2) I’m not enough of a Doctor Who fan to fully appreciate “Night of the Doctor,” but it was neat to me as a layperson, and I’m glad to hear it was so comprehensive in currying expanded universe fan favor.

3) The Good Time of Fireslut, the Airtight Man! God, everybody in the League’s been inside that guy! Isn’t it odd that Geoff Johns killed Damage, the spark that ignited the Big Bang when the DC Universe was recreated during Zero Hour? I’m finding Forever Evil missable, but the first JLofA tie-in was alright.

4) I think Scipio once wrote a lengthy blog piece about the fixation on internalizing the formerly technologically-enabled powers of old characters that began in the 1980s. Someone like Heat Wave maybe needs that kind of “boost,” but ice and flame powers are so common that wielding a specialized gun helps set these guys apart. Captain Cold is better as a regular guy with a sweet piece than a more fashion-challenged Icicle.

5) I don’t understand the inclusion of the C3PO/R2D2 PSA. The Christmas Special talk? Maybe the Fire & Water Soundtrack cuts could just be reprised when Rob’s reaching that far. In 2013, I don’t see the point of a CD pressing when everyone just downloads MP3s these days.

6) There’s an NSA guy who listens to the recording of the Fire & Water Podcast on Skype and moans about how the opportunity is wasted on him. Tries unsuccessfully to swap with a BBC cyber-spy.

7) I tried Marvel UK, Milestone, Valiant, Image, Dark Horse Comics Greatest World, Harris, Triumphant, Defiant, Broadway, and even Malibu’s Protector’s line, but the one Chromium Age universe attempt that never remotely grabbed me was the Ultraverse. Why Shag? Why?

8) Of all the spin-offs you guys have approved, you turn down the DC Classics Podcast?

9) I would have liked an original issue of The Brave and the Bold that teamed Batman with Martian Manhunter. There was a late ’90s two-parter in ‘Tec by Dixon, Nolan & Barreto that kind of fills the hole, as well as a World’s Finest issue by Bob Haney with Superman & J’onn (& Batman and Hawkman, to a lesser extent) but it’s just not the same. Firestorm’s team-up with Blue Devil was probably the first Nuclear Man comic I ever bought. I liked the crossover okay, but I obviously stuck with the Devil and only occasionally revisited Firestorm. I initially preferred team-up books to team books because you got more time with the individual characters, but then I got drawn into the X-Men soap opera.

10) After American Psycho, I was campaigning for Christian Bale as Batman, but I have to say he turned out to be the worst Batman. I liked Keaton as Bruce Wayne but never Batman, and vice versa for Val Kilmer. I’ve successfully avoided Batman & Robin, but Clooney seemed okay, and he didn’t speak with a laughable fake voice. Come to think of it, I’m probably still least critical and most accepting of Adam West.

11) I suspect Wall-Mart got away from comics in part to avoid more controversies like the Spawn lynching issue and the Memín Pinguín kerfuffle. I’m sure dealing with stripped cover returns in a non-magazine section didn’t help, nor the ease of theft on product with a high cost/low profit yield. Anyway, the point is moot, because printed periodicals are dead, and we’ll see $0.99 digital downloads become the norm soon enough. The direct market increasingly fails to matter, and the newsstand is all but deceased.

Honestly, and this coming from a born New Yorker, I couldn’t care less about DC moving out West. 2/3rds of the “big three” at DC were already out West anyway. And bemoaning DC making “movies like Green Lantern” while ignoring Man Of Steel and the Nolan Batman films is not fair in my opinion, considering DC Entertainment’s obvious success for the majority of their films.

That’s just my opinion. I’m sure someone will inform me why I am wrong.

DC’s TV output is currently… Arrow. All the other shows are still “in development”. “Comic Scene” magazine from the 1980s was full of TV shows “in development” that never hit the screen. Just sayin’.

Complaining about DC’s TV output? Uh, Arrow, Gotham City, Constantine, Flash spin-off of Arrow. Yeah, no development on that front whatsoever. And DC can’t put together a good movie, huh? Okay.

Sorry, this episode was a whole lot of kivetching and complaining on top of some nice recollections of Nick Cardy.

Rob, those are two nice personal stories about visiting the DC Offices in New York, sorry to hear they didn’t end better, but still 2 great stories from your past experiences, thank you for sharing. I share your sentiments that it’s sad they’re moving. New York holds so much culture, and I think Comics are a great piece of our American culture and serve as windows into the past, as our country grew out of the Great Depression and moved triumphantly through WW II. I think Comics have shared that history with New York over the past 75+ years. Ellis Island the gateway to America so many families here, the Statue of Liberty, and the head of DC Comics, it doesn’t seem right to have the center of culture now lose a mainstay of culture and what for the most part has been a uniquely American artform for the past 3/4 century. It’s really too bad they’re moving, and I can’t help but feel that there isn’t really anything at DC that I recognize anymore. They’ve traded all of their history, culture, and great past, for a trendy new look, in the trendy new hub of hipstery on the west coast.

Sad to see Nick Cardy gone, he was a great artist, and I really enjoyed your interview with him. I wish his family the best.

Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave.