comics industry, which was why I was getting Eric and Dustin confused, rather than it being an unusual name in the wider world.
For those who are interested, Warren Ellis on Ghost Boxes:
"Originally, it WAS a one-shot that would contain three stories. At some point, higher management decided to make it two issues and commissioned another short from me. I have no control over these things."
"I didn't assemble this book or set the price point."
http://freakangels.com/whitechap...4&
page=1#Item_0
He also didn't apparently know that they were putting the script in.
Seems like some incredibly cynical, non-sensical and insulting publishing decisions were made fairly late on in the process. I'd love to know what the reasoning was.
warren ellis + different xmen stories = more money
that was their reasoning.
That was really great, Paul. I look forward to seeing the next one in two weeks!
Wow, for a first episode that was great. I'm guessing you two put a bit of effort into structuring the episode?
Also, the chemistry between the two of you seems pretty good. I'm definitely on board for the next episode.
I had never heard of the Hypno Hustler but after hearing his name so often I feel like he's an old friend.
I realize this is the first episode, and it could very well change, but I really liked the simplicity of it. It's not so produced, so...wacky.
It also helps that you guys sounds like normal, functional human beings.
Loved the podcast, though it's a tad long. Any chance you guys could do shorter shows on a weekly basis?
Knowing both of you so well, it was really weird hearing your voices coming out of my laptop.
As my knowledge of comics lingers around the "there's this guy called Wolverine and he has very sharp claws" level, I probably won't be listening to the podcast fully very often. But I liked what I heard. well done.
Loved the podcast, keep it up.
Loved it. But knowing Scots who have been assimilated into North America for 30 years and still have thick accents, I question everything I thought I knew about you. Maybe you're Scot by blood only?
Greatly enjoyed the podcast; 45 minutes is about the right length for a show, I think. Anyway, Marvel's slow push to a $3.99 price point may bite them on the ass if they insist on it, especially given the current economic issues. Their subscription-only method for an online site doesn't help. I know that I, for one, will drop nearly all my Marvel books (save X-Factor and Guardians of the Galaxy) and move to the Marvel Unlimited subscription, which costs about as much yearly as I pay for comics each month currently. I know at least two people who've said they'd do the same, and while the plural of anecdote isn't data I suspect a price hike will cause Marvel to lose more direct-market sales than DC simply BECAUSE of Marvel Unlimited.
I heard Hypno Hustler first as "Hippo Hustler," then as "Hitler Hustler," and thought he might be some sort of pickup artist with unsettling and incredibly specific proclivities.
Great podcast guys. I too was surprised by Paul's voice. It's not that it didn't sound Scottish enough, just different to what I was innately expecting.
Surprised neither of you thought of the Hypno-Hustler using Hip-Hop music though. Hyp-Hop-No Hustler anyone?
To paraphrase John McCain and Sarah Palin, This is the comics podcast comics fans have been waiting for.
Paul, has anyone ever told you you sound a bit like Ian Rankin? Well, they have now.
Very good, witty and to the point. A lot of podcasts ramble on for two and a half hours, but this was just right. Looking forward to more.
Just to say, I also enjoyed it greatly. I think that's the only comic podcast I've ever made it through a whole episode of.
Absolutely fantastic. Insighful commentary, by what sounded like rather urbane and witty hobbits.
Good podcast, I really enjoyed it and look forward to more from you chaps.
No comments about your accents at all, though I was disappointed when it became clear that your co-caster wasn't, as I'd read it, A L Kennedy.
J
Very enjoyable, right length, decent commentary. Look forward to more!
Very interesting and entertaining stuff. Your accent is about the same as mine 8-).
And now I feel I have to apologise to you, Al and everyone else. I'm sorry. I totally agree with you about sending a clear message to Marvel, but I heard the phrase "Steampunk X-Men" and the bit of my brain that tells me things have stupid prices just shut down...
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