Gobbledygeek

What happens when a stoner working at a deli comes face-to-face with a psychic rat with a hunger for irradiated sandwiches? The answer can be found in "Rat King," Thomas Dorton's contribution to The Deli Counter of Justice . AJ and Eric talk with Thomas about how the superhero cartoons he grew up on were surprisingly decent, how his 9th grade English teacher encouraged him to write, and how his (r...

Rahne Ehtar has been writing since she first got her hands on a pack of Crayolas. That long and winding road has led her here, to The Deli Counter of Justice , wherein she's written the story "Without Masks," concerning a young superhero who would love it if her life would allow her just one normal night out. Paul and AJ chat with Rahne about her history writing fan fiction; her "long and laboriou...

After scaling the high point of The Sandman last week with Brief Lives , Paul and AJ fall a little closer to earth with a discussion of Vol. VIII - Worlds' End . Joining them is Wanna Cook? author Ensley F. Guffey...and they all agree it's likely the series' weakest collection. But weak Sandman is still better than most comics, so there's still plenty to say about Neil Gaiman's final attempt at te...

For their first interview with authors from The Deli Counter of Justice , Paul and AJ talk to the other man who makes up the Deli  braintrust: Eric Sipple. Eric discusses his start writing SeaQuest  fan fiction, his introduction to the world of superheroes via Tim Burton's 1989 Batman  film, how he created Carl Cook's daughter Tabitha for his story "Pixelated" (who may wind up becoming the antholo...

For the past year-and-a-half, Paul, AJ, and third Gobbler Eric Sipple have been working on the short story anthology The Deli Counter of Justice . It's been quite a while since we've told you about it, but here's some good news: the book is out soon! November 5, to be exact. In this re-introductory podcast, the boys give you the lowdown on what the book's about (namely, a retired superhero opening...

Change is important. It's also a bitch. The Endless turn and face the strain as Paul and AJ continue their Four-Color Flashback exploration of Neil Gaiman's The Sandman with Vol. VII: Brief Lives . Joining them by request ( his request) is Broken Magic author and The Deli Counter of Justice cohort Eric Sipple. The gang discusses Dream and Delirium's quest to find their brother, Morpheus growing as...

Here it is. It finally happened. Someone somewhere decided to let these guys run off at the mouth for so long they eventually made it to 200 episodes. To celebrate this cosmic blunder, Paul and AJ have invited their good friend Greg Sahadachny of The Debatable Podcast to turn the tables and interview them. How did Paul and AJ meet? How terrified were they to discover their age difference? How did...

For the first time in a very long time, Paul and AJ are joined by On the Rocks co-host (and AJ's cousin) Nathan Burdette. This time, there's no main topic; the boys have a hodgepodge of recent pop culture developments to discuss, including Paul and AJ's fundamental disagreement over whether this episode actually has a main topic. Exciting! The gang gets started talking about the new claims that Ja...

After their discussion of Alien for the epic Alien / Predator podcrawl (see information on participating podcasts in the show notes), Paul and AJ now turn to John McTiernan's 1987 sci-fi actioner Predator . Arnold Schwarzenegger stalks the jungle, joined by the likes of tough guys Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura, and...uh...Shane Black? Sure. They in turn are stalked by a nasty dreadlock-wearing mofo...

Before there was Juno , there was Alien , the ultimate film about unwanted pregnancy. Eggs shooting down throats, penile heads devouring yours, a brand new lifeform bursting forth from your body...Ridley Scott's 1979 classic pokes and prods you where you don't want to be poked and prodded. Paul and AJ kick off an epic podcrawl (see information on participating podcasts in the show notes) about the...

Rulers--whether they be corrupt, wise, or both--make rules. They establish boundaries, set parameters within which a person lives their life. Should those rules be broken, there will be consequences. Neil Gaiman explores some of those consequences, joined by an incredibly talented string of artists including Bryan Talbot and Jill Thompson, in The Sandman: Vol. VI - Fables and Reflections . Paul an...

Not a boy but not yet a man; it's something both humanoid mutant turtles and Texans experience. To cover that wide range of experience, Paul and AJ are discussing both the new Michael Bay-produced version of  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as well as Richard Linklater's down-to-earth epic  Boyhood . Joining them is  Nowheresville director/ Smoke Gets in Your Ears: A Mad Men Podcast co-host Joseph Le...

Come and get your love, boys and girls: the Guardians of the Galaxy have arrived. Paul and AJ abduct the young, impressionable Kenn Edwards ( So Let's Get to the Point host/ Smoke Gets in Your Ears co-host), leading him on a whirlwind tour of the universe, discussing the finer points of James Gunn's sci-fi blockbuster. Among those points: whether or not, ten movies in, the film marks progress for...

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, it might just be because Thessaly's pulled it to Earth, wreaking all sorts of havoc on the ground. This Paul and AJ learn in the latest installment of our year-long Four-Color Flashback analyzing Neil Gaiman's The Sandman , this time focusing on Vol. V - A Game of You . Joining the boys again are Wanna Cook? authors K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guf...

Wise man say: forgiveness is divine, but only listening to Paul, AJ, and Nowheresville  director/ Smoke Gets in Your Ears  co-host Joseph Lewis discuss the original 1990 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles  film will get you past those pearly gates. Or something, a little birdie told us. But not, like, a mutant bird. Anyway. The gang has wildly varying experiences with the Turtles and the movie: Paul is...

We discussed Snowpiercer briefly on our most recent epsiode, but there was too much monkey business going on to talk about it in-depth. So we had to go all-out and do a bonus episode, the sort of episode that fits in between the cracks of our elaborate continuity, featuring none other than The Debatable Podcast host Greg Sahadachny. Shoes as hats, rave cars, orgasmic school teachers...this movie's...

A new day has dawned, one which doesn't smile too favorably upon humanity. In Matt Reeves' Dawn of the Planet of the Apes , the apes have taken over...well, mostly. As Caesar and company learn, a small faction of humans still resides in San Francisco, and they believe the key to their continued existence lies in the apes' territory. It's not a swell situation, as Paul and AJ discover in their disc...

We here at Gobbledygeek  are avowed fans of big-budget epics, be they superheroic or Tolkienesque. But independent film is an important part of any moviegoer's diet, one many don't have access to. Which is why Paul and AJ are thrilled to speak with Kurtiss Hare of the Nightlight Cinema, the new arthouse theater bringing indie film to Akron, OH. Kurtiss talks about the Nightlight's origin, the incr...

Just taking a guess here, but you probably don't want to go to Hell. Probably don't want to rule it, either. And neither does Lucifer, the original fallen angel himself, which sets in motion the events of The Sandman: Vol IV - Season of Mists . Pop culture academics (and Wanna Cook? authors) K. Dale Koontz and Ensley F. Guffey join Paul and AJ for another installment of their Four-Color Flashback...

A dream is a wish your heart makes, or so the song goes. What happens when that wish is fulfilled? Neil Gaiman has a few answers in The Sandman: Vol III - Dream Country , wherein a writer finds his muse, cats rule the world, Shakespeare puts on a play, and an immortal prays for death. Paul and AJ get back on track with their year-long Four Color Flashback exploration of Gaiman's masterpiece, this...

Welcome back to the land of Berk, where the dragons soar, the adults have Scottish accents, and the kids have grown up. Frenemy Eric Sipple joins Paul and AJ to discuss How to Train Your Dragon 2 , which--spoiler alert--they all agree is a fine film indeed. Among the points of discussion are the more mature tone, the stunning animation (with an assist from the great Roger Deakins), and Cate Blanch...

Godzilla, that green, rubbery, nuclear-breathing master of destruction--he's basically like if Gumby kicked ass, right? His origins were a little different. Close to a decade after America dropped the atom bomb, Japanese filmmaker Ishirô Honda sought to show us, in stark black-and-white, what the bomb may have wrought: a physical manifestation of his nation's desperation and anxiety. And, yeah, he...

With How to Train Your Dragon 2  prepared to soar into theaters next weekend, you'd better believe superfan Paul was going to find some way to celebrate it. And celebrate it he has, with frequent guests Eric Sipple and Kenn Edwards joining Paul and AJ for a commentary of the first film. The gang discusses how the film overcame their initial low expectations, why having Roger Deakins as a "visual c...

Hello, Birmingham! Live from the Alabama Phoenix Festival, it’s Gobbledygeek! Paul and AJ returned to APF 2014 to host a series of panels about everything from summer movies to Orphan Black , and while they were there, they thought it’d be neat to record a live podcast. Joining them in the hot seat is Gobbledy-stalwart Kenn Edwards; in the audience, frequent guests/loved ones/freaks of nature Eric...

Friend of the show and long-ago guest K. Dale Koontz makes her triumphant return to Gobbledygeek, and this time, she's brought along her lovely husband Ensley F. Guffey. Together, they've written Wanna Cook? The Complete, Unofficial Companion to Breaking Bad , which is pretty much what it says. Dale and Ensley geek out about Breaking Bad , discuss Michael Slovis' stunning visuals, and talk about w...