"Hey Kids, Comics!" and "The Rantcor Pit" Are On the Move!

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Greetings, JediCole fans!  I have some big news for you regarding a couple of favorite podcasts from The JediCole Universe Podcasting Network.  Two of the most popular shows on the network are going to have a change of schedule beginning this week.

In order to maintain the quality of the show and keep up with the self-imposed weekly schedule, Andrew Farmer has chosen to move Hey Kids, Comics! weekly release date from Wednesday to Friday.  Start your weekend off right with the JCU show that takes and in-depth look at comics from every conceivable angle.  

 Andy and Cole will be talking up one of their favorite subjects again on Friday, April 11 as HKC! moves into its new spot in the week.  If you are wondering what became of us today, now you know.  Just give us a couple of extra days and we will deliver some more fun and thoughtful comics programming for your enjoyment.

The Rantcor Pit has had a rather sporadic schedule of late, bouncing around here and there.  Well it is time to get back to basics with a set release day each week.  As you may now know, the Star Wars-themed podcast I co-host with Eddie Medina of Figments  has been invited to become a part of Deep Ellum on Air, a Dallas, Texas based network of podcasts and programming! 

The Rantcor Pit Live will premiere as the opening show of their Sunday lineup on April 13 and return every other week as a companion show to The Rantcor Pit here at the JCU on alternate Sundays (starting April 20).  That's right!  You can now get your Rantcor fix every Sunday right here and over at Deep Ellum On Air!  

 So, to recap, look for the new line-up here staring in just a couple of days...

 Hey Kids, Comics! - Every Friday starting April 11
The Rantcor Pit Live - Every other Sunday starting April 13
The Rantcor Pit - Every alternating Sunday starting April 20

Hey Kids, Comics! #84 - Creator Spotlight #3: It's Good to Be the Jack "King" Kirby!

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Despite overwhelming odds (actually exhaustion) Andrew Farmer and Cole "JediCole" Houston are back with more Hey Kids, Comics! fun.  And they are proud to bring you the return of a recurring feature, "Creator Spotlight"

This outing the light shines on none other than Jack Kirby!  A giant among giants, Kirby's career saw his work grace the pages of comics in nearly every genre in the catalog.  He worked with writers who are industry giants in their own right and created some of the most memorable and enduring characters in comics.  From his long collaboration with Stan Lee to his defining years at DC, Kirby's influence on contemporary comics certainly knows no bounds. 

So join Andy and Cole as they share their own insights on a legend of comics who deserves more than a measly hour to do his career justice.


Hey Kids, Comics! #83 - Free Comic Book Daze

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It's time yet again for Hey Kids, Comics! after our All-Con hiatus!

 This week Andrew was determined to explore the varied world of freebie comic books.  From marketing tie-ins to public service works, there have been a lot of free comics over the years, even decades before the International Free Comic Book Day.


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"X-Men at the State Fair of Texas" - Was Pyro responsible for Big Tex's demise years later?

 Mars' Combos promotional "Combo Man", those local flavor newspaper giveaways that were found in larger markets, and even comics included with toys are discussed.  Special guest Eddie Medina (The Rantcor Pit) joins the fun and schools your hosts on the diverse history of the promo giveaway comic.


Get a Year of “You Are Here” Wherever You Are!

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On Sunday, April 14, 2013 JCU Sunday Funnies was launched on this very website and as of this moment has featured You Are Here every week since.  That’s 48 cartoons delivered to you weekly with the occasional addition of the companion comic “Open Season”.     As we near the first anniversary of The JediCole Universe’s premiere cartoon, series artist Bobby Blakey and I simply could not wait and published Your First Year Here, a collection of 52 cartoons that comprise the first year of the series, even before a few were ever seen online.


Launched at All-Con 2014 on Thursday, March 13, I am proud to offer this 8” x 6” comic book format collection to those who could not meet us in person at the show!  For a limited time


The JediCole Universe will be selling this book, which features two cartoons per page, for $9.50 postpaid (U.S. only, outside the U.S. please inquire).  A limited number of copies are available signed by myself and Bobby and will be shipped on a first come, first served basis.  
The very first "You Are Here", just one of 54 one-panel cartoons in this volume.

Please write to the JCU at jcumail@yahoo.com for details on how to get your own copy of this amazing collection of a year's worth of cartoons plus two bonus cartoons that were never published on this site!

 Look for announcements on Convention Awareness Project - Texas for news of mine and Bobby's convention appearances in Texas to for news on "Show Specials" on Your First Year Here throughout the year.

Figments Case File 005: Roswell, Area 51 and Beyond...LIVE from All-Con 2014

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Colleen and Eddie, our fearless Figments leaders, have survived All-Con 2014 and they have the recordings to prove it! For your listening pleasure we have the first of a two part series of live shows that we had the pleasure of doing in front of some great All-Con attendees here in Dallas, Texas last weekend.

In this first offering we briefly touch on the Roswell crash, Area 51 and the Russian alien autopsy. As an added bonus we have special guest, Andrew Farmer from the JCU hit podcast Hey Kids Comics! We discovered Andy has a deep love of all things cryptid and the unknown so when the topic of Hanger 18 came up we had to have Andy join us on stage in front of the captivated audience. Listen in as Andy also shares a secret from the Farmer Vault as he tells a story so shocking that had things gone wrong it could have altered the JediCole Universe as we know it.
 

Also, tune in next week as we bring you part 2 of the All-Con Live shows, "Bigfoot, Mothman and other Cryptid Creatures."

The Rantcor Pit 11: The Art of Star Wars Art

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This episode was recorded about two weeks ago, in advance of All-Con 2014.  The concept was that we would manage to get a show out while we were away at All-Con presenting game shows, panels, and talk shows.  Unfortunately that convention (and our presence there) swallowed whole every moment either of us had at our disposal.  There is mention at the beginning of the show about the original intention for this show and how this would have been on the site during last weekend.  Needless to say this did not happen as planned, but I did not want to remove that part of the show solely because it is not accurate.  After the All-Con weekend it would no longer have been relevant anyway, really.


The Rantcor Pit is back!  After a hiatus for All-Con, Cole "JediCole" Houston and Eddie Medina return like so many Jedi to bring you an overdue new look at our favorite galaxy far, far away!

For this episode the subject is the art of Star Wars.  From early concept art that helped sell the film to the studio and even Kenner Toys, to some favorite art from the comics that kept the story alive for us between films.  Artists are often the unsung heroes of movies and especially cultural phenomenon like Star Wars.  Eddie realized this (perhaps as an artist) and suggested this show.

Despite fatigue from preparing for four days of entertaining the masses at a convention, your intrepid hosts find much to talk about as they use a thousand words to give you a picture of Star Wars art and artists!

What Has Become of the JCU?

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Hello to everyone who has been following the antics here at The JediCole Universe.  If your favorite podcasts and features seem to be somewhat absent of late, you have my apologies.

Nearly everyone involved in every aspect of this site was at All-Con 2014 last weekend and as a result exhaustion and illness (the inevitable "con crud" has run roughshod over us all to varied degrees. 

 This ship will be back on course very soon.  Please stay tuned for more Hey Kids, Comics!, The Rantcor Pit, Whadjathink?, Figments, and more will be back soon!  

 Thank you for your understanding.  

And if you happen to be in McKinney, TX the weekend of April 4-6, 2014 you should check out G33K3: The Con 2014 (pronounced "Geeky") where I will be among the special guests.  You can catch the game show Screen Time, check out a reprise of The JediCole Universe Live (with a brand new edition of "It Came From the Dollar Store!", and even see a live panel of The Rantcor Pit with myself and Eddie Medina!  I will be there Saturday (all day) and early Sunday.

Figments Case File #004: 70's Sasquatch Disco Fever!

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Break out your bell bottoms and Bee Gee's records because its time to head back to the 70's with Colleen and Eddie! Join our cryptid couple as they explore the unique genre of Sasquatch Documentaries! The Boggy Creek Monster, Peter Graves and not even Leonard Nimoy are safe when our disco duo explores this long gone part of American cinema.
 

Don't forget to roller skate all the way to the end of this groovy podcast to hear the details about Figment's first live performances on March 14th and 15th.

Hey Kids, Comics! #82 - Once More Unto the All-Con, My Friends!

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All-Con is Just 7 Days Away!
And this episode of Hey Kids, Comics! is acting as the latest Countdown to All-Con 2014, too!

 What a month it has been!  Andrew has moved several states from Ohio to Arizona.  Cole has been buried in preparations for All-Con.  Both will be converging on Addison, TX for that very convention in a week.  And for the last detour before things return to more comic book related themes again, we bring you the annual preview of All Things All-Con!

"A Gathering of Heroes" is this year's theme and that could not be more appropriate.  Andrew will be back on his seeming every-other-year rotation at the show and you can find Cole and Catherine, The Rantcor Pit's Eddie Medina, and Whadjathink and You Are Here's Bobby Blakey, too!
JediCole hosts the first "Don't Lose Your Geek Card" way back in 2010!
Learn all about what make's All-Con a personal favorite convention here at the JCU and discover why you should be there next weekend.  With more to see and do in four days than can be seen and done in four days it is a must!  Really! 

Want to know more?  Of course you do!  And here's the place to do just that!



Figments Case File 003: Close Encounters of the First Time

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Do UFOs exist? What are they? Are they man-made or extra-terrestrial? What are people really seeing when they say they have seen an unidentified flying object? Well tonight, the dorky but lovely duo, explain to you what THEY saw...
 

Co-hosts Eddie and Colleen Medina change it up a bit in this new episode of Figments as they tell you for the first time "on air" their own account of witnessing a UFO. Join them as they fly you away to Fairfield State Park in the heart of Texas to relive their encounter.


The Rantcor Pit 10: The Kenner Years

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Note: Due to a variety of circumstances that have weighed on the schedules of many JCU producers and hosts, this edition of The Rantcor Pit ran late and is posting on a Wednesday rather than a Friday.  It is standing in for this week's Hey Kids, Comics! which has been postponed until next Wednesday. - Jedicole. 

 Star Wars action figures and toys are very much a part of the whole Star Wars experience for fans of all ages.  That is certainly true for your hosts Cole "JediCole" Houston and Eddie Medina.  Both were around back in the days when Star Wars toys were knew and the collectibles juggernaut that the Saga would become was still in its infancy.
  
This week, special guest Vic Medina (yep, Eddie's brother) joins the show for a lively discussion of "the good old days" and the original Kenner action figure line.  From the thrill of the hunt to the various challenges of finding your favorite toys when there was no internet and few resources apart from walking into a various stores and scouring the pegs.  
From the collection of Cole "JediCole" Houston.
Childhood memories run rampant in this special edition of the JCU's original Star Wars podcast!

Figments Case File 002: Welcome to the Rock

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The unknown...the unexplained...and now the un-escapable. Join co-hosts Colleen and Eddie Medina once again as they break INTO the ever infamous Alcatraz prison to find out if the "un-escapable" has been escaped. 


 
Did Frank Morris, Clarence and John Anglin successfully break out of Alcatraz and safely make it to civilization and freedom in June of 1962? Listen in to this week's episode to find out what we think.

Hey Kids, Comics! #80 - The InfiniToy Gauntlet: A Toy Aisle Adventure

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It's Wednesday and time for another issue of Hey Kids, Comics!, even if it is a touch late today.  

 With the New York International Toy Fair having occurred between the last issue and this one, it was impossible for Andrew and Cole to resist turning down the Toy Aisle one more time.  There is just too much on the horizon not to revisit one of our favorite topics.  

The sheer volume of fun that spewed forth from New York this year could not be contained any more than the enthusiasm of your toy-fanatical hosts and their returning guest Rick Gutierrez of the United States of Geekdom!  A veritable cornucopia of licensed toy goodness awaits us all in the latest Golden Age of Collectibles (aka 2014). 

Give a listen to find out about even more great collectibles that you will simply have to have in your collection this year!