Summary: I've mentioned many times on the It's All Journalism podcast that I'm something of a comic book geek. I was a freelance writer for the first 15 years or so of my career, writing a lot about comics, collectible card games, movies and Japanese animation. My first professional journalism sale was a 1984 interview I did with comic book artist Walt Simonson and his comics editor/writer wife Louise Simonson in 1984. Even though I've moved more into the mainstream of news coverage, I still have an interest in what's going in pop culture. For that reason, I was stoked to see the new Hollywood blockbuster, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (http://batmanvsuperman.dccomics.com). I liked the movie, though I recognized there are problems with it. What surprised me though was the number of critics who panned it, including my friend and recent podcast guest Jason Fraley (mailto:jfraley@wtop.com). In his review for WTOP radio (http://wtop.com/entertainment/2016/03/batman-v-superman-proves-weve-reached-peak-superhero/), he gave the film two out of four stars. Anyone who's been in a newsroom knows that's where you have some of the greatest conversations/arguments about the most important and not-so-important things — politics, elections, sports teams and movies, etc. That's what happened to Jason and me recently, about Batman v Superman. Thinking like a podcaster, I recognized this debate over the merits of the film was good content, so I invited Jason down to the studio to record this special, bonus episode of It's All Journalism. I realize that our conversation is only tangentially journalistic in nature, so I hope you take this episode in the spirit it was meant to be, a fun but serious debate about a not-so-serious topic. Stick around for a special guest appearance by a Marvel movie villain -- really! Enjoy.
