Gobbledygeek

For their second Four-Color Flashback installment discussing Matt Wagner's Grendel, Paul and Arlo jump into the first half of the first proper story arc, “Devil’s Legacy" chapters 1-7, collected in Grendel Omnibus: Vol. 2 - The Legacy, pp. 66-246. (This thing's had a convoluted publishing history.) Anyways, as the boys discover, there's been a radical shift from the series' introductory story. Gone is Wagner's Art Deco-cum-manga art style, replaced by the vibrant, angular artwork of Jacob and Arnold Pander; the storyline has also moved into the "near future" circa 1986, which thanks to some clever math, Paul figures out is probably somewhere around 2005. Most importantly, Grendel's mask is now worn by Hunter Rose's step-granddaughter, journalist Christine Spar, who is spurred into action by personal tragedy. Do these stylistic shifts work? Is Wagner's overblown dialogue a noir-ish affectation or merely self-indulgent? Remember when Donahue was a thing? All this and more, plus Paul and Arlo are shocked by the passing of Prince.

Next: so shocked, in fact, that our next episode is devoted to him. The boys will discuss Prince's music, as well as three of his films: 1984's Purple Rain, 1986's Under the Cherry Moon, and 1987's concert film Sign 'o' the Times.

Paul and Arlo want to believe. They also don't want to start yet another spin-off podcast, so this week marks the first of ten sporadic installments discussing Chris Carter's seminal sci-fi series The X-Files. Joining them to discuss the first season is Wesley "Wezzo" Mead, who beams on over from the UK in his (presumably very British) spaceship. Paul talks about what it was like to watch The X-Files every week with the lights out, Wezzo recalls discovering the show as a young TV obsessive, and Arlo offers the perspective of someone watching the show for the very first time. The gang loves the mutual respect between Mulder and Scully, struggles with some very "freshman season" hours, and are in unanimous agreement on the season's best episode. Plus, Arlo commits hate crimes against the British and there's a spoiler-free discussion of Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book.

Next: the second installment of our Four-Color Flashback series analyzing Matt Wagner's Grendel takes a look at Devil's Legacy, Pt. 1, collected in Grendel Omnibus: Vol. 2 - Legacy, pp. 66-246.

This week, Paul and Arlo transcend obscenity with Donora Hillard, whose writing takes many forms, including that sequined distillation of anxiety: poetry. Her new collection Jeff Bridges finds poetry in the man himself, an actor me and you and everyone we know loves instinctively. What is it about Bridges? What about him inspired a book's worth of poems? Paul and Arlo attempt to find the answer while discussing with Donora their struggles with poetry, why people think words are scary, and the Bridges-starring 1984 film Starman.

Next: in lieu of starting yet another spin-off podcast, Paul and Arlo are going to begin analyzing the seminal '90s sci-fi series The X-Files within Gobbledygeek itself. Wesley "Wezzo" Mead beams over from the UK  on his flying saucer to discuss the first season.

In this corner: striking terror into the hearts of cowardly and superstitious criminals, a creature of the night, black, terrible, it's the Dark Knight of Gotham City...Batman! And in this corner: faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, unable to get his own sequel not stuffed with a thousand other characters, it's the Last Son of Krypton...Superman! With Zack Snyder's hands in the toybox, they must now v each other in preparation for the dawn of next year's Justice League. Kenn Edwards, host of So Let's Get to the Point, joins Paul and Arlo to discuss the superheroic epic Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Is Snyder's Superman a Randian superman? How does Ben Affleck fare as the Caped Crusader? Is the film as much of a mess as you may have heard? The boys get to the bottom of all this, not to mention another of Kenn's metatextual monologues. Plus, Arlo's had a name change, and Paul saw Hamilton on Broadway.

Next: poet Donora Hillard joins us to discuss her new book Jeff Bridges. Plus a discussion of Starman!