The Kill Lock Review

Hi, this is Brian Ward from Shout Factory, and

you are listening to the Geekcast Radio Network.

Hi, this is John Barber from IDW Publishing.

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

we're reading right now here inside the pull

bag. Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag. This

is episode 490. We are, well, technically nine

or 10 episodes away from 500. And yeah, I am

here. I am TF2 and Mike. Joining me is Ha -He

Prime. Hello. Hello. How are you? I am good.

That is good. And tonight we're going to be talking

about Livio Remindelli's The Kill Lock from IDW

Publishing. Woohoo! Yep. Absolutely woohoo. This

is a six issue series that is collected into

one trade. Uh, Livio, I think is pretty much

everything on this series. I don't, I mean, uh,

yeah, Tom B. Long does the letters and I got

to get Tom on for an interview because Tom is

amazing. Tom is one of those people that is like,

you must talk to this person because he is so

cool. Yeah. Yeah. Livio David Mariette is the

series editor with Alonzo Simon and Zach. Boon

on the collection edits and Jeff Powell on the

collection design with Tom B. Long doing the

letters. And yeah, this is so cool. So this is

unlike anything we've, I mean, we've seen stories

like this, but it is a sci -fi kind of robot

story. The, the back of the book basically says

the kill lock each found guilty of an in redeemable,

irredeemable crime. Four robots find themselves

banished from their home world and bound together

by the Kill Lock, a programming link that means

if one of them dies, they all die. Now a soldier,

an addict, a murderer, and a child find themselves

forced to protect each other while in search

of a cure to survive. I'm just going to occasionally

woo because I really do love this series. It's

a good series. It really, really is. It's fun.

It's interesting. Yeah. I really had not been,

when this came out, I hadn't been that excited

about a comic book series in years. It really

scratched that itch. Yeah. This is with everything

now. Um, I think, I don't want to presume, but

either I'm a little bit older or you're a little

bit older than I am. I don't remember. And it

doesn't matter. But the point is, the point is,

is that we both lived through the eighties. We

were children of the eighties and nineties. And

the thing with the eighties and nineties is that's

where all the franchises. obviously 70s too because

of Star Wars, but the 80s and 90s is where all

these franchises came from. Transformers, He

-Man, Mask, Voltron, Gem, everything. And we

have all these characters that have been built

over the last almost 40 to 50 years now. And

then something new comes along instead of having

to redo or do something different with a franchise

or try to tell a reboot story or try to do this

with this character. You have someone in Livio

Remindale who has worked. He's an amazing artist.

He's done tons of Transformers work. He's done

work for Star Wars. He's done work for everything.

And this is his story. This is his original story

that he came up with. And it's so hard sometimes

to get into an original story because the companies

like Hasbro and Mattel and Disney and Fox, well

Fox is Disney now, but like all these companies

want you to keep coming back to like there's

not like even when something is new it's like

oh do I really want to try that or do I want

to go back to something I know and just rewatch

that or just reread that or the with this this

is awesome I love this I love that he is he has

written Technically twelve issues because there

is this first series and then there's the second

series will get to eventually. The kill you have

to have me on that will you know me by now so

for the audience for the past fourteen years

that i've been podcasting. Whatever i set up

with someone whether it's batman or nightwing

or back girl or that and beyond or transformers

or whatever. If I set it up with, you know, one,

two, three people, whatever it is, those are

the, yeah, why am I going to have you on this

and then not, come on Heather, come on. But yeah,

this was cool. And this was the reason why this

is so cool is that because Livio has worked on

Transformers. Some of these four characters,

I'm like, okay, one of them is Starscream, one

of them is Optimus, one of them is this, one

of them is that. And it's just one of those things

where... I don't know. Okay, so the four characters

that are tied together with this Killlock. The

Artisan, if you were used only the finest...

If you were used to only the finest comforts

of high society, and then you got excited to

a backwater ice planet because the higher ups

didn't appreciate you murdering your coworkers,

you'd probably be pretty pissed too. And that's

where we find the artist and at the start of

the Kill Lock. Starscream killed the other Seekers.

Like seriously, that's the first thing I thought

of when I read that line off of Olivia's website.

Yeah. you know, listeners, me and Mike, we're

talking about this earlier, and you will never

know this conversation. But we were talking about

which transformer these characters reminded us

of. And you can do that. But the thing that I

one of the things that I appreciate about this

series is that these characters to me anyway,

are not carbon copies of any other character.

Oh, no. Yeah. There are types. that show up in

recognizable kind of similarities, but what I

appreciate about the characterizations in this

series is that it's so sparse and understated,

but as you read it and these little tiny hints

are given to each character's goal, and by the

end you kind of really have had this powerful

experience of getting to know them. And they've

all surprised you. My favorite thing about it

is that by the end of it, I don't utterly abhor

even the artisan. And the artisan is like everything

I just make you hear in a I go, no, you are bad,

stay away. And by the end of it, you're like,

I mean. Yeah, it's a point of view kind of thing.

You start out with these four characters trying

to figure out how to basically unlock themselves

from this punishment. I believe, because it's

going to be in the show note post, folks. It's

going to be in the post on the GeekCaster .io

website. Livio did commentaries for all six issues,

which superstar Shout Factory producer Brian

Ward helped him do those commentaries. Highly

recommend. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everybody should read

this book and then go watch Livio's commentaries.

Cause he talks about how, yes, the artist in

the beginning is he's that character. Nobody

wants to be around because he is such an asshole.

Yeah. He's kind of like, what if Darth Vader

was petty? Yeah. Like ultimate evil, ultimate

power, and also petty and little of soul. So

you're just like, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope,

danger. Yeah. It's basically like Darth Vader

crossed with Starscream. I mean, yes, he has

this power. He has this whatever, but there's

a limit to that power. Also, he is very, very

petty. Then the wraith, the way Livio describes

him on the website, This is the big -ass kicker

of the group, right at home on the hellish war

missions in the deepest corners of space. After

centuries of noble service to a vast, crusading

army, he was sentenced for a lapse in obedience

on the battlefield. Now, when I was listening

to the commentaries, Livio mentioned something

about the Wraith kind of being Optimus Prime

-ish. yes technically Optimus wouldn't be have

a lapse in obedience because really I mean unless

you count Primus or Alpha Trion there's really

no Optimus is the leader of the Autobots that's

what he is but in the Wraith I saw the judgments

and the decisions that the Wraith has to make

Kind of mirror certain choices optimus has had

to make over the last 40 years Yeah, he's I love

the rain I feel like he's got some of the best

qualities of optimus and Megatron mm -hmm and

But again like he's his own character. Oh, yeah

reminds me of Like he's got this vibe This is

going to be me nerding out. So this story, Ivanhoe,

that I've never read the book, but I've seen

two different movie versions of, there's a character

named Brian Gee Bear who's like the anti -hero

bad guy who kind of turns good at the end, which

of course I love him. But the Wraith has kind

of that I'm a templar. I adhere to this strict

religion. I do what must be done. In Ivanhoe,

it's I burn the witch and in this, it's I burn

the world. The fact that, spoilers, but that

bit where the wraith says, what is it? I violate

the very fabric of who I am, where he makes that

choice to go against. his religion or against

the demands of his religion. I love the Wraith.

Wait, which character is your favorite, Mike?

I like them all for different reasons. I don't

have a single character out of the main four

that I would pick over the others because I see

them and they're all trying to get to this end

goal of, you know, hello. If you're, you, you,

wow, I almost said you, Heather and no, you are

Heather. Yes, let's keep this straight. Yes,

yes, yes. No, no, no. But if you, Amy, Nicole

and myself were in the kill lock and if one of

us dies, all of us die, then we all need to strive

to a. common goal kind of thing to figure out

how, like we all have character traits that we

like from each other, or we all have character

traits that annoy us or whatever. And there wasn't

really anything that was annoying in any of these

characters. Like I didn't, when I was reading

this, I'm like, this is cool. This is cool. Oh,

that's a nice story beat the art. is just amazing.

You can just stop right there. It's Livio fucking

Ramandelli and his art is just gorgeous. Back

to actually what you were saying about, before

we get too far from this, as we talk about the

art, you were talking about starting an original

story and amazing that is. I was so glad that

I was already familiar with Livio so that when

he said hey I'm doing a thing I was able to be

like you know what that sounds interesting I'll

give it a try because I'm still not the type

of person that often will just go and like try

stuff because I'm still too stingy to just like

buy things. This really was phenomenal and hit

back to his art the very first page Is just it

you can really tell he loves Star Wars first

of all because the imagery is very much like

that grand Grimy alien world kind of aesthetics

of Star Wars But it's really it's really amazing

and powerful and encouraging and I Don't know

just kind of hopeful for humanity in general

that You watch Livio do things that are other

people's stories and he brings his own Style

to it and things but when he's doing this that's

his own story Yeah, it just transcends. It's

so much better than anything else he's ever done

and Mean because it's exciting. Yeah, it's very

exciting and I could be wrong. I mean, like I

said, I'm on his website and pretty much his

portfolio is Star Wars Transformers Marvel in

DC concept art comic covers. He is basically

an artist. He is not a writer I'm not saying

the man can't write I'm not saying that at all.

What I'm saying is we know him as an artist a

person who creates the image that goes with whomever,

whether it's James Roberts, whether it's John

Barber, whether it's Brian Ruckley, whoever the

hell that's writing the stuff, it doesn't matter.

But this is the first time we've, the first time

I personally have seen him write something and

create a story. And the story that he is creating

is Yes, you're right. He is a huge Star Wars

fan, obviously. He wouldn't be working on Star

Wars and Transformers if he wasn't a huge fan

of those things, I don't think, because really,

normally most people will not do something if

they don't like what the... you know what I mean?

Like... Yeah, so seeing him create this story

is just amazing because... It's a story that

pulls us in with these characters that have a

goal that they have to get to and characters

that are written in a way that it is compelling.

Yeah, I was really impressed with his writing.

I feel the only other person that I know of in

my limited comics knowledge is Nick Roach for

that level of Art and writing in tandem, but

the thing that Livio does in this series that

I really admire is the gutsiness of the writing

and the especially in this first scene the in

-your -faceness of it, but like He he puts his

own this is not His own stamp of this is not

anything else This is its own thing when he starts

it off by having the artist and just like drop

an f -bomb right away and then do like horrible,

creepy, violent stuff to the Freddy Fazbear character

who would never not be Freddy Fazbear to me.

And so you're just like, okay, this is not like

anything else that I might have been reading.

Yep. You're talking about the laborer, right?

The guy that's trying not to drink. Yeah. No,

the very beginning, there's just this random

poor little dude at the bar. and the artisan

is just offended by his redesign of his face

and he's just like That's the most messed up

face I've ever seen. I thought that was the laborer,

but it isn't. No, it's just a random dude at

the bar. The laborer comes in after he, A, takes

his voice and then B, takes his eyesight and

that last image of what the poor guy sees is

terrifying. And then the laborer walks in and

says, don't wander off. And they just leave this

poor little guy just lying there. And I'm like

ready Yeah, that's the thing with with the artists

and he can see you right through people and things

and he can Basically just point his finger at

your at your mouth and just take your voice.

Yeah He just knows isn't it is it is it mace

Windu? That knows how to kind of find a things

weak spot and destroy it in Star Wars nerddom

I'm not sure um but he's he's got that ability

to just kind of see your sort of blueprint schematics

everything like you know an x -ray MRI and then

he goes uh -huh that's your weak spot I just

poke it yeah I don't think that's mace but I

know I seem to remember what you're talking about

and And these characters, man, they don't...

They don't trust each other. At least not at

the beginning. Well, I mean, the way this story

opens up is really cool, because you're just

like, oh, here's the hero of our story. Oh, I

don't like him. Oh, here's a new person. Oh,

here's a kid. Wait, what's going on? And then

the introduction of the Wraith is just this huge

enigmatic guy who talks in old Germanic writing

and just kind of lays out the story. But I really

like that when we first meet all these characters,

it's kind of like Wreckers where you're meeting

extremely flawed individuals and then you start

to love them. Yeah, absolutely. I love that.

Although with this, we have actually, that's

that's another good writing aspect is an audience

surrogate character. And in this case, I'm assuming

that it's the kid. Yeah, where it's just the

one that everyone is having to Explain things

to and the one who's reacting kind of the way

we are Because he has zero history and it's just

like wait what's happening Well, yeah, I mean

that they have to explain things to him because

he is and what what Livio calls and unfinished

yeah And it says in in here sewarders The the

artisan is like fuck these locals. They should

feel honored to even get a glimpse of an artist

or a and The kid says but I didn't do anything

wrong. I barely remember doing anything at all.

Yeah, and It just seems like the kid is it's

I'm gonna make then I hope Livio takes this,

if he's listening to this at some point, hope

he takes this as a compliment. It's like the

laborer and the artisan are Mike and Sully and

the kid is Boo from Monsters Inc. They have to

teach the kid these, and they want, you know,

the artisan is, is the, he's the one that murdered

all his coworkers or whatever. So he's the murderer,

but you know, and, and the laborer he's, he's

a drunk, which is not Not good. Don't drink folks.

Just don't. It's not good. So, you know, it's

one of those things where you have these characters

and then you have the, and then you have the

fourth part of this, the Wraith and the Wraith

is that kind of, I'm going to say holier than

thou, but it isn't really a holier than thou.

He has this. higher moral standard than most

of them. Yes, he will do his job. Yes. His race

has exterminated entire planets, but for him,

it's all about if they did something, if they,

if they did something wrong, then they need to

be punished. But if they didn't do anything wrong,

then, you know, that, you know, that kind of

thing. Yeah. And it's just, it's a fun read.

Yeah, it is. What are we going to do in terms

of organization? Like are we going to go through

the story or are we just going to talk in general

about the whole thing? Or how do you want to

do it? I mean, I think we should just talk in

general because I don't want to spoil it for

people. I mean, I don't mind, I don't mind normally

spoiling the books, but this is a book that people

need to explore and find and figure out on their

own. Okay. I like this plan. Yeah. All right.

Yeah. Because this book keeps surprising you,

and it keeps unfolding more and more. It's a

real trip in the way that it goes, okay, here's

this, oh, but also this, and then issue two,

and also this. The progression of the story and

the widening of the world is really well done.

And I will say that I do better with this, not

just reading it once. Like I read it once and

went, Whoa, and I had a lot of like, I had a

lot of emotional response to this story. Because

the emotions and characterization in it are really

good. Yeah. but I didn't notice everything because

the good and bad aspect of Livio's art is that

it's really not an instant visual read. There's

a lot of things that you're not going to really

understand what you're looking at until you're

going back through and going, oh, okay. So it's

a very kind of experiential experience to to

read it like you feel like you're there, but

also you feel it's very kind of through a glass

darkly where you're just trying to kind of decipher

and decode. Yeah, absolutely. And you have to

because the way that this is written is in the

way of, oh my God, this is not only a you know

sci -fi story this is also a psychological story

and it's a psychological story by the point of

each of these each of these four characters and

even the five the fifth character that joins

them the the axial you know it's all of these

things combined into one and it's a story that

like you said it is one of those Sit down on

a couch or a chair or wherever you're comfortable

and just immerse yourself in the world because

the world will just Take your mind and just run

with it. Yeah. Yeah, it's that damn good. It's

really and It's a lot of fun to to really pour

over the imagery to take time with it to take

time to decipher it and to take time to decipher

the the storytelling as well to really Get into

you know, wait, there's one sentence, but it

just conveyed hundreds of years worth of history

Yeah, it's neat Yeah, it is very very awesome

and it's a thing that That just I don't know

it it's one of those things that It's such a

well -written story and what like we already

said the art is just amazing but in the story

you see these things like I Don't even think

we're not yeah, I'm not we're not even like I'm

what I'm cycling through the comic I'm not even

out of the first issue yet, and I see a You know

the Wraith and the Artisan in the in the laborer

where the laborer says Lord knows the Artisan

deserves it more than anyone, but the child is

innocent He does not deserve this life to die

with us and the Wraith says for the young one

then we shall seek the cure and You see a panel

of the Artisan with his you know hands together

like Emperor Palpatine or Mr. Burns fucking fantastic

let's do this yeah you know and it's these characters

just take you into this world and it's it's an

adventure it's a space it's an adventure in space

it's a space adventure and you get to explore

all of these characters You know their their

personalities and how each of them are and how

each of them react to being Kill locked I guess

yeah, you know with all of them being together

Kind of thing because they have to be because

they're you know in the kill lock. Yeah But yeah,

I mean I've always loved this kind of story,

the story of let's put these people into a room

and see what happens. But instead of into a room,

it's let's put these people into a universe where

they are constantly in danger that is escalating

and see what they do. And what they do is wonderful

because they each unfold into a character that

you could love. Me and the artisan are at detente.

But a couple of things that I think are admirable

is there's so much, I mean, there's a lot of

grittiness to Livio's art anyway. That's just

his style. And so the fact that he's using that

to portray a universe that is really grimy. there

is just choking dust in the air wherever you

go. And the people are living. It's not quite

Mad Max, but it's very, I mean, you know, the

Wraith would call it depraved, but especially

that world they go to that's kind of the nasty

Vegas of the universe. Yeah. And then the thing

is, is one of the, I don't remember if it's the

Vegas planet, but One of these worlds is the

Wraith going back to something he already did.

It's him visiting a world that he himself already

destroyed. So it's not like them going to Coruscant

or going to... Because Coruscant is nasty Vegas.

Why? No, I mean in this universe. The closest

we get to Coruscant is nasty Vegas. Yeah. I mean

but the other worlds like you know what is probably

tattooing or most of five that's what it is half

of these dirty grimy worlds are basically most

of far it's all lava and then you know the the

artist and basically wanting to tell the kid

what is going on why is the kid attached to this

kill lock thing and revealing the truth to the

kid and we're not gonna say with the truth it

but like. It's. a character moment that be like,

what the fuck are you doing? And then the artisan

just throws it back at him or throws it back

at the person saying that question. The kid has

to know the truth because how is the kid going

to learn? How is the kid going to make a decision

in anything if he doesn't know why he's here?

Yeah, it's kind of like almost like an Oliver

Twist world where it's like, okay, we're going

to follow a kid in just the worst possible environment.

But instead of feeling, I would not love this

story if it was, here, let's watch a kid out

in the horrifying world just get ground down.

Instead, it's here, let's watch a kid bring out

the goodness in these four disparate characters

and That you know that the the axial says that

the kill lock Exists because four people cannot

ever get along well enough to really protect

each other forever and these guys Are kind of

able to succeed and fail and succeed Well, yeah,

that's the thing. Like again, each of their traits,

whether they're the good traits or the bad traits

contribute to them going on this adventure for

the cure to unlock themselves from the kill lock

and basically free themselves. But, you know,

you look at the, you, you look at the reasonings

of what, okay. Yes. The artisan and the Wraith,

they both have. The Wraith has destroyed worlds.

He has done a lot of damage to a lot of things.

The Artisan, and again, I'm going to make all

of these allusions because I just think it's

funny. The Artisan is essentially Peter from

Office Space after the Hypnotist, like he doesn't

give a shit anymore. He's just going to go crazy.

He's going to knock down the walls. He's going

to do this. He's going to talk back to his boss.

He's not going to come in on Saturday. It's that

kind of character that at times, plus he's an

engineer. That's the thing. He's an engineer.

He knows how to do certain things and fix certain

things or not fix certain things. They all have

traits that contribute to the overall story and

contributes to each other's growth. The thing

another thing that along with the character development

I love that this story does not It's not just

like a simple progression of hey, we're in this

situation Let's go get out of this situation.

It ends up going places where you're really surprised

You're like wait what and the end is like a huge

wait what? But like satisfying. But yeah, absolutely.

I did not see that coming. And it's like, it's

the kind of thing where you go back and you're

like, I should have seen this coming. But yeah,

it's like you get to the end and you read, you

read the, you know, you're reading the whole

story. You go from issue one to issue six, you

get to issue six and you think, okay. This is

the final issue. At this point in time, I believe

this was around 2016, 2017, maybe 2015, but you

get to this and you think, okay, this is how

this is going to end. They are going to find

a way to get out of the kill lock and then they're

all going to go their separate. Oh no, that's

not the way this is. No, it's not. Not at all.

Yeah. Oh man. The other cool thing in the sort

of flowering of the story is how in each issue,

you get kind of a window into the pasts of these

characters. And that, I mean, I've mentioned

that you start off with a bunch of guys, you're

like, I don't know if I like you very much. And

then by the end of it, you're like, I love these

characters. But the, the backstories eliminate

not just the characters, but also the world.

There's so much really good world building just

thrown in and left undeveloped. So you can kind

of, I don't know, write fan fiction in your head

and like imagine what might this be? Like the,

the Raytheist symbol and the, I mean, we just

get to hear like a tiny bit about the axial and

a tiny bit about even just like What are the

Wraith Legion doing? And should we be on their

side? I don't know. I mean, they are going around,

they are definitely doing genocides. And like,

who's in charge of whether or not these people

are wicked? But yeah, just the power dynamics

at play. And there's just a lot of really cool

world building. Yeah, and I love how each issue

is another section of their adventure and they're

either on a different planet or going from one

planet to another planet And it's completely

different environments because you look at issue

two going from issue to issue three It's like

holy crap they go from This one world and then

they're on this other world that is now I believe

issue three is the world that the Wraith destroyed.

And you see all this stuff and it's just like,

and this is where they find the Axial. And we

add her to the, we don't add her to the characters,

but I mean, she's a part of the characters. And

the whole thing with the laborer, I mean - Oh,

you mean his backstory or? Yeah, his backstory

and even his, like, in issue three when... Let

me see here. Where is it? Come on. Look, dude.

Your damn job. When he goes about, when he goes

and says, you've killed us all. Oh, wait, that's

actually not our laborer. That's one of my favorite

scenes. That's where the artisan is showing the

kid. what the Kill Lock does. And that is just

heart wrenching. The little scene where, so I

don't know if this is too huge of a spoiler,

but there's basically four other robots that

have been Kill Locked together, and there's three

of them that are just kind of hanging out together,

and one of them has stayed on a different planet.

Yep, it's on a beach planet or something. this,

you know, other robot, he's just like, wow, I

finally found someone that loves me, and I've

never been this happy, and then he dies, and

it's horrible. And it's, I mean, you know, we,

the kid is watching in horror, but we are also

watching in horror on behalf of ourselves, not

on behalf of anyone else. We're just legitimately

horrified. Yeah, good stuff. So there's that

little interaction. I love the little interaction

with the Wraith and the tiny person on the planet

that he destroyed, that he tries to help. And

then, you know, you're just like, man, I love

the Wraith. And then the person is just like,

no, I am not on your side. You destroyed my planet.

They're like, oh, yeah, it's not going to be

something that you just get over quickly. Yeah.

And the thing is, like, yes, there are a lot

of, I think, geekdom at large. A lot of people

like, like, okay, you've said this before, that

you feel like you are essentially Optimus Prime.

You have his values, you have his characteristics,

that's your character, but you also love Megatron.

And Megatron in certain... continuities and stories

he is one of the most evilest characters that

you can find and I feel like it's you know it's

a big thing for the last let's say decade or

so that everyone has gravitated towards loving

the bad guys and that's not necessarily not okay

but it's okay because The bad guys are compelling.

If you have a hero, say, Optimus Prime, Rodimus

Prime, Ironhide, whatever, the hero is there

to save the day. But the villain, like, all of

these characters, with the exception of the kid,

the laborer, the wraith, and the artisan, and

even to a lesser extent the axial, they all have

characteristics, like, that nobody should like.

Yeah. The artisan is a murderer. He murdered

his coworkers. He is evil. But the way that he

is written and the way that he is designed and

the way that he interacts with the, like, he's

not just going to, like, again, the whole premise

of this book in the story is the kill lock. If

one dies, they all die. So he's not going to

just be an asshole to be an asshole. He's gonna

be an asshole to figure out how to get them out

of this situation So yeah to get what he wants

and it's it's really his his So he is the type

of character that I usually actually always I

can't think of a time when I'm not I find terrifying

yeah, the highly intelligent manipulator, you

know is going to lie and use you yeah and So,

yeah, again, the fact that by the end of it,

I'm like, okay, still find you terrifying and

morally repugnant, but also I'm impressed. Yeah,

exactly. Because again, it's all about the way

we start with the characters in the beginning

compared to where we end up with them at the

end of issue six and their growth through that

story. I don't want to say by, and this isn't

a spoiler, but I don't want to say by the end

of it, they're all friends, but at the same time,

they all can't be enemies either because. I mean,

in the end, they're just stuck in a different

way. Yeah, exactly. And the fact that this is

a societal story, that society, okay, you don't

look down on the murderer, but the kids specifically.

He got punished because he wasn't finished. He

wasn't like, it's like going to, and I, it's

like going to Star Wars, the Phantom Menace and

saying to C -3PO who isn't even like, Anakin

just started building him. Like, you know, okay,

C -3PO, you are now, you know, condemned because

you're not, you don't have your gold plating

and you don't have your full voice box or whatever.

You know, it's like. He didn't do anything. It's

like he didn't jaywalk. He didn't run a red light.

He didn't like, you know, steal sugar from the

old lady next door. He made their quote -unquote

perfect greater society look bad. It's yeah,

there's a lot of really interesting social commentary.

It's an interesting book and it's social commentary

with out getting the politics into it. It's just,

hey, have you noticed this about humanity, which

is, again, my favorite thing about stories about

robots who are people is it's like, here's an

aspect of society that's recognizable. And now

you're going to look at it in a different way.

Yeah, because you see, you know, we've all seen

People like the you know like the rate of came

maybe not world destroy. I'm not trying to get

like i feel like i'm a bad podcaster by saying

this but. Between the race in the artist and

one of them could be. Jeffrey Dahmer and the

other could be Ted Kaczynski. What I'm saying

is these characteristics of these characters

we've seen in real life in history. And again,

I don't think Livio was bringing any of that

into this and that's good, but I'm saying we

as the readers, as the consumers of this book,

as people who love comics, who love the art style

that Livio had, I mean, the man has an art style

unlike any other artist i have ever seen and

it's so great and what's so great about it is

yes you can i can i've pulled all these various

references to office space to transformers to

star wars to whatever because i see that like

that's in my brain and i see that in some of

these characters like you know it's just one

of those things where You're going to relate

these characters to things you already know or

make references to the point of, oh, the artisan

destroyed this world and he's kind of, you know,

not exactly like, I don't know. He's, he's in

the way of, oh my God, this is what I did, but

this was what my job was like. you know, that

whole, should I follow it or shouldn't I follow

it kind of thing. Wade, are you talking about

the artisan or the Wraith? The Wraith. Okay,

just to clarify for the audience, he meant the

Wraith. Yeah, I meant the Wraith. I thought I

said the Wraith. Well, the Wraith is interesting

in terms of, because we see people now who are

absolutely certain of their moral correctness.

Who are very powerful? Mm -hmm, and it's kind

of a hey make sure you Question your certainties

every so often. Yeah kind of thing I I actually

really like the way he writes the laborer I end

up really really liking the labor and the thing

that I mean I know that We recommended those

audio commentaries that Livia recorded the thing

that he brought out that I really There were

two things from those that I really went. Oh

One was that the creepy Vegas planet is built

on like a giant body sort of like nowhere in

Guardians of the Galaxy which I could not tell

from looking at it. Yeah, and then the second

one was just how he was really writing the laborer

as a guy who is good at understanding people

while still being very rough around the edges.

I just finished watching the Chernobyl series

and there's a miner in there who's very similar.

Yeah, the laborer is an interesting character

because the laborer is someone who likes to drink,

but He's trying like, you know, he's intentionally

trying not to, you know, do that. So he can be,

you know, I don't want to say normal, but he

can be clear. That's what I needed. He'd be clear

minded on what is going on and he can understand

and help with whatever is going on. And he is

one of those characters that is like, Okay, this

is a real struggle for him, but look how he's

approaching it. And he's intentionally like somebody

else. No, can't do it. Just can't. Nope. Sorry.

I don't want that drink. And as much as I do

want that drink, I'm not going to drink that

drink kind of thing. It's, it's a complete commentary

on alcoholism where, you know, that's an addiction

that Go ahead. Sorry. Oh, yeah. No, I just I

love where he just like looks at the kid and

says, don't ever try this ever. I feel like there's

more to him even than just a commentary on alcoholism.

I feel I felt like that was almost a secondary

aspect of his personality, but that the main

aspect of his personality is just a very unassuming

emotional and social intelligence. Because like

there's that scene at the very beginning where

the artisan is like, huh, Good job. You used

the kid to get the Wraith to kind of come out

of his hole and get moving. I noticed that and

I want you to know, I know that you have this

ability to, you know, work with people. And he

continues, he's not so, oh, this is what it is,

where the artisan is just a manipulator, like

a, a completely Completely selfish manipulator.

Yeah, the laborer is very much just a dude who

will also Occasionally just really work well

with people and he's not perfect like I mean

he absolutely goes to a bar one time and forgets

his entire mission but um I don't know. He's

just a good dude. He's just a good solid, dude

Yeah, absolutely. He's one of those worker types,

you know, one of those true like Polish yeah

When I was growing up in the 80s when I was a

kid My grandfather was a carpenter all my uncles

were carpenters They were also fishermen and

it's New England and it's this and it's that

and it's everything you think New England is

and all this and all that but it's that My dad

My dad has been working since probably age 13

or 14 or 15 and he's now and he's now over 65

years old My dad has been working his ass off

For nearly six decades of his life and it's that

that's what I see. Yeah in the laborer the laborer

Even though he got drunk and forgot what his

mission was He is trying his best to be that

worker, to be that person that, like you said,

will work with anyone. I don't drink. Have I

drank in the past? Yes, I have, but I don't,

I've never drank to excess. I've never, like,

because I don't, I don't like alcohol. It's not

my thing. And that's fine. But for me, like right

now today in 2022, I will say to anyone that.

If you want a podcast with me, you let me know

what the time is and I will be there with whatever

we're going to do. And I can work with any schedule.

You need to record at midnight. You need to record

at 5 a .m., 5 p .m., 7 p .m., 1 p .m., 11 a .m.,

whatever it is. I can make the time and I can

work with you to the point of as long as you

want to be on the show and talking about whatever

it is we're going to talk about, let's do it.

Let's figure out how to get it done. And so that's

the kind of thing that I see in the labor for

myself is I'm working around and working with

everyone to make sure we have a great podcast.

And in this comic book, Livio has a character

like that, that will basically bring out certain

things out of the other characters that are attached

to this kill locks thing. Yeah. The whole idea

of the Kill Lock as a punishment is just super

interesting. It is, and it's so different from

anything else. I can't think of anything else

that's the same kind of idea, and that's fun.

Feel like something is is legitimately new and

I don't even have a problem of stuff being Reminding

me of other things. In fact, I think that often

deepens stories. But yeah, this is a very cool

new idea Yeah, so props to Livio for that yeah,

absolutely and Normally specifically the Transformers

IDW books Honestly, it's any comic book. I have

always had a problem with going from the present

to either the future or the past. Normally in

the Transformers books, and I'm not saying anything

against Livio himself or his work, but normally

in the Transformers books when they go to the

past, it's Livio's art. So let's say Alex Milne

is the main artist on Mother Meets the Eye, which

he was. but you have Livio come in and do a past

section if they do that past present past present

past present in too much of a quick rotation

like two or three panels or two or three pages

in a row it takes me out of the story because

jumping around from point to point to point to

point to point too much however when Livio does

it in here because it is all his style and all

as he did was kind of it's not monotone it's

uh it's a different uh it's what is it called

he does it in a way where you see the difference

of the present versus yeah it's always very clear

which is cool i'm flipping through really fast

to see it so am i while i'm flipping through

i will give my one critique which is when they

go to the planet where they think the cure is,

that's where the story kind of slows down for

me. And I kind of stopped caring because I'm

just like, they're fighting. And then it's like,

never mind. There's interesting stuff. Yep. Okay.

Yeah. But I mean, I'm, I'm looking through all

of this and I'm seeing now. Oh, well, here it

is. It's at the beginning of issue four. So it's

then, and it starts out with, you know, Oh yeah,

that's right. Cause where the race is. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. I'm like, we should probably not

spoil this. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We're not spoiling it. I'm just, I wanted to

bring it up because of the, my whole point in

saying all of this is the time jump and the continuity

of the story kind of thing. Normally I don't

like those because they, you know, just I don't

know. It's just too abrupt between them, but

the way Livio does it, it's a smooth transition

from the last panel of what is it? It's page

77 of the trade where that ends. And then you

get to now where they have, you know, they have

the Wraith saying, best to get a sense of the

world before announcing our presence. I shall

survey the perimeter and report back." So, you

know, you go from the previous pages of the past

to the current pages of now in issue four, and

it's all Livio's art, but it's all... it's slightly

changed. It isn't like a major change, and that's

what I love about the story is that he has melded

the... Present and the past together so well

that it doesn't take you out of the story He's

good at using just color cues to locate you in

a place. I feel like that's more It's it's not

like the past is desaturated or anything. It's

just this place is purple this place is green

this place is orange and you just always kind

of know where you are. And that's really helpful.

Yep. To storytelling. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,

when they announced this, I was so happy for

Livio, but I never got a chance. Like this is

the first time I've read it. I've always wanted

to. I mean, I had plans for you and I to do this

when you said you had read it when at first like

when you were reading the issue by issue. And

I was grabbing random strangers on the street.

This is good. Forget that stupid Spider -Man

guy. You read this. It's that kind of thing.

Like, oh my god, this is so good. And it is.

We're not exaggerating when we say that, the

excitement in our voices, folks. It's really

good. It's really good. And we're intentionally

not going story beat by story beat this time

because everyone should read this. Yeah. I'm

so excited that you decided to do that because

this So much of the experience of reading this

story is the discovery along the way and that

is very very cool and these like if a story about

robots who are Linked together by a thing that

if one of them dies, they all die These are robots

that have so many varying designs and I look

at the artisan This is at the end of issue five,

going into issue six. It's the last page. I'm

like, that is the most unique robot designer.

His face, man. Those two panels. It's terrifying.

It's terrifying, but it's so cool. And the thing

that's kind of trippy is that you are terrified

of a rectangle. This shouldn't be this creepy,

but it is And I mean all of the covers for this

I mean we'll get to the variants later, but all

of the main covers for this story are Just so

cool. Yeah, they really are Yeah, I remember

in the commentary, and I'm just looking at this

now from the last page of issue 5 going into

issue 6 You see the artisan on that last page

you flip it to issue 6 issue 6 is cover is essentially

It's not chalk but it's a More of a monochrome

Kind of design where it's the artisan's face,

but it's the kill lock symbol on His face for

the final cover. I had never really noticed that

was the Oh man. Well, Livio said it in the commentary

for issue six. I noticed it at first and then

I went back and I looked at it and I was like,

because right now I'm looking at the artists

and on the final page of issue five and going

into, I'm like, holy crap, that's, wow, that

is cool. And then issue six has, yeah, it's,

like I said folks, we're not gonna spoil the

end. What I will say is throughout the entirety

of the story, the Wraith, the way his face is,

is he has these fiery lines. It's a... It's like

he's wearing an old knight helmet. Yep. It's

like, he reminds me, his design reminds me a

lot of the original Fallen, the one that looked

like a wood stove. He's got that just like fire

inside of him and just huge thick armor. And

I totally interrupted you. What were you going

to finish? Well, it's kind of like a T with two

extra, you know, so you have a T and then you

put another, another two crossbars, another two

crossbars. Yeah. and it's so cool and what's

cool about it is depending on what he's doing

the color of it the color doesn't change but

it flashes various you know fire colors and by

the end with what happens at the end we're not

gonna say but with what happens at the end i'm

like okay i need to read the artisan wreath right

now because that final before that final page

his face the T, it turns Decepticon purple and

I'm just like, oh my God, this is so good. Yeah,

I'm totally going to go back and reread Artisan

Wraith Start to Finish instead of reading it

over the course of several months. And I also

noticed that Livio put out commentary on that

too, so I'm going to listen to those and then

I'll just be like, okay, I get it. Yeah, so to

kind of wrap this up, folks. Go buy the Kill

Lock. It's very good. Yes, you don't need us

to be spoiling the story for you. All you need

to know is the Kill Lock is a program, a punishment

program. It is a punishment piece of technology

where four prisoners or four criminals and a

kid. are three criminals and a kid are basically

locked together. One dies, they all die. That's

really all you need to know going in and then

you just get immersed in the story yourself.

Livio at the back of the trade has the thank

you so much and he talks about the kill lock

and everything else and there's that and then

there's all these variant covers that are so

cool. Does he have the psychological profiles

in the trade? Yep. Okay, cool, because that's

that was a neat thing. He got like a licensed

clinical psychologist to write these. Dr. Andrea

Ledamendi, who is a friend and who has been on

the podcast before, she is married to Brian Ward.

They're together, they've been together for years

now, but she's married to him. But yeah, she

is a, let's see, what does it say here? Come

on, zoom in. Dr. Andrea Letamendi, licensed clinical

psychologist, co -hosts the Arkham Sessions.

And I have, so the interesting thing, because

I have a Google Pixel 6 Pro, and it has Google

Lens on it. And what Google Lens allows you to

do is if you take a screenshot, you can then

copy the text out of the screenshot. So I have

been copying psychological profiles, because

I want to be able to read them later. And it's

something we will most definitely do for the

next episode, whenever we get to the artisan

wraith. It'll probably be whenever the artisan

wraith is collected into a trade. But I have

those saved now and this is just fun, folks.

I mean, we have a zero to five rating scale here

at the GCRN. There's nothing in this that is

bad, so for me it's fives all around. Oh yeah,

holy cow, fives. Yeah, because it's so good.

Yeah. It's everything you think you want and

more for a story. Yeah. It kind of scratches

all the boxes. Like, do you like watching people

have to get along? Yes. Do you like really cool

visuals? Yes. Do you like really interesting

sci -fi concepts? Yes. Do you like really creepy,

horrible violence? There you go. Um, yeah, it's,

it's good stuff. Yeah. It's just, it's just everything.

And it's just a fun, interesting. don't do new

things so well unless it's something I like I'm

gonna be open -minded about it and I kind of

like what I've seen so far but I've heard a lot

of people say oh Transformers earth spark I'm

not gonna watch I helped somebody run a podcast

called All Things Transformers. I have to at

least check it out. Or even BotBots. I never

got into the toys because I didn't know what

the toys were at the time when they were out.

And then the cartoon finally hits and I'm like,

oh, this is freaking cool. I love this. This

is awesome. And we're going to eventually do

a whole BotBots episode over on All Things Transformers.

But again, this is just... The Kill Walk to me

is like somebody reading any classic DC or Marvel

story, whether it's Civil War with Marvel, or

if it's Death of Superman with DC, or if it's

Dark Knight Returns from DC. It is on that level

and more. Yeah. To me, it feels like it reminds

me of my dad used to read to us when I was little

and he was like a theater actor guy and so he

would do it really really well and it reminds

me of some of the like oh not just Edgar Allan

Poe but like oh Henry who was like really good

at surprise endings and and just old writers

that are still remembered now for being you know

good at their craft it has that sort of old but

new feeling to it. And, you know, like I said,

that just continual unfolding of more and more

opening story, which is very cool. We're just

saying the same thing over and over, guys. Go

buy the book. It's very good. You'll be glad

you did. I guarantee you, if there's some sort

of comic book shot, like in 50 years from now,

there's some sort of remnants whatever earth

ends up being 50 years from now because I won't

be here in 50 years but it's one of those things

where in 50 years from now if there are remnants

of a comic book shop that burned down and this

one book is the only book that didn't burn and

it's the kill lock and somebody finds it and

somebody finds it and they read it And it changes

their life. It's that kind of story. It is it.

Livia Rimmandelli has created the new classic

for the future of comic books, in my personal

opinion, with this story. That is such a cool

idea, because yeah, I would be okay. Only comic

book that survived, you know, the apocalypse.

Yeah. Was this one. I think it would. Wow, dang.

Sorry, I know you're trying to wrap up, but one

of the things that fascinates me about comics

is how they just crystallize how we are as a

society thinking about deep things. And I find

this one to have a – yeah, okay. All right. If

this is the only comic book that survives, that

would be okay. And I think it would speak well

of humanity in a weird way and say a lot about

us. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, again, this is

just, like you said, like I've said, this is

just an amazing comic that everyone needs to

experience. If you like sci -fi, if you like

robots, if you like traveling from planet to

planet, if you're a Star Trek fan, a Star Wars

fan, Transformers fan, any kind of fan of...

All of these franchises, you have a guy, Livio

Remindelli, and Tom, the way Tom B. Long letters

this, and Livio talks about this in the commentaries,

the way he letters the Wraith versus lettering

everybody else and everything else, the Wraith

has more of a heavy ink to it, and it's more

of a world ending kind of. my god, I have destroyed

everything I feel like yes, it was my job, but

it makes oh god I regret my path and but it's

this big deep Impactful thing. Yeah, and it's

just in the change of the lettering and it's

just so cool Well, and yeah, I'm sorry. Just

really fast. I think that's worth calling out

because changes in lettering style can be obnoxious,

and they can pull you out of the story. And this

could so easily pull you out of the story. But

it works. Yeah, it just works. He very carefully

chooses the size and the font. Yep. And makes

it work. It's just yeah, go Tom. Yeah, it's just

amazing. Just amazing. All right. We're gonna

take a quick break, you're gonna hear some ads

and some other stuff, and we will be back to

close the show after this. Hey, welcome to the

last Comic Shop Podcast! A comic book podcast

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Toycast. Alright folks we are back as we said

the kill lock idw publishing livio remandelli

tommy long and others It's just amazing go get

it go get it digitally go get a physical copy

Tell your comic book shops about this every time

I've gone into a comic book shop in the last

five years The first thing any of the any of

the employees doesn't matter which shop it is

like I've been to a lot of comic book shops in

the last five years, but Oh, did you read the

new Batman? Did you read the new Superman? And

look, I love DC, I love Marvel, I love all this

stuff. But stuff like the Kill Lock, stuff like

Radiant Black, which eventually we will cover

on this show. This original kind of universe

-building stuff. And I'm not saying the Kill

Lock is going to be a universe -builder. So far,

Livio has only done six issues for the original

and six issues for the sequel. Um, but it's just

one of those books where you need to check it

out. You just do. You know, have, have your local

comic book shop people check it out and have

them talking about it because word of mouth on

a comic like this is intoxicating and it's going

to spread the word about this and everyone's

going to know about it. Heck yeah. I was, I was

telling Mike last night, dear listeners that

I bought. the trade for my local library of the

Killlock because I wanted everybody in my tiny

town to know this story. That's right. Anything

else you want to say before I run through the

closing? Nope. Just read this book. It's good

stuff. Absolutely. Thank you for joining us here

inside The Pull Bag. If you'd like to get in

contact with us or leave feedback for the show,

there are several ways to do so. Visit the website,

geekcastradio .com, where you can listen to and

comment on all of our posts, content, and all

that good stuff. Go to this post on the website,

because I will be linking Livio's website as

well as his YouTube channel, where he has all

of the commentary videos. After you've read the

book, go listen to the commentaries. Send us

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as well join us next time when we will be discussing

transformers versus terminator the second to

last idw crossover before they lose the license

at the end of the year because we already covered

transformers back to the future a couple of episodes

ago and transformers versus terminator came out

before that So for now, I am TF2 and Mike with

Hot Heat Prime. As always, make your greatest

game into comics and jump inside the pullback

today. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

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comics and unleash the geek in you.