399 | The Adventures of Smilin' Jack (1943)

Michael, Rob, and Pax continue their occasional look at pulp and superhero serials with The Adventures of Smilin' Jack. It's one of Michael's favorites, but will Rob and Pax feel the same way? Starring Tom Brown, Keye Luke, and Rose Hobart.

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382 | The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1940)

Michael, Rob, and Pax grab their gas guns and hop back into the buzzing car to watch The Green Hornet Strikes Again. Even though it was released in the same year as the serial it's a sequel to, there's a new actor playing Green Hornet (Warren Hull this time, instead of Gordon Jones). But Keye Luke is back as Kato, Anne Nagel as the awesome Case, and perhaps less excitingly, Wade Boteler as the bumbling stereotype Michael Axford. We didn't all love the first Green Hornet serial, so let's see how this one compares.

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349 | The Green Hornet (1940)

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! We're celebrating with that most Irish of superheroes: The Green Hornet! Michael, Rob, and Pax watch and talk about the 1940 serial starring Gordon Jones and Keye Luke.

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337 | The Shadow (1940)

Michael, Rob, Pax, and special guest The Bald Tiger (who strangely disappears whenever Rob's around) talk about the 1940 serial The Shadow starring Victor Jory, Veda Ann Borg, and... Roger Moore?

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309 | Rod La Rocque as The Shadow

Michael and Rob travel back to the late 1930s for the first screen adaptations of the pulp hero The Shadow. The Shadow Strikes (1937) and International Crime (1938) both star Rod La Rocque as the Shadow, or at least Lamont Cranston. Or Granston. We'll get into it.

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295 | Paramount Superman Cartoons

Michael, Rob, and Pax are going to kill time between Fast and Furious episodes by watching some old superhero stuff. We're starting with the wildly influential Superman cartoons released by Paramount in the early 1940s. The first nine were produced by Fleischer Studios and their fingerprints are also all over the eight that followed by a renamed studio under different leadership. Because of that, all seventeen are usually referred to as the Fleischer Superman cartoons and we talk about the whole set: what worked, what didn't, and what went on to inspire not just future cartoons, but even the comics themselves.

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294 | I Read Movies: The Shadow

We continue our celebration of The Shadow's 30th anniversary with this special podcast crossover episode! Paxton Holley brings his I Read Movies podcast to After Lunch for a special look at James Luceno's Shadow novelization, based on the screenplay by David Koepp.

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293 | The Shadow (1994)

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Russell Mulcahy's The Shadow, Michael and Rob welcome superfans of the movie, Paxton Holley and Adam Pope. The conversation covers the ups, the downs, and the impressive cast featuring Alec Baldwin, Penelope Ann Miller, John Lone, Peter Boyle, Ian McKellen, Tim Curry, Jonathan Winters, James Hong, Al Leong, John Kapelos, Max Wright, Ethan Phillips, and Robert Trebor.

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Fourth Chair Army Invasion 7 | Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941)

With the new Shazam! movie fresh in theaters, Michael, Evan Hanson, and Paxton Holley go back to 1941 to talk about the Big Red Cheese's first movie appearance. It's a deep dive into the classic movie serial as well as discussions of comics, the '70s TV show, and expectations for the new film. 

Download or listen to the episode here.

Fourth Chair Army Invasion 4 | Batman ’43

Evan Hanson, Jay Ryan, Paxton Holley, and Michael May hang out in the sinister Bats Cave, talking about the first screen appearance of the Dark Knight in the 1943 serial, Batman. There are thrills and there are shudders, but mostly there’s a lot of laughter as the panel spelunks deep into the Caped Crusader’s history.

Download or listen to the episode here.