We end the year in extra-length style, passing around hot potatoes on Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini's Last Days of American Crime from Radical, Eaglemoss, Ultimate Alliance 2, more holiday gifts, the Fantastic Four, our comic book resolutions for 2010, the price of comics (by way of Gary Panter, no less!), The More Than Complete Action Philosophers, The Waiting Place, Taiyo Matsumoto's Gogo Monster, Mike Norton's The Curse, Skottie Young and Oz, Sherlock Holmes, an episode 52 question, the audience's influence on art, and much more!

Happy holidays! Color artist supreme, Val Staples, drops down the 11 O'Clock chimney to talk to us about X-Men: First Class and Jeff Parker, Criminal and Incognito, X-Men: Deadly Genesis, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Bruce Timm, Mark Texeira, The Four Horsemen, Tim Seeley, Mike Norton, CrossGen, Greg Land, Mike Wieringo, Robert Kirkman, Transformers, and COLOR, of course! BONUS! Xmas presents REVEALED!

Infused with the red-hot energy of the Rulk laying a cosmic smackdown on the Watcher, we snap, crackle, and burn through topics like God Complex #1, Powers, Vertigo's Daytripper #1 by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon, a trio of books from Buenaventura Press (Injury #3 from Ted May, Lisa Hanawalt's I Want You #1, and Eric Haven's The Aviatrix #1), The Looking Glass Wars and Hatter M, X-Factor #200, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth and Man-Thing, John Byrne and Alpha Flight, FANZINE FLASHBACK: Amazing Heroes and Comics Interview, the greatness of Bill Mantlo, Questprobe, Godland, classic versus contemporary comics storytelling and dialogue, Eaglemoss, Sectaurs and Inhumanoids (Yes, you read that correctly...), and much, much more!

It's chaos from the get-go as we bluster and blunder our way through Assault on New Olympus, more on Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic, Justice Machine, Archer and Armstrong from Valiant, Five Fists of Science, Barry Windsor-Smith, Invincible Iron Man #21, Matt Fraction, the logistics and downside of company-wide storytelling, JMS and Gillen's Thor, Siege, Bryan Talbot's Grandville from Dark Horse, Jonah Hex #50, digital comics, Earth One and the Ultimate and 2099 universes, and much more!

LANGUAGE IS A VIRUS: After bidding an 11 O'Clock family member a fond farewell, the remaining members launch into spirited discussion on Ultraviolet: 69 Blacklight Posters from the Aquarian Age and Beyond from Abrams Image, Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic fanzine and website, Punisher #11, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Archie comics, The Nam, Heroes for Hope, The Other Side, another fact-filled FANZINE FLASHBACK, Jim Starlin, Mark Millar's Master of Doom and Jonathan Hickman's Fantastic Four, a letter from Catwoman's Will Pfeifer, Image United #1, Blackest Night #5, Iron Man #20 by Fraction and Larroca, Blackest Night: Titans and whole mess more!

Happy Thanksgiving: listener email, out-of-print collected editions, Peter David's X-Factor and spoilers, Nelson, Adventure Comics #4, Black Adam and the anti-hero, Pak and Manco's War Machine, Al Columbia's Pim and Francie from Fantagraphics, Stumptown, Doctor Strange, Siege, Pigeons from Hell, Deadpool Team-Up #899, Doomwar, and much more!

Agents of Atlas' Gabriel Hardman stops by to shoot the shizzle on working as a storyboard artist, Avengers Vs. Agents of Atlas, Comic Book Comics #4, the connection between John Byrne's Namor and Ed Brubaker's Captain America, Wild Pig, Sam Raimi and Spider-Man 3, an unfortunate Neal Adams experience and Gabriel's comeuppance, Punisher #11, Heathentown, pencilers and inkers and the mystical third entity created by a special combination of the two, Alpha Flight, Home Alone 3, Gabriel's working methods and influences, Noel Sickles and Scorchy Smith, Bernie Wrightson, and a whole lot more! Plus, a special suprise appearance by Davros and the usual Hotline hoohah!

Wood double-times it to make up for an absent Chris Neseman, pushing us down paths towards Dark Avengers/X-Men: Utopia, Marvel Apes, 1985, Dark Reign - The List: Punisher, Wednesday Comics, Sword #1, Astonishing X-Men, Spider-Woman: Agent of Sword, X-Factor, Shatterstar, Neal Adams and Continuity Comics, The Incredible Hulk and Sal Buscema, 3 Story by Matt Kindt, and a whole lot more!

Mysterius the Unfathomable's Tom Fowler sits in for a vacationing Jason Wood, dragging us through discussion on Wednesday Comics, What The?! #6 and John Byrne, the Marvels Project, Dark Horse's Noir (and a suggestion for a moratorium on the word), David Lapham, Ditko's cutting boards, Fowler's Legends of the Dark Knight shipping fiasco and digital delivery of artwork, Image United, John Workman, Cowboy/Ninja/Viking from Image and Shadowline, Geoff Johns and the Superman Family of titles, Powers: the Definitive Edition volumes One and Two by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Omeng from Icon, Cinderella, Box 13 from Comixology, and much more!

It's tricky! We wander aimlessly all over the comics map, occasionally stopping to collect our thoughts on the Comics Buyer's Guide, the shrinking size of Diamond's Previews catalog, the BOOM! Disney comics publishing strategy, Blackest Night #4, Warren Ellis and Planetary, even more laments from Chris over Gutsville, Wood talks cartoons (Batman: Brave and the Bold and the Wonder Woman feature film), more from David on Darkness/Pitt #1 from Top Cow, Daredevil #501, Thunderbolts, Andy Parks' original art collection, Terror Inc. from Marvel Max, X-Men: Die by the Sword, ideas for Diamond's December skip week, Parker: The Hunter, Alan Davis, Library Binding, and, try as he might, no one shares Vince's love for Dark Reign - The List: Punisher by Remender, Romita JR, Janson, and White. Forever cold and alone. So sad. Also, the requisite amount of Hotline hocum! Remender RULES!