Category Archives: New Episode

Episode 29 – Vertigo Comics

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“Magic’s just when you trick the universe into believing some incredibly outrageous lie.”

Mike and Casey hop into Chas’ cab for a journey to the realm of Dreams, because it’s time to go on a road trip across America. Our traveling companions, librarian Kit Laika and Joe Preti from the View from the Gutters podcast.

This month we dig into the Vertigo line of mature-readers comics from DC. From its inception with Karen Berger’s editorial work with Alan Moore on Swamp Thing in the 1980s through massive hits like Sandman, Preacher, Fables and 100 Bullets, we dissect some of the most influential, critically acclaimed and popular comic books of the past thirty years.

Is Vertigo dead, even if its spirit for creator innovation and quality live on at other publishers?

Music: 
“Main Theme” from Constantine (2014) by Bear McCreary

Previously titled: “Make Comics Great Again”

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Black Ops Episode 4 – Death is Kinda Stupid

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In a bonus “Black Ops” episode, we sit down with Sean Duncan and Sam Mulvey to dig into the concept of immortality.

From Doctor Who to Highlander, we look at the trope of the ageless person who mourns their own lack of death and ask each other, is the trope of sad immortal nothing but bullshit?  Shouldn’t never dying actually be pretty great?

We get into armchair biology, the continuity of consciousness, loneliness, the ability (or inevitability) of change over time, theological questions, muse on transhumanism and the ability to opt out of immortality at any time.

Does death serve any useful purpose? Are we really the same person throughout our lives? Would you really want to live for thousands of years. Would you really be sad or grumpy if you had all the time in the world? Aren’t vampires really kind of stupid?

Who, truly, would want to live forever?

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Fun Size Episode 15 – The Internet Needs to Have Its Mind Blown a Little Less Easily

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Mike and Casey continue their conversation with our friend Sean Duncan, and dig into the weird worlds of author pseudonyms and young adult fiction — and the frenzied moralistic panics the latter can provoke. And in the process, we unpack Mike’s decades-long grudge with ending of the Chronicles of Narnia.

Plus, we look at a possible insane New Year’s Resolution to watch 365 new movies during the next year, and try to give a spoiler-free review of Rogue One. And we ask ourselves, is the Star Wars universe really as versatile as we hope it is?

Plus, Sean shares what is sure to to be the most unpopular opinion ever voiced on our show, and he awaits your hate mail.

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Podcasta la Vista, Baby! Episode 5 – The Last Stand

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“Not in his town. Not on his watch.”

We’re back, folks. And so is our favorite Austrian ass-kicker. We join our young friend Sean Duncan to dig into Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first starring role in ten years, 2013’s The Last Stand.

Sheriff Ray Owens has left the life of a big city cop to retire as a small border town’s chief lawman. But when an escaped cartel super-criminal in a Corvette and his gang of mercs make a run for the Mexican border through his town, Owens, his inexperienced deputies and a local gun nut are the only thing standing in their way.

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Fun Size Episode 14 – Who Doesn’t Want to See Dwayne Johnson Punch a Hippo?

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In a wide-ranging conversation, Mike and Casey talk about whether Jabba the Hutt’s little monkey-rat creature, Salacious Crumb, is a person or a pet, and dig into the sort of bullshit rumors and urban legends that we both fell for in the pre-internet world of our middle school years.

We get into the recently-released Doctor Strange, and the question of diversity in the Ancient One’s casting, and well as the dearth of strongly written villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And finally, Mike really really wants to cast Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson in the next big cinematic blockbuster based on a children’s board game.

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Hex & Violence Episode 2 – Swamp Folk

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“I’m gonna show ya one last trick I picked up offa Cheyenne ‘afore I let you die in the kind of pain no white man has ever known.”

In our second episode, Mike and Casey follow professional badass Jonah Hex into our worst blue state nightmares, and a fictional trope that we never tire of: Murderous hillbillies.

First, we delve into an issue of Hex’s classic series in 1978’s Jonah Hex (vol.1) #12. In a story by Michael Fleisher and Vincente Alcazar, entitled “The Search for ‘Gator Hawes.” Wounded by an alligator during a search for a missing friend in bayou country, Hex is taken captive by a murderous backwoods family and is forced to fight his own friend to survive.

Then it’s back to the Louisiana swamp in 2006’s Jonah Hex (vol.2) #10 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Phil Noto, titled, “Gator Bait.” Jonah Hex is hired by a dying man to find rescue his wife and child from the savage Lamont family, killer swamp folk who even local law enforcement is afraid to confront. Escaping capture himself, Hex is wounded, unarmed, and looking for bloody revenge.

JONAH HEX CONFIRMED KILL COUNT: 32 (+9 this episode)

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Fun Size Episode 13 – A Digital Effects Orgasma-Ganza

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The bad news is that due to a technical snafu, we won’t be able to share a new full episode with you this month. The good news is that we were joined in the studio by Sam Mulvey for a wide ranging conversation about random goodness — and badness.

We dive into a talk about why we’d like to see filmmaker Quentin Tarantino tackle a science fiction film, and the recent wrongful framing of Pepe the Frog as a racist icon. We also talk about why it’s just weird to pull your pants all the way down to pee at a urinal, and  we compare the highs and lows of Zack Snyder and Frank Miller.

Plus, Sam hates movies! We look at the state of current Hollywood blockbusters and ask: does every theatrically-released movie in the world have to be so damned big?

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Fun Size Episode 12 – I’m Just Here for Ka-Ching!

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We continue our talk with Matt Goodman and Matthew Amster-Burton, and get into topics ranging from advertising characters transitioning into movie characters, and why the ultimate thing an actor can do is be photographed holding a skull.

We also get into weird meta-fiction in everything from Batman to Kurt Vonnegut to Will Ferrell movies, where the author themselves become characters directing the action.

Plus, we look at the renewed optimism — both in and about — Star Trek. Not only the return of the utopian aspirational science fiction future, but also how Justin Lin may have course-corrected a second movie franchise with Star Trek Beyond.

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Episode 28 – The Fast and the Furious

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“The guys we’re after are professional runners. They like speed and are guaranteed to go down the hardest possible way, so make sure you’ve got your funderwear on. We find ’em, we take ’em as a team, and we bring ’em back. And above all else, we don’t ever, ever, let them get into cars.”

Mike and Casey grab a couple of Coronas and fire up their NOS canisters, because it’s time to drive really, really fast. Joining us on this caper are screenwriter Matt Goodman and Matthew Amster-Burton of the Spilled Milk podcast.

Our mission, to dive into the adrenaline-pumping Fast and the Furious movie franchise, which has conquered the box office with some of the most over-the-top tributes to fast cars and badassery ever put on film.

We trace the series’ decade long evolution from a heist story about street racers to a globetrotting series of ensemble espionage thrillers that are a tribute to everything awesome and ludicrous.

Music: 
“Party Crashers” from Furious 7 by Brian Tyler

Previously titled: “Cars Are Fucking Magical”

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Black Ops Episode 3 – Sorry, Richard Roeper

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We finally check in with our young friend, Sean Duncan — who had managed to go through life without ever having the 1973 movie Soylent Green spoiled for him.

He’s now seen it and lets us know what he thinks of it. Plus, we talk about the social politics of spoilers.

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Hex & Violence Episode 1 – First Impressions

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“Normally, I’d hang you, but I figure your actions warrant something really cruel and unusual.”

In our premiere episode, Mike and Casey dig into two Jonah Hex stories from two different eras.

First, we look at the character’s first appearance in 1972’s All Star Western #10. In a story by John Albano and Tony DeZuniga, entitled “Welcome to Paradise.” When famed disfigured bounty hunter Jonah Hex is hired by the business leaders of Paradise Corners to deal with a violent gang of killers, he gets a chilly reception from the the local townsfolk he’s protecting.

Then we revisit the first issue of Hex’s most recent relaunch in 2005’s Jonah Hex (vol.2) #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Gray, and Luke Ross, titled, “Giving the Devil His Due.” When Hex is hired by a wealthy man to find his kidnapped son, he wanders into an ugly world of underground dog fighting and child murder.

JONAH HEX CONFIRMED KILL COUNT: 23 (+23 this episode)

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Hex & Violence Episode 0 – Who is Jonah Hex?

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” He was a hero to some, a villain to others… and wherever he rode people spoke his name in whispers. He had no friends, this Jonah Hex, but he did have two companions: one was death itself… the other, the acrid smell of gunsmoke.“

In our series prologue, Mike and Casey get into their mutual love of a largely unknown comic book character: DC’s western anti-hero, Jonah Hex.

We get into the character’s origins, his lasting appeal and why this merciless bounty hunter with a hideous facial scar has outlived the genre that spawned him.

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Fun Size Episode 11 – Why Would Daredevil Need a Flashlight?

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Mike and Casey sit down with Jeremy Whitman to try to wrap our brains about two strange things that defy description and even logic.

First is a used book Mike snatched up at work — possibly written by someone on an F.B.I. watch list — that is a far-too-comprehensive instructional manual for beating the shit out of people with a maglite flashlight.

And then Mike and Casey try to decompress from the experience of recently watching Nicolas Winding Refn’s bizarre new film, “The Neon Demon.”

Because…holy shit, you guys.

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Podcasta la Vista, Baby! Episode 4 – Predator

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“Nothing like it has ever been on Earth before. It came from another planet for the thrill of the hunt. It picked the wrong man.”

It’s time to return to the decade of Reagan with Jeremy Whitman of the Rated80s podcast, and look at one of Arnold’s most iconic action films, 1987’s Predator.

When an elite team of commandos embark on a rescue mission in the South American jungle, they find themselves the prey of an extraterrestrial big game hunter. One by one, they’re slaughtered until only one man remains.

And he’s not about to become the monster’s latest trophy.

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Black Ops Episode 1 – Real Sociopaths Work for Goldman Sachs

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Here is the very first of our special, off-the-books “Black Ops” episodes, recorded back in January of this year with guest Greg Hatcher!

We dig into how morally abhorrent a fictional protagonist can be and not lose your sympathy. And catapulting past our ethical thresholds, we look at the horrific morality of Jack Bauer’s Bush-era enthusiastic torture-palooza!

Plus, we throw a little love at the anti-fascist satire of Paul Verhoeven’s Starship Troopers.

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