Kray Z Comics And Stories

We start the show with Joe being uncomfortable about a lot of things and reminding people to vote. We then get a workout from the crickets with 4 appearances in the first 10 minutes of the show! We have our usual plugs including the 1^st anniversary of the webstrip World Wide News (worldwidenews.solitairerose.com) and a $20 discount for starting a webpage with Dreamhost.com using the code Krayz.

We talk about the Minnesota one day convention we attended, with Cory talking about the crowd and Joe talking about what he was able to buy, with stories about buying comics in the Twin Cities in the 80’s. This leads to a discussion of the new Walking Dead TV series and how successful it was. This leads to Sad News of Caprica and Young Allies canceled. This leads us to talking about the plethora of mini-series that come out before a Marvel movie comes out.

They then touch on the state of comics sales and how being able to get bargains at shops and conventions is ultimately bad for the shops and the comics industry in general. We also discuss Cory’s personal life which leads to a story of children not knowing who William Shatner is, and a story of a Disco Party Room at one of his part-time jobs.

We finish up with talking about the comics we have read over the last few weeks.

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It’s a potpourri this week, as we start with a discussion of comic book artist Steve Rude auctioning off art and other things to help stave off foreclosure. This leads to discussions about Rude’s art, the foreclosure mess and generally everything else connected to the issue.

We then discuss Comic Cover variants as we talk about how we run the Charity table at the FallCon. We then, FINALLY get to our ads and plugs, and by the time we get to them, we’re exhausted and giddy.

We take a call about our Wildstorm episode which Joe then takes in a direction about damaged comics and Ho-Hos. While we have plugs, we discover there is a studio audience. That’s right, a studio audience! And while discussing this news story: Cory goes into the story of how he wrote for Solson Comics and was the next writer to take over “Reagan’s Raiders”…thankfully the company went under before anyone drew any of those horrid scripts…which leads into the idea for Strode-a-pedia!

Finally, we get to what Joe and Cory have been reading, for Joe it was “Claws” by Linsner, Persepolis, and he watched a DVD of our Patron Saint, Charles Nelson Reilly. They then discuss both the movie and the comic Kick-Ass! When Cory explains about why he hasn’t read a lot lately, they discuss comics that Cory found on a date at antique stores. All this and much, much more, and will we find out if Cory’s girlfriend likes….pie?

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After we definitively prove that Joe doesn’t listen to or remember the show, we introdeuce our new sponsor: Dreamhost.com, and if you want a new website enter the code Krayz and get $20 off your new website. We also go through the plugs we have for the FallCon, the local one day comic convention, where YOU could go for free if you NAME the KrayZ Comics and Stories Crickets.

We start into the normal portion of the show, if you can call it normal, by playing our first listener call, which praises the shower scene in Resident Evil IV. Cory then relates how he got beat up by his part-time job. Then, about 15 minutes into the show, we actually get to comic books as Cory and Joe go over what they’ve been reading and recommending lately.

We then go into BIG Sad News, DC’s reorganization, the end of Wildstorm, Zuda, and the NEW DC Editor in Chief. We discuss the history of Wildstorm, how it sold in the shop and other impressions of the news. As we talk about Editors in Chief, Cory reads a letter that Vince Colletta (DC and Marvel inker) sent to the editors at Marvel after Shooter was fired and he was no longer getting work. The letter is here:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2010/06/marvel-editorsyou-are-droppings-of.html

When then shift topics and get into how Joe would take Polaroids of comics creators at the local conventions to get their autograph, but before that he got head sketches, and they are all now on line at:

http://www.comicartfans.com/GalleryDetail.asp?GCat=43597

And why does Cory keep dodging the question of why he didn’t watch Sharktopus on Saturday after bothering us about it for the last two months? All this and the usual Shenanigans on this weeks Kray Z Comics and Stories!

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Joe is hooked on candy corn as if it were black tar heroin as we start the show (and he’s tapping his candy corn dish for the first minute or so). First, we announce a contest with a prize for the upcoming Minneapolis one day convention. As we go through the plugs, we discuss Resident Evil 3, Make-A-Wish and other things connected to the stuff we do.

We talk about what’s going on in their lives other than comics, such as how Cory’s cat thinks he’s a moron, Joe’s pets don’t like their cages, silly things going on at Cory’s part-time job and the joy of pointing out casual racism. Then they discuss the comics they’ve been reading over the last week, and yes, amazingly enough Joe HAS read Spider-Man!! That’s right, we don’t get to comics until about 20 minutes into the show.

Cory then finds a press release about the return of Atlas, so we talk about the origin of the name Atlas, the Atlas/Seaboard company of the mid 70’s and what the new Atlas might be. We then get into how comics fans and retailers deal with new Super-Hero universes and how books like that do well in the market. All this and much, more more…and more appearances by the Kray Z Comics and Stories Crickets (shamelessly stolen from Wrestlecrap radio).

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We start off with a bang as Joe is shot out of a cannon, firing off plugs, jokes and comics he’s read as well as other shenanigans to get you caught up on what’s going on the world of Kray Z Comics and stories. We wholeheartedly steal a bit from Wrestlecrap radio by having OFFICIAL Kray Z Comics and Stories crickets who make a pair of appearances.

We then discuss the recent sales figures showing not a single book sold over 100K, the fact that Tom Brevoort wonders about a lack of enthusiasm among fans. Why do we think that is? What is going on in comic shops? How does digital affect sales? All of this and the usual silliness in this week’s Kray Z Comics and Stories!

Oh, and one week until Sharktopus!

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It’s a hodgepodge of news and comics talk as Joe is back from outer space…sorry, Alaska…and he’s getting back to being able to pick up comics, milk and see movies. We discuss the big news going on in comics, show deep love for the upcoming Octoshark and talk about how Joe had to pick up an enormous amount of books upon his return after three months away from civilization. We have Sad News, Breaking News and the return of the Kray Z Crickets!

After a break, Joe and Cory discuss the new direction on Superman, the many MANY new directions Wonder Woman has had and finally Batman, which Cory is truly, madly, deeply in love with while Grant Morrison is writing it. They then come up with an idea: Grant Morrison writing Little Dot and taking over the Harvey Universe!

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We start up with a word from our sponsors and a little talk about the local Minneapolis Indie Expo: (http://mplsindiexpo.com/). Then Joe says goodbye to Alaska as this is his final show from the home of salmon and bears who rent houses. Cory explains why he hasn’t read any comic books in a week which leads to work stories and a job interview story.

Cory then launches into a rant about how everyone is blaming Joe Quesada for the “Spider-Man marriage” stuff, and Cory delivers a bit of history around the Spider-Man marriage which goes off into other shenanigans. Then, 40 minutes into a podcast featuring a debate, we get to:

The Debate!!!

The Great Debate: Nostalgia/Retro Comics.

Resolved: Are Retro/Nostalgia Comics Good For The Comics Industry?

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We start by talking about Cory’s birthday, which leads into Joe discussing his shop’s history with ECW back in the 90’s. We then find out that we have Sad News about Atlas and get into what Joe and Cory!! have been reading lately. We then get into the main part of the podcast – going over the big news from San Diego that we are excited about, Including:

-The change in format for Amazing Spider-Man (where Joe tells a story about Mark Waid calling his shop)

-Mark Waid’s Captain America mini-series

-Geoff Johns said he’ll stay on Green Lantern until he retires

-We then digress into Stan Lee’s new TV series

-Image announced that they will be reprinting Chinese graphic novels

-Crossgen at Marvel (which leads into a discussion of the old Gold Key Star Trek comics)

-Joss Whedon directing the Avengers

-Rocket Racoon and Groot mini-series

-Grant Morrison’s Batman run gets discussed which led into a discussion of Jason Todd being knocked off by DC that tangents off into the Death of Superman and Cory explains how Wolverine can be in 15 comics a month.

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We’re back!! Joe’s internet works, Cory doesn’t have to be at work at 5:30 am, so we were able to get to all of our leftovers. We start with updating people as to what Joe and Cory have been doing, and dive right into story time.

Cory explains how he got paid to watch Comic Con coverage on G4 and complains about said coverage. Joe then fills us in on when a car crashed into the hair salon next to his comic shop, how a car ramming into Dairy Queen was the first sign of spring and how to use the cold in Minnesota to do insane tricks. Cory then explains how he’d get tricked into doing awake overnight shifts after a 18 hour day and how Cory tried to hire Joe to work for HIM at one point. Cory then points out one of the more…romantic…subplots from the early Avengers books between Captain America and Nick Fury.

Yeah. Let that sink in.

Joe then tells the story of the infamous Image Tent at the Chicago Comic Con and how “Hi Rob!” became a bizarre greeting for the crew at Hot Comix. Cory then tells the story of how he got the manager at a local wrasslin’ event upset with him outside of storyline.

And yes, here’s the link Joe is obsessed with: mattressranch.com

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Joe’s still in Alaska, Cory!! is still looking for a full-time job and we delve right into talking about Rat Bastard Root Beer! We talk about how the shop started carrying Rat Bastard Root Beer, as well as other strange sodas, one of which caused a comics artist to think we’d poisoned him! We also talk about using the sodas there to pull a prank around drug testing. We even talk about Joe’s obsession with OK Soda!

But, this IS a comic book radio show, so we eventually discuss comic books, by talking about how we would actually get the new comics into the stores as “New Comics Day” kept changing. Cory gets horribly distracted during the ad and talks about running between two jobs all weekend. We cover a couple of news stories about comics, including that the Westboro Baptist Church will be protesting the San Diego Comic Con for 45 whole minutes this year!!! There are also some comics stores related to San Diego announcements as well as dealer rumors. We end the show talking about Harvey Pekar’s passing, so we end on kind of a downer, but it’s another exciting episode of the world Longest Running Episodic Comic Book Podcast!

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