CheddarVerse

#1: Who Are We?, Collection Buys, Comic History, and Hot Takes!

• Chris • Season 1 • Episode 1

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In this week’s episode of The CheddarVerse Podcast, Chris & Jen dive into:
🧀 Who The Hell Are We? — 0:43

📦 Tales from the Sales: Our Favorite Collections — 15:47

📖 A Moment in Comic Book History: Giant-Size X-Men #1 — 33:50

🎬 Hot Takes on the Latest Comic Book Movie & TV News — 44:59

🗣️ Cheddar’s SoapBox: Comics Are American Mythology — 1:00:46


Cheddar Comics Presents: The CheddarVerse Podcast! 🎙️🧀
A show about comic books, collections, collecting, comic book film & TV news — and all the culture that surrounds the hobby.
Hosted by husband-and-wife duo Chris & Jen from Cheddar Comics, CheddarVerse is where we dive into the stories behind the comics: unforgettable collection buys, A Moment in Comic Book History, and hot takes on the latest comic book movies and TV shows.
Whether you’re a longtime collector or just comic-curious, this is a fun and honest space to celebrate what makes comics special — the thrill of the hunt, the nostalgia, and the community.
New episodes weekly!
Subscribe and enter the CheddarVerse! 🧀✨

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SPEAKER_00

It's the first episode of Cheddarverse presented by Cheddar Comics. That's me, and this is Mrs. Cheddar. Hey guys. We're gonna be talking a lot today in our first inaugural episode. Who are we? What are we? What do we do? Why are we here? Find out some seller stories, some of our favorite collections, a little comic history about Giant Size X-Men number one, some film and TV news, and much more. Here in the Cheddarverse. A Cheddar Comics podcast. Who's Cheddar Comics? I am. I'm Chris at Cheddar Comics. This is Jen, Mrs. Cheddar Comics. What's up, everybody? Husband and wife, dynamic duo behind Cheddar Comics, and we are signing up for a weekly podcast. Apparently we are. And this is our first one. Do we know what we're doing? No. Do we like what we're doing? Yes. Yes. Are we excited to do this? Yes. Are we nervous? Yes. Very much. Do we thank you for being here?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Yes. Very much so. Thank you for tuning in.

SPEAKER_00

If you're joining over from Instagram, hello, friends, we appreciate you. Um and if you're watching on YouTube. Hello.

SPEAKER_02

I'm glad I looked. Like, who's over there? Who's over there? Oh, hey, Bill. No one.

SPEAKER_03

No one.

SPEAKER_00

Just the guy.

SPEAKER_03

Just some guy in our house.

SPEAKER_00

Just the guy from number six. Hey, what's up, man? Yeah. Um. So if you're if you don't know who we are, we are Cheddar Comics, Cheddar Comics over on Instagram at Cheddar underscore comics. And Mrs. Cheddar Comics is at Mrs. Cheddar underscore comics. We have a comic book buying and selling business. We sell on Instagram every Thursday. Most Thursday, I mean, most of the time. Most of the time. It's usually every Thursday. Sometimes we don't, but most of the time we are. Every Thursday, live sales on there. Yes. We just had our four-year anniversary on Friday. Cheddar Comics is four years old. And we thought it was time to expand the Cheddarverse and start this podcast and just kind of talk about our lives and what we do and the comics that come in, a little bit of comic history, a little PC, a little weirdos along the way.

SPEAKER_03

All those fun experiences.

SPEAKER_00

All the fun experiences of our are now lived experience.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. So crazy.

SPEAKER_00

We are? Who are you? Take your pills, dear. Yeah, right. We've been together, Mrs. Cheddar and I, Jen and I have been together since uh 2009. We've been married since 2013. No, I know the year. I know the year. I was trying to do the math. Oh. 12. It'll be thir 13 years in June. We've been married. Oh my god. I know. I started Cheddar Comics four years ago.

SPEAKER_03

I remember I was there.

SPEAKER_00

It was your idea. And it was my idea. Yeah. I had uh we had a previous business before that. Um it was uh it ended up being a drone photography and video business. Yes. You and I started it as a TV like production and commercial business. We did a lot of TV commercials and video, and we ended up buying a drone and it ended up being a drone business, yada yada. People really liked that. Yeah. So we had that we had that business for eight years. Yeah, about. Which is crazy. Yeah. Um, but then when COVID happened, um, I I took a lot of real estate construction marketing videos, that kind of thing. So when COVID happened, it was like all the money out of the world just got sucked out. Yep. And no one was spending anything in our business completely cratered.

SPEAKER_03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00

Um, and we were barely getting by for like a year.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. And we had just had our baby was like we just had our first baby.

SPEAKER_00

Yes. Um, our only baby, but just at that time, our first baby. Yes. Um, and we closed the business when she was like just over a year old. Yes. Made it a few months, everything around us was burning on fire, our whole lives were falling apart. Um I had some money and it was I don't even know how I was paying for stuff for a couple months. Um I think just like getting by. Just getting by. Yes. So I didn't know what to do. Um, I had a very small Etsy shop, and you know, with uh maybe a hundred listings on it, and Jen, Mrs. Cheddar said, Why don't you do the comics? And I said, That's crazy. I can't do that. How is that gonna work? Verbatim, those were direct quotes. That's crazy. How can I do that? That doesn't make any sense. I was like, There's no money there, we can't do that. You know, how are we gonna pay for the baby? Um, and luckily I listened to her. My I mean, I didn't really have many choices, you know. Um I've been an entrepreneur working for myself for I I haven't had a boss in 12, 13 years, so yeah, it's kind of all I know is to have my own business. So um we started Cheddar Comics four years ago, and I started it as you know, I think I first was selling on I had the Etsy shop still, and I was selling on whatnot for a little bit, and then a couple years ago we pivoted, and now since then that's when the business got good is we started selling on Instagram every week.

SPEAKER_03

Went all in on Instagram, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

And now today, you know, we started I started with zero followers. No one in I didn't know anybody, I didn't know what I was doing, and four years later I've got 11,000 followers, we've got hundreds and hundreds of happy customers week in, week out, and businesses thriving. And so we just thought, you know, we have such kind of a not an odd life, but maybe an interesting one where it would be interesting to hear some of our stories of all the comics that surround us and the seller life. The seller life and you know, the comics and the people.

SPEAKER_03

Especially that.

SPEAKER_00

And we get to talk about that every week.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. It's so fun.

SPEAKER_00

We we have two different paths with comic books. Yeah, absolutely. For years, yours started when you met me.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, 100%. Um I had no idea that you were into comics because you kept that kind of like uh kind of muted in college.

SPEAKER_00

I'm trying to get a girlfriend.

SPEAKER_03

Um there were little there are some little elements sprinkled here and there, like, you know, uh Put that shit away. You had some like graphic novels, maybe, and um, but what you really had that piqued my interest was, and it was it's like the weirdest little thing was that you had this like box of postcards and there was like a hundred of them, and they all had golden and like silver age art covers. And that's where I got really interested in what this was because I had never seen anything like that. So, and uh seeing like for me, what's what really drew me in honestly was the golden age uh Wonder Woman covers and like seeing Wonder Woman number one. And that's what really drew me in because I think after that I just had all of these questions, like asking you mostly about her, I think. Sure. Um and that's kind of just where it sparked you know our own relationship with comics and kind of brought us together a little bit closer, I think, because I loved seeing like the joy that it brought out in you.

SPEAKER_04

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

And so we kind of started collecting a little bit in Chicago, just like covers, just fun little things that we can like put on our wall in our bedroom. It just kind of grew from there.

SPEAKER_00

So you went from zero to having a half-sleeve Wonder Woman tattoo on your arm. You can't see it under your sweatshirt for our podcast listeners, but yes, now I have like an art novel tattoo.

SPEAKER_03

Now you're all in. Yeah, I'm all in. You're drinking the Kool-Aid now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

But we met in film school. We were college sweethearts. Yes. You know, so that's where we met, and our background is in movies and production production, and you know, we've had a few businesses together, and now we're on this one. And here we are, you know. So uh, but yeah, sorry, your comic history. Um, so yeah, that's where yours starts is meeting me. For me, mine starts at birth.

SPEAKER_01

That makes sense.

SPEAKER_00

Pretty much the minute light hit my eyes. The very beginning. Yeah, the very beginning. Once I got brought home. Um, because my dad, uh a little history about me, my dad owned uh two comic book stores um in Portland, Oregon, Bergeron Collectibles, which a few friends on Instagram uh. Oh, yeah, they remember. Yeah, that's right back in the day.

SPEAKER_01

So cool.

SPEAKER_00

And so dad had two stores. Um, so I wasn't there like all the time, but um I definitely grew up with the things that he brought home, you know, so action figures and toys and posters and the TV shows or VHS tapes or you know, the the mythology of the superheroes was all over. Yeah. You know, and that pretty much just was m a lot of my childhood. Um then of course, like going to the store, you know, I I went there some I didn't live there, and I was too little. Yeah, you know, I he had it till I was five. Um, and then both of Dad's stores and our house um were robbed by a cat burglar. That's right. A cat burglar cased the joints and robbed us.

SPEAKER_03

Professional cat burglar.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, professional cat burglar. So he was caught, he went to jail, um, they got some of the comics back, we lost a lot of stuff, and my parents were just like, that's enough. So we moved, the stores ended up closing. Um, and dad opened up uh a new store. He brought some of that inventory to Michigan when we moved there, and but the town was too small where where we lived, you know, 10,000 people, so it just didn't make it. So um I watched my dad close two brick and mortar stores. So I get people asking me all the time for cheddar comics. Are you gonna open a brick and mortar store? Do you have any do you have retail dreams? No, no, no, thank you. No, thank you. Um, I have watched a loved one close two stores, so I would prefer to sell in my home online than go through that experience myself. So, um, and then as a teenager, my dad and I collected um vintage comics. I I can I'll tell the origin story some other time, but we you know, he taught me how to grade and you know how to or taught me about the the silver age, golden age, what's key, what was important, and that's like where I got my real love of actual like comics, not just the characters and the toys and the movies and stuff, but the actual comics themselves. You know, is that's as a teenager that's where I fell in love with it and learned everything. Um and from then after college, or once I left high school and I got to college, we had sold that collection, so I was very sad about it after being built up for so long. And then by the time I met you in college, that's why it was kind of like muted. Well, I I just joke I was because I was trying to get laid, but it's it's just because it was just very muted because it was just a lot of heartbreak, and I was ready to move on to you know, movies and film because we went to film school, so yeah, you know, just kind of ready for something else. But Mrs. Cheddar Jen just asking me one question about it, and I was like, Oh, please, yes, you you think it's cool? Oh well, right on. Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_03

They had no idea how deep this pull the thread went.

SPEAKER_00

Pull the thread all came out. So that's kind of just a quick version of um my my history with comics. You know, I worked at a store in LA, you know, we couldn't get work.

SPEAKER_03

Couldn't get any work, but because of your knowledge I was able to grade comics, that's why it got me the job was because I said I could grade, and he was like, Oh my god, you can grade.

SPEAKER_00

We just lost our grader.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Divine timing.

SPEAKER_00

So that got we were like had no money. Very broke. We were broke. We were jobless for like four months and but yeah, then got that job and then left and then started the Etsy shop, and you know, and then fast forward to uh 2021. Yes, you know, the other business closed and twenty January twenty two start cheddar comics. Right. You know, not expecting much of anything. So that's who we are, what we are, and why we are. Actually, we did answer those. We did it. We hit our goals who, what, and why? Um, the where is in we're in Madison, Wisconsin. Oh, yeah, we're in Wisconsin.

SPEAKER_03

That's that's about it.

SPEAKER_00

When is now right now when you're listening or watching, it's now.

SPEAKER_03

It's right now.

SPEAKER_00

Um so be sure to follow us on Instagram if you haven't. Um so next we're gonna move into our next block. We're gonna have a few. This is our inaugural episode, so if it's a little messy, please be cool. Be cool, man. Just be cool. That's what I was gonna say. Be cool, brother. We're gonna try to have different segments in the show. You know, a little, a little, hi, how are you? Then we're gonna have a seller stories or collection stories, then we're gonna have some a little comic book history because I think that that's a little bit underrepresented because most of the comic book content is market values, cash, grades, money, values, stock up shit, and we need to remember that this is about art and story and the creators. Um, and then at the end of the show, we'll try to talk a little bit about um some film and TV news, our hot takes, and then end the show with a little cheddar soapbox, a little final thoughts. So thank you for being here. So now the seller block. This is Tales from the Sales. We're gonna talk a little bit about um, you know, so with for us, the intake of Cheddar Comics is we now, luckily now, a few years in, we buy collections. Yes, you know, in the beginning of Cheddar, I was doing a lot of retail arbitrage, they call it. So you go to half price, you spend a dollar, you hope you make two, or whatever you make spend five, you hope you get ten, you flip it. Um, not a great margin on that stuff, but that's what you know started it for a couple of years. Yeah. And then I don't know if it's two years for what? Collections. I think it is.

SPEAKER_03

I think it is.

SPEAKER_00

Coming up in March, I think starts the collection stuff.

SPEAKER_03

The last year is when it really kicked out. Last year it kicked out. That's why it might be like I don't know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So last year, you know, for our our just a little seller perspective, um, we are I started advertising more last year. So I advertise on Facebook because here in Wisconsin, um, a lot of people use Facebook. If you are on the West Coast, you might use Nextdoor, or if you're on the East Coast, you might use whatever Facebook or Craigslist or something. So if you want to look for comics, you need to figure out where your community is putting up their stuff. Right. Um, my our friend Scruffy Nerf Herder lives on in California. Yep. And he finds stuff on Nextdoor. Like all the time. And I, you know, I go to Nextdoor here, and there's one guy listing six comics, and he's the only one keeping that app alive. You know, no one's gonna work. No one's using it. Oh um, here, so you have to be regional, everything's regional. So here it's Facebook, get a lot of collections from that. And then last year I I made a new website, a lead generator to compete on Google listings. So, you know, if you type in certain keywords on Google and in our area, hopefully the website will pop up and you'll see my face and contact me about your collections. That's right. So that's where a lot of and then we have some personal connections, you know. Some we have friends who who who have some uh, you know, Siggy at six treasure chests in Madison will contact me if comics come in or there's a couple of others, you know, and I and if I get toys, I send them to him and stuff. So yeah. So that's kind of where the comics come in. You know, then we process them and we get them ready for Thursday live sales as number one slot. That's where we sell the majority of our comics to our lovely friends and collectors. Yes. And if there's some survivors or some leftovers, we sell through a lot of stuff because I I keep my prices low if I can.

SPEAKER_03

Very competitive pricing.

SPEAKER_00

I try. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

That's one of the things that people love.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you know, you got a lot of options. So yeah, so you know, I try to have conservative grading and conservative prices.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

Um, and after that, if they survive, then they go on eBay. We have an eBay shop as well. Where we have some listings. So that's kind of like what we the short version of where they come and what we do, and you know, that pays our bills. Yes. Um so what I wanted to ask you, you know, for this kind of section is um, you know, there's my my favorite part, and we talk about this all the time, is the the stories of the collections, or the stories of the comics, or the stories of you know, where they came from or all that you and I find the most interesting.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00

You know, so I know that there's a l there's a lot of stories that we could dive into, but you know, I I did want to ask you what was maybe one of your favorite collections or sellers or you know something like that over over the years.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I just started coming in a little bit more heavily in September, so I don't have like a ton, but one of the best ones so far um was in Socks City, about f I don't know, half hour from Madison or whatever. Um, and going into this very nice old woman's house from like I don't know how old that house was, but she had a crazy scary basement.

SPEAKER_00

And it was that building must have I think it was built in like 1910. Yeah, it was and it was like three stories.

SPEAKER_03

It was just so it's the stuff of nightmares and but she had so many long boxes. How how many were like I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Well she was selling them for friends. Yeah, her friend had been storing them since the nineties. Yes, and they she was finally like one of the remember that back room? Yeah, so she took it, so this lady was selling them for her friend, uh, they were all of her friends' comics, David. And remember, she took she's like, Okay, they're down here, and she took us down into the basement. It's exposed brick, yeah. It's there's one light, it's one light, you know, with the a light bulb and a little click pole, and there was one light down there, and she's like, Yeah, we had to I had to move them because this back room, and then she brings us further into the basement. This was a day I'm usually by myself. Yeah, I usually go to people's homes by myself, and I always text Mrs. Cheddar the address of where I am. Yes. At what time I'll be there. Yes. And everything's always fine. And this one I was like, I was kind of glad you were there with me because I was like, this is the this is such an old basement, you know. This is the one I gotta come to. Yeah, this is your first one.

SPEAKER_02

Like exactly terrified of like, what's gonna happen?

SPEAKER_01

There's gonna be a spider. I know there's gonna be a giant fucking spider. Oh no.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna freak out and I gotta move all these old dusty boxes and become a big thing.

SPEAKER_00

But remember, she brought she brought us in that back room though, the reason that they had to sell because one of those rooms was like one of the walls was collapsing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that's right. I had to move them all.

SPEAKER_00

So she was like, I need these gone.

SPEAKER_03

because uh this this room is collapsing in you know so okay we're down here yeah so anyways that was that was my my favorite experience mostly because I got to see you do your thing.

SPEAKER_00

Oh that's so sweet. Yeah after hearing about it for so many years.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah I mean I'm just hearing about you know you just buying these things. But it was mostly just getting to see you like you know your process and what you did and how you spoke to people but then also for me because you know I'm you know your partner you know getting to see the excitements of you pulling these books out because he had a really great uh Green Lantern collection and that was what got you into comics when you were a teenager. Showcase 22. And you had to sadly sell them all because that was the deal with your dad. Yeah. So to get to see you like connect with that again was really s special. Oh that's sweet. You know so and then I get to and then but then you know the nerd comes out and starts telling me all about the different Me the nerd. Yes.

SPEAKER_00

Oh absolutely Oh my god you know I I just you know I'm over here and he's over there and I just keep hearing it's like oh my god oh my god well I didn't know what was I had an idea you know that's kind of the fun part because I don't always I'm not I can't know every book right or sometimes they'll tell me like you know we I have Star Trek or I have Flash or so I have like an idea right of some things and then other things are a total surprise and you get a nice free dopamine hit yes when you find uh you know a Green Lantern one or whatever. Right.

SPEAKER_03

You know so that so I'd say probably that one right now. So because and it was cool for me to get to see you know these old vintage comics um not just the Green Lanterns but like the flashes too that sh that they had because I know from what you told me like they're so rare to find. Yeah. So and it's cool to see like vintage DC because they're those I really like. Yeah. Um yeah and then there yeah so it was that one for that was a good one. Yeah that's I I love that one. And the old woman she was so nice she was lovely.

SPEAKER_00

The friend and then you know um David who sold them to me you know he collected them you know we I I try to honor the collectors who took care of these books for us to you know and who took care of them and stored them and love them so that you know later collectors can enjoy them. But right you know that's only because of what they did. So we must honor our fellow collectors. Yes. And he he just loved Flash and Green Lantern and DC and you know they weren't like the best grades but he had a lot. Yeah and um he was just happy to he was selling them because he was starting a new project. Yeah he was like a tech guy and he needed the money as like seed money to roll into a new thing. So you know that kind of thing is just uh a win win win. You know he she got out she got all that stuff out of her basement you know we found some great comics you know our our friends and customers are excited by the comics and then he got the seed money to start his new thing for his new project which he was ecstatic about.

SPEAKER_03

Do you remember how long she had been holding those down there for him they were then there since the 90s that's nuts.

SPEAKER_00

So at at the recording of this podcast that would have been like 30 years they were down there. That's so crazy to me. Yeah and then a lot of them had like um addresses like they some of them had been shipped so some of them were from California.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah it was that was really fun I mean you have so many uh years of meeting new people yeah but like what can you think of one that would be your favorite so yeah there's a there's tons and tons that I loved you know I'm I'm just so honored to even get to see some of them in the wild.

SPEAKER_00

You know they're not bought from other sellers and resold these are found in the wild plucked you know and sometimes being sold for the first time that's right you know um my favorite one that comes to mind um last year was the um there was some DC but it was Marvel Silver Age. Yeah of course Marvel Silver Age collection um that came from a lovely man named Wayne um who had a X-Men 1 uh Daredevil 1 you know really early amazing Spider-Mans so he had a lot of great books like first Satanna oh right um you know first black widow a lot of great great vintage books but uh the best part I mean obviously you know of course the comics are great but the story was great because these were Wayne's he bought these off the stands in the 60s and had just kept them in his basement you know for all these years he attempted to they had when I had gone to their house um the which they've been living in since the 80s you know he had said he's like I brought some of these to a comic shop in the 90s in Madison here in Wisconsin and they were not interested in these so I put them back and I kind of forgot about it and you know um he had seen my uh donation um last year we donated twelve thousand comics to kids and he had seen that video and said that he really liked that and it was since it was so community based. That's nice that he he told me he was like I found the right person to sell these to which of course was a very honorable to hear.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely that's so nice of him to even tell you that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah I agree. So yeah I went into his basement and flipped through the comics and he had sent me he had sent me a list of the comics and when I first read the list I was like this is gotta be bullshit or he's convinced because some people are are get it wrong and it's a reprint or it's sure a facsimile or it's you know it it says X-Men one but it's the 90s one or something. Right. You know but it said on there that it had he had X Men one and Daredevil one. I was like I don't believe it when I see it. This can't be fucking real never you know whatever. Yeah and then when I got down there and I saw them I was like oh my god they are real oh shit oh shit this is real oh okay so um yeah and then you know I made him an offer and he was very happy with it and gave him the cash and he was like get this stuff out of here he was just happy to get a box out of his house yeah is what he told me because he had a very full basement you know I mean they've been living there since the 80s that makes sense and his kids weren't interested in them I hear that a lot you know kids had no interest in the comics so he was just happy that you know a a box or two I think it was two boxes uh left the house you know sure and then why is that my favorite um because I you know I sold we did we did two weeks we did two special shows on Thursday on Instagram and we did two wing shows like full Marvel and DC Silverage over two weeks yeah and we had made enough where I would felt comfortable keeping one of the books yes and I kept the X-Men one the X-Men one it was the X-Men one yeah because um I am a X-Men is my favorite and X-Men one is my ultimate grail so I've never even I I I mean I've seen them at shows but yeah but not like that no not like that like where you got to like touch it and stuff no nothing like that yeah so I yeah so I was like Yoink mine so that collection was good for many reasons. Yes it was one of my favorites and just to get to see those that kind of books and see them and meet you know Wayne who bought them off the stand and kept them really nice. Some of them he said were missing you know because he had loaned them out to friends and they never gave them back and other ones were kind of more beat up like the Spider-Mans were more beat up because he shared those with all of his friends all his buddies.

SPEAKER_03

For me like that part seeing those early Spider-Mans are really really cool yeah because I don't think I've ever seen those before.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah we had first Lizard first Craven yeah you know some of the other early single digits we had five and six I think yeah five five is Doom that Dr. Doom cover. Oh okay Lizard and Craven and stuff. Yeah there's a dealer friend that I've I've told you this before but um I used to when I was going to the shows and stuff I would always see this really nice guy Jim and he told me which I still do to this day he was like you have to keep one thing from every collection to you know kind of have something down the road because he was telling me one of his buddies has been you know buying and selling comics since like the 70s and he's done that and he's like got a you know a million dollar collection. That's right because he's kept you know golden age stuff for 50 years. Right. You know he has this like crazy collection. So um when an X-Men one came up you know I was like I can't afford I because I was gonna buy one yeah I was like forget that yeah that you know or I have to like get a really beat up one or you gotta wait. Or I gotta wait you know which was what I was gonna do. So that was very cool. Yes. Um and just for our listeners here uh in at Cheddar Comics and and in the Cheddarverse um I'm a huge X-Men fan. Yes my first tattoo I got when I was um 30? 30 my little I don't know if this is in the shot or not but it's a little X-Men symbol on my arm and my first tattoo. A little red and black. Yep X-Men um so the today's comic history today in comic history lecture at college yeah I did that once did you really yeah we had a speech do you remember we did you had to take speech freshman year? Yeah there was one of the there was an informative speech you had to make and it was about XN1 no no it was about comics I did a a the history of comics for my informative speech I got an A. It was the one time I got an A.

SPEAKER_02

Really?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah that's so I had no idea what to do and I did it on I was like the Golden Age Silver Age Bronze Age and just kind of did an overview. Wow that's honestly a great topic for speech yeah it was it was really easy to do I I'm sure it was so um in today's moment in comic history I don't know if I'm gonna call I don't know if I'm gonna call it that or did you know pause for graphic no I don't like that did you know yeah um a moment in comic history I like that more this is a moment in comic history uh since this is cheddar comics we must you will not be able to escape X-Men and X-Men talk most likely Forever lives in our house X-Men or McFarlane McFarlane look up at banner um so I thought for the first a moment in comic history we would talk about giant size X-Men I don't know if this is in the shot the editor will find that out later ooh there you go this is my uh personal copy of Giant Size X-Men number one this is first appearance of Storm Nightcrawler Colossus it's the first new team it's the third appearance of Wolverine nice big key for the Bronze Age and especially for X-Men collectors we want to have a you gotta have a giant size X-Men but did you know that the giant size X-Men team were created first and foremost to attract new readers to international audiences what did you know that no that's the only reason that this was created. Oh my god okay so Marvel maybe you should should you hold it no you don't want me to hold it okay I don't want it isn't a top loader but I don't want you to hold it I don't think so Marvel was looking to expand their publishing reach outside of the US and when you start thinking about it it makes the team make a lot more sense oh right away oh got it they literally made the team to sell comics overseas it's crazy Storm is from Africa Colossus is from Russia Nightcrawler is from Germany Wolverine is from Canada and Thunderbird is Native American so they have an international team to sell comics overseas. Marvel's new president Al Lando got into the business from selling Marvel comics in international markets and he thought maybe there could be a comic that had characters from all over the world that would sell overseas really well. So they tasked the Marvel team with creating a new well first they it's not just for X-Men. They had the idea that let's make a new team for an international audience and supposedly Roy Thomas the editor suggested that the X-Men might be the right team to do that. At the time too it also worked because the X-Men was an absolutely failing title that was near cancellation at that point the uncanny X-Men title was only reprinting old stories. Yeah I mean it was that close to being cancelled so they brought the idea to Len Wien and Dave Cochram who would create the all new all different X-Men team that we all know and love and giant size X-Men and the rest is X history. I'd say they delivered right that's crazy like what do you think of that just to go just to create these characters from like different like that's all they had like different countries like okay got it and I've seen a lot of different takes that some versions of the characters were being like shopped around like you know that Colossus was originally like a character called like I f I for I'm gonna get it wrong but the strong man or something and they reused it and they you know so these kind some of them were kind of floating around a little bit. Oh okay and then they became I mean to me as an X-Men fan this you know besides the original but I'm wearing both teams yes I got both teams here the original team of course is great but I would say most people's they know this team. Yeah or you know maybe the blue and gold teams of Jim Lee's run or something. Sure. Um but this team is where and it's an iconic cover and you know by Gilcane. So that's today's moment in comic history what do you think of that? Did you know any of that?

SPEAKER_03

No that's very interesting. Is that cool? I think it's so cool just like from a creative standpoint honestly to just like have like we need to sell comics overseas. And I think both create something yeah absolutely what?

SPEAKER_00

Okay and this is what they came out with you know like fuck yeah the new example guys the best team you know one of the best teams and I think like that's really forgotten about in comic book history because if you read enough uh books or comic book history I have some on my shelf up here um there's oh Marvel Comics the Untold Story is a great one um by Sean Howe. Um and when you read these books you know like I live with the characters with the mythology with the collecting and stuff and you just think of them as larger than life and it's divine creativity and all of this stuff and when you read those books you really pick up fast like this is about publishing and this is about selling these books and staying afloat.

SPEAKER_03

That's so crazy.

SPEAKER_00

I never think of that trying to get especially in this when Stan Lee was pretty much the only one in the office running the whole thing like how do we keep the doors open for another month? Wow you know so like when with giant size X-Men you know how do we expand our reach and keep selling comics and you know let's try overseas so that's today's moment in comic book history. Very cool. You like that one?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah it's very interesting to see like or to know the origins that's cool right of how they were birthed. I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_00

No we just really need to sell some comics come up with something and I don't even know I don't think it worked. I you know yeah that's true like did it work I couldn't find out I tried looking to see like did international sales increase I couldn't find that answer because once you cross over into the foreign stuff it gets kind of murky with with data and stuff but either way it revitalized the American X-Men comics so whether whatever their intentions were something worked it worked it worked because it revitalized uh the whole X-Men title which would later of course become in the 70s and the 80s it the when you read these books too you you will quickly pick up that the uncanny X-Men title with Claremont was the crown jewel at Marvel it was at they were always trying to recreate the success of Claremont and them's uncanny X-Men title. So whatever they intended to do it worked way better than they ever could have expected.

SPEAKER_03

So like for international comics like have you ever seen like a giant size X-Men from like Germany? Absolutely is in the title the same or is it in German? That's probably a dumb question but it'll be in German. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah okay you don't want to collect those huh oh I do oh you do find it out just what I fucking know. I can't tell you everything I want right I can't do that I mean I we have some I have some friends that do you know international comics and they're I know like the Japanese stuff obviously I have a lot of Japanese stuff that but I was mostly like like I I knew that but like mostly like other countries that I don't really see as much. Yeah they in and I don't really know I I'm not well versed I've got a friend a couple friends you know A B comic swag oh sure who's a friend of ours yeah um and he he has tons of he's is selling cool foreign stuff all the time foreign stuff all the time and I I just don't you have to you have to like pick a country or you have to pick a comic or you have to pick a cover or and get your way in like that. I I pretty much only know about Japanese stuff. Okay. Because I got into that over the last couple years.

SPEAKER_03

Just like sparked my idea of like I wonder if they made like Wonder Woman comics in like Greece.

SPEAKER_00

They they might have in like what do those look like you can look yeah there's um uh there's some Facebook groups you can join that have searches so if you want to search for a certain thing. Um some of them sell some of them don't sell sure um so yeah there's there's some resources but it's it's very difficult. It's whenever I get that stuff it's hard to price. Okay. You know talking about inter like that we talked about international comics that's very cool.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah so that's very interesting it's a whole other world that like I don't ever see but like when you get like international clients or customers it's like oh that's so cool. Yeah exactly you know because I think a lot of them say like we don't we don't have this or I haven't seen it.

SPEAKER_00

Oh you're saying when when they're overseas yeah yeah yeah when they are overseas a foreigner yeah like in in France or England I gotcha.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah because I because I'm just used to us like you know you always have it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah they see French books and they see right but obviously that's not the case.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah shows how you know naive I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

Oh no yeah I mean you start drilling down into it and then you're like oh yeah what you know what were the sixties in Paris like for comics or whatever. Yeah you know those sound cool yeah yeah yeah yes please they sometimes they have um Americ they have American comics over there like actual like that copy in France or they reprinted their own you know like a French French company. Got it. You know, license. You know.

SPEAKER_03

Change the language.

SPEAKER_00

Yep.

SPEAKER_03

That's very cool. So there's companies for that.

SPEAKER_00

In every country.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Yeah. But uh they do that for books too.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Same with comics.

SPEAKER_03

So smart. It's okay. It's good.

SPEAKER_00

I graduated college, I swear. So that was our little comic history section. So this is our film and TV news of the beat. Well, I don't know what to call this section. Oh.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, that's new.

SPEAKER_00

I thought I was that one. I thought the segment title would just kind of fly out and it didn't. Uh no. Um, I don't know. I don't know. I some of them I don't have titles for. It's okay. We'll figure it out. Maybe you should keep it. What was it? I don't know. Film on the beats?

SPEAKER_03

Film on the beat?

SPEAKER_00

News on the beats?

SPEAKER_03

Film news on the beat. I don't like that.

SPEAKER_00

That doesn't make any sense.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

So this is film and TV news with Mr. and Mrs. Cheddar. This is Hot Takes on Film and TV News. What I'm going to start doing is I'm going to start storing up news pieces over the week. Um usually I am the one that tells you these things, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. I am not plugged in.

SPEAKER_00

I'm not plugged in that much. But I'll tell you and we'll discuss it. So now we're going to do that here on Cheddarverse.

SPEAKER_03

Okay, great.

SPEAKER_00

I also want to preface this. I don't know if I said it earlier or if that was in the other one, but me and Mrs. Cheddar have a uh film and TV background. We love movies. You might be able to see the RoboCop poster behind her. And you know, we we're not snobs, but we we don't just shovel it. We're not just like gonna let Mickey Mouse shovel in a big barrel of shit into our mouth and fucking smile about it. I mean, if it sucks, it sucks. Yeah, you know, and they need to know that it sucks because if you just take whatever they give you, they're just gonna give you the same slop they'll always give you, and they'll be happy about it because they already got your money. That's right. Right? So we're we're not hyper critical. We love a lot of stuff. Oh yeah. You know, we love Superman, James Gunn Superman. Oh yeah, that's wonderful. You know, um we're not we're not haters, but we're not gonna be corporate goons marching along to the mouse's orders either. Fuck no. So we can be, we're we're just you know, we have a critical eye on what it is. Yes, you know. I I'm pretty happy with most stuff. Yeah, you know, um, but you gotta call gutters and strikes when you see them. That's you know how we view film criticism and TV criticism and absolutely and also just uh and sometimes I don't care and I'm just a fan and I'm like that was cool and I liked it, and other times I'm like that was dog shit. Right. That was hot dog shit. Yes. Um, so the first piece of news comes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe I wanted to tell you about. Okay. Um I was reading the this is maybe they're unconfirmed reports, or maybe they're confirmed. They sound real to me, so I'm repeating them. Oh shit. Um Kevin Feige has his hands off of Spider-Man Brand New Day, and he's letting Amy Pascal, the Sony What?

SPEAKER_02

I'm sorry. All you gotta say is that girl's name.

SPEAKER_00

And I'm like Amy Pascal is taking the lead on Spider-Man Brand New Day. Oh, well, and Fige's taking a back seat. So that's like the first half of the news.

SPEAKER_03

No.

SPEAKER_00

We'll see. I mean I mean, okay, this is because he was heavily involved in the home series. Right. You know, the Far From Home and all those.

SPEAKER_03

And they were like, get him out of here.

SPEAKER_00

No, it wasn't. I'll tell I'll tell you the second piece of the news, so it's it sounds bad only hearing half of it. He's doing that because he is 100% focused on Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars. Okay. He's so scared and worried that he can't work on three movies. He's gotta work on just those two movies to save the MCU, is how I read it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, absolutely. You know, full focus on these two movies.

SPEAKER_00

Or he feels very confident, you know, that Spider-Man will be totally fine and it's incapable hands. You know, they're still producing it and they have their director doing it. So he trusts that. Maybe he just trusts that enough. And it I think it's good that he is so focused on Doomsday and Secret Wars because everything, the whole brand and franchise is writing on that.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like when he splits, when they have to like split him apart. That's why it's been bad. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

That's why we've been in this multiverse dog shit.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, you just lose like you can see like the focus in the film.

SPEAKER_00

They just thought that the machine could take care of it, and the machine cannot take care of it. You need a hands-on producer like him who is a fan of comics, which is why these movies have worked, and it's the biggest franchise in cinema history. Yeah, is because there's a fan at the helm. Right. You know, and that's why it worked. Yes. So I just thought that it sounded more like the old days because they split him at COVID. Right. They re the the Disney they rearranged everybody and they put him more on TV. They put him higher. Yeah. So he was less hands-on, but he had more projects. Yeah. So and then that's why we've had like six years of shit. You know, not its best. I mean, you can find a couple that you like, of course. Of course, yeah, but you know, but for the majority, it's a downgraded franchise. Yes. There wasn't a single um, I'll have to editor will have to check this, but I'm pretty sure that this is the first last year, 2025, was the first year that no Marvel Studios movie was in the top ten of the box office. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00

So it's not just a critical thing, it's a box office thing as well.

SPEAKER_03

The audience feels it. Yeah. Same thing.

SPEAKER_00

So he's fully so focused on Doomsday and Secret Wars, which I think is a good thing.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, that is a good thing for those movies.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, for those two, that's good.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I think they have a lot of faith because it is Spider-Man, and I mean, aren't they like almost done with production?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean, maybe he you know, he was there for the development and the writing and the casting and which is good. But who knows? I don't I don't know exactly when he took the off-ramp, but sure. He's not as focused on it.

SPEAKER_03

I was just like hearing her name. I was just like immediately triggered. I'm like, oh no.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So, you know, something. The producer of Madame Webb, Morbius, and Craven Hunter will have the helm the helm, her hands on the wheel. So let's lower. Let's lower it a bit. So that's the MCU side. Oh.

SPEAKER_03

There hasn't been much news. Because they've just been working on those two. That's pretty much it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

There's Spider-Man and Doomsday coming out. This is 2026. This episode's coming out. So ahead we have Doomsday and Spider-Man. Yeah. Is that it? That's it. For movies. There's TV. Oh, sure. You know, there's Daredevil Born Again and supposedly another season of X-Men. Oh, yeah, that's right. I hope so. So that's kind of the Marvel side. Um and I'll try to keep up on the news and bring them to you here. Good. In the chatterverse. Good. So that's the Marvel side. So, but where's all the real attention? DC. DC. James Gunn, right? A lot of pots boiling over there. They got a lot cooking. Everyone's excited by everything. Sure. This week we just had the uh the new Supergirl trailer with uh Lobo.

SPEAKER_02

The Lobo trailer.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. You mean you mean the Lobo trailer? Because everybody's excited about that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, they showed like one shot of her. Yeah. And they're like, okay.

SPEAKER_00

That's enough. Well, you know she's in it. And then so I did want to just touch on that because that was like the big trailer as we're recording this.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00

You know, and obviously the only thing to talk about is how Jason Momoa is awesome. And it's it's one of those there's there's a few like very perfect castings in comic book movies. Yeah. Um, you know, I think uh, you know, obviously, you know, people will say like Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr. I think of like James Earl Harley, James Earl Haley, I forgot his name, Rorschach or Oh, sure. You know, there's like certain actors that are just they get cast and you're like, oh my god, is this perfect? And say that about Deadpool. Deadpool, sure, Ryan Reynolds, you know. Um, and Jason Momoa as Lobo is is one of these castings by far. Easily. Um, it I I don't know if we've talked about this before, but you know, he was obviously Aquaman in the Snyderverse. When he went to go, he's a huge Lobo fan. That makes sense. And he says that he has collected every Lobo comic ever. That's how much of an actual fan he is. Oh my god. And when he went and met Zack Snyder to talk about, I forgot what the first one was, if it was Batman's Superman or Justice League. I don't know when Aquaman first appeared. I don't remember because I don't want to remember those movies. Yeah. Um, but when he first met Zack Snyder for a meeting, it was just a meeting about D a DC project. Oh, yeah. He didn't know what he was meeting him for. Yeah, sure. So he went into the meeting and they start talking, and Jason Momoa was like, I'm gonna be Lobo, right? And Zack Snyder was like, no, Lobo's not in this universe. And he was like, Oh, who am I who who do you want me to be? He's like, Aquaman.

SPEAKER_02

Obviously. Aquaman.

SPEAKER_03

Obviously, Aquaman.

SPEAKER_00

Oh.

SPEAKER_02

You are the water guy.

SPEAKER_00

And then so you know, that universe goes, collapses. DC gets sold. Yep. Or not sold. It's well it didn't get sold. It changed hands. Changed hands, yeah. James Gunn becomes the head of DC. His one of his first text messages is from Jason Omoa, Lobo! So he's been like consistently wanting to be Lobo, excited about Lobo, loves Lobo.

SPEAKER_03

So play Lobo.

SPEAKER_00

To see him, I mean, he was he's just Oh, he's just loving it. Pitch perfect. Oh my god. You know, yes. He looks awesome. It's he's gonna bring all of the right tone because he's a fan and that's what you need.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. So we're all really just excited about that.

SPEAKER_00

The Lobo movie with Supergirl.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, Supergirl's in it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

In her dog.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. So as far as the Supergirl movie goes, I mean, I you know, I it looks like Guardians of the Galaxy to me. Oh my god, yes. I I mean like visually, aesthetically looks like it really does Guardians from 2012 or whatever year that came out. Yeah, it just looks exactly like it. Yeah. So I I don't know. I'm interested to see more, of course. Yes. But as of right now, I think everyone's just kind of excited for Lobo. Yeah. You know, so that was some DC news. The other DC news.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. Oh god.

SPEAKER_00

See, and you don't I'm keeping these because you don't know these. This is the one I've been keeping from you. I'm scared. Because I told you, I was like, I have this one, but I'm not gonna tell you. Okay. Is it about James Gunn? It's a James Gunn hire. So you know that all the questions he gets are about Batman. You know, the the DC. It's not Batman casting. Okay. But it's all about you know, when is Batman? Is he gonna have gray and blue? Is he gonna have white eyes? What is you know, all those kind of things. It's like all he all of his questions are feeling about Batman, right? So it's a very important thing to be touching, you know, especially because they have the Else World's Pattinson Batman. Yes and they have to kind of balance being different from that one. Sure. So this week, um so they have so they have the Brave and the Bold movie, um, that Andy Muschetti, I might be saying his name wrong, who directed the Flash and the It movies. Oh he's still attached to direct the Brave and the Bold movie. Okay. And it's supposed to have Batman and Robin. This week they finally hired the writer to do that movie, which they've never had, so it's actually like moving forward.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, cool, huh? Oh no. The writer they hired, I wanna I have my iPad here so I can get her name. Christina Hodson is the writer. You don't know her, but you know her movies. She wrote The Flash, and she wrote Birds of Prey. You remember that DC, the one with Margot Robbie? Oh, yeah, I remember that one. She wrote Birds of Prey. She and she wrote The Flash with Urza Miller. Okay. That Musicetti directed, and she wrote the Transformers spin-off sequel Bumblebee. Oh. And those are her writing credits. And James Gunn hired her to write Brave and the Bold. To write Brave and the Bold to touch the DCU Batman for the first time. Oh, well, I don't think so. What is Mrs. Cheddar's take on this?

SPEAKER_03

Well, I don't think that's a very good idea at all. Can't I mean Birds of Prey was very discombobulated. It was very choppy.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

The story, from what I can remember, because I remember that being like the last movie we saw in the movie theaters before COVID.

SPEAKER_00

That's right.

SPEAKER_03

And though, of course, you know, you enjoy Margot Robbie's, you know, Harley. Everything else around it though was very um choppy. The writing was whatever.

SPEAKER_01

Very surface level. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

No depth at all. And like that character, Harley, like she and she had a lot going on because she had broken up with the Joker, and emotionally, you know, I thought we were gonna get some more depth.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And it was not about that, and I don't even remember who that bad guy was. He was was that Kevin Bacon?

unknown

Did he play the bad guy?

SPEAKER_00

No, it was Ian McGregor.

SPEAKER_03

Ian McGregor, sorry. And it's like he was whatever.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I think that's what those movies are. They're whatever.

SPEAKER_00

And I think most people are fixated on the flash because that's more recent.

SPEAKER_03

Sure. The flash I don't I couldn't really speak on because I don't really remember it very well. That's how much I liked it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Honestly.

SPEAKER_00

I remember that's why she's getting the job because she wrote those. Andy's directing it, but she's writing it, so people are like, oh my god, we're just gonna we're just gonna get the flash again for the first Batman movie. Yeah. Like we're gonna get that level of quality. Yeah. For Batman. The first time you're gonna have your DCU Batman. So a lot of people are saying this is James Gunn's first huge fumble. Absolutely. Like this is I would totally agree.

SPEAKER_03

You know, I think that's a bad movie.

SPEAKER_00

Most people are like, what are you thinking? She's the wrong choice. This isn't the direction to go.

SPEAKER_03

But I think like obviously, like obviously, like I for for me, it's just like sure, I love hearing that you know, female creators are being hired. Like that's wonderful. But for the first Batman in his universe with that tone, yeah, I just don't understand where they're seeing that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I would say too, I mean, there is like he's very script focused, so you know if the script isn't to his liking, they won't move forward with it. So that can help that. And that is a good thing because he's correct about that. But yeah. So that's what's going on in James Gunn's DC Universe. We'll have to wait and see.

SPEAKER_01

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00

See if they move ahead with that. Yeah, we'll see. So now I'm gonna do a new uh this will be our final segment of every podcast until I don't want to do it anymore. Or until until I say it's enough. This is Cheddar's Soapbox. Title. The title's playing. Oh, I see.

SPEAKER_02

I was like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_00

Title editor. Cheddar Soapbox would be kind of my my final thoughts, something I want to say to the audience. You know, that's nice. Maybe a note or just an editorial at the end of every podcast.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00

This is Cheddar Soapbox. So for today's Cheddar Soapbox, I want to talk about how I believe that comic books are one of the great American art forms. It is not just me, it is the French who also believe that comic books are one of the great American art forms, along with jazz. And that comic books are as close to our American mythology as we will ever get. There is nothing more American than creating stories and selling them to the public for money. And I truly believe that since the birth of Superman, there has been a continuous story being told, and that that is as close to American mythology as we can get for all of our pros and our strengths, and all of our weaknesses are shown and reflected in the great American art form that is comic books. Thank you for listening. That's lovely. So we want to thank you for being here for our very first episode of Cheddarverse. Mrs. Cheddar, you survived. I've survived. You made it? Made it. I don't do this stuff. You'll be back here in just a few days. Can't wait. To do episode two. So thank you. We hope that you subscribe or like or comment.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, let us know.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, let us know what was your favorite segment and what was you know uh something that resonated with you, what's something you want to hear next time? Be sure to follow us on Instagram. I'm at cheddar underscore comics, and Mrs. Cheddar is at Mrs. Cheddar underscore comics on Instagram for our weekly Thursday live sales. Buy a t-shirt at cheddarcomics.com or subscribe here on YouTube or Spotify or wherever you're listening to this, and let us know what you think. What part did you like? What was your favorite part? Comment below, let us know when we can start getting a feedback loop and seeing what you like or what you don't like. That would be great. Yeah, that'd be great. Yes, tell Mrs. Cheddar what a great job she did.

SPEAKER_01

You know when I just do that. Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_00

And we will be here uh every week, so we will see you next time. Same cheddar time, same cheddar channel. This has been a cheddar comics podcast. Tune in next week for issue number two.