Radiant Black #3 and #4 Review

Hi, this is Joe Clark, composer of The Cowl Sessions,

and you are listening to the GeekCast Radio Network.

This is writer Kyle Higgins, and you've jumped

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Join TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic crew

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right here. We cover things like Transformers,

He -Man, Super Heroes, TMNT, and Radiant Black.

Yeah, we have all that and so much more. It's

all inside the pullback here on the GeekCast

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

to talk about the comics we're reading right

now here inside the pullback Hello and welcome

to the pullback. This is episode 412. That's

right 412 I'm of course keep you and Mike we

took a week off last week folks. It was a little

rough, but we are back and now we're closing

out the month of May here in 2021 and Holy crap

Boy, is this going to be an interesting show.

Along with me, I have the Hales. Hello, Edward,

sir. Hello. And Lady Kendra, hello. Hello, hello.

And we are diving back into the world once again

of Image Comics, Kyle Higgins, Marcelo Costa,

Becca Carey, and the others that work on Radiant

Black. We're going to be covering issues three

and four. Will not cry will not I refuse Damn

it So, yeah issue three I'm gonna say this now

because I think it I think it is true because

in the eight years I've done this podcast. I

don't think I've ever seen a comic like issue

three and Don't because like I've said before

on this show I only started really reading comics

full -time eight years ago when I started the

podcast So I'm just gonna make this blanket statement

you guys can agree or disagree But I have never

seen in 70 plus 80 plus 90 plus however many

plus years the comics industry has been around

I have never seen a comic issue like this I Have

seen variations of this. Not to the modern aspect,

but like diary entries or journal posts. But

I don't think that I could say that I've ever

seen anything like this either, where you get

this type of a comic book. Yeah. This is single

-handedly the most interesting issue Or format

for a comic that I have ever seen in the last

eight years. I will say right now Issues three

and four are gonna go down probably as my top

two best issues of 2021 because Not only is issue

three so different from anything else. It's also

When we after the break when we take when we

take the break later and we get into issue four

Hey well I'm just going to say it right now here,

folks. We are spoiling the hell out of these

issues. Spoiler alert is in effect. Yes, exactly.

They switcheroo on us, and I'm not so sure. I

wasn't so sure the first time I read it. I wasn't

so sure the second time I read it, but I'm still

willing to obviously continue on with the story,

and we'll find out what the switcheroo is later.

But issue three. We open up in Lockport, Illinois

and everybody is waking up. Nathan is already

up and he's making breakfast because today is

writing day. And he is looking at his script

from about four years or five, you know, four

years, four years old. What were your first thoughts

just in general on the whole format of the issue,

Kendra? I'm not gonna lie, this one was a bit

of a shock because I wasn't expecting as many

pages to be this type of format as there were.

Because, I mean, it's literally, for those who

haven't seen it, it's literally like you're looking

at a computer screen or looking at an e -novel

and you're seeing what you would see if you were

reading your script or your e -novel. It's not

in any way a comic format that I would use when

I think of comics. There's no panels. There's

no art. It's just words. I mean, there is art

and there are panels. I mean, I don't think we

could call it a comic book if there wasn't, but

it's just laid out and presented to you as if

we were in the mind of Nathan. It's a hybrid.

Yeah, very much so. Yeah. That's probably that

that's what I'm gonna refer to it for this this

episode This is a hybrid comic because you get

not only your traditional and what you would

expect But they switch the game up and they actually

draw you deeper into Nathan's life by letting

you see through his eyes Exactly. What were you

thinking on the format here Ed? Well, I was a

little lost at first cuz you know, I get that

first page and You know panels and dialogue and

everything and then I was like wait they put

the script in my comic Realized that I was reading,

you know his work for four years ago. I'm like,

okay I like this. I like that you get like she

said to get to see it through his eyes Mm -hmm.

There's only I mean in more recent years so 2020

2021 There's really only been one other comic

that I've seen attempt to do this style, and

it was Jameson Stone's last Amazon. And it was

because they incorporated all kinds of different

aspects into the comic, like social media posts,

news, articles from online, and some blog writing.

But this one is completely different because

it's not a form of that. You're literally seeing

what Nathan's reading and writing. yeah, and

you get to hear his actual thoughts and and see

all of that and and Yeah, it's so so good and

you have you know his dad kind of like mmm up

early I see and you know, it's writing day and

his dad says Okay. Well then certainly sounds

like A promising day ahead of you You know what

I think you're right and then obviously is when

we get into the the writing part and seeing his

thoughts as he's looking at this old script and

The ideas and then his mom interrupts him and

he's like, yeah, I gotta go someplace else. I

Need to be able to think yeah, this one was really

relatable because I don't think I don't think

I've met a group of people who are self -analyzing

as creatives are oh yeah I mean it either really

really flows and then you hate it or it doesn't

yeah that's very very true and as we go further

here and he's trying to come up with this idea

there is nothing There is no bigger nemesis to

the writer at least nowadays at least in the

last I want to say 40 I'm gonna go with 40, but

I'll say maybe 50 year ever since the computer

was invented I mean there is no bigger nemesis

than the blank cursor the blinking cursor on

the blank page of an open word document because

Sometimes things just don't Hit you right away

and you just end up staring at this thing now.

I know other people have Inverted the colors

like with a white cursor and a black background

and things like that to kind of make it feel

like old typewriter stuff or whatever But you

know, I posted this earlier this this one close

-up panel of the cursor in the blank page and

I'm like Yeah, that's his nemesis and we have

And we have the radiant thing trying to break

through here, and he's trying to shake it off.

How often does it take you, Kendra, to, like,

if you have to start, whether it's a review,

whether it's a creative thing you're doing, I

mean, I know most creatives, most writers, most

everybody goes through this process of... I would

say 100 % of us go through it. Well, yeah. Mean

for me it really depends on the product. I mean

like if it's If it's something that's really

struck my fancy Mm -hmm, then I can go through

it in for like a review I can read read the work

get the review done in anywhere from 20 minutes

to an hour Mm -hmm, and then there are some where

I'll get stalled and it takes me time to get

through and i've fallen into the the tiktok trap

or the memes or just randomly scrolling without

any kind of purpose and looking up and being

like holy crap it's been two hours yeah i mean

and i i love that kyle higgins has put this all

on full display because this makes this entirely

relatable regardless of of your background because

everybody's done that whether you're writing

a paper for school, whether you're, you know,

you are creative, whether you're a writer or

a novelist or a poet, any, I mean, it touches

on so many backgrounds because we've all had

that, okay, well, I'm gonna set this deadline

or this, I want this word goal per page and then

nothing. I have never been able to set, I have

never been able to set a word goal. Right or

I mean Nathan's like specific problem for this

one is one I've run into recently which is You

over analyze so much of what you're doing or

what you want to relay about a carrot That you

just dig yourself a deeper hole and get stuck

Yep, what about you Ed? Yeah, I agree with Kendra.

I mean I come from the The creative side of it

where everything is a distraction He had family

members or social media and or animals. Yeah

You know I Felt that I Love the way that he does

the the interaction of radiant though. Mm -hmm

Were you seeing, I mean, cause that whole, that

whole page, I think it's what page eight? Yes.

Where you just have Nathan trying to write and

then you just see this, this being trying to

come through. You don't understand what it's

trying to say, but you know that it's like, Hey,

I'm here. Yeah, exactly. And we then cut to.

Marshall at the video store who looks looks and

is acting. And now I'm just, this is my own personal

take on it. I hear Randall Graves from clerks

in my head. Yeah. Like, which one of these movies

do you think is, is, uh, oh, they both suck.

Yeah, it's definitely got that vibe between him

and him and Nathan. Nathan really strikes me

as I'm not even supposed to be here today. Yeah

And I do love the little little teases that That

little doodles that that Marshall is doing and

one of them says Mighty Morphin like cross that

off lawsuit and I actually Screencapped this

and I tweeted at Kyle as of this recording right

now. He hasn't responded. I'm like hmm This a

tease saying you're going to be returning because

one of the boom studios newer Power Rangers series

is called Mighty Morphin and he wrote on the

original boom series MMP are up until the 30th

issue or so, right? So I'm like, hmm. Are you

returning? To the other two names that he has

on his thing or image comics as well Of course

darkness and the vanguard. Yep circle guy Yeah,

that's funny Yeah, yeah Marshall has his moments

and Marshall's gonna have a lot more moments

apparently, you know and Marshall's like yeah,

but because Nathan's like Sorry, how am I a superhero?

Think it's pretty undeniable. That's where we're

headed the suit the powers were even turned down

free and clear bank robbery money, dude. Keep

it down Yeah, I I'm not sitting here saying that

going forward I'm going to Associate them as

Dante and Randall, but in this scene they are

so Dante But I love like Marshall I'm gonna I'm

gonna go into the to a different fandom real

quick, but they really remind me of America's

next top model and I'm gonna say why Okay, because

It would always come down to like the top the

top three of those that were gonna be selected

and When it would come down to where it was gonna

be the final two they would always have those

two girls look at each other like eight times

out of ten and be like you have what this girl

needs and she has what you need and it's really

feels that way with these two characters because

Nathan is just stuck in this lull and he doesn't

know what he wants to do with his life he's not

sure of himself and then here comes this power

and he's still stuck in that grind of what to

do the beginning baby steps whereas Marshall

Comes from you know this high -energy background

of reading the comics watching the movies Learning

everything that he can about these superheroes

and knows almost immediately what he would do

if he had it Mm -hmm And I love that yeah, I

love that too, and it's one of those things where

At first when we did the first two issues a couple

months ago thought Marshall was just gonna be

a sidekick character of you know what'd you say

the guy in the chair right kind of but like I

I was thinking more of like the annoying sidekick

like the one that isn't so upper crust because

he is not upper crust but right to me at first

when we first met Marshall in issue one and issue

two I'm like oh great this is the fucking Damien

Wayne of this universe. Great. And I hate Damien

Wayne with a passion. That kid needs to take

a chill pill. But anyway, so now I'm like, oh,

he's coming with the wisdom because like you

just said, he's the comic book reader. He's the

this, he's the that. And, you know, they give

the name, you know, he gives the name of Radiant

Black and Nathan's like. Then like hmm come on.

It's amazing. It's no Batman dude Batman wasn't

Batman a name is just an empty vessel It's nothing

until you fill it with associations That's good

advice right there. What was the what was it

scary movie? Where you had? Who was it that had

scream or ghost face? Scream and scary movie

up Okay, so he's like the guy who always broke

the fourth wall and was basically your narrator

telling you how the horror movie was going to

go Yeah, he's essentially Ferris Bueller. Yeah,

right. Yeah. Oh God He comes up with the name

and then not only does he do that, but while

he's coming up with this name, he's like it's

perfect Creating social media. Yep. Exactly already

registered what? Marshall what the hell? And

now because you mentioned that and I mentioned

Ferris, I'm like, oh shit, Marshall is Ferris

and Nathan is Cameron. Holy shit. I don't know

if Kyle meant to have these mini homages. I don't

think he did. I think it's just us reading into

it. It probably is. I mean, that speaks to how

good his writing is because we're able to be

like, oh, you know what? I've seen this before.

Can recognize this I know where you're going.

All right Hey, I'm the circle guy who gave back

the money It's so good and again Marshall is

is you know he and I Don't know shame He has

no shame, but he's also not wrong because, look,

social media is the single worst thing to ever

happen to us, but it is part of the fabric of

our society. So if you're going to show off those

sweet threads by trying to keep fabric or metaphor

going here, you've got to take control of the

weave. What are you even talking about your story,

Nathan? You've got to take control of your story.

Yeah. And I think that's advice that a lot of

us need today, especially now. I mean, look what

we're living... I don't care what anyone says.

Again, as of this recording, Sunday, May 23rd,

2021, we are still living in the middle of the

coronavirus pandemic. Yes, the vaccine has gone

out to millions of people. I'm vaccinated. I'm...

99 .999 % sure you guys are vaccinated, but it's

one of those things where even though we have

the vaccine, even though many people have taken

the vaccine and are vaccinated, it's not a cure.

It just means that we have less of a risk. Yeah,

it's preventative. That's right. It's very preventative.

And if they have to do boosters with us in a

year or two or whatever it is to keep it, to

keep the prevention going, that's what we need

to do. That still doesn't mean until, and I hate,

this is me personally. This is not the GeekCast

Radio Network. This is not the pull bag. This

is not Edward and Kendra. This is just me, Michael

Allen Blanchard talking here. I hate that states

are lifting the mask mandates. I hate it. Because

oh God move Come to come to the Pacific Northwest

where where they're smarter supposedly But it's

one of it's one of those things where it's like

oh God come on like you still want people to

be as safe as you possibly can and Yeah lifting

them mandates is not a good thing. So again,

going into what Marshall is telling Nathan here,

your story, Nathan, you've got to take control

of your story. That's advice that can apply to

all of us in the real world. We all have to take

control of our own story as a country, as a nation,

as the entire planet. We need to do that. Mask

up and vax up people. Okay, I'm off my soapbox

now. What's next? I'm sorry. It's just it No,

do not be sorry. I giggle at the soapbox because

that's one of my favorite sayings, but Do not

be sorry. I mean it's It's and I'm it's your

absolute right to come out and say that and you

know what? It should be said and even if there

aren't this is so funny cuz I always Ever since

the virus hit Ever since the mask mandates happened

as soon as I had a mask. I'm like, okay, this

is life I may not be able to breathe as well

as I used to be able to with it on but Whatever.

It's gonna again preventative measure whatever

since most places most places not all places,

but some places are lifting the mask and dates

I go into They call him Fred Meyer out here,

but it's basically Kroger. It's under the Kroger

company brand, but it's called Fred Meyer. I

walk in with my mask on, lady walks in behind

me, guy that's standing out there doing carts.

Oh, would you like a mask? You know, here have

a mask or whatever. She's like, oh, you guys

are still doing that? And I'm like, I just shook

my head and I just drove my motorized cart away

because I'm like. God, give me a break. Bless

the sheltered people. Oh, I mean, I'm I can't

even discourage anything because I'm frontline

health care. I have been since everything hit.

And I mean, we've seen it. We've seen our our

nursing homes lose loved ones. We've seen, you

know, we've got a couple of girls that work for

me that work on the actual covid unit at our

local hospitals and they they're still to this

day at least four deaths a week. Oh, that's not

good at all. And just last week we had we had

a case where a staff member has has caught an

active positive case. And it's just like it's

not gone. No, it's not gone. And as frontline

health care, we were the first ones that were

one of the first ones here in Indiana where we

were offered the vaccination. And it's like it's

not it's not a be all end all. It just gives

your body a better platform of which to fight.

Yeah, it's a better fighting chance. Does it

mean you're not going to catch it or you're not

going to be susceptible to it? Yeah, there you

go. Thank you. Susceptible to it? No. What it

means is you have less of a chance. It reduces

your chances of potentially getting it versus...

I literally cannot see... world anymore where

I'm not wearing a mask out in public and when

I say out in public I don't mean from my car

to the entrance of the grocery store I mean like

as long as I'm walking out of the grocery store

and there's nobody around me and the mask mandate

has been lifted like as long as I can take it

off between the store and the car I still put

it back as soon as I see somebody even if they

are six feet twelve As soon as I see somebody

coming towards me, I put it right back on. But

it's one of those things where it's kind of nice

to have the fresh air between the store and the

car so I can breathe again. But at the same time,

that doesn't mean that I don't still have my

mask, like quite literally less than two inches

away from my face to the point of if I need to

put it back on, I'll put it back on. Right. I

mean, that's how it is here. I mean, most of

us, I mean for us and for my household, I'm only

going to speak for mine, but because with the

company I work for, because we do healthcare,

we're still in a state of, even if we're off

the clock and we're on our own time, we are fully

expected to mask up when we go out because we

have to take care of not only ourselves, but

our clients. Absolutely. Hell, I mask up one

night because in the apartment building we live

in, we have trash chutes. So I have to walk down

the hallway. I'll mask up to walk down the damn

hallway to take the trash out. I don't care.

Even if there's nobody in the hallway, you know,

anyway, back to radio blacks. Ed, go ahead. Sorry.

Yeah, I was fully on our soapbox. I'm on the

soapbox too. I mean, I just had massive facial

surgery at the beginning of the year. So I'm

immune compromised as it is. So that's the mask

is. Permanent fixture of my I'm about to leave

to go out and do something kid. Yeah, he's wallet

mask Yep. Yep. Absolutely and hand sanitizer

in the cup holder That's right So getting back

to radiant black I will put some sort of something

here in the audio to Maybe I'll put a clip of

somebody slipping and falling on some soap or

something so we can get off this box here I've

got pages to write Sending you the login now

for the social so yeah You know what kills me

though? He he really does have this moment at

the beginning where he's like, you know what

man? I'm done with this. I'm so done and That

one right there. I mean not going into issue

four because issue four is its own filter world,

but right I Mean this one you see it like you

see Nathan like not only is he He's stagnant

with the writing. He doesn't know what he wants

to do. He's been given this power, but isn't

even sure if he wants it or what he wants to

do with it. And he's got people coming from all

angles that do know about it, like Marshall,

who, you know, here, man, social media free and

black. You've also got the cops from a few issues,

like the first issue that were like, it's your

responsibility to your city to help out because

you can. Yeah. Mean, it's it's just that's a

lot of pressure for a normal, you know, Joe blow

to handle He can't even handle his own life And

again, once again, I see Dante and him where

it's not that he's uncomfortable Okay He was

forced into a situation of having to move back

home because of debt because of this and everything

else and he didn't exactly succeed in Being a

writer out in LA at the time But now looking

at issue three, it's like hey It's not that he's

uncomfortable. He probably is uncomfortable.

But just from what I'm seeing is He just doesn't

know what to do with his station in life because

he doesn't really have a station in life He's

at a rebuilding point. He's at a a restart point.

He's at a You son -of -a -bitch Dan de dildo

you killed my character and now you are forever

evil to me point kind of thing where it's like

That is a very specific point You know what?

I don't care if he doesn't work for that company

anymore or not. He's still a de dildo anyway

So we get back to Nathan he's walking out to

his car it is now full -blown snowstorm We get

all these thoughts from him and you know, what

an asshole What an absolute utter asshole if

I could take control of my story I'd be on my

fifth book not my fifth goddamn sentence Which

is kind of funny because we've seen his work

and it's not the fifth sentence. Yeah. No, it's

not I Think he means more so of the restart.

Yeah kind of thing You know, it's like me it

took me Three? Yeah, three and a half, almost

four months to write an album review. The album

came out in October of last year. I think I published

the review sometime in January or February. So,

you know, we all have those moments. I gotta

say though, the colors and the backgrounds and

the way the storefront or the coffee shop front

is, I love this art. This art is awesome. It's

gorgeous. I love the snow. Yeah, me too. Reminds

me, even though they're two different cities

and two different pizza types, reminds me of

Miles Morales. Yeah, it does! Always snow in

video games. So he's gonna try it a different

way and try to figure out where... Where to start

with his his characters and he goes on and says

This is supposed to is small. It was supposed

to be just a short story. How the hell did it

get so out of hand? Because you over thought

it my friend that's usually usually Yeah, and

he gets to a point of okay, this is working my

character didn't recognize her You know Elizabeth

Beckett didn't recognize her life And then...

Well, this one's the most telling. I'm sorry

that I keep going back to this, but the one thing

that kills me is the two sentences that he writes

are, so now that she's out, what does she want?

And what does Elizabeth want to do? And if that's

not the most telling thing in this issue itself,

where, I mean, yes, later we'll see why it's

so telling, but... It's almost like he's subconsciously

trying to speak to himself Like how can I understand

a character who wants more out of life when I

can't want more? Mm -hmm. I love that. Sorry.

That was one little piece that I was like, yes

Yeah, no, you're you're right. Yeah, you're absolutely

right and then a Version of himself as radiant

black basically breaks in and steals him up into

the sky I'm like, oh boy. What's he gonna do,

try to fix the icing problem? This is a badass

version though. Yes, yes it is. What'd you say

Ed? I said I love the energy cape. Yeah. It is,

except, you know, the superheroes? No capes!

Yes, well Batman hasn't come up against Edna

mold So he can't understand this this thing and

and I am what you will never be Nathan worth

breathing oops and He wakes up What a hell of

a way for your subconscious fears to come to

bat Yeah Mean that's just one one line of thinking

where they say that dreams are ways that you

can battle What you're afraid of or what's constantly

on your mind or in the subcontext of your mind

and for this? Not even worth breathing Your inner

self is telling you that you will never be worth

breathing How hard does Nathan have to be on

himself for that to be what his subconscious

comes up with? Very hard on himself like holy

shit Mm -hmm. So he wakes up, oh god, what time

is it? God damn it. And then he gets a Twitter

notification. And now we've got a flat on 355.

Could really use radiant black right about now,

LOL. And we get another few panels close up of

the cursor. And we cut to the family on 355 with

the flat. Nathan doesn't know how to change a

flat. But he shows up anyway. Yeah, he shows

up anyway. I love how honest this scene is. It

is. It is very honest. Don't you? It's like,

yes, I'm here, but I have no idea how to help

you. One of the kids is like don't you literally

have anything better to do right now? I said

no So friggin a harsh I love that they thought

that he was a joke too like he was just some

cosplayer And you know the the dad asked him

you sure you know what you're doing here Oh,

yeah, absolutely. That's gonna be one of my new

profile pictures at some point. Oh, yeah, absolutely

I'm doing snap Right. Oh my gosh. Yeah that didn't

work I don't know man. Why do I have to be great

at everything? This is a great depiction of Never

Meet Your Hero. Yeah, pretty much. And it is

so cool, and it is so honest, and he's still

coming into his own with the powers, and he is

still figuring it out. And you don't often see

a scene like this in any comic book of a superhero

trying to figure out his powers, where the people

he's trying to help are actually trying to...

You know help him sort of even though they're

kind of making fun of him. I don't know man spider

-man Well, yes, but I mean Because I immediately

come up with a few scenes from spider -man where

that's exactly what's going on true, but I mean

I don't know. I haven't read the current run

of spider. I haven't read the Nick Spencer spider

-man yet. So I'm not sure But I mean, honestly,

that's the vibe that it gives off is, oh, no,

absolutely. Spider -Man where he's still trying

to figure out what all he can do. He's got at

least one or two, if not a whole crowd of naysayers

in the background. They're like, OK, you're here.

Now what? Yeah, this is like Bendis run on Ultimate

Spider -Man. Right. Yeah. I mean, yeah, the crowd

eventually gets behind Spider -Man and he becomes

the hometown hero, but. no no he doesn't and

I love how the wife is like earlier in the scene

honey where's your coat or at least a scarf you

have to be freezing and at the end of the scene

as he's flying the car where they need to go

He's wearing a scarf. They gave him a scarf.

This isn't your Spider -Man 2 train scene where

they all catch him, but at least he got a scarf.

They were sweet. They were super sweet. Oh no,

absolutely, yeah. And we get to what I assume

is 2 a .m. So much for writing day. Better luck

next time. And we see panels of him just kind

of... trying to sleep trying to sleep and then

he's awake and he reaches yep reaches for a laptop

and and We basically get the premise of this

comic at least the first issue Elizabeth Beckett

didn't recognize her life She'd gone from working

at banks to robbing them. But now her partner

was dead She was on the run a bag full of cash

and all the problems to go with it Elizabeth

Beckett had nowhere to go. So she moved back

home Well, what do they tell writers? Write what

you know. Yep. Mm -hmm. Write what you know.

Thank you, Stephen King. And the next morning,

his dad's like, Nathan, you up? Hey, yeah, sorry,

I think I'm actually making headway here. Okay.

Glad it was a productive day. Me too. This time.

I'm telling you man, there is some depression.

Oh, absolutely. The look on his face here at

the end of this issue right now. This time, next,

everything changes for real. Wow. This issue,

holy crap. There is so much to unpack with this

issue, but I think we've talked about a lot of

it. Ed, what were your overall thoughts once

you finished reading issue three? It was, I enjoyed

it. I mean, it was a filler issue for lack of

a better term, but it was good filler because

it got you into the mind of the character a little

bit more than the previous couple of issues had.

And I enjoyed that, the psychology of it, especially

seeing the, you know, the writer's block. basically

made through comic book art so I mean it was

it was really enjoyable and definitely had me

ready to go into the next issue yeah I was not

ready to go into the next issue at the end of

this and then I started reading the next issue

and I'm like no we're gonna get into that after

the break here folks but first Kendra what are

your overall final thoughts for issue three This

one actually solidified the fact that this was

gonna be an enjoyable series I'd already enjoyed

one and two very much but seeing Kyle take this

completely different route and and you know basically

putting that foundation down of Don't expect

your normal Atypical story or artwork or plot

lines Was gorgeous it immediately catapulted

this series up for me To at least if not the

second place Third place of the ones that I've

read in the series so far for this year of the

new ones Very cool. Very cool. Yeah final thoughts

from me on issue three here. Like I said at the

beginning of this episode it's not Very often

you see a comic book like this issue is presented,

where it's basically the mind of the main character

as a writer, as a creative person. As we've already

said, he is so stuck and stifled with what he

wants to do up until the end of this issue, but

throughout the whole thing we see his thought

process and... That is so interesting. Like,

this sucks. This sucks. It's all trash. It's

all trash. And then we get to a point. Yeah.

And we get to a point in the issue, like we've

talked about, where he has to go help somebody.

And he does. And interacting with that family

made him think of what he is eventually going

to do. So yes, issue three. If I was making just

single issues out of the issues I've read so

far for the last five months, this would easily

make the number one spot for me out of the stuff

I've read. Now, I'm not meaning to say out of

the stuff that's been released since January

of 2021, I mean whatever I've read since January

1st of this year, because folks, Don't read this

in Beast Wars Transformers Beast Wars from IDW

Those are the two ongoing that I am currently

reading as they come out the rest of the stuff

I read is either in trade or or I'm catching

up with with whatever so You know from the stuff

that I've read this is easily the most unique

single issue comic book I have read in a long

time Yes, you side. Yes. One, because I wish

I only had two ongoing. But I hand it to you

that, yes, this is definitely one of the most

unique to come out. I wish I could say it got

my number one spot. Well, you have so much more

that you do than I do, so. Know I'm just like

as we're even like trying to compare them. I'm

like no stray dogs broken my heart and Then I'm

like no because four breaks my heart But what

is it about issue four? Issue four has been detrimental

this month because that's what issue broke me

on stray dogs No Ugly cry in the shower Broke

me Don't mean to laugh at your playing in the

background. I mean, you know my god sad walking

away music cue it I mean, it's bad. Oh and For

some odd reason I feel like and I know this is

not There is no comparison to the entire, you

know, no no there is no comparison between you

know the entire half of the universe going away

and then coming back. However, I recently just

found somebody on YouTube and somebody on Twitter

that does guitar covers and the guy did a guitar

cover of Portals and I so want to put it in here

somewhere because it so feels like a summation

of what issue 3 and what issue 4 is, which we

will get to in a moment. However, I'm not going

to do that. I am going to do what I did last

time, except you guys are going to hear the full

song this time, because I did, as I mentioned

in the last Radiant Black episode of the podcast,

I did tweet at Crisis Couture, who does the song

Radiant, which is the theme song for this series.

And hey, if the US government can use tweets

as evidence in a trial, I could use it as a as

a legal document of permission that I have permission

from the band to use the full song, Crisis Couture's

Radiant, in this podcast and future episodes

of The Pull Bag when we do this series, of course.

So you're going to hear that next, folks. And

then we're going to come back. And we're basically

going to be giant puddles of, yeah, basically.

Yeah. So we'll be back. after the awesomeness

that is Crisis Couture's Radiant. Hope you guys

enjoyed Crisis Couture's Radiant. This is issue

four, Image Comics, Radiant Black. I meant to

do this in issue three, but it's pretty much

the same people in both, obviously. The creative

Kyle Higgins is the writer. Marcelo Costa is

the artist. Color assistant on this issue. On

issue four is Rod Fernandez. Letter is Becca

Carey. Logo design done by Rich Bloom. and a

grand designer, Michael Busutil. I'm sorry, Michael,

I guess. I'm sorry if I mispronounce your name.

I've butchered a lot more names than yours, sadly,

on this show. And we opened issue four like never

before because Everything changed at the end

of issue three or it was about to and Nathan

is now in Yeah, pretty much pretty much Very

much classic Tron not even Tron legacy, which

I know a lot of people didn't like I love that

movie I don't care what anyone says But yes,

this opening has a very classic Tron feel to

it and Nathan feels trapped and then giant radiant

robot. Oh lord. Hello Nathan. Yes. What'd you

say? I said where's Morpheus when you need him?

Think this goes beyond the matrix at this point

You know welcome Yeah, welcome to existence We

then cut to Lockport, Illinois Marshall is on

his couch eating black licorice. I refuse to

call those Twizzlers because they don't look

like Twizzlers. Oh Really? Okay. Well, there

you go The dog treats Hey, we've already referenced

so many other things why not call Marshall Martin

rigs from lethal weapon if they're dog treats

They look like the rawhide shoes Mm -hmm and

Nathan texts Marshall you up. Yep any plans today

There's a Soderbergh marathon on the criterion

channel and you know, I will literally never

miss out of sight. What's up? I Need to rewatch

that movie. I love out of sight I Get the reference

now, okay, I love that movie Have never seen

that I was like, why is he messaging us? Have

you seen this? Yeah, it's you need to watch it

seriously if there's anything that you haven't

seen lately and it's just over oh It's just a

video you sent me was 1998 Yeah, yeah, so it's

just under 30 years. It's just over 20 years

at this point since that movie came out So yeah,

they're gonna go test the powers And They go

out into the middle of the woods, are you sure

we can be back here Marshall? Oh, yeah, it's

technically the wall the Malick's property. We're

good okay so what are we doing we're testing

your powers oh this hurts my heart it does one

of them looks like Dick Grayson no well kind

of yes you're right uh -huh again these yeah

they are they are action figures they are action

figures of characters from Kyle's other series

cowl I didn't know that. Yes. As soon as I saw

her name is Raya, as soon as I saw her and I

saw the Nightwing looking character, I was like,

oh, no, they're going to destroy the cowl toys.

Really? No, don't you bastards. But it's Kyle's

own creation, so he can do with it what he wants.

Yeah, well. So We get a small test of this and

Marshall's like the gray Raven soars no more

don't quit your day only if you could find one

So Marshall is asking him what prompted all of

this all of a sudden I don't know just thinking

about everything like these powers had to come

from somewhere, right? What are you guys thinking

up to this point, Ed? Collective outrage. Kyle,

bro, man. You had to fucking hit me in my feels,

didn't you? Shit. Hey, you know what? Like I

said, they're his own characters. It's not like

he's destroying Batman or something. I understand

that they're still action figures, though. As

action figure collector, I would not melt my

toys. True, but what other thing could we test

his powers on that isn't going to destroy something?

At least the blasts. Well, no, we do not need

to destroy more trees. We need to plant more

trees. Come on now. Trees. We're not bringing

up South Park. Knock off all this tree -hugging

hippie crap. Yes. God. N -n -n -nah. Lord. So

they are trying to figure out, you know... what

his his powers can do and that he's tried to

understand starting to understand it and Marshall's

like that first little bitty blast wasn't bad,

but you can do better. I know you can I Think

you just need to get angry. That's cliched Well

cliches exist for a reason Maybe you need to

feel something in order to emote something What

would piss you off? Come on, Marshall. No, no,

I mean it. Your prose sucks. The Oxford comma

is overrated. Chandler wishes you never read

him. Justine would still be around if you knew

how to conjugate. We all know Marshall is very

much the Randall Graves type character and he's

sitting here instigating Nathan. and that smirk

on his face when he talks about Justine and the

the jarring look on Nathan's face and then you

mother I don't know what kind of sound it was

but that's the only sound I can make in the moment

also you totally just swore at me in a weird

noise language I didn't even know we could make

that sound That's the only thing I'm gonna hear

when I see that now. Great, so Radiant Black

is the parents from Charlie Brown now. All I'm

gonna hear now every time I see the alien language

pop up. Yep. And what were you thinking as we

go through this testing of the powers scene?

I was agreeing with him that, you know, getting

mad about something was cliched. I was just like,

okay, that's a trope that's been done a thousand

times in other comics, but then he had to go

and obliterate some more action figures. Made

me mad. I was about to curse in an angling alien

noise language too, so. Kendra? I was more in

the realm of ultra combo, but... You only did

one move. I know. Flawless victory. But, I mean,

I get it. I mean, I'm on Marshall's side for

this one. I never thought I'd say that, but...

Yeah. I am. I mean, he's right. The tropes exist

for a reason, because they've been proven to

work. And if you get someone mad, that adrenaline

rush is sure to cause some kind of reaction.

It's the Cato scene from the New World Combat.

Right? I mean, you can see the look on Marshall's

face is absolutely hilarious. It made it worth

it. But, I mean, you see it. He's like, okay,

here's my secret weapon. You can't conjugate.

Give me a fucking egg roll! Yeah, and here I'm

thinking as... So you asked me what my secret

is the secret is I'm always angry Just master

control I'm gonna have to watch Tron after this

podcast I might marathon both movies at this

point. Right, thanks. Maybe there's some King

of Hearts in there. Thanks, Kyle. Digital brain,

organic brain, integration, language centers,

sync, incomplete, in progress. That's my best

robot voice, and that actually hurts my throat.

That's wrong So we get this scene where Nathan

in this giant radiant robot thing are trying

to communicate and I Love the the language Deciphering

yes, how the robot is saying these things in

actual word balloons, but then you see the language

in the sky on the screen whatever you want to

call it and then you see it like it basically

that's what it reminds me of shit the radiant

language that we've been seeing this whole time

it's braille i mean i'm not saying that any of

these characters are blind but i'm legally blind

and i'm like holy crap where am i oh right it's

braille Next thing you know radiant red is gonna

get some devil horns or something and go back

to Hell's Kitchen. Who knows? Yeah, yeah pretty

much If you look at any of like the Like the

bad batch that's going on on Disney Plus right

now anytime they have writing on the screen when

they're looking at a computer Mm -hmm Yeah, that

could be a mixture of both. Yeah We have just

put so many references into this comic that Kyle

probably never even thought people would grab

out of it, but I Bet he did of course he did

he has a plan for everything doesn't he? Nerd

card is pretty huge. So yeah, it's a substantial

nerd card Well, he just And again, saying once

again, as of this recording, May 23rd, 2021,

he just tweeted the other day that out of all

the stuff that he's always wanted to work on,

the one realm that he hasn't yet is TMNT. And

I replied to him and I said, I'm sure it'd be

awesome to see you do something with IDW's TMNT.

So here's hoping. The first and only time I got

to... Yes. What'd you guys? That would be amazing.

Hey, with us down track, I'm good to go. Thank

you, Kyle. We'll get on this. Maybe we can get

a Daft Punk reunion before they actually are

30 more years in the future. Anyway, so we get

back to Marshall and Nathan. Wait, what? What?

Oh, we're moving past. Okay, we're past Tron.

Although, to be fair, last panel of Tron is pretty

dang important. Yeah. Will you take his life?

Yep. You ever think what you'd do with all this,

like if I grabbed the black hole thing instead

of you? Yeah. Course I've got a hundred ideas

at least 80 of them involved getting crazy rich

If only you could do that legally Yes, the the

Tron scene yeah, it's Very very interesting how

that ends and we get them going to the the movie

here And talking back and forth got where you

say I was about to say I'm We may be given Marshall

a hell of a lot of shit these last couple issues

But there's one thing I will say for him is that

he is very very honest and upfront. He does not

shield Nathan. Oh No, not at all I Mean I'm not

even the best friend card. I mean we're like

like you said they're talking about you know

Well, what would have happened if you'd have

gotten it instead of me? If the powers had chosen

you, if you'd have touched it before I did. And

Marshall, the next sequence is one that really

hits hard because he's like, you know, but that's

not what happened. You grabbed it and now you're

radiant black. Sometimes. Yeah. Right, and I

mean he just he calls him out on it. He's like

you've had these powers for I mean, we don't

really have a Necessarily like accurate span

of time but between between these issues, but

he's like You've had him for he says he's had

him for a minute which for those of us who speak

that lingo is a long time Mm -hmm, and he hasn't

done anything He's like, you know, he's calling

him out. He's like you haven't done anything

and the reason why is because you lack vision

Which comes back to issue three Where it's like

he's stagnant. He doesn't know which way or where

or what choices to make because he's rebuilding

himself. Mm -hmm And I just that this scene hit

really freaking hard like Kyle knew what he was

doing in this one This one came through loud

and clear. Oh absolutely every Every time Kyle

puts anything to paper to comic to whatever it

just Reaches right down into my core. It doesn't

matter what it is whether it's Him doing Nightwing

or him doing Power Rangers or him doing his own

creative stuff you guys I'll have to send you

the link after but you guys really need to read

cowl the first two volumes are on all the issues

that there were only 12 issues, but First two

volumes are on comixology as well as the single

issues, but it is so so good and It's just one

of those things where He is the I Don't want

to sit here and say he's the spider -man of comic

writers because he's more of the Nightwing of

comic writers where he's that Everyman because

let's face it spider -man and Nightwing are essentially

the everyman because they are Nightwing even

more so because he wasn't bitten by a radioactive

spider, but Yeah, every time Kyle puts anything

into anything and he is able to get so much emotion

out of the reading audience that he has, you

know, I remember when this was being teased,

like the basic premise of it where he's in debt,

he has to move back home. And then he gets superpowers.

Okay, you've sold me right there three sentences

debt or three words debt home and superpowers

like sure Okay, I'm on the ride and now that

he's expanding this and we're getting more into

this first arc here And as I said last time it's

gonna be interesting for us as we're doing this

two issues at a time where The next episode of

the podcast that we do one of these I think is

episode 420. No one can light up. It's one of

those things where we have the final issue of

the first arc and the first issue of the next

arc happening in the same podcast. So that's

going to be interesting to see what happens when

we get there. And you said that he had you before

this even came out and oh, yeah I give full kudos

to that because he had me after issue one and

it wasn't even the comic the comic is not what

grabbed me it was his after like his addressing

what radiant black was and what he saw in it

and where the inspiration came from and where

his muse lied and Just someone who was being

so honest about saying, you know I write from

personal and everybody has these flaws and I

want this to be a relatable series. I mean, you

can in every issue, I don't care who you are,

you can find something in some part of your life

where you've gone through something that you

can relate to what Nathan or Marshall is going

through. Right, absolutely. And I love that.

I love that he doesn't try to make this into,

well, you know, I don't have flaws or he over

-exaggerates the flaws to where it's like, you

know, you're constantly hitting the face with

them. They are very true to life. And then the

action starts again. Hello, Nathan. Radiant Red

shows up. Yeah. Master Control. What a nice hometown

you have Let's talk and he pulls out the radiant

black power He suits up and I love this this

suit up because you know, we see the various

Panels of him and then you get the one worry

where he's in the full Mask and the full suit

and it's just this it's actually my current again

as of this recording Facebook cover photo where

it's just him with Alright, so we are back for

that impromptu ad break, and the one thing I've

noticed as we're going through issue four...

It's more of the art thing than it is anything

else. We talked about what Marshall and Nathan

are discussing as they're walking to the movie

theater. And I see that Nathan has two layers

on because, hello, it's Chicago, it's the middle

of winter, you need two plus or more layers on,

you should, unless you're crazy like me and decide

to go out in shorts and a t -shirt. But then

again, I am almost 500 pounds, so my weight kind

of... distributes the heat evenly, I think. But

the reason why I'm bringing this up now is that

I've gone back and I looked at this and I'm like,

oh, he has two layers on because in this Power

Rangers -like magical girl transformation he

has, the very first panel when he pulls out the

radiant power, I'm looking at Nathan's wrist

and I'm like... Where's that smaller sleeve coming

like I forgot that he had two layers on because

it just Where his hand is and where the power

is and how his tendons and his wrist are it just

looks really weird and then Hey, look, I'm a

tiny sleeve and I'm like, okay. That's a little

creepy It's just something small that I noticed

and it's not like going to ruin my overall enjoyment

of the book It's just something I noticed that

at the angle it is it looks really funky weird

anyway yeah that's right uh -huh speaking of

which the guy I told you guys about that does

the guitar covers he has a guitar cover of the

Yu -Gi -Oh theme I'll have to send it to you

guys later so yeah As I was saying earlier, um,

when we get this transformation, I actually have

this as my current, as of this recording, uh,

Facebook cover photo of him in the mask with

the eyes. That is so cool. And so Radiant Red

and Radiant Black are about to fight and Marshall's

like, oh dude, you're in for it now. Also, don't

worry, I'm shooting video. You can watch your

ass get beat down in 120 frames per second. God,

you're annoying. I love that so much! Run, now

or else! I totally heard fucking Napoleon Dynamite

when I was like, God! Yep. Absolutely. It gets

a little graphic though. Radiant Red every year

is like, now run, now or else, or else what?

Or else I'll absorb your skin and let your muscle

and fats fill out. I'm just like, damn, man.

Did you get hard? Oh, I mean you got to have

some sort of threat because you know, it's just

the way it is I mean someone threatens to absorb

my fucking skin and let my entrails and fat spill

out I'm gonna be a little concerned after that

Yeah, when your entrails become your x -trails,

that's not a good thing. No insides become the

outside. It's gross Yes, and no folks. I will

not throw the everclear song inside out in here

somewhere Hey now, that's one of their greatest

songs not not ever Yeah, so Nathan is flying

off to deal with radiant red After Whackin' Him.

Yeah, Whackin' Him good. I am sorry. It is not

EvaClear. It is Eve6 that does Inside Out. Everyone

should know that song because you'll probably

hear it somewhere. I don't know. So yeah, after

Whackin' Him, Radiant Black goes, what the hell

did you just say? What'd you say? I said, oh

god. It's the love in this room. Uh -huh. I know,

right? It's like, you know, it's like I went

and destroyed his Funko Pops or something. Did

you get angry? I melted, actually. Did you conjugate?

I didn't conjugate correctly, is what I didn't

do. It's okay. Yeah, we know. So as I was saying

such a nice hometown, I hope they have insurance.

Oh boy And the sad thing is all I can hear is

I think it's the season 2 theme of static shock

beam beam superhero During this battle because

this doesn't look like any Tron battle I remember

No And Radiant black gets a slight better of

radiant red and we see radiant red is a person

we assumed he would be but we see that and Radiant

blacks like don't come back here ever again it

runs like uh -huh sure and They do a giant power

cocoon They they dragon ball each other. Mm -hmm

pretty much That ain't no evolution you'd want

to see well, I most importantly I mean not necessarily

most importantly, but something to know is Right

before this happens and you see that radiant

black has the edge And he has the upper hand.

I have the high ground. Yeah But you see a shot

back a little flashback to where you know Nathan

was given this question Whether he would be willing

to kill or not Right, and then she hit the fan

Shit hits hits the fan and he is clearly not

willing to kill You know what though, here's

the thing that bugs me about this scene just

a slight bit and I'm sure that it's gonna come

up and issues to come but Really like once everything

after the cocoon They're both coming to their

senses and this building starts to frickin, you

know rumble, you know collapse. Yeah He's got

you know, he just yells out hold on to something

now and he asks for help and it's like all Cards

are off the table. It doesn't matter that they're

fighting. It doesn't matter that they're angry.

Yeah Radiant red step in Mm -hmm Hold on. Hold

on. I'm gonna put a little icing on the cake

that Kendra just made with that statement Because

we see Radiant Black, he's like, fuck yeah, you

know, got his power holding up the building.

And then Radiant Red over here goes and puts

his hands on a wall. Like legitimately, no power,

no nothing, just like, I'm going to hold this

rock here and hope it doesn't fall over. I'm

just like, bro. Right, like Radiant Black gives

us a laser light show. Right, Radiant Red's over

here just like, I got this. Well, I I will defend

him a little bit him her I don't know if it's

a male female whatever I can't tell because we

haven't really learned too much about radiant

red yet The bearing walls are crumbling. There's

about to be nothing to hold up. So While it's

admirable and yes, I love that that Nathan Radiant

black is doing the laser light shown trying to

figure out how to keep everything up The fact

that radiant red knows that he is touching a

bearing wall and that he knows that they're going

and there's nothing left that he can do where

Radiant black just shoots him and everybody else

out the building and everybody's read a green

lantern comic. They could have thrown a bubble

around somebody They yeah, they could have I

guess but again new powers go so far as to give

him that maybe he's done an internal scan with

the the radiant red power and has seen that there

is no hope yeah but i'd like to have seen that

but maybe they're saving that for a further issue

to be like no i tried yeah you know i mean i'll

give him i'll give him i'll give him benefit

of the doubt until proven otherwise but right

I do like the fact that it stops being a fight

and it becomes about getting people to safety.

Yeah. Absolutely. And Marshall runs in, Nathan,

where are you? Where are you, Nathan? Oh my god.

Don't do this, man. Come back. You have to stay

alive. And here we go with the Troninator over

here. Yeah, because then we get the the actual

scene. Mm -hmm Will you take his life then your

world you will die Help somebody help your friend

is gone deceased Our connection is final permanent

for the duration of your life. You are part of

existence But war is near soon for the radiant.

He will kill you and your entire planet To die

is to lose everything. Will you do all that is

required to save your species? Will you take

his life? Yes No hesitation on sir. Yep and I

didn't notice this before. I've read this thing

three times now. Not only did I read it when

it first hit, I read it right before we did the

recording and obviously we're going through it

now. Because it's an all white panel before we

get to the blackmail section of the letters column,

I didn't even notice next radiant revenge because

you can barely see it with how bright the white

is and that's obviously the point. I like that

a lot. I've been a big fan of the art of this

whole series since the first page of the first

issue. So I just need more Marcel Costa in my

life, honestly. Absolutely. And before we get

to our final thoughts, I wanted to read this

little introduction by Michael, who is one of

the editors or something. I'm sorry, Michael,

I'm not going to try to mispronounce your last

name again. Oh, well, okay, that sure is an ending,

isn't it? Remember last month when I said this

changes everything and you probably read it and

went, okay, but surely they don't actually mean

it changes everything. Yeah, we meant it. Here's

all I can say at this point. Radiant Black number

five is out next month. And here's more issues

after that. Everything you've seen so far is

for a reason. This hasn't just been an elaborate

bait and switch. We haven't just done this to

mess with you. The story continues and we hope

you'll come along for the ride. And with that,

why don't we answer some letters? Yeah, I am

fully on this ride. There is no other. I'm going

to say this right now. There isn't. Another new

comic book series that could come out in this

year That is going like right now radiant black

is my number one ongoing series I know there

are plenty of other series that I haven't read

that are going on right now that are really great

But every single one of these four issues We

can need the three the three of us at one point

or another can either relate to something with

it It affects us in some way whether it's good

bad or otherwise Correct and I know all comics

can do that but Even with all the Stuff that

that we have all all three of us have said that

this is like this. This is like this Oh, they

put Dante here. They put right even with all

of that We've tied so many things into this comic

in this podcast episode And it's because of how

Kyle writes the book. It's because of how Marcelo

draws the book. It's because of how the coloring

is done, how the art is done and what the story

is saying and that it is a real life affecting

thing. Yep. So I do like at the at the end here

now i did not read this for the book for the

review but uh marshall school of business the

world's only accredited business school based

behind a video store counter asterix not accredited

i think that's funny because again it makes me

think of oh Interesting. In this, we have a date

on the newspaper, Wednesday, April 7th, 2021.

So going back to our whole, how long has this

been going on kind of thing. Hmm. Interesting.

Yeah. You know what? I need to apologize to Kyle,

to Image, to everybody. I really did not even...

look at these final things here because I just

figured that, oh crap, we should end on, oh crap,

Radiant Revenge, which is next issue. Wow. So

we will probably get back to that at some point

in the future when we do some sort of recap for

the first arc. Final thoughts, Ed, or any other

thoughts you want to bring up for Radiant Black

issue four? I've had a blast with it so far.

I mean, hits you in the gut at the end of the

issue, but honestly, they spent the last two

issues setting it up and I can't wait to see

the payoff next issue. So it's got me by the

throat, so let's do this. Kendra? I'm still sitting

here trying to collect myself. I'm not even gonna

lie this one Alright, so I have to be honest

I do have have a comic that I've already brought

up that I do relate a lot to radiant black and

that is stray dogs It's done By Tony flex and

Trish Forrester for the art, which is a very

dawn blue style. I do recommend it but The reason

why I correlate these two so much is because

both of their fourth issues were absolutely heart

-wrenching and definitely got holy shit moments.

And not only that, but both of the creators took

the time in the end of the book to address that,

yes, big things happened in this issue, but please

hold on because there's a reason for it. And

that isn't something that I think many comics

have ever done where the creators have actively

been like hey we know this was hard especially

if you were you know super related relating to

the book you're being drawn into the world especially

with the way that they did issue three where

you learned so much about nathan and how nathan

processed things and how he felt and you know

even if you were one of those who were like you

know what you go dude when he fully broke through

that that one and it melted into this issue and

kyle kudos to you because you set this up beautifully.

I mean, I don't think that I have seen a better

setup when it comes to leading into what happened.

Because you had everything, you hit all of the

points where we had emotion, we had foreshadowing,

you have hints of things to come, and then you

really did have this jaw -dropping moment. Where

you were like, did they really just do that?

And it was in such a believable way. It wasn't

any of this. Oh, well, you know, we've seen Superman

crash through buildings. We've seen Green Lantern

since Ed brought up Green Lantern. We've seen

them go in through some heavy, heavy fights and

make it out alive. This was a real to life. What

would happen if two beings went through an entire

building? and the building came down. So Zack

Snyder's managed to deal? It was a beautiful,

a beautiful run. And I will give it to that.

I don't, I did not, I did not cry. I was sad.

I was sad. And like I said, he was jaw dropping.

I will give him that. My jaw dropped. Look, I

finished reading it and Edward sits across from

me in our our home office and I looked at him

and I was like, holy Holy shit. Yeah, that just

happened. Yeah, it is a very holy shit moment.

It's It is one of those moments that Will live

on in infamy long past any of us are here You

know as long as the comics industry is is still

here 50 years from now. Hopefully it still is

Right, you know, this is a you know, if I was

to moment. Yeah, absolutely If I was crazy me

and you me and you talk about it on on on Instagram

or on Facebook or on Twitter and Me and you were

like, holy cuz Ed hadn't read it yet and we ruin

it. Yep and we were like holy shit yeah wow wait

wait was it ready i know i was not ready for

that at all yeah so all right just for an example

i know everyone doesn't want to talk about the

year that was 2020 and we're not talking about

that right now but what i'm saying is you go

from 2020 50 years in the future is 2070 i'll

be 90 years old if i'm still alive then hopefully

but at 2070 in 50 years these first four issues

these last two issues two three and four as well

they are going to like if I was making a time

capsule of comics right now for people in the

future to read this series even though issues

haven't even come out for it yet let's just say

for example I hope this happens. Radiant Black

gets 50 or 100 issues. Put the whole series in

a time capsule. I don't even know what Kyle and

everybody has to come up with ideas for the future

issues. But at least these first four issues

go in a time capsule for the next 50 years. And

you can open this up and look back on it and

be like, oh, wow. So that's what it was like

in the 21st century. yeah these are definitely

ones that they get a high praise recommendation

absolutely this is that damn continuing image

trend though I know you should I mean I'm gonna

say it the way that it is for me I have literally

switched from being a DC only to image has had

my heart with every single Trade that I have

picked up any series that I have picked up from

them in the last year Has had some kind of visceral

emotional response with me and that is a full

kudos to their talent. Oh Absolutely, I mean

they always have Yeah, absolutely, they always

have such great great stuff going on And it just

goes to show you that not everything, like, is

this a superhero book? Yes. Yes. But it is also

more than that, because it's not your average

Spider -Man kit, like... It's not. You're absolutely

right. It's really not. This is full on outside

of the box. Yeah. If Nathan Hadden died in this

issue... If he had not died and he found his

way like he said, you know in the issue Oh, this

is starting to come along. I'm liking this. I

I'm finding my my groove and then oh wait I'm

actually going to be dead at the end of this

that wasn't the plan But it's one of those things

where if Nathan was the character to continue

this it would have been Seeing him going further

with whatever he was going to go further with

and it would have been you know we would have

seen the real life mixed in with the superhero

we wouldn't have had to have had oh we've reached

issue 50 issue 51 we're gonna dh him We're going

to make him make it have it have a deal with

the devil and whatever. That's what the creative

people at Marvel wanted to do at the time. That's

fine. It is what it is. You know, just a day.

Yeah. Yeah. You were sitting next to me. I would

smatter to you. I would smack your hand so hard.

You apologize to Kyle Higgins. But that's my

point. You do not put that next to Bill Higgins'

word. Apologize. I'm not going to apologize because

that's the point. I'm saying this is not that.

Kyle, I'm going to apologize now for Mike, who

obviously doesn't understand that One More Day

was a travesty of comic justice. He just said

that he wasn't comparing it to that because...

I'm specifically saying... He didn't love it.

You don't put anything next to One More Day.

He's like... I put it near it. No. In a way to

say no. Long across the room on a different shelf.

And it is. And it is. That's the point. That

is the exact point. This is not your... Like,

even when I was reading and at some point we

will get Superman Doomsday on that or something.

That's what he's saying is that he's not comparing

the two because they are statistically different.

Yeah, my point is... Oh lord, here we go. My

point is, is that... I'm still salty about that.

I know you are, let it go. Be Elsa, let it go.

Alright Elsa, let it go, please. And as much

as I hate those movies, let it go. Cold doesn't

bother me anyways. These opinions do not reflect

me. They reflect me. The opinions of Edward Hale,

mayor of the comic populace. The opinions of

Edward - One comic fan that says that Spider

-Man one more day was a good story. That's my

challenge to all the listeners of this podcast.

Change my mind. Give me five good reasons why

one more day was a good story. Oh gosh. You can't.

Joe Crisato's artwork wasn't even that good.

Oh God, no, stop! Please continue Mike. Sorry.

I got mad you did I know These one more day feelings

for years I oh Lord, I think we need to have

you guys back on for origins and we need to explore

Inside therapy for for Ed and his his one more

day. It's yikes. I'm a salty bitch, man. Uh -huh

point Heroes in crisis motherfucker Lord here

we go the point is is that with spider -man with

Batman with Any other hero you decide to put

in there from either DC or Marvel Because and

I know this is because they always need to catch

the new readers saying that that's why look Not

like I've said this on this podcast for the last

eight years You'd give me spider -man 700 which

we actually started this podcast. It's one of

the reasons why the podcast exists We covered

spider -man 698 to 700 on the geek cast radio,

which is right before this show started eight

eight nine years ago If I have to read If you

just put spider -man 700 in my hands amazing

spider -man 700 if I have to read the previous

699 issues I don't wanna do that. So that's why

the comic companies, that to me, besides the

fact they need money and they want the new number

one money, they want the resell, they want the

reprint, the second print, and that's great.

I love that comic books get second, third, fourth,

fifth, sixth, 25th anniversary printings, 30,

whatever it is. I love that, but that's... Variant

covers. Yes, yes, variant covers. Let's go back

to the old image trope. That's kind of the point,

but also it's a point of how many times are we

gonna see Spider -Man go from high school to

college to adulthood to whatever, and then all

of that get, you know, we find some weird stopping

point, like the devil comes in or something,

and then... You know, we have to restart with

him back at age 15 in high school, pimple -faced

Peter Parker. Not that he ever was, but you know

what I mean? That's not what Radiant Black is.

Radiant Black is a story where you have these

two characters, these two best friends, this

guy who tried to make it as a Hollywood writer

and he failed, so he has to move back home and

all of a sudden he has superpowers because of

this thing. And oh my god, that is why I love

and I will say, no matter what else I read this

year, new comic, old comic, whatever it is, for

me personally, Radiant Black is my number one

series for 2021, just based off of four issues

alone, because of all of the homages that I've

read into it myself, or of the events that have

happened in the comic. Yeah, I know I'll 100

% agree with you on that because I One of my

major Arguments against the big two is all of

the rehash and the re redo and the rebirth and

you know That's one of the things that stands

so far outside for me when it comes to image

because not only do you have this amazing artwork

Not only do you have these very talented writers

and colorists these art teams But image lets

these creators tell the stories that they want

to Mm -hmm. That's what image was founded on.

I mean it was It was founded in a time where

big artists and big writers were getting screwed

over by the big companies. And they all went

away to a place where they could have complete

creative freedom. And they made that place, which

was Image Comics, thanks to the seven founding

fathers of Image Comics. Now we have incredible

works like this, and Invincible, and Walking

Dead, and Ice Cream Man, and... You, Stray Dogs!

Stray Dogs, and Chew, and everything else that's

coming out of there. I mean, and that's the thing.

I mean, like I said, I 100 % agree with you,

Mike, because that's not something that we see...

I mean, there are don't get me wrong. Image still

has its like 30th year anniversary editions and

they will always do justice by by their original

characters. And I have absolutely no problem

with that at all. Right. But I do admit that

it is very nice seeing these fresh takes, these

unique concepts, these books that draw in from

popular culture. That it really is target marketed

towards us Yeah Well, there's a lot of writers

to I've noticed lately like big name writers

obviously like Kyle Higgins and Scott Snyder

and Jeff Johns Jeff Lemire that are all Jumping

ship. They're not really jumping ship, but they're

going over the image to get these create our

own properties out of their system and I mean,

I've only picked up the first issue of Noctera,

but it was amazing. I mean, it's Scott Snyder,

but I don't expect it to be any less than amazing.

But everybody's been knocking it out of the park.

And Kyle Higgins is obviously no different. He's

killing it with these four issues. Yeah. Can't

wait for the next stuff. So. Yeah, absolutely.

Like I said at the beginning of this episode,

folks. Is going to be so interesting because

we are doing these two issues at a time See how

the first arc ends and the next arc begins because

of issue five is radiant revenge Who the hell

knows what's gonna happen in that obviously the

creators know we don't know yet and You know

and then whatever the next arc is going to bring

so who knows it's gonna be It is a very, very

interesting time in comics and you have pots

everywhere. Yeah. Dude, we're having like a creator

-owned renaissance right now. Absolutely. I mean,

because you think about it, back in the day when

Image first started, you had 64 ,000 books that

came out every week because Image was... Oversaturating

the market with comics because everybody wanted

to have a greater and property but the gems that

shined out of it like spawn or which blade or

darkness or you know, some of those those titles

still run huge today and Now we're seeing that

again with the newer properties and I'm all about

that I'm like me about it because I was there

when image first started and bought 64 ,000 issues

a week and, you know, was single -handedly responsible

for them killing the comic book market when it

happened because of variant covers and chromium

covers and this and that and the third. But,

you know, I'm excited about it. I mean, and that's

the thing. Like, I really think that Image, I'm

not saying that they're single -handedly doing

it, but I like that Image is inspiring other

smaller companies like like ahoy comics or a

wave blue world comics these little indie sectors

who are absolutely writing from their passionate

side of what they want to write and seeing that

you know what we've seen image and Dark Horse

do this we know it can be done and it's just

such a great time like I say this all the time

But it is such a great time to be a comic book

fan because it's not the atypical type of comics

that are coming out. They are ones that are meant

for the entire market instead of catering to

one target. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. It's just

so good. It is. And I'm so glad I know that I'm.

I'm like rambling here for a second, but I really

am grateful that when we first started talking

with you and doing these podcasts that this was

one that came along. Oh, absolutely. I don't

care. I could. I mean, I say this with voice

actors all the time. People like. May, you know,

he's been gone many years now. May the man still

be resting in peace. I could watch and listen

to Mel Blank read the phone book. I could watch

Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy. I could listen

to them go back and forth as Batman. Like it's

the same thing with Kyle Higgins. The man could

be writing about soap and boxes for all I know,

you know. It would matter recipe book I'm intrigued.

Let's do this Recipe book that is awesome So

before we get the heck out of here, we do have

number one. We still have to rate these issues

We'll do that in a moment, but we do have from

image comics from the radiant black podcast.

Actually, I need to listen to that I haven't

listened to that yet, but basically The Radiant

Black podcast retweeted images preview of issue

five. The trials of Ultraman's Eduardo Fregato

and acclaimed colorist Natalia Marquez join Radiant

Black creative team this June. Portland, Oregon,

May 21st, 2021. Fan favorite artist, Eduardo.

From self -made The Trials of Ultraman and critically

acclaimed colorist Natalia Marquez will join

Kyle Higgins and Marcelo Costa on the best -selling

superhero series Radiant Black. The new team

members will contribute their talents to the

upcoming number five on sale this June from Image

Comics. Image is pleased to reveal a sneak peek

at early interior pages from the forthcoming

issue. And the quote here is, rendered in beautiful

contrasting palettes by Natalia. This issue has

some more big twists and turns, and we'll be

ramping straight into our big issue six, Radiant

Red Spotlight. Trust me, after issue five, you'll

definitely want to know his story. Okay, I was

not sure if Radiant Red was a guy or a girl,

and I couldn't remember, and I was born with

brain damage, folks, so leave me alone. But yes,

Radiant Red is a dude. After Radiant Black's

number four heart -stopping cliffhanger is one

way to put it. The Radiant Black team isn't done

subverting readers' expectations and will provide

fans with an extra -length explosive climax to

the first story arc in issue five. Radiant Black

issue five concludes the first story arc of the

series. And yet Radiant Red is still out there

at large. Red needs to be stopped before anyone

else gets hurt. But after the events of the last

issue left Lockport and the world reeling, is

Radiant Black upped the task and will he be in

this fight alone? Radiant Black number five will

be available at comic shops and online Wednesday,

June 16th, 2021. Hey! June 16th. Man, it's been

26 years since Batman Forever came out on that

date. Hey, hey, hey, you don't leave Batman Forever

alone. It ain't Batman and Robin. They're a crap

movie with a compartment of their crap movie.

Hey, hey, hey, knock it off. Shooting compared

to one more day Oh Lord But anyway, very very

cool this this news article from Image Comics's

website will be in the in the the the show notes

for this episode and the funny thing is and sadly

I know that I'll probably get the original the

cover a which is is a good cover I really want

the cover B because it's purple. That's just

me. But cover B and cover C, I really, really

dig. What are your thoughts, Ed? I actually haven't

seen them yet. Click the link in the Skype window.

Hold on, Kendra. Hold on, hold on. I like the

one next to the purple cover of the kind of the

profile picture of the blue. Yeah. I'm standing

there all like, yeah. Yeah. But these pages,

man, oh my God, these pages, right? Yeah. They

look just as amazing as the, as the first four

issues waiting on the knockdown drag out here.

So yeah. So cool. Absolutely love that. All right.

Well, because issue issue five and six are issue

four episode 420 of the podcast I might have

to have my buddy redo the art for this one because

man those covers Originally when I had the the

radiant black art done up for the podcast folks

I'm like, oh I can just use the the black background

the white text and just have that be The ongoing

art but I'm like, ooh these covers Hmm. I don't

know. I gotta rethink this. All right, issue

three, Ed, what are you gonna rate issue three,

zero to five? I'm gonna give it a five. That's

perfect issue, perfect pace, a lot of relatability

to it, especially to the creatives out there

that are reading it like myself and my wife.

A highly enjoyable and a perfect setup for the

next issue. What about you, Kendra? resounding

five five is all around five for me too because

again outside of my little very very tiny weirdness

Nick nitpick of the scene where he's doing the

where Nathan gets his final oh fact that I can

say final transformation into radiant black that

feels weird with the whole sweatshirt and the

double layer thing. Other than that tiny nitpick,

that nitpick is not gonna keep me away from saying

this issue three and even issue four are both

fives. I assume fives all around from you guys

too on issue four. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. It's

going to be interesting to see where it goes

from here and I personally cannot wait. I know

you guys cannot wait. Before I tease what is

coming up in June on the pull bag, Kendra, do

you have any final thoughts? I think I've said

everything I needed to say. And what about you?

I'm gonna challenge Kyle Higgins. To give us

an issue called one more day. You stop it. Stop

it. Hold on. No, hold on. I want Kyle Higgins

to be awesome and do a redemption of that title

issue. Just one solitary issue in the radiant

black run. And you know what? I'm going to even

throw this kind of tried and true trope out there.

that in that issue, the new Radiant Black, obviously,

Marshall, I think is... Yep, Marshall, yep. He

gets to talk to Nathan. He gets that one more

day to talk to his friend. Something so simple

and so trivial would completely redeem that title

one more day. That could be interesting. I don't

know if he'll do that. I highly doubt it because

if we were to give him unsolicited advice, he

couldn't use it because, you know, it's our thoughts.

It's a whole thing. Yeah, I guess, but it's...

I'll take a set of radiant black, radiant covers.

There you go. it's Boy All righty then so coming

up in June June is Fully loaded folks because

we did miss a week here in May June we have We

have six podcasts in June 413 is my buddy Joe

and I returning to Batman TMNT. We talk about

the third and final chapter from that series

from IDW and DC Comics. My buddy Donovan Morgan

Grant who did an Origins with me will be doing

Static Shock Volume 1 Supercharged. Steve Megatron

and I will be covering a creator -owned series

that got submitted to us called Contraband. My

buddy Jesse Raz from a Louisville, Kentucky radio

station will join me for Mighty Morphin Shattered

Grid, which is once again Kyle Higgins. He is

also going to join me for the next story arc

in that series, Beyond the Grid. And then Steve

and I will be back at the end of the month with

episode 417, which is Transformers Beast Wars

number four and five. And then in July, the end

of July, we will get to Radiant Black, issues

five and six in episode 420. So that's what's

going on here inside the pull bag. Where can

the people find you online, Ed? Find me on Twitter

at devouralldc. Find me on YouTube at SithRulesEd,

where I'm putting up Call of Duty clips all the

time. Instagram, Twitch, I'm all over the place.

And Kendra, what about you? Yeah, we're gonna

go back to the Trident, or just Google me. She

said Oogle, not Google. Or wait, no, she said

Google, not Oogle. Now see, dammit, this is what

happens when you make me record before 10 a .m.

Pacific time. Yeah, don't Google his wife, folks.

Just Google her. Of course I would screw that

up. God damn it. Stop oogling my wife. There

you go. I am at TF2 and Mike on Twitter. You

can also follow at The Pull Bag. You can hear

all the other stuff in the outro of the podcast.

Make your greatest game into comics. We will

catch you next time here inside The Pull Bag.

Dude, I think the creators are out for us readers

this year. Man, let me tell you. Jesus. And they

impact somehow or another. Man, I am not ashamed

to admit I have cried more in the last month.

I have gotten into characters that I should not

have gotten as deeply into. Hey, this is writer

Kyle Higgins, and I hope you enjoyed this episode

of The Pull Bag. Remember to always make your

great escape into comics. You've just heard the

latest episode of The Pull Bag. the GCRN's first

comic review and discussion podcast. There are

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