Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Stack
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Stack
The Stack episodes
- The Stack: Star Wars The High Republic, Future State And More
It’s a big review Stack podcast this week as we discuss:
Star Wars: The High Republic #1
Marvel
Written by Cavan Scott
Art by Ario AninditoDark Nights Death Metal #7
DC Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Greg Capullo
With Yanick Paquette and Bryan HitchCrossover #3
Image Comics
Written by Donny Cates
Art by Geoff ShawEternals #1
Marvel
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Esad RibićFuture State: The Next Batman #1
DC Comics
Written by John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins
Art by Nick Derington, Sumit Kumar, Jack HerbertFuture State: Superman of Metropolis #1
DC Comics
Written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton
Art by John Timms, Valentine de Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon OemingFuture State: Swamp Thing #1
DC Comics
Written by Ram V
Art by Mike PerkinsFuture State: The Flash #1
DC Comics
Written by Brandon Vietti
Art by Dale EagleshamFuture State: Wonder Woman #1
DC Comics
Written and art by Jöelle Jones
Colors by Jordie BellaireFuture State: Harley Quinn #1
DC Comics
Written by Stephanie Phillips
Art by Simone DimeoThe Amazing Spider-Man #56
Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Mark BagleyThe Last Witch #1
BOOM! Box
Written by Conor McCreery
Illustrated by V.V. GlassGenerations Shattered #1
DC Comics
Written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt and Robert Venditti
Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna, Ferbabdo Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Aaron Lopestri, Matt Ryan, Emanuela Luppacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, Bernard Chang, Yanick Paquette, Kevin Nowlan, Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Doug Braithwaite, Rags Morales and Mike PerkinsBacktrack #10
Oni Press
Written by Brian Joines
Illustrated by Jack ElphickReturn of the Valkyries #1
Marvel
Written by Jason Aaron & Torunn Grønbekk
Art by Nina VakuevaGetting It Together #4
Image Comics
Co-written by Sina Grace & Omar Spahi
Art by Jenny D. Fine & Sina GraceThe Vain #4
Oni Press
Written by Eliot Rahal
Illustrated by Emily PearsonVenom #32
Marvel
Written by Donny Cates
Art by Ivan CoelloInkblot #5
Image Comics
Created by Emma Kubert & Rusty GladdSUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
This week’s episode is sponsored by Shape & Foster. Visit www.shapeandfoster.com for your free 14-day trial.
Full Episode Transcript:
Alex: What is up everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete. What it is.
Justin: What it is, he says.
Alex: What it is.
Justin: T I Z.
Alex: On The Stack, we talk about a bunch of comics that have come out this week. Lots of big stuff here. We’re going to have a big chunk in the middle to hold that all we’ll get to in a moment, but first, let’s talk a bit… A big kickoff that happened this week. Star Wars: The High Republic #1 from Marvel, written by Cavan Scott, art by Ariel Anandito. This is a comic, but this is also a megastory that is going to be told over comics, books, games, probably TV shows. I don’t know what else, but it’s all set at the height of the Jedi. They’re facing down a new threat. This is the first salvo hero. I believe the first two things that were released were this comic book today and, yesterday, Charles Sol, comic book writer, wrote a book called Star Wars: Light of the Jedi that touches on a lot of the same plot lines.
Alex: This is a big deal. This is [crosstalk 00:02:08] part of it again.
Pete: He also writes really good novels, okay? He’s not just a comic book writer, okay?
Alex: No, this is a novel that he wrote, that I was mentioning, Pete.
Pete: Yeah. Oh. I thought you tried to just pigeon-hole him as only a comic book writer.
Alex: No, I’m just trying to pigeon-hole him as a lawyer.
Justin: Pete hates pigeons, and he hates the holes that they live in.
Pete: You’re god damned right, I do.
Justin: He’s coming for you.
Alex: The thing that I’m curious about with this book is, does it work, first of all, as its own comic book, as its own thing? What do you think about it as part of this Star Wars: The High Republic megastory?
Pete: I just have a question real quick. The lizard guy with one arm, that’s not the guy from the bar who loses an arm?
Justin: No.
Pete: Okay. Just making sure.
Justin: That would be a crazy coincidence.
Pete: Well, that’s the thing. It’s a lizard guy with one arm. I mean, I don’t know.
Justin: This takes place before that.
Alex: No, this takes place, yeah, hundreds of years before, I believe.
Pete: Oh, okay. All right. Just checking. Just making sure.
Justin: Let me throw out, I love just seeing the timeline infographic they did for the cover.
Alex: Oh, yeah.
Justin: That’s just fun. It’s just fun to see all those things and be like, “Oh, look at all the good stuff, and then look at all the bad stuff,” all on one page.
Alex: I stopped reading there, so I think we can move on to the next title. No, I actually like this. I was a little trepidatious, frankly, going into here. I think, sometimes, it’s a mixed bag with Star Wars books, particularly when you’re not focusing on the main characters that have an established voice, but I think this new character that we’re following, this young Jedi, this Padawan, who goes on a mission, gets elevated, spoiler, to the level of Jedi knight, gives you a really good setup for the stakes and everything that’s going on. There’s clearly some danger coming her way, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was a fun Star Wars book, independently of anything else that’s going on.
Pete: Plus the double-sided sabers. That’s always badass.
Justin: Yes, always badass. Never not successful.
Justin: I like this, too. My favorite parts were where I felt like there was some new ground broken. I feel like these new characters, it feels a little [Star Treky 00:04:20], a bit.
Alex: Yes.
Pete: Whoa!
Alex: I think very much so
Justin: Which I think makes a lot of sense in that the height of the Jedi would be a much more organized society, like Star Trek is. I thought that was cool.
Justin: The parts that I don’t like are when they’re just referencing shit that we’ve already seen, like, there’s a lot of splash pages later on where the only species we see are species we’ve seen in Star Wars. I’m like, “I see why you did that, but throw some other people in there. I want to see some new stuff. I’d like to see the Force used in a different way,” was my takeaway here.
Alex: What’d you think about hot Yoda? Because we kind of get a hot, younger Yoda here, like a little more ripped.
Justin: He’s sort of a teen, like an angsty teen. This Yoda fucks, and I love that.
Pete: Yeah, but he’s still-
Alex: Yoda’s the kind of guy, Yoda, you’d want to grab an IPA with, like plug his mind, find out what’s going on there. What are his ideas?
Pete: Well, first off, he’s still got-
Justin: Yoda, put away that joint! We can’t get high now. We have a big council meeting.
Pete: Yoda’s got a walking stick, so he’s not that young.
Alex: Smoke, you will.
Justin: Relax, we must.
Alex: Meeting dot 420 minutes, it is.
Pete: Oh my god. Nice. Nice. I mean, I can’t believe I’m not in on these bits, but really impressive, Alv. That’s the smartest 420 bit I’ve ever heard.
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Yoda’s still got a walking stick, guys, all right? He’s not that-
Justin: But he’s not using it. He’s not leaning on it. It’s sort of more of a fun stick.
Pete: No, he’s not. Yeah.
Justin: That’s [crosstalk 00:05:53] a bowl.
Alex: It’s a pimp stick.
Justin: It’s a bowl.
Alex: That’s a pimp stick.
Justin: It’s a very long bowl that he smokes out of.
Pete: It’s a bowl. Yeah.
Pete: Yeah, it’s cool. It’s nice to see him. I also am more interested in the horned Chewbacca character next to him, like Justin said, that it’s like, “Oh, this is interesting. This is new.” Yeah, I think, with all the Star Wars, I agree. It would be nice to be like, “Let’s just go away from what we know for a little bit and really just kind of get lost in some new shit,” but I enjoyed this. I very much enjoyed this. The fun timeline with all the symbols in the beginning was great. Love the action. This is just some good stuff. I feel like it’s a great setup for this world to get into.
Alex: I’m not laughing at you. I’m actually laughing at us, the fact that we were like, “Love that timeline.”
Justin: We do.
Alex: First few pages. You open it up. Timeline. Close it back up.
Justin: Yeah. All I want, just the context. I love context.
Pete: Exactly. Just give me… Where are we?
Alex: Yeah, I also did love the timeline, though.
Pete: What are we doing?
Justin: Yeah, exactly. As I say, everybody loves a timeline.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:06:59] disagree with you. Wording wasn’t like-
Justin: I think what Pete’s saying is, he wants more of his comics, like the X-Men specifically, with pages in the middle, where they just have information.
Pete: Fuck you.
Justin: Especially symbols.
Pete: Fuck you.
Alex: Don’t worry. We’ll get there. We’ll talk about another Marvel book that has that, but first, from the beginning to an ending, let’s talk about Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo with Yonic Bucat and Brian Hitch. This is wrapping up this mega, wild saga of the DC Universe versus the Being, the Batman, I don’t know what you call him, who laughs. Here, as has been not wildly rumored but put out there, the entire DC Universe, the cosmology of it, gets completely redefined at the end, really characterizing this, in case you weren’t clear, as the level of a crisis in terms of redefining the universe, which is, I think, a big deal.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: What’d you think about how this book wrapped up as a whole but also where it leaves the DC universe? Nobody say anything, please.
Justin: No, Pete, I thought that was yours. There was a perfect lane for you.
Alex: Yeah, you sort of bent back as if you were winding up for like, “Here it comes.”
Justin: A real haul-off. I thought a haul-off was coming.
Pete: It got kind of crazy in a way that I was like, “What is happening?” but I’m the first guy to get lost in stuff. The Wonder Woman mirror thing was a little weird. It got kind of meta. It was cool, the way it kind of started with Skeleton Head Rock, and then we got to see kind of like a young Sergeant Rock that was cool.
Pete: I think this event overall was a lot of fun. I wasn’t like, “Oh, shit! DC Universe is completely changed!” You did a thing about a hand that kind of shows up. It got weird in spots, but I thought this was fun. I like the Batman talking shit, calling somebody a punk. Yeah, this was a fun event.
Justin: What I love about this, and I thought this ended really strongly here. There were a lot of titles throughout Death Metal that felt like, if you were reading everything, it was like, “Wait. Where are we? We were off the main plot here.” This book really landed all of the planes together in a great way. It was funny, while at the same… Every character was really playing their character game, the thing that make their essence at a high potential the entire time. I love that the focus never shifted from Wonder Woman. I thought for sure it was going to shift back to Batman at some point in this, because it’s such a Batman-focused event, and I love that they didn’t. Batman and Superman had their fights, and they were sort of off, but it was all about Wonder Woman. I appreciated that so hard, because the themes of this crossover are her themes. It’s like truth, ultimate justice, be direct and simple to your truth. That’s where we end up. Wonder Woman wins by not knowing the consequences but still just doing what she thinks is the right thing. The fact that that paid off, I thought was great.
Justin: The philosophy at the end of this, where the DC Universe is landing, where it’s like, “Let’s bring these characters back to their cores but, at the same time, let everything go wild. Let’s push this universe into any direction we want.” I just love that creative potential. The event, from the premise to the endpoint, that was the idea. I love that it’s taking over the whole line now.
Alex: Yeah. I completely agree with you. My only two tiny, little quibbles that I don’t even completely agree with but I’ll say out loud anyway, one of them is that it felt like this was leading up to a point where Wonder Woman was going to die, right?
Justin: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Alex: I appreciate the fact that they didn’t kill her off, which is why this is a dumb thing to bring up, because that would have been very frustrating, but it felt like they did the thing that they did with Tony Stark over in Civil War 2, where it was like, “Well, story-wise, we have to kill off Iron Man. That is the only option here. Instead, let’s come up with this weird middle point where he doesn’t die so we can keep him around, so we don’t just rely on, ‘Oh, and then we’re going to bring him back anyway.'” They do the same thing with Wonder Woman here, where it’s like, she should have died. That was the natural ending point of this thing. It would have been a huge bummer and frustrating, so instead, they did this weird middle point that’s going to lead to something else. A lot of that depends on whatever story they’re about to tell with Wonder Woman going forward, I guess.
Alex: The other part is just the idea that everything matters, which is the same as, I think, the Hyper Time idea that they tried a little while ago, that is confusing to think about. I think the way to approach it and the way that I’m approaching is, don’t worry about it too much. We’ve been reading comics for years. None of it makes any sense when you lay it out linearly, so just allow yourself to remember the stories you like and ignore the things that don’t necessarily make it cohesive. That’s fine. That’s how I’m getting past it, but there’s certainly times when I’m reading this book where I felt like, I don’t know how everything can matter. That just doesn’t jive up in any sort of way. What does Superman remember that happened right now? What was his life like in a linear fashion? You know?
Justin: I think that what I like about this is, that’s the problem anyway. Continuity is a fluid thing. You believe enough parts of it so you’re like, “This is the story,” but every specific detail isn’t important, because they start to conflict. Then you’re left with mush, so I like the idea that they were able to play a little bit faster and looser with it, where it’s like, “Yes, he was married. He has this kid. The kid was aged up in the future. All those things are true. Then, now, we’re shifting into Future State, where we’re really exploring extrapolations on those themes. Then we’ll see where the main stories land,” but the fact that there are lanes where new stories can be told are great.
Justin: I just want to say to your point, Pete, how did you feel…? I thought Alfred looked great in this comic.
Pete: Fuck you, you fucking fuck, bud.
Justin: I think he looks better.
Pete: This comic brings up an interesting point. I’m wondering if you guys have thought about this at all. If you see a different version of yourself, the mirror version of yourself, do you just assume that it’s you, because it looks similar? Do you kind of quiz yourself to make sure it’s you? How do you react to seeing kind of like a different version of you in the mirror there?
Justin: You can always tell with a kiss.
Pete: You’re going to kiss yourself?
Alex: I agree. I agree.
Pete: You’re going to kiss yourself?
Alex: Exactly what I was going to say.
Pete: Why would it…? How would…? Kissing yourself, you would know it’s you? How would that…? That’s…
Justin: It is intimacy. You just know.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Sometimes, you just know with a kiss.
Pete: What? Oh my god.
Alex: You can just feel what’s in the other’s heart.
Pete: Oh my god. All right.
Alex: Let’s move on to another crossover, [inaudible 00:14:11] Crossover #3 from Image Comics. [crosstalk 00:14:12] Shaw.
Pete: Oh, I see what you did there. I see what you did.
Alex: In this issue, a lot of the story threads are starting to come together as our main characters are trying to bring a comic book character back to the dome that is over Denver. They run into some trouble along the way. We get a reveal at the end of a character they’ve been teasing that is a big deal at the end of this issue. I thought the reveal was great. I cackled out loud when I got to it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don’t know if we want to spoil it necessarily, but what did you think about this issue and the story as a whole?
Pete: We shouldn’t. I thought this was great. I really love the reveal. I thought it made a lot of sense. You kind of get a hint of stuff along the way, which is cool. Yeah, I’m really impressed with the writing and the creativity on this book. It’s very interesting. It’s really cool to see how things are going to unfold. I love the kind of action stuff that happens here. I think I’m completely on board. This has been a lot of fun.
Justin: Yeah, I like it, too. It’s amazing how meta and comic book [insidery 00:15:27] this book is, but it doesn’t bother me. It’s just a book for a very specific audience, and that’s because-
Pete: Your review is, this book doesn’t bother you. That’s what you’re saying?
Justin: I guess what I’m saying is, my expectation was that, if someone was like, “Hey, we’re going to do this book where we reference all this very insidery things and sort of call a character Dr. Strange in a very winky way and then back off of that idea, I would be like, “I don’t know if I would like that,” but I thought it’s really handled in a very smart way. The reveal on the last page, I thought, was very fun. A couple characters, the guy’s dad is the male love interest, is drawn like John Goodman from The Righteous Gemstones, like so hard.
Alex: Yes, 100%.
Justin: Which I thought was fun.
Alex: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Justin: It’s good. It’s really striding a line that I think is difficult to stride.
Pete: I just don’t understand, if you have a comic book, why you wouldn’t put John Goodman in it. You know what I mean?
Alex: Exactly. I completely agree. I think he was in Dark Nights: Death Metal somewhere.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: I also like the fact that Donny works in, I think it’s The Paybacks, which is a book that he wrote back in the day, that he very cheekily is like, “Well, nobody read it, but it was very good,” which I thought was a fun, little detail. Again, you get that character at the end that I think is definitely a swerve but is perfectly-
Pete: Did it bother you, though?
Alex: Should we just talk about it?
Pete: No, no. I just want to know if it bothered you at all.
Alex: What bothered me?
Pete: Some things didn’t bother Justin. I just want to know if you wanted to say, anything didn’t bother you.
Alex: What? No, nothing bothered me.
Justin: Yeah, do you want to talk about the reveal at this point?
Alex: Yeah, sure. Let’s talk about the reveal. Spoiler if you haven’t read it already, but Mad Man shows up at the end. We got this tease in the first issue. The character drew somebody who has been taking people, helping get in and out of the dome. It looks like it’s a picture of Superman, so the implication is, “Holy shit, did they somehow get Superman?” No, they did not get Superman as of yet, but it turns out, it’s actually Mad Man, Mike Allred’s creation.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: That is just a perfect character for this sort of dimension-hopping weirdness sort of thing. That’s the thing that I really liked about the reveal, is it’s not the biggest swerve you can think of from Superman, but it’s certainly something you’re like, “I never would have predicted that character would be coming here, but it makes perfect sense for the story they’re telling.” It definitely doubles down on, “Okay, we’re going for this. Here’s the crossover. This is not just original characters that we’re doing here.”
Justin: That’s what I think. It really served the crossover premise so strong.
Pete: Yeah. I think my big takeaway is, this comic doesn’t bother me.
Justin: Good. Go ahead and throw that on the cover.
Alex: Let’s move on-
Justin: One quick thing in the credits.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Mark Wade worked on this book, as a… It says, “Story edits.”
Alex: Ooh.
Justin: Yeah, interesting that he’s there, helping craft the final book here.
Alex: That is very interesting.
Alex: Let’s move on to one that may or may not have bothered Pete. Eternals #1 from Marvel, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Esad Ribic. As Justin mentioned on the live show, we talked to Kieron about this on our podcast a couple of months back. He teased this. I still think, even based on his teases, I didn’t know what we were getting into here. This is a wild ride. This seems very clearly influenced or perhaps just parallel to what Jonathan Hickman has been doing over on X-Men in this book. There’s a lot of back matter and integrated matter. We’ve certainly talked about how that works sometimes with the X-Men books, sometimes does not. Here, in my mind, it definitely does. I thought this book was great. Again, great last page reveal. I loved it.
Justin: Yeah. Great. I mean, the art by Esad Ribic is just stunning. It really… I think it serves sort of the tone of this book, which feels very postmodern superhero book that’s owning, like a lot of books we’ve talked about, about continuity. This owns all this continuity. It feels like these characters, these Eternals, have been alive forever. They have done everything. They’re a little bit cold about everything. It’s still the world. Iron Man shows up here. It feels like a comic book reader. I’ve seen hundreds and hundreds of stories. Where’s the new ground? It feels like we’re going to get there. It’s sort of like the, “God is dead at the end of the world. Who did it?” I love that.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, I’ve never really been a big Eternals fan, and I’m wondering if this movie’s going to be any good or not, but-
Alex: Did you say, “Eternals,” or, “A-turtles?” Never been a big a-turtles fan, huh?
Pete: No, Eternals.
Alex: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They love the pizza.
Pete: I don’t know what’s going on, but you know I’m a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, so I wouldn’t say that.
Alex: Oh, okay.
Pete: Yeah, I have a hard time where the characters are eternal. They live forever. They’re these all-impotent beings that have lived life forever, whatever whatever. Nothing’s new for them. They get bored and do stupid shit.
Pete: I was impressed with the head butt. I thought that was glorious, calling your shot, which was great, but other than that, the art’s fantastic. There were some weird pages of symbols that I didn’t check out on purpose, but we’ll see how this wraps up.
Alex: Interesting.
Pete: Last page, saw that coming a mile away.
Alex: Wow.
Justin: What? No way.
Pete: Yeah, dude!
Justin: Wow. Okay.
Pete: Get to the planet, and it’s basically his name. I mean, what the fuck?
Justin: Wow.
Alex: All right.
Justin: Okay.
Alex: One of the things, just to-
Justin: Why did you call the ending of the second issue, then?
Pete: What’s that?
Alex: Yeah, Pete. If you know it so well, what’s happening at the end of the second issue.
Pete: He gets the fucking gauntlet. I don’t know. I don’t fucking know what that’s going to happen in the next one.
Justin: All right. The thing with Pete is, it probably will happen.
Pete: I mean, they dropped him. [crosstalk 00:21:36].
Alex: One thing that I wanted to respond to, that I think Kieron Gillen does so well here, is deal with the idea that these are Eternals. These are immortals. They think they have this purpose, and they found out their purpose is not necessarily wrong but just doesn’t mean anything, so what do they do next if they’re never going to die but their lives don’t mean anything? What does that mean for the lives they continue living? To me, he almost treats it like office worker drones, right? Like you’re going into work every single day. You’re doing the same thing. What is the end result? For them, there is no end result. There’s nothing, so what is their purpose? I think that’s the setup here. We’re going to find out, do they have a purpose? Who has a purpose? What do their lives mean going forward? I think that’s a very exciting and interesting and very esoteric, mind you, thing to talk about.
Alex: The other thing that I really loved about this book was the description of Deviants.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: That really popped for me, because there’s this setup at the beginning of, the Celestials came down. They created 100 Eternals. They created 100 Deviants. They left. Then there’s a little shruggie emoji beneath that. That’s the perfect setup for the book. What he talks about with the Deviants in there, there’s this comparison of like, yeah, not all Deviants are bad. Some of them just go bad, but they look at human beings as like, “Well, some of you are serial killers.” You know? I thought that was just such a good sequence of dialogue, aligning us with Deviants when the rest of the book is aligning us with Eternals. Just great writing, great art across the board. I really like this book quite a bit.
Justin: Now, one follow-up I know we talked about. Do you think, if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lives under, in the sewers of other cities, they would like different stuff?
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, sure.
Justin: Like if they lived in the sewers of Seattle, would they just be like coffee drinkers?
Alex: Yeah. They live under St. Petersburg, and they’re like, “I love being a turtle, and I love borscht.”
Justin: Yeah. “Borscht time!”
Alex: If they lived in Rochester, they would love garbage plates.
Pete: There you go.
Justin: Wow. If they lived under Philadelphia, they’d be sucking on a cheese stick.
Pete: Ah man.
Alex: Wrong podcast.
Alex: Let’s get into our Future State block here with a ton of books that were released off of the end of Dark Nights Battle from DC this week.
Pete: Here we go!
Alex: They all take place in an indeterminate future of the DC Universe. However, as we found out when we were talking to Phillip Kennedy Johnson on our live show, they’re all interconnected in some way, and they all do matter in some way as well. They’re going to take elements and work them back, so this isn’t just Elseworlds. This isn’t just like what if or anything like that. It’s something else. We don’t know fully yet, but I figured the best way of approaching this, I’m just going to read through the titles. We don’t need to talk about each of them individually, but I’m curious to hear you guys shout out. Then I’ll read off the creative teams as well.
Alex: We’ve got Next Batman, Superman of Metropolis, Swamp Thing, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn. Justin, you were super into the Swamp Thing one, which was written by Ram V, art by Mike Perkins. You want to talk about that?
Justin: Yeah. This one is sort of post-apocalyptic Earth. Swamp things are the only things alive, at least at the beginning of the issue.
Pete: I like what you did there. I like what you did there. That was nice.
Justin: Yeah. It’s just really nice. It’s an issue about, oddly, like being a parent here. Swamp Thing intermittently walks us through the construction of a body of his children, basically, as he’s going. Then bad things start to happen. This is the kind of story that I hope DC does more of with Future State and beyond, where it does feel like an Elseworlds that matters.
Alex: Pete?
Pete: The art’s glorious. I thought it was okay.
Justin: Great. You weren’t bothered by it?
Pete: Yeah, it didn’t bother me. I think there were other ones in the stack that I really like more, but you know. I’m not a parent, so I didn’t really-
Alex: I will say, reading these in the order of Next Batman, Superman of Metropolis, Swamp Thing; Next Batman brings up this new villain for Gotham city. Superman of Metropolis brings up a new villain for Metropolis, so I started to feel like, “Okay, we’re getting kind of this interconnected thing.” Swamp Thing, I could not figure out how that gelled with that, so it took me a little while to get into it because of that, but I agree with you, Justin. I thought this was really nice storytelling and very interesting and weird. It reminded me a little bit of a Jeff Lemire take on Swamp Thing, almost like Sweet Tooth in a certain way.
Justin: For sure, yeah.
Alex: I like this one quite a bit.
Justin: Swamp Tooth.
Alex: Swamp Tooth. If you weren’t into this one, what was your jam? What did you like of the Future State books?
Pete: I thought The Dreaming was cool. Batman was great.
Alex: We’re not talking about The Dreaming. Let’s talk about Next Batman, though, written by John Ridley.
Pete: The backups were great as well.
Alex: Hold on. Let me just say the writing staff on Next Batman.
Pete: Okay.
Alex: You got John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins, art by Nick Derington, Sumit Kumar, and Jack Herbert. This is the big deal. This is like their shout across the bow, because this is a black Batman. This is Luke Fox, I think? Lucius Fox’s son who was taking over, I think.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Am I wrong about that?
Justin: I think you’re wrong about that, because Luke Fox-
Alex: Maybe it’s his brother?
Justin: Yeah, Luke Fox was the other Batman family character.
Alex: Okay. All right. I think it’s part of the Fox family.
Justin: Definitely that, yes.
Pete: Yeah. Agreed.
Alex: It’s probably like the Simpsons.
Justin: Oh, no, you’re right. It is Luke. It’s Luke. It’s Luke. It’s Luke.
Alex: It’s Luke Fox. Okay. This is a big deal. We get a couple of backups to show us other things that are going on in the world of Gotham City as it’s under this tyrannical rule, this fascist rule. Pete, what did you like about this book?
Pete: Well, first off, the villain that kind of gets attacked has some sweet knives. You don’t see the combination of like brass knuckle and knife very much anymore, so that was great, to see that again. Some good action sequences. Then also liked the kind of like bubble that we got inside Batman’s head a little bit, and Justin really likes that. Then we kind of got a little of the Fox residence. Then there’s this kind of interesting thing about masks and putting on masks in Gotham, which is cool. Yeah, there was some really cool ideas going around here, so it got me very excited to see where this is going to go. I really like the design of Batman. The action of Batman in this comic was really great. This had a real cool feel to it, and I liked it very much.
Alex: Yeah, I thought Nick Derington’s art in particular was very good here. It feels like a classic Batman tale, which is probably transgressive in and of itself, that it’s not a Batman who is black first and foremost, but it is a Batman first and foremost. Then it has these other layers to it. I think it was very purposeful on John Ridley’s part and works really well.
Alex: The one that jumped out to me, Future State: Wonder Woman #1.
Pete: Yes.
Alex: This was written and art by Joëlle Jones, colors by Jordie Bellaire.
Pete: Wait.
Alex: Yes?
Pete: Before we move on, we should talk a little bit about the backups in the Batman issue.
Alex: Sure. Go ahead.
Pete: Okay. Katana was great.
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: The design was really awesome. Sometimes, Katana is done not too well. This was really great. I really appreciated all that we got from this character. I’m very excited to get more. I hope these cool backups continue. Then we kind of got these team-up stuff as well. We got the Outsiders stuff in there. That was done well. I’m very excited to see, in this future state, how the Batman team is going to work, so I feel like they did a great job of getting us excited in this Next Batman Future State issue for the, not only Arkham Knights but the Outsiders as well.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. I hope this is the format of these books, where we get to see little snippets of the other characters. Great take on Outsiders and just really great across the board.
Pete: Yes. Sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean to cut you off there.
Alex: No, that’s fine. Back to Wonder Woman. This Joëlle Jones art alone, to heat it up a little bit, on this book is so phenomenal.
Justin: Yes. Yes. [crosstalk 00:30:42] alone!
Alex: This is a book that… I definitely went into it with preconceptions, only because it isn’t out yet. It’s already in develop by the CW as a TV show, so I was like, “All right. How is this going to work? What is this TV show about?” That was the critical lens I was looking through it. I still have no idea, having read the book, but once I was able to get past that, this is the boldest reinvention of the Wonder Woman mythology since Cliff Chiang and Brian Azzarello, and I love it. Love it. So good. It’s a completely a different character. It feels consistent with the name Wonder Woman as she goes down to the underworld on a mission. We get to see different aspects of it. It’s funny. It’s weird at points. There’s interesting mythology that’s mixing different mythologies than just the Olympic mythology that we’re used to, with Diana. This is so good. I think it is, actually, but this is one that I hope is ongoing, beyond the two to three issues that they’re going to be doing over the course of these months.
Justin: Yeah, I mean, I agree.
Pete: Yeah, this… Oh, go ahead.
Justin: It’s a young, brash Wonder Woman. Just comparing this Wonder Woman to the Wonder Woman from Wonder Woman 1984 is just like… This is so much more exciting. This is just all in one issue.
Pete: Yeah. This is just a great version of Wonder Woman, who is very action-forward, which is great. The kind of villains and the cool characters along the way doesn’t feel like Wonder Woman, but it works in such a nice way that it makes it feel fresh. Yeah, I was like, “Okay, what’s this going to be?” and then didn’t want to leave this world. I loved the last splash page at the end. This is very exciting stuff.
Alex: Let’s touch on some of the other ones real quick, sort of do little capsule reviews of them. We got Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 from DC Comics, written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton, art by John Timms, Valentine De Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon Oeming. One thing that I really liked about this one is how weird it was.
Justin: It was very weird.
Pete: It was super weird.
Alex: Yeah, this is weird, sci-fi Superman tales, something that I don’t think we’ve seen in a very long time, and I appreciated that.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. It was almost a little too… I wanted more of like, “Oh, I see what this story is, and I see where it’s going.” It was very grim also. It felt like I was… I’m not confident things are going to work out, which is an odd tone for a Superman book. It’s funny. In the Batman book, I thought the first story was the strongest, and in order, that’s how I liked them. In this, I feel like it was the reversed order.
Pete: Yes.
Justin: I liked the Guardian story at the end the best.
Pete: Yes!
Justin: Then, second, the Mr. Miracle, and third, the Superman [crosstalk 00:33:51].
Pete: Exactly, man! The Guardian was badass! It was really great! I was surprised how much I loved that. Yeah, Superman was all right, but what are we doing with Superman? You know what I mean? Are we changing things up, or is this just like anime Superman? What are we doing?
Alex: I don’t know. I can’t get too mad at a ball of teeth. That’s a pretty weird, cool villain.
Alex: Let’s talk about Future State: The Flash #1, written by Brandon Vietti, art by Dale Eaglesham. Love Dale Eaglesham’s art, one of my favorite artists ever, so great to see him draw the Flash family.
Justin: Yeah. Dark take. Alex, are you saying you don’t love this?
Alex: I didn’t love this.
Justin: Because it’s so dark.
Pete: Whoo!
Justin: Flash, mostly a bright-
Alex: No, I don’t know. There was something a little stilted about the language, to be honest. Just the writing, the dialogue was a little weird to me. It didn’t feel like as bold of a swing as some of the other books that we read in some of the Future State stuff.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: It felt like, if the assignment was what happens in 40, 50 years down the road in the DC Universe, this was what happens two, three storylines down the road.
Justin: Interesting.
Pete: [inaudible 00:35:09].
Alex: You know what I mean?
Justin: Mmm.
Alex: I wanted something bigger and weirder with the Flash, and that’s not what we got here.
Pete: I read this-
Justin: Interesting, because-
Pete: Oh, go ahead.
Justin: Go ahead.
Pete: I was just going to say real quick, I read this one. I was like, “Well, I hope that Alvin liked this.”
Justin: I read it, and I was like, “Oh, I think Alex won’t like this,” because I do think it’s a bold swing, because it’s a very not… The Flash is so bright and shiny and, “I’ll fix this by running.” This is the opposite of that.
Pete: That’s his move.
Justin: I think you also don’t like it, Alex, because Wally’s the bad guy.
Alex: It makes no sense.
Pete: Shots fired!
Alex: He’s the good guy. Come on!
Pete: Shots fired.
Justin: He’s the bad guy in this one, Alex. I want to pick up the next one, because I really was surprised by the tone and the vibe of this. I like the way that the heroes change. Heroes die, and the heroes change their tactic in the middle of this book. I thought that was interesting.
Alex: Last-
Pete: I think one of the things I realized reading this is like, I’ve tried doing the Flash philosophy, just run harder, and it doesn’t always solve your problems.
Alex: Oh, go ahead. Oh, really?
Pete: Yeah. I think this book kind of falls short.
Justin: Pete, maybe you need to run a little harder.
Pete: I’ve tried. I’ve tried that.
Alex: Okay, but run even harder.
Pete: Yeah, I-
Alex: Last, we’re going to talk about Future State: Harley Quinn #1, written by Stephanie Phillips, art by Simone Di Meo. This one, to me, almost had the clearest setup of a book. The rest of them felt like they were cutting in in the middle, but here we get, Harley is captured. Scarecrow is basically working as her Charlie-style, from Charlie’s Angles, style handler, sending her off on missions to take down other villains in Gotham City. I thought this was a fun setup. I liked it. In particular, I thought Simone Di Meo’s art was very good on the book.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. I like the setup here. It is the most… I see what this book is, and we’re going to see more of this style story.
Pete: Yeah, that’s what I liked about it, was like, “Okay, this is what it’s going to be.” It gets you excited for what’s going to happen next, so I feel like it does a good job of, “All right. Here’s our take on Harley Quinn. This is her new look.” Cool, great. Awesome. I don’t hate this at all, but I felt like I wanted a little bit more, but I feel like I’m excited to see where this could go, because it has a lot of possibilities.
Alex: Let’s move on to talk about some non-Future-State books, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man #56 from Marvel, written by Nick Spencer, art by Mark Bagley. Somehow, we’re done with the Last Remains storyline and have moved on. We see here how the Kingpin and Norman Osbourne captured Harry Osbourne, AKA Kindred, and what starts to happen next.
Alex: I know we talked about this with the last issue. Mark Bagley’s are always good. He’s always a good Spider-Man writer. I am starting to lose my patience with this storyline, to be perfectly honest with you.
Justin: Interesting.
Alex: I always hesitate to say things like this, but we need to get to it. What is Kindred’s deal? He can’t stand in the corner and be like, “You know what you did,” for another 15 issues, because I am going to go insane.
Justin: It’s funny you say that, because I think the story is sort of moving on. There’s a ton of setup in this book for what the next things that are going to be happening. I will say, I liked the little moment where Kindred has little tears running down his weird eyes, his empty, pumpkin head eyes, but I think I’ve shifted… The coin, I think, is just part of this. We’re getting some story. I think what the issue is for me now is, Spider-Man is not the main character in this book, and we’re not in Spider-Man’s head. Spider-Man is a side character. We’re just observing him. It’s about the Osbournes, Kingpin. We’re in all these other heads. We need Spider-Man to be the center here. The Sin Eater story was about Spider-Man and Sin Eater and what was happening there, and I feel like we’ve been on Kindred’s side of it, and I hope we’re going to flip back as we go forward.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Also, sorry Pete. The one thing I was going to say about the Sin Eater thing is, so much of this issue is consumed with talking about how cool the Sin Eater storyline and how interesting it was and the fallout of that, to the point where I’m like, that was more interesting. I like that. That was fascinating, and that really brought Spider-man to the brink, in the way that I just don’t understand what Kindred means to him, even though he’s a character that we’ve known for decades at this point.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: I kind of, as Alvin said, might be a little bit nicer. When you’ve got a character talking about cool shit that happened before, that’s not a good comic book. You’re not in the moment in a way that’s exciting. You’re like, “Man, you know what was really cool? Couple issues ago. That’s when shit was exciting. I don’t know what’s happening here, but I’m going to monologue as I walk circles around this cubed villain. Cool.” Yeah, I didn’t like this at all. I want Nick Spencer to be off this book so I can go back to enjoying fucking Spider-Man.
Justin: Not necessary.
Alex: No, you don’t want to take somebody off of a job. That’s mean, Pete.
Alex: Let’s move on, though, talk about The Last Witch #1 from BOOM! Box, written by Connor McKeery, illustrated by Vivi Glass. In this book, we meet a young girl who is very interested in sneaking up on, maybe, a witch’s castle on her birthday. She is stymied because of a couple of different things.
Alex: Really like the art here. There’s some good all-ages stuff. I wanted a little more in the plot, and we finally get there by the end, so I am excited enough to read issue two.
Justin: Yeah, I thought this was a sock-fixing book for a good portion of it.
Pete: Oh man.
Justin: Like, “Yeah, fix these socks.”
Pete: You can’t have your fun until you’ve fixed some socks, Justin. Everybody knows that.
Justin: Darn those socks. Darn, darn those socks.
Justin: I will say, I liked this. I think the dread that is set up throughout the story is good. It really pays off at the back end. It feels very Blair Witch, if I may reference an old movie.
Alex: No.
Justin: Okay.
Alex: The movie we talk about on this podcast is Blair Witch: Book of Shadows.
Justin: Retracted.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Yeah. That’s the bummer. We refuse to mention any movie but the current sequel that’s out there. It really makes a lot of our movie conversations horrible.
Alex: What’s more current than Book of Shadows?
Justin: Yeah.
Justin: I thought this was good. Definitely going to pick up the next issue. Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Good stuff.
Pete: I agree that I thought this was a lot of fun. The art’s fantastic. You got a badass grandma who’s smoking a cigar. That’s good times.
Justin: Is there anything you like more, Pete, than grandmas?
Pete: Nope.
Justin: All you talk about is grandmas on this podcast.
Pete: Plus you got a little kid, uses gap tooth well. I’m excited to see where this goes. There was a lot of kind of walking in place, if you will, a little bit, but I’m glad we got to see the tower and what’s going to… I’m excited to see what happens after that.
Alex: Yeah. I agree with you. There were a lot of points where they weren’t focusing on the grandma, but then, there were a couple of pages where they focused on the grandma.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Yes. That’s what Pete’s interest… Really, Pete?
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about one more DC book here, Generations Shattered #1 from DC Comics, written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt, and Robert Venditti, art by… Are you ready? Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade van Grawbadger, Bernard Chang… I like that you’re both taking drinks of your beer. Yanick Paquette, Kevin Nowlan, Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Doug Braithwaite, Rags Morales, and Mike Perkins.
Alex: This is a book that I included here on the stack, because it certainly seems like, okay, you go Dark Nights: Death Metal. You go Generations Shattered. Then we’re into Future State. It even says on the cover, “Spinning out of the pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal.” It doesn’t have anything to do with that.
Justin: No. This book is a bit of a fever dream.
Alex: Oh, yes. I didn’t mind it once I got past realizing, “Wait, this has nothing to do with anything else going on in the DC Universe,” because there’s just a fun thing about Kamandi building a team to take down another time-threatening villain. There’s some good, fun art in it. There’s a weird team that he puts together, has Dan Jurgens leading into his Booster Gold stuff, which…
Justin: Loves Booster Gold.
Alex: That’s cool. Loves Booster Gold.
Justin: I know people love Kamandi. I’ve always just been like, his only thing is he’s the last boy. It’s sort of like, “Well, he’s just the last one.”
Alex: No, man, he has long, blonde hair.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: He wears cut off jean shorts and no shirt.
Justin: I feel like he’s cold. He’s traveling through time with no shirt on. It’s got to be cold.
Alex: Yeah. Put on a shirt.
Justin: Yeah. Put on a shirt, Kamandi.
Justin: I do like Wave Rider. I like a lot of these weird characters that they pulled together for this. There’s a lot of fun, weird… Like fighting Hector Hammond’s big head in this middle bit, the young Booster Gold versus old Booster Gold.
Alex: I think the problem is the timing of how this comes out more than anything. This feels like there’s this weird, other event that’s been going on during the big event, that is trying to do a lot of the same things that Dark Nights: Death Metal is doing but in a more conventional way. It’s fun to read but confusing to read this week.
Justin: I think that’s fair.
Pete: I really love the Remuter Jr. bit. That was enjoyable, but the other shit was really kind of fucked up.
Justin: The other shit was fucked up. The woman’s doll in the fridge, I was like, “Is that…? Are you recalling out fridging here?”
Pete: Ooh.
Alex: Oh, I don’t even remember that. I think I missed that entirely.
Pete: Oh, yeah. Batman, yeah. Yeah, it was kind of crazy.
Justin: It was a weird thing.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Then the very end, I liked the last couple pages, but I don’t know what it means.
Alex: The black and white?
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Who even knows? No idea.
Alex: Next up, Backtrack #10 from Oni Press, written by Brian Joines and illustrated by Jake Elphick. We’ve been following this title all along. This is the last issue, I believe, of this death race through time-
Justin: Yes, for now.
Alex: For now, death race through time book. It ends on a little bit of a question mark note, but how’d you feel about how it wrapped up?
Pete: I really liked the emotional choices that were made in this. It’s really interesting how great the relationships are. There’s this insane race going on, but then as the story goes on, we get little pieces of people’s lives in such an interesting way. I thought this was a great somebody sacrificing their wish for somebody else, a classic thing but done really well, kind of in the backdrop of Fast and the Furious. I think this is a great book from start to finish. I was really impressed with this insanity, but it was done in a way where you could follow.
Justin: Fun art. Cars. If there was one of us on this podcast that loves cars, you know it’s JT Sizzle who is really always checking what’s under the hood and kicking the tires.
Alex: What?! Yeah, you’re a real gearhead, man.
Justin: That’s exactly right. This guy gets cars. That’s why I mentioned a Ford truck earlier tonight on another podcast.
Alex: Cool.
Justin: I agree. This is a fun… I did like the emotional-
Alex: Do you just want to flex about how you do other podcasts, too?
Justin: With you. It’s not a… It’s with you. It’s not a flex to say that.
Justin: I like the emotional turnaround we got at the end of this. It’s fun.
Alex: Yeah, good stuff. This is one that I think is going to read really well in trade in particular.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: Moving on, Return of the Valkyries #1 from Marvel, written by Jason Aaron and Torunn Gronbekk, art by Nina Vekueva. As the title implies, this is Jane Foster, slowly, potentially building the Valkyries back up. In this case, she is ferrying the sentry to the Underworld after the events of King in Black and runs into some trouble. We start to bring in a character that is not exactly but very similar to Tess Thompson in the MCU and hook back up with her. As usual, they just do a great job of the Jane Foster book. This is more of the same. If you like that, you’re going to like this.
Justin: Agree. I love the sentry stuff. There’s so much nice, down-to-earth stuff where his life flashes before his eyes with the good parts. He remembers a good joke with his wife. Really good stuff.
Pete: Yeah, there’s nothing like a good bit. You know? I think this is a lot of fun. A lot of cool stuff going on. Art’s fantastic. Some good storytelling. Yeah, I think this is solid.
Justin: I really hope, when my life flashes before my eyes, it goes back to this moment, when I said that Yoda fucks.
Alex: Getting It Together #4 from Image Comics, cowritten by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine and Sina Grace. This is also the last issue of this, at least for now. This issue, we get to watch one of our main characters travel out to LA, find her solo music career.
Alex: I got to say, I like this last issue in the story. They told quite a bit, but I was bummed that it only included one of the main characters for the most part.
Pete: Agreed.
Alex: Bless you, Pete.
Pete: Agreed. Yes, was very cool that we got this, but you did miss the rest of the band. You know? You did want to know what was going on with them. I think this is a great book, a cool take on what it’s like to be in a band, where all these people with different ideas and what they want to do and how you manage that, but I think the art and the storytelling in this is just really nice.
Justin: I hear your criticism, Alex, but what I liked about this book in general is that it’s about a time in your life ending or a time in these characters’ lives ending. When that happens, especially when it’s a group, when you’re young and you have a group of friends, and everyone just sort of splits off and goes in their own separate way, I felt like it was spot-on to only follow one character, because that’s what happens. Everyone falls away, and you then go on with your life. For this book, we ended up just following her as she went to LA and sort of sorted out her solo music career. I appreciate it, but I do agree. I wish there was more. It felt like it ended right when I wanted to just hear her just go. I hope they do more of this, because I really love the tone and the setting of this book and the humor, the way the characters are built. It’s really good.
Alex: I agree. Next up, The Vain #4 from Oni Press, written by Elliot Rahal, illustrated by Emily Pearson. In this issue, we’re in the ’60s with our vampire criminals. They are building up a cult. Some of them are on board with it. Some of them are not.
Alex: It is wild to me how much this book jumps forward every single issue, time-wise.
Justin: Yeah. Yeah, it jumps around in a wild fashion. It’s funny. I feel like we compared it to American Vampire a lot. It’s just such a different-type book. The pacing’s wildly different. I still like it. I like the way vampires are rising, then they’re falling, then they’re all killed. The story is just innovative takes on what being a vampire is.
Alex: Yeah. Pete, what do you think about this one?
Pete: I’m not sure. It’s okay.
Alex: Thanks, Pete.
Pete: I liked other issues more than this one. I don’t know what to tell you, man.
Alex: Great. Thanks for coming on the podcast.
Alex: Venom #32 from Marvel, written by Donny Cates, art by Iban Cuello. Here, we get to see what happens after Eddie Brock hits a car and dies. Turns out, Eddie Brock, his body is dead, mind not quite dead because he’s part of the hive mind that has been created by Knull, the god of the Symbiotes, starts to fight back here in a certain way. What do you think about this?
Pete: I love the message here. When you’re falling to your death, you just got to stop falling, okay?
Alex: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: That’s a good message, guys. Just don’t continue to fall. You should stop falling.
Justin: Yeah. Listen to the Road Runner.
Pete: Yeah.
Pete: I thought this was a great book. Really intense splash pages. A lot of over-the-top fun. I liked their reveal later. I’m not sure if we’re going to spoil it or not, but it got me excited for more. I think this is a very fun, over-the-top look at Venom, and I’m excited for the team-up that we’re going to have.
Justin: I mean, my review is always just focused on the car. The way he lands on this, obviously, it’s a Chrysler LeBaron, where the windshield smashes. Great stuff. Really great choices all across the board.
Pete: Chrysler LeBaron.
Alex: Anything else?
Justin: I do like this book. I think Donny Cates does a great job of moving the story forward with a lot of great ideas in a very clean, easy to understand way, and he does it again here.
Alex: Yeah. It’s a bunch of great mythology. Iban Cuello’s art is also excellent.
Alex: Last but not least, Inkblot #5 from Image Comics, created by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd. In this issue, our cute, little cat jumps to another place. Pete, take it away.
Pete: All right. We’ve got Cutie Patootie just moving through time and space in a kind of cat-like curiosity but also doesn’t give a fuck. You know? This is just kind of insane. The characters are really over-the-top but kind of fun combinations of different animals and monsters. It’s adorable and moves and… I don’t know. It’s cool.
Alex: It is cool. I still want a little bit more connection from this book, but in terms of done-in-one stories, particularly the designs of the creatures and the worlds and everything, very interesting and very weird and fun to check out, even though I don’t understand the thrust of this book, where it’s going at this point.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, this book is weird, but I think it’s written in the story here. “Oh, she moves through time like a cat, wanders around, doesn’t care, lays in the sun a lot.” I think this is just going to be a little, weird-
Alex: A lot of naps. I do like the fact that, whenever the cat comes in, everybody’s like, “Oh, there’s that time cat. Well, anyway, back to this thing we’re doing.”
Justin: “Back to our normal things.”
Alex: Good stuff. All right.
Alex: You are all good stuff as well. If you’d like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. to Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We’ll chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. @ComicBookLive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more.
Alex: Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book shop.
Justin: See you there.
Alex: Good stuff.
Justin: Let us know if you’re fucking Yoda, for God sakes.
Alex: Fucking Yoda, I am.
Justin: Yoda fucks Yoda. Yoda kiss Yoda when he saw the other Yoda.
Alex: No, man. “That’s how I prove it me.” (singing)
The post The Stack: Star Wars The High Republic, Future State And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy57 min - The Stack: Batman, Wolverine And More
On our final comic book review show of 2020, we’re chatting:
Batman Annual #5
DC Comics
By James Tynion IV and James StokoeWolverine #8
Marvel
Written by Benjamin Percy
Art by Adam Kubert and Viktor BogdanovicNailbiter Returns #8
Image Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Mike HendersonTales From The Dark Multiverse: Dark Nights Metal #1
DC Comics
Story by Scott Snyder, Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly
Written by Jackson Lanzing & Colin Kelly
Pencils by Karl MostertThe Amazing Spider-Man #55
Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Patrick GleasonMonstress: Talk-Stories #2
Image Comics
Written by Marjorie Liu
Illustrated by Sina TakedaDark Nights Death Metal: The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1
DC Comics
Written by Joshua Williamson and Scott Snyder, Magdalene Visaggio, James Tynion IV, Kyle Higgins, Regine Sawyer, Che Grayson, Marguerite Bennett, Matthew Rosenberg and Justin Jordan
Art by Dexter Soy, Scott Koblish, Alex Maleev, Scott Kolins, Anitha Martinez, Pop Mhan, Inaki Miranda, Rob Guillory and Mike HendersonThe Avengers #40
Marvel
By Jason Aaron and Javier GarrónLost Soldiers #5
Image Comics
By Aleš Not and Luca CasalanguidaJinny Hex Special #1
DC Comics
Written by Magdalene Visaggio
Art by Gleb MelnikovKing In Black: Iron Man/Doctor Doom #1
Marvel
Written by Christopher Cantwell
Art by Salvador LarrocaStranger Things: Science Camp #4
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Jody House
Pencils by Edgar SalazarJustice League: Endless Winter #2
DC Comics
Written by Andy Lanning & Ron Marz
Art by Carmine Di Giandomenico & Howard PorterGhost Rider: Return of Vengeance #1
Marvel
Written by Howard Mackie
Pencils by Javier SaltaresColonel Weird: Cosmagog #3
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art and Letters by Tyler CrookSUBSCRIBE 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 everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And, this is the final Stack of 2020.
Pete: What?
Justin: Yes.
Alex: [Crosstalk 00:00:18] It’s the last one everybody. No more comic book reviews after this, until next year or next week, [crosstalk 00:00:23].
Justin: We’ll have some fresh ones.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:00:25] It’s like a week away. Like, what are you doing?
Justin: No, but we’re going to be different people then. We’re going to have different ideas. We’re going… [Crosstalk 00:00:32]
Pete: What?
Justin: The comics are going to be different, man. 2021. [crosstalk 00:00:35] They’re probably all going to come out of your computer.
Alex: I can be very political.
Justin: Oh, that’s a fresh take.
Alex: Thank you.
Pete: Oh wow.
Alex: Here’s something [crosstalk 00:00:43] not political. Actually, I guess maybe it kind of it is, but let’s kick it off with Batman Annual #5 from DC Comics by James Tynion IV and James Stokoe. So, this is the origin of Clownhunter. Here, we get a story of [inaudible 00:00:55] and Clownhunter, a little bit of Batman in it, but pretty much a flashback after his experiences, backing off from killing Harley Quinn. This was a great story. And, particularly just the collaboration between James Tynion and James Stokoe was great.
Justin: The art in this book was excellent. Just a really fun story. We’ve seen a lot of Clownhunter lately, like a lot.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: So to go back into this, I was like, “Oh, more.” But, to get the backstory and with such a great fresh art look, like really enjoyed it.
Pete: Yeah. I really like the way the counselor talked to Clownhunter and Batman. Like, when she said that, “Batman is smart,” oh, I laughed. That was just fun. Yeah. It’s great to get this kind of like origin story. It makes a lot more sense now with everything. I would have liked this a little bit sooner, but I’m very happy that we got it.
Alex: Jesse, you talk about this a lot, about what James Tynion has been trying to do seemingly, is add a lot of wrinkles to the Batman mythos with Clownhunter, with Ghost-Maker.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Ghost-Maker.
Alex: Classic character, clearly he had a big impression on me. As well as just his take on a Harley, and the Joker and other things. And, that really starts to pay off here, I think in a nice way. It definitely makes me engendered to the character quite a bit more. Let’s move on and talk about Wolverine #8 from Marvel, written by Benjamin Percy, art by Adam Kubert and Viktor Bogdanovic. This is, I believe, the 350th adventure of Wolverine; and finally, they’re over. This is it. This is the last adventure of Wolverine after 350. As he promised in his first appearance back in Incredible Hulk, he said, “Hey Bob, 350 times and I’m done.”
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: And now he’s, “That’s it.”
Justin: “I’m going to replace Professor X someday,” he said, as he fought the Hulk.
Alex: Pete, what do you think about this issue, did this hold up to the immense legacy of Wolverine?
Pete: No. But, we kind of got like different stories here. Some of them more enjoyable than others, but I did very much enjoy a lot of the action and the one where like, Wolverine’s like punching this face in the water. That was great. Very enjoyable. It’s a good way to kind of talk to people. I’m very excited for how it ended though. I don’t know if we should do spoilers or not, but I’m excited for-
Alex: No, we don’t really do spoilers on this podcast after the comics have already come out. Yeah, of course, you can go.
Pete: All right, fine. I’m excited for Patch to be back, and to get more Patch.
Justin: Patch Adams.
Pete: Well, Robin Williams rest in peace, you fucken legend. But, not that Patch. I’m talking about the old Wolverine Patch. So, very cool.
Justin: “It is interesting to touch on so much of the Wolverine legacy,” as you said Alex. Reading this book made me want to see a series that is literally just like, sort of time-dashing through different Wolverine eras and telling us some stories we haven’t heard yet. Because, I feel like we get Wolverine showing up in the present day areas where he had all this history, and he’s like, “Ah shit, I got to deal with the son of this person I killed,” or something. And like, it made me want to see more stories throughout the Wolverines 350 issue long history.
Alex: I really believe Benjamin Percy invented the CIA character that Wolverine is hanging out with. He just feels like a very different character interaction Wolverine, where he’s not a super spy. He’s just a member of the CIA. He’s mostly hanging out in his backyard, and he’s really just there for Wolverine to have somebody to sound off of, and that’s it. He’s not a mutant. Well, that’s great. There’s something really involving about that relationship that feels fresh and new. And, I liked that quite a bit. Like, the issues where it’s just them talking. Very cool. A lot of fun.
Pete: Yeah. I disagree with you. That’s what I was talking about when it was [inaudible 00:05:08], but you do get some really great kind of classic Wolverine moments. There’s like a big splash page where he’s kind of coming through a window with his claws out and he’s like, “I got a dog in this fight.”
Alex: You don’t like CIA guy, Pete?
Pete: No, no, I don’t like CIA guy.
Alex: Can I pause at something by you? I think if they were sitting in a bar, you would like it a lot more than if [crosstalk 00:05:32] they’re sitting in a backyard.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Well, I very much enjoy the backyard drinking. That’s all we can do right now. We can’t really go in bars. The bar thing isn’t really what… It was just kind of like the way the CIA guy was, that I didn’t trust him, or I didn’t think Wolverine should be chatting with him. It seemed like Wolverine’s too busy to stop for a beer at that moment.
Justin: It’s like I always say, “A backyard is just a bar without a pool table.”
Pete: I always say that.
Alex: Nailbiter Returns #8 from Image Comics written by Joshua Williamson, art by Mike Henderson. We get some big revelations through this issue about the game that has been going on since these fake and real serial killers. And, we get a big flashback to Nailbiter’s origin story, or at least, I guess, before his origin story. I say this every issue, “I love how they’re fleshing out and adding to this mythology.” “It’s just fun, it’s gross.” It plays out one of my biggest fears about poking out eyeballs that are [crosstalk 00:06:35].
Justin: Ah, that’s all I could think about. I have such [crosstalk 00:06:38] a… I don’t have a lot of like picky fears, but falling down and having my eyeball catch on the edge sharp table-
Alex: Oh, stop.
Justin: … is a big one. It’s a big one for me. Like tripping randomly, and then boop, corner of a table.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:06:53] I just want to note this for the person who does transcripts on our podcast, please put in everybody cringed when Justin said [crosstalk 00:07:00]
Justin: [crosstalk 00:07:00] Yes, exactly. Also, an umbrella spoke going into my eye.
Pete: Nailbiter is great. I mean, it should have been in our kind of like top list of the year, for sure.
Alex: Oh, here we go.
Pete: But, it’s one of those things where I’m really impressed with the storytelling of this book. Like, they did a really amazing job of like getting a lot of action in the front, and like slowly rolling out the story. This is issue eight and we’re kind of getting the origin story, that’s kind of crazy, but it really works in this world. It’s the action and the intensity are so over the top, but the story is very interesting, which is impressive. And, the characters and the grossness, and the fact that we’re reacting so much to a comic book really says a lot about how well they do creating this world, and sucking us all into it and kind of making a part of it. It’s so creepy. And, I can’t believe that like, this is just the tip of the iceberg for their plans to come. I can’t wait to read more. This is such an intense, over the top book. Really, well done.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about Tales from the Dark Multiverse, Dark Nights: Metal #1 from DC Comics. Story by Scott Snyder, Jack Lanzing and Collin Kelly, written by Jack Lanzing and Collin Kelly, pencils by Karl Mostert. It’s appropriate that this book is about the Joker Dragon, because this is the most ouroboros snake eating its own tail book that DC has maybe ever done. It’s insane. It is a version of the Dark Multiverse where the heroes lost Dark Nights: Metal that is being reflected because of Dark Nights: Death Metal, never getting to see this. I went to do this very trepidatious. I was not sure about this idea at all, but I think it paid off really nicely. I like this a bit. And shockingly, I think it actually has repercussions for the future of the DC Universe in a big way, that was very surprising.
Pete: Yeah. I really love this book. I was surprised, Dark Metal keeps turning it up, and turning it up. And, like the hilarious degradation shredding on the guitar, and then having a kryptonite pick. That was insane. The [crosstalk 00:09:25] Joker Dragon was awesome.
Justin: Very fun.
Pete: This is just so much fun, completely over the top. This is just great.
Justin: I like seeing Duke take such a prominent place in the DC Universe. Like, a character that I felt was created, and then occupied this weird place where he’s was a Robin who became this new character, who had metahuman abilities, which is something that really hasn’t been touched upon in the Bat Family. So, it felt like he slipped into this sort of middle place. And, to see him back here as a focus, and still sort of as a Bat character while still carving out his own place, I really liked.
Alex: Yeah. Good book. Definitely pick it up. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man #55 from Marvel, written by Nick Spencer, art by Patrick Gleason. We are continuing and maybe wrapping up the last remains storyline involving Harry Osborn. It seems like maybe we’re moving on with something different next issue, but nothing is resolved here necessarily. [crosstalk 00:10:31] And I got to be honest, I like this issue. I’m still willing to follow them, but we’re getting to the point where I really need some answers, or they’re going to lose me. [crosstalk 00:10:43] to be honest.
Justin: I agree with you. Like, I do think this character has been one this… I guess we can say it’s Harry Osborn at this point.
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: It seems like it just is, has been held over our heads for every issue up to this point, right. For 54 issues basically. And we were getting, it just feels like we’re not getting the whole thing. And, I don’t know why. Because, if you read this sort of by itself, it’s like, “Oh, I see this villain has captured Peter Parker and all of his friends, and is going to kill them solely, and Peter Parker has to get away.” But, it does feel like there’s a missing piece that sort of really binds everything together. And I’m, to your point, sick of the coin that’s associated with it. Especially when like the Sin-Eater storyline before this was so good, and felt like such a great standalone story. I want to have that feeling about this issue, or this series, this arc as well.
Pete: This is just a little too intense for me for Spider-Man. Like, the part where Spider-Man shoots his webbing through somebodies head, and out the back of their skull was just like, “Holy shit.” I didn’t think I would ever see that in a Spider-Man comic. I think sometimes Nick Spencer is a little bit more of a shock factor, and I don’t know, it’s pulling me out of the story a little bit. It doesn’t feel like a Spider-Man comic, even though it’s obviously dealing with Spider-Man, and all the friends, and all that stuff. Also, the MJ stuff in here was weird, but maybe that’s just because I have MJ issues in Spider-Man right now.
Justin: [crosstalk 00:12:28] I liked MJ being such a bad-ass in this issue, though. Like, she really is the hero.
Pete: Yeah. She really does kind of like step up and kind of be like, “All right asshole, what the fuck is your deal?”
Alex: All right. I’ll throw one theory out at you about Amazing Spider-Man and what’s going on, that I feel like its kind of obvious, but I’m not sure that they’re going to go for it. And, I thought they were going to go for it in this issue based on what they said, and then they didn’t. Is this because of One More Day? Like, did this- [crosstalk 00:12:58]
Justin: I thought that too. I thought we [crosstalk 00:13:00] were going to find out what MJ whispered to Mephisto, and it had something to do with it.
Pete: That’s what I thought too, and then it didn’t.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:13:08] reverse it or change it, because there’s the whole thing about MJ saying, “No, Peter doesn’t remember.” Harry doing a toast and saying, “Brand new day.”
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: That was the part that I was like, “Oh, shit,” when that got to the middle of the issue, and then they didn’t follow up on it. So that, I think is to me, is the thing where it feels like you were saying, Justin, “You got to stop being coy about it, just get to whatever it is and let us know.” And hopefully, that happens next issue.
Justin: Yeah. And, I will say the way this issue ends makes me think they could still go that way.
Alex: Yes.
Pete: Yeah. They’re definitely toying with our emotions in this, for sure.
Alex: Next up, the Monstress Talk-Stories #2 from Image Comics, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sina Takeda.
Alex: I think we were unilaterally loved the first issue of this, which was as the title implies, merely a story showing the past of some of the characters in the present day of Monstress. This tells another story of those characters past. And, it’s as gorgeous, and lovely, and sweet and [inaudible 00:14:11].
Justin: Lush.
Alex: Lush is a great adjective. Great story.
Pete: Yeah. It’s not just a story though. It’s a talk-story.
Alex: Okay, [crosstalk 00:14:21]
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Somebody telling somebody else this story.
Justin: A talk-story, that’s basically a podcast.
Pete: Oh, weird. But yeah, I can see why this is Alvin’s favorite- [crosstalk 00:14:30]
Alex: Hey, what’s up everybody? This is Monstress, we’re sponsored this week by [Blue Apron 00:00:14:33]. Blue Apron.
Pete: Yeah. I can see why this is one is Alvin’s favorite picks, because it’s got some like creepy, furry shit in here, but that is [crosstalk 00:14:46]…
Alex: You know me.
Pete: Yeah. You’re a perv.
Justin: Oh, I thought you were going to define yourself when you said that. You know me question mark.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:14:56] I like to leave an air of mystery for our listeners.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: But, the art alone is just glorious. It’s really just fantastic, jumps right off the page, and is worth it.
Justin: It’s super dreamy in a good way. Like, I feel like this sort of plays a little bit like a prequel, but the sort of dreamy look of the art makes it feel like one of the characters is remembering this or dreaming it, which I think you don’t really see in a lot of comics. I thought that was cool.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Good issue. And, good two issues series, even if you haven’t necessarily been reading the book. Next up, Dark Nights: Death Metal – The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1 from DC Comics, written by Joshua Williamson and Scott Snyder, Magdalene Visaggio, James Tynion IV, Kyle Higgins, Regin Sawyer, Che Grayson, Marguerite Bennett, Matthew Rosenberg and Justin Jordan. Art by Dexter Soy, Scott Koblish, Alex Maleev, Scott Kolins, Alitha Martinez, Pop Man, Inaki Miranda, Rob Guiilory and Mike Henderson.
Alex: This is a bunch of stories that take place simultaneously with the end of Dark Nights: Death Metal, is all of the Multiverses are all fighting together. As usual, it’s a mixed bag, some are good, some are fine. But, what jumped out at you? What did you particularly like about this issue?
Pete: I really like Bergy’s story, Matt Rosenberg. The Armageddon Blues was a lot of fun. Yeah. I just… Some like really cool, amazing art. Yeah. But, some of the story not as good, but there was some great stuff in there.
Justin: I agree with you. I really liked the Rosenberg story, which featured Constantine and dark Constantine like becoming [crosstalk 00:16:40]
Pete: Yeah, two Constantines.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: I just don’t know why one Constantine would trust the other one. When they’re pouring the drinks, I was like, “Come on, if you’re really Constantine, you’d fucken know.”
Alex: To give you the conceit of the story, everybody’s meeting their dark multiverse opposites, who they’re the worst version of themselves. And, Constantine, in the version he meets himself, is basically indistinguishable from himself. And, it’s fun. Yeah, they just try and get a drink in the Oblivion Bar and hang out, compare notes. It’s a good time.
Justin: I also really liked the story right before that, by Marguerite Bennett and Inaki Miranda, which was a Penguin focused story, which felt like [crosstalk 00:17:16] it was specific, and good and horrifying in a great way.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Good stuff. I think a good collection better than I expected. And definitely, if you’ve been enjoyed Dark Nights: Death Metal, a good thing to pick up. Next up Avengers #4 from Marvel, by Jason Aaron and Javier Garonne, is kicking off the Phoenix storyline in earnest. Justin, what do you think? You were into this.
Pete: Our very own [JTS’Z 00:17:42].
Justin: Hey, Let me handle this one guys.
Pete: .All right.
Justin: I like this a lot. I feel like Jason or Aaron has really cornered the market on these fun, high stakes Avengers stories that take up a premise, and just laid on the table, and then just really amp it all the way up, and tell us these wild stories focusing on the different Avenges dealing with, in this case, the Phoenix Force. We had all the great Ghost Rider stuff before this, the vampire stuff before that, like I’ve been really enjoying these runs. They’re a little bit lighter than you might expect the Avengers to be, but it’s great.
Pete: Yeah. I really enjoyed this. Art is glorious. It’s just kind of like a great jumping on point for this big thing that’s happening. But I like how, even though it’s huge, there’s a lot of fun, like really small, cool moments. And, I also love when Captain America has downtime, he’s just punching shit, just working shit out. You got to respect that, man. That’s just great.
Alex: Yeah. I like this. This is fun. I mean, there’s not much going on here in terms of innovation, but it’s Doctor Doom versus Captain America, and that’s a good time.
Pete: Yeah, its fun.
Alex: Next up, Lost Soldiers #5 from Image Comics, by Ales Kot and Luca Casalanguida. This is, I think, the last issue of this. We’ve [crosstalk 00:19:07] checked in a couple of issues here. Gorgeous, gorgeous book.
Justin: It is. The art is so good in this book, especially the last sort of run, the last sequence going to the end. Really, just a great combination of words and texts while bringing the story together, this… Sorry, words and pictures while bringing the story together, really well done.
Pete: Yeah. Casalanguida, I know we kind of… It’s tough with the name or whatever, but just wanting to kind of point that out.
Alex: Oh, sorry about that.
Pete: Yeah, yeah. [crosstalk 00:19:40]
Alex: Hey Pete, I’m glad you never get names wrong and you’re always here to correct me on-
Pete: Oh no, I’m not… No, no, no. [inaudible 00:19:47], I am not attacking you on that. I am awful- [crosstalk 00:19:50]
Alex: You son of a bitch.
Justin: Wow. I knew we’d [crosstalk 00:19:53] break up eventually.
Pete: I’m just trying to help.
Justin: But here, this is the precipice of 2021, [inaudible 00:19:58] year. The year we always said it was going to be our year.
Pete: I’m just trying to look out- [crosstalk 00:20:03].
Alex: We had that 15 year plan.
Justin: Exactly. Textbook we’ve fit every one.
Pete: But, this is like so creepy in a lot of different ways. I kind of had to read it a couple of times to really tried to get what was happening. It’s very intense. It’s really well done. But, it’s really just very moving, and it’s just shakes you a little bit.
Alex: Good stuff. Let’s move on and talk about the Jinny Hex Special #1 from DC Comics, written by Magdalene Visaggio, art by Gleb Melnikov. This is focusing on a character… I don’t know if it was created by Brian Michael Bendis, but certainly he wrote it over in his Young Justice book. This is a descendant of Jonah Hex who lives in the modern day. And this book, she is dealing with the resurgence of an old villain.
Alex: I loved this book. I thought this was such a fun story. And, I was very surprised to find out the art was by Gleb Melnikov, instead of Humberto Ramos, because I thought it was Humberto Ramos for a good portion of the book. It was not, but just a fun mashup of western story and magic. And, just the positivity of the Jinny Hex character is infectious over the course of the pages.
Justin: I agree. I want to see more from this character.
Pete: I had a hard time with this. The art, I agree, is unbelievable. It’s an interesting story. But, the problem I had was this doesn’t feel like someone who’s related to Jonah Hex in any way. I wanted her to be…
Alex: You wanted her to have a piece of skin connecting her top lip to [crosstalk 00:21:52] bottom lip.
Pete: No. I wanted her personality to be kind of like a little gruff, not trust people as much, like kind of feel a little bit like Jonah Hex, gave me that relation. But, she was very sunny and nice. And I’m like, “That doesn’t feel like a Hex to me.”
Justin: “Like a fresh take,” you’re saying.
Pete: Yeah, I mean, I understand like, “Hey, let’s change the character, maybe make them a little bit more approachable.” Cool. But, you got Hex on the last name, so I want to see some grit. I want to see a little bit meaner type of person, [crosstalk 00:22:25] not trusting a person.
Justin: You want to see a piece of skin, connect the grittiness to [crosstalk 00:22:28]
Pete: Stop saying the skin. The skins not the character.
Justin: Like a googly [crosstalk 00:22:32] eye, you had googly eye.
Alex: It’s kind of the character.
Justin: If I were to name four things about Jonah Hex, I think three of them would be the one side of his face.
Pete: Oh my [inaudible 00:22:41]. I read a lot of Jonah Hex. I love Jonah Hex. So, I had a lot of high hopes for this. I think it’s great. I do want more of this, but I hope the more we get, the more we kind of find out a little bit darker stuff about Jinny.
Justin: How many times have you watched the Jonah Hex movie?
Pete: That is garbage. Don’t talk about that- [crosstalk 00:23:03]
Alex: I mean, I will mention there’s a really great interview where Josh Brolin mentions that, “He always wanted to play a character that had a piece of skin that connected his top lip and his bottom lip.” He finally got to do it. [Crosstalk 00:23:12].
Pete: The skin is not the character.
Alex: It’s kind of the character.
Pete: Stop.
Justin: He talks about it all the time. Plus, most of the issues, he’s going to the dermatologist to get that thing treated.
Pete: Oh my god, I fucken hate you guys so much.
Justin: An early western dermatology.
Pete: Why do I do this? Why do I do this to myself?
Justin: Moisturize it Jonah.
Alex: Moisturizer, got it.
Justin: Its so [crosstalk 00:23:34] hard, it keeps it chapped.
Alex: It’s very [crosstalk 00:23:36] dry here [crosstalk 00:23:37] desert.
Pete: Well, at least I have a line that’s like I’m trying to not be like Jonah Hex. You know what I mean? Like, give me something.
Justin: I am a medicine man and I recommend you moisturize.
Alex: King in Black: Iron Man, Doctor Doom #1 from Marvel written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Salvador Larroca. As you can figure out for the title, this is Ironman and Doctor Doom teaming up during- [crosstalk 00:23:59].
Pete: Teaming up.
Alex: … the whole King in Black storyline to try and kill Santa Claus. Justin, you’ve been very anti Santa Claus in Marvel Comics over the past couple of weeks. How did this issue strike you?
Justin: I got to say, I thought this was fun. I feel like Christopher Cantwell is occupying this space of like, just good storytelling that are sort of funny, but have these like good underpinnings, like the Doctor Doom series that he just did. And, it was such a surprise, I guess. So, it got me.
Pete: Yeah, it was. Like the look on his face when they’re like, “Is that Santa?” That was really fun. Yeah, I agree, it’s kind of insane, but it’s a fun story. Yeah. I mean, if people love vines, creepy vines, they’re going to love the story as well.
Alex: Yeah. If you love creepy vines, definitely check out this book. Moving on.
Justin: I love Red Vines. Can I still… Is this story still accessible [crosstalk 00:24:58]?
Alex: Ah, come on.
Pete: Are you serious?
Alex: Only good for soda. [crosstalk 00:00:25:01].
Justin: Just kidding. Nobody loves Red Vines.
Alex: Nobody loves Red Vines, I love Twizzlers tho.
Pete: Twizzlers. Yeah. Now, we’re talking.
Justin: I don’t like any of them. I want my candy to be not rope.
Pete: What?
Justin: Not ropey.
Alex: What about sour straws? What about those?
Justin: Give me a Sour Patch child, [crosstalk 00:25:20] I’ll eat those.
Alex: Child. Fair enough. Stranger Things: Science Camp #4, speaking of children, Dark Horse Comics written by Jodie Houser, pencils by Edgar Salazar. So, this is wrapping up this storyline taking [crosstalk 00:25:34] between season two and three as Dustin and his new girlfriend fight a serial killer at camp. Spoiler, it turns out maybe not totally a serial killer. Pete, you seem to like this. What’s going on?
Pete: Yeah, this was great. This is what I wanted from the beginning. I wanted to see how they got together. This is just kind of a fun…. I just appreciated what they did here. They connected things for us. That’s what I want, when it’s like between seasons, like give me how this happened. They did it in such a great way, that felt like the characters we know and love. I thought this was great. I thought it made sense, that it was… I don’t want to spoil it, but like, yeah, it was cool. And, totally felt like it fit in the world. And, I was happy.
Justin: I was down on the first couple issues of this, but I thought this last issue really wrapped it up nicely. [crosstalk 00:26:30] It felt like we really landed in a place where it felt more like the Dustin character, and that he found sort of a new batch of kids to really do a stranger thing with.
Pete: [inaudible 00:26:43]
Alex: I Agree. I thought this was fun. I enjoyed the series overall. My one quibble is, and this is an impossible problem to get past, but it felt like there is no way that Dustin would ever not mention everything that happened to this comic book series to his friends.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Like, he would not shut the fuck up about what went on here. The fact that he didn’t mention it, it was like, “Eh, I don’t believe this is necessarily canonical,” like there’s that leap there.
Pete: Oh, you’ve… I mean, that’s insane.
Alex: Dustin, the character from Stranger Things would not be like, “Hey, there was a serial killer at camp.” He wouldn’t mention that?
Pete: Yeah. But, this is a comic that takes place in-between. You can’t go back and wretchedly change what happened.
Alex: He would have 100%, like I respect that they needed to do this, so they made the story work.
Pete: That’s not how this works, man.
Alex: No, I understand like logically-
Pete: The shows already came out.
Alex: I understand logically-
Pete: You can’t…
Justin: To be fair guys-
Pete: What are they going to do, fucken-
Justin: … in-between seasons of Comic Book Club, I fought a serial killer to the death.
Alex: You did mention that before. [crosstalk 00:27:51].
Justin: And, I did mention it.
Alex: Okay. You also got a girlfriend right?
Justin: What happens in-between seasons, stays in-between seasons.
Pete: In-between panels, shit goes down, bro. You can’t- [crosstalk 00:28:00]
Alex: I’ll tell you what, it is the never ending story. That’s the main thing that I would [crosstalk 00:28:04] take away from it.
Pete: That’s the stupidest…
Alex: Justice League: Endless Winter #2, from DC Comics written by Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, art by Carmine Di[inaudible 00:28:13].
Justin: Wow.
Alex: Saw Pete looking at me, I going to pitch it.
Justin: Pete, holding up a notepad, getting [crosstalk 00:28:25] redline.
Pete: Oh my God. You just bailed on it. Oh my god.
Justin: That was the most Pete thing you’ve ever done. These dudes get into trouble and be like, “Well, I’m not going to finish that.”
Alex: Carmine Di [inaudible 00:28:47]…
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: I’m so sorry.
Pete: Oh god.
Alex: You’re a wonderful artist, and Howard Porter, this is wrapping up the Endless Winter storyline that’s run through a couple of books over the past couple of month. We were pretty high on the first issue. But, how do you feel about how this event wrapped up?
Justin: It’s much more different reading this during the winter. You really feel the cold.
Alex: Yeah. Cool. Thanks. Pete, what about you?
Pete: Oh my God. All right. Okay. First off, can we give a shout out Variant Cover by Daniel Warren Johnson. I thought this was amazing art, a great story. The sad Batman line kind of hurt me a little bit where it was just like, the chance to be with your family, anyone would understand. I was like, “Oh, poor, sad Batman, that was tough, tough a little moment there.” But yeah, I thought this was great.
Justin: It’s interesting how much Black Adam becomes the center point of this story, which I am not crazy into.
Pete: Okay.
Justin: But, that’s where we are, I guess.
Alex: I do feel like we’ve gotten a little repetitive with the Black Adams storylines, where he’s like, “Black Adam, you shouldn’t be here.” And then, Black Adam is there and he’s like, “I’m trying to help.” And they’re like, “No, Black Adam.” Then beat him up a little bit. I want to see something new for him. I want to see a new mode for Black Adam.
Pete: Yeah. You all aright? You got the hiccups or something?
Alex: Yeah, I got a little bit of the hiccups.
Justin: What happened?
Pete: Its like, “Are you getting choked up talking about Black Adam, likes what’s [crosstalk 00:30:31].
Alex: [inaudible 00:30:32] so much. Don’t pick out Black Adam. I love Black Adam. Yeah, this is fine though. This is fine. Like, we talked about with the first issue, Andy Lanning and Ron Marz know their way around an event, and make it fun. They know all the characters. It’s enjoyable. If you’ve been following all along, I think there’s a solid ending.
Alex: Moving on to Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance #1 from Marvel, written by Howard Mackie, pencils by Javier Saltares. This is, as we all have been begging for, the return of some guy who has been trapped in hell and a bunch 90s characters who escape from hell, and there’s a bunch of fighting. Pete, I’m sure you love this.
Pete: Yeah. This was like a younger me, well like wheelhouse of just over the top action and crazy characters. Yeah. I mean, it doesn’t make much sense, but it is quite badass, and a lot of fun battles and very gross stuff.
Alex: Justin.
Justin: On my end, I agree with you. When they said at the beginning of this issue, “Michael Badilino,” I was like, “Oh, I feel like I’m at someone’s birthday party, and I don’t know who it is.” And, that was sort of the whole vibe here. I was like, “This is like a ghostwriter who is…” This is a little mean, but it’s just less interesting than all the other ghostwriters. So I was like, “I don’t quite know the deal here, but-“
Pete: Yeah, its like Heavy Metal Ghost Rider, basically.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. I mean, I agree with you, and I agree that it’s also mean. But definitely reading this, I was like, “Who is this for?” “Who are they publishing this for it?” “Have people been demanding this?” I’m sure this is something that, oh, you Pete.
Pete: Well, younger… Lets… Yeah.
Alex: Younger Pete.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Younger Pete.
Alex: Yeah. There you go. It’s just… I don’t know it. Art’s fine, writing’s fine. I want a little more for my comics, that’s all I’m saying.
Pete: Like, teenage me would fucken love this.
Justin: Teenage me would fuck over this.
Alex: Oh boy, lets-
Justin: Speaking of getting a little more from our comics, let’s move on to our next one.
Alex: Colonel Weird: Cosmagog #3, from Dark Horse Comics, written by Jeff Lemire, art and letters by Tyler Crook. Spinning out of Black Hammer, Colonel Weird is continuing to jump through his timeline, Slaughterhouse-Five style, mix things up. There’s something he’s forgetting. He’s tried to figure it out. My God, this series is so good.
Justin: So good. I love this title so much. Black Hammer does such a good job of being like… Yeah, we’re telling sort of Justice League stories that have like Indie Comics, Justice League stories, you could say. And, this is just a perfect version of that. I love the art. I love the Slaughterhouse-Fiveness of it. It really just keeps hitting the mark, which is hard to do with what they’ve established here.
Pete: Also, there’s a lot of like… I completely agree with everything you’re saying, this is really phenomenal. The art’s banana’s good. But, it’s also like a lot of really cool things. Its like, he stops and talks with this like somewhat, maybe homeless dude on the corner, and then the homeless dude had a little flower in his hair. And then later when we see him, the weird guy has a flower in his hair, similar to how he did. There’s a lot of great details. Its just very impressive, this kind of weird-ass storytelling. I can’t wait to see how this wraps up.
Alex: I love how Tyler Cook, Crook, excuse me, draws Colonel Weird just with this mixture of vulnerability and sadness throughout the book.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: That is wonderful. We’ve talked about this before with Black Hammer, but just the way that Jeff Lemire is creating this own universe for himself, and his characters is awesome. So, this is great.
Pete: Also, like the eyeball stuff was not as like cringe-worthy as Nailbiter, it was a very creative and weird, but not like cringe-worthy, which was cool. Also- [crosstalk 00:34:52]
Alex: To clarify, he shoots a giant eyeball.
Pete: Yeah. And then, we get like a tease image for the next issue, and the little prince from outer space style, just so cool.
Alex: Great books. And, that’s it for 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 into YouTube, iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice, to subscribe and listen to the show. Comicbookclublive.com for this podcast. More @comicbooklive on Twitter. That is it for 2020. We will see you for more Stack in 2021.
Justin: See you in the future.
Pete: Its next fucken week guys. Why are you making it a big deal?
Justin: No, the world going to be different.
Alex: Wow. [crosstalk 00:35:36] going to be so much older.
Justin: We’re going to get to download our comics onto a tablet. (singing).
The post The Stack: Batman, Wolverine And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy37 min - The Stack: Dark Nights Death Metal, King In Black And More
On this week’s comic book review podcast:
Dark Nights Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1
DC ComicsWritten by Scott Snyder and Geoff JohnsArt by Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, Ryan Benjamin & Richard Friend, Paul Pelletier & Norm RapmundKing in Black #2
MarvelWritten by Donny CatesArt by Ryan StegmanFirefly: Blue Sun Rising #1
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Greg PakArt by Dan McDaidIce Cream Man #22
Image ComicsWritten by W. Maxwell PrinceArt by Martín MorazzoLabyrinth: Masquerade #1
ArchaiaWritten by Lara Elena DonnellyIllustrated by Pius Bak, Samantha Dodge and French CarlomagnoKing-Size Conan #1
MarvelWritten by Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Kevin Eastman and Steven S. DeKnightArt by Steve McNiven, Pete Woods, Roberto de la Torre, Kevin Eastman and Jesús SaizAn Unkindess of Ravens #4
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Dan PanosianIllustrated by Marianna IgnazziSea of Sorrows #2
IDWWritten by Rich DouekArt and Color by Alex CormackThe Last God #11
DC ComicsWritten by Phillip Kennedy JohnsonArt by Riccardo FedericiThe Department of Truth #4
Image ComicsWritten by James Tynion IVArt by Martin SimmondsThe Comic Book History of Animation #2
IDWWritten by Fred Van LenteArt & Letters by Ryan DunlaveyDoctor Doom #10
MarvelWritten by Christopher CantwellArt by Salvador LarrocaSea of Stars #8
Image ComicsWritten by Jason Aaron and Dennis HallumArt by Stephen GreenTransformers/Back to the Future #2
IDWWritten by Canan ScottArt by Juan SamuAction Comics #1028
DC ComicsWritten by Brian Michael BendisArt by John Romita Jr.The Scumbag #3
Image ComicsWritten by Rick RemenderArt by Eric PowellScarenthood #3
IDWStory & Art by Nick RocheColor by Chris O’HalloranU.S.AGent #2
MarvelWritten by PriestArt by Georges JeantyUndiscovered Country #11
Image ComicsWritten by Scott Snyder & Charles SouleArt by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Leonardo Marcelo GrassiSomething is Killing the Children #13
BOOM! StudiosWritten by James Tynion IVArt by Werther Dell’ederaSUBSCRIBE 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:
Speaker 1: Three, two, one.
Alex: What is up everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And on The Stack we talk about a bunch of Comics that have come out this week and woo boy, did a bunch of Comics come out this week.
Justin: Oh, and we’re going to talk about them all. It’s like Pokemon, but for comics and talking instead of collecting and it’s us instead of a kid named Ash.
Alex: Yes, but-
Pete: What?
Alex: … we do still keep our comics inside of a ball. Starting with Dark Nights Death Metal The Secret Origin number one from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns. Art by Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, Ryan Benjamin and Richard Fred, Paul Pelletier, and Norm Rapmund. This is not what I was expecting at all.
Justin: Agree completely.
Alex: But what it turns out to be is a deep dive into Superboy-Prime and in a weird way, the last ever Superboy-Prime story, it also I don’t know if it spoils or shows us or jumps ahead of a huge moment in Dark Nights Death Metal, but this is not just a throw away one-shot, this is an important part of the overall story. I was very hesitant going into this, but completely won over by the end both by the emotion and the storytelling and the art throughout, I was very impressed. Did you guys feel the same?
Justin: Yeah. I mean, this was written by Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder. A collab, a classic collab, and it really shows. I feel like this… You hear both of their voices in a nice synergy in this book. I’ve never been a huge Superboy-Prime guy, but this story I thought was really good. It takes the character and really humanizes him in a way that I didn’t see coming and was just a great book, great little standalone story focusing on the character. I love where it ended.
Pete: Yeah, the title was a little misleading. It is kind of a Prime story which I did not see coming. Yeah, I mean, it’s Supeboy-Prime still being a dick, but then he kind of gets a little bit less annoying and it’s amazing art and then of course dogs are awesome and dogs can make any asshole a better person.
Justin: Wow.
Alex: 100%. Couldn’t agree more with that. Like you said, you got Geoff Johns who invented Superboy-Prime coming in, Scott Snyder who has been the maestro of Dark Nights Death Metal and they’re working together. The thing… It is a huge spoiler, but the thing that surprised me that I could not believe happened in this book is Superboy-Prime beats the Batman who laughs and essentially wins in this issue, which is wild.
Justin: It was wild, but-
Pete: Is that it? I mean, is it going to happen in another book. Like it just seemed crazy that this was it.
Alex: I don’t know.
Justin: It did feel weird that it would come down to this. There’s has to be a ton more story to be told in the main book, but I do think like the Space Wolverine focused book who’d colloquially known-
Pete: Fuck you. You don’t know anything.
Justin: He’s known as the Lobo-
Pete: Thank you. Tell people what you’re talking about because that doesn’t make sense.
Justin: No, I think that’s a perfect description.
Pete: No.
Justin: Like if I were to describe you, I would say regular bones Wolverine and I think that makes a lot of sense. I just see the world through Wolverine tinted glasses.
Pete: That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.
Justin: Regular bones Wolverine?
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: But the Lobo book… I forget what it was called, but it really told the Lobo side of the story, but it all was a part of the main story, we just got to see this little fragment fully told in the side book. So I think this is real. This is part of it.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:04:03], said frag.
Alex: I mean, I’ll tell you what. This is an event that really could have used a checklist in the back of every book, which seems like such a dumb thing but we’re about to talk about King in Black in a second and a lot of those tie-ins kind of matter, but maybe not as much as the main King in Black book matters, but it’s very handy to look through and go, okay, have I read that? Have I checked that off yet mentally in my mind yet or does that come after this other thing? There’s so many different spinoffs and other things that it would be very easy to skip this issue and discount it as, Oh, it’s just another tale of the dark multi-verse or something like that, which mind you those books have been good as well, but I think there would have been a better way of executing that instead DC seems very allergic to recap pages and ways of letting people know how to follow their events and I wish they would do that a little better because I think ultimately that would be even more rewarding for the constant fans.
Justin: The constant fans.
Pete: I mean, that’s the thing though [crosstalk 00:05:02], by not kind of making anything about it, they’re really rewarding the people who read every DC book.
Alex: They just need to put a note be like, Hey, this one’s important.
Justin: [crosstalk 00:05:17], strategically fraud choice if I may.
Alex: All right. Well, let’s move on to another big event. King in Black, number two from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Ryan Stegman. This is picking up split seconds after the end of the last issue of Venom, which I know I said mostly King in Black is important, but we got to watch Venom falling down a building for 32 seconds in the last issue of Venom. That he’s been tossed off by the King in Black by-
Pete: [crosstalk 00:05:44], don’t say he’s been tossed off. That’s not-
Alex: What are you talking about?
Justin: I mean, that’s-
Alex: What do you think that is?
Justin: … exactly.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:05:52], like.
Justin: Is that degrading?
Alex: You can’t say you toss somebody off. That’s not good.
Justin: [crosstalk 00:06:00], he had his salad tossed off the building.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:06:06], Oh my God. Is that what you want me to say?
Pete: No.
Justin: Yeah. He got-
Pete: No. I’m trying-
Justin: Someone brocked his world.
Pete: Somebody brocked his world.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:06:18], is dealing with the fallout of the last issue where the world has been taken over by [crosstalk 00:06:24], or at least New York city. Some of the Avengers are trying to rally to get Venom, and unfortunately spoiler, by the end of the issue they fail at Eddie Brock dies. Oh, I couldn’t believe that… I was like, Oh, this will cut and then [inaudible 00:06:41], will swoop in and save him. He’s not going to hit the ground. Smash.
Justin: It’s about time somebody killed this maniacal Spider-Man villain.
Pete: Oh my gosh.
Alex: So where do you think this is going from here? Do you think Eddie Brock is actually dead? He’s going to come back to life, is his son Dylan going to be the new Venom? What’s the goal here, granted that we’re only a couple of issues through the King in Black event at this point.
Justin: I like this event a lot because it’s going hard yet we’re still getting the emotional bits. I think Donny Cates is very tactical. Like the issue of Eddie falling did feel like a sendoff and then to have him die in this issue feels like maybe he is dying, but I’m pretty confident he’s going to come back. He’ll become a full symbiote or some version of that will be where he goes.
Pete: I hope so because I really got into the father son relationship here and it was weird that while he was going through all this… Like they just had his son playing video games in another room, I was just like… I feel like someone should have-
Alex: [crosstalk 00:07:45], a son?
Pete: Ooh. Wow. That’s [crosstalk 00:07:51], like a jilted father. A jilted dad.
Justin: No.
Pete: Yeah. Jesus Christ.
Justin: The other day Alex’s son, it was bring your father to school day and he brought in his Xbox. That’s true.
Pete: He was like Master Chief is my dad.
Alex: Great book. Next up let’s move to the end of an event Firefly: Blue Sun Rising number one from Boom Studios. Written by Greg Pak. Art by Dan McDaid. This is as I just indicated wrapping up the Blue Sun Rising event where now Reynolds and the crew of Firefly are taking it to Blue Sun, the evil organization at the heart of a lot of things in the Firefly universe. Even if you haven’t been reading this event religiously this is great. This is a good-
Justin: So good.
Pete: Fucking Greg Pak man.
Alex: … chapter in the Firefly universe. Love this stuff.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, Greg Pak has done a great job of really… Took the characters from Firefly and Serenity and put them in a very different place at the start of this run and then he’s really brought them back. It really feels like a great episode of Firefly or even the sort of climax of the Serenity movie. Like really great action puts the characters in a situation where they know how to succeed by fucking everything up. Introduces these other characters that aren’t part of the main crew, but still fit really well. I think this event is just such a great run on this book
Pete: I’ve kind of been an outsider for this world, but this book did such a great job of bringing me in getting to care about these characters. This was an emotional ending. I thought it was really, really well done, and so well-written. This Greg Pak guy is unbelievable. I just really love that last panel and the let no one take the sky from you. Oh, just beautiful.
Alex: Great stuff. Definitely pick that up. Moving on to another surprisingly emotional issue, Ice Cream Man number 22 from Image Comics written by W. Maxwell Prince. Art by Martine Morazzo. Now we’ve talked about every issue of this book.
Pete: Every goddamn issue.
Alex: Well, every goddamn issue because it’s fantastic. The art is absolutely gorgeous. It’s terrifying in exactly the right way. All these small or big heart tales that parse out may have a loose continuity with them, but this one is very different. This is a advent calendar focusing on a character who’s trying to deal with the fact that she’s pregnant, her parents are over religious, what should she do about it? And it ends up having kind of a sad, but very hopeful ending for Ice Cream Man. This was a very refreshing change of pace and I really liked this quite a bit.
Pete: Well, that’s the thing. Like I couldn’t enjoy the refreshing because I was so worried about how this was ending. I was just like, “Oh God, what are we doing in this issue? Is the horror going to go too far? Like holy fucking shit.” But I was really impressed with the ending. I thought it was very touching and a nice turn.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, this was so refreshing that you might as well call it Lemon Sorbet man, because-
Pete: There we go.
Justin: … it’s such a nice bright change of pace. I do think that it’s sort of fitting at the end of a long difficult year to have even one of the darkest comic books on the stands really have a bright ending, but still able to talk about really interesting stuff, bring us to the edge of that horror. It’s great. This book is always great.
Pete: I also really like how the house in the last panel, the way the windows are opened. It almost makes the house look like an advent calendar. It’s just really, really impressive. If you haven’t checked this out, please do. Like every panel it’s just… They’re really playing chess with this. It’s just very impressive.
Alex: Totally agree. Let’s move on to one that I was pleasantly surprised by Labyrinth: Masquerade number one from Archaia. Written by Lara Elena Donnelly. Illustrated by Pius Bak, Samantha Dodge and French Carlomagno. What Pete is alluding to is Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies of all time.
Pete: You’re, goddamn right it is.
Alex: But I’ve been kind of iffy on the whole idea of continuing Labyrinth at all. What I really liked about this book is I feel like it found a fresh angle on the whole thing. We’re told a story that takes place semi in parallel to the movie, has some new things to say with some new characters. Has some good things to say about memory. Adds some stuff to the continuity, and just the whole mythology of it and the art is really good as well as the coloring. I like this quite a bit. Again, I know it seems like I should be in the tank for this, but I definitely came into it being wary and was won over by the end. What was your guys’ take?
Justin: I think that Alex is fucking tanked, is what I think. He’s in the tank, he’s on the tank. This guy has tanked for this book.
Pete: He’s under the tank.
Justin: Yeah. He’s swimming in the tank. He’s Scrooge dunking ducking the tank. I remember Labyrinth not perhaps as much as you. I remember if someone peeing into a fountain because we watched that in school and [crosstalk 00:13:15], a very salacious moment in my life, but this played like a book. If you’re not familiar with Labyrinth, but want to give it a shot, it’s very much like an issue of the dreaming in the same end universe or even an issue of fables. It plays by those same rules, it’s a great story and you get to just sort of explore this world following this character. I thought it was fun.
Pete: Yeah. I mean the whole time I was just thinking about how much [inaudible 00:13:43], loves this.
Justin: There you go.
Pete: But yeah, it was impressive. It was a new take on something that we’ve seen a ton. So it was nice to kind of like… I was impressed that it was fresh and the art was different, but it felt like it fit in the world. Yeah, I wasn’t really a huge fan of the Labyrinth, you know? I mean, I respect the Bowie and stuff like that, but I was really impressed with this take and with this story.
Alex: All right. Let’s move from a book that Pete was sure that I was all over to a book that I was sure Pete was all over. King-Size Conan number one from Marvel written by Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Kevin Eastman and Steven S. DeKnight. Art by Steve McNiven, Pete Woods, Roberto de la Torre, Kevin Eastman, and Jesús Saiz. So this is a tribute to Conan. It is a bunch of short stories about different parts of Conan’s life. As usual the short story collection, I think mileage may vary, but for my money I thought the last story by Steven S. DeKnight was awesome. I love that one. I thought that was great. The rest of them were like your standard hack and slash fair, but that was the one that I was really into personally.
Pete: All right. You don’t have to shit on the other ones [inaudible 00:15:06].
Alex: The other ones were pieces of shit.
Pete: No.
Justin: Wow.
Alex: Is what I definitely think. They’re not good art and good writing through out.
Pete: Yeah, the Claremont one I enjoyed, but the Eastman one, it was like I got into a cozy sleeping bag from the ’90s and just wrap myself self in nostalgia and was just so happy. It’s just great to see his art. I mean, it’s a little weird in color, but it’s still just it’s so grimy and fantastic in all the right ways and I think it fits with Conan. It’s cool.
Alex: Did you find any poggs at the bottom of your sleeping bag?
Pete: No.
Justin: Get out of that sleeping bag dude.
Pete: I was never a pogger.
Justin: Okay.
Pete: Never into the poggs, but yeah, I think this is great. A lot of great stories. Yeah, and the last one was cool. Also the art themselves we’re very different, but really worked. It was impressive.
Justin: Yeah, I liked this a lot too. Conan’s one of those characters that has these three iconic eras. Then I think if you haven’t read Conan, Jason Aaron’s run on Thor sort of echoed in a really good way, where it’s like young Thor, young Conan, middle sort of Thor, that’s confident and a great warrior and it sort of seeded all and then King-Conan who is sort of a little bit over it, and I like all these stories. The first one I thought it was really cool because it dovetails so nicely with the original publication of Marvel’s Conan: The Barbarian, which that was a cool little note and then my favorite version of Conan the more recent books of the last decade or so are the ones when he’s with Bêlit his pirate queen. So it was nice to see her again here.
Alex: Yeah. Good stuff overall. Next up An Unkindness of Ravens number four from Boom Studios written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Marina… Marianna, excuse me, Ignazzi. Here we’re finally kind of getting some answers about what’s been going on, but this book there is a teen witch not named Sabrina who has come to a small town, find some weird goings on. There seems to be two warring factions who were both gunning for her, and here a lot of the things that we have suspected since the first issue come out. I like that they aren’t wasting a lot of time on this mysteries in this book and they’re finally pulling the lid back on them so to speak.
Justin: Agree. Though that I will say the beginning of each issue has some good mystery building stuff where we’re getting a totally different sort of art style and some backstory stuff that I think is really cool. Dan Panosian who we had on the show is the writer of this book and he… The Panosh as he has never-
Alex: [crosstalk 00:17:56], calls him that.
Justin: As he’s never been called in his life. He illustrates the beginning of each book, which I think is very cool and then the main story it’s really good. The art style is sort of in that Archie world, but telling a story that sits right alongside Sabrina, if you’re a fan of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. It’s cool. It’s almost like making fun of the Archie style in a way, where it’s just like a little edgier. Also I think it works great. I’m impressed with this story. Also you shouldn’t take old timey pills in a paper cup and then drink. You know that’s just a bad combo.
Justin: What are the oldest pills you think are safe to take? Are you talking about… Like when you say old timey, do you mean like… Because the oldest pills were just little pebbles that people would take.
Pete: Oh, thanks man. Just the-
Alex: Yeah. OG pills?
Pete: OG pills-
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah. The original gangster of pills. Yeah, it looked like those old little paper cups that you see and he was just kind of tossing back some classic red and white pills there, and yeah. The art style is kind of like this Archie, but different, but the facial expressions are really great and especially in the main character. I think this is fun and different and cool. I like it.
Alex: Next up Sea of Sorrows number two from IDW written by Rich Douek. Art and color by Alex Cormack. We had-
Pete: [crosstalk 00:19:38], we had Rich on the show.
Justin: Yes. Take it easy guys.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah, not too rough. This is a story about a bunch of treasure hunters who encounter, or maybe some deadly mermaids. This is great. This is terrifying. This is the scariest issue I’ve read all week easily.
Justin: Yeah, the tone of this book is just so good. The way they draw the depths of the water is scary. The way the art is from, it’s so much… Like this is a very specific note, but it’s like so much up and down like vertical when they’re under water. Like when you read an issue of Aquaman or Namor. It’s sort of a scene like you’d see on any other book except under water. With this I could see these real long angles of these people under water and just add so much tension to it. All the characters are sort of greedy, up to no good. It’s great.
Pete: Yeah, this is dark on top of dark and then scary as fuck, man. This is like a crazy book and it’s intense to read because there is no hope, there’s no chance. It’s all going bad and the sea is a dark, dark place in this book and it’s filled with things that are going to kill you. So this is intense and definitely worth picking up if you’re into that type of shit my man, but get ready.
Justin: Have you guys ever been in water before?
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: You guys are like really-
Alex: Oh, man. No, I haven’t tried it yet.
Pete: Well, it was funny because Rich was talking about like… You know he’s from New York City and he would go to the beach, but there’s a real big difference. The first time I went into the ocean off of a boat where there’s no land in sight, it’s scary as fuck and I think this book kind of does a good job of really kind of grasping that.
Alex: I panic when I get into the deep end of pools because I imagine there’s a shark under me if I can’t get to the bottom, so.
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Yeah. I’m ready to go to the ocean. Let’s do this.
Alex: No, man. You will-
Justin: You really don’t like the ocean?
Alex: No, I really… Like I get an overactive imagination when the water is too deep and I can’t see the bottom. We used to go snorkeling when I was a kid quite a bit and if we were on the low part, we’re kind of swimming up to a reef or something like that. All good, but once we got past that where I couldn’t touch the bottom with my feet, it really became like, “Okay, something is going to bite me. Something is going to eat me. What’s coming? What’s going to happen? Oh God.” And I would just get this spiraling panic until I got back to the shore.
Justin: Oh, man. I can’t wait for our triple Caribbean vacation. We’re going to have a blast.
Pete: No way, man.
Alex: Good times. Let’s talk about The Last God number 11 from DC comics written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson. Art by Riccardo Federici. Another guest that we had on the show this week. We had Phillip talking about this issue. This is the second to last issue of the first series in Felspire Chronicles. Yes. Pete, do you have a question or a statement?
Pete: I have something I wanted to point out. Usually you do such a great job with your transitions, but I just feel like you really missed an opportunity from going from Seas of Star Wars to Sea of Stars. I just wanted to point that out real quick.
Alex: You know what? I purposely separated them because I kept confusing them.
Pete: Yeah. [crosstalk 00:22:58]. That makes sense.
Alex: There you go you are absolutely correct. Later in the podcast, we’re going to be talking about Sea of Stars number eight, but I kept them separate because I thought it was weird. All right. So let’s talk about The Last God instead. This is a big dark issue where things go down.
Justin: Holly shit.
Alex: I don’t think they’re going to get out of this one.
Pete: There’s plucky kids.
Justin: It doesn’t look great. I mean, every time we talk about this book, it’s all about there’s just so much depth here of the fantasy, the mythology it’s so well thought out. The art is amazing. It feels like the… Every page feels like the cover of a fantasy novel in the best way, and it does feel like a new take. It’s like a ruined fellowship as Phillip said on the podcast and to get to be in that with them and still have it, it’s not so stiff as it might come across. It’s not like these people aren’t saying we must continue. Like sometimes the sort of the token characters come across like they’re still joking around, they’re still like being real people and that’s great to see.
Pete: I got to tell you hearing PKG get worked up about this in how… And do it, he gets with just seeing the back matter in the songs and stuff in this issue really lets you know how deep this rabbit hole goes. Like you think you have an imagination of what you want to have happen. He has it worked out tenfold and it’s really impressive. The art is just phenomenal. Each issue kind of takes you to this kind of creepy magic place. Yeah, this was a fantastic issue. Great ending. I really can’t wait to see how this is all going to kind of go down. Yeah, man, the battle stuff is just glorious.
Alex: Next let’s talk about The Department of Truth number four from Image Comics written by James Tynion IV. Art by Martin Simmonds. Now earlier I said that Sea of Sorrows was the scariest thing that we read all week, I think I lied. I think this actually was. This book is incredible and this issue in particular is so expert at getting under your skin and making you feel uncomfortable. The writing is phenomenal. The art is phenomenal. If you haven’t been reading this, this is about a organization, a part of the US government maybe devoted to not debunking conspiracy theories, but stopping conspiracy theories before they could become true based on everybody’s belief. Here we get the belief that the characters of the organization is having challenged on their own as we find out more about Black Hat, the organization that’s fighting against it and the stuff that they lay out here is so upsetting to read in exactly the right way. A fantastic book, but as I said very scary and very uncomfortable to read at the same time.
Pete: I want to hear Justin take because he was saying this is his pick of the week. So I’m excited to hear what he’s going to say.
Justin: Yeah. I love this book. Like I’m a big news junkie and this book is like, Oh, this makes me feel so much better to have someone sort of digesting these things and making it make sense in a fictional context, but it actually is quite stressful to really feel these beliefs that real people in our world believe, and have it… The premise of the book is that if enough people believe in a very simple idea that is false, it still manifests in the real world and I think that is such a smart premise and scary and feels real to us. Like the book does this just great sort of loop-to-loop mentally for us as the reader, because the premise is about flies becoming real, but that’s also happened in our world. It’s such a smart book.
Pete: That whole thing about Barack just blew my mind. I-
Alex: And you believe it now, right?
Pete: Yeah. It was just one of those things where they in this book were able to pull off kind of like a trope that we’ve seen in a lot of horror movies and spoiler, but the whole like “The room in the next room.” I was like, “Oh shit.” But like that’s such a thing that I should have seen coming. It’s just… Oh, man. It’s intense. It uses real life that makes it scarier. Yeah, the art’s phenomenal. This is a crazy read and it’s really impressive.
Alex: Two things that I wanted to mention about this book in particular. One, a couple of issues back they introduced these… Issue two actually I think, they introduced this star face man who are our main character that we are following who is new to The Department of Truth was maybe, or maybe not tortured by this being years back, wants to track him down and wants to stop him and it uses a lot of antisemitic tropes and as a Jewish man myself, I was very uncomfortable about it. Reading this issue the targets conspiracy theories around birtherism and Barack Obama made me realize in retrospect that, “Oh yes, of course they are trying to make me feel uncomfortable with this plot line. They’re trying to make me feel this is upsetting.” And so to elicit that reaction, I think is the right thing.
Alex: The other thing that I wanted to mention is the end of the book, and this is a big spoiler, but by the end of the issue our main character is told, okay, this Washington Post reporter and presumably his editor, you got to kill them. You got to just shut this down because even if they say they’re not going to follow this up, at some point they’re going to mention it and it’s going to take on a life of its own and the Washington Post reporter I believe says something to the effect of, “Hey, you’re one of the good guys, right?” And while he’s crying, he says, “I think so.” And shoots them, and that in essence kind of defines and redefines the entire series because we realize, Oh, okay. We have a predilection to think that people we’re following the heroes, maybe they’re not.
Justin: Yeah. And I think I had that same feeling of dread reading this about just controlling the truth is a slippery slope to be on. So that’s a great tension for this book. One of the things I want to mention, there’s an ad on the back of this book for the new Anthology series from W. Maxwell Prince, the writer of Ice Cream Man called HaHa, coming out in January. Very excited for that.
Alex: Me too.
Pete: I don’t know if I’m ready for that.
Alex: Neither am I. I feel like my wife, who is a clown is going to be hypercritical of it. We’ll see what happens. Maybe we’ll have her on the show. Next up [crosstalk 00:29:52], History of Animation number two from IDW written by Fred Van Lente and arts and letters by Ryan Dunlavey. Just a little note, we’re going to have him on the show I believe next month or maybe February.
Pete: Fred.
Alex: Have a chat about this book, so that should be a lot of fun. This book is great. I know we talked about this the last time, but here we’re finally getting to the point where Disney is ascended and Walt Disney at least in this world and probably in ours as well is a sociopath.
Justin: Yes.
Pete: Yeah. It’s super crazy to read this. You know that Fred Van Lente just did all this off the top of his dome. Like this guy knows so much about Animation.
Alex: He made it all up, right?
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: He made up all this shit?
Pete: No, no. He just knows it-
Alex: The Department of Truth.
Pete: … because he lived it, man. He lived it all.
Alex: Oh, God. That’s crazy.
Justin: He lived it. I love that little facts you learn every time you read any books that these guys do together, and this is so interesting. Like just one from the beginning here Marjorie Sullivan I think wife of the creator of Felix the Cat, notable drinker fell out of her window and died trying to hail her chauffeur while she was drunk. Just those little details, these little stories that are just so interesting, and then the way they incorporate imagery from the actual cartoons and animated projects they’re talking about is really cool.
Alex: And it’s also funny. You know it could just be a history lesson that feel like reading Wikipedia, but they make it engaging, they make it fun as they have done with every comic they’ve done across the board. This is great. I’m very excited to keep reading this book and see how they get up to modern history. It’s really fascinating so far. Next one Doctor Doom number 10 from Marvel written by Christopher Cantwell. Art by Salvador Larroca. This is the last issue of this title. I believe the last one we read was the first issue of this title. So I figured it was worth checking in. Part of the criticism I believe we had with the first issue was it seemed a little light and fun for a Doctor Doom book. This issue was not light and fun, [crosstalk 00:32:00], but definitely very dark in exactly the right way. I thought this was a great ending for the series. How’d you guys think?
Justin: I agree like the first issue I think was called Pottersville last issue called Bedford Falls, I think those are two references to its wonderful life. My favorite movie at the holidays. So this felt very timely and it’s just a great character study of Doctor Doom that we get to see played out here, cementing him as a straight up villain. He gets played a lot in Fantastic Four as sort of a little bit of a softie. He has a connection with Valerio thanks to Hickman’s run, but I think this is the best Doctor Doom. He’s a petty, very powerful super villain and we get to see that on display.
Pete: Yeah. Just to me the way it ended was great. When it started, I was like what are we doing here? I don’t want a different Doom, but just the way he’s like never was, never will be good. Like that was just so bad-ass, such a great Doom kind of like ending. So I was really impressed with how this ended.
Justin: You were like here comes the Doom?
Pete: Yeah. “Here comes the Doom.”
Alex: Well from Sea of Sorrows to Sea of Star number eight from the Image Comics written by Jason Aaron and Dennis Hallum. Art by Steven Green. So we had Dennis Hallum on the show, live show a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was really fascinating frankly reading this now knowing that… Unless I got it wrong, Dennis writes the dad stuff and Jason Aaron writes the kids’ stuff and knowing they kind of write on their own tracks, definitely redefined how I read this book, but still another good weird issue of the story of a dad and his son trying to find each other in the universe.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, really knowing that about the book it definitely changes how you read it. This book reminds me so much of sort of last season late episodes of Adventure Time where it’s like a little bit trippier it’s a little bit like you don’t quite know where the deeper underpinnings are blending with the fun mythology stuff and I’d love that. So I love this.
Pete: Yeah. This continues to be just kind of like I’m worried about the kid and if they’re going to find each other, but I’m also having such a great time with the amazing stuff that is happening and to see that the dad kind of get to have some fun in this issue was great. Before he was just kind of just scared shitless for his son and kind of panicking. This was I feel like a cool kind of turn where now both characters are kind of like looking for each other, but they’re all both also kind of having fun out here in the Sea of Stars.
Alex: Next up Transformers/Back to the Future number two from IDW written by Cavan Scott. Art by Juan Samu. I got to tell you I was fine with the first issue of this book. I thought it was fun, but okay. We get of course time travel story where the Decepticons take over the past of Hill Valley, turn it into a despotic future. Marty McFly has left there, but the reveal at the end that the DeLorean is a transformer was like, “Great. Now we’re into it.” This issue paid off of that promise. It was a blast to read, super dumb and silly and fun in exactly the right way. Like I said, I had a blast reading this. I had a lot of fun. Pete, I’m sure you had fun as well.
Pete: Yeah. This is just a ton of just kind of like mash up fun. You know like what’s better than DeLorean being a transformer, spoiler also the goddamn skateboard is a transformer.
Justin: Yes. Oh, you’re not a fan of Skills. The transformer who’s also a skate board. This makes me think like, can any wield object be a transformer?
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Like-
Pete: Well, also I got to say the ending was also a lot of fun. Doc Brown, looking like he’s got the Mando gun going on and I tell you what, I don’t know what future those ties are, but I can’t wait to get there because that’s a fun looking tie and I’m hoping to rock one, one day.
Justin: Yeah, sort of the bandolier tie?
Pete: Yeah, man.
Justin: Here’s what want to pitch given what I just said sort of an Amish wagon transformer series [crosstalk 00:36:46], wheelbarrow, there’s a Turner, there’s-
Alex: My name is Rumspringer. I’m an auto bot.
Pete: Rumspringer.
Alex: Yes. There’s more than meets the eye. Yeah, this is a blast read. It’s very silly but it’s very fun the right way. Next step action comics number 1028 from DC comics written by Brian Michael Bendis. Art by John Romita Jr. This is the last issue of Brian Michael Bendis’s run on the title. He’s wrapping everything up with the super family before he move on with Phillip Kennedy Johnson, who again we had on the live show talking about his new run so go check that out-
Pete: [crosstalk 00:37:22], key guests.
Justin: We’re topical.
Pete: Man.
Alex: But what do you think about this issue? What do you think about Brian Michael Bendis’s run on the super family as a whole?
Pete: I thought you were going to be like, what do you think of this Brian Michael Bendis guy?
Alex: Do you think he’s going to do well?
Pete: I thought this was very swing issue, cool ending, love the thank you notes by the desk cubicle, amazing art, touching story. I thought this was a great Superman comic.
Justin: I mean, this is Bendis doing what he does best and Bendis writes great sum up issues for his runs, where he… Because his whole thing is like really bringing characters down to earth, having them having a take and really connecting with the other characters in their universe and that is what this is all about. We get to see this stuff from the Jimmy Olsen series where he has purchased The Daily Planet. Perry’s very fun, we don’t get a ton of time with actual Superman stuff happening here which I thought was interesting, but I love the family stuff. That’s what I really liked about the run before Bendis took over so I’m glad we’re sort of landing there because I hope that we’ll play a lot in going forward and honestly, I don’t feel as burnt by the Superman and Clark Kent revealing themselves to the world as I did initially.
Alex: Yeah. I think that’s a fair estimation of it and overall, this is a good fun issue. It doesn’t feel particularly essential necessarily. It’s been weird reading the sum-up issues before they move on to Future State where it’s like well, see you later, is kind of what they feel like, but John Romita Jr art, it’s good. He’s drawn a good superman. It’s a nice time.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Next up The Scumbag number three from Image Comics. Written by Rick Remender. Art by Eric Powell as considering the story of the worst guy on earth who can save the earth. Here, I think we kind of complete the first arc and move into the second arc or at least the second villain for our dirt bag hero naturally saves the world, but does some terrible things in the process. This book continues to be very timely in an interesting way and funny at the same time.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, I agree. It’s a classic Remender book where it’s like a strong, good premise for a story. It’s very funny, but there’s always some stuff underneath. It’s really like commenting on our world in a way that is really nice. Pete, give me your take on this 1978 Firebird trans in.
Pete: Come on, man. I mean I was a little disappointed with the sex doll edition, but that is like, Woo-hoo, baby.
Justin: Now that’s a transformer, right?
Pete: Yeah. it should be.
Justin: I do like the last page that sets up our next field and as you said Alex, the sort of accolade looking people hundreds of them on laptops typing on the bright side of the moon with a mysterious villain watching over them is a great setup.
Pete: I also like how there’s this line with the scumbag, you know what I mean? Like okay, the scumbag gets to be a scumbag at different moments, but it’s also like, “Hey man you can’t be a piece of shit and have superpowers. That’s not how it works, you know?” And that really kind of comes back to-
Justin: Oh wait Pete. Actually, have you ever met villains? Have you ever met any supervillains?
Pete: No, I haven’t. Cause I’d probably be dead if I did, but thank you for asking?
Justin: No. I mean, have you ever read about them, because those people are mostly assholes who have super powers.
Pete: Oh, okay. Interesting take, but-
Justin: And I’ll also mentioned Eric Powells art, which is like what if Mad magazine, but super fucked up, which is fun to read.
Alex: It’s just a fun book across the board. Let’s move to a slightly more serious one Scarenthood number three from IDW. Story and art by Nick Roche. Color by Chris O’Halloran. In this book we’ve been following a father and his friends, who have to deal with some weird going on in their town, around the school that their kids go to. Here a lot comes out about our main character that makes him I think in a really interesting way less palatable as well as we get the lid blown off when it comes to the supernatural storyline. It was definitely a big issue. Justin, you’ve been really liking this book in particular I think.
Justin: I like this book a lot because of those swerves that it keeps taking. It’s interesting we’ve spent the first two issues really in the head of our main character and then the perspective totally flipped. I love being inside people’s heads except for the year that I was trapped inside Pete’s head being John Malkovich style. That was a weird ride.
Pete: Yeah. You almost didn’t make it out, man.
Justin: That’s true, but boy I learned a lot about your schedule, what you do on your private time. Check out the upcoming memoir-
Pete: Yeah. I think this is definitely what it’s like to be a parent.
Justin: … if I did it the page story.
Pete: You know, like you’ve got your responsibilities to your kid and then you have a group of parents that you get together with and you solve crimes and ghost stories and stuff like that. So I feel it’s nice to have a representation of what it’s like to be a parent in this world.
Alex: Yeah, I agree. Let’s move on and talk about US Agent number two from Marvel written by Priest art by Georges Jeanty. This is continuing a story where US agent is dealing with a lot of things. I’ll tell you what, I honestly had a little bit of trouble following this issue even though I remember what happened to the last issue which I think we all liked quite a bit, but the Georges Jeanty art still reliably very good.
Justin: Yeah. I agree. It is. I don’t quite know the full take of this story, but I do like it. I like the scenes, I like the issues we’re touching on here and I just like US agent as a character. Like what if captain America was sort of a jerk, but really had an inferiority complex, but was always trying to do the right thing. So I like where this book is living.
Pete: Yeah. I had a little bit of a hard time following what was happening, but it’s cool.
Alex: All right. Well, next stop then Undiscovered Country number 11 from Image Comics written by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule. Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Leonardo Marcello Grassi. In this issue we’re starting to get into the, if not wrap up, at least the back half of the unity storyline. We are in the second ring of a closed off America that has all followed focused on tech, turns out it’s terrible. They’re powered by baby brains. There is a basically dead woman living in a giant vagina who runs everything and she wants our heroes brains to join them.
Alex: Here’s something that I thought was fascinating about this issue, and this is definitely a spoiler for the issue, but I certainly realized this and the characters realized in this book, they’re given a challenge. There said Aurora, who’s the person who runs America wants you to either choose a ring of America or keep moving to the next ring until you choose one, and by the end of the book they all realize they say, “Hey, you know what I think we need to do is we need to see all of these rings and get to Aurora and then bring what we’ve learned. That’s the challenge here.” And that’s certainly what I thought. I was like, “I’m ahead of this book. I know what’s going on here.” But the fact that they said that out loud, that is 100% wrong, right?
Pete: Yup.
Justin: Yes. I think that was a classic bait and switch move that we get a little bit of a pay off right here.
Pete: But also we’re plug for the first-generation iPod in the middle of this.
Alex: Still good man [crosstalk 00:45:23], click wheels are really good. [crosstalk 00:45:27], plus all crazy bass they had for songs on those things.
Justin: You can listen to one whole U2 album on there, and that’s the only thing. If I remember correctly, that’s the only thing you can listen to on it. Yeah, I really liked this arc especially. Like we talked about it before, but it really focuses up a lot of the ideas and you have more of a sense of the characters coming out of the first arc. So it really moves in a nice way, and so many ideas.
Pete: I think it’s an interesting idea just like, Oh, you just got to give up your second born. Not your first born to be a floating brain just your second born, you know what I mean? No one really cares.
Alex: I think I can do that. Justin?
Justin: Yeah. Wait a second. Are you a first born or a second born? Because I think-
Alex: [crosstalk 00:46:16], I’m a firstborn.
Justin: I’m a first born. Pete, aren’t you this younger brother?
Pete: Nope. I’m a firstborn as well.
Alex: Oh, great. Well this is all working out so well. The book is really good, definitely pick it up. Next up at last something… Oh yes. What’s up Pete?
Pete: I did want to say though that every time I think I have a handle on what’s going on, they’re like nope, not even close. Which is not really frustrating, but impressive that I could still be confused after this long, but man the art and the paneling it’s just really impressive. Okay, sorry.
Alex: No. It’s all right. Last but not least Something is Killing the Children number 13 from Boom Studios written by James Tynion IV. Art by Werther Dell’Edera. We’re finally getting an event that’s been promised pretty much since the first issue where our main characters compatriots come to town and start killing everybody. She wants to shut down the monsters that are killing the children as quickly as possible. Every issue… I know I say this every issue, but so little happens but it’s of such import to the characters, it still feels media at the same time and Werther Dell’Edera art is phenomenal. Another great issue of this book.
Justin: Every single issue of this is just so great and the art is just… There’s at least one or two panels where you’re like fuck man I would love to have that. It’s like a desktop background or a poster or something. It’s just glorious.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:47:49]. That would be so cool to have it as a desktop background.
Pete: Yeah, because you get to stare at it every day you fucking dick.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:47:57], a laptop. I don’t want to brag or anything.
Justin: Mr. Desktop over here. I would love to have it just as printed on my sheets.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:48:05], to have it on my van.
Justin: Yeah. The inside or the outside are both?
Alex: Inside. I don’t want other people to see.
Justin: Nice.
Alex: It’s for me.
Justin: That’s for you. That’s for daddy. Yeah, I like this book a lot. I will say the pace of this book is gotten, it’s pretty… Not a ton of story happens each issue, and I’m curious if that will change. Because I think it needs to make some larger moves. So maybe-
Pete: So you’re saying this wildly popular book that is really impressive they should just change it?
Justin: I think it could pace up a little bit. I feel like we’ve been in this narrative moment for quite some time.
Pete: Yeah, but if you read in the trade then you’re fucking fine, they don’t have to change anything.
Justin: Don’t tell me what to do.
Pete: Well, don’t tell it what to do, enjoy it for what it is.
Alex: Well, I’ll tell you what I’m going to tell those of you listening what to do. 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 comics. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app is you are trying to subscribe and listen to the show @comicbooklive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time we’ve been Comic Book Club, peace out.
Justin: Oh, when I lived in your head Pete, I told you what to do all the time. (singing).
The post The Stack: Dark Nights Death Metal, King In Black And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy50 min - The Stack: Black Cat, Blade Runner And More
On this week’s comic book review podcast:
Black Cat: King In Black #1
MarvelWritten by Jed MacKayArt by C.F. VillaBlade Runner 2029 #1
Titan ComicsWritten by Mike JohnsonArt by Andres GuinaldoThe Expanse #1
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Corinna BechkoIllustrated by Alejandro AragonLocke & Key: …In Pale Battalions Go… #3
IDWWritten by Joe HillArt by Gabriel RodriguezCommanders in Crisis #3
Image ComicsWritten by Steve OrlandoArt by Davide TintoRorschach #3
DC ComicsWritten by Tom KingArt by Jorge FornésDecorum #6
Image ComicsWritten by Jonathan HickmanArt by Mike HuddlestonNew Mutants #14
MarvelWritten by Vita AyalaArt by Rod ReisPost Americana #1
Image ComicsStory & Art by Steve StrokeBatman #105
DC ComicsWritten by James Tynion IVArt by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez & Christian DuceStillwater #4
Image ComicsWritten by Chip ZdarskyArt by Ramón K. PerezWe Only Find Them When They’re Dead #4
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Al EwingIllustrated by Simone Di MeoWolverine: Black, White & Blood #2
MarvelWritten by Vita Ayala, Saladin Ahmed and Chris ClaremontArt by Greg Land, Kev Walker and Salvador LarrocaHead Lopper #14
Image ComicsStory and Art by Andrew MacleanDark Nights: Death Metal #6
DC ComicsWritten by Scott SnyderArt by Greg CapulloSeven to Eternity #15
Image ComicsWritten by Rick RemenderDrawn by Jerome OpeñaThe Immortal Hulk: King in Black #1
MarvelWritten by Al EwingArt by Aaron KuderThe Immortal Hulk #42
MarvelWritten by Al EwingArt by Joe BennettOnce & Future #14
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Kieron GillenArt by Dan MoraSUBSCRIBE 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, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And on The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that came out this week, kicking it off with Black Cat, King in Black number one. I wish that rhymed, but it didn’t. Marvel, written by Jed MacKay, art by C.F. Villa. This is of course tying into the King in Black event, but it’s also bringing back the Black Cat title that I know Justin liked ever so much. This one, Felicia Hardy is dealing not only with Knull, the king of the symbiotes, but she’s about to pull off a heist of her own. What did you think about this issue, Justin.
Justin: I think this is a great issue. I love this black cat series. I think Jed MacKay has a really great understanding of the character, the way that she speaks and we’re in her head for a lot of the earlier series.
Pete: You love being in the characters heads.
Justin: I love. Isn’t that the dream? God, if I could be in the head of Pete LePage and Alex Zalben on a daily Basis.
Alex: Oh, that’s delightful. [crosstalk 00:01:09].
Pete: No, no way. Would not be good for you.
Justin: I spent a couple of weeks in Pete’s head. I don’t know what happened, if there was a lightning strike. [crosstalk 00:01:17]. Yeah, it was just as you’d expect.
Pete: Well, it was like what women want situation, but just with Pete.
Justin: I finally know what Pete wants, and it begins and ends with a meatball sub from the subway. And this issue, really great art, some fun stuff. Her and her team steal the Spider-Mobile and get to drive that one a bit.
Pete: Yeah, the Spider-Mobile was fun bit. I loved seeing that.
Justin: And this crosses into King in Black in such a fun, great way. It feels important and real, and the reveal, or the sort of mission at the end of the first issue is super fun.
Pete: I got to say, this is a great example of tie-ins done right. We’ve been reading a bunch of kind of tie-ins to this and it’s like, “Wait, what? Is that really a tie-in?” This is done really well. It fits, it makes sense. It’s really cool for the character. It gets you excited about the event. I was really impressed with this book.
Alex: Well, it’s also really good in on the Black Cat book, because clearly a lot of stuff has gone on there, which frankly I have not been reading. I think we only talked about one issue maybe at one point on The Stack or the live show. But this fills you in on everything you need to do very ably. You’re able to jump in on her supporting cast and understand what’s going on with them as well as her previous adventures over the course of this book. I agree, really fun stuff. I was very surprised how much I like this, and I’ll definitely be reading more.
Pete: Also I just want to say the art is absolutely fantastic.
Justin: Yes. Thank you. Thank you guys for getting on board with this. You’ve really made my 2020 a perfect year.
Alex: Even better than 2020 though is going to be Blade Runner 2029 number one from Titan Comics written by Mike Johnson, art by Andres Guinaldo. This is of course-
Pete: That’s why you get paid the big bucks Zalbs.
Alex: Thanks man. I do get so much money off of the show. This is clearly taking place in the very near future in the Blade Runner universe.
Justin: You make it sound like it’s real. You’re like, “This is our future.”
Alex: I’ll be upfront and honest about something.
Justin: Ooh.
Alex: I’ve never seen Blade Runner. I’ve also never seen Blade Runner [crosstalk 00:03:33].
Pete: No of the movies?
Alex: I know what’s going on because I live in the world and you can’t avoid understand what’s going to go on Blade Runner, so it wasn’t a big surprise. I actually liked this despite not having ever seen those movies. I thought it was a pretty solid story of tracking down replicants. The main character was interesting.
Pete: Sorry, Alex.
Alex: The character was interesting. I like this quite a bit.
Pete: I’m sorry, Alex. Alex.
Alex: Hold on. Mike Johnson is a good writer of tie-ins, so clearly he knows what he’s doing here and I think that works. Yes, Pete.
Pete: Because you’ve never seen any of the movies, no one gives a fuck what you have to say about this comic now.
Justin: Wow. Yeah, exactly.
Pete: Because if you haven’t, if you don’t know the material, shut the fuck up.
Alex: No, I know. It is the ice skating competition movie.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: Where they have to do [crosstalk 00:04:21] the cutting edge. Oh, yeah [crosstalk 00:04:23].
Justin: Oh, that’s [crosstalk 00:04:25]. Surely you’ve seen the director’s cut of Blade Runner then.
Alex: No, I’ve seen the directors kind of cutting edge.
Justin: You just have seen the theatrical release.
Alex: They called it the director’s cutting edge is what they call it.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Justin: Yeah, the director’s cut.
Alex: I’ve also seen Cutting Edge 2049.
Pete: It keeps getting better every time you see it.
Justin: It’s crazy, they’re replicants. They’re all replicants. I have seen the Blade Runner films.
Pete: Thank you. Now I want to know what you think of this.
Justin: Well, yeah, we shouldn’t be allowed to comment on something if we haven’t seen the underlying material. Hold on to that thought for anything else we’re talking about this year. I thought this was really good and I agree with Alex, you don’t actually really need to know a ton about Blade Runner except for Harrison Ford’s theological underpinnings to his character when you’re watching the director’s [crosstalk 00:05:21].
Pete: Yes. Thank you. Yes.
Alex: I have seen Firewall, does that help?
Justin: No. If you’ve seen Air Force One, you’ve seen Blade Runner, my man. But the art of this book is really-
Pete: If you’ve seen Regarding Henry, then you have seen Blade.
Justin: Regarding Henry, I think that movie was fine. I look forward to the comic book adaptation. This book was good. It’s a good story. The art is great. I love the tone of the art they have here.
Pete: Yeah, I really agree. I love the tone that the art sets up. It does a great job of really fitting into the world. Yeah, I was really impressed with this book. It really has a great pace to it, a lot of awesome action, some really fun moments where the replicate kind of gets their haircut and stuff like that. I thought the whole wall thing was really impressive. Always really thought this was a great, great comic, even though I’ve seen the Blade Runners and like them, this comic was kind of above and beyond that.
Justin: Classic flex. The art is almost Moebius like, I really like that.
Pete: Ooh.
Alex: Yeah, this is very good stuff. Easy to get into, even if you haven’t watch the stuff. Let’s move on to another one and talk about The Expanse number one from BOOM! Studios written by Corinna Bechko, illustrated by Alejandro Aragon. Now I got to say this is another one, I’ve seen the first season and change of The Expanse. And of course I’ve seen The Expanse 2049. But I’ll tell you without slamming it too much, this felt like the complete opposite of Blade Runner 2029 to me where I had no idea what was going on for most of this book. And it felt like you had to have watched the show to understand the characters, to understand the settings. And that was a real bummer to me because I enjoyed the first season. I would be happy to pick up an Expanse comic books, see more of this world, but I don’t want to have to have watched every episode of the show to necessarily get into it. Did you guys feel the same way?
Justin: I’ve never seen The Expanse, but I understood every aspect of this comic book.
Pete: I have seen every episode of The Expanse. I have read the Bubblegum comic book series that Joe Blow did for a little while. I have read fan fiction. I am very well-educated in this and I thought it was spot. No, I haven’t read any of it [inaudible 00:07:50].
Alex: It’s funny that you did. I was pretty sure you were lying, but the fact that you didn’t mention the novels that it’s based on. Bubblegum first.
Justin: Joe Blow.
Alex: But given that we don’t necessarily have a familiarity with The Expanse. How do you feel this worked as a comic book?
Justin: No, I mean, I agree with you. This is definitely for fans. It is so rooted in … You have to know, I think you have to fully know the characters when you come into this book, there’s not even a preamble to get us into the world and what’s happening. And I think that’s fine, it’s definitely just not a book for someone who’s never read or watched the show.
Pete: Yeah, it’s tough if you’re just kind of at a comic book shop or buy it however you do, because you’re like Boom! Studios because they do great books. It’s definitely a deep cut. I was definitely lost for a little bit. But kind of getting an idea of what’s happening and by the end of it, it won me over. Art, I thought was fantastic. A lot of talking, but I’m kind of into it. I liked how it ended.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: And this ties into the X-Men.
Alex: Yes, it does. It’s a direct spinoff of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, everybody’s favorite X-Men movie. Next one we’re going to talk about Locke & Key, In Pale Battalions Go number three from IDW written by Joe Hill, art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Of course, this is a series that we’re all in on. But this is wrapping up [crosstalk 00:09:18] the mini series before the mini series, which is kind of fascinating thing that they’ve been doing. Initially was supposed to be the sad man crossover which we’re about to get into called [inaudible 00:09:28] that’s going to be, I believe two issues long at this point.
Alex: But then very slowly, they expanded outwards the amount of issues they were doing for this prequel that leads directly into it after this issue. And I think after the last issue we kind of know what the setup is going to be for the sad man Locke & Key crossover. But this is still wrapping up this three issue mini series. The story of what happens when one of the old timey Locke family members goes to war in World War I, comes back, brings some German soldiers back with him. Things go very, very badly. And in this issue Key house fights back in incredibly graphic and bloody ways. Pete, there were attack teddy bears in this issue. You have got to have loved this.
Pete: Oh my God, yeah. I love that whole teddy bear scene. This was just classic Locke & Key, amazing storytelling, the art going above and beyond in all the greatest ways. There’s a moment where she’s shutting the door, but it’s like disappearing. It’s just, Gabriel Rodriguez is a goddam legend. The moment where it was like, welcome to Key house motherfucker, it was just … This comic continues to be amazeballs every time these two team up is just absolute magic. It’s just gross and fun and over the top and all the great ways. Yeah, I don’t get tired of watching German soldiers die, and there’s a fun little kind of ad in the back where it’s Kinsey’s comic corner, fantastic.
Justin: This was so upsetting as a story, just so well done and heartbreaking. And especially the fact that this is connected, it’s the same family from among the stars story from back in the day, the one where they are-
Alex: Is it over the moon?
Justin: Unlock the moon, sorry.
Alex: Unlock the moon.
Justin: Unlock the moon, among the stars is what’s written on his grave, it’s just so tough. But the art in this book is so good. It’s just so intense. And there’s just dread throughout. We talked about this a lot with Locke & Key, the way that they’re able to sort of have this low level hum of great narrative stress as you’re reading this, because you feel for the characters and you know bad things are happening is so good. Something I noticed while reading this, and I don’t know if this has been featured in any other thing or if it’s maybe something to curb in the future. They feature the graveyard a couple of times in this book. And one of the characters, Fiona Locke, there’s a little key hole in her gravestone. Do you feel like that’s a … maybe there’s something to be done there?
Alex: Yeah, potentially. I mean, maybe it’s like a zombie Key or something like that, or it’d bring back the dead Key. I mean, I think we could delve into spoilers here, but certainly the goal seems to be the current Locke patriarch in this continuity potentially heading down to hell to try to rescue his wife or something like that.
Justin: Yeah, maybe that’s the doorway. He opens the door and goes down a pair of steps, a set of steps sort of Legend of Zelda style. One other thing I want to say real quick, the character-
Alex: It’s dangerous to go alone is what I have to say about that.
Justin: You are the guy that hands in the wooden sword. The character, one of the main characters here, the kid that goes to war is named Jonathan Tyler Locke. Jonathan Tyler is my brother’s name. When I saw that in the grave, I was like, “Yo.”
Pete: Oh man, you should send them a screenshot, man. You know what I mean? Just be like, “Thinking of you bro. Hope you’re good.” Because what’s great is that you could cut it off because it says Jonathan Tyler, and then says Locke underneath. So you could totally do a little cut in there and just make it nice.
Alex: Yeah, that’d be great to really fuck with your brother. To the point you were saying though Justin, I really liked that this story was in a very different mode than the Locke & Key title that we knew. It felt like it tells its own story with its own tone. It’s a tragedy as opposed to the other one, which is a horror adventure story, and that’s great. I’m really excited to see what they do with Helen gone. But the more different types of stories they can tell in this world, I think overall the better for its longevity, particularly as we know there is more coming.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about Commanders in Crisis number three from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando, art by Davide Tinto. So Empathy is dead or is Empathy, because Empathy has come back to life and the commanders are trying to figure out exactly what’s going on. I think we were pretty high on the first two issues of this book. Do you think it continues to hold up here on the third?
Pete: Yeah, I mean, I see Orlando as having a lot of fun with this. This is really cool the way it’s written in the way that characters are. I love the voices and the different stuff. It kind of starts off really grody and kind of crazy in the beginning. But yeah, it gets a little emotional, but then kind of right back into the kind of humor and action I was impressed with how this ends. It does a great job of giving us a little bit of getting excited for the next issue at the end of each comic. Yeah, I continue to be impressed with this team and the different voices and stuff on it. This is a lot of fun.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. Steve Orlando is such an idea generator, you can see in all of his work his stories are super complex, calling on so much continuity. And I feel like with this, he sort of put it all, all of his just wild ideas in full throttle going forward. He’s created all these characters and he has him just driving through all these different ideas. There’s the multi-verse, there’s superheroes just fighting on the ground. We have the villain here is the social callers. It’s some sort of social media slash cell phone tech vampire or tech zombiefication for the situation. And it’s just fun. It’s a lot of new ideas all the time.
Alex: From new ideas to old ideas, let’s talk about Rorschach number three from DC Comics written by Tom King, art by Ori Fornace. In this issue we find out more about the cowboy character that we’ve met in the first two, who was actually assassinated in the first issue of the book. We go back in time, find out about her backstory as the main detective investigates further, what was going on with her, this new old Rorschach. I really liked the sushi quite a bit, not just in terms of fleshing out Tom King’s take on the world, but also how the story purposefully unfolded confusingly in terms of the timeline at first, but became clearer as it went on. I still don’t know how this connects to the main narrative or exactly what our overall dramatic thrust is here necessarily, but as a one-shot one-off issue, I thought this was very well done.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I’m really impressed with how crazy this is, but how this issue we’re getting specific information about this main character that we’re dealing with in this issue. And it’s really impressive. There’s just so much going on, but it’s done in such a kind of cool way that keeps the story moving in such a creepy, but good way. Art and pace is phenomenal. This continues to be a very interesting, cool book, but it brings up this interesting point and I’m interested to get your guys’ take on this. Sometimes to love your father, you have to shoot him in the head. How do you guys feel about that?
Justin: As fathers?
Pete: Yeah, as fathers with daughters.
Alex: I have my kids sleep with a gun every night.
Pete: Smart.
Alex: And every night I go to bed praying that they’ll shoot me in the morning and so far it hasn’t happened.
Pete: Wow.
Alex: I just run right into the rooms and go [inaudible 00:17:43]. But then they say, “Good morning, daddy.”
Pete: Oh man.
Alex: Disappointments, both of them.
Justin: What a startling vision of Alex’s home life.
Pete: Same thing for you, Justin?
Justin: What’s that?
Pete: Same for you with your daughters?
Justin: Yeah. No, I’m always waving a gun around the house. They’re going to get there, I don’t need to tell them quite as hard as Alex does. I want them to come to it on their own.
Pete: Okay. Yeah.
Justin: But I like this a lot. It’s funny the last, this issue and the one before felt like a standalone issue with just lightly touching the events of the first issue.
Pete: Agree.
Justin: And I think, I mean this time, King does this a lot where you only realize the story he’s telling a little bit into it. And I think it often works, I think it’s working here. It’s interesting that the characters we’re learning about here are sort of conspiracy theorists. They believe that the squids affect your brain. And I wonder if that’s, if Rorschach is going to believe that as well. Because it makes these characters maybe probably delusional. If he’s commenting on believing in conspiracy theories, it feels like these characters are not understanding reality. Which Rorschach’s whole thing was believing these outlandish things. But this one happened to be true in the watchman.
Justin: So to have Rorschach believe something that isn’t true is an interesting take. I’m very curious, it makes him less of heroes, less of a character you can get behind if he’s totally on this crazy path. I don’t know, it’s just like a lot of time King stuff, it’s really interesting to see where it’s going.
Pete: Agree.
Alex: Next up, Decorum number six from Image Comics written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston. We’re finally bringing together this issue, which is wild that we’re doing it in issue six. But we have this courier character that’s been training to be an assassin. At the same time these weird [inaudible 00:19:52] beings who’ve been doing something, who even knows what. But in this issue they finally come down and hire the assassins and say, “Hey, can you find this egg for us?” And then we kind of avoid that in the back of the issue, but it’s still-
Justin: They’re prepping for their egg mission.
Alex: Sure, they’re prepping for egg mission. There are points particularly on the assassin side of things that are so funny and so fun, particularly because they’re coming in the middle of this wild, very dead sci-fi and Saturday. I am finding myself loving this book more and more with every issue.
Justin: A 100% agree. I thought this issue was great. And all of the things we’ve talked about with Hickman, both in this book and with his X-Men work where it’s like, what’s he doing? What’s all this information like. It was all worth it to get to this where it’s super fun the whole time, the story’s coming into focus, we’re seeing the mission. And the characters are set up in a way where it’s going to be exciting to watch them bump into each other.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. This was a really solid issue.
Justin: Yeah, Pete.
Pete: I felt like this clicked into place for me. The art is phenomenal, a lot of different styles mixing here, but done in such a great way, it doesn’t feel like a separate story. It’s really, really impressive how well the art kind of makes this all work. Yeah, I’m excited for more. I’m a little worried about Hickman fucking me because there’s all these weird symbols everywhere that don’t need to be. But so far the art is really winning me over, so this is great.
Justin: Pete, the original Hick maniac coming around for Decorum. I got to say though, the symbols and all of the extra pages, I think they do serve a purpose. They let you digest what you’ve seen before and see that it’s all sort of a picture frame that holds the story.
Alex: Because their chapter breaks is essentially [inaudible 00:21:49].
Pete: I thought you were going to say a palate cleanser, Justin.
Justin: Maybe, I don’t know. You’re supposed to have a little bit of sorbet when you see the Decorum, just a light sorbet.
Alex: Every time I get to one of those picture pages I eat an entire pint of Chunky Monkey.
Pete: Nice.
Justin: Chunky Monkey picture pages.
Pete: I’m more of a, what is it? Chunky hubby or what was that? Hubby-
Justin: Chubby Hubby.
Alex: Chubby Hubby.
Pete: That’s the one that I like.
Alex: Chubby Hubby is very good. Pretzels in that, always love pretzels in an ice cream.
Justin: I don’t like [inaudible 00:22:24].
Alex: Here’s a couple of tastes that go great together, the New Mutants number 14 from Marvel written by Vita Ayala, art by Rod Reis. This kicks off Vita Ayala’s run on the title, bringing a bunch of the original New Mutants together minus Cipher, which is a huge missed opportunity of course, I think we can all agree on that. But man, I love this issue. I thought this was so smart, so well done. As a lot of the recent X-Men stuff has been in terms of focusing in, here you have the older New Mutants teaching the younger New Mutants how to use their powers. They come up with a creative thing that I don’t think we’ve ever seen on the X-Men before, where the new mutants characters combine their powers to figure out new ways of using them, which was paced out so well, it’s so fun.
Alex: There’s a thing where I think it’s two pages earlier, Rahne and Magik by their powers where they’re one teleporting Wolf in, and then two pictures later, it’s five teleporting Wolfs out, which is very funny. It was just perfectly paced out. The other thing that I loved about this book, and this is obviously very much on purpose, but bringing the Amahl Farouk, The Shadow King here, who also seems to be in some way on Krakoa, which is very suspicious. But clearly Rod Reis is channeling Bill Sienkiewicz, who is the definitive Shadow King artist here, also the definitive New Mutants artist. But it very much feels like its own thing. I love this from top to bottom. Pete, I know you’re probably going to have some anti X-Men bias going on here with this book.
Pete: Yes.
Alex: But I thought this was really good. This is one of my favorite books of the week.
Justin: Because you hate mutants.
Alex: I thought this was so well done. And I was so happy with how it was executed.
Justin: You call them flat scans, right Pete? Because you’re a mutant hater.
Alex: Pete by the way, since you guys can’t see on Skype is wearing one of the smiley robot suits that the right has.
Pete: I don’t even know what you’re talking about. All right. So the art in this is phenomenal. It’s like some parts are almost like water color, it’s so beautiful. Magik is just glorious in this, some really fun paneling. There’s some stuff that’s going on that I don’t understand. But I do like the idea of bringing The Shadow King into this. I mean, if you’ve got fuck Island, you might as well have The Shadow King.
Justin: That’s your excuse for everything.
Pete: And also it makes me want to rewatch Legion.
Justin: Yeah. I feel like there’s definitely some channeling of Legion here, which is great. And I agree with you, Alex, combining the New Mutants powers in that way, it’s very like Final Fantasy, the video game in a cool way. And I really appreciated that. Great book.
Alex: Yeah. Just super fun across the board. Next up, here’s a wild one, Post Americana number one form Image Comics, story and art by Steve Skroce. This is a future society where everything has fallen apart in America. We start off with some sort of militaristic remnants of America who seem ready to take the country back. But of course, or maybe they’re actually fascistic, we don’t really know. One person escapes, encounters some insane people that are in the bad lands, including cannibals and other people, find a bad-ass woman who’s ready to take the back. It is wild. It is bloody. It’s over the top. It’s often funny, like when chickens just rip apart a dude.
Justin: That was funny.
Pete: Don’t fuck with chickens man.
Alex: The art in particular reminds me a lot of Jose Von Ryp I think is his name, the guy who does a lot of stuff for Valiant, and he did Crossed as well.
Pete: Oh, yeah, reminds me of Crossed.
Justin: This feels very Crossed to me both in substance and style.
Alex: But I enjoyed this, I enjoyed the tone of the characters and the dialogue a lot. Just, they felt very different to me in fresh and ridiculous in exactly the right way. How’d you guys feel about it?
Pete: Yeah, I was really impressed with this. This was a lot of fun. It was really over the top, lot of action, lot of violence. You got to love that. This was a very cool interesting take. Yeah, it’s hard to know who to kind of root for here with what’s going on. I mean, America kind of looked like the evil empire but we’ll see how this all unfolds. But man, what a great first issue to get you pumped up for what’s going to happen? But yeah, man, it’s exciting and fucked up.
Justin: You don’t know how to root for it Pete, so you’re maybe rooting for the cannibals.
Pete: Yeah, you don’t know who to root for here, man.
Justin: Because let me say the cannibals who we meet at the end of the book-
Pete: Maybe rooting for the chickens.
Justin: Lot of human skin fashion in this last page.
Alex: A lot of them were wearing hair suits, I would call them.
Justin: Like our facial, like faces sown into [crosstalk 00:27:16].
Pete: Or skull in front of your junk.
Justin: The leader’s wearing a button-down made of human faces. It’s wild.
Alex: Maybe they’re good.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: So you never know.
Alex: Maybe they’re the good guys.
Justin: They clearly have a strong sense-
Pete: Because you’ve got to use everything. You’ve got to use every part of what you’re using.
Justin: Well, let me ask you, don’t you think-
Alex: Just like I said to Jeanine back in the day of the comedy club, you got to use every part of the [inaudible 00:27:39].
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Wow. Sorry, I’m still stunned by that. Do you think, if you’re a cannibal and you’re butchering the meat.
Pete: Sure.
Justin: Do you cut the skin off? I feel like if I’m eating Turkey or if I’m eating some other, sometimes I eat the skin.
Pete: Yeah, definitely.
Justin: Why are these people leaving all the skin behind?
Alex: It’s probably too thick, right? Humans whose skin is too thick.
Justin: Not Pete skin.
Pete: Only one way to tell Zalbs.
Justin: Pete’s very thin skin.
Alex: Great point. I’ll tell you what, after my children shoot me to death, I’ll tell them to cook me and eat me and let me know how it goes. [crosstalk 00:28:27].
Pete: Yeah. Let us know how it goes.
Justin: Yeah, let us know. And we can come over.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:28:32] podcast.
Justin: Let me work … We’ll work out the menu.
Alex: Yeah. You got to start with some survey I think between every dish. Good book, definitely pick it up. Batman number 105 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez and Christian Duce. This is the final part of the Ghost-Maker story, and it doesn’t end I think quite how anybody necessarily expected. It also seems to maybe be the end of James Tynion’s run on Batman-
Pete: What?
Alex: … which is surprising in and of itself. Well, I don’t know. I mean, he seems to be tying stuff up before a future state.
Pete: Well, maybe he’s just cleaning, getting a fresh start for his new story arc. I think this was a really great … It’s nice to see Harley Quinn open up, get a little emotional here with the kid clown on her. I really liked the kind of flashback with the Ghost-Maker and Batman stuff, nice to get all that. And then we kind of had a nice moment. I don’t know how much we want to spoil here, but reading I was like, “Aw.” I thought it was … you don’t get to see as much. It was nice to see a little Batman being a little soft.
Justin: I was sort of surprised about that choice at the end. I expected Ghost-Maker to be either a villain that is someone who bothers Batman in Gotham or someone who leaves and maybe works in the shadows to cause a problem for Batman. The way it ended, I was surprised by, and I don’t know if I love it.
Pete: Oh, come on man.
Justin: But the everything else in the book I thought was great and I’ve really liked the art in this book and the way they’re able to sort of seamlessly transition between artists.
Alex: I liked it more for Batman than Ghost-Maker, if that makes sense. I like the idea that Batman is trying to be more compassionate [inaudible 00:30:29], but Ghost-Maker at the end and saying, “I’ve tried to kill you most of my life, but you know what, let’s be friends.” Seemed a little-
Justin: Let’s be coworkers.
Alex: Yeah. Which I don’t know, I guess we’ll have to see how it plays out. But I agree with you, I think it was a little quick there even though I enjoyed the issue.
Pete: I mean if Batman can be friends with like Damian and a bunch of other people who are at different stages of maybe being evolved.
Justin: Well, he’s his father.
Pete: Yeah. But still he’s kind of a psychopath. And so I feel like this works, Batman’s opening up to this person and might as well try to work with them to hopefully get Ghost-Maker to a better place.
Alex: All right. Fair enough. Let’s move on and talk about Stillwater number four from Image Comics written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Ramon K. Perez. This takes place in a town where nobody ever dies. One guy comes into the town, finds out about it from the outside, but turns out he was actually born there. This issue, we flash back and find out that his history, how he was taken outside of the town and exactly what happened. I like this issue quite a bit and particularly coming in issue four, I think that was a smart place to put this because waiting much longer to parse out these mysteries might’ve kind of frustrating. But I liked the answers that we got personally.
Justin: I agree, and I love the … Ramon Perez’s art is so good. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and really like it here. This book has such a good tone. It feels like it’s ready-made to be a TV show. And the characters are really well-made.
Pete: Yeah, this is very interesting. We kind of have this … we’re finally getting pieces that kind of make sense, clicking into place here about our main character and why he’s coming back to this place and what it means and what he’s a part of. And it’s too bad they didn’t kind of push this, I think earlier a little bit, because they could have had like a baby boss tie-in real easy. You had a very-
Alex: Boss Baby.
Pete: Boss Baby, yeah, sorry. But like that smart baby in the beginning, that could have really tied in nicely.
Alex: Cool. All right. Let’s move on and talk about We Only Find Them When They’re Dead number four from Boom! Studios written by Al Ewing, illustrated by Simone Di Men. Di Men, Is that right? Or did that auto correct? Di Menco I think.
Justin: Simone Di Men.
Alex: Simone Di Men.
Justin: Simone Di Meo.
Pete: Di Meo, yeah. D-I-M-E-O.
Alex: Thank you very much. My auto correct is out of control.
Justin: That’s crazy that it changed that letter from O to N, it’s crazy.
Alex: Nuts, it’s disgusting is what it is.
Justin: They’re right next to each other in the alphabet.
Alex: This book is fascinating to read because I think the art and the coloring in particular almost overpower the story of everything that’s going on. It’s beautiful to look at, but sometimes honestly a little hard to follow at this point.
Justin: Yeah, it’s funny, it’s a book that I wish I had the hard copy of.
Pete: Yeah, exactly.
Justin: Because I really think that would make it a little cleaner. It’s a book that I want to just be further away from when I’m reading it, because it is such a wash of color. I appreciate the choices. I think it is really cool and different. And I don’t know enough about what’s happening to know where we’re headed. But I still trust the storytelling here. It’s Al Ewing who I think is great.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I don’t mean to kind of echo the old demand of what we’re saying, like, “Oh, it makes it hard to read.” But I think it’s-
Alex: Did you guys look at it with your spectacles on?
Pete: Yeah. I had one of the bifocals gone and it still didn’t work, but yeah, it’s really cool. The art, the paneling, the really pushing stuff, making the story move, helping the action, which is great. But just sometimes because the layouts are so intense, it’s a little tough to kind of follow so it takes a couple of reads, but if we were holding the physical comic, I think it wouldn’t be an issue.
Alex: Next up, Wolverine: Black, White & Blood number two from Marvel written by Vita Ayala, Saladin Ahmed and Chris Claremont. Art by Greg Land, Kev Walker, and Salvador Larroca. As with the first issue, there’s three stories of Wolverine, three different adventures. I got to tell you, I thought the first issue was pretty good. It was well done. I didn’t love absolutely everything in it. This issue is great. Just really well done. And in particular, one of the things I was so impressed by was Greg Land takes a lot of knocks for his art and potentially rightly so. But stripping all the color out of it and all the metallic wash and shine that usually goes over his characters. And just in that story, focusing on the black and the white and the occasional splashes of red really emphasized how good and dynamic his art is. And Vita Ayala leaned into that with a story, which I thought was great as well. I was really impressed overall with nearly every story on this issue.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I think this issue is really kind of clicking. This makes a lot more sense, this whole black, white and blood. I was just blown away by the art, the action, the violence, it’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful, a lot of fun, a lot of great Wolverine kind of stuff, that if you’re a Wolverine fan, you know about this character, so it kind of bounces all over, which is great. I was really impressed. Two or three really solid stories in this book.
Justin: I thought the art was great across the board, I love, it feels like they put them, these stories in a particular order where it’s sort of the most black and white, the first story, and it gets redder as the issue goes on. [crosstalk 00:36:36]. Yeah. It’s funny on the live show, Alex, you talked about the cliche of Wolverine being in a bar and then having an adventure. And it felt like especially the first two stories were very like Wolverines in the woods and then somebody gets him. It felt like it was dealing with those tropes, living in those tropes a bit. But the Chris Claremont story I thought was … it was my favorite of the three, which I was surprised about. But in general I like the book.
Alex: Well, I mean, to that point, I think the things that worked about both of these to me, the same thing that didn’t quite work about the first two stories in the first issue of this, where that they stood back and let the art do their thing, that they were like, “Yeah, we’re going to do classic Wolverine setups,” but it’s all about setting up Greg Land. It’s all about setting up Kev Walker to do the thing that they do, which I thought was really nice. Next up, Head Lopper number 14 from Image Comics, story and art by Andrew MacLean, continuing the Pete block we have here on The Stack.
Justin: Pete block.
Alex: In this issue some heads get lopped, I think a head.
Pete: Yeah, maybe [crosstalk 00:37:45].
Justin: A head finally gets lopped.
Pete: Huge head. Yeah, we get a Medusa, old head lopper goes up against Medusa. This is just glorious. I mean, plus it starts with a double page spread of a map, which I’m a sucker for. And yeah, this is just a fantastic story of kind of like Conan the Barbarian type of thing, wandering the earth, having adventures, hanging out with the witches as you do. And yeah, this is kind of a fun day, head lopper has a little bit of a team working with them now. This is just continues to be a bad-ass fantastic book that doesn’t try too much and just stays in its fucking wheelhouse.
Justin: That’s the dream, stay in your fucking lane artists. But I do, this is a fun book. This is like a modern Usagi Yojimbo.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Did we say that last time? Because I see why Pete likes it, it’s very good. I like it as well. I thought the witch head was going to get turned to stone, I really did.
Pete: Oh yeah.
Justin: I was worried.
Pete: That would’ve been crazy.
Justin: Yeah. I also liked that this is clearly a huge universe, a long adventure that we want to be able to go on for a long time, and I hope we get to.
Alex: Next up Dark Nights: Death Metal number six from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo. We are getting towards the end here as the United forces of every single hero and villain in the DC Universe, fight back against the Batman who laughs and his united sources of dark Batmans and dark planets and things like that. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is off on her own mission to try to save the universe at the universal forge, I believe it’s called. I continue to be struck by not so secretly, but how this is almost secretly like a Wonder Woman series, which I think is kind of great. It gets away from Superman and Batman always being the leads and turns the focus on her. And the solution she figures out towards the end here. I thought it was really fun and really simple and really great. And just overall, again, just a fun issue of this wildly over the top series.
Pete: This continues to be a lot of fun. I really, really love this issue. Things are starting to finally maybe go in the good guys direction, which is very exciting, epic pages, some old school shout-outs and some touching moments with Clark and Lois and then Clark and Bruce. I fucking love this shit.
Justin: I’m just waiting for the space Wolverine to pop his claws. It’s about time he popped them and got into the action, you know what I mean?
Pete: You’re a piece of shit.
Alex: If there’s a low bow, why isn’t there a high bow?
Justin: That’s so good, or a tie bow.
Pete: Oh boy.
Justin: I think it’s very funny to me that in this book, the Batman who laughs has been elevated to a god. And it’s funny to think that it’s just a Bruce Wayne. That’s just a regular Bruce Wayne under there, who’s just had a couple bad days.
Alex: The weirder part to me, there were two weird things in this issue. Not necessarily bad things, but seeing Barbatos’ face finally whereas I was like, “Oh, that’s not a weird looking dude in there, under that giant cloak. That’s pretty strange.” And then the other one was Superman and Lois saying goodbye to each other. Everybody else was great. I loved everybody else. And even-
Pete: What is your problem there?
Alex: Then said goodbye, what did Superman say? Superman was like … Lois was like, “Superman, you’re always the son that I looked towards.” And Superman is like, “You’re the lead of my story.”
Justin: Yeah. You’re always my number one lead I think she says.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. That was the point where I was like, “Shut up.”
Pete: Why?
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Why you cold hearted motherfucker?
Alex: It’s stupid. That’s a stupid thing to say when you’re about to die, don’t say that.
Justin: I have it here, “Lois, thank you for this life, for our son, for being my true home planet.”
Pete: Yeah, that’s fucking beautiful.
Justin: Very sweet from a long haired mostly dead Superman. And then she said, “Thank you, Clark.”
Pete: [crosstalk 00:42:02] complimenting his hair was hysterical.
Justin: Thank you, Clark, for being the best lead a girl could ask for. And then someone off panel, get a room.
Pete: All right. First off, Zalben fuck you man. I thought that was a great thing for Lois to say.
Alex: I don’t know. That was kind of like, and I worked in a newspaper.
Pete: Fuck you.
Justin: She doesn’t love him. She just is with him to keep the news flowing.
Alex: Yeah, exactly. Also, what is she doing there? Where has she been the entire time? The fact that she is [crosstalk 00:42:34] to be like, “And I’m also here.”
Justin: She’s covering the end of the universe for the daily [crosstalk 00:42:40].
Pete: You know what Zalb, she doesn’t have tO prove shit to you. She can come and go as she pleases.
Alex: She’s just hastily writing out a newspaper on some dead Robin Skinner or something like that.
Justin: Yeah, exactly. This just in, holy shit, [inaudible 00:42:56] dead.
Pete: If you’re reading this congratulations.
Justin: Bear with me readers because this is confusing. So there’s a dark forge of …
Alex: There’s going to be a lot of bi-lines on this one, but fun book. Let’s move on and talk about Seven to Eternity number 15 from image comics written by Rick Remender, drawn by Jerome Opena. This is a huge issue for this book. Our protagonist has slowly been working way towards a place that potentially could make him immortal. We think it has been for reasons of helping his family. In this issue it becomes clear, 100% absolutely is not. And he goes from, I would argue being the hero of the book to turning out to be the villain the whole time, which I think is phenomenal in the best Rick Remender way of doing things. What’d you guys think about this?
Justin: And conversely, the villain from the book, the Mud King is sort of becoming the hero.
Alex: Yeah, 100%.
Justin: And I would guess that was Rick Remender’s perhaps goal for the series. And he’s done a great job of really just slowly leading us away from our expectations from the very first couple issues of the series. But really this issue, the art is so good. It’s a real like everything is just really well done from the beginning to the end, a lot of big splash pages, it’s so good.
Pete: This is classic Remender, just like you think you understand, you think … I was so excited. I was like, “Oh, this is great. Okay. We’re finally going to have,” and then at the end I was like, “Wait, what? Goddam Remender, man.” He is a very impressive writer. This continues to be a ton of fun. And the twists and turns are very enjoyable. I’m very nervous about what’s going to happen moving forward, but man, the art and the action are just glorious.
Alex: Great stuff. Let’s move on and talk about our Immortal Hulk block two issues [crosstalk 00:45:05].
Justin: Hulk block.
Alex: The Immortal Hulk King in Black number one written by Al Ewing, art by Aaron Kuder. The Immortal Hulk 42 written by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett. Starting with the first one, this obviously again is a tie into King in Black. Here, so many things going on at the same time. There’s no reason this should work with the amount of things they have happening. But it’s not only an Immortal Hulk book, which is a thing in and of itself. It’s not only a tie into King in Black. It’s not only a Christmas story. It’s also a completely silent issue at the same time. And it is phenomenal.
Pete: One of my favorites. This is like, when people ask you like, “Oh, what’s your favorite Christmas story?” This now goes to the top of the list, black Christmas. This is just so cool. And so much is said about Hulk without any words. This really is just a classic Hulk story. Oh my God, this is so great, so much fun.
Justin: This is your favorite Christmas story now, more than the movie Christmas story.
Pete: No. It’s one of my favorite Christmas comics, [crosstalk 00:46:15].
Justin: If you have children, you’ll read this aloud to them on Christmas.
Pete: Yes, I will.
Justin: Which will be [crosstalk 00:46:21] reading.
Alex: Say, “Hey kids, gather around, it’s time for the horrifically wildly smiling Hulk story.”
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: The way Aaron Kuder draws, this is these … If you haven’t been reading Immortal Hulk, Hulk is kind of split into different personalities. He keeps morphing between different things. Here we mostly get the skinny childlike Hulk, who’s been showing up. He also shows up in the next issue we’re going to talk about. We also get Joe Fixit shows up for a little-
Justin: Yeah, he does.
Alex: … die hard style action at one point, which is super fun. But yeah, man, this is just great, just a great story. So well-drawn by Aaron Kuder, so well written by Al Ewing.
Justin: The art is so good.
Alex: Again, there’s no reason they should work with the amount of things they have going on here, but it’s a wonderful one-shot.
Justin: Yeah, it’s really, truly great. One of the best issues on the stands right now.
Alex: Let’s move on then and talk about Immortal Hulk number 42, which is the ongoing story of the Immortal Hulk. Here we get a little break as the Hulk fights The Thing, actually lays out everything that’s been going on with him, which I think is the first time in 42 issues any of the superheroes have kind of found out what has actually been going on with the Hulk here, even though he understands the only part of it. And Thing figures it out too, understands the different [inaudible 00:47:38] Fixit and the other Hulk and everything that’s going on, they eat some hotdogs at Coney Island.
Pete: You’re goddam right. You got to do it while you’re there.
Alex: Delicious. And it ends with of course, a very typical terrifying paddle right at the end there for what’s coming up next. But again, a fantastic issue of this book. And I love seeing The Thing, Hulk rivalry in a new light, it’s great.
Justin: Yeah. You really get to see the tender side of The Thing coming out here, which I thought was really good. And their conversation at the hot dog shop was really nice-
Pete: The hotdog shop.
Justin: … getting into like, yeah, sandwich shop, hot dog I guess being a sandwich in that case.
Pete: Oh man.
Justin: Hot dog is not a sandwich.
Pete: Yeah. And the way they talk about the afterlife, The Thing coming back and being bar mitzvah’d and rediscovering some sort of spirituality or having a second spirituality 13 years after they got bombarded with the cosmic rays, I thought was an interesting take. I’ll talk about Joe, but just a really smart issue touching on a bunch of ideas and really sad watching the whole fight and cry.
Alex: I mean, I’ll just mention just on the whole thing story where he’s talking about how the 13 years there that was him being reborn. I know that’s something that [inaudible 00:49:02] covered and is one of the thing. But from a Jewish perspective, I got a little choked up, that’s something that they don’t really talk about a lot in the books is that aspect of The Thing. And I think Al Ewing wrote it in a really sweet way and paste it out in a really sweet way. That was very nice to see. It meant a lot.
Justin: Now we talked about this on the live show, but the podcast just turned 14. Should we have had a bar mitzvah for you since we’ve been doing this for 13 years?
Alex: Yeah, no problem. I’ll shoot you guys a tow report and we could read that in the next live show.
Pete: Oh, that would be great.
Justin: I would love to.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Plus we get to go play video games and stuff or something, right.
Alex: Sure, that’s how that works.
Justin: Isn’t there some fun thing?
Alex: Yeah, you get to have a party afterwards.
Justin: Okay. I’m in.
Pete: Yeah, this continues to be amazing. Really great use of The Thing in this, love The Thing’s new kicks, glorious. Also really fantastic cover, really love the cover. Yeah, just when you think this story, it gets so weird and so grotesque, but also the heart in the story is really phenomenal, it’s very touching. The humanization of these kinds of grotesque characters if you will is fantastic. I cannot believe what they’re doing in this whole comic. It’s really unprecedented.
Alex: Last but not least, let’s talk about Once & Future number 14 from Boom! Studios written by Kieron Gillen and art by Dan Mora. In this issue, we’re wrapping up a couple of things as I believe they fight Guen, or they are Guen. I don’t know, I honestly missed the last issue, so I’m not [inaudible 00:50:47] keeping up. But there’s some bloody stuff, it’s a fight continuity stuff that happens and this title continues to be a ton of fun.
Pete: Yeah. I mean this whole game thing that it starts with, and I mean to say the art is spectacular is an understatement. It’s just so breathtaking and makes things … you’re feeling the stuff that is happening. It’s just so intense and amazing. And then you just have this bad-ass grandmother right in the middle of it. Every issue is just glorious and it continues to be. I don’t know why they don’t turn this into a goddam movie or TV show. It’s just so good. I want to see it in all the different iterations, if it could … Just so many great characters, so much fun. This is really just glorious.
Justin: There’s a lot of stories about stories, particularly in comics. And I think this one does a great job of making it more complex and it’s a little bit trickier, it really feels like a heightened version of so many things are touched on, where it’s like, no, the story’s, the thing we’re inside a story. And in this our main characters are inside multiple stories at once and they’re competing, they’re juggling them. But it’s also like they’re having a great time, the art is so like high-octane action movie. It’s really fun.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Great stuff. All right. That’s it for this week’s episode of The Stack, if you’d like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube, come hang out. Chat with us about comic books, iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. At comic book live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, this has been The Stack.
Justin: This will always be The Stack. You’re inside The Stack. We’re all part of The Stack.
Alex: Oh, my kids are coming in. Let me see what they want.
Pete: Is that that creeping-
Justin: Bam.
The post The Stack: Black Cat, Blade Runner And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy54 min - The Stack: Home Sick Pilots, Venom And More
On this week’s Stack podcast, we’re reviewing:
Home Sick Pilots #1
Image ComicsWritten by Dan WattersArt by Casar WijngaardVenom #31
MarvelWritten by Donny CatesArt by Iban CoelloThe Comic Book History of Animation #1
IDWWritten by Fred Van LenteArt & Letters by Ryan DunlaveySweet Tooth: The Return #2
DC ComicsBy Jeff LemireScarenthood #2
IDWStory & Art by Nicke RocheColors by Chris O’HalloranVampirella: The Dark Powers #1
DynamiteWritten by Dan SbnettArt by Paul DavidsonSeven Secrets #5
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Tom TaylorIllustrated by Daniele Di NicuoloCrossover #2
Image ComicsWritten by Donny CatesArt by Geoff ShawSpider-Man #5
MarvelWritten by J.J. Abrams & Henry AbramsArt by Sara PichelliAmerican Vampire 1976 #3
DC ComicsWritten by Scott SnyderArt by Rafael AlbuquerqueGetting It Together #3
Written by Sina Grace & Omar SpahiArt by Jenny D. Fine & Sina GraceOrigins #2
BOOM! StudiosCreat by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph OxfordScript by Clay McLeod ChapmanArt by Jakub RebelkaKing In Black: Namor #1
MarvelWritten by Kurt BusiekArt by Benjamin DeweyThe Vain #3
Oni PressWritten by Eliot RahalIllustrated by Emily PearsonRed Sonja: The Price of Blood #1
DynamiteWritten by Luke LiebermanArt by Walter GeovaniSUBSCRIBE 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, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And on The Stack we talk about a bunch of new comic books that have come out this very week. We review them, we give our unfiltered [crosstalk 00:00:23].
Pete: Just try to filter us. Good luck.
Alex: It’s never going to happen. And we’re going to come out raw and hard on this first one.
Pete: What? Well, don’t say things like that.
Alex: Yeah, but no, I’ll say whatever I want. Home Sick Pilots number one from Image Comics, written by Dan Watters, art by Caesar Wijngaard. I don’t know, I probably should check that before we got on the air or anything like that.
Justin: I think Caspar, is Caspar Wijngaard.
Alex: Yeah. This is a new title obviously from Image Comics from two creators that frankly I don’t think I’ve ever heard of, but this is … I wanted to put this up front because there’s been a lot of hype on this. And there is a very big, in my opinion, bold debut that is well worth that hype. This focuses on an indie band, one member who ends up in a haunted house, disappears, weird things go on, crazy things go on. And it almost feels like to me a spiritual descendant of like, I don’t know, so many different things at the same time that it feels original. But the first things that came to mind are like Locke and Key a little bit, Paper Girls a little bit.
Pete: Paper girls. Yeah.
Alex: And it’s great. I was so happy with this book and I’m so excited to see where it goes next. Did you guys feel the same way?
Justin: Yeah, I agree completely. I thought this book was great. The art’s really nice and it really makes you really feel along with the characters, especially in the first third, that when you’re young and you’re like, “Let’s go fuck around. Let’s go mess something up. Let’s go … ” That rebellious vibe. They do a good job of expressing that in a fun way. And then it does a nice job also of being a horror story that also edges into comic book world. It’s not just a horror story. And I really appreciated that.
Pete: Yeah. I think this is really a fantastic first issue. Does a great job of getting us set up with who’s who and what’s going on, and then tells a really crazy story. I also really love the use of the all black panels are really great. Just some really fantastic storytelling [inaudible 00:02:39] perspective. They really did a great, great job. I can’t recommend this comic enough. It’s really interesting. And I cannot wait to see how this unfolds, really, really impressive.
Alex: There’s a double page spread in the middle of the book that was laid out in a way that honestly as a comic book reader was kind of confusing for me, but once I realized what they were going for, I really appreciated and liked, where two different groups are coming to a haunted house at the same time, but coming from opposite ends of the house. So the way you read it is you follow one group and then they meet in the middle and then you follow the other group from the other side of the page.
Alex: One is going the way that we read in America, the other is going the way that you read anime. But it took me a second for my brain to adjust to that. But I thought it was such a smart, fascinating way of laying out the page. And that’s what plays throughout the book is just these top of mind choices that they’re going for.
Justin: Yeah. It’s just a book that feels very cool. They’re all musicians, they seem like they’re in cool bands. It feels like it’s just a good-
Alex: You want to hang out with them, wondering what they’re doing. Will they give you a call?
Pete: Justin, it’s okay, you’re cool, man. You don’t have to just want to hang out with the cool kids all the time.
Justin: No, I’m just saying like, “Hey nerds, I’m going to hang out with these cool musicians. I’m out of here.”
Pete: Watch you become a nerd.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about the opposite of a nerd, which as we know is jock with Venom number 31 from Marvel, written by Donny Cates, art by Iban Coello. This is picking right up off of the cliff hanger from King in Black number one, where Eddie Brock was thrown off the top. Love the sounds of coke being poured to the background.
Pete: Sorry. Making the last of my rum and coke here, so apologies.
Justin: Pete.
Alex: It’s okay. You got to listen.
Justin: Pete, it’s 10:00 AM. What are you doing?
Alex: Cook breakfast for your kids. Venom number 31, Eddie Brock has been thrown off of a building. And this takes place during 32 seconds, 31 seconds.
Justin: 32 seconds, yeah.
Alex: 32 seconds, could have been 31 seconds, could match the number of the book, where he is falling to the ground and various things are going on. And he’s thinking back on his life and the mistakes you’ve made. What’d you think about this issue as a follow-up to King in Black number one in particular?
Pete: Well, I thought it was really very interesting, this kind of using this kind of free for all to tell the story that’s kind of insane and kind of, I think fits what’s going on. This is a very over the top kind of insane thing that’s happening in this book. I thought this was kind of an interesting way to kind of tell this story. The arts phenomenal, the action’s very intense. Yeah, it’s impressive how much store we get in as a person is falling to maybe their death. But the art I cannot say is just how creepy and weird and disgusting it is. It’s really impressive the way they’re doing it.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, especially after how big the first issue of this crossover was with so much happening, I really like this issue despite the fact that it takes place in 32 seconds really slows the action down. And it’s sort of like setting the table, we’re meeting a lot of the players that feel like they are going to be the core characters in this crossover. Eddie Brock, obviously his son, Dylan know. And we really get in their heads as we are moving forward. I appreciate this. And it’s like one of those issues that sort of just like a show piece, it all takes place as this one quick thing is happening and the art’s amazing.
Pete: Yeah. It seems like the son’s going to be a part of this somehow.
Alex: Yeah, I think so maybe, maybe a little bit. To what you’re saying Justin-
Justin: Well, let me just say from the last issue was a huge broad strokes, you saw as much of Dylan as you did of Captain America. I do think this issue is important to be like, “Yes, Dylan is the linchpin of this crossover.”
Alex: Yeah. Well, to your point Justin, I think what’s really nice about this is creating different tones. It could feel since you’re coming from the same writer, you could be getting big bombastic King in Black and then big bombastic Venom, but instead he’s using them to hit two different storytelling modes to continue the same story. And it’s very smart decision.
Alex: Let’s move on to talk about The Comic Book History of Animation number one from IDW written by Fred Van Lente, art and letters by Ryan Dunlavey. We have talked to Fred and Ryan about many, many series that they have done, Comic Book History of Comics, Action Philosophers, other things like that. They have been diving into specific histories forever, and this is no different, just a reliable duo. And I say that in the best sense that when you see Comic Book History of Animation at the front, you see who’s doing it. You know what you’re getting, it’s smart, it’s funny, it’s informative, but it’s a good story at the same time. I just had a blast reading this and it’s so packed with information, is a good value for readers as well.
Pete: Yeah. I loved the kind of like, you’ve heard stories over the years, but this is really informative. The fact that there’s a spinning house that rotates with the sun, that was really cool to find out. Yeah, this is really cool, very nerdy in all the right ways. The art does such a great job of keeping things action oriented and fun. It’s not just like facts, facts, facts, they do a good way using the storytelling to kind of keep things fun and light. It’s really impressive what they can accomplish.
Justin: Yeah. To your point, Pete, they really do a great job of just selecting the facts, details and just story points that they tell about these historical figures. What I got really excited about is the animation studio that was like basically the first Hollywood studio in Midwood, Brooklyn. I want to go drive out there and look around and be like, “This is the first Hollywood style studio, is right sort of 20 minutes away from me.” That’s awesome.
Pete: Wow.
Alex: Well, to that point, I think it’s interesting the different things you can pick out. The thing that really drew me in was the story of Winsor McCay, who created Little Nemo in Slumberland, and how crucial he was to the development of animation as an art form, which I feel like was one of those facts that maybe I had heard at some point and kind of ignored or not really gotten stuck in my brain. And to hear it again in this way, and as part of the story that eventually leads up to Walt Disney while not necessarily getting into Disney Studios. It’s good, it just really draws a narrative line between these things, which is what the best history stories do or the best history lessons do, and this is one of them.
Justin: There’s another great panel where Walt Disney, who was sort of a dick, all of his animators that he had crossed are flipping him off wearing Mickey ears, that will really resonate.
Pete: I was a huge fan of Felix the Cat as a kid. And so that part where Felix is pissing on exec’s desk really made me laugh.
Alex: Good times.
Justin: Yeah, you’ll laugh so hard your heart will ache, your sides will ache and your heart will go pitter pat.
Alex: Sweet Tooth: The Return number two from DC Comics by Jeff Lemire. This is, as you could figure out for the title, the continuation, reverberation, whatever you want to call it, the original title.
Pete: The Return.
Alex: Well, I think there’s a lot of things going on here. With Sweet Tooth we don’t necessarily know the full story or exactly what is going on with this new sweet tooth. But we find out a lot more about the world that he is in this issue, as well as potentially what’s going on and how it maybe ties to the first series, or maybe not. It feels like there’s more swerves going on. This is just great to revisit again in this new way. It’s eerie. It’s weird. It’s dark. I am loving this series.
Pete: Yeah. This is a crazy issue. We’re slowly kind of learning more of what’s going on. And I really liked this kind of new friend that we meet. I think this is a very interesting character. I’m excited to learn more. This is very exciting to be back in this world kind of in a fresh way. And I really hate the creepy old church guy, but I’m excited to read more. This does a great job of getting you pumped for the next issue.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. I’m curious how this is sort of going to roll out because it does feel like they’re telling the same story in some ways, but in just a total different mashed up iteration. So I’m curious sort of what the point of that is. Why are we hitting these same characters again in the same way, very much in the like, it’s happening again, that sort of TB trope. I’m curious what that will mean. And I just got to say nobody draws crusty old villainist dudes better than Jeff Lemire.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Yeah. Next up, Scarenthood number two from IDW Story, and art by Nick Roche, colors by Chris O’Halloran. We had Nick Roche on the story, on a live podcast a couple of weeks back, really enjoyed the first issue of this one. I think in particular, Justin, you were probably the biggest fan of the first issue, which found a bunch of parents dealing with some weird going on at their kids’ school. How do you think the second issue held up?
Justin: I really enjoyed it again as well. I think what I said last time is this comic does such a great job of simultaneously really being about the horrors of everyday parenthood, as well as touching on this supernatural horror that is really just boiling underneath this town and these characters. And this issue does the same thing. We get a lot of great scenes, their main character and his kid that he’s raising on his own, and sort of the little mistakes you make when you’re a parent, when you’re distracted and you apologize. And it just felt, the detail work here is so good. And so I got to give it up for Nick for putting that together.
Pete: Yeah. I think this really continues to be a very interesting book. I love the kind of like almost scary things that kind of happen in this. We’re getting a little bit more story and a little bit less of the kind of ghost, kind of stuff and more like, okay, this is the team that we’re going to be kind of leading this expedition as we move on. I think this is a really great issue. The art is fantastic. It’s kind of a cool world and I’m excited to see where it goes in the art. Again, I really like it.
Alex: Like we talked about with the first issue, I think this does a phenomenal job of capturing the frustration and terror of being a parent, and then funneling that into actual horror things and ghosts. There are moments in here as Pete pointed out, there’s less of the supernatural activity, but the moments that were really just made my heart beat faster were the things about being, thinking you’re a bad parent, being a bad parent, acting like a bad parent. All of those things are very true to life in the best way. And on top of that, you do have this really nice art and this spooky story talk into at the same time. It was good stuff. Next up-
Justin: One thing that really resonated with me is multiple times in this issue he’s doing something and his kid is like, “Hey,” and he looks at the clock, he’s like, “Oh shit, I got to go do this thing.” That was very real.
Alex: Yes. Vampirella: The Dark Powers number one from Dynamite, written by Dan Abnett and art by Paul Davidson. In this issue Vampirella is now teaming up with a super team made up of people from project superpowers, I think is what’s going on here. And she’s just got her crazy vampire methods and they don’t like them.
Justin: They don’t like them. [crosstalk 00:15:03].
Pete: Oh, go ahead.
Alex: Go ahead, Pete.
Pete: I was just going to say that that’s a cool idea, right? It’s like put the person who doesn’t do well on a team, on a team. You know what I mean? Because there is this thing of like, oh, this is my arch enemy, and they keep coming back to haunt me. And it’s like, well, if you took care of business the first time, it wouldn’t keep going. So having Vampirella unleashed on these bad guys is very fun. She likes her work. She’s very good at it. And so yeah, it’s kind of fun to see her not trying to fit in, but being on this team and how they’re going to kind of deal with her.
Justin: Let me ask you, what is the team that you would be put on that would be the biggest mismatch, and it can be like a Cub scout trip leader. What’s the team that would be the biggest?
Alex: Maybe a podcast or something like that.
Pete: Yeah. I’d say a podcast with two assholes is what my answer is.
Justin: And so you’d be the mismatch by being an asshole?
Pete: Touché or douche as I should say.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about Seven Secrets number five from Boom! Studios, written by Tom Taylor, illustrated by Daniele Di Nicuolo. In this we’re dealing with the fallout of the attack on all the secrets they go to hide from their enemy, and things go very, very badly leading up potentially to finally finding out what these secrets are. This series is as usual very well-crafted by Tom Taylor. I like the anime inspired art [inaudible 00:16:39], I guess inspired art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Just a good series through and through.
Pete: Yeah. Tom Taylor is a great writer and this is a very interesting, cool idea. In this issue though we kind of get this like … there’s someone on the inside because they keep doing the wrong thing. And it’s a little obvious where it’s like, attacking us all at once, oh no, it’s got … what should we do? Oh, let’s all go to the same spot. And it’s like, “Oh no, that’s a horrible idea. But here we go.” But all that said, I’m really impressed with the art and the storytelling, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Justin: Yeah, I think the [inaudible 00:17:22] influenced art, I think it’s really working. And I think the story really plays into that in a nice way. It feels like that was the intention throughout, which is great. And I just want to know a couple of the secrets. I don’t want to be greedy. I just want to know two secrets.
Alex: Yeah. Right.
Justin: Or maybe three. In general I don’t know secrets. I keep secrets. I’m great at secrets.
Pete: Whoa, I don’t believe that.
Justin: I’ve kept all of your secrets, Pete.
Pete: Whoa.
Alex: Let’s move on to talk about Crossover number two from Image Comics written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw. The first issue we found out that in Denver, I believe in Colorado, a big superhero crossover from every possible super year universe broke out, a dome appeared over Denver, locking it off. Some comic book characters were left outside, some were not. We found out different pieces of the story as we’ve followed a comic book shop worker has got embroiled with one of those rogue comic book characters. Find out a lot more about the state of the world in this issue, as well as having many, many teases for other things going on in this world, as well as the real world. What’d you think about this issue and how it picked up on the first one?
Justin: I mean, it’s fucked up that there’s all these dead actual comic book writers in the beginning.
Alex: Yeah, they kill Scott Snyder, Brian Kayvon, Robert Kirkman, and somebody else.
Justin: Chip Zdarsky. And do you think CNN would be leading with these names, all these comic book writers? Chip Zdarsky, Scott Snyder, I don’t think so.
Alex: I did like the joke where they’re like Brian Kayvon, Marvel comics writer. And I read that first page I was like, “Marvel comics writer,” and then the next page is the comic show crowder being like, “Marvel comics writer.” So well played.
Justin: That was very funny. And you could tell that this is all sort of, the winks here are strong and good.
Pete: Strong links for sure.
Justin: Strong links. And the story, it’s such a good concept that it’s one of those premises that almost feels like it’s going to break under the weight of the story. But Donny Cates does such a great job of really straddling that line and keeping us just on the good side of like, “No, this is working, these people are going to enter the dome and encounter all of your favorite superheroes or maybe not.” We get the scene in the superhero prison where you see the arms of some of your characters you recognize.
Pete: Yeah, that’s really cool.
Justin: Yeah, it’s cool.
Alex: It’s like Batman’s there, Spawn’s there, Spiderman, bunch of others like that. It’s definitely-
Justin: The Thing.
Alex: … Easter egg heavy. The Thing, yeah.
Pete: I really thought the way that they intertwined different styles of art in this book is really impressive. A lot of the shading and shadowing and coloring really is impressive. And it fits well in this story, which is really cool. And then we got a really creepy reveal at the end. I think this is very interesting. Unfortunately, they lean a little hard on the comic book shop person is a lot of their god. It’s like, I would just like one normal comic book shop owner, just one time, just one person-
Alex: Doesn’t exist.
Pete: … that’s got their shit. But I really like the story. The Cates does good work. I’m excited to see how this unrails, unreveals itself.
Alex: Yeah. Good stuff across the board as you mentioned, Geoff Shaw’s art is really gorgeous as well. Let’s move on, talk about Spider-Man number five from Marvel, written by J.J Abrams and Henry Abrams, art by Sara Pichelli. This was a huge launch I want to say a year ago at this point, something like that.
Justin: Ages ago.
Alex: Yeah, ages ago, because of course, J.J Abrams and his son behind it, unclear how it fit into Spider-Man mythology, but it was very much its own thing. And of course, circumstances worked against it with COVID and delayed things. Seems like maybe it would have been delayed a little bit anyway, but who knows? But how do you think this wrapped up?
Justin: Sad. Sadly. I mean, we talked about this I think back when the first issue came out that seeing Peter Parker be a distant parent and a jerk or an absent parent replicating the mistakes that he suffered from where his parents died obviously and then uncle Ben died, seemed very out of character to me. So that was a hard pill to swallow. And then to have the way this issue ends up, I was like, “Ah.” I appreciate the sacrifice Peter makes. And I liked the reveal that we get at the end here, but I was just such a … it just bummed me out the way it ended.
Pete: Yeah. It’s really kind of crazy and over the top. And it’s got a little kind of like aliens meets Spiderman kind of vibe to it. But I feel like the heart of Spider-Man is still in this story, which is nice. At the end of the day still trying to do what he can, trying to do the best that he can.
Alex: Whatever a spider can.
Pete: Yeah. Bu it’s very gross and it’s kind of scary, but there’s some heartwarming stuff in it.
Alex: This was kind of a bummer for me. I think Sara Pichelli’s art is always great. And there’s some phenomenal action sequences in here. But this is quippy even for a Spiderman book, everybody is joking all the time even in the middle of dire circumstances to the point where everybody kind of sounds the same. It wrapped up very quickly. I don’t know if it was a victim of pacing necessarily, it certainly felt like that could be part of it. But after an intriguing start, I felt like this fizzled a bit at the end for me, even if it is worth picking up for Pichelli’s art, who is only as good on Spider-Man personally.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: I thought you were going to say more. American Vampire number 1976, a lot of issues on that one. American Vampire 1976, number three, DC Comics written by Scott Snyder, art by Raphael Albuquerque. I just continue the storyline where Skinner Sweet and his pals are robbing an old train, great train robbery, a little bit of a twist on that as they fight the edge of the world and some other dark things go on as some of other characters track down Dracula. Man I love how much they’re blowing out the mythology of this book. And just as always, Scott Snyder loves his details in a very good way, and Raphael Albuquerque-
Justin: Guy loves details.
Alex: Loves details. Raphael Albuquerque just draws the hell out of a book.
Pete: Yeah, the Querque just kills it. One of my favorite artists on a book called-
Justin: Never heard him call the Querque.
Pete: But yeah, this was my kind of favorite.
Alex: Hey, who’s your favorite Star Trek captain, Pete?
Pete: Kirk.
Alex: James Kirky.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Which favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving, Pete?
Pete: Jerky.
Justin: Beef turkey.
Pete: Stuffing. No, but a really fun bit at the start. I really liked that. And then they had kind of … What I like about this is they’re having fun, but there’s also some crazy kind of ideas poke around here. I wrote this down, the world becomes a greenhouse and all the buried secrets will come poking up. I thought that was a very kind of cool line in there. I mean, the arts phenomenal, the action in this issue, this issue really moves. It’s got a great kind of pace to it. Amazing last panel. Yeah, this is great issue.
Justin: I think this book is one of the most consistently successful comic books on the stand. Scott Snyder and the Querque know how to really just deliver the great action, great character moves, while at the same time pushing the story forward. The reveals at the end of the issue are super exciting. This book is just so good.
Alex: Next step, Getting it Together number three, written from Image Comics, written by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine and Sina Grace. Continuing our story of a bunch of friends if you will in San Francisco, mixing it up romantically. We get some big band stuff goes down in London.
Justin: A lot of big band music, classic 1950s big band stuff.
Alex: I like this story. I’m into these characters. I like how they relate to each other. I do think the band drama is really good at particular and well done. There’s a lot of nuance there in terms of how the characters react to the fact that their band might be falling apart, that I thought was very nicely drawn in terms of the characters. How’d you guys feel?
Pete: Yeah, it’s weird, but I agree with you, Alex. I really love the band stuff.
Justin: Huh, it is weird.
Pete: And I feel like that’s really kind of-
Alex: Look at us, quirky in the turkey. That’s what they always call us.
Pete: I don’t know about that, but I think the art does a great with the paneling and the pacing to kind of really give it this tone. And I think this is kind of cool. You see texting and when it’s done not so well in comics, but this is kind of a fun way to kind of have these texts conversations. And they did a good job of trying to be creative about it, which I think is impressive. But overall, I think this story really continues to move forward in an interesting way that does a great job of getting the reader excited for more information.
Justin: Pete, I thought you’re going to say, “You see texting,” and I honestly hate these textings. Why can’t you just give a call or just say hello, I don’t want to get a bunch of words from you.
Alex: Send a letter through the mail.
Justin: That’s the way we used to do it in my hometown, letters.
Alex: Back in the civil war, which I fought in.
Pete: Oh my God.
Alex: Anyway, good stuff. Next up … Oh, go ahead.
Justin: I really like this as well. It’s funny we have so many band based comics today, they approach it in a very different way. I said this back when we had the team on our show. But to me, this has some Scott Pilgrim fives in a very good way. If you like Scott Pilgrim, this feels like a updated version of that, where we get to explore those same worlds in a fun and reverent and visually interesting way. I love the way the issue ends with the music performance and into the drug stuff, really great.
Alex: All right. Origins number two from Boom! Studios, created by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph Oxford, script by Clay McLeod Chapman, and art by Jakub Rebelka. This is continuing a weird future story of a virus that’s mostly wiped everybody out seemingly there-
Pete: Oh, no.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Yeah, it happens.
Alex: There is a guy who, as we find out, spoiler, but right at the top of the issue, has been cloned, who has been resurrected, potentially a bunch of times we find out a lot more about his past here. I think our general impression of the first issue was gorgeous, but confusing. Do you feel like it’s more straightforward an issue too?
Justin: I do.
Pete: Well, I think for parts of it, yeah. We get the main characters kind of deal, which is interesting. But then it gets kind of really tripped out with what the main character is going through. But man, the art is fantastic. It really feels like this other worldly, which is very impressive. There’s also some sweet small moments. Yeah, it’s a little like, I got a little confused by the end of what’s happening, but man, the art and storytelling are fantastic. This does feel very original and cool as far as the story goes, so I’m into it.
Justin: I feel like of all the books we’ve talked about and maybe in a while, this feels very much tailor made to become a feature film. And maybe that’s the intention of this book. Because I do think this issue lays out some of the factors and sort of the places where the characters are a little bit better, and we get sort of locked in on our trio who begin this journey. So yeah, I like this, I think the second issue really pushes it forward in a good way.
Alex: Next up, King in Black: Namor, number one from Marvel written by, Kurt Busiek, art by Benjamin Dewey. Right off the bat, I will say, I thought this was a great Namor story, it’s Namor dealing with some issues in the present while he’s flashing back to his past. So we get fun, young, shirtless Namor, kind of like a little skinnier, a little smaller, deal with [crosstalk 00:30:27].
Justin: Tiny.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Shirtless.
Alex: Yeah, he is, it’s cute. [crosstalk 00:30:29].
Pete: Don’t make it weird.
Alex: He’s like a cute teen Namor.
Justin: Now as you were saying his nipples are a little smaller.
Pete: what the fuck man?
Alex: They’re very hard because he’s under the water.
Justin: Yes, cold.
Pete: Oh my God, what?
Justin: It’s cold down there.
Alex: Nothing’s going on, you know what I mean?
Pete: Oh my God.
Justin: It’s like from that song from The Little Mermaid like, it’s always colder and your nipples are harder under the sea.
Pete: What the fuck.
Alex: You got those [inaudible 00:30:53], doubt where [inaudible 00:30:54], under the sea.
Pete: All right. Stop. Stop.
Alex: It’s a good Namor book. I don’t understand how it could actually King in Black. And this is a problem, I mean, I do want to talk about this book in a second, but I love the King in Black number one. As we talked about in this very Stack, I liked the Venom issue.
Pete: Oh, in this very Stack?
Alex: In this very Stack. The other issues they’ve released so far have been weird. I don’t know what this has to do with King in Black yet, this issue, the [crosstalk 00:31:27] which we reviewed last week also was like, here’s this new concept? There’s a wet dragon in here somewhere, don’t worry about it too much. And then I don’t know if you guys read the Atlantis Attacks issue that Greg Pak wrote, which was real good, but ended with the most red skies of red skies possible things where they’re like, I wonder what’s next for us. In the background there were some dragons and that was it. And it’s just like, don’t label it as an event if it doesn’t actually have anything to do with the event.
Pete: Yet, they could be leading up to it. I appreciate the fact that Marvel was like, “Hey, listen, we need you to tie it in.” And they were like, “You go fuck yourself, I’m telling the story I want to tell. We’ll put a fucking banner on the top, so everybody will be happy.” I think this is a good issue, Namor is usually a complete douche bag. So it’s nice to see younger, less douchey version a little bit. I think there’s a lot of cool characters [crosstalk 00:32:25]. I’m not going to fucking answer that bullshit.
Justin: Honestly I’m a larger nippled Namor guy. From the beginning I appreciate sort of Namor.
Alex: Well, how he’s grown into his nipples, right?
Justin: I mean, it’s a thing that as he gets older, it’s part of his history, that his nipples-
Pete: You two are the fucking worst.
Alex: I always like to call them, I’d like to call him Namor the [inaudible 00:32:48].
Justin: That’s the way they originally created the character.
Pete: Don’t laugh at that.
Justin: He was the nazi man. He wasn’t even under-
Alex: Stan Lee watches the [inaudible 00:32:57] days like, “I want a character with rock on nipples.”
Justin: I mean, that’s probably a 100% accurate.
Alex: Probably. And Steve Ditko was like, “I don’t know, I’ll draw some fucking bigger rounds nipples, we’ll see what happens.”
Justin: In the far future Namor is mostly nipple. I think I agree with you. It is weird that these stories exist under this banner, but I also think this is a good way to launch new titles, new character, directions, everything, so I’m here for it. And I do think, well, there was Nereus [inaudible 00:33:32] in this issue. They do one of the characters that King talks about how there’s some black rocks hidden underwater somewhere that probably are like, “Oh, a bunch of symbionts or something.” Eventually we’ll get there.
Pete: Yeah, there you go. Zalbs, what are you talking about?
Alex: I know. And again-
Justin: And also apparently this will tie into King in Black number two, which will then spin back into the Namor number two book. Because Namor apparently has something to do, because here’s the thing, symbionts, very gloopy underwater. It’s a weakness.
Alex: There’s a point to this book where somebody offers somebody piece of food. They’re like, you’ve got to try this, this is really crispy. And that didn’t track for me, because there’s not a lot of things that are very crispy underwater.
Justin: That’s fair. That is a 100%. I will say if you were to eat a lobster whole, it would be crispy.
Alex: That’s true. Or some coral, crunched down some coral, that might be crispy.
Justin: Depends on how good your teeth are.
Alex: Points retracted. This is a good book. Let’s move on, The Vein number three from ODI press written by Eliot Rahal and illustrated by Emily Pearson. We checked it on the first issue of this book, which is kind of turning into its own sort of American vampire story following a group of the empire criminals throughout history, throughout important moments in American history or world history I guess actually. Here we get them through several decades as they try to get blood, as they try to hide out. I think we’re big fans of the first issue. Do you think this concept is still holding up three issues in?
Justin: I like this book. I do think this is like an American vampire that’s coming at it from a totally different way. It’s much more focused on the passing of time, the passage of time for vampires, which I think is fun. I like these characters. I like the action here. It’s very funny that the back half of the issue focuses on the most gabagool, goofy ass gangster character. He’s like, “Hey, I’m Johnny Boneno.” [inaudible 00:35:40]. That part was crazy. And then he’s just like, “Yeah, I’m going to be a fun guy, okay, [Don Gambilino 00:35:47], I sell blood to vampires and I didn’t mention that before.
Pete: No one killed old bananas yet.
Justin: No, just call me bananas, classic gangster name.
Pete: Johnny bananas.
Alex: Good stuff. What’d you think about this issue, Pete?
Pete: I mean, it’s interesting. It’s great artwork. The subway stuff really made me miss New York. Because when you’re living in New York, you can just wrap a body and a carpet and walk down the subway tunnels, no one will say shit to you.
Alex: Yeah. Philly they’re like, “Hey, what’s that, a she steak? Give me a bite.”
Pete: They’re like, “Guys, give me, you’re going to eat that whole hoagie yourself?” But-
Justin: But in Philly-
Alex: And they’re halfway through and they’re like, “Yo, is that a body? You got a body here?”
Justin: You seem to be painting New York as some sort of like Thunderdome. When in Philadelphia you can murder anyone at a sporting event and everyone be like, “Yep. It’s the purge basically because our sports teams are playing.”
Pete: Hey, take it easy, all right, with that, like you’re fucking all saints over there. All Right?
Justin: Okay. What are you, Mr. Philly now? You’ve lived there for four months, not even.
Pete: That’s true.
Justin: We’ve got the Philadelphia Philly over here.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:37:01] with Gritty, what’s going on with that? Are you friends with Gritty?
Pete: Gritty, yeah. Our next door neighbor made his own Gritty costume, It’s a lot of fun.
Alex: No further questions.
Pete: Great.
Justin: Well, everyone in Philadelphia has to have a Gritty costume, right. They come by and check.
Alex: Last but not least, Red Sonja: The Price of Blood number one from Dynamite written by Luke Lieberman and art by Walter Giovanni. This started off with Red Sonja captured in a dungeon. She flashes back, tells the story of how she got there. Typical, crazy Red Sonja adventures, getting drunk, killing people, you know how it is. But how do you think this held up, was this a new fresh take on Red Sonja? Is this a story you want to read more of? What are your thoughts?
Justin: It’s interesting. I haven’t read a ton of Red Sonja, and I didn’t know she was this sort of partying fun, loving. I thought she was sort of grim. When she cuts, she goes to the literal fire festival. I don’t know if that was meant to be the same one that we’ve seen so many documentaries about, but definitely had that vibe. So yeah, it’s hard to pin down exactly what the character is from this issue anyway.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, this is more of Red Sonja who likes to murder and party. But I think this is, I am excited for more in this story just because I like her the way she fights and just straight up attacks anyone who kind of tries to wrong her. I think that’s one of my favorite things about Red Sonja. And I’m glad that like, yes, there was kind of crazy shit happening in the party, but they didn’t focus too hard on that, it was in the background, which is good. I want Red Sonja to be more about action and story and less about like TNA. I think that this comic does a good job with that.
Alex: I liked Walter Giovanni’s art in particular in this book, there’s a part in the middle where Sonja kicks a guy out a window that I thought was really active and nicely staged just in terms of the angles of everything. It was very cool. And just across the board, the action and the characters are very clear, which is good. The settings are very clear. I know that sounds like faint praise, but I thought this was a solid first issue of a Red Sonja book, if not necessarily a radical reinvention, say like the Vampirella book that we talked about earlier.
Justin: Yes, good comparison.
Alex: Thank you very much. And that is it for The Stack. If you’d like to support our show, patreon.com/comicbookclub, also do a live show every Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM, 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 at Comic Book Live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and more. We’ve been Comic Book Club, this is The Stack. We’ll see you next time.
Justin: Yeah, that’s the facts.
The post The Stack: Home Sick Pilots, Venom And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy41 min - The Stack: King In Black, Batman/Catwoman, And More
On this week’s Stack we’ve got reviews for:
King in Black #1
MarvelWritten by Donny CatesArt by Ryan StegmanBatman/Catwoman #1
DC ComicsWritten by Tom KingArt by Clay MannLumberjanes: End of Summer #1
BOOM! BoxWritten by Shannon Waters & Kat LeyhLayouts by Brooklyn AllenIllustrated by Alexa Bosy & Kanesha C. BryantThe Union #1
MarvelWritten by Paul GristPencils by Andrea Di Via w/Paul GristJustice League: Endless Winter #1
DC ComicsWritten by Andy Lanning & Ron MarzArt by Howard PorterThat Texas Blood #6
Image ComicsBy Chris Condon and Jacob PhillipsFantastic Four: Road Trip #1
MarvelWritten by Christopher CantwellArt by Filipe AndradeUnearth #8
Image ComicsStory by Cullen Bunn and Kyle StrahmArt by Baldemar RivasBatman #104
DC ComicsWritten by James Tynion IVArt by Ryan Benjamin & Danny Miki, Bengal & Guillem MarchBacktrack #9
Oni PressWritten by Brian JoinesArt by Jake ElphickM.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #1
MarvelWritten by Jordan Blum & Patton OswaltArt by Scott HepburnBuffy the Vampire Slayer #20
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Jordie Bellaire & Jeremy LambertIllustrated by Ramon BachsFar Sector #9
DC ComicsWritten by N.K. JemisenArt by Jamal CampbellDryad #7
Oni PressWritten by Kurtis WiebeIllustrated by Justin BarceloBlack Widow #4
MarvelWritten by Kelly ThompsonArt by Elena Casagrande and Jordie BellaireStrange Adventures #7
DC ComicsWritten by Tom KingArt by Mitch Gerards and Evan “Doc” ShanerInkblot #4
Image ComicsCreated by Emma Kubert & Rusty GladdDaredevil #25
MarvelWritten by Chip ZdarskyArt by Marco ChecchettoThe Boys: Dear Becky #7
DynamiteWritten by Garth EnnisIllustrated by Russ BraunSUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
This week’s show is sponsored by the Just Been Revoked podcast.
Full Episode Transcript:
Alex: What is up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And in The Stack we talk about a bunch of big comic books that have come out right here at the beginning of December. Very exciting times to be alive in. Everybody is very happy, excited, doing a great job.
Justin: We’re all doing a great job. Let’s take a second and chill.
Pete: I don’t know. Let’s not pat ourselves on the back.
Alex: Pete, you’re doing a great job.
Pete: No, don’t patronize me, all right? Fuck you.
Alex: No. Man, you are.
Justin: Don’t patronize him.
Alex: Do you know who else is doing a great job? The King in Black. He’s really just really putting himself out there in the Marvel Universe, really inventing a bunch of stuff with his wet dragons, I like to call them.
Justin: They are moist dragons.
Pete: He’s not doing anything moist during-
Alex: King in Black#1 from Marvel written by Donny Cates, art by Ryan Stegman. This of course is the … I don’t know if it’s the final storyline, but it’s certainly the peak of everything that they’ve been building up over the past couple of years, through Venom and other storylines.
Pete: … Venom.
Alex: As the King in Black, Knull, the god of the symbiotes invades earth. And man, it goes basically about as bad as things could go. And I don’t know that I have read a kickoff to an event where the heroes lose so thoroughly as they do in this issue, which in my mind was very impressive.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. The way they go hard here. The Donny Cates goes hard with this story. It’s a ton of big emotional beats and then heroes just losing, every plan failing instantly. And setting up Knull as this like truly terrifying villain, despite the fact that he’s fighting with wet dragons.
Pete: Yeah, what an entrance the King made here. I think it was a great start with the nicest building and everything that’s been going on. And then the twist where you think, “All right, he’s after Venom,” and it’s like, “No Venom’s kid,” and it’s like, “Oh, shit.”
Justin: Oh, shit. Pete you’re riding with the King, is what you’re saying? You love the King and-
Pete: Yeah, I’m riding with King.
Alex: Yeah, I got to be honest. Even though I’ve really enjoyed what Donny and Ryan had been doing on this title, I was a little trepidatious about this event just because Knull to be the design of it, it was like, “Ah, he was very big teeth.” I don’t like that. And the whole Venom thing I always feel reticent about in general just because Venom is not my favorite character, but I should have known better.
Pete: Venom.
Alex: Venom.
Justin: … You like a drier character like Sandman.
Alex: Yeah, like a nice dry character. Like a Sandman is more my style.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: But I should have known better, because they’d been, like you said, Justin, they’ve been doing emotionally based work on this title throughout the entire time. This is based on Eddie Brock’s relationship with his son, that is the emotional crux of the issue, even though there’s a good Tony Stark stuff in here, there’s some good other character stuff in here. But it’s great. I am also fascinated to see what happens over the course of five issues because this is, like we said, as bad as it can get, and it seems like there’s four more issues where it’s only going to get worse.
Justin: Yeah. What Donny Cates does a great job at is really including a bunch of other aspects of the Marvel Universe, like you were saying, Alex, and they feel very real. It feels very current. We get some X-Men in here and it feels like they just stepped out-
Pete: Oh yeah, that was fun.
Justin: … of the current X-Men books. It’s really good. And touching on continuity where all the characters know about what’s going on in their universe, which I think is rare in comics to have a real deep understanding of continuity for something that is a standalone event like this.
Pete: I’m glad you brought that up, Justin, because I was very excited when I saw the X-Men show up and still be kind of like heroes. They’re not just island fucking. You know what I mean? They’re not just trading swords and half-assing a bunch of games, they’re actually still stepping up and being heroes.
Justin: It would have been great if there was just a cutaway in this to a bunch of X-Men having sex on an island. I would have loved where they were like, “Wait, what did you say?”
Pete: I would have lost it.
Alex: It’s weird that they saw that much black goo and do nothing. This is prime fucking material.
Justin: “This is fucking material,” says Alex. A couple of follow-up questions I’m going to ask off-mike. Before we go too much further, I do think the fact that Pete and I are agreeing so hard on this book, there will be one book later on I predict where Pete and I will have a subtle disagreement.
Pete: … Yeah, it will be very hard to tell.
Justin: See if you can spot it.
Pete: Yeah, it will be tough to tell.
Alex: Let’s wait and see. Next up, Batman/Catwoman #1 from DC Comics written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann. This is the continuation of Tom King’s abbreviated run on Batman, now focusing or continuing to focus on the Batman/Catwoman relationship. It’s a little hard to tell whether this is a direct continuation or they rejiggered it in any way to make a new title. But regardless, we’re jumping around in time periods here. Spoilers, we’re introducing the Phantasm from Mask of the Phantasm into the main Batman continuity.
Pete: Yes.
Alex: That’s big stuff happens here. We talked about this a little on live show. I got to tell you, it took me a little while to hook into this because I could not remember the rhythm of the Batman book the way they did it. But there is a point, and this is a big spoiler, but the page, the reveal of the Joker about halfway, three quarters of the way through the issue was such a classic Clay Mann page. So terrifying that it immediately sucked me back in emotionally. And that was the point-
Pete: You’re talking about-
Alex: … where I started to feel like, “Okay, I’m really on board with this book again.”
Pete: … Yeah, but it wasn’t just regular Joker, that was Miami Vice Joker. Did you see the way the wind was taking his shirt and he had the over the kind of shoulder holsters rocking? Come on, that was like-
Alex: He could feel it coming in the air tonight, that’s all I’m saying.
Pete: … Yeah, and that’s what I’m saying. People talking about three Jokers, there’s a fourth one and that’s Miami Vice Joker and he’s the best one.
Justin: See, I would consider him more Miami-Dade County Retirement Home Joker. Sure.
Pete: Oh wow, shots fired.
Alex: Trump voter Joker.
Justin: Exactly, this dude votes Trump. Clay Mann’s art in this issue is so, so good. All of Tom King’s work I feel like is so writer-driven, but man, he works with such great artists, and this one, and this issue specifically I feel like is so, so good. And I love the pace and the way that he’s telling the story is really rooted in the romance.
Justin: There’s so many big romantic splash panels in this, and it’s great, and it’s still setting up a bunch of mystery elements and great action. Just so much going on in a great way. And it’s romance, it’s sexy, it’s horrifying. And then the Phantasm reveal, it’s like … I feel like this book is just doing everything all at once in the best way.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I’m really just happy to have T King back on Batman.
Justin: T King.
Pete: I’m excited to see how this story unfolds. And I also was really impressed at how much was in this first issue. There was so much going on. But it was also cool the way kind of Nightwing gave us, instead of it being like flashbacks to see somebody’s story, to see kind of Nightwing telling the story of the Ghost-Maker was really kind of a cool discovery.
Alex: Ragnarok.
Pete: Oh, my bad.
Alex: That’s Batman, this is Batman/Catwoman.
Pete: Ah, my fault.
Alex: It’s okay.
Pete: I’ll wait for it.
Justin: Good idea.
Pete: We talked a lot about the art. Just that first title page, really setting up the different cadence, the different kind of art that really focuses the story, I think it’s very interesting. And I’m very excited for Mask of the Phantasm, my favorite Batman movie of all times, so I’m very excited about this.
Alex: Not Batman Forever?
Pete: No.
Alex: Hmm. All right. Let’s move on and talk about Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1 for Boom! Box, written by Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh, art layouts by Brooklyn Allen, illustrated by Alexa Bosy and Kanesha C. Bryant. I figured this was really worth talking about because of the last issue of Lumberjanes, a book that we’ve only sporadically reviewed, and I’ve always appreciated, but always personally had a little bit of a hard time hooking into. What did you think about this issue, and how do you think about it as a wrap-up to the Lumberjanes saga?
Pete: I was really impressed with this issue. I thought they really did a great job of wrapping things up. But also we see so many different ways of characters struggling with the, “I don’t want to kill. This person should die, but why is it on me?” I felt like this was kind of handled in an interesting way. And the art does a great job of really telling this story. The art is so good. There’s a ton of action, but it’s a little cartoony to give it that heart that the kind of story has.
Pete: I just really impressed with the characterizations. And it’s a lot of over the top fun, but also it’s got a lot of deeper meaning stuff going on. And yeah, I mean, just, it goes back and forth between these absolutely hideous, evil looking things and these adorable characters, and they all fit into the same realm. Lumberjanes is a great read, it’s really creative. I feel like there’s something for everybody. This is a good book.
Justin: Yeah, it’s very fun. It dips into some wild sort of fantasy realms in a series of different ways. And I’m sort of in the Alexa’s boat where I’m like, “Oh, right. Oh, yes. Okay.” And then the way it’s sort of, to Pete’s point, is sort of everything at once. Sometimes it’s a little flashy, but it is also very fun and a great read.
Alex: I agree. And I appreciate the fact that it exists, even if I don’t quite get it all the time, because I know so many people who love this book so much. I believe it’s also being adapted into an animated series by Noelle Stevenson who also did the She-Ra series that was phenomenal, so I’m very excited to see that. Even if I don’t quite get the comic, I’m glad it exists, and I’m excited that it wrapped up on its own terms.
Alex: Next up, The Union #1 from Marvel, written by Paul Grist, pencils by Andrea Di Vito with Paul Grist. This is a bunch of British superheroes getting together and then ultimately crashing straight into the King in Black event. This reminded me a lot or felt a lot to me like a Garth Ennis book that was not written by Garth Ennis. And I made that complimentarily. What did you guys think about this one?
Justin: Yeah, this reminded me of, and I feel like maybe I made this comparison already recently, of the Ultraverse book, The Exiles. Do you remember that back in the day, where a team of superheroes gets just straight up murdered in the first issue and then reforms in a sort of different way? And this has that same vibe of like a doomed team. And the fact that it’s crashing into a big event makes me wonder what this book actually means. It’s a fun book that’s a good story. I like the characters. Union Jack is very cool. And there’s a little bit of a mystery here. I was surprised by how much I liked this in relation to what kind of book it is.
Pete: Yeah, I agree with Justin, this is a fun book. Some great action, some cool stuff is happening and it ties in. Not like a must read for everything that’s going on, but very cool kind of dealing with stuff kind of from the fallout of the X of Swords or 10 of Swords.
Alex: Wait, what? How is this a fallout of 10 of Swords?
Pete: Because of the Britain, the choosing of the kind of who’s going to be the next kind of-
Alex: It’s a different character. It’s a different character, Pete.
Pete: … Cool.
Justin: You’re killing his vibes.
Pete: I’m killing it today.
Alex: You’re doing a great job. Yeah, it is interesting that it ties in, particularly given we had Dennis Hallum on the live show last week, I think at this point. And he was talking about how Spider-Woman was stuck in the Spider-Verse event, and I couldn’t help but think about this the entire time where I was like, “You’re launching a book, but it ties into King of Black, kind of, but not really.”
Alex: But it was cheeky enough and sort of skewering of superheroes enough that I’m intrigued to check out a second issue of this. Next one, Justice League: Endless Winter #1 from DC Comics written by Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, art by Howard Porter.
Alex: A bunch of seasoned vets getting together for a Justice League event, where as you could probably tell from the title they fight a frost giant and the entire world is plunged into non-stop winter. I liked this kickoff a lot more than I thought I would, and I think that is all to the fact that Andy Lanning, Ron Marz and Howard Porter all know what they’re doing around a superhero event.
Justin: Yeah, I agree completely. There’s a bunch of stuff in here where they’re like, “How do you really manage your work-life balance?”
Alex: Yeah, that was weird where the flashing Green Lantern and like, “Work-life balance is a hard thing, right?” In the middle of this event, we got time to talk about it.
Justin: But I appreciated it. It felt like a Marvel book featuring DC heroes in a good way. And I got to the end and I was like, “Oh, this is an event. Right. Where is this going to go?” Because to me it felt a little bit like a one-shot, like a classic DC one-shot for the holiday season. And I do think that DC goes to the whole the earth is freezing a lot, where the sun gets extinguished, was a few years ago, so I was like, “Oh yeah.” But it was a good read for this again.
Alex: I mean, I don’t want to jump on your spot and everything, but the whole sun gets extinguish thing was several decades ago.
Justin: That was a long time ago, but I feel like there was another thing after that. There was like-
Pete: Stop not flexing on us. Jesus Christ.
Alex: Yeah, that’s true. Let’s … Oh, go ahead, Pete.
Pete: I was just going to say I really loved the last page. I think this does a good job of really getting you excited for more. And yeah, the kind of reveals of who else is in this is very exciting.
Alex: Also fun stuff with like Secret Six types super villains that could feel disposable in terms of like they could have brought in the Royal Flush Gang and just have them do their thing where they get beat up in the Justice League, but more fun that. I had a good time reading this comic book, much more fun than I thought I would have. What happens when a robotic overlord imprisons a rant god and a humble narcissist?
Alex: You get this week’s sponsor of the Comic Book Club, The Just Been Revoked Podcast. Join Chris G, Tom Legaci and Mr. Rhace as they discuss the origins, the ends and everything in between of all things film. Episodes are released weekly on Apple, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms. Looking for a film podcast that has fun and doesn’t take things too seriously, then check them out at justbeenrevoked.com.
Alex: Next up, That Texas Blood, excuse me, #6 from Image Comics, by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. This is the end of the first arc. It is as bloody and as sad as you might expect. I really liked how this tied up. How did you guys feel?
Pete: I’ve really been loving this book, but they’ve been giving us like little bits. It was crazy to get so much in this issue. I almost felt like, “Whoa, this is too much information,” because it’s been so little, but now we really kind of get the who done it kind of stuff behind it. So it was a little bit of a shell shock for that. But you can’t say enough about the art and writing, this continues to be a really great series. I’m excited to see where it goes.
Justin: … Yeah, I agree. This is good. It feels very … I mean, there’s a bunch of sort of mentions of this in the back matter. It feels very of the place of Texas where the story takes place. It’s right in the title. And it’s just a series of sort of tragic mistakes by so many different people. A lot of the characters feel very real, there’s some nice emotional moments here. It’s a great first start.
Alex: Very good stuff. Either pick up the individual issues or pick up the collection when it comes out. And it should be back next year. I’m very excited and intrigued to see how they continue it, particularly given Chris Condon told us this was initially a movie script that now he is doing into, not an ongoing, but at least continuing it for a little while, so that will be curious to see. Next up, let’s talk about my favorite book of the week, Pete. Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1-
Pete: Come on.
Justin: Yes.
Pete: You are not serious.
Alex: … from Marvel. I’m 100% serious.
Pete: This was-
Alex: Written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Filipe Andrade. This is a one-shot that shows the immortal Hulkazation, I think, of … Hulkamania if you will-
Justin: Yeah, [crosstalk 00:18:01]
Alex: … of the Marvel Universe, as we get a absolutely horrific story involving the Fantastic Four taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon of the [crosstalk 00:18:09] title gone horribly wrong. They literally start falling apart. Love the metaphor here, love the art. I screamed out loud several times reading this book, it was so horrific, but great. Just fun to read, horror story involving with Fantastic Four like nothing that I had read before. So exciting.
Justin: This was also one of my favorite books of the week. Agree with everything you’re saying, like we get to see all of the tropes of the Fantastic Four used against them in the best way, especially Read. The art was fantastic. It’s truly I was worried for the gang here. The cover I-
Alex: This is-
Justin: … was like, “Oh, that’s a fun sort of horror cover.” And then you read the book and it’s like, “Holy shit, this is way more horrifying than you ever saw it before.” It was great.
Pete: … This is everything I hate about the Fantastic Four all in one issue. The things that happen to our characters are just awful to watch.
Justin: No, they really come together as a family to save the day.
Pete: They literally like glue together, and it’s creepy. I don’t want to see two kids melting into each other, that’s so creepy on so many levels.
Alex: … My kids do that all the time. You don’t have kids, you don’t understand.
Pete: Nobody asked you about your goddamn kids, all right?
Alex: They do that, and I respect them and their choices.
Pete: Wow. That’s good for you.
Justin: All right, unmelt, it’s time for bed. You sleep in separate beds.
Pete: Now, and then it’s just Reed Richards is being a fucking awful father, an awful husband, the shit is just ridiculous. At one point even as soon as like, “Yeah, you’re a horrible person. I’m going to go do the good things in life while you sit there by yourself just ignoring your family and making something worse.” Just, ah, this issue drove me nuts because the art amplified how much I don’t like this family in the way they’re kind of put together in all the wrong ways. And it was just not only a stressful read, but horrifying. Don’t pick up this book. Don’t encourage this shit.
Justin: You hate how this family is put together?
Pete: I hate the fact that you have-
Justin: They’re the first family of the Marvel Universe.
Pete: … you have someone who’s very smart, but then treats his family like shit. And then you’ve got a beautiful person in Sue Storm, who’s ignored mostly by her husband and post aside. And then you’ve got-
Alex: Okay. I see where this is coming from. You think you could be a better husband to Sue Storm than Reed Richards.
Pete: No, I’m not trying to-
Alex: And you want to marry Sue Storm.
Justin: Exactly.
Pete: … No, that’s not … Don’t try to shrink me you fucking piece of shit.
Justin: Don’t shrink me. Let me say this, Pete, let me put it in this perspective. Don’t you think that to your cat you’re the Reed Richards who’s too busy recording his podcasts to spend time with the cat, and maybe the cat needs a little bit more attention? How does it feel to be the Reed Richards of your cat?
Alex: It is kind of interesting not to backup Justin’s point, but your goopy arm is in a bucket right now, Pete. What do you have to say about that?
Pete: I think you guys are assholes and I can’t believe I’ve done a show with you for this many years. That’s what I have to say there.
Justin: We’re the first family of the Comic Book Club Universe.
Alex: I’m the Valeria.
Justin: Oh, interesting choice.
Pete: Wow.
Alex: Great book, definitely pick it up. Next up, Unearth #8 from Image Comics, story by Cullen and Kyle Strahm, art by Baldemar Rivas. I think we talked about the first issue of this which was like, “Ooh, going into cave and other monsters of the cave,” it’s evolved since then.
Justin: Yes. There’s a lot of different things happening in this book, really like the art. It’s just like a series of vignettes from a horror TV show or like an outer limits type TV show.
Alex: Yeah, it feels very like Clive Barker Books of Blood to me.
Justin: Yeah. But it’s good, I’m into it.
Pete: Yeah, it’s scary. The arts, the real hero, very cool issue, kind of sets things up. I thought it was solid.
Alex: All right. Let’s move on to a book with the thing that happened that Pete mentioned earlier, Batman 104 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Ryan Benjamin and Danny Miki, Bengal and Guillem March. This is the book where Nightwing fills in Bad Girl about everything that’s been going on with Ghost-Maker. Pete, what did you think about this one?
Pete: Yes, thank you. Sorry about earlier, but I thought it was-
Alex: No, it’s all good. It’s funny we talked about in the live show, how do you keep all the books straight, sometimes it’s hard.
Justin: Sometimes we don’t.
Pete: … Sometimes we don’t. Yeah. Sometimes you think you’re talking about one book, but you’re actually talking about another. But yeah, like I had mentioned, I thought it was really cool the way we kind of got Ghost-Makers backstory from the perspective of Nightwing. Also really cool, kind of scary moment where Batman wakes up in Arkham.
Pete: And I love the kind of like moment where they’re like, “The plants told us …” I loved that. I love the Bad Girl’s joke. Yeah, and I also liked this kind of trap. Our heroes get stuck in the trap and you’re like, “Ergh,” but this is very interesting to see how this is going to work between Clownhunter and Harley Quinn, and how this is all going to kind of go down. But yeah, great issue of Batman, amazing art. This whole kind of Ghost-Maker thing is very interesting.
Justin: I have a question for you, Pete. There are so many different artists in this issue, does that bother you? That often bothers you when a single issue has multiple artists.
Pete: Yeah, but when they’re woven into the story in a way where it’s like if you’re kind of showing something that’s back in time or whatever, I think it can work if it’s done well and it doesn’t feel too jarring.
Justin: I agree with you. And it’s done really well here, because I do think it works. And when I read the number of artists on the page, on the title page, I was like, “Huh.” And then it really flowed nicely, which is weird because these artists are pretty distinct when stylistically. But I thought it really worked. And I agree, this book is fun.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Good stuff. Next up, Backtrack #9 from Oni Press, written by Brian Joines, art by Jake Elphick. We’re getting towards the end here, I believe this is the penal explanation of the book. If you haven’t been picking it up, it is a car race through time here. We’re leaving pirate times and finally getting some answers about what’s been going on in the back. Definitely a exposition issue, but I think it was well done and tied into the characters. I continue to enjoy this book. This is going very well in my mind. How did you guys feel?
Pete: Yeah, I really am impressed because a lot of times, sometimes I feel like when characters are standing around talking about their feelings and past and stuff, it can get a little not enjoyable, but this has done really well. And I really liked where we have a character kind of talk about the stuff that she’s going through and she’s like, “You know what? I’m going to stay here. I’m going to live the life that I want to lead.” And I thought that was really cool, and I thought this issue ended really well. I’m very excited to see how this all wraps up. So far this has been a really fun book.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, every issue of this, I feel like this feels like a movie, it feels like sort of a sci-fi Fast & the Furious just ready to be made and-
Pete: Too fast.
Justin: … Too fast.
Pete: [inaudible 00:25:59]
Justin: Oh, interesting. Jump right to the sequel. That’s the move, it’s to make the sequel first.
Pete: First. Yeah, exactly.
Justin: But yeah, this feels ready-made for that.
Alex: I 100% agree. Let’s move on to something that is going to be a TV show, kind of. M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #1 for Marvel, written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt.
Pete: Head Games.
Alex: Art by Scott Hepburn. This is very clearly setting up the new M.O.D.O.K. show that’s going to be coming to Hulu with Patton Oswalt doing the voice of M.O.D.O.K. I don’t know how much it ties into that necessarily, but this is a fun lack with MODOK. He’s having some weird memories that are popping up in him, and he is fighting with the rest of A.I.M. As the same time as I say it’s a fun lack, much more serious than I expected personally.
Justin: Yeah, I liked that M.O.D.O.K. is really given some emotional underpinnings in this, and he’s … The sort of premises that he’s struggling with some memories, because he has a bunch of different memories from all the different lives that he’s had because he’s a genetically engineered being. And there’s this one where he seemed to be a happy family man, and I’m curious where that’s going to go. I really liked that sort of heartfelt background to this, and it feels like M.O.D.O.K., you have sympathy for him and he’s trying to just his shit figure out.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, first off the title made me think there was going to be maybe some Locke & Key tie in, but that didn’t happen so I was a little disappointed. But I thought this was fun. I really liked the kind of M.O.D.O.K. falling into an armory where he gets to kind of play with all the cool, that was really fun. But because we see Patton Oswalt’s name on it, I wanted it to be funnier, I wanted it to be heavier on the jokes. It was a good story, so maybe I kind of put that on that too much. But yeah, I thought it was good.
Alex: I bet Patton Oswalt listens to this podcast and says, “I wish Pete was funnier and more on jokes.”
Pete: He could say that and that would be fair. That man is a professional comedian.
Justin: But you would say, “I’m a journalist and I don’t … I’m not some sort of clown.”
Pete: No, I would never, never say that.
Justin: Huh.
Alex: You write an editorial every week for the New York Times, Pete. What are you talking about?
Pete: It still doesn’t count.
Alex: All right, fair enough.
Justin: Yeah, when people write a letter to the editor of the New York Times, Pete’s the one that reads it.
Alex: Buffy the vampire Slayer from Boom! Studios, written by Jordie Bellaire and Jeremy Lambert, illustrated by Ramon Bachs. I just realized I didn’t mention the number of the issue here.
Pete: 20.
Justin: 20.
Alex: 20. Thank you very much. There you go. But in this issue, the Scooby Gang is dealing with multiple new slayers, Xander who is a vampire and lots of other things going on. We’ve checked in on this book now and again. Justin, I know you’ve been a little back and forth on it. So what do you think about this one and where we are at now?
Justin: I do think I’m sort of on the downside of it a little bit. I like when they get away from the sort of continuity a little bit in a deliberate way, and this feels a little like all over the place to me. But again, I’m not a crazy Buffy head that is like, “I got to know what happens,” I just want to read a fun story and this feels like it’s a little lost in the middle.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I’m not sure if it’s in between seasons or trying to touch on something and be its own thing. I kind of was hoping we’d be past this little bit, but I feel like it’s interfering with the storytelling and I just kind of want to get this thing off and running. It feels like a lot of standing around talking and then people kiss, and I’m like, “Who are these people? What is happening?” Yeah.
Alex: It sounds like I liked it a little bit more than you guys. Particularly I think what they’re doing with Xander is interesting, turning him into a vampire. The emotional step between him and Willow is really nice. Also the twist at the end is cool, there’s a new villain that I don’t think we’ve seen before. That’s pretty interesting, given a motivation that is very different than we’ve seen on the TV show, which is good.
Alex: The one downside to your point is there are a lot of slayers going on at this point, which potentially needs to downsize. But maybe they’re being set up as cannon fodder, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see. Next up, Far Sector #9 from DC Comics, written by N.K. Jemisin and art by Jamal Campbell, AKA the best Green Lantern title going on.
Pete: Hell, yeah.
Alex: We have kind of wrapped up the first mystery of the book or at least part of it and are moving on to a new mystery evolving the digital world that our Green Lantern is finding out more about. Pete, what’s going on?
Pete: Well, I just wanted to say I love this book, but one of the negative things I have to say about this is I was really grossed out by this digital food. If this is what’s going to happen in the future where people are eating food digitally and not real food, I’m not going to fucking do it. All right? I’m not going to be a part of your fucking evil future with your fucking robots running shit. Go fuck yourself. That was really upsetting to watch that happen. Other than that though-
Justin: Oh, sorry, Pete. We’re actually we’re downloading lunch today. If you’re not going to have any, then I guess you just won’t get to eat anything.
Pete: … Yeah, because you’re-
Alex: Yeah, I downloaded you a cobb.
Pete: … Yeah, well, you can fuck your cobb salad.
Alex: All right.
Justin: Actually don’t worry too hard about it, Pete, because I feel like subway meatball sandwiches will be one of the last downloaded foods.
Alex: I will say I loved the joke that they’ve created downloadable food that feels like food and stimulates your taste and so it tastes like food.
Pete: Awful.
Alex: But it tastes terrible because it’s made by robots that don’t know what things taste like. So fun.
Pete: No, it’s not fun. This is where we’re headed and it’s awful.
Justin: Well, we’re a couple of beats away from that, I think, as a culture, as a people. But I think that example is so indicative of just how imaginative the series is, and how there’s so many great details, and the world itself is so fully understood by the writer and the artist that it makes for just such a great read. Especially, this issue goes off on a totally new place that we don’t-
Pete: Yeah, it’s a new read, it’s very exciting, a crazy last page. I can’t say enough about the art, it’s the real hero of this. And the story just keeps getting better. It doesn’t kind of set in a pattern and stay there, it keeps exploring it, it’s as creative as it looks. I’m just constantly impressed by this. It was great.
Justin: … It reminds me a little bit of the comic book Die, the Kieron Gillen book in a good way. So if you’re a fan of that book and aren’t reading this, which seems crazy, you should come check it out.
Pete: Yeah, read more comics.
Alex: Let’s move on to another fantasy sci-fi book, Dryad #7 from Oni Press, written by Kurtis Wiebe, illustrated by Justin Barcelo. This is dealing with the massive twist from the last issue, turn away if you don’t want to know, that the kids that we’ve been following the entire time are in fact adopted, is to put it lightly. Basically they were discovered in tubes by their parents and then speared away from there. They’re dealing with that ramification. The parents are dealing with the fallout as well. In particular what I loved about this issue is the kids finally embracing and moving on with their lives and finding a fun time in the cyberpunk city. I thought-
Justin: Finding other teens.
Alex: … And finding other teens. Just a fun montage sequence that I enjoyed quite a bit.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, it’s tough to find out you’re a tube kid, that’s got to be tough. I felt like they handled it well. But yeah, this continues to be like every time you get an issue of this book, you have no idea where it’s going to go, what it’s going to do, it’s very creative. The storytelling is very interesting and fresh. Yeah, this continues to surprise in a good way.
Justin: Yeah, I liked this book a lot too. It’s a common, it’s almost a cliche at this point that, oh, science and magic, they’re the same thing, man, just different energies man. And-
Pete: Yeah, everybody knows that, man.
Justin: … I feel like it’s all tubes, man. Everything is a tube. Your body is a tube.
Pete: Sweeping tubes earlier, man?
Justin: A sub is just a tube. A beer can is a tube with beer in it that you open on one end and drink out of the inner tube of the outer tube.
Pete: What?
Justin: So anyway, what was I talking about? No.
Pete: Dryad #7.
Justin: Yes. No, this book really walks the walk of science and magic being the same thing in a way that other books sort of tell, but don’t show. And this book really feels like one of the first books I’ve read where science and magic are the same thing, and these characters are trying to use them and control those two, those singular forms of energy and failing a lot.
Alex: Yeah. Great stuff, definitely pick up this book. Next up, Black Widow #4 from Marvel, written by Kelly Thompson, art by Elena Casagrande and Jordie Bellaire. This title has been phenomenal from the get-go.
Justin: So good.
Alex: … As Black Widow had her memory wiped, we finally find out exactly what happened in the past in this issue. She’s been captured by Arcade working for shadowy cabal of Black Widow’s enemies, given a husband, given a baby. And this issue she’s finally trying to take it all back. As usual, Kelly Thompson’s book equal mounts of characterization and absolute heartbreak by the end. This has been a Banner run on Black Widow and I cannot get enough.
Justin: It’s a Bruce Banner run and I-
Alex: Yes.
Pete: Come on.
Justin: … I agree, this is my other favorite book of the week. So good. The art’s fantastic. The covers by Adam Hughes, both the cover of this issue and the next issue cover, I was blown away by. And yeah, the story is just excellent. It’s-
Pete: I mean, this is just-
Justin: … You really feel for the characters.
Pete: … It’s just Marvel being smart, like, “Okay, we got Black Widow movie coming out, let’s put some great talent on the Black Widow book and get people excited.” It’s just a phenomenal story. The art’s unbelievable, storytelling is fantastic. It’s really great.
Alex: Such a good book. Next up, Strange Adventures #7 from DC Comics, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan ‘Doc’ Shaner. In this issue, we’re dealing with a little bit of the fallout that it turns out that Adam Strange’s wife might not actually be the bad guy of the story as we have suspected for most of this time. It turns out it might actually be Adam Strange himself.
Alex: And in this issue, we get the usual dual timelines for the book. We see Adam Strange being tortured by an agent of the Pykkts. And in the present he reveals that he’s made some mistakes, but maybe doesn’t reveal all his mistakes. Man, again, such a great issue, gorgeous art throughout, but it really changes a lot what I personally thought about what was going on in this series. And like a lot of Tom King’s stuff, it makes me feel like, “Okay, I’ve got to have to read this and then go back and read the entire thing again to really get what has been going on.”
Pete: You got-
Justin: Yeah, this is my other favorite book, I think. I feel like this issue really sort of pops the cork on the series, I think. In a way, Tom King is often … You don’t quite know what sort of emotional or psychological area he’s exploring for a bit, it’s like, “Oh, this person is dealing with some sort of trauma.” This gets compared to Mister Miracle a lot, where Mister Miracle was sort of depressed, but his adventures gave him the next emotional truth that he needed.
Justin: And it feels like this is almost the opposite where Adam Strange has been so hardened by his adventures that he may have become a villain. And I think it’s about trauma, it’s about what it’s like to actually be in war. This feels like it takes some of the themes from Heroes in Crisis and maybe uses them in an easier to deploy way, a more clean way as opposed to that book which a lot of people criticized for being a little obvious, I guess.
Pete: … Yeah. I mean, a lot of crazy things happen in this issue. You want to talk about the tubes, this gets real trippy in this issue. And-
Alex: I would love to talk about tubes. Yeah, let’s do it.
Pete: … Well, make sure they’re milky. If you’re going to do it, make it a milky tube. But yeah, the Batman, I don’t care, the tyranny line was unbelievable.
Justin: Are you talking about an ice cream cone? The milky tube?
Pete: No, I’m not talking about an ice cream cone.
Justin: Rocket pop.
Pete: No. And I’m not talking about Choco Taco either, just to cut you off there.
Justin: But yeah-
Pete: Are you talking about Choco Taco … Oh, yeah. Got you.
Justin: … But yeah, there’s a lot of snapping necks in this issue, which I appreciated, a lot of action that we finally kind of get some information that really turns the story on its head, if you will. That’s a snap a neck joke. This continues to be weird in all the right ways and keeps you wanting more, that freaking T. King, I tell you.
Alex: T. King. “Spill your tea, King,” that’s what I always say. Next up, Inkblot #4 from Image Comics, created by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd. I got to say, I’ve been warming to this book after not initially liking it that much. Love the art. Thought that the character design of the cat was great. But understanding that each issue is kind of its own adventure involving the cat has made me appreciate the book more. And in this one, a bunch of dudes are fighting as fags, I guess. But it’s fun. It has a nice, weird light tone throughout. And I know it took me four issues to come around, but I’m enjoying quite a bit more.
Pete: Wow, that’s funny because it’s like the reveal on this was kind of almost a letdown for me because it was like, we kind of got a little bit more of what the cat stealer is in this issue. And I liked it kind of being its own thing, so I was almost a little disappointed when it made a little sense, so that’s funny that it got better for you. But yeah, the art is unbelievable. The cat is just super cute and fun to watch go on adventures.
Justin: Pete, do you think, and I’m theorizing about your cat a lot, but do you think that this is what … When you’re ignoring your cat and being like a bad cat husband-
Pete: First off, how dare you? I am a fantastic cat husband.
Justin: … No, you’re being the Reed Richards. Your cat looks over at you and is like, “Oh, there he goes again with his podcasting experiments, trying to solve the podcasting mysteries.”
Alex: His goopy arm is in a bucket, as usual.
Justin: His arm in a bucket. And then your cat travels through time and encounters different adventures of their own.
Pete: It would be quite amazing. I mean, it would explain why my cat is so tired all the time.
Justin: There you go. I like this book as well.
Alex: Great. Moving on to Daredevil #25 from Marvel, written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Marco Checchetto. Daredevil is in prison and Elektra is not happy about it. We’re kicking off the next arc here as Elektra has a plan of her own of course as to what she needs Daredevil for. Big stuff goes down here. Pete, I know you were a little mixed about the last issue, how did you feel about this one?
Pete: I like this. I really like getting the kind of Elektra Natchios side of things and like … Sometimes when she’s written, it feels like it’s not a real person, but I kind of liked this perspective in her trying to be Daredevil for Daredevil. I thought that a was very cool take. I mean, of course the art’s unbelievable, but I’m really getting into Daredevil more, and I’m hoping Chip does Foggy right.
Justin: Foggy seems to be losing his spot, and I think the sun is finally coming up and drying up the fog, which I’m fine with.
Pete: No.
Justin: Marco Checchetto’s art is excellent. You got that wild Elektra hair. This lady’s hair is going every which way.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: She’s got zero-G hair. It’s a lot of flyaways, which she needs some Pantene Pro V. This podcast, as always, is brought to you by Pantene Pro V.
Alex: By Pantene Pro V.
Pete: Wow, dude.
Alex: You got flyaways, Pantene Pro V.
Justin: What I give Chip Zdarsky credit for with the writing of this book is moving past the parts we’ve sort of done a bunch before. Like Daredevil putting himself in jail and going into court and all that, we’ve seen that a lot in the past couple 15 years say. So he sort of moves past it and Daredevil is in jail, leaving Elektra on the streets to become sort of a new Daredevil, and setting up this new sort of hand mystery, getting back with Stick. There’s a [crosstalk 00:43:47]
Pete: Yeah, the Stick comeback.
Justin: This is a lot of fun. Great pivots, and a book I’ve really been enjoying lately.
Alex: Last but not least let’s talk about The Boys: Dear Becky #7 from Dynamite, written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Russ Braun. This is the last issue of this new The Boys series focusing on Wee Hughie as he finds out an unknown tale of Butcher’s past, specifically the death of Becky, his wife, as you could probably figure it out, and how he dealt with that and how he became the Butcher that we know when The Boy starts. What did you think about this wrap up here?
Pete: It’s an interesting take on Thanksgiving.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Really kind of like I know I’m not the only one who’s kind of felt that way of like you just wish you could take an axe to a table full of people you don’t like. But I think The Boys does a great job of giving you a little bit of heart and then fucking around and being insane. And Garth Ennis is twisted in all the right ways, and this is kind of a crazy fun read.
Justin: That’s a life motto I think we all stick by, a little bit of heart and fucking around. All right, Pete? It was very chatty. I was surprised by how much of this book was about exploring the backstory of Butcher in a way that didn’t feel … Maybe watching the TV show has sort of tried this territory already that we’re covering here. Not necessarily in the content, but in the performances and the way they sort of play these roles, that I wasn’t surprised by but I love the information in it. I wanted a little bit more out of just the storytelling in general, I wanted more to happen.
Alex: Yeah, I could see that. I think as usual with Garth Edison stuff, he writes great dialogue, he does good characters. I don’t think this takes away from The Boys in any way. It’s not one of those sequels, prequels, whatever that feels like, “Ah, why did you go back to the [inaudible 00:45:53]?” It’s something that if I read through The Boys I would be happy to read this volume as well.
Alex: And in fact, it might read better as a complete story verses in the individual issues. And Russ Braun’s art is very good, it fits in well with Derek Robinson’s art. So that was nice to see. All in all I think this was a solid series. To your point, not 100% necessary with The Boys, but it doesn’t take away from it either.
Justin: Indeed.
Pete: Agreed.
Alex: All right. We’re all-
Justin: Agreed. Indeed. Agreed, agreed, indeed.
Alex: … Agreed. Indeed. Agreed, agreed, indeed. And if you want to hear more of this song that we’re singing-
Pete: No.
Alex: … patreon.com/comicbookclub-
Pete: Don’t.
Alex: … to support the show and other shows we do. We also do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM at Crowdcast in YouTube. Come hang out, we’ll chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. @comicbooklive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, this has been Comic Book Club, goodbye.
The post The Stack: King In Black, Batman/Catwoman, And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy48 min - The Stack: The Other History Of The DC Universe And More
On this week’s Stack podcast:
The Other History of the DC Universe #1
DC ComicsStory by John RidleyLayouts by Giuseppe CamuncoliFinishes by Andrea CucchiMonstress: Talk Stories #1
Image ComicsWritten by Marjorie LiuIllustrated by Sina TakedaPower Pack #1
MarvelWritten by Ryan NorthArt by Nico LeonThe Department of Truth #3
Image ComicsWritten by James Tynion IVArt by Martin SimmondsDark Nights: Death Metal The Multiverse Who Laughs #1
DC ComicsWritten by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Patton Oswalt, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, Saladin Ahmed, and Brandon ThomasArt by Juan Gedeon, Chad Hardin, Scot Eaton, and Thomas MandrakeNailbiter Returns #7
Image ComicsWritten By Joshua WilliamsonArt by Mike HendersonDaredevil #24
MarvelWritten by Chip ZdarskyPencils by Mike HawthorneUndiscovered Country #10
Image ComicsWritten by Scott Snyder & Charles SouleArt by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Leonardo Marcello GrassiAn Unkindness of Ravens #3
BOOM! StudiosWritten by Dan PanosianIllustrated by Marianna IgnazziThe Last God #10
DC ComicsCreated and written by Phillip Kennedy JohnsonArt by Riccardo FedericiChu #5
Image ComicsWritten by John LaymanArt by Dan BoultwoodX-Men #15
MarvelWritten by Jonathan HickmanArt by Mahmud AsrarExcalibur #15
MarvelWritten by Tini HowardArt by Mahmud Asrar and Stefano CaselliX of Swords: Destruction #1
MarvelWritten by Jonathan Hickman and Tini HowardArt by Pepe LarrazThe Scumbag #2
Image ComicsWritten by Rick RemenderArt by Andrew RobinsonSUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.
This week’s show is sponsored by the Just Been Revoked podcast.
Full Episode Transcript:
Alex: What is up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And at The Staff we talk about a bunch of comics that came out this week, and we’re going to kick it off with a big one, The Other History Of The DC Universe #1 from DC Comics. Story by John Ridley, layouts by Giuseppe Cammuncoli, finishes by Andrea Cucchi. You could probably figure it out by the title here as well as the cover, but this is obviously an alternate look at the DC Universe mostly through the eyes of Black Lightning, at least in this first issue. We’ll see where it goes in subsequent issues.
Alex: As he slowly works through his career, sees himself and other characters of color kind of pushed to the side of the DC Universe in favor of other characters like Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, learn something about himself, learn something about history. And mostly it’s told through the images of course, but also told through prowess.
Alex: I don’t think there’s really any dialogue whatsoever in this issue other than the what’s told in the narration boxes. I thought this was pretty stunning, and almost across, this is probably too reductive, but across between a new frontier and the truth in a certain way.
Justin: Oh yeah.
Alex: What did you guys think about this book?
Pete: I thought it was really touching, very powerful, moving, which was great. I really love the little Halloween thing, that was beautiful. Yeah, I was really happy to see this comic. I’m glad that this comic was made. It’s a long time coming and I hope we get to see more of this. This is just great storytelling.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, just the format, the art is so nice. It feels like such a statement. It feels like such a … It sort of has this silver age vibe to it, which I think gives it this historical precedent. It just feels so like something that will be on the shelf and in the conversation for a long time.
Justin: And then like the otherness of it, like the way that Black Lightning story keeps getting told with the Justice League and the Glacier Heroes as a counterpoint, I think is really interesting. And like you said, Alex, the fact that he and just all the other black superheroes and black characters in this book get shoved to the side throughout, you really feel it throughout and feel that drive for what makes Black Lightning, Black Lightning.
Alex: I cannot even imagine what it is like to read this book as a comic fan of color necessarily, obviously because I am white. But speaking as a white comic book reader, it is very hard to read from the perspective of Black Lightning looking at the other characters. And I don’t know if you have this feeling, but I’m reading this and I’m like, “But Superman is not like that. That’s not what Superman is like. That’s not Batman.” I felt these walls kind of building in me of-
Pete: Whoa. Look at you, you felt attacked.
Alex: … Well, not attacked. Attacked is absolutely the wrong word, but this feeling of trying to wrap your brain around how somebody else feels about these sort of things is hard to do, and that’s I think part of the point of the book. Because by the end you do get Jefferson Pierce starting to understand a little bit more of the wider world, bring down some of those walls himself and accept these things while still understanding that his experience is ultimately going to be intrinsically different from a lot of other characters in this universe.
Alex: So it really brings you in, in that way as well. And like you said, Pete, there are multiple times I got choked up, just almost hitched, like is the best word for it, when something just snuck up on you in the book, these moments of strong emotion throughout, which I was very surprised about. And then the other thing you were mentioning about the art, Justin, it feels almost Neal Adams-like to me without being exaggerated, which I thought was kind of neat.
Justin: Yeah, totally agree. It’s a great book. And there I think there are what, four more issues? And this is coming up bimonthly, I want to say?
Pete: We can’t wait.
Alex: Yeah, I’m very curious. I haven’t read ahead about it, but I’m very curious to see whether it follows Black Lightning story throughout, which would make sense. And it’s essentially a Black Lightning book, or if it’s going to switch perspectives in nature too.
Justin: I think it jumps around a little bit and touches on different characters. Another thing about this, the amount of continuity that is touched on here, and really owning it when it’s like some of it is ridiculous, but really making it a part of this very real story I think is great. There’s this Reagan pin with the Watchmen blood splatter on it, which I thought was very cool.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Great book. Definitely pick this one up. Next up, Monstress: Talk Stories #1 from Image Comics, written by Marjorie Liu, illustrated by Sana Takeda. I’d admit I have not read Monstress in a while, even though I really enjoy this book. The art is consistently gorgeous. Plus it takes place at in a fantasy world with some half personas, I guess I would call them.
Pete: Yeah, nice.
Alex: Yeah, absolutely.
Pete: Great use of that word, that just came up. That was really organic and natural.
Alex: Thank you so much, Pete. I really appreciate it.
Justin: Tip of the tongue.
Alex: In this book, we find a backstory on one of the characters. It’s sweet, it’s sad, it’s harry. The character designs are great. I like this book quite a bit. What did you guys think?
Justin: I agree, I like this a lot. There’s some fun cooking. The cooking is really used as a great moment in this story. And this reminded me, I mean, it’s such a … When I was a kid, first, the sort of furry ears on a human head was in Super Mario Brothers 3. That was the first time I encountered that. And to know that, that’s such a thing, I was like, “What an interesting thing.” And to know that such a thing in Manga and everything was a revelation.
Alex: And now here we are, three guys sitting in our own Tanooki Suits recording a podcast.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: 100%.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Metaphor.
Pete: Well, they bring up an interesting question. What’s your favorite meal you’ve ever had? I mean, I think that’s a great question to kind of put out there. And also I-
Justin: Yeah, I guess what garbage plate do you like the most?
Pete: … Also the art and the storytelling is really superb. It is very-
Justin: Art is great.
Pete: … complicated, kind of cool story that we’re kind of thrown into here, and it’s really cool.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about Power Pack #1 from Marvel-
Pete: Okay, yeah. Very good.
Alex: … written by Ryan North.
Pete: You can ignore my question, that’s cool.
Alex: Oh, you were asking about-
Justin: Favorite meal?
Alex: … best meal we ever had?
Pete: Favorite meal you’ve ever had. Yeah.
Alex: Favorite meal? Did you offer up your favorite meal or did Justin just say garbage plate and you’re like, “Yeah, fuck you.”?
Pete: No, Justin just made a joke about garbage plates, but nobody’s answered it yet.
Alex: Oh, okay.
Justin: Do you want me to go?
Alex: No, I can go. On my honeymoon, we went to-
Justin: Woohoo.
Alex: … Yeah, on my honeymoon. We went to London and Paris. And particularly in Paris, we were like, “We’re not going to look at any guidebooks, we’re going to wing it. We’re just going to like … We’re not going to make any reservations, we’re just going to wander around, we’re going to find places.” And we consistently made the worst choices in terms of restaurants, just like absolutely … Just the tourist trap and just not good spots, and it was obvious-
Pete: The [inaudible 00:07:42] of Paris.
Alex: … as soon as we sat there, we were like, “Oh, no, this is bad.” One of the last days-
Justin: I heard Paris TGI Friday’s is actually one of the best ones.
Alex: Yeah, they actually call it TGI Friday’s.
Justin: Yeah, wow.
Alex: I couldn’t think of any other French words.
Pete: In other words, he wouldn’t have done that.
Alex: [inaudible 00:08:00] Friday’s.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Anyway, so yeah, we were having a great time, but eating not great food, which you would expect in Paris. And one of the last days, one of the things that we really liked to do was just get some lunch and sit down at the Lourve in the park outside, which is this beautiful park and just eat the lunch. And we stumbled across this place called Maison de la Truffe, which is a ridiculously expensive black truffle restaurant.
Alex: And everything in there, insanely expensive. We could not afford to sit down and eat, but they had a to go thing outside. And the cheapest thing that they had was a baguette with some truffle butter and sausage on it, and then a tiny little thing of champagne, just like this big.
Alex: And there was a sack of things which we called basically fancy combos, because they were essentially just little wafers with cheese inside. And we took those and sat at the Louvre, and had this meal, and it was the best meal I had in Paris hands down. But also one of the best meals I’ve ever had. Just everything was ridiculously delicious. There you go.
Justin: That’s a great answer. I’m going to-
Pete: And you’re still married to this day?
Alex: No, we got divorced. That was my first wife.
Pete: Aw, my bad.
Justin: The French woman he married for lunch.
Alex: Hey, people married for all sorts of reasons.
Justin: It’s true.
Alex: Lunch is-
Justin: Lunch is a good one.
Alex: … Yeah.
Justin: Yeah. Your eyes are bigger than your stomach maritally. I’m going to give it up for my mom’s taco dip. Very good. But just as-
Alex: I’m also going to give it up for your mom’s taco dip.
Pete: Oh my God, what just happened?
Justin: … Wow.
Pete: Oh my God.
Justin: But I’ll go international as well as Alex. I was in Japan. I was traveling by myself, and I was hiking. I got off the Shinkansen bullet train right near Mount Fuji and just wandered around. It was January, it was very cold. I was not dressed appropriately. There was a guy who was selling some sort of soup at a stand, just like on this side road. Got that soup, ate it sitting on a rock, great meal.
Alex: Nice.
Pete: Wow. Nice.
Alex: Pete.
Pete: I’ll share too a travel one, the regulation one.
Justin: Regulation.
Pete: There is this seafood place outside of Pawleys Island in South Carolina, and it’s called Frank’s. I don’t think it’s there any longer. And they named it Frank’s because three chefs went in to create this restaurant, and one of the chefs name was Frank. And when it was time to sign the deal, this guy Frank completely disappeared and left them, but they started the restaurant anyway.
Pete: And they had this amazing blackened mahi mahi. And in the kind of bar area, where we were hanging out as a family, I played my dad for my dinner in this little ring game, it’s like a giant ring attached to a fish line. And I won the game and I got to order anything I wanted off the menu. So it was pretty cool, and it was really delicious. I don’t know if it was extra good because I won, but it was really quite good.
Justin: Yeah, I think the meal you had that day was victory.
Pete: Yes. But in Costa Rica, I had gone through a lot of crazy events where I was dating this person, or I wasn’t dating, we were kind of there together on this trip. And then she got robbed, and then I went to go meet up with my other friends and we went on this kind of tour of the sanctuary, and these monkeys robbed this couple that I was with, and I had to … They were going to kind of pay for me for a little bit, because I was low on funds, I’d spent a lot of money early drinking. You know what that’s like, Justin?
Justin: Yeah. Get the all inclusive.
Pete: Yeah. And so I was kind of just I had nothing to do, so I was just kind of walking around Costa Rica, and I stumbled across this place called the Sunset Hotel. And I walked around the corner, and there as the sun is setting is this Italian dude, and I was like … I walked around the corner and this guy goes, “Hey, how you doing?” and he made me a fresh pizza and it was phenomenal.
Alex: Man, there were so many different places that story could have gone. I was not predicting the end of it.
Justin: Costa Rican pizza.
Alex: There was a point where I thought maybe your thing was going to be you ate the monkeys for vengeance.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: I’m not [crosstalk 00:12:53]
Justin: The meal you had that day was vengeance.
Pete: Yes.
Alex: I think that reviews that comic book.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Definitely.
Alex: Next step, Power Pack #1 from Marvel, written by Ryan North, art by Nico Leon. This is how you get to the much bladed outlawed event where all the teen heroes in the Marvel Universe are not allowed to practice superheroism. But it’s also bring back together Power Pack for the first time in a while, in their new iterations.
Alex: I do think very smartly they age them down quite a bit in this book. They’ve been aged up to be like, “We’re cool teens, and some of us are adults and it’s a little unclear.” Bring them back to basics while not ignoring the continuity is very smart. And this Ryan North is very funny, it’s fun, it feels like a old Power Pack. It’s better and winky throughout. I enjoy this book quite a bit, but I’m also definitely in the tank for it. What was your guys’ takes?
Pete: My favorite part is, “We interrupt this broadcast of jazz for middle-class dinner parties to bring you breaking news.” That was really funny.
Justin: Ryan North is a funny writer, it’s great to see him on this book. I put him in the same bucket as Mark Russell. As like anytime you see them on the book, it’s consistently funny, which is hard.
Alex: Yeah. Yes.
Justin: Sorry I interrupted you, Pete. You can finish your view.
Alex: No, that was the only positive thing Pete wanted to say. Justin, what did you think about this one?
Justin: No, I loved it. It was great, super fun. Power Pack kids are fun, especially with the comedic angle. The art is very good. I’m curious how this outline event is going to play out. It does feel super disjointed. And it’s sort of the same thing over and over again where these teen heroes suddenly are arrested, so I feel like this will be a fun version of it.
Alex: Yes, I agree. Next step, The Department of Truth #3 from Image Comics, written by James Tynion IV, art by Martin Simmonds. This issue we’re continuing to follow our conspiracy fighters, is I guess what we can call them. Basically conspiracy theories aren’t real, but if you believe hard enough, they will become real. In this one, they’re tackling gun control and crisis actors, and false flags and things like that. And man, it’s very well done, very hard to read at points. But just like the main characters find it themselves, there’s a lot of conflicting emotions that go on here, I think.
Justin: I love this book so much. I agree with you completely, Alex. And this issue especially, there’s so much reality in this comic. And the hard part is I don’t know how many people who read this know about all these conspiracy theories, and the insanity that is spun around them. This one I happen to know a lot about, because I worked on a show called The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, which was about this …
Justin: Jordan was playing this conspiracy-driven host, and so we dealt a lot in this world. And Alex Jones who this book is, this issue is sort of like drawing upon, who’s like a very bad grifter person. We had to do so much paying attention to him as he descended into this madness. So this was especially, I was like reliving all of the actual news stories that were happening back like three, four years ago.
Pete: Yeah, this is really cool. It’s very interesting. Artistically, it’s really, really impressive what they’re doing here with the different art styles meshing. It is a little tough to kind of understand what is happening a little bit. But I didn’t appreciate the kind of like, “Oh, I took improv classes, so I’m good at lying,” I thought that was a little heartbreaking, but-
Alex: Just to clarify what’s happening is, probably as far as we can tell in real life, this woman’s son was killed in a school shooting. Then this organization, Black Hat, which we don’t know why, but it’s a tease that we’re going to find out a lot more next issue, is trying to make conspiracy theories come to life.
Alex: They drop off a film that whether it’s a fabricated or it’s real or whatever it is that seems to convince this woman that not only is her son alive, but she may actually be an actor who was an improv actor, so the entire thing was faked, and it starts to change the reality around her. She doesn’t know what’s real and she doesn’t know what’s fake. And what I think it does really nicely emotionally, particularly through the art, as you mentioned, is it plays on this idea of this fractured psyche that I imagine you’re going through when you deal with unimaginable tragedy like the death of a child.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Yeah. And the fact that the premise of the book that this group is able to manifest these conspiracy theories when she gets this flash drive with these facts, these alternative facts on them. This book is so smart, it’s so current, it’s just one of my favorites on the stands right now.
Alex: What happens when a robotic overlord in prisons a rant god and a humble narcissist, you get this week sponsor of comic book club, The Just Been Revoked Podcast. Join Chris G., Tom legacy and Mr. Rhace, as they discuss the origins, the ends and everything in between of all things film. Episodes are released weekly on Apple, Spotify, and all other major podcast platforms.
Alex: Looking for a film podcast that has fun and doesn’t take things too seriously, then check them out at justbeenrevoked.com. Let’s move on and talk about Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs #1 from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson, Patton Oswalt, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, Saladin Ahmed and Brandon Thomas. Art by Juan Gedeon, Chad Hardin, Scott Eaton and Thomas Mandrake.
Alex: This is anthology that Robin King is telling, basically saying, “Blah, blah, blah. You’ve heard all of these dark versions of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman before. How about a couple of other dark multiverses? What would you think about that?” So we get to see three of them in this book. What did you think about this comic?
Pete: Well, it’s a collection of stories. Some of them are a little better than others, but it’s fun. It’s like The Coming King and all that kind of stuff. I thought that it’s interesting enough. It’s definitely turning it up, like the Dark Metal stuff has been doing, so Death Metal stuff has been doing. I thought this was kind of a cool a book to put out as far as like, “Hey, we’re going to kind of let some other writers do some stuff on this,” and yeah.
Justin: Yeah, it’s a good mix. I really liked the first bit, the Scott Snyder sort of just bucket of random worlds where bad things happen to our favorite heroes. And the Patton Oswalt story I thought was great. Fun sort of Mr. Zsasz, right, is he villain here? And what it’s like for him trying to be the cool villain in Arkham, and the consequences of that was. It was cool.
Alex: This is definitely in my mind one of the lesser books in this event, everything else feels so necessary and interconnected. I love the idea of having else worlds that follow not the big three, that follow just more side stories, and I’d love to see more of that. But overall, I thought this comic book was fine. I think to your point, I liked the Robin King stuff. I thought Jimmy Palmiotti, Amanda Conner of course put together a fun story. But just so you know-
Pete: They usually do.
Alex: What? They usually do.
Pete: They usually do.
Alex: But it does not feel like something you’d necessarily need to read to understand the main act.
Justin: It’s a little bit of the lighter side.
Pete: Yeah, it’s just a fun-
Alex: Yes, exactly.
Pete: … Yeah, it’s a fun collection of ideas and stories-
Justin: It’s like a little Dave Barry novel.
Alex: Great. That’s what I’d say as well. Nailbiter Returns #7 from Image Comics, written by Joshua Williamson, art by Mike Henderson. Here were literally getting into the beat of the issue as they delve further into Buckaroo, into this game that’s being played by the new Buckaroo Butchers. And we get a bunch of psychedelic stuff, a trip to the past, some revelations, some promise of future revelations. I’m really enjoying what they did with this series, and it feels entirely different from what they did with the previous one.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah, I agree. I think it’s really creative, the art’s fantastic. They do such a good job of pulling you into this world and kind of like with their storytelling, and I just was really impressed with this. It does a good enough job or moving the story enough where you know a little bit about what’s happening to kind of follow along and not feel like, “I don’t get it.” It walks that kind of crazy line really well. But man, just the art and the characters are just insane in all the right ways. The use of blood rain and then that skull who’s just like puking blood on the pyramid is just insane.
Justin: Yeah, I love the sort of dream sequence aspect of this book, it feels so deliberate to become right now, sort of seeding out a bunch of wild ideas that then they can call upon going forward. The art’s so good. I’ve been a huge fan of Birthright also by Joshua Williamson, and this feels like if you read that and haven’t read Nailbiter, it’s definitely worth getting in on Nailbiter.
Pete: Ah man, that’s what I should’ve said for that lock and key question.
Alex: On the live show?
Pete: Birthright would have been great. Yeah.
Alex: Messed up, man. Messed up. Next step, this is what I put on the stack to make Pete feel a little bit better. Daredevil #24 from Marvel, written by Chip Zdarsky, pencils by Mike Hawthorne. Pete, you’re not in your head. No. Do you not feel better after this comic book?
Pete: Well, this is a rough issue, man. I was so excited that we got Daredevil in our stack, but then of course it’s a sad issue and I was like, “Oh, well, this is why his album put this in.”
Alex: No, 100% not.
Pete: Foggy is fighting and-
Alex: Foggy is bad at his job. What’s different about the usual? It feels like pretty status quo for our man, Mr …
Pete: No, this is not status quo. Also there’s too many people look like Daredevil. I don’t know what the fuck-
Alex: It’s only one other than his twin.
Pete: … is going on.
Alex: Sure. Daredevil is on trial for murder, something that he is willingly doing. We also get, which I thought was interesting and I want to get your beat on, a Kingpin shower scene in this issue. How did you feel about that? That’s something fans have been asking for, for a long time.
Pete: A long time.
Justin: You got to truly see the Kingpin here.
Pete: Oh boy. I mean, they always do that in the comics with the well-placed steam or fog-
Justin: It’s a little fancy.
Alex: I do that in my shower.
Pete: … or whatever. I don’t see any of the-
Justin: Yeah, in my shower, Foggy Nelson is standing in front of my genitals all the time.
Pete: That’s smart.
Alex: I thought this was really good and I loved where this ended up. Justin?
Justin: I agree. Chip Zdarsky is really bringing all of the Daredevil characters that sort of have the most emotional stakes here together. You’ve got your Typhoid Mary, your Kingpin. We don’t see many other of Daredevil’s love interests, but only because they’re dead. But his current love interest, we see Elektra here, Foggy his, I guess, friend, frenemy in a lot of ways.
Pete: Fuck you. That’s his friend [inaudible 00:24:52]
Alex: I’m excited to see where this goes going forward, because it has the potential to really redefine the Marvel Universe.
Justin: How do you feel about Daredevil wearing a suit and his costume?
Alex: That’s pretty weird, right?
Pete: Yeah, that was weird, right?
Alex: Just like when Nightwing wears a mask over his mask, and I’m like, “Choose one, buddy. It’s fine.”
Justin: Unnecessary for both. The suit over the suit feels, in a very serious issue, it feels goofy.
Pete: Mm-hmm (affirmative). It does.
Alex: Also, how much is he sweating? He’s got to stink real bad.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Yes.
Pete: Yeah. Well, I wonder if it’s like a fake turtleneck situation where he doesn’t have the full suit underneath.
Justin: Keep the suit, just that top part.
Alex: I thought that, I thought he was just wearing the mask, but he’s wearing the gloves as well.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Alex: It’s the full suit, man.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: It’s the full suit.
Alex: Yeah, double suit.
Pete: Double suit is a lot.
Justin: Slow down on the suits.
Alex: Undiscovered Country-
Pete: No double suit.
Alex: … #10 from Image Comics, written by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule, art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Leonardo Marcello Grassi. In this issue, we find out a whole lot more about UNITY, the second zone of America, as well as what happened to the past as things rapidly start to fall apart there. It was a pretty horrific reveal at the end of the issue. It makes a lot of sense. This is great. And I think we’ve been saying this a lot about this arc, but I finally feel kind of like I understand what’s going out of this book and that makes me feel a lot better.
Justin: And it’s interesting because I don’t quite know … The story is just as complex. There’s even more happening because our characters have split up a little bit. But what I think makes more sense is this arc is using more of like a metaphor in describing America. So I feel like that gives us a baseline to really understand how the different aspects are coming together.
Alex: No, I mean, you’re absolutely right. I didn’t really think about it until you said it like that, but thinking about it was like, “What does Destiny, the first zone mean to me?” Well, join other men, ride on sharks. Versus here, the idea that everybody is joining together, finding unity through the shared belief in science. Yes, that works a lot better. It’s a lot easier to hook into even if it’s-
Pete: Yeah, but there’s also giant whale sharks in here too.
Alex: There’s still giant whale sharks.
Justin: Yeah. That’s what I’m saying, there’s just as many crazy specifics-
Alex: And also-
Justin: … but it’s all under this one narrative line I feel like, it’s a little cleaner.
Pete: Yeah, under one nation. I love the man-at-arms shout-out, a little He-Man love in there. That was just great. It was fun to see. Yeah, I do. With each issue, I become a little less confused, which is great. The art and the character designs are just phenomenal, great kind of like last page reveal. This continues to be a very interesting, very well done book. I’m just happy now that we’re kind of getting a little bit more of a grasp on what’s actually happening.
Alex: I don’t want to call you out, Pete, but I feel like you’ve been confused about every issue that we’ve talked about in The Stack this week. Was there any we talked about that you were not confused about?
Pete: Huh.
Justin: We should say you got hit on the head with an anvil right before you read The Stack, right?
Alex: Right.
Pete: Oh, that’s true. You think that affects?
Justin: You think that affects?
Pete: I wasn’t affected by Chew. I was confused by Chew.
Alex: Oh, okay. All right. Well, we’ll get to that one in a moment then, that’s good. An Unkindness of Ravens #3 from Boom! Studios, written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Marianna Ignazzi. This is another one we’re getting to kind of the meat of everything that’s going on. We have a new kid-
Pete: You’re really hungry.
Alex: What?
Pete: You’re really hungry. You keep talking about meat.
Alex: Sweet, delicious, savory meat. Yeah. No, we’re getting to the heart of the issue. How about that? Is that better?
Justin: I love eating hearts.
Alex: There we go. Where we’re finding out more [crosstalk 00:28:44] about this town that our main character has moved to, the warring factions, what’s going on behind the scenes. I continue to really like this book.
Justin: I agree. I said this on the live show this week, but this feels like such a … If you’re a fan of the Sabrina TV series on Netflix, which is not coming back for a little bit and you want something to fill the gap, this book is great. It also feels like a good, if you’re a fan of Lock and Key, which we talk about a lot, this feels like a nice spiritual successor to that book.
Justin: It’s just the characters are really fun, the art is great. There’s this sense of dread hovering over everything. And I don’t really know … It’s hard to predict where their story’s going. It’s witchy in the right ways and sort of arty in the right ways as well.
Pete: Yeah. Art’s great. It’s really fun. It’s kind of nice that we’re getting into this world and what’s going on. I think in a cool way that doesn’t make me frustrated or confused about what’s happening. But I think it’s very cool with hinting at what happens and then the kind of reveal. The whole part where we’re seeing these crows and then one is shot, and then we kind of get to see that. Really impressed with that. I think this is a very cool story. I’m excited to see how this is going to unfold, and whether or not it’s going to be like a really great comic that will hold up, stands the test of time.
Alex: Well see. Next up, Last God #10 from DC Comics, written and created, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, art by Ricardo Federici. This issue, we find out some big revelations about what happened back in the day at the Black Stair. We find out more about what’s happening in the present. And it looks like the bad things are coming for our heroes or maybe are already there. What did you think?
Pete: Yeah. I mean, this really starts off amazing. We got some great actions, some cool ass dragon shit.
Justin: Cool ass dragon shit.
Pete: And then there’s a lot of talking, and then feelings and then stuff. But it starts off really good. I’m excited to see where this goes. I think this is a very creative cool book.
Justin: I like this book a lot. The art is so lush and just beautifully done. It feels like a classic fantasy story. You’d get like one little drawing on the cover or something. This feels like it’s that full art and that same style for the whole story, which is great. And what I love about it it was really placed with the tropes of legacy and fantasy books where it’s like the great heroes from the past, and now it’s this generation’s turn to fight. And this says, oh, maybe what if the first generation wasn’t great, how does that influence everything? And it’s just a smart take and a beautiful book.
Alex: I agree. Next step, the books that did not confuse Pete. Chew #5 from Image Comics, written by John Layman and art by Dan Boultwood. This is the end of the first arc here as the two Chews are facing down, all of Saffron’s crimes have been revealed. And things do not go necessarily how you might expect. Yes, Pete.
Pete: What’s great is they picked up right where they left off last issue. This is not the worst than when you kind of build up to the standoff and then you cut away from it to have backstory or some shit. So this was really great-
Alex: Was that you, Pete? Are the continuity police coming for you?
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Oh, shit. Book it.
Justin: Get out of [inaudible 00:32:20]. They’re going to have a good questions that I think he might be confused about answering. Let me be honest.
Alex: Oh, boy.
Pete: Yeah, I like this. This is great kind of standoff, brother, sister stuff. This is really cool. Art is fantastic. And it’s nice because it still feels like in the two world-
Alex: The Chew-universe.
Pete: … and it also feels a little different.
Justin: The Chew-universe. Good.
Pete: Yeah, the Chew-universe. Also, did you guys see the … It looked like a country monkey riding a smoking lizard walking by when she got out of jail?
Alex: No, I missed that.
Justin: I think that was actually in your apartment beyond the edge of the comic book.
Pete: No, it’s there. I had to double-check it. And also it looks like Sonic the Hedgehog was just shot outside the prison. It’s really cool if you look at the background stuff.
Justin: RIP.
Alex: Huh. Wow.
Justin: I like this book a lot. I was not a Chew reader of the original series, and this is … I’m not a Chewer.
Pete: Yeah, you weren’t a Chew head.
Justin: I really like this though. It makes me want to go back and maybe read Chew, because this is very good, very fun. And I really like the character Saffron. The way that this story sort of positions the next move going forward, I think is great.
Alex: I agree. Next up, we’re going to get into it here. We’re going to talk about our final X of Swords block as this big event. 22 part event is wrapped up here with three issues.
Pete: Can we …
Alex: What Pete?
Pete: Can we just finish off this stack before we get into this giant argument here?
Alex: Sure, we can jump ahead. I put the scumbag up last to space out the image comics, but let’s talk about the Scumbag #2 by Image Comics, written by Rick Remender-
Pete: Okay, my bad.
Alex: … art by Andrew Robinson. This is about the worst man of the world. He’s the only one who could save the world. We find out more about him and his powers. He injected himself with some stuff so he can save the world here. This is very much positioning that there is no right way to go as we have a terrible guy, who needs to stop some potentially more terrible guys from doing some terrible stuff. It’s just a fun book stuff. Just a fun book. Doing some light political commentary here.
Justin: Yes.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: So good. Rick Remender-
Pete: Oh, go ahead.
Justin: … writes people who fuck up better than anybody. This feels like a great successor to Fear Agent, one of Rick’s first books that we loved way back in the day. And the art by Andrew Robinson is so good, it’s so sort of 1970s animated, influenced, it feels like to me. And I think it’s just a fun book that has some real, like a lot of Remender’s book, has some real commentary underneath, a bunch of jokes and characters just screwing up.
Pete: Yeah. It’s a lot of fun. The art is like gross, but also light. It’s really interesting the way they kind of walk this line of like you hate this guy, but you’re also rooting for him. Yeah, I think it’s very well done, very creative. Rick Remender does a fun balance of tripped out, but also not too tripped out, where you kind of feel like that’s all it’s doing. I’m just really impressed with … There’s a lot going on in this comic. There’s a lot being kind of dealt with, and it does it seamlessly in a way that’s fun and moving the story forward, and it doesn’t feel rushed. Yeah, I mean, I’m impressed with this book. I’m excited to see how Rick Remender is going to break our hearts with some of these characters, because he always does. And yeah, it will be fun to talk to him about this next week.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: Yeah, there you go. All right. For real now, we’re going to wrap up with our X of Swords block. X-Men #15 from Marvel, written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mahmud Asrar. Excalibur #15 written by Tini Howard, art by Mahmud Asrar and Stefano Caselli. And finally, X of Swords or 10 of swords: Destruction #10, written by Jonathan Hickman and Tini Howard, art by Pepe Larraz.
Alex: Now, before we talk about this, we should really talk about how hard everybody worked and how we never want to put down the amount of work that people put into it. They drew this, they wrote this, there were editors who we really like who worked on this, assistant editors, people who printed it, the staples were very nice in the book and somebody had to put them in there.
Pete: Yeah, this came together fast, and they got it all done on time. There wasn’t any delays. It’s pretty impressive what they put together.
Alex: There you go. And that’s our review of X of Swords. I like this event. I thought it was fun and good, and I love where it turned up. We talked about this before, but a lot of this was Saturnyne in the background, manipulating the situation to get into a place where she got almost everything that she wanted as we find out about the end.
Alex: And the one thing that hitches me up a little bit is I don’t care about Otherworld that much, just as comics continuity and comic book fan. So having everything pivot on that, brought it down emotionally for me a little bit versus having a pivot on the X-Men themselves.
Alex: But I do like the moves they made here. I like where Apocalypse ended up. I thought the big battles were good. The art was phenomenal, just like huge, big battle scenes, enormous monsters. The scale of it was great, and just individual characterizations. Both Tini Howard and Jonathan Hickman write a great Ariana. I don’t know who specifically was scripting her dialogue, but just super fun throughout this entire event. Just a really good event for her. And it’s good stuff.
Alex: I know Pete’s going to disagree with this, but really good Cyclops stuff towards the end here. And I love the idea of holding Cyclops and Marvel Girl in reserve until the end and then be like, “No, fuck you. We’re getting there. We’re going to solve this problem.” And it really positions them in the place they should be at the lead of the X-Men. I enjoy this quite a bit. I don’t think it was a perfect event by any means, but I had a lot of fun. I had a blast reading it. Justin, what did you think about it? Pete, we can get your haterade later in a second. Let’s get adjusted first, a little more positive.
Justin: The hater goes later is what we’ve always said. I agree, I do like this event. Art across the board is great. But yeah, I mean, it’s a weird event. It’s so weird as the first big event to have it be so fantastical, have it be so sort of like goofy at points. I agree with you, the Cyclops and Jean Grey stuff, it really felt like their ascension at the end of this event is what’s important here.
Justin: And to see them sort of outside of just the bureaucracy of the Quiet Council and maybe they can actually make some moves is exciting. Really establishing them as a family with Young Cable I think is very cool. Ariana also stepped up a lot. The Apocalypse fight, I don’t know. I thought it was going to be a little bit more about Apocalypse and it felt like just a fight.
Alex: Yeah, it was like, “What was that?”
Justin: I mean, we talked about this, we sort of predicted this, that, excuse me, Arakko would be coming through to Krakoa. And with it hundreds of mutans, I believe, from around-
Alex: Millions, I think.
Justin: Millions?
Alex: Millions.
Justin: Oh, wow.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: That’s a lot of people hanging out on earth, which I think I’m curious how that will affect the continuity. It feels like a lot to add. A continuity that’s already pretty wild.
Alex: Well, I think the thing that, that adds, and maybe I’m wrong because who knows what is going on with the X-Men stuff? They can set up that Arakko is coming through and then not deal with it for 30 issues or something. But to me it feels like suddenly millions of mutants show up, you suddenly have a destabilized world situation that is already on the edge because of Krakoa.
Alex: When you bring the mutant population up to potentially pre-Genosha levels, what does that do? What nations does that put on alert? And that puts the mutant state in a really, really bad place. As for Apocalypse, the thing that I did like is it ultimately got to this place, even though I feel like we didn’t get enough fleshed out about the annihilation helmet, the idea that ultimately Apocalypse; A, is fundamentally changed by Krakoa enough that he can surrender, but also that it is Apocalypse’s will that manages to win the day felt like a smart decision. Even if it wasn’t maybe an action-wise satisfying decision. Pete, I know you’re a champion of the bid here. Go ahead.
Pete: Okay. Yeah, please. All right. Explain this to me, okay? They had, “You got to get your sword, you got to get to the fight.” Okay? So then we learned that none of that matters because it’s about this helmet that speaks to you and makes you annihilate everything. But once Apocalypse puts on the helmet, he realizes that he’s not going to let a helmet control him, so he’ll take a knee and then that solves everything. And then, oh, Apocalypse you won, and okay, I’m going to banish a whole Island of people. Great.
Pete: And then Scott Summers and Marvel Girl, who started this kind of whole thing with a bunch of weird meetings through time, decided this whole island that they helped create doesn’t matter and fuck all you all because I got to go save my son, which I understand, that’s cool, but they had like a whole Quiet Council meeting and it didn’t matter. So it was kind of like this-
Justin: But-
Pete: … whole thing that we’re trying to do, they threw it all-
Justin: If-
Pete: … out the window. Hey, I’m trying to finish here.
Justin: If Wolverine did that you would have loved, and just because it’s Scott, you don’t like it.
Pete: That’s a bullshit thing to thing.
Justin: It’s 100% true.
Pete: No, it’s not.
Justin: Wolverine does that every time.
Pete: I’m trying to wrap my head around this whole detour of the X-Men world that we just took and why we did it, and the only thing I can come up with is giant alligators and dragons are cool, and fighting with swords would have been cool, but it didn’t happen. We got drinking games and playing softball. And people will say that they will get married at the drop of a hat in the X-Men world.
Alex: The Cyclops thing I do think a lot of this is about … A lot of this story so far has been about the X-Men … And we’re not supposed to call them the X-Men, the mutants. They specifically state that in the book. They’re like, “The mutants-“
Justin: There’s a whole big paragraph.
Alex: There’s several of that. I know.
Pete: Yeah, I don’t read the paragraphs.
Alex: You should read the paragraphs, they’re kind of important. The mutants have made this big move to become one mutant state. And from the writing perspective, I think what they’ve done is how much stress can we put on that? How many things can we do to fracture that? And Saturnyne says by the end, “Two people have left the Quiet Council. They’re going to have to replace it, it’s going to be the non-ideal picks.”
Alex: And now, not just Scott Summers is leaving with a small team to go save everybody, but everybody comes with him, which means, yes, it’s the mutants united, but it also means as it states in those paragraphs, which I do think are really important. They’ve tried to ditch the X-Men name because it’s something that’s pre-Krakoa. It’s an idea of like, it’s a moniker taken by Charles Xavier. It’s not an example of-
Pete: The Lollipop Man.
Alex: Yes, Lollipop Man. It’s not an example of the United Krarkoa State, but the fact that Scott Summers is reclaiming this and then everybody’s like, “Yes, we’re X-Men. Let’s go. It’s go time,” creates this friction there that’s only going to get bigger. Once you suddenly have billions of mutants who have been slaves up to this point, who we’ve never met before suddenly showing up, so it means bad things for the outside world. It also means bad things for Krakoa and Arakko. And dramatically, that’s a really good place to be putting everybody.
Justin: Yeah, I agree with that. This crossover feels a lot like Chris Claremont-esque. Like mid-Chris-
Alex: I mean-
Justin: … Claremont run, where it’s like epic stuff that involves things that are sort of far flung from actual X-Men and mutant world stuff. Like getting with Lilandra and all that stuff, where it’s like continuity heavy, where it’s like, “Wait, what was that about that?” I feel like this will hold a similar place to a lot of that Claremont stuff, especially the other worldness of it, which I agree with you, I don’t love all that.
Justin: And this whole like captain … I know Excalibur was the second to last issue so that they’ll have an outsize effect on it. But the Captain Britain Corp and all that, I was like, “I don’t … ” This feels like such a side quest that so much of this event landing on that felt like, “Oh, I don’t know about that.”
Pete: It was just a lot just so Cyclops could have a Jerry Maguire moment of like, “Who’s coming with me? Who’s coming with me?”
Alex: What did you think about the part where Cyclops said, “Show me the money,” though? That was pretty cool.
Pete: Yeah, that was touching. It was sort of touching.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: And what about Wolverine played by Jonathan Lipnicki? I know.
Pete: Too tall.
Justin: He’s too tall? He’s very short.
Pete: I don’t know about Jonathan Lipnicki so-
Justin: He’s tiny.
Alex: You just referenced Jerry Maguire.
Justin: He’s the kid.
Alex: He’s the little kid that said, “Did you know the human head weighs eight pounds?”
Pete: Oh, he’s the kids with the spiked hair?
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: Oh, that’s great. Yeah, he’s a great [inaudible 00:46:41]
Alex: Okay. What would you think about Renee Zellweger playing Jonathan Lipnicki, is what it was?
Justin: Renee playing Jonathan Lipnicki?
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Oh, interesting.
Alex: Playing Wolverine.
Justin: Oh, wow. That’s great.
Alex: With the little lemon face.
Justin: Ooh yeah, just a pursed lip.
Alex: She got the little lip. Suck on a lemon.
Justin: I’m the best there is at what I do, and what I do is this little face. She’s a good actress. Yeah.
Pete: I don’t know what you guys are doing.
Alex: All right, that is it for The Stack. If you’d like to support the show and other shows we do at patreon.coms-
Pete: Wait.
Alex: … What?
Pete: Do you guys think this whole thing was worth it for that ending? You guys didn’t feel let down at all by the fact of like this fight wasn’t a fight, it was just a, “Can we make Apocalypse kneel? And then having Cyclops just ditch everyone because he wanted to go somewhere else.”?
Justin: I liked it.
Alex: Yeah, I liked it too. I think there were enough big moments particularly in these last couple of issues that I really just enjoyed from an artistic, from a big action perspective, literally using the S.W.O.R.D. Space Station as a sword to pierce a wormhole and attack these evil armies. Just the huge armies attacking everybody, the X-Men jumping through directly at the screen, the fairy soldiers or whatever it was jumping through.
Justin: The screen?
Alex: Good stuff. Just a lot of people coming from the sky and heading straight towards camera was a lot of fun.
Justin: Yes, and it’s surprising. A lot of Hickman big storytelling, you can’t predict it. It’s sometimes a little weird and wooly, but it’s like in the end, it’s really well thought out and smart, and very difficult to predict, which I like in storytelling in general, especially comic book storytelling.
Alex: It’s also something that relatively speaking felt like a complete story, which I don’t think we’ve gotten in a really long time with events. It’s usually by the latter half, it’s all about setting up what’s next. And certainly we get a fair amount of setup, but this started with the story of Otherworld, ended with the story of Otherworld, and that’s what it was in between. It went on a bunch of side trips, but ultimately it all came together that way, and that is pleasing to me from a story perspective.
Justin: It was pleasing, we say.
Alex: It was pleasing to be … If you’d like to support the show at patreon.com/comicbookclub. We also do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. Podcast ahead on YouTube. We would love to talk to you about X of Swords, that’s going to be our big topic of conversation. Over the next I would say-
Pete: It’s 10 of swords, but there’s going to be no fighting. Oh, you’re going to love it. It’s going to be smart.
Alex: … There is a bunch of fighting.
Pete: There’s going to be a lady who-
Alex: Wolverine cutting a man’s arm off. Really?
Pete: … you get confused with the ice queen the whole time. But then it’s not her, even though it looks exactly like her, but ah, it’s going to be great.
Alex: Oh, I’m sorry. Are you being racist towards white, blonde women, Pete?
Pete: Yes, Karen. I am.
Justin: This took an odd turn at the end, just like the X of Swords.
Alex: There you go. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. @comicbooklive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, checkout my mom’s taco dip.
The post The Stack: The Other History Of The DC Universe And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy51 min - The Stack: Captain America, Rorschach And More
On this week’s comic book review podcast:
Captain America #25
Marvel
By Ta-Nehesi Coates & Leonard Kirk
Back-up by Anthony Falcone and Michael ChoRorschach #2
DC Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Jorge FornésSea of Sorrows #1
IDW Publishing
Written by Rich Douek
Art and colors by Alex CormackMarvel Indigenous Voices #1
Marvel
By Jeffrey Verge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo & B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles, and David CutlerBarbalien: Red Planet #1
Dark Horse Comics
Script by Tate Brombal
Story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal
Art by Gabriel Hernández WaltaCommanders in Crisis #2
Image Comics
Written by Steve Orlando
Art by Davide TintoThe Amazing Spider-Man #53
Marvel
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Mark BagleyDark Nights: Death Metal #5
DC Comics
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Greg CapulloSeven to Eternity #14
Image Comics
Written by Rick Remender
Drawn by Jerome OpeñaVenom #30
Marvel
Written by Donny Cates
Art by Luke RossUsagi Yojimbo #14
IDW Publishing
Written, art and letters by Stan SakaiBatman #103
DC Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki and Guillem MarchBlack Magick #16
Image Comics
Written by Greg Rucka
Art by Nicola ScottJuggernaut #3
Marvel
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Ron GarneyYou Look Like Death: Tales From The Umbrella Academy #3
Dark Horse Comics
Story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon
Art & Colors by I.N.J. CulbardStillwater #3
Image Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Ramón K. PerezThe Immortal Hulk #40
Marvel
Written by Al Ewing
Art by Joe BennettBig Girls #4
Image Comics
Story & Art by Json HowardWidowmakers #1
Story by Devin Grayson
Pencils and Inks by Michele BandiniIce Cream Man #21
Image Comics
Written by W. Maxwell Prince
Art by Martín MorazzoX-Force #14
Marvel
Written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan
Art by Joshua CassaraHellions #6
Marvel
Written by Zeb Wells
Art by Carmen CarneroCable #6
Marvel
Written by Gerry Duggan
Art by Phil NotoSUBSCRIBE 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, everybody. Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete
Alex: And we have the pack stack for you today. We’ve got so many comics to talk about.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:00:19] that there is a lot of comics on Stack’s before this. This is a whole another level of Stack.
Justin: This is serious.
Alex: I got a timer going, we’re going to do 25 seconds per comic. 100%. Definitely, no fat on this show is what I like to say [crosstalk 00:00:35]. Let’s cut all the X-Men book if you’re cutting fat. Come on.
Justin: Those are nice and leam. Those are very fun. Yeah. They’re right in the right length. We will not do any sort of deviation, no tangents, for God’s sakes.
Alex: No bits.
Justin: No bits.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Who’s got time for those.
Alex: Nobody has time for bits. Speaking of bits, have you guys ever tried alphabets? Because that’s a good series, surprisingly.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:01:02].
Justin: Yes. What I do is I start the day with alphabets, jump right into some alphabet soup for lunch, and then I have a dinner of my own choosing.
Pete: Wow. That really fall off there at the end.
Alex: Man. You’re on Alpha Watchers, right?
Justin: That’s right [inaudible 00:01:19].
Alex: Let’s talk about, speaking of letters, specifically the letter A and whether it stands for France or not. Let’s talk about Captain America, number 25 for Marvel by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk, backup by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho. It was a big anniversary issue for captain America. So I figured it was worth talking about, but this is right in the middle of a huge arc that they’ve been doing for this title for a while now, as captain America is basically fighting against all of his villains along with the daughters of Liberty, is that what the group is called?
Justin: That is correct.
Alex: Big things go down on this issue. I got to tell you, I liked the main story. I thought it was fine as part of the continuing story, but I thought the backup was real good.
Justin: Yes. That’s when I was reading this, despite the fact that it is a number 25, the first story, I was like, “This is pretty good. This is just Ta-Nehisi Coates as both this Captain America and Black Panther is always writing sort of one uber story and so each arc is the next piece of that. I’ve been really enjoying this story and Captain America. But the backup story, I was like, “Yes, this is the real… It’s such a good… Just comment on what America is. It’s captain America speaking at a funeral for a guy he met in Red Hook at a diner and it’s just a great… It’s like a speech and it’s really-
Pete: I got choked up during this comic. It was really great and really well done. I was really impressed.
Alex: The art is very good. It’s very reminiscent of Darwin Cook in particular, I think-
Justin: Yes.
Alex: From Michael Cho and the story spans the history of Captain America. So if you’re looking for something anniversary-wise again, the first story, very good. It’s a good story. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a good writer. We know that.
Justin: Great writer.
Alex: Leonard Kirk is a great artist as well. So there’s good stuff going on there. But the backup is definitely where it’s at. Let’s move to another run, Rorschach, number two from DC Comics written by Tom King art by Ori Fornace. I think it’s fair to say we’re two issues in, and I still don’t know exactly what to expect personally from this title. I thought the story was fascinating, well laid out. The art is really good. I have no idea how any of this connects to anything yet, but I’m definitely on board for the ride.
Justin: This felt almost like a standalone issue, which I think is odd as a second issue. So it’s a detective trying to track down this attempted assassination. In this issue, it’s the characters that we think are sort of the Rorschach and are the main characters of the subjects at least of this book are just sort of side characters in this. It’s about the mystery of a murder that happened in this building. I don’t know, I really liked it, but I agree with you, Alex. I felt it was an odd place to put an issue like this.
Pete: I disagree, I think this a very interesting kind of like, who done it, I’m really liking how this is unfolding in a classic Kings fashion where we’re getting a little bit, each issue a little bit, trying to put together this bigger picture. Art’s unbelievable. Storytelling is really great. I really liked the voiceover stuff at the beginning and I think Rorschach is one of my favorite characters. So this is very interesting to kind of like, you get this story and to see how this is going to unfold.
Alex: This is something that even while I’m reading it, I feel like my antenna is on wrong for it because I read it and I try not to do this when I’m reading it, because the story is good, the art is good, but I keep reading it as, okay, how does this connect to Watchman? How does this connect to Watchman the TV series? How does this connect-?
Pete: Wow, that’s weird.
Alex: Well, and it does Tom King said on Twitter, that it is in “the same universe”, because of course they’re seeing the same universe, but it’s not in the doomsday clock universe necessarily. It’s taking place in the same universe as the TV show. So I feel like I’m focusing on that too much [crosstalk 00:05:34].
Pete: Yeah. Why are you [crosstalk 00:05:36] harder on yourself.
Alex: Well, this is what I’m saying, I am owning the fact that I’m reading this incorrectly, and it’s something that I feel like I’m going to have to read through and then go back and read again to really read it the right way once it’s a complete story personally.
Justin: That’s fair. Alex, honestly, when it comes to antennas, you need to upgrade to a mental wirelessness so you can just not have to have this.
Pete: Get the WiFi bro.
Justin: Get the WiFi dude.
Alex: It keeps going down though. I don’t know what’s going on. Let’s move on to another title. Sea of Sorrows number one from IDW Publishing written by Rich Douek, art and colors by Alex Cormack. Man, I loved this book. I thought this was so good. This is about a bunch of treasure hunters exploring a sunken sub. There is some weird stuff going on there. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler because it’s on the cover or one of the covers, but there’s a weird bunch of stuff coming on there with potentially some mermaids. It flashes back in time to previous time-
Justin: Just potentially some mermaids, just a high mermaid potential on this book. Let me just say, no spoilers, but the potentiality of mermaid-ness is high here.
Alex: Yeah. Certainly our mermaid antenna was like [inaudible 00:06:41].
Justin: Was blazing.
Pete: Yeah. I wouldn’t say this is splash two, but there’s definitely some mermaid action.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: Sure. Most people with that in fact say this was splash two, but there is some really good, like dark horror crime fantasy stuff going on. We’ve had Rich Douek at our live show before talking about previous book he’s done and I think Rich is just a really smart, precise writer. I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this, both from the art and the writing perspective.
Justin: Yeah. I think it’s a nice, like sort of everyone’s out to get everyone situation and then they encounter something horrifying. The art I think is really, really great. The undersea stuff is drawn. So with such darkness to it, and then the surprise of the potential mermaid that we’ve discussed and giving some-
Alex: I don’t want to say is a mermaid, I’m just saying it’s a potential mermaid.
Justin: It’s a potential mermaid. It’s an undersea maid, I guess we could say.
Pete: I think this does a great job as a first issue, is setting up this fucked up world, putting all the pieces in place to get you excited for the bigger story. I think this is a really solid first issue. I can’t wait for more. I’m all in.
Alex: It’s very reminiscent of the way of the Hill house Comics that came out of DC, just in terms of seeing like a contained horror story. But I like it quite a bit. Definitely pick this one up. Next up, Marvel Indigenous Voices, number 1 from of course, Marvel Comics by, here’s a long list, Jeffrey Veregge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo and B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles and David Cutler.As you could probably figure out from the title, this is a bunch of short stories that focus on Marvel’s Indigenous characters. I thought this was nice theology and I’d like to see more of this. What did you guys think?
Pete: I agree. This was really cool, very creative. I liked the way this set up with the watcher in the beginning. Just setting things up as like, we’re going to get a bunch of stories here. Yeah. I’m completely on board. I want more, I think this is a great idea and I’m glad Marvel is doing this.
Justin: I love, I think this is such a great variety of stories here. The first story focuses on Echo and great character from Daredevil back in the day.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: I miss seeing more of Echo, and it’s sort of a straight up action adventures. She takes on the [inaudible 00:09:17], Loki shows up. Then we get a Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclair, story, which is good, very classic. X-Men short. Then the last story is this super interesting silver fox story that really fits into Wolverine history and is so dark and disturbing. But it was great. That was my favorite of the three and it really popped for me that last one.
Alex: Yeah, I definitely agree. I think, we talk a lot about how anthologies are hit and miss, of course, because you’re getting a lot of stories, but this is an issue that I think is well worth picking up based on the three stories in it.
Justin: Before you move on real quick, there is in the sort of back matter here, there’s a note at the bottom, look for an exhilarating new series from Taboo and B. Earl in 2021. The Apache Warrior, [Kashiwa 00:10:12] the Sorcerer Supreme and the Ghost Rider of the mid-1800s berms her way into the future and brings disaster with her. I read that and I was like, “Shit, this looks awesome.”
Pete: Hell yeah. Yes.
Justin: I can’t wait to check that out.
Alex: Good stuff. Let’s move on then to Barbalien, Red Planet, number one from Dark Horse Comic Script by Tate Brombal, story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal, art by Gabriel Hemandez Walta. This is continuing to flesh out the Black Hammer Universe, which it is wild. How many books are coming out of this and how exciting all of them are. But this one is focusing on the world’s Martian Manhunter Amalgam.
Alex: The main thing that frankly, makes him different is he is gay and here he is dealing with a big situation on Mars where he’s been sentenced to death. While back in time, he is discovering his sexuality at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s. This is great. Just another fantastic Black Hammer book.
Pete: Yeah. I was really impressed with this. Art is fantastic. Lot of heart, great storytelling, very interesting. I was really impressed by this and there is literally like an, oh shit, moment here, where you think maybe someone’s going to die. I was really impressed by this.
Justin: Yeah. The Black Hammer Universe is so smart, the way it… This is a little bit cheap to say, but it brings like an indie sensibility to the Justice League characters or Justice League analogs, I think is so great. But what really does is flesh out these characters, make them more interesting and take the tropes of the top tier heroes like that and make the ground them, give them like a context and a historical place. It’s just makes for rich storytelling. It’s really good.
Alex: Totally agree. It’s just crazy that this is essentially a Martian Manhunter story, but with some tropes changed around, but it works completely and it shouldn’t work outside of Jeff Lemire writing it. But it absolutely does. He’s clearly guiding this whole universe. It feels like the best new superhero universe or new type of universe that Dark Horse has done since BPRD and Hellboy. They’re doing such a good job with it across the board.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Moving on to another big new one, Commanders in Crisis, number two, from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando, art by David Tinto, as we found out in the first issue, empathy is dead and not only that, but one superhero from the remaining universe has taken a bunch of presidents from a bunch of other universes, save them, given them super powers, brought them here. They’re all working together as a team. There are so many insane Steve Orlando ideas that are all working at the same time. We really liked the first issue. How do you think it held up on second take?
Pete: I think this is very cool. I love the ending. Yeah. This is Steve Orlando, just have a lot of fun kicking butt. This is very cool. Although there are a lot of ideas you can still follow what’s happening. Art’s great, ton of action, a lot of fun moments. Yeah, I’ve been really impressed with this book. He’s taking big swings with this and I’ve been impressed with it.
Justin: Yeah. We just talked about sort of taking, coming at Justice League style storytelling in a different way and I think Steve Orlando here does it in an even different way. It’s like fully idea and concept driven where you’re getting into these multi-versal, true this and finding a way to have these heroes being heroes while at the same time combating an idea. It’s good. It feels topical. It feels like it’s also has good super hero action. I like it as well.
Alex: The second issue spent a little more time with the individual characters, which I thought was really nice as we get to know them, because they’re all new, they’re all fresh, they’ve got different powers. So it’s interesting stuff. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man, number 53, from Marvel written by Nick Spencer, art by Mark Bagley. This is picking up on the cliffhanger of the last issue where Spider-Man died. He was killed by the character Kindred, who we know is Harry Osborne, but Spider-Man doesn’t know that. This issue is coming around to the big surprise that Kindred is Harry Osborne, is the reveal at the end.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: What did you think about this? Because I’ve been very on board with this storyline, but felt a little mixed about this issue, personally.
Pete: What I really liked about this issue was, in the past issues, there’s been so much happening at once. It seemed like a little bit of overload. I liked how the slow down a little bit to deliver who this is and the got you kind of moment at the end was cool. I thought it was earned. I’ve been a little like, “I haven’t been enjoying myself on this book.” But at least I enjoyed the pacing a lot more on this and it felt like, “Okay, we’re now on the same page.” We can move back to crazy time with Nick Spencer for this. What’s going to happen next?
Justin: As always, I agree with Pete completely with nine caveats.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Because I agree with you. I think this issue was paced really nicely and Mark Bagley’s aren’t… I feel like I first came to reading Spider-Man comics when Mark Bagley was drawing Spider-Man and Peter Parker and so seeing him, I’m like, “Yes, I really like this. I recognize this.” If we hadn’t known that Harry Osborne was underneath the bandages, this would have been a great reveal.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: But the fact that we know it, meant this was weird. Now it makes me be like, “Is this the reveal?”
Pete: It’s got to be.
Justin: We were doubting it before, but now it feels like it is, but it also feels like, why do it twice?
Pete: Right.
Alex: Why reveal that in advice.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:16:29].
Alex: It’s just a strange choice. It completely undercut that last page for me when he looks and says, “Got you.” Because it’s not a got you, because we already knew that and Spider-Man [crosstalk 00:16:39].
Pete: Yeah. But Spider-man doesn’t know it’s a, got you. It was [inaudible 00:16:42].
Alex: Nobody did. He’s like, “No, you can’t be Harry Osborne.” Then he takes off his mask and says, “Got you.” But it’s not. It’s also another and a long line of Marvel masks that were definitely not masks until they took them off.
Pete: Right.
Alex: Like Kindred, Taskmaster. It’s like, “Come on, you’re not wearing mask. Taskmaster, you’ve got a skull face.”
Justin: Another mask under that where it’s going to be the next issue, he’s like, “Got you.”
Pete: I’m Uncle Ben. I’m Peter Parker.
Justin: You should eat my rice.
Pete: Yes. That’s what I meant, is that Uncle Ben from the rice brand.
Alex: Of course, very controversial lately as they’ve taken that mask off. But thank you, Pete, for bringing that up.
Pete: Anytime. I like to make it weird.
Justin: At the end of the day we’re journalists and that’s the big reveal.
Alex: Stop saying that. Cool. Dark Nights, Death Metal, number five, from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder and art by Greg Capullo. In this issue, I don’t know, a lot of stuff goes on.
Pete: Yeah, it does.
Justin: Yes, that is correct.
Alex: I’ll tell you in the middle of everything while this is like Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have their wildest really channeling The Justice League run where it’s like, “We’ve got to use this nth metal to fight back against the dark multi-verse and take the positive anti-crisis matter. Just all of this insane thing, all of this insane mythology that they’re putting in there. But my main takeaway is it has the single funniest penguin panel I’ve ever seen in the history of comics.
Justin: That’s 100% fair.
Alex: So good. Everybody is lined up, everybody’s ready to fight the dark multi-verse.
Justin: The villains.
Alex: They have all the villains. They have all the heavy hitters there, everybody’s ready and it feels to be like, Greg Capullo drew the penguin in there and then Scott Snyder wrote a line for later because the line is, “I have a sharp rock.”
Justin: Yes. To be fair. He says, “I have a very sharp rock.” So pretty [crosstalk 00:18:40].
Alex: “I have a very sharp rock.” Which made me laugh out loud.
Pete: I really enjoyed the army of Lobo’s, yeah, this is just fun. The touching moment between Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman here, yeah, I think it’s just, I’ve said this before, I’m going to say it again, it continues to be a lot of fun and really over the top and all metal doubt and why not? Why not have a little fun?
Justin: Yeah, I agree. It is fun. It’s why they fight Castle Bats, they lose to a giant Gotham City basically, which was cool. Really finally proving that Gotham City really is a character in this Comic.
Alex: Finally proving it.
Justin: Now here’s my question for you. Lex Luther in this issue sort of comes through and rescues our heroes and is sort of the person who comes together with the plan at the end here, is he fully doing this for good? Or is he going to betray them in that [crosstalk 00:19:45].
Alex: Man, I don’t know. The way Greg Capullo draws him, he seems pretty ernest, but it would not be true to Lex Luther if he didn’t have a plan on top of a plan.
Justin: hat’s what I’m saying. The way we sort of quickly move past the fact that it’s Lex Luther who is the architect of their plan, makes me think that he will eventually become the true villain at the end of this once the Batman who laughs, despite the near infinite power he has, is defeated. But I love the getting all the heroes together. It feels like they’re finally coming together to do their business.
Pete: Yeah. To get a business.
Alex: I’m glad they finally got down to business. I agree.
Justin: Well, it does feel that way. They’ve been fucking around too much.
Alex: Yes, they have. This is great. Like Pete said, every issue of this is just a blast to read because it’s so purposely dumb and fun and over the top, every single choice. Does it make sense that Lobo could create an infinite army of Lobo’s out of his own blood? Probably not. I hope they never follow up on that in any way, but it’s fun to see. So that’s fine.
Justin: Do you think one of them is actually Wolverine?
Pete: Stop. Just stop with that old [crosstalk 00:21:01] you do every time we talk about Lobo.
Justin: Eventually, one of them is like, “Hey guys, have you guys looked at us? I feel like we’re just a Wolverine in space. Anybody else seeing that?”
Pete: That’s just so dumb.
Justin: “Does anybody else…?” “Hey, Lobos, let’s have a little Lobo huddle. Anybody else think we’re Wolverine in space?”
Pete: Wolverine doesn’t talk about himself in the third person and have a whole different language. It’s not…
Alex: Wolverine is constantly talking about himself in the third person.
Justin: No, he’s not.
Justin: Yeah. If you can point out a couple other differences between Wolverine and Lobo, I’d love to hear it.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:21:38] talk about Seven to Eternity, number 14, from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender and drawn by Jerome Opena. So excited. This title is back. This takes place in a fantasy world where a dude who is dying has teamed up with the big villain who basically destroyed his world and is now tracking down eternal life. This issue, we get a very classic Rick Remender scaring of Disney world and Disney Land and things like that as they get to the place where eternal life is granted. As usual with Rick Remender book, things get real dark real quick. But it’s really Jerome Opena’s, character designs that carry this book in how wild and how creative they are throughout the book.
Pete: I would like to say, you got to pick this up for the art alone. It’s worth it.
Justin: Nice, great, quote, from quoting yourself, Pete page. Yeah, to that point, I am the asker section from the back half of the book is really cool. But Rick Remender talks about this a little bit in the back matter on this book, he’s like, “Hey, we took a real long time to get this done.” But I think his focus on quality of his comic book work is amazing. He made a choice years ago now to stop doing Marvel and DC work and focus on all of his creator owned books and he takes so much care with every issue to make them, in his mind, perfect.
Justin: He does such a good job of just making high quality comics that really everything is super unique, super creative from the writing to the art, to the character design all the way through it’s dark, like all of his work, it definitely has his point of view, but it comes at you in such a different way.
Pete: I had to read this twice just because I didn’t want to miss anything in the panels. It’s just so detailed and so amazing. You can read this comic and then you can just page through it and be amazed at the paneling.
Alex: It’s great stuff. Let’s move on to talk about Venom, number 30 from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Luke Ross. This is the final issue of Venom before the Big King in black crossover kicks off. This is the end of the Venom beyond storyline as they are in an alternate universe where Venom sun has gone bad, become a bad guy called the Codex, lots of Venom, lots of symbiotes stuff happening here. What’d you think about this, both as a issue and as a lead in to this big event?
Pete: Well, I… Go ahead.
Justin: I would say it’s wild. It is like the way that Donny Cates has taken, a sort of one-off at least at the beginning Spider-Man villain. Now this is so far from being related to Spider-Man. It’s such a, like expanded mythology where you’ve got Eddie Brock and his son going into this different dimension meeting his ex who is has the son from this multi-verse. They all have their own symbiontes. They are all the different symbiontes, have different languages and controlling which ones are which, and all building toward… I got to read Richard’s who has googly eyes? He’s got googly eyes.
Alex: Yeah, he does. He has a paste it on.
Justin: Yeah. What’s the deal with this guy? He’s got googly eyes. He’s a little bit. He’s not as smart and he’s got googly eyes.
Pete: Well, he can move and he’s very flexible and bendy, and we were just going to have googly eyes every once in a while. Why is that weird?
Justin: No, I think he’s just a little off. He’s lost a little bit here, and you can tell that because of googly-
Pete: Okay. I’m just-
Justin: The google in his eyes.
Pete: You can Google his eyes?
Justin: You can Google his eyes and then setting up this next thing, it comes out of nowhere and it’s fine.
Pete: I agree with Justin and I have a lot of caveats. I think that it is fun. It’s really fun. The art and the characters designs are a lot of fun. There’s some great action sequences where you’re like, “This is really bad-ass.” But also what I really like about it is the heart. There’s a lot of heart in this book, which I really appreciate. If you’re going to go into all this action, it’s nice to know what the thoughts and the feelings are before all this goes down. I’m excited to see this next big arc. I like where this left off. I feel like Donnie Cates did a good job of wrapping this up and getting it ready for the next thing. I think this was a really good issue.
Alex: I agree. Let’s move on to a give me for Pete, Usagi Yojimbo, number 14 from IDW publishing, written art and letters by Stan Sakai. In this issue, our Bunny Warrior does some bunny warrior stuff. Pete, take it away.
Pete: Okay. First off is [inaudible 00:26:36] sent the bunny warrior bullshit. Okay. Don’t try to make him more cutesy. This is an action oriented book, about a serious ronin samurai who travels the land and helping people. So don’t put that fucking bunny shit on there. All right?
Alex: Okay. So would you call him a whittle, whittle rabbit, samurai?
Pete: You’re the worst.
Alex: Would you call him a adorable squish [inaudible 00:27:01]?
Pete: No. Did you just turn into your son for a second? I like this. I love all the characters.
Alex: Don’t you slam my son out of entirely separate podcasts.
Pete: I’ll slam them. He needs to get some fucking musical talent is what he needs to do.
Alex: Jesus Christ.
Justin: Wow, unnecessary Pete.
Pete: Don’t ask from the hit if you don’t want it.
Justin: Don’t ask for the Pete hit if you don’t want it. Anyway, get back to reviewing your peep Samurai book.
Alex: Hey, can you name the three comic book writers who are female to your girlfriend, Pete?
Pete: No. That’s why we had to do it on the show. All right.
Justin: This is unnecessary.
Pete: But I never get tired of this. These are all very similar stories about a traveling ronin, but I love his heart of gold and how he always is doing the right thing. This is just in a fucked up world, it’s nice to have staples like this book that you can always depend on. You always know Usagi is going to do the right thing. He’s going to try to save the day. It’s just fantastic. I love all these stories. I love all the action. Even though that people are getting like cotton stabbed, they don’t really show the blood and guts.
Pete: They focus more on the action, what happens than the blood and the gore. Yeah, I just think it’s really cool, and this one, we see a lot of focus on family, which is nice and also poignant and sad. But I liked the old black and white version. I know people like color for some reason, but if this sells more comics and gets it in more hands, then I’m all for it.
Justin: Pete, are you threatened? Do you think that the even smaller cuter rabbit warrior with a bow and arrow is going to be a threat to Usagi, the cute, the sword bunny?
Pete: Well, hopefully the older Usagi will have somebody to hand over his swords to, you know what I mean, just to continue the story.
Justin: He does seem to love his swords. Just which one of these is the Easter Bunny?
Pete: I fucking hate you.
Justin: A very fun book.
Alex: Yeah. Delightful. I would love to see this fluffy wuffy eat some carrots [crosstalk 00:29:20]. Batman, number 103 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki and Guillem March. In this issue, Ghost-Maker is having it in for Batman. Ghost-Maker is a old frenemy of Batman from back in the day, they both trained the exact same way, constantly fought throughout history and now has come to Gotham City to make things right, because he thinks Batman is doing a bad job. In this issue, he is trying to kill Clown Hunter who is trying to kill Harley Quinn.
Alex: So things get really messed up. I really like this. I think this is, again, just a really good story from James Tynion. He clearly likes Harley Quinn a lot in particular, and I love having her in here. He writes really good Harley Quinn. It’s good stuff. He’s building his own Batman mythology rather than just picking up on what got left off on whatever happened with Tom King’s run. That’s great. I’m excited to see what’s going forward.
Pete: Yeah. It’s nice because he does a good job of giving us a little bit of Batman’s past with some humor. Like the fact that we see Batman in the desert and Ghost-Maker rolls up on him and he’s like, “Not tonight, man.” They’re kind of back and forth, the way that Ghost-Maker and Batman kind of go back and forth, the repartee is very enjoyable. I really like it. Yeah. Seeing Poison Ivy… Not Poison Ivy. Seeing Harley Quinn talking to Poison Ivy made my skin crawl, because she’s like kissing the plant and I’m highly allergic. But I think that, I liked the outer monologue of it. It felt very Harley Quinn.
Pete: I think they do a great job of capturing her voice and I like their characterization of her. Also this Clown Hunter thing is very interesting the way that this is still sticking around. I’m very curious about what the end game of this character. I’m not sick of Clown Hunter, I’m just wondering what the bigger game is. Yeah. I also liked how this Ghost-Maker is more of a psychopath than Batman and thinks that the recent Batman is doing a bad job with Gotham is because he cares too much, which is an interesting psychopathic thing to say and I can relate to it.
Justin: Lots of information there. Really love Guillem Marches art here in the back half of the book. I agree with you, Alex, Harley is a really well used here. Ghost-Maker reminds me a lot of Azrael taking over for Batman after Bain broke his back. So I’m curious what sort of hole this character will fill down the line, because as of now I think Clown Hunter really stands out a little bit more as the unique Jame’s creation. So I’m curious to see how that unfolds.
Alex: I agree. Let’s move on and talk about Black Magick, number 16 from Image Comics written by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. This is the last issue of Black Magick, I believe for a little while now. But it ends on a big… Cliffhanger isn’t exactly the right word, but our main character is presented with an impossible choice. Is she going to seem one of the two people in her life that she truly loves, spoiler, she ends up saving both of them, which is actually a very bad decision in terms of things that are going forward. The thing that is fascinating to me about this book is relatively speaking, so little happens in every issue, but it has such import, it feels weighty anyway.
Justin: Yeah. I agree and the art is just beautiful. The way that the villains eyes are drawn is really haunting and it’s such a simple thing giving each of the sort of demon characters, this yellow, black energy to them. Really great. Yeah, and in the back matter, we see that the next issue of Black Magick won’t be until late summer 2021.
Pete: Yeah. That’s tough. That’s a long time to wait, but I’ve really liked the characterization of like, it’s not something that you’ve seen before where it’s like, “I’m a cop, but I also do magic.” The back and forth that we learn about this character and what she stands for and with her background and how she goes about her day is very interesting. I like the dilemma and the choices that she makes shows how much he cares.
Pete: So I think this is a very interesting book. I’ve been really enjoying it and I agree with Justin, the art is phenomenal. They pay a lot attention to details to make things extra spooky. When you’re reading something and you’re scared, it really says a lot about the art and how well they can draw you into the story.
Alex: When you say that thing where, “I’m a cop, but I can do magic.” That we’ve seen before. Where have you seen that before Pete?
Pete: There’s just been many stories where somebody struggling with their day job and their identity, which they would rather be doing, like, “I’m this, but I’m also that.” “I’m Bruce Wayne, but I’m also Batman.” The secret kind of identity thing is where I was going at.
Alex: Sure. You don’t need to go beyond Bruce Wayne and Batman, the most relatable of situations. I get what you’re talking about. Juggernaut, number three from Marvel Comics, written by Fabian Nacieza, art by-
Pete: Don’t ask me questions if you’re not going to like my fucking response dick.
Justin: Yeah. It all comes back to Batman.
Alex: Written by Fabian Nacieza, art by Ron Garney. We were very complimentary of this title for the first two issues and had Fabian on the show to talk about it. So check out the live show with him. We get some big answers here. What happened to Juggernaut? How did he get into his new costume? What’s going on with him? I love this take on Juggernaut. This is nothing I would’ve ever expected or asked for, but I think it’s so smart and so well done and of course, Ron Garney’s art is impeccable throughout this.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: Great title. Just a blast to read.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. The Ron Garney is such a great artist. I wish he was doing more books on a regular basis and yeah, it’s such a unique story that really both explores the backstory of Juggernaut and also drives it forward at the same time, which is hard to do. Then just tells a fun action adventure going on in the present day.
Pete: Yeah. I also like how they were also making fun of the fact in the book that he’s fighting sand. They’re making fun of itself as it’s going on. Yeah, I’ve been really-
Justin: Every time I go to the beach, I feel like I’m fighting sand.
Pete: Man, I tell you, when you’re done going to the beach, you’re still fighting sand, finding it all over the place.
Justin: I’m fighting sand.
Pete: This is such a great surprise. This book as Alex was saying, and also just like the art is so bad-ass. Ron Garney is such a bad-ass. We’ve seen Juggernaut in a lot of different ways, but like see him power up with this suit, with all the red, it was just so cool. Yeah, I’ve never been more impressed with Juggernaut.
Justin: You can’t stop this.
Pete: You can’t.
Alex: It’s fun to see him do the Superman thing, opening up his shirt and turning on his costume. It’s just a fun riff that I’m really enjoying. Let’s move on and talk about, You Look Like Death, tales from the Umbrella Academy, number three, Dark Horse Comics, story by Gerard way and Shaun Simon, art and colors by I.N.J Culbard. As you can probably guess from the title, this is focusing on Klaus from the Umbrella Academy. His adventurous in Hollywood got mixed up with a bunch of shady characters, including a vampire monkey and some other folks. Pete, you have a question right off [crosstalk 00:37:30].
Pete: Yeah. I just wanted to ask Justin something because he’s a classically trained actor. When you go on auditions and when you’re being aligned producer, you have to see this a lot, right? A lot of people channeling demons and stuff like that. That’s got to be a nightmare for Hollywood to comb through all of this all the time, right?
Justin: There’s a famous actor manual called an actor prepares by, Uta Hagen, I believe. A lot of the technique focuses on channeling a demon into your body before you step out into the audition room or onto the audition stage. So it’s really great to see this play down person and of course, Pete, always a grasp of my career and personal life that I am often auditioning to be aligned producer.
Alex: Right. This is a fun book. One of the things that I really like about it in particular is the push and pull between Klaus doesn’t care about anything, just wants to get high, just wants to get drug and actually being forced into situations where he is going to have to cause something to happen. It’s just this enjoyable push and pull as the action coalesces and spirals around him getting him to a point where he’s going to have to do something eventually, but he’s not quite there yet. Right now he’s just eating relish out of a jar and having a good time.
Justin: Relish is good. It just slides right down your throat.
Pete: The art in this is just fantastic. They do an amazing job. This is a really fun story and worth checking out for sure.
Justin: I love the little section where this writer who died, but hasn’t moved on is sort of reckoning with his life, is really fun and it’s just a little side bit of the story.
Alex: That’s good stuff. Stillwater, number three, from Image Comics, written by Chip Zdarksy, art by Ramon K. Perez. This title focuses on a small town where nobody ever dies. They can get hurt. They have to recover from that, but they never die and there’s a man who has found out that he was actually the son of one of the women from that town. He is now trapped there. His mother is buried near the gazebo at the center of the town and he’s trying to figure out a way out as he slowly works himself in the way of the society.
Alex: This is really good and it doing a good job of slowly building up the mythology of this book. I like this issue in particular, just because it sets up the dangers going forward, but also explains a little bit more about the, how the concept works. Just smart writing across the board, I think.
Pete: Yeah. This is my favorite issue so far. In this issue, they do a good job of really spelling out everything that we’ve learned as we move forward. Yeah, I’m really impressed with the artwork. This is a cool idea and it’s one of the reasons a lot of people are scared of small towns.
Justin: Yeah. Most people are scared of small towns because they’ll have to live forever there and never get sick. Yeah, I think this issue really sets the level for what the series will be, I think in a good way and Ramon Perez’s art is so good.
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about the Immortal Hulk, number 40 from Marvel, written by Al Ewing and art by Joe Bennett. After spending the last couple of issues with the leader, fighting the Hulk inside of his own head, potentially inside of hell, potentially a lot of stuff going on and that was absolutely horrifying to witness. We finally move outside there and things really move forward as Alpha Flight finds out what’s going on. They figure out what’s happening to the leader. Thanks to… My gosh, what’s his name? I heard it’s the body of Walter Langkowski.
Pete: Sasquatch, Joe Fixit, who are you talking about?
Justin: Abomination?
Alex: No. The strong guy, Samson?
Justin: [crosstalk 00:41:31]. That was the body Sasquatch and fills them in on everything that’s going on. In the meantime, Joe Fixit, make some moves of his own. There’s still plenty of gross stuff that happens to the comic.
Pete: Sure is.
Alex: But I love how much we’re moving forward here and that last page, not just in terms of the writing, but also in terms of the way Joe Bennett draws it, is perfection.
Justin: Yeah, it’s really good. I’m sort of bummed because I had a long standing pitch at Marvel where I was like, I wanted the Hulk to give birth to a mustachioed version of himself and they did it in this issue. So I guess [crosstalk 00:42:10] back to the drawing book.
Pete: Yeah. Salvin I couldn’t agree more of that last panel was just such a classic comic last panel that gets you really excited. This is horrifying and amazing and all sorts of everything in between. This ride has been fantastic. When this thing is finally collected, this is going to be one of those ones that stands the test of time. It’s really impressive.
Alex: I wanted to ask you, Pete, because you were really against this for a while, you kept asking for your Hulk to come back. You wanted your Hulk back. What turns you? Because you now see him 100% fully on board with this.
Justin: You were like, “I want my Hulk back.”
Pete: No. I still feel that way, guys. I still want my Hulk back, but this is an interesting time out take on characters that’s been around for a while. It’s a very fresh, very new take on it. So you’ve got to respect something that’s great. But yeah, I can’t wait for my Hulk to come back and I can enjoy Hulk books more. This is a scarier version of something that I love and it’s a little bit over my head, a little too smart, but I respect the fact of what it’s doing.
Alex: Right. It’s like ginger beer instead of ginger ale.
Pete: Right. Yeah. Why would you… I don’t sure.
Alex: It’s like, “This is too spicy on my tongue, no thanks. Give me some Schweppes, please.”
Justin: It’s hard to feel where you’re landing in here Alex. Are you landing on ginger ale? Because I think you’re positioning yourself as a ginger beer.
Alex: No, I love ginger beer. I’m just talking about from Pete’s perspective. He wants ginger ale, but he’s getting ginger beer.
Justin: I think this is your mistake. He wants Mountain Dew.
Pete: This is true.
Justin: I don’t know what all this ginger ale [crosstalk 00:43:58].
Pete: Do you know, Mountain Dew came out with a cookbook. Glorious.
Justin: Yep. You’ve mentioned to us a lot and I look forward to your potluck dish that you’ll be providing to our next meetup. What do you think next issue when the Hulk just totally murders the thing?
Pete: Man, that’s going to be crazy.
Justin: Yeah, that’ll be fun when he just rips the bricks off of him until he’s [crosstalk 00:44:20].
Pete: I don’t know because Joe Fixit doesn’t look like he’s in good shape. I don’t know if he can take on the thing.
Justin: He’s going to rip the bricks off. Alex said it.
Alex: We’ll see what happens. Next up, Big Girls, number four from Image Comics, story and art by Jason Howard. This is a book about a world where girls are gigantic and boys are monsters. AKA the [crosstalk 00:44:43].
Pete: Sorry.
Alex: Wait, what? What are you sorry about?
Pete: Sorry for all the damage that dudes has done to this world.
Alex: Thank you for apologizing for a millennia misogyny. I appreciate it, Pete. I think your statement here at our comic book podcast, solitary.
Pete: Thanks man. Do what you can, you know.
Justin: This book keeps moving forward. I liked the story. The girls just keep getting bigger.
Alex: Yeah. That’s what I love about big girls, man, they keep getting bigger [crosstalk 00:45:16].
Pete: No, but we’re slowly getting more and more of what this mutation is and how they’re going to stop it and a little bit more about this evil mastermind behind this. I think Jason Howard is doing a good job of giving us just a little bit more information each issue surrounded by a ton of action. I appreciate the storytelling, I think this is a classically great Image book.
Alex: Next up, I know this is one that Justin, you were super excited about. Widowmakers, number one, story by that Devin Grayson, pencils and inks by Michele Bandini. This is clearly setting up the Black Widow movie that’ll come out at some point, maybe, we’ll see what happens. But you got Yelena Belova, teaming up with Red Guardian. Justin, why don’t you like this book so much?
Pete: Yeah, Justin?
Justin: It has-
Alex: What’s your fucking problem?
Justin: I’ve got a big problem with how great this book is because this book has no business being this good. It’s a standalone issue featuring characters-
Pete: Don’t say that.
Justin: People aren’t crazy in love for. Well, I mean that as a compliment. It’s such a, we follow mostly Yelena Belova, former Black Widow, who is technically a villain in a Black Widow arc and she’s been on her own. What’s great about it is, it’s her being contracted by this rich dick to go do something for him and it ends up going wrong and she’s just meant to test these facilities and then be murdered by these people. It’s a great action book throughout the whole issue, but the internal monologue going on in Yelena’s head is so good about her life, her place in the world, Russia’s place in the world, what it means to be a citizen of the world and from a nation and freedom.
Justin: There’s just so many great ideas here, but it really tracks with this character. It puts you really in her point of view. Then she meets Red Guardian later on in the issue and he has a very different point of view and we get to sort of just take that in without having them jam some sort of idea down our throats. I just thought it was one the smartest issues I’ve read in a long time. This is my favorite book of the week. I really liked it.
Pete: Yeah, it is really great. The art is fantastic. Also this is the best versions of these characters that I’ve seen. Yeah, it was really impressive to see when somebody tastes and has a great idea for some characters, what they can do.
Justin: I love it at the end, the idea of how she gets the villain in the end, I thought was truly [crosstalk 00:48:03].
Pete: Yeah. That was glorious.
Justin: It was great.
Alex: Awesome. Just to mention, it seems like they’re teeing up that this ties into the Black Widow series that is currently running, which is great as well from Kelly Thompson. So definitely check that out. Let’s move on to Ice Cream Man, number 21 from Image Comics, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo. I got to tell you, coming into this book, I was like, “Okay, I get it. They’re doing their [inaudible 00:48:29]. That’s not what it was at all. This is straight up a Watchman riff that they are doing this issue, which was so surprising and so shocking and as dark and messed up, as you would expect from Ice Cream Man. What’d you think about this issue?
Justin: When I looked at the cover, I was like, “That’s a funny cover idea.” Like a Watchman take Ice Cream Man. Then I was like, “Shit, that’s the whole thing.” Which I was really surprised by. Then the way it ends is… Because it plays sort of a slight spoiler, like the very rare, more positive ending for any sort of character in Ice Cream Man. I thought that is a interesting subversion of what Watchman is, but it left me thinking like, “I need to read this a couple more times and really get into what’s happening here because it’s so good.” But I’m almost being fooled by the positive ending, I feel like.
Pete: Yeah. Because the Ice Cream Man has been so dark and horrifying throughout. This issue was just me going, “Shit.” I was like, “Why is this so familiar?” Then slowly getting it and it was the coloring and the panels. I’m like, “I know why this is so familiar.” Then the upside down frowny face was just the nail that kind of put in the coffin where I was like, “This is amazing.” I immediately went back, like Justin said and reread it to be like, “How did I not get this earlier?”
Pete: But every issue I’m so nervous before I read it, because I’m like, I don’t know if it can keep going at such a high level of creativity and constantly amazing me and torturing my mind with what is happening. We still really don’t know what’s going on with Ice Cream Man and every issue we find out a little bit more, but it’s just still such a crazy, interesting book that is… I cannot wait for it to finish so I can go back and reread it all again and enjoy it all again, because it’s just really impressive.
Alex: Well, feels like they did a similar sort of thing with All-star Superman, a couple of issues back. We had W. Maxwell Prince on our live show. He talked about how it’s not necessarily connecting the story. Maybe there’s an Ice Cream Man multi-verse, this feels like one of those tales out in the multi-verse that rifts on or reverberates off of what’s going on with Ice Cream Man, because I read most of it thinking, okay, we’re getting some real answers in terms of mythology here. That’s not what happens at all necessarily. It’s more just like, there are echoes of what’s going on in the book usually, but it’s still, Martin Morazzo’s art is so gorgeous and so well laid out. The watcher risks are fun. It’s weird to do a positive Watchman to your point, Justin, but I think if you’re going to do anything that ends happy, that you’re parodying, sure, do it Watchman, have a happy ending for Watchma. Why not.
Justin: Well, and the ultimate way to subvert Watchman is to have the Rorschach character go live a happy life and make his world better. That’s what I think the point is, is like, “Hey, let’s just take small steps to make our lives better.” That’s what I think the last page with the end is near with [inaudible 00:52:14] crossed out on the dude’s sign. I think it’s like, “Hey, it’d be a little easier if we just had it be near.” He does. So it’s like, “Let’s all make small steps to have a better life.” Which that would solve Watchman as well.
Justin: Watchman’s all about tricking the humanity to be nicer to each other by creating a squared that is threatening the planet. It’s like, “Okay, now you don’t have to kill each other because there’s another enemy.” This book is maybe saying, “No, we could also just be nicer to each other on a day-to-day basis.” I think that’s a very cool idea. If that’s what the intention was, this is very good.
Pete: Yeah. I also liked the idea of, instead of having a character go down a dark path and be like, “I’m too wrapped up in this.” Having the character stop and realize like, “I need to be a better partner.” It’s doable. It’s “If I put some time and energy into this, I can save this fucking thing. I can turn it around.” It was really great and the midst of all this craziness of this Ice Cream Man world, it was very surprising and goal.
Alex: Lastly, we’re going to move on to our X of Swords block, which Pete is very into it, very excited about.
Pete: [crosstalk 00:53:32].
Alex: Hold on, buddy.
Justin: That’s why we do it at the end because you log off.
Alex: Yeah, we save it right for the end here. But this is the second to last week of extra service. We’re going to be wrapping it up all next week. Okay. Calm down, buddy. But we got X-Force number 14, written by Benjamin Percy and [Jerry Dougan 00:53:50], art by Joshua Cassara. [inaudible 00:53:52] number six, written by Seb Wells and art by Carmen Carnero. Cable, number six written by Jerry Dukin and Phil Neto. Here we are very much into the tournament of [Arocco versus Kakoa 00:54:02]. They are fighting battles, often not with swords, but with other beings throughout this.
Justin: Eating contests.
Alex: We get a bunch of them fleshed out. Some of them happen shorter than others, but by the end of it, we move on to the main event. Spoiler is you could have predicted this even call out that you could predict it. It’s apocalypse versus annihilation as Arocco and Kakoa are tie. That’s what this has been leading all up towards. Pete, I know you’re against this. I know you’re not loving this. Justin, let’s go to you first. what’d you think about these issues?
Justin: Well, it’s funny to Pete’s point of being frustrated by it. It’s there is a little bit of a trick here with this whole event where they set it up to be this Epic sort of age of apocalypse style crossover. When what it really is, is like X-Men playing baseball on a grand event scale. It’s very playful. It’s very light and fun. Despite the fact that the X-Men are losing, which is, I think stressful in general, but it’s these fun lighthearted events punctuated by horrible murder. The back half of the X-Force issue where we see the Storm, the stuff that-
Pete: The storm fight is glorious.
Justin: The drink that Storm and Wolverine were drinking, the Blight Swill is actually a pretty strong poison, like a soul poisoning and then Storm still beats her dude, and then lets him get slaughtered. That was bad-ass.
Pete: Yeah it was.
Alex: Well, in the Hellions issue, it takes a little bit of a side trip. Early in the event we found out that Mr. Sinister was leading his team to try to get the swords of Arocco before they could use them. Turns out as usual, Mr. Sinister is being an evil fuck and-
Pete: Surprise.
Alex: He tricked his entire team in order to get genetic information from the mutants of Arocco, that’s all he really wanted to do. His entire team dies in absolutely horrible ways. It’s a little unclear which one of them are going to come back or not because if you die in other worlds, your personality dies, but you might be pulled from another personality. So may getting some new rifts out a bunch of these characters.
Justin: Well, I feel like we got Havoc and Quantum survive in that may be it.
Alex: Yeah. I think Empath also makes it through, right? He gets stabbed, but he crawls his way through. So maybe he’s coming back.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: But that’s super dark. The rest of it is, like both of you guys are saying, there’s a point to the fact that it’s frustrating that they’re never getting to the sword fights. You’re watching it and you’re reading it, you’re like, “They’re doing a puzzle fight. That’s insane.” It is insane that Iliana is doing puzzles right now to try to beat these people. But I think, Justin, you said it last week, we were talking about these issues, this is [inaudible 00:57:07] setting up fairy magic to trick Arocco in order to win.
Alex: There’s even a point in one of these issues where they’re like, what is she doing right now? What side is she on? What is the game that she’s playing? But it ultimately comes clear when Gorgon ends up fighting and ties up the score, so it gets to annihilation versus apocalypse. That was the whole point of what [inaudible 00:57:31] was doing. She was getting it to this point of whatever is next to even up the score. I am still very much on board with this. I understand the frustration with the lack of sword fights that are happening in X of Swords, but we got three issues left here. I think the story has been so fascinating audits own both from a writing and an art perspective that I’m still very much enjoying it, personally.
Justin: Yeah. The Cable issue that we didn’t talk about, the art’s great and there’s some great emotional moments here with Cable and then later Gorgon that are super sad. I thought really well done across the board.
Pete: Okay. So, first off I wanted to start with some positives. The X-Force cover with Wolverine is just absolutely gorgeous, fantastic, really cool and well done. Also Iliana is just really great in this first thing, where she’s fighting, which is good. I don’t want to see her solving puzzles. I want to see her fighting and the douche action noise. I really appreciated. Sums up how I feel about this whole thing.
Pete: But what we’re all thinking happens at the end of this, where it’s like, yes, this is all leading to these exes fighting each other, but it was also very upsetting to see these characters we know are better lose these battles that are set up, so they are going to lose. It’s very, very frustrating. The whole sit down with Thanos and Wolverine and in front of a mirror being like whoever blinks, loses. I was really fucking pissed that Wolverine lost that.
Alex: I loved that.
Pete: But also moved-
Alex: Wait, hold on. Can I just mention what happens to this moment that I felt was-
Pete: Can I just finish what I’m saying, I had like two more words left.
Alex: Go ahead, finish your two words.
Pete: I was moved that he lost, but also pissed and it was just so beautiful the way they drew it. So go ahead.
Alex: Yes. That was more than two words, but [crosstalk 00:59:55]. Well, I agree with you. I think that we’re getting moments like that in the middle where Wolverine and his enemy had to look at the matter, a mirror and see everybody they’ve ever killed and Wolverine holds steady, but cries and loses. Great. Just individual moments in here are so good.
Justin: Real quick though. Was that Wolverine or was that Lobo who’s sitting there crying?
Pete: You’re such a douche. You’re awful.
Justin: Maybe Wolverine is crying as he is seeing a pic-
Pete: You’re an awful human being.
Justin: He was seeing a picture of a Lobo comic. He was like, “What the fuck is this guy? He’s looks just like me.” But he’s in space.
Pete: Also [crosstalk 01:00:32] just so fantastic in this book.
Alex: Great Storm, great Storm event, great Iliana event, Wolverine. They basically been throwing the Wind Shipper every issue, which I understand is probably part of the reason that you haven’t loved this, seeing Wolverine lose a fascia battle is very funny, but I understand for a fad, that’s not a big thing. I’m really curious and excited to see what’s going to happen next week, particularly because the last issue was called X of Swords Destruction and we’ve gone from, what is it?
Alex: The first one was Genesis, the middle one was Stacey’s and the last one is Destruction. That doesn’t spell good things for what’s going to happen to the X-Men going forward. We knew that Jean Grey and Scott are about to get into the mix here because they’re going after Cable. This is great. I’m excited about it, even if you are not cool.
Justin: CooI. I too am excited. Even if you are not, to Pete.
Pete: Great.
Alex: If you’d like to support a podcast, patrion.com/comic book club. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night to Crowdcast and YouTube, Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, come back out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. I to saturate Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. Leave us a comment on iTunes in particular. We love those little comments. They’re always fun to hear, particularly if they’re positive comments, we like those a little better, I’m just going to say. Comic Book live on Twitter, comicbooklive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book chat.
Justin: Stay virtual baby.
The post The Stack: Captain America, Rorschach And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy1 hr 3 min - The Stack: Punchline, Taskmaster And More
On this week’s comic book review podcast, we’re chatting:
Punchline #1
DC ComicsWritten by James Tynion IV and Sam JohnsArt by Mirka AndolfoTaskmaster #1
Marvel ComicsWritten by Jed MacKayArt by Alessandro VittiKick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1
Image ComicsWritten by Steve NilesArt by Marcelo FrusinResident Alien: Your Ride’s Here #1
Dark Horse ComicsWritten by Peter HoganArt by Steve ParkhouseAmerican Vampire 1976 #2
DC ComicsWritten by Scott SnyderArt by Rafael AlbuquerqueThe Amazing Spider-Man #52
Marvel ComicsWritten by Nick SpencerArt by Patrick GleasonScarenthood #1
IDWBy Nick Roche & Chris O’HalloranG.I. Joe #10
IDWWritten by Paul AllorArt by Chris EvenhuisDark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme! #1
DC ComicsWritten by Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan, Sam HumphriesArt by Tyler Kirkham, Rags Morales, Denys CowanMarvel Zombies Resurrection #4
Marvel ComicsWritten by Phillip Kennedy JohnsonArt by Leonard KirkThe True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem #2
Dark Horse ComicsStory by Gerard Way & Shaun SimonArt by Leonardo RomeroGoosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp #2
IDWWritten by Marieke NijikampArt by Yasmin Florez MontanezGetting It Together #2
Image ComicsCo-creators and Co-Writers Sina Grace & Omar SpahiArt by Jenny D. FineMarauders #15
Marvel ComicsWritten by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin PercyArt by Stefano CaselliExcalibur #14
Marvel ComicsWritten by Tini HowardArt by Phil NotoWolverine #7
Marvel ComicsWritten by Benjamin Percy and Gerry DugganArt by Joshua CassaraSUBSCRIBE 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 everybody, welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete, and I’m not looking forward to talking about the Marvel stuff today.
Alex: Oh, wow. Really?
Justin: Wow. What a way to plant a flag, Pete.
Alex: Interesting.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Well, that’s okay, because we’re going to kick it off with a DC comic first, Punchline, number one, written by James Tynion IV and Sam Jones, no relation I think. Art by Mirka Andolfo. This is, as you could probably guess from the title, focusing on Punchline, new girlfriend to the Joker who is brought to the forefront during the Joker war, finally getting her own one-shot. Should we get your own series? I think starting next year at some point.
Justin: It certainly feels that way, yes.
Alex: Yeah, but this is picking up. She is in prison. And in this issue, we get one of James Tynion’s pet projects. Harper Row shows up again with her brother tracking down Punchline, is clearly setting her up as an adversary to her. We find out a lot more about her origin. I’ll tell you what, I personally have been feeling very much like Punchline is the Pucci of the Batman side of the universe.
Pete: Oh, what? What the-
Alex: Hold on, let me finish. But this issue went a long way to selling me on understanding what their take on her is personally. Pete, you’re all in on Punchline, that is clear.
Pete: Yes. I think this is a interesting kind of way to come at this character. What I don’t like is she’s like, “Oh man, don’t trust people of a podcast, they turn out to be psychos,” which, that’s fair.
Justin: Truth.
Pete: That’s fair. But I do think that this is an interesting villain. It’s one of those things where like, she was kind of forced in the situation, almost helped “the Joker” and then kind of Batman interrupted them and then felt like, oh man, I was so close to being a part of something bigger, and this is kind of her pursuit of that. It’s interesting. I feel like as a first issue, they do a good job of being like, okay, here’s this character, here’s a little bit of her backstory and what she’s about. And I think it does a good job of getting you intrigued for more to see how this is all going to unfold and to see if she does claim her kind of like all the bad stuff that she does or tries to hide.
Justin: Yeah. First off, the art on this was great by Mirka Andolfo, really good stuff, and sort of had some flavor to it as opposed to just sort of getting it done which I thought was nice. But I think this issue made crystal clear what the whole idea here is, jumping off what you said, Alex. The whole thing with Harley Quinn was it always felt a little wild that Harley Quinn was the Joker’s psychiatrist. And then suddenly she became his partner or his just fully onboard. And in this issue we get to see-
Pete: Wait, can I?
Justin: Yes, sure.
Pete: I just wanted to ask you, have you ever just really hated your day job before?
Justin: No, I’ve never. What is work? Because when you love your job, it’s like you never work a day in your life.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: So don’t know what you’re talking about.
Alex: If you teach a man to fish, you never work a day in your life. That’s what I always say.
Justin: That’s right. I’d rather be fishing says the seat of my jeans. What I like about this though, is it’s sort of, we see the progression and it very much mirrors how many people go from being a regular person on the internet to being radicalized in our modern world, through social media. And I think this does a really good job of using that very real issue in our country slash world. And putting it into the comic book world and bringing us a character that we believe, I believe the way this story is told and having Punchline land where she does, I’m on board. I think this is a really good issue for getting us to like the character.
Pete: Yeah. I hope those punches do land, because it’ll be interesting to see how this unfolds.
Alex: Yeah. Like you said, very smart, very well done. Particularly if you’ve been on the fence about the character like I have, I recommend reading this issue. Let’s move to another one that I know Pete is excited about, even though it’s a Marvel comic, Taskmaster number one written by Jed Mackay.
Pete: I should have been more specific and said the X-Men stuff.
Alex: God. Art by Alessandro Vitti. This is a new take on Taskmaster. He is just chilling out on a golf course, in one the [crosstalk 00:05:05].
Pete: Yeah, just like everybody else.
Alex: Ends up getting framed for a murder. I won’t spoil who gets murdered, but ends up on the run for that murder as usual. Particularly given that we revisited Fred [Valenti’s 00:05:18] excellent Taskmaster series just a few months ago here on this very show. What’d you think about this one? What’d you think about this new take here?
Pete: I thought this was a lot of fun, having bulls-eyeing him in this kind of celebrity golf tournaments, I just didn’t expect this. I was really impressed with, just from reading comics and knowing this character like, okay, I know how this is going to go. But I was pleasantly surprised by the start of this and how different it felt from what I expected. And I think it was kind of a very cool story and also very interesting team up. I think this did a really great job of setting up this kind of new take on Taskmaster a little bit, and then kind of this arc of where this is going, and kind of laid out all the characters that are going to be involved. I think this did a great job of getting me wanting more and excited for this world.
Justin: Taskmaster has this weird spot in the Marvel universe where sometimes it’s a little bit Deadpoolesque. But sometimes he’s meant to be a scary villain who is very hard to beat. And in this he’s sort of goofy dude who was fucking around. And that’s why I feel like Fred Valenti’s take we love so much because it really found the middle ground between those two. He’s someone with a tragic backstory where he can’t retain his long-term memory and because his brain is full of these fighting techniques that have overtaken his short-term memory. It’s a little … I don’t quite know where this book is going. Because I like the story and I like sort of the task that I hope he masters by the end of it. But the golf stuff felt a little, I was like, “Wait, what?”
Pete: No, but that was fun.
Justin: And I will say I loved that it was Black Widow. My guess was that it was Black Widow who was hunting [inaudible 00:07:24] and I love that it actually was by the end of the issue.
Alex: Yeah. I mean, this seems like a pretty clear tee up for the Black Widow movie, right. I don’t know when this was originally supposed to come out, but given that Taskmaster is going to show out there, Black Widow is going to show up there obviously. It seems like this is tying into that in a certain way, or at least going to be one of those things where, hey, now there’s a trade on the stands. The other thing, I’ll get into spoilers here.
Alex: I don’t love the idea of being ahead of a book, but I sincerely hope this is where this twist is heading. Because, again, spoilers, the thing is that Taskmaster is framed from the death of Maria Hill. And it feels like killing Maria Hill off screen is a very bad, very weird move. But what I think is going on here is Nick Fury Jr. recruits him to find the real killer of Maria Hill so he can get Black Widow off his back. It seems to be that it’s probably Nick Fury Jr. is not who he says he is. It is in fact somebody else, has lied to Taskmaster the entire time. And that’s the twist coming down the road. This is something that I felt very uncomfortable and sort of hated when they brought out, oh, Maria Hill is dead. When they get to that twist, say four issues down the road, I think I’m going to feel a lot better about this book. But as it is, Alessandro Vitti’s art is really solid and fun and there’s some funny bits in here. Jed Mackay, I think wrote the Black Cat book-
Justin: I love that book.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:09:01] coming out, which is super fun. So he does comedy, so it’s good stuff. If you’re looking for a fun, silly one, this might be one to check out.
Pete: Yeah. I just wanted to go back and touch on something Justin said, yes, Fred Valenti definitely did an amazing job. But I think other people should be allowed to do their takes, just because Fred did something that was so iconic.
Justin: No, one take and one take only I say, leave me.
Pete: I think there’s room for other kind of take some people. But I think-
Justin: Pete, when you’re making a movie, you only do one take, they just turn the camera on and everything rolls. That’s how it works.
Pete: Justin, you know better than that, come on.
Justin: Then they just move the camera to different locations. The camera’s rolling, the whole time it’s traveling from Atlanta-
Pete: Every film is filmed live, right?
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Great.
Justin: It’s why it’s really hard, actors really have to run very quickly to different places.
Alex: Kick-Ass versus Hit-Girl number one from Image Comics written by Steve Niles, art by Marcelo Frusin. This is following the new Kick-Ass who is in with some drug dealers and gangs. By the end of the book Hit-Girl is maybe coming for her. I got to tell you, I like Steve Niles. Though this art was very good, the violence was brutal. We were talking about this other live show a little bit, the idea that some number one issues don’t leave it off on the table that they sort of just like get to it at the end. Frankly, this is the issue that I was thinking of when we were talking about it, because not enough happens here in this first issue necessarily to make it work for me. But I’m curious to hear what you guys think.
Pete: Well, I’m kind of like, you see it in movies and comics all the time, the person who killed somebody then goes to the funeral and that’s just so insane to me that you would go to somebody’s funeral that you murdered.
Alex: Pete, you’re going to come to my funeral, right though?
Pete: Sure, I am buddy.
Alex: Okay.
Pete: Yeah. Can’t wait to piss on your grave, it’s going to be great. I just think that-
Justin: You don’t have to piss on the grave at the funeral, the graves’ going to be there, give it a day, come back.
Alex: The [inaudible 00:11:17] says that, right. If I’d [inaudible 00:11:19] I would like to piss on the grave.
Pete: That’s right.
Justin: Speak now or forever hold it in your bladder, hold it. You don’t want to be caught holding it.
Pete: Well, yeah, I mean because we know these characters so well, so I feel like this isn’t a … new telling is just kind of like, these are where these characters are and pretty soon they’re going to clash. But it’s always tough when it’s Kick-Ass versus Hit-Girl issue one, but they don’t ever meet in the comic yet, so that’s a little like, meh.
Justin: I have a feeling they will down the line.
Pete: Oh, okay. So that’s it’s just setting it up. I do think the art here is great. Marcelo Frusin really takes on the Jr. vibe, but gives it its own sort of flavor in a nice way. That was cool. A lot of heads being cut off in perfect hot dog sections, which I was like, “Okay.”
Justin: Well, if you’ve got a really sharp sword like that, it’s going to cut right through it.
Pete: So easy to cut through the spine.
Alex: Well, that’s actually how they make hot dogs.
Justin: Yep, a 100%. And I won’t tell you what body parts of what animals are doing that. But otherwise it was a real quick read.
Alex: Yes, I agree. Resident Alien Your Ride’s Here, number one from Dark Horse Comics written by Peter Hogan-
Pete: Oh, my rides here.
Alex: … and art by Steve Parkhouse. I have not been a religious Resident Alien reader, but as far as I can gather from this issue, it’s about an alley that just kind of hangs out with people and I love-
Justin: He’s a resident.
Alex: Yeah. I kind of [crosstalk 00:13:05] casual it is. I thought there would be more alien stuff in this book, there’s not. He’s just going to hang it out.
Justin: It’s very chill. No one even talks about how he’s an alien.
Pete: No, guys, we’ve read this before. This is a thing where he doesn’t look like that to other people. He kind of wears the disguise, but he revealed himself to that girl that’s getting the haircut in the book. This had previous arcs before, and this is a really kind of cool thing.
Justin: Yeah, I know.
Pete: Okay. All right.
Justin: This reminded me, and I think this is perhaps why you like it, Pete, remind me a little bit of Concrete.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: The old series back in the day. And it is fun. It is almost too like Slice of Life for the first two thirds of it. I like the vision quest stuff at the end. And I would be curious sort of where this opens up to, but man, this issue ends with sort of like, oh, that’s just it.
Alex: It is funny though. I mean, even if you’re not totally familiar with the series, and like Pete said, we’ve read a couple of issues here and there, but just kind of picking this up and not necessarily having a media reader call of what we talked about before. There’s still good solid jokes characterization here that make this very engaging. I enjoyed it even if most of the time I felt like, I don’t know what they’re talking about.
Pete: Yeah. I’m very into this comic. I really am invested in this relationship. And yeah, I’m excited for more. This is kind of an interesting new arc. I’m hoping that the alien and this lady can work it out.
Justin: How invested in the relationship are you, Pete?
Pete: I’m very, very invested.
Justin: Heavy?
Alex: 10K, he put 10K on it.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: I like those odds.
Alex: American Vampire 1976 number two from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder, art by Raphael Albuquerque. As you could probably figure out from the title, this is picking up on the first issue set in 1976 as Skinner Sweet and his gang were trying to take over a train that holds all of the relics of America, feels almost like a little bit of a leftover from Scott Snyder’s undiscovered country’s ideas in a certain way. But Skinner Sweet is forced to team up with his brother who he thought was dead. We get a little bit of flashback that explains that here. Man, it is so good to have this book back. I am loving every issue of it so far.
Pete: I really like the start of it. The fun recap of like, gather round kids, uncle Skinner’s going to catch you up. I thought that was great. I really appreciated kind of the walkthrough, their history there. I mean, you can’t really say enough about the art, it’s really unbelievable. And I love the Butch Cassidy and Sundance reference.
Justin: See, Skinner Sweet is such a great character. It’s just great to be able to read new stories where we can follow him around. I like these series as a culmination point of a lot of the American Vampire dangling threads and the tongue is gross and the tongues that we see in this book are gross and it’s great. It’s a truly daunting villain for a title that’s been able to maintain such quality over the years.
Alex: Great stuff, definitely pick it up. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man number 52 from Marvel Comics written by Nick Spencer and art by Patrick Gleason. Finally Spider-Man is facing down Kindred, the villain who has been taunting him pretty much all of Nick Spencer’s run. We have gotten the reveal of who Kindred is, or at least who we think Kindred is. Personally I have some doubts there that the reveal is actually what we think it is. But in this issue, Spider-Man gives up, surrenders to Kindred to save all of his friends, all the men and the rest of the spider family. And it ends in a moment that I felt like such a sucker because I know this is not going to be permitted, but I legitimately gasped out loud at the end of this issue. I thought this was great. Pete is nodding his head. Yes, yes, yes, I can see him. [crosstalk 00:17:31].
Justin: Yes, give me more.
Alex: He loves it. Give me more. Justin, let’s go to you first. What did you think about this?
Justin: We have never been closer to finding out how Kindred is than we are with this issue. And yeah, you could have said that for many issues in this run of 52. I really want to know now.
Alex: Well, they’ve revealed that Kindred is Harry Osborn. That’s been the thing that they’ve come out and said.
Justin: Yes. And was that the last issue or? Yeah, it was.
Alex: There was two issues back, yeah.
Justin: And that feels, it feels weird to me.
Alex: It feels wrong. It feels like a fate.
Justin: And I think you had the theory that it’s Peter Parker from the future, like a dead Peter Parker or something who is very bitter about his life perhaps. And I think this issue I was thinking about theory a lot because it feels that Kindred is sort of like, you’ve wasted your life fighting for these people. And that’s sort of the point. And I think that’s a nice counterpoint for Peter, our present day Peter, to fight back and say, “It is worth it. You just took the wrong path or whatever.” My theory was that it was the robber who kills uncle Ben, the thief. That would be cool too, but I sort of like your theory a little bit better at this point, feels more on track with what the story they’re telling. Because I don’t know what Harry Osborn, while he is a big part of Spider-Man [inaudible 00:19:00], Norman overshadows him so much. And I don’t know what the point of having Harry there does.
Alex: I’ll tell you also on that note, there’s a big scene in here that is very reminiscent of what Scott Snyder did in death, not death in the family, Death of the Family.
Justin: Death of the Family.
Alex: Joker, Hulk, where he gathered the Joker, gathered everybody around the dinner table. In this instance, what Kindred does is he digs up the skeletons of everybody who Spider-Man has let die and gathers some around. And the moment, it’s so well paced and so horrifying because it goes around and it’s like, here’s captain Gwen Stacy, here’s Jean DeWolff. Here’s, what is it? Marla Jameson. Then he gets to Gwen-
Justin: Flash.
Alex: … and Spider-Man and he’s like, “Oh no, Gwen.” And then Flash, the last one was uncle Ben. And it’s so upsetting to see that happen. Very well done in exactly the way that it should feel. I thought, Pete, again, nodding his head, yes, yes, yes, could not agree more it seems like. And Pete-
Justin: Before we go to Pete, who’s opinion will no doubt really crown this review of the book. I want to give a shout-out to Patrick Gleason’s art, it’s so perfect for this run. To your point, we’re seeing how horrifying this dinner scene is, Patrick Gleason’s art is the perfect companion to this story.
Pete: I just can’t wait for Nick Spencer to get the fuck off this book. It’s just, he writes these fucked up twisted things and really fucks with you as a fan, who’s loved something for many years and then makes you question that. I mean, to dig up these people and have their corpses sitting at a table, fuck you. And then have Spider-Man be like, “Fucking, I give up, kill me.” Fuck you, I’m sick of this shit. This just over the top fucking just bullshit to … It’s grotesque.
Justin: I hear you Pete.
Pete: It’s all ridiculous. Give me a fucking Spider-Man story, man. This is bullshit.
Justin: I want to see Spider-Man do something important, like catch a pulse snatcher. Has he done that? Has he stopped a purse snatching at any point?
Alex: I think this is good. I’ll also mention I know we did include this in The Stack.
Pete: You were like, when that moment happened, I yelled boo, and I closed my laptop and I was just like, I had to walk away for a little bit.
Justin: Boo. Good day.
Alex: They’re also releasing these 52.LR books, which I know I didn’t send over for The Stack. But they’re kind of taking place between the stories and focusing on the characters that are on Spider-Man. Also really good, really dark, this one focuses on Norman Osborn teaming up with Mary Jane, which is wild, and she hates it. Pete, don’t worry, she does not want to work with him at all. But really good stuff. It just a very dark, it definitely feels like-
Pete: Spider-Man shouldn’t be this dark.
Alex: What is almost unequivocally the best Spider-Man story of all time, Pete?
Pete: I don’t know.
Alex: Kraven’s Last Hunt. I think-
Pete: That’s your opinion. I don’t think-
Alex: No.
Justin: What’s your?
Alex: I think if you ask almost anybody, if you asked what is the best-
Pete: I like a couple of Rhino stories, that are great.
Alex: Sure. There’s great Spider-Man stories, but the best one of all time is probably, obviously arguably Kraven’s Last Hunt. Spider-Man dies, he’s buried in that, Kraven takes over. He’s covered in spiders, it’s dark. And I think that’s what Nick Spencer is going for here, and I think he’s [crosstalk 00:22:49].
Pete: Nick Spencer is just doing shock value shit.
Justin: I don’t think so. And also like Spider-Man’s origin is dark. His uncle dies and he lets him go. It’s like guilt.
Pete: He doesn’t know that at the time though.
Justin: Yeah, I know.
Alex: Sorry. Justin, are you familiar with Spider-Man’s origin story?
Justin: Yeah, he was there as a thief and he was like, “Should I stop this guy?” And then the guy was like, I’m going to go kill your uncle. And he’s like, “Go ahead.”
Pete: Go ahead.
Justin: Get out of here you scum.
Alex: As long as Caterpillar man finds my uncles corpse later, I’m good with it. [crosstalk 00:23:28].
Justin: I’m just saying there’s been a darkness to Spider-Man from the jump. I think this is well within the range to tell this.
Pete: No.
Alex: Let’s move on then to something that is perfectly purposely dark, Scarenthood number one from IDW by Nick Roche and Chris O’Halloran. We had Nick Roche on our live show this week. Let’s be honest here. Let’s be true to ourselves. What do we really think about Scarenthood? I’ll come out and I’ve got to say it, this is the truth. I like this book.
Justin: Nice, bold. I mean, I raved about the book on the live show. But to boil it down, I really like how this book feels very like Slice of Life. It’s about a father in Ireland, and I don’t know what town it is, but in Ireland, he struggles with just the stress of being a dad, tries to connect with the parents. It’s really funny. And then there’s … we slowly get peppered in a couple of details about how the school is maybe a little haunted and it builds and builds and builds to a legit scary moment that combines the fear of the supernatural with the regular fears of being a parent in a way that I thought was a real great step forward. I’m very excited for more of this.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, this is more in you guys’ sweet spot a little bit, because I was like, “I get it. You’re a real dad in real life.” Okay. All right.
Justin: But Pete you’re a cat dad. Think about it if it’s a cat.
Alex: Yeah. Your Twitter bio says cat daddy, right?
Pete: Yeah. That’s exactly what it says.
Justin: I believe it’s catty daddy if I remember correctly.
Pete: Oh my God. Anyways, I’m really-
Justin: The original catty daddy.
Pete: All that aside, I really liked the kind of horror ghost story elements. I thought it was really cool. I very much enjoyed this book, even though I’m not a parent and don’t know the struggles that you guys deal with. But I thought it was really well done and interesting. And I’m very excited to read more. I think this is kind of like a cool team on this book. I think it’s rich enough that I really want to kind of delve into it more.
Justin: Pete, being a parent is like your life, but with fewer cheesesteaks and fewer romantic comedies.
Pete: Boo, that doesn’t sound fun.
Alex: I really like this as well. The pitch that I didn’t give on the show.
Justin: Wow.
Pete: Oh my goodness. I thought that was part of the pitch.
Justin: Oh, okay. You seem to be allergic to the pitch.
Alex: Yeah. That was not part of the pitch. I just sneezed. This is like single parents meet stranger things is the way that I’d put it.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Alex: We talked about this live show a little bit, but I was really impressed, particularly given we read a lot of first issues with how packed this was with details, and the fact that things slowly build to the supernatural, but it isn’t the last page reveal. It’s about halfway two thirds of the way through the issue that we get some weird supernatural stuff. We get even weirder supernatural stuff as it goes. And the character signs are really terrifying in the right way. This is a great debut. I was very happy to read this and I was glad that we got to chat with Nick for so long about it.
Pete: I agree.
Alex: Let’s move on to another title that we’ve been enjoying quite a bit. GI Joe number 10 from IDW written Paul Allor, art by Chris Evenhuis. Pete-
Pete: Yo Joe.
Alex: … you got to like this one, because there’s a bareness appearance in this one. But for the most part, this is about a secret lab that is trying to create half human half robot cyborg bats for a cobra-
Pete: Classic.
Alex: … and how they end up taking it down. After being-
Pete: Classic Dr. Mindbender stuff, I mean-
Alex: Classic Dr. Mindbender stuff.
Justin: Dr. Mindbender.
Alex: After not being so crazy about the last issue, I was glad to personally just see this return to form for this issue. What’d you guys think about this one?
Pete: Yeah. I’m enjoying this. I’m having a lot of fun. Also kind of a crazy reveal because I’m used to … I’m sure you guys are the same. Lady Jaye, she used to roll with Flint or Snake Eyes.
Alex: You don’t need to tell us.
Justin: Yeah, we’re right there. [crosstalk 00:27:56]. She used to roll [inaudible 00:27:58] with Flint or even Snake Eyes.
Pete: Yeah. Right. But then to see her with this new guy, and I know he’s new because I was like, I’m not wrong in this. I went to the Hasbro website to look this up.
Alex: We all did, you don’t need to tell us. We all headed to the Hasbro website.
Justin: It’s where I get my news.
Pete: Because I was like, wait a second, I wasn’t … I don’t remember [inaudible 00:28:19].
Alex: First stop, OAN. Second stop, [inaudible 00:28:22]. Third stop, Hasbro website. That’s where I get my news.
Justin: Exactly. Especially if I’m like, what’s my brother doing? I’m like Hasbro.
Pete: But yeah, I continue to have a lot of fun with this book. Some interesting stuff. Great art. I think they do a good job of sometimes doing fun stuff with names, sometimes holding it back a little bit more.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, I think I’ve said in the past, I was never a G.I. Joe kid.
Pete: Yeah. You weren’t allowed to watch as a kid, and we feel bad for you.
Justin: We’re not allowed to watch because they used guns, yes. But these stories I like, I like the way they’re sort of one-offs story of the weeks with different tones. This one sort of has more of the action figure animated show feel, I think. But they treat the characters in a realistic way and I appreciate it.
Alex: It also feels like with this issue that this is starting to build towards something, even though we’ve been focusing in on these individual characters, maybe I’m wrong, but issue-
Justin: Castle fall.
Alex: What?
Justin: I think there’s something called castle fall coming up.
Alex: Yeah, that’s coming up. And that certainly seems to be a tease that we’re just going to start getting all these individual plot points mixing together in some way. And that’s exciting. I mean, if they’re really doing, focusing in on one, two characters every issue and that it’s building something bigger, that’s very cool storytelling. I’m excited to see where it goes. Next up, another one that I’m sure was in Pete’s wheelhouse, Dark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme, with so many Xs, number one from DC Comics, written by thank Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan, Sam Humphries, and of course, Lobo. Art by Tyler Kirkham, Rags Morales, Denys Cowan, and again, Lobo. As you can guess, this is what Lobo’s been doing during Dark Nights, Death Metal, what’s been going on with him. It kicks off with a very Frank Tieri story.
Pete: Yeah, Frank, come on. I mean, this is the guy-
Justin: Perhaps the most Frank Tieri stuff.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, this is the guy you want on this book. You want this kind of goon squad guy to tell a story about one of the biggest goons there is, Lobo. And let’s not forget we should make a Lobo Batman. And yeah, I think this was-
Alex: The Batman man.
Pete: Yeah. The bat, who frags. Yeah, I think this continues to just be a ton of over the top fun, just taking the DC Universe and being like, let’s throw a bunch of Xs on it, say it’s extreme, death metal, yeah, turn it up to 11. And the whole headbutt joke was hysterical, it was just great. Bat Grundy, I mean, what more do you want?
Justin: Let me just say it was probably a lot to read three back-to-back Lobo stories. It’s like getting just a bowl of a hot fudge sundae after the hot fudge sundae served in a bowl that’s also made out of hot fudge sundae. And so it’s not as … I didn’t need that much Lobo.
Pete: Come on man.
Justin: I will say I liked the back-end of the second story. The other heroes being Lobofied.
Pete: Superman Lobo or are you talking about Wonder Woman Lobo or?
Justin: All of them. I thought those were funny.
Pete: Okay.
Alex: Lobo gets his hands on some death metal and remakes the universe to reimagine everybody’s origin stories as all being Lobo. I think that was the Sam Humphreys, Dennis Cowan section, I could be wrong.
Justin: It’s hard to tell, it’s the one that’s called, it says it’s by Lobo. I can’t tell if it’s the second story or the beginning of the third story, sort of flows. And then I’m curious, it does feel like Lobo is going to play a large part in the resolution of Death Metal, which I find-
Pete: Well, he has been popping up. [crosstalk 00:32:24].
Alex: Go ahead, Pete.
Pete: No, no.
Alex: All I was going to say is he’s been popping up almost every issue of Dark Nights Death Metal doing something in the background. And this is to explain what he has been doing.
Pete: And also if you’re going to do a Death Metal book and not talk about Lobo, I mean, you’re not really talking about Death Metal then.
Justin: If you’re going to have a Wolverine who just has a longer cigar and shorter claws, then yeah, have him be in this space I guess.
Pete: This is not Wolverine.
Alex: Okay.
Justin: No?
Pete: No.
Justin: What are some of the big differences?
Pete: All right. First off-
Justin: The healing factor?
Pete: … Wolverine doesn’t talk this much. And Wolverine isn’t as in love with himself as Lobo is.
Justin: Wolverine doesn’t talk as much, got it.
Pete: You’re just a [inaudible 00:33:09].
Alex: Let’s move on and talk about Marvel Zombies: Resurrection number four from Marvel Comics written by Philip Kennedy Johnson, art by Leonard Kirk. This book has been, I say surprisingly great. Except Philip Kennedy Johnson has been consistently delivering excellent stuff across the board. Here, the main thing that I’ve talked up to multiple people who are like, “Ah, I don’t want to read a Marvel Zombies book,” was the twist last issue, or at least the plot reveal last issue, that the excuse, the reasoning for the zombies is that it’s a bunch of brood who have infested Galactus. So you get the reason they’re infesting superheroes is they’re the brood. The reason they have a cosmic hugger is because of Galactus. And here our heroes led by Spider-Man with the two Richard children and a bunch of other random folks are attacking the Galactus hive in limbo. It all ends here or does it? I really like this resolution quite a bit. What’d you guys think?
Pete: Yeah. This was just really unbelievable. Continually impressed with the twists and turns that this is taking. I didn’t see any of this coming the way it is. Just action galore, some great story, a really impressive balance of story and action. And the art is just phenomenal. This book is one of those ones that I look forward to when I see it’s on our kind of pool list, and it continues to impress.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, I agree. There’s a lot of smart choices in this story, like smart, creative uses of different Marvel characters. And Pete, you must have loved how this is a fun Spider-Man.
Pete: Yeah. I mean, well, he gets emotional and it’s nice. But also love the magic stuff and the Wolverine blade stuff. I don’t want to spoil stuff for people. Man, just really cool.
Justin: I was being sarcastic because Spider-Man is just so sad the entire time, he’s not having any fun. [crosstalk 00:35:23]. But I love the end as well.
Alex: And I really enjoy the fact that we’re getting both DCs from Tom Taylor and Marvel Zombies: Resurrection from Phillip Kennedy Johnson. They’re both smart reinventions of zombie mythos. We’re not just getting the zombies in the Marvel Universe, zombies in the DC Universe. They’re coming up with canonical reasons for why they exist based on what the specific universes could bring to the table. And that’s great, they’re both very different stories as well. They’re not just zombie stories. And I look forward to hopefully more to come. I was surprised, it seemed like it was tying into whatever that Thanos story that Donny Cates had been teasing is. But I guess we’ll see down the road.
Alex: Next up, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem number two from Dark Horse comics, story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, art by Leonardo Romero. This is picking up obviously on the first issue. But as everybody is slowly regaining their mojo and fighting against the live type characters who are infesting the world specifically through the lens of cops who have been taken over by whatever is going out in this world. What’d you think about this one? I think we’re really complimentary of the first issue. How’d you feel about the second?
Justin: I love the art on this book. It has such a good tone and vibe for the whole thing. And I mean, it’s a little, like with a lot of Gerard Way stuff, you’re not a 100% sure with what’s happening. But it has a very musical vibe. This feels like a music montage from The Umbrella Academy TV show or something like that, very much like the action feels like there’s a lot happening underneath it.
Pete: Yeah. I think the art is the real hero here. It’s very stylized and kind of switches back and forth, which is really impressive and still feels about the same story. But yeah, this is … we don’t know exactly, but we’ve got enough to kind of follow. It’s interesting, action packed. You can kind of understand why the people are doing what they’re doing. Yeah, I’ve been really impressed with this and I’m going to continue to keep reading it. I think it’s great.
Alex: Particularly with this issue, it feels like it’s sort of thing that if you have acab in your Twitter bio, this is the comic for you. Let’s move on and talk about Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp number two from IDW, written by Marieke Nijkamp, art by Yasmin Florez Montanez. You two in particular were particularly complimentary of this. This is a werewolf tale for the Goosebumps universe, I guess. You liked the first issue quite a bit as two girls teamed up to try to track down some werewolves. What’d you think about the second one?
Pete: Yeah, I was really impressed with the way this relationship kind of moved, because what I was worried about in the first issue is you have two characters who kind of force into this crazy scenario. And I was worried they were going to just fight the whole time and not be able to kind of move throughout the story and kind of take care of business. And I think they handled that in such a good way. I’ve been really impressed with the Goosebumps. This is a fun story. Art is unbelievable. I liked these depiction of werewolves and I thought it was endurable how that one werewolf just kind of curled up. I think this is very cool and interesting story. I’m excited to read more.
Justin: I have a feeling these werewolves are going to be people eventually.
Pete: What?
Justin: Not a ton habits in this issue as far as driving the story forward. It’s mostly like we’re scared in the swamp. But yeah, I’m curious to see, it feels like another shoe will drop next issue.
Alex: Yeah. I still feel like it’s not quite bringing all the elements together. The essential idea of two girls who are super into fantasy role-play games, tracking down real werewolves in the woods is a really smart idea, but it’s not necessarily paying off with that premise. I hope we see more of that the next issue. Though, I do like the art. I think the characters designs are very nice. And I’m enjoying reading it. It’s a nice light read. Next step, Getting it Together number two from Image Comics, co-creators and co-writers Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine. We had Sina Grace and Omar Spahi on the live show a couple of weeks back talk about the first issue, which we like quite a bit. This is like Friends, but set in San Francisco and real. This second issue is picking up on that. As things only get more complicated for everybody’s relationships. What’d you think? How did it pick up from the well-received premier issue of the title?
Pete: Yeah, I like this. I think being in a band is hard, there’s a lot of moving pieces. I like how they’re kind of diving into that a little bit, but mainly focusing on the relationships. The art’s fantastic. You care enough about the characters to care about this story. It’s relatable. I think it’s very cool. I liked how they kind of handle it, going back and forth between the different people and their kind of sizes and stuff. I also thought it was very cool the way the art kind of pulls out and pulls in. Sometimes you see wider shots and other things going on and sometimes it’s very close up. I think that’s very cool storytelling. I also really liked the drinking that was going on there. I can relate to that as well.
Justin: I agree. I think this is a great second issue. First off, just reading this comic from a pandemic point of view, it is like reading science fiction. I’m so jealous of these characters.
Pete: Yeah. Oh my God. Imagine being able to go into a bar and just get a drink.
Justin: Oh, I know. That scene at the bar was like, yes, please, tell me more. How was it? What was it like? What did the bar smell like?
Pete: I even drove by like [inaudible 00:41:55] I was like, “Oh my God. I want to go in.”
Justin: I’ve never fallen that far. But outside of that, the relationships are really well done in this. And I want to say there are so many great standalone panels where you really see like a perfect encapsulation of a real human action in the moment.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: I like this titles willingness to make the main characters unlikable, which is not an easy thing-
Justin: I like that about us as well.
Pete: Shut up.
Alex: No, I think that’s really good. I mean, you have this main relationship that’s broken apart. And the fact that you read both of these characters as they’re talking about the relationship, they try to be friends. It just doesn’t work. They’re both really not very good at it. And there’s always this temptation to make those sorts of characters come to some sort of resolution or one character to be better than the other, but it feels like a real relationship right at the middle of this where nobody’s right, they just broke up. They are both assholes to each other. They shouldn’t have been together. Things went horribly wrong and they continue to go horribly wrong. It feels very realistic in terms of the characterization. And I think that’s very nice to see. Let’s get to-
Pete: Also fun little story in the back as well.
Alex: Absolutely. Last bit to talk about, let’s get to our extra storage, [inaudible 00:43:27], which I know Pete has been eagerly awaiting. We’re just talking about three issues this week. Marauders number 15 from Marvel Comics, written by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy, art by Stefano Caselli. Excalibur number 14 written by Tini Howard and art by Phil Noto. Wolverine number seven written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan and art by Joshua Cassara. In the first issue, we get a resolution of what happened with the Wolverline after she stabbed. Let me just run through the plot here then you could complain to [inaudible 00:43:56]. Hold on.
Alex: We get a resolution of the cliffhanger last week was that Wolverine decided to shut down the conflict between Arakko and Krakoa with other worlds stuck in the middle, by stabbing Saturnyne to death, we get [inaudible 00:44:11] to that, turns out she knows what was going on. She shuts it down. We could see the rest of the dinner party as everybody kind of feels each other out and figures out what the straights are. Excalibur 14, we finally get the first of the fights, and spoilers here, I’ll go through these, but just to give you the rundown of the fights, the first one, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain gets beaten up immediately. Pete has taken off his headphones, he is done, he is out of here. Betsy Braddock gets beaten immediately, then I believe the second fight is Doug Ramsey, which he is terrified about. Turns out the fight is to get married at [inaudible 00:44:51].
Justin: The ultimate fight.
Alex: The ultimate fight. The third one is a wrestling match between [inaudible 00:44:58] I believe, she loses that, which totally makes sense. At the beginning, drinking contest between Storm and Wolverine. That’s a little bit of a tie over there. But then Wolverine gets sucked into a fight, a three-way fight. Pete, put on of your headphones, put on your headphones, Pete, you can hear what we’re saying. Come on.
Pete: Can I rant now? Can I please?
Justin: Listen to what we’re saying.
Alex: [crosstalk 00:45:21]. Why are avoiding spoilers? You got to at least hear what I’m saying.
Pete: I can’t relive this bullshit again, that you’re telling me and not react to it. It’s so fucking painful the state here, and you recount the shitty fucking story.
Justin: You love sword fights.
Alex: Here’s what I think is phenomenal about this. I was going into this. Pete is taking off his headphones again. What I think is great about this, that I was not blown away by is probably too strong, but really impressed by, is I was going into this expecting, okay, then we’re going to go through 10 sword fights, right? They start off with a sword fight that ends almost immediately. I was like, what the fuck is happening here? Why are we not getting a sword fight? This is, honestly, Pete put back the headphones. Put back on the headphones, Pete. I want you to hear this part.
Pete: Can I rant now please?
Alex: No, I want you to hear this part that I’m talking about because my feeling when I was reading this, when Betsy Braddock immediately loses it like two pages, I was furious. I was like, “What is happening here?” And then when the second fight was marriage, it was like, where are the sword fights? I was promised sword fights. But by the time they get to the third fight and the fourth fight, I was starting to get really impressed by the structure of the storytelling here.
Pete: Oh, fuck you.
Alex: Hold on. I was impressed by the structure of the storytelling here, because it’s a total swerve. They’re going for like, what are your expectations? It’s going to be this gauntlet of Ted fights. Instead, we’re coming up with different ways of hitting this, definitely getting into spoilers here, but it becomes clear through the storytelling what Saturnyne is doing. But our whole plan is not to have Krakoa beat Arakko, but to have Arakko realize, wait, we are the same as Krakoa and we need to join together. And we’re not quite there yet, but that’s such a fascinating, interesting, different swerve for the storytelling. I am very excited for where this is going, going forward. Pete, go ahead.
Pete: All right. Well, first off to address what you’re saying. If you’re going to do that, fucking do a fun issue where they’re playing fucking volleyball or whatever, or having a barbecue and they can fucking get along or whatever. But you set up for fucking 14 issues, there’s going to be this epic fucking battle. And the first epic battle is shit. The second battle is a marriage. What the fuck are you talking about? The third, fourth, fifth, they’re not even fights, they’re bullshit fucking side things that don’t make any sense. People who won don’t get points. Other people are getting random points. What the fuck is going on? You’ve teed this up for fucking, there’s going to be 22 issues of this bullshit, and you’ve done nothing but rob us of good story with this bullshit where there’s actual story that could be happening, but you’re not addressing, not just sitting across from each other going, “Oh, you’re doing well raising our children.” Fuck you.
Pete: If you’re going to get into it, get into it, don’t just fucking give us one piece of something to walk away. I’m so frustrated on so many levels with this fucking story. I’ve had it up to here. I was so pissed. Captain Britain, that whole thing … It’s very upsetting when you build us something and then don’t come close to even delivering it. You fucking piss in my face when it comes to the delivery and then walk away and go, “Yeah, this shit doesn’t even matter.”
Justin: Pete, spoiler, the next issue is the two X men each other’s faces for the-
Pete: Yeah, might as well.
Justin: That’s the X.
Alex: Pissing contest.
Justin: Oh, Pete, I feel like you might need to catch your breath for a second.
Pete: The art is very enjoyable.
Justin: Oh, nice. That’s great.
Pete: Took a lot for me to say that.
Justin: I agree with Alex. This was such a surprise, but reading these three issues in particular, it really felt like, oh, they’re doing like … even though it’s not explicitly this, it feels like the fairy realm where nothing is what you expect. And so of course the battle is not going to be just a bunch of random sword fights. Everyone is being tricked. But I think what’s smart about that is the Arakko.
Pete: We the reader are being tricked.
Justin: But in the same way that the best stories surprise you.
Pete: Out of our money.
Justin: You’re not being tricked out of money. But let me say-
Alex: Can I pull that [crosstalk 00:50:14] for a second.
Justin: The handful-
Alex: You’re getting these issues for free.
Pete: Yeah. I’m just saying, I’m talking about for the people who pay money for comic books, don’t fucking shell out money for this book. You’re going to be fucking pissed because-
Alex: Hold on. Because this is … Obviously I have not read the issues beyond this week, but this is a build, right. And what we’re building up to and I could be wrong is we’re going to get a actually epic sword fight between apocalypse and annihilation, his wife. But if there were nine issues of sword fights before that, it wouldn’t hit as hard when you finally get to that.
Pete: Well, then give me story and then just give me that last fight. Don’t fucking promise me great battles along the way, and then fucking be like, no, two people are randomly going to get married for no fucking reason. And all of a sudden, a guy who all he does is talk to things can’t talk. And that’s the reason he falls in love with her. Are you fucking kidding me?
Justin: Here’s what I was trying to say before.
Pete: Sorry Justin.
Justin: It is much more interesting to feel, to have these stories be surprising and interesting, especially at the beginning when like … especially Doug Ramsey, he goes in, either he’s going to be straight up murdered or he’s going to win randomly. Instead, it’s something completely unexpected and I appreciate that. And it also like, as we’ve met the Arakko warriors, they’re so intense, there’s so much more, they’ve been raised in, they fought their entire lives for millennium. One of them has legit never lost a thing. The odds are stacked against the X-Men. And I think the X-Men, they’re in one of these issues, they talk about this. They have had a happier world, a happier life. I think they can sort of figure out these games and win this without it being just a brute battle between different people that we’ve seen a hundred times in a hundred different comics. I think this is actually makes for some better storytelling. The fact that Wolverine issue, where he wins and also loses is fun. It’s funny. Wolverine is outplayed twice in these issues.
Alex: I love the Storm Wolverine drinking battle. That’s great.
Justin: Did you see Storm leans in for a kiss?
Alex: She does. There’s so much … who did the art for that one? That was Joshua Cassara. The way that is laid out in that issue and it slowly builds until Wolverine disappears as they’re about to kiss because they’re completely wasted and they’re going to hook up. That’s great. I love the tension and inherited that scene. And the fact that Wolverine ends up in this three-way battle where he’s just plastered the entire time is so much fun. It’s good. Pete, you’re upset.
Pete: Yes. I’m very upset because who the fuck … I don’t understand why Wolverine is not acting like Wolverine. Wolverine, you know you can’t just drink in the middle of a sword battle. You know you’re going to have to fight. And also why are you trying to cheat beforehand? I have [crosstalk 00:53:34].
Justin: They say that it’s a drinking game is the battle, so he does it.
Pete: Listen, yeah, you know you can’t smell, you’re going to get fucked on that. I saw that coming a mile away.
Justin: I’ve never been fucked during a drinking game or I guess afterwards.
Pete: I don’t know. Anyways, I just think that, hey, if you want to tell stories, great, but don’t promise me one thing and then deliver another thing. I like a swerve, I like interesting stories. Yes, the marriage is surprising, whatever, great, great for you guys. But when you put me through these fucking origin stories of getting a sword and, oh, man, I got the baddest sword I can get. And now I’m going to go into a battle, the fight for my fuck island. Oh my God, and then you don’t do that. You don’t even come close to a battle. We haven’t gotten one good one yet. And the scoring is all wrong.
Justin: You’re really concerned with the score.
Alex: Yeah, this is-
Pete: If you’re fighting to the death and that-
Alex: The title of the event is called X of arm wrestling. I don’t understand what the problem is.
Pete: Fucking arm wrestling.
Justin: It’s called ten of marriage.
Alex: Well, clearly we have a disagreement here, and I think that’s a great-
Justin: Two to one, we win. Later.
Alex: There you go, Arakko wins. That’s it for The Stack. [crosstalk 00:55:04]. Arakko, sorry, Justin. That’s it for The Stack podcast. If you really like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. I choose Android and Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show at comic book live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, keep getting married everybody.
Justin: Get out there, the ultimate sword fight.
The post The Stack: Punchline, Taskmaster And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy56 min - The Stack: Crossover, Sweet Tooth And More
On this week’s comic book review podcast:
Crossover #1
Image Comics
Story by Donny Cates
Art by Geoff ShawSweet Tooth: The Return #1
DC Comics
Creator, writer, artist Jeff LemireWolverine: Black, White & Blood #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Gerry Duggan, Matthew Rosenberg and Declan Shalvey
Art by Adam Kubert, Joshua Cassara and Declan ShalveyOrigins #1
BOOM! Studios
Created by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph Oxford
Script by Clay McLeod Chapman
Art by Jakub RebelkaStranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons #1
Dark Horse Comics/IDW
Written by Jody Houser & Jim Zub
Line art by Diego GalindoBacktrack #8
Oni Press
Written by Brian Jones
Art by Jake ElphickU.S.Agent #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Priest
Art by Georges JeantyThat Texas Blood #5
Image Comics
By Chris Condon and Jacob PhillipsMighty Morphin’ #1
BOOM! Studios
Written by Ryan Parrott
Illustrated by Marco RennaSpy Island #3
Dark Horse Comics
Written bye Chelsea Cain
Art by Lea MitterniqueWeb of Venom: Empyre’s End #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Clay McLeod Chapman
Art by Guiu VillanovaBatman #102
DC Comics
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Carlo PagulayanDryad #6
Oni Press
Written by Kurtis Wiebe
Illustrated by Justin BarceloThe Goddamned: The Virgin Brides #4
Image Comics
Written by Jason Aaron
Art by r.m. GuéraThor #9
Marvel Comics
Written by Donny Cates
Art by Nic KleinWicked Things #6
BOOM! Box
Created and written by John Allison
Art by Max SarinDCeased: Dead Planet #5
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Trevor HairsineInkblot #3
Image Comics
Written by Emma Kubert
Art by Rusty GladdX-Men #14
Marvel Comics
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Art by Mahmud Asrar and Leinil YuMarauders #14
Marvel Comics
Written by Gerry Duggan
Art by Stefano CaselliSUBSCRIBE 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’s up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And on The Stack, we talk about a bunch of comic books that have come out this week.
Pete: We sure do.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: This is the main thing people are concerned about right now is new comics. That’s what we’re all talking about on this Wednesday morning. So let’s get into it. Let’s talk about new comics. Let’s just chill out and have a good time and not stress about absolutely anything else going on in the world. Kick it off with Crossover #1 from Image Comics, story by Donny Cates, art by Jeff Shaw. This is a highly anticipated comic. And I got to say, I feel like it was worth the wait. If you didn’t pick it up, mild spoilers here. But the idea of the book is it takes place in a world where a comic book crossover suddenly pops up in the real world, in Colorado, essentially changing the entire world. And a bunch of things reverberate off of there years later, as we meet various characters who have been affected by this comic book crossover. What did guys think about this book?
Pete: Well, from the cover, I really wanted to get blasted in the face with a rainbow. And I’m glad that they took the time to make sure that happened in the comic, so-
Justin: So you felt like you got blasted in the face?
Pete: Yeah, yeah. I felt like they did a good job of getting that across.
Justin: I like this book a lot as well. It’s one of those like, bang bang premise books where it’s just like, this is it. And then it’s like you slowly then start to meet the characters. And I do think in this book specifically, you don’t really get too much of a sense of the characters by the end of the first issue. But the premise is such a sort of satisfying idea that I think it sells it on that alone.
Pete: Can I just be the guy who says the thing we’re all thinking? That little girl in the comic, shitty artist, she’s probably not going to be able to get any work.
Justin: Wow. Because she’s got dots.
Alex: No, no she draws-
Pete: No, because of her artist skills.
Alex: Yeah, she draws a not so great drawing by the end of the book.
Justin: I see, I see, I got you. Oh at the end, yes.
Alex: What I really appreciate about this, like you’re saying Justin is, there’s so many things that are nicely set up in this book beyond the central concept of the book. It’s such, as usual, smart writings from Donny Cates. It also really stretches Jeff Shaw, in terms of multiple comic book styles. The promise here is that Donnie and Jeff have gotten characters that we know. This isn’t just them, creating a world whole cloth. This is also them bringing in characters from Image from other comic book companies, that this is legitimately a actual comic book crossover. And we haven’t quite gotten there yet. Because most of it, we’re spending outside of Colorado and the ground zero zone where it all goes down.
Alex: But the promise is, we’re going to get there soon. And I would be shocked if we don’t get things like Rick Grimes walking in front of a comic book store, Savage Dragon popping through. At least all of these Image Comics characters, and potentially some DC and Marvel characters through as well. As long as it stays grounded in those characters, the main characters of the book, I think it’s going to be a wild ride to take.
Justin: Yeah, and the revelation at the end of the first issue was like, “Oh, shit, can they do this?” And I think that’s a great feeling to have at the end of an issue. Like, can they pull this off? And feeling like, “Well, this issue is good.” So yeah, they probably can.
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: It’ll be interesting. I think it does a good job of being like, “Here is something that… We all know what a crossover means. Like, here’s the title that’s going to grab you and then kind of try to put a twist on it.” And it is that will they be able to pull this off? And that’s very exciting for a first issue.
Alex: Let’s talk about another book that probably shouldn’t work. But I think of course totally does. Sweet Tooth: The Return #1 from DC Comics creator, writer and artist, Jeff Lemire. As you can figure out from the title, this is Jeff Lemire, returning to a almost perfect comic book series, Sweet Tooth years later, that was about a young animal boy that pairs up with an old man journeys through a post apocalyptic world try to find Safe harbor. They eventually kind of found it. And this picks up as happens in the first panel of the first issue, 300 years later, except things are happening again. As they say in old Twin Peaks, it is happening again. And that’s definitely a lot of the vibe that I think we get here. Man, I loved this book and the audacity of it and the fact that I have no idea where it’s going to go. Particularly by the end, how’d you guys feel?
Justin: I agree with you like the idea of setting the premise like, oh, the story is starting over and we’re hitting very similar beats, but in a totally different world, means they’re going to just like totally throw that out of whack. Like very quickly, I think. And I love Sweet Tooth. It’s such a distinct book, and to be able to see it back on the shelves in a limited series though. Right. So that’s a totally different thing.
Alex: Yes. Pete What do you think about this one? You’re a big Sweet Tooth fan.
Pete: Yeah, this was-
Justin: You got a real sweet tooth.
Pete: Yeah, it just… Don’t get me started, I eat so much fucking candy.
Alex: Hey Pete you got the sweetest teeth I’ve ever seen.
Justin: Hey it’s Sweet Pete. Who’s here? It’s Sweetie Petey. Looking for his little sugar lick.
Alex: Sweet Pete you want one of your meat treats?
Pete: When you guys are done.
Alex: Never.
Justin: Never done.
Pete: So Black Label’s putting this, which is interesting. It means they can kind of get a little crazier. So it’ll be interesting to see how much they push on that side. But I thought like the art was great. It really felt like Sweet Tooth. I thought it was very kind of weird world that he kind of woke up in. This inside, but kind of outside world. So I think they did a good job being like, “Hey, remember everything you love still here? New-ish kind of scenario. Come along for this ride.” And I think yeah, it does a great job of getting you excited for another story, with this team with this kind of gang that we know and love. So I think they did a great job of kind of returning to the well on this.
Alex: Yeah, I agree. Let’s move on to another one that I’m sure you like Pete. Wolverine Black, White and Blood #1 from Marvel Comics written by Gerry Duggan, Matthew Rosenberg, Declan Shalvey, art by Adam Kubert, Joshua Cassara and Declan Shalvey. As you could probably figure out from the title, I think this is an anthology all about Wolverine that uses black, white, and blood and that’s pretty much it. So-
Justin: Actual blood.
Alex: Yeah.
Justin: Human blood is what it’s printed in this book.
Pete: So, this is just the story that I need right now. With all the insane shit going on I just want a Wolverine story. Okay, I don’t want to have to think about Fuck Island or how many swords, whatever, who’s got and read a bunch of fucking menus or articles or whatever the fuck in between panels. Just give me a fucking comic book about Wolverine. Thank you. Yes, this is my favorite pick from the week. I loved it. Great use of red, and then the black and white coloring. This is just a lot of fun and good times.
Justin: Exactly. Pete, you’re right. It’s so simple. The first story is just a simple story about a man from the 19th century who is born a mutant, has a healing factor he falls in love with the red haired woman. Later he is absorbed into a Weapon X program which is run by a secret government organization. He’s experimented on, adamantium is added to his claws for some reason, in his skeletal system. He is then trained to fight using magnets, fight other monsters, that are built in this thing, and that people eventually feel pity for him because he does have some sort of conscience. It’s a simple story.
Pete: Yeah it’s simple. Just give me a Wolverine story. All right.
Alex: Classic. It’s like Dick and Jane, basically.
Justin: Yes. Exactly, you’re talking about of course, the Jim Carrey movie.
Alex: As usual with this sort of thing I think. Gerry Dugan and Matthew Rosenberg, Declan Shalvey, all good storytellers.
Pete: The Dugs.
Alex: The Dugs. So they’re all solid stories. For my money, the Declan Shalvey-
Pete: Rosenberg’s great.
Alex: … The third story is easily the best one. And I think part of that is that Declan Shalvey, as both the writer and the artist understands the challenge here and creates a story that plays to the strengths of the panels. It’s simpler, it’s more straightforward. It plays to those splashes, the small splashes both of blood but also the splash of the paddles. And I like that one quite a bit. Personally.
Justin: Interesting. I really like the Weapon X story from Gerry Dugan.
Pete: I loved the Rosenberg story the most. The Wolverine and a baby, I don’t need to see that. But [Zaubs 00:09:40] you do you. But what’s nice is three stories. If you pick this book up, probably like one of them. I thought this was great. You what you’re getting and it delivers.
Justin: One of my favorite movies was Three Claws and a Little Baby. So I get it.
Pete: I thought you were going to say and a little lady, but you didn’t.
Justin: No, I preferred baby.
Alex: That’s the sequel.
Justin: The sequel, yeah.
Alex: Origins-
Justin: One claw’s played by Steve Gutenberg, one claw’s played by Ted Danson…
Pete: Come on, The Gute-
Alex: What do you prefer? Do you prefer Three Claws and a Baby or Claws Academy?
Justin: That’s though, or the Santa Claws? We’re getting to that season.
Alex: Origins #1 from Boom Studios created by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph Oxford, script by Clay McLeod Chapman and art by Jacob Rebelka . I got to tell you I probably should have done some research here because I was very confused about the credits. Is this a video game or was this a previous property Why are there so many creators and a different script writer? What’s going on? But as it is the hero here I think is Jacob Rebelka’s art which is weird, set in a post-apocalyptic world, there’s a bunch of people wandering through. It seems very close to the Museum of Natural History but clearly isn’t. They pick up those strawberries but the strawberries are very bad for you. I needed more information personally in this first issue, but I still like the art quite a bit.
Justin: The strawberries are just filled with worms. It’s not like they’re…
Alex: Oh, okay. Gotcha. So normal strawberries.
Justin: A normal strawberry.
Alex: Yes.
Justin: I agree with you, the art in this book is amazing. I’m very intrigued by the story. I don’t know exactly what’s happening. It feels like there’s a some sort of clone baby, but they talk about the baby, who is then later somewhat more of an adult, is named David. But they make it seem like he’s famous somehow. Is there a David that you think it is, like David Beckham?
Alex: Copperfield?
Justin: Oh, yes. When I was five, David Copperfield made me disappear.
Pete: Yeah, you’ve told us that story.
Alex: Yeah, we know.
Justin: Have I told you that story? Yeah, well, just letting me know, it’s available-
Alex: Not to interrupt but when I was five, David Beckham made me disappear.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: He bent you out of reality.
Alex: Pete, what do you think about this one?
Pete: I think the art’s are unbelievable. I love the kind of like, seeing the subway entrance in the middle of the grass was kind of really cool.
Justin: It’s lush.
Pete: Yeah, it’s very creative. It’s a cool story. I’m excited to see where this goes. But as of now, it’s like, there’s this baby named David. And so it’s like, is this…
Justin: Oh, David Schwimmer.
Pete: Oh, it’s a friend’s reference. Because David Schwimmer did have that scene where he got it on in the museum.
Justin: Yes, he worked in a museum and it’s in New York.
Pete: Yeah. So that’s it, right there.
Justin: And if you’re going to need to clone a human to restart the population. You’re going to want a Schwimmer. You’re going to want to get a Schwimmer.
Pete: Yeah, you’re going to want a Schwimmer.
Alex: You got to yell “Get me the pall bearer.”
Justin: Yes, definitely. Iconic film.
Alex: Stranger Things Dungeons and Dragons #1 from Dark Horse Comics and [crosstalk 00:13:16]-
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Written by Jody Houser and Jim Zub. Line art by Diego Galindo. This is something that Jim Zub plugged on our live show many, many weeks ago at this point. I still kind of didn’t know what to expect going in this. But I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. There are less of the Stranger Things and more as an homage, a loving tribute to the history of Dungeons and Dragons is what kind of comes through here. And that’s kind of nice.
Pete: Yeah, that’s what the Zub-hub was talking about. Like he was really talking about how this really is a love letter to D&D, and kind of really gets into it. And I thought that was a cool kind of way to come at it. You can tell from this, the passion kind of just comes through in the pages. At first when he was telling us on the show, I was like, “Okay.” But this really works in this comic, I thought this was a lot of fun. And I love the kind of little pages at the end where you can kind of start your own. I thought this was great. I thought this was a lot of fun.
Justin: It felt like regular things. It felt like, just things. They were just going about their business as kids. That’s not a criticism per se it’s just I think this is a hard prequel to the TV show Stranger Things. Bringing in how they got into D&D, which is very cool. And I like this book a lot better than the other Stranger Things book that we read, I think last week, because it feels a little more true to the characters and it feels like in line with the story of the TV show.
Pete: It’s going to get strange. All right, they’re just kind of starting things out first.
Alex: Yeah, they’ve started with Dungeons and Dragons. They’re going to move to Advanced Dungeons and Dragon and that’s when things are going to get real fucked up.
Pete: Real strange.
Justin: That’s crazy.
Alex: Let’s move on to Backtrack #8 from Oni Press written by Brian Joines and are by Jake Elphick. This is, as we’ve plugged in many, many times, about a Cannonball Run style race but through time. Here mysteries are slowly starting to unfold about the racers who are all tied to the race in different ways. They also end back in pirate times, which is a fun era to put them in. I, as usual, had quite a blast reading this issue. How’d you guys feel about this one?
Justin: It’s fun. We’re getting into a lot of like, specific character, small moves. And I feel like we’re building up towards sort of some big revelations here pretty soon. And yeah, I like them being in pirate times. It’s a fun, iconic place for them to be.
Pete: Yeah, it’s interesting, because it’s like this crazy race throughout time. So you’re like, “Oh, Fast and Furious meets Back to the Future.” But like, what’s great is we’re getting as we’re in this insane race, we’re getting little kind of windows into people’s backstory, why they’re here, why they are the way that they are. And it’s nicely layered, like some comics issues are more focused on the race. This one’s a little bit more focused on the kind of story, which is good. This comic continues to be really great, the art is fantastic. And it really adjusts to what time period it’s in such a great way.
Alex: I also like that we’ve finally gotten to a point with this book where it feels like Well, you can’t eliminate any of these characters. But of course, they’re going to and that’s going to make it hurt that much more. We’re not quite there yet, but in the next couple of issues, it feels like that’s coming. And that’s a good emotional place for the book to be in. Still a blast to read. If you haven’t read it, definitely pick it up.
Alex: Next up US Agent #1 from Marvel Comics written by Priest, art by George Jeanty. I was very excited personally to see George Jeanty on this book. I’ve really liked his art a lot since he was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and other things. He’s good stuff. Of course priest, always reliable. And this is a bonkers book about the asshole Captain America going through the heartland, fighting who even knows why. But I really really enjoyed this quite a bit just for how best up it was. How’d you guys feel about it?
Justin: Yeah, if you’re looking for sort of a Hawkeye style comic. I feel like this has some strong like Hawkeye vibes back when he was living in Brooklyn with the Russian tracksuit dudes. That whole thing feels very much in line with what this book is. Except he’s a little bit more of a shit head. Sort of in the Scott Lane Ant Man style and constantly being mistaken for Captain America which that’s going to burn.
Pete: Yeah, I was really happy when that one pizza delivery guy kicked the shit out of them. That was great.
Justin: It is a weird… Like the story, like USA Agent. There’s a pizza delivery man who becomes his sort of sidekick. He’s keeping all these other pizza delivery people in the basement. Like I don’t quite know what the whole thing, the whole deal is here. But it’s fun. And it’s super unique, I feel like.
Alex: Yeah, that feels like typical Priest stuff to be where it’s just these details thrown in. Where you’re like, “What I can’t quite get a handle on this, but it’s still fascinating at the same time.” Let’s move into a very dark turn for a book that we’ve been enjoying quite a bit. That Texas Blood #5, from Image Comics by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. Again, when we had Chris Condon on the show a couple of weeks back, he promised that things were going to get real bad real soon, and oh, boy, they got real bad as our main character is losing his mind down in Texas doing some very dark stuff. In the name of his brother being killed. This is definitely the most brutal issue of this yet. I would say.
Justin: Yeah, I like this book a lot. I feel like the art in this issue specifically is so good. Some hard boiled crime I’m sure this book gets compared to Criminal a ton. And if you’re a fan of that, like this is right in line. I do think it’s strange that they use the same interior monologue lettering as a Criminal. And Jacob Philips is Sean Phillips’ son. I would move away from that because I think this book really stands alone on its own right. It doesn’t need to feel like it’s drafting off of Criminal’s success.
Alex: How do you feel about Pete?
Pete: Yeah, I think the art’s unbelievable. This is some real great storytelling, very intense. This book moves at a very interesting pace. It’s sometimes very fast, sometimes it seems like slow. But this is a really kind of great storytelling. Great character stuff. I’m very much enjoying myself.
Alex: Let’s move on then and talk about Mighty Morphin #1 from Boom Studios, written by Ryan Parrott, illustrated by Marco Renna like that Texas blood This is a brutal issue for the Power Rangers. Just devastating, it’s a lot of blood.
Justin: Devastating. Oh, Power Rangers. That makes sense, now. They must have left the other two words off the title.
Alex: Yeah, well, that’s how you know they’re being serious. Unlike the other actually very dark Power Rangers books that we’ve been reading recently. This is a return to form. This is like classic Power Rangers. The Green Ranger is evil is he not? We don’t even know who he is. Doesn’t matter. You got all the villains here. You got all the Power Rangers. But with a slightly more modern style. How did you people feel about this one, particularly given that we’ve been quite enjoying the other Power Rangers books that have been coming out from Boom.
Justin: This book felt like when you’re at a party, when we used to go to parties, and you end up talking to someone you don’t really know. And they tell you a very long story and you’re like, “I don’t know you. Why are you telling me this crazy involved story about your life? Like where are we going with this?” It felt like, “Oh yeah, I guess I see how that relates. Oh, the mighty Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Yeah. Oh, I see like we’re dealing with Zed and all this stuff.” But I will say I enjoyed reading. Despite the fact that it’s definitely feels like not my wheelhouse. Pete, how did you feel? Got to shoot your Bulk and Skull?
Pete: Yeah, I mean, this is great. This is just fun. This, to me was like a animated version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers kind of like the new update of Voltron. I very much had a lot of fun. We got some great fighting, some badass panda stuff. It was fun to see them talk about making the villains and that kind of stuff. Yeah, I thought the reveal at the end was great. I think this was just fun, Mighty Morphin comic stuff.
Justin: It checks out. That’s the title and he said stuff at the end. So that’s what it is.
Alex: I did like the reveal at the end. I think what I have been responding to and the other Mighty Morphin books that have been set in this post apocalyptic world where the Power Rangers mostly lost in the villains that are trying to just kind of hold on to what they have, is this idea of playing with the continuity. Which the shows could never do because they’re mostly working off of what the Japanese versions, right? Of Power Rangers then remixing them. So they’re all very kiddy and very silly and badly dubbed on purpose and all of these things. That just I never liked, this splits the difference between those two things. So to your point Justin, I also actually had a fun time reading this even if it is not quite my thing. But definitely more of my thing is those other books I would personally lean towards those.
Justin: I agree and obviously I’ve always been a Mystic Knights of Tir Na Nog. But it’s especially funny the way that… I was surprised by how all their animals, the animal machines they ride are like saber toothed tiger and all that. I was like, “They all look exactly the same, but they’re all different.” The mythology of the Power Rangers is so weird and convoluted.
Alex: Yeah, I just can’t get a handle on it.
Pete: Yeah, if that stuff made sense to you won’t be pulled out of the story like that I think.
Alex: I’ll tell you, not to pull back the curtain too much but at my day job I got offered this exclusive clip for I want to say Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Dino Thunder or something like that.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Alex: Yeah, I know. And they sent it to me. And it was the casts from like four different Power Rangers shows all getting together. So clearly we’ve done enough stuff that I could watch it I was like, “Okay, this is like Avengers: Endgame for Power Rangers.” But it was such a deep dive to understand what they were talking about at any point in that clip. Normally a clip I’m like, all right, I could write this up and half an hour tops. That’s it. But this one I was like opening up wikis and looking at casts, and debut dates and everything. I was like “What is happening here? This is weird.” But there you go. Deep dives.
Alex: Let’s move on to another one. Which is a one of my favorite books that is coming out right now, Spy Island #3 from Dark Horse Comics written by Chelsea Kane art by Lia Miternique. So this is set on an island in the Bermuda Triangle that is filled with spies of different types. In this issue our mean spy is starting to figure out that her father, who is also on the island hiding out as a mime may have a bigger plan at work. We also find out more about what happened to the first two issues in terms of what she laid down. This book is fantastic. In my mind, it is like a perfect mix between Mind Management and Superior Foes of Spiderman with a flavor of his own. And I am loving every single issue of it. How are you guys feeling?
Justin: Pete?
Pete: Well, I was waiting for you to go. This is really kind of crazy, but it’s also a lot of fun. I also like the kind of art. The way the art changes throughout the book. The whole like a series where she’s dating different dudes and the kind of like the way the father sees the dudes, very interesting. Yeah, I think this is a very creative, cool book and the art matches it perfectly in such a cool way. Yeah, I’m not always understanding what’s happening, but it’s very interesting and very creative. So yeah, I think this is a great book.
Justin: Yeah, I agree. It’s really funny. It reminds me a bit of Mark Russell’s Flintstones, I guess all of Mark Russell’s stuff. If you’re a fan of that, like this book is like legitimately funny, it has sort of an irreverent tone. The way they do full page sort of jokes, visual jokes is really awesome. But it’s still has like some… I’m very interested in the story as well. Like, these characters are fun. Like I don’t quite know what’s happening with the mystery itself. But it’s just a smart world and universe this book creates in every issue.
Alex: Yeah. I just wanted to reiterate what you said Pete about Lia Miternique’s art which collages in so many different styles throughout the book, it’s so impressive.
Pete: Very impressive. They’re straight flexing. It’s unbelievable in this.
Alex: It’s great. Yes, straight flexing is actually a really good way to put it. It’s definitely a book to be like, “Here’s what we could do. Here’s what we can show off.” It’s awesome. Definitely pick it up. Next up Web of Venom: Empyres End #1 for Marvel Comics, written by Clay McCloud Chapman, art by Guiu Villanova. This is as you can probably tell from the title, following up on the End of Empyre as a bunch of the Skrull and Cree leave Earth at run directly into the King in Black, the next event, and have literally like a crossover, while one of them is heading one way the other is heading the other. And ends up like aliens on a Skrull ship. I like this, I was a little hesitant, just because it wasn’t Donny Cates ready to get and he’s been such a mastermind behind this event. But I thought this was a very good, scary book.
Justin: That’s such a funny way to put it, Alex. Because it really does feel like it’s we’re backstage at Marvel and one event is like, “Hey, we finished our performance. Thank you so much.” And another event is like, “Oh, we’re up next. We’re going to… Sorry. Oh, did we sorry, we bumped into you and made a big mess with all of our symbiont juice. So sorry.” Because it is like, when I saw this I was like, “Empyre. No way.” But it is actually a great story and it does have that sort of Aliens. Like it’s game over man for everybody in this issue. And the King in Black is terrifying. Like I’m excited to see this event the more I see of sort of the insanity. Reminds me of the insane Adam Warlock from back in Infinity Gauntlet days, as the villain here. And it’s a good read even though it feels unessential from the title. It’s worth picking up.
Pete: Yeah, I mean, they got some space vampire bats in here. This is just some crazy, fun stuff that’s going on. Yeah, I mean, it’s just kind of like alright, space aliens. Cool. There’s not too much more going on but it’s definitely a cool comic and worth checking out.
Alex: Next up Batman 102 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV in art by Carlo Pagulayan. This is the intro of Ghost-Maker who of course, is the guy who builds ghosts. We all know that in the DC Universe.
Justin: Yes.
Pete: No, no, because when he makes ghost by killing you and then you’re a ghost. That’s how that’s…
Justin: Oh no, I think he makes the ghost in the original Pac Man game. He made Inky, Blinky, Dot.
Pete: And also just in case you’re wondering he doesn’t like crochet little ghosts either makes them. No. Okay, he kills people turning them into ghosts.
Justin: I guess we have different takes.
Alex: So this introduces that character. And Ghost-Maker, well, he got introduced before, but this is his official introduction. He is going directly for Clownhunter. So we got two new additions to the Batman mythos, going head to head with Batman, of course stuck in the middle. As it turns out, though, Ghost-Maker has a deep tie to Batman’s origin. Pete you got to like this right? There was a lot of fighting.
Pete: Yeah, this was a great issue. I love the action. Also fun reveal. Well, all right, let me back up the truck a little bit. Love the Batman like punch entrance. Nice when you can like make your entrance and punch someone in the face. I mean, that’s like-
Justin: Yes. I’ve seen you walk into a lot of weddings.
Pete: Yeah, anyways. But I think this was a ton of action, which is great. But also the way they kind of knew each other, the way it was like, “Ghost-Maker.” “Batman.” And like right into it. It was really cool. Also very interesting how Clownhunter is still hanging on like still a thing. I thought Clownhunter would have kind of like faded away after Batman gave him his talking to. But not the case. And now we’re also dealing with Grinners which is interesting. Talking to Oracle on the old earpiece there “Okay, that’s cool.” But I think that they also had some funny moments like when Knife Guy was like, “I hate teenagers.” That was hilarious.
Justin: Because you hate teenagers?
Pete: No, no, I just think that it was like a funny line, where he’s like, “Teenagers.” But yeah, I think there’s some interesting stuff happening in this. And instead of kind of like a cool down from such a big event that we just had. The fact that they kind of ramped it right back up into that it’s very kind of interesting. And also cool name, Ghost Stories part one.
Justin: I feel like James Tynion got sort of his first big story out of the way. And now he can really settle in and create his bat universe. And I think Clownhunter, Ghost-Maker are a big part of that. Really leaving his mark on Batman as a character and the whole world there. And I like that. I’m excited that we’re sort of in that point in his arc here.
Pete: And it’s also interesting to have a villain that’s like, “Yo, Batman, do your fucking job. Gotham is a shit show. It’s constantly on fire. Like What’s your deal?” That’s an interesting way to come at it.
Alex: A lot of the discussion in this book is about what Gotham is now that the Joker War is done and what it’s going to become next. I’m excited for what’s going to become next. And I trust James Tynion enough to bring it there. But to your point, Justin, he thought he was only going to be on until Issue 100 and he’s continuing from there. So in my mind definitely feels like “Oh, okay, I’m going to keep going. Alright, I’m going to set up the next 15, 20, 30 issues, however long I’m on for.” Versus what I was doing before, which was my definitive Batman story.
Alex: So I’m curious to see what this sets up and where it goes. Because again, I trust James Tynion’s storytelling, he has certainly proved himself more than capable. Let’s move on to Dryad #6 from Oni Press written by Kurtis Wiebe, and illustrated by Justin [Barcello 00:33:49]. This issue our main family is still hanging out in cyberpunk Tech City, trying to figure out what’s going on. Trying to figure out if they should help the kids who are currently in a coma. Turns out they don’t need help, they do wake up by the end. We find out another huge revelation about our family. I got to tell you, I was not totally into the cyberpunk stuff in this issue. But I definitely turned around by the end. Love the twist there. I thought that was so great for the series going forward. What was your guys take on it?
Justin: I agree. I love the way the story is unfolding. I think the way they’re able to capitalize on this two pronged like fantasy side of the story and the technological side of the story. In a way that it’s a tough trick to pull off. And I think it is working on both fronts. I like the sort of Blade Runner vibe to the front end of the book. And then when we shift generations to the kids for the back end, I like all these characters. I’m curious to hear… It feels like this is sort of like a mission went bad a long time ago and we’re dealing with the fallout is what this series is actually about. So I want to know What that is. I feel like that was a reveal in this issue that we didn’t really know from before.
Pete: This book continues to be very, very creative. Each issue kind of comes at things a little differently. It’s fun to see what you’re going to get with every issue. Yeah, and we keep getting deeper into the story. They’re doing a good job of kind of piecemealing information while still giving us a lot of action. Fun reveal at the end. I think this is very interesting. And also it’s cool the way they kind of swap around styles. So I continued to be impressed by this book.
Alex: Cool. Next up The Goddamned: the Virgin Brides from Image Comics written by Jason Aaron and art by R.M. Guera. Pete, I know what you’re going to say it’s creepy. So Justin, what did you think about this button?
Justin: This is a book you want to leave out for your grandparents, they’re going to love the fighting, they’re going to love the very short tops that expose all of your breasts. It’s a good stuff for the older generation. But I like this book a lot. The R.M. Guera art is unbelievable. It’s so detailed. It feels like it’s in the style of Prince Valiant, but with a exciting, much more irreverent story. And the twists and turns, it’s also written from the point of view where like, I don’t know… We have our protagonists who are on the run. They’re virgin brides who are supposed to mate with this like monster basically, that is the god here. And they escaped, we’re on the run. And then things aren’t going well, basically. And I feel like this book could be very harsh with its character, so I really don’t know what’s going to happen next.
Alex: Yeah, I agree. That’s one of the biggest things about the book is it’s very dark, and it’s a super gritty, I hesitate to say realistic but that probably gives the best sense of it take on the Bible and biblical mythology. But if you look at the Bible, lots of people dying all the time, or almost dying or horrible things happening to them almost constantly. So it’s actually very-
Justin: Not a fun read. Not a fun read.
Alex: Yeah. Not a beach… I don’t usually take the Bible to the beach, to be honest, like to read it, to just chill out. But like you said, R.M. Guera’s art is fantastic. This is very dark. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next issue at all. But there’s a crazy cliffhanger that happens that was awesome. Good stuff. Let’s move on to talk about Thor #9.
Pete: I just wanted to say.
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Pete: I agree with you. The ending was really kind of amazing.
Justin: You do like it, you love it.
Pete: No, it’s creeptastic in all the wrong ways.
Justin: But do you like the art Pete? Because this is R.M. Guera, same artist on Scalped? Which you like.
Pete: Yeah, amazing artist.
Alex: Would you say it’s worth it for the art alone?
Pete: Nope.
Justin: Wow.
Alex: You’re very wrong.
Justin: Can’t get past it.
Alex: Yeah. Thor #9 from Marvel Comics written by Donny Cates art by Nick Klein. So this is kicking off a new crazy story arc. Donny Cates doing his Donny Cates Marvel thing as he goes back to an old part of Marvel continuity, lifts it up again and makes it as fucked up as possible. In this case, we’re exploring what happens to Donald Blake when Thor comes out. Something that we haven’t touched out in years. Where does he go? And it ends up being pretty messed up. But I love where the storyline is going. And Nick Klein’s art of this book is phenomenal. So good. What did you guys think?
Justin: Totally agree. Like I love… This is my favorite book of the week, the way that finding this little bit of Thor mythology that has been just legitimately ignored. Dr. Blake was the character that was Thor’s human form and he would tap his walking stick and become Thor. And Thor just hasn’t transformed out of him. It’s like Bruce Banner has been the Hulk for so long that like what’s Bruce Banner up to? And we get to explore that side of that here. And it is fucked up. And it’s super smart the way we get there and to have Donald Blake become this new aspect of the Thor mythology I think is super exciting.
Pete: I don’t know man. Like this is to me, it’s like, it’s okay if we’re out of ideas, guys, we can just maybe…
Justin: Jesus.
Alex: Wow.
Justin: Harsh take.
Pete: What it’s like, “Hey, remember how I turn into this guy? Well, when I turn into him, he just kind of walks the earth. What if he got angry about that?” And it’s like “Wait, what is happening? What are we doing right now?”
Alex: That’s what’s happening, you just described what’s happening.
Pete: Yeah, I know, but that doesn’t make it a good idea.
Justin: It’s fun though. It’s like when Wolverine when he died he had to fight a sword dude. Like that was cool.
Pete: Okay.
Alex: Was it?
Pete: Yeah, I don’t know if it was.
Justin: I liked the fighting this sword dude. I didn’t like the fact that he came back from just a little speck of blood Lobo-style.
Alex: I do love… I don’t know, just I love the visual of what happens when Donald Blake finally comes out of his reverie, the way that Nick Klein draws him. I don’t know if Nick Klein specifically designed him
Pete: The art’s unbelievable.
Alex: What?
Pete: The art’s unbelievable.
Alex: Yeah, it’s great. It’s worth it for the art alone, I would say.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Wow.
Alex: The that Nick Klein designs the new Dr. Donald Blake is great.
Justin: What a cool turn of phrase.
Alex: It’s a great new villain for the Marvel Universe. Spoiler, obviously, but I think in the same way that Donny introduced Cosmic Ghost Rider. And it immediately became like, “Oh, it’s this thing. Like that exists. That’s fun. That is a fun thing to look at.” Yeah, it’s the same thing with whatever Dr. Donald Blake has become. It’s a fun clear visual and I love it. And I’m excited to see what this means, it ties into the overall mythology that he’s building for Thor, with what’s happening with Mjolnir. It just feels very smart across the board.
Justin: 100%.
Alex: Next up, Wicked Things #6 from Boombox created written by John Allison and art by Max Sarin. We’ve been very complimentary of this book, which follows a teen detective who is framed, probably for murder, as she ends up teaming up with the police department in I believe London. Not 100% sure, but I’m going to say yes. And she is pretty much smarter than him. This is a weird ending for this book I got to say. It feels like there were supposed to be more issues. And then it got cut short, personally, which is disappointing, even though I enjoyed this issue as well.
Justin: Well, that may be true. It does feel… It could also just be a cliffhanger that they’re really pushing. I think the last page makes it feel like there was truly like a page ripped out of the back of the book. And I was like, “Wait, what?” I wanted to know how this conversation ends. But in general, it’s fun. This main character is such a fun… I love her energy. I like the world this is in which is like this detective, 14 to 16 years old, the best detective in the world. And there’s a moment where she’s being held hostage and you expect her to like elbow the guy and get away. But it doesn’t happen because she’s just a regular teen detective. And I think that’s fun that they’re really keeping within the storyline.
Pete: Just a regular teen detective?
Justin: Yeah, like a…
Pete: Like a normal teen detective.
Justin: Because like, surely you were a teen… You solved some crimes in your small town, right Pete?
Pete: Oh definitely. Definitely did. Yeah, I agree. This is a ton of fun.
Alex: Sorry, Pete, what did they call you? They called you Thesaurus LePage?
Pete: No they didn’t.
Justin: He was really good with saying other words that were like words.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: He didn’t solve a lot of mysteries but he was like, “Oh, I think you mean sweaty.”
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah, I think it did feel a little rushed. Every issue up until this issue didn’t feel that way. But man, this is still a great story. Really creative, fun, main character. I could definitely see a lot more with her. I hope they keep going in some iteration or whatever. But yeah, this has been a lot of fun and I hope this doesn’t end.
Alex: I agree with definitely worth picking up in trade whenever it’s collected and hopefully we’ll get a second series of it. Moving on to DCeased: Dead Planet #5 from DC Comics, written by Tom Taylor and art by Trevor Hairsine. In this issue John Constantine is launching a desperate mission to fight back against the anti life plague. And it’s predictably dark but with moments of real humanity and humor, everything that we’ve come to expect from this series I think so far.
Justin: This book has really migrated to the top of my stack like I love reading a book. It’s a good book. The characters are fun. The Damian Wayne Batman is great. Constantine still a dick. Just a straight up dick.
Pete: Oh man.
Justin: There’s some fun jokes here.
Pete: Constantine is great in this book, this book continues to impress. And I think this was a really great Constantine, hilariously messing with Dr. Fate and Swamp Thing even getting in on the joke. Batman doing father jokes, I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about that. But Batman getting a punch in at the end, liked that. That was good. But yeah, this continues to be a very creative, very funny, well done comic that does like a lot of cool things. The Shazaam moment in this is so badass. That was so cool. Yeah, I thought this was a great, great issue.
Justin: And there’s a lot of dread here still where like any character could die and everything could go wrong at any moment. And I believe on the last page at the bottom they say things get worse.
Alex: There we go. Next up Inkblot #3 from Image Comics written by Emma Kubert, art by Rusty Gladd. I got to tell you I keep throwing this book in the stack because I can’t wait to figure it out. Like what’s going on here. There’s a little bit more of a hint in terms of this is a cat that can jump through universes?
Pete: That’s the thing.
Alex: I guess that’s the idea of the book that they establish at the beginning here. Pete, you’ve been enjoying this book. What did you think about this issue?
Pete: Yeah, I don’t know what it is. It’s just the two eyes are so adorable. It gets me.
Justin: You’re a cat guy.
Pete: I’m a cat guy now. So like I get it, cats are very mysterious. They have a lot of things going on that they don’t share with us. And yeah, I think that this makes sense of how the Loch Ness Monster came into fruition. I think this is just a crazy kind of creative book. And the art is phenomenal, some adorable storytelling. This is just fun.
Alex: I just wanted to mention Justin before you get into your comments if you are a cat who would like to share something with us. Please email us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you. Justin over to you.
Justin: Yes. I always pick up after the cat call out.
Pete: After the cat plug.
Justin: Cat plug. We’re looking to meet some single cats. There’s something about this book. The art is really cool. And I think changing gears a little bit with this issue, for the few issues it was like what’s the big story here? But I think reading this issue it was like, oh maybe it’s just like fun little romps with this cat.
Alex: Yeah, yeah I think so too. I felt a lot better about this one that I did for the first two because I was trying to figure it out. But I had the same sense as you did Justin. I reserve the right to be robbed with issue #4. But the art is so good and it is a fun little pirate adventure with a cat and the Loch Ness Monster, enjoyable stuff.
Justin: I reserve the right to be wrong.
Alex: Last thing here we’re going to end with our X of Swords, X of Swords block, talking about two issues that came out from Marvel. We got X-men #14, written by Jonathan Hickman art by Mahmud Asrar and Leinil Yu. Marauders #14 written by Gerry Dugan and art by Stefano Caselli, two very different issues. So I do think actually, if anything, we kind of need to talk about them differently. But so far, the champions of Arakko and the champions of Krakoa and they gathered in Otherworld for a dinner. In the first issue and X-men we find out about Apocalypse and his wife, what went on there we find out about her secret history. Pete’s got to love that one because there was a lot of text and confusing things that happened.
Alex: And then in Marauders everybody gets together for dinner and things go predictably badly. Would you think about these chapters of X of Sword? And Pete I know you’re upset they’re not fighting with swords yet. That aside, how’d you feel about these books?
Pete: Alright, so first off you know what’s better than having a huge battle that we’ve been building to taking the time out to have a dinner first.
Alex: Agreed, agreed.
Pete: And let’s just talk at the dinner table.
Justin: When you’re hungry.
Pete: And really just kind of talk things out and have a walk? “Hey, Apocalypse, why don’t we hold hands and talk about the past and not fight. And get into a giant action sequence like maybe some people would enjoy?”
Justin: Well, let me give you a quick breakdown of the way the story. They teleport to this strange dimension. Dinner, dinner, sleep, midnight snack, brunch, coffee, sword sharpening and shining.
Alex: You’re forgetting something in the middle there Justin, there’s several times when they get handed cards.
Pete: What’s not to love.
Justin: That’s right. Let’s not forget about the…
Pete: [crosstalk 00:49:38].
Justin: So I feel like there’s some like magic happening, some light table magic. I think someone’s going to eventually have a yo-yo and other like juggling tricks. It’s just a fun day out. Anyway, where was I? Okay, then it’s going to be lunch. And then they’re going to have like a baseball game.
Pete: Don’t forget to show the menu. They’re going to show the menu a couple times.
Alex: The menu was fun. It was a fun menu.
Justin: The menu was very fun. Well, let me say so Pete’s criticisms aside, and let’s put them far, far aside. I love this. I think that the X-Men issue by Jonathan Hickman is a full take down of Apocalypse. It’s like a subtle takedown of Apocalypse. Apocalypse went to earth and he like had these like piddling battles with the X-Men, claiming that he was like survival of the fittest. We need to all be better. The mutants must rise.
Justin: Meanwhile, the world he left behind had everyone literally fighting for their lives, constantly. They became the fittest and he has to come back hat in hand, sword in hand with this woman that he left behind that he maybe still loves and be like, “Oh, you’ve been literally becoming the best fighters in the universe while I have been shitting the bed on Earth. Okay, cool, cool, cool. Let’s go have a little day off.” And then the Marauders issue I feel like is a little bit more focused on the Wolverine side of it, but I do think this series-
Pete: Had time for a nice dance. Did you like the dance?
Justin: Some dancing. Wolverine likes to get fucked up. And I think he feels like he really gets to drink in this issue, which he never really… He’s always like, I drink. But then the healing factor eradicates everything.
Pete: Yeah, Wolverine gets real fucked up in this issue.
Justin: Yeah. But I do think a lot of this arc, this whole storyline is about repositioning Apocalypse and I’m curious what the landing point of that is. And I do feel like the Marauders issue definitely had that sense of dread. Like an Agatha Christie story where you’re like, “Fuck, some of these people are going to die.”
Alex: Yeah, it really does feel like… And this is something that was a big point of conversation when the X-men introduced resurrection. It feels like these people are a danger. It feels like all of these characters are not actually going to make it out of this or at least in the same way at the end of the day. And that’s great that they went in what has it been, a year, something like that. From everybody being like the exploiter just come back to life whenever, to positioning them into a place where they are in actual danger. And bad things may happen to them maybe for the first time at a really long time. That’s super smart.
Alex: And the Marauders issue in particular plays with that with Storm dancing with the literal personification of death, and mentioning “Hey, you’ve never actually died. You’re one of the few X-men that has not died and come back. So let’s talk about that. Isn’t that interesting?” I thought there was such smart character work in the Marauders thing, the X-men issue as well. Both with Apocalypse and Annihilation I love as usual the insane world building. I do know where he pulls it out from with Jonathan Hickman there.
Alex: I do think there are touches of East of West going on with the apocalypse, Annihilation stuff. Particularly in the relationship that’s popping up there. But that’s fine. That’s a great book. So I’m okay to skim some of those ideas a little bit. And of course, the art. Mahmud Asrar, Leinil Yu, Stefano Caselli. Awesome. I know I said this the last time. But this is one of, not just with Marvel, but one of the best crossovers I’ve read in years. At this point.
Pete: Oh shut up. That’s just… Shut up.
Alex: Years.
Pete: Awful, just awful.
Alex: Years. Decades.
Pete: First off-
Alex: Millennia.
Justin: Lifetimes.
Pete: … X of Swords, are we even going to get 10 individual issues, like we got to see how they fought… If we don’t get to see like 10 issues of fighting after all this fucking lead up. Oh, if we get no… I’m worried, we’re getting close. We’re past halfway, we still don’t have any fighting yet.
Justin: Would you be disappointed Pete if we only got this fighting from the source perspective? Like it was just like metal banging another metal.
Pete: Just clang clang?
Justin: Clang, clang.
Alex: And you don’t actually get to see it. It’s just the interior monologue of the swords. “Wow this hurts.”
Pete: I got to say in the Marauders ep, seeing magic like sizing everybody up. That was pretty cool.
Justin: She’s a badass.
Alex: Super fun.
Justin: You mentioned it before, but the menu at the top of the Marauders issue was super fun. Like I love that, the detail there was great.
Pete: Waste of a page.
Justin: I’d eat that shit.
Alex: Pogg Ur-Pogg, very fun character. I’m just-
Justin: Marinated in urine. I’m here for it.
Alex: Yeah, all of the Arakko characters also, I think are great and super fun. They’re just… I don’t know, I don’t know if it’s Jonathan Hickman in conversation with other people. I don’t know if he’s necessarily driving the rest of the X-Men team to this but it’s just he comes in just and he’s like, “Here’s these new additions to Marvel continuity. They totally make sense. You love them know.” They are just these perfect things that absolutely work. And the greater part about all of these new additions from Arokko is only one or two of them are completely black and white, which I think is very cool. And a way of Jonathan Hickman really stretching himself as a creator.
Justin: Yeah. Wow, what a blistering takedown. That’s the harshest I’ve ever heard you speak, Alex.
Alex: These issues are great at that same for The Stack. If you’d like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also we do the live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comics at Comic Book Live on Twitter, iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. Also leave us comments on iTunes. Those help out quite a bit. Comicbookclublive.com for this podcast more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the virtual comic book shop.
Justin: And remember the door is always open for any stray cat looking to wander in.
The post The Stack: Crossover, Sweet Tooth And More appeared first on Comic Book Club.
Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub
Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy57 min
About The Stack
From the publisher's feed
The Stack is a weekly comic book review podcast, hosted by Comic Book Club - Live! New episodes post every Wednesday at 9am ET.
More shows like The Stack
StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
14,355 Listeners
Comic Geek Speak Podcast - The Best Comic Book Podcast
615 Listeners
Comic Book Podcast | Talking Comics
341 Listeners
iFanboy - Comic Books
1,717 Listeners
The DC3cast!
40 Listeners
Weird Science DC Comics Podcast
153 Listeners
Comic Book Club
313 Listeners
Riverdale After Dark
182 Listeners
Inside Legion
33 Listeners
American Godcast: The American Gods Podcast
18 Listeners
Preacher Men
19 Listeners
First Issue Club Comic Books
94 Listeners
After Krypton
16 Listeners
The Comic Multiverse Podcast
44 Listeners
Deadly Cast: A Deadly Class Podcast
11 Listeners
The Kristian Harloff Show
1,612 Listeners
Cloak & Jabber: A Cloak & Dagger Podcast
31 Listeners
The Short Box Podcast: A Comic Book Talk Show
114 Listeners
Watchmen Watch
49 Listeners
Locke & Key: Unlocked
38 Listeners
Katy KeeneCast: A Katy Keene Podcast
6 Listeners
Robservations with Rob Liefeld
766 Listeners
Let's Hear It For The Boys
18 Listeners
Podvincible: An Invincible Podcast
32 Listeners
MarvelVision
46 Listeners
Off the Rack Reviews
107 Listeners
Candy Men: A Sweet Tooth Podcast
17 Listeners
The Umbrella Podcademy
22 Listeners
Y The Cast, Man?
5 Listeners
Comic Book Club News
20 Listeners
Sons of a Gunn: A DC Podcast
30 Listeners
The Doom Room: A Doom Patrol Podcast
9 Listeners
Comic Book Daily
3 Listeners