THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST: Episode 50The official podcast of THE AQUAMAN SHRINE and FIRESTORM FAN
Episode 50 - DC Sampler & Listener Feedback
We celebrate our landmark 50th episode with special guest Diabolu Frank by discussing the three DC SAMPLER books from the 1980s! Be sure to visit our Tumblr site so you can follow along! We conclude the show with your Listener Feedback!
Also, you can leave a comment on our sites:
THE AQUAMAN SHRINE - http://www.aquamanshrine.com
FIRESTORM FAN - http://firestormfan.com
FIRE AND WATER PODCAST TUMBLR - http://fireandwaterpodcast.tumblr.com
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at firewaterpodcast@comcast.net
Be sure to visit Frank's blogs:
IDOL-HEAD OF DIABOLU, a Martian Manhunter blog - http://idol-head.blogspot.com
JUSTICE LEAGUE DETROIT - http://justiceleaguedetroit.blogspot.com
DC BLOODLINES - http://dcbloodlines.blogspot.com
POWER OF THE ATOM - http://themightymite.blogspot.com
DIANA PRINCE AS THE NEW WONDER WOMAN - http://new-wonder-woman.blogspot.com
...NURGH... - http://nurgh.blogspot.com
Have a question or comment? Drop us a line at firewaterpodcast@comcast.net
Subscribe via iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-fire-and-water-podcast/id463855630
Intro theme, "That Time is Now," by Michael Kohler.
Thanks for listening! Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave!
9 comments:
4:03 PM - Downloading latest episode of Fire and Water Podcast... Woah, four and a half hours?!! Holy crap! So excited! Cleared my Sunday schedule. Bring it on!
4:05 PM - Frank guest appearance! Nice, half of the podcast will be insane rants with obscure-yet-frighteningly-specific references to Whitney Huston and Bobby Brown or some ‘70s TV show that’s not The Rockford Files but sounds kind of like The Rockford Files... Can’t wait!
4:10 PM - Checking the Fire & Water Tumblr... Dude, two of my Playdate pictures uploaded! Awesome! Can’t wait to get to the Listener Feedback section to hear what Shag has to say about these...
4:11 PM - All three Samplers... Gonna be a long-ass time before Listener Feedback!
4:22 PM - That All-Star Squadron spread it fantastic! Rob is amazing for posting these on Tumblr so we can follow along... Gonna make the time fly by...
4:26 PM - Same thoughts--Luthor looks like he’s throwing Brainiac’s head. Jimmy has Hank McCoy’s body!
4:36 PM - Omega Men looks horrible!
4:41 PM - Black Canary aiming a gun at Elongated Man... while running between Wonder Woman’s legs... Needs me a bigger scan of this image for one of my Out of Context updates to the Flowers & Fishnets blog!
4:54 PM - Spread for New Teen Titans looks really great! I keep trying to get into that book and just can’t do it. Loved Marv Wolfman’s horror books at Marvel but could never get into his DC work to that level.
4:56 PM - Also have no particular love for Starfire.
5:29 PM - Looking at Firestorm spread, all those floating heads... kind of wish all Ronnie’s supporting cast would crowd in his head with Prof. Stein... Imagine Firestorm balancing six personalities...
5:31 PM - Listener Feedback... Nope. Oh my god, that was only the first Sampler. Whew!
5:49 PM - G.I. Joe #21: “Silent Interlude” - story and breakdowns by Larry Hama, finishes by Steve Leialoha. Find that issue even if you’re not a G.I. Joe fan!
6:05 PM - Two hours, fellas! Holy nuts! I hope you didn’t record this in one take... tell me you’re up and moving around and not getting bedsores from this episode... I think I am!
6:09 PM - No Firestorm, no Hawkman, no Black Canary... Rob, don’t say they couldn’t fit everybody! Of course they could--it’s not a photo shoot for the company softball team! Chuck Patton could have been drawn smaller to fit more characters in!
6:15 PM - Love the notion of combining JL Detroit and The Outsiders by cherry picking best team members. Lineup should include: Elongated Man, Vixen, Zatanna, Metamorpho, Black Lightning and maybe Green Arrow. Meanwhile, Vibe, Steel, Gypsy, Geo-Force and Halo can go to the Planet of Misfit Characters from Superman Beyond 3D/Final Crisis. Aquaman and J’onn stay with big leaguers.
6:20 PM - Why are you still talking about Thriller?!! We’re getting tired here, fellas!
6:27 PM - Love the look of Blue Devil... always wanted to read his book and this ad would have piqued my interest. But “Why is this blue man smiling?” is a really dumb teaser for the ad!
6:29 PM - Is that an Amethyst spread? Why isn’t there a logo? Ha! Rob noticed! Seriously, that would work so much better without the text boxes and just a big logo telling us what the book is...
6:39 PM - OH MY GOD! These are averaging an hour fifteen minutes per Sampler... There’s another 75 minutes before Listener Feedback?!! Why didn’t you spread this over three episodes, guys? You could have had three different guest stars!!!
6:45 PM - Shag, I’m right with you on Saga of the Swamp Thing. Been reading it in the hardcovers that came out recently... Finished the first three, about halfway through the fourth now...
6:46 PM - Isn’t the premise of Robotech that the giant robots fight? Shouldn’t there be some kind of action? Why is the splash a shot of people (?) and big robots standing around posing instead of fighting?
6:50 PM - You could have just shown that cover to America vs. JSA and that would’ve been enough to sell me on the comic... maybe add a tag like “Featuring the never-before-told origin of the Justice Society”... THAT’S ALL THEY NEED! MORONS!
6:52 PM - so hungry...
6:58 PM - Spanner’s galaxy? Gawd! C’mon guys!!! Tired and hungry... I hate Spanner’s galaxy and anyone who worked on it or read it!
7:04 PM - Why do all the ads in this Sampler suck?! Why are you describing ads that suck? Why are you laughing at me!
7:05 PM - Shag, I get the series bible text. I’m with you...
7:06 PM - Dogs barking a lot!
7:07 PM - Ehh... more sucky ads... more sucky...
7:09 PM - Hurry up and get to Listener Feedback! Now I can’t not see Geo-Force’s crotch! You’re making me hate Jim Aparo! And alphabets!
7:11 PM - stupid barking dogs! Shut up!
7:14 PM - “Why is this blue man no longer smiling?” Because he’s TIRED!!! He needs sugar!
7:21 PM - Cyborg flamethrower and lighter-fluid attachment!
7:22 PM - Dear god! How could they disgrace Gene Colan with that crap! Make this end MAKE IT ALL END!!!
7:25 PM - I would read that Jonni Thunder series...
7:26 PM - Eh, no I wouldn’t...
7:28 PM - Whew! Done with Samplers!
7:29 PM - The telethon joke is too funny because it’s too true... I will pledge sixty-three dollars! But I want my Fawlty Towers VHS tapes cuz that’s what I got last time...
7:31 PM - ROB, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!! You’re playing some weirdo Croatian talking about Lego Batman for the break! You’re deliberately making this episode LONGER! What’s wrong with you? Get to the Listener Feedback so I can hear my name read aloud and validate my stupid existence!!!
7:32 PM - shut up stupid lego martian manhunter guy I HATE YOU! I HATE ALL OF YOU! SHUT UP! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!
7:35 PM - yay listener feedback... yay... tired...
7:39 PM - oh my god, there’s still another hour! still another hour...
7:40 PM - pre-New 52 Amanda Waller was Marsha Warfield from Night Court! New 52 Waller is stupid... also New 52 Etta Candy is skinny and black and works with Steve Trevor at ARGUS... New 52 Amanda Waller and Etta Candy are two skinny black chicks... which sounds cool, but is as disappointing as two broke white chicks!
7:45 PM - Batman Returns Penguin toy was such a huge disappointment... didn’t look like movie, was SP Penguin repainted in black tux with red bow tie and cummerbund...
7:48 PM - Circling the drain...
7:49 PM - Hey, that’s me! Playdates are very much inspired by old Twisted Toyfare Theater, precursor to Robot Chicken.
7:54 PM - Woohoo! You read my musings! I feel alive again. And still tired... Still 48 minutes left? Did I write anything on Twitter... don’t remember... should turn this off and go pick my wife up from airport... but can’t stop, must hear what Frank’s going to do at the end...
8:00 PM - Holy god... still going!
8:02 - rain
8:04 - dogs barking again
8:05 - “Urge to kill...rising!” Simpsons reference!
8:10 - should be laughing about GIANT SIZE MAN-THING but too long... too tired...
8:12 - Did I hear Count Drunkula mentioned again? What were they talking about? Did I say something else?
8:13 - Twitter... oh God... You’re making me hate Twitter...
8:14 - still another half hour! what could it be! I’m starting to hate myself for getting involved in this blog/podcast thing...
My wife’s not at the airport anymore... don’t know where.
- dogs. rain. wife.
Frank. Jaeger
dogs dogs
Hate the rain. hate dc samplers. Hate listener feedback freedback freebuck
wife life
8:44 PM - That’s it? No stinger? What a ripoff!!!
Count Drunkula is a madman! Initiate commentary on the CD commentary of the commentary on the DC Samplers!
1. The correct answer to the proper initial line-up of Green Arrow and the Outsiders is Black Lightning, Katana, Gypsy & the Vixen. The Justice League spin-off "Satellite" team book stars Blue Devil, Firestorm, Green Lantern John Stewart, Metamorpho, Supergirl, and Zatanna. The rejiggered JLA is Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, the Atom, Aquaman and Black Canary. Elongated Man gets a back-up strip in Flash and Steel the Indestructible Man gets a short-lived ongoing.
2. I LOL'd as CD's mental state broke down toward the end of comment three. Now I totally get why Silver Shamrock used Stonehenge to melt all those kids' heads... for the pure joy of fully adulterated evil!
3. Gee, I thought I'd have more points.
Wow, what a podcast! While listening to this, my children graduated from college, moved out, got married, got divorced, and moved back in.
Seriously, this was quite the podcast. Much more "blue" than I've heard out of you guys. Proving Frank is a bad influence. And also very wrong on a great many things. He makes Shag seem downright sensible!
Anyhow, onto the Samplers. Being an exclusive newsstand guy up until 1986, I didn't get these comics first hand. I picked them up in the quarter bin later in the decade. I actually only have the first two, and now have no desire for the third! Thanks for saving me a quarter!
Some thoughts on issue #1.
The All-Star Squadron spread is epic. I loved that book, even though it's distribution was spotty in my neck of the woods. Thomas' wordy dialog is a bit of a struggle to read through nowadays, but at least you get a full story in a single issue. It feels like you actually read something every time. Ordway is beyond reproach. Frank is nuts to get any kind of sexual overtones out of this. Get out more dude!
Shag needs to realize the non-powered Diana Prince era of Wonder Woman ended a full decade before this Sampler saw print. WW had been back in her star-spangled panties for years. Roy Thomas and Gene Colan had just done an aborted "new era" on the book before this team, and this ad does seem to try and convince folks that things were new, just when they were treading water.
I have mixed feelings on Batman and the Outsiders. I bought the book because of Batman and Aparo, but I was pretty much indifferent to the characters, and still am. The sampler teaser is very nicely done though!
The Titans spread is awesome, and I think Frank may be right about Vigilante being the "mystery man" in Dicks' life, although I always assumed it was pointing to him becoming Nightwing, but Perez hadn't designed his look yet at this point. I'll get to Starfire later...
Rob's right. World's Finest was the pits at that point. The art here by Jerome K. Moore is the one highlight of the time. The fact that DC didn't even give the villains Who's Who entries has something I never considered, but you're right. Pretty big slap in the face to the creators of the book at the time.
The Flash spread looks to be inked MOSTLY by Rodin Rodriguez (I think that was his name). He inked a lot of stuff at DC in the early 80s and brough a more florid style to many of the old school DC guys. I don't think he inked the mug shots, though. That does look like it might be McLaughlin.
I'm still working my way through the podcast, but I wanted to get this out there: Am I crazy, or does the background of the Swamp Thing page (Sampler #2) look sort of like an abstract representation of Swampy's face? The moon is his eye, the trees and Spanish Moss as his eye socket/brow, and the shrub in the foreground as his triangular nose thing?
CarlosMucha here.
Just want to say that I Love Batman and the Outsiders. It was ny first argentinian DC collection of comics ever.
Great and very long podcast! :)
I finished it! FINALLY!
It's been a rough week, my place got flooded by a burst pipe on Sunday 4/21, I lost some pieces of my collections due to water damage, along with shelves worth (nearly 200 to be exact) of trades and other books...but every day, listening back and forth from work, the storage facility where I hid my surviving collectibles, the hotel where I've been living...every day I listened to bits of this EPIC podcast, and I smiled, and laughed. Thanks for making a rough week a little easier guys!
Post a Comment