Listen to Episode 60 Now: “The One Where We Talk About Comics Constipation”

Upcoming (and a few current) Marvel movies at a glance. (Credit: GeekPicks.com)

Like a rocket from the crypt, Ben & Josh roared back on the on-demand audio airwaves for episode 60 of the flagship Near Mint Comic Show, recorded live to digital tape on January 25, 2014.

Listen Now:

Among the topics the two talked about:

Comics related movie news and rumors!
There’s been a metric crapload of Marvel-related movie announcements since we last recorded, and some additional setbacks from DC. We discuss Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman vs. Superman, Ben finally seeing Man of Steel, not seeing Wolverine, and what’s new on the small screen. Will Ben see The Lego Movie?!?

Josh goes digital!
Thanks to Ben, Josh has gone digital for a few issues. Does he like it? Does he hate it? Will he set the pulp and paper industry back with his decision?

Ben talks Parker!
Not Peter Parker, his son Parker. (Hey, he owns the house. He can talk about whatever he wants!)

Comics!
The Dark Knight, Marvel Knights: Spider-Man, Jupiter’s Legacy, Secret Service, Arms of the Octopus and more are discussed.

Walking Dead!
We talk the series from 1:11:49 – 1:17:02. Spoiler warning, y’all!

Josh gets spoiled!
Why did Marvel decided to spoil the world about the return of Peter Parker?

The guys also discuss comics constipation (seriously!), give a postmortem to Venom and do a preview of the next edition of The Minty Awards!

Music: Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians, Peter Frampton, Grateful Dead

Show Notes:

– AV Club talks Agents Of Shield from on the set

– What part of the Marvel universe will the Netflix series be in?

– Son Of Batman trailerhttp://nearmintcomicshow.podbean.com/mf/web/uaptfb/

Near Mint Comic Show Announces New Podcast: The Comic Book Club

Josh and Ben at GraniteCon 2010

So the fans have spoken with downloads, emails, letters and even skywriters.

A monthly podcast isn’t enough, so the minds behind the Near Mint Comic Show have added a new free agent to their roster: The Comic Book Club at Double Midnight Comics.

What is it?

CBC will be a monthly audio show with a rotating panel of guests, recorded live and in person at our friendly neighborhood comic shop: Double Midnight Comics in Manchester, NH. The guys have been great to work with so far and we’re happy to have them along for the ride.

The format is very simple. A rotating roundtable of comic experts and creators will discuss one thing they individually read (old or new, single issue or trade) and one thing that everyone will read – both in separate segments. Each show is expected to run about an hour, perfect for a drive into work, the gym or shopping in your favorite comic book store.

As always, reader suggestions are encouraged for what the group should check out next and you never know…you could be asked to join the group to discuss it as part of a future roundtable!

Does this mean the NMCS is going away?

Don’t be sad, Petey. The mighty Near Mint Comic Show isn’t going anywhere and will still be recorded every 4-6 weeks.

So when’s the first show?

The first edition of CBC will be recorded this week with a release expected shortly after that. Listen to the first show and let us know what you think!

Because of your support (and honestly, Ben’s drive), the addition of a second show is possible. Thank you for your love of the NMCS in 2010 and expect more in 2011!

And for the love of Peter Parker, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, will ya?

Episode 13: Live From Free Comic Book Day 2009!

We recorded one of the best shows in not just our history, but ALL PODCAST HISTORY this past Saturday as part of the 2009 edition of Free Comic Book Day, live from Double Midnight Comics here in Manchester, NH! It’s Episode 13 and it’s here now!

– SPILLS! Be amazed as we talk about the history of FCBD and what the publishers were cookin’ up for this year.

– THRILLS! Be enchanted by the interviews we did with shop co-owner Brett, store patrons and even Spider-Man himself!

– CHILLS! Hear Ben’s heartfelt apology for his actions against Josh in episode 12!

If you’re a comic fan, I guarantee you will love this show as there’s a little bit of everything including our talk with a manga-loving card player, an actual DC fan and what it’s like to be a shop owner. You’ll also hear from our special guest co-host PJ Huot, who you’ve heard in past episodes.

For the full show, click here. or subscribe through iTunes.

P.S. See that cool sketch at the right? That’s from Blair Shedd who Ben met at FCBD…more on this later on!

April Update: We’re still alive and recording!

Hey! We’re still here! Ben and I are recording tonight actually, so you should be seeing some new podcasts in the next few days.

It’s been a long hiatus, but the NYCC took a lot out of us!

Episode 011 – “DeCONpression” (Part 2)

It’s time for part II of the New York Comic Con deCONpression p’cast where your favorite heroes Ben and Josh recount the fun time they and tens of thousands of others had.

This final part focuses more on some of the running themes and storylines coming out, including:

– Marvel vs. DC booths and why it’s ESSENTIAL to give more free comics out

– How the price of comics isn’t really that high compared to other mediums…and we justify it!

– Why the relaunch of the Ultimate line doesn’t make sense to us

– The digital comics revolution and its implication for the fans and comic shop owners

…and tons more!

The most entertaining p’casts we have ever done are here!

Part I (ep. 010):       Listen | Subscribe

Part II (ep. 011):     Listen | Subscribe
 

Comic Movie News: Heath Ledger Wins Oscar for The Dark Knight

Heath Ledger: Oscar winner.

As many believed would happen, Heath Ledger won an Academy Award Sunday night for Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

His role in one of history’s highest grossing films is now immortalized with the award. His father, mother and sister accepted on his behalf. Not to speak in cliches, but you could hear a pin drop in the room when they spoke.

It sounds weird to say congratulations to the late Ledger, but perhaps this will help convince people that they’re not just ‘comic book movies’ after all.

Ben’s away, so Josh will play!

Hi all – our own Ben Peirce is currently in London, England, for a week visiting friends and touring the great U.K. with his wife Jen. So while he’s away, I’m taking over here for the week.

– If you’re a fan of Ben’s and live in England, give him a shout out at his Twitter feed (@benpeirce), will ya? What should he do? Where should he go? What comics-related craziness can he get in?

Variant Madness: Obama to appear in Amazing Spider Man, special cover

God bless variant covers.

News broke quickly this past week that President Elect Barack Obama will be in a story in Amazing Spider-Man #583 and also featured in a variant cover that you can see here. As a life-long Spider-fan and Obama supporter, this is pretty awesome. It also helps that the future Prez is also likes Peter Parker’s exploits as well.

The issue will be in stores this upcoming Wednesday, January 14th.

But while the story will run in all issues, how to acquire the variant cover and how retailers can acquire them is what’s confusing. From the Newsarama writeup:

“Retailers were informed on December 16th via Diamond Dateline and the retailer portion of the Diamond website that issue #583 would have a special Obama variant cover and include the Inauguration Day backup story, something which would bring the issue up to 40 pages in total, and increase its price point (for both the regular cover and variant cover editions) to $3.99. To stress that last point – the Spider-Man/Obama story is in every issue of Amazing Spider-Man #583, with or without the Obama variant cover.

At that time, the conditions for ordering the Obama variant were that if retailers exceeded their orders for Amazing Spider-Man #583 compared to their orders for issue #575 by the Final Order Cut-off date of December 18th, they would qualify to order as many Obama variant covers as they wished while supplies lasted. To clarify, the cover is not being shipped to retailers in a 50/50 ratio as reported in the mainstream press.”

Issue 575 was the first part of the two-part Hammerhead arc that Ben and I discussed on the last p’cast. It’s reported that the first run has already sold out and that a second printing of the variant is being offered to shops with no restrictions while supplies last.

So at some point, you’ll probably be able to acquire one of these variants…somehow and some places.

Original story found at Newsarama

One More Day Again? Controversial storyline hits Spidey comic strip

Just when you thought it was over, one of Marvel’s most controversial storylines ever has reared its ugly head again. This time, it’s in the pages of newspapers across the country.

Comic fans everywhere remember the infamous Spider-Man storyline that launched in 2008 called One More Day that ended in the eradication of the Spider-Marriage between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. Everything was ret-conned back to a certain point in time that we’re still trying to figure out. The reasoning was nearly universally panned by critics at the time, even though in my opinion, this post OMD-era has been nothing short of fantastic.

Remember the Spider-Man daily comic strip? Well, it’s still running in many newspapers and on December 31st, readers saw this:

And then on New Year’s Day, we got this:

Now I don’t read the strip, mostly because our paper doesn’t carry it and it never comes to mind. However, this is interesting and a further attempt to try to make everything as streamlined as possible. Now if only that long-discussed Spider-Man comic strip compilation book would come out, we could all catch up!

Did You Know?

– Spidey is part of the first-ever comic strip/comic book crossover story.

– The strip started in 1977.

– You can read the strip on the official King features site and get access every day for $15 per year.

Originally Found at Newsarama

Newsarama’s Comic of the Year: two options? That’s it?

It’s that time of year for ‘Best Of’ lists and various awards and a post I saw upon a quick view of Newsarama shocked me

Wrong 'Comic of the Year'.

a bit. They are asking readers to vote on Comic Book of the Year, along with Comic Movie of the Year. Normally, I would have no problem with this, but that’s why I said ‘normally’.