Bat Force Radio

Bat Force Radio Ep # 297 - We go deep into James Tynion IV and Martin Simmonds' The Department Of Truth comics, with special guests Ryan, Nick, and Alex from the Bledsoe Said So podcast. Ryan Bledsoe is an Experiencer whose family and life have long been the subject of study by goverment agencies. In addition to Ryan's own experiences, which he details in this episode, his father, Chris Bledsoe's story includes encounters with the entity who we will know as Babalon or The Woman in the Red Dress within The Department of Truth comics. This episode is full of spoilers from issue 1 to 12 of The Department of Truth. If you haven't read the series yet, do yourself a favour and read it before you listen. Check out the Bledsoe Said So podcast at www.bledsoesaidso.com

As we prepare to delve into the complete Batman work of Grant Morrison, we begin with a discussion of Grant's beliefs in magic, sigil creation, manifestation, and drug use, to better understand the themes and ideas that came up during the course of their runs on Batman, Batman and Robin, Batman Incorporated, Final Crisis, the return of Bruce Wayne, etc. For some background on what we are discussing, check out Grant Morrison on Chaos Magic, the occult, and Sigil creation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTMFBYXmvMk

We talk about the good, the bad, and the spoilers of Black Adam along with Gotham Geek Girl, who attended the red carpet premier. Beware spoilers for the return of you know who.

Our spooky time favourite, Kelley Jones, returns for the 5th straight Halloween and we talk about his cat's appearance in the Netflix Sandman series, comics, horror movies, the time he helped revolutionize Mr. Freeze and bring him back into Batman comics, and lots more. This episode uses a lot of visual elements and we suggest checking it out on Youtube to see all that good stuff.

Lee Bermejo returns to discuss this week's Batman: Dear Detecive. The 56 page Black Label Prestige Plus size book, collecting his masterful Detective Comics variant cover run, in their proper narrative order, alongside a mysterious letter written to The Dark Knight. As always, we touch on some other topics as well. Honestly, we recorded this episode a couple weeks ago and we couldn't tell you what those other topics were, at this point. Maybe leave a comment and remind us. K thx Most importantly, go pick up a copy of BATMAN: DEAR DETECTIVE. You wont soon find a better looking comic.

Clay McCormack returns for a spoiler-filled chat about the new Batman White Knight Presents: Red Hood. The 2 issue mini that he created along-side Sean Murphy, Simone Di Meo, and Dave Stewart. Clay shares thoughts on creating a version of Jason Todd that is unique to the White Knight Universe, while remaining faithful to the version of the character we all know; as well as introducing the new character Gan, a self-proclaimed Robin, now being trained by Jason. We also pry for info on the secret next White Knight spinoff, as well as plans for the sequel to Bloody Hel, and Clay's time at this year's SDCC and upcoming con schedule.

This week we're joined by Ram V, the new author of Detective Comics, plus books like The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, Blue In Green, These Savage Shores, Swamp Thing, Venom, Catwoman, etc. We talk about his Gothic Opera in Gotham, his supervillain origin story, yelling at Rocky fans, food, writing Aquaman into a deep sea horror story, his dogs, the story behind his name, and lots more.

New Batman author Chip Zdarksy returns for a spoiler-filled chat about his new run on Batman, beginning with this week's issue 125, including the identity of Failsafe, Tim Drake, Penguin, Alfred, and more; as well as his work on Batman: The Knight, Daredevil, Public Domain, writing for TV, the movie he helped pitch to Marvel, and lots more. Absolutely read Batman 125 BEFORE listening to this episode or have every page spoiled.

We finally return to comic reviews to discuss Mattson Tomlin, Andrea Sorrentino, Jordie Bellaire, and Steve Wands' 3 issue mini-series Batman: The Imposter (plus variant covers by Lee Bermejo). Go pick up a copy or, if you already have it, read along and tell us all the things that we got wrong.

This week we sit down to discuss the art and influence of Neal Adams from our own perspectives from interactions with him and collecting of his work, as well as being joined via voice messages by Jock, Lee Bermejo, Jason Fabok, Paul Pope, and Doug Mahnke, who offered their thoughts and perspectives as influential comic artists inspired and affected by the art and artist's rights efforts of Mr Adams that changed the industry.

Author / Illustrator Clay McCormack joins us to talk about his origin story in comics, his WW1 / Viking epic Bloody Hel, writing the upcoming 2 issue Red Hood story as part of Batman Beyond The White Knight from Sean Murphy (with whom he also co-hosts the BatAss podcast covering Batman The Animated Series and Batman Beyond), as well as collecting, movies, video games, drawing knees, general nerdery, and lots more.

Paul Goodenough and Sarah Lord of Rewriting Extinction join us to discuss "The Most Important Comic Book On Earth - Stories To Save The World" a global collaboration for planetary change, bringing together a diverse team of 300 leading environmentalists, artists, authors, actors, filmmakers, musicians, and more to present over 120 stories to save the world. A team that includes names like Ricky Gervais, Jane Goodall, Cara Delevingne, Andy Serkis, Jock, Alan Moore, Cliff Chiang, Brian Azzarello, and hundreds more. Visit www.rewritingextinction.com to learn more or find out where to get your copy and help to save the world.

One of our favourites, Clay Mann, returns to talk about the upcoming conclusion to his Batman Catwoman series and his thoughts on the story, as well as The Batman movie, stalking Robert Pattinson at an afterparty, Jim Lee, artist's block, promotion of current comic books, his future, an upcoming Phantasm collectible, and lots more.

As Batman Beyond The White Knight #1 hits shelves, here is the SPOILER portion of our chat with creator Sean Murphy, that began with the spoiler-free portion in episode #282 (check that one out first, if you missed it). In this episode, we go deep into spoilers for not only issue 1 and the big cliffhanger final page, but also preview some of what is coming in issue #2 and beyond, as well as the 2 issue mini that spins out of this series. Do not listen before reading issue 1 if you don't want it to be spoiled.

Along with special guest ReevzFX, we're joined by "The Ballet Bat" Carl Newman to talk about his experience filming the 1989 Batman movie as a body and movement double for Michael Keaton, chosen to add grace and athleticism to the Batman, working with Tim Burton, Jack Nicholson, et al. You'll be shocked to find out how many of the iconic shots and scenes from the film are not actually Michael Keaton, but Carl himself under the cowl.

Sean Murphy returns in advance of the start of the next chapter of the White Knight Universe: Batman Beyond The White Knight. We take a mostly spoiler-free walk through what is coming in the new series, as Terry McGinnis arrives in the Murphy-verse and Bruce's new look in a new Gotham, as well as getting into Sean's thoughts on The Batman, what made him worry he would have to walk away from DC Comics, the success of his crowdfunded graphic novel Plot Holes and a reveal of what character he has acquired the license rights to use for his next crowdfund project, and lots of other stuff that I'm probably forgetting at the moment. And check back with us on March 29 when we are back again with Sean for a spoiler-filled walk through Batman Beyond The White Knight #1 on the day of it's release. You'll also hear some things that are coming up in issue 2 and beyond, if you're into that kind of thing.

We reconvene after second (or fourth) viewings of Matt Reeves' The Batman to go deeper into this new world and get some first thoughts from some of the guys who missed the previous episode. Join us for some new catches and new viewpoints. Yeah, we'll probably be back to this topic again, very soon.

After attending early screenings of The Batman, we gather to discuss our thoughts on everything from the story, performances, score, comics inspirations, theatre swag, to comparisons to previous Bat films. We stay spoiler free for the first 15 to 20 minutes. If you have yet to see The Batman, jump out before the spoilers and come back after you have.

Russall Beattie joins us to talk about the writing and photographing of the Giant Panda King production Gotham 1919 - 1939, from finding his voice for The Bat mythos via character aesthetic and story, to real-world historical accuracy to create a Gotham City like you have never seen or read before.

We chat about some of the current theories about The Batman, Year One influences on the story, new collectibles like the Jada Toys Batmobile, SnyderCut conspiracies, trolling, Grandpa Batman being the number one Battinson fan on earth, and some other fun stuff.