The Flash Season Zero Review

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network Hey, it's Jesse

Rass and do you love comic books? Do you have

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only find it here on the GCRN, otherwise known

as the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag! This is episode 311. No, we

are not creatures for a while and you wouldn't

believe what the hell we're talking about now

because, um, I don't know, insert 311 song here.

Am of course TF2 and Mike joining me once again.

It's been a while Dane Lamont from Punisher Body

Count. Hello, sir Oh, hey there Mike glad to

be here. Absolutely. How the hell have you been?

Doing really good doing really good. We just

released the most recent episode of Punisher

Body Count a few days ago and My good and my

co -host and good friend Jake is actually coming

down to my my hometown You know this coming Saturday

to hang out with me apparently him and his family

really like Central, Pennsylvania, so they're

gonna stay with me for a bit and You know, I'm

really looking forward to that. Hope everything's

going well with you Yes, everything's going super

super. Well, it's a little too hot but other

than that Everything is going well We've had

a variety of things hit the pull bag releases

lately For anyone that doesn't know hasn't been

listening to the show I did my first live on

location thing back in episode 306 for free comic

book day at the local comic shop here in In the

Grayslake, Illinois area at Jay's comics. So

we did that We talked fairyland. We talked team

and thundercats. We talked the Funko universe

and then the xenoscope 10th anniversary one shots

in the last month or so And that's pretty much

what's going on. I am in massive Pre -production

mode on autobot Lee August this year for all

the transformers coverage that we'll be doing

So that's going on there as far as what's gonna

happen in July and all that stuff who knows Episodes

311 to 316 will be coming out sadly episode 316

I have listed as a certain comic from a certain

company and I don't think it features Stone Cold

at all in the first trade for the WWE comic which

sucks because it's the whole reason why I put

it as episode 316 because you know Stone Cold

Steve Austin But we're here and in a flash we're

gonna give you our opinions on the flash season

zero I need you to urinate. What is happening?

What's going on? You were struck by lightning,

dude Lightning gave me apps you were in a coma

For how long? Nine months. Welcome back, Mr.

Allen. We have a lot to discuss. This is the

kind of tie -in prequel. It really doesn't tie

into anything with the CW series, The Flash.

It is based off of that. It is written by Andrew

Crestberg for the most part. The creative on

this, there's six stories, freak show, smoke

signals, King Shark, Black Star, Day in the life

ice and fire and melting point Crestburg pretty

much works is story credited on all of these

as well as Mark Guggenheim But Crestburg is not

around the CW television universe anymore for

things you people might have seen in the news

certain Allegations of a Bill Cosby nature. Let's

say and we're just gonna move straight away from

that Yeah, I don't even really like When this

originally came out I was like ooh, I want to

cover this I want to do this I want to get my

yeah, can I ask you why why? Why why a tie -in

what like this is when what's a good example

of this? Like when they do an Iron Man video

game. It's a video game based on a movie based

on Based on the comics like you you seem to have

a real like I remember Jake and I were on here

when you did Punisher the movie the comic which

was a copy of a copy From welcome back Frank

you have this um You have this pattern of going

I want to be so many steps away from the original

material And normally like just what what possessed

you to and I here's the thing I I do have an

opinion that might be different from what my

tone is right now, but what? made you want to

say I gotta get this tie -in comic to this reasonably

well -to -do CW show. It's funny you mentioned

Iron Man because the Iron Man 3 prelude comics

were what I were the very first episode of the

show five years ago episode one. So I ever since

I've been podcasting. A few people that I had

listened to in the beginning. Sadly, I don't

listen to a lot of stuff anymore because I'm

producing so much stuff. I wish I could spend,

you know, the thousands of hours listening as

I do producing anymore, but way back when, you

started episode zero, give the people an introduction

to your show, and then you go forward from there.

So episode one, at the time when the pull bag

launched in 2013, was like right before Iron

Man 3 was going to come out. So I saw in my comic

shop Oh prelude to Iron Man 3 and I am a huge

Robert Downey Jr. Tony Stark Marvel Universe

Iron Man fan ever since you know the original

2008 film ten years of Iron Man God it's been

ten years since the Marvel Universe started Marvel

Cinematic Universe I should say because they've

rebooted the actual Marvel Universe like 20 million

times, so let's not even go there so it i don't

know i i'd like uh... i'd like to the cw series

that that they've been on t v uh... no they're

good arrows are okay sit here yet for the death

of the most part so here's how i how i look at

the cw t b stuff arrow season one and two are

great seasons three and four are abysmal for

arrow season five was okay Wasn't horrible. It

wasn't as horrible as season three and four and

then season six for arrow this blast season They

just finished was actually really really good

flash has been good from the get -go It is falling

off a few times in season three, but season four

was great because no speedster as villains I

love legends anyone that says anything against

legends of tomorrow can kiss my ass Because that

show is just fun, and it knows it's the fun show

Right now Supergirl is my least favorite It's

just a whole thing but no at the time when this

had come out because this was originally a I

don't know if it was weekly or whatever. It was

one of there It was one of the DC Comics original

digital short series things and I was like, oh

cool. They're doing something in the comics that

pertains to the cw universe with the flash that's

kind of cool and i had really paid attention

to it i only saw you know grant gustin's you

know flash mugshot on on on the cover of one

of the issues and really pay that much attention

to it but i figured hey you know four or five

years later why the hell not do this i don't

know i mean the flashes of her That's the perfect

time to review and discuss a tie -in comic to

season one of a long -running CW show It's like

fine wine. Yeah It's dead. Let's just drink it

Iris is dating the cop in this one. Yeah Okay.

So yeah, this does take place pretty much within

the confines of season one of the flash At the

same time though The stories are unique enough

to where it doesn't feel like I have to watch

the entire first season again to get it Oh, no,

in fact, this is what I will say is when I realized

what I agreed to oh my god This is so why did

I agree to cover like a tie -in comic to? another

DC TV show but then I thought about it and I

realized that these comics have a surprisingly

good track record Yeah, like the adventures of

Superman those were actually written by Mark

Millar a good good portion of them and they are

all very solid comics that fall in line with

the rest of the Superman series same deal with

the Batman comics that were connected to Batman

the animated series solid comics often done by

people who were connected to the show and maybe

they couldn't get Those scripts into the TV show

or maybe this was then beta testing an idea and

all those comics were just very Solid stories

that weren't tampered down or weren't hampered

down by the continuity of the mainline comics

and this is the same thing like it took me a

couple comics to get into this and i'm not going

to say this is all an eiser award -winning comic

but it's exactly what you said mike they're just

they're just nice yeah they're nice comics none

of them are offensively bad none of them are

great but the vast majority of them are just

very nice exactly which they really isn't used

to since he mostly covers a guy that kills people

all the time Oh, dude, every day is Sunday with

with that cut or every day is Wednesday. It's

freaking great. Now. Hey, here's the thing. We're

mixing it up because now he's in the war machine

armor and he just destroyed a nation. Is he really

an entire nation? Yeah, because Rudy died in

Civil War two. And then Nick Fury, Nick Fury's

son, also known as Samuel L. Jackson, gave Frank

Roadies armor before roadies body even gets cold

and it does like here I need you to overtake

some Eastern European country and I just need

you to like basically turn it into a Grand Theft

Auto Grand Theft Auto video game where you're

just open world just wreck shit, you know You

know what have been really funny is if they put

Frank in the iron Patriot armor Normally I go

panel by panel page by page. We're not gonna

do that. This is six stories I Really liked like

two or three of them the first one Outside of

the Joker. I hate clowns. I Just cannot stand

clowns and I haven't enjoyed the circus since

I was 10 years old. So Circus stories pretty

much I don't care. What I will say about the

first story, entitled Freak Show, is that I love

the art. I think the art is amazing in it. I

love the way they do the internal monologue bubbles.

I think that's great. I love the interactions

with all the characters, like with Flash and

Wells and Sisko and Kaelin. I love that. The

story in itself is predictable as all hell. Suppose

I mean there were a few little twists like they

humanized some of the circus performers pretty

well, you know Here's what I actually like about

this story. Is that for like this? I said I got

off on a bad foot with this with this freak show

circus time story because I thought Well first

it's interesting to note and you're probably

aware of this that a lot of superhero comics

have their origins Through the circus like the

strongman outfit is what superman's outfit was

based on and that's why a lot of our superheroes

wear spandex because that's the circus Was like

a the circus designs were kind of a template

for a lot of early day superheroes, right? But

I thought Jesus Christ even in 2014 when these

comics came out. Yes circus is pretty played

out I always feel like the circus is like the

last refuge for creative ideas for comics But

this this comic this first arc kind of explores

that like the whole point is the circus is on

the way out and The people who have devoted their

lives to being a circus freak. They might be

a little upset at that Yeah, like a West Virginia

coal miner. You're just like hey, what the fuck

would I do wrong? Yeah, and and sometimes you

lash out in the world Yeah But like some of this

stuff is just like Like the main villain of the

piece mr. Bliss or whatever his name is yeah

Oh, I didn't tell you what my power was blah

like I saw Because this is so like you said this

is done in 2014 This is you know pretty much

in conjunction with even though it does not directly

tie to the television show But it's pretty much

in conjunction with what was going on in season

one of the flash and season one of the flash

for the most part until almost the very last

half of the season was villain of the week and

this feels like a very villain of the week very

predictable story like as soon as he said oh

but you haven't figured out my power yet I'm

like okay so now we're gonna figure it out and

we're gonna be screwed yeah I will say with the

art even though I love like I said Phil Hester

and Eric Gabster's art Don't know how like it's

DC Comics. You think that with DC and Warner

Brothers and CW and all that, you know Being

all together and everything else You'd have you'd

be able to get the likenesses and I get it, you

know about artists interpretation What I don't

like about this entire book is how pretty much

all of the characters Do not look like the people

who portray them on television at all I mean,

they're not even getting the hair color down.

I know This actually made me really hate Hester's

artwork and then I realized wait, wasn't this

guy on green arrow? Didn't he have a great run

on that? Don't I like this guy's artwork? What's

my problem? It did does he have a weird anchor

and I thought and then you nailed it Mike I just

went oh, this is cuz no one looks like who I

expect from the TV show. Yeah, at all. And here's

the thing, if they even reverted to even like

Barry Allen from the comics or whatever, because

sometimes they do that because they feel like

that's a comic book medium, which just go with

what they'd look like in the comics. They don't

even do that. It's just some weird middle no

ground. What these characters look like and I

they literally had to be like, hey, dr. Wells

I'm like for real. That's dr. Wells looks nothing

like Tom Cavanaugh weird crater face, man. Okay

Yeah, he's in a wheelchair. I guess Well, yeah,

because dr. Wells was in the wheelchair the first

season because he was my point is that yeah Oh,

okay. Yeah. Yeah exactly. Yeah, so No offense

to Phil Hester or Eric Gapster, who for the most

part did the art and the colors on this, because

what I love about them is they were on the mark

of the phantasm arc for the Batman Beyond 2 .0

with Kyle Higgins. I love their art in that.

They nailed Batman Beyond in that. I don't know

what it is here. I'm not sure. Again, like I

said, if it's... Rights like a likeness rights

issue or something the only time flash aka Barry

looks any good Or looks sort of similar to Grant

Gustin who portrays him on the show Is when he's

in the suit when he's in the suit. It's fine

when he's out of the suit. It's a little weird

I will say that when they actually show the circus

performers that Phil Hester's artwork works a

lot Better exactly expect something a little

bit more fantastical from them. Yeah, and And

you know, we give them more leeway in that meanwhile

when it actually comes to the actors I really

appreciated this guy popped in and out as an

artist. I think his name was Marcus toe Mm -hmm,

and I or to I'm sure it's an Asian last name

and I might be mangling it but I really liked

his artwork it was very detailed very fine and

Very the realism style obviously worked very

well for portraying a TV show transferred to

a comic But these come out at these came out

bi -weekly right these chapters digitally Yeah,

it was usually like every other Saturday or something

or every other Yeah, the the DC digital stuff

was usually on Saturdays instead of Wednesdays.

I don't know why don't ask me I have no clue,

but I remember Waking up every other Saturday

morning. Oh a new Batman Beyond 2 .0 issue. Yay

DC Digital is kind of the short films of the

comic industry where it's like, yeah We don't

have a lot of faith, but we want what we like

you as a creator So we're gonna put you on the

digital comic and we're just gonna hope the name

recognition Really gets us by all right. Enjoy

your run on Batman Beyond. Yeah, so like that

kind of thing. Yeah Absolutely. Yeah. So, Freak

Show wasn't my favorite. I liked it towards the

end. Yeah, I liked it towards the end, and you're

right. The art on the circus performers is wonderful

because, again, they are villains, characters,

whatever you want to call them, people that aren't

pre -existing at this point. in the show like

if it it like later when they do uh... he wave

in captain cold i will i don't have any issue

with that later on but like my point in saying

this now is these circus performers people are

you know basically quote -unquote new characters

that the artist can put their own stamp on without

having to wonder oh are people like me like you

like whomever gonna say oh i don't like the art

or i don't like the way this character looks

because it's not What we've seen in the show

But other than that freak show was was okay Well,

the only other thing I'll say is I bet you the

reason why this didn't make it to TV was I guess

I'm sure there would be some logistical reasons

because making an entire circus and getting actors

and the Prosthetics that would be tough. But

not only that but someone had to have stepped

in and go dude Marvel already has this setup.

It's called the circus of crime. There's the

ringmaster They're literally hypnotizes people

to make them believe and feel things. I was like,

are you shitting me? This is the same thing They

did this in she all like in the 80s even before

she all it's They did it they brought in the

ringmaster in the recent Hawkeye series That

he got shot in the face with an arrow ring master

like this is not a new idea on any level But

like beyond that beyond that being like not Original

it's still a nice story. I know that seems like

a back -ended compliment Yeah, the reason why

it's a nice story is the way that Kressberg writes

the flash and the characters that go along with

him Because it's lines I can hear in my head

Grant Gustin saying I can hear the character

saying like some of the the internal monologue

lines and things That is what that's the highlight

of this entire run the entire 24 chapters or

whatever is that you have to do a few things

right for any kind of tie -in comic to work and

one of the top ones is do the characters sound

like they do in the TV show or movie and they

do it perfectly because the people that are writing

this have some connection with the TV show because

there's even a scene where the flash is going

up a guy that it pulls swords out of his throat

which once again What which once again like okay?

How is sword man going to fight a man? That is

faster than the speed of light or speed of sound

at this point But anyway, there's a scene so

there's no tension. No tension It is literally

like me bring a rock to a guy with a gun But

there's a scene where Grant Gustin's in the comic

is going well is that folded steel? I bet that

balance is really well You could merely make

a good job at like being a blacksmith at a rent

fair and I go that's such a nerd thing to say

And that fits his character. That does sound

like something he'd say into the in the show

where he just nerds out a little bit and or explain

some science to people when he probably should

be fighting for his life. I go to me. That's

real true. Cisco. I don't know if we want to

get this far. Cisco is top tier in this comic.

He's always great. He actually did legitimately

funny things in a quick cash and tie in comic.

Yeah. In this and this is before he was vibing

all over the universe That's good for me. I was

happy with them as a regular dude. I knew where

they were going There's always power creep in

these shows Everyone has to have superpowers

or the the showrunner has to really like you

and your name has to be Felicity and that way

but Besides that you have to be a superhero eventually.

Yeah eventually the second story smoke signals

because you know Felicity I have always loved

the idea of not necessarily have them in a relationship

but the idea of Barry and Felicity always hanging

out because their chemistry whether on the page

or on the screen is so good yeah they're two

people that really understand each other yeah

absolutely These chapters nine and ten they were

actually written by Andrew Kreisberg and Mark

Guggenheim and that that makes sense plus like

Did you see the samurai episode in the flash?

Okay, so I thought this comic reminds me of something

I haven't watched the flash as far into it as

you have I kind of blanked out after um Well

the beginning of season three where flash is

kind of screwed up the timeline again And I said

I'll wait on this but I do remember the samurai

episode later on I go This is the same. This

is what's great is you can tell this is the You

can see how an idea Translates and sometimes

degrades itself before it actually gets to TV

because in the comic it's Felicity smoke being

captured by not one robot an army of robots and

they want to introduce a nemesis and flash has

to fight an army of robots through a cool freaking

wind farm as he goes up the propeller blades

and does spinning flying crane kicks in the air

and shit taking these dudes down and in the in

the TV show you can see well maybe they couldn't

get Felicity for this maybe they thought Iris

would work better maybe they thought we're not

CGI is the CGI budget isn't going to Bring in

50 robots and make it all look good. Make it

one robot. Make it look like a Power Rangers

episode. That's what you can afford. To me, that's

what makes these so interesting, is what made

it into the comic and what had to be revised

for the TV show. Right. Absolutely. This comic,

I think, needed to have a second chapter. or

whatever or a third you know whatever because

i'm reading this in trade so i'm reading this

as 200 pages all 24 chapters all at once i'm

not reading this single issue style so When I

got to the end of this, when she's like, when

he's like, you've got a nemesis, I deserve a

nemesis. I'm like, wait, that's it? I want more,

damn it. See, it makes very little sense in the

wider context of this comic. I thought, do I

need to start reading the Aero digital comics

now? No. Because this is why one of the benefits

is I shouldn't have to get too knee deep. in

comic book continuity to enjoy a comic based

on a TV show that mostly minds its own business.

I know there's crossovers and stuff, but right

now I feel like what's. And once again, I think

that character I did a little bit of research

here. I think that character was supposed to

be the bug eye bandit. Isn't that because she

used to work at Mercury Labs? Yeah, I think that's

who it's supposed to be. Yeah. Yeah. And I think

she is supposed to be the nemesis of Felicity

Smoke. Yeah, I think that's who it's supposed

to be. Once again, you can see like, because

that's what happens, you pitch ideas to the showrunner

or whatever, they go, I like this idea, but I'm

also going to make eight different changes to

it. And so that can happen a lot. Like this is

a lot of these comics, like I said, are like

draft one to these ideas. Yeah, absolutely, but

I absolutely love this story. The King Shark

story was pretty cool too. I wasn't sure where

that was going, but I really did dig it and I'm

not the biggest Suicide Squad fan at all. Now

you notice, if you go back and you finish watching

Season 3 and then watch Season 4 of The Flash,

because of the movie and whatever... WB is doing

with them at some point or another. Suicide Squad

is pretty much removed from the CWTV universe

at this point. They're all either in jail somewhere

or whatever. So it was kind of cool going back

here and seeing, hey, it's a Suicide Squad story

and Amanda Waller is actually alive because they've

since killed her in the CWTV universe. But I

dug the King Shark storyline. I think my favorite

piece of art in this story is the page where

Joe is saying, I could put a police detail on

them, but I'm not sure how to describe the perp.

Pointy nose sharp teeth looks like a star of

jaws What I love about this is the very bottom

part of the page where it's Barry sent You know

replying to him basically and it's got the flash

suit in the background and like black and red

Oh cuz it's it's a shadow thing. I love how they

did that in the art It's funny you mentioned

that cuz the vast majority of the time this shark

looks like a fucking dope Yeah, I just can't

see him as a threatening dude and he eats people

and I still look like Dude, you look like you

moonlight at Chuck E Cheese. What the fuck is

this? You look like you're Jabber Jaw's annoying

cousin at this point Yes, yeah, he literally

just has this constant durr face and I can't

I can't do it like I what's even better is they

actually try and make you feel bad for this Thank

God they went this route was like I am like the

old Frankenstein. I am NOT a monster. I am a

man Don't society misunderstands me. It's like

holy shit. I agree with that I'm misunderstanding

you because clearly someone wanted me to see

you as a threat. Oh my god They literally even

say when Frank when uh when the flash gets his

uh Arm caught, Cisco says, punch him in the nose

a bunch of times. And I was like, okay, this

is a joke episode. I don't need to take this

seriously anymore. My favorite, outside of that

panel I mentioned with the flash, the best time

the shark actually looks good in the art is when

they fry him at the end. And it's all red and

yellow and... all that kind of stuff that was

the the coolest the shark looked is when he was

essentially getting defeated yeah yeah that I

mean that's kind of a problem but yes yeah it's

very much a problem and they actually say like

welcome even he says now I'm a freak I belong

in the suicide squad you know my life is basically

over thanks anyway I can see why they didn't

put this into flash because I know flash has

dark moments but This is just a man being kicked

in the balls by the universe again and again

and gets almost no comeuppance No reward for

it. It's just like well. I lost my family my

life my livelihood I'll never be able to lay

down with a woman without paying for it anymore

And my god and the government will kill me if

I run away But you know what at least I'm friends

with these psychopaths, but you know silver lining

No, there's absolutely no silver lighting. If

they did this in a Batman story, Batman would

go, holy shit, dude, that's dark. I'm never going

to complain about my dead parents ever again.

No, Batman would probably just pull out his shark

repellent. Yeah, just to get the depression away

from him. Exactly. Yeah. Jesus. Oh lord. Alright,

so that's the King Shark story. Next up is Blackstar.

My one note about this is I thought this story

had really good, like a nice little beat, like

a back beat for Caitlyn, like she did stuff before

she was at Star Labs, which we know she has,

but this was a nice little focus on her story,

even though it's kind of just there. Well, you

know what's funny black star in the next comic

day in the life They are the only comics that

are considered cannon to the flash TV show. Oh,

because you think oh, that's neat Like these

stories didn't quite make it make the cut to

the flash TV show, but they still happened, right?

They're pretty non -consequential, but there's

there's always something and This is like verified

by both the fans and the creators There's always

they always do something in the comics that contradicts

what happens in the TV show And the TV show obviously

overrides it like the circus freaks. What happens

to the circus freaks at the end of the comet?

Where do they go? Like who knows? No, they end

up in the They they end up in the cells in star

labs, right? Yeah. Okay, but there's a big breakout

In the tv show and the circus freaks aren't out

of there. So obviously the circus freaks never

really existed It was all a dream same deal with

fish fry because they already dealt with king

shark a couple times In the flash in the second

season, um, they even say shay lambden on earth

one is dead and then like with this of mentors

and and meltdowns, they actually just totally

revised that story and gave that character to

another guy, Matthew Kim. But Blackstar, just

a poor man, what's, Jesus, think about it, this

is some body horror shit. He's supposed to like,

what was it, hibernate in space for nine months?

Something like that, yeah. And I think oh, yeah,

that's actually a good that's that's a reasonable

thing to ask for someone because for space travel

and everything That's really cool. And then he

gets screwed over because what what like does

does a small asteroid hit the thing and makes

integrator There's some kind of malfunction.

Yeah, and he just becomes some David Lynch monster

landing on earth That flash decides he has to

punch until Like this is another motherfucker

that just got like a bad hand and his ending

is Having a woman that he loved and her face

Basically keeping him alive. She says like hey

look at my face. I'm gonna cause you to self

-destruct So the government won't experiment

you on you anymore. Mm -hmm. Did any of these

have a good ending? I guess Day in the Life.

Yeah, Day in the Life and Fire and Ice had an

okay ending, I think. I like that one. Those

were criminals! Okay, but, okay, yes, okay, yes,

Captain Cold and Heatwave are criminals, but

if you watch through the rest of the series,

like through Flash and through Legends, they

actually turn them into heroes at one point or

another. Oh, I love Legends of Tomorrow. Yeah,

so, I mean... What I liked about fire and ice

or ice and fire or whatever the search called

is the fact that it's kind of like Showing you

how snark went through all these other people

and before he found Mick and it's kind of like

the beginning of their friendship so You don't

necessarily have to go all the way back to the

beginning of the flash TV series You can just

read this little story Yeah, well once again,

this is what they call like an anime the filler

arc yeah, because this really doesn't push the

Season for it. I mean nothing can it's season

zero. They're just like where these these are

let's milk the fans for these And give them some

fan service and this isn't a fan service episodes

like you like these two guys, right? These two

criminals and yeah, everyone does they were some

of the best characters in both flash and Legends

of tomorrow So why not give them kind of a prequel?

I think these two were among my favorites. Yeah,

absolutely They really really were Yeah, I mean

obviously we still have to get to the last story

here in a minute, but like if I'm picking Smoke

signals a day in the life and ice and fire are

my three favorite out of these six stories Okay

so melting pot It's okay, it's another Caitlin

centric story, which is fine. I like Caitlin.

I don't have any problem with with her having

a central story role at all I just figured this

was gonna be like and I know they couldn't have

done this because it was so it's been so long

ago that they did this but I wanted this to be

like seeing how Killer Frost has always been

inside of her because that was another thing

that came out in season four was that the Killer

Frost that's inside Caitlin has always been there.

She wasn't mutated by or wasn't affected by the

particle accelerator. That didn't give her the

Killer Frost powers. She's always had them. Or

the Killer Frost persona, the alter ego thing.

So that's what I was kind of hoping this would

have been. Yeah, they've always struggled with

trying to make her... do we make her an ice -cold

standoffish character or do we make do we make

her into something where she can bounce off and

have feelings and They've always kind of struggled

with that balance and even in the comic they

make this clear because even in that one shot

with the space monster man She showed more empathy

there than with an old mentor that had clearly

gone insane Yeah, the mentor who tried who in

just like you said basically encouraged Her to

be to feel less things and to be a dick to other

people because that Why should you ever be nice

to someone who's lesser than you and what? What

would be the point of that in this comic dude?

I can't even Fully remember what was going on.

I remember she made a perpetual motion machine

That was a lie to trap her students and she wanted

to join that her to do something She basically

wanted to, the teacher got turned half human,

half infinity, propulsion or propulsion or whatever,

and she wanted to basically have three become

one kind of a thing. Think of Spice Girls except

better. You know, where she wanted Caitlin and

this other guy to join her to become one with

her or whatever, and they do all this stuff.

But obviously that didn't happen It was a really

weird story It was a really weird story the only

part about it that I enjoyed was the fact that

it was giving Caitlin more of a background than

then obviously we had seen in Season one of the

television show That was really the only thing

that I had enjoyed about This last story and

there's no like you couldn't pay me enough money

to look at the Arrow digital comics. You just

couldn't. If there was Legends digital comics,

sure, I'd be all over that. But the Arrow 2012

-2015 series, no thank you. Don't they call that

Arrow Season 2 .5 or something? They originally

did. It was bridging the gap between Seasons

2 and 3 of the hit TV series, um, yet new. I

guess. I don't feel strongly about them one way

or the other. Yeah. The sad thing is, Comixology

has three collected editions for the Arrow digital

series. One is, I assume, everything. The other

two is volume one and volume two, which makes

zero sense. Why have one trade with all of it,

and then two others with volume one, volume two?

Because some people don't understand value, and

they go like, well, the Omnibus is $12, but...

I want to spend seven dollars on one trade then

get mad that I have to spend seven dollars on

the second Okay, the the crazy thing is right

now as of this recording They're on you're right.

They're all 1299 the three trades are but right

now they're on set They're all three of them

are on sale for 999 you just buy the one buy

the buy the season 2 .5 as you said like don't

buy the other don't spend $20 when you can basically,

you know Get it all in one Come on That's like

me trying to spend 30 bucks on the eight issues

that it would cost to get Batman white night

When I can just wait for October to get the trade

for $12 .99 or whatever it is See this is why

whenever I go to a buffet I wear a trench coat

because there's extra pockets and you get extra

value for those things and And if they ever stop

you you just pretend you don't speak English,

and then they start speaking in Chinese You're

like nope no sale either there, and you just

walk out. What are they gonna? Do call the cops?

You got your spring rolls motherfucker Of getting

the under bus yes, exactly God the flash season

zero Overall, it was okay. It's nothing to write

home about. Like I said, three out of the six

stories, I absolutely enjoyed. I would give each

of those stories probably a four and a half because

I enjoyed them so much. The rest of them, I'd

probably give it a two and a half out of five

on each of the other three stories. Overall,

I'd probably give the whole trade a three and

a half out of five. What about you? This is basically

two steps above fan fiction. Yeah, it actually

turns into real good fan fiction, but You it's

almost if these people weren't involved with

the TV show. I would have said that this is a

guy going Well, here's how I would have handled

king shark I'd make him a tragic character because

whenever someone sees a guy looking like a shark

they think this guy has a lot of Shakespearean

pathos attached to him or Or no even like all

this poor Asian pilot guy that turns into a monster

that one actually made sense For for that story,

but you can't do that story again and again The

sheer what like doing this just hit me on the

sheer lack of variety with these flash stores

You're in a fucking comic have them go back in

time have them fight a dinosaur Do something

you you can't fight Grodd more because you you

clearly can only do that once per season with

flash Do something that you don't have to worry

of a CGI budget about this comic is such it's

nice for what it is But boy goddamn is it a wasted

opportunity is it? Of what you could have done

with this stuff I would love to see Cisco go

back in time fight the devil. I don't know But

uh let's see here. I guess I'd give this like

a three three point five out of five like I don't

Actively hate myself for reading this and there

were some parts that Genuinely surprised me or

pleasantly surprised me by how good some of the

dialogue was Yeah, but I will quickly forget

these stories the next time I go drinking. Oh

Yeah, absolutely, you know next time you're out

back of the dollar general store looking for

certain things Dollar general no number. I know

that's the dollar general there. That was a thing

recently I actually used that in a comedy act

and got me to Got me pretty far in a comedy competition.

Oh sweet. Yeah. Yeah, it's one of those evergreen

jokes Apparently very much is Alright folks,

we're gonna take a quick break. We're gonna come

back with final thoughts, promotions, and all

that other good stuff. We'll be back in a moment.

This is 80's Action Sensation on the Schwarzenegger,

and I'm here to tell you about the podcast I

produced called Punisher Body Count. It's the

Net's best Punisher podcast, but don't take my

word for it. Listen to the hosts. Punisher Body

Count is a work in progress to listen to this

great show. You can find this on iTunes. Just

search PunisherBottyCount or come to our website

PunisherBottyCount .com To understand what I'm

about to tell you, you need to do something first.

You need to believe in the impossible. Can you

do that? Good. You see that red blur? That's

me. That too. There I am again. My name is Barry

Allen. I am the fastest man alive. Alright folks,

we are back and can you believe it? It's been

about... Four years since Dane was on the show

or so four or three or four years because you

were in the outtakes episode from 2015 But the

last time you were on the show for the pullback

is when we talked about cowl volume one principles

of power Guess what folks next week episode 312

312 for Chicago cowl volume 2 the greater good

So that's what's coming up. What do you got coming

up in Punisher body count around July 2018? You

got any ideas yet? Oh, yes We are going to be

interviewing Matthew Rosenberg who is done some

television, but mostly comic book writing He's

one of the creators of Ashcan Press and he's

currently writing in my opinion one of the best

Punisher runs in recent memory So Jake and I

harassed him on Twitter a good bit. So and now

he's finally succumbing to our demands. You don't

understand, Mike, we've put out bounties. There's

a thousand dollar bounty if we can get Garth

Ennis to notice us. If Senpai notices us and

even says no to the show, we will give that person

that made that moment happen a thousand dollar

reduce. And that's real. What's the other thing

we're doing obviously Jake is coming over to

To my house for a bit and we'll we'll probably

do a Q &A session with the fan base doesn't have

to be Punisher based But we're what we just want

to basically it's kind of it's our vacation dude,

like we're gonna have a good time We're not necessarily

gonna be on and having podcast arguments. But

the other thing is we I might I can't really

talk about it too much, but I might go on some

guys show about anime girls in a In a week or

two and how to go to New York City for that and

argue about anime which I'm pretty jazzed about

pretty jazzed Yeah, but that's that's what's

going on with me right now. Very cool Where do

the people find you online Facebook Twitter any

of that stuff? Well Basically, you can just punch

in punish your body count those three words into

Google and all our stuff will show up We do have

a Twitter and boy if you ever want to see like

what looks like a desperate girlfriend or a guy

Trying to hit on Selena Gomez visit our Twitter

because all you see is like Donny Cates Please

come on the show Donny Cates. Come on Donny Donny,

please Oh god, I'm so lonely. Those are pretty

good and we say sometimes say hello to the fans

on Twitter Then we also have the Facebook fan

group But that one's a very active group and

some really good discussions are had there And

of course you can visit us on punish your body

count calm. You can also visit our coffee page

Are you aware coffee calm? Mike I think so I

think I've seen you guys post about it Yeah,

it's a very nice tipping service if you want

to buy us a cup of coffee you can and it also

Allows us to create cool bonus material And actually

it allowed us to pay a professional guy from

Nova Scotia to edit the show and have some really

nice some real nice wavelengths some primo shit

and What else? Oh, yeah, and please and if you

guys Have thought anything I said was funny or

insightful Check me out on iTunes because I have

a prank phone call album called the Paul Perrone

tapes And I've decided to start pushing that

again, so please check that out to our Google

Play Or on that streaming service for rappers,

the name I forget. But yeah, just do that, too.

Awesome. You can find me on Twitter at TFU and

Mike. Follow the show on Twitter at The Pull

Bag. Of course, at GeekCast Radio for all the

other network updates and everything else. You

can catch us on Facebook and anywhere. You know,

comic book podcasts are heard, I guess. iTunes,

Stitcher. Spreaker, all that good stuff. As I

said earlier, next time around, Dane's gonna

be back. We're gonna head over to where I currently

live in Chicago and talk about Cowell Volume

2 from Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel, and Rod Rice.

So that's what's coming up next here inside the

pull bag. Make your greatest game in the comics

and we will catch you next time. You've just

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