We here at From the Rooftops are a pair of boys, one of whom is good and pure and the other of whom is a peddler of filth – literally – and so it seems this is a perfect cohort to discuss the important and sophisticated topic of superheroes doinking and the people who care about superheroes doinking. So, come along and see as we talk about the origin of shipping, its application to media and then try – badly – to talk about ships that interest us. Fact: This will not end well.

Hey there folks! It’s a new year, so new episodes! Don’t ask about what happened to the Vigilantes episode. We’ll get back to that. Anyway it’s an episode where thanks to television doing Superheroes, we decide to talk about the way superheroes are reflected in television, and one of the ways those series can have problems: Extrinsic Factors.

Hey there, folks! How you doing? You had a nice break? We get talking about character design, the superhero costume, realise how DEEP we can go into it, and then we make fun of Hawkeye a bit.

There’s a lot of talk to be had about whether or not heroes should have them but what does a sidekick actually mean? Are sidekicks always the same? Are they irresponsible, or do they give you access to a new dimension of storytelling? And is Clay Talen’s sidekick, or vice versa?

We reminisce about the game City of Heroes, which has been shuttered now for five years, today (2017/12/01). It gets sad. We get testimonials from others.

There’s a fundamental power to the mask in superhero comics, and we decide to talk about them. We talk about masks that work well across different media, complaints about how masks are sometimes handled, and at some point conclude that Blade is a cop.

With all our talk about setting elements we figure it was high time we sat down and talked about the setting itself and how it interacted with characters. Why it being modern matters, what it can say, how it can change and how reflecting reality isn’t as important as feeling reality. There’s also some talk about France, and a surprise Comboman appearance. Now we’re having some technical problems lately, in part because one of us had to evacuate to avoid a Hurricane, so there will be some pop and it’s a bit uneven on sound. Very sorry about that!

This time, it’s a bit of a crossover episode; we talk about teams that bring together larger groups of characters, and in turn, some of those smaller characters with things going on. Then, to demonstrate that we’re not too proud to write fanfiction, we talk about our lineups for the Avengers and the Justice League!

Superheroes step in where the authorities aren’t doing their jobs, but what are those authorities? How do characters represent them, or interact with them?

THE HORRORS OF THE VASTNESS IN ALL PLACES! Clay and Talen, winding down October Spooktacular, talk about the horror in vastness; as a pair of former religious fundamentalists, they have their own grappling to do with the pulp horror that underpins comic book superheroes, and why Necron, Unicron and Galactus aren’t… quite… the same thing.