Episode 132: DragonCon 2011 Day One
So I recorded quite a bit of audio at DragonCon 2011. Like four episodes worth. And I have just been sitting on it for months. Frankly I have no idea why. This is the height of laziness, folks. Anyway, I don’t remember anything that I recorded on this episode, which covers Day 1, so this will be as much of a surprise to me as it will be to you. Enjoy.
Next time: More DragonCon fun!
Down the road: A Christmas Episode!
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 130: DragonCon 2011 Prologue
Hey, all and welcome back to Views From The Longbox. After a several month hiatus I have returned with the first part in a series of episodes detailing my recent experiences at the 2011 DragonCon. In past years I have brought along my digital recorder to pick up audio at the con. This year because we were staying in town and because I have this awesome new microphone I decided to bring the laptop and the previously mentioned awesome microphone and record in the room. The result; four fully recorded episodes detailing the con pretty much as it happened. In this Prologue episode Rachel (my wife, for those new to the show) and I spend some time in the room talking about the hotel room we were staying in and stuff we hope to see and do at the Con.
Next time: DragonCon…Day 1
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.
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.
Episode 125: Superman: Secret Origin Part 2
And five days later I release another episode. I would make a joke about miracles and such but it is Good Friday as I type this and I don’t want to offend anyone.
Anyway, here is the second part of the conversation I had with fellow Superman podcaster J. David Weter about Superman: Secret Origin. This installment is quite a bit short than the last one, by about an hour, but it is still packed to the gills with fun and sometimes downright insightful commentary. We pick up right where we left off and get into issue three of the series and continue from there covering all of the main beats of the story, which includes the Parasite, General Lane, Lex Luthor and Metallo.
David is the host of Superman Forever Radio as well as acting as the webmaster of the Superman Forever blog, both of which can be found by clicking here. You can also find the show over at the Superman Podcast Network.
Next time: I have no idea. It will be Superman related but I do not know if my initial plans are going to go through. We’ll see, though.
Episode 124: Superman: Secret Origin Part 1
Again, it may be a few days late but presented here is the first in a two part conversation that I had with fellow Superman podcaster J. David Weter about Superman: Secret Origin, the six issue mini-series written by Geoff Johns with art by Gary Frank. After David gives his comic book and Superman origins we dive right into the first issue and stay there, thanks to a few healthy tangents, for well over an hour. The tangents are all Superman related, however, so it should all flow pretty well together. After that we get into issues two and three and while we don’t exactly hack the series to pieces we don’t pull any punches either.
David is the host of Superman Forever Radio as well as acting as the webmaster of the Superman Forever blog, both of which can be found by clicking here. You can also find the show over at the Superman Podcast Network.
Next time: The second part of our conversation. It is about an hour shorter than this one, I promise.
Episode 123: All-Star Superman Part 2
It might be almost a week later than I originally wanted to release the second part of my conversation with Chris Johnson but here it is! And boy is this a packed episode. Not only do I talk briefly about coming back to the Superman books but also Chris and I finish up our conversation about the comic book maxi-series All-Star Superman and then move right into discussing the animated film version as well. In addition to all of that, the love of my life and future mother to my children once again makes an appearance on the show. My wife Rachel sat down for about 30 minutes and gave her opinion on both the comics and the film as well! All in all a pack two hours and twenty six minutes of Superman filled awesome sauce!
Chris was at one time a rather prolific podcaster hosting or co-hosting such shows as The Amazing Spider-Cast, ‘Nuff Said and Quantum Blunderbuss. Currently he has a blog called I Believe in Bat-Mite where he writes about Batman stories from the fifties. Give them all a look or listen!
Next time: J David Weter (he of the Superman Forever Radio podcast) joins me for part one of a two part discussion of…Superman: Secret Origin!
