Fri, 14 August 2020
Everything has changed in the wake of COVID-19. This applies, of course, to indie comic creators, for whom the pandemic hit especially hard in terms of income. With gatherings of people not likely to happen in any safe capacity for awhile, it has many creators asking, "What do we do in a world without comic conventions?"
D. Bethel and Taurus Comics' Kyrun Silva sit down to talk about creating comics during a pandemic. While a dour topic generally, they manage to find the laughs amid the serious discussion of the future of indie comics and the conventions they hold so dear.
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Find Kyrun's work through Taurus Comics at: Taurus Comics websiteFacebookTwitter D. Bethel's webcomic, Long John.Want to read a storyline from D. Bethel's previous comic, Eben07? Read the comic's final, five-issue story––"Operation: 3-Ring Bound"––for free as an ebook.Find reference images at the post for this episode on the website.
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Con Artists #01 - StocktonCon, pt. 1: The drive home from the first day of the show. Kyrun and D. discuss making sales, confidence, and the comics they grew up reading and enjoying. Con Artists #02 - StocktonCon, pt. 2: The drive to StocktonCon to start Day 2 of the show. They discuss the importance of continuity, the level of fan engagement and ownership over continuity, and Dan's strange reading habits growing up. Con Artists #03 - StocktonCon, pt. 3: Where Kyrun and D. talk about the breadth of indie comics, writing comics, and dive headfirst into personal nostalgia. Con Artists #04 - StocktonCon Winter 2019: Where D. Bethel and Kyrun try out StocktonCon's inaugural Winter show...with mixed results. FEATURED MUSIC: “Road Music” by D. Bethel"Bounce" by D. Bethel
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Fri, 7 August 2020
ANY PORT IN A NERD STORM: Rather than blasting the news, Andrew and D. Bethel blur the distinction between nerdy news and Weeks in Geek with Andrew expressing his excitement for Star Trek: Lower Decks on CBS All Access, Dan's strange sense of place after watching the HBO true crime documentary mini-series, I'll Be Gone in the Dark, before they discuss the news of the upcoming live-action Mulan remake getting a simultaneous (albeit for $29.99) release on Disney+ and in theaters.
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Fri, 31 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew watches the documentary about the creation of Dungeons & Dragons that re-establishes the importance of co-founder, Dave Arneson, called Secrets of Blackmoor: The True History of Dungeons & Dragons, while D. Bethel enjoys––but fully understands the criticisms of––Sucker Punch Games' new open world samurai game, Ghost of Tsushima.
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Fri, 24 July 2020
THE INTERMINABLE CUT: Zack Snyder had already made it clear that his "Snyder Cut" of Justice League for HBO Max was going to be long, but recently made clear that it was going to be even longer than the 214 minutes he previously said it would be, meaning it will likely be close to four hours of film. Andrew and D. Bethel have some thoughts about long run times with nerdy and geeky movies.
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Fri, 17 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew tunes into the new Apple TV alternate history drama created by Ronald D. Moore: For All Mankind. D. Bethel also watches some tv; however, it's animated and old––Disney XD's Gravity Falls.
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Fri, 10 July 2020
A NEW BAT IN THE BELFRY: With Ruby Rose's sudden departure as the lead in CW's Batwoman after the conclusion of its first season, the studio had a lot of interesting choices to make. This week, it was announced that Javicia Leslie would be taking over as the lead––not as Kate Kane, but as a brand new, original character, Ryan Wilder. Andrew & D. Bethel discuss the casting, legacy characters, and how a show can survive––and thrive––even when their lead actor has been replaced.
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Fri, 3 July 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew finds half of a game to enjoy in Owlcat Games' Pathfinder: Kingmaker while D. Bethel expands his artistic repertoire by investing in an iPad Pro and finds a lot to like in it.
Here's a recent post on D. Bethel's Long John website about using the iPad to draw (including the video showing the drawing getting drawn). RELEVANT EPISODES:
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Fri, 26 June 2020
PEOPLE ARE STILL TERRIBLE: The last few weeks have been heavy with news of important people in the various nerd industries––video games, tabletop, comics, etc.––getting called out as sexual predators who, for years, were protected by the companies they worked for. Andrew and D. Bethel don't dive into specific cases as much as why these people's predatory behavior had been "open secrets" for years and hadn't suffered for it.
Schrodinger's Coulson: To end on more fun news, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the first few episodes of the new, final season of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD, which has the crew hopping through different time periods.
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Fri, 19 June 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: As is often the case with our hosts: everything old is new again. Andrew plans to take on the psychological strangeness of Atlus' Catherine in the recently released "definitive" version of the 2011 game called Catherine: Full Body. D. Bethel actually steps outside the realm of Xavier's School for the Gifted to try out a different Marvel hero, The Silver Surfer, in the 2019 limited series, Silver Surfer: Black, by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, and Dave Stewart.
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Fri, 12 June 2020
THE DELONGATED MAN: Actor Hartley Sawyer has been fired from his role as Ralph Dibney––the civilian name for The Elongated Man––after racist and misogynist tweets he made years ago once again resurfaced. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss accountability in the world of social media and the permanence of internet publishing.
WotC RESHUFFLES: Magic: The Gathering publisher, Wizards of the Coast (WotC) announces it will be retiring old cards with clear racist imagery and implications from circulation.
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Fri, 5 June 2020
We're taking the week to go quiet and let the voices that need to be heard get amplified. Donate. Protest. Support. Listen. Vote. Stay safe.
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Fri, 29 May 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel let you in on the newest in modern entertainment. Andrew takes a dip into Nickelodeon's 2005 animated show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, while Dan finds himself charmed by the 2015 RPG by CD Projekt Red, The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt.
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Fri, 22 May 2020
#RELEASETHETAYLORCUT: With a bunch of DC Comics-related news dropping this week, we had to light the Taylor signal to bring in our resident DC expert and Senior Optimist Reporter, Taylor Katcher, to talk about the release of the infamous "Snyder Cut" of 2017's Justice League on the forthcoming streaming service, HBO Max. Also discussed is the shocking news that Ruby Rose would be stepping down from the lead role on Batwoman after the first season (and had already been renewed for a second). RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 15 May 2020
NEWS BLAST (COVID-19 EDITION): A lot of stuff is going on amid the global pandemic, and Andrew and D. Bethel are here to talk about it (if Dan actually was able to record his audio this time). They talk about the AMC theater chain shunning Universal Pictures amid Trolls World Tour's success, Civilization VI's bold new plan for a year's worth of DLC and expansions, Marvel and DC Comics are shipping books again, The Flash has an abbreviated season (ending on somewhat of a downbeat), and New Mutants gets a theatrical release date...again.
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Fri, 8 May 2020
IT WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED "THE NEW MIDNIGHT": There's no new episode this week due to some debilitating technical problems on one of the host's end (it was Dan). Check back next week for a new episode. INFO:
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Fri, 1 May 2020
#CAPITALISM: With Disney taking ownership of the 4th of May, Andrew and D. Bethel talk about the role of ownership in public discourse for a bit.
MUNDANE FANTASY: Looking at where the world is now, and with the meteoric landing of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, D. Bethel and Andrew wonder––why do we love playing games about working...and love them?
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Fri, 24 April 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, after giving a brief update on the announcement of IMDb TV's revival of Leverage, Andrew talks about his experience playing Coldwild Games' delightful trading simulation game, Merchant of the Skies while D. Bethel finally got around to watching Netflix's The Witcher.
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Fri, 17 April 2020
WHAT MAKES A REMAKE: With the incredible success of games like Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy VII Remake, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the legacy of these new games (and their original versions) while also discussing all of the iterations of "re-" that you can find in media (reboots, remakes, remasters).
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Fri, 10 April 2020
OUT OF GAS: Though this is on the feed, it's more of an apology for a lack of an episode to this. In the interest of full disclosure, both Andrew and D. Bethel couldn't muster the energy to get out of being generally exhausted and saddened by their quarantined lives. So, rather than force their way through uninspired conversation, they figured the best thing to do would be to call in a sick day and try again next week. INFO:
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Fri, 3 April 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew finds the retro-JRPG stylings of Square Enix's Octopath Traveler engaging and fun while D. Bethel has fun making the new pages from his webcomic, Long John, into short videos for Instagram, forcing him to look at his own work in new ways. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 27 March 2020
SHELTER AT HOME: With both hosts hometowns under a "shelter at home" quarantine, they discuss how they've had to adjust their behavior to continue their normal nerdy procedures. To that end, Andrew discusses playing tabletop RPGs online using the Roll20 website and the teleconferencing program, Zoom. D. Bethel, on the other hand, talks about comic book distribution and how the major (only?) comics distributor, Diamond Comics, decreed that it will cease ordering (and shipping) new comics immediately; Dan talks about how this affects him and, more importantly, how it affects local comic shops.
Here is a look at the virtual tabletop Andrew created for his game of Spectaculars:
Also, here is the video made by Sacramento comic shop proprietor, Ben Schwartz––owner of Empire's Comics Vault––laying out the dilemma of comic shop owners in the time of the quarantine (especially before Diamond stopped shipping). RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 20 March 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our hosts push through the shelter at home monotony by playing video games albeit old video games. First, Andrew steps back into 2015's The Witcher III: The Wild Hunt now that he has more context after watching the hit Netflix show, while D. Bethel is intrigued at how hard the narrative payoff will fail in the otherwise really fun Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
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Fri, 13 March 2020
CORONA, I HARDLY KNEW YA: The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the nerd world with––since the last episode––the postponement of Emerald City Comic Con, the cancellation of this year's E3 and other cultural events like SXSW. Andrew & D. Bethel cover the COVID-19-related news since the last episode.
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew falls in love with Scratchpad Publishing's new RPG, Spectaculars, while D. Bethel is intrigued by the demo for Final Fantasy VII Remake on Playstation 4.
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Fri, 6 March 2020
DON'T DIE: With the rising threat of the coronavirus and its impact on nerd conventions––especially Emerald City Comic Con and the Game Developer's Conference––Andrew and D. Bethel investigate all the ways this pandemic can impact not only fans of nerdy things but makers of nerdy things.
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Fri, 28 February 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives into the CBS All Access archives to get caught up on the surprisingly good––and suprisingly different––remake of the '80s action show, MacGyver, while D. Bethel dives into the surprisingly compelling Zelda clone/shopkeep simulator by Digital Sun, Moonlighter.
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Fri, 21 February 2020
GOTTA GO FAST: Sonic the Hedgehog destroys box office expectations Valentine's Day weekend. Andrew and Dan discuss the surprise success of this cinematic adaptation of the beloved video game franchise.
BIRDS OF PREY: OR, THE REINSTATEMENT OF INSTITUTIONALIZED SEXISM AGAINST WOMAN-LED SUPERHERO FILMS: Birds of Prey released last week and its box office performance left some upset. D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the relativity of box office success, how Marvel fandom may be tainting the pond, and how marketing is a strange magic.
DOOMED ANIMAL CROSSING: In a bit of light news, with Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal releasing on the same day, Twitter and Reddit have become very interesting places, and in mostly good ways.
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Fri, 14 February 2020
CRISIS ON INFINITE TAYLORS: With another, even bigger crossover of the DC/CW shows, we had to have friend-of-the-show and Senior Optimist Reporter, Taylor Katcher, come onto the show to talk with Andrew and D. Bethel about the glorious mess that was "Crisis on Infinite Earths" that saw Arrow, The Flash, Batwoman, Supergirl, and DC's Legends of Tomorrow fight to save the multiverse.
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Fri, 7 February 2020
THE PROBLEM WITH LOVECRAFT: A lot of controversy was had (mostly on Twitter) over the last few weeks with the release of Evil Hat Productions' Fate of Cthulhu, a new table-top RPG integrating the systems of Evil Hat's Fate Core and the Lovecraft mythos. Evil Hat proudly declared that it was bucking tropes of other Lovecraft-inspired games––mainly how it addresses Lovecraft's prejudices head-on and it doesn't include sanity meters for its players––and that, for some reason, made a lot of people upset. Andrew talks about the subsequent furor while D. Bethel shows up as our resident Lovecraft scholar. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 31 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew talks about becoming enraptured by the first episode of the new CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Picard while D. Bethel enjoys the poignant but strange end to a creative team's long run on Batman with the DC Comics' Black Label series, Batman: Last Knight on Earth by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo.
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Fri, 24 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew dives in to Hello Games' No Man's Sky after another patch while D. Bethel relays his experience going to see Kevin Smith present his newest film––Jay and Silent Bob Reboot––as part of a traveling tour for the movie when it came to Sacramento.
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Fri, 17 January 2020
NEW WHO: Series 12 of Doctor Who started up on New Year's Day. With three weeks gone and now three episodes in, our Who-loving hosts sit down to talk about it (mostly just the first two episodes SPOILER WARNING for "Spyfall, Part 1" and "Spyfall, Part 2").
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Fri, 10 January 2020
IS THE FORCE STILL WITH US?: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel talk not about Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (although there are things that amount to SPOILERS for both The Rise of Skywalker and The Mandalorian in this episode, so be warned). Instead, they talk about what comes next. An article from NME, it was reported that the next Star Wars saga will be set during the "High Republic" era of the canon, predating all nine numbered movies by 400 years. Andrew and D. Bethel talk about this development––and about Star Wars in general––and even get into a fight about an IP that neither are particularly passionate about.
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Fri, 3 January 2020
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel start the new year with some things they have only light knowledge of and experience with. Andrew starts watching Netflix's The Witcher and only briefly plays Haemimont Games' Surviving Mars. D. Bethel has fun playing detective in the disgusting Lovecraftian world of Frogwares' The Sunking City.
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