Origins with Mikey O’Sullivan on Comic Reading

Starscream here, and I am the lord and master

of the Geekcast radio network. Don't tell Megatron.

You've just jumped inside the pull bag. Join

TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic reading crew

here at the GCRN 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 Ferland from Image Comics? Yeah, we

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

all inside the pull bag 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 pull bag. This is going

to be juicy. All hail Starscream! Hello, and

welcome to The Pull Bag! This is episode 402,

that's right. We've reached 402 episodes, folks.

Yay! Somehow we did it. I am of course, TF2R

Mike. Joining me once again, coming back from

his Immortal Orphans Number 1 review in episode

399, is Mikey O'Sullivan from Moonbase 2. Hello,

sir. Hello. How are you? I'm all right. I am

currently sitting with my legs under me because

it's quite cold, but I'm good Yeah, I actually

prefer the cold I I don't do heat well anything

above 65 degrees Fahrenheit and I puke If it's

direct sunlight, I will immediately puke. Yes.

I'm a puking vampire. I went to Spain for two

weeks once and I was in a big group of people

and I like I can't take the heat. I like the

cold because I can just curl up and like whatever.

But we were like a first week. It was like blazing

heat. And they said I was in the foulest mood

they'd ever seen me. Like I was just like, anyone

would say hello. I was like, hello. You say hello

to me now. You say hello to me on today, the

day of the days. And then it started like completely

the sky opened for the rest of the week, like

24 hour torrential rain. And I drove everyone

nuts because I was in such a good mood because

it was cool. Like you could be outdoors in a

t -shirt in the rain. It's still hot, but I'm

just like, water. Yes. Water is good. That's

right. My tan. My tan. Oh, please. Burn in hell,

you sun lovers. Anyway, we are here today to

do a origins of comic reading. I started this

back in episode three of the podcast and it has

evolved since then the last eight years. Basically

what I've come up with, thanks to other people

who have helped me with the questions at the

time when I asked for help. It's 25 questions

of how you got into or out of comics. So first

up. Did you grow up reading comics and what age

did you first remember reading or noticing comics

now i know with you being in the u .k. it's a

very different landscape comic wise compared

to the u .s. so how was it with. things over

there when you grew up with comics. Comic free,

I'm afraid, when I was growing up. Really? Yeah,

completely comic free. The closest I had was

my aunt used to have the Calvin and Hobbes collection.

She bought them for her kids and I'd steal them

off them. So I go over there and they'd wonder

where all the books went. Currently I have the

complete hardback edition, which I got there

for my birthday a few years ago. But Calvin Hobbs

was the closest I came to comic strips, or comic

books, rather, growing up. We live in the middle

of back ass nowhere, and there's nowhere to get

them. They weren't really a thing. I grew up

like eighties around here. In fact, if they caught

you reading it in school, you'd get strips taken

off you. It would be like, why are you doing

this? Why are you wasting your time on this?

The first time I remember a comic, a traditional

comic book, the first time I remember, we were

going up to a zoo and we were coming back and

we pulled into, we were driving through some

town and we pulled in for the shops and they

had in the magazine rack and they had an X -Men

comic. And it wasn't even a proper X -Men comic.

It was like a a compendium with a comic in the

middle of it. And I was very aware of comic book

characters because I was watching Turtles, I

was watching Batman, X -Men, Spider -Man. I was

big into the animated universes at the time.

So I recognized Rogue on the cover and I bought

it. And I quickly realized, don't show my mother

this book because there's a lot of naked scenes

of Rogue in it. It was one where she is like...

confronting Ms. Marvel in her psyche. I don't

remember, but Ms. Marvel takes on a monster form.

But it also had like rosters of different X -Men

teams. Like that's how I learned about Rachel

Summers. Like I didn't know she was in. And yeah,

I don't think I picked up another comic then

for about 10 years before I had another chance.

And it was another X -Men book. And I remember

this one because I know it was super controversial

at the time. I just saw it. in a shop and I thought,

I'm going to pick this up and have a read. And

it was the one where Colossus sacrifices himself

to find the cure for that disease. I think Joss

Whedon was writing it at the time. And I came

at the tail end of the story, so it didn't grab

me. And I didn't really hit comic reading as

a hobby until my 20s, my early 20s, when I started

basically because of the podcast and everything

else. And I decided to go back and read uh, the

Marvel Transformers books and Dreamwave. I basically,

I think over a six month period, read, read every

Transformers comic that had been published. Um,

yeah. And then IDW was kicking off. And then

someone said to me, um, I heard, I've heard this

from multiple people. I can never figure out

where I heard it first, but it's something I

always come back to. Transformers fans aren't

comic book fans. And I was very curious about

that. Hmm. Yeah, it really is, but it's one of

those things that stuck with me because I sometimes

revisit it to see what people's opinion on it

is. I was like, now I'm just going to be difficult

and go read comics to annoy you. A legend was

born. All righty then. We can skip questions

two and three because you were a kid, but you

were a kid without comics because questions two

and three. as a kid was there a parent a friend

who just said here read this comic go away you

bother me and then question three is when you

were a kid when you were a kid which characters

were your favorites well i can tell you that

because like i was a fan of the superheroes like

i read like i I love the ideas of comic books

characters. I was I always wanted to read them.

I just like I said, I read the opportunity, but

like I through the cartoons, I got really into

Spider -Man and the X -Men. And like I was there

when Batman, the animated series was there and

and I was just like fascinated. I was fascinated

by it as I am now in a one, which is a wonderful

thing. It's the best Batman story ever told,

if you ask me. As I got a bit older, I started

seeing properties like Hellboy and stuff were

showing up. I really wanted to start reading

them, but I was just like, I can't get to them.

I'm in the middle of nowhere. I have no money.

I have no car. It used to drive me nuts. I always

used to register in my mind. When I get the opportunity,

I'm looking at that. And I did. Like, those are

the characters I sought out when I started having,

like, when I lived in a town which had a comic

book shop in it. Those were the books I was looking

for. And luckily, nowadays with technology, we

have something like, you know, comixology where,

you know, the comics are just one website away.

Yep. The age -old question, DC or Marvel? Oh,

complicated. It's kind of deciding which one

I'm at least annoyed with at the time. I'm not

a big superhero reader in general. At the moment,

I'm definitely reading more DC than Marvel. It's

to do with what's going on. I would say the last

10 years have been a series of frustrating decisions

made by both that are interrupting my fun. Right.

There you go. They're they're the big move towards

event books like in Marvel, especially. I don't

think they can go a month without having something

that is interrupting someone else's story or

has a million. Like, oh, my God, I'm so sick

of venom. There have been what three venom events

in the last two years. I think so, yeah. Two

or three? And it's like, OK, cool, his movie

did all right. It wasn't a great movie, but...

It's better than Spider -Man 3. That's the low

bar, but sure. I mean, it's not as good as, you

know, it's not as good as Spider -Man 2. No,

it's not as good as Spider -Man 2, but it isn't

Spider -Man 3 and it's much better than Electra.

I mean, Venom at least is better than Electra

because Electra is really bad. Venom at least

had the character of Venom in some form. Exactly.

Yeah. But DC, like, I got really excited around

Rebirth. I got super, super excited. And then

I got real, real pissed off. And then Dandadio

got fired and I got happy again. But I'm currently

on a break from most DC stuff because I... Okay,

you're doing a short run event of books that

are going to be basically form another alternate

universe that you'll come back to and forward,

and I'm not super interested in that. I might,

once it's done, I might check out reviews for

which ones are considered better ones and check

those out of the future state ones. I think DC

tends to have grander stories and Marvel tends

to have more personal ones is how I find it.

Yeah. So it's a bit of a difficult one for me.

I think it really is on the day. Like at the

moment, I would say DC is the one I'm reading

a lot more DC than I am Marvel. But two years

ago, it would have been Marvel that I've been

saying and two years from now, like I kind of

follow the stories. Yeah, for me, it's all about

characters. It's about the characters. I want

to read like if it's like and I have a lot of

catching up to do because I've the only rebirth

title I kept up with was Batman Beyond. I heard

a good thing about that. I didn't keep up with

anything else. Oh, it's so good. My two favorite

superheroes are the Hulk and Wally West. So one,

you can imagine my feelings towards that idea.

And may he burn. Me and all the Nightwing fans

are all on the same page. But I followed Josh

Williamson's run of The Flash all the way through.

Apparently because it made Barry Allen a character.

Which was right? Yeah, which which God love Barry

they sure wanted him to be Wally for no one else

will yeah, which was kind of Kind of the theme

of the book actually Barry getting in his own

way, which I always said the problem with Barry

Allen was that when they brought him back They

stopped trying to make him his own guy They want

they wanted to be they wanted the name recognition

of Barry and they but they wanted him to be Wally

Yeah So like I read that I read Tom King's Batman

up to 50 And I I've only read the first volume

yeah, I I made a lot of excuses for that book

for a long time and Then I stopped me. I've always

like you know, like I have like I said, I haven't

read the only rebirth series that I've read from

beginning to end is Batman Beyond because With

Dan Juergens on the writing, he started back

in 2015 before they even did, well, rebirth was

2016, but the 2015 Batman Beyond series, when

he took over as writer, I was like, oh, it's

a new Batman Beyond series. I have to check this

out. And plus back then it was like, oh, you're

going to do away with Terry, bring Tim Drake

in as old man Batman. I'm like, I'm on board

with this, and I've been on board with Juergens

ever since, so I don't know what they're doing.

I don't know if they're doing anything with it

in future state, because I know the rebirth series

ended at 50. Who knows? I'll have to look into

that. What other publishers do you enjoy reading?

I really like Dark Horse. Dark Horse does some

amazing work, in my opinion. Dark Horse is really

only grounded by what they can get away with.

Right. They did a wonderful story there. Sherlock

Frankenstein. A couple of years ago, I which

I it was a tie into. Oh, what's it called? Oh,

it's a it's kind of like that superhero team

book they did that like really psychological

and they did a crossover with Justice League.

Oh, I mean, this gave me but don't remember that

it was this it was this wonderful spin off of

a woman trying to track down her father by talking

to his greatest enemy and. analyzing what made

this guy the way he was and how morality is a

bit more complex. It was also a great little

crime drama. They did Age of Reptiles, which

I am in love with. Ricardo Delgado owns my soul.

Hellboy, of course. I think Hellboy is a fantastic

series. I've stumbled upon so many Dark Horse

books over the years that are just really, really

good. I'm into IDW at the moment, have been for

the last few years because I think they probably

paved the way for where licensed franchise books

needed to go. Between Transformers, Turtles,

Ghostbusters, Back to the Future, Godzilla, like

the general, they really freed up what you could

do with those kind of books. Because before then,

you have stuff like the Thundercats reboot, which

was like, oh, we have to make it as disgusting

as possible because gross, grown up, grown up

people like gross. Also, Boom has grown up. No.

Like boom has my attention as well. Power Rangers,

of course, from that, but like their Buffy series

is pretty good. In general, I kind of just I

have a love hate relationship with image. I've

never loved the modern modern image anyway. I

haven't read a lot of old image, but OK, like

I don't love the books they put out that everyone

else loves. I tend to like I tend to like the

smaller series they do like I don't like saga.

I'm not in love with Saga really. I think it

just went on too long. I tried. I tried reading

Saga. I have the first volume on Comixology.

I think I got to the eighth panel on the second

page. Like, I got two pages into that and I'm

like, huh? Wha? And I listened to a whole bunch

of, I'll give them a plug here, comic book, comic

book couples counseling podcast. It is Brad and

Lisa G - Brad and Lisa Gullick's in comic book

council. God damn it, I can't. Couples counseling

podcast. There you go. They love saga. Basically,

the juxtaposition of their podcast is since they

are a married couple, they take comic series

and comic arcs and pair them with a love guru

or a self -help book kind of thing. When they

were doing Scott and Jean from the X -Men in

the beginning, they used John Gray's Men Are

From Mars, Women Are From Venus. It's single

-handedly the most interesting comic book review

type podcast that I've heard in a long time because

it takes a specific... Approach to it and it

ties it back to how they can apply it to their

marriage. They've been married for like 10 or

11 years or whatever, but I just found them last

year and I started listening to them. And when

they got to saga, I'm like, okay, I'll listen

to it. And I listened to it and I'm still like,

I still don't give a shit about these characters.

What I find with certain publishers outside of

the big two is that it depends on character.

I don't read everything from IDW. I do not read

everything from IDW. I read the franchises that

they do. You just listed them all. Transformers,

Turtles, Back to the Future, Jam, whatever. Same

thing with Image. Honestly, I don't care what

publisher he's with. I'll read anything, Kyle

Higgins. He's a talented man, that one. Oh yes,

very much so. All right print or digital which

one both either or and why I Like having trades

I don't like having individual issues They take

up a lot more space and I'm always I always feel

a bit delicate with them So I like a good trade

especially one would like includes all the covers

or stuff like that Absolutely Yeah. For practicality,

say, digital has been a godsend. I never would

have gotten into comics on any kind of level

without digital. It was just not practical for

me for most of my life. Thankfully nowadays,

like with Amazon and online shopping, if I want

something physical, I can get it. But I think

digital is just like a wonderful resource for

people like me who didn't have access to the

material. I love having physical things. I will

always buy a Blu -ray before I'll download a

movie. It's great having Netflix. Wonderful.

I'd still rather have the Blu -ray for something

I really like, just to have it. I'm a collector.

It's what I do. I like having physical things.

I've kind of got over my collecting thing. I

mean, unless you're talking about Funko Pops,

I don't have DVDs anymore. I don't have CDs.

If I do have a CD, or a DVD or hell, even a VHS,

it has to be really like, not even, Oh my God,

I need this 1990 VHS version of who frame, right?

Like, I think the only VHS tape I still currently

own is of something I did in high school. It's

not, it's not even something that was, you know,

it it's that specifically special. And I'm just

like, Come i don't want i don't want to be one

of these people that ends up on a. Crappy a and

e show show called collection intervention lasted

one season where it's like oh my god he has fifty

cut long boxes of comics and we have no space

and blow. Like oh my god no that's why i'm thankful

thankfully comixology is there i love them i

love what they do. Thankfully most of the books

i can get pdf or cbz backups of once you buy

it even though yeah i think that's i think that's

really cool that like a like that something i

wish things like striptv and maybe streaming

would do. Like you can like download stuff netflix

but it disappears after like four days or whatever

it is whatever it is i think comixology saying

like listen. This is up here maybe something

will happen maybe we won't have a license for

you're able to download it keep yourself. Like

if you buy it, you have a way of keeping it.

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Who are some of your

favorite comics writers and why? Oh, God. Scott

Clevenger, not Scott Clevenger, Brian Clevenger.

Brian Clevenger is a personal favorite. He's

a writer for Atomic Robo, which is a series I

absolutely adore. He's a wonderful character

in situation writing, and he's very funny. Very,

very funny. He did a wonderful motion comic,

which was basically an obsessed inventor who

described her side of as tarantulas, trying to

hit on atomic robo, who is mostly just trying

to not get murdered. And also the sheer joy that

is Dr. Dinosaur, the greatest comic villain of

all time. Fight me, world. The greatest comic

book villain of all time? The greatest comic

book villain of all time is Dr. Dinosaur and

I will fight anyone in the street because he,

Trime, travels with crystals and fronds. But

could he go up against the shadow play of Shockwave?

I mean, he once bought a gun. When they asked

for an ID, he held up a picture of a dinosaur

and pointed at it and they said, yeah, that'll

work. Is that I am in I have gotten here true

all relative dimensions space someone goes like

that that's ripping off Doctor Who Doctor Who

I don't even know who Tom Baker is. I just like

no you're a daddy he escapes in a vehicle screaming

behold an average motorist. So shockwave ain't

got a chance mate. Yeah, Mark Wade is someone

I'm really, really fond of as well. Like, his

run on The Flash, I think, is one of the best

comic runs in the last 20 or 30 years. Because

like, I've read all the Wally West stuff, and

the early stuff was really trying to really separate

it from the idea of the Flash legacy. Whereas

Mark Wade turned it into, like, the Flash family

evolved from his work, you got. Jay Garrick comes

in, Impulse, where he can, he works in Barry.

To the point where when Wally came back, one

of the biggest questions was, when are we going

to get everyone else who goes with Wally? Kyle

Higgins as well, love Kyle Higgins. Colin Bunn.

I really love his stuff. He does a lot of horror

stuff. He did Micronauts, which turned out to

be way better than I was expecting it to be.

And he did Monsters Unleashed over at Marvel,

which was their Kaiju book for about a year,

ran for 12 issues, which was a joy, an absolute

joy, including one Kaiju who aggressively weaponizes

kindness and goodwill. As he's just screaming

at the top of his lungs, I, the mighty Scrag,

will defeat our enemies with the power of cooperation.

No, the fiendish and devilish power of cooperation.

That's the kind of writing I like. Please tell

me this character is not purple, because all

I'm seeing in my head is - No, he is a 200 -foot

-tall giant mantis. Oh, okay. He was like the

nicest guy who ever lived. Everybody pray for

us, please. Listen, if he was in charge, we'd

all be happier. A bit nervous, but happier. Or

where he tries eavesdropping on someone and the

idea he's eavesdropping. I will use the insidious

power of eavesdropping to have the right thing

to talk about with you in the next conversation

or something like that. Again, this guy's 200

feet tall and he's eavesdropping. Ed Brubaker

as well. I love Ed Brubaker's stuff. He wrote

my favorite Batman story of all time. Which was?

Bruce Wayne Murderer and Bruce Wayne Fugitive.

Ah, yes. I adore that book. I still have to check

those out, I think. I haven't gotten to those

yet. They're very good. Also ties into a lot

of stuff with like Batgirl and Nightwing at the

time. Yay. Yeah, I'm kind of interested. I try

and try a lot of books and I kind of stumble

on writers I like and then I kind of stick with

them for as long as I can. Like I'll read anything

Joshua Williamson does. I'll give and like he's

doing I think he's doing one of the Batman books

I know he's doing one of the future state books

So I'll like so I will be chasing those up at

some point Yeah, very cool. Very cool What defines

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

That feeling at the end that it's over and it

shouldn't be When you get to the end of a comic,

I don't think you should want to put it down.

And I mean, everyone's like, Oh, I can't put

it down. But like, you should say like, No, this

story needs to, I want to know what happens next

now. And that should create that anticipation

in you. Like, I think the same with good TV.

But like, I'm very into character driven stories.

I'll take those over a book that's mostly plot

any day. It's why I like the Bruce Wayne one.

It's a very character -driven thing, because

it basically came out the idea that Brubaker

looked at the official DC thing about Batman,

found the line, Batman's a real person, Bruce

is the disguise, and he's not crazy. And he said,

how can you live like that and not be crazy?

And he wrote my favorite Batman story out of

it. So yeah, I also I think comics especially

are so tied into their visuals like yeah You

need like that narrative flow needs to be there

because I've read books and as I think the writing

is good But the the art pulls it down or vice

versa, you know So yeah, but yeah, like I think

I think it's you can write about anything you

can have any tone anything But if at the end

of the book, I'm like, okay, that was nice and

I put it down and I don't think about it for

an hour I think that's a bad sign. If it's not

in my head for a while, like if there's not something

in the plot, a hook or a moment in that book

that stuck with me. Like I think that that's

when you're into the, that's when you're into

the real gold. Speaking of hooks, what's, what

does the story have to have to draw you in? Like,

is it just seeing a cover? Is it reading an excerpt?

Is it reading a solicitation? For you to be invested

in the story. What does it have to have to draw

you in? I think covers are a big thing for me,

which I wouldn't have said a few years ago, but

it's why I started reading fire sector Because

they did a wild cover of The Green Lantern covering

like armor like like based on an anime called

Gurren Lagann And I was just like, okay, that's

a very specific reference I'm curious now and

then I'll look at the solicitation and everything

else But I think, like I said, comics are so

visual, and especially when you're going through

something like comixology, where you're not seeing

the summaries or anything else. The hook is the

visual hook, which is also a problem when you're

seeing a cover that you really like and they're

not the internal artists, which can... Yeah.

But when I start reading a book, for me to want

to stick with it, the hook usually has to be

like, I need a moment where I think this character

is really well developed. or like this character

is going to be really well developed. Like when

we were doing Immortal, Immortal Orphans, that

little moment with the daughter, that got me

interested. That was the hook for me. If that

hadn't been there, I think the book might have

been a bit more forgettable. But because even

as good as the book was, I think having those

little standout moments, especially personal

moments, really make me think, okay, I'll keep

reading this. Yeah, absolutely kind of crosses

over the last answer I know but Yeah, that's

why the that's why the two questions are back

-to -back. So it's kind of one big question Who

are some of your favorite comic artists? I'm

gonna give the stock answer for somewhat my background.

I adore Nick Roach and Alex Milne. They're terrible

people terrible monsters Nick owes me money.

How does Nick Roche owe you money? I may have

had a bet going on with him for about 10 years

and I came through on my side, Nick. If he's

here and this he knows, I might share it with

him. Well, now I know how to advertise this episode

to get this podcast to more listens. Nick Roche.

Yeah, that's funny. But yeah, I really like their

art styles and their art styles are very different.

Like Nick's more traditionally American cartoons,

right? Say Alex is more influenced by Japanese

animation and Japanese style of art and they're

both, but they're both like sharp. And I love,

especially when they've got a good colorist,

they really, really pop. I like the problem with

artists is that since I'm more of a story guy,

I tend to forget artists names, if I'm honest.

But what's his name? Scott, the guy I mixed Brian

Clevenger up, the reason I did that Scott Velger,

something like that. He works in Atomic Robo.

And he's got basically he's able to draw a completely

expressionless robot with expression, and communicate

feelings. And I think that's such like, Atomic

Robo is a pair of eyes on a square block for

a face. And he is incredibly emotive. And having,

let me double check his name here. I feel bad,

because he's very, very talented. Scott Vegener,

Scott Vegener, that was one. He's very, very

good. And there's another one, and I'll just

double check her name again. Oh, yeah. So I don't

know if they've done a lot, and I've only seen

them do one book, but I'd really like to find

more they've done. Yishan Li, they did a book.

call yeah they've done a lot of manga and stuff

like that but then they did a book called paradox

girl which has like we were like has some of

the best flow of art i've ever seen because there's

a lot of non -linear stuff and your eye is always

in the right place like that is that is a skill

a lot of comic artists don't really have i find

even if you i've seen people who do really really

good stills and then they have to tell a sequential

story you know Um, right. Yeah. Uh, also, and

I'm, I'm not going to look up the name cause

it's too long. Whoever drew the turtles for the

last, uh, year or two is second phenomenal. Um,

there's, there's way too many artists on turtles.

I know Sophie Campbell is doing that. That's

it. That's it. That's it. Sophie Campbell. That's

what I was thinking of. She's really good at

expressions. Yes she's doing the writing and

the art currently i didn't know she was writing

and i forgot and they change writers after issue

yeah after after issue one hundred one oh one

to current i think she's writing it as well.

Well it's going well for that's a good book i

i haven't had a chance to catch up yet my buddy

joe and i joe reed he. You know, we are, you

know, back in episode three 99, we blame lady

rec for everything and turtles because Joe was

like, Joe told me back in 2014 IDW has turtles.

I'm like, okay, you should check it out. If you

love turtles, you should check it out. I'm like,

okay. I got to the first, I bought all the, all

the trades that were out at the time. I got through

the first trade and I'm like, As soon as I get

to the page where it was all red bandanas, I'm

like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. I'm a kid

from 87. They are all different colors. They're

not all red. I'm like, uh -uh -uh. He's like,

just give it time. There's an explanation. I'm

like, okay. I gave it time. They explained it.

They showed what happened. They did this. They

did that. I'm like, okay, I'm on board. And from

2014 to now. We've been covering it ever since

we got to catch up. I think our last episode

We just did the macro series for issues because

they've done they've done the micro series stuff

With the villains and the heroes and the whatever,

but they did four issue macro series things two

years ago in 2019 with the four turtles and we're

gonna catch up because we've been reviewing the

whole series to this point and You know life

happens whatever life comes before podcasting

and that's fine And it's just one of those things

where, oh, we have to catch up, we have to get

to issue 100, we have to this, we have to that,

so there's gonna be a whole month later this

year where it's nothing but turtles in this podcast.

Do you have a favorite non -superhero title?

Oh, many, many, many, many, many. Oh, God, trying

to pick. Like, Age of Reptiles, I think, is a

legitimate, like, should it be an art class piece

of art. because it's basically a guy with a storyboarding

background who decided to have a go at comic

books with his favorite topic and managed to

tell a silent story so effectively. I think being

able to tell a silent comic book is a skill and

a half. Hellboy I'm really fond of, Sandman I

think is a fantastic book. Very atypical. And

I tend to like all the Sandman stories no one

talks about as well. Like, there's a very good

story about him meeting a guy for like 100 years,

200 years or something like that, and how their

relationship develops. Atomic Robo, obviously

I mentioned that. I was gonna say Power Rangers,

but that doesn't count. It is superheroes. I

don't hear a lot of people talking about anymore,

but I think Godzilla rulers of the earth is an

absolute gem of a book. And Godzilla in Hell

as well is fantastic. Yeah, that's basically

like cyber. I like I like robots and weirdness.

Basically, point point me towards one of them

and I'm good. There you go. What is your favorite

run of a series? So is there a specific artist

or writer run? Is there a specific story arc

kind of thing in a series that you really really

enjoy? I'm really liking a mortal Hulk That is

a wonderful book that will give you nightmares

I I I hear sometimes like people complaining

about the focus of it Because a lot of people

really got into Go Go Power Rangers and how it

was more of an ensemble book. But I really like

the up to shattered grid storyline from Kyle

Higgins in the Boom comic. I know everyone goes

like, it has too much Tommy and too much of that.

But I think he really managed it very well. And

like it was followed by a not great arc that

was like this not great filler arc with the Rangers

Slayer character. Who I really like but I just

think that felt that felt like someone was peddling

like nope. We're not going anywhere mark waves

run on On flash obviously Jeff Johns, I think

did a great run on green that on Green Lantern.

I'm so good It's one of the few things that survived

new 52 And oh god, what's his name? He did them

spectacular spider -man recently Not Christo

skage Don't think I'm just gonna check here Spectacular

was spectacular Cuz I cuz I I know someone took

over like amazing and like I read the first few

those and they were real They were really fun.

I really enjoyed that but the spectacular one

really struck with me because it brought in the

idea of J Jonah Jameson as a good as like he

he learned the red spider -man identity it brought

in Peter's sister, and I really liked her. And

it brought in it did a lot of stuff with Sandman,

which was really good. And it also did what I

think is the most emotional issue of Spider -Man

ever. Like, I cried so much. It was issue tree

10, I think it's worse where Spider -Man like

someone's doing like a docu film and interviewing

different people on their perspective on Spider

-Man. Chip. Oh, my God. Chip Zardarsky. Oh yeah,

Chip Sadarsky. I love that guy. Yeah, Tree Ten.

It was his last one he was doing and it was just

like this very, very good book that really summed

up the appeal of Spider -Man into the character

for me without having to bring in the zany stuff

or the weirdness or anything like that. Just

like why people read Peter Parker when they could

read someone else. Right. What is one comic you

can read over and over again, whether it's a

single issue or trade? Oh, God. Well, I've read

Morden meets the Eye like five times. I read

that once a year, basically. Especially season

two, like I am in love with Megatron in that

book. I have a thing about redemption arcs in

comics getting me really annoyed because like,

oh, look, Magneto's changed sides and in five.

four, three, that back he goes. I've reread Atomic

Robo and the Ghost of Station X a lot. That's

a very interesting story. I can't imagine reading

it if you haven't gone very far into it. I've

also read the 2000s Batgirl run, the Cassandra

Cain run more times than I'd like to admit. Uh,

cause that's a really, really good story. And

I like Cassandra Cain's my back girl by far.

Um, yeah. Um, there was, I know, I never knew

who wrote this cause I just picked up the trade

completely at random one day. It was, uh, uh,

it was around the time Johnny storm died and

Spider -Man kind of took over as, as, uh, with

the future foundation. And there was just this

wonderful crossover story. of Spider -Man settling

into the Fantastic Four, or the future foundation,

or whatever they're calling it then. It's like

halfway through Pirates, because why not? Or

the nice bit where like - Nobody ever expects

pirates. No one expects pirates. Oh, Taskmaster,

the original Taskmaster standalone series. I've

read that so many times. That is phenomenal.

And it also introduces the Don of the Dead, or

the Don of the Dead, who is a Mexican sombrero

dancer, who is a Don, who wears a skull mask,

and is therefore the Don of the Dead. The Don

of the Dead. Quite literally, yes. Also, like,

the first time I cared about Taskmaster, the

character, but that's a different thing. There's

also Nazi, if I remember right. Oh, wow. And

the Spanish Inquisition. No one expects the Spanish

Inquisition. I really didn't. I really didn't.

Alright, so we've asked a bunch of positive questions.

We got to ask a couple of negative ones because,

you know, there's just certain things that you

just try to avoid. So are there comics you avoid

altogether? Are there comics that you see a comic

cover or you see as solicitation? And you're

like, that story just isn't for me. To be blunt,

and I don't like saying this, Batman at the moment.

Batman is a kind of a victim of his own success,

in my opinion. I'm just exhausted with him because

like it got to stay. There's so many Batman stories

that just by the wealth of numbers, more have

to be, they have to be more that are below average.

I think with the Tom King run that kind of killed

it for me cause I got kind of invested in that

and then they pulled the issue 50 wedding. Thing

and it was such a cynical move and it was so

insulting and they spoiled the entire thing on

the Monday before the comic was released so they

could get more sales. And then they tried to

say like well. Where we always meant to do this

and I was like no you know you didn't. I guarantee

there was a story idea of we're going to do revert,

we're going to do something new, and someone

whose initials are not double Ds rose up from

the floor and said, superheroes can't be happy.

Kill Wally West. God, they cut that dildo off.

Yeah, otherwise we'd be in the middle of another

full reboot right now as well. Think about it.

Oh, God. No one can have joy. and everyone has

been happy and all my favorite characters get

too much attention and all the ones I hate have

to be murdered. Sometimes one person has too

much power. I know there are great Batman books

out there. I know there are, but between too

many comics... I'm very interested to see what

the whole... Because I'm waiting for... I need

to wait for the trade because it just, I just

can't, first of all, I don't have the money to

do it month, like 3 .99 a month times 12 months.

And sometimes even some first issues that are

4 .99 or five, it's like, no, can't, can't do

it. I'd rather wait, save the money and just

hopefully get a comixology sale where I don't

have to pay $20 for a trade, but you know, whatever.

But it's one of those things where I'm really

waiting for Batman Catwoman to be its full story,

not just the, they're on issue three now, I think

out of 12. So I'm really interested with that.

And I haven't caught up with Tom King. Like I

said, we've only covered one and that's the thing.

Like I read comics, but I don't read comics just

to read them. I read them to do stuff on this

podcast because. We wouldn't have a podcast if

I didn't do that. So in line with the last question,

are there any comics in the past or currently

that you wish you hadn't read? Heroes in Crisis.

That was easy. Heroes in fucking crisis. An insulting

book in every single direction you look at it.

And I mean insulting. The only thing that held

up in my opinion was the art. I think the art

was perfectly fine, but I think it's insulting

to the reader if you are a fan of any of those

superheroes. I think it's insulting to the reader

if you have mental health issues. I think it's

insulting to the reader if you have a military

past and have PTSD, which is really depressing

because that was the entire point of the book

originally, from what I understand. I think they

had a great opportunity to just write a book

about mental health. And the end the toll of

sacrificing yourself for others in the effective

takes and instead they decided to do a terrible

murder mystery which opens on where murdering

all these characters that no one has heard of.

Jesus so we go so i'm just gonna say aqua ladder

whichever fish person died in it did not stick

with me because i had no god damn idea who that

was. Because he's been in like five books or

some nonsense like that, or hasn't been in a

book in 10 years. And we've got him like lying

dead in the thing. I'm just like, I have no idea

who this is. Yeah, the last time I saw Aqualad,

he was on Young Justice, and that's the only

time I remember seeing him. I don't know. And

basically, and I don't know if it was Aqualad

or not, it was some fish person that they murdered

after giving him a really forced, and this is

my confession to an empty room. Also, terrible

approach to psychiatry. Terrible also. Oh my

god. Why did you bring Raven into this you fucking

weirdo? The most uncomfortable the most uncomfortable

single panel appearance of any character I've

ever seen where Raven reveals that try gun was

raping her With the simple line of my daddy loves

me as she's just as she's staring into like Oh,

and I was like, you can read it as anything you

like, like her daddy loves her and won't leave

her the fuck alone because he's trying to possess

her. But we all know how that's meant to be taken.

We all know. And they're just like, I grew up

on Teen Titans. I've read Teen Titans books.

I like Raven. She's really cool. Didn't need

that image in my head, because I've seen what

Trigon looks like for one thing. And like, don't

even get me started on Wally. And the fact it

was done by, it was bloody editorial, what was

going on there as well. Like, I don't know, that

book is just a monster. That book is an irredeemable

monster. Yeah. I, and it's funny you're saying,

it's not funny that you're saying this, but it's

ironic that you're saying this that because now

In our 12 -year history on the GCRN, I've interviewed

Tara Strong twice, and all I can hear is her

raven voice in my head as you're talking about

this. I'm like, oh, no. My daddy loves me. You're

hurting Tara. Stop it. Don't do that. Yeah. Also,

I want to talk about Edith. I could go on. That's

the show. That is the show in itself. Here's

the comics 411, folks. Don't read that story.

Yeah, we could be bitching about editorial decisions

all the time as much as I want. Let's just say

in Transformers, I like John Barber more than

most editors. Well, that's because John does

good things. John just says, is this in continuity?

Yes. Good. Good. Yes. Good. Excellent. Yes. All

shall be linked. That's right. How large or small

is your physical comic book collection? Oh, it

has gone up and down over the years. It used

to be much bigger than it is. It's down to certain

trades on a wall now. Like a couple of shelves,

but it used to be, God, it was my bookcase, basically.

But nowadays, it is primarily digital, just because

it's easier. I can actually get hold of it and

everything else. It's shrunk a bit, but the love

is still there. Very cool, very cool. So heaven

forbid anything happened. Hopefully nothing does,

but let's just say the house is on fire. What's

the one comic you could never live without ever?

What's the one comic you would run back into

save? Uh, probably my Sandman hard, my Sandman

hardcover volume one. Um, partly because like

I love that book, but it was a gift from a very

good friend who I hadn't known for very long

at the time. So it was an incredibly kind and

thoughtful gift and that would come with me.

Very cool. Very cool. What is the most money

you spent on a comic or comic item? I bought

the Hellboy Collector's Edition hardcover on

the secondary market for 80. And I was glad to

get a deck because I was seeing it going for

over a hundred. Oh, wow. Like, yeah, like it's

it's not cheap to pick up. So yeah, that is I

would say that's the single biggest like comic

book expense, not including like action figures

or something like that. Right. Yeah. Was there

ever a moment where you were just done with comics?

There was moments when I was done with the big

two. But I because like There was just times

where I felt like the stories were getting in,

like the post -rebirth era, really, I really

struggled with because it was just like, we had

all this hope and positivity and genuine joy

back in the books. And because the guy in charge

didn't like it and wanted everything to be dark

and gritty, I'm like, that spade is spade, it's

his fault. They saw me like horrible things start

happening to everyone. Like Wonder Woman I know

got fucked over. She suddenly got a brother that

no one wanted. Aquaman's story got derailed a

bit from what I understand. The bloody thing

with Batman happened and it all went off the

rails. I had to walk away from mainstream books.

I always have something I'm looking for. That's

the advantage I think of not having a lot of

loyalty to the big two in and of themselves.

There's always something I can find I want to

read. Yeah, and I'll read anything at least once.

Yeah, and that's the thing, like I said before,

for me, it's not about loyalty. The loyalty to

me, when it comes to the big two, it's when Marvel

does, they do some crazy things, but when their

film universe is better than DC's, that's where

my loyalty lies kind of thing. In comics, it

all depends on the characters and who I want

to read. Yeah, okay What are you reading right

now and what do you think our listeners should

check out? They would probably be the same thing.

The big thing is fire sector Which caught me

completely so I didn't know it was coming out

Like I said, it was earlier on it was the cover

that grabbed me and that turned out to be it's

one or two more issues left to go but that turned

out to be a really great story of just like this

Beat Cop Green Lantern with an unusual ring in

the middle of a very unusual planet. And a bit

of murder mystery going on, but there's loads

of world building and the art's gorgeous. I'd

also say check out Paradox Girl. I mentioned

it earlier on. If you haven't read it, it's very

unusual, but very heartfelt. And as far as I

know, the writer hasn't done anything else. So

buy it and encourage her to do more because I

would like to see at least a sequel series. Very

cool. Also very funny. Also the most dangerous

waffle hunt known to man is in that The most

complicated waffle hunt is it known to man is

in that as well actually like does it come with

syrup Do you know what I didn't don't think she

got syrup in the end for it. I Honestly, don't

think she got syrup. There's There's nothing

you need more like good Canadian maple syrup.

Come on people. What's wrong with you? All right

heroes, heroines, anti -heroes, heroines, or

villains? What archetype, what character archetypes

are your go -to reads? I like anti -heroes, and

I like redemption stories. I like heroes, and

I don't buy into the thing that Superman is boring

because he's all powerful. Superman gets boring

because people don't know how to write him. So

there are plenty of good Superman stories out

there. I always said a good Superman story is

really a Clark Kent story. That's a different

conversation. But I really like anti -heroes

because I think that they open up more possibilities

because they have to make a choice every day.

Like, Spider -Man, we play up the idea that he

has to make a choice whether or not he punches

someone hard enough to kill him, but he's never

going to. That's not a choice for him. Like,

when you are someone who, like, I could do this,

I could do something I'll regret. And redemption

stories as well because I... I really like the

idea of what if someone did something absolutely

terrible and really genuinely regretted it and

tried to do something right? How would we interact

with them? How would that play out? Would they

be accepted? Would they be hated? It's actually,

I don't like how Marvel specifically does redemption

stories because they tend to have a really sudden

switch. Everyone kind of just gets on with the

character then and then a year and a half down

the line, it gets reset. Like I think the whole

Sabertooth arc they did was really bad. Because

like they what was it they mind -wiped him reset

him had him as kind of a good guy Then he was

kind of an asshole good guy, and then he turned

bad. Oh Geez like why why would you do this?

Yeah, I Haven't read it yet, but I think the

only thing that they did I know you said you're

tired of the venom stuff But like fine for me

someone who like you grew up watching spider

-man the animated series putting flash thompson

in that venom as agent vet like that was the

best thing they ever did for flash thompson because

before then i did not care if that character

died or not no i love like flash venom best venom

absolute best thing they did for venom or flash

in my opinion and he has a great moment in um

that i think was sub vitamin 700 he has a great

moment in it as he's anti venom at that stage

but it was really really good um so i think that's

great I just think Venom's starting to get that

overexposure, and I think that creates more mediocrity

because there's just too much of it, because

there's too much in too many writers' hands,

and they can't all be brilliant. They can't all

be the greats of the era. We have to have someone

to fill in the middle. There you go. What is

one item from a comic book you'd love to have

in the real world? So basically if you could

have John Stewart's ring kind of thing. Um, Hulk's

pants. Which color? Doesn't matter, but they

don't have whatever is in them to make them like.

Do what would do what they do like I don't shoot

up and down with weight anymore but I used to

be quite a bit bigger and it would have been

nice to have not have to buy a bunch of new clothes

so that just like his ultimate super power is

not the strength within but the strength in the

pants. Oh, that's gonna be an outtake in a future

episode. I think I saw a GIF of that once. No,

that's funny. I mean, okay, it's like something

mildly serious. This is actually a tough one,

because I'm trying to avoid the obvious ones.

I mean, the obvious ones would be, you know,

Batman's battery. That's true. There we go. Because

sometimes I just enough for enough talking. Just

tell me what I need to know. So yeah, that's

true. We'll go with that. There you go. And I

think we all want a McAdams in real life. Yes.

My God, yes. If you could create any comic storyline,

what would you want to create and what would

characters would you want to create it with?

Basically if DC and Marvel and anybody can't,

you know, found you in the middle of nowhere

UK and it's like, Mikey, you have the keys to

the kingdom. Give us what you got. I would like

to do, and I've had this idea for a while. I

actually, to be honest, I actually have an idea.

I've been thinking about submitting somewhere,

but I don't know if I'll ever do it, if I ever

get the time, but this isn't that, but I've had

this idea. I would love to see a Peter Parker,

Wally West crossover because their personalities

would play perfectly off each other. Yep. And

I know people go like, oh, flash Quicksilver

or whoever you want to see, but like, Peter and

Wally like would be such a riot. Just bouncing

off each other and I'd love to write a story.

I'd like I'm not even sure like I do like who

the villain would be wouldn't matter. It would

be like these two guys like these really responsible,

really kind, really off the wall guys who retreat

who's like humor as a weapon. I'm like one of

them's like the most broken character in DC.

I don't care what anyone says. And the other

is like the most grounded, like I'm on the front

lines guy. Like and I think they would play off

each other so well You can have that power dynamic

going on like Wally is always pushing to do more

and Peter's like listen I know that you could

whatever everyone here but that's not the point

right now and and like Peter's got the science

brain Wally's got the the street smarts and I

think they'd really play off each other and then

they could have a really fun thing of like Linda

and Mary Jane just like Why are we here? Why?

Were these the right choices to make in life?

Like we let we let them hang out. That's not

a good idea And and say what you will about The

way he has always been or the way he is now or

whatever you say that and all is i can think

of is the scene from lois and clark the new adventures

of superman when they do the i love lucy flashback

where terry hatchard dresses up as super what

you know basically lucy but it's it's super what

you know you superman i super wife where super

intro i love that scene. I throw that. I have

that clip. I throw that clip into every podcast

that I can reference. It is such a great. It's

such a great, great. Oh, it's so good. All right.

What is this is the final question. What is the

one piece of advice you would give the comics

fandom? It's not about you. Very, very true.

We are, when we read a story or when we have

the opportunity to interact with professionals

or with each other, we always just look at it

from our perspective. And that's why you get

a lot of assholes to be blunt and a lot of unkindness.

And whether you think that every comic should

have tits and ass, whether or not you think every

comic should absolutely avoid tits and ass, whether

you think that different creators are good, different

creators are bad, we all... Take it personally.

And therefore we get aggressive. We say cruel

things. We we get mad over at people rather than

ideas. Right. Like I don't have anything against

Tom King and other person because I've never

met him. I don't have anything against that idea.

But I hate the book that Tom King wrote and I

hate the choices that idea made. I don't have

the right to be an aggressive dickhead about

it. And I think if someone reads a book that

they love and you hate or vice versa, you gain

more by talking about it because I love sitting

down with someone who disagrees with me and having

a real conversation with them about anything,

book, TV, politics, anything. Because as long

as it's two people who are just like, this is

a conversation, not an argument. And I think

- Yeah, exactly. Don't make it about you make

it about what you're interacting with and you

will all come out of it happier Absolutely, yeah,

that's how I see it anyway All right. Well that

has been this episode of the pull bag. Where

can the people find? Oh, we asked us the beginning

but where the people find you online sir. Yeah

Yeah, I'm gonna base to you podcast. I'm gonna

base you at Lipson comm and we're over on Twitter

as moon base to which is slowly devolved into

me talking about whatever pops into my head within

five seconds. If you are listening and you want

to send us an email or anything else, the email

address is moonbasejew at gml .com, so we're

always happy to hear from people. It can be anything

you want to talk about. We'll usually say it

out loud as the amount of furry stuff we've had

to talk about in the last year will really attest

to. Oh, no. Yikes. I just don't know why people

keep assuming I'm watching furry stuff. I'm not

watching furry stuff. I'm not. I've gotten so

many questions about it. I'm just like, I don't

know. It's not a part of culture I engage with.

Fair play to you if you do, but it's just not,

you know. I don't ask everyone to go on about

Jurassic Park every five minutes. They should,

but I don't. So yeah, I'm always happy to engage

with people and just have a chat. Awesome. Coming

up next here inside the pull bag, it's going

to be Steve Megatron and I talking about Transformers

Beast Wars number two, which will most likely

be a full spoiler review because I just cannot...

I cannot do the non -spoiler stuff. It limits

me. I feel like, oh, I can talk about this, but

I can't talk about this, but I want to talk about

this. Like, oh, God. I used to want to do non

-spoiler stuff and I realized I just end up very

vague. They're like, this is really good. I can't

say why, but it was really good. Exactly. That's

why. I'm like, okay, as long as I meet your embargo

date of when I can actually talk about it or

reveal things about it, great. Sure. Fine. But,

you know, I can't do non -spoiled. It just, it

limits, like you said, it's like, this is good,

but I can't tell you why. And it's like, really?

Seriously? You're going to do that to me? Alright,

make your greatest game in the comics and we

will catch you next time here inside the Pull

Bag. Bye! Now will you believe I'm joining the

winning team? Knockout! We needed that! You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pull Bag.

the GCRN's first comic review and discussion

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