Let Me Know How It Is

EXTRA - Our 5 X-Men

#My5XMen was trending recently on social media, and it presented an interesting exercise: build your dream team X-Men roster with only five members. How do you decide? Do you pick your five favorites? Do you match up characters that don't interact often? Maybe you build off of personalities and history for what creates the best team drama. There are so many ways to approach it. In our first Let Me Know How It Is Shorty, the panel lists their 5 X-Men teams.

Watch Challenge: Cowboy Bebop / Rick and Morty

It's time for another Watch Challenge: where one member of our panel challenges another member to watch a selection of episodes from a show that the challenger thinks the other person would become a fan of if only they would give it a chance. This time around, Frank issued the challenge and chose five episodes of Rick and Morty for Zack to watch. And in return, Frank would agreed to watch five episodes of Zack's choosing of Cowboy Bebop. The episodes were viewed and the entire panel will review them and see who, or if anyone, has come around and become a fan of the other's show.

Spotlight: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

“Based on the Graphic Novel” are common words to see in the credits of movies these days. Comic books have become an invaluable source of inspiration for many Hollywood movies, but comics extend beyond the commonly associated superheroes. Every once in a while an indie comic makes the jump to the big screen where our hero is one that doesn’t wear a cape. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is a perfect example of a memorable film that came from an indie comic. It’s a heartfelt exploration of love and relationships in your 20s while also being a fast, funny, and over-the-top loveletter to video games. To celebrate its 10 year anniversary, the panel spotlights Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.  

Representation and Super Heroes

The demographics for super hero comic book readers are as wide and varied as the many super powers audiences will find in the adventures inside. Exclusivity has been a part of comics since the beginning. For too long there have been little attempts for the heroes inside comics to resemble the readership outside of comics. Until recently that is. Over the years there has been great emphasis on diversifying the types of characters you'll see in comics to include more races, nationalities, and religions so that the characters inside better reflect the real world we all see. Representation in super hero comics tries to make the experience of reading as inclusive as possible by showing characters that reflect the diversity of the world outside. The panel explores this important topic while showcasing some of the characters and stories they believe best exemplify this more inclusive shift in the medium.

San Diego Comic-Con@Home: Reactions From Home

With San Diego Comic-Con going virtual for 2020, we thought it would be fun to do a reaction show for all the exciting news, and announcements that came out of Comic-Con at Home. Come have a seat and join the party as the panel sits back and surfs the net for anything and everything from this year's San Diego Comic-Con aka Comic-Con@Home.

Breaking Good: Villain Face Turns

In the world of superhero storytelling, the villain is crucially important. While providing the hero with something to fight against they also offer a countering point-of-view to contrast against the good-natured purity of the hero. Over the years though, audiences have gotten a glimpse into the mindset of the bad guy as villains' motivations and philosophies have been explored. In some cases the audience can discover that the bad guy might not actually be all that bad. This can sometimes be the first signal for the villain to make the jump from bad guy to good guy. For today’s episode, the panel looks at when bad guys go good.

 

Changes From Panel to Screen

One of the most exciting things for comics fans is seeing their favorite characters come to life on the big or small screen. From time to time however, fans are sometimes treated to a version of the character that doesn't resemble their comic book counterparts. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending. Sometimes a change can be a welcome addition and can add a new dimension to their personality that wasn't there previously. While other times a change can mischaracterize a beloved property in the eyes of fans. In this episode, the panel will discuss some of their favorite examples where change was welcome and ones that missed the mark.

One More Issue, Please

All good things must come to an end, but do they have to come to an end so soon?  The comic industry is full of stories of a fan-favorite series coming to an abrupt end, for a multitude of reasons. You can't please everyone, but what if you could bring back your favorite defunct comic series for just one more issue? Perhaps you want to get some closure you feel you might not have gotten before. Or maybe you would just like to revisit some familiar faces one last time. So, which comic book series would you choose for one more issue? The panel will each list off their top three series choices.

Why We Love the Marvel Universe

Timely. Atlas. These are some of the names for the comic book company that would one day eventually become known as Marvel Comics: home to such beloved characters as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and the X-Men. It was with the creation of Fantastic Four that creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby laid the foundation for the Marvel Universe, and still decades later, after secret wars, annihilations, contests of champions, and secret invasions, fans are still just as invested as they were back in 1961 when it all began. The panel will go deep into why they adore the Marvel Universe.

Why We Love the DC Universe

In 1938 Action Comics #1 debuted on comic stands and introduced the world to Superman. It was on that day, in a sense, that the DC Universe was born. The same universe that would become home to later creations like Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and many others. Over the course of 82 years, readers have been enthralled by the silver age, the inclusion of the Charlton library of characters, crises, zero hours, and deaths and returns of fallen heroes. It is in that spirit that the panel delves into why they are in love with the DC Universe.