In this annual festive charity edition of HARD AGREE from Wednesday December 18th 2024, Andrew Sumner is joined by the merry Hard Agree Yuletide Players, all hailing from the worlds of comics, movies, TV and theatre: legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock; BBC presenter & wine expert Olly Smith (BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith’s Home Cocktail Bible); author, actor & MCU star Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp); comic book legend Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, The Originals); West End theatre star Julie Stark (Chess, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You, Sister Act); comics editor & creator David Leach (Psycho Gran, David Leach Conquers the Universe); comics PR guru Will O’Mullane (Titan Comics, Establishing Shots) and designer, artist & comics creator Kelly Yates (Amber Atoms, MonstHer, Doctor Who - Kelly also donated our annual Hard Agree Yuletide Players illustration).

A Hard Agree Christmas Carol is the December 2024 edition of Hard Agree’s annual yuletide charity podcast and features Sumner and his guests performing Charles Dickens’ live version of his festive classic A Christmas Carol (in support of Comic Books for Kids).

As Sumner says: “ComicBooks for Kids is a wonderful charity founded by Mark Weiss that does amazing work getting comic books into the hands of children in long-term hospital care on both sides of the Atlantic. Myself and Kenric Regan & John Horsley have always admired Dickens’ timeless seasonal message of empathy & civic responsibility, and thought ‘what better way to underline & amplify ComicBooks for Kids’ mission than to return to the words of Charles Dickens himself, the great believer in human society pulling together?’ Please visit their website CB4K.org, please check them out and please do what you can to help.”

You can donate to Comic Books for Kids HERE:

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/donatestart

You can check out everything Comic Books for Kids does at these links:

https://CB4K.org

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/home

https://twitter.com/Comicbooks4kids

https://twitter.com/CB4KUKhttps://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids

https://www.instagram.com/cb4kuk/

https://www.instagram.com/comicbooks4kids/

Follow Evangeline Lilly online:

https://www.instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial/

Follow Michael Moorcock on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/buggerly.otherly

Follow Dave Gibbons on Instagram:

https://twitter.com/davegibbons90

Follow Olly Smith online:

https://ollysmith.com/

https://twitter.com/jollyollyhttps://

www.instagram.com/ollysmith/

Follow Julie Stark online:

https://www.juliestark.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/juliejuliestark

Follow David Leach online:

https://twitter.com/davidleach2000

Follow Will O’Mullane online:

https://twitter.com/willomullane

https://establishingshotcomic.wordpress.com/

Follow Kelly Yates online:

https://twitter.com/kellyyates_art

https://subscribe.kellyyatesart.com/

© 2021-2026 Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.

In this Yuletide charity edition of HARD AGREE from Friday December 23rd 2022, Andrew Sumner is joined by seven special guests from the worlds of comics, movies, TV and theatre: legendary fantasy author Michael Moorcock; BBC presenter & wine expert Olly Smith (BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith’s Home Cocktail Bible); author, actor & movie star Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp); comic book legend Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, The Originals); West End theatre star Julie Stark (Company, Chess, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You); comics editor & creator David Leach (Psycho Gran, David Leach Conquers the Universe) and marketing guru & ComicBooks for Kids UK director Will O’Mullane (Titan Comics). A Hard Agree Christmas Carol is the Christmas 2022 edition of Hard Agree’s annual yuletide charity podcast and features Sumner and his guests performing Charles Dickens’ live version of his Yuletide classic A Christmas Carol (in support of Comic Books for Kids). Our annual Hard Agree Players cartoon was donated by artist supreme Kelly Yates (Doctor Who, Amber Atoms, MonstHer).

As Sumner says: “ComicBooks for Kids is a wonderful charity founded by Mark Weiss that does amazing work getting comic books into the hands of children in long-term hospital care on both sides of the Atlantic. Myself and my co-producers Kenric Regan & John Horsley have always admired Dickens’ timeless seasonal message of empathy & civic responsibility, and thought ‘what better way to underline & amplify ComicBooks for Kids’ mission than to return to the words of Charles Dickens himself, the great believer in human society pulling together?’ Please visit their website CB4K.org, please check them out and please do what you can to help.”

You can donate to Comic Books for Kids HERE:

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/donatestart

You can check out everything Comic Books for Kids does at these links:

https://CB4K.org

https://www.comicbooksforkids.org/home

https://twitter.com/Comicbooks4kids

https://twitter.com/CB4KUK

https://www.facebook.com/comicbooksforkids

https://www.instagram.com/cb4kuk/

https://www.instagram.com/comicbooks4kids/

Follow Evangeline Lilly online:

https://www.instagram.com/evangelinelillyofficial/

Follow Michael Moorcock on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/buggerly.otherly

Follow Dave Gibbons on Instagram:

https://twitter.com/davegibbons90

Follow Olly Smith online:

https://ollysmith.com/

https://twitter.com/jollyolly

https://www.instagram.com/ollysmith/

Follow Julie Stark online:

https://www.juliestark.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/juliejuliestark

Follow David Leach online:

https://twitter.com/davidleach2000

Follow Will O’Mullane online:

https://twitter.com/willomullane

https://establishingshotcomic.wordpress.com/

Follow Kelly Yates online:

https://twitter.com/kellyyates_art

https://subscribe.kellyyatesart.com/

© 2021-2026 Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.

In this twenty-eighth episode of HARD AGREE from Tuesday October 18th 2022, Andrew Sumner is joined by his old comics industry pal, Professor Ed Catto. The always-cheerful-and-upbeat Ed has fulfilled many roles in the comics business: illustrator, marketeer, entrepreneur, founder & managing director at the Agendae consulting agency, co-owner of Captain Action Enterprises, pop culture columnist at Comic Mix and professor & instructor at Ithaca College. He’s also one of the nicest guys Sumner has ever met - and their freewheeling conversation in this episode covers: Ed’s diverse career history; his lifelong love of comics; working with Stan Lee; working with the Bonfire Agency; teaching at Ithaca College; working with Joe Ahearn and his business partners on Captain Action, DC Comics’ classic short-lived 1960s Captain Action series (created by Jim Shooter, Wally Wood & Gil Kane) and IDW’s beautiful collected edition of those comics (edited by the mighty Scott Dunbier), the ongoing brilliance of comics writer Mark Waid, the beauty & brilliance of James Robinson’s Starman and Giffen, DeMatteis & Maguire’s Justice League and Brubaker & Phillips’ Reckless, the majesty of Will Eisner; Michael T Gilbert’s groundbreaking research into the life of Eisner’s supernaturally-gifted letterer on The Spirit: Abe Kanegson; Ed’s own tireless work as a leading comics journalist & historian – and the power & importance of aspirational positivity.

Follow Ed online:

https://www.facebook.com/edcatto

https://twitter.com//EdCatto/

https://www.instagram.com/edcatto3/

Read Ed’s With Further Ado column:

https://popculturesquad.com/tag/with-further-ado/

Check out Captain Action Enterprises:

https://www.captainaction.com/

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

© 2021-2026 Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.

In this twenty-sixth episode of his HARD AGREE audio podcast from Wednesday September 7th 2022, Andrew Sumner welcomes back the world’s greatest living fantasy author, Michael Moorcock, for the fourth instalment in their ongoing series of conversations about Michael’s life and work. In this wide-ranging episode (aka Michael Moorcock’s Multiverse volume IV) , Mike starts out recounting his skiffle adventures with the tea chest bass before covering off: Pete Seeger & Woody Guthrie; subscriptions to Encounter magazine; the intricacies of CIA funding; Bob Calvert, Dave Brock & Mike’s association with Hawkwind; the abiding evil of Kensington Tories, William Shatner’s interpretation of Sonic Attack; P.J. Proby reading T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land; tornado season in tornado alley; anti-Moorcock sentiment at the BBC; the secret origin of The Deep Fix, 2021’s England vs Italy result, British soccer tribalism and mayhem in London’s Frith Street.

This is Moorcock’s Multiverse, we’re just living in it.

Follow Michael online:

https://www.facebook.com/buggerly.otherly

Visit Moorcock’s Miscellany:https://www.multiverse.org/

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

© 2021-2026 Michael Moorcock & Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.

In this twenty-fifth episode of HARD AGREE from Wednesday February 16th 2022, Andrew Sumner is joined by comics columnist supreme Rich Johnston, the founder of the world’s leading comics news site Bleeding Cool. Rich has been at the top of his game for thirty years, despite starting out as the ultimate outsider, living 3000 miles away from the heart of the US publishing industry. Rich tells Sumner all about how an English bloke from West Yorkshire became the world’s foremost source of comics industry news while also namechecking some of his favorite industry figures and celebrating his undimmed love of the comics medium.

Follow Rich on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/richjohnston/

Follow Rich at Bleeding Cool:

https://bleedingcool.com

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

© 2021-2026 Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.

In this special Yuletide charity edition of HARD AGREE from Thursday December 23rd 2021, Andrew Sumner is joined by four special guests from the worlds of comics, movies, TV and theatre: actor, author & movie star Evangeline Lilly (Lost, The Hobbit, Ant-Man and The Wasp), comic creator Dave Gibbons (Watchmen, Kingsman, The Originals), TV wine expert/author Olly Smith (BBC’s Saturday Kitchen, Olly Smith’s Home Cocktail Bible) and West End stage actress Julie Stark (Company, Les Misérables, We Will Rock You). A Hard Agree Christmas Carol is the Christmas 2021 edition of Hard Agree’s annual yuletide charity podcast and features Sumner and his guests performing Charles Dickens’ live version of his Yuletide classic A Christmas Carol (in support of the Binc Foundation’s vital comic book industry work).

As Sumner says: “We’re coming to the end of another wildly-turbulent & damaging pandemic year, during which the comics industry’s all-important network of individually-owned comic book stores – the temples of pop culture in which we all worship – have remained hard hit & struggling to survive. With the Comic Book United Fund, the Binc Foundation have dedicated themselves to helping comic store employees/owners who have unforeseen emergency financial needs – and so we thought ‘what better way to underline & amplify the Binc Foundation’s mission than to return to the words of Charles Dickens himself, the great believer in human society pulling together?’”

You can donate to the Binc Foundation’s Comic Book United Fund HERE:

https://secure.donationpay.org/bincfoundation/ComicBookUnited.php

You can check out everything the Binc Foundation does HERE:

https://www.bincfoundation.org/

Follow Dave Gibbons online:

https://twitter.com/davegibbons90

Follow Olly Smith online:

https://ollysmith.com/

https://twitter.com/jollyolly

https://www.instagram.com/ollysmith/

Follow Julie Stark online:

https://www.juliestark.co.uk/

https://twitter.com/juliejuliestark

Very special thanks to comics artist supreme Kelly Yates for his festive illustration of John, Kenric, Sumner, Evangeline, Dave, Olly & Julie!

Art by Kelly Yates

https://www.kellyyatesart.com/

“Golden – The Hard Agree Theme” written and recorded for the podcast by DENIO

© 2021-2026 Andrew Sumner. All Rights Reserved.