We are catching up on our backlog so this next Comic Book Bears audio episode dates back to this past September 26th when Bill and Steve had just returned from Baltimore Comic Con! BCC is one of the best comic book conventions out there and we have been past guests of the con as press for a number of years, so it was a thrill to return to Inner Harbor! Bill and Steve talk about their experiences, gets and hijinks that happened during this year's edition. Then Caleb joins in on the fun as we have an all-indie roundtable chatting about books including Jeff Lemire's Minor Arcana (Boom Studios), Morning Star (Mad Cave), EC's Epitaphs from the Abyss (Oni Press), Howard Chaykin's Hey Kids! Comics! (Image) and A Phone Call Away (Mad Cave)!!! So please hit play and enjoy this Charm City inspired ep!

The CBB Boys are back but this time they are focused on one era of comic books in this new audio episode! Set the controls for the 1950s and 1960s as we discuss some of our favorite books published during the Silver Age of Comic Books. The Silver Age is considered to cover the period from 1956 to 1970 and it was a time where the concept of the super-hero was revitalized for the Cold War period! Caleb, Steve and Bill Z are on the mic to talk about some of their favorites - Fantastic Four, Tales to Astonish, Aquaman, Tales of the Bizarro World, the sci-fi work of Steve Ditko for Charlton, The T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and more! 

On this latest Comic Book Bears audio episode, we emphasize the "Comic" part of our show title to welcome to the show queer comedian Jeff Klein!!! While talking about not fitting into his communities or clothes anymore, Jeff has performed at comedy clubs and festivals from coast to coast. This Florida-born comic is the host of the online shows Beer with a Queer and Outside a Comedy Club and very recently taped his first comedy special entitled Fatty Gay!! Bill Z and Steve spoke with Jeff just before his special was taped and chatted with him about how he got into comedy, what goes into recording a comedy special and much, much more!! We also talk comic books with Jeff and dive deep into his love for CrossGen Comics, particularly Ruse, and also offer up some more recent comics which gave us a few chuckles including the first issue of the new X-Factor series by Mark Russell and Bob Quinn and DC's Super-Pets Special: Bite-Dentity Crisis one-shot featuring a lead off story by Tony Fleecs and Mike Norton starring basically every DC super pet ever!! So, hit play and enjoy some ho-ho-ho's with a very funny fellow hairy heavy homo!!  

As we enter into Labor Day weekend, the CBB boys are providing one more audio episode for you this month and this time it is our review of Deadpool and Wolverine!!! D and W is the 34th Marvel Cinematic Universe film and finds Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprising their respective title roles! It is directed by Shawn Levy and also stars Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney and so many cameos it might make your chimichangas explode! In the film, Deadpool learns that the Time Variance Authority is set to destroy his home universe and enlists help to stop them in R-Rated glory! Please note that the episode is all sorta spoilerific if you have yet to see it. But, if you want to find out what Bill Z, Caleb and Steve thought about it and (as is our custom whenever we have a movie centered episode) be provided with suggestions about some comic book arcs you might enjoy reading featuring the movie's main characters, then hit play and Let's. F*ckin'. Go!    

Recorded back on 7/25/2024 and finally available as our new audio episode, this show finds the CBB Boys (Caleb, Steve and Billy Z) recounting what the big news items were from this past San Diego Comic Con. Additionally, a bunch of new comic books come under our ursine analysis. Hit play to hear our opinions about new series like Phoenix (Marvel), Namor (Marvel), Zatanna: Brining Down The House (DC Black Label), Gatchaman (Mad Cave) and Space Ghost (Dynamite) along with the graphic novella Viscera Objectica by Yugo Limbo (Silver Sprocket). Plus we have our expected banter, tangents, Geeks Gets and Woofs of the Week!

It's a new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode!! And we are thrilled to bring back to the show our most frequent guest, the one and only Steve Bryant!! This time around Steve sits down to talk with us about his successful Kickstarter campaign for Undead or Alive! The upcoming graphic novel that Steve wrote with art by Jason Millet and Patrick McEvoy follows a trio of supernatural investigators trying to determine what is terrorizing the swamps outside of Gerber's Crossing, Louisiana! A love letter to 1970s and 80s monster comics, Undead or Alive concerns a dozen people who have gone missing—the most famous one being Arael Moon: comic book writer, pop culture icon, and practicing magician. What mysteries lurk in this macabre parish and can the Undead or Alive Agency put an end to the disappearances? Beyond that, Steve chats with us about a whole lotta stuff, including a certain Universal Monster with ties to Undead or Alive! The CBB Boys (Steve, Caleb and Bill) then stay on the mic for their round table about new books they have read including the beginning of DC's Absolute Power crossover event, Free Agents #1 from Kurt Busiek, Fabian Nicieza, and Stephen Mooney (Image) and CBB favorite Blue Delliquanti's new graphic novella Adversary! While the Kickstarter for Steve's Undead or Alive has ended, you can still access the Kickstarter for late pledges for available rewards!  

New Comic Book Bears audio episode! HeroesCon 2024 a few weeks ago marked the very first time that the current roster of CBB Boys - Bill Z, Steve and Caleb - were all under the same roof IRL! And to recount what went down in Charlotte we are once again joined by special guest Brian Newberry of the Comics Discourse 114 podcast! Apart from the con wrap-up we also dive into some recent books we have been enjoying which include Ain't No Grave (Image), Bloodshot Unleashed (Valiant), the long awaited My Favorite Thing is Monsters Book 2 (Fantagraphics) and the pure throwback joy of Bloodscar Megazine by Jason Horn! So hit play and enjoy two hours of 3/4 bearded and bombastic book banter!!

On this new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode, we are joined by Brian Newberry of the Comics Discourse 114 podcast! Though we have been friends with Brian for many many years, this is the first time he has joined us on our show! Hit play and listen in as Caleb, Bill Z and Steve talk with Brian about how he got into comics and what all four of us are looking forward to this upcoming weekend as we will all be meeting up in Charlotte, NC to attend Heroes Con! Then when the comic talk starts, it's a varied lot! Under the CBB microscope this time around are X-Men #35 (the legacy #700 anniversary issue), DC's 2024 Pride and DC Pride: A Celebration of Rachel Pollack anthologies, Parallel by Matthias Lehman, The Midnight Order by Mathieu Bablet, Self-Esteem and the End of the World by Luke Healy, Titan's new Savage Sword of Conan series and Lifeline Comics' crossover of their titles Haunting and Like Father, Like Daughter! There is nothing better than a hot guest bear like Brian during Pride month so whether you are an ally or a fellow member of The Alphabet Mafia yourself, please join us!

Time for a new Comic Book Bears audio episode! On May 23rd the regular CBB crew (Steve, Caleb and Bill Z) convened to once again chat about the funnybooks. After a few tangents (Memorial Day weekend plans, our favorite Rolling Stones songs, prepping for HeroesCon) the boys finally sashay over to the virtual spinner rack in the Bearcave. Among the books discussed - Batman: Dark Age (DC), Batman/Superman: World's Finest (DC), Vengeance of the Moon Knight (Marvel), The Last Mermaid (Image), Pine and Merrimac (Boom) and Spectregraph (DSTLRY) - just hit play for two hours, one minute and twenty-five seconds of hairy heavy homo comic chat!

On this new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode we are thrilled to talk with two of the folks behind new indie publishing company Bamboo Panel Studios and their Kickstarter campaign for the first project, Kosmotrope! BPS CEO Jon Runyan is a long time friend of the show and past guest and he appears along with BPS Editor-in-Chief Randy Faustino! Randy also serves as the writer of Kosmotrope! Described as an urban fantasy thriller, Kosmotrope concerns a mysterious affliction begins striking down residents of the community of Sequoia Pass and it is up to conservation officer Liam O’Sullivan to stop the malady before the town and its people are consumed by it! Their Kickstarter runs until May 27th; the link is below. Beyond that Steve, Caleb and Bill Z talk about some new comics including the MAD Magazine Free Comic Book Day offering, Space Ghost #1 and Slash Presents (yes, THAT Slash) Deathstalker, based on the sword-and-sorcery film series from the 1980s! (And on that note R.I.P. Roger Corman.) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kosmotrope1/kosmotrope-1?ref=profile_created

"X-Men '97" premiered on Disney+ on March 20th, 2024 and this series continues the storyline for the 1990s "X-Men: The Animated Series" and details the plight of the team as they face new challenges following the apparent death of their leader, Professor X. Hit play and you will hear Steve and Bill Z discuss the first few episodes and joining in them in their chat is longtime friend of the show Tony Gilkinson, appearing on the podcast for first time! Beyond X-Men '97, Tony and the CBB Boys also talk about some of their favorite X-Men stories in the funnybooks including the Neal Adams/Roy Thomas late 1960s X-Men run, the original graphic novel and the initial issues of The New Mutants, the Muir Island Saga and series starring Jimmy Hudson, son of Ultimate Wolverine! Hit play to join us for two plus hours of marvelous mutant musings!  

Hey kids - it's another new Comic Book Bears audio episode and we are thrilled to welcome back to the show our Ursine Operative from Oz, the Koala of Comics himself Nottingham scribe David Hazan!! Nottingham is on its 11th issue which is the start of the thrilling final arc of the series! David talks with us about what is ahead as the Sheriff returns home to find a city he barely recognizes. David also chats with us about his recently Kickstarted Requiem #2 and more about his process and his work! Then we move onto comic book roundtable time as the CBB boys Bill Z, Steve and Caleb discuss recent books like Feral (Image), Suicide Squad: Dream Team (DC), Black Hammer: The End (Dark Horse) and much more!  

The weather is getting warmer and the CBB boys have more comics to talk about! After covering some news items Steve, Caleb and Bill Z chat about some recent favorites of theirs including the end of the X-Men's Krakoa era books Rise of the Powers of X and Fall of the House of X (Marvel), Wonder Woman (DC), Outsiders (DC), The N Word of God (Fantagraphics) and Rare Flavours (Boom)! Plus, with this episode, we may be the only comic book podcast to have ever referenced the work of Lincoln Center Theater poster artist James McMullan! Plus our Geek Gets, our Woofs of the Week and more!

Time for another new audio episode based on our spotlighting of indie creators on our video livestream! On this episode (recorded on March 7th) we are very pleased to welcome for her first time on the podcast writer Corissa Grant!  Corissa introduces us to her horror comic series, Worthy Chaos: Redemption!! The project just had another successful Kickstarter campaign for issue #9! Steve sits solo in the driver's seat for the interview and chats with Corissa about the fight for survival against destiny and the forces of the underworld in Redemption, her inspirations, building a fanbase, and why terrifying supernatural creatures make such cute plushies! And for the second show in a row, Bill Z joins up late toward the end to talk up some other comics like Spider-Gwen: Smash (Marvel) and AWA's U&I by J. Michael Straczynski & Mike Choi! Hit play and you'll get all this plus Woofs, Gets and more on this (sadly) Caleb-less episode!

Over the past few weeks we spotlighted indie creators on our video livestream and now those episodes are being made available as audio episodes! First up (recorded on February 22nd) we are very pleased to welcome for their first time on the podcast artist Amanda Kahl and writer Jeremy Flagg, co-creators of the comic "I Am The First". Caleb and Steve interview the duo and we get to know their inspirations and journey creating the series, where to find their other work, their Brave New Comics imprint and more! (And fear not, CBB faithful, Bill Z continues his unbroken streak of appearances by JUST making onto the show at the end!)

A bunch of bears and a bunch of new comics - yes, it's another new Comic Book Bears audio episode! Hit play and hear Steve, Caleb and Bill Z chat about a very important bit of recent comic industry news - the mass exodus of artists from Cadence Comic Art - and then onto the comic book talk with time dedicated to Ultimate Spider-Man (Marvel), The Schlub (Image), Somna (DSTLRY) and  John Constantine: Hellblazer - Dead in America (DC)! AND YES, ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN #1 REALLY IS THAT GOOD!!!

Finally, it's a new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode! Hit play and hear the CBB boys (Bill Z, Steve and Caleb) talk about comics like Superman: Lost, Kneel Before Zod, the new Duke and Cobra Commander books from Image/Skybound's G.I. Joe line and - remember we are a queer podcast - Killer Queens 2! The boys also get caught up with each other and, since this first 2024 episode was recorded during the playoffs, you get treated to some NFL Conference and Super Bowl chat from Caleb and Bill ... it was a funny conversation so we left it in ... and if you have missed the audio episodes, don't worry - this is just the first of three that we will be releasing over the next week!  

Two of the CBB boys (Bill Z and Steve) were able to sneak in one last livestream in 2023 and here it is now as the first Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode of 2024! And it's all about the King of the Seven Seas! Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the 15th film and final installment in the DC Extended Universe movie series and that's what we chat about! The film was directed by James Wan and stars Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, alongside Patrick Wilson, Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Randall Park, Dolph Lundgren, Temuera Morrison, Martin Short, and Nicole Kidman. In the film, Aquaman must work with his half-brother Orm to prevent Black Manta from killing his family and using the cursed Black Trident to overheat the world while searching for the lost seventh kingdom of the seas. We let you know what we thought about it and also provide some recommendations for comic books featuring Aquatic Ace! Hit play to dive in!!!

We are thrilled to welcome back to the show for our final full length episode of 2023 Dr. Christopher Michael Roman! Dr. Roman is a Professor of English at Kent State University and he specializes in Comics Studies and the Graphic Novel, LGBTQ+ Literature and Queer Theory. The Professor is here to talk about his book Queering Wolverine in Comics and Fanfiction: A Fastball Special which discusses the ways in which Wolverine is a queer hero and examines his representation as an open, vulnerable, and kinship-oriented queer hero in both comics and fanfiction. It is an eclectic and very thought provoking discussion! After that our esteemed guest and not-so esteemed hosts sit down to a virtual comic roundtable to discuss recent reads like Unleashed, Wesley Dodds: The Sandman, Monstress and Wild's End! Hit SNIKT and enjoy!   

The end of this year saw a number of Doctor Who specials hit the television screens and the first was The Star Beast! But did you know it was based on a comic book? Hit play to hear the Comic Book Bears boys discuss the original "The Star Beast" comic story written by Pat Mills and drawn by Dave Gibbons in 1980 as well as the 2023 live action interpretation of it written by returning Who showrunner Russell T Davies with David Tennant and Catherine Tate returning as The Doctor and Donna Noble. Since it is the end of the year we do get in some Best of 2023 chat in which is surprisingly not about comic books but about our favorite music of the year! Then we finally get to some full on comic book yapping with the recent Supergirl Special, Panya: The Mummy's Curse (from the World of Hellboy), Fung Gi (from Scout Comics) and Brandon Graham's Moonray under discussion. So, join all four hosts - Bryan, Caleb, Steve and Bill - for two hours of TARDIS and non-TARDIS talk!  

We are thrilled to welcome back to the show comic creator John Horsley!!! John had previously appeared on our show to discuss his horror themed Eynes Anthology a few years back and this time he is here to discuss his Kickstarter campaign for a very different type of book! Jonly Nonly began life as a comedic webcomic back in 2008 that John created based off his wife Kaylie's drawings of John and his friend Jeff. The Kickstarter is for collections of these strips - both as single issues and as a TPB! John takes us through the characters who inhabit the strip (Jonly Nonly, the fishing obsessed Jeffers, the cool AF Calvereena and Star Wars enthusiast Earf) and fills us in on why we all should back it! Apart from the interview the CBBers also discuss recent comic related news (such as The Marvels tanking at the box office, possible Fantastic Four casting, the Madame Web trailer hitting and the SAG-AFTRA strike ending with comic related shows going back into production) and talking about some new comics including Jean Grey, Birds of Prey and Alan Scott: Green Lantern! So hit play and, for those listeners of ours in the States, have a great Turkey Day!!    

It's another trip to the movies for the Comic Book Bears on this new audio episode as Bill Z, Caleb and Steve discuss The Marvels! The film is the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. The Marvels was directed by Nia DaCosta and stars Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan and Samuel L. Jackson returning onced again as Nick Fury. The movie finds Danvers, Rambeau, and Khan teaming up after they begin swapping places with each other every time they use their powers, against the backdrop of a desperate and dangerous Kree Empire. It's no secret that the film has underperformed at the box office - hit play to hear what this group of groovy gay guys felt about the film and why there has been a muted reaction to it. 

Join the Comic Book Bears boys as fall is fully in gear! Steve, Bill and Caleb are all back on the mic and kick off this latest audio episode with a post-Halloween-mostly-about-horror-movies opening tangent salvo and follow that up with some comic book (and a tiny bit of non-comic book) related news. The CBBers then movie over to that funnybook round table with Steve championing the latest revival of Alpha Flight (Marvel) and Gone by writer artist Jock (DSTLRY), Caleb advocating for the Crypt of Shadows anthology (Marvel) and the Gargoyles Halloween Special (Dynamite) and Bill singing the praises of Jay Garrick: The Flash (DC) and Orson Welles: Warrior of the Worlds (Scout); hit play and hear all this and our geek gets, our Woofs of the Week and at least two really terrible puns!  

We are back to four bears strong as Bryan, Bill, Caleb and Steve are all on the mic for this new audio episode! From Japan to Chicago to New York Comic Con, 3/4 of us have been off traveling for the past few weeks and we spend the first part catching with each other and talking of our exploits (much of them comics infused.) And if you want to skip right to the comic book talk then go to the 55 minute mark as we pull a bunch of recent #1 comics off of the virtual spinner rack - G.O.D.S. (Marvel), Justice League vs Godzilla vs Kong (DC), Transformers (Image), Conan The Barbarian (Titan), Kaptara: Universal Truths (Image), Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees (IDW) as well as the new graphic novel The Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht! So hit play and enjoy some four-color talk from some hairy heavy gays!

It's the latest audio episode of The Comic Book Bears Podcast! That's right - strike "comic" out of the title this week because for this installment of our show we are putting the funnybooks away and will be talking about prose books, both ones we are currently reading and the fiction and non-fiction books that made up our formative literature over the years. Hit play and hear Steve, Caleb and Bill discuss the current reads which include Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill, Under the Whispering Door by TJ Clune, Helpmeet by Naben Ruthnum, American Daredevil: Comics, Communism, and the Battles of Lev Gleason by Brett Dakin and Sweet Dreams: The Story of the New Romantics by Dylan Jones. After that, we get into the books that made a big impact on each of us: they are too numerous to list here but trust our word that it makes for a fun discussion!

If this were the 1970s we would call this episode Comics Book Bears Triple Action! Press play and get ready for an extended triple treat!  First, we are joined by writer Steve Bryant and artist Don Cardenas who join us to discuss their Kickstarter campaign for the second issue of Evie and the Helsings! The miniseries follows Evie Van Helsing of the famed vampire hunting Van Helsing family as she navigates life between two worlds - the rock scene where she fronts a band and the family business. It's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets This is Spinal Tap by way of Ash Versus Evil Dead. Steve and Don cover what metal bands and horror films are influencing them and so much more! The Kickstarter still has a few days to go and the link is below! Second, we transition to cinematic talk and discuss Blue Beetle, the 14th installment of the DC Extended Universe. Blue Beetle was directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and stars Xolo Maridueña as the title character alongside Adriana Barraza, Damián Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon, and George Lopez. All the CBB boys saw it and offer up what they thought of Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle's origin story! Third, we still manage to get in a comic book roundtable to wrap it all up! Caleb discusses the latest reboot of The Avengers by Jed MacKay and C.F. Villa! Bill takes on Tales of the Titans #1 featuring Starfire! And Steve chooses The Devil's Cut #1 (or "that DSTLRY one-shot"), an anthology collecting samples of new work from the initial creative line-ups for DSTLRY's fall debut as a new publisher to chat about! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevebryant/evie-and-the-helsings-12/description  

We are thrilled to bring back Bryan Pittard back to the show!! If the CBB boys were The Defenders, Bryan is our Silver Surfer - he might not be around for a while but when he is back he's a full on member who swoops in to save the day! Bryan joins your regular crew (Steve, Caleb and Bill) to talk comics and this time the virtual pull list has DC's Knight Terrors event, Astonishing Iceman, Planet of the Apes, Second Coming: Trinity, Tula Lotay and Scott Snyder's Barnstormers and Pool Boys by Josh Trujillo with art by Josh Cornillo on it! As for the title of the episode, listen to the very beginning as we chat about a recent development on the music scene! 

The X-Men's annual Hellfire Gala recently happened and hosted man and mutant alike ... and things didn't go down so well! On this latest Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode we - meaning Bill Z, Caleb and Steve - discuss the one-shot which kicks off the Fall of X event into high gear. But before that we have a very frank discussion about how one of our hosts appears to be losing interest in reading comic books and all the group shares their stories about times they stopped reading and what got them back in. (If you want to skip this chat, you can go to the 37:00 min mark.) Then the CBB boys are all in for comic talk with the aforementioned Hellfire Gala 2023 one-shot, Power Girl Special #1, Avengers Beyond #1, Ultimate Invasion #1, Fire Power and the Planetary Omnibus each undergoing our ursine analysis. So grab your embossed Hellfire invite, step into a portal to Krakoa by hitting play, grab a cocktail (or ten) and enjoy!  

2023 marks yet another year where none of the Comic Book Bears Podcast boys - Caleb, Steve and Billy Z - were in attendance at San Diego Comic Con but the comic talk continues! Recorded on 7/20/2023, the date that SDCC kicked off, this episode starts off with tangents about the much missed MediaPlay chain and the hazards of getting stoned on the beach the day after your senior prom. Then the boys shift over to grab some books off that virtual spinner rack and this time around the books discussed include the beginning of DC's Knight Terrors event, the new Incredible Hulk #1, Dragonball Z, Jeff Lemire's new project Fireflies and a nod to the past with the Question by Dennis O'Neil and Denys Cowan Omnibus! Hit play to enjoy a solid two hours of ursine funnybook discussion!   

We all know how hot it has been this July in North America. The Comic Book Bears are here to help you cool down a bit with some talk about cool comic books! After rapidly changing subjects at the outset of the episode (going off on tangents from birthdays to a really intense take on Lex Luthor to ... the heat), the spinner rack gets spun! Steve talks up X-Cellent (Marvel) and the surprising Void Rivals (Image); Caleb takes a look into this year's Hulk and Scarlet Witch annuals; Billy Z examines the Dawn of DC version of Green Arrow and a classic run on New Gods by Gerry Conway and Don Newton. All this plus woofs and gets and much more!

  For the third episode in a row, the Comic Book Bears bunch have a movie based episode! And this time the focus is on the fastest man alive! The Flash is based on the DC Comics character of the same name and it is the 13th (!) installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) franchise. The movie is directed by Andy Muschietti and stars Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash alongside Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú and Michael Keaton once again in a landmark role of his. In the film, Barry travels back in time to prevent his mother's death which brings unintended, multiversal consequences. Steve and Bill are on hand to discuss what they thought of the movie and why they think the response to it has been muted. Then, as is custom with our film based episodes, we provide what we feel are exceptional Flash comics to seek out. All this plus our discussion of our time attending HeroesCon in Charlotte - some unexpected surprises there - earlier in the month, a quick current comics roundtable, Geek Gets, Woofs of the Week and more! So hit play and let us send you running on an audio cosmic treadmill!  

New Comic Book Bears audio episode! Join us as Bill Z, Steve and Caleb return to the movies (for a second episode in a row) to discuss Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse! The animated film is the sequel to 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson. Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzman, Issa Rae, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya, and Oscar Isaac make up the main voice cast which finds Miles Morales on an new, high stakes adventure with Gwen Stacy across the multiverse where he meets a new team of fellow Spider-folk known as the Spider-Society, led by Miguel O' Hara/Spider-Man 2099, but comes into conflict with them over how to handle a new threat! Hit play to hear what the CBB boys thought of the movie and then - as is now custom with our movie oriented episodes - make their recommendations concerning comics featuring the Spider-Verse characters that we think you might dig! We still get in a little bit of roundtable time to discuss some new books and GNS like Count Dante #1, Centralia and Supermassive 2023! WOOF AND THWIP!

May 5th, 2023 saw the release of the final installment in the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once again directed by James Gunn - and his MCU swan song as well - GOTGV3 stars Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan and more as Star Lord, Drax, Mantis, Rocket, Groot, Nebula and a revived Gamora go on one final adventure together, this time squaring off against The High Evolutionary! And what did the CBB boys think of it? Well, hit play to hear where Steve, Caleb and Bill Z think Guardians 3 ranks! And as is now custom with our movie centric episodes we offer our recommendations for what Guardians tales we think readers would enjoy in the four color format! We also discuss the Eisner nominations, get in some unexpected Amityville Horror talk, woofs, gets and a lot more!

We had hoped to get the audio episode of our livestream on this past Star Wars Day (5/4/2023) out to you a bit earlier than we have but here it is! Bill Z, Caleb and Steve gather round the mic for another new CBB confab! Since we have something else Star Wars specific in the planning stages, we don't spend too much time in a galaxy far, far away but journey long enough around the Outer Rim to discuss the recent High Republic comics! On top of that Superman: Lost, more Sins of Sinister, Hellcat, Jeff Lemire's Phantom Road and Betty and Veronica: Friends Forever - Rock and Roll also get their own spotlights during our roundtable! Plus news, gets, woofs and much more!  

Another new CBB audio episode! We welcome to show for the first time Zackary Marois! Artist/writer Zack is a graduate of the Kubert School and is about to launch a new Kickstarter: Voyage Issue 1 - Principium! This sci-fi adventure series details the saga of Sonderon, an intergalactic space explorer! The Kickstarter will launch soon and we get the early word from the creator about what to expect.  The indie vibe continues on in the roundtable as Steve, Caleb and Bill Z discuss Monster Tag Team (American Mythology), The Seasons Have Teeth (Boom!), House on Fire (Living the Line) and more!! Hit play and join us!

We are thrilled to welcome back to the show the Koala Bear of Comics and Nottingham scribe David Hazan! Our favorite Aussie David has some new books coming out in the next few months - the magic oriented Monomyth (Mad Cave) with its first issue hitting the shops on May 3rd and Death Drop: Drag Assassin (Scout), a supernatural queer noir  about a hitman turned drag queen that is slated for release on June 14th! David fills us in on these series as well as the Tales from Nottingham (Mad Cave) anthology series and he is joined by the letterer on these projects Lucas Gattoni, the Argentinian Lettering Bear, who discusses his work on David's books and others such as Blue Beetle: Graduation Day (DC)! And if this sexy international ursine one-two punch isn't enough we also talk about some recent comic book oriented Film and Tv trailers and Billy Z, Caleb and Steve discuss The Unstoppable Doom Patrol (DC), the relaunched Black Panther (Marvel), the Paul is Dead: How The Beatles Lost Paul (Image) graphic novel and more!

Another new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode! Earlier this month, we observed Daylight Savings Time here in the US and this was the first time the CBB boys (Bill Z, Caleb and Steve)  reconvened in the virtual bearcave since setting the clocks ahead. After a bunch of news items the comics discussed on this episode include Superman: Space Age (DC), the X-Men: Sins of Sinister event (Marvel), Local Man (Image), Blood Tree (Image), Godfell (Vault) and How I Became a Shoplifter (Sumerian). Hit play and you will also discover what "Met the Deck" isn't!  

WITH ONE MAGIC WORD! The Comic Book Bears boys return to the cinema for a new audio episode discussing Shazam: Fury of the Gods!  It is the sequel to the first 2019 Shazam! film and is also the 12th installment in the DC Extended Universe franchise. The film was directed by David F. Sandberg and stars Zachary Levi, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Rachel Zegler, Lucy Liu, Djimon Hounsou, and Helen Mirren. In the film, Billy Batson and the rest of the Shazam siblings fight the Daughters of Atlas! Hit the play button to hear what Steve (not the pen) and Bill (who was battling with the Fury of the Bad Headcolds when they recorded) thought of the movie and, as is CBB custom, also offer up their suggestions for collected comic book editions starring the Shazam Family members!

The Comic Book Bears head back to the movies to discuss Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the 31st Marvel Cinematic Universe film and the first in that franchise's Phase 5! The film was directed by Peyton Reed and stars Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly returning as Scott Lang and Hope van Dyne alongside Jonathan Majors, Kathryn Newton, Michelle Pfeiffer and Michael Douglas. In the film, the Lang/Van Dyne family are transported to the Quantum Realm and face Kang the Conqueror. Caleb, Steve and Bill Z offer up what they thought of the movie and also provide their picks for anyone who might want to follow up seeing the film by reading Ant-Man or Kang centric comics. (Also, it was impossible to discuss this film without spoilers so if you want to avoid the film talk, that all occurs between the 3:42 to 45:50 mark.) After that a trip to the spinner rack yields a discussion regarding recent comics like Swamp Thing: Green Hell (DC Black Label), Blue Beetle: Graduation Day (DC) and A Foulness in the Walls (AfterShock). So hit play to release those Pym Particles and join us for some subatomic cinema talk!

Time for another new Comic Book Bears Podcast episode! The show starts off as Bill Z, Steve and Caleb catch up with one another and then talk briefly about the recent passing of music legend Burt Bacharach. News items include Kickstarter searching for their new director of comics projects and the passing of artist Lee Moder.  Then we head onto the virtual spinner rack with discussions about Midnight Suns (Marvel), Avengers: War Across Time (Marvel), It's Lonely at the Center of the Earth (Image), Where Monster Lie (Dark Horse), Breath of Shadows (IDW) and the manga classic Banana Fish (Viz.) Plus as always our gets, our woofs and our tangents!

On this new Comic Book Bears Podcast audio episode, we welcome back to the show the incredible Steve Bryant! Steve has been on our podcast many times in the past to talk about his work like Athena Voltaire and The Clean and this time around he is here to discuss his Kickstarter campaign for the first issue of Evie and the Helsings! For centuries, the Van Helsing family has protected humanity from things that go bump in the night. The mantle has been passed onto the last of the family line. But Evie Van Helsing just wants to rock! Written by Steve, drawn by Don Cardenas with colors by Jason Millet, Evie and the Helsings is the first issue of a 4-issue miniseries that follows Evie as she navigates life between the music industry and the supernatural world. (Think Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets This is Spinal Tap by way of Ash Versus Evil Dead.) Hit play to hear Steve tell us all about it! After the interview, Caleb, Billy Z and Steve discuss some recent comic related news (such as the cancellation of two HBOMAX comic books based shows and a new Titans #1 with a phenomenal creative team behind it!) New books on the spinner rack that we discuss include Nightwing #100, the kickoff of the X-Men storyline Sins of Sinister and Inferno Girl Red #1 from Image Comics! All this and ... sorta kinda ... Cher! Please also note this is our first episode with our brand new theme song ... which we really really dig ... composed just for us by the electronic artist Walkathon! And lastly we talk about a Meal Train campaign to assist our very close friend and fellow podcaster Wendi Freeman who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The links for the Evie Kickstarter and Wendi's campaign are below. Please consider contributing to both!!! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stevebryant/evie-and-the-helsings-1 https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/9v4vy6  

SO THIS IS THE NEW YEAR! The CBB boys ring in the new year with their first audio episode of 2023! And in the spirit of new beginnings and soft reboots, we decided to offer up some reintroductions! Billy Z, Steve and Caleb each chat a little bit about themselves and then they each surprise one another with questions - one comic related and one about life in general. We also spend some time going over the generally accepted definitions of bears and bear culture in the queer community for those who might have a degree of unfamiliarity (and maybe even for those who are QUITE familiar!) For the news segment, in the absence of any notable developments recently in the comics world, we focus on a tweet from writer Chuck Dixon designed to mock and attack newer and diverse comic creators and that leads to a discussion about when people with a body of work you respect come up way short as human beings. Then onto the comic book talk - almost exactly at the one hour mark if you want to cut to the chase - with New Mutants, the Hulk mini-series Joe Fixit, Nightwing, Danger Street, Spy Superb and the Black Veil Brides-centric series The Phantom Tomorrow all occupying slots in our spinner rack! All this and our patent pending Geek Gets and Woofs of the Week! Hit play and join us in the comic cave for a bit! Intro Music: Ocean Colour Scene - "You've Got It Bad" Outro Music: Klassik 78 - "Living Fantasy (Tonight)"      

One last 2022 Comic Book Bears audio episode for you all! Bill Z, Caleb and Steve are back with you for one more episode before Father Time ushers us into 2023! Listen in as the CBB first cover some of December's big news items such as James Gunn's new role overseeing DC Studios (including the cancellation of Wonder Woman 3 and Henry Cavill hanging up his cape as Kal-El) and Aftershock's filing for bankruptcy.  Then they shift over to the comic talk with Gargoyles #1 (Dynamite), A Vicious Circle #1 (Boom), Batman/Superman: World's Finest #10 (DC), Frank Frazetta's Dawn Attack #1 (Opus), Art Brut #1 (Image) and from a few years back Saucer State (IDW) among the books discussed! We hope you all had a great holiday season and we wish you all the best as we venture into the new year!!

Step into the Comic Book Bears cave for the first of two audio episodes this month! Bill Z, Steve and Caleb are all present to talk comics ranging from the Big Two to a number of new and recent indie titles! Among the books discussed are DC's Superman titles, Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise (Marvel), Sparks of Chaos (CEX), Project Superpowers: Fractured States (Dynamite), Jason Aaron's Once Upon a Time at the End of the World (Boom) and Door By Door, Night By Night by Cullen Bunn and Sally Cantirino (Vault). Apart from the comics Bill Z also went a bit nuts on a Black Friday spending spree, Caleb reveals he is the love child of Dolly Parton and Rob Halford, and Steve ... is ... well, Steve. So take a break from those Christmas records playing, hit play on us and get your funnybook fix!

For the second new audio episode in a row the Comic Book Bears head over to the multiplex! Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is the sequel to Black Panther (2018) and the 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. Directed by Ryan Coogler, who co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Robert Cole, BP:WF stars Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira, Winston Duke, Florence Kasumba, Dominique Thorne, Michaela Coel, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Martin Freeman, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Angela Bassett. In the film, the leaders of Wakanda fight to protect their nation from new threats in the wake of T'Challa's death. The film also serves as the introduction of Namor to the MCU! Steve and Caleb weigh in with what they thought of the movie and then Billy Z joins them on the mic for a new comic book roundtable discussion! So hit play! (It's the Wakandan way!)

On this first of two back-to-back super-hero based movie episodes, the Comic Book Bears return to your earbuds to discuss Black Adam, the 11th DC Extended Universe film! The movie is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and stars Dwayne Johnson in the titular role with Pierce Brosnan, Aldis Hodge, Noah Centineo, Sarah Shahi, Marwan Kenzari and Quintessa Swindell rounding out the cast.  Black Adam centers around Teth-Adam, an ancient superhuman who is released from his magic imprisonment by a group of archeologists to free the nation of Kahndaq from a criminal enterprise that rules their country. He gains the attention of the Justice Society of America who try to stop Adam from causing further destruction from his attacks but they all discover that there is a deeper evil at work. Hit play to join Billy Z, Steve and Caleb and hear what they thought of the film and then stick around for some comic book talk (including a few Black Adam related titles!)

The CBB Boys were all super busy during the tail end of September and the entire month of October but they finally regrouped to talk comics in their virtual comic cave. But to venture over to the spinner rack, you have to first clear a hurdle in hearing about the group members exploits at New York Comic Con, at Memphis Comic Expo, being super gay in Las Vegas, being super lawyerly in Portland and traveling to the Diamond State! Comics discussed this time around include an exploration of one the classic New Mutants arcs from the 1980s, DC's current Dark Crisis event books and Stepping Stones by writer/artist Lucy Knisley which is all about a city girl finding a new life on a farm. All you have to do is hit play and you'll get a whole lotta Steve, Caleb and Billy Z and a whole lotta comic talk!  

The CBB boys return to their virtual funnybook case for an hour and 45 minutes of mostly comic book talk.  There is a reference to a geek get and (inexplicably) a few references to 1978's DC Implosion but for the most part it is just new comic books! So put in the ear buds and press play to hear Billy Z, Caleb and Steve discuss The Least We Can Do (Image), Bloodshot Unleashed (Valiant), Tales of the Human Target (DC), Crashing (IDW), Ms. Marvel & Venom (Marvel), Superman: Warworld Apocalypse (DC) and a bunch more!