Zero Issues

 News here! Getcha news here! The boys take an episode to catch up on some news! Sad news of Marjane Satrapi & Anthony Stweart Head. Important news about DC Blackout,  the Warner Bros/Paramount thing, and AI news in film, comics and in Todd McFarlane’s brain. Oh, and Martin Scorsese is apparantly a chopped unc. That’s what the kids are saying. Direct Download: MP3

The Mortal Kombat II movie came out… several weeks ago, apparently, but MK Fever is still raging at Zero Issues Central! We finally all saw the movie, so now it’s time to talk all about it! Does it hold up to the mighty 1995 Klassic? What characters and fights were a flawless fatality or a fatal blow to the series? And what of Karl Urban as Johnny Cage? And our favourite character, Cole Young!? But we’ve got a lot more Kombat to Konversate about! We dig into tournaments as a storytelling function, their long history in comics, games, and movies, and the ever-present shadow of “Enter the Dragon”. We match up some Krossover Kombatants, pitting the MK Krew against comic heroes, then dig into the history of Mortal Kombat comics… which is still mostly Malibu’s 1990s MK line, so why hasn’t anyone else done much with this franchise since? And we have a Casting Call for a whole bunch of MK characters — but they have to be actors from John Carpenter movies! That’s right, we’ve got “Rowdy” Roddy Piper as Johnny Cage! James Hong as Shang Tsung! Keith David as Scorpion! Wilford Brimley as Kano! Ernest Borgnine as Goro! And that’s just the tip of the Event Tower. Direct Download: MP3

 Here comes Daredevil (Born Again season two part two)! This week, we finish up our talk about the newest season of everyone’s favourite blind lawyer/Catholic guilt-haver/guy who might have owned the Ninja Turtles as a kid. And this time, Bry’s seen the show, so he sticks around! Not only that, but he gets to talk about the first half of the season! So, what worked for us? What didn’t? How would we change the ending, and where could the ending that we have possibly lead us into the future? All that, plus the Punisher’s impregnable fortress of two unlocked doors in a parking garage. Direct Download: MP3

 Sometimes they aim big. A comic. A cartoon. A toyline. Video games. And sometimes that crashes like the Hindenburg. Failed Franchises! That’s what the boys are talking about this week. A slew of bad comics, mediocre toys and forgettable films. Some of them even had an ok aspect, but they just aimed too high. From Jim Lee’s Wildcats, to Warren Beatty’s Dick Tracy and a few other gems (or crystals) in the mix. Crystar the Crystal Warrior and Bucky O’ Hare anyone? And somehow we talk about Glenn Danzig and Billy Zane because why the hell not!?!? Direct Download: MP3

Oh shoot, we missed Mother’s Day! And we didn’t get anything for our Mother Boxes! I sure hope they like podcast episodes… That’s right, this episode is all about the Mother Box, the smartphone that’s also a mom, and a buncha other li’l robot buddies and helpers! We start off with a partial reading and discussion of the essay “‘How Can I Refuse You, Mother Box?!’ Abjection and Objectification of Motherhood in Jack Kirby’s Fourth World” by Annamarie O’Brien for ImageTexT, chat about whether Cyborg should be powered by a Mother Box or not, the life and times of Skeets, Widget, H.E.R.B.I.E. and J.A.R.V.I.S., and the introduction of our own acronym-first robot pals! Direct Download: MP3

 The apocalypse is coming, whether you like it or not! This week, we talk about some of our favourite comic book apocalypses: the time-is-broken Assorted Crisis Events, a small sampling of the Ninja Turtles ends of the world (turns out there are several of them!), and, of course, your standard whoops-we-flooded-the-world trope represented by The Massive. We’ve even got an apocalyptic quiz to start us off! But even before that, Bry tells us all about Superman: War of the Worlds in the Warmup, which is exactly what it sounds like it is, but even still, sounds like a pretty great book! Plenty of reading suggestions this week, if you exclusively want to read about the end of the world. Direct Download: MP3

 Lightning Strikes Twice! Another lightning round (continuing from last week) as we have more short topics to blaze through! Kyle gets Bry to give a crash course on Usagi Yojimbo and where to start with that legendary comic series! Merk runs a Mike Mignola Hellboy quiz! 4 questions but they’re tough! Bry gets us going on Nintendo comics, existing, possible and can we have this? Kyle – “What if DC bought Marvel in the 90’s? What if Marvel bought DC in the 80’s? What if the Defenders were the Watchmen?” Merk discusses John Byrne’s fan fic X-Men run being actually published by Abrams Books, X-Men : Elsewhere ! Bry has an animated comic theme quiz! And it’s TOUGH! And who wants to have Cyclops visor headphones? This and at least 4 other things this week on ZERO ISSUES!! Direct Download: MP3

Spring has possibly actually finally sprung, and that means it’s time for another LIGHTNING ROUND! Before we get caught in a couple of wacky tangents, that is! – Do you want to start reading Conan but don’t know where to start? Let resident Conan Expert Merk be your guide into the Hyborian Age and its many forms! – Not one but TWO Mike Mignola topics, in which we discuss “Uri Tupka and the Gods” as well as the overall “Lands Unknown” series, and also are challenged to an All-Mignola Quiz! – With Archie and Oni Press finally crossing (or X-ing) over, what new synergistic Archie crossovers could be next? Archie x Scott Pilgrim? The Sixth Gun? Mind MGMT? Tek Jansen!? – Hey, remember those “READ” posters in libraries and schools? Let’s imagine what books comic characters would be reading in their own versions! (The Hal Jordan jokes are obvious!) – And lastly, we have supervillains swap superhero foes in an all-DC version of “Acts of Vengeance”! Or is that “Absolute Acts of Vengeance”? Totally original! Direct Download: MP3

 Here comes Daredevil, again! This week, we talk about the first half of Daredevil Born Again season 2. Well, some of us do, at least! Look, life can get pretty busy these days, and we don’t always have the time to watch all the prestige television we want. Point is, some of us watched Daredevil, and some of us have opinions. Plus, it’s National Haiku Day, so before we get to any of that, we present some heartfelt Daredevil haikus. For youse!   Direct Download: MP3

 Hank McCoy! The ‘lovable’ Beast! You’re up on todays episode of ROAST THAT… GUY… THERE…. over there. A handful of Hank’s best buddies, enemies, 2 ex-girlfriends and Dr Druid show up for ROAST BEAST!! Who’s got the best takedown? How many reference Beast’s hygiene and peculiar odor? Are we roasting Dark Beast, Lovable Furry Blue Beast or Big Feet Beast? What do his Exes have to say? Tune in to find out! Direct Download: MP3

It’s April Fool’s Day, and that means it’s time to both discuss and pity fools, in that order! Direct Download: MP3

 We love colours in our comics! There’s so very much that you can do with colours, and it’s wild, but we pretty much never talk about it! This week, we do our best ot fix that. So get ready for a brief history of comic book colouring (from newsprint to NOWsprint? Is that anything?), and the various growing pains that we had to live through in the ’90s, and the advent of digital colouring. Then, once that’s over, get ready for the three of us gushing over our favourite colourists, as well as lamenting our… well, we’re learning. We’re getting better at it, as artists! But it’s 90% gushing, 10% lamentation. Direct Download: MP3

 Mike Richardson, the founder and head of Dark Horse Comics for the past 40 years….. has been fired. This is pretty big news and a huge shift in a rapidly changing comics world. We discuss the history of Dark Horse and how Mike Richardson crafted this strange middle space in comics, the fabulous comics they’ve given us over the years, the Embracer Group responsible for Richardson’s exit and most importantly…. we discuss the why. We lean heavily on Matttttttt on youtube for much of his excellent information and insight, but we also talk about what may have been left out of that analysis. The Dark Horse ups, the Dark Horse downs, the Dark horse all arounds through the years. It was a bit of a zoot suit riot. Direct Download: MP3

This week: BLOOR! We dig deep into the archives of absurd and infamous golden-age comics to bring you a Dramatic Read of PRIZE COMICS #4 from . Join Power Nelson: The Future Man (from 1982) as he battles a job-cutting dictator at home on Earth, and also against BLOOR, the Dictator of Uranus, who has absconded with Earth’s workers! And he refuses to pay them — that’s forced labour! Thankfully, ol’ Power Nelson (aka Gene) has a NEW DEAL for Uranus, and he doesn’t care how many Amazons he has to surrender to! It’ll all make sense in the episode. Probably. Direct Download: MP3

 Hey, look at the calendar! It’s March! And that means it’s time for March Madness, where we choose eight comic book characters and make them fight for supremacy! This year, we’ve chosen characters representing various elements. What element is your favourite? Personally, I’m a boron man. And speaking of elements, before we get to the fighting, Kyle presents an ELEMENTary Sherlock Holmes quiz in the warmup! Direct Download: MP3

 Trust us! That title will make sense! It’s POWER RECORDS week where the boys listen to not one, but TWO short vinyl record superfolk stories! 1-Spider-Man and the Return of the Conquistador! 2-Superman and the Mxyzptlk up Menace! It’s the real Superman vs Spider-Man event! We listen along and poke fun, MST3K style. All that AND Merk has a new warm up bit, ‘Notions’. Little things that have been bugging him. Does Superman give everyone cancer with his xray vision? How does Venom poop? I know you’re intrigued. Join us. Direct Download: MP3

We are taking Metamorpho, the Element Man, apart piece-by-piece in another installment of “Fix This Character”! Which we may want to rename because this dude needs no fixin’, but in the style of the segment, we are finding fun ways to reinterpret, reimagine, or just take the character in a new direction! That could mean a weird “meta” journey past the fourth wall, or finding a cure for immortality in the world of magic, or challenging the unknown with some super-science friends, or maybe everyone else in the world becomes a Metamorpho too! Perhaps an artsy anthology series exploring the psychology of Metamorpho? And hey, what about Metamorpho fashion, while we’re at it? All this and more Rex-related tangents await! Direct Download: MP3

 Why do we call them Lightning Rounds? It’s an audio podcast: if anything, this kind of episode, in which we do a bunch of short segments, should be called a Thunder Round! Change is hard, thought, so Lightning Round it is! This week, we talk about the recent passing of Sal Buscema and celebrate his work, cover Wonder Man (spoilers from 11:42-29:48, but if you haven’t watched Wonder Man yet, come on, were you going to?), try to cast Amber Midthunder in more cool movies, take a chilly quiz, and come up with some Golden/Silver Age takes on modern comic book villains! KrakaKOOM! Direct Download: MP3

 Groundhog day in comics.  What does that mean? Apparently several different things as the boys mix up the topic proposed and come up with two different topics! lol Topic 1- Time loop stories Topic 2- recurring tropes and storylines used over and over again. We got ’em both!! Hear about Moira Mactaggert’s quest to get to a Red Lobster. Or Spider-Man’s poor hygiene. Secret identities revealed over and over and over again! But we start with a SNEAK PEAK at AVENGERS : DOOMSDAY! We toss aside our NDA and tell you EVERYTHING we saw! We swear it’s true! Pinky swear! Dr Doom! Richard Kind! Josh Gad! White Vision! AC/DC! and SO MUCH MORE! Direct Download: MP3

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! It may not feel like it, but often the most iconic characters don’t arrive fully formed. Sometimes there are some changes, retcons if you will, that not only stick but become fundamental to the character in a way you can’t imagine them being any different. Like the days when Superman could only leap over tall buildings but not fly, when Magneto was a campy and unsympathetic villain before being reimagined as a Holocaust survivor, when Alfred didn’t even have a moustache! Sometimes a supervillain is given more depth and skills, like Doctor Doom! Sometimes a manga hero goes from a li’l monkey-king boy to a long-lost member of an alien battle race, like Goku! Sometimes Peter Parker is a real asshole until he goes to college, but then we kinda forget he was such an asshole! Remember when the Summers family tree was actually comprehensible, or when Sabrina’s cat Salem was orange and a regular cat, or when Doug Ramsey was just a nerd who read a lot of books? Because we sure do! We dig into tons of examples, discuss the constant of change in comics and what makes these revamps work! But first, a fun and loose quiz that asks: did this character first appear in the comics or elsewhere? Perry White, Batgirl, Firestar, Renee Montoya, Abraham Whistler, and more — are they comics originals, did they first pop up on television or the radio, or maybe a video game? (Spoilers: it won’t be a video game.) Direct Download: MP3