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Synopsis
Behind the Panels is an Australian weekly comic book orientated podcast from The Geek Actually Podcast Network, who are also responsible for the Film Actually and Geek Actually podcasts. It is hosted by Richard Gray from The Reel Bits, David McVay from GeekActually.com and Dave Longo from DamnGoodCup.com. The podcast is available on iTunes and has been rated an average of five stars amongst its listening audience.

Each week, Gray, McVay and Longo dissect all comic book related media (in print, digital, film and TV formats) with honest opinions, insight and humor in the aim to both entertain and inform its audience; and has been dubbed as "Oprah's Book Club for geeks."

History
The podcast started November 2, 2011 focusing on The New 52 series released by DC Comics. As of March 17, 2014, it has reached its 92nd issue. There is also a spin-off podcast known as The Geek Movie Club also hosted by Gray, McVay and Longo which focuses primarily on TV shows and cinematic releases.

Segments
Each episode can be generally broken down into a series of segments.

Introduction
Each episode starts off with a sound bite usually in relation to the episode, followed by the introduction, spoken by Gray, followed by a musical prelude that ties in with the episode. For example, in Behind the Panels Issue 92 - V for Vendetta the sound bite was derived from the film V for Vendetta where V introduces himself with a very verbose introduction, and the tie-in song was Anarchy in the UK by Sex Pistols.

After the introduction Gray, McVay and Longo start the show with introductions of themselves and general conversation about the upcoming segments within the episode, and proceed to the Vintage Clip of the Week by firing up the "Wayback Machine".

Vintage Clip of the Week
The "Wayback Machine" is Behind The Panels' plot device to provide listeners to vintage clips of comic-book related animations, films and radio shows from the earlier decades, generally between the 1960s and 1990s. Most of these vintage clips are usually quite comical in nature and are often the subject of ridicule by the hosts. Such vintage clips have been taken from :
 * The Mighty Thor (1966) – "Enter Hercules"
 * Batman 1950s Radio Show - (where Richard Gray is on the distinct belief that Batman was about to talk about bearer bonds); and
 * Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

The Wayback Machine is potrayed by sound bites of the grinding noise from the TARDIS and a harp glissando. Following the Vintage Clip of the Week, the hosts move to the next segment entitled "What We've Been Reading/Watching".

What We've Been Reading/Watching
Also called Read Between the Lines, Bitch due to its introduction music, this segment focuses on what the hosts have been reading, watching on TV and film related to all things comic-book related. The hosts focus generally on new releases and also other works of interest at the time. Occasionally films and TV series are mentioned within this segment, including Arrow, Agents of SHIELD and The Walking Dead. The hosts discuss their views on what they have read and watched, quite often sparking interesting debate.

After this segment, Richard and David alternate reading headlines in the next segment entitled "News Headlines"

News Headlines
This segment starts off with the theme music from Justice League Unlimited and contains news headlines from the comic book world, in relation to new comic book collaborations, comic related TV shows, movie releases both current and upcoming, as well as trailers. Special releases of trailers add an extra mini-segment known as the Behind the Panels Trailer Commentary.

After the news headlines have been read and related discussions have been made, the hosts go into the next segment known as the ''Kick Ass Pick of the Week".

Kick Ass Pick of the Week
Richard Gray introduces the chosen comic book or movie, set against dramatic music. The hosts then talk about and critique the chosen medium, focusing on the writing, scenery/artwork, plot devices and how they feel about the chosen material. This segment usually takes up the majority of the podcast each week.

Alternatively, the hosts may instead provide an interview of a comic book author or artist in relation to their work. The interview episodes are often shorter than the review episodes, usually about 40 minutes in length, as compared to about an hour for the review episodes.

Feedback and Shameless Plugging
The hosts fire up The Girl from Ipanema and read feedback sent to them via E-Mail, Twitter and Facebook from listeners and also read the reviews provided to them from iTunes via listeners providing ratings.

After the feedback, the hosts provide their means of contact via social media and sign off.