Character Corner - A Podcast On Your Favorite Comic Book Characters

We’re continuing our look at Jonathan Hickman’s Marvel run by going all the way back to the beginning and talking about his Secret Warriors and S.H.I.E.L.D. runs. We only touch on a bit of Secret Warriors since we’ve covered that before but we’ve never talked about S.H.I.E.L.D which has its foundations laid in Secret Warriors and explains several things from Hickman’s Fantastic Four run (Ever wanted to know how Nathan Richards got time travel abilities?). The thing to understand about S.H.I.E.L.D is that it is super ambitious and leaves a lot on the table. This is a book that involves Leonardo Da Vinci and Sir Isaac Newton being members of The Brotherhood of the Shield, a Celestial driven mad when it reads the “Quiet Math” (the solution for everything), Howard Stark and Nathan Richards being members of the Brotherhood of the SHIELD and chasing down Nikola Tesla and many many other things. It’s crazy, it’s nuts and what’s really mind blowing is, the story might not be done yet. There are many questions left u

We're continuing our Summer of Character Corner expansions with a new Character Corner/Comic Book Book Club hybrid. We're kicking off our discussion of Jonathan Hickman's Marvel run by discussing his wonderful Fantastic Four Run. Hickman fundamentally changed the Marvel Universe, starting in 2009 with Secret Warriors all the way through the 2015 Secret Wars. We'll be revisiting Secret Wars (And S.H.I.E.L.D.) next month and wrapping up with Avengers/New Avengers/Secret Wars. But we decided to start with Fantastic Four since the founding family of Marvel will be returning with their own solo book written by Dan Slott next month. Also, we've referenced this run a lot (From our Doctor Doom Part 3 to Black Panther to our Premium New Avengers/Secret Wars Comic Book Book Clubs) but we've never sat down and made it our focus. That changes now. Issues/Reading Order: Omnibus Volume 1 Volume 2 Dark Reign: Fantastic Four Dark Reign: Fantastic Four #1-5 Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman, Vol. 1 Fan

Kriss and Dpalm are back with another...wait...is this a Character Corner or a  Comic Book Book Club? If you didn't know we're trying something new on the Character Corner podcast feed. We'll still be doing break downs of our favorite characters but in order to bring new content to the listeners, we're also going to be bringing some Comic Book Book Club episodes to the Character Corner. For this episode, we continue our dive into IDW's Transformers world with Chaos Theory, Last Stand of the Wreckers and Sins of the Wreckers.   Now I know what you're thinking "Transformers? Really?" But these books are fantastic. Go listen to the IDW Primer also on the feed as well as when we discussed the first 22 issues of More Than Meets the Eye. Once you get over the initial hump of reading about giant robots you'll realize how human and real these books are. They deal with a lot of relevant topics in today's world: Topics: Chaos Theory: Optimus Prime...sorry...Orion Pax is a bad ass Optimus and Megatron were almos

In 2005, the Transformers comic license had found it's way to IDW Publishing and back into the hands of beloved Transformers scribe Simon Furman. Only, things didn't necessarily go according to plan in those initial issues as the man behind the keyboard spun a tale largely absent the well worn trappings of the franchise. To say the fan base was uneasy is to put it mildly so fresh off of the collapse of Dreamwave Productions. Thirteen years, more issues than any other Transformers universe, and the longest running singular continuity across the Transformers landscape later, and it's all coming to a close with the arrival of Unicron. Originally made famous by film legend Orson Welles in the 1986 animated movie,  this planet eating threat will put a bow on the most critically successful era of Transformers ever. To recap how we got here, we're joined by one of the hosts of the TransMissions Podcast, Charles Shelton and chart the entire IDW Transformers timeline from Infiltration to Unicron. We talk about how I

With Deadpool 2 hitting theaters this weekend we've finally recorded our Character Corner episode on Nathaniel Christopher Charles Summers, aka, Cable. Now first off, we've touched on a lot of the early years with Nathan/Cable already in some previous Character Corners. We cover Nathan's birth and being sent to the future in the Cyclops & Alex episode as well as him being genetically created specifically to be a weapon against Apocalypse in our Apocalypse & Mister Sinister episode. And if you want more on Deadpool and Cable's relationship, we covered that all the way back in our Deadpool Character Corner. Now Cable wasn't originally created to be the grown up, future Nathan Summers. Originally Louise Simonson and Rob Liefeld created him to just be a military leader who was the complete opposite of Professor X and would lead the young New Mutants. Things changed rather quickly as the character became more popular and soon it was revealed he was not only Nathan Summers but his clone was Stryfe who founded the

%CODE_MCF% Kriss talks with Sam Stevquoah about his own production company's flagship animated project, Mill City's Finest. Sam describes Mill City's Finest as an "urban, superhero coming of age story" in the same vein as Young Justice and Static Shock.  We chat about how Sam got involved in animation, what makes this series so unique and culturally diverse and what's next to get more people behind this project.  Make sure you follow Sam and Mill City's Finest on social media. Twitter:  @Stevquoahjr @mcfseries Instagram: @Stevquoahjr Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mcfseries Mill City's Finest Youtube Page

Avengers Infinity War is in theaters now and is already crushing records (and souls). While you wait for Avengers 4 to come out, now is a perfect time to catch up on Thanos in the comics to see just how accurate the movie is. But before we can get into Thanos, we first have to give a brief overview of Marvel Cosmic. We've touched on Marvel Cosmic a bit with Inhumans and when we talked Alex Summers. But Thanos throws us right in the middle of it. Jim Starlin really helped solidify the cosmic side of Marvel and so we give a condensed rundown of the Celestials, Eternals, Adam Warlock and more. Trust us, we will revisit all of this more in later episodes in more details. We then jump forward a bit to go through Jason Aaron's Thanos Rising which while it's more recent (2013), it gives a pretty great (and dark) view of Thanos' origins. Then its back to the early 90's and Thanos collecting the Infinity Stones (or rather, Soul gems as they were called) in Thanos Quest, the Infinity Gauntlet crossover and more. We end

We finish up the Dark Knight himself with what might be the greatest and longest streak of great stories for a solo character. From the time Grant Morrison takes over Batman to today’s Tom King Run, we have what is arguably the best storytelling at DC. It gets weird, it gets crazy and it brings in things all the way from the 50’s & 60’s. If you want to truly understand Bruce Wayne and Batman, pick up the Grant Morrison Batman omnibus and strap in, you’re going to be in for a ride. But before we get to Morrison, we pick up where we left with Knightfall and Bane breaking the Bat. While not the best, the ending arc (KnightsEnd) sees some really great reflection of Bruce getting to the core of why he matters as Batman. After that, what we start to see is authors coming in and telling some really great Batman stories.  Jeph Loeb and The Long Halloween and Dark Victory, then Hush and Judd Winick and Under the Hood. And then Grant Morrison steps in and says “So you know all the weird and crazy things from the 50’s &

%CODE_BAT2% We’re back with Part 2 of our Batman Character Corner. Part 1 focused mostly on the early comics up through the introduction of Tim Drake in Batman #440. For this episode, before diving back into the comics, we wanted to cover the other media that Batman has been prevalent in. Considering that TV has had a big impact on Batman in the comics, we felt throwing this episode in between the two comic focused episodes was best. Both the 66 TV show and the early 90’s Animated Series have led to some characters making their way from the TV screen to the comic book pages. Also Batman’s presence on TV and in film have had an huge impact on his popularity and for many, was their first introduction to not just Batman but comic book characters. So sit back and listen as we dive into the world of Batman from TV to Film to even Video Games. TV: 66 Batman Super Friends Batman The Animated Series Justice League The New Batman Adventures Batman Beyond Live Action Movies Batman The Movie Burton

It all started with an idea. 10 years ago Marvel Studios launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe and nothing was the same again. Ten years and 18 (soon to be 19) films and over 15 BILLION dollars. It’s the highest grossing movie franchise of all time and Marvel Studios is one of the most innovative companies and movie studios there is. So how did it all start? We break it down and go over the history of Marvel Studios from creation all the way up to our reaction to the Infinity War trailer. So strap in and give it a listen. Phase 1: Iron Man The Incredible Hulk Iron Man 2 Thor Captain America: The First Avenger Marvel’s The Avengers Phase 2: Iron Man 3 Thor: The Dark World Captain America: The Winter Soldier Guardians of the Galaxy Avengers: Age of Ultron Ant-Man Phase 3: Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Spider-Man: Homecoming Thor: Ragnarok Black Panther Avengers: Infinity War Ant-Man and the Wasp Captain Marvel Avenger

This time on the Character Corner we’re finally talking about The Batman. We’ve talked around Batman for a while now. We covered him a bit in our Suicide Squad Character Corner, then the Rogue Wars episode on is villains. We’ve also covered one Robin and all of the Batgirls and even Batwoman. So it’s about time we finally dive into discussing the big guy himself. We’ll be breaking this out into three parts. For this first part we cover the early years of Batman up to the introduction of Tim Drake as Robin. That’s about forty years of history from 1939 when he first appeared in Detective Comics #27 to the late 80’s and A Lonely Place of Dying. We also spend some time addressing the tragic story of Bill Finger who for the longest time was the uncredited creator of not just Batman but a lot of Batman’s villains as well as the classic conceptions we associate with the character. If you have Hulu, you should definitely check out Batman & Bill that goes into way more detail over how poorly DC treated Bill Finger an

%CODE_APOCALYPSE% We're back with another Character Corner. This time we're doing double the trouble with two classic X-Men villains: Apocalypse and Mister Sinister. It's actually pretty fitting that we do these two at this point. We recently did an episode on the Summers brothers, Scott & Alex. And we're also planning on doing an episode on Cable and the rest of the Summers bloodline. Throwing Sinister and Apocalypse in between those two seems pretty fitting considering how tied these villains are to the Summers clan. So in this episode we skip over some stuff but only because we'll be diving into more detail when we do that other episode. The interesting thing about Apocalypse and Mister Sinister is how due to their longevity they've been incorporated into almost everything. Some for the good and some for the bad. But their tale is one that spans generations and overall, is pretty damn good. So sit back and give this episode a listen to find out just out evil these two are. And for the record, we should

*Note* Excuse the audio issues this episode. I was partly sick when recording this and didn't check my settings.* %CODE_LEXLUTHOR% We’re back! While our Summers Brothers episode was technically the first Character Corner of 2018, we recorded it in 2017, so this Lex Luthor episode is the first real episode of 2018. And you all are in for a treat. This episode is slightly different from our other Character Corners. We still go through the history of Lex but we spend more time really discussing and breaking down the core of the character. Unlike other DC characters, the core of Lex Luthor has strangely been consistent throughout his depictions. Sure his early first appearance in Action Comics #23 really set up as the ridiculous comic book villain stereotype, but the interesting thing about Lex is how his depiction mirrors the “stereotyped” bad guy of the era he’s in.  He’s been a ridiculous caricature of a bad guy in the 40’s, evil real estate billionaire, overweight and shrewd corporate exec and even a billiona

http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/6121556 We’re starting 2018 off right by going through the essential comic books for Scott Summers and Alex Summers. That’s right it's Cyclops and Havok time. Any chance we can get to talk X-Men, we’re going to leap at it. This was a fun episode to do because Cyclops and Havok have such long and rich histories not only with the X-Men but X-Factor as well.  Scott Summers first appeared in X-Men #1 and Alex debuted in issue #54. Scott starts off as the boy scout and natural leader while Alex is more reluctant to lead and a bit more rebellious. Throughout their history in the comic books though, they gradually switch places as Alex becomes more of a team player & leader and Scott becomes a revolutionary.  Some of Scott’s decisions through the years are tough to defend. After marrying Madelyne Pryor (the clone of Jean Grey), he ends up abandoning her and their child when he finds out Jean Grey is still alive. It’s a real shitty move. Years later, while recovering fr

We're back to wrap up our Batgirls Character Corner with two special characters: Cassandra Cain and Kate Kane. Now, Kate really isn't a Batgirl as she never took up the mantle and her origin as Batwoman is pretty much autonomous from Batman but we're including her in this series anyway. Cassandra is also an interesting case. She's definitely a Batgirl, as she's the first to hold that mantle and get her own solo series, but in many ways she's closer to a Robin and a good case could be made for her being a direct heir to the Bat.  We had a lot of fun discussing these characters and you're not going to want to miss this. This also might be the last Character Corner of 2017 but we'll be back in 2018 with more comic book character goodness. Cassandra Cain Batman No Man's Land  Batman #567 - Mark of Cain - First Appearance Batgirl Volume 1 Robin/Batgirl Fresh Blood Gates of Gotham Justice League Elite Nightwing #81 Red Robin #17-25 Superboy #8 Batgirl Volume 2 Kate Kane 52 #7 - Firs

It's been a while but....WE'RE BACK! Feels like a while since we've done a Character Corner. But we're back now and it's time to enter once again into the Bat-Family, this time with the mantle of Batgirl. To the uninitiated, the Batgirl mantle might just seem like the female-version of the Robin mantle. But that couldn't be further from the truth.  We start this two-part series exploring the most well known Batgirl, Barbara Gordon and her journey from the daughter of a Police Commissioner to Batgirl then to Oracle and back to Batgirl. We then move on to Stephanie Brown who held both the title of Robin (albeit short) and Batgirl as well as coming into her own as Spoiler. Next show we're talking Cassandra Cain, Helena Bertinelli and Kate Kane Barbara Gordon Detective Comics #359 – First appearance Batgirl Year One The definitive Batgirl origin story Batgirl Special #1 by Barbara Kesel (1988) Barbara retires The Killing Joke (1988) - only because it's significant not because it's good Su

Thor: Ragnarok drops this week and so it's time to wrap up our Thor Character Corner with part 2. First we quickly cover what happened when we last left Thor during part 1. Ragnarok happened and Thor and the rest of Asgard died. And Thor stayed dead for a while. When the road to Civil War started, Thor was still gone but Mjolnir makes an appearance, falling to Earth as the Gods died, tearing a hole that allows Doctor Doom to escape Hell. After a brief attempt by Doom to take the hammer for himself, we then get Tony Stark's bad idea to make a Thor clone that...has disastrous results.    Finally Thor returns. We focus on two writers this episode that really encapsulate Thor's return and that's J. Michael Straczynski (JMS) and current Thor writer Jason Aaron. JMS and Aaron really lean into the idea of Thor and the rest of Asgard being Gods. In a way, Thor is written much like Jesus is from the Bible and there are a lot of great stories. Asgard is reformed above Broxton, Oklahoma and while it seems like this cou

We’re a few weeks out from Thor: Ragnarok being released so I guess it’s time to drop our latest Character Corner: Thor Part 1! First off, we recorded this over a month ago so please excuse any outdated references. If you’re listening to this I’m assuming Trump hasn’t killed us all so that’s a positive. Anyway, in this first part of a two part series, we cover Thor Volume 1 and Thor Volume 2. Our main focus though is the Walt Simonson run from volume 1 that ran from issues 337 – 382. Simonson both wrote and draw these issues and the entire run is a masterpiece. He introduces Beta Ray Bill, gives us an epic battle with Sutur, Skurge’s Last Stand and even turns Thor into a frog. It’s a wonderful run that is always at the top of any “Best of Thor” list. We then get into Dan Jurgen’s volume 2 which starts off rough but really picks up with the death of Odin and Thor taking over as the All Father. We find out why Thor’s connection to humanity is needed and the disastrous results if Thor fully embraces being a Go

Journey with The Doctor and Tim Lewinson, writer and creator of Savage Empire, into a world of time rifts, urban warfare, and dinosaurs.  Tim joins me to discuss his debut novel, how his work in video games lent itself to writing, the difference between the media, creating a diverse world with 3 dimensional characters, and the amazing story that Savage Empire introduces. Find Timothy on Twitter: @vancouvertim and on Instagram: @likestofight www.SavageEmpire.org @TheDrIsIn2015 %CODE_savage%  

We’re back with another Character Corner and this time we’re covering the Inhumans. First off, let’s make it clear that we’re mainly focused on the Royal Family of the Inhumans. The “Nuhumans” or the Inhumans created on earth due to the Terrigen bomb that Black Bolt sets off during the events of Infinity are definitely a separate category. We might cover some of the more famous “Nuhumans” in a later episode. But for this, we’re focused mostly on the Royals: Black Bolt - The King with a voice that’s so powerful it can destroy planets Medusa - The Queen with serious hair issues Maximus the Mad - The king’s mad brother who can also control minds Crystal - Medusa’s sister with elemental powers Gorgon - Head of security and has bull’s legs and hooves that can create intense earthquake like shockwaves Triton - He’s a giant fish. Think Klaus from American Dad with legs and arms Karnark - Chief strategist and hasn’t been exposed to the mists so he technically doesn’t have powers. But he has developed