Tag Archives: Ian Levenstein

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 60

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Back from a week long hiatus, it is Comic Timing! This time, Brent and I are joined by Lorrie Thomas, known to the forum-goers as thomalo, and Jay Ferguson, otherwise known as Modern Lover. We discuss whether or not Superhero Comics Hate Love. Well, do they? You decide after hearing our thoughts, and the forum comments we read on the show!

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Also, we are only one week away from The New York Comic Con, so I hope to see a bunch of you stopping on by Podcast Arena to say hello! Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and we shall see you next week for some Horror Comics conversation with Lobo and Lord Shaper of Kryptographik!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:12:51 — 71.7MB)

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 59

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For Episode 59, Brent and I are joined by Erica Hesse, artist and creator of The Key! Erica gets into a discussion with us about Women in the Comic Industry, which then switches over to a nice question and answer session about her career, her life, and some ridiculousness that can only stem from letting the forum ask questions. Sheesh! Thanks to Erica for joining us as it was a lot of fun, and I hope to see some of you this weekend at Anime Boston!

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and we shall see you again next time!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:40:29 — 51.3MB)

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 58: Megacon Part 2

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Part 2 is out! The last two days of the Megacon is covered here, featuring the talents of Raph, Brent, Brandon and myself, as we cover the last two days of the convention. What we picked up, who and what we saw, yaoi vs. yuri, and so on. Also, we have interviews with Travis Earls and Sean Cummings of Codename: Power, Lee Bretschneider of Wheelchair Romeo, Mark Waid, current editor in chief of Boom! Studios, Jon and Jin of Two Monocles, artist Christine Bottoms, Marvel cover artist Greg Horn, writer/inker Jimmy Palmiotti, and Bryan Deemer, Brian “Pants” Christman and Adam Murdough of Comic Geek Speak, with a glomping by Peter Rios.

We had an amazing time at the convention, and we hope to see you all next year at Megacon, and in a few weeks at New York Comic Con!

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and listen to our final bit of Megacon wrap on Geeks Unite! later this week.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:41:31 — 54.9MB)

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 58: Megacon Part 1

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Megacon baby! Brent, Brandon, Raph, Ian, all talking about Day 1 of the big Orlando comic convention. And for the first time, Brent is live and in person! No Skype! Wowsers! Also, Raph has a quick interview with Chuck Dixon, while I talk a bit with the artist of the Wonder Girl miniseries and the upcoming Wu Tang Clan graphic novel, Sanford Greene. We will have extensive updates throughout the convention, and will try our best to release an episode recapping Day 2 and 3 live from our hotel room, and of course there will be a final wrap as an after thought once we return home.

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and we will see you tomorrow for more Megacon coverage and interviews!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:41 — 24.5MB)

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 57

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Ian, Brent, Sam (from the 88 Miles Per Hour podcast), and Umar (from the Dafixer’s Hideout Podcast) discuss what it means to be a fanboy in the year 2008. We talk about What we buy, why we buy, and so many other tangents that can’t be covered here. PLUS: The roommate of Brent makes a surprise appearance in the bloopers! Darn roommates!

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and see you later this week with a new BKs Bullets on the Marvel titles Alias and Punisher War Journal series, and after that, the madness that is MEGACON!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:51:49 — 52.9MB)

Geekspeak Report, Podcast

Geekspeak Report – Episode 5

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Episode 5 of The Geekspeak Report is here! I am joined by contestant two in the Geekspeak Co-Host Challenge, Michael Yanni, known as The Yanni on The Comic Forums. Here is a complete list of what we discuss on the show:

We will be back next time with the third contestant in the Co-Host Challenge, Troy Mata, alias number6. You can e-mail the show at speakgeekspeak@gmail.com, and make sure to check out the Geekspeak Report forums, where you can spread the love for Michael.

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and see you next time!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:37:06 — 51.1MB)

Editorial

Rant Timing #5: New York Comic Con Roulette

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New York Comic Con Roulette

So, for those of you who were hoping we were done with New York conventions taking place in the middle of winter, it ain’t over yet. The following was posted on Newsarama at their Blog@ blog, in a response about NYCC being the weekend of Passover this year:

The unfortunate reality is that these were the dates we were given at the Javits Center. Javits is unlike most places in that the demand for the space far outstrips the availability, so customers, such as NYCC, are left with little to no choice as to what dates we are given. To that point, I’ll announce here first that the show will be moving back to February next year – because we want to be in February? Not really. Quite simply, these are the only dates we can get next year.

See, this is the worst part about trying to run a convention in New York. There is only one real convention center in the largest city in the world. I don’t count Madison Square Garden as that is certainly more of an arena than anything else. This convention hall can only hold so much, and it is in the ass end of the borough, three or four avenues down from the nearest subway. They are planning to extend the 7 train so that at least one train will be down there, but that is still at least a few years away from completion. There have been proposals to expand the Javits Center in order to make room for more events, but is this truly what we need? I would love to have a place in the heart of the city devoted to a convention atmosphere, but New York is simply not built to support such an addition. And so our convention center remains where it is.

As for the Passover problem of this year, I doubt is it truly going to affect the majority of the crowd. While Passover is an important holiday for the Jewish faith, I know that my family celebrates it with a family gathering, and that is it. Religious Jews will have their hands full that weekend, but how many religious Jews were planning on attending the convention in the first place? Not to be insensitive, but I doubt the number was very high. As previously stated, next year this will not be a problem, so save your money and go elsewhere instead, or wait until 2009 if there is a conflict.

New York Anime Fest, the other event run by Reed Exhibitions, will be moving to September for its second year, avoiding the winter cold as well. But will this return back to December the year after that? All I know is that most conventions have a set month to rely on, and no New York convention will ever have that luxury. I love my city, but sometimes it can be quite the pain. Anybody got a spare plot of land they’re not using? It would be awesome if you did, and decided to build a convention hall on it. Anyone? Well, crap.

Podcast

Comic Timing – Episode 56: Part 2

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John Mayo and Bob Bretall of Comic Book Page, Tim thefreakytiki, Brent Kossina, Ian Levenstein, all finishing the discussion on Online Ordering and the LCS. Enjoy!

You can e-mail the show at comictiming@gmail.com, and please vote for us at Podcast Alley and Digg us at Digg.Com. And of course, if you can, please donate to the HERO Initiative effort if you can. Every little bit helps!

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading, and see you folks next week.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:47:52 — 56.9MB)

Geekspeak Report, Podcast

Geekspeak Report – Episode 4

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The first Geekspeak Co-Host Challenge episode is here! “The Geek Pastor” Wayne Cordova, host of RadioWayne, joins me this episode as contestant number one. Is he the one? You decide! Shownotes to follow tomorrow.

You can e-mail us at speakgeekspeak@gmail.com, and make sure to check out the forums so you can support your favorite co-host. Next time, The Yanni will join me as Contestant Number Two. Until then, enjoy, and thanks for listening!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:57:48 — 64.2MB)

Editorial

Rant Timing #4: Why So Serious?

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Why So Serious?

The film world lost a great one today, long before his time should have been up. Heath Ledger, age 28, died today. He was about five years older than I am, as he would have turned 29 in April. Deaths like this put your life in perspective. You never know what day you will wake up, do your daily routine, all without knowing it will be your last time. Heath’s career was budding. After Brokeback Mountain, most of Hollywood knew his name. With The Dark Knight, the second Batman film directed by Christopher Nolan, he was to be the successor of Jack Nicholson in the role of The Joker. The film wrapped principle photography, so that is at least secure, as of now. He was filming another movie, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, when he died, and that one looks to be in jeopardy, as it was in the middle of production. Will The Dark Knight be the last time we see Heath Ledger on screen? A talented, wide-ranging actor, ends his life with a role like The Joker. Serial killer, insane, a malicious smile upon his face. Is this how you would want to go out? I certainly would be torn. On the one hand, I guarantee people will believe that the role led to his death, that acting crazy made him crazy. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that is ridiculous. No, there is no Batman curse that has been transfered over from The Superman Curse, and no, the role had nothing to do with what happened. He simply died. End of story. Even if he did commit suicide, or if he overdosed on pills, this was not because he was The Joker. It was because he was a troubled man. None of this has been confirmed, so I’m not going to speculate on any of this until there are facts to turn to.

Now, for the other side of going out as The Joker: the character is one of the best known comic book creations in the history of the DC Universe. He is the villain of villains and heroes alike, and has appeared everywhere from lunch boxes to cartoons to posters. If Heath plays The Joker as well as I believe he will, he will go out on top. The performance will always be remembered. If he tops Nicholson, more power to him. No one will be able to replace the image of a man who died with the role in the eyes of fans and movie-goers alike. Plus, the viral marketing campaign already had people jazzed for the movie; even those who would not have seen it originally are now interested. Heath’s death will drive even more people to the theaters. So yes, The Dark Knight will be a success on multiple plains. A great movie, with roles to remember.

Rest in peace Heath. You leave behind a daughter who will hear stories about you for a long time to come. While your career might have been cut short, it was still longer than most, with more accolades than some people who have been in the business twice as long have achieved. The line I titled this column with is apropos to the situation. “Why so serious?” Today, we are allowed to be.