Hey Kids, Comics! #204 - Creator Spotlight #6: The Man, The Stan

Hey kids, excelsior!

It's Creator Spotlight time yet again, and who better to showcase than the Godfather of Comics himself, Stan Lee!  The famously prolific creator will be retiring his convention appearances at the end of this year, literally, so it was high time that he be profiled in this way.

With a career that spans over three-quarters of a century in comics, Stan Lee has become larger than life.  Perhaps even larger than his own creations?  That is a question that inspires many more about the man and the myth.  Hosts Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston have chosen to try to tackle some weighty questions from actual fans about Stan "The Man" Lee.

At a Library Not Far, Far Away

Earlier today, November 5, 2016, The Rantcor Pit appeared at the Southwest Branch of the Arlington (Texas) Public Library as guests of their Star Wars Extravaganza!

I wanted to personally thank the Library, and especially Morgan who reached out to us for this event, on behalf of the show and my co-host Eddie Medina.  We had an amazing time meeting fellow Star Wars fans and being a part of the costume contest.  Photos will be added to this post very soon.

In the mean time, if you are new to The Rantcor Pit and want to catch The Rantcor Pit Live on On Air Live (12 PM to 1 PM Central) on the first and third Sundays of every month, be sure to check us out by clicking here.  We will be talking about the Star Wars event today among many other aspects of Star Wars past, present, and future on our November 5 show, "The State of the Star Wars Address".

Hey Kids, Comics! #203 - Cage Match

Welcome back to Hey Kids, Comics! as Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston welcome back Mrs. JediCole as their special guest!

This week your hosts make up for having never done an issue covering Netflix's Jessica Jones by double dipping and giving you that series and Luke Cage in one exciting episode!

Both shows brought a variety of characters familiar to Marvel Comics fans to the small screen with a special twist all their own.  Paying tribute to the long history of the heroes, villains, and supporting characters while giving each a modern makeover for television.  

From Jessica Jones' Purple Man who lacked the complexion of a Concord grape to Luke Cage's take on an abbreviated Serpent Society, did these two shows find favor with the HKC! hosts and their guest?  Find out by listening to this rather involved issue of the show.

ReNerding Episode 2: Locke and Key! Severed! Birthday Boy?

Hellish (day after!) Halloween, ReNerders! Not only is our favorite helliday, it’s ALSO Matt Rox’s birthday! YAAAY! We here at ReNerding sure are glad he was born, mainly because without him, all the wonders that befall your ears wouldn’t exist! Maybe. We’d have to explore alternate timelines.

(The previous paragraph is slightly null and void as we ended up releasing this episode the day after Halloween due to some ghoulish technical difficulties. Sorry about that! But we wanted to spread the Halloween spirit into November!)

Anyway, we continue our horror-ific first couple of episodes by discussing two amazing, wonderful, and eerie horror comics: Severed, written by Scott Snyder, illustrated by Attila Futaki and Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft, written by Joe Hill, illustrated by Gabriel Rodriguez. Matt and Chris share what they dug, what didn’t turn them on, and whether or not they will ReNerd over these two comics again in the future (spoiler alert: THEY WILL!) Listen as they discuss their individual creative projects, Matt’s inability to discern between North and South American artists, and Chris’s heavy breathing (see notes below for more info.)

And HEY! Did you hear the big news?! Matt and Chris are going to be guests on the amazingly awesome and awesomely amazing Ranctcor Pit Podcast on November 6th! ReNerding is part of the JediCole Universe podcast family, and The Pit is one of our brethern. We are so excited to get to be on there! The podcast streams live, and if you can’t make it then, listen to it whenever you can!

Figments Case File #14: Heads Will Roll in Sleepy Hollow

The Cryptid Couple, Colleen and Eddie Medina, celebrate Halloween by talking about possibly the most famous of ghost stories...The Legend of Sleepy Hollow! Instead of treating this as a regular Figments case, Colleen and Eddie will talk about their favorite movie and tv adaptations.

So sit back with your bag of Halloween candy and listen in fellow Figments Fanatics!

Hey Kids, Comics! Halloween Special #1 - Chick or Treat

Enter.   If you dare!

Welcome to the first annual Hey Kids, Comics! Halloween Special!  

Just over a week before Halloween a giant of comic book publication passed away.  No, not some familiar name from the ranks of the Editorial Staff of Marvel or DC.  Not some wold-famous super-hero creator.  Not even some higher up at Archie Comics!

No, it was none other than reclusive religious comic book and tract publisher Jack Chick.  Upon the news of his demise, hosts Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston realized that for far too many years an aspect of comics had gone unexplored on this show.  What began as a "next episode" quickly became the first annual Halloween Special.

Chick Publications may seem an odd choice of topic for a Halloween show on a comic book podcast, but these comics took the pseudo holiday's modern candy-industry-fueled playfulness as a common theme for cautionary tales of the seemingly infinite power of Satan!  Examining this and other themes of these ultra-religious, often tragic tales, your crack HKC! team is joined by Eddie Medina.

From the fire and brimstone themes to the admonition that Chick religious tracts make great companions to "fun size" sugary treats when it comes to saving the damned at Halloween, there was a lot of ground to cover in this special and unique episode that examines one of the most overlooked of comic book genre.

The Rantcor Pit #56 - Malice in the Palace

Quite a bit overdue.  Nearly a week in fact, the latest edition of The Rantcor Pit has arrived at last!  This time Your Favorite Star Wars Guys are taking a little trip into that other "wretched hive" of the Original Trilogy, Jabba's Palace!

Many of the most fascinating background characters in Star Wars are found in Jabba's Palace.  Certainly they captured the imagination of your hosts, as well as their enthusiasm.  From Jabba's majordomo Bib Fortuna to the curious and pondering Hermie Odle, there are so many creatures to discover in the various alcoves and corners of the Tattooine headquarters of the notorious Hutt.

Discover how Oola was not the only one with a "boob slip", hear discussion on the characters you never saw, including the bizarre and unrealized "light man", and just listen to a couple of hardcore alien creature fanatics gush over this rich set piece from Return of the Jedi!

So grab a drink from the R2 unit Jabba just acquired, belly up to the Sail Barge windows, and enjoy the spectacle, this time without getting blown up by a bunch of Rebels!  Actually, just enjoy the latest episode of The Rantcor Pit as Cole and Eddie hang out in a favorite place...

Hey Kids, Comics! #202 - Tick Marks

SPOOOOOOON!

Hey Kids, Comics! goes to The City.  Literally!  

Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston proudly invite you to join them as they discuss one of the most curiously successful comics of all time, The Tick!

Created by Ben Edlund way back in 1986, The Tick has jumped off of the independent comic book page and into the world of television both as an animated series and a live action series.  As Amazon prepares to go all in on the second live action series in the 30 year history of the character, it seemed only fitting that HKC! take a look at what makes the Tick keep on ticking.

Your hosts are joined by Tick super-fan Catherine "Mrs. JediCole" Houston as they ponder the most clueless yet effective hero in comics!

Figments Case File #13: Amityville Means Friendship...Or Horror...Whichever

The Cryptid Couple, Eddie and Colleen, take you on a visit to the infamous Amityville house, made famous by the best selling book and blockbuster movie, The Amityville Horror. What was the real story behind the DeFeo murders. Were the Lutz family members really tormented by dark forces? Listen in and determine for yourself...are they real...or are they Figments?

Hey Kids, Comics! #201 - World Bizarre

Bizarro.  The imperfect clone or duplicate (depending on your era) of Superman is the subject of this week's issue of the show.  Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston find themselves in a strange place indeed as a result.  

Depending on whether or not you subscribe to Bizarro World philosophy, this is either among the best or the worst episodes of the show ever produced.  Regardless of your way of thinking, it is perfectly fair and square or imperfectly unfair and circle.  Either way, your HKC! hosts hope that you enjoy their exploration of one of the most curious, and curiously enduring, characters of the Superman mythology.

"Best episode EVER! - Bizarro Comic Book Guy; The Bizarro Simpsons

BONUS!  As promised in the latest issue, CLICK HERE to check out The Apocrypha #6!

ReNerding Episode 1: Hellraiser! Nightbreed! Cenobuns?

ReNerding begins in earnest after the introductory episode.  Check out the nerdiness right here!

This is it, fellow ReNerders, the very first episode!  *Cue fanfare and fireworks*  You will be able to say that you were there from the beginning; or, if you’re reading this many years from now, way to go on scrolling allll the way back to the first episode!

In this episode, Matt and Chris both nerd and renerd over the Clive Barker classics Hellraiser and Nightbreed. Listen in as they discuss their differing views on Frank and Julia having sex on her wedding dress the day before she marries Frank’s brother, Hellraiser’s weird pacing, their offer to Cinnabun and Clive Barker to marry the two franchises into Cenobuns, Chris’s indecision regarding the rest of the Hellraiser series, Boone’s hero journey in Nightbreed, Chris and Matt playing the Newlywed Game and Chris failing to figure out Matt’s favorite Nightbreed, all this AND MORE!!!

Hey Kids, Comics! #200 - Tales From the Tanzanite Age

How exactly does anyone top one "Golden Age of Comic Book Movies after another?  Simple.  Declare the Tanzanite Age of Comic Book Movies!

Year after year the bar continues to be raised as the comic book movies dreamed of in childhood have come to the fore.  A genre unto itself, there have been distinct ages in the history of the modern cinematic comic book realm.  Join Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston as they explore that history and the rise of the Tanzanite Age.  

Enjoy the dawning of the Age of Tanzanite at a theater near you later this year.  And early next year.  And next summer, next fall, next Christmas, and early in 2018, too!

Figments Case File #012: Urban Decay

Due to a preponderance of swamp gas filled weather balloons converging with an ascending Venus during a lunar eclipse, "Weird Wednesdays", the weekly October release of Figments, is occurring on Thursday this week.

Colleen and Eddie bring you week 2 of their month-long spooky Figments cases. Listen as they talk about Urban Legends and see if you can figure out if they are real or a figment before they reveal it.

ReNerding Episode 0: Origin Story! Friendship! Unnamed Local Used Bookstore?

All heroes have epic origins, and your fearless podcast hosts are no different. In this episode, Matt and Chris briefly share our stories: Matt bitten by a radioactive spider, Chris retconned into existence circa 1985, both of them the overlords of Latvia at differing times. Learn how our friendship grew whilst employees of Unnamed Local Used Bookstore! Learn how Chris once nerded, then stopped, then nerded anew! Learn how Matt has devoted his life to the ways of nerding! Learn how the two friends decided to embark upon this nerdtastic voyage! Listen to Chris talk about Lady Death’s boobs!

More importantly, this episode lays out what ReNerding is all about; it also lets you know the format of each episode:

1. Matt assigns Chris an assignment to help him ReNerd.

2. Matt and Chris do each assignment

3. We come together to discuss what they dug, what turned them off, interesting info.

4. We decide if they will continue to ReNerd over the particular assignment (Will they continue the series?! Will they rewatch that movie?!)

Next week’s assignment: Follow Matt and Chris as they watch for the first time (Chris) or rewatch (Matt) Hellraiser and Nightbreed as part of the ReNerding spooooooktacular Halloween horror funness! If you have Netflix, they are both there (at least at the time of this recording/blog post.) Thanks for listening!

I

A couple more things:

1. Sorry about the audio quality! We were/are learning the ways of audio recording, and this episode is a result of that. Not all our episodes sound this way, so bear with us as we are learning. If you like what we are doing, consider donating to our Patreon so we can afford better microphones to be all melodious in your earholes.

2. ReNerding needs you! This whole process is an experiment in community, and while Matt and I are content to hang out and talk about all this stuff by ourselves, we’d eventually go apeshit and probably murder each other. You don’t want to be responsible for that, do you? DO YOU?! Join our Facebook page, our ReNerders Mailing List, follow us on Twitter! From there, shoot us your messages, thoughts, ideas, and ReNerding assignments. Be sure to use #renerding!

3. Subscribe on your favorite podcast app, rate us, give us reviews! The more of these we get, the more people find out about us, and the more folks we can get in on this whole ReNerding shebang.

4. We love you!

The Rantcor Pit #55 - Fett-Ish

The Rancor Pit welcomes you to join us in celebrating our third anniversary with a brand new episode on our new schedule, the second and fourth Sundays of every month!

This outing it is time to explore one of the biggest breakaway characters in Star Wars cinematic history, Boba Fett!

The clone of a long-dead bounty hunter, Fett took up the family business and got in good with the Galactic Empire by successfully tracking the Millennium Falcon to Bespin.

From being the sole highlight of the Star Wars Holiday Special to a lackluster "death" in the maw of the Sarlacc, Boba Fett is one of the most iconic players in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  The notorious bounty hunter not only brought Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt, he also captured the imagination of fans worldwide.  

Enjoy "Your Favorite Star Wars Guys" as they bet on the Fett Man in this special anniversary episode of Rantcor!

Hey Kids, Comics! #199 - Red All Over

“Your Commie has no regard for human life, not even his own. And for this reason, men, I want to impress upon you the need for extreme watchfulness. The enemy may come individually, or he may come in strength. He may even come in the uniform of our own troops. But however he comes, we must stop him. We must not allow him to gain entrance to this base.” - Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper (Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)

Get ready for a Cold War flashback as your HKC! hosts Andrew "Little Red One" Farmer and Cole "Red Scare Bear" Houston take a look at Communism in comics and the heroes and villains thereof in the history of the comics. 

A red dawn rises in comics from Red Ghost and his super-apes to the Chinese super team, Great Ten to the People's Protectorate.  Communism and the Red Scare ledto a myriad of characters that endure to this day. 

A red dawn rises in comics from Red Ghost and his super-apes to the Chinese super team, Great Ten to the People's Protectorate.  Communism and the Red Scare ledto a myriad of characters that endure to this day. 

So get Red-y for some fun and flashbacks in an in-depth exploration of Soviet and Communist characters of an era where they were a major force in comics!

CCCP you next week, comrades!

Figments Case File #011: Deep in the Haunt of Texas

A new season of Figments begins now with the first of four spooky episodes for October leading right up to Halloween!  

Colleen and Eddie, "The Cryptid Couple", are back with new episodes of "Figments". Prepare yourself as they talk Texas-sized tales of terror with "Deep In The Haunt Of Texas". They also give the low down on the Grandbury Paranormal Expo. Celebrate "Weird Wednesdays" the Figments way!

Hey Kids, Comics! #198 - Get Off of My Page!

Welcome to a follow up to a previous issue of the show that simply could not wait another week!  Following up on the incomplete HKC! #195, Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston are proud to bring you an exploration of comic book creators insinuating themselves into their own work.

From the ubiquitous appearances of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby to the Marvel Bullpen insinuating themselves into the X-Men, comic creators seem to love joining their own creations.  "The Rantcor Pit" co-host Eddie Mednina returns to join in on this discussion of a phenomenon that seemed to run rampant at Marvel Comics.

Learn all about the John Byrne Swagger and more!

Hey Kids, Comics! #197 - Comicsumentary

Hey Kids, Documentaries!

Welcome to a different kind of HKC! issue that takes a look at comics in cinema, but not in the way most would think these days.   Given the proliferation of comic book movies and television today (Russia even has a super-hero movie coming out!), it is easy to forget that documentary filmmakers are getting in on the popularity of the genre.  Well, Andrew Farmer and Cole Houston are your Pepperidge Farms in this particular case!

Exploring the work of documentarians in general, and highlighting four films specifically, your hosts invite you to join them in exploring “the other comic book” movies.  Discover why you really need to see “Crumb!”, “Finding Steve Ditko”, “Comix: Beyond the Comic Book Page”, and “The Death of Superman Lives”.  

Roll 'em!

The things you see in small town Ohio