House to Astonish Episode 29
Following our mini-break over the Christmas period (also the reason why I haven’t posted in a couple of weeks – I’ve been out of the country), we’re back with another instalment of the podcast. This time round, we’re looking at Earth One, the Marvel Adventures cancellation, DC’s plans for co-features and the X-Men First Class movie. We’re also reviewing Daytripper, X-Factor and The Tick, and we’ve got a special festive edition of the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
The big news for us is that we have a professional-level microphone now, instead of just having to bellow incoherently in the direction of the Macbook. What this should mean is that it’s a less echoing affair, that most background noise is cut out and that the podcast should be slightly quieter (so you may have to play it at a higher volume level than you’d usually play it at). Podomatic has also decided to start offering the ability to put chapters into a podcast, so I’ve done that too. Not sure whether it will make any practical difference, but it’s fun to play with the toys. The upshot of this, though, appears to be that the file is being distributed by Podomatic as an .m4a file rather than .mp3, so if that causes any problems (or at least ones that can’t be fixed by renaming the file extension) let us know.
The podcast is here – let us know what you think, either in the comments thread, on Twitter, by email or by yodelling at us off the side of an Alp.
Ooh, m4a. Ugh.
Otherwise, I’m sure it will be great as usual.
-JAK
Thank you, thank you, for the microphone upgrade. That was a terrific present for Al and all of the listeners as well.
Manhunter and Black Canary’s co-features ending is a fairly strong indication that they’re doing some new iteration of “Birds of Prey”, I think.
Haven’t tried it yet, but m4a files are mp4 files, not mp3, and are less universally playable: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG-4_Part_14
I have absolutely no idea whether my phone supports it, but I suppose I’m going to find out.
I listened though iTunes, having sworn off RealPlayer for ever and ever and ever.
Also, ever.
The Tick! Bapshuwee baup bap bap bweebau!
I am ashamed to admit that I owe a Tick artist a Christmas card from five years back (more? Cripes, it’s more). Bask in my Christmas card list!
Nappy Poo Smear (for Friday)!
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Uhhh.
Mp3 please?
Just to add to the chorus that my mobile player of choice can’t handle m4a files.
Though on my PC the episode sounded great, the mic upgrade made a huge difference.
As for me, it plays on my phone… In RealPlayer, rather than the main music/podcast thing.
Which means that I can’t use my phone to browse the internet while listening. Or even put it in my pocket and lock the phone, because it stops playing as soon as you take the focus off it.
[And not only is it not bechaptered, it’s not even seekable, because trade-descriptions-act-fodder “RealPlayer” doesn’t have a seek function. So, yeah, mp3 next time please…]
And something which I at least presume is “RealPlayer” at work – in the pause between most words, it mutes itself, which gives the Impression… Of… A… Slightly… Shatnerian… Delivery.
I cannot play .m4a files on my player…you need to provide an .mp3 file for those of us who cannot listen to this more…elitist format.
Justice Inc. sounds like it might be a revival of this cult fave.
But it also sounds like a pulp supergroup. They’re bringing in other old pulpos, as well, right? Black Canary?
…”First Wave.” *shiver*
(“Agents of P.U.L.P.?”)
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So, did the Santa Claus OHOTMU entry include the story where he turned out to be Ultron and fought the New Avengers?
[I’m not joking, there was such a story, and it was written by Jeff Parker. And includes a bit that’s become funnier in retrospect as Iron Man remote-controls a bit of mistletoe to follow Spider-Woman around. The Queen of the Skrulls went to Earth just to get sexually harrassed by Tony Stark…]
With the discussion of the co-feature changes, I’m surprised you guys didn’t bring up that the new Flash series, originally slated to have a co-feature starring Wally West, was changed to a $3 book with the stories that were finished being held for some indeterminate future project.
I had a sneaking suspicion the .m4a may have been more trouble than it was worth just to be able to have chapters (that seem to only work in iTunes or on iPods anyway). I’ve taken that version down and replaced it with a straight .mp3 version, so please feel free to re-download that one.
getting an error trying to download on itunes.
Less background noise? Does that mean we can no longer play the “guess the emergency service” game when the sirens go by?
Great podcast as usual.
The mic is really an improvement. That was a very nice gift. You really are spoiling us now 🙂
Keep it as mp3, as it’s the most compatible (I think mp4’s with chapters are cool, but I listen with something that doesn’t let me use chapters anyway).
I’m glad Marvel are collecting that older Ares series because in recent years the collected edition has become pretty hard to find (a quick look on Amazon.co.uk and I see one user is selling it used for £20, whilst an other has got a new one at £50).
Might be able to make a bit of cash there Al 🙂
“Justice Inc.” is actually the old pulp hero “The Avenger” which came out around the same time as Doc Savage and The Shadow. But because of the character’s name, each time DC published a comic version of him (at two occasions I think), they took the title of the first pulp novel i.e. Justice Inc.
I’m a little surprised they’re not bringing back Greyshirt for this First Wave jazz, in one form or another.
Heh: maybe they’ll have Greyshirt and Midnight backups. The Secret Society of Pseudo-Spirit Adventurers!
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That microphone upgrade really makes an astonishing difference.
I can’t help thinking bringing back Grey shirt would do little more than upset Alan Moore more, and damage the memory of the ABC line.
Greyshirt was excellent – I will still say that the 6 page story in Tomorrow Stories #2 is my favourite Alan Moore story ever. However, as a character who’s essentially just a generic stand-in for The Spirit, who was Will Eisner’s generic character to hang stories one, he’s rather unnecessary, especially when you have The Spirit.
[I know Greyshirt’s not that generic, thanks to Rick Veitch’s mini, but he can essentially be considered generic, for storytelling purposes. And that’s not a sentiment which makes too much sense.]
The interesting thing about Daytripper was that after reading the first issue (trying to avoid spoilers), I didn’t know if the stories in the series would be connected, or would just form a Demo-esque anthology with each issue being a day in the life of a character.
And I didn’t care – it’s well enough done that I don’t need to know what it’s about to want to keep picking it up.
[Oh, and it’s worth noting it’s set in Sao Paolo because that’s where the twins are from.]
Hey guys,
Thanks for another brilliant podcast (it *does* sound better with the new mike). I don’t have a portable player for anything else than mp3, but I am content to listen to it on my computer, though. (You won’t get any complaints from me if you go back to mp3, though! 🙂
Thanks again – for all the great comix-talk, insights, recommendations and generally good fun in 2009. I sincerely hope you won’t slow down in 2010!
Best,
Chris
P.S. Al – hope that spam-prob is properly taken care of now 🙂
P.S. My superpower of not writing ‘though’ in two consecutive sentences seem to be failing.
Damn – I knew M-day wasn’t all hype! 🙂
Great podcast! I’ve listened since day one, but one thing has always bothered me a bit. I think you shouldn’t worry about the length of your podcast. I for one greatly enjoyed your anniversary show and it’s extended length. Don’t feel so rushed like your audience will just get up and leave. I’m sure everyone here is here for your insights and wit. We won’t quit if you linger on a tangent for a minute or two extra. Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Dylan
^Well, I for one think there’s enough podcasts out there with a long length, some clocking around 1 hour and half, and even 2 hours. I like that Al and Paul keep this one short and to the point.
Yeah, there are some podcasts that do go for too long – most times not because they have something to say, but because they go all rambly, and partake of blatantly unncessary time-padding exercising like the dreaded “listener questions”. Al and Paul are wonderfully concise, yet are still able to freely chat without going off on lengthy tangents that draw out the whole thing. The irony of that, then, is that I would quite happily listen to a longer HoA. 🙂
Al touched upon the reason I didn’t like X-Factor, which is that the series has basically become a forum for Peter David’s schtick, with all of the characters basically being Peter David. This would be more forgiveable if it was actually funny, but David just doesn’t have the comic touch he once had, and it’s all getting a bit tiresome. That, and the fact that every other issue has one of the characters asking why God hates them. It’s not a Peter David comic unless someone is pissed off at God. Or their father. Or both.
I’d note that the Batman in the “First Wave” series is essentially the Shadow in a bat-suit because DC lacks the rights to that character. He’s got the twin automatic pistols and the darkness motif, presumably justified by the two or three Golden Age stories where Batman carried a gun (and shot it roughly twice to kill some vampire-werewolf types).
A chapter option would be nice. Unless someone acn tell me if I’m being really dense and there’s a quicker way to scan through a 45 minute file on an iPod classic without sitting there for 4 minutes with the fast forward button held down.