In which Paul and Al promise not to spend time chewing over the massively-masticated topics of Captain America's Hydra cliffhanger and DC Rebirth's unexpected additions to the DCU, then proceed to spend 15 minutes doing exactly that. They also chat through the Cinemax-optioned Scarlet; the Civil War II #3 midnight openings (and the candidates for the "big surprising death"); the director of the Flash movie and Superman's upcoming guest spot on Supergirl, and review Detective Comics and Lumberjanes/Gotham Academy. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe! The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe!  Kick off your Sunday shoes!

Al and Paul are back to their regular comics chat this time out, with news of the sad and untimely death of Darwyn Cooke; the cancellation of Agent Carter; the renewal of Supergirl; the woes of Marvel's Most Wanted; a bit of movie chat around Black Panther, Civil War, Suicide Squad and BvS; the end of Darth Vader; the upcoming Section 8 mini; and DC's anti-sexual harassment measures, along with reviews of Punisher and Satellite Falling. Iggle Piggle Iggle Onk, we're going to catch the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.

It's been a big few weeks for comics news, so Paul and Al are running through the DC Rebirth announcements, the Image Expo presentation, Gerard Way's new DC imprint, the sale of CBR to Valnet, the (very) minor trinkets of Marvel news from the past couple of weeks and a little bit of chat about Batman v Superman along with reviews of The Fix and Black Panther. Battle not with monsters, lest you become a monster, and if you gaze into the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe gazes also.

A quiet time for comics news as we head towards convention season, but Al and Paul have got some chat for you this time out on the Civil War trailer, the renewed slate of CW DC shows, Amazon's Tick pilot order, Valiant's Deathmate event, Civil War II: X-Men, the revival of the Icon imprint, the planned roll-out of DC Rebirth and the price point and shipping schedule that goes along with that, as well as reviews of Mockingbird and Baker Street Peculiars. If you were the only girl in the world, and I were the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, you'd probably get bored pretty quickly.

There's an absolute ton of news for Paul and Al to discuss this time around, so they're looking at DC Rebirth; Wal-Mart's move into graphic novels; the Hanna-Barbera comics revamp; the mess that was this year's Angoulême; Si Spurrier and Dylan Burnett's Weavers, the return of Steve Rogers as Captain America; the Supergirl/Flash TV crossover and the Legion show casting, as well as reviewing Spider-Man and Mirror. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe makes our heart sing; it makes everything... groovy.

Al and Paul are back to normal operations this time round (by which we mean "recorded with sound errors" - for some reason the laptop didn't pick up the mic so the show recorded using the internal mic on the Macbook, which means a slightly echoey experience that long-time listeners will remember from the show's first year). They've got a good bit of chat about Civil War II, the newly-announced Poe Dameron ongoing, the all-new Wasp, Netflix's potential Punisher series, titbits of info on the Wonder Woman movie and the creative team change on A-Force. They're also casting a critical eye over the December sales charts and reviewing Green Lantern Corps: Edge of Oblivion and Spider-Man/Deadpool. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe. 

It's the last day of 2015, so an end-of year wrap-up seems appropriate. It's the Homies awards, as is normal for Paul and Al at this time of year, and we're awarding all sorts of gongs and other glittering prizes to the comics, creators and stories that most impressed us this year, including totting up the results of our listener vote. Hark! as they lay a potentially surprising amount of praise at DC's door. Herald! as they try to work out what exactly is Gwenpool. Sing! as they let our central conceit slide with remarkable frequency. There's no news, reviews or Official Handbook this time round, but they've got mince pies and hot chocolate, so you never know who might come carolling. All this plus a human Jaffa Cake, Halley's clockwork comet, Jeff Lemire's Blue Tooth and Monty Python's Secret Wars.

Al and Paul are back from Battlepod, with a whole bunch of comics and comics-y chat for you. They're looking at Paul Dini and Eduardo Risso's Batman OGN, Marvel's Apocalypse Wars crossover (with assorted Secret Wars dissection waffle), the Batman v Superman and Captain America: Civil War trailers and Telltale Games's upcoming Batman release, and have also got reviews of Mystery Girl and Robin War. The Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe - where does it go? Where does it stop? What's the sign on the lollipop?

It's part seven of Secret Convergence on Infinite Podcasts, and Al is joined by Elle Collins (of Into It with Elle Collins), Helena Hart (of Journey Into Misery) and Jeff Lester (of Wait, What?) to talk about the comics, characters and creators from the bottom of the barrel whom we love despite their occasionally ostensibly awful nature, those who've never had a fair shake, and those we just feel sorry for. For other episodes of Secret Convergence, and for info on the crossover and its participating podcasts, check out http://secretconvergence.tumblr.com and @scoipodcasts on Twitter.

Paul and Al have got plenty of juicy comics chat for you this time round, with discussion of Fox's two new X-Men TV shows, the upcoming Power Man & Iron Fist series, AfterShock Comics' announcement of American Monster, DC's new Wonder Woman digital series, and all the recent comings and goings on Marvel's movies and TV shows, as well as reviews of I Hate Fairyland and Uncanny Avengers. Once upon a time the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe was falling in love, now it's only falling apart, poor thing.