Jared AxelrodWriter of Adventure

Henny’s tumblr has the context, but c’mon. How much do you really need?

While the true identities of the band Spoiler Alert! are shrouded in mystery, Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos’s website clearly says that “they are a band definitely not made up of mild-mannered Dyan Valdes, Keith TOTP and Eddie Argos, even though they sound like they might be. ”

We may never learn who is imitating Argos’s trademark halting lyric readings, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to crack a smile as he goes through a normal night with Batman: “Swing! Punch! Smack! Another cunning sneak attack!” Spoiler Alert! also tackles the convuluted legacy of the Blue Beetle, managing to tie together Dan Garrett, Ted Kord and Jiame Reyes much better than any synopsis I’ve seen yet.

But the true gold in the bunch is their tragic ballad take on the origin of Booster Gold:

What I love about these songs is they great affection they have for the subject matter, but instead of overlooking the silliness and inconsistencies, they celebrate them. There’s a great interview with Eddie Argos about the project over at Comics Alliance, where he reveals that the plan is to write a song about every member of Justice League International. As a man who believes that the JLI era was the finest superteam comics have produced, I cannot wait.

I only hope there’s a song dedicated to G’nort.

Way back at Balticon 44, Dr. John Cmar, and I revealed the truth, using slides created by Laura Burns and JR Blackwell. And now, through the power of Chooch Shubert, we bring the Truth About The Universe to you!

From the official Balticon Program:

JR Blackwell, Laura Burns, John Cmar and Jared Axelrod present both historical misinformation and lies they made up on the fly in this discussion about the nature of the universe. From the smallest microbe to the biggest gas giant, learn how things aren’t–but could be–presented by a panel of experts. Just, don’t believe anything they say. Moderator: Arioch Morningstar.

The Truth About The Universe was performed live at Balticon 44. Slides were created by Laura Burns and J.R. Blackwell;. The dialog was improvised on the spot by John Cmar, Jared Axelrod, and Arioch Morningstar. Music, editing, introduction and mulptile formatting by Chooch Schubert

Special thanks to Paul Fischer and the Baltimore Science Fiction Society

The following alternative download formats are available on Archive.org:

• Full resolution mpeg2 [302 MB] version
• Compressed mpeg4 [46.6 mb] suitable for Apple iDevices – it can be added to podcast feeds
• Open Ogg Theora [43.7] format that can be played on most Linux systems as well as other OSes if they have the codecs loaded
• Chooch also split it in half and uploaded them to YouTube (they have a 15 minute limit per video) for people that are more comfortable with YouTube streaming/embedding (Part 1, Part 2)

Spread the Truth About the Universe!

The Batman of Planet X is beating the shit out of lawbreakers! FOR YOU!

I spent it with my wife, Kyle Cassidy (who took these snazzy photos), Trilian Stars and a Shuggoth. And well spent it was, too. How about yourself?

What did you do today

Listen, I’m certain your fictional airship is intensely fascinating, and you scoured eBay for absolute minutes for the watch gears to paste on to your top hat, but I’m going to have to ask you not to question my authority on the matter of steampunk again.

Because if you look up steampunk in the encyclopedia you’ll find a picture of me:

In short, one of us is an example to others as to how steampunk should be presented, and one of us is wearing goggles on their hat. Good day.

This of course, has nothing to do with me and everything to do with how awesome Kyle Cassidy is, but I take my jollies where I can.