Hellbent for Letterbox | The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)

Pax and I talk at length about the financial and critical disaster that was William Fraker's Legend of the Lone Ranger, starring Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, and Christopher Lloyd. But along the way, we also cover other iterations of the masked rider's adventures, including the original radio dramas, the 1938 serial, the Clayton Moore TV show, and a couple of cartoons.

Also in this episode: Pony Express mail featuring two lists of Must See Westerns as compiled by comics writer Chuck Dixon:

"Must See" Westerns

A More Advanced List of Western Movies

Dragonfly Ripple | Captain America - The First Avenger

To get through the long wait before Avengers 4, David and I are rewatching the Marvel movies and some of the TV shows in more or less chronological order. We begin with the WWII adventure, Captain America: The First Avenger, paying special attention to characters and story seeds that become important in later films.

Mystery Movie Night | Blue Hawaii (1961), Lilo & Stitch (2002), and Train to Busan (2016)

Evan takes the hosting chair and picks his first set of movies. Can you figure out what a trainload of zombies has to do with Hawaii and Elvis before Dave, David, special guest Paxton Holley, and I do?

'Casting Off | Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)

You know about Pirates of the Caribbean and Treasure Island. In this episode of our nautical film podcast, David and I are joined by our friend Rob Graham to talk about the other Disney pirate film, starring Dean Jones, Peter Ustinov, Suzanne Pleshette, and Elsa Lanchester.

Nerd Lunch | Solo Drill Down

Everyone's talking about Solo, so the Nerd Lunch gang decided to check it out and record their thoughts. And they invited me to join them. Online opinions are apparently split on it, but we all pretty much agreed about its quality. Take a listen and see if you agree, too.

Fourth Chair Army Invasion | Convince Me!

So, I've got a new podcast project. I know, I know, but it'll only be a few times a year and not much trouble to fit into the schedule. What's going on is the Nerd Lunch fellas are cutting back to two, actual Nerd Lunch episodes a month. The other two weeks are filled with spinoff shows, Down the Rabbit Hole and The Chap Report, so I floated them the idea of letting their Fourth Chair Army (of which I'm pleased to be a member) take over the show anytime there's a fifth Tuesday in the month. They went for it and Fourth Chair Army Invasion is a thing.

For the first episode I asked Liz Twachtman, Mike Westfall, and Evan Hanson (all of us appearing in the collage above with Nerd Lunch's Carlin Trammel) to join me in something I called "Convince Me." Each of us introduced another panelist to something they’ve never tried before to see if we could convince each other about the worth of The Americans, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Attack the Block, and Meet the Robinsons.

Hellbent for Letterbox | True Grit (2010)

Pax and I talk about the Coen Brothers' re-adaptation of Charles Portis' novel. We also get in some discussion on the 1969 John Wayne version as well as Charlton Comics' Billy the Kid.

Greystoked | Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941)

Noel and I are joined again by Evie (I Hate/Love Remakes) to discuss the penultimate MGM Tarzan film, guest-starring Reginald Owen, Barry Fitzgerald, and Tom Conway's sinister mustache.

Thundarr Road | Stalker from the Stars

David, Noel, and I try to figure out just where Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla have traveled to in "Stalker from the Stars." With only a couple of clues to guide us, Noel and I came up with different answers, so we talk that through before getting to the business of an ice cavern amusement park, a deadly alien, and a very sick Mok.

Hellbent for Letterbox | Stagecoach (1939)

Pax and I finally visit the John Ford/John Wayne classic, also starring Claire Trevor, John Carradine, Thomas Mitchell, Tim Holt, Tom Tyler, and (uh oh?) Andy Devine.

Also: Pony Express mail and quick reviews of McLintock! (1963) and The Great Missouri Raid (1951).

Interview in Dark Worlds Quarterly

If you're like me, you enjoy the guest posts here where GW Thomas writes about pulp magazines and Golden Age comics. And you've probably also noticed at the bottom of those articles where his bio says that he's the editor of Dark Worlds magazine.

Well, worlds have collided and GW was kind enough to invite me to participate in an interview for the latest issue, now online. It's a special kaiju and comics issue and I got to chat about Kill All Monsters, this blog, and just influences and stuff I love in general. The rest of the issue is cool, too, with articles about Reptilicus, Kamandi, and much much more. Please go check it out.