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Feb 6

House to Astonish Episode 142

Posted on Saturday, February 6, 2016 by Al in Podcast

There’s an absolute ton of news to get through this time round, and we’re looking at DC Rebirth; Wal-Mart’s move into graphic novels; the Hanna-Barbera comics revamp; the mess that was this year’s Angoulême; Si Spurrier and Dylan Burnett’s Weavers, the return of Steve Rogers as Captain America; the Supergirl/Flash TV crossover and the Legion show casting. We’re also reviewing Spider-Man and Mirror, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe makes our heart sing. All this plus mutant potatoes, the long leg of the law and one of 1992’s worst SF movies immortalised in limerick form.

The podcast is here, or here on Mixcloud, or available via the player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments below, on Twitter, via email or on our Facebook fan page. And remember, there are some exceptionally cool shirts for sale over on our Redbubble store.

Bring on the comments

  1. Sol says:

    You know, I’ve got to say that I’d at least check out an issue of a Keith Giffen Scooby Doo book. It would probably be terrible, but it might be brilliant. I loved Scooby Doo when I was wee, and Keith Giffen was one of my favorite comic creators in the late 80s / early 90s.

  2. Zach Adams says:

    I’m only a third of the way in, but the “Get Me Hennimore” reference had me rolling. And I am all in for Future Quest.

  3. odessasteps says:

    JM DeMatteis told me in a podcast interview (out this week) he is co-writing the scooby doo book (as well as writing for the new Scooby cartoon).

    The Wacky Races/Mad Max idea i think is inspired. The guy with the flaming guitar would fit right in with Penelope Pitstop and Pat Pendig.

  4. Ben says:

    I thought you were going to reveal a Legion of Super-Heroes TV show. Legion (David Haller) is okay as a concept, but a LOSH TV show…. ahhh.

  5. Martin Smith says:

    I’m surprised it took you so long to mention the Matrix, as Overkill’s powers are basically just Neo’s, by way of Captain N.

    The more respectful looking Hanna-Barbera comics might be ok (the Johnny Quest and Space Ghost ones) but the rest look like trainwrecks in waiting. The Flintstones – does anyone really want to see them in a different art style? Even that (Conner?) cover-promo just looks wrong, like Flintstones movie merchandise.

  6. Thom H. says:

    @Martin — That’s exactly what I thought when I saw the Flinstones art. No one wants to be reminded of that movie.

  7. Tdubs says:

    Didn’t Giffen also start as the writer for the Master of the Universe relaunch before Abnett? Giffen has always been one of my favorite “idea” guys in comics even if the execution doesn’t always work.

  8. kelvingreen says:

    Didn’t the creators of Wild Thing realise that no one likes playing the hacker in Cyberpunk and Shadowrun? Tsk.

  9. The “Wild Thing changing the house temperature to stop home invaders” part had me thinking–isn’t it time for that high tech Home Alone reboot?

  10. Daibhid Ceannaideach says:

    When someone says that the target audience of a Scooby Doo comic will be expecting it to be true to the cartoon, my immediate thought is: which one?

    My childhood memories are of Thirteen Ghosts, which was an ongoing story with real ghosts, and A Pup Named Scooby Doo, which was essentially a self parody. My niece is more familiar with the less blatant self-parody of What’s New, Scooby Doo?, the more blatant self-parody of the movies, and Mystery Incoporated which was a more focused (and often darker) deconstruction of the basic concept, ending with the gang saving the world from demons and the reveal that talking animals were all descended from Egyptian gods or something.

    From what I’ve seen of it, the most recent series is even more in the self-parody line, with more cartoony character designs to match.

    I can imagine someone who grew up with Mystery Incorporated as “their” Scooby Doo might actually see Scooby Apocalypse as a reasonable alternate take on the characters.

    The more traditional take on Space Ghost, meanwhile, seems like a surprising choice for a character modern audiences mostly know for hosting a chat show on Adult Swim.

    Earth-8410 is apparently the world of Iron Man 2020, and ISTR addictive VR coming up there as well, so there’s some context for Wild Thing. Not that it helps.

    (And sorry, Al, but your David Mitchell impression isn’t a patch on your Frank Cho.)

  11. kelvingreen says:

    The more traditional take on Space Ghost, meanwhile, seems like a surprising choice for a character modern audiences mostly know for hosting a chat show on Adult Swim.

    Yes, when I saw Birdman in the cast, I thought “where’s his tie?” and I’m sure I’m not the only one.

  12. Paul F says:

    I’m mostly familiar with the Coast to Coast version of Space Ghost too, and remember being really confused by the Joe Kelly/Ariel Olivetti gritty take on the character back in 2005.

  13. jpw says:

    How swiftly was the Jubilee series from 2004-2005 cancelled? I seem to recall that one didn’t get very far before the axe fell.

  14. Chief says:

    Jubilee made it to 6 issues before Marvel declared “it was supposed to be a mini-series all along!”

  15. jpw says:

    I know it made six issues, but I seem to recall that it was marketed as an ongoing and got cut down to a mini-series after like two or three issues.

  16. deworde says:

    How can we double down on making this podcast inaccessible to Americans? Let’s combine Viz and “Mitchell and Webb”, that should be about as impenetrable as we can get.

  17. Dave says:

    In-universe, there won’t be much of an issue with Miles being Spider-man, will there? In SM 2099 you already get people just saying ‘Oh, it’s Spider-man in one of his other costumes’.
    The art is the only thing that tempts me about this book. When you said “Iron Man is nothing to write home about”, that also applied to Moon Knight. And Spider-Woman. There’s also the fact I’ve barely ever read anything Ultimate.

    Hasn’t SM2099 just ignored any continuity issues risng from his being in the regular MU? ie. that his pre-existing timeline had him staying in 2099 past the point where the world ‘ended’.

    4 characters called Spider-Woman? Jessica and Gwen ( I imagine they call Gwen Spider-Woman), but isn’t Silk just called Silk, or is that like Miguel being called Spider-Man? And Julia Carpenter is Madame Web.

    Nightwing shows how you SHOULD do the legacy identity thing. Give the original a new name and stick with it, so the new guy has full claim on the title. So Steve Rogers should get a new name, and so should Peter Parker.
    To me, the main problems with the Cap/Falcon situation are that it was done too soon after Bucky had his go, and Sam’s flying gimmick is too non-Cap. Bucky is just a soldier, but with a super cyborg arm. And he still had the ‘man out of time / fought in WWII’ thing.

  18. Tdubs says:

    We had Mitchell and Webb on Netflix. Numberwang and all that lol

  19. odessasteps says:

    I’d assume clever oversea HTA listeners have seen (thru whatever means) mitchell & webb, mitchell on QI and other panel shows, doctor who and so on.

  20. Zach Adams says:

    I actually sought out Mitchell&Webb on BBCAmerica and later Hulu in the US specifically because of Paul reviewing the first episode and showing clips of Numberwang and “BMX Bandit and Angel Summoner” back on the old blog.

  21. Arndt says:

    The Falcon Cap bit disturbed me because it implied that Sam Wilson wasn’t an equal partner but a sidekick.

    Bucky IS a sidekick. Bucky doesn’t get to be an equal partner. Even as an adult with equal abilities he’s still the Black Ops version of Captain America.

  22. odessasteps says:

    Well, at least twice, you had books named “captain america and the falcon.”

    Is that equal billing or hero/sidekick, A la batman and robin?

  23. Martin Smith says:

    Bit late with this, but I have a feeling the Craptacular B-Sides was retroactively classed as a “limited series” with its third and final issue.

  24. Arndt says:

    Depending on the size of the logos, presence on the cover, it could be equal partner OR sidekick.

    And Robin had his own feature as the lead in the 1940s, was treated as an equal partner in World’s Finest Comics and still was a sidekick in the regular Bat comics

  25. adam ford says:

    First time listener, first time poster. What do you think of the idea that Marvel and DC keep putting out these books about minor and not that popular characters so that they can retain the copyright on them and thus reap billions if they manage to hit the jackpot in the event of a cinematic spin-off hit?

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