Penny Men

Penny Men
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Penny Men is the podcast starring Ben, Tom, and Gregory: three experts on cartooning, storytelling, and having a good time! We give a penny for our thoughts, and throw in our two cents, as we tackle new topics and writing pitches every week!

  1. #112 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 4)

    4D AGO

    #112 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 4)

    Hour four of "The Life and Times " is where things officially get unhinged! The Penny Men pick up exactly where they left off and begin reinforcing the Mario timeline with fresh cartilage, connective tissue, and possibly forbidden star magic! Using Tom’s original 12-issue framework as the skeleton, Ben arrives with a week’s worth of lore research to rebuild Mario history by eras, not just games! In this episode, we tackle: The Seven Star Children: MarioLuigiPeachDonkey Kong (and yes, Cranky)Bowser (surprise!)Yoshi (which one? several!)Wario (the odd man out)!Yoshi Discourse (Brace Yourself) Adult Yoshi vs. Baby Yoshi vs. Egg YoshiStar Child Yoshi vs. Tribe of YoshisDe-aging, egg imprisonment, and disappearances“Mama Luigi” finally makes sense (kind of)!Royal Bloodlines & Power Plays Mushroom Kingdom politicsKoopa ambition and arranged marriagesMario as secret nobilityPeach as an alien/star princess/adopted monarchDK, Yoshi, and Bowser as rival kings-in-waiting!The Real World Era Why Mario, Luigi, and Wario grow up outside the Mushroom KingdomStorks, adoption, and Italian familiesForeman Spike: worst dad, best villain originCement factories, pie jobs, and resentment arcs!Big Lore Questions We Absolutely Try to Answer Why Bowser is hunting babiesHow time works in the Mushroom KingdomWhy Cranky ages and Mario doesn’tWhether Paper Mario counts (jury’s out)How to turn all of this into a coherent comic series!It’s Mario lore as epic fantasy, dynastic tragedy, and workplace comedy! Stars fall! Eggs hatch! Princes gets sent to Brooklyn! Welcome back to the cartilage bucket!

    43 min
  2. #111 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 3)

    APR 13

    #111 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 3)

    The Penny Men continue their increasingly unhinged attempt to construct a unified Mario canon! Picking up right where we left off, Tom unveils Issue #9 of his 12-issue “Life and Times of Mario” epic, covering: The Super Mario Bros. Super Show eraThe plumbing yearsThe celebrity yearsAnd the strange liminal period where Mario and Luigi are hanging out with wrestlers, sad-eyed orphans, and Rip Van Winkle while destiny quietly assembles an army against them!While the Brothers live their dream in Brooklyn: Princess Peach is thrust into leadershipBowser consolidates powerWart mobilizes the 8-Bit GangCaptain Syrup mocks everyone from the sidelinesAnd Toad accidentally sparks an international villain summit after immediately losing the Kingdom’s most powerful artifacts!Along the way, the Penny Men: Definitively establish the Three Donkey Kongs Theory (and finally put the Pauline confusion to rest)Untangle Yoshi canon, Star Children, time travel, and baby kidnappingsDecide how The Super Show, Mario 3, Captain N, and the pipes between worlds actually workDebate whether Bowser is a self-made tyrant, a failed diplomat, or bothAnd explore the moment when every separate Mario storyline finally begins to converge!This is the episode where everything starts coming together — heroes drifting back toward the Mushroom World, villains choosing sides, and one final warp pipe preparing to swallow the Mario Brothers for good!!

    1h 2m
  3. #110 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 2)

    APR 6

    #110 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 2)

    The Penny Men attempt to responsibly outline a 12-issue prestige comic chronicling the entire life of Mario! Instead, they unleash a multiversal lore spiral involving: Star ChildrenBrooklyn ItaliansYoshi adoption lawsFrank Zappa as a Mario brother (locked in)Koopa royal politicsArranged turtle marriagesFry Guys via lava exposureAnd a plumber who vanished into legend!Along the way: Baby murders (of turtles)Wrecking Crew dadsDon Rosa energyRaimi-style villain parallelsAnd the most unhinged family tree Nintendo never approved!This one’s big picture! Too big! 🍄⭐

    1 hr
  4. #109 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 1)

    MAR 30

    #109 - 'The Life and Times of The Super Mario Bros.' Pitch (Part 1)

    This week, the Penny Men attempt the impossible: a unified, chronological Mario canon! From Yoshi’s Island to Brooklyn, instruction manuals to cartoons, manga to coloring books, and time travel rules that mostly make sense, Tom unveils his long-gestating “Life and Times of Mario” project! Ben interrogates the rules of reality, Gregory plays referee, and everyone agrees Bowser is a single dad of eight! Lore is respected, retcons are judged, Rosalina looms, and nothing is settled—except that this was always going to happen!

    1h 1m
  5. #108 - 'Super Friends' (Part 2)

    MAR 27

    #108 - 'Super Friends' (Part 2)

    The Penny Men return to the Hall of Justice for part two of their Super Friends deep dive! Ben, Gregory, and Tom break down the Challenge of the Super Friends era, including the debut of the Legion of Doom, the rotating Hanna-Barbera formats, and the legal headaches that led to Black Vulcan, Samurai, and Apache Chief replacing familiar DC heroes! From there, the conversation jumps from the cartoon to the comics, exploring: Nelson Bridwell’s ambitious Global GuardiansThe rise of Fire and IceDr. Mist’s immortal originsAnd a surprising number of Super Friends stories that were far darker—and stranger—than their Saturday morning reputation suggests!Along the way, the Penny Men cover: Lost pitches involving Dr. SivanaForgotten villains like Grax and World BreakerPokémon-style animal combatAnd why Super Friends comics quietly became a testing ground for ideas that would later shape DC’s wider universe!Super teams, super villains, and super deep cuts—this is Super Friends like you’ve never heard it before!

    1h 6m
  6. #107 - 'Super Friends' (Part 1)

    MAR 23

    #107 - 'Super Friends' (Part 1)

    The Penny Men dive headfirst into the wobulous, Hanna-Barbera-fueled world of Super Friends, where cosmic legends fight injustice, censorship fights punches, and Wonder Dog somehow outranks Krypto! The Penny Men lead you through a surprisingly dense exploration of Super Friends lore—covering the cartoons, the comics, the junior Justice League, the Super Foes, and why Batman keeps letting children wander into active crime scenes! Along the way, the guys unpack: 1970s broadcast standardsEnvironmental PSA villainsFilmation leftoversContinuity gymnastic And the philosophical question: what element is Batman, really?Expect: Deep DC cutsHanna-Barbera triviaCasey Kasem voice-count mathAquaman villain slanderAnd a passionate defense of Wendy and Marvin as the most competent people in the Hall of Justice!Some of us are super! Some of us are friends! All of us are recording!

    56 min
  7. #106 - Fantasy Draft Lineup: Batman (Part 2)

    MAR 20

    #106 - Fantasy Draft Lineup: Batman (Part 2)

    Holy draft board, Penny People! The full Penny Men ensemble assembles — Ben, Gregory, Tom, Michal, and even Kit Kat (Jar Jar emphatically not invited) — for a batarang-loaded Batman Classics Fantasy Draft! With the Phantom Jar looming and George Lucas apparently letting himself into the studio, the boys lay out this episode’s rules… and immediately start breaking them! Each host builds the ultimate six-hero, six-villain lineup for their dream Batman story: One BatmanOne civilianOne guest hero from a Bat-related teamA bat-vehicle (specific make, please)And a single villain drafted onto the hero side!Naturally, this devolves instantly into Bronze Age deep cuts, questionable eligibility, and at least one giant chicken! Greg kicks us off with hand-drawn hero and villain rosters (yes, actual art), featuring: Bruce Wayne riding Joker’s massive poultry from Detective Comics #332The return of the extremely obscure Getaway GeniusAnd a rulebook treated more as gentle suggestion than binding contract! It’s comics nerdery! It’s chaos! It’s philosophy! It’s The Penny Men! Atomic batteries to power! Turbines to speed! Let the lineup begin!

    57 min
  8. #105 - Fantasy Draft Lineup: Batman (Part 1)

    MAR 13

    #105 - Fantasy Draft Lineup: Batman (Part 1)

    Cousins Ben and Michael finally unite East and West in this long-awaited crossover: The Pennymen meet The Pennymen West Coast for the sacred, years-teased mission — the Batman Episode! They trace their Bat-origins from one-inch metal figurines, McDonald’s tie-ins, and grocery-store spinner racks to the defining after-school ritual of Batman: The Animated Series! They talk back-issue archaeology, 3-for-a-buck treasure hunts, and the moment Batman quietly became the all-timer for both of them! From there, the conversation spirals deep into the long arcs: Revisiting Year One, The Long Halloween, and its sorta-sequelThe sprawling, chaotic roller coaster that is Nightfall — highs, lows, and the parts that secretly still ruleTheir mutual love for No Man’s Land, and why it still hits when you revisit it todayCollecting the trades in high school, discovering the weirder corners, and figuring out which eras genuinely hold up!It’s full-on Bat-nostalgia, story-arc autopsies, sibling-energy comic talk, and the exact kind of deep-cut fandom that only the Penny People can conjure! The Batman conversation they’ve been promising for years? It finally happened — and it’s a monster!

    1h 43m
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About

Penny Men is the podcast starring Ben, Tom, and Gregory: three experts on cartooning, storytelling, and having a good time! We give a penny for our thoughts, and throw in our two cents, as we tackle new topics and writing pitches every week!

Information

  • Creator
    Penny Men
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    112
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Penny Men
  • Show Website
    Penny Men