Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 4

Episode #4 of the Bagged and Bored Cast is now up on iTunes for your listening pleasure. Join us as we discuss:

The Week in Geek - We talk about the stories that got our nerd juices going from this past weeks San Diego Comic Con, and there is a LOT.

The List - Find out what comics we're looking most forward to next week Wednesday.

Main Topic - We talk about one of our favorite topics, ZOMBIES. We talk about how they've infected every form of media with their flesh craving and what we love the best about them.

Movie Fix - We sink our teeth into the Zach Galifianakis film, Visioneers, in which John and Paul argue. For some reason.

If you haven't already it's time to subscribe at iTunes, and make sure you follow us at twitter.com/baggedandbored to find out the latest B&B news today!

The List - 7/29/09

Another pretty light week of comic's coming out this week but there are a couple shining stars:

BLACKEST NIGHT: TALES OF THE CORPS #3 - In this 3-issue miniseries, writers Geoff Johns and Peter J. Tomasi (GREEN LANTERN CORPS) reveal the secrets behind the Lanterns of BLACKEST NIGHT! Bear witness to Blue Lantern Saint Walker's pilgrimage of hope, Star Sapphire Carol Ferris' sacrifice for love, Green Lantern Kilowog's courageous beginnings, Red Lantern Vice's source of rage, Orange Lantern Blume's bizarre creation, and the first appearance of the mysterious Indigo, leader of the Indigo Tribe! - So most of what has been teased in the solicitations for this 3 issue mini happened in the past two issues, so we know we'll get to see the origin of Kilowog in this one, but the other stories are a mystery. I'm hoping for a good Sinestro Corps story, and since there hasn't been one in the book yet a Black Lantern story maybe. Black Hand has been pretty well fleshed (pun kind of intended) out over the past few issues of the core (notice not "Corps" issues) of Green Lantern, so I'd like to see a story from the point of view of one of the Black Lanterns (namely Martian Manhunter).

DETECTIVE COMICS #855 - Elegy" part 2 of 4 by Greg Rucka and JH Williams III! Batwoman captures her enemy, a madwoman known only as Alice who sees her life as a fairy tale and everyone around her as expendable extras – including Kate! But when the tables are turned, Batwoman finds herself in a hallucination slamming the present into a collision with the past, and the hints of a threat that will claim the lives of every man, woman and child in Gotham City. And in the all-new co-feature starring the Question, Montoya's quest to find a missing young girl turns deadly. - I have to say that Detective Comics has been the most surprising of the Batman Reborn titles, based solely on the fact that in her previous appearances Batwoman didn't wow me at all. Now that writer Greg Rucka has more of a chance to explore her I'm excited to learn more about the character, and JH Williams artwork doesn't hurt at all. On the flip side while I've always loved Renee Montoya in her journeys throughout the Batman books, Gotham Central and ultimately 52, I feel like the back up might not be enough to really get into her story. But this is only the second batch so we'll see how things turn out.

TEEN TITANS #73 - In the first feature, the team attempts to rescue Wonder Girl from the new Fearsome Five, as Calculator enacts his revenge on the team for not protecting his children. In the 10-page co-feature, Ravager faces the drug problem that could kill her! - Both Teen Titans and it's sister title, Titans, have been floundering for a little while. Beyond Blue Beetle and Static there aren't many other characters on the cast that I care enough about. New writer and Smallville producer, Brian Q. Miller may change that though as DC is giving him a big vote of confidence handing him the keys to one of the DC Universe's key franchises, as well as the upcoming Batgirl book.

What's got me and the crew pumped for next week? Make sure you listen to this weeks episode of the Bagged and Bored Cast for our collective List!

Bagged and Bored Cast

Want a peek behind the curtain? Take a look at our state of the art* recording studios in this special behind the scenes clip from the recording of episode 2.



*State of the art refering of course to Paul's kitchen table.

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 3

Episode number 3 of the Bagged and Bored cast is now up for listening on the iTunes store! In this episode we bring you as always:

Week In Geek - We gush over the new Magic: The Gathering core set, and talk about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, and the rerelease of Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 for download on the XBox Live Marketplace

The List - Next weeks comics that are going to have us rushing to the Comic Shop to get our

Main Topic - DC's growing Green Lantern-centric event: Blackest Night

Movie Fix - We hit up the Spanish film [REC] and the American adaptation Quarantine

So Subscribe today and make sure to review and rate us on iTunes, and check us out at http://twitter.com/BaggedandBored today!

Bagged and Bored Cast Episode 2

As of tonight Episode 2 of the Bagged and Bored Cast is officially live on iTunes!

In this episode we debut our new segment the Week In Geek, then we dive into The List and talk about whats got us pumped for next weeks new books. Then we head right into our main topic where we discuss the weekly comics past and present from DC's 52 to Wednesday Comics. Finally we bend into our Movie Fix where we talk about the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender and the upcoming movie by M. Night Shamalyan.

If you haven't already, nows the perfect time to subscribe and join us for some weekly discussion!

Exciting News!

Hey everybody, an exciting bit of news, the first episode of the Bagged and Bored Cast is now live! This little project will be our grand venture into the world of podcasting, with each episode bringing you a roundtable discussion of the comics were most looking forward to in The List, a rotating weekly rotating topic as well as a movie review.

This week's episode has us tackling The List in which we discuss the upcoming Blackest Night #1 from DC Comics, then we discuss the rising cost of comics today, and finally wrap up with some words about the film Time Crimes.

Give it a list at at the streaming site: http://baggedandbored.mypodcast.com/ or make sure you subscribe for FREE on the iTunes store, and soon the Zune Marketplace as well to have the newest episodes downloaded directly to your portable music machine of choice.

So please subsribe and rate us today, and thanks for the support! This is just the start...

Some Answers?

http://www.ask-the-question.net/

TIME CAN BE A CRUEL MISTRESS

At 6 years old, Marty McFly and Doc Brown shook my world by introducing me to time travel. I wouldn’t say that I’ve been obsessed; but time has always been on my mind. My father, seeing a starry eyed boy in wonder over this thing called time, sat me down one night to see a doctor.
This doctor wore a long coat, an even longer scarf and was called Who. This Doctor Who traveled through time and space in a ship know as the TARDIS. (Time And Relative Dimension(s) InSpace)

As I got older I lost my interest in time travel- being a mutant or a caped crusader was more important to me. It wasn’t until I was about 15 that time began to creep back into this poor soul's head. When Billy Pilgrim became unstuck in time in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughter House 5, I was hooked again. I read the book twice, I saw the movie made of the book and many others. The Time Machine, Time After Time, and Time Cop to name a few.
And now, 12 years after that, I’m making room for time again. This time, the time culprit is writer director Nacho Vigalondo and his 2007 Spanish film Los Cronocrimenes or Timecrimes for those of us in the US. Vigalondo’s film follows the exploits of Hector, a 40ish man who is reluctantly sent back in time a few hours. If I told you anymore about this film other than it is one of the best time paradox movies I ever seen you would hate me. I have enough people who hate me. And it’s not cause I’m a player- NO it’s cause I’m a Jerk! Timecrimes good movie, me jerk. Listen! I made up all that stuff in the beginning of this blog to show you I know something about time travel, and I'm telling you that Timecrimes is a good movie. Fine, FINE! Don’t listen to me. I hate you.

NERD4LIFE

Worth A $1?

This past month saw the begining of DC Comics co-feature initiative. These 8 page add-on stories continue the exploits of what DC's Executive Editor, Dan Didio calls:

“...a number of characters and series ideas that we firmly believe in and that a lot of creators are passionate about, but unfortunately, when it comes to the actual production of an actual series or a miniseries, they always run into some challenge when it comes to sales."

So a character like Blue Beetle, who had their shot at a solo series, and developed a fan base not large enough to support a monthly publication can still see print in the pages of a book like Booster Gold.

So now Booster Gold which used to run 32 pages for $2.99, will now be 40 pages long (with 8 of those pages being a Blue Beetle story) for a $3.99 cover price.

Also recieving the main title/co-features treatment are: Batman: Streets Of Gotham/Manhunter, Detective Comics/The Question, Teen Titans/Ravager, and the upcoming Doom Patrol/Metal Men, Adventure Comics/Legion Of Super-Heroes.

So are these extra add-on tales worth the $1 price hike? Well, thats a tricky question. While The Manhunter feature feels right at home in Batman: Streets Of Gotham, the Ravager feature feels like a Teen Titans B-plot, and not a bonus story. Likewise is the Question story, which feels tacked onto Detective Comics, despite being handled by a writer (Greg Rucka) who is known for both of the characters involved in the features. Although I haven't read it, it's also important to point out that the Booster Gold/Blue Beetle team-up has boasted some pretty positive reviews, and does warrant a looking into.

I'm more than willing to take into account that these are the first batch of stories and mostly just set ups for everything involved, so I'm not writing off anything yet. But at the same time I can see fans who aren't interested in the added material and the extra $1 added on to the price (namely books like Booster Gold and Teen Titans), even though most of these titles are new or in the case of Detective Comics, being relaunched with the new pricing.

Meanwhile when drawing company lines, last week Marvel released a total of 39 titles with 19 of which bearing a $3.99 price point, with little added material to any of the titles.

This is of course AFTER John Turitzin, Marvel's Executive Vice President, when addressing the Cowen & Company Tecnology Media & Telecom Conference stated that:

"...our company is a cash machine".

Like this, but with a Wolverine variant Dark Reign cover

Turitzin then continued on, "We’re always testing our pricing on our comic books to see the extent of which we can, you know, it is inelastic, and we can increase our profit in that business. We sell comics at different price points, we sell more popular comics at higher price points, we sell other ones at lower price points, we differentiate in pricing in that way, some of our comics aimed at kids, Marvel Adventures line is a lower priced line. We’re just looking to maximise our profits for business, without alienating our own fanbase, without making them feel that they’re gouged, which I hope you don’t feel. Our goal is to maximise our revenue, and if we’re not maximising our revenue then our pricing is wrong and we have to take a look at that. So you can hope that we see that attrition and our prices come down.”

So while one head is saying that it's all about pulling in the revenue and made no mention of increased costs in producing the books, over at Comic Book Resources, in his Cup O' Joe column, Marvel's Editor in Chief is holding onto the argument that the increased prices are going towards such costs as printing and distibution as well as maintaining the stable of creators. Maintaining that there is no conspiracy involving the raising prices.

So how much longer can Marvel and DC hold the line before bringing their entire catalogs to the #3.99 price point? We'll see.