We start out with some Dark Knight spoilers. Well, not just Dark Knight, but comparing it to many of the other comic movies, extensive talk about the new Punisher movie, and - because this is STILL the N3RDCast, after all - we get into sodomy of 300. Then there’s also some discussion about the Superman movies, the Spider-Man TV show(s), and various other distractions on video. That’s just for the first half-hour or so.

At about the 35:00 mark, we begin discussing the comic that has hooked me back into comics in a big way: Uncanny X-Men #500, with Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction (hallowed be their names) writing a story that absolutely smashed it out of the park.

Finally, at about the 47:00 mark, we wind up with the news that Kirkman has been made a partner at Image Comics, news that’s wildly exciting to us. Hopefully this means great things for both Kirkman and Image - the two together have the potential to make beautiful (music) comics together!

This episode we discuss muppets, latest episode of Hero Envy, JOKER’S ASYLUM: THE JOKER #1, Iron Man 2, Marvel fighting to own Spidey & Hulk, Lively, the new Stykman Statue, Hulk vs Wolvie animated, Moon Knight Mugg, Warhammer 40k 5Ed, Reese’s Dark Knight Cups, more on Platinum Studios, Red Sonya, the Etoro, Secret Lives of Mobs, and an incredibly long Zombie discussion wraps up the show!

The show got off to what was probably the funniest and most awesomest start EVER - but don’t worry, I forgot to record it, so you’ll never know just what you missed. Since I didn’t record the introductions, the show starts with Bini and Bruce joining me in the studio whilst Dr. Sexy and HappyJack are off making sacrifices to Cthulhu at different shores.

We all shared some favorite 4th of July stories to start off the show (mostly involving exploding friends/family), and it just goes to show: nothing says independence like the freedom to completely blow the hell out of yourself (and objects near you).

We slowed things down a bit to talk about Michael Turner. It was such a shame that he died, but particularly because of how young he was.

None of us follow Battle Pope, but I guess it’s good news that it got syndicated to an animated series. I just don’t know that Spike is good for… well, ANYthing, but in particular doing something like this.

I don’t understand the significance of Larsen stepping down as the publisher of Image, so forgive me, but Sexy thought it was important to mention.

I always enjoy Gail appearing at ANYthing, but this was a great panel for her to be on.

With all the controversy surrounding Platinum Studios, it surprised me to learn that they’re talking about buying Wowio. I’m not sure if that dispels the rumors of financial troubles or just points to crazy spending - shaking confidence them even more.

Penn Cinema is a local privately-owned theater that we really love. It’s got stadium seating, digital projection AND really powerful AC (these are a few of my favorite things!).

I’ve got to get a better way of watching the projects from our friends at Riff Raff Theater - trying to watch it on the computer just doesn’t work, and I just want to watch it on the big TV.

I don’t like Rose McGowen. Simple as that. And Red Sonja was so ridiculous the first time, do we really need it remade with that bimbo in the lead role?

I was never a huge Origami fan, but the work Brian has done is INCREDIBLE. His Iron Man alone is worth checking out!

I thought Bini was crazy over-reacting to the Diablo 3 announcement - but then Josie violently masturbated to the news of Chrono Trigger for the DS. Makes you wish you were in the chat room, doesn’t it?

My cousin and his lovely wife filmed what looks like an incredible documentary about puppeteers called Puppet Rampage - I have to get that, it just looks too entertaining.

We were drinking quite a bit for this show, and then Dr. Sexy logged in the chatroom and he was ALSO drunk - it was an odd meeting of the minds. Our shared blood alcohol level let us bond telepathically. But Dr. Sexy says we need to plug NeedCoffee.com. Done!

One of the (many) wonderful side-effects of me being drunk is that I bounce from subject to subject at about 1,000 miles an hour, so let me just through out some links that I have no idea how they came up: Chipmunk Bay is the comic that Kaigon SHOULD be doing when he’s wasting his time revamping N3; XKCD.com is a brilliant comic, and Chris Sanders is a brilliant artist.

We discussed ONLY two comics this show: BILLY BATSON AND THE MAGIC OF SHAZAM #1 and ZOMBIE TALES #2. So that’s that!

We start out the show with a bit of a tribute to George Carlin. Well, I say “we,” but I actually stayed away for most of the show. You can tell, because it sounds good and is really funny.

HappyJack’s always a fussy bitch, so when he takes the time to look up a web address for a comic, that’s a pretty good indicator the book is one you’ll want to check out. In this case, it’s A Dummie’s Guide to Danger, and it’s quite a b

We always talk about how much we love the viral marketing surrounding movies, and the new Batman movie has been a stellar example. Their latest foray is the Thomas and Martha Wayne Foundation, where you can learn about the Wayne family history.

Scott Kurtz lives to stir up shit. Also, whine.

The guys love Wowio, and it’s fanbase is pretty wide, including other friends of N3 like the guys at Dutchy Digest. But nobody really understands why it just shut down with no notice. They say they’re “going global,” but I’m not really sure what that means.

This X-Men panel was an interesting read. Fraction on the X-Men alone is enough to get me buying that, but reading that whole panel coverage really has me stoked for what’s coming. Of course I was stoked for Countdown for Infinite Crisis because of the big role my boy Blue was playing, and we all saw how that turned out…

If you’re a Lego fan (and frankly, what the hell are you doing here if you’re not?), you’ll be as interested as we were by the Lego CAD program. I mean, how cool is that? Design your own Lego structure and this tells you what blocks you’ll need and gives you blueprints. Computers!

I absolutely REFUSE to be even MILDLY excited by a trailer for the new Punisher. Seriously, hasn’t Frank Castle suffered enough? What’s next, the Uwe Boll version?

There have been a few million rants about the whole Platinum Studios mess. As far as we’re concerned, it’s over. DJ got his money, and if he’s not happy with the outcome, he’s at least done with it.

I hated Thomas Jane’s Punisher, but that wasn’t his fault. If anything, he’s gone on to really demonstrate his die-hard comic fandom - as evidenced by his take on Jonah Hex.

I finally made it into the show in time to do my own whining about how terrible my week had been. Seriously, this has been one of the roughest weeks I’ve had at my job in a LOOOOONG time, and the only thing that kept me going was the massive archive and incredible hilarity of Least I Could Do. That has got to be one of my favorite web comics I’ve read in a long time. I started waaaay back at the beginning and made it through the whole thing, and I was broken-hearted when I got to the end. Yeah, my work was insane, but it also left me a lot of free time while I was waiting for things to run and backups to build. And I am eternally grateful to Ryan Sohmer & Lar Desouza (and Trevor Adams and Chad Wm. Porter) for this comic. After I pay bills this month, you can damn well bet I’ll be buying ALL their books, and possibly a set (or two) of their shot glasses.

One of my favorite parts of this show (especially since I wasn’t there) was everyone trying to name the 80s cartoon themes. I think I smell a drinking game for the next time we’re hanging with the Hero Envy guys!

HappyJack leaps to the forefront of our pride parade this week with his confession about his lust for Ryan Reynolds. I can’t say I blame him - and he’s definitely a perfect pick for Deadpool.

(F’ing) Zach spends most of his day discovering things on the interweb he can forward all of us. I used to wonder why my Gmail was dumping his emails into my spam folder, but I think it’s pretty obvious. I mean, this is a guy who emailed us, “OMG - JARED’S DEAD!”

We LOVED our experiences at the Pittsburgh Con, so we’re really worried what this news is going to mean for the con in ‘09. After all the drama this year, we were really hoping they’d get back on their feet next year, but this has us nervous. Keep your fingers crossed!