Professor Who?

Namiko here. I made a monumental purchase this week, at the behest of my son. A near-$150 book reprinting DC comic books printed 20 years before he was born (and about 6 years after I was). But Isamu was into these "Bronze Age" DC Comics, and especially DC's Who's Who encyclopedia series -- all because of Xum's love for them. So how could I say no?

   

 

And Xum expressed his love for Who's Who by creating his own "Xum's Who" book featuring characters who were not included in the original book, characters he sort of made up when he was doing his Line work for CBR, and characters based on real people (including himself and Isamu, which likely got him into Who's Who).

 

"Xum's Who" started as drawings he did for the CBR Line, and later for the Fire and Water Network's "Who's Who Podcast." Xum could explain it all better than I. Good thing he jotted down the origins of "Xum's Who" as part of his vanity art book project, "Does this Trade Dress Make Me Look Phat?"

I have discovered to my surprise that a lot of people were into what Xum was doing, as "Xum's Who" pages were popping up in lots of places on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, blog posts, message boards, what have you. It's just unbelievable how many people have been touched by his art, or his melding of other people's art.

 

While all of the printed copies of volume 1 of Xum's Who have been given out, Xum did want to offer a digital copy (which includes pieces from Xum's unfinished Volumes 2 and 3) to anyone who wanted to have it. So Isamu and Adrian Zet set it up for download at the Fire and Water Network's Who's Who podcast site here.

So if you are into Who's Who as Xum was and Isamu is, may you, as Xum would say, enjoy!

Adventures in Podcasting: Fooling Around

Namiko’s Note:

Xum loved podcasting. It was an artistic activity that was very dear to him as he was sadly losing more and more of the use of his body. But while his drawing hand wouldn't work as long or as well as it used to, at least he still had his wonderful voice. And after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, he still recorded for his podcasts and other stuff for a number of months as a "happy distraction" (his words) from all the doctor appointments and awful treatment trials and putting his affairs in order. And I am glad he had this to do at home since he was essentially retired while I still had to go to work and the kids still had to go to school. 

Xum would still edit his podcasts at first, but when the tumor started to affect his eyesight, Isamu happily stepped in to help, as he did in Xum’s early podcast days when Isamu “learned on the job” on how to use Audacity so he could make his own audio works. Isamu helped with Audacity editing, and so did Adrian Zet, a friend, A-V editor, and Xum’s former co-worker that taught Xum everything he knew about the program before he figured out some tricks of his own. Isamu also helped his father type up scripts and notes by taking Xum’s dictation, and was even a “voice in his ear” when Xum guested on a few other podcasts and needed a prompt to remember his notes when he could no longer read them. Even today Isamu and Adrian still spend some of their free time finishing up a number of projects Xum had left unfinished.

Xum told me that one of the most fun podcasting projects he worked on were for the April Fool’s Day shows on the Fire and Water Podcast network, where he would usually create funny promos for fake podcast shows, and other comedy bits like having Yogi Bear meet a Transformer. He had done this for three years, (though the second year was just a funny karaoke bit used on a regular show that happened to run on April 1) and right after he finished the last one he already had ideas for what to do in 2020, and was working on those alongside his other podcasts.

He started with five ideas, and he dropped three. One was called “Xum Yukinori Reads the Phonebook,” a response to a frequent comment about his voice that was essentially a “careful what you'd say you could listen to” type of joke. Another was a false ad for “Booked Xum on Phonics,” which had Xum record every phonetic sound in the English language to create a voice simulator program that would say anything you type in his voice. And Solomon Grundy and Terra-Man use it to essentially insult each other. And because their typing is not really good, the Xum voice would say things like “Cowbay Man is a bug dottie-head.” The third was a sequel to the “Botcast“ one he did last year that was my favorite: a near-ten-minute bit which had the bot explain Comicsgate to Grundy, which I thought was frigging hilarious, though Xum thought it would give that so-called "movement" more attention than it deserved, so he dropped it. And he dropped the other two because he didn’t think they were “funny enough.” At least he made use of some lines from “Botcast” on his Done-in-One Wonders Wonder Show.

So Xum went ahead with his other two ideas and added a third later on, which was inspired by all of the early CW show crossover news that was coming out at the time. It also involved another podcaster, Rob Kelly. And while Xum pretty much had his lines worked out and practically recorded on the spot, he was still fiddling with Rob’s lines for weeks, so a script didn’t go to him until much later. And Isamu did a great job putting it together. Meanwhile Adrian finished the other two, which expanded on previous funny bits Xum had done before (one with a little Blackadder humor thrown in).

However, Fire and Water did not do an April Fool’s Day show this year, which is understandable with all that's going on. But they did at least feature one of Xum’s fake promos on its own, which is the best of the three IMO. You can listen to that one here, and the other two are available at the links below.

As Xum would say, enjoy! And April Fools!

                                                                                -- Namiko

April Fool's Day 2020 promo one

April Fool's Day 2020 promo two

IPDb

[Namiko's Note: As part of a school web-design project, Isamu decided to pay tribute to his late father by pulling together Xum's full "podcastography" into an interactive catalog. Isamu's actual web project is tied into his school's internal servers, so we copied the content below. I wonder if there is any way to incorporate this into Xum's official IMDB page. And yes, that surprised me too.]

Xum Yukinori

Podcastography

[NOTE: Shaded episodes denote Xum Yukinori as writer and producer; episodes dated July 2019 or later were sound edited by Isamu Hideaki-Yukinori and Adrian Zet.]

TBA

The Lonely Hearts Romance Comics Podcast

To Be Announced (TBA)… John Smith/Red Tornado

2020

 

M*A*S*HCast

52 – Iron Guts Kelly (April 29, 2020)… Himself

2019

Supersonic Pod Comics

SPC002 – “Origin: First Strike” (July 4, 2019)… Dr. Griffin

SPC004 – Sumo Girl #1 “Shitaku-Beya: The Preparation Room” (July 17, 2019)… Shikkō-sha

SPC006 – The Randoms #1 “The Finder” (August 2, 2019)… Dr. Griffin

SPC010 – The Randoms #2 “The Transporter and the Uniter” (September 14, 2019)… Dr. Griffin

SPC012 – Sumo Girl #3 “Shikiri: Toeing the Mark” (October 16, 2019)… Shikkō-sha

SPC015 – “Red, White, and Blue: Broken” (November 12, 2019)… Dr. Griffin

SPC016 – The Randoms #3 “The Seer” (June 24, 2020)… Dr. Griffin

SPC030 – The Randoms #4 “The Communicator” (April 20, 2022)… Dr. Griffin

 

JLUCast

9: “Legends” (March 11, 2019)… Himself

2018

The Fortress of Baileytude Podcasting Network

2018 Holiday Spectacular Part 5 (December 22, 2018)… Himself, L.A.N.O.S.

2018 Holiday Spectacular Part 6 (December 23, 2018)… Himself
To Be Announced (TBA)… Herupa Hando Hu

The Xum for Sam Podcast!

Track 1: The Best Is Yet to Come (September 17, 2018)… Himself

Track 2: Cause an Effect (November 9, 2018)… Himself

Track 3: I’m All You Need (January 11, 2019)… Himself

Track 4: Dreams Unfold (May 16, 2019)… Himself

Track 5: If Music Be the Food of Love (July 25, 2019)… Himself

Track 6: Dream City (September 13, 2019)… Himself 
Track 7: Boundaries of Love (January 22, 2020)… Himself 
Track 8: Breathe (February 26, 2020)… Himself 
Track 9: The Power (March 18, 2020)… Himself 
Track 10: True Devotion (May 15, 2020)… Himself
Bonus Track: Xum for Sam by Sam (May 15, 2020)... Himself 

Shortbox Showcase

Episode 60: Five Years Strong (Aug 20, 2018)... The Stranger, Various Dogs

Head Speaks

Episode 40: Armageddon 2001 Flash Annual 4 (Aug 14, 2018)... Himself

Episode 41: Armageddon 2001 Titans Annual 4 and Behind the Podcast (September 12, 2018)… Himself
Episode 52: The End of Armageddon and Star Wars (May 7, 2020)... Himself

Gimme That Star Trek

Ep.24: Best and Worst of Marvel’s TMP Comics (August 7, 2018)… Himself

Ep.25: TNG Full Reviews Part 1 (September 4, 2018)… Ensign Xum Yukinori (“Q-Who”,  “A Matter of Perspective” reviews)

Ep.35: TNG Full Review Part 2 (October 8, 2019)… Ensign Xum Yukinori, Unnamed Ensign, Unnamed Captain (“The Pegasus”  review)

Done-in-One Wonders Karaoke Wonder Show

Track 1 (May 30, 2019)… Solomon Grundy

Track 2 (June 27, 2019)… L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man

Track 3 (July 18, 2019)… Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Professor Xum

Track 4 (July 19, 2019)… Professor Xum, Terra-Man

Track 5 (August 16, 2019)… Bizarro

Track 6 (September 27, 2019)… Solomon Grundy, Terra-Man

Track 7 (December 26, 2019)… Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

Track 8 (December 26, 2019)… Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man

Track 9 (December 27, 2019)… Phantom Stranger, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man

Track 10 (December 27, 2019)… Solomon Grundy, Terra-Man

Track 11 (February 05, 2020)… Bizarro

Track 12 (February 05, 2020)… Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy

Track 13 (February 05, 2020)… Terra-Man

Track 14 (February 05, 2020)… Solomon Grundy

Track 15 (February 05, 2020)… Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy

DCOCD

7 - War of the Gods (April 28, 2018)… Himself

25 - JLA/Avengers (Mar 6, 2019)… Himself

Who’s Who – The Definitive Podcast of the DC Universe

Who's Who in the DC Universe #2 (April 01, 2018)… BattleZone Announcer, Not Billy Joel, Backup Singers

 

2017

Done-in-One Wonders Podcast Wonder Show 
Promo (August 20, 2017): Narrator

Episode #1:Testing the Rule (August 25, 2017)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Libra, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

Episode #2:Call Him the Space Cowboy (October 14, 2017) )… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

Episode #3:He Was Zombie When Zombie Wasn’t Cool (December 28, 2017)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

Episode #4:Who Xumed the Flash? (March 2, 2018)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Reverse Flash

Episode #5:Rise of the Legion of Xum (May 11, 2018)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Reverse Flash

Season 2 Promo (July 27, 2018)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Libra, Reverse Flash

Episode #6:Knocked for a Loop (September 7, 2018)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Xum-For-Sam Xum Yukinori, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S.

Episode #7:Letter Late than Never (September 28, 2018)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S. Ungarian Supreme High Chancellor, Ungarian Subordinate, Galactic Centurions

Episode #8:The Date Knight Strikes! (November 23, 2018)… Narrator, Rod Stromer, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro Terra-Man, Bizarro Solomon Grundy, Bizarro L.A.M.E.O., Tynolan Citizen

Episode #9:Ego Tripped (April 26, 2019)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro-Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro Terra-Man, Bizarro Solomon Grundy, Bizarro L.A.M.E.O., Galactic Centurions

Episode #10: Blast from the Past (June 7, 2019)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Bizarro

Episode #11: Back Tracked (August 16, 2019)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro-Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro Terra-Man, Bizarro Solomon Grundy, Bizarro L.A.M.E.O., Galactic Centurions, Ungarian Supreme High Chancellor

Episode #12: Catch Me If You Can (October 18, 2019)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, Bizarro, L.A.N.O.S., Ungarian Supreme High Chancellor, Galactic Centurions, Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro-Bizarro Professor Xum, Bizarro Terra-Man, Bizarro Solomon Grundy, Bizarro L.A.M.E.O., Blot

Episode #13: Missive the Point (January 15, 2020)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Solomon Grundy, Blot, L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man

Episode #14: Cause that's Unchecked (January 29, 2020)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man

Episode #15: The End of Infinity (February 12, 2020)… Narrator, Professor Xum, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S., Terra-Man, Blot

Update (February 19, 2020)… Professor Xum, Solomon Grundy, Terra-Man, Blot

TreasuryCast

17 – Dick Tracy (August 19, 2017)… Himself

FW Team-Up

Superman and OMAC (August 8, 2017)… Himself, O-SNAP Announcer

JLI Podcast

Justice League International #14 (June 1988) (August 20, 2017)… Himself

FW Presents

Year One (February 17, 2017)… Himself

St. Patrick’s Day 2017 (March 17, 2017)… Himself

Crossing the Streams 19: Best Tool in Ghostbusters (April 1, 2017)… Phantom Stranger, Announcer, Mortimer Claptrapp, Jericho, Black Bolt, Movie Trailer Voice Over

The Amazing World of DC Comics (May 18, 2017)… Professor Xum, Sinestro, Hermo-Prej, L’Ron

FW Presents: HeroesCon 2017 (July 7, 2017)… Himself

Batman The Animated Series, A Podcast Panel Programme (August 5, 2017)… Himself

Jack Kirby 100th Birthday Celebration (August 28, 2017)… Himself

Mountain Comics Ep. 10 – Super Friends #8 (November 24, 2017)… Himself

The FW Summer Sampler (July 7, 2018)… L’Ron, Solomon Grundy, Himself, Various

Find Your Joy Year-End Special (December 31, 2018)… Professor Xum, Terra-Man, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

A Marvelous Anniversary Part 5: Jungle Terror (February 14, 2019)… Mortimer Claptrapp, Ken Masters, Tim Roberts, Professor John Roberts, John Crafton, Sah-Vah-Zhae leader

Cancelled Podcast Cavalcade (April 1, 2019)… Trailer Announcer, Blot, Mortimer Claptrapp, Spindly Klutz, Funky Flashman

Avengers: Endgame (May 5, 2019)… Himself

Panel by Panel: The One Jerry Ordway Comic Xum’s Never Seen (June 6, 2019)… Himself

Announcing: The Fire and Water Podcast Network Patreon! (September 1, 2019)… Himself, Solomon Grundy, L.A.N.O.S.

Xum Yukinori (January 12, 2020)… (Tribute)
Crisis on Infinite Podcasts (April 1, 2020)... Movie Trailer Voice Over

The Amazing World of DC Comics II (November 16, 2020)… Himself

Batman Confronts Grey Face (April 1, 2021)… Narrator ("The Batman Encounters Grey Face" segment)

The Amazing World of DC Comics III (August 5, 2021)… Himself

The Gun (September 16, 2021)… Narrator ("The Gun" segment)

Saturday Morning Fever

2 – Far Out Space Nuts (January 28, 2017)… Himself

7 – Turbo Teen (December 8, 2019)… Himself

2016

Pod Dylan

29 – Subterranean Homesick Blues (October 1, 2016)… Himself

Film & Water Podcast

60 – Dick Tracy (September 14, 2016)… Himself

Fire & Water Podcast (Now Aquaman and Firestorm: The Fire and Water Podcast)

156 – Favorite Artists (February 21, 2016)… Himself

176 – Aquaman #s 4-6/Legends of Tomorrow #6 (September 25, 2016)… Narrator, Spindly Klutz, Mike, Halfback, Walla (Hostess advert re-enactment)

213 – Aquaman Movie Trailer (July 22, 2018)… Himself 

247 – Aquaman Super DC Giant (October 11, 2020)… Narrator ("Island of Fear" segment)

2014

Xum’s Who entry coverage (by Robert Kelly and Shag Matthews)

Who’s Who: The Definitive Podcast of the DC Universe, VolumeXXII (September 14, 2014)… Superman of Earth One

Who’s Who: The Definitive Podcast of the DC Universe, VolumeXXVI (February 8, 2015)… Wonder Woman of Earth One, Nubia, Aquaman of Earth Two

Who’s Who: Update ’87 Volume 1 (June 14, 2015)… Firestorm the Atomic Man, FireShag

Who’s Who: Update ’87 Volume 3 (September 27, 2015)… AquaRob, Domino

Who’s Who: Update ’87 Volume 5 (December 13, 2015)… Professor Xum, Steampunk, Super-Duper

Who’s Who: Update ’88 – Volume 1 (January 31, 2016)… Satin Satin, Cover (Official "Xum's Who" segment begins)

Who’s Who: Update ’88 – Volume 2 (April 10, 2016)… Master Villain, Topo/TRS80 Whiz Kids

Who’s Who: Update ’88 – Volume 3 (May 15, 2016)… Lady Cop

Who’s Who: Update ’88 – Volume 4 (June 26, 2016)… Bouncer/Breakaway Bandit

Who’s Who 1989 Annuals – Vol. 1 (August 7, 2016)… Superwoman

Who’s Who 1989 Annuals – Vol. 2 (October 16, 2016)… Lady Viper, Promotional Posters

Who’s Who in Star Trek: Volume 1 (November 13, 2016)… Lokai

Who’s Who in the Legion of Super-Heroes – #1 and #2 (January 22, 2017)… Anti-Lad

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #2 (April 1, 2018)… Woozy Winks, Audio Promo

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #3 (May 27, 2018)… Astralad/Batman Jones

Who’s Who Special: The Aquaman Family (October 7, 2018)… Aquaman of Earth Two, Topo

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #5 (November 4, 2018)… L.A.N.O.S.

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #7 (March 17, 2019)… Superman’s Fortress of Solitude

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #8 (April 21, 2019)… Quisp

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #9 (June 2, 2019)… Fireman Farrell

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #10 (July 7, 2019)… I-Ching

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #11 (December 1, 2019)… Squid

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #12 (January 5, 2020)… Human Flying Fish
Who’s Who in the DC Universe #13 (April 12, 2020)… Sugar and Spike 

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #14 (July 26, 2020)… Cal Durham/Crusader

Who’s Who in Wonder Woman (December 27, 2020)… Wonder Woman of Earth One, Nubia

Who’s Who in the DC Universe #16 (May 9, 2021)… Kid Lantern