99th Episode

Sean attends ComicCon@Home! Paul builds his own Manga con! It has been a week of building appreciation for this hobby for the both of us! Also, Sean read Berserk. Paul played Resident Evil.

Also:
- ComicCon@Home is much like the rest of life these days, and Maine is a dearth for cons
- Panels, panels, everywhere, that make Sean appreciate Jack Kirby
- Panels are the Yoga of information gathering
- The crazy adventure of the neighbor's dog and the 4-wheeler
- Kingyo's used books is a primer on other Manga, and other stories
- Garage sale dollar bills pay for the goods! Same with the trade-ins!
- Junji Ito gets introduced to your intrepid heroes
- Sean goes Berserk!
- Strategies to make the most digital for your dollar
- Sean's inception-style reading habits, and why it is goods
- Inception-style doesn't work for video games though

Plus, Paul's neighbor's get in an expletive-ridden yelling fit over a dog or something. It is exciting.

Paul is deep in Wandering Island and Kingyo Used Books, and Sean continues the Age of Apocalypse. This leads to a discussion about Cyclops, the quintessential X-Man who may seem boring on the surface, but has depths that we reveal in our discussion.

Also:
- We have a Covid minute, and talk about some of our observations of this weird world we live in.
- We recall the moments that we realized that Manga exist, and the great Manga explosion in America
- Paul's Perfect Cold Brew Recipe -- in details
- The real reason for the Manga brackets, even when the victor was all but assured, revealed!
- Paul has been reading Wandering Island, and talks about what he likes about it
- Collectible pricing for commodity reading material -- not the best situation
- Kingyo Used Books teaches us to enjoy the things we enjoy without hangups
- Comic stores aren't just for comics anymore, we have examples!
- Some cures for comic burn out
- Age of Apocalypse has lots of levels. Well, three levels. The Summers brothers are a great example of this.
- How X-Factor helps flesh out the story of Cyclops
- Also, the story of Cyclops is very traumatic.
- 90s comic book coloring [shudder]
- Plus a whole bunch more X-Men talk

And as always, the soothing sounds of outdoor Maine.

Those Star Wars legends are punishment enough for Sean. Plus, Paul missed Turtles, The Musical Adventure, and maybe that's ok. Also in this episode:

• Build-Your-Own rap battles and air guitar solos.
• We unlock the usefulness of our childhood cartoons. And the colorforms.
• We get the lesson for the day out of the way before the 17 minute mark. It is good cognitive therapy.
• Let's talk about some Samurai movies. We compare the eastern samurai to the western cowboy.
• How we navigate a world full of streaming services.
• We judge the Joker movie by its cover.
• A little Lone Wolf and Cub talk, although only one of us has read it.
• Paul dips his toes into Manga, so we talk about his entrance into that pool of work. Also: The great manga playoffs.
• Paul is reading Deathnote, and Sean has read it in the past, so we talk about its merits, and what we like about it.
• Sean is reading Age of Apocalypse, and Paul has read it in the past, so we talk about its merits, and what we like about it.
• The physical experience of reading a physical comic book makes us appreciate the material much more.
• We are not fans of the Walmart.

... and as always, the soothing sounds of outdoor Maine.

Sean and Paul return for an hour (plus!) of discussion. One of these days, we are going to come up with our real name for this show. But alas, today is not that day.

In this episode:

• Birthdays in the time of Covid
• Sole – the Rapper.
• Meeting your heroes is sometimes what it is cracked up to be.
• We have morals and lessons from our brushes with fame.
• Star Wars! X-Men comics! And the drawbacks of binging both.
• How Knives Out is, and isn’t, like Star Wars.
• How to be a good Wolverine fan.
• Or how to be a good Star Wars fan.
• Or how to be a good fan of anything, really.
• Oh man. The recent Star Wars. And wrestling. How do we process this?
• How not to be an asshole fan. We found the line.
• How do we relate to the things we are a fan of?
• Oh, and video games.

Paul read the first big volume of Berzerk! Sean read Hickman's X-Men! Now it is time for us to discuss.

Berzerk is a particular type of story. If you are in the mood for a silent loner to wreck violent havok on demons, this is the book for you. But you need to be in that mood...

X-Men is fantastic right now, as it exceeds the bounds of the typical superhero stories and becomes somethign bigger and greater than that.

As always, we meander and take tangents as we discuss these two stories.

PLUS! 20th Century Boys is a Highest Recommendation.