Premise: Co-hosts Siskoid and Bass cover the whole of DC Comics' Invasion! 1988 crossover event. Every issue, every tie-in, and a little more besides! Siskoid revisits it; Bass discovers it for the first time!
Available: Fire and Water Network, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Feedburner
Number of episodes total: 42 (counting a .5 episode announcing the CW's Invasion adaptation and a Valor special meant to bridge the gap between this podcast and Zero Hour Strikes)
The first was about... Preludes and Rumblings, comics that foreshadowed the Invasion crossover
How it all began
When we started the Fire and Water Podcast Network, we all started thinking about what new shows we could bring to it. I was working with Bass on Lonely Hearts (with two other guys) and he wanted to do more podcasting, and it an index show seemed pretty natural. Invasion was a crossover event I remembered fondly (whether rightly or wrongly would be demonstrated by the show), and an intriguing way to look at an era of DC Comics, as all the series out at the time, whether tying in or not could be discussed (the event series itself was only 3 issues). Bass agreed, the FW founders signed off on it, and off we went.
The Process
As with all my shows, First Strike (named after the first month of crossovers) had its own format (I don't have a house style). Instead of a musical theme (but hold on to that thought), it would have a different clip from an alien invasion movie at the top of each show. A normal episode would have three blocks, covering 1) the issue at hand, 2) our feelings and thoughts on the character/team featured, and of course 3) listener feedback (or LETTERS FROM THE FRONT!). 40 episodes were planned from the beginning, including omnibus shows to discuss the titles that sat out so we could get the most comprehensive coverage of DC in 1988-89.
Of all my shows, I think this is the one that had the most technical problems (read: user error), possibly because we frequently double-banked episodes when our schedules didn't allow us to keep a strictly monthly schedule. There was the time I overwrote an episode that hadn't aired yet with a new recording, and we had to do the first show all over again. There was the time we banked two episodes one morning, and somehow my microphone malfunctioned so that Bass was crisp and clear, and I sounded like I was in the other room, sitting inside an empty oil drum - I ended up re-recording and replacing all MY dialog and not forcing Bass to redo everything, for TWO episodes. Good times...
So yeah, the thing with the theme... So I did try to write, sing and produce my own theme, despite my having little means, and even littler talent. The result acts as a blooper on episode 1 and the whole "Remember Melbourne" meme ended up on the show's promo AND on the t-shirts (still available the Network's Merch Store, folks).
Reception
I don't want to offend anybody by saying this, least of all my co-host, but to me this was always my "cheapest" show. As a concept, index shows are the easiest to produce, requiring few choices, except perhaps reading order when it's not immediately clear, and with a greater chance of not finding your joy (they can't all be winners, but you're doing them ALLLLLLLLLL). As such, I felt less invested in it than in other shows - it was kind of on automatic pilot after a while - but having a definite end point (and a co-host who counted on me to keep going), it was never going to "fade" due to disinterest. But this is the show of mine that had the most listeners! I think people like indexing shows because it usually covers something they know, and it's easy to follow along (consequently, we always announced it in advance). Or maybe that Dominator just makes a kickass banner image. Because while Invasion was certainly a fond memory for many of our listeners, it may not have been a mainstream opinion, Bass and I spent one Comic Book Day interviewing people in line at our comics shop to see who remembered Invasion at all, and very few did. Sad trombone.
Ultimately, as soon as First Strike headed into its third act, people started asking about what crossover we'd do next. The story of Zero Hour Strikes will come up eventually, but it shows just how popular these kinds of index shows are.
The Future
None, right? You might ask, well, what if Invasion content comes out later? The dead-on-arrival Inferior 5 series belatedly spun out of Invasion, no? What if someone did an Invasion II, or a Legends of the DC Universe set during Invasion, etc.? I wouldn't say it would be impossible for us to revive the feed for a special presentation, but to date, nothing - especially not Inferior 5, which didn't even finish telling its story, unless I'm mistaken - has convinced me we should.
Did I cover everything you needed me to? The floor is open to questions.
Comments