In our final episode for 2013, Billy Z, Bryan and Justin are pleased to welcome Ed Catto of Captain Action Enterprises to the show! Captain Action has a special place in history as being the very first super-hero action figure.  Ed takes us through the history of the character and his appearances in comic books past and present, including the current Codename Action mini-series written by Chris Roberson and published by Dynamite Entertainment. Ed is also a partner and co-founder of the Bonfire Agency, a marketing firm centered around helping companies connect directly with genre markets. And since we are close to the holidays, favorite comic-related yuletide gifts work their way into the conversation.

In the second part of the episode, the bear boys go through their favorites of 2013. Uncanny Avengers. Avengers Arena. Forever Evil. Saga. Hawkeye. Batman. The Fifth Beatle. Captain Midnight. All-New X-Men. Jonathan Hickman. Brian Michael Bendis. Charles Soule. Matt Fraction. Chip Zdarsky. Ramon Perez. David Aja. Chris Samnee. Afterlife with Archie. Injustice. Something Terrible. Will any of these be among our favorites? Well, you'll just have to listen in to find out! (And see if you can catch where Bill invents a new word to describe the people who put pencil to paper to draw the pretty pictures.)

Brother Bryan is out celebrating so Billy Z and Justin welcome William Lindus from the Movie Bears Podcast to the CBBears Den to fill the third seat! Will lets us in on his history reading comics then we get into current comics talk.  You'll hear us rap about Saga, Earth 2, Forever Evil, Year Zero, Animal Man, Scooby Doo Team Up, Fearless Defenders, Avengers Arena, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe (... again), X-Men: Legacy, Hawkeye, Amazing X-Men, Infinity, Inhumanity, The Fifth Beatle, the trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Gal Gadot cast as Wonder Woman, Alan Moore and Watchmen.  All this plus a huge tangent about lousy haircut and facial hair choices in our collective past, Justin thinks Watchmen is boring and the movie was better, Bill can't pronounce "Moira Queen" to save his life and this episode is probably the only time you will hear Alan Moore being compared to Faye Dunaway.

A word about the sound quality - for some reason when we recorded Bill was way over modulated and Will was a bit under modulated.  We fixed it as best as we could in the mix to mono.  If it is distracting, we still hope you will stick around because we think we get into some quality funny book conversation.

The CBBears are pleased to have special guest Paul Kupperberg on for an interview during the first hour of our latest episode!  Paul is currently the writer of the best selling Life with Archie magazine from Archie Comics.  He also authored the first young adult prose novel featuring Kevin Keller.  Paul has written over 900 stories for Marvel, Charlton, 2000 AD, Bongo and most prominently for DC Comics, where he created Checkmate and Arion, Lord of Atlantis.  We touch on all of these as well as Paul's new novel from Crazy 8 Press, The Same Old Story and other upcoming projects.  Then the boys get into some new comic talk.  Wanna hear what we think about Afterlife with Archie #2, Longshot Saves the Marvel Universe, Green Lantern Corps #25, Harley Quinn #0, Captain Midnight, Triple Helix, X-Men: Gold, Rocket Girl and other recent books? Then listen in. (EXPLICIT WARNING - yeah, we let out a few cuss words here and there, shame on us.)

Collected editions are up first in the episode as Billy Z, Justin and Bryan are joined by former DC Comics collected editions editor Bob Joy! Bob offers up his insights into collected editions and discusses his experiences editing various books during his tenure at DC. Then we shift over to news of DC's move to Burbank and the passing of Nick Cardy.  From there we go into current comic talk, discussing Battle of the Atom, Infinity and Amazing X-Men from Marvel, Sex Criminals and Velvet from Image and DC's Forever Evil. At various points in the cast you will also hear us discuss tranny Jimmy Olsen, Spooky Bear in Provincetown, the Skip Ender's Game events, Greg Rucka, DC Showcase Presents releases, Supergirl as a teen model, the late 70's New Gods revival by Gerry Conway and Don Newton, The Adventures of Superman radio show, Ed McGuinness, Afterlife with Archie and a helluva lot more.

In the mood to play a drinking game as you listen? Then take a shot every time Billy Z says "esoteric".

Billy Z, Bryan and Justin are joined this time by a host of straight guys for a wrap up of New York Comic Con 2013! Lonnie Ruland of New World Manga, The Line it is Drawn and Back Issue magazine contributor John Trumbull and Rob Staeger of The Village Voice join Billy for a rundown of their con experiences.  Then the whole gang joins in, first for a talk about growing up on Saturday morning TV in honor of the passing of Lou Scheimer then they hit the spinner rack for dem funny books! IDW Artists Editions, Code Monkey Saves World, Jules Feiffer, Dan DiDio, Jason of Star Command, Sex Criminals, Green Arrow #24, Jupiter's Legacy, Ark II, Letter 44, Afterlife with Archie all get discussed along with so much more! There's a little bit of football talk - yes Virginia, there are gay men who like football - and ... wait for it ...  Monchhichis!!!

The bear boys welcome author and columnist Charles Baserap.  Charles is a regular contributor to forcesofgeek.com and nerdtopiacast.com and he takes us through some of his interests in comics and topics of recent columns.  After that, the discussion turns to Marvel's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series and some other genre TV talk, Dean Trippe's Something Terrible, DC Villains Month, the latest Infinity and X-Men goings on at Marvel, Mike Carey and The Unwritten and quick takes on Sex Criminals, Jupiter's Legacy, Sidekick, The Star Wars and Kings Watch.  And this episode is closed out by our uncoolest outro music yet.

In our latest episode the bear boys welcome Rob Kelly, author of the new book HEY KIDS! COMICS, a great collection of contributions from a varied set of essayists discussing how comic books played a significant role in their lives. In addition to the book Rob also discusses ACE KILROY, a webcomic he writes.  And as Rob is the force behind the AQUAMAN SHRINE website, you know Billy Z wasn't going to have Rob guest on the show without some Arthur Curry talk.  After that, Bryan, Justin and Billy Z shift over to current comics with The Young Protectors webcomic, Battle of the Atom, Infinity, DC Villains Month books (including some talk about the hot bears of the New 52), X-Men Legacy, X-O Manowar and Eternal Warrior each getting their time in the spotlight.  You can hear all this plus, for once, the boys somehow do not venture off into Explicit Contentville! 

The Comic Book Bears boys are back with their first episode as part of the Earth 2 Podcast Network! First up, the guys reintroduce themselves then immediately cross over to crossover talk.  Bryan, Justin and Billy Z weigh in on the current big events from the Big 2 - Infinity, Forever Evil, Trinity War and Battle of the Atom.  Captain America, Thor: God of Thunder, Batman Incorporated, JH Williams leaving Batwoman, DC editorial woes, and the Relic and Joker books from Villains Months then get their turn in the spotlight.  Lastly, Justin and Billy Z tell of their experiences at Baltimore Comic Con. There's a lot of spoilers, a little bit of cussing and a whole lot of superhero talk in this one!

Billy Z, Justin and Bryan come back atcha with 90+ minutes about what's going on over in the Big 2's team books these days. The Avengers, Justice League, X-Men, Legion and Green Lantern Corps families of titles each get their time in the spotlight, touching  on the New Universe, Hunger, Constantine, Injustice: Gods Among Us and What If: AVX in the process. After the team talk subsides Thor: God of Thunder, Batman/Superman, Captain America, Batman 66, Satellite Sam and Hawkeye Annual #1 each go under the hirsuite homo microscope. All this plus shout-outs to Earth 2 Podcast, Flame On!, Furgasm, Victor Dandridge's 8-Bit Challenge and Bergen Street Comics.  And ... weight loss discussions?

EXPLICIT CONTENT (Yup, there's one or two cuss words in the mix from these potty mouths.)

Your bear boys Justin, Bryan and Billy Z are back with a new episode! First up, Man of Steel gets the Comic Book Bears once over. After that, our first guest straight bear Lonnie Ruland of the excellent New Jersey shop New World Manga joins the discussion to talk about news from the DC Retailers Roadshow he attended. Lonnie and Bill were both in attendance at the recent AnimeNEXT convention in NJ and they discuss their con experiences.  The con talk continues with Bryan's experiences at HeroesCon which include his moderating a Kicstarter panel. DC Villains Month, Vertigo, digital comics, Neal Adamas, Jim Steranko and the History of Comics, Scooby Doo team-ups, The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song, the connection between rock and roll and comics, Brian Epstein, Fearless Defenders, The End Times of Bram and Ben, Mind the Gap and Justice League of America's Vibe - they are all in the mix here. Lastly, this episode is dedicated to the memory of Patience Michael Allen.