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Chris Balga is the host of the World's Finest True Believer and Marvel Alliance Podcasts.
Nate: Hello, sir. Welcome to Comic Book Curious, can you please tell me who your favorite superhero is and why?
Chris: I'm going to have to go with Batman. Been a Batman fan up and down. Just something villains, when I started collecting comics and reading comics, getting a superheroes, he always was the one that stood out to me just because, normal guy yeah, really rich, but - did some, did something and just how smart and just using the idea of fear to take down the criminals and everything like that. And just the history of the villans, and the storylines, just like. Everything about it. If I have to pick a DC one out that's definitely top of my list.
Nate: Oh that's a great answer. Okay, great.
Nate: What is your Superhero Power?
Chris: Superhero power. Looking around all my stuff around here. I definitely know it's not, I know it's not flight. I've liked the idea of, more from the X-Men and everything like that, being the ability to shape shift.
Nate: Oh, that's cool.
Chris: Yeah. The ability to shape shift. I'll go with that.
Nate: That's a good one. That's a good one. Okay. What is your everyday superhero power now?
Chris: Everyday? Super power is probably thinking on my feet being an administrator at a high school, you gotta be able to think on your feet, not only in a normal environment, but in a pandemic environment, things get changed at the last minute, so can't panic and just got to use all my knowledge and know how to think on my feet and get a quick answer.
Nate: That's a good one. That's good. Okay. Who would win in a battle Marvel or DC?
Chris: Oh, well looking at the characters and I'm also including now Vertigo in that line of DC, I'm going to go with DC because if you've got Dr. Manhattan out there, just zap away and there we go. So if you got Dr. Manhattan in your lineup, I'm going DC.
Nate: Oh, wow. That's a good one. That's a good one. I haven't heard that before. Okay.
Nate: Can you, besides your parents, can you name any superhero in your life? Like a real life superhero?
Chris: Real life superhero.
Chris: Just trying to choose someone that sticks- there's ones that stick out in my mind, but-
Nate: Yeah, you can pick like one person that you know personally, and that you really admire every day. And then maybe someone like your favorite-
Chris: I'm going to have to say, like someone outside of someone that I know, was the educator, Randy Pausch he did The Last Lecture, that it really took off, you know he that you said like, when he went into that whole talk, it became a book, it became a [00:03:00] sensation, it was all about what he could leave behind and he said, of course I get cancer and I get to give the lecture at that point. There's going up the lessons he's learned, how to beat, keep that childhood spirit and just how much he's given back, how much he's learned in his life.
Chris: And then at the end of it all. He says, his big thing was head fakes in life. He said, the head fake is if you're a coach, you're not just teaching how to play a sport, you're teaching all these other skills, these head fakes. Did you catch the head fake about this whole thing?
Chris: Lecture is not for you- lecture's for my kids. Thank you. And he leaves and you look back and it's just Oh, the whole talk is two hours and it's just at the end of it. It's just like all everyone's heart. Just like pours out just because it was a way to end that whole thing. It was perfect and there's- all his little tidbits of advice.
Chris: Like he would go in and say brick walls are there for a reason. Brick walls are there to prove to yourself how badly you want something. It's there to stop other people. So many different quotes I use from [00:04:00] that. Personally, like you said, outside of my parents, I would have to say one of my assistant principals that kind of inspired me to become one and just always would take me under his wing, saw something in me. I never even dreamed about being an administrator in a school, never! I wanted to be a teacher forever, but just saw something in me, and mentored me, and encouraged me, and has always been there, giving me the advice I've needed along the way.
Chris: So yeah.
Nate: That's awesome. What's his or her name?
Chris: His name is Joe Gall.
Nate: Awesome. That's great. That's a good one. Okay.
Nate: What is your passion?
Chris: Passion? Besides my job? Besides being a husband and a father and things like that's personal, but that's what I do every day.
Chris: And then, the job- caring about, seeing these kids like- work in a high school has always been my one thing I've always loved because I love seeing these kids go on and get that one moment to [00:05:00] get them to cross that- cross that graduation stage. And so that's why I do what I do. It's definitely not for the paycheck. And people say, it's so tough. I said I'm not going to lie, there are days that are just rough, that you can say that with any job, doing, being in that building. And it's actually a school that I used to teach at too. So it holds a special meaning to me that I always tell people, I came back not because I want it, not because necessarily I just want to have that 'Welcome Back, Kotter' experiences, it will mean something to me, this school, the students means something to me and I want to be there to help them get across that stage and see them accomplish their dreams. That's my passion every day, the crux of being an administrator so-
Chris: He was like, 'Oh, you entered the dark side.'
Chris: I said, 'Yeah, you can say that, but if I didn't still love kids and I didn't still love teaching, I- I wouldn't recommend anyone doing what I do.'
Nate: That's, that's, that's great, man. That's the heroic shit right there.
Chris: Oh, I appreciate it.
Nate: Oh, for sure, absolutely. All right. Speed around one or two word answers.
Chris: Okay.
Nate: Would you choose Wolverine or Cyclops?
Chris: Wolverine.
Nate: Are you an introvert or extrovert?
Chris: I'm a mixture of both. Depends on the situation.
Nate: Okay. An Ambivert.
Nate: Do you prefer sweet or salty?
Chris: I'll go with sweet.
Nate: Sweet. Batman or Ironman?
Chris: They're both my favorites on both sides so I'll go with Batman obviously.
Nate: YouTube or Netflix?
Chris: Netflix?
Nate: Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel?
Chris: Wonder Woman.
Nate: Super strength or super smart?
Nate: Super smart.
Nate: Ooh! Favorite illustrator and writer in the comic world?
Chris: Alright, currently, I'll go with currently at this point, I'm going to go to the writer. It's a tie cause it's just two different kinds of genres- writer is either going to be Scott Snyder or Ed Brubaker, and then oh, that's tough.
that's even tougher.
Nate: You can do two or three if you want.
Chris: Yeah, no, it's just it's I'm just trying to think. We've got Jason Fabok, there's just so many. I'm just going to go the-I'll go with Cupullo, just to get the wrap- they're wrapping up a Batman at this point, yeah.
Nate: That's it! That's the whole interview.