batman

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 493 – “RRR”

Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr. in RRR (2022), directed by S.S. Rajamouli

Gobbledygeek episode 493, “RRR,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Time to rise, roar, and revolt as Paul and Arlo engage in some extreme piggybacking with S.S. Rajamouli’s RRR. This alt-history epic is the rare Indian film to make a splash in the Western world, and our boys approach it as only two ignorant white guys can: with almost no knowledge of Indian culture or film! Nevertheless, they are in love with the movie, which reimagines Indian revolutionary figures Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju as superheroes who can outrun tigers, shoot a British bastard from a mile away, and stop motorcycles with their bare hands. The boys praise stars N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan, admire Rajamouli’s craft, and weep in awe at the insane shit happening in every single scene. Plus, there’s a trailer for The Flash and Arlo has finally gone back to reading old Superman comics.

NEXT: TBD.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:44  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:18:04  –  Main Topic
  • 02:03:24  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Dosti” by Amit Trivedi, RRR (Original Soundtrack) (2022)
  • “Naacho Naacho” by Vishal Mishra & Rahul Sipligunj, RRR (Original Soundtrack) (2022)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 492 – “FCF: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead”

We Only Find Them When They’re Dead – Art by Simone Di Meo & Mariasara Miotti

Gobbledygeek episode 492, “FCF: We Only Find Them When They’re Dead,” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Got a hankerin’ for god meat? Well, pull out your giant lightsaber knife and feast on a new Four-Color Flashback! For the first FCF of 2023, Paul and Arlo set out at warp speed to seek enlightenment with Al Ewing and Simone Di Meo’s We Only Find Them When They’re Dead. The BOOM! Studios series, whose 15-issue run wrapped in December, is set hundreds of years from now, when the primary industry is extracting proteins, enzymes, and minerals from the corpses of massive deities. Evocative title and crazy premise aside, the book is chock full of theosophical enigmas that our boys try to solve. Beyond the elusive quest for concrete answers, though, this comic certainly makes them feel a whole lot. Dig in. Plus, some bellyaching about the new slate of DC movies.

NEXT: a discussion of S.S. Rajamouli’s action epic RRR, which presumably concerns reading, writing, and arithmetic.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:00:30  –  Intro / Banter
  • 00:21:25  –  We Only Find Them When They’re Dead
  • 01:58:36  –  Outro / Next

MUSIC

  • “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica, Ride the Lightning (1984)
  • “Mystery Jack” by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 471 – “The Batman (feat. Kenn Edwards)”

Robert Pattinson in The Batman (2022), directed by Matt Reeves

Gobbledygeek episode 471, “The Batman (feat. Kenn Edwards),” is available for listening or download right here, on Spotify, and on Apple Podcasts.

Riddle me this, riddle me that…who’s afraid of Matt Reeves’ The Bat(man)? Not Paul and Arlo, that’s for sure, at least not with Project Batman vet Kenn Edwards at their side. There’s a lot of ground to cover, beginning with: Did we need the 897th Batman movie? Of course not, but since we’re here, the gang discusses Robert Pattinson’s turn as the Caped Crusader, the film’s emphasis on detective work, whether or not the story is served by a three-hour runtime, and much, much more.

NEXT: Smile! For this month’s Four-Color Flashback, Paul and Arlo have a little dental work done with Raina Telgemeier’s autobiographical novel.

BREAKDOWN

  • 00:01:10  –  Intro / Guest
  • 00:10:00  –  The Batman
  • 02:24:47  –  Outro / Next

LINKS

MUSIC

  • “Something in the Way” by Nirvana, Nevermind (1991)
  • “The Riddler” by Method Man, Batman Forever (1995)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 414 – “Batman and the Heat Death of the Universe”

Mentally, I’m here.
(Batman: Black & White Zombie statue designed by the legendary Neal Adams.)

Gobbledygeek episode 414, “Batman and the Heat Death of the Universe,” is available for listening or download right here and on Apple Podcasts here.

For another freewheeling freestyle extravaganza, Paul and Arlo cast their minds to everything from billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne to the inevitable end of all things. They wonder how they might write The Deli Counter of Justice in the harsh light of 2020 before the conversation mutates into a treatise on the relative fascism of Batman, an update on Arlo’s progress through Andy Mulvihill’s Action Park book, the boys reacting to the Dune trailer because that shit always gets mad hits on YouTube, and eventually a rumination on whether or not human life should even exist. What a fun pop culture podcast.

Next: more fun.

MUSIC

  • “The End” by The Doors, The Doors (1967)
  • “The End of the Line” by Traveling Wilburys, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 (1988)

GOBBLEDYCARES

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Listen to Gobbledygeek Episode 375 – “300ccs of Thorazine”

Gobbledygeek episode 375, “300ccs of Thorazine,” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

How does one go from lamenting the untimely demise of Tom King’s Batman to discussing the power structures that dictate what one finds culturally acceptable in any given generation? There’s only one way to find out: by listening to this week’s Gobbledygeek! Paul and Arlo blather about superheroic drama, including Superman: The Animated Series; opinions that have evolved with time, whether they’re on The Downward Spiral or She-Ra: Princess of Power; and why the hell Pete Venkman was carrying 300ccs of Thorazine.

Next: Johny Ho joins Paul and Arlo to discuss Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese in the latest Four-Color Flashback.

(Show notes for “300ccs of Thorazine.”)

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 354, “Daredevil: Born Again (feat. Chance Mazzia)”

Art from ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ by David Mazzucchelli & Christie Scheele.

Gobbledygeek episode 354, “Daredevil: Born Again (feat. Chance Mazzia),” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

Sight-impaired Jesus freak Matt Murdock finds himself in the crosshairs of rotund businessman Wilson Fisk in that most celebrated of Daredevil stories, Born Again. Paul and Arlo’s pal Chance Mazzia joins them for another superheroic Four-Color Flashback installment to discuss the Frank Miller/David Mazzucchelli classic. The gang discusses the tale’s obvious religious symbolism; Mazzucchelli’s fluid, detailed art; Miller’s Murdock-style descent into belligerent paranoia; and how Miller’s triple threat of Born Again, The Dark Knight Returns, and Batman: Year One changed superhero comics for better and worse. Plus, Cary Joji Fukanaga goes cuckoo with Netflix’s Maniac, and the gang pays their respects to late Batman artist Norm Breyfogle.

Next: at long last, Gobbledyween returns. The festival of terror kicks off with Robert Eggers’ new cult classic, 2015’s The Witch.

(Show notes for “Daredevil: Born Again.”)

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 353, “Kingdom Come”

What if Superman was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger baling hay, trying to till his own farm? That’s part of the appeal of Alex Ross and Mark Waid’s Kingdom Come, the subject of our latest superheroic Four-Color Flashback–Ross’ painted artwork brings DC’s pantheon to vivid life. Of course, Superman isn’t one of us. He makes this clear when, after a decade in exile, he descends upon Metropolis to mete out cold hard justice to a new, irresponsible generation of heroes and villains. Kingdom Come was intended as a statement on the Xtreme anti-heroes of the ‘90s, and as its human protagonist Norman McKay witnesses the fantastic devastation around him, the book explores issues of faith and fascism. Paul and Arlo discuss how Ross and Waid’s tale holds up more than 20 years later, how it reconciles the heroes’ godlike power with fragile human will, why it may be Ross’ best work, and its nigh definitive portrait of DC’s Trinity. Plus, Arlo finishes his Disney marathon while catching Pokémon, and we tease a future discussion of Spider-Man PS4.

Next: we switch religions from DC to Marvel as our pal Chance Mazzia joins us to talk Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s Daredevil: Born Again.

(Show notes for Kingdom Come.)

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 351, “The X-Files: Seasons 10 & 11 (feat. Wesley Mead)”

Gobbledygeek episode 351, “The X-Files: Seasons 10 & 11 (feat. Wesley Mead),” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

Unleash your bees, fire up your oil rigs, and prepare to get injected with the alien plague one last time–Wesley “Wezzo” Mead joins Paul and Arlo for their final episode discussing Chris Carter’s seminal sci-fi series The X-Files. The gang discusses the 2008 film I Want to Believe, which finds the FBI dragging Mulder and Scully out of retirement to deal with a psychic pedophile priest played by Billy Connolly; season 10, which fails to justify reviving the series; and season 11, which at least shows there’s a bit of a spark left. Godawful mythology mumbo-jumbo, horrendous mistreatment of Dana Katherine Scully, and Darin Morgan brilliance…sounds about right. Plus, Paul admires works of both stage and screen; Wezzo falls for Gravity Falls; and Arlo is vengeance, he is the night, he is watching Batman: The Animated Series.

Next: Matthew Jackson joins us for another installment of this year’s superheroic Four-Color Flashback series. This time we’re talking Thor Visionaries: Walter Simonson – Vol. 1.

(Show notes for “The X-Files: Seasons 10 & 11.”)

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 350, “DC: The New Frontier (feat. Eric Sipple)”

Art from ‘DC: The New Frontier’ by Darwyn Cooke.

Gobbledygeek episode 350, “DC: The New Frontier (feat. Eric Sipple),” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

For this month’s superheroic Four-Color Flashback installment, Paul and Arlo set out for lands unknown with the late, great Darwyn Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier. Cooke’s ambitious 2004 limited series bridges the gap between comics’ Golden Age and Silver Age, paying nostalgic tribute to the fictional heroes of that time while using the era’s form and style to comment on the day’s social and political ills. They’re joined on their voyage by The Avatar Returns co-host and The Deli Counter of Justice co-creator Eric Sipple. The gang discusses Cooke’s artwork, striking and cinematic in ways few others comics have achieved; how Cooke wisely keeps Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman in the background to focus on new heroes like Green Lantern and the Flash; how the story of J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, compares to that of African-American freedom fighter John Henry; the pretty good animated adaptation; and more. Plus, Eric has some personal news; SDCC happened, including a slew of trailers for the likes of Shazam, Aquaman, and more; and Nathan Fillion gets his Nathan Drake on in the Uncharted fan film.

Next: the end is out there. Wesley “Wezzo” Mead joins Paul and Arlo to talk The X-Files one last time, as the gang discusses the big screen continuation I Want to Believe and both revival seasons.

(Show notes for “DC: The New Frontier.”)

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Listen to ‘Gobbledygeek’ Episode 348, “Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin (feat. Jed Waters Keith)”

Art from ‘Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin’ by John Romita Jr., John Romita Sr., and Andy Yanchus.

Gobbledygeek episode 350, “Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin (feat. Jed Waters Keith),” is available for listening or download right here and on iTunes here.

Paul and Arlo continue to swing through this year’s superheroic Four-Color Flashback to discuss Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin, joined by FreakSugar managing editor Jed Waters Keith. This early ‘80s story, primarily written by Roger Stern and drawn by John Romita Jr., finds Peter Parker faced with the emergence of a horrific new villain in the grotesque figure of the Hobgoblin. Who is this masked man? Who knows! In true Parker fashion, Spidey tries to unmask Hobby while snapping pix for the Bugle and juggling his crazy love life. The gang discusses the convoluted behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the Hobgoblin’s identity, the evolution of JRJr, how Peter Parker is kind of a huge ladies’ man for being such a dork, and more. Plus, Paul attended this year’s Slayage conference, while Arlo and Jed are reading a whole mess o’ comics.

Next: Jurassic World 2: Even Assic-er.

(Show notes for “Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin.”)