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This week is a CRYB Spotlight episode on Marvel/Epic Comics' ALIEN LEGION, published in 1984, created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco. This clip is taken from our epic (so to speak) deep dive into ALIEN LEGION (see earlier episodes).COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions). In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age of comics.ALIEN LEGION | The Ultimate SciFi War Story/Space Opera - "Humanity" Explored in Thought BalloonsSHOW NOTES00:00 - Theme song00:15 - Intro to ALIEN LEGION00:53 - The legionnaire Skobb signs his own death warrant01:02 - Zelenetz's brilliance as a writer01:32 - The cost of making selfish, all-too-human choices03:31 - Thought balloons in comics05:11 - Exploring the legionnaires' fears and insecurities07:30 - The inner monologue during a War Story08:45 - Blending pathos and politics09:02 - Tell every story in a war film10:25 - The ultimate metaphor for lifeDrop us a line! + Check out our YouTube channel to get a look at some of the fantastic art featured in our episodes. Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!#comicbooks #comics #graphicnovel
Episode 255. James B and Eddie break down six books from 1989. Will James B finally pronounce Michelinie correctly? Did Eddie read the correct books? Listen to find out. (01:24) From April of 1989 Stan Lee presents ASM 314 “Down and out in forest hills” by David Mickel-lye-knee and Todd McFarlane (03:37) From May, June and july of 1989 Stan Lee presents ASM 315, 316, and 317 “A Matter of Life and Debt!”, “Dead Meat” and “The Sand and the Fury” by Mickel-lye-knee and McFarlane (05:45) Sponsor Weasel Jack (14:00) From May of 1989 Damage Control 1”A restoration comedy” Co-Created by Dwayne McDuffie and Ernie Colon and inked by Bob Wiacek (17:21) From February of 1989 Marvel Fanfare 42 Story A “Windfall” by Carl Potts with Inks by Terry Shoemaker Theme Music by Jeff Kenniston. This Episode Edited by James B using Audacity and Cleanfeed. Summaries written by James B and Eddie. Most Sound effects and music generously provided royalty free by www.fesliyanstudios.com and https://www.zapsplat.com/ Check out all the episodes on letsreadspiderman.podbean.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Check out our live meetup and Discord Channel here https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_mW6htjJUHOzlViEvPQqR-k68tClMGAi85Bi_xrlV7w/edit
COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions).In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age.• In this week's episode, Steven and Chris continue their wide-ranging discussion of Epic Comics' ALIEN LEGION series (Also check out Part One [link], which went live last week). Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, Frank Cirocco, Larry Stroman.SHOW NOTES00:08 - Issue 6: “Operation Nerve Center!” - The character of alien soldier, Dirge, and his all-too-human battle with an addiction to a performance-enhancing drug01:53 - The use of thought balloons as an essential window into the deepest vulnerabilities of our traumatized cosmic battalion. “Soldiers in this insane crucible of battle.” 08:01 - Impostor syndrome in ALIEN LEGION -- the neurotic, inadequate, deeply insecure messes, who are our main players, along with the increasingly expansive cast of characters in this world12:50 - Sarigar usually keeps a lid on his id, but sometimes a mofo's gotta use his big-ass lizard/reptile tail to beat some ass14:51 - Issue 7: Whilce Portacio (!) inked this issue of ALIEN LEGION15:37 - Issues 8 - 11: The Chris Warner issues: rock-solid work in between the more idiosyncratic runs of Cirocco and Stroman16:59 - The rise of the grimmest and grittiest of all legionnaires, Jugger Grimrod, in the era of Wolverine and the Punisher24:08 - Issue 12: “Hollow Harvest!” The arrival of the great Larry Stroman brings a distinctly new visual flair to the book and some awesomely stylized hair!48:25 - Issue 13: “Moonlilies for Cora Cora!” = FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON56:31 - Issue 14: “Reprise!” - the devastating next chapter1:20:53 - Issue 15: “The Official Death of Jugger Grimrod!” The title says it all.1:35:42 - Issue 16: “Demons!” - Intro of Tamara, the first woman legionnaire2:04:04 - Travis Charest & Larry Stroman both drawing DARKSTARS for DC! Discussion of Charest's early work -- WILDCATS w/ Alan Moore and METABARONS2:06:23 - You can tell every genre of story as a war story.2:07:51 - ALIEN LEGION as the ultimate, hyper-compressed metaphor for life. “We're all in the ALIEN LEGION.”#alienlegion #thealienlegion #carlpotts #larryst+ Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to get a look at some of the fantastic art discussed in our episodes!+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain+ Join us! Sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column, at CRYB! Check out our YouTube channel. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!#comics #comic #comicbooks #comicbook #comicbookfan #comicbookfans #comicpodcast #comicspodcast #comicbookpodcast #comiccollecting #comicscollecting #comiccollector #comicscollector #comiccollection #comix #80s #bronzeagecomics #bronzeage #thebronzeage #1980s #dc #dccomics #dccomic #dcuniverse #marvel #manga #marvelcomic #marvelcomics #comiccon #indiecomics #darkhorsecomics #understandingcomics #imagecomics #vertigocomics #eighties #comicsrotyourbrain #cryb #comicsrecommendation #comicsrecommendations #graphicnovel #graphicnovels #sf #scifi #sciencefiction #spaceopera #80scomics #80scomic #1980scomic #1980scomi...
Each year, a survey is conducted in late May through early June to track the movement of pea leaf weevil throughout Saskatchewan. Provincial insect specialist James Tansey says the pest is on the move with northern and eastern Saskatchewan experiencing the worst infestations. A new pulse processing plant is coming to Saskatchewan.Louis Dreyfus Company announced a new pea protein isolate production plant at the same site as its existing canola crush facility at Yorkton. Construction is expected to begin in 2024, with completion projected for the end of 2025. The plant will employ around 60 people.Saskatchewan Pulse Growers executive director Carl Potts talks about the new plant and the importance of having a secure, domestic market for Saskatchewan peas.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
COMICS ROT YOUR BRAIN! is a deep dive into ‘80s comics (plus a few notable exceptions).In this weekly podcast, screenwriters Chris Derrick (STAR TREK: PICARD) and Steven Bagatourian (AMERICAN GUN) discuss their favorite books, runs, and creators from the Bronze Age of comics.• EPISODE 3: This week, Steven and Chris begin their two-part exploration of Epic Comics' ALIEN LEGION, published in 1984, created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco. Part One covers issues one through five; subscribe and tap the bell, so you don't miss Part Two — it drops next week!Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to get a look at some of the fantastic art discussed in our episodes.SHOW NOTES0:15 - Intro to the ALIEN LEGION series02:07 - How the floppies differ from the collected trade editions, in regard to THE OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE-style entries provided for the main legionnaires08:55 - Issue One, "Survival of the Fittest!" Zelenetz and Cirocco's specific way of approaching this sprawling space opera28:15 - Issues Two: "Blind Trust!"30:31 - Allusions to LOST — Did that classic TV series draw inspiration for its “bottle episodes” and their solo character flashback structures from ALIEN LEGION?44:39 - Torqa Dun & Jugger Grimrod as sketchy legionnaires in the Wolverine and Punisher mold58:12 - A detour into the challenges of creator-owned comics1:08:38 - Issue Three, "Last Gamble!” and its Back-up Story1:20:53 - Era of post-decompressed storytelling and Frank Cirocco's exquisitely-designed cover art1:25:19 - Issue Four: "The Killing Zone!” - the big Torie Montroc's solo issue1:40:21 - Zeerod's Back-Up Story in Issue Four: “Conscience!"+ Goodwin & Simonson's phenomenal ‘70s gem, MANHUNTER#alienlegion #thealienlegion #carlpotts #larrystroman #epiccomics+ Visit ComicsRotYourBrain.com to get a look at some of the fantastic art discussed in our episodes!+ We appreciate your support of the show via Patreon: ComicsRotYourBrain+ Join us! Sign up for our newsletter, Letter Column, at CRYB! Check out our YouTube channel. You can also find us wherever you stream your favorite podcasts.+ For even more cool shit, read Chris's Substack (cinema, comics, and culture) - THIN ICE©2024 Comics Rot Your Brain!#comics #comic #comicbooks #comicbook #comicbookfan #comicbookfans #comicpodcast #comicspodcast #comicbookpodcast #comiccollecting #comicscollecting #comiccollector #comicscollector #comiccollection #comix #80s #bronzeagecomics #bronzeage #thebronzeage #1980s #dc #dccomics #dccomic #dcuniverse #marvel #manga #marvelcomic #marvelcomics #comiccon #indiecomics #darkhorsecomics #understandingcomics #imagecomics #vertigocomics #eighties #comicsrotyourbrain #cryb #comicsrecommendation #comicsrecommendations #graphicnovel #graphicnovels #sf #scifi #sciencefiction #spaceopera #80scomics #80scomic #1980scomic #1980scomics #eightiescomics
Today's guest, Ann Nocenti, has been there and done that. Not only did she break in as a writer with Marvel on titles such as Bizarre Adventures, Spider-Woman, and the Dazzler and Beast miniseries Beauty and the Beast, she in short order became an assistant editor for Carl Potts, where she worked on such titles as The Incredible Hulk, The Defenders, Doctor Strange, and The Thing. Not only did she and the elusive Arthur Adams create Longshot and launched him in his own miniseries, she teamed with other A-list talent like Mike Mignola, Barry Windsor-Smith, and John Romita Jr. Not only did she have a defining run on Daredevil (where she introduced villains like Typhoid Mary and Blackheart), but she wrote Kid Eternity for Vertigo and then left comics to pursue journalism and film. And guess what? She recently returned to the Marvel fold with miniseries featuring Captain Marvel and Storm, and worked with Berger Books (Dark Horse) on Ruby Falls and Seeds! You can follow Ann (or Annie if you prefer) on X and Instagram @annienocenti._____________________Check out a video version of this episode on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/dollarbinbandits.If you like this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And if you really like this podcast, support what we do as a member of the Dollar Bin Boosters: buzzsprout.com/1817176/support.Looking for more ways to express your undying DBB love and devotion? Email us at dollarbinbandits@gmail.com. Follow us @dollarbinbandits on Facebook and Instagram, and @DBBandits on X._____________________Dollar Bin Bandits is the official podcast of TwoMorrows Publishing. Check out their fine publications at twomorrows.com.Support the show
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of RealAg on the Weekend! On this weekend's show, host Shaun Haney discusses: Tracy Broughton with Sask Canola on the amalgamation vote with Sask Flax; Carl Potts, Saskatchewan Pulse Growers, on plant breeding; and, Brett Halstead with Sask Wheat reflects on his past four years as chair. Thoughts... Read More
Thanks for tuning into this Wednesday edition of RealAg Radio! On this episode, host Shaun Haney is joined by Jon Driedger of Leftfield Commodity Research to discuss the wheat and canola markets, and how continued dryness could potentially shift acres. Plus, hear from Carl Potts with the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers to discuss the future of... Read More
The way pulse varieties are developed in Saskatchewan is evolving, with more announcements of pulse breeding agreements on the way in 2024, says Carl Potts, executive director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG). An agreement with Limagrain was announced in July of 2022, the first of its kind, and growers will likely see a new... Read More
Thanks for tuning into this Wednesday edition of RealAg Radio! On this episode, host Shaun Haney is joined by Jon Driedger of Leftfield Commodity Research to discuss the wheat and canola markets, and how continued dryness could potentially shift acres. Plus, hear from Carl Potts with the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers to discuss the future of... Read More
Fromm Terrificon '23 . A fantastic discussion about the role of anti heroes in comics film and TV. With Jimmy Palmiotti Paul Levitz Paul Kupperberg and Carl Potts.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/3143082/advertisement
In this episode, SPG's Director of R&D, Sherrilyn Phelps, sits down with Carl Potts, SPG Executive Director and Jason Reinheimer, Head of Cereals and Pulse Research with Limagrain. They discuss the new direction of pulse breeding in Saskatchewan, including an overview of where we have come and where we are headed in the future, as well as an update on one of our new breeding partnerships with Limagrain. Fast Facts about the Future of Pulse Breeding & Pulse Breeding Landscape Fast Facts about SPG's Breeding Partnership with Limagrain
All three Bandits are here for an inker and artist whose work has graced the pages of so many of the books we love. It's Bill Reinhold! Bill's been on the comics scene since the 80s, inking over a who's who of artists, including Jon Bogdanove, Steve Ditko, Ron Garney, Keith Giffen, Adam Kubert, John Paul Leon, Doug Braithwaite, and Ron Lim. He's worked at Marvel, DC, and First Comics, on books such as Badger, Daredevil, Batman, Green Arrow, Hulk, and Amazing Spider-Man. He even inked the entirety of the massive Earth X trilogy. We get into all of that, as well as his work with Mike Baron, including Spyke, and his graphic novel with Carl Potts, The Flying Column: Road to Manila. You can follow Bill on all the socials, @billreinhold, and at his site, billreinhold.com. __________________________________________If you liked this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And tell your friends!Looking for more ways to express your undying DBB love and devotion? Email us at dollarbinbandits@gmail.com. Follow us @dollarbinbandits on Facebook and Instagram, and @DBBandits on Twitter.
In this episode, SPG's Executive Director, Carl Potts, sits down with Tracy Broughton, Executive Director of SaskCanola and Trent Richards, SPG Chair. They discuss how Saskatchewan's crop commissions come together to advocate on behalf of growers on broad policy issues including grain contracts and carbon policy. Click here to read the article on SaskCrops and collaborative advocacy for growers.
In this episode, SPG's Executive Director, Carl Potts, sits down with Marlene Boersch, owner and managing partner at Mercantile Consulting Venture Inc. They discuss the market outlook for pulse crops including lentil, pea, and chickpea.
In this episode, SPG's Executive Director, Carl Potts, sits down with the 2022 Pulse Promoter Award winner, Gordon Bacon, CEO Emeritus at Pulse Canada and Director, Food Systems for Global Pulse Confederation. They discuss some of Gordon's achievements and best memories of his time working in the pulse industry.
ForceCast Network: Star Wars News and Commentary (All Shows)
In this epic episode Joe heads to Club Obi Wan to speak with Stuart Chafetz - conductor of Columbus Symphony and Chris Poggiali - film historian on Secret of the Incas blu-ray release, Official IndyCast correspondent Mitch Hallock reviews the Holy Grail, Chris A speaks with prop maker Tony Harrison, the FA team recap TerrifiCon with Carl Potts, Al Milgrom, Sam de la Rosa, Bob Budianski, and Bob McLeod and we have a Disneyland merchandise report!
ForceCast Network: Star Wars News and Commentary (All Shows)
In this epic episode Joe heads to Club Obi Wan to speak with Stuart Chafetz - conductor of Columbus Symphony and Chris Poggiali - film historian on Secret of the Incas blu-ray release, Official IndyCast correspondent Mitch Hallock reviews the Holy Grail, Chris A speaks with prop maker Tony Harrison, the FA team recap TerrifiCon with Carl Potts, Al Milgrom, Sam de la Rosa, Bob Budianski, and Bob McLeod and we have a Disneyland merchandise report!
In this epic episode Joe heads to Club Obi Wan to speak with Stuart Chafetz - conductor of Columbus Symphony and Chris Poggiali - film historian on Secret of the Incas blu-ray release, Official IndyCast correspondent Mitch Hallock reviews the Holy Grail, Chris A speaks with prop maker Tony Harrison, the FA team recap TerrifiCon with Carl Potts, Al Milgrom, Sam de la Rosa, Bob Budianski, and Bob McLeod and we have a Disneyland merchandise report!
In this epic episode Joe heads to Club Obi Wan to speak with Stuart Chafetz - conductor of Columbus Symphony and Chris Poggiali - film historian on Secret of the Incas blu-ray release, Official IndyCast correspondent Mitch Hallock reviews the Holy Grail, Chris A speaks with prop maker Tony Harrison, the FA team recap TerrifiCon with Carl Potts, Al Milgrom, Sam de la Rosa, Bob Budianski, and Bob McLeod and we have a Disneyland merchandise report!
If the price of feed grain remains at its current high level, consumers can expect continued higher meat prices. A combination of factors including shortages of locally produced feed grains due to last year's drought, transportation challenges due to COVID-19 and generally higher global grain prices due to the war in Ukraine has pushed grain prices to record levels. Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork Farms, says, if grain prices are going to be at a higher-level longer term, and grain is in short supply, the price is going be higher for meat prices. Saskatchewan Pulse Growers has entered into a plant breeding agreement with Limagrain Field Seeds. This will likely be the first in a series of deals SPG makes with private companies following the end of a long-term agreement with the University of Saskatchewan Crop Development Centre.Carl Potts the executive director of Saskatchewan Pulse Growers Potts says the new environment will encourage multiple pulse crop breeding programs . . . and a transition from a royalty-free system, to growers paying for access to new varieties like they do for other crops. He will outline the deal with Limagrain.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Pulse growers have been waiting to hear who their next dance partner will be when it came to breeding new varieties. Now they know, as Saskatchewan Pulse Growers (SPG) and Limagrain Field Seeds have announced a six-year breeding agreement. Announced July 19, this first agreement is one of several SPG will announce says Carl Potts, executive... Read More
What, another member of the Crusty Bunkers?! That's right, time to punch one more hole in your CB frequency card, because we have Mr. Carl Potts on the pod! This card-carrying member of Neal Adams' Continuity Studios got his start adapting TV shows like The Six Million Dollar Man before landing at Marvel in 1983. As an editor, Carl was a talent magnet, having brought on or mentored such luminaries (and some past guests) as Art Adams, Jon Bogdanove, June Brigman, Mike Mignola, Larry Stroman, Whilce Portacio, and Scott Williams! He also oversaw the first Rocket Raccoon miniseries, the launch of Punisher War Journal (with Jim Lee), and the creator-owned Epic imprint. All this, and he co-created Alien Legion too! So settle in, Banditos: Carl's got some stories to tell...__________________________________Check out a video version of this episode on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/dollarbinbandits.If you liked this podcast, please rate, review, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts. And tell your friends!Looking for more ways to express your undying DBB love and devotion? Email us at dollarbinbandits@gmail.com. Follow us @dollarbinbandits on Facebook and Instagram, and @DBBandits on Twitter.
Reviewing Iron Man #234 (by David Michelinie, Jackson Guice, Bob Layton), Thor #391 (by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding), plus Marvel Fanfare #42 (by Carl Potts, Terry Shoemaker). www.ComicBookSyndicate.com
Alex Grand and Jim Thompson interview comic writer and 90s Batman thinktank, Chuck Dixon discussing his comic origins in the 80s independent circuit with Evangeline and Airboy, working for Archie Goodwin & Carl Potts on Epic & Marvel Comics, working with Denny O'Neill on Gotham City & the Batman comics of the 1990s creating properties utilized in movies, animation & Cartoons, leaving DC Comics for Crossgen comics, writing Simpsons & Transformers comics, his work with Sylvestor Stallone, and the more polarizing aspects of the author's current projects, his collaborators and associations, and his views of the contemporary comics industry. Edited & Produced by Alex Grand. Images used in artwork ©Their Respective Copyright holders, CBH Podcast ©Comic Book Historians. Thumbnail Artwork ©Comic Book Historians.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistorians)
This is a GREAT INTERVIEW with the Mighty Mike Baron! We go IN DEEP on THIN BLUE LINE, Mike's incredible new cop comic book, where raging mobs burn down the city as two cops fight for their community... and for their very survival...which Mike is currently funding on IndieGoGo! This is an incredible sounding book and I highly recommend listeners back this! Dave is ALL IN! Also, Mike now has BLUE HAIR, as supporters have hit a GOAL on the Indiegogo, Dave (of course) gets Mike to talk some Punisher, some Microchip, Carl Potts, Denny O'Neill, Helmet Head, and even some Kolchak NON Memories! Sit back, put the feet up, and enjoy! And don't forget to back THIN BLUE LINE! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/thin-blue-line-the-graphic-novel-by-mike-baron#/ Please support the show on Patreon! Every dollar helps the show! https://www.patreon.com/SignalofDoom Follow us on Twitter: @signalofdoom Dredd or Dead: @OrDredd Legion Outpost: @legionoutpost Follow Dave on Twitter: @redlantern2051
CBH's Alex Grand travels to Johnstown, PA for the 2021 Ditko Comic Convention hosted by the Bottleworks Ethnic Art Center and the Ditko Family. Steve Ditko, his Bottleworks art exhibit and the Ditko convention is discussed here with Ditkoverse coordinator and nephew, Mark Ditko as well as comics editor and writer Carl Potts, writer-artist Javier Hernandez, visuaLecturist Arlen Schumer, and former senior VP at MGM David Armstrong. Each one shares an aspect or anecdote about Steve Ditko that most people don't know about. Where do Ditko hands come from?
Happy Halloween! We're joined by comics scribe Daniel "D.G." Chichester to talk about the history of horror comics, Marvel's return to the genre in the early 1990s, and the macabre anti-hero Terror (whom Chichester co-created). ----more---- Issue 18 Transcript Mike: [00:00:00] It's small, but feisty, Mike: Welcome to Tencent Takes, the podcast where we dig up comic book characters' graves and misappropriate the bodies, one issue at a time. My name is Mike Thompson, and I am joined by my cohost, the Titan of terror herself, Jessika Frazer. Jessika: It is I. Mike: Today, we are extremely fortunate to have comics writer, Daniel, DG Chichester. Dan: Nice to see you both. Mike: Thank you so much for taking the time. You're actually our first official guest on the podcast. Dan: Wow. Okay. I'm going to take that as a good thing. That's great. Mike: Yeah. Well, if you're new to the show, the purpose of our [00:01:00] podcast as always is to look at the weirdest, silliest, coolest moments of comic books, and talk about them in ways that are fun and informative. In this case, we looking at also the spookiest moments, and how they're woven into the larger fabric of pop culture and history. Today, we're going to be talking about horror comics. We're looking at their overall history as well as their resurrection at Marvel in the early 1990s, and how it helped give birth to one of my favorite comic characters, an undead anti-hero who went by the name of Terror. Dan, before we started going down this road, could you tell us a little bit about your history in the comic book industry, and also where people can find you if they want to learn more about you and your work? Dan: Absolutely. At this point, people may not even know I had a history in comic books, but that's not true. Uh, I began at Marvel as an assistant in the mid-eighties while I was still going to film school and, semi quickly kind of graduated up, to a more official, [00:02:00] assistant editor position. Worked my way up through editorial, and then, segued into freelance writing primarily for, but also for DC and Dark Horse and worked on a lot of, semi-permanent titles, Daredevil's probably the best known of them. But I think I was right in the thick of a lot of what you're going to be talking about today in terms of horror comics, especially at Marvel, where I was fiercely interested in kind of getting that going. And I think pushed for certain things, and certainly pushed to be involved in those such as the Hellraiser and Nightbreed Clive Barker projects and Night Stalkers and, uh, and Terror Incorporated, which we're going to talk about. And wherever else I could get some spooky stuff going. And I continued on in that, heavily until about 96 / 97, when the big crash kind of happened, continued on through about 99 and then have not really been that actively involved since then. But folks can find out what I'm doing now, if they go to story maze.substack.com, where I have a weekly newsletter, which features [00:03:00] new fiction and some things that I think are pretty cool that are going on in storytelling, and also a bit of a retrospective of looking back at a lot of the work that I did. Mike: Awesome. Before we actually get started talking about horror comics, normally we talk about one cool thing that we have read or watched recently, but because this episode is going to be dropping right before Halloween, what is your favorite Halloween movie or comic book? Dan: I mean, movies are just terrific. And there's so many when I saw that question, especially in terms of horror and a lot of things immediately jumped to mind. The movie It Follows, the recent It movie, The Mist, Reanimator, are all big favorites. I like horror movies that really kind of get under your skin and horrify you, not just rack up a body count. But what I finally settled on as a favorite is probably John Carpenter's the Thing, which I just think is one of the gruesomest what is going to happen next? What the fuck is going to happen next?[00:04:00] And just utter dread. I mean, there's just so many things that combined for me on that one. And I think in terms of comics, I've recently become just a huge fan of, and I'm probably going to slaughter the name, but Junji Ito's work, the Japanese manga artist. And, Uzumaki, which is this manga, which is about just the bizarreness of this town, overwhelmed with spirals of all things. And if you have not read that, it is, it is the trippiest most unsettling thing I've read in, in a great long time. So happy Halloween with that one. Mike: So that would be mango, right? Dan: Yeah. Yeah. So you'd make sure you read it in the right order, or otherwise it's very confusing, so. Mike: Yeah, we actually, haven't talked a lot about manga on this. We probably should do a deep dive on it at some point. But, Jessika, how about you? Jessika: Well, I'm going to bring it down a little bit more silly because I've always been a fan of horror and the macabre and supernatural. So always grew up seeking creepy media as [00:05:00] a rule, but I also loves me some silliness. So the last three or so years, I've had a tradition of watching Hocus Pocus with my friend, Rob around Halloween time. And it's silly and it's not very heavy on the actual horror aspect, but it's fun. And it holds up surprisingly well. Mike: Yeah, we have all the Funkos of the Sanderson sisters in our house. Jessika: It's amazing watching it in HD, their costumes are so intricate and that really doesn't come across on, you know, old VHS or watching it on television back in the day. And it's just, it's so fun. How much, just time and effort it looks like they put into it, even though some of those details really weren't going to translate. Dan: How very cool. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Yeah. So, but I also really like actual horror, so I'm also in the next couple of days is going to be a visiting the 1963 Haunting of Hill House because that's one of my favorites. Yeah. It's so good. And used to own the book that the movie was based on also. And seen all the [00:06:00] iterations and it's the same storyline the recent Haunting of Hill house is based on, which is great. That plot line has been reworked so many times, but it's such a great story, I'm just not shocked in the least that it would run through so many iterations and still be accepted by the public in each of its forms. Mike: Yeah. I really liked that Netflix interpretation of it, it was really good. Dan: They really creeped everything out. Mike: Yeah. There's a YouTuber called Lady Night, The Brave, and she does a really great summary breakdown explaining a lot of the themes and it's like almost two hours I think, of YouTube video, but she does these really lovely retrospectives. So, highly recommend you check that out. If you want to just think about that the Haunting of Hill House more. Jessika: Oh, I do. Yes. Mike: I'm going to split the difference between you two. When I was growing up, I was this very timid kid and the idea of horror just creeped me out. And so I avoided it like the plague. And then when I was in high [00:07:00] school, I had some friends show me some movies and I was like, these are great, why was I afraid of this stuff? And so I kind of dove all the way in. But my preferred genre is horror comedy. That is the one that you can always get me in on. And, I really love this movie from the mid-nineties called the Frighteners, which is a horror comedy starring Michael J. Fox, and it's directed by Peter Jackson. And it was written by Peter Jackson and his partner, Fran Walsh. And it was a few years before they, you know, went on to make a couple of movies based on this little known franchise called Lord of the Rings. But it's really wild. It's weird, and it's funny, and it has some genuine jump scare moments. And there's this really great ghost story at the core of it. And the special effects at the time were considered amazing and groundbreaking, but now they're kind of, you look at, and you're like, oh, that's, high-end CG, high-end in the mid-nineties. Okay. But [00:08:00] yeah, like I said, or comedies are my absolute favorite things to watch. That's why Cabin in the Woods always shows up in our horror rotation as well. Same with Tucker and Dale vs Evil. That's my bread and butter. With comic books, I go a little bit creepier. I think I talked about the Nice House on the Lake, that's the current series that I'm reading from DC that's genuinely creepy and really thoughtful and fun. And it's by James Tynion who also wrote Something That's Killing the Children. So those are excellent things to read if you're in the mood for a good horror comic. Dan: Great choice on the Frighteners. That's I think an unsung classic, that I'm going to think probably came out 10 years too early. Mike: Yeah. Dan: It's such a mashup of different, weird vibes, that it would probably do really, really well today. But at that point in time, it was just, what is this? You know? Cause it's, it's just cause the horrifying thing in it are really horrifying. And, uh, Gary Busey's son, right, plays the evil ghost and he is just trippy, off the wall, you know, horrifying. [00:09:00] Mike: Yeah. And it starts so silly, and then it kind of just continues to go creepier and creepier, and by the time that they do some of the twists revealing his, you know, his agent in the real world, it's a genuine twist. Like, I was really surprised the first time I saw it and I - Dan: Yeah. Mike: was so creeped out, but yeah. Dan: Plus it's got R. Lee Ermey as the army ghost, which is just incredible. So, Mike: Yeah. And, Chi McBride is in it, and, Jeffrey Combs. Dan: Oh, oh that's right, right. right. Mike: Yeah. So yeah, it's a lot of fun. Mike: All right. So, I suppose we should saunter into the graveyard, as it were, and start talking about the history of horror comics. So, Dan, obviously I know that you're familiar with horror comics, Dan: A little bit. Mike: Yeah. What about you, Jess? You familiar with horror comics other than what we've talked about in the show? Jessika: I started getting into it once you and I started, you know, talking more on the [00:10:00] show. And so I grabbed a few things. I haven't looked through all of them yet, but I picked up some older ones. I did just recently pick up, it'll be more of a, kind of a funny horror one, but they did a recent Elvira and Vincent Price. So, yeah, so I picked that up, but issue one of that. So it's sitting on my counter ready for me to read right now. Mike: Well, and that's funny, cause Elvira actually has a really long, storied history in comic books. Like she first appeared in kind of like the revival of House of Mystery that DC did. And then she had an eighties series that had over a hundred issues that had a bunch of now major names involved. And she's continued to have series like, you can go to our website and get autographed copies of her recent series from, I think Dynamite. Jessika: That's cool. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Nice. Mike: Speaking of horror comedy Elvira is great. Jessika: Yes. Mike: I recently showed Sarah the Elvira Mistress of the Dark movie and she was, I think really sad that I hadn't showed it to her sooner. Jessika: [00:11:00] That's another one I need to go watch this week. Wow. Don't- nobody call me. I'm just watching movies all week. Dan: Exactly. Mike: It's on a bunch of different streaming services, I think right now. Well it turns out that horror comics, have pretty much been a part of the industry since it really became a proven medium. You know, it wasn't long after comics became a legit medium in their own, right that horror elements started showing up in superhero books, which like, I mean, it isn't too surprising. Like the 1930's was when we got the Universal classic movie monsters, so it makes a lot of sense that those kinds of characters would start crossing over into comic books, just to take advantage of that popularity. Jerry Siegel and Joel Schuster, the guys who created Superman, actually created the supernatural investigator called Dr. Occult in New Fun Comics three years before they brought Superman to life. And Dr. Occult still shows up in DC books. Like, he was a major character in the Books of Magic with Neil Gaiman. I think he may show up in Sandman later on. I can't remember. Jessika: Oh, okay. Dan: I wouldn't be surprised. Neil would find ways to mine that. [00:12:00] Mike: Yeah. I mean, that was a lot of what the Sandman was about, was taking advantage of kind of long forgotten characters that DC had had and weaving them into his narratives. And, if you're interested in that, we talk about that in our book club episodes, which we're currently going through every other episode. So the next episode after this is going to be the third episode of our book club, where we cover volumes five and six. So, horror comics though really started to pick up in the 1940s. There's multiple comic historians who say that the first ongoing horror series was Prized Comics, New Adventures of Frankenstein, which featured this updated take on the original story by Mary Shelley. It took place in America. The monster was named Frankenstein. He was immediately a terror. It's not great, but it's acknowledged as being really kind of the first ongoing horror story. And it's really not even that much of a horror story other than it featured Frankenstein's monster. But after that, a number of publishers started to put out adaptations of classic horror stories for awhile. So you had [00:13:00] Avon Publications making it official in 1946 with the comic Erie, which is based on the first real dedicated horror comic. Yeah. This is the original cover to Erie Comics. Number one, if you could paint us a word picture. Dan: Wow. This is high end stuff as it's coming through. Well it looks a lot like a Zine or something, you know it's got a very, Mac paint logo from 1990, you know, it's, it's your, your typical sort of like, ooh, I'm shaky kind of logo. That's Eerie Comics. There's a Nosferatu looking character. Who's coming down some stairs with the pale moon behind him. It, he's got a knife in his hand, so, you know, he's up to no good. And there is a femme fatale at the base of the stairs. She may have moved off of some train tracks to get here. And, uh, she's got a, uh, a low, cut dress, a lot of leg and the arms and the wrists are bound, but all this for only 10. cents. So, I think there's a, there's a bargain there.[00:14:00] Mike: That is an excellent description. Thank you. So, what's funny is that Erie at the time was the first, you know, official horror comic, really, but it only had one issue that came out and then it sort of vanished from sight. It came back with a new series that started with a new number one in the 1950s, but this was the proverbial, the shot that started the war. You know, we started seeing a ton of anthology series focusing on horror, like Adventures into the Unknown, which ran into the 1960s and then Amazing Mysteries and Marvel Tales were repurposed series for Marvel that they basically changed the name of existing series into these. And they started doing kind of macabre, weird stories. And then, we hit the 1950s. And the early part of the 1950s was when horror comics really seemed to take off and experienced this insane success. We've talked about how in the post-WWII America, superhero comics were kind of declining in [00:15:00] popularity. By the mid 1950s, only three heroes actually had their own books and that was Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Which, I didn't realize that until I was doing research. I didn't, I just assumed that there were other superhero comics at the time. But we started seeing comics about horror and crime and romance really starting to get larger shares of the market. And then EC Comics was one of those doing gangbuster business during this whole era. Like, this was when we saw those iconic series, the Haunt of Fear, the Vault of Horror, the Crypt of Terror, which was eventually rebranded to Tales from the Crypt. Those all launched and they found major success. And then the bigger publishers were also getting in on this boom. During the first half of the 1950s Atlas, which eventually became Marvel, released almost 400 issues across 18 horror titles. And then American Comics Group released almost 125 issues between five different horror titles. Ace comics did almost a hundred issues between five titles. I'm curious. I'm gonna ask both of you, what [00:16:00] do you think the market share of horror comics was at the time? Dan: In terms of comics or in terms of just like newsstand, magazine, distribution. Mike: I'm going to say in terms of distribution. Dan: I mean, I know they were phenomenally successful. I would, be surprised if it was over 60%. Mike: Okay. How about. Jessika: Oh, goodness. Let's throw a number out. I'm going to say 65 just because I want to get close enough, but maybe bump it up just a little bit. This is a contest now. Dan: The precision now, like the 65. Jessika: Yes. Mike: Okay. Well, obviously we don't have like a hard definite number, but there was a 2009 article from reason magazine saying that horror books made up a quarter of all comics by 1953. So, so you guys were overestimating it, but it was still pretty substantial. At the same time, we were also seeing a surge in horror films. Like, the 1950s are known as the atomic age and media reflected [00:17:00] societal anxiety, at the possibility of nuclear war and to a lesser extent, white anxiety about societal changes. So this was the decade that gave us Invasion of the Body Snatchers The Thing from Another World, which led to John Carpenter's The Thing eventually. Um, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Hammer horror films also started to get really huge during this time. So we saw the beginning of stuff like Christopher Lee's, Dracula series of films. So the fifties were like a really good decade for horror, I feel. But at the same time, violent crime in America started to pick up around this period. And people really started focusing on juvenile criminals and what was driving them. So, there were a lot of theories about why this was going on and no one's ever really come up with a definite answer, but there was the psychiatrist named Frederick Wortham who Dan, I yeah. Dan: Oh yeah, psychiatrist in big air quotes, yeah. Mike: In quotes. Yeah. [00:18:00] Yeah. And he was convinced that the rise in crime was due to comics, and he spent years writing and speaking against them. He almost turned it into a cottage industry for himself. And this culminated in 1954, when he published a book called Seduction of the Innocent, that blamed comic books for the rise in juvenile delinquency, and his arguments are laughable. Like, I mean, there's just no way around it. Like you read this stuff and you can't help, but roll your eyes and chuckle. But, at the time comics were a relatively new medium, you know, and people really only associated them with kids. And his arguments were saying, oh, well, Wonder Woman was a lesbian because of her strength and independence, which these days, I feel like that actually has a little bit of credibility, but, like, I don't know. But I don't really feel like that's contributing to the delinquency of the youth. You know, and then he also said that Batman and Robin were in a homosexual relationship. And then my favorite was that Superman comics were [00:19:00] un-American and fascist. Dan: Well. Mike: All right. Dan: There's people who would argue that today. Mike: I mean, but yeah, and then he actually, he got attention because there were televised hearings with the Senate subcommittee on juvenile delinquency. I mean, honestly, every time I think about Seduction of the Innocent and how it led to the Comics Code Authority. I see the parallels with Tipper Gore's Parent Music Resource Center, and how they got the Parental Advisory sticker on certain music albums, or Joe Lieberman's hearings on video games in the 1990's and how that led to the Electronic Systems Reading Board system, you know, where you provide almost like movie ratings to video games. And Wortham also reminds me a lot of this guy named Jack Thompson, who was a lawyer in the nineties and aughts. And he was hell bent on proving a link between violent video games and school shootings. And he got a lot of media attention at the time until he was finally disbarred for his antics. But there was this [00:20:00] definite period where people were trying to link video games and violence. And, even though the statistics didn't back that up. And, I mean, I think about this a lot because I used to work in video games. I spent almost a decade working in the industry, but you know, it's that parallel of anytime there is a new form of media that is aimed at kids, it feels like there is a moral panic. Dan: Well, I think it goes back to what you were saying before about, you know, even as, as things change in society, you know, when people in society get at-risk, you know, you went to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Right. Which is classically thought to be a response to communism, you know, and the feelings of communist oppression and you know, the different, you know, the other, and it's the same thing. I think every single one of these is just a proof point of if you want to become, suddenly well-known like Lieberman or Wortham or anything, you know, pick the other that the older generation doesn't really understand, right? Maybe now there are more adults playing video games, but it's probably still perceived as a more juvenile [00:21:00] thing or comics or juvenile thing, or certain types of movies are a juvenile thing, you know, pick the other pick on it, hold it up as the weaponized, you know, piece, and suddenly you're popular. And you've got a great flashpoint that other people can rally around and blame, as if one single thing is almost ever the cause of everything. And I always think it's interesting, you know, the EC Comics, you know, issues in terms of, um, Wortham's witch hunt, you know, the interesting thing about those is yet they were gruesome and they are gruesome in there, but they're also by and large, I don't know the other ones as well, but I know the EC Comics by and large are basically morality plays, you know, they're straight up morality plays in the sense that the bad guys get it in the end, almost every time, like they do something, they do some horrific thing, but then the corpse comes back to life and gets them, you know, so there's, there's always a comeuppance where the scales balance. But that was of course never going to be [00:22:00] an argument when somebody can hold up a picture of, you know, a skull, you know, lurching around, you know, chewing on the end trails of something. And then that became all that was talked about. Mike: Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, spring boarding off of that, you know, worth them and the subcommittee hearings and all that, they led to the comics magazine association of America creating the Comics Code Authority. And this was basically in order to avoid government regulation. They said, no, no, no, we'll police ourselves so that you don't have to worry about this stuff. Which, I mean, again, that's what we did with the SRB. It was a response to that. We could avoid government censorship. So the code had a ton of requirements that each book had to meet in order to receive the Comics Code Seal of Approval on the cover. And one of the things you couldn't do was have quote, scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead or torture, which I mean,[00:23:00] okay. So the latter half of the 1950's saw a lot of these dedicated horror series, you know, basically being shut down or they drastically changed. This is, you know, the major publishers really freaked out. So Marvel and DC rebranded their major horror titles. They were more focused on suspense or mystery or Sci-Fi or superheroes in a couple of cases, independent publishers, didn't really have to worry about the seal for different reasons. Like, some of them were able to rely on the rep for publishing wholesome stuff like Dell or Gold Key. I think Gold Key at the time was doing a lot of the Disney books. So they just, they were like, whatever. Dan: Right, then EC, but, but EC had to shut down the whole line and then just became mad. Right? I mean, that's that was the transition at which William, you know, Gains - Mike: Yeah. Dan: basically couldn't contest what was going on. Couldn't survive the spotlight. You know, he testified famously at that hearing. But had to give up all of [00:24:00] that work that was phenomenally profitable for them. And then had to fall back to Mad Magazine, which of course worked out pretty well. Mike: Yeah, exactly. By the end of the 1960s, though, publishers started to kind of gently push back a little bit like, Warren publishing, and Erie publications, like really, they didn't give a shit. Like Warren launched a number of horror titles in the sixties, including Vampirilla, which is like, kind of, I feel it's sort of extreme in terms of both sex and horror, because I mean, we, we all know what Vampirilla his costume is. It hasn't changed in the 50, approximately 50 years that it's been out like. Dan: It's like, what can you do with dental floss, Right. When you were a vampire? I mean, that's basically like, she doesn't wear much. Mike: No, I mean, she never has. And then by the end of the sixties, Marvel and DC started to like kind of steer some of their books back towards the horror genre. Like how some Mystery was one of them where it, I think with issue 1 75, that was when they [00:25:00] took away, took it away from John Jones and dial H for Hero. And they were like, no, no, no, no. We're going to, we're going to bring, Cain back as the host and start telling horror morality plays again, which is what they were always doing. And this meant that the Comics Code Authority needed to update their code. So in 1971, they revised it to be a little bit more horror friendly. Jessika: Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with, walking dead or torture shall not be used. Vampires, ghouls and werewolves shall be permitted to be used when handled in the classic traditions, such as Frankenstein, Dracula, and other high caliber literary works written by Edgar Allen Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle, and other respected authors whose works are read in schools around the world. Mike: But at this point, Marvel and DC really jumped back into the horror genre. This was when we started getting books, like the tomb of Dracula, Ghost Rider, where will finite and son of Satan, and then DC had a [00:26:00] bunch of their series like they had, what was it? So it was originally The Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, and then it eventually got retitled to Forbidden Tales of the Dark Mansion. Like, just chef's kiss on that title. Dan: You can take that old Erie comic and throw, you know, the Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love as the title on that. And it would work, you know. Mike: I know. Right. So Dan, I'm curious, what is your favorite horror comic or comic character from this era? Dan: I would say, it was son of Satan, because it felt so trippy and forbidden, and I think comics have always, especially mainstream comics you know, I've always responded also to what's out there. Right. I don't think it's just a loosening the restrictions at that point, but in that error, what's going on, you're getting a lot of, I think the films of Race with the Devil and you're getting the Exorcist and you're getting, uh, the Omen, you know, Rosemary's baby. right. Satanism, [00:27:00] the devil, right. It's, it's high in pop culture. So true to form. You know, I think Son of Satan is in some ways, like a response of Marvel, you know, to that saying, let's glom onto this. And for a kid brought up in the Catholic church, there was a certain eeriness to this, ooh, we're reading about this. It's like, is it really going to be Satanism? And cause I was very nervous that we were not allowed even watch the Exorcist in our home, ever. You know, I didn't see the Exorcist until I was like out of high school. And I think also the character as he looks is just this really trippy look, right. At that point, if you're not familiar with the character, he's this buff dude, his hair flares up into horns, he just wears a Cape and he carries a giant trident, he's got a massive pentacle, I think a flaming pentacle, you know, etched in his chest. Um, he's ready to do business, ya know, in some strange form there. So for me, he was the one I glommed on to the most. [00:28:00] Mike: Yeah. Well, I mean, it was that whole era, it was just, it was Gothic horror brought back and Satanism and witchcraft is definitely a part of that genre. Dan: Sure. Mike: So, that said, kind of like any trend horror comics, you know, they have their rise and then they started to kind of fall out of popularity by the end of the seventies or the early eighties. I feel like it was a definite end of the era when both House of Mystery and Ghost Writer ended in 1983. But you know, there were still some individual books that were having success, but it just, it doesn't feel like Marvel did a lot with horror comics during the eighties. DC definitely had some luck with Alan Moore's run of the Swamp Thing. And then there was stuff like Hellblazer and Sandman. Which, as I mentioned, we're doing our book club episodes for, but also gave rise to Vertigo Comics, you know, in the early nineties. Not to say that horror comics still weren't a thing during this time, but it seems like the majority of them were coming from indie publishers. Off the top of my head, one example I think of still is Dead World, which basically created a zombie apocalypse [00:29:00] universe. And it started with Aero comics. It was created in the late eighties, and it's still going today. I think it's coming out from IDW now. But at the same time, it's not like American stopped enjoying horror stuff. Like this was the decade where we got Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm street, Evil Dead, Hellraiser, Poltergeist, Child's Play, just to name a few of the franchises that we were introduced to. And, I mentioned Hellraiser. I love Hellraiser, and Dan, I know that you have a pretty special connection to that brand. Dan: I do. I put pins in my face every night just to kind of keep my complexion, you know? Mike: So, let's transition over to the nineties and Marvel and let's start that off with Epic Comics. Epic started in the eighties, and it was basically a label that would print, create our own comics. And they eventually started to use label to produce, you know, in quotes, mature comics. So Wikipedia says that this was your first editorial job at Marvel was with the [00:30:00] Epic Line. Is that correct? Dan: Well, I'll go back and maybe do just a little correction on Epic's mission if you don't mind. Mike: Yeah, yeah. Dan: You know, first, which is it was always creator owned, and it did start as crude. And, but I don't think that ever then transitioned into more mature comics, sometimes that just was what creator-owned comics were. Right. That was just part of the mission. And so as a creator-owned imprint, it could be anything, it could be the silliest thing, it could be the most mature thing. So it was always, you know, part of what it was doing, and part of the mission of doing creator-owned comics, and Archie Goodwin was the editor in chief of that line, was really to give creators and in to Marvel. If we gave them a nice place to play with their properties, maybe they would want to go play in the mainstream Marvel. So you might get a creator who would never want to work for Marvel, for whatever reason, they would have a great Epic experience doing a range of things, and then they would go into this. So there was always levels of maturity and we always looked at it as very eclectic and challenging, you know, sometimes in a good [00:31:00] way. So I'll have to go back to Wikipedia and maybe correct them. My first job was actually, I was on the Marvel side and it was as the assistant to the assistant, to the editor in chief. So I would do all of the grunt work and the running around that the assistant to the editor in chief didn't want to do. And she would turn to me and say, Dan, you're going to go run around the city and find this thing for Jim Shooter. Now, then I did that for about five or six months, I was still in film school, and then left, which everyone was aghast, you don't leave Marvel comics, by choice. And, but I had, I was still in school. I had a summer job already sort of set up, and I left to go take that exciting summer job. And then I was called over the summer because there was an opening in the Epic line. And they want to know if I'd be interested in taking on this assistant editor's job. And I said, it would have to be part-time cause I still had a semester to finish in school, but they were intrigued and I was figuring, oh, well this is just kind of guaranteed job. [00:32:00] Never knowing it was going to become career-like, and so that was then sort of my second job. Mike: Awesome. So this is going to bring us to the character of Terror. So he was introduced as a character in the Shadow Line Saga, which was one of those mature comics, it was like a mature superhero universe. That took place in a few different series under the Epic imprint. There was Dr. Zero, there was St. George, and then there was Power Line. Right. Dan: That's correct, yep. Mike: And so the Shadow Line Saga took his name from the idea that there were these beings called Shadows, they were basically super powered immortal beings. And then Terror himself first appeared as Shrek. He's this weird looking enforcer for a crime family in St. George. And he becomes kind of a recurring nemesis for the main character. He's kind of like the street-level boss while it's hinting that there's going to be a eventual confrontation between the main character of St. George and Dr. Zero, who is kind of [00:33:00] a Superman character, but it turns out he has been manipulating humanity for, you know, millennia at this point. Dan: I think you've encapsulated it quite well. Mike: Well, thank you. So the Shadow Line Saga, that only lasted for about what a year or two? Dan: Probably a couple of years, maybe a little over. There was about, I believe, eight to nine issues of each of the, the main comics, the ones you just cited. And then we segued those over to, sort of, uh, an omni series we call Critical Mass, which brought together all three characters or storylines. And then try to tell this, excuse the pun, epic, you know story, which will advance them all. And so wrapped up a lot of loose ends and, um, you know, became quite involved now. Mike: Okay. Dan: It ran about seven or eight issues. Mike: Okay. Now a couple of years after Terror was introduced under the Epic label, Marvel introduced a new Ghost Rider series in 1990 that hit that sweet spot of like nineties extreme with a capital X and, and, you know, [00:34:00] it also gave us a spooky anti heroes like that Venn diagram, where it was like spooky and extreme and rides a motorcycle and right in the middle, you had Ghost Rider, but from what I understand the series did really well, commercially for Marvel. Comichron, which is the, the comic sales tracking site, notes that early issues were often in the top 10 books sold each month for 91. Like there are eight issues of Ghost Rider, books that are in the top 100 books for that year. So it's not really surprising that Marvel decided to go in really hard with supernatural characters. And in 1992, we had this whole batch of horror hero books launch. We had Spirits of Vengeance, which was a spinoff from Ghost Rider, which saw a Ghost Rider teaming up with Johnny Blaze, and it was the original Ghost Writer. And he didn't have a hellfire motorcycle this time, but he had a shotgun that would fire hell fire, you know, and he had a ponytail, it was magnificent. And then there was also the Night Stalkers, [00:35:00] which was a trio of supernatural investigators. There was Hannibal King and Blade and oh, I'm blanking on the third one. Dan: Frank Drake. Mike: Yeah. And Frank Drake was a vampire, right? Dan: And he was a descendant of Dracula, but also was a vampire who had sort of been cured. Um, he didn't have a hunger for human blood, but he still had a necessity for some type of blood and possessed all the attributes, you know, of a vampire, you know, you could do all the powers, couldn't go out in the daylight, that sort of thing. So, the best and worst of both worlds. Mike: Right. And then on top of that, we had the Dark Hold, which it's kind of like the Marvel equivalent of the Necronomicon is the best way I can describe it. Dan: Absolutely. Yup. Mike: And that's showed up in Agents of Shield since then. And they just recently brought it into the MCU. That was a thing that showed up in Wanda Vision towards the end. So that's gonna clearly reappear. And then we also got Morbius who is the living vampire from [00:36:00] Spider-Man and it's great. He shows up in this series and he's got this very goth rock outfit, is just it's great. Dan: Which looked a lot like how Len Kaminsky dressed in those days in all honesty. Mike: Yeah, okay. Dan: So Len will now kill me for that, but. Mike: Oh, well, but yeah, so these guys were all introduced via a crossover event called Rise of the Midnight Sons, which saw all of these heroes, you know, getting their own books. And then they also teamed up with Dr. Strange to fight against Lilith the mother of demons. And she was basically trying to unleash her monstrous spawn across the world. And this was at the same time the Terror wound up invading the Marvel Universe. So if you were going to give an elevator pitch for Terror in the Marvel Universe, how would you describe him? Dan: I actually wrote one down, I'll read it to you, cause you, you know, you put that there and was like, oh gosh, I got to like now pitch this. A mythic manifestation of fear exists in our times, a top dollar mercenary for hire using a supernatural [00:37:00] ability to attach stolen body parts to himself in order to activate the inherit ability of the original owner. A locksmith's hand or a marksman, his eye or a kickboxer his legs, his gruesome talent gives him the edge to take on the jobs no one else can, he accomplishes with Savage, restyle, scorn, snark, and impeccable business acumen. So. Mike: That's so good. It's so good. I just, I have to tell you the twelve-year-old Mike is like giddy to be able to talk to you about this. Dan: I was pretty giddy when I was writing this stuff. So that's good. Mike: So how did Terror wind up crossing into the Marvel Universe? Like, because he just showed shows up in a couple of cameos in some Daredevil issues that you also wrote. I believe. Dan: Yeah, I don't know if he'd showed up before the book itself launched that might've, I mean, the timing was all around the same time. But everybody who was involved with Terror, love that Terror and Terror Incorporated, which was really actual title. Love the hell out of [00:38:00] the book, right. And myself, the editors, Carl Potts, who was the editor in chief, we all knew it was weird and unique. And, at one point when I, you know, said to Carl afterwards, well I'm just gonna take this whole concept and go somewhere else with it, he said, you can't, you made up something that, you know, can't really be replicated without people knowing exactly what you're doing. It's not just another guy with claws or a big muscle guy. How many people grab other people's body parts? So I said, you know, fie on me, but we all loved it. So when, the Shadowline stuff kind of went away, uh, and he was sort of kicking out there is still, uh, Carl came to me one day and, and said, listen, we love this character. We're thinking of doing something with horror in Marvel. This was before the Rise of the Midnight Sons. So it kind of came a little bit ahead of that. I think this eventually would become exactly the Rise of the Midnight Sons, but we want to bring together a lot of these unused horror characters, like Werewolf by Night, Man Thing, or whatever, but we want a central kind of [00:39:00] character who, navigates them or maybe introduces them. Wasn't quite clear what, and they thought Terror, or Shrek as he still was at that point, could be that character. He could almost be a Crypt Keeper, maybe, it wasn't quite fully baked. And, so we started to bounce this around a little bit, and then I got a call from Carl and said, yeah, that's off. We're going to do something else with these horror characters, which again would eventually become probably the Midnight Sons stuff. But he said, but we still want to do something with it. You know? So my disappointment went to, oh, what do you mean? How could we do anything? He said, what if you just bring him into the Marvel Universe? We won't say anything about what he did before, and just use him as a character and start over with him operating as this high-end mercenary, you know, what's he going to do? What is Terror Incorporated, and how does he do business within the Marvel world? And so I said, yes, of course, I'm not going to say that, you know, any quicker and just jumped into [00:40:00] it. And I didn't really worry about the transition, you know, I wasn't thinking too much about, okay. How does he get from Shadow Line world, to earth 616 or whatever, Marcus McLaurin, who was the editor. God bless him, for years would resist any discussion or no, no, it's not the same character. Marcus, it's the same character I'm using the same lines. I'm having him referenced the same fact that he's had different versions of the word terrors, his name at one point, he makes a joke about the Saint George complex. I mean, it's the same character. Mike: Yeah. Dan: But , you know, Marcus was a very good soldier to the Marvel hierarchy. So we just really brought him over and we just went all in on him in terms of, okay, what could a character like this play in the Marvel world? And he played really well in certain instances, but he certainly was very different than probably anything else that was going on at the time. Mike: Yeah. I mean, there certainly wasn't a character like him before. So all the Wikias, like [00:41:00] Wikipedia, all the Marvel fan sites, they all list Daredevil 305 as Terror's first official appearance in. Dan: Could be. Mike: Yeah, but I want to talk about that for a second, because that is, I think the greatest villain that I've ever seen in a Marvel comic, which was the Surgeon General, who is this woman who is commanding an army of like, I mean, basically it's like a full-scale operation of that urban myth of - Dan: Yeah. Mike: -the dude goes home with an attractive woman that he meets at the club. And then he wakes up in a bathtub full of ice and he's missing organs. Dan: Yeah. You know, sometimes, you know, that was certainly urban myth territory, and I was a big student of urban myths and that was the sort of thing that I think would show up in the headlines every three to six months, but always one of those probably friend of a friend stories that. Mike: Oh yeah. Dan: Like a razor an apple or something like that, that never actually sort of tracks back. Mike: Well, I mean, the thing now is it's all edibles in candy and they're like, all the news outlets are showing officially [00:42:00] branded edibles. Which, what daddy Warbucks mother fucker. Jessika: Mike knows my stand on this. Like, no, no, nobody is buying expensive edibles. And then putting them in your child's candy. Like, No, no, that's stupid. Dan: No, it's the, it's the, easier version of putting the LSD tab or wasting your pins on children in Snickers bars. Jessika: Right. Dan: Um, but but I think, that, that storyline is interesting, Mike, cause it's the, it's one of the few times I had a plotline utterly just completely rejected by an editor because I think I was doing so much horror stuff at the time. Cause I was also concurrently doing the Hellraiser work, the Night Breed work. It would have been the beginning of the Night Stalkers work, cause I was heavily involved with the whole Midnight Sons work. And I went so far on the first plot and it was so grizzly and so gruesome that, Ralph Macchio who was the editor, called me up and said, yeah, this title is Daredevil. It's not Hellraiser. So I had to kind of back off [00:43:00] and realize, uh, yeah, I put a little too much emphasis on the grisliness there. So. Mike: That's amazing. Dan: She was an interesting, exploration of a character type. Mike: I'm really sad that she hasn't showed back up, especially cause it feels like it'd be kind of relevant these days with, you know, how broken the medical system is here in America. Dan: Yeah. It's, it's funny. And I never played with her again, which is, I think one of my many Achilles heels, you know, as I would sometimes introduce characters and then I would just not go back to them for some reason, I was always trying to kind of go forward onto something new. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Is there anything about Terror's character that you related to at the time, or now even. Dan: Um, probably being very imperious, very complicated, having a thing for long coats. Uh, I think all of those probably, you know, work then and now, I've kind of become convinced weirdly enough over time, that Terror was a character who [00:44:00] and I, you know, I co-created him with Margaret Clark and, and Klaus Janson, but I probably did the most work with him over the years, you know? So I feel maybe a little bit more ownership, but I've sort of become convinced that he was just his own thing, and he just existed out there in the ether, and all I was ultimately was a conduit that I was, I was just channeling this thing into our existence because he came so fully formed and whenever I would write him, he would just kind of take over the page and take over the instance. That's always how I've viewed him, which is different than many of the other things that I've written. Mike: He's certainly a larger than life personality, and in every sense of that expression. Jessika: Yes. Mike: I'm sorry for the terrible pun. Okay. So we've actually talked a bit about Terror, but I [00:45:00] feel like we need to have Jessika provide us with an overall summary of his brief series. Jessika: So the series is based on the titular character, of course, Terror, who is unable to die and has the ability to replace body parts and gains the skill and memory of that limb. So he might use the eye of a sharpshooter to improve his aim or the arm of an artist for a correct rendering. And because of the inability for his body to die, the dude looks gnarly. His face is a sick green color. He has spike whiskers coming out of the sides of his face, and he mostly lacks lips, sometimes he has lips, but he mostly lacks lips. So we always has this grim smile to his face. And he also has a metal arm, which is awesome. I love that. And he interchanges all of the rest of his body parts constantly. So in one scene he'll have a female arm and in another one it'll sport, an other worldly tentacle. [00:46:00] He states that his business is fear, but he is basically a paid mercenary, very much a dirty deeds, although not dirt cheap; Terror charges, quite a hefty sum for his services, but he is willing to do almost anything to get the job done. His first job is ending someone who has likewise immortal, air quotes, which involves finding an activating a half demon in order to open a portal and then trick a demon daddy to hand over the contract of immortality, you know, casual. He also has run-ins with Wolverine, Dr. Strange Punisher, Silver Sable, and Luke Cage. It's action packed, and you legitimately have no idea what new body part he is going to lose or gain in the moment, or what memory is going to pop up for him from the donor. And it keeps the reader guessing because Terror has no limitations. Mike: Yeah. Dan: was, I was so looking forward to hearing what your recap was going to be. I love that, so I just [00:47:00] want to say that. Jessika: Thank you. I had a lot of fun reading this. Not only was the plot and just the narrative itself, just rolling, but the art was fantastic. I mean, the things you can do with a character like that, there truly aren't any limits. And so it was really interesting to see how everything fell together and what he was doing each moment to kind of get out of whatever wacky situation he was in at the time.So. And his, and his quips, I just, the quips were just, they give me life. Mike: They're so good. Like there was one moment where he was sitting there and playing with the Lament Configuration, and the first issue, which I, I never noticed that before, as long as we ready this time and I was like, oh, that's great. And then he also made a St. George reference towards the end of the series where he was talking about, oh, I knew another guy who had a St. George complex. Dan: Right, right. Right, Mike: Like I love those little Easter eggs. Speaking of Easter eggs, there are a lot of Clive Barker Easter eggs throughout that whole series. Dan: [00:48:00] Well, That's it. That was so parallel at the time, you know. Mike: So around that time was when you were editing and then writing for the HellRaiser series and the Night Breed series, right? Dan: Yes. Certainly writing for them. Yeah. I mean, I did some consulting editing on the HellRaiser and other Barker books, after our lift staff, but, primarily writing at that point. Mike: Okay. Cause I have Hellraiser number one, and I think you're listed as an editor on it. Dan: I was, I started the whole Hellraiser anthology with other folks, you know, but I was the main driver, and I think that was one of the early instigators of kind of the rebirth of horror at that time. And, you know, going back to something you said earlier, you know, for many years, I was always, pressing Archie Goodwin, who worked at Warren, and worked on Erie, and worked on all those titles. You know, why can't we do a new horror anthology and he was quite sage like and saying, yeah. It'd be great to do it, but it's not going to sell there's no hook, right? There's no connection, you know, just horror for her sake. And it was when Clive Barker [00:49:00] came into our offices, and so I want to do something with Archie Goodwin. And then the two of them said, Hellraiser can be the hook. Right. Hellraiser can be the way in to sort of create an anthology series, have an identifiable icon, and then we developed out from there with Clive, with a couple of other folks Erik Saltzgaber, Phil Nutman, myself, Archie Goodwin, like what would be the world? And then the Bible that would actually give you enough, breadth and width to play with these characters that wouldn't just always be puzzle box, pinhead, puzzle box, pinhead, you know? And so we developed a fairly large set of rules and mythologies allowed for that. Mike: That's so cool. I mean, there really wasn't anything at all, like Hellraiser when it came out. Like, and there's still not a lot like it, but I - Jessika: Yeah, I was going to say, wait, what else? Mike: I mean, I feel like I've read other books since then, where there's that blending of sexuality and [00:50:00] horror and morality, because at the, at the core of it, Hellraiser often feels like a larger morality play. Dan: Now, you know, I'm going to disagree with you on that one. I mean, I think sometimes we let it slip in a morality and we played that out. But I think Hellraiser is sort of find what you want out of it. Right. You go back to the first film and it's, you know, what's your pleasure, sir? You know, it was when the guy hands up the book and the Centobites, you know, or angels to some demons, to others. So I think the book was at its best and the movies are at their best when it's not so much about the comeuppance as it is about find your place in here. Right? And that can be that sort of weird exploration of many different things. Mike: That's cool. So going back to Terror. Because we've talked about like how much we enjoyed the character and everything, I want to take a moment to talk about each of our favorite Terror moments. Dan: Okay. Mike: So Dan, why don't you start? What was your favorite moment for Terror [00:51:00] to write or going back to read? Dan: It's a great question, one of the toughest, because again, I had such delight in the character and felt such a connection, you know, in sort of channeling him in a way I could probably find you five, ten moments per issue, but, I actually think it was the it's in the first issue. And was probably the first line that sort of came to me. And then I wrote backwards from it, which was this, got your nose bit. And you know, it's the old gag of like when a parent's playing with a child and, you know, grabs at the nose and uses the thumb to represent the nose and says, got your nose. And there's a moment in that issue where I think he's just plummeted out of a skyscraper. He's, you know, fallen down into a police car. He's basically shattered. And this cop or security guard is kind of coming over to him and, and he just reaches out and grabs the guy's nose, you know, rips his arm off or something or legs to start to replace himself and, and just says, got your nose, but it's, but it's all a [00:52:00] build from this inner monologue that he's been doing. And so he's not responding to anything. He's not doing a quip to anything. He's just basically telling us a story and ending it with this, you know, delivery that basically says the guy has a complete condescending attitude and just signals that we're in his space. Like he doesn't need to kind of like do an Arnold response to something it's just, he's in his own little world moments I always just kind of go back to that got your nose moment, which is just creepy and crazy and strange. Mike: As soon as you mentioned that I was thinking of the panel that that was from, because it was such a great moment. I think it was the mob enforcers that had shot him up and he had jumped out of the skyscraper four and then they came down to finish him off and he wound up just ripping them apart so that he could rebuild himself. All right, Jessika, how about you? Jessika: I really enjoyed the part where Terror fights with sharks in order to free Silver Sable and Luke Cage. [00:53:00] It was so cool. There was just absolutely no fear as he went at the first shark head-on and, and then there were like five huge bloodthirsty sharks in the small tank. And Terror's just like, what an inconvenience. Oh, well. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: Like followed by a quippy remark, like in his head, of course. And I feel like he's such a solitary character that it makes sense that he would have such an active internal monologue. I find myself doing that. Like, you know, I mean, I have a dog, so he usually gets the brunt of it, but he, you know, it's, it is that you start to form like, sort of an internal conversation if you don't have that outside interaction. Dan: Right. Jessika: And I think a lot of us probably relate to that though this pandemic. Mike: Yeah. Jessika: But the one-liner thoughts, like, again, they make those scenes in my opinion, and it gave pause for levity. We don't have to be serious about this because really isn't life or death for Terror. We know that, and he just reminds us that constantly by just he's always so damn nonchalant. [00:54:00] Dan: Yeah. He does have a very, I'm not going to say suave, but it's, uh, you know, that sort of very, I've got this, you know, sort of attitude to it. Mike: I would, say that he's suave when he wants to be, I mean, like the last issue he's got his whiskers tied back and kind of a ponytail. Dan: Oh yeah. Jessika: Oh yeah. Dan: Richard Pace did a great job with that. Mike: Where he's dancing with his assistant in the restaurant and it's that final scene where he's got that really elegant tuxedo. Like. Dan: Yeah. It's very beautiful. Mike: I say that he can be suave and he wants to be. So I got to say like my favorite one, it was a visual gag that you guys did, and it's in issue six when he's fighting with the Punisher and he's got this, long guns sniper. And he shoots the Punisher point blank, and Terror's, like at this point he's lost his legs for like the sixth time. Like he seems to lose his legs, like once an issue where he's just a torso waddling around on his hands. And so he shoots him the force skids him back. [00:55:00] And I legit could not stop laughing for a good minute. Like I was just cackling when I read that. So I think all of us agree that it's those moments of weird levity that really made the series feel like something special. Dan: I'm not quite sure we're going to see that moment reenacted at the Disney Pavilion, you know, anytime soon. But, that would be pretty awesome if they ever went that route. Mike: Well, yeah, so, I mean, like, let's talk about that for a minute, because one of the main ways that I consume Marvel comics these days is through Marvel unlimited, and Terror is a pretty limited presence there. There's a few issues of various Deadpool series. There's the Marvel team up that I think Robert Kirkman did, where Terror shows up and he has some pretty cool moments in there. And then there's a couple of random issues of the 1990s Luke Cage series Cage, but like the core series, the Marvel max stuff, his appearance in books like Daredevil and Wolverine, they just don't seem to be available for consumption via the. App Like I had to go through my personal [00:56:00] collection to find all this stuff. And like, are the rights just more complicated because it was published under the Epic imprint and that was create her own stuff, like do you know? Dan: No, I mean, it wouldn't be it's choice, right. He's probably perceived as a, if people within the editorial group even know about him, right. I was reading something recently where some of the current editorial staff had to be schooled on who Jack Kirby was. So, I'm not sure how much exposure or, you know, interest there would be, you know, to that. I mean, I don't know why everything would be on Marvin unlimited. It doesn't seem like it requires anything except scanning the stuff and putting it up there. But there wouldn't be any rights issues. Marvel owned the Shadow Line, Marvel owns the Terror Incorporated title, it would have been there. So I'm not really sure why it wouldn't be. And maybe at some point it will, but, that's just an odd emission. I mean, for years, which I always felt like, well, what did I do wrong? I [00:57:00] mean, you can find very little of the Daredevil work I did, which was probably very well known and very well received in, in reprints. It would be like, there'd be reprints of almost every other storyline and then there'd be a gap around some of those things. And now they started to reappear as they've done these omnibus editions. Mike: Well, yeah, I mean, you know, and going back the awareness of the character, anytime I talk about Terror to people, it's probably a three out of four chance that they won't have heard of them before. I don't know if you're a part of the comic book historians group on Facebook? Dan: I'm not. No. Mike: So there's a lot of people who are really passionate about comic book history, and they talk about various things. And so when I was doing research for this episode originally, I was asking about kind of the revamp of supernatural heroes. And I said, you know, this was around the same time as Terror. And several people sat there and said, we haven't heard of Terror before. And I was like, he's great. He's amazing. You have to look them up. But yeah, it seems like, you know, to echo what you stated, it seems like there's just a lack of awareness about the character, which I feel is a genuine shame. And that's part of the [00:58:00] reason that I wanted to talk about him in this episode. Dan: Well, thank you. I mean, I love the spotlight and I think anytime I've talked to somebody about it who knew it, I've never heard somebody who read the book said, yeah, that sucks. Right. I've heard that about other things, but not about this one, invariably, if they read it, they loved it. And they were twisted and kind of got into it. But did have a limited run, right? It was only 13 issues. It didn't get the spotlight, it was sort of promised it kind of, it came out with a grouping of other mercenary titles at the time. There was a new Punisher title. There was a Silver Sable. There was a few other titles in this grouping. Everyone was promised a certain amount of additional PR, which they got; when it got to Terror. It didn't get that it like, they pulled the boost at the last minute that might not have made a difference. And I also think maybe it was a little bit ahead of its time in certain attitudes crossing the line between horror and [00:59:00] humor and overtness of certain things, at least for Marvel, like where do you fit this? I think the readers are fine. Readers are great about picking up on stuff and embracing things. For Marvel, it was kind of probably, and I'm not dissing them. I never got like any negative, you know, we're gonna launch this title, what we're going to dismiss it. But I just also think, unless it's somebody like me driving it or the editor driving it, or Carl Potts, who was the editor in chief of that division at that point, you know, unless they're pushing it, there's plenty of other characters Right. For, things to get behind. But I think again, anytime it kind of comes up, it is definitely the one that I hear about probably the most and the most passionately so that's cool in its own way. Mike: Yeah, I think I remember reading an interview that you did, where you were talking about how there was originally going to be like a gimmick cover or a trading card or something like that. Dan: Yeah. Mike: So what was the, what was the gimmick going to be for Terror number one? Dan: What was the gimmick going to be? I don't know, actually, I if I knew I [01:00:00] can't remember anymore. But it was going to be totally gimmicky, as all those titles and covers were at the time. So I hope not scratch and sniff like a, uh, rotting bodies odor, although that would have been kind of in-character and cool. Mike: I mean, this was the era of the gimmick cover. Dan: Oh, absolutely. Mike: Like,that was when that was when we had Bloodstrike come out and it was like the thermographic printing, so you could rub the blood and it would disappear. Force Works is my favorite one, you literally unfold the cover and it's like a pop-up book. Dan: Somebody actually keyed me in. There actually was like a Terror trading card at one point. Mike: Yeah. Dan: Like after the fact, which I was like, shocked. Mike: I have that, that's from Marvel Universe series four. Dan: Yeah. we did a pretty good job with it actually. And then even as we got to the end of the run, you know, we, and you can sort of see us where we're trying to shift certain aspects of the book, you know, more into the mainstream Marvel, because they said, well, we'll give you another seven issues or something, you know, to kind of get the numbers up. Mike: Right. Dan: And they pulled the plug, you know, even before that. So, uh, that's why [01:01:00] the end kind of comes a bit abruptly and we get that final coda scene, you know, that Richard Pace did such a nice job with. Mike: Yeah. I mean, it felt like it wrapped it up, you know, and they gave you that opportunity, which I was really kind of grateful for, to be honest. Dan: Yeah. and subsequently, I don't know what's going on. I know there was that David Lapham, you know, series, you did a couple of those, which I glanced at, I know I kind of got in the way of it a little bit too, not in the way, but I just said, remember to give us a little created by credits in that, but I didn't read those. And then, I know he was in the League of Losers at one point, which just didn't sound right to me. And, uh. Mike: It's actually. Okay. So I'm going to, I'm going to say this cause, it's basically a bunch of, kind of like the B to C listers for the most part. And. So they're called the Legal Losers. I think it's a really good story, and I actually really like what they do with Terror. He gets, she's now Spider Woman, I think it's, Anya Corazon, but it was her original incarnation of, Arana. And she's got that spider armor that like comes out of her arm. And so she [01:02:00] dies really on and he gets her arm. And then, Dan: That's cool. Mike: What happens is he makes a point of using the armor that she has. And so he becomes this weird amalgamation of Terror and Arana's armored form, which is great. Dan: Was that the Kirkman series? Is that the one that he did or. Mike: yeah. That was part of Marvel Team-Up. Dan: Okay. Mike: it was written by Robert Kirkman. Dan: Well, then I will, I will look it up. Mike: Yeah. And that one's on Marvel unlimited and genuinely a really fun story as I remembered. It's been a couple of years since I read it, but yeah. Dan: Very cool. Mike: So we've talked about this a little bit, but, so
Sumner is joined on this week's Hard Agree for a wide-ranging comics-heavy conversation with one of his all-time favorite comic book editors: artist, writer & thirteen-year Marvel Comics veteran Carl Potts. Carl joined Marvel in 1983 and, in addition to co-creating Alien Legion, he oversaw the reinvention & redevelopment of The Punisher (transforming Frank Castle from an occasional Spider-Man/Daredevil supporting player into one of the two most popular Marvel characters not created by Kirby, Ditko or Lee) and served as the executive editor/editor-in-chief of Marvel's high-quality Epic Comics imprint from 1989. Throughout those years, Carl worked alongside many legendary comics creators, from Al Milgrom and Neal Adams to Jim Starlin, Jim Lee and the peerless Steve Ditko. Sumner and Carl talk about all of this at length before discussing Carl's latest creative project: two beautiful volumes of Pacific Theater graphic novels that he's creating with artist Bill Reinhold - The Flying Column and Guests of the Emperor - inspired by Carl's family's unique experiences during WWII. Follow Carl on Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/cpotts1 https://twitter.com/cpotts1 https://www.instagram.com/potts4751 Follow Hard Agree on Twitter: https://.twitter.com/hard_agree Follow Sumner on Social Media:http://twitter.com/sumnarr “Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO Follow DENIO on Social Media:http://facebook.com/denioband/http://soundcloud.com/denioband/http://twitter.com/denioband/http://instagram.com/denioband/ Follow the Spoilerverse on Social Media:http://facebook.com/spoilercountry/http://twitter.com/spoiler_countryhttp://instagram.com/spoilercountry/ Kenric Regan:http://twitter.com/XKenricX John Horsley:http://twitter.com/y2clhttp://instagram.com/y2cl/http://y2cl.nethttp://eynesanthology.com Did you know the Spoilerverse has a YouTube channel?https://youtube.com/channel/UCstl1UHQVUC85DrCagF-wuQ Support the Spoilerverse on Patreon:http://patreon.com/spoilercountry
EPISODE 242: Justin 'The Owl' returns to the show to chat about a sentimental favourite, and the very first time The Punisher encounters Moon Knight! PHASE: WANING WAXING CRESCENT SEGMENT: LUNAR-PICK CLASSIC RUN REVIEW THE PUNISHER ANNUAL VOL. 1 # 1 - 'Knight Fight' Released September 1989 Writer(s) Mike Baron Penciler(s) Bill Reinhold Inker(s) Bill Reinhold Colorist(s) Gregory Wright Letterer(s) Janice Chiang Editor(s) Carl Potts BARE BONES Written by Rey After witnessing a seemingly normal customer satiate their needs with ‘hunger by gerbil' Marc Spector investigates which leads him to a mysterious organisation named, ‘Save Our Society'. Across town, The Punisher tracks down a small time criminal who has been knocking off eldery women's social security checks for drugs and it's not long before Frank is also led towards the shady, ‘Save Our Society' – a NFP organisation dedicated to curing drug addicts. Both Moon Knight and Punisher investigate one of the ‘Save our Society' clinics in Long Island and upon finding The Punisher's intended target, Ralph Newton, things turn ugly. The two are attacked by serpentine humanoids as Ralph himself turns into a snake like being but the Punisher makes short work of him. Regrouping back at Moon Knight's mansion, the next target is Borwardt Estate on Long Island, where both Madam Viper and a Dr. Tyrone are stationed and where Save our Society are based. More battles with serpent men ensues but this time Viper manages to drug the Punisher with what appears to be the same drug turning all the addicts into snake people. Frank goes mad, shooting anything and everything as Moon Knight continues to battle his way through in pursuit of Viper. Viper manages to make good her escape and Moon Knight clashes with the drugged Punisher but manages to subdue him with a nifty stint of mesmerism. Frank wakes up at Grant mansion, grateful to Moon Knight for rescuing, but he soon leaves to continue his ever raging war on crime. MOON RATING : Justin:
Join four comic book cognoscenti at the 2021 Steve Ditko mini-con in his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania to hear Javier Hernandez analyze the hypnotizing choreography of Spider-Man's fight scenes, Zack Kruse explain how Ditko's early work for Charlton held the seeds of everything the artist did later in his career, Carl Potts reveal what happened when he returned to Ditko an original page of Creeper art after he learned it had been stolen, and Arlen Schumer declare Ditko to be more than just a great comic book artist, but instead a great American artist who happened to create comics.
Quarter-Bin Podcast #172Power Man & Iron Fist 87, Marvel Comics, cover-dated November 1982."Heat Wave," by Denny O'Neill, with art by Denys Cowan & Carl Potts.How do Professor Alan and his guest Martin Gray match up against Luke Cage & Danny Rand? Whose side is Moon Knight on? Will anyone survive this sweaty street-level story?Listen to the episode and find out!Click on the player below to listen to the episode: Right-click to download episode directly You may also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or the RSS Feed. Promo: Deconstructing ComicsNext Episode: FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2021! Send e-mail feedback to relativelygeeky@gmail.com "Like" us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/relativelygeekyYou can follow the network on Twitter @Relatively_Geek and the host @ProfessorAlanSource: In the Ballpark
And this is our second part of our chat with Carl Potts. We hope you enjoy this shorter episode as we ask him some fan questions and get some more information about why Carl is so fascinating. Check out our website: https://jeffandrickpresent.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/interview-with-carl-potts/ Don't forget to support us on Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/JeffandRickPresent. We have started to release monthly episodes for our Energizer and greater tiers. We are covering the alternate versions mini-series that started in 2005. You can also subscribe and listen to us on YouTube! We also have some merchandise over at Redbubble. We have a couple of nifty shirts for sale. https://www.redbubble.com/people/jeffrickpresent/?asc=u Our show supports the Hero Initiative, Helping Comic Creators in Need. http://www.heroinitiative.org/ Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Like Pokeman, we gotta catch them all. Carl Potts was the original editor of Power Pack, and shepherded the book for 52 issues. As the editor, he not only brought together world class talent for the book, but he also developed a passion and team that made it one of the books creators wanted to be on. His influence also appeared in some artistic and plot choices as well. His passions for marine biology and baseball snuck into a couple of early stories, and his sense of style helped guide a few of the artistic choices as well. Beyond his work on our favorite book, Carl has a deep creative history with comics that may have began with drawing, but has developed into his own inspired stories and work with so many other amazing artists and writers in comics. A teacher as well as a mentor, Carl has been passing on his knowledge of art and storytelling to guide new creators, while at the same time still developing new content. We hope you enjoy our two episodes as we talk to this amazing individual about his past and experiences. Check out our website: https://jeffandrickpresent.wordpress.com/2021/08/01/interview-with-carl-potts/ Don't forget to support us on Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/JeffandRickPresent. We have started to release monthly episodes for our Energizer and greater tiers. We are covering the alternate versions mini-series that started in 2005. You can also subscribe and listen to us on YouTube! We also have some merchandise over at Redbubble. We have a couple of nifty shirts for sale. https://www.redbubble.com/people/jeffrickpresent/?asc=u Our show supports the Hero Initiative, Helping Comic Creators in Need. http://www.heroinitiative.org/ Eighties Action by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3703-eighties-action License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Join Joe Corallo and I for an incredible conversation with the great Carl Potts... artist, writer, teacher, and editor. Creator of Alien Legion, Last of the Dragons, Punisher War Journal and many more... Potts has an unbelievable career in comics. Carl Potts on Comixology: https://www.comixology.com/Carl-Potts... Carl Potts on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Carl-Potts/e/B... Follow Perch at... ✅ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ComicPerch ✅ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perch.comments ✅ Email at: comicsperch@gmail.com #ComicBooks #TopComics #GraphicNovels
In this episode Carl Potts, Executive Director with SPG sits down with outgoing Pulse Canada CEO Gordon Bacon. Over his 23+ years with Pulse Canada, Gordon has had a front row view of the growth and change that pulses have seen, to the booming industry it is today. Listen to his memories of where the pulse industry began, and hear his thoughts on where they could go in the future.
Alien Legion is a comic that was originally produced by Epic Comics imprint under Marvel Comics in 1984. It was created by writers Carl Potts and Alan Zelenetz with artist Frank Cirocco. Potts described the story “The French Foreign Legion in space”. The original series ran for about 18 issues and was relaunched with writer … Continue reading CM Podcast 289 – Alien Legion: Tenants in Hell (Comic 1991)
We finally dive into the "Punisher turns black" story and learn just what the hell happened, including some behind the scenes information from writers and editors. Luke Cage joins the scene, Rush Limbaugh gets a mention, and we discuss Rodney King and the Civil Rights Act of 1991 all while wishing this was just a Luke Cage story to begin with. *I'll be posting a picture of The Punisher's new face on the show's Instagram page.*I'm joined by Delisa O'Brien and you can find more about her and get expert nutrition advice at Lunula Nutrition. You can find all of the references for today's episode here. Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/Comicallypedantic)
Alex Grand and Jim Thompson interview former Marvel Executive Editor and Epic Imprint Editor in Chief, Writer, Artist & Professor Carl Potts in part 2 of a 2 parter, where we discuss his later work at Marvel including building up the Punisher from a side character into his own character, with the Punisher Mini Series with Mike Zeck, creating the Punisher War Journal with Jim Lee, working with Mark Gruenwald, editing under Jim Shooter and Tom DeFalco, why he left Marvel, his work on his own creator owned Alien Legion, and his work as a Professor at various universities including the School of Visual Arts. Images used in artwork ©Their Respective Copyright holders, CBH Podcast ©Comic Book Historians. Thumbnail Artwork ©Comic Book Historians. Support us at https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistoriansSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistorians)
Alex Grand and Jim Thompson interview former Marvel Executive Editor and Epic Imprint Editor in Chief, Writer, Artist & Professor Carl Potts in part 1 of a 2 parter, where we discuss his early days at San Diego Comic Con 1973, breaking into DC Comics with fellow fanzine artist, Jim Starlin, assisting and learning comic book production with Neal Adams & Dick Giordano at Continuity Studios, his Advertising work, and starting as an Editor at Marvel comics working with artists like John Byrne and Bill Sienkiewicz. Images used in artwork ©Their Respective Copyright holders, CBH Podcast ©Comic Book Historians. Thumbnail Artwork ©Comic Book Historians. Support us at https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistoriansSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistorians)
And now a rambling and too brief review about "Alien Legion", the classic futuristic series by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz and Frank Cirocco.
Alien Legion is a science-fiction comic-book series and associated titles created by Carl Potts, Alan Zelenetz, and Frank Cirocco for Marvel Comics's Epic Comics imprint in 1983. It features a military unit, Force Nomad, similar to the French Foreign Legion. Email the show at makedadreadcomics@gmail.com
Saudações robôs, mutantes e alienígenas! A nave-mãe Omniverso está em missão oficial! E como era de se esperar, os cosmonautas Reginaldo, Jamerson e Dãozinho se alistaram na Legião Alien, a série criada por Carl Potts, escrita por Alan Zelenetz, […]
Glenda-Lee Allan Vossler talks with Carl Potts, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
Glenda-Lee Allan Vossler talks with Carl Potts, Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Pulse Growers.
In this special Maui Comic Con 2019 panel interview G Money sits down with comic book legend, Carl Potts. He speaks on his early career, his defining work on The Punisher and a project he's been tweaking since 1995 called Alien Legion.
Alex Grand goes to San Diego Comic Con 2019 and interviews Anthony Tollin, Whilce Portacio, Jimmie Robinson, Benton Jew, and Jim Cheung for an All Star CBH Podcast special.Anthony Tollin was a prolific comic colorist influenced by comics from the Golden and Silver Age, who started working at DC Comics in the early 1970s discussing his influences and co-workers like Sol Harrison, Irv Novick, Jack Adler, Jim Aparo, Bob Oksner, Walter Gibson, Lee Falk, Jack Kirby, Joe Simon, George Perez and John Byrne. He also discusses his involvement in Pulp history with the Shadow and Radio involvement with the Lone Ranger. While Portacio, comic artist influenced by Neal Adams, Jack Kirby and Alex Nino, grew up on a variety of genres in comic books especially fantasy and sci fi, got his start at Marvel inking projects like Longshot in 1985, discovered by Carl Potts and worked on titles like Punisher, X-Men and X-Factor before moving to Image Comics in the 90s. Jimmie Robinson, comic artist who grew up on a variety of genres in comic books, inspired by Neal Adams, got his start in independent comics, discovered by Jim Valentino and created Bomb Queen for Image Comics. Benton Jew, comic artist and story board artist who has worked on various characters like She Hulk, Wolverine, Agents of Atlas, Venom, Wonder Woman and independents like Monster Verse. Jim Cheung, comic artist for the 90s who was artist for variety of superhero teams like Force Works, X-Force, Avengers, and DC's Justice League. Sound FX - Standard License. Images used in artwork ©Their Respective Copyright holders, images used for academic purpose only.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/comicbookhistorians)
Next up in our walk through Venom's ongoing mini-series of the 90s is Funeral Pyre, by Carl Potts and Tom Lyle! Check out Venom as he takes down a neighborhood of drug dealers! Watch Punisher get in his way over and over again! Discover the origin story of a brand new villain who will never […]
EPISODE 67: The High Priest of Khonshu Rey is joined by special guest, Orion Petitclerc, host of We Are Venomaniacs! - A Venom Podcast available on YouTube. We go in depth into the current popularity of Venom and his depiction in comics as well as on screen. Venom and Moon Knight? Yes, they do cross paths and we discuss how that panned out too! All this sets up for our main discussion as per Khonshu's demand and his (k)night's eye - PHASE OF THE MOON: WAXING GIBBOUS OVER THE MOON ARC REVIEW - MOON KNIGHT VOL.1, ISSUES #31-32 (‘A BOX OF MUSIC FOR SAVAGE STUDS / WHEN THE MUSIC STOPS…’) Released May 1983 (writer) Doug Moench (artist) Kevin Nowlan (inker) Terry Austin (#31), Carl Potts (#32) (colours) Christie Scheele (letterer) Joe Rosen, Rick Parker (editors) Denny O'Neill MOON RATING (out of phases of the Moon): Orion: Full Moon
Top 500, Cursed Comics Cavalcade, Spider-Geddon 1, What If: Punisher, X-Men Black - Mojo, My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies, Murder Falcon, Infinite Dark, Albert Einstein: Time Mason, Last Space Race, These Savage Shores, Adventure Time Season 11 Reviews: Lemony Snicket Season 2, House with Clock in its Walls, Runaways, Punk Rock Jesus, Fables, Doctor Who s11e2, Haunting of Hill House News: Batwoman pics, God Country movie, James Gunn, Chuck Wendig, Kraven film w/ Spidey, Pet Sematary trailer, Aladdin TV trailer, Secret Six TV series, Guardians final not final roster, Iron Fist cancelled, Sexy Alfred, Dracula by Sherlock team Comics Details: Curse Comics Cavalcade by Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Fco Plascencia, Kenny Porter, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, Gary Dauberman, Riccardo Federici, Sunny Gho, Vita Ayala, Victor Ibanez, Matt Wilson, Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman, Trish Mulvihill, Mags Visaggio, Minkyu Jung, Jordie Bellaire, Mike Moreci, Felipe Watanabe, Jonas Trindade, Romulo Fajardo, Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Dave Wielgosz, Christian Duce, James Tynion IV, Mark Buckingham, Andrew Pepoy Wonder Woman 56 by James Tynion IV, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Romula Fajardo Jr. Spider-Geddon 1 by Christos Gage, Jorge Molina, David Curiel What If Peter Parker Became the Punisher by Carl Potts, Juanan Ramirez X-Men Black - Mojo by Scott Aukerman, Andre Lima Araujo, Nick Bradshaw, Guru eFX, Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Geraldo Borges, Rachelle Rosenberg Infinite Dark 1 by Ryan Cady, Andrea Mutti, K Michael Russell Murder Falcon 1 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Michael Spicer My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jacob Phillips Last Space Race 1 by Peter Calloway, Alex Shibao, Natalia Marques These Savage Shores 1 by Ram V, Sumit Kumar, Vittorio Astone Albert Einstein: Time Mason 1 by Tony Donley, Marcus Perry Adventure Time Season 11 1 by Sonny Liew, Marina Julia Comics Countdown, 10 Oct 2018: My Heroes Have Always Been Junkies by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jacob Phillips Black Hammer: Quantum Age 3 by Jeff Lemire, Wilfredo Torres, Dave Stewart Wonder Woman 56 by James Tynion IV, Emanuela Lupacchino, Ray McCarthy, Romula Fajardo Jr. Avengers 9 by Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Justin Ponsor Cursed Comics Cavalcade by Tim Seeley, Kyle Hotz, Fco Plascencia, Kenny Porter, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia, Gary Dauberman, Riccardo Federici, Sunny Gho, Vita Ayala, Victor Ibanez, Matt Wilson, Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman, Trish Mulvihill, Mags Visaggio, Minkyu Jung, Jordie Bellaire, Mike Moreci, Felipe Watanabe, Jonas Trindade, Romulo Fajardo, Bryan Hill, Dexter Soy, Veronica Gandini, Dave Wielgosz, Christian Duce, James Tynion IV, Mark Buckingham, Andrew Pepoy Farmhand 4 by Rob Guillory, Taylor Wells Venom 7 by Donny Cates, Iban Coello, Andres Mossa Wrong Earth 2 by Tom Peyer, Jamal Igle, Juan Castro, Andy Troy Wildstorm: Michael Cray 12 by Bryan Hill, Steven Harris, Dexter Vines, Ross Campbell Outpost Zero 4 by Sean McKeever, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Jean-Francois Beaulieu
In the very beginning of this episode, I mention a way you can support the show by going to our Ko-Fi.com page. You beautiful people have already helped Jake and I reach our first dumb goal, so now we're going to have to think up new stuff. Don't worry, donations will automatically go to the next goal when we set it up. Introduction – We realize we got competition in the Punisher podcast world! I bring up the banter war with my sister and my forays into standup comedy. Jake reveals his secret saltiness over all my guest spots and gives me some tough love. Jake then closes out with a goodbye to a local friend. [36:15] News – We give an update on Mike Baron's Kickstarter Cue Ball, and we learn about the upcoming Cosmic Ghost Rider comic and what's next for Rosenberg's Punisher. The New Contest! – I found a Deadpool vs Punisher #1 comic signed by former show guest Fred Van Lente! He was one of Jake and I's favorite people to have on the show, and for a lot of listeners, too. If you would like to get your hands on it, there's two ways to enter! Rate and review us on iTunes or Google Play. Share this episode post on Twitter or Facebook. Just be sure to use the hashtag #PBC so I can find it! The winner will be announced in the next episode! [58:52] Mail Call – We answer some email about the nature of Frank Castle's adventures and how they should or shouldn't connect with reality. We also talk about Jessica Jones for a hot minute and then talk about forgotten side characters. [1:20:53] Bullet Points – We cover Punisher #223, where Frank stops a nuke and kills an Iron Man with a knife. It's still great, is what I'm saying. [1:35:10] Flashbacks – We look back on Frank's vacation gone wrong with Punisher: War Journal #20 written by Carl Potts! [1:49:15] Discharge Papers – Jake connects with his daughter over Ready Player One and talks about a cool game called Gas Lands. If you like Mad Max don't want to die of scurvy, this is the game for you. I get into some anime bullshit and also recommend you watch Ghostly Whispers on Netflix.
My adventure in Cleveland, OH continues with a trip to Wizard World Cleveland! You’ll hear from Gotham’s David Mazouz and Sean Pertwee, legendary artists Carl Potts and Phil Ortiz, super animator/director Tom Cook, PLUS – a Justice League cameo with the Flash and Cyborg – Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher! Wizard World Follow David […]
My adventure in Cleveland, OH continues with a trip to Wizard World Cleveland! You’ll hear from Gotham’s David Mazouz and Sean Pertwee, legendary artists Carl Potts and Phil Ortiz, super animator/director Tom Cook, PLUS – a Justice League cameo with the Flash and Cyborg – Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher! Wizard World Follow David […]
L'épisode qui connait les mystères de l'orient. Vu que le mois de Décembre contient la journée internationale du Ninja, nous revenons sur la mini série Last of the Dragons écrit et dessiné par Carl Potts avec l'aide de Denis O'Neil au dialogue. Notre générique c'est This ain't the end of Me par White Comic : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gCKwA5refw Retrouvez nous sur notre site Sur les réseaux sociaux : _Facebook _Twitter Si vous souhaitez nous soutenir n'oubliez pas d'aller nous mettre 5 étoiles sur Itunes Notre chanson de fin est Ninja du groupe Norvégien Pristine, tiré de leur derniers album qui se nomme comme la chanson :
Panini Cómics nos rescata en Marvel Héroes, Diario de Guerra. La serie de Carl Potts y Jim Lee en uno de sus primeros trabajos del dibujante para Marvel. Lo que fuera su segunda serie abierta, en Diario de Guerra tenemos un Frank Castle en consonancia con el resto de personajes de Marvel, algo que no se veía tanto en su primera etapa. Una gran serie que ya es historia del personaje.
Pencil Kings | Inspiring Artist Interviews with Today's Best Artists
What was it like to work as editor for Marvel Comics in its heyday? In this interview, Carl Potts talks about the exciting creative scene in NYC in the 1980s and discovering artists such as Mike Mignola, Arthur Adams, and Jim Lee. He sheds light on how artists can break into the industry, and breaks down the fundamental skills editors are looking for. Drawing on his years of experience as an artist, creative director, and teacher, Carl goes on to explain how artists can utilize the power of social media and the internet combined with networking to get a foot in the door of any creative industry, and provides clarity on the mindset you need to adopt if you want to be successful. Interview Chapters: 00:00 - 01:09 - Introduction 01:10 - 02:04 - Carl Potts Career Overview 02:05 - 06:15 - How Carl got his First Big Break in The Industry 06:16 - 24:00 - Carl on the Golden Age of Marvel Comics 25:00 - 33:30 - Learning Resources for Artists 33:30 - 42:44 - How to Get Your Work Seen by the Right People 42:45 - 45:43 - How to Adopt the Right Mindset for Success 45:44 - 48:24 Conclusion
Luke sits down with Carl Potts, former Marvel editor, to discuss editorial duties, Strikeforce: Morituri, the origin of the New Universe from the sidelines, Kickers Inc, the classic comic market, the Marvel supplemented cash register, failed characters, Louise Simonson, and more as he tries to understand The New Universe.
As a former Executive Editor overseeing other editors overseeing the artists and writers for a third of the Marvel line of comic publications, Carl Potts knows publishing! And what it takes to create, launch and profit from exciting characters, thrilling plots and millions of FAN-atics! Carl’s insight and description of the various levels of responsibility within a publishing company hierarchy is a testament to his decades of success in the business of comic publications and artistry. You’ll be privy to valuable advice about how to get from self-publishing, piecework and self-promotion to getting in with the big players in the publishing world. Whatever your creative endeavors involve, you’ll want to hear Carl’s take on the trade-offs between freelancing and trying to do it all yourself OR jumping in line at one of the big houses or in a related field that keeps you within sight of your next professional goal. Carl’s description of the necessity for clear and concrete contracts to prevent future misinterpretation and rights disputes over intellectual property (“creative content”) applies to any line of work where a creative product (song, dance, artwork, poetry, publications, etc.) is “shared” by a number of co-creators or shareholders. This is where the expert advice and counsel of entertainment lawyers comes into play. Contracts drawn up by your cousin, the recent law grad who specializes in traffic court cases, may not be the best investment of your time and hard-earned dollars. Successful creative activities and careers are built upon the best investment of your time and hard-earned dollars. And teams of trusted experts. So says Carl Potts. And he has the professional success to prove it. Subscribe to the free Monetizing Your Creativity podcast: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/monetizing-your-creativity/id1082894462?mt=2 While you're there, please leave your comments and suggestions for future episodes. We love your feedback! Or search for Monetizing Your Creativity on Stitcher, Google Play Music, Overcast or your other podcast app. www.monetizingyourcreativity.com
The Last Ship, The Multiversity #1 by Grant Morrison, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, and Nei Ruffino, Captain America #23 from Rick Remender, Carlos Pacheco, Mariano Taibo, and Dean White, Avengers Forever, Time Runs Out, God Is Dead: The Book of Acts Alpha and Omega (Mike Costa, Si Spurrier, Alan Moore, Justin Jordan, Kieron Gillen, Rafael Ortiz, Hernan Cabrera, German Nobile, and more), Safari Honeymoon by Jesse Jacobs from Koyama Press, more pre-200 Amazing Spider-Man, Beautiful Darkness from Fabien Vehlmann and Kerascoët from Drawn and Quarterly, The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 animated feature, more Dark Horse Presents #1, Nightworld #1 by Adam McGovern, Paolo Leandri, and Dominic Regan from Image, The Delinquents #1 by James Asmus, Fred Van Lente, and Kano from Valiant, Clive Barker, Marc Andreyko, Piotr Kowalski, and Juan Manuel Tumburus' Nightbreed from BOOM!, Alien Legion: Uncivil War #1 from Chuck Dixon, Larry Stroman, Carl Potts, and Thomas Mason from Titan Comics, Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers #1 by Joe Casey, Nathan Fox, Jim Rugg, Ulises Farinas, and Brad Simpson from Dynamite!, X-Men First Class and Days of Future Past, Robert Kirkman and Paul Azaceta's Outcast from Image, Mike Mignola's Hellboy: Seed of Destruction from Dark Horse, The Strain, and a whole mess more!
Introduction - Jake gives some vital information about Indiana Comicon and I fight the nihilism off from my cleaning lady. News - Charles Soule has a big announcement concerning Thunderbolts and we give updates about the Indiana Comicon meetup and how the shirts are selling. Mail Call - We answer three pieces of mail from our listeners. Bullet Points - We cover Thunderbolts #22 and Punisher #3. Elektro is powerful but easily distracted! Flashbacks - We cover the Intruder original graphic novel from a powerhouse crew: Mike Baron, Bill Reinhold, and Carl Potts. This was recommended to us by Arch Stanton and it became a favorite. Discharge Papers - Jake recommends some board games and I talk about the new Shadowrun Returns DLC before I lose my mind.
Umbral by Antony Johnston and Christopher Mitten from Image, King Zombie by Frank Cho, A Is for Antichrist: Obama's Conspiracy Alphabet by Rick Geary, Fantastic Four #1 by James Robinson, Leonard Kirk, Karl Kesel, and Jesus Aburtov, Moon Knight #1 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, Loki: Ragnarok and Roll by Eric M. Esquivel, Jerry Gaylord, and Gabriel Cassata from BOOM!, Thunderbolt Jaxon, Humberto Ramos and Paul Jenkins' Fairy Quest, Carlos Meglia and Superman: Infinite City, ComicbookDB, Alien Legion: Uncivil War by Chuck Dixon, Carl Potts, and Larry Stroman from Titan Comics, a long look at Dan Slott and company's awesome Superior Spider-Man, Andre the Giant: The Life and Legend by Box Brown from :01 First Second, Locke and Key, 100 Bullets, more on The Punisher by Nathan Henry Edmondson and Mitch Gerads, Winter Soldier: The Bitter March by Rick Remender and Roland Boschi, Alex Toth: Genius, and a whole mess more!
August is a lean month for Punisher comics, but we make due with bad crooks, freaky stretch guys, and Frank protecting dinos. Introduction - Jake and I talk about upcoming prospects in our lives, and I talk about the scariest thing I've seen in the movies lately. Also, apparently a "Japanese jacuzzi" is a real thing. Thanks, Jake! News - In news, I remind people that Trial of the Punisher #1 is coming out, and also bring up a youtube video where The Punisher's mental health is evaluated by respected pyschotherapist Dr. Larry Lewis. Jake also bring up important upcoming events involving the show and our schedules. Mail Call - We go into a "rapid fire" segment with five questions from newpunisherfan1! Bullet Points - We cover Superior Foes of Spider-Man #2 and Ultimates #28. Similar problems to last time: Next to no Frank Castle, but they still bring up some good talking points. Flashbacks - We open up a Punisher classic: Punisher/Wolverine: The African Saga! It's got Carl Potts being a cryptozoology nerd, Frank taking a vacation, and Wolverine wearing a really dumb animal pelt cape. A delightful read! Discharge Papers - By listener request, we reviewed Wolverine: In the Flesh, which is a 10/10 comic, one of the best of the year. Buy multiple copies and double-bag them. Just listen to our review first, okay? I then make good on my promise of watching the first episode of the Highlander series. Jake then talks about Blade of the Immortal. AGAIN. Geez, this guy...
The great Carl Potts and Alien Legion, Ryan Stegman and the I Draw Comics Kickstarter, Rick Remender's Fear Agent (EC Comics, Jerome Opena, Kieron Dwyer and Sea of Red, Salgood Sam and Mark Sable's Dracula: Son of the Dragon, and more), Infinite Horizon by Gerry Duggan and Phil Noto from Image, Dark Horse's Eerie #1 (David Lapham, Bill Dubay, Rafa Garres, the incomparable Richard Corben, Bernie Wrightson, the Heavy Metal movie, Den, and more), Darwyn Cooke, Jeff Lemire's Underwater Welder for Top Shelf (Matt Kindt, Sweet Tooth), Jonathan Hickman's string of Fantastic Four done-in-ones, Crystar: Crystal Warrior, Avenging Spider-Man by Zeb Wells, Joe Mad, and others, New Teen Titans, Planet of the Apes, Silver Surfer: Parable by Stan Lee and Moebius, Walt Simonson and Doctor Who, Richard Starking's Elephantmen #42, Jason Aaron and Scalped, Adventure Time #7 and LSP, Falling Skies, and a whole mess more!
What the hell is wrong with you, listening to podcasts? Don’t you have finals to study for? Well, we appreciate your sacrifice. Introduction – I reveal a new segment I’m working on, Jake asks me what possessed me to try out for the Real World, a tragedy happens in Jake’s home, and so much more. We also give some minor news on upcoming Punisher titles. Mail Call – Blackstone asks us who should direct and star in the next Punisher movie, and asks us about a show that I’m sure is fine but never watched. Bullet Points – We cover a bit of Daredevil #10.1, but mostly the first two Omega Effect comics, Avenging Spider-Man #6 and Punisher #10. Waid, Rucka, and Chechetto are manning this party, so it’s great. Flashbacks – We hail Carl Potts as the architect and pusher for the Punisher, and then we cover his own personal baby, Punisher: War Journal #1 and #2. And speaking about babies, well, we’ll just leave you to it. It’s a bit awkward, yet heartfelt. Discharge Papers – Jake criticizes Hunger Games, I give my rebuke. We also discuss Flash Point, which has a cop that is a Loose Cannon and a Police Chief that is Too Old For This Shit. Also, drop kicks and grapples. I also discuss the future of comics, called AvX: Infinite #1 and get really mad at the comic book industry for being childish.
In this messy, sloppy, scattershot episode, we talk about Brian Augustyn and Humberto Ramos' Crimson for Cliffhanger (incorporating Danger Girl and J. Scott Campbell, Out There, Battle Chasers, RASL, Planetary, Black Hole, Fear Agent, and more), The Someday Funnies from Michel Choquette and Abrams ComicArts (featuring Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Walt Simonson, Moebius, Art Spiegelman, Frank Zappa and Cal Schenkel, William S. Burroughs, Federico Fellini, Ralph Steadman, Tom Wolfe, and a whole lot more), more on Matt Wagner's Mage, Dan Clowes' Death Ray, Legends of the DC Universe (specifically, but not limited to, issues #22 and #23), Walt Simonson's Orion, Dave Gibbons and the Watchmen prequel rumors, The Dark Knight Strikes Back, Gil Kane and Jan Strnad's Sword of the Atom, The Ray, Marvel Value Stamps and comic book advertising, X-Men/Micronauts, Regular Show, All-Star Western, Carl Potts and Alien Legion, Orchid from Dark Horse, The Milo Manara Library volume one, Walking Dead episode two, Fables, and a whole mess more!
One of us runs off at the mouth a little bit too much as we back-and-forth about Terry Moore, Carl Potts, Avatar's Crossed: Psychopath #1 from David Lapham and Raulo Caceres, Starship Troopers, Harbinger, Mike Mignola's B.P.R.D.: Plague of Frogs volume one (Guy Davis, Ryan Sook, Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins, Dave Stewart, and more), series formats, Annihilators #1 by DnA and company and Marvel cosmic, Jim Starlin's forthcoming Breed series from Image, Rocketeer Adventures #1 out of IDW, Brian Wood's DMZ volume nine, Fantastic Four #588, Daffodil from Marvel Soleil, Silver Surfer #1, Iron Man 2.0 #1, Morning Glories, John K's Science Addiction, Axe Cop, Spongebob Comics, Freak Angels, and a whole mess more!