Comics Misremembered Podcast

Welcome back to the final (for now) Comics Misremembered Podcast.  It has been a fun and fast 5 years of this podcast but I am bringing it to a close.

In the podcast, I go over the reasons why I am ending the podcast.  The biggest one is the loss of Jon, my co-host.  He was a major reason this podcast was started and is another reason why it is ending.  Listen to the podcast for the rest of the reasons.

I plan on keeping this website up for at least another year and then I will finally shut it down.  I plan on transferring all the podcasts over to Anchor.FM (link on main page) so that after I close this site, you can still listen to all the previous podcasts that we recorded.  I will continue to keep the Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts open.

You may find the occasional update on this site if I find myself compelled to speak on something happening in the comic community but there will be no weekly updates.

Lastly, I want to thank you - the people reading this message and listening to the podcasts.  You made it worth the time and effort in creating these weekly podcasts.  Thanks for coming back each week and joining our comic discussions.

Batman: The Dark Knight returns in a comic that I have been planning to review for a long time now.  Tonight I finally have taken the time to do it!

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns is written and drawn by Frank Miller with inks by Klaus Janson and colors by Lynn Varney.  It was published by DC Comics in 1986 in their new prestige format (squarebound, stock packer and cardboard covers).

Frank Miller has always been pushing the comics medium to be a viable place were creators can tell mature stories about the super heroes they grew up on.  In the podcast, I mention that Frank Miller's inspiration of this comic was to get Batman back to his 1930 roots were he was ruthless and terrifying to criminals.

Did fans want this new darker version of Batman?  HELL YEAH!  This comic sold millions of copies and it is continued to be reprinted in trade even today!  Frank Miller's Dark Knight art and story was so inspirational, people are still paying it homage over 30 years later.

In my podcast, I touch on parts of the story but I really get into the  history on why Frank Miller wanted to tell this future tale of Batman in  his 50s, How real world politics influenced his story telling and how  this comic inspired film makers with their interpretations of the The  Dark Knight Detective.  All this and much more in the CM Podcast!

Welcome back to the 2nd part of the Top 10 comic review.  This comic  originally came out in 1999 as an image comic.  It was printed under  Alan Moore's imprint of America's Best Comics.  The writer was Alan  Moore with Gene Ha and Zandar Cannon providing the artwork.

In part 2, I wanted to explore the themes of some of the storylines rather than just talk about the story itself.  This comic can be quite humorist both visually and the jokes that are used.  Gene Ha and Zander Cannon pack each page with dozens of comic book easter eggs that a long time fans will love.  Moore also lays out a dozen jokes and funny situations for readers to enjoy.

There are also many dramatic and humanistic moments in the comic.  I outline a few but this is just touching the surface of what the miniseries offers.

This was a favorite of mine 20 years ago and I had a blast re-reading again for this podcast.  I left this review mostly spoiler free so that you can grab a copy of it and enjoy the 2 main plot twists.

Jim

I start the podcast by letting everyone know that Jon Babcock,  co-founder of the Comics Misremembered Podcast, has passed away on  Monday January 25th 2021.  He succumbed to his 4 month battle with  cancer and he will be missed.

I wanted to give everyone a brief history of what happened to Jon.  His sudden death was a shock to everyone especially me.  He helped me created the Comics Misremembered Podcast and his presence will be missed on the show but I plan on continuing the podcast for the foreseeable future.

This week is the beginning of a 2 part podcast on the comic miniseries Top 10.  It is a police procedural comic where everyone one in the comic has superpowers of some kind.  It was written by Alan Moore with art by Gene Ha and Zander Cannon.  It was published in September 1999 by Image Comics under Alan Moore's imprint America's Best Comics (ABC).

I talk about the history of how DC now owns part of the rights to this comic and how that must piss Alan Moore off and may be the reason he no longer works in the comic industry.

I compare this comic to a popular 1980s Police Procedural TV show called Hill Street Blues and why you may want to check that show out.  The early 2000s were also a popular time for comics that featured superheroes working as cops and I give a few examples.

We then get into talking about the story and how Robyn Slinger AKA Toybox starts her new career as rookie on the Top 10 police force.  She meets her new partner, Smax and gets her first case.  This comic mixes crime drama with the humor of everyday life and features the fine detailed art of Gene Ha with help by Zander Cannon.

Welcome back to the conclusion of the Franken-Castle storyline from 2010.  It was originally published by Marvel as The Punisher Vol. 3 and became the title Franken-Castle with issue #17 until the series ended with issue #21.  Rick Remender was the writer of the series.  The majority of the art was done by Tony Moore with Roland Boschi doing some fill-in issues.  Dan Brereton painted 2 issues (The origin of Hellsgaard and the final issue) and John Romita Jr did the art for a one-shot.

Last week we discussed how the Punisher was murdered and dismembered and how Morbius, the living vampire stitched Frank back together to help fight the Hunter of Monsters.

In the podcast this week, I talk about the origin story of Robert Hellsgaard and why he hates monsters so much.  We also uncover the artifact that Hellsgaard is searching for and why he wants it so bad.  This leads to the conflict between Frank Castle AKA Franken-Castle and Hellsgaard and how that conflict is finally resolved.

Once Frank takes care of that problem, he goes on a revenge tour and one of the stops is Daken (the guy that killed him).  This leads to a 4 part cross-over event between Franken-Castle and Dark Wolverine.  I posted the cover of the Franken-Castle #19 which is part 2.  This 4 part event is essentially a 4 issue fight.

We end on issue #21 that explains how Frank Castle gets his old body back and returns to the status quo of the Punisher again.

I end the podcast with previous attempt at telling a different Punisher story with the 4 part miniseries - Punisher: Purgatory.   Even though this series had fantastic art by Bernie Wrightson, everyone (including myself) hates this miniseries and I try to explain why.

This week we are going to review a Punisher comic  storyline that will cause fans of the franchise to either be happy to  talk about it or shun it with shame.  I am always ecstatic to talk about  Franken-Castle.

Rick Remender wrote the Volume 3 of Marvel's Punisher comic in 2010.  His run ran from issue 1 to the final issue 21 and there was a limited series Punisher: In the Blood that followed.  He had several very talented artists helping him on these books which include: Jerome Opena, Tan Eng Huat, Tony Moore, Roland Boschi, John Romita Jr and Dan Brereton.

We will be talking specifically about the storyline that started in an Invasion one shot called: Dark Reign: The List - Punisher #1 and ran through issues #11 - 21 of the Punisher.  This is know as the Franken-Castle storyline.

To sum up the story: Frank Castle AKA The Punisher is killed by Dark Wolverine AKA Daken (illegitimate psychotic son of Logan), Castle is then revived by Morbius, the living vampire to help defend the Legion of Monsters from the group called Hunters of Monsters Special Force lead by the fanatical Robert Hellsgaard.  This is just the beginning of the story.

The storyline can be divisive based on how hardcore a fan you are of the Punisher.  If you think Punisher stories should always be grim, gritty and realistic as possible then you are going to hate this story.  But if you are like me, you know the Punisher lives in the Marvel Universe where crazy and insane things happen all the time so why can't those nutty things happen to the Punisher?  If you feel this way then you will love this story.

We live in a time when men claim to be great in their rhetoric but their actions say otherwise.  And even though they claims for these men are confirmed false, they still have thousands of die hard supporters.  If only we had a silver alien from another planet to testify to humanity and call out these false saviors.

Unfortunately, this is the real world so we won't get the Silver Surfers help but we have the next best thing: Silver Surfer: Parable - the collected trade by Stan Lee and Moebius (Jean Giraud) published originally by Epic Comics and later collected in trade by Marvel.  Maybe if we can convince everyone on the planet to read this comic, we will have less strife in the world.

Silver Surfer: Parable is a really great read.  The immediate attraction  is the great Moebius art.  His unique and detailed take of Galactus and  the Silver Surfer are fantastic.  You also are getting Stan Lee writing  a comic in almost 20 years.  Stan Lee is at his peak with the dialogue  through the 2 issues.  This was written in the late 80s were the rule of  the land according to Wall Street's Gordon Gecko was "Greed is good."   Lee and Moebius put out a book that stated beware false idols that  espoused avarice and power because they will lead to your downfall.

Last week, I reviewed the 2nd Wonder Woman movie - Wonder Woman 1984.  If you listened to that podcast, you know that I have a very favorable review of the movie.  Since then, I have been reading and watching videos of other reviews of the movie and I have come to find out that I am in the minority for liking this movie.

I decided that Wonder Woman needs a little redemption this week so I went to my collection and pulled out Wonder Woman: The Hiketeia.  This was an Original Graphic Hardcover Novel that was published by DC in 2002 written by Greg Rucka, art by J. G. Jones, inks by Wade Von Grawbadger and colors by Dave Stewart.  A year later, it would be reprinted as a softcover.  I was lucky enough to get the softcover.

In the podcast, I talk a little history about Greg Rucka and his DC work prior to writing the OGN.  I give a little Greek history about the mythology of the Hiketeia and the Erinyes.  I also mispronounce this 2 words several times.

I go over the story but I keep it mostly spoiler free.  I set up the plot and the characters that are involved but I do not give you everyone's motivation.  I want to give you a reason to pick this up and read it.  But even if I did spoil everything, I would still recommend reading it for the lovely illustration of J. G. Jones.  He also created the cover image.

At the end of the podcast, I go over 2 movie recommendations that have similar themes of the OGN that you will want to check out.

Just when you thought there were going to me no super hero related movies coming out in 2020, Warner Bros (the studio that owns DC and HBOMax)  makes a bold movie before the year ends.  They decide to release Wonder  Woman 1984 in the theater on Christmas Day (12/25/2020) and on their  streaming service HBOMax on the same day!

I think it was about a month ago that they announced the news of this new way to watch movies (in the theater and in your own home).  It was a unprecedented event but we live in very interesting times where people are afraid to gather in public.  I want to thank Warner Bros for doing this and giving people a choice on how to watch this movie.  I did choose to go the the theater.  I am a long time fan of movie theaters and do not want to see them die out.  Big, blockbuster movies like Wonder Woman 1984 deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible.  If this is not an option for you, then your next best thing is to watch it at home on your TV.

Gal Godot reprises her role as the Amazonian goddess, Wonder Woman.  We are introduced to 2 new DC characters: Barbara Ann Minerva/ Cheetah played by Kristen Wiig and Maxwell Lord played by Pedro Pascal.  These are probably relatively unknown characters to the casual comic movie fan but both have a shared history with Wonder Woman.  I start the podcast but giving a quick history lesson on who these characters are in the DC comic universe.

Taken from the Image Comics website:

Sex, drugs, and murder in 1980s Los Angeles, and the best new twist on paperback pulp heroes since The Punisher or Jack Reacher.

ED BRUBAKER and SEAN PHILLIPS, the modern masters of crime noir, bring us the last thing anyone expected from them—a good guy. A bold new series of original graphic novels, with three books releasing over the next year, each a full-length story that stands on its own.

Meet Ethan Reckless: Your trouble is his business, for the right price. But when a fugitive from his radical student days reaches out for help, Ethan must face the only thing he fears…his own past.

I purchased Reckless this past Wednesday and devoured it like a dog with a t-bone steak.  Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips (with Jacob Phillips on colors) put out another fantastic read set in the Criminal Universe.

With help from my long time friend, Hector (who never reads comics),  I give a spoiler free review to try can convince Hector that he should consider picking up this comic.  I get Hector to judge a book by it's cover - he looks at the above cover art and tells me what he believes will be in the comic.

Also in the podcast, I explain the connection between Folk singer, Bob Dylan, The Weather Underground - a 60s and 70s domestic terrorist group, Nuclear Existential Dread and The A-Team have to do with this comic.