Originally posted at PrimeTimeGeek.com

PTG Episode 48 is brought to you by the art of comic book artist Ed Benes. Now, before I lose any of my female listeners upon sight of the image accompanying this article, there is a point to this, and it IS related to this hour’s content. Benes is the artist currently working on Blackest Night Titans, one of two Blackest Night tie-in titles to hit stores during the week ending 8-28-09 that we cover in this week’s ‘Blackest Night Spotlight.’ Though normally I’m a fan of Benes’ comic book work, I think his particular style works against him and the story being told in Blackest Night Titans. In the course of describing that style and why it doesn’t quite work for this book, it was necessary to talk a bit about Benes’ recurring … ahem … artistic focus. I certainly admit that Benes seems to show a preoccupation with a particular portion of the female anatomy, but I don’t think he deserves all the “hating-on” he seems to get from a great portion of comic fandom. I just wish he’d work on making his women look a tad more distinct from one another. Aside from hair color, hair style, and uniform/costume, his female characters attributes seem at times to be interchangeable. More on that during the episode.

In this installment we also talk a little bit about Fan Expo Canada 2009, the largest comic book, sci-fi, and pop culture convention in Canada, and one bit of news that was announced at FEC 2009 that we didn’t get to during the broadcast was Marvel’s announcement of its upcoming Hulk family crossover event … (wait for it) … WORLD WAR HULKS!

Yes, the brain trust behind the current assortment of Hulk comic book titles (Hulk, Incredible Hulk, Incredible Hercules, Savage She-Hulk) are bringing all their storylines together in this mega-event that finds all the various Hulks (Banner Hulk, Red Hulk, Skaar, son of Hulk, original She-Hulk (we think), “new” Savage She-Hulk (from the future!!), Red She-Hulk (WTF?!?), and who knows who else) facing off against a conglomeration of the world’s greatest evil geniuses, including The Leader, MODOK, Dr. Doom, Egghead, Mad Thinker, and probably a few more would-be world conquerors calling themselves “The Intelligencia.” Sound like silly, crazy, Hulk-Smash fun? YOU BET! Honestly, I don’t read the Hulk books, and Jeph Loeb’s work on “Hulk” was offensive enough to my comic book reading sensibilities that I wanted to fight ANYBODY who willingly shelled out money for the title on a monthly basis. But just for the sake having all the mysteries behind the Red Hulk and who’s who and what’s what in that messed up gamma-irradiated family, I might be tempted to give this a try and report on it for PTG. Don’t hold your breath, though–I passed on the entire World War Hulk storyline from a few years back, David Finch and John Romita Jr. artwork and all, just because, well, I’m not a Hulk fan. End of story. I may have to overcome my distaste, however, for the sake of covering the “news.”

Who says I’m not devoted to my craft? Watch out for World War Hulks coming to comic book stores starting in December. Yay.

Hour 1 of Prime Time Geek Episode 20 is brought to you by this sound clip from the all-new, all-awesome Star Trek film from director J.J. Abrams, featuring Jim Kirk’s (Chris Pine) first meeting with a slightly unnerved Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) as they sit together aboard the shuttle that will whisk them off to Starfleet Academy. One of the best things about the new Trek film that in my opinion cannot be hailed enough is the performance of actor Karl Urban, who simply vanishes into the role of “Bones” McCoy and makes him real in a way that I can only imagine the late DeForest Kelley would have enjoying viewing. I’ve sung the praises of Urban before–despite career lowlights like Pathfinder and Doom, the man’s done solid, engaging work in Hollywood, including supporting turns in The Bourne Supremacy and Chronicles of Riddick. His characters, however secondary they might be to the leads in a film, are always interesting, and that’s something I believe is wholly attributable to the actor himself. But Star Trek should be a breakout performance for him–watch out for more leading roles for Urban as the Hollywood starmaking machine sits up and takes notice of who everyone talks about when they walk of seeing Trek.

In addition to my full review of Star Trek, Hour 1 of PTG this week features reviews of DC Comics‘ Power Girl #1, by writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray and illustrated by Amanda Conner (click HERE to listen to PTG’s interview with Palmiotti and Conner about Power Girl and her new series!), and The Flash: Rebirth #2 by Geoff Johns and Ethan Van Sciver, both of which are definitely worth your while to pick up if you haven’t yet. We wrap up the hour by reviewing the penultimate episode of Smallville for this 8th season, “Injustice”, which is definitely worth watching if only to have a great example of less-than-stellar scripting, direction, and acting. For those of us more discriminating Smallville fans who fondly remember when this show was compelling and when we could wholeheartedly recommend the show to others as “good, fun” television, this point in the series is an all-time low, and if you’re like me at all, the only thing to look forward to about this week’s finale, “Doomsday”, airing on Thursday, May 14th, is that it is, in fact, the end of the season and we’ll be spared anymore inane silliness for the summer.

At this point, especially if you disagree with me and you think this season of Smallville has been great, you may be thinking, “Well, if you think it’s so lame, then why the hell do you keep watching?” It was put best in a forgotten Blake Edwards film from the late ’80s called Skin Deep, starring the late John Ritter. Ritter’s character, Zack, is a writer who, in the face of writer’s block he can’t overcome, has ruined his marriage by drowning himself in booze and extramarital affairs. At one point early in the film, after getting verbally jabbed for his now-lackluster wit by his agent, Zack asks, “If you think my stuff is crap, then why do you keep representing me?”

The agent’s response was (and here’s the point, folks), “That’s like asking a heroine addict why he keeps shooting up. It’s because he keeps hoping for the euphoria of that first high, even though he knows deep down inside that it will never happen.” And there’s your answer to why I keep watching Smallville. Hope springs eternal, and I, like Clark, never give up hope that things can get better.

Hour 2 of PTG Episode 10 kicks off with the funnier of the two clips from Chasing Amy set in the midst of a comic convention, but honestly, in my opinion its only funnier due to Jason Lee’s unique delivery of the f-bomb. Yeah, juvenile, I know–the f-bomb still cracks me up sometimes.

Well, though I swear no one is more surprised by it than I am, I was actually able to keep my promise to you, my listeners, that if Dan Didio, Senior VP-Executive Editor of DC Comics, truly was at MegaCon this year I’d have a few questions for him and I’d corner if I had to in order to get answers. I got him in a corner all right, but as it turned out, he picked out the corner of the convention center, not me. The head honcho of DC’s publishing end was gracious, humorous, and a pleasure to talk to on a range of subjects, including but limited to more DC visits to MegaCon, the work of Geoff Johns, Final Crisis, Green Arrow/Black Canary writer Andrew Kreisberg going on to becoming a writer and producer on FOX’s Fringe, done-in-one stories in comics, and electronic delivery of print products in the future. If you’re a DC reader I hope you enjoy listening to the interview as much as I did giving it. And to my listeners who aren’t comic book readers, you shouldn’t skip over this segment, because I asked Dan to recommend a comic book from DC for fans of sci-fi and fantasy, fans of the genre who aren’t comic book readers right now, to get them hooked, and he in fact gave me TWO recommendations that I wholeheartedly agree with.

In the “b” block of Hour 2, Sports Buzz Ryan calls in to share his thoughts about Street Fighter IV, the latest entry in Capcom’s legendary fighting series and one that seems worthy of all the pre-release hype and anticipation. All you Ken and Ryu fans, you Chun-Li lovers and Bison fanatics, if you don’t have this game yet, GET it. It’s everything you ever loved about Street Fighter II, given the next-gen console treatment with all the trimmings.

No BSG After-Action report in the “c” block, but instead a quick review of Marvel’s New Avengers #50 and some final thoughts on this year’s MegaCon. Hope you enjoy!

The DC Universe Panel at MegaCon 2009

Prime Time Geek’s coverage of MegaCon 2009 continues with this recording of the DC Universe Panel, hosted by Senior VP and Executive Editor Dan Didio and featuring panelists Tony Bedard (R.E.B.E.L.S), Dan Jurgens (Booster Gold), Jimmy Palmiotti (Power Girl, Jonah Hex), George Pérez (Legion of 3 Worlds, Brave and the Bold), Ethan Van Sciver (Green Lantern: Rebirth, The Flash: Rebirth), and Billy Tucci (Sgt. Rock). Listed below are some highlights of the panel and the time index during the audio file when they occur. Enjoy!

3:00 – Dan Didio reads the official Orange County, Florida proclamation, signed by Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty, declaring Saturday, March 28th as George Pérez Day.

6:00 – Didio discusses DC’s plan to follow up on the momentum of Final Crisis, with Battle for the Cowl, Superman: World of New Krypton, Flash: Rebirth, and “Rise of the Olympian” in Wonder Woman.

7:30 – Tony Bedard talks R.E.B.E.L.S. and why Brainiac 2 (Vril Dox) is such a fun character to work with.

8:50 – Dan Jurgens talks about what’s to come in the pages of Booster Gold

10:00 – Jimmy Palmiotti talks about what’s in store for Power Girl in her new solo title and also his work on Jonah Hex.

12:54 – George Pérez discusses Legion of 3 Worlds and tries to be vague about his next “epic” project.

15:10 – Ethan Van Sciver talks about his work with Geoff Johns on The Flash: Rebirth and what the newly-resurrected Barry Allen encounters in the first issue, as well as teasing a momentous meeting in issue #3.

16:20 – Billy Tucci touches on his work on Sgt. Rock and also gets to tell a great story about a particular gift he gave to Didio one year recently.

20:40 – Floor opens for questions

21:00 – Didio fields a question about “done-in-one” issues and about the fun of characters like Jonah Hex, Sgt. Rock, and the soon-to-return Warlord, who work and play outside current continuity.

23:08 – Question about the possibility of “letters pages” returning and also an “explanation book” to help readers out with the end of Final Crisis.

26:00 – J. Michael Straczynski still writing an arc in Brave and the Bold?

29:00 – Will Bruce Wayne’s current status be addressed in “Blackest Night”?

30:18 – MY question to Didio, regarding the decision to divulge the identity of certain Black Lanterns LONG before “Blackest Night” begins through DC Direct solicitations for Blackest Night action figures (if you’ve been listening to PTG, you’ll recall that particular spoiler got under my skin REAL bad. Apparently, I was the only one bothered by it in that room.)

32:30 – Didio addresses the relaunch of the Batman family of titles in June, along with listing the new titles joining that family.

36:51 – Didio poses this question to the audience: If a new Flash regular series were to begin, what would the number of the first issue be (assuming it resumes numbering from an earlier Flash series). The answer they get from someone in the front row left even me stunned at the level of memory power displayed.

38:52 – Question to Palmiotti about Power Girl and where she fits in now in the Superman family of characters, in particular her relationship to Supergirl.

41:48 – Didio fields a question about the current Batman/Superman title and when will it start to reflect current continuity (e.g. Bruce Wayne gone). Answer: “It won’t.”)

43:00 – Recap pages possibly in DC Comics?

44:18 – Upcoming appearance by the Suicide Squad? Didio: watch for Rick Flagg and Amanda Waller in “Final Crisis Aftermath: Escape”.

45:00 – Question to Van Sciver: “Will you be drawing any more Green Lantern?” Answer: “I don’t see why not.”

48:00 – Question to the entire panel: “What is you all reading right now, which books?”

54:00 – What worked and what didn’t work in Final Crisis?

Episode 9 of Prime Time Geek kicks off with a clip from Bryan Singer’s first X-Men [Blu-ray] movie – the clip seemed appropos considering I was expecting to have a guest from the Wolfpack Elite costuming group to call into the show during this hour to promote the Wolfpack Elite MegaCon Afterparty. That call didn’t happen, but the clip is still cool, so it stayed in the final edit.

The highlight of the hour is, of course, my interview with independent filmmaker Katharine Leis. Katharine’s short comedy film Foobie Jesus (click HERE to see it on YouTube) has been a hit at film festivals over the past year, and she has two submissions to this year’s MegaCon Indie Film Expo, Averageman (starring our friends Night of the Night Wolf) and The Foot which are sure to entertain this year’s attendees. We talked about Foobie Jesus, her submissions to MegaCon and working with the Night of the Night Wolf gang, and a bit about the business of making movies locally. A reminder: the MegaCon Indie Film Expo begins at 6:30PM at the Orange County Convention Center on Friday, Saturday 27th. See www.megaconvention.com for more details.

In comics I talked at length about what DC Comics has coming up in terms of major events, as it will be VERY busy spring and summer for Dan Didio and his boys, particularly Geoff Johns. In particular, The Flash: Rebirth and its major players dominated the comics segment, but a little Battle for the Cowl popped in there as well.

Finally, brought the hour to a close (a mite early, it seems), with a little walk down Training Montage Lane–John Cafferty’s “Hearts on Fire” is perhaps best known as the background music for the training montage in Rocky IV (the one where he fights Drago), but if you really want some absurdity, check out how the music was used in this YouTube video: Turkish Star Wars! (never get tired of this!)