Episode 15: Deathstroke Moggs The Girls

The escapies talk DC Next Level! and Love and Rockets!! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:21

What's up, y'all? Welcome back to the absolute ultimate Escape is Comics podcast. Uh I am back. We've had a brief hiatus. Acacia hosted the pod with Dr. Pearl Berry and uh Persephone of No Doctorate fame. Um uneducated, barely literate. She kind of just looks at the pictures and claps like a little baby. Um I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Um, and now I'm back. And we're gonna host this podcast. We've got some fun stuff to talk about. I don't remember what episode number this is, and I don't care. Pearl, hit us with a song.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Oh god. I got away with no song last time.

SPEAKER_04 1:04

You got away with the song no song at the beginning, but then we made you do a song at the end. God, it's right. This is what happens when I'm not here. Shit just falls apart.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

The wheels just come off.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Uh I didn't come prepared with a song. Um, okay. Can you believe I'm not prepared for this? Uh if I was a podcast, I'd be the Escape is podcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Because it's the best podcast. And nothing rhymes with podcast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

That was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Thank you, Dr. Pearl. I yeah, I I'm lying, I actually been writing that for weeks.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Yeah, I was gonna say, like, I I don't know that I believe that that was just off the dome, you know. Um, as as rapper would say. Um, where is rapper? He's still got he's still got like Yeah, rapper might miss me um if he doesn't come in. Uh uh regular, regular rapper. Um Yeah, uh let's let's get into it because I don't have a ton of time before I have to go to work. Um wait, no, that's not true. I have work at two. I have plenty of time. Do you not get paid for the podcast?

SPEAKER_01 2:14

I thought you got paid for the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 2:16

It's ambiguous. Um Payambiguous. That's okay though. I love ambiguous paychecks. Yeah, um. The only things that I read this week were uh the Scotty Young Jorge Jimenez. Jorge Jimenez? No.

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Sorry, Jorge Corona.

SPEAKER_03 2:33

Sorry, thank you. God, Jorge Corona.

SPEAKER_04 2:35

It's one of those weeks.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Yeah. Um Jorge Corona and Scotty Young Lobo, which I have some strong opinions about. Yeah. Um, and Batwoman, which I have some less strong opinions about, and which is a story that I was really hoping to have like impassioned love for, and instead kind of bit of a dry old lady fart, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Um I'm kind of bummed. I feel I feel a lot more strongly about Batwoman, but I've also read issue two, and so I think that is playing into it, and we'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Um let's- I guess let's just get right into it. Um what did you guys read, I guess, first?

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Um, I read all of the next level stuff, so I read Lobo and Batwoman. I actually read Deathstroke. Friend of the Epstein-list Deathstroke. Friend of the Epsteinless Deathstroke. I read the Ultimates 22, which I want to talk about and End of Life 2. Um, and then also I just want to briefly talk about Love and Rockets, just because I've been very Love and Rockets pilled since last week and I've just been reading a ton of it. Um, but yeah, let's just kinda or actually no, I think the one piece of one piece of comics news we actually need to talk about, just because like I've gotten at least one man who's come in here and be like, Did you hear about this? And yeah, I did. Um, with the the that that um that ship full of phantographics books that got sunk in the straits.

SPEAKER_03 3:54

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:54

Uh it was copies of uh Bitchy and um it was like it was like one of those like old time like like 50s, 60s like reprints. Um yeah, that's you know it's the kind of kind of thing that happens when you like decide to wage horrific war in a country for no fucking reason because your make-a-wish dementia pedophile king like needs something to do. Um in his in his uh golden years uh shitting his life away inside of a box, but like anyway, yeah, if you don't want if you don't want your book sunk at the bottom of the ocean gestures broadly Pearl's blowing up. Um but anyway, that's uh let's let's get right to the let's get right to the books. I don't I don't know if there's much more to say.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

was bad. Yeah. Um I thought Um I thought that Lobo was just like a supreme disappointment. Um It felt very much so Lobo, yeah, Lobo originally is like not this incredibly kind of meta character, although I think like in the kind of cultural consciousness, Lobo has kind of evolved into this like Deadpool-esque kind of like funny man. But he doesn't really break the fourth wall um in any of his appearances prior to this. Yeah and then in this um the story just becomes incredibly kind of meta and self- self-referential, um, but not in kind of any sort of clever way, but in like a really kind of lazy way. Um Marvel universe? Yeah, but about anti-heroes. Can we I um and I I'm not the biggest fan of I Hate Fairyland, but I do think that there's like some fun meta storytelling going on in there and kind of like self-referential, fourth wall breaky stuff going on in that. And I do think it really kind of fits for the kind of standalone, goofy series that it is, especially with Scotty Young's art style. Yeah. Um but this I was kind of hoping for like a much more engaging, even perhaps like emotionally engaging, if not just comedically and um kind of actively engaging comic.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:22

Um, and it just feels like they kind of took the easy route on this and didn't put a lot of effort into really piecing together a story. And the art is, I think, pretty solid. Um I don't think it's Corona's best work. There's definitely some panels on here where I was just like, this does not look great. There's too much going on in this panel. Um, there's not enough kind of eye being put towards design and composition to make it clear what's happening and who is happening. Um but I do think that there's like some really stunning like Pearl has this open to a two-page spread that's like just objectively pretty dope. Um like I feel like you could find something like this in like a really good Daniel Warren Johnson page or something. Yeah, like the Goku hair is awesome. The kind of like spawn-esque chains shooting out at you from the page are really cool.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

Hear me out. She's been saying hear me out, but I've also been saying that Lady Lobo is like would like Lady Lobo came too early. She would have been a hit at the at the Lesbian at like the trans-lesbian dike bar.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Um there's Lady Lobo in here somewhere.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Briefly show Lady Lobo. Lady Lobo, Lady Lobo is the true hear me. Yeah, she's the true hear me out. The original Lady Lobo is dummy hot. It's not even Hear Me Out, it's just like what like Hear Me Out is like supposed to be like.

SPEAKER_03 7:41

It's very like dummy lobo. I feel like this is very inspired by Absolute Wonder Woman. The dummy lobo.

SPEAKER_04 7:49

Uh No, no, the dummy lobo is from the original.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Like in this in this panel here. Oh, in the panel, yeah, in the panel, absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:57

No, in the panel for sure.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Yeah, I just it just feels like uh not a ton of kind of uh imaginative force was being put into the storyline here. And I I kind of. Granted, we we did not come into next level with the kind of idealistic, bright-eyed, uh, sort of uh rosy-cheeked lassidness that uh some less cynical fans might have come into it. But they really did mark next level as like we are taking these these characters who are a little underappreciated or whatever, and I do think Lobo does kind of fall under that category, although he's not exactly like an unknown character.

SPEAKER_00 8:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

He is like an unappreciated character, and I think there's like a lot that you could do with him. Um, and we're gonna like revitalize him, and we're gonna put like a lot of creative force and energy behind them. We're gonna put really great writers and artists behind these characters, and we're really gonna let them flourish. And it seemed like they were really banking on the success of Absolute of the Absolute Universe, which I think does really do that for the most part. Um And then here it just feels like they kind of drop the ball. And Corona and Scotty Young are both really, I think to me, excellent writers and artists in their own right. Um and I think it would have been great, probably on the part of DC Editorial, to just like really push them to do more. Yeah. Because it just doesn't feel like they're giving it a hundred percent. Um I do think Corona's art. Corona's going 100%. Yeah, Corona really outstrips Scotty Young here. Yeah. Um, and I I think like I would have loved to see Scotty Young kind of step up to the plate and match Corona's energy on the page here. Uh, because Corona's just kind of so bombastic and awesome. Um and yeah, like I I would have loved to open this issue up and be like, wow, I care about Lobo now. And that's just not my takeaway from issue one.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

I I have so many things to say about this. First, I was I the more like controversial thing is like I I think this adds to my theory that Scotty Young's been kind of washed for a while. I think he's just been phoning it in for a really long time, both as like an artist, like, because you see his like cover work now, and it's just like I don't give a like this is so nothing. And this what this is what this feels like. Whereas like Corona at least understands the assignment, which is that like I think Corona is as close. Let me rewind that a tiny bit. Like, the OG Lobo, because I did read some of the OG Lobo, the two original miniseries before this came out, because I just wanted to have some kind of basis. Yeah, they've released a lot of old Lobo stuff. And the old Lobo stuff, there's a few things about the old lobo stuff. First, like, it's kind of like if they left like 2000 AD at the back of the fridge and left it to like mold for several months. Like, that's the vibe. Like, it's a lot kind of like greasier and gnarlier. Like, it kind of feels like a cumb-stained aquarium left in like a gas station bathroom. A what? A cum stained aquarium. You heard what I said. That's what it feels like. It feels greasy and gross and like wrong. Like, Simon Bisley plays a huge role in that in the original stuff, where just like everything just looks like it just like feels like gross and sharp to the touch, like visually. And like I think Corona's the closest we have in contemporary comics, uh contemporary monthly comics, I should say, to being able to match that. And he does try to pull some of Bisley's kind of like style a little bit here, but I don't think we have a guy like we don't have we don't have Kevin O'Neill's anymore, we don't have Simon Bisley's, like, at least working in the monthly space, and that's the kind of level of like that's the kind of just like gross and grimy that like Lobo needs to work. And I also think Lobo just kind of doesn't work as like a l as like a like a a a long-running series. Because like Lobo works in like four issue chunks where they're doing a little bit and then it's over. Like the four issue like thing where he's just getting passed back and forth between heaven and hell because nobody wants custody of him, that's a that's four issues. It's done. Whereas like there's no Lobo isn't deep enough to like Cause like Lobo at the end of the day, he's not like he's not a Deadpool meta-s character. He does not work like that. He works as a problem. Yeah. Like every all those original Deadpool stories are not Deadpool. Uh Lobo stories are like, Lobo's in it, but they're like he's he's a problem.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Okay. That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 12:34

Lobo is a problem to be solved, not like a character, not like the central focus onto himself. And I kind of think trying to make him a central focus doesn't work because now he's in now he's just George Thoroughgood deadpool.

SPEAKER_03 12:47

Yeah, I I think too, like there's a there's a lot that you can benefit from with kind of how little people have really delved into logo as a character emotionally and kind of interiorly. Because or internally, sorry, uh, but because it it leaves so much space to really play and dig deep with these characters and like really reinvent them. Not even like not even reinvent them because they haven't really been fully invented. And like Lobo is kind of for a long time in his appearances as just like an antagonist, he's kind of just like a punch em up sort of guy, you know? And like I I feel like there's a lot that could have been done here, like there's so much space in this character that you could have filled with really interesting stuff. And instead of doing kind of characterizing work on this issue, it's just like a lot of kind of like wink wink, nudge nudge moments and like kind of yeah, like very Deadpool-esque, but not not I d I don't even think that the Deadpool kind of cartoony violence is ever like very funny. It's just like not my thing. And here it's like even kind of less so interesting to me. Like it's it's just kind of like offhand and not particularly engaging or gut-wrenching or anything. Yeah, I'm I'm kind of bummed that this didn't get more sort of character effort put into it. Yeah. Especially because this kind of imprint was supposed to be the like revitalizing characters, you know?

SPEAKER_04 14:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:27

Yeah, I I don't know anything about Lobo whatsoever. I just know he's kinda like a big crazy guy. Um, I read this. I don't really feel like I know more about him. Uh, and I'm really not interested in a second issue of this. Uh, and it was just corny. Yeah. It was just corny. It was unforgivably corny, and once you're on the cob to me.

SPEAKER_04 14:52

You're on there for life.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

You're on the cob for life.

SPEAKER_04 14:54

You're on the cob for life. Life sentence to the cob. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's fucking corny, and like this whole this whole like anti-hero bit is corny to begin with. It's been corny for 20 years, and it's just not funny anymore. And even the comic seems like loosely aware of this, because they like the the fucking the TV-headed guy is like, yeah, we we got in on the the anti-hero shtick too l, you know, too late now that Marbles made not Marbles made a bajillion fucking, you know, fake large amount of money dollars. And it's kinda like, well then why are we here? Like you don't care. Yeah, I don't care.

SPEAKER_03 15:33

I also kind of feel like they already do have anti-hero characters, you know, it's like not like they don't have kind of anti-hero antics going on in their world. And like, that's not to say that like making Lobo an anti-hero, um, would would be like a bad choice. Like, I I don't think that anti-hero writing is like intrinsically bad, but he's not even really an anti-hero here. He doesn't mean to be. He's just kind of a dick. Yeah. And then two, the only like references to the like anti-heroism of his character is like him literally asking what an anti-hero is on the page, and then kind of like looking right at the care like at the reader and being like, Who would do that? You know? And like I I There's no There's no action in this book. There's I mean there's like the There's the kind of like off-the-cuff violence and stuff that happens.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

I like when he rips that guy's arm off and writes his name in blood.

SPEAKER_03 16:40

Yeah, that's the that's the best part. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Or the Calvin P. The Calvin P into the water supply was okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:47

But But the bar's so low. When I say there's no action, I I mean there's no like story. No, there's no narrative here. No. He's just kind of doing stuff. And I I think especially if you're gonna do like a monthly floppy comic, you have to be understanding that every issue should have a really discernible arc.

SPEAKER_00 17:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:05

You know, and we clown on Robert Kirkman a lot, but this is something that he really stresses when he's publishing or writing something is like if you're gonna be writing an issue, there should be like a like you should be able to pick up an issue off the rack, any issue, and get some degree of narrative catharsis.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:23

And this had none of that. It kind of just remained the exact same the whole time. Yeah. And it bummed me out because I kind of thought this would be awesome, honestly. I was sort of hyped.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

The art sold it that way. Yeah, like the art, the art is so cool, and Jorge, I'm sorry that your partner didn't excel as much as you did. Cause you're a badass, dude, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 17:47

Yeah, dude, like if you like you should be asking DC for some like insurance because of the like the weight of carrying this whole thing on your back.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

I demand emotional damages.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

I and physical damages, you can hear his back straining just carrying this whole fucking issue. Like, and and care not and not being able to save it, to be clear. Like, I mean, good on Jorge Corona for putting in like a hundred percent to this, and boo on Scotty Young for like writing this in his fucking sleep.

SPEAKER_03 18:18

Yeah, I feel like Scotty Young like ripped a like a massive uh pull off of like a really sad dab rig, and then was just like, oh my god, I forgot I have a Lobo deadline.

SPEAKER_04 18:32

It feels like he's been doing that for a long time.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Like, can you do this in like 20 minutes so that I can watch cartoons?

SPEAKER_04 18:39

Like, guys, I need to go back to my cover factory making bad marble jokes on the covers on like 50,000 covers.

SPEAKER_01 18:46

How come Lobo can't curse?

SPEAKER_03 18:49

He only says Dragon Biscuit, so Well, so he it's it's like a bit in his character that's like his like That's like yeah, it's something. It's like his uh like his alien language kind of.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

Part of it is that the original Lobo guys came from a 2000 AD background where like that's kind of more common is to do this kind of like fake swear word thing.

SPEAKER_03 19:11

The the kind of uh uh Garth on this hellblazer where he goes frigging all the time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

It made it feel like a newer issue of I Hate Fairyland. Yeah, it was phoned. I was just like, I feel like I'm reading I Hate Fairyland right now.

SPEAKER_04 19:25

Yeah, you're you're getting like a what the fluff scenario. Which like again, like I'll also say like the original stuff, like he does use Bastitch in like fragging, but it's it's like less common, like it feels less like a catchphrase than it does here. Like it feels like Scotty's like throwing catch like swearing out his like catchphrases, like being like, Oh, there's Bastitch, and this weird I think is supposed to be shit. Um whereas like in the original, like it does happen, it is a bit, but it's like nowhere near as constant.

SPEAKER_03 19:55

I I do really like um he he appears several times on Young Justice, the cartoon, which I feel like I bring up way more than I would have expected on this podcast. Yeah, he's animated as a few. He's been animated in so fun animate. No, he's he's great in Young Justice. Animated. They don't have him speak English. So you hear him, he's like translated by his like little partner guy who finds him people to fight on like different planets, which is also like a really fun dynamic. That's great. He has like this like really goofy little, like, quirky little alien guy who like floats around his head and is like, I found you a new adversary, sir. And then he like he goes like Arga blarg blarg, fraggin blardy-doobity, shabby-boo. And he like speaks this like very it's far more articulate than what I just said with my mouth. It it really feels like there's like thought being put into how it sounds. Um But like he's he's like it makes it it makes the fact that he doesn't curse much less jarring because he's cursing in an alien language, so he's not actually saying curse words, and then he's like translated. Um which honestly would have been kind of an awesome comic premise if you just like didn't have him speak a language that you understood and just tried to tell like a really good story, but like you can't understand Lobo. God, that would have been so much better. Yeah. That's that's too out there for DC though. Um Yeah, you should uh if you're if you wanna see a fun Lobo story, read some of the original stuff. And then honestly, watch the episodes that he's in on Young Justice, because they're really fun. You get to see him like fight Superboy and kick some serious ass. It's very like it's very Omni Man pilled when he shows up. Like he pops up and they um Young Justice has to like f like battle him and he just like kicks some serious ass in a very cool manner. Um yeah, good shit. Um anyway, let's uh let's move on, because uh we've we've kind of we've stomped on this enough.

SPEAKER_01 21:53

Nobo.

SPEAKER_03 21:54

Can we Lobo more like no hoes?

SPEAKER_04 22:00

Speaking of no-hoes, can we just briefly go over Deathstroke? I don't have a lot to say about it. Um The art's pretty good. It's it's it's good. Uh the art's good. Uh DGN Dom Domens Domek Doment Fuck god, my ADSG is filming. Not ADSG, sorry, my um Dyslexia. Dyslexia. Wow, that was.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

DGN Domenico?

SPEAKER_04 22:23

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, D.Va. Um yeah, TRS. Tart's good. Uh Italian X. Um The Faral guys on it. When I say it's better than expected, I mean that like my expectations were like in the sewer, and this was like written by a guy who can spell. So that's already above the Arkham special. Um, but shots fired. Well, if they re-released this they they put a second printing out, so that's why I'm firing it. That said, d it doesn't give me a reason to care about Deathstroke at all.

SPEAKER_03 22:57

I don't know if I really need to the amount of work that you would have had to put into a Deathstroke series to make me not just like totally grossed out by Deathstroke. Like, you you truly would have had to pull out like an absolute Martian level of quality to make me care about the new Deathstroke series.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

Yeah. And it's just there's not that effort put in there. The entire thing can be summarized by like, man, my daughter hates me, I do a job, and someone stole all my money. And I'm like, well, okay. I don't really care who stole your money, though. Yeah. Also good. Yeah, also good. Yeah. They seem to like they they they like really kind of dance around this, and I think uh one of two things should happen at this point. Either you just Well, three things. One, you just stop with the character because he's not that good. Two, if you do, just kind of retcon the pedophilia stuff out, like like consciously do that.

SPEAKER_03 24:02

I'd actually prefer if you just erased that. Yeah, yeah, it's like we don't actually need that. It's actually like a better story. Yeah. And it's less emotionally scarring to me if you were just like that didn't happen. Yeah. Also, Marvel, if you were just like the ultimate universe, the blob never ate the wasp. Never happened. I'd just be like, cool, thank you. Yeah. Thank you for that.

SPEAKER_04 24:24

Well, I kind of feel like Marvel did do that because they just redid the ultimate universe, so it's just like that didn't happen. Whereas like, or, and this is not a choice that I would make, or you just like lean into it and you do something with that, but like otherwise, and I don't think you should, but and you would have to do something like I don't even know what could be done with that, but like otherwise, why is it here? It's like either do something with it or get rid of it. And s and not that I want you to do something with it, but like, if it is going to be here, either do something with it or just or just jettison it.

SPEAKER_03 24:56

Yeah, I just I feel like no one was clamoring for a Deathstroke series.

SPEAKER_04 25:01

No, it it feels and and similarly with like him being such like a a hyped up thing in absolute Batman coming up, I wonder if they're he's gonna be in some kind of fucking movie or something and they're trying to generate some kind of like hype for him soon. Cause he's just not interesting.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

If he's gonna be in a Batman movie, it's definitely gonna be the uh James Gunn directed one, not the Matt Reeves one. Yeah, Matt Reeves wouldn't do this to us. Umway, yeah, that's Fuck Deathstroke, I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

Like Yeah, I don't really got much more to say about it.

SPEAKER_03 25:37

Let's talk Batwoman. Um, because I have mixed feelings about Batwoman. Um I think you should you should jump on first for something, because I I really started it off on Lobo, and I think you should you should hop on Okay, yeah, I'll do Batwoman.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

I'll do Batwoman. I will say I'm much more positive than the two of you were on it, but I also think Because we we were talking about.

SPEAKER_03 25:58

So I have mixed feelings on it. I think my my my intro piece made it sound like I hated it more than I did. I do not hate it. Okay. Um I just wish the first issue had been a better first issue, but I want to hear your thoughts first before I start rambling.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Yeah, yeah. I think we actually agree on this because I've been thinking about it more and like reading it the second time. Um like sorry, I just needed a second. Um also sorry, is is um I'm having a hard time with the audio with the the sound of the nail file. No, that's okay. I'm sorry. Sorry, it was just uh it was just really kidding to me for a second. Okay. Sorry, baby, thank you. Um sorry, I was getting a little overwhelmed. Um, no, no, no, baby, you're okay, you're totally okay. I just need a second. Um we need a safety word. We need a safe word for the nails. Death stroke! No! Sorry. It was also the noise outside, and like there was there's I'll close the door. Next time just say banana hammock, okay? I'll say banana- is that gonna be our safe word? I gotta come- We gotta come up with a better safe word, baby. Um yeah, sorry, sorry about that. Anyway. One, two, three, four, five. Anyway, Batwoman number one. Um I really liked this, but I also did, yeah, read that second issue, which I do, I kinda think that maybe this was going to be like an oversized issue one. Because thinking about how issue I'm not gonna talk about how issue two goes, but knowing how issue two goes, it feels like this maybe got cut in half. Um, and I can see why they cut it where they did if that was what happened, but like they should have just given it that extra space, because I do think it needs it. Um but I do what I do really like about this book, besides just Danny's art, which I think is very well suited to to Batwoman. I really like her very, like, I don't know, there's there's like a lot of like Frank Miller, like older Frank Miller in there.

SPEAKER_03 27:56

Yeah, the art is stunning. Stunning. I mean, look, what what more could you really expect from from Danny and Matt Hollingsworth together? Um, like, it's it's amazing. I mean, it's great.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

It's yeah, it's stunning, exceptional stuff. Um and I like that this is the only other book so far, and again, part of this is a G2, besides Absolute Martian, that kind of takes like the idea of like Dark Side as like a representation this like cosmic force of despair seriously. Like it's not just like he's a big scary Rocky guy, it's like yeah, yeah, like this feels this feels a lot like um Is it final crisis?

SPEAKER_03 28:38

Final crisis, yeah, where he like comes to Earth and like basically wins under with the Morrison writing. Like it it it he's menacing. Yeah, yeah. I think everything other than DCKO right now being put up by DC really nails Darkseid. Like Darkseid is scary in the absolute universe.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I and and I really like that like Batwoman's sister, and we'll talk about her later, but her being like, how do you fight the devil when the devil is real? And just being like crushed, and Batwoman just says with everything, hype as fuck. That got me that got me so crazy good. Um yeah, I really I really fuck with that and like the idea of like the anti-life cultists who are like just doing shit because they're trying to like foment like despair and insanity. Whatever exact specific thing they're doing, why Batwoman and her sister are part of that is like unclear to me. But um, and also kind of Batwoman's sister broadly is unclear to me. They do kind of maybe expect you to have a little bit more grounding in the world.

SPEAKER_03 29:42

Yeah, I was like, am I supposed to have read like Bat Batwoman elogy or like is there something that I'm like missing? Yeah. And it kind of bugged me because I was like, you didn't You surely did not have to do this.

SPEAKER_04 29:57

No.

SPEAKER_03 29:57

You the first issue could have been whatever it is that I'm missing in the backstory. That could have just been the first issue, and it would have been a fun, teasing setup for the conflict.

SPEAKER_00 30:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

But instead I'm like trying to piece together what the fuck is happening, and it's frustrating.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

Yeah. That is the that is my biggest frustration with it, is that like, yeah, it does does expect you to have some basis for this, and they like loosely try to explain it. And I don't think Reka's that successful at it. I'm s I still don't really know who she is or why this is like relevant. That said, the th the thematic backing of this of like Batwoman having to like fight her way up from the pit of despair is like that's good shit to me.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Will you tell me what you like about the art? Because it's really not it to me. But you seem to like it. I just like I just think Danny is just like- You don't like the art?

SPEAKER_03 30:49

Danny's like a fucking genius. Yeah. You're not into it? Do you like any uh stuff over here?

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I'm glazing over all of this. Seriously? This bores me. I do think What is this what what do you like about it?

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Um like I don't know. I think it's like what one fuck man, no, like look at these pants.

SPEAKER_01 31:20

I don't know. This just like they bleed together in this way that like I do think that this is like some of her least strong work.

SPEAKER_03 31:30

I think like uh there's like a there's a decrease in quality from like the Lola Woods to this. For sure. Um or like her backup strips on detective comics. Um But I do still really love the art on this, and it's like it's very it's got like a very kind of like dark noir tinge to it that I really enjoy. Um I think like Danny's not the best at the really dynamic action art, um which is I think like some of the weaker stuff. And I do think it would be great if Hollingsworth were doing a little more dynamism with the colors. Um because I do think that uh some of the like non-action stuff feels a little too static, maybe. Yeah. Um but her art to me is just like it's so beautiful, it's so different from so much of the stuff that's coming out. And I also feel like she really manages to capture her art just feels so connected to the interiority of her characters, and like there's so much like melancholia in her art that is often reflected in the characters that she's drawing. I don't know. I just love Danny. I'm surprised that you're not a fan.

SPEAKER_01 32:45

It feels rotoscoped, but like sloppily.

SPEAKER_04 32:48

I have no idea what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Yeah, I really don't get. Yeah. Look at this!

SPEAKER_04 32:52

That just that's whole first page. That's just not rotoscope, though. Like that's just that's not rotoscope. That's like traced over a photograph. I kind of really don't think it is. This whole this whole page.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

I just can't see what you're seeing, Dark. The first breakup posted on Absolute Ultimate Escapist comics podcasts.

SPEAKER_04 33:16

I just like I can I can I can even understand not vibing with it, but I just don't see rotoscoped. Like I think like Phil Nodo looks rotoscoped. Like I think, like, there are artists that I think look or like Greg Land is like traced. This doesn't look traced. Like, it's definitely like kind of absurd.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

I think that's what allows it to have lots of color shapes. Is is tracing over a photograph.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

I don't think I see what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 33:41

Like it's like it like there's not like a harsh realism that you would get with rotoscoping. There's like a like a sloppy color shape that you get from rotoscoping.

SPEAKER_04 33:51

I still don't even think it's that, because I think like there's more of a boundary to Danny's line than that. Like I think if anything, Danny is like incredibly lined. Like she like all of her work is like I don't want to say hatched, because that's not quite the right thing that she's doing.

SPEAKER_01 34:06

Like, I don't know. Like the the way the backgrounds are like so busy, like you're clearly like tracing from a photograph of a scene.

SPEAKER_03 34:13

You think the backgrounds are busy? I feel like if anything, the backgrounds feel I wish like some of the backgrounds were more full.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

Yeah, they don't they they're like they're a little spiked.

SPEAKER_03 34:22

This is so surprising to me. I just don't understand.

SPEAKER_04 34:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:26

Alright. Never mind.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

No, no, you're entitled to that. You're entitled to that take. Um that's a perfectly reasonable take. And it's good to have disagreement.

SPEAKER_01 34:37

Like the foreshortening, I'm just like, this is it it's just it's so boring to me.

SPEAKER_04 34:46

Oh god. Sorry, I accidentally flipped to some of the deathstroke art. Um while trying to just trying to find other art. Like, does this not does this not hit this like last page?

SPEAKER_01 34:55

No, that's a great, that's a great last page. I like it.

SPEAKER_04 34:58

Tight. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

And I and like I don't I have no idea what's happening, but I like it.

SPEAKER_04 35:04

She's like, she's like just she's projecting. That's a projector. She's projecting a symbol onto the window.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:15

Wow, this was this was a lot more. This was a I like that we I do like that we had this. I like that we all had like stunned silence. This is some of the this might be the most like contested we've ever been on a single comic. Yeah. On the podcast. And I that's good. I I think that's good. Um so thank I mean thank you, earnestly, for the dissenting opinion on that.

SPEAKER_01 35:41

I'm honestly sorry I brought it up.

SPEAKER_04 35:43

No, girl, don't be sorry. No, girl, I think that's good. I think it's good that we had like You can sleep on the couch for the next seven nights, though. We live in different houses.

SPEAKER_03 35:55

Yeah, but I mean, she she should still be sleeping on the couch for the next seven nights. As as punishment. Yeah, you can sleep in the fucking garage, girl.

SPEAKER_01 36:04

This can be so ugly to me. Anyways, I'm done. No, Ernest. I'm tapping out.

SPEAKER_04 36:11

Yeah, no, fair enough. I think we can I think we can move on from that. But also, again, thank you. Like, I do think it is good to have contesting opinions. Um, and I'm used to being the hater on this podcast, so it is nice that someone else is the hater for a change. Um speaking of not being or speaking of being a hater, um End of Life 2 was significantly better than the first one. With the caveat that I still don't think I'm like that into it, and I will only read one or two more for the podcast, and I'll probably bounce at that point. But it is significantly better than the first. Um Mainly because they've just kind of dialed Eddie's shtick down from being like like he's still a fucking idiot. Like, there's a pretty decent bit about how he doesn't understand what a farmer's market is, and he's just kind of like, did that man just like steal all them fruits? And they're like, no, this it's a table. People are people are tabling at a farm like so there there's a couple good bits in this. Um that said, do I like cause they because they they they tone it down. Like, he's not doing the like he's not nearly as bigoted, he's not nearly as much of a misogynist pig in this. Like, it is toned down, so it does work a lot better. It feels a little bit closer to that archer influence that they've been like clearly copying. Um That said, not the hugest recommend for me, not the most exciting. Um we get more with Eddie's dad here, and I'm like kind of curious if End of Life is going to really kind of be a book about how like men, particularly older men, as they age, are kind of able to like be kind to everyone around them except their families. Um, like either their children or their spouses. Yeah. Um and that kind of feels like what's happening here is it's like Eddie's dad is like shown to be like kind of beloved by this town. And Eddie is like so confused by this because he's like sharing these stories that are like pretty bad. And everyone's just like, no, he's just like the nice old man who helps us do shit. Yeah, he's dope. He's dope. And so like that's like not thematic round that's not worth, you know, like getting like it is worth like it it is worthwhile thematic round. Um that said, it is, you know, still about a douchebag with a horse uh tattooing on his neck, like who's not who doesn't really know what a farmer's market is or how to talk to women, or really anybody for that matter. Um but yeah, it's it's better. I don't really have much more to say about it than um than that, other than like Steve Pugh gets kind of some moments to show off here, particularly in the back end. Where like In the back end. In the back end, Steve Pew doing back shots.

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Um the look Pearl gave me when I said that. But I can't say what I have to say about Dave Pilke, but you can say that.

SPEAKER_03 39:02

Because you said he was on- Pearl and I were both incredibly disappointed in you. Who's disappointed in me? You and I were disappointed in him.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I said you shouldn't suggest that Dave Pilke's on the Epstein list.

SPEAKER_03 39:18

No, because you said the word Steve Pugh backshot. Oh, yeah. Sorry, Steve Pugh. Um I think I think that Pearl is hilarious. No, I do think Pearl is hilarious. I don't know why you're being such a dick.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

She's doing the playing both sides thing, so she always wins. You're supposed to sleep on the couch, but then I'm being a dick. She's playing both sides, she's setting us against each other. I think she's right. The fuck!

SPEAKER_03 39:47

The fuck, D. Pearl just gets me. I don't know what's wrong with you. Um you know, fair enough. Um Yeah, I mean, I I think uh wait, did you read Bleeding Hearts 2? Yeah, I've read I've talked about it on the podcast. Oh, oh, last week. Okay. I think we talked about it last week. Yeah. Where were you? Um, I was in Tahoe. Oh my big story. My uh yeah. My I was I was actually uh doing private investigation of Del Dave Pilke.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Um Thank you, God.

SPEAKER_03 40:17

I was I was hired by Antifa to follow Dave Pilke around. Yeah, he has uh to photograph his activity.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

Yeah, he likes he likes to gamble out there. Um He's a gambling man.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Yeah, I was just I was just out of town. Um but I'm back um doing doing this shit. Doing this shtick. Nice. It's a good shtick. Yeah, it is a good shtick. I I really can't complain. It's it's a good life. Um Yeah, I don't what else is there to talk about?

SPEAKER_04 40:48

Um I wanna talk about Ultimates 22 briefly. And I wanna talk about Love and Rockets.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Yeah, hit us with ultimates, hit us with Love and Rockets.

SPEAKER_04 40:55

So so I I'm look. It's pretty well written on a page-by-page basis. I love to see Cap killing so many Nazis, that's really good. But in this not series first, but like in a rare occasion, I don't usually critique Dennis Camp for much. I think Camp is not fully successful in this issue on why, like, Bucky is the Red Skull. Because Bucky, Bucky's the Red Skull, and they kind of dropped that like a couple volumes ago, that Bucky was the red skull in this universe, and like we've been waiting for a long time to kind of get into why. And I don't think Dennis Camp is really successful in squaring that.

SPEAKER_03 41:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:36

Because he like tries to do too many because he's like simultaneously trying to do a like, oh, he's actually he was actually undercover for the hand, but like because he was undercover for the hand, he like, you know, when you have to pretend to be a Nazi leader, then you start doing Nazi shit and then you start believing it. So it's doing like an undercover cop thing.

SPEAKER_03 41:57

But I also I feel like that's like not like It's like not how that works.

SPEAKER_04 42:04

No.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

No, it's not how that works. No. You don't watch black Klansmen and they start like becoming KKK members.

SPEAKER_04 42:11

Like Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 42:13

I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 42:14

No, so so that doesn't work, and that's not the only thing, because he does that, and then it's also kind of about his resentments at seeing like the like Steve being gone and all and like getting old and like not being able to get like a job anywhere, and like also that like watching Nazis take over and feeling like impotent, so it's like kind of also about how white men feel impotent under like capitalism and like fascistic regimes and like lean further into like fascism, which doesn't work then if your like thing about him is that he doesn't like the Nazis, but he does because he's like it like it doesn't it doesn't work, and also the grief angle because there's also kind of a like play with grief that they're trying to do here, and all of these angles aren't inherently wrong, like I think you could do a thing on how undercover police have to like inherently compromise themselves to be undercover. You could do a thing about, you know, white men's resentments and um and feelings of inadequacy and like loneliness. I kind of don't think you can do all of these things at the same time, and I think it does kind of fall apart under the weight of that, and that ultimately kind of just culminates in like Bucky just getting like, you know, a Nazi robot suit. Like it turns into like a Wolfenstein bit. And like, I think there is like real on like a purely like character, like I I I do believe. These two men have this like really difficult and complex history, and it's told pretty well. But then when it comes down to the actual reasoning for why Bucky's doing this, which is like such a a climax of this issue and a climax of so much of Cap's kind of like background in the ultimates, like it just kind of ultimately falls apart. It just kind of doesn't work. Um That's you know, that said, they kill a lot of Nazis in this issue. They're they're s they're snapping Nazi necks, they're like stabbing them a bunch, like there's there's a there's a direct reference to Elon Musk using his children as body shields. Oh, that's good. Where the Nazis have b they're they're like they got babies strapped to them. Stop! And so they have to use like Quicksilver to like grab the babies. Um There's actually not a bad bit where like there's two red skulls, so like the grand red skull. So the other thing is, like, there's two red skulls in this issue. And the Bucky one is called the Grand Skull, which is inherently referencing the Grand Wizard of the KKK. Like that that is what that is evoking. And so it's kind of weird to be like Bucky is the Grand Wizard of of the KKK because of like five different things that don't work together, but also John Walker is here who makes a lot more sense as like an actual Red Skull.

unknown 45:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

Whose like face got burned off.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

Well, I also kind of think like there's like a pretty obvious like Bucky Red Skull path where Cuz he like because original Bucky is like the winner soldier because he's been brainwashed, like, there's a pretty obvious path towards like some kind of like propaganda or like like brainwashing of the far right, like of these fascist people, yeah. Taking Yeah, like an impressionable young white man and like brainwashing him into this like hyper radical Nazism, basically. Yeah. And like that's that reads for his character and like it's an echo of the original Winter Soldier. Yeah. And it's it's strange that instead of that they were like, he went in to fight them, and now he just is one. Like, that's not how it works. Like, if that's what happens to you, like you were already a Nazi.

SPEAKER_04 46:23

Yeah. And they try to play the like the white men's resentment and inadequacy, growing old, like feeling lonely thing, but they both aren't done well enough and they don't gel together. And then, yeah, and it's also burdened by yeah, John Walker being here, and he's running like a splinter faction that's like more into the apocalyptic because like it is echoing like the more apocalyptic ends of like the white supremacist movement, the kinds of people who are like Like we need to cause the end of the world so that we can inherit the earth.

SPEAKER_03 46:50

And John Walker's doing that. The hyper evangelist freaks, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Yeah, and John Walker's doing that, and like that's fine, that works, but then it just like It's it's overstuffed, it doesn't coalesce into anything, and then yeah, and then it becomes a Wolfenstein bit where Bucky's in a robot suit and he's like being like, You left me all alone, and I was sad. That said, like Captain America, like when when they do actually like stop fighting and he's just like holding him, and he's just like you know, it's like it's like a character, you know, heart to heart moment to moment, it's good. And then he snaps his neck and that works. But it's it's it's weirdly muddled. It's weirdly muddled from what I expect from Camp, broadly. Um which was unfortunate, because I was very much looking forward to to it. And and as you said, like the path to a much clearer and more thoughtful take was right there, and it was weird. Yeah, it's weird that it got bungled like that. Cause it's just right there.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Um hit us with some Love and Rockets, because I think uh Love and Rockets is one of the coolest books that has hit our new bookshelf. Yeah. Uh because Phantographics just released the Locas hardcover, uh, which collects all of the locas.

SPEAKER_01 48:10

It's pretty cheap, too. It's only 50 bucks for what looks like a giant omnibus.

SPEAKER_03 48:14

Yeah, it's literally like a Phantographics omnibus. It's massive. That's like 800 plus pages of stuff. Yeah, it's it's pretty sick. It's one of the few comics that City Lights sells. They have a very small comic selection, and this guy came in and was eyeing it very greedily. I was like, sh get it, dude, and then he sadly didn't because he already had all of the paperbacks, but um, it's it's cool. If you're if you're daunted by the reading order prospects of Love and Rockets, but you want like just want some Hernandez bros, pick that shit up because it's all one story and it's all in one book.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

Yeah. Very excited about that. I I picked that up, and then after loving issue one of Love and Rockets, which they released at Maximile, I just kind of picked up a random volume, and my thought was that I because of what we talked about last time, we're like, something I do think is missing from Love and Rockets publication is the stuff that you get in the issues where you can like have like a really, really fast and insane Gilbert story, and then come down from that with like a much more mellow slice of life Jaime and then come back up with Gilbert. Um, and you can't really get that in any other version. And so what I was going to do is I was gonna buy Locas and p and then I also picked up um uh Amori Kohetes and Children of Palomar so that I could have a lot more like Gilbert stuff to like back and forth. Unfortunately, with Kohetes, I just liked it so much that I just kept reading it. Um and where I've kind of landed, I I've got a little I've got a little Love and Rockets cheat sheet for ya. Jaime, Slice of Life about lesbians, mechanics, and punk music. Also, there's a robot smiley face. Mario Hernandez, the Imperialist pigs will pay in carbonated blood for their exploitation of the indigenous working class. Also, there's an alien smiley face, into which Gilbert says, There is a god older than the earth in the body of a man, and he gets fucking wasted for the first time ever. And there's a girl who has got crazy stigmata and everyone wants to fuck her for their dissertation. And here's a story about how me and my buddies didn't see the KKK that one time, and here's an experimental biography of Frida Kahlo. And what if Jenny Sparks was named Julio? And what if girls babysitting a giant egg in the ocean? Also Big Booba and Dookie. Yeah, saying that. And you know what? I love him for it. I love Gilbert being just kind of like he's doing like like he like Mario and Jaime are a lot easier to pin down on like what they're doing. Even when they're doing, you know, like Jaime's not doing his uh his Loca stories. Um when he's doing like uh Rocky and Her Robot, like that feels very like grounded and slice of life, and like it's still funny, but it it does feel like, oh, this is like a like a Jaime story. Whereas like, and Mario, like, all of his stuff feels like very much like this is a Mario story. Whereas like you read Gilbert, and that could be fucking anything. Gilbert is doing anything and everything, and it is kind of exciting to like approach Gilbert's work, and he's just like going a million miles an hour doing whatever specific thing he's on about now. And but and most of it works. Like, I I do think Gilbert is like an incredibly talented, like, this is not a knock on Gilbert, like, by any means. I find him incredibly, like I find him incredibly kinetic to read, um, and also just think he's an amazing cartoonist. Um And this is also not a knock on like on Jaime or Mario. Like, Mario's like thriller stories are like so dense and they're definitely a little bit overwhelming, but like, they're really good. And I like this continuing thing he's got going on with um kind of like Marzipan and this country called Marzipan and like this like soda-called blick that's like um is it like the Komachican people? I think is like I I'm probably butchering that a little bit, because these are like fictional peoples that he's like making up here.

SPEAKER_03 52:07

Yeah, I would I think if you've if you've read like the best way that I could describe this is like the Hernandez brothers to me feel like kind of the Gabrio Garcia Marquez of comics, like this incredibly rich world which is really reflective of like a Latinx or Chicanex mentality and culture and consciousness, uh, and which is very rooted in real cultures of indigeneity and of ethnicity in both North and South America, um but they're all super magically real. Yeah. There's like a lot of totally made up stuff going on here. Um and it's honestly some of the most compelling magical realism that I've ever read. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's just and it it's one of a kind. A lot of comics that I really love, I'll pick it up and be like, oh, like this is like that other thing. You know, like uh Vatu, which I think is excellent. I picked it up and read it, and I was like, oh, this is like phone.

SPEAKER_00 53:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:10

This, there's nothing like this. There's still nothing like this.

SPEAKER_04 53:14

No.

SPEAKER_03 53:14

Um yeah, it's it's it's striking how original this was when it came out and how original this remains now.

SPEAKER_01 53:22

Yeah, even to this day, no one's inking like the Hernandez Brothers.

SPEAKER_03 53:27

Yeah, I would I would kill to be this good of an inker. It's just like you don't even want it to be colored. Yeah, like if if you colored this, I would be sad. Yeah. This is like uh like if you colored it, it would be a travesty on the level of the colorists who ruin Jack Kirby's work. Yeah. Like you're just you're losing genius. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:48

It would be a butchering.

SPEAKER_03 53:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:50

Yeah. No, like, as as you said, like, there is just nothing like this, both on like a craft level and also narrative narratively, like in comics, there is There is nothing like this. And it's fun to see them, like, when they collaborate or when they riff on each other, it's fun to see their like influences on each other. Because like you read, um, in the beginning of Children of Palomar, there's a Mario written story, but for the first time Gilbert's drawing it instead of Mario, and it's got it's like so much more Gilbert tonally, even if it's a continuation of Mario's like very specific thing. Similarly, like Jaime and Gilbert both riff on each other's stories at different times, and you and seeing like Jaime bring his like slice of life very specific, like pacing and slice of life sensibilities, and his more like naturalistic line to kind of Gilbert's corner of things, and then Gilbert like bring his like heightened kineticism to like Jaime's level of things or side of things, is like electric to watch. There's there's a story in um in Kohetes that's just like what if what if Gilbert's doing a Jaime Maggie the mechanic thing and then we gender swap them, but they're still gay, and so they're like gay men, and it's so good. Like it has no right to be that good.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

This work is so perfect. Yeah. I feel like the only person who I think does like this kind of this much like strictly gridded stuff, who I think is like as excellent as the the Hernandez bros are, is um god, I can't believe I can remember his name. Um Simon Hanselman. Yeah. Like he's the only other person where like he's drawing these kind of like not very kinetic figures, they're all very like simple line art. Most of the time it's like a kind of a six or nine panel grid, and it's just perfect, and no one's as good at it as as they are. Yeah. You know, it's just like it's flawless. Every page of Levin Rockets is just perfect. Yeah. And it's crazy because they've been cranking them out for so long.

SPEAKER_04 56:05

40 years, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:06

So long.

SPEAKER_04 56:08

79. 79 is when because the first Leaven Rocket story, and you hear Bam, the like uh Gilbert one, 79. Yeah. Fucking crazy.

SPEAKER_03 56:16

And I think a lot of a lot of comics that the cartoonists that you love will reference in interviews as like like so influential and like so important to them and to comics in general. A lot of times you'll pick them up and you'll be like, eh, this just like doesn't translate to contemporary work. Yeah, or even like the kind of like more generally accepted ones, uh uh the more generally accepted, really important ones, like uh um a lot of Claremont's X-Men. You pick it up and you're like, I can see how this is important, but also like God, I just I just don't care.

SPEAKER_04 56:55

You know, The Dark Knight Returns.

SPEAKER_03 56:57

Yeah, and you pick this up and it's just as old as both of those pieces that we just referenced, and it it just shines so bright. Yeah. Um from the jump, too. Yeah. And there's so much of it too, which is great. Like you can you can read this for years and still have Love and Rockets to read.

SPEAKER_04 57:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:17

You know? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 57:18

I will be reading this for the yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

Yeah, and Persephone and I have both only read like a fraction of what's out there. Yeah. Um that being said, I'm not as huge a fan of their non-Love and Rockets work. Yeah, I'm not sure. I just think there's like something really unique about the tone that they take on when they sit down to do Love and Rockets. Yeah. That is just above and beyond everything else that they make.

SPEAKER_04 57:41

Yeah. There is some kind of very particular magic. Similarly, the little bit of non-Love and Rocket stuff that I've read from the both of them. I've liked stuff from that corner, but like that the non-Love and Rocket side of things, but like nothing is like is as good as Love and Rockets. Like, Blubber's not as good as fucking Love and Rockets. Yeah, Blubber's just not, yeah. Like Blubber's like, you know, it's like.

SPEAKER_01 58:02

Blubber's incomparable to anything.

SPEAKER_04 58:05

Yeah. Well, that that's the Gilbert touch, baby.

SPEAKER_01 58:08

That is Gilbert at 100. There is some Gilbert on the shelves right now that's so slowly coming. It's like Psychodrama. Oh, psychodrama.

SPEAKER_03 58:18

Oh, yeah, psychodrama's psychodrama has been coming out since I worked here in like freshman year of college or something.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

We never take it off the shelf.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

I have I have psychodrama one in my house. Fuck, that's crazy. But that was like years ago. Like I like Jessica still worked here, I think, when Psychodrama 1 hit the shelves.

SPEAKER_01 58:36

Shout out Jessica, the original Escapist Podcast Podcaster. We wouldn't be here without you. Who lost the password to the podcast, so we had to start the podcast over with a new name. This one goes out to you, DJ. This one goes out to you, Jess.

SPEAKER_03 58:53

Yeah, love you, Queen. Um, yeah, I think that's kind of all that I have to talk about.

SPEAKER_04 58:58

Is that everything you've got? I think that's everything I've got. I didn't I haven't gotten to Starship Godzilla yet. I like. And then, you know, Arsene's Saint Heart number four came out. It's good, it's crazy. Um I love that like alternate like Santa takes are so fucking weird. I love that that's a thing that we have. But I don't really got much more to say about it other than that.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Um As always, gang, thanks for listening. We hope to see you in the store soon. Come tell us you're listening to the podcast, it makes us oh so happy. Um, see you next week.

SPEAKER_02 59:30

I love you. Pearl, close us out with a song. Uh oops, I escapist podcast again. Uh Brittany Spears is our next week's big guest. Oh, we're busting her out of jail. No, she's out of jail. She's yeah, she definitely made it.

SPEAKER_03 59:51

Britney Brittany! She wait, hold on, wait, was she in jail? Fuck, I don't know what's going on. She just got she got arrested like four days ago or something. Wait, what? Yeah, for like drunk driving all crazy or some shit.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:01

She had uh you were we're going to war again.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:05

Okay. In in uh the Middle East, and Brittany's getting arrested for shenanigans. We're just right back in 2008.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:13

She had Adderall on her. And so don't do Adderall, kids. No, do you do Adderall. It's great. Adderall's so good, dude. I'm on it right now.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:22

Adderall fixed. Like we don't need roll for the link.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

Otherwise, I'll be filing your nails.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:30

I'm prescribed.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:32

Alright, guys, we'll see you next week. Bye. Bye.