What's Up, Ladies?

I'll be at the Wizard World Comic Book Convention That Has Nothing To Do With Harry Potter in Chicago this weekend. Get ready for a super show on Sunday. Dr. Phil is back!

Free Comic Book Day

Jason Aaron ( writer of The Other Side, Scalped, Ghost Rider, and Weapon X: Wolverine ) and Jesse Delperdang ( inker of Ka-Zar, Batman and other books in the Bat-family, and X-Infernus ) stopped by our local comic book store this Saturday, and they signed a few comic books for EVERYONE in Iowa City. Seriously, everyone. That's not even a joke. Don't know what I mean?

Listen to the show.

The 20 Minute Comic Book Fashion Hour

When I was in high-school, I was something of a shoe freak. I'd get rare pairs through shady channels and had a series of toothbrushes and special cleaning agents I'd use nightly to keep my kicks clean. Then I got to college and was poor.

I bought my first pair of new shoes last week, and have slipped almost completely back into my old ways (need to buy some more Q-tips and bleach for the vulcanized rubber soles) but I thought I'd share some findings with all you cool cats here.

Nike SB released this hero/villain pack in November 2008 and they are sweet.

The Spider-mans

The Venoms

Aaron thinks that naming them based on the colorways is stupid. I think they are cool looking shoes, and the name gives me an excuse to post them here.

If you want some complementary colors, lids.com is selling Marvel and DC character hats. Some are hits, some are misses but there's a nice mix between classic colorways and bugged out, hipstery ones:

There's more of a selection over at neweracap.com that separates the DC caps from the Marvel caps (if you care about that sorta thing) and features some designs not available on the aforementioned lids.com. Dig it!

-bryan

Adam Sandler fast forwarded through the middle part of our show. And the make-up sex.

We started late last Sunday. We also had a special 2-hour show in the A.M earlier that day ( i.e: midnight). I'll put the portion of that I recorded up here once I get it converted.

BUT for now, I bring you a brief, glitchy, 11-Minute-20-Minute Comic Book Hour. We're talking about The Walking Dead, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz ( where the recording glitches occurred), and Ex Machina. Dig it. Up. From the grave.

Or just get it HERE on zshare. 10 mb.

We'll start on time this week. 'Cuz we love you. And comics. Mostly comics.

Free Comic Book Day May 2nd. Gonna be a big deal in Iowa City! If you don't know yet, you will soon!

Afro Samurai II, Wolverine Pirates and more!

Here's Sunday's shows for April 5th, available in mp3 format to listen to or download!

The 20-Minute Comic Book Hour 4/5/2009

You can also win this original artwork if you call in next week ( 319-335-8970) or IM us ( requestkrui) with a comic book question during the show, and we don't know the answer:

Wolverine Gets a Guy Fired

Not really, but sort of. An unfinished, quality work-print of Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, ( hmmm... I wonder which part of that will go up on the marquees ) which hits theaters on May 1st, 2009, was leaked online this past week. We don't know how... we don't WANNA know how, but one Fox freelancer was given the axe, or claw, rather, for downloading, viewing, and reviewing the incomplete film in his entertainment column.


Roger Friedman had to look away from his monitor during this part of the film.


Roger Friedman wrote his column, Fox 411, for FoxNews.com for nearly a decade. He was let go after giving a positive review of a stolen, early version of the film made by 20th Century Fox, a separate company, also owned by Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp. Condemned as promoting film piracy, Fox called the act "reprehensible." In a possible attempt to defend himself in the now-deleted column, Friedman suggested he was downloading films ...

"...because it was so much easier than going out in the rain."

Yea... you're right, Rog ... it 's not about saving money, it's about staying dry.

For verbal extrapolation of this and other topics, tune into the Twunny*-Minute Comic Book Hour this Sunday from 5:40 pm - 6 pm on KRUI 89.7, Iowa City. Or listen online at http://www.kruiradio.org/listen .

-Aaron

*twice as funny

Watchmen Opening Credits + FF: Unstable Molecules

If you've seen Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake, you might be reminded of the opening credits sequence after viewing this roughly 6-minutes of opening credits for Watchmen. In both cases, the opening credits are one of the highlights of the film. At the same time, this sequence more or less brings you up to speed on the back story of the film's reality, from the 1940's to 1985.


I'd post it directly here, but the company that made the sequence, Yu+Co, took it down after having them available on their site for only a day. So they're brought to you by way of pixelatedgeek.com, having downloaded the video before it was removed. But don't start going there all the time, now. So if you aren't quite sure if you'll be into the Watchmen film or not, check out the above link for the opening credits.

---


Buy it, borrow it, steal it... I don't really care. Read Fantastic Four: Unstable Molecules, by James Sturm. It's the true tale of Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and Susan and Johnny Sturm; the real people who inspired the stars of Marvel's 'world's greatest comics magazine.' Even without the cosmic powers, you'll be surprised how much of the spirit of the characters is in this fact-based story. Bryan liked it. I liked it. My mom liked it. What more do you need?


-aaron

2/22 Show

If you found yourself writhing in anticipation for Sunday's Oscars, you may have missed our fabulous (read: okay) pre-Oscar show, where we start late and gloss over topics that require much more time than we give them. Luckily, the fun lives online! The file requires RealPlayer, but we're working on a conversion. Enjoy.

- bryan

Now doesn't that look better?

See... now that looks much better. I suppose that as long as I can make it past covers that resemble Todd McFarlane's first promo image, Haunt might not be that bad. This new image by series penciller Ryan Ottley (Invincible) also doesn't look like it should be behind the counter at a gas station. By that I mean the last one looked like 'Haunt' was spraying jizz out of his hands.


Is the character's name even Haunt? All the interviews I've read only call him 'the character.' Not one to misinform you, here is the most Kirkman has provided the public with as for what the comic is about:

"... The main basis of the story is that there are two brothers who have hated each other for a good long time and are now forced to interact because one of them has died and is haunting the other... "

If you really care about 'Haunt,' you could read the rest of the CBR article at the above link. So to sum up my feelings: I think the first promo image by McFarlane didn't look so good, and that this new image by Ottley looks great.

That's all I've got for now. I just didn't want the shadow of my Haunt-hating looming over the blog.

-aaron

February 15th Show

The stars aligned [read: my dad signed on] and we were able to attain a recording of the 2/15 show, so now you can enjoy the 20 minute Comic Book Hour on the go! Remember not to LOL in public; it's not a good look.

Grab it here.

Also, here's the sweet mouth laser video:



- bryan

Sunday - 2/8/2009

Image Comics announced the 'long-awaited' Haunt project, pairing Robert Kirkman and Todd McFarlane. Apparently, this means McFarlane is back...

Well, that's what I took it to mean. I read the words at the top of the promo piece, so that must be what it means.

I'll get to this unfortunate promotional image in just a moment, but here is Todd McFarlane's version of being 'back.'

-Todd McFarlane draws the covers
-He and Robert Kirkman co-write the story.
-Greg Capullo does the page breakdowns.
-Ryan Ottley draws the book.
-Todd does the inks.

This is essentially what Todd McFarlane currently does on Spawn, with a few minor differences. They might as well have said 'Todd McFarlane is Black.' Except that was never true. So it's a good thing they didn't say that. Todd was 'back' last year when he and the new creative team started up on Spawn.

All that aside... this IS brand new Todd McFarlane art. But it looks like an old Spider-Man shot he might have done, with a different costume on, and ecto-plasm (I'm guessing) instead of webbing. I am not here to tell Todd McFarlane how to draw. This is his style... but I would think anyone would be more cautious than Todd was in this instance with the placement of the thumb on the left hand. It is just kinda gross, is all. Maybe I'll like the next one?

-aaron