Zero Issues Comic Podcast

519: Roast Beast

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 04:01:55 +0000

Hank McCoy! The ‘lovable’ Beast! You’re up on todays episode of ROAST THAT… GUY… THERE…. over there.

A handful of Hank’s best buddies, enemies, 2 ex-girlfriends and Dr Druid show up for ROAST BEAST!! Who’s got the best takedown? How many reference Beast’s hygiene and peculiar odor? Are we roasting Dark Beast, Lovable Furry Blue Beast or Big Feet Beast? What do his Exes have to say? Tune in to find out!

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518: Cool as Catman (and other April Fools)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:30:46 +0000

It’s April Fool’s Day, and that means it’s time to both discuss and pity fools, in that order! There are many foolish comic-book characters, from the deliberately silly gag heroes and villains (such as Lady Stilt-Man, the Fabulous Frog-Man, and Dracula’s progeny Hell Cow) to the accidentally absurd golden-age and silver-age characters who seem to get more bonkers with every passing day (Turner D. Century, Asbestos Lady and Madam Fatal, anyone?) And what about when comics’ fools get serious, like Michelangelo in “The Last Ronin” or Snagglepuss in “Exit Stage Left”? And let’s not forget weird licensing creations like NFL Superpro and good ol’ US-1!

But first we respond to the passing of comics legend and innovator Sam Kieth, creator of The Maxx and so much more, and reflect on the impact his work had on us as fans and creators.

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517: No Danos Club

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:10:37 +0000

We love colours in our comics! There’s so very much that you can do with colours, and it’s wild, but we pretty much never talk about it! This week, we do our best ot fix that. So get ready for a brief history of comic book colouring (from newsprint to NOWsprint? Is that anything?), and the various growing pains that we had to live through in the ’90s, and the advent of digital colouring.

Then, once that’s over, get ready for the three of us gushing over our favourite colourists, as well as lamenting our… well, we’re learning. We’re getting better at it, as artists! But it’s 90% gushing, 10% lamentation.

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516: It Was a Bit of a Zoot Suit Riot

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 04:01:24 +0000

Mike Richardson, the founder and head of Dark Horse Comics for the past 40 years….. has been fired.

This is pretty big news and a huge shift in a rapidly changing comics world. We discuss the history of Dark Horse and how Mike Richardson crafted this strange middle space in comics, the fabulous comics they’ve given us over the years, the Embracer Group responsible for Richardson’s exit and most importantly…. we discuss the why. We lean heavily on Matttttttt on youtube for much of his excellent information and insight, but we also talk about what may have been left out of that analysis. The Dark Horse ups, the Dark Horse downs, the Dark horse all arounds through the years. It was a bit of a zoot suit riot.

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515: BLOOR and the Amazons of Uranus!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:30:54 +0000

This week: BLOOR! We dig deep into the archives of absurd and infamous golden-age comics to bring you a Dramatic Read of PRIZE COMICS #4 from 1940, possibly created by legendary Batman artist Dick Sprang! Join Power Nelson, the Future Man from 1982, as he battles not only a job-cutting dictator on Earth, but also against BLOOR, the Dictator of Uranus, who has absconded with Earth’s workers! And he refuses to pay them — why, that’s forced labour! Thankfully, ol’ Power Nelson (aka Gene) has a NEW DEAL for Uranus, and he doesn’t care how many Amazons he has to surrender to or robots he has to smash to deliver it! It’ll all make sense in the episode. Probably!

Content Warning: This comic contains some visually racist depictions of East Asian peoples, as was unfortunately common in that era.

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514: Two Princes in March Madness

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:55:50 +0000

Hey, look at the calendar! It’s March! And that means it’s time for March Madness, where we choose eight comic book characters and make them fight for supremacy! This year, we’ve chosen characters representing various elements. What element is your favourite? Personally, I’m a boron man.

And speaking of elements, before we get to the fighting, Kyle presents an ELEMENTary Sherlock Holmes quiz in the warmup!

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513: I Prefer the PTLK and Some Men are Polish

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 05:01:08 +0000

Trust us! That title will make sense!

It’s POWER RECORDS week where the boys listen to not one, but TWO short vinyl record superfolk stories! 1-Spider-Man and the Return of the Conquistador! 2-Superman and the Mxyzptlk up Menace! It’s the real Superman vs Spider-Man event! We listen along and poke fun, MST3K style. All that AND Merk has a new warm up bit, ‘Notions’. Little things that have been bugging him. Does Superman give everyone cancer with his xray vision? How does Venom poop? I know you’re intrigued. Join us.

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512: Four Hats, Four Jumpsuits (The Metamorpho Makeover Episode)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 12:00:14 +0000

We are taking Metamorpho, the Element Man, apart piece-by-piece in another installment of “Fix This Character”! Which we may want to rename because this dude needs no fixin’, but in the style of the segment, we are finding fun ways to reinterpret, reimagine, or just take the man of 1000-and-1 changes in a new direction! That could mean a weird “meta” journey past the fourth wall, or finding a cure for immortality in the world of magic, or challenging the unknown with some super-science friends, or maybe everyone else in the world becomes a Metamorpho too! Perhaps an artsy anthology series exploring the psychology of Metamorpho? And hey, what about Metamorpho fashion, while we’re at it? All this and more Rex-related tangents await!

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511: Sometimes, You Make Josh Gadd Disappear

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 10:18:40 +0000

Why do we call them Lightning Rounds? It’s an audio podcast: if anything, this kind of episode, in which we do a bunch of short segments, should be called a Thunder Round! Change is hard, thought, so Lightning Round it is!

This week, we talk about the recent passing of Sal Buscema and celebrate his work, cover Wonder Man (spoilers from 11:42-29:48, but if you haven’t watched Wonder Man yet, come on, were you going to?), try to cast Amber Midthunder in more cool movies, take a chilly quiz, and come up with some Golden/Silver Age takes on modern comic book villains! KrakaKOOM!

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510: Remember When Spider-Man got the Brown Suit?

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 05:01:13 +0000

Groundhog day in comics.

What does that mean? Apparently several different things as the boys mix up the topic proposed and come up with two different topics! lol Topic 1- Time loop stories Topic 2- recurring tropes and storylines used over and over again. We got ’em both!! Hear about Moira Mactaggert’s quest to get to a Red Lobster. Or Spider-Man’s poor hygiene. Secret identities revealed over and over and over again! But we start with a SNEAK PEAK at AVENGERS : DOOMSDAY! We toss aside our NDA and tell you EVERYTHING we saw! We swear it’s true! Pinky swear! Dr Doom! Richard Kind! Josh Gad! White Vision! AC/DC! and SO MUCH MORE!

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509: The Romita Glow-Up

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! It may not feel like it, but often the most iconic characters don’t arrive fully formed. Sometimes there are some changes, retcons if you will, that not only stick but become fundamental to the character in a way you can’t imagine them being any different. Like the days when Superman could only leap over tall buildings but not fly, when Magneto was a campy and unsympathetic villain before being reimagined as a Holocaust survivor, when Alfred didn’t even have a moustache! Sometimes a supervillain is given more depth and skills, like Doctor Doom! Sometimes a manga hero goes from a li’l monkey-king boy to a long-lost member of an alien battle race, like Goku! Sometimes Peter Parker is a real asshole until he goes to college, but then we kinda forget he was such an asshole! Remember when the Summers family tree was actually comprehensible, or when Sabrina’s cat Salem was orange and a regular cat, or when Doug Ramsey was just a nerd who read a lot of books? Because we sure do! We dig into tons of examples, discuss the constant of change in comics and what makes these revamps work!

But first, a fun and loose quiz that asks: did this character first appear in the comics or elsewhere? Perry White, Batgirl, Firestar, Renee Montoya, Abraham Whistler, and more — are they comics originals, did they first pop up on television or the radio, or maybe a video game? (Spoilers: it won’t be a video game.)

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508: Death in Death in Comics

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 12:08:41 +0000

Comic Book Death! No, not *that* comic book death, the character of Death, in comic books! This week, we’re talking about these personifications of mortality. From Death of the Endless to that skeleton that Thanos is more of an Eros about, and even the gender-specific Lady Death, and that one that Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter melvin’d that one time.

But before all of that, in the Warmup, we talk about the various controversies and legacy of Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, who passed away recently. We do not treat the subject matter with much respect, because, like the New Radicals said, you get what you give, and also bucket hats will be cool forever.

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507: Don’t Play Harmonica in Testing Site, Porkchop!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 05:01:27 +0000

Sidekicks!!!

That’s what we’re talking about this week, but not your ‘regular’ sidekicks. No Robins, or Batgirls or whoever. We’re talkin’ Snapper Carr! Rick Jones! Newsboy Legion! Foggy Nelson! Jimmy Olsen! The weirdly regular folks, mostly teenagers, that hung out and went on adventures with (or totally got in the way and caused disasters- we’re looking at you RICK JONES!) superhumans & aliens & supersoldiers. We start with a quiz! How many answers do you know?!? Did you know Snapper Carr became a traitor? Did you know the character he was based on connects with Warner Bros Music’s first number one hit? Did you know Rick Jones should feel bad? And who’s Trucker Thor?!? Well listen and find out!

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506: Three Doctor Manhattans (Watching 17 Avengers: Doomsday Teasers)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 03:00:33 +0000

The New Year has arrived, and it may already be doomed, but there are still comics, movies, and shows we can enjoy as the world burns around us! Superman and Spider-Man cross over for the third time, care of Mark Waid, Jorge Jimenez, and many other friends! Jimmy Olsen meets Carnage! And the classic ’70s crossovers are getting new facsimile reprints to complete the collection! “Ultimate Endgame” is here as the new Marvel Ultimate universe wraps up as the 616 universe faces Armageddon via Chip Zdarsky! DC’s Absolute line gets a Catwoman and a dead(?) Green Arrow, while the main DC comics reach the “Next Level” with new titles for Lobo, Batwoman, Deathstroke, and many more! Vertigo finally returns with new creator-owned comics and a revival of “100 Bullets”! Archie hits the reboot button again, but this time in collaboration with Oni Press, and with Archie in Hell! And did anybody say “Reign of the Superboys” — and the return of li’l Jon Kent!?

But there are also movies and shows aplenty heading our way! Wonder Man will take on superhero fatigue with Sir Ben Kingsley in mere weeks, while Fall will bring us “VisionQuest” — possibly with brand-collab Utron sex toys!? Tom Holland’s Spider-Man will have his Brand New Day this summer while Supergirl is having a red-sun-induced drunken birthday bash with Lobo! “Lanterns” is probably maybe actually coming out this year, while “X-Men ’97” and “Daredevil: Born Again” have a lot to prove after behind-the-scenes difficulties and creative shake-ups. “Avengers: Doomsday” continues to loom, as do about a million ugly fake AI teasers that are driving us nuts, but also a million real teasers that will probably also drive us nuts? Zero Issues Comic Podcast will return… right now! Give us the 25 million dollars!

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505: What We Read in 2025

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:35:39 +0000

So, what did we learn this year? More importantly, what do we read? Merk finally learns what happens to the Justice League re: Despero in a 40-year old comic, Kyle learns the he likes his reimagined universes to be finite, damnit, and Bry learns about sweet monkey love. Context within the episode!

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504: Santa Will Feed You to his Reindeer

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 05:01:38 +0000

Happy Holidays, ya filthy animals!

It’s Christmas Eve and we’ve got a short, but fun dramatic reading for your holidays! “Santa will feed you to his reindeer”. That is straight from this Dell Comic from 1948. Nimble ‘Nick’ Needle, Santa’s tailor, who he threatens to kill, is up to no good this year. Santa puts up with it only as long as he can …. AND THEN HE SNAPS!! Or does he? Only we know (and anyone else who’s ever read this comic) so join us and come on a Santa killing spree adventure! Editors note- There may or may not be a killing spree in this story.

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503: The Comic Book Movies Are All Dead

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 21:52:12 +0000

Comic book movies are dead! Now what?

This week, we talk about how we got here, what comes next, and what are we worried that we’re going to miss out on. How elegantly can we glue comic books onto other hot genres (elevated horror, anybody)? Are we getting into the deconstruction era already? Are we seeing the real-ass return of practical effects, or smaller theatres, or giving up and staying home? Do we embrace the future, or hide in our caves?

And in the Warmup, we have the triumphant return of the Comic Book Movies’ Actors Quiz! Play at home, you too can beat Kyle at this!

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502: Calvin

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 05:01:26 +0000

CALVIN & HOBBES.

Yea, that’s probably all we need to say right? The amazing strip by Bill Watterson that ran for only a decade but changed the face of comics and comic strips is STILL revered to this day. And we’re gonna talk the $%#& out of it. It’s philosophical origins, the newspaper strip business, Watterson’s fights with the syndicate (not the mob), contemporaries of the time, and realizing that Calvin’s Dad is really cool. Join us won’t you?

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501: Jeans Ahoy!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 19:00:12 +0000

It’s episode number 501, so you know what that means: AN ALL JEANS EPISODE! The result is a 40-minute trip into madness that’s at least tangentially connected to denim. We begin with a look back at the famous and/or infamous button-fly Levi’s jeans commercial featuring Rob Liefeld and directed by Spike Lee, a real thing that happened. We debate button-fly vs. zipper, compare our personal experiences with social-media algorithms, and slip into some denim-related tangents.

But what of our comics Jeans? Such as Jean Loring, who was put through the ringer in “Identity Crisis”, a superhero event mystery that does not make sense. And of course, Jean Grey, and we try to figure out if literally anyone in the Marvel Universe can defeat the Phoenix! Which superheroes and villains can pull off a costume with jeans, from Superman and the Superboys to Angar the Screamer, Jessica Jones, and even Conan the Barbarian? And just imagine Iron Man’s denim armour, the Mk. D! All this and Gene Colan, too!

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500: Green Goo, Spikey Goo

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:25:38 +0000

500 episodes! Like, 500 complete episodes. Way more than Seinfeld has, I’m pretty sure. For this centennial celebration, this time? We’re just gonna sort of take it easy, with a chill-as-heck lava lamp of an episode, which are the kind of episodes that I think we like to do, now that we’ve discovered that after over a decade of getting together and recording, we’re actually kind of good at just talking to each other about comics and junk.

Also, happy birthday, Merk’s sister!

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499: Celery Stalk Slam 5 – The Secret Ingredient is ME

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 13:01:02 +0000

It’s time for the FIFTH installment of the CELERY STALK SLAM!!

That time between Halloween & Christmas, where we choose characters from each to square off…. and battle to end! Which holiday wins? Which characters will we pick this year? Pumpkins might be involved. Maybe even a Frankenstein inspired comic character. Maybe a Skeletor lookalike. Some undead. And…. some guy… on skis. Maybe…. a piece of poo? It’s going to get weird. Join us for a nice glass of warm celery juice and follow along as we battle it out on CELERY STALK SLAM DAY!!

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498: The Mane Event

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 19:49:07 +0000

CONTENT WARNING: This episodes includes a discussion on human trafficking, which some may find upsetting or triggering. This topic begins at 13 minutes into the episode.

This week we interview a man who should need no introduction: TYLER MANE! From Saskatooner to globe-trotting professional wrestler to movie and television actor to comic creator, our guest has done it all! We dig into his wild and expanding career, his experiences portraying comic characters like Sabretooth, Torminox and Blackstar, and producing his graphic novel “The Last Spartan: Red Tape”! Based on the novels by John F. Saunders and inspired by real crimes in human trafficking, Tyler discusses how he and editor Renae Geerlings recruited legendary writer Christopher Priest, artists Will Conrad, Jimbo Salgado, Michael Montenat, and cover artist Marc Silvestri to bring the project to life, through every step of the creative process, how these stories can help in the real world, and where the series may lead next!

And guess what? This episode is also in video format! Watch below!

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497: It’s a Swamp Thing

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:00:05 +0000

In 1982, a young Wes Craven set out to make the ultimate horror character. He failed, and made a Swamp Thing movie, instead! To wrap up this year’s HowLenWein festivities, this week, we sit down and watch this thing. Do we watch the unrated version? Not all of us! And some of us are steamed about that. Mostly Kyle, because he watched it on YouTube like a chuuuuuuuuuump.

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496: Love that Patchwork Man! (A Howl-Len-Wein Lightning Round)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:24:47 +0000

Howl-Len-Wein, our October celebration of all things Len Wein, continues with an ALL-WEIN LIGHTNING ROUND! Merk tests Kyle and Bry at three rounds of LEN WEIN TRIVIA, in which the Wein-owledge of both quizboys and quizmaster is tested! Mega-Producer Kyle has a list of Len Wein-created characters for us to cast in the movies, from Brother Voodoo to Krakoa to Jigsaw! Bry takes his opportunity to discuss Wein’s writing contributions to pioneering Canadian computer-animated series ReBoot, and some particularly pivotal episodes at that! And in the style of Wein’s All-New, All-Different X-Men co-creations who were originally intended to be DC characters, we try the same trick in reverse by reimagining cool Marvel designs as entirely different DC characters! All this, and a tangent about David Dastmalchian and his very comfy-looking coffins.

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495: The Weiner & the Wein

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 04:01:23 +0000

We continue HOWL-LEN-WEIN with dramatic read from one of Len Wein’s weirdest comics, Batman: A word to the wise, a one shot Batman comic that takes place in it’s entirety in Canada, really pushing literacy and has STRONG and STRANGE ties to Zellers!

Yes. Zellers. The Joker is on the hunt for a rare geography book and travels from nearly coast to coast to find it, unknowingly getting the lives of two ‘regular’ Canadian teens, Joanie & Joey, caught up in his shenanigans. Joey HATES reading. Joanie LOVES books. Joanie LOVES rubbing it in Joey’s face! And Batman knows NOTHING about Canada. Join us for ‘The Weiner & the Wein’. We swear, it will make sense… by the end. Kind of.

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494: Into the Wein Pool!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 10:09:43 +0000

Happy HowLenWein, everyone! For this indeterminate amount of time (there may be a slight dip in the middle, not unlike a fancy ballroom dance), we are covering all things Len Wein. This week, we start it off by really talking about the man himself: a writer and editor of many comics for the Big Two, the co-creator of Swamp Thing, Wolverine, and about a hundred more characters that you’ve probably heard of or have a passing familiarity with.

Plus he wrote for Mummies Alive! I’m bummed how little we got to talk about Mummies Alive this week. Maybe next week. Probably not. Mummies Alive ruled.

Mummies! Alive!

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Classic Zero Issues #6: Morbius, Morbius, Morbius and Kevin Bacon

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 04:01:23 +0000

Health and technical malfunctions abound this week, so we’re digging out a classic episode from the extensive Zero Archives for you to enjoy… today!

The Spooky Month continues, and this week it’s our spookiest trick yet – fixing a character! Namely, good ol’ living vampire Michael “Morbius” Morbius! Now Morbius is a perfectly fine science vampire, but for some reason we just can’t sink our teeth into the character as much as we’d like. So Merk, Bry ’n Kyle all reinvent the character in their own weird ways! So bite into this episode for some royal vampire intrigue, a cavern of underground monsters, and all the Australian blood and quokkas you can handle! Bwah! Plasma!!

But, oh no! The DC Fandome has descended on our podcast once more! To escape, we must discuss a bunch of the new DC movie teasers and decide which one looks the coolest! And we’re running out of air in here! Listen fast!

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493: Two Sleepwalkers, One Dream

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 21:07:03 +0000

This week was supposed to be a Lightning Round, but we had so much fun playing a couple of games that we decided to just make that the episode. Yeah, Two Games!! This is a fun one, so we hope you enjoy!

GAME ONE: It’s another round of games based around Merk’s collection of Impel 1991 Marvel Universe trading cards! In the game we’re apparently still calling “Battle Holes”, we all choose five randomly cards and take rotating turns playing them against the last winning card in a character vs. character battle — but while the included character stats may play into the winner, sometimes it comes down to the best argument!

GAME TWO: We play “Amateur Editors”, an ALL-NEW GAME (sry caps lock) where each of us randomly draws the name of a writer, an artist, and a comic title or character from a bag, then we all have to to cook up a pitch for what that comic collaboration would look like! Imagine: Alan Moore and Dan Mora on “Afterlife with Archie”! Gail Simone and Erica Henderson on “Sacage Dragon”! Frank Miller and Rob Leifeld on “Garfield”!

All this and Marvel’s Betty Grable, too!

[IMAGE TO COME]

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492: ZUCKERANG!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 04:01:45 +0000

Could someone be a REAL Batman? Would they? How? Why? Do you think a billionaire has already dressed up and played Batman on their sprawling estate somewhere? Do you think Mark Zuckerberg has made Zuckerangs? Or would a Budget Batman be more likely? We get serious about this, folks. Except for when we’re recording a podcast. All that AND a comic book movie actors quiz! Put us in your ears

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491: You’re Not the Artist, You’re an Art Director

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 12:50:22 +0000

AI is coming for all of the coolest, most creative jobs. For a lot of folks, it’s already here, and that includes people working in the comic industry. This week, we try to take AI seriously, and discuss just what is going on in the industry with AI use in comics. Everything from the response of comic cons to the artists who use it (and have a variety of responses to being called out for it) to platforms that exist now which empower people to never have to learn how to draw, because working to develop a skill is for losers.

But before all that, Kyle tells you to read Marvel All-On-One, where The Thing really wallops some palookas, AND flies a space plane!

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Classic Zero Issues 5: Kraven the Deli Owner

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 10:19:21 +0000

Hey folks, we are taking a week off due to scheduling/plague-related issues. But! Wait! Where are you going?! We have a Classic Zero Issues to make up for it, because we hate the idea of anyone being without us for any length of time. This time, it’s Episode 273: Kraven the Deli Owner, from January of 2021! Here’s the original post:

QUITTERS!! The lot of ’em!!! That’s what superheroes are! And that’s what we’re talking about this week. Can you think of a hero that hasn’t, even for just a short bit, called it quits? It’s a small list. From Tony Stark and the sauce, Daredevil and his law career, Wonder Woman getting sick of life off Paradise Island, to Spidey and…. well…. every five minutes, heroes love to quit. We delve deep. Who quit and became a blind bartender? Who quit and became Black Beard? And so many more. Plus we talk news! There are comic cons going on soon….. uh….. ok. Black Panther delays. Jeff Lemire’s Sweet Tooth show. And Merk delves into manga (a new thing for him) in a ‘read this now’. So don’t quit now! You’re almost there! Sit back, relax, click that button and listen to Kraven the Deli Owner serve up a lil’ bite of deligh …. ah… quit it.

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490: Non-Fictional Characters, Done Fictionally!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 22:41:20 +0000

We’re talkin’ comics ’bout real people! Whether they be classy graphic novel biographies, tacky celebrity cash-in issues, wacky cameo appearances, bizarre “parody” comics from the ’80s, and almost too much more. We dig into graphic novel biographies about André the Giant, Harry Houdini, and uh… Hitler (don’t worry, it sure ain’t complimentary!). We explore when real-life historical figures are reimagined in wild comic-book ways like Hellboy’s Rasputin, or the sci-fi insanity of Manhattan Projects. And sometimes a celebrity officially crosses over with a superhero’s world, like Superman fighting Muhammad Ali, The Avengers being guests on the second-wildest episode of David Letterman, or The Beatles’ strangely prolific adventures in Marvel Comics. Plus those weird cash-in “parody” books like the extremely ’80s “Reagan’s Raiders” from Solson Productions, or the never-ending bibliography of BlueWave and/or TidalWave Productions, and the time Charles Barkley dunked on Godzilla and then possibly revealed he’s immortal. Plus! A fun li’l discussion about the horror anthology series “Hello Darkness”!

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489: Eat That Pilot First – A Ka-zar Story

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 04:01:33 +0000

Ka-zar! Y’know… Ka-zar! That Marvel Tarzan guy from the Savage Land? We’re fixin’ him this week! Each of us takes a stab at pitching a story or approach to take him from a B or C lister to an A lister! Cannibalism may occur. And there’s dinosaurs.

Plus we talk about that goofball, Dean Cain. It’s super…. weird.

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488: Hot Guy Summer

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:50:45 +0000

We sincerely hope you’ve brought your popsicles this week, because it’s about to get scalding hot in the sun chamber! It’s August Audness, which means we’ve picked a bunch of comic book characters, and are making them fight for our collective amusement. This go around, they’ve all got heat-and-light-and-whatnot powers, in order to answer the question that Andre 3000 was cowardly to ask: what’s hotter than being hot? ICE HOT??

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487: The Beast is New Boot Goofin’

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 10:30:53 +0000

It’s official: The X-Men are coming to the MCU, and they’re looking at a young cast to kick things off! And that means it’s time for a ZERO ISSUES CASTING CALL! (which used to be a thing in Wizard Magazine, but that was cancelled years ago, so tough rocks!) We’ve got a list of 22 prospective cinematic mutants and we all have an actor and/or actress or two chosen for each role, except for a couple where someone was just stumped! We’re no Andrea Romanos or Sarah Finn Baileys, but let’s give this a shot!

Choose your Wolverine: Daniel Radcliffe, pro wrestler Pete Dunn, or Pablo Schreiber? Could Cillian Murphy be convinced to shave his head to be Professor X? Was Jayme Lawson born to be Storm? Could Tom Lennon bring his dry wit and new-boot-goofin’ to Hank McCoy? Is it possible to cast a better Magik than Anya Taylor Joy? Could we have a First Class of up-and-coming actors playing Cyclops, Phoenix, Iceman, The Beast, and Angel? Can you imagine a Skarsgård as Nightcrawler and/or Mr. Sinister? Should Adrien Brody, Michael Shannon or Mads Mikkelsen wear the helmet of Magneto? All this and many more! To me, my fan-casted X-Men!

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486: We were Talking about the Mole Man

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 10:01:25 +0000

It’s FANTASTIQUE FOUR – ZEE BABY’S FIRST STEPS! Film Reactions! Spoilers! Twilight! Rodney Dangerfield! Spinning Restaurants! Jive Bunny & the Master Mixers! Everything you expect from us and less!

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485: You Put Your Robins in the Trunk

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 04:01:11 +0000

It’s LAVA LAMP episode time! Which means…. the boys just talk about a bunch of different things. A meandering episode where they discuss things like the Toxic Avenger teaming up with Jesus Christ, or whether they can recall a superhero flying economy at any point? Other topics that come up?…. -Julian McMahon Dr Doom -Ranking all the Batmobiles -What’s your Mount Rushmore of comic characters? -Hellboy/Mike Mignola -Stephen King And whatever else comes up… Join us won’t you?

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484: Superman is a Movie

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 09:56:19 +0000

Superman is out, and we have seen it, so now we spoil it in an episode-long review/debate! Some of use loved it, some of us opposite-of-loved it, some of us are undecided and need to watch a video essay so that we can make that our opinion of the movie. Come, won’t you, to listen to three nerds argue about a comic book movie? At the end of the day, at least, there’s one thing that we can all agree on: The Mighty Crabjoys suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

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483: “He’s Complicated!” and other Shooter Stories

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 10:00:45 +0000

Jim Shooter — the legendary writer and editor behind reviving the Legion of Super-Heroes and other DC titles in the ’60s, then his reign as Editor-in-Chief at Marvel during their ’70s-’80s hot streak, founder of Valiant Comics, and much more — sadly passed away on June 30th at the age of 73. So we’re taking a look back at the true titan’s legacy, his career and the history he made, and the “complicated” reputation he earned in the comic industry. Everyone has a story about Shooter, and we share some of our favourites from the comic biz’s wild history! Including a few personal near-brushes with The Tall One, discussing his works that left a particular impression on us, and his truly unbelievable origin story as a 13-year-old comic reader who was hired by DC and became one of their most important writers!

But first, we warm up with a very weird round of Character Storm, where one of us picks a name and the other two have to invent a character around it! Find out just who is… Rickety Tin? The Six Shooter? Dazz Lurhman? And a charming little tangent about the, uh, leading causes of death in Victorian London leads us to the sensational character find of 2025: FISTULA!

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482: Hershey Kisses, and So On

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 10:15:48 +0000

I am the law, and so can you! This week, we are– inexplicably, unexplainedly, baffingly– taking the time to watch Judge Dredd, the 1995 Sylvester Stallone-led flop. What did we think? Did we love it? Are you about to listen to an hour of the three of us just gushing about Rob Schneider? No.

But first, in the Warmup, we let you know about (mostly) some of our favourite comic book-based Youtube channels! Because when you’re done listening to this, you might need something just a touch more thought out. Maybe. Perhaps. Here are some links!

ComicTropes Owen Likes Comics Strange Brain Parts matttt – comic & manga history Casually Comics Destro is my Spirit Animal

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481: My Jesus is Bigger than your Jesus

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 04:01:33 +0000

Ok. THIS one is a bit of a meandering conversation. This week’s episode starts with a Dad game (What if Bucky was Annihilus’ dad and other fun questions). And the main topic is comics and authoritarianism. And we DO discuss that. We do. But we jump all over and it just becomes a fun romp through various fields of things, jumping back & forth to authoritarianism and back out again. Hear about Tom Cruise, murder robots, Herman Minnesota and the driest sandwiches in America, DC Decisions, Saga and the schedule of that comic, Julian Chambliss, STOPP, Death of Stalin, and how a discussion of how a friend’s online religious post in the US led to talking about Stallone’s armwrestling masterpiece ‘Over the Top’. Strap in for the ride and join us, won’t you?

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480: Bruce Said Bronson Lives in Boston

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:00:41 +0000

It’s Dramatic Reading time once again — that’s when we perform a classic comic radio-drama style while commenting and making jokes about it throughout! This time we take you back to 1972’s The Brave and the Bold #99, where Batman rents the old Wayne summer home from… Bruce Wayne… himself, for some reason! There he finds his parents’ ashes and an elaborate plan to resurrect them from the dead! But before he can hatch a plan, he has to contend with nightly sleep-walking possessions by OLD MANUEL, a harpooner of local legend! Sounds like a fine time for a shaggy-haired Barry Allen to come visit, and the aforementioned brave and bold heroes are soon sunk into a supernatural plot that might break DC canon as we know it! Can Batman overcome the ghosts of his dead parents? Can The Flash be quick enough to outrace the pull of Hell? Will one or both of our heroes mix the Wayne’s ashes with booze and drink it? Hey, also, why doesn’t Thomas Wayne have a moustache, and since when were the Waynes cremated? FIND OUT! RIGHT NOW! On this week’s Zero Issues.

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479: Doctor Nosexy, and other Legitimate Medical Professionals

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 10:27:49 +0000

Doctor doctor, what do I do, I’ve got a bad case of talkin’ ’bout doctors! Also nurses, and medical professionals (and the medical field) in general! This week, we go over some very obscure medical characters (for example: Dr. Death, the original boneitis-haver!), Merk quizzes us on what is the made-up medical comic (spoiler: even the real ones sound dumb), and we imagine what it would be like if Frasier were part of the Marvel Universe. So, basically, just your average episode! But before all of that, we take some time to discuss the recent passing of Peter David, as well as highlight some of the amazing stories that he wrote throughout his lengthy career as a writer. So grab an out of date magazine and get comfy, because you’ll be waiting for about 45 minutes!

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478: I’m Gonna Say Longer Dick

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 28 May 2025 04:01:48 +0000

How many comic characters have been replaced? Whether temporarily, for a good stint, or permanently? Quite a few apparently, when the boys delve into the topic and start uncovering a slew of them. From Blue Beetle to Dr Fate, Ms Marvel to Green Lantern(s). Then there’s the Thors and the Spider-Guys. They go pretty in depth into the numerous replacements for Captain America and Batman. By this point they’re asking ‘who hasn’t been replaced?!’ All that plus a Bry led replacement quiz! Oh, the hosts…. they’re not who they say they are!

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477: Return of the Revenge of the News!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 21 May 2025 20:30:43 +0000

This week it’s ALL NEWS, with endless comic and pop culture developments to dig through! Including: The Buffy revival and Sarah Michelle Gellar reveal the new Vampire Slayer! Amazon Prime absolutely isn’t making a Judge Dredd series with Karl Urban, so definitely don’t obnoxiously demand it from them until they actually do, haha! IDW announces even more TMNT spin-off comics including Shredder, Casey Jones, and a first-ever reprint run of Peter Laird and Jim Lawson’s currently-unfinished “Volume Four”! Krysten Ritter is back to knock some sense into Hell’s Kitchen as Jessica Jones in the next season of “Daredevil”! “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” has just wrapped filming, and the DCU train is picking up speed! The Mario movie sequel will be called “Super Mario World”, suggesting potential and unforgivable Birdo erasure! The Eisner nominations have been announced, and they include Tom King, a whole slew of Absolute DC heroes, James Tynion IV’s Department of Truth, Santos Sisters, PeePee PooPoo (tee-hee), and even more!

Oh yeah, and the trailers! We dig into the new teasers and trailers and teaser-trailers for SUPERMAN (and its many, many characters), IRONHEART (the series Marvel forgot they made), PEACEMAKER SEASON TWO (I’m seeing double – four John Cenas), and even a possible glimpse at SPIDER-NOIR (provided they’re not all AI fakes)! All that and some serious journalism from ComicsBeat covering the financial crimes of a former IDW president! This one’s got it all!!

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476: A Limo Full of Losers

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 14 May 2025 20:25:42 +0000

Thunderbolts* is not only out, it’s so out that that isn’t even the name of the movie anymore! This week, we talk about what we liked about the movie, and even what we didn’t, but there isn’t as much of that, because we really liked it! Turns out, if you write a good script, and get good actors to perform said script, and have the humour be character-based, and also actually film in places, you get a movie that feels pretty good! So, without spoilers, yeah, we liked the movie. Also, this episode is heavy on spoilers, so probably you should see said movie before listening to this!

But first, in the warmup, Kyle challenges Merk and Bry to a quiz of who-came-first with a whole bunch of Marvel and DC characters who are the same dang guy.

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475: Daredevil is Dating Dr Katz

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 07 May 2025 04:01:42 +0000

DAREDEVIL BORN AGAIN! Was it good? Was it bad? Why was Jason Mewes/Muse in it? The boys dig deep into the Disney+ show and the gloves are off! SPOILER ALERT … obviously. All that and a warm up speculating (hilariously) on how Trump’s America would deal with fictional comic book countries. Latveria! Big Doom, beautiful Doom, Strong Doom!

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474: From Mayo to Meek in Less Than a Week!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:00:57 +0000

This week it’s a Power Records double-feature! We’ve got two Hulk stories to listen to and riff over, but not just any Hulk, the 1978 live-action television Hulk! (But don’t call him Bruce, you wouldn’t like him when you call him Bruce.)

First! In “Black Chasm”, David Bruce Banner wanders into a mining office and is just handed an accounting job because it’s the 1970s — and before you know it he’s working in a coal mine, oops, about to slip down! But because a Banner just can’t catch a break, David finds himself in the twisting tunnels of corporate sabotage, and also literally in a coal mine! Can getting extremely mad about it save the day??

Second! In “Monster From the Deep”, mysterious fugitive D.B. Banner takes in some relaxing sea air before he’s just offered another job working on a fishing boat! Out of nowhere! But his newfound life as a man of the sea is threatened by his deadliest foe — dread pirate JACK MAYO! Set a course for adventure, but check your engines for mayo first!! That’s his calling card.

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473: I Still Haven’t Seen Prey, But I’ve Seen Venom 3

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 09:52:09 +0000

Get out of this world, get into my space ship! This week, we’re talking about aliens, both in comics, and in the greater pop culture sphere. Who’s better, the xenomoprhs of the Brood, and what is the Kirby connection to the Alien franchise? Who are our favourite weirdo Green Lanterns? How weird is it that Venom was just a little thing of goo when it was first introduced, and is went on to become the god of an entire species? Plus, Merk leads us through the history of aliens in pop culture, and how they have evolved along with society. This episode’s neat, we think you’ll like it!

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472: He Can Act But Just Chooses Not To.

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 04:01:43 +0000

It’s an all games episode! Superdedouper defight! Hulk Out/Fake Out! MFK! Battleholes card game! A Bry Quiz! And stunt casting with bad actors! We usually come up with the title from some random phrase that was said during the episode. To give you a sense of the ridiculousness that ensued, these were the other possible titles: Im potentially in poopsplosion town. – The bigger the character, the more likely they are to die. – Doorknocker for genitals. – Green Goblin/Make a Wish/Diarrhea. – Iron man has those holes. – Someone’s gotta %$#@ Rodan. Why not me? – This is where i put my Rob Schneider. – If I’m gonna have sex with a bug, it’s gonna be a girl bug. – Touche David Lynch. You’ve been warned.

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471: Beyond the Purple Portal!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 17:26:51 +0000

Once again it’s time for adventure! One that a very dynamic duo chooses the outcome of! A real “Chooses the Doozes”, as it were. Kyle and Merk commiserate over the Bad Present we find ourselves in — when a cyborg Bry from a Worse Future suddenly arrives to recruit them on a mission to save their own! The boys must traverse the “BadFutureVerse”, battling deadly foes in dystopian worlds, collecting significant items, with only luck, chance, and dice to rely on! Their journey takes them from the X-Men’s “Days of Future Past”, to TMNT’s “The Last Ronin”, “Spider-Man 2099”, and the Snyderversian “Knightmare”, before they can find the secrets that lie beyond the Purple Portal! But can they possibly be prepared for the shocking return of an old friend — or are they a new enemy!? Roll the dice to find out!

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470: That’s the Way the Cookie Crumbles

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 10:45:56 +0000

Here comes Daredevil! Again! He’s being born! Again!

This week, we’re talking about the first four episodes of the new really-really-in-the-MCU-this-time Daredevil show. What we liked, what we really didn’t like, and why every part of a story matters if you want to make it a good one. Big ol’ spoilers for the first four episodes, so please, if you don’t want the first few episodes spoiled, go watch them first.

Plus, in the Warmup: Merk finally watched Kraven (for some reason), and he didn’t much care for it! But it did give him the idea of trying to come up with more movies-based-on-villains-that-don’t-have-the-hero-they-normally-fight. So we hope you like Reverse Flash!

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469: The Age of Peak García-López

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 04:01:33 +0000

JOSE LUIS GARCIA LOPEZ!! This week the boys celebrate this amazing artist for all that he’s given to comics. From his early days in Argentina starting out in comics, to the iconic work creating the DC Style Guide, to his work at Charlton, to the Batman/Hulk treasury edition or the many other titles he’s brought his stunning talent to like Jonah Hex, Deadman, Atari Force, Adventure Comics and so much more. So let’s celebrate Jose’s 77th birthday (a week early) by looking over his career, his influence and the killer art of a master. All that AND Kyle brings a new game to the warm up – a 6 degrees of Spider-Man….. Check it!

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468: It’s Square (the Wrong Way)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 09:21:28 +0000

Fight on! It’s March, which means that it’s time for another March Madness episode, where we pick a bunch of comic book characters and make them fight for our, and hopefully your, amusement. This time, we’re pitting Nature versus Future (which sounds close enough to Nurture). So expect a team of robots and cyberaters and wind-up dudes fighting some hippie dippie treehuggers, just like Avatar! Both Avatars, kinda!

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467: Cloak and Dagger and Alan Moore’s Horny Cthulhu

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 12:23:54 +0000

It’s been a bit since we had a “Fix This Character” episode, in which we reimagine underperforming characters in wildly different ways! This time: CLOAK and DAGGER! And to be honest, Ty and Tandy are great and don’t really need “fixing”. But they seem trapped in the C-list, and maybe a fresh look could help fix that! Kyle reimagines Cloak and Dagger with a more 21st-century approach to the “war on drugs” as super-outreach heroes, helping people in (sometime super-science or magic related) crisis! Merk crafts a detailed and disturbing horror tale set in Victorian London, where the avatars of light and darkness stalk the shadow of Jack the Ripper, who hides a further gruesome secret! And Bry flips a few details in the duo’s origins as they go from unjust imprisonment, to being experimented on, to eventually as the leaders in a war against a deep corporate conspiracy that preys on vulnerable youth!

But first… some comic news!? The Newsflash rises again because Bry really wants to talk about new Superman comics: “Supergirl” by Sophie Campbell! “Krypto: Last Dog of Krypton” by Ryan North and Mike Norton! New old adventures of Clark Kent as Superboy in “Action Comics” by Mark Waid and Skylar Patridge! In which we discuss the ideal length of Super-Trunks, Merk takes us on a lovely tangent about the Godzilla-adjacent series “Monarch”. Oh, and Matt Fraction takes the “writer of Batman with art by Jorge Jiménez” title from his ol’ pal Chip Zdarsky! Is this betrayal, or just the setup for an official “Sex Criminals” crossover? Only time will tell!

CONTENT WARNING: some disturbing and extremely violent details from an actual “Jack the Ripper” case are discussed between 33:58 and 34:42.

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466: Constant2

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 05:01:33 +0000

John Constantine! This month he celebrates not once, not twice but… no… well, yea, twice. It’s been 40 years since his first appearance in Swamp Thing and 20 years since the Keanu Reeves helmed film was released! Wow. So we talk about that. The boys reread that first appearance and discuss the bizarreness of that issues…. but it’s Alan Moore, so that’s expected. We discuss the debate on how to say his name. We talk Vertigo, suit colour, being a dick and Sting (the musician AND the wrestler). We talk about the spectacular casting of that film, and how it didn’t get much love when it first came out. Plus Sonic films, beards, Christopher Walken, Justice for Jeeves and a warm up about first impressions of other magical comic characters! And more! It’s f’n magical.

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465: You Name Another Thing That’s Green and Orange, and Then You Can Stop Shaking Your Head

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 05:07:04 +0000

This week, to coincide with the release of Captain America: Brave New World, we’re covering Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson, partners in… well, not crime, but mostly the opposite? Captain America and The Falcon, partners since the ’60s. How did they meet? Why do they work so well together? Whaddya mean they’ve both been werewolves? Plus: Bry talks wings, Merk talks MODOK: Origins, and we all talk avian telepathy,and how it should have been in the MCU from the start.

Meanwhile (or a little earlier in the episode, as the format dictates): in the Warmup, Kyle pitches some other movies that are subtitled with the names of books we had to read in high school! Get ready for X-Men: Pryde and Prejudice, something that defintely has never been pitched before! Wooooosh!

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464: We Should All Stop Dating Quicksilver

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 05:30:43 +0000

In honour of Valentine’s Day, as well as cynicism, we’re discussing each others’ picks for WORST COMIC BOOK COUPLES! Some couples just don’t work, even beyond the usual ups and downs of decades-long continuity. Maybe you root for them, but deep down they’re just bad for each other, and sometimes everyone around them. Bry thinks Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris have left too much destruction in the wake of their romance! Kyle says that Quicksilver and Crystal of the Inhumans deserved to be hit by the Annulment Mists! And Merk has serious ethical concerns about Doctor Lady Jane Foster and Thor Odinson’s off-and-on relationship, and quite possibly the entire idea of superheroes dating civilians at all! And strap in, true believers: this episode’s got Thor lore galore!

But first! Merk tests Kyle and Bry in a comic-book love interest quiz! We’ve got all the hits: Iron Man’s “nose mask” is rusty for no one’s pleasure! Can Batman ever be completely sure he never hooked up with Clayface? What are some wild examples of heroes dating villains? Tony Stark and She-Hulk compete for the most super-romantic entanglements. And more, much more!

(Oh, and Paul Rabin ****ing sucks, but you already knew that, even Dylan Brock knows that.)

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463: A ‘What the F was I supposed to do about this’ Clause

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 05 Feb 2025 05:01:44 +0000

It’s a Lava Lamp Episode! In that we are just bringing up whatever topics and chatting about everything! What does that have to do with lava lamps? These three knuckleheads have no idea.

Tariffs are first up! How do these effects comics? Comic consumers? Comic makers? Indie comic creators? Kyle brings up Hank Howard Pizza Detective Kickstarter and the troubles insuing…. (This is recorded on Feb 2 and things may have changed drastically. Every day …. something else)

Diamond Distribution Bankruptcy! Wowzers! A 40 year monopoly comes crashing down! We sift through the rubble!

Tubi Conan or not Tubi Conan. THAT is the questions! Merk talks the ’97 live action Conan series he just rediscovered on Tubi along with a few other Tubi gems! (Hey Tubi! Sponsor us!)

Comic characters on social media. Does Peter Parker have an Only Fans to pay the rent?

We anticipate how we’re going to be disappointed by the FF Trailer.

AND SO MUCH MORE!

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462: Repatriate Superman’s Legs to Canada

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 05:14:27 +0000

This week/month/news cycle, a lot of us north of the US/Canada border are feeling a little worried. Maybe you are, too, regardless of where you live? From a Canadian perspective, we talk about the relationship between Canada and “The States,” at least in terms of comics. That’s right, we’re talking about We Stand On Guard! But also other stuff, too: how US tariffs may effect the cost of comics, the Canada Whites, that time we kinda sorta burned the White House down, and some new Canadian super heroes for our homegrown comic creators like Jeff Lemire, Ryan North, Fionna Staples, and our best friend forever Chip Zdarsky to work on instead of just more Batman (HONK SHOO, DUDE).

And in the Warmup, Kyle presents a scintilating game of Was It A Real Jimmy or Was It A Pretendo Jimmy, the game where you guess if it was a Real Jimmy or a Pretendo Jimmy (Olsen).

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461: Doctor Solar vs. Ol’ Iceberg-Shoes Larry

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 12:32:04 +0000

It’s time for another electrifying Dramatic Reading, as we travel back to 1966 for Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom #17! Reacting to a volcanic plot from his arch-nemesis, NURO, the good DOCTOR SOLAR must recharge his waning atomic powers to face off against the hot and cold flame monster PRIMO! Featuring a veritable grab-bag of terrible impressions for this story’s many background extras! It’s a primo episode, baby!

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460: A Couple of Bucks Short

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 05:01:01 +0000

Do you have a mentor? Someone who helped guide you through the weirdness of life? Helped you with picking your first cape to go on patrol in? Or how to take down a sleezeball mugging an old lady at 40 yards? Or how to get bludgeoned with a crowbar…..yeek. We’re talking mentors this week! From Batman to Green Arrow to Wolverine to ol’ horrible Chuck and many more. Bry runs a Cosmo style quiz to see who Merk & Kyle would be be suited to be mentored by. And it ain’t Big Daddy. We look at the high points (Speedy?) and the low points (Speedy?). Merk also has a warm up talking about using the same actors over and over again in comic book movies. Jason Momoa, he’s looking at you. Join us for this and so much more!

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459: Yadda Yadda Dumb Place

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 20:42:13 +0000

2024 sure was a year that happened, huh? It really, really happened. Such an important, vital year. *Sigh* But hey! Some good stuff happened that year, and we’re gonna focus on it this week. What’s the GOOD stuff that we read? What’s the good stuff that we DIDN’T, and can we fix that? We’ll find out, this week, and then, eventually, this year, one assumes!

PS: There was also stuff that we didn’t like, and we do talk about that. It’s fine, because nothing’s perfect, and it’s crazy to expect anything to be.

Direct Download: MP3

458: The Gunn Show (and other news)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 01 Jan 2025 18:30:38 +0000

We haven’t done a news episode for a while, and there’s a whole bunch of somewhat-new and new-new stuff we want to talk about, so here we are!

The Superman teaser dropped (as well as the teaser to the teaser to the teaser) and we have some thoughts about the tone, the music, the haircuts, and of course Krypto! One or two Batman movies may or may not be delayed! The Creature Commandos will re-enlist for season two! Mike Flanagan writes Clayface! Over at Marvel Studios, Chris Evans returns again in Avengers: Doomsday — but will he also be playing Doctor Doom this time??

The Amazing Spider-Man is relaunching with a new #1 issue (again) but this time it’s got Joe Kelly, Pepe Larraz, and the ever-prolific John Romita Jr! Godzilla makes his triumphant return to Marvel, and he’s gonna atomic-blast the Fantastic Four! Boom Studios have left Diamond for a new distributor in Penguin Random House amongst retailer complaints about Diamond’s handling of some shipments. And more! More!!

[IMAGE GOES HERE]

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456 – A Yuletide Special

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 05:26:40 +0000

As the days grow shorter and the nights grow colder, it’s time once again for Bry, Merk, and Kyle to celebrate the season, and to get a little silly about comic books and the holidays. This year, it’s a Lightning Round! Join us as we answer questions such as:

– Who loves Christmas more: Luke Cage, or Superman? -Who plays who in the X-Men’s nativity scene? -Who is (and isn’t) invited to Ben Grimm’s Hanukkah celebration? -And, of course, is the rest of Ghost Rider’s body a skeleton or a skeletor?

Merry whatever, everyone!

Direct Download: MP3

455: The Birthday Bunch

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 17:00:05 +0000

Today is Bry’s birthday, and to celebrate he’s taking the reins for a birthday-themed variety show! First up, the boys perform a Dramatic Reading of the “Jughead” classic where Ms. Grundy is going to celebrate her birthday — whether she wants to or not! Then Kyle and Merk compete in a comic-character birthday quiz (don’t worry, there are plenty of hints)! And last, we discuss a very special birthday tale from The Amazing Spider-Man #500, where Peter Parker’s gift is a “greatest hits” of trauma and guilt, of course. BIRTHDAY!

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454: Don’t Buy Presents for a Dead Man

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 03:28:29 +0000

It’s halfway between Halloween & Christmas and that can mean only one thing….. CELERY DAY STALK SLAM!!! The 4th episode in our annual event, we pit Christmas & Holiday Season characters against horror & Halloween related characters to the DEATH!! Unless one of them just gives up, or they become friends or one sings an alluring song and seduces the other. One of those things happens this episode. Now we WOULD give you a heads up on who appears in this episode….

but why spoil the surprise?!?! Take a listen and join us on a holiday journey …. fight club… kinda … thing. And seduction. And robots. And Dr Druid. And cats! We have cats!

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452: A Dell Comics Werewolf in Iqaluit

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 05:01:42 +0000

It’s time to choose an adventure of our own (no trademark)!

Kyle guides Merk and Bry as they are suddenly contacted by one Al U. Card and one Frank Stone, also known as the infamous Dell Comics Dracula and Frankenstein! These spooky former superheroes recruit the boys to investigate the whereabouts of their old ally, The Werewolf (who is not actually a werewolf, nor is he a Wolfman).

It’s an adventure of somewhat-international intrigue that leads them from Pennsylvania to Iqaluit, as they cross path with a clubbing robot, Jerry Seinfeld, and the memory-card-reading Gill Mantis as they’re faced with a nuclear plot that could spell doom for the world! Unless the powers of TEETH, EYES, EARS, and BAT and a set of three dice can save the day! (Roll for “save the day” by listening along!)

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449: Does Turbo Teen Pray to Car Jesus?

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 02 Oct 2024 13:39:25 +0000

Let’s race into a new episode all about cars in comics! Vroom vroom, and so on! Which of the ever-iconic Batmobiles is the most iconic? Do the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles drive the Turtle Van or the Party Wagon? Which super-car will be definitively proven to be the best super-car in this episode’s scientific* study? What was the point of the Spider-Mobile, and why were its wheels so sticky?? What special cars would Doctor Fate, Beast Boy, D-Man, U.S.Agent, and Old Man Logan drive? Is the Arrow-Car really just the end result of Ollie Queen’s petty competition with Bruce Wayne? (Yes.) And many more questions answered!

We also discuss the rejected Batmobile designed by H.R. Giger (and if you haven’t heard of this, get ready for madness), compare the various villainous knock-offs of the Batmobile, and plenty of topics that aren’t about the Batmobile — but it’s the king of cars for a reason, folks!

* in no way is this study scientific

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448: Adolph Lundgren for Slap Chop

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 01:30:14 +0000

OH MAN! Where to start! Bry is off this week and Kyle & Merk go bonkers! What happens you ask? What do they talk about? Well….

Rock bottom finishing moves. Dazzler: Marvel’s Salute to walking sticks. Baby characters. X-book jumping on points. Favourite supermarkets, which becomes Merk ranting about parking. Blade was created by God. Chip Zdarsky and how we miss him. Jean Chretien choking some guy out. Historical comics. Variant covers. MST3K. Bill & Teds. Adolph and other adolphs? Kyle thinks Merk gets mistaken for a fireman. Deaths Head II Potato. Toy lines are expensive. Ghost Rider! That Book about Stan Lee lying. Two Eyed Fury and his toased sandwiches. Pyromaniacs & Sociopaths at Safeways and LOTS more. Well a bit more. There’s a lot in this list to jam into an hour.

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447: Get Me Jensen Ackles

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 10:11:59 +0000

“Which production logo are we using this time, fellas?” This week, we’re covering the DC Animated Universe of Films, or I guess it’s more of a multiverse, or DCAUFOIGIMOAM. What are the good ones? What are the duds? Is DC stopping making them, because there aren’t any scheduled after ANOTHER Watchmen adaptation. If that’s the case, what should DC have done with what, by and large, is a pretty neat idea?

Plus! If you haven’t gotten your fill of fighting, Bry’s gonna sweep you off to maybe-prehistoric-Earth for a little Beasties Warries, as we all decide who the toughest animalistic comic characters are. Plus plus, turtles.

NOTE: I tried to find a picture of Andrea Romano looking angry for the week’s episode image, but apparently she’s just a lovely person who is always smiling.

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446: The September Spat

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 10:00:40 +0000

In the ongoing spirit of March Madness, and August Audness, it’s time to make eight comic characters battle in a tournament we’re calling… The September Spat! Eight contestants enter, but only one can win! And this time, it’s “back to school” themed, meaning the contestants are all students or teachers!

The New Mutants’ omnilingual self-soul-friend Doug “Cypher” Ramsey vs. Deathlocket, the teen girl Deathlok! The Legion mechanic “Bouncing Boy” vs. former Marine and current Riverdale High Principal Waldo Weatherbee! The extremely flammable wax mutant Glob Herman vs. Daniel “Oz” Osbourne, who is both a werewolf AND Seth Green! Generation X’s skin-shedding Paige “Husk” Guthrie vs. the Baltimore school board’s favourite teacher, Guy “Green Lantern” “Warrior” Gardner! The winners proceed along the bracket until only one is crowned the champion!

Who will conquer all foes and win this tournament of champions? Who will end up in detention with Reggie Mantle? Does Doug Ramsey have what could be called “Ohio rizz”? What happens when you put Seth Green inside a wax mutant like a Jello mould? Can Guy Gardner possibly survive an onslaught of Kentucky corn? All this and many other very important questions, answered once and for all — in the ring!

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445: Inglorious Adam West

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Sep 2024 04:01:17 +0000

Be our guest, be our guest, Brandon Ingram is our guest! Indie comic creator/writer Brandon is on the show once again, discussing his awesome new kickstarter for his indie creation, THE GALLOWS MAN! He describes it as Adam West Batman meets Inglorious Basterds. And he is absolutely correct. It’s a bundle of fun, violence and quirky humour. Definitely worth checking out. But don’t take OUR word for it, listen to our chat with Brandon and hear about the genesis of Gallows Man, the bundle of spin offs he’s made or is planning, the joys and challenges of indie comic work and the amazing things you can get from his kickstarter running from Sept 10-Oct 11. Perk up your ears, chum, and take a listen!

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444: It’s the Dude from the Card!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 11:29:16 +0000

This week, we’re spending most of the episode playing Battle Holes, the card game that uses comic book trading cards from the ’90s. You could always play it yourself using, oh, some cards that are readily being given away from certain Canadian monopolistic, price-gouging grocery stores, as well, but Merk owns a bunch of trading cards from the ’90s, so we’re doing that. Can Polaris beat Spider-Man? Can Spider-Man beat Magneto? Can Silvermane do anything other than scoot around, his head bolted to the top of an RC car?

All that, and we also rank every Batman cartoon, so nobody else has to, because we’ve already done it.

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443: We Stan a Fat Alfred

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 04:50:42 +0000

Batman: Caped Crusader is here, we’ve all seen it, so we’re gonna talk all about it, see? And just upfront, we really liked it! We dig into the 1939-ish time period and all the trappings that come with it, share our favourite episodes, discuss the creators and their influences and of course the inevitable Batman the Animated Series comparisons, the performances of the cast (Minnie Driver’s in this??), share thoughts on the various (and sometimes fiercely controversial?) changes to classic villains, and dig into the many potential influences that give this show its distinct flavour. Spoilers a-plenty, and maybe an actual Spoiler, who knows!

But first, we imagine similar animated approaches to other comics characters, if they were set in a specific era or with a specific stylistic approach! Like a very ’70s comic-horror Swamp Thing show! Or the “new class” X-Men in individual animation styles representing their cultural backgrounds! Perhaps a swingin’ ’60s animated series of the Fantastic Four! Hey, let Daredevil get ’80s gritty in animated form, willya? Or let’s see Wonder Woman in the same WWII era as Caped Crusader! And howzabout a “Blue-Eyed Samurai”-style Conan the Barbarian? All this and more!

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442: Knull – Player 2 Marvel Dracula and other Symbiote Stuff

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 04:01:11 +0000

The Trailer for Venom 3 has come out and 5 minutes have gone by since we’ve seen a symbiote centered comic event, so let’s talk SYMBIOTES! What do we think of them? How have they evolved? What are some ridiculous symbiote pitches? How many times can we say Gold Balls and Wheat cakes in one episode? Who’s Eye Scream? What’s Gamecock’s Symbiote Name? Who’s all together gacky? All these questions and MORE will be answered this week on Zero Issues Comic Podcast!

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441: Taped to a Mace

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 07 Aug 2024 10:06:04 +0000

Beeeeest friiiieeeeeends! That’s what we’re talkin’ ’bout this week. We’re answering such age-old questions as: -who actually IS Spider-Man’s best friend? -Is Hank Pym a jerk because no one wants to hang out with him, because he is a jerk, because no one wants to hang out with him…? -Is it possible to be best friends with someone if you’ve only met them in crossover fighting games? Because if it isn’t, I don’t want to be the one to tell Cyclops and Ryu. All that, plus some spoiler-heavy talk about Deadpool & Wolverine, because, look, we’re pretty sure you’ve seen it by now, bud.

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Newsflash for July 29, 2024

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 11:28:39 +0000

The news flashes once more as San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC if you’re nasty) strikes, and we’ve gotta talk all about it!

Kang’s dynasty is over before it began! Doctor Doom conquers Avengers 5 and renames it: DOOMSDAY! The Russos are back, and certain Man of Iron returns to claim another metal mask. Is this going to work, or is Marvel leaning too hard on old tricks? We have mixed feelings!

The Fantastic Four take their first steps! Is the Fantasticar going to look like a blue jet or a floating bathtub? We vote bathtub. Obviously.

DC Studios gets a new, old logo! The classic “DC bullet” returns! Oh, and speaking of ’90s throwbacks, Superboy is joining the cast of “My Adventures With Superman”! Radical!

The JSA returns with creators Jeff Lemire and Diego Orlotegui! But Lemire ain’t done, as he will also launch “Absolute Flash” with Nick Robles. And Ram V and Evan Cagle will create some new legends for the New Gods!

All this and we talk for a bit about a certain sequence in “Deadpool & Wolverine”! But don’t worry, there’s a spoiler warning, it’s cool. Eyy.

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440: It’s a Bit Like Herding Xenomorphs

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 04:01:22 +0000

Class warfare! In this time of inequality and ever-rising costs of living, it’s time to take a look at superheroes living on very different sides of the class divide! The working class heroes with day jobs and the upper iron crust who can afford to be as relaxed as Robert Downey Jr.!

We dig into many questions: Should Peter Parker even be able to afford rent in Manhattan? Is Tony Stark a nepo baby? Is there a better use for the many wings of Wayne Manor that Batman probably never sets foot in? Are there any actual “self-made” superhero billionaires? Is it even possible for telapaths like Emma Frost to make their riches ethically (no, and she doesn’t care)? Is Matt Murdock in the 1%? What are the ethics of a superhero owning a corporation or being a landlord? And why do so many mutants come from old money, anyway?

But first! We make up new heroes and villains on the spot in a new Character Storm! this time inspired by… targeted ads!? About time they were good for something. Prepare for the sensational character finds of 2024: Black Silk! Muscle Duck! And Creatino, the Cowboy Cat! All this and superhero science, sort of? So much value in this episode!

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439: Equal Opportunity Stink

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 04:01:41 +0000

It’s alternate ending week on Zero Issues as the boys take well known comic storylines and do a little ‘tweaking’ of the story…. sometimes for good…. sometimes for evil. Onslaught! Hush! Superman vs the Flash! And more! Plus Merk has a new warm up filled with ridiculous questions. Hear answers like… Uncle Sam becomes a cannibal! Jughead becomes Burger Smasher Spawn! Weird Al joins the Justice League! And lots more. Join us!

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438: Frank Miller’s Love Chunks

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 11:14:31 +0000

This week, our city screams (not unlike a certain Robot Cop screaming for Oreos) that it wants us to talk about Frank Miller, and we, our city’s, uh, lover, are honour-bound to oblige it! What was our first exposure to the guy’s work? What do we like about him, and what do we hate almost as much as Holy Terror? Have any of us even read Ronin? Could a certain seldom-read Frank Miller book that isn’t Sin City replace The Boys when it ends?

All that, and a very special Frank Miller-themed Characterstorm!

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437: No Ice Cream Until You Join The Defenders

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 04:40:33 +0000

The question all comic fans have wrestled with their whole lives! Which member of The Defenders is the best Defender!? We take five, uh, famous Defenders — The Silver Surfer! Hellcat! Nighthawk! Moondragon! Valkyrie! — and pit them against each other in some very essential Defenders challenges! How convincingly would the Silver Surfer pretend to be Batman in order to help protect Bruce Wayne’s secret identity? How would Moondragon fare in the very real and very serious art of dressage (y’know, fancy horse dancing)? Is it possible Valkyrie would be the absolute best at telling scary campfire stories? Can fancy rich boy Nighthawk possibly compete in a proper hot-dog eating contest? And how do we feel about the vampire and/or vampyr-slaying abilities of Patsy Walker, the Hellcat? All this, and more rankings, and more tangents, and phone calculator functions, for you, all for you!

But first, in honour (with a U) of the late, great Donald Sutherland, we posthumously discuss which comic characters he could have brought to life in a way only he could! Galactus! Colonel Weird (from “Black Hammer”)! The Watcher! DC’s Uncle Sam! Khonshu! The Spectre! And, unfortunately, this segment is how Kyle learned that Donald Sutherland had passed. (Sorry, Kyle.)

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436: King Bee of a World Hive

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 04:01:13 +0000

It’s POWER RECORDS week on Zero Issues, where we listen to not one, but TWO ridiculously amazing DC Power Records from decades ago. Comics on vinyl! First up is Superman- PO Box 65 …. a riveting tale of a Beatles like band kidnapped by someone who doesn’t know much about computers and Superman quietly admitting to leaving people to die on a desert island that he dropped a comet on to. And THEN, it’s Batman- Gorilla City! A riveting tale where Batman gets his @$$ handed to him MULTIPLE times in increasingly strange ways. Join us for the fun!

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435: The One with the Balls

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 09:09:50 +0000

This episode has some serious balls, and I don’t mean the eyeballs that Nightcrawler popped out of Apocalypse’s head in the most recent issue of X-Men! This week, we tackle some current topics: the Venom 3 trailer, the Wolverine, uh, popcorn bucket, that picture of the new Superman costume, Terrence Howard IN GENERAL, and, finally, how the grand experiment that is Krakoa ended. That, and we throw balls at each other. Serious balls!

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434: John Lith-Go @#$% Yourself

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 04:01:01 +0000

A week late, but worth the wait! As we enter a weird summer movie season in a year with few superhero movies, at least by 21st century standards, we feel compelled to discuss the untapped cinematic potential of comic series NOT based on DC or Marvel characters! So listen along as we stunt-cast the future stars of indie-comic movies! Just imagine… The extremely youthful Johnny Pemberton as the titular MADMAN! Jeff Bridges, Chip Zdarsky and Will Forte as father and sons in PUBLIC DOMAIN! A big guy who famously wore blue, Henry Cavill, spooning justice as THE TICK! Fletcher Hanks’ STARDUST as portrayed by the only man who could, John Cena! Amanda Seyfried as the skull-faced mystery woman FANTOMAH! And can you imagine Oscar Isaac as Will Eisner’s THE SPIRIT? Merk can’t. But just maybe… HOLLYWOOD can!?

But first! We return to a recent favourite in our ongoing series of games based around Merk’s collection of 1991 Marvel trading cards! Prepare for another round of the just named, zingy Zero Issues… uh, “Battle Holes”… in which the votes against Sasquatch are suspicious, we pit Amazing Friend against Amazing Friend, things take a turn for the magical but also stage-magical, Archangel is a grumpy boy, and Quasar finally catches a break.

We’re brave enough to say it: This is a damn fine episode.

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433: Righty Tighty, Lefty Gone

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 29 May 2024 04:01:17 +0000

The first season of Xmen 97 is OVER!!! And WOW, was it sumpin, huh?! So the boys plunge into it’s depths and ask all the big questions…. Was that Polaris or Greeny Mcgoozle? Does Silver Samurai wish he was Wood Samurai when Magneto goes big bad? What IS the Jeff Goldblum lesson? Was that the Avengers or Forceworks? That AND so much more. We talk cameos, costumes, time traveling possibilities, who’s behind it all, and how Xavier sucking is kind of part of his character. Join us, won’t you?

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432: Remy LeBeau, Your Mama’s a Pot of Gumbo!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 22 May 2024 10:58:17 +0000

This Week, for our annual We Put Up a Mother’s Day Episode a Week or More Late spectacular, we’re thinking about some moms that haven’t really gotten the spotlight. What’s The Question’s relationship with his mother? What about Doctor Doom? Puck? What is Cyclops’s mom’s name, even? Who’s the best mom in comics, and who’s the absolute worst? All that, and Ma Hunkel, AND The Cyclone Kids. But NO SCRIBBLY.

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431: The Hulk is Full of Tinier Men

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 08 May 2024 04:01:04 +0000

Hey, let’s put all that structure aside for an episode, and just relax by the fire and have a friendly chat about comics. Doesn’t that sound nice?

We discuss comic runs that just didn’t do right by their character or concept: Merk compares the new wave of Conan comics from Titan coming off Conan being a friggin’ Avenger over at Marvel, Kyle mourns for the lost potential in the Krakoan era and the wacky island hijinx so suddenly torn from us, and Bry gripes about the current status of Spider-Man (again!?) as we get into the modern habit of abrupt status-quo changes, relaunches, and gimmicks in superhero titles.

Aside from the X-Men and Deadpool and everyone’s fave Kraven, we’re looking at a relative comic-media drought for 2024. Does this signal the end of superhero dominance in Hollywood? Are we just getting a much-needed breather? Or is a bigger shift in the movie business brewing? (I mean, we don’t know, we’re indie comics podcasters, sheesh.)

All this and more! Including talking about the things we don’t have more time to talk about!? What an episode!

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430: Some Variance to her Sugahs

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 01 May 2024 04:01:01 +0000

OH MAN!! X-Men 97 continues and we talk episodes 5-7. OH THAT EPISODE 5….. Spoilers of course. Lifedeath! Genosha! Gambit! Rogue! Magneto! And Leech?!? What about Leech!?!? Charlie in space! Werner Herzog as Angel! Let my Cameron Hodge go! Is Cyclops Angel’s best friend? And does Cyclops know that? That and so much more! Join us for a fun ride!

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429: Q*Bert Has a Filthy Mouth

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:20:12 +0000

Meanwhile, at a different while! This week, we’re talking about our favourite comics that take places with familiar characters in unfamiliar times. Just what happens when super heroes start showing up hundreds of years ahead of schedule? What else causes cancer that Spider-Man 2099 didn’t warn us about when he travelled back to 1995? Just how much time is there between Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane? Find the answer to none of these questions, plus and intriguing Read This Now for the new Flash ongoing, in this timely episode!

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428: Love that Raimi

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 04:01:01 +0000

Comics and movies! Movies and comics! Superheroes from comics and movies have been entrenched in pop culture as a mainstay for quite a while now (some say too long). But what about the superhero movies that AREN’T based on comics? What about superhero like films that started as films, based on nothing previously? Super. Push. Unbreakable. Darkman. And Kyle’s favourite Meteor Man! It’s the meatiest! It all started with the idea of watching Orgazmo together…… and it went downhill from there….

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427: Welcome to Die

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 04:01:26 +0000

To us, our listeners! X-Men ’97’s first season is about halfway over and there’s been a lot to discuss. So let’s do that! We dig into the first four episodes of the nostalgic revival cartoon, and while we all enjoyed it, we have some very different takes on the show. How well does it adapt the comics’ extensive, and often lengthy, source material into a much shorter runtime? Does the new “look” and animation style hold up to the old show, and to other animated series running today? How well do the returning cast and new recruits pick up where the old show left off? And of course a tangent leads us to discuss whether or not Wolverine’s claws could possibly be sterile (maybe there’s a little purel dispenser in there). And plenty more!

But that’s not all, we’ve got some comics to talk about! Namely, the new “Savage Sword of Conan” and “Bat-Man: First Knight”! And they’re both in an oversized magazine format? What’re the odds??

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Newsflash for April 8 2024 – News That’s NOT the ECLIPSE

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 13:06:55 +0000

It’s monday newsday! And this week is…well… it’s been a week. Ed Piskor. Mark Bright. Julia Garner as Shalla Bal (and people freaked) Space Ghost comic! And Bry got a tattoo! The ups and the downs and the all arounds the galaxy. Join us for interstellar news.Direct Download: MP3

426: Van Jesus (and Other Easter-Adjacent Tales)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 02:23:31 +0000

It’s an all-Easter Dramatic Read triple feature! Uh, sort of? If the Easter Bunny and/or Jesus Christ appear, we say it counts. So join us as we bring the printed page to audio life! First up, “Big” Ethel Muggs learns how to go from boy-crazy to Van-Jesus-crazy in an Al Hartley licensed Archie tale from Spire Christian Comics! A somehow code-approved DC horror tale from UNEXPECTED pits some chocolate-obsessed kids against a deeply unsettling Easter Bunny. And Ghost Rider goes against Satan himself without a prayer… but perhaps a friend in a cool blue jacket can help? Maybe he’s a certain messiah, maybe he owns a van, maybe Comics Jesus is always with us after all??

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425: Could You Turn Human Bones into Glue?

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 09:24:46 +0000

We’ve got a real Beast Wars situation on our hands! Okay, so maybe not a *real* Beast Wars situation, what with the no Transformers to speak of, but more of a lower case beast wars situation. These beasts, they be a-warrin’! This week, March Madness returns with an animal-themed twist! Who’s going to be king of the jungle? It’s going to be better than that new Godzilla movie, but probably not as good as the Godzilla movie from a few months ago, because, like, that one won an Oscar? That’s pretty neat.

But first! Merk has a brand new card game for us to play, and by brand new, I mean it’s basically a comic book version of that card game A**hole. Which means it’s going to be great, because that game’s almost as good as that Godzilla movie! The good one, the Oscar one.

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424: Alfred With Nunchucks (and Other Rounds of Lightning)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 11:52:41 +0000

It’s time for another LIGHTNING ROUND! Featuring multiple concise but electric mini-segments! No attention span required!

Kyle challenges us to pit randomly-selected comic characters against each other in battle with weapons, in a completely original segment we’re calling, uh, SUPAR FITES: “Fellow Chucker” Alfred vs. “Bird Master” Skin! Vandal Savage with New Hat vs. Tombstone with a Super Mario mushroom! Mister Terrific, turned into a pig like that JLU episode vs. Dex-Starr, except the kitty cannot stop tooting! And then, a round of “COOL OR FOOL”, in which we decide if comic characters would be cool when we need them to be cool! (Spoiler: Hawkman does not pass the test.)

Bry actually had some time to read comics recently and he wants to talk about ‘em in a couple READ THIS NOW segments! First, the very refreshing new “Ultimate Spider-Man” book from Jonathan Hickman, Marco Chechetto & Matthew Wilson! Then, a slightly belated review of “The Midnite Show” by Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, Bill Crabtree & Jim Campbell! BONUS: we chat about the publishing schedule of horror comics, and also reminisce about those fold-out recap sections Marvel used to have; they should bring those back.

Merk leads us in DREAM PROJECTS, presenting us with hypothetical artist / writer teams and we have to choose the projects they collaborate on! Including the likes of: Brian K. Vaughan & Jaime Hernandez on “She-Hulk”! Garth Ennis & Simon Bisley on “Conan the Barbarian”! Grant Morrison & Fiona Staples on “Bucky O’Hare”! Kevin Smith & Todd McFarlane on… something that never gets completed? Frank Miller & Travis Charest on “Prez, the Teenage President”! Neil Gaiman & Junji Ito on “Hellboy”! And more!? Wow, what an episode!!

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423: When in Doubt, Blame Dennis!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 06 Mar 2024 05:01:37 +0000

Indie comic creator interview!! Writer Dennis Robinson joins us and discusses his latest chapter of LYCAN:SOLOMON’S ODYSSEY! A gripping tale of the origin of the werewolf! We discuss his Kickstarter for chapter 3 that’s up now, why he decided to delve into the origins of the werewolf, what brought his story to the ancient middle east, his impressive international creative team, his struggles with writing and getting the book off the ground and lots more! Join us for that, and our short talk on that cow avenger, Gilgamesh! And check out the kickstarter! And language warning! The gloves are off on this one!

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422: Henry Cavill as Wet Senator Kelly

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 20:45:54 +0000

This week on a completely unplanned and very loosey goosey episode, we go over what Henry Cavill could possibly do in the MCU (and boy, there are options!), revisiting the first X-Men movie (which came out 24 goddamned years ago. Wow.) and its sequels, Beast and Wonder Man’s wonderful reunion, and Hellboy: The Crooked Man. Did you know that there’s a new Hellboy movie? Wait, really?

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421: Have We Ever Talked About Doctor Bong?

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 04:25:35 +0000

We were gonna do an episode on drugs for episode #420, but then we… aw, you know the song. This week we discuss drugs in comics, the comic characters who likely partake, the wild and weird fictional drugs, Does the Avengers party-animal Beast cover the weed stank in his fur with patchouli? Do Thor and Jarvis share war stories over bong hits? Which version of Superman got high on Kryptonite dust? What are the subtle differences between MGH, Kick, and Ultimate Banshee (a drug, not a man)? What’s up with real-life weed strains named after superheroes, especially if the effects don’t even suit the character?? The answers lie in the episode, so grab something from Dr. Strange’s secret stash and join us in the Ditko Dimension! But don’t take any Bzrk… or any Tek from TekWar…

But first, we warm up buys by flexing our creative muscles with a grab-bag of scenarios and questions, including: If Thanos had a comedy sidekick, who would it be? What happens when a squad of lightning-based heroes and villains have a pool party? When Billy Batson “Shazams” into The Captain (Marvel), does he turn into a different person or does he just electric-blast past the awkward adolescence and get powers on the way? And uh, what if Man-Thing was a sexy vampire? What if, huh?

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Newsflash for Feb 19, 2024

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 05:01:02 +0000

NEWSTIME!!! GET YA NEWS!!! There’s lots going on, so strap in! Sad, Great and a few floating in between. The sad passing of comics great Paul Neary, as well as the tragic news of a crew member of the upcoming Wonder Man series, Jaun ‘Spike’ Osorio, passing in a horrible on set accident. Gina Corano wants back on the Mandalorian …. oh and she’s suing Disney. OMNIBUS! OMNIBUS! OMNIBUS!! Fun DC/Marvel Omnibi on the way! Fantastic Four Casting!! It’s official! And X-Men ’97 has a trailer and a release date! And Chuck’s dead! That sucker is dead!

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420: Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Crom’s a Lady!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 07 Feb 2024 05:01:39 +0000

Why buy Crom when you can rent Crom? This and MANY other Crom puns await you as we listen to a remarkably civilized sounding Power Records ’45 called Conan the Thunder Dust! All that AND Merk talks about some Kickstarter swag that just arrived! “Tale from Town’s City” from Dismay Comics and “Boris Karloff, Gold Key Mysteries”. We also talk Canadian band the Odds, and Kids in the hall AND, of course, Tom Jones…. Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, Crom’s a lady!

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419: He’s Darlene

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 11:01:41 +0000

Aqua, man! I mean Aquaman. I mean, y’know, Aquaman! My man! This week, we’re offering you four fishtastic Aquaman segments. First, we review Aquman: The Lost Kingdom, which is certainly a movie! Some of us even liked it! Kinda!

Then, we head into the Fixatorium to try and come up with new, inventive takes on Mr. Arthur Curry, King of Atlantis, friend to an octopus named Topo, the Totally Octopus Powerfully Octopus…Octopus. Do we put him in a team-up book? Do we change his origin and upbringing? Do we send him to Florida AGAIN? The answer to all of these questions is an enthusiastic yes, so, uh, spoilers?

My man!

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Newsflash for January 29, 2024

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 05:01:48 +0000

Whoa, look at all this news! What if… Marvel used their “What If…” brand for Aliens comics… and also gave us the Paul Reiser / Phil Noto crossover we’ve all long dreamed of? Right?? If you’re an X-Fan who would like Hank McCoy to be more of a fun Beast and less of an evil genocidal monster Beast, your wish may come true! Madame Web is hitting theatres soon, one assumes, after a history of mind-boggling decisions, reshoots, and threatened cameos. It’s (allegedly) Sony vs. Marvel in a battle over how many Spider-Men will appear in Spider-Man 4! IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles returns with Jason Aaron and a murderer’s row of A-list art talent. And Matt Murdock will be reunited with many friends, foes, and even a stunt coordinator in Daredevil: Born Again.

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418: Nobody Puts Steranko on the Crate

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 05:01:21 +0000

This week we’re taking a look at the career, impact, legacy, and most importantly STORIES of the one and only Jim Steranko! An innovator, a showman, a living legend, and one that’s no stranger to controversy (let’s be real, controversies, plural) who has left a permanent impact on comics as an art form. So let’s talk a bit about the man, his life, his art, and his legacy — and, of course, dig into some of the famous stories he’s told over the years both online and on convention panels everywhere. From slapping some cash into Bill Finger’s palm, to slapping all five fingers across Bob Kane’s face, to discussing the very mathematical rules of design itself, to getting damn near the entire comics community mad at him for insensitive tweets. And how about a Steranko CIA conspiracy theory!? But that’s not all: did anybody ask for a Steranko-themed round of Character Storm? (Gosh, we sure hope so, we made it just for you!)

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417: Dragula Continues… The Marvel Echo Review

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 05:01:38 +0000

A new Marvel Series is out! ECHO! Echo… echo…. echo….

ok. We’re going to use that joke a few times. Get comfortable as we discuss this new Marvel Disney+ series. Was it good? Was it bad? What worked? What didn’t? Why even listen to other people? Go check it out … and then come back and listen to the discussion. Do you agree? Disagree? Spoilers abound my friends, so be warned! Kyle also challenges us with a Blue Monday quiz! So blue! Join us, won’t you? It’s the Biscuits & his monster truck podcast! Dragula continues!

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Newsflash for January 15, 2024

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 12:07:15 +0000

Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips’s series Criminal has been given a series order over on Prime, which means that hey, comic book creators are going to be making some money for once! If only there were some sort of comic book creators union, like with some sort of bill of rights. Huh, that’d be the day.

Over at IDW, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which has been written (and sometimes drawn, too!) by Sophie Campbell, is going to be wrapping up with issues 150. However, considering that IDW and Viacom have a brand new Ninja Turtles contract extension, whatever happens next for the toitles is going to be happening in the same continuity. Is…is Bellybomb going to get a solo series? Can I write it?

Speaking of endings, Amulet, the YA graphic novel series by Kazu Kibuishi, is also coming to an end, with Volume 9: The Waverider, finally being announced for release on February 6!

Speaking of Steven Yeun, which we weren’t, but we are now: he’s left Thunderbolts, as he’s got other filming commitments, so we won’t get to see him be whoever-the-heck he was supposed to be, but we’ve got some ideas on what giant man could replace him in that role.

The Hood is Ghost Rider! Did you hear? The Hood is Ghost Rider! Finally, a Ghost Rider I can not give a shit about!

And finally, the Spawn movie’s still in the works. Honest.

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416: Cucking Azazel

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 11:32:26 +0000

Happy January the 10th! This week, we’re talking about what we want in the world of comics this year. They aren’t big asks! We simply request that maybe the Big Two don’t turn everything into an event, tell smaller, more intimate stories, and leave space for the ever-expanding small press companies! Also, make Spider-Man good again, Bry can’t take much more.

And in the Warmup, we talk about not only the dumb (or not! They can also be not dumb!) comic book tattoos that we have, as well as suggesting dumb tattoos FOR comic books.

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415: Crom Laughs At Your TARDIS!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 18:40:24 +0000

2023 is almost over! And while many of us may feel it was a pretty crummy year, a lot of good stuff happened too! And as is our usual custom, we’re gonna talk all about ’em! Bad Space! Conan! My Adventures With Superman! The Many Deaths of Laila Starr! Dead Romans! Do a Powerbomb! Space Usagi! Nightwing! Godzilla vs. Justice League! Godzilla Minus One! Godzilla Raids Again? And… even more Godzilla talk!? It’s just a great time for Godzilla, it must be said.

But first there’s some fairly breaking news in the assault conviction and prompt firing of Jonathan Majors, fresh off his last appearance as a version of Kang in LOKI. What happens now? Does Marvel Studios recast the role? Do they move on to another villain like Magneto, Doctor Doom, Galactus, the Beyonder, the Superior Iron Man? Will more old friends return for the Secret Wars? Will Deadpool fix all this, somehow!? 2024’s all yours, Ry-Ry!

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414: Wax for Cap’s Shield

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 05:01:07 +0000

It’s HOLIDAY time, folks! So we have a special Christmas episode on Zero Issues… where Kyle & Merk send Bry on a mission with an impossible gift list…. and then they talk about comic characters. Because THAT’S what the spirit of Christmas is all about! What would Guy Gardiner or Hawkgirl ask for Christmas? Or Iron Man? Or Cap? Or Capwolf? How many Capwolves does it take to make a nice coat? Is Raphael’s sai stabby, or slicey, or pokey? Does Abe Sapien make his own gravy? And can Daredevil hear an STI? All this and MORE on yet another weird, wild and wacky CHRISTMAS WITH ZERO ISSUES!

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413: A Kung Fu Crazy Reptile Brythday

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:15:01 +0000

It’s Bry’s birthday! To celebrate, Merk and Kyle recount Bry’s origin story. Kung Fu Reptiles! Secret brothers! Alien origins! Teen sidekicks! So much stuff that we didn’t know, but hey, we will now!

Also, a Bry quiz! Also, a second Bry quiz! One of them may be a Cosmo quiz. And, and! We cram Bry into all sorts of hands. I mean super heroes..’s hands.

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412: When You Have Optic Blasts, Every Problem is a Nail

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 06 Dec 2023 12:20:27 +0000

Oh no, I missed mean ol’ Professor Xavier’s class last week, and now we’re all stuck in detention! And he’s forcing the whole class to judge his original five students against each other by some very scientific criteria: Powers! Fighting skill! Teamwork! Good roommate qualities! Teenage angst! Hanging a wall photo! Hosting a Canadian talk show a la Mike Bullard! Tax evasion! And MORE! So pull up a chair and listen along as we definitively rank the first class of The X-Men, and in the process decide once and for all which of these five Old Mutants is the worst original X-Man of all! Is it Angel? There’s only one way to find out!!

And in the warm-up, we finally talk about The Marvels! What did we think of the latest chapter of the never-ending MCU? Did it deserve better than the box office delivered? What does it under-performance say about the state of superhero cinema and its ever-growing budgets and profit projections? How does it line up in The Timeline vis-a-vis Disney+’s Marvel’s “Secret Invasion”? Does Captain Marvel fight Shao Khan!? And where’d all those Flerken go? Let’s talk all about it!

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411: A Werewolf Having a Panic Attack

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 05:01:42 +0000

It’s CELERY SLAM 3!!! The super popular and not at all made up by us annual event between Halloween & Christmas when characters associated with each of those holidays go head to head in a battle of … celery… or something. 4 characters from each in a round robin tournament battle to the last! Who will be champion? The Headless Horseman? The Ice Master (of Hostess Fruit Pie ad fame)? Multiple Santa? Join us for a riveting, caffeine fueled WAR OF THE AGES!!

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Newsflash for November 20, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 11:33:54 +0000

Robert Kirkman spilled a big ol’ pile of beans this week, but were these beans prefried? The writer revealed in an interview that Steven Yuen has been cast as The Sentry in the upcoming Thunderbolts film, but I feel like we all have kinda known that since February.

Speaking of casting news/rumors/the blurry line between the two, rumor has it that Pedro Pascal is Reed Richards? And Javier Bardem is Galactus? And it’s all going to be practical effects? Fascinating if true! There’s also been talk about pumping the brakes on Kang and multiverse stuff, but if that’s the case, sure is a shame that they have been focusing on the multiverse for years at this point. Like, they named the “saga” after it. Also, with a little more MCU goss: shocking no one, Armor Wars and the FF movie were announced at the time because Disney had an investors day thingie coming up, and so had to show something.

In comic news which may also just be a rumor, is Gail Simone going to be taking over X-Men once the House of X has fallen, the Powers of X have risen, and the X-Ray Spex have tex mex sex with Lexx, the sentient space ship? She’s writing a Free Comic Book Day X-Men thing, but that’s not until May, which seems…odd.

In comic news that’s real, real I say! Our best friend Chip Zdarsky is writing Joker: Year One, which is a three-parter that’s coming out soon, and Greg Weisman is writing Spectacular Spider-Men! This news is both spectacular, and hilarious, but hilarious in a sinister way.

And last but not least, Merry Little Batman, everyone, and to all a good Bat.

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410: A Human-Shaped Cockroach Boy (and other Captain Marvels)

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:17:18 +0000

If you thought putting three Marvels in one movie was a feat, this podcast has like seven times as many Marvels! Comics have a long history of using and re-using the name “Captain Marvel” for a wide variety of entirely separate characters — and in occasionally legally-dubious ways — so let’s talk about ‘em! From the original Fawcett Comics “Shazam!”-shouting Captain, to the limb-splitting weirdo from M.F. Enterprises, to the trademark-conquering Mar-Vell at Marvel Comics, then the photon-tastic Monica Rambeau, then kind of a rapidly revolving door before Carol Danvers finally claimed the title once and for all. And then there are the variants! Why, there may just be more Captain Marvels (Captains Marvel?) than you ever knew!

Plus: we talk a bit about the recent video game Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, inspired by and styled after the original Mike Mignola comics and starring the late, great Lance Reddick! Is it worth a play? And how does it stack up to Hellboy’s history in video games to date? (It’s a low bar to clear to be the best!)

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409: You Can’t Get Real Cocaine in Thunder Bay: The Secret Origin of Sneezy Leezy

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 05:01:50 +0000

It’s Kyle’s birthday so Bry & Merk decide to FINALLY reveal his secret origin! Hear about Baby Beard Kyle! Ol’ hickory eyes Lees they called him. Hear about his crime fighting career as Sneeze Lees and his sidekick Tooters. So many twists and turns, but remember…. .with great sneezing power comes great sneezing re-ponzablity. Join us won’t you?

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Newsflash for November 6, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 11:58:08 +0000

Whole lotta news this week, so let’s get into it!

There’s a new Spider-Man swinging his way onto the pages of your comics, and this one’s married, just like you nerds have been crying about for the last ten years! Well, okay, not exactly like you’ve been crying about, but close enough for you.

DC launched a new imprint, DC Compact, with the goal of making sure Alan Moore never gets the rights back to Watchmen. Also, the goal of beating manga in the “selling small, thick books for a lower pirce” game. The first goal is a a given, but the second? Only time will tell.

Also, the sky is falling at the MCU, everyone’s doomed, everything’s the worst. What happened, and what’s happening now? We try to unpack that, just a little bit.

Finally, Superman and Lois is getting one more season to wrap things up. It’s real nice that it didn’t just get outright cancelled, so let’s see how that goes! And let’s see…oh my gosh, Lex Luthor? What a shock!

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408: You Can’t Just Say Trapster

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 14:35:54 +0000

This week, Bry and Merk wake up in a strange room, chained together. That’s right, they got Saw’d! And the only way out is to answer trivia questions. Will they live, will they die, will they be stung by many bees? The answers to these and many other questions, this week!

But before any of that happens, Merk has his own sadistic game of DVR: Date, Vacation, (Work) Rivals! Is gliding superior to booster jets? One more question that will be answered, should these boys survive! Happy All Saints Day!

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407: Ron’s Haunted Virtual World

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 14:59:36 +0000

Halloween is almost here! And to celebrate the spookiest of seasons, Bry invites Kyle & Merk to a surprise party at… the local arcade that closed years ago!? What’s going on here? But there’s no time to ask questions, because a grim discovery in the laser tag arena traps our hosts in an eerie mystery that they’ll have to choose their own path to solve! That’s right, this arcade is haunted, folks!! What tricks hide on the shelves of the prize counter? What digital terrors lurk near the Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 machine? What’s that eerie scraping in the basement? There’s only one way to find out… IF YOU DARE!

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406: Two Bodies Paid in Full!!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 04:01:30 +0000

Scary dramatic read time!! The boys read and act out ‘Nightmare Merchant’ from Strange Fantasy comics 7, 1953! That’s not a milkman… it’s the BLOODMAN!! But we’ll say no more! We dare not! It’s too scarrrrryyy…… but really, Bry’s voice for the wife is worth the listen. Do your scary ears a favour and take a listen.

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Newsflash: October 16, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 04:31:23 +0000

Starting off the news for this week, we’re very sad to report that Keith Giffen, of Bwahaha Justice League International fame, among co-creating Lobo, Rocket Raccoon, and Ambush Bug, has passed away at the age of 70. Giffen was known as both a writer and an artist, and was known for his stories that tended to poke fun at just how ridiculous the world of super heroes really is. He will be missed.

Daredevil: Born Again is going back for lots and lots of reshoots. Not only that, but the powers that be have fired several directors from the show, as well as head writers Chris Ord and Matt Corman. Apparently the want the show to be good? I mean, here’s hoping. Please make it good. I just want, like, something good.

And get ready for Ghost Machine! It’s a brand new thing, and… y’know what? Here’s the press release: “Ghost Machine, a first-of-its-kind creator-owned and operated media company officially launched today at New York Comic Con. Creators co-own all the characters and universes developed for Ghost Machine, sharing in all publishing, media, merchandise, and beyond. The pioneering creator collective is a global best-of-class roster of artists and writers whose award-winning and iconic works include a who’s who of comic book legends such as Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, The Flash, The Ultimates, Black Lightning and Green Arrow: Jason Fabok, Gary Frank, Bryan Hitch, Geoff Johns, Lamont Magee, Francis Manapul, Brad Meltzer, Peter J. Tomasi, and Maytal Zchut. The company plans to announce additional talent in the months ahead, including one major superstar creator. All creators will be exclusive to Ghost Machine for their comics work after completing their already committed to projects.”

And finally, Dragon Ball Daima. It’s some more Dragon Ball, everyone’s kids, and boy, so much stuff happened between Buu and the end of Z, huh? I wonder what colour Goku’s hair is gonna turn this time. Blurple? Mintberry?

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405: Ignore Rick Jones Until He Leaves of His Own Accord

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 12:00:21 +0000

Batman was right that one time, the Justice League can shove it! This week, we’re talking about characters who leave super hero teams: why do they do it, how long do they stay gone, and are they right to leave? We also decide which Avengers we would definitely kick out, so steal all of the complimentary Avengers-shaped cookies you can while you still can, Quicksilver!

And before that, since it’s October and all, we dedicate this week’s Warmup to the everyone’s favourite dead and dreaming cosmic entity (sorry Nyarlathotep, better luck next time), Cthulhu! Just why is this dude everywhere? Even in my dreams? Every night? Crazy, man.

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404: Introducing LeatherPhoebe

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 04 Oct 2023 04:01:55 +0000

I dunno if it’s just us or the entire movie-watching public, but is there a case of the blahs going around? Martin Scorsese says comic-book movies are Ruining Cinema — and what if he’s right? Join us for a thoughtful (but funny!) conversation that digs into the history of Hollywood boom-and-bust cycles, the nature of art within commerce, and why there’s still hope for the future of comic-book movies along with cinema as a whole. Don’t worry, Marty, we fixed it!

But that’s not all! We’ve also got a whole bunch of comic-book psychopaths and serial killers to discuss! The Joker, Beast, Victor Zsasz, the cast of Friends!? That’s right, it’s a seasonally-appropriate, horrifyingly comical warm-up segment that will make you believe in LeatherPhoebe. [insert four claps]

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Newsflash: Oct 2, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 04:54:34 +0000

Oct 2, 2023 newsflash time! It’s the writer’s strike! It’s AI comics! It’s Wall-E or is it Dall-E or is it Dali? We dunno. We talk content creators and Dan Didio’s interesting rant on corporations and the hullabaloo! Jack Kirby toys and we talk the ongoing TMNT series! So many exclamation marks!

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403: Paste Pot Pete’s Sticky Fingers Adventure

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 04:01:22 +0000

What do Paste Pot Pete, Keep on Truckin’, James Spader, a spooky classy underground cavern and Charlie Chicken Johansson Berger have in common? They’re all in our crazy MAD LIB STORYTIME episode! With the SAG-AFTRA & WGA strikes going on, we mad lib an MCU movie and it’s….. in this episode! Bela Lugosi as the Beyonder! Who does Busta Rhymes play? Who plays Gargoyle? Was Jesus an Eternal? This and at least 2 other age old questions answered! Plus a warm up game of naming ridiculously specific jobs and which comic character would be the best (or worst) for it! It may make you ask the question if,as the Flash, you vibrate through diarrhea, would you die? That and so much more on this very special episode of Full Hous…. er …. Zero Issues Comic Podcast.

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402: Aquadesantis: Mayor of Atlantis

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 15:58:27 +0000

We’re off to the city! This week, we’re taking a look at some of the cities that super heroes call home. It’s kinda weird that so many of them are Something City, right? Which one would be the safest to live in for your average person, which one is the hardest on criminals, and just what ocean is Atlantis in, anyway? All these questions answered, and also a serious discussion of DC’s Earth being just *slightly* bigger than ours.

Plus! We’re making fun of event comic names in the Warmup! It’s Kraven’s Last Dump, babybee!!

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Newsflash: September 18, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 18 Sep 2023 04:26:23 +0000

Bill Willingham stuns the world — and especially DC Comics — by declaring that Fables is now in the public domain! Y’know, beyond all the parts that already were. That’s right, it’s creator vs. publisher once again, but this time the creator chose “asymmetrical warfare” (his words). We go through Willingham’s allegations toward DC, DC’s official response, Willingham’s response to the response, and the reactions from other members of the industry.

An official Buffy-verse spin-off audio drama brings back several major cast members from the show, including Charisma Carpenter, and leaves out… y’know, that guy, whatsisname. He’s not invited. And it’s co-written and -directed by cast member Amber Benson working with Christopher Golden! Whatsisname who, again? Not ringin’ a bell, capisce?

One Piece gets a second piece… of seasons? [scattered boos] But nonetheless, it’s a rare Netflix second-season renewal for a probably-expensive live-action anime adaptation! Alas, poor Cowboy Bebop could not be here to celebrate with them.

In what’s less “news” than “wholly unsubstantiated rumour”, a claim has emerged than Daniel Radcliffe will appear in Deadpool 3. Will the wildest of fan-castings become reality as the movie Weird Al becomes “Weird” Logan Yankovic!? And will he fight Liev Schreiber, who’s in the full spandex group with the giant fur collar? We are owed this!

All this, and Kyle goes full Cronus. Snack-time is snack-time. And Newsflash is Newsflash!

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401: Tin Foil Hypnotism

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 13 Sep 2023 04:01:46 +0000

Indie Comics!!! New indie comics!! We at Zero Issues LOVE indie stuff ( I know, I know, we talk about the big 2 a LOT) and we love indie creators and crowdfunding too! So this week we’re chatting with Brandon Ingram who is a writer/creator with a new Kickstarter out RIGHT NOW!

Tales from Town’s City #1 from Dismay Comics!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dismaycomics/tales-from-towns-city-1-golden-age-superhero-dark-comedy

A spinoff comic of his other creation ‘The Gallows Man’. This dude is world building. He’ll clue us in on the amazing (and hilarious) comic universe he’s creating with his super talented creative team. We talk the joys and challenges of being a creator and doing kickstarters (this isn’t his first ride around the kickstarter rodeo). We’ll talk about his little brain baby, where things came from, what he’s done in the past and what he’s got planned for the future……

And all he had to do was hypnotize us and take over the podcast in order to get on the show! It’s just that easy!

So put yer tin foil hat on and take a listen!

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Episode 400

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 06 Sep 2023 04:23:39 +0000

400! That’s way more than some Frank Miller book! To celebrate making it to 400 episodes, we’re going to do a whole load of 400-second segments! Marvel as Batman fights Mondays! Feel the shame of knowing we live in a world without Mutant ER! Get serious about serious topics, like comic book movie fatigue. All that, and someone dies! Who could it be? Pay no attention to the episode image, and listen in!

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399: Double Bowie Krang

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 30 Aug 2023 04:01:03 +0000

We’re back together! No, really. We are. The boys are back together in the same room for the first time after zoom recording for a LONG time. So what do we have planned? um…. nothing. We’re just gonna get together and chat. Catch up. Have fun. We talk comics and what we’re reading and why Bry thinks there may be too many TMNT comics (which COULD be the sign of the apocalypse) and more! We talk Toronto comic book stores and how broke we are now! Merk also breaks out a game of ‘Cast an 80’s pop star as a comic character game’. There’s weirdly a lot of Rom and Dazzler. But we get Double Bowie Krang, so we’re all good. Join us and have zero issues!

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398: Are We Gonna Be on STROMBO?

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 23 Aug 2023 10:00:44 +0000

It’s time once again for the POWER! The power of Power Records, of course! They were comics that came with a record of a performance of the same comic, and they sure were something. This time we’re listening and riffing along to 1975’s “Alien Creatures” starring Superman! Jimmy Olsen hot-boxes with Dr. Tripper in the observatory, Clark Kent whizzes out the window, Lois Lane JUST DOESN’T GET IT, and the people of Metropolis nearly catch the silver bullet (and it’s even worse than Coors Light!).

But alas, Power Records are a finite resource. Eventually we will run out, and we can only imagine what other ridiculous comics could be cheaply and cornily recorded then pressed onto a 45. So let’s do that, meaning make up the Power Records that could have been — and could yet be! Along the way we might just stumble upon a future Juno Award-winning new Zero Issues project that’ll really put Calgary on the map (and definitely get us interviewed by George Stroumboulopoulos). And while we’re at it, somebody get Jon Bernthal and the cast of Riverdale to make an audio drama of “Archie Meets the Punisher”! All this, and Mr. T and the T-Force? Hey, why not.

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Newsflash: August 21, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 14:44:47 +0000

Whole lotta sequels going on! This week, we’ve got Basic Instinct 2 (or is it 2.5? 3? 2.Now?) Last Ronin 2, some cool TMNT DLC, talkin’ ’bout the Scott Pilgrim re-adaptation, and maybe even more! Lotsa news*!

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Classic Zero Issues 3 (2023): The Shredder’s a Real Blanche

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 04:01:37 +0000

What’s THIS? A surprise third Classic Zero Issues episode? Well, since a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode has hit theatres, why not enjoy this 2020 episode celebrating the first-ever TMNT film?? Personally, we recommend it. Here’s the original write-up:

30 years ago, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie was unleashed on the world! To comic fans of a, uh, certain age, this movie was a definitive cinema experience. But a lifetime later, how does it hold up? We discuss the legacy of this indie comics classic, compare it to the TMNT’s later adaptations, discuss its standing amongst the incredible growth of comic movies since, talk about our favourite moments, the bodacious cast, those Henson Company animatronic suits, a bunch of production trivia and goofs, little-known deleted scenes, and SO much more. It’s… Bossanova? …Chevy Nova? (Excellent!!)

Get your dose of Turtle Power in a very special Z-E-R-O ISSUES PODCAST!

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397: Abe Sapien is The Dean

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 10:00:31 +0000

From the passing of the mantle of The Flash to Batman’s many, many, many teen sidekicks, legacy characters have been a part of super hero comics for almost as long as there has been super hero comics. With that in mind, we set our sights on talking about some of them!

“But Zero Issues Dudes,” we hear you say, “you’ve already done an episode about legacy characters!” Well, sure we have, but that was a long time ago! It’s time for a fresh, hip look at legacy characters, courtesy of three middle-aged white men! Just like in comics!

And while we’re at it, we try to come up with some brand new legacy characters for super heroes who’ve never gotten one before in the Warm Up. Because maybe, just maybe, Gambit’s worth it, too.

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396: Get Me Out of Your Mouth. We’re Bros.

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 04:01:27 +0000

It’s TURTLE TIME! With the new TMNT movie arriving, we’re doing a turtle episode! Kyle begins by interviewing esteemed Turtle scholar Esa Keltamaki about the TMNT comic series ‘The Last Ronin’-SPOILERS. Bry listened to part of it. Merk intentionally avoided it. There’s reasons. Then the main event! It’s TURTLE BATTLE ROYALE time! We each pick a number of turtle characters from various timelines, sources, media and publishing companies…. then make ’em fight to the end! Don’t worry if you’re not fluent in all the turtle lore. Neither is Merk! But he enjoyed himself, didn’t you, Merk? Yes i did-Merk So join us for a discussion about wacky battles, Death Star Butt Canals, Jeff Goldblum flying around, how Bry thinks Baxter Stockman is a ‘bit of a weenus’, a lesson about where alligators and crocodiles are AND a very awkward segment discussing a huge severed cow head in space. So join Cowabunga Kyle, Brycalangelo and Merkatello for a helluva shell game!

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Newsflash: July 31, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 04:39:00 +0000

San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, and in its wake: NEWS! Conan and his savage sword return to comics with a Cimmerian murderer’s row of talent well-geared to making comics about Conan! The relative absence of Hollywood at SDCC meant great things for actual comics creators and publishers, go figure! Hellboy is back — in Giant Robot form! Mere weeks after Ms. Marvel’s SHOCKING death, her PREDICTABLE resurrection has come to pass, except now she’s an Inhuman AND a Mutant and also is gonna be written by her MCU actor Iman Vellani! If you wanna see Superman fight Godzilla, “Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong” seems very likely to deliver on that promise, along with “roar” sound-effect birthday card technology! A sequel series to The Last Ronin is coming, which is really pushing the definition of the word “last”! A Nightwing & Titans crossover event is coming, and it’s called… [dun dun!] BEEEAST WOOORLD! And the sad state of collecting has landed at, ugh, “completely empty steelbook WandaVision case for $90”.

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Classic Zero Issues 2 (2023): A Lenny Kravitz Situation

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Jul 2023 04:01:37 +0000

It’s CLASSIC ZERO ISSUES time as the boys take some time off to find themselves and reconnect to nature. This week….. the FOOMER!! It’s time to FOOM it up!! Yup! We’re talking about that ol’ space dragon monster, Fin Fang Foom! Each of the boys does their pitch of a Foom story to be told to take the Foom where the Foom has never gone before! All that AND we talk the ridiculousness of Superhero costumes. Who puts their initial on their chest AND their belt buckle? And is EVERYTHING unstable molecules?
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Classic Zero Issues 1 (2023): A-List Losers

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 09:59:26 +0000

Nearly 400 episodes in, we need a little break! So, this week and next, we’ll be re-uploading some of our classic episodes. This week it’s episode 63: A-List Losers! Here’s the original writeup:

These super heroes get no respect, I tell ya! No respect!

We are talking about characters who, while they’re certainly great, just can’t seem to get a break, either from the diehard fans or from the public at large. Aquaman, Dazzler, Hank Pym, and Cyclops, with all of his terrible, terrible costumes.

Plus: news, a where-would-you-live warmup, and Metamorpho joins the League of Baldos!

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395: How Titans Stopped Worrying and Embraced the “Dick”

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 04:01:40 +0000

Pass the fancy wireless remote, tune in to the tube, get out the TV Guide and let me know if we need to set the VCR —- it’s time to talk about comic-based TV shows! Particularly the current state of the comic-show landscape, as the explosion of TV series in the past 10 years have or will soon be ending. What’s next for the world of small-screen (but actually pretty-damn-big-screen) comic adaptations? Perhaps less will be more, with fewer but overall better shows? Should superheroes keep in their feature-film lane and let the indie comics spread their tales across more episodes? Is anyone still watching the ever-expanding Walking Dead TV-verse, and did they ever get to the fireworks factory? Is the so-called “golden age of television” ending, or just evolving? So many questions! So let’s talk all about ’em!

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394: More Like Trashpoint

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 06:26:12 +0000

We’ve waited long enough! The time is now to talk about The Flash, because everyone who’s going to have seen it has seen it. And look, I know that us saying that, and also calling this episode “Trashpoint,” makes it sound like we hated it. But you don’t know that! You have to listen to the episode to find that out! That’s how podcasts work!

Also, Kyle brings back Hulk Out or Fake Out for the Warmup, because some of the ways they came up with to turn David Banner into the Hulk on that show were just so very dumb.

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393: ROMish the Non-Electric Space Knight

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 28 Jun 2023 04:01:00 +0000

TRAVEL THROUGH TIME WITH THE ZERO ISSUES BOYS! Or at least about 44 mins of it, as we discuss time travel in comics!! Join us as we discuss time travel storylines and pitch a few of our own! Specifically we discuss comic stories of either characters that don’t time travel or time periods they usually don’t visit. Or horrible time travel stories where everyone dies. All the time. It’s a fun game! Hear about Bruce Wayne: Roller Disco Champion. Or 4 Turtles, 4 Chan: Why Donatello is the Most Sexist of all the Turtles. Or ROMish the Non Electric Space Knight! But we begin with a fun time travel themed game of Character Storm! Beware Thyme Time! Seriously. Beware. But do join us. Because it’s time…. for our podcast!

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392: Face It, Tiger – A Romita Retrospective

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 04:01:22 +0000

This week we celebrate the life, career, and amazing legacy John Romita, Sr! From his youth growing up during the golden-age comics boom, to becoming perhaps one of the first fans-turned-pros as he cut his teeth as a comic-book artist during the tumultuous ‘50s at the pre-Marvel Timely and Atlas, before hopping to DC as a top-tier romance-comic penciller, into the silver age at Marvel where he contributed to early Avengers and Daredevil, before he was hand-picked by Stan Lee to take over The Amazing Spider-Man — where he redefined one of the most iconic characters of all time and set the artistic and design standard that changed and evolved Spidey, Marvel, and comics as a whole forever. Thanks for everything, “Jazzy” John!

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391: One Bub For Yes, Two Bubs For No

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 14 Jun 2023 04:01:04 +0000

‘Verse Mania is upon us once more! We’ve finally all seen “Across the Spider-Verse” and have a theoretically endless number of things to say about it! From the stunning animation, art and sound design, vocal performances, endless deep-cut references, and as much else as we can fit into a warm-up segment! And we may tangent into cinema-enhancing power outages and childhood exposure to “Videodrome”, this is who we are. But once we’re done with the Spiders’ ‘Verse, it’s time to shake up The Canon elsewhere as we pitch our own ideas for crossovers where multiple variations of beloved characters collide! How many Jugheads can we cram into a Jug-Verse? A multiverse of Bishops set sail on the bemulletted Bish-Ship! Wolverine’s Hot Claws tear open a hole in the Bub-Verse releasing endless Wolvereeners, bub! They’ve got so many kinds of claws it’ll blow your mind. And there’s a universe where we hate on the 2013 movie “The Congress” for a couple minutes, why not. All this and much more! So many pitches it’s like its own Pitch-Verse, honestly.

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390: Bizarro Farts Cold

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 10:55:03 +0000

Which Ninja Turtle smells the worst? How many birds has Wonder Woman killed with her invisible jet? Does Beast Boy need to know what a cow looks like in order to turn into a cow? What If the A-Team were still in Marvel Comics? These and so many other dumb, dumb questions are answered this week in what may be our stupidest Lightning Round ever!

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389: Bananas In. Bananas Out. That’s What Banana Eating is All About!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 31 May 2023 04:01:08 +0000

Acting!!! Thespians!!! Performers!! Pantomimers….. ok maybe not that one. We’re talking about Comic Book Actors this week. Specifically actors/actresses who have done MULTIPLE comic book roles. Who’s done most? Who’s done the best? Who’s done the worst? We probably have a few on this list you never realized did THAT many comic book roles! And this week… i know this will come as a surprise…. we’re a little silly. A little goofy. So join us for this ridiculous ride and learn how we get to such sayings as ‘Strong Tucci Soup’, or the titular ‘Bananas in. Bananas out. That’s what banana eatin’ is all about’. And join us for the ridiculous warm up of ‘dumb ways to die’ for comic characters…. who knew Hawkman couldn’t survive getting sucked into a jet engine?

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Newsflash: May 29, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 29 May 2023 04:52:37 +0000

A “shocking development” in The Amazing Spider-Man leaked weeks ahead of its release, leading to a public confirmation and what appear to be extremely mixed feelings about the whole thing! Can you believe Gwen Stacy is back, she was just in Europe the whole time, and then she immediately dies again? What are the odds!?

A whole bunch of comic adaptations (and in less important news: everything else) have paused their productions as the WGA writer’s strike continues! And until a fair deal is struck, we’re gonna be missing out on Thunderbolts, Blade, Wonder Man, Ryan Reynolds’ ability to do improv, all of it!!

ROM RETURNS! In Omnibus form. Wait, no — in ROMNIBUS form! Marvel is dipping back into their beloved ‘80s licensed Hasbro comics, and even the Micronauts are getting in on this! They’re all back!! And they’re gonna crossover with ALF, probably! And Combo Man!

Grant Morrison also returns… except they didn’t go anywhere… to kick off “Partially Naked Came the Corpse”, an “exquisite corpse” style series where multiple creators add to the overall story. How this is gonna work, we can’t tell you. (But we assume there will be a corpse.)

Diamond Comic Distributors loses another publisher as Image signs on with Lunar! But no matter what happens, retailers will be frustrated, that’s a guarantee.

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388: Spider-Man’s Greatest Enemy: Reptile!

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 24 May 2023 10:45:47 +0000

Spider(-Man), he is our hero! This week, we take a break from doing deep dives, taxing our brains thinking about new and unique things to do on the podcast, and just do what makes us happy: talkin’ ’bout Spider-Man. Who’s his best love interest? Who are his deadliest foes? Does he have way too many costumes, and should he be drawn like a brick poophouse?

All that, plus we for real talk about the version of Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 that everyone else saw in the theatres.

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387: The Chip Zdarsky Interview – Add Beards, Do Cocaine

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 17 May 2023 04:01:41 +0000

Chip Zdarsky! We interview Chip Zdarsky! Lookit us! Talking to other people and stuff.

Chip of course is a comic writer/artist of such books as Sex Criminals, Public Domain, Kaptara, Jughead, Howard the Duck, Daredevil and that little title called Batman. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.

We caught Chip on his cross Canada tour as he came through town and was gracious enough to sit down and have a relaxed, fun, hilarious conversation with us. There’s also a video of this interview as well! Listen to it, then watch it! Chip for several senses!

Watch the video version right here!

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386: Taserface II – Requiem

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 10 May 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 is upon us, all 600 distinct versions of it, and we were lucky enough to see version #539! And maybe we were some of the lucky few, because nobody else seems to be talking about [VERY REAL SPOILER ALERT] the shocking return of TASERFACE as he takes his place as a surprise protagonist of the story! Join us as we dig into the movie’s twists and turns, its triumphant highs and heartbreaking lows, the needle drops, the celebrity cameos, the newly-revealed connections between Taserface and his Guardian pals, and oh gosh, so much more. But that’s not all! Did anyone say “vaguely Guardians-themed Character Storm”? We know YOU did, dear listener! Set tasers (and faces) to FUN!

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Newsflash: May 8, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 08 May 2023 04:34:57 +0000

Zero Issues Newsflash for May 8, 2023! Jim Lee becomes Emperor of DC! The Writers Strike, how does it impact comic movies? 3 new DC mini series coming! Whoopi Goldberg’s Dark Horse Graphic Novel! And Fantastic Four Casting Rumours going crazy! Adam Driver! Margot Robbie! Antonio Banderas! Paul Mescal! Danny Devito! Keith David wearing just a bathrobe! Some of those are true!

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385: Gamma Moustaches & Grandma Bombs

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 03 May 2023 04:01:06 +0000

POWER RECORDS TIME!!! Time to HULK out listening to a power records ’45 from 1974 where the Hulk battles the Abomination AND the Rhino AT the Hulkbuster Base with a guy named ARMBUSTER! Who’s down for a Gamma Moustache Ride!?!?

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384: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad Magazine

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 10:24:28 +0000

What, us podcast? Yes, us podcast, specifically about Mad Magazine, this week! How did a weirdo li’l book like this come to be created and run for so dang long? Who made this stuff? Just how many times did they get sued or threatened by the US government? We answer…some of these questions.
But before we even get to that, Merk guides us on a trippy dippy trip into the world of album-and-movie sync-ups and weird comic book theories! We sincerely hope this episode won’t make you say blech!

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Newsflash: April 24, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 04:33:57 +0000

Newsflash time! It’s Al Jaffee! It’s Turtles and Teens! It’s your grandma and her original hips at 84, and so is Marvel! And Antarctica!

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383: I Wanna Lex You Up

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 04:01:30 +0000

Inspired by the announcement of Waid & Hitch on “The Last Days of Lex Luthor”, we look at the many versions of that hairless hater of Superman, talk about our favourite versions of ol’ Lex, then decide… Hey, never mind all that, we can fix this guy! Let’s reimagine Lex Luthor and see what other interpretations might befit the Menace of Metropolis! Maybe he transforms himself through science and becomes a Cronenberg-ian horror? Maybe he’s a snooping landlord in a Clark-Lois-Jimmy “Three’s Company” scenario? Maybe he’s a supreme sorcerer now able to defeat Superman through magic? Maybe he’s a lot of things! And you’ll hear about ‘em!

But that’s not all! Merk, at long last, hunts down the comics to solve a childhood “Power Man and Iron Fist” mystery! And friends, this journey through continuity has everything: exploding motorcycles, flying 1986 cell phones, knockoff Nega-Bands, high collars, ketchup stains, Master Kahn, John Byrne. EVERYTHING.

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382: Superman’s Race with the Flash – Sponsored by Brown Sprite

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 04:01:39 +0000

It’s DRAMATIC READING time and we have a CLASSIC DOOZY for ya!! Superman racing the Flash! It doesn’t get much more iconic than that…. but we can make it a lot weirder and funnier! And we do! Listen along as we act out and react to this surprisingly convoluted story. Hear about the UN’s gambling problem that they get these two heroes involved in! Watch Green Lantern and his brown ring! Hear about Steven Seagal in a hot tub full of butter! See Superman blow the Flash…. not like that!! This episode (and race) is sponsored by Brown Sprite.

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381: Through the Cronen-Hole

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 04:01:50 +0000

Today we descend into darkness as we discuss those wretched hives of scum and villainy: comment sections and fan forums! Okay, okay, there are plenty of wonderful and positive fan communities that we all love, and should! But something about the direction of fandom online over the decades tends to take a turn for the toxic whenever negativity, bullying, and anger (and, uh, threats to drink spit in protest to watching a movie?) take hold of the conversation.

What makes a good thread go bad, or even go on for 15 years? We dig into the evolution of fandom and fans online, how the platforms we use change the experience, how we’re hard-wired to choose and defend our favourites from childhood, and plenty more in this free-wheelin’, far-reaching discussion from three middle-aged fanboys who’ve seen it all on this ol’ Internet of ours. Merk even shares the twisted tale of the most deranged comment thread under a Brie Larson news post that was ever cursed upon his feed by: The Algorithm!

But on a brighter note, we just realized it’s the 9th anniversary of when we started making Zero Issues! And to celebrate this auspicious occasion, Merk challenges Kyle & Bry with a NEW GAME using his trusty deck of 1991 Marvel Universe trading cards: the roll of a die will reveal hidden truths about randomly-selected but still totally bodacious heroes and villains.

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Newsflash: April 3, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 20:28:41 +0000

This week: more firings! But to be specific, we’re talking about Ike Perlmutter: at one point the man on top, now a man reduced to living inside the Epcot sphere, eating stickers of X-Men favourite Sage, to survive. That plus more news!

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Newsflash: March 27, 2023

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Mon, 27 Mar 2023 10:54:13 +0000

This week in the news: FIRINGS! They’re all the rage, it seems. From Victoria Alonso at Marvel to an entire department at Funko, folks are being let go. But it isn’t all bad news! Boris Karloff is (figuratively) back from the grave, and he’s brought Gold Key with him! Plus, if you’re hurting for television-based graphic novel adaptations, then surprise, Essex County’s out! Go watch it!

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380: Bald Badness

zeroissuespodcast@gmail.com (Bry Kotyk, Kyle Lees & Merk) — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 12:40:23 +0000

Purple robe, purple robe! This week, because it’s March, we’re getting a little…maaaaad. March Madness! This time, everyone’s bald! Bald villains and heroes, battling it out to see who’s the toughest one of them all!

Oh shoot we didn’t even think of Bald Bull from Punch-Out, now we gotta do it all over again, shoot

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