This week, Chris and special guest host Elle Collins talk to artist Lauren Moran about her work designing t-shirts for WWE (and other Ajax-favorite franchises), as well as her controversial sixth-grade opinion that everyone who watched WCW was "a garbage person." Don't worry, we don't let that one go unchallenged. Plus, Batman Returns is attacked and defended and the new Betty & Veronica #1 gets a very mystified review.
Jul 25, 2016•1 hr 50 min
This week, we're happy to welcome Matt Summo, co-writer of Double Take Universe's Dedication, to the show! We talk with him about the inspiration of Night of the Living Dead, working in a supermarket, Paul Heyman and Jim Cornette's agelessness, prison riot survival chances, making comics intended to be read on phones, self-publishing, lettering and so much more! Plus, we take some of your listener questions!
Jul 18, 2016•1 hr 33 min
Longtime pal and first-time guest Jackie Lewis, artist of Oni Press' Merry Men, sits down with us this week to talk a whole lot about Robin Hood, spiciness, the worst-designed Pokemon, displaying pinup art at conventions, historical accuracy, heading up "the ratings ladder," and so much more! Plus, we add five new characters to the Panel President list!
Jul 11, 2016•1 hr 43 min
We're coming original on this very special milestone episode with the writer of the new Dark Horse Comics series Cryptocracy, Van Jensen! We talk with him about conspiracies, how he researched them for the book, world-building, the weirdest club he was ever a part of, eyepatches, the Flash and so much more! Plus we take some of your listener questions!
Jul 04, 2016•1 hr 32 min
Another month, another two-hour block of ranking comic stories suggested to us by you, our listeners!
Jun 29, 2016•2 hr
We're back from Heroes Con and we're welcoming one of the pals we saw there, Randall Trang, artist and writer of Roller Girl and the Flying Side Kick! We talk with him about becoming a tae kwon do master, roller derby, pro wrestling, proposing to his fiancee the same day he became a tae kwon do master, Garfield, safe sparring and so much more! Plus, some new additions to the Panel President list!
Jun 27, 2016•1 hr 42 min
It's that time of year again! We went to Heroes Con in Charlotte, NC, this weekend and this is the episode recorded in front of a small audience of our pals in Chris' hotel room. There's live commentary, list-based comedy and listener questions! (Apologies for any sound issues. It was like 15 people in a hotel room.)
Jun 20, 2016•1 hr 7 min
It's been about 300 episodes since Tom Peyer was last on the show, but he has returned to War Rocket Ajax and hasn't skipped a beat! We talk with him about his new Captain Kid series with co-writer Mark Waid, the 1960s Batman TV show, why Marvel Apes was so fun, Deathstroke's tiny hands from his Convergence: The Atom story, the villainy of everyday adult stuff, and much more! Plus, we take an intriguging listener question!
Jun 13, 2016•1 hr 36 min
We've got lots of Panel President lists to get through, so we're devoting the entire episode to them once again this week! And we get caught up in a debate so tight that it can only be decided by a roll of the die!
Jun 06, 2016•1 hr 38 min
We're back with our monthly special, ranking comic stories suggested by listeners!
May 31, 2016•1 hr 58 min
Ryan North, author of the new choose-your-own-story book Romeo and/or Juliet and writer of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Adventure Time and much more, drops by to chat with us this week. We talk about his upcoming run on Jughead with artist Derek Charm, fanciness, the Enforcers, Shakespeare, whether scholars like his books, what he learned from being stuck in a hole, and lots more! Plus, a very lengthy discussion of DC Universe Rebirth.
May 30, 2016•1 hr 42 min
We're pleased as can be to welcome Chip Zdarsky, artist of Sex Criminals and writer of Jughead, Kaptara and Howard the Duck, back to the show this week! We talk with him about his various stunts over the years, working for the National Post, wrapping up his Jughead run, whether he feels shame, Garfield (of course) and so much more! Plus, we add some characters to the Panel President list!
May 23, 2016•1 hr 53 min
Matt's away this week, so guest host Kieran Shiach has filled in to help Chris interview Adam Riches, whose covers you may know from series including G.I. Joe, Micronauts and Back to the Future! Guess which one Chris discusses the most out of those. Also discussed: Riches' art for toy packaging!
May 16, 2016•1 hr 38 min
Chris has returned and he's just in time to talk with returning guest Arthur Wyatt, writer of a series of comics continuing the story of the Dredd movie, the latest of which is called Dust. We talk with Arthur about the differences between movie Dredd and regular comics Judge Dredd, the appeal of the Cursed Earth, whether the Dark Judges would fit into the movie universe, kids comics he enjoys and, of course, Shako the bear. Plus, we take some listener questions!
May 09, 2016•1 hr 37 min
Aren't you all glad it's still April? To celebrate it still being April, here's our monthly special in which we add stories to our ever-expanding list of comic book stories, ranked from best to worst!
May 04, 2016•2 hr 2 min
Chris has returned from vacation, so we're taking the opportunity to fill out our Panel President list with a whole bunch of new entries this week!
May 02, 2016•1 hr 42 min
Chris Sims is taking the week off, so Matt's answering your listener questions with two of the show's most popular guests and oldest friends: Chris Haley and Curt Franklin! We revisit the old topics like bags of salt, and take on some new ones, including Captain America and Superman's dining preferences, tweets on our tombstones and Prince memories.
Apr 25, 2016•1 hr 37 min
Episode 300 is here, and to celebrate, we're welcoming Scott Snyder back to the show for the first time in like, six years! In that time, a good many things have happened, including Scott writing a whole heck of a lot of issues of Batman. So we talk with him about Batman a lot, including the new All-Star Batman series he's working on with a murderer's row of arists. Plus, we get into discussing his comics writing classes, too. It's a big one!
Apr 18, 2016•1 hr 45 min
We're knocking out some Panel President lists by ranking some characters this week!
Apr 11, 2016•1 hr 54 min
Robert Wilson IV and Christopher Sebela, the artist and writer of Oni Press' new series Heartthrob, join us for this week's show! We talk about researching heart transplants, portraying unreality, Art Bell, the allure of the 1970s, Pinterest, nicknames, romance stories and much more! Plus, Chris and Matt answer a few of your listener questions!
Apr 04, 2016•1 hr 36 min
Just under the wire, Matt and Chris are back ranking stories for two full hours! Including two Jim Starlin/Jim Aparo Batman stories and a story managing to crack the top 10!
Mar 31, 2016•2 hr 3 min
Ohhhh! Oh-oooohh! It's Wrestlemania! Just like that! Just like that! Pump it up! Pump it up! That's right, folks! We're back with our annual Wrestlemania special and to talk about this year's Wrestlemania Dallas Cowboys Star, we've got Megan Nielsen and Elle Collins of the Hard Times Podcast to offer up lots of insights. We've got predictions for every match, lots of unflattering discussion of Flo Rida, a related booking idea for Randy Orton's surprise return, high hopes for Titus O'Neil to come...
Mar 28, 2016•1 hr 49 min
We're delighted to welcome none other than Gerry Conway, co-creator of The Punisher, Firestorm, Jason Todd and many others; writer of Spider-Man, Justice League, numerous TV episodes, Fantastic Four, the list goes on. Currently, he's working on Carnage for Marvel and the Legends of Tomorrow anthology at DC, so we take the opportunity to talk to him about Firestorm, seeing characters he co-created on TV, trying to get into writing superhero TV shows, a never-made X-Men movie script he co-wrote wi...
Mar 21, 2016•1 hr 42 min
Steve Lieber, artist of Superior Foes of Spider-Man and the new Image Comics series The Fix (among many other great comics), is on the show this week to talk about doing physical comedy in comics, vices, creating scoundrels, the coolest panel tricks, the comic that turned him into a creator, collaborating with writers and much more. Plus, we take two listener questions, one of which Matt initially misreads.
Mar 14, 2016•1 hr 34 min
Matt and Chris are blasting through some more listener-submitted lists to rank the best comic characters!
Mar 07, 2016•1 hr 39 min
The co-writers of the new Heavy Metal miniseries The Doorman, Eliot Rahal and Daniel Kibblesmith, drop by this week to chat about sci-fi influences, Heavy Metal (the movie), telling stories through action, background jokes, New Jack Swing, doing comedy in comics art and much more! Plus, we take a couple listener questions that ask us to do one of our favorite things: rank stuff!
Feb 29, 2016•1 hr 33 min
We're back with two more hours of ranking the comic book stories you suggest!
Feb 25, 2016•2 hr 4 min
James D'Amato and Kat Kuhl host the Campaign podcast, an "actual play" podcast in which they and some improviser friends play Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. We talk to them about mixing podcasting and games, the best gaming systems, improv, character creation, Star Wars continuity changes, building a fan base and much more! Plus, we add a new set of characters to the Panel President list!
Feb 22, 2016•1 hr 37 min
Chris is out sick, so Matt welcomes guest host Elle Collins of the Into It and Hard Times podcasts to come and and help interview Andrew Wheeler, editor-in-chief of ComicsAlliance and writer of the new Oni Press series Another Castle! We talk with him about video game tropes, cutting out the prince, comics genres, princesses, what makes something a fantasy story, "mature" comics, and much more! Plus, we answer a listener question!
Feb 15, 2016•1 hr 35 min
Veronica Fish, the artist of Archie, comes by for this week's show to talk about reading The Dreamer, Easter eggs in her art, getting her Jack Kirby style just right, Jack Staff, why Reggie is misunderstood, and so much more! Plus, we take a few of your listener questions!
Feb 08, 2016•1 hr 33 min
