Word Balloon Comics Podcast

Some musings about current headlines. The Supergirl Moview franchise reboots, He-Man Star Wars Dr Who Sherlock Holmes and more.

Worlds collide in a special podcast crossover as Word Balloon teams up with Comic Book Couples Counseling for a funny insightful conversation .

We discuss the moonshot, andI can't help but think about apollo days. Keith promotes Green Hornet Noir City from Moonstone Books, and we talk about his TV essays at Reactor Magazine and many other short stories in current magazines, like Weirdi Tales.

Today on Word Balloon, I’m talking with a creator who’s carving out his own lane between nostalgia, genre chaos, and straight-up adrenaline storytelling, Curt Pires. From his breakout fantasy hit Lost Fantasy at Image Comics: a monster-slaying throwback with serious momentum thanks to artist Luca Casalanguida. To the hyperviolent sexy cosmic trip parody of Galactic at DSTLRY with Amilcar Pinna, Curt’s work is all about big swings and bold humor. Now he’s leveling up again with Fireborn, co-written with musician Franklin Jonas and drawn by Patrick Mulholland. It's a neon-charged, ’90s comics and 32-bit video game fever dream about a billionaire’s reckless son fused with a dragon egg in the heart of New York City. We’ll talk about the evolution of his storytelling, the energy behind these books, and why Fireborn might be his wildest ride yet.

The Beasts Of Berwyn joined ne live on stage to discuss their careers and their excellent Saturday night show on METV

SCTV Head Writer Dave Thomas joined to to discuss writing comedy, his love for Superman and  promoting his sci-fi comedy book we wrote with Max Allen Collins

For Part 2 of my conversation on radio sketch comedy, we’re diving deeper with one of the true architects of the form, Phil Proctor from The Firesign Theatre. Long before podcasts made audio storytelling cool again, Firesign was bending minds and blowing up the rules with albums like Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers. Layered, surreal, and way ahead of its time. For anyone like me who grew up obsessed with what you could do with sound, characters, and pure imagination, Phil wasn’t just part of the act,he helped invent the language. In this second round, we go even deeper into the craft, the chaos, and the lasting influence of audio comedy that still echoes today.

Back in my WXRT days, when rock radio still had a little room to get weird, there was one audio ,The Usual Suspects. Their sharp, character-driven sketches didn’t just make me laugh, they lit the fuse for everything I later tried on The Score and even here on Word Balloon. Today, I’m talking with two of the masterminds behind that magic, Barb Wallace and Tom Wolfe, a brilliant writing team whose partnership went from Chicago airwaves to Hollywood success, with credits on shows like Murphy Brown and Welcome to New York, starring Christine Baranski and a young Jim Gaffigan. For me, these two weren’t just funny—they were the blueprint.

From 2021 Filmmaker Stacey Souther made an incredible documentary about Valerie Perrine , who made us all fall in love with her Superman performance as Lex Luthor's Moll  not to mention Lenny, Slaughterhouse Five, WC Fields and Me and more. She was nominated for best actress in the Oscars for Lenny with Dustin Hoffman but then was in the Disco Bomb Can't Stop The Music with The Villiage People. I spoke to Stacey about the film and his longtime friendship with Valerie.

Ok, I gave Mitch Wayne and Franco the day off while I vent my spleen with the guys from Dork Court John Price a teacher and essayist who's been writing about Star Trek for Years, and Larry Young of Planet AIT LAR and the excellent Astronauts In TRouble series.I swear a lot on this episode. I couldn't hold back on my frustrations about Alex Kurtzman Star Trek. The confirmation that there will be no more than the 2 already amde seasons of Academy. Good. 

Today on Word Balloon, we’re diving into one of those conversations that I love—because it’s not just about comics, it’s about how we read comics. My guest is Dr. Stanford Carpenter, cultural anthropologist, comics scholar, and one of the driving forces behind Comicpalooza University, and we get into a really interesting debate about the Fantastic Four.Stanford makes the case that the Fantastic Four can be seen as a kind of white colonial metaphor—a reflection of 1960s power structures, exploration narratives, and who gets to define “the unknown.” And honestly? I push back. Because while I absolutely get where that reading comes from, I’ve always seen the FF first and foremost as a family book—messy, emotional, human… and a product of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby trying to tell more grounded, character-driven stories in the middle of the space race.So this becomes a really fun, thoughtful back-and-forth about intent versus interpretation…about whether these stories reflect colonial thinking, or just the era they were created in…and how much meaning we should assign to that when we’re reading them today. It’s smart, it’s respectful, and yeah—we don’t totally agree. And that’s the good stuff.

A WB classic from 2005 Walter Simonson looks back at his classic work. From Thor The Frog and the creation of Beta Ray Bill, to Orion and The New Gods.From his collaborations with Martin Pasko to put the bronze age spin on Dr Fate, to reviving Manhunter with Archie Goowdwin. We talk about the Fantastic Four, his spin on X-Factor co-plotted with his wife Louise , to working on the Marvel Star Wars comic at that awkward time between The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi.Tales of wonder, from a true master.

The Finder creator is back with a new famiy fantasy series eries she's posying free at her patreon. It's part Harry Potter Part Twilight Zone and part star trek. patreon.com/carlaspeedmcneil 

Today, we’re diving into one of the more… let’s say unique corners of pop culture with my guest, Mr. Skin, as we talk about this year’s Skinatomy Awards. Now before anyone clutches their pearls, let me just say this. I’ve always believed in free speech. Not in some high-minded, academic way… just in a real, common-sense way. People should be able to express themselves. That includes language, that includes humor, and yeah, that includes celebrating the human body.That’s why on this show, I don’t get uptight about a little salty language, and I’m certainly not afraid to have an honest conversation about nudity in film and television. And honestly, that’s what makes talking to Mr. Skin interesting. Because beyond the laughs and the lists, there’s actually a real conversation here about how culture shifts. What’s acceptable, what’s not, how different countries approach it, and how those attitudes have changed over time.So today, we’re going to have some fun with the Skinatomy Awards, but we’re also going to dig a little deeper into how pop culture, censorship, and evolving tastes all collide in ways you might not expect.

There’s been a lot of chatter lately about Green Lantern—especially with Grant Morrison weighing in on Damon Lindelof’s comments and HBO’s decision to frame its upcoming series around  Lanterns. And look,when Grant Morrison speaks up about Green Lantern, it’s not noise. It’s coming from real creative experience.Grant, along with artist Liam Sharp, delivered one of the most imaginative and ambitious Green Lantern runs in recent DC Comics history.A run that really leaned into the cosmic weirdness, the science fiction roots, and the larger-than-life mythology that makes the character work. So this isn’t theory. This is practice.Today, I want to take you back to a 2020 conversation I had with Grant during the COVID lockdown. A moment when we had the time to really dig into what makes Green Lantern special. You’ll also hear insights connected to Liam Sharp’s work on the book, and how both creators approached the character not just as a superhero—but as a gateway to big, wild, conceptual storytelling. If you’ve ever wondered why Green Lantern matters, why the concept still has legs, and why creators keep coming back to it, this is a great place to start.

Steve The Dude Rude is back to talk about his upcoming  NEXUS BATTLE FOR THUNEWORLD ARTIST EDITION LAUNCHING ON BACKERKIT MAR 28 for more info go tohttp://www.steverude.com/thuneworldae

Our long nightmare is over...for now.

Dan is back to talk about Superman Unlimited and the big Supes event that starts this Wednessday Reign Of The Superboys with issue 11.We also talk about his upcoming Sipder-Man Noir '38 Superman crossover, in the Marvel version of the event April 15thDan alo previews a new FF story in the Fantastic Four First Foes MCU one shot with Mark Buckingham.plus he teases comic back to a monthly Spidey book, with the return of The Spectacular Spider-Man in May. 

Ahoy again, cruise lovers! Welcome back to E-Motion Sickness, the Word Balloon Love Boat re-watch where Ian Brill Franco and I climb aboard the Pacific Princess and relive the romance, comedy, and wonderfully over-the-top guest stars that made this show a Saturday-night TV institution.Today we’re diving into Season 1, Episode 2, which originally aired October 1st, 1977 — and already you can see the formula that would make The Love Boat a hit for the next decade. Three stories, a boatload of celebrity guest stars, and plenty of romantic chaos on the high seas.First up is “Oh, Dale!” featuring a very young John Ritter, playing a heartbroken guy who sneaks onto the cruise disguised as a woman just to chase after the girlfriend who dumped him — and winds up sharing a cabin with another jilted passenger played by Tovah Feldshuh.Then there’s “The Main Event,” where future Jeffersons legend Sherman Hemsley and comedy powerhouse LaWanda Page play a constantly bickering married couple who suddenly have to confront their relationship when they get trapped together in an elevator.And finally “A Tasteful Affair,” starring Jaclyn Smith and Dennis Cole in a romantic mystery where a woman trying to escape her troubled marriage takes the cruise — unaware that the charming man she’s met on board is actually the private investigator her husband hired to spy on her.It’s classic Love Boat: disguises, romantic misunderstandings, and a cast list that looks like a 1970s TV all-star game. So pour yourself a tropical drink, grab a deck chair, and join us as we revisit John Ritter in drag, elevator warfare with Hemsley and Page, and one of the early Jaclyn Smith appearances just before Charlie’s Angels took off. This is E-Motion Sickness — a Love Boat re-watch — only on Word Balloon.