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Episode 752 - Gord1e5
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It's legitimately the 15th annual Gordie awards! You submitted the categories, we choose the winners! A bevy of big stars are in the audience at the Flash Gordon Memorial Auditorium for this super-sized look back at 2025!
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Transcript
Introduction and Setup
00:00:00
Speaker
This show is recorded using Zencaster. If you are a podcaster or you want to be a podcaster and you want to be able to record remotely, you can do so using Zencaster. They also have hosting options and you can let them know that we sent you. Follow the link in our show notes or in the episode description and sign up for an account on Zencaster now to start recording your own podcast.
Opening Ceremony and Hosts Introduction
00:00:32
Speaker
Live from the Flash Gordon Memorial Auditorium, this is Gordy's. But the I is a one and the S is a five.
00:00:44
Speaker
And your hosts, the hosts of the War Rocket Ajax podcast, Chris Sims and Matt Wilson.
00:00:55
Speaker
Thank you. Thank you, everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Wow. Thank so much. It's... It's hard to believe 15 years of
00:01:15
Speaker
whatever our audience decides we do to whatever the best question mark in various categories is Matt it's great to be here wow it's great to be back ah I can't believe it's already been a year since the last Gordies but here we are at Gord15's Gord15's Gord15's Gord15 Gord15 as I've said it's easier to read it than to say
00:01:42
Speaker
to read it than to say it Gordy's, but the one the one I is a one and the S is a five. Right. Because this actually is the 15th annual Gordy Awards.
00:01:54
Speaker
Yes. These are seriously for real. The 15th
Characters and Audience Discussion
00:01:58
Speaker
Gordy's. This is a shoot 15. Yes. I know we've already done Gordy's X7.
00:02:06
Speaker
We've done a lot of things, Matt. We've done a lot. And every year, every year, it's always a pleasure to see the the crowd here. We've got all of our listeners here with us, of course. But let me just tell you, Matt, hell must be empty, for the devils are all here.
00:02:24
Speaker
oh wow. Wait, i think I think I might have gotten that wrong this time. Well, ah we definitely do have a few ah few devils here, because...
00:02:35
Speaker
I mean, well, you know, it's not like they've done all bad things, but, like, everyone from the Band of the Hawk is here, and a lot of them are dead.
00:02:47
Speaker
And many of them are dead, and some of them are real nasty purr freaks. Yeah, the the one the one who becomes finto Femto of the God Hand, for sure. That guy? Can we get him out of here? Can we have him removed, please, actually?
00:03:03
Speaker
That guy sucks. Now, Skull Knight can stay, and Guts stay. take that little child with him.
00:03:12
Speaker
Matt, we got a handsome devil
Award Categories Overview
00:03:13
Speaker
here. That's you. a There's a couple handsome sub devils up here on this stage right now. That's right. ah Matt, i'm i'm so I'm so pleased. Goku is here.
00:03:24
Speaker
Goku, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, ah is is here. That's right. he is He is not listening to us. He's scarfing down bowls of food. But we're happy to have him. We're very happy to have him.
00:03:37
Speaker
It's true. It's true. oh who else Who else do we see out there in the crowd, Matt? Oh, well, you know for a fact that absolute Batman is here.
00:03:48
Speaker
yeah, oh yeah we I can see him from here, even with the the house lights off. He's here, the absolute unit of a Batman. The man is a truck.
00:03:59
Speaker
The man is quite large. Yes, actually, all the all the absolute... superheroes are here. Absolute Batman, absolute Wonder Woman, absolute ah Flash, Martian Manhunter.
00:04:14
Speaker
I hope you're figuring it out, my guy. ah Absolute Superman, of course. Absolute Wonder Woman. Yes. I'll tell you who's not here. Absolute Golden Age Hawkman. We did not let him in the building.
00:04:30
Speaker
No. Also a guy who sucks. Fuck him. But Absolute Joker is here. and ah Which is weird, because he never laughs. Maybe winning an award a little bit later in the show. We'll see. I predict a good night for the Absolute crew. There's a reason you're all sat on the aisle, folks.
00:04:51
Speaker
Let's see who else is here. Kiryu is here. Kazuma Kiryu is here. Of course. And ah that's your guy. the And, of course, the but My guy from ah Like a Dragon is here. Fucking, why can't I remember his name? It's going to be real embarrassing for you. I know it, but I didn't want to say ah it and cut you off.
00:05:14
Speaker
Ichiban Kasuga. Ichiban Kasuga, of course. Yes, yes. It's been a while since I played that game. He's your guy, though. He is my guy, for sure. He's your guy, though. Look, 2026 has been rough. been off to a rough start. It's been to a pretty bad start here in beautiful South Minneapolis, Minnesota.
00:05:36
Speaker
This is by far the latest we've ever done Gordies, and there's a good reason for that. yeah we're not we're not going to be here to talk about your guys. All my guys are here.
00:05:47
Speaker
already said Batman, Goku, but ah ah the character Stone Cold Steve Austin is here. ra ah yeah Persona 5 Joker is here. Your Forger is here ah with her lovely family, who are a legit family.
00:06:03
Speaker
And not some kind of cover. Link and Zelda. i ah Interestingly enough, the Blueprints is here. The Blueprints is here? is I thought that was a hotel.
00:06:17
Speaker
No, no. the the Blueprints is the is the the character. Are you thinking of the pretty prompts? and No, that different guy. Well, Mubius is here. Jean Girard is here.
00:06:33
Speaker
Oh, of course, Mibius is here. Yeah, certainly. Metamorpho's here. Metamorpho here. Metamorpho also here. Love it. Great. The best.
00:06:44
Speaker
ah we've got a whole We've got a whole section of ah of great, great dogs that are here. All dogs are here. If you don't currently see your dog, it's because they're here.
00:06:57
Speaker
All dogs go to Gordy's. All dogs go to Gordy's, because all dogs won a Gordy. and and That's true. And if you win a Gordy, you can you get
Doughboy Award Deliberation
00:07:05
Speaker
to come to the show. That's how it works. You're invited. That's true. Every sword is here.
00:07:10
Speaker
yeah They will all be rated, not ranked. Not ranked, but rated. So for those of you that don't know what the Gordy Awards are.
00:07:22
Speaker
Which, if that's you, you've had 15 years to figure it out, bud. That's true. ah But we do not choose the categories for the Gordys. As they've become known, the categories.
00:07:35
Speaker
um Our listeners suggest the categories, and then we choose the winners in those categories. And Chris, we have quite a few to get through. So I'm going to say, without further ado...
00:07:52
Speaker
It's time to start handing out some Gordy Awards. What do you say? I would love to. Now, Matt, I will say i've ah you gathered the list of categories. I've got it sitting here in front of me. I do have picks for most of these, but ah listeners, we do not share our picks ahead of time.
00:08:11
Speaker
We do not. and And I'm kind of going by the seat of my pants because I did not have time to to choose winners for all of these. so there's There's a couple i I simply could not think of.
00:08:21
Speaker
Okay. ah So we will see. We will see. We will fact see. Let's get to it. Let's get get to it mory the Gordies. These are the the Gordies for the 2025 season. Our first set of Categordies.
00:08:35
Speaker
Okay.
00:08:41
Speaker
first set of categories And I gotta say, I do appreciate that most of the people contributing categories this year did in fact give ah the awards eponyms.
00:08:53
Speaker
ah So there these are awards in honor of certain... People or concepts. Yes, and in in some of them, I think they have chosen the winner with their eponym. We'll get to it. We'll see.
00:09:10
Speaker
Yeah. um All right. Our first set of categories comes from Jolene, who I believe Jolene has established this as an existing award we've done before, and we're going to do it yet again.
00:09:23
Speaker
The Doughboy Award for Never Getting Over. Now, there's a lot of folks out there who are never getting over, Matt. That is true. there is There's so many. I thought about giving this to Blake Monroe, formerly known as Mariah May.
00:09:39
Speaker
I mean, but but Mariah May did get over. Mariah May got over, but then Mariah May ah found out what happens when you challenge God. would you would you treat Right, yes. ah People will ask, whatever happened to Mariah May? Yes, she'll be liked but not loved.
00:09:56
Speaker
That's right, yes. ah Yeah, that... One of the best professional wrestling promos I've ever seen in my life from Timeless Tony Storm, the greatest wrestler of our age. i like That was from early in the year, but... If if wrestling awards...
00:10:15
Speaker
shows or like post wrestling or wrestling observer, whoever is giving out wrestling awards and that's not winning promo of the year. I don't know what to tell you. The, the only reason I could think of it, not getting the best promo of the year is that it was a, it was a pre-tape segment.
00:10:32
Speaker
And I don't like, I do think that there is a, you know, you, you can reshoot
DC Characters and Sarah Lance Memorial Award
00:10:37
Speaker
a, a pre-tape segment. You can't reshoot something that you say in the ring.
00:10:42
Speaker
So, true but yeah, like, <unk>s like i and I know that Toni Storm, the person, probably doesn't hate Mariah May, the person, slash Blake Monroe, the person, but the character obliterated her and turned her into a pile of dust.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and and the year only bore out The prediction. Yeah. ah But that's not who I've got ah for the award for Never Getting Over. ah Because I did want to, in the spirit of Doughboy, I wanted to give this to somebody in comics.
00:11:21
Speaker
And i folks, we've got to admit it. It's been a long time. They keep trying. For his role in the incredible, brackets, negative, Jenny Sparks, I've got to give it to Captain Atom.
00:11:37
Speaker
Captain Atom's Never Getting Over. it's It's funny that you mentioned Jenny Sparks, because the thought that I had was just Jenny Sparks in the 21st century. Yeah, i think there's I don't think there's a lot you can do.
00:11:50
Speaker
i mean i mean, very clearly. Yeah. We have... what was God, was that like 12 issues? it thirteen Was it issues? issues?
00:12:03
Speaker
i I have a folder where I kept like screenshots of... of Any panel that kind of stuck out to me, i made sure to to save specifically for this, for the Gordies.
00:12:16
Speaker
And I got like five or six from Jenny Sparks, and they're not in there for positive reasons. No, they wouldn't be. Of course they wouldn't be. Yeah, no, that book was trash. I do think it's telling that both of our winners are from the Jenny Sparks book. Although I do also have to say, this is going to be maybe a controversial pick, but I'm going to go for it.
00:12:37
Speaker
Okay. um Because 2025 was the year of all new Venom, where we had we had the the the mystery of who the new Venom was. We had our initial suspects, and it turned out to be none of them.
00:12:51
Speaker
ahha One of those was Rick Jones. Man, I'm sorry. Rick Jones never get over. Matt, Rick Jones is over. What are you talking about? Matt, Rick Jones been over. Yeah.
00:13:09
Speaker
I don't know what to tell you. Not in recent years. Not in recent years. i don't know. it like I think Rick Jones is exactly where he needs to be, which is i mean somewhere in the Marvel Universe.
00:13:22
Speaker
He is somewhere in the Marvel Universe, for sure. Somehow, Rick Jones' gimmick in the last few years has become like ironic t-shirts. and i you know i do got to give it to that.
00:13:35
Speaker
That, would i think... I think that started with Peter David, because at the same time, ah a Snapper Carr was wearing the the weird fourth-wall-breaking graphic tees, like yeah t-shirts with like logos of Cancel Comics, in Our Man, when Peter David was writing Captain Marvel. And so I think they were both doing that at the same time. And there's a kind of... ah Not famous, because let's be real, nothing that happened in 1998's Our Man is famous, but there's a ah great little bit of interplay where ah Tom Pyre and Rags Morales have a scene where Snapper Carr is on the phone with somebody and oh in Our Man. He's like, nah, man.
00:14:25
Speaker
like Yeah, i got this I got this new guy. yeah and No, he's like super powerful. No, not like your guy. He's got like cosmic powers. Oh, you're going see that cosmic powers? And then you get the other half of that conversation in an issue of Captain Marvel.
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah. ah I do remember Rick Jones wearing a hot tuna t-shirt on the cover of Avengers Forever. It may have been Avengers Forever number one. ah Where he's in the was in the wheelchair?
00:14:51
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Here's the thing, Matt. Captain Atom is literally only in anything because there is a famous parody of Captain Atom.
00:15:05
Speaker
So, like, I cannot imagine the equivalent of that. And DC Comics could just make it Doctor Manhattan now. Yeah. Yeah. but it's like if it's like if they kept making it's like if they kept making James Bond movies that were constantly referencing R-Man Flint.
00:15:25
Speaker
Right? Like, or... or Yeah. Like, if... Like, if if Michael Jackson did parodies of Weird Al songs... Like, it's weird. It's weird. Captain Atom's never getting over. Captain Atom's never been over. And I...
00:15:46
Speaker
I think he he might be a lifetime recipient of this award, but especially for the events of this year, where I swear there was going to be a new Captain Atom ongoing series that didn't happen. But I might be hallucinating that.
00:15:58
Speaker
Jolene's second category is the Sarah Lance Memorial Award for DC character from other media, not
Good Boy Award Discussion
00:16:05
Speaker
yet in comics. um Another, I think, repeat category. Yes. Jolene likes to get these every year.
00:16:14
Speaker
I think there's a reason these were the first categories we received. I think you're right, yes. um I don't think there's anybody new for this. Yeah, I was trying to think, like what like specifically DC stuff, like if there was anything that introduced something that wasn't in comics. and it's like like Everybody in the Superman movie was from comics. like you know Ron Troop's in there, Steve Lombard's in there, Guy Gardner's in there.
00:16:42
Speaker
just i I can't think of a single character from the movie who's not in comics. I mean, it's it's different variations on them.
00:16:52
Speaker
h I'm trying to think of anybody from Peacemaker. no now Now, Peacemaker I have not watched. And I will say, it was not produced in 2025. It was not released in 2025. 2025 was the year that i watched The Alfred Show.
00:17:09
Speaker
ah hu And I watched all of the Alfred show and I watched all of Gotham. And Gotham, I think, mostly has like characters that are related to at least existing DC Comics characters. like Like the Scarecrow's dad or the two guys who are the Joker, but aren't the Joker.
00:17:29
Speaker
right but But kind of are the Joker. So I'm going to give it to ah Virtually everyone from the Alfred show, but especially Fuckable Queen Elizabeth the second and Alfred's cyborg dad.
00:17:42
Speaker
Okay, great. Excellent. did you remember that there was a TV show where Alfred's dad became a cyborg? Chris Sims remembers.
00:17:52
Speaker
I think my award winner for this is still going to be, I think we gave it to this character last year, but the ah Batman Caped Crusader version of Harley Quinn.
00:18:03
Speaker
Okay, yes, yes, I did. Was that 2025? ah No, that was that was the year before. that was last year? Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that was a great version of that character.
00:18:17
Speaker
However, I do think I also need to give an honorable mention, or maybe a co-win, to a character from Peacemaker who...
00:18:27
Speaker
was in the first season, but then was even kind of more important in the second season. And I do not believe she is in comics. And that's ah Leota Adebayo, who is Amanda Waller's estranged daughter.
00:18:43
Speaker
but i think... i feel like... I don't think there is a version of her in in comics that I'm aware of.
00:18:56
Speaker
ah But i could be I could be mistaken there, so i will hedge it by saying also the Harley Quinn from Batman C. Crusader.
00:19:09
Speaker
Jolene, thank you for those two categories.
00:19:19
Speaker
Our next category comes from Mark Hughes. who gives us the Good Boy Award for the best moment from 2025 involving Crypto the Superdog. I had a hard time with this one. I have an easy time with this one. i There's a lot of good Crypto stuff from 2025. I had a hard time narrowing it down, Matt.
00:19:41
Speaker
But I think the best moment for me, easily, is when he whips Lex Luthor's ass in the movie. That's pretty good. yeah That's pretty good. He does whip Lex Luthor's ass in the movie, and that's pretty great.
00:19:55
Speaker
Yeah. ah that that I love that part of the movie, where we're like Superman is trying to show restraint and not you know ah attack Lex Luthor, and then Crypto just roars in there and and whips his ass. Yeah, because he's a He doesn't know he's not supposed to do that.
00:20:16
Speaker
He's a dog. That guy sucks. ah My initial thought was from Supergirl number five, which is the all super pets issue.
00:20:28
Speaker
ah There's a a great crypto story in that ah where crypto just kind of runs around talking about all the stuff he loves.
00:20:39
Speaker
And there's just one panel of him hanging out with another dog. And he goes, I love friends. And I love that. Like, that's adorable because I feel like that's How dogs would think.
00:20:53
Speaker
But I want to give it to another moment, which is the destruction of Krypton in ah Absolute Superman, where...
00:21:05
Speaker
where you know, clark and Cal and Jor-El and Lara are all, you know, in the escape pods watching the planet explode. And you can see Krypto in the background. Krypto's just, like, completely unaware of what's happening. And just having a nice time.
00:21:25
Speaker
Like, Krypto's got, you know, one ear up and tongue hanging out. And just, like, there is a a planetary extinction event happening. Krypto, I get...
00:21:37
Speaker
Again, Matt, he's dark. He doesn't know. He's just having a nice time. And some creators choose to use their gifts for evil and have Crypto have a bad time.
00:21:49
Speaker
But I believe Crypto should have a good time all the time, even in the worst of circumstances. ah That is true and fair. ah Mark, thank you for that category.
Best Fight and Rawest Moment of 2025
00:22:08
Speaker
Next, we have four categories from Patrick O'Duffy, the Boss Dog. The first is the Great Indoor Fight Memorial Trophy for the best fight of 2025 in any medium.
00:22:22
Speaker
Chris, what have you got for this? Matt, I would actually like to hear yours first. Okay. Mine is a bit of a Dark Horse choice, but it's not in a Dark Horse comic. oh i was going to say is it like from Hellboy?
00:22:33
Speaker
it's It's not from Hellboy. It is from... i i Who did publish this book? I think it was Image, I think. um But it is the fight... but to Oh, it's IDW. It's an IDW comic.
00:22:47
Speaker
um It is the fight between Godzilla and Jay Gatsby in Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater number three. Now, Matt, that that one might as well stay on the stage.
00:23:00
Speaker
Because it's going to be receiving a couple more awards. Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater... if If we had a comic of the year category, i ah it would be a good shot.
00:23:12
Speaker
It would be a contender, yeah. it would be conten yeah ah Mine, ah since since it was specified any medium, I chose the ah ah November 12th episode of AEW Dynamite's Women's Blood and Guts match.
00:23:30
Speaker
ah That whipped, yeah. yeah One of the best professional wrestling contests I've ever seen. If I was going to choose a wrestling match, it would have been the Hollywood ending. Hollywood ending also extremely good.
00:23:41
Speaker
Between tony Storm and Mariah May, whatever happened to her. Yeah, well.
00:23:49
Speaker
She's been sent to a life of mediocrity.
00:23:53
Speaker
ah Yeah, like, a lot of good stuff, but like, Women's Blood and Guts is a match that I instantly wanted to show to people. yes Because I'm like,
00:24:05
Speaker
like Yeah, there's a story going into this. There's a lot of stories going into this. But it's mostly just, here's a team of goodies and here's a team of baddies, and everyone's going to bleed a bucket's worth of blood.
00:24:18
Speaker
Next category from Patrick O'Duffy is the Thursday Night Raw Championship belt for Rawest Moment of 2025. feel like there is An unquestionable winner for this.
00:24:29
Speaker
Okay, what did you pick? And speaking of staying on the stage, this is a comic that is going to win several awards. I wonder i wonder if we have picked the same one.
00:24:40
Speaker
It is the moment in Absolute Batman Annual ah hu where Batman breaks that guy's arm when he gives that Nazi salute. Unanimous victory that moment. Rip your shirt right unanimous victory for that moment rip your shirt right off best thing I've seen in a minute.
00:25:01
Speaker
yeah yeah Daniel Warren Johnson draws Batman in the middle of saying white power. Batman fucks that dude up. We've got other awards categories where I'll talk about what happens after that.
00:25:18
Speaker
Yes, correct. Also Sam. But the the rawest moment easily is when he he just snaps that guy's arm.
00:25:29
Speaker
Oh my god. If we were to make a top ten list of the rawest moments that happened in comics in 2025, nine of them would be from Absolute Batman.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, man. i mean in that same yeah issue, Batman going, this is my way. Also, raw as fuck. Also, there's that moment where ah he's beating up Black Mask, and he goes, egos tell me again how I don't matter. I love it. I fucking love it.
00:25:58
Speaker
And there's a knock-knock, motherfucker. But, again, stay on the stay on the stage. Absolute Batman got the seat, like, front row on the aisle. That's right, yeah.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, unanimous winner for that one. like no Like... I don't want to say there's no competition, because there's competition, but nothing reached that level.
00:26:21
Speaker
there there was There was a lot of exceptional stuff in comics, but like Absolute Batman is a book where every issue is like, what's the rawest shit we can do? Yeah. Next from Patrick is the World Heavyweight Contender title for most memorable line of dialogue, or sorry, Word Heavyweight Contender title for most memorable line of comics dialogue in 2025.
00:26:44
Speaker
Okay, this is not positive or negative. I have three honorable mentions and a winner, and Matt, I think we might have the same winner for this one. Yeah. Okay, what are your honorable mentions?
00:26:57
Speaker
ah My honorable mentions ah ah from Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater No. 3, he truly has become the Great Gatsby. Pretty good. Which is when Jay Gatsby grows to giant size so he can fight Godzilla.
00:27:12
Speaker
Yep. ah I also have ah All I Need is Batman, spoken by Absolute Batman, when he's telling Black Mask he doesn't need money.
00:27:23
Speaker
Right, yeah. And then I have a a recent candidate, just one that really tickled me, ah from a recent installment of Akewood. Mama, oh mama, I'm so sorry, I'm famous in Germany.
00:27:37
Speaker
Well, I think our winner... Hey, Matt, what time is it? Yep, it is Nygma time. it's it's It's so memorable we named an episode after it.
00:27:52
Speaker
It is baffling. It is in a completely baffling and awful line of dialogue, but neither one of us will ever forget it. We will never forget it like i I messaged you earlier, i texted you of Nito, and I was like, some of these categories need a brackets positive or brackets derogatory descriptor.
00:28:16
Speaker
but question Question. What time is it to expect the unexpected? uhu Answer. Nygma time. Why wouldn't he say Riddler time?
00:28:32
Speaker
but Why is he going out saying his fucking shoot name? What time is it expect the unexpected? Oh, man. That's arguably the worst line of dialogue I have ever read in a comic book.
00:28:46
Speaker
I'll never forget it for the rest of my life. No, never. Like, I'll be dying. I'll be i'll be at your grave. JK, you'll be at my grave.
00:28:57
Speaker
And you'll be you'll stand of it and you will be shedding tears. And you will say, what time is it to expect the unexpected?
Memorable Dialogue and Climbing Mount Pervmore Award
00:29:06
Speaker
yeah And you'll put your hand on my tombstone.
00:29:09
Speaker
I'll have forgotten my dad's middle name.
00:29:14
Speaker
I'll remember that. It's... Unbelievable. Yeah. It gives me, like, I, another thing that I texted you today was like, Hush 2 makes me feel like I have lost the capacity to be angry at comic books.
00:29:32
Speaker
Although we've we've been reminded of that we do still have it. Yeah, i i don't I don't know if new ones can make me mad, but then I found out that there's there's new Brad Meltzer and Kevin Smith stories coming out.
00:29:43
Speaker
Yeah, i don' I don't know if we're going to read that Superman Spider-Man comic. cause like I can't see why I would. I simply can't bring myself to do it. yeah Because Matt, i I like not being angry.
00:29:56
Speaker
Same, same. um i don't know I don't know why they keep letting that guy read comics. I mean, once you write the worst one, I guess there's no place to go but up.
00:30:09
Speaker
Financially successful. For better or worse. All right, finally, from patrick our final category Tim Patrick is the Climbing Mount Pervmore Award for Nastiest Freak of the Year.
00:30:22
Speaker
Now, this one, I actually didn't have an answer for. it like I went back through all of my ah like all of the notes I'd taken. I went back through the the show notes to see what comics we'd read.
00:30:36
Speaker
ah and I honestly... could not find any nasty Pervos from this year's comics that I thought would really, like, really take it.
00:30:52
Speaker
There had to be one, right? Like, there had to had to be one. Surely we do we talked about somebody, but but like, most of the people we would have talked about, like, like all like honestly, every member of the God Hand.
00:31:06
Speaker
Right, yeah. Like, Hugo Strange. like Like Hugo Strange. There is actually a list of who's on Mount Purvmore on the War Rocket wiki. Right? but Yeah, man. i don't because like like my The closest I came is like Absolute Brainiac.
00:31:27
Speaker
Yeah. who It's not sexual, but it's not not sexual. I think Absolute Brainiac might be it. Yeah, yeah because he because he is a nasty freak. He's a nasty freak-o for sure. Yeah.
00:31:42
Speaker
Like, I don't know that perv is necessarily the right word, but he is very much a nasty freak.
00:31:52
Speaker
Definitely. So I think he might have landed on it, yeah. I mean, look, look, look, look. we all We all know who the number one nasty freak pervert of 2025 was. But we're trying to have a nice time.
00:32:04
Speaker
We're trying to have a nice time, yeah. Trying to have a nice time. ah Okay. That is all of our categories from Patrick, the boss dog. Thank you, Patrick, for those. I appreciate Patrick giving us a list of categories based on the show itself.
00:32:25
Speaker
That was nice.
00:32:34
Speaker
Alright, our next set of categories comes from Dan Black. Oh wait, what about that guy what about that guy from Supergirl? That one issue was Supergirl. his His whole deal was that he was a nasty freako pervert.
00:32:47
Speaker
Oh, the kind of like... The guy who like hit on goth girls? Yeah. Yeah, okay. yeah i still have I still think it's absolute brainiac, but I i can see it. I can see it.
00:33:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:03
Speaker
I have some brainiac out those weird legs.
00:33:07
Speaker
All right. Our next three categories come from Dan Black. The first is most wild narrative decision, parentheses, comics. It has to be.
00:33:20
Speaker
It has to be. But absolute Joker never laughs, right? ah Matt, that wasn't even on my list. for this one.
00:33:31
Speaker
Okay. Because here's the thing. If you want most wild narrative decision parentheses comics brackets positive it is Jay Gatsby growing to giant size to fight Godzilla and a giant size Frankenstein werewolf mummy and Dracula.
00:33:47
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm with you. or Or Jules Verne becoming a cyborg. Or the very existence of Jay Gatsby and the G-Force hunting down Godzilla in that book. Many elements of ah Godzilla Monsterpiece Theater.
00:34:07
Speaker
If you want the most wild narrative decision, parentheses comics, brackets, negative, and I think the single most wild narrative decision in comics, it's Batman shooting Jason Todd in the head with a gun, but just a little bit.
00:34:21
Speaker
In Hush 2. In Hush 2. Yeah. He shot him in the head with a gun, but just a little bit.
00:34:30
Speaker
yeah Just a little bit. Yep.
00:34:34
Speaker
Do you have more, or is it just those two? No, Matt, I don't i don't think that one i think that one's unassailable.
00:34:43
Speaker
i I do think ah the the choice to have – these are neither positive or negative, really. The choice to have absolute joker and never laugh is pretty fucking wild.
00:34:55
Speaker
And also, i think it was a pretty bold and wild narrative choice to make the final reveal of who All-New Venom was, Mary Jane. also Also pretty wild. Also extremely funny.
00:35:08
Speaker
Very funny and very good. um Turned out great. up But but ah but a wild a wild move. A mild wild move.
Personal and Nostalgic Favorites
00:35:18
Speaker
ah Second from Dan Black is the Mignola statuette for most haunting single panel.
00:35:24
Speaker
e no I went in a bit of a different direction with this one, Matt. So do you have a pick? Yeah, I have a pick. okay ah this This one might sound weird. But I'll tell you, it's a panel that I will never stop thinking about.
00:35:42
Speaker
Okay. It is in, i want to say issue two. Yes, it's in issue two of Mortal Thor. Okay. And it's when Thor, having like left that job site, and ah like he goes to the bar where some of the guys, the roughhouse...
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah. ah but Sigurd Jarlson. let me Let me be clear. It's not Thor, it's Sigurd Jarlson. Sigurd Jarlson goes to the roughhouse where like some of those guys hang out from the worksite that he went to. And he just slings his hammer at this one guy, and that guy's whole face explodes.
00:36:26
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:36:28
Speaker
ah Like, there's several examples of Sigurd Jarlson in Mortal Thor smashing guys in the face with his hammer and, like, destroying their their faces and their teeth coming out and and everything.
00:36:40
Speaker
But that one panel in particular, where, like, the guy's eyes are wide open and the hammer is, like, smashing him the lower half of his face.
00:36:51
Speaker
And the the sound effect is... Crunch with a bunch of H's. Uh-huh. Yeah, man. That thought that haunts me. dad That panel haunts me.
00:37:06
Speaker
So that's my choice. ah I feel like my actual pick is the see-through Martian Mind Blinker page e in Absolute Martian Manhunter No. 1. Because I love that gimmick. I love the gimmick of holding up the page to the light.
00:37:23
Speaker
yes and Yes. And getting that. And I feel like that's that's haunting in one way. But the one that I want to give it to is the knock-knock motherfucker page. Because they didn't let him say knock-knock motherfucker and I need you all to be haunted by the memory of what they took from us. i i'm i can I'm totally with that, yeah.
00:37:42
Speaker
Knock-knock motherfucker not being in the book. Which, it didn't even say fuck. Because Batman was covering it. Yes.
00:37:53
Speaker
it said It said too much fuck.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. but I see the reasoning for that, for sure. They put Batman's dick in a comic. They can let Batman say fuck. Agreed.
00:38:10
Speaker
Alright, our final category from Dan Black is the Laura B. Black Award for Best Date with the Wife. I would say i for my birthday.
00:38:23
Speaker
ah the local theater, art house theater, was doing a series of films oh called Nazis. We hate these guys. It was just a bunch of movies about Nazis getting fucked up.
00:38:37
Speaker
So they showed... you know I saw Raiders Lost Ark. They showed Last Crusade. ah They showed... ah The Great Escape. They showed a bunch of really great stuff.
00:38:48
Speaker
um But what they had playing on my birthday was Where Eagles Dare, which is one of my all-time favorite films. And i I went to go see Where Eagles Dare with ac who had never seen it before, and who doesn't often watch older films, and I don't think had ever actually seen a Clint Eastwood movie before.
00:39:10
Speaker
So, kind of only knows Clint Eastwood ah the Clint Eastwood of today. Uh-huh, uh-huh. But we got to watch Where Eagles Dare, ah which is a ah movie that I described as the first half is all very slow-paced, tension-building. The second half is 400 Nazis getting shot in the face while the heroes fucking whip shitties in an armored bus. Yeah.
00:39:38
Speaker
ah And just shit is exploding constantly. ah That movie owns. And AC had a great time. i had a great time. It was my birthday. i got to watch ah ah a movie that I love. She loved it.
00:39:53
Speaker
Great, great date with the wife. ah Mine was also on my birthday. ah Marlene and I went to go see Friendship.
00:40:05
Speaker
Starring Tim Robinson. And we sat there and laughed our heads off while the handful of other people in the theater ah seemed to have no idea what they were watching.
00:40:19
Speaker
And then we went and had dinner at a Brazilian steakhouse. Oh, that's great. It was a great day. That's like an ideal night. Yeah, it was a great day.
Not a Person But Could Be Gordy Award Debate
00:40:29
Speaker
Excellent day.
00:40:31
Speaker
ah And 2025 was a year we didn't get to have a ton of date nights because we were both extremely busy ah the entire year. So oh that was that was one of the very good ones. So I'm going to give it to that.
00:40:46
Speaker
ah Dan, thank you for those categories.
00:40:57
Speaker
Our next category comes from Robert Simpson. who presents us with the Mick Foley Award for Childhood Hero, who miraculously hasn't disappointed us yet, this is the one that I'm saying the the namesake of the award is also the winner.
00:41:14
Speaker
it's It's kind of got to be. I've said before that I wake up every morning and thank God above that Stone Cold Steve Austin has not spoken about politics publicly.
00:41:30
Speaker
Yeah, i I am very pleased and continue to be happy that Steve Austin, most of his social media content is focused on cats ah in recent years.
00:41:47
Speaker
ah Specifically, his two cats that he ah talks about being so... What is the term he uses for them?
00:42:00
Speaker
I don't know. i I want to say he says they're burly-ass cats, but I believe that's wrong. Is it bust-ass? No, it's something-ass that he calls the cats.
00:42:11
Speaker
ah I gotta look it up. But ah but yes, the the fact that it's been about cats and not political ah is very good. i just look, I... i i i I would not risk it going you know even going my way.
00:42:29
Speaker
If there was a 50-50 chance that it goes my way, I can't risk it. Solid-ass. He calls them solid-ass cats. That's pretty funny. that's pretty Poncho and Macho are their names. Those are good names for cats.
00:42:43
Speaker
Yeah. ah but But, like... I mean, i would not call John Cena a childhood hero. But, man...
00:42:54
Speaker
He sure said some stuff on his media tour this year that was like, I'm tugging at my collar. Was it the stuff about ordering a flat white?
00:43:09
Speaker
Well, it it had it it also was involving CM Punk. It was like, Cena's like, oh, the proudest moment I ever had in wrestling was getting CM Punk to come to Saudi Arabia. Yeah, that's wild. I saw him say that too.
00:43:21
Speaker
And that's wild. oh i will say, CM Punk going to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is one of the funniest things that happened this year. And apologizing?
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah. like you gotta Look, you gotta apologize for having principles, man. And like having that come having that conversation with that like obvious audience plant at that event.
00:43:48
Speaker
Woof. Yeah, man. Again, not not a childhood hero, But definitely mid-twenties person I looked up to. what so what One of the guys who absolutely got me back into wrestling. Yeah, for sure. for sure ah but yeah like i I was real worried about how ah the micker was going to go when he was like, ah would when he was like you know oh there's no one wishing Vince McMahon happy birthday.
00:44:25
Speaker
And it's like, look, i i I know that people's relationships with people that they know in real life can be complicated. But also, come on, dog. Come on, dog.
00:44:38
Speaker
but ah But him breaking ties with WWE ah du me it was the right thing to do. was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do. and And there were people who were like, well, why didn't he do it sooner?
00:44:52
Speaker
Which is not invalid, but I was watching a post-wrestling video where John Pollock was like, look, it's tough to like walk away from a job and a company you've worked for for decades.
00:45:10
Speaker
And so many people are happy to just like sit around and collect a paycheck. It's brave to take a stand and walk away from it, even if you think it's too late.
00:45:23
Speaker
Or that they should have done it earlier. And what you do by saying like, well, why didn't they do it earlier? Or just like, instead of you know patting them on the back for making a brave decision, like complaining about how they didn't do it earlier, is that you're deterring other people who might also do that from doing it.
00:45:48
Speaker
um Because it seems like all they're going to get is ah hard time. You know? um like And again, I'm not saying that it's not ah he shouldn't have done it earlier.
00:46:05
Speaker
But the fact that he did it is commendable. Yes. so like Especially because that is a... like He's taken a financial hit on that.
00:46:16
Speaker
Oh yeah, for sure. Like... all I will say, comics-wise, I think the the the person that immediately came to mind for this was Larry.
00:46:27
Speaker
Was Larry Hama. who's Who's been doing this since 82 and is still fucking killing it. You know, I think along those lines, Walt Simonson still seems to have a lot of integrity.
00:46:45
Speaker
And ah made some some really... smart, insightful comments about AI art this year.
00:46:59
Speaker
So, Walt Simonson's up there, too. yeah Again, i don't know, like, Larry's probably the closest to being a childhood hero, even though I wasn't aware of who Larry Hummel was when I was a kid.
00:47:12
Speaker
You know? yeah But, yeah. Yeah. but yeah
00:47:17
Speaker
Mick Foley, I was aware of. For sure. ah Robert, thank you for that category.
Comics and Video Games Awards
00:47:30
Speaker
Our next category comes from Peter Velez. And this category is the Not a Person But Could Be Gordy Award for Favorite Non-Human Character.
00:47:41
Speaker
Unbelievable. Matt, are you ready are you ready to recant Your statements? it I don't want to have this discussion. I would like to just choose the winners and move on. I don't know how it can be Crypto. Crypto had a hell a year.
00:47:57
Speaker
Crypto did have a huge Crypto was in a movie. Crypto is a major character in one of our favorite comics going. Crypto had a solo book this year that ah much of it was the worst comic I've ever read.
00:48:12
Speaker
But some of it was the best comic I've ever read. so you know. ah Yes, I think it probably does have to be Crypto. That said, i do have to give at least an honorable mention to – well, I guess technically, you know in in a purely technical sense, a Supergirl is non-human because she's Kryptonian. Okay, no, that's not that's not the spirit of the question, and you're getting – I can't with you right now, Matt.
00:48:47
Speaker
ah But I was going to say, ah ah for a new character, Les Lalar, a Kryptonian character from Kandor, a Kandorian, who is an excellent character in the the current Supergirl book.
00:49:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. But not in the spirit of quest. Oh, oh, oh, oh, no. I take it back. I take it back. Princess Shark. Princess Shark, okay.
00:49:13
Speaker
Princess Shark, I think, is closer. But you wouldn't say that Princess Shark's not a person.
00:49:21
Speaker
We're not going to have that debate again. um just it's the It's the category. ah But it's it didn't say person. It said human. said non-human. Oh, God. Okay. okay And Princess Shark is definitely not human.
00:49:34
Speaker
She's definitely not human. That's true. ah So I'm going to give it to Princess Shark. ah That Thanksgiving issue is one of my favorite single issues of the year, ah where Princess Shark is like, she wants to like get her
00:49:51
Speaker
state reversed, it but then decides, no, actually, I'm going to stay like this. Yeah, they're all that that issue will be making another appearance on the list. Peter, thank you that category. It might couple more appearances in the awards.
00:50:04
Speaker
Peter, thank you for that category.
00:50:14
Speaker
Our next two categories are from William Schmidt. The first is Texter's Choice Award for 2025. Which I did text you and Benito to see what what your thoughts were.
00:50:26
Speaker
I do think the comic we texted about most in 2025 was Hush 2. Probably was Hush 2.
00:50:36
Speaker
But that's not, again, that's not the choice. I mean, look, it's the choice is not positive or negative on its own. It's just, which book did we text about?
00:50:49
Speaker
i guess. like My winner is Hush 2. Mine is absolute Batman Annual No. 1. Yes. it's That is the second choice, I think.
00:51:02
Speaker
I definitely don't think we texted about anything more than we texted about those two comics. For sure. Probably not, because honestly, like... I said, you know, if we had ah if we had a best comic, what I think it would be.
00:51:16
Speaker
If we had a favorite comic, yeah I would have a hard time making it anything but Hush 2. Our second category from William Schmidt is Most Surprising Sword of 2025.
00:51:30
Speaker
Got an easy answer for this one, Matt. That's when Absolute Wonder Woman's giant sword became even more giant. Yeah, man, that fucking ruled. Yeah, fashion owned. Yeah. ah Yeah, i i mine was also going to be some variation on Absolute Wonder Woman's sword.
00:51:47
Speaker
um But yes, when it became like extra gigantic sword. that's That's the shit. Yeah, when she goes and fucking like turns it into a sword the size of a skyscraper and hits a monster with it, that's good.
00:52:04
Speaker
that's That's that shit I do like. that's that's That's the shit we're here for, man. That's the shit we're here for. ah Good stuff. the The absolute books continue to give.
00:52:19
Speaker
I think... I think Absolute Batman, unsurprisingly, is my favorite of them. I think Absolute Wonder Woman is the best character of all of them. like And then I say that loving Absolute Superman. Space communist Superman.
00:52:39
Speaker
yeah oh But Absolute Wonder Woman, like every bit of her origin and like every interaction she has with another character is just fucking perfect. yeah And also she has a sword that is that can turn into a sword 100 feet long.
00:52:54
Speaker
It's so good. it's It's so good. ah Thank you for those categories,
00:53:10
Speaker
Our next three categories are from Greg Cashman. First, best alternate costume in a video game in 2025. I had a real think about this.
00:53:24
Speaker
Because spider Sony's Marvel's Spider-Man 2. Did not come out in 2025. Did not come out in 2025. That's correct. Yeah, it came in 2023. But then I realized that what ah what Greg is probably talking about is Marvel Rivals, which has a ton of alternate costumes because it's a free-to-play arena shooter. it's an It's an Overwatch, as I understand it.
00:53:55
Speaker
oh So there's all kinds of different skins for characters. So I did go and have a look at And i I think the easy choice for this one is that they did do a Punisher costume based on the classic Marvel swimsuit special with the the Punisher logo Speedo.
00:54:14
Speaker
Yes, that that is pretty good. um I didn't play a minute of Marvel Rivals ah in a in any year, including 2025. Yeah, yeah.
00:54:28
Speaker
yeah yeah um it's it's I have not played it, and if you're like us and you're like kind of aware that it came out, but you didn't you know play it or anything, you just had the very surreal moment of going, why is everybody horny for Sue Storm right now? yeah Why is everybody horny for Squirrel Girl?
00:54:52
Speaker
And eventually it became ah ah Emma Frost. I mean, that wasn't surprising, though. That's true, yeah. the
00:55:04
Speaker
I guess people have been horny for, oh, I've seen this. that you You just sent me the Punisher swimsuit outfit. yeah and it is in the game. i I have seen this before, and it is great. It is very, think great. think the Punisher skull logo on his little flip-flops is a pretty nice touch.
00:55:28
Speaker
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. ah I'm going to go with for this. um I finally played Claire Obscure Expedition 33, which I'll be talking about more ah in the near future.
00:55:48
Speaker
ah But there are um there are alternate costumes in that game that are just called Baguette.
00:56:01
Speaker
ah where you can make your character dress up as a mime, ah proving that it is in fact a French game, which I have to admire. I actually missed that this was up best alternate costume and not best alternate superhero costume.
00:56:16
Speaker
Yeah, it could be any alternate costume from a video game. Yeah, I get it now. I get it. ah i I played Like a Dragon Infinite Wealth in 2025, but like i feel I feel like most of those costumes are pretty much the same as the ones from the first Like a Dragon. Because they're all like class-based, you know?
00:56:42
Speaker
um There is that one that looks like the Game of Death costume, ah which is ah pretty tight. I just kind of put everybody in their real clothes, regardless of their...
00:56:53
Speaker
of their ah ah Class. That's what I often do. yeah if if If there's like a fancy, nice suit that they can wear, that's usually what I have them wear.
00:57:06
Speaker
ah But there is also like a football uniform, and that's very funny. yeah ah but ah yeah I'm going to go with the one from Claire Obscure, Expedition 33.
00:57:21
Speaker
ah Greg's next category is the best use of an improvised weapon in a movie comic or game in 2025. ah Do you remember when Batman just fucking grabbed a bowling ball and beat the shit out of Black Mask with it in Absolute Batman?
00:57:37
Speaker
I do. I do yeah do. There you go. that's That's it. Absolute Black has that like bowling ball head.
00:57:49
Speaker
fucking I love that you can tell Scott Snyder is laughing when he's writing it.
00:57:57
Speaker
ah Mine is also from Absolute Batman, but it is a different weapon. It is from Absolute Batman Annual, where he takes that like street sweeper thing that's the size of a building, ah or that like you know huge of... like construction equipment and just starts running dudes over with it.
00:58:20
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's pretty good. that's from good That shit rules. It's like it's like a one of those giant construction dump trucks. Yeah, yeah. ah Great.
00:58:32
Speaker
Love it. ah Finally from Greg, the In Japan They're Called Search Action Games Award for Best Metroidvania of 2025. Would you like to hear a shocking fact, Matt? Hit me.
00:58:44
Speaker
I played ah Prince of Persia, The Lost Crown, so that we could discuss it on Retronauts. And I did not enjoy it. And that's the only Metroidvania I played last year.
00:58:59
Speaker
Wow. I looked at Steam, and that's the only one. I did not play any Metroidvania last year. So I'm just going to assume this goes to Silksong.
00:59:11
Speaker
I played two very good ones.
00:59:16
Speaker
But my winner is Hollow Knight Silksong. What was the other one? my My runner-up is Nine Souls. I did just get that, and AC played it and was like, oh, you should play this, you would love this. So I think that might be my next game once I'm done wringing every ounce of joy out of Tears the Kingdom.
00:59:34
Speaker
I will say this about both Nine Souls and Hollow Knight Silksong. I got to the final boss of both games and could not beat them.
00:59:45
Speaker
Interesting. so i think i i I think I can beat the boss of Silksong after a few more tries. I just kind of stopped. um There is sort of a kind a frustrating mechanic in that game where like you have like limited resources to use for like secondary weapons.
01:00:08
Speaker
And if you run out of them, you've got to go stock up again, and it's kind of just like a time sink and a little bit annoying. um And you really need the secondary weapons to fight the final boss. but like The final, final boss of Silksong.
01:00:27
Speaker
The final boss of Nine Souls I just gave up on. there There is a stupid difficulty spike right at the final boss.
01:00:39
Speaker
e No other fight in that game is even close to as hard as that one. And I don't suppose this is one that I could brute force with enough patience.
01:00:50
Speaker
No, ah you gotta like, it's all about timing and it's very short timing windows. know I'm old. Yeah. Um, that's my one, like big thumbs down for nine souls. But, um,
01:01:06
Speaker
The game itself is great. ah But my winner for Best Metroidvania is Hollow Knight's Oksong. Yeah, I think i mean i've I've got it now.
01:01:17
Speaker
I have yet to actually play it. I am worried i shan't enjoy the difficulty. I honestly think that the complaints about the difficulty are kind of overblown.
01:01:32
Speaker
ah It's not that much harder than Hollow Knight. Matt, I got Matt. I got enough going on right now. I understand.
Highlights of Comics and Creators from 2025
01:01:40
Speaker
ah Greg, thank you for those categories.
01:01:51
Speaker
Our next three categories come from Chris Kaiser. The guys. The first is the 2025 Little Mac Award for Best Punch. Matt, do you remember when... um First of all, do you remember when I texted you, does a palm strike count as a punch?
01:02:07
Speaker
I do remember that, yeah. Which we we ruled the answer is oh is no. Well, i think I think we can count it, but I did note that in pro wrestling rules, a upon a palm strike is not considered a closed fist punch. Right. So i don I don't think I would count it. You know I'm a stickler for...
01:02:26
Speaker
for categorization sure on this show. ah so Do you remember when Absolute Wonder Woman turned herself into a Medusa and looked at the Tetra side and turned it to stone and then punched it so hard that it turned into dust?
01:02:38
Speaker
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Hell yeah.
01:02:44
Speaker
That was dope as shit. That was great. That was great. ah i'm I'm giving this award to an entire issue. it's it's What was the name of that issue? It's the one where the thing fought like the whole Marvel Universe. and are they Marvel All-On-One?
01:03:02
Speaker
All-On-One, yeah. yeah um Where it turned out to... like He fought the whole Marvel Universe, but it was they all turned out to be robots. Like, evil robots.
01:03:15
Speaker
um That is a book ah by Ryan North and Ed McGinnis where... The Thing punches somebody on basically every page.
01:03:26
Speaker
Yes, correct. And they're all good. It's all like splash pages. There's so much punching. ah
01:03:38
Speaker
I feel like that is collectively, that issue is is best punch for me. Solid, solid. Okay, next from Chris, The Kais, is the 2025 Chun-Li Award for Best Kick.
01:03:57
Speaker
um Now, ah The Kais, Chris Kaiser, did send in nominee. A suggestion. Yeah. Which was, do you know, i ah when I used to do Ask Chris, I would always hate it when people would be like, what's the best blank and why is it blank? Like, I hate that. Like, let me write the article, please.
01:04:16
Speaker
And also, don't tell me your opinion. title i I specifically asked people so submitting Gordy categories to like if If you have stuff to jog our memories, send it. Yes, that that's what I'm saying.
01:04:33
Speaker
A, it's actually very useful here. And B, he did in fact include the correct answer. ah Which is ah when Batman punts Black Mask's weird little mutant alien kid into the ocean.
01:04:48
Speaker
Yep. it's Like a fucking football. you You talk about Scott Snyder laughing while he's writing this. This is the number one example of that. Yeah, if if if the the makers of this comic both if they were not laughing the entire time this page was happening in the writing of it, in the drawing of it, the inking, the coloring I would be shocked because it is it's the feel-good moment of the year.
01:05:21
Speaker
He fucking boots him. nickurga I'm sure Nick Drogada had a fun time drawing this. I would hate to learn he didn't. ah Yeah.
01:05:34
Speaker
Like, look, a job is a job. job's always going to be a job. But, you know, you can enjoy parts of your job, and you've got... ah Surely you enjoyed this. Surely. And you know how he you know you enjoyed it, is there's that panel of... There's that last panel of the sequence.
01:05:54
Speaker
it is just like in midair. It's so funny.
01:06:03
Speaker
oh He boots him, man. He boots him. He boots his ass. Fuck that kid. All right. ah Finally, on Chris's list of categories, the 2025 Link Award for Best Weapon or Object-Based Attack.
01:06:21
Speaker
This is where I'm Yes? We've kind of already done this one with the improvised weapon one. And and and but my winner, again, is kind of the absolute Batman annual The Big Dump Truck.
01:06:40
Speaker
Batman also just kind of inexplicably finds a flamethrower in that story. Yeah, when he burns ah the down the the white supremacists' headquarters with that flamethrower, That actually probably is my winner, yeah.
01:06:54
Speaker
I wanted to spread this one around a little bit, so I gave this to the one that I think we consistently discussed quite a bit on the show, ah which was ah when the mortal Thor would just throw a fucking sledgehammer into people's faces, yeah and the results would be incredibly realistic.
01:07:14
Speaker
Yep. Which is that those dudes fucking died. Yep.
01:07:22
Speaker
Al Ewing said it's time to play the game, Matt. Mortal Thor is something the fuck else, man. Yeah, he he just hucks it at them.
01:07:35
Speaker
They get got. I already talked about how ah that one panel haunted me. Yes. ah It's, yeah, man.
01:07:48
Speaker
just Absolutely bonkers. Like, you see Thor throwing a hammer in people's faces all the time. You don't see just a large man throw a hammer into ah another man's face.
01:08:03
Speaker
And it be treated like that is like it would in the real world. Yeah. Yeah. Those dudes get... You almost feel bad for them. You don't, but you almost do.
01:08:17
Speaker
Thank you, the Kais, Chris Kaiser, for sending in those categories.
01:08:29
Speaker
Our next three categories are from Thomas Foss.
01:08:35
Speaker
ah Thomas has for us the It's Not Easy Being Green Award for the Best New Variety of Kryptonite. I believe there was only one new variety of Kryptonite in 2025. Incorrect.
01:08:48
Speaker
it Really? A whole bunch got introduced in the book Superman, The Kryptonite Spectrum. Okay. I have not read that.
01:08:59
Speaker
It's good. You should read it. It's wild. It's a wild comic book. Like, really bonkers stuff.
01:09:10
Speaker
But what what's the one you you had? ah Turquoise Kryptonite that turns Supergirl into a mermaid. Yes. um that one is That one is very good. Yes. ah So there there are several varieties that are talked about in ah The Kryptonite Spectrum, ah which is by W. Maxwell Prince and Martine Marazzo.
01:09:36
Speaker
ah There is Purple Kryptonite, Cobalt Kryptonite, Speckled Kryptonite, and Rainbow K.
01:09:47
Speaker
And they all do like very funny, very weird things. like The Purple Kryptonite ah makes ah Superman into Solomon Grundy, essentially. Mm-hmm.
01:09:59
Speaker
The ah Speckled Kryptonite... I forget what the Speckled Kryptonite does. I think it maybe makes Superman into like a teenager. And then Rainbow K is especially weird. But my favorite one is the Cobalt Kryptonite, which makes Superman into a kaiju.
01:10:16
Speaker
That's pretty good. That's my favorite of the four from that book. it's it's It's a really fun book, which I think you would get a kick out of, Chris. I probably would.
01:10:29
Speaker
It's it's it's like very much like wild Silver Age kind of stuff. If there's one thing the Gordies are good for, it's remembering how much I actually fucking like comic books. Yeah, yeah.
01:10:43
Speaker
ah
01:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, that's ah the the Cobalt hip Kryptonite is my favorite one ah from that book. Uh, next from Thomas is the top rope award for the best useful wrestling movie, but a comic book. And we are going back get to pack up for your Batman, Batman, absolute Batman, Andrew will number one, where he does a one winged angel on a white supremacist.
01:11:08
Speaker
Nope. Nobody kicks out of it, Matt. Nobody kicks out of it on the next page. He does the V trigger. Yes, he does. Um, it' it's a cop, right? He does it on a cop. ah He does it on a cop.
01:11:20
Speaker
Yes. Uh, God. God, it's so good. Like, it is, like, he breaks that guy's arm in a two-page spread.
01:11:31
Speaker
The next page, he does a one-winged angel. The next page after that, he does a V-trigger that, like, turns a guy's head into rubber. And then the page after that is when he just...
01:11:45
Speaker
Gets the the guy down and beats the shit out of him. Yeah, just punches, like repeated punches. but We've never seen someone who's six foot nine do the V-trigger in real life.
01:11:59
Speaker
The one I'm giving it to, though, is the one-winged angel. Yeah, yeah. I think there's, like, that V-Trigger is great, but there's no way around the fact that, like, like ah like the V-Trigger, like, ah ah a jumping knee strike is like a martial arts move. the The One-Winged Angel is a professional wrestling move.
01:12:19
Speaker
Unquestionably, yeah.
01:12:26
Speaker
ah Finally, from Thomas... The Friendship is Magic Award for an excuse to talk about some good comics made in the past year by frequent Ajax guests.
01:12:37
Speaker
ah I gotta say, ah one of the brightest spots of this year in comics and in my life was that 2025 feels like the year that everybody remembers Benito's really good ah yeah making comics. it's but It was like Benito's breakout year Of like having a bunch of stuff come out. Yeah. And I'm really happy for him. like All of which is great. Blood and blood is Thunder is great. Santa Claus is great.
01:13:06
Speaker
So good. Startling Tales of Santa Claus. One of my favorite single issues of the year. Yeah. Hectorplasm. Yes. Hectorplasm coming back and having an amazing ah series. Like.
01:13:21
Speaker
like Yeah. We've said it before, but like. Before we were friends, I was a fan. say And like I have always known that Benito is like one of the best writers in comics, and seeing him finally get to be like, here's a ton of comics this past year has been great as a friend, great as a reader, and great as a fan.
01:13:46
Speaker
Yeah. I think we should also mention ah Erica. Yeah. Especially the... harley Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy book starting.
01:14:00
Speaker
And then all that Kyle did 2025. My only thing with that is like, it's not new. that Like, it's not. Oh, did Erica make a good comic?
01:14:10
Speaker
Okay. Like, yeah, we know. Like, like eica Erica, Erica done been in this game. and And Kyle, very much the same way. Like, i feel like Kyle has been doing, all Phenomenal stuff. Russell Heist is... I mean, it's a Kyle Starks book called Russell Heist. I don't need to tell you anything else about it.
01:14:30
Speaker
you should be You're reading it. If you're not reading it, I don't know. i i cannot imagine the Venn diagram. if If you're not reading it, what are you doing? Yeah. ah But Benito really had an incredible year with a ton of output of stuff that's all like also very different.
01:14:50
Speaker
yeah like Blood and Thunder, Hectorplasm, the Invincible ah Universe stuff that is ah getting republished and then added to, like and ah Startling Tales of Santa Claus. All very different stuff. Even within Startling Tales of Santa Claus, very different types of story.
01:15:07
Speaker
oh With some incredible artists. like Beautiful stuff. i mean really I'm really genuinely happy to see
Personal Struggles and Achievements
01:15:15
Speaker
that. like again yeah I couldn't be happier that Benito is having...
01:15:20
Speaker
had, and hopefully in 2026 will continue to have, um you know, a breakout period. Yeah. And I do want to say, also, obviously, Erica did, like, the Harley and Ivy books incredible.
01:15:34
Speaker
Yeah. And Kyle did great stuff, but, you know, like, we we had a lot of a lot of people that we know made really, really good comics this year. Jeremy.
01:15:45
Speaker
but Jeremy did great stuff, yeah. ah Like... we had a lot of friends who, who did really, really good comics. Uh, yeah, I think, uh, I think, uh, Chip and Fraction had some pretty solid stuff out this year.
01:16:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. You know, that book, Batman. Yeah. The rich Batman, ah Captain America. Yeah. That sounds pretty good. Yeah. Uh, I hope, uh, maybe I'll, I'll hop on and have some stuff come out in 2026, but,
01:16:19
Speaker
you know time will time. I'm unemployed, so if anybody wants me to have some stuff come out in 2026 and you happen to be in charge of a comic book publishing company. i do I think we would both make that request. Very yeah very much so.
01:16:33
Speaker
Thomas, thank you for those categories.
01:16:43
Speaker
Our next category is from Michael Haida. And it is the Fuck Depression Award for the thing that made you keep going throughout everything. I would like to award this to Biscuit the Dog.
01:16:57
Speaker
Biscuit the Dog. Big winner.
01:17:03
Speaker
Honorable mention would go to Matt Wilson.
01:17:07
Speaker
um Yes. ah Certainly my winners there are My cats, my wife, Chris Sims.
01:17:19
Speaker
But if we're talking about media stuff that like keeps me going, I have two i have two co-winners. okay ah All Elite Wrestling.
01:17:33
Speaker
yes And um the any of the output of Tim Robinson.
01:17:42
Speaker
There has been. that there
01:17:48
Speaker
I get it. I think it's weird to give this award to Tim Robinson's 2025 output of Friendship and the Chair Company. i Just because it's not like, don't watch those looking to be inspired.
01:18:03
Speaker
No, no, no. i But like, I don't know that anything I looked, there was anything I looked forward to watching. Like, I made, i went out of my way to go see Friendship in a movie theater. Yeah.
01:18:15
Speaker
And every episode of The Chair Company, I watched as soon as I could watch it. I think about the episode title, Mini Mouse Coming Back Was Not On My Bingo Card.
01:18:28
Speaker
Like, every day. i ah I really love, my favorite scene, I think, in that whole show was the bit, but where they the part where the guy was talking about like buying a shirt and not and and not liking it and returning it.
01:18:45
Speaker
And then buying another shirt, a replacement shirt, and he realizing that he just bought his old shirt, resold back to him. Uh-huh.
01:18:56
Speaker
Yeah. Chair Company wild. Yeah. Chair Company, maybe the strangest ending of a season I've ever seen on anything.
01:19:07
Speaker
Yes. the Absolutely Wildest and best ending. like i can't ah I can't think of something I've laughed harder at than the final moments of Chair Company Season 1.
01:19:24
Speaker
all I'm going to talk about it more in the the weeks to come when we get back to the regular show, but I had mentally and personally a bad year.
01:19:38
Speaker
In 2025. I... At this time last year, I was maybe in the most intense, depressive episode of my life.
01:19:51
Speaker
At least in 10 years. Really struggling for a lot of the year, mentally.
Media, Issues, and Captain America Discussion
01:19:58
Speaker
And... You know, like, again... Biscuit the Dog, my wife, my friends.
01:20:06
Speaker
But, like... In the same way that like a dog is good for your mental health, because if you have a dog, you do kind of have to get out of bed and give something some food.
01:20:18
Speaker
ah like having this show as a regular thing that I know I'm going to do every week, and every week I'm like, i don't want to do it. I text you, Matt, can we just not do the show? yeah so Can we not?
01:20:33
Speaker
Can someone else do this for like a week? As much as I do that, having it, it was a nice little bit of stability yeah yeah oh yeah in in a a a time when I needed a regular thing to do.
01:20:52
Speaker
But mostly the talk. Michael, thank you for sending in that category. We have five categories from Iris Martin. The first most Tim Robinson-esque media of 2025 that didn't have Tim Robinson.
01:21:05
Speaker
we have five categories from iris martin the first is most tim robinson askque media of twenty twenty five that didn't have tim robinson I had a hard time with this one. I could not think of a good one for it.
01:21:25
Speaker
I have an answer that may seem weird at first. Okay. My answer is the popular Apple TV series, which came up in our Christmas episode as well, Pluribus.
01:21:43
Speaker
Now, Pluribus isn't a comedy. there's There's funny stuff in it. ah But it it isn't a comedy per se. It is a speculative fiction sci-fi show about um one woman one woman's quest to ah save the world from happiness.
01:22:09
Speaker
And... I didn't necessarily go into the show thinking that it would be similar to Tim Robinson's stuff, particularly The Chair Company. But then so much of it was so similar to The Chair Company, I was amazed. Because it it is about like a sort of...
01:22:29
Speaker
misanthropic person that other people can't stand investigating a conspiracy. Uh-huh. And going to, like, warehouses and office buildings looking for clues.
01:22:44
Speaker
And, like, you know, by the end of the season, that's not what Pluribus is about. But um in the midst of watching the first season of Pluribus, I was like, it is so wild that this is so similar to the chair company. Yeah.
01:22:59
Speaker
ah So that's my answer. That's my winner for that category. The closest thing that I got to was ah the action button review of L.A. Noire.
01:23:11
Speaker
You know what? I could see that. yeah I could see that. The line between Tim Rogers and Tim Robinson... It's very thin, I think. Thin. I wish I liked the L.A. Noir review more than I did.
01:23:25
Speaker
You know, i I liked it more on the second watch, which is a weird thing to say about something that is like nine hours long. I just... i I wasn't really needing a plot recap of L.A. Noir. It is like...
01:23:41
Speaker
It is weird. It's weird to do the video version of the novelization L.A. Noire. But it is very Tom Scioli in its own way.
01:23:53
Speaker
It's true. i mean, it's stylish. It's incredibly stylish. ah But like I'm watching Tim Rogers' videos to get his insights and get stories about his life and...
01:24:10
Speaker
see the way he makes like interesting connections. You know? Yeah, mean, it's certainly the most different of the but the Action Button reviews. but it's a It's a little disappointing for him to just like relay the story of L.A. Noire. Even though i I do have to say, it made me – I think I said this about it.
01:24:34
Speaker
when it first came out, it made me appreciate Eleanor as a story, but still not as a game. it It kind of did the same for me. And I feel like the the second watch of it is where a lot of the commentary came through. Because it is a review, and it is commentary, just presented in a way that hides the fact that it's a review. Yeah. Yeah.
01:25:04
Speaker
Iris' next category is the best single issue done in one of 2025. You already mentioned it, Matt, but Supergirl superg girll number seven was a yeah ah the Thanksgiving issue of Supergirl, where Supergirl gets turned into a mermaid on page one by Turquoise Kryptonite and then has to go save Princess Shark from Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid.
01:25:32
Speaker
While various characters talk about what Thanksgiving is, kind of a perfect holiday comic. Yeah, it's it's great. like in a In a run that's been all hits, no skips, for nine issues now, one of the one of, hands down, the year's best comics, a real standout.
01:25:56
Speaker
As much as it pains me to continue to give awards to this one book... I cannot give it to anything but Absolute Batman Annual number one. I guess that was a standalone issue. Yeah, i I kind of think of it as just being part of Absolute Batman, but yeah.
01:26:14
Speaker
I guess it's like no more or less than Supergirl number seven is part of Supergirl. Yeah. ah Man, oh man, what a beautiful single issue of comic.
01:26:30
Speaker
Get those dudes up, man. Absolute Batman Annual No. 1 was. He fucked those dudes up. No joke.
01:26:39
Speaker
Iris' next category is the New Blue Sun Award for Most Unexpected 2025 Move from a Creator You Love. It's not that I am surprised when when Chip does a good comic.
01:26:56
Speaker
Or a smart comic. uhuh But... Chip often does things that I do not expect him to do. And I don't know if that's, you know, and we've had like, i mean, like, it's so weird to figure out how to put this, but we've had like, for real Chip Zdarsky, about as long as we had like, funny guy Chip Zdarsky, you know? Like, we've had daredevil Chip Zdarsky about as long as we've had monster cops Chip Zdarsky before that.
01:27:23
Speaker
Maybe even longer. Maybe even longer. Yeah. But I would not have said, this is the guy who's going to do it the comic about the post-9-11 Captain America.
01:27:35
Speaker
it That was rather surprising. Yeah.
01:27:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Big surprise. I enjoyed that story quite a bit, too. um i I feel like maybe when it came out, I'm not ah plugged into the discourse as much as I used to be. And honestly, thank God for that.
01:27:57
Speaker
ah But I do feel like people maybe weren't giving that story a fair shake. But I ended up, like, I really liked it. And i like I thought it was a pretty thoughtful portrayal.
01:28:10
Speaker
Yeah, I saw, like, a lot of
01:28:16
Speaker
sort of complaining about it without having read it.
01:28:22
Speaker
um By people who whose opinion I respect. and And I sort of brought up, like, well, this is kind of a modern-day John Walker.
01:28:34
Speaker
and ah And the response I got was, oh, you're saying John Walker was good? And that's when I had to top tap out of the conversation.
01:28:45
Speaker
i mean, yeah. Yeah, dude. Have you read those issues? Yeah. Have you read Captain America 350? It's good as hell. Yeah. ah But... ah But yeah, it it it was very surprising that Chip chose to go that I mean, you know, it's surprising and it's not.
01:29:05
Speaker
Were they asking you thought John Walker, the character, was a morally good person? No, they were... i i don't want to say who it was, but they were saying that john the John Walker stories and John Walker as a character were like bad.
01:29:21
Speaker
And and i didn't know what says I didn't know how to respond to that. Yeah, I mean... I mean, we we just read all that.
01:29:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's good. It's good as well. I really do feel like like the Chip's take on Cap, post-911 Cap, is is sort of like an updated take on sort of the John Walker arch archetype.
01:29:48
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think that much like the stories with 50s Cap, i there's yeah it is a kind of go-to... i' Captain America story to be like, okay, well, what is Captain America when America is kind of not that great?
01:30:08
Speaker
Yeah. Like, when America fucks up, what is Captain America?
Favorite Video Essays of 2025
01:30:12
Speaker
And, I don't know, but I wish that wasn't relevant to these times in which we live. Well, I mean, I think the answer to that is always, he's the ideal, right? like Yeah.
01:30:23
Speaker
And I think that's where that story is... is Has gone and is going. but And much like with John Walker, it's like the the the guy who is post 9-11 Cap in this story starts out with the noblest of intentions. yeah And isn't necessarily a bad guy, but he's a bad Captain America.
01:30:47
Speaker
right And I think that's, you know, i it like doesn't start out as a terrible guy anyway. But, you know, like I feel like there's... don't know, liked that. I liked it. I did too.
01:30:58
Speaker
ah My winner in this category is... Okay. So Batman Deadpool is not a surprising comic. Like, Grant writing Batman Deadpool isn't on its own surprising.
01:31:14
Speaker
I also considered those, yes. it's it's It's maybe a little surprising to see Grant come back like so fully into superhero comics after having been out of them for a while.
01:31:28
Speaker
um or or Or not as deep in them as they once were.
01:31:34
Speaker
But the decision specifically to retcon the death of Grant Morrison, the writer from Suicide Squad... That got me. It's pretty good. It's pretty good.
01:31:52
Speaker
ah now Now we just got to get John Osterader to kill him again. Right, yeah. ah Man, that that was but that was bananas. ah the that That's where that went.
01:32:06
Speaker
ah And also like explaining it all by having the the DC and Marvel universes have a one-night stand. um Very funny. Yeah, pretty good.
01:32:20
Speaker
Alright, the next category from Iris is best video essay watched in the background during a day job. This was a tough one.
01:32:32
Speaker
this was yeah This was a tough category, man. Uh, and I got, I gotta say, uh, I, I have, I think I have four honorable mentions for this category. Okay.
01:32:51
Speaker
Uh, I, I, well, I have three honorable mentions cause I looked it up and the six hour, uh, big Joel video about reviewing every Disney channel original movie was from December of 2024. So that doesn't count. Okay. Uh,
01:33:03
Speaker
okay all But I would say i want to give an honorable mention to Defunctland, Disney's living characters. yeah Amazing. So good.
01:33:17
Speaker
Fantastic, yes. ah One of the best setups and punchlines I've ever seen in one of those. Very good. Extremely good.
01:33:28
Speaker
yeah If you haven't watched it, the Todd and the Shadows one-hit wonderland about Untouched by the Veronicas. It's extremely good. oh Highly, highly recommended.
01:33:39
Speaker
ah And just a blanket honorable mention to everything that Janessa Staber and Sarah Davis Baker ah did this year. Sarah Davis Baker, a new like new recruit to the Nebula group. I watched all of her stuff, and it's all like very good, very thoughtful.
01:33:57
Speaker
oh Really good stuff. The one that I think... was my favorite of the year is Sarah Zed's video where about everyone cheating at chess.
01:34:08
Speaker
Yep. That one's great. Yeah. That one's great. Solid. Very solid.
01:34:15
Speaker
I have brought that one up in multiple just like conversations with friends. Where of like, hey, you should watch this video about how um everybody cheats at chess.
01:34:29
Speaker
Yeah, like highly recommended.
01:34:34
Speaker
ah But a lot of, I mean, you know, he get J.F. Geller did really good stuff this year. I mean you know you know, we talk about them all the time. but They all did really good stuff this year. yeah Lindsay Ellis did one on the on Disney's flop eras that was ah very enjoyable as well. That one was also good. But when I went and looked at what I've watched, the Sarah Zed chess video was the one that I think really stood out.
01:34:58
Speaker
ah My winner is a a video essay. um i I loved all the ones you just mentioned. ah And I watched plenty more. I watched some really good FD Signifier ah video essays this year. his His video about sinners was really good.
01:35:17
Speaker
Like a good deep dive into sort of what sinners is trying to say and how people have maybe misinterpreted it ah He also did a very good video about um to to Charlie Kirk.
01:35:34
Speaker
But um I actually really, really enjoyed um most a Patrick H. Willems video about um examining ah flying in movies over the past 100 years called How Flying in Movies Evolved Over 100 Years.
01:35:54
Speaker
um All based on the shot of Superman flying in the Superman trailer with his you know with his arms back where the camera's like right on his face.
01:36:06
Speaker
um and how like so I guess some people didn't like that for whatever reason. um but like It's just like century-long examination of flying in movies.
01:36:22
Speaker
Really fun. Really good to watch. I liked it. ah So I'm going to give it to that.
MVP Dropout Cast Members
01:36:30
Speaker
Our final category from Iris Martin is New Character Find of 2025. I think this one is a slam dunk. It's got to be Supergirl's girlfriend, Les LaLar. Les LaLar is fantastic, yes.
01:36:44
Speaker
um The fact that it started out as an antagonistic relationship and then became a passionate defense of...
01:36:55
Speaker
of a Kara Zor-El. Even to the point where she hates Superman. um ah ah yeah She's the best. She's she's really good.
01:37:07
Speaker
um Every version of the of the characters in Supergirl is like right on like let That version of Lena Luthor is perfect. Yeah.
01:37:21
Speaker
I appreciate that Lezalar is a character where Earth's yellow sun makes her thick. Like, canonically.
01:37:33
Speaker
Yes, canonically thick. And also the the true subtlety. And you know how much I love subtlety in my comics, Matt. In my superhero comics, the subtlety that I love. Mm-hmm.
01:37:46
Speaker
the The first three letters of her name being LES, just in case you don't get it. Just in case because you don't get what's happening. Just in case you missed it. Just in case you missed every piece of this character's motivation and actions.
01:38:03
Speaker
Supergirl's girlfriend, Les Lalar. Easily the the the sensational character find of 2025. Yeah. agree.
01:38:15
Speaker
ah And also Princess Shark. Like, everything about the Sophie Campbell Supergirl book is a delight. A complete delight. It's just what I want DC Comics to be. Yeah.
01:38:33
Speaker
Iris, thank you for those categories.
01:38:43
Speaker
Our next category comes from Hazy. And that is MVP Dropout Cast Member. ah Do you know I gotta give it to the ace?
01:38:55
Speaker
The once-in-a-century talent? Go ace, Lou Wilson. Now, that's a little surprising to me. I know. i know. i couldn't think with my heart, Matt.
01:39:08
Speaker
I for sure thought it was gonna be Vic Michaelis.
01:39:14
Speaker
Look, I know. But Vic Michaelis, for all that they did on Dropout, did not make their actual car into the Joker-mobile. Into a Joker car. Yes. i You know, here's the thing. Lou Wilson, I feel like Lou Wilson, in terms of screen time, had a pretty limited
01:39:42
Speaker
amount of stuff in 2025 Dropout. i mean just because you know Just because he's busy. He's busy with other stuff, right? Yeah, I mean, you know, to getting up to put his job personally targeted by the government of the United States of America.
01:39:59
Speaker
Correct. one thing. But I mean, you know, he was on a season of Dimension 20. He was on ah a bunch of episodes of ah Game Changer and Make some Noise. so Yeah. yeah I don't think anything...
01:40:13
Speaker
I'm not going to say that that nobody committed to the bit as much as as he did. yeah But nobody else got I'm da Joker as a license plate. And as he said, he moved to a new neighborhood and that's his actual car.
01:40:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that is huge and and and great. Yeah. um i'm going to I'm going to throw in some honorable mentions before I get to my choice for MVP dropout cast member of 2025. Anna Garcia.
01:40:51
Speaker
Anna Garcia is incredibly funny. Every time ah she appears, i think it's great. um Probably in the best episode of Very Important People.
01:41:06
Speaker
Yes, yes, yes. um I think that's from 2024. But ah the one where she's the rock boy is... is like i dot I don't know if it will ever be topped.
01:41:23
Speaker
That's how good that episode of Very Important People is. Demi Adejube had a great year on Dropout. yeah ah His special's great.
01:41:34
Speaker
His special's great. ah he I think he had the best game-changer performance of 2025. In the in ah the the election one?
01:41:45
Speaker
the yeah The election one is great, and he's great in it. But in the one where um you only have one shot, that episode, where the people would come out and dance after every attempt, and that and he would dance and do... like incredible moves.
01:42:07
Speaker
ah I thought that Demi was incredibly impressive in that episode. didn't look Look, a lot of them. A lot of folks on there.
01:42:19
Speaker
Rekha Shanker. Amazing. yeah oh well Everybody on that show, everybody on that network did phenomenal stuff this year.
01:42:32
Speaker
ah was the once-in-a-century talent map here's Here's my winner. Here's my winner. Okay. And this may be surprising because he sometimes flies under the radar.
01:42:46
Speaker
Sometimes he's he's not the flashiest cast member. Oh, I i should also mention Jacob Wysocki, who got a whole a Game Changer episode about him. About really how he's a good guy.
01:42:58
Speaker
it really made it work and really made it good. Like, yeah, that that one was was excellent as well. Incredibly emotional. But my winner of MVP Dropout cast member of 2025 the Silent Killer.
01:43:12
Speaker
is the silent killer
01:43:16
Speaker
he He never takes the glory, but he's secretly the funniest person on stage anytime he's on a show. Zach Oyama.
01:43:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, Zach, you nailed it. You nailed it with that. like he He is the like surgical precision. like This didn't happen in 2025, but it's the best example of Zach. Zach's absolute precision.
01:43:47
Speaker
The thing where the – it was on a – I think it's on a um make some noise where the prompt is ah like you know a lawyer – a client ruins something for his lawyer. And Brittany Mulligan is doing like a whole speech like as the lawyer like trying to defend his client. And then Zach O'Yahua just goes, yeah, I killed him.
01:44:13
Speaker
is he Is he a perfect man? No. Yeah, I killed him. It is the... like i Tears. Tears in my eyes from that.
01:44:24
Speaker
His stuff in the Fantasy High Junior year, ah which ah like his entire arc is Gorgug's fucking done, was hilarious. like Truly amazing stuff.
01:44:43
Speaker
ah Also, Zach... but i i i think you know look I don't think there's any wrong choices for this. ah and And again, I talk about Zeke and Aaron McKinley like being the best episode of ah Very Important People.
01:45:00
Speaker
But Zach Oyama's two episodes together might be the best two episodes together. when at Those little hands. I gotta to say, Matt, I don't...
01:45:12
Speaker
like I don't like the little hands, which like make the episode... like I'm not supposed to. not supposed to like them. But i don't I don't like the little hands.
01:45:27
Speaker
The bit in that episode where he says he found $20,000 and turned it into $12,000 whatever it was. Incredibly great.
01:45:39
Speaker
incredible incredibly great Also, Lisa Gilroy is chaos agent the the chaos agent and specifically going after Samurais.
01:45:53
Speaker
yeah Lisa Gilroy is like has the most goblin energy I've ever seen anyone have. yeah Yeah. ah Hazy, thank you for sending in that category.
Humorous Awards and Reflections
01:46:14
Speaker
Our next category is two categories from Hot Spring Summer. The first is Honorary Marvel Bullshit Award for the most Marvel bullshit to happen in your life, 2025. No, it was specified non-tragedy.
01:46:30
Speaker
Non-tragedy, yes. dont trump ah But I don't, I mean, that's, like, I didn't i didn't turn into American kaiju or anything. Like, i mean, both my uncles have been dead for years, so I don't know.
01:46:42
Speaker
i don't think I had i don't think I could not think of anything that really fit with this for me. I mean, myus
01:46:53
Speaker
mine is is a technicality, because Marvel has published a few Star Trek comics. I was in an improvised Star Trek show Yeah, I guess mine's that i I really doubled down on being a knife collector.
01:47:06
Speaker
Yeah, man. ah You're like Punisher Armory, but for knives.
01:47:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's that's the the the origin story of Cable. Rob Liefeld says that he looked at who who were the two most popular characters, and it was Wolverine and the Punisher. So he wanted to make a character that had more guns than the Punisher and always had more than six knives.
01:47:30
Speaker
You know what? There is a brilliance to that. Do you know I respect it? There is a brilliance to that.
01:47:38
Speaker
Osprey Summer's second category is the Empty Paper Towel Roll is a Sword Memorial Award for Most Wrong Someone's Been on the Pod 2K25. Now, I think this – it's interesting that this was the the eponym for this category. Because I do think that Empty Paper Towel Roll is a notional sword.
01:47:58
Speaker
It's just not an actual sword. I mean, I feel like the example has to be Wolverine's claws are a sword. Wolverine's claws are a sword, which is nonsense.
01:48:09
Speaker
It's absolute nonsense. um But the actual answer is Matt Wilson saying Biscuit is not a person. ah
01:48:18
Speaker
That was so wrong it almost ended the show.
01:48:26
Speaker
I'm going to go with the Wolverine's claws or a sword. Interesting that you would go with that. Thank you, Hot Spring Summer, for those two categories.
01:48:43
Speaker
Our next set of categories comes from Dugan Nash. The first one is the Chainsaw Man Award for thing you most want to force the other host to get into this year.
01:48:54
Speaker
um I don't want to force you to get into anything, Matt. Alright, we'll change it to encourage. What would you like to encourage me to get into? i I don't really know. um i mean, Hollow Knight Silksong, which you're going to play anyway.
01:49:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. like You should absolutely definitely play Hollow Knight Silksong. so So that's it. Do you think I should give Elden Ring a third try?
01:49:23
Speaker
No, I think you should go back to Bloodborne. um Okay. Because Elden Ring, i I feel like Elden Ring, well, there are pluses and minuses to starting Elden Ring. The minus is, i feel like Elden Ring is better enjoyed if you've played some other games of the Soulsborne type.
01:49:47
Speaker
Mm-hmm. But the good thing about Elden Ring is if you're stuck somewhere and you're losing to a boss over and over again, you can just go somewhere else. You always have the option to just go somewhere else.
01:50:02
Speaker
there's no There's no linear path you have to follow at all at any point. So... you know That is what it is. But I think I would tell you to play Hollow Knight Silksong first.
01:50:16
Speaker
um I also think you would enjoy Clear Obscura Expedition 33. i I might encourage you to play that as well. Because it's like...
01:50:27
Speaker
European persona? Do you... That sounds much worse. The regular persona. Than everything else I've heard about it.
01:50:43
Speaker
Here's the thing. This category is not what you want the other person to experience. It's what you want them to get into. And so, Matt, I think you should read all of Dragon Ball.
01:50:56
Speaker
I probably won't. um I know you won't.
New Hobbies and Media Suggestions
01:50:59
Speaker
Simply because of the time commitment. The thing I'm going to actually try to do, because I have it all, is read Chainsaw Man.
01:51:07
Speaker
um I mean, yeah, so that that shit's also pretty good. um i'm i'm going to try i' the the I'm going to try to just generally do more reading in 2026. I mean, look, i I just got all of Lone Wolf and Cub on that Humble Bundle.
01:51:29
Speaker
So you know I'm to be reading a shit about Lone Wolf and Cub this year. all right Our next category from Dugan is the Rebecca from Cyberpunk Edgerunners Award for character or thing you discovered in 2025 you thought would be annoying but actually rules.
01:51:46
Speaker
I think I started reading Spy Family in 2024. In fact, i'm I'm sure that it wasn't 2025. But definitely... ah but i definitely thought Anya Forger would be more annoying than she was. um But i don' I don't know. like I can't think of any character that I was like, fuck this guy ah from this year and until I read it. like Again, everybody in the Superman movie, I really liked yeah maybe the entirety of the Alfred show and Gotham.
01:52:21
Speaker
Yeah, i'd I'd say those two. i mean we We definitely thought Gotham was going to be annoying and suck. i I just had to recalibrate my entire brain for Gotham.
01:52:39
Speaker
yeah i will say I will say, honestly, Fuckable Penguin <unk>s so much better than I thought he was. I wish I could go back to that con that we did with Robin Lord Taylor.
01:52:52
Speaker
Fascinating. Fascinating. Yeah. ah My answer to this is...
01:53:01
Speaker
r ipda animal yeah ah tommy dreamer you were talking about the n wa title the tommy dreamer was like of course it's good course destroyed no tommy it's ugly like that's what that's what's charming about it it's an ugly belt that's asymmetrical and weird anyway matt ah my answer to this is perhaps surprising um Before 2025, I had watched the UK version of The Traitors, which I really enjoyed because the the contestants on it um were just regular people.
01:53:41
Speaker
And um that was that was the show that the version of the show that I liked and that had I had been recommended to watch. And I sort of was purposely avoiding the US version of the traitors because it was celebrities and mostly celebrities from other reality shows.
01:54:01
Speaker
Most of whom I don't know who they are and I don't care who they are either. Like, I don't need to know about people who were on Survivor. But because we wanted something to watch and Marlene wanted to watch it, we did watch the US version of the traitors and it turned out to actually be very fun and very good.
01:54:20
Speaker
And a large part of that is Alan Cumming is the host, who is infinitely entertaining and stylish. ah So I definitely thought the US version of the Traitors was going to be annoying, and it ended up being really good and really fun instead.
01:54:42
Speaker
Next from Dugan is the Battle Angel Alita Award for thing that you were familiar with already that you got into again in 2025. It's got to be Tears the Kingdom for me.
01:54:54
Speaker
ah a A game that I thoroughly rode until the wheels fall ah ah fell off last time and went back to. yeah and And now, let's let's see if we can't run those wheels right into a dead horse.
01:55:12
Speaker
ah So, like, not an especially old thing ah that you got back into. um Mine is also very much that, um because I have just been rereading Berserk.
01:55:24
Speaker
Like, i might I might be reading Berserk forever. Yeah, I thought about, like, I i think I posted on Blue Sky, like, what if i stop what if I stop reading comics and just read Berserk again? Yeah.
01:55:44
Speaker
Yeah, man. Like, not every story deserves revisiting. But I could read Berserk over and over and over and over.
01:55:57
Speaker
It's just that good.
01:56:02
Speaker
it I mean, it's... really It really, it's kind of as good as they've ever been. Comics. You ain't kidding. You are not kidding.
01:56:14
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's really incredibly good. i got some new bookshelves this year ah because the bookshelf the the bookcase I had in my office was, one, falling apart, and two, ah not big enough. like i I had way more books than I could fit on.
01:56:37
Speaker
that one bookshelf. And so I got some new bookshelves and, um, I simply dedicated the entire bottom shelf to berserk hardcovers. Yeah.
01:56:49
Speaker
Worth it. Yeah.
01:56:52
Speaker
Uh, that's where I'm at. but ah Our last category from Dugan is the Montgomery Burns Award. C. Montgomery Burns is what that should be. The C. Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence.
01:57:08
Speaker
i I saw this as kind of a sub-award for Intercontinental Champion. Well, here's the thing.
Intercontinental Champion Title Debate
01:57:19
Speaker
Here's the thing about it, okay?
01:57:21
Speaker
Uh-huh. Uh-huh.
01:57:24
Speaker
Intercontinental Championship is an actual award of merit. Right. This is a made-up award given to somebody as a means to ah suck up to them.
01:57:38
Speaker
Well, that's so who would do that?
01:57:43
Speaker
ah that That isn't necessarily for merit, but for but is for some for somebody that like ah you want to be in the good graces of. so well See, i I took it more at its at its face meaning, and now i can't now I feel bad about who I gave it to.
01:58:02
Speaker
Well, who did you give it to? i gave it to Sophie Campbell. See, I think Sophie Campbell is a contender for the Intercontinental Championship. I agree, but I didn't give Sophie Campbell the Intercontinental Championship, so... Well, I don't... I mean, we do want to be in Sophie Campbell's good graces, but I also think Sophie Campbell lot. Yeah, but Sophie Campbell also produced, like, incredible work this year. Yeah.
01:58:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. it's it's It's a bit of a mindfuck of a category, because it's got to be, like... It's got to come... I feel like it probably has to kind of come with a wink and a nod.
01:58:37
Speaker
right Okay, so who would who would you give it to? um I would give it to ah someone who I would love to have published my comics, David Zaslav.
01:58:51
Speaker
i will Yeah, I think I will give it to anyone who is currently hiring. Exactly, yes. It's also an award for a subordinate, but we don't have any. so That's true.
01:59:06
Speaker
So biscuit it is. ah ah Thank you, Dugan, for those categories.
01:59:21
Speaker
Our next and sort of our final set of categories is from Chris Cole. That's mine. That is your name. ah The first category from Chris is the most fucked up absolute Batman villain.
01:59:36
Speaker
but that's That's gotta be Bane! Okay, Bane is very fucked up, but hear me out.
01:59:45
Speaker
We learned about Absolute Joker in Absolute Evil. And the first thing we learned about Absolute Joker is that he doesn doesn't laugh. Then we learned that Absolute Joker...
01:59:59
Speaker
is actually like five generations of a guy. He's like 200 years old. He's like 200 years old, and he's like five generations of a family, all in one guy.
02:00:10
Speaker
And he hunts people on an island and turns into a monster to hunt them on an island. I think Absolute Joker is pretty fucked up. I mean, yeah.
02:00:23
Speaker
Look, that your're you're correct. But think about like where we leave Absolute Bane. it was Yeah. It's like Batman did... Batman fucked Absolute Bane up more than he fucked anybody up.
02:00:40
Speaker
Including those oh fucking Nazi pigs.
02:00:45
Speaker
Like, he turned Bane into an Akira? And then into a Robocop. That did happen, yeah. That did happen. Yeah, man. He fully got Akira'd.
02:00:56
Speaker
He got fully Akira'd, and then by the end of it, he's a Robocop. Yeah.
02:01:05
Speaker
And he's also, like, 60 feet All right, I think your your winner is Absolute Bane. My winner is Absolute Joker. And that's just where that's going to be. The next category from Chris is the Batmobile's 13th Gear Award for the best moment from a friend of the show.
02:01:21
Speaker
And my friend, I think you nailed it with the category. Yeah. Fucking 13th Gear and none of them are reverse? Like, we none of them are reverse.
02:01:34
Speaker
I think um we we have perhaps shortchanged Matt Fraction Batman ah on on this award show.
02:01:46
Speaker
Because Absolute Batman is taking so much air out of the room. But goddamn, those handful of issues so far have been so good.
02:01:59
Speaker
And the Batmobile having a secret 13th gear so Yeah.
02:02:04
Speaker
so funny it's It's the secret 13th gear. It's not just that there's 13th gears. It's that there's 12 gears and then a secret 13th one. ye But also Batman says, yeah, it has 13 gears.
02:02:18
Speaker
But the 13th one is a secret.
02:02:22
Speaker
oh Incredible. fucking love comic books. Finally from Chris, the Jen Reigns Award for Best Sword introduced in 2025. ah We already had a Best Sword category, but I included this ah Because Chris also included this PS.
02:02:40
Speaker
ah Because we had a campaign this year to get Jen a sword. Chris says, PS, back in November, Jen officiated our friend's wedding at Viking Fest in St. Joseph, Missouri, with her sword.
02:02:56
Speaker
I just wanted to let you all know, her sword is already being charged with important tasks. Those tasks also included keeping Nazis out of the event. Fuck yeah. we're making a real change here on war rocket Ajax. We're doing, we're doing things. We're helping, uh, love flourish and, ah making real things happen.
02:03:19
Speaker
That's what we do here on war rocket Ajax.
02:03:24
Speaker
Yeah. I, I was trying to think just in case, uh, if there were any other swords introduced this year, because wonder woman's giant sword is introduced in 2024.
02:03:37
Speaker
Right. ah So I think Jyn's sword was introduced in concept and in execution this year? Correct, yes. so I think we are going to give it to Jyn's sword.
02:03:50
Speaker
ah The other sword that I'm going to give it to, it was a sword that was submitted for 1 to 10 of swords, but we could not rank at the time because ah I had not played the game yet.
02:04:05
Speaker
I have now played the game, and we are going to rate this sword next time we do 1 to 10 of swords. But I'm giving it an award right now. It's the Barrier Breaker from Claire Obscure Expedition 33. Okay. And that's all I'll say about it right now. But that sword is, like, in the in the narrative, that sword is nuts. Oh yeah, this sword looks cool. We talked we talked about how cool it looks.
02:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, it looks really cool, but it its narrative purpose makes it way cooler. you love a sword with a narrative purpose? I will say this. it is not the best sword in the game.
02:04:45
Speaker
Okay. Like, mechanically or... Mechanically. Or swordically. In terms of damage dealt, it is not the best sword in the game.
02:04:57
Speaker
um But it is... extraordinarily cool, and the thing it does, and the way it is made, all extremely great.
02:05:12
Speaker
okay
02:05:15
Speaker
So, we'll talk more about that when we get back to it on 1 to 10 of Swords. Thank you, Chris Cole, for those categories.
02:05:33
Speaker
All right, we had one final submission from Mike Donahue, but this is not a category. This is an appeal. So I'm just going to read this.
02:05:46
Speaker
And this is about the Intercontinental Championship. Yeah, so we we're moving we're moving on to the main event. It is time now for the War Rocket Ajax Intercontinental Championship, which, i Matt, should should we rename it?
02:06:01
Speaker
To what? Should we rename it the War Rocket Ajax Continental Unified American
02:06:13
Speaker
United States Championship? International Classic Owen Hart Championship. National. Yeah.
02:06:25
Speaker
ah I don't know. We'll think about it. I think we're going to keep keep it as the Intercontinental title for now. but The International Continental TNT National Championship. much to think about
Closing Remarks and Social Issues Affirmation
02:06:39
Speaker
Much to think about. We could call it the unified title, maybe.
02:06:42
Speaker
We could call it the unified title. Which is now ununified. Yes. ah But nonetheless, here's what Mike says. Have the creative teams of Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman cashed in their Gordy in the Bank briefcase to become the reigning and defending Intercontinental Champions.
02:07:02
Speaker
The current title holders are Kentaro Miura and Akira Toriyama. However, I would like to point to you in the direction of Absolute Batman Annual, as well as Absolute Batman Annual's writer and artist, Daniel Warren Johnson, particularly the art he's been posting.
02:07:16
Speaker
I know it's hard to compete with the late mongo great manga creators, but with the technical addition of DWJ to the Absolute Trinity creative team, I think they might be able to pull off an upset. So, the question is, did the Gordy and the Bank get cashed in in 2025? Now,
02:07:37
Speaker
now here's the thing, Matt. I would say No. I would also say no. I don't i don't think it happened. i I think the trouble with the joint posthumous award to Kintaro Mura and Akira Toriyama is that no one no one could have cashed in on them. like right they They were pretty solid.
02:08:09
Speaker
And I don't think that Daniel Warren Johnson...
02:08:14
Speaker
could Freebird rule his way into the Gordy and the Bank briefcase. Yeah, and not not a part of it when it was awarded.
02:08:25
Speaker
Yeah. ah so So for these reasons... I don't think it got cashed in in 2025. I think the the reign of Toriyama Kintaro Miura was carried out to its ah to its full year completion and oh but in an inimitable and official manner.
02:08:54
Speaker
I would agree. I would agree. However... I think if we're looking for a 2025 Intercontinental Champion.
02:09:04
Speaker
i there's some There's someone that I think it has to be. Okay. And it is a previous champion. Oh, okay. Interesting.
02:09:16
Speaker
But ah who do you think it is? I think it's the collective creative teams of the Absolute Line.
02:09:25
Speaker
Including Daniel Warren Johnson. Including Daniel Warren Johnson. I was just going to give it to Daniel Warren Johnson by himself. here Okay, here's the thing. Certainly warranted.
02:09:38
Speaker
Certainly warranted. Certainly earned. Yeah. You deserve it. You deserve it. I hate that chant. it's um It's definitely a chant that might as well be wrestling is a work.
02:09:54
Speaker
Yeah. Like you shouldn't chant about how it's work. that's my That's my most like Jim Cornette opinion. if If wrestling was a real sporting contest, you would you would chant you earned it.
02:10:07
Speaker
Not, yeah you deserve it. Like, it's a bad chance. But yes, Daniel Warren Johnson, absolutely. Daniel Warren Johnson didn't write and draw that page where Batman kicked that baby.
02:10:21
Speaker
That's true, and he did not write and draw that page where a Wonder Woman turned her sword into a 100-foot long sword. And he didn't he's not responsible for Knock Knock Motherfucker.
02:10:32
Speaker
Right. And this way, I think if we give it to the creative teams as a whole, we get ah previous winner Kelly Thompson in there, we get Nick Tricotta in there, we get Al Ewing in there, because we didn't even talk about Absolute Green Lantern, but Absolute Green Lantern got wild this year. Absolute Green Lantern going into the levels of Enlightenment
02:10:59
Speaker
That was good stuff. And, you know, like, Dennis Camp and Javier rod Rodriguez doing, like, incredibly impressive work on Absolute Martian Manhunter. Yeah.
02:11:17
Speaker
Javier Rodriguez, one of the best to ever draw comics. And and some of his career best work ah in... in Absolute Martian Manhunter.
02:11:29
Speaker
Yeah. Easily. Just gorgeous. God. yeah And Marcus Martin or marcus martin drawing ah the um Mr. Freeze arc.
02:11:40
Speaker
yeah ah Plus we get ah ah the Absolute Superman team in there. like I think nobody made comics nobody made a line of comics as consistently good as the Absolute books. And there were a lot of good-ass comics this year. yeah so There were some very bad comics.
02:12:02
Speaker
And if you ask me what time it is to read those comics, I can tell you. ah Dig what type no time. what time. so So, okay. So we're going to give the Intercontinental Championship just to all of the creators of the... maybe Maybe this is why it needs to be the International National TNT Continental Owen Hart Championship. I do think calling it the International National Championship is pretty fucking funny, actually. ah
02:12:42
Speaker
because Because that's like six belts, and we're going to need more than that for all of these people we're awarding them to. You've heard of the J-Crown. What I posit is the WRA crown.
02:12:55
Speaker
b Okay, that's the winner. I do think we should give the Gordy and the brave Bank briefcase to Sophie Campbell. Yes, that was going to be my suggestion as well.
02:13:07
Speaker
ah Because again, like you can't say that nobody produced comics as consistently good as the absolute line, because a lot of people were producing consistently good comics. I just think as a line, the worst one is still good.
02:13:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i Absolute Flash is the one I've never like really sat down and read. I think Absolute Flash is the worst Absolute book, and by that I mean it's maybe a B+. plus Yeah.
02:13:43
Speaker
It is, I mean, it's kind of an A-, minus but it's maybe a B+. plus Like, it's an 8 out of 10, you know? Yeah. I can't dispute it.
02:13:56
Speaker
Yeah. ah But I think you know if you look at the absolute great comics that we had this year, ah you know Tom Scioli did amazing stuff this year with ah Monsterpiece Theater, and then that a Twilight Zone comic where a guy said, it's like we're in some kind of Twilight Zone. I forgot about that Twilight Zone comic by Tom Scioli.
02:14:23
Speaker
Al Ewing did ah that Metamorpho book that had ah Cyclops, the cybernetic criminal leadership operational planning system, the most advanced crime pewter of the age, able to calculate perfidy to a million decimal places.
02:14:36
Speaker
i I actually i i was looking for somewhere to give the award, and i just it never came up. But like one of the best moments of the year is when Metamorpho defeats Solaris the Tyrant's son by becoming a son and absorbing it.
02:14:53
Speaker
ah Beautiful. Akewood came back this year and was yeah was great. I think the all-new Venom stuff has been hilarious. We didn't even talk about Mark Waid and Chris Semney's ah Batman and Robin Year One at all.
02:15:09
Speaker
And that's a great comic. I mean, there's a lot of comics we have throughout the year that we like loved that we never mentioned. like we never We also never talked about Batman Dark Patterns.
02:15:22
Speaker
I do think it was like
02:15:25
Speaker
A bit of a down year for Spider-Man. ah But that like Giant Side Spider-Man number one was super fun. Sleep by Xander Cannon was one of my favorite books coming out.
02:15:39
Speaker
um So yeah, like you know I feel like we were very focused on the absolute books in Supergirl and a few other things. Enigma time.
02:15:53
Speaker
i mean we didn't you know We didn't talk about ah ah Ryan North Fantastic Four at all. Yeah, or ah or Minor Threats. Minor Threats, or plenty of other stuff that we didn't talk about. oh yeah We didn't talk about like the core Superman books, which I've been reading, and you know the Dance Alot Superman stuff, which I think has been really fun.
02:16:16
Speaker
or or or Or the Jason Aaron Uncle Scrooge book. Yeah. Which has been a blast. Yeah. But I don't think... Even with all that... I don't think... I mean, like I said before... I read Supergirl and I'm like, this is exactly what I want DC Comics to be.
02:16:36
Speaker
yeah And... Any comic that can nail that for a jaded... Old man like me... they gave bitter and hateful jaded old man...
02:16:50
Speaker
oh is is absolutely crushing it. It is consistently one of my favorite books every time it comes out. And it's one of my favorite books in a completely different way than the Absolute books.
02:17:03
Speaker
Yeah. oh Yeah, it it does a different thing, but ah it is very much what you want from a comic. Yeah. um So, the Intercontinental Champion 2025 twenty twenty five is The entirety of the creative teams of the absolute line.
02:17:24
Speaker
Yes. With the Gordy and the Bank briefcase winner, Sophie Campbell. Yes. It is decided. the The War Rocket Ajax Intercontinental Championship, a.k.a. the warwi the War Rocket Ajax World International Continental TNT National Championship.
02:17:45
Speaker
Owen Hart. Owen Hart. That is going to do it for us here at ah the Flash Gordon Memorial Auditorium. Thank you to everyone who was in attendance here. Thank you to everyone who submitted categories.
02:18:04
Speaker
Thank you to all of our winners and nominees. It has been another great year of awards here. And we will return with our first...
02:18:18
Speaker
regular War Rocket Ajax episode of the year next week. ah So come back for that. It should be a very fun time. In the meantime, if you would like to get in touch with us, send us an Every Story Ever list or ah Gordy category for next year.
02:18:38
Speaker
or Don't send us a Gordy category for next year. No, don't do that yet. um A listener question, whatever, you can email us at our email address, which is warrocketpodcast at gmail.com. You can also get in touch with us on Tumblr.
02:18:53
Speaker
We're there at warrocketpodcast.tumblr.com. We're on Blue Sky. warrocketajax.com is our Blue Sky handle. ah You can get in touch with us on our Discord.
02:19:06
Speaker
You have to become a member of our Discord. it's It's by invitation, but if you ask us nicely for an invitation, we will get you one and you can join over there and be part of that community of War Rocket Ajax. Fans and listeners, it is a cool place that you should come hang out at.
02:19:26
Speaker
You can also send us messages on Patreon and support the show there. Patreon.com slash War Rocket Ajax is our Patreon page.
02:19:37
Speaker
and it is where you can ah support the show and get cool rewards at various levels. WarRocketAjax.com is our website, and has every episode of the show we we've ever done. WarRocketWiki.com is the fan-run repository of all the information you could ever want to need about the show, WarRocketAjax, and it has a backlog of every Gordy's episode.
02:20:00
Speaker
All 14 previous Gordy's are documented, or documented on warrocketwiki.com. Now, if you want to find me and my stuff, go to mattdwilson.net. You'll find links to all of my stuff there. Chris, where can people find to you?
02:20:16
Speaker
Everybody can find me by going to the-isb.com. There are links there to the things that I've written, and links that you can use to get in touch with me if you want to hire me so that I have a job and continue to live indoors.
02:20:30
Speaker
We all want that, right? We all want that for Chris. I hope so. Make that happen, please.
02:20:39
Speaker
Here's to a 2026 that has to be don't ah don't better for beer, right? Don't. Don't. Don't. Knock on wood right now, Matt Wilson. All right. I'm knocking on wood.
02:20:52
Speaker
ah We'll see you next week. Thanks for listening, everybody. And ah we got some things you need to remember. That's right, everybody. Don't forget Black Lives Matter. Trans rights are human rights. As are abortion rights.
02:21:06
Speaker
Drag is not a crime. Cots aren't your friends. Abolish ICE.
02:21:11
Speaker
We love you. We love you. And hey, Gordon's alive!