Hosts

Rob Kelly is a writer, artist, and comic book/movie historian. He was the EIC of the long-running Aquaman Shrine blog, 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, SUPERMAN MOVIE MINUTE, 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, TREASURYCAST, and POD DYLAN.

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?, Gimme That Star Trek, FW Team-Up, 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 included 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 FIRE AND WATER, FILM AND WATER, and POD DYLAN, the overly kind Fire and Water Podcast Network decided to take a chance on this aspiring podcaster and his new series, THE DONE-IN-ONE WONDERS PODCAST WONDER SHOW.

Xum passed away in late 2019, but his voice—and his spirit—live on across the network.

Max Romero came to comic book fandom through an alchemical mix of Spider-Man cartoons and Superman: The Movie, but mostly by spending countless hours as a kid sitting in his aunt’s bookstore reading Bronze Age comics and eating cookies. He’s loved comics ever since (and cookies). He’s a former professional journalist, and today continues to work as a freelance copy editor and writer. Max — a longtime fan of Plastic Man — is the host of PLASTICAST, and the writer and curator of the blog Eeyow, It’s Plastic Man! He’s also the writer of the tragically neglected blog Great Caesar’s Post!, where he spent an inordinate amount of time talking about the Human Fly.

Nathaniel Wayne had the privilege of being raised on Star Wars and Ghostbusters as a child and then the misfortune to get into comic books as a pre-teen during the 90s. This cranky before their time ranter on all things geek finds their joy in Doctor Who, animated films, and their still functioning Super Nintendo Entertainment System. On the Fire and Water Network they co-hosts Punch Like A Girl and guests on other shows whenever they get sufficient blackmail material on any given host. Their other rambling works can be found under the moniker Council of Geeks, which boasts a podcast feed and YouTube Channel under that name.

The cadre of women who, month in, month out, judge Marvel Comics characters as to their looks and dateability on oHOTmu OR NOT?, they are: Josée AKA Art-Girl, sisters Isabel and Nath (from YouTube’s Mind Linked), our native divorcée Elyse, beauty guru Amélie (YouTube’s AmyUltraviolet), and the Legion of Super-Bloggers’ Shotgun. Maybe now you’ll be able to tell which is which!

Bass Levesque is a French Canadian screenwriter, comedian, and radio personality who lives inside the phantom zone and comes out to co-host Zero Hour Strikes! A part of the Fire And Water Podcast Network family since…when did this guy come in?…who…who let him in…who ate all the cake?!

Anywho…Bass Levesque…likes comics and movies and has a weird French Canadian accent.