AudioShocker

It's short one this week, but you'd better pay attention! Kenny Riot goes solo and shares some bonus information about Divekick that he learned from Keits himself, as well as Keits' approval of the previous episode. After Kenny's thoughts on the Persona 4 Arena update, he offers all you wonderful listeners an opportunity to win an activation code for Divekick, so get ready for the first ever HyperComboCast contest! We've got a new kickass giveaway! Two lucky listeners are going home with downloads of Divekick, the two button fighting game sensation! How do you win? We want your topic suggestions for Podcast Vérité #8 and #9. If we select your topic for #8, you'll win a Divekick download code for the PS3 and PS Vita. If we select your topic for #9, you'll win a Divekick download code for Steam. Leave your topic ideas here or below in the comments on this episode.

Hank 300 and Nick Marino kick things off with a recap of some recent @AudioShocker Twitter conversations with ATCRP listeners @Fuzzy_Esquire and @jason78ka. Big ups for listening and interacting, tweeps! Then we begin a new multi-part review marathon of Yukito Kishiro's renowned Battle Angel Alita manga, starting with the first four chapters of Battle Angel Alita v1. First released in 1990 in Japan as Gunnm and later reprinted by VIZ for English-speaking audiences, Battle Angel Alita is a post-apocalyptic hi-tech lo-fi adventure story about a bounty hunter / scientist who rescues a dormant cyborg from a trash heap. (Unfortunately, VIZ hasn't taken any steps to make BAA available digitally, which means that it's readily available on scanlation sites.) Hank and Nick discuss the themes at work in BAA's introductory chapters, from "you gotta kill the head!" to Alita's discovery of identity. Nick finds similarities between Kishiro's art and that of his North America contemporaries who formed Image Comics. Here are a few notable moments we single out during our discussion. And, as always, Hank ends things with some important announcements from the Allegheny Teen Center. NEXT: We cover the final three chapters of Battle Angel Alita v1 and take a look at the Battle Angel Alita OVA anime.

Congratulations to Kaylie, who's the winner of The Captains Close Up on DVD!!! It was a close battle but Kaylie inched into the lead with her witty and unusual reasons for loving Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Next up -- after Nick Marino helps Ross Campbell work his new microwave -- the guys chat about Star Trek: Voyager. Ross was in a serious Voyager slump until he finally watched the crazy episode that Nick told him about on the last podcast. Ya know, the one where Tom Paris and Captain Janeway have freaky hyper-evolved-salamander-human sex and give birth to a small litter of super-mutants before they're rescued by the crew of Voyager. Then it's time for the main event... Sleepwalker! Ross and Nick discuss the first eight issues of this early 90s superhero series from Marvel Comics. After a brief rundown of creator Bob Budiansky's comics resume, we dig into this bizarre series featuring some odd and memorable moments captured by Ross and some choice weirdness chosen by Nick. The verdict so far? Though dated and awkward at times, Sleepwalker is a fun series that would be even better if it wasn't plagued by silly character crossovers. Next: We continue our dreamy discussion with Sleepwalker #9-16, including the Color Blindness four-part story arc.

Join Ki-Ki and Ni-Ni as they take you on a wild ride full of talking about things like, ummmmmmmmm, things! Nick's favorite episode is ALF s2 e16 and he's thrilled to tell you why he loves it so much. Kaylie isn't as keen on it but she dutifully soldiers on, even through the fairly stupid ALF s2 e17 (which is the beginning of a two-part neighborhood watch plot). Kaylie cappyscreened 'em and Nick cappyscreened 'em. After a Nick tries to stall by making Kaylie by give a comics update, the conversation turns towards David DeCoteau's unambitious 1313: Bermuda Triangle. Dave's recent storytelling innovations are abandoned in what may be the most conventional and unsatisfying 1313 film yet. Kaylie capped it and Nick capped it. Next: The neighborhood watch two-parter concludes with ALF s2 e18 and Jody returns in ALF s2 e19. And we take a break from DeCoteau to watch Munchie, a 1992 movie about a creepy pizza-loving puppet who befriends a suicidal kid.

Michelle and Heather Nunnelly talk about their time at SPX. They give shoutouts to Alex and Kyle for being the first two readers of VACANT to talk to Heather at a con. They also give a shoutout to Lira who spoke with them the year before. Other than that they met great people, sold comics, bought comics, and only had one awkward encounter. Thanks to everyone who said hi!

Fawn, Justique, and Nick unite for a new AudioShocker series all about animation! We kick off this podcast with a popular topic that's sure to be on every Animatic Attack episode for the foreseeable future -- The Legend of Korra: Book 2: Spirits! We tear apart the first two episodes of Book 2, Rebel Spirit and The Southern Lights, searching for clues about the direction of the ongoing story. Is Korra's Uncle Unalaq manipulating her for an evil purpose? Or are the show's writers simply trying to trick us by making him seem so suspect? Then we take a break from our Korra conversation to review From Up On Poppy Hill, a 2011 Studio Ghibli film that's finally on DVD in America! Directed by Goro Miyazaki (with a screenplay by his legendary daddy, Hayao), it's a beautiful movie with elegant animation and a challenging plot involving kinky teen incest forbidden love. We wanna give you the From Up On Poppy Hill DVD! To enter our giveaway, leave a comment below telling us your favorite Studio Ghibli / Miyazaki movie and why you love it so much. The deadline is Tuesday, October 8th. We'll announce the winner on Animatic Attack #2. Then it's back to Legend of Korra as we analyze the third episode of Book 2, Civil Wars Pt. 1. We dig the drama going on with Korra, but we're more delighted by the dynamic between Aang and Katara's kids -- Bumi, Kya, and Tenzin. Also, Fawn drops a crazy theory about Jinora and the potential existence of TWO Avatars! NEXT: We'll return in two weeks with The Legend of Korra: Book 2 episodes 4-5 and the deliciously trippy Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure.

Now that our summer-long Scalped marathon has wrapped, ATCRP is ready to venture out into the world of webcomics and get weird! That's why we're discussing The Illiterate Badger, one of the weirdest webcomics out there. Hank 300 and Nick Marino trace the 4+ year history of Nate Ragolia's cut-and-paste webcomic, beginning with its earliest strips that all used the same gag... But that didn't last for long! Soon, it began to evolve into a bizarre pop culture parody which introduced a wide range of unusual characters... Continuing in that tradition, the webcomic is now a semi-topical social satire with a cast of lovable but insane personalities... Hank and Nick use The Illiterate Badger as a vehicle to discuss the nature of editor-free online entertainment. With the traditional curated publishing system becoming less and less relevant, is the internet obliterating notions of "good" and "bad"? Or has the internet just evolved content curation into a popularity contest? NEXT: We move onto manga with the first four chapters of Battle Angel Alita v1.

Welcome to Podcast Vérité. The concept is simple -- 3 topics, 20 minutes. Neal picks a topic, Nick picks a topic, and you pick two topics. 1. Networking faux pas. Neal was just network-lested by a small flock of uncouth interlopers at a business event. He ruminates about the experience and shares some innovative ideas for better ways to hand out business cards. 2. To trim or not to trim? Jared Catherine (a guest on this week's Sequential Underground #74) wants us to talk about pubic hair. While Neal prefers to keep his privates private, Nick is more than glad to share his grooming habits. 3. Poop. Angela Capel has placed a simple request for some excretion discussion. We answer her bold call for fecal conversation with a bit of chitchat about public pooping and the "poop dial". We need your topic for our next episode! Leave your ideas in the comments below before Sunday, October 6th and we'll discuss our favorite suggestion.

McDougal and Marino get weird as they discuss stuff. Stuff like Justique's awesome cupcakes. And stuff like ALF s2 e14 and ALF s2 e15, part of the now-infamously non-non-non-famous BARF marathon. Kaylie made some screen encapsulations and Nick made some screen encapsulations. And just when you thought stuff couldn't get an weirder... BAM! We go DeCoteau style on your ass and discuss the oddly cinematic 1313: Bigfoot Island. A young woman craves revenge after being wronged by a crew of jerkfaces, so she calls upon the spirit of the forest to do her bidding. Kaylie capped it and Nick capped it. Next: Nick's favorite episode, ALF s2 e16, and the beginning of an epic two-parter with ALF s2 e17. Plus, 1313: Bermuda Triangle!

Shawn Atkins, Jared Catherine, and Cynthia Lee share about their experiences at two different indie comics festivals that went down this month. Shawn tries to cram his comics into a wee 1/6 of the table at SPX. The three amigos split a half-table at the 2013 Small Press Expo in Bethesda, Maryland. They had a wonderful time meeting new cartoonists, interacting with attendees, and heckling people who walked past their table. Shawn and Jared also teamed up for the 2013 Pittsburgh Zine Fair. It had a distinctly different vibe from SPX but it was just as rewarding as they peddled their comics and interacted with cartoonists (and zinesters!) in their local community. Shawn publicly tortures his reluctant intern Bruce at the PGH Zine Fair. For more about these two indie comic conventions, check out last year's Sequential Underground #50 where we pitted SPX vs. the PGH Zine Fair in a battle for 2012 indie con supremacy!

This is it! Our final discussion about Scalped (you can find the first 8 discussions here). Final unless Jason Aaron and Guéra email us back and take us up on the interview offer they tentatively accepted before our reviews began, that is. Hank and Nick take a look at the series as a whole, trying to understand how its early momentum led to its unsatisfying ending. Hank does his best to put a positive spin on the journey he took with Scalped, deciding that the strong art and sheer length of this finite series make it an impressive body of work. NEXT: Fed up with comic book critical darlings, we turn our focus to the webcomics underground and discuss The Illiterate Badger.

Ross Campbell and Nick Marino wanna give you a DVD of The Captains Close Up! William Shatner revisits the interviews from his Star Trek documentary film The Captains and expands them into five episodes spotlighting himself, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula. To enter our giveaway of The Captains Close Up, leave a comment below telling us your favorite Stek Trek captain and why you dig 'em so much. The deadline is Monday, September 30th! We'll name the winner on Everything Blows #8. Speaking of giveaways, Team Ross devotee James Ross has won our Twilight audiobook contest! Thx to everyone who entered. We read all of your entries live and decide on the spot who should take home the prize. It's a tough decision!!! This episode also marks the end of our Twilight audiobook reviews, covering chapters 19 through the epilogue. Ross has graciously agreed not to force Nick to listen to the other books, so this ends our Twilight marathon. After the end theme we deliver a half hour of Star Trek Voyager conversation, discussing high and low points of the episodes we've watched so far. (Ross is in the middle of season 2 and Nick has stalled out at the start of season 6.) Next: We begin our series of Sleepwalker comic book reviews!!! First up? Sleepwalker #1-8. So go hit up your comic shop's back issue bin to find some issues of this forgotten (and uncollected) classic.

Kaylie, Justique, and Nick talk about what they did on their summer vacations... kickass things like winning some sweet prizes, going on a Malibu hunt for the DeCoteau house, and drawing erotic unicorn cartoons. Then our delicious BARF marathon continues with two tedious tales! In ALF s2 e11 political dream sequences intersect with bizarre nighttime shenanigans. After that, shit gets heavy as fuck as we recap ALF's Special Christmas (a.k.a. ALF s2 e12). Kaylie got screencaps and Stique and Nick got screencaps. Next up, the claws come out as we discuss 1313: Cougar Cult, David DeCoteau's scream queen celebration. Kayie got screencaps and Stique and Nick got screencaps. What happens when three mature hotties lure some young studs to their mansion with the promise of summer employment? Listen and learn! Next: A new neighbor spices things up in ALF s2 e13 and ALF s2 e14, and then we get stranded on 1313: Bigfoot Island.

Heather and Michelle Nunnelly are back from the Audioshocker's hiatus to talk about VACANT's hiatus. The webcomic will be on break until December 2013 due to stress and exhaustion. After that, The World's End gets a rare thumbs-up from the two. Michelle and Heather typically complain about every movie they see, but this comedy received no complaints. They highly recommend watching it. They also talk about Indie Game: The Movie and how game development parallels the creative process in other mediums like comic books. All of the creators profiled in the documentary represent the everyday artist and the artist's struggle. The film shows what it's like to work on a single project for a long period of time, providing insight on how this affects the creators as they assume the immense pressure that comes along with conquering their dreams. (Heather and Michelle apologize if it seems like they're giving the game developers a hard time on this podcast. Every artist has probably been in the position these creators have been in.) All of the games in the documentary are beautiful and worth playing. These games are: Braid, Super Meat Boy, and FEZ.

While the AudioShocker hiatus was going strong Michelle and Heather went rogue and recorded a podcast about the Tumblr-tastic BBC TV show, Sherlock. They talk about why they love it and what makes it so refreshing. But don't get too comfortable because they also talk about feminism, homosexuality, and racism! What were a few of the things that rubbed Michelle and Heather the wrong way? Listen and find out!!! (Also, check out Heather's Sherlock screencaps.)