Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast

It’s time to witness what you were previously denied as a reader. Jadzia Axelrod returns to the podcast, talking full spoilers about her new weekly DC Pride event series, Justice League: Dream Girls. Done in collaboration with co-writer Nicole Maines, illustrators Nicola Scott, J. Bone, Ted Brandt, Ro Stein, and a mess load of others, this series reunites superheroes Galaxy and Dreamer immediately after the harrowing events of Justice League Intergalactic. They awaken as princess and champion of the Amazons, rescuing someone who sure looks a lot like Steve Trevor before being propelled into a dramatically different, animated Gotham landscape. Reality and unreality blend together.

This week’s episode offers a perfect opportunity for reflection: Jadzia Axelrod contemplating the non-linear path that her precious character has taken from Galaxy: The Pretties Star to Hawkgirl to Galaxy: As the World Falls Down to Justice League: Dream Girls. We discuss why her Galaxy pairs so beautifully with Nicole Maines’ Dreamer, the tricky oppositions these two characters faced after Justice League Intergalactic, and how their trip through iconic DC storylines in Dream Girls reveals the brilliance and joy readers were previously denied in their comics.

Justice League: Dream Girls #1 is out now from DC Comics, with each issue in the four-issue event hitting every Wednesday in June. It’s written by Jadzia Axelrod and Nicole Mains, illustrated by Nicola Scott, J. Bone, Ted Brandt, and Ro Stein, colored by Marissa Louise and Dearbhla Kelly, and lettered by Jodie Troutman and Frank Cvetkovic. To continue this conversation with Jadzia Axelrod, make sure you’re following her Website and BlueSky.

This Week's Sponsors

This June, Top Shelf Productions is bringing you unforgettable stories from the deeply personal to the absolutely colossal. On June 2nd, discover We Are Pan, the powerful historical graphic novel from writer Andre Frattino and illustrator Yasmin Flores Montanez. Inspired by the true story of Operación Pedro Pan, the secret mission that evacuated over 14,000 Cuban children to the United States during Fidel Castro’s rise to power. Then, on June 23rd, buckle up for Minnie Pouches in the MicroRealm! From Caleb Goellner and Eric Lide comes a wildly imaginative all-ages adventure about a super-anxious super-strong girl battling pizza dinosaurs, laser robots, and floating nightmares across bizarre dimensions to rescue her pets and save her family.

The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it’ll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That’s 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe’ now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today!

Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel

Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

Previously on CBCC: Jadzia Axelrod on Hawkgirl

Previously on CBCC: Nicole Maines on Dreamer

Brad and Lisa on Near Mint Condition

Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.

Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.

Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.

Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

On the podcast, survival comes up a lot. Is it enough to just make it through one more day? Should we strive for more? This week, we’re pondering the artistic life alongside cartoonists Dave Baker and Nicole Goux. Their latest graphic novel, Punk’n Heads, features several characters encountering adulthood and navigating an active/inactive existence. All while screaming their souls into punk rock, connecting to an audience adrift.

Dave Baker and Nicole Goux are longtime collaborators, and Punk’n Heads represents years of artistic evolution. It’s about as personal a comic as they’ve ever made together; maybe even teetering on memoir. It’s an exhilarating coming-of-age story that showcases the medium’s power while never skimping on complex characterization. Comics can do the impossible, make music where sound doesn’t exist.

Punk’n Heads is out now in trade paperback from Top Shelf Productions. Make sure you’re following Dave Baker on Instagram and his website. Do the same for Nicole Goux, follow her on Bluesky, Instagram, and her website.

This Week's Sponsors

The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it’ll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That’s 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe’ now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today!

Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel

Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

Previously on CBCC: Pornsak Pichetshote and Rafael Albuquerque on Absolute Green Arrow

Brad and Lisa on Near Mint Condition

Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.

Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.

Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.

Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

First things first, have you got your copy of Absolute Green Arrow #1? Have you read it? Okay, good. You may proceed. This week, we’re going full spoilers with writer Pornsak Pichetshote and artist Rafael Albuquerque, discussing the person behind the Longbow Killer’s mask. We pitch our theories. Pornsak and Rafael hear them. We read their microexpressions for clues.

Absolute Green Arrow #1 hit comic shops today (Wednesday, May 20th). It’s bound to stir some serious conversation. Some folks will react with discomfort, and that discomfort is an invitation for consideration and conversation, a mode DC’s Absolute Universe excels in.

As Pornsak Pichetshote says during our chat, Absolute Green Arrow is an angry book. It’s a reflection of the world outside our window today, and it should get you thinking about life beyond the pages you’re holding. The extremity pursued in this book, and other Absolute titles, is about more than looking badass. It’s a way to capture an emotional truth we’re all experiencing in 2026.

This week, we talk Longbow Killer suspects. We discuss the Italian horror slashers that inspired their green hooded killer, how unhinged wealth dehumanizes everyone, and why serialization is superior to binge entertainment. Absolute Green Arrow #1 is a single issue that excels as a single issue.

The first chapter is out now. It’s written by Pornsak Pichetshote, illustrated by Rafael Albuquerque, colored by Marcelo Maiolo, and lettered by Jeff Powell. Make sure you follow Pornsak Pichetshote on Bluesky and Instagram and Rafael Albuquerque on Bluesky and Instagram.

This Week's Sponsors

The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it’ll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That’s 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe’ now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today!

Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel

Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

Previously on CBCC: Scott Snyder and Nick Dragotta on Absolute Batman

Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.

Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.

Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.

Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

The phone calls could be harsh. Daniel Freedman talked to a lot of shop owners. They told him anthologies didn’t sell. He explained that Stimulus was not an anthology; it was a short story collection. They continued to express cynicism. He went ahead and assembled an astonishing array of stories, galloping through numerous tones and showcasing an awesome stable of collaborators. Stimulus flaunts the heights that this medium can soar, and obliterates house style tastes. It’s on those LCS shelves now. Here’s your chance to prove the glass-half-empty folks that audiences crave structures free from corporate designs.

The comics in Stimulus should have your mouth watering. They’re science fiction and fantasy slanted idea outburts illustrated by - hold your breath - Robert Sammelin (Kali), Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders), Filya Bratukhin(Nature’s Labyrinth), Amilcar Pina (Galactic), Dilraj Mann (Dalstron Monsterzz), Lorenzo Nuti (Dragonero/Conan), Arianna Farricella (College Apocalypse), Gavin Dias (PENTHOUSE Comics), Debbie Tsoi (Split Fiction), Stefano Realdini (Captain Gaia), Dan Morison (HELL-BENT), and Henrik Sahlstrom (Mirror’s Edge: Exordium).

This week, we had a blast chatting with Daniel Freedman about Stimulus. The short story collection spans more than ten years of his life, and each tale explores Freedman working himself out as well as the world he finds himself trapped in. We discuss the autobiographic nature of all storytelling, the power of a short story collection, and why comics allow him to create where other mediums do not.

And before all that, our kid on the beat cub reporter, Brad, regales Lisa with his journey to the Lower East Side and the Jack Kirby Way street-naming ceremony on May 11th. He discusses what and who he saw on Essex Street and even offers audio recordings of Jack Kirby Way presenters Roy Schwartz, NYC Council Member Christopher Marte, Tom Brevoort, Paul Levitz, and Jim Steranko. The King of Comics finally getting his name on an NYC street is a historic moment. Let’s all celebrate as comic book readers.

Stimulus is out now in trade paperback from Dark Horse Comics. Make sure you’re following Daniel Freedman on Instagram.

This Week's Sponsors

The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it’ll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That’s 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe’ now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today!

Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel

Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

Previously on CBCC: Todd McFarlane on Spawn

Jack Kirby Way, as reported by The Beat

Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.

Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.

Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.

Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.

Well, this is a surprise. Todd McFarlane returns to the podcast to discuss why he’s suddenly switching up the creative rosters on several Spawn universe titles. Starting with issue 376, friend of the show Matthew Rosenberg will script alongside artist Stephen Segovia. Roseberg will also serve as writer on the sibling series, King Spawn, with Thomas Nachlik on art. In Gunslinger Spawn #54, writer Erica Schultz joins returning artist Carlo Barberi. And starting today, She-Spawn #1 launches with Gail Simone as writer and Ig Guara as artist.

He’s said it before, and he states it emphatically on this week’s show: Todd McFarlane sees Spawn as his creative child, and as all parents want for their kids, Todd hopes to see him live long after he’s gone. To secure that reality, he needs to let go of the reins. So, today, he’s reflecting on his favorite comics and how regime changes propelled those books into legend.

Before all that, however, we banter back and forth about this past weekend’s Free Comic Book Day, and the awe-inspiring Charity Sketch Cover Auction Four Color Fantasies pulled off on Saturday, raising nearly $12,000 for the Literacy Volunteers of the Winchester Area. We discuss how we took that radical energy and moved it into our Comic Book Club on Sunday, and then work both events into the theme of community and how it bolsters the comic book industry, which leads directly into what Todd McFarlane is doing with his baby, Spawn.

This week, it’s all about the power of comics. Todd McFarlane details why he’s always happy to have others play in his playground, how he still has an ending for Spawn even though he never wants to use it, and why there are nuances to that tired artist vs. writer debate.

Spawn #376 arrives in shops from Image Comics on June 3rd, with Final Order Cutoff happening this upcoming Monday, the 11th.  If you want to continue our discussion with Todd McFarlane, you can find him on BlueSky and Instagram, as well as his Website.

This Week's Sponsors

The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it’ll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That’s 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe’ now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today!

Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode:

Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel

Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics

Help Send Chris Hacker to SDCC GoFundMe

Previously on CBCC: Todd McFarlane and the Secret to His Success

Previously on CBCC: Todd McFarlane and the 10 Best Spawn Comics

Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM

Final Round of Plugs (PHEW):

Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY.

And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren.

Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts.

Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators.

Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.