The Court of Nerds Podcast (www.thecourtofnerds.com)

Court of Nerds Episode 28b: the Sean Lewis & Benjamin Mackey Interview!

There's something wonderful about the idea of Judeo-Christian Saints bestowing weird powers on an eclectic group of unsuspecting folks. Say, a saint who was burned to death gives the powers of hurling Human-Torch-flameballs to some poor shmuck. Of course, the fellas behind such a premise must be total weirdos, right? 

NOT SO FAST, POOPYPANTS!

We had the extreme pleasure of talking with Sean Lewis and Ben Mackey, the co-conspirators behind Image Comics' 'Saints,' and they are just fantastic human beings! They gab with us about metal music, gothic art, and a Twitter campaign that is winning over future readers by the truckload. 

Listen and enjoy, and prep your pull list for October 7th!

Court of Nerds Episode 28: Pick No, Man

¡Buenos Dias! ¡La bienvenida a la corte de los Empollones!

Things kick off with Natendo talkin' 'bout Bethesda recording a hell of a lot of dialogue, Pikmin being Nintendo's newest...thing....(seriously? Pikmin? Woof.), and how Metal Gear Solid is breaking Nate's heart. Piece. By. Solid. Piece. 

Droo approaches the realm of television with all the subtlety of a bull moose: Arrow has released some Season 4 teasers that TEEEEASE so well, Season 2 of Flash is threatening time jumps, and hell YEAH Nick's bringing the TMNT back soon - this time with more Triceratons!

For movies Gregg brings the fat biscuits - First up is the upcoming Christmas miracle known as KRAMPUS, then we get a little a little bit of nervous news how WB wants less Superman and MOAR BATMONEY out of BvSDoJ(ROFLMAOBBQ). Finally, he talks handsome men in suits. 

Lastly, Grant bumbles his way through comics with the help of Brenda from Vault of Midnight! We learn a bit about the newest (and longest-titled) Star Wars book dropping this week, as well as the newest nerdgasm-inducing Batman issue featuring Scott Snyder, Brian Azzarello, and Jock! 

Also, WTF Joe Mads - you can't finish Battle Chasers as a graphic novel? Also, HOLY BALLS BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL LOOKS DOPE! Also also, the identity, creative team behind, and potential plots of the Totally Awesome Hulk? Fantastic. The name? Still absolutely horrible. 

Court of Nerds 27: Emotions On Our Sleeves

Greetings Poindexters and Poindonnas! TODAY ON THE COURT OF NERDS: 

Things get really real with Games, as Gregg drops some life lessons - Nintendo and Amazon get in bed together, and the results are ACTUAL sales on ACTUALLY recent games! Also, FUCK Konami for making a breath-taking new Metal Gear Solid game and screwing non-connected console gamers. Also, wazzup with the new Deus Ex game? JOE MAMA! (Mostly some shit about tiered rewards for pre-orders, which are already shitty). 

Natendo brings the noise with Movies, starting with some Star Wars SPOILERY SPOILER SPOILS! Next, we ogle the new images of Michael F. Assbender in his Assassin's Creed garb. Lastly, the most influential horror director of all time, Wes Craven, has passed away. This is an incredible loss for not just the horror genre, but the world of film as a whole. 

Next up, Grant gets more excited than a pre-pubescent girl about TV, but with less restraint - Green Lantern may appear in Arrow Season 4, Professor Zoom gets a scary-ass new voice, and Disney assumes control of Marvel films...but not television.

 

Lastly but not leastly, Droo fills your ears with Comic Book news - HOLY BALLS, the Old Teen Titans are New again! Also, fill your pull list with some real gems! ALSO ALSO, 'Old Man Logan' is bad and Brian Michael Bendis should feel bad.

 

Court of Nerds Episode 26: CLOSE AND PERSONAL (the Mick Gray episode!)

TODAY ON DER COURT OF NERDOS: 

Gregg talks the unabashed joy that was Stephen Amell on WWE, the absolutely gaudy debut numbers of "Fear the Walking Dead," and really brings down the mood with his Patrick Stewart news...

Droo got worked up over renewed interest over Nintendo movies (Huzzah!), Captain America: Civil War spoilers (SPOILERS YOU GUYS SPOILERS), and joins a collective of sandy swimsuit-areas over the newest rumor concerning Blade 4. 

Emily went nuts with a new TMNT tabletop game, gabbed building a DC deck (of cards. Not, like, a patio or anything...which would be exceptionally cool, though), and nearly punched a hole in a wall because of new Fable news. 

Grant got all high-pitched talking new Hellboy, got giggly over Warren Ellis talking Karnak, and got mopey over not just Jonathan Hickman leaving Marvel, but also Rick Remender. 

SPECIAL GUEST TIME: Joining us for a second round of absolutely fanboy-ing out over the comics industry is longtime DC inker Mick Gray! Mick talked about his new Robin book, picking music, and teaching the intense art of inking...and also made Grant's dream come true by praising his fan theory. 

Court of Nerds Episode 25: Braven the Hunter, Speed Dating, and Other Mysteries

On this episode of Court Of Nerds:

MOVIES: Grant talked up a few Disney sequels while his spirit animal The Thing was mistreated and it shattered his widdle soul. Plus, is KRAVEN the next Spidey Big Bad? We bring in Spider-Man expert and Court of Nerds writer Ben Raven aka Braven The Hunter to discuss.

TV: Drew dropped some Teen Choice Awards knowledge, a smattering of Arrow related goodness and gave a big thumbs down to NBC/DC's new The Officeripoff, Powerless.

GAMES: Gregg used a lot of gamer words this week but he did talk about Microsoft studio giving gamers a choice, American McGee wants Alice 3, WarHammer 40k struggles and Peter Dinklage getting replaced by a voice acting vet. 

COMIC BOOKS: Jess brought some fun titles in this week to discuss! EVERYONE loved all over Hark! A Vagrant, so be sure to go read it. She's waiting to be impressed with We Stand On Guard and teased an exciting new release from BOOM! Studios. 

GUEST: The silky smooth Jeff from Vault of Midnight joined us to talk up this week's releases including the Secret Wars tie in House Of M and the excellent anthology series Island. He also made a plea to all the nerdy ladies out there to sign up for Vault of Midnight's SUPER COOL Speed Dating event (sorry, all the guy spots are filled) and revealed that Jeff himself will be available that night. Try not to drool on your keyboards. Also, be sure to check out Vault's Super Skull Show! It's wonderful, like the last Squirrel Girl variant cover sitting on the shelf, waiting just for you.  

Court of Nerds Mini-Cast: the Nintendo Debacle

In a story that cut us right to the quick, Nintendo recently fired an employee for appearing on a smallish podcast and talking shop. Cue the former employee's heartbreaking Facebook post, and we're all a-tizzy.

Join Gregg, Natendo, Mark Lago (of GR8Bit Live) and newest Court member Ben as they discuss the story in a myriad of ways. In English, not in, like, Dutch or whatever. 

Court of Nerds Episode 24b: Mark Hodges talks Grand Rapids Comic Con 2015!

(This was last year. Now, imagine more folks attending now that the Con will be at the DeVos Place!)

On this special interview we talked shop with our buddy Mark Hodges, empresario of the Grand Rapids Comic Con!

Mark talks about the newest guests, some incredible attractions, the inclusion of food this year (Grant hardly kept it together...), and opens up about just how crazy the Comic Con world can really be behind the scenes.

 

You can follow all Con events at www.grcomiccon.com, follow its Twitter, or use its Facebook page! 

Court of Nerds Episode 24: Fantastic Dirge (with Celebration Cinema's Jenny Garone!)

Look, we're not gonna pretend it didn't happen: F4nt4stic 4r came onto the scene and really devestated us. Like, we are NOT OKAY. The stank seeped into our collective consciousness. 

HOWEVAH, Gregg gabs new Final Fantasy (which may be a little light in story department...), Mirror's Edge, and wtf PORTAL 3?!

Grant talked the weeping brown stain that is Ulitmate End, and had a joygasm over the sheer amount of quality pulls on the horizon. 

Droo brought the noise, Stephen Amell-style, with Amell's foray into wrasslin', the casting of the new Wally West for 'Arrow,' Matt Ryan's John Constantine OFFICIALLY joins the 'Arrow' cast, and then....ugh. F4nt4stic 4R is discussed. 

And joining us to discuss the film's reception in Grand Rapids theaters is our pal Jenny Garone, Matron Saint of Celebration Cinema! 

(hint:...it wasn't good)

Court of Nerds Episode 23: They're only games. Why you heff to be med?

No, we haven't yet gotten cancelled. It's another Court of Nerds!

This week, Grant made us all afraid of the Joker again. Yes, the Killing Joke is being animated. And we're afraid for our very LIVES. Also, Adam Sandler's "Pixels" is looking like a real oscar winner. And X-Men: Days of Future Past is being re-cut... now with more Anna Paquin!

Droo's fully convinced Skynet is real. And apparently, thousands of folks in the Tech industry are just as scared as he is. Luckily, we're going to be too busy doing extreme sports with our new Lily Cameras to give a single hoot.

Gregg's little ball of anger explodes this week. His targets? The fact that a reviewer got their hands on the new DOOM game before Gregg, and confirms everyone's suspicions that DOOM will be the greatest FPS of the year... And then there's anger at Bethesda. Because why the heck can't they make any more special edition Pip Boys for Fallout 4? HUH? ANSWER ME? Also, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is making people all kinds of happy with choices and tea and crumpets.

Jess wants everyone to know that Island is pretty cool. And Archie #1 is exactly what you want a re-boot of Archie to be! But Fight Club 2 is kind of sad, because it sort of stinks.

Our special guest this week was Kaitlin Diemer from Vault of Midnight! We talked about this week's pulls, including a super special unpackaging of Sex Criminals. We also discussed the new, grittier reboot of Sabrina. And check out Vault of Midnight's super spiffy (and relatively more professional) podcast, SuperSkull!

Court of Nerds Episode 22: SPECULATIVE VILLAINY (the Scott Wygmans episode!)

THIS WEEK ON CORTE DE LOS EMPOLLONES: 

Drew takes a stab at #BadTech, which sounds suspiciously like research for a career in villainy: Techno-rhinos stop poachers, dude made a man cave/lair way up in the sky, and the (unfortunate) lack of optimism for Star Trek holodeck. 

Next up Jess brings the noise with Gaming! Hold you horses, Harold, this ain't no video gaming - it's STRAIGHT PINBALL. Leading pinball manufacturer Stern put out a biiiiig stinker, a brand new pinball company starts things out right, and are you stuck in an elevator unable to get your pinball on at, oh, say, Grand Rapids' own Pyramid Scheme? Get the greatest of all pinball apps!

Nate tackles movies AND television, focusing on Hulu potentially rescinding ads, the newest addition to the Marvel Cinematic lexicon, and Mac taking on Minecraft. 

Lastly, Grant praises Marvel's decision to FINALLY release Hawkeye 22, lauds DC's unheralded Martian Manhunter series, and is astounded that Marvel's upcoming solicitations look like warmed-over dookie butter. 

AND THEN, somebody else gets to drop some knowledge for a change: We get to talk to the writer/artist/poobah of the Metalheads series, Grand Rapids' own Scott Wygmans! 

Scott graciously answers all of our questions, and elaborates so wonderfully that it's impossible not to want to gobble up everything he's put out. 

You can follow his Instagram, his Tumblr, and listen to the faint whispers of his beard when a warm breeze whispers from the East.