Sunday, April 04, 2010

The Splash Page Solocast: Callahan-Style

With Chad away on some kind of Easter mission into the hinterlands, we couldn't get together to record the normal Splash Page Podcast this week. (Not that we ever actually get together, but we are both online at the same time, and that counts for something. And we couldn't even do that this weekend.)

So what you get instead is the first Splash Page Solocast, featuring me and me alone. No nonsense about wrestling or Canada or why Geoff Johns is not awesome. Just me talking about what I read last week, what I've been working on, a whole lot of Bendis and Finch "New Avengers" talk, a shout-out to "GØDLAND," and message board idiocy. The usual. But without Chad. And more serious, because it's not like I'm going to try to make jokes on my own behalf and then laugh at myself.

Oh, and I refer to Brendan McCarthy as Peter Milligan at one point, which is pretty dumb.

Other than that, I'm sure it's some kind of brilliant episode. Chad's Solocast will follow on Monday, if all goes according to plan. Then back to normal next week.

LISTEN: The Splash Page Callahan Solocast!

10 comments:

Jim Tout said...

I haven't even listened to it yet, and I think it's awesome!

Timothy Callahan said...

That's pretty much how I approach life, too.

Jim Tout said...

So yeah, I thought it was great, although you crack a lot less jokes without Chad.

Definitely agree with you about Blackest Night - the whole War of Light business has felt vaguely artificial to me, as if Johns had gotten all of the different corps' symbolism from a computer rather than someone's subconcious, although I thought the Red Lanterns were pretty numinous. Of course, it's all subjective, maybe Johns got the entire thing from a fever dream.

As for what I'd like to see, Batman and Robin #11 is coming up, and I think you and Chad have been a bit self-conscious about talking about Morrison. I'd really like to see you two tuck in to it in the next podcast.

Anonymous said...

Something I'd be interested to hear you and Chad discuss: do you feel that Bendis's Marvel Avengers work is one big story, or are, say, Mighty and Dark Avengers legitimate works on their own outside of the context of their surrounding events and what was going on in New Avengers at the time?

Vanja said...

From what I remember from "Tales to offend", there was a Legion of Superheroes parody in it, and I'd really like to know what you think about it :)

Shecky Shabazz said...

I'd like you to discuss the notion of this dual "Heroic Age"/"Brightest Day" business the big two are getting up to, and how/if you think it files in under what Burgas wrote about in his article on how Marvels/Busiek/Ross destroyed mainstream superhero comics. I think it's a very important point – one that should have been made weekly ever since Alex Ross first discovered he could march into Marvel offices and get any and all reactionary golden/silver age project he had a vague notion about how might play out storywise greenlit,- and I hope you could do a podcast on that before this new age debuts.

Oh, and a WWC on Brendan McCarthy would be great. I've recently picked up Strange Days and Paradax myself, thanks to an old blog entry by Jog, and there is quite some interesting free form stuff going on there. Too bad there's so precious little of it.

Also: As I'm gearing up to write a piece on the comic book work of Jodorowsky for a magazine, I'd be curious to see your take on him. I know Jog and Tucker did a whole bunch of stuff on him a while back, but I'd be interested in your views as well.

Jose said...

Good podcast, quite enjoyable "as always".
Interesting point about the comparison between Final Crisis and Blackest Night, and about the disassembled versus Heroic Age New Avengers. I also share some fear that Marvel will contract into its conservative core and lose some of the "experimental" punch that made launch several great books in the 00's. Oh well, I guess they need to start aligning the comic book cast for the movies coming in the next years...

Justin B. said...

I thought it was funny how you compared your review style to other CBR reviewers, specifically Doug. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but the constant profusion of overrated comics (Cry for Justice 5 stars?) has gotten a little ridiculous. I don't have time to read all the reviews so I normally stick to what you guys and Greg McElhatton have to say, knowing I can expect a much more measured response and rating. Greg's 5 star review of Shield, for example, was note-worthy because it's 5 stars from him, not someone else. I don't know how much dirt you guys want to dish on the other reviewers but addressing the different reviewing preferences and styles, and how that benefits or detracts from the CBR reviewing process, would be interesting for the podcast.

Timothy Callahan said...

I think the most obvious analogy would be that the CBR review team is like Alvin and the Chipmunks, plus the Chipettes. I'll let you figure out which one's which.

I'm Alvin, obviously.

Or maybe I'm that guy David Cross plays.

Dan said...

Really liked your solocast, and I'm really looking forward to your analysis of Bendis' "Avengers".

As for some future Splash Page or When Words Collide topics:
- I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts on "The Comics Journal" and some of your favorite articles or interviews from it.

- I may have mentioned this in a comment for another episode, but I would really enjoy hearing your thoughts on some of the smaller publishers, such as Picture Box, First Second, NBM, etc.

- I'd also love to hear a discussion on some indie creators like C.F., Daniel Clowes, Chris Ware, and more. I don't think the casual comic book fan knows a lot about some of the great indie creators today, so it'd be nice hearing your thoughts.

Just wanted to add that I love your columns and podcasts and look forward to more.