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Post by Huw on Feb 26, 2014 13:44:38 GMT -5
Issue #122: Listener Questions Return and Fantastic Four CastingStrap in for an epic Talking Comics Podcast. We weigh in on the Wonder Woman creative team shake ups, the Guardians of the Galaxy Trailer, Fantastic Four movie casting, and even GODZILLA! We also say goodbye to a comedy legend. Some of the comics that we talk about on this week’s Book of the Week segment include: Fantastic Four #31-32, Justice League #28, Thor: God of Thunder #19, White Suits #1, Punisher #2, Deadly Class #2 and Daredevil #36! Our topic is you guys and gals. We take your questions and we cover everything from the books we’d most like to write to the great places to eat in NYC.
Hey Everyone, epic is the word for the show this week!
What are your thoughts on the GotG and Godzilla trailers?
Do you have any tributes to the one and only Egon Spengler, Harold Ramis?
This is where you can sound off about anything and everything covered on the show. Get involved, folks!
We say it on the show, but just in case you missed it, the Talking Comics crew on Twitter are: Bobby: @bobbyshortle Steve: @dead_anchoress Stephanie: @ hellocookieAnd Bob’s email is bobreyer@talkingcomicbooks.com
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Post by TealProductions on Feb 26, 2014 13:50:52 GMT -5
Man this episode...wait I don't have this one yet. I'll be back.
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Post by JediHunter66 on Feb 26, 2014 13:54:03 GMT -5
Another great episode! 3 hours of goodness!
On the topic of people who stand out for this generation I'd have to say Jonah Hill. That guy has done almost every role you can think of now. People now know him as a comedic actor in a lot of great comedies or a serious Oscar worthy actor in things like Money Ball.
Like Steph said too Will Ferrell has to be someone who has left his imprint on this generation, I honestly dont go one day where at least 1 of his lines or movies is not quoted.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2014 17:39:54 GMT -5
Just finished listening to you guys talking about what you learnt and it sounds so much like this is something you would say in your final EVER. Which made me really wish that never happens. I listen to a lot of podcasts but this is one of the only ones I make sure I listen to like clockwork. On Wednesday night (Australia time) right before I go to sleep I make sure its on my iPod for the next day of work. And working a 7.5 hour monotonous office job is made so much more enjoyable when nearly half that time is spent listening to this podcast. Cheers guys!
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 26, 2014 18:27:35 GMT -5
Just finished listening to you guys talking about what you learnt and it sounds so much like this is something you would say in your final EVER. Which made me really wish that never happens. I listen to a lot of podcasts but this is one of the only ones I make sure I listen to like clockwork. On Wednesday night (Australia time) right before I go to sleep I make sure its on my iPod for the next day of work. And working a 7.5 hour monotonous office job is made so much more enjoyable when nearly half that time is spent listening to this podcast. Cheers guys! "Tooth", For just a second there, I thought that you were going to say that our show put you to sleep! Seriously, thanks for the kind words--they truly mean a lot! |
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John D.
Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.
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Post by John D. on Feb 28, 2014 8:30:22 GMT -5
While I definitely could understand Bob's passion concerning the F4 casting news, I think assuming what the plot will be based on the ages of the characters is a little unfair. There's a lot of The Ultimates in The Avengers movie, but the characters are still relatively tied to their original roots. Just because the cast of F4 is geared more toward the Ultimate Fantastic Four line doesn't necessarily mean the storyline will come from that universe as well. But, that being said, I'm still not entirely enthusiastic with the casting choices, for the same reason that Bobby brought up on the show/Comics and Coffee: This cast is dull. Aside from Michael B. Jordan, I don't see a single interesting choice in the bunch.
On the subject of why the film side of DC/Marvel doesn't promote their comics side, I think Stephanie was on the right track when she mentioned that the return on investment isn't there. Sure, it would cost hardly anything to put a little line or two before a film pointing people to a certain comic, but I would argue that no one seeing a comic book movie isn't aware that the material is based on a comic book; they just either don't want to read it or it's something they read when they were a kid, and now seeing it put to screen is satisfying enough. Plus, with the way Marvel and DC are rolling out sequels, a person that wants more Thor or Iron Man doesn't have to wait long to get another version of that character on the screen, so why should they read comics? There's also the problem in that walking into a comic book store and saying, "I want to read Batman because I liked the movie" won't exactly lead you to one book. At least when you see the Hunger Games, you know which book you can read afterward. With the exception of Winter Soldier and Days of Future Past, the Marvel and DC movies are an amalgamation of several different stories with a lot of creative license, and very rarely are they based on books that are coming out today. I think DC/Marvel should be promoting their digital efforts (as Bobby mentioned) and it should be done on their TV shows, both animated and live action. Would it hurt either company for a character in one of these TV shows to be reading a digital comic during the show? I think that could get a few people (kids hopefully) at least thinking about digital comics. There are so many people I know that aren't even aware comics can be bought digitally, or that they even still make comics.
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 28, 2014 10:02:14 GMT -5
While I definitely could understand Bob's passion concerning the F4 casting news, I think assuming what the plot will be based on the ages of the characters is a little unfair. There's a lot of The Ultimates in The Avengers movie, but the characters are still relatively tied to their original roots. Just because the cast of F4 is geared more toward the Ultimate Fantastic Four line doesn't necessarily mean the storyline will come from that universe as well. But, that being said, I'm still not entirely enthusiastic with the casting choices, for the same reason that Bobby brought up on the show/Comics and Coffee: This cast is dull. Aside from Michael B. Jordan, I don't see a single interesting choice in the bunch. On the subject of why the film side of DC/Marvel doesn't promote their comics side, I think Stephanie was on the right track when she mentioned that the return on investment isn't there. Sure, it would cost hardly anything to put a little line or two before a film pointing people to a certain comic, but I would argue that no one seeing a comic book movie isn't aware that the material is based on a comic book; they just either don't want to read it or it's something they read when they were a kid, and now seeing it put to screen is satisfying enough. Plus, with the way Marvel and DC are rolling out sequels, a person that wants more Thor or Iron Man doesn't have to wait long to get another version of that character on the screen, so why should they read comics? There's also the problem in that walking into a comic book store and saying, "I want to read Batman because I liked the movie" won't exactly lead you to one book. At least when you see the Hunger Games, you know which book you can read afterward. With the exception of Winter Soldier and Days of Future Past, the Marvel and DC movies are an amalgamation of several different stories with a lot of creative license, and very rarely are they based on books that are coming out today. I think DC/Marvel should be promoting their digital efforts (as Bobby mentioned) and it should be done on their TV shows, both animated and live action. Would it hurt either company for a character in one of these TV shows to be reading a digital comic during the show? I think that could get a few people (kids hopefully) at least thinking about digital comics. There are so many people I know that aren't even aware comics can be bought digitally, or that they even still make comics. John, Two quick notes: As comic books are not sold through general retailers any longer, there are many people in the mainstream film audience that don't realize there are still comic books coming out, that they are "something they read as a kid"; if it can be done at relatively little cost, why not alert them to the fact there are books featuring these characters, and the various ways they can be obtained, either physically or digitally? If "Hunger Games" and "Harry Potter" books can be sold by the boat-load to young people, why wouldn't they love to read comics? Second, on the Fantastic Four movie, as I said on-air, the ages of the new cast members directly impacts one of the central core elements of the series by affecting the layed-age family dynamic, which places it squarely in that Ultimate Universe, as does all the information we've gotten on the plot. Perhaps all the to-do over the script leaks from the casting agency will get Mr. Trank to change his thoughts about the direction this film will go, but the volume of chatter leads me to think otherwise. I'm sure that he didn't coin it, but Senator Joseph McCarthy said: "If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...it's a duck." |
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Post by rgsc on Feb 28, 2014 10:45:14 GMT -5
[...] On the subject of why the film side of DC/Marvel doesn't promote their comics side, I think Stephanie was on the right track when she mentioned that the return on investment isn't there. Sure, it would cost hardly anything to put a little line or two before a film pointing people to a certain comic, but I would argue that no one seeing a comic book movie isn't aware that the material is based on a comic book; they just either don't want to read it or it's something they read when they were a kid, and now seeing it put to screen is satisfying enough. Plus, with the way Marvel and DC are rolling out sequels, a person that wants more Thor or Iron Man doesn't have to wait long to get another version of that character on the screen, so why should they read comics? There's also the problem in that walking into a comic book store and saying, "I want to read Batman because I liked the movie" won't exactly lead you to one book. At least when you see the Hunger Games, you know which book you can read afterward. With the exception of Winter Soldier and Days of Future Past, the Marvel and DC movies are an amalgamation of several different stories with a lot of creative license, and very rarely are they based on books that are coming out today. I think DC/Marvel should be promoting their digital efforts (as Bobby mentioned) and it should be done on their TV shows, both animated and live action. Would it hurt either company for a character in one of these TV shows to be reading a digital comic during the show? I think that could get a few people (kids hopefully) at least thinking about digital comics. There are so many people I know that aren't even aware comics can be bought digitally, or that they even still make comics. I have to respectfully disagree with this position (and Stephanie's on the show). It is a really defeatist attitude and involves a fair bit of circular logic, ie "People don't care about the comic books so there is no point in advertising the comic books". The entire point of marketing is to build the demand for products. You have a captive audience in the theatre (or on the tv screen with popups as was said during the podcast) so to not use the built-in opprotunity to point people in the direction of the books is baffling. While they are putting out movies yearly (at least Marvel is), I wouldn't exactly call a 2-3 year gap between the Iron Man/Captain America/Thor movies exactly "rolling them out" and pushing their already existing products would help to create sustained interest in the meantime. I can't tell you how many people I've heard on podcasts and in real life say they got into comics because of the X-men tv show or Batman The Animated Series. Kids today might get into through the Agents of Smash or the Beware the Batman series. Cross over does happen and COULD happen with the movie-going audience. Sure not EVERYONE who sees the film will buy the comics but if a small portion does then that would be a huge boon for the companies publishing arm. Even if it is often difficult to point to one particular book that ties into the films, it is possible to point to the large back list of TPBs and current issues featuring the same character which is what people might want - not the same story told in a different medium but a new story featuring the characters that have been introduced. DC did this for around the time of the launch of Arrow in their comics - they put together an "essentials" reading list of Green Arrow to get people to explore the back history of the character. Why they didn't cross promote this across mediums? Perhaps they do on the website? I don't know. Hell, they even introduced Diggle into the comic book FROM the show. They should have been screaming that from the rooftops. And, yes, when they are not entirely new plots the films are amalgams of different stories - so sell them each and every one of those stories! Make it easy for people to find them and sales will occur! Push the Shaman arc of Legends of the Dark Knight for Batman Begins or Knightfall etc for people who are now interested with Bane. It isn't that tough! You like Catwoman? Here's "Trail of the Catwoman" by Brubaker/Cooke and so on and so forth. Even more egregious is the missed opportunities following the success of the Avengers. It was widely acknowledged that Black Widow was the breakout character from that movie and what did Marvel have out new on the stands for those people who actually DID go into the comic shops to find out more about her? One 3 issue series - comicstore.marvel.com/THE-AVENGERS-BLACK-WIDOW-STRIKES-1/digital-comic/26300 - and you open it up and you see BW dressed as a stripper ... errr "hostess", which may be a big turn off a lot of people looking for a positive, strong female character - but at least they were smart enough to brand it with the film logos & star. The smart shops should have had a table display with "Name of the Rose" and other Avengers-related titles but the company wasn't doing them any favours in that regard. If the stories do not exist, why not? There is a several year led time for the companies to get on it and launch products that relate to their massive movies. Why didn't they have the new series prepped & ready to go then? Why the hell aren't they reissuing The Winter Soldier run in trade with a new movie-related cover saying "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE" or putting a thumbnail of the cover on every movie poster? They are leaving money on the table and I just can't understand it. As you say, many people are not even aware of comics let alone the digital offerings. I absolutely agree with your point here and i think it undercuts what you seem to be saying at the top of your post. With the demise of spinner racks, people need to be reminded that comics still exist and that these stories - new and old - can be found in the comic shop or digitally (and forget promoting Comixology - direct them to the Marvel/DC apps and keep all the profits entirely in house!) With the last round of Marvel DVDs they included a code to redeem a free comic which was a great move (I haven't bought Thor 2 - did that come with a code?) and it is an extremely smart move to have the Rocket Racoon books being announced right after the trailer was released. Hopefully this is a sign that they are figuring how the whole "synergy" (ugh. I hate that word) thing works . |
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Post by courtneyk on Feb 28, 2014 13:58:40 GMT -5
First, the mentions of the Five Ghosts book on the podcast intrigued me, so I did a search on Comixology and found the first issue is free! So now I've got that in my reading queue.
Second, in answer to rgsc's question, the Target Blu-Ray of the Thor 2 DVD has a code for a free month of Marvel Unlimited.
Third, I'm actually one of those people who came in to comics through the movies. Now, I did have some familiarity with the medium from having read the Sandman and Lucifer series and a few graphic novels years ago, but I had never gotten into the superhero side of things and it had been about 10 years since I last read anything in a comic form. But then I found out Joss Whedon was directing The Avengers, who I'd been a fan of from Buffy and Firefly, and decided I'd better start watching the Marvel movies leading up to it. I then watched Thor and developed what I will freely admit is an obsession with Tom Hiddleston and Loki. Initially, although I loved the movies, it didn't occur to me to go read the comics for more of those characters because my impression of superhero comics was 1) they have a gazillion different storylines and are incredibly confusing for newcomers and 2) all the women in them are in skimpy costumes with giant boobs, which I realize is appealing to a certain segment of the population but definitely not to me. Anyway, long story short, I found out via Tumblr that Tom Hiddleston had actually written a letter about the Journey Into Mystery book and how much he enjoyed what Kieron Gillen was doing with Loki, and I thought, wow, if my favorite actor in this series who plays my favorite character likes it, maybe I should pick it up. So I went and bought the trades, and around that time found out (again, via the Tom Hiddleston community on Tumblr) that Loki was getting his own comic, which inspired me to go into a comic shop to subscribe, and that's where I found that there were books that had really interesting storylines and women who wore clothes that wouldn't fall off if they sneezed, and I started getting more interested in comics in general.
I feel like there are more people like me who see the movies and get interested in certain characters and would be willing to pick up the comics, but the comics companies and studios aren't really doing much to hook us. If Tom Hiddleston hadn't written in to Journey Into Mystery, or I hadn't seen the posts about the Loki book on Tumblr, I wouldn't be on this forum now. And I'm also lucky in that it turns out my local comic shop is incredibly friendly and welcoming to newcomers, and that I'm pretty Internet-savvy and so found places like this website and podcast that help navigate the sometimes-confusing world of comics. I don't think that comics should change what they are to attract the movie-viewers, but I do think the companies can do more to advertise to people who want to see more of the characters they've come to love on the screen that there are these great stories with those characters in the comics, and also do more to help them figure out where to start reading. I know I've seen some complaints about the Marvel numbering, but as a new reader those #1s to signal the start of a new arc are really helpful to me and make it less intimidating for me to pick up a comic that looks interesting when I'm at the shop, so I applaud them for that.
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Post by Blencs on Feb 28, 2014 14:39:33 GMT -5
Great show as per usual people!
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 28, 2014 15:01:07 GMT -5
First, the mentions of the Five Ghosts book on the podcast intrigued me, so I did a search on Comixology and found the first issue is free! So now I've got that in my reading queue. Second, in answer to rgsc's question, the Target Blu-Ray of the Thor 2 DVD has a code for a free month of Marvel Unlimited. Third, I'm actually one of those people who came in to comics through the movies. Now, I did have some familiarity with the medium from having read the Sandman and Lucifer series and a few graphic novels years ago, but I had never gotten into the superhero side of things and it had been about 10 years since I last read anything in a comic form. But then I found out Joss Whedon was directing The Avengers, who I'd been a fan of from Buffy and Firefly, and decided I'd better start watching the Marvel movies leading up to it. I then watched Thor and developed what I will freely admit is an obsession with Tom Hiddleston and Loki. Initially, although I loved the movies, it didn't occur to me to go read the comics for more of those characters because my impression of superhero comics was 1) they have a gazillion different storylines and are incredibly confusing for newcomers and 2) all the women in them are in skimpy costumes with giant boobs, which I realize is appealing to a certain segment of the population but definitely not to me. Anyway, long story short, I found out via Tumblr that Tom Hiddleston had actually written a letter about the Journey Into Mystery book and how much he enjoyed what Kieron Gillen was doing with Loki, and I thought, wow, if my favorite actor in this series who plays my favorite character likes it, maybe I should pick it up. So I went and bought the trades, and around that time found out (again, via the Tom Hiddleston community on Tumblr) that Loki was getting his own comic, which inspired me to go into a comic shop to subscribe, and that's where I found that there were books that had really interesting storylines and women who wore clothes that wouldn't fall off if they sneezed, and I started getting more interested in comics in general. I feel like there are more people like me who see the movies and get interested in certain characters and would be willing to pick up the comics, but the comics companies and studios aren't really doing much to hook us. If Tom Hiddleston hadn't written in to Journey Into Mystery, or I hadn't seen the posts about the Loki book on Tumblr, I wouldn't be on this forum now. And I'm also lucky in that it turns out my local comic shop is incredibly friendly and welcoming to newcomers, and that I'm pretty Internet-savvy and so found places like this website and podcast that help navigate the sometimes-confusing world of comics. I don't think that comics should change what they are to attract the movie-viewers, but I do think the companies can do more to advertise to people who want to see more of the characters they've come to love on the screen that there are these great stories with those characters in the comics, and also do more to help them figure out where to start reading. I know I've seen some complaints about the Marvel numbering, but as a new reader those #1s to signal the start of a new arc are really helpful to me and make it less intimidating for me to pick up a comic that looks interesting when I'm at the shop, so I applaud them for that. Courtney, I have nothing to say except "That was beautifully well said"!! (...and maybe "We should send a copy to the Marvel and DC PR departments"!) |
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Post by courtneyk on Feb 28, 2014 21:00:44 GMT -5
First, the mentions of the Five Ghosts book on the podcast intrigued me, so I did a search on Comixology and found the first issue is free! So now I've got that in my reading queue. Second, in answer to rgsc's question, the Target Blu-Ray of the Thor 2 DVD has a code for a free month of Marvel Unlimited. Third, I'm actually one of those people who came in to comics through the movies. Now, I did have some familiarity with the medium from having read the Sandman and Lucifer series and a few graphic novels years ago, but I had never gotten into the superhero side of things and it had been about 10 years since I last read anything in a comic form. But then I found out Joss Whedon was directing The Avengers, who I'd been a fan of from Buffy and Firefly, and decided I'd better start watching the Marvel movies leading up to it. I then watched Thor and developed what I will freely admit is an obsession with Tom Hiddleston and Loki. Initially, although I loved the movies, it didn't occur to me to go read the comics for more of those characters because my impression of superhero comics was 1) they have a gazillion different storylines and are incredibly confusing for newcomers and 2) all the women in them are in skimpy costumes with giant boobs, which I realize is appealing to a certain segment of the population but definitely not to me. Anyway, long story short, I found out via Tumblr that Tom Hiddleston had actually written a letter about the Journey Into Mystery book and how much he enjoyed what Kieron Gillen was doing with Loki, and I thought, wow, if my favorite actor in this series who plays my favorite character likes it, maybe I should pick it up. So I went and bought the trades, and around that time found out (again, via the Tom Hiddleston community on Tumblr) that Loki was getting his own comic, which inspired me to go into a comic shop to subscribe, and that's where I found that there were books that had really interesting storylines and women who wore clothes that wouldn't fall off if they sneezed, and I started getting more interested in comics in general. I feel like there are more people like me who see the movies and get interested in certain characters and would be willing to pick up the comics, but the comics companies and studios aren't really doing much to hook us. If Tom Hiddleston hadn't written in to Journey Into Mystery, or I hadn't seen the posts about the Loki book on Tumblr, I wouldn't be on this forum now. And I'm also lucky in that it turns out my local comic shop is incredibly friendly and welcoming to newcomers, and that I'm pretty Internet-savvy and so found places like this website and podcast that help navigate the sometimes-confusing world of comics. I don't think that comics should change what they are to attract the movie-viewers, but I do think the companies can do more to advertise to people who want to see more of the characters they've come to love on the screen that there are these great stories with those characters in the comics, and also do more to help them figure out where to start reading. I know I've seen some complaints about the Marvel numbering, but as a new reader those #1s to signal the start of a new arc are really helpful to me and make it less intimidating for me to pick up a comic that looks interesting when I'm at the shop, so I applaud them for that. Courtney, I have nothing to say except "That was beautifully well said"!! (...and maybe "We should send a copy to the Marvel and DC PR departments"!) Ha ha, thanks Bob! |
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 28, 2014 21:29:11 GMT -5
Courtney,
My pleasure, good lady!
Your points are very important, and it was great to have them posted here for all of our readers to se, and hopefully some of those who make the advertising decisions! Sadly, I have the feeling that the folks running the promotion departments are either "suits" who don't really "get" comic books and so assume the majority feels the same, or long-time readers for whom comics are a fact of everyday life, so they need no promotion!
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Post by courtneyk on Feb 28, 2014 21:57:15 GMT -5
Thanks Bob! I do think Marvel is doing some things right (and D.C. might as well, I'm just pretty much on the Marvel side of things right now) in that they have a fairly active Twitter and Tumblr presence. Agent M even has a list on his Tumblr of comics to read if you like Iron Man, or Thor, or The Avengers, etc. Where I think they fall down is in not advertising it particularly well. Like, with the Marvel Unlimited app that they're giving a free month's membership to with the Thor 2 DVD, there should probably be something prominent at the top of the page with, hey, are you here because you bought Thor? If so, here are some comics you should try!
Or take something like the special video they did with Tom Hiddleston talking about the new Loki comic. As I mentioned, Tom Hiddleston is the reason I even knew about these comics in the first place, and believe me, if he even sneezes someone's made a gif of it and it's been reblogged 5000 times on Tumblr within 30 seconds. He's incredibly popular and all over the Internet at the moment, so Marvel really should have released that video publicly, and they could have gotten a lot of buzz. Instead, they made it something you have to access through the fiddly Marvel AR app, which you can only do *after* you've already bought Loki #1. The actors in these films are very popular with the fans, and I think Marvel in particular because it does control these movies and the promotion could do more with them to help promote the comics as well as the films.
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Post by Bob Reyer on Feb 28, 2014 22:14:03 GMT -5
Thanks Bob! I do think Marvel is doing some things right (and D.C. might as well, I'm just pretty much on the Marvel side of things right now) in that they have a fairly active Twitter and Tumblr presence. Agent M even has a list on his Tumblr of comics to read if you like Iron Man, or Thor, or The Avengers, etc. Where I think they fall down is in not advertising it particularly well. Like, with the Marvel Unlimited app that they're giving a free month's membership to with the Thor 2 DVD, there should probably be something prominent at the top of the page with, hey, are you here because you bought Thor? If so, here are some comics you should try! Or take something like the special video they did with Tom Hiddleston talking about the new Loki comic. As I mentioned, Tom Hiddleston is the reason I even knew about these comics in the first place, and believe me, if he even sneezes someone's made a gif of it and it's been reblogged 5000 times on Tumblr within 30 seconds. He's incredibly popular and all over the Internet at the moment, so Marvel really should have released that video publicly, and they could have gotten a lot of buzz. Instead, they made it something you have to access through the fiddly Marvel AR app, which you can only do *after* you've already bought Loki #1. The actors in these films are very popular with the fans, and I think Marvel in particular because it does control these movies and the promotion could do more with them to help promote the comics as well as the films. Courtney, I've heard many good things about Agent M and how Marvel will make efforts to digitize runs of old books for the app on request; the problem is that you only hear about these things via word-of-mouth! While I agree with those who say a multi-million dollar ad campaign isn't cost effective, advertising to new readers who might already be sitting in the theatre or watching on TV would be extremely so, and I still say that as old-fashioned as it sounds, giving a promotional comic book away to theatre patrons seeing the films will get you some new readers for virtually no cost! |
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