Origins with Matt Murphy on Comic Reading

Hey, this is comics writer Kyle Higgins and you've

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reading right now, here inside the pull bag.

Hello and welcome to The Pool Bag! This is episode

420. That's right, folks. Don't light up, please.

We don't recommend that around here. I'm, of

course, TF2 and Mike, and it is time for another

Origins episode because Edward and Kendra had

some stuff going on in their lives, and we're

pushing off our Radiant Black number 6 issue

until I don't know when. However, I have with

me one half... or one third. I can't tell after

listening to the issue six review now. How many

hosts do you guys have on that show? We just

brought in a couple of guests, but yeah, I know,

I know change up multiplied by like two or three

times there. Yeah, it was like, wait a second.

It is Matt from the radiant black podcast. Hello,

sir. Hey, happy to be here. It sucks that I couldn't

make it for episode 69, but I think 420 will

do. Yeah episode 60 what even was episode 69

of this podcast god this show has been running

for almost eight Well over eight years now. I

don't even remember What episode 69 of this show

was? Why don't comic issues like if I was writing

a comic 69 would be like the landmark issue I

think like one of those comics recently wasn't

sex criminals But like in one of those ones like

they ended on issue 69. It's like, okay, perfect

I haven't read it, but I'll give it a shot now.

It was sick. It was sex criminals, I think There

we go. My buddy keeps recommending it. It sounds

ridiculous It's I've read the first three volumes

and I really really dig it actually, I do know

that episode 369 was volume 3 of sex criminals

of this podcast but But yeah, no, it's fun. It's

you know, as long as you know, you're not a prude.

It's it's a fun fun thing. Oh That's kind of

creepy Episode 69 of this show was back in 2014,

and it was Beware the Batman chapters 1 through

4. Ooh, digital comics. Anyway, we are here to

get Matt's origins and how he got into or out

of reading comics. So the first question, did

you grow up reading comics and at what age did

you first remember reading or noticing comics?

I didn't like I did read comics when I was younger.

I don't know if I'd say like I grew up reading

them at different stages in my life, but it wasn't

like it's never been super consistent until like

a few years ago. But yeah, I I don't know. They've

kind of been like a part of my life. The character

Spider -Man has been iconic. Like my stepdad's

got a big comic collection, so they've always

kind of been like around me. And for any time

I wanted to read something, it was kind of like

around. So I had that. Very cool. Very cool.

As a kid, was there a parent, like you just mentioned

your stepdad, but was there a parent, a friend,

or anybody who just said here, you know, here's

a comic and go read it kind of thing? My friends

in high school kind of like, and I guess in middle

school, my friend AJ, the friend I mentioned

that... that reads and recommends sex criminals

all the time. He loves Batman, and he was reading

them through high school and middle school. We

didn't really talk about it. I liked the medium,

but I just never really took the time. And my

friend Kyle, too, he would read the comics. They

would kind of pass comics back and forth. I kind

of recommend more stuff to them, though. They've

recommended mostly manga to me, like Jojo's recently,

and Berserk. Very cool, very cool. The age -old

question DC or Marvel The heart says Marvel the

head says DC although I think Marvel has like

plenty of good stuff There's just like DC just

I think they're they are just a powerhouse that

like once they're fully managed properly I don't

know if they can be beaten Yeah Are they ever

going to be fully managed properly? I mean, thankfully

they finally got rid of that didildo. I'm just

waiting for them to like move into a new medium

to screw up. KWB sucks with the comics management

at least and the movies like do music, put in

an album or something like that. Let's even screw

that up. Oh Lord. What other publishers do you

enjoy reading? Oh man. I think image is like

my number one publisher right now like ice cream

man and Department of Truth, obviously radiant

black, you know Obviously, yeah, it's it's a

powerhouse and and Kirkman's work. I didn't even

mention that I just finished oblivion song or

caught up. That's amazing and Firepower slept

on as well. They they're killing it and booms.

It is pretty sweet, too Yeah, boom is awesome

as well Yeah, it's gonna be funny Normally, ice

cream is a summer thing, folks. Well, this December,

you're going to get myself and Edward and Kendra

doing all five volumes of Ice Cream Man for Christmas.

So there you go, folks. There's a teaser for

December this year. You guys are really well

-scheduled. I can't wait for that. I love Ice

Cream Man. I'll definitely listen to that. I

always tell everybody, let me sit back. Let me

do my roadmap of what a schedule is. And if we

need to move things around or whatever, that's

fine. I have no problem. Like, my buddy Joe that

does the IDW turtles with me, we were supposed

to do Mutant March this year. Well... He had

things going on in his life and and we couldn't

do it So we had to postpone it and I'm like,

oh, hey, guess what? I have it scheduled for

August now and it's gonna be episodes 421 to

425 so we can go through the quote -unquote end

of the 100 issue run because we We left off at

like 90 or something So yeah, the next five episodes

five or six episodes after this are all turtles

next month folks nice Print or digital which

one both either or and why? Okay, I'm gonna you

know give a lame answer and it's pretty much

50 50 for me I mostly read digital because I'm

like OCD and even paperbacks I'm like am I damaging

this I want to keep I want to maintain it like

I'm terrible with that but so digital is nice

there's no stress but like bash always says me

the colors pop better like on the page and stuff

like that so like it is like you can't be you

can't replicate the feeling of physically reading

the comic like stanley would say or whatever

it's like it's like a pair of breasts or whatever

your hands like whatever the hell he says like

what what a ball player that stanley but yeah

so i don't know that's my answer digital is less

stress yeah no i mean you know here's the thing

for me because and people that have listened

to this show for a while will know this Was born

with optic atrophy and the stigmatism, so I basically

have I'm basically legally blind so the first

Year and a half of this podcast I was still getting

print comics. I was still going home You know

reading the comic recording that night. Whatever

it is and then Punisher Punisher something. Well,

no, I know what it was. I know exactly what it

was because it's a 12 -issue maxi Welcome back

Frank literally almost broke my wrist I fell

asleep in the chair not because of the content

of the comic but because of how heavy the damn

thing is Yeah, so for me reading the comics and

getting the stories. I love digital. I love comiXology

and There ain't nothing better than a comicsology

guided view especially when you get like close

up on characters And you can really see what's

going on in the characters mind and everything

else and that's cool. That's really cool actually

like Yeah, there's there's nothing better than

seeing the full -on explosion before Satomi Realizes.

Oh, hey, there's this red thing and I can be

a superhero Yeah, I'm going through issue 6 right

now as I'm talking just to prove a point on Comixology's

Guided View. That's awesome. Yeah, it's just

so fun. It's funny you mentioned I've actually

got a stigmatism myself. I know the pain of terrible

vision. I've always had the thickest glasses

of anybody within my school or far radius, so

yeah, I hear you, dude. It just sucks. It sucks

so hard. If we were born in the 1800s though,

we'd be screwed. So at least we're alive in this

time period. Yeah, at least we're alive in this

time period, thank God. Yeah. You know, absolutely.

All right. Who are some of your favorite comics

writers and why? Well, I mean. This might be

an answer to a future question but Kirkman's

what brought me back in the comics i got the

walking dead compendiums around like twenty twenty

seventeen, then i was there for oblivion song

and i was like the first comic i've really started

collecting that might answer another question

further down the line but. Yeah Kirkman obviously

is a big one for me where I just love the way

he writes his dialogue and stuff like that and

it's a lot of cut like cut the bullshit like

invincible I do an invincible podcast like I've

got you know the children rights over there so

invincible obviously really captured a lot of

what I enjoy in comics and I thought it you know

it was great that. Again no bullshit they skip

around like with Alan and mark on the moon it's

like we're going to fight now it's like let's

actually just talk this out so we can actually

you know get an ally you know it sounds boring

but the dialogue is so great that it tops like

some heavy action. And tiniens obviously killing

it like I don't know anyone that can't that could

deny it that tiniens like he's one of the best

in the game right now like some of these killing

the children a lot of nice house on the lake

which I always want to call last house along

the lake. It's like, I'm a big lost guy. If you

listen to the Radiant Black podcast, you'll know

that because I do cram it in there every episode.

It's kind of like lost in a house with a lot

of mysteries and a lot of different people that

have to kind of interact. That's amazing. And,

you know, so I'm just killing the children. Department

of Truth, like, I feel stupid whenever I read

the book because it's so smart. Like, it's amazing.

And obviously, Carl Hagens is killing it. Ordinary

Gods. Is amazing that just started out batches

were two issues i'm jealous but that's got a

really cool premise and i'm really digging it

so far and i'm reading black chorus reading black

i think is amazing everyone i've shown it has

enjoyed it it's a. really awesome modern -day

superhero story that's not necessarily a teenager

but someone who's like 30 so like not like oh

yeah i'm way older than that guy or whatever

like i can relate to problems of like not having

bills and appealing or having bills and not having

money for those bills and struggling and wanting

to do a career and stuff like that while maybe

dialing the superpowers as well so it's really

cool stuff yeah it is very very cool was this

your first foray into kyle's creator own stuff

Yeah, it was which you can kind of tell cuz like

we didn't really recognize the cow figures and

Well for me bash is read like nightwing and stuff.

He read his night. Okay, he's gone and read a

lot of Higgins stuff Yeah, but for me, yeah I'm

gonna try these Ultramen stuff. I I'm just getting

into Kaiju's a lot. Like I always like like them,

but now I'm like, alright I'm in on this. I'm

fully in after like Kong versus Godzilla and

King of the Monsters and stuff like that. So,

yeah, I'm going to check that out. And everything

that I have read from has been amazing. So he's

definitely put himself on the map as far as writer.

Yeah. So I will tell you right now, Cowell is

amazing. If you want superheroes, if you want

a superhero labor union based in the 1920s Chicago

kind of thing, Cowell is awesome. He did a creator

on series. It was six issues eight issues. I

forget called Hadrian's wall. It's basically

It's basically Terminator and total Rico, it's

basically all of the 80s action movies you can

think of That are sci -fi based in space kind

of thing. Okay Yeah, it's very very cool What

defines a good story to you? You need engaging

characters that... I just really need engaging

characters, really. And as long as the story's

fun and gives those characters the ability to,

you know, pop up the page or, you know, do iconic

stuff, just do memorable things that are enjoyable,

I think that that's good. You need characters

first and foremost. And the more flesh that a

character is and a world is, then the better

that story will be. Absolutely. What does a story

have to have to draw you in so you read a first

issue What is that first issue you have to have

to make you keep coming back to it I can't nail

it down just one but like intrigue is a major

thing for me Like I like it when things build

up and you have kind of twist and take stories

in interesting directions So intrigue is like

is a big one Another thing what the question

was What what's one thing that I need in comics

to really draw me in that I look for? Yeah, what's

what's one thing does what is what is what does

a story have to have to draw you in? Okay Yeah,

basically intrigue and strong writing I can get

over artwork That's not amazing if the story

is good But the story is bad and the arts great

like I struggle to read something just for the

amazing artwork like you did to really need to

go And that doesn't mean that I like writing

more than than art necessarily, but I think that

writing is like it's like the foundation of like

the storytelling and the art really helps it

make it pop and like fill in the world and actually

show it to you. But if the foundation, you know

what? That's the Thor line. As long as the foundation

is there, whatever we can rebuild. But this isn't

a case where like as guards getting blown up

right after I say it's OK, Loki will save it.

and then destroy it at the same time. Who are

some of your favorite comics artists? Right now

I'm a big fan of uh I think it's Jorge Jimenez

as that was pronounced or the Batman artist and

just like oh my god his stuff really really pops

um Chris Samney I'm really into his stuff on

firepower that was my first introduction to his

stuff it just It just fits so well. I don't know

how to describe it. It's just great. It's just

amazing. Marcelo Costa obviously putting his

mind, body, and soul into these radiant black

pages, literally messing up his wrist or his

hand there drawing it. But god damn, the art

is amazing. Can we have some kind of comic museum?

That was my thought when I saw the spread on

issue four. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it's so

good. That's amazing. Yeah, and a lot of the

cover artists they've had like Ferragata and

stuff like that have been amazing. So it's the

Reading Black cover game is like I think the

strongest in comics. Yeah, it hands down for

me. I don't care what comics end up winning awards

this year. If Radiant Black doesn't win an award

for what issue three was, that is bonkers because

that issue has never been. There is never in

80 plus years of comics, there has never been

a comic written the way that issue three of Radiant

Black was written. Yeah. And it's Eduardo Ferragato,

not Federada. I was down by three three syllables,

not syllables. I don't know. I don't know. We're

not going to English anyway. Yeah. Yeah. No,

Brady Black, like I think. It definitely needs

to be nominated for best new series. I don't

know what the cutoff for that is. I know we just

had the Eisner Awards, but that three and four

have been like four, like the twists and the

storytelling that they've already done just in

six issues has been like a lot. Like the world

is pretty small for the first couple issues,

but then the world expands and Like it's been

amazing that the art has been amazing. I just

I think it's got it You're right about that issue

three like it I think it deserves at least one

or two nominations next year the answers because

it's been remarkable so far. Yeah, it has What

is your favorite non superhero title? Um, I Mean

technically firepower is not a superhero by now.

I'm not even yeah probably oblivion song I gotta

say like no one's really here. I mean there are

people trying to be heroes, but they're not superheroes

Right doesn't count. Yeah. Yeah Okay as a hero

comic. Yeah, no oblivion songs really really

cool sci -fi that I can't wait for the movie.

I mean I'm it's not gonna be heavy spoilers,

but you get to see there's these guys called

the faceless men and Basically don't Jones is

gonna be a very rich man if they make a movie

of this for sure cuz they got like his body type

and stuff like that and like we can do like some

samurai stuff later on and stuff so you have

like science fiction plus samurai stuff i mean

kick around. Absolutely awesome what is your

favorite run of the series so the best example

i can give for this is there's eighty years of

batman. Do you know so pick something within

that eighty years to be. Alan Moore's Swamp Thing.

Yeah, that is a good series. One we have not

covered yet on this show. I just haven't gotten

into it yet. I learned about Swamp Thing in the

university class and we had to read excerpts

of it and like, hey, there's no better way to

spend school money than on comic books and for

class, which is amazing. And be like it's one

thing is such an amazing character that you might

think it like from looking for a way like he's

kind of like whatever it's kind of stupid but

it almost made me a vegan like when you get this

or the green stuff he's he's a really deep character

and like I love alical and I love that stuff

so it's great. Very cool very cool what is one

comic you can read over and over again single

issue or trade. Probably the. The Simpsons crossover

crisis with Futurama. Like that's a classic that

I think is better than the actual crossovers

edited on The Simpsons. So that's awesome. And

Ice Cream Man I can go back and read a lot because

there's anthology stories and it's nice to remind

yourself and you won't get bored with just one

individual story. Absolutely. Now the next couple

of questions, not that we want to be negative

around here, but there are negative connotations

to being a comic fan. Are there any comics you

avoid altogether, like you'll see it in the shop

and like, yeah, that's just not for me and I

don't care about it. My Little Pony, no, probably

My Little Pony. I'm not like a P guy, although

it's the same artist that does Stray Dogs. So,

you know, I'm getting swayed toward there. No,

I'm just kidding. But Stray Dogs is amazing,

too. But yeah, My Little Pony, the manier stuff.

That's not that's not for me. Like, you know,

Just whatever it's cool that it's out there and

stuff, but it's not my thing I bought the first

issue of mom not realizing what it was about

I think it's like armpit the one with the armpit

hair as a power like I'm not like hair powers,

you know the there's the one in the Who's the

black ball? What's the what's the group there

the in? In humans, that's it. Yeah humans like

I don't I don't I'm not too familiar with them

I know they had the TV show that like went over

terribly but like the I've got the woman with

the hair and like armpit hair on top of that

like as a main character powers set I don't know

like I haven't read the issue I will give it

a try but like you know that's that's not my

thing I'm cool for another kind of stupid you

know of like you know I like the pouch you know

as sentient pouches form together that's my jam

there you go are there any comics in the past

or currently that you wish you hadn't read them

like they just left you like oh I just wasted

20 minutes of my life I don't know The art in

the early injustice, I don't wish I didn't read

that because that Batman face after what happens

to Nightwing, it's iconic. It's everything. If

there's nothing that I would read that much,

I'm like, oh, I wish I didn't read that at all.

I would kind of stop or at least it would be

funny enough or just insane enough writing wise

that I could live to tell the tale. So no, nothing

to really regret reading. Very cool. How large

or small is your physical comic book collection?

I think I've got like 20 or 22 short boxes right

now. Yeah, I'm screwed. Yeah, I'm just going

to open up shop here and sort of selling comic

books out of my apartment. Especially with all

the radiant reprints, because that book is on

fire. I don't have them all together, but I'm

getting to the point. I probably have at least

one box of just radiant black and there's only

been like six issues. I mean, the covers are

amazing, so you can't miss out on a few of them

if you're a collector of Rainy Black. Absolutely.

OK, so this one is basically everybody is safe,

the family is safe, whatever, pets, all of that,

but the house, the apartment, whatever is burning

down. What is one comic you could never live

without and you'd have to save? Probably oblivion

song 1. I've got a venom 3 Like CGC to end an

oblivion song signed by Kirkman. So that one's

signed by Kirkman side, bro They have to go there

that one. Yeah, very cool What was the most money

you spent on a comic or a comic item? So if this

if you've ever been to any conventions, so it

could be a book or it could be like oh I bought

a replica of Green Lanterns ring or something

Well comic book item would probably just be like

the Justice Ultimate Edition. No, I don't buy

a lot of like big Items all the time like I bought

some like, you know bronze and swan thing But

like even then I get them cheap from Capcom comics

show those guys that are like legit. Um, I don't

know sometimes a button bash is like selling

comics all like go to his place and like I bought

some like I bought them know that I think it's

a venom cover someone know what the infinity

gauntlet I think I bought that often for like

80 bucks or something like that. Oh, very cool.

I think so. Yeah, so yeah, that'd be a very cool

Was there ever a moment when you were done with

comics like you just didn't want to have anything

to do with them anymore Well, I mean I grew up

like as a kid like when I was like like probably

like nine or ten I had like Four comics of like

the first four episodes of Digimon and stuff

like that. So like when I'm grounded, I mean

those can't you can't they're not electronic

So I'm good. So I would just like read those

a lot as a kid So I was very familiar with those

as I was quite the fucker as a kid and you know,

not so well pretty much to say that but So I

I kind of did like stop like I had comics I had

some Simpsons ones. I'm like my stepsister Let

me a few volumes of the Simpsons comics. Like

I really love those rest in peace bongo comics

still bullshit today They're gone, but I can't

believe they're gone. I was like, oh man, that

sucks Yeah, I mean I bought some of the issues

like it was when I started collecting comics

and I was buying a few drama and Simpsons comics

and then they pretty much wanted a business what

like 2018 2019 right before the pandemic kid.

Yeah It kills me cuz future on we can literally

literally do anything like rick and morty they

have comics and it's just sci -fi where you can

do whatever you think is funny you can just do

it easily. Absolutely yeah it sucks so yeah i

would read those simpsons volumes i really love

love those and the future on the ones and the

crossover of course so those were those were

great and i wasn't really like done with comics

i just kind of stopped uh you know like. reading

them as much like i read the water watchman in

between my big break from comics and stuff like

that just to like you know because obviously

you hear about the watchman how amazing it is

and i would read i don't really think of it but

i would read a lot of uh the shonen jump mangas

like uh the dream well z1s um yeah uh after school

like my mom was uh seeing patients he's like

a psychologist so like i would like wait in her

office when she saw people and i would just walk

up to the comic book shop and like buy uh you

know Dragon Ball Z or like a Yu -Gi -Oh manga

and I would just like read that so I've got fond

memories with that but to me like they're so

separate for some reason like I know it's like

you know these are all from like Japan and stuff

like that but I don't know comics and manga are

like I don't know they're the same but I categorize

them differently in my head yeah they're the

same but they're also different and that's what

makes them great because you have two very separate

yet similar parts of the same coin yeah What

are you reading right now and what do you think

our listeners should check out? Just finished

Oblivion's song, so that's really sweet. Definitely

check that out. It's Kirkman. The main character

is really great and his sensei is really awesome

too, so I would definitely recommend that. Yeah

oblivion song got a lot of that like carbon the

for some reason even though the walking dead

is like massive now invincible blowing up like

people sleep on those Kirkman titles like the

modern ones and like newer ones like Jesus it's

amazing the good stuff. He's doing I want to

check it out cast. So yeah I'd recommend beta

rate bill. That's awesome. I just finished that

like that finished up this week and the arts

amazing like beta ray just used to be you know,

I didn't know much about him, but it's just that

horse guy but you know he's more than me now

he's actually like a really awesome character

as well he's always been more than me but just

in my mind that's Shane for me so he's great

um and that was an awesome five -issue run that

just finished uh the art is like gritty and really

fits where they're going like they're on their

way to Muscleheim or whatever so it's that's

really sweet and um i mean Department of Truth

can make me emotional about a Sasquatch story

so if that's not good writing i don't know what

is so definitely Department of Truth um Most

these books people have probably heard of other

than Lake firepower Maybe so I mean the big ones

turn truth is like well recognized for a reason

Nice house in Lake shaping up super nicely Obviously

radiant black. I mean, I was gonna say if you

don't recommend the book you do a podcast on

you got a problem We're talking about what we

finished up, though. What we just finished up.

Radiant Black is still ongoing. I mean, that

won't be finished up, hopefully, in years. So

yeah, Radiant Black is a good time to hop in.

The paperback TPP comes out, I think, mid -August.

So a couple weeks after our recording here. So

that's going to be great. That's an easy time

to jump in. Plus, they did a ton of printings

of all the other issues. So you might be able

to still find these singles. But yeah, Radiant

Black, if you're looking for like, It's recommended,

like Kirkman said, if you're looking for something

to fill the void of invincible, more or less,

this is it. You know, the paraphrase is what

he said. And you like Power Rangers, you gotta

get on this because Higgins, you know, is notorious

for writing his Power Rangers and is like a big

Power Rangers guy. And this is heavily inspired.

It's fresh, obviously, but like this. a lot of

Power Rangers kind of vibes, but it's like in

ways that I'm not used to because I watched the

TV show as a kid a bit, but this is in comics.

You can go into space and it's not a guy. It's

not like a bad monster suit or something like

that. It's like legit. I like the the Kaiju's

look cool, but like, I don't know, some of the

like other beasts kind of look a little even

as a kid like, you know, so when you can draw

those and stuff like that, I think it really

benefits the series. Absolutely. All right. Heroes,

heroines, anti -heroes and heroines, or villains?

What archetypes are your go -to reads? I like

heroes, but like villains, you know, you want

to have a memorable villain. Like, I'm kind of

both. Like, I like a good hero, you know, you

like your Spider -Man, you like your Batman.

I'm a big static guy. So you like your heroes

but i mean you can not love doctor doom and stuff

like that i mean the big guns like batman laughs

i know we got over height the blood of the sun

like i really like his design and i really want

to see him show up as a full -fledged character

in more combat not just the skin was like animations

and specific moves but. Yeah i mean i like villains

and heroes you know anti heroes are cool too

but like is like the better yeah i see the like

ben a many brock would you be like an anti hero.

I would say the flash Thompson would be an antihero

not necessarily any Brock though. I mean, he's

not yeah Eddie I'm nothing of an antihero. Like

what's Vegeta to Goku? It's not it's not a protagonist,

but it's like It's like what shadow is or whatever.

It's on it Sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah where yeah.

Yeah, my maybe it's a hero but no, but it's kind

of like the guy like what batman is in the dark

knight and a lot of other issues it's like you

know he's the guy that like isn't viewed as the

hero but they do the things that are necessary

or whatever you know lately like that tweet from

the amazon prime or whatever uh they're like

oh who's your favorite anti -hero or antagonist

i must have been anti -hero or something i don't

know i gotta see the tweet but like they put

like invincible on there and it's like on the

tv show that's not at all what he's been like

Well, it's Amazon and their big giant corporation

who's trying to promote stuff. So, you know,

I don't know That's I'm just glad they kept it

going and renewed for two or three seasons. So

at least they they know when they have something

good Yeah, at least you know, as long as they

leave Bezos up there in space for a while. Oh

wait too late on that one It's basically like,

you know in finding Nemo when they went to touch

the butt. That's basically what he did. He just

like yeah of the ship Yeah, I know And now as

I can think of is all all these people around

them turn into little yellow things that go after

bananas, but but friggin minions Do you have

and we kind of already talked about this a little

bit, but do you have a my parents got rid of

my comics story? Thankfully, I do not you know,

I myself that's big comic fan. So, you know If

my mom knows that he knows about the risk, you

know, don't throw comics. You really like at

least ask if you can throw most anything but

comics are, you know, could be, you know, worth

something emotionally or financially. There you

go. What is one item from a comic book you'd

love to have in the real world? So again, like

earlier about the comic item, this is the same

thing like have like basically having the cowl

figures from. Yeah, I guess you three or four

or whatever. So what would be one comic book

item? You'd love to have in the real world One

combo I am I don't know like If I have mule near

and I'm not worthy that would be kind of worthless.

Yeah There's only been two people that have been

worthy enough for that so far Yeah, so like,

you know, and that's, you know, that's what I

think of my I guess I'm gonna be worth it. So

I be screaming out. I don't know a radiant would

be badass. Specifically, like the red radiant

would be awesome because you can just few stuff

or whatever, like, there's like a mess in your

house, you just put on the radiant, he just like

absorb it and turn it into like, I don't know

if a breeze it, you know, so, you know that,

of course, you know, you can also fight crime

and save the world. But you know, cleaning easily

is also good. Yes, exactly. Let's see, if you

could create any comic storyline, what would

you want to create and what characters would

you want to create it with? So basically, any

comic book company basically gives you the keys

to the kingdom. What would you want to do? Well,

one idea. Wait, so I could, would I be able to

like cross over Marvel and DC and stuff? Like,

is that all just one company though? You can

do whatever. Yeah, you can do whatever. Well,

I mean, I'd like to pitch this idea one day,

but it's probably not going to happen. It's very

stupid. But like, you know, I've seen my fair

amount of Spider -Ham, but like if we're going

full Looney Tunes, can we have his villain be

like Spidey Coyote, like Wile E. Coyote and like

always scheme stuff? Like, come on, let's get

let's get this out. That would be hilarious.

Yeah, exactly. And I don't know what I would

do if I would do an invincible spinoff with maybe

Terra or. I don't know maybe following following

Marcus or Markey or whatever but you know that'd

be great I hope Kirkman does it right because

he's had time you might revisit these characters

after the show is blown up and he's got you know

cuz Kirkman's like helping retool the show the

comic basically for the show and like adding

a bunch of elements so if he's already thought

of ways to improve the current stuff maybe he's

thought of ways to follow up even further in

the comic so I'd love to see that happen. Absolutely.

What is the one piece of advice you would give

the comics fandom if you don't like something?

Maybe just ignore it and it won't you know if

you give it a lot of press, you know It's not

gonna you know, if something's annoying you or

something's awful You're gonna show somebody

by talking about it. And while you might convince

others not to enjoy it or hate it or whatever

like you're gonna probably turn on a couple other

people to it. So it's really just a fire that

keeps feeding itself with that kind of stuff.

So if you don't like something, you know, feel

free to say your criticism, but if you give it

a ton of attention, it's going to get a lot of

attention and good press, bad press is good press

in a lot of ways. Absolutely. All right, folks.

Well, that's been Matt's story. So the Ready

It Black podcast, why don't you tell everybody

about how you guys started it? If you could contain

mentioning the discord to just like twice so

I don't have to go get my vodka, please I swear

every time I've listened to you guys talk about

the Discord I'm like, oh gotta take a drink gonna

take a drink. Yeah But yeah, we have mentioned

a lot but it is a happen in place so like yeah,

I haven't mentioned it yet It's a it's it's a

it's a cool spot It's got a lot of the creators

the book in there. So it's amazing place to discuss

it with fans of the show and who knows you might

just See something that's not available to the

public yet. So it's really cool spot So yeah

You can get the link it dies every week or so

we can tweet it out or you can just ask us on

Twitter the podcast the podcast started That

showed me like the preview for reading black

I was like this looks pretty cool and like we

read a couple issues and after we started the

invincible podcast he's like you know, like,

no one's talking about writing in black, like,

let's get on this, like, it's really cool. And

I enjoyed the first few issues. And rereading

them, you get extra value because they're really,

you know, they're woven with foreshadowing and

cool stuff like that. And, you know, and the

series just really kept popping off with like

issue four and five and six while it's a backstory

was really great. And then seven things look

like it's gonna they're gonna continue to heat

up. So oh, yeah, they are. Yeah it's a hell of

a series so you know we started podcasting about

it and I got one of my friends Kate McDonald

to do the artwork for it she's super talented

we got the artwork that's like a tribute to the

Marvel team up with invincible and and spider

-man there. So I really like the cover. It's

got invincible in there because like we want

you want to draw on fans because more people

know about invincible now than radiant black.

So it's like, hey, invincible people that are

waiting on, you know, a TV show or they're done

with the comments like, you know, to get on the

reading black tracks. I wish I was reading invincible

from the beginning. Yeah. Yeah, I have not got

on the invincible train yet. I know I need to,

but I mean some characters in front of the invincible

train. But yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's kind of like

how a couple of years ago because I am a huge

Nightwing fan And I'm sort of a Punisher fan,

but I'm not really like He's okay Certain stories

great fine, whatever. Yeah, I don't dislike the

character. It's just he's never my go -to kind

of thing And I'm like hmm just a mess with a

couple of big Punisher fans I had my buddy Take

an image from kyle's new fifty two run it was

when it was a thing was issue nineteen. What

is your night wing run when he moves to chicago

and he's riding the l train so i took a screenshot

of that panel of that comic. I sent it to my

buddy and i said here here's a google search

image of punisher. Put Punisher in front of the

train, because Nightwing's superior, Punisher

inferior. And I don't really believe that, folks.

It's just a joke between friends of mine and

I. Yeah, you guys beat me by... No, actually,

I beat you by a week. I think. No? I don't know.

Anyway, go ahead. What were you gonna say? Punisher's

cool. I prefer when he's on fire and in space.

That's my favorite version of Punisher. But no,

Punisher's cool. And like... Nightwing like bash

turned me on a night wing he's like the Taylor

run so far has been amazing. I was like the character

of now I'm like all right he's awesome and like

he's almost inspired like a lot of these awesome

characters like I know Higgins is like night

wings like his favorite hero which is you know

awesome taste and you know Mark Grayson his last

name is Grayson I don't think there's no way

that you know you know obviously Kirkman knows

about. i did grace and he's like the first robin

stuff like that so i feel like you know it's

like a good last name to give him like the grace

and like also if it's like you know with the

sometimes are shades of gray with mark as well

so. Yeah i think that nightwing is actually like

inspired a lot of heroes and or at least some

of his traits are definitely like appreciated

and baked into some of these newer characters

and the different cow like he looks a lot his

costumes very similar the night wings. I don't

yeah, which is cool. That's why you know at first

we thought it was a nightwing figure before we

found out about Cal, but Yeah, no nightwing I

think is like Amazing and it's ridiculous that

it's taking this long to get him on screen like

Titans like the first time we get nightwing you

saying fuck Batman at the beginning of the series

So yeah, I don't know. I feel like there's more

you could do with it with night like legit nightwing

Yeah, there probably is more you could do that.

That would be awesome that they did that they

would It's just felt like I said at the beginning

of this podcast folks Thank God that de dildo

is gone because he always liked killing him off.

I don't know why Yeah, I wish I had amnesia I've

had it a couple of times in my lifetime. It's

not fun. You don't know. Yeah, you don't want

it. No All right, where can the people find the

radiant black podcast? You can find us on Instagram

at The Radiant Black Podcast and on Twitter.

If you just search Radiant Black, we'll probably

pop up for sure on Twitter. It's just at Radiant

Black Pod. Our email, I'm pretty sure, is just

at Radiant Black Podcast, the gmail .com. So

yeah, if you want to send feedback. But yeah,

follow us on Twitter and we'll send you the Discord

link. And we're available on Spotify, Google.

Actually, no, not Google. Spotify, Apple Podcasts,

you can find us on Podbean as well. And we have

a YouTube channel, it's Rhian Black Podcast.

Yeah, I make thumbnails and I'm trying to make

the thumbnails for them. That's kind of fun.

They're a little silly. And last episode, we

had the Weekly Polls on there and Wyatt Lane,

which was really fun to talk to those guys. It

was definitely the most off the cuff of our podcast

and the most joke -filled. So it was really fun.

And we started to do radiant roster where we

just kind of talk about, uh, you know, current

stuff that's good. So if anybody wants to come

on that, you know, we'll probably have you on

if you want, honestly for that. Yeah. So yeah,

that's where you can find us and also mean bash

through the children might as well, which can

be found at basically the same place. I run the

children mights Instagram page and I've made

like 70, uh, invisible memes. Yeah, and I want

to do Austin Powers week, but I only have like

two or three memes so I might actually start

it up just to give myself a kick in the pants

to do the other two, but Yeah, that's my life.

That's It's so funny you mentioned Austin Powers

cuz as much as I like those movies my favorite

anytime and I'm not the biggest kaiju fan I again

have a healthy respect. I don't hate it. I don't

hate the people who hate it So it's not one of

those things. Yeah, but Every time anybody mentions

Godzilla to me, alls I can think of is - I love

that. This is my favorite scene from Goldmember.

There are a lot of good scenes from Goldmember,

but that's my favorite. Yeah, I know. It's back

in the public conscious now that basically Bezos

is Dr. Evil. Have you seen the side -by -side

comparison? Oh, yes. I saw it. I saw that and

I was like, oh my God, no, they didn't. But it's

true. Yeah, he's going to get his sharks with

laser beams on their freaking heads now that

he's back on Earth, I imagine. Yeah, probably.

I don't want to be a jerk here. But I did beat

you guys by a week and a half. We released issues

one and two episode review when you were like,

Oh, nobody's talking about radiant black. I released

that episode talking issues one and two on March

27th. Not bad. But yeah, we meant like, yeah,

no, no, no, I barely anybody like not nobody.

Yeah. Yeah. But that's pretty sweet though. Yeah.

I'm glad that people got on the train early.

It's just it's easier when you've got like the

machine already going to when you have to think

of a podcast, you got to kind of plan. But yeah,

you definitely thought of it way before us and

like got in on the train. I mean, well, you know,

again, I've been like single like Like the question

says that we asked earlier, who are your favorite

writers? Anytime anybody asked me that, the first

name out of my mouth, one of the first names

out of my mouth is Higgins, because ever since

Nightwing, he has done so much. And I wish he

had the opportunity to do what he wanted to do

with Nightwing, but because he didn't, I like

where the new, if you haven't read the new 52

Nightwing yet, go do it right now kind of thing.

Cause man. Those, those, those stories are so

good and so poignant and it's very much he has,

because he, he's a fan of it and whatever. And

he's worked with Lauren Lester before. Literally

I hear Lauren Lester from Batman, the animated

series in my head as I'm reading Kyle's words

on those pages. I even, there was, um, there

was a line of dialogue in one of those issues.

I'll throw it in here somewhere Where I had Lauren

voice it because I'm like, yeah, please I need

this in Nightwing's voice. So you'll hear that

in here somewhere folks All right. Yeah, it's

it's so awesome Thank you for joining us here

inside the pull bag If you'd like to get in contact

with us only feedback before the show there are

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use Leave the shows for you back in iTunes. Yes

iTunes is still a thing folks Even though it's

now Apple podcasts for most people there is still

an iTunes application. It's all it is in my heart

Yeah, it still does work and that's where you

would go to leave reviews Follow us on Twitter,

you can follow at GeekCastRadio for the network

updates, The Pull Bag at The Pull Bag for our

show updates. I am at TF2 and Mike, what is the

Radiant Black Twitter again? It's at Radiant

Blackpot. Alright, make him a fan on Facebook.

Did you guys set up a Facebook page yet? You

should do that if you haven't. Yeah, we will.

I totally use Facebook, but you know what, like...

Yeah, we'll get on there if people want to talk.

I'll have to find mods. It was so easy to find

mods for the, you know, I'm not going to mention

it a third time, but you know what? The Discord,

yeah. I mean, if you want me to set one up, just

send me the art and I'll set it up. I don't care.

I can moderate that. That's not a problem. It's

up to you. It's up to you guys. I'm just saying.

I have no life, so I can... No, I appreciate

the support you've given us, for sure. Absolutely.

Thanks for being on the show. Thanks for the

time, Mike. Yeah, absolutely. Alright, you can

find us on Facebook. Facebook .com slash GeekCastRadioNetwork.

You can also search out the pull bag over there.

For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Brie and Matt.

Make your great escape into comics and stay radiant,

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