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Sean and Paul discuss the "Brief Lives" arc of Sandman. This story arc is a turning point for the series, and transitions us into the home stretch of Sandman stories. This is also a very plot-heavy arc, so we take a look at the plot and extract some meaning from this one. What can we learn from Dream and Delirium's journey? And what can we learn from Destruction at the end of their journey? This episode continues our discussion of Sandman, and we have covered all the previous arcs in previous episodes. Take a look through our feed to find our discussion of your favorite Sandman stories.

Sean went to Star Wars Celebration! Paul watched wrestling! We find commonality! Sean attended Star Wars Celebration and had a grand old time. Let's discuss! Paul attended wrestling and had a grand old time. Let's discuss! We talk about the storytelling elements of each of these, to understand what is compelling about each. Tune in and enjoy.

Sean doesn't like those games that with a lot of swearing. That is what makes Grand Theft Auto and Cyberpunk 2077 so difficult to get into. The Show, however, has no swearing. This is apparently some sort of sports game. Sean started reading the Criminal books, which are good stories told well. So we also talk about some other crime comics. This reading is courtesy of Humble Bundle, and we talk about the virtue of Humble Bundle and Hoopla for trying out new stuff. What do we keep? What do we get rid of? That is the eternal question for a collector. We talk about this conundrum a bit.

Sean went to Wondercon! He talks about the joy of digging through boxes of comics. Also, the frustration! Some books go for a lot of money now for silly reasons. Some books sell for a lot for non-silly reasons, but Sean just didn't know. We talk about the ins and outs of comic book purchasing also. Sean is dipping his toe into Doctor Strange comics with the classic stuff from the 70s. Paul finds his niche in collecting basketball cards. Castlevania is a very difficult game. Why is Sean playing this? Let's talk about MetroidVania games while we're at it. Plus, a conjuring universe movie update.

Paul found his way to horror in a very roundabout way, involving the YMCA and wrestling podcasts. Despite that long path, he has arrived at his destination! That destination is horror movies! He has started with Amityville Horror, and has moved on to The Conjuring. This leads to a discussion of the whole sequence of Conjuring movies, which Paul has seen, but Sean hasn't. Some of them are closer to what Paul likes in his horror movies, some less so, so we talk about different types of horror movies, with different levels of reveal about the supernatural element, and different levels of gore. We seem to narrow down on the type of creepy that we like in our horror, along the lines of The Ring and Paranormal Activity. Also, we talk about how horror movies can modify our consciousness.  We finish up by talking about EVERY HORROR MOVIE that Sean has ever watched. Don't worry, it isn't too long of a list. It is a lightning round of discussion about the greatest hits of horror.  

Sean caught up on Westworld, and can now reflect on all of the tiny details that he didn't remember last time Paul and Sean talked about this show. It is a good show, but the way that Sean has been watching adds some insight into getting a lot out of each episode. The secret is podcasts. Podcasts are the secrets. We argue about what amount of Legos is the correct amount. One of us has some wacky ideas about that. Is it like having a huge comics backlog? Plus, we talk about the way we played with Legos. Paul has no time for Breath of the Wild. That game needs to get off his lawn. Link's Awakening, however, should stay on his lawn all day long. We also talk about Link To The Past and how it is a fantastic Zelda game. Paul has watched Yellowstone, which is some sort of drama ensemble show that is apparently very good. Good enough to keep Paul up all night. It sounds complicated. Somehow this has something to do with Chang Shi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Back to video games, Sean has a mythological type of game that he wants to play, but he is not sure that it exists. Where is the complicated role playing game that is only 2 or 3 hours long? Maybe a remake is the way to go.

We continue our discussion of Sandman with the Convergence stories plus the Ramadan story from issue 50. First up is "The Hunt" from issue 38, in which a grandfather tells his granddaughter a story from the old world about a young man that thinks he wants something, but may actually want something else. Next is "Soft Places" from issue 39, in which Marco Polo gets lost in the desert and meets some interesting people. In the process of this, we learn about the power of stories to last through the ages. The final Convergence story is "The Parliament of Rooks" from issue 40, in which a baby Daniel makes his way into the Dreaming to hear some stories from some of our favorite inhabitants of Dreams. We also talk about "Ramadan" from issue 50, in which a king looks for a way to make his kingdom last forever. Will the King of Dreams be able to help him with this? And at what cost?

In honor of Sean's newfound status of Father, we discuss some fictional fathers that resonate with us. Darth Vader is not a good father by any metric, but there is still a lot to learn from his story about the importance of fatherhood. After all, if losing his fatherhood status punctuated his fall to the dark side, gaining it back sparked his return to the light. Splinter, whether a reincarnated father to adopted father figure, is the mentor that the turtles need, and he teaches them to understand and respect each other's differences, as any good father should. Pa Kent and Jor El are both fathers to Superman, and both of them make him the hero that he is. Superman's two fathers also show us that families are made from deciding to be a family, even when that decision literally falls out of the sky. Danny Tanner and Homer Simpson round out the conversation. Yes, Full house and the Simpsons. Behind that sitcom character status are characters that demonstrate the attentiveness that fathers should provide to their children, and the perseverance and effort to be there for their children.

Action Force from Valaverse is here! Sean talks about his shipment of these new action figures. Plus, wrestling figures and sports. The day after Christmas was the greatest day as a kid. Now, as an adult, it is a little different. Still, it is a nice day to record a podcast. But that is just warm up. Sean has Action Force! This is a new indie toy line of 6-inch figures in the same vein as G.I. Joe. Sean has the entire wave 1 and talks a little bit about these great figures. The toy line has some interesting connections to the original G.I. Joe toy line, including Steel Brigade and Sgt. Slaughter, in addition to the name Action Force itself. Paul has been enjoying his wrestiling action figures, so we get a chance to talk about what we like about action figures. Somehow this also leads us into a conversation about sports, and some of our fvorite teams: Oakland Athletics, Lakers, and Dodgers. It turns out that no matter what, we like the teams that play with heart as a team.

A Game of You is the fourth long arc of Sandman, and we dive into this character-driven story. This story doesn't progress the main plot of Sandman very much, and so in many ways is a departure from what we have seen in previous long arcs like Doll's House or Season of Mists. This story is more about the journey for each character, so that is how we take this, one character at a time. The main character of this story is Barbie, and so we discuss her character and what happens to her extensively. Her journey seems to be about accepting who she is, and coming to peace with the inner world of her thoughts and imagination. Thessaly seems like just a bland vanilla milktoast character, then we find out that she is a vanilla milktoast ancient witch. We talk a bit about our reactions to her character. Hazel and Foxglove show us a bit about relationships, and how to process through problems and feelings without losing sight of one another. Wanda is a character that seems to be protrayed with a lot of understanding, and so we take a look at what we can learn from her story. And, of course, there is the Cuckoo, the main villain of the story. What is the Cuckoo? What does the cuckoo show us about the other characters in this story?

We celebrate the life of Uncle Don by discussing some of the things he enjoyed, and remembering the positive influence he had on Paul. Before that though, Joecember shows Sean just how weird and kinky Cobra is. Copperhead has a very odd leather jock strap, and then there is Dr. Mindbender, and it only gets stranger from there. First, we remember Keith Courage in Alpha Zones on the TurboGrafx-16. It is a weird game that involves fighting good fortune cats, with bonus points for the gold ones. That's just the overworld. In the underworld, Keith Courage becomes a mech fighter with an array of weird weapons to fight all manner of strange enemies. We are able to relive these old games by watching people play these games on YouTube, which can sometimes be more enjoyable than actually playing the old game. Second, we remember fireworks from our youth. It was always exciting when we got our hands on the good fireworks. Nothing stokes a young teenager's pyromania like the really good fireworks. Now, when your uncle builds his own bombs, that ramps all of that up to eleven! Third, we talk about Battlestar Galactica! This show seems like it kicked off the current golden age of television storytelling that we have experienced for the last 15 years or so. On top of that, it was just a really great show, so Sean shares his memories of enjoying the show to entice Paul to get on the ball and watch it!

We discuss Westworld, Season One. But first! Joevember and drawing! Sean has been drawing Joes, and we give away how far in the past each of these have been recorded. Also, The Art of Manliness and goal setting! Otherwise known as: the art of avoiding threats! This also applies to our digital comics backlog. Also, basketball card collecting. For the bulk of this episode we discuss Westworld, Season 1. Sean watched it a while ago, and Paul recently finished it.  We talk about the show from the angle of the humans that go to the park, and what it reveals about them (and us), and we discuss the show from the perspective of the hosts, and whether we are routing for them or not, and if we want them to get agency over themselves. There is a lot to unpack about this dense show, we do our best to cover it all in just a few minutes.

Some things we discuss: Comic Con and how Comics bring us together. Hawkeye, the show, and the comic.  Trade paperbacks, and having too much objects. Names and mispronunciation. A Bride's Story. The Wheel of Time show. 

Video Games! Paul killed some wild animals in Horizon Zero Dawn, Sean relived 12 minutes of mystery in 12 Minutes, puzzled through Myst, and flew around the pyramids in Flight Simulator. We talk about older games we remember from our younger days, and how sometimes chasing that nostalgia is futile. Some games were fun at the time, but when we revisit them now, are not quite as fun. We are looking at you, Super Mario and Mega Man! Also: Super hero comics are changing as a result of the realities of movies and TV. We are seeing a lot more change to super hero comic book characters, and this seems to be the result of the dynamic of actors that portray these characters. Somehow, we draw the line at Batman though. One of us wants him to always be Bruce Wayne, one of us wants Bruce to retire for good. We feast on this food for thought.

We return to discussing Sandman with the Distant Mirrors and Song of Orpheus stories! The Distant Mirrors stories fall between Season of Mists and A Game Of You, and are all historical fiction in one way or another. The Song of Orpheus is a stand alone story from the Sandman Special Edition that was also published around this time. Previous stand-alone stories have been very enjoyable. How did we like these, that incorporate more plot-centric story beats? What are our takeaways from each of the stories? Is there a common theme to these? Our Sandman episodes are some of our favorites, so tune in while we get back to reading one of the greatest comic series of all time.

You sent Paul your questions, and we answer! Thank you everybody that sent in some listener questions. We talk about video games, books, movies, music, crossovers between all of them, and more. You spoke, and we listen! Then WE speak!

Life is Strange has replaced The Long Dark as Sean's latest video game distraction. He explains why it is good, despite the teenage emo drama. Some good TV is pretty bad, like Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. And Life is Strange, which is how we got on this. Paul is back on the Junji Ito train, so we go back to that well. Comic book collecting is the perfect hobby for retail therapy. Paul is reading all the manga again, and tells us a bit about Mermaid Saga, which is not what it looks like and is actually a horror manga. Sean has started reading X-Men again and is on the road to Onslaught! It has to improve one of these days! We have so many comics available now, we are very spoiled.

First of all, tragedy has struck in the video game world! Sean experienced a trifle of a tragedy, listen to find out more. We talk about some other schlock... Then, we discuss Passive Aggressive! This comic book was secretly two comic books: "Passive" and "Aggressive". The covers are the same, but the interior is different. The region of the country where you bought yours determines the contents. We have both read both parts, but in different orders, so we discuss that experience, and if there is any effect on our thoughts on the book as a result of the order we read the books. Also, we disagree.

Paul talks about Madden video games, and Sean works hard to be interested. It sounds complicated and a bit like nonsense. Also, sports is pretty nerdy, it turns out. We talk about unique records, because Sean is interested in those. The Music Tapes "1st Imaginary Symphony for Nomad". Tom Waits, "Beautiful Maladies". Philip Glass and Alan Ginsberg, "Hydrogen Jukebox". Somehow this bends around to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the musical episode. Which is really good, actually. Also, the Simpsons is good too.  Why don't kids these days like Ninja Turtles?  Last of all, we plan for the future of 99th Episode. For better or worse...

We talk about some cool old 80's movies. And some bad. Paul played Zelda! The original, like for the NES. What was that like, and how much did he rely on the walkthrough guides to find that one secret entrance hidden in the woods? This allows us to discuss some of the virtues of Zelda as well. Sean touches on Zelda II, and how it captures the fun sense of exploration that the original had. Of course, Sean played that one because it was the Zelda he had as a child. That touches on our childhood experience versus our adult experience. Now, entertainment is so easy to get, we are certainly spoiled. We come to the painful realization that our experience isn't necessarily the best experience, and there are many other great experiences out there. For Paul, Ninja Turtles has shown this to Paul. For Sean, it is Star Wars. Finally, Sean read Transmetropolitan again, which was really good. He has also been reading a lot of Isaac Asimov, which is really good. Both of them, however, value truth and logic quite highly, in such a way that it points out how much our current society does not value truth and logic. It makes us sad.