Hosts

Rob Kelly is a writer, artist, and comic book/movie historian. He is the EIC of the long-running Aquaman Shrine blog, co-creator of the award-winning webcomic ACE KILROY, creator/editor of the book HEY KIDS, COMICS!: TRUE-LIFE TALES FROM THE SPINNER RACK, and writes the Reel Retro Cinema column for 13ThDimension.com. He co-hosts THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST, THE POWER RECORDS PODCAST, and WHO’S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE, and is the host of THE FILM AND WATER PODCAST.

By day, The Irredeemable Shag plays the part of a wealthy industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. By night, he is a frightening creature that strikes terror into the hearts of criminals!
… or …
maybe The Irredeemable Shag managed a comic book store for four years, and a movie theater megaplex for three years. Nowadays he’s just a really vocal geek on the interwebs. He co-hosts THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST, THE HERO POINTS PODCAST, and WHO’S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE. He is the host of JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: BWAH-HA-HA PODCAST and webmaster of the FIRESTORM FAN website.
You decide…

Ryan Daly could be called a teacher if we’re using the most charitable definition of that word. He is the author of MR. SMARTASS, a novel, and creator of MY PET NINJA, a monthly webcomic for Rising Sun Comics. He hosts THE SECRET ORIGINS PODCAST, POWER OF FISHNETS, and co­hosts GIVE ME THOSE STAR WARS.

Although no medical records can be found to substantiate this claim, legend has it Chris Franklin was born with a comic book in his hand. Or maybe it was a Mego action figure? His infatuation with drawing his favorite characters began nearly as early, and he channeled that into first a study, and then a career in art. While in high school he met a girl named Cindy, who did not judge him by his geekiness, but instead embraced it, and the two were soon inseparable, and sometime thereafter, married.

Chris’ art path steered him into a career in graphic design, although he has dabbled in independent comic and toy package design, as well as writing articles for Back Issue magazine.  He found a new outlet for his fandom when Rob Kelly called upon him to guest on an early Power Records episode of the Fire and Water Podcast. Bitten by the podcasting bug, he became Rob’s permanent co-host on the subsequent Power Records Podcast. But that wasn’t enough, so he coerced his long-suffering, but completely understanding wife Cindy into producing the Super Mates Podcast, where they continue to apply a matrimonial approach to any number of genre topics, in between raising their wonderful (and equally geeky) kids.   

Cindy Franklin

If her husband-to-be Chris was born with a comic in his hand, then surely Cindy came complete with a book…of ANY kind! A voracious reader from the start, Cindy has never discriminated on any literary subject, from children’s books to sci-fi, fantasy and horror fiction.  It was this love of books that led Cindy to pick up a comic at Chris’ parents’ house, and thus Cupid’s arrow was fired.

With this, Cindy went from a casual comic reader to a full-blown fan. Her passion for the DC animated universe launched by Bruce Timm may be even greater than her husband’s!  She also picked up Chris’ toy habit, channeling into a staggering doll collection, that takes up the OTHER half of their house. Her love of books and kids led to her career as a children’s librarian. Hey, Batgirl was a librarian! When not mothering her kids, Cindy can be heard on the Super Mates Podcast, where despite the voluminous notes her husband forces her to read for every show, she provides some much needed snark and logic to the genre topics we blindly love.

The prolific French-Canadian blogger known only as Siskoid hosts a number of shows, juggling a large cast of friends from his corner of the world and elsewhere. Somehow, hosting and editing several shows hasn’t kept him from his writing duties at Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery or the Legion of Super-Bloggers. He co-hosts (though he prefers the term “wrangles”) the LONELY HEARTS ROMANCE COMICS PODCAST, FIRST STRIKE: THE INVASION! PODCAST, oHOTmu OR NOT?, and occasionally, the HERO POINTS PODCAST. With what’s left of his time, he sleeps… unless he has to lend his voice to one of the Network’s other shows.

Xum Yukinori’s comic book credentials include over four decades of fandom, four years of labour as a background illustrator in a Hong Kong manhua studio, and a two-hundred-plus-week stint as a somewhat-regular artist for Comic Book Resources’ fan art feature, “The Line It Is Drawn.” From his humble submissions of faux “Xum’s Who” entries for WHO’S WHO: THE DEFINITIVE PODCAST OF THE DC UNIVERSE, to his guest appearances on THE FIRE AND WATER PODCAST, THE FILM AND WATER PODCAST, and POD DYLAN, the overly kind Fire and Water Podcast Network decided to take a chance on this aspiring podcaster and his upcoming series, THE DONE-IN-ONE WONDERS PODCAST WONDER SHOW.