VIEWS FROM THE LONGBOX

Episode 134: Happy Birthday, Spider-Man Installment 1

Welcome to the first installment in a multi-part series of episodes (which is a fancy way of saying I don’t know how many episodes this is going to take) celebrating the fiftieth anniversary/birthday of the Amazing Spider-Man.  This time out I am joined by Brad Douglas (webmaster and ringleader of the Spider-Man Crawlspace) to talk about the various comic book titles that Spider-Man has appeared in over the years.  Spider-Man has had a number of comic series to call his own over the years and Brad and I talk about all of them.  We talked so long actually that I had to split the conversation unevenly in two, so this week we focus on Amazing Spider-Man in addition to several fun digressions about the various television series (both animated and live action) that have been on the air over the years.  There is even a reference to Bowling-For-Dollars, which isn’t all that impressive but Brad and I talk about it anyway.

During the episode we refer to a cover gallery over at Mike’s Amazing World of Marvel Comics.  You can check that gallery by clicking on this link.

Next time: Brad and I finish our talk by going over Marvel Team-Up, Spectacular Spider-Man, Web of Spider-Man and much, much more.

Episode 133: Randomness…Again…In The Raw

Hey, folks!  Welcome back to Views!  It has been awhile but in an effort to get things kick-started again I sat in front of the microphone and talked for a good hour or so.  Because the subjects were so random and because I was on such a stream of consciousness and mainly because I tend to forget what I say as soon as I record it I really don’t remember what I talk about in this episode.  But if you are one of the listeners that like it when I have no notes and just gab for an episode then you should be very happy with this one.

Next time: I will present the first installment of my Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Spider-Man series.  I would have called it month but it may stretch on longer than that.  I even have a guest with me.  Who?  Come back and find out!

Episode 131: I’m Back…With Comics

Yes, folks I am back with a new episode.  As I explain during this installment I don’t know how regularly new episodes will be coming out but it won’t be weekly.  Anyway, I thought it might be fun to kick out this sort of random/stream of consciousness episode before I begin releasing the back log of episodes I have in various stages of completion.  Mostly I go through the comics I bought at the recent Black Friday Sale I attended at Dave’s Comics.  Four for a dollar is hard to pass up and I bought a metric buttload of comics.  Which ones?  Listen and find out.

Next time: Whenever that might be…the second part of the DragonCon episodes.

Episode 129: Four Years and Counting

A little over four years ago I started Views From The Longbox with little more than a basic idea of what I wanted to do with the show and some audio editing software.  48 months later I have put out well over a hundred episodes plus the specials and whatnot and the show is still going somewhat strong proving that I can stick to something if I really want to.  To celebrate the show’s birthday this year I thought it would be fun to have the listeners submit a bunch of questions and then answer those questions with my semi-regular co-host The Irredeemable Shag.  The result? About two and a half hours of great conversation that covers comic book movies, animation and we even spend a good chunk talking about the recent announcement that DC is relaunching most of their line.  The amusing thing about that part of the conversation is that Shag and I recorded this about three days after the announcement and in that time several other podcasts where I talked about the relaunch/reboot including The Geoff Johns Podcast and the Comics Monthly Monday end of Two True Freaks (which I am now a third chair on) have already come out.  So some of what you hear on this episode was based solely on the announcement and the first few solicits DC released at the time of recording.  It was interesting hearing my thoughts then compared to my thoughts now.  They haven’t really changed but there are a few worries that I currently have that I didn’t have then.

Be sure to check out Shag’s various blogs including Once Upon a Geek and Firestorm Fan!  They are both awesome!  As is Shag but don’t tell him that.

Next time: Part 2 of Hal Jordan’s Festival of Fun with Thomas Deja!

Episode 128: Random Green Lantern Themed Episode (No Editing)

I was thinking at work last night that I haven’t done a solo episode in a while.  This episode is the result of that.  This is also the rawest episode I have ever released because outside of lining up the tracks and adding the promos, the opening and the closing music I did absolutely no editing to this episode.  How it came out during recording is how it ended up in the final MP3.  I refer to the episode as random but after thinking about it for awhile I realized that it wasn’t.  I talk about Green Lantern.  Several Green Lanterns as a matter of fact.  The first 26 minutes or so are all about my feeling on the Alan Scott Green Lantern and why I now REALLY like the character.  After that I play some promos, read some e-mails and then get into my feelings on the Green Lantern Corps as concept by way of talking about some recent trades I’ve picked up.  I even talk a little bit about the recent Green Lantern: Emerald Knights DVD including the mistake Dan DiDio makes in the featurette.

Throughout the episode I mention other podcasts I have either appeared on, listened to or both.  Here is a list of those programs.

• Hey Kids, Comics!
• The Geoff Johns Podcast
• The Superman Podcast Network
• Two True Freaks/Tales of the Justice Society of America
• Golden Age Superman

Also I thought it would be funny to post the notes I used for this episode.  I think they are an accurate representation of how my mind works.

Finally here are the covers of the other three trades I discuss in this episode.

Next time: That 4th Anniversary episode I promised.  Promise.

Episode 127: Daredevil: Born Again or “Visions I Gots” Part 2

Has it really been a month already?

All kidding aside, here is the second part of the discussion I had with Thomas Deja (see various links below) about the seminal Matt Murdock storyline Daredevil: Born Again.  The discussion is pretty brisk this time out as Thomas and I look at the last four chapters of the story which include some fantastic action, a few truly dramatic moments, one of the creepiest scenes I have ever read in a comic, a nut job yelling, “5-B!” as he beats someone to death, the dumbest pimp on the face of the planet and Captain America, which should make my friend Michael Kaiser very happy.  Thomas also tells us why he has such a huge problem with Ann Nocenti’s run, the original plan for the post-Born Again Daredevil series and much, much more.  It is a fun hour and a half and after listening to this head on over to the Daredevil Companion to check out more of Thomas’ thoughts on Matt and his world.

After that head on over to Earth-2.net to check out Thomas’ other podcasts.  Better in the Dark is a movie podcast Thomas co-hosts with Derrick Ferguson and DJ’s Comics Cavalcade is a solo project Thomas works on where on the even episodes he looks at Captain America stories from the Silver Age on the even episodes and on the odd episodes he tries to make sense of the early Teen Titan stories.  Thomas also has a movie blog called Damn Your Eyes, Damn Your Ears which is very entertaining and often makes me chuckle.

Next time: Views turns the big number 4!  Shag comes out to play so we can celebrate that!  The topic?  Well, a bunch of you asked some questions and we answered them!

Episode 126: Daredevil Born Again or “Visions I Gots” Part 1

After a month of Superman talk I decided to go across town to the marvelous competition and discuss Daredevil: Born Again.  Of all the Daredevil stories that I have read this one is my favorite.  Joining me is Thomas Deja, one of the most passionate Daredevil fans that I know (outside of Shag and my friend Chip) and after we get Thomas’ “origin” story of how he became a fan of Ol’ Hornhead we dive into the the first three chapters of this story.  Much is discussed as Thomas and I watch Matt’s life disintegrate including how much Foggy had gotten screwed over as a character before Frank Miller came back, the “sainted” Karen Page, the wonderful art of David Mazzucchelli and how Thomas can’t pronounce that name at all but yet can pronounce other more complicated names.

Come back next time for the dramatic (no really, it’s dramatic) conclusion to this story.  Until then head on over to Earth-2.net to check out Thomas’ other podcasts.  Better in the Dark is a movie podcast Thomas co-hosts with Derrick Ferguson and DJ’s Comics Cavalcade is a solo project Thomas works on where on the even episodes he looks at Captain America stories from the Silver Age on the even episodes and on the odd episodes he tries to make sense of the early Teen Titan stories.  Thomas also has a movie blog called Damn Your Eyes, Damn Your Ears which is very entertaining and often makes me chuckle.

Next time: More Daredevil: Born Again talk with Thomas.