I am a very lucky person in that I have a 7-10 minute commute to work (depending on if I hit the one light on the way and if I get behind someone driving slowly). The only downside is that I really don’t have any time to listen to podcasts. I tried listening when I walked on the treadmill, but the dust on it will let you know how often that occurs. This weekend I had to a ton of yardwork to do and I got smart and downloaded some podcasts to listen to for both information and format.
Now, both that I listened to seemed to have separate microphones for each person, so I am a little concerned how my one recorder model will work (we’ll see on Wednesday). But I was going for a less expensive and messy method (trying to stay away from 8 mikes and wires and yadda yadda).
I listened to recent podcasts from both Comic Book Pitt and Comic Geek Speak. I enjoyed both (and they made the time go much fast than if I was just listening to myself sweat). Going into this, I wondered what I could bring to the table to make mine different? After listening, I realized that mine will be different for 2 reasons. 1) It will be recorded in a comic book store. No set “cast”. Anyone who wants to join in can. I am sure that we will develop regulars, but I think it will be fun to have someone walk by and jump in with a point and then head out. It could be neat or it could be a disaster. We’ll see. And 2) Me. Not to say that I am the all-knowing and all-powerful Oz, but I think that I can put a different spin or at least give a different angle to things than just a bunch of guys sitting around talking about comics. “You think its hard trying to decide which Flashpoint books to buy, try ordering them!” Or “Marvel is missing the boat by not keeping their classic books such as Infinity Gauntlet and Secret Wars in print. They just had buzz that the Infinity Gauntlet is going to be in the Avengers movie, but right now, you can’t get a copy.” Hopefully it will be different enough to make people want to listen.
The podcasts I never miss are Bill Simmons, Adam Carolla, and Kevin Smith. Simmons is on ESPN.com and his podcasts are usually 50% sports and 50% pop culture. Carolla has his own podcasting network with a bunch of different podcasts on it, but he himself does a daily podcast that is fantastic but will never touch on comics. Kevin Smith also has his own network and does so many different podcasts that you have to be a stay-at-home dad like me to keep track of them all. And since it’s Kevin Smith he talks comics all the time. But on his network, there are a few shows that deal specifically with comics. The first is called Bagged and Boarded, which I haven’t listened to really. The other is Tell ‘Em Steve-Dave, and it’s done out of Kevin’s comic book shop “Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash” in New Jersey by a couple of his friends (Bryan and Walt), one of whom runs the shop. Ironically they don’t talk comics as much as one might think given their connections to comic books (one’s a writer and the other’s an illustrator), but they do talk a lot about the perils are running a comic book shop. Another show on Kevin’s network that references comics a lot is Hollywood Babble-On, but it’s mostly to talk about various comic book movies.