Episode 44 - Zombie Special! Walking Dead 1 and Revival 1

Hi everyone, during this time of resurrection, we cover Walking Dead and 

Revival issue ones

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Comic Books Beyond would like to thank:  The Crew of the Talking Comics Podcast, Brandon McNulty, Lisa and Brad from Comic Book Couples Counseling, Alex Jaffe, Jeremy Whitley and Jimmy Gaspero. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Hey everybody and welcome to the Comic Books Beyond Podcast. On this show, we aim to demystify comic books and help new readers find their way in, and we try to have fun while doing it. My name is Vic. I also go by Adam on the show sometimes. I am here with my very dear friend Mike. Mike, it is up to you.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Hi, I'm Mike. I'm newer to the comic scene, but we are going to delve through some uh very special comics issue ones today. We're gonna be looking at Walking Dead and Revival. Both will be both are available to read it issue one on the image website. Disclaimer, if you're gonna try to read it on your phone, it's gonna be a little difficult. We recommend reading it on either a browser or a tablet. Vic, anything else you want to add before we delve in?

SPEAKER_02 0:48

No, you actually hit the exact point I wanted to hear. Uh so what I am gonna recommend to everyone, we are gonna be a little more spoilery than normal since we're only talking about an issue one that is available free no matter who you are online. I think it would be in your best interest to go read these pretty generationally seminal comic books that were incredibly popular and still kind of are. Um Walking Dead, you know, it's a huge property franchise, and uh Revival, it is also a huge uh well, it actually just got an adaption, and uh the comic book is way better. So um I guess we will kick it off just by this.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

So, Mike, what did you think of these two issues? So I I really love both of both of these issues. I am late to the game on Walking Dead, but that actually surprises me that you just like dodged it for this long.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

It's like it's just one of those things where like I thought you would have fallen your way through somehow by accident.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

Yeah, I it was always I had a I had an issue more with horror for a long time. Oh, that's right. I always forget about that. Yeah, I don't know. The antidepressants rewired something and now it doesn't it doesn't ruin my life so I can enjoy horror again.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

But uh that's that's essentially why so I've I I've started with uh the show and not the comic. So this so this issue one is my first delving into the comic of Walking Dead, but um I I love the I like I love the story, I love the aspect that it takes. I think we'll start off with Walking Dead. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Um before we get much farther, do we have um any disclaimers on this one? I mean it's it this is horror-ass horror, as I put it. Um, but I don't think there's anything too too messed up in here that uh would worry me, other than, you know, this is a horror story.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah, no, I I would say the same. It's really just you know as gory as a slasher slash zombie film or story could be. Yep. It's it's it's pretty cut and dry what it is.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

Yeah, and and just for the record, for people who've read more than this, I know what you're gonna say, and I am talking solely about issue one here. Uh issue one, I think pretty much you're gonna be okay if you can handle some like light R-rated horror.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Um, do you want to do credits for this one? Sure. So Walking Dead, issue one, is uh was published by Image. It was written by Robert Kirkman, and the art was by Tony Moore.

SPEAKER_02 3:23

I think it's also worth noting, I think uh Robert Kirkman was also the letterer on this, and this is um totally black and white. Uh so there's no colorist. Um, and I will also say, uh, just factoid down the line, Tony Moore, I believe, only does the first six to ten issues of this, give or take, and then uh Charlie Adelaard takes over the art duties going there.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

Alright, let's delve into here's a brief summary of Walking Dead, issue one. So a small town sheriff named Rick is mortally wounded in a in a he's he was in a gunfight, he's mortally wounded. He awakes in a hospital, but something is off. The hospital's deserted, others are violent and cannibalistic. His family is gone. Will he survive The Walking Dead? And then in my brain plays the uh intro to the show music.

SPEAKER_02 4:18

Um I guess we'll have to find out. Um so my first question here have you seen the movie 28 Days Later? Yes. So uh this is a legally distinct version of that story.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

So that actually that actually falls into one of my questions. Oh, okay. Why are there zombies? Cool. We don't know yet. Yep. Um I think I think that I think this issue really sets up the story decently. Um it doesn't give a lot of you know plot points or anything like that, besides Rick is showing up in s in in a world that is strange and new to him, even though it's his own hometown. And he it's it's a setup for a lot of questions. Um overall, you know, you're you're thinking through it, you you meet you meet a character named Morgan and his son Dwayne. Um you wonder is Rick's family alive? Why are there zombies? Where is the government?

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Yep. They they go into a lot of these uh topics later, I know, in the in in the series. Like we're gonna get resolutions on all of that stuff. Uh so one thing that like immediately stands out to me, aside from this is almost like shot for shot, exactly like 28 days later, and I'm not accusing either party of ripping each other off. I actually just think if you were trying to set up a zombie world where your main character doesn't know it's a zombie world, it's a good plot point to, you know, have them wake up in a hospital because that's one of the only ways they're gonna survive. Uh, and like it it seems more like an homage to each other and anything. I honestly don't know which came out first. Um one thing that I kind of noticed in this is uh just how empty everything is. Like, you don't start off with like screaming hordes of zombies everywhere. Uh is that something you picked up on?

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, no, it feels more like a post-apocalyptic story at the beginning. Like in the first couple pages, you know, Rick's waking up, he's you know, injured, he he was, you know, gut shot by uh in in like a routine stop. You you you wonder where the story is evolving to. If you didn't read the title going into it, you can, you know, it could really go anyway. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

That's actually a really good point. Like the first issue, or like the the cover of it doesn't really like clue you in that this is a zombie story, other than it's a it says walking dead. So uh like I it's clearly a zombie story. There's there's no two ways about this, but um like I you you are jumping into the middle of the story, which is one of my favorite storytelling devices, where you kind of like uh you skip a lot of the setup, which I think uh kind of makes for a better story, because I think I've talked about this a few times. I'm not a big origin story guy, like kind of show me what it's like when you're actually established, not learning to be what you are. So, like, in a sense, we've already set up the villain in the world, or the world as the villain of the story, and like we know Rick is really capable, just generally. I mean, it's a work of fiction, so he's a he's a he's a cop who knows what he's doing. Um and I think we get a lot of like good insight into his character. Like this is really tightly paced, where um he you show he does actually want to help people even after being what hit on the head with a it was a shovel by the kid, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

Dwayne hit him in the back of the head with a shovel. Yep, and like he his you know first instinct is still to help these people and like get them supplies, and then um like they're the guide characters of this story to show him like uh I I like that scene at the end where he he was about to shoot the zombie and uh Morgan goes like, nah, don't shoot him, you might you might need the bullet, and because like Rick is probably capable in his world, but he's now fish out of water, he doesn't know shit about this world.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

Right. And then you see him, you know, falter back on that towards the end where the i i I think I it was probably some form of symbolism for him like saying goodbye to the world that was like shooting that immobile zombie that was laying in the field that he first encountered when he left the the hospital.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

So I I kind of see that as kind of like an act of mercy in a way. Like I I think Rick, it's I think it's trying to show that Rick is a good dude, where he sees this thing like suffering and he just ends it suffering. That that that was my interpretation. But I also like what you're saying where he's kind of like saying goodbye to his old world and like ex I don't want to say accepting the new world yet, but that that's a good way to put it, honestly.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

Yeah, like he and Rick is also uh from what we know so far in the story, Rick is an endless wealth of empathy. That's a good way to do that. He just wants to help. Um given that I started with the show first, one of my other big like things that I noticed was I feel in the in the comic in issue one, both Rick and Morgan are too overly trusting.

SPEAKER_02 9:40

You know, you're very right on that one. Like, I think it makes sense for Rick to be more trusting, but Morgan, it's kind of a surprise when you think about it, because like Rick is trying to get established. Morgan, for lack of better words, he's been in this world for what is it, like 30 days he was in a coma or something?

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Or did we ever like get an actual timeline there? I don't believe it gave an actual timeline. I don't think there was like a you know a little banner giving you like how much time has passed, but it was enough time where for the world to fall apart and you know most people to either you know flee flee the area or or die in turn.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

What would be your take on the timeline? Like what like realistically, let's let's put ourselves in this world. Say say you got shot and you woke up and the world went to hell. Like, how long do you think it would have been?

SPEAKER_00 10:32

I think I think a month is a good timeline, given that he was in a basically a coma from his from his wound, his gunshot wound. Um he would have needed to wake up earlier than later. Like, I I don't think anything really past a month or two would be realistic because then you're probably you don't have sustaining medical equipment because you know most of the grid is down, and um, you know, then then you're you're floating into things of brain damage, you know, there's no respirators, leg atrophy, muscle atrophs, muscle at the general. Right, he was able to get up and walk. Yep. So it might have even been a couple weeks.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

And because uh he was able to walk, you know, some some issue with walking, which showed that like, you know, it wasn't a couple days because you know, his legs have atrophied somewhat, but I feel like over a month he would have had to like more crawl than walk.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

This is where I really wish Katya was on the call because she could like probably give us an exact timeline, but she is off with Garnet doing stuff for Garnet's wedding. And we were well, I wasn't invited to it. I mean, I was invited to it, I didn't want to go.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

That's fair. Wedding stuff is not my general cup of tea, so I I do not blame you for not wanting to partake.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Yep. If uh I was drinking right now, I would still go for lunch, but I am on a drinking break because my medicine is fucked. Uh and that's like not any kind of like thing anybody needs to be concerned about. I was on a weight loss med that also makes you like be able to auto-regulate alcohol, and I am no longer on that because insurance sucks. So I'm actually let's just mildly mild mildly afraid to drink. So that's so we I have a couple more things I want to say about this particular issue, but so like my my normal outline here, we don't have a we we already really went deep into Rick's character. The story's pretty darn bare bone, so I kind of want to go into um the themes of this. So, like, what do you think the overall thematic elements of this is? Because I picked up on a few things.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

What do you got? I feel as you know, and it might be more because I've I've ingested more of this this content, um, I like the aspect where the zombies are there, and you know, the world is really the villain in this story, but it's not so much about them, it's more about survival and the human aspect of surviving in a world that's falling apart.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Yep, that's pretty much where my my mind goes. Um so I if did you read the beck of the issue by any chance? It was like the last page where it had like a little letter from Robert Kirkman.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Um I skimmed through it, but it was last night and it was pretty late. So um I remember him saying it.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

It was something about like the extremes that people go through, and kind of like this is surviving like a major disaster. And I think this was published shortly after. Dude, can you look up the publication date while I'm talking? It's fine. Yeah. Because I can't remember exactly when this one was published. I know when I was reading it, it was like ten years into it, so it was probably post-9-11. This I'm I'm sure this was post-9-11 when this came out. Uh I started reading it around issue one ten, give or take. It was a couple seasons into the show when I started reading this. Like I watched the first few seasons of the show, and that's where Mike's at, too.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Issue one was published October 8th, 2003. So like roughly a year and a half after or two years after two years after 9-11, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Uh so this is like kind of dealing with the scariness of those times. I don't know how well you remember that times, but there's a lot of uncertainty and a lot of like uh like Bush-era politics are incredibly not great, but not as bad as now. Uh, there was this weird sense of optimism, but there was also a lot of like xenophobia that was going on, and there was major disasters, the entire world was kind of in tension with us. So again, really not much has changed. Um, but I I don't know if it was necessarily a metaphor for that, but I think it was trying to make sense of an insane world at the time. That that is kind of my overall take of that.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

No, you really hit the nail in the head on that one. That's really just how it feels. Yeah. Regardless, regardless of the the you know, the boogeyman that, you know, is we're being afraid of at the time, it's really this this this format can be placed to any like real thing that you're concerned about, you know. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 15:30

Zombies are a good stand-in for pretty much whatever metaphorical issue that society is overall going through at the time. Like, did you I know you're not as versed in horror as I am. Uh, do you have any history with zombie movies in general, besides the 28 Days Later, like we said earlier?

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Um, I've seen a good amount of them recent more recently. So, you know, 28 days later, 20, 28 weeks later, um Zombieland. Um I'm trying to think in the case.

SPEAKER_02 16:02

Have you seen the Romero films? The like uh Knight of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead? I don't think I've watched those yet. Oh, okay. So horror uh horror 101 here. You I I hate saying that because that's gatekeepy, but those are very classic films that still hold up. The original Knight of the Living Dead, and honestly, the remake is worth checking out. But I need to out myself as a horror poser. I've never actually seen the original Dawn of the Dead. I've seen the Zack Snyder one many times, though. Uh it's it's that's a fun movie that um, but like the the zombies are there kind of to show pressures of society can dial up negative aspects of people's personas where you're dealing with a lot of stuff like uh looking for someone to blame for disasters, and it really like uh lends to the like the racist and the misogyny tendencies that abject pieces of shit have to go through or happen to go into. Uh aside from all of that fun stuff, uh do we have do you have any thoughts on the arts on this one? Uh so the the art style in this changes not drastically or anything, um, but I'm just wondering what you think of this art.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

I overall, I overall like the art of of this one. Um given that it was in black and white, I like that it's kind of like a callback to, you know, old timey horror films.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

And or just old timey films in general. Yep. Um and the the people, the the you know, the living were still drawn. They were kind of like cartoony to to an extent. But man, the uh the zombie portrayals in that art are gorgeous.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Oh god, yeah, they are fucking downright scary, but they're good. Uh Tony Moore is a pretty decent artist. Uh I I I like him a lot. Uh he's he did a series with Rick Romender, I think you would like a lot, called Fear Agent. I think he was the primary on that. He might have had an another artist on there. I can't remember. Um, but once you see Tony Moore art and you like kind of see how sees how he draws certain people, you really get a feel for his art. And I I really like how there's a lot of detail here, but it's not busy, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah, it is it is detailed. Nothing feels empty, but nothing was really overdone or cluttered. Do you have anything else to say before we go into ratings and recommendations?

SPEAKER_02 18:27

Um, no, I think we covered everything I want to cover for Walking Dead 1. Cool. Uh so do you want to give a new reader-friendly um scale rating here?

SPEAKER_00 18:37

Yeah, I mean, I would give it a I would give it a one on our new new reader-friendly scale. It's issue one of a brand new series, no background needed, no back, no background existing at this point. So uh it's you know, it's as entry-level as you can to the storyline.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

I'm also giving it a one, but I'm also throwing the caveat out there. This is like 192, 196 issues somewhere on there. It's just under 200. It's over 100, it's but it's over 190, under 200. So this is a long thick read. Um, and that that is my only like thing. And and and some of the horror aspects go way the hell up. So later on, this this is definitely more of an adult one, so I'm throwing that one out there. So as terms of quality, what are what's your quality rating on this one?

SPEAKER_00 19:29

Quality rating, what's our scale for quality?

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Like, is there any one to five, I guess, five being good, one being lowest. I don't really like numbers, so I kind of want to expand this one, so we'll get the team together and kind of maybe figure that one out.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

That's yeah, that's that's a good plan. I like as far as like if I was gonna give it a number, I would give it you know, uh probably like a four and a half. Like the story is great. The living character the living characters were a little the art was a little too cartoony for the tone of the story. That's a good call-out, actually, yeah. But um, otherwise it's solid, the you know, the atmosphere, the zombie depictions, everything was real spot on. It was that's the only thing like keeping it from a five in my book, is just you know, the cartooniness of the living. Yep, I agree.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

And I think um so this this this this comic feels very much rooted as of its time, where uh you were a lot more hamstrung, and I think this is one of Robert Kirkman's earliest things he's done. So there's probably just a lack of money here, and I know just from a production standpoint of this, the reason this is black and white, uh it definitely is a kind of a cool callback to like old horror movies, but it was black and white because it was cheaper, and they actually are producing the series now in color. That that's a whole thing. But like I give this like a solid four. Uh, there's just a couple things that I think could have been better in here. Like, I think it just needed a little more time for this first issue. But I I'll put it this way if it were 2003, 15-year-old me walked into the comic book store and I bought this, I'd buy the next issue. So that's that's that's pretty much where I kind of sit on it. So now, as far as reread recommendations, would you recommend this to people or would you reread this? Or would you read the rest of it? I guess is more accurate. I've read it all.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

I would I would absolutely read the rest of this. Um, it definitely sets up a good you know blanket of questions, drives to want to know what's coming next. I uh like there was nothing really that ever that ever spoke to me and said, like, you know, uh I could probably do without this in my life. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

I kind of am the same, like these read really easy. Uh you know, this first issue, it's available on Images website. I highly recommend everybody go check this one out who's over 18. Just it's they these are really good quality comments. This is uh it's a great intro comic. This is actually one of the things that kind of like got me back in a comic book store. The other factor is I just had the money for comics for the first time. The other major, major factor is we had a comic book store when this was uh at like the height of its popularity. So those are the major factors of why I was reading comics. I actually just sold off my like half collection of Walking Dead, didn't get much for it, and uh never used comics as a investment. Let me say that right now. Uh, do you have any recommendations from any of the other people involved or maybe recommendations for any other zombie stories? That's a great one.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

I actually don't think I do off the top of my head because really you have uh no other references for any other comic any other comics about zombies.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

None, no other comics about zombies. Oh well, if you're beating me into talking about revival, then yeah. Uh but before we do that, do you have you you do you have any other recommendations for like Robert Kirkman or Tony Moore?

SPEAKER_00 23:01

Um this was actually my the first thing I've read from by Robert Kirkman. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

He uh um he's got a lot out right now. Uh well he's got a decent portfolio, I guess I should say. I definitely want to read more of him. Yep. Um so go ahead, sorry.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

No, and so if I want to read more of Robert Kirkman, um I would definitely want to see more of Tony Moore's art, and I definitely plan to finish this story. I think I'm going to do it, you know, asynchronous with the show. So I'm already thr you know into season four on the show. So I'm gonna finish the show, at least the at least the show proper, not all the spin-offs, and then I'll read the the the the whole run.

SPEAKER_02 23:46

Yeah, that's a good way to go. Like this is something you can honestly you can probably read the comic in about a month and a half. Uh if you're doing a couple issues a day, it's it's it's not a a big commitment.

SPEAKER_00 23:58

And it's a fast read. Yeah, it this does read quick. I had to find we when we found it on the image website for true issue one. Um I was reading it on a on one of the apps we have, and um I wasn't uh it the compendiums are broken into larger chunks. It's not like issue by issue. So um I read for maybe 20 minutes, and I think I probably read f six to ten issues. You're probably about that, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:30

Like so uh one thing I will actually uh talk to everybody about here. Um I kind of wanted to do this as a bit of a subtopic, and I just don't want to go too long today. Uh the compendiums of Walking Dead, they are great value. And like they're expensive, but secondhand you can get them for like I've seen them go as low as 10 bucks. And they contain about 48 issues each, so that's a hell of a good price. The problem is I've read my compendiums once and they are beat to piss. And I have the first two the first one's lost, I have no idea where it is. The compendiums, they don't have the covers, and that bothers me because you don't get any breaks. So, like I think me now, the way I read, I I would be afraid I would start reading it like at seven o'clock at night, and then like eleven, I would put the book down and be picking up the next one. Because just without the covers, there's like a lot of you can kind of feel when an issue's ending, but in the same token, you just turn the page and keep going. So, I think we're we're ready for revival now? Yeah, I think so. So this this is our zombie special. Uh, so do you want me to do the credits for revival? Yeah, you can start off the credits on this one. Sure. So Okay, so we have we were talking about revival. We got through Walking Dead. Now, Revival is one of my favorite comic books of all time. Uh, this story was written by Tim Seeley, the art is by Mike Norton, the cover art is by Jenny Frizen, the letters are by Crank, the design is by uh Sean Dove. The cover B is by Craig Thompson, colors are by Mike Inglert, and edited by Four Star Studios, and this was published by Image Comics, and the original uh publication was in July 2012. So this is something I read almost straight through. I had almost the entire series of this, and I think I just sold it all off. Uh, so do you have a plot recap of this one? I like your plot recap so far.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

I do. So go for it. So the plot recap for revival number one. A rural town is dealing with an event of biblical portions. The dead return to life and pick up right where they left off. Religious fanatics flock while the return continue on. Is it the beginning signs of the rapture or a disease? We don't know yet, but I'm sure we will find out.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Oh yeah. So this one I think I probably have a little bit more to say from Walking Dead. Um, so we the this one I need to caution everyone. Walking Dead is graphic, and later issues are really fucked up. This first issue comes out swinging. It is fucked. Our opening scene after we get through all the religious, like uh culty shit they're talking about. We start off in a um a morgue where uh someone's showing uh how you use the furnace, and that's when the zombie revival happens. So these aren't traditional zombies. This is everybody comes back to life at the same time, and they don't kind of they kind of don't know they're dead. Um they they everyone there's more of a mystery of what's going on with the revivors, they call them, but uh they're about to torch somebody and uh they hear someone crawling their way out of the casket in the furnace. They don't really show too too much of that, but you get a little bit of a glimpse, and holy hell, is that fucking scary.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

So I I really like this one, yeah, given that it was like not a zombie story at all, really. It is, but it's not.

SPEAKER_02 28:16

It's it's a different take on a zombie story. Like Walking Dead is almost a deconstruction of a zombie story. This is a hyper deconstruction of a zombie story.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

So I came out of the gate with a bunch of questions. So this so I I had backstory on Walking Dead because I've been watching it through the show. This was a blind read for me going into revival issue one. I have no idea what's going to happen.

SPEAKER_02 28:39

And so, along with everything else, I'm also gonna throw out some predictions to see, you know, if I can Yep, and I'm just here to gaslate Mike into you know giving him a false sense of security or raising expectations and mess with him a little bit. So I'm excited for that portion of the show. Uh, do you want to do that now or do you want to do that later? Well, we can start off with my predictions. Yeah, go for it. Because so we we just you know, we we have our thing, like I I just want to throw out just some themes that we're gonna be talking about in this. There's a lot of like xenophobia thoughts, and um, there's a lot of religious cultiness, and then there's a lot of you know existential hell that we're dealing with. So like the themes are really on Front Street in this one. Uh so hit me with your questions or predictions.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

So, right out of the gate, like we like we touched on, you know, it's not your run-of-the-mill zombie story. Um there were some parts throughout the book that made me question this and make my prediction. Um, i.e. the scene the like the the scene with Cooper outside, and we see the wispy creature that, you know, can't really speak English, but it feels but it's kind of like it's adapting to it. Oh yeah, the Scooby-Doo mystery ghost from the 60s. Yep, I know exactly what you're talking about. Exactly. So that led me to make a prediction of I think the revival is going to be either, you know, some kind of gift or curse given from aliens, something extraterrestrial, or something a little more old-timey that, you know, maybe the fountain of youth was uncovered and we just didn't know what how like how the fountain of youth would you know affect the world. Did you by any chance do any research on Walking Dead before you wrote those? No, I did no research. All I have is, you know, up until like the early parts of season four from watching the show, that's the only background I have on it all altogether.

SPEAKER_02 30:36

So this is not me messing with you. This is not a spoiler. Uh the original pitch of Walking Dead involved aliens.

SPEAKER_00 30:43

I think I I think I did hear that was like that was in an interview, right? Where they said, you know, something was triggered by z by aliens, and that's what created it, but that was more to get their foot in the door with the Walking Dead.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

Oh yeah, he just like made up a bunch of bullshit just to like just to make it sound more interesting, and apparently they didn't want him to do that anyway. But uh I will encourage you to look up this issue. There's a couple spinny off specials of Walking Dead. There's one called Walking Dead the Alien, written by Brian Kavon. Ooh, okay. Yep, that one should be free. Uh it was free when I read it last, like it was just available online on like kind of like a sub uh a sub stack, I want to say. I don't know who did like the art of that one. It's been forever since I read it. But since you said, you know, aliens are old timey curse, that that's where my brain first went to. Uh as far as your predictions for revival, I mean, I think those are all uh valid things. Um I remember the end. So I reread this actually last year. I read this when it first came out, and I reread it last year. Uh I I won't confirm if either of those are either of those are accurate, but um I think you will get some payoff to those answers one way or the other, is what I'll say.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

Yeah, I feel it, I feel like it's plausible, given that um, you know, it's not so much spreading like a disease like like in The Walking Dead. Yep. They like everybody comes back all at once, which means that there was some kind of trigger event that happened to cause this. So Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:24

And I think that was one of the things that I really liked about this, where it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a disease, it wasn't everyone's the Walking Dead or whatever. It was just these people, all these people at one point are all part of the Walk are all part of the Revivors. They are a group. And I think that works a lot more for like good metaphor for like the xenophobia themes that uh start to come up more as the series goes on.

SPEAKER_00 32:48

That's uh one of the things I really liked about this story in this issue was just how it tackles given that given that the revivors come back and they are, you know, in full uh cognitive faculties, uh like they they are still the people they were when they died. It really kind of leans into the thought of maybe you were going to get to rest and now you were thrown back. It does tie on, you know, like, oh, was did I was I not good enough to make it into heaven if you are in that in that line of belief? Is that a purgatory? Is that a punishment? You know, like and dealing with them not knowing and them just having to speculate within themselves of what is actually happening to them.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

Yep, and neither Mike or I are religious. We both did kind of grow up in a pretty religious-y area, and for the most part, I think I think it's fair to say both of us don't want anything to do with religion, but you know, whatever type of religion anybody practices, that's on them and they're free to do that.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Yeah, we I don't condone what anybody believes in as long as you're trying to be a good person.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yeah, like a as long as you're as long as you're not hurting anybody or yourself, I really don't care what anyone does. Uh but like you can clearly see how certain religions become really culty. Uh, how do I want to put this one? Like, the old woman at the end, I think, is the prime example of that, where she sees herself as being punished for not getting into heaven and she's pushed back into purgatory. So she um Do we want to talk about that scene? Because that scene is really messed up.

SPEAKER_00 34:26

Yes, I absolutely want to talk about that because that actually was a big driver for my predictions.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:31

So keep giving your predictions and then maybe we'll do um maybe we'll go to that scene. The yeah, the reason why I lean that way is not only did they come back to life, but they're they also seem to have regenerative properties. Yep, this uh everyone turns into Wolverine in this story. Yeah, so um, if you don't mind, I'm gonna pave the scene. So they so they were one of the main characters is is is is a cop. They're investigating a call, and it's around a missing zebra horse. They br they were breeding horse slash zebra hybrids. And off topic, have you ever seen one of those in real life?

SPEAKER_02 35:12

I have not, I'm sure. I I've seen I've been at been to a zoo where they had them. It's so weird. Like Z donks, I think they were. Like that's like the name of the animal. Sorry. I just I thought it was cool that that's like kind of a real thing.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Oh yeah, we're always doing stuff that, you know, probably was never meant to exist. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. We're good at that. But uh but that was as they were investigating that the you know the m the the their mom who was, you know, older, like a like like a a senior citizen because you know the the the people arguing were both you know mid middle-aged adults, um she was taking care of kittens in the in the barn. But she but the but this but this mom was the was one of the revivors. And they and they were investigating the missing um zebra horse hybrid. I don't know if it's a xenonc. I feel like a xenonk is a zebra donkey hybrid.

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Yeah, z uh zebra zebra donkey hybrid. Um I guess the the zebra horse hybrids. I don't know enough about horses. This isn't a horse podcast. Um though spinoff idea, maybe we should do a Bojack Horseman podcast at some point. I am all for a Bojack Horseman spinoff. Yeah, we'll just wreck our mental health again.

SPEAKER_00 36:28

Alright, continue on, sorry. So um so they find this zebra horse, the Zorse, if we'll call it for this, and then they find something that looks like pills, you know, maybe blood pressure medication in the snow next to next to the I think they flat out said they were blood pressure meds. I think they did, yeah. But they go to investigate at the barn where, you know, the revived mom is. And we see more of what looks like blood pressure meds, but uh in reality it's teeth. And so it it goes to this revived mom is standing in the barn going over like you know her her lamentations and gripes with you know being back alive instead of getting the eternal rest next to next to this, you know, on on the side of Jesus. And as she's holding a pair of needle-nosed pliers and just continuously pulling out her teeth because they just continue to grow back.

SPEAKER_02 37:34

I mean, you gotta you gotta take care of a problem if you have it. Like those teeth weren't there a few minutes ago, so you just gotta pull them out one by one.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

And um the oh the description made it even worse because she's like, they're keeping me up at night. I can feel them moving around in my job. And that just oh, that's blood curtailing.

SPEAKER_02 37:55

Yep, so uh we we uh oh do you get the dream where your teeth are falling out? I don't, but Katya gets it every couple weeks. I have not had that dream. Apparently, that's a thing where people will just dream that their teeth are falling out. I've had a dream where my teeth shattered, and that was really, really bad. Like I'm I'm super protective of my teeth. Like I don't brush them as much as I should, but uh, I know what bad teeth can do to your life, so it's just something I never want to deal with. But like I I have one missing tooth because that was uh wisdom tooth. Did I ever tell you how I lost that tooth? No, I don't think you have. Oh, um, so uh back upper left one. I was eating a peanut at my mom's house one day, and it just broke in half. And I'm like, I'm like chewing, I'm like, this is a really hard peanut. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm chewing my own tooth. So I had to go to the dentist the next day to have him extract it, and I've never had dental work, I never had a cavity up until this point. I was like 23, and the dentist goes, Look, man, I've never seen anybody with roots this bad before. I'm like, what does that mean? Your roots are crisscrossed into each other and wrapped in a way I've never seen. I'm like, excuse me? I I thought roots were roots. He's like, no, no, they can go in all different directions. So uh I'm gonna have to chop your p your tooth into four pieces and pull it out. Can I have like four times the amount of Novocaine you normally give someone? I've never had dental work before. So they they they take like an hour and a half to rip this damn tooth out of my head. Uh they gave me Vikadin and they say, yeah, uh, don't even try to be a hero on this one. Because holy fuck did that hurt.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

And then I was was up getting getting your wisdom teeth out is no joke in general. I had three of my four wisdom teeth taken out, you know, via uh like from a dental surgeon, not at the dentist. Um dry sockets real. Don't like don't don't take that lightly if you have any dental work done and they they warn you not like to avoid like straws and certain things so that you don't give yourself dry socket. Dry socket is so much worse. Did you have I got it on one of the sockets and it was ridiculously painful.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah, they they were very clear with me. They're like, do not use a straw for the next two weeks or or whatever, however long they tell you. But yeah, teeth stuff freaks me out. So this scene in the book was pretty messed up, and time that I had to go through it, like I remember they ripped part of my lip because they had to like go so far back in there with the pliers and everything.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

That should be its own genre, to be honest. Like, I know there's the genre of body horror. Teeth horror. Um there's there should just be a subgenre just called teeth horror, and it's just someone with a ball peen hammer for you know an entire issue just knocking out one tooth by one tooth on people. Oh, that reminds me.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

You ever see the horror movie Teeth?

SPEAKER_00 40:52

I know the premise of it. I don't think I've actually seen the whole movie.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

It's not a very good movie, but it's worth seeing. Um, yeah, like we're not gonna talk about that movie. That's that one is so boy. That's a weird movie. Um, so what are your do you do we want to go back to some of your predictions? Because I kind of just want to move past these teeth at this point. Like, I feel the need to go brush my teeth, like now.

SPEAKER_00 41:18

Yeah, no, uh, we could definitely move past this. Like the this this scene made my mouth hurt. Yeah, this um yeah, this this book makes your body hurt. That was so really the prediction that I gave before is the the you know the whole the whole of my predictions of what's going to happen. I'm absolutely going to continue to read this. Um uh this of of both of these issue ones, I feel like revival blue walking dead one out of the water. That was actually going to be one of my questions for you. Yeah, as far as issue ones go, like I don't like uh it it'll obviously see as like the series goes, but this issue one definitely dominated. Um there was so much going on, so many questions that it reared. Um not even from just a horror aspect, but almost like a sci-fi aspect too.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:12

Like so much is going on, and you just want to know so like everything about what you saw, and it really sets you up to want to continue to read the series.

SPEAKER_02 42:22

So, my take on these two books as like a whole for in terms of comic books, uh, I think Robert Kirkman wrote wrote a really good quality um zombie comic, and Tony Moore drew a really good quality zombie comic. I think this book, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton, did a genre-bending uh pushed story that is unlike anything I'd read at the time. Uh, this one, so it's described as a crime noir horror, and that's absolutely right. Like we have supernatural elements, we have zombie stuff, we have uh crime stuff, it's small town horror. This one checks all my boxes. Uh one thing I'm actually gonna recommend to you, find the trade trades of this. Uh however you're gonna read this. I'm assuming you're not gonna hunt down the single issues, but Jeff Lemure actually does the um does the foreword in the trades. I have the hardcover collections, which I got really cheap. I don't know if they're still cheap. Or if you read it digitally, it was still there because I I checked this digitally. But yeah, there's a really messed up story from Jeff Lemure in there.

SPEAKER_00 43:34

Yeah, and like my my rating is is no knock to The Walking Dead. Uh if it like The Walking Dead is just a classic zombie story, and it's going to shine in how it rolls out. This the revival just had so many things that I didn't even expect going into it, that it just like makes me want to read. Just because I need to know where all these nuggets of plot points are going to going to go to eventually.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

Kind of how I want to compare this is like Walking Dead is, you know, you get a get a decent quality New York strip steak, and you know, you cook that up and you eat it. And Revival is more of like a you went nuts and you got yourself like a cowboy ribeye steak that you slow roasted on the smoker, then seared the hell out of and you topped with like bacon jam. Like that that's what this that's what this story is. It's one's good, the other one is just off the charts better.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

So I came up with some questions, sure, but I but I don't think there are anything that we can answer because we're not supposed to know this in in issue one. Try. Well we'll I'll gaslight you appropriately. Okay, because it's like more of the general questions like you know, what what triggered the revival? Yep, that's you know, which ties in the predictions. Uh will my predictions be somewhat even in the ballpark? Who knows? I know. Yep, you you're not supposed to know now, but I believe you get payoff for that if my memory serves me. One thing, one, one, one question I had that might I might have missed while reading it because I was reading it on my phone and going blind. Um did did the revival only happen in this town or was it worldwide?

SPEAKER_02 45:21

You do get an answer for that. I think they actually answer that kind of soon-ish. If you want me to just tell you I would though.

SPEAKER_00 45:27

No, I'll wait till I'll wait because I'm definitely going to read the rest of this. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

So it's I I don't actually know if they directly address that in here. I do know the answer to that one, I will say that one.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

And then what in the absolute hell was that thing that was in the woods with that scene with Cooper?

SPEAKER_02 45:42

Uh it was a Scooby-Doo ghost or a Ghostbusters Ghost. They were actually trying to do a crossover licensing agreement back in the early 2010s, but I just didn't really shake out, so instead, Rob Robert Kirkman gets to write Transformers now. So uh do you do you have a other question? Yeah, I think that was your last question, right?

SPEAKER_00 46:02

Those those were those were my main questions. I mean, this this point is also kind of a question, but um another thing that we wouldn't know yet is, you know, is there going to be a long-term effects of the revival? Oh, yeah. Like we see that they have regeneration, like regenerative properties, but you know, does it progress? Does it turn into a more traditional zombie story? Does like the regeneration eventually break them down, kind of like reheating leftovers too many times, where like the your the the genetic structure like down to the molecules just starts to fall apart because you can't in most cases like things can't regenerate forever.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Yeah, that's I mean nothing can regenerate forever, so that's a good point. Uh I like having you on the show because you think about stuff like that. One you kind of just reminded me of just a different way of thinking that uh when I had Jeremy Whitley on the show, he was talking about I don't know if this is something he was writing or just something he was thinking about one day. When you think about, say, a dragon attacks a world, you think about the destruction, but think about the environmental impacts of the dragon when you have all that smoke doing to the atmosphere, like crops burning, and just like the fires they could spread. And I was in ever since he said that to me, I was like, that's a really good way of looking just the outside impacts of the story, and kind of what you're talking about here is like what are the long-term impacts of revival? Like, can she infinitely rip too teeth out of her own head? Can you infinitely revive? We we don't know. Is there like do you get maybe like nine lives?

SPEAKER_00 47:32

Who knows? If it happened, if it happened worldwide, that poses other problems, like eventually causing famine. Everyone, um, to to what I understand so far, like they're still gonna need to eat and drink to stay alive. Yeah. If no one if i like if they cannot if they can regenerate to the point where it's really hard to kill them, is there going to be a point where we they have to do like sacrifices or something like that? Is it gonna play more on like the human morality of do is is it is it humane to kill the people after X amount of time of being alive just to keep the uh like the entire world from crumbling and no one living?

SPEAKER_02 48:12

Yeah, that that's that's a great point. Like and then you really start to go insane where like we all talk about this is gonna sound morbid, but we we all talk about life having meaning or not having meaning. One of the ways that like I think we kind of ascribe meaning to life is the fact that there is an end to life, and whether your thoughts are, you know, you're just dead, or if you go on to an afterlife. If you don't have those anymore, like what is the actual meaningness of life? And you start to think, do these rules we know them, what do they mean? And you can kind of go really deep with that. And I I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to bump anybody out, especially myself, like thinking about my own mortality and shit.

SPEAKER_00 48:53

I think it's healthy to think about your own mortality every once in a while.

SPEAKER_02 48:56

Yeah, because you you should be using your own mortality as a way to live life healthily to a good uh good positive degree and you know, not just waste your time. So that's why we talk about uh, you know, stories on the internet for people to, you know, try to live better and you know focus on their mental health and their physical health. Like that's what I want. People to walk away and you know have a good time talking about books. All right. Do we want to do a new reader-friendly and a quality for this one?

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Yeah, no, I think we're ready for that. I think we touched on everything that I wanted to talk about about this one.

SPEAKER_02 49:30

Oh, before we do that, do you have any thoughts on the art? Because all I can say is, goddamn, do I love the art? I love the Jenny Frizen covers. Uh, I love the coloring on this, the blood really stands out. Mike Norton's art is solid across the board. Do you have any anything before we go into quality and new reader friendly?

SPEAKER_00 49:47

I I did. I did really enjoy the art. Honestly, it actually like started off, it felt kind of like web comic-y in like the first couple pages. But it as it went on, it developed and just felt m more cohesive by the end of by the end of the issue. I was wholly on board with the art. Nice.

SPEAKER_02 50:08

Yeah, that's that I'm kind of with you there. Um, I think really the coloring stands out. I I like the covers a lot too. I I already said that, but so let's do ratings on this one. Then I actually have like one closing thing. I just kind of want I have one question for you, but let's make sure we do uh new reader friendly and quality. So how about you go first, sir?

SPEAKER_00 50:26

Okay. Uh on the new new reader-friendly scale, I also gave this one a one. Um, I feel it's I feel like it's appropriate in a lot of these because it is issue one of a story that never existed before. Like any questions that come up, uh they're supposed to be there. You know, like it's more plot baiting than anything else, or not needing like a background or you know, a tie-in run, you know. Yep, I 100% agree.

SPEAKER_02 50:55

Um, I'm I I'm gonna give this like a 1.5. That 0.5 is solely because just some of the stuff in here is really, really dark and graphic. So it's not necessarily that you would have trouble understanding it, it's just like approach with a little bit of caution. Like this honestly uh uh verges on extreme horror at certain points. So like one one point five, I think, is totally fine around here.

SPEAKER_00 51:18

I I had a feeling you were gonna give it a 1.5 and I knew the point five was holy because of the teeth horror.

SPEAKER_02 51:24

Oh yeah, yeah. Like I I do not want to underplay this. Like, if you are freaked out by teeth and gore and shit, and there's some heavy themes in this one, uh, and uh to be honest with you, how good this issue is, I think we only touched on about 30% of all the things we could have said about this one.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

Yeah, so like it there there's definitely more to this issue than what we talked about, but you know, that's part of the fun of reading. Yeah, we didn't even really give you the main character's name. That's a good point, and I don't remember the name offhand because so much was going on. The only reason I remember Cooper as the name for the kid is because as his mom was calling him, she started doing like the rhyming and was like Cooper Trooper Scooper Pooper Shooper Pooper Scooper, and that just like yelled it in my head. One of the only you know, gripes I could come up with is that the main character and her sister looked very similar.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 52:22

And it's kind of the what I brought up when uh what was it, when we were reading the Black Mirror run of the Dick Bat series?

SPEAKER_02 52:30

Which one was the which character's the one where I know what Black Mirror is, I'm just trying to think of which characters looked too similar.

SPEAKER_00 52:37

Bruce and um oh god, I don't remember his name, but the the mayor, or he was running for mayor, and they were both almost identical looking, and it was like the whole he you know he might have been Bruce's, you know given up brother.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

That wasn't Black Mirror, that was um Court of Owls. Oh, is that Cord of Owls? Yeah, it was Cord of Owls. Yeah, just because Bruce wasn't in in uh Court of wasn't in uh whatchamacallit at all.

SPEAKER_00 53:06

Wasn't in Black Mirror at all. That's right. Yeah, I just said that too. Uh because that was a that was a that was a Dick Grayson as Batman.

SPEAKER_02 53:13

Yep. I thought you were gonna say like Tim and Dick looked too similar, which at times I think they do, so I kind of agree.

SPEAKER_00 53:20

Also that, no, that that's kind of fair that Tim Tim and Dick Grayson are you know basically the same character model with a little bit of change on the face.

SPEAKER_02 53:29

Um but I think the main character's name in this one, I feel so silly for not writing it down, but I'm actually trying to find the page where it says the character's name. Uh they refer to oh, I think it's Dana. That that's what uh and Martha is the sister. Dana is the um is the main character, and Martha is the sister. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 53:50

I'm actually gonna double check myself. Dana.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

But you guys will see that when you read if you read this issue. Uh there's a lot going on all at once. And you're gonna be really enthralled in like the scenery and what is actually happening, where I didn't feel the like the characters' names, at least in this first issue, were that important. Not really, no.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

Like you're you're gonna understand everybody's role really quick. I just feel so silly for forgetting her name and not writing it down, because and that's that's my fault. Um, but yeah, Dana is the main character, and her sister is Martha, who you'll meet later. Uh, also her father is Wayne, who you will uh learn really quick. So, in terms of quality, what's your quality rating on this one? And you can also do recommendations if you want.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

Um, this one, as far as quality, I I would highly recommend this to anybody that wants a good in-your-face gory horror story.

unknown 54:44

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 54:45

As well as people that are fine with gore and want a good sci-fi story, because I don't know which way this is gonna go yet. And also if you're into crime, definitely, this is also a crime story. It is a crime story, but not as much, at least like that jumped out to me. Like the crime the crime story aspect was there, but I feel like it was more a um, you know, kind of like to bridge the gap of how we were going to get to all these wild things that are happening. It was more it was more the cab on the way from, you know, Scooby-Doo Mystery Ghost to Old Lady pulling out her teeth. Everybody came back to life. There had to be something to like drive all these story points, and that's kind of what the crime aspect feels like. And I mean it'll it it'll probably get m more into the the like the crime noir aspect of it as it goes, that I would assume. But I just don't know past issue one at this point.

SPEAKER_02 55:47

So I have a a little bit of a discussion question. Like your your quality is my quality, so I I also would give this like if we're doing a numerical rating, this is like a 4.5 or a five. Uh I'll give it a 4.5 because you know, I just want to give everyone opportunity to improve, like I was Hank Hill or anything. Um and uh as far as recommendations, as long as you're okay with you know gory stuff, if you want to like a something that's action-packed and a good thinker, this is the superior book, and it's also way shorter. It's only like uh I want to say it's like less than 60 issues, or it's somewhere around there. Whereas Walking Dead is a long, long, long read. But it would so I have a uh discussion question for you. Okay. So we're gonna pretend the Revival TV show didn't exist for many reasons because it's awful. And we're also gonna pretend uh, you know, Walking Dead TV show doesn't exist because it didn't happen. So imagine you're a TV exec. Which show which which of these two stories, imagine you know all the plot points, they're totally done. Which would you think which would you rather try to adopt? And this is just for funsies, so go for it.

SPEAKER_00 57:04

I think I think my first question would be what is my budget? Uh you have HBO level budget. HBO level budget? Okay. Um And are we just saying like if this is like in a now time frame?

SPEAKER_02 57:17

Uh yeah, uh say it's you know day one, now you can do whatever you want.

SPEAKER_00 57:22

Man, my personal bias would probably be towards revival just because it has so many aspects that, you know, with a super bloated production budget could make like really just something really beautiful. As much as like and and like it has a lot more to think about and a lot more just mystery. But I've also been always been like a long-term fan of like more of those like what's going to happen next type of stories like Lost, where you don't know what's gonna happen, something's gonna come out of left field, usually 15 things an episode come out of left field every episode. Um that's probably why I would lean towards revival.

SPEAKER_02 58:10

So if I were trying to make a better show, I would go with go with revival. Regardless of so if if if you know, given all all thing things I said, I would go with revival. Uh if I wanted to make money, I would probably do Walking Dead. Just uh and I definitely have a bias here because of how much money Walking Dead does generate those people. But like I think not that Walking Dead is shallow or anything, it's shallower than Revival, but I think the fact that there's a little bit less of a central conceit in Walking Dead gives you a little more tools to just crank out stories. With Revival, you're working on a very specific dialed-in concept that uh you know I I think it's gonna make for a better story. And I and it is a better story, like this issue one is just way better.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

Yeah, I feel like I I feel I do get the vibe that uh like revival would be more niche too. Like if I was looking from like a we gotta make money, almost everybody in you know, in any type of world that can consume media has heard of zombies. It is a classic feels story, like for Walking Dead, whereas like Revival, there's you know, is that a spooky ghost? Is that an alien monster? Why is that old lady ripping her teeth at her? What's up with the horse? Why is the why is the Zorse here? And and and and another thing, we don't know actually that's a question that I just thought of. Did did uh the revived, you know, old mom kill the horse herself, or is that just something we don't know yet? I think they might go into that next like issue or two, from what I remember. Yep. She did not like the Zors. But it was neither confirmed nor denied that she was the one who killed it, but it also looked like it was a little bit fed on, like its side was a little ripped out. So um but yeah, no, I I I I definitely see your point for for your question. If you were, you know, gonna boot one or the other, I think Walking Dead is the clear winner for like if you want to generate the most relatable story to everybody and have it the most like the most wide net to cast on an audience.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:30

Yep. Um, so as far as recommendations, do you have any uh recommendations? Have you read anything by like Tim Seely or or Mike Norton before? I don't I don't believe I have. Okay. Uh in that case, I'll do mine. Uh so Tim Seeley has a pretty decent portfolio. Mike Norton, I don't actually know any of his other art. Uh Jenny Frizen is a very popular uh cover artist. I don't know if she does much interior work, but as far as uh recommendations for Tim Seeley, I have one specifically for you and for other people. Tim Seeley picks up uh Dick Grayson's story right after uh Kyle Higgins is done with Nightwing in New 52. He writes um uh it's about 22 issues maybe with Tom King. They do Grayson, the Super Spy story, and uh then after that, he uh Tim Seeley is the writer of Nightwing in the Rebirth era, and he writes for 30, 40 issues, somewhere around there, maybe a little longer than that. And he's doing some X-Men stuff right now, but I haven't got into that yet. His Nightwing's pretty good. Like Grayson, I have mixed feelings on cool concept, but I didn't love it. Um yeah, I think that's all we got for this week's episode. Do you have any closing thoughts or uh uh words of wisdom for the audience?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:51

Just parting thought overall is I highly recommend both of these. They were both great reads. If you're going to read them on the image website, like I said at the beginning, read it on a tablet or on your web browser. Do not damage your eyes on your phone like I did.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

Yeah, your eyes are important. You need your eyes and your teeth. Uh brush your teeth, I think is my uh uh positive uh version of my positive words today. Take care of your teeth. You you you need them, you get one set. Indentures uh are not fun, from what I understand. Uh with that, um, we are going to go to closing here. Uh so next week on this show, uh Mike won't be here, but we are doing um Daredevil Issue One by Stephanie Phillips. So this is coming out, this should be out uh April 3rd. Uh we're doing this is an extra episode because we just wanted to talk about zombies on this weekend. Uh so we're doing, so Cottie and I will be talking about Daredevil Issue One by Stephanie Phillips for April 8th. Then April 15th, uh Mike will be back for Invincible Issue One. Invincible is also written by Robert Kirkman. Invincible issue one can be read on the image website or any number of online readers who we are not sponsored by, so I won't give them the time of day. All right, everybody. I've been Vic. And I've been Mike. We'll catch you guys next time, and we will go to the closing credits.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:19

Thanks for listening, guys. Well, guys, thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to get a hold of me through email, I'm at comicbooksbeyond at gmail.com, and I'm at Comic Books Beyond on Blue Sky, Instagram, TikTok, and we're also on YouTube. Some of the podcasts are gonna go there, but we're also working on some extra content for YouTube as well. I'd like to give a thank you to the crew of the Talking Comic Books podcast, Brad and Lisa of Comic Book Couples Counseling, Alex Jaffey, Jeremy Whitley, Bran McNulty, Jimmy Gasparo and the crew of Comic Book Yeti, and John Klein III of Shadowflame with Magic. Most importantly, I'd like to thank all of our listeners and supporters. Be good to each other out there and take care of your people. We'll see you next time.