Hadrian’s Wall Review

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geek Patch Radio Network. Welcome to The

Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out our latest comics

and discuss them with a rotating panel of the

JCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this week's

Pull Bag. Hello and welcome to the pull bag This

is episode 305 and episode 305 folks was supposed

to be the five -year celebration episode but

sadly, you know life happens and things get in

the way and Everything in the world just disappears.

I don't know The joke's on us, I guess, because

in a little while we're going to be doing Joker

stuff, because apparently he's a white knight.

But we are here today to talk about the Image

Comics series, entitled Hadrian's Wall, from

Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel, and Rod Rice, creators

of Cowl. and other things as well. Joining me

is, well, I like to call him the Comic Revolt

Dan, because movies and comics, just movie revolt

on a comic show just doesn't make any sense,

but he is now the new Comic Concierge here in

the GCRN. Hello, sir. It's going. So yeah, Dan

decided to give me some competition on the network

with a... Comic podcast of his own ha ha ha What

is the comic concierge all about for people that

have not that listen to the pull bag that haven't

found it yet? So what was your? Vision in starting

your own comic podcast Yeah, I went with movie

revolt in the sense of because it's a little

bit different where I'm trying to explore people's

relationship with comics, especially those that

are not fans of comics and bring them on and

recommend books to them based upon their interest

in other means, whether it be movies, TV, Reddit,

regular books. And I recommend a book to them

and we discuss it and what they liked about it,

what they didn't. And then also I do weekly.

Recommend episodes where I go back through the

actual week that was in comics Issue wise and

talk about some of the most notable issues usually

just like a couple minute brief reviews of those

and it's been going pretty well in the sense

of get some good interaction and it's been kind

of fun. Very cool, very cool. Talking to people

that are not big comic book fans about comics.

Yeah, absolutely. I listened to the Gotham Central

episode with DJ Valentine because I have been

trying to cover Gotham Central for the last five

years. It's just never been the right time to...

how i usually do it is i'll cover like everything

we just finished all of most of if not all of

the current uh... run of the back to the future

stuff uh... uh... from idw here in the pullback

and i'm like okay gotham central how am i going

to get that done it's the same thing like i've

been there's two batman stories i've been trying

to do for five years gotham central and nightfall

Nothing just falls into alignment to get them

done whether it's recording it whether it's reading

it whether it's whatever But yeah, I mean there's

a lot of comics out there. Oh, yeah Oh, yeah,

there is as I said, we're here to talk about

image comic series Hadrian's wall. This is an

eight -issue miniseries uh... uh... as i said

written by kyle higgins story uh... is done by

kyle higgins and alex seagull art is done by

rod rice and we're doing this in trade you guys

might have remembered we did the first two issues

actually back in march of last year did discuss

the first two issues but we're back and we're

gonna talk about the full -on trade If you haven't

read this, folks, when an astronaut on Hadrian's

Wall is murdered, pill poppin' detective Simon

Moore is dispatched to investigate the ship's

crew, including his own ex -wife. But if Simon's

not careful, what he finds could make the interstellar

Cold War go red hot. From the creative team behind

the critically acclaimed series Cowl comes a

gripping locked room murder mystery where the

secrets of everyone involved are as dark as the

space that surrounds them. I remember reading

the first two issues I don't ever remember going

back and I didn't like I think I I think I still

have like the first four single issues from Comixology

and then I eventually just bought the trade on

there but yeah I don't think I ever read past

the second issue when it first came out and it

wasn't because I didn't want to It was because

so many other things came up. You and I didn't

really get a chance because originally the plan

was we were going to do. Like three or four podcasts

like issues one and two would be one, three and

four, five and six, seven and eight. So it would,

it would have been a whole month long series.

Uh, that was my original plan and we just never

got around to doing it. So we're here now. Yay.

Yeah, I think there's some advantages talking

to this as well. rather rather than in pieces

because you know, it is this book that is predicated

on mystery as you indicated, you know, this is

a murder mystery and it has obviously a lot of

ties to classic crime stories, you know, you

have the detective at the center of it who has,

you know, a shaky past and an addiction he's

trying to get over, you know, tons of love affairs,

you know, almost soap opera -esque in a way.

So I was you know kind of curious overall now

that you know then we read it completely And

I know you like the first two issues if I remember

correctly now that the overall piece is complete

Did you enjoy it? After everything was said and

done absolutely why this wasn't on every single

person's best of 2017 list is beyond me this

This comic is so friggin cool. I don't know if

it's something I'll go back to and read every

now and then but after getting the whole picture

uh and just learning everything about it and

you know getting the whole story yeah i absolutely

love this um i mean i love almost anything kyle

does kyle alec and ross uh kyle alec and rod

you know like i said did cowell and i loved cowell

will actually be covering finally cowell volume

two later uh this year Because we already covered

volume one a couple years ago But it's one of

those things where when those three guys get

together and they have an idea or Kyle has an

idea that he takes to Alec or vice versa and

they all work together. It's just a It's a creative

team that almost can do no wrong when it's the

three of them Yeah, I think I think the compliment

each other Pretty well and especially the sense

of story here. Yeah, and and how it builds, you

know, it starts as this You know, uh, you think

it's centered on a murder mystery But it certainly

evolves from that and you know the stakes Progressively

get higher and higher to the point where you're

nearing like world -ending stakes by the end

Which you don't necessarily expect from a story.

That's really just about this guy investigating

the murder of the person who previously shot

him. But I thought they did a really good job

of like establishing this concept. And just there's

a lot of history within this book. But without

but they avoid just filling it with a lot of

exposition, mostly relying more so on flashbacks.

I thought that was effective. And we kind of

got tidbits here and there. Rather than kind

of overloading us with like world building. It's

it's a good they kind of just fill it in when

necessary Yeah, it's one of those things where

the plot of the story Like like I said the description.

It's basically a locked room or mystery It's

kind of like those escape room things that are

out in the world now like hey Come to our place

and you know do this mystery thing and try to

escape within this amount of time limit or whatever

I've never done one of those, but I know that

they're around places um it's kind of like that

uh and what i loved about it was part of the

prelude or part of the intro text in the in the

trade is hey in 1985 yada yada yada yada yada

the us and the soviet union of course cold war

all of that they then basically flash forward

a hundred years like oh 2085 that's not too far

off from where we are now No, no, it's, you know,

certainly, you know, using the past as a reflection

of the future was a big thing there. Yeah, absolutely.

And Rod Rice's art is just, like, all of his

covers, I don't think there's a single cover

for this series that I don't like. I mean, the

man is just amazing. I will say after reading

this, and I know it's his style and all of that,

Half of the characters in here at various points

remind me of the character designs that they

used for the characters in Cowl. So I'm not necessarily

taking points off for that. I know that's Rod

Rice's style, but there are several people in

here that I could point out that I could say

look like another character from their previous

work. Like Annabelle. She's got green hair, green

lips, and whatever. She could essentially be

the blonde female in Cowl, Raven, that was in

there. It's not a bad thing, but it's just one

of those things that after reading through this

and getting the story, just looking back at the

art, it doesn't bug me, but I wonder if they

did that intentionally. I'd hope not, but I don't

know. Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure I mean, I mean,

I think you tend to see that sometimes with artists

where some of the facial features of characters

Correspond to one another a little bit But I

do think one thing he is really good at despite

that it is faces and especially, you know displaying

emotion Pretty well, you know, this is a book

that is a lot of it is just simply based upon

dialogue You know a lot of interviews sequences

a lot of conversation happening. Yeah, and much

of that is for the Feelings that really kind

of portray because obviously what they're saying

and what they're feeling tend to Are often the

opposite of one another he gets he really conveys

that I think effectively through through his

his facial acting Really? Well, and I think also

the coloring in this is really effective, you

know the majority of it It has this bluish tint

to it. There's like this coldness to it for the

most part there is in the first issue like like

one example of loses that and there's this like

brightness and warmness to it and I think that

like kind of carries throughout where you see

like that's the one time where you know he sees

happiness of the main character Edward and it's

like this recurring photo that does peak up here

and there but I thought that the use of color

to drive mood was rather effective. Yeah, Rod

and whoever has assisted him. I think he does

his art and colors, like he does both. It's not

like a Batman book where artist A is on the art

and colorist A is on the color kind of a thing.

And it is, it's such a wonderful palette. It's

the same kind, it's not the same palette as the

previous series, Cowl, which is a completely

separate series, but it's one of those things

where his art is, like, I've never really, like,

there were a couple of Marvel, like, Iron Man

one -shots. Years a few years ago where it was

photo realistic art or you take the Star Trek

series at IDW It's kind of like photo realistic

art, and I'm not really a fan of that kind of

stuff And this is similar to that, but it's not

true photo realism But it's close enough and

also far away enough of it that I just absolutely

love it and like you said the color palette is

just so interesting Yeah, like especially you

know, like I mentioned that you have that blue

tent but occasionally you do get some you know

sharp like reds and yellows typically, you know

to Examine or highlight specific sequences you

see that a lot like his pill bottle it really

stands out because It has that orange tint to

it, and it just has that control overall. But

yeah, the art was really strong. And you're right.

Rob Reiss does his colors and his overall art.

And I think that's a big piece of it. So in the

first issue, I loved Kyle and Alec. I love their

humor and style. Like when Simon is talking to

the cashier, the pharmacist, like... just give

him the right amount but sir the cash the cash

register says count dude you know it's like just

do the math like really wow i love their style

of writing yeah i mean he does have like a like

a kind of a dark sense of humor to him especially

considering everything that happens She's like,

F you, and he's like, well, you can't really

do that if you're offering because of, so it's

certainly, he's got a little bit of a snark to

him. Oh yeah, and that's a good thing. I mean,

you know, because not everybody can be, you know,

Quippy Spider -Man or Peter Parker or anything

like that, so. But yeah, having a dark sense

of humor with the snark mixed in is really good

for that character. As we go along by the time

we got to issue two because in issue one Marshall

shows up It's a character named Marshall shows

up and says hey, how would you like to make a

hundred thousand dollars? Just go here basically,

you know put a pin on this accidental death thing

and and just earn your money and go so he goes

up to Hadrian's wall, which is a Survey ship

in space because part of this whole 2085 era

is earth and the colony The tail I could be saying

that wrong They're not really friendly Yeah,

yeah, it's I mean it's kind of a contri plot

to begin with you think in the sense of like

why would they get him to investigate the the

murder of the person who's now dating his wife

or married to his ex -wife. But as we learn out,

there's certainly a reasoning for it, and the

hope is that he'll basically do a basic job and

not investigate it further. Yep. Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, and it's one of those things where after

issue two, Because I had not read past that beforehand

before when we did the last one last year And

I hadn't even looked at the series again until

like quite literally five hours ago as of this

recording I Had no idea where this was gonna

go like I remember the first two issues after

rereading them I still like the series, I still

think the series has potential, but I wasn't

sure where it was gonna go. When I got to issue

three, the first thing I had to write down for

my notes was I love the cover of issue three.

The cover of issue three is Simon with his pills

on the floor and all of the other cast members

and kind of like this half -face thing, it's...

It's all the characters, but they're they're

in one giant collage of faces. I just absolutely

love that cover Let's see what else The so as

the story progresses Simon basically gets to

the point where he is shown that the medicine

cabinets are have like a hidden backing to them

on the ship or whatever and The supposed drug

that was used on Edward Who was the guy that

was killed was in his ex -wife's? medicine cabinet

Oh boy Yeah, and I think it does a good job of

just like The second issue for example, it's

all you know, viewing people and everyone announced

suspicion for one reason or another And even

with this reveal, it's like okay, but what does

that necessarily mean? Is that really hers? Is

it it's a setup, you know? Because obviously

usually if it's pointing the figure heavily at

someone, you know any stories usually that means

that there's more to it than you can you think

but uh I thought was good how it kind of dripped

and drabbed like the answers to the overall mystery

yeah that's the good thing about this series

is is you know the first issue we have the introduction

to Simon and his life and what his life is and

what his life could potentially be with Marshall's

offer the second issue is basically introducing

us the readers to the crew of the ship with the

initial interviews preliminary interviews than

the third issue is pretty much you know getting

Simon in further into the investigation the third

and fourth issue are kind of like that because

by the end of the third issue one of the other

people on the ship discover that Simon at one

point was accused of planting evidence That was

one of those very dumb dumb moments for me. I'm

like. Oh really come on Yeah, and I think with

that you like you know it You know you have that

there and then you in the sense of I think we're

we're led to believe in the story that he didn't

do it or But knowing that okay, that's just going

to bring in doubt after this revelation So like

he's kind of fighting this losing losing battle

where I think we're always on Edward's side At

least I think the story is for the most part.

I mean, it's very critical of him, obviously

but It seems like we're never led to believe

that Right. He's not trustworthy. He made me

have you maybe kind of a jerk but I did I did

find it intriguing that like it seems to always

be on his side uh or we're never kind of let

the doubt him um even with this evidence yeah

um but as we go along uh Edward's not the best

guy in the world he's not you know we all have

flaws folks and uh Basically what I love about

it is it's essentially a reversal of the two

main okay, so Simon and Edward I guess you could

argue are the main male characters for the most

part You could also argue that like the ship's

captain or something like that is another main

character, but like the two main I guess protagonists

are Simon and Edward As we go through the story

basically annabelle you know just wasn't there

anymore for simon and she wanted to leave and

basically edward then turns around and does the

same thing to her i'm like oh my god the emotion

in this of basically you know having done to

him what she did and then having it done to her

is a reversal of fortune holy crap Yeah, I mean

it's certainly like it like I said, there's like

a soap opera s s quality to it But not I don't

mean that in like a pejorative sense in the sense

that it's a negative but there is right it is

emotion Center of it, you know with all this

Murder going on this mystery these intergalactic

battles, but still at the heart of the story

it's ultimately you know this relationship and

this man who is like Can't get out of his own

way in a way like you we see what? what he does

to drive people away, his own wife, and then

why he can't let her go, so. Yeah. Part of issue

four, what I love is, and as I've said this with

Rod's art, it kind of got gritty in issue four.

Like the grittiness of it was really, really

cool because it got... because the story ended

up going a lot darker than i thought it was going

to and the art obviously has to reflect that

and i didn't think he was going to keep up the

shiny kind of art but i love the change and there

are times when i'm reading a comic that i don't

love that kind of art change but in this it worked

well Yeah, and as we mentioned like the that

blue tint that we saw is kind of gone and a lot

more shadows a lot a lot more darkness to it

and as you mentioned there's there's a Shift

in in the in the overall the or sorrow. I think

pretty much just is the same I think just the

coloring is I think greatly altered. Yeah Wait

when we open from that issue and like I mentioned,

it's a lot of shadows a lot of figures that are

hidden As you know oddly as we're learning about

many of these secrets. Yeah, absolutely As we

get to more of this story In issue five we have

the rebels boarding the ship we have uh... you

know you mentioned earlier about how it goes

between the present and the past with the flashbacks

and there are times where i've gone back and

i've read comics and i hate when flashbacks happen

but this though is very fluid it's very natural

it doesn't feel like it's out of place because

it's giving you backstory on simon's life previously

to where he is now yeah i think it's like you

said the structure is helpful because a lot of

the flashbacks or either place in in transition

um a great deal like it's like before each book

tends to open with like a cold open before we

get to the the title page so it makes it a little

bit easier um but i think also the like i mentioned

the change in art style or the coloring it makes

it a little bit easy to understand that where

we're where we are in the story um and how it

relates and it it's really as indicated like

the we get a little bit of the plot but really

it's just giving us more understanding of that

relationship so unlike a typical flashback which

is all about like revealing plot details it's

plot details but like i said it's more so information

of we finding some of the answers of like why

did he get shot get shot by edward you know edward

like why did he get shot like why did they leave

each other and It was peppered throughout enough

that it was never overwhelming you only usually

got a page or two of it So it wasn't there for

very long, which I think was effective Yeah,

yeah, cuz we find out why Edward shot up an issue

six and how that happened and you know Simon

what does it was at a low point at that point

in the flashback and Marshal even you know that

the talk that Marshall has with him it just rings

so true like, you know, look there's nothing

you can do now let it go there's nothing there

even your mother's ring there's nothing there

that right now that it needs to be taken care

of so just let it go and obviously Simon doesn't

do that he goes to the house because he assumes

that they're off gallivanting somewhere or wherever

they're off for the weekend and they apparently

weren't or at least Edward wasn't and Edward

was there and whatever um The only thing, it's

not so much a gripe, but I'm gonna call it a

gripe. Like, I get it, part of the story was

Edward didn't know who it was, supposedly, but,

like, why would you not have that confrontation

between the two of them right there? Instead

of having Edward shoot the guy? Like, have that

alpha male kind of thing? Maybe that's cliche?

I don't know, but like, supposedly these two

men were best friends. And, you know, when Annabelle

left Simon, she went to Edward. So it's kind

of like that love triangle kind of thing. And

you'd think that more so than shooting the other

guy, you'd want like a fist fight or something.

Yeah, I'm not sure. I mean, I think we never

really get that showdown per se. Right. There

I don't think Now or we're given any doubt that

he knew who he was shooting I think it's pretty

evident and again that goes with some of the

facial acting so the realization was there Unless

it's just simply through, you know a different

perspective, but I don't know I think I think

the sense of it is if they had that confrontation

it then removes that question of you know, did

he know didn't know or at least in the sense

of the the story because then he would be you

know attempted murder where that leaves enough

suspicion of doubt where maybe he was just protecting

his family or what have you um so i think that

that might be the reason i mean that that is

something we don't get though as you indicated

is like the uh you know with edward being gone

outside of his you know hallucination is ever

kind of a conversation between the two uh between

between what happens yeah but what i'm saying

is like that that confrontation like i understand

why that is because they had already set up the

fact that he was shot and i get like the explanation

of it but my question is more so i guess it would

be more predictable that way though like why

not really have a a conversation with these two

in the past or like I said one of them hitting

the other one or something versus just basically

almost shooting the guy to death I don't know

it is what it is and it's fine I love the story

it's just something that I'm thinking of now

that why didn't they go this way instead of the

way they actually went how do you feel about

this is a note I wrote down that I wasn't too

sure on, because by the time we get to issue

seven, which is obviously the penultimate issue,

they basically reveal everything. They basically

give you, like, the whole... end of the story

but the whole plot reveal of the mystery and

who did what and who was doing this and the whole

Thetian independence versus earth and we don't

really get like the whole thing why the earth

and colonies like that isn't really explored

so I'm wondering, which I don't think there will

be another Hadrian's Wall series, but I'm wondering

if they're gonna eventually explore that more

in a new series. I don't know, but like, it just

seemed too early to reveal the entire plot of

why this is happening. Did you feel that way

at all, or am I just messed up in the head? Well,

I thought, you know, the purpose of the seventh

issue is eventually we have to get to the point

where the mystery is solved. Right. And we kind

of where we get on equal footing with all with

all the characters and then and then fallout

happen So I thought structurally it makes sense

because that then leaves open the door for the

eighth issue It you know, you know once that

mystery solves and what does that mean and you

know the key I think the good entering mystery

is then providing a another question and This

question is it becomes by the end of the seventh

issue is like, okay. Well now that is all resolved

now What happens next now? Can these people survive?

Um, yeah, it I mean there was like I mentioned

the lack of exposition There was a lot in that

sequence where you get a lot of the back and

forth. I did think that the one Piece that really

wasn't set up enough I think was the you know

this the confrontation or the you know, the stakes

that were going between like the the colonies

and the earth Like that that was in the background

a lot and it helped me helped me Had me thinking

a lot of, I don't know if you've ever read the

Expanse books or watched the TV show. It exists

in a similar pre -premise where you have Earth

and Mars and all the colonies and they're kind

of at war or they're confrontations with one

another. And I just thought with this, that wasn't,

I think, established enough to really make that

reasoning behind it as... Strong as it could

have been I mean it was like I mentioned this

was more focused on the relationship which was

fine But by the time that reveal happens and

you get all these new characters it It feels

like you know the better story or the story itself

was more interested in The relationship between

the people where I was like I didn't really know

the politics of the of the outside world or it

didn't That wasn't nearly as well developed as

some of the other pieces. Yeah, I have not read

the expanse books The old nightbeat Ryan Merkley

who does the Transformers coverage with me here

in the pull bag has been trying to get me to

watch the show and I want to watch the show eventually

but I just... I've got too much going on. But

yeah, I mean, I don't dislike that the mystery

was solved in the seventh issue. I was just wondering

at the time when I was reading, and I'm like,

OK, the mystery is solved. The question now is,

what's going to happen? And then obviously during

the seventh issue, it escalated quickly because

Willow basically blew two of the crew members

away. And all of that and I'm at the end of the

issue. I'm like, okay, where the hell do we go

from here? Other than the fact that the that

the that the Rebels pirates whatever you want

to call them Imperial forces, whatever You know

other than the the satan rebels basically left

them to die like okay then Yeah, I will say like

my biggest Griper the the problem I had it was

a little confusing to me was the ending of seven

the seventh issue in the beginning of the eighth

issue where Like I and going back and reading

I get what what she's saying But it ends in the

death like we did and then we open up in there

like kind of bend left behind Yeah, and when

that happened, I'm like did I miss something

I was trying to It took a you know a decent leap

in time. Yeah I mean, that was, I think, purposeful,

but I could see if like you're, you know, you're

you're left wondering by the end of the seventh

issue that the direction of where the story is

going is not as clear, which is not necessarily

a bad thing, but it does like make you wonder,

OK, like, you know, where why we're here is now

over. Or is it like I guess the other question

is when it comes to a story like this? We have

so many answers, but we don't know if they're

actually true like there's right, you know He

he said what he thinks was happening, but did

that really happen? Um, you know as he is there

gonna be a reveal when we find out. Oh, no was

actually annabelle She was the person the whole

time. Um, there's no hints to that but you know

that has to happen when it comes to crime stories

And they did a very good job of Simon, as the

character, and obviously Kyle and Alec doing

the writing. They did a very good job of basically

showing that she was not in, like, she knew of

certain parts, but she didn't know everything.

And, you know, the fact that the rebels or whomever

found the ore that was, you know, could essentially

blow up the planet. I'm like, oh, okay then.

By the time they revealed that I was like Wow,

I feel like it's the year 2000 and I'm watching

a Matt Damon Drew Barrymore animated film called

Titan AE already And I'm not saying that is a

bad thing at all But yeah, I was like, okay,

where are they gonna go from here? They're stranded.

They're this they're that and by the time we

get to issue eight Again what I love what I have

loved always about Kyle's writing Specifically

him because I the only time I've read anything

Alex Siegel has done is when he's been with Kyle

and Rod so Want to read more Alec I do so trust

me. I'm gonna work on that But with Kyle's writing

ever since I found him on new 52s Nightwing When

he go when he talks about issues whether it's

with a person whether it's with the situation

whether it's a life situation Whatever it is

It's tackled so well and the two of them write

this eighth issue like they basically Took no

time to do so. I'm sure they took the time to

do it. But I mean and what I mean by this is

it didn't take them Six months to form the idea

of how this book was going to end because of

the fact that With its ending each of the crew

members makes their own decision and by the end

Simon and Annabelle kind of make up and they

kind of accept their own fate And I'm like, oh,

okay When that happened, I was like, all right,

so they're just going to die? Really? That's

the end? Like, yeah, we started the series with

Simon and the way his life was, and now he gets

this? Really? That's a big screw off. And then

what I love is the parting shots of the ship

as it fades out. The zoom out panels because

I you know, I read this on comics ology guided

view because I just do that And it's one of those

things where panel by panel as the ship slowly

fades away into space I'm like, oh man. They're

just gonna die And then obviously the yeah, it

was really yeah Obviously the ship comes in saves

them yada yada yada I don't know man. This this

series has It has everything that you could want

in a comic. It really does in a comic of this

type. It's just so good Yeah, I know it was good

because you know obviously had to get to the

point where you had these two individuals of

that were you know at each other's throats hated

each other to the point of like what Could lead

them to reconcile with one another and I guess

you know facing the actual death was You know

the one thing that could get them to that point

going through this, you know trials and tribulations

and You know, it was like the it's the idea of

probably, you know having to hit rock bottom

in a way to finally find a way out and I know

we definitely see you know see what I mean character

where you know He it seems by the end of it like

he just seems more, you know He isn't have that

you know pill bottle that's relying on he he

almost has a cleaner look to him in the sense

of like there's There is the the dread and just

like we see him go through all this anguish like

even like his facial hair changes So, you know

when he's like, you know when his lowest point

she's got this like disheveled beard on and everything

But I thought you know, I thought it was a pretty

poetic ending as I mentioned like in the first

issue we have that that glimpse of them when

they were actually happy with one another and

You know it ends with him finally deleting that

one photo and in the sense of you know He's able

to finally let go and move on it took a lot obviously,

but I thought you know like I said that it finishes

where it started in the sense of it It was ultimately

just this personal journey that I thought was

really well handled Yeah, this is a personal

journey that from beginning to end has everything

from Simon being the the main character for the

most part and all of the characters that surround

him like that whole end scene in issue 8 of each

of the crew members deciding what they're gonna

do or whatever like two of them decided to take

whatever syringe the other one said oh we're

just gonna do this or we're just gonna do that

so that way you guys can have more time and just

people making their own choices and making and

being at peace with those choices and the situation

Because they didn't know they were going to get

rescued. Like I said before, okay, we're getting

to the point where everybody's going to die,

I guess. That's one way to end the series. I

thought that honestly at first, I'm like, I could

see them doing that because, you know, it's an

odd way to end it. Even if they, you know, we

don't get that tidbit at the end, I think there

was enough closure there, but it certainly is

a little bit more upbeat of a way to end it than

like everyone dies. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Uh, Hadrian's Wall. It's a series that I really

dig. Um, it's something different. It's not a

superhero book. It's not this. It's not that.

It's not a licensed property. It's a creator

-owned series and it's a da - I've read a lot

of creator -owned series lately in the last two

or three years and it's a damn good one. Uh,

anyone's into sci -fi or... murder mysteries

or space travel or any of that kind of stuff

seriously folks pick this up it is a damn fine

book yeah i mean i think ultimately even though

it like exists in the science fiction world you

know it's very light sci -fi where that's you

know it takes place on the spaceship but I don't

know. It's like kind of how Alien, the movie

Alien, the first one, is a horror film that takes

place in a sci -fi setting. This is really like

a drama crime mystery that takes place on a spaceship.

So that isolated setting, I think, helps amp

the tension. But I think what it's really more,

it's not really talking about the technology

behind everything. It's more the people behind

it. Right. Absolutely. All right on the GCR universal

rating scale zero to five stars you can use half

points. What would you give Hadrian's wall? Yeah,

I give it. I give it a solid four point five

out of five Like I said, I had a little gripes

there now that we talked about but yeah, I think

it's really solid throughout and You know that

it's like you mentioned. It's a good creative

team that compliment compliment each other. Well,

so yeah Absolutely. I'm also going to give it

a four and a half out of five as well. Absolutely

love it. Can't wait to see what these three guys

do again next time that they collaborate together.

As most people will know, if you're a fan on

Facebook or if you follow the pull bag on Twitter,

Kyle Higgins' dream, two of his dreams have come

true in the last five years. At least the last

five years ago. coming up was when we first interviewed

him here in the pullback it was our very first

interview uh... he was in the middle of writing

nightwing new fifty -two nightwing for dc comics

so he had that dream come true he's a huge nightwing

fan in that interview he told me hit one of his

dream jobs would be to be for writing a power

rangers comic well he's now doing that at booms

studios and all my god shattered grid holy crap

Don't think I can survive it. Oh My god, I just

don't I just don't think I can survive it because

I spent In four days. I read every it's so good

I've in four days and almost less than a week.

I read all four of the volume trades that were

released to catch up and then I bought issue

17 to at this point 26 because 26 as of this

recording just came out and I read it all like

in that time frame like I just read issue 26

this morning it just came out and oh my god like

Like I said over on the IDW TMNT coverage with

Joe Reed a couple years ago, I said that the

IDW Turtles books are a love letter to the entire

TMNT fandom, franchise, all of that. What Kyle

has done with the Power Rangers books at Boom

is the same thing. It's a love letter to any

and all Power Rangers fans. Whether you're like

me and have been a fan since 93 or whether you've

jumped on to any other series, oh god it's so

good. What do you get coming up on comic concierge

sir I'm not sure when this is coming out, but

I'm guessing by the time this is out I will I

had just recently spoke with Mark Russell who

was another interview I did he was the writer

of the recent Flintstones comic he's doing the

current snaggle puss It's just it's stage left

comic and in upcoming Judge Dredd series for

IDW speaking of IDW and also some of the series

that we're looking into I will be actually speaking

with a fellow cinema geek about the Dan slaw

and Mike all right silver surfer run and also

continuing talking with Matt from simplistic

reviews of Howard Howard County We talked about

volume 1 and we're gonna keep that going and

talk about volume 2 very shortly. Oh Awesome

coming up here on the pull bag It's episode 306

that's coming next and it's gonna be our free

comic book day edition because free comic book

day is vastly approaching, folks. It really is.

Free Conflict Day this year is... when is it?

May 5th, 2018. Yeah, I know it's the first Saturday

in May I just wasn't sure of the actual date

because it changes every year Obviously, it's

not May 5th every year or May 7th. So yeah on

the free comicbookday .com website They've got

The listing of books that are coming out and

at first when I first looked at this about I

don't know three or four weeks ago I was like

wow, really? There's only one title. I really

want And now looking at it again. There are several

that have piqued my interest. I'll get the DC

Superhero Girls one, kind of, because I kind

of covered that last year. Obviously the Power

Rangers one, because I think that ties into Shattered

Grid. Transformers Unicron. uh... starts there

because they're finally after twelve years they're

finally uh... bringing your crime in the idw

transformers universe do you have any that you're

looking forward to picking up anything that you're

gonna pick up maybe for your son or anything

like that i've been really looked at the the

list all that much uh... i usually tend to pick

up what valiant's doing uh... and you mentioned

the the power ranger stuff and i'm not the hugest

power ranger trend but i've actually been doing

the comic uh... yeah so i'll probably check that

out as well Yeah, cuz I think that's Shattered

grid goes from 20 issue 25 to 30 of the main

on main ongoing It also is going to have a one

-shot and I think the free conflict day issues.

So there's basically seven issues of it So, yeah,

absolutely. Yeah, I'm just I'm just now looking

into exit stage left. So who knows? Maybe that'll

be covered on the show at some point. It's great.

It's a lot of fun. Like, uh, the Flintstones

in it are a lot of fun. It's very different in

the sense of it's, um, you know, how to, like

in that Snagglepuss is like a 1950s, like Tennessee

Williams, uh, scream writer. Right. So it's,

it's a lot of fun though. It's It's kind of depressing

at the same time, oddly enough. Fun and depressing.

That's not a good combination, man. Well, you

know, he's a closet homosexual during the 1950s,

so it's, you know, not the most ideal time. And

then you have the Red Scare going on. So, you

know, there's a lot to it. So yeah folks we're

gonna do free comic book day in May that might

be the only episode in May I'm not sure and then

after that episode 307 Dan is going to return

to We're gonna go back to fairyland folks with

volume 3 of Scottie Young's. I hate fairyland.

Oh well fluff so it's been a while since we've

done that uh... and then we've got something

planned super special for you guys in june so

i will probably make an announcement about that

at the end of the free comic book day episode

you can follow the pull bag on twitter it is

at the pull bag you can find us on facebook i

believe it's facebook dot com slash the pull

bag I could be wrong about that, but the links

will be in the episode post. As always, follow

at Geekcast Radio on Twitter. Go to the website,

geekcastradio .com. What is your Twitter? Have

you set up anything for Comic Concierge or anything

that you want to pimp out for that? You can find

me on Twitter at Movie Revolts. Comic Concierge

is on Facebook and Instagram as well. Just search

Comic Concierge. Cool, cool, cool. Make your

greatest game in the comics and we will catch

you next time here inside the Pull Bag for free

Comic Book Day 2018. See you soon, folks. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag,

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

There are several ways to get in touch with us

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