Just a reminder for those of you who don’t check this site every moment of the day, or don’t pay attention to the right column of this site (which contains a ton of valuable information) - we have a little show called The Major Spoilers Podcast, the podcast for pop culture and comic fans.

Each week the panel takes a look at some of the major stories from the week, review (relatively) new comics, take a look at a collected trade, and ponder the world of comics and pop culture. We’ve had some most excellent guests on the show, with more on the way, raised money for the Hero Initiative, and have been working on something big coming up in the very near future.

So if you haven’t, take a moment to browse the Major Spoilers Podcast archive, listen to a show or two, and make sure you participate in the Major Spoilers Forum and in the comment section beneath each article; you never know when your comment might be included in the show.

We record a brand new episode every Tuesday night, and you’ll be able to listen to it via iTunes (absolutely free) or directly from the Major Spoilers site first thing Wednesday morning.

And, if you have already been listening to the Major Spoilers Podcast, tell your friends about the show when you head to your local comic book store tomorrow. The more people that listen, the more guests we can bring on the show, the more events we’ll be able to sponsor, and the bigger the prizes we’ll be able to give away.

“Big Prizes?”

Oh, keep listening… (evil wicked smile goes here).

I just wanted to take a moment to send a shout out to David M. for placing a donation in the Major Spoilers Tip Jar.  As much as everyone at Major Spoilers loves sharing our knowledge and joy of comics and pop culture with like minded folk around the world, it doesn’t come without expenses (quite a large number of expenses).

While Luthor Dollars are great (see the Major Spoilers Dictionary), having real money to put to our growing expenses is nice.

I don’t want this post to come off as a “you better donate!” entry, as tips are always appreciated, but never required, but I did want to take a moment and say thank you to the first person who dropped off a donation.

Thanks David! You Rock!

It’s looking to be a slow day for news and reviews, so I thought I’d take a moment to throw in a few shameless plugs for Major Spoilers.

• Don’t forget, voting is still open for the Major Spoilers Top 10 Trade Paperback list. You’ll have to head over to the Major Spoilers Forum to cast your vote. Only 19 votes? Come on guys, I know there are more of you who want to weigh in on this issue.
• There’s only one more week to go in the Major Spoilers Hero Drive. Subscribe or download the Major Spoilers podcast and for every “subscriber” the show has, Major Spoilers will donate money to the Hero Initiative. We’re up to $250, but would like to donate $250 more.
• Speaking of the podcast, this week we are reviewing Noble Causes: In Sickness and in Health trade paperback. If you would like to share your thoughts on the issue, and possibly have those comments read on the show, make sure you post your comments before noon on Tuesday April 29, 2008.
• We’ve been fortunate to have some great guests on the show, and on the next episode, the Major Spoilers Podcast welcomes Wes Molebash to the show. Wes has a different take on web comics, discusses his experience with Zuda Comics, and shares his views on creator owned work.
• Got an iPod Touch or iPhone? Add the Major Spoilers site to your Home Screen for a special icon that will get you fast access to the site.
• Final item, and a question: I’m thinking of opening up the Major Spoilers Podcast for sponsorships. Thought? We aren’t making any money from the show (or site) right now, and we do have ongoing costs that will need to be addressed in the near future, and I’m throwing around some ideas.

Okay, plug time over - if you are looking for something to do this afternoon, while waiting for the next update, might I suggest throwing some link love to the Hero History: Shrinking Violet entry.

Questions, feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone who has subscribed to the Major Spoilers Podcast via iTunes, RSS feed, or direct download (hermit, I’m looking at you), as each new person listening to the show is helping us help the Hero Initiative.

To date, we have raised over $200 for the organization, but we are hoping to raise at least $300 more.

So tell your friends, tell your relatives, heck, tell all those guys hanging around your local comic book store to head over to the site and start listening to the Major Spoilers Podcast! Remember, the Major Spoilers Podcast is a completely free podcast (one of the many free things that you get here at Major Spoilers, even though we have yet to make a single dime in all of our two years), you aren’t being asked to contribute to the Hero Initiative because we are doing that for you. All you have to do is subscribe.

What is the Hero Initiative? Check out their site for the full info.

Well I made the STUPID mistake of upgrading to WordPress 2.5 late last night, and even though the update has been available for two weeks and claims to be functioning correctly, there are still many things that need fixing.

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You can only attract new readers if they know about you.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before on this site, but after reviewing IDW Publishing’s Ghost Whisperer #1, the idea has bubbled to the surface once again, “Why aren’t publishers advertising their wares on television?”

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There are a lot of new pictures and what-not over at the official Iron Man site.

OOoooooo- BABY! I can’t wait for this film to hit my local theater.

Speaking of theaters, let me go off on a tangent for a moment. I was having a discussion last week on one of my other podcasts The Coolness Lounge. There, I questioned fellow co-host Charlie White on if he thinks people would shell out $25 for a HD quality download rental of a movie the day it is released in theaters.

Take the jump for my ramblings on the topic.

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You may have noticed your comments appearing a lot faster than normal - like right away for most of you.  The reason is this; Akismit has done an excellent job separating the spam from the real comments, and to encourage you to comment more often, I’ve turned off moderation for anyone who already has a comment approved on the site.

For those who have never commented, you still go into moderation stasis until it is approved, but after that you should be good to go.

Going unmoderated does not mean the higher ups aren’t keeping a watchful eye on comments.  The same rules still apply - be polite, even if you disagree.  Make your comments meaningful.  Syaing something sucks does not make it so, justify your reasoning.  Those that make the Major Spoilers world turn still have the ability to delete comments, or place those that are being Forum Trolls on the ban list.

Speaking of Forum Trolls, the above image comes from Scott Johnson and his Sketch-a-Day project.  You can find all his sketches here.

Hey everyone!

Next week on the Major Spoilers Podcast, we’ll be reviewing Emerald Dawn, the modern retelling of Green Lantern/Hal Jordan’s origin story during the Trade Paperback segment of the show.

We really want YOU to be a part of the show, especially with these collected trade reviews. If you’ve read the series and want to voice your opinion, head over to the Major Spoilers Forum and post your thoughts. We’ll include the best comments in the show.

We record the Major Spoilers Podcast on Tuesday evenings, so get your comments in now!

Major Spoilers Forum

If you prefer to record your comments (2 minutes of less), you can always send an MP3 file to our podcast email address.

This is a shout out to all the Harvey Dent supporters in the Kansas City area. The Dentmobile will be in several locations around the area on Friday, March 21st, and you might want to get out for some photo and publicity opportunities.

Kansas City, KS
March 21st:

• 5-6:15pm
  The Plaza: Nichols Rd bet. Pennsylvania and Broadway
• 7-8:15pm
  Westport: Broadway and Westport Rd.
• 9-10pm
  Power & Light District: Grand and 14th St.

Sadly I won’t be in the areas myself until Planet ComiCon April 5 and 6th, but Major Spoilers readers in the KC area, head on down and help out the Warner Bros. viral campaign…because we all know the Dark Knight movie needs more publicity.

Oh, and if you do make it to the Dentmobile and get your picture taken, I have a prize for the first person who sends me their picture holding the Major Spoilers sign in front of the Dentmobile (no Photoshopping allowed).

via I Believe in Harvey Dent

Occasionally I get an email asking what is on my pull list.  The list fluctuates from month to month, but if you head over to the Major Spoilers Forum, you’ll find my pull list from the March 2008 Previews catalogue.

And don’t forget there are plenty of other discussions going on right now in the myriad of other categories in the forums.

Major Spoilers Forum

If you missed it, the latest issue of the Major Spoilers Podcast is available now. The panel discusses DC’s New Frontier - Absolute Edition, and the New Frontier DVD. We also go over The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series, and discuss the costume design for the Watchmen movie.

Link to the latest episode.

I don’t usually ask readers for help - except your continued devotion to all things Major Spoilers (ha!), but please do us a big favor and tell your friends, folks hanging around the comic store, your neighbors, classmates, and so on. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback from listeners and we need all the support we can get in getting the word out.

The next issue (up Wednesday) features the panel reviewing Thor issues 1-6, and lots, lots more!

You may have noticed a couple of additions to the sidebar ->

• The Recent Reviews section is back.  Here you can find the most recent reviews we’ve covered at Major Spoilers
• A section devoted to the Major Spoilers podcast, with links to the RSS Feed, the iTunes Music Store, and the five most recent episodes.

And in the next few weeks, I’ll have some other news related to the Major Spoilers site, so keep coming back, and thanks from the bottom of my heart for spreading the word.

In case you aren’t on the double-super-secret-special-major-spoilers-mailing list, you should be happy to know that Major Spoilers now has a weekly podcast. We have two shows under our belt, and have had some great feedback.

Each week join regular panel members Bryan, Rodrigo, and Stephen as they discuss the comics and pop culture industry.

In this issue:

• Toy Fair 2008
• Jenna Jameson’s Shadow Hunter #1 from Virgin Comics
• The Escapists from Dark Horse Comics
• and the Question of the Week

You can subscribe to the podcast via iTunes, or through your RSS Reader.

New episodes will appear each Wednesday, and we invite your participation in the show via the Major Spoilers Podcast Forum.

The Major Spoilers Forum is back!

Well, it never really went away; it’s been up and active since this site first started, but in order to further comic and pop culture discussion, we’ve made it a more active part of Major Spoilers.

So this brings up the question, “Should I post my thoughts in the comments section, or on the Major Spoilers Forum?”

Here’s a good rule of thumb - if you want to make a comment about a particular article posted on the site, feel free to use the comment section beneath the post. This ensures your comments will forever be attached to the story. If you would like to have an in-depth discussion on a particular topic (SKRULLS! for example), feel free to head over to the forum and post to your heart’s content.

Access the forums by clicking the menu item at the top of the page.

or - Same number of pages, new higher prices!

I don’t know how many of you have been paying attention to the prices of comics lately, but for the last couple of months I’ve been seeing Marvel titles get a dollar jump in price from $2.99 to $3.99. I’ve put in a several e-mails to Marvel about this, and have yet to receive a response. If the price hike is due to more pages being added to the title, then by all means price hike away. However, if this is the precursor to a industry wide hike to $4.00 an issue, then companies might want to rethink their brilliant schemes.

With delays in getting titles out on time, and throwing money at top talent who don’t deliver, why then would a company (any company) want to offset their losses by passing it along to the customer? Doesn’t make sense to me at all. There shouldn’t be a huge increase in the cost of printing right now, but if there is, it needs to be stated. I know print runs industry wide are dwindling even with these huge universe wide events, but passing the buck to the customer isn’t an excuse for poorly executed ideas.

I already spend a lot of money on comics, but even a dollar hike can have serious repercussions for those with a limited budget. At $4.00 an issue, I can only get four titles instead of five. Does the industry really want readers to drop one issue completely just to make up for missed opportunities?

Thoughts?