iFanboy - Comic Books

Seventy-five years ago, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster ushered an orphan son of Krypton through the fields of Kansas and up, up and away to the height of popular acclaim. These days, you'd be hard pressed to find someone unaware of Superman or his mild-mannered counterpart Clark Kent, but NPR's Glen Weldon knows the character better than most. Thankfully, he's sharing history and insight in the pages of Superman: The Unauthorized Biography. We spoke with the author at length about the best and worst iterations of the storied hero, from comics to radio to film and even the Broadway stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week? This was not our kind of week. That’s not to say comics were bad, but we had to work to find the standouts. And yet, it wasn’t impossible. Still, by the end of the overlong episode, there were script problems, and mean things are said to each other. Forget it. We’re gonna go play Warcraft III. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's time to boldly go back where... well, where many have been before! Conor Kilpatrick, Paul Montgomery, and Mike Romo have gathered to talk about Star Trek Into Darkness! Where did everyone's Star Trek fandom begin? How did the sequel stack up against the first film that they loved so much? What about the villain? Where can the story go in a third film? How does Robocop fit into all of this? It's a wide-ranging discussion that covers A LOT of ground! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The three iFanboys reunite to herald the coming of space sharks! This week, Paul Montgomery, Josh Flanagan and Conor Kilpatrick sail the solar winds from the ruined shores of future Asgard to the interior of Deadpool's head and the tumult of modern Riverdale! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Professor Ryan Haupt once again M.I.A. due to important matters of science, 75% of the iFanboy Animation Brain Trust reconvenes to discuss returns to discuss the latest from the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line: Superman: Unbound! It’s the first film not produced by Bruce Timm, and one that Warner Bros. hopes will capitalize on the buzz around Man of Steel, this summer’s live action return to the screen for Superman. Is it successful? Is it fun? Is it really a Supergirl and Lois Lane movie? Conor Kilpatrick, Paul Montgomery, and Chris Neseman talk it out.Plus! We look ahead to Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, return to discussing the uncertain future of the line, and wonder if there could possibly be any stories from The New 52 that could receive the animated treatment? (Spoiler alert: Not many.) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Haupt Week concludes as he steps in for an absent Josh Flanagan to talk the week that was in comics alongside Paul Montgomery and a sleepy Conor Kilpatrick! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hold on to your giant plush rabbits and watch out for that underwater rebar! It's time to talk about Iron Man 3! Join Conor Kilpatrick, Paul Montgomery and Scientist Supreme Ryan Haupt for a spoiler-laden examination of all things Extremis and 1999 party playlists! Does Marvel Studios' first post-Avengers outing succeed? Does incoming director Shane Black capably step into armor once tailored to Jon Favreau? Just who is Trevor Slattery? And is it worth sticking around past the credits? Find out in the latest iFanboy Special Edition Podcast! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Who is Henry Lyme? Join Paul Montgomery and Scientist Supreme Ryan Haupt as they bend spoons in an effort to unravel the mysteries of Matt Kindt's Mind MGMT! Why did the passengers and crew of Flight 815 (no, not that Flight 815) lose their memories up there in the clouds? What's up with Ewan McGregor's accent in 2009's Men Who Stare at Goats? What does heterochromia mean? What other easter eggs lay hidden throughout this, our May 2013 Book of the Month? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That's more like it! Comics delivered a whole bunch of great comics this week, some new and some old. Listen to the show, won't you, and try to keep us in Ferraris! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Awash in a sea of alarmingly lackluster week of comics, Paul Montgomery, Josh Flanagan and Conor Kilpatrick discover that the cream truly does rise to the top. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Booksplode strikes back with a vengeance as Paul Montgomery, Josh Flanagan and Jeff Reid dissect the Dadaist oddity that is Frank Miller and Lynn Varley's Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again. Published 15 years after the landmark mini-series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, this three-issue sequel was a notorious departure in form and lucidity. We're not going to claim to understand it entirely, but one of us with glasses might hail it one of the best and most important works of all time. It's Josh. He kind of says that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey, you hosers, listen up! The gangs all back together, eh, as Conor Kilpatrick returns to talk about comics with those two knobs, Paul Montgomery and Josh Flanagan. Beauty, eh? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’ve got a case of Loikamania, as podcast host, and all around beloved comics figure, Pat Loika fills in for Conor Kilpatrick. There’s, well, there’s a lot of Marvel talk this week. It couldn’t be avoided. Also, did you know that Josh very, very old? He is. Will Pat ever return? Will Paul graduate to middle school? Who joined X-Face Scott? None of these questions are answered! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though he claimed last week he wouldn't be here, Conor Kilpatrick braves Death, War, Conquest and Famine to talk comics with fellow desperadoes Paul Montgomery and Josh Flanagan. This week, Paul pauses Bioshock Infinite just long enough to name a pale horse in the Pick of the Week race and make some dubious suggestions about iFanboy guerrilla marketing. Meanwhile, Conor sees Hitlers were there aren't any and Josh remains fixated on the anachronism of the stop/pause conundrum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Conor Kilpatrick has returned from his meandering jaunt through the land of gators to talk the week that was in comics with Josh Flanagan and Paul Montgomery! This week, Josh decides who his favorite comics writer is, Paul realizes that he's getting older, and more secrets from Conor's double life are revealed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Booksplode makes its SMASHING return as Paul Montgomery, Jim Mroczkowski, Ryan Haupt and Timmy Wood swear a war-bond and discuss Greg Pak's Planet Hulk story line. Where was Bruce Banner during the events of Marvel's Civil War? Why was he so ticked when he turned up again in its fallout? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 17, 2013 - This show is out on St. Patrick's Day, and yet there are no references at all. In fact, we're down one Kilpatrick! Jim Mroczkowski, our intrepid columnist fills in ably, and Paul starts off with a twang. There are things liked, and things unliked, and reasons given for nearly all of it. No children, fictional or otherwise, were harmed in the recording of this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 10, 2013 - It's your weekly dose of hot and sweaty threeway comic book talk! On this episode, Josh Flanagan has his sense of identity crushed, Conor Kilpatrick commits an embarrassing 80s cartoon error, and Paul Montgomery makes a startling admission in the final seconds of the show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

March 3, 2013 - Josh has stopped coughing, and a fictional character has stopped fictionally breathing. Plus we question Paul's choices of 80s sci-fi film. Then Josh questions Conor, and Conor questions right back. Listen, it's all very complicated, but you'll be able to hear everyone, so that's something. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 24, 2013 - An appropriately cough-addled Josh Flanagan stirs the ashes with his Pick of the Week, the finale to a series he's enjoyed consistently for over a decade. He's joined by Paul Montgomery and Conor Kilpatrick to discuss highlights from the rest of the week's books, including wreathed goats, cats in vacuums and both good and bad vibrations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 17, 2013 – In an unusual week of comic books, Paul Montgomery chooses an under-the-radar release as his very first Pick of the Week. He then joins Josh Flanagan and Conor Kilpatrick in discussing the highlights from rest of this week’s comics as well as pianos, classic comic strips, and the marketing virtues of vandalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 10, 2013 – Listen up, maggots! This week Conor Kilpatrick and Paul Montgomery talk comics while Josh Flanagan adopts a new hard-nosed personality. It’s a little off-putting and frankly, inappropriate. Also, the age old question is answered: just how delicious are donuts? (A lot). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Soule is set to have a busy 2013. Starting in April, he’s the new ongoing writer of Swamp Thing following Scott Snyder’s exit from the title. We talk about how the opportunity came about, how he’s approached the project, and his trip down to Louisiana to really understand where the character is from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

February 3, 2013 – It’s all new, but it’s just the same. Josh and Conor are joined by their new permanent co-host, who has brought more television metaphors than any same man would know what to do with. We all read and talk about a lot of Punisher, and are thrown off by all the changes Paul brings in with his clipboard and red pen. Boss Nass is the first thing to go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 31, 2013 - With Professor Haupt off performing meatball surgery in a dubious tenement, 75% of the iFanboy Animation Brain Trust returns for the second half of Warner Bros.’ Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. Boasting two of the most savage and iconic death matches in comic history, this is likely the pinnacle of ambition for Timm and his team. You might be shocked at just much survived the translation from page to screen, from swastika bosoms to Dutch himself, but just how important is that faithful hand? As with the first half, Conor, Paul and Chris are somewhat divided in their verdict, but some opinions just may actually have shifted in the intermission. Plus! Just how terrifying is Michael Emerson’s Joker? Should Clark button up that blouse when handling bald eagles? Just how stoked are we for upcoming outings Superman: Unbound and Flashpoint? What iconic stories remain untapped but deserving of the animated treatment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 27, 2013 – It’s Ron’s last Pick of the Week podcast as he makes his exit from iFanboy to go to the publishing side of comics at Image Comics, so the guys thought it would be a good time to a live broadcast of the podcast. And you know what that means? Extra long podcast filled with booze, some arguing and a little bit of emotion. You’ll want to listen to this whole thing as it’s filled with that entertaining bit that iFanboy has brought you for the past 7 years. Oh, and stick with it through the end for some added bonus material. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 20, 2013 – A cloud looms overhead as this marks Ron’s second to last pick of the week podcast, but that doesn’t stop Josh, Conor and Ron from talking the mastery of Batman and the other great comics that came out this week and other interesting bits of discussion. Most importantly, we get cameos from both Michael Caine and Eddie Vedder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 13, 2013 – “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away–” “WHAT?!” “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick sat down to ta–” “WHAT?!” “I said, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick sat down to talk about the week in comics, as well as oth–” “WHAT?!” “Sigh.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

January 6, 2013 – It’s the first podcast of the year and the guys are a little but rusty, but they get their act together in time to deliver a stellar entry into the new year along with BONUS material at the end of the show. Happy New Year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 30, 2012 – It’s the seventh annual iFanboy All-Media Year End Round-Up! Josh Flanagan, Ron Richards, and Conor Kilpatrick discuss everything they enjoyed in media in 2012. Movies, television, books, podcasts, music, video games, and comics–it’s all here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 23, 2012 – It’s the last pick of the week podcast for 2012 and Josh, Conor and Ron go out with a bang, with a celebration of what’s new in comics, a discussion of double shipping, and a flashback to past math based entertainment. ‘Tis the season! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 12, 2012 – The holidays are coming and Josh, Conor and Ron are starting to get in the mood to celebrate Bing Crosby and the insanity of Wolverine’s personal life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 9, 2012 – It’s two against one as Ron Richards and Conor Kilpatrick share a microphone and Josh Flanagan is left all by his lonesome to wonder if they are rolling his eyes when he talks (they are). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

December 2, 2012 – The gang’s back together for the start of December as Conor Kilpatrick, Josh Flanagan, and Ron Richards gather to discuss the week that was in comics… and perhaps also 80s toy makers, Goodfellas, and the iFanboy staffer that’s on thin ice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 25, 2012 – It’s a special Thanksgiving holiday edition of the Pick of the Week Podcast. That means that Conor is MIA, navigating numerous Thanksgiving deliciousness, so Josh and Ron are left to carry the banner on this holiday. And what better way to kick things off than to hear about Josh’s enjoyment of Baltimore: The Play from Dark Horse Comics. We breakdown the recent Marvel NOW! releases, as well as Ron (And the iFanbase’s) choice for pick, Amazing Spider-Man #698. Alas, no show notes this week as we’re taking a weekend to ourselves. Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend in the US and a general good weekend around the world! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 18, 2012 – Just before departing to join the absent Conor for the most Eisner-iffic wedding celebration ever, Ron managed to record a show with Josh and our own Paul Montgomery. The one clear thing about this week is that there were a lot of good books, and Ron was forced to choose one. We may have also spent a lot of time just prior to the show talking about original music from Return of the Jedi and a great deal of minutiae to that end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 11, 2012 – Josh finds out what it means to be a comic book fan as he deals with the cancellation and relaunching of his favorite ongoing series. Sure, we talk about the comics that came out this week including Josh’s pick of the week, but let’s be honest, his meltdown at the end of the show is all we’re really interested in Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

November 4, 2012 – With the spectre of Hurricane Sandy hanging over everything, Conor Kilpatrick, Ron Richards, and Josh Flanagan reconvene to discuss the week in comics which includes a few anthologies and an original graphic novel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 28, 2012 – It’s just one long last day at summer camp as Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick say goodbye to storied Marvel Comics runs over, over, and over again. Plus the mystery of Giuseppe Camuncoli is explored! Also, barrels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 21, 2012 – Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick have returned to their normal routines following the New York Comic Con. But are they changed? Forever? And what sway does that Chris Ware page have over Josh, and how far will it go? All these questions aren’t answered, and more, in this week’s strange presentation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 14, 2012 – It’s the last comic con of 2012, and Josh Flanagan, Conor Kilpatrick and Ron Richards are back in a hotel room, gathered around the mic to talk about this week’s comics. Specifically, to address just what Ron was thinking making Uncanny Avengers #1 the pick of the week and not Batman #13. We also talk about a bunch of the week’s other releases, but due to the con and being exhausted, no detailed show notes for this episode. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

October 7, 2012 – Ron Richards, Josh Flanagan, and Conor Kilpatrick gather together to talk comics one more time before heading to the Big Apple for New York Comic Con. But the real question on everyone’s mind is: will you pick me up at the airport? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 30, 2012 - What does a yellow light mean? Ron is doing something with a bald man, and Paul Montgomery joins in to fill the void. There are many reasonable disagreements and quite a bit of mutual praise. We all like Preacher for example, which is perfect, given the Pick of the Week. Future episodes might have a lot of random typewriter noises, so enjoy this relatively quiet one while you can. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 27, 2012 - It’s been three months since the iFanboy Animation Braintrust has been seen stalking the streets of iFanboy, and in that time their myth has only grown. Now, in the time of iFanboy’s greatest need, Conor Kilpatrick, Paul Montgomery, Ryan Haupt, and Paul Montgomery have shaved their mustaches and returned to discuss the latest DC Universe Animated Original Movie, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part One! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 23, 2012 – Richard Milhouse Nixon. Much has been written about America’s 37th President, but what do we really know about him? Find out this week as iFanboy unveils the new history-centric format of the Pick of the Week Podcast. And, oh yes, comics are discussed as well. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 23, 2012 - Citizens: The Mega Block community designated "Peach Trees" is under siege. Drug boss Madelaine "Ma-Ma" Madrigal has staged a coup, locking down the entire 200-story complex. She has promised to raise the blast doors only after investigating Judges Dredd and Anderson are summarily executed. Join the extraction team of Judge Ron Richards, Judge Conor Kilpatrick, and hot-shot provisional Judge Paul "Red Beard" Montgomery as they brave a hail of 3D gunfire and experiment with the mind-altering street drug known as "Slo-Mo." All rise for the final judgement of the year's last feature-length comic book adaptation, Dredd 3D! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you’re looking for a fun new way to approach your vacation with a geek slant, then you’ll be interested to hear what Teras Cassidy and Geek Nation Tours has to offer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 16, 2012 – Watch as Josh’s cold goes from bad to worse as the episode progresses, but that doesn’t stop him! No! Josh waits patiently as Ron overreacts to the events of Avengers Vs. X-Men #11 and Conor grows more and more impatient as the rant continues. But luckily, the purity and joy of The Rocketeer has come to save us all. Except Josh, who is dying. (Not really, it’s just a cold) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

September 9, 2012 – After the haze and delirium of episode #350, the guys are back to the regular show, and Ron’s got his letter writing hat and something to say! We can say that there are a lot of comics to talk about, and in some of those comics, there are a lot of genitals. Sit in, and find the secret of Conor’s full name. Also: Michael Bolton and Kenny G! “This will not stand!” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

iFanboy celebrates its 350th episode with a triple-sized all listener e-mail spectacular! We asked you, the iFanbase, to send us e-mails on any topic you wanted and boy did you deliver! Not only did we break out the booze to go along with the email but we also streamed the recording live on the internet. It was madness, we tell you. Madness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices