Podcasts, Community, Hobbies, and Bliss

Some time ago, my pal Steve Lietuvnikas pressed me into trying out a podcast called Comic Dorks. It was a new podcast just starting up and included some webcomic creators that were familiar to me. But the real way Steve hooked me into trying it out was by telling me they were discussing digital comics and the business end of such things. This was of great interest to me. Great enough to get me to try something new.

I had been aware of podcasts, but largely ignored them. Every inch of my life is filled with activity and I'm hesitant to add anything new to the very limited time I have for myself. But I had a long distance trip coming up with my thirteen year old, Ashton, and having something other than a 1940's radio show on my iPod seemed to make some sense.

Podcasts, if you're not familiar, are essentially internet radio shows. You load them up on your iPod and listen to them when you're good and ready, instead of having to be beholden to the air time of the radio show. There are some podcasts that are just straight radio programs that have been turned into internet form, and some podcasts that are produced specifically for internet download. Such as Comic Dorks, which is four guys sitting around microphones chatting about comics.

Which is close to perfect.

The brilliant thing here is that podcasters don't have to struggle to find an audience within a specific broadcast range. So the topics can be as limited as the taste. This greatly appeals to me! I found one podcast, the Thrilling Adventures of Superman, that focuses specifically on Superman in the 1930's and 1940's. Try selling that to a traditional radio station. But with the power of the internets this guy in his basement chatting about his favorite version of the Man of Steel has no problem finding an audience at all.

I had been only trying out comic book podcasts, afraid to venture into a larger world of topics. But a friend from work, Megan Stickel, got me to try something new. RadioLab, from NPR. This show is brilliant. Sometimes scientific, sometimes emotional, always well thought out. RadioLab takes topics that I did not think would interest me and presents them in such a way as that I find myself thoroughly engrossed. One episode, called 'Fact of the Matter', deals in the nature of truth. That particular episode blew my mind. Another episode, 'What's Up, Doc?', tells a few stories about the man who voiced Bugs Bunny, Mel Blanc. That episode had me tearing up. The last episode I listened to was simply called 'Bliss'. It presented several stories that seemed to have no direct association, but they were able to tie together the ideas with the simple thread of "bliss". It had me thinking about what bliss meant to me all day.

I enjoyed RadioLab so much that I loaded it up on the kids iPod touches for their gym workouts. Ashton's pretty into it. My eleven year old daughter Katie doesn't quite know what to think of it yet. But she did enjoy the 'What's Up, Doc?' episode.

As good as Comic Dorks is, it's not my favorite podcast. The topics are very current, for modern day comic readers. So... not really fully my thing. I need something more tailored to my specific interests. Would the internet know of such a show?

As luck would have it, it's been under my nose for quite awhile.

The operator of the Aquaman Shrine, Rob Kelly, has joined with the operator of the Firestorm Fan blog, who calls himself the Irredeemable Shagg. When they bump their fists together and call out their magic words, they produce what is known as the Fire and Water Podcast; the Official Podcast of the Aquaman Shrine and Firestorm Fan.

My love of the Aquaman character is well documented. And I visit the Aquaman Shrine daily. That's an easy sell. I was always a little partial to Firestorm in the 1980's, but never read him consistently. But coincidentally enough, I just finished a massive read through of all of Firestorm's appearances in the 1970's and the 1980's. Making the Fire and Water podcast my absolute favorite listening material at the moment. Outside of Jack Benny, that is.

Shagg and Robb also sprinkle in episodes that focuses on DC's 1980's maxi-series Who's Who: the Definitive Directory to the DC Universe. These two fellow geeks go through every page of every issue and talk about every character entry in this art-and-biography style of DC characters. Can you think of anything more glorious than that?

I was at the gym the other day, having a tough time on the machines because of a stomach bug that just will not go away. I was on my last machine, the stationary bike, using Rob and Shagg's show to get through the exercise a little smoother. They were discussing Who's Who number five, which showcases the characters of the DCU that start with the letter 'C'. Rob was telling us all about the cover. Why it's gorgeous, genius in places, and the subtle details of some of the character interactions. And mis-pronouncing "Cinnamon".


"Hanging off of Colossal Boy's bicep is Congo Bill." Rob explained. "But this is something I never understood. He seems real angry. I don't know why he's so upset."


I KNOW! I KNOW! I KNOW! I immediately stopped peddling and hopped up off the bike.

"I think I might know why." Shagg interrupts Rob, as is a common practice between the two.

I KNOW TOO! I KNOW THIS ONE! I'm walking back to the men's locker room and focused only on my iPod, completely ignoring the Zumba class full of hot girls as I walk by.

Shagg goes on to explain that Congo Bill has a shtick where he can change brains with Congorilla. And that's probably what's happened here. Congorilla sits placidly looking at Colossal Boy, why Congo Bill with the brain of the giant golden gorilla hangs from Colossal Boy's arm in animal rage.


I'm grinning. I'm grinning like crazy. I'm grinning so hard that my face hurts. It's the absolute perfect geek-moment for two men and their audience of one separated by time and distance and technology, yet sharing a geek-moment so hugely obscure that only a comparative handful of people on the planet would have caught that little detail.

I know what my bliss is.

Hopefully you have a hobby in your life that can engender such passion in you.


Thanks,
DCD