Stealth Hammer #1 Review

Hello, Mets! This is Jesse from Rock Sugar, and

you're listening to the GeekCats Radio Network.

Keep it right here. You've just jumped inside

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reading right now, here inside the pull bag.

Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode

419 .5. That's right, folks, another .5 episode.

I am, of course, TF2 and Mike, and my guest today

has been on this network for the longest time,

but it's been a while since she's been here.

It is none other than Amy, AKA Lady Rack. Hello.

Hello. It's good to be here. Yes, it is very

good to have you here. And, of course, the last

time you were on the GCRN's, not necessarily

The Pull Bag, but was back in February of this

year when we got your podcast approach over on

Studio 2009. Before that you did a couple episodes

in 2020 and 2019 and then obviously all the other

history things that you've done since then. So

today we are here to talk about Ryan Drost's

Stealth Hammer. Ryan is a good buddy of mine.

He runs the show. He's one half or whatever you

want to call of Star Joe's along with his buddy

Chuck. and all the other people that do the show

over there. And he did a Kickstarter, he actually

did it twice. He didn't succeed the first time,

but he succeeded the second time, called Stealth

Hammer. This is a comic he wanted to produce

and write and have, you know, obviously you have

to have artists and all that and everything else.

And I participated in the Kickstarter when it

was going on. It's literally the first physical

comic book I've had in over four years. I do

not do physical comics anymore, folks, because

they take up too much space, and I much prefer

Comixology Guided View. I wish Comixology...

Which is okay, because I like it too. Right.

I wish that Comixology would do something. I

wish Amazon, since Amazon owns them. I wish Amazon

would let them do something similar to what iTunes

used to do, where you could import your CDs.

I wish I could import the PDF of this into Comixology,

because it's not on Comixology. But no, Stealth

Hammer, it's one issue. It's a full story. It's

fun. Like I said before, I've done two other

podcasts here inside the pullback with Ryan.

And I felt that this might be something cool,

interesting, and different for Amy and I to do

considering we normally talk about giant robots

that want to destroy the world. Yes. I don't

know. I don't know if they want to destroy the

world. Some of them do. Some of them don't. Well,

one giant one wants to all the time. He's just

like, I'm hungry. Wah, wah, wah. Except for that

one. One of many. Yeah. Except for that one series

where they actually made him the center of the

earth. Oh boy that that's a commentary that Holy

crap that that the fact that in Transformers

Prime Unicron was the center of the earth That

was a different take I was okay with that I was

okay with it It had never done been done before

and then the movie verse tried to do it and I

was like no you did it wrong I don't think it

could be done wrong, but that was it. Yep All

right, so we are here to talk about Ryan's stealth

hammer as I said it is one issue Hopefully he

does get to do more of this and What did you

think of the art so far? We'll go through the

story in a minute But I mean, what did you think

of the art initially when you first saw it? I

liked it. I mean it It definitely looked very

professional. Now, of course, I listened to the

other two reviews of the other conversations

that you've had with him that you've recorded.

And so I know that he actually did get, like,

people right out of college or right out of a

class or whatnot. And it shows. I mean, the art

is really good. It's really ace. And the coloring

is really great. I mean, the quality of the work

is quite nice. It's what I didn't know what to

expect, but it's what I would expect to see in

any professional -looking comic book. It was

done well. I mean, there are a few things that

I'd niggle at that I was like, eh, meh, but I

didn't have a very big bone to pick with any

of it. It's just little stuff. I mean, if I was

a, let's just say this, if I was a director of,

say, some comic book company or an editor, An

artist handed this to me. I don't see anything

in here that would make me go, no, you're not

ready yet. Everything in here screams they're

ready to start a very good career in comic book

writing or drawing and illustrating. Yeah. Mm

-hmm. So just, there are two stories in here.

Just to get the creative out of the way, Ryan

Drost, creator, writer, Joel Jackson, artist,

Ross Hughes, colorist. Evan Evans, Lacey Hart,

and Julio Santos are on color assist. Dave Sharp

is the letterer on the first story. Second story,

obviously Ryan is on writing. Alexander Scott

is the artist, colorist, and the letterer on

that one. The editor was Quinn Jones, and logo

and untitled design was done by Ryan's wife,

Jamie Grost. So this one, this is all about Jamie.

and How she gets superpowers oh Boy I would I

know what what I noticed in the right? I don't

know if it's the way that the I Love you Ryan,

dude, but as I read through this both in the

actual physical comic itself that I'm holding

in my hand Through just because I read it that

way and I also read it on the PDF because I wanted

to make sure I got everything I don't know if

it's the PDF or if it's the physical comic but

There are several times in the beginning here

where I feel like sentences just end Like Jamie

will say something and then it will move on to

a different thing immediately. Yeah Like the

this whole thing with her taking her boyfriend

Kyle to to catch the bus and and everything there's

just a couple of things in here where it just

feels like the writing is it's good but it's

the pacing had some issues yeah it's like I said

that like a few times when I was looking at it

at the PDF I'm like okay Jamie said this to him

He said that to her but then it's a conflict.

It's like the thought process was interrupted

and they just moved on with no transition Yeah,

yeah, and that's that's a pacing issue. Yeah

And and some of the dialogue is Like the dialogue

as well. There's there's a few things in the

dialogue that we'll get to that when we get there,

but yeah See Jamie is taking her boyfriend Kyle

to see her to meet her father and Like I said,

they have to catch the bus They eventually get

to her house and apparently the neighbors not

too thrilled with her dad. Yeah It came within

an inch of my house Whatever before we go that

far though. I mean if you go back to the page

where it where Jamie is rushing after the bus

that they miss mm -hmm There are a few things

that I thought as just they were strange little

things that I just quite thought were a little

odd in Perception at least okay part where she

jumps over Like the barrier and then swings around

the pole. Yeah the perspective is really odd

to me and I didn't get it at first but I kind

of wondered just because after I listened to

the to the show that you recorded with him that

there's homages like throughout the book yeah

and I wonder if this was supposed to be a homage

here that because her arms are really long and

stretch fantastic yeah I didn't catch it at first

I thought well that's a really weird perspective

because I didn't realize that this was just chock

full of So many lodges that and so I kind of

I gotta. I gotta say that I think that that I

don't know. It was weird. It was just like, OK,

I don't understand why that looks so weird. It

looks like her arms are really elongated and

I wasn't quite sure that that it really worked

for me because of that, because I thought, well,

she's not a superhero yet. Is she? Yeah, no,

so yeah. It's funny because when she grabs Kyle

on the previous page, I mean, it's the same It's

the left side of the same page here Her arms

aren't that long Well, that's an odd wonky thing

to do I mean there are a few little things like

that throughout and I knew you've asked about

the artist that there and I think these was our

actual You know, I didn't realize until after

I listened to your show Recording with him what

that was and then I was like, oh, okay Well for

a comic book reader that has never like I read

some of those things, but I didn't expect it

to be so blatantly obvious They were homaging

so much stuff that it was just it was an odd

choice to me Yeah, so And I have more to say

about that later, but I just, you know, poke,

I wanted to point out some of the little things

that are like, yeah, there's these things. I

don't know if he had to be that obvious about

it because. No, but I don't know. I think that.

Trying to think, I mean, if you look at it, they're

trying, he's trying to shoot in the art, they're

trying to show speed because they have to catch

the bus. Got so so at the top of that page. They're

running. They're running. She's jumping over

the the barrier and then Yeah, I Don't know if

I stand in front of it it came it was really

fast like yeah the transition between Him her

grabbing him and pulling him and then driving

there the the transition seems like really really

fast Yeah, and like you said it kind of feels

like there's missing pieces to it that didn't

transition very well. Yeah, and it doesn't, like,

analyzing it right now, it takes me out of the

comic. When I read it, it didn't really take

me out of the comic, but then I noticed Kyle

is not behind her, he's to the left of the bus.

Yeah, because he's talking in... Gasping like

yeah running at super flash speeds over here

with fantastic alarms and and stuff and I think

I and I could be wrong. This is just my own brain

putting into it. I think the thing that they're

trying to convey in the art and Ryan also in

the writing is that She's going to become a superhero

at some point Within the rest of the story. I

think that's kind of like that was kind of implied

because she's likes on the first page talking

about you know, I've you know Mm -hmm. This story

begins, you know Yeah, I don't know really need

to see on over abundance of that I mean, I I

think that tell the story as it is and just make

that make it work but like I don't know that

was another thing that I kind of Was little I

thought that they were bashing me over the head

with facts superhero superhero superhero. I was

like, okay Yeah, I get that because it's a comic

book called stealth hammer I knew opening this

up that somebody was going to be a stealth hammer

So I a lot of I feel like a lot of the writing

I was being bashed over the head with the foreshadowing

She's gonna be cool. Look at her. She's peppy

I think that in doing that, that they forgot

to make her human because she comes across like

this really chipper, incredibly positive, like

overly positive, and I don't, you know, I've

had a hard time relating to her as a person reading

a character that is, like it kind of reminds

me of, okay, so. When I was, when My Little Pony

first came out and I, you know, watched the whole

thing, I sit and binged a bunch of it, like a

couple seasons. And within like sitting there

and doing it for like, I don't know, I remember

it was like for a couple hours, like I don't

remember specifically, but I remember having

this fact where you get too much cotton candy

or too much happiness and joy in your life and

you just suddenly. I feel like, oh my gosh, it's

overkill. I can't do this anymore. And I turned

everything off. And that's kind of how I kind

of felt within just the first half, because there's

two parts of the story. The first half of the

story, it felt like that. I was getting an overload

of cotton candy and it was just way too much.

And the more I look at it and the more I come

back to this, I'm like. It makes Jamie come off

as a Mary Sue, which is kind of not what you

want to be doing for a first comic. I mean, I

don't want to necessarily say that, but it's

one of those things where I think that happens

up until the point where they get to her dad's

house, to her house, essentially. Then you know

we get through you know her showing him all these

cool paintings and things and telling him about

her dad's inventions And then they run into the

evil mustache twirling uncle Yeah, it's funny

that you should say that because that's the one

thing he's lacking is the mustache twisting Yeah,

well Yeah, so Yeah, it just kind of so it goes

from that to them meeting the uncle in the in

the lab here and She thought that oh, I didn't

think you and dad were working on anything anymore

kind of thing and The uncle just has this evil

grin on his face kind of like a Megatron Beast

Wars Megatron grin at times And, uh, next thing

you know, the lab explodes. So, no more bubble

gum. Yeah, but even, I don't know, even how she

handles, like, she wakes up and it's just, I

had, again, I still had the hard time relating

to the character just because you just got blowed

up. It might even be that your uncle did it.

And at this point, we don't even know what happens

to Kyle because he kind of drops completely out

of the comic at this point when she wakes up

and they move on. And I'm guessing that eventually,

eventually if he comes back to this, that he'll

probably do something with Kyle. But, you know,

all of these things are supposed to happen to

her for her to become this superhero. It's like

she's destined to be that. I get that. That's

usually expected when you open a superhero comic.

But the way that it goes about, it just seems

to me that there's... I guess when I open up

superhero comics and I read something about some

of them, there's... What makes them super is

obviously their superpowers. But there's another

aspect to it. There's... the humanity part that

they become, in a sense, because who they are,

either you become a good guy or a bad guy because

you have superpowers. But some aspect of their

humanity always remains intact. And at this point,

I don't really know her humanity because I haven't

seen any of it. You know what I mean? It's like,

oh no, we're just gonna, like, this whole accident

rolls off her without any consequence. Oh yeah,

the consequence is good because she wanted to

be you know she's going to be a superhero and

that's great but like I mean even there's there's

parts in here where like it seemed like to me

so she's going to visit her dad but yet this

is her uncle striding out of here and if they're

so close it seems to me that she would know that

the uncle isn't like part of the group anymore

Because then we start find that out afterwards

and I'm like, well haven't you been in touch

with your dad? I mean, I know my first year in

college I was calling my parents at least once

a week Right. This was a setup for you to go

and bring your boyfriend which is kind of a big

deal the first time of boyfriend needs a dad

and He acts nervous in the first he acts nervous

when he first hears about that at first And you

know, he's you know along for the ride that is

Jamie But it's kind of odd to me because it was

like, okay, so was this planned or not? Because

then she's like, oh, where's my dad? And he doesn't

show up until afterwards. And it was like, well,

was this rearranged or was this a surprise? Because

it seemed like it was rearranged. So there were

just little holes like that, just little details

that are like, oh, that's right. That was, wait

a second, where is he? Where's the father at?

Anyhow, so there were the little details like

that in the writing that kind of I was like,

wait a second But they're supposed to so the

humanity part and I kind of relate those to humanity

things because those are human details This is

supposed to be her bringing the boyfriend home.

There should be nerves. There should be he's

got nerves She's like, yeah, that's fine. We're

gonna have fun Right. Yeah, she doesn't have

any nerves at all. He does nerves And even if

it's like, hey, this is my dad and I want him

to like the guy that I'm like, hey, we're holding

hands, we're together, we're boyfriend and girlfriend,

this could become something more. And it seems

like, no, it seems a little less loving and more

like, hey, we're just friends. Because there's

no kiss when they first meet. You know, when

you're in love, you're in love. So that's why

I thought, well, you know, I don't, there's just

a few things that I just, I kind of made me question

because those were things that as a female and

having gone through school and having fallen

in love with my first boyfriend and wanting to

bring him home in my first year of college that

I could relate to. And I got none of those cues

at all. And those are. Character traits character

moments that are really great building moments

for this really awesome You know Jamie character

who's gonna become a superhero That's how I relate

to her as a as a reader because I can't relate

to what she's gonna become She's gonna be a superpower

hero, and I can't relate to that. I think it's

cool I like reading about that but as a reader

I'm looking for the human moments that not only

they're super but they still are human and so

they have those human moments and I didn't get

any of that from that so I thought okay well

that's I hope that I hope that I I think that

he I think at some level that's definitely something

he wants to do but like and I kind of get more

of that like later like this first opening part

that was me is that I didn't think it I saw a

little bit more of those character beats later.

And so I thought, OK, we'll see how it goes.

Yeah, and I didn't even really... The first time

I read through this, I completely missed that

Kyle is basically gone after the laugh explosion.

They do say that, oh, he took quite a hit, but

he'll be all right soon or something or other.

And that's great that they... I don't know, this

is 33 pages and I'm thinking that maybe this

first story needed another five pages so you

could speed up this origin. You have the explosion

and all of that, but then you have to, everything

you've just said, you need another three or four

pages. to show the humanity and introduce us

to who these people are. Like I said, what I

said about Kyle, dad, what happened? There was

an explosion. Kyle, he'll be okay, but he took

quite a hit. That's it. I mean, there's no emotional

reaction to him. Oh God, I hope he's okay. I

know that the focus is supposed to be on Jamie.

And so, I mean, I look back at some of the choices

that they made and some of the characters they

put in here, like even the girl on the first

page that they introduced, they actually give

her a name in the front and everything. And I

thought, okay, so if you're giving a character

that's not going to be there for very long, maybe

it makes me want to, I don't know, wonder what

was the point of putting them in there at all

to give them a name if You know, you're just

they're not gonna be back for the rest of it

and then it made me also think well is what's

the point of the boyfriend then other than to

just make give her a reason to go home to have

an explosion there's lots of different ways that

you could write this and That was the next I

was thought well why even put the boyfriend in

and not all maybe she's just going home to visit

her dad and you know There's a way that they

could speed this up. And then I thought, you

know, then I thought about, oh, well, that they

were trying to homage all this stuff. And so

it makes me wonder if they sacrificed the plot

points and character just to have the homages.

And that's what it seems like to me is going

on, which makes sense, too, because this is supposed

to be like, I think he said it was some sort

of like a gift to his wife or something that

they did together. Which I think is fine if that's

what your purpose is, but for a reader, I don't

know anything about that I don't I you know sometimes

I mean I do know some comic book and I did catch

on some of the characters that I think that they

were trying to homage But I don't know if it

serves the story Well, and that's really when

it comes down to writing is if it doesn't serve

the story the plot the character the development

of where you're going then you don't put it in

or you put it in as few as possible so that it

doesn't interrupt or break you out of the story.

And these are the beats that are in here is I

feel like some of the choices were made specifically

for the homage. And that's not a really good

motivation for a story. It doesn't mean that

it can't be better. It just means that it sacrifices

the points that could make it stronger for the

for the little moments. I mean, this is the same

problem that I had with, like, even Marvel's

Endgame, because they did that a lot in that

movie. And it suffered because of that. I didn't

get the same emotional impact that I got in...

Infinity War. Infinity War that I got in Endgame,

because the emotional impact was... enlightened

by the homages and I thought ah Or the just the

the little moments that you that fans wanted

to see and I thought well That's great for those

fans. That means that you're catering to specific

crowd. But what is the store? How does the story

there the story set is? Sacrifices that it sacrifices

the conflict this sacrifices the moments the

emotional impact that it can make me feel Involved

and invited to be a part of it. And so that was

For a first issue I get the the want to put homages

in because But you have to earn those moments

too because as a as a new writer you've got a

You've got to tell a really great story and that

makes me want to come back Yeah, I really want

to come back to this at least the first half

I Looking at this again and hearing what you're

saying I Ryan story is Ryan story. I'm not taking

that away from him at all. Yeah, but it's done.

It's been published. It's going Yeah, going into

this And just thinking about it and looking at

this panel by panel page by page They should

have opened with They he could have still opened

with what he opens with, you know The story is

gonna be really really interesting or the story

is gonna be like all of the stuff that's in her

in her dorm room You know, they could have done

Absolutely that they could still do that. They

could still Have her go to her dad's house. I

guess I don't know But basically what I'm gonna

say here is maybe not make the very first episode

of the very first issue The origin story because

they have to lay out so much It's only a 33 page

comic and the other four or five pages or whatever

is a separate story So what I would have loved

to have seen here is all of the beginning stuff

But she already is stealth hammer Yeah, and Kyle

doesn't know or even if he does know let's let's

let the boyfriend in on the secret for once because

there are plenty of times where Lois didn't know

and blah blah blah blah whatever but let's start

the story where she's already stealth hammer.

She's already having to do superhero stuff and

then when they get a do they go to do a second

issue is when oh by the way x number of years

ago this is how i became stealth hammer because

i feel as if after the accident and her dad explaining

all the powers to her i feel like that is a whole

issue by itself within this one comic yeah because

they go panel by panel like She goes invisible

for half of a second. And he's like, oh, you

got to watch out for that. You got to be careful

of that. And I thought, how does he know that?

While she was sleeping, did he do all of these

experiments on her? How long is it? The time,

again, the time goes by super fast. Yeah. And

I want to see more of that. I want to see more

of what she goes through to discover who she

is. you know, how that looked, how that, you

know, I wanna see that. I will say that he successfully

got me interested in what are her superpowers,

what can she do? Because there's, I mean, there's

lots of stuff in this place. And I think it's

definitely, and I know she's gonna discover some

of those things along the way, but I don't know

that that's a good thing. Because it could also

work against you as much as for you And again,

that's the other half of the the idea that she

comes across a little Mary Sue and even that

because she's running off to use her superpowers

Immediately like even like within an hour of

waking up or whatnot. Oh, yeah, it's just okay

It seems rushed in that when that and I think

that it deserves War because you've got I know

that he put a lot of time and effort into this

I know that the artist did it the same I know

that they I the fact that he's got all of these

little bits that he wants to homage and the things

that and he does he takes time to homage quite

a bit of that but um, I Because of that I Really

had a hard time reading just the first half of

it The second half, that's exactly what they

do though. The second half, we just jump right

into where she's training. And that completely

worked for me. I thought, okay, now this is interesting.

Because the whole training is the homage. And

it was subtle. It was so incredibly subtle. I

thought, I didn't think about it until after

it had been done. And that's where I was like,

hey, okay. And who are these creatures that she

meets? And I thought, oh, I wish I could read

more of the second half than the first. Yep.

Yeah. Because I think the exploration, the mountain

stuff, and all of that, I think that's, again,

like I said, that should have been the beginning

portion of this issue. And then You go and tell

the origin kind of thing Because we don't know

who half those characters are And I get it they

needed to wrap up the the the uncle story and

have him arrested and and everything else and

I actually I before we did this before recording

this I sent a message to Ryan I'm like, uh -huh.

I see what you did there with those those those

fake movie Autobots I said something to him because

when she takes off over the police officer's

heads because the neighbor called the police

Yeah, and she says dad you might have some visitors

coming to the door. I'm like, that's the wrong

optimist prime It needs to be a flat nose cab

not not this movie verse looking thing and then

I'm like if that's bumblebee and that's I don't

know who that's supposed to be. Hound? Hound

was never a Volkswagen wagon. I don't know. But

I saw that and I was like, hey, I see what you

did there. Interesting, funny, ha ha ha. And

then later, he actually has what looks like a

Volkswagen Bumblebee come to life and want to

destroy her. And I'm like, oh crap. Oh, with

the tentacles? Yeah. I don't need bumblebee tentacle

porn. Thank you very much. I Mean, it's cool.

It's fun. But that was my first thought because

I'm Male and I'm cruel and people always mention

certain things to me and I'm like, oh bumblebee

but with tentacles and tentacle porn, right?

Okay not really but But yeah, so as we got through

the the back portion of this first story Did

like all of the effects all of her powers working

her facing off against her uncle I like all of

that. I think that's great. I just think the

first Eight pages or whatever it is that out

of the out of the 33 that are here that focus

on her origin As much as I've said before and

other people have said this before too Show the

hero learning how to use their powers. Yeah,

there's a huge difference in showing how to use

your powers and showing Like oh well these glasses

are gonna help you do this and your new Stealth

hammer utility belt this this goes in this pouch

and this pouch is that like I don't think we

needed that almost like it's too convenient.

Yeah It's like dad expected her to show up and

have this accident and you know, what if she

didn't want them? I mean, it's okay to show like

something terrible happening going. Okay, I didn't

want that to happen But hey, there's these things

that I can guess I could work with here. But

again, you know, it's it seems so incredibly

rushed that it It makes us it makes it come off

a little less Amazing than what it should be

And which I know he's probably fully capable.

I mean, like I said, I can only make so much

inference just because of I've only got one page

and I'm only guessing the bits at the end seem

to be much more stronger to me at least. I do

care about what he's tried to build, but it just

came so fast that I was like, OK, not a bad start.

You've got a great idea. I think all of the bits.

themselves would work, but you just need a little

bit more space to kind of flesh them out and

let them shine. I think it was this excitement

of, we're making a comic book that, you know,

sometimes when you're first writing the first

time, you write stuff that you're like, everything

that I wish I could do, but it might not be the

best thing for the story until you learn kind

of to contain that excitement a little bit to

say, okay, now, now the real writing begins and

you've got to make something that somebody's

going to look at and go, hey, I really relate

to Jamie and I really want to do this. I know

he wants to have those moments and I hear you.

I feel that in a lot of what he said. But that

enthusiasm, you still have to write something

that's going to hit the beats to make people

really feel that and that takes time. And it's

hard to pull back a little bit when you want

to have all your favorite moments, you know,

in a, in a small little 33 page comic book. Yeah.

And here's hoping that he can do a second issue

and continue on with the story personally. I

like the fact that he's introduced all of the

character, all of her dad, and hopefully Kyle's

okay. I don't know. I don't know either. That's

the other thing. What about Kyle? Yeah, her dad,

her uncle, all of that, like her uncle is the

evil villain kind of thing, kind of like Darth

Vader is quote unquote the villain of Star Wars.

Let's be honest here. Most superhero stories,

if you have family, At least one of them is gonna

be the bad guy even if it's just for a short

time. They're gonna be the antagonist at some

point Because yeah, that's how it goes that it's

a little bit of cliche But it's okay because

I think it's done so much and if there's so many

different ways to create a good body good guy

on a bad guy That it's all right. I accept that

but I think it was a little too obvious that

the uncle was gonna be the bad guy when he walked

into the screen just because he's got the face.

And I kind of wish that they'd pulled that back

a little bit. Give me a little surprise. And

it wasn't a surprise. The minute he walked away,

like I said, like you said, you know, he had

the twisty mustache. He's like, it was written

all over him, even though it wasn't written all

over him. And I was like, oh, man, I wish I could

have just discovered that rather than be told

that that was another beat that I thought. I

Surprised me with that. I was actually kind of

surprised with the gnome guy. I was like, what

is that little guy putting? Ari would suggest

running How do I run? I mean like even in this

I don't know if you've noticed that before things

Exploded and she got her powers. He dropped this

necklace. Oh Yeah, her necklace. Yeah And so

now that I know that there's more to it than

that, I kind of look at that and say, oh, what

a little bad guy he is, because he knew this

was going to happen. And he made it happen. Little

turd. Yep. Yeah. I don't know what Ryan has set

for the future. I don't know what plans he has

currently. I haven't talked to him yet. I wanted

to get this episode of this podcast out. I very

much enjoy it. I'm glad I was able to contribute

to the Kickstarter to get the comic and to read

it. And even though there are, even though we

have our criticisms, it's still for a first outing

for someone who has never done it before. As

far as Ryan Drost himself, the writer. Now I

know that Ross Hughes and Joel Jackson and a

couple of the other artists have actually been,

have had other work elsewhere. But as a first

-time published author, and this is something

I can speak to, sort of, a little bit, because,

oh geez, about a decade ago or so, I had about

three different books of poetry published. It's

not easy. It is not easy putting yourself out

there, putting your work out there. Like, just

because, who's on right now? I forget. I don't

know since since the since Future state whatever

but basically go from new 52 to rebirth Tom King

was on Batman for the longest time Like Batman

obviously has been around for 80 plus years That's

a character that multiple people have had their

chance with and had been able to tell their story

with Whereas like if you go back to let's say

Batman was first published in 39 You go back

to 37 38 or you know, even like who knows what

the comic book world was like in 1939 when Bob

Kane and Bill Finger published, you know had

Batman Detective Comics, whatever, you know like

Every time you put yourself out there. This is

kind of the point I'm trying to get at in an

ass -backwards kind of way, you're putting yourself

out there whole hog not knowing how people are

going to receive it. Yes, we both have criticisms

of this. Are they criticisms that we are going

to sit here and say, oh my god, this is the worst

Kong book ever, it should never be read by anybody?

No. No, not at all. Besides the fact that Ryan

is a good buddy of mine and then we podcast together

every once in a while kind of thing, Besides

that besides the fact that I contributed to the

Kickstarter If I saw this comic cover in a comic

book shop right now if I went down the street

here in downtown Vancouver Washington To a store

that we have down here called I like comics and

I saw this on the shelf I would pick it up and

look at it and be like hmm. I wonder what this

is about Now, you know, whatever I mean generally

sometimes I don't know because I don't buy what's

the last what's the last single issue you bought

the last single issue that I bought let's see

I bought a trade about a month ago so okay on

transformers so okay that that doesn't really

count that doesn't count why the reason why it

doesn't because I'm trying to make a point here

trades Something that you just picked up that

you randomly saw. Yeah, the last time I did that

was at a convention and I picked up a book that

was being sold at an artist table or or just

I have done Kickstarters to where I didn't read

the story, but I heard good things about it So

I went ahead and picked it up that way too. So

right. Well, my point is with a single -issue

comic. Yes One of them was yes, I I don't remember

because I don't buy like I buy my comics on Comixology,

so I don't buy physical comics anymore. Do they

still have some sort of blurb on the back? I

know trades do. That's why I said trades don't

count. A blurb that talks about it? Not usually.

Not usually, no. Usually it's an advertisement.

Or an advertisement for the company that's publishing.

Check out our other titles. Right, exactly. But

what I'm saying, my point in asking all of this

is, if I saw Stealth Hammer on the shelf at my

local comic shop, yes, it is an eye -catching

cover. I would love to be able to pick it up

and take it home and read it. I just wish there

was something like... I don't want to sit there

in the comic shop or stand there in the comic

shop and read through the whole book that defeats

the purpose. I mean, yes, you buy it, you go

to your car, and you can do that fine. But I

think for someone who is just going into this

book cold and they don't know Ryan, they don't

know anybody like that, what we needed was a

small little blurb on the inside panel here or

something. Oh, yeah, like right off on the kind

of page. Yeah. They've done it in other comics

where I've seen them done and they usually do

that on the the title page for still camera And

this is this is how it begins after it's area

is necessary Yeah, all that and where they put

that yeah Sometimes I'll even sacrifice a whole

page after that and kind of introduce everybody

and just put like a little paragraph of what's

Happened so far and or what's going on now and

then go from there on. Yeah Yeah, I think that's

what this needs for people that are going to

go into this cold and have no connection to Ryan

at all. I think the next issue he does, there

needs to be something on the inside cover along

with the creative saying, hey, by the way, or

like you said, it could be a whole separate page

like, you know, Transformers. I just got Beast

Wars 4 and 5. We just did that episode recently,

and obviously IDW, they do the story so far thing

in all of their books, not just Transformers

kind of thing, and it's just a small little blurb.

IDW does it in a way where it's all panels showing

panels from the previous issue, but in Ryan's

case and in the case of Stealth Hammer, it needs

one little paragraph in between the logo and

the creative listing. just saying, Hey, this

is what you're in for. So read on. Well, that's

the beauty of having like, you know, a Kickstarter

is that, you know, they could do it in the Kickstarter

so that you kind of get an idea of what the story

is going to be about. I think if I remember correctly,

when I was listening to the podcast that you

talked with him on that they did have like a

video where they are talking about stuff instead

of. Yeah. then they came back and I guess changed

that up so instead of talking about themselves

they were talking about the story which I think

you know that's that's a good way to sell it

and in in a kickstart environment that's a really

good way to go too and and I understand that

but I'm saying if he wants to like Insert publisher

company name here because I'm not gonna sit here

and list anybody that he could potentially go

to he knows straight to Comixology look mention,

but well right. I mean cut Comixology has their

program Yeah, but my point is yeah, you're right.

The Kickstarter did have all the information

But now that it's funded now that it's out there

in the world like I've seen him do Press events

and things at his local comic shops in Ohio So

like what I'm saying is the one thing for this

physical book to be in a physical store For people

to get on a monthly or whatever basis if you

know there are more issues to come There needs

to be some sort of something on the inside cover

of this number one Just tell you somewhere on

this book whether it's on the inside cover whether

it's on the back of the book It doesn't matter

where it is something to Show the reader that

hey This is gonna be cool like your elevator

pitch to pit to suck them in to pick them Yeah,

yeah, yeah Yeah, because I mean There are plenty

of books that I've gone into a comic shop in

the last eight years that I'm just like Yeah,

I'm not into go -bots. I don't really I don't

care how cool the cover looks. I just don't care

Transformers is better in my opinion You know

and that's just Well, that's just in general

that has nothing to do with what actually happened

in whatever go -bots comics there are kind of

thing but but my point is I See a comic like

this and I'm like, oh that looks pretty cool

But again, I don't want to be I know a lot of

people do do this and you can do this I don't

want to be that guy in the comic shop that flips

through the entire thing and Makes the decision

after almost reading the whole book in the store.

Like no I want to be able to Like I've been prattling

on about I want to be able to look at the cover

Okay, awesome the superhero girl with her evil

uncle and her dad and her Boyfriend who may or

may not be dead if we don't know And then on

the inside I want something just a little bit

of a blurb like one little pet like Stealth hammer

is the story of Jamie and she is gonna be a superhero

and she's gonna save the world from her evil

mustache twirling. Dr. Wiley look an uncle like

or or Jamie is stealth hammer she's got a boyfriend

named Kyle, they go around the world doing archaeological

research or just something there that will get

me to come back to my local comic shop every

time. Now I know that Ryan did this as a kind

of a one -time thing. I know he has more that

he wants to tell with these characters of the

story. Yeah, I definitely got that from just

listening to him talk about it. He's excited,

he's passionate, and I think that's part of the

battle right there is just having that much.

And again, you're right, part of that could be

he can build a platform without actually being

with Marvel or DC. And that's, of course, stuff

that it sounds like to me that he's reached out

to indie publishing, and he's part of a couple

communities that that work on that um and I think

that that he will definitely get ideas in that

regard to make and to help create that so that

he can potentially sell another issue or sell

another issue after that you know there's definitely

it sounds like to me that that's definitely something

he's looking into yeah I mean it's just one of

those things where you got the first one under

your belt Is it a good story? Yes, but it needs

a little more focus and the focus parts need

like If I didn't even really know if I was just

looking at it If I didn't know who Ryan was the

first thing I would have thought when I scrolled

down that page and saw that truck and that yellow

car and I'm like, oh hey Like there are ways

to make the homages Easter eggs without making

them Obvious that to me was an Easter egg because

I've caught it out of a corner of my eye I'm

like, hey, wait a minute. I actually had to go

back to make sure I was right To look at the

at the cars and stuff Yeah, see that they were

I'm like subtle. I don't like to have it so obvious

that it's like, okay, it's it's now it's Screaming.

This is what we're doing here. I I think because

here's the thing is that When you're reading

something, when you make it something that's

really obvious, it pulls you out because you're

like, oh, ha ha, I see what you did there. Or

you read it and you go, am I really thinking

what I think I'm thinking? Did they really just

say this line from Ghostbusters? And then to

have them confirm it afterwards, it's like, I'm

okay if you leave it cryptic and don't tell me.

That's kind of the... fun part about reading

an Easter egg is seeing it without it saying,

hey, yes, I did do that there. And I think that

that's... In the case of the Ghostbusters line,

I think it was more of a tease thing. Like, did

you just pull Ghostbusters on me? Like, you know,

it's kind of like when people always say nobody

expects the Spanish Inquisition. Or, you know,

whatever. And the first time they did that, that

was great. But every single time they do it afterwards,

it becomes cliche. And you don't want to be cliche.

No, you don't want to be cliche. It's this really

fine line. And it almost crossed that for me

in a few places. And I thought, ooh, yeah, you

want to pull back a little bit. And you know

what? Don't give all of your tricks away in the

first issue. It's like playing poker. You're

going to have to save a few of those things for

later. And it's not like, oh, well, I just want

to pack all of it in there. Well, sometimes you

don't want to pack too much in. Because like

I said before, it's like you've got this really

great story, but it's going to suffer if the

whole point of it is to create homage after homage,

to build up to the next homage. It's got to be

organic. And I'd say in most cases, I'd say 90

% of the time, you don't want it to be obvious.

You want it to kind of be that little thing that

just kind of, it's the second read that they

go, oh, oh my gosh, that's what they were doing.

You know, the surprise, people like surprise.

They like to be able to kind of look at it and

say, oh, now I've got the little, I get it, you

know, without being obvious. Because that kind

of changes a little bit of the emotional impact

on your audience, which is like really, really

important. Very much so. Your audience lives

for those. Yep. And it's kind of different because

it's like when you first, now I'm going to reach

a little bit here. I kind of feel like in some

sense that it's like he's a writer. But he's

more of a reader. This is his first time writing.

And it's very difficult to be a reader and then

go to writing and do it really well, really fast

right off the top. He's got a lot of skills I

can definitely see. But at the same time, I'm

like, it's not as easy as it seems when you sit

down and write that because there's all these

subtle things. Now you're not the reader anymore.

Now you have to be the writer trying to invoke

these things. And it takes a lot of finesse to

do that in your audience. And so it comes with

trial and error, but also you can get training

for some of this too. Right. And like I said,

this first go around for him and for his team,

it's not a bad outing. It's just an outing that

is a learning curve that in the future they can

get better as they go along. All right. Not that

I really want to do this, but we always end up

doing this anyway. On a 0 to 5 scale with half

points, what would you give Stealth Hammer number

one? Trying to think here, because I have been

dreading you asking this question. I've stumped

her, folks. Yeah, you stumped me because it's

like I can only do with what I see, not what

I think that he's capable of. And so I put it

as a two for writing because there's a lot of

fun stuff in here, but I'm kind of a full, it's

got to be everything for me. And like I said,

it's the last half that I felt like there was

so much more potential than the first half. Mm

-hmm really enjoyed the second half so much more

and it was it started doing more of those things

and that's why I say I think he's fully capable

of doing better and I want to kind of push him

a little bit to to reach deep and to you know,

I know he's already done deep but like I want

to feel the humanity in Jamie because I know

that it I'm not sentimental about any of the

stuff that I'm reading. Like, yeah, I like the

homages. Those are a nice little ad, but it can't

be about the homages. It has got to be about

the character and the plot and the conflict.

And I didn't get all of those things in the way

that I open any comic book and am equally as

critical. And so those things are... really key

as a reader wants to feel. I open up a story

and I want to discover and I want to have all

of those things and it can't just be all about

the fun and it's not necessarily like you can

do things even for an all ages comic. You can

still do a lot. Kind of thought about some of

the stuff that he said in there and I thought

you know Even finding Nemo had bad things in

it. Think about it Yeah, his mom and all of his

brothers and sisters were killed for Nemo to

exist at the very beginning of that. That's dark

It's like it's all audiences and they didn't

like dwell on it, obviously But like some really

dark stuff happens in Disney They just make it,

you know, they package it in this nice little

happy this happy that But there's humanity that's

in there, the range that they put in their characters.

There's real fear. There's real this. I think

a lot of the motivations of Jamie are there,

but they don't get to shine as much as I want

to see them. And so you've got me hooked on Jamie.

But what, you know, as a as a writer, I think

he can do better. I think that this is just the

start. And I definitely have some suggestions

on where he can go from here, especially if he's

interested in honing his craft and becoming better

at it. I would definitely check out Andy Schmidt's

comics experience. Because like, oh my gosh,

there's there's only I took one of his classes.

I didn't like completely like I had some. personal

family drama that was going on at the time so

I had to kind of audit it in a sense. But one

of the things that I that I've learned from Andy

Schmidt because he's done a whole lot of them

and I have been equally critical of Andy Schmidt

as an editor so I'm not telling I'm not saying

anything to Ryan that I haven't already thrown

at other professionals one way or another but

the three things that Andy Schmidt like taught

the classes. There's three things that you need

to be good at comic book writing. You need to

be friendly, personable, approachable. You need

to have some talent or some skill. And you need

to meet your deadlines. If you have a combination

of any two of those, which literally means that

you could be friendly and meet deadlines and

not have any skill or talent and still do well

in comics. You can have any two of those and

still be great in comics. And this is off of

a lot of research he did, a lot of just... Reading

a lot of stuff and analyzing how the how the

market is and how how things are run And that's

what he came up with and he's really great That's

just a little taste of some of the stuff that

he has that that I felt were really great points

that he has as a creator trying to help Other

creators hone their craft. I think he'd be really

good good spot for him to go it even if he learned

very little Just even the contacts that he could

make with other people in the class, or even

just the contacts that come with being a part

of comics experience, that would be, in and above

itself, well worth your money and your time.

And I've gushed about comics experience on other

podcasts in the past too, so that's nothing new

that I'm bringing up. But Understanding Comics

by Scott McCloud was a really great read for

me. but he also mentioned like some comic you

know going to a comic con or a convention i'm

like why why why not go ahead and do it anyhow

like you can sell issues right there on the table

if you can hook people in with just an issue

you know you can sell stuff there but the other

thing that i wanted to get out with going to

comic cons and conventions is that you know every

everyone is unique And I've been to so many that

actually offer comic panels where you can actually

learn how to be better at dialogue, even if it's

like a 45 or 50 minute thing that talks about

how to write better dialogue, how to hook people

in on the first page, how to write characters

with authenticity. that are emotionally engaging

and have this unique range. You can learn how

to do those things. And they're hard, but at

the same time, the more you practice, the better

you get at it. And there's also YouTube videos

on this stuff. So those are all really great

ads that I would definitely check out. As as

like higher learning and in your quest to become

a better writer. It's really cool. So let's see

But yeah, I'm gonna have to In a two, okay. Well

a two under the GCR and rating scale now This

is just a label that we have for it. We're not

saying anything specific about stealth hammer

and Ryan's comic itself, but Two is listed as

bad. The positives serve as reminders to the

latent potential that was never fulfilled. The

product is often a victim of poor execution or

an inability to focus on a clear path. It fails

in large variety of different areas, but the

failures are not to the extreme. Now for me,

It's not just because he's my friend. It's not

just because that I know that ryan drost is like

you were talking about You know you have to be

a really positive person a really friendly person

like this dude exudes positivity like this dude

is like You sit there and try to argue with him

over rumble is red frenzy is blue He's like you

do you you know like he won't the dude won't

I mean he will with certain things but every

time I've talked to him he's always been like

Okay, that's fine great, but I don't agree with

that, you know, he's one of those people that

Can actually agree to disagree and it's actually

refreshing. Oh, that's good though Because it

also means that you can have a really healthy

conversation about like skills and how to You

know finesse things and things like that, which

is great. I think that you know Having a conversation

about like where you want to go with it and then

also looking at the logical way things go. I'm

like, that's good though because it means that

if you can have a really great back and forth

and fight for the things that you know or that

you feel are right or great too. But you also

have to earn a little bit of that too. I think

he's on his way. Yeah. And that I have absolutely

no doubt because his passion is there. And that

was one of the things that really kind of turned

me on to this. Read I knew I found out all that

stuff afterwards because then I listened to who

he was as a person and I was like He's positive.

He knows what he wants and I think that's great

because that is the best place to start because

there'll be times where you've got to pull yourself

up from okay, so I got a no answer on this and

you get no for so long and he's still human being

and that type of passion will help get him through

those times. And that's why I know this guy has

potential to go on and do more is because he's

got the passion. And now there's a lot of work

that you can do. And I'm sure that that he's

got the personal drive to do them. And that's

why I say I'd like to see more from Ryan. I know

he I don't know him personally. And so I'm not

sentimental in what I'm saying, I think that

he's definitely got a lot of potential. And I

like the I like what he's trying to do. I see

a lot of potential in what Jamie could be. And

I think that as a writer, he can do better. I

think I think already just in the year where

he failed at the. Kickstarter the first time

the first time and he was successful in the second,

you know He said that he owe a friend of his

took him aside in and gave him some real tough

love and told him and He took that tough love

and he turned it into a success that says a lot

about him without even reading anything I can

say Wow. Okay, dude, you're going for it because

usually People will say I want to do this thing.

I want to write this book. I want to write this

thing I want to I want to I want to make this

song and then they have to get into the hard

work of doing it or or better yet facing the

fact that maybe they don't have all of the skills

they need to be as Proficient and to stand up

like right next to the professionals and do that

and they hear that the first time and then they

just give up Oh, well, I guess they just don't

have the skill. I was like that's not what Ryan

is at all. I did not catch that from him at all.

He's that guy that's like, you tell him, okay,

give me some tough love. I'm going to listen

to what you say. I'm going to be passionate about

what I have that I want to do, but now I'm going

to prove you wrong. And I'm like, do it, please.

That's the passion that you need to have. And

I know I say too, and you said all those things,

what that is. But I know that that's not going

to stop him. Oh, yeah. No, no, no. Absolutely

not. And that's why I thought, OK, I'm giving

a little bit of tough love here. I mean, if I

compare this to anybody that's been in the industry

or, you know, starting off, I've read some really

great stuff that's starting off and I'm comparing

that just to the level of where that's at and

that this just isn't hitting it for me. And that's

not to say that he can't ever get there. I know

he will get there. Oh, yeah. Just in how he communicated

with you. What he learned and where he's going

is like, he's fully capable. I expect good things

from him now. I'm not going to be. He's going

to do it. I'm excited for him. Absolutely. I'm

not going to be so. Wicked Witch of the West

with this. I want to push him I get the tough

luck love because like I can tell you I've had

some tough love in my life and you know what

I go back afterwards and I say they they told

me exactly what I needed to hear and they everything

that they said was right and I had to work my

butt off for another year in college when I was

trying to do some of the stuff that I was trying

to do and I go back I went back and it was more

than vindicating to have a teacher who said no

you're not ready to come back a year later and

have a teacher say you're there yeah no absolutely

I just yes and as I said there are Like I mentioned

with the writing where I felt that the sentences

just kind of stopped, like the conversation just

in the very beginning of the issue. So I am going

to give it a three and a half. Three and a half

is listed as good and it is as follows. Issues

are certainly prevalent, but so are the successes.

Typically there is one specific area of extraordinary

achievement. or multitude of quality moments

that make the negative aspects relatively easy

to accept. The failures are not necessarily glaring

and are often a byproduct of design, though the

difficulties one encounters hold your enjoyment

back from reaching its fullest potential. Like

we said, we want to see more from him, from the

artists, and the Stealth Hammer team, and this

is a This is a first issue. This is a learning

curve. This is I'm putting myself out there This

is oh my god I want to find a way to combine

my geek stuff with everything else that I want

to tell in this story I think if we had one less

Incorrect Optimus Prime truck because I'm sorry

only the flat nose cabs are actually acceptable

because the movie versions just don't work anyway,

you know, it's it's one of those things where

Again focus focus on certain parts of the story

you now That you have this out Ryan and Joel

and everybody else You have the origin out of

the way. Yeah I don't want to say clunky, but

that's the word I'm going to use. As clunky as

it felt to read it because every detail was told

about how her powers work and how she got her

belt of stealth hammeriness and everything else,

that's out of the way now. So in the second story

that was done in this where she's out in the

middle of nowhere having this adventure, I want

more of that. whether it's trying to stop her

uncle from robbing a Las Vegas casino or something,

or whether it's her doing an archaeological dig

in the Andes Mountains, whatever it is, I want

more stealth hammer adventures. The art is superb.

The colors, the art, the lines, all of it, I

think is great. The only thing is I would cut

back on the homages. Like, you can sit here and

pull a line. You can do it, but you have to be

really subtle about it. Right. I think the homage,

I mean, because I think about some of my favorite,

like, writers that have written stuff. Like,

they didn't, it was a while before they put homages

in. Like, they really established themselves

as a writer first before they ever started doing

that. Now, I know it's like, But this was a thing

for my wife and I wanted to you know, put all

these things in and that's good. That's that's

great but like that's You know, like I said,

it's poker. You don't want to play your whole

hand in one issue You want to be able to tell

who you are what you love? But you want to be

subtle about it. You don't want to be like You

know and and you know, sometimes you you do want

to be you know, you want to be obvious but like

It just depends on the story, and I just don't

think that it was necessary at the cost of the

plot and character development at this point.

When you mentioned subtlety, the first thing

I thought of is, Ryan, you need to be more like

a stealth hammer, dude. Twelve years in the making,

after six Top 100 Countdowns, the Geekcast Radio

Network, along with 33 participants, are launching

our Top 100 Transformers Characters Countdown,

August 8th, 2021. 35 years after Transformers

the movie was released. Don't be the only con

left out of this one, folks. Because, really,

whether you're a Predacon or a Decepticon, you

want to be at the top. Right, Megatron? Yes.

Tune in to Geekcast Radio Network's Top 100 Transformers

Characters Countdown from August 8th through

September 17th, 2021. Six parts, six constructicons.

Learn who will fall and where they will fall,

because... One always falls. Transform and transcend

here with us on the GeekCast Radio Network. Why

nobody love Waspilator? So that's going to do

it for us in this episode of The Pull Bag, coming

up at the end of the month here in July. In July,

Cybertronians grow there. We have Radiant Black

number six, which is the origin of the Radiant

Red character. Steve Megatron and I will be back

with Transformers Beast Wars number six. The

conclusion to the first arc, Savage Landing,

coming up in August. It's TMNT month that was

supposed to be done back in March of this year,

but oh well. So we've got episodes 421 to 425

all about IDW's TMNT comics. Bebop and Rock City

Hit the Road, Volume 22 and 23, Shredder and

Hell, and TMNT 100. So that's what's coming up

here inside the pull bag. Amy, where can the

people find you online? You can find me on Twitter,

at Lady of Rec. I am at TF2 and Mike on Twitter.

You can listen to the outro for all the other

network and other things that we have going on

as well. Make your great escape into comics,

and we will catch you next time. Here inside

the pull bag. You've just jumped inside the pull

bag. Join TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic

crew here at the GCRN as they make their great

escape into comics. From DC, Marvel and Image

to IDW, Bloom Studios and Xenoscope. We have

everything 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.