Comic Book Bears Podcast

Fair warning: this episode does not contain any comic book talk. As part of the gay community we felt honor bound to talk about the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando last week. What you will get in this episode is a fairly raw discussion between three of our co-hosts (Bill Zanowitz, Bryan Pittard and Steve Mowry) about their feelings and perceptions surrounding the tragedy. Our next episode is a big anniversary for us so the funnybook talk will be back in place then but this episode is what it is. For those of you who do hit download, our deepest thanks in advance for listening. Intro - "Reflections of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro - "99 Luftballons" by MC Smike

On this week's episode we are honored to welcome to the show Legendary Comics' Editor in Chief Bob Schreck! Bob has been a longtime fixture in the comic world.  In the early eighties he worked for Creation Entertainment on their groundbreaking fan conventions and from there he transitioned to a position at Marvel and then as Administrative Director at Comico Comics. From there Bob moved onto an editorial position at Dark Horse Comics which he then left to co-found Oni Press. Toward the end of the last century, Bob moved over to DC Comics where he became the group editor for the Batman books as well as overseeing editorial duties on Green Lantern, Green Arrow, the creation of the All-Star imprint and later a stint with Vertigo. After leaving DC, Schreck joined IDW Publishing as a senior editor and since 2011, he has been a VP and EIC of Legendary Comics, the comic book wing of Legendary Pictures! Legendary Comics launched with Frank Miller’s controversial Holy Terror. Other books that have come out of Legendar

Rafer Roberts is the writer of the current Archer and Armstrong series at Valiant Comics and the CBBears are thrilled to welcome him to the show! Steve, Billy Z and Matt spend the first hour of the show interviewing Rafer about his work on A&A and his other projects for Valiant as well as his history as an indie comic writer and artist with his work on Plastic Farm, Nightmare the Rat, Magic Bullet, Rise and more! Best of all, you get to hear what Davey the Mackerel actually sounds like! Afterwards, Bryan joins the cast and the talk shifts to current comics talk including discussion about Scooby Apocalypse, Superman Rebirth, Civil War II, Imperium, Poe Dameron, Cyborg and much more! Intro - "Reflections of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro - "79" by Fela Kuti LINKS: http://plasticfarm.com/ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rafer-Roberts-maker-of-Plastic-Farm-and-other-comics/238475832829996 http://twitter.com/#!/plasticfarm http://plasticfarm.com/test/?feed=rss2

With three bears (Matt, Bill, Steve) in the den this week, the Comic Book Bears are thrilled to welcome to the show writer Richard Rivera! Richard is the writer of three current series - Stabbity Bunny, Wild Bull and Chipper and the soon-to-be-released Storm Pirates!  Richard provides for us the lowdown on those books as well as his role as the marketing director for Think Alike Productions! The show continues with a tribute to the recently departed Darwyn Cooke and the boys also get in a little bit of current comics talk including a dose of Valiant, Future Quest #1, Midnighter #12, Invincible and more! Intro - "Reflections of You" - Bear in Heaven Outro - "Durango 95" - The Ramones

DC Rebirth is an important event! So much so that Justin actually called in from his hospital bed to join Bryan, Steve and Bill to discuss the book! Written by Geoff Johns with art chores by a host of top name talent, DC Rebirth #1 effectively closes the door on the New 52 era and ushers in a new one! Hit download and you get to hear what we thought of it along with the surprising developments seen in Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 and (in unexpectedly truncated form) the season finales of some of the current super-hero based network TV shows.

In this week's episode, all five Comic Book Bears are on hand to welcome to the show for the first time the incredible Sina Grace! A writer and illustrator, some of Sina's past projects include Burn the Orphanage, The Li'l Depressed Boy and Not My Bag among others.  Sina's most recent project is a web series based on his autobiographical graphic novel Self-Obsessed for Image (which he also stars in!) Our conversation with Sina covers the web series and those projects as well as bears, Scar Jo Sailor Moon, penises, more bears, Prince, working as an editor for Robert Kirkman's Skybound imprint, more penises, one particular syndicated comedy from the 1980's, Generation X and even more penises among other topics! (Yeah, we kind of have to give this one an explicit tag!) We had an utter blast talking with Sina and we hope you will have a blast listening in! Intro - "Reflections of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro - "92" by Avail LINKS: http://www.sinagrace.com/ https://www.youtube.com/user/sinadarkcomics        

Recent TV is first up on the docket in this new Comic Book Bears Podcast episode! Bill, Matt, Steve and Justin talk about the Supergirl/Flash crossover, one particular recent episode of Legends of Tomorrow and more! The talk then turns to current comics as the CBBears weigh in on Midnighter, House of Penance, Gwenpool, Public Relations, Empress, Prophet: Earth War, Scarlet Witch and then wrap things up with The Woofs of the Week!

This week, Billy Z, Matt and Steve are jazzed to bring to the show Dale Lazarov for an interview!!! Dale is the writer and art director of numerous gay character-based, sex-positive graphic novels! Dale talks about his process and career, spotlighting a number of his works available through his imprint Sticky Graphic Novels including Bulldogs, Pardners, Peacock Punks, Manly, Sticky (which is celebrating its 10th anniversary) and many others! (Sticky Graphic Novels are published in hardcover by Bruno Gmünder GmbH and in digital format through Class Comics and links for those are below.) After the interview we get in a little bit of current comic talk, focusing on Midnighter, Ninjak, how we influenced cosmic events with our mention of a 90's crossover on a previous show bearing unexpected fruit and as always closing the show out with our Woofs of the Week! And fair warning - some explicit language. http://www.dalelazarov.com/ http://www.stickygraphicnovels.com http://www.classcomics.com/ccn/product-category/com

Throughout 2016 the Bear Boys will be welcoming a bunch of bear comic book creators for interviews and Billy Z, Justin, Steve and Matt are thrilled to bring on to the show the super talented Jeremy Owen as the first of those hirsute and handsome hombres!!! Jeremy is the creative force behind Bludgeon from his own imprint, Burly Press. Jeremy goes into his history with comics, his collaborations with Greg Freeland II and our own Bryan Pittard, professional wrestling, Legos, his appearance in the movie Paul and a whole lot more! Afterwards, we get into some comics talk and grab Titans Hunt, Prophet: Earth War,  Faith, Rise of the Eternal Warrior, Injection and retro-pick JSA: The Golden Age off of the spinner rack! Intro - "Reflections of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro - "'82" by Stone Sour Jeremy's Links - http://www.burlypress.com http://burlypress.tumblr.com/ https://www.facebook.com/pages/Burly-Press https://twitter.com/burlypress https://www.patreon.com/burlyjer?ty=h

Yeah yeah yeah, we are a comic book based podcast but how can we not talk about The Force Awakens!?!? We are back to five bears strong this week as Bill, Justin, Bryan, Steve and Matt discuss what they thought of the new movie. (SPOILER ... they are not all in agreement ... except about Snap Wexley!) Then the CBBears each recount our earliest Star Wars memories. Then, to tie it back into comic books, we recount the history of Star Wars in comics and spotlight some of our favorite SW funnybooks including Dark Empire, Tales of the Jedi, X-Wing Squadron, Darth Vader and the Cry of Shadows, The Star Wars among them right into the current Marvel books. Intro: Bear in Heaven - "Reflections of You" Outro: The Clash - "1977"

The Comic Book Bears are back to five strong as Bryan rejoins Matt, Steve, Justin and Bill this week! The state of Marvel is up for discussion first and the boys dig deep into Secret Wars, Thors, The All-New All-Different Avengers, Hercules and more.  Then DC gets time with Justice League: The Darkseid War, Starfire, Bizarro and the new books from Vertigo. Indie talk is dominated by the extraordinary Huck, F__k Fairyland and The Devilers. And Justin's retro pick is not Harry Potter. (That's a hint.) We also included a potty mouth preamble to kick off the episode. (During our pre-show conversation we were cussing up a storm. There's a little of that in the main body of the episode for whatever reason.) Intro: "Reflections of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro: "Teenage Lament '74" by Alice Cooper

The bear boys are thrilled this week to welcome to the show Vivek Tiwary, the author of The Fifth Beatle, the fantastic graphic novel which he wrote with art by Andrew Robinson and Kyle Baker!! The Fifth Beatle is a #1 New York Times bestseller and the winner of two Harvey awards which tells the story of Brian Epstein, the manager of the Beatles. A flamboyant but troubled figure who guided The Beatles to worldwide success, Epstein struggled with his homosexuality at a time before it had been decriminalized in the UK and died from an overdose of sleeping pills at age 32 at a point where The Beatles were at the zenith of their success. Vivek takes us through what attracted him to Epstein's story, the process of creating and developing The Fifth Beatle, plans for a major motion picture as well as other projects he is involved with! LINKS: http://thefifthbeatle.com/ http://www.tiwaryent.com/ https://twitter.com/VivekJTiwary https://www.facebook.com/vivek.j.tiwary https://www.facebook.com/TheFifthBeatleFilm MUSIC

The bear boys (minus Bryan) are back with the first of their episodes in their new weekly format! That's right - instead of twice a month, you will be getting hairy heavy homo comic talk every week now! Bill Z and Justin start off with a New York Comic Con recap! There is a Valiant Moment with Steve and Matt! Billy Z leads the DC talk! Matt takes the lead with Marvel and Indie talk! Steve gets in some Vertigo chatter!  And newly christened Retro Bear Justin offers up the first of his retro pics! In the mix - Art Ops, Book of Death, Weirdworld, Jim Starlin, Mike Mignola, Titans Hunt, a New God getting punched in the face and a LOT more! Intro - "Reflection of You" by Bear in Heaven Outro - "Emergency 72 (Live)" by Turin Brakes

We start off the show welcoming Sean Lewis for an interview about his upcoming series for Image Comics SAINTS with artist Benjamin Mackey. Sean is an award winning playwright and This American Life personality and he drops in to tell us about this new ongoing series he is writing; a crime/horror action-packed new series that promises heavy metal, sex and deadly one-liners at every turn.  Sean delves into how a Catholic upbringing informs the story, how he and Benjamin came up with the idea for SAINTS, his creative process and a lot more.  After that, we hear about Steve’s trip to DragonCon and he gives us the lowdown on his time and the sights there. Then the comic book talk starts off - Injection, lots of Secret War tie ins (Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Civil War, Future Imperfect, Ghost Racers and more), Force Works (!), DC Comics Bombshells and other female magic based books out on the stands, the now obligatory Matt and Steve “Valiant Moment” and we end on mullets and other hair disasters (not a comic).

  We all fell in love with them when we saw Barry Bishop propose to Billy Brooks on stage last month at San Diego Comic-Con International. Now we at the Comic Book Bears Podcast are thrilled to bring both Billy and Barry to the show to discuss their Hall H experience, their work in the film industry including Space Station 76 and the upcoming Con Man, their VFX company Mind and Machine, how they developed their interests in geek culture and so much more! Barry and Billy were AMAZING guests: listen in and, we promise, you will be richer for it!       Then stick around as Bill Zanowitz, Justin Allen, Bryan Pittard, Steve Mowry and Matt Brossard soldier on to talk about recent comic based movies (Ant Man, Fantastic Four, Justice League: Gods and Monsters) and comics (Midnighter, Uncanny X-Men, Black Canary, Justice League: Gods and Monsters - Superman, Archie vs. Sharknado and more!) NOTE: If you are accessing the episode from our the Comic Book Bears iTunes/Libsyn feed, the sound quality may not be up to our us

In the first part of our 65th episode, Jamal Igle makes a return visit after his appearance at our New York Comic Con Super Week show last October to discuss his Kickstarter campaign to help fund the ongoing series of his Molly Danger and the bear boys couldn't be more thrilled! Molly Danger is a super powered 10-year-old-alien girl who protects the city of Coopersville, New York from an army of villains called The Supermechs. Although Molly is an internationally famous super heroine, she is incredibly lonely and isolated from the public by D.A.R.T. (Danger’s Action Response Team) command. Forbidden from having personal contact, she has no friends, no family, and no life outside of being a hero; that is until she meets D.A.R.T. pilot and new partner Austin Briggs and befriends his stepson Brian Hammond.   The ongoing series picks up nine months since the end of Molly's Book One with Molly continuing to break D.A.R.T. protocols as she begins to question what is and what is not real! Jamal also serves as the Vi

The Comic Book Bears are back with a special episode where we close the funnybooks for an hour and shift our focus to the silver screen! We are thrilled to have on the show for an interview some of the big names behind the upcoming Bear City 3! Writer/Director Doug Langway and Producer Sam Kite join Billy Z, Justin, Steve and Matt to discuss the Indiegogo campaign to help fund the third and final hilarious installment of the award-winning BearCity Trilogy! Matt pulls double duty on this episode as both a co-host AND a creator as he is drawing the BC 2.5 Graphic Novel, the official BearCity Graphic Novel! BC 2.5 is just one of the many campaign incentives you can choose from when you open up your wallet to help make this project a reality! Listen in as Doug, Sam and Matt take you through what you can expect to see as the BC family heads to camp! And if you haven't already, click thru to www.bearcity3.com or https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bear-city-3 to find out even more!  

NYC is about to have its very first LGBTQ comic convention! And coming on the show to discuss Flame Con are very special guests Joey Stern and Josh Siegel from Geeks OUT! Billy Z, Steve and Matt enlist Joey and Josh to take us through what to expect at Flame Con as well as the history of Geeks OUT, the NYC based queer geek culture group behind it. Josh is also an artist, better known by his pseudonym ModHero, and he talks with us about his work. We then become six on the mic when Brother Bryan joins us to to talk about the Archie Kickstarter and lots of comics including Thor, Secret Wars, Wuvable Oaf, Arcadia, The Filth and Convergence: Supergirl Matrix. Also, lots of show bandwidth is dedicated to just how gay Mr. Sinister is! So listen in and BUY YOUR FLAME CON TIX if you haven't already! Intro: Matthew Sweet - "Where You Get Love"1:01 - Introducing Joey Stern and Josh Siegel from GeeksOUT to discuss Flame Con!16:29 - Josh's ModHero work36:07 - Archie's Kickstarter controversy54:17 - Comic talk including Th

T.H.U.N.D.E.R.H.O.S.T.S. Bill and Rob return to talk about Dynamo #1, originally published by Tower Comics and cover dated August 1966. A giant size offering of our boy Len Brown in solo action! Listen in and hear how Dynamo faces the evil likes of The Red Dragon, The Iron Maiden, Demo, Dr. Sparta, mysterious men from the moon (maybe), Andor and Dr. Oom in battle! He gets nowhere (again) with Alice! He forgets to ask for a raise! He punches dinosaurs in the face! AND we are treated to the debut of Wonder Weed, Super Hero! All this and T.H.U.N.D.E.E.R.tracks from The Buggles and NRBQ!

Bill Zanowitz and Rob Staeger are back and it is a big one folks, as they cover T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #7, cover dated August 1966. After their customary tour through the spinner rack of June 1966 (and maybe a little too much Spider-Man talk) they tackle T-Agents #7 which includes some guest appearances from the ladies of Marvel (sorta kinda) ... but more importantly, they end with spotlighting "A Matter of Life and Death", probably the most important T-Agents story ever. T.H.U.N.D.E.R.tracks this time out from Sex Mob and David Bowie.