Comic Reading Origins with Donovan Morgan Grant

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

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So without further ado, it's time to talk about

the comics. We're reading right now here inside

the pull bag Hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is episode 409 I am of course TF2 on Mike

joining me for the first time is Donovan Morgan

Grant. Hello, sir Hey, how's it going? Hey, it's

going sometimes. I wish it would stop but it's

going And we are here to do another Origins episode.

We just finished up Autobotly April here inside

the pull bag, where Steve Megatron and I talked

about two volumes of Transformers comics from

IDW. We also talked about Beast Wars number three,

I think it was. So yes, we are finishing off

this month with an Origins episode. And for those

that don't know Donovan, I will hopefully link

this in the show notes, folks. He did a five

-hour podcast with Ian Wilson. It was you, Ian,

and who else was on there? Is this the Marvel

one? Chris Johnson. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Five hours

of going through the entirety of the Marvel Cinematic

Universe. The agony of the ecstasy. Yeah, yeah,

kind of. That's how Marvel does it. They do it

better than DC ever could know that was a lot

of I think was earth to 1100 I think I think

you're right. Yeah earth to net the show episode

1100. Yep All right, and we're here to get Donovan's

Comic reading origins and first question is did

you grow up reading comics? And at what age did

you first remember reading or noticing comics?

I hear the Who wants to be a millionaire? Attention

theme in the background. I did grow up reading

comic books. I don't know if I can pin down precisely

the exact age, although the first comic I can

see in my mind's eye that I remembered, I should

probably find out the exact issue of this, but

it was from the original run of the Batman Adventures,

which was the comic book. Has to say I say adaptation

but it was you know, the animated comics in the

style Batman animated series And it was within

the first 10 issues. It was the first one with

poison aviar on the cover I think she's like

holding Batman. It's implied that Batman's like

under her control. That's the first comic I remember

seeing but um, yeah No ever since I was in grade

school and that and like I was introduced to

spider -man through the clone saga like so I

would probably say about like five years old

I was introduced to comics and Definitely going,

yeah, pretty much since I started grade school,

I had been reading them and I started buying

them on the regular when I was like 13, but pretty

much all my life I've been reading comics for

about 25 years. Very cool, very cool. As a kid,

was there a parent or a friend who just, and

I frame this this way because I just think it's

funny, who just said, here kid, read this, go

away, you bother me. kind of thing. Who was it

that got you into comics, or was it just something

you noticed naturally? My father read comics

when he was younger. He grew up in the 70s, so

he would be reading the 70s comics. He would

read Luke Cage. He would read Black Panther.

He would read Captain America. He had an old

issue of Captain America. Figure out the issue

this business. It's on the cover. It's a John

Romina senior cover with cap the Falcon and the

Black Panther I think it's it's called books

Creek. I think it's also like an image on one

of the old -school trades He apparently lost

his entire combo collection to one of his brothers

in a tennis game. So Wow, yeah, I know that was

that was an early lesson But I would say that

like I probably got into comes because I was

watching I love comic media like I You know on

the one hand I was I remember I was watching

Batman animated series during his first run But

I would also watch old reruns of the Batman 60s

show and not really as a young person honestly

reconcile the two as They're both Batman to me

I couldn't even tell you Robin's costume in the

cartoon and in the live -action show at the time

because it was just like the same thing and You

know interest in that just led me to interest

in like the toys and the other characters So

when I saw comic books, it was a very Slipstream

Gateway, and that also helped me get a kickstart

on reading. I was always a very voracious reader

when I was younger, and comics definitely started

that out. Very cool. When you were a kid, which

characters were your favorites? Batman and Spider

-Man. Batman for the aforementioned reason of

the animated series and the 60s show, and he's

kind of just... Catapulted to be my top favorite

and spider -man because I remember the KB toys

Coming out in anticipation for the 94 animated

cartoon series on Fox Kids And I remember when

that first came out in 1994. They don't look

like they're headed for night school It's not

nice to rob jewelry stores in Mr. Spider -Man's

neighborhood. Can you say I'm going to jail?

Yeah, they were always my favorite. I remember

thinking that Spider -Man was a new character

at the time, not knowing that he'd been around

for like 30 years. Yeah. But I watched the 90s

show all the way through and like, you know,

I own that many main series stuff. So those were

my favorites as a kid and they remain my favorites

today. Age -old question. DC or Marvel? Is there

a right or wrong answer to this question? Not

in my opinion, because for me, I base it off

of what characters I like, not what company I

like. So if one company is doing something with

a character that I like, sure, great, fine, whatever,

you know. Although, as I said a second ago, Marvel

does the film universe a thousand times better

than DC ever could. What do you mean? Yeah, um,

so I've never been like a DC versus Marvel I've

never ever because I've heard people say like,

you know Oh Marvel so much better than DC like

in terms like the actual universes like that

to me is like kid stuff So I've never like, you

know preferred one or the other. I will say that

like Oftentimes, I prefer DC over Marvel because

I'm more familiar with the DC characters. And

it's ironic because DC Universe is always retconning

itself and having all these Universal time reboots,

so it's harder to keep track of. But I'm more

familiar with Batman and Superman and Green Arrow

and other characters. Like on Marvel's side,

I very much like Marvel. My favorite heroes are

Spider -Man. It's Daredevil. I do like Black

Panther. I do like Captain America. And I do

like the X -Men. But I could not tell you. I'm

not nearly as familiar or well -read in the Marvel

universe as I am DC. I've read more than the

average bear. But I like both. I know more of

DC than I do Marvel. But I certainly don't prefer

one or the other. What other publishers do you

enjoy reading? There was one year where I you

know threw my hands up in the air. All right,

you know what? I'm gonna try new comics I'm not

gonna reach superhero comics and I remember picking

up like Irredeemable, I remember picking up like

runaways, which is still Marvel and I remember

picking up to from John Lehman and Rob Gilroy

from image and She was the one that I stayed

on to like all throughout its entire run from

image so That's probably the one that counts

the most. Otherwise, you know, I like manga.

That was kind of my teenage interest. That's

kind of, you know, continuous as I've gotten

older. My favorite manga include Death Note,

Hajime no Ippo. Between my brother and I, we

own the entire Dragon Ball series, if we don't

count super. So yeah, if manga counts, that would

be it. Otherwise, technically image because I

own the entire series of two. Very cool. Very

cool. Yeah, we actually covered the first two

volumes of that on the podcast years ago now

And I've wanted to go back to it. I just never

have found the time to nice. It was really fun

series Yeah, it was It's one of those. Oh, this

is what this is going to be kind of things. Yeah

Not necessarily the violence just a cannibalism,

I mean Okay print or digital, which one, both

either or and why? I mean, digital is easier

to talk about online. Go web, go! Like, I recently

was reading, like, the Death of Clark Kent storyline,

and I was posting images of it on Twitter. And,

you know, I was posting it, like, you know, I

had the trade physically in my hand, so the images

don't come up better. But so, hmm. I would say

both, because I do enjoy reading it online and

then discussing it, but also, I enjoyed the collection

aspect. I enjoy, you know, creating a library

of my collection. I enjoy, you know, it's the

original experience of kind of going through

stories. It feels more like yours rather than

just you're participating in a thing. It feels

more, you have more ownership over over reading.

But I will say, I will say both because I'm a

spineless coward. Yeah. Yeah. I started out in

print and And the listeners will have heard this

a million times before. So sorry, listeners.

I repeat myself often. I went to read, I think

it was Punisher. It was one of the big Punisher

books. It was might have been Punisher max I

don't remember off the top of my head, but the

damn thing was 12 issues. It was so thick I was

I was not falling asleep because I was bored

with the story I was falling asleep from having

to hold it in my hand and like the next week

I found Comixology and I'm just like screw print.

I'm done I kind of haven't I mean I have some

comics scattered here and there, but I don't

have enough room for Let alone one long box let

alone 50 of them. So Right. I have nobody to

pass them on to so it's not like I really need

to have a comic book collection It's bad enough.

I have to figure out who I'm gonna give my Funko

pops to when I die anyway All right, what are

or not what who are some of your favorite comics

writers and why? Well, the first person that

popped into my head was Daniel Neal. I find a

lot of his 70s work very fun. They're very energetic.

They try an awful lot hard and they often miss

the mark, but I enjoy the energy of his 70s Batman,

his Green Lantern Green Arrow run. I've read

some of his Dead Man stuff and it's fun. He is

a far different writer in the 80s and 90s. He's

much better. His question work is amazing. His

Batman work is very strong. Batman Venom is a

favorite story of mine. And I really enjoy like,

you know, his editorial run of Batman titles.

To a related extent, Chuck Dixon. All of his

stuff in the 90s I really enjoyed. John Michael...

James Trzezinski? Yeah, John Michael Trzezinski.

Is that his name? Yeah, I think so. Trzezinski's

run on Amazing Spider -Man I really like. I know

that's... Kind of a hot take opinion, but like

that is my favorite run of the character. But

you also have classic runs like JMD Mateus, Roger

Stern, Jerry Conway, Mark Wade. I love Mark Wade's

Daredevil run. And I think Mark Wade in general

is a very, very strong writer. I really like

Keenan Cum, obviously. Kirk Bucek for both Marvels

and Untold Tales of Spider -Man. I'm like a lot

of Dick Spencer stuff currently on ASM. I've

read his Falcon Cap, Sam Wilson Cap America run.

John Ridley, who's currently writing The Other

History of the DC Universe, which I think is

the best DC title easily since the golden age

era of the 80s. He's killing it on that title.

I'm enjoying James Tynan right now. Paul Dini,

whenever he writes comics, he's really good.

Let's see, I'm looking over my collection, actually.

Because some writers, I enjoy their runs on some

titles, but not consistent on other titles. So

I'm trying to see, who do I enjoy most consistently?

Yeah, that might be the ones I want to mention

as of now. It's like, you know, I love Frank

Miller's work on Daredevil, but do I love Frank

Miller's work on a lot of other things? I don't

know. So I'll probably quit while I'm ahead.

Boy heaven forbid we say anything bad about the

godlike Frank Miller Always I'll say is the only

time and I want to do more of this on this show

But I just haven't the only time we have ever

covered Superman in the eight years this podcast

has been online is Superman Unchained or whatever

the whatever the black label thing was with Miller

and I'm just like by the second issue. I'm like

God I don't want to read this and then I read

the solicitation for the third issue and I'm

like I thought this was a Superman origin story

not a Batman meets Superman origins Oh, yeah,

I remember that it was it was like Superman year

one or something. Yeah, that's what it is Superman

year. Yes, that's not unchained. I'm sorry. That's

a different completely different Completely Superman

unchanged is a completely different title Superman

year one. That's what it was for DC black label

What defines a good story to you? I would say

strong plots that challenge strong characters

because you have fun characters being boring

plots and you can have good plots that follow

characters you don't care about. Peter Parker

is a great character, but there are times when

he's fighting somebody. It's an average story,

who cares? If he's in a really strong story,

or a really challenging story, then that character

is augmented by that strong plot. Same with everybody,

you can make great characters out of great stories,

like great plots make great characters, I think.

But also great characters augment great plots.

Like the character, I think the vigilante, I

think he first appeared in the new Teen Titans,

but he spun off into his own title, and that

character became very, very strong. But the idea

of him as a character, as a vigilante, kind of

precipitated or kind of like, you know, foreshadowed

the idea of really good plots that you can apply

to him. And it was kind of a reciprocal relationship

between that character and that kind of stories

about a character who was essentially a former

politician who became a vigilante. And it's having

a very strong end. So, yeah, I would say... Did

I even answer the question? I'm sorry. Strong

plots inform strong characters, I think. What

does a story have to have to draw you in? So

now in the world of the Internet, we can always

look at solicitations and everything else. But

like when you go into the comic shop, you may

know what you're going to get, but you may see

something that you may want to just thumb through

the first couple of pages. What does the story

have to have for you to want to continue to?

be drawn into it. You know what? What does it

have to have? It has to kind of have that first

issue hook or that first page hook. When you're

reading any story, there is just an automatic

understanding of how storytelling works. You

have the beginning of the mill and then the introductory,

like the mystery box of a MacGuffin or what have

you, and that's fine. If something upsets your

expectations and Flips your interest that way

in terms of just just pure I don't say nightmare

feel but just just pure pure stakes then that's

That's what happened. That's that's what gets

me Like for instance the first issue of static

You know back in the milestone comics, you know,

you see him already, you know, see him already

in action Although, you know that he's new at

what he's doing, you know, you see how he he's

timing his his is a the time it takes for him

to get home from an adventure. You talk on the

phone, you see him going through school, understanding

that he has a secret identity. And you're learning

more about him while it's not adhering to the

traditional start, middle, and end storytelling.

And then you learn his origin and then issue

too. But I thought that was a very strong way

to introduce a character without it feeling totally

redundant. And so that's an example I think hooks

me in. Very cool, very cool. Who are some of

your favorite comic artists? I really do like

Bruce Timm, and I know that he's not strictly

a comic artist, but he's done comics before.

I really enjoy a lot of his personal illustrated

work. I got to that a lot when I was in college.

I think his coloring is often underrated. I think

all the great artists hit their peak, but he's

one that I really enjoy, honestly, and not just

for his animated work. Similarly, John Romina

Jr. I was actually talking about him on Twitter

today, but I very much enjoy his ASM. I very

much enjoy his blocky style in the 90s era. I

know it's not everybody's taste, but when he's

on, he's really on. Of course, his father, John

Romita Sr. Norm Brayfogle, who passed away a

few years, was a great illustrative artist, especially

on Batman. I really enjoy Tom Gromit. I really

enjoyed Mike Ringo, who's also no longer with

us. I don't think you are because even though

I know most of these names I'm like wow this

and this is why I like the new 25 question format

I have because Half the time majority of the

time I don't like I don't offer the questions

to people. So basically between you and Desmond

Reddick, I now have to edit out breaths and gut

punches because every question I've asked both

of y 'all in this lineup, Des was like, oh, wait

a minute, let me think about that. Sorry about

that. No, no, no, it's cool. It's good. I mean,

you know, it's the thing. You don't know what

the questions are and you know, the question

may catch you off guard. What do you have a favorite

non superhero title? Currently or I can of all

time like does it does the timeline but no doesn't

matter whatever you want to say, you know, I

will say the Comico or Comico whenever however

you pronounce that that's that company their

adaptation of Robotech Robotech the Macross saga.

I collected that uh which is 36 issues and it's

basically it's literally an adaptation of like

every episode of Robotech which is you know the

American dubbing of Superdimensional Fortress

Macross and I actually collected that series

twice I used to have two copies of every issue

because I found them cheap because I really love

that that's one of my favorite Japanese series

ever and reading it and kind of understanding

how they adapted the story and the different

artists and this is back again when I was in

grade school Alright, I really dug that and so

I would actually I mean I really liked you but

I wouldn't say that it will protect the Macross

August probably my favorite non superhero series

I've ever read to completion Very cool. Very

cool What is your favorite run of a series? So

for example Scott Snyder's new 52 Batman you

had Court of Owls you had death of the family

you had endgame So that's what I mean when I

say run of a series Favorite run boy, um that

is Darn I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay

favorite run of a series because Just like from

start to bottom like like like from from the

starter their run until the very end Okay, let's

see You have Batman that ran up until New 52.

So basically the old school Batman. Yes. Not

all the same writers wrote all of those issues.

Is there a specific time? Is there a specific

run? Is there a specific storyline within that

series that you have a favorite for? Okay, gotcha.

I'll say Frank Miller's Daredevil, his original

80s Daredevil run. It's like Daredevil 169 through

181, I believe. Or at least that's until he was

doing straight writing duties. I know the last

year he, Klaus Jensen, was kind of doing story

outlines and I think that they're kind of teaming

up on that. And Miller only wrote the last issue

of that run. But when Daredevil went on, or when

Miller went from just being the penciler in Daredevil

to the writer or an artist, I mean, I think it's

one of the greatest runs ever done. Yeah, he

introduced the hand and all this kind of martial

arts stuff. But the storytelling became far more

illustrative in how he left a lot of it to the

artwork. There's a lot of stories of just people

walking into panel and walking into frame. There's

that very famous shot of him bringing the kingpin

into Daredevil for the first time. And he's kind

of just a big character. But the last couple

of panels, he lights a cigarette lighter or he

lights a cigarette holder and he becomes a Frank

Miller character. There's this great issue where

Daredevil fights Electra to prevent her from

assassinating Ben Urich and she beats the living

crap out of him. He falls to a bear trap and

she stabs Ben Urich. There's this wonderful issue

where he fights Bullseye at the bottom of a subway

train. And he's exhausted and bulls eyes lie

on the train tracks and there was like, you know,

I'm exhausted. I can't move There's nothing I

can do. He's gonna die. Sorry bulls. I know that

you brought this on yourself I hate you and he's

very very slowly from from panel to panel pulls

him off of it It's just it's just so many classic

issues that I don't know if comics will ever

be good again, you know You're bored again later

on and you have other things but like that run

that run of comics. It's just like man Wish I

was back. I wish it was alive back then when

I was going on but did anyone really know how

good they had it back then I'm not sure so it's

kind of like comic book history whenever I read

that run. So I'll say that Very cool. Yeah, you're

describing that and make me think of oh, so that's

where the movie got the train scene from Heaven

forbid anybody reference the 2003 Daredevil movie.

Oh my god That one man can make a difference.

One man can make a difference, Michael. What

is one comic you can read over and over again,

single issue or trade? Single issue or trade,

I... Sorry, the ones that I have read over and

over again. Yeah, I will say the... Oh gosh,

it actually came in and out of my brain. Nightfall.

Nightfall is my favorite Batman crossover. And

particularly in part one, Broken Bat, where Batman's

scrambling across Gotham to recapture all the

criminals broken out of Arkham Asylum. That's

a great run. He fights some 90s villains like

Amygdala and Mr. Zazz. He fights Firefly. He

takes on... Poison Ivy, the Scarecrow, and I

really like how, you know, you would think the

premise is like, you know, Batman comics, you

know, as usual, but because he's so tired, I

mean, and the comics did a really good job of

kind of leading up to him being exhausted for

about a year, that there's one moment where he

just kind of just ranks, okay, I brought eight

down. You know, these guys are mostly second

streeters and i'm still wiped out. The really

dangerous ones are still on the loose joker riddler

scarecrow How can I beat them and I know that

baines did all this? So how can I beat him? And

it's just like I really like seeing that that

that peek into his mind that like uh It's not

this isn't just a normal case. Of course, you

know case is back broken on and that leads into

all the other stuff but like uh The first nightfall

trade is easily when I return to often just just

for fun Yeah, it's really hard for me because

before They put out the 25th anniversary editions

of it. I bought the original three volumes on

Comixology and Looking at the first volume. It's

634 pages. I'm thinking to myself. How can I

cover that on this podcast without Oh God, it's

just so there is just so much to to to nightfall.

I'm like, how the hell do you cover a six hundred

and thirty four pages per page comic that isn't

a five hour episode of a podcast? Oh, good Lord.

All right. Now we don't like getting negative,

but there are some negative questions we do have

to ask Are there well, you know, I mean Are there

comics you avoid all together? Most of from Garth

and s I do like his Punisher max stuff, but like

usually speaking. I mean his books are so So

mean -spirited that that's just why would I read

those? Right Which that's kind of funny because

it ties into the next question Are there any

comics in the past or currently that you wish

you hadn't read them? Um, I Don't think so. I

when I was 16 I read volume to leave a story

me gentleman and What mr. High does to the invisible

man? Really messed me up. Uh -huh when I read

that but like, you know As an adult, I don't

know if there's anything that I would have regret.

I mean, there's there's bad stuff, but like even

the bad stuff I what I read so I have a point

of reference as to like how I feel about them

and how good they are or are not so how large

or small is your physical comic book collection

ah It's been a while since it took counts when

I last counted I know I had And this is nothing,

so many people have far greater counts than I

do. But I know I had about 200, I think 250 trade

paperbacks and definitely over 1 ,000 single

issues. And it's been about six or seven years

since I last took stock in re -upping that count.

But that was my last, I have over 100, I'm sorry.

250 trades and probably over 1100 single issues

Wow That's a lot of comics. Yeah, dude It's hard

going to the comic shop because now because it's

like it's like well, I have everything so there's

not much for me That's why you start reading

new stuff and waiting for the trade on that Exactly

Okay, so this is kind of This is like Everybody

is safe, but 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

the burning house to save? Oh, man. Ooh. Probably

JMS's first trade of ASM, Spider -Man, the coming

home trade, that first Moreland storyline. Because

I remember reading that when I was a teenager,

when it came out in Single Issues, and it just

struck a chord with me. I really enjoyed it.

It's my favorite story. And I've read probably

most of Spider -Man's whole. At least when it

comes to Spider -Man, probably most of that publication.

But that story is just a personal favorite of

mine. Very cool, very cool. What was the most

money you spent on a comic or a comic item? Now,

a comic item could be like a replica of Green

Lantern's ring, or a Batarang, or something you

would get at a convention kind of thing. Right.

Most of the figures that I've spent at Comic

Con have been Japanese anime figures, and those

are the most expensive ones, but I won't count

those. I would probably say... And this was a

Christmas gift for my friend Stella. I think

I got her the absolute edition of Identity Crisis.

I think that's like 150 bucks. I'll throw up

that. Very cool, very cool. Was there ever a

moment when you were completely done with comics?

No. not comics entirely. I did drop Spider -Man

like three times during brand new day. That's

probably the most fed up I was with the industry,

I suppose, but no, there's never been a time

where I've just like never read comics. Even

out of like not so much interest, but just, you

know, habit. I'm not that heroic. So yeah, I

can't say there ever has been. Very cool. What

are you reading right now? And what do you think

our listeners should check out? Right now I am

reading Batman by James tie -in. I think he's

doing a very solid job. I really like his stuff

Also, the Joker series came out which also by

tying in which I mean Joker's such a overexposed

character But this series is actually from Jim

Gordon's perspective as he's hunting the Joker.

That's been surprisingly very good The current

Chip Sadarsky Daredevil run, solid. Amazed Spider

-Man by Nick Spencer, solid. I'm also reading

and reviewing the current Nightwing run by Tom

Taylor. And I'm reviewing that on batmanuniverse

.net. I've been enjoying the Immortal Hulk for

a long time for much of his run. The current

run of Miles around Spider -Man, I'm digging.

quite a bit. I've been reading Savage Dragon

for a while because it's getting kind of crazy.

And is there anything else on the top of my head?

I was reading the Superman books for like the

longest time ever since rebirth. I've read Superman

for years and I think I kind of slipped off near

the end of the bend this stuff. But I did like

a lot of rebirth era Superman. I think I'll leave

it at that. I think those are the most consistent

titles I've been reading right now. Very cool.

Very cool. Heroes heroines antiheroes heroines

or villains. What character archetypes are your

go -to reads? I'm a simp for heroes I do like

here. I mean especially now when like, you know

The real world is far more stark and when it

comes to like good and evil like the idea of

like grade lines That's not really in my opinion

What's been going on lately so? True blue heroism

is something I think is Actually, you know a

much more valued commodity than It was when I

was growing up and so if I if I could read something

where the heroes are genuinely good people Because

there's this political element to superhero the

superhero genre that can very much bleed into

like like You know more nefarious themes of like

imperialism and fascism. I think that's That's

the reality. So if these characters are just

people trying to do their best and maybe not

always even resorting to violence, I think that's

that's fun to read. And I think that like some

of the people like Peter Parker or Tim Drake

or Dick Grayson, I think that those characters

are you know, you can follow them no matter what

political area you're currently suffering from.

There you go. All right bonus question. This

is not on the list. Who is your favorite Robin

and why? Oh Tim Drake, he is the Robin that was

around when I was a kid I early on my brother

and I were collecting like like back issues of

his series I from from like, you know the first

issue to like most of Chuck Dixon stuff I think

that he's a really cool idea because he's not

you know, the traditional orphan character I

think that his intelligence has been kind of

overrated because I kind of see him more as like

the normal Robin rather than the genius Robin.

He was somebody who knew his limits. He knew

that he could not take on everybody. His problem

was never to leap into situations he couldn't

get out of. His problem was always trying to

think of the best ways of solutions while also

trying to maintain a normal life. The character

has been such flux. In about 10 years or longer,

but he'll always be like like my personal Favorite

rob like bruce and dick are my favorite dynamic

duo, but tim is my favorite robin Yeah for me,

I always uh, I really enjoyed what uh jergens

did with him in uh, the batman beyond stuff When

they brought tim into the future He was older.

Yeah, that was the 2015 batman beyond series.

It was right around the time they were Doing

forever evil in the didildo decided to kill off

Nightwing again again and again and again Thank

God he's gone. Sorry, but thank God he's gone

Do you have a now this is okay? I need to give

you some backstory on this most everyone else

knows this Over on our other show that I used

to do that I'm actually going to be bringing

back, Toycast, I have a question because my parent,

my father at one point, at six years old, said

I was too old for toys and sold them all. So

I came up with the question, do you have a parents

got rid of my toys story? This question here

is, do you have a parents get rid of my comics

story? No. I mean, I've been just an out and

out comics fan all my life. The joke has been

oh if you leave house one time, you know, leave

a room or whatever, you know We'll throw yourself

away, but they know they wouldn't to never do

that and they've never Whatever like, you know

behavioral problems or whatever that I may have

had when I was growing up and it wasn't a lot

They never blamed anything on common books. It

was honestly was more just television They were

a lot more kind of protective of what my mom

was but we came down to common books They never

they never was if they were never never threatened

by that especially my dad guess he read those

right? Yeah If you could create any comic storyline,

what would you want to create and what characters

would you want to create it with? Basically,

if any comic book company, Marvel, DC, IDW, Image,

whatever, just gave you the keys to the kingdom,

what would you want to create? I mean, I feel

the responsible thing for me to do would be to

write Batgirl. And by Batgirl, I mean Cassandra

Cain, the best one. Just because that character

even though she's kind of like, you know been

country better recently is somebody that I she's

I feel that she's like a a very very very valuable

character that that the actual writers of the

company don't understand but I also want to write

I would like to write Superman. Um, it's super

it's also a character that like I feel that a

lot of it has been easier for the company itself

to disregard and I feel that I don't think of

Superman and think, gosh, that's a hard character

to do. I don't really think that. Especially

reading the stuff in the 90s, you don't have

to do that exactly. But there's a way to do Superman

that can be very engaging and compelling for

modern audience. And I think that sometimes people

just overthink these characters. But you can

take it, can't you, big man? What we have here

is a rare opportunity for me to cut loose and

show you just how powerful I really am. Yeah,

that's probably true. Luckily, we have Superman

and Lois to, you know, quench our palates. Yeah,

it's been solid. So far. Just waiting for them

to shoot a job on that one. What is the one piece

of advice you would give the comics fandom? I

would say don't take everything too seriously

and and that is that is me just like shooting

a machine gun in the glass house but I've I've

suffered I would like to think that I've suffered

greatly and being a fan of certain characters

Except for daredevil. Yes. He said he's had pretty

consistent runs. But like um, you know, I I really

hated what happened to spider -man 2008 And I

really disliked the new 52 and stuff. So I've

experienced You know a lot of eras of my favorite

characters just being kind of like, you know

Not very not very good and also for me to kind

of feel alone in that I think it's just been

healthier for me to Not worry about people Attaching

themselves to a version that I don't like and

kind of like feel more secure in the version

that I do like. I think I mentioned a little

bit in my podcast, questions with no answers,

but I've not always done that, but I think it's

always been helpful to not worry about stuff

and think, you know what, I got these old stories,

I got these old trades, and man, the storytelling

is superior, so I can just be secure and understand

that what I like is worth liking, and return

to that, because they can never be taken away.

Absolutely. Yeah, I was hoping for more new 52

Nightwing, but you know damn that didildo So

many times he was gonna have a really really

good run the new 52 Nightwing run is by far my

personal favorite because it's one of the only

ones I've really read but it's just one of those

things where it's like Creators had this that

they wanted to do but oh wait. No, we got to

kill him. So sorry can't do that. I Really wanted

to see amusement mile Damn it. Anyways, all right.

Where can the people find you online, sir? And

if you have anything you would like to promote,

here's the time to do it. Well, thank you very

much for having me. My main gig is Questions

We Don't Have Answers at QNoAnswers .com, where

it's a show that I do with my friend Harrison

Chute. And it's basically it's a social political

podcast, but we're both nerds. Like I'm a comic

book nerd and he is a nerd on the other side

of science fiction and Korean film. So a lot

of times we talk about we end up talking about

storytelling. But, you know, we talk about politics.

We talk about, you know, societies and like,

you know, morality. But we also have a kind of

like a case study to kind of balance our conversation

on. Like we've talked about Like just recently,

we did an episode on the dreaded Snyder Cut.

And basically, the idea of what that whole era

meant for comic book media. We've discussed action

movies. We had an episode on Black History Month.

We had an episode on the Punisher logo as being

appropriated by less than admirable people in

the country. We talk about things that we like.

We talk about things we don't like. We talk about

things that affect us in terms of forming opinions

on morality and storytelling and the like. And

I'm pretty proud of this. I'm very proud of the

show. If you are interested in anything, I'm

sure we have an episode for you because we've

done almost 200 of these. So CuneoAnswers .com

is at my main gig. I am a content contributor

for the BatmanUniverse .net. I've been doing

that for about 10 years. Various commentaries

and reviews and editorials on there. I'm still

a freelance writer for what is now DC Infinite.

They've been reprinting my stuff. They've kind

of gone through a big image makeover. So you

can still find my work there. And yeah, I am

on Twitter at DonoDMG1 where you can, I suppose,

get in conversations or argue with me over there

and see if I'm worth arguing with. Oh, I'm sure

you are after five hours of Marvel I'm pretty

sure like the whole time I was listening and

I didn't listen to the whole five -hour Marvel

episode of Earth two net all at once I I Listened

I like I think I finished it in two days But

every hour or so I'm like, hey, I need to tell

these people this kind of thing No, not in a

like I agree with this or oh this or oh this.

Oh, come on. You really can't mean you think

that Like I talked to my my phone a lot I scream

at my phone a lot when I'm when I'm listening

to podcasts because I'm like But it should be

this not that You're going where Did you did

you comment on the forum thread? No, I can't

get into the forums. We'll have to talk about

that off air. Oh, yeah Alright, I am at TF2 and

Mike on Twitter. You can follow at the pull bag

on Twitter as well. All the other information

is in the outro. Coming up next here inside the

pull bag. What's coming up next? I don't even

know. It's my own show and I don't know what

I have planned. Of course I plan like a year

in advance, so you never know. Coming up next

we've got... At 409 .5, this is Batman White

Knight Von Freeze with Edward and Kendra Hale,

along with myself. We talked about that from

Sean Murphy. Sean Gordon Murphy, I guess I should

say. And yeah, make your greatest game into comics,

folks, and we will catch you next time here inside

the pull bag. You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's first comic review

and discussion podcast. There are several ways

to get in touch with us and leave feedback for

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So until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you. Good evening,

Commissioner. Sorry I'm late.