Midnight Grappler Animals

It's our first wheel-spin episode of the offseason, and the wheel has chosen an appropriately festive topic for Serg, Keigen, and Lan to talk about this week as they delve into the realm of watching movies on cable TV. How intrinsic is the cable tv movie to the holiday experience? Find out in this episode of Midnight Grappler Animals! Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast earlier tha...

Welcome to the first episode of the MGA Offseason! This week, we're winding things for the year by looking at things from this year that we recommend that no one check out. Will this result in The Streisand Effect: The Episode? You can put that to the test! Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast earlier than the public? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...

After over two years of doing this podcast, we've reached our 100th episode! What better way to celebrate it and wrap up New Horizons November than returning to zero and covering the podcast's first video game? Alongside special guest Guilherme, our hosts Keigen, Serg, and Lan embark on the Yakuza 0 odyssey. What better way to get someone to play this near-hundred-hour experience than to get them...

In the last installment of New Horizons November, and the last episode before our seminal 100th episode, Lan, Serg, and Keigen sit down to discuss Jon Bois' classic speculative fiction story 17776 . We go real existential as we discuss the longevity of this multimedia project and whether or not it's possible for something like this to be made in today's internet. Want to hear the uncensored versio...

This week, in our third New Horizons November episode, we ask an important question: What IS a novella? In trying to talk about Haruki Murakami's novella The Strange Library , Lan, Keigen, and Serg found themselves asking many questions about their own library-going experiences and the freudian nature of wanting to learn. Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast earlier than the public?...

It's the second episode of New Horizons November, and this week we're looking at the hallowed halls of online video content history, as we look at the thirteen year-old media empire that is Epic Rap Battles of History. Join us for one of our longest episodes in a while, as we try to decipher how this series is still a thing in 2024. Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast earlier than...

It's the first episode of New Horizons November, our four-week lead-up to our 100th episode, where we look at mediums we haven't before! This week we're delving into the realm of music coverage as we look back at the Madlib/MF Doom project Madvillainy on its 20th anniversary. Tune in next week as we go forward in time to the realm of internet media! Tran.... Want to hear the uncensored version of...

Halloween may have been last week, but we can still celebrate by grappling with our own mortality! We've got a full panel this week as we dive into the classic Hellblazer storyline Dangerous Habits . What were Garth Ennis and Will Simpson cooking? Who do we think is going to take over a potential Hellblazer book in the recently-revived Vertigo imprint? Find out in this Very Special Episode! Lookin...

Some might live and die by the adage "The Manga is always superior to the anime", but this week's episode puts that to the test as Serg, Salt, and Keigen look at Lupin the Third: Greatest Heists, an assortment of classic Lupin the Third stories from creator Monkey Punch. How well have these stories aged? Hell, do these stories even make sense? Find out in this week's episode of Midnight Grappler A...

We're getting closer to the spookiest day of the month, so Salt and Serg sat down to talk about the horror classic The Thing to look at how it holds up, how audiences reacted to it, and whether or not modern audiences deserve something of its quality. Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon....

This week, we talk about the 300-pound Gorilla sweeping the nation, Jack Reacher! Sit down with Serg, Keigen, and Lan as they talk about the first season of the Prime Video Reacher series, and become Reacherpilled in the process. Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/MidnightGrapple...

It's technically a Venom comic, y'know. Serg, Keigen, and Lan return to Donny Cates' Apotheosis era to check out Silver Surfer Black, a miniseries that ties into even more than just Cates and company's Venom run. Listen to us wax poetic about Tradd Moore's art, wax lyrical about comic formats, and wax our surfboards despite it being well past surfing season. Looking for show notes? Want to hear th...

Some are calling it the long-overdue Toku Thursday, others are calling it the topic that you can bring home to your parents! Lan, Serg, Keigen, and Salt convene to throw down with Mechanical Violator Hakaider, the 1995 masterpiece directed by Keita Amemiya and written by Toshiki Inoue. What do toku newbies Serg and Keigen have to say about their first real foray into the realm of rubber suits? Our...

In this final episode of Infiniite Ju2tice, we take it to the cops by looking at DC's much-maligned take on the Gotham policing system, GCPD: The Blue Wall. Just how bad can a comic sympathetic to cops released post-2020 be? Believe it or not, worse than you might think. Join Salt, Keigen, Serg, and Lan as they delve into not only The Blue Wall, but an a la carte selection of school shooting comic...

Is this the start of a new ongoing series? No, it's not. 9 Months after Salt gave up on continuing with Kamen Rider Gotchard, Lan lured him back into watching weekly Kamen Rider with the first episode of the 2024-2025 season, Kamen Rider Gavv. Did Salt like it? Does Lan regret keeping up with Gotchard? Will Gotch Watch ever come back? Find out in this preview for a Patreon-exclusive bonus episode...

If you listen to this podcast in private, we won't hold it against you. In fact, we salute you for engaging with this episode on Brian K. Vaughan and Marcos Martin's The Private Eye in private, because you never know who'll be listening in on Keigen and Salt discussing this web-first comic alongside you. Next week, we bring Infiniite Ju2tice to a close with DC's latest attempt at appeasing everyon...

It's time we put down our comics, lay down our mics, and pay tribute to the true heroes keeping America safe and afloat: the members of The Army & Air Force Exchange Service. Did you know that Marvel made official branded comics for AAFES, featuring the work of Brian M. Bendis, Robert Kirkman, Pere Perez, Clayton Henry, and others? This week, Serg, Lan, and Keigen take a look at these ethicall...

In our time-honored tradition (read: we've only done it once before), we return for a second iteration of our Infinite Justice limited series! We make good on a promise we made a year ago by first covering Frank Miller's much-maligned Holy Terror with Ramon Villalobos, just to see how bad things could possibly be. There's no twist here, it was a bad book. Join us next time for a look at Marvel's p...

Twenty-five years ago, Marvel put out Alex Ross' vision for the Marvel Universe; an alternate take on its heroes full of inventive concepts and mind-bending zags. This limited series, co-written by Jim Krueger and illustrated by the late John Paul Leon was seemingly lost to the annals of time, but Keigen and Lan have dug it up to take a look at it twenty-five years later. Does Earth X hold up amon...

Four cousins (they're not actually cousins) gather together in this special savoury episode to discuss the third season of the hit Hulu show, The Bear. Did Keigen, Lan, Gui, and Dana like the season, or do they need to establish new non-negotiables for all future episodes? We go real deep with this season, so if you don't want the season's big cameos to be spoiled, go watch the show first! Looking...

This week, Lan, Keigen, and Salt visit everyone's favourite 43 year-old GILF Oliver Queen in the prestige miniseries leading into Mike Grell's Green Arrow run, Longbow Hunters. Did they enjoy it? Will this be our new Venom-esque White Whale? Find out in this episode! Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www...

Toku Thursday returns! Serg, Salt, and Lan take a look at some certifiable tokusatsu from Hong Kong as the world-famous Shaw Brothers take their shot at the transforming hero paradigm with Infra-Man! Or is it Super-Inframan? Or Chinese Superman? Whatever the name may be, and whether we watched with subs or dubs, we all had a great time with this one! Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncens...

It's a week of analyses, betrayals, and Certified Kaiju Boys as Salt, Keigen, and Serg take on the first deluxe volume of Zander Cannon's Kaijumax! Hear them talk about life in the slammer and how the book twists classic kaiju dynamics, then choose next month's topics. Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://w...

Did we go hard on Watchmen branding for this episode despite it having little to do with Watchmen just so that you'd be more likely to listen to it? Yes, but you should listen to this episode anyway to hear Serg and Keigen discuss the 2020 Neo-Noir film directed by Mitch Jenkins, and written by Alan Moore. They discuss the circumstances behind this movie's release, and what it means to be an all-a...

This week, Lan and Keigen dive into Planet Pilkey to figure out how Dog Man became the meteoric success that it did. What is it about this book that keeps confounding critics in the direct market? We've got the answers in this week's episode. Looking for show notes? Want to hear the uncensored version of this podcast? Head over to our Patreon to find them: ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠https://www.patreon.com/MidnightGrap...