Bombast Podcast

Justin joins Matt to discuss National Novel Writing month, the challenges of writing a novel in a month, and the stories that has resulted in for him.

Matt is joined by UK pal John Bishop for a chat on Jack Kirby, plus a few other subjects.

Thanks to moving houses, the regularly scheduled (lol) episode is delayed.  Here's a bonus mini-episode.

Today on the show I have Wendi Freeman (of the Double Page Spread podcast) on the show.  We discuss Legos, Looking at original art at C2E2, Jaime Hernandez, Point Blank with Lee Marvin, Heist movies, Siege Movies, such as Assault on Precinct 13, The Satanic Ritual Abuse Scare of the 80s, and why you can enjoy both Dredd and The Raid.  We also discuss the The Documentary Stripped, which covers comic strips and webcomics, and which Avengers (movie) characters Should be dating each other.

Tune in this time for a whirlwind tour of Chicago's Best Comic, Convention, C2E2 (Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo).  This is a solo podcast with Matt, but don't let that scare you away!  Marvel as Matt gets lost in the convention hall (multiple times)!  The episode includes swag inventory, thoughts about Batman and Scott Snyder, man-in-the-street interviews, and part of a novel panel about gallows humor.  The highlight of this episode may be the Bombast journey into the ICE (Indie Comics Expo) afterparty.  This was a mini-con that was mashed together with a nerdcore hiphop triple bill.  Adam Warrock, Mega Ran, and Cochise Soulstar!  This episode also includes some personal admissions, comics chat with UK pal John Bishop, and an interview with rapper and comics store owner Cochise Soulstar.

Matt and Metal Mikey discuss more of their favorite X-men villains and X-men Villain moments.

In this episode, Matt is joined by Metal Mikey (of the Metal Mikey's 100 Page Spectacular Blog) to discuss their picks for the best X-Men villains, and the best X-Men villain moments.  We get sidetracked a bunch, so we also talk about Rob Liefeld, how the changes in American manufacturing have affected Magneto, Moria MacTaggart, Magneto Baby, Steve Gerber, Asteroid M, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, the confusing mess that is X-Men continuity, and how amazingly extensive the ToyBiz X-men toy line was.

In this Episode, recorded back in October (sorry for the wait, folks!)  Matt and Phil discuss books, Phil talks about "The King in Yellow" by Robert W. Chambers (1895) as seen in the TV show True Detective.  And because he'd like to discuss something they've both read, (and because Matt doesn't know how to read books without pictures...), Phil then brings up Brian Lee O'Malley's graphic novel Seconds, his first since the end of the Scott Pilgrim series.  Seconds is the story of cooking, choices in love and life, careers in restaurants, and what could happen if you get more chances than you're supposed to have.  Towards the end of the show, Matt and Phil discuss two cover versions of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" - one by Devo, and one by Otis Redding.  Bon Appetit!

Today Matt, Phil and Janine all discuss the major motion picture Guardians of the Galaxy.  We also discuss trailers and the new wonder woman costume.  Plus the potential Deadpool movie we've been waiting for since episode 1.

In this chapter we learn about what happened to Peter's hotel room.  We also learn what Charlie's whole deal is (or at least some of it).

This month on the Peter Browncast we delve a bit more into the reason Peter Brown wants to go to Boston in the first place, as well as discussing the intracacies of catching rabbits.

  Bombast Podcast is back from the dead to discuss the movie Ghostbusters, this time with our friend Rayne.  Although you could sync the movie (now streaming on netflix) with the podcast, you probably don't have to.

Welcome to episode 3 of Phil's self-flagellation podcast, the Peter Browncast.  Today Peter is stuck wandering New York City late at night and has nothing to do so he reminisces about the time he met the Pastor that officiated his mother's funeral.  It's probably more fun than that sounds!

Alright we are back to the Peter Browncast.  This time we listen as Peter decides to leave his hotel room in NYC and go for a little adventure.  As always, leave your comments by liking bombast podcast on facebook or e-mailing us at bombastpodcast@hotmail.com   *as a brief note I'm aware that I said that the next episode will be coming out next week, but I meant to say that it is coming out next month.  But there will be a regular episode of the podcast coming out sometime, hopefully before that.

This is new! Exciting!  We've decided that once a month we will release a special mini episode of the podcast which will be a reading of a chapter from Phil's book.  This month's episode is the first chapter of the book where we meet Peter Brown at JFK international airport and find out a little bit about his family

During this episode we are joined by friend of the show, Janine, and that can only mean one thing:  some scintillating movie talk.  The beginning of this episode starts with a discussion of music and other topics, including Lupe Fiasco, Pete Rock, and CL Smooth, Mumford and Sons, Trucking School, and the Motivational techniques that going to trucking school requires.Later on, we talk about summer movies; Iron Man 3 is discussed at length, but we also discuss Star Trek Into Darkness, The Purge, Fruitvale Station, This is The End, and The Wolverine. Ben Affleck and Batman are talked about, so yeah.  That is a thing we talk about.  We also have a sidebar about product placement and the Star Wars brand.  To finish off the show, we stage the return of Bombast Midnight Theatre, with a dramatic reenactment of a 2003 unproduced Batman/Superman screenplay.

On today's show, Matt and Phil discuss the books they've been reading lately, including some books Matt picked up at CAKE (Chicago Alternative Komics Festival).  They also discuss the Marvel Now! runs of Hawkeye, Deadpool and Fantastic 4/FF.  There is a brief spoiler-free discussion of Man of Steel.  Then Phil chugs 3 cans of Soda Shaq and nearly passes out.

In this episode, we are joined by friend of the show Jen Smith.  We talk about our favorite things in Rockford, about the schools, about buying local, and about taking pride in your community.  We also discuss a few songs from Phils Best of 2012 mix cd. Oh yeah, and we also talk about The Walking Dead.

In this episode Matt and Phil continue their way through Phil's favorite songs of 2013.  Phil also discusses Shia Labeoourofiu (sp?)'s secret plot to destroy everything Phil loves.  The guys also discuss kickstarters and some of their favorite podcasts.  Also, they respond to a listener question about what books they're reading.  And Matt finishes the episode off by talking about one of his favorite websites.

Episode 20 is finally here!  We discuss a few songs from Phil's best songs of 2012 mix (full tracklist available here) and then also move on to how much matt loves akira and phil loves avatar: the last airbender.

This is a pretty mellow show, but I think it's a good one.  John Porcellino is the cartoonist between the long-running King-Cat mincomic series, and many collections and other books. One of them that Phil and I (Matt) recently read is Perfect Example, a true-life high school story, that has been described as a coming-of-age story which reads like a "goodbye to the familiar Road trips, drunken concerts, and late-night make-out sessions."  According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive." We caught up with John Porcellino before he went to SPX, one of the mainstays on the indie comics convention calendar.  Phil and I talk with John P. about self-publishing, what he gained from his art school experience at NIU, the difference between the early days of alternative comics (the 80/90s) and now.  We also talk about doing comics for the love of it, and learning from the artwork (it really applies to writing, drawing, and music, as well) while you are making it.  And since we share the stateline region with John, I had to ask him about the changes from living in an urban/suburban environment to living in the more rural environment of South Beloit.

SPECIAL CROSSOVER EPISODE!  If a podcast can have friends, then the Pod People Podcast is one of the best friends that Bombast has.  If you don't know, that show has a focus on Young Adult fiction, and for this episode, we cross over with the hosts of Pod People, Emily White and Vic Caswell.  We start off the episode with a round of the game show, "Hip Hop Artist or Superhero?".  From there, we move on to Matt's homework assignment for the show, which was to get a date and go to the GZA concert, how to pick up chicks while buying tires, and we talk about Phil's novel, "Peter Brown Goes to Boston", and Phil talks about Emily's YA novel, "Elemental", which he just finished reading.  We also talk about a tendency of male character in YA to be what girls wished guys were like, and we compare that to unrealistic women characters in superhero comics.  If you listen further, you'll find out the reason that Phil needs to go see a Twilight movie in the theater, and you'll hear Mat ramble on about the Bill Murray movie, "What about Bob?".  We round out the end of the show with the epic topic, Sexiest Male and Female Superheroes.  The topic does derail briefly into a disagreement about Tim Burton's "Batman Returns" (1992).  We laugh a lot during this episode, and I hope you enjoy it, dear listener, because we had blast recording it.

in this episode, phil is joined by LEGENDARY COMEDIAN sinbad!!!  (sort of)  also, matt and phil discuss the olympics, both the canadian and the hip-hop version.  they also move on to discuss comic ratings vs their intended audience.  we also receive a visit from special guest gollum/smeagol.

in this episode we discuss our latest our latest itunes review, then phil and matt discuss their recent attempts to meet ladies.  matt also talks some more about san diego comicon and we play some audio of matt and his friends in the car on the way to comicon.  matt also guarantees in a legally binding way that he will send listeners medals if they send us itunes reviews, e-mails or facebook comments.

Our first topic is The Dark Knight Rises -If you haven't seen the  Dark Knight Rises yet, don't worry, there is a spoiler alert in this movie, so listen for that - or prepare to get spoiled. We talk about Christopher Nolan's use of realism and science fiction elements, Harvey Dent Day vs Kasmir Pulasky Day, Phil's desire for a catless Catwoman (is this like vegetarian meat?) the Batman trilogy's shifting thematic focus involving themes of organized crime and big business, movie Bane vs comic book Bane, the similarities in background between Bane and Batman, and also the John Blake character, and how he compares to the various heroes that took up the mantle of Robin.  We also take a look at the performances in this movie, and how we rank them. From there, we transition to some discussion of my (Matt's) time soaking in Bombast's first-ever San Diego Comic-Con experience.  We talk about first impressions, and I get Phil and Janine's reactions to the pictures of myself in a lazy man's Robin costume.  If you would like to follow along with those pictures of me in a Robin costume check them out  H E R E.  We talk about  the panels I went to, including Dave McKean, which I wrote about for the Beat (Heidi McDonald's pioneering comics blog) and Lynn Johnston's (For Better or For Worse) panel.  We briefly mention Ray Bradbury, whose death this year was definitely a topic in the air at this year's con.  I talk about the Eisners, the award show for comics, and we discuss our desire for Kanye west to stage crash at the Eisners.  Please, please let this happen someday.

In this show, Bombast Podcast visits the first ever CAKE show.  CAKE is the Chicago Alternative Comics Expo, and there are plenty of artist interviews, and comicky goodness.  We have interviews with: Nate Powell, JP Pollard, Spike from Templar AZ, Betsey Swardlick, Julia Wertz, Lisa Hanawalt, Domitille Collardey, and Walker Mettling of PCC Showcase with Providence Comics Consortium.  After that there is a strange glimpse into the music business that must be heard to be believed.  End of the show topics include Superman vs Aliens, Superman vomiting, Marvel vs Capcom, Megaman and the the band that Megaman inspired, The Protomen, Mummies vs Zombies, and the need for a full-on Frankenstein craze.  And don't you want to answer the question we pose: "Who is the new character sensation of the year?" Is it Astro Duck, Skater Dude, or Strong Shark?  And of course, because things were not ridiculous enough, we talk for a solid minute about how great lightsabers are.

Phil, Matt, and Janine go watch Prometheus, Ridleys Scott's Alien prequel film and record their reactions the same night.  Before we talk about the movie we talk about the current film trailers, including The Watch,  Flight featuring Denzel Washington, The House at the End of the Street, The Amazing Spider-man, and the uses of montage in the other spider-man moviesThe Dark Knight Rises, and move from there to discussing The Situation from Jersey Shore as Spider-Man.  We discuss Prometheus in the context of Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986), Noomi Rapace vs. Sigourney Weaver, Michael's Fassbender's performance here and his performance in X-Men:First Class as Magneto,  and our problems of both the major and nitpick variety with the movie.  Also, at long last, we uncover Phil's hatred of the metric system.  After the movie, share the first installment of Bombast Radio Theatre with a dramatic reading of the unproduced Catwoman screenplay written by Daniel Waters.  We react to a musical request, and share some heartfelt music that we found.  Finally, we wrap up by playing a game of "would you rather?" that you can participate in, if you so choose.

In this episode we great our very special guest, the comics writer, movie reviewer and Rockfordian Will Pfeifer into the hall of Bombast.  We discuss "The Advance Team", his darkly comedic sci-fi graphic novel (out now!) about a pizza delivery guy who is chosen to stop the first agents of an alien invasion, and has to do something he's never done before: fight for his life.  But are they aliens, or, is he crazy?  We also discuss Will's comics work with DC Comics including Catwoman, and HERO, a clever updating of "Dial H for H.E.R.O."  We also go over 2012's summer movie season, and what movies we are excited to see, including The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spider-man with Andrew Garfield, and Prometheus.  In the middle of all this, Phil asks Will some questions about the script for a proposed Catwoman solo movie that was set to spin off from 1992's Batman Returns.

In this episode, we discuss which dead and supposedly dead performers we'd like to see in hologram form.  We also talk about: why neither one of us went to C2E2, Matt gives out trivia facts about the history of zines and fan fiction, Phil nearly accuses Janice Joplin of being a Klansman, and then Matt goes over the comics and Zines he bought at Chicago Zine Fest: Invincible Summer/Clutch, Paper Cutter, Rum Lad, Eat or Be Meatball, Toasty Cats, Beards, Simple Routines, Press Start and Fight, and Pigeon Life.  We move on to discuss when you need to blow on a comic, hitch-hiking, and hoboing, before discussing Donald Duck.  With Donald, we tackle the hard questions.  Why does he never wear pants?  What's up with the way he talks?  And what's up with this WWII anti-nazi propaganda cartoon: The Fuerher's Face?

This one is kind of a clip show, with odds and ends from a couple different recording sessions.  It's also about half the length of a normal episode.  In this episode we talk about driving, (specifically Illinois vs. New Jersey drivers), novelty song/postmodern rap group Das Racist, and then we go over our hauls from our experience of Record Store Day.

In this episode we review the movie John Carter and compare it to the book.  We also discuss many other movies, including:  Star Wars, Avengers, Battleship, Brave, Madagascar, Something That Is Not Die Hard, Ghostbusters 3, Evil Dead, Action No. 1 as well as casting possibilities for future Wolverine and Deadpool movies.  Finally, we answer the question:  Is Falcor a pedo dog or a pedo luck dragon?

In Episode 8, Matt and Phil are joined by special guest and longtime friend Ian Simkins.  Topics discussed include Matt's reactions to radio news stories, a couple of ideas on how to "improve" televised political debates, monkeys, college-era hijinks, how to surf couches, and Ian's impromptu performance as a Soapbox derby announcer.  This is the big one folks; it maybe our best episode yet!Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast [at] hotmail.com.  Ian Simkins's writing and other hoo-hah can be found at http://www.iansimkins.com/

In this episode, we dip into the mailbag and find the solution to the groomsman outfit dilemma (from Episode 5).  Also, Phil discusses Project Runway, including Miss Piggy's guest judging gig, and a fiction writing secret that he uncovered watching the show.  Phil talks about "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and Matt gets confused about what he likes about mystery novels.  We Have a lot of comic talk on this episode, and we discuss the Jeph Loeb -Tim Sale collaborations "Batman: The Long Halloween", "Batman: Dark Victory", and "Superman for All Seasons", along with the new DC Comics logo, and the artist (and occasional writer) comic fans love to hate, Rob Liefeld, and his recent gig changes.  We also go a bit in-depth with a discussion of Craig Thompson's graphic novel: Habibi, a relationship epic melodrama set in a fictional Islamic milieu.  Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast [at] hotmail [dot] com.

In this Episode, we read from the listener mailbag, and Phil solves a mystery.  We discuss Batman and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and a secret movie.  (Here's a hint, it involves Muppets, and it came out in the last year.)  Also, Matt has an album recommendation.  We discover Phil's fascination with the Smurfs, discuss the Roots newest album, and real-life superheroes (i.e. Phoenix Jones).Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast [at] hotmail [dot] com.

In Episode 5, Matt and Phil read from the listener mailbag, and have our first fashion segment with a question for the listeners.  We also bring out the new awards feature Where we give awards to the best and worst things we experienced in the week: The "Thing of the Week" and the "Whammy of the Week", respectively.  The award winners in the "Thing of the Week" category are "How I Became Stupid" by Martin Page and "The Walking Dead, season 2, episode 3"  The big losers this week are the new Hawk and Dove comic, and "Howard the Duck: the Movie."  Listen to the show to find out why.  Matt discusses the Mark Waid Daredevil comics, and the new issue of Optic Nerve by Adrian Tomine.  Also, If you make it to the end, you'll hear the story of the crazy guy that wandered into Phil's laundry room.  Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast [at] hotmail.com.

You've waited for it, and here it is: Episode 4.  This is the music episode, and Phil and Matt discuss many things, from the question of whether or not the Kinks was the first punk band, the most underrated, and the most overrated bands, R.E.M. breaking up, R.E.M. vs The Clash, and New Jersey's favorite musical sons, Bon Jovi and Bruce Springsteen.  If you make it to the end you'll also get to hear the Carrot Cheesecake story.  Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast@hotmail.com.  (In the episode we refer to this as episode 3, but I swear, it is episode 4!)

In Episode 3, Phil and Matt are joined by special guest Janine after watching The Thing in the movie theater.  Naturally, the Thing (2011) and the original John Carpenter/Kurt Russell "The Thing" from the 1980s are the main jumping off point of the conversation.  Topics discussed include suspense, movies in the 1980s versus now, movie remakes, Total Recall, current movie trailers, The Muppets, Harold and Kumar, Contraband, Storage Wars, Dumb and Dumber II: Dumb and Dumberer, when the movie is better than the book, the definition of a "boy band", Ke$ha, "The Darkest Hour", Transformers, and Michael Bay.  Comments, questions, and complaints about the show can be directed to bombastpodcast@hotmail.com.

In Episode 2, the sophomore slump episode, Phil and Matt are joined by their first guest, Rory!  Before that, there's a bit of comics talk.  Topics discussed this episode include the DC Comics New 52 Reboot, Action Comics, Tumor by Joshua Hale Fialkov & co, and Hawk & Dove. After that, we are joined by Rory, and we discuss Doctor Who, the concept of 'British Sense of Humor' PBS vs the BBC, WWE wrestling, and Amish country.

Episode 1 - The Shingles Reboot -In their first (successfully recorded) episode Phil and Matt lay out their ideas for what the show will be, mainly, a place to dicuss comics, movies, music, and whatever random folderol they want to talk about.  Topics discussed include Canadians, the DC reboot, Shingles, Nicholas Cage, Crime in Rockford, and more.