Episode 24: First Appearance of Sam...Just Sam

The Escapies are joined by a guest star, regular Sam {No Known Last Name} of the {???} Clan, to talk about all things new comics, and speculate about what exactly Dan Watters and Deniz Camp are going to be doing in the next year at DC Comics, as well as several new DC Next Level announcements and the continuation of Ryan North's excellent Flash run and Swamp Thing 1989! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_07 0:19

Um to the episode 24, the after ultimate escapist comics podcast. I'm Tate. I'm Persephone. I'm Dr. Pearl Barry. And we are joined by uh Neverware 14 special guest, the first appearance of Sam. Sam! It's me in the corner. Uh we've got uh a good amount of comics news for y'all this week, and then we'll talk about some new comics. Um first. But first, I think we're due a song from the only doctor in the house. Twenty bucks. I'll do I'll give you whatever you want. Twenty bucks. Let the record show viewers that I've handed Pearl twenty dollars, and then if she goes not saying she's reneging. I am legally obligated.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Uh I read comic books. You read comic books, we are the escapists, and we love you.

unknown 1:16

Woo! Okay. That's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Alright. That's a very good one. I have been writing that for years, waiting for the right moment. Um, so why don't we get right into it?

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Yeah, um, we'll do a couple of small things really quickly. Um, they announced to animations today Gendi Gendi Tarkovsky is doing a Conan the Barbarian show. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Is that really how you say his name?

SPEAKER_04 1:37

I as far as I know, is Dendi Kar Gendi Tarkovsky.

SPEAKER_03 1:40

I'm looking it up.

SPEAKER_04 1:41

Um and then J.G. Quintel of regular show is working with Gillian Tamaki to adapt Supermutant Magic Academy for Adult Swim. I actually met her once. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

When she was originally putting out Supermutant. I was at a uh I believe I was at a book fair in Oakland, and I was at her booth, and I I picked it up then.

SPEAKER_05 2:03

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

And then I guess I just never realized it was her until much later. Did you talk to her? Uh I think I handed her money. Okay.

SPEAKER_07 2:13

I've I've heard she's kind of a dick. I'm just kidding. Oh, okay. I was I was like, I don't know. I've never read it. No, it'd be crazy though. I would be kind of heartbroken, honestly. That would break my heart. Especially with a JG Quintel show coming out.

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Oh, I love JG Quintel. This is a good this is a good grouping. I'm excited about Jillian Tavaki and JG Quintel. Um Jendi Tartakovsky.

SPEAKER_03 2:36

Tartakoski. Gendi.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

I thought it's Gendi. Isn't that Gendi?

SPEAKER_03 2:41

It's not Jendi. Like Jenny or Gen Z. Or like Gen Z. Gendy D. Jendi Tartakovsky.

SPEAKER_04 2:52

Okay, well thank you for the.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Who listens to this pod, and we needed to throw some respect on that name for her. Yes, Sam? I listen to the pod. Yeah. You're lit you're listening to it so hard that you're in it. I know, right? Such a surreal experience.

SPEAKER_04 3:09

It's called active listening.

SPEAKER_03 3:10

It's like when some you know you crawl through the TV into your own TV show. Yeah. You you dringed into our podcast.

unknown 3:18

I know.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 3:20

It it took seven days. Now I'm here. Welcome.

SPEAKER_07 3:26

Uh yeah, so that's like some big news. I feel like the Cone of the Barbarian show. Isn't it uh coming out on Prime? Yes. It is Prime. It is Prime. I hope that they have whatever kind of like production crew. I hope there's some overlap between the production crew of that and the production crew of the Invincible show. Just because I feel like it seems like they have some actual nerds producing The Invincible Show, and it would be great if like they brought some actual nerds to the Conan show. Granted, those are two very different flavors of nerd. Yeah. But I also think like if you're enough of a geek, you'll just like want to do a good job. You know, like I think this is sort of like the failing of a lot of the Marvel shit that's coming out right now, is there's like there's no like sad geeky kids who got the crap beaten out of them in school directing the movies anymore. They've all started to make like Mr. Terrific movies for DC. Yeah. Because they got tired of their toys at Marvel. Um so hopefully hopefully the Conan the Barbarian show gets uh gets gets some nerds behind it. I'm sure Don Fru will be really hyped. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Uh I feel as if the real question though is if uh if they're gonna get the Primal animation crew on this.

SPEAKER_07 4:42

I was gonna say Primal would be like the best people to inherit the Conan the Barbarian.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

Because um Conan, Commandy, and I guess uh Primal are just kind of all three uh a a little father, son, Holy Spirit of themselves. You know?

SPEAKER_07 4:59

There is a Commandy short film. Have you seen this? I have not. Yeah, so there's I in my search for John Constantine Hellblazer animated films, uh I found there's a short Constantine House of Mystery film that comes in a bundle with like two other short films. I forget what the third one is, but the second one is just like a straight up command film. Um it's worth checking out. It's shocking to see the words commandy pop up on screen uh for a TV uh. It's not even a TV show, it's just like a short film. Um it's pretty awesome. What, like 20-30 minutes? Yeah, it's probably like 30 minutes or something. Yeah, it's I'll have to check that out. Yeah, plus it's like a fun, like weird the the the one that comes before it, which is the Constantine House of Mystery thing, is like this weird sadomasochistic nightmare movie in which Constantine is like chased around the house by evil spirits. It's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

It's fun. Yeah. I remember uh the last uh Constantine thing I watched was one of two things. It was uh Sandman and it was Justice League Dark animated.

SPEAKER_07 6:09

Yeah. I I watched the Justice League Dark animated. It was okay. It was fine. Is that the one where he fucks King Shark? In the movie? No.

SPEAKER_04 6:18

Or not in the movie, but like King Shark is like winks at him because like John bottomed for King Shark.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

No, not at I don't I think that part you probably wrote in your head.

SPEAKER_04 6:29

I think that's watching that scene like five minutes ago.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

No, we watched the scene and and it was literally a wink that they shared between each other. Nobody said anything about John Constantine being a bottom. That was all constructed in your mind palace.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

Anyway, on to other news.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Her mind dungeon. It also No, we're not talking about my mind dungeon. We're we're talking about new announcements. Side side note, I hope that the Conan animation goes the way of She-Raw and makes it insanely trans-lesbian. Work. A hundred percent.

SPEAKER_07 7:02

I would be really cool if they kind of like found some way, and this would be really hard, but if they found some way to like make the animation sort of Frazetta-esque, I think that would be really sick. It just seems like probably that's like almost impossible to do on any kind of budget. But I do just feel like Conan is like really at its best when it's like Frazetta or like maybe like Bernie Wrightson or something, but like And I feel like the Primal Team, like maybe could pull this off. But I kind of feel like it has to be beautiful. Or else Conan's just like really stupid. You know, it's like it fundamentally like the world has to be gorgeous. Yeah. Or else I'm just watching, like, Ooga Boogaman, you know. Like McLean could also.

SPEAKER_04 7:46

If you did like a other direction, you know what I mean. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:49

We already watched Ooga Boogaman with Primal. Which is an excellent, excellent series. It's very much. With an excellent, excellent Ooga Boogaman. Yeah, we gotta have Shin Ooga Boogaman. Shin Oga Boogaman. Do you think Ooga Boogman? The information of the work. Do you think they they announce this during Pride Month for a reason?

SPEAKER_04 8:10

Conan the Barb as well.

SPEAKER_03 8:12

On to the Barb. Conan the Fabulous.

SPEAKER_04 8:20

Yes! I like this. We should. Oh god. Yes, I'm choosing to believe. On to on to onto a couple of DC next level announcements. Um we got the new Titans one, which I forgot. Who it's like Higgins and somebody else, but the art looks good. We'll look that up in a second.

SPEAKER_06 8:39

I'm very excited for that one.

SPEAKER_04 8:41

Okay, hell yeah. I it looks interesting. Like, I'm I'm curious to check out like an actual like new roster.

SPEAKER_07 8:47

Um So the Teen Titans roster, I have it up here as Kyle Higgins and Danielle Di Nicolo. Nicolo. Awesome. Uh yeah, the art looks fun. It's very it looks very kind of like manga inspired, which I think is probably a really good thing. Um like manga inspired, but not in like a sad, pathetic way. In like a fun, playful, kind of fresh, new way. Um I don't I don't know anything about Daniela de Nucolo.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

I think they're a relatively newer, at least newer to DC stables. Um new blood. Good to see some new blood, something marvelous. Oh, they worked on court.

SPEAKER_07 9:30

Oh! Oh, they were the court artists. Yeah, they did court, um, they did DC vs. Vampires, um, they did some speed force stuff. Yeah, okay, that's why the art looks familiar, is because they did Court, which I think is actually a really good choice. Awesome. Yeah, I think that's sick.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Yeah, that's a great lineup. Yeah. Um, so we got that. We got Legion of Superheroes by Joshua Williamson and Hayden Sherman. Oh, this looks so good. It looks really good.

SPEAKER_07 9:58

So hyped.

SPEAKER_04 10:00

Like, I'm not usually a Legion reader, but I will be checking this out because it looks good as fuck. Like, it looks so pretty. Yeah, this looks great. And then uh You know we love Hayden Sherman here. Friend of the Pod, Hayden Sherman. I'm manifesting this. Um and then to Doom Patrol, which setting aside my disappointment that it is not Dennis Camp and Javier Rodriguez.

SPEAKER_01 10:23

Um Right, because what what did Dennis go into? We don't know. I don't think we know yet. It's either Shadow or Jonah Hash. The streets have been saying Batman.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

And then and briefly, I'm gonna be so fucking disappointed if like it's gonna be really excellent because it's Camp and Rodriguez are gonna do something cool with it.

SPEAKER_07 10:43

But like I would follow I wouldn't have. I think it would be really cool, yeah. I think that sounds awesome.

SPEAKER_04 10:49

I mean, like, I'm gonna love it regardless, because it's those two, but I just like we have so many Batman books. And I just would like to see them. I mean, that's true, but I would like to see them stretch their wings on like something just like not main stable, you know.

SPEAKER_07 11:05

But they already they just did that though with Absolute Martian. Yeah. I feel like maybe they want to read that one. But I feel like Shadow of the Bat could be really weird.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

It really depends on how much uh creative freedom they have.

SPEAKER_07 11:19

Yeah, like and I I think like they're gonna give Dennis and uh Javier as much freedom as they need. Like my guess is like I th I think if Dan Waters doesn't get Shadow of the Bat, at the very least, I think Waters proved to DC that you can do like a really weird, high concept, beautifully drawn and written Batman book and have people love it with Dark Patterns.

SPEAKER_05 11:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 11:44

Um like my preference would be Dan Waters doing Shadow of the Bat, just because like I finished Dark Patterns and I was like, it's done? It's over? How could you do this to me, Daniel? Um But I also feel like seeing Dennis on Batman, which we haven't seen before, would be so cool.

SPEAKER_04 12:07

It would be really cool, and I would really like it, and I'm sure it would be a masterpiece. Let's see, because it will. Because it will.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

I thought they hinted that it was gonna be something kinda new and different, though.

SPEAKER_04 12:19

Yeah, that seems to be the hint, but I'm all we've got is a You were saying it was gonna be something else. Well, okay, so there's three because it's either one of those two or it's some secret third thing that they haven't announced yet. Because that is technically possible.

SPEAKER_07 12:33

Dennis camp, Javier Rodriguez Swamp Thing.

SPEAKER_04 12:35

That's my that's my chief hope at this point. Since it's not Doom Patrol, seeing their swamp thing would be god tier. I would kill to see that. Um I think they would slay it. It would be so so excellent. I'm always an advocate for Metal Men.

SPEAKER_07 12:52

Oh, I would love the new Metal Men. I also think Dennis Camp and Javier on Challengers of the Unknown.

SPEAKER_04 12:58

Oh, that'd be gas as fuck. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I would be Challengers of the Unknown. Uh shout out to shout out to Challengers of the Unknown in uh in My Adventures with Superman last week.

SPEAKER_07 13:09

Oh, I need to s I I just saw that they restarted it. Uh I gotta watch that. I was re- I re-watched like a ton of it recently, and I was just like, God, it's nice to know that we still have good cartoon superheroes.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

And also, I think this wasn't talked in the announcements, but we got uh promo images for my adventure with Green Lantern recently. Oh, we did.

SPEAKER_07 13:33

I forgot about that. Yeah. I'm really excited for that. I like that they're clearly spearheading cartoons.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Uh from what I've been seeing, it seems like people are drawing parallels to Superman being drag uh Dragon Ball, and Green Lantern is going to be uh Sailor Moon. Oh, that's hype, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 13:52

And then you could have like Batman Naruto, like Hell yeah Batman's Berserk. I'm gonna I'm gonna throw it.

SPEAKER_01 14:00

Let me throw you a curveball.

SPEAKER_07 14:02

Okay. Constantine Yu Yu Hakashu. Oh, that would be awesome. Yu-Yu Hakasha.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

We got about that one. Um We could also do Wonder Twin's uh Rama Hack.

SPEAKER_07 14:17

I would also love a really good Flash or Wonder Woman show. Like, there hasn't been a Flash cartoon. Aquaman? Forever. Yeah, I would be into Aquaman. I do kind of feel like You're a tad limited, but You're very limited with like what you can do. Like, come on. It would be cool, yeah. I think Aquaman gets short shrift. I was I got made fun of a lot as a kid for loving Aquaman. So he has a special place in my heart.

SPEAKER_01 14:45

That's your bully's fault.

SPEAKER_03 14:47

Um There's a little foreshadowing on the bully's part, probably. You did wind up pretty gay.

SPEAKER_07 14:53

Uh, but I would love, especially because of the ignoring that, um, I can I've confirmed no allegations. Um I would love, because how good Ryan North's Flash is, I would love a really good, kind of goofy flash show. I would love that. Which I'm very excited to talk about the new flash issue. Show you. I'm also very excited to talk about that.

SPEAKER_04 15:15

But quickly, we'll say the Doom Patrol team is Darcy Van Polgeist, uh, who was the writer of Little Bird, and um Precious Metal, which is a very good writer for it. Um Nico Heinek Heinek Heinekron, I'm trying to remember his name. He was the artist for spectators in Pride of Baghdad. He's an excellent, he's a very excellent artist. I think the image of the main cover is very good. I am on the fence if I think he's a good Doom Patrol, he's a good fit for Doom Patrol. Um just because like some of the best Doom Patrol artists have been like either like very like angular artists like um Um like uh um Ted McKeever and um Richard Case, or they've been very like uh they've been like Nick Dragoda. Or not Nick Dragota, sorry, Nick Darrington. Um like who did the Gerard Way run. I think Heinekron could do a very good job. I think he's an excellent artist. I'm kind of unsold on him as like I think he's maybe a little too grounded, a little too like Earth Tone tends to be the predominant vibe with his art, and I think that's maybe one something a little bit more like colorful and popping, and something a little bit more hyper-exaggerated, but it could still be very good, and he's still a ridiculously good artist, so time will tell. And that is an excellent team. I think in in any other circumstance, that would just be like a knockout, massive W. And it is like it's still a very good team. Um moving on from them, we're just gonna cover two things very quickly.

SPEAKER_07 16:48

Um, let's get into our second to last piece of news. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Which is uh this one's gonna be a little bit brief, uh, because we're still getting it. But um, Daniel, uh Daniel Day's Rolando Sanchez Estrada was sentenced to 30 years in prison under terrorism charges for having anti-Trump comics in his car and happening to be in the same book club as people who were arrested and charged as part of a 2025 anti-ICE protest. Um this is um pretty bad and bleak news in general, and also pretty bad and bleak news for comics people. He was, like, regardless of what you would think about like being at this pro like the legality of being at this protest, which again is fully legal and you sh and you should be protesting this, he was also not there. He was in a book club with some of the people who were arrested, and he had some anti-Trump zines in his car, and that's why they arrested him. And they arrested him under terrorism charges, which carries a 30-year sentence. They have effectively, if we cannot get this man out of jail, destroyed his life for some comics that he had that criticized the administration.

SPEAKER_07 17:59

Yeah, I mean, I I also like I can't stress this enough. Like, there's it's so easy to have an anti-Trump comic around. Like our store zine for free comic book day had an anti-Trump cover on it.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

I've got four in my room at this current moment.

SPEAKER_07 18:18

Um I mean, what? Anti-Trump comics? We don't I wouldn't have those. Not us. Um my rights are being taken away. Yeah. It is very reminiscent, I think, of a lot of the kind of trials that comics have often been subjected to. Um, and not just comics, but literature in general, because I think literature is often kind of the most obviously political piece of art that someone can own, and it's also the most egalitarian piece of art. Um it's like hard to own like a giant anti-fascist, abstract expressionist painting.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

But it's really easy to own, like I was told years ago that art itself is political. Yeah. And I've been carrying that for a long, long time. And I've never once been proved wrong of it.

SPEAKER_07 19:11

Yeah, and I think I think comics are it's easy to malign comics. I think it's easy to like kind of point at comics as filth, uh, and it's something that's historically happened to the comics industry and the comics community many a time. Many times. Um, and it's worrying that that's being used as a weapon now. Yeah. Um but I really urge people to not let what they read or what they're interested in be dictated by fear, and instead continue to read uh the critical works that make comics what they are today.

SPEAKER_05 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 19:54

Um and again, like, there's a lot of anti-Trump comics being published by like big publishers. Like uh Marvel, DC, and Image are all publishing pretty objectively anti-Trump comics right now. Um, like Assorting Crisis Events, uh Absolute Martian Manhunter, and Ultimates are all pretty explicitly anti-Trump. Yeah. Um and obviously like the multi-billion dollar companies that own all of these publishers are not leftist companies. Um but it's worrying that you can be arrested for owning something that's as just kind of like widespread as even in the an international market, you have stuff like Baki.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And to kind of point or to like um expand on what what you said, it's like they can't possibly, even if they wanted to, go after everybody making or reading or distributing anti-Trump comics. That would be so incredibly hard. It'd be impossible. You couldn't do it. And so what they're doing is they're making an example who is making, distributing, reading anti-Trump comics. They're making an example out of one person to try to scare people. To try to scare people, yeah. And so to your and Tate's points, it's like don't stop reading what you're reading because they actually can't. Like, be aware that if you're like going to protests, be careful. Be careful, these things could be late.

SPEAKER_01 21:27

Turn off your phone, wear black, try not to be identified, wear a mask, wear sunglasses.

SPEAKER_04 21:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Uh even if you want to go even further, get a beanie, get a very good hat, throw that on.

SPEAKER_07 21:38

Cover up, yeah, any distinguishing marks. So, last article of business uh is what we're calling toilet gate. Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 21:46

We heard about this in the pre briefing.

SPEAKER_07 21:48

Yes, uh, toilet gate, um this is a serious matter.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Uh it wasn't me.

SPEAKER_07 21:54

And it wasn't Dave Pilke for once. Um that hasn't been proven.

SPEAKER_04 21:59

No, it is definitely. Wasn't a pilky. This is actual really bad stuff.

SPEAKER_07 22:03

Um, so this uh what happened recently is that um a fairly well-established um critic, historian, and curator of uh the Cartoon Arts Museum, um this Andrew Ferrago, um, who is like a major contributor to the comics journal, um, and various other publications, uh was discovered at a party filming people going to the bathroom, uh using a hidden iPhone in his bathroom during like a family party at his home. Um I think there was something like twenty videos of people. So someone dis like a woman was going to the bathroom, discovered his phone poorly hidden behind a towel, and then went through the videos, found a video of him setting it up, um, and then found about twenty videos of other people using the restroom on the phone. She's confronted him at the party. Which is good for her, that's and like read him the riot act, uh, and is now pressing charges. So Great. Yeah. That's that's what should happen. Yeah. Like he's he's definitely getting in trouble. He like admitted to doing it to um at the party, he admitted it, and then I think he admitted it later, uh, to the authorities. Um but he's currently under investigation. There's not much else to like say. I think this is another example of like an excellent job of small local independent reporting. It was broken by um oh god. Uh a Berkeley the Berkeley Scanner, um, which is a really great uh East Bay local paper. Um and the the kind of fate of the cartoon uh art museum, which is a San Francisco museum, is unknown.

SPEAKER_03 24:08

Um I've been there so many times. I've used the bathroom at that museum. I f I fear for myself.

SPEAKER_07 24:16

Um but yeah, pretty dark stuff. We don't really have updates, because I mean we're not covering it. We're not journalists in this capacity. Um but yeah, not not uh not great stuff, I would say. Um pretty dark behavior, um worrying to say the least, but very worrying. Uh glad that he was caught, glad that charges are being pressed. Um yeah, another another case of just like a really crappy gross man in comics doing the geek image shame. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

It's we I feel like it's important to mention that as much as we may idolize artists in some way or form, they are just people, and not all of them are gonna be good people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 25:16

Um but I think he only has one book out, and it was like a Minecraft book, and we don't have it in the store anymore, so uh Yeah. Okay Yeah, Minecraft, great.

SPEAKER_01 25:28

Didn't have a YouTube account by any chance. Let's hope not. Let's hope not.

SPEAKER_07 25:33

But uh Yeah, that's the story. I feel like I don't I don't really have much else to say.

SPEAKER_04 25:38

That's kinda it. Um so before we jump into singles, should we just talk about our s the updates to the stacks, the Tate stacks as we like to call it? Added anything to our piles recently?

SPEAKER_07 25:49

Um I decided I was gonna start Jojo's Steel Ball Run. Um, so I have the first two uh volumes of that waiting for me at home. I'm also currently reading Birds of Prey, like the current Birds of Prey run, the Kelly Thompson. Hell yeah. Um, which I'm really enjoying. I think that's really good. If you're a fan of the Sirens Love Hurts stuff, which we've talked a lot about on this podcast already, so I won't get into that. Um but if you're a fan of the kind of like sexy but still kind of like serious stuff, I think the Birds of Prey is like a good other book for you to be reading. It's not as horny, um, but it still has like a bit of like a a Yuri kind of thing going on. It's pretty gay. The women are kind of sexy but not like hyper sexualized. Um we love the hero. Yeah, and the stories are really great, and the art is beautiful. Um especially that first arc with Leonardo Romero on it, it's incredible. It's excellent.

SPEAKER_04 26:44

All the Barta Batgirl stuff is really excellent.

SPEAKER_07 26:47

Yeah, that's some of my favorite back and forth um, like buddy cop kind of vibe, um, is Big Barta and uh Cassandra Kane, Batgirl, uh just being badasses together. Um, and kind of cool to see Cassandra Kane and Big Barta both written with kind of their backstories and their traumas and their interiorities in mind. Um because they actually make a lot of sense as a pairing. Like they were both kind of brainwashed killers um who kind of found the light and decided to kind of work for good. Um so it's it's cool to see a writer who's like actually interested in like writing both of them. Um not a huge fan of the current uh Cassandra Kane Batgirl issues that are coming out right now. I don't think they do like as good of a job as um like earlier uh Cassandra Kane stuff did, and also not as good a job as Birds of Prey did. Um so yeah, definitely check that out.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Um I got to describe to one of my friends uh the the Bat fan at some point. And when I got to Cassandra, I uh I I don't remember exactly which run it was, but I described the moment where uh she witnessed a member of the Bat family shooting uh a goon and she just breaks down crying and she says, This isn't who we are, yeah, essentially. And it almost brought one of my friends to tears.

SPEAKER_07 28:19

Yeah, she deserves a lot so much attention, and rarely does she get the attention that she deserves.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

It's unfortunate. I I think there is quite the little problem of of the uh the women members of the bat family just getting pushed aside.

SPEAKER_07 28:37

Yeah, and I I mean hopefully hopefully this Barbara Gordon book that's coming out right now will do a little bit of uh damage to it. Breakout's pretty good. Because I'm enjoying Breakout. Yeah, Breakout's good. Um and then I'm liking that we're getting to see Cassandra Kane in something that's like not like Batman centered. Um because I mean it's this is and this is true of like all of the Robins too. It's just like if you're if you're a Bat Family character who's like not whose main like title is not selling as well as like your appearances in like Batman or Detective Comics, like you're just never you're always gonna be overshadowed by Batman.

SPEAKER_06 29:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:19

Like the only like Bat family character that is like broken free of Batman is Nightwing.

SPEAKER_06 29:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:24

And that's because Nightwing has like the beefcake yaoi scene.

SPEAKER_06 29:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:27

Um there's like twenty Bat family characters, and like you could do so much fun with them, and it's cool to see somebody just be like, what if we just like put them on a different team?

SPEAKER_05 29:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 29:40

You know, like it's just not that hard. And they're all interesting, because all of the ideas are there. It's just Batman is always gonna be like a pretty overshadowing figure.

SPEAKER_01 29:50

Um, I mean it's kind of hard when you're one of the top four comic book characters ever.

SPEAKER_07 29:57

Yeah. And also most writers are gonna wanna if you're writing a Batman title and Batman can be in your Batman title, you're you wanna write Batman.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Batman is a very uh a very easy way to bring people in.

SPEAKER_07 30:09

Yeah. I think this is this is one of my favorite parts of the Tinian um Batman Omnibus, is that's like one of the few Batman books that I like that's one of the few Batman ones that I've read uh that feels more like a Bat Family book than it does a Batman book. And it is just as much about the female characters in the Bat family as it is about the male characters in the Bat Family.

SPEAKER_05 30:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 30:37

Um in a way that I don't think I've seen like any other Batman run do, and it's really cool. Um and it made me like really wish there was more of that. Like I think Fraction is like pushing the Batman title into more of like a Bat Family realm, just because like he's making Batman a family guy.

SPEAKER_04 30:59

Mm-hmm. Yeah, crazy to see like spoiler and do things.

SPEAKER_01 31:04

Oh my god, I didn't The way that you and Roll and I all realize first happening was just like totally oblivious. I'm trying to be professional. This is my first time. I'm trying to make a good impression in front of the in-laws.

SPEAKER_03 31:23

Um violence in movies and sex on TV.

SPEAKER_04 31:27

But what about those good old family values?

SPEAKER_01 31:31

Family values on which we used to rely.

SPEAKER_04 31:35

Bruce is a family guy. Um we're actually gonna talk about that later, but we'll move on for now. So gonna USA.

SPEAKER_03 31:45

I hear that uh today is gonna be a beautiful day. Located in New Jersey.

SPEAKER_07 31:50

Um the other thing that I brought today was uh the Jewell some poison ivy. I'm finally gonna I've I've I think I've read like the first third of it because I was reading it in issues and it was coming out because I was working here when it started coming out, um and I loved it when I was reading it in issues and when I fell behind because I was out of town, so I would get them sent to me in big batches from here. And that's just like not a way to read a monthly book. Like you just like I would just be behind on everything. I'd be like, okay, like I'm eight issues behind every single series, so now nothing makes sense. Yeah, you miss one issue and then it's like it becomes a whole fucking thing. So I'm gonna try to just like fully read through that now. Um but I the big thing that I just finished was the Rachel Pollock Doom Patrol Omnibus, which was really excellent. Um I've got like a big feature coming out about that in the comics journal soon. Um You just read the big old omnibus. Yeah. Uh cracked open that omnibus-y, really got in there. Um The best Doom Patrol runs. It's it's the best Doom Patron. I it's it's better than Morrison's Doom Patrol. Um I think like everything that makes Morrison's Doom Patrol really good is stuff that Rachel Pollock does, but then like Rachel Pollock has feelings. Yeah. Um, which just makes any story better. Um because Morrison, I think I mean Morrison's Doom Patrol is amazing, but there's not a lot of like emotional storytelling going on. Yeah. It's a lot of Morrison just being like, Welcome to the strange and wacky world that is my bald brain. Um, and you're just kind of like along for the ride. And then Pollock is like, what if they talked to each other as people? And what if they felt sad and alone and in love and horny and dysphoric and all sorts of other things? Um, and it's really good. Uh the art's incredible. It's got the first, maybe the only long-running Doom Patrol female artist with Linda Medley.

SPEAKER_04 33:54

I think they're I think they're non-binary. I think they're they though. Are they? I think so. I think I think recent within the last like five five, ten years they came out as non-binary. Is this true? Which had GBT.

SPEAKER_06 34:08

No.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

I think, but I'm not 100 on that. I just like it.

SPEAKER_07 34:14

I think so. No. Walter, we know that Morrison is they them. We're talking about Linda Medley. I thought Linda Medley did. I'm seeing no evidence of this.

SPEAKER_04 34:29

Um, I could be wrong. I will look into this um later. I was really certain this was the case, but I'm I could just be wrong.

SPEAKER_07 34:43

I'm I'm seeing only references to her as she her. Um, up to like 2023 at her Wikipedia.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Rebecca Sugar? Oh, yeah, she was outed at or they were outed at sorry. They were outed at a um at a Comic-Con.

SPEAKER_03 35:03

Outed?

SPEAKER_01 35:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:04

Did we not know that they were gay?

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Uh they made Steven Universe. Apparently, it wasn't out yet.

SPEAKER_03 35:11

That's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

Okay, so yeah, Linda Medley and um Ted McKeever were the two main artists from that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:17

Um both excellent. Both excellent. I prefer Medley's work, but I think Ted McKeever does a really wonderful job. Um, but it's also got some of like the best like Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah stuff that I've seen in like almost maybe just like any book, period. It's like I mean it's it's a it's a work about Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah by a trans Jewish woman. So like there's gonna be some fun shit where she talks about like God as a non-binary trans person and like the sort of uh uh gender non-binaryism and uh gender fluidity of just kind of like m most mystical practices in general. Um and it's kind of like a fresh I I I'm gonna I this will be in my future, but it's kind of a fresh it's refreshing to see something from that kind of like 90s vertigo era that's like mystical but actually grounded in real mystical practices. Yeah. Like if you read Sandman or something, like Gaiman's just kinda like dicking around. Yeah. Like he's just like, oh, mystical Africa or something like that. And like And even our beloved Delano is doing that too. Yeah, like granted, Delano's like mostly making up shit about like his people, but like it's not it's not actually like real mystical practices. And I I don't think that he's he's not making most of them are not making claims to realism. Yeah. Um but it's cool to see someone who's like actually like because Pollock is like maybe one of the greatest tarot scholars of our time. Yeah. Um so it's cool to see someone who's like actually just like more knowledgeable than almost anyone in the world about a subject, actually writing about a subject. Um You're telling me comics aren't real.

SPEAKER_03 37:09

I mean, they're windows into different dimensions. Yeah. The 616.

SPEAKER_07 37:14

Someone's been drinking the the Grant Morrison dimension juice. Oh no. Grant Morrison dimension gender fluid.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

We're gonna have to talk about Final Crisis. Which we will not do.

SPEAKER_07 37:25

Final Crisis.

SPEAKER_04 37:26

I'm a I'm a final crisis. Yeah, actually, no. I don't know if I'm actually a Final Crisis Defender. I'd have to reread it. I probably am not. Um, but yeah, no, that run is excellent. I think it has some of the like some of the best like trans character writing in like a monthly comic that I've ever read. Like, I don't think there's been as good of like a trans character in a monthly comic between Rachel Pollock's Doom Patrol and like Nice House by the Lake. Like, I think the gulf is that wide for like a transmonthly. Obviously, trans graphic novels, that's not true, but like for transmonthlies, like it's not even close. Like, the stuff that Rachel Pollock is able to do, like, a lot of gay stuff just kind of feels like cloying, or it feels like it's like performative, or it feels like it's like trying to get straight people to like be like, we're humans too. And it's like Rachel Pollock is just like not interested in like explaining stuff at a first grade level to grown adults.

SPEAKER_06 38:18

Like that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 38:19

It's beautiful, yeah. Like the the relationship that she has with robot man are is like extremely complicated and like messy and beautiful. Like, there's um I I forget how to pronounce it, but it's like the Teresius Wars, which is like the biggest arc in that book. Terese Wars. Terese Wars. I won't talk too much about it, but she like the stuff that she does in that arc is like some of my favorite Vertigo stuff, period. Um the I won't say what too much else, but the um that bit where like, and all the dead were once my lovers, that's the tattoo I I want.

SPEAKER_07 38:52

Oh yeah. But yeah, that's a that's just like a really gorgeous comic.

SPEAKER_04 38:56

Um coming up with a paperback, collecting it for like 40 bucks instead of the 125 omnibus.

SPEAKER_07 39:03

Is it DC's finest? There's no way it's the whole thing, though. No, it is the whole thing. It's a DC's finest.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

It's gonna be the whole thing. I check I checked.

SPEAKER_03 39:11

It's very thick.

SPEAKER_04 39:12

It's gonna be thick, yeah. I think they're just not including the because it's her run's only 23 issues. It's not actually that long.

SPEAKER_07 39:19

Her the whole omnibus is her run, except for like one chapter in the back, though. That's like really long for a DC's finest.

SPEAKER_04 39:26

Yeah, but I think they actually I think they aren't doing it. I I think it said it was her complete thing. Um, if it's not, I'm gonna be bummed, but I think it is actually the complete um That would be kind of crazy.

SPEAKER_07 39:38

Yeah, it would be awesome. It would also be kind of insane.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

I wonder if they're gonna do like a paper thing too, because sometimes even just having a different paper quality can like shrink the book size dramatically, and so I wonder if that's what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_07 39:50

Yeah, I wonder if they'll do like non-glossed or something, but I will be picking that up too, just because it'll be easier to carry around. I'm tired of carrying around this giant omnibus everywhere I go. Um I love finishing an omnibus just because then I don't have to carry it.

SPEAKER_01 40:05

I have a date on on Friday. Yes! Woo! And we're going to the park to to read. Yes. And I'm taking my my Animal Man omnibus with me. That's so cute. And I am uh I'm frantically searching around for my book tote bag. I cannot find it.

SPEAKER_03 40:28

Are you bringing Animal Man because that's what you're currently reading, or are you bringing it to impress the date? Can it be both? Ooh! I suppose, but that's your pick for impressing a date.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

To be fair, she doesn't know anything about comics, so.

SPEAKER_04 40:46

Also, if a date rolled up with an Animal Man omnibus, I'd be impressed. What book would you bring? Well, what book would I bring? It would depend on the book depend on the date.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Me. You? Just like hypothetically, if you were to date, let's say me.

SPEAKER_07 40:58

Walter says Animal Man do fuck inner species.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

That's true.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

That is true. My bring-up is your date human? I w hope so. Maybe maybe they're a furry. She has she's a furry! It's entirely possible. Did she go to furry? No. Happy Pride? I don't think so. What website did you meet on? I actually I met her at a I met her at an art exhibit. Whoa.

SPEAKER_07 41:29

Game, Sam. Yeah. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

Happy Pride. Happy Pride. I may not be queer, but I'm still here. I'm here to help. There's still time. Are you not queer? No. It's 2026.

SPEAKER_04 41:43

The way that you like looked out into the distance, like what does this ask for?

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Uh it's to make people be less afraid of me.

SPEAKER_07 41:52

There's just no way you're not queer, Sam.

SPEAKER_01 41:55

I'm queering you. This is such a big compliment. Thank you. I'm actively queering you. I'm gonna show this bit to my own. Every person gets one. Everybody gets one.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

Yeah. We're just gonna like Professor X you. Yeah. Just flip the switch a little bit. I personally prefer this one.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

Oh, okay. Yeah. I prefer the hands out to Oh sorry, hold on. Yeah. Have you ever watched Steven Universe? I think you know the answer to that.

SPEAKER_04 42:27

Not beating the allegations.

SPEAKER_01 42:30

Which um to go non-comic for a tad second, does has anyone here heard that about Lars of the Stars show? No. No. Okay, I was hoping that well, apparently. Wait, Lars from Steven Universe? Oh wait, no, I did hear about this. Sorry, I did, yeah. Do we know if that's happening? No. Don't know. No idea. Probably we'll watch it. It got a trailer, I think, and that's about the last I've heard. I didn't see a trailer. I just heard that it's going to be a prime exclusive, and it would it would be uh more similar to Rebecca Sugar's uh original intentions of Steven Universe.

SPEAKER_04 43:11

Okay, that that's hype is that's hype is photo. Um we'll be we'll be checking that out just to just even out of curiosity. Um yeah, okay, sorry to move us a little forward with the stacks. Um I'm not gonna talk a ton about it because I'll probably talk more about it when we Oh yeah, this is the other thing on my pile.

SPEAKER_07 43:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:31

The uh Rom V uh Mike Perkins Swamp thing. Um I won't touch on it too much, other than to say it's kind of interesting reading an earlier Rom V work. It's relatively early in Rom's career, or at least like them being like a bigger name. Um I think it's maybe a little bit clunkier and clumsier at times than I would have expected, just because it is it is earlier. I say that with the caveat that it's still very, very good. I'm enjoying, I'm enjoying it a lot. Um, but it's also cool to see like a Writer, like in the in a developing stage. Like, this does feel like a very develop developmentary work, um, in a lot of ways. Um, it really you can like kind of in real time like find see them finding their voice, his voice on the title. Um it's a really cool little book. I'm enjoying it. Um they they just dropped the uh D another DC's finest fourth world. I put that on my stack, we'll get around to that. Yeah, I have that at home. Very excited. Um, and this isn't on my stack so much, or actually no, sorry. One thing that was on my stack is I finished um Charity and Sylvia Annihilated Me. That's all I'll say about it. I was lovely something.

SPEAKER_07 44:38

Book's a m um an amazing contribution to independent comics. I'm excited to finish it. It had to go on the back burner, sadly, as I was cranking through Nancy's uh Doom Patrol. Um, but I'm very excited to talk to you about it once it's done. Very excited to write this review for the comics journal once I finish. Um This is one of those books that is so good that it makes it hard to write a review of it because I'm paralyzed by the need to do like an amazing job. Yeah. Um so I'm like I'm I'm really trying to kind of lock in and and do right by this book. It's honestly just an amazing piece of like queer archival scholarship on uh Tilly Walden's part, uh just because it it's a true story. Um these were two real women, and we talked about this with Acacia a while ago. Yeah. But yeah, bravo. This is like the best thing I've read from her. This might be my my top pick for like best indie comic I've read this year so far.

SPEAKER_04 45:41

It's very high opener for me as well.

SPEAKER_07 45:43

It's excellent.

SPEAKER_04 45:44

Um Yeah, like I knew Tilly Walden had hands, but she just like beat the shit out of me in the village square. Like, I open palm or close palm. Oh, oh, both.

SPEAKER_07 45:56

Was throwing mini palm, close palm, backhand, rings on.

SPEAKER_04 45:59

Yeah, like doing like ninja turtle shit on me at some point. Steel boots once you hit the ground. Like, I'm not kidding when I said ugly crying. Like it like it it yeah, it's very touching and it's very beautiful, and she does so much. Uh yeah, it's an incredible work of fiction. Do we have copies in the store? We are out. Um Do Tilly sells.

SPEAKER_01 46:21

It just goes to show how popular. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 46:23

Yeah. Yeah, Tilly doesn't Tilly Tilly's one of the few like like truly like indie indie graphic novelists, I feel like, where something drops of hers and her fans go crazy. Yeah. Like Michael DeForge has fans, but Michael DeForge doesn't have fans the way Tilly Walton has fans. Yeah. You know, like Michael DeForge's fans are kind of uh slow and sleepy. Except for me. Timberwolves drops my book or rabid. You know. Did you ever read Clementine? Yeah, I I'm like I think I'm like a book and a half into Clementine. Oh really? How's that? Have you read it? No. It's really good. I'm just not into The Walking Dead whatsoever. So the thing is it's like not really So the thing is it's not really a Walking Dead book. I really love The Walking Dead comics, but they're very much their own thing. And Clementine, because it's it's like two degrees of removal from the Walking Dead comic because it's the comic of a video game adaptation of a character who's not from the original Walking Dead comics, and so it feels very much like totally its own thing.

SPEAKER_03 47:34

How did she end up making a comic book of this character? I don't know.

SPEAKER_07 47:38

But she does an amazing job.

SPEAKER_03 47:41

It's such a niche character of so dark.

SPEAKER_07 47:45

Really? It's as dark as like the normal Walking Dead comics, if not darker, because she's like alone the whole time. The Walking Dead comics are really dark, and like anyone can die at any time, and like but like it's an ensemble cast, so like there are moments of real joy. And there are like some moments of like I guess joy, like peace, maybe in Clementine, but it's like she's like a teenage girl alone in the zombie apocalypse. Like it's like it's pretty dark shit.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

And the and the games canon is fucking bleak with with her. Like those those first two games are like some of the bleakest stuff in The Walking Dead. Like of of the like 75 or so issues that I read, plus those two games, like it's some of the darkest stuff in The Walking Dead.

unknown 48:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 48:33

I would definitely say if you're like not a Walking Dead fan, but you like Tilly Walden, or you like kind of I would almost say it's a horror book. It's like a it's like a quiet horror book. Yeah. Um if you like Tilly Walden, though, like this is her maybe at her second best. It's Oh, okay. It's really good, I think. That's one of the only Tilly Waldens I haven't read yet. I think Tilly Walden has like a darkness in her, and Clint Time lets it come out in a way that like her other books that are a little more like not necessarily twee, because that has like a weird connotation, but like kind of pretty. Yeah, there's a don't let her let it let her shine through.

SPEAKER_03 49:14

Is it gay? Because Tilly Walden's pretty unavoidably gay.

SPEAKER_07 49:20

Um, I think it would be you'd be hard pressed to make an argument that it's a straight book, but because she's mostly alone. I also could be misremembering, but I think it's probably a gayer book than it is a straight book.

SPEAKER_05 49:34

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_07 49:35

Okay, good.

SPEAKER_05 49:35

It's like gay in spirit.

SPEAKER_04 49:37

Like like spiritually gay. Um speaking of spiritually and literally gay books, this is not on my stack because I reread it two or three years ago. Um, but they recently put out a compendium edition of Matt Fraction, Gabriel Bond, Fabio Moon's uh Casanova, the initial trilogy. Oh, I'm so excited to read that. This shit is unbelievably gas. Like when I say that this this book is as responsible for making me trans as this cracked her egg. As Morrison's The Invisibles. No, like legitimately is her root. This actually I was yeah, this actually is my root in some ways. Oh, then I can't read it. I don't want to be turned trans.

SPEAKER_03 50:16

Yeah, I don't want it to awaken something with that game.

SPEAKER_04 50:20

Give it to Sam. The basic premise of this.

SPEAKER_01 50:22

I must read all literature, no matter the costs.

SPEAKER_04 50:26

This is um, this is like an acid jazz rendition of like James Bond filtered through uh Starenko's um shield and like Jack Kirby's kind of work as well. Um Love a little Kirbyism.

SPEAKER_01 50:40

There's a lot of Kirbyism great music genre.

SPEAKER_04 50:42

Yeah, there's a lot of acid jazz in here. There's a lot of there's a lot of sex in here in general, and also including a lot of gay sex. Um there's a lot of stuff in here of like naked men with their like dongs flopping in the wind, like fighting each other each other psychic style. Um and that's pretty early in, but the concept for this book is that like in Casanova Quinn's universe, he is the son of effectively Nick Fury for this like Shield-esque organization. He's the bad boy, his like uh twin sister Zephyr's the good girl who like works with the the organization. He's like the the gentleman thief who's like fucking all the time and he's like little little little skeezy doing bad guy shit. He gets pulled out of his universe by a character named Newman Zeno, who's a bandaged man wearing sunglasses, the head of waste, which is an acronym who which changes every single time they ask what it means. And he says, Okay, so you're in a different universe. I killed the version of you from this one, where he's the good guy in the organization. Nobody else knows that the good guy's dead. So I'm slotting you in to pretend to be yourself from another universe in this organization, and it just kind of goes from there. We get like trans Modoc, we get like unionizing sex robots. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's the Modoc who becomes trans. Yeah, that's basically Modoc. Perfect. Um, yeah, there it's very, very like it's also very, very personal book for Matt Fraction. Um like I'm sad this doesn't have the letters columns, but there's some like really fun letters column stuff. The initial print of this book was part of icons. Um I think Warren Ellis and Ben Temple Smith's Fell was also part of this, where they were going to print 16-page issues with only one color tone to bring Comic Santo a $199 price point. It was like a little experiment in the in like 2008. Um it has since been recolored um by Chris Peter, who did the initials, but every volume of this series is done with like a different color palette focus. Um and so like the first volume still kept a lot of its like greens and yellows kind of focus, and then yeah, the second one is like blue and and and pink.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

I'm speed reading it right now. Hell yeah. But uh the colors are just uh beautiful. Almost in a sense, I I get almost a uh Magnola uh Hellboy theme once in a while, especially when you uh compare some of the uh black and yellows.

SPEAKER_04 53:25

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and Gabriel Baugh, it's the art is done by two different brothers, and so volume one and three, which are collected in here, are done by Gabriel Baugh, most notable for um doing some of the Hellboy in Mexico wrestling stories and doing uh Wait, really? Yeah, yeah. And Umbrella Academy. I was gonna say girl most notable for Umbrella Academy. On purpose. Not on purpose. Oh my god. And then Fabio Moon did the art on the second one, and then the the fourth one, which is not collected here. Um this is just some of like the weirdest, most fun image has ever been. I would go on a wire to say that this is some of the best image books out there. It's a book that Matt Fraction has been writing for a billion years, and we're still waiting for it to be finished because it was envisioned as like a seven-volume epic where each volume is like named after a different seven Deadly Sin. And we got up to four.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

Oh, that would have been so cool.

SPEAKER_04 54:26

Yeah, and then 2015 we got uh we got the the uh the fourth volume and then 567 has not been released or announced yet. Um it's a it's a crazy book.

SPEAKER_01 54:35

I'm sure it'll actually be released.

SPEAKER_04 54:37

There's like multiversal incest kink. There's like giant like robots and kaiju. I'm really excited to read it.

SPEAKER_01 54:43

It's so wait. I love multiversal incest kink. I just recently watched uh watched Zathhura for my nightly movie, and I had to remove a half star off of Letterboxd uh for the uh for the unnecessary incest subplot. Unnecessary? Yes.

SPEAKER_04 55:05

Well see, this is the this is the necessary consenting adult version of that versus the like random kids in the 2006.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

Like why do I have uh Kristen Stewart uh going a little gaga for an older version of her brother? That's weird and also not necessary to the story. Yeah, we're going to throw it in my face, at least make it necessary and tell me why it's wrong.

SPEAKER_04 55:30

Oh, and this is this is extremely necessary for beautiful, hot, weird reasons. Um but yeah, this book this book has been coming out a long, long time. The first volume came out when I was like a like early teenager, maybe even middle school, and I saw Warren Ellis' name on the back and Gabriel Baugh like praising it, and Gabriel Baugh's art on it, and I was like, oh, I'll check this out, and I just fell in love with it. I don't know anyone else who's read this thing. I read the first book on your suggestion. Oh, you did? I forgot you did, I forgot you did. Yeah. Hell yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:06

It was extremely confusing and weird. It is an extremely confusing and weird.

SPEAKER_07 56:10

Your first book's extremely confusing and weird.

SPEAKER_03 56:12

I couldn't follow it. In my comic? No. I didn't know what was happening. Yeah, that's a selling point for me. Of course. I gave up on it, I'll be honest.

SPEAKER_04 56:22

That's you know what? That's fair. It's it it is quite a lot at times. It was cool. But yeah, this is yeah, extremely beautiful, extremely fun. Um, I wish I had talked about it a little bit more concisely, but it's kind of a hard comic to be concise about. Um there's a $40 paperback compendium capturing the first trilogy, and you could just read this on its own and it would just be fine. Like, if if you didn't read that fourth one, that'd be okay. You should, because it's good, but this is a complete trilogy story in of itself. I love this fucking thing. Um and it's cool to see Matt Fraction develop as a as an artist, as a writer, too.

SPEAKER_07 57:02

Um, let's talk about some new issues. Um I only read a couple things this week. It was kind of a sparse new comic book day. Um I'm gonna say Gotham Academy issue five. Very excited that um they're gonna be finishing this story because it's one of my favorite little gems that DC's putting out. Really enjoying it.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

Uh Gotham Academy, that's with uh maps, right? Or am I thinking of a different Gotham Academy? I think that might be a different Gotham Academy. There we go.

SPEAKER_07 57:32

Um But I think there so there was a there was a there was like a standard Gotham Academy Um that was a Becca Clunen book, and then this is like a different also Clunen-led Gotham Academy. It's more recent.

SPEAKER_06 57:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 57:47

Um But this is great. Um very underrated in my opinion. Um I was really sad and pissed that they announced that they were putting it on hiatus slash canceling it, and issue five, they they stopped it at issue four, and then it was unclear that they were gonna finish the story at all. It was a little bit like the Runaways reboot. What is this Marvel Comics? This is DC. Oh, oh. I'm so dumb. No, it's fine. Um but yeah, it is it's Marvel pilled as fuck. Um Except they brought it back, which I'm really thankful for uh because the story writing is really good. It's like some of the best, like, scarecrow stuff I've seen in a while. Like, Scarecrow's actually spooky. Hell yeah. He shows up in this book and you get like a little feeling in your tongue. Um That's my boy.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Um well I mean it's Gotham Academy, so I assume it's in like a high school situation.

SPEAKER_07 58:47

Yeah, it's like a high school situation, but they're in like a very like gothic school.

SPEAKER_01 58:52

Thus Gotham. Yeah. But that makes sense for Scarecrow, because Scarecrow inherently works off of off of fear, both in a power and a character sense. No, it's crazy. And so praying uh praying to praying against teenagers is uh a perfect way to um put a little more life into the character.

SPEAKER_07 59:12

Yeah, it's really good. I I would definitely recommend reading it. I when it's collected, if it's collected, hopefully it's collected. Definitely read it. The art's great too.

SPEAKER_01 59:21

It should be collected. I feel like if you're going to put something out on the monthlies, it should be collected in some form or way. Because even i i just purely step back, even from a business perspective, you're not losing anything from not putting it out on the physical.

SPEAKER_04 59:39

Oh, Walter just texted Scarecrow is killing the children. Yeah. That's that's it, yeah.

SPEAKER_07 59:45

There's a it's less Scarecrow is killing the children in Gotham Academy, and it's more Scarecrow is using the children. I see. Which is perhaps more terrifying.

SPEAKER_01 59:54

I will say very briefly, there is a threat some of that serial killer horror movie energy into it.

SPEAKER_07 1:00:00

Yeah, he's got like it's a bit of like a Hannibal thing. Hell yeah. There's a lot of interesting stuff, and the art is excellent too. You'd assume more Freddy Krueger, but Hannibal is also.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:12

Yeah, it's more Hannibal. Hannibal is something I feel that would fit it.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:17

If uh if readers could help me find this at some point, there is an unofficial Scarecrow comic about that's I think done by the and then Emily Was Gone creators about Scarecrow hiding under a little girl's bed. And he like sneaks into a room and he just like hides under the bed, and his entire thing is like he's hiding in such a way that like no one ever believes her. He's like hiding inside of the walls and then under the bed. And it's like the scariest like Batman thing I've ever read. That's so perfect. Like it's so fucking scary. His whole thing is just like, I'm not gonna like harm you like physically, like, I'm just I'm just gonna fuck with you. I'm just going to completely destroy your sense of safety.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:53

Wasn't there an Elseworld comic that said something along the lines of like every couple of weeks or days or months or so, a yellow lantern ring uh comes towards uh Arkham Asylum and we have to literally s uh sedate uh Scarecrow in order to make sure it leaves. That's so funny. I don't know if that was the if that's canon or not, because I feel if he's he's been a yellow lantern a couple times, yeah. Yeah, I feel I feel if if that was canon at this point uh he would have kept the lantern ring.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:28

Oh yeah. He would be like the most powerful yellow lantern.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:32

By the terms of the yellow lanterns, yeah. Um like yellow, like Scarecrow the Sinestro would go so hard. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:40

I I would love to see uh a lantern a lantern arc of Scarecrow taking over the Sinestro core. Wait, that would be so cool. Call it the Scarecrow Core.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:48

Yeah, the Sinestro. No.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

I like the Sinescros. I like that. That's that's a great one. I like you're like, I have to turn it into a pun.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:58

I I am I think I am duty bound to turn it into a pun.

SPEAKER_07 1:02:05

Um, okay, the last comic I want to talk about is The Flash, issue 34. Um I've been on record saying I love the new Ryan North Flash. And honestly, like this is such a good continuation of it. The conclusion of um the like death TikTok app run like story arc was really fun and good. Um and this one's like no no worse. It's got like I mean it's got some like really h like actually just like funny stuff in it. Oh, yeah. Um, like there's like this bit where Flash keeps having to go back to like the Central City Library to study how to fight Gorilla Broad. And like the books he's reading are like the weaker points of the larger primates, how to fight a gorilla. From bonobo to Bodj to Bonobo, I'm pretty sure I could fight a gorilla, and here's how I do it. And fighting techniques against unreasonably large opponents. Um and so there's just like some really funny like The butterfly bit's great. Oh, yeah, there's a really good butterfly bit where he like goes back in time, steps on a butterfly, and then it's like Jurassic Park in the real world. Um, but there's also some like genuinely out there layout stuff going on here.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

Like, there's this page of like I've been I've been seeing some of the layouts. It's honestly spectacular.

SPEAKER_07 1:03:28

Yeah, he's doing a lot of like choose your own adventure stuff here. Um but what's fun about the choose your own adventure that he's doing, and I think what's most impressive about it is that somehow he makes it so that it doesn't matter what adventure you choose because the like the time travel is so silver agey and goofy um that it's like impossible not to get lost. But it doesn't feel frustrating or badly done, it's actually just like fun. Yeah. Um but it's just a great time. I don't like it's it's kind of just like North doing what North does best, which is doing like the fun science hero thing. Um and it's got some great Mr. Terrific stuff in it. Um, where like Mr. Terrific and Flash are trying to figure out some of his new powers. Um it's got fun, like fake superhero science stuff. Um, where Mr. Terrific spout and The Flash spout some like random science mumbo jumbo that explains like his new power and stuff. It's just a good time. It's a good time. The art is awesome. I love the Gidry stuff. Um I don't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:40

I I never expected Ryan North's Flash to be a book that I or no, sorry, I never expected The Flash to at all to be a book that I was like extremely excited about every week that it comes in. But I am now. Just like it comes in and I'm like, oh my god, the flash is here. Fuck yeah. Because it's great. It's an exceptional book. I'm loving it, it's so much fun. Like this is kind of like this is kind of just peak for what this is doing. Like this kind of like fun, like silver age science hero book, this is exactly what I want. Like, and um, and just kind of like a small note on this and Fractions Batman that I just kind of want to talk about as like kind of a side tangent. Um Are people here familiar with like the concept of the datification of games?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:24

No. Is that the one where the uh the memory usage is too big, or is that the one where the uh where it takes too much data to run a game?

SPEAKER_04 1:05:36

No, no, no, no. So like dad, like like data. That's what I heard as well. I think I think we're having like a reverse datification of comics, parentheses affectionate, because in datification of games, what happened is a bunch of men who had been developers on games for 10, 20, 30 years were starting to become fathers, and they were not very good at it, and they were like felt really bad about it and so they would make these games like the New God of War trilogy and The Last of Us, where like being a father was reflective of like the sins that they bared. Like so they would be like these games about fatherhood, but they would be these games about like how sad the dad is and how mu how hard it is to be a dad because of how much like their kid became their kid and the burden of being a father. The burden of being a father and like the burden of their sins. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:26

Like is it like the is this a simplified version of like the Facebook mom um like comic images?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:37

Maybe I'm not sure I underst I I know what you mean.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:39

Uh it's like you know you you get your mom mad and then she sends you a uh a Facebook image of like hey being a mother is so so hard. Not that being a mom isn't hard. Shout out queens um but it's like being a mom is so hard something like that, you know? Yeah so I'm still I'm not sure I think it's a similar vibe yeah similar vibe similar vibe yeah okay I'm so glad I wasn't just talking on my ass.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:04

No you're not not at all no great I know stuff. You know many things. Unfortunately I'm burdened I guess I guess yeah let me let me rephrase it slightly okay for games fatherhood is the scale upon which all a man's sins are weighed but for this kind of batch that we're getting with DC right now with the fla with Ryan What's the Flash and Matt Fractions Batman like being a dad is like awesome. Like it's it's it's can be challenging it can be difficult but it is also a process of like learning with your kids. There's like a real engagement with like fatherhood in some of these DC comics recently of like as just like a good thing and like kind of a kind of like a beautiful like mutually like growing like a relationship in which you like mutually grow together. Yeah and I think that's such an interesting contrast from like the datification of big games became something that like I mean those two that I mentioned earlier were like the biggest examples of it but it's something that's that had been like was so big that so many games were becoming about like weighing a dad's sins through their children. Whereas through DC now we're seeing like these these like men who are like fathers themselves like reflecting that in their work but in a way that's like actually really sweet and touching and like I think really like cool and it's nice to see.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:25

Yeah that's that's super cool. Yeah I'd like to add on to that just a tad to a lesser extent. And almost I I think Ultimate Spider-Man is excellent specifically as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:40

Yeah no you're trying that's a perfect example yeah like Ultimate Spider-Man as well and like it's it's we're you kind of don't usually think of like I don't know I wouldn't have expected like comic books to be the thing that kind of flipped the script on like the datification of games culturally um but it did.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:59

Maybe it goes into a little bit of the pricing of it because to an extent comics are still affordable compared to a lot of other media. Yeah and when you have to drop sixty seventy eighty bucks on a game primarily who you are focusing in on are the um are the employed people which I hate those guys get out of here I hate the employed employees despicable I would never be employed moving on from the flash um I'll be quick about some of these um I read ultimate endgame even Dennis Camp can't save this there were some cool ideas that I think happened but they were badly explained and things that should have been emotionally impactful mostly weren't um it was kind of a huge bummer actually like there were moments in here that worked if I'm reading it correctly but honestly camp in a rare L like kind of doesn't really do a good job explaining certain things to the point that I'm not actually sure what happened entirely.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:28

Like there's there's little like huge like significant mechanical moments of how they beat the maker that I'm like actually not entirely clear on and I have guesses but I'm not the art's just flat like it just kind of ends there's no consequences or stakes after a certain point.

SPEAKER_07 1:10:47

I feel like he's probably kind of spread too thin honestly like he just has too many things going on my god yeah and he has things that he's like putting a lot of effort and weight into and it just feels like this is just kind of like well they're they're already like like they they're giving me nothing like Marvel's giving me nothing so like I'm just gonna finish this off and just go like I have books that are like that I'm that I'm gonna give give back to in a way that like Marvel's not giving back to me.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:18

The curse of success. The curse of success like I've said everything that I wanted to say on ultimates and like I don't know that's just my best guess I didn't like it. I'm sad that it ended this way.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:28

It's unfortunate yeah they it did kind of peak in high school yeah and yeah same ultimate universe they're like the ultimate universe will return.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:38

What does that mean? I don't know um stop threatening me yeah and certainly not ultimate universe reborn which looks like garbage um on to better books I won't say anything about it but Swamp Thing 89 continues to be great. I love it. My boy Swampy T. Um it's been quite bereaved these months yeah seeing seeing a fun little shining night bit in the last issue oh seeing a seeing a fun little shining night seeing uh the spectre having like a gay threesome also great excuse me yeah yeah the spectre has a gay threesome yeah and swamp thing 89 number two yeah the hand of dog's wrath who's the other two John Constantine and a sex maker they're using and they're doing sex magic to exercise they're doing gay sex magic? Yes all sex magic is gay yeah truly false that's anyway we have all been psychically damaged by straight sex magic I do believe that is a fair point for one I was born oof well okay that is magical yeah because you're here I didn't ask to be born Persephone well I'm grateful you were um the one thing I'll say is there's there's an there's a bit in this issue where just like Swamp Thing gets like like reincarnated through time as like like a tree on the side of a cliff like overwatching like some of the first humans in the bear tribe which is like DC is like poetic like first people thing. And it's just like there's like multiple pages just devoted to him being like watching the life cycle of these trees around him and like describing like the passage of time through his brother and sister relationships through other trees and it's so great. It's like everything that I love about Swamp Thing. That's all I have to say about that. Um Absolute Wonder Woman continues to be really great. It's kind of doing a similar thing to Absolute Batman right now where like because of some personal tragedies like both characters are like darkening and experiencing this kind of like despair and hopelessness. And while I think both approaches do work for their characters I'm maybe a little bit more moved by what Absolute Wonder Woman is doing because guest artist Dylan Snook does a tremendous job of like illustrating like a tremendous weariness on her face. Like I you can really feel the impact in a way that like as much as I think Absolute Batman's cool at all a lot of what it is is he's like I'm mad so I'm doing cool guy mad stuff where like I'm taking out my my anger at myself on other people and I punch and I kick and I and I don't feel anything outright whereas like Absolute Wonder Woman is like roaming around hell just like just despondent and it really you can feel it in a way that I feel like a lot of the kind of emotional impact is lost in Batman just by virtue of like how Absolute Batman operates. That's kind of all I'll say about it. Um image book in your skin continues to be one of the best things Image is putting out and in fact one of the only good things Image is putting out the body horror continues to only get more revolting um from here and this leaves me with some questions about how certain mechanics of the the the magic in here work in a way that's exciting. I feel like there were certain things I assumed that are just not true and or maybe not true and I'm really excited to see where that resolves. Continue to love this book.

SPEAKER_07 1:15:13

Similarly they just put out this book called The Eye Collector through image Oh I'm so excited to read the Eye Collector I'm hyped. It's awesome. It looks so insane it's really deeply insane.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:24

I've heard people are pretty hyped about it. It's good it's good. It's like it's just It's got some crazy good cover. That's a crazy good cover right there.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:33

Yeah it's a crazy good cover. I love that all of the variants are just done by the oh okay so it's written by Jonathan Ball and the art is done by uh GMB Chomichuk. Chomachuk just did the other three variants to the book. Like they're all Chomichuk covers which I think is fun. Like if you're gonna do other variants like just do weird insane shit for your variants instead of another like absolute Batman homage because if I see another absolute Batman homage I'm betting your comic book. I don't want to see it. I'm tired of seeing the same five like like oh you like you know what the Akira bike is good for you.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:08

We all do we grow up but I guess comic book fans are now experiencing what Akira fans experience with with the poster homages.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:19

See a comic book yeah that's exactly what it is and also comic book fans like all are like like a significant amount of like major art forms at this point are stuck in a cycle of nostalgia because we like as a broader monoculture have a hard time envisioning that there is a future so we're like endlessly regurgitating the past like because like what else is what else do we have? We can't imagine a new future with new things happening we just have to endlessly recycle the same 10 IPs that's a great way of saying it.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:49

I love my trough that's very smart.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:51

I love my IP trough yeah even even stuff I like like as much as I'm excited about some of the new like adventure time shows as a huge adventure time fan I'm also like there's like three new adventure time show announcements and I'm a little bit like we can let it go.

SPEAKER_07 1:17:07

I would love it if they just made like a normal adventure time show. Yeah. Like in s like I don't like I kind of like okay my This is my hot take that I might get cancelled for but um I think that the like concept of the adventure time spin-off is kind of stupid. Yeah because I think the beauty of adventure time is that you can do whatever the hell you want with it just in a normal adventure time episode. Like you can just have a Fiona and cake episode in adventure time. Yeah that's how we originally had them. Um so like why don't we just make more adventure time if we want to make more adventure time.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:48

Yeah like so your your argument is that Adventure Time shouldn't have ended and it instead of the finale that they did, it should have just gone to the feeling cake and just called it Adventure Time No I think that they should have just like kept like I think that if they were gonna go back to the adventure time trough they should have just like done normal adventure time and then done what we've always done with Adventure Time which is like if a writer pitches a really good like Princess Bubblegum and Marceline story we have an episode of Adventure Time that's a Princess Bubblegum Marceline story.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:23

Yeah okay and because I think then it becomes like the beauty of Adventure Time is that it's this like endless sandbox of weird compelling storytelling and characters but once you're like oh we're gonna make a Fiona and cake show or whatever it becomes more kind of bound by the IP and the marketing in a way that I think feels kind of sad and gross.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:18:51

Um whereas Adventure Time was like this magical thing because it was genuinely like so freaking weird and so unpredictable. You know like you could have like a fart joke episode next to like 20 minutes of existential dread.

SPEAKER_05 1:19:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:07

And I think that was magical.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:09

And you could watch that play out across the two seasons of Adventure or the the Fiona and cake show because the first season was just about letting go. Like it was about just like alright it's over like we need like we need to grow up and move on and that's what the first season is and then the second season is like alright we're back for more and it was like well that was like fun but like I I thought we just were like I mourned for nothing. Yeah the whole thing was about how we need to like let it go. And like as much as I enjoy Adventure Time is like I'm tired of seeing like yeah AdventureTime regular show stuff that I like even is getting endless reboots and regurgitations were just like endlessly swallowing the same idea.

SPEAKER_07 1:19:52

One of the things I really respect about JG Quintel is JG Quintel would just like do a different show. Yeah. Like uh what was the what was the like couples show? Close enough close enough like I loved close enough because that was just like JJ Quintal being like I'm gonna make regular show but instead of like unemployed stoners they're like unemployed parents and it's gonna be like insane and awesome you know like like JJ Quintal exhibits like some weird ability to like grow while also being like a total weirdo still that I think is not very normal in the TV industry anymore. Which is so perfect for his upcoming works. Yeah. Yeah. Um same with the samurai Jack crew. Oh yeah because they were like we're gonna do primal now.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:36

Get used to it. What are you doing? We don't get more primal you don't get more samurai Jack. Well they do get this badass shit here.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:42

They did do the sequel but it was but it was one season. But that was the conclusion yeah and it was one season and they were done.

SPEAKER_07 1:20:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:49

Which like that's to to that point it's like if you're just coming in to like finish something up or even like a little nostalgia like I think the Distant Lands four episodes were like pretty good because they were just like we're just gonna do an episode of Adventure Time it's a little longer and that's it. And like that was cool and cute but we're so locked in on this like every like Lost Fantasy that in in Fireborn that entire series all of their variant covers are just like here's homoges to different video game covers you remember from when you were 12 and didn't have responsibilities and you thought your father might love you someday. Like it's like or like same with like a like every cover or every comic has like a the My dad loves me. Well that's because we're not reading Fireborn is that the Kirkman book that's not the Kirkman no no no that's Firepower Firepower is great. I love Fireborn Firepower is for people whose parents love them Fireborn is a spin-off of Lost Fantasy more recent more recent it's the spin-off of Lost Fantasy which is a book with nine issues which is a crazy thing to have a spin off of a book with nine issues but like everything has like absolute Batman homages. Vampirella is doing absolute Wonder Woman homages. I'm tired of it I don't like I've I've seen the cover I was there I read the book stop stop making me look at guys who are doing the absolute Batman thing. There was only one good absolute Batman homage and it was that Harley Quinn cover when she's in the the outfit that's way too big. But anyway moving on from just like we exist in like a cultural vacuum because like we we exist in the deadlands of being where like we can't imagine anything else for ourselves. Speaking of things where we can't imagine anything else for ourselves Jamal Campbell's Titanab. Queen Queen shit it's like the best it's one of the like one of the top three at least things that that DC is doing right now and I think you could make a strong case that it is outside of like Martian. Like in the main line this is arguably the best thing they're doing if not top three. It's real good. Um it's excellent yeah Jamal Campbell's like just getting better and better he's pulling out all the stops on it like there's hype shit in here where it's like like genuine like oh my god I can't believe they're doing this shit. There's like experimental stuff he's doing with the panels that I can't believe they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:02

I can't believe he's like yeah I we were talking about um we were talking about unique paneling earlier with Flash and I think I think near equally can be talked about with Satana. Yeah there's there's also I'm loving the I'm loving the vibe of the villain of I don't we're are we fully sure if Mr Sensorman is a villain?

SPEAKER_04 1:23:30

Uh he's definitely villainous in this issue. Have you read issue three? I've not yet okay I won't say what he does here but he does some crazy stuff that like context recontextualizes him as like oh maybe what he is or who he is is maybe different than I thought it was and it was really cool. Um but like it's cool to have this villain of like you know what does Hanna do? She uses magic through speaking how do you how do you stop her? You like redact the letters and words out of her mouth. Like and that's a crazy thing to see visualized in a way that like only comics can do.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:04

I can't believe we get to see no depths.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:06

Yeah like there I I just can't believe we're getting this book. Like I can't believe we're getting a book that like and I think I talked about it for issue two as well it's like it is a shockingly like at least issue two and three like a shockingly black book in the way that it approaches like generational storytelling through song um and in historiography through song it also is like a very queer story in the way that like the griffin and like the the singer lady I forget her name like that's just queer like I don't know what else to say about that. Like that is just like a lesbian relationship with like a monster creature like presented very like sincerely and not as a kind of like oh isn't that crazy it's like presented as like genuine and and touching and beautiful I know I say it a lot but we love to see it. We love to see it we love to see it. Somewhat of a catphrase for me.

SPEAKER_07 1:24:57

You're so right for that yeah yeah this is one I really have to catch up to I'm I'm sadly behind. I wish I weren't there's so much to read but this I was I I lost my issue too um well I probably didn't lose lost is probably a little bit of an overstatement. I can't find it in the mountains of books right now so I'm just gonna pick up another one. Hell yeah I'm excited to read it I was looking around this morning while my partner was asleep trying to find it and could not um and decided to content myself reading uh Flash instead but really excited to read Satana I've turned all my bagon boards and my boxes into a chair.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:38

Ooh yeah Sam's got a like Elden Ring thrown I do I do in fact that's crazy.

SPEAKER_07 1:25:43

Good for you. It's personally just for knowing where everything is innovation that excites. Yeah. I don't have an I need to get another short box actually right now. I need to go through my short boxes and get rid of a bunch of stuff.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:58

I know I have crap to get rid of so much chaff. I was not a single issue reader when I started working here I was like exclusively or almost exclusively a trade girly and then I became more and more of an issue girly as the longer I worked here.

SPEAKER_07 1:26:12

And now that we do this podcast I've talked about it before I won't reiterate but I feel like every month I like go through some stuff and return a bunch of issues that I like somehow ended up with.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:22

Yeah I don't even remember what happens in this That said goddamn I mean it's exciting that like as much as I don't want to take home more stuff it's exciting that I'm keeping well I might I keep just I keep going back and forth if I'm if I'm gonna keep the flash as much as I love it. But like Swamp Thing 89 Absolute Wonder Woman in your skin eye collector and Zatana I want all these I'm keeping mainline Batman issues right now. Like what a beautiful time it is to to love art at DC Cards.

SPEAKER_05 1:26:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:53

Is it a beautiful time elsewhere?

SPEAKER_01 1:26:55

That's very complicated not at Marvel certainly images coming out with a few nice things um I'll I'll I'll say uh Dark Horse just recently released uh what is it Ali Skate?

SPEAKER_04 1:27:09

Oh Skate Ali yeah did you what did you think about that?

SPEAKER_01 1:27:11

Because I wanted to read it and I I thought that it was uh I thought it was I thought it was pretty good. Uh obviously it is an issue one so you're kind of just getting the uh just the first bits of what this is what's the what are the rules we're putting forward at first before we break them a little bit. But I think I think they're touching into um into punk and rebellion and all the culture. Love to see that. Will it hit the will it hit the mark? Will it stick the landing? To be determined. However I do like the style that they're putting their characters in. I do like how they are really pushing the fact that the Entire uh synthesis and creation of this uh time and period is almost entirely due to the government's uh issues and how it's enforcing such strict and unnatural laws onto the people to the point where the the youth need to rebel. Yeah. Uh I do like that that point. I'm I will say I don't think I I'm still a little iffy on whether it will hit, but for the time being, I think it is something worth at least looking into.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:35

Yeah. Yeah. Busto b uh uh b Bustos, Bus Busto's, Bustos uh art style is really good. Like um Sam I think it's Sam Humphreys and Kelly Zucchonic are really strong writers that I will usually like peek at whatever they're doing. I like that I kind of joked that it was like finally Gromitz for Women, um because Grommets was just like such a like man who is in his 30s.

SPEAKER_06 1:29:00

It was male-coded.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:01

It was like very like man who's in his 30s, like remember like later 30s, remembering what it was like to be 16 and skating, which is like okay, like that's fine.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:09

Like that's Grommets did feel like a retelling of someone's life.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:15

Yeah, and I think it is, and like partly. Um, but it is nice to see a book that like again, I'm not trying to like slam uh grommets too much, because like it seemed it seemed fine. Um, it's important for men that have things too. Um but I men have a lot. Men have too much. Um but it's it's nice to see like a like a skater girl punk book that like acknowledges like the punk roots of skating. Like I I think that's like actually fun and interesting. Whereas like I just didn't really feel much in the way of like whatever was going on with Gromitz. Like, I didn't need Grommets to be like a capital P like political book, but it just feels kind of like this is just about some fucking guy, whereas like this feels maybe a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:01

And I will say, I am liking the main character. Hell yeah. Um so far. Like she's very um she's very charismatic and I think I think uh a bit relatable too in how she speaks and being uh kind of a newcomer.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:22

Yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm excited to read it. Um I unless Tate, do you have anything else to say before we go?

SPEAKER_07 1:30:35

Oh no, I think Pearl should just sing us out.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:37

Sing us out, Pearl. I wanna be the very best. Like no one ever was and end this podcast really quickly, so I can go home. Escape it's capitus podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:30:57

I want viewers to know that before we stop, she is playing Pokemon Go as she sings this. Because I want a Pokemon Go. Home. Please.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:05

Alright, bye guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:06

Bye. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, hopefully we will have you back soon. Oh, yay, I'm invited back.

SPEAKER_06 1:31:12

Yeah, please.