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Monday, November 28, 2011

The Fire and Water Podcast: Episode 8

sgThe Fire and Water Podcast, Episode 8: Aquaman #3/The Fury of Firestorm #3/Listener Feedback


Closing Theme: F.O.A.M.er Dan Adams and The Bad Mamma Jammas!




3 comments:

Orin's dad said...

Sweet! Can't wait to download n listen to this one. I missed Slipknot Talk last time: hopefully he's back this time... :-)

Diabolu Frank said...

1) Yeah it's free, but for many time is more valuable than dollars, and a couple of hours a week is a fair investment to ask from people. Well, normal people, anyway.

2) I don't think it's premature to crown Reis & company the greatest Aquaman art team of all time. They may not end up producing the volumes of work offered by others (though I hope they will,) but based on Brightest Day alone the company has already displaced all others in my heart. This is the first art team to ever in my mind do Aquaman his full justice as the majestic Monarch of the Seven Seas (plus hommina-hommina Mera!)

3) I made it a point to not drop any names in the previous point, and then you guys list everybody you can think of, including Marty freakin' Egelund? Don Newton? Really? How about those three issues or so Kirk Jarvinen did before falling off the face of the earth? While excluding Pat Gleason and especially Jim Calafiore? Where is the love?

4) One of the great things about the current team is that they stuck through a reasonably long run on Green Lantern and all eight issues of Blackest Night. I sincerely hope they'll be as courteous to Aquaman fans, and if not, they've set a standard that others will hopefully bear.

5) The thing about Dr. Strange is that while he seems positively c-list by modern standards, the guy has always had a strong following. Remember, when he was created in 1963, the Hulk was a cancelled series and Strange took Strange Tales away from the Human Torch inside of a few months. I believe Dr. Strange thrived specifically because his was a more mature themed series that resonated with '60s counterculture more than kids and did not depend on the monthly grind of a stalwart artist. Aside from a lapse of about three years after Dr. Strange failed as a spin-off of Strange Tales, the Doctor was in print monthly from 1963-1996. Dr. Strange will almost certainly have his own movie by the end of the decade, was the first to get a TV movie after Hulk & Spider-Man, and is among the most recognizable Marvel characters. As fine as his artists were, by 1960s standards they were probably detrimental to sales. Colan, Severin, Adkins and even Barry Smith were not as commercial as someone like the Buscemas or Trimpe, and even Frank Brunner was somewhat niche. It's mind-boggling today, but then again, so is Rob Liefeld outselling Marcos Martin.

6) One thing about how cops relate to Aquaman: Is this a dissing of Aquaman specifically, or just cops not liking super-heroes in general? Is Aqua-defensiveness making more of that than there is, since Johns is writing another book where cops outright hate heroes?

7) The Legend of Aquaman is probably my favorite story of the character ever. It made me a fan, where before he was just another familiar super-hero from my childhood.

8) Jeez Rob, Aquaman is the best looking New 52 book. Such a praise withholder.

9) Maybe comic shops should order one treasury-sized copy of every new comic and then rent them for two bits so fans can read them in 1.5 minutes and move on to the next. I would pay a negligible fee to read O.M.A.C. and then put it right back down again, followed by Blackhawks, Men of War, etc... Decompressed storytelling leads to "theft of service" in comic shops anyway, since I get 95% of a modern story by tossing through a book over a few seconds. Why buy it?

10) I'm buying Aquaman, Stormwatch & The Huntress. I might buy Wonder Woman in trade because everyone loves it, but I'm really not confident I will.

11) Why did it take this many episodes to play that "Arthur Curry" song? I vaguely recall reading the lyrics and/or hearing it years ago, but I had no memory of it being so awesome. I could listen to that every episode.

12) John Severin may have escaped super-heroes, but to this day I cannot take any story he draws seriously because of too many years reading Cracked Magazine.

cリnical said...

Thanks (as always) for the plug!