The Incomparable Mothership

Our interests in reading and technology collide in this survey of books about computers and the tech industry, using the 20th anniversary of Douglas Coupland’s “Microserfs” as the jumping off point. Soldering irons and circuit boards! Berkeley hippies fighting German hackers! Early signs of the tech industry’s ongoing mistreatment of workers! Glenning! Join us in a trip through technology’s past, all the while keeping an eye on where we are today.

We discuss two notable TV series from the summer of 2015, “Mr. Robot” and “Humans.” They’re both excellent. One is about humans, and one is about robots (or not), but not the ones you might think from the titles.

Old Movie Club returns with two films featuring George C. Scott: “The Hustler” (featuring an electric performance by Paul Newman) and “Anatomy of a Murder” (starring Jimmy Stewart as a simple country lawyer). One more outburst and I’ll clear this courtroom!

Our summertime superhero tournament continues, as 16 champions are reduced to eight. This round brings new judges and a requirement to argue against the opposite opponent! Who will withstand the withering assaults? Only time will tell. The match-ups: (1) Spider-Man vs. (4) Kitty Pryde (11) Beta Ray Bill vs. (2) Captain America (1) Superman vs. (5) Doctor Strange (3) Barry Allen/The Flash vs. (2) The Hulk (1) Batman vs. (13) Moon Knight (6) Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle vs. (2) Wonder Woman (1) Iron Man vs. (12) The Thing (6) Rorschach vs. (2) Wolverine

On the occasion of our fifth anniversary, we present this special episode where Jason and five of our favorite panelists come together live around a table to talk about nothing in particular.

Our ridiculous celebration of superheroes continues in round 2, in which 32 heroes enter and 16 depart! This round incorporates your comments and votes, which we solicited after our last round. This also marks the final round for judges Lutz and Michaels, who assure you that absolutely no cash has changed hands in exchange for their votes. We’ve also added some new advocates and shuffled the deck a little bit. Join us on the next segment of our journey to discover which superhero reigns supreme. The match-ups: (1) Spider-Man vs. (8) Aquaman (5) Silver Surfer vs. (4) Kitty Pryde (11) Beta Ray Bill vs. (14) Kate Bishop/Hawkeye (10) Wally West/The Flash vs. (2) Captain America (1) Superman vs. (9) The Falcon (5) Doctor Strange vs. (4) The Tick (11) Invisible Woman vs. (3) Barry Allen/The Flash (7) Ghost Rider vs. (2) The Hulk (1) Batman vs. (8) Black Widow (5) Daredevil vs. (13) Moon Knight (6) Barbara Gordon/Batgirl/Oracle vs. (3) Green Arrow (7) Deadpool vs. (2) Wonder Woman (1) Iron Man vs. (9) Gambit (12) The Thing vs. (13) Big Barda (6) Rorschach vs. (14) Invincible (10) Nightcrawler vs. (2) Wolverine

Our survey of terrible films continues with 1993’s “Super Mario Bros.”, which features surprisingly little of the characters, setting, or joy that one might attribute to the beloved video-game franchise. Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, and the directors of the original “Max Headroom” film collaborate on this dreadful tale about evolved dinosaurs, dystopian parallel-universe New Yorks, and a couple of plumbers named Mario, one of whom is also named Luigi.

Our Comic Book Club reconvenes to discuss “Runaways,” the 2003-2004 comic series by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. This is a Marvel Comic that’s also an original creation, and we’re tackling the 18 issues of the first volume, which form a self-contained story. How does the book alienate its teenage protagonists? Does the plot twist make sense? And why isn’t this a Marvel movie or TV show?

It’s time for our annual dive into the Hugo Awards, focused mostly on the five nominated novels, but also touching on short fiction, comics, films, and TV episodes, as well as this year’s big Hugo controversy.

In celebration of the four days of Comic-Con 2015, we present a four-day celebration of silly superhero debates! We’ve seeded 64 heroes into a tournament that’s designed to find the most incomparable superhero of them all. Or something like that. The advocates are sometimes passionate and sometime disinterested, but that’s okay, because the judges are completely capricious.