EPISODE 23: DO A POWERBOMB

Welcome back to MORGAN TALKS COMICS...

This week, we're looking at DO A POWERBOMB issue 1 by comics powerhouse DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON, published by IMAGE COMICS. This is a wonderful story set in the powerful and colourful of professional wrestling.

This is a love letter to wrestling by WARREN JOHNSON, with energetic, kinetic writing and art, packed full of emotion and energy. It's a great example of his storytelling, and was written before his amazing run on TRANSFORMERS, also published by IMAGE COMICS.

I'm a big fan of DANIEL'S work, and I think this shines through in this episode. Buckle up and tune in!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Hello. Welcome back to Morgan Talks Comics. Sorry, I lost my plot completely then.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

I know.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Um yeah, this week we're kind of freestyling it a little bit, whereas we've not I usually tend to do a little bit of research before we do an episode, but um I feel because the artist and comic I've chosen to look at this week, Daniel Warren Johnson, is kind of a current favourite at the moment. I f I know a fair bit about him, so I'm fairly I think we can I can talk about him with sort of quite a lot of confidence.

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Have you read this though?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

I have read this, yeah. Oh, so it's not completely. Oh no, no. So I know that I know the the basic premise of the story and and and what's what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

See that there? Is that supposed to be lettering?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

What here?

SPEAKER_01 0:47

No, it's right here. No, no, it's just a bit of a PJ, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

It does a bit, actually, yeah, it's just the way it's the way it's shaded and stuff. Um so a little bit of background before we dive into the issue. Daniel Warren Johnson is an American cartoonist born in 87, which makes him seem like a baby. Um he's multiple Eisner award-winning, um started off kind of doing his own thing first, but then got picked up by the big two, Marvel and DC. He did uh Beater Ray Bill, which is part of the Thor universe for Marvel, which is I've got that, it's really, really good. Uh and then he did uh a beautiful um I don't know if it was released as a series, but I've got the hardback graphic novel of Wonder Woman, it's called Dead Earth, and it's sort of an apocalyptic version of history, and she's kind of like a soul survivor afterwards, and it's it's sort of what finding a way around the world when there's like not a lot going on. But I bought that, um gosh, about five years ago. I'd I'd it was it was a name he was a he was a name I was aware of and I knew I kind of liked his style, and uh I just happened to be I was in London and I went into a really nice bookshop and and found Dead Earth and decided to get it. Um I thought I'd I've heard a lot about this guy, I'm gonna see if he's as good as they say they are, and he is, as far as I'm concerned. Um he when he's been doing more writing than drawing late, so he's done a lot of covers and stuff like that, but uh earlier in his career he was writing and drawing his own material, so which is kind of the pretty much the trend, but he has written for Marvel, he's written for DC. This is published by Image Comics, which is sort of like the the third biggest. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

I'm looking at this picture and I'm a little bit puzzled. What I see, just let me say what I see. Okay, I see a woman in a boxing ring climbing and she's got a wellies on.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

I see lots of hands trying to pull up, pull up, and then I see this thing in the ceiling that's got wings, possibly wings. Um so how accurate what's she doing with her wellingtons on in the boxing ring?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

So do a power bomb, let's let's dive into into the the story and the issue. Do a power bomb is about the world of wrestling, so more like the more like more of the American form of wrestling, which is mu it's just sort of like on a much more sort of showmanship and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

So do they do their wrestling in their wellies? Surely not.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Not in their wellies, but they quite often female wrestlers will wear really long boots, so like thigh-high boots. That's what they that's what they are.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

They're sexualising, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:43

Yeah, they are to a degree, yeah. Not that not there though. No, but this is very much an indication indicator of uh of Daniel's style. He draws kind of like with brush or brush pen, a little bit more of leaning towards sort of manga style, so more of a Japanese feel to it rather than the sort of traditional American feel. I lost my thread where I am.

SPEAKER_01 4:08

Well never, we'll just keep talking about it. You were talking about that she was a wrestler and that she's wearing boots and what's going on here?

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Where?

SPEAKER_01 4:24

This bit here.

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Sort of like electricity, sort of like lightning splashing around. So it's it's like the way that the light with the stage lights, how they um Right, because that thing's broken them, is it?

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Is this thing a big thing attacking that?

SPEAKER_00 4:41

No. This is this is sort of taken artistic license. So the the the large character in the background is shown in a large way because he's just sort of a villain of the piece. Um is quite common in uh in like movie posters and covers and stuff like that. That characters are are drawn in different scales to give you know different uh depths of meaning to them and stuff like that. I see. So it's cut it's used it's used for dramatic effect.

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Yes, I can remember those um um carry on film posters. They they were yes, yeah. They were, weren't they? They were, yes. Yeah. I remember you doing uh some commercial work with a cave on the other.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

Yeah, I did some yeah, quite a long time, probably about 20 years ago, I did a uh carry-on themed piece of artwork, which is great fun to do.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Um I remember it because it was so good. I don't remember everything you've done over the last one three years. But uh so that's why it's like that.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

And no th they are not initials in the corner, they're just it's just random shading.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

It's quite Daniel Daniel draws with quite a an energetic style, there's quite a lot, there's a lot of energy and movement in his drawing.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Right. I have to say I don't really see that. You've often said that about things, and I could I just can't um I can't see it. I don't see it the same way as you do.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

No, you don't, no.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

But uh okay, but I I want to know what this woman's up to.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Okay, so do a power bomb, issue one, uh title page here showing where uh showing that Daniel Warren Johnson is the writer, artist, creator, so it's a creator-owned story.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Front there was another name. If you look on the front, there's two names.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

Yeah, I was getting to that.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Oh sorry.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

I was getting to that. So yeah, so Daniel Warren Johnson, who's basically created the whole thing, then Mike Spicer, who works they kind of work with they work together a lot. So Mike Spicer, it quite very quite often, it's quite common for him to colour uh Daniel Warren Johnson's artwork.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Right. So is he when you said that Daniel Warren Johnson did it all, does he done all of it sometimes and a bit of the other?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

He has done, yeah. Is he a sort of mentor leapers and no, I don't think so. Right.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

So when he gets stuck, he gets a bit of help.

SPEAKER_00 7:24

Yeah, but it again it's quite common it's it's it's common practice within comics that the creative process is broken down, so there's quite often there will be a single a separate writer, a separate pencil artist, then an inking artist, then a colourer, and then lettering as well. So, but um given how Daniel writes there's sort of like kind of quite kinetic uh brush lettering here, which is again quite indicative of his style, so there's lots of stuff he's throwing in himself.

SPEAKER_01 8:00

Right, yes. Like the VS maybe, yeah, excuse me.

SPEAKER_00 8:07

So we open up on a on a a scene of of somebody you can see uh somebody watching a TV where we've got two hosts and they're talking about a wrestling match. Um and it's like it's it's the Tokyo Grand World Hut Heavyweight title. So this is you know, this is like American wrestling, lots of costumes.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

What's the difference of than normal wrestling?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

I don't know. Well, English wrestling tends I mean it has changed English wrestling has changed a lot, but it's it could be quite off more often about actual real fighting rather than sort of like the dramatics and um a performance.

SPEAKER_01 8:48

I remember my dad used to watch wrestling every Saturday.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

And uh some of those were quite dramatic. They'd come in showing off and things, and everybody would boo them.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Absolutely. I I mean I was I remember watching British wrestling when I was really lit when I was little, and you'd see there was two two wrestlers over here, Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks, and they kind of played off each other a lot, and a lot of that was quite humorous as well as sort of there was a lot of draw drama and sort of storytelling to it rather than just purely fighting.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

I think I I think it was Big Daddy, but certainly one of the famous wrestlers used to live round the corner from me, and I was best friends with his daughter. Yeah, okay. That was when I was at school to begin with, and then they moved away. Right. Um I can't remember his I can't remember much about it really. I was totally unaware that he was a famous wrestler. Um I knew he was on the television. I did I did I was so little I didn't get it in the he was just somebody that was there. Yeah. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:54

So I wonder what's happened to her.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

Hmm. So we've got a uh big final match coming up. We've got you are steel rose here uh versus Cobra Sun. So interestingly, male and female wrestling against each other, because it's still quite common for the genders to wrestle the same gender.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

So it's unusual to have mixed. Yeah. Well I should think so, because that's quite sexual.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah, you do I mean you do see it occasionally, like on the on the bigger American sort of wrestling. Hello, Oberon.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

Just um joining in.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Just joining in. Hello mate. Somebody is very interested.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Yeah. What we were I was saying that that that mostly they do um to themselves. That's it, maybe bottom. We don't want to see that. Good boy.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

There you go, it's settled down now. You can probably just for anyone watching, you'll be able to see him in the corner of the screen. He's just keeping an eye on proceedings.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

Oh, that reminds me actually, it's very hot here today. We've got a fan. You might be able to hear it. It's not terribly close, but if you hear the strange noise in the background, it's most likely the fan.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yeah, we're moving into another heat wave over here in the UK.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yes, and I don't want it. Nobody pays attention to that.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Yeah, so we've got we've got the the match set being set up by the by the commentators, and they're they're talking about two of the best wrestlers on the planet. And and then we go behind we go behind where you are is preparing to go out and wrestle. That's that's she. That's she, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

She's um she's I can't think of like words. Sturdy.

SPEAKER_00 11:49

Yeah. I again, I mean it's it's a slight indicator of of of how Daniel draws, um, the way he draws characters. They're quite sturdy they're quite sturdy looking. I feel very solid. So we've got Yua here, and um her husband we find out that this k this character coming in is her husband, and um then her little girl Lona comes running in at the bottom of the page. So we see a little girl come running in, gives and she gives uh gives Lona a big hug. And um excuse me, Oberon.

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Shall I take him? Isn't too interested in he's a little bit too interested, isn't he?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Yeah, look, come here, he's a good boy.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Yeah. So Lona's talking to her mum and asking if she's okay, and she's saying there's nothing wrong. I'm just fighting for you. I'm doing what I love, it feels good. Right. And she says okay, and again, and they have another big hug.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

So he's not the one whoops, he's not the one that um is doing the fighting.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

No.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Right. Can we go back to a bit of the slightly earlier conversation? You did say that male and female fight each other sometimes, don't they?

SPEAKER_00 13:13

They do, yeah. You do see it sometimes in the in in wrestling. It is more common for men to fight men and women to fight women.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

But that but uh you as getting ready to go out and uh go out and do this big fight.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Which country are they supposed to be in?

SPEAKER_00 13:34

Um well I think they said it I think generally it's set in America, but they did say Tokyo at the beginning, so they could be in Japan. Could actually be fighting in Japan.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Because they look um possibly do look a bit Japanese.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

Yeah, and again, I think that's a bit of um Daniel's style. He's he's influenced by manga and anime. So more more Japanese artwork.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Rather than not exactly a manga, is it? Because manga has a huge, ridiculously huge eyes, don't they?

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Some some does, yeah. So yeah, some anime and manga, yeah, they they the way it's drawn, they have yeah, really large expressive eyes. Yeah. But it's definitely not kind of a what I would call a western style. It's got it's got it's to me, it's got more nods towards towards uh eastern Japanese style.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Is he of Japanese descent or anything?

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Not that I'm aware of, I think he just likes likes the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:34

Like you.

SPEAKER_00 14:35

Yeah. So the following page we're we're moving into the the arena where the fight's gonna take place. And you are steel roses being introduced. There's a bit large panel over at the bottom of the page holding up the champion's belt and being introduced by the uh the commentator.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, those those belt things, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah, yeah, it's quite common that there will be a belt for stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

It was the same over here, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Very strange.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

It's very odd, but there you go. It's kind of they're they're the trophies of the re of the wrestling world. Um and then we have you are talking to one of the commentators before the before the match starts starts talking about, and she's saying that she's fighting for her she's fighting for her family and and fighting for her daughter, Lona. Yep. But it's a job, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. And then we go over to the next page and with we have the uh the challenger for the match, Cobra's son, who comes in being booed by the audience. It's very clear that that um He's supposed to be bad E. He's supposed to be the Baddie, yeah. So you are is is obviously very popular with the with the crowd.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

And he comes in and he starts talking about um he's being very sort of hard. What's that hard edge? So right at the bottom, um there's there's the bell that they ring in between when the fights start would be in between. It says bing bing.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

Mind you, that's not much better.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

So the fight starts and they we see Yua and Cobra Sun fighting each other. Um doing their thing, doing their thing, yeah, having a big fight. So we move through and there's lots of energy. So we've wrestling moves coming in, it's all nicely referenced from probably from photo and video of actual matches.

SPEAKER_01 16:54

Like this magazine.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

I don't know. This comic. I don't know. I it probably helps. I mean, I've ha now having actually been to a wrestling event. Have you? Yeah, I went to one in London. About three years ago. Went down with my friend Akin and we went to a wrestling ma wrestling event together.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

I've forgotten.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

Yeah, it was really good, it was really good fun.

SPEAKER_01 17:17

Apparently lots of women like it, don't they?

SPEAKER_00 17:20

They do.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I can't imagine why. No, not for a million years.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

But never mind, each to their own. Yeah. So the fights the fight's going on, and uh Cobra Sun throws uh Eua out of the ring, and then he goes to um jump off the top rope into Eua, in who's sort of like now been thrown into the crowd, lands right on top of her.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

That's surely against the uh it's once she's out of the ring, does that mean that she's lost?

SPEAKER_00 17:52

I'm not sure. In I'm not sure. I don't know. Right. I'd have to do some wrestling investigation.

SPEAKER_01 18:00

You do that, yeah. I want to know, but I'm not gonna do investigation.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

But Cobra Sun grabs Eua, brings her back into the ring, picks her up, and he's gonna deliver uh like I think it's a pile driver of top rope setting sun, they call it so quite carbon for he goes up onto the top ropes holding Eua up and he's gonna drop her heavily into the ring to try and win points and whatever. Yeah. Well what happens is that Cobra Sun actually slips. We see a we see an inset panel where it actually slips off the rope and Yua is smashed into the ring and looks like she breaks her neck.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Certainly does.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

Um little Lona comes running into the ring, grabs hold of her m grabs hold of her mother, who's very clearly unconscious.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

Um Right, she's she'd been carted off somewhere now.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Yeah, so she's been strapped down to a uh strapped down to a stretcher with you know be with the neck being holding held in place and everything.

SPEAKER_01 19:13

Oh dear. Oh it's not real, is she? She's not real.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

So we see it being carried off and Lona's trying to sort of go with her, she's saying no, no. Uh and then we there's a towards the bottom of the page there's a another panel of a TV being shown with somebody actually watching the match, and we just see uh a f uh face wearing very 80s sunglasses. Why? Are they in the dark? Well I know, but people do sillyly wear glasses, dark glasses in the dark.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

It's about that bit like that person we heard of recently. Couldn't get their phone to light up. They just tried to look at the message or something. Yeah, and then it's overnight. Um what are they called?

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Face mask on.

SPEAKER_01 20:10

Yes, just sleeping masks. That's the word I want.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

That's the sort of thing I'd do.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

So we see we see Lona and and her uncle sitting in outside waiting outside the emergency room because they'd be they've taken uh Yua off to be treated for her injuries. And then we see a scene which I think is supposed to be flashback, which is Lona and Yua. Um Lona's tucked up in bed and Yua's asking if she'll stay uh Lona's asking if Eua will stay with her for a few minutes, and she says, okay. And then they're talking to each other, and she's asking about where where do we go after we live, after you after you after after our life, and they they're sort of talking about what's gonna you know what happens when you die.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

And he said it's all a big mystery, and then we see uh Lone's father appear around the corner of the emergency room, and he turns around and she says, Dad, and she says she's gone, baby. So it's quite clear that you has died. Yeah, that you had died from her injuries.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Well, that's cheerful.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah, it's set in the scene.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

And then we move just set in the scene.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

Yeah. Oh right, moving on then. So we're moving on. We come to a big header and it says ten years later, and we're in another it's we're going diving straight into another wrestling match where we've got two female.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Can they learn?

SPEAKER_00 21:42

Clearly not. Uh we're piling to another wrestling match where we've got uh it turns out that it's Lona wrestling now. She's sort of picked up her mother's mantle and is wrestling. But she's not doing very well, she's getting beaten quite hard by the other. by the other woman wrestling. She's well and truly getting what's yeah she's getting she's getting a bit of a beating. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

At least it's nice bike colours.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

Better than previous ones.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

They they work really the colours work really really well. They um I I like the way Mike Mike Spicer works with colour. He tends to use quite bright tones. But the previously it was drill all the time, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yeah. And then suddenly it's like a different different column.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

Just flashing back. It's yeah I guess partly because it's sort of set in the past and it's a sort of a it's had to add a bit of drama to it. To add add a bit of drama to the scene. And this one she's just getting seven bills. At this point yeah at this point she's getting beaten up and we've moved into into the the present time of the of the comic this was published in 2022 when the first issue came out um overall is now completely cold up and completely flat out asleep. On his back with his tummy yeah you can probably just if again for anyone watching you can just see him at the top of the screen.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Oh he's uh he's making a show of himself he's making a show of himself you can just see his head oh that's right then we wouldn't want to shock anybody.

SPEAKER_00 23:17

So we're seeing Lona trying to get the upper hand in the wrestling match and it's clearly not worked because the other wrestler Diamond Rain lands on top of her and she gets counted out so you know when they land on top they do a hold and they count for that's the most exciting bit I used to like as a child the counting.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

It used to be one her, two her, didn't it?

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Yeah absolutely is it still like that in these ones or they they just count I can't remember because I'm trying to think back to the event I went to and I'm sure there must have been some counting but it was it kind of all just turned into a big blur of of like the whole event kind of thing. So we come we come on to the next page and Lona is being paid for she's being given her pay her pay for being at the event uh this is by her by her uncle uncle blood I don't think he's actually an uncle uncle I think he's more like a family friend I think he's referred to as an uncle um could also be s another slight nod to Japanese culture as well where uncle is used as an honorific to an older person.

SPEAKER_01 24:31

Yes yeah well here certainly when I was little we'd have aunts and uncles that were I did I didn't make my children do that.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

Yeah yeah and Blood is talking about the fact that like she's saying she's she's like she's really green so she's not very good at wrestling she's like he says you're really you're green really green I can tell you haven't done this professionally so she's just starting out yeah she's starting out she says I've been training since I was 11 so she's so Lona I would say is is supposed to be 21 in this story. Um but they're talking um he's talking about a promise that he made a long time ago and I think this is um the a promise that he made to her father so the next page we we go outside the wrestling match and we're out on the streets and uh her dad has arrived at the matches uh he says you know she's uh Lona says Dad I told you you can't come don't come to my matches right and he says look I'm sorry but you won't pick up your phone and and I thought we could just talk for a minute.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

Alright there's trouble between them then.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

So yeah the the her dad's trying to get her to quit wrestling and she's very determined that she's going to carry on I think basically in her mother's sort of memory well I'm on I'm on the father's side he's saying you're my daughter and I want you to be safe yeah quite right yeah but he's but they're talking about how it's how it's been since uh you has died and he says ever since mum die mum you've been different isolated the only time you want to talk to me now is when you want to jump down my throat and then she turns around and says weird we're done because I think basically what's happening is that her dad is worried that the same thing's gonna happen she's gonna get killed in a match yeah and we see the other we see the character we saw in a in another panel in an earlier panel the character with this the funny sunglasses that was watching the TV what's he doing there he appears from around a corner and and goes to speak to goes to speak to Lona um and she's saying who are you do you work for the for work for the promotion so the you know the fight promoters and he says not exactly he says I've been watching you for a long time um creepy yeah he goes to grab her and he says I don't know what kind of sleazy jar you're but I want no no part of whatever you um and then he says maybe it'd be easy if I just show you and we go into a big two panel two page splash that's nice I like that a lot and and then the character introduces himself as this could call Willard Necroton Necro Necro yeah not probably not a good guy well not necessarily a bad one though either yeah anyway we'll see won't we so we've got a big panel of uh castle but there's there's a at the top of a big flight of stone stairs there is a wrestling ring with what looks like a pair of wrestling belts up on the top oh no we come to the end so we've come to the end of the end of the story again it's the end of this issue and he says I'm a necromancer and he says I'm running a tournament of sorts but a belt isn't the only prize I'd like to talk you talk to you about bringing your mum back to life and then it goes to be continue dot dot dot well I have to say this is the first comic we've been I actually like the story I can't be bothered with the fighting bit but all I need to know was that the one first one at a Barney and then got dropped on the head and died and then the second one's not so good and and he's met him that's it in a shit nutshell isn't it in a nutshell yeah but I want to know what happens next you know what happens then I do are you can tell me so basically um so the necromancer character is he's set he he's set up a re that what's gonna happen is that Lona is gonna get dragged into a wrestling championship and if she wins then he'll bring his bring her mother back to life he can bring the dead back to life and I presume she does win and I presume that the you know that she has well did win and that the mother was brought back to life and that she wasn't quite as she used to be am I right? Kind of kind of you'd have to read the rest of the story to find yeah to find out what happens. Yeah and but then the um the the there's kind of the last page of the comic is is Daniel Warren Johnson giving a bit of background as to what inspired him to make the comic he's saying that he you know he's a fan of of pro wrestling um and and why he he decided to make the comic about it all you know um yeah so he's talking about like seeing wrestling on TV and especially Japanese wrestling because it's quite flam quite flamboyant it's the same basic format as British wrestling and American wrestling but it's just like the the costumes are kind of a little bit more extravagant and well I've seen British wrestling years ago when my dad used to forcibly have it on every Saturday we had to keep quiet and other than that I've not seen any other wrestling because why would I?

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah yeah it was forced there's that so can I give my my my yeah or have you not finished?

SPEAKER_00 30:41

Not quite there's some there's a few pin ups so what's happened is there's been some fan art so people that have have probably heard about it and uh have seen like uh Daniel showing sharing probably artwork on online like on Instagram and so on so there's been some fan art fan art created already and then yeah and then talking about original art and commissions so Daniel does selling his original pages of artwork and taking commissions to do stuff.

SPEAKER_01 31:11

So is there's advertising that's a that's a good idea when you make a comment you should put yourself absolutely I yeah I need to sort of up my game quite a lot with my own stuff. I'm working hard on my own stuff at the moment yeah but I like all the artwork and things.

SPEAKER_00 31:27

Yeah but I'm working on how what's the best way forward for sort of what I'm doing at the moment all good stuff then yeah so there we go do a power bomb issue on Daniel Warren Johnson I haven't given my one of my I'm just like just wrapping up my sorry sorry that um one of my current favourite artists he's he's really really good he uh I think after he did PowerBomb that he went on to do Transformers you've heard of Transformers the toys well yes yes in fact I was familiar with a lot of Transformers I was picking up off the front away so when uh image brought back Transformers a few years ago Daniel Warren Johnson was the he wrote and drew the first six issues but then continued to write until uh basically a year's worth later and then so he had another artist I think it was George Corona came in and did the as came up as an artist yeah George is great he's doing Lobo at the moment with uh with Scotty Young kind of a similar style to Daniel Warren Johnson so you can see why he was probably chosen to do but that that the first six issues are really really good I'm not I mean I kinda like Transformers I'm not a huge fan but I really clever aren't I yeah but I really enjoyed the first ru the first the first run of it I thought I thought was really really good. Well it was a television programme wasn't it yeah it's so Transformers was a line of toys that got that was turned into a a uh uh into a cartoon hang on were they something to do with Sha you Rada Man and all that no no no I mean it's a similar concept you had a line of toys and then a TV show was developed around them which is basically advertising for the the product worked very well it worked very well and Transformers are very much back as a as a popular collectible item my fr my friend down in London has got a quite a large collection of them didn't we buy a relation one one of the the German uh group I can't remember we might have we might have yeah but that wasn't that recently it was several years ago christmas but yeah so so Daniel kind of after after powerbomb he he did a lot more work as an as a writer he wrote a lot more with other people doing the artwork for his stuff yeah uh I know he's got a new series coming out later this year which I'm looking forward to I've just I literally just heard about it a couple of days ago I've just seen it on his Instagram feed uh that he's got a new series coming out so yeah um really like the way he tells stories really like his drawing I love it it's really good stuff uh I could see my I can s the nice thing of with his stuff is even though it's kind of a bit more realistic than my drawing because I draw in more of a cartoony style I can see that it wouldn't take me much to sort of match that kind of style to draw I like your style that would you change yeah but there you go so do do a power bomb. What do we think Eliza Mariah? Well I like the story and I want to know what happens next but can't you read the comic and then just tell me I could read the comic and just I've not read it since it came out um I've not actually done a reread of it I I remember the basic plot of the story what happened so I I know I know some of the um what's the word the twists that come into it plot twists that come into it and stuff like that there's some really there's some really good plot twists about some of the main characters plot twists about the main characters um which work really well but yeah so I look forward to knowing now then the front page don't like it. Okay and for the first few pages yeah um I don't like those either because they're dreary and dull and as it yeah does a it's it's a generally a darker palette so you've got lots of sort of dark dark blues and purples and there's a lot of purples aren't so bad this part isn't so bad. But then it goes on and it's it's well it stays dark for a bit and then it gets bright that's when it comes into the present day is that correct yeah so we go we go through the fight and the the accident where gosh there's a lot more before the present day than I haven't lived. Yeah it's in fact almost like half the comic is is is what is the kind of the yeah it is literally the centre pages you come up to the centre page and the the on the one hand you've got um Lona with her father saying that uh that that Yua has died and then you meet then you go into ten years later and we see Lona fighting herself.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

Right yes now there it gets a brighter.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Yeah I like a bit of pink yeah so that's that's cheerful here and then it goes on because then the I can't remember his name the uh the necromancer yes he's a bit of a a dark one yeah so we move back into we move back into like some dark deep darker dusk kind of colours so there's very dark reds and yellows and stuff but we use quite a lot of purples and pinks and then this is a fabulous page now it's dark it's not because it's not dark it's just really striking and it's yeah some of that blue is fairly light isn't it so it yes I like that one. Daniel really knows how to put a page together I think I think it works really really well.

SPEAKER_01 37:01

Right what shall I get?

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Oh I forgot is it the um it's in uppercase oh dear well there goes I'm gonna start taking more off for that because they don't learn and I keep wanting right in upper and lower case so the poor readers have a bit of a chance of managing to read it and um the colours well they vary a bit you lose some and you win some lose some so maybe I won't even do points with that because it must even out um a story that seems like it's going to be a really good story what do you do you agree that yeah oh no it's a really good I like I say I like the way I like the way that that Daniel writes I think he's he's a really good writer as well as an artist he's got the he's got the package you know so he can do both really well yeah and um but so the story's really good and to my mind any piece of comic or book the story is the important thing not faffing around with all the other stuff so overall yeah I'm giving it an eight.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Ah that's a good score yeah that's despite it being dark dark and dingy and I'm not liking the cover. Yeah but it's because it makes up for it later. Yeah excellent yeah good as I was done is that's how's done that is I was cooked for this week. Now I can just lie back in this heat try to go to sleep I think.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

Okay bye bye