Well it will have been 4 years since The Pull Bag launched in March of 2012 on March 6, 2016. TFG1Mike reflects on four years, and also gives you a glimpse into the Year 4 content that The Pull Bag will be bringing to your ears! TWO MAJOR ADDITIONS FOR THE PULL BAG IS WE ARE ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER NOW <—— Click the links to like and follow us on Social Media! OK now to the nitty gritty of Year 3, and what’s to come for Year 4!
^BRAND NEW YEAR 4 PODCAST ART!!!!!
In the third year of The Pull Bag my goal was to Expand the podcast even further than I had in year 2.. I think my team of co hosts and I have really done that. With adding titles like Jem and the Holograms, TMNT (main ongoing)…. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers comics, and so much more. There were several surprises for me in Year 3 of TPB. What really surprised me was the fact that I had been wanting and continued to read new and different books from more than just DC or Marvel. At the point of Year 3 I was pretty much DONE with the current status of the DC Comics… minus the MOTU title, but the main DCU… I was all out, and not looking back. IDW Publishing has really captured the fanboy in me. They’ve got so many great comics going on right now! As always it was great fun with everyone I recorded with. We kicked off the year in January with getting to the first 4 issues of the Dark Horse TOMB RAIDER comic written by Gail Simone. I remember that was something I had said in the Year 3 Expansion blog… that we were going to get to. Sadly that’s all I ever read of that series. It just didn’t capture me as I thought it would.
There were only three Origins episodes this year, and next to nothing for the After Darks. I STILL really wanna get the After Dark episodes going full force, but the problem is getting topics while they’re hot and getting guests. Hoping in Year 4 to have 3 GIANT SIZED After Darks for the year. Year 3 we had so much content, even I can’t keep it all straight. All I know is once again I accomplished my goal of broadening my own comic reading horizons. I mean I read Love & Capes and Long Distance from Thom Zahler…. MARVEL US TRANSFORMERS volume 1….. and stuff I’d never thought I’d get to. There are several comics that I had said I’d get to in Year 3…. that I never got to. A few that I can think of are Coffin Hill (I REALLY WANNA GET TO THIS SERIES IN YEAR 4!!!), Rocket Raccoon, and more Chew. See in May of this year my Mom died, and that threw a massive wrench into my personality, and life….
We had ONE COMICTARY in YEAR 3… this was Joe Reed and I celebrating 25 Years of the TMNT 1990 Film. You can HEAR THAT HERE<—- I had wanted to do more comictaries, but the time was never right. If this is something you want us to do more of in the future listen to the TMNT ep and then let me know!
One thing I attempted was a NEW Segment type called “PROFILING PREVIEWS“. We took DC, Marvel, IDW, and at the time Image Comics monthly solicitations and talked about them in brief. Generally comic solicitations come out 2 months after the copy has been released. So in January you’d get the books coming out in March. This way it gives Comic retailers a chance to order up any books that they want to stock in their shops. My thought in doing these episodes was to tell you instead of what was coming in two months….. what was out right now. To get you the listener to go out and grab the new comics now. We did these episodes for the following months in 2015…. JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH, and APRIL! Sadly I felt that no one was interested or even commenting on these episodes, and as I already said real life took hold of me…. so I never went back to Profiling Previews….. were these episodes something you’d like to see make a comeback?
In Year 3 we had the second annual Marvelous March! This was going to be an event type month spotlight. Where I had set it up to hit several things that were going on in the Marvel Universe…… That was the plan anyway, however plans change. MARVELOUS MARCH 2015 we hit Episodes 101-105 of TPB! Ep 101 was my first ever reading of the U.S. MARVEL Transformers comics…. Steve Megatron and I reviewed Volume 1 from IDW Publishing. Then Episode 102-103 was a GIANT SIZED… where Jeremy Fein and I reviewed the Avengers & X-Men: Axis event Marvel had going on at the time. Episode 104 saw JT and Jeremy join me to talk the first five issues of SUPERIOR IRON MAN!! Then Ep 105 we went to a galaxy far far away! That’s right Jeremy joined me for a final time in Year 3’s MARVELOUS MARCH as we talked about the NEW Star Wars comics from Marvel. We hit on the #1 issues of Vader, Leia, and the main ongoing Star Wars! I’m not sure what Marvelous March 2016 will have in store….. I just know I want it to be all different compared to what we did this year. We might go back to a few more classic Marvel tales!
We had Batman Month again in Year 3, but it was severely scaled back… to just four podcasts vs thirteen from Year 2. With Batman Month this year I wanted to focus on several different Bat-Men. So Eps 106-109 were where Batman month came in. We had two Terry McGinnis Tales… as we got through Kyle Higgins’ run on Bat Beyond 2.0 these were Rewired and Justice Lords Beyond, we had Dick Grayson as Batman in Gates of Gotham, and we had Bruce Wayne in Batman Mad Love!
We had several posts where I combined a list of podcasts. This was to make it easier on you the fans coming to the site looking for specific content. Without needing to search through 3 years of content. There were three major lists posts for Year 3.
We had Angel Smile Time and Masks from IDW. These were fun… it was kinda weird seeing the Smile Time episode of Angel adapted, but overall I enjoyed it. Now the ANGEL MASKS trade… well you’ll just have to listen to find out my thoughts on that…..
We had some GREAT interviews this year inside TPB. Bobby Curnow returned, Pat Shand stopped by, John Barber writer and senior editor at IDW, Kelly Thompson Jem writer, Thom Zahler the Love & Capes and Long Distance creator stopped by, and we finally got to chat with Tom Waltz Chief Turtle Writer at IDW!!!
INTERVIEWS – BOBBY CURNOW TOTALLY TUBULAR TMNT EDITION
INTERVIEWS – PAT SHAND – ZENESCOPE ENTERTAINMENT
INTERVIEWS – JOHN BARBER – TRULY OUTRAGEOUS TRANSFORMERS!
INTERVIEWS – KELLY THOMPSON – 21ST CENTURY JEM!
INTERVIEWS – THOM ZAHLER – LONG DISTANCE
INTERVIEWS – TOM WALTZ – TURTLE POWER!
We reached 100 regularly numbered episodes in Year 3…. TPB Ep 100 was all about us discussing Number One issues. Steve, JT, and Jeremy each joined me to talk about a NEW Number One issue that had just released at the time So we will be expanding even more in 2016!!!! In February we will have the FIRST EVER My Little Pony comics coverage as we celebrate FIENDSHIP IS FRIENDSHIP FEBRUARY!!!
AND NOW FOR A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME…..
Year 4 as the title of the post says is ….. A WHOLE NEW BAG!!!! We are going to be bringing you some great content in 2016. First up is FIENDSHIP IS FRIENDSHIP FEBRUARY!! This is our first BIG EVENT for the podcast in 2016. BeatlesDiva and I will be reviewing the 5 issue mini series MLP Fiendship is Magic, but before we get to that we need to tell tales of the good Ponies. So below you will see images and little blurbs about the titles that will be covered throughout 2016 here inside The Pull Bag. I’m not going to reveal everything, but here’s a taste of things to come!
Jem and the Holograms
Listed on page one is where you can find all the Jem comic coverage. But YEAH Aimee, Nicole, and I are continuing our IDW Jem coverage. We’ll have two podcasts covering the 6 part DARK JEM arc, and then after that who knows. So you can count on us continuing to be Truly Outrageous! The beginning of 2016 will feature our reviews of the Jem Valentine’s Day Special, and then Issues #11-13 as DARK JEM Part 1… then later in the year we will have DARK JEM Part 2 which will be issues #14-16!!
Bat-Mite and Batman Beyond 2015
YUP DC Finally gave me 2 titles of their heroes that I actually enjoyed. The 6 issue Bat-Mite series, and the Dan Jurgens written Batman Beyond series starring Tim Drake as Bat Beyond!!! So those will be covered.
C.O.W.L.
Dane Lamont from Punisher Body Count and Dane and Jake Get Classy will be joining me once again for the C.O.W.L. coverage!!! We’ll be revieweing the second and final trade… The Greater Good.
Love & Capes Volumes 3-4
Jesse W. Jackson will be joining me once again to wrap up the Love & Capes coverage! If you haven’t read this series… go do so now!!!!
Long Distance
Generally LDR’s do not work. Surprisingly Thom Zahler makes this one work. So a very special guest will be joining me in discussing this series.
Coffin Hill
Coffin Hill ……I’M GONNA GET TO THIS IN 2016 EVEN IF IT KILLS ME!!!!!!!!!!
Back to the Future
Steve Megatron and I will be covering the newly annouced ongoing series of IDW’s BTTF comic as the year goes along!!! Originally only slated for a 4 issue mini… the comic has now become an ongoing. You can hear Steve and I reviewing Issue #1 of BTTF HERE!
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles!!!
Of course Joe Reed and I will be shelling out our joy for IDW’s TMNT. We’ve got three podcasts set up for the next few issues of TMNT. These will be happening in the new year under the Back Issue Classics Banner. Issues 51-52 and then 53-54 will each be 1 podcast. After that isuue #55 will be one podcast. In Issue #56 starts the new arc of the series, so we will play it by ear on how that coverage comes out.
He-Man: The Eternity War
A Das Baron and I will be continuing on a more regular basis with the MOTU comic reviews from DC. We plan to review 2 issues per podcast for Eternity War.
Year 4 of The Pull Bag….. who knows what 2016 will bring to this podcast. I know I have a plan through May of 2016… after that I’m just gonna let the chips fall where they will…. THANK YOU to ALL THE LISTENERS…. the ones who speak out, and the silent listeners as well. ALL YOU SILENT PEOPLE…. START SPEAKING UP!!!
As always MAKE YOUR GREAT ESCAPE INTO COMICS and jump into The Pull Bag today!
PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THE LISTENERS THINK OF THE PODCAST!
