Origins with Edward and Kendra Hale on Comic Reading

You've just jumped inside the pull bag. Join

TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic reading crew

here at the GCIRN as they make their great escape

into comics. From DC, Marvel, IDW, Boom Studios,

Xenoscope, and more, we have everything you want

to read right here. Transformers comics? Yeah,

we cover that. He -Man? Yeah, sure. DC superheroes

like Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Batman Beyond?

Yep, we have those too. How about TMNT from IDW

and I Hate Fairyland from Image Comics? Yeah,

we have all that here. Plus, so much more. It's

all inside the pullback here on the Geekcast

Radio Network. So without any further ado, it's

time to talk about the comics we are reading

right now here inside the pullback. yay yeah

because i have to actually look at the questions

that's why i'm like no video i just do audio

um all right god i haven't done one of these

in a while you'd think i'd remember how to do

my own podcast wake up wake up wake up maybe

you need coffee i need to make you some coffee

too no no no no all right I'm sure you do. I'm

just ever since, I don't know, 10 years ago or

so, I just got off the coffee kick. Just don't

like the taste of it anymore. I don't know. Maybe

I haven't had good coffee in a while. Anyway,

all right. Hello and welcome to the pull bag

This is episode 383 and this is not the episode

383 that you were expecting because 383 originally

was supposed to be Image comics I hate fairyland

volume for the final installment of that Scotty

Young masterpiece. Sadly that is postponed until

further notice I am of course TF2 and Mike. This

is the pull bag origins episodes where we get

the story of how people got into or out of comics.

And today I am, it's all hail to the hails because

I have Kendra and Edward Hale with me today.

Hello. Hello. Hello. Yes. And continuing on with

the interviews for Origins, we have the new 25

question format. Which Kendra actually helped

with some of that. Thank you so much because

I was like going out of my mind. Like what questions

do I ask? How can I change this? How can I make

it more in depth? Like I can't think of anything

anymore. Alright, so how this is going to go

is I'll ask a question. Obviously ladies first

because we are gentlemen around here in the answers.

So Kendra will answer first, then Ed will answer

after that. Where you might have heard these

lovely people is on Dark Knight News' podcast.

You both write for Gothic Byte, right? Or is

it just you that does that, Kendra? No, we both

do. Edward does a lot of the game reviews and

I do a lot of the... I'm actually partnered with

Gothic Byte. Myself and Alexa Wayne... both make

the executive decisions for that. So I do a lot

of the behind the scenes with editing articles

and with helping get things set up for what our

themes are going to be, all the fun corporate

stuff. Yay. So they're around, folks. You can

find their stuff everywhere. And I'm sure I'll

have a bunch of links in the show notes for the

post on the website for GCRN as well. So getting

started. Did you grow up reading comics, and

at what age do you first remember reading or

noticing comics, Kendra? Oh, gosh. All right.

So my story is a little bit different than probably

what you're going to hear from Ed, and what you

would probably hear from most people who read

comics. I started out when I was about nine or

10, and my first comics were Chaos comics. So

I started out with Evil Ernie, Lady Death, all

of that line, even up to and including the ones

with Undertaker and the ICP Saga and Hell. So

that is really where I started, and it wasn't

until DC started doing stuff like The Blackest

Night that I became someone who read more syndicated.

I mean, I'd read some of their trades, like still

in my top five to this day, Kingdom Come and

Marvels are two of my absolute favorites, Sin

City and stuff like that became part of it. But

it wasn't until I hit my 20s that I fully started

paying attention to the comic world. Edward,

what about you? My first instance with a comic

book, I was five years old. I went into People's

Drugstore with my grandmother. She had to do

something. And they had one of the old school

spindle racks. Had all the newest issues out

and she bought me three comic books Batman or

any Avengers and After that moment I was done.

I mean to this day 44 years old I am an avid

reader of comic books and collector of all manner

of Action figures and paraphernalia and stuff

like that. So yeah lifetime of comic books brought

on by a visit to a drug store with my grandma.

For those that don't know, kids, a spinner rack

in a drug store was something where comics used

to be sold back in the olden days. Because a

lot of people are like, a lot of people are like,

drug store? We usually get our stuff on the corner.

Yeah, that is awesome. that it's, you know, you

guys have two very different distinct ways of

how you first noticed them. Now, Ed, you just

said your grandmother was kind of the one that,

I mean, she took you to the store and she bought

you the comics, but were there anybody, was it,

were there anyone else in your, in your lives

as, as kids that were, you know, a parent, a

friend or whomever was just, you know, said,

here, here's this comic and here you you know

who set you on that path um that one's a little

bit of a loaded question for me my uncle was

actually the one who supported my love of comics

and who was actually the one who introduced me

to comics because the ones that i started reading

were the ones that he already had so I mean,

my first instance of actually seeing any kind

of comic -esque artwork wasn't in a comic book.

It was in one of those art books that you would

have that were like coffee table art. And they

were the super hyper, like I don't mean to say

like they were bad, but they were the super hyper

sexualized ones. So like the Princess of Mars

style, or I'm the lejo. Is that who it was? I

believe his name is Vallejo. Boris Vallejo is

the first one I was introduced to. So I didn't

actually pick up a comic until I got curious

about Lady Death. And he supported that. Sadly,

there's been a massive falling out for good reason.

But after that, it was really just me picking

up books on my own on things that would capture

me, whether it was going to be the cover art

was absolutely mind blowing and I had to read

what it was about because I had to know what

caused this image or I would recognize later

I would see artists that I knew or writers that

I knew that I was like yeah I'm gonna gravitate

towards you guys I've already read you I know

that you're an amazing person and can do absolutely

no wrong with me in a comic book so I would start

to pick those up. What about you Ed? Again, my

grandma, she... I mean, up until hell, my late

20s, she supported my comic habits single -handedly,

basically. I did go to the store with my dad

every so often, but he didn't go to, you know,

the local comic shops for comics. He went because

they were the only ones who sold Fangora magazine.

and you know in our area at the time and you

know he's telling me to go look at you know stuff

on the wall while he's finding his new magazine

and talking to his buddy or whatever and that's

what I did and actually for 17 years I went to

the same comic store in Virginia Beach so very

cool but my grandma I mean she actually read

some of the books that I read Mean she was always

into Batman. She thought he was the coolest thing

in the world The old Adam West TV show was always

on in the background if it was on TV I mean if

she wasn't watching her so she'd be watching

something silly like that but you know Honestly,

I have everybody in my family. My grandmother

was the only one that nurtured my love Well,

you know what it only takes one person to help

you get into the hobby the fandom the Whatever

you want to call this thing we call comics the

life the life. Yeah, there you go Because well,

I mean think about it though because when I was

a kid We were shunned for liking comic books

and now it's bad. I mean, I really have bad the

entire world loves comic books and all thanks

to feature -length films and stuff and such But

I'm one of those kids that sat underneath the

tree reading the newest issue of Batman and I

was like, man That would look so cool in movies

and they did it, you know And now here we are

today where people that were literally hiding

the fact that they read comic books Are sitting

there like front -and -center like bitch. I've

been doing this for years. Are you talking about?

I did look it up. It was Boris Balejo. So I mean

that kind of sets the stage for me as a person,

I guess, because my first introduction was with

fine art versus the actual what we would see

as comics. I mean, but to think of it now, I

mean, some of the covers that we get are absolutely

fine art. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Anyone that says comics

and comic books are not an art form, get the

hell out. Just I don't need that kind of negativity

in my life exactly It's so funny when you said

you were under the under the tree with the comic

and I'm like, oh my god He's got that Batman

comic inside of a Grey's almanac No Unfortunately,

I smacked myself a little bit for doing it but

it was rolled up in my back pocket Oh, yeah.

He was young. He was young. I didn't know any

better. Yeah, he didn't know any better just

yet, but he learned, so that's good. All right.

So when you were kids, which characters were

your favorites? Now, Ed, you've mentioned Batman,

but Kendra, what about you? Oh, fuck. When I

was a kid. It really was Lady Death. I adored

the story of Hope and getting to see this style

of writing. For me, I was a reader. I was an

avid novel reader. I was grounded most of my

childhood, so I was reading books like it was

nothing. I had worked my way up when I was nine

and ten into the world of Stephen King and had

realized just what writing could be. To move

over into something like Lady Death Was actually

more of a lateral move because that's exactly

how they treat their books. They are not Like

any way condescending to their audience. They

trust their intelligence with those and I've

always loved Brian Poluto for that because Lady

Death is It should have been bigger than it was

to be completely fair. It was amazing writing

the art in there was absolutely stunning So for

me Lady Death will and for always ever be one

of my favorite characters And then you can go

on your Batman rant go on it Yeah, I mean since

day one minute one issue one in my hand it's

it's always been the dark night I mean, I've

diversified a lot since then, you know, I read

a lot of different stuff, but Right tone art

If you give if you I mean God rest his soul But

if you give me any issue of a norm Bray focal

Batman comic book I am ten years old sitting

under that tree again and Wow, I mean that I

Don't know why he's I guess he inspired me a

little bit because actually got a job because

of him Which is really kind of a lame story when

I think about it, but my sister was getting me

a job at Chick -fil -a and I had to go in for

the interview and One of the questions during

the interview was who's your hero and why? And

usually they look for, you know, your mom or

your dad or Jesus or, you know, some popular

actor. And I looked a lady dead in the face and

I said, Batman. She's like, okay. And she kind

of giggled and she's like, why Batman? And I

said, because he shows that you could be the

best that you can be. Just with strength and

determination. And she just kind of sat there

for a minute and she talked her head aside and

she was like, welcome to the team. I was like,

okay. So Batman got me a job. Very cool. All

right, the age -old question, which I'm pretty

sure I know the answer to because, um, hello.

DC or Marvel? Son of a biscuit. All right, so

that's not fair. Hey, it's a question everybody

answers. I know. Well, not everybody probably

struggles like me. Oh, everybody struggles with

this. I'm not going to struggle. Of course you're

not. You already know. I mean, if I were to look

at it. in the light of what I do for a living

then yes DC is ultimately the answer that's going

to be there because I literally am immersed in

DC content day in and day out. But that being

said I do think that with Marvel readers get

really really great stories and that in some

cases Marvel has been better at being completely

justified with their characters. They do absolutely

a lot of respect to their characters. So for

me, yes, DC is my favorite because that's where

I live and work. But Marvel still has a corner

of my heart, like it pays rent. So I'm both and

I don't care if I'm allowed to do that. Fuck

the rules. I say both. And if only Tony Stark

was paying that rent. Right, I'd be okay with

that. Come on, Mr. Stark. Simple as. Easy. Yeah,

I was about to say, I knew what yours was gonna

be. Well, I'm gonna give you the reasoning behind

it, okay? Like I said, I diversified from just

Batman. And I started reading everything. Green

Lantern, Flash, Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice

League, Teen Titans, the whole shebang. And you

know at the same time I was picking up some Marvel

stuff. I mean the old Claremont Lee x -men issues

Those were astonishing, but when the good writers

left unfortunately, you're filled with a void

of crap in Marvel's lineage and I also saw a

cycle of their stories repeating themselves.

Both sides have that. They do they do don't get

me wrong crisis New 52. No, New 52 was the first

time that a comic company has had to apologize

for making changes. I'm sorry. It's not repeating

stories. But I mean, Marvel had a lot of good

shit. Don't get me wrong. I mean, the X -Men

were great. Ghost Rider. I love the X -Men. Ghost

Rider, oh my god. I picked up every single solitary

issue of the Danny Keshe Ghost Rider run solely

because it started out with Mark Texiera artwork.

Oh my god Glow -in -the -dark cover for issue

15 was astonishing. Yeah, it hung on my wall

for about five and a half years. We've read so

often You know what? That's another thing that

chaos did that I wish it had gotten bigger and

I'm sorry if I'm like totally like Bouncing off

the walls, but since we're seeing this as a conversation

They did the foil covers first. Yeah, and then

they kind of like I really do think that, and

I hope that Brian, Brian I'll tag you in it so

that you hear me, but I really do think that

Chaos Comics was well before its time. And that

could be said of a lot of different comic studios.

Speaking of which, Milestone, fuck yes, I'm so

glad you're coming back. That was one of the

best announcements of DC fandom, supremely excited.

But Chaos... They did a lot of things that you

see right now being super prevalent across the

board, whether it's indie, whether it's the big

companies, and for whatever reason, they just

couldn't keep their grounding. And that made

me so sad. We miss you. Finances. I'm so sad

that they're gone. Because if anybody deserved

to come out of that, with the characters that

they had, with the writers and the artists that

they had at that time, Chaos deserved to be here.

I don't remember the artist's name. It was good.

lady death but i'm i think he passed away that

would make me out ultimately that did the original

couple runs yeah series or whatever i think he

did pass away i'm sorry i interrupted no you're

fine um no i'm just i love dc so next question

all right dude i've got a harley quinn curio

cabinet sitting across the room too stephen hughes

yeah Aw. Oh yeah, he did that's why. Rest in

peace, because you were loved, sir. Even if it's

just me screaming off the podcast. Actually,

I'm going to add a little side anecdote here.

With the advent of Facebook, I actually got to

talk to Norbury Fogel before he passed away.

And that was probably one of the biggest honors

of my life. I'm not going to lie. Because I cut

running in the room with her and I'm like your

brave uncle added me on Facebook You know imagine

you know 38 40 year old man sitting here like

jumping up and down like a six -year -old, you

know That's really us in a freaking bow though.

Oh, yeah. I mean to be honest though as long

as you're smart people and respectful about it.

Social media has given us access that we would

have never ever had 30 to 40 years ago. Yeah,

but there's some downfalls man. There is definitely

there are but but but I'm just saying like you

can if I want to reach out to insert name here

whomever that is. I can do that as long as I

do it in a respectful way to the point of, like,

if I'm... I asked Paul Dini for an interview.

Nice! I don't blame you for doing that. I would

have done the same thing. He declined, but...

you know that's that's fine and I respect years

ago that people who do podcasts like us wouldn't

have been able to do exactly you would have had

to go through all the paperwork and the red tape

and gotten a hold of the manager and then waited

for forever and well it was like we're on honey

can we got to interview kevin conrad yeah dude

i was geeking out the whole time the thing is

i've been following his career since like x -force

and when he jumped on spawn with tony daniel

You know, I was nerding out the whole time and

he's just like, you know, you're a really nice

guy. I've had you on Facebook I You know, I met

Ethan Vince Giver at a convention that we went

to in Indianapolis and I couldn't speak because

this guy Invented cyber frog and I don't give

a shit about anything else that he does. He did

cyber frog and I was geeking out so But that's

me All right, what other publishers do you enjoy

reading now? I know we've talked about some of

your favorites, but what are the other some of

the other ones as well? Oh Gosh, I really enjoy

a lot of what Dark Horse does I am in love with

the early days of Xenoscope It's kind of it's

kind of tilted more towards TNA more recently

than my taste really likes, but not that that's

bad. I mean, they definitely have a target market,

so I can't knock them. And they definitely sell

comics, so I can't knock them. But it's just

not for me anymore. I say the early days because

at that point, Xenoscope had amazing storytelling

and I just haven't been there since they sidewined

into like 15 different universes and it became

too much for me to keep up with. But Dark Horse

has a lot of good stuff. Boom Comics I've started

taking a look at. Boom Studios. Image. Have a

big part of my heart for Image. And then I think

that's everything. I mean we've got a couple

indie studios like Apophysis Studios that did

The Last Amazon. That's really the most recent

indie story that I've gotten a chance to sit

down and take a look at in Regan Hall and was

completely mind -blown. In any way, I didn't

see it being an indie studio and they deserve

every props that they've gotten because the last

Amazon was absolutely wicked. I think that's

it for me. What about you? Obviously, I read

the big two. Dark Horse. especially the older

stuff like the Star Wars stuff that they did

was amazing. I'll lay my hand on the Bible saying

that Dark Empire is still in my favorite Star

Wars stories of all times. I think I was solely

responsible for image comic books getting as

big as they did. I bought every single issue

of everything that was launched, including the

variant covers, spoil covers, and special fold

-out poster covers and shit like that. I had

a lot of disposable income at that point, and

I decided to blow it all on Image Comic Books.

I literally, you know, spawned. It was like,

oh, okay, this is cool. Let me check out every

fucking thing else that you're putting out. I

Read smaller publishers. I mean who did the visa

burden visa burden is Dark Horse Evan Dworkin

and Jill Thompson absolutely amazing still recommend

Yeah, she just recommended that that to me recently

and I crushed out the first trade and that was

Astonishing so, you know right back to Dark Horse.

I mean you can't do wrong with guys who got Sin

City in their pocket. So Honestly, though, there's

a reason that my nickname is devourer because

I will literally devour anything put in front

of me It doesn't always mean it's good, but I

would still read it Yeah, I tend to I don't know

I it Like for me if I was and because I haven't

done an or my own origins episode since the new

questions or whatever else and last time I did

it we didn't have this many questions, but we

have we've always had But we've always had the

DC versus Marvel question and for me it isn't

about that It isn't about picking a side. It's

about the characters Yeah, I love like Batman

like Nightwing like bad girl like Iron Man Like

Captain America it depends on the character for

me Especially when it comes to some of the indie

publishers like I read We have a whole plethora

of episodes of this show dedicated to Xenoscopes

Robin Hood series, because I actually got to

interview Pat Shan twice. I actually interviewed

him twice, but I had him on for a special episode

where we talked about the way of the comic book

and how the industry was changed. This was before.

You know the before how the world really changed

now, but this is a couple years ago and You know,

I've read some of the other stuff. I've read

the like the red agent stuff and things like

that from Xenoscope, but for me the the number

one for the licensed stuff is all about IDW it

doesn't it isn't always great, but They gave

us a back to the future comic book series even

though it isn't even though it's not concurrent

Currently running or anything like that, but

they gave us a really good back to the future

comic series Nobody needs a fourth film from

back to the future. The films are what they are

and the comic book series is more than enough

You know and they've got a bunch of other stuff

over at idw as well I read a bit of their stuff

So everything that I read was pretty good. I

think we have a couple of their hardcovers in

the bedroom, actually. We just got done organizing

our trades and hardcover collection and getting

it all shelved up and everything like that. Very

cool. The yeah, their IDW, you know, I know everyone's

like, oh, the original Eastman and Laird Turtles

comics. Yes, they were great at the time. I did

not get in on the comics. I was four when they

launched that. So by the time the cartoon came

along, I was seven. But IDW Since IDW has had

the the turtles license that book then it doesn't

matter if it's the main ongoing if it's a mini

series or whatever they're doing over there they

need to keep doing it because the IDW turtles

verse is by far the best incarnation of turtles

that has ever been I did read a couple of the

OG TMNT stuff, the old black, white, and red

stuff. But, you know, I think I got into it about

the same time everybody else did, as with the

cartoon. I mean, it just kind of, you know, washed

off me when I read the comic and then I saw the

cartoon. I'm like, I must have their action figures.

Exactly. Let me go spend enormous amount of money

on this. Oh, and dynamite. I've been reading

dynamite lately because they've got the Nancy

Drew. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's very cool. Yeah,

those action figures, man. DC's doing a joke.

I believe so, yeah. Sorry, sidebar. All right,

so another age -old question. Print or digital,

which one, both either or and why? Why do I have

to go first? I ain't going first. Because we're

sugars. Because I'm at 80. That's right. I'm

going to go with both. And the reason being is

because working with Dark Knight News and with

DC Comics News, that's really the easiest way

for them to get the comic to us because we get

them beforehand, like usually weeks before they

go on print sale. So sometimes we don't have

an option but to go digital. but if I have my

choice and I have a say in it, then I go full

print and I go up to my comic shop and I have

a folder that they pull for me and I have a love

for that because there's really like I do inking

as well and for me there's really nothing better

than the sound of an ink pen on the piece you're

working on like just the mood, the atmosphere,

the sound, the smell of the ink And it's the

same thing with the comic book, holding it in

your hand and being able to turn the pages and

just to immerse yourself into that world. It's

different than it is with digital. So for me,

it's both. But if I have a choice, it's always

going to be traditional. I'm always going to

want print. I'm going to be a butt head and say,

I agree with everything she said and second and

carry that because. I have an extensive collection

of comic books digitally on a terabyte hard drive.

Roughly about 10 ,000 comic books on there. And

we don't have as many, I guess you could say,

physical issues. Not for lack of trying. Yeah,

but not for lack of trying. But, I mean, there's

that 10 -year -old under the tree again holding

that new comic book in his hand. It's so impersonal

when you think about it being a tablet, you know

or phone or something like that Alright, so yeah,

I'm both but I if I have to hardcore lock down

which one I want I want this copy of my hand

You know, I've said this before in other episodes

of this show but Marvel ruined me on physical

copies I'm sitting there holding Welcome Back,

Frank and I fall asleep because the book is too

heavy for me to hold to read. And I'm not talking

about one issue of Welcome Back, Frank. I'm talking

about the big ass thing that has all 12 issues

of that series in it. and then you know I you

know it wasn't because of because I didn't like

the story that I fell asleep it was because my

hand fell asleep and the rest of my body was

like okay if you're just gonna drop the book

we'll just fall asleep in this chair right here

see that for me would be like if I were to do

something with an omnivus or with an absolute

addition something that's massive like that it's

either me sitting at a table so I have something

to hold the weight Or I'm laying in bed and you

know cropping myself up all nice and happy laying

down reading the book Yeah, see the problem with

that is for me and this is not just reading.

It's like Literally, I will be laying here like

I'm right now I'll be playing a game. I'll put

be playing Candy Crush Soda Saga or something

and I will literally I Okay, I play a game called

homescapes and it's literally fell asleep and

won a level at the same time that I fell asleep

playing the level. That's fucking talent. I fell

asleep moving the things that are supposed to

be moving and getting the goal. I fall asleep.

Next thing I know, hey, guess what? You won.

I'm like, oh, yay. So for me, the key with digital

is And I know everybody's like, oh, digital services,

you may buy it, they may say you own it, but

you don't really own it, yada, yada, yada. Hey,

as long as it's still there, and as long as I've

already paid for it, and I don't have to pay

for it again, I'm more than fine. Comixology

.com, Comixology is everything to me because

once I found their guided view, I cannot read

comics without that ever again, because my vision

- Fair enough. because of my vision because of

how I love how the storyboarding aspect of it

is and how they zoom in and zoom out and whatever

else and yeah it's just so great but I do agree

um eventually I would if we had more storage

wish we don't um I would love to have a hardcover

collection of the turtles comics from IDW but

you know and I You know, still respect print

and I still love print as well. But as far as

actually reading the interiors, it has to be

digital. DCF has a pretty good one of those two

for reading comic books, singling panels out

and whatnot. I, we got that when she had to start

reviewing Harley Quinn and I'm sitting over there

in the background reading Batman, you know, or

catching up on. you know, Dark Knight's Medal

or something like that. Yeah, so. I mean, there's

definitely a respect for it. Don't get our answers

twisted. It's just. Oh, no, absolutely. I'm just

like uber old school, I guess. So, I don't know.

I used to be until the Punisher broke me. All

right. Who are some of your favorite comics writers

and why? Why do I have a feeling that this is

one of mine Probably is There's so many um I'm

gonna limit myself to like three or four All

right, so first of all One of my favorite writers

right now is definitely Evan Dorkin, Dark Horse

Comics, Beast of Burden. Literally all it took

was me reading the first one of Beast of Burden,

Animal Rights, and it literally jumped to my

number three spot on my favorite comics of all

time. For a writer to be able to make me cry

and pause and just have to take a break from

the comic itself... absolute kudos. There's not

more I can say to kind of relay how important

that is to me as a comic reader. If you can viscerally

change my mood just from an issue of your comic,

you've got me for life. So Evan Dworkin is probably

my number one right now just because his way

of writing is so personal and the fact that he

and any artist that come on to his work Are so

passionate about what they do makes me as a reader

even more dedicated to seeing them succeed Um

Number two is cami garcia cami garcia is the

one who is responsible right now for joker harley

criminals criminal sanity so vc uh, she is Be

fucking nonimal. She is absolutely astounding

with the way that she is able to create worlds

and very visceral. I mean the woman has worked

from everything from X -Files to CSI to you know

to doing comics to doing Harley and Joker and

it's literally one of the most fun comics I've

had a chance to take a look at doing reviews

for so I'm really glad that I worked through

Dark Knight News so I have the chance to play

with that because it's worth it and it has made

her one of my favorites. Jeff Lemire is another

one of my favorites for DC. That man is in everything

right now. His hands are everywhere. And I love

it because he's done Joker Killer Smile, which

is morphed into Batman Smile Killer. He's doing

the question run right now. Just seeing how versatile

he is as a writer and able to literally put himself

in the shoes of any character that he takes on

and make it believable is fucking crazy. And

it's enjoyable. It's so much fun. I recommend

any series that he is the writer on because he

will definitely take you for a wild ride and

he will lead you by your throat and not let go.

Very cool. If we're to go to like old school,

old school. I am a super toss -up between Mark

Wade and Jeff Johns. Because both of them hold

very, very special places in my heart. They both

gave us magic. They did. They both gave us magic.

And that is absolutely why. I mean, with Mark

Wade, my love for him began with Kingdom Come.

And I've never come back from it. I was devastated

for life. And with Jeff Johns, what hasn't he

touched that hasn't been fucking brilliant? So

those are mine. I limited myself before. Let's

see. I'm gonna start off by the man who single

-handedly reignited my love of Batman after a

long stay away from the character, and that's

Scott Snyder. The things that him and Greg Capullo

did on Batman, New 52 or not, was mind -numbingly

amazing. Old school Batman, Alan Grant, him and

Norm Brayfogle defined Batman for me. Kurt Busiek,

I loved him, especially his work on marbles.

Mark Waithe, I was reading him before and after

Kingdom Come. And the man is the most polite

person I've ever met in my life. We even met

in person at a comic -con one time to get him

to sign a comic book. Yeah. Chuck Dixon. I mean,

a lot of the old schools. You know, Chris Claremont

and Jim Lee on X -Men or uncanny X -Men. Good

Lord. I mean, just stop. You know, some of the

best X -Men comic books ever created were pinned

by that man. Mm -hmm. I mean I could sit here

for like another hour and a half listing off

names of incredible talent that I've worshipped

since I was six years old. Oh my gosh, Sam Humphreys.

I have one more. Sam Humphreys was the writer

for Harley Quinn. I would be so fucking remiss

if I didn't bring up Sam. Sam single -handedly

made sure that I came back into the Harley fold.

After Amanda Connors and Jimmy Palmiotti had

started the rebirth, basically, of Harley, and

did an amazing job at it, Sam took over the reins

for the series that just ended with 75, and he

single -handedly made me love Harley again. He

made her a in -depth character who stood on her

own and took no fucking shits. Loved it. So I

think that's where I'm gonna stop. I'm gonna

stop with one more guy, and that's Todd McFarlane.

Yes, damn it! Because it's fun. I mean, he went

from being the Hulk, Batman, Spider -Man artist

guy, to creating a conglomerate corporation built

around one fucking character, and still found

time to write 150 issues of the ongoing fucking

series. And it was amazing. because I mean good

lord dude I mean spawn 1 to 50 was brilliant

and he was part of every damn issue of that so

but yeah I'll stop there there you go yeah there

there you know people can say what they want

to say about new 52 but without but without new

52 we would not have at least in my personal

opinion the single greatest run of a batgirl

run ever by gail simone amen yes amen to that

and then obviously kyle higgins on nightwing

because everybody loves dick now i was really

impressed with the initial run on nightwing i

was kind of blown away by it my brother -in -law

is like a super nightwing fan and obviously because

i brought up chuck dixon how can i not talk about

nightwing but I mean, yeah. And, yeah, it was

some good shit. Well, and in my hate, I don't

really have hate. I don't have hate. I have disdain,

which stems from disappointment. So New 52 wasn't

horrible for every character. There were some

characters who, with the New 52, were either

breathed new life into or got a chance to shine

absolutely stunningly. You know, they had haunting

moments that touched their fans. There were moments

of greatness But then there were moments like

with Wonder Woman which was one of the ones that

I was actually excited to see and I started reading

it and I was getting into it and I was like,

okay So we're going back from beginning with

her and there was one line one line is all it

took for me to close the book and That was what

is ice cream? I remember this too because I was

there the day she read the hardcover of this.

And she got to that line and she looked up at

me and she's like, are you fucking kidding me?

And then closed the book and she has never opened

it since. I haven't. I mean, that literally like

I disappeared from comics from DC for a very

long time. It wasn't until I picked back up with

Harley doing the reviews for Dark Knight News

that I even started looking into what DC had

to offer after that. Because it tainted my view

of anything that they could bring to the stage

because for me as a Wonder Woman fan It just

ruined it for me. I was like, how could you do

that to her? Like you just you just set her back

60 80 how many years and It was disrespectful

for me So it's not that I can't understand that

there were good things that came out of new 52

because there were but awful man had a great

run with new 52, but Don't think that they did

the same justice or all of the characters, which

is why it led to an apology Which is why it led

to one of the greatest decisions that company

ever made was letting Dan to dildo go I'm sorry.

I don't know. I don't know what his fascination

Yeah, I don't know what his fascination with

killing Dick Grayson was all the time, but oh

lord, thank god that's over. Right? Tropeville,

occupation you, bro! Okay, Batman is... the quote

unquote father figure he's the character you

want to live up to be but Dick Grayson it's always

been at least as Nightwing not necessarily as

Robin but as Nightwing has always been the character

that I see not necessarily see myself as but

can relate to like I can relate to Dick Grayson

more in Kyle Higgins's new 52 run than I can

Batman and Snyder's run as much as I love Snyder's

run I never actually finished all of it. I got

to go back and do that. But it's, it's, it's,

you know, Batman is the, it's like, God, I'm

going to get so much guff for this, but I don't

care. Let it go. Optimus Prime and Rodimus Prime.

Optimus is the legend. Hot Rod slash Rodimus

is the new young kid character. that comes in

and, you know, let's Megatron kill the guy. Yeah,

yeah, yeah. I know. You've got the power! There

you go, folks. Now at the London Philharmonic,

Edward Hales. Doing the theme song at Transformers.

You could open with a superstitious and cowardly

lot. Right? Yup. I am Batman. You've got touch.

I need a lot more hair for that. Gotta have the

hair going on. Stan Bush had a good head of hair

back then, but he wasn't like no Dee Snider thing.

Anyway. And yes, Kendra, this is all your fault.

I know. No, no, no the way that the questions

are that this is all your this is all your fault

so Next question. What defines a good story to

you? And I'm gonna I'm gonna give you an anecdote

to explain good writing, okay. All right, so

This was several years back. My mom and I had

just gone out and she was dropping me off at

work. And we had gone by the bookstore and I

had just purchased Absolute Kingdom Come. And

I went to work, which was Burger King, and I

was about an hour early. So I sat there with

my headphones on, jamming out to whatever hell

I was listening to, and I'm reading Kingdom Come.

Well... when it got to the scene in the book

that i've read 400 billion times by that point

where the gulag has fallen and superman's down

and shit is hitting the fan and then fucking

batman shows up with his people i stood up in

the middle of that fucking restaurant and cheered

like i was in a damn movie and that was mark

weight one of the best authors of all times Literally,

I don't I could read it right now and I'll fucking

stand up a cheer when Batman shows up the same

today. I mean it that's amazing, right? I mean

if it really scares you it's amazing, right?

It makes you cry. It's amazing writing if it

evokes an emotional response from you That's

amazing, right? Before before Kendra goes I'll

add this it's kind of like I Mentioned earlier

with IDW and the turtles and how I personally

think it's the best version of the turtles that

we've ever had I Didn't always feel that way

because when my buddy Joe who actually does the

turtles comics episodes with me on on this podcast

when he Said go look them up on comics ology

and whatever else and go check it out and I'm

like, okay I've never been red bandana turtles

because again, I grew up with the 87 cartoon.

They're all four different colors And and I'm

like Joe Red bandana is really he goes. No, no,

no, it's okay. Give it a chance It'll it'll make

sense. It'll work. I Read I read I read this

is like the first three four or five issues,

whatever it is And I'm like, oh, OK. This makes

sense. This is good. Wow. That's the OK. I got

it. Great. Let's go. And we've been going ever

since. OK, Kendra. Go ahead. Oh, gosh. What do

I think makes a good story? I mean, mine really

kind of echoes Ed's a bit. because if a story

has the power to elicit any kind of emotion from

you, or if it makes you think, if it makes you

pause and you're able to connect with it, then

I think that that's really what makes a good

story. I mean, even if you're stepping into the

world for the first time, let's say you're not

an avid comic fan and you don't have a favorite

character and you're just stepping into that

world for the first time, I mean, if you're able

to connect with that character and you're able

to see them and you can understand them fully,

if the story itself is able to touch you, that's

what makes a good story. It's something that

stays with you, that haunts you through the years.

I mean, I really don't think that there's anyone

that I couldn't sit down and ask about a book

or a movie or a TV show or a song or... You know

in this case comics who wouldn't be able to tell

me one story that stayed with them Throughout

their lives and they have memories that are associated

with it like with Ed and sitting under his tree

or with you know Everybody has one of those and

for me it does stem a lot from The good storytelling

it it means that this the writer was able to

connect with you for a brief moment in time and

make a lasting impact and that to me is what

That's what dictates a good story. Absolutely.

All right. What does the story have to have to

draw you in? I hate myself so much, but it's

your own fault. I know. What does the story have

to have to draw me in? It has to have a good

writer. I mean, it has to have, you know, it

has to lean away. Show me something that I haven't

seen. Give me something from a character that

absolutely melds with their character, but, you

know, is something new. Like, for example, with

Sam Humphreys in the Harley Quinn run, we've

always, in every iteration prior before Harley

got the new look here recently with Amanda Connors

and Jimmy Kamiani, Harley was always a sidekick.

And not that she wasn't her own person, but she

was still associated in a way with Mr. J that

she was second tier. She was never really seen

as his partner. And it wasn't until we finally

started seeing her break away from that toxic

and abusive relationship that she's gotten to

be her own person. And that for me was what was

so exciting. to see from Sam Humphries was to

see him continue that trend, especially since

he had other runs going on at the same time,

like Old Lady Harley, Harley, and the animated

series to kind of contend with. So he had to

capture your attention every month in order to

make sure that the story was being told. And

he did that. He showed us a side of Harley that

not very many people have seen, and that was

Harley losing her mom. Not to spoil that. So

spoiler alert. okay spoiler big spoiler alert

but he gives us that side of harley that we don't

always get to see which is this raw and you know

very emotional side to her and for me that's

something that i need to see in a book tom king

did that in heroes in crisis and i absolutely

loved it say what you will about tom king and

his catwoman bullshit shenanigans I loved Heroes

in Crisis. It was real. It was relatable. It

was them mimicking and mirroring real life. And

if you're able to do that, you're gonna draw

me in 125 % of the time. What about you? What

makes it for you? Well... I mean... I don't know.

I like a lot of shit in comic books. I know you

do, but what draws you in? Batman. Shut the fuck

up! No, well, I'm gonna use Batman as example,

okay, cuz Grant Morrison had Arguably one of

the top five best runs on the comic book that

anyone's ever read in their entire existence

leading all the way up to the end of the book

when they restarted it at me 52 and He jumped

on there he did his thing And it was fucking

brilliant from the get -go. Okay? But at the

same time, he's paying homage to the past by

taking all these silly 50 stories that we read

in the comic books, or some of us read in the

comic books, you know, growing up or whatever

have you, that, you know, defined him for a new

generation to make them better. And if an author

can do that, you know, it takes something that...

you know, it's trivial and it's a different colored

costume than Batman and give it a backstory in

the modern sense of writing and make it real

instead of just like, oh, just you kind of throw

out bullshit and we're trying to fill an issue

with it. Pressure mentality. Yeah. But when you

do that, that becomes amazing and it furthers

the mythos that you're reading. You know, it

doesn't shit on the past. Lips it up and it's

like hey look put a shiny coat of paint on it.

It's really cool and you like this now So I'm

like I do like this. Yes. It's got substance

Then you're gonna draw me in I mean if you're

putting the characters in in a peril that we

haven't seen before and I mean peril as in P

-E -R -I -L You know then I'm all about it because

when Scott Snyder started Batman with the quarterback

storyline Every single solitary one of us that

were picking up that book monthly were like Batman's

gonna fucking die He's gonna fucking die and

Nightwing's gonna be Batman full -time because

we'd already seen Scott Snyder write Dick Grayson

Batman and that was fucking amazing you know,

so You know if you can do that as an author then

that's a great story and I'm down to sit down

and read it so You know that set me emotion that

goes back to I mean, I'm gonna I'm gonna champion

for Marvel here for a second Listen to me, Marvel.

Hear my words. Stories like the color sagas where

it was Daredevil Yellow, Spider -Man Blue, Hulk

Grey, Captain America White. Those were absolutely

genius and it was because you got to what made

these heroes heroes. You got to their core because

at their core they're human. Thank you, Jeff

Logan. Yes, absolutely. Thank you, Jeff Logan.

So if you haven't read those, those are one of

the highest recommendations I can give, because

they're brilliant writing. The artwork is poetic.

I mean, it's beautiful to watch unfold. But if

you can bring emotion into your work, you're

going to have anybody who wants to read a story.

Because if you can connect on that level, then

you're done. You're golden. I mean, at the end

of Dirt Over Yellow, I had a tear in my eye.

I cried during Spider -Man Blue. And I knew what

happened to Gwen Stacy, damn it. Spider -man

blue is episode 62 of the pullback go back and

listen now Yeah, I for me it It's gonna be something

that I okay that we everybody can agree on this

I think Everybody in the world can agree on this

there will always be tropes in any like, you

know standard Like boy meets girl that kind of

see, you know that kind of stuff kind of initial

startups for whatever for whatever kind of writing

you do There's always gonna be influence. There's

always you know, you look at It just ended as

of this recording 11 days ago Jimmy Pamiati's

pop kill Kickstarter thing, you know, it's two

rival soda companies Where have we seen that

before? Let's see Coke and Pepsi in the 80s and

90s or whatever. But you know, but I mean the

point is is Imitation often brings you inspiration

But you at the same time you need to have something

new and different you take a look at boom studios

and their Power Rangers run Yeah we've covered

everything on this show up until we have not

done shattered grid yet shattered grid is the

next thing we have to do when i read shattered

grid i'm like i actually got to interview kyle

higgins and one of the things he said he wanted

to work on was power rangers and now look kyle

higgins is kyle higgins is writing power rangers

at the time and i'm like oh this is going to

be great and i just All you had to tell me was

an alternate version of Tommy Oliver That's evil

that came from some different circumstance and

has this badass Costume and whatever else I'm

like, okay. Sure. Let's go Lord Darkon Yeah,

Lord Dracon. Yeah Yeah, yeah, it's an alternate

version of Tommy though really We do yep, I think

I you oh of course The only time you take Funko's

out of the box is to take pictures and then you

put them right back in the box. Yeah, I've got

the entire Star Wars collection of Funko Pops

sitting on the wall behind me. They're all in

there. Well, not all of them, but most of them.

And I've got almost that many Funko Pops out

of the box, but all of their boxes are nicely

stored away so I can put them back in the box.

They're hidden behind glass, though, so I think

that's fair. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean, if you're

going to, you know, shove them up, that's fine.

But generally... As a rule. You're not taking

them out to play with them. You're not Lord Helmeting

the situation. Don't tell them I play with my

toys. I started collecting the Star Wars Black

Series figures for a little while. And Kinder's

first rule when I put it in the cart at Walmart

was that I'm not allowed to take it out of the

box. So I abide by her rules. Luckily I did because

I just packed up all my Black Series figures.

There you go. It's getting pain in the ass to

stay current with those. It really is. Especially

since McFarland was like, DC toys! Alright, so

let's see here. Who are some of your favorite

comic artists? Can I go first? Yeah, go. Alright,

I'll go first. Ivan Rice, anything that man touched

with the Green Lantern in it was gorgeous. Norbert

Vogel, obviously, because that man was an inspiration

to me as a kid growing up, learning how to draw

Batman. Alex Ross, duh, duh. Greg Capullo, I

love that man's work, I've loved him ever since

he... in his first issue of X -Force back in

the day. Scott McDaniel, who is probably one

of the nicest dudes you'll ever meet in your

entire existence. His work with Chuck Dixon on

Nightwing was beyond awesome. Gary Frank. I just

got done reading Doomsday Clock and his work

in that was gorgeous. Just simply gorgeous. Dave

Gibbons, I loved his work in the original Watchmen.

To a point, Frank Miller, because I loved his

Sin City stuff, but when he kind of like, I guess

took all the drugs in the world and started writing

Batman, I kind of lost him because I couldn't

follow what the fuck he was talking about. Cuz

it was like I'm the goddamn Batman you said that

right shut the fuck up and give me some new shit

You know, and he was like master race. I'm like,

oh so you're racist awesome. Cool. Let me go

do my own thing Tim sale that man can do no wrong

in my opinion an oldie, but a joke Rosada I loved

his work back especially back when he was him

and Palmiotti. We're doing a big comics with

ash that was some of the best artwork I've ever

seen him do. And then when he teamed up with

Kevin Smith on Daredevil, oh my God, that was

so gorgeous. But yeah, I'll stop there, because

I could sit here for another hour telling you

I love art wise. I mean, McFarland loved his

Spider -Man. He defined how I draw Spider -Man.

So big eyes, a lot of webs. Let's do this. See,

I'm just going to go down the line with mine.

So. Let's see who we start with Jay Scott Campbell

absolutely loved Jay's work Nicholas Scott Denny

O 'Neill Steven Hughes Yes, he did he did both

It was mostly it was mostly writing but he did

do some art as well I mean for that matter, I

think Neil Gaiman did too. I love Neil Gaiman.

Well then look, I'm just gonna name my favorite

people. Okay, because apparently I'm wrong. Like,

I don't know, John Romano Jr. I love John Romano

Jr. I'm gonna pronounce all your names wrong

and I'm so sorry. I love his Spider -Man work

so much. Scotty Young. Mike Magnolia Magnola

George Perez, Bill Sinkowitz. I'm probably pronouncing

his name wrong. Yeah, that was right. Ditko,

hell yes to him. Will Eisner, yes. Absolutely

love him and his work. Neil Adams, Jim Lee, of

course, who is taking a bigger step in DC themselves,

but I still love his work. And pretty much anybody

that Ed said, I absolutely adore. Jill Thompson

is one that wasn't mentioned, but I absolutely

do love. And then I'm going to pronounce her

name so wrong. But, uh, Lupechino. Emanuella

Lupechino. Frank Cho, I love his work. His cover

is for Harley and it's been absolutely stunning.

I love it. Yes, this is hilarious. I think that's

it for me. I've named like... like 16 people.

Yeah, there's so many, because there's so many

great artists. And for me, it's like, oh, I'll

see a like for me, and we'll get to this later

about single issues and trades and whatever else.

But for me, I generally collect trades more than

single issues at this point. And the greatest

thing about most trades is that they will put

the alternate covers that you would normally

have to buy separately, the A cover, the B cover,

the retail incentive, the this cover, the that

cover, whatever you want to call it cover. Most

companies and most publishers put them in the

trades. And I'm like, oh, I haven't seen that

cover. I absolutely love that. Or, oh, I saw

that cover and wanted to get that in a book.

And, oh, look, here it is in my trade. I'll be

like, oh, who's the artist? Oh, that's the artist.

I like their stuff. They got good stuff Find

more stuff from that that person's stuff Right,

you know That's generally how it goes. Yeah,

pretty much. Yeah All right Would you say it?

Yes, I started watching I started watching him

when he started with top cowl doing cyber force

and then he did his own book called Ascension

and then you didn't see him for like a long ass

time and he showed back up and he was like I'm

fucking drawing DC. I'm like, okay I Believe

that it's how you pronounce his name. I Absolutely

worship the grounds that he and his wife walk

on because their work their art is so Fucking

fascinating. Joe Madriero. Yes, Joe Mad. Yes.

Sorry. And then, you know, because Stephen Hughes

is one of mine. And sadly, you guys were right.

He did pass away in 2000, which is probably why

we haven't seen Lady Death the way that I'm used

to seeing Lady Death. But him and there's one

that a lot of people hopefully will remember

because his personality was such that you don't

forget him very easily. But absolutely one of

my biggest inspirations. is Jeremy Dale. And

I love that man. He was so, so kind to me when

I was starting out. And it broke my heart when

everything went down the way it did and he passed

away. But he definitely deserves respect put

on his name because his drawing style was whimsical

and just beautifully done. So there's mine. I'm

done now. Yeah, I'm going to stop because I got

like 50 more already in the back of my head.

This guy, this guy, and this girl, and this guy,

and this guy. Okay, I'm not even gonna say what's

on my mind. All right, do you have a favorite

non -superhero title? Favorite non -superhero.

Be some burden. Sin City. Oh, that's a good one

too. It was funny, I started reading this when

I lived in Minnesota and I started picking up

trades. And I had seen the movie just prior to

starting reading the books. And when I'm reading

the books, everybody that's doing dialogue in

my head is from the movies. So it was glorious.

That's like me when I read Turtles. I hear. Rob

Paulson Barry Gordon Oh God, I can't believe

I'm blanking cam Clark and and and Townsend Coleman

I hear 87 to even though they're completely but

you know, I you know, I hear When I what I haven't

read it yet, but I've read some previews of shredder

in hell that they did I'm like, oh my god. It's

like James Avery is in my head because you know

he was the voice of shredder yeah looks like

uh kevin conroy and batman mark hamill for me

because that's the voice of that year and uh

what's his name from breaking bad oh you son

of a bitch kranston yes yes that's the voice

i hear when i hear when i hear gordon talk because

of batman year one they were like you got brian

kranston to be gordon i'm like you son of a bitch

i'm in I still love Bob Hastings from the animated

series and yes, don't get me wrong Absolutely

and It's so weird as I Know there are multiple

versions of Alfred there have always been multiple

versions of Alfred Know when I'm reading Alfred

in the comics doesn't matter if it's new 52 or

the previous, you know, whatever it is Or even

now rebirth. It's like there's one voice I hear

in my head as much as I respect and love all

the other actors between Michael Goff and Michael

Kane and and Oh 66 Alan something anyway, you

know, I only hear Ephraim's and bliss jr. In

my head for Alfred This is just the way it is.

All right, let's see what's next. What is your

favorite run of a series? So if there's like,

for example, in New 52, Batman, Snyder had Court

of Owls, he had Death in the Family. So what's

your favorite story arc or series run from a

series? Do you want to go first or should I?

Yeah, you go first, because I'm having an issue

with that one. Smiter's run on New 52, that meant.

I'm going to say that very simply, because yes,

it's broken into different chapters, but it's

all one story. And if you read every volume of

it, every issue of it leading up to rebirth,

or was it? No, it was death metal. Death metal.

Metal. Metal was the last thing that transitioned

him into the rebirth suit. You see Scott Snyder

laying groundwork for shit he's gonna do ten

years later in the books. It was amazing. I know,

it's my turn. This one's hard though because

I'm thinking of everything that I've read and

it's really hard for me to pin down. Favorite

like if I were if I were looking at it through

the scope of what I I recommend it based on just

that story arc I mean honestly It's the Jeff

and Sajak's Harleen. Yeah, it's probably my favorite,

but it's an all -contained story. It's not necessarily

a port of an ongoing For me if I if I was gonna

pick one it's because I'm I'm going to say it

this way, but I'm not like this. I basically

stalk Kyle Higgins' work any chance I can get

to read his stuff. I really don't. Kyle, you're

listening. Retraining order, my friend. No, no,

no. I'm too lazy for any of that real, actual

work. You kidding me? Ah, digital stalking. Oh,

Lord. There you go. Digital stocking, folks.

It's the new thing. Don't do it. No, but like

if I'm as much as I love his entire new 52 Nightwing

run, the arc I love the most is when he took

Nightwing out of Gotham because it was different.

He sent him to Chicago and it was cool and it

was interesting and it was mysterious and it

was fun. So, yeah. See, and that's why I think

mine's so hard, is I don't - I did not start

reading - What is mine? Tell me. But that's still

a self -contained fucking story. No, it's not.

It's literally a side story. You shut up. Um.

I don't - Until I started rereading Harley and

doing the series with Sam Humphreys, I didn't

really do. Full runs and ongoing series and with

with the Harley the Harley ongoing it jumps around

so much that it's not really that there's an

arc that Caught me yes, I loved them, but they

weren't like here come with me, but All of my

that's the problem all of mine are usually like

self -contained stories instead of ongoing if

I had to throw one out there That has caught

me recently that is an arc that I like it's October

faction by Steve Niles, and I forget the artist's

name off the top of my head, but it was one that

grabbed me at the comic shop, and so far I'm

loving every bit of it. Like, it has grabbed

me in a way. It's like this really awesome mix

of The Addams Family and League of Extraordinary

Gentlemen. It is an amazing experience so far,

and watching that one unfold has been brilliant.

So there, that's mine. Mine is October Faction.

There you go. Alan Moore is one of the best writers

out there. We side noted that. There you go.

We're just all over the place. I'm so sorry,

Mike. It's okay. All right. Yes. You know. All

right, what is one comic you can read over and

over again single issue or trade Arlene There

you go every time that I read watch when I find

something new in I Didn't read or didn't notice

before I Just love stage X take on Harley. I

think it's absolutely stunning Now generally

folks We try to be positive on this show, but

there are some negative questions because, yeah,

you kind of have to have those for the other

side of the coin. Are there comics you avoid

altogether? Like, is there a series you just

don't, like, you looked at it and it's like,

no, that's not for me. Like, you're not judging

the series. You're just like, that isn't my thing.

Yeah, I have one of those. Mine is You Soggy,

You're a Jimbo. Really? the new one. Not the

original, the new one. I had picked it up because

I also do reviews for Fantastic Universes and

when I was picking up Yondu, I picked up, I saw

Yosagi Ujimbo and I love that character. I've

always been a fan of the bunny because I'm a

bunny. I'm a Chinese zodiac bunny. So I usually

key in on things with bunnies in it. I just couldn't

get past the artwork. I couldn't do it. I tried

really, really hard because I wanted to love

it. I wanted, I wanted to love it. And I couldn't.

I couldn't get past the artwork. It muddied it

up for me in a way where I was just like, you

know what, this isn't my thing. And I mean, I'm

not talking about one or two issues. I bought

five issues because I had the plan to get into

it and to love it because I haven't found one

yet that I hadn't. And that one is the one that

is my, my namesayer. I couldn't do it. That time

one of them got you, shit! I'm gonna get so much

black for saying this. I'm waiting on the people

from the Saga Yajimba to come for my ass. Superman.

Superman? Alright. I don't like the Man of Steel.

I mean, I did for a while when he died. I thought

that was a great story. I liked him as long as

he's dead. Well, no, because, I mean, I started

collecting Superman, action comics, Man of Steel,

Man of Tomorrow, and whatever the other fucking

one was that they had. They had like five books

going for just Superman, like they did everybody.

But when the Doomsday Arc hit, I, you know, I

started picking all that up and it was really

great. And then the reign of the Superman was

amazing. And then the return of Superman was

really great. And then there was, I collected

the book for about a good another four years

after that. And I'm just like, what do you do?

What do you do with this character now to make

it fresh and original? And yeah, nothing came

to mind. Like you put him in a 1950s Put him

in a 1950s comedy television series. That's what

you do But I mean I sat down just recently and

watched the Superman man of tomorrow animated

movie And I was great and I had just finished

watching Superman red Sun again. That was great

but I'm not gonna pick up Superman's monthly

book because One he's too op I don't give a fuck

who you are. He's too OP. And you just can't...

There's one dude in the whole DCU who's put him

in jeopardy, and that's Batman! Well, and Lex

Luthor too, but still, that's beside the point.

But... I just don't care! I mean, it's not against

the writers, it's not against the artists, because

God knows, they've had some amazing talent coming

through that book. I mean, Dan Juergens, John

Bogdanov, who was doing the Man of Steel run

for like... the entirety of the damn books run.

It was tireless, but I just I can't get into

Superman. I don't know. I just can't get into

Superman. I thought I was gonna get Flag Freak,

Soggy, or Jimbo. You're coming after one of the

Trinity. I understand that, but at least one

of them is well written. At least Batman is interesting.

You can't deny Batman. I can't deny Batman. You're

picking up Batman. I am. I started with number

92. So I can't say shit, because I am reading

Batman. And then Jeff Johns came out of left

field and was like, hey, you like Green Lantern

again. I'm like, I like Green Lantern again.

What? The entirety of his regular run on the

book up to New 52 and including the New 52 shit.

I'm just like, oh, wait, so Green Lantern didn't

apply in the New 52? OK. I'm fine with that because

their writing is really good. Alright, so similar

to the last question about avoiding certain comics,

are there any comics in the past or currently

that you wish you hadn't read them? That many

that I don't like. Like, that's the problem.

I usually find some redeemable quality in everything

that I read, but that book, I just, there was,

I couldn't, I couldn't do it. Dude, I mean, it's

so much hate. Go. Let's forget your hate. I'm

gonna say my little bitty, you soggy, and then

I'm moving. Okay. Brace yourselves. I'm braced.

Be for Vendetta. Oh my god. You, and here to,

it's not about the writing. Because the writing

was... It was Alan Moore, he was a fucking genius.

The art looked like shit. I mean, I'm gonna get

so much shit for this, and I've prepared for

it mentally, I think. But, it looked like a six

-year -old drew that book. And, oh my God, I

just, I regret ever reading it because the artwork

was so bad. I was like, give me an audiobook.

I don't need to fucking see the artwork. Oh wait,

Wachowski's had a fucking take on the movie,

which was really good because you got Hugo Weaving.

Yes! You know, who hasn't tried to do the fucking

V monologue? But then again, I can't stand the

art in the comic books, and I feel so bad about

saying that because it's a legendary book. It's

right up there with Watchmen, and The Dark Knight

Returns is one of the biggest books in the universe.

So, I'm gonna get someone to change. You know

what? Here's the thing, like... You like what

you like you don't like what you don't like it

just like Yeah, I mean it's not like you're I'm

not on social media like fucking this guy's world

up because he drew a shitty comic Yeah, you're

not sending comic artists death threats cuz you're

not that dumb and you're not that disrespectful

I mean like just cuz you don't like something

Alright again and listeners I know I've brought

this up a lot For the last 20 years I've been

a Nickelback fan no one in my entire circle except

maybe three people are actually You know Nickelback

fans along with me, so it's like Well I don't

think that's going to change anytime soon. No,

that's fine. I can appreciate their music. I

just don't like him. I think he's a little bit

of a turd. How large or small is your physical

comic book collection? Ridiculously large. If

we had to probably throw a number out there,

we're probably at a total of about 1 ,200 books.

That's what I said, it wasn't for lack of trying.

I mean, we have. We have a pretty good extension

of not only DC Marvel, but we're working diligently

on our indie trade as well. Like, the smaller

companies like Dark Horse, IDW, and all of them.

I mean, we're trying. I would really like to

get a hold of the Spawn Origins books. Yes. But

I know that I don't have to sell off my children

in order to do it. No, not an option. Kendra

would not forgive me for getting rid of the kid

that first was Spawn Comics. Well, you don't

necessarily have to get rid of them. You can

just rent them out. That's what children are

for, is heavy labor. You need your trash taken

out? Give me a minute. You got Spawn Origins

number one? Let's do this. Exactly. No, but we've

got a pretty healthy collection. I mean, I'm,

I'm, I'm a bibliophile. So I have, we have a

room in our house that is dedicated to nothing

but books. And I mean, absolutely nothing but

books, because I've been pretty close to about

two to 3000 novels at this point. And When it

comes to our comics, I mean, we've basically

over the years just picked up ones that have

falled us and ones that we knew that we wanted

to have in our collection. And that's an ongoing

process. Still doing it to this day. Because

damn it, I've got holes in my Green Lantern collection.

You don't want holes in your Green Lantern. Hell

no, especially not in my John's run. Damn. It

goes back to your question about whether you'd

rather have the physical or the digital copy.

Some things I'm perfectly fine with having in

the digital format because I just want to read

it. It's not necessarily something that I want

to have in my collection, but I definitely want

to be able to say, hey, I read that too, so I

can have an informed discussion with people.

But there are some books that we absolutely want

to have the full runs of because the stories

were just that massively great. They were memorable,

and they're stuff that we like to go back to.

Yes. Exactly. Now, if you want to start reading

the IDW Turtles comic, how I suggest you do it

is as much as I want to pimp out digitally and

pimp out comicsology, because I pimp them out

every episode of this show. And you should. They're

doing wonderful things. Exactly. However, with

the IDW Turtles comics, you get the IDW Turtle

collections, which is the hardcovers, because

in those, they are printed in story order. So

let's say issues, oh god, City Fall was, I'm

trying to think, City Fall was 25 to 28. Anyway,

basically you take, let's say, the first five,

six, or seven issues and that's a whole arc.

And then they might do a mini -series or a micro

-series or a macro -series. it's assembled in

the hardcover collections as it's basically timeline

order. So the whole continuity of it, that's

cool. Exactly. That's what's so great about the

IDW turtle hardcover IDW collection books is

because it's not like, I remember when I was

buying these physically, I'm like, okay, well

when does this happen and this happen? Oh, I

have to buy this trade and this trade and this

trade. And I'm like, can't they all just be in

one? and then obviously they, you know, you have

the hardcover collections. All right, what's

the, okay, so this is a question that has been

going on for the last seven years for this show.

Now this is, you know, heaven forbid the house

is on fire, but everybody is safe. What's the

one comic you could never live without ever?

Basically, what's the one comic you'd run back

into the fire to save? I think ours are both

going to be the same but we have Kingdom Come

and it's not just a normal Kingdom Come because

we have both Mark Waid and Alex Ross signatures

on this because one came from one of the three

cons Alex Ross has ever gone to and Mark Waid

we got to meet personally so if We were gonna

run back in and save anything. It's gonna be

that book. Yep That that is that is our the holy

grail of our collection There you go. Even Mark

Wade said it's like the holy grail. No, he's

got we had those signatures Yeah, he brought

that up while we were we were talking with him

and his wife at the con because he was like,

you know Alex doesn't come out to cons very often.

So to have anything signed by him alone is a

huge accomplishment. But to have both him and

Mark Waid on Kingdom Come, it's a beautiful thing.

That's awesome. I would try and drag my Batman

show about too. Yeah. We would drag the Bat Show.

What was the most money you spent on a comic

or comic item? Oh God. Um Damn collectively or

like on one specific just anything like That's

a damn good question I know you do I Don't know

the most money I've spent I mean, I know I know

I've had some some collectors editions in the

40s and 50s, but I Think that's probably the

most I've spent on one singular book It's 40

to 50 bucks. Mine was Kamiko Primer number two.

First appearance of Grindle by Matt Wagner. I

spent $80 on that one single issue. And then

it was sold out from underneath me by my ex -wife.

Oh no! Yeah, along with the rest of my Grindle

collection. It was so sad. I still have it in

this day. Man. Anyway, that's crazy. It was easy,

but it was hard Like Traumatized I couldn't even

form words So Was there ever a moment when you

were done with comics like that you stepped away?

Yes Yes, there was So was yours. I was about

to say, New 52 did it for both of us. It wasn't

just me. But yeah, the Wonder Woman fiasco was

a heartbreaker. It was a deal breaker for me.

And I think that it hit so hard because just

like really recently to the New 52 was Wonder

Woman issue 600. And it featured and showcased

her new costume. It was Wonder Woman finally

wearing pants as part of her costume. And I fell

in love with that idea. I was like, holy shit,

this is great. This is great. Like, I love it.

It's so much more functional. It's... I love

it. Let's do it. And I went out and got that

comic. And shortly after, it was like, hey, I

got the new 52. Do you want to sit down and read

it? And I was like, alright, sure. And I literally

got to that page. And I was just like, no. And

I shut the book and I walked away for... I mean,

years. We're not talking a couple months or just

a little short span of time. I walked away for

years. Was like, you know what? I don't want

anything to do with that and I didn't start back

up until about two years ago Yeah, I'm I'm in

the same boat as her I mean I sat on the sidelines

and like read the news and shit like that about

you know what was going on the comic verse and

everything and You know put up my two cents on

social media about it, you know and I will say

this too that I've eaten my share of pro for

you know Shitting on something before I read

it aka doomsday clock Because they were like,

oh dr. Manhattan created the new 52 and this

and that the third and I'm like y 'all are trying

too hard leave me alone and then I sat down and

read Jeff Johns doomsday clock and I was like

Because I will say this and I didn't read Doomsday

Clock as it was coming out. I went out and forked

over the money to buy the twin hardcover set.

At whose recommendation? At yours. You're welcome.

And I sat down and read it in three sittings

for both books. Actually lost time in the middle

of reading it. And I was just like, this was

genius. I mean, like every panel, every word

was an homage to Alan Moore. But it was, you

know, Watchmen. fucking DC like having this awesome

baby, and I was just like Okay, I retract my

previous statement. This was fucking a brilliant

idea. So I don't remember what it was that stopped

me from reading. I think it was actually the

fact that we were broke and Just couldn't afford

it No, I had just I had gotten back into gaming

Yeah. And gave me as expensive habit as anybody

knows. We had to make choices. So I did the adult

thing, and I was like, I want to play video games

out of time. And I sold comic books for a while.

So it had no malice intent. Mine really wasn't

malice intent either, but it was about the bad

taste in my mouth. And I was just like, you know

what, I just don't even care. I don't care. I

just don't care. And I meant to ask you earlier,

for those of us who haven't read the Wonder Woman

thing, what's the context of the whole thing

that turned you off to it? Like, what's going

on in that issue that... So, with this one, with

New 52, when you're first introduced to Diana,

she's come into America for the first time, and

into civilization, I guess, outside of Themyscira,

and... She's in Washington and literally it's

just a picture of her coming up to this little

girl in her full regalia and she's like the little

girl's you know eating a vanilla ice cream cone

that's from one of the street vendors. Right.

Strawberry ice cream cone. I don't really give

a fuck what the damn ice cream is. Whatever the

flavor is. It doesn't matter in the whole scheme

of things. But she's basically eating ice cream

and Diana like asks her what it is and the little

girl's like oh well it's just it's ice cream.

who hasn't heard of ice cream. And Diana literally

says, what is ice cream? And I'm just like, what

the fuck? I actually know what the page that

really did it for you was the next page where

she like holds her fucking sword aloft in the

air like she's got a damn he -man. And whoever

created this magnificent concoction. Yeah, yeah,

yeah. That one was kind of the big, like I think

that if they hadn't have had that, I probably

would have continued reading. But then she just

makes this big. ridiculous damn deal over ice

cream. And it was like trying to watch a Will

Ferrell movie where there's just this over -exuberance

for no fucking reason. And it was like playing

a scene in my head with over -acting. And it

just, for me, it was so distasteful to a character

who deserved far more respect than that. They

could have done a new 52 without reverting her

to somebody who'd never even seen ice cream.

So, yeah. And then I agree. The only problem

is, Themyscira is a tropical island. Ice cream

would melt a lot faster. Yeah, but they also

have the technology to make a purple death ray

cannon. So they can't have ice cream? I'm sure

they can make a freezer. Right? Like... I don't

know. It was just one of those. I mean, literally...

Yeah, no, absolutely, yeah. Like, no. Like, I

just, I want nothing more to do with this because...

I'll admit as a fan I was like, oh, okay, so

they're rebooting everything again what's gonna

happen and reading it I was just like It was

a letdown for me as a fan because I just didn't

there was no reason to go that far back and to

ruin this years of continuity of building her

up as a character Like I don't want to play sexism

into it. But for the females who were reading

that we expected more Like Wonder Woman is one

of the very few female characters who's put on

a platter and has put on a pedestal to us. So

to see her get basically thrown all the way back

to the beginning of everything after watching

her be built up and have fucking pants, damn

it. It was a throw, it was a let down. So that

was why it stopped me in my tracks. I was just

like, I don't, they took away my care a lot.

I turned into a great grumpy care bear. All right

now we've mentioned some of the things that you

recommend already But what are you reading right

now? And what do you think our listeners should

check out? Three jokers absolutely should be

picked up. It is immensely amazing already The

lead -up to the Joker war has been fascinating

to watch even though I had reservations about

punchline. Those are gone Let's see Obviously,

I'm going to recommend Harley Quinn. Anything

in the Harley Quinn universe that has come out

within the last two years, including Old Lady

Harley, Harleen, the Black, White, and Reds little

mini series, it's really great. Visa Burden is

absolutely on the top of my list of things that

should be recommended. I just finished The Last

Amazon. That one is by Apophis Studios. That

one should be read. There's one in the indie

That is done. It's a symphonic universe or is

in buying verses and it is a really good one.

I Forget what I think it's second site studios.

It's doing that one. It's really really good

What else am I reading? I? Read so freaking many

The question is really good, especially since

it's got some of the original artists on it.

Writ writings by Jeff Lemire. Absolutely fascinating.

Love it. It is not for children. It is Black

Label. Anything, honestly, in the Black Label

section, I recommend with a heavy head tilt.

Except for Batman Dan. I was there for Bat -Dick,

so I... It's not about Bat -Dong, though. Because

I bought the hardcover and... I sat down and

read this damn thing. I was excited to fucking,

I even put my glasses on to read this damn thing.

And I got to the end of it and I'm like, where

the fuck is the end of the story? It doesn't

fucking end. Where the fuck is the rest? Sorry.

You're alright. I didn't read Dan, I read the

first issue and that's all I got, so. I was fully

there to see DC do this because that was something

that definitely caught my eye. I was like, oh,

wait, what? We're doing what? Okay, I'm here.

We're in Narnia. Let's do it. But I mean, I'm

reading the Nancy Drew Sleeping Beauties. Honestly,

anything that's coming out right now is pretty

damn fantastic. I mean, it's a lot to say that

because there's so much that's coming out, but

it's not even October yet, and that's when the

real shit's gonna hit the fan, because I'm gonna

be a broke bitch in October. Then we've got American

Vampire coming back, with Scott Snyder doing

the writing, we've got Watchmen doing their Rorschach.

Oh, fuck the Rorschach series. So October is

a busy, busy month. I'm here for it. But I think

I've looked at everything. Almost everything

that I'm reading, so I'm just gonna pass it to

you. I'm reading Three Jokers. That's brilliant.

Again, Jeff Johns. Artwork by Jason Fabuck. And

it's amazing. Death Metal. Dark Knight's Death

Metal. I'm reading that for DC. I am too. Scott

Snyder and Greg Polow coming back on that one.

And anything where I get to read more Batman

Who Laughs, I'm all about that shit. Actually,

I'm just going back through and reading older

stuff now I highly recommend anybody that hasn't

read it to read doomsday clock, especially if

you were like even the most remote Watchmen fan

or remote DC fan. You owe it to yourself to read

this because Jeff Johns Knocked it out the fuck

apart again, man All this is shorter than hers

because Don't know I'm reading Joker war with

her and that's been really good Well, and to

be fair minor minor ones that I'm reviewing so

I'm trying not to go back to like City of Bane

because Alfred and I can't handle that right

now You don't fucking kill Alfred man Alfred's

my boy Except for you know Gotham, Alfred. That

Alfred can die. Yeah, I stopped watching that

shit in season two. I saw their shitty ass interpretation

of Bane. And I was like, what the fuck, is he

Darth Malus or some shit? Is this supposed to

be Algas or Ringer? I mean, alright, I see you

for Star Wars, but this is not Batman. I think

I finally stopped at like season three, but I

picked it back up at like season five to see

the end of it. Anyway. Alright. Heroes, heroines,

anti -heroes, heroines, or villains. What archetypes

are your go -to reads? Oh, hell. I like a mix

of all. I mean, I think that any good story does

take... a mix of everything and sometimes it's

not always as black and white as good or bad

and I really enjoy stories that like crossing

the gray line so mine's gonna be all. Yeah I'm

gonna second that one because I mean I love a

good villain I mean if it's well written there's

two big two villains to me there's Lex Luthor

from the fucking DC universe and there's Dr.

Dim. If you could write those two characters

really well, I will read that shit. But at the

same time, I love the heroes. You know, Batman,

Green Lantern, Flash, you know, fucking Spider

-Man, Moon Knight, Ghost Rider, you know. I do

tend towards the darker heroes, so your anti

-heroes, like Spawn, Moon Knight, Punisher, you

know, but... Yeah, I read it all, because...

They've all they're all part of the interest,

you know, I'm saying it's not just one or the

other I'm not just gonna read Batman for Batman

because you bet don't read Batman for Batman

because he's an asshole Because the villains

are fucking cool and I mean like take mr. Freeze

for example one of the most tragic backstories

Ever in a fucking in a villain. I can't even

rightly call the villain. Yeah, he's not He's

just a dude who's trying to save his wife's life,

and he got fucked up in an accident. Hell, even

the Harley Quinn animated, spoiler, spoiler,

spoiler, spoiler, even the Harley Quinn animated

series couldn't really justifiably use him as

a villain. And his main episode where he showcased

spalling, I think it's spalling hearts. I mean,

they couldn't even make him a villain if they

tried. Like, I mean, King Shark says it best

in that episode. He's like, you just killed the

most woke person in all of Gotham. So I mean

you can't like But that's what makes stories

great is you have to have a variety of characters

because unfortunately life is not all black and

white It's not you have to be able to to in look

into the gray and see that Not everything is

as it seems and stories that can do that and

characters that can do that or some of the best

ones Absolutely. Yeah, it's like, you know, Tony

always said throw a little hot rod right there

All right, so this question comes from It came

from an old podcast I used to do because I always

had this story it's My parents got rid of my

toys story. So the question is Do you have a

my parents got rid of my comics story? So for

you guys because the listeners have heard this

for the last 12 years When I was six years old

my dad said I had I don't know why I did this

I have no idea of subconscious whatever I had

all my good guys all my Masters of the universe

characters He man Tila man -at -arms all of those

toys plus castle gray skull at my mom's house

I had all the villains Skeletor all that snake

mountain, the slime pit, had all that at my dad's

house because I come from divorced parents. I

don't know why, have no clue. But one day I went

to my dad's house in Rhode Island and my toys

are gone. What I remember, and I'm probably misremembering

this, but what I remember him saying is, I sold

them, you're six, you're too old for toys. And

I'm just like, what? Do you have a parents got

rid of yeah, yeah, do you have a parent my parents

got rid of my comics story? Yes So Like I said

my my uncle had supported my my getting into

comics and shortly after he had given me a milk

carton full of all of the comics that he had.

He was like, you know what, you pick out which

ones you want, I'll let you take them home. And

my mom, I mean, I don't come from a divorced

house. I come from legitimately what you would

see in the dictionary as a broken home. My mom

did not understand why I would want to keep those

comics. Now, granted, looking back as an adult,

there were some that were in there that were

not age appropriate because I had some of the

original Cherry comics that are definitely not

for children and at this point I'm like 11 or

12 years old so not necessarily in the best place

to have comics like those granted I was reading

Stephen King so I was a little ahead of my age

group but she took them at her she had me grab

them and threw them into the dumpster and I spent

the next 20 minutes trying to sneak out of the

house and climb into this dumpster to try and

get whichever ones I could that meant the most

to me and for that it was lady death but yeah

my my mom gave no fucks like she was just like

you know what I don't even want to hear it I

don't care they're in the trash. So yes, I've

had that moment of desperation trying to get

back something that I love that my parents were

just like, no. Mine is not my mom or dad. I mean,

they did that shit anyways when I was a kid,

threw away toys without asking or whatever have

you. I just, I was young and didn't care at that

point because I was like, I can get more toys.

Mine actually took place after my first divorce.

And, uh, wife and I had split up and we shared

a storage unit and it packed away all of my Farland

Toys action figures, my DVD collection, about

three -fourths of my comic collection, books,

everything. And I moved into a friend's house,

we went over the storage unit, got a few boxes

of comics out of there because I wanted to read

some comics and I went back about a week later

to go try and get the rest of the comics out

of there because I'm like, you know what? Fuck

this. I don't want my comics to get fucked up.

I want my comics back. Yup. And I went over there

and she had, my ex -wife had sold everything

in the storage unit. Oh no. For 150 bucks. That's

kind what Wow she sold roughly 300 DVDs About

five or six box, you know good sized boxes of

novels mostly Star Wars books Damn About eight

or nine long boxes all of my image collection

dark horse All that was gone. I had had my Batman

My Batman in my detective comic so I was okay

and spawned in Green Lantern had all those I

Had every McFarland toy figure that had come

out up to that point and this was After the third

or fourth line of movie maniacs figures that

had come out So, I had like six boxes of McFarland

toys, um, random other action figures, you know.

Yeah, yeah, that was, that was, that was a bad

day. It was a really bad day. Man, all I can

think of is Dave Hester got a, got a steal there,

didn't he? Right. I was so pissed, dude. So pissed.

I would imagine so. pissed actually isn't even

an appropriate verbiage for what I was. My friends

actually had to like lock me in my rooms. I was

about to go to my ex -wife's house and fuck her

up for not that I hit women. Right, right. We

understand those. Yep. But my emotions were very

high that day. Yeah, off off the scale. Yeah,

a little bit. Yeah, but that's not that Kendra.

That's majority of that stuff. I mean, newer

versions of that stuff. I have gotten again.

I now have an even bigger collection of Star

Wars novels. That was crazy. Yeah. She bought

me like 300 Star Wars novels for Christmas. Oh

my God. I got a damn good deal on those though.

She did. She got a hell of a deal on them boxes.

Excuse me. But that was a hell of a Christmas

present. I still haven't even dented the books

at all yet. Because I'm still stuck on my Grand

Amylthrawn books. Very cool. All right. That's

all we can pray for, right? What is one item

from a comic book you'd love to have in the real

world? So Jimmy's signal watch, Hal's ring, Batman's

batarang, that kind of thing. Oh, God. There

are so many options. But I think that in my heart

of hearts, what I would love to have is there's

a character in Vesa Verden and his name is Rex

and he's a Doberman because just to put it out

there so everybody understands, Vesa Verden does

not have very many human voices in it. It's from

the point of view of dogs. Yep. And cats. And

I think that if I were able to bring anything

into my world from a comic book, I would bring

Rex. Because Rex comes from a very broken home.

He is an abused dog. His owner is a drunk. And

for me, my heart would be like, you belong here.

And in our house with our zoo of crazy animals

but you know what to be fair it wouldn't even

have to be beasts of burden because even if I

were to look into the main continuity I would

have ace the bat hound in an instant I would

have I would have streaky I would even have I

don't remember what the name of the cow is but

I would have a cow the super cow I would have

it and a horse. That's where my heart lies. I

wouldn't want things for power. I wouldn't want

things for the ability to control people or read

their minds. I would just want all of the animals

in my home. Mine's easy. I want a fucking lightsaber.

Okay. All right. All right. So you want a lightsaber.

What color lightsaber do you want? Red all day

every day and twice on Sunday. The correct answer

is purple because ain't nobody like mace window

Yeah, because it's one that says bad motherfucker

on the side of it. That's right Yeah Well, I'd

want I'd want Revan Darth Revan's lightsabers

he had two one of which was purple So there you

go red and purple. Oh, yeah He's got skittlesabers

great That's right If you could create any comic

storyline What would you want to create and what

characters would you want to create it with now?

This is basically if DC hired you guys and said

Here's Harley Do what you want? What would you

want to create? I would actually, even though

you would think my answer would be Harley, I

would want Zatanna's storyline and I would want

to do a throwback to her and Bruce Wayne when

they were kids and go through the storyline in

an Elseworlds -style novel showing them being

together versus him and Selena. Because in my

heart of hearts, that's who I see Batman with

is Zatanna. So that's what I would do. That's

funny that you asked this question because the

14 notebooks that I have the story written in

it tell me that I've already done this. Batman.

I want Batman for about four and a half years

of Batman and Detective Comics and I could put

out an amazing arc that I can't really get into

because it's long. Mean well, it's not that it's

long but you know, you don't want people to steal

the idea and if a writer or an Old buddy of mine

that I used to hang out with in Virginia Beach

and my brother -in -law we used to set out in

the garage Because we couldn't smoke in the house

and you know the smoker we used to set out in

the garage every night after work and Sit around

and bullshit and create we created what we call

lovingly referred to as DC to which was mirror

universe of the current DC universe, but just

Picked up and we ran with it. I mean like every

fucking character that you can think of They

were there. They did some shit. They got fucked

up. They got killed whatever. I mean we had stories

But Batman I physically I said I watched Batman

begins in theaters with my ex -wife and my daughter

and then I picked up Batman Hush. Never read

it before and it blew me the fuck away and immediately

called my best friend I'm like dude I got this

idea for a Batman story but I don't want to stop

writing after I get done with it and he's like

don't. So for about three years I worked on this

Batman story and yeah. It would be the shit.

There you go. Very cool, very cool. Alright,

final question. Question 25. We made it! Yay!

What is the one piece of advice you would give

the comics fandom? Oh gosh. The one piece of

advice. You know what, the one piece of advice

for me is gonna be super easy. It is to go into

a comic book store and ask for recommendations.

You know, if you have a story that you love,

be supportive of it. Even if it changes hands,

give it a chance. I mean, yeah, you may not like

it, but I mean, at least do justice to it and

give it a chance. and know like what we said

earlier that while you may not like it, there

is a market for that and somebody out there is

being inspired like you were when you first picked

up a comment. So that's my advice. Don't be afraid

of trying something new and definitely don't

be afraid of something new happening in continuity

because everybody deserves to have that initial

feeling that you did when you read your first

great story. So that's my advice. Well, I don't

know I can go what I can go a couple ways with

this Just fucking read comics man, yes On it,

you know go to the fucking store. Like she said

get a recommendation, but I'm gonna add an addendum

to that Don't be an asshole about it Because

Jesus Christ the fan base lately At least in

the last four or five years. Mm -hmm toxic I've

ever seen Get off your fucking Apple box read

your comic books man shut the fuck up. That's

the Yeah, I mean this is kind of the same thing

I say at the you know I kind of answer this question

to kind of close out the show even though we

have an outro and all that stuff that I'll do

but for me the one piece of advice that I give

the comics fandom is that everyone has a place

in comics everyone has likes everyone has dislikes

nobody has to like the fact that ed doesn't like

superman doesn't stop every other superman superfan

that I know from loving superman just because

one person doesn't like it doesn't mean that

you have to not like it, too. There's a place

for everybody. There's comics for everybody.

There's so many different comics. So, it's all

about... I personally think comics should bring

people together, and I personally think that

the comics fandom should be inclusive, not exclusive.

Yeah, I agree with that, too. Yep. 100 % onboard.

Yep. Where can the people find you guys online?

I'm fucking everywhere I mean honestly for me

if you really want to reach out and talk to me

Twitter is probably gonna be the best place because

I'm really really closed off with my Facebook

Twitter is devour all words And, I mean, I do

reviews for Fantastic U. I'm over in the UK on

Earth 9. I have Dark Knight news, DC Comics news.

I do podcasts that you can find on anywhere that

you listen to podcasts. I mean, I do reviews

for Gothic Fight Magazine. We occasionally get

to jump on with Jeremy over at Hunnic Outcasts

and we get to shoot the shit with him and just

have a conversation. And that's really how me

and Ed view life. It's a conversation. So if

you have something that you want to say, or if

you want to discuss anything with me, please

feel free to stop by on Devour All Words. Or

if you're really feeling feisty and froggy, you

can find me on Facebook at Kendra Hale. Facebook

at Edward Hale. Instagram at Ed 700. YouTube,

I've been posting clips of playing Call of Duty.

You can find me at a Sith Rules ad there. I really

should be posting clips of you playing like Arkham

City or something, Mr. Batman. I just got a 2

terabyte hard drive for my PlayStation 4, so

now I have 37 games installed on it. Oh boy.

So now I can do that stuff, and that's actually

been my intention. I just got done playing through

Ghost of Tsushima. That was absolutely brilliant

and I was posting clips of that too though, you

know while I was playing through it Yeah, like

I said Twitter didn't Twitter about it 700 Instagram

Sith rules or the Sith rules, excuse me But yeah

It's about all my social media. Yeah, I mean

I don't I don't think we left anything out Very

cool. Very cool All right. Thank you for joining

us here inside the pull bag. If you'd like to

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Hopefully we get some new iTunes reviews. I don't

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them right now Well, you know, I have a galaxy

and there's no iTunes store on a samsung sadly,

you know I have my computer which is back in

storage in Illinois. Sadly. I was dumbass and

anyway We heard you that follow us on Twitter

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all hailing the hails in this episode of The

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