Rack Pack Comics Podcast

Allan discusses his accidental trip to Mechacon; The Pack decides on the fifteen most important comic books in the universe; flawless, up-to-date coverage of SDCC; and, of course, Dick of the Week.

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Was it just me or did this Comic Con fail to deliver the goods on comic book news? What did take me by surprise is the return of CrossGen Comics! I for one am fully amped. CrossGen was a company I followed and adored. They were the place to go, to find titles that weren’t your run of the mill super-hero books. Living in Florida, it was awesome to go to Megacon and meet the talent behind this company, as they were the figurehead of Florida’s biggest comic convention. My first Megacon, I will never forget meeting Tony Bedard, Paul Pelletier and Mike Perkins. I was taken back as to how down to Earth they seemed and were eager to win me over as a fan. Seeing the return of this property certainly made me happy and I hope some of the talent working for Marvel that used to be in CrossGen goes back to some of the books they created. Look for the Rack Pack to cover this closely as we get closer to the launch of CrossGen once again. Stay Classy

For any of you interested in Rack Pack coverage of San Diego Comic-Con, please follow our illustrious Rackateer, Chris Lee, on the Twitter (twitter.com/dragonmgmt). Also, for all you lushes, you can mention (or follow) Rack Pack news items on Twitter with the hash tag #RkPkPdcst.

Some of you may know, that I Justin Pegg started collecting comics with three titles. Archie’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” which was based more on the cartoon and not the hardcore Eastman and Laird stuff. “X-Men #1,” which I drove my bike down to the local Food Lion and bought up all the covers thinking they would be worth something. Finally, “Beavis and Butthead.” As an 11 or 12 yr old, I read this book in secret, as I was not allowed to watch the show on TV. So it make me very happy to see Mike Judge working on a new Beavis and Butthead cartoon. He is shopping it around to networks for a 30 episode pickup. I can’t wait to see what the guys would do to some of the music videos coming out nowadays. My hope is that is gets paired with Futurama on Comedy Central and makes the ultimate cartoon night. To all those that have been waiting, finally “The Great Cornholio” will return. Stay Classy

In this episode, the Rack Pack analyzes their intimate relationship with writer Jeph Loeb; plays a few rounds of a sensational new JMS game show; offers a new spin on their classic “What Are You Reading?” segment; and, unbelievably, presents an all-comic-book-related “Dick of the Week!”

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Looks like Allan is gonna have to pick up the slack as world’s grumpiest bastard.

I think two days ago the Vampire craze ended. I say this because the latest “Twilight” movie was released, thus completing every 16 yr old girl’s (and some guys we know) week or month. The Vampire craze has been somewhat of a pain in the ass to myself. I love, and I mean love movies like “Lost Boys” and “From Dusk Till Dawn.” They were vampire movies that had some great gore and didn’t feature people biting their lips and calling their objects of interest a, and I quote, “spider-monkey.” I am of the belief that “Twilight” and its clones have set back great adult vampire films for at least a decade.

But to all fads, there must come an end. The TV show “The Gates” about vampires is about to be cancelled and rumored other projects are being scrapped right now. The remaining rip-offs and remakes will trickle in the coming months and weeks trying to capitalize on the last drops of blood left in this genre. So how does this all tie into Marvel Comics? Well, if you remember about two years ago Marvel produced what some say was one of their best books of the decade. “Captain Britain and MI13″ closed out its run with a fantastic vampire story that had vampire scud missiles and Blade slicing people up with a sword make of scripture. You see, Marvel, that was the time to strike on this vampire craze. First, you had a great book that could be the front-runner in this genre and the story had the ability to impact the whole Marvel Universe. I mean, c’mon. DR. DOOM AND DRACULA team up to invade Earth and plan to do it from the moon. That alone was awesome. So, Marvel, you missed the boat there. Second, I don’t believe most male readers will buy into this new story. Most males I know are sick of vampires at this point and only watch theTV shows or movies if

a) girlfriend is forcing them to go or

b) it has boobies in it.

If this is a ploy to bring in the female audience, then utilize “Girl Comics” or some of the other great products you are already producing. For now, we are going to get a forced story tying vampires in with mutants and about every cover will have a variant with some vampire crap on it. Of course, this is just my opinion, and I am sure some of you will disagree. But someone needs to put a stake in the vampire craze right now. Stay Classy.

Got a classic character you don’t know how to write? No problem! Just erase her history and do whatever the hell you want! Up next, Superman walks around for a while.

The Pack discusses their Chuck Dixon/A-Team signing; pitches new movie ideas to the SyFy Network; goes over stupid state laws; and offers more candidates for Dick of the Week.

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Today’s news brings great joy to the Rack Pack Comics Podcast. Jeph Loeb has been named the EVP of Marvel TV. His television  writing credits include being fired from the already terrible television series Heroes and churning out some episodes of the mind-numbing Smallville.  The track record speaks for itself, as the quality of these programs outshines short-lived, critically-acclaimed series like Arrested Development and The Tick. The first new show on Marvel’s docket is the Ultimate Defenestration Hour.

I think a little part of me just died just now.  Stay classy.