Anthony Sytko: I'm Chris Farrell from the All Things Good and Nerdy podcast, a wacky weekend morning show, part of the Gun and Geek Network. Just like the show you're checking out right now. Shows on the network are individually owned, and the opinions expressed may not reflect others. Find other awesome, geeky shows over@Gunnageeknetwork.com.
Chris Osborne: And welcome to Play comics, where once again, we are here looking at a video game based on a comic property and how well it represents that source material. Today I'm really, really excited because Anthony Sitko was back, and I get to talk to him about something that I never thought I'd get to talk to him about, ever, ever, ever, because I would have sworn that Doc would have swiped this episode up, but he didn't. So, Anthony, thank you for coming on the show today.
Anthony Sytko: Pleasure to be here, Chris. And it's nice to finally get this done as opposed to having to reschedule. I think this is like the, at least the third, if not the fourth time we've tried to schedule this episode recording. I'm glad it's finally happening.
Chris Osborne: Well, they've all been legitimate things, and we're friends anyway, so it's easy to work with people that you're friends with anyway. And I told my wife it was the fifth time, and I'm not sure if I was joking or not about that because I honestly have no idea. Today we are here talking about Shadow of Apocalypse. So, Anthony, I have to know, how did you beat Doc down into grabbing a Superman episode?
Anthony Sytko: I think was more that I looked at the list before he did. So I said, well, I'm taking this. And then I forget what he's doing for his solo one. And then I know that we will eventually get on together, three of us, you, me, and Doc, and do another game. So I don't know. I just, I saw the list and I was like, of all the options, this is the one I think is probably best suited for me based on knowledge of the character and knowledge of the situation and everything. So I was like, okay, I'll pick this one.
Chris Osborne: How much experience did you have watching that Superman animated series?
Anthony Sytko: Oh, so much. I mean, that came out when I was a kid that was basically right at the same time or right in line with the Batman animated series. And, and then I was also a big fan of the Spider Man Fox series. You know, those mid nineties animated comic book series were all absolutely fantastic. And it's funny because to, I guess to date myself in terms of, like, how old I am or whatever when I read Superman comics to this day, to the extent that I hear, you know, anybody's voice that isn't like Christopher Reeve, rest in peace, I hear Tim Daley and not George Newburn, because I watched Superman, the animated series a lot, versus Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, which I watched, I watched a lot of, but not as much like Superman, the Superman series I watched all the time. So in my head, animated wise, I hear Tim Daly, and it's vocally very similar to George Newbern. But there is a distinction. I can tell the difference between Tim and George, but Tim for me is, is Superman.
Chris Osborne: What's kind of funny on my end of things is that I had friends who watched the Batman one. I was all over the Spider man one. I didn't know anybody who watched the Superman show when I was growing up. So my first experience with it was as an adult, Kaylee, and I just scrolling through whatever streaming thing it was on at the time and seeing, oh, hey, there's a Superman cartoon. Let's see how that is. It's probably going to be stupid, but we'll watch it. Spoiler alert. It was not stupid.
Anthony Sytko: No, no, definitely not. Like I said, it was, you know, fantastic. And I just, I really liked how it kind of merged together a lot of the classic Superman, the mythos, and very, some of the stylistic choices were the older, reflecting back to some of the older comics and some of the older presentations of Superman while still showing a bit more of the contemporary post crisis stuff, that characterization of Clark, more. So I thought it was a really good combination. I just, I appreciated the, again, the style, the cleanliness of the animation and the lines and things of that nature. So, like I said, I just, I really dug it. And then how it basically merged into the Batman series and then that became new Batman Superman adventures and then that led to the DCAU and Justice League and all of that stuff. So I definitely, like I said, I really appreciated it.
Chris Osborne: What is it, do you think, that really draws people to Superman as a character?
Anthony Sytko: I mean, he's Superman. It's so weird to talk about that in an abstract because I don't know to what extent you can talk about Superman without discussing the impact that he has had on comic books as a medium and then superhero stories as a genre, and they are two distinct things, but because of so much of what Superman stands for has permeated americana and the cultural zeitgeist. And again, just the notion of everything that we understand superhero comics to be at this point is derived from all the work that Siegel and Schuster did in setting that up 90 some odd years ago. He's the ultimate. He is the pinnacle. He is what I think everybody should, should strive to be. And so I always kind of recoil a bit or push back whenever I hear comments and complaints that, oh, Superman is boring, he's lame, he's this, he's that. He's overpowered, et cetera. No, you're missing the point, man. You're absolutely missing the point, because first off, again, you cannot understate the impact that he's had on the medium and on the genre, but also that idealism and that desire to always do the right thing is not a flaw. And I kind of give the side eye to people who, who say stuff like that, that, oh, he's weak, he's lame. He's this or that or the other. Like, if that's your value system, to the point where you think Superman is lame because he's, because he always does the right thing, then he's not the one with the problem, in my opinion. You are. And listen, there have been some fantastic writers on it. There have been some less than stellar runs on it. But I think the best runs of Superman and the writers that really, truly get who Clark is understand the humanity and the inherent struggle that Clark deals with on a constant basis of wanting to do the right thing and wanting to save everyone that he can and realizing that he can't because that takes away agency from the rest of humanity. You know, the stories where it's like, oh, let's focus on an evil superman or whatever like that. I don't think, I don't like the stories where it's like, let's go with the evil Superman. I like the stories where it's like, let's focus on what it would be like if Superman tried to, like, be the heavy handed dictator, you know, like a Superman red sun, I thought, did a fantastic job with that. So that's where I, where I like to focus on what makes a good Superman story. And I thought, you know, Philip Kennedy Johnson did an absolutely astounding job, outstanding job with that over his run on action comics. And I'm not just saying that because I've had the pleasure of interviewing him a couple times on my show. I interviewed him as many times as I did because he's a damn good writer and because he got Superman. I mean, you can go back and listen to that episode where Doc and I just basically kind of fanboy over him and just like, you did such a good job with Superman. Like, I don't know where I could find a flaw with it other than, you know, like, nitpicking stuff. But so that's. That's what Superman means, and that's why he's endured as long as he has is because he is the best of us. He is the best of humanity.
Chris Osborne: Let's jump back to that red sun.
Anthony Sytko: Bit of a long winded brand.
Chris Osborne: But no, I mean, that's exactly why I wanted to have you on for this and why I was excited that you picked it, because I know that, you know, you asked the right question. You get that little long winded rant, and it's good. But I want to jump back to that Superman Red sun because I love that story. And even though you have somebody who is seen from our perspective as an evil character and on the wrong side of history and everything else you could possibly throw at him there, he's still. He's trying to do the right thing. He's just doing it, having grown up in that communist environment. So his right thing is skewed more toward that end of the world versus the Midwest Kansas farmer that he has with Ma and Paquette. Yeah.
Anthony Sytko: And that's what makes that line, you know, Luther's line, why don't you put the whole world in a bottle, Superman? That's what makes that line so impactful is because that's the glass shattering moment for Cal to understand. Oh, my gosh. I have gone about this the complete wrong way. And it's to the detriment of everybody that I was trying to save. And, yeah, I may have done some good, but at what cost, you know? And so I know Millar gets a lot of flack, not entirely undeservedly, so for some of the heavy handedness and some of his writing and some of the other stories that he's written, you know, I think he comes from that school that kind of took a lot of the lessons of the Alan Moore, you know, grittiness and. And deconstruction and kind of amplified it a bit. Millar and Ennis and. And to some extent, Morrison, you know, that late nineties, early two thousands. There was several writers that kind of really said, let's take comic book characters and let's take superheroes and, you know, run them through the absolute wringer to show that they're gritty and let's break them down and let's deconstruct them, et cetera, et cetera. But something. But that doesn't inherently make a story bad. It's just how you handle it, again, can be a bit heavy handed. But Millar on Red Sun, I thought, walked that line very well of deconstructing to a point while also pointing out, like, hey, let's play with this a bit. Let's do this what if? Because that's essentially what it is. It's a what if. And so you get that. Again, it just, he walks that line really, really well. And that's what makes Red sun one of my favorite Superman stories. It's one of my favorite elseworlds slash multiverse slash alternate universe whatever stories, because again, it walks that line between gritty deconstruction. And let's play with some of these tropes and ideas and see, you know, if, if it's off just a little bit, where do you end up?
Chris Osborne: I've had a really fun time reading really old Superman, like, pre World War Two era stuff, although I think I've gotten to the war at this point. But just seeing Superman go in and being pro union for the workers, for the general people throughout everything, how do you not love this character unless you're just hating him to be contrarian, which we do have those people today, and they suck.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, I have a rebellious contrarian streak in me. It was a lot more pronounced when I was younger. And I'd like to say that for the most part, I've grown out of it. And I talk about this on my show as well, that there are numerous times where I will still feel that knee jerk response to be the contrarian, just to be the contrarian. Like, I feel it inside, but I no longer succumb to that and say, well, I'm going to hate it just because you like it. But having said that, a lot of it just depends on what your values are and where you see yourself in the midst of the world. And so if you're someone who wants to help people and who tries to see the good, tries to focus on the positive, then, yes, you're going to like a character like Superman. You're going to gravitate to him. If you're someone who is, who is hurting, who feels angry, who feels underappreciated, who wants to lash out for whatever reason, then there is a decent chance that you're not going to like Superman. And it might be because down in some ways, you want him to be real and he's not. And that irks you. And I'm just speaking as a general, you, I don't know if this is necessarily going to with anybody in particular? But I think a lot of the people who, and I'm just completely spitballing here, but I think the people who are contrarian and who try Superman as weak or whatever secretly want to be real because they feel underpowered or lacking control in their own life. So they. They either want Superman to be real or they want to be Superman so that they can have some semblance of control in their own life. And again, I could be wildly off base. I'm not the mental health professional on my show. That's Doc's job. So I'll let him answer that, you know, if and when he ever gets around to getting on your show here. But, you know, like I said, that's. That's my two cent, for what it's worth.
Chris Osborne: Sounds like you might have learned a few things from him, though.
Anthony Sytko: I mean, after six years, you pick up enough stuff through osmosis. Doc likes to joke, and I think I said at one point, I was like, I kind of feel like I've done the podcast. And I was like, can I go for a doctorate? Is that possible? Can I use this as my thesis?
Chris Osborne: We're going to see if we can pull that off. Well, I dropped some promos for a few other things.
Promos: Hey there, hellspawn. Is your regular podcast rotation missing a show that dives deep into the gritty darkness of one of the greatest superhero creations of the nineties?
Anthony Sytko: Well, we've got a show for you.
Promos: I'm Piers Leiden with George Marston, and this is spawnography. We're two long time comic book journalists who are ready to take you from the alleys of New York City to the depths of hell itself as we dissect each arc of Spawn, unraveling its mysteries and celebrating its legacy along the way. New episodes drop every Monday wherever you get your podcast.
Anthony Sytko: Because for Todd so loved the world.
Promos: He gave his only begotten spawn.
Chris Osborne: Spawn.
Hey, it's Daniel Falco here, and I'm an editor on Transphoria, a trans and non binary comic book anthology. Our 90 page graphic novel launched on Kickstarter for Pride Month, and it contains 19 new short stories from over 30 different writers and artists. We know there's an expansive spectrum of identities and stories to be told and endless potential for what queer writers can accomplish. That's why we brought these teams together, because we value representation for the marginalized and unseen. Everyone's experiences are different, so our anthology includes a lot of identities and a lot of genres. You'll see autobiographies, romances, science, fiction, horror, comedy and a lot more. And we're excited to get these voices out there and show the different styles and experiences from everyone we've worked with.
Chris Osborne: That was some great stuff to check out, but let's finish up with this. So, Anthony, what we're here talking about mainly is Superman, shadow of Apocalypse A. We're going to call it September of 2002 game released on the PS two and GameCube. And I say it like that because the GameCube came out later, but I don't feel like looking that up. A game developed and published by Infograms and a game which is the second on the home consoles, the big boys. Anyway, based on the animated series. Because Superman 64 existed.
Anthony Sytko: Yes, it did. For better or worse.
Chris Osborne: There are redeeming qualities about everything.
Anthony Sytko: I remember working, I remember working at Blockbuster back when that was a viable career choice outside of Bend, Oregon, and telling people like, do not get this game. Like, they would bring it up to the counter and be like, oh, I like Superman. I haven't had 64. I want to play this. I'm like, no, you don't. Please save yourself. Do not play this at all.
Chris Osborne: So I have to imagine that people who really paid attention to the COVID on this one saw that it was the same people saw that it was based on the same thing. I have to hope that their expectations were tempered a little bit. I mean, what were you expecting out of this one when you started?
Anthony Sytko: So I, I'll be perfectly frank, I picked this one on fact. It was a Superman game. I did not know what iteration of Superman I was getting. I had no knowledge of anything outside of, oh, cool, I'm going to be Superman in this game. Awesome. And then when I got it, started playing it, and I looked at it and I, after I selected the title, then I did my research, I was like, oh, this is based on the animated series. Sweet. And from the time that I booted up and I played the Gamecube version, just for full disclosure, I said I really appreciated the presentation. I was very disappointed that they did not use the Superman animated series theme in the intro because I felt like that was such a fantastic evolution of the John Williams score that why wouldn't you use it? You brought in everybody else. You've got the look and the feel of the animated series, have the licensing. Why not just use the theme? So that was a little disappointing. But otherwise, graphically, for its time, and this is a 22 year old game, I thought it absolutely looked fantastic. And for, for what it was, for what the GameCube was capable of and for what, you know, technology could accomplish at the time, graphically, I thought this was astounding. I really liked the cel shaded animation look very much. Made it feel like we're going to take the cartoon and tweak it a little bit and then turn that into a video game.
Chris Osborne: Most cel shaded stuff, I think they've just aged beautifully, and I love it. I mean, this, this definitely isn't wind waker, don't get me wrong. But you're right. It still looks so good today.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, yeah. Like I said, it just the stylistic choices that they made, the graphics looked good. The. Well, I'll pause there because I don't know all the questions you have, and I don't want to start talking about stuff and jumping the gun. So I'll just say, I'll leave it there for now.
Chris Osborne: What really turned me off on this one was the plot that they had for it. Not that I think, you know, going up against robots that you think are inner gang is a big problem, but the way that they're doing it, this is a very, very cookie cutter plot going, and, you know, do the thing. Let's go do the next little thing. Today. It would be a bunch of side missions. And even back when that came out, you had games that were big and sprawling and did a lot of things. I mean, heck, Final Fantasy VII was five years old at this point. By the time this came out, like, I realized this isn't an rpg, but you've got these big, big story driven games. And not only do you have Superman with all of this history, you have the animated series that is basically laying out a giant pile of plots for you. And they went with the most boring thing possible.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, I. I can see that. Again, full disclosure, I didn't finish the game, played the first handful of levels, so I didn't really get to a point where I felt that the plot was pulling me along. It very much just became, okay, I'm going to go here and do this, this thing and fight these enemies and save these people because this is what the objective is for me. And I guess along those lines, some of the controls and the gameplay setup and the presentation made it difficult for me to understand, follow along why things were happening. Like, in the first level or one of the first levels, you have to bring these generators back to a dam before the dam breaks. But they never make it apparent that you're on a timer, and they never really, they never show you on the HuD where the timer is and so all of a sudden I'm flying along and I'm doing this stuff. And then I get this cutscene of the dam just exploding and breaking and water flooding everywhere. And I was like, I guess I lost the level. I must have run out of time somewhere. So cool. And it just goes back and starts up again. I was like, okay, where do I, how do I know how much time I have left? How can I follow? And then I saw, it's like, oh, there's this little, like, these dots going around the menu in the lower left. That's where the timer is. And I was like, oh. But that was never explained to me in the tutorial, none of that. So it was just like, whatever. And they also didn't explain to me that when I'm, when I'm looking for the citizens that I have to rescue, that some of them could be behind doors or whatever. So I'm flying around, I'm walking around and I hear these people, you know, and it's, it's unfortunate because this is, you know, early two thousands and game dialogue being what it is, it's like the same three lines being repeated ad nauseam. And so I'm just, like, walking around and I hear this guy and he's like, oh, you know, this is really ruining my day or whatever. And it's just like, oh, my God. If I could, if I could just not hear this guy complain one more time, that would, that would be lovely. And the other thing that, speaking of the voice dialogue and everything, I said this before. Tim Daley to me absolutely kills it as Clark Kent and Superman in the animated series. He phoned it in so hard on this game vocally that I was just very disappointed with how he read some of his lines. I'm like, you just read this like you're reading a recipe for, like, pancakes. It's, there's no, there's no emotion. There's no whatever you'd think, you know, Andrea Romano or somebody could have been involved in the booth and just said, tim, can you give me once more with any kind of feeling something, please? He was just like, yeah, the dam is breaking. That, that sure is tough. Okay, next line. And just, like, move on. Like, were you up against the clock? Like, you know, did they give you, like, $30 to record this? I don't know what was going on, but I was just very disappointed with the quality of the dialogue recording in this game.
Chris Osborne: That being said, it's not that far off from the quality of dialogue you'd have in a lot of other games in that era. So, yeah, it's bad, but it's also not worse than other things, which doesn't make it good.
Anthony Sytko: Fair enough. Fair enough. And I can't really dispute that. And again, I'm cognizant of what was happening at the time and everything going on graphically and production wise with these games. Would have liked it a little bit more, a little more pizzazz, a little more oomph put into it. Your superman, you're rescuing people. And the way he sounds, it's like an inconvenience for him. Like, I gotta save these dumbasses that, you know, lock themselves into a closet or a storage unit or whatever. Come on, supes.
Chris Osborne: Excuse me. First off, Superman would never call the people he's going to save a bunch of dumbasses. I can't believe you put those words in his mouth.
Anthony Sytko: But that's my point is that's how he sounds when he's reading this. You know, the dialogue still like, come on, man.
Chris Osborne: And I think in a way, it kind of really epitomizes what is so hard about making a Superman game anyway, because you've got a character that is basically invulnerable. You've got a character that has pretty much whatever power the writer wanted them to have at that moment, which I don't say because I think that's a reason to not like him or anything. I mean, that's just kind of a fact. He gets random powers. I think it's cool. But when you go in making a game, the character has to be able to get hurt. The character has to be able to lose somehow. And I don't know, like, Superman games are hard because how do you hurt somebody who is the epitome of strength and stuff in every single way?
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, that, that is the danger of trying to make a Superman game is you can't make him completely invulnerable because no challenge, at least in that respect, you have to provide something. So that's why they were like, oh, these inter bots have high grade weaponry so they can stun Superman. And if they shoot him enough times, eventually he'll die. You know, he can recover his health slowly, slowly over time. So I get that again, from a game mechanic perspective, you have to include some of that stuff. And then also the use of powers that you can't just fly and use your heat vision and use your ice breath or super speed or all this other stuff just without. Without any issues whatsoever that, you know, it drains your power bar and you can eventually restore that over time. Yada, yada, yada. Again, sacrifices have to be made for the game. I get it. It's unfortunate, but it is what it is.
Chris Osborne: I just appreciate that they even bothered to think about it, though, especially for the robots being able to hurt him. Like, all right, cool. Even if it doesn't exactly work with the comics, which may or may not be true, depending on which ones you're reading, something that can happen, and it's something that they're saying is happening in the story, Superman isn't somebody you see going around using like, four or five of his powers at once anyway. So not being able to do that made sense. And honestly, it's a game. I just kind of expect there to be some kind of nerfing of my powers.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, again, I get that. So I wasn't, I wasn't really all that upset with it. It was just more, you know, I acknowledged it and I was just like, well, I guess this is how they're going to, they're going to do it. I would have liked maybe some of the powers to be a little less draining on the power bar. I do appreciate that basically, flying is not draining on the power bar, if I remember correctly, because you need it so much to get around that they can't say, well, Superman gets tired from flying, so he's going to have to hoof it. Like, that's not really going to work. So flying is off of the list of things that drain that, the powers, but everything else.
Chris Osborne: So outside of Superman 64, which I continue to believe is just a giant Lex Luthor created simulation, how does Superman here compare to Superman you've played in any other game?
Anthony Sytko: Well, I think the last time I played a Superman game prior to this was death and return of Superman for snes. So that goes to show you kind of how often I play Superman games. So clearly it's been a hot minute. So this one, I think, does a much better job. I mean, first off, it's just obviously, it's an evolution of technology and everything. So I like that you're able to fly around Metropolis. You really get the sense of speed when you, you do the right trigger and you go into, like, speeding bullet mode. I really appreciate that. And I basically would use that all the time to just, like, lock into an enemy and then just speeding bullet fly into him, because then it's just boom, you get that shockwave and it just knocks him back or, you know, knocks him down. So I really appreciated that this is a step up from, from death and return of Superman in pretty much every way. But having said that, I really appreciated death and return of Superman for what it was. But other than that, I think that's it. Those are the only two Superman games I've ever played.
Chris Osborne: I think the last one I played was also death and return of Superman, but it was a few weeks ago, and it was just because I wanted to, because it's fun. I'm guessing yours was a little bit more than just a few weeks ago.
Anthony Sytko: It's a great game. I mean, yeah, it's been a hot minute since I played it. I think I busted it out at some point. I have a modded SNES classic, and I think I played it probably a couple of years ago, but still, it's not. I've played it more recently than when it came out in 94, I could tell you that. But outside of that, and then. Yeah, and then the Superman 64, which I played again, like, oh, gosh, how is this really as bad as everybody says it? Yes, it is. It absolutely is. So it's a short list for me to compare things to, but for what it is, I appreciate it.
Chris Osborne: Just for anybody who's wondering here on play comics, we've looked at death and return to Superman, Superman for NES 64, Genesis, and Game Boy, because they all had the wonderful title of Superman, one that was on Atari and Justice League task force. Wasn't really a Superman game, but it has Superman in it, so, yeah, whatever. So there are still plenty more to come. I know that for sure.
Anthony Sytko: Okay.
Chris Osborne: As we start to wind things up here, what did you notice were the biggest things that this game really got wrong compared to either the comic or the animated series.
Anthony Sytko: I don't know that I could point to anything that it got wrong in terms of Superman himself or the characterization or the mythos. I think my gripes are largely centered around, as I said, both the vocal delivery that Tim Daley had and just some of the gameplay mechanic choices and the decisions that were made. And again, probably some of it was for disc space or technological limitations or whatever. But as far as a representation of Superman, both Superman as a whole and Superman the animated series, I think this does a fine, above average job. As far as getting wrong. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what I could say that it gets wrong about Superman.
Chris Osborne: That being said, if you knew somebody who wanted to get into Superman, would you give them this game as a bit of a primer course?
Anthony Sytko: Absolutely. I would say this gives you definitely a feel for what it was like to watch the cartoon. And from that, you can extrapolate a lot about Superman, the character. It's, again, it's not a game that I'm like, oh, my gosh, this is like, absolutely, you know, the pinnacle of what it's like to be Superman. You know, this doesn't, like, absolutely, fully encapsulate everything that Clark is. But it's also not where you're like, you know, where you would play Superman 64 and, and say, I don't know what this does on a game level. I don't know what this is supposed to be about Superman. None of this makes a lick of sense. So, yeah, you could absolutely do far worse than hand somebody a copy of this game and say, you don't know anything about Superman. Give this a whirl, and then from there, you can build upon that. But it's, it's a decent enough starting point.
Chris Osborne: I've kind of been wrestling with my answer for this all day, and I thought I had settled on no, because it is such a watered down, basic version of what Superman is. But I think I came to that conclusion completely forgetting that I'm asking this question for, are you giving it to somebody who knows absolutely nothing? You know as much as anybody here on earth can know absolutely nothing about Superman. And a lot of times, those super watered down basic versions are a really good starting point. And then you can start expanding on the stuff that that person actually cares about and wants to learn about instead of deciding for them what you think is important enough to super deep dive into.
Anthony Sytko: Exactly. Yeah. You want to give them the sample, and then if they decide that it's something that they want to learn more, then they can take it and go from there. But you don't want to overwhelm them and say, okay, this is part one of seven of all of this, and I'm gonna do, you know, I'm gonna info dump on you all of the lore that you have to understand before you can even press start on the menu screen. Like, that's annoying. So that's why I would say that this works on that level.
Chris Osborne: If you're gonna throw somebody a not Superman game, but wanted to tell them, I can't even think of a game that could work now at all. I mean, normally, I'll be at the end here and I'll ask people, what other game could you use? As this is kind of like Superman. So if you like this, then you'll probably like Superman. But with the way Superman is and so ingrained in everything from the beginning of our superhero culture, which has ridden over into video game stuff and how these characters are treated in the game and everything. I don't know if you can even find any kind of game, really, that doesn't have some kind of Superman ish element in it. Besides, let's simulate sports kind of things or something.
Anthony Sytko: I don't know what there is that is Superman esque without being Superman, because so much of what you would like to base a Superman game around is inextricably linked to Superman. I mean, unless you're doing a game on, like, Captain Marvel Slash Cezam, or if you want to make like a century game, you know, where you could do it with another character where you have a lot of those same flying brick powers but not have it be Superman.
Chris Osborne: Yeah, I could even sit here and say, go play Super Mario world and it's Superman. Because you get powers and you're bigger and stronger than everybody. Like Sonic the Hedgehog, you can just tear right through everything. Everything comes back to Superman.
Anthony Sytko: I could see that.
Chris Osborne: So, Anthony, it has been great talking to you about all of this. If people want to hear more from you, where else can they find you? Around the Internet?
Anthony Sytko: They can find me on my podcast, which we are fellow members of the Guinea Geek network, capes on the couch. We are a podcast that the mental health issues of comic book characters and superheroes to destigmatize discussions around real world mental health issues. Our website is capes on the couch.com, comma. We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter threads, and TikTok apesonthecouch. And we've got a Patreon page if you really want to support us there. And I'm sure you'll post all the links in the show notes because clicking on things is so much easier than typing it out into the browser. Anybody got time for that? I got bronchitis.
Chris Osborne: Man, that must have been somebody really smart and great that you stole that from.
Anthony Sytko: Wonder who that could be.
Chris Osborne: But seriously, everybody should go listen to capes on the couch. It is wonderful and amazing, and sometimes it will make you cry. And the only problem I have with any of it is that there is no Spider Glen episode yet.
Anthony Sytko: Not yet. I understand. I know. Love of spider Gwen, ghost spider, etcetera. We'll get there. You got your Jessica Cruz episode, so I threw your bone there.
Chris Osborne: You're welcome. Yes, you did. And with fellow gunna geek member Lauren, who is on legends of S h I E l D, with me being the voice of Jessica for that one in the skit.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah. We've got. We've got some good stuff coming up. You know, we got a panel appearance, although I don't know when this is going to drop, so I don't know if it will be or after that. We'll be doing a convention in Parsippany in June, and we've got a whole slew of episodes coming up, characters that we're trying to line up and find guests for and talk to other creators and et cetera, et cetera. It's just. It's about finding. Finding the time and the mental bandwidth to get all the stuff done.
Chris Osborne: Yeah, I don't know anything about trying to find the time and the mental bandwidth at all.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, I know. It's a complete. It's a foreign concept to you.
Chris Osborne: That's why I accidentally took off from before Thanksgiving until after New Year's.
Anthony Sytko: Alison, you gotta do what you have to to take care of yourself. So we say it all the time on the show. You can't pour from an empty cup.
Chris Osborne: But also remember, the most important part of all of that is that you matter.
Anthony Sytko: Indeed. It's funny. I was gonna mention to you before I recorded, I ate two marshmallows because Kate told me that if you eat marshmallows before you record, it helps reduce mouth noises. One little way to remember her and honor her. So every time I do that before I record an episode, I always about her and I smile.
Chris Osborne: As always. If you want to hear more from me, the best place to do that is to head on over to playcomics.com, where there's links to all the social media things. Mostly still on Twitter because, I don't know, I have no excuses anymore. It's just kind of how the world works. Sadly, if you want to help support the show, the best way to do that is to share it with your friends, your enemies, anyone where you can take the podcast and shove the noise into their ear holes. With consent, though, because otherwise that's called assault, and that is bad, and we should not do that. Or you can send me money because making podcasts cost money. Oh, no, let class Dan McMahon and Carl Antonovich do it. You can do it as well, but really just share the show with people. That's the best move, I think. Don't forget the play. Comics is a proud member of the Guineek.com network, home to such other wonderful shows as legends of S H I E L D, where we are still marching our way through X Men evolutions. I get the feeling that there's some crazy stuff about to happen, but I'm pretty much guaranteed to be right because it's an X Men cartoon. Like by definition I'm going to be right. If you like the music that I'm really talking on top of right now, head on over to soundcloud.com. best day to check out Bestday's music. But most of all, just grab a game, grab a stack of comics and go find yourself a new favorite character.
Anthony Sytko: Alright, let's see. Okay, so I'm recording on my end in audition and I'm also recording. Wait a second, hold on. I should probably switch over the audio hardware broadcaster default output to the broadcaster. Do that. Okay, I'm recording in audition as well as on the rodecaster.
Chris Osborne: We are going to have so many recordings.
Anthony Sytko: Yeah, Sp. Sp will be very proud.
Chris Osborne: I know. I'm going to tell him. He's going to love it.
Anthony Sytko: They're like, listen, sp, you know, we have like at least four different versions of this being recorded.
Chris Osborne: And Superman is not super. Wow, that was, I almost said Superman is not super smart, which would have made it sound like me calling him a dummy. Anthony, it has been great talking to all of you about all of this. All of you. Like you're more than one person.