308 – Baltimore Comic Con 2022 Recap with The Comic Concierge!!!!!!

Hey, this is Pat Shands, writer of Robin Hood,

and you are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

You're listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Unleash the geek in you! I am here with long

-time collaborator of the GeekCast Radio Network.

He hasn't been on in a long time. I don't actually

remember the last time he was on, but it is the

former movie revolt, current Comic Concierge

is Dan Clark. Hello, sir. How are you? Good,

good. Yeah, it's been a while, you know. Yes.

I had to dust off the podcast when you can't

have a look. Yes, yes. Yeah, it's the way it

goes when you don't use it after a while. You

got to retrain yourself on how to do all that

stuff. And Dan is here because Dan attended all

the days of Baltimore Comic Con 2022, which was

from Friday, October 28th to Sunday, October

30th. So right before Halloween, did they have

a Halloween costume contest? I mean, they had

the cosplay contest and stuff. Right. But there

wasn't a specific separate. OK. No, it was just

that they there. I think there was some stuff

off site. Halloween that was like costume contests,

but you know, I mean the thing about it's kind

of perfect timing because it's uh You know comics

comic cons and cosplay dressing up going hand

-in -hand. So it's like, you know Yeah, a lot

of synergy there. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely

So how many years have you been going to this

convention? I was actually just thinking of that

in about like eight years or so. I missed the

last two years. They didn't have it in 2020 because

of that, you know, whole global pandemic thing.

I didn't go last year. I just wasn't ready to

go to like a massive con, but before that I was

going pretty much every year. So I think I was,

I think eight or nine years ago was the first

time I went. So. Very cool. Very cool. I will

say and this has been a good what yeah probably

about that because it was the first Yeah, it's

probably about that long. So very cool. Very

cool. I will say that and So since I've been

started doing these con recaps Part of it is

obviously pulling up the convention website to

make sure you have all the correct information,

the right dates, the this, that, and the other

thing. And of course, once the convention is

over, the first thing the homepage or any convention

website is going to do is, here, buy the tickets

for next year. What about the convention that

just happened less than a week ago? That's been

a running gag on these cons where I just completely

bitch about the website. So I'm saying this now

to get this out of the way. So I'm not sitting

here bitching. I will say Baltimore Comic Cons

website by far all between them, San Diego, Emerald

City. Rose City in between all the read pop other

ones that read the Baltimore has the by far the

easiest and best website design and best website

links and I'm like oh this is wow this is refreshing

this is great yeah it's very straightforward

I don't think they have next year's dates up

yet they usually do but they don't it's actually

much later than it used to be like it used to

come in between San Diego in New York it would

be Baltimore but Ever the last few years it's

come. It's been like the last big major con I

mean, it's not it's nowhere the size of a san

diego in new york Yeah, but it's it's big enough

where it's it's in that same It's mentioned in

that same vein like it's it's a comic book Like

it's it's comic and comic -con because there

are some celebrity guests like John Leguizamo

was the biggest guest like of this year and sometimes

they've had Haley Atwell some of the people from

the Netflix shows But the focus is which is why

I love Baltimore comic -con is it's primarily

on comic books and comic book creators and it

has a plethora of great and iconic creators like

This this week, you know, I had Jim Lee Frank

Miller Tom King Jim Starlin will and Laura Simonson

so like and This year was actually I feel like

a little bit less than past years when some of

the bigger names But there's still there was

some it's if you love comic books. It's yeah

great place to go because it's Sometimes when

you I've gone to New York Comic Con and it's

like comics are an afterthought It's all about

the media gas and stuff like that But it's it's

nice going to a place like this and even talking

to the creators and things that they make it

very evident It's like why a lot of those creators

go to that con is because they're treated so

well Because sometimes in those New York Comic

Cons and San Diego's that are heavy on media,

comic book guests are segregated into their own

little section. They don't get nearly the stuff

that the other guests do. So sometimes it's a

bit of a bummer. So it's good to have cons like

this that can focus primarily on the comic book

creators. Yeah absolutely and it was one of those

things where we when we had released episode

307 when we did New York the whole reason why

I reached out to my buddy author comic books

author and writer Pat Shan to do the New York

Comic Con recap is I wanted New York Comic Con

from the point of a creator of a point of someone

who is going there to work but also Has had history

with that convention of going over the years

as a fan as well. And at the end of that episode,

I said, Oh, so what's, you know, are you done

for the year? He's like, Oh, I've got this and

I've got that. And I think I'm going to Baltimore.

I'm like, Oh, okay, cool. And then I had mentioned

to you off air. I said, Oh yeah, by the way,

if you run into Pat Shan, tell him I said hi

and there'll be a photo in the. In the post folks

of Dan and Pat hanging out together for at least

one photo op because I was like, that's cool.

It's not often I can record with somebody on

recapping a convention and then the very next

month, week, whatever. It's like, oh, throw a

stone here. I can hit one of my podcasting buddies

and one of the people I've interviewed four separate

times on this network. Yeah, that was a very

nice meeting. I went onto a table on Sunday and

we had a little conversation, so that was a very

nice meeting. Very cool. Yeah, he's awesome.

He is very, very awesome. All right, so you went

to all the days. What was your goal this year?

Was it just to hang out? Was it just to visit

with people? Was it just to shop stuff? What

was your ultimate goal going this year? So this

year I wanted to do something I haven't done

in the years past. So each year Baltimore Comic

Con does a yearbook, which may seem weird, but

it's actually really cool. So each year they

do this yearbook and they focus on a different

creator or property. Like in the past, it's been

Archie, Black Sand, also Mouse Guard. This year

it was on the work of Jill Thompson and Scary

Mother. And what they do is that they pick that

topic and then for... all the artists, not all

the artists there, a lot of the artists there,

they'll have those artists contribute work that

kind of combines what they're known for with

that artist or their interpretation of that artist's

design. So Joe Thompson is known for Scary Godmother.

It's like, I didn't know much about it, but apparently

it's a cartoon. It's originally a comic that's

been adapted into media. So I picked that up

and what's cool thing is they give you this little

like card to go along with it. It's actually

looks like a voting ballot when you're going

around and you go around to the different tables

and you can get these graders to sign it. If

you get like 20 some signatures you get additional

prints to go along with it. And it's really just

an excuse to kind of go around and Be able to

get something signed by a creator, you know being

able to meet them They can also kind of give

you an idea of like, you know Give them give

you their spiel and it's a variety of different

creators some that are really well established

some that are more up -and -coming So that was

kind of cool to do that like I wanted to do that

this year because I've never done it before and

and that's kind of what I like my goal usually

is like the take some of the books I have and

get signed but that can also be pretty, uh, uh,

take a lot, you know, pretty heavy on your back.

But that was, I also brought a bunch of books

to meet, to do, to meet out with different creators

to get things signed. Like, um, met with, uh,

Tom King and Mitch Gerards and got their, uh,

one bad day Riddler book signed, uh, that they

did together. They came out earlier this year,

which was a really great comic, uh, also met

with, um, Ed Piscore from, if you know him from

hip hop family tree, as well as his, uh, um,

Cartoonist Cave Fabe YouTube channel, really

popular comic book cartoonist and YouTuber. Met

with him and got this huge hip hop family tree

special edition that he signed. It has multiple

copies. He did a lot of signatures with it. He

was really nice, got a picture with him as well.

Met with some others. Andrew Aiden, who may not

be. Name that everyone knows but if you ever

heard of the March trilogy, it's you know, one

of the most acclaimed Comics in the past decade

also run. He did that with civil rights icon

John Lewis Talked to him some got I have those

books and got those signed. So it's just kind

of a nice I don't like I'm not a person that

ever buy something Comic book wise in order for

like financial reasons. It's more sentimental

value and things like that So it was just kind

of it was cool to get it signed and then also,

you know have that conversation and Jean Jean

union late Jean yu Yang who is currently working

on shot chong shi He did Superman smashes the

Klan I got some stuff signed by him as well a

shang chi issue was well with his dragon who

was book having a conversation with him because

he's also a former teacher and things like that.

So I was talking about. some of the stuff he

did in the past. And some of these people have

different, like, it was great because he didn't

really have any line, so it wasn't easy to go

up and have a conversation. Tom King and Mitch

Scharge had a pretty hefty line. There are some

people I wanted to meet that I didn't get a chance

to. Walt Simonson and Laura Simonson, their line

was just like always long. I even got in there

on Friday early and I saw one gigantic line.

I'm like, who is this for? And it's like Walt

Simonson, which honestly I kind of love. I love

that there's this huge line for Walt Simonson

and Laura Simonson when they really, they're

icons of the industry and that people are still

appreciating their work and lining up like that

all weekend long to meet them. They're also super

nice. Go ahead. It's always nice to meet those

people and those creators that are the humblest

of people. You hear a name like Walt and Laura

Simonson. And then you go either Google them

or look them up on Wikipedia if you don't know

their work or whatever and you look at their

body of work and it's like oh Legend, okay. It's

nice when the legends are basically everyday

people Yeah, I find honestly that is the that's

mostly the case with the comic book community

like Jim Starlin he he was there and you know

his He made the infinity gauntlet, you know that

the Marvel made billion billions off that unfortunately

didn't get nearly that much from them But like

he's you know, really nice open friendly to talk

to and stuff like that. So that was really cool

I I didn't go like I went with my friend Greg

who I did talking with circles with back in the

day and He goes for key issues and things like

that. He picked up the first issue of the first

appearance of mystique I think in some he also

got on Jim Chung's Sketch list, you know people

because he's big in the original art. I don't

I you know, I would love to do that It's just

really really expensive. So I don't oh, yeah

Get into that quite quite quite yet, but I go

I do look at the comic see if I can get some

good deals I didn't buy anything amazing I got

some like I got a I was excited to pick up the

second volume of criminal Deluxe edition for

only 20 bucks when it's like originally 50 and

it's not currently in print and it put up some

other like issues of past issues of criminal

and incognito and sleeper from Andrew Baker and

Sean Phillips because they're what's interesting

with that is that with Sleeper is that it was

done by the icon imprint, which doesn't exist

anymore with Marvel So it's kind of just out

of print, but I was able to pick those up for

really cheap So then I didn't spend Much I almost

bought the first appearance of Destro in a comic

But I because you know, it's like You know, the

GI Joe's comic is ending this year. Yep. So I

was like, I was thinking about it. I ended up

not pulling the trigger, but because I didn't

and I love usually love going to panels and they

had some really good ones this year, but I missed

them. Like there was one on because we fortunately

lost so many amazing creators this past year

from Tim Sale to Neil Young and stuff like that.

They were doing some panels on, but unfortunately

I missed them because I was either in line or

I got in too late. Um, so I'd missed this is

the first year I had, I didn't go to one panel.

Um, which was disappointing, but I, the good

thing is, like I said, I was, I spent more time

on just kind of perusing and, uh, meet me up

with different people. Yeah, absolutely. And

it's just one of the, like, like you said earlier

with like was ammo and. and Jim Lee and Frank

Miller there, and then you have the roundup of

the Disney princesses and all that. Yeah. It's

a very good family -friendly event, too, because

they have a center that's Kids for Comics that's

specifically designed for kids' comics, and they

do different activities and stuff like that for

kids throughout the weekend. But I didn't do

any of the celebrity meetups. There's like a

specific meetup with Frank Miller There's a specific

one with Jim Lee that you have to pay extra for.

Yeah, I didn't do that. That's not really I would

maybe do it if it was like my favorite creator

like Jeff Lemire or Ed Brubaker But I'm not the

biggest I like Jim Lee. I'm not the hugest Jim

Lee fan I like Frank Miller, but it's I don't

really want to say it's a it's a I would not

Frank Miller fan. I mean, I'm not like I like

his stuff, but I'm not I'm not gonna go out of

my way to I yeah, I usually attend this panel

cuz that's free and yeah, it's interesting hearing

him talk but um But yeah that type of stuff.

It's not usually what I'm into so Alright, so

What was the atmosphere like on Saturday? So

Saturday like I'm talking to a lot of the creators

like who went the year prior They mentioned that

it felt like it was back to what it was before

the pandemic. They had it last year, but it just

wasn't quite there. It was pretty empty. But

Saturday, it was like you were at a Comic -Con

again. But it also wasn't the point where you

can't move. Because sometimes you see those things

where you can't even move around at all. So it

was a good balance. And Saturday also is usually

the day where you have the most people. dressing

up in costumes and stuff. And there was some

really great cosplay. There was this, and I put

some of this on my TikTok at Comic Concierge.

So this dude dressed up as Nimrod from the X

-Men. Like, that was really impressive. Great,

like Predator that I saw. There was a lot of

really impressive and creative cosplay. One of

the most creative ones was someone who combined,

you know, with the Disney princesses being there,

combined Ariel and the Mandalorian. which I thought

was not something I would combine, you know,

in my head, but it actually turned out pretty

cool. So it was nice, you know? That's what,

like, you know, if you are a people -watching

person, like, Comic -Con is, like, the best place

to go because you never know, like, you know,

just with... What people can do with cosplay

right now is pretty impressive, so... Yeah. The

cosplay community has gotten to the point where

it's just beyond... I can't believe I just pulled

a spider in line. It's beyond amazing, damn it,

because it is. These artists who put these costumes

together are just amazing because they love the

characters and they want to make something unique.

The whole point of, at least to me personally,

the whole point of doing any kind of cosplay

is You end up doing a double take like if you're

walking by and you see a kid in a full -on you

know Whether it's 3d printed whether it's constructed,

but basically a full -on optimus prime suit You

know what I mean, and you can't see the kid,

but you know it's a kid. You know what I mean

like like that's just awesome where you know

you have various people that do spider -man or

black cat or whatever versions or you have people

doing the Hulk and things like that and it's

just it's just cosplay has always been so cool

i know there has been a lot of things in the

cosplay community over the years that may not

have been so great but just overall in general

it's like holy crap these people are amazing

designers It's impressive, yeah. It's gotten

pretty incredible what they're able to achieve.

And it's just nice to see people put that time

and effort in. But also it was kind of cool,

too, because with it being Halloween, you also

saw a lot of kids just in their Halloween costume,

and just excited to take pictures with these

people. So yeah, it was always a good atmosphere

at Baltimore, especially this year. Seems like

people were in good spirits and stuff like that.

As I went around to the different creators, it

seems like people were doing well. I always feel

bad, too, because it's got to be tough for those

creators because there's so many people out there.

Yeah, there's just... Yeah, it's... And the thing

is, like you mentioned earlier, and like we said

in the other Khan episodes, we're getting back

to a point where conventions... In person our

thing again, and is it slow -going? I think it

should be I don't think we need to rush into

a Million people not that there's gonna be a

million people at Baltimore comic, you know what

I mean, though Like it doesn't need to be like,

oh my god, we can all go outside again. Oh my

god. We need to do this Just this slow progression

of getting back into the groove of And things

have changed and things need to change, you know,

change is constant and everything else. But,

you know, I wish half the cons that, you know,

that we talk about are I wish they would have

gone like, look, I get it. San Diego, San Diego,

New York, New York, and that's fine. But. Why

not bring back San Diego from 30 or 40 years

or whatever the hell? Well, you know what I mean?

Like. Why not bring back the smaller scale type

stuff? It's certainly harder to do. I mean, it's,

it's hard to do. Like it's hard to move back.

Um, and maybe like when the movies, if the movies

ever start being less popular, it will happen.

Um, but also think it's kind of like, it's, you

know, it's, it's good at having a mixture, you

know, it's good having those big cons to kind

of do what they do. And, um, I, uh, I do wish

there were more comic book cons that were comic

focused because you get some of the smaller ones

too that Are like it's basically a wrestling

con because it's just a lot of former wrestlers

um, but um, it's So it's this one is I think

is really well established There's like the heroes

con in north carolina that I hear really good

things about so there are those staples out there

that are kind of like that fit this bill, but

um Yeah, I um Yeah so i know there's like some

benefits of something like san diego but i know

when it comes to the comic creators like some

of them don't even bother going to san diego

since it kind of. You can get lost i feel like

new york is a little bit better for max because

i do feel like there's a lot of comic book news

in new york but still yeah. You know it's it's

hard to get those crowds when you're just focused

on comic creators and correct me if i'm wrong

but wasn't it always like just in general like

like i said twenty thirty forty years ago wasn't

it always. California was Hollywood, California

was this. I mean, it was always, like it started

once the movie started getting big, you know,

like I don't know what exact year that was. Probably,

you know, around the time of Spider -Man movies

and stuff like that became, I've actually, from

what I remember, I think one of the movies that

helped make Comic -Con really like put a lot

of focus in it was 300, if I remember correctly,

because like that got a huge push as San Diego

Comic -Con or one of the Comic -Con's. Um, and

ended up being, you know, hugely successful.

So people looked, Oh, you know, this movie was

really popular at San Diego comic con. Let's,

let's put all the focus there. And, um, it's

honestly, I think from what I've heard, it's

actually gone, it's died down a little bit compared

to what it used to be. Um, but yeah, it's. Yeah.

I noticed a couple of people doing recaps from

San Diego this year and it was. A little bit

calmer than it had been. Obviously they did Comic

Con at home two years, you know, the last couple

of years before this year. But I mean, that's

the thing. Like, you know, I'm not, you know,

I say in every one of these episodes, I'm not

a convention goer. I used to be when I was a

kid, like my mom would take me to various things.

If I like, and when I say, you know, as a kid,

it's like, Oh, let's. let's go see the Karl Casper

custom auto show and watch Grave Digger do something

to somebody else's whatever and You know or let's

go meet David Hasselhoff or let's do this or

let's see it was all those kid kind of things

and now as an adult it's like I can't even if

the crowd is thinned out I cannot do crowds and

Yeah, I look at convention centers and I'm just

like I'll watch it on YouTube. Ooh, technical

difficulties. Let's move on, shall we? So yeah,

I do think there's some benefits for San Diego

Comic -Con because it can put a lot of attention

on things and it's been pretty much that way

for, I think it was like the movie 300 that kind

of sparked all the attention into San Diego because

that movie did really well. Yeah, and people

looked at because it was such a huge thing in

San Diego and it kind of caused this trend Remember

that correctly, but I believe I am but I know

it's kind of died down over the last few years

Like the nature of everything You know Yeah,

I think it's good just having a variety in but

I'm personally San Diego is not something I have

much to spare to go to I haven't done your comic

-con but I think with Baltimore it's a good mixture

of like It's big. It's not too big. I'm not like

a huge crowd person either But I feel like it's

spread out really nice and like I never feel

like I can't get around or like I'm not I can't

like Get to where I need to be really easily

Like that's where it's like, you know, I don't

feel like the agoraphobia is kicking in quite

yet where it has been even like when I'm gone

like sporting events or something like that,

so Yeah Yeah. I mean, the thing is with the conventions,

it's like, and regardless of how big any convention

has gotten, if they pack too much, like, technically

San Diego is either take your pick land or world,

but it's essentially Disney of comic conventions,

even though it rarely has anything to do with

comics, but they pack so much in like, Think

this year they started look they had five days

or whatever late or less not last year, but before

the thing You know before all that? Think you

know like 2019 or 2018 or 20 like I remember

we did a I think we did an SDCC recap sometime

like 2012 or 2013 here on gatecast radio, and

it was so big like you had William Shatner and

Leonard Nimoy and this and that and whatever

you had this you had and it's like oh like you

have all these conventions and now you have toy

companies specifically like oh well we're gonna

make our own convention and just do our own announcements

you know screw the screw the comic con crowd

whatever and that's fine it is what it is but

like the whole point what i'm trying to say is

here is that i like What everyone has told me

when I asked them about like the layout and how

everything is presented within the space that

the convention has there is like, yeah, it's

not as bad as it used to be. Like you just said,

everything's more spread out. Everything is,

you know, people aren't bumping into each other.

I mean, there may be a little bit of that, but

it's more of like, you know, it's once in a while

that may happen now because of everything that

we've all gone through over the last two or three

years. And it's like. Like I said before things

need to some things need to change even though

changes is is is difficult Yeah Makes sense Sundays

are usually like Convention wind down days. Everybody

is packing up ready to go home. But what were

you doing on the Sunday? So my Sunday I was so

I was mostly focused on finishing finishing up

my last signatures on That yearbook, I had a

few to kind of finish up. I didn't get every

signature on the card. There were some people

that were only there certain days or didn't show

up or what have you. But that was kind of what

I looked at the most. I looked around to see

if I could pick up anything. I kind of looked

more so in artist alley and stuff like that,

not to the established creators, just because

it's interesting seeing those people that are

just trying to make it and what they have. And

I got some stuff from this one artist that did

some really cool dragon stuff and also took the

Maryland flag and made stickers out of it in

the shape of things like the rebel signature

from Star Wars and things like that. So on Sunday,

with it being a little bit less busy, I try to

focus mostly on that, like some of the artist

alley, because the artist alley was pretty big

this year. There was a lot. of people and it's

just interesting seeing how many amazingly talented

artists there are. It's always kind of fun, hoping

you'll get that piece from that one person and

two years from now they'll be blowing up and

being that huge star, but you'll be like, hey,

I remember when they were just an artist alley.

I don't know if there's anyone I saw that I was

like, oh, that's that person, but there's certainly

a lot of talented artists out there. Yeah, there's

at least over 300 artists that are listed here.

And again, going back to the website, what I

love, I love the layout because every, it's just

like whenever we post a podcast, whoever I post

a podcast with, I try my best to get all of their

links that they want me to put like Twitter,

Instagram, TikTok, whatever. And that's the cool

thing about The Baltimore con website is like,

if they have all, like I've, I see, uh, the shadow

bindery. They only have two links, but I see

other things with like, you know, Facebook and

website and Instagram. So they have a, like,

see, you don't have to go, like, you don't have

to just Google the names. The links are all right

there. You can go to each other and it's not

just with artist alley. It's with all of the

stuff. And again, it's just so, so awesome. So

good. And yeah. support the local artists, support

the up and coming artists, but at the same time,

you know, you still want to, if you can get,

you know, those, those, those famous, famous

people. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if I could,

if I, if I had gone or if I was able to attend

any of these things in Jim Lee. Don't know if

I could stop myself from asking him questions

that probably I shouldn't ask him Well, it's

hard to even get to that point like he did have

a panel on a Friday I missed it But what's kind

of cool is he'll usually do like in his panels

He'll do a sketch and I'll kind of get you get

to see him and kind of draw in live -action And

he's he's led an interesting life because you

know, he's been all over comics for such a long

time Yeah, so but he was only there. I think

I think he was only there one day Which and they

they used to do like they used to have like a

DC panel and a Marvel panel when I don't they

haven't done that and I think mostly because

Since it's happening after New York like all

the announcements and stuff like that have pretty

much been announced at this point People are

kind of packing it up a little bit for the end

of the year. So I didn't really have any of those

but um they've had more like creator centric

panels and things like that, so but yeah, I That's

very cool very cool Anything else we need to

talk about with Baltimore was it was this year

one of your favorites? Was it how does this year

rank compared to other years that you've gone?

It was different for me. Like I said, I didn't

get to get to in any of the panels I felt like

the like like the Guest list of people like I

typically wanted to see was a little less than

normal Mostly because some of the people that

had a like a call like Mark Wade who's usually

always there Wasn't able to make it and stuff

like but there was still a good mixture Last

name Mario. Okay, what's your name? Luigi Luigi

Luigi Mario Mario Mario and Luigi Mario Mike

Mike up these Mario's around the side You know

it was a really solid year I thought like you

know for for I was missing it the last two years

it felt really good to be back and I felt like

it Didn't hasn't missed a step Well, Dan is literally

everywhere on social media folks Uh, you, unlike

me, cause I'm old and crotchety and I, I just,

I, I can't hip and hop with those TikTok peoples,

but you have embraced the TikTok lifestyle. You

want to talk about that? Sure. Yeah. I have,

um, about a year ago. Sorry, well I started doing

YouTube channel and then I thought you know what?

Let's do tick -tock to try to like get attention

for it And then I ended up enjoying tick -tock

more than YouTube. It's you know, there's there's

some benefits to both But yeah, most of my stuff

right now is on tick -tock I have had some videos

up there from Baltimore comic -con where I talk

about the yearbook I mentioned some videos of

the People that I The costumes and things like

that and also an Instagram There's some photos

of the people I met up with like I mentioned

like Tom King with shirards and a few others

So you can find my stuff there But right now

I but my best way to find myself is that comic

con tears on tik tok? Very cool. Very cool. Yeah,

I saw one of yours. I think cuz I'm like I said,

I'm I'm old and crotchety and I don't like change

That's why I use a debit card. I don't need change

But I saw one of yours because obviously it all

cross posts to our lovely website geocastradio

.com and It was the she hulk one Oh, yeah flipping

out about the oh my god, they did this. Oh my

god, they did Oh heaven forbid like I was like,

yeah, he's right. Hey, I Don't know what it is

And I've said this before in other shows The

MCU for me outside of Wanda, Hawkeye, and Falcon

and Winter ended with Endgame. Like, that's the

end of the story to that point, and I... I'm

having a hard... I refuse to watch... I don't

care about Loki as a character, so why would

I watch his show? Unless, you know... Whatever,

but like... Don't know I I feel like we are at

such a crossroads with MCU and it's like oh phase

four What's info that's in face? That's I? Guess

I said to somebody recently like why the hell

do I need to learn about the Eternals? Well my

she helped video is more so a satire on yeah

got mad because like daredevil was different

and I was just making fun of them because You

know because they also changed frog man I don't

know. I've been enjoying some stuff in phase

four. I really like shung she I I I really enjoyed

she Hulk honestly, I thought it was I thought

it was exactly what I wanted in a she Hulk TV

show it kind of really fit that bill pretty well.

Yeah, but you know, it's You know, I I'm if I

never got another superhero movie no matter what

it is I'd be fine with it at this point honestly,

like if I oh Catch them here and there. I am

excited for Black Panther 2. That looks really

solid. But um, but yeah, I I don't know like

they are where they are. I'm not like I've never

been like the I Don't say I'm burnt out. I just

like I like talking about other things I'll talk

about MCU stuff here and there but usually as

a bridge to talk about something else Yeah, because

there's other people out there that focus much

more on that that are that are more into it like

than I ever would be so I like talking about

comics comics, so Yeah, no, absolutely. And the

thing with me, it's like, yeah, I like it, but

it's not, I like the Dark Knight, but the Dark

Knight's over almost 15 years old at this point.

But you know what I mean? It's like, I like the

MCU. It's cool. It's fun. It's interesting what

they've done so far with it. But this phase four,

I was like, okay, I'm going to move on to something

else until. something catches my eye or my ear

and, and whatever. And like the Hawkeye show

was good. Like I already said, Hawkeye was good

and I liked that. I just, like you said, you're

right. You know, it is just like old Ed and I

used to always say no capes. Well, at this point,

the cape is basically, you know, burning the

ground on us because it's like. Holy crap, there

is just so much and there's so like I am so far

behind in comics I have like it's not even that

I don't have nowhere to do a starting point but

literally and I don't know who I'm gonna add

I think I'm gonna end up doing this one my Canadian

buddies, but I've had the 2014 I think at that

point it was the Marvel now the 2014 Iron Man

books the Iron Man trades from 2014 that was

Right around the time of extremists and things

like that and whatever else. I'm like, oh Okay,

uh -huh. I gotta read this. I gotta read that.

I just I can't keep up So for me, it's like with

comics. It's it's like oh Let's do this. Let's

do that. Like I'm into radiant black from Kyle

Higgins or Sean Murphy's Beyond the White Knight

because I like his White Knight universe You

know Turtles and all that and everything else,

but it's like I don't read I don't remember the

last time like I have Nightwing volume one by

is it God who is it Tom Taylor? Yes Tom Taylor

has it now, but I don't know if it was him that

was it always him doing it No, he didn't start

he started he didn't start you think When he

took over though, it's like oh, yeah. No, I've

heard nothing but good things Yeah, it's I I'm

a little bit out of like weekly comics right

now. I've been focusing mostly on Like original

graphic novels and things of that nature. Yeah,

but yeah, I mean that's a good thing about I

think about Marvel in DC is like you can just

like you can in most cases you can just pick

something up and you're fine like you can You

know tips at our ski just started doing Batman.

You can pretty much pick it up from there Which

is only a couple years ago and you'll be fine.

I mean there are some To me like Marvel and DC

are very much like pro wrestling I'd like WWE

technically they have stories that are going

on and have been connected for the last 30 plus

years But in reality you should be able to pick

up what's going on right now You know pick up

watch an episode or read an issue and understand

everything you need to If you don't then it's

probably just a badly written comic. That's like

much on the past but You pick up, you start something

at a starting point, which is why I actually

kind of like what they do when they renumber

it, when they get a new creative team, because

it makes you realize, okay, this is a good place

to jump in because they're starting something

new. People freak out about numbering up books,

but it's just a number. There's a lot of good

stuff out there. I would say, as I think Walter

and Comic -Con showed, it's a golden age of comics

because there's so much out there for different

ways. Kids' comics are now better than ever.

The amount of great kids' comics that exist,

as well as other genres and stuff. It's great

that horror comics are popular as ever and all

those other stuff. There's so much variety that

exists, even in how you consume them. The monthly

issue or monthly issues you can do the trades.

You can also like, you know, read them digitally

through things like Kindle will won't the other

the Comics on the web and stuff like that or

or stuff like hoopla hoopla is a great resource.

It's free You have a library it will it has Legitimately

like tons of books on there and a lot of stuff

current as well so if you if you're like yourself

and don't like to go places or be around people

or don't have a local comic store near you, Hoopla

is a good option. So. Yeah. I like that. Okay.

So this is the first time and I know this is

GeekCaster. We're talking about comics and it

ties into Comic -Con, whatever else, but over

on the pullback, we did a bunch of episodes where,

where you're just like, Oh, that idiot, that

stupid beehive guy buying out comixology and

ruining it by turning it. I still have the Comixology

app on my phone. It still works. It still gets,

you know, even though I have to buy the comics

on Amazon's website, at least they still get

delivered. But like I have a 32 inch flat panel

monitor from my computer. Like I want to be able

to read the things on my computer the way I have

been doing since 2013 with the pull bag. And

that was through Comixology and like Amazon did

not have to change the stuff. Yeah, as much as

they did Yeah, they really messed up comics ology.

It was legitimately one of the best things in

comics when it comes to up there Like is yeah,

it's been awful. I mean hoopla I wouldn't say

is a great app per se but it's just if it's free

and it's yeah good It's much more easy to navigate

than something like Amazon. So, you know because

like that's the thing I hate about Comics on

Amazon right now is that you try to look a book

on comics ology And you'll get everything so

it's just yeah, it's I wish they never did that

but you know, which is why we need another digital

platform That's not just comics ology. It's why

it's never good just to have some place to get

it So well, yeah, and I agree with that but the

thing of it is is like I said if it ain't broke

don't try to Ruin it like everything was what

like okay comics ology as a company may have

been bleeding money They may have needed a savior

fine. Whatever they've been owned by Amazon for

a long time since 2014 or 2015 or whatever that

I don't remember. Well, no it was anyway, the

point is is that All is like Amazon did not have

to Fit them into Kindle. They could have just

put Amazon .com slash Comixology and it would

just go to the original website How everything

was supposed to like I can't like if I wake up

on a Wednesday morning and I realize oh my Comic

didn't whatever didn't this or didn't that or

oh this side that I'm not even subscribed to

came out Oh, I want to go grab it. I can't do

that on the Comixology app hell I can't even

do that on Chrome on my I have to actually go

to get up out of bed go to my computer And get

out. So that's why I'm going through my entire

comxology. Like I mentioned that the twenty fourth

or twenty twelve Iron Man series or, you know,

older stuff or, you know, even some of the newer

stuff. I still get it. But, you know, I don't

know. It's just it's crazy. But Baltimore Comic

Con 2022. Very, very cool. Very awesome. It sounds

like it was just one of those really nice low

-key things. Again, where it falls, right before

Halloween, most people, including me, you get

to October 31st, you're like, okay, I'm resting

until January 3rd. Not necessarily, okay, it's

holiday time, but it's more like, hey, let's

just take a break, everybody. Yeah, it used to

be like it used to be Labor Day weekend and then

I got a little bit later in September and now

it's the end of October So I kind of wish it

was a little earlier I'm not a huge fan of it

being whole a Halloween weekend because With

kids and stuff like that you have like I felt

bad because there's like so much stuff we didn't

do Yeah, so but you know, I like I get why they

did it. So it makes sense Alright, folks, we're

gonna get the heck out of here. Dan, where can

the people find you online? You can find me at

Comic Con Sears on TikTok. It's probably the

best place to find my stuff. Very cool, very

cool. We are at Geocast Radio on Twitter. I am

at TF2 and Mike. You can always visit the website,

geocastradio .com. Check out all the content

over there. And next time, I don't know, folks,

I don't have a plan. I think my buddy Josh and

I are gonna do something, but... I, I, I, no,

no clue. No clue. So, we will talk to you soon

here on Geekcast Radio. Unleash the geek in you.

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