Surprise! Early episode! As we weren't both going to be around in Edinburgh this weekend, we've got in a bit under the wire with a nice juicy hour and a quarter of chat on such topics as the passing of Jerry Robinson, the continuing New 52 creative reshuffle, the Kickstarter success of Ashes, the upcoming Marvel crossover event and Brian Michael Bendis's move off the Avengers titles. We've also got reviews of Valen the Outcast, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents and The Defenders, and the Official Handbook of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is worth a thousand words. All this plus Dan DiDio's attempts to play the lottery, an end-of-the-pier caricaturist and 200 tiny Belgians.

The episode is here, or available on Mixcloud here. You can also play it via the embedded player below. Let us know what you think, in the comments thread, on Twitter (I'm at @housetoastonish and Paul's at @ifdestroyed), on our Facebook fan page or by email at housetoastonish@gmail.com.