AudioShocker

Nick Marino and Shawn Atkins chat with three dedicated cartoonists who are working to crowdfund print editions of their webcomics. Heather Nunnelly (co-host of the AudioShocker's VACANT Bits podcast) wants to create a graphic novel of the first six issues of VACANT. She's steadily been working to reach her funding goal on Kickstarter (and as of today, she's fully funded! YAY!!). Heather pitches the VACANT graphic novel in her Kickstarter video Dave Wachter (who appeared on last year's Sequential Underground #33) has exceeded his Kickstarter goal for a hardcover collection of The Guns of Shadow Valley. Thanks to extremely careful planning and thoughtful incentives, Dave has created a successful campaign. The Guns of Shadow Valley collection on display from its Kickstarter video Burned by past attempts at crowdfunding, Solomon Mars (often found leaving deep thoughts in the AudioShocker comments) has opted to microfund a print edition of Goblyn through commissions. Appealing directly to fans on deviantART, he's creating a print option for readers while avoiding the stress of a failed campaign. Solomon Mars seeks commissions like these from his deviantART fanbase On this podcast, these three creators share their diverse crowdfunding experiences, offering advice to listeners (and often taking advice from each other). Also, shoutout to listener Devon Purkiss. He's running a Kickstarter campaign for his western comic book, The Cowboy and the Goliath. Check it out!

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER! Kenny Riot brings on another friend of his, who's also a mutual friend of John (Zansam) and Alex (SNKZato1). Give a warm welcome to Nathan Allen, also known as "Windows Uninstaller"! Together they sit down and go into detail about the Arc System Works fighting game series, Blazblue. On a side note, Kenny and Nathan mention the GAMEacho YouTube channel, which should DEFINITELY be looked at by all fighting game fans!

On the previous episode, Hank 300 and Nick Marino assumed that Dash would always be Scalped's primary protagonist. But Scalped Vol. 2: Casino Boogie smashes that notion to bits as it spotlights six different characters from the rez. After we ponder the chronological order of events that led to Gina Bad Horse's death, we ask ourselves if Chief Red Crow has become more likable after this arc. Then we discuss a new character -- Diesel, who Hank sees as Dash's opposite. Nick wonders about Agent Nitz's background, trying to discern if the character's heritage is important to the story. Meanwhile, Hank has a strong premonition that Dino Poor Bear is gonna do something terrible as things progress, while Nick feels that Granny Poor Bear adds a vital level of humanity to the cast of characters. Nick compares the differences between the male and female characters in Scalped, and speculates on the significance of the blowjobs seen in this story arc. And after the end theme, Hank shares this week's Allegheny Teen Center announcements. NEXT: Scalped Vol. 3: Dead Mothers and the results of Teen Center's Bake 'Til You Quake cooking competition.

Welcome to Podcast Vérité. The concept is simple -- 3 topics, 20 minutes. Neal picks a topic, Nick picks a topic, and you pick a topic. 1. Is there house party etiquette? Neal attended a house roof party over the weekend and he wasn't sure when it was time to leave. That forced him to ponder the nature of house parties and the unofficial etiquette that governs them. Neal and Nick debate these oft-unspoken rules. Here's a real deal college house party that Neal and Nick attended in 2004. There was no etiquette to be found. 2. 3D movies. Fellow podcaster Heather Nunnelly (who has a kickass Kickstarter campaign going on right now!) suggested our listener topic. Neal and Nick weigh the pros and cons of 3D films. The list is pretty heavy on cons. Nick got a little too competitive during the relay race at his company picnic in 2009. Things have only gotten worse. 3. Why am I so competitive? Good news! Nick went cold turkey and successfully kicked his Bejeweled Blitz addiction. But his lust to compete is stronger than ever. Is this craving to crush others a healthy desire or a destructive impulse? We need your topic for our next episode! Leave your ideas in the comments below before July 7th and we'll discuss our favorite suggestion.

First off... GO SUPPORT THE VACANT KICKSTARTER by Heethar Noonully. Okay, did you give it money? Good. Now we may proceed. After Kaylie McDougal confesses her hatred for Bill Murray and Nick Marino drops a shoutout to illustrator Summer Suzuki, we BARF up a storm with ALF s1 e23 and ALF s1 e24! Kaylie got screencaps and Nick got screencaps. Next up, Kaylie and Nick talk about their respective reasons for why they hate getting haircuts. Then Nick shares a whimsical review of his recent Nik Furious EP and talks about pitching to SlothPunchClub.com. That transitions into a discussion about naming characters, which leads into Kaylie's new comics project. It's a sci-fi mystery inspired by Heavy Rain. After the end theme, we review (with SPOILERS!) The More They Stay Insane by Skipper Martin, Adam Huntley, Michael Spicer, and Thomas Mauer. It's a challenging psychological western tale from Outlaw Territory Vol. 3, now available digitally from Comixology, this Wednesday in American comic shops, and July 9 from Amazon. Next: We finish off the first season with ALF s1 e25 and ALF s1 e26. And then we review the critically acclaimed utterly obscure Disco Worms.

Heather and Michelle Nunnelly talk about VACANT's Kickstarter that just launched to print a Vol. 1 graphic novel. Then they talk about the heated debate on the ending of Issue 4 of the series. After a quick review of Warm Bodies, Heather and Michelle do a compare and contrast between Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek Into Darkness. They go into which one they feel was better made and which one was a flop. Last, they review Man of Steel. Heather disliked the movie, but Michelle liked it. This is the first time they've ever disagreed on a movie. They discuss their opinions. But even though they have different opinions about the new Superman film, they both thought Faora-Ul kicked ass.

Hank 300 of the Allegheny Teen Center has teamed up with Nick Marino to launch a new show about books, comics, and more! We're kicking things off with an 11-part series of weekly podcasts focused on Scalped, the 60-issue Vertigo comic series by Jason Aaron and R.M. Guéra. In our debut episode, we review Scalped Vol. 1: Indian Country a.k.a the first five issues of the comic book series. Hank is reading Scalped as printed graphic novels while Nick is reading it digitally in single issues, so we've got different perspectives on the darkness of Guéra's art and Lee Loughridge's colors. We dig deep into thematic elements and character relationships, leaving us asking a lot of questions. Is this story Native American crime noir or rezsploitation? Is Dash on a hero's journey or a superhero's journey? And will Red Crow be a redemptive character by the end of the tale? NEXT: Scalped Vol. 2: Casino Boogie and a recap of the Teen Center's Solstice Gala.

Our contest winner from Everything Blows #1 is Jason Averill, who cast Vanilla Ice as Captain America. Jason's won a copy of the 1990 Captain America movie on Blu-ray! Read on to find out how you can be next episode's lucky winner... After Ross Campbell and Nick Marino discuss two sets of wacky Laser Mission movie covers, they review Kelly's favorite 90s action movie, Rapid Fire. Brandon Lee is Jake Lo, an art student with a traumatic past who gets swept up in a battle between two drug kingpins. Nick got screencaps, Ross got screencaps, and Ross got even more screencaps. CONTEST TIME: We want you to dream up the sequel to Rapid Fire! Tell us the title of your sequel and give us a one-sentence elevator pitch in the comments on the AudioShocker. One lucky winner will receive a custom movie cover to their Rapid Fire sequel drawn by Nick. We follow up our Rapid Fire review with a discussion of the latest and greatest comic news! Get excited for Justice League 3000, thrill to Marvel's creative changes, learn about The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, and explore your romantic side with the new Superman/Wonder Woman series. Also, did Ross and Nick predict the ending to Age of Ultron waaaay back on November's A Podcast with Ross and Nick #142? Finally, after the end theme we expose Chris Sims and Comics Alliance's attempt to get EXTREME by reviewing X-Men: The Animated Series. CAN HE WEATHER THE STORM LIKE WE DID?!?!?

It's a belated Father's Day celebration as Kaylie McDougal and Nick Marino are joined by Nick's dad, Ed! And, luckily, Ed loves ALF. So when it's time to BARF, everybody's ready and raring to go! Kaylie got screencaps and Nick got screencaps. First up, there's a boring Rear Window parody in ALF s1 e21. But then ALF s1 e22 swoops in and saves the day with a story about Brian's school pageant. It's packed full of inappropriate innuendo like this: After the ALF conversation, we review Abbott and Costello: Africa Screams. It's a 1949 comedy film that screams 1949, from its confusing plot to its hit-or-miss humor to its savage representations. Nick got screencaps. Next: Gordon has a gambling problem in ALF s1 e23 and he's adamant about the existence of Dave and Alvin in ALF s1 e24.

V Ken Marion -- penciler of Fathom: The Elite Saga -- joins Shawn Atkins and Nick Marino to talk about drawing the 5-issue underwater adventure. The Elite Saga is a weekly summer event from Aspen Comics. It's a dream job for Ken, who's been working on the story since we last spoke to him in January. On this episode, Ken shares about his artistic process. From layouts to the finished product, find out how he brought The Elite Saga to life! And make sure to stick around after the end theme, where we discuss conventions (Ken will have his first table at Wizard World Ohio this year), inking, and more. NOTE: There was a little bit of confusion about the release date of Fathom: The Elite Saga #1! We keep saying June 19th, but it's actually June 26th.

Nik Furious welcomes a new challenger to the HCC... Mo-Wisher a.k.a. Jason Averill! His quest to rediscover a childhood favorite led him to Hippodrome (a.k.a. Fighting Fantasy), a 1989 2D fighting game made by Data East. A retro gamer's delight, Hippodrome is pretty cool for its time, packed with detailed opponents who resemble bizarre D&D characters. Mo-Wisher and Nik discuss the mechanics, game design, and strategy behind Hippodrome. And to help you follow along, they've posted a buttload of awesome screencaps! Jason shared one - two - three - four sets of kickass caps and Nik shared one goofy set. While the gameplay is stiff, it's pretty solid for a 1989 release. Hippodrome may pre-date the breakthru of Street Fighter II but it's still got some chops!

He loves it when you call him Big Poppa! Shawn Atkins is back and he's a daddy now. Want proof? Here ya go: While Shawn works on the latest page of the Gello Apocalypse webcomic, he talks about life, love, comics, and more. Check out this sexy scenic panel from the latest page of Gello Apocalypse! He also shares his thoughts about Ross Campbell's self-published graphic novel of Mountain Girl comics. You can buy the trade paperback from Ross at conventions (or you can send him a message through deviantART). After the end theme, Shawn gets deep and talks about the difficultly of juggling different comics while working a day job. PLUS: Father's Day anticipation!

Welcome to Podcast Vérité, a new series hosted by the founders of the AudioShocker! The concept is simple -- 3 topics, 20 minutes. Neal picks a topic, Nick picks a topic, and you pick a topic. 1. The death of instant messaging. Neal eulogizes the instant messaging services that used to be such a big part of his life. Part of him misses the mischief and part of him is burned out by constant texting. He wonders if Snapchat will occupy the social space once held by IMing. Nick just thinks he misses telling people "BRB!" 2. What's a modern friendship? Our listener topic comes from Marques, who asked us to talk about friendship. Nowadays, Neal feels like he only has time and energy for close friends that he can really count on. But Nick considers pretty much anybody he talks to (in person OR online) to be his friend. 3. Do I have a video game addiction? Nick is concerned that his Bejeweled Blitz habit has gone from use to abuse. He's obsessed with maintaining his high score, but is that just a different way of getting high? To test the limits of his addiction, Nick decides to go cold turkey until Podcast Vérité #2. We need your topic for our next episode! Leave your ideas in the comments below before June 23nd and we'll pick our favorite suggestion.

We kick things off with an apology regarding last week's commenting problem. And then we debut a new theme song! It's a snippet of the currently unreleased PonyGasm pt 1 (which will drop this summer on the new Nik Furious album). But ya know what's out right now? The PonyGasm digital comic, a kickass erotic adventure!!! Next up, Kaylie McDougal and Nick Marino BARF with glee as they review ALF s1 e19 and ALF s1 e20, two especially twisted ALF tales featuring psychotic breaks and psychological analysis. Kaylie made screencaps and Nick made screencaps. After Nick drops a brief review of After Earth, we get cozy with Kaylie's secret movie: Tender is the Heart (a.k.a. Killer Sex). It's a 2001 softcore porn that's heavy on plot and low on logic. Kaylie got tasteful screencaps and Nick got NSFW screencaps. Next: A Rear Window parody in ALF s1 e21 and some asparagus in ALF s1 e22. Also, Nick's dad might be our special guest! Watch should we watch with him???

Heather and Michelle Nunnelly start off by talking about a couple storytelling techniques used in the VACANT webcomic. One in involves the "set up and pay off" style movie scriptwriters often use. The other involves Vacant's prologue, which you can see as a trailer. Then they go over the good bad girl trope. Examples of good bad girls include Catwoman and Black Widow. They compare these characters to their male counterpart, the bad boy. After that they tear apart Star Trek Into Darkness (with SPOILERS!) for its weak female characters and lame ass ending.