Pop Culture Happy Hour: On Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Paper Girls And More

I got the chance to crash the Pop Culture Happy Hour party again.

This time, we gathered to discuss the fantastic, hilarious show Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which in the absence of Parks And Recreation is now my favorite network comedy.

Also on the show, we discuss a topic I originally suggested as a joke, mostly because due to being so busy with the day job and writing so much for NPR Music — plus the Royals being in the playoffs all of October — and not having much time to catch up on movies or TV. The topic title still cracks me up: Pop Culture I Hop To Finally Get Around To One Day When I Have Some Damn Spare Time To Myself Oh God I’m So Tired I Just Need To Lie Down For A Second But I Promise I’ll Get To It Soon.

Then, in What’s Making Me Happy this week, I talk about the first issue of a great new comic series Paper Girls, by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang. It’s already so good.

One other note: This podcast was originally taped on Oct. 26, the day before the Royals started the World Series — but it dropped a few days after the team won it all. So you can prob hear a little bit of my hesitant optimism here because I’m sure I was a) just thrilled to be in the playoffs and World Series; and b) nervous that they might fall short. Luckily, in present day, I know we didn’t and won! So, relax Oct. 26 Mike, everything turns out just great in the end!

My Favorite New Comics (I Read) In 2014

Another year, another fantastic year of comics. And, another year where comic book characters demonstrated their dominance in pop entertainment.

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My 13 Favorite Comics (I Read) In 2013

If last year brought me back into the fold of regular comics reading again, 2013 was a year where I actively broadened my horizons and sampled new things. And for the first time, I truly felt I had so many more options for how to buy and read comics — single monthly issues, digital issues on iPad, trade collections — that I actually had to choose my method for which comics.

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