Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast

Today, we get serious about ScEmma. After years of teasing it, we're finally tackling the complicated romance between the X-Men's Scott Summers and Emma Frost. It's a relationship born out of pain and surprise. Maybe it was not meant to last, but we can't ignore the lessons found within their passion. We begin our counseling session at the end of Grant Morrison's iconic New X-Men run, discussing t...

Regret is a poison we too often sip from in our lives. Resisting its toxin should be easy, but it's a practice we must continuously endure. Thankfully, we have writers like Jadzia Axelrod, who offer stories as gauntlets for us to charge through in our imaginations. Hawkgirl: Once Upon a Galaxy, the latest saga from Axelrod and artist Amancay Nahuelpan, forces Kendra Saunders to reflect on her life...

Ninety years after his creation, Flash Gordon continues to soar in syndication. Helping us celebrate Alex Raymond's fearless champion this week is current Flash Gordon cartoonist Dan Schkade. Together, we explore why the confident space jock remains relevant and why the electric sexuality associated with the eighties cinematic adaptation is simply an extension of the raw heat present in Raymond's...

We can't put 2023 to bed without releasing our very last episode of the year, The Stampies: The Best Comics of 2023 (Part Two). Continuing the celebration from last week's Part One , we push into several other major categories, highlighting the exceptional art birthed into the universe by this beautiful medium. Aiding our love-in our numerous friends from the comics journalism and podcasting commu...

It's here - The Stampies: Best Comics of 2023 (Part One)! For the last two months, we've scrambled to read all the comics we missed during the year and compiled a gargantuan list of favorites. As far as the comics medium was concerned, 2023 was an impressively massive year for quality books. And once again, squeezing the best comics into one CBCC episode proved impossible. Of course, we couldn't r...

A powerful imagination can be as burdensome as it is liberating. Born in South Korea and adopted at birth by a white couple, Sarah Myer struggled with identity in their rural and frequently antagonistic Maryland community. Cartoons, comics, and cosplay were their escape, but they could also cause Sarah to internalize their emotions. Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story is Sarah Myer's attempt t...

This week, we got to get tough - Yo Joe! - with Joshua Williamson and Tom Reilly, the creative team behind the new Energon Universe series, Duke. The Man of Action experienced something unexplainable in Daniel Warren Johnson's Transformers #2, which rewired his purpose. Now, the Real American Hero is slipping into a "Walking American Nightmare," and General Hawk is concerned. We should all be conc...

Five years ago, we launched this podcast with Scott Summers and Jean Grey. Back then, our conversation concluded with a tumultuous debate surrounding Grant Morrison's New X-Men and the complicated three-way that seemingly shattered an iconic Marvel Comics romance. With so much life lived since those early podcasting days, we return to New X-Men issues 127 through 141, this time examining them thro...

Peanut butter and chocolate. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev. Two great tastes that taste great together. Whether you first encountered their delicious collaboration through Daredevil, Moon Knight, Scarlet, or whatever, once experienced, you must gorge on the rest. And it's an event - an emergency feast - whenever they reunite. Hitting shops on December 13th, Masterpiece from Dark Horse Comic...

We invite Tom Taylor onto the show this week to discuss all the tasty relationship dynamics he's been exploring with the Titans ongoing series and why it's taken decades for these twenty-something superheroes to nab their first major DC Comics event book, Titans: Beast World. For too long, the world has relied on Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, but their decrepit Boomer attitudes won't save th...

Dedicated to Jesse Tapia II. "What are you picking up today?" At some point, we all meet Captain Nemo. He's an icon: a literary legend, a Disney villain, and a comic book mainstay. As with Batman, Superman, or any other decades-old character, you probably have your favorite interpretation. Thanks to Juni Ba, there's a new version loose on the planet, and he may very well be our favorite one so far...

At five years old, Jeff Smith brought Fone Bone to life. Immediately enthralled by the characters of Walt Kelly, Charles M. Schulz, Walt Disney, and others, the kid desperately sought to contribute his own creation. While most abandon their childhood ideas, Smith carried Fone Bone into his teenage years, college life, and adulthood. Why? The question rests at the core of this week's episode. We ch...

We've wanted to have this conversation with Chris Samnee and Laura Samnee from the moment we read the first issue of Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters. Sure, we've had them on before talking about their beautiful comic celebrating sibling relationships, but we only had half the story. Now the comic is complete and contained in a gorgeously crafted new Deluxe Edition hardcover from Oni Press, and w...

This week's episode has all the toppings. Kevin Eastman, Jeff Rowe, Tom Waltz, Gavin Smith, Vincenzo Federici, Sarah Myer, Ben Bishop, Esau Escorza, and Isaac Escorza. If you're a shellhead, you're already flipping out. If you're not, you soon will be. There is no better time to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan. No matter your favorite iteration, there is a comic, cartoon, or movie for you. B...

We return from New York Comic-Con , bursting with stories and conversations. We've never had a show quite like this one, where every corner revealed some incredible new encounter and discussion. Cartoonist Kevin Alvir was there, sliding his way through artist alley, riding high, after recently launching his new graphic novel Lisa Cheese and Ghost Guitar: Attack of the Snack. Having barely absorbed...

Good evening, boils and ghouls. Welcome to a spooktacular conversation with comics scribe David Dastmalchian, discussing his devilishly delicious and wickedly personal horror comic Count Crowley. Currently, two volumes are available from Dark Horse Comics (Reluctant Midnight Monster Hunter and Amateur Midnight Monster Hunter), and a third chapter is nearly upon us (Mediocre Midnight Monster Hunter...

Don't take candy from strangers. Did you ever ask your mom or dad, "Why?" Or were you too afraid? Were you already too good at actively imagining what those strangers would do with you once they got you in the van? Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees by Patrick Horvath brushes against that very particular dread, playing with your nostalgia and injecting grotesque horror into your picturesque youth...

Every accomplished creative work is miraculous. Bringing anything over the finish line should be celebrated. However, even rarer are the projects that find their way to the artist whom no one else could compete with regarding that project. Dave Chisholm was seemingly born to adapt Miles Davis' life into comic book form.   Holding a doctorate in jazz trumpet from the Eastman School of Music, Dave C...

A particular story has rattled around Christian Ward's imagination for years. It's been there since childhood, really. Since he first encountered Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth. Last year, he sent out a Tweet, taunting the universe to grant his wish - to tell his cosmic Batman saga. Now, we're weeks away from the cosmos' answer. Batman: City of M...

Episode 200! Light Carries On by Ray Nadine refuses to allow death to get in the way of a little life-changing romance. We go into session with Leon and Cody, two souls in stasis, unsure how to move forward and afraid their future won't hold happiness. Together, they uncover the beauty they're already living or un-living. You may think you know where Light Carries On will take you, but Ray Nadine...

We close our San Diego Comic-Con International coverage with an epic roundtable conversation with Energon Universe shepherds Robert Kirkman, Sean Mackiewicz, Joshua Williamson, and Daniel Warren Johnson. As you have undoubtedly heard, Skybound Entertainment is the new G.I. Joe and Transformers license holder. They recently launched their shared universe with a new comic book series called Void Riv...

Moving one character from one medium to another is a complex task. Nicole Maines was desperate to see her Dreamer fighting alongside the other DC Comics superheroes. However, when she pitched the idea to the publisher, she didn't expect them to ask her to participate in that process. Quickly, Maines found herself as writer of Dreamer's destiny, and such responsibility was as thrilling as it was da...

During this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, finding someone working harder or as urgently as Todd McFarlane would be difficult. He was everywhere, announcing numerous projects one after the other. His partnership with Warner Bros. shows no signs of weakening as they unveiled numerous DC Multiverse figures, including a definitive cinematic Batman six-pack. McFarlane and Count Crowley crea...

The path Mother Nature took to its sequential form is beautifully compelling. When Jamie Lee Curtis was nineteen, an angry story of global catastrophe and corporate greed took root. Time would pass, and along with her co-writer Russell Goldman, she would mold it into a potential movie. Her eventual friendship with New Yorker cartoonist (and former CBCC guest) Karl Stevens would ultimately yield th...

For most of us, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series is where our shellshocked obsessions began. Now, IDW Publishing returns to this glorious era with their Saturday Morning Adventures offshoot with writer Erik Burnham and artists Tim Lattie, Jack Lawrence, and Dan Schoening busting out all the best Playmates action figures. The new series tickles nostalgic pleasures while keeping itse...