Comic Book Pitt Special #14 - Mike Deodato, Jr.

Veteran artist Mike Deodato, Jr. appeared at Pittsburgh Comics on Wednesday, courtesy of Glass House Graphics. Mike signed comics, drew some quick sketches for fans and gave a few minutes of his time to talk to Dang.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt t-shirts are now available! Get one for yourself or that special nerd in your life.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud  member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!


  

Mike Deodato Jr invades Pittsburgh!

Starting in 2011, the Comic Book Pitt blog will be putting out more news, reviews, opinions and original content on a regular basis. To get things started, I thought I'd put down my thoughts about last week's conversation with Mike Deodato, Jr. For those who have been living under a rock for the past 25 years, Mike has been a mainstay in the comic book industry, a true professional and a veteran artist who still feels like he's learning about his craft.

Through the wonder and magic of the Internet, Mike was hosted at Pittsburgh Comics for a one-night book signing. I took a chance and contacted Mike's friend and agent David Campiti from Glass House Graphics about stealing a few minutes after the signing for a quick conversation.

On Wednesday, December 22nd, I rolled up to Pittsburgh Comics with my good buddy Speedwagon and his wife, Lady Speedwagon. We both had some comics we wanted to get signed and were excited to meet Mike, although since this was going to be my first one-on-one conversation with a professional comic book artist, I felt like I was going to crap a brick.

I decided to ease into things by getting my books signed first, then I noticed some fans walking around with original sketches from Mike. Like most comic book aficionados, I'm a sucker for original art, so I couldn't help but ask Mike for a quick sketch of one of my favorite Marvel characters, Moon Knight. Speedwagon followed suit and got a sketch of Thor.

Soon, the signing was over and it was time for the interview. I knew it wasn't going to be an hour-long conversation, but I was nervous nevertheless. Anyone who's listened to the podcast knows I tend to ramble a bit, so I was afraid of sounding like a goof, but it never happened. Mike was terrific to talk to, a total professional and an unbelievably nice man. If you have ten minutes to spare, give it a listen.

Thanks again to David Campiti, Colin McMahon, and of course, Mike Deodato, Jr. If you ever have the chance to talk to him at a con, by all means, take advantage.

(Me, Mike Deodato, Jr. and Colin McMahon, owner of Pittsburgh Comics)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comic Book Pitt #57 - 'Twas The Week Before Christmas

Duke's computer was confiscated during a raid by the federal government, so until his new one is operational, we recorded this episode using two tin cans and a string, aka, TalkShoe.

In this pre-holiday episode, Duke and Dang talk about the Cowboys & Aliens film coming out in 2011 and review Fables #100, John Byrne's Next Men (Vol. 3) #1, Justice League: Generation Lost #15, New Avengers #7, Superboy #2, Thunderbolts #151, and the very hard-to-find Twenty-Seven #1.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt t-shirts are now available! Get one for yourself or that special nerd in your life.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #56 - Year Three Begins!

It's hard to believe, but this month marks the second anniversary for the Comic Book Pitt podcast. As we look ahead to Year Three, we can still remember the very first episode we recorded; it took us two hours to figure out how to record a one hour show and then another two hours to edit it.

We've come a long way, baby.

This is an all-review episode in which we discuss Superior #2, Avengers #7, Batman: The Return, Batman, Inc. #1, Detective Comics #871, Uncanny X-Men #530 and Halcyon #1.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt t-shirts are now available! Get one for yourself or that special nerd in your life.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #55 - Burn, Baby, Burn!

This week we take some extra time and talk about the premier of The Walking Dead on AMC, J. Michael Straczynski's abrupt departure from DC Comics, and our love/hate relationship with Brian Michael Bendis.

There is plenty of comic book talk as well. We burn a bunch of titles that aren't making the grade and bag a few that we're enjoying right now.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation. Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt Special #12 - A Chat With Cat

We are proud to present a talk with Catherine Taber, the voice of Padme Amidala in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Special thanks to Clone Wars director Dave Filoni and Josh Kushins in Lucasfilms public relations!

Our theme music is by Nik Furious.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, Facebook, Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt at gmail dot com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #54 - The Missing Link

We have another guest host in the Pitt this week. One of our long-time listeners, Link from the Yamagato Industries Business Report podcast, stops by to let us know that he'll be returning from the dead very soon.

In this episode, we recap PIX (where Dang's new comic, Space Base One, debuted), review many comics and also announce the official CBP t-shirts, which you can find at our store.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #53 - 5 Licks

Our good friend and mega-fan, Dicky Walters, stopped by for some comic book talk.

LOCAL NEWS:

The first Pittsburgh Indy Comics Expo is happening October 16-17. Find more details at http://www.pixcomics.org/

Check out Explorers of the Unknown from local creators Shawn Atkins and Seth Fronzoli. You can buy EotU: Vol. 1, Fist Full of Dynamite at ComiXpress.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Starting with this episode, Comic Book Pitt is officially moving to a bi-weekly schedule.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #52: “Who the #$@! is Reggie?”

It doesn't happen often, but occasionally we have a guest on CBP. This week we were fortunate enough to have our friend and fellow podcaster, Nick Marino, on the show.

Be warned, this episode has some explicit language and goes a little longer than usual, clocking in at slightly over an hour and a half. In between some random conversation, we manage to talk about Amazing Spider-Man #642, Baltimore The Plague Ships #1, King! #1, The Last Days of American Crime #3, Our Army At War featuring Sgt.Rock One-Shot, and Thor The Mighty Avenger #4.

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Cover scans for the titles we talk about in this episode can be found on the CBP Flickr site.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #51 - Goodbye Summer!

Let's face it, summer is pretty much over, but there are still shows to go to and comic books to talk about. In this episode we hear about Star Wars Celebration V and Baltimore Comicon from the Duke. After that Dang and Duke talk about Star Wars: Legacy #50, Morning Glories #1, Marvel Universe vs The Punisher #1, Dungeons and Dragons #0, Amazing Spider-Man #640 and Ex Machina #50.

(FYI, this was our second episode recorded via Skype and we're still working out the bugs. Apologies for the "canned" sound.)

Comic Book Pitt theme music is by Nik Furious. You can find more of Nik's music on iTunes.

Cover scans for the titles we talk about in this episode can be found on the CBP Flickr site.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Comic Book Pitt #50: The Big Five-Oh!

We finally did it, we reached 50 episodes! In this milestone episode, Dang & Duke talk about news coming out of San Diego Comic Con and talk about a LOT of comics, in fact there are too many to name here.

Speaking of SDCC, we announce the winner of our "Tell Us Your Favorite Convention Story" contest.

Music in this episode is by TV On The Radio.

Comic Book Pitt can be found on iTunes, on Facebook, on Twitter and is a proud member of the Comics Podcast Network.

Join the CBP Discussion Group and join in on even more comic book conversation.

Email us at comicbookpitt@gmail.com or call our voice mail line at (412)450-0CBP (0227).

Thanks for listening!

Everyone loves a winner!

The winner of CBP's "Favorite Convention Story" contest is local listener Jeff Moreci. Thanks to Jeff and everyone else who submitted their stories.

Here's Jeff's winning convention story:

My favorite Comic-Con experience was a few years ago with my son, Trevor, and his friend Aidan. They must have been six years old at the time. Tom Savini and his school had set up a table and they were doing face make-up for free. Well Trevor and Aidan thought it would be cool to be made up like they were extras in Fight Club. Trevor got a great head gash and Aidan got a black eye and bloody nose. They spent the whole afternoon walking around like they were in a police line-up. They played the part and I had to explain to a few people that the wounds were fake and no I wasn’t an abusive father. The best part, sending a picture of the boys to their mothers on the cell phone with no explanation!

Thank you Jeff for the great story and for twisting the minds of the next generation!

Ultimate Redux

October of this year marks the first decade of Marvel’s ultimate line starting with Ultimate Spider-Man. The aim of this endeavor was to do classic characters with a fresh start so as to unburden them from the weight of years of continuity. This would allow new readers to pick books up right from the start and would allow writers and artists a free hand at reinterpreting the past into a modern context.


At the outset, it seemed to be working just fine. Ultimate Spider-Man was hailed as a critical and financial success and led to other Ultimate lines that would revamp the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and the Avengers as a team known initially as The Ultimates. However, as time marched on most of the titles seemed to forget that initial mandate of the Ultimate line, to make things different, fresh, and unexpected. Criticisms came out that the mainstream Marvel Universe was becoming more and more Ultimate-like. Looking at it through the gaze of history, one can see though that it was more the reverse. Most of the Ultimate books were on a trajectory towards being more like the mainstream universe. Something had to be done, something drastic to shake up the line and get things back on track.


Ultimatum was the final solution for just about all of the Ultimate titles. The only book to really come out unscathed was Ultimate Spider-Man, a series that never really seemed to lose sight of the potential of the Ultimate line. The problem with Ultimatum was that while it delivered on shaking things up, it didn’t deliver it with much in the way of quality. The miniseries read like a shopping list of character deaths that carried little weight in the story or to the characters. On the up side, everything was pretty much brought back to square one and this has only been for the better.


Even though it didn’t really need it, Ultimate Spider-Man has restarted at issue 1 and Bendis, who has been on the title since its beginning in 2000, continues to deliver a fantastic book. Ultimate X has now taken the place of Ultimate X-Men and has left behind all of the recognizable X-Characters seemingly in favor of doing something really new and leaving the old cast to show up in other books. The Ultimates appears to have been broken up into two books, Ultimate Avengers and New Ultimates.


Ultimate Avengers seems to be setting up a new, government run super team that is being spearheaded by Nick Fury. Comprised of somewhat familiar faces, they walk a grey line as a black ops-style team. New Ultimates returns to Tony Starks initial idea for a super-team. Even though they’re still working with the government, they do not work for them. Right now, they look to be team building so it’s unclear who is going to show up there.


By and large, the relaunch of the Ultimate line has been a good thing and moves have been made that are certainly distancing it from the mainstream Marvel U. My concern is in how long will they be able to maintain this distance. At the beginning of many of the Ultimate books, things looked so fresh and new but after so long began to recycle old ideas. If they stick with the direction they’re headed in now, the line looks to be set for a true life of its own.


Magus writes for the blog LowBrowMedia where he reviews comic books in the primary and video games in the secondary.

We Want YOU!

So this blog is obviously in dire need of being updated. To give you an idea, one of the more "recent" posts includes me talking about buying Flash Rebirth #1.

We love the idea of having a blog to compliment the podcast, but the sad truth is it's just one of those things that gets put waaaaaaay at the end of our To Do list. So rather than let it languish we thought we could open it up to CBP listeners, comic book fans, nutjobs, etc.

Do you read a comic that you feel doesn't get mentioned or get enough attention? A creator you want to spotlight? An issue or trend in the comic book industry that want to talk about? Maybe you even have your own comic book/webcomic that you want to share. It's all welcome.

Submit any content to comicbookpitt@gmail.com and we'll get it up on the blog.