Comic Relief Podcast

The show is so good back then… Season 3 is out… but, surprisingly, I’ve not watched any of the episodes yet…

Maico, as you can tell from the picture above, returned for this episode.

It felt great to have Maico back on the podcast and feeling that chemistry once again between he and I. (And I mean that in a heterosexual way, I swear!) Amiee will continue to also be a co-host also, with it being myself, Amiee and Maico, or just myself and Amiee, or myself and Maico! The podcast that’s all about threesomes! Wait – that’s not what I meant!

Listen – why don’t we just get to it?

On our way…

And who did we run into? Marc Silvestri? No. Someone much cuter. (You’re handsome too, Marc!)

It’s the talented Joie Brown!

What was cool is that Joe Hill was there, which Chuck was a big fan of. When I told him to go talk to him and grab a picture, Chuck was worried he’d make a fool of himself. (Remember when I posted about Fabian a few posts back – and having that same fear when I first saw Fabian – and regretting I didn’t speak to him?) So I said, “Screw it. I will go take a picture of him!” So I approached him and said, “Mine if I get a photo of you?” He said, “Do it!”

Then I said, “You know what… is it OK if I take a picture with you?”

And he said something like, “I thought it would be weird if you only took a picture of me. Get in here.”

He was absolutely amazing and great – such a fun sense of humor (which you wouldn’t think he’d have, being the son of Stephen King! You think it’d be all horror stories!) I told him my friend was a huge fan of his but super nervous to take a picture with him. He told me to go get him and drag him back to him. So I did.

I am so glad I did because Chuck was so happy after.

We both picked up his book and got it autographed.

And headed home…

… way out of my league.

So who is Roger Sweet?

The Wiki on him does a good job of explaining –

In 1976, Mattel’s CEO Ray Wagner declined a request to produce a toyline of action figures based on the characters from the George Lucas film Star Wars. Upon the commercial success of the film trilogy during the next few years and all related merchandise, Mattel attempted to launch several unsuccessful toylines, none of which captured the public’s imagination or made a significant dent in the toy market. These included: Kid Gallant, a medieval knight; Robin and the Space Hoods, a sci-fi figure; and the daredevil Kenny Dewitt (pronounced “Can He Do It)?”

In the race to design the next hit action figure, Roger Sweet, a lead designer working for Mattel’s Preliminary Design Department throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, realized simplicity was the key to success he says in his book. According to his book Mastering the Universe: He-Man and the Rise and Fall of a Billion-Dollar Idea published in 2005, Sweet knew that if he gave marketing something they could sell, he’d won 90% of the battle.

“The only way I was going to have a chance to sell this [to Wagner] was to make three 3D models—big ones. I glued a Big Jim figure [from another Mattel toy line] into a battle action pose and I added a lot of clay to his body. I then had plaster casts made. These three prototypes, which I presented in late 1980, brought He-Man into existence.”

“I simply explained that this was a powerful figure that could be taken anywhere and dropped into any context because he had a generic name: He-Man!”

– Roger Sweet

My “He-Man Year Book” looks pretty solid with so many signatures…

Recognize him?

Ever watch Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Men series?

I loved that I saw Ming Chen there, and approached him to do an interview, and he was all in. 200% – one of the nicest guys I have had the good fortune of meeting and talking to.

And… when I kicked myself because I wasn’t aware Walt Simonson was going to be there… would have brought some Thor issues he did – especially first appearance of Beta Ray Bill, whom I think is awesome… but picked up the Ragnaroc issue (special edition for SDCC) and had him sign that…

Listen to the podcast here…

Not going to lie. The Dark Phoenix saga in Marvel’s X-Men Comics is one of my favorites. So I went into the movie ready to be very disappointed. The movie… delivered. In disappointment. I expect things to be different from the original source. Books to movies always do this. Even the X-Men Animated Series made some tweaks. But if this movie had been half of the goodness that the animated series had been, I’d been happy.

I’d like to give a special thanks to Adam Johnson, who granted us permission to use his freaking epic Heavy Metal version of the classic X-Men cartoon theme song! You can check out Adam Johnson on Youtube, Bandcamp, iTunes, Google+, Facebook and finally on Twitter!

We bought out own… whatever you call those… stand up things… because we figured we’d be doing Free Comic Book Day every year – and hanging out banner behind us instead of in front of the table (as the banner is taller than the table) made sense… we had no idea a pandemic would be on the horizon and my wife would suffer major health issues…

But that’s for a later time. If you want to hear this episode it’s right here –

The wife and I saw it opening night at 9:50pm – and were excited to talk about it – so Saturday morning, she and I sat down to record this episode. You can tell here and there, as we’re talking about it – there’s some emotion still in our voices over what we saw.

… and we talked Captain Marvel.

 In this issue, we discuss the Netflix shows (Daredevil, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Punisher, and Defenders), we also talk Avengers: Endgame trailer, we talk about me sitting in on one of the San Diego Comic Fest panels as a guest, we talk Captain Marvel (and even get our beloved friend Poppy, randomly in on the conversation), we talk James Gunn being back on Guardians of the Galaxy 3, we also talk Into the Spider Verse and wrap it up with discussion about this year’s WonderCon. This one has a little bit of everything. Hold on. The wife is reminding me that we also did Amiee’s Corner in which we talk about Vanderpump Rules. Give this one a listen! And if we made you laugh, smile, or giggle, please consider sharing it on your Facebook, Twitter, or whatever other means you have of spreading the good word about our podcast!