MUST LOVE BLOGS

Pete's Basement, will you be my valentine?




First off, a bit about my favorite topic, me: I've been reading comics off and on for over 20 years, and I've been visiting comic-related websites for roughly the past 2 of those. In that time I've found a lot of comics I love dearly. And comic-related websites? Not so much. Don't get me wrong here – There are many, many blogs and news sites that I enjoy, many of which can be found in our links sidebar. It's just that after a while, the glut of them start to mesh together into a four colored gelatinous mass of comma splices, press releases, and nerdier-than-thou rhetoric. Even this very blog you see before you has struggled for years to stick out from the crowd.

Which is why it pisses me off a little that Pete's Basement is so fucking good right out of the gate. Barely a month old – Episode 5 went live just days ago – Pete's Basement is already finding its voice as a unique, informative, and above all fun comic book video podcast.

If you're a comic reader, and this goes double if you're a comic reader who frequents the internet, it can be easy to lose sight of the fact that this is a perfectly normal hobby taken up by cool, funny, intelligent people who you might actually enjoy meeting in real life. Pete's Basement is 4 or 5 such people (occasionally joined by a ninja) just sitting around a table shooting the shit about comic books. They cheer – and jeer – the latest issues of the day. They dish out helpful advice for back issue ebaying. They engage in lively discussions covering topics that run the gamut of comics' past, present and future. They know their shit and they're obviously passionate about the medium, but they never seem to take it or themselves too seriously. And they love Nightwing. Hey, nobody's perfect.

I hope the guys at Pete's Basement keep it up because they've really captured something special here – The show embodies everything that I love about the camaraderie of comics culture and the sheer unadulterated joy of talking shit about superheroes. It's just like the conversations you have with your friends, only funnier and with better post-production.

Check it out.