One of the best comics podcasts to come along in ages is The Monitor Tapes, in which hosts Doug Adamson and DC Dave look at every aspect of the comic series for which the term ‘seminal’ was probably invented, Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Rather than taking a linear view and doing an index show, the boys are hopping around – teleporting actually – and talking about whatever takes their fancy, with a guest on hand to act as wild card. Subjects so far have included the JSA’s role in the story, the marquee death of Barry Allen and the first issue. I recommend them all.
I also recommend the latest episode, in which I join Dave and Doug on the Monitor’s satellite to talk all things… Monitor. Where did he come from? What did he want? Who the heck gave him that weird haircut?
There’s an emphasis on his pre-Crisis appearances, when DC mandated The Monitor appear at least twice in every comic in the line – from superhero to Western to War – to build some excitement for a series they couldn’t talk about. The higher-ups didn’t even give their own creative teams much idea as to what the Monitor would ultimately be about. All they knew was that right now he was a super-weapons broker.
So how did that go? How did DC’s top creators get everyone excited about a new character they couldn’t even show?
Is The Monitor all about helping the super-villains?
Or is he just into making money?
And what of his sharp second-in-command, Lyla, the woman he rescued as a drowning babe and thinks of as a daughter?
Er…. moving on, how is she using all the secrets she’s cataloguing?
She’s obviously kidding, being the keeper of all the Knowledge of the Multiverse is a serious business.
Oh the heck with it, let’s see if Doug, Dave and me can make sense of things as we talk The Monitor, the Anti-Monitor and Harbinger, with a side of Lady Quark and, if you’re very unlucky, a smear of Pariah.
Join us by clicking on this link – that’s also where you can leave comments on the show and explain it all!
Happy Monitoring!
Too Dangerous For a Girl 2 