The Stack

On this week's comic book review podcast:

Black Panther #25
Marvel
By Ta-Nehisi Coates, Daniel Acuña and Brian Stelfreeze

Mister Miracle: The Source of Freedom #1
DC Comics
Written by Brandon Easton
Art by Fico Ossio

The Department of Truth #9
Image Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Martin Simmonds

Reptil #1
Marvel
Written by Terry Blas
Art by Enid Balám

Batman/Superman #18
DC Comics
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Art by Ivan Reis and Jose Luís

Made in Korea #1
Image Comics
Written by Jeremy Holt, Ron Chan
Art by George Schall, Ron Chan

The Other History of the DC Universe #4
DC Comics
Written by John Ridley
Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Beta Ray Bill #3
Marvel
By Daniel Warren Johnson

Strange Adventures #10
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Mitch Gerards and Evan “Doc” Shaner

Alien #3
Marvel
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art by Salvador Larocca

Shadecraft #3
Image Comics
Written by Joe Henderson
Art by Lee Garbett

Stargirl Spring Break Special #1
DC Comics
Written by Geoff Johns, Brec Bassinger
Art by Todd Nauck, Bryan Hitch, Fred Hembeck

Something is Killing the Children #16
BOOM! Studios
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Werther Dell’edera

Robin #2
DC Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Gleb Melnikov

HAHA #5
Image Comics
Written by W. Maxwell Prince
Art by Gabriel Hernández Walta

Harley Quinn #3
DC Comics
Written by Stephanie Phillips
Art by Riley Rossmo

The Goddamned: The Virgin Brides #5
Image Comics
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by r.m. Guéra

Action Comics #1031
DC Comics
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad
Art by Daniel Sampere, Mike Oeming

Ascender #15
Image Comics
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Dustin Nguyen

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This week's episode is also sponsored by Marvel's M.O.D.O.K., premiering May 21 on Hulu.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's Stack review show:

Wonder Girl #1
DC Comics
By Joëlle Jones

Shang-Chi #1
Marvel
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Art by Dike Ruan

Rangers of the Divide #1
Dark Horse Comics
By Megan Huang

Home #2
Image Comics
Written by Julio Anta
Art by Anna Wieszcyk

Nightwing #80
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Bruno Redondo

Fantastic Four: Life Story #1
Marvel
Written by Mark Russell
Art by Sean Izaakse

Radiant Black #4
Image Comics
Written by Kyle Higgins
Art by Marcelo Costa

Catwoman #31
DC Comics
Written by Ram V
Art by Fernando Blanco

The Immortal Hulk: Time of Monsters #1
Marvel
Written by Alex Paknadel and Al Ewing, David Vauhan
Art by Juan Ferreyra, Kevin Nowlan

Ultramega #3
Image Comics
By James Harren

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #3
DC Comics
Concept by Donald Mustard
Written by Christos Gage
Art by Reilly Brown

Stillwater #7
Image Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Ramón K. Perez

Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #3
Oni Press
By Chris Samnee and Laura Samnee

The Scumbag #8
Image Comics
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Alex Riegel

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #2
BOOM! Studios
Written by Ram V
Art by Filipe Andrade

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Don't forget to go to https://www.Manscaped.com and use the promo code FANSIDED20 to get 20% OFF YOUR ORDER AND FREE SHIPPING!

This week's episode is also sponsored by Marvel's M.O.D.O.K., premiering May 21 on Hulu.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's Stack podcast:

X-Corp #1
Marvel
Written by Tini Howard
Art by Alberto Foche

Time Before Time #1
Image Comics
Written by Declan Shalvey and Rory McConville
Art by Joe Palmer

Wonder Woman #722
DC Comics
Written by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad
Art by Travis Moore

Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man: King’s Ransom #1
Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Rogê Antônio, with Carlos Gomez & Zé Carlós

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #25
BOOM! Studios
Written by Jeremy Lambert
Art by Valentina Pinti

The Joker #3
DC Comics
Written by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns
Art by Guillem March, Mirka Andolfo

Ice Cream Man #24
Image Comics
Written by W. Maxwell prince
Art by Martín Morazzo

Rorschach #8
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Jorge Fornés

Heroes Reborn #2
Marvel
Written by Jason Aron
Art by Dale Keown with Carlos Magno, Ed McGuinness

Geiger #2
Image Comics
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank

Superman #31
DC Comics
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Sean Lewis
Art by Scott Godlewski and Norm Rapmund, Sami Basri

Karmen #3
Image Comics
By Guillem March

Batman: The Detective #2
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Andy Kubert

Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #2
Marvel
Written by Chip Zdarksy
Art by Pasqual Ferry

Seven Secrets #8
BOOM! Studios
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Daniele Di Nicuolo

American Vampire 1976 #8
DC Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Rafael Albuquerque

Birthright #49
Image Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Andrei Bressan

Justice League: Last Ride #1
DC Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Miguel Mendonça

Magic #2
BOOM! Studios
Written by Jed MacKay
Art by Ig Guara

Future State: Gotham #1
DC Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson and Dennis Culver
Art by Giannis Milonogiannis

The Silver Coin #2
Image Comics
Written by Kelly Thompson
Art by Michael Walsh

Proctor Valley Road #3
BOOM! Studios
Written by Grant Morrison and Alex Child
Art by Noami Franquiz

Black Hammer Visions #4
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Mariko Tamaki
Art by Diego Olortegui

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

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Full Episode Transcript Available At: https://comicbookclublive.com/2021/05/12/the-stack-x-corp-time-before-time-and-more/

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's comic book review podcast:

Heroes Reborn #1
Marvel
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by Ed McGuinness

The Good Asian #1
Image Comics
Written by Pornsak Pinchetshote
Art by Alexandre Tefenkgi

The Invincible Red Sonja #1
Dynamite
Written by Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner
Art by Moritat

Eve #1
BOOM! Studios
Written by Victor LaValle
Art by Jo Mi-Gyeong

The Swamp Thing #3
DC Comics
Written by Ram V
Art by Mike Perkins

The Last Witch #5
BOOM! Box
Written by Conor McCreery
Art by V.V. Glass

Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha
Marvel
Written by Charles Soule
Art by Steve McNiven

Nocterra #3
Image Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Tony S. Daniel

Batman #108
DC Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Jorge Jimenez, Ricardo Lopez Ortiz

DIE #16
Image Comics
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Stephanie Hans

Suicide Squad #3
DC Comics
Written by Robbie Thompson
Art by Eduardo Pansica

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory #2
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer
Art by Benjamin Dewey

Bliss #7
Image Comics
Written by Sean Lewis
Art by Caitlin Yarsky

Green Lantern #2
DC Comics
Written by Geoffrey Thorne
Art by Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci

Wynd #6
BOOM! Studios
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Michael Dialynas

Fear Case #4
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by Tyler and Hilary Jenkins

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #2
DC Comics
Concept by Donald Mustard
Written by Christos Gage
Art by Reilly Brown

Dead Dog’s Bite #3
Dark Horse Comics
By Tyler Boss

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Don't forget to go to https://www.Manscaped.com and use the promo code FANSIDED20 to get 20% OFF YOUR ORDER AND FREE SHIPPING!

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's Stack podcast:

The Marvels #1
Marvel
Written by Kurt Busiek
Art by Yildiray Cinar

Robin #1
DC Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Gleb Melnikov

Shadowman #1
Valiant Comics
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Jon Davis-Hunt

Helm Greycastle #1
Image Comics
Story by Henry Barajas
Art by Bryan Valenza and Rahmat M. Handoko

Black Widow #6
Marvel
Written by Kelly Thompson
Art by Rafael de Latorre

Batman/Superman #17
DC Comics
Written by Gene Luen Yang
Art by Ivan Reis

Summoner War: Legacy #1
Image Comics
Written by Justin Jordan
Art by Luca Claretti

Beta Ray Bill #2
Marvel
By Daniel Warren Johnson

Action Comics #1030
DC Comics
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad
Art by Daniel Sampere, Michael Avon Oeming

Crossover #6
Image Comics
Written by Donny Cates
Art by Geoff Shaw

X-Men Legends #3
Marvel
Written by Louise Simonson
Art by Walter Simonson

Harley Quinn #2
DC Comics
Written by Stephanie Phillips
Art by Riley Rossmo

Deadly Class #45
Image Comics
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Wes Craig

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #25
Marvel
Written by Saladin Ahmed, Cody Zigler
Art by Carmen Carnero, Natacha Bustos

The Department of Truth #8
Image Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Martin Simmonds

BRZRKR #2
BOOM! Studios
Written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt
Art by Ron Garney

Shadecraft #2
Image Comics
Written by Joe Henderson
Art by Lee Garbett

Once & Future #18
BOOM! Studios
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Dan Mora

The Comic Book History of Animation #5
IDW Publishing
Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Ryan Dunlavey

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

For up to 15% off, please visit https://earthechofoods.com/minutemedia and use code MINUTE15.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's comic book review podcast:

Way of X #1
Marvel
Written by Si Spurrier
Art by Bob Quinn

Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point #1
DC Comics
Concept by Donald Mustard
Written by Christos Gage
Art by Reilly Brown

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr #1
BOOM! Studios
Written by Ram V
Art by Filipe Andrade

HAHA #4
Image Comics
Written by W. Maxwell Prince
Art by Patrick Horvath

The Mighty Valkyries #1
Marvel
Written by Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk
Art by Mattia De Iulis and Erica D’Urso

Nightwing #79
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Bruno Redondo

Radiant Black #3
Image Comics
Written by Kyle Higgins
Art by Marcelo Costa

Alien #2
Marvel
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson
Art by Salvador Larroca

Justice League #60
DC Comics
Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Ram V
Art by David Marquez, Xermanico

The Old Guard: Tales Through Time #1
Image Comics
Written by Greg Rucka and Andrew Wheeler
Art by Leandro Fernández and Jacopo Camagni

Eternals #4
Marvel
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Esad Ribić

Catwoman #30
DC Comics
Written by Ram V
Art by Fernando Blanco

UltraMega #2
Image Comics
By James Harren

Specter Inspectors #3
BOOM! Box
Created and written by Bowen McCurdy & Kaitlyn Musto
Art by Bowen McCurdy

Stray Dogs #3
Image Comics
Written by Tony Fleecs
Art by Trish Forstner

Crimson Flower #4
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Matt Kindt
Art by Matt Lesniewski

Post Americana #5
Image Comics
Story and art by Steve Skroce

Orphan and the Five Beasts #2
Dark Horse Comics
By James Stokoe

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

For up to 15% off, please visit https://earthechofoods.com/minutemedia and use code MINUTE15.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week's comic book review podcast:

Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell & Gone #1
IDW Publishing/DC Comics
By Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez

Batman: The Detective #1
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Andy Kubert

Spider-Man: Spider’s Shadow #1
Marvel
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Pasqual Ferry

Home #1
Image Comics
Written by Julio Anta
Art by Anna Wieszcyk

Wonder Woman #771
DC Comics
Written by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad and Jordie Bellaire
Art by Travis Moore and Paulina Ganucheau

Darkhawk: Heart of the Hawk #1
Marvel
Written by Danny Fingeroth, Dan Abnett, Kyle Higgins
Art by Mike Manley, Andrea Di Vito, Juana Ramírez

Jenny Zero #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Dave Dwonch and Brockton McKinney
Illustrated by Magenta King

Rorschach #7
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Jorge Fornés

Guardians of the Galaxy #15
Marvel
Written by Al Ewing
Art by Juan Frigeri

Doctor Who: Missy #1
Titan Comics
Written by Jody Houser
Art by Roberta Ingranata

American Vampire 1976 #7
DC Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Francesco Francavilla, Tula Lotay, Ricardo López Ortiz

Jules Verne’s Lighthouse #1
Image Comics
Written by David Hine and Brian Haberlin
Art by Brian Haberlin

The Joker #2
DC Comics
Written by James Tynion IV and Sam Johns
Art by Guillem March and Mirka Andolfo

Home Sick Pilots #5
Image Comics
Written by Dan Watters
Art by Caspar Wijngaard

Superman #30
DC Comics
Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson and Sean Lewis
Art by Scott Godlewski and Sam Basri

Birthright #48
Image Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Andrei Bressan

Sweet Tooth: The Return #6
DC Comics
By Jeff Lemire

The Scumbag #7
Image Comics
Written by Rick Remender
Art by Francesco Mobili

Proctor Valley Road #2
BOOM! Studios
Written by Alex Child and Grant Morrison
Art by Naomi Franquiz

Karmen #2
Image Comics
By Guillem March

Black Hammer Visions #3
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Johnnie Christmas

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week’s comic book review podcast:

Magic #1

Green Lantern #1

The Silver Coin #1

Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory #1

King in Black #5

Venom #34

Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #2

The Swamp Thing #2

Seven Secrets #7

The Immortal Hulk #45

Dead Dog’s Bite #2

Batman #107

The Last Witch #4

America Chavez: Made In The USA #2

Fear Case #3

Suicide Squad #2

Nocterra #2

Geiger #1

Far Sector #11

Crime Syndicate #2

Bliss #6

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Full Episode Transcript

ThanAlex:         What is up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.

Pete:                I’m Pete.

Alex:                 And on The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that have come out this week. Tons of books out this week. Lots of number ones to get through.

Pete:                Tons. Tons.

Alex:                 So let’s jump into it talking about Magic. Number one from BOOM! Studios written by Jed MacKay, art illustrated by Ig Guara. This is a bit of a reinvention of the classic universe people probably know from Magic: The Gathering and the card games. It takes a bunch of Planeswalkers, essentially magic folks and otherwise, has them attacked, spoiler over the course of the issue, and they end up having to band together. I got to tell you, I obsessively collected Magic: The Gathering cards as a kid, but I don’t think I ever paid attention to the mythology. So I didn’t know a lot going into this, but I still, as usual with the Jed MacKay book, enjoyed it quite a bit. What did you think, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah, I thought it was cool. It definitely seemed like I was like, “Oh, there’s a lot more going on than I know about.” But I wasn’t sure. But, man, loved the Medusa character for sure.

Alex:                 Well, the thing that I really liked about this, and again, this is a spoiler for the issue, but it sets it up as this very typical fantasy world and then wrecks everything about halfway through the issue. And I thought that was-

Pete:                That was really hard.

Alex:                 Yeah. I thought that was a really bold, fun move. It’s basically saying, “Oh, this fantasy world that maybe you know from card games, from books, I assume, and otherwise, don’t worry about that. We’re going into our own story. We’re doing our own thing.” So just kind of just follow it from there.

Pete:                Why did you say, “I assume.” Are you worried that people do magic for real. I’m thinking are you talking about them?

Alex:                 No. I assume there are magic novels, but I don’t know.

Pete:                Oh, okay. I see what you’re saying. Okay. Okay.

Alex:                 Yeah. I just don’t know enough about this world, but [crosstalk 00:02:02]

Pete:                I thought you were throwing shade to magicians for a second.

Alex:                 Oh my God. I never would. They would come after me. Green Lantern, number one from DC Comics written by Geoffrey Thorne, art by Dexter Soy and Marco Santucci. In this, we are getting the Oa’s on the Green Lanterns, dealing with the new status quo of the universe. There is a new United Planets, as we’ve seen over the Superman books and otherwise, and that is affecting things here where they’re trying to decide, “Hey. If we’re the United Planets, if we have our own police force, what do we need the Green Lanterns for?” Of course, things go a little wrong over the course of this issue. Pete, now you’re not the biggest fan of Green Lantern other than a book we’re going to talk about it a little later at The Stack. But what did you think of this one?

Pete:                Well, first off, I want to just say a couple of nice things about the book. Really love the start, very crazy heavy action, kind of love this kind of who done it. And then, a spoiler, fun killing one of the floating large shirt tail peep know-it-alls. I’ve always wanted to do that. So I’m glad it finally happened in this book.

Alex:                 Can I just interrupt? It’s weird to me that you don’t like the guardians given you love short people and they are very short.

Pete:                Yes I do. I love short people very much. Know-it-alls, I have a problem with. Also, the whole flowing large shirt thing bothers me. And I also hate how they look like you with the giant heads and always talking about how smart they are.

Alex:                 What the fuck. How dare you? Also, thank you. I would love to look like [inaudible 00:03:46]

Pete:                I’m sure you would. Also, you would look amazing in a flowing gown. I mean, how are you going to have a Green Lantern number one and not have Far Sector in your shit? It’s the best Green Lantern of all time and you’re going to have a Green Lantern number one and-

Alex:                 Here’s the thing, she is in, and this is a little bit of a spoiler from the title, a Far Sector. So there’s no reason for her to come back to the main planet for this. I will say I kept going back and forth in this issue where I thought based on the cover, “Okay. This is going to focus on the new teen Lantern character and what’s going on with her.” It doesn’t completely. She plays into it, but there’s so much going on here that there were things that I felt like, “All right. I don’t quite get this or why this is here or what’s going on.” But by the end, so much was set up that I felt like, “Okay. We have a solid. This is just throwing everything at the wall. Let’s see what sticks going into the second issue.”

Pete:                All right.

Alex:                 Next up. Let’s talk about one of my favorite issues of the week, which I know Pete probably didn’t like, as well. We’re starting off so well here, the Silver Coin number one from Image Comics, written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Michael Walsh. It’s creepy, but it’s supposed to be creepy. I love this book. This is a new horror anthology from a bunch of folks like Chip Zdarsky and, I think, well, I should probably look up who else is on it. But there’s a bunch of folks that are contributing and they’re each, I think, going to write a different issue as it follows this evil cursed silver coin through different situations.

Alex:                 Here, we get a rock and roll tale that ends in a very Tales from the Crypt style way. Love the art by Michael Walsh. Like you said, creepy and terrifying in exactly the right way and viewers just dread into it. Chip Zdarsky writes a good rock and roll tale. I enjoyed this quite a bit. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I like this. I was always a sucker back in the day for Tales from the Crypt and shows like that, and this channels those very well.

Pete:                I agree. I definitely agree. It does have a fun Tales from the Crypt feel. It’s also going to be cool to see how this moves forward, but this first story is just kind of the classic band selling their soul to the devil to kind of make it big. But it’s got a very kind of interesting, it’s not that in all the right ways. And, I think, it’s the way they kind of leave it with the coin is very cool to see how this is going to keep moving forward. So as creeped out as I was and how much I knew Zalben enjoyed it, I still enjoyed this. And, I think, not only did I enjoy it, but I’m looking forward to see how the next one goes.

Alex:                 They call them comics, but they’re not very funny.

Pete:                I don’t know what you’re doing, but please, stop.

Alex:                 That was my Crypt Keeper. He was always doing like [crosstalk 00:06:48]

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. That was pretty good. My bad. My bad.

Alex:                 Thank you. Let’s talk about something I do think you liked because this is one of your favorite series out there. Beasts of Burden: Occupied Territory number one from Dark Horse Comics, written by Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer, art by Benjamin Dewey. If you haven’t followed the series, this is about a bunch of dogs and other animals that investigate supernatural mysteries. Here, we’re getting a tale from back in the day of a sheep dog back in World War II, I believe, who is looking into a simile supernatural mystery there. Man, I love this series. It’s so adorable and terrifying at the same time, the perfect mix.

Pete:                Okay. So a couple of things I want to ask. So here’s the hard part for me about Beasts of Burden, okay? Beast of Burden, love the story, love the idea but, originally, Jill Thompson on the art, who does these amazing water colors and you get that in kind of the fold Beast of Burdens created by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. So then, I feel weird about supporting this book. Okay. It’s the same writer. It’s the same title. I should be supporting this book, but it’s not this amazing watercolor artist. I love Sarah’s art. I think this is very cool, different take.

Alex:                 Benjamin Dewey did the art.

Pete:                Oh, I thought it said Sarah Dyer.

Alex:                 I think Sarah Dyer wrote it with Evan Dorkin.

Pete:                Oh, my bad. My apologies.

Alex:                 That’s all right. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.

Pete:                Regardless, art is clean. It’s a different take on it, all of the same characters we love. The story is great. But I kind of have this thing of like, “Should it be okay that I’m still reading this book? Or is it betraying Jill and her amazing work?” Talk me through this, Zalben. How should we do this?

Alex:                 I mean, I sort of had the same thought process as you because Jill Thompson’s art is so gorgeous and so necessary to this book that I was thrown initially, when I saw Benjamin Dewey’s art. I do think Benjamin Dewey’s art is real good, as well.

Pete:                Oh, yeah.

Alex:                 It’s super fun for a flashback tale. Yeah. I don’t know anything that might be on behind the scenes. It’s entirely possible given artistic schedules, maybe Jill Thompson is working ahead on something else that takes place in the present. And, excuse me, Benjamin Dewey is doing this thing because it takes place in the past. I don’t think Evan Dorkin was like, “Screw you, Jill Thompson. I’m doing my own comic at my own time.” or anything like that. So I don’t think it’s anything you need to feel bad about necessarily. But Jill Thompson is great, so it’s okay to miss her art at the same time. This is super fun.

Alex:                 You don’t need to know anything about Beasts of Burden to jump into this. All you need to know is talking animals, supernatural mysteries. There’s a terrifying last page here that maybe out loud I’d go. So it’s good stuff. Next up, King in Black number five from Marvel, written by Donny Cates, art by Ryan Stegman. I thought this was worth talking about in a block with Venom number 34 from Marvel, also written by Donny Cates, art by Iban Coello because they’re both ends of the era leading directly into the next status quo for Venom and I believe Donny Cates leaving the title after this. King in Black wraps up. They made King in Black saga. Venom number 34 interweaves with it a little bit and sets up, spoiler, a new status quo for Flash Thompson. Pete, go ahead.

Pete:                What was the order reading this? Because I read King in Black first and then I was like, “Oh, I think I should have read Venom first.” I just want to [crosstalk 00:10:29]

Alex:                 We are simpatico here. I had the same thought process where I got to about page five of King in Black and thought, “Wait, did I miss something? What’s going on here?”

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah.

Alex:                 So I think Venom number 34 happens concurrently with King in Black. So you kind of can read them in any order, but probably you should read Venom number 34 first, then King in Black number five.

Pete:                Yeah. Because I did the opposite and I was like, “I shouldn’t have done that.” Because reading Venom, it’s kind of like, “Oh, I know what’s going to happen.” So read King in Black number five first, then read Venom. Okay. But let’s kind of go in that order, King in Black. First off, Donny Cates did this epic giant tail and I feel like was really impressive. All the stuff with the son was great. This was a giant kind of epic event, but also had a lot of small, amazing moments, a lot of great Flash Thompson moments, a lot of, “Holy shit, look at the size of that sword. I’ve never seen Silver Surfer with a giant sword before. This is fucking cool.” It just got even better. I really love this book. I really loved how it ended. It ended so well I wanted to go back and reread the whole thing again. Man, this was really a lot of fun and I was surprised at how much it covered and how much happened in it.

Alex:                 I did appreciate that the ending here brought it back around to Eddie Brock and Venom. I thought that was a really good sense of focus under the event both in King in Black number five and Venom number 34. I think he gave a nice crest to the story he wants to tell, though there’s probably at least one more issue going on there before he really wrapped things up. Yeah. I also appreciate the fact I really identified with people throughout this event being like, “Ugh, is this a Venom thing? I hate symbions. This sucks.” Because that’s my general feeling going into it but, like you said, Donnie Cates and company made it feel very cool and big and fun throughout the event. So good times.

Pete:                Yeah. Also, it’s a great book to pick up if you’re like… I love comics where someone’s mostly free falling and just kind of thinking about things and then there’s flashbacks and stuff because they really [crosstalk 00:12:51]

Alex:                 Are you a big Tom Petty fan? Then check out King in Black number five and Venom number 34. Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters number two from Oni Press by Chris and Laura Samnee. This is a almost mostly silent series at this point. It’s all ages as well about a girl looking for her sister who has gotten lost in the wild with the unpossible monsters in the title. Beautiful, beautiful book. I want more of it every time is my only thing. I kind of want to wait until there’s a trade. And then maybe hand it to my kids and say, “Hey, check this out.” But gorgeous.

Pete:                Yeah. I mean you and your kids this, and you’re a cool dad. You’re winning. This is a really amazing book. Art is, I mean, I say it all the time, but it’s worth it alone. It’s just so fantastic. Love the role building. Love the pace of this. Storytelling is unbelievable. Touching, badass, all the right things. Yeah. I can’t get enough. Yeah. It does read quick and I’m sure I’ll read it a lot better than the trade, but man, single issues have been a lot of fun.

Alex:                 Let’s move on then to talk about the Swamp Thing number two from DC Comics, written by Ram V, art by Mike Perkins. We have a new Swamp Thing here who is investigating some weird doings out in the desert. We had the setup, but not exactly the explanation in the first issue. Here, the new Swamp Thing is exploring his powers and abilities a little bit more and tangling with somebody new and very, very bad. This book is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Mike Perkins’ art is incredible. And Ram V is really leaning into that. This, to me, feels like, I feel like you’re going to yell at me here, Pete, but this feels like on par with the first couple of issues of Batwoman by J.H. Williams III. It’s just breaking the layouts, playing with it, playing with the format feels really engaging and dark in a very similar way.

Pete:                Yeah. That’s hell of a praise. That’s really fantastic praise. Okay. I agree. It’s absolutely gorgeous. This is a lot of fun. Swamp Thing can be hit or miss for me. I enjoyed this issue a lot. I didn’t enjoy all the human stuff as much, but I really thought this was cool. And also, we got to talk about this. You guys don’t go to central park in the middle of the night because there’s full grown dudes being born out of trees and I’m glad Swamp Thing is finally talking about it. It’s fucked up and someone needs to look into this because it’s not right, man. It’s just really messed up.

Alex:                 I’ll tell you what, I’ve been to The Ramble at night and I don’t think that’s what dudes are doing in trees.

Pete:                Well, that’s what’s happening in this comic book.

Alex:                 Great book. Seven Secrets number seven from BOOM! Studios, written by Tom Taylor, art by Daniele Di Nicuolo.

Pete:                I mean, Seven Secrets number seven. I mean, that’s you.

Alex:                 We still don’t know what the secrets are, but in this issue, our main character has wandered off the road into the land of fairy [crosstalk 00:16:08]

Pete:                We don’t know all the secrets. We know a couple.

Alex:                 We don’t know anything. The secrets are still secret in this book. We know they’re important, but we don’t know what they are or anything about them, which is kind of wild. But we do know more about the main character, about where he comes from, another really good issue of this very fun title. I’m enjoying it. How about you, Pete?

Pete:                Yes. Absolutely. Art’s amazing. Paneling is fantastic. And if you’re going to do a glowing horse with a fish tail, this is just the peak that which all should be measured. This is very creative. Very cool. Interesting paneling, amazing storytelling. Yeah. This is just really kind of creepy and tripped out in all the right ways. It’s one of those things where you got to be like, “All right. I’m definitely going to find out the secret in this issue.” But they do such a good job of keeping you busy in all the right ways. I’m impressed by this book.

Alex:                 By the way, the thing you mentioned, the horse with the tail of a fish, like they say in the book, it’s called a sulky, which is where the expression taking a sulky comes from.

Pete:                Oh my God. You’re such a dad joke. It’s ridiculous.

Alex:                 The Immortal Hulk number 45 from Marvel, written by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett. In this issue, the Hulk is once again, dead, killed by the U-Foes, trapped in the land below grid, I always forget what the name is. But it’s Joe Fixit and the dumb, very flabby, kid Hawk being trapped by the leader while back on earth, things are going wild. I’ll tell you what, not only do I love this book, like we talk about every issue. Not only are all the designs absolutely terrifying and the amount that Al Ewing and Joe Bennett are building into the mythology, rather fascinating. But I don’t think any other book, since a Brian K. Vaughan book like Saga, consistently on the last page out loud makes me go, “Oh, here we go.” Every single time out of the gate.

Pete:                Yeah. I mean, I wish I could, after reading this book and all the crazy thing, is I wish I could have been on this pitch meeting for Marvel. Can you imagine how you’ll be going, “All right, listen. I’m going to take Hawk and I’m going to twist them and I’m going to turn them. And it’s going to be so gross and so fucked up, it’s probably going to turn a lot of people away. But if people check this out.” I mean, this keeps getting weirder and more fucked up, yet I’m having such a great time. I don’t know. I don’t know how to describe this to somebody. I don’t know what’s going on. I love the last page. I can not wait to see what’s happening. I don’t know. I’m so confused. I’m so grossed out. I love this book. I love the way it starts with the quote every time. And then it gets all sorts of fucked up. This is some groundbreaking, really cool shit right here.

Alex:                 This is one of the most epic Hulk rods of all time. And it’s so exciting to be able to be reading that right now. I love it. Next up, let’s talk about one that I know you really liked a lot, Dead Dog’s Bite number two from Dark Horse Comics by Tyler Boss. Now this is one we missed talking about the first issue of this, which I really regret because Tyler Boss, great artist. We know him from 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank, which he did with Matthew Rosenberg and other things.

Pete:                The Burgee.

Alex:                 This is about a woman who is investigating a disappearance. It’s weird. It’s funny. The panel layouts are great. I loved it. Love this issue.

Pete:                It’s really impressive. This is very, very creative in all the right ways. The Boss is killing it here. I mean, it kind of takes a little bit of like gives me that Hawkeye feel with a little bit of, God, what was it, King’s Vision with the different panelings and stuff here. But it’s got this great Indie kind of creative field, but just the paneling and the logos and the different stuff that they’re doing. I mean, I’m enthralled watching someone put money in a machine to try to get soda out. How can you do that? How is that enthralling? Yeah. I’m just really, really impressed with how creative and fantastic this book is. The scene where she goes and sits down with their mom at the fucking lunch table. Oh my God. This is crazy. I cannot wait to see how this kind of unfolds or gets explained. This is fantastic. I’m completely on board.

Alex:                 Me, too. I want to go back and read the first issue at this point. I feel bad about missing it. This is great. Next up, Batman number 107 from DC Comics, written by James Tynion IV, art by Jorge Jimenez and Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. In this issue, we’re continuing to find out about how Batman is dealing with the new status quo of Gotham City. Scarecrow is on the move. Other forces are, as well. And the backup story is about Ghost-Maker. What’d you think, Pete?

Pete:                All right. I’ve never seen Scarecrow so badass portrayed in a Batman book in a while. This is very interesting and cool. Tynion’s doing unbelievable stuff. The art’s fantastic. The Harley Quinn stuff has been so enjoyable. I think just kind of sprinkled throughout this Batman run and I think in a great way, and then we kind of get this new lady in red with green plant dogs who loves roses, so very intriguing. Tynion has done introducing a lot of different new characters with Ghost-Maker and now this lady in red. This is interesting to see what’s going to be happening here for Batman. Yeah. I’ve been enjoying it.

Alex:                 I’m going to throw a theory out at you. So there’s a character named Simon Saint, who we know is tied to the magistrate program that we saw in the future state books that essentially takes over Gotham and turns it into a police state, potentially in the future. Is Simon Saint Scarecrow? Because there’s a scene in the book where-

Pete:                Don’t you fucking spoil this for me, you son of a bitch.

Alex:                 No. I have no idea. But there’s a scene in the book where Simon Saint is looking outside and Scarecrow almost seems to be talking into his mind standing on a gargoyle. We’ve previously seen Scarecrow in his office sitting there in the darkness and it almost seems like maybe there’s a split personality thing going on there.

Pete:                Oh, interesting.

Alex:                 Just a thought. Whatever it is, love this book. I’m glad James Tynion has the, whatever you call it, handcuffs off or something like that and is able to just go wild in this book. It’s great. Next up, The Last Witch number four from Boom! Box, written by Conor McCreery, art illustrated by V.V. Glass. As a little bit of a note, we’re going to have Conor McCreery on our live show in a couple of weeks, so definitely check that out. I know you and Justin are going-

Pete:                For real?

Alex:                 For real. I love giving you news on our podcast.

Pete:                Oh, man, that’s great. Dude, this book has been fantastic. I cannot wait to talk about this.

Alex:                 Yes. We’ll talk about this one, then. We have our young witch is continuing to learn magic as she goes on a hunt for other witches. Here, we meet a refugee from Ferry who seems to be working with her. Maybe he’s not, necessarily. What’d you think about this issue?

Pete:                Yeah. Really great set up. I mean, first off, the girl’s grandmother’s just fantastic. What a badass.

Alex:                 You love a grandma.

Pete:                There’s nothing better than a badass grandma, all right? I don’t know what it is, but it’s glorious. Yeah. So just interesting.

Alex:                 That’s the thing that you love about grandmas, Pete. They keep getting older and so do you.

Pete:                Okay. Great. Stop being creepy. Yeah. Yeah. It seemed like a interesting kind of dude tagging along on this. Amazing kind of last page reveal on that. Yeah. Love the art. It makes it seem like it’s this kind of all ages, innocent thing, but there’s really a lot going on underneath the surface. So I’m very intrigued by this. Love all the main characters. It does such a great job of giving you story, giving you fun, giving you action. Yeah. I can’t wait to see how this all unfolds.

Alex:                 I like the V.V. Glass art in particular on this book. It really feels like sort of a, Don Bluth isn’t exactly right, but it’s very classic animation style where you could almost feel like it’s moving between the panels. It’s very nice. Next up, America Chavez: Made in the USA number two from Marvel, written by Kalinda Vazquez, art by Carlos Gomez. In this, we’re continuing to find more about the origin of America Chavez and it is not what we thought it was. We’re definitely in retcon territory here, folks, where we find out there’s a family after she left the Utopian Parallel that adopted her and kept her for a while. We get to see how she started to develop her characters and there’s the hint that everything she knew was wrong. I’m really enjoying the series quite a bit. And I say this as somebody who likes the concept of America Chavez a little better than the solo series I’ve seen. I’ve always liked her in a team book, but haven’t quite understood the character out of here. This is so far and we’re in the early going, maybe my favorite American Chavez story so far.

Pete:                Oh, cool. Yeah. I agree. This is really great. I feel like the art’s fantastic. We’re getting just enough backstory where it doesn’t feel like too much. It’s done so well with the kind of back and forth. I also really liked her with Spider-Man. That was great. Yeah. It’s very interesting how we’re kind of slowly getting her backstory, I would say a lot more in this issue, which is good. I’m very interested to see how this goes. I like how she’s moving about the world solving kind of things, trying to figure stuff out. Sometimes when that’s done, it can seem forced but it feels really natural here. Yeah. I mean, going into old-timey arcade place at night, that’s just not a smart idea. Nothing’s good is going to happen there.

Alex:                 Next up, Fear Case number three from Dark Horse Comics, written by Matt Kindt, art by Tyler Jenkins. Pete, you read this book and we missed it, right? What’d you think about this one?

Pete:                Yeah. I thought this was creepy in all the right ways. Very interestingly drawn. I love the kind of pencil kind of take on it. A lot of really powerful panels. And I just kind of finding things out with the characters here. Really love the last page, oh, shit kind of reveal. I think this is very interesting to see how each one of these fear cases kind of unfold. I think it’s really well done. The art’s fantastic.

Alex:                 Next up, Suicide Squad number two from DC Comics, written by Robbie Thompson, art by Eduardo Pansica. This is continuing the assault on Arkham storyline, which finds the Suicide Squad trying to liberate Talon from Arkham Asylum just as seemingly Scarecrow is, not Scarecrow, excuse me, joker’s fear toxin is being released throughout it as we’ve seen in a couple of other comic books. As usual with Suicide Squad, a bunch of people die. It’s very dark. There’s complicated and morality here. I think this is a really good classic Suicide Squad story with some very nice superhero art by Eduardo Pansica. What do you think, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah. I agree. I think this is really cool. Also, I’m glad that in Suicide Squad, the comic, we’re getting more Peacemaker here getting us ready for the movie. Really an over the top kind of person. So I think having what’s his face playing it is going to be very-

Alex:                 John Cena.

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 Can you smell what John Cena is cooking?

Pete:                No. No. No. You can’t see me, okay? But I also really love the pulp fiction heart attack moment. I thought that was fun.

Alex:                 Good stuff. Next up, I don’t know anything about wrestling. Nocterra number two from Image Comics, written by Scott Snyder, art by Tony S. Daniel.

Pete:                Just for the audio podcast, I was waving my hand in front of my face like John Cena does.

Alex:                 Okay. All right. Why does he do that?

Pete:                Because you can’t see him. You can’t see.

Alex:                 Is that where the Drax [inaudible 00:29:26] came from? No, that’s Dave Bautista. Nevermind.

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 They’re different people?

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 Okay.

Pete:                See how it works is they’re different people.

Alex:                 Okay. I don’t see people.

Pete:                Wow.

Alex:                 I just don’t see people. I don’t see things. Okay. Nocterra number two written by Scott Snyder, who we had on the live show. He talked quite a bit about this as well, as many spoilers for Nocterra number three, which was very cool and very fun. So check out that live podcast if you hadn’t. In this book, we’re continuing our journey through a world where it’s always night and it’s filled with horrific creatures. Tony S. Daniel’s art is stunning here as usual. Just great action scenes. They’re fighting a terrifying villain named Blacktop Bill. This is great. This is like duel on sci-fi steroids is what I’d compare it to. You love this issue too, right?

Pete:                Oh my God. Yeah. And I love Blacktop Bill. Yeah. And also, really amazing art, bold choices. We talked about that Batman issue with him but two solid pages of all black, bold, bold choice. I was like, “Wait, did this not download right? What’s going on here?” Yeah. I think this is really getting crazier and crazier. Yeah. This is just really over the top fun. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of having metal in all the right ways where it’s like, “Oh yeah, this is just gonna be completely non-stop trucker fucking.” Yeah. This is fun.

Alex:                 Well, I also like the fact that it’s not delaying or an issue too. We already know a ton of information and things about the world.

Pete:                But it’s so much to know. That’s the fun part.

Alex:                 Well, exactly. But it’s the sort of story where it feels like, “Oh, okay. These are things that you kind of drag out and get to an issue 12.” But nope. We’re getting them in issue two. And that’s awesome. Next up. Let’s chat about Geiger number one from Image Comics, written by Geoff Johns, art by Gary Frank. Now, before we get into it, I do want to mention, this was initially at the top of our stack. We moved it down here because if you haven’t read it, there was a big interview with Ray Fisher from Justice League talking about his treatment from Geoff Johns. There were a lot of quotes in there. There were a lot of back and forth. We don’t know anything necessarily about it. Certainly, we want to listen to every single viewpoint and understand what went on.

Alex:                 As the story continues, we will continue to discuss it and find out more about it. But as is, I felt like it was still potentially worth talking about a Image Comic book from Geoff Johns and Gary Frank that’s coming out. So we’ll see. Maybe we’ll scrub this from the podcast later, if more things come out. But as is, let’s talk about the comic as the comic and as it is. So that all said, this is a new issue from this team who’s worked on Doomsday Clock as well as a lot of other things. Here, we’re getting an original property set in a post-apocalyptic world where one man has been seemingly affected by the radiation and gained radiation powers. The world, specifically, Las Vegas here has been split into different ruling factions as the outside of the world is not safe. What’d you think about this book, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah. I don’t know about all that shit. This is kind of news to me.

Alex:                 Again, I love giving you news right on the podcast.

Pete:                Yeah. So, hopefully, we’re not enjoying something that’s whatever. I don’t know what to say, but just looking at this comic as a comic and hopefully… All right. My point is that this is very cool idea. I’ve very much enjoyed the action. I thought the glowing man was really badass. I’m very interested to see how this kind of all enfolds. This two-headed dog is my favorite. This is really very, very cool. You got the broady kind of villain. So if everything’s okay, I’ll be interested to see how this all unfolds.

Alex:                 Yeah. Sorry I threw you there, Pete. I can see you’re really struggling with it and that is totally fair. I think the thing that I would say about this is Gary Frank’s art is meticulous as always as well as of layouts. I do think a lot of the problems that we had with Doomsday Clock, which got very in its head about the whole Watchmen of it all. There’s a lot of themes and ideas and images that I think do get hit on and in a certain way, and not a necessarily bad way recycled here, but it feels much more wide open. It feels a little looser, both in terms of the storytelling and the plotting. And it’ll be interesting to see, potentially, if everything gets clear, what this team does away from DC Comics. This is something that we talked with Scott a bit about as he is on his Rumspringa from DC Comics right now, about how you don’t have the corporate responsibility. You don’t have the things that you need to write because you’re serving a greater master here.

Alex:                 So again, we’ll see what happens. If anybody has any feedback or questions about any of this, we, of course, are happy to chat either at [email protected] at Comic Book Live on Twitter or in our page here on Slack. We’d love to get your feedback on whether we should be covering this comic or not. But again, we like to cover number ones. We like to talk about this. This is a big superstar team, so it was worth throwing in there. Maybe not as the first comic book in The Stack. Next up, let’s move to happier climbs with Far Sector number 11 from DC Comics, written by N.K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell. Another fantastic issue of this book that just gets bigger and bigger every issue out of the gate. Pete, this is the Green Lantern you like. Go ahead.

Pete:                I mean, it sets the bar higher and higher with each issue and then continues to meet that bar and go above it. I mean, it’s just fantastic. 20% ring to save 20 billion. I mean, come on. This is exciting stuff. Everything has been unfolding in such a cool way. The art alone is worth the pickup. It is gorgeous in all the right ways. Characters designs are new and fresh, breaking this mold of stereotypical people and what they should look like. I love every single minute of it.

Alex:                 Well, I say this every issue, but I don’t think you can undervalue the fact that Jamal Campbell has drawn every issue of Far Sector, as well as N.K. Jemisin writing it, and they make a great team together. I know it’s not always possible with the monthly schedule of comic books, but I love that they have been able to continue together and kept this world consistent and build on it and make it look weirder and more interesting every issue out of the gate. It’s great. This book is great. And I’m really curious to see if it ends with issue 12. Is it going to continue? What’s going to happen? Because it’s such a fun interesting premise that they’ve set up here. One little side note-

Pete:                Am I to go and take over Green Lantern? We don’t need Green Lantern. We got Far Sector.

Alex:                 There you go. One little side note I’ll mention, I checked out, because I love this book so much, I read N.K. Jemisin’s The City We Became which is a novel. It’s awesome. I know everybody probably already noticed this, but just in case you haven’t checked it out yet, it is, I don’t even kind of want to spoil it, but it’s about people who become living cities and it’s not the same themes. But you can kind of get a sense of similar things that she’s trying out here in Far Sector. Particularly as a new Yorker, I love it because it’s based in New York. It’s so of New York. Such an awesome book.

Alex:                 Again, I’m sure a lot of people have read it who are listening to this, but if you’ve only checked out our comics, definitely read that, as well. It’s well worth it. Next up, Crime Syndicate number two from DC Comics, written by Andy Schmidt, art by Keiran McKeown and Bryan Hitch. I think we were a little split on the first issue of this because it takes a more satirical look at the Crime Syndicate, at the evil Justice League. Here, we get them fighting Starro and we also get a backstory for Owlman. What’d you think about this one, Pete?

Pete:                It’s interesting. It’s cool. I mean, the Flash, shirtless Flash, with the crazy chain pants was hysterical. So fun.

Alex:                 I like this a little better. I felt the humor was a little strained in the first issue, but it hits more of its rhythm in this one. I like the backup story here. Bryan Hitch’s art is always pretty good. So I was ready to jump ship after this issue, but I think I’m more than willing to check out a third issue after this one.

Pete:                Cool.

Alex:                 Next up, Bliss number six from Image Comics, written by Sean Lewis, art by Caitlin Yarsky. We are, I think, getting towards the end game here as we finally find out a big secret from the past of the father and son who were trying to find each other in this world where gods run a muck. There’s some great bits here with one god that the son is palling around with, this turtle god who hangs his mouth open the entire time. There’s some very dark and emotional stuff that happens as well. What did you think, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah. This is just really unbelievable. Fantastic storytelling. This has been a real roller coaster of rooting for them or not rooting for them. It seems like really evil, but then the other side to him. We’ve got the AOC on the cover with the old balance of power there, the scales. Yeah. I really think this is a very interesting, cool world and it’s really done very well. The art and the characters are weird in all the right ways. Yeah. We find out a lot about the family in this. This is great. This really continues to be a book that you’re like, “What is this going to be?” every time you pick it up and it doesn’t disappoint.

Alex:                 Totally agree. And that’s it from The Stack. If you’d like to support us patrion.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe, listen, and follow the show. At Comic Book Live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book shop.

The post The Stack: Magic, Green Lantern And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.

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On this week’s comic book review podcast, we’ve got:

Beta Ray Bill #1

Shadecraft #1

The Other History of the DC Universe #3

Silk #1

Crossover #5

Strange Adventures #9

Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1

The Department of Truth #7

The Flash #768

Ghost Rider: King in Black #1

Two Moons #2

Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #3

Decorum #7

Batman/Catwoman #4

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Full Episode Transcript:

Alex:                 What is up y’all? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.

Pete:                I’m Pete.

Alex:                 And on The Stack we talk about a bunch of books that have come out this week. Kicking it off with one I know that Pete is very excited about. Beta Ray Bill number one from Marvel comics, written and art by Daniel Warren Johnson. Now, D.W.J., As I like to call him, he is the creator of Murder Falcon, which is one of your favorite books ever.

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 I don’t know how you feel about Beta Ray Bill though. So how’d you feel about this book?

Pete:                Well, yeah. I’m not the hugest Beta Ray Bill fan, but this was a lot of fun. This was really awesome. Art style [google 00:00:54] gave Beta Ray Bill a grittiness that was nice. Yeah, I very much enjoyed this. This was sad. This was not just badass Beta Ray Bill.

Alex:                 You okay? Did you die there for a second?

Pete:                Yeah. There’s some real pain going on. And yeah. Also, Fin Fang Foom, one of my huge favorites in this as well. So, this was a real treat, this book. And the back matter is magical.

Alex:                 This very briefly and tangentially ties into the King in Black storyline, which has symbiotes attacking the Marvel universe here. They attack Asgard, Beta Ray Bill fights them off, kind of. And sparks up, or re-sparks up a little bit of a romance with Lady Sif. But I agree with you, as he did in Murder Falcon, he brings big action with big monsters, but also a deep well of emotion here. It’s very sad for Beta Ray Bill. Art is great, the writing is great, the emotion is great. I’m all in on this book. I am a sucker for Beta Ray Bill, and I think D.W.J. does right by him. So, I’m very excited to see this going forward. And like you said, there’s a great interview that he does with Walter Simonson in the back of the book, which is super cool as well.

Pete:                Yeah. It’s nice to see him geek out about this and hear about New York in the seventies and the different kinds of people working on stuff. It was a pretty awesome interview that they put in the back and yeah. I mean, the art, the storytelling is really unbelievable, but Beta Ray Bill… Kind of a cursed character and they’re really tugging on that and playing with that. And he’s not cool with Thor. It’s not a fun relationship right now. So I’m glad they’re getting to air that out a little bit. I’m very interested to see how that all unfolds.

Alex:                 I agree. Next up, Shadecraft number one from Image comics written by Joe Henderson, art by Lee Garbett. In this new comic book, a girl finds out that shadows aren’t quite what they’re cracked up to be. It ties into an emotional thing from her past that you find out towards the end of the issue. I really liked the setup. I thought this was a good, fun horror book. The art from Lee Garbett was particularly good. The shadow creatures were interesting. I’m curious to see where this goes going forward, because it feels like it really gets to the setup by the end. But I’m in, what was your take Pete?

Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I think the art and the storytelling is fantastic. Setting this up in a very interesting way. I really love the last page reveal twist. Very cool. And yeah, as this kid, I was scared shitless of… if you saw a shadow move by the… or a branch at the window or something. This really plays on that fear of moving shadows and how it’s hard, especially at night, to get away from shadows. I mean, that’s just… That’s tough.

Alex:                 I got to be honest, Pete, it sounds like that wasn’t just a problem when you were a kid.

Pete:                I don’t think we have time to get into this, but-

Alex:                 No, Pete-

Pete:                It’s a great book.

Alex:                 That’s been the long game on this podcast this whole time, is to finally get you to confront this fear that you have. Shadecraft number one, check it out. Next up, The Other History of the DC universe number three from DC comics. Written by John Ridley, art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. The first two issues have dealt with the black American experience in the background of the DC universe. Here, we’re dealing with the Asian American experience through the lens of Katana and her whole history. What did you think about this one, Pete?

Pete:                This is very powerful, really amazing. I was very moved by it. I thought it was really done well. The storytelling is so powerful. The art… Yeah, just kind of the balance of these stanzas, these powerful stanzas, that really hit you versus the comic book art. Really creates this moving, powerful stuff that DC is doing with these books. I’ve been really enjoying this series. The Other History of the DC universe stuff has just been really impressive.

Alex:                 Giuseppe Camuncoli’s layouts in particular, are really excellent. John Ridley’s writing is great. It’s super, unfortunately, timely, given that we are discussing the Asian American experience and violence towards it, in particular, right now. But it’s a necessary-

Pete:                Stop Asian hate.

Alex:                 Yeah, it’s a necessary read, like the other two issues of this book, but also very entertaining and weird in a certain way. I don’t know much about Katana’s history, necessarily. There are little bits here and there. I was like, “Oh yeah, I guess I do that kind of thing”. But what John Ridley is doing here is, like with X-Men: Grand Design, I think was the name of the book, he’s taking the entire history of the character and trying to make narrative sense out of it. Which is nearly impossible, but he does it here in a very emotional way. And that’s nice to see.

Pete:                Yeah, Katana is one of my favorite characters. Always a big fan of Katana. So it was nice to see, all the different stories paid homage to, with this interesting narrative running throughout all of it. It was really well done.

Alex:                 Moving from one timely book to another, in a very different way. Silk number one from Marvel, written by Maureen Goo, art by Takeshi Miyazawa. This is a all-Asian team working on a Korean American superhero, which is something that I don’t think we’ve seen before for Silk, necessarily. I could be wrong. Nobody jump into my mentions if I got that incorrect. But at the very least, it’s great to see that, as Silk is in a new status quo here. Working for J. Jonah Jameson, at whatever his latest rag is. But I thought this was really fun. I don’t have too much affection, necessarily, for Silk as a character. I’m fine with her. She’s been fun before. There’s been some good storylines, but I thought this was a really nice, very clear setup with a good supporting cast. And I’m interested to see where it goes in issue two.

Pete:                I completely agree. I feel like this is a great use of Silk, the character. I feel like they really do a great job of giving her a lot of fun action splash pages, as well as setting up a very cool, interesting story arc. And the fashion stuff is fun and pulled off well, and what’s not to like about sitting down to have tea with a giant cat like creature? I think this is a very interesting, cool book, and I’m excited to see where it goes

Alex:                 Next up: Crossover number five from image comics written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw. In this book, we’re getting towards the end of the first arc here, as Madman and Power… house. I don’t remember the name of the other team. Basically. It’s Donny Cates taking all of his books, mashing them up together with tangentially other books. They’re all heading towards this big dome where the crossover event has happened and it’s all coming down. What did you think about this issue?

Pete:                Well, first off you got- bless you. You got Madman with a giant sword. So what’s not to love. This is-

Alex:                 A sword.

Pete:                It’s a lot of action, it’s a lot of over-the-top stuff, but also, a lot of intense shit goes on here. Oh man, I don’t want to spoil anything, but man, it gets, it gets real dark, but-

Alex:                 I want to hear it. Spoiler warning. What was the thing that, you thought in particular, got really dark?

Pete:                Where the guy shot the girl?

Alex:                 Oh, that hasn’t happened yet. That’s the cliff hanger at the end of the book. He hasn’t necessarily shot her.

Pete:                Well… He’s crying. It says, “I can”. And it looks like it’s seconds before the bullet is released out of the chamber.

Alex:                 Yeah. Well, we’ll see what happens next issue, I guess.

Pete:                Oh my God.

Alex:                 I guess we’ll see what happens. One thing that I really… that I thought was super fun in the book, is Donny has come up with this concept, where all of these different superheroes have been cut apart and mashed back together by scientists on Earth, quote-unquote. And they’re called amalgams, which is very funny to anybody who knows about the Amalgam universe. He’s having a blast here and it’s so creative and so fun. There’s a great splash page laid out that mashes up panels from God Country and Madman comics. Very neat. I liked it quite a bit.

Alex:                 Next up, Strange Adventures number nine, from DC comics written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner. Here, a report has come out about Adam Strange from the Justice League. Not exactly indicating that he is a villain, but certainly not precluding that fact. That’s what we’re dealing with here. As the Pykkt invasion of Earth continues and lots of questions swirl in the background. I’ll tell you what, I think we talked about this with an earlier issue. It’s interesting this is coming out now, but it seemed very clear to me that, at least tangentially, King is writing about the Mueller report in this issue. Did you get that sense as well?

Pete:                I have no idea what’s going on and when it comes to King, ever. But it was crazy to see Superman and Batman in this issue.

Alex:                 So, this report comes out and it’s the vague sort of indictment that Mueller did in the heavily anticipated Mueller report. Where there were a lot of crimes mentioned, but ultimately there said, “Well, it’s up to the people who prosecute to do it”. Right. And that’s exactly what happens with Adam Strange here. It’s very interesting, particularly given now we’re past the Trump presidency, though, obviously not the aftereffects of it. To see him take Adam Strange and put him in that place. To the point… there’s a panel late in the issue where they zoom in on Adam Strange’s face on a TV screen and it looks almost exactly like Trump on the television. So that was kind of fascinating to me. I think it’s sort of part of the publishing schedule that has gotten pushed back so far. But I am curious to see where this hits on, given that it is skirting those ideas. You’re looking at me like I’m a crazy person right now.

Pete:                I am looking at you like a crazy person, because we’re on issue number 9 of 12 and we still don’t know what the fuck is going on.

Alex:                 Well-

Pete:                Nine issues deep.

Alex:                 I mean, that’s how a mystery works Pete.

Pete:                Yeah, but let’s talk-

Alex:                 Unless it’s Columbo, in which case they reveal it first and then he figures out how it happens.

Pete:                Okay. But, regardless, just thinking about how great of a writer you have to be that, for nine issues of a story, you have no fucking idea what’s going on. That is very impressive.

Alex:                 Well, I just got one more question for you, Pete.

Pete:                Oh my God.

Alex:                 All right. Next up, Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing number one from Marvel. Written by Steve Orlando, art by Francesco Mobili. In this, we are getting a new threat to Man-Thing who, spoiler, beats Man-Thing right at the beginning and the Avengers have to take him down. This is one of these new formats, limited series that Marvel has been doing, where a new hero is going to interact with Man-Thing or this story in a different way. Here we get the Avengers. Next issue is going to be Spiderman, presumably the X-Men after that and other things. But this is also Steve Orlando moving over to the Marvel universe. What was your take Pete?

Pete:                Well, Orlando is always a fun, crazy creative person. So this book, I thought did a great job of representing himself here. Man-Thing, getting ripped apart here was so over-the-top and very interesting. Especially because you realize, these chapter things are like parts of his skin that maybe was ripped off. But I think this is a very interesting, unique kind of cool event that’s happening and I’m digging it.

Alex:                 I like it too. I thought it was super fun. And it’s Orlando doing his regular weird ideas, but infusing them into the Marvel universe. He brings in some fun stuff from Jonathan Hickman’s run on X-Men and mixes it in here in a fun way. This is good. I like this.

Pete:                I agree.

Alex:                 And he seems to be redefining what Man-Thing is in the Marvel universe. That should be interesting to see going forward. Next up, The Department of Truth number seven from Image comics, written by James Tynion IV, art by Tyler Boss. In this-

Pete:                You think we should even talk about this, because Justin’s not here? You know what I mean, maybe we should-

Alex:                 Justin does love this book.

Pete:                Maybe we should skip it.

Alex:                 So we’re getting another flashback this issue as Lee Harvey Oswald continues to find out more about the Department of Truth. Here, we find out about the foil guy, the doc who wears foil on his head. We find out about the men and black and the little gray men and their play into the history of the secret history of America. As usual, great stuff in this book. I am loving it. Pete-

Pete:                Yeah, I agree.

Alex:                 You took off your headphones, what is going on right now?

Pete:                Hey man, sometimes you wear headphones for too long. It can start to get like… Feel like you’re [crosstalk 00:14:37]

Alex:                 Are you listening to me through your forehead. What is going on here?

Pete:                Dude, it’s a podcast. Take it easy, all right. I can hear you just fine.

Alex:                 All right.

Pete:                All right. So I really am like… This is such a kind of thing we’ve heard about the men in black, we’re familiar with this kind of tinfoil thing, but this is done in a way that makes sense. I really appreciate all the details and all this stuff going on in this book. I think it’s done in such a kind of way with the stylized flashbacks, with the shading and the info. I think this is really a great mix of genres and telling the story. I’m continued to be impressed with this. It’s too bad Justin’s not here to get his thoughts on it. I’m having a blast and I might just start wearing a tinfoil hat.

Alex:                 Hey, speaking of which, this is more of a note for Pete’s forehead than his ears. And Pete’s forehead, you’re looking great. Don’t tell his ears, okay? Because they’re looking a little busted, to be honest.

Pete:                Don’t you say shit about my ears.

Alex:                 You couldn’t hear that. That was through your forehead man. All right. Moving on to the Flash 768 from DC comics. Written by Jeremy Adams, art by Brandon Peterson-

Pete:                Here we go.

Alex:                 Marco Santucci… What does that mean, “Here we go”?

Pete:                Here we go. The fucking Flash.

Alex:                 Well… So we’ve been talking about these books that have come out of DC Future State. A lot of the teams from Future State were giving previews of what’s going on in their main books of their return. So I think it has been interesting to talk about them as they have come back. This one is weird.

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. We’re still talking about it. Flash and that tricky Speed Force, man. [crosstalk 00:16:28] Sometimes you run so fast, you run out of your clothes and then that’s a whole thing and-

Alex:                 It happens. So here’s the deal with this book. So the thing that confused me for the first half of this book, is we have the setup of Barry Allen is giving up being the Flash. So we could work with the new multi-verse people and explore what’s going on with there, after the fallout from Dark Nights: Death Metal. All makes sense. Now, Wally West is the new Flash, he’s been promoted. The first half of this book, reverses on that in a very weird way, where Wally says, “Nope, actually… Forget about that tease. I don’t want to be the Flash. Barry Allen. You’re the Flash”. Barry’s like, “Sounds good. Let’s have a race. I’ll take all of your speed”.

Alex:                 So that’s fine, but very confusing, given everything that’s happened previously. It isn’t until the second half of the book that we get to the real concept. That’s where things, in my mind, start to get really fun, where Wally West is lost in time. We basically get this quantum leap thing, where he’s jumping to major points in the Speed Force, he’s inside of their bodies.

Pete:                How are they-

Alex:                 And Barry Allen is the Iggy. Is it Iggy from Quantum Leap? Pete?

Pete:                I don’t know.

Alex:                 Ziggy. Ziggy. The Ziggy, Dan Hedaya. Who’s like, “Oh man, you’ve got to turn back, Wally. What are you doing? Ah, if you change this, that’ll change everything”. And then Wally says, “Oh boy”.

Pete:                That show came out in the fifties, I think, bro.

Alex:                 It’s a great show, with a perfect finale, and you watch your mouth Pete.

Pete:                I’ll have to take a time machine back. It was just insane to me that these, all these fucking Flashes and there’s the Speed Force, but nobody can figure it out. And it’s so tricky yet. They’re running the whole time and you got a fucking treadmill, but… I don’t know, man.

Alex:                 I enjoyed the second half of the issue because I am a sucker for Quantum Leap and I want to see more of that. So we’ll see how it goes. Next up, Ghost Rider: King in Black number one, from Marvel. Written by Ed Brisson, art by Juan Frigeri. This is also a very weird, interesting issue because, technically, it’s a King in Black tie-in, but really it’s tying up everything that’s been happening in Ghost Rider for the past couple of years and wrapping a bow on that. It’s much more about that to the point that, the Ghost Rider characters, at certain points, are standing in the middle of symbiote-stricken Manhattan being like, “Eh, let’s figure out this other stuff instead”.

Pete:                Yeah. There’s still a crazy amount of standing around talking for all the demons that are trashing the place.

Alex:                 But still, pretty fun, I thought. What did you think about this one, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah, it was fun. I mean, they’re having fun discussions about their names. Mephisto blows, but still, some fun stuff in there with that. Yeah. It was nice to see Ghost Rider up in this… the Penance Stare, with the old damnation stare. That was cool. Fun little twist on trusting, not trusting the devil. It’s just fun. It’s a good book. You know what you’re going to get into with it. And it’s over-the-top in all the right ways.

Alex:                 Next up, Two Moons number two from Image comics written by John Arcudi, art by Valerio Giangiordino. This book, we love the first issue of. I might be getting this wrong, but I believe it’s basically taking indigenous myths and mixing them with the Civil War for a very horrific, supernatural tale. How do you think the second issue held up to the first one?

Pete:                It’s really tripped out in all the right ways. It’s very magical. Spooky, cool. The Native American stuff is amazing. It’s very, very well done. Some interesting storytelling stuff. And I really loved where it ended too.

Alex:                 This is a absolutely gorgeous book. Absolutely gorgeous. I like the writing, but really, the art in particular and the designs of the… I don’t even want to call them monsters. They’re more mythical creatures, is stunning throughout. Highly recommend picking this up. This is one that, it feels a little bit like, I don’t know. It’s very Vertigo to me, I think. And it’s the sort of thing that I think would be good to jump in on in the early issues to really get a sense of it because it’s that good.

Alex:                 Next up, Future State: Superman VS. Imperious Lex, number three from DC comics written by Mark Russell, art by Steve Pugh, not Florence Pugh, like I initially thought. It’s Steve Pugh. This is the very last, I believe, of the Future State books. Probably cutting in a little late here, but so fun and such a good story. Love Mark Russell. This is a future Superman, as you could tell, from the title. Battling Lex, who has taken over a planet, as usual. It’s very satirical as you’d expect from this team. If you read the first two issues, you know exactly what to expect here, but I loved it. This is one of my favorite Future State books. I’m so glad they got to finish it off, even if it was a late. Pete, you’re nodding your head. What’s going on?

Pete:                I mean, this is just like, what if Lex Luther was stuck in the Wall-E movie? It’s a little too crazy for me, but I appreciate what they’re doing.

Alex:                 It’s so funny. The characters are so funny. Louis Lane is so funny. Lex is so funny. It’s great. He just sets up these Rube Goldberg machines of ridiculous satire and pays them off in such a fun way. I like it quite a bit. Next up, Decorum number seven, from Image comics. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston.

Alex:                 This is really bringing together everything that’s been going out in the book in a big way that these weird crystalline creatures that showed up that seemed, at first, unconnected from the Assassin’s Academy that was going on in the other side of the book. Last issue, that finally came together, where the crystalline creatures gave a mission to the assassins to find this egg that was being hidden, which I believe was the third element, that was just thrown in there. Here, our main character stumbles on that egg, opens up the egg, finds a hot dude with no head. Very funny. This is great. I can’t believe how well this has come together. And Mike Huddleston’s art is stunning across the board. The way that he’s bringing all of these different art styles together, often on the same page, is ridiculously impressive.

Pete:                I agree with you, Alex. It’s worth it alone for the art. It’s really unbelievable. Sometimes… Just a dude with part of your face. But I think this is really tripped out, weird, in all the right ways. And it’s really telling a very interesting story, but the real hero here is the artist. The pages and everything are just amaze balls.

Alex:                 And in classic Pete fashion, I got to bring up a book that we didn’t throw into the stack, because I didn’t want to get into a fight about it. But, X-Men number 19. Also by Jonathan Hickman, it is a master work. It is so good. It’s one of the best issues of the series ever, it’s amazing. You get the X-Men trapped in this vault, traveling through time. This incredible X-23 Laura story throughout. So good. Read it. Just pick it up right now. Don’t listen to whatever Pete has to say. And moving on to our last book-

Pete:                Wait, that’s so unfair that you didn’t even put it out there. Like it was something we could read-

Alex:                 Here’s the thing, Pete. [crosstalk 00:24:25] I’ve got to be honest. I’ll pull back the curtain here. I got to be honest. I read the book because I was like, “Ah, I want to read it anyway because I liked the X-Men books, but I’m not going to send it out to Pete because Pete’s just going to be like, ‘Fuck X-Men. These islands are having sex. Stupid. What’s going on? I don’t like it'”. That I would just set it out. It would just be a big argument. So I was like, “I won’t send it out”, but then I read it. I was like, “This is legitimately one of the best issues of the series ever. Would Pete like this, because it’s about Laura X-23, who he loves”. And I was like, “I don’t know. I got to weigh that against Pete just yelling because it’s X-Men. What do we do here?”

Pete:                Why wouldn’t you trust me to appreciate a good X-23 story?

Alex:                 Trust you? I’ve known you for 15 years, Pete.

Pete:                Oh my God. You’re the worst. You didn’t believe in it enough to put it out there for us to review. You were like [crosstalk 00:25:20] yeah, you didn’t believe in it. So it’s hard to take your recommendation after you didn’t believe in something enough to send it to me and just-

Alex:                 I’ll tell you what. I will send it to you. You could read it, and then you can tell me off-air what’s going on.

Pete:                Okay, great. That’ll be great for everybody.

Alex:                 I think so. Tell you what, check out our podcast off-air, where you visit me and Pete in person and ask us comic book recommendations. Last but not least, Batman/Catwoman number four from DC comics. Written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann. Pete, sounds like you’re loving this. You got to explain to me what’s going on. I feel like the Pete of this particular book, because I’m lost.

Pete:                Okay. First off, love the bat and cat double page, spread title page, mansion, advent calendar thing, that just sets up the mood for this creepy, fun world that we’re in. And then starting off with Batwoman beating up Penguin and wanting to know where mom and the Joker are. What an interesting start, just grabs the reader all the right ways. But bat and cat are fighting. You know, cat’s been doing some things without bat’s knowledge, she knew he was going to get mad, but she didn’t tell him until last minute. Now bat’s mad. So how are we going to move forward? I also really loved how the Penguin is drawn like Danny DeVito. That makes me very happy. What do you want to know? I think it’s great.

Alex:                 Listening to you talk about it is my experience reading it, because I just cannot keep track of the timelines.

Pete:                There’s like three different timelines happening at once.

Alex:                 No, and I know that. You’ve got the Mask of the Phantasm timeline. You’ve got the very early bad cat stuff going on.

Pete:                Right.

Alex:                 And then you’ve got the future cat stuff where she’s killed the Joker and is dealing with it, with Penguin. And there was their kid, who was the new Batman. So I get all that.

Pete:                Batwoman.

Alex:                 There’s the transitions between them that just throw me, and I’m sure there’s a point to it. Maybe they’re doing something about memory and how memories are very fluid and go from one time period to another-

Pete:                Yeah, because it’s also like cat and bat always have this thing about a disagreement about when they first met.

Alex:                 Yes. So I get all that, but you look at a book like Strange Adventures, also from Tom King, where you have-

Pete:                Also confusing.

Alex:                 But, even if it jumps between timelines of the same page, you’ve got Evan “Doc” Shaner and Mitch Gerads. So there’s a delineation between the timelines. So you’re able to follow, okay. Here’s where we are at any given point. It is disorienting for me to read this book, and I still, and I know I’m harping on this. I don’t know what the Phantasm has to do with this.

Pete:                That’s going to be the fun, but also it is going to make sense. And I think it’s going to be one of those things where it will be very interesting to get the trade, because there could be… it could make that much more sense, reading it all together.

Alex:                 Absolutely. And I’m more than willing to follow it until the end. It’s just-

Pete:                And you should follow it, because it’s amazing art and writing and like such a fun, interesting story with these two characters we know and we’ve heard stories… for all time about them.

Alex:                 I trust these creators. So I’m going to follow it until the end. I’m just having a hard time comprehending it as of now, that’s what I’m saying.

Alex:                 And that’s it for The Stack. If you’d like to support our podcast and other podcasts we do, patrion.com/comic book club. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night to Crowdcast at YouTube.

Pete:                Sure do.

Alex:                 Love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. Comic book club live.com for this podcast and more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book shop. But I’m saying that just to Pete’s forehead, not to his ears.

The post The Stack: Beta Ray Bill, Shadecraft And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.

Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub

On this week’s Stack podcast:

Alien #1

Harley Quinn #1

Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #1

Teen Titans Academy #1

Once & Future #17

Action Comics #1029

HAHA #3

Batman/Superman #16

Crimson Flower #3

Detective Comics #1034

The Scumbag #6

Barbalien: Red Planet #5

Stray Dogs #2

Post Americana #4

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Full Episode Transcript

Alex:                 What is up, y’all? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.

Justin:              I’m Justin.

Pete:                I’m Pete.

Alex:                 On The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that have come out this week, kicking it off with a very scary book called Alien #1 from Marvel, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, art by Salvador Larroca. This is a big deal because this is the first of the Fox properties that is coming to Marvel. We have Predator coming down the pike. Alien is here now, and we had Phillip Kennedy Johnson on the live show talking about this book a couple of months back now when he first got on it. So he teased that, if you want to go and listen to it, but all of the teasing aside, what’d you think of this one?

Justin:              I thought this was great. Really captures the vibe of the Alien movies while being a compelling new story where you really feel alongside the characters. Mistakes are made. Classic Alien thing where somebody really fucks up with these things. You don’t get a lot of mistakes with the alien people.

Alex:                 The thing that I thought was really fascinating about this as a fan of the Alien franchise, and to get into spoilers for the book a little bit … It’s about a military guy. He ended up getting captured by aliens, escaped. We don’t know exactly how yet, but this is years later. He’s retiring, trying to reconnect with his son. Definitely a theme Phillip Kennedy Johnson is playing with with his books right now with fathers and sons and connecting through this and through Superman.

Alex:                 So that’s interesting, I think, just from a reading perspective, but here, the son is a civilian, and for fans of the Alien movies, it’s such a big deal when they go to Earth in this book. When they go to Earth, you see very little of it, but you see people on Earth. You see what’s going on with society. You see civilians involved, and just from that fan perspective, I kind of geeked out about that beyond the fact that it seems like they’re doing really interesting, weird stuff with the mythology in this comic book. Salvador Larroca’s aliens in particular are terrifying. The pacing of it is alarming and upsetting in the right way. I really dug this book a lot as well. Pete, what did you think?

Pete:                Yeah. I agree with you. I thought the aliens looks amazing. There’s a lot of great kind of splash page shots that are really powerful. The Bishop. I’m always creeped out by Bishop, and so it was creepy to see Bishop back. Yeah, and it was a very interesting story that we got to kind of see the son’s side of why he doesn’t care about what his father’s been doing, and then we know the father’s side. So it was very interesting perspective, and I think that’s a cool way to, as Justin said, to put kind of a fresh spin on something that we’ve seen a lot of. So yeah. I thought this, as far as the first issue is concerned, does a great job of giving you something that you know and love with a little bit of newness to it. So I think well done.

Justin:              What I think they capture well here is the sins of the corporation in Alien are always what keeps making people act poorly, and that’s what gets everyone in trouble. In this, it’s all about human mistakes, and it’s just the aliens are there as the force of nature that makes them pay for their mistakes, and it’s just really great.

Alex:                 Absolutely. Really bowled over by this book. Next up, Harley Quinn #1 from DC Comics, written by Stephanie Phillips, art by Riley Rossmo. This is a great team for this book, Riley Rossmo in particular on a Harley Quinn book. So much fun. Really like the tone here. Very different from the past couple of runs of Harley Quinn. I thought this was very enjoyable. What was your guys’ take?

Pete:                Yeah. I agree. I thought the art was amazing. Really great story as far as the first issue goes. Does such a great job of grabbing the reader and getting kind of this take on Harley, and I think it’s a nice take. I’m a huge fan of the animated series, but I don’t want every comic to be like that. So this is, I feel like, a different enough take where it still feels like Harley Quinn, and I love the art and the storytelling. I think this is a fantastic first issue.

Justin:              Yeah. I think what this book … I mean, the art is so cool. It’s fun how Batman is such a presence in it, and it’s a little bit more of a Batman that is likable and sort of like just “Look. I’m just trying to keep an eye on you, Harley. So don’t screw around.”

Pete:                He’s like a dad. Batman’s like a dad of Gotham.

Justin:              Yeah. Uncle Batman, and I really like this Harley because it’s not like it’s a huge change where she’s like “I’m good now.” It’s the same character who’s just like “I’m trying this out. I don’t know. Let’s just see,” and she’s sort of having fun with it, and I feel like that preserves the original spirit of the character. We talked about this on the live show this week about how Harley Quinn spun out of Batman: The Animated Series and how wild it is that a character like that can just explode and have so many iterations in all these different mediums, and now to see her back here sort of having that spirit of the original while also being the new character is great.

Alex:                 Totally agree. Next up, Firefly Brand New Verse #1 from BOOM! Studios, written by Josh Lee Gordon, art by Fabiana Mascolo. We’ve had effusive praise for Greg Pak’s run on the main title. This is a different artist, a different team, and it’s jumping forward, I believe, 25 years in time to showing us the descendants of the original Serenity crew, what’s going on with them now. So what’d you think about this? Does this hold up to the high quality of the other Firefly books?

Justin:              Well, I think, what I like about it is that they’re taking a lot of swings. They keep moving with the Firefly story, just like “Hey. Let’s tell the most interesting story no matter what the continuity really is. Let’s just keep moving,” and for them to move from the past to the present into the future, or I guess, not in that order, but it’s great to see, like “Oh, yeah. I’m so curious about this. What’s going to happen where? What are these characters like?” They feel spiritually like the old Serenity crew, but they’re all new people.

Alex:                 Pete?

Justin:              It’s like meeting your friends’ friends, and they’re nice.

Pete:                Yeah. I thought-

Alex:                 Pete, I know you’re probably put off by the fact that Greg Pak wasn’t on this, who you love, but go ahead.

Pete:                Yeah. I was kind of like “Wait a second. What’s going on here?” The Pak was killing this, but yeah. I like the way it kind of starts. I think it’s a great kind of story, a good take, but it’s one of those things where it’s like when you have a to-do list and you just sleep instead of doing what you’re supposed to be doing, you’re putting everybody on the ship in jeopardy. That was just kind of crazy, but yeah. I enjoyed it. I thought the art was good. I thought it was fun.

Justin:              So you’re bothered by the chores, that no one’s doing their chores.

Pete:                Well, I’m just bothered by how casually they woke up, and they were like “Hey. Did you fix the engine?” and they were like “Well, I thought you were going to fix the engine.” Then it’s like … We’re on a spaceship. You can’t just be that casual.

Justin:              What’s the chore wheel like in your household?

Pete:                It’s a lot of chores, man. All right? It’s a lot.

Justin:              What happens if you don’t do it? How does it break out? Did you get your chores done today, for instance?

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. Just barely. Just barely.

Alex:                 Oh, boy.

Justin:              Stakes high.

Alex:                 Teen Titans Academy #1 from DC Comics, written by Tim Sheridan, art by Rafa Sandoval. This is exactly what it sounds like. The Titans are opening up a school in Titans Tower. Meanwhile, the Teen Titans are off doing Teen Titan stuff, and these are the Teeny Titans who are signing up. Maybe some day they’re going to be Teen Titans or Titans. I said all of those words quite a bit. What’d you think about this book?

Justin:              Great enunciation from Alex. Hit all of his consonants really well, and that was borderline tongue twister.

Pete:                Yeah. I thought this was a fun story. I ship Nightfire. So I feel I’m happy that they’re still out doing-

Alex:                 Just trying to slip that in there, Pete.

Justin:              Dropping that knowledge.

Pete:                I feel like it was a little busy, but they have so many people on Teen Titans. I kind of feel like that’s going to happen, but overall, I thought it was a really solid first issue.

Justin:              I’ll tell you what, Pete. I ship Nightfire, especially in this issue. I would normally definitely be a Batwing or Nightgirl, Nightacle. Is that the right-

Pete:                [crosstalk 00:08:57].

Alex:                 Nightacle.

Justin:              Nightgirl is not the right answer, I don’t think.

Alex:                 Nightacle?

Justin:              Oraclewing?

Alex:                 Orwing. Orwing.

Justin:              Orawing.

Alex:                 Batdick.

Justin:              Good. But I agree. I feel like there have been a lot of books like this. Marvel does this a lot where they’re like “Let’s take our magic characters and make a school about them. Let’s have all these young mutants be in this school,” and often it feels like the stories feel very next door to the main storyline, and this feels like a Titans books, and it’s just now there’s these gradations between all the different Titans. There’s the Titans, the Tiny Titans, and the Teeny Titans, and there’s the tall Titans, the tiptop Titans.

Alex:                 What did you think-

Pete:                Guys, stop.

Alex:                 What did you think about them having to be called Mr. Nightwing? That was pretty weird, right?

Justin:              What I liked about it was it felt like kids who hadn’t made a plan about “Oh, what should we call ourselves?” and then someone was like “Oh, you’re Mr. Nightwing,” and they’re like “Okay,” and then they have to go with it.

Alex:                 What’s your first name, Mr. Nightwing?

Pete:                Yeah.

Justin:              Uh, Dave?

Alex:                 Oh, god. I’m Dave Nightwing. Yeah. This is okay. I’m usually a sucker for these books. I thought this was all right. I liked Rafa Sandoval’s art, just good superhero art across the board. Always very appropriate for Titans. I don’t really know anything about the Red X, which is the big mystery here. So felt like a bit of a deep dive for anybody who is outside that continuity, but I like some of the characters. I’m definitely going to tune back for issue two and see what happens. I don’t know what I’m talking about.

Justin:              Another binge read.

Alex:                 Once & Future #17 from BOOM! Studios, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Dan Mora. Pete, I was a little worried about you this issue, because not as much grandma as there usually is-

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 … but still-

Pete:                Yeah, but you still-

Alex:                 … there’s a dragon. There’s a lot of action.

Pete:                But you also got smoking grandma. Grandma’s smoking in this. So that’s-

Alex:                 Smoking hot is what you’re saying, right?

Pete:                No. That’s not what I’m saying.

Alex:                 Okay.

Pete:                But yeah. I like this-

Alex:                 I ship Petema.

Justin:              Petema. Pete Smokingma. Smoking Petema.

Pete:                A lot happens in this issue. We kind of get all the pieces on the board. It was great to kind of finally see plans collides and everybody else kind of come together, kind of revealing what’s going to happen moving forward. This is just non-stop glorious. Every issue is unbelievably drawn. The stories are fun. The characters are great. The art’s unbelievable. I don’t know why you aren’t reading this book.

Justin:              I am, because we all read. We read a lot of comics, and I like this book, but I will say I think I need a little gear shift. I feel like we’ve been in this-

Pete:                What?

Justin:              I feel like we’ve been in-

Pete:                I’m not going to stand here and let you … This is an unbelievable comic. Okay? End of story. You can’t put in your bullshit. This comic is fantastic.

Justin:              I-

Alex:                 Well, hold on, Pete. Just to jump in, Justin, I hear what you’re saying. I actually think they got there with this issue, because I’ve been feeling that as well. It’s a lot of the grandma wandering around and being like “You don’t know what’s going on with these stories. There’s a lot of stories,” and the son being like “Stories? Come on,” and then everybody’s kind of wandering around and yelling at each other about magic stuff and stories, but this issue, what we got … It really feels like it’s heading towards the endgame here. We finally know they’re looking for the Holy Grail. The bad guys wanted to essentially wipe everything clean and destroy the world. The good guys, of course, want to stop them. They get a dragon, and we get this very propulsive ending of them on a dragon chasing after … I’m honestly forgetting whether it’s Gawaine or Galahad who has been turned into a centaur, and I think that’s part of the issue you’re getting at, where it’s a lot of these names being thrown out there, but I like this ending, and I’m very excited for the next issue off of this.

Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I like where it’s going, and honestly, the stuff with Rose felt like the most interesting. She feels like she’s operating sort of on her own, but it’s just like you’re saying. It feels like grandma and her son, #PeteMissesGrandma, #SmokingHotGrandma … It feels like they really are just like “Oh, here we go again. This story’s crazy, but we have to keep doing it,” and so I’m just ready, and the Merlin stuff was interesting. I liked that, but even he’s a little like “I’ve already got this all figured out.” So I think I just need a little refreshment with that.

Pete:                Unbelievable. You’re unbelievable.

Alex:                 Well, let’s move on then and talk about Action Comics #1,029 from DC Comics, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan, and Michael W. Conrad, art by Phil Hester and Michael Avon Oeming. In the front story, we’re getting a tale of Superman and his son, as we talked about a little bit earlier. In the back story, we’re finding out what’s going on with Midnighter after Future State. This directly picks up on that in a very surprising way. What’d you think about this one?

Pete:                I thought this was a very touching story. Love the kind of like Superman taking about being a human and this whole father-son back and forth stuff. It’s really speaking to me. I very much enjoyed this. The Midnighter story is freaking me out.

Justin:              It’s different Midnighter.

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. I love how stylized the art is. I think it’s a cool take on Midnighter, but I’m nervous to see how this is all going to unfold, and I don’t like the fact that they’re not talking to each other. You know what I mean? You’re supposed to be able to talk to your partner.

Justin:              Are you talking about him and the computer in his brain?

Pete:                No. Him and Apollo.

Justin:              Yeah. What I will say is it is a very different take on Midnighter, but it feels like Apollo is still the one who’s knocking on the door at the end.

Pete:                Still the one.

Justin:              That’s what I’m saying. So that must give you some reassurance, and the front story, I thought, was great, really keying in on this idea of fathers and sons, and sons losing fathers, and fathers realizing that the sons are realizing that they’re eventually going to lose their father. It’s just great idea and echo storytelling, and then the last couple pages, setting up the sort of creepy Warworld Rising stuff, I’m into.

Alex:                 I’m into it too, and I like how they are tying in the DC Future State stuff. Now, the other thing … This is news that I believe leaked early this week before they were going to let it out, but it seems clear now in retrospect how they’re setting this up with Superman potentially being taken off the board so that John Kent is going to move into the Superman role. We got this Midnighter backup which seems like it should be unrelated to a Superman thing, but it turns out that DC is going to be launching some sort of a Superman and The Authority series by Grant Morrison with art by Mikel Janin-

Pete:                What?

Alex:                 … which this seems to be setting up directly, in my mind. We don’t know much more about it other than that, but that certainly seems to be where they’re going, and that is very cool.

Justin:              Yeah. I mean, Grant Morrison back in the game? Not sort of existing on the periphery being like “Hey. Did you think I could make this Green Lantern book weirder?” and then he does. That’ll be interesting.

Alex:                 Yeah. That’s great. It’s also great to see Michael Avon Oeming on a regular book as well. I really like his stuff on Midnighter, and that’s a lot of fun. Let’s move on, talk about Haha #3 from Image Comics.

Justin:              Haha.

Pete:                Oh, here we go.

Justin:              Hoo-ah.

Alex:                 Hoo-ah #3, following the adventures of Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman land. It’s been a great ride. I can’t believe we’ve gotten here. The continuity has been very dense, but really getting that back story of how did he find the scent of a woman? How did he come up with hoo-ah? It’s been a wonderful ride, and [crosstalk 00:17:04].

Justin:              How did he come up with hoo-ah?

Alex:                 It is written by W. Maxwell Prince, art and cover by Roger Langridge. I love this team. I was so excited about this. This is a anthology book where W. Maxwell Prince is taking his regular creepiness from Ice Cream Man and applying it specifically to different types of clowns. This issue, we get a mime issue, a mime who is friends with a robot.

Justin:              Love a mime.

Pete:                The worst.

Alex:                 Roger Langridge, one of my absolute favorite creators. He did Thor: The Mighty Avenger. He did Snarked is the book that he did that was all a riff on Lewis Carroll stuff. That is awesome. He did an amazing Muppets book, if you never checked it out. It’s definitely much more surreal and fantasy based than the previous two issues that were very realistic and dark takes, but man, I love this book. It was so good. Maybe my favorite of the week. What did you guys think?

Justin:              Favorite of the week?

Pete:                I hated it.

Justin:              You hated it?

Pete:                Yeah. I don’t like mimes. I think they’re creepy, and this proves my point.

Justin:              Wait. Rank sort of the clowns, the different genres of clown, in sort of least scary to scariest.

Pete:                Well, first off, I think … No offense to Alex’s wife, but I think that [crosstalk 00:18:21]-

Alex:                 But I hate your wife.

Pete:                Yeah. I think-

Alex:                 No offense to your wife. I hate your wife.

Pete:                No. Your wife is an unbelievable person. I don’t know how she puts up with you.

Justin:              Wait. You’re considering wife a different genre of clown?

Pete:                No. I just don’t want to speak poorly of clowns, and Alex’s wife was an amazing clown. That’s a separate category. I want to try and make that clear.

Alex:                 Just to be clear before you get to into it, Pete, of course we’re going to break this into the four types of the clown, the Whiteface, the Tramp, the Auguste, and the character. So go ahead.

Pete:                I don’t know what-

Justin:              Dropping clown husband knowledge.

Pete:                I don’t know what was just said-

Justin:              Auguste.

Pete:                … but-

Alex:                 The Auguste.

Pete:                … to answer your question, Justin, clowns do freak me out. I think, sometimes you can see the sadness in their eyes, and that can be very painful, and then mimes-

Justin:              So give me the power rankings. So you got your mimes. You got your-

Pete:                Yeah. The mimes are the creepiest of them all.

Justin:              Really?

Pete:                Yeah.

Justin:              Why is that? Because they’re not talking?

Pete:                Yes. I don’t trust people who don’t talk, and I also … Well, and you have some-

Justin:              Too skinny.

Pete:                But also, they’re-

Alex:                 Wait. Sorry. Is it that they wear stripes so they look like they just got out of prison?

Pete:                No. No. That makes them look French, but I think that-

Alex:                 All French people just got out of prison. Go ahead.

Justin:              Yeah.

Pete:                Oh, that’s an awful thing to say. Yeah. I don’t trust mimes, and clowns can be scary is my long-winded point that you kind of dragged out.

Alex:                 Justin, what about you? What did you think about this issue?

Justin:              It was great. It’s very fun. it’s like-

Pete:                Wait. It’s fun? That was fun?

Justin:              This whole issue is very fun. I would love to see this-

Pete:                People died. I don’t know what … What do you mean? What’s fun?

Justin:              Hey. I got news for you. People die all the time.

Pete:                Oh, don’t be that guy.

Justin:              But not robots. Think about that. I’d like to see the script of this comic to see the process, really, how they put this together, because the visuals are so good. They do so much of the storytelling, and it’s just a fun, nearly silent issue where we touch on, I don’t even know, just how the world sucks, finding moments whenever you can despite the weird circumstances of developing an act and becoming friends with a robot, how the dancing frog can live, can truly live if you do it right, and it’s-

Pete:                The poor WB frog.

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 Great book. Definitely pick that up. Next up, another one of my favorites of the week, Batman/Superman #16 from DC Comics, written by Gene Luen Yang, art by Ivan Reis. In this book, we’re getting two tales told simultaneously of Golden Age, I think, I would say, Superman and Batman through film … not strips, but old-timey film reels. On the top, you got Superman. On the bottom, you got Batman. Like they say at the beginning, you can read them separately. I kind of recommend reading them together, because, spoiler, they actually start to tie together at the end there. This is a very cool, really fun issue that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Justin:              Yeah. This issue, I feel like, really just stands alone. I mean, I know it is tying into a larger story, but it really is just a super innovative way of telling these two stories, and you sort of think one thing, and then there are some reveals later on that you’re like “Oh, huh. Okay,” and like Alex said, things sort of come together in the end. Just a really innovative issue, I thought.

Pete:                I’m glad you guys liked it.

Alex:                 Pete, you’re so negative this week.

Pete:                Not really.

Alex:                 Okay. Well, let’s move on then to Crimson Flower #3 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Matt Kindt, art by Matt Lesniewski. Pete, lots of people die. There’s a lot of blood in this one as our main character hones in on her target. What’d you think about this?

Pete:                I very much enjoyed this. I thought this was a really great villain reveal. We thought it was kind of like one villain, and then kind of through the villain monologue, you got to see kind of how dark and twisted this villain actually was. So yeah. I really liked it. I like these scarf powers, and I think the art’s creepy and twisted in all the right ways. It’s a very interesting, cool book, and again, it’s like there’s not a lot of … There isn’t too much dialogue. So it’s not a heavy read. I very much enjoyed this.

Justin:              Yeah. I like this a lot. The art is really cool. I wish we had talked to Matt Kindt about this book.

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 We messed up.

Justin:              Yeah. We messed up, because we had him on the live show recently, and this would have been a good one, because I think maybe we had just read the previous issue, which I think we all enjoyed. Yeah. It’s hard to pin this story down. It’s a really unique story. it’s a revenge tale, and the art really just really showcases the storytelling that’s happening here in a way that is really surprising.

Alex:                 This is probably the wrong thing, but the art almost feels like a medieval tapestry come to life in a certain way in terms of how-

Pete:                Oh, interesting.

Alex:                 … it’s laid out and the way that they have these stories inside of stories inside of stories. Very fascinating book. I highly recommend picking it up.

Justin:              Yeah.

Alex:                 Next up, Detective Comics #1,034 from DC Comics, written by Mariko Tamaki and Joshua Williamson, art by Dan Mora and Gleb Melnikov. This is telling a story of a kind of poor but still doing okay for himself Bruce Wayne. What’d you think about this one?

Pete:                I-

Alex:                 I mean, he’s doing fine. They’re making a big deal about “I don’t have my money. I only have 18 Batcaves and this really nice apartment in a good part of Gotham. That’s it.

Pete:                Yeah.

Justin:              Yeah, and he’s like “It’s crazy. I have neighbors now,”-

Pete:                Yeah. It’s-

Justin:              … and it’s like “Yeah. I know. We all have neighbors, asshole.”

Pete:                Yeah. It’s weird to see Batman kind of dealing with people, but I do really love the art. I really loved the moment where the bad guy sees Batman and is like “Crap.” That was just fun. Yeah. I think it’s an interesting story. I really like the backup as well. I feel like it’s a great package.

Justin:              It’s a great package.

Pete:                You love a good package.

Justin:              Yeah. I like this a lot too, and oddly we’ve talked a lot about Batman: The Animated Series, but this feels like Batman is warming up a little bit and becoming more like that Bruce Wayne from Batman: The Animated Series, where he has to talk to people and he has to be like a normal person sometimes, and maybe that’s what it’s like when you lose money and come back down to Earth and get with the people. Bruce Wayne, get with the people. Meet your neighbors.

Alex:                 Oh, I thought you were going to say something else after that. You said “Meet your neighbors.” You went up, and then-

Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. I thought-

Justin:              Meet your neighbors.

Pete:                [crosstalk 00:25:49].

Justin:              That’s what I’m saying. Do it. Go do it.

Pete:                [crosstalk 00:25:50].

Alex:                 Oh, that was it. Okay. It was a punctuation point.

Justin:              Meet your neighbors.

Alex:                 Yeah. Good story. Let’s move on, talk about The-

Justin:              Alex, go meet your neighbors.

Alex:                 I would love to, but coronavirus. The Scumbag #6 from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender, art by Bengal, dealing with the last arc. Here, we got our main Scumbag is now a super celebrity. He has blown the lid on all the things he’s done to save the Earth while having a big party in his new mansion, and then new threats come his way. What’d you think, Pete?

Pete:                Yeah. I feel like this is Remender having a lot of fun, a lot of cool metal references going on here, which was fun. Yeah. I mean, talking crack pipe. I mean, who doesn’t love that? But yeah. It was just tough because I felt like we had gotten somewhere with Scumbag as a character. It seems he regressed a little bit. I felt like he kind of did some things where he was doing things for the better of him, himself, and the team and moving towards being a hero, but now with this, it’s kind of like he went backwards a little bit. So that part’s a little frustrating, but a lot of really fun art, crazy, over the top, just stupid stuff.

Justin:              But what I like about this is Remender knows to bring this character back to sort of what he is, and yes, there’s a hero in him, but we don’t want him to be the hero yet. He has to continue to be the hard partying Scumbag, and that’s what he is as he’s thrown into a different superhero situation, which I’m excited to see how that plays out.

Alex:                 Next up, I know this is one of Pete’s favorite Barbalien, Red Planet #5 from Dark Horse comics, script by Tate Brombal, story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal. I cannot say that last name. I’m so sorry. Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta. This is about the Martian Manhunter-esque part of the Black Hammer universe. He is gay. He is dealing with that. He is also dealing with being trapped on his own planet at some point. Pete, talk about this book. Why did this one strike you in particular?

Pete:                Well, it’s a very powerful book. I mean, you got people fighting for their rights, what they believe in. There’s a lot of great protest moments. There’s very powerful page with blood spilled on it. They’re saying a lot of great stuff in this book. They’re talking about the collective. They’re talking about us as humans trying to grow and fight for things. It’s very, very powerful, very cool. Love the imagery and the art, and it’s just really well done.

Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I agree. I feel like we’ve been talking up the Black Hammer sort of side universe so much lately, and it really is just like this great, creative explosion that’s happening over in the Dark Horse universe, and this story … We’ve been talking a lot about the sort of episodic series, and this is just a great standalone story that has blown out that really takes you along for a great ride.

Alex:                 Really good book. Definitely agree. Next up, one of the darkest books of the week, Stray Dogs #2 from Image Comics, written by Tony Fleecs, art by Trish Forstner. So we reviewed, really liked, I think, the first issue of this book, which took a bunch of dogs, brought them together, and it turns out that maybe their owner is murdering women and stealing the dogs. We get deeper into that mystery this issue. I think you kind of called this out last issue, Justin, but it very much feels like Law & Order Don Bluth or something like that, and it’s kind of upsetting to read, in a certain way.

Justin:              It is upsetting, because these dogs are witness to this killer who is continuing to kill. I mean, we don’t know that for sure yet, I guess, but the way it’s like all these dogs, definitely drawn in the style of the Don Bluth Disney, very cute, lovable dogs that are just like “We’re in a dog story about dogs just trying to get by and then fall in love and then eventually go home and have Lady and Tramp children,” but instead it’s like this super dark … The dogs are witnessing and realizing that their current owner is a killer. It’s so dark, and I was so surprised by this, and it’s great.

Pete:                Yeah. It’s very interesting, kind of this thing of what if the person who is raising you, taking care of you, feeding you, all these things, is a horrible, horrible person? It’s like, what do you go on? Do you go on the fact that “Oh, but they provide for me, and they’re nice, and they take me out,” and all these things, and then “Oh, but I don’t see the murders”? It’s very interesting perspective. It’s very messed up and done in this adorable art that makes it even darker, but it’s this tale that hopefully these dogs can hopefully get to the bottom of and make a difference, but man, it’s a crazy start, for sure.

Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I say this a lot. I hope these dogs can solve that human murder.

Pete:                Yeah.

Alex:                 Last but not least, Post Americano #4 from Image Comics, story and art by Steve Skroce. In this issue, our heroes, I guess, have been captured. One of them has reconnected with their mom, and entering the fray is what looks like a superhero and a werewolf. I love this book so much more than I think I would every single time out of the gate, because it’s just so weird and funny and violent in exactly the right way, and I keep going into it thinking “This will be the issue. This will be the one that turns me. This is when they’ll go too far,” and they never do. It just skirts that line perfectly.

Justin:              Well, and I think this issue does a great job of having this heartfelt reunion between our mother and daughter characters here, and it’s really sweet and taken very seriously, and then the back half of the issue or back third of the issue is this wild nonsense superhero showcase.

Pete:                Yeah. It’s completely over the top, tons of violence. Each issue is crazier than the last, and you’re like “Oh, they can’t top that,” but then this issue does, and it kind of makes fun of itself in the process, but man, really fun. Great read. The art’s fantastic. A lot of cool characters. I mean, I love the car. I thought the car was so great. Such an awesome entrance, but it did hurt when that mint issue #1 got trashed by the guy in the tie. That hurt.

Alex:                 Good stuff. If you’d like to support our podcast-

Justin:              Heartbreaking.

Alex:                 … patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. On iTunes, leave us a comment and rate us. We would appreciate that quite a bit. @ComicBookLive on Twitter. Comicbooklive.com for this podcast and more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book shop.

Justin:              Send in the mimes, those cooky, spooky mimes.

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