War Rocket Ajax is a weekly comics Podcast hosted by Chris Sims and Matt Wilson, who replaced Eugene Ahn after the latter's rap career took off. The format consists of several segments, usually in the same order.
- Earth Shattering News: Despite the title, this is usually just what the hosts have been doing for the past week.
- Now replaced by two segments: Check Yourself, where Sims and Wilson recap their week and Rec Yourself, where they recommend something (usually books or videogames) to the listeners. Usually known as Checks & Recs.
- Comics Reviews: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. Occasionally missing due to a slightly erratic recording schedule.
- Interview: As above. The interviewee is usually a comics industry professional.
- Listener Questions: Listeners get their questions (which are almost always about hip-hop or wrestling) answered.
The website can be found here
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For 2013, the podcast featured a Love/Haters section in which the hosts declared their love or hate towards different people, from WWE wrestlers to comic book writers, as requested by fans. In 2014, it was replaced by Every Story Ever, a massive ranked list of every comic book ever, or at least the ones send by fans, rated from best to worst (the list started with Batman: Year One as the best and Identity Crisis (2004) as the worst, the latter of which has kept its place so far). They have since added yearly segments, including Word Heavyweight Champion (ranking the best 100 quotes in comics), Panel President (ranking characters in comics), and This Or That (deciding between two scenarios suggested by listeners). In 2019, they also began special Comics Catchup episodes, in which they read a series voted on by listeners, discuss it, then add it to the Every Story Ever list. Some of these segments receive entire special episodes, usually once a month, dedicated to plowing through as many of the lists as possible.
Tropes Used By War Rocket Ajax:
- Author Appeal: Sims loves Batman, and especially Batman throwing car batteries, to a potentially unhealthy degree. Both Chris and Matt also love barbecue.
- Christmas Special: The War Rocket Ajax War On X-Mas Special. Typically Matt Fraction drops by, whether to play the piano or share his Christmas mixtape.
- Converted Fanboy: In the past, Chris Sims had mentioned that he didn't like Transformers at all. After some prodding and nagging, and a very timely humble bundle sale, he finally started reading The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye and The Transformers: Robots in Disguise and has declared himself a fan of the series, particularly of MTMTE.
- Friendly Enemy: With the Awesomed By Comics podcast, which consisted of a series of battle raps until it was settled with a Castlevania quiz.
- Fun with Acronyms: Sims and Wilson enjoy creating humorous acronyms. Common ones include HQC (High Quality Content) and BoCo (Bonus Content).
- Guest Host: Occasionally, Euge and Sims will be joined by one of their friends, usually Rusty Shackles or King Oblivion PHD (aka Matt Wilson), although Norman Osborn filled the role in one episode. Eventually, Euge moved on to new projects, and Matt Wilson became the official new co-host.
- Intercontinuity Crossover: Osborn's appearance was part of their "obligatory Dark Reign" tie-in.
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Real Song Theme Tune: "Flash" by Queen (later replaced by a series of raps by Adam WarRock; "Dey Know" by Shawty Lo for the "Big Ups" segment. - Shout-Out:
- The title is a reference to Flash Gordon: "Send out War Rocket Ajax to bring back his body!" Additionally, the company that they formed in order to manage their various podcasts is called Klytus Media, after another character from Flash Gordon.
- The "Check Yourself" and "Rec Yourself" segments are named after "Check Yo Self" by Ice Cube.
