Apologies for the delayed release. Baby Dpalm came a bit early and so we’ve been on a little hiatus

Thankfully we recorded the final episode in our Flash series earlier in the month. So without further ado, the finale of the Joshua Williamson run.

We end this run as any good Flash run should with a finale showdown between Barry and Eobard. Throughout the 15 volumes, we got a really good reintroduction of Barry Allen that paid homage to the entire Flash legacy. We get the return and reunion of the Flash Family from the Wally years (Jay, Bart, Max and more) which has been teased all run and then finally comes back together. This run really solidifies why Rebirth really was something different for DC. Instead of running from their past they embraced it and used to to create a new legacy. This is what makes this run so much fun to read.

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We know last episodes we covered Year One but we decided to revisit that volume as well as volume 12 of the Williamson run of The Flash. Year One was worth a revisit because it not only reestablishes some of the lost history of Barry Allen but also starts off a new one as well (Barry meeting not only Wally but Wallace at the same time). It also takes a villain that we didn’t think twice about and make him terrifying. Who would think the Turtle would be so scary?

Then we get a return of Hunter Zolomon and we get an update to the great Blitz storyline. Turns out the clown DID have a gun. And through that all, Snart and the original rogues start putting their final plan in place. 

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We delayed the release of this episode until Kriss was out of town. We also timed it right around the time the Flash review dropped. Enjoy.

Post Flash War, Barry turns back into a student and has to go through a bit of a re-education phase. This fits right in with the Joshua Williamson theme of taking Barry Allen on a journey we really haven’t seen him in before. A lot of this feels familiar to those of us who grew up with Wally West as our Flash because we watched him go through the same journey. With Barry, its not only about him really studying the speed force but also learning that a Flash doesn’t run alone. It’s also really interesting to read the journey that Barry is on while also reading the journey that Batman is on in the King books. You’d like Bruce would be the depressed sounding pessimist but it’s actually Barry.

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We’re back with more of Joshua Williamson’s Flash run. This time we’re talking volumes 7 to 9 (issues 39 to 57). Williamson’s run really feels like a great jumping on point for the Flash. Since it’s during Rebirth, it gives us a great reintroduction of not only Barry Allen and Eobard Thawne but also Wally West. This part of the run felt like Williamson telling all of us that grew up with Wally as our Flash that his years as the Flash mattered. And while this series is centered on Barry, it felt good to get acknowledgement of Wally’s years (decades) as the Flash.

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We promised 2 episodes in March and we’re squeezing it right in there at the 11th hour. But we’re back for the next set of issues from the Joshua Williamson Flash run. We first stop over at Batman and pick up with The Button which takes us closer to understanding the forces behind all the lost time and history in the DC Universe. But it also reminds us that Eobard Thawne is the epitome of evil. The way he beats Bruce’s ass in the Batcave is a good reminder that speed beats prep time. It’s not just the Button though. After being largely absent in the first three volumes, Thawne features heavily in the next set of volumes for The Flash. And ends up dying…twice. If the first three volumes were a reintroduction of Barry Allen, these next set of volumes are a reminder of why Eobard Thawne is one of the scariest and evil villains in DC. Death doesn’t stop him. And when we get the reveal of why he’s become a mortal enemy of Barry Allen and it’s the most petty, insignificant thing; It’s just a good reminder of why this type of person is such a problem. 

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We finally get back into recording Character Corners and it still takes me 2 weeks to release the episode. Smh. Sorry for the delay folks but we’re finally hitting the Joshua Williamson run of The Flash. We consider this the reintroduction of Barry Allen. Sure in 2009 Geoff Johns did a “rebirth” of Barry Allen, having him finally return to the mantle after being dead for so long. But this run during DC’s rebirth really gets Barry back to the basics. Anyone that’s read this run knows it comes back down to Barry vs Thawne but the way this run starts off, it removes some of the staples like Thawne and the Rogues and focuses first on undoing some of the mistakes from New 52. We start with Wally coming back then there are hints of Jay as well. And of course the most important thing: how naive Barry is and how he runs into situations without seeing the big picture.

We start with the first three volumes and when we come back we’ll hit The Button (the crossover with Batman and setup for Doomsday Clock).

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Now that the first season of the She-Hulk series on Disney+ is over, now is a great time to talk about She-Hulks comic book history. The timing has nothing to do with the fact that Kriss is late on releasing this episode because work has completely swamped him. Nope, this timing is completely planned. 

Anyway, after seeing some of the confused reactions to the Disney+ show, it actually is a pretty good time to remind folks just who Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk is and how writers have tackled that character over the years. First off, the show pulled their tone from John Byrne’s classic time writing the character in the 1989 Sensational She-Hulk series. Yes, She-Hulk is a Hulk with incredible strength but she’s also be written as a smart, funny character that has no problems crawling outside of the comic panels to challenge her writers/artists (sound familiar?). But aside from that, this character has always been about a woman challenging the male driven world around her. In the comics, Jen prefers to be in her She-Hulk form because that’s the form that makes her feel powerful, invincible and capable of standing up to the world around her. That leads to some really funny moments (like her getting kicked out of Avengers mansion for being too wild). 

Post Civil War 2 sees a change for the character. The death of her cousin Bruce at the hands of fellow Avenger Hawkeye (and his subsequent acquittal) puts Jen on a path where she channel’s Bruce’s troubles with the Hulk and becomes uncontrollable when she transforms. She’s consumed by anger and fear and that is explored as she finally reconciles her two halves. 

Overall the key issues for She-Hulk really do put new perspective on the show and highlight where the show pulled not only its tone but some of its arcs. 

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Kriss and Dpalm are back and this time we’re revisiting a character we’ve spent some time talking about before: Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. We’ve covered Dick before in our previous Robin Part 1 Character Corner that covered Dick Grayson’s years as the first Robin along with Jason Todd. This episode we’re spending some time talking about his years after he put up the Robin suit and became Nightwing. 

Much like his best friend Wally West, Dick Grayson is one of those characters that started off as a sidekick but then became their own hero and eventually even took over the mantle. What’s so great about this character is how both similar and different he is from Bruce Wayne/Batman. Dick Grayson is what Bruce would be if Bruce Wayne didn’t hate being Bruce Wayne.

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Life has gotten really busy for Kriss and Dpalm so the regular Character Corner schedule has been a bit hectic these last few months. But thankfully Marvel has swooped in for a rescue by announcing a bunch of things for their next few phases of movies so that gives us a lot to talk about. 

In this episode we’ll talk about some of the trailers and announcements made for movies and TV shows coming out of SDCC. Not all of them involve Marvel and DC. We got the first teaser for the new John Wick and Amazon dropped a new trailer for their really really really expensive Lord of the Rings show. But of course, this is a comic podcast so we’re gonna want to focus on the comic book movies and TV shows that we got a look at. Unfortunately for DC fans, WB didn’t really bring a lot. We all knew we weren’t gonna hear anything about The Flash because…reasons. But WB only showed Shazam Fury of the Gods and Black Adam in a puzzlingly light presentation. They didn’t even lean on their successes like Peacemaker or even The Batman (which dropped this year but it seems like everyone has just forgotten about). No Aquaman either. It’s all just really puzzling.

And then Marvel came out and it was the complete opposite. A firehose of information about the end of Phase 4 and what’s planned for Phases 5 & 6. And boy is it a lot. Then there’s “that trailer”. The Wakanda Forever trailer is a rollercoaster of emotion and we can’t wait until November to see it.

Listen as we break down what we saw and have some light speculation.

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We wrap up our Avengers part of our Hickman series with the 9-issue Secret Wars event that sees Hickman rebuild the Marvel Universe first in Doom’s vision then from Reed’s. Secret Wars is one of those events where you don’t have to read all the related non-Hickman written issues to understand the story but you want to. It’s a good cap to the end of the story Hickman has been telling not only from Avengers but all the way back to SHIELD. Also, just like in Time Runs Out you start to see where he lays the seeds for what he later does in X-Men. 

There is one more episode we’re doing in this Hickman series and it will be to cover Hickman’s run on X-Men and the new dynamic he created for mutants in the Marvel Universe. But before that we’re going to head over to the DC world to talk about Dick Grayson, aka Nightwing. 

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