Origins with Desmond Reddick on Comic Reading and Influences

This is Kevin Conway, and I am the goddamn Batman.

Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the JCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy

this week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome to the

- Pullback, this is episode 401. That's right,

401 episodes, folks, in eight years. I am, of

course, TF2 and Mike. Today's guest is, well,

he's pretty dreadful. That's right, the host

of Dread Media over on earth -2 .net. That's

earth -2 .net. It is Mr. Desmond Reddick. Hello,

sir. How are you? Hello. Yeah, great. Thanks.

Thanks for having me. Absolutely. This is this

is kind of weird. I've only ever heard you on

podcasts. But we are here to talk about Dez's

comic origins and to figure out how he got into

or out of reading comics because sometimes people

end up getting out of comics. It's usually around

the time they find girls when they're in their

teens and stuff. Who knows? Not for me. Oh, there

you go. Oh boy. So yeah, we had our big 400th

episode, which no idea what I did for that because

honestly, breaking the fourth wall here, folks.

I haven't even recorded that one yet. Yes. Big

400 episodes and we've got a whole bunch of other

stuff coming up this month and this year for

the pull bag. Getting into the questions. Did

you grow up reading comics and at what age did

you first remember reading or noticing? comics.

Wow. Yeah, yeah, I did grow up reading comics.

I was four when I first really remember having

comic books in my hand. And yeah, so like, basically,

I learned to read from comic books. Yeah, so

I mean, I, my mom worked at Safeway, she would

occasionally come home with a comic book. uh

for me and then you know you know because it

was back in the day when you didn't have to worry

so much about well you didn't have to worry so

much about looking like a good parent i would

uh go to the grocery store and sit down right

beside the uh spinner rack and read as much as

possible and uh and and that created a bit of

a complex you know like i mean At some points,

I can't really remember what I did yesterday

or what time my appointment is tomorrow, but

I can remember reading a comic and it confuses

me. I'm like, do I actually own that comic or

did I just read it when I was a child? So I actually

read a lot of defenders, but I think I only ever

owned like four or five defenders comic books.

Oh, wow. Very cool. Yeah. It's like, you can

remember everything from every single movie,

TV show, cartoon or comic, but yet you can't

remember that you had. Rue barb for whatever

five minutes ago, right? Well, I would I would

remember rhubarb, but But yeah, you're basically

summing up something that my girlfriend says

to me every other week so As a kid does now I

know you did some of these questions kind of

roll into each other as a kid was there a parent

a Friend who just said here kid read this comic

go away. You bother me. Who was it? that was

it your mom that got you into the whole reading

of comics or was there another specific person

in your life that did that? No act like my sort

of comic book experience is is pretty solitary.

I don't think I really had a friend who read

comics until I was like 10 or 11. My mom would

buy me comics occasionally. Simply or you know

i would sit there and read as many comics as

possible in the hour it took for her to shop

and then she would buy me one right side you

don't grab the one that was the best or grab

the one that look cool that i didn't read yet

so it wasn't like she was you know foisting her

own fandom on me she's never read a comic in

her life. And am i my dad stopped reading comics

when he was i don't know eight or nine. and started

playing baseball and whatever. Yeah, so it was

basically just me and I got my original culture

from those spinner racks or those magazine racks

in grocery stores and convenience stores. And

I don't think I even went to a comic book shop

until I was about 11 or 12. Oh, wow. I mean,

maybe they didn't really even exist in my part

of the world at that time either, right? Yeah.

I mean, I don't really remember. Like comic book

shops for me are like the late nineties, early

two thousands. And by that time I was just out

of high school going into two year college that

didn't really work out. But anyway, yeah, I'm

dumb folks. It's one of those things where it's

like, well, you know, two years ago, I just found

out I was born without a piece of my brain. So,

you know, it's cut, you know, anyway. That's

something to do with it. Yeah. Must be. When

you were a kid, which characters were your favorites?

You know, when I was really little, Spider -Man,

Batman, Superman. I mean, those are the basics.

But also, like, I loved Suicide Squad. That John

Ostrander original run at DC Comics Suicide Squad

was just awesome. Alpha Flight, I loved. As a

Canadian kid, I thought it was so cool that we

had our own superhero team, because I didn't

really see much of Canada in pop culture back

then. I guess you still don't, really. I mean,

now most of the movies and TV are filmed in Canada,

but it says it's the United States. Yeah, so

I loved Alpha Fly and X -Man, you know, I was

I was a major X -Man Teen Titans kid I probably

lean more towards the DC stuff. I just like the

more I Don't know bigger more epic scale kind

of stuff and you know, Jack Kirby stuff very

early comics for me was Do you know what superpowers

is? Heard of it. Yes. Yeah, so superpowers was

like a line of DC Comics toys that were that

were very cool. Like coming from a kid who played

with G .I. Joe's these DC Comics toys like they

were bigger. They had muscles and remember those.

Yeah. And they also and actually so those that

was around the first time that Jack Kirby was

really getting big time money from comics because

the villains of the superpowers were, you know,

uh, dark side and decide and like all of his

apocalypse guys from the fourth world. And so

I became a Jack Kirby fan very early on because

I just love the character designs on those villains.

And, uh, they were essentially the villains of

that run of comic books. The comic books aren't

great, but, but, you know, looking back on it,

but I still got them collected in hard cover.

So there you go. Very cool. All right, so since

you already kind of answered this one, but you

know, we have to ask that age -old question DC

or Marvel I Love some Marvel stuff, but I think

overall I would say DC Yeah, I mean it's just

It's just a cooler sandbox to me. Like if I was

to write in one of those Fields I would I would

choose DC and that's kind of how I would pick

that i mean i was a kid um you know i had uh

you know all these gi joe characters and different

sort of action figures and stuff and you know

i'd assign a uh a superhero role to one of my

gi joes and i'd have like You know massive crisis

of on on infinite earths on my bed and I pull

up the comforter parts to be like mountains or

whatever like I was I was fully all about it

and uh And yeah, and I was writing that stuff

in my head. I mean, I mean the real answer is

both because You know I had you know, I had Wolverine

attacking dark side and shit, you know, it's

just You know, it was it's that kind of stuff.

But if I had to choose one it would be dc for

sure I don't know, I say this in every Origins

episodes, we've been doing these things for eight

years now, folks. I don't, I don't have a particular

loyalty to either or. I see each of them having

their own successes and failures and I go with

the characters. So I am a huge, and yes folks,

I know this is going to be ironic for me to say

this. I'm a huge Dick fan. I am a huge Dick Grayson

fan and thank God Dan DiDio does not work for

DC anymore because he always kills him off, bastard.

But you know, like Nightwing or Iron Man or you

know, that kind of thing. For me, it's all about

the character. Yeah. Hey man, I'll agree with

you there. I mean, in my opinion, Dick Grayson

is the best comic book character ever. Just the

best. He's the first to be integrated into an

existing world that, you know, he changed. I

loved him. I was reading Dick Grayson. I mean,

I was reading like old reprint issues of Batman

and stuff. So I saw fifties and sixties Robin.

But, you know, like I mentioned earlier, I was

a major Teen Titans fan and he was still Robin

when I was reading Teen Titans. But then he quit

and became a private investigator, just Dick

Grayson. And then shortly after that, he became

Nightwing. So I sort of followed that. And I

kind of, I kind of love that. I kind of, you

know, you have a character that's grown, you

know, whereas Superman and Batman have been,

you know, 34 years old for 80 years or whatever,

you know, you got a character that's grown and

changed and had different jobs, you know, he's

been like a super spy and stuff. So yeah, that's

cool. It's cool. I mean, Batman, Superman, they

ain't got nothing on Nightwing. At least Nightwing

doesn't have a safe word. Why did you say that?

What other publishers do you enjoy reading? I

think regularly, probably Dark Horse Image back

in the day before it was owned by DC, the Wildstorm

imprint, which I guess was Image at the time.

I've loved some comics from Avatar Press, Dynamite,

Harris, going back a little ways. I was never

into the bad girl comics, but I really did like

Vampirella, because Vampirella was a bad girl

comic that actually had good stories. I liked

those from Harris Comics. i don't know i guess

that's that's it print or digital which one both

either or and why oh yeah which one the the easy

answer is both but really that's only look if

i was only well i mean obviously if i was only

reading stuff that i that i wanted to keep Print

print right, but I do keep up on some monthly

comics in digital but you know, it's more like

Check out the first issue or the second issue

and if I like it a lot I'll probably stop getting

it monthly and Just make a mental note to grab

the trade when it comes out and I have different

I'm so like neurotic and anxiety ridden, but

I have like several levels. Like it'll be, oh

shit, this is sorry. Can I swear? I didn't ask

that. Okay. All right. Uh, I know it's the internet,

but also some people, you know, don't want it

to happen. But my rule is I do not make podcasts

for children. So if your kids know that you swear

already and they don't care, go ahead and have

them listen to it. I make podcasts for people

like us. All right. Sounds good to say. Shit

fuck damn. Whatever. I don't care All right.

Well, you know, sometimes I'll be like well shit.

This is really great. I'm buying this in hardcover

or You know, I'll wait an extra two months and

buy it and trade paperback or you know, I've

read two issues this and this sucks So I'm not

gonna follow this anymore. So yeah, that's that's

kind of what I that's kind of what I do So the

real answer is both but the hard answer is print.

I I love sitting down uh... and just holding

a book in my hand on the same with you know books

without pictures even though even though i do

read digital i mean that's that's part of the

thing of the changing times right like the used

to back when dread media started they'd reach

out and be like hey do you wanna review this

novel and i'd be like sure and they'd mail me

a copy and that's great but uh that now is just

email you a pdf yeah yeah so so i mean you know

to change the times i had to kind at first i

was like i'm never getting an e -reader and then

i just i kind of had to i mean i i had an ipad

so i downloaded the kindle app and i uh yeah

i take that when i go away for the weekend or

something so i have you know 50 books available

to me yeah that i can choose from yeah Yeah.

I, you know, when I say this every episode, so

people should know that listen to this show,

know that I repeat myself. I started out in print

and then once I eventually hit comicsology and

went digital and I saw their guided view, I'm

like, I can never read comics again because I

would rather read storyboarded, you know, they're

going to take my eye where it needs to go. They're

going to pull me into the story with their guided

view on comicsology .com. And I'm like, Print

what's that? I respect that. I think it's great.

I think it's amazing I'm so happy that the comics

industry is not completely dead yet because there

was a questionable Times last year. Let's say

it's still questionable I understand that it's

always going to be questionable. But last year

everybody was putting out things Oh my god, the

comics industry is dead. Oh my god this oh my

god, and I'm like, come on Well, speaking as

a longtime comic book fan, they have been saying

that since the 90s. Mm hmm. Yeah. Hell, part

of the 90s was probably why it should have died

at the time. But luckily, luckily, you know,

we we survived it. Who are some of your favorite

comics writers and why comics writers? Yes. OK,

well, speaking of some of those, I'm going to

start picking some people here that. Would not

be the typical people to pay Just just just to

get some people some some shouts out Speaking

of monthly books that I am reading Punisher Matthew

Rosenberg is to me in my opinion writing the

definitive Punisher Sorry, let me finish that

the definitive Punisher inside the Marvel Universe.

I mean, I think everybody would say come on Garth

Ennis that Punisher Max run was about as core

Punisher as you could get. And I agree with that,

but if we're talking about Punisher as an existing

character inside of the Marvel universe, nobody

has written them as good as Matthew Rosenberg

has, as well as Matthew Rosenberg has. Hello,

English teacher here. So yeah, so I'm really

digging his run. Man, other writers, like current

writers. Any writer doesn't, you know, whatever.

I don't know your favorites that you've loved

to read. Ed Brubaker. I loved his work on Daredevil.

I love most of what he does. Creator own stuff.

Fatal. We had a great series. No one ever talks

about sleeper. That's a Brubaker series. Do you

know what sleeper is? I don't think so. Sleeper

is like a super spy stories told within the Wildstorm

universe. But uh, it's like adult, right? Like

it's, uh, I don't know what they call it was

eye of the storm. I think they call it like the

adult version of the wild storm comic books.

And it's just great. He's a, uh, undercover super

powered guy who's working with super terrorists

to take them down from within. And it's just

fantastic. I love that book. So yeah, brew Baker.

Um, I don't know, Jack Kirby. He wrote two, clearly

an artist, same with Eric Larson. I'm gonna say

both of those guys. I'm assuming the next question

is artist, but I'll talk about them probably

in art, because I think I like their art better

than their writing. But I'm just sort of swiveling

my head to look at my bookshelves here. You mean

you don't have spinner racks in your house? Come

on. Well, Marv Wolfman, of course, Len Wein.

Yeah, these guys are like the architects of my

childhood. I mentioned John Ostrander, writer

and plotter of Suicide Squad and many other stuff.

And yeah, I'm I'm Oh, yeah. Mark Grunwald's Captain

America run in the 90s. Holy shit. Talk about.

I don't know how many issues he did it is like

sixty issues or something and it's just fun it's

super fun yes serpent society and red skull and

just a bunch of cast classic captain america

villains that he's fighting and super fun so

yeah no one no one mentions mark groom walls

captain america run it's definitely like top

five comic book superhero runs for me. I think

it's the first time I've ever heard his name

and I'm gonna have to go check him out after

this. You know what? That's what I love about

these marvels doing these epic collections. And

because you know, like I have a bunch of. uh,

essential additions, but they're nowhere near

the nineties and the essential additions and

they're not making them anymore. So they have

these full color ones that collect like, you

know, about 18 issues at a time and they've done

a bunch of Grunwald's run. So I love that stuff

coming up, you know, us agent, you know, the

sort of like angrier Captain America that came

in and yeah, I just, I just love that stuff.

So yeah. Go do go check out Mark Grunwald's Captain

America. Cause it's great. Awesome. What defines

a good story to you? What defines a good story?

That's, that's a question that a writer should

be able to answer very well, isn't it? Uh, well,

character for one character conflict. You can

take things a really long way by having a character

that people empathize or sympathize with. They

don't have to be likable. They don't have to

be someone you can understand. But finding a

nugget of that character that people can understand

is important. And then when you put that character

in peril, then you're concerned about them. And

that's I think the basis of, of good adventure

storytelling characters and bad shit happening

to them or them trying to stop bad shit from

happening. You know, it's, it's, that's a very

simple question, but you know, I could go further

into saying, you know, like I love reversals

and, and reveals and you know, that's, that's

just writing really. Yeah. And when you have

a good writer. It's going to be a good story.

Absolutely. Well, also, also, you should say

that the artist has a lot to do with that. Oh,

absolutely. And we're going to get a lot to do

with that. I've read some comic books by some

great writers that. Oh, no, I'm not going to

blame. I'm not going to name it because I don't

want to blame any artists, but it just I've also

read some comics by some great writers that the

writing sucks and the art is great. And there's

a very there's a high profile. series that came

out two years ago or so that really piss me off

cuz they had a great writer and a great story

and a great artist but the entire. Run of the

series was done in like a nine panel grid and

i'm like i get what they're trying to do here

but this artist i wanna see i wanna see big splash

pages and shit i wanna see. This guy, you know

Work shit out. You know, if I want to if I want

to read a great comic book with a nine panel

great I'll go I'll go read Watchmen again, you

know What does a story have to have to draw you

in so in comic books You know most the time we

go to comic shops or we look on websites or whatever

when we see the cover and that draws us in But

what does the story have to have to make you

keep coming back for more? Hmm I think it has

to be like not a unique idea, but a unique idea

inside a certain set of circumstances. I'm a

big horror fan, so I think a lot of the horror

comics I would read, I'm looking for a new approach

to something or Maybe an approach to something

that I've never seen in comic book form before

and I guess that's the same for like superhero

stuff You know, I just read What's it called

event Leviathan did you ever hear of that? Yes.

I've heard of it Yeah, it's kind of a thing that

sort of came and went and didn't get much fanfare

and it was pretty interesting. I really enjoyed

like Oh God who wrote that? The checkmate series

from about 10 years ago. I can't remember who

wrote it. But it's like, you know, super, super

spies inside of the DC universe. And this is

similar to that. But event Leviathan was written

by Bendis, Brian Michael Bendis, who I have complex

feelings about. And drawn by Alex Malive. And

it is. A great sort of mystery inside the DC

universe about some massive terror cell. About

this character Leviathan who is now in control

of this terrorist group Leviathan and who can

be trusted and a motley gang of detectives including.

Like i don't know like lois lane and john constantine

and plastic man like all these different characters

are coming together to try and solve this mystery

and i just thought it was really great now the

ending kind of sucked. Because i think what they

were trying to do is set this character up to

be something massive inside the dc universe so

there's no real ending. And that's kind of upsetting

because no one took the idea and ran with it,

which I wonder if Bendis is upset about that.

But I liked I liked everything up until about

the last 10 pages. And it was sort of super spy

stuff mixed with detective stuff inside the superhero

world. And I I enjoyed that. And I enjoy that

kind of thing where you take. We take a premise

actually Justice League dark is doing that right

now talk about another monthly comic book. I'm

reading they they do a really great job of taking

these horror tropes and putting these well magic

themed some some of them horror themed heroes

and anti -heroes together trying to Get to the

bottom of it and I really i really enjoy that

that's as kind of stuff of always love always

love mixing of genres. When searching for checkmate

again comixology dot com sadly they don't pay

me checkmate by rucka greg rucka yeah greg rucka

major two thousand two thousand sixty two thousand

eight i was him and that's a very fun run. Yeah,

it was him and Jesus. See, as say, as, yeah,

yeah, I don't know. Your, your guess is as good

as mine, but yeah, I'm looking right at the name

and I still can't pronounce it, but it, you know,

Hey, but yeah, no, it looks really interesting

and really fun. Yeah. And then both of those

guys were involved in 52, which was, which was

another idea that I adored. I loved the idea

of removing all the major characters from a core

book. and telling a weekly story. Now, I'm sure

you are aware as a listener of Earth2 .net that

Michael Simms and I continued that with Hey,

they're doing another weekly series. We should

follow along and do one episode a month where

we talk about four issues of this series. And

I was like, yeah, that's a great idea until we

started reading the series and that was countdown

and it was awful. But 52, I still would say is

probably the best event comic of all time. If

you can call it an event comic. Very cool. Very

cool. Yeah, no countdown almost killed you guys.

That's as bad as covering the Saw movies. Oh,

wait. Who are some of your favorite comics artists?

Yeah. Well, okay. So I've mentioned Jack Kirby.

Jack Kirby is more than an artist. He's a myth

maker. I truly believe that the comics industry

would be in a very different place had he never

chosen to work in it. So yeah, Eric Larson, I

also mentioned his work on Spider -Man made me

a huge fan. And then when he left to join Image,

I followed him there. And the Savage Dragon,

Is a comic book i have been buying since. I guess

nineteen ninety two when it first came out the

first issue of the first miniseries i've been

following at every issue since i'd say monthly

but he's been. Not so much monthly there's been

a couple times where it's gone you know three

four months between issues but yeah i mean and

also like. I'm gonna also mention him as a writer

because. He's doing something that no one else

has ever really done. And in Savage Dragon, he's

telling a story that's unfolding in real time.

So the character of the dragon, spoiler alert,

guys, but this is years old by this point, is

dead. And the series is following his grown son.

And and his family, you know, it's it's it's

wild and I don't know I just I find that unique

inside, you know, we're in a world where You

know, like I said Batman's been 34 for 80 years

Spider -man they they keep trying to go back,

right? They keep trying to go back because they

they feel like they fucked up I love the idea

of spider -man getting older what I don't love

is Peter Parker being a corporate CEO of whatever

Parker Industries or whatever the hell they called

that, I feel that gets a bit away from the character.

But again, he was a super nerd and clearly a

scientific genius. So maybe that has some validity.

I just don't like reading Spider -Man as okay.

I would like reading Spider -Man as a CEO if

he still had girl troubles, you know? Which cemetery

in the pool am I going to date this week? I feel

that is a Otto Octavius body swapping. Right.

Right. That's something Otto would do, not Peter.

And also, hey, for a guy who had girl troubles,

who's had both Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy and Black

Cat after him, he's doing all right. Yeah, I

mean, come on, you know. Once you go black cat,

you never go back. Never go back cat. Uh, but

yeah, I mean, uh, so, so what Larson is doing

is sort of unprecedented. It's sort of happened

a little bit, you know, like we mentioned Nightwing

and you know, Spider -Man, but there there's

always, there's always pullback and there's,

you know, because this is, you know, the Savage

Dragon is a, uh, create her own series. He can

do whatever the hell he wants. So next issue,

he could go back. And I don't know, he could

do like a whole what if to the very first appearance

of the dragon and, and start from there if he

wanted. And I wouldn't put it past them. So it's

good. I like being kept on my toes. He could

throw a little miss witch heart miss in there

and you never know. That's definitely a spoiler,

you know, but, uh, yeah, I mean, uh, John John

Cassidy, I think is how you pronounce his name.

I'm not you're maybe it maybe it's just Cassidy

but Planetary is probably my favorite single

comic book series of all time and I think he's

a just a master artist and Who gene colon classic

artists that I love? Hmm, we're some newer with

some newer guys. I also love Trying to think

well Jim he's not he's dead Jim apparel is is

like my is like my favorite Batman artist of

all time You know, I like I like some of the

European guys Milo Manara Mobius obviously Enki

Bilal You know i started i think i started getting

into those guys sort of seeing snippets of them

in dark horse presents back in the day i was

reading dark horse presents when i was probably

too young to be doing so that's that's basically

the story of my life with movies and and books

and comic books and music. But yeah i mean i

like a wide berth of artists i like. You know

people you'd consider cartoonists more than anything

else Yeah, so I mean it for me it's just do I

like this style and if I like the style of art

it takes me a long way Do you often like when

you find an artist style that you like does that

then make you this is completely off the wall

and and just Spontaneous question follow -up

thing does that make you then follow the artist

through the rest to see what else they've done

Yeah, like like a pretty good stuff on on Batman,

you know Jim apparel's run on Batman After you

fell in love with that. Did you want to see?

everything else he did Yeah, I still would like

a really good reprint of his Aquaman run. I have

a couple issues of that It's not necessarily

easy to find. There's not a lot of Aquaman back

issues out there But yeah, no, I absolutely I

will follow an artist as much as I would follow

a writer, I think it's more frequent that I'm

impressed by an artist than it is when I'm not

impressed by an artist. I think I do have a wide

berth of what I like. And unfortunately, I think

stuff that I don't like is when we're getting

into manga influenced art. It's just never appealed

to me. And when I see that in a mainstream superhero

comic book. I see that influence in the art.

I don't go on the internet and scream about how

it sucks, but I'll look at it and be like, oh,

this is not for me. That's interesting you say

that because some of those types of questions

are coming up, actually. Fun note, folks, I never

share the 25 questions with people, so I never

know what... Life is like a box of comics. You

never know what you're going to get. Very true.

Very true. Do you have a favorite non -superhero

title? Yeah, a couple. Have you read Planetary?

No, but I'm sure it would count. Yeah, it counts.

I mean, there are superheroes in it, but it's

not a superhero book. If Batman, Iron Man, Superman,

and Captain America don't show up, that, you

know. Right. And obviously, I talked about Savage.

Excuse me savage dragon. That's not a superhero

book per se. It's about a guy who looks like

a dragon who's a cop in Chicago, but he You know

there were there are points where he does become

a superhero in the run of the comic book because

of course but yeah, and and and I love wait Series

you said comic like non superhero series non

superhero title, but title. Okay. Yeah. Yeah,

I mean Yeah, tons like Hellboy, I wouldn't consider

Hellboy a superhero. I like his stuff the the

beasts of burden I don't know if you've read

that that's some other people have suggested

it to me. Yeah, it's really fun. It's a Evan

Dorkin and Jill Thompson doing Talking animals,

but it's like they're occult detectives Yeah,

they're like they're like a bunch of dogs and

a cat solving magic uh, and demonic happenings

and stuff. That's really cool. Um, that reminds

you of We Three, the Grant Morrison series about

the three animals put inside of, uh, cybernetic

war bodies. It's very, very beautiful. It sounds

bizarre and it is, but it's beautiful. Maybe

I like non -superhero books more than superhero

books, even though I do truly love the superhero.

Right. Absolutely. Well, I mean, we all, you

know, I mean, I don't consider Transformers to

be superheroes and I've loved what IDW has been

doing in their previous universe and their current

new rebooted universe kind of thing. So it's

like, you know, they're giant robots, man. Yes,

they do heroic things, but the other also does

really evil things. When I say, when I think

of superheroes, I think of, you know, spandex

suits and capes and, you know, That, you know,

if you got a mask on that kind of looks like

a superhero mask or bat mask, or sometimes you

just need a pair of glasses because nobody will

recognize you. Oh my God, have you? And this

is, again, spoilers, folks. So I'm going off

on a tangent here because I tend to do that.

Have you seen the pilot for Superman and Lois?

No, I haven't. I saw the - You need to. I won't

say anything. You just need to. Just - Okay.

I won't say anything. You just need to. I'll

have to find that somehow. I saw that little

snippet where he's wearing the original Superman

costume and the little kid's like, hey, nice

suit. He's like, thanks, my mom made it and he

flies off. And I'm like, okay, that's cool. I

will probably check that out sometime. It is

by far. I don't want to say anything because

I don't want to say any influencing words, but

it's... Fuck it. It's so fucking good. It's only

one episode. It's two hours. It's a two hour

pilot. It's only had one episode and it's like

everything in it. I was like, yes, yes, yes.

OK, they're doing it this way. Great. This is

the way it should be done. Oh, so good. Cool.

And, you know, I'm not a guy who's ever been

like super into Superman. I have moments like,

you know, like sort of like Little slices of

times I I I came to my like the peak of my Superman

fandom during Death of Superman return of Superman

or you know return of the Superman kind of thing

and then once that was Basically over I sort

of preferred my Superman in the Justice League,

but what I have seen of that looks cool. I think

the guy Okay, Tyler Hoechlin. Yeah, he cuts a

good look as Superman. So yeah, I'll check that

out. But you know what? I also like what's his

nuts. And I'm and I'm really looking forward

to the Snyder cut. Oh, yeah. But I can't. You

think I'd be able to remember that? But no. Well,

for a second there, I thought you were going

to really take me back to the 90s and say you

like Dean Cain, but apparently nobody's supposed

to say that kind of stuff anymore. No, you know

what? I thought that show sucked. And maybe I

was away from superhero comics at the time, but

I was not into that series. Now, Terry Hatcher,

on the other hand. They're real and they're fabulous.

That's all I have to say. I love Terry Hatcher.

She's great. She's amazing. And it's so funny

how you find things like, okay, I remember watching

Lois and Clark. I was, when that show was on

air, I was between 13 and 17 over that show's

lifespan. And you find other things. And this

is before her desperate days. This is way before

her desperate days on, on ABC. Uh, you know,

I found. And I can't believe I enjoyed this because

I'm not one of this guy's biggest fans at all.

Brain Smasher, a love story. It is Andrew Dice

Clay starring with her in this backwards ass

movie of think James Bond, but with more cursing.

Wow. Less gadgets. I just, I just Googled this.

I've never even heard of this movie. Yeah. I

hadn't either until I was looking through her

filmography back years and years ago. And I'm

like, what is this? I need to see, I need to

see Lois Lane and Andrew fucking dice clay. It's

probably not one of the better films. Obviously

it's very cheesy. It's very, and honestly, I

haven't seen it in years. I'd have to go back

and watch it again, but it's one of those things

where I, I just remember it. It's probably it's

probably no adventures of Ford Fairlane, but

It was after 97 so it was after it was after

she finished the way it was when she was a bond

girl Okay, that's when I originally found brain

smash or a love story All right. What is your

favorite run of a series? So this, this question

is basically like you take issue 13 through 25,

which is a specific story arc of a Batman series.

Okay. That's kind of where this question fits.

So what would be your favorite run of any comic

series? Doesn't have to be superhero. It could

be anything. So this can't be like a complete

thing, right? Like John, John Ostrander wrote

like all 66 issues or whatever. Plus. annuals

of suicide squad. So it wouldn't be, that wouldn't

be a run. No, just like, um, like Marigold Scott

wrote a run on Batgirl recently in the last couple

of years. Like that, like that kind of thing.

Like if a writer or an artist come in and they're

only there for a specific amount of time kind

of thing. Well, is it a cop out to say Mark Grunwald's

Captain America? No. I mean, it is my OK. Well,

I'll say a couple like Mark Grunwald's Captain

America. Look, guys, if if there's one thing

to take from this, this interview with me, a

guy you've probably never heard of before is

you need to check out Mark Grunwald's Captain

America. He wrote Captain America for 10 years.

And really, it's just it's insanely fun. So like

his Captain America is basically Issue three

hundred and seven through four hundred and forty

three. So he's there's one issue he didn't write

in there. So that's he didn't write issue four

hundred and twenty three. So we wrote issues

three hundred and seven through four hundred

and twenty two and then four hundred and twenty

four to four hundred and forty three annuals,

eight, ten, eleven and twelve. So he's missing

annual nine as well. But. Uh, I just, man, I

love that shit. It's so good. Um, uh, Jim apparel's

run on, I'm not going to say Batman, but I'm

going to say Batman and the outsiders. That's

a, that's a fun series. Um, Steve Gerber's run

on man thing is really fun. Same as, uh, well,

I guess Howard the duck would be the whole series

he wrote. Oh, here's another one. Speaking of

Steve Gerber, he wrote a 12 -issue maxi series,

I guess you'd call it, of Fool Killer. I don't

know if you know who Fool Killer is. No, I don't.

It's a weird side -murderer character that he

introduced in the pages of Swamp Thing back in

the 70s. Sort of weird debonair sort of... Like

Christian fascist style guy who viewed people,

certain people as fools. And if he discovered

that you were a fool, he would give you a little

card. And then, I don't know, I think it was

like 24 hours. You have 24 hours to stop being

a fool. I'll kill you and then you come back

and shoot them with what he called his purifying

gun which is a gun that like turn them into ash

really weird character will back in the early

mid nineties Gerber came back and did this really

greedy follow up series called fool killer where.

I think i like the main character was a banker

but it's like. just in the fallout of the whole

savings and loans disaster and begins looking

for purpose and he finds purpose in killing fools.

So yeah, that's one way to. That's one way to.

Be a murderer, I guess. Yeah, and that's something

that Marvel needs to get back into print. They

did a whole run of Steve Gerber's Howard the

Duck. They're putting out the third, I think,

and final volume of Steve Gerber's Man Thing

this year. They need to do Steve Gerber's Fool

Killer. Because that needs to be back in print

even if it's just the new miniseries They could

include a couple of the appearances that he had

before but who cares they're a different guy

anyway, but What is one comic you can read over

and over again something you always go back to

single issue or trade Hmm There's a couple okay

Kingdom come Really? I love Kingdom come I see

I like alternate takes on characters in a lot

a lot of a lot of aspects and the sort of I'm

I'm a sucker for like the future hey show me

this character when he's 20 years older and and

what the world is like then I really like that

and that's what Kingdom Come is all about Yes,

one thing something else that I've been telling

myself over and over and over to reread is the

JLA Avengers crossover I used to read that very

frequently and Yeah, I will definitely reread

that again. I think it's it's about as fun as

comics get And planetary, I'll say planetary

again, because that is again one of the best

comic book series that's ever been created in

my opinion. Very cool, very cool. Are there comics

you avoid altogether? Like you just see it and

you're like, nope, that's not for me. Yeah, if

it's got like a manga look to it, I drop it immediately.

And I'm fully aware that that's not fair. But

yeah, I like what I like and I don't like bad

art style. So that's definitely out of the way.

Um, I would, if you, if you'd asked me, um, I

don't know a little while ago, I would have said,

you know, anything that Dan slot rights. Uh,

but I've, I'm sorta coming around on them right

now. So, but yeah, podcast made its bones on

dance. So that's where my like, For me, Spider

-Man in the 90s was the cartoon series, the animated

series on Fox. And then that made me want to

go to Walden Books to go to the Spinner Racks

and find something like what I saw on television

and comics. And then when I started this podcast

eight years ago, it was like, oh, superior Spider

-Man, that's different. Because again, Peter

Parker, they've done everything with him. They've

done everything. Like, like you said earlier,

they always bring him back to a point where he's

14, 15, 16 in high school. And then they age

him up again. They age him again. You know, so

I'm like, superior Spider -Man. What's that?

Doc Ock is not like, that's how we started with

Spider -Man on this show. So I started with Dan

Slott and I get to get back to that, that stuff.

Uh, are you, are you reading, are you reading

that current superior Spider -Man series? I need

to. I'm so behind on comics myself, but like

I'm I'm what two three issues into that run and

really enjoying it actually I don't know if he

I don't know if he writes that but I know he's

writing the the recent Fantastic Four run which

which I'm enjoying although it it looks like

they're teasing that dr. Doom is gonna be marrying

Valyria Richards which Even if it's like future

valeria richards it seems very weird and gross

but i guess it's one way to get back at your

your biggest rival is marrying his daughter so

go yeah. Also in line with that last question

are there any comics in the past or currently

that you wish you hadn't read them. Huh. Do I

wish I hadn't read them? Like, yeah, like you,

you get to the end of it and you're like, wow,

I just wasted my time on this thing. It's, I

just didn't like it. I just wish I hadn't read

it. Um, not, not fervently. I do read an occasional

issue like it, like, and generally it'll be like

the first issue of a series, right? I'm going

to give this a shot. Am I going to like it? Maybe

I'll buy it and trade. And I'll finish the issue

and either it'll be A, so forgettable that I

couldn't tell you anything that happened in the

issue at all. Or B, this was so painful that

I will never read another issue. But also, you're

talking to a guy who read Countdown. Survived.

Survived. But so Mike and I covered Countdown

monthly. I think we did. Did we? Maybe you don't

know, but maybe you do know. Did we quit on the

sixth episode or the seventh? I honestly do not

remember. I'd have to go back through the archives

and see. So I think we covered like the first

half of the run and then and then quit covering

it. So I gave the time of reading those issues.

Twice each and then going through them while

we're talking about it and then spending. Four

five hours on the phone with mike talking about

that month of issues for six months and then

i still bought the rest of the series and and

and continue to read it. Like I I am a glutton

for punishment because because in my head, you

know like it's probably has something to do with

my anxiety But in my head, I'm like look you're

already in You're in for 26 issues You have to

see how this ends and it doesn't end Impressively

in any way, but I needed to see it through at

that point, which is why I'll read something

that's bad as an issue one or issue two. And

I'll be like, no, I'm good. Like the recent Hawkman

series, I liked the first couple issues. I think

I got to issue five. I'm like, this is awful.

I don't need to dedicate any more time in my

life to this. But at a certain point, I'll get

to the point where, oh, I got to read this entire

thing. It's not healthy. It's like, I'm bored.

Let me go read that horrible Hawkman story and

see if it's actually any good. Right. And then

again, because, you know, we're podcasters who

talk comics and talk other things, like for me

in this show, this show and my reading habits

are dependent on what I want to cover on this

show. Sure. I am so far behind it. Like the only

title in DC that I've ever kept up with currently

since rebirth happened was Batman Beyond. I have

not read whatever I've done on this podcast is

what Like I'm so for like I still want to read

the 2014 Iron Man series that Marvel had before

they whatever whatever You know, it's like I'm

so far behind on the big two stuff like it was

that was that being was that the invincible Iron

Man series? Yeah, that was supposed pretty good.

Actually, I think I've got one or two hardcovers

of that Very cool. Yeah, how large or small?

I assume it's large is your physical comic book

collection. Oh god Okay, well if we're talking

trade paperbacks, I have one two three Four packed

bookshelves To the point where some titles are

facing forward like in front of the ones that

are slotted right and then so and all those bookshelves

are roughly seven feet tall or, well, one of

them's actually like eight feet tall. And then

I have, my closet is open right now and I can

see one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,

eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 12 full long boxes and

then five full short boxes on the top shelf.

And that's after calling Probably 60 % of my

collection, 15, 20 years ago, 15 years ago. Yeah.

Wow. Yeah. I don't have the room for all of that.

I'm so glad I'm digital. Yeah. That's what my

girlfriend's saying. She's like, you got a lot

of stuff. In other words, you're like, we're

getting ready to do the move thing. I mean, not

right away, but we're talking about it. She's

like, you got a lot of stuff. I'm like, yeah,

I know. It's my stuff. What's the one? Okay.

You know, heaven, I started this question, um,

over on, uh, uh, our transformers origins thing

where it's like, what's the, what is the one

comic you could never live without ever. So basically

everybody is safe. You're safe. Your girlfriend's

safe. The kids are safe, but the house is on

fire. What would you go in to save? Oh, shit.

Oh, my God. I don't know, like it has to be one

series or one issue. What are we talking about?

It doesn't matter. What's the one comic you could

never live without ever? What's the one if you

could only have? Like if you're on a desert island

and you only get one comic book, what are you

reading the rest of your life as you, you know,

are on the desert island? Holy shit. Um, uh,

I'm going to say volumes one through four of

Jack Kirby's fourth world omnibus. Awesome. So

that, that collects, uh, stuff from his work

in Jimmy Olsen, Superman's pal, Jimmy Olsen,

uh, Mr. Miracle. new gods forever people. I feel

like I'm missing one. And it's floated away from

my head. But yeah, those are yeah, those are

integral to me. What was the most money you spent

on a comic or comic item? Oh, I got paid like

50 bucks for. It's a big hardcover of Madman

comics, you know, Madman, Mike, Mike, all red

series. Yep. Huh. That might be it for the comic.

I think I spent. Like seventy five, eighty bucks

on a statue of Savage Dragon. So that's a yeah,

it's a comic book paraphernalia item. But yeah,

you know, it's not Not major money. Yeah, but

the major money. comes when it adds up all the

stuff like all the comics that I buy together.

It's not that I'm not spending money on comics.

I spend a lot of money on comics. I just don't

buy really expensive single comics or books or

whatever. In the previous decade before the world

went to hell, we could actually go to conventions

and we could buy a Hulk statue and have it signed

by Who met you know what I mean? Like sure that's

the kind of comic item thing thing. But yeah

Was there ever a moment where you were done with

comics like you didn't want anything to do with

them You were done with them. You're like it

ain't from me anymore Okay, so actually first

of all, I kind of have to go back and retalk

Remention the last thing because I do have a

small collection of Original comic book art.

Oh very cool And I think I've spent on a single

page, I think I've spent like 200 bucks, which

is again, still not a huge amount of money in

that realm. But I forgot about a small collection

of original art, but sorry. And this question

again, repeat it to me. Was there ever a moment

when you were done with comics completely? Like

you were like, I'm out. I can't stand it anymore.

I need to go on with my life. No. The short answer

is no. There is a period of time where I stopped

reading like eight, nine different series a month.

But I boiled it down to. The lowest I've ever

gotten is, well, I guess now. The only series

I buy and monthly floppy real. Format is savage

dragon. But there was a period of time marvel

was doing well they did on slot and then. Heroes

return and i'm like all these cool image artists

are coming back and doing marvel books and oh

my god they're horrible so so i really kind of

bounced from. Marvel at that time, and I was

already off DC for a while at that time. So there

was a period where I was only reading Savage

Dragon, Planetary, and Authority. And then once

the, yeah, once Authority, well, it didn't end,

but once like the second volume of Authority

ended or whatever, it was down to Planetary and

Savage Dragon. But again, Planetary is not a

monthly comic. I know it's sort of considered

a monthly comic, but I'm just sort of looking

it up right now. The run of Planetary was 27

issues and then three one shots, but it's 27

issues. And those 27 issues came out between

September of 1998 and October of 2009. Oh, wow.

So 11 years for 27 issues. Like I swear we waited

five years for this, for the final issue. Like

after 26, it was like five years and then boom,

here's 27. So that you can't really consider

a monthly comic. So at that point, I guess you

could say I was just reading one, but I've, I've

been reading. Yeah. I've never, there's never

been a time where I haven't read monthly comics.

Awesome. What are you reading right now and what

do you think our listeners should check out?

See most of my stuff right now, so most of the

stuff other than you know, obviously I'll say

Savage Dragon one more time Maybe again everybody

you never know but I'm mostly reading reprints

of old stuff But as far as like the monthly comics

I am reading and enjoying lately ice cream man

Do you know this? It's a horror anthology comic

from Image. Yeah, so many people have been telling

me about it, and I actually have a team of podcasters

that are going to help me review it on the show

this coming December. Cool. Yeah. I don't know.

If you like horror, you'll probably like it.

It feels like, I don't know, like that creep

show series on Shudder in comic book form. I

dig it. Like the Black Hammer realm of comic

books. Do you know about that? I've heard about

it, but I haven't looked into it. Who the hell

writes it? Jeff Lemire. It's a sort of a superhero

series, but there's a bunch of different sort

of mini series that all sort of coincide in the

same universe. I'm digging that quite a bit.

I'm also like super behind on comics. Like I'm

just starting that whole age of X -Man thing.

which I find kind of interesting, but I'm not

quite fully into it yet. The Immortal Hulk is

great. It's existential horror and cosmic horror,

and it's done in the confines of a very simple

comic book. And I think it's, even though it

has gotten a lot of kudos, I think it's still

slept on quite a bit. Uh, man, other than that,

I'm trying to think of some more sort of independent

comics. Vampirella is having a great run now.

I mentioned her earlier. Uh, she, she goes through

fits and starts of being great and the Vampirella

comics right now are great. Uh, uh, vengeance

of Vampirella was picked back up. That was a

series that was abandoned in the nineties. And,

uh, the writer, I think it's Tom Snegowski, if

I'm not mistaken has picked up. where he left

off so that's very cool yeah i think that's sort

of all off the top of my head that's one thing

about you and mike oh boy michael david sims

folks i swear that guy can pull a comic book

out of his brain immediately without having to

even look at anything He's better than I am at

it for sure. You're an encyclopedia, he's an

encyclopedia Britannica. He'll say it and I'll

be like, oh yeah, I know that, but I wouldn't

have been able to pull that out of the top of

my head. No. All right. Heroes, heroines, anti

-heroes and heroines, or villains. What archetypes

are your go -to reads? What kind of character

archetypes are you drawn to? A short answer is

all of them. I mean, I like any good story, but

I am partial to villains. I think Doctor Doom

is quite possibly the greatest comic book character

in the Marvel universe. I love that he's got

this hubris and that he's dead set on proving

to one single person, even though he's basically

a king and quite possibly one of the most powerful

people in the Marvel universe with his mastery

of machines and magic, he still feels the need

to prove himself to read Richards to the point

where in a recent comic in that Dan Slott run

Galactus attacked Latveria. And like, Dr. Doom

projected a hologram image of it and was like,

hey, Fantastic Four, fuck you, I'm gonna beat

Galactus on my own. Ridiculous, but I love that.

I love that in him as a character and the fact

that when they finally... when they finally pulled

that mask off that he'd been wearing because

he was so disfigured. He just has a little scar

on his cheek. Like that says so much about that

character. Oh, yeah. I love it. So I and you

know, Magneto, I love I love villains with meat.

And I think that in any. You know, like Breaking

Bad, you know, in any platform. Any format of

storytelling. I think if you can tell a really

good story about a villain It's better than a

really good story about a hero because we've

seen so many hero stories, right? So yeah, I

love heroes. I love villains. I love anti here.

I mean, I'm a Punisher fan, but I guess you can

call Batman an anti -hero in some aspects as

well But for me a villain the villains always

more interesting Do you, I, at this point, I'm

pretty sure this answer is no, but I have to

ask it and maybe I can rearrange these questions.

Do you have a parent, my parents got rid of my

comics story. No, no, no. I would never have.

Yeah. You would be hearing a story where I never

talked to my parents again. Oh boy. That question.

And I, I've said this lately, every episode that

that question actually comes from. Another part

of our transformer basically we have 20 something

30 something questions for Transformers fans

and it's like Do you have a pen my parents get

rid of my toys? Story kind of thing right because

when I was six my dad told me I was too old to

play with toys and he sold all my he -man figures

Right anyway Yeah, we and they got rid of all

my toys. I'll tell you that Like I believe my

GI Joe's and my dub, you know, like the big Big

rubber WWF. Oh, yeah guys that had the ring and

all that like I had those guys I GI Joe's and

that was the extent of my action figures. Really?

I had some others, you know cops. Do you remember

cops? Central organization of police specialists

Fighting crime in a future time. Protecting Empire

City from Big Boss and his gang of crooks. Yeah,

okay. All right. I feel like a lot of people

don't remember cops. I just I didn't really like

the show so much but the the action figures were

bigger so like I Could use one of those guys

as kingpin or Thanos, you know what I mean? So

I like that but yeah, so I think they gave them

to goodwill But that didn't bother me. But when

yeah when I moved I had you know all my All my

comics with me. There was no way those were gone.

What is one item from a comic book you'd love

to have in the real world? The example here would

be obviously Green Lantern's Ring, but anything.

Batman's Batarang, Superman's... Just what is

one item within a comic book that you would want

to pull out and have for yourself? Huh. Huh.

Is it a cheat to say the infinity gauntlet only

as long as I'm in the half that isn't snapped

away. Yeah no I'm not gonna I'm not gonna snap

people away but I'll definitely remake remake

the world in my liking I think I really feel

like I probably I probably am like I'm a good

man you know like and and I feel like. Only people

who aren't good men would say it, but I am, you

know, like I am a good person. However, I feel

like given unlimited power, I would totally be

corrupted and totally be okay with it. But yeah,

probably the infinity because that's, that's

the biggest cheat. The first, the first thing

that popped into my head was cosmic cube, but

there's something about the cosmic cube that,

you know, someone always gets the upper hand

on. So. If you could create any comic storyline,

what would you want to create and what characters

would you want to create it with? Basically,

this is if Marvel, DC, whomever gave you the

keys to their kingdom and said, you can do anything

you want, what would you do? Wow. Wow. Hmm. I'm

going to think about this one for a second. This

is tough. Okay, it's not so tough. Uh, you're,

you're, you're peering inside my mind a little

bit. That's, this is how my brain works. This

is tough. No, it's not tough. Nevermind. I could

pick different artists, but I think I would love

to do a run on, Oh, now I'm changing my mind.

Uh, no, I, well I hear I'm going to give both

of these. So, uh, because this is where my head's

at. I would love to do a Legion of monsters story.

at Marvel with Ron Garney on art. Oh, wow. That

would be cool. I love that man's art. I think

he's one of the great underrated superhero artists,

and I think he would be great on a monster book.

And then mirroring that, I would like to do my

own take on the creature commandos over at DC

with Doug Manke. Interesting. Who is one of my

favorite comic book artists as well. And I feel

like he is perfectly suited for horror. And I

don't know if he's gotten... Yeah, well, I guess

he did the mask, didn't he? He did the mask.

That's sort of horror a little bit. But yeah,

I'd like to see him with more monsters because

I think he's very, very well suited for it. All

right, final question. What is the one piece

of advice you would give the comics fandom be

okay with not liking things? Mm -hmm. Absolutely.

I I am fine. Like again, we talked about it about

it earlier, you know like Things that the thing

about comics is that comics can be very deceptive

Because we as people there there's that whole

don't judge a book up by its cover and Back in

the day, you know, before I started reading comic

books and also while I was reading comic books,

the cover of the comic book would depict something

that happened in the comic book. And it was very

fun. You know, it was like, Oh God, will Superman

get out of this one? You know, like that kind

of stuff. That's very fun. So it sets up an expectation.

Now the opposite side of that is where we are.

which I guess began sometime in the late 90s,

mid to late 90s is when every cover just started

to be a, uh, uh, like a, uh, a pinup. It didn't

matter. And I'm thinking like specifically like

ultimate Spider -Man. Right? Yeah. Those covers

don't really matter. No. So, so, and, and don't

think I'm Shitting on ultimate spider man but

also think about it if you're a kid and you read

a comic book. And you're like why i really liked

it and you want to come back to that as an adult

you have no idea what so ever. What comic book

you read because all those covers look the same

you know it's funny when i started what like.

When I was a little like seven, eight, nine years,

it was somewhere between 87 and 91, I want to

say. So by the time I was seven to 11 years old,

my mom was at some thrift store, junk store,

whatever they had. And I'm, I do not think it

was dark night returns. I think it was something

else, but it was like the darkest Batman story

I ever seen in my entire life. I don't remember

what the hell this thing was, but it was like.

At least five and a half inches like this thing

was like huge. It was like it like an omnibus

essentially Maybe it was just a collection of

various Batman stories I don't remember what

the hell it was, but that was like one of my

first Batman books as a kid and I'm like God

Adam Westwood Roll over in his grave This is

the late 80s. This is the early 90s Sixty six

was in reruns they were doing the superpower

team show thing this was before batman the animated

series is before right before right after bat

eighty nine. I like oh my god what and i've never

been able to figure out what the hell it is no

it's not dark knight returns i know it is not

that is it the cult. I'd have to, I'd have to

look it up and check it out. I don't know. Drawn

by Bernie Wrightson, that, that, and that was

very dark around that time. But yeah, like, so

like I say that because, you know, I pick up

a comic book and it looks like, you know, normal.

American superhero comic book on the cover. And

I open it up and it's got like a manga artist

drawing it. And that upsets me, but I don't,

I don't go online and shit on the artists. Right.

I'm fully aware that artist is talented. That

artists wouldn't have a job drawing comic books

if they weren't talented. It's just not my cup

of tea. So that's what, that's what I want to

say to comic fandom, the words forwards, not

my cup of It's five words, by the way. Not my

cup of tea. Use those words instead of being

an asshole online because fandom, not comic fandom

on its own, fandom period is so toxic. And you

still see people saying, oh, this comic book

written by this guy at so -and -so is just the

worst thing I've ever read. Don't be an asshole.

Really. It's OK to say, hey, I read Captain America

number 11 and I didn't like it. Not a fan. But

it's also it's not OK to say, boy, the fucking

writer of Captain America 11. At blah, blah,

blah, whatever the name really is a hack. That's

just being an asshole. So don't be an asshole.

It's funny because I know that you know this

and you may. I assume you know that he did this,

but our fellow friend Thomas DJ, he did a thing

called the modern fandom manifesto and he wrote

up his rules. And one of his rules is I will

celebrate what I love and accept the loves of

my fellow fans. That's number three on his list.

Here's my thing. I get it. A number of people

love Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit or both.

Sure. Yeah, I'm with you on this. I've said it

a thousand times. I read Fellowship of the Ring.

I read the first three chapters when I was 14

years old in 1994. The only thing I ever got

out of that book, his eleventy -first birthday,

what the hell was that? Oh, it means he's 111.

And I get it. That's what, you know, Tolkien

was writing in a specific style. I understand

that, but it was never for me. 21 years ago,

I made a choice in a Mississippi bookstore between

a wizard or a former lingerie buyer turned bounty

hunter when it came to reading books. And I have

never looked back going to figure out why I should

like Harry Potter. I don't dislike it. It's just,

like you said, not my cup of tea. I mean, really

honestly, former lingerie buyer turned bounty

hunter. You're going to pick that over a wizard

any day. Yeah. You got to tell me what this is.

It's not ringing a bell. Author by the name of

Janet Ivanovich. It's the Stephanie Plum series.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Love it. Right.

Okay. I need to get my my ex my ex white ref

my ex wife read that for a little while. Oh,

I'm so sorry. No, it's fine. It's fine. She's

my ex. She's my ex wife. You don't have to apologize

for it anymore. But yeah, I mean, I'm with you

100 % on Lord of the Rings. I my one of my very

best friends Darrell sometimes co -host of my

podcast. It's been a while. He lives hours away

at this point. But when people are allowed to

travel again, we'll have them on the show because

I'll go visit them for the weekend. But he's

a massive, massive fan of those movies and the

books, I think. Mainly the movies. big cinema

fan and then those movies are an accomplishment

but they are i he's the only person i ever bug

about that because i i because i just like giving

him the gears he's my best friend right so i'm

you know i'm like He'll mention Lord of the Rings

and be like, Oh God, please. I'll be like, Oh

Frodo, I've never been this far from the Shia

before. But I will never make fun of them for

liking it because yeah, I mean, you like what

you like, right? Absolutely. Is there anything

you would like to promote or pimp out before

I go through the closing of the show? I my podcast

Dread Media has been running for well If it's

okay that I pull back the curtain on this we're

recording on the night of Sunday February 28th

and tomorrow episode 705 will come out and that'll

be the 705th running week of Dread Media So go

to dread media dot com you can find me on all

the podcast outlets and what not i got a book

if you like giant monsters and. The troubles

in ireland then this is this is probably the

right book for you mother of abominations by

desmond reddick get on amazon. Very cool. And

yeah, and I have an Amazon writer page. I have

a bunch of short stories published in various

anthologies So you can look at that and yeah,

just thank you for having me Absolutely. Yeah,

just send me all those and I'll obviously put

them all in the post Thank you for joining us

here inside the pool bag. If you'd like to get

in contact with us or leave feedback for the

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I I accept friends Yes. I'm lonely. You're Canadian.

Yeah. It's cold. Be my friend. No, you know,

whatever. Yeah. If you're cool, friend me if

you want. I'll give you a Nickelback if you friend

me. I dare you. I dare you. I dare you sour this

entire conversation. For now, I am TF2 on Mike

with... Oh me! Sorry, Desmond Reddick! As always,

make your greatest game into comics and we will

catch you next time. Bye. Sorry, I wasn't prepared

for that. There are a couple of beats in this

podcast room like, hmm, I can put a little guitar

riff right there. You've just heard the latest

episode of The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic

review and discussion podcast. There are several

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