Podcasts about science comics

It's been a while but we're back in action with an in-depth look at crows. We talk about our experiences seeing and feeding crows, Science Comics, and what we've learned so far about these smart corvids. Is there anything else you can add to our knowledge base or any question you want to find the answer to? Ask us at unschoolingwithkai@gmail.com :DJet shockwave photo: https://scienceinfo.net/capture-a-rare-image-of-a-shock-wave-when-the-plane-is-near-the-speed-of-sound.html

DC Comics Ep 538: Lobo's Gang, Jimmy Wolfman Olsen, Nightwing's Mind Detective & Bag O'Pills - DC Comics, DC Comics Podcast, Batman, Superman, World's Finest, Flash, Green Lantern, comics, comic YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WeirdScienceComics This Week's Patreon-Exclusive Spotlight Show is Alan Scott: The Green Lantern #6 & Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong #7 Listen to the Spotlight Podcast by signing up to our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/weirdscience   0:00:00 - Intro 0:16:40 - Superman #14 0:48:39 -  Batman / Superman: World's Finest #27  1:05:30 - Wonder Woman #9 1:32:14 - Nightwing #114  2:05:20 - Titans #11 2:31:21 - The Bat-Man: First Knight #3 3:28:49 - Green Lantern: War Journal #9 3:58:10 - Catwoman #65   FOLLOW WEIRD SCIENCE COMICS Twitter:  https://twitter.com/WeirdScienceDC  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/weirdscience DC Comics Review Site: https://bit.ly/WeirdScienceDC Marvel Review Site: https://bit.ly/WeirdScienceMarvel   SUBSCRIBE TO WEIRD SCIENCE COMIC PODCASTS:  DC Comics Podcast iTunes - https://apple.co/47jNeme Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2XzDALI Stitcher - https://bit.ly/45XPtKS   Marvel Comics Podcast iTunes - https://apple.co/3u1xxSh Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3QJFAfe Pandora - https://bit.ly/3Qq5cwd   Manga Podcasts: Spy x Family : https://spyxfamilyreadingclub.transistor.fm/ My Hero Academia : https://myheroacademiareadingclub.transistor.fm/ Demon Slayer : https://demonslayerreadingclub.transistor.fm/ Chainsaw Man : https://chainsawmanreadingclub.transistor.fm/ Death Note : https://deathnotereadingclub.transistor.fm/ Dragon Ball : https://dragonballreadingclub.transistor.fm/   YT - https://bit.ly/WeirdSciencePodcasts   DC Comics, DC Comics Podcast, Batman, Catwoman, Superman, World's Finest, Flash, Green Lantern, comics, comic books, Comic book podcast, comic podcast #dccomics, #batman, #beastworld, #dccomicspodcast, #comicspodcast, #comicbookpodcast

Have you ever wondered what a Great Blue Heron would write in a love letter to a potential mate? Or what the moons of Mars think of themselves? These are the scenes that nature cartoonist Rosemary Mosco dreams up in her comic Bird and Moon.  “Nature is really funny. It's never not funny,” Mosco says in a SciFri SciArts video. “You can go into the woods and find 20 or 30 hilarious potential comic prompts anywhere you go.”Viewers may come for the laughs, but they will end up learning facts, she explains. Mosco talks about her inspiration for finding the funny side of snakes, planets, and nature, and how she uses humor to communicate science. See a selection of Mosco's comics and more of her work at Bird and Moon! Universe of Art is hosted and produced by D. Peterschmidt, who also wrote the music. The original segment was produced by Alexa Lim. Our show art was illustrated by Abelle Hayford. Support for Science Friday's science and arts coverage comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Do you have an idea for a future episode of Universe of Art? Send us an email or a voice memo to universe@sciencefriday.com.

Buzzsprout Affiliate Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=891796​Connect with guest Sophie Elschner via Twitter: @SophieElschnerFind out more about her career path via her websiteCheck out her webcomic "psychoSoph" online via the websiteTimestamps​00:00 - Introduction01:05 - Segment 1: Honour or Manure, Peera? (Short Story)09:24 - Segment 2: The Origin of "Onomatopoeia" (Metaphor History)22:11 - Segment 3: Science Comics (Communication Topic)34:37 - Segment 4: Talk With Sophie Elschner (Guest Interview)DescriptionI sound the alarm on the origins to “Onomatopoeia”, highlighting the best examples that play with the English language. I also discuss the adaptation of the comic form as an educational tool in science. I interview the illustrious communicator Sophie Elschner (PhD) regarding her academic journey and how she created her own science comic to spotlight interesting psychological phenomena. Check out the references and transcript here: https://www.kjbmercurio.com/episode42.Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Oggi a Cult, in diretta da Bookcity Milano, nella postazione nel Cortile della Rocchetta al Castello Sforzesco: Oliviero Ponte di Pino ed Elena Puccinelli, Marino Sinibaldi, gli organizzatori della Marcia dei Bambini di Unicef e i responsabili del settore educational del Castello, Rita Charbonnier e Antonio Serra con Andrea Plazi per Science Comics…

Marvel Comics Ep 437: Spider-Man, Captain America & Carnage - At least Spider-Man was good!   Time Stamps: 0:05:07 - Amazing Spider-Man #8 0:19:04 - Captain America: Symbol of Truth #4 0:34:06 - Carnage #5 Keywords: Marvel, Marvel Comics, Comics, Comic Books, Movies, Television, Marvel Podcast, Marvel Comics Podcast, Star Wars, Star Wars Podcast, Star Wars Comics Join our Patreon and help us feel loved for as little as $1/Month @ Patreon.com/WeirdScience Click Here for Weird Science Links: https://campsite.bio/weirdsciencecomics New Marvel Podcast Schedule: Tuesdays: Weird Dose of X - The X-Men Podcast  Wednesday: Marvel Comics Mid-Week Show Friday: Star Wars Comics Show Sunday: The Main Marvel Comics Podcast

Finally, a way to read comics in class without your teacher complaining! Real life scientists are producing educational comics to teach cool science stuff. And they're FREE! Check them out, they have some pretty good explanations for a bunch of different topics.The FDA has recognised the ability of video games to help with therapy and greenlit a game for treating ADHD suffers. I can't wait for a game to help you deal with idiots, but we'll get there one day.Where did Matt Mercer's Vox Machina come from? Now you can read both of the first two seasons of the Critical Role prequels in a hardback omnibus. Wait, didn't we already do comics this week? Oops. Anyway, watch Critical Role. It's really good.This week, Professor took to the skies in Sky Rogue and DJ set us up the bomb in Valorant.Real Life Scientists making comics- https://www.sciencenews.org/article/real-life-scientists-inspire-comic-book-superheroes-science-literacy- https://www.jkxcomics.com/- https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59ab7c15e4fcb5c602a09465/t/5a08e052e2c483d6cb8cf769/1510531187492/JKXComics_EBV+and+the+Replication+Dance.pdfA video game for kids with ADHD is greenlit by the FDA- https://www.statnews.com/2020/06/15/fda-akili-adhd-endeavorrx/Dark Horse to Release 'Critical Role' Hardcover Omnibus- https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-horse-release-critical-role-hardcover-omnibus-1296484Games PlayedProfessor– Sky Rogue - https://store.steampowered.com/app/381020/Sky_Rogue/Rating: 3.5/5DJ– Valorant – https://playvalorant.com/en-us/Rating: 3/5Other topics discussedThe Last of Us Part 2 game review : Not as Good as It Thinks It Is- https://www.thewrap.com/the-last-of-us-part-2-review-not-as-good-as-it-thinks-it-is-ellie-naughty-dog/Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann calls out journalist Jason Schreier for Anne Frank joke- https://www.ginx.tv/en/video-games/naughty-dog-s-neil-druckmann-calls-out-journalist-jason-schrier-for-anne-frank-jokeG.I. Joe - Give Him The Stick : Parody of G.I. Joe's Public Service Announcements created by Fensler films- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXFdPTaCtkcVictoria's sudden spike in coronavirus cases could result in localised lockdowns- https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/victorias-sudden-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-could-result-in-localised-lockdowns-c-1113679Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) (formally called Human gammaherpesvirus 4, is one of the nine known human herpesvirus types in the herpes family, and is one of the most common viruses in humans.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epstein%E2%80%93Barr_virusOnce Upon a Time….Life (French animated series which tells the story of the human body for children.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_Upon_a_Time..._LifeCells at Work! (Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akane Shimizu. It features the anthropomorphized cells of a human body, with the two main protagonists being a red blood cell and a white blood cell she frequently encounters.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cells_at_Work!Cells at Work! CODE BLACK (spin-off written by Shigemitsu Harada, illustrated by Ikuta Hatsuya, and supervised by the author of the original, Akane Shimizu. Similar to the original, the series is set in a world of anthropomorphic cells working in a body. It follows a the life of a rookie Erythrocyte, AA2153, and a Neutrophil, U-1196, as they work in a poorly maintained, middle-aged body burdened by issues such as stress, smoking, drinking and the like, causing complications in the cells' work and living environment.)- https://cellsatwork.fandom.com/wiki/Cells_at_Work!_CODE_BLACKInside Ralphie (Magic School Bus episode) (Third episode of Season 1 of the animated children's series The Magic School Bus. While Ralphie hosts a TV broadcast from his sickbed, his classmates seek to discover the cause of his illness.)- https://magicschoolbus.fandom.com/wiki/Inside_RalphieFor Lunch (Magic School Bus episode) (Second episode of season one of the animated children's series The Magic School Bus. Ms. Frizzle's students explore Arnold's digestive system after he accidentally swallows his miniaturized classmates.)- https://magicschoolbus.fandom.com/wiki/For_LunchFood and Drug Administration ((FDA or USFDA) is a federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food safety, tobacco products, dietary supplements, prescription and over-the-counterpharmaceutical drugs (medications), vaccines,biopharmaceuticals,blood transfusions, medical devices, electromagnetic radiation emitting devices (ERED), cosmetics, animal foods & feed and veterinary products.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_AdministrationRitalin (Methylphenidate, sold under the trade name Ritalin among others, is a stimulant medication used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy. It is a first line medication for ADHD. It may be taken by mouth or applied to the skin.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MethylphenidateTali Health (Tali Health creates game based programs to improve attention in children. TALi TRAIN is a clinically validated digital training and treatment program that addresses the world’s leading reported early childhood issue-attention difficulties, a key feature in conditions including ADHD and ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).)- https://talihealth.com.au/Michele Assarasakorn (comic artist | colorist on ISOLA / Gotham Academy/ Critical Role)Twitter : https://twitter.com/msassykInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/msassyk/Critical Role Wiki (A Place Documenting the Current History of Exandria)- https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Critical_Role_WikiThe World of RWBY: The Official Companion (RWBY lore book)- https://www.amazon.com/World-RWBY-Official-Companion/dp/1974704386Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Library Edition: Series I & II Collection at Amazon-https://www.amazon.com/Critical-Role-Machina-Origins-Collection/dp/1506721737Ace Combat (Ace Combat is a hybrid arcade-style flight action video game franchise mainly developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ace_CombatLUFTRAUSERS (shoot 'em up video game developed by Netherlands-based indie developer studio Vlambeer and published by Devolver Digital for Microsoft Windows, OS X,Linux, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.)- https://store.steampowered.com/app/233150/LUFTRAUSERS/Guns of Icarus (Guns of Icarus Online is the original PvP steampunk airship combat game that laid the groundwork for the expanded Guns of Icarus experience, Guns of Icarus Alliance.)- https://store.steampowered.com/app/209080/Guns_of_Icarus_Online/PS5 Reveal Event & Every Next Gen Game announced- https://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps5-reveal-event-every-nextgen-game-announced-by-s/1100-6478266/Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster was a fatal incident in the United States space program that occurred on Tuesday, January 28, 1986, when the Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing all seven crew members aboard. The failure was caused by the failure of O-ring seals used in the joint that were not designed to handle the unusually cold conditions that existed at this launch.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Challenger_disasterSpace Shuttle Columbia disaster (The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a fatal incident in the United States space program that occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle Columbia (OV-102) disintegrated as it reentered the atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. During the launch of STS-107,Columbia's 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter.)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disasterThe Slo Mo Guys - How a TV Works in Slow Motion- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BJU2drrtCMWinnie the Pooh could be banned from Shanghai Disneyland as a result of an ongoing meme used to criticize China's leader-https://www.businessinsider.com/winnie-the-pooh-shanghai-disneyland-meme-2018-11?r=AU&IR=TObama & Xi Jinping as Tigger & Winnie The Pooh- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsXrZ-6UwAUHGRx?format=jpg&name=900x900Shout Outs11 June 2020 – Playstation 5 reveal - https://deadline.com/2020/06/sony-playstation-5-revealed-videogames-1202957140/Sony lifted the veil to reveal the PlayStation 5, the video game console it hopes will be a significant lure for consumers this holiday season. In a live-streamed video presentation lasting more than an hour, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed new details for the PS5, including its design and lineup of new games. Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto will be included for free, and there are two dozen other games heading to the platform. The unit’s two-tone design is a shift from previous versions and gives off distinct imperial stormtrooper vibes. PS5 will be available in both a standard model with an Ultra HD Blu-ray disc drive, and a digital model without a disc drive. One of the biggest series of all time, Grand Theft Auto, will be coming to PS5, with enhanced and expanded versions of Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online to launch on PS5 in the second half of 2021.15 June 2020 – Rare stone ginger beer bottle from 1930s-era sells for record price - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-15/ginger-beer-bottle-sells-for-huge-price/12353574A rare ginger beer bottle from the 1930s, made for a Warwick soft drink company, has sold for a record price in Toowoomba. It has collectors encouraging people to check their sheds and old farm dumps for possible 'buried treasure'. The hammer fell at $17,500 for the stoneware Doneley and Butler bottle. The little green lip at the top is what set it apart from bottles worth a fraction of that price."These bottles are extremely rare, there have only been two or three found in perfect condition," said auctioneer Graham Lancaster."That colour combination of glazes makes it unique worldwide."He said the Warwick bottle set a record price locally, and quite possible a world-record, for an antique crown-seal soft drink bottle of its type.16 June 2020 – Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins turns 15 - https://comicbook.com/movies/news/batman-begins-anniversary-the-dark-knight-christopher-nolan-christian-bale/As the '90s progressed, the image of Batman on the big screen began to descend into the realm of campiness previously seen in Adam West's take on the character back in the '60s TV series and movie, which started to sour audiences on the character entirely. After a variety of reports emerged about a new take on the character in the early '00s, fans were given Christopher Nolan's gritty and grounded origin story for the character in 2005, debuting Christian Bale as the Dark Knight. This new take on the character harkened back to some of the more grounded interpretations of the character, while adding just enough whimsy to remind audiences that this was still a comic book movie. Batman Begins went on to take in $371 million worldwide, a fraction of the figures that subsequent superhero movies would go on to earn, That film's success might not have been groundbreaking, but it set the stage for The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, with some audiences considering those films to be the best comic book films of all time, both of which earned major box office hauls and the former earning Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his performance as the Joker.18 June 2020 – Dame Vera Lynn passes away at 103 - https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53091856The singer was best known for performing hits such as We'll Meet Again to troops on the front line in countries including India and Egypt. Six weeks ago, ahead of the 75th anniversary of VE Day and during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, Dame Vera said simple acts of bravery and sacrifice still define our nation. A week later, she became the oldest artist to get a top 40 album in the UK, beating her own record when her greatest hits album re-entered the charts at number 30. Born in London's East Ham in 1917, Dame Vera's singing talent was discovered at a young age and by age 11 she had left school to pursue a full-time career as a dancer and singer. Lynn devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century. Paying tribute, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the singer's "charm and magical voice entranced and uplifted our country in some of our darkest hours". "Her voice will live on to lift the hearts of generations to come," he said. She died at the age of 103 in Ditchling,East Sussex.19 June 2020 – Sir Ian Holm passes away at 88 - https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/19/ian-holm-dies-alien-chariots-of-fire-bilbo-bagginsSir Ian Holm, an acclaimed British actor whose long career included roles in Chariots of Fire and The Lord of the Rings has died. A star of stage and screen, Sir Ian won a Tony Award for best featured actor as Lenny in Harold Pinter's play The Homecoming in 1967. He won a British Academy Film Award and gained a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for portraying pioneering athletics coach Sam Mussabini in the hit 1982 film Chariots of Fire. His other well-known film roles include Ash in Alien, Father Vito Cornelius in The Fifth Element, Chef Skinner in Ratatouille, and Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film series. Sir Ian was knighted in 1998 for his services to drama. He died from Parkinson’s disease in London.Remembrances16 June 1804 – Johann Adam Hiller - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Adam_HillerGerman composer,conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. It is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles,songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like. Singspiel plots are generally comic or romantic in nature, and frequently include elements of magic, fantastical creatures, and comically exaggerated characterizations of good and evil. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet Christian Felix Weiße. Furthermore, Hiller was a teacher who encouraged musical education for women, his pupils including Elisabeth Mara and Corona Schröter. He was Kapellmeister of Abel Seyler's theatrical company, and became the first Kapellmeister of Leipzig Gewandhaus. To Hiller has been given the credit of being the originator of the Singspiel, the beginning of German comedy opera as distinct from the French and Italian developments. The most important of his operas were: Lottchen am Hofe (Lottie at court, 1760),Der Teufel ist los (The devil is loose, 1768), and Poltis, oder Das gerettete Troja (Poltis, or Troy rescued, 1782). The lyrics of all his Singspiele were of considerable musical value, and were long popular. Among his sacred compositions are: A Passion Cantata, Funeral Music in Honor of Hasse, a setting of the one hundredth Psalm; and a few symphonies. He died at the age of 76 in Leipzig.16 June 1858 – John Snow - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_SnowEnglish physician and a leader in the development of anaesthesia and medical hygiene. He is considered one of the founders of modern epidemiology, in part because of his work in tracing the source of a cholera outbreak in Soho, London, in 1854, which he curtailed by removing the handle of a water pump. Snow's findings inspired the adoption of anaesthesia as well as fundamental changes in the water and waste systems of London, which led to similar changes in other cities, and a significant improvement in general public health around the world. John Snow was one of the first physicians to study and calculate dosages for the use of ether and chloroform as surgical anaesthetics, allowing patients to undergo surgical and obstetric procedures without the distress and pain they would otherwise experience. He designed the apparatus to safely administer ether to the patients and also designed a mask to administer chloroform. He personally administered chloroform to Queen Victoria when she gave birth to the last two of her nine children, Leopold in 1853 and Beatrice in 1857 and was still not yet knighted, leading to wider public acceptance of obstetric anaesthesia. John Snow studied chloroform as much as he studied ether, which was introduced in 1847 by James Young Simpson, a Scottish obstetrician. He realised that chloroform was much more potent and required more attention and precision when administering it. Snow first realised this with Hannah Greener, a 15-year-old patient who died on 28 January 1848 after a surgical procedure that required the cutting of her toenail. She was administered chloroform by covering her face with a cloth dipped in the substance. However, she quickly lost pulse and died. After investigating her death and a couple of deaths that followed, he realized that chloroform had to be administered carefully and published his findings in a letter to The Lancet. Snow was a skeptic of the then-dominant miasma theory that stated that diseases such as cholera and bubonic plague were caused by pollution or a noxious form of "bad air". The germ theory of disease had not yet been developed, so Snow did not understand the mechanism by which the disease was transmitted. His observation of the evidence led him to discount the theory of foul air. He first published his theory in an 1849 essay, On the Mode of Communication of Cholera, followed by a more detailed treatise in 1855 incorporating the results of his investigation of the role of the water supply in the Soho epidemic of 1854. By talking to local residents (with the help of Reverend Henry Whitehead), he identified the source of the outbreak as the public water pump on Broad Street (now Broadwick Street). Although Snow's chemical and microscope examination of a water sample from the Broad Street pump did not conclusively prove its danger, his studies of the pattern of the disease were convincing enough to persuade the local council to disable the well pump by removing its handle (force rod). Snow later used a dot map to illustrate the cluster of cholera cases around the pump. He also used statistics to illustrate the connection between the quality of the water source and cholera cases. He showed that homes supplied by the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company, which was taking water from sewage-polluted sections of the Thames, had a cholera rate fourteen times that of those supplied by Lambeth Waterworks Company, which obtained water from the upriver, cleaner Seething Wells. Snow's study was a major event in the history of public health and geography. It is regarded as the founding event of the science of epidemiology. He died from stroke at the age of 45 in London.16 June 1869 – Charles Sturt - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_SturtCharles Napier Sturt, British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and later from Adelaide. His expeditions traced several of the westward-flowing rivers, establishing that they all merged into the Murray River, which flows into the Southern Ocean. He was searching to prove his own passionately held belief that an "inland sea" was located at the centre of the continent. Sturt found the conditions and climate in New South Wales much better than he expected, and he developed a great interest in the country. Sturt received approval from Governor Darling on 4 November 1828 to explore the area of the Macquarie River in western New South Wales. The party faced the ordeal of rowing back upriver on the Murray and Murrumbidgee, against the current, in the heat of an Australian summer. Their supplies ran out and, when they reached the site of Narrandera in April, they were unable to go any further. Sturt sent two men overland in search of supplies and they returned in time to save the party from starvation. But Sturt went blind for some months and never fully recovered his health. By the time they reached Sydney again, they had rowed and sailed nearly 2,900 kilometres of the river system. Sturt believed that it was his destiny to discover a great salt water lake, known as 'the inland sea', in the middle of Australia. At very least, he wanted to be the first explorer to plant his foot in 'the centre' of Australia. In August 1844, he set out with a party of 15 men, 200 sheep, six drays, and a boat to explore north-western New South Wales and to advance into central Australia. They travelled along the Murray and Darling rivers before passing the future site of Broken Hill. They were stranded for months by the extreme summer conditions near the present site of Milparinka. When the rains eventually came, Sturt moved north and established a depot at Fort Grey (today this site is within Sturt National Park). With a small group of men, including explorer John McDouall Stuart as his draughtsman, Sturt pressed on across what is now known as Sturt's Stony Desert and into the Simpson Desert. Unable to go further, he turned back to the depot. Sturt made a second attempt to reach the centre of Australia, but he developed scurvy in the extreme conditions. His health broke down and he was forced to abandon the attempt. John Harris Browne, surgeon on the expedition, assisted Sturt, took over leadership of the party and, after travelling a total of 3,000 miles (4,800 km), brought it back to safety. He died from heart failure at the age of 74 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.16 June 1977 – Wernher von Braun - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_BraunGerman and later American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany and a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the United States. While in his twenties and early thirties, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and develop the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde during World War II. Though a member of the SS, following the war he was secretly moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip. He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1. In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon. In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science. He advocated a human mission to Mars. Von Braun also developed the idea of a Space Camp that would train children in fields of science and space technologies, as well as help their mental development much the same way sports camps aim at improving physical development. Von Braun took a very conservative approach to engineering, designing with ample safety factors and redundant structure. This became a point of contention with other engineers, who struggled to keep vehicle weight down so that payload could be maximized. As noted above, his excessive caution likely led to the U.S. losing the race to put a man into space with the Soviets. He died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 65 in Alexandria, Virginia.Famous Birthdays16 June 1801 – Julius Plücker - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Pl%C3%BCckerGerman mathematician and physicist. He made fundamental contributions to the field of analytical geometry and was a pioneer in the investigations of cathode rays that led eventually to the discovery of the electron. He also vastly extended the study of Lamé curves. In 1836, Plücker was made professor of physics at University of Bonn. In 1858, after a year of working with vacuum tubes of his Bonn colleague Heinrich Geißler, he published his first classical researches on the action of the magnet on the electric discharge in rarefied gases. He found that the discharge caused a fluorescent glow to form on the glass walls of the vacuum tube, and that the glow could be made to shift by applying an electromagnet to the tube, thus creating a magnetic field. It was later shown that the glow was produced by cathode rays. Plücker, first by himself and afterwards in conjunction with Johann Hittorf, made many important discoveries in the spectroscopy of gases. He was the first to use the vacuum tube with the capillary part now called a Geissler tube, by means of which the luminous intensity of feeble electric discharges was raised sufficiently to allow of spectroscopic investigation. He anticipated Robert Wilhelm Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff in announcing that the lines of the spectrum were characteristic of the chemical substance which emitted them, and in indicating the value of this discovery in chemical analysis. According to Hittorf, he was the first who saw the three lines of the hydrogen spectrum, which a few months after his death, were recognized in the spectrum of the solar protuberances. In 1865, Plücker returned to the field of geometry and invented what was known as line geometry in the nineteenth century. In projective geometry, Plücker coordinates refer to a set of homogeneous co-ordinates introduced initially to embed the set of lines in three dimensions as a quadric in five dimensions. The construction uses 2×2 minor determinants, or equivalently the second exterior power of the underlying vector space of dimension 4. It is now part of the theory of Grassmannians, to which these co-ordinates apply in generality (k-dimensional subspaces of n-dimensional space). He was born in Elberfeld,Duchy of Berg,Holy Roman Empire.16 June 1915 – John Tukey - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_TukeyJohn Wilder Tukey, American mathematician best known for development of the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm and box plot. The Tukey range test, the Tukey lambda distribution, the Tukey test of additivity, and the Teichmüller–Tukey lemma all bear his name. He is also credited with coining the term 'bit'. Early in his career Tukey worked on developing statistical methods for computers at Bell Labs where he invented the term "bit" in 1947. n 1970, he contributed significantly to what is today known as the jackknife estimation—also termed Quenouille–Tukey jackknife. He introduced the box plot in his 1977 book, "Exploratory Data Analysis". He is also the creator of several little-known methods such as the trimean and median-median line, an easier alternative to linear regression. He also contributed to statistical practice and articulated the important distinction between exploratory data analysis and confirmatory data analysis, believing that much statistical methodology placed too great an emphasis on the latter. Though he believed in the utility of separating the two types of analysis, he pointed out that sometimes, especially in natural science, this was problematic and termed such situations uncomfortable science. Tukey coined many statistical terms that have become part of common usage, but the two most famous coinages attributed to him were related to computer science. While working with John von Neumann on early computer designs, Tukey introduced the word "bit" as a contraction of "binary digit" The term "bit" was first used in an article by Claude Shannon in 1948. In 2000, Fred Shapiro, a librarian at the Yale Law School, published a letter revealing that Tukey's 1958 paper "The Teaching of Concrete Mathematics" contained the earliest known usage of the term "software" found in a search of JSTOR's electronic archives, predating the OED's citation by two years. This led many to credit Tukey with coining the term, particularly in obituaries published that same year, although Tukey never claimed credit for any such coinage. In 1995, Paul Niquette claimed he had originally coined the term in October 1953, although he could not find any documents supporting his claim.The earliest known publication of the term "software" in an engineering context was in August 1953 by Richard R. Carhart, in a RAND Corporation research memorandum. He was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts.16 June 1909 – Archie Carr - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archie_CarrArchie Fairly Carr, Jr., American herpetologist,ecologist and a pioneering conservationist. He was a Professor of Zoology at the University of Florida. In 1987 he was awarded the Eminent Ecologist Award by the Ecological Society of America. He made extraordinary contribution to sea turtle conservation by way of bringing attention to the world's declining turtle populations due to over-exploitation and loss of safe habitat. He started out as a high school science teacher before becoming a college professor. He published numerous books and articles, including Ulendo: Travels of a Naturalist in and out of Africa, High Jungles and Low, So Excellent a Fishe (about his green turtles), The Windward Road and several Time-Life books such as The Everglades and The Reptiles. He was also the author of the Handbook of Turtles, and with Coleman J. Goin, Guide to the Reptiles, Amphibians and Freshwater Fishes of Florida. While a serious scientific and nature writer, he also had a remarkable sense of humor, which led him to publish the parody of scientific taxonomic keys - his A Subjective Key to the Fishes of Alachua County, Florida, affectionately known as the "Carr Key". Carr was also known for his efforts in conservation, especially for sea turtles, helping convince Costa Rica to establish Tortuguero National Park in 1975. He was a co-founder of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, which helps to save and monitor sea turtles in Tortuguero,Costa Rica. He was often joined in his conservation work by his wife Marjorie Carr, who was a major advocate for conservation in her own right. In 1952 Carr was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. He was born in Mobile, Alabama.Events of Interest16 June 1884 – The first purpose-built roller coaster, LaMarcus Adna Thompson's "Switchback Railway", opens in New York's Coney Island amusement park. - https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-roller-coaster-in-america-opensKnown as a switchback railway, it was the brainchild of LaMarcus Thompson, traveled approximately six miles per hour and cost a nickel to ride. The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country. For five cents, riders would climb a tower to board the large bench-like car and were pushed off to coast 600 ft (183 m) down the track to another tower. The car went just over 6 mph (9.7 km/h). At the top of the other tower the vehicle was switched to a return track or "switched back" (hence the name). The new entertainment was an instant success and by the turn of the century there were hundreds of roller coasters around the country.16 June 1911 – IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. - http://www.techgetz.com/history-of-ibm/In 1911 the company that leased Unit record equipment, especially Hollerith punched cards and card readers to government bureaus and insurance agencies, became the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company (CTR). Thomas J. Watson (1874-1956) took over in 1924, using the name “International Business Machines.” IBM expanded into electric typewriters and other office machines. Watson was a salesman and concentrated on building a highly motivated, very well paid sales force that could craft solutions for clients unfamiliar with the latest technology. His motto was “THINK”; customers were advised to not “fold, spindle or mutilate” the delicate cardboard cards.16 June 2012 – The United States Air Force's robotic Boeing X-37B spaceplane returns to Earth after a classified 469-day orbital mission. - https://www.space.com/16110-secret-x37b-space-plane-landing.htmlThe unmanned X-37B spacecraft, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle-2 (OTV-2), glided back to Earth on autopilot, touching down at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base at 5:48 a.m. PDT (8:48 a.m. EDT, 1248 GMT). The landing brought to an end the X-37B program's second-ever spaceflight, a mission that lasted more than 15 months with objectives that remain shrouded in secrecy. The X-37B stayed in orbit for 469 days this time, more than doubling the 225 days its sister ship, OTV-1, spent in space last year on the program's maiden flight. Officials at Vandenberg said the spacecraft conducted "on-orbit experiments" during its mission. Exactly what the spacecraft, which is built by Boeing, was doing up there for so long is a secret. The details of the X-37B's mission, which is overseen by the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, are classified, as is its payload. This secrecy has led to some speculation, especially online and abroad, that the X-37B could be a space weapon of some sort — perhaps a sophisticated satellite-killer. Some experts also suspect that the vehicle may be an orbital spy platform. "This is a test vehicle to prove the materials and capabilities, to put experiments in space and bring them back and check out the technologies," Richard McKinney, the Air Force's deputy undersecretary for space programs.16 June 2016 – Shanghai Disneyland Park, the first Disney Park in Mainland China, opens to the public - https://www.dw.com/en/distinctly-chinese-disneyland-opens-in-shanghai/a-19332984Shanghai Disney Resort, the first Disney resort in Mainland China and the sixth worldwide, celebrated its historic Grand Opening today, culminating one of Disney's most ambitious projects ever. The wonder and imagination of Disney greeted the people of China in magical new ways as the gates opened to Shanghai Disneyland, a theme park like no other with the biggest, tallest castle in any Disney park, the first pirate-themed land and Disney's most technologically advanced park to date. Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang cut a red ribbon together, signaling the Communist Party's endorsement of the $5.5 billion (4.87 billion euro) resort - one of the largest foreign investments in China. The lavish ceremony featured a children's choir singing "When You Wish Upon a Star," as well as actors dressed as Sleeping Beauty, Donald Duck, and other Disney characters dancing on stage. The entrance of the park is called "Mickey Avenue" instead of "Main Street USA." Stores feature Minnie Mouse in traditional quipau dresses and the Wandering Moon Teahouse is modeled after a building in eastern China. Shanghai Disney Resort is filled with immersive Disney storytelling, thrilling attractions, spectacular live entertainment and memory-making experiences designed to inspire and delight Chinese guests. The world-class vacation destination includes a magical theme park with six themed lands, two imaginatively designed hotels, a Disneytown shopping and dining district, and Wishing Star Park recreational area.IntroArtist – Goblins from MarsSong Title – Super Mario - Overworld Theme (GFM Trap Remix)Song Link -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GNMe6kF0j0&index=4&list=PLHmTsVREU3Ar1AJWkimkl6Pux3R5PB-QJFollow us onFacebook- Page - https://www.facebook.com/NerdsAmalgamated/- Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/440485136816406/Twitter - https://twitter.com/NAmalgamatedSpotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/6Nux69rftdBeeEXwD8GXrSiTunes -https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/top-shelf-nerds/id1347661094RSS -http://www.thatsnotcanonproductions.com/topshelfnerdspodcast?format=rssInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/nerds_amalgamated/Email - Nerds.Amalgamated@gmail.comSupport via Podhero- https://podhero.com/podcast/449127/nerds-amalgamatedRate & Review us on Podchaser - https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/nerds-amalgamated-623195

Living Robots, Designed By Computer Researchers have used artificial intelligence methods to design ‘living robots,’ made from two types of frog cells. The ‘xenobots,’ named for the Xenopus genus of frogs, can move, push objects, and potentially carry materials from one place to another—though the researchers acknowledge that much additional work would need to be done to make the xenobots into a practical tool. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Josh Bongard, a professor of computer science at the University of Vermont and co-author of the report, joins Ira to talk about designing cell-based structures and next steps for the technology.  The Math Behind Big Decision Making What does it mean for your health if a cancer screening is 90% accurate? Or when a lawyer says there’s a 99% chance a defendant is guilty? We encounter numbers in our everyday lives that can influence how we make big decisions, but what do these numbers really tell us?  Mathematical biologist explores these concepts and patterns in his book The Math of Life and Death: 7 Mathematical Principles That Shape Our Lives. He joins Ira to talk about the hidden math principles that are used in medicine, law, and in the media and how the numbers can be misused and correctly interpreted. The Science Comics Of Rosemary Mosco Have you ever wondered what a Great Blue Heron would write in a love letter to a potential mate? Or what the moons of Mars think of themselves? These are the scenes that nature cartoonist Rosemary Mosco dreams up in her comic Bird and Moon.   “Nature is really funny. It’s never not funny,” Mosco says in SciFri’s latest SciArts video. “You can go into the woods and find 20 or 30 hilarious potential comic prompts anywhere you go.” Viewers may come for the laughs, but they will end up learning facts, she explains. Mosco talks about her inspiration for finding the funny side of snakes, planets, and nature, and how she uses humor to communicate science. 

Happy New Year from Paudeville! Join Corbin and Julie for a rousing game of New Years-themed Categories that is very strict on the rules and goes at lightning speed! What mental acuity they have! This episode brought to you by Cheez Whiz…in a jar! Got potatoes that need to be yummified? Just Cheez Whiz’um! Also brought to you by a deep love for Jason Mantzoukas…but that’s just always. The musical selection this week is “I’m Starving” which will sound very familiar if you spend any time around kids. You can stream and download all our musical selections at https://soundcloud.com/paudeville Our Paudeville Recommends for this episode are Science Comics, especially the one about Plagues, and The Adventure Zone (not family-friendly!). Paudeville is a proud member of the Podicon Go network of family-friendly podcasts. See all the other fine shows at https://www.podicongo.com/. Social Links: Twitter Facebook Instagram Website Listen: http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/paudeville-ep-38/paudeville-ep-38.mp3 Subscribe: Review:

Happy New Year from Paudeville! Join Corbin and Julie for a rousing game of New Years-themed Categories that is very strict on the rules and goes at lightning speed! What mental acuity they have! This episode brought to you by Cheez Whiz…in a jar! Got potatoes that need to be yummified? Just Cheez Whiz’um! Also brought to you by a deep love for Jason Mantzoukas…but that’s just always. The musical selection this week is “I’m Starving” which will sound very familiar if you spend any time around kids. You can stream and download all our musical selections at https://soundcloud.com/paudeville Our Paudeville Recommends for this episode are Science Comics, especially the one about Plagues, and The Adventure Zone (not family-friendly!). Paudeville is a proud member of the Podicon Go network of family-friendly podcasts. See all the other fine shows at https://www.podicongo.com/. Social Links: Twitter Facebook Instagram Website Listen: http://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/paudeville-ep-38/paudeville-ep-38.mp3 Subscribe: Review:

00:00:00 - Recorded live at the annual meeting of AAAS, Ryan is joined by Jason McDermott (@BioDataGanache) and Matteo Farinella (@matteofarinella), two comic creating scientists who ran a session titled: Scientists Who Draw Comics: The Double Life of Visual Science Communicators, which you know Ryan would be all about. 00:28:23 - Ryan’s wife Juliana joins him for a drink to break up the segments. They share an Astral Weeks by Right Proper Brewing in DC and its fine. For this episode, we also declare the drinks segment to be unofficially sponsored by James and his wonderful Isotope - The Comic Book Lounge. 00:33:26 - In the second half of Ryan’s conversation with Jason and Matteo they continue to talk about crafting comics centered around science. They’re both written about the topic before so you can read either or both pieces, Drawing Connections by Jason and Science Comics' Super Powers by Matteo. And if you want to support their work further, Jason does a webcomic called Red Pen/Black Pen and Matteo has been involved in a number of graphic novels you can buy via our affiliate link on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/2VuiuJW  00:52:58 - PaleoPOWs are a lot like comics; people think they outgrow them, but they’re wrong. We begin with Juli recommending a few comics like Wicked + Divine, Paper Girls, and some artsy European comics by Jean-Pierre Gibrat. Next, Ryan has an e-mail from former guest of the show Martín trying to reassure Ryan about getting trapped in a water bubble in space, as mentioned during a recent iFanboy appearance. And Ryan shows Juli some dinosaur and comic themed drawings sent in by Sheli H. More cool rewards await you if you decide to support us on our Patreon! Music for this episode: Charcoal Lines - Blue Dot Sessions 

Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine The Science Comics line is a wonderful marker for quality educational comics, and who better to teach about The Brain than a mad scientist? Science Comics: The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine is written by Tory Woollcott and illustrated by Alex Graudins. Fahama is helping her crazily determined younger sister sell cookies door-to-door when she stumbles into the lair of Dr. Cerebrum, an ambulatory brain in a jar. To keep him from removing her head, she asks him questions, learning about the history of brain science https://comicsworthreading.com/2019/04/11/science-comics-the-brain-the-ultimate-thinking-machine/ Mark Millar's Space Bandits Coming to Netflix Mark Millar's latest Millarworld project through Netflix has been announced via Deadline - Space Bandits, drawn by Matteo Scalera of Black Science fame. Space Bandits follows two intergalactic criminals named Thena Khole and Cody Blue as they team up to get revenge on the gangs that betrayed them both. https://www.newsarama.com/44764-mark-millar-s-space-bandits-coming-to-netflix-image-comics.html Heroes in Crisis Writer Tom King Has Received Death Threats Over Issue #8 Following the controversial eighth issue of Heroes in Crisis, writer Tom King has received a number of threats on his life. King shared a screenshot of a report sent to Twitter regarding a user threatening his life in response to the comic. And according to King, reporting death threats is starting to become a regular occurrence. He continued by insisting fans read the issue themselves to gain full context before reacting prematurely to spoilers and "clickbait stuff." https://www.cbr.com/heroes-in-crisis-8-tom-king-death-threats/ * Find me On Social Media Instagram https://www.instagram.com/seththewriter/ Twitter https://twitter.com/1MoreSingleton Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SethSingletonStoryteller/ #AvengersEndgame #Spoilers #DontSpoilTheEndgame #TomKing #HeroesInCrisis #DC #Comics #Twitter #DeathThreats #MarkMillar #SpaceBandits #ScienceComics #TheBrain #Netflix --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/seth-the-storyteller/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/seth-the-storyteller/support

Time Codes: 00:33 - Introduction 02:55 - The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine 17:31 - Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction 37:06 - Wrap up 38:00 - Contact us On this episode of the Comics Alternative's Young Readers series, Gwen and Krystal discuss two new releases: Tory Woollcott and Alex Graudins's The Brain: The Ultimate Thinking Machine, the most recent volume in First Second Books' Science Comicsseries, geared towards upper elementary and middle grade readers, and Jarrett J. Krosoczka's Hey, Kiddo: How I Lost My Mother, Found My Father, and Dealt with Family Addiction, a YA comics memoir, published by Scholastic's Graphix imprint. To introduce Woollcott and Graudins' The Brain, Gwen and Krystal talk about non-fiction, informational comics for young readers, bringing up other volumes in the Science Comics series, such as M.K. Reed and Joe Flood's Dinosaurs, as well as Maris Wicks' Human Body Theater, and Gene Luen Yang and Mike Holmes' Secret Coders. Gwen explains that all of these texts place scientific or mathematical information within a fictional frame, and she summarizes the basic premise of The Brain, which places two sisters, Fahama and Nour, in a setting that is reminiscent of wacky 1960s and 1970s monster films or TV shows like The Munsters. Krystal praises Woollcott and Graundin's use of a diverse cast, both in terms of the principal characters and of the individuals who appear in illustrations of the way that the brain impacts human functioning. Both Krystal and Gwen detail some of the memorable spreads in the comic and view the text as an excellent story and reference book for young readers. Next, the two PhDs move on to a young adult graphic memoir, Jarrett J. Krosoczka's Hey, Kiddo, which is already earning critical acclaim and award buzz (it is a National Book Award finalist). Krosoczka is well-known as the author of nearly a dozen picture books and of the Lunch Lady graphic novel series, but Hey, Kiddo is his first YA offering. Gwen recommends Krosoczka's 2012 TED Talk “How a boy became an artist,” as well as his 2014 TED Talk on the Lunch Ladycomics. Both provide insight into Krosoczka's childhood influences and artistic choices. Krystal then gives a detailed description of the way Hey, Kiddo mirrors -- and expands upon -- many of the artist-focused coming of age narratives that have been popular in recent decades, including Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy (2006) and Özge Samanci's Dare to Disappoint: Growing Up in Turkey (2015).  Krystal also applauds Krosoczka's use of line style and color in commenting on memory, and Gwen testifies to the author's ability to evoke a convincing depiction of 1970s New England. Both reviewers love this text and highly recommend it for teens and adults. The Young Readers series will be on hiatus in December, but Gwen and Krystal will be back in January with a look at some of the YA graphic novel highlights of 2018.    

Time Codes: 00:30 - Introduction 02:49 - Introducing Krystal, and a Farewell to Paul 07:24 - 3x4 17:44 - The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall 32:40 -Sheets 42:54 - Wrap up 43:42 - Contact us On this episode of the Comics Alternative's Young Readers show, Gwen is joined by her new co-host, Dr. Krystal Howard, an assistant professor in the Liberal Studies and English departments at California State University, Northridge. Krystal has been reading, writing about, and teaching children's and YA comics for a number of years and has a particular interest in gender and comics studies. In 2017, Krystal's essay “Gothic Excess and the Body in Vera Brosgol's Anya's Ghost” appeared in Gwen's co-edited volume (with Michelle Ann Abate), Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults, and she has another comics-related essay, “Comics Grammar in Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean's Picture Book Collaborations” that is forthcoming in The Artistry of Neil Gaiman: Finding Light in the Shadows. Regular listeners to the Young Readers show will already know Krystal from her spot as a panelist last summer on a special roundtable that Gwen and Paul Lai hosted on the future of children's and YA comics. Before they begin discussing the books for this month's show, Gwen and Krystal mention the wonderful contributions of Paul Lai, who has recently graduated with his doctorate from the School of Education in Language, Literacy, and Culture at the University of California, Berkeley, and who has begun a new position as Director of UC Berkeley's prestigious BE3 program, which stands for Berkeley Educators for Equity and Excellence. Paul intends to return to the Comics Alternativefamily from time to time as a podcaster, and Gwen and Krystal wish him the very best in his new role. During the main portion of the show, Gwen and Krystal discuss three new releases: Ivan Brunetti's 3 x 4, published last month by TOON Books and geared towards early elementary readers, and two Halloween-oriented middle grade graphic novels: Drew Weing's The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall, which is the second in the Margo Maloo series from First Second books, and Brenna Thummler's debut, Sheets, put out by Lion Forge's Cubhouse imprint. Both Krystal and Gwen found Brunetti's 3 x 4 to be a great addition to the plethora of STEM-focused comics that have been published in the last five years, including First Second's Science Comics series and Mike Holmes and Gene Luen Yang's Secret Coders. Krystal praises Brunetti for his inclusion of a diverse and eclectic group of young people, and Gwen notes that for the detail-oriented child, every page offers up an opportunity to discover the many ways that the number 12 can be divided into sets! Next, the two PhDs consider Drew Weing's follow up to his highly successful first volume of the Margo Maloos series: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo: The Monster Mall. Gwen appreciates Weing's decision to continue focusing on the costs of gentrification, while Krystal notes that the inclusion of teenage characters adds a new dimension to the series. Finally, Gwen and Krystal discuss the amazing debut by Brenna Thummler, Sheets (Lion Forge), which takes place in a lake resort town and focuses on the struggles of a young woman who has become the proprietor of her family's laundromat, all while trying to fit in at middle school. Her interactions with Wendell, the ghost of an eleven-year-old boy, end up making life a lot better for both of them. Krystal points out Thummler's attention to figural placement and atmospherics, and Gwen suggests that while some of the plot points might seem a little far-fetched, the novel holds together well and deals with class conflict in a manner that is also present in Weing's Margo Maloo series. In November, Gwen and Krystal will be back with another set of books to review, as well as 2018 best-of-list recommendations for our listener's winter holiday celebrations.  

Intro Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of books to help us see our world more clearly and to see each other more clearly.  My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with those amazing books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a 5th grade teacher and currently in a battle with Japanese beetles!  Argh! My hollyhock has finally bloomed after three years and those buggers and destroying it! A green thumb, I do not have. This is Episode #53 and today I’m discussing more fabulous nonfiction and sharing a conversation with Diane Magras, author of The Mad Wolf’s Daughter!   A couple quick announcements for you!  The July Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick is Just Under the Clouds . Where the Watermelons Grow is the read for August and the September pick is The House That Lou Built. And don’t forget that Monday nights are our #MGBookChat Twitter chats with upcoming topics like graphic novels, ending gendered labels of MG books, and the importance of refugee stories. So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat for conversations and collaboration between educators, librarians, and authors.  I’ll warn you though - if you think your TBR stack is bad now… it only gets WORSE after one of those chats! (There are worse vices to have, right?) Book Talk - More Fabulous Nonfiction A couple weeks ago, on episode #51, I started a list of fantastic nonfiction reads with the promise that I would continue the list in the next episode. Well, the conversation with special guest Nikki Mancini was so good that I didn’t want to cut any more and so I bumped this nonfiction book talk to today.  So here are more fabulous nonfiction books that you and your middle grade students will love this year! First up is a brand new book called Squidtoons: Exploring Ocean Science with Comics by Garfield Kwan and Dana Song. I love this book for its bright, bold comics that are easy to read and with just the right amount of humor to keep a smile on your face as you learn about cool creatures like the moon jelly, and the narwhal, and seadragons! It reminds me a lot of the Science Comics series (which I mentioned in that last episode) but this one is a tad easier to read with bigger font. So I think the readability on this one could hit a younger audience. I’m really excited to share this one with my class in the fall. Another nonfiction book that bubbled up into my awareness late last school year is Discovering Black America: from the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-first Century by Linda Tarrant-Reid. This books offers 200+ pages of in-depth history from the black sailor who traveled with Columbus to the indentured servants of the colonial era and tragedies of enslaved Africans to the Harlem Renaissance and up to the presidency of Barack Obama.  And those stories are set in a greater context of the entire history of the United States. This is a book that is great to read cover to cover but also a helpful resources to have on hand to offer a perspective about a historical topic that might not be covered completely in a traditional history text. For example, there is an entire section on black patriots who fought for independence and the black women in the Women’s Army Corps in the 1940s. Definitely check this one out. Another couple of books that were really popular with my 5th graders - and frankly, with me too, since they were my personal books that I brought in - were the Star Wars Visual Dictionaries. The two I have (so far) are the ones for The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens. These books are must-haves for any Star Wars fans because they let you see in detail all the little things go by so quickly in a movie.  Like, everything that’s in Rey’s salvage kit. The names of the Resistance pilots and their backstory. And little surprises like Ben Solo’s calligraphy set. Visual Dictionaries are really fun to explore and DK Publishers does a really incredible job with them. So have a few on hand that appeal to the interests of your kids. Also - if you and your kids have not yet read any of Sarah Albee’s nonfiction books - you all are in for a treat!  My daughters and I just read Bugged: How Insects Changed History and were simultaneously enthralled and appalled! From the disturbing fact of where that brilliant red dye comes from to how bugs were a factor in the Louisiana Purchase. It’s a COOL book and can either be read cover to cover or just read the textbox features.  Sarah Albee is also the author of the incredible Why’d They Wear That - a gorgeous, glossy book all about fashion through the ages with an introduction by the amazing Tim Gunn.  And How They Croaked (about the awful deaths of famous people) and How They Choked (all about the epic fails of the super famous). So if you have readers whose tastes tend a little more toward the dark - those two are great.  Albee’s latest book is called Dog Days of History: The Incredible Story of Our Best Friends - featuring, well - stories of dogs through history! A really interesting book that blend forensics with history is Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. By Sally M. Walker. It’s a gorgeous full color book showcasing new insights gained about this era based on information scientists have gathered by examined the newly excavated bones of Europeans and Africans from colonial sites in Virginia and Maryland. And again even if kids don’t read this one cover to cover, I think reading and discussing a chapter would really help children understand how our knowledge of history changes over time as we make new discoveries and have better tools to analyze. Another nonfiction book that I keep bumping into online - and was FINALLY able to get at my public library - is Two Truths and Lie by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson.  It’s a clever book that is just begging to be read with a friend - or out loud in the car! Essentially, each chapter is about a topic. Like, Chapter 1 is Crazy Plants and Chapter 6 is Large Animals. And within each chapter are three stories: A, B, and C.  Each story is about 3-5 pages long with lots of bold colors and cool fonts and photos. And the reader has to decide which of those three stories is false. The answer key is in the back and it gives a paragraph or so of explanation. This book is called Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive so I’m kind of hoping there are more in the series. A book that has recently intrigued my daughters and me is called Survivors: Extraordinary Tales from the Wild and Beyond by David Long with illustrations by Kerry Hyndman.  It is a collection of extreme survival stories from all over the world. Some you may have heard of - like Aron Ralston - the climber in Colorado who cut off his own arm to survive. It was made into the movie 127 Hours with James Franco. But others may be unfamiliar - like the story of Poon Lim - the sailor who survived a shipwreck by sucking the blood from a shark.  This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart, but for those kids who like shocking stories of people overcoming the most dangerous situations this is the book for them!   Another beautiful new nonfiction book is Grand Canyon by Jason Chin. It’s a large format book about the size of a picture book with such detailed and multi-layered artwork. It’s written in a unique way. It’s written in the 2nd person where the narrator takes you on a tour of the canyon as it gives you information. For example, here is a line: “After climbing out of the Inner Gorge, you’ll find yourself on a broad, sun-baked slope.”  And as the narrator gives you information about the Grand Canyon, you see in a center spread, illustrations of a father and daughter exploring the canyon and doing what the narrator just said. And around the edges of the main illustration, kind of in a Jan Brett format, are small drawings of the animals and plants found in the canyon, or a cross section of the layers, sketches of the weathering process… it’s really cool!  And some of the pages have holes in them to show the fossils and when you turn the page - you just have to see it for yourself! This book is amazing!   Okay - I hope this has given you some ideas for new nonfiction books to freshen up your informational section of your library. And if you have a suggestion about a great nonfiction book we should all know about, email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter at @Books_Between.   Diane Magras - Interview Outline Joining me this month for our Middle Grade at Heart interview with Diane Magras is engineer by day and middle grade author by night, Karen Chow. We got an opportunity to sit down together last month to chat about The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. Take a listen… The Mad Wolf’s Daughter CA: For our listeners who haven’t yet read The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, what is this story about?   CA: Love the mix of swashbuckling medieval adventure mixed with humor - at times it reminded me a bit of The Princess Bride. What were your inspirations?   CA: There seem like there might be elements of fantasy in this book. What genre do you see this book falling in?   KC: Drest is very brave throughout the book. Did you take some of her bravery from a historical figure?   KC: Drest is mistaken for a boy several times. Is that because of the way she is dressed? Her short hair? Why did you decide to have Drest this way?   KC: Did real warriors have a code of ethics?   **BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Diane and Karen and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 38:13 mark.   Your Writing Life CA: What are you working on now? And will there be a sequel for Drest? Your Reading Life CA: One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books.  Did you have a special teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader? KC: Do you have book recommendations for people who liked your book? CA: What are you reading now?   Links: Diane’s website - https://www.dianemagras.com Diane on Twitter and Instagram Karen’s website - http://www.karenschow.com Karen on Twitter   Books & Authors We Chatted About: The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper) Here Lies Arthur (Philip Reeve) The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter (Diane Magras) The Shadow Hunt (Katherine Langrish) The Serpent’s Secret (Sayantani DasGupta) The Jumbies (Tracey Baptiste) Bounders Series (Monica Tesler) The Parker Inheritance (Varian Johnson) Where the World Ends (Geraldine McCaughrean) I loved getting the chance to talk with Diane about her novel. If you are looking for more titles that are similar to The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, she recommends checking out The Book of Boy or The Inquisitor’s Tale.   Closing Alright, that wraps up our show this week! If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.   Thanks and see you soon!  Bye!  

Intro Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, and librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, and struggling with some kind of rogue pollen in the air. So if I suddenly sound like the Albino from the Pit of Despair in The Princess Bride - that is why. This is Episode #51 and today I’m discussing some exceptional nonfiction reads and sharing a conversation with Wendy MacKnight, author of The Frame-up!   But first I am excited to tell you that today’s episode is sponsored by MoxieReader - a literacy app that’s like a fitness tracker for your reading life. It gives educators insights into their students’ reading lives, customized recommendations, and a way for kids to set and work toward their own reading goals in a way that is engaging and fun. My 5th graders and I have been trying it out over the past couple of weeks and they have been really been pumped up about hitting their own goals AND they’ve really liked sharing recommendations with each other. I feel like the summer is, for me anyway, the perfect time to explore something new so head over to MoxieReader.com and the use the code welovereading and try it out! A few announcements to pass along! This month’s Middle Grade at Heart book club pick is The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. We’ll have author Diane Magras on the show soon so watch out for that! In July we are reading, Just Under the Clouds and Where the Watermelons Grow is the August pick. In other news, we at MGBookVillage had SUCH as fabulous response to the #MGBookChat  Twitter chats that we’ve decided to continue them! So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST  and check out #MGBookChat on Twitter for great conversations between educators, librarians, and authors about how to get great books into the hands of middle grade readers!    We have some great guest hosts lined up so far, but If you have an idea for a topic centered around supporting children’s reading lives and celebrating MG books and would like to co-host an upcoming chat, please contact us. (I’ll drop a link to more information and our upcoming schedule in the show notes.) Book Talk - Exceptional Nonfiction Reads This week’s book talk is all about nonfiction!! And I will admit, I do tend to read and book talk more fiction than nonfiction. (And I have heard from some of you about that.) But, my students and I are just coming off of a great Unit of Study all about informational texts and I wanted to share with you some of the books that have really hooked us. And as I started this list, I soon realized it’s too much for one episode. So consider this part one, and on the next show you’ll get more great recommendations! Let’s get into it with the hot reads with my fifth graders this year. All of these books had long waiting lists and complicated exchange arrangements with my kids - if you work in a classroom or library, you know what I mean. First up… The Science Comics series!! Oh my word - have these books taken off in my class!  They are graphic novel-style books that feature a character (like an animal) introducing you to their world and telling you everything you need to know about it.  For example, a favorite one in our class is Science Comics Dogs: From Predator to Protector by Andy Hirsch and it starts with an introduction by two canine scientists and then we meet Rudy, who talks directly to the reader about things like domestication, Punnett Squares, and evolution, and breeds, and the meanings of various howls and wags. We have another one called Coral Reefs: Cities of the Oceans which is told by a little yellow fish and is all about coral formation and water runoff and the effects of climate change. I will say - they are complicated and do contain sophisticated vocabulary like alleles and numerical dating vs relative dating and, well - lots of other words I can’t pronounce! But the support of the illustrations really helps, and I have found that readers will pick up what they can and skim the rest - and that’s okay. They next time they come across the term allele, they’ll be more likely to pick up that meaning.  There are a TON more in the series, Bats, Plague, Flying Machines, Volcanoes, Robots & Drones with new titles coming like Polar Bears and Wild Weather!! I definitely need to get more of these next year - they are bright and colorful - and just COOL!   Another hot nonfiction read for us this year is Don’t Read This Book Before Bed: Thrills, Chills, and Hauntingly True Stories by Anna Claybourne. This is a National Geographic Kids book published by Scholastic and how it’s set up is each topic has a two page spread with a big title, an introduction and then 4 or 5 text features like a timeline or picture, or fact box. It really lends itself to bite-sized reading and with each flip of the page you get a new topic like “Island of the Dolls” or “Buried Alive” or “Eerie Everest”. And there are six quizzes throughout the book like “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” or “Spot the Fake Photos!” so I liked that it also included some debunking and skepticism. This is book that some of your kids are going to look at and say, “No thank you!” but you know there are a lot you are going to go “Oh yeah! Let me at it!”   In a similar vein is a book called Beasties in My Backyard which also includes a two-page spread for common backyard (or household) bugs like centipedes and cicadas and cockroaches and lightning bugs! Each page has an intro and a HUGE super close-up photo (like see every hair on their legs photo) with the features labeled and explained. And then a fact file with its size and diet and location. And a few text features. Actually, even though the title is Beasties in my Backyard - our classroom has had its share of ants, and moths, and stink bugs, and centipedes recently. Just yesterday my teammate, Cindy, had to snag a spider out of my hair during lunch!  A couple other nonfiction books that my biology-loving students are getting into are 101 Hidden Animals (all about creatures who camouflage), Life As We Know It (about everything from the beginnings of life on earth to species and ecosystems and survival) and Ocean Animals: Who’s Who in the Deep Blue (another gorgeous National Geographic Kids book). Another super popular book this year is one called... Drones. It’s one of those short, wide books with 96 pages chock full of information. There’s a four page intro and then each spread is about a different drone - military drones and then civilian drones. I liked that the pictures are large and the text is large and well spaced so it’s really readable. Also - for each drone they include a “How Big Is It”  box with the silhouette of that drone with either a person or a bus or something to help you picture it. Two other books that have become very popular this year in the wake of student activist movements are Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge which tells the story of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 with a particular focus on the voices of the children who participated. Another book called Kids on Strike! tells the stories of children who organized in the early 1900s for better working conditions. Each chapter is about a different strike - from mill workers and coal miners and garment workers, It was a fascinating and timely read. I think it would be really interesting to have students compare a chapter from each these books to current news stories about student walkouts and the marches demanding gun control. My students are also really loving those Scholastic “A True Book” series - especially the one called Cybercriminals which is all about hacking and identity theft - topics they hear about in the news and want to know more about. I really, really love this series and they have a plethora of titles that can connect to just about any content area so you can make your reading time also hit some science and social studies. And - I probably don’t need to tell you this, but any of the Almanac / World Record-type books are hugely popular with my kiddos. They were with me too when I was their age! But boy have they changed! My tattered copy of the 19somethingsomething Guinness Book of World Records is black and white, teensy-tiny print, and maybe a picture or two? These books are chock full of color and images with bold words and color coded sections.  I don’t get a new one EVERY year but honestly I probably should they are so popular. Guinness has a great one every year and so does Scholastic.  And the National Geographic Kids Almanacs are also great. And there are also books like The Year in Sports and even ones specific to baseball or football. And I’m starting to realize that this list is pretty heavily loaded with Scholastic titles. Honestly, it’s because they are affordable and I can save up my points to get some of the more pricey ones. But I do realize that limits the selection, so next year I’m going to look for ways to fund some other titles, too. Alright - I hope this has encouraged you to pick up some new nonfiction titles for your children and students. And if you have a suggestion about a great nonfiction book we should all know about, email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter at @Books_Between. Wendy MacKnight - Interview Outline Our special guest this week is Wendy McLeod MacKnight.  We chat about art, her biggest influences as a child, and her inspirations behind her newest middle grade novel, The Frame-Up. Take a listen... The Frame Up Your newest novel is due to be released into the world on June 5th! What is Frame-up all about? What kind of research did you do for this book and did you collaborate at all with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery? What were some of the challenges you encountered when setting up the “rules” of the paintings? If you could go visit any painting you wished, which one would you pick? If you knew a painting could really come alive, would you want one painted of yourself? **BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Wendy and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 47:30 mark. Your Writing Life What are you working on next? Your Reading Life One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a teacher or librarian in your life who helped you What are some books you’ve been reading lately? Links: Wendy’s website - http://wendymcleodmacknight.com Wendy on Twitter and Facebook   Books & Authors We Chatted About: It’s a Mystery Pigface (Wendy MacKnight) A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle) Penderwicks at Last (Jeanna Birdsall) You Go First (Erin Entrada Kelly) The Mad Wolf’s Daughter (Diane Magras) The Science of Unbreakable Things (Tae Keller) The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody (Matthew Landis)   Closing Alright, that wraps up our show this week! If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well. Thanks and see you soon!  Bye!

Hi everybody!  This is a peek at one of the many shows we do over at our Patreon page and I wanted to put it out on the regular feed to let people "dip their toe in" to the Weird Science Madness!  This is my Weekly Comic News Podcast and if you like the cut of my jib, join up and you'll get it every week!  Check it out and hope you enjoy it!  - Jim   Keywords: Comics, Comic Books, Comic Book Podcast, Comics Podcast, Batman, Superman, DC Comics, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Podcast, Comic Book, superhero, superhero podcast, DCU, DC YOU, dc rebirth, dc comics rebirth, batman rebirth, superman rebirth, green arrow rebirth, green lantern rebirth, New 52, Supergirl, Superboy

IF YOU HAD TROUBLE DOWNLOADING THIS EPISODE, TRY THIS ONE INSTEAD!  Hi everybody!  This is a peek at one of the many shows we do over at our Patreon page and I wanted to put it out on the regular feed to let people "dip their toe in" to the Weird Science Madness!  This is my Weekly Comic News Podcast and if you like the cut of my jib, join up and you'll get it every week!  Check it out and hope you enjoy it!  - Jim   Keywords: Comics, Comic Books, Comic Book Podcast, Comics Podcast, Batman, Superman, DC Comics, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Podcast, Comic Book, superhero, superhero podcast, DCU, DC YOU, dc rebirth, dc comics rebirth, batman rebirth, superman rebirth, green arrow rebirth, green lantern rebirth, New 52, Supergirl, Superboy    

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and the folks at The Comics Alternative all gather around the virtual table to share what they are thankful for in terms of comics and comics culture. Pulling up a seat this year are Gwen, Paul, Sean, Gene, Edward, and Derek. Among the many things that they're thankful for are First Second's Science Comics and Secret Coders series, local comics shops (Comix Revolution in Evanston, IL, and Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC) and local conventions (such as CAKE), being able to meet your comics heroes, such as Gary Panter and Trina Robbins, the conclusion of Inio Asano's Goodnight Punpun series, Fantagraphics and its always impressive output, such as this year's Now and How to Read Nancy, Françoise Mouly and Nadja Spiegelman's Resist!, Craig Yoe, the growing number of publishers of Franco-Belgian comics, having dinner with Gilbert Hernandez and his family, Kodansha Comics and its ongoing efforts to publish quality editions of classic (and not-so-classic) manga, and the many creators and publicists who help to make this podcast possible! What more could one ask for in a holiday podcast episode? Well...maybe some pie.

Did you know that we are drinking the same water that the dinosaurs drank? That we rely in part on coral reefs to help produce the oxygen we breathe? Science Comics author Maris Wicks explains the water cycle, coral bleaching, and what we can do to help protect coral reefs. Read the transcript at http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/science/protecting-coral-reefs Check out all the Quick and Dirty Tips shows: www.quickanddirtytips.com/podcasts FOLLOW EVERYDAY EINSTEIN Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qdteinstein Twitter: https://twitter.com/qdteinstein

Time Codes: 00:25 - Introduction 02:55 - Setup of interview 04:20 - Interview with Andy Hirsch 57:15 - Wrap up 59:51 - Contact us Andy Hirsch is back on the podcast, and this time he talks with Gwen and Derek about his new book, Science Comics: Dogs: From Predator to Protector. This is the next volume in First Second's important Science Comics series, one that uses comics to educate both younger readers and adults. In fact, Gwen and Derek spend a lot of time asking Andy his illustrative strategies for taking complex concepts and making them understandable to a broader audience. There is a lot of science packed into this book, and not all of it specifically devoted to canines. But Andy uses colorful charts and graphs, as well as particularly effective storytelling conventions, to present his dense subject matter. Guiding the reader through all of this information is Rudy, the lovable mixed-breed narrator who, in many ways, functions as a stand-in for Andy Hirsch himself. Over the course of the interview, Derek and Gwen talk with their guest not only about the new book, its genesis, and Andy's growing association with First Second, but they also share their own love of and histories with dogs, making this episode of the interview series somewhat of a canine lovefest.

On this week’s Comics Syllabus podcast, two super interesting guests! First, on our General Ed segment, we learn about the Latino Comics Expo ( http://www.latinocomicsexpo.com/ ) taking place November 11-12, 2017 at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California, from one of its cofounders and executive director, Ricardo Padilla. We discuss the origins of the show, the community of creators and fans that LCX brings together, and Ricardo’s own story as a convener of Latino creators. We mention Javier Hernandez’s vital role in founding the Expo, Daniel Parada’s ZOTZ at http://www.zotzcomic.com/, and many more awesome creators. (At 27:50) Then, we are treated with a conversation with Falynn Koch ( http://www.falynnk.com/ ), cartoonist and illustrator, creator of two books in First Second :01’s “Science Comics” series, the recent “Plagues: the Microscopic Battlefield” and last year’s “Bats: Learning to Fly.” Paul is joined (partly) by Cohost Kid to talk to Falynn Koch about how she turns informative science info into entertaining all-ages storytelling. Falynn talks about making improbable living things like bats, germs, and mythical creatures into fascinating characters, and how she went from running a food truck (award-winning Mac and Cheese!) to comics and illustration. Finally, in the Discussion Section (1:11:40), some shout outs, comics studies and English Departments, and Paul’s annoying verbal tics. NEXT WEEK: ‘The Wait List’ with Sonny, and a close reading of “The Untold Legend of the Batman” written by Len Wein with art by John Byrne and Jim Aparo from DC Comics (1980), available in Tales of the Batman: Len Wein and other places (use your Googling skills to find it!) Subscribe and follow the Comics Syllabus podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or Soundcloud, or copy this RSS feed to your podcatcher: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:235183739/sounds.rss or you can find archives for this podcast (previously named “Study Comics with Paul”) here: http://studycomics.club/ Join the discussion on the Comics Syllabus Facebook page: http://facebook.com/ComicsSyllabus or Follow Paul on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TwoPlai or leave your comments on the showpage. Thanks for listening!

It’s that time of the year again, so while we dig ourselves out from underneath the many, many free comics here’s part one of our FBCD Special. Our featured comics are Oddly Normal, The Tick, The Comics Mixtape 2016, Strawberry Shortcake, Suicide Squad #1, Bruce Lee: The Dragon Rises, Dark Lily & Friends, 2000 A.D, ROM #0, Science Comics, Pokémon, Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom and DC’s Superhero Girls. #2000AD #4Panel #BruceLee #TheDragonRises #Comics #DarkLily #DC #SuperheroGirls #GraphicLiterature #GraphicNovels #HowardLovecraft #Kodansha #Manga #Marvel #News #OddlyNormal #Podcasts #Pokemon #Reviews #ROM #ScienceComics #StrawberryShortcake #SuicideSquad #TheComicsMixtape2016 #TheGeekShow #TheTick

Comic News Insider: Episode 758 is now available for free download! Click on the link or get it through iTunes! Sponsored by Dynamic Forces.  Reviews: Doctor Who: Ghost Stories #1, Riverdale #1, Rock Candy Mountain #1, X-Men Gold #1, Archer S8 premiere, iZombie S3 premiere, Legends of Tomorrow S2 finale, Rick and Morty S3 premiere Emmy Potter returns to the rotating co-host chair! She and Jimmy discuss the Comic News Insider 12th year anniversary and that awesome Thor: Ragnarok trailer. News includes: New Warriors/Squirrel Girl is heading to Freeform for a 10 episode series, George Takei/IDW Publishing will produce a comic about his firsthand experience in Japanese internment camps during WW2, NYCC is cutting Artist Alley in half, Disney seeks a patent for a humanoid robot, DC Comics has redefined Superman/Lois Lane in their recent Superman: Rebirth storyline and more!  And it's the last of the MoCCA interviews with the awesome Falynn Koch! We discuss her upcoming Science Comics release from First Second that's all about plagues. And, of course, we get some incredible mac and cheese talk in. You'll see! Leave your iTunes comments! 5 stars and nothing but love! Also, get a hold of us!   Thanks for listening!

Jon Chad (@jon_chad), cartoonist behind Volcanoes, the newest in First Second's Science Comics series, stops by the podcast to talk about his underlying love of science, looking for narrative beats, and the emotion you get from Darth Vader just from his slight tip of the helmet.

Time Codes: 00:00:27 - Introduction 00:03:08 - Introducing Paul Lai as new YR cohost 00:04:50 - A farewell message from Andy Wolverton 00:07:12 - Bats: Learning to Fly 00:31:39 - NewsPrints 01:00:37 - Wrap up 01:01:11 - Contact us Changes   The Comics Alternative extends a warm welcome to Paul Lai, who has taken over from Andy Wolverton as co-host with Gwen Tarbox on the Young Readers show. Everyone at The Comics Alternative family will miss Andy's wise and engaging reviews and perspectives on children's and young adult comics. In their first show together, Gwen and Paul discuss the newest volume in First Second Books' Science Comics series, Falynn Christine Koch's Bats: Learning to Fly, as well as Ru Xu's fiction (“diesel-punk,” as Paul terms it) graphic novel NewsPrints, published by the GRAPHIX imprint at Scholastic Books. Since its launch in 2016, the Science Comics series has included volumes on coral reefs, volcanoes, and dinosaurs. Geared towards upper elementary and middle school aged readers, Science Comics take advantage of the elements of visual storytelling to put forward scientific information. As the editors point out: “With the increasing ubiquity of visual information,” young readers need to “learn to process and respond to visual content, and comics are an incredibly effective medium for exploring visual literacy.” Regular listeners to the podcast may remember that Gwen and Andy reviewed Dinosaurs by M.K. Reed and Joe Flood in their March 2016 YR show, and many of the elements that they praised, including the accessibility of scientific information, as well as the use of humor, appear in Koch's volume, as well. Bats: Learning to Fly encourages young readers to understand the important role that bats play in the ecosystem, to overcome their fear of bats, and to learn how they can become involved in protecting and caring for bats. In addition to providing a great deal of information on various species of Bats, Koch creates a narrative in which a teenage girl, Sarah, volunteers at a bat rehabilitation center after her parents overreact to a bat and injure it. Lil' Brown, as the bat is known, is both a character in that narrative and a narrative presence in his own right, as he directly addresses the reader at various points regarding his own anatomy and role in the ecosystem. As part of their discussion, Paul and Gwen consider how young readers might respond to the way information is imparted in the comic, and they look forward to Koch's upcoming volume for the Science Comics series, Plagues: The Microscopic Battlefield, due out in August, 2017. Koch recently graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and Gwen and Paul discuss how her precision drawings and humor-filled text combine to create a text that will delight readers, while encouraging them to appreciate how they can play a role in scientific study by volunteering to rehabilitate bats or building bat houses for their backyards. Next, Gwen and Paul discuss another debut comic from a SCAD graduate. NewsPrints is written and drawn by Ru Xu, a comics creator who was born in Beijing, immigrated to Indianapolis as a young child, and has had a lifelong love of comics from a variety of traditions, including manga, European comics, and even superhero comics. NewsPrints takes place in a fictional diesel-punk world where the land of Nautilene is torn by war and a newspaper called The Bugle is the only media outlet left that is still reporting the truth. The protagonist, Blue, is a rare kind of newsboy in a society that counts on its newsboys to shout out the headlines and sell papers…and that's because Blue is not a boy, but a girl, orphaned by the war and adopted by the family who owns the newspaper. Blue sets out to provide that one doesn't have to be a boy to be vital in the news business, and along the way, readers are introduced to a cast of characters such as Jack, the eccentric and secretive inventor; Crow, a strange kid who remains wrapped in a scarf and in mysteries of his own; and Goldie, Blue's loyal canary, who matches Blue's welcoming of people and spirit of flight. As part of their discussion, Paul and Gwen praise Xu's mastery of many genres of comics, including her ability to meld various traditional forms into an entirely unique story world. Thus, while the text shares much in common with recent fantasy releases, including Faith Erin Hicks' The Nameless City and Jorge Corona's Feathers, NewsPrints stands on its own, with a vast, inviting story space and a focus on issues of truth and representation that are ever more a part of our own political and social climate. Paul praised Xu's deft handling of interactions among characters, and Gwen expressed her admiration for Xu's use of color and shading to help set the mood and to ease transitions across the comic. Given the book's indeterminate ending, Paul and Gwen look forward to the series continuing into additional volumes, and they dwell on Xu's treatment of gender and ethnicity in thoughtful ways. Get your copies of the titles discussed on this episode:  

Intro   Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect middle grade kids to books they’ll love.  I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th grade teacher, a mom of two daughters, and happy to be DONE with 2016 and onward to 2017! Typically we have a New Year’s Eve party at our house - last year was a disco theme - but this time my kids were not feeling so great and instead we had a quiet night. I set up my new bullet journal with my reading goals, played canasta with my kids, crocheted, and just cuddling on the couch under the heating blanket. I know - NOT a very cool New Year’s Eve celebration. But - it was wonderful and I hope yours was as well. So - hello to 2017!   This is Episode #14 and today we are discussing some fun reading challenge ideas to kick off your new year, the most anticipated middle grade books coming out in 2017, and I’ll answer a question about what books to recommend for a 5th grader who has a high school reading level.   Main Topic - Reading Challenges for the New Year   One of the best things about the New Year is the reset that happens when December flips over into January and you have a full twelve months laid out in front of you with all the possibilities in the world! You’re past the indulgences of the holidays and ready to refocus, make some resolutions, build better habits, and set some goals.  So today I’m going to talk about a few fun ideas for reading challenges this year that can help you connect with your community, keep you motivated, and maybe spur you to stretch yourself as a reader in 2017.   Now our conversation today is geared toward personal reading goals for you, but these same ideas can be shared with the students and the children in your life. And as the lead reader in your library or classroom or home, sharing your own reading goals shows that you take your reading life seriously and that we’re all in this reading community together. I know that my first day back with my class, I’ll be sharing my Reading Challenge list with my students and helping them set up their own. So - if you are thinking about doing a reading challenge this year, here are a few ideas for you:   Challenge Idea #1 - Set a number goal.  Maybe that’s forty books or sixty books or a hundred books! Something that’s a bit of a stretch but still doable for you.  Last year, I participated in the #SixtyBooks Challenge  - I happened to see the hashtag last January and I thought, “I can do that!” And it’s been fantastic. One thing that kept me motivated was connecting to others doing the same challenge on Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads. So - if you decide to do any kind of challenge, connecting with other readers through social media helps keep you stay excited about it through the year. And if you want to join me this year, just check out #SixtyBooks and we can support each other!   Challenge Idea #2 - Set a goal based on type of book.  These can be found all over the internet this time of year. They are usually focused on adult books but you can easily read middle grade books within those categories and maybe make just a couple adjustments.  A really great one is Book Riot’s yearly Read Harder Challenge which this year features tasks like read a debut novel, read a travel memoir, read a superhero comic with a female lead, or  read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative.  Those last two are definitely going on my list.  I’ll leave a link to that in the show notes and what’s nice about the Book Riot challenge is that they have suggestions for each category, a Goodreads group, and in-person meetups throughout the year.     Another Reading Challenge that my friend Emily told me about is the one from PopSugar. They feature 40 book categories with this year’s theme of diversifying and expanding your reading - love it! Some of their reading prompts are a book involving a mythical creature, a book recommended by a librarian (I love that one), a book by or about a person who has a disability, a book with a main character who is a different ethnicity than you, and some fun ones like a book with a red spine or a book set in a hotel. PopSugar also has an extra twenty prompts for those hardcore readers who finish early. They also have a Goodreads group and printable lists, and I’ll link to their site too so you can check that out.   Another 2017 Reading Challenge that I discovered last week is one hosted by a site called Modern Mrs. Darcy. (Now - already with that name - I’m in!) What I really like about this challenge is that there are two paths you can follow: Reading for Fun or Reading for Growth.  Each have just 12 tasks so they are doable and you might even have time to do both! On the Reading for Fun list are topics like a juicy memoir, a book you chose for the cover, and a book by a new favorite author. Those all sound comfy and great. On the other hand, if you want to stretch yourself and go for the Reading for Growth path there are options like a book that addresses current events, a book by an #ownvoices or #diversebooks author, or a Newbery Award winner or Honor book.  That all sounds exactly what I need this year.   Challenge Idea #3 - Create a Reading Time Capsule for the year.  I wish I could remember where I saw this so I could give them proper credit, but this idea is similar to the practice of families jotting down happy memories throughout the year and tucking them into a jar to read on New Year’s Eve. This idea is to jot down favorite quotes and inspiring ideas from the books you’ve read throughout the year. I’m thinking that a nice adaptation would be instead of putting it in a jar, write it down in a journal or if you want to go more 21st century - challenge yourself to post on social media one inspiring quote or idea about every book you’ve read this year.  And that could also make a very cool classroom project.   Challenge Idea #4 - Do a Library Crawl!  Unlike a pub crawl, which is typically done in one night and you can’t bring your kids. Or well, you really shouldn’t bring your kids. A Library Crawl can span the whole year, the summer, or maybe just Spring Break. And it’s way better when you bring your kids!  Basically you challenge yourself to visit a set number of libraries in a set amount of time. Last summer, I was looking for some inexpensive things to do with my girls that would be fun, educational, and get us all out of the house and away from the electronics. So we challenged ourselves to visit 16 libraries during the summer of 2016. And we almost made it! I have a lot more to share with you about Library Crawls, how to do them, some fun ideas, and the unexpected benefits that I think I need to do a whole episode on it.     Challenge Idea #5 - Little Free Library Challenge.  Oh how I love Little Free Libraries!  They are popping up all over my community, my friends are all getting them, my school is putting one up this spring, and that is our family summer project. There are a couple ways you could go about doing a Little Free Library Challenge. One idea is to simply visit as many as you can this year and maybe document your travels on social media. If you go to the Little Free Library website, you can find listings of all your local registered libraries shown right on a map.  If you wanted to extend that into a Pay it Forward challenge, you could donate one book to each Little Free Library you visit.   Challenge Idea #6 - Design Your Own Reading Challenge!  Think of it as a 2017 Choose-Your-Own-Reading-Adventure.  Take the best ideas of the options out there and create something for yourself. And these ideas are easy to layer.  So you can set a number goal, participate in say, the Book Riot challenge or pick your own categories to read from the options you like, and maybe pick up those books while you do your library crawl.     Whatever you decide, get your kids and students involved, too and I’d love to see what you’ve got planned for the year!  You can send me an email at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter or Instagram with the handle @Books_Between.   Book Talk - Most Anticipated Middle Grade Books of 2017   In this segment, I share with you a few books centered around a theme. This week I’m highlighting some of the most anticipated books of the upcoming year.  Some are new books in favorites series. Some are by favorite authors. Some are by debut authors. And some just sound fantastic! So, get ready to add to your wish list. And just a reminder - that you can find every book mentioned here AND a picture of the covers AND a link to pre-order them right through the Books Between Podcast link at AlltheWonders.com.  So, no need to scurry and write things down. I’ve got your back, I know you’re busy, so it’s all right there for you.   One quick note before I start - publication dates do change, so while I’ve mentioned the month each book is expected to release - things sometimes change.   All right - let’s get to it!   http://www.readbrightly.com/middle-grade-books-2017/ https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/74235.Middle_Grade_Novels_of_2017   Coming in January…   Scar Island - a new action adventure by Dan Gemeinhart. So if you liked his other novels The Honest Truth or Some Kind of Courage (which I know you did!) , definitely get this one. A new Jerry Spinelli novel - The Warden’s Daughter. It’s set in 1959 Pennsylvania and oh it looks fantastic! Also in January, we’ll get the third Terrible Twos book - The Terrible Two Go Wild by Mac Barnett & Jory John. And the second Audacity Jones Book - Audacity Jones Steals the Show.  AND another Victoria Coe Fenway & Hattie book - the Evil Bunny Gang! If you were a fan of Counting by 7s, like I am - then look for Holly Sloan’s new novel called Short - it’s about a small-for-her-age girl who gets cast as a Munchkin in a production of The Wizard of Oz. So fans of Oz will have something to love in this book, too! One book I’ve been really looking forward to this year is the short story collection put together in partnership with We Need Diverse Books. It’s called Flying Lessons & Other Stories and features authors like Grace Lin, Matt de la Pena, Jacqueline Woodson and so many others. If you’re like me, and part of your Reading Challenge this year is to read more nonfiction and to read more diversely, then there’s two books to look for this January Pathfinders: The Journeys of 16 Extraordinary Black Souls by Tonya Bolden Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Powell.  It’s the story of the civil rights case set up as a novel in verse. That should be amazing. Coming in February …   This time I’ll start with nonfiction: We have Bats: Learning to Fly - the newest volume in the nonfiction graphic novel series called Science Comics. Then we have Kwame Alexander’s latest called The Playbook: 52 Rules to Aim, Shoot, and Score in This Game Called Life. A great nonfiction pairing for fans of Booked and The Crossover. Also in February, the highly anticipated Judd Winnick graphic novel Hilo 3 - huzzah!   And the debut middle grade novel by picture book author and All the Wonders friend Carter Higgins. It’s called A Rambler Steals Home and it’s about baseball, and family, and friendship, and sweet potato fries - it’s incredible - you absolutely need to get this one!  In fact, if you preorder A Rambler Steals Home from the Once Upon a Time Bookstore, Carter has offered to sign it for you before they ship it out to you. It’s a win-win-win! You get a signed copy of an awesome book, you support an independent bookstore, and you support an author you know and love. So, I’ll include that link in the show notes for you. In March, there are four books I am really looking forward to: Gone Camping: A Novel in Verse by Tamera Wissinger, which is the companion book to the 2015 book Gone Fishing. Forget Me Not by debut middle grade author  Ellie Terry featuring a science-loving main character, Calliope, who has Tourette syndrome. A Boy Called Bat by Elana K. Arnold This one is about a kid who ends up caring for a baby skunk and tried to convince his mom to let him keep it.  What could go wrong? And - we get a new Nathan Hale book this year!  It’s not a Hazardous Tale’s book. In fact, it’s almost the opposite of that. It’s set in the future and Earth is being attacked by aliens who suck up the energy from electrical devices leaving our civilization under threat. And there’s a robot pony. It’s so different from Hale’s work that I’m familiar with, but it looks original and fresh and amazing and I can’t wait to read it.   In April we have: The first book in a new mystery series by Adrienne Kress called The Explorers: The Door in the Alley. My students are really loving mysteries this year so this will make a great addition to my classroom library. Tito the Bonecrusher by Melissa Thomson. This is the story of a boy who seeks out the help of his favorite lucha-libre wrestler / action star to save his father from being deported to Mexico. That sounds fantastic and funny and... timely!   May is going to be a stellar month for reading: Georgia Rules by Swing Sideways author Nanci Steveson And a new Lisa Graff novel called The Great Treehouse War.  So if you liked Absolutely Almost or Lost in the Sun, look for this one this spring. A new Gordon Korman stand-alone novel called Restart about boy who was a bully who loses his memory and gets a fresh start. What an interesting premise! Another May release that I am so so excited about is Posted by Ms. Bixby’s Last Day author, John David Anderson. I loved Ms. Bixby so much - I can’t wait to see what Anderson has in store for us next! Then there’s a nonfiction book about Hamilton! It’s called Alexander Hamilton: How the Vision of One Man Shaped Modern America by Teri Kanefield And finally - mark your calendars and pre-order Orphan Island by Laurel Snyder because this book has been getting all the buzz. This novel keeps popping up everywhere I look!   In June we have: A 6th Ranger in Time book called Escape from the Great Earthquake   The third book in Phil Bildner’s Rip & Red series!  This one is called Tournament of Champions. My students are going to psyched about this one!   And a second book from A Distance to Home author Jenn Bishop called 14 Hollow Road. It’s about a 6th grade girl whose town is torn apart by a tornado and her family ends up living with the family of her crush, Avery, after both their houses are destroyed.   A fun book in a new non-fiction series called Two Truths and a Lie: It's Alive! So, basically the reader is presented with three stories about the natural world and you have to guess which one is the lie. Sounds fun - and good practice for life.     It’s a good thing I have July off from school, because there are some seriously awesome books being released that month: Including a new Comics Squad!  Comics Squad #3: Detention I love these! They’re fun, they’re quick, and they introduce kids to new writers. Another book to look forward to in July is Our Story Begins : Children’s Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring, and Occasionally Ridiculous Things They Wrote and Drew as Kids Oh - now that should be good! And also in July, we’ll get Spirit Hunters - the first middle grade novel by Ellen Oh - this one is the first of a new ghost story series. Can’t wait for that! And - I am also excited for July because that’s when Abby Cooper’s second novel, Bubbles, comes out!   In this one, the main character can see other people’s thoughts. Oh god - can you imagine?   August August is going to be fabulous because we get a new Cassie Beasley book. If you liked Circus Mirandus, her new novel is called Tumble & Blue and it’s about a curse, a swamp, and a golden alligator.   So after August, publication dates get a little hazy. BUT - I hear there’s a new Katherine Applegate book coming called Wishtree.  Also - there’s a fourth Al Capone at Alcatraz book coming out in the fall called Al Capone Does My Dishes.   And the Rick Riordon’s third Magnus Chase book: The Ship of the Dead . And the third Mr. Lemoncello's Library - the Great Library Race   And of course - I’ll keep you posted about all the amazing books headed our way so we can stay up to date. Those were some upcoming titles to look forward to in 2017. But. If I had to guess - the one book that you fall in love with this year, that one new book that your kids can’t put down. Is one that isn’t on this list and isn’t even on your radar right now. Most of my favorites of last year, I wasn’t even aware of them this early. And that’s exciting! There is so much to look forward to!   Q & A Our final segment this week is Question & Answer time.   Question: After sharing our Top 20 Middle Grade Books of 2016 list last week, I got this question from Jane: “Do you have an idea what book to get a 10-yr-old boy who reads on a 12th grade level?” And she added, “He is currently into the Warriors series.”   Answer: That can be a tough situation. He CAN read Young Adult or Adult books, but you’ve got to be careful of the content, which might not be okay for a 5th grader.     A quick example / horror story about that: when I used to teach 6th grade in a middle school, one of the reading assessments we gave was a computer program that would determine a reading level and would then print out a recommended list of titles for each kid. Sounds great, right? Well. I noticed that the kids who scored the highest were being recommended A CLOCKWORK ORANGE! I never ripped a piece of paper out of kid’s hand so fast! (Can you imagine if that went home?)   So - anyway - just because the reading level is a good match, does not mean the book is a good fit.   But - there are lots of middle grade books that have a higher reading level. And if he likes Fantasy, then there are some great books that I think he’ll like.  I might try the Wings of Fire series. It has some similarities to Warriors - there are clans and battles and shifting alliances - but it’s dragons instead of cats.  He might really like The Inquisitor’s Tale by Adam Gidwitz or maybe The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin or even The Lord of The Rings which is more “high” fantasy.  Another option that a friend recommended is The Riverman Trilogy by Aaron Starmer.   So, Jane - let us know how things go and if you’ve found something that hits the mark.   Closing   Alright, that’s it for the Q&A section this week. If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or an idea about a topic we should cover, I really would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get a full transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com. And when you are there, check out Matthew’s interview with Cozy Classics creators Jack and Holman Wang. I cannot stop reading and rereading these adorable little board books. And, if you are liking our show, I’d love it if you took a second to leave a rating or review on iTunes or Stitcher.   Thanks, Happy New Year, and see you in two weeks!  Bye!

Today I share some news about that graphic novel project I’ve been hinting at. Links mentioned: Art Soundoff Lean Into Art on Patreon – Help us get to $800/month! Boulder and Fleet: Adventurers for Hire First Second’s Science Comics announcement The Boulder and Fleet Patreon campaign Music for this show is by Eliott Drozd. Audio […]

The Friday Family Comic is 'Coral Reefs: Cities of the Ocean' in the Science Comics series from First Second by Maris Wicks. TwoPlai talks about information literacy and comics, how Wicks makes this unfamiliar subject so dang interesting, and how kids' comics inspire and train different kinds of reading.

How far can one push the medium of comics and picture books? And what can we learn from unorthodox books? Jon Chad and his Leo Geo books are on the show today!

Reviews: Hank Johnson: Agent of Hydra #1, Over the Garden Wall #1, Sherlock Holmes: Seven-Per-Cent Solution #1, Falling Skies series finale, Hannibal series finale Making a special guest appearance...it's the return of Producer Joe! Joe comes up to the new Inwood CNI studios to make sure everything is up to snuff. They chat about that Wonder Woman lunchbox story, how Idris Elba would make a great James Bond, and remember the great Wes Craven. News includes: First Second is launching a Science Comics line, Bergen Street Comics is closing down next month, New Jersey's Comic Fusion Superhero Weekend for charity to benefit CASA-SHaW, Fear the Walking Dead 30-minute special will feature a season 2 cast member and more! Leave your iTunes comments! 5 stars and nothing but love! Also, get a hold of us! Thanks for listening!