I’ve seen Chris Ryall in live action, and am glad he doesn’t look like the skeevy comic strip version in IDW solicits. Sounds like a great bunch of guys over there. To carry on the theme, my back stock trade recommendation would be Wonder Woman: The Complete Newspaper Comics, which I’m currently reading. The stories are mostly rewrites of some early issues, but in these versions are told more clearly, concisely, and accessibly without as much weirdness/S&M. The black and white hardcover is available at InStock Trades for $34.99, 30% off the cover price.

The Aquaman Shrine ran weekly coverage of JLA: Year One a short time back, and both the comic and revues are worth reading. I tried to jump on to X-Men Forever with the first trade, but ended up reminded that I was over Claremont X-Men in 1991. Asguardian Wars is worth

I started listening to this episode on Monday, but when I realized I’d bought but not yet read the Aquaman issue, I had to finish the JLA read along thing instead. Okay, but not going to change my buying habits. I’ll go deeper into the issue in a near future podcast. Alanna totally murdered Orm’s babydaddy, which is why it was downplayed until the upcoming reveal.

I was driving on the freeway when Shag dropped his “Dick,” which had me leaning over the steering wheel for a jarring two bolt Brian Blessingesque “HAH HA!” that may or may not have been humorless but was involuntary and congratulatory at 80mph. “It was real!”

Great instock trades picks, but I have to take some time to brag here, I got you all whipped! My local LCS ran a two week Black Friday sale, where they had a number of hardcovers and TPBs for sale at 65-75% off, so I scored a ton of Marvel Premiere Hardcovers for extremely cheap! So I used some birthday money to get all of the following hardcovers, for around a grand total of $100 or so:

Avengers/Defenders War, Iron Man: Doomquest, Legacy of Doom, Wolverine: Not Dead Yet, X-MEN: Phoenix Rising, Mephisto Vs., X-MEN vs. Fantastic Four, X-MEN vs. Avengers, The Thing: Project Pegasus, The Thing: The Liberty Legion, Thor: The Warriors Three, Thor Worldengine, X-MEN: Fallen Angels, and Captain America Red Glare.

14 Hardcovers, I think that’s a deal that even Professor Alan could appreciate.

Also need to give Russell Burbage a shout-out for a great birthday package with some classic DC Bronze Age awesomeness!

Two great issues covered in this episode. Aquaman & Aquaman and the others are the only issues I’m still buying these days from DC, Parker has continued to do a great job on the main book, I’m really enjoying it. Another classic issue of Firestorm, I love this one, what a cliffhanger! I can’t imagine having to wait a whole month back when this book was coming out to find out the resolution! Whenever I re-read it, it still grabs me, and I immediately grab the next issue and dive into it. Good stuff.

I hope you both had a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoyed the exteneded weekend, it definitely gave me a much needed recharge. Hope all is well. Fan the Flame and Ride the Wave!

And oh yeah, how awesome was that epic Star Wars Teaser!! Totally stoked!

Nice Superman III stinger at the end. Ah, the wrongheadedness of that movie never ceases to amaze me. I still like the evil Supes/Clark fight and the chemical lab rescue, though. Plus…Annette O’Toole!

But this is an Aquaman/Firestorm podcast…or at least that’s what I’ve heard.

Arthur and J’onn being all chummy is a sign of the cracks in the New 52. We’ve seen this in the post-Crisis era, which, admittedly, was much more free-wheeling than the latest reboot. But eventually, writers started to bring back connections and relationships from previous continuity. I’d chalk this up to Parker saying “well, nobody said they WEREN’T friends, right?” Either way, I like it.

Man, that Firestorm cover is a nail-biter. I hadn’t noticed the body in the blast till Shag pointed it out. I really do wish DC would at least do a Showcase Presents on this! Like the Irredeemable One said, the time couldn’t be better for some Firestorm TPBs.

Chris