Radiant Black #1-2 Review

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further ado, it's time to talk about the comics

we are reading right now here inside the pull

bag. Hello, and welcome to episode 405. That's

right, it's episode 405. And no, we are not on

the I -405 at all, or the 405 freeway, or whatever

the hell they call that crap down there in California

below me, since I'm up here in the state of Washington.

I have, of course, TF2 and Mike joining me. It

seems like I can say, as always at this point,

is Edward and Kendra Hale. Hello. What's up?

Hi. Hi. Yes, and we are here today to talk about

yet another this is their first time with this

series my first time as well but the thing with

the pull bag is we've always because he's one

of my favorite writers and I have Anytime he

says I'm doing a creator own thing. I'm like

hoa where give it to me now Like just inject

it into my veins, please. Thank you very much

and Yeah, yeah, can I have it now can I have

all of it now just you know, let me just Siphon

it out of your brain Kyle Higgins We've done

multiple of his creator own series on this podcast

before we covered cowl. We covered Hadrian's

wall Those were two of his creator own series

that we did cover I don't I don't think those

the only two that he's done but up until now

obviously but We've also covered where we will

be covering his Nightwing run at some point,

but we've covered The Mighty Morphin Power Ranger

arc that he had and all the other good stuff

and today we're gonna do his new create our own

series along with up -and -coming superstar artist

Marcelo Costa and letter Becca Carrie as well

It's from image comics. It is called radiant

black. We're covering the first two issues because

Well, we just are gonna roll like that. I guess

I don't know What you gonna do about it? Uh -huh.

You're gonna enjoy the shit out of it and tune

in for the next one. That's right. Yeah They

better. Yeah So as I said with and I want to

make sure I get this right I don't want to just

screw it over With creative, like I said, Kyle

Higgins, Marcelo Costa, Becca Carey The logo

designer was Rich Bloom The cover A was done

by Michael Cho, cover B Marcelo Costa and Eduardo

Ferragato And cover D was done by Marcelo as

well They're Wow E and F covers as well. Holy

crap a lot of covers in this one. I love this

this opening like how they do the Creative thing

where they're like title not so secret origin

date February 2020 like I love that I love all

this little detail in in that first page that

we see because it's one of those things where

It's just cool I agree. I mean, one of the big

things about your standard superhero trope comic

book is that, you know, we get a long four -issue

drawn -out arc of, you know, their secret origin,

or it's held back for issues on end, and then

you finally get it in, like, a flashback or something,

but Kyle's like, no, no, no. We're just gonna

lay that right out here. We're just gonna go

ahead and lay it all out real quick and be like,

this is how this shit goes down. That's right.

And the cool thing about Kyle and his work, and

I don't think... Okay, I know Cowell had stuff.

I don't think... I wish Hadrian's Wall had stuff.

So Cowell, which was his other series that he

did, it actually has an entire score for it.

It was done by composer Joe Clark. And I'm kind

of hoping we get something for radiant black.

We do have the theme song by crisis couture,

which will appear in this podcast at some point,

somewhere in the middle, probably between issues

one and two. I tried asking them permission,

but now I'm just going to ask for forgiveness

because that song is awesome. I said, I said,

I thought I sent you guys the, uh, the video

for it that image put out, but I'll let you hear

it after. Or in between the two issues or whatever

So we start out with Mr. Burnett is 38 grand

in the hole yikes Welcome to debt. That's right

And this takes place it starts off in Los Angeles

it will end up in Lockport, Illinois but Nathan

Burnett and he's driving and he's on the phone

with the bank and trying to figure out, you know,

why his loan was denied. And it's obviously the,

the reason the loan is always denied. You don't

have enough income. Well, if I had enough income,

I wouldn't need the loan. That's sick. This is

the funny thing with this is it kind of reflects

my own life. Obviously I'm not a writer. I mean,

I write, but I'm not, you know, whatever and

it's one of those things where because I'm on

disability and because I'm on supplemental security

income and blah blah blah blah blah and I've

said this many times in the last 13 years I cannot

actually make any money or anything so any debt

that I do incur it's like sorry you're gonna

get blood from a stone you'll be the first in

history to do so so like I really related to

this where it was like I've gone in and asked

for loans and stuff well you don't have I'm like

well if you gave me the loan money to get rid

of the debt the payment to you would be a lot

easier to take care of than these let's just

say for example six other things that I'm supposed

to be paying that I can't pay for right I mean

that's something that absolutely should be applauded

for Kyle in this. I mean he even says it himself

in the back where he does his introduction to

you know to the character for this first issue

is he says that he wanted this character to be

realistic like he didn't want them to be this

invincible thing he wanted it to be human and

to feel like it had flaws and he's done that

absolutely justifiably. Yeah I agree because

that first Kelp pages of him sitting here on

the phone with the people from the bank. I've

lived through that. And I'm just like, wow, Kyle's

been through this too. Yeah. I mean, honestly,

honestly, good, good Kendra. Sorry. Sorry. You're

fine. Um, I mean, it was, it was a great way

to show it because like you said, it's, it, you

don't have to be somebody who's chasing. specifically

the dream of becoming a writer. I mean, that

could go for any of us, for anyone who's dreamed

of wanting to become become something. I mean,

that's one of the pitfalls that you might fall

into by chasing your dream. Yeah. Yep, absolutely.

The sad thing is dreams cost money like that.

That's that's the problem. That's really honestly

the problem. Dreams, big dreams cost money. And

there's not enough charity in the world to raise

stuff on Patreon or Kickstarter or whatever kind

of thing. And again, we get the main logo title

between the page where he's doing his Uber, Lyft,

whatever he's doing to hopefully get some cash,

whatever. Unless Uber is going to give Image

Comics a bunch of money, you know, I don't think

they can actually say Uber. That's why they usually

make things up for. What is it? It's like driver?

Yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. Yep. Yeah, that's

what it is driver So we get the radio black logo

and then we get to one week later and we're back

in Illinois This is interesting because again

mirroring Kyle's real life. He is from Illinois

So most of his creator own stories at least the

ones that I've seen Except for Hadrian's wall.

That was a space adventure an adventure in space

you know generally take place Chicago area type

of thing and We see here that Nathan is come

back home. His mom is absolutely thrilled to

see him meanwhile his dad is like It's a miracle.

Anyone makes a living in that business. You deserve

a lot of credit. It's not easy admitting Henry

no, just don't shut up The standard dad like

talking down to you while trying to lift you

up at the same time, like, well, I told you that

was a complete crap career, but I'm gonna applause

you for trying. Well, but I do like one thing,

and this is a little bit of a side note, but

I do like that the thing that's brought up is,

I don't remember if it's here during this part

or if it's at the bar, which we'll get to here

in a few minutes, but. One of the things that's

brought up is that the reason that he's in so

much debt is because he put this money into a

side venture with an agent who had said that

they were going to, you know, that they may like

the book and they may publish the manuscript

and all this, but it was never a guarantee. And

that's actually like, for me at least, that raised

up a really big red flag because I was like,

you know what though, but there are those sharks

in the water. There are those people that are

out there waiting for people who are like, oh,

well, I have this manuscript or I have this idea

that are willing to chop on those who are like,

you know, I don't want to say naive, but it really

is where you don't necessarily know that the

to watch out for those types of people who will

absolutely get you like that. Yeah. Pay you with

exposure. Or there's that. I mean, you know,

if you contribute a top 100 list and you get

free exposure in return, that's a different thing.

But anyway, that's right. Top 100 Transformers

characters countdown coming soon to the GeekCast

Radio Network. But it's one of those things where...

Again, I can sort of relate to this. You flashback

to when I was 19 in, oh God, 1999. That's not

a party anymore. I had been writing poetry for,

I don't know, since I was 14 at the time, so

let's say five years, I guess. I don't know.

I want to get published. How do I get published?

Well, back in the... Late, very late 90s, almost

2000s, folks. It was a lot harder to get published

than it did. Like, there was no self -publishing

back then. If there was, it was your Geocities

page, and nobody's gonna pay attention to that.

Right? Um... MySpace. Without the blingy. Yeah.

MySpace with the music and the this and the that

and the... Anyway. Uh, you know, so... Was looking

in you know, I I went to Kinko's I had I had

the things bound together I did I you know, I

wasn't a lot of money obviously, but you know,

I Had over I still have over X number of poetry

poems written over the last, you know 30 years

or whatever it is and it's one of those things

where I was looking into it like I know I'm not

going to be able to go to something like Random

House. I get that. Hello. I'm not, you know,

John Grisham or Janet Ivanovich or whatever.

Completely understand that. But the only thing

I found was subsidy publishing. Whatever you

do, folks, do not do subsidy publishing. They

want $500 upfront. And that's again, kind of

like you were saying, Kendra, with what Nathan

did here was, you know, Front the cash first

and I'm like, uh, that's not how this is supposed

to work, right? Yeah, well and I mean it's really

really cool the way that he Kyle sets up Nathan's

character because on Several different levels

before you even get halfway through this issue

I mean before you even get to let's be completely

honest the meat of the issue. Yeah, you you can

already relate to this character In one fashion

or form, you can relate to him. We've all had

that conversation with our parents, you know,

where they may not necessarily understand what

we're trying to do with our lives. You've had

the conversation probably with yourself about,

is it worth it to try and do what I'm doing?

And, you know, on top of that, we also get to

see that this guy's trying to be a writer and

he has that passion and dedication to want to

do so. But yet none of that is translating into

words yet. He hasn't been able to get past that

wall that he's built for himself. And I love

that. I love that we're not having this happy

-go -lucky character who's already successful.

I love that he's actually, he really is human.

Yeah. That was one of the things that really

drew me in too was he spent a lot of time humanizing

the character and making him relatable to the

readers. I mean, one form or another. I mean,

being in debt, working on a dream, arguing with

your parents. I mean, all of these things, all

of us have experienced at some point in our lives.

And that was one of the big draws for me. I mean,

even getting up to the meat of the story, I was

just enjoying hearing him talk to his parents

and his best friend and everything and all that

jazz. Right. I mean, that was the cool part was

you get to you're actually getting to meet Nathan.

Which is really nice. Yeah instead of just kind

of well already, you know We're walking down

the road and bullshit and some shit happens and

superhero, you know Yeah, I Was bitten by a radioactive

spider and became awesome yes The bar scene oh

man, that's a lot Right? That's that's a lot

to to unpack and then obviously after the bar

scene when they're going to the car and I'm glad

that the way that Kyle has written this that

it's both of them that see whatever the hell

the giant blue and black thing is in the red

sky I'm glad it isn't just Nathan that sees it

and and Marshall is like, what are you talking?

You know that that that whole I don't want to

say trope, but I will sorry You know the whole

trope of the main character sees that like The

first thing I can think of the first thing I

can think of is 1996 John Travolta and phenomenon

The thing out of the sky hits him like a flash

of light, and he's the only one that sees it.

Granted, he was the only one out in the parking

lot in the movie, but it was a loud noise. It

was this. It was that. You'd think people would

have heard it, but they didn't. So I'm glad that

Kyle has both Nathan and Marshall, uh, seeing

this, this giant thing in the sky. Yeah. I really

liked the conversation. between him and Marshall

because at first it's just one of those, hey,

my buddy's back in town. I'm so glad to see you.

Let's go out drinking for the night. And then

you get to the bar and Nathan actually opens

up to Marshall telling him, you know, just how

bad stuff it's like, it's really nice to see

that he's got at least this one, one person who

he feels like he has the security to be able

to open up. Cause his parents at this point don't

even know how bad it is. Yeah. They just know,

hey, I need to come home. I need a place to stay.

And of course, like you said earlier, his mom's

like, let's do it. I got dinner. But snacks.

But it's really nice to see that you're not only

getting the development of Nathan, but you also

get to see that this is somebody who is important

in his life, that Marshall will play a part that

is to be foreseen. But at least We know he has

somebody he can confide in. Yeah. And at least

he's not. Yeah. When I first read Marshall's

character, I was like, wait, I'm kind of glad

Kyle didn't call him Styles because all I can

think of is friggin Teen Wolf. I mean, look at

the dude's hair. He looks just like the dude

from Teen Wolf, the movie folks, not the TV series.

the old old ass michael j fox movie some people

might need clarification on that i know we don't

but some people so nathan touches this blue and

black hole thing and it's basically yeah very

very shiny it's doing something to him and it's

um I'm sorry in advance, Kyle. I know what you're

going for here, but this to me looks that this

giant splash page of the transformation. It looks

like a magical girl transformation to me. I'm

here for it. Don't let him dog you, Kyle. It

was gorgeous. I'm all here. That's true. I had

a little theme song going in the back of my head.

singing career in my future so hey you know I

mean if I mean if other 44 year olds can do it

on the voice you can I mean I don't I don't dislike

the image. I'm just saying the way that is the

way it's more so the way that his feet are propped

up as this thing is engulfing him in that, in

that it's not a splash, but the page where it

shows him being infused with the radiant black

power, the way the, the way Marcelo Acosta and,

and all of that do the art with the coloring

and the lines and everything else, his feet are

kind of like. You know tiptoes thing because

he's reaching up And then all of a sudden he's

got Jordans I swear to god as soon as I saw The

radiant black costume. I was like, this is really

cool And it also looks like a giant pair of Jordans,

and so do the shoes, and so does the footwear

that he's wearing. I don't know, it's just a

little something I noticed or whatever. I actually

want to sidebar on this real quick because I

want to give it up to the artist on the book

because he doesn't have one of these super detailed,

you know, 5 ,000 lines on one character. Art

style. It's a very simplistic style, but it It

like draws you in I mean, yeah, you feel like

you're watching an animated series almost unfold

through storyboards But it just it flows so perfectly

and he gets the emotion So right on like the

surprise on his face when the little blue orb

thingy comes out of nowhere, you know I mean

it just it looks great Yep. Shout out to the

artist. Good job. Yeah, Marcelo Costa. This is

the first time I'm seeing his stuff and I'm loving

it. The panel where, as I mentioned, what it

looks like to be Jordan's on his feet, even though

I know they're not, it's part of the suit. The

way that the background is done, the way that

Marshall is kind of not being thrown back, but

kind of more in the background than the foreground,

And you have radiant black here figuring out,

Hey, this is a new super suit. I can stick my

leg out this way. And the only defining lines

on his character are basically muscular lines,

like the stuff in his chest and in his arm and

things like that. And it's, it's really interesting

and fun. Very reminiscent of, uh, Francis Manipal

from DC. During his flash run he had similar

art style but with painted colors and honestly

I think the painted colors would do wonders for

this book. I mean I get the chance to do this

on two separate platforms and one of the things

that stuck out to me immediately was there are

some times with companies and I'm not saying

this is a bad thing I know that it's a sales

tactic but there are some times with companies

where you will get a company that puts massive

amounts of money towards the cover art, and that's

to draw the eye. But when you open the book,

the art is completely different. It looks not

nearly as gorgeous as the cover might be. Their

budget was a buck oh five. Maybe. I mean, like

I said, I'm not saying that that's a bad thing.

I'm not playing that down for anybody, because

like I said, it's a sales tactic. You want to

catch the eye. And the first thing that someone's

going to look at is the cover. What Costa does

shocked me and it stayed with me because not

only are the covers for this absolutely stunning,

but the art inside matches. Yep. I mean, it is

completely even. It is beautiful. That's the

cool thing about having a artist do both. Covers

and interiors if the art if the main artist on

the book is doing everything And I'm not saying

he's you know like some do like we're currently

reviewing Beast Wars stuff and in the Transformers

realm for IDW and Josh Bircham is the full artist

on that series. He's the The line drawer the

letter the not the letter. That's Jake M would

you know, he does the The lines he does the colors

he does all that stuff and it matches the covers

and when it Same is here with radiant black with

the marcello covers. You're like, okay this pops

out at me. This is I grabbing like you said And

I really want to read this because this looks

really cool You get to the inside of the book

before you even get to the superhero part before

you even get to the the transformation It's still

Like we said, it's a mix of down -to -earth real

-life stuff and then the page where he goes through

the transformation is page 14 where I was referencing

Marshall I Should have never made the damn team

wolf reference because now I just want to call

him styles the rest of the whole episode of the

podcast Marshall I'm sure Kyle will understand

He probably won't it's okay, you know, they're

gonna surprise hit their laugh his ass off at

reference I I hope he's probably sitting there

but you know listen to this podcast because I'm

speaking in the future Yeah, we're there again.

Yeah, we're there again. He's sitting there listening

his podcast like Hey, some bitches figured me

out. They got my reference. Yeah. There's nerds

out there as deep as I am. So, I mean, the, the

transformation on page 14, you have 13 pages

of, uh, I can't believe I'm going to say this

mild mannered life. And then by the page 14,

you have. The transformation and then you have

his realization of, oh my God, what is this?

And then you have Marshall knocking on his helmet.

Can you feel that? Yes. Okay. Just checking.

I think I got to throw up. Oh, you should not

do that in a helmet. It's nice to know that,

um, the radiant black power seems to be, um,

it has a sense of humor. It has a sense of humor,

but it also seems to be very fluid like you don't

need to take your mask off We'll just puke right

through it for you, right? Oh Sidebar I did just

looked up something on Marcella Costa My Mighty

Morphin Power Ranger comment isn't too far from

his wheelhouse because he actually colored The

Mighty Morphin Power Ranger book for Boom Studios

as well as Firefly. That's right. I remember

seeing his name now. This is his first published

work as an artist for this. Right. Yeah. Also,

man, I applaud him greatly. Yes. Simply amazing.

And then here comes the cops. You know... I and

I'm only saying this now because I'm looking

at this in more detail The first the panel after

he throws up and Mills and Peters show up with

everything. Okay here It would have been hilarious

to me if Peters was named Lane So you see Mills

in the foreground and Lane in the background?

celebrity deathmatch anybody Let's get it on!

That's right. Is he in a costume? I'm pretty

sure that's none of your business, but yes, he

is. Oh boy. So they have this exchange and a

train is coming. Of course the train is coming.

Well, they do happen to be on a train track at

night. Yes, yeah. And does anybody in Indiana

can tell you? trains come at night yes they do

and uh yeah he um the train comes and he saves

everybody saves marshall saves the cops very

interesting way of doing that because he tackles

marshall and then the radiant black power somehow

lifts the train and moves the cup SUV Wow cop

SUV. I was not expecting that Interesting well,

maybe it isn't an SUV it looks in that first

panel it will do they have two cars Wait a minute.

What's going on here? No, I'm just I'm getting

lost and trying to figure out what's going on

with the with the with the cop car. Sorry anyway

and Marshall's like, what did you do? I don't

know. I reacted. Put us down. No, no, no. Don't

do that. I love the next part where, are you

going to arrest us? What? Are you going to arrest

us? If you promise not to arrest us, we'll let

you down. That's extorting an officer. Okay.

Josh? What? What did they do? How do you even

write this up? I'm not equipped for heights,

man. I love it. I just absolutely love the whole

thing. I think it's great. I think it's so fun.

And we have the superhero fly off with the one

punch Superman fly up. That's right. Get into

my anime roots now. Right? And we get to Marshall

and Nathan radiant black on the top of a water

tower I want to say that is and he's trying to

get the thing off and it won't come off and This

is my favorite part of the comic by the way,

really good. I I actually giggled like out loud

chuckled at this because I was like how Like,

first of all, he's just discovered that this

thing gives him or has powers of its own, like

its own cognizance. And now he can't get the

helmet off. And I can tell, you can almost feel

his fear because he's like, how do I get this

off my head? Like, I don't want to be this anymore.

Yeah, exactly. They have you know this drawn

-out conversation, which it's not a bad thing

that they do and You know and they get you know

Nathan is angry at him and and they eventually

kind of make up and The rest part of what coming

home is it's not the debt It's not feeling like

I tried and failed because that would imply I

actually did something No, the worst part is

feeling like I had a chance to do something meaningful,

and I wasted it. Here we go again. I swear to

God, it's not going to happen in this issue,

and I'm pretty sure it's not going to happen

in the next issue. Before this series ends, if

Kyle makes me cry, like he made me cry with Nightwing,

I'm going to kill him. Not really, Kyle. I'm

not going to kill you. What did you say? I said

with great power comes great responsibility.

Don't even get me started on safety net. Just

don't even get me started on issue 29 of Nightwing.

Oh, you know what? That's one of the if if an

if a writer can do that. I mean, like like we're

not even we're not even fully through the issue

yet. But if a writer can do that, if he can tap

in, he or she, if they can tap in to your core

and hit resonating notes with you, then you know

what? Frickin kudos. Yeah, fricking kudos because

that's one of the the tales that's gonna stay

with you and it's a hallmark of a great series

and a great writer, too absolutely and Obviously

Marshall says that he's not gonna screw it up

and he's not that Marshall isn't gonna let him

and we cut to Chicago to end the the city of

Chicago Cause Lockport, I actually looked this

up. Now I knew that Kyle wouldn't just make up

a city in Illinois because he's from Illinois.

Lockport from what I can remember from looking

at Google maps is maybe just, I'm generalizing

here, maybe a half an hour south of Chicago,

which I actually, it's funny. I actually lived

an hour and a half north of Chicago a couple

of years ago. So yeah, it's, uh, it's interesting.

So we get to Chicago and I love the city, city

skyline that Marcelo does here is, is this first

panel and you know, we get to this Cawoom and

out come the red Jordans. The red capes are coming.

The red capes are coming. That's right. And you

know, We still have this this internal monologue,

you know with Nathan and Marshall Well as of

tonight, I'd say you're pretty one -of -a -kind

not really Yeah, yeah exactly meanwhile next

time on Dragon Ball Z Next time better off red.

Yes That's right. And so what? I'm song here.

Sorry. No, that'll be in a few minutes. The first

issue, what do we think overall, Ed? Compelling,

ready to read issue number two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Yeah, I was

down for it. It was really enjoyable. Just the

humanizing of the characters really grabbed me

and made me want to come back for more. So I

didn't even care about the super suit. I just

wanted him to talk about people for the rest

of the issue. That's the thing with Kyle Higgins

is as, you know, as the writer that he is and

the experience he's had and the stories he wants

to tell. He just had and all writers have this

I'm sure but just from my experience in the last

eight years of covering stuff on this podcast

There are plenty of other writers that that have

hit me at my core at certain things but Kyle

man it like He just Finds a way to not only give

you the the stupendous part of whatever he's

doing He also finds a way to bring it down to

reality as we've said so far Kendra, what were

your final thoughts before we get to issue two?

To be honest the first time that I read this

I was a little sad Because it ended so quickly.

I was I mean, I feel like I had just picked it

up and started reading it and all of a sudden

it was gone Mm -hmm, and I was like, okay So

I I took the time and I read the back of the

book and I mean Kyle addresses that in the issue

with his His little basically like meet the author

section. He he says it he's like, you know, this

was just a taste You know, there's a lot that

we wanted to get out, but the next issue will

be jam -packed. So I was like, okay, you know

what? I get it. This is the beginning issue.

This is where we're just meant to be introduced

to the character to see, you know, what we're

going to be dealing with, getting everything

set up. And you know what? He did it. He and

Kosta did it beautifully. He's a character that

is not only relatable, but is someone that you

can absolutely understand on a human level. It

could be anyone and that's what's so beautiful

about this is that Nathan could be anybody who

has wishes hopes and dreams parents who are completely

up his bum because they just want the best for

their kid and You know the best friend who is

obviously there for the shenanigans. Oh, yeah

here So I mean for me this was this was something

that I wasn't looking for But I'm extremely glad

I found That's what happens I just you know turn

people on to stuff that I know that I think they'll

like at least for the most part Ice cream man

I Still need to buy those trades Anyway, all

right Zero to five on the DC on rating scale.

What are you gonna give issue one ed? Just for

the humanizing of all the characters, it's like

a hard four point five to five for me Everything

was awesome in it. I mean the artwork the writing

the colors I mean, it's it's an issue that grabs

you and you're definitely gonna want to come

back for more. So that makes you a five She would

know she works for us now What about you Kendra

I am a solid five yeah, I'm right it's fives

all around folks because There wasn't a say like

normally it's not even just that it's a number

one But any comic book that and that you can

come away with let's say more than five negatives

Then it's gonna be a lower grade in this book.

I did not see Too many concerns there were no

like I'm more You know making jokes and references

this whole episode at this point about you know

Jordans and magical girl transformations and

sent I and this and that and the whatever and

Power Rangers and all this and all that and I

see no What'd you say styles? That's right Teen

Wolf 2. Oh That was a bad sequel. Let's not talk

about that, you know And there's nothing here

like I'm sure this is probably not gonna appeal

to everybody because not everybody's into this

style or this genre But as some yeah, I mean

at least give it a try. Yeah. Yeah, exactly Here's

my only complaint about this first issue. Okay

seemed really short You want to know why it seemed

really short Because just like you, Mike, I'm

used to reading trades. Yup. You know, my 250

pages, that's a good story. I got 20 some odd

pages here and I'm like, damn, where's the rest

of it? Why don't we have a trade of this yet?

Some bitch is not out. Well, it's it's not the

rest of it, but it's the next part of it coming

up after the crisis couture song entitled Radiant.

We'll be back after this. Hey gang TF2 and Mike

here really quickly you'll notice that was not

the full song from crisis couture It was just

a clip of it as I will say here in a moment I

did try asking the band permission to use the

song in the show, but I never got a response

so Fair use review all that stuff. This is part

of radiant black. It's the radiant black theme

song. So what you just heard is less than 30

seconds, I think, if not just at 30 seconds.

So hopefully, no one will sue us. And now, on

with the rest of the review. Back to action!

Alright, we are back and you've heard the theme

song for this comic by Crisis Couture. Very,

very cool. We're into issue number two, Radiant

Black, Image Comics, Kyle Higgins, Marcelo Costa,

with Becca Carey. pretty much same creative nothing

really has changed on it and I was actually trying

to look at the pages the the main creative pages

to see if there were any other things like like

I mentioned earlier about how it's like title

this date that whatever whatever whatever and

there are some things on the side like ID issue

2 Radiant Black. I mean, there are some little

things, but I don't think it's as significant

as it was in the first issue. So we start off

in Lockport, Illinois. And Nathan is coming home

first thing in the morning apparently. Because

obviously that was a late night. Oh good, you

are alive. Your mother and I were taking bets,

yeah, sorry, I guess I'm sorry My parents wouldn't

take bets if I came home late and just went my

ass Yeah, I love his dad I'm warming up to his

dad. I think I think once his dad finally comes

around a little bit Like him a little more but

in this first scene, I'm just like Okay, that's

your typical Father thing and those stun silences

and just you know, how bad is it and You know

what's it's a it's a difficult line to cross

but yeah, you know Wanting to give your shot

your adult child Space but also still wanting

the best for them and to make sure that they're

okay because let's be real spoiler alert The

parents aren't always gonna be there and they

want to make sure their kid can last on their

own two feet Yeah, yeah, I can see that he still

came off like a dick initially though. Yes, he

did There were parts. I mean and again like the

scene where You know As they're going through

this breakfast thing. So what's the plan? Uh,

I don't know. Sorry if you don't like that answer,

but, but I don't know. I have no idea yet. And,

you know, it's like, well, the writing thing,

that's not paying, is it? And, and fair question.

You know, this early in the morning, there should

not be a daily which questions like that. There

should be a coffee. And yes, some oatmeal and

some silence. Yes, but well that early in the

morning. Yes, but silences like in this situation

would be completely deafening. Yes, absolutely.

Yeah. So I'm glad they put this conversation.

I'm glad Kyle has this conversation here right

off the bat, just like an issue one. when we

find out what's going on with Nathan, he's talking

to the like, they're putting all this stuff up

front. Right. And I like, you know, exposition

out early, though. Well, but I like how they're

they're also basically giving you a little bit

of a hint as to who the parents are, because

we don't really know much about them just yet.

Just yet. Yeah. This is a really good introduction

to them. Like, you know, I mean, you got to see

that his mom's glad that he's there. And that's

that's really all that she seems to care about

currently. Right. The dad is like, you know,

hey, you're here. You know, this is, this is

where you're going to be for a bit. What are,

what are our next steps? What's the next step?

What's the plan, man? Nope. And, uh, yeah, we

go to, um, real world. Apparently now starring

CBD oil. Yay. Ask us about our what lies beneath

Beth, but what I didn't notice what it said before

when I first I was reading the actual Writing

of the I was not reading the the the real -world

Marquis Wow, okay already then Thought it was

funny. They had a movie reference for it. So

Yeah, that's very true You don't actually watch

the movie in the bathtub, but I thought it was

a pairing Yeah, but a spiritual pairing not rolling

the boob tube and get sudsy I Know if I can think

it was that that that that cat suit in 1992.

Oh boy Hey I'm okay. I just thought I was thinking

about it. I didn't say anything else about it.

I just said I'm thinking about it Pardon us listeners

while Mike gets all sweaty over Michelle Pfeiffer

in a cat suit You know, oh god, oh my god No,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no that next year is

30 years since returns. Oh my God. I'm so old.

Anyway, so Marshall runs into the cops again.

Well, not necessarily runs into true. And that's

how the first part of it. Did you guys want to

unpack anything with what lies beneath? I think

it was hilarious. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, I mean,

you get this moment at the back of the breakfast

table real quick. You get this moment where his

dad asks him, you know. Like if marshal had left

anything on the table about maybe protecting

like maybe working with him or like helping him

find a job And then you get to see what marshal

does Yeah, and it's kind of like, you know dad.

I think i'm good I think i'm good Yep Absolutely

and uh We get some sort like I was confused with

this section, but I was I'm okay I'm okay. I'm

interested to learn about it, but the whole radiant

black thing before we see Nathan barely awake

and oh hey look He's he's the key master Which

really, really, he isn't. I mean, come on, this

guy's way better than Louis Tully. I mean, come

on. There's no Annie Potts in here yet, but come

on. Nathan's way better than Louis Tully, even

though Rick Moranis is a national treasure. We

put him on a scholarship, the Jagness that is

Rick Moranis. That's right. Wayne Zelinski forever.

Honey, I shrunk the sphere. No, don't eat me!

I want a giant oatmeal cream pie. Don't we all?

They don't make them big enough. They really

don't. No. Those small ones are just... They're

good, but it's not enough. They're bites. Yeah,

pretty much, yeah. So, yeah, Marshall and the

cops show up at Nathan's house. Snitches get

stitches. Yep. And Mrs. Burnett shows up, and

it's not a party, but it's the opposite of that.

It's a really bad situation, even though they

play it off nicely for her, with her just going

inside and not dealing with it. which is cool

exactly there you go well i'm just gonna go away

and not hear about it right which is kind of

out of character for her considering she was

fawning all over him lat in the first issue and

i mean i get it it's only the second issue and

i probably shouldn't say it's out of character

for her because we don't know too much about

her character but compared to how she was acting

in the first issue come to this moment now i

mean i get it they're just trying to reassure

her and basically make her go away. Well, I mean,

and to be fair, Nathan does say something to

his mom. He's like, hey, can you just give us

a minute? And we're just they just need to take

a report. So I mean, does she really need to

be there? No. I mean, Nathan is an adult. It's

not like he's, you know, 14 and, you know. You

need to have your adult there to talk to the

cops. Right. I mean, and the cops were like,

like you said, they handled this really beautifully

because they didn't take away any fear and given

her peace of mind as to why they're there to

begin with. So if all he has to do is finish

up a report, she can go ahead and go inside and

put the groceries away without fear of anything

happening. Yeah, of course. Then there's the

parental side of me that remembers back to when

I was younger and Any time a police officer would

show up either at my house or something like

that, every single person in my family would

magically hear behind me. Right. What's going

on? It's like poop. It's like, Mr. Tubman, what

are you doing here? That's the problem with us

70s and 80s children is that we grew up in a,

we grew up at a time where no matter what was

going on, every single family member was a nosy

neighbor. So the cops are here and They're like

this guy is doing a bunch of bank robberies and

somebody who looks like you but read right I

Think this is one of my this there's two of my

favorite scenes in this this issue and this is

one of them Because the cops are super upfront

They're like, this is happening. You know, do

you have anything to do with this? And when he's

like, no, I don't even know what I've had it

since last night. I don't even know what I'm

doing. You know, not only do they take him at

his word, but then I can't remember what the

one cop's name is. But he looks at him and he's

like, well, you should remember your community.

Like they just roll with it. And not only do

they roll with it, they're like, you know, since

you have all of this like stuff that you can

do you could help your community out like they're

immediate to the point like right join the force

they're not subtle either they're just like maybe

you should be a superhero right yeah i thought

that that was beautiful i was like okay so they

don't even bat bat an eye there's no fbi being

called in the government hasn't been alerted

they're just like you should be helping out your

community yeah the area 54 spec ops team is not

compatible you know just which makes you wonder

like are there other heroes that are in in this

world of radiant black which is why they don't

bat an eye and why we don't suddenly have the

entire government there maybe this is or i'd

like to see if it ties into the rest of the image

universe you know because if it did that'll explain

it Because I mean if savage dragons running around

the nearby is like, oh, okay. It's a Tuesday.

Yeah There's a new guy that just showed up down

the street that can levitate shit and you know

has a cool helmet But that's the thing like that's

I'll throw the word trope out there. I have no

problem with it, but that's one of the things

is when Usually when stuff like this happens

and somebody in Like the police or any kind of

governmental job is alerted to it their first

instinct is not to Help your community only you

can stop forest fires. It is let's bring in the

big guys the men in black and i'm just like But

we're not doing that. So there's got to be a

precedence in this universe He can't be the the

only him and mr. Red can't be the only ones.

Yeah, right And I know this is not a jab at law

enforcement but I did find it really interesting

about when Marshall and Peters are going back

and forth. Big words when the body cams turned

off. Oh, boy. Like, wow. That cat from Puss in

Boots. Uh huh. He is a he is quick witted. He's

going to be fun. Where's the blankie on the meme

guy? You know. And. You know we get to the whole

thinky thing and you're doing it again. You're

making it up here and They And they seem to think

that radiant red even though they don't know

his name yet, but You know, maybe they maybe

he can Can give some answers except that Chicago

is a big city. How the hell are you gonna find

him? Great question. I think I have a crazy idea.

And here we go with Driver. Man, this is awesome.

And it really shows how many people and how many

different people get into Uber, Lyft, whatever

you want to use. In this case, obviously Driver.

And just, I mean, it's the same thing as what

taxis were 40 years ago, but still. Right. It's

a good way to move the story along and get the

information without really seeming like you're

looking for, for the information. Right? Cause

it's just a typical short, short conversation.

You're, you're shooting the shit with whoever's

there. And then what's the big thing of today?

Oh yeah. This guy who robbed a bank. Yep. Absolutely.

There were these red Jordans, man. They were

awesome. I'm on my way. So where was this junkyard?

I love the big splash page. Him grabbing the

radiant power. I Love it. It's so good. Yes,

it is Okay, I've loved all of our in both of

these issues so far and I don't see any signs

of it stopping either. So yeah, no me either

Okay, I have no idea what you're doing but man

it sure looks cool I'm guessing you find your

mini black hole too, which I absolutely have

questions about. But before we get to that, I

do have to ask, is robbing banks the smartest

thing to be doing with your flashy new powers?

I mean, if I found you, how long until the cops

do? Um, what did I like? What a response. Boom.

See ya. Yeah, sure. Out never touched one step.

And the whole time that this battle is going

on. All is I can think of his now I know technically

radiant black is. black and white but at times

he has blue around him and i mean you know look

look at what he's chasing the car you know he's

his blue is glowing right and he all as i can

think of is and this is just my personal i i

don't think kyle was going for this at all but

i we draw allusions to everything It's blue Nightwing

versus red Nightwing. It's old Nightwing versus

new 52 Nightwing is the first thing I thought

of when I saw the red and blue glow with the

two of them fighting. Dick Creason born with

superpowers beyond this chair, beyond this world,

kicking his own ass. That's right. It's basically

Nightwing meets Superman three. Literally, I

mean, you know, because we don't know anything

about Radiant Red yet. I mean, just looking at

this battle with the car, with the this, with

the that, with the everything, it's basically

Superman versus Superman. Hold on a second. I

don't have the issue sitting in front of me,

but Radiant Red doesn't even speak at all. Yeah,

he does. He does? Okay. He has a couple lines.

Yeah, he does briefly. When he does his opener,

when Nathan's like, hey, you know, is this really

the best thing? He's like, we first meet and

you're going to bring up the cops? How is that

smart? Yeah. But he does. He has jokes. But I

was giggling this whole time because you've got

this fight going on and there's such a great

moment of levity in between this fight because

Nathan's just like, oh, I didn't know I could

do that. Troy wasn't the smartest thing to come

here and do this. Not knowing what all of my

extent of power is. Yeah. I mean, at least they're

at a junkyard. At least it's only junk. I mean,

besides the fact that it's Nathan's car, but

it's one of those things where at least no one

else is around. At least no one else is going

to. See them doing this and again. This is why

I say this reminds me of Superman 3 is because

of how isolated it is and Obviously, he's really

not fighting himself, but you know, it's still

still works, right? Yeah And we get to radiant

black Dropping off the money. I think you lost

this I love it It's so fun it is I mean that's

one of the things it's Makes me want the next

issue so much is because I'm actually having

a good time reading it. I'm not just kind of

Reading it for reading it say, you know Just

to review it say click you're actually enjoying

it. Yeah. Yeah Absolutely, and I mean I've said

this on the show in the last eight years I basically

read for the show like I don't I mean Yes, I'm

reading this beforehand, but in general when

I'm going to review something I generally wait

until I'm actually like, you know 12 hours away

from the recording session but because you know

certain creators I like in the case of Kyle.

It's like Need to do this now and so at this

point I've probably read I've probably read the

first issue at least five times and I've read

this at least three I'm on the same way if there's

a creator coming, you know creator that I follow

and they're putting out something new and awesome

that I'm I'm generally gonna jump on board real

quick just to crush it. Yeah, what was the one

that knocked Tara? Yeah, the one with Snyder

and Tony Daniel Tony Daniel Yeah saw that most

it's like Apparently they're doing some kind

of cohesive universe with all of the new superhero

image titles Yeah, they're wanting to basically

get into the superhero game and This is part

of that. I think this is you know, starting them

off with doing that. I think it's cool You know,

I mean image to Image to me, at least so far

as I've known them, has always been, you know,

interesting creator -owned stories that don't

tie it, that don't have a 90 -year -old universe

to draw on or whatever. It was basically... Whereas

IDW has licensed stuff and other universes like

Turtles and Transformers and GEM and all of that,

and DC and Marvel have their universes, this

is essentially... Hey. Image was always like,

hey, we're just going to explore all this stuff

and individualize separate movies. Which is honestly

what the DC people should done film -wise, but

oh well. I am not wasting four hours of my time.

Sorry about your luck. I know what post we're

referring to. I've watched that bitch twice now.

You you watch eight I'm glad you I'm glad you

enjoyed I'm glad you enjoy it. I Just can't I

don't taste the weed out of my mouth. So Your

post like you said you never claimed to be any

kind of Marvel boy You literally had just said

that this wasn't something that was in your your

want to do. It was the same thing like you said

with Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It wasn't

something that called to you, and you know what?

That's fine. Yeah, I agree. It's not going to

be for everybody. I mean, now granted, in our

wheelhouse, is that all that we've seen on our

pages? Yes. But that's because most of the people

that we talk to or that we collab with are RDC

or are hardcore fans of Snyder. It's okay to

not be that. That's something that, you know,

I've always loved about this podcast is that

everybody has their opinion and that's basically

what it is. If you like it, wonderful. Enjoy

it. Love it. If you don't, that's fine. Do no

harm. Yeah. Absolutely. So we ended the second

issue with going back home and having another

conversation with dad. Yep. This one's a better

one. Yes, very much. His dad isn't a complete

asshole like, you know, we might have assumed

he was in the first place You know, that's the

problem with assumptions Yep, exactly. I Really

like this moment because I will fully admit that

in the beginning when he was having That talk

with his dad where he was getting frustrated

and angry. I I've been there. I've been there

where I've been in a situation where I don't

necessarily know what I'm doing, but the questions

keep coming and it just makes me so angry. And

a lot of that is that you're just ashamed that

you don't know that you're having to rely on

being at home or relying on somebody else to

help you. Yep. And in the second conversation,

it flows much better because all that his dad

was wanting was for him to Stay the course and

find a path that's going to work. It wasn't about

him Denying him his dream or you know, even even

shitting on his dream at all in any regard. It

was just how do we get there? Right. Absolutely.

Yeah Oh boy and this uh, this second issue ends

off very well and it it doesn't um It does it

ends on a happy note without Really giving us

too much of a cliffhanger, which I think is nice

Because obviously the cliffhanger was at the

end of the first issue With you know, radiant

red and all that What would we give this one

is zero to five and I'm gonna stick with the

same go for five It was well worth it it moved

the story along It gave me more beats in it that

you know made you genuinely enjoy what you're

reading. So Kendra. I'm a five as well. I think

that Kyle has shown that he can balance the duality

of not only doing an interpersonal life, but

also the superhero aspect. I'm a five. Yeah.

Fives all around. I love the art. I love the

writing. I swear to God, Kyle, you better not

make me cry. He's going to do it. Not yet. Anyway.

I'll cry with you. Oh, I'm sure. Three comes

out, some shit happens, Mike's gonna be ballin'.

Oh, it's gonna happen by issue four, I guarantee

it. There's gonna be an ugly cry session going

on. Oh, boy. All bets can be made in the form

of donations to the pull bag, folks. uh just

to get this out of the way because i think it

would be pretty cool just let everyone know we

will be doing this every other month or every

couple of months whenever two issues are out

right now i've got a slated i think sometime

in may to do issues three and four and then sometime

in july in july peas grow there To do issues

five and six. What's going to be interesting

doing issues five and six back to back. I think

I saw on Kyle's Instagram or Twitter or somewhere.

He said that issue five is the end of the first

arc of the series. So that's going to be interesting

to have issue five, the end of the first arc

and issue six, the beginning of the second arc

back to back and all of that good stuff. However,

from comicsology .com issue three and four solicitations

for issue three. Okay, that's it. Nathan's getting

down to business today. He's finally working

on his novel. All he needs is some solitary writing

time, no quote -unquote helpful parents, no superheroes,

social media, and definitely no alien voices

beaming unintelligible language into his brain.

That's not too much to ask for, right? And Radiant

Black number four, I guess I should say that

number three, as of this recording, number three

hits April 21st, 2021. Issue four hits May 19th,

2021, that may or may not change, who knows.

Radiant Black number four, it was always going

to come to this, Radiant Black versus Radiant

Red in a... knock -down drag -out fight across

the city of Lockport and believe us when we say

that after this fight nothing will ever be the

same again for both Lockport or for Radiant Black.

We actually mean it! Which is why I say four

is gonna be the one to make you cry. It better

not. Mike says as he braces himself for the end

of a ride Lord she pulled out the 80s song reference

Jesus Christ Hey, that's you know what I'm not

saying I can Trust me, I can write a whole paragraph

and make Nickelback song titles make sense in

a whole paragraph. So trust me when I say I'm

all about the music. So yes, Radio Black issues

one and two. Check this out, folks. Really seriously,

give this a try. It is awesome. It is very, very

cool. We had a lot of fun reading it. We had

a lot of fun discussing it. Coming up next time

inside the pull bag. We've got issue 405 point

five my buddy my new buddy Mikey O'Sullivan from

the moon base to podcast is Joining me once again

to talk about my other buddy Carter man former

radio god and now new comic book Well, he's always

been into car. He's always been in comics, but

he's trying to make a career out of it now Good

old Carter man and his immortal orphans series.

You guys might actually like this. I might have

to send this to you Um, but it's one of those

things where, you know, I want to support the

dude that I listened to for X number of years

in Louisville and he's doing this new thing with

his comics and really digging Immortal Orphans.

We're going to be covering Immortal Orphans number

two. And then coming up in April, we've got Autobotly

April. We've been doing this for years here inside

the pullback. We've got the new Transformers

universe from IDW with volume two and three of

that series, Galaxy seven and nine, the new Beast

Wars title with issue. 3 and Galaxies 10 to 12

will also be covered not about a auto bodily

April well try to say that five times fast and

Yeah, big old transformer stuff happening here

inside the pull bag for April. We've also got

the GCR in top 100 transformers characters countdown

That's coming up. So that's gonna be epic and

awesome and amazing What do you got going on

and? Reading a bunch of comics at the moment.

That's about the only thing I'm doing catching

up on all the groupiness that I've missed and

That's about it Kendra I mean, let's be real.

How many acronyms do I have on my list now? I

mean, I'm doing the same thing as always. I'm

with it. I'm reading comics, doing reviews. I

now officially am part of the GCRN with my first

review going up in the past, even though this

is the future. For Jim and the Holograms, number

one from IDW. I still do the Ladies of Horror,

Gothic Fight Magazine, Dark Knight News, DC Comics

News. I mean, I... Anything I can get my grubby

little hands on I'll devour so That's that's

what I'm doing. I want all comics I Of course

probably if I search this it'll probably Already

be taken I almost thought of and it's a beat

way too much work for me to do So I'm probably

not gonna do it. I almost thought about starting

up a new Twitter account at devour all comics

What yours is words mine is comics it's all -encompassing

oh Boy Yeah for social media where can the people

find you ed Facebook Edward Hale Twitter at that

at 700 Instagram at the Sith rules and on YouTube

it says rules it That's right. Kendra, what about

you? Honestly, that one's the easier. That Devour

All Words is my Twitter handle. I can be found

there with any recommendations, with any questions,

concerns, conversations. If you're feeling froggy,

leap. Awesome. I'm at TF2 and Mike on Twitter.

You hear all the show notes stuff in the outro

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