House to Astonish Episode 100
It’s finally here – the hundredth episode of House to Astonish! We’re joined by Carrie Kennedy, Susi O’Brien, Stu West and Amal El-Mohtar to discuss topic suggested by friends, listeners and comics pros, encompassing digital comics, boycotts, the greatest comics out today, what Marvel would be like if they’d done right by Kirby, favourite superhero movies, reinventions of Marvel characters, the Eurovision Song Contest, pie, monkeys and what goes on inside the human stomach. We’ve got contributions from Reilly Brown, Jeff Lester of Wait, What?, Steve Morris of Comics Bulletin, Steven Sanders, Al Ewing, Rich Johnston of Bleeding Cool, Heidi MacDonald of the Beat, Alex de Campi, Michael Kupperman, Stephen Wacker, Antony Johnston, Kieron Gillen, Justin Jordan, Lauren Sankovitch, Andy Khouri and Andrew Wheeler of Comics Alliance, Brandon Graham and Emma Rios. All this plus cake, booze, an alcoholic with a spanner, Wolverine vs Montessori and Wong’s hash brownies in our longest ever episode (by 25 seconds).
You’ll have noticed that we’ve had a spruce-up of our design – the immensely talented James Wendelborn has designed our new logos, and you may be pleased to learn that we’ve put those to good use already in our official House to Astonish Redbubble store – if you want to show the world your affinity for the show there’s now a way to do it! You can find it here – it’s the swankiest way to combine comics podcasting and sartorial excellence.
The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think of the show, either in the comments, on Twitter, by email on our Facebook fan page.
Thanks to everyone who’s contributed to the show or who’s enjoyed it so far – here’s to many more episodes.
Congratulations on 100 episodes, chaps! You’re still the only comic podcast I listen to!
This was a really cool #100 podcast. I do enjoy that even people across the pond know the absurdity of that Jekyll/Hyde show Do No Harm.
I’m actually indecently excited for that Rogue novel, real novelist or not.
In any case, great episode. Thank you guests, thank you, Al and Paul.
Congrats, guys!
The description of horrible things happening to struggling ballerinas in girls’ comics, and the 2000AD connection, reminds me of a radio interview with Alan Moore, in which he credits writing The Blind Ballerina with turning Mills and Wagner “cynical, and possibly evil”.
It’s fun to think about Kirby creating the New Gods for Marvel, even though, as you say, it’s unlikely. And then Jim Starlin uses Darkseid in Infinity War, before decamping to DC where he and Len Wein create Thanos, ruler of Warworld. Probably.
That was a lot of fun. Congrats on hitting 100 episodes guys!
Oh, regarding the official handbook, some sort of compendium of all 97 of those (and the Who’s Who in Who’s Who of the DC Universe) would be cool.
Bon Poddiversaire, Mes Amis! Here’s to many more!
//\Oo/\\
Congratulations on 100 episodes! I’ve been following Paul since the original X-Axis site, and the both of you since this podcast started, and it’s been great to have all these years.
Random thoughts on the episode:
–I want to read about that headmistress/pie eater extraordinary. I very much do.
–Shout out from another Canuck who appreciated the Great Big Sea reference. It totally works; some of their songs definitely slide toward the more mythic/folklore side, and Thor would be right on board with those.
–Does anyone know what that webcomic they were discussing might be? The one that scrolls horizontally, and tells a sort of evolution of life type story? I’m interested in web comics that take advantage of that sort of thing (I loved the one xkcd did last year), and I’d be interested in tracking it down.
–On the subject of favorite comic book monkeys: Ampersand.
It was so great to be a part of this! I had heaps of fun.
Person of Con: Hooray fellow Canadian!
The horizontally scrolling webcomic I mentioned is this: “The First Word” by Patrick Farley. It’s NSFW and AMAZING.
http://www.electricsheepcomix.com/delta/firstword/
I love Ampersand too, btw, but I have to say he’s only a subject of the fantastic Monkey King, so I stand by my choice there.
Loving the episode. 🙂
A brief thing about Orson Scott Card. He’s been on the board of directors of the National Organization for Marriage, since 2009. So he’s not just a prominent individual. He’s involved in raising money for a whole organization to try and block basic rights for people like, using claims they know are lies, and helping make decisions about how to spend millions of dollars on campaigns to keep us second-class. In turn, NOM’s campaigns impose multi-million dollar burden on states who then have to take part in lawsuits over homophobic initiatives, and require spending in opposition. And wherever they succeed, then queer people who want to maintain stable relationships find themselves thrust down into, or back into, fear, uncertainty, unnecessary costs, and unnecessary suffering.
I wouldn’t want DC offering freelance work to a sitting official of the Ku Klux Klan, or the National Front, and yes, I do think that NOM is on that moral plan. I want them to go ahead and ditch Card and get a clue about it, so that we can all enjoy the other folks’ presumptively great work without giving even a little to people actively trying to make some of us suffer so.
Do No Harm’s first episode wasn’t really so bad – the alter-ego WASN’T a doctor, by the way. But the second episode started by cheating on its basic premise, and thereafter got convoluted and tedious.
Congrats on 100 shows, I always enjoy your views and opinions on the comic book industry and look forward to another 100 episodes! Plus I now really want a go of the Sporkle X-Men quiz – if only to see if I can name any of the Genoshan Excalibur members without using Wikipedia!
In addition to what Hidden Heart said:
Card advocates violent overthrow of the US government if that’s the only way to prevent the civil government, providing civil recognition of and civil benefits to citizens’ same-sex marriages. (Which if you ask me the government is required to do by the First Amendment to the US Constitution’s guarantees of freedom from government imposed religion.)
So, even aside from NOM being, anti-American scum, he’s quite the whackadoodle fascist, potentially violent nutbag. Not the sort I’d hand my flagship truth justice etc etc character over to.
Keeping on the Canadian theme. I think Thor would also be ALL OVER “The Last of Barrett’s Privateers”. On Wolverine’s music, there’s that really wierd running gag in I think Wolverine: First Class, where he keeps insulting Dazzler saying “She ain’t no Aretha” or something like that. That led Evie at “Awesomed by Comics” to speculate that Wolverine’s iPod is something like tons of Johnny Cash and Springsteen, and then Aretha Franklin’s greatest hits just tucked in there, which sounds perfect to me. Alternately, you could posit that Logan would have entered his “damn kids today and their music” phase around 1910 and never left it, but I have no idea what that would leave him with. I feel like Beast, Nightcrawler, and Colossus all primarily listen to classical music, probably that’s the default for most of the good supervillains as well.
Cheers to 100 shows.
I thought Tony was always on the team since they were using his mansion. Like the kid who brought the ball to the playround always got picked.
Actually, read on another forum – that shall remain nameless – that the Beast might be a Sinatra fan.
Somehow, that seems right.
Congratulations on the 100.
The only place I’ve ever heard the “Hollywood only wants to deal with a single copyright owner” is from Kirkman apologists explaining how he had no choice but to get Moore to sign over his interests to get a TV show made. It’s not true. Multiple TMNT movies got made with Eastman and Laird as co-owners, FROM HELL got made with Campbell and Moore as co-owners. Hollywood just wants to know that everyone with an ownership stake is on the same page (on selling the rights and splitting the money) and will put as many signature lines on the contract as they need. And they want to know that that ownership breakdown is on a properly drafted and signed piece of paper, not just a handshake agreement. In 2013 there’s no excuse for a collaborative comic not to have, prior to the work being done, a contract specifying whether the writer and artist are partners and co-owners, or one of them is hiring the services of the other for some defined compensation, either front-end or back-end or both.
I’d be curious what specific beliefs Al thinks Ditko has that are “morally indefensible”, because it kind of sounds like he’s just taking everything that he thinks “Randists” believe and piling it on Ditko. In any case, I’ve seen Tom Brevoort state that Ditko does get paid for reprints from Marvel, so Al will have to stop buying those. I don’t agree with everything Ditko says, but I don’t think anything has ever crossed the line to “morally indefensible”.
Unlike Card. Previous comments have already made it clear, but you guys really downplayed just how awful his views are. It’s not just that he doesn’t support gay marriage (a position Obama and Biden weren’t willing to take publicly until less than a year ago), but his organization opposes adoption rights for gay people and pretty much any other rights. Also, his organization actively supports the use of boycotts (against Starbucks and others), so it’s the height of hypocrisy for them to complain when that’s turned on them.
Awesome – my Eurovision question got it!
Despite not being involved in any way, shape or form, many Australians remain fascinated by Eurovision and there are big viewing parties every year when it’s broadcast here. Well, there are amongst my friends at least.
…then again, I got married to Lena’s ‘Satellite’, so I may not be the most objective reporter on Antipodean enthusiasm for the Song Contest.
Daibhid Ceannaideach : to take that to the logical conclusion, would Starlin then go back to Marvel to create Mongul? So the result of Kirby staying at Marvel is that all the Darkseid-lites switch company? How about Apocalypse? I don’t know if the character is really a “Darkseid-lite”, but I know Jim Lee draws them the same, and that name sure is Kirby (run through a spell-checker).
Congrats gents. Been following since x-axis, and though I only listen to the podcasts sporadically, I do enjoy them and its quite a feat to reach 100. And I must say, I enjoyed this more than any other. The ladies were wonderful! Would love to hear more from your better halved in the future. Cheers
Ethan. Re: Super-villain music choice. I think there’s an X-Men novelization where it claims that the Red Skull has people play Chopin’s funeral march whenever he appears. Although he might intend that more to convey his general persona than because it’s his favorite, per se.
Congratulations on #100!
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I have to say the whole “Orson Scott Card Boycott” thing is already getting pretty tired.
I’m a conservative Christian and I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman.
That said I don’t think writers whose beliefs and lifestyles are different (or even opposed) to mine should be punished. I don’t boycott Allan Heinberg, Joss Whedon or Judd Winick just because their beliefs differ from mine. I am able to seperate their work as writers from what they personally believe. (I would also include Chuck Austen in this list, but I would boycott him because he is so very, very terrible, not because he is anti-Catholic.)
I don’t want to get into an argument with anybody, so I won’t be replying to any no-doubt scathing replies to this post.
I think that comic books should be something that brings people together.
Love the new logo! Going to listen this pretty soon, excited to dive into the 2 hours of it. Been a big fan for as long as the podcast has been going, hope it goes for a long while longer…
Anecdote: My wife has never read a comic longer than the Sunday Garfield, and is in fact comics-illiterate, in that she has real trouble following which bits you’re supposed to read at which times, and when you should look at the picture.
Congrats on making 100.
Started reading the X axis back in 04 I think it was.
Having not listened to the podcast yet (that’s tomorrow’s listening) so I don’t really know how we end up talking about this, but in response to Ethan, Wolverine’s music taste has been brought up in both the Jason Aaron run (wolverine’s birthday party) and in the Larry Hama run (somewhere around issue #110 – cant remember the exact one…)
If there’s no New Gods, what does George Lucas pilfer for Star Wars (besides, of course, Kurosawa, Joseph Campbell and Leni Riefenstahl)? :>
“That said I don’t think writers whose beliefs and lifestyles are different (or even opposed) to mine should be punished.”
@Nick: As stated above, there’s a big difference between having different views (relatively harmless) and actively trying to take away the rights of other people (not so harmless).
This isn’t just a matter of people not agreeing. If I bought Card’s debut on Adventures of Superman, then I’d be supporting the livelihood of a man whose other job is trying to overturn the legality of my civil union to my partner of 9 years. That’s a real consequence, not just an idea.
Vader’s based on Dr. Doom, though, right?
UK Transformers was first for me, but it was Secret Wars that got me into the main Marvel line. And then Spiderman & Zoids (how has Zoids still not got a post-2000 retro remake?).
Patrick, that Eurovision question was great, and the answers left this Yank wanting to learn more about the competitors this year.
I dont remember if it was ever brought up in the pod, but who is drawing the Card story? That person will be losing money too, though no fault of their own, unless you think they should make a moral stand and not work with him.
Also wonder where the slippery slope stops for politically motivated comics consumers? Are conservatives like Chuck Dixon also potential boycott targets ?
Al: Will the Jeff Parker story be digitally available separately from the Card story? Because I kind of assumed it would be, and you’d be able to just skip Card’s stuff in that format. Or are they doing two eight-page two-parters per digital fragment?
The Parker/Samnee story will be individually available digitally (it’s #3, the collected edition collects #1-3).
Hooray on 100! Great episode too.
I’ve also been around since the X-Axis days, and come here to read Paul’s reviews. I’ve never listened to the podcast and have no interest in it, just wanted to say it’s a shame how some reviews are only on the podcast now. I don’t want to sit through a podcast just to scan reviews for a few minutes.
So long as you guys are having fun though!
Why has Jeff Parker still not been given a ‘big’ Marvel title? He’s been writing consistently good stuff for them for years now.
Congratulations on hitting 100 shows guys! You’re always a joy to listen to.
By the way, I always pictured Spider-man as an Elvis Costello fan, for some reason.
Listening to the podcast.
In regards to digital, I stopped buying serials in 09, I didn’t buy ANYTHING for almost 2 years, and now I buy older comics digitally on the cheap. 99c issues are great, but I tend to buy a single arc every week if its done to $2 an issue or has a collected edition.
If I catch up to the 4.50 issues on a title, I’ll move on to a different title for the cheaper issues. I’d like to be buying up to date, but for the price of 2 new issues I can buy 5-10 older issues, so I know what my choice is going to be. I don’t need to read AvX so badly that I need to pay $65 for the collection when I for $30 I got almost the entire uncanny x-force run on 99c sale day.
Tim, I vaguely recall Peter and MJ discussing their respective music tastes in a story Erik Larsen wrote (in Revenge of the Sinister Six), where Peter did list Elvis Costello as a musician he liked (in response to Mary Jane’s claim he never liked any current artists). He mentioned someone else, too, but I can’t remember them.
In a random coincidence, I read a Fraction Spider-Man annual from 2007, in which Peter Parker says in a flashback that he doesn’t listen to music – MJ asks him to make her a mixtape, and he puts on science lectures instead of songs.
Ok, too early to formulate sentences properly – the random coincidence was that I read that issue *yesterday*, and not that I read it at all.
Congratulations on reaching 100 episodes, guys.
The list of best monkeys and apes was sorely missing the simian Mega-City One crimelord Don Uggie Apelino and his henchmen Fast Eeek and Joe Bananas.
Surely Spider-Man would listen to Swing.
That’s Swing.
(cough)
Anyway, thanks for doing my question, it was great fun even if I didn’t recognise half the bands.
No mention of Bill Willingham? I had moral issues when I realized that he’s not only strongly pro-death penalty, but also likes to hammer home that point in his comics. Still, I never considered boycotting Fables, because I thought the concept worked despite the occasional emphasizing of the importance of beheading your criminals and rebels.
Are the moral issues getting more attention because it’s Superman? His Ultimate Iron Man was mentioned, and surely he’s also made money from Marvel’s Ender’s comics?
As far as comics music goes, I do remember Oor Wullie saying “When Will I be Famous” by Bros was his favourite song?
Trond Sätre: I used to love Fables. LOVE. Fables and Y: The Last Man were for a long time the only comics I was buying. But it was an opposite problem to Card, in that I was turned off the comics by what was increasingly in them (shameless axe-grinding that made no narrative sense, robbing the awesome women characters I loved of any agency, a bizarre melting of all the characters’ voices into one smarmy soup), rather than by any knowledge of Willingham’s views and activities.
With Card, no matter what position you take on the subject of boycotts, the issue is that he has made a name for himself as an outspoken activist against marriage equality and homosexuality in general. For better or worse he wants to be known as OSC, Defender of Straightness.
The end result for me personally is the same: I just don’t buy their work.
Congratulations for your 100th episode. Looking forward for one hundred more.
By coincidence, just before listening to the podcast, I finished reading Kirby, King of Comics by Mark Evanier. Basically, two things were essential to Jack Kirby: 1- getting paid fairly (since supporting his family was crucial to Kirby who grew up in difficult times), 2- getting the freedom to create. He only reached these two goals when he partially got out of comics in 1978 to work in animation. Hanna-Barbera and later Ruby-Spears were the first ones to genuinely be happy to hire Kirby even if his art and health were getting worse.
So the question “What would happen if Marvel had done right to Kirby?” is highly hypothetical since even DC was also cruelly unkind to him (up to when Jenette Kahn and Paul Levitz hired him back for The Hunger Dogs, mainly to give him the residuals he was entitled for The Fourth World). At the time, comic book publishers and editors were pirates: cutting throats, burying treasures.
I read on Bleeding Cool the rumblings, starts and mistakes behind the New 52 and it makes me wonder if times really changed.
Oor Wullie actually looked like a member of Bros too. Surely in all these years the Sunday Post must have run at least one strip about him having a twin brother.
Best fictional monkey ever was the Simpsons “Hail to the chimp”
Or is that an ape?
I can never remember.
I honestly don’t know my own mind about the OSC thing. I mean, I’m not buying it because I find his views abhorrent, no question there. But I also find Tony Harris’s views abhorrent, and that hasn’t stopped me buying The Whistling Skull. And I don’t know what the difference is.
The best pie is clearly banoffee. Unless it doesn’t fit the strict definitions of pie, in which case it’s probably cheese’n’onion.
I can’t believe I know this off the top of my head, but there was in fact a Marvel Holiday Special in which Peter Parker’s Christmas cake gets destroyed during a team-up with Wolverine, and Logan reveals his previously unsuspected awesome cake-baking skills.
@Stu West: My theory is that Wullie is actually a triplet. With her four grown children showing no signs of leaving home, Maw Broon couldn’t face three new weans at once, so she gave one of them away, and raised the other two as the Twins. (You can see how difficult she finds being a full-time mother in the fact she hasn’t actually named a child since Horace.)
Congratulations on 100 episodes! Interesting discussions all around this time. For myself I only actively avoid things produced by people I think are actual criminals, your Roman Polanksis and Chris Browns. The list of people I disagree with is far too long to avoid; although in any case the more strident they are the less I tend to be interested in their work, as it turns out.
I did want to say I particularly enjoyed the female POV represented this week (thanks Amal, above) and if i have any request it is that you bring your wives and your other guests back occasionally!