Comic Reading Origins with Dan from Rock Nerd Radio

Hey, it's your friendly neighborhood Spider -Man

here, and I'm swinging by the Geekcast Radio

Network. This is Kevin Conroy. And I am the goddamn

Batman. You've just jumped inside the pullback.

Join TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic crew

here at the GCRN as they make their great escape

into comics. From DC, Marvel, and Image to IDW,

Bloom Studios, and Cinescope, we have everything

right here. We cover things like Transformers,

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

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

all inside the pull bag here on the Geekcast

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

time to talk about the comics we're reading right

now, here inside the pull bag. Hello and welcome

to The Pull Bag, only on the GeekCast Radio Network.

This is episode 492. We are on our way to 500

episodes of this podcast. I never thought I'd

ever have a podcast. That was 500 episodes, now

100 episodes. I'm, of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining

me tonight for his comic reading origins is Dan

from HudsonRiverRadio .com's Rock Nerd Radio.

Hello, sir. Hey, Mike. How you doing, man? I'm

okay, how are you? I'm doing alright, thank you.

Having a busy day, but happy to be able to record

with you. Absolutely. So we have followed, I

have followed you on Twitter, you followed me

on Twitter, I don't remember how we, it was probably

just the purple and the logo that I, the whole

reason, like why I even followed you, because

black and purple, the two best colors ever. And

yeah, so we are here to talk about comics, 25

questions, all about how you got into or out

of reading comics. Did you grow up reading comics

and at what age do you first remember reading

or noticing comics? You know, that's a great

question. I've been reading comics since I could

read something that I don't. I haven't told a

lot of people, but I don't have a problem sharing

it is that I'm actually dyslexic and reading

for me was very difficult as a kid. So my mom

would try to get me. My mom was an educator.

when she would try to get me to read stuff and

be into things and i was struggling i just wasn't

into it so i'm around. When i was in first grade

the x -men cartoon aired on fox kids and i was

all about x -men and you know superheroes from

then on out. So my mom was just kind of be like

all right you're gonna read comic books if that's

gonna get you to read them so be it and yes since

i learned to read i've been reading comics and

it's what kept me interested in reading pretty

much. That is very very awesome. I am slightly

older than you and I started with like transformers

storybooks so it's around here somewhere, but

I have the I believe I assume it was Marvel books

cuz that's who had the transformers visual reading

thing back in those days It's transformers the

movie wheelie the wild boy of quintesson and

it's a mix of it. It's one of those Books where

it's a mix of images and, and like maybe one

or one paragraph or two paragraphs per page.

So yeah, that's, and then obviously comics came

way, way later for me, but, uh, but yeah, no,

that's awesome. That is great that comics helped

you get to the point where you needed to be.

Yeah. And yeah. And speaking of those transformer

books, I had a transformer choose your adventure

book. So, uh, so my mom would throw that at me

pretty often, but the only problem was. I get

tired of reading the same beginning each and

every time. Optimus Prime needs to go this way

or he needs to go this way. Which way? Whatever

way has him in front of the gun first. Megatron

pulled that trigger. Hot Rod did not pull that

trigger. So anyway, it's a whole thing with me.

As a kid, well, you just said your mom, but basically

was there a parent friend? whomever said here

can read this comment go away you bother me.

It was it was both my parents trying to get me

to read and then i have i have two older brothers

to you know your older brothers will hand stuff

down at down after a while once they kind of

feel they're too old for they get tired of it

so after a while my brothers would just be like

here you know read this issue spiderman go away

like that was it you know they they want to watch

tv in their room they want me to get out of their

room. They'd hand me a comic and that was that.

So I think inadvertently, my family steered me

into this direction. I don't think they ever

thought that I'd be in my late thirties podcasting

about comic books and still reading them and

collecting memorabilia and things like that.

Yeah, it's it's one hell of a hobby, isn't it?

Oh, yeah. When you were a kid, which characters

were your favorites? We're going back to what

i said i think a lot of it had you know where

the x -men because of the x -men animated tv

show wolverine i gravitated to because you know

they made him like the super cool dude that everybody

you know wanted to like in that show and they

are they pushed him that way in the comics we

also had a video rental place i don't know if

you remember the marvel comics video library.

And they always had like a Spider -Man episode

at the end of them. So I was big into Spider

-Man too. You know, I might watch an episode

about Thor or the Hulk, but then I'd see an episode

every time about Spider -Man. So I really got

into Spider -Man as a kid too. Yeah, no, I do

not remember those ones. I remember other video

type things, but I do not remember those. Age

-old question. DC or Marvel? Man you know it's

that's a great question and I was just featured

on it on a different podcast we were discussing

this as a kid I was more into Marvel simply because

that's what I was reading you know that's what

I was handed. And you know the X -Men were everywhere

but at the same time you know you had things

like Batman the animated series that was on TV

eventually the Superman cartoon that Warner Brothers

put out. So, it wasn't an aversion to DC Comics.

It was just that I was just reading Marvel. And

then when I hit college, you know, a really good

friend of mine, I'm still friends with him to

this day, he was like, dude, I think you would

like, you know, Green Lantern or I think you

would like The Flash. And I started reading those

titles just kind of on a whim. So I respect both

companies, but definitely as a kid, it was it

was straight up Marvel. You know, how about you?

Did you have a preference growing up? I didn't

because I was more of a cartoon kid than a comics

kid. I didn't do... I remember going out to Walden

Books to see if I could find a comic version

of whichever episode of Spider -Man the animated

series was on at the time. But I think the only

thing I remember about comics in the nineties

as a teenager is what I just reacquired in the

last month or so. And I'll talk about that in

a minute. But what I remember is one really,

really dark, and it was not Dark Knight Returns.

It was not the traditional. It wasn't year one.

It was some Batman story. And no one has ever

been able to tell me what this is because I don't

know what it was, but it was like this super

dark Batman story. And I know it was not dark

night returns, like I said. And yeah, I just

gravitated more towards the cartoons and the

thing that I reacquired because again, back then

in those days you had to go to Walden books or

whatever other bookstore or some grocery store

book. section might have comics, DC versus Marvel,

that four issue 90s mini series. Oh, I just reacquired

the trade and oh God, my head hurts and not because

of the trade itself, but reacquiring the trade

because this trade is not the trade paperback

of those four issues is. Everything that people

say about old book, like, oh, do you smell old

books? Yes, everybody takes a whiff of an old

book. I mean, that's like asking an addict if

they light up once a day. Don't do drugs, kids.

You know, it's just one of those things. And

I got this thing in the mail the other day and

I looked through it and I forgot because. You

look at comic books today and look at the paper

that they use now versus what they used almost

30 years ago. That paper is, it's just like a

book. I mean, it's not technically book stock,

but you know what I mean? Like it's literally

like it, it's that old book thing. And I was

like, Oh God. And I forgot that. Because and

I didn't know trade paperbacks back then and

most trades nowadays will do some sort of bio

or some sort of whatever. Obviously this is something

special because heaven forbid DC and Marvel ever

do anything together. But you know, you, you

have bios for all the creators, you have bios

for all the characters in the back of the book.

You have all four of the main covers in the back

of the book. And I'm just like, holy crap. So

we're going to cover that on this podcast. At

some point. I don't know when and I don't know

who with how we doing it, but yeah, I'm going

to have to read that. And I know technically

the two Funko pops I have sitting on top of this

book. One of them was nowhere near DC at the

time, but Because I can't find any of my other

Batman ones. I have 94 Spider -Man, Funko Pop

and Batman Beyond Funko Pop sitting on top of

DC versus Marvel. A real quick aside to that

DC versus Marvel thing. Did you ever hear what

was supposed to be the outcome of that? No, I

just know what's in the book. So one of the outcomes

that was proposed was that Green Lantern was

going to go to Marvel like they were going to

trade two heroes and Green Lantern would have

landed in Marvel and Daredevil would have landed

in Gotham as like a I don't want to say an apprentice

to Batman but an ally to Batman and The the idea

was nixed in the you know in the 11th hour But

that was one of the ways that that book was supposed

to end. Thank God it never did that All right.

So you mentioned Green Lantern and the Flash

are a couple of your favorite characters. We'll

talk more about characters later, but. Which

Green Lantern and which flash? Oh, man, that

that is a loaded question. You know, I I really

like Kyle, Kyle Rayner as Green Lantern. A lot

of people say, oh, well, that's because when

you grew up, but as I said, I didn't really read.

Green Lantern until I was in college and that

was when Jeff Johns took back over and he did

Darkest Night and things like that in Sinestro

Core War. So I do like Hal but for whatever reason

I just really like Kyle. I love the way that

they played off that he was an artist so his

constructs were very... Our team, for lack of

a better word, I always enjoyed that. And with

Flash, it was always Barry. Nothing against Wally,

but Barry was my go -to. Really? Yeah. Yeah,

for me, it's always been John first, then Kyle.

Okay. I would probably, even though I'm not a

huge fan, I don't know that much about him, I'd

probably take, like Hal would be dead la. You

put everybody in the la - I would pick the Guardians

before I would pick Hal Jordan. And then Flash,

it's all about Lex Luthor as the Flash in the

Justice League cartoon. It's all about Michael

Rosenbaum's The Flash. Yep. That body swap episode.

I love that episode, man Brain robbery. That

was amazing. You what's your name? Tell me And

then that he takes I love the part Luther takes

off the flash his mask he goes finally I know

who the flash is. He lives of no idea who this

is. He just puts it back. Yeah Cuz that's the

thing like I mean We I mean, I'm sure in the

in the comics we all knew for those of us reading

comics at that time in 2000 Just like 2001 2006.

Yeah, 2001 2006. I'm sure we all knew Wally had

red hair, but yes the fact that you have in Think

it's a better world part two Bruce Wayne Wally

West Clark, you know Clark Kent, you know that

whole the whole reveal and Wally says Oh, yeah,

and he pulls pulls his his his his cowl off and

Wonder Woman's like red hair It suits you like

nobody knew like I mean nobody really cared Honestly

when it came to the cartoon what color hair Wally

was gonna have but it was just like, you know,

right? Hey, let's just keep it the way it's supposed

to be kind of thing Yeah So besides DC and Marvel,

what other publishers do you enjoy reading? That's

a good question. And I think if you asked me

this 10 years ago, all I would be able to tell

you was IDW. I really love their Transformers

stuff. But since then, and more recently in the

past two, three years, I've been just diving

into other stuff, you know, bad idea was around,

it was here and then it was gone maybe. So I've

been reading some of the bad idea titles. I've

been reading some stuff from Image. I've been

reading some, you know, just now it's more a

follow writers around. So it's not necessarily

just a company. You know, Donny Cates was doing

crossover. So I've been reading that. Jeff Johns

did Geiger. So I was reading that. You know,

just because I like the writers, not so much

that, you know, I'm following a character or

company anymore. So, I mean, IDW for 17 years

now or so has been the company that was Mr. And

or Ms. You know, franchise property or, you know,

it was, it was, they had everything. They had

Joe, they had transformers, they had mask for

a while. They had Hell, they had My Little Pony.

They had My Little Pony. They had Back to the

Future. Any 80s property or sometimes even 90s

properties you can think of, they've had them

at one point or another. The direction that they're

going, I don't know. Generally, I don't follow

companies either. I'm with you. I follow creators.

With IDW back then like when I first started

back in 2013 when this podcast started was oh

I I was told one I was told two things You started

the death that you can start at the death of

Optimus Prime And then you can either go to more

than meets the eye or robots in disguise or you

can read them both Well, we've covered every

single version of the IDW 2 .0 series That barber

and Roberts have done on this podcast and yeah,

they were the franchise company. Image has got

some great stuff. I was never in on Image way

back in the day, but again, following a creator,

I still wish, I still wish Kyle Higgins got to

tell his Nightwing story and I still wish Dan.

I'm sorry, you share. I always call him and I've

been doing this for almost nine and a half, 10.

It's not the Dio, it's Dan DiDildo is what it

is because he always wanted to kill Nightwing,

always wanted to kill Dick Grayson. I'm like,

dude, let it go. Like seriously, just let the...

So I followed Kyle and Kyle went to various companies

and did various things. He's done some creator

on stuff. And like he's got his series cowl,

which is based on characters from his short film.

He's got radiant black. Now is the, is the new

hotness over there image and just that whole

massive verse that images is starting. And it's

just really, really fun, but I don't want to

just, the whole point question four and five

is let's have a DC Marvel discussion. And oh,

by the way, what are the others that you do?

You know, kind of thing, because. I don't want

to just mention DC and Marvel because the show

is not just DC and and Marvel. The show is everything.

So we follow. Everything sort of almost kind

of. And, you know, it's it's also interesting,

too, because I feel like I'm not trying to make

anyone feel bad, but like you're noncomic fans,

people who just kind of know movies and stuff.

I feel like a lot of them don't realize how many

publishers are out there. Yeah. So if I mention,

let's say bloodshot, you know, because that that

came out right before everything slammed into

quarantine mode. You know, like I mentioned it

and somebody was like, oh, is he a Marvel or

DC? And I was like, neither. And they looked

at me and they were like, what do you mean, neither?

He has to be one or the other. I was like, no,

no, there's there's a lot more out there. And

like it was like it was like, you know, just

like told this person the secret of the universe.

They they truly had no idea that there's more

than Marvel and DC and. You know, in a way it's

funny, in another way it's upsetting because,

you know, I think anything can be good. It doesn't

have to be Marvel. It doesn't have to be DC.

Yeah. And I mean, obviously, they both have,

obviously, their wheelhouses and both of them,

specifically DC, over the years has had imprints

like Vertigo, like this, like this, whatever

else, you know, that they've been able to do

other things outside of the superhero stuff.

I mean, Marvel has its... Obviously the 616 and

then it's got the ultimates and then it's got

this and that and then obviously you throw what

if in there and you've got essentially three

different universes that you can play with. Right.

Even though most if not all of those universes

are superheroes when it comes to Marvel, at least

it's different things. Same thing with the other

publishers. Like I said, IDW for the longest

time was the franchise publisher because, oh

god, they're run on turtles. I have a friend

who, who he has every issue. He loves it. He

swears by that. So good. So good. And there,

there are things in that IDW TMNT series from

issue one, all the way up to 100 and even going

on past that that are just like, Oh my God, they

did what? Oh, and I've talked to Tom Walts and

I've talked to Bobby Kernel a couple of times

and I got to catch back up with them, but like.

What they've done along with obviously having

Kevin Eastman there just what they've been able

to do since it's been. It's been 11 years since

they had since since IDW's had the license so

it's like they just can't do. Really anything

wrong at all when it comes to turtles yeah so.

All right print or digital which one both either

or and why or why not. Oh, man, that's a great

question. And I'm sorry if that sounds like a

candid or, you know, like a rehearsed response.

But, you know, there's a quote by Stan Lee, and

I don't know if you're familiar with it, but

he said, you know, he loves holding a comic book

in his hand. You know, he likes digital, but

he basically said, and I'm getting the quote

all wrong now, but he said, comic books are like

boobs. They're great to look at, but you'd rather

hold one. Yeah. That's that sounds like Stan.

Yeah, so so I love having things in print. I

love being able to hold on to the book. But,

you know, this is this is just for me. I have

some eye issues going on. So sometimes, you know,

reading a book on a tablet is great because it

zooms in large enough where I can read it, you

know, if I'm having some struggles that day or

something. So I love having the physical one

in front of me. I don't mind doing it digital.

I would hate to see it move to a purely digital

format because, you know, then if let's say you're

using Comixology, if Comixology shuts down, you

don't have any books anymore. You know, like

having a physical thing, you have to come into

my house and take it from me. A digital one,

the service shuts down and then that's it. You

don't have it anymore. So I'm always going to

go print. Digital has become a nice a nice tool

to use. I like. did and for me, because I'm,

I also have, I've been technically legally blind

since birth, even though I'm not actually blind.

I have optic atrophy, which is nerve damage,

which no late, no surgery could ever fix. And

I have a NUS stigmatism, not a stigmatism NUS.

So NY stigmatism. So it basically, I have an

issue with things farther away. Like basically

I can tell you that There's a stop sign down

the street. I know it's the color red. I know

it's the shape that the stop sign is, but I wouldn't

be able to read STOP unless I'm less than five

feet away from it kind of thing. So for me, it's

like, I need to, in order to read the story,

I need to see the words and whatever else. And

comixology back in 2013, when I started the shows.

Amazing because they had guided view and guided

view was basically story, but you know, it was

panel by panel storyboard. Oh yeah. It's very,

yeah. Storyboard reading. And I, we've talked

about this at length and I'll ask, ask your opinion

on it, but I hate Amazon for screwing it up.

Oh my God, dude. You're the, there was one morning

I was getting ready for work. And I had just

added a couple of Marvel books, that week's Marvel

books. I pulled the digital code. And when I

went to download the books, it was like, you

need to update. So I was like, all right, whatever,

another update. I pressed update. And everything

was different. And I hated it. And I was frantically

like, how do I default back to the old one? I

was trying to look it up. Oh my God, what a pain

the new system is. I don't like it at all. All

is they, and this is just my personal opinion.

I don't know. I'm not a computer programmer.

I don't program websites. My buddy Steve Megatron

does all our website work and all that and everything

else around here. In my personal opinion, I've

said this before on the show, all is they would

have had to have done to keep specifically web,

comixology web, so on Chrome, whatever you choose

to use. All they'd have to do is put an Amazon

in front of it or behind it. So if they wanted

it to be amazon .com, amazon .comixology .com

or amazon .com slash comixology, all they had

to change was a URL. You could have still had

the comixology website. You did not need to bring

this in. Kindle is for book reading. It's not

for comic. Thankfully for now, even though I

hate reading on my phone, Uh, thankfully for

now, at least as of this recording, as of September,

2022, Comixology app is still available on mobile

and it's still the original guided view experience.

Yes, you can pinch to zoom everything else, but

if you want it on a computer, if I want it on

my 32 inch monitor here, sitting here as we're

talking, as we are now, you can't have what,

what I've had for the last nine years. And it

makes me so mad. Like they did not have to do

that. And you know when the news broker when

the update was pushed out I was reporting about

it a little bit on my show and and you know like

the the CEO of Amazon's like we're gonna fix

You know comics ology is probably a percent of

a percent of what Amazon does business wise and

you know I'm not trying to knock on It's not

their primary concern. So like it might be another

year if not more before things get better You

know, like I used to buy stuff on Comixology

and I feel confident doing it now. I'm so confused

when I go to buy stuff. And I know I sound like,

you know, like the confused dude, I'm right there

with you. It's not a friendly experience. You

know, it's like, so, I mean, I can give you a

perfect example because I will just go right

now to my, my email and cause I have, cause like

I said, when I started this podcast and I've

told this story on air before folks, so sorry.

But when I started this podcast back in 2013,

I was actually going, I was living in Louisville,

Kentucky at the time I was going to a local comic

shop. I was buying books every week. Well, we

wanted to cover welcome back Frank one week for

a Marvel specific spotlight month and great story,

great story, perfectly fine. And 12 individual

issues in a trade paperback that weighs probably

30 pounds. I'm holding this thing in my hand,

sitting in a chair, away from my computer, trying

to, and this is the first time I had read something

that huge in a long time, as far as a trade paperback,

and I'm like, oh my God, and that's 12 issues

in the omnibus. I couldn't find any other collected

version of it, and I didn't want singles. I just

wanted to get the whole dang story. So I'm sitting

there. I'm sitting there. No, I'm reading about

Frank doing this Frank doing that or Frank killed

You know Punisher killed this person the Punisher

did this or he he came back this way or that

way? next thing I know I'm snoring my hand is

relaxed and the book crashes to the thank God

the apartment I was living in was But like in

the book crashed the floor and woke me up like

wait what what the hell happened? The very next

day after I read that book I went on to comixology

.com and I said, no more print, done. Absolutely.

So from 2013, 2014 until now, I have been all

the DC versus Marvel trade, which I recently

got in the last couple of months is the first

physical comic I've had since 2014. I, but you're

right. The whole system of it, like, And it's

not, and I, you know, the whole percentage of

Amazon and you're right, it is a very low percent

and like, look, I get it. It's not their highest

priority, but again, all I, all is they had to

have done was just add an Amazon to the link.

You could have had the comicsology website for

web still. You didn't have. Nobody, anybody out

there that's listening to the sound of my voice.

If you read comics on your Kindle, please email

feedback at geekcastradio .com and let me know.

Because nobody I know reads comics on their damn

Kindle. But the Amazon ordering thing, it's not

just the comics. I ordered, I don't know, something.

Hi, Mike. Thanks for your order. Here's a summary

of, oh, you have these five items. Would you

like to, in the email, would you like to view

your order details? Like, no, I want you to send

me an email. with the items so i can see them

so i don't have to click view order details or

click a link in your email to go to right whatever

but like the email i just pulled up is for what

is it for it's for pre -order for something else

something i already bought uh but basically you

know you click a link in the email and it goes

oh here's your receipt for t h and his turtles

reborn volume four i'm like oh okay cool great

that's my receipt that's what i paid with that's

fine That's the Amazon way for comics. And it's

ridiculous. It's so stupid. Makes me so mad.

I get it. And they're like, the one thing that

I didn't like, I understand switching the payments

and switching with this. Oh, you can only like,

I can't even on I can't up. You have to actually

be on a physical computer on the Amazon physical

website. I mean, technically, I guess you could

do it on your phone if you use Chrome on your

phone, but like you can't update any comic stuff

in the app in the Amazon. Right. You know, I'm

like, Oh God, you people, the one thing I hope

they would not screw up. But they F'd it up anyway,

was the guided view. Don't, I don't want to pinch

and zoom. Zooming is something you do with video

and audio on some other service. Like don't do

that. Go ahead. Sorry. Yeah, yeah. And the mind

boggling thing is that, you know, I remember

when I was on comics, comicsology years ago,

and it was like, hey, we're integrating the Amazon

like, you know, enter your Amazon details. And

I did. And it was fine. And for years, it was

fine. Like, you know, the old saying, if it's

not broke, don't fix it. I don't understand why

they turned around one day and they were like,

you know, it needs an update. This perfect system.

Yeah. I never initially integrated. Until...

I was forced to. At one point I reset Chrome

or something and everybody knows you reset Chrome.

If you're resetting your browser history, you

do all, you basically, even though I have autofill

and everything else, but you basically have to

reenter all your past, you know, you log in everywhere

again. I went to log in and they're like, we're

sorry, your comixology .com account doesn't exist

anymore. We don't recognize this login. Would

you like to merge your Amazon? I'm like, Yeah.

So I merged it and it was fine. And it was fine.

It was fine. And obviously the last, what was

it? 20? Was it 2020 or 20? I don't remember when

that we've done episodes in the past two years

about this, obviously. So, you know, and now

it's just like, I don't even That's why I like

doing these origins and talking to people about

how they get into or out of reading comics, because

I don't have to review comics anymore. We still

review comics and I will still read the comics

on the Comixology app on my phone, but it's not

as nice as me being able to sit here on my computer

on my 32 inch flat panel Samsung M7 that, you

know, I could have a giant image of Batman punching

the Joker in the face in my face right now, but

no. Freaking Amazon, right? Yeah. All right.

So who are some of your favorite comics writers

and why? Oh, man. So I got it right away. The

first one that comes to mind is Ed Brubaker.

I wasn't reading Captain America. And when his

first issue came out, the guy at the comic store

that I was going to at the time basically handed

me issue issue number one. It was a relaunch.

He said you need to read this. I was like, all

right, whatever. So I picked it up. I think at

the time Marvel was doing a promotion where it

was like a 99 cent issue or something. So I picked

it up and I loved it. And his Captain America

run, I still have every issue. I still love it.

That is a beautiful run. He's another one who

like I will follow around when I see he's doing

something new. I'll read it. I went back and

read a lot of his work. Um, and then, you know,

then I have some, uh, some other ones that currently

Donny Cades, I think is just knocking it out

of the park. I think he's a great writer. Jeff

Johns got me hooked with Green Lantern. Then

I went back and read his like, uh, uh, what was

it? JSA stuff that he did. So a lot of, a lot

of writers like that. Uh, right now, Chip, Chip

Zdarsky, who I always butcher his name. Yeah,

really like, there we go. I love his daredevil

run he you know he's on batman now and i'm enjoying

it so far so yeah those are some of my favorite

i know there are more modern writers. I think

when it comes to some of the old stuff and nothing

against it but feel like a lot of times the writers

just change so frequently that i never really

had a chance to. To really it you know bond with

a with a writer per se like you know i'm ninety

six forces like my favorite thing in the world.

And, you know, it started with Liefeld and then

by like issue 13 or something, it was somebody

else, but it feels like it was the same thing.

So, you know, that kind of stuff kind of kind

of gets gets a little weird as you go, I think.

Yeah, I mean, I never like you always hear about

those those classic, you know, those those tent

pole writers of. You hear about the Millers and

the Bendis's and no disrespect to them. They

did amazing work. They do amazing work. Oh yeah.

But when I got this, I'm holding it in my hand

now. I'm looking at the talent on DC versus Marvel

and you've got Ron Mars, Peter David on writing,

Dan Juergens. Peter David I love. I forgot about

Peter David. Dan Juergens on art. I've, I've

only ever read Dan Juergens' stuff, like what

he's written. I've never seen. So like, obviously

I've seen this, but like, I need to go back and

rediscover that. But it's like, oh, wow. Like

just classic, classic people. And yeah, I mean,

it's, but you know what? We're living in modern

times now. And, you know, I mentioned Kyle Higgins

earlier. Him and who else? I generally tend to.

follow the characters. I follow writers too,

but like. Right. Whatever. Well, Juergens did

a lot of the Batman Beyond stuff in the last

couple of years. Sean Gordon Murphy. Oh, man.

His White Knight universe. Oh, yeah. It's. Yeah,

I have all of that. That's a lot of fun. And

Beyond the White Knight is is is so far is is

amazing. And I never, I was eight years old when

Jason Todd got voted to die over the phone, over

a 900, why do parents let their kids die? But

I never cared. Did you vote for that if you don't

mind? I never, at eight years old, 1988, I was

more oogling Jessica Rabbit than worrying about

whether Jason Todd was going to live or die.

I mean, come on. You know, but like, no, I knew

about it because obviously it's just like Death

of Superman. I knew about the Death of Superman.

It was huge. I never read the book. I've still

to this day, I've never read that. I knew about

the black cover. I knew that they were killing

him. Same thing with Jason Todd. I knew that

they were killing him. I've liked Superman since

Christopher Reeve. You know, say what you will

about, I'm always that person that I can fiction

is fiction. Reality is reality. I'm perfectly

fine telling you that I like Clark Kent from

Lois and Clark, even though Dean Cain nowadays

is just a crazy loon. I don't know what his deal

is, but I can separate the character and the

portrayal outside of what... Because that's the

thing, in the 80s and 90s, we never knew any...

Voice acting, perfect example. Never knew who

Kevin, like, yes, obviously we know Kevin Conroy,

voice of Batman, whatever else, but like in 1992,

that's the voice of Batman and that's Batman's

voice, or that's Bruce Wayne's voice. Same thing

with Optimus Prime, Rodimus... In the eighties

i didn't i knew that holy crap optimus prime

is now an evil talking car version of kit like

what the hell kind of crazy universe is this

but what you know nobody knew and now we've been

living in an age since you know two thousand

five two thousand six whenever and wherever you

are all the celebrities everybody else. And oh

my God, we have to not necessarily know about

all of their lives, but like we have to know

everything that they've done. And that's just

the way we are now. And but nobody ever really

cared. So, you know. Yeah. And and, you know,

going along with that, that's that's a weird

place, too, because, you know, I don't I don't

walk around. I don't try to pride myself on being

like the biggest comic nerd in the room. You

know, I don't I don't have to know everything.

But like every now and then somebody will be

like, they'll name a name and I'll be like, who's

that? And the reactions, they cannot know that

they voice this, this, this, this, this, and

this. And I'm like, because I don't care. You

know, like, I'm not saying it to you, but like,

there's this level of like, like, like, I don't

know, like people have almost entitlement that

people have now when they, you know, like when

they know something, you don't. And it's like,

OK, like, let's all just take a breath. We're

all just talking about the same thing. You know,

you told me something new. That's cool. You know,

it's like the whole. And I get this is the way

that deal was back then, but you know, Mel getting

all the credit for the Looney Tunes stuff. I'm

sorry, unless Chuck Jones stepped on Mel Blank's

foot or something and made him go to a high falsetto,

there's no way Mel Blank is voicing granny. That

is June Foray. But it's just one of those things

where, yeah, you just assume, you know, oh, this

person played this. And then nowadays we can

just pick like... I mean, I can pick Kevin Conroy.

I don't even need a crowded room. You just hear

one inflection from that man, you know, same

thing with Peter Collins, same thing with Judd

Nelson's Hot Rod, same thing with anything Frank

Welker does. I said this recently in the last

couple of months on a podcast, heaven forbid

the day we lose Frank Welker, because I don't

know who in the same hell they can get to replace

him. For Fred Jones, because that's essentially

his voice. That's he's not putting on the voice.

That's him. Like, you know, yeah. So well, and

and and that's that's a great thing you talk

about, because, you know, I'm a big Transformer

fan and, you know, they just they have San Diego

Comic -Con. They announced a new Transformer

series. I think it's called Earth Spark. And

it's a different voice actor for Optimus Prime.

It's Alan Tudyk. Thank you. and uh and like people

like i've seen some people like lose their minds

like how is it not peter cullen it's not not

my optimus and it's like dude like i hate to

say it but like first off it hasn't always been

peter cullen there have been other shows where

optimus has been voiced by other people but you

know like at some point these people and i hate

to say it but they're not going to be with us

So like, you kind of got to get used to change,

like, because otherwise, what are we supposed

to do? Stitch voice clips into everything they're

going to say? I mean, you know, you know, I say

often that I would love to see the animation

style of generation one return. Somehow, someway,

I would love to see that old Toei animation style

return. But I know it's never going to. And from

what I've seen of EarthSpark, I I said this recently

on podcasts too, so hopefully the pullback crowd

hasn't heard me say this yet on other shows that

they may or may not listen to. The fact that

Alan Tudyk is the voice of Optimus Prime makes

me laugh because where I first knew him from

was as Watt in A Knight's Tale with Heath Ledger,

and I'm just like... Please somebody in that

who whomever is doing the voice direction, please

somebody make Optimus Prime say I will phone

you And then somebody pointed out to me because

I did not know this because I do not fall I I've

not watched it It's not because I don't want

to it's just I don't I don't always have HBO

Max. You got to pick and choose your streaming

services, folks, and I don't always. Right. So

I did not realize he's the voice of Joker. And

I'm like, holy crap. A Knight's Tale has two

Jokers. And then, you know, you go back to, oh,

who was it? It was, oh, what's his name? Blake

in in Dark Knight. Who's the kid? Oh, thank you.

Him and him and ledger in ten things. I hate

about you. You have Joker and Robin in the same

movie in 1990 Yeah, so it's just crazy who you

know, whatever and like you said, it's not a

voice you'd expect again They're going for something

new something different. It's a whole This isn't

2010. This isn't Hasbro trying to do the hub

where they can just go to Peter Cullen This is

nickel like look it Nickelodeon with the Turtles

stuff. I have been a lifelong Turtles fan and

I recognize that Rise of the TMNT is not for

me and that's okay and that's fine. However,

you look at the 2012 series, you had, at first

you had Jason Biggs and then Seth Green as Leo,

you had Rob Paulson as Donnie, you had Greg Sipes

as Mikey, you had Sean Astin as Raph. Okay. Rob

Paulson used to be raff in the old 87 series.

Doesn't mean he can't try to do something different

with Donatello. But then you have all these other

people that I know from other things, but I'm

perfectly fine that that's not Barry Gordon and

Cam Clark and. Townsend Coleman. Yeah. So yeah,

change is constant and sadly. Oh yeah. Just like

with cartoons and comics, we just have to put

up with it, even though how they change certain

things doesn't really work. Amazon. Anyway, trying

to pull it back around here, folks. What defines

a good story to you? Um, you know, when it comes

to comic books, I, man, man, this is so I got

you're asking great questions like I gotta say

I'm loving this but for me a good story is going

to be a story that is true to who the character

is while challenging them and at the same time

isn't going to throw some odd twist just to have

it you know like if I'm reading spider -man at

the end of the day yes he's still going to be

Peter Parker But you know maybe he goes through

something that affects him in some way and maybe

we can grow from that you know what one of the

biggest in my opinion missteps of spider man

is you have a story like cravens last time. Which

it to me is one of the darkest spider man stories

ever and that could have been the start of a

more adult peter parker. And then they kind of

they didn't really you know they just went back

to to you know periods Peter Parker down his

luck photographer Which again, I'm fine with

but like if you can make the character grow in

a way that it's still recognizable I think that's

really neat if you can Add little changes and

almost like, you know, preserve a legacy. You

know, I talked about a brew baker and Captain

America before, you know, that was the run where

briefly Steve Rogers was dead because as we all

know, death is a rotating door in comic books.

But then Bucky picked up the shield and, you

know, having that happen. Well, I thought was

a great way to honor the legacy of Steve Rogers.

You have his best friend. taking up the mantle.

And now in the comics, we have Sam Wilson, you

know, playing the role of a Captain America.

And that is, you know, Steve Rogers partner,

one of his partners, one of his really good friends.

So and which is the route they're going in the

MCU. And so like, if you can make a legacy feel

like it matters, I'm all for that. You know,

like tomorrow, they they killed Bruce Wayne.

And then I don't know. like Bullock was Batman.

That would be like, well, what has he done to

deserve this, you know? But, you know, and when

Bruce Wayne was dead and post, was it Final Crisis?

And then, you know, Dick Grayson took up the

mantle for a bit. Like, that was cool. That was

following in the legacy of a man he looked at

to be like a father figure. So if you can if

you can change it just enough where it's still,

you know, on paper, you're going to say, OK,

this is still Batman. This is still Spider -Man.

I'm fine with that, and it's always good to have

some suspense, but the suspense has to make sense.

If you're leading towards a villain, and then

all of a sudden it's like, ah, Swerve, it's been

this character you've never heard of the whole

time. It's just like, oh, well, okay. Those are

the Marvel sunbow years where 120 new Transformers

came on the screen like one new character for

every half second of animation. Oh, Rebirth.

That's season two. It was like, here are the

ones who showed up on Earth. Here's everybody

else who you never knew you needed. And I say

that as someone who legitimately loves Rebirth.

Oh, no, absolutely. Well, yeah. Yeah, the 120

new characters was Rebirth, because you look

at those final three episodes of G1 here in the

U .S. Oh, yeah. We talked. May the man rest in

peace. He's been gone a while now. But back in

2010, we talked to David Wise. And oh yeah, we

talked to him for a little while and he even

says on the old Rhino DVDs, because they have

an old interview with him for that DVD set, he

says it was something like 120 new characters

in total, which is like one new character for

every 2 .3 seconds of animation that a new character

had to arrive kind of thing. Yeah. And with those

characters too, like you're not just talking

about the robot. That was the age of headmasters

and target masters and whatever masters. So it

was introducing the main robot and their humanoid

component that became their head or their gun.

It really is so many. Yes, it is. All right.

So what does the story have to have to draw you

in? What is that first issue at the end of it?

have to have to make Dan want to come back and

read the next issue. Man, that, that wow. Um,

it, you know, it's, it's gotta have some kind

of wow factor. Um, you know, most of the times,

especially when a book gets relaunched, because

God forbid we do more than like 30 issues on

a book anymore. We just relaunched to a number

one, but when they're relaunching it, when they're

setting up a new story, There has to be something

at the end of that first issue, that first chapter

that pulls me in enough that creates enough of

a mystery or enough of a moment where I can say

like, oh, wow, like, I'm going to keep reading

it because they revealed this. You know, I what

one of the things that comes to mind is the I

think it was Kyle. No. God, maybe it was Kyle

Higgins. It was X -Force when they relaunched

the team as like a black ops guy. I couldn't

tell you I was not reading Marvel then. Okay,

fair enough. But yeah, when they relaunched it

as like a black op team, like every issue ended

with like, oh, you know, this character is pulling

the strings, you haven't seen them in a while.

And that was like a big wow, you know, wow moment,

and then they'd build up and they'd be like,

they're actually paired with this one. And, you

know, things like that, that really just make

me go like, oh, whoa, like, you know, I can't

wait to read the, why does it have to end here?

Things like that are always good. You know, recently

there's a there's a new Moon Knight book that

Marvel's putting out. I think it's up to 13 or

14 issues now. And that has been a book, too,

that every issue just ends on enough of a cliffhanger

where it's like, OK, how is Moon Knight going

to get out of this? How is he? How is he going

to react to this? What is he going to do in retaliation

of this? That really makes me want to keep reading.

Yeah, no, absolutely. It's one of those things

that, you know. For me, it's if somebody tells

me they don't tell they don't spoil it for me,

but they give me enough of a hint of like Just

completely shocking what happened to shockwave

and IDW transformers, I mean, oh Yeah, the shadow

play of M. Purata like nobody expected that to

like holy crap kind of thing, you know, yep That

unnamed senator is a character you've known and

loved for 40, 30, 40 years. I'm like, oh, really?

Okay, well, I guess I'll find out. And I found

out, and oh, boy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Who are

some of your favorite comics artists? Oh, man.

You know, it's funny because before I was saying

how I'm kind of more with the current writers.

I'm with the artist. It goes back to people and

like I might get crucified for this one, but

I love Rob Liefeld. It's ridiculous. I know it's

like a weird addiction, but like I think of cable

having the big shoulder pads, more pouches than

any one human being ever needs to have, and maybe

no feet at times, depending how he's being drawn.

But you know, that's that's more of a guilty

pleasure I'm never gonna sit here and put down

a piece of Rob Liefeld artwork and say this is

how you draw like I've never do that to somebody

but But you know Todd McFarlane Jim Lee that

stuff defines what what got me into comics, you

know when I think of venom I think of Todd McFarlane's

drawing a venom, you know from oh God, I'm terrible

with the numbers, but whatever amazing spider

-man issue it was where he's just smiling at

Mary Jane No, like I think of that, you know,

when I think of the X -Men, I think of Jim Lee's

designs, especially from that X -Men number one.

Like that is the stuff that I really dig. In

fact, I just I recently got it's a it's a book

of the collected edition of Jim Lee's X -Men

cards from from the early 90s. So like that is

some of my favorite art style right there. All

right. You brought it up. So this is your own

fault. Blue team card or gold team card? Oh,

blue team. Why it's good that whiny I I oh You

mean that the general or no the card in the card

in general Oh the card in general good that I

think the gold team card Sorry, but but when

it came to preferred team, I I always liked the

blue team I just wish they didn't have a whiny

baby on their team as their leader You know,

you mentioned earlier about how cool Wolverine

was and whatever else I'm like, yeah Wolverine

school And then you, you, you've got, and may

the, look, I'm not saying this to pay any disrespect

to the late great voice actor that was Norm Spencer,

but, gee, like, oh, shut up already. I will say,

my young brain rebelled against Cyclops being

the leader of the X -Men. And when I played with

my Toy Biz X -Men toys as a kid, Wolverine was

the leader. And I remember friends of mine would

be like, but Cyclops is the leader on the cartoon.

I'm like, and in my space, Wolverine's the leader.

And for that one time, for that one video game

and those couple of crossover episodes, Spider

-Man could have been the leader of the X -Men.

You don't know. That is true. He was a friend

of mine. That's right. Friendly neighborhood

spider mutant. There we go. Do you have a favorite

non superhero comic title? Hmm. Would you count

transformers or no? That would be non -tite,

non -super. They can be heroic, but they're giant

alien robots from a distant planet. Superhero

is anything that wears tights, so technically

I guess the turtles couldn't be counted because

Michelangelo wore superhero costumes several

times. That's true. Yeah, you know, oh, man.

So I will say, you know, Transformers is a big

one if we're not going to call them superheroes.

I have definitely read other books about, you

know, your non -traditional superheroes. One

of the ones that kind of comes to mind even recently

is and I mentioned it a few times now, Geiger

from from Geoff Johns. That's just about a radioactive

man stuck in a radioactive wasteland. I don't

think he would call himself a superhero. I think

he's just kind of trying to live his life and

protect the people he thinks he needs to protect.

So that, you know, there's that. I also love

when they do like the Gotham Central books. These

are your run of the mill police officers and

rescue workers who are they're just living in

the craziest city. You know, it's not their fault

that that Joker is poisoning people with fish.

You know, it's not their fault that the riddler

left a exploding riddle clue, you know, at the

firehouse or something. They're just ordinary

people trying to do their job in the worst place

in the world. But that's what that comes down

to. Yeah, no, absolutely. I completely agree

with that. Yeah, it just it's. Oh, Gotham. Oh,

Gotham. So somebody said to me would you ever

live in Gotham City and I was like God I hope

I'm sure Trenton, New Jersey isn't that bad,

but it's close enough You also got Newark right

around the bend to I will say, I don't want to

say the name of the city, if that's okay, but

I think it is the second highest crime rate in

the world, or in the US, is a city that is probably

like 25 miles from me. Oh, no. Yes, well. Yeah.

So I stay out of there. Why would you want to

go to Metropolis? Lex Luthor lives there. Stop

it. Like, come on. And you know, that's the thing,

they always paint Metropolis in the comics as

the shining beacon of hope. But really it's like,

you know what, like you got just as many proms,

you just have nicer buildings. Like there's not

as much, it's not dark there all the time, you

know? Yeah, no. Yeah, that's, yeah, that's absolutely

crazy. What is your favorite run of a series?

So technically run, story arc, whatever, but

basically how I define run of a series is like,

And I don't know. I'm just going to spout out

numbers, so I'm probably incorrect. Like Batman.

661 to 665 or something, I don't know. But like,

is there a specific run of a comic book series

that you absolutely love? So I'll give you. I'll

give you two. I'll give you one that might might

kind of go out of bounds for you, and then I'll

give you one that I think is a little more contained.

One of my favorite things in the entire Marvel

universe was the Annihilation story. And what

spawned out of that was a Nova book and eventually

a Guardians of the Galaxy book. And that couple

years of cosmic Marvel has a definitive end with

the story called the Thanos Imperative. That

is my favorite bit of Marvel, if not comic books,

ever. It starts with Annihilation. It was them

trying to relaunch their cosmic universe. And

we got a solid five, six years, maybe more out

of it. And then it has a definite end because

the heroes it showed us in the beginning save

everything by seemingly sacrificing themselves.

And it's a bookend upon itself. Annihilation

Cosmic Era Marvel, even though it is a number

of titles. It's like my favorite run of anything.

But if you're looking for like just an actual

book and I don't know the numbers off my head,

but the Ed Brubaker issues of Daredevil. It starts

with Daredevil going to prison and then, you

know, like it goes into Mr. Fear and eventually

Andy Diggle takes over the title. That the Ed

Brubaker run is my favorite run of a of a of

like a of a larger, you know, going going ongoing

series. Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, that question

is always tricky. And I may have to like, I don't

know, I just because again, when I'm thinking

like when I'm asking some of these questions,

it's more of I'm thinking of history. I'm not

thinking of current to like, I could sit here

and tell you that volumes six and seven of more

than meets the eye or some of the coolest things

because that's when Megatron became an Autobot

kind of thing. But I couldn't, I maybe could

tell you that it starts at issue 28, but that's

only cause I know it. Whereas like if I'm thinking

from like whatever issue number it was that Batman

turned piss yellow or something like, I don't

remember. I know there was a time in history

where Batman's suit. look like Robin Pete all

over him, you know, kind of a thing. But like

that, you know, so that that's kind of where

that question comes from. But like I said, it

could be run or story arc or whatever. Right.

And I feel like now with the way comic comic

companies do stuff, that's almost becoming harder

to answer because like, you know, I also love

the Sinestro Corps war. And that was a couple

issues of Green Lantern, but it was also a couple

issues of The Green Lantern Corps, you know,

with maybe a couple of one shots or something

thrown in there. So like, that's more like it's

one of my favorite stories, but it's not necessarily

a run, you know. What is one comic you can read

over and over again, single issue or trade? Oh,

man, one comic I can read over and over again.

It's actually the first comic I ever got. It's

Iron Man number 271. It has it has him getting

crushed by Finn Fang Foom on the cover. And it

was just such a cool issue when I was a kid.

And to see that Iron Man was fighting a giant

green dragon, I thought that was just the coolest

thing. And I can still read that one and still

have fun with it. And that might be more in the

rose -tinted glasses category, because it's just

a lot of fond memories. But I could read that

over and over again. Very cool, very cool. Yeah,

I never... I'm I may have to check that out because

I've never again. I was a cartoon kid So for

me feng feng fume is something the Mandarin calls

in in the in the old 94 Iron Man show and I've

never understood like I need to read up on that

character because I've never really got the whole

point of that other than like this is the Second

boss before the big boss kind of like this is

the penultimate kind of thing so we Generally,

try our best not to be negative, but we do have

to ask a few negative questions. If you're in

your local comic book shop, are there comics

you avoid altogether? So let's just say you go

in this week, next week, whenever it is and you

see Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman.

Hey, what's that kid Flash doing in here? It's

like Brussels sprouts. Get them Brussels sprouts

off my plate. Yeah, um, you know, I'll tell you

right now and and I think in the current climate

of especially with the MCU This might be a little

like this, but I I hate the Scarlet Witch I I

am I I love mutants and after House of M where

she uttered no more mutants She has been on my

you know what list ever since then and even though

they've kind of tried to Rectify her relationship

with the rest of the mutants and try to like,

you know make her seem a little more heroic at

times. I still I can't stand the character. So

when they brought her into the MCU, I am not

going to give any spoilers, but I'm constantly

rooting for her death. I watched Wandavision

kind of, you know, out of the fact of like, well,

I'm sure something's going to connect to it.

So I have to watch it. I hate the Scarlet Witch.

If they if my favorite author took up, you know,

a Scarlet Witch solo title right now, I'd leave

it on the shelf. I really I can't stand the character.

Another one that I voiced this on Twitter a couple

of years ago and some people got a little pissed

off at me. I hate the Inhumans. I think even

though I think they were technically around first,

they're just X -Men on the moon. And I'm not

impressed by them. And when Marvel was seemingly

trying to push the Inhumans for the cinematic

universe and they were like, oh, yeah, their

mist is dangerous to mutants. And if the mutants

breathe it, they're all going to die. I was like,

no, FD's characters. I'm not behind this at all.

When Donny Cage did the Death of the Inhumans

book, I was like cheering because I was like,

yeah, kill them all. Let's go. So, yeah, so those

are a couple of Marvel characters I won't read.

I tried recently, you know, they kind of did

the big push for Spawn. It was like the year

of Spawn. So I tried to read some of the Spawn

stuff and I never did. I never read Spawn growing

up. So I was kind of like, OK, you know, I know

what he's about. I know his deal. And I read

it and I just couldn't get into it. And I read

a couple of the books. So now, unfortunately,

like if they tell me, hey, there's a new Spawn

book, I'm just going to be like, that's nice.

And I'm just going to keep moving. So, you know,

I know some people love Spawn, but I it wasn't

like like I said already throughout the I I saw

the movie. Maybe I was a little too much of a

teenager at the time. When the hell that movie

come out 95 96. Oh Man, I think it was 96 or

97. I remember going in lying that I was 13 So

I think I was well, so the guy the theater's

like you 13. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have ID? I'm

13 Well, I mean, technically he wasn't wrong

by asking you that because I remember around

that age that because I grew up in, I think I'm

two, three, four years older than you, but I

grew up in the age of we were dare kids. We were,

we had dare officers. We had police ID program

kind of thing. So by the time we were 13, 14

and 93 and 94, We may have had like some sort

of not necessarily government state ID like you

get when you turn 18 and all that or when you

get your license kind of thing. But we had some

sort of weird ID card. So I kind of understand

why you would ask. Yeah, I never get into spawn.

I don't. It's one of those things like you. It's

like, I don't care. Whatever. But never really

get into it. Yeah, I aside from the scarlet witch

and to a degree the inhumans I don't think there's

ever been a character that I have like a visceral

like no way when I see a comic You know recently

a lot of people have been like, you know and

more than recently It's been happening for a

number of years now people are like Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn. I don't care, you know, I got one

friend from college and He might hear this and

I don't really feel bad about like, he's always

like, oh, he's always like, oh, my wife and I

relationship is like Joker and Harley. I've been

the a hole on like Facebook and I'm like, which

one of you is the psychotic killer and which

one of you is a child rapist? You know, and like

he does not appreciate that. I'm like, dude,

don't compare your happy marriage to this. Terrible

dysfunctional relationship between two psychopaths

like don't don't do that. That's a bad look.

Yeah, that's not no and Again, I mentioned this

earlier and I'll mention again here the only

so far the only version of Harley that I really

dig is I mean be in comics specifically is Murphy's

universe because in his universe Jack and the

Joker it's a split personality So jack navier

is his own man which technically means that harleen

is her own person it's not just. You know here

i got this girl off the street i'm gonna dress

up and calm make up and screw life up and you

know make her do all these weird things and you

know right so yeah but generally it's like i

don't get it i respect that people. like it because

anyone can like or dislike whatever they want

but it's those people that take it to that kind

of degree it's like okay i'm gonna step back

about ten feet away from you because i don't

want to get hit from the implosion that's gonna

happen here it's just crazy can i give a quick

quick aside to that so i've i've gone to a number

of new york comic cons and there was one year

Where somebody was dressed as the joker and it

was it was a cosplayer who took things a little

too seriously they decided they had to act like

how they think the joker would act and there

were a group of people dressed up as Jedi. And

they were doing a very cool lightsaber demonstration

where they were showing people like you know

different moves and this guy who was dressed

as a joker kept like jumping in and being like

don't hit me. And the Jedi guys kept very politely

asking him like, listen, man, we don't want to

hit you. We don't want you to get hurt. You need

to not do that. And he'd be like, OK, whatever.

And he kept doing it. And finally, one of the

Jedi guys just got so pissed that when the Joker

jumped in again, he like whacked him with the

lightsaber and ended up giving him a bloody nose.

And like and the response was like, see, this

is why you don't do that. See how hurt you like

scolding him like he was a child, you know, like,

you know, a kid who touches the stove. You're

like, oh, that's hot, hot. They were like, oh,

this is why it was bad. And I'll never forget

just like kind of laughing at that because I

was like, no, they warned you. You had that come

in. If they tell you at least twice, then you

need to listen. If they do not tell you after

that second time and the third time you try to

do it and and you get. Basically your hand caught

in the oven, then that's your own damn fault.

Yeah, and they told the sky fire. Yeah, like,

like, like, please stop. Like, don't like. So,

yeah, I'm not I'm not pro violence, but don't

don't be a jerk. Absolutely. All right. So are

there any comics in the past or currently that

you wish you had not read them? So basically

you read these books and you're like. Damn, and

I wish I had the last 20 minutes of my life back.

You know, there was a Green Lantern title during

the new 52. It was called New Guardians and they

put an annual out and the annual way because

annuals are a little larger. And, you know, when

it comes to page count, it was so bad. And I

feel bad saying this because I don't like to

throw shade at people, but I didn't finish reading

it. because it was just so wordy and so long

that it probably took me 20 minutes to get to

the point that I got to. And then I just said,

like, you know what? Like I'm done. I don't want

to keep reading this. This is just not for me.

So I put that down. There have definitely been

other books where I was loyal to the team or

the character and then they relaunch it and like

I'm just like no I you know, but I love the first

run so I got to keep reading it and You just

read it and then eventually it's just like why

did I spend not only so much time but so much

money? Continuing to read this book like I know

a lot of people, you know kind of crap on this

one, but Chuck Austin's x -men I read that and

by the time it was done, I was like, why did

I keep reading it? Like, you know, at the same

time, Grant Morrison's new X -Men was going on.

So you had this shining star of an X -Men book

compared to this one that they have erased from

continuity. Yeah, it's yeah, it's just so crazy.

Yeah, I mean, there are and that's the difference

like single issue like. single issues you can

read within five, 10, 15, 20 minutes, depending

on if you're just, if you're reading it. See,

the way I do it for the show is I will read for

the story and then I will go back and look through

for the art. And then when we get to the recording,

I'll be like, oh yeah. And on this panel, this

was set or oh yeah, I love how this panel just

kind of explodes off my phone kind of thing.

Whereas trade reading, collected edition reading,

That's a two to three day experience like you

have to take notes like it's specifically reading

for the story not necessarily you know notice

yeah i mean yes notice the art obviously but

like yeah trade reading is a whole other level

of reading which is sadly why as much as i would

love for this to happen i don't think comic books

are ever going to go away from single issues

because. As great as it is that I would love

to have the entire story within one month. Like,

let's just take the, I think it's next, yeah,

in September, I believe they're going to release

the last of six issues for Batman Neo, Batman

Beyond Neo year. It's a six issue mini series.

They're going to collect that at some point in

some trade paperback form, but it's six issues.

Like, you know, six issues is a lot to read at

once. Like I mentioned earlier. Yes. Welcome

back, Frank. Welcome back, Frank. And it's collected

form. The only collected form that I know that

you can get it in is 12 issues. That's going

to break your wrist. You're going to need at

least three days to read that book if you're

reading it in physical form. Right. Right. How

large or small is your physical comic book collection?

Oh, man. That's a rough question. You know, it

was very large. I've actually this past summer

started going through and really culling down

on my collection. And this kind of goes back

to when we were talking about digital versus

physical before. If I find that I have a complete

run of something or a complete story digitally,

and maybe I don't need the issues anymore. Maybe

it didn't mean that much to me. I feel like I

can get rid of them. But right now, you know,

my basement is my man cave, as you will. Right

now, I got about 16 short boxes and four or five

long boxes down here with also a full file cabinet

of comics. And then I just sold off seven long

boxes worth of comics. So... I'm cutting down

on it, but it's pretty large, it's pretty substantial.

When my wife and I, we were in an apartment,

everything was still at my parents' house. And

when we moved into the house together, one day

it was like, okay, this is the day I'm bringing

all the comics up here. And I don't think she

was prepared for just the amount of boxes that

just kept coming in. Yeah, they're never prepared.

When I moved, I recently moved from Washington

State here to Indiana. I did not want to deal

with boxes. Did not. So a couple of years ago

when my late wife and I moved to various places,

one of our moves were like, we're done with dealing

with boxes for most things. And most of the things

that we were done dealing with boxes was my Funko

Pop collection. And I didn't have, most of the

stuff is still in storage now with my dad, but

I have about 188 Funko Pops in total. 189, something

like that. It's not, I mean, compared to some

of the people you'll see that have 500 or a thousand

or 2000 and look, I mean, technically mine is,

and can be, and has been a wall of my house or

apartment or whatever, but I have the, the hard

stack tote things and I'm like, That's what I

want to move everything in I don't want if I

can get away with not having any boxes unless

I absolutely have to have a box fine, but I want

everything so I yeah, I Know what you mean when

it's like she didn't realize what she got into

with all of these boxes. Yeah and And to to that

listening a free piece of advice if I may If

you do have a lot of comics, switch them to short

boxes. Like 12, 13 years ago, one of my best

friends moved from one apartment to another.

And the the parking lot for his first apartment

was right down the stairs. So you walked right

down. The two of us were bringing his long boxes

up and down together. Put him in the car. We

go to this new apartment that had a parking facility

and then you got to walk a short walk to his

second floor apartment. And it was in August,

it was hot as hell, and we thought we were going

to die moving all these long boxes. And it came

to the point where, you know, we would each get

a long box. We had to help each other because

we were just getting so tired. Ever since then,

I was like, short boxes. I can lift a short box

by myself. Even if I'm feeling run down, I can

lift a short box. So if you were a comic collector,

short boxes. That is the best thing you can do.

So your wife is safe, the pets are safe, but

the house is on fire. What is one comic you cannot

live without? What is one comic you can not live

without ever? So basically, what's the one comic

you'd run in and save? Oh, man. So A, I'd have

to find it. You don't have that kind of time,

but if you know what the title is, fine. So,

you know what this might sound a little silly,

but a couple years ago I was at a convention

up in Connecticut is called terrific on and Tom

King was there and I really like Tom King's Batman

run he signed my Batman issue 50 which was supposed

to be the wedding of Batman and Catwoman and

That is you know, it's one of those books where

every page is a different artist and It was really

cool i was reading the story the whole time so

not to give the spoiler of what happens in that

comic but when it happened it made sense to me

as opposed to people who ran to the comic store

were like what do you mean this happened because

they weren't reading the story. I think that

one just because it's signed by him i thought

it was a cool issue. Um, the only other one that

I'd probably go with would be the original X

-Force number one, because I love X -Force. And

I know where that box is. It has a big label

on it that says X -Force. There you go. That's

awesome. What was the most money you spent on

a comic or a comic item? Comic item could be

a print, a lithograph, a collectible, whatever

it is. I'll give you both. I'll leave the collectible

side out of it. I think you and I might have

a separate conversation most likely. Yeah, because

I have I have an extensive transformer and Marvel

Legend collection. So that'll be a different

conversation. But I'll tell you I'll tell you

prints and comics. I think the most to this day

that I've spent on the comic, I got the first

appearance of Apocalypse from X Factor. At a

local shop here. Couple years ago now, I think

I paid 45 for that, and I think that's the most

I've ever spent on a single issue ever. Because

I like I like to go dollar bin diving, you know,

when I'm at a convention, spend a buck or two

on a comic. So spending $40 is probably it wasn't

graded. It was just, you know, loose in the store.

That's probably the most I've ever spent on a

single issue. but i do have there is a very very

talented artist he did transformer art for a

while his name is libby oh yeah uh thank you

and i know some people don't like his stuff i

do he had a one some new york comic con many

years ago he was just doing sketches and i said

like oh you know like i love your transformer

work i said would you be able to do a sketch

of megatron fighting deadpool And he laughed

and he was like, yeah, I can. And I think he

charged me 120 for it, but it is framed in my

house. It's not in direct sunlight, you know,

so it doesn't fade, but it is this beautiful,

large print that he just did in the course of

maybe an hour and a half. Yeah, he took his time

with it, but it is super detailed. The Megatron

has like Cybertronian glyphs on part of him.

So it looks like, you know, it's almost like

a brand or a tattoo. And the Deadpool is jumping

and like shooting his gun at him, trying, trying

his best to not get squished by Megatron. So

it is it's a very cool art print that I is framed.

And I'm going to, you know, that's something

that like, hopefully, if I ever have a kid, I

can be like, you like comics, because this will

be yours in the willy. Yeah, Livio's awesome.

I gotta get him on the show one of these days,

Nora, at some point. I just got a couple months

ago, he was doing a limited run of his, he collected

these in one little book. The art of Livio Remedali

from IDW's Transformers. So it's all these covers

and that kind of thing. He's like, yeah, this

is gonna be a limited run kind of thing. And

he's like, I'll even do a little sketch inside

for, it was like 60 bucks. And this is a couple

of months ago. And I'm thinking that I'm thinking

I'm getting a steal. I'm getting a comic like

a separate piece of paper. And that's fine. It

is what it is. And I absolutely love what he

did. So what he did was from season three, the

burden hardest to bear. I basically wanted him

to basically in his style, show me Rodimus Prime

at the point where he realizes. That he's okay

with his yearly because he realizes after everything

that happens in that episode, like, Oh, I need

to have the matrix. The matrix is my, you know,

this is my burden. This is this, that no one

else can have scourge. Can't deal with this Galvatron

can't, you know, all this, all that. So it's

a nice little inside sketch inside the book.

And that's just a fun, fun book to commemorate

the covers and the arts that he did for IDW for

the Transformers run. That's awesome. Yeah absolutely

was there a good yeah and I gotta say he is one

of the nicest human being oh yeah absolutely

every time I see him at a convention he'll stop

and he'll talk at this point I I like to think

he remembers me I don't know if he really does

but he always talks to me he talks to my wife

you know he really just a generous wonderful

pleasant human being that's awesome that's great

it's always nice to when you meet your your comic

favorites or your comic people that you enjoy

that they are actually, and I know a lot of them

are decent human beings, and then there are some

of them that really aren't, and that's not so

great. Yeah, yeah. So there is that. Was there

ever a moment when you were completely done with

comics? Yes, and this is something now that I

look back and I kind of... I'm gonna say I kick

myself over, but you know when I was going through

high school You know the MCU wasn't around we

had one x -men movie and by the time I was a

senior or second x -men movie and I guess a spider

-man movie and Comma it wasn't cool to like comics

you know and if if if the cute girl in the bin

You know sitting in the back of the room with

me saw me doodling and not that I'm an artist

But you know spider -man or Wolverine on the

back of my notebook I'd get made fun of. So when

I was in middle school and high school, I didn't

actively buy comics. And although I was interested

and I had a subscription to a wizard magazine

that was about the extent of it. That was how

I kind of kept in the know with comics, but I

didn't publicize it. I didn't tell anybody I

read comics because I didn't want to, you know,

I was a total nerdy kid as it was. I was skinny,

you know. I got picked on. So it was one less

thing I didn't want people to be able to pick

on me for. So throughout high school, I didn't

actively read comics. And in retrospect, you

know, like, yes, it led to some easier times,

you know, which I hate to say it like that. But

it it it it I felt like I was betraying myself

and that I wasn't being true to what I was really

into. You know, like a lot of my friends, they

were into wrestling. So I'd be into wrestling

and, you know, You talk about all like the wrestling

divas and you know who looks good in x bikini

or whatever how strong the undertaker is or whatever

it wasn't nothing against wrestling i'm not trying

to shame wrestling fans right now but that was

more widely accepted watching this. Sports as

soap opera then then reading comics so it was

kind of just keeping that stuff quiet to stay

alive i think the mid to late nineties things

shifted. There were plenty of times where comics

were fine and everything else and all this and

all that, but again, things change, things move,

things come back obviously, but it's just one

of those things where if you wanted to be in

with the popular kids, you had to and I liked

wrestling before any of those kids ever did.

Undertaker who? Talk to me when you know Junkyard

Dog or Roddy Piper or Hulk Hogan or Mean Gene.

British Bulldog. Look, I like The Undertaker.

I think he's a great character. I think it's

awesome. But that whole 90s era, man, that attitude

era gave a lot of fans. People wonder where wrestling

fans get their attitudes. They most of them that

grew up then got them then and they continued

as, as those people have aged into adulthood.

Well, and, and, and, you know, just, just, just

sometimes like the audacity of some of that stuff,

like, you know, I remember when degeneration

X was the thing and everybody would be on suck

it. And some kid would yell that at a teacher

in school and it would just be like, whoa, no,

I don't care how old he is. You don't say that

to somebody. Yeah, no, not at all. No, that's

yeah. So, I mean, you know, and the thing about

school is school is not like. Yes, obviously

you go to school you have some of your friends

that are your all that like your friends with

them all the time But also you have specific

friends that are just school friends and sometimes

they're into comics Oh, yeah, sometimes they're

into cartoons and sometimes they're into this

that or the other thing and I remember I was

in fifth or sixth grade so 91 or 92 somewhere

around there Somebody asked me. Oh, what are

you gonna do this weekend? I'm like, oh, it's

Friday night. I'm gonna go home listen to some

hard rock and Think about calling a girl. The

teacher overheard me say this to another. It

was just a simple answer to a question. I didn't

say anything derogatory, but the fact at, you

know, fifth or sixth grade that it was wrong

for me to be listening to hard rock or even thinking

about call heaven from the early nine, the whole

decade was, was whack. W H A C K, but Certain

areas of that decade man just wow Yikes Yeah,

and and you know even even you know going along

with that, you know One of the you know, I didn't

say I kind of hid my comic, you know interest

and obsession if you will But I remember being

in sixth or seventh grade And like drawing something

about Wolverine on the back of it. You know what?

I'm sorry. It was eighth grade. I drew something

with Wolverine and like he wasn't like running

anybody through. But this is a now post Columbine

world. And a teacher of mine saw it and like,

you know, got worried and like called my mom

that I was drawing, you know. uh you know the

angry and threatening images and things like

that my mom was like no he just likes his comic

books like that man had knives blah blah blah

you know so like my mom had to like at some point

politely be like listen i know you like this

stuff but like you got to be careful who sees

it because now you know with all this hysteria

about people hurting people in schools and and

i was picked on so if there was ever someone

who Not that, again, I'm not a bottom person,

but people would single me out and be like, that

kid could be a problem. I was just trying to

live my life and enjoy my interests. I think

there's a huge difference in you and maybe some

like -minded friends of yours in high school

sitting in a corner whispering to each other

that you dislike this person or you dislike that

person. There's a huge difference in having a

conversation about potentially making plans and

drawing a comic book character on your binder.

Right, right. I'm not sitting there saying they're

on my business. I mean, as long as you didn't

draw Johnny Cum whatever, as you know, you know

what I mean? Like, as long as it wasn't any of

your... Yeah, as the guy that's Spider -Man is,

you know, punching out Venom's eating their head

or something. Oh, man. Yeah, that's crazy. What

are you reading right now and what do you think

our listeners should check out? So I'm you know,

I recently cut back on my reading list, but I

am still reading. I'm reading Moon Knight, which

which I think is fun. It is a more supernatural

than what people may have gotten on on the television

show. He's like fighting vampires right now.

I'm reading, I'm reading Spider -Man. That's

more out of loyalty. I've been reading Spider

-Man for a very long time. Zeb Wells is currently

writing it and there's about to be a, what seems

to be a really cool Hobgoblin story. So I'm on

board for that. I'm reading Batman. I'm reading

Daredevil. As I said, they're both being written

by Chip and he's a, I just think he's a great

like street level crime kind of writer. Everything

that he writes, I've been finding very interesting.

And then I've read some other things here and

there. There are a couple big events going on

right now, but those are always a little hard

to jump into if you haven't read what came before

or don't have really much of a knowledge of that.

I think that would be the stuff I'm mainly recommending.

How about you? What are you reading these days?

I read to review stuff on this show. I don't

even... I know the only two books that I'm getting

monthly right now is Beyond the White Knight

and that six issue mini series, Neo Year, Batman

Beyond Neo Year. Right. I am so... I have been

out of Marvel for... I've only ever dipped my

toe in really. I mean, I've never really like...

Okay, so when we started the show, we started

with... The whole purpose why this podcast even

started was we started it on our flagship show

called Geek Cast Radio, where my buddy Matt Spada

and I talked about 698 to 700, because 700 was

the, oh my God, Peter Parker, oh my God, Spider

-Man, all this and all that, and Spider -Island,

and whatever else was going on. And then we switched

over to Superior. And I was like... Huh. Yep.

Finally a Doc Ock story I can actually get behind.

Cause look, I like him, he's alright, he's a,

but, not really. I don't really like most of...

Yeah, I can safely say after nine and a half

years, most of Spider -Man's rogues gallery I

just don't care, like especially Osborn. Don't

you? Either, either one of them. I don't care.

I don't care which one has the green on. Like

it just, I don't know, man. Like even Craven,

Craven, like I likes to see, I likes to smile.

I can talk. I like to - It turned into hell in

there. Spider -Man, my precious. I like to see

Spider -Man team up with, like, Black Cat to

go after something, or, and, you know, I want

to see Miles, I want to see Miles Morales, I

want to see his universe of whatever, and I haven't,

I've never really read the Ultimates, I've only

stuck in the main universe when I've read stuff,

so I don't know, I know of Miles, I know who

Miles is, I know his story, I've watched people

play the video games, the expansion pack that

the... Was it 2015 that the original game came

out for Insomniac? Anyway. God, has it been that

long? I think so, yeah. Well, I just opened Steam

a couple hours ago as of this recording. This

is how old I am with video games, folks. I'm

still playing Grand Theft Auto IV, thank you

very much. I just use it as stress relief more

than anything else. I opened up Steam and they're

like, oh, this is your last chance to pre -order

a big giant thing of White Spider with the red

background. Oh god, how long has that game been

out? Yeah, in general, I don't... Like, just

in a general sense, I don't really care anything

about his rogues gallery at all. I'm not saying

it's a bad rogues gallery, it's just like...

I don't know. That's why i like superior so much

is because oh you've got a villain who has to

kind of force himself to be a hero and i know

technically you know people do that all the time

and it's the tale as old as time kind of thing

when it comes to comic books but finally auto

was interesting to me like he you know that kind

of thing and i don't know but uh but yeah Okay

so for superhero archetypes do you prefer heroes

heroines antiheroes or heroines or villains.

Oh man so you know i think at the end of the

day i always like to see the hero save the day

i like to hear see the hero save the girl. You

know i like it with it with the one exception

of Gwen Stacy i will. Like when Spider -Man the

Amazing Spider -Man 2 came out, like I knew where

that story was headed. I knew what was going

to happen in that movie. And I it was the weirdest

moment of my life because I was smiling while

crying. So but, you know, I love to see the hero

win, but I really like villains. You know, I

think the hero can only be as interesting as

their villain. And you know that goes for the

x -men it goes for transformers it goes for batman

and spider man and daredevil if you can have

a really cool menacing interesting villain. That's

going to bring the hero to a different level

you know and when i look at things like from

the eighties like transformers are thundercats

are he man you know every episode is the same

the villain does a plot they think they have

the upper hand the hero wins. And then I feel

like, you know, and to an extent, same thing

with comics. And then finally it started happening

where it was like, no, you know what? Like, now

we're going to have the hero not know how to

get out of it. Now it seems like the hero is

going to be defeated. And just seeing those cool

ways that maybe the hero doesn't always win.

I got really into that. So, you know, if a villain's

motivation is more than just, you know, take

over the world, see, I don't know why they became

a gangster, but. You know, if the villain can

have a cool motivation, then I'm behind it. Yeah,

see, it's the gangster comic, don't you know?

Do you have a, my parents got rid of my comics

story? Luckily, no. My parents, although as I

got older, especially in my teenage years, although

they weren't thrilled, that I had such a large

comic collection and collectibles and stuff.

They never said, like, we're throwing this out.

You know, you're done. I think the only thing

that ever really happened was, you know, my brothers

and I were like the first grandchildren born

in my in my family. So a lot of the older toys

that maybe I didn't quite hold on to as much

like my Marvel figures or Transformers. Um, sometimes

it'd just be like your cousins are coming over

and they're going to play with like these thundercat

toys or they're going to play with these He -Man

toys or these Star Wars toys. So, you know, I,

I was the careful kid who wouldn't bash things

together, but then my cousins would come over

and He -Man's going flying across the living

room and Skeletor's leg got ripped off and now

I'm crazy gluing it back on kind of thing. So,

uh, and no ill will towards any of my cousins

who were doing that. They were young, but like

they knew, okay, your cousins. Marvel figures

you don't touch you can play with everything

else in the house. Don't touch his marble stuff

So so while they never got rid of anything my

parents were just like they need something to

play with they're gonna play with this, you know

Stop stop stop being angry about it. So and and

let's face it. Those mutants are expendable I

mean sly the monkey and jackal man and vulture

man. They're expendable Every now and then, because

now I have nieces and nephews, now my brothers

have kids. So every now and then, you know, when

they're over, they pull out the bin of old He

-Man toys. And this actually just happened where

I was like, oh, all my Horde members are still

looking pretty good. Hey, nephew, what's that

over there? Swipe the Horde members like they're

going to come home with me now. I'm staring at

the original Hordak Mantena Leech and Chrysler

on my shelf right now. That's awesome. Yeah.

Little beat up, but their arms and legs are still

fully intact. That is so cool. What is one item

from a comic book you'd love to have in the real

world? So examples, obviously the Batarang, the

Green Lantern Ring, that kind of stuff. You know,

I've always wanted to like fly as a person. So

if we could just like go straight up mutant powers,

like I'd be like Archangel. I would love to just

have wings on my back and be able to fly around

instead of having to pay for gas or something.

Realizing that that might be totally impractical

for any shirt that I ever buy again, I would

settle for just like a jet pack. You know, if

I could have a jet pack and not crash into things,

you know, be proficient in piloting that. I think

that'd be really cool. Um, the, the green lantern

ring, you know, something like that, that not

only lets you fly, but gives you, uh, you know,

the constructs and stuff that, that, that kind

of follows along with that idea, but something

that would allow me to fly and maybe, uh, maybe

conceal it when I needed to. So again, having

a set of wings on my back might not be the best,

but you know, something that I could. Stick in

my pocket. And if I didn't want anyone to know,

you know, so basically you want a green lantern

ring with a power battery because there ain't

no way in heck you're going to be able to fly

that. I mean, if Cliff Secord can't fly that

jet pack all that well, you're not going to be

able to become a rocket anytime soon. Yeah. Yeah.

I am not a special person when it comes to that

stuff. So what about you? What's your favorite

comic guy? And I. I would probably want a bunch

of Batarangs just to throw at people I don't

like. You get a Batarang and you get a Batarang.

Someone cuts you off in traffic. Batarang to

the tire. All right. Oh, man. So somebody, a

child once said to me, they said they wish they

could have an Infinity Gauntlet. And I said,

why? Because I was a little concerned. And I

was like, I was like, why? And they was like,

well, you know, Thanos eliminated half of everybody.

I would just make double. So everyone had enough.

And I was like, oh, that's, that's a beautiful

motivation. That's not how creation works. There's

a lot of things that you don't know, kid, things

that you can't know until you're in. Late middle

school, early high school. One day you'll understand

the fine. Sometimes the demand outweighs the

supply and vice versa. Yep. Either company, whichever

company, Marvel, DC, whatever. I assume you're

going to pick Marvel, but if they give you the

keys to the kingdom, what is one story that you

would want to create? So. Huh. So one one thing

that I've always wanted to see, but I felt like

we never really got enough of is, you know, I

grew up reading comics in the 90s, so there are

a lot of obscure Marvel teams that I feel like

never got more than they were the villain in

the book. They'd show up here and there. So like

teams like the Mutant Liberation Front or like

Apocalypse's Dark Riders, I would love, even

if it was like a five issue mini series, to be

able to flush some of those characters out, give

them like proper motivations other than just

like we're evil mutants. You know, something

like that I think could be really interesting,

you know, kind of when you humanize these characters

who are never more than a punching bag. I think

that could be cool. But aside from that, I and

they've kind of joked about it in the past, but

like Moon Knight. used to, and I think still

does, get his strength from the phases of the

moon. So just put Moon Knight on the moon and

he'd be like the strongest person ever. Make

him like the first line of defense. Galactus

is coming, he like jetpacks off the moon, punches

him out, and that's it. It's ridiculous and it's

stupid, but I would love to see that. That would

be interesting. Have you did you this is completely

side note, but did you ever watch the superhero

squad show I? Did okay? I'd hear in there. I

didn't watch it like front to back, but I definitely

so There's only the two episodes that I can think

of off top my head. It might have been a two

-parter. But anyway They have Galactus come in

and they basically lean into his world eating

like oh That, not that, Silver Surfer, did you

get the planet ready for me to consume kind of

thing? Like, I want lunch and Earth is going

to be, he's voiced by George Takei. I'm like,

it's the single greatest piece of voice acting

for a Marvel villain ever. When it comes to that

character, when it comes to Galactus, the only

Galactus I want is George Takei Galactus. Yeah,

exactly. Exactly. Did he like, did he like physically

like grab chunks of planet and eat it too? Or

was it like the world eating machine? I think

it was like the world eating machine, but I could

not. I do not remember. I would have to look

it up. I just like, it's like that would kill

me. Like a kid's cartoon. Like, yeah, he's a

world eater. He's eating the world. What is the

one piece of advice you would give the comics

fandom? If you haven't started collecting don't

don't start just you'll save a lot of money but

no in all seriousness be open minded you know

i go to a comic store on a somewhat weekly basis

and every now and then you get. I don't want

to be rude but like these grumpy old fans and

they see somebody picking up a book with a new

character or a character that is. Different in

some way and you know you get these people like

oh you're gonna you're gonna read that trash

I wouldn't I wouldn't touch that with a ten -foot

pole like you know what you can you can have

your opinion You might not want to read the new

I don't know America Chavez book or the new spider

-woman book or the new whatever book But if you

see someone picking up that book be open -minded,

maybe it's not your cup of tea Maybe you know

you don't like the writer don't shame somebody

into liking that stuff because I have seen too

many people who could potentially become regulars

in a comic store, put a book down and then leave

because some angry old man who's there to pick

up his, you know, issue of Spider -Man, then

complain that it's not as good as when he was

a kid, you know, made somebody feel bad about

buying something. Yeah, absolutely. Like, and

most what everyone says is something similar

along those lines. And most people will just

say, everybody calm down. I mean, that's really

what it is. And yeah, and I feel like we are

at a unique time in in both the real world and

in comics where that we have a lot of social

issues and a lot of changes going on. I'm not

trying to get all political or anything. But

comics are a reflection of life. So now you get

these characters who maybe they're, you know,

maybe they're gay or maybe they're trans or something.

And people get so angry that they're, you know,

oh, suddenly this character is this or suddenly

this new character is this way. And it's like,

but there are real people out there. So don't

don't hate on someone for reading something that

you feel doesn't reflect you, because I'm a white

male. For most of my life, comics have reflected

me have reflected me. You know so i think it's

okay that there are now comics that reflect other

people whether it be gender race religion you

know sexuality i think that is no that's good

cuz we're not the only comically and as much

as i wanna read the stories to read the stories

part of the stories is whatever the characters

are going through like if. Yep yes. Sam wilson

goes from being the falcon to being the new captain

america okay great. How's his home life? What's

he doing? You know what you know what's going

on with him? What you know? That's the thing

like it's I Was going to say there. I feel like

there is also a fine line between Drawing inspiration

from whatever cultural diversity you may have

and then like kind of beating people over the

head with it because there have been some Sometimes

in that I've read a comic where I'm like alright.

I get it You're you know XYZ whatever I get that

like that I'm still here to read about your superhero

activities not about this you know you can if

you put it in that's fine but sometimes if like

that is suddenly the story. I can understand

why people do yeah yeah absolutely yeah it's

just you know and not not to sound intolerant

or anything I hope I don't come off as that yeah

I don't think you will. But you're right. Comics

are for everybody, no matter who you are. They

may not always be written by the right people

or the wrong people or the whatever people or

created by whatever, but they're a form of fiction

that we all should enjoy. And if we don't enjoy

them, then don't read the ones you don't enjoy.

Like we said earlier, you're not the biggest.

Wanda fan in the world no matter how cool vision

is You know, so Yeah, but I see again if somebody

picks up, you know a scarlet witch book. I'm

not gonna sit there Yeah, she's terrible like

I would never do that, you know like good good

for you for reading Yeah, we are too too old

at this point to turn into those old men that

have come before us where they're just sitting

there Mr. comic book guy, do you have my comics

this week? I'm looking for 1940s Captain America.

Nope. See ya. See ya. Those are out of print

in the year 2177 or whatever. I don't know. Yeah.

Yeah, and you know, I've heard people say things

like, you know, I don't like this new Captain

America run I want Captain America to save the

blonde and and punch the bad guy and it's like

there's more There's so much more that these

characters can do now, you know Well, maybe this

is just the MCU person in me but newsflash Peggy

was not blonde at least not in the movies If

you really want Captain America to punch out

the bad guy and save the chick. And you're talking

about Steve, then Peggy ain't a blonde. Thank

God. Right. All right, folks, we're going to

take a quick break. You're going to hear some

ads and some other stuff, and we will come back

to get Dan's contact info and all that other

good stuff and any final thoughts he may have

right after this. Hello, geeks. Want a podcast

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So, uh, tell all or one? Tell all or one. Hi,

I'm Dan and I'm the host of The Rock Nerd Radio

Show, which airs live on HudsonRiverRadio .com

every Wednesday evening at 8 .30 p .m. Eastern

Standard Time. It also gets backed up as a podcast,

which you can find on your preferred podcasting

platform. Every week on my show, I talk about

all kinds of pop culture. I talk about music.

I talk about movies, TV, comics, collectibles,

and so much more. I also feature a guest on my

show periodically, which you might enjoy. I have

a couple of special segments on my show, one

called the cover song of the week and my favorite

thing in the world this week. If you think this

sounds cool, check it out sometime. I hope you

do. Discover a world of vintage and modern toys

that's more than meets the eye with the Triple

Takeover Toycast. Hosted by toy writers and photographers

Toybox Sobox, Sixo and TF Square One, this informal

and chilled out series of discussions cover everything

from vintage Transformers to Mask, Diaclone,

Microman and more, be it nostalgic or current.

Whether you're a seasoned collector or a casual

robot enthusiast, all are welcome. Triple Takeover

Toycast. On the Simplistic Reviews podcast, We

talk movies. We talk TV. We talk - Hello, Julie,

what the heck are you doing? Trying to make our

spot sound more exciting by adding explosions.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could've got the point

across with sound effects, not the real thing.

Car, car. Download the show on iTunes or if simplisticreviews

.blogspot .com. I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that. No, they won't. No, they probably

won't. Houston we have a problem All right folks

we are back here inside the pull bag Dan where

can the people find you online? Your socials

all that good stuff and tell us all about rock

nerd radio Yeah, thanks, man. Well first off

Mike just let me let me thank you for inviting

me on here This was a lot of fun. I've I've never

been asked questions like this before so this

was very cool Awesome yeah i've been i've been

doing this this show this specific we only revolutionized

the questions back in late twenty nineteen throughout

twenty twenty cuz in twenty twenty. My computer

and all my stuff was still in storage so all

of twenty twenty i could not podcast and i've

been doing this for fourteen oh i've been doing

this for fourteen years up until twenty twenty

i have been recording shows. Every year, how

my production schedule, how I like to do it was

from January 1st to Halloween, so October 31st.

Those 10 months, I'm going to work my ass off

for whatever podcasting I need to do within those

10 months. Because usually by Halloween, you

got Thanksgiving, you got Christmas, everybody

kind of slows down. Everybody wants to go spend

time with... Nobody wants to be on a damn podcast.

They want to go... That's how I would work. 2020

came, we moved, things ended up in storage. I

ended up almost a whole year, unless other people

were doing the recording for me. I did not do,

2020 is the one year of podcasting where I'm

like, I may have, I want to say 14 episodes,

whereas in the usual 10 months out of the year,

I usually end up with. anywhere from 100 to 300

per year. Oh, wow. Yeah. Because right now I

could be wrong, but somewhere around 2018, I

was around 2011 podcasts in total as of 2018.

So from 2019, 2021 and 2019 to 2022, I've added

a whole lot more to that. So I'm just probably

approaching 3000 podcasts. Or I may just be over

that. That's awesome, man. Congratulations. Thank

you so much. I don't know all of the math on

that. I got to get with a buddy of mine on that.

But yeah, tell us all about Dan and Rock Nerd

Radio. Yeah, so the Rock Nerd Radio show, I've

been on the air now for just a little bit over

11 years. I recently, a couple years ago, moved

over to a new station. It's called HudsonRiverRadio

.com. And the show itself will air live every

Wednesday at 8 .30. Eastern Standard Time 8 30

p .m. But it is available as a podcast. So if

you you know, any of your favorite podcasting

platforms, whether it be Google, Apple, Amazon,

whatever, it'll pop up on there. And then otherwise,

if you're looking to follow in my somewhat day

to day antics, I'm on Facebook, I'm on Instagram,

I'm on Twitter, if you look rock, if you look

up rock nerd radio, you're going to find me on

all that stuff and The show itself, I like to

talk about comics and movies and TV and music

and collectibles and more. So I try to give a

healthy dose of everything that I'm into in a

hour time span. Very cool. Very cool. Tell us

about your cover of the week. Oh yeah, so they're

actually that's one of two segments on my show.

One that I started from the get -go at my old

station, which unfortunately closed in 2020 due

to the world being what the world was. Every

week I take a song and I look for a cover version

of it or I'll find a cover version of a song.

And I like to highlight it every week. Sometimes

they're ones that are Really weird and different

from what you might know the song to be southern

other times it's just a. Straight up other artists

singing the song that you know and will sound

familiar to you i've had things. From from all

kinds of bands of green day doing covers on there

when we are released africa that was featured

and most one of the most recent ones a band i

like code unwritten law did a cover of the wood

max little lies. So that was one that I featured

recently. And I used to be better about posting

on my Facebook page what the cover song was.

That's something I need to kind of get back into

so people can keep track if they want to do that.

Very cool, very cool. So as of this recording,

I have listened to your most to most recent episodes,

which is San Diego part one and part two. And

I've also gone back to the very beginning where

you were talking about Rotten Tomatoes and WandaVision.

And is it the Rotten Tomatoes episode or the

Wonder? You did one of the Seven Dust. It was

when they released Blood and Stone. What's that?

They Will Die or They Will Live or whatever it

is. But it was Seven Dust doing a cover. And

I'm like, oh, OK, good. Because right after that,

you played One Step Closer. Yeah, was it a seven

dust cover of? Yeah, there we go. Yeah. And after

I heard that, I'm like, Oh boy. So have you ever

played Blackstone Cherries covers for anything?

You know, I haven't. I'm not aware of them. So

tell me about them. I will school you after the

show. But so basically Blackstone Cherry is a

Southern rock band from. Oh. Glasgow, Kentucky.

You know, think of Skinner, think of Zeppelin,

think of that. But like modern time, I don't

want to come like they've, they've opened Wembley

for Nickelback kind of thing. They're in they're

in that kind of vein. But they do these so far,

they've done two volumes called Black to Blues.

Okay, where they they take blues covers and they

basically Blackstone Charium, and I have never

heard such a great cover of Built for Comfort

than what they did with it, because, oh, it's

a bit, yeah, I'll share that with you off air.

All right, folks, that's where you can get Dan

and all his stuff running through our outro,

just to give everybody a preview here in September

2022. I'm hoping I already have next week's episode

recorded, but according to the schedule it's

supposed to be TMNT Reborn, Volume 1, because

my buddy Joe and I have gone through all of IDW's

TMNT up to issue 100, so we have from issue 1

all the way to issue 100 in any of the miniseries.

The only thing we haven't done yet is Laceronan,

because it just got collected. but reborn volume

one is IDW volume IDW TMNT 101 to 105 I believe

and then after that my buddy Jesse Jackson returns

to the pool bag where we talk about Tom Zoller's

long distance and then Tom Zoller's warning label

and at the end of the month I've got we've got

book ending origins my buddy Dave McElvenney

is going to come on and he's going to talk about

a lot of Superman in episode 496 So we are on

our way to 500 episodes here inside the pull

bag. Thank you for joining us. If you'd like

to get in contact with us to leave feedback for

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

the website, geekcastradio .com, where you can

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Apple and Google podcasts, leave us reviews,

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at the pull bag for the show. I am at TF2 and

Mike. Become a fan on Facebook, go to Facebook

.com slash Keycast Radio Network. You can also

check out the pull bag over there as well. For

now, I am TFG1 Mike with Dan from The Rock Nerd

Radio Show. Make your greatest game in the comics

and we will catch you next time here inside the

pull bag. Pull my rock! Ruined! I hate Mondays!

Come here! I'm the best there is at what I do.

And what I do can't be imitated, copied, cloned,

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