Wait, What?, Ep. 351: Spooky, Scary

October 23, 2022

00:00-18:53:  Greetings! From Graeme, Chloe, and Jeff!  (Good luck figuring out who’s whom—Jeff certainly had troubles!) On the day or recording, Graeme and Chloe spent an hour at the Frankenstein Comic Swap, a beloved Portland comic book tradition that involves the chances to accumulate and/or let go comic book ballast.  If you happen to be the very lovely Whatnaut from whom Graeme bought back issues of The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones, Graeme is very, very sorry!  No, not for purchasing those issues of Indy (at least not yet) but for getting embarrassed and fleeing in distress!  (But with the comics because, hey, ya boy got his priorities…)  As for Chloe, they made out like a bandit with early issues of Omaha The Cat Dancer and Weirdo (“huffing the comics glue,” as Jeff puts it), and more stuff you can’t get digitally.

18:53-27:04: The nice thing about a three person podcast is when one of the people’s pugs starts eating something mysterious and wrong, they can tap out to solve it while the other two talk.  Let’s see what Graeme and Chloe talk about for a few minutes while Jeff is out of commission, shall we? UPDATE: Jeff comes back to hear more about the insanity that is Nighmare Weekend. Also discussed: Baba Yaga.  Maybe not the best film adaptation of a Guido Crepax comic but may well be the Guido Crepaxiest?
27:04-33:43: [obligatory Black Adam discussion without any of us having seen Black Adam]  Also discussed: Zardoz, the Planet of the Apes magazines,  and more.
33:43-1:07:43: What has Jeff been watching, if not a lot of spooky movies? Well, not much of anything—it’s been much more of a comics fugue state month for Jeff—but we do get our spooky on enough to talk about His House, the surprise cult hit on Netflix from last year (and which leaves the service on October 29, so check it out if you don’t have access to the BBC iPlayer); Midnight Mass, Mike Flanagan’s impressively heartfelt Catholic horror miniseries;  and he has a quick quiz for Graeme and Chloe—out of the three horror movie musicals of the ’70s, which one was their favorite?  Also discussed: Vampire’s Kiss; The Lair of The White Worm; our go-to horror comfort movies (Rosemary’s Baby for Chloe; the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre for Jeff), and more.
1:07:43-1:20:40: The latest Hellraiser movie is on Hulu!  And Chloe has some opinions.  Also discussed: Mark Kermode’s Hatchet Job, movies we revisited and were not so down with; Holly Hunter; and more.
1:20:40-1:49:10: “This is ostensibly a comics podcast,” Graeme reminds us all which, you know, fair point.  And so for those of you wondering if you were ever going to get to the comic talk, sit back and enjoy this summary of Graeme and Chloe’s NYCC experience. Discussed; Denis Kitchen; Chloe’s talk with Simon Bisley; Graeme’s talk with Tom King; the whole not-so-great masking enforcement; Star Trek: The Next Generation; The Green Team; and much more.
1:49:10-2:03:09: Graeme has a comic recommendation!  And it’s Radiant Black, which has the first three trades available on Hoopla, which he describes as a “straightforward well done superhero comic.”  Chloe’s recommendation? (But first, there is where they mentions their site The Gutter Review, which I want to link to multiple times so let’s start doing that here.) It’s Big Dave, the Mark Millar/Grant Morrison/Steve Parkhouse satire strip that not just courted controversy, it more or less openly wooed controversy with flowers, a big box of candy, and a sparkling ring.  Chloe calls it a “tangled rat king of satire” which I think is a great metaphor.
2:03:09-2:07:53: A bonus recommendation! Graeme was sure Chloe would talk about Punisher: Blood on the Moors by John Wagner, Alan Grant with painted art by Cam Kennedy.  It’s a Marvel original graphic novel from the very early ’90s which Chloe describes (in between Graeme’s description) as “a continuation of Bogie Man.”
2:07:53-2:15:16: Jeff read *a ton* but we’re over the two hour mark so he tries to keep it to one NYCC news story we didn’t discuss (DC Universe Infinite Ultra!  Where subscribers for a higher rate than the regular DCUI subscription can get access to titles *one month* after release!); one “we gotta talk about this later” comic mini that comes out of Jeff getting that DCUI Ultra piece of the action; and Diabolical Summer, a French coming of age OGN in which the mysterious relationship between a boy’s father, secret histories, and the superspry Diabolik is unspooled in ultra-gorgeous art by Alexandre Clerisse (written by Thierry Smolderen).  I read it on Comixology Unlimited, but it’s also available on Hoopla.

2:15:16-end: Closing comments! Werewolf  Barmitzvah! Next week is a skip week and then join us for the first podcast of the next-to-last month of the year!  In the meantime:  Stitcher! Itunes! Instagram! Twitter together and separately: Graeme (and not a Twitter: Graeme at Popverse!) and Jeff! Chloe’s awesome Twitter! Her awesome website, The Gutter Review! Oh!  And yeah: Sara Century’s fantastic piece about The X-Men at TGR is worth you checking out! As well as Charles EP Murphy’s piece on Paul Grist, superhero comics, and Britain!  And Tom Shapira’s piece of Deathlok as a transhumanist manifesto! Also: Tumblr, and  on Patreon where a wonderful group of people make this all possible, including Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy, to whom we are especially grateful for her continuing support of this podcast.
NEXT WEEK:  Skip week! Have an excellent Halloween, everyone!
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3 comments on “Wait, What?, Ep. 351: Spooky, Scary

  1. Jeff Lester Oct 23, 2022

    Werewolf Barmitzvah! Spooky, scary. Boys becoming men, cuts becoming paste:

    https://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts5/WaitWhat351.mp3

  2. Thanks for another show, take a drink for ‘I’ll tell you off the recording’!
    It was interesting to hear the news from the NY con, but what was the announcement that Graeme trailed a few weeks ago as making him very happy? DC Infinite Ultra?
    The Scottish Connection is fun but if you want a truly mad Batman in Scotland story, try World’s Finest Comics #226, ‘Bow before Satan’s Children’. It’s Zany Haney at his best.
    Excited by the prospect of a killer twist I bought Radiant Black digitally. I’ve read the first five, quite enjoyed it, but I was expecting a bigger shock, I guess…. Awful name – I think Radiant used to be a soap powder.
    Have a wonderful birthday Jeff, and may you all have a great time at the Portland get together.

  3. Shadavid Oct 29, 2022

    Interesting to hear of the culture of NYCC. I’m off to Thought Bubble in less than two weeks. I’m expecting a high degree of compliance with any rules as it’s such a sweet and cooperative place. Admittedly not New York’s reputation. Any other Whatnauts attending?
    Yes, Phantom of the Paradise…saw it in the cinema when it was released over here…dun-dun-DUNN! Oh, the horror of aging.
    Looking forward to tales of the Portland meet-up, wishing you all the fun in the world. However, hoping for word of the Waffle Window. Did it survive pandemiklips? At least one Whatnauts would like to know.