Want to read Crisis on Infinite Earths but not sure where to start? Jon Hook is back on Trade School with a collector's guide to DC's latest editions of the legendary event. He compares the affordable Compact release, the enormous DC Finest collection with its mountain of crossover issues, and the lavish Absolute edition for readers who want the full shelf-piece experience.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:08 Meet Jon Hook
00:08 Introducing Crisis on Infinite Earths
01:20 The Compact Edition
02:33 The DC Finest Collection
03:43 Collecting the Complete Crossover
05:01 Price and Page Count
06:09 The New Absolute Edition
07:25 The Companion Book
08:26 Three Ways to Collect Crisis
09:34 Jon's Final Recommendation
09:34 Modern Mythos and Jon's Plugs
10:59 Long Live the Legion Promo
11:37 CPOV Tag

What if all those stories about rock stars selling their souls to the devil were true? Keith Lehtinen returns to Trade School to spotlight This Damned Band by Paul Cornell and Tony Parker, a darkly funny horror comic about fame, music, bad decisions, and what happens when the bill finally comes due. With a great ensemble cast, wild psychedelic horror, and a deeply satisfying payoff, this is one of Keith's favorite under-the-radar Dark Horse books.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:08 Meet Keith Lehtinen
00:53 Introducing This Damned Band
01:41 Paul Cornell and Tony Parker
02:26 The Art and Hellish Visuals
03:14 Characters, Mystery, and the Cost of Fame
04:00 Why the Ending Works
04:41 Discovering the Book at Phoenix Comic Con
05:25 Keith's Plugs
05:53 We Have Issues Promo
06:45 CPOV Tag

Everybody knows Invincible. Far fewer people talk about Capes. Case Aiken is here to fix that. This week on Trade School, he looks at Robert Kirkman and Mark Englert's superhero workplace comedy about what happens when saving the world is a salaried position; complete with lunch breaks, performance reviews, giant battles, terrible puns, and exactly the kind of sudden brutality you'd expect from the Invincible universe. It's weird, funny, rough around the edges, and absolutely worth rediscovering.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:43 Introducing Capes
01:28 Superheroes Punching the Clock
02:10 Robert Kirkman and Mark Englert
02:52 The Supplemental Material
03:35 The Cast and Image Comics Connections
04:23 How Capes Fits Into Invincible
05:05 The Action and Second Arc
05:51 Why One Volume Is Enough
06:39 Kirkman's Style and Englert's Growth
07:23 Why Capes Is Worth Reading
08:10 Trade School and Call for Submissions
08:47 Case's Plugs
09:33 Final Recommendation
10:18 The Word From Tomorrow Promo

Gillian Wiebe takes over Trade School to revisit Hawkeye: Little Hits, the comic that helped turn Matt Fraction and David Aja's Hawkeye into a modern classic. From Hurricane Sandy and the Tracksuit Mafia to tragedy, community, and an unforgettable issue told from Lucky the Pizza Dog's perspective, this volume shows just how much comics can do when creators fully embrace the visual language of the medium.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:08 Meet Gillian Wiebe
01:00 Discovering Hawkeye in a Comics Course
01:54 Little Hits and the Art of Hawkeye
02:49 Hurricane Sandy
03:40 The Tracksuit Mafia
04:30 Clint's Responsibility to His Neighbors
05:19 Hawkeye Saves Grylls
06:16 The Tragedy of Grylls
07:18 Lucky the Pizza Dog
08:18 Final Recommendation
08:38 Books That Promo

This week on Trade School, Jon Hook ventures into Mike Mignola's Lands Unknown, a bizarre, folklore-soaked fantasy realm filled with corpses, gods, scholars, monsters, and plenty of things that probably should not be trusted. Jon walks through Bowling with Corpses and Yuri Tupka and the Gods and explains why this growing universe is such an exciting new playground for Mignola; and why now is the ideal time to start reading.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:08 Meet Jon Hook
01:07 Introducing Lands Unknown
02:30 Bowling with Corpses
03:49 Why the Anthology Works
04:53 The Skinless Man
05:49 Yuri Tupka and the Gods
07:15 Yuri Tupka's Epic Journey
08:32 The Gods of Lands Unknown
09:30 Ben Stenbeck's Next Story
10:42 Building the Lands Unknown Collection
11:47 What Makes the Fantasy World Unique
12:42 Modern Mythos and Final Recommendation
13:43 Long Live the Legion Promo

This week on Trade School, Keith Lehtinen spotlights Karmen, the hauntingly beautiful Image Comics series by Guillem March. It's a story about a young woman named Catalina, the reaper assigned to guide her after death, and the emotional weight of looking back on a life too soon interrupted. If you want a comic that is gorgeous, heartbreaking, romantic, and weird in exactly the right way, Keith is here to tell you why Karmen belongs on your shelf.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:41 Introducing Karmen
01:09 Trigger Warning
01:33 Catalina and Karmen
02:30 Why the Art Works
03:20 The Emotional Core
04:16 Karmen as a Comfort Read
04:55 Keith's Plugs
05:35 We Have Issues Promo

This week on Trade School, Case Aiken dives into The Tick: The Naked City, the collection that first showed him just how weird, smart, and funny The Tick could be on the comics page. Ben Edlund's original series is not just a superhero parody; it is a gleeful dismantling of capes, secret identities, ninjas, publicity-hungry heroes, and the entire idea of what a superhero world is supposed to look like. Listen to the episode, then go read the book. Spoon!

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:23 Why The Tick Matters
00:42 Discovering the Comic After the Cartoon
01:25 Breaking Down the Collection
02:15 A Night of a Million Zillion Ninjas
02:37 Villains Inc.
02:57 Why the Comedy Works
03:36 Early Tick Character Designs
04:18 The Superman Parody
04:48 The Ninja Story Picks Up
05:04 What Makes the Tick Work
05:42 The Villains Inc. Arc
06:26 Ben Edlund and the Tick's Legacy
07:08 Final Recommendation
07:27 Case's Plugs
08:31 Where to Find Case
09:13 The Word from Tomorrow Promo

For Trade School's 50th episode, Case Aiken, Alan Kistler, and Keith Lehtinen revisit Marvels, the Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross masterpiece that asks what the Marvel Universe looks like to the people on the ground. By filtering iconic moments through photojournalist Phil Sheldon, Marvels turns continuity into lived history and spectacle into something emotional, terrifying, and beautiful. It's one of the best arguments ever made for why superhero comics matter.

Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/CertainPOVMedia

Edited by Case Aiken

Scored by Bret Eagleston

Certain Point Of View is a podcast network brining you all sorts of nerdy goodness! From Star Wars role playing, to Disney day dreaming, to video game love, we've got the show for you! Learn more on our website: https://www.certainpov.com

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/wcHHer4

FOLLOW US: ▶ Instagram: @certainpovmedia

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 Welcome and 50th Episode Intro
00:54 Introducing Marvels
01:55 Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
04:43 Alex Ross's Legacy
05:08 Case's History with Marvels
08:24 Keith's History with Marvels
09:57 Alan's History with Marvels
15:29 Comics Looking Back at Comics
18:55 The '90s and Reassessing Heroes
25:34 The Human Torch Prologue
27:17 The 1940s Issue
33:28 Fear of the Marvels
39:02 The Marvels Become Heroes
43:43 Phil, Doris, and the Sub-Mariner
44:23 The Tidal Wave
47:19 Phil Loses His Eye
48:24 The Marvels Go to War
49:02 The Mutant Issue
55:24 The X-Men and Anti-Mutant Fear
58:38 Alicia Masters' Gala
01:00:11 Maggie the Mutant Girl
01:01:27 The Fantastic Four Wedding and the Sentinels
01:06:21 The Sentinel Riot
01:09:40 The Galactus Issue
01:12:22 Phil Steps Back
01:17:08 Galactus and the Fantastic Four
01:22:45 People Doubt the Marvels
01:25:01 Gwen Stacy
01:28:38 Keith on Gwen Stacy
01:32:57 Gwen and the Green Goblin
01:35:02 The Snap
01:37:26 Phil Retires
01:39:25 The Marvels Epilogue
01:45:07 Phil's Family and Perspective
01:47:27 Final Thoughts on Marvels
01:50:01 Recommendation
01:52:02 Keith's Plugs
01:52:58 Alan's Plugs
01:54:39 Case's Plugs
01:55:51 50th Episode Wrap-Up
01:56:34 Long Live the Legion Promo