The Week That Was 0217/25

X-Book Power Rankings, Hadestown, and Review Round-Up

The Runs: Chris Claremont & Paul Smith's Uncanny X-Men

Hey, if you want to hear me talk about the Claremont/Smith run on Uncanny X-Men — arguably the greatest X-Men run of all time — check out my buddy Ryan Alexander-Tanner's podcast The Runs, on which I recently appeared to do just that. 

You can stream the episode directly from here, or listen on most of the usual podcast platforms of choice

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Miles & Austin X-Plain the X-Men!

Art by David Wynne. Wanna buy the original? Drop him a line!

I recently had the opportunity to fill in for Jay on an episode of "Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men", and that episode is now available for listening/downloading! If you're not familiar with it, "X-Plain the X-Men" is basically an aural version of my X-aminations reviews, in which the hosts review issues of X-Men and the assorted spin-offs in chronological order, often featuring funny voices and recurring gags along with their cunning analysis.

In this week's episode, Mile and I revisit New Warriors #10 and #31, in which we discuss the nebulous nature of Tarot's power, lament the lack of justice for Butter Rum, and I get to rant about the ill-advised Nova Roma/"Allison Crestmere" retcon once again! Give it a listen, and if you do, let me know what you think!

Check out the episode here (links to download via various podcasting platforms are there as well).

Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men

Force in Focus: Life Day

Happy Life Day everyone!

If you're looking for a way to celebrate this momentous Wookiee holiday, might I suggest checking out the Star Wars Holiday Special episode of A Very Special Episode, the podcast co-hosted by me & Doctor Bitz (and friends)?

However you choose to celebrate, we'll see you back here next week for Return of the Jedi #2!

Force in Focus: A Very Special Episode's Star Wars Extravaganza!

I swear I'll be back to reviewing old Star Wars comics very soon, but in the meantime, if you're the podcast-listening sort, this week sees the release of a very special Very Special Episode, the podcast which Dr. Bitz and I cohost (along with a pair of cartoonists & comedians from Portland), dedicated to Star Wars.

The idea behind it is a sort of "defense" of Star Wars. Anyone who's been reading these posts knows I'm a big Star Wars fan, and I generally like more than I dislike. My cohosts, whose Star Wars fandom ranges from the jaded to the casual to not-too-far-from-mine, decided to put forth a bunch of stuff they don't like about the various films, and then have me defend those decisions and explain why their nitpicks and dislikes aren't so bad (or, in some cases, confirm they are).

Ultimately though, it's just a big three hour episode celebrating Star Wars. I was fully prepared to bring my best pedantic nerd explanations for things, but in the end, I barely needed them, and nearly everyone spent about as much time talking about the stuff they love from the various films as the stuff that bugs them (needless to say, my faith in the franchise remains unshaken).

Amongst the topics of discussion were the unnecessarily-charred corpses of Luke's aunt & uncle, Han Solo's spiritual beliefs, and the stupid noise that lizard-thing Obi-Wan rides in Revenge of the Sith makes.

You can listen to and download the episode here, and it's also available via iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and PodBean.

PS this episode is a bit more SFW than some of our fare, but I still wouldn't recommend blasting it loudly from your desk. And in general, we work a little blue, so probably hold off on listening around the kids as well.

PPS if you haven't already, you can also listen to our episode discussing the infamous Star Wars Holiday special here.

A Very Special Episode - Amazing Spider-Man #96-98

As you may or may not know, Doctor Bitz and I are two of the co-hosts of "A Very Special Episode", a podcast which reviews "very special" episodes of pop culture - those stories where the usual rhythm or tone of an ongoing narrative is briefly interrupted to discuss a serious, topical or otherwise atonal issue, usually with little advance warning or subsequent follow-up. Most often, we review TV episodes, like the infamous child molester episode of Diff'rent Strokes or the episode of Family Ties where Alex Keaton grapples with the death of his previously-unmentioned best friend by turning the show into a one-act play.

But in our recent episode, we branched out  to review a very special comic book story for the first time, specifically the Comics Code-less anti-drug story in Amazing Spider-Man #96-98. Given that a lot of the regular readers of this site read, you know, comic books, and/or are generally fans of Spider-Man, I figured I'd give the episode a special plug here. Plus, Doctor Bitz and I (along with one of our other co-hosts, Full House Reviewed's Ryan Alexander-Tanner) are joined for the episode by the writer of the Chasing Amazing blog, Mark Ginocchio, who also recently wrote the book on Spider-Man, 100 Things Spider-Man Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die. 

So while you're waiting in line for Spider-Man: Homecoming this weekend, give it a listen, and if you like what you hear, check out some of our other episodes (and if you want to buy Mark's book, too, I won't stop you...).

The link below will enable you to listen to and/or download the episode directly, but you can also listen via iTunes, Google Play, Podbean or Stitcher, with links to all four on the show's main website linked to above.

http://media.averyspecialepisodepodcast.com/AVerySpecialEpisode021.mp3

Force in Focus: The Star Wars Holiday Special

As you may or may not know, earlier this fall Saved by the Bell Reviewed, the weekly podcast that Dr. Bitz and I co-hosted along with two Oregonian cartoonists, finished its run reviewing every episode of the series (along with some extra stuff).

Shortly after that wrapped, we launched a new podcast, A Very Special Episode, which takes the Saved by the Bell Reviewed format of crass TV analysis and applies it to a wider swath of pop culture, examining "very special" episodes from across TV (rather than looking at just one show), as well other media. Earlier this week, in light of the holidays and the release of Rogue One, we dedicated our latest episode to the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, a 70s-style variety show featuring Chewbacca's family and phoned-in appearances from the principal Star Wars cast, alongside everything from a blackface cooking demonstration, a performance from Diahann Carroll specifically intended by the creators to be as much like softcore porn as network censors would allow, and large swathes of time in which the only dialogue being spoken is a series of unintelligible Wookiee growls and howls (without subtitles).