House to Astonish: The Shed of Ideas
By way of update on the podcast, after having had a good think about it Paul and I have decided that it’s likely to be a couple of months or so before it returns on a regular basis. However, there are going to be a few bonus episodes between now and then, which aren’t the podcast as we know it. One of these will be a Thought Bubble interview special, another will (hopefully) be a NYCC interview special. The third is the Shed of Ideas, where games journalist, comics reader and previous guest Cara Ellison and I will be taking questions on any comics-y subjects that take your fancy.
This isn’t HtA episode 112 – that’ll probably surface nearer to Christmas – but it’s a bit of fun to tide you over for a bit. We may even have special guests. Stay tuned. In the meantime, please let us have your questions in the comments below, or on Twitter (I’m @housetoastonish) – this is going to be recorded tomorrow (25 August), so you may need to be quick…!
*insert obvious questions on “Opinions on Justice League of Canada, Afflick-as-Batman, Archie co-CEO suing again, recent developments on DC’s September covers fiasco, etc*
> This isn’t HtA episode 112 – that’ll probably surface nearer to Christmas…
#112? After such a long break, shouldn’t it be v2 #1 in line with modern comic numbering? :p [You can return to the “old” numbering with #150!]
Does a widely read comics blogger loose credibility when they call out a specific segment of comics readers “sick f**ks” and then falsely claims to shut down comments only to reopen them for those who agree with them. I have screen shots proving this hypocritical act occurred.
Here is a link to the thread where this all occurred:
http://comicsbeat.com/so-what-kind-of-person-buys-a-torture-variant-cover-anyway-nsfw-trigger-images/
Also, the blogger in question states they think “a little transgression is ok.” Does that even make sense? Transgression is about going over the line, not just a bit so people with delicate sensibilities feel it is ok. I do not think all the images in question are in good taste, but that is the point.
Lose not loose. Opps.
What series would you like to see collected in Marvel’s Essential format that hasn’t been done yet?
If you could pick only one decade of Marvel’s comics to read, what decade would that be and why?
Jesus. Affleck? I’ve learned my lesson after initially scoffing at the idea of Ledger as the Joker, but has anyone involved even seen “Daredevil”?
@Scott F: Thanks for the link. Never read her blog before. Don’t think I will again given what I’ve just read. Her last post was very telling of her character. Slams people who disagree with her for their spelling, then closes up the thread but not before getting the last word in. Strikes me as something of a self righteous bitch. And if she happens to be reading this and thinks I’m making an unfair assessment of her character, well, she might want to reread her own article.
-Avengers & Iron Man 3 are the 3rd & 5th highest grossing films ever, yet the comic book audience has only increased marginally, if even that. Are there any other reasons you can think of, apart from the obvious of delays and poor value for money, why this has been the case?
-Do you find it a concern that an increasing number of creator-owned books are essentially ‘one-line movie pitches’ that usually lack the depth to make it an enjoyable read?
-In your absence, can you (or any other readers) recommend any decent comics podcasts? Thanks.
Worse redesign: Lobo or Harley Quinn?
Will Infinity be too dense/complex to be a summer comics mega-event?
Who would Al side with in a fight between the New Warriors and Heroes For Hire? 🙂
Any thoughts on the demise of Clint?
The Beat’s line “I see the misspellers have arrived” was a tad ungrateful, since they frequently have a hand in writing the posts and occasionally the headlines.
Light-hearted line of questioning but this is something I’ve been asking a few comics buddys over beers with recently:-
‘What do you think comic heroes smell like?’
Not just the easy ones say D-Man ‘unwashed costume, old food, bad’ or Drunk era Iron Man ‘New fast car smell and martinis’ but like…Galactus…what do you reckon Galactus smells like? What does the Watcher smell like…or Prof X? etc. etc.
I’ll miss House to Astonish, take this as no reflection on content but HtA and Mindless Ones ‘Silence!’ are the two podcasts I like to listen to as I’m dozing off…there’s just something relaxing about listening to Brits talk about z-list Marvel characters and the downfall of DC comics…
I do that too! I often end up dreaming along with the podde. Ended up singing the Defenders of the Earth theme *in my dream* with The Beast Must Die. Dreamed a whole episode of Sarah Millican. Nightmarish.
Also, re: numbering, Shed Of Ideas: Alpha and Shed Of Ideas: Omega. With reflective foilocovers!
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Is there any point to the big two comic firms as anything other than ip holding locations
and if so why are they not being used as IP test tracks I.E. here is a hot new idea will it sell or is it crap pre spending 100+ million on a movie ?
Paul, in all the years of reading your X-Men reviews, I’ve never gotten any sense of which characters you like. Do you have any favourites, in X-Men or in general?
^Wish I could remove above comment now I’ve realised it’s Al, not Paul. I guess I can ask Al’s favourite comics characters?
Why do Marvel and DC spend so much time trying to be sensitive to those who are of an ethnic minority background in the US while promoting stereotypes of European characters? Are they just thick?
Why is the Beast such a hypocrite? Is it because Marvel’s editors suffer from medium term memory loss?
– What do you think DC is better off attempting: trying to copy the Marvel cinematic universe, starting with Man of Steel, then Superman/Batman and Justice League; or building a television universe with Arrow, the proposed Flash spin-off plus maybe Wonder Woman/Amazon; or combining the two when it comes time for Justice League to hit theaters?
– How would you reboot Howard the Duck to make it part of the current Marvel Cinematic Universe? Do you think such a thing would even be possible or worthwhile, given the poisonous reputation of the George Lucas version (particularly in terms of the hype Marvel’s generated for Rocket Raccoon in the Guardians of the Galaxy film)?
– Has there been any recent crossover or event storyline from the big 2 publishers that you’ve found were great and lasting stories in and of themselves, rather than just goal points for their respective company’s publishing endeavors?
Remember to show your work for extra credit. Discuss!
I done a picstur. I’ve never met Cara, so I’m going by her Twitter avvy. I have met Al, so I apologise for accidentally drawing Brian K. Vaughn, instead.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i99/Matthew_Craig/250813_shedofideas00b_zps09a8cc6d.jpg
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Okay: “The” Shed Of Ideas.
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i99/Matthew_Craig/68ac5e58-bd1d-4c2c-b837-c9215a688e2d_zps59fe4a28.jpg
*hh*
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I’m all for it Al it sounds like a cool idea.
I might have missed the deadline but here are a few questions/topics in the event you are looking for some for the podcast.
-famous creator feuds
– writers, artists, runs or titles that aren’t regarded as highly as they should be
– If Bendis gets hit by a bus tomorrow (heaven forbid) would Marvel be able to fill the gap in their schedule and to whom would they turn to pick up the slack ?
Major plot points from one title that really should be referenced in others.
For instance, it seems like Meggan really should have been involved with X-Factor’s Hell on Earth storyline….
Thanks all, there’s a lot of good stuff here – we’re quite tightly time-limited so we can’t promise we’ll get through everything but we’ll definitely go with a good selection.
Scott F – Paul and I had a chat about your question yesterday evening, and given that Cara’s not sufficiently familiar with the people involved (and our generally not being massively keen to wade into this one) we’re unlikely to use it, sorry.
I like that superhero smell question. Batman’s smell would be a unique mix of expensive cologne, rubber, and a lot of old sweat. Superman most likely brought super skin bacteria with him as an infant, which would defy all Earthly cleansing agents. But then being Kryptonian future-bacteria, they may well smell of pure awesome. Wolverine is often written as smelling bad, but I reckon if your olfactory sense was supernaturally sharp, you’d be hyper-aware of your own odours and not want to have them bothering you all the time. Plus his healing would take care of most odour-producing agents. He’d smell incredibly faintly of unscented soap. Squirrel Girl would smell a lot like rodent feces. Well mostly rodent, that tail is very hairy. Ben Grimm, after exerting himself, would smell like a hot concrete footpath just as it starts to rain.
Most important question: Will you be restarting with a new #1 or picking up at #112?
@Si – Batman would do everything in his ability to make sure he doesn’t smell like anything recognizable, but he’d have found a way to make sure Bruce Wayne has a distinctive smell that he can easily get off himself when he puts on the mask.
Wolverine’s senses may give him an aversion to chemical smells making him dislike most soaps and shampoos, and smelling bad doesn’t seem to bother dogs and other animals with strong senses of smell – I doubt he’d stink exactly (like Batman, he’d be extra aware of the trouble you can cause yourself by being too odiferous, although with him it would be about wanting to make himself difficult to track, not difficult to identify) but I could see him always smelling a little bit dirty.
Deadpool’s another character who’s been identified as smelling bad, but I think with him it would be a nasty, artificial, chemical smell, like old foam rubber (which is what I think they said he tastes like in a story where a ghoul-like villain tried to eat him but couldn’t stand the taste).
The Joker, of course, smells funny.
AH but you see, animals only smell bad to us. To other animals of the same species they smell of sexual prowess and healthy genes. They’re not dirty or anything, they smell that way on purpose. Wolverine’s still a human, he has his spandex pants to do that for him.
Angel – extremely clean smelling, almost scentless.
Cable – a bit of a salt of the earth old timer smell mixed in with motor oil and an odd electric burn.
Hawkeye – definitely uses too much spray, like Axe or Old Spice sport
MODOK – something like burnt onions with battery acid and charcoal
This topic is awesome.
You can always tell whether the Human Torch has used his powers or not that day, because he absolutely reeks of Axe Body Spray until the first time a given day he uses his powers (the only possible way Johnny doesn’t use Axe is if he has his own line of body spray – probably with a name like “Fourplay” or simply “Torch”). Afterward, he probably smells like a load of laundry fresh out of the dryer – he wouldn’t actually smell like ash or anything, because it’s not like his fire is consuming fuel, and unstable molecules probably don’t accumulate lint, so the only thing on him to actually burn would be his body spray, hair product, and small amounts of dirt on his shoes, all of which would completely burn off pretty quickly.
Mr. Fantastic smells like rubber. I’m sure of this. Sometimes the remnants of his last experiment will be mixed in and there’ll be a whiff of ozone or machine oil.
The Invisible Woman would have long since realized the benefits of not wearing any kind of perfume if you want to be stealthy. At most she smells like whatever kind of soap or shampoo she uses, and she wouldn’t use one that smells too strongly.
Haha, I bet Hawkeye spend two minutes at a time with his finger pressed full down on the spray, going round in cicles over his chest. Instead of taking a shower. He’d also smell strongly of Mercurochrome and bandaids.