Interview with Tim Price on Comic Book Origins and Reading History

Hey, it's your friendly neighborhood spider -man

here and I'm swinging by the geek cast radio

network behind the scenes here inside the pull

bag is But for how long is of course? Yes, that's

that's the question So keep that audacity going

and I will keep mine. Okay mine as well Let me

let me fire it up again. Okay, cuz the other

thing is that I have a And you know anytime when

you can't hear me I expect that one comedy of

errors after another with this house is that

I also I have this un Blockable background noise

that happens after I plug in the network cable

or the power cable Jesus so I can I can of course

noise reduce it out. Yeah. Yeah That and that's

you know, so I I do that all the time and I would

do that What I if I if you need this audacity

recording I would send it to you with the noise

taken out. No problem. Yeah Yeah, that's one

of the things I love about Zencaster. Yeah, that's

one of the things I love about Zencaster with

the dual recording is that if there's anything

that happens on my end or the other person's

end I can go into that and and fix it and whatever

I say I never I never used to do do I've had

to learn the dual track I never used to do multi

-track recording I always get on Skype I want

one file I don't want to deal with whatever and

most of the time everything was fine I mean sure

there might have been like a fan noise or something

like that but that's as long as you have a easy

enough noise for it you know you can always just

go in and all right well let's Let's try to get

this show on the road We might make this the

fastest show you've ever recorded 25 questions

in 25 seconds Lightning round version of the

pull bag. Yep. No conversation just question

answer There is no deep Concentrated answers

that we're not getting into Tim's psyche here

now where we're just you know, well Yeah, only

promise that most questions about my life end

up being more complicated and longer than they

have any right to be so, you know I'm the same

way I Didn't say they were interesting answers

just longer. No exactly like again, you know

same thing like nobody cares So, alright. This

is The Pull Bag episode 493. We are on the road

to 500 episodes here inside The Pull Bag only

on the GeekCast Radio Network. And yeah, well...

Tim Price. I love the dude. He's awesome, but

he lives in the middle of nowhere. This is by

far the worst internet connection I have ever

experienced in 14 years of podcasting So this

episode is gonna be a little bit different I

hope my editing skills really shine through on

this one. Normally I do not try to do self -praising

on my editing stuff and whatever else but This

one was by far the most interesting and crazy

podcast that I have ever done as far as having

to edit, myself giving the questions separately,

and Tim giving the answers separately of each

other. So I hope this end product sounds like

we were actually talking to each other, even

though we weren't. Make your great escape into

comics and jump inside the pull bag today! pull

bag only on the GeekCast Radio Network. This

is episode 493. We're on the road to 500 episodes.

I am your host, DFJ and Mike, and I'm about to

die. That one man can make a difference. One

man can make a difference, Mike. I'm your host,

DFJ and Mike, and joining me is a person that

Frankly, I thought this would this recording

would never happen and it may still never happen

You don't know if you're listening to the sound

of my voice that we succeeded and the podcrasher

was defeated because I have with me Mr. Tim price.

Hello, sir Oh Mike, it's a pleasure to be here

and we shall see how it goes Yeah, so we may

end up doing like 25 questions in 25 seconds.

This might be the shortest pull bag ever Here's

hoping it's not so for those that well Tim is

a new guest here on the pull bag So I I'm sure

nobody knows this but Tim apparently lives in

the middle of nowhere, Virginia Where apparently

fiber optics are not in the middle of nowhere,

Virginia when you know the CIA has all these

other farms out there with you know integrated

systems and Artificial intelligences and the

machine versus Samaritan and oh, sorry. I've

been watching person of interest anyway In all

fairness In all fairness to my geography I did

move within the last month and things are usually

fine here But they're the last couple the last

time we tried to do this Yeah, it did seem like

that my internet provider was to styrofoam cups

with a string between them With a hole in the

in in the middle without the strings attached

because yeah Pretty much. Yeah very much. All

right, so Tim introduce yourself to the audience,

please your podcasting I'll be glad to why you're

why you're well We kind of know why you're called

the podcrasher now, but you know where that all

came from else Why certainly? Well, I am Tim

Price, longtime comic book reader, relatively

recent podcaster. I just discovered podcasts

about five, six years ago, specifically with

the Justice League International Bwa Ha Ha podcast

on the Fire and Water podcast network by Shag

Matthews. That was one of my favorite comics

of all time. So I started listening to that show

and then all of a sudden it's like, wait, there's

people who actually talk about comics on podcasts?

just didn't know I didn't do I didn't listen

to any podcasts before that time so it's like

I didn't know but from there it's like these

start connect with these people on Twitter and

having fun conversations and before I knew it

I was like yeah sure I'll be on your show for

an episode here and there or even asking people

can I bring your show because I really would

like to talk about that and eventually that led

me to joining AJ right on the right on network

with his show about Batgirl Cassandra Kane and

then starting my own show just about two years

ago on that same network called the Outcasters

covering the Batman and the Outsiders comic book

series from the 80s. And that's been great fun.

So I've been just popping around and doing podcasts.

It's been great fun. And I actually kind of made

up the name Podcrasher myself for just a fun

Twitter handle. it just there was no real big

thing to it, but I did like the idea about the

name being the two meanings of One it means you're

crashing in to somebody else's podcast and to

making a podcast crash and burn Disastrously

that both of those sound about right for me.

Usually it's not quite such on the technical

side though That's been that's been so Thank

you for that. You're welcome. Well, maybe you

should thank me. You should thank me for bringing

that to this episode. I guess. I mean, I just

expect after doing this, December of this year

will be my 14th anniversary of podcasting. And

at this point in time, with the way technology

has advanced, I just assume that everyone has.

I mean decent internets like internet that where

I don't like have to struggle to hear every third

um Like and I have this big thing and everybody

knows this and I'll explain this to you but in

my editing if anyone says um, uh, ooh, eek, ack,

oook, whatever but specifically, oh like like

I'm a fan of Batman and the Outsiders, but I

don't like blood. And they'll insert, as soon

as anyone gets on a microphone on a podcast,

um is like every, and I spend, I have, podcasting

is my job, I have no real job, so I will spend

hours editing ums out, and it's because I want

it to sound good, and um does not sound good

to me. So when we were doing your pod crash,

initially all as I was hearing was so we're here

to talk about comics and I guess we should get

to the questions before something awful happens

yes please let's try let's yes let's try so far

so far so good Skype, don't let us down. If you

do, I will sue you Bill Gates. Oh wait. That's

not how that works anymore. Sadly, no. Did you

grow up reading comics and at what age do you

first remember reading or noticing comics? Oh,

I absolutely grew up reading comic books. I can't

even remember where my first comics came from.

I very clearly remember even before kindergarten

seeing reruns of Filmation Batman and Superman

cartoons on black and white TV sets and Seeing

the Super Friends TV show when it first aired

from the very first season so I was hooked on

superheroes right away and I also watched a lot

of reruns of the spider -man 67 cartoon when

I was a kid and quickly Spider -man became my

favorite character also didn't hurt that he was

on the electric company. So that was pretty fun

But I don't remember where my first comics would

have come from Me Introductions to them. I have

my full but the trip long trip to Illinois and

back and we would have little three packs, those

Whitman three pack comic books. We got those

on occasion. So those were great fun. But the

big thing was that when I was about seven, we

had a next door neighbor that had a huge stockpile

of comic books, but they weren't worth anything

that he could really make money off of. So he

just asked my folks if we would like them. And

we said sure. Or at least my folks said sure.

They didn't know what they were getting into.

Because it was literally a few thousand. Where

he had been dumpster diving behind the dime store

to pull out. And they would tear off the title

part of the cover. Yep. And the stores could

send that back in to get a refund on the unsold

books. And the rest of the books would just be

chucked in the bin. Yep. So he recovered all

these books. Now, there were almost no superhero

comics among that collection. But there was gobs

of Archie, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Scrooge

McDuck. Blow me bad pipes! He's a genie! Does

his mother know about this? We were gonna tell

you, Uncle Scrooge. Someday. Where'd he come

from? Um, remember my teapot? Heavenly header!

The genie in the magic lamp! The fortunes I could

own! I could have the world's biggest diamond!

No, the world's biggest diamond mine! No, no,

all the diamond mines! No, the entire mining

industry! Yes, yes, yes! I can see where this

is going to take some careful thought. All sorts

of cartoon characters like Tom and Jerry and

even the occasional gem like Gold Key's Magnus

robot fighter and Turok's son of stone and things

like that thrown in. So I spent a summer just

reading all of them that I could in the basement

of our house. And for years I really didn't have

to buy new comics because I was still just enjoying

rereading those. Yeah, I never really got the

the bug to buy new books yet. Right. But I got

that happened a little bit. When I got my first

comic book subscription and all of a sudden it's

like, oh, and I'd seen new ones on the stands

and I all of a sudden I had my own money. Oh,

so also now I could buy comics myself. But it's

like my head comics, you know, Exposed to them

before I even started kindergarten and definitely

by time I was in second grade So it is so hard

for me to remember a time when I didn't have

comics and didn't read them Very cool. Very cool

So you mentioned your parents and I assume they

would be the specific person but the second question

here is as a kid was there a parent a friend

or Somebody who just said here a kid read this

comic go away. You bother me Obviously, you just

said you have a whole basement full of comics

that your parents. So I assume that's the answer

to that question. Well, and also the parents

buying comics for the road trips and saying,

you know, keep quiet in the car. Read this fantastic

four treasury edition that features Galactus.

I understand. Obviously, you're a kid. You're

supposed to be, you know, seatbelted in the car.

And you're supposed to sit still and whatever

else. Obviously, this is the 80s, let's say.

80s, 90s, whatever. No. 70s? This is the 70s.

You're older than me? Really? Seat belts. Yeah.

Seat belts are optional in the 70s. OK. Well,

like I said, let's just say it was the 80s. Just

to be heaven forbid, we get the. The mad or the

or the whatever the you know Or the macad I I

don't know what it would be mothers against comic

book driving or something. I don't know Like

I don't know how you like mad as mothers against

drunk driving is all I can think of so belt up

folks While you're but the point is is that you're

a kid You're expected to sit in the car And and

sit still, you know, you're going on this ride.

You can look out the window. You can speak. I

mean, for the most part, I mean, unless your

parents say, you know, shut up and don't don't

say anything. But like. We always needed something,

we always had to have something in the 80s and

70s, 80s and 90s. Well, the 90s kind of started,

but there was like 70s, 80s and 90s. There were

no like you couldn't take an Apple to GS in your

car. Like there were no phones. There were no

tablets. There were no so we had books. We had

coloring books We had you know Actually, I say

books. I mean, you know the actual books that

you like John Grisham and that you know, what

are all Stein whatever But comics yeah, I I can

see parents saying okay here read this and We'll

be there in 20 minutes and you should be done

read and usually depending on how large the comic

or how small because comics about normally I

think and I'm somebody listening to the sound

of my voice and correct me. Comics have usually

always been somewhere between 38 and 48 pages

normally even with the ads. But the book itself

is, you know, it's usually been somewhere between

30 and 40 pages. Future Mike here, I don't know

what the hell I was thinking. I meant to say

somewhere between 18 to 20 pages of story. 38

to 40 pages in a single comic issue. What in

the hell is wrong with me? Now, back to the show.

And depending on how many you have, you can spend

20 minutes reading comics and go from the house

to the grocery store or whatever. And I'll mm

-hmm So well, I remember in the 70s a lot of

comics were 18 pages of stories, but you still

read the rest of the well Yeah, just for fun.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah because back then, you

know, we were kids Advertisements were fun. They

weren't eating us over the head. Like I remember

reading I was always a cartoon kid more than

a comic kid, but when I read comics You know,

it was like, oh, Batman is doing this and all

of a sudden you turn the page. Oh, wait, there's

an ad for The Super Soaker or or or Bazooka Joe

like oh Batman will be back after this next page

of advertising, you know, what it was more like

a Like a program, you know kind of thing So yeah

when you were a kid, which characters were your

favorites? My absolute favorite was Spider -Man

and still is to this day. Ow! Hot! Spider -Man!

Come out to play! That's probably the least painful

part of my night. Show yourself! You wall -crawling!

Now now, watch your mouth! You're a children's

present! What? I burned my tongue, okay? Pinky?

Is that a revolving doll with that prison? What?

I really need to stop with the banter until the

tongue's had time to heal. I also really liked...

Batman and Captain America I think it was the

Acrobatic characters just you know, they really

jumped out of my imagination. I like the dynamic

movement of them and just how cool they were

Dodging bullets and knocking bad guys out. That

was what I thought were cool heroics Even more

so than superpowers themselves just that kind

of heroics always just spoke to me Yeah, any

alien can have heat vision. It takes a, you know,

genius to come up with, you know, a batarang

and a grappling gun and, you know, just the,

you know, pure agility and... That's one thing

I absolutely love. I think it's in... Is it in

Destroyer? I think it's in... It's either in

Alive or Destroyer. I forget which one, but...

Hmm that man won't give I have the line and I'm

screwing it up and I hate that I'm screwing it

up because it's a great Superman line about Batman

you still try to fight Can't you see that it's

hopeless That man won't quit as long as he can

still draw a breath. None of my teammates will.

Me? I've got a different prop. That man won't

quit as long as he can still draw a breath. None

of my teammates will. The fact that the alien

that can shoot laser beams out of his eyes and,

you know, basically he is his own Mr. Freeze

with his, you know, his cold breath. The fact

that he's giving props to the rich kid. whose

parents got killed in front of him because, you

know, and then he goes, you know, that's just

always that's just I love that line. I just absolutely

love that line. So, oh, yeah, it's great. It's

great. Yeah. Who is your favorite Spider -Man?

So, you know, Peter, Ben, whatever. Mm hmm. It's

hard not to choose Peter just because it's been

Peter for so long. I really enjoyed. Miles Morales's

introduction especially during Brian Michael

Bendis's era. I've also really loved the character.

So I appreciate him a lot And then there's Miguel

O 'Hara Spider -Man 2099. Yes, and you know Peter

David have writing that series because you know

that He spoke to me very strongly as a spider

-man and he was very immersed in the 90s I mean,

there's no doubt about it that this was a spider

-man of the 90s in spite of being 2099 But you

know, he was a fascinating character. I still

love him but you know then you get into well

you know and then for Peter himself like which

Peter do you mean do you mean Peter in this era

of the comics or do you mean this this era do

you mean Peter from this movie franchise or this

movie franchise it is so funny how many you can

have nowadays yeah no but i i mean and we can

go into the movie franchise that's fine but specifically

when i asked that i was like specifically like

the comic Peter and then of course your have

which is one of the things that this show almost

nine and a half ten years ago was founded on

I Look, I like spider -man. I do I grew up on

John Semper jr's spider -man the animated series,

so Don't get me wrong. I love spider -man, but

you can only tell the same Peter Parker story

over and over and over again so many times Before

you just don't give a crap about Peter like just

in that moment like I need to step away from

this character for a while I need some and when

we started this podcast nearly ten years ago

Something was happening at Marvel and it was

amazing. It was fantastic. It was superior and

I was blown away I didn't read 690 to 697, but

I read 698, 99, and 700. And then we went into

Superior Spider -Man with Doc Ock being Spider.

I was like, I'm here for this. I need this. This

is great. I know Peter's going to come back at

some point because it's Peter and it's Spider

-Man and it's whatever, but doing that flip was

so cool to me. Mm -hmm. Yeah Who is your favorite

Batman? You got obviously Bruce. You've got dick.

Who else has been Batman? You've got various

versions of Bruce, but I mean I haven't read

as much of other Batman's So I don't have a big

opinion on them. Okay Technical difficulties,

let's move on shall we the age -old question

DC or Marvel? Technical difficulties. Let's move

on, shall we? What other publishers do you enjoy

reading? Well, let's see. I did enjoy some image

comics back in the day, but not a whole lot.

I did pick up a spawn for quite a while. I picked

up spawn for mostly because I was following him

from his Spider -Man days, Todd McFarland from

his Spider -Man days. But I really didn't get

much into the other image books at all. I've

picked up the occasional thing here and there

but not really intensely or definitely not following

up the publisher. Dark Horse has just managed

to bring out some books that I've liked here

and there as well so I've enjoyed quite a few

things on that front. There was that time in

the 90s when they did Comic's Greatest World

and I picked up things like X and Ghost and the

occasional other series from that but Yeah, I've

never really ventured out beyond the Big Two,

just not for any particular reason, just not

seeing anything. I was getting enough comics

already. I was just getting enough comics already

from the Big Two, so buying additional ones were

a little different. Weren't really on the plate.

Although one of my favorite series of all time

is Jeff Smith's Bone from Cartoon Books, which

also will be published by Imix. Sorry, Imix.

That's not a word from image for like a year.

So that's another one where it's less about it's

more about the story that I was finding there

rather than the publisher print or digital, which

one both either or and why or why not? I still

buy some print comics, mostly because I have

a buddy who owns a comic book shop and I like

to support him financially. He lives really far

away. So I don't get to see him personally and

get the books in person myself from him. I get

the mail order every four to six weeks. But that's

the main reason why I only get print comics new

anymore is to support him. And I do like reading

some print comics. It's nice to get away from

the tablet once in a while, but I really like

the fact that With the digital I have thousands

of comics all in one place and I don't have to

have boxes upon box upon boxes Now also for context

at its biggest my Physical collection was over

70 long boxes So I've sold a lot of them to narrow

that down so that I'm more in the range of 35

long boxes I still could sell more, but I haven't

been aggressively trying to. I would go to some

shows that were local and I enjoyed doing some

shows, but they're kind of pricey and it didn't

really make my money back on them very well.

Um, but I do like the physical ones, but I like

the convenience of the digital so much that I've

become that's the primary way I read right now.

I read digital almost exclusively. I'll just

do the physical. when I can't find it on the

digitals. Who are some of your favorite comics

writers and why? Well, I'm going to show my age

again in that the comics that my favorite writers

are probably more from the 80s and even 90s.

So those come through quite a bit, such as Keith

Giffen, one of my favorites, J .M. de Mateus,

fantastic writer. The two of them together on

Just Look International was gold. Keith has such

a quirky, humorous, irreverent take to his stories

that I love that. But then you have JMD Mateus,

who has an incredible gift for dialogue and making

people sound human and relatable, as well as

his own sense of humor. So it's funny. The two

of them are kind of like the peanut butter and

chocolate. of writing pairs, but they're very

different. You put them together, they're fantastic.

I also like Peter David. He himself just has

a lot of humor to his style, as well as fun twists

and turns that he'll throw into his stories,

as well as making fun of the tropes of comics.

So I enjoy him quite a bit. But then there's

also Roger Stern. who I think is a fantastic

writer who doesn't get enough credit for the

things he's done. I loved him in the 80s. That's

where I discovered him and still go back to those

stories then when he was writing Amazing Spider

-Man, Introducing the Hobgoblin and when he was

writing Avengers and brought in the Wasp as leader

of the team. And we had the big finale on that

kind of sort of finale of the under siege story.

with the master of evil invading the mansion.

I've just re -read that recently because the,

uh, Inker Tom Palmer just passed away this year.

So to honor him, I went back and re -read that

particular story as well as a couple of the issues

that kind of led up to the five issue arc. And

boy, it still just strikes home how powerful

that story is because Roger Stern can bring real

humanity to his characters as well as find different

pieces of the history in comics and pull them

together in a sensible way and interesting way

all the time. So he's just one of my all -time

favorite writers. I mean, if I was to start a

podcast about a writer specifically, I know I

would pick Roger Stern. What defines a good story

to you? That's a tough one. I guess I'd like

a touch of humor in my stories. I always like

humor. That just is where I sit. I mean, I Watch

play sitcoms the kid even the dumb ones that

were on reruns but i didn't care they were fun

i enjoy that. I like it when the heroes are wisecrackers.

Making fun of the opponent that they're fighting

so i like a taste a touch of humor to balance

out the seriousness of the situations that they're

in. So i guess that's why you know spider man's

obvious hook for me cuz that's what he does all

the time. But then we have like Jeff Smith's

Bone, which is a huge arc epic story with a fantasy

setting and it's just delightful. And it has

comedic beats interspersed with a very heartfelt

fantasy setting and story. So I guess I really

like there to be some great character interactions,

and humor is one part of the interactions that

I look for in my stories. What does a story have

to have to draw you in? Oh, I guess I've already

answered that one by talking about humor so much.

But that's definitely a good hook there. Who

are some of your favorite comics artists? Sure,

some of the long -time big guns always come to

mind, like John Besama and Sal Besama. They're

with the same, you know, with their relationship,

but their styles kind of look similar, but boy,

there's a different things that they bring to

their artwork that I see a lot of. And I honestly,

I like Sal Basama almost more than John. I know

that's probably controversial, but that's where

I stand. Sal just has so much energy and over

the top, you know, he's over the top energy.

So that's, I just dig that. Walt Simonson, huge,

huge influence when he broke in on Thor. That's

fantastic. And John Romita Jr. I have to give

him a lots of love. I mean, he did a very important

run of Spider -Man when I first getting into

it, and he's come back so many times, but I know

that his style has changed, which I think is

a growth as an artist to keep things different.

I know some of his styles have been more abstract

and perhaps off -putting, but you know, I just

still find a lot of fun seeing what he's going

to do when he's... Taking on the artistic chores

of a book and of course long time people also

more Not as they're still not recent, but they're

recent to me, which is weird to say like Tom

Gromit Oh, I love Tom Gromit stuff. Everything

he's done always looks Crisp and clear and just

fantastic. The characters just sing If you want

to see the best version of some characters Tom

Gromit has probably the man to go to and then

there's Mark Bagley Mark Bagley is just amazing

to me. He is just a workhorse, and he can do

any story I think he would want to do. He's done

a lot of stories that I've loved immensely, and

I'm just glad to see him still working. It's

such a joy to see him still out there doing his

craft. So, Mr. Bagley all the way. Do you have

a favorite non -superhero title? Absolutely.

I've already talked about it a little bit, so

I guess I'll talk about some more. It's Jeff

Smith's Bone. I've read that Story from begin

to end more times than I can count It's just

a delightful fantasy setting and the humor of

its draws you in seeing Jeff Smith do his work

that he brought from the animation world into

comics is so clear and He knows how to craft

a great comic book from his work on animation.

I just adore that I've also read that series

from beginning to end twice when my twins were

young, when they were in elementary school. We

did it like for a summer to have some fun. I

read like the first few issues just because I

thought they were funny and the kids would appreciate

it. And they wanted to keep going. It became

something we did every night. And I'd do funny

voices for the characters. You know, Smiley's

like so, and the rat creatures are like so. I

just had fun doing that as well with them. We

read it all the way through. And the thing that

also just amazed me still, well, it doesn't really

amaze me because I'm an old softie, is there's

this part in the next to last issue and the last

issue that both make me cry. They make me cry

every time I get emotional doing. And part of

it is also me actually trying to do the voices

for them. I would get kind of a little into character

with them and it brought things home, but. boy

there's something about this how those stories

end and the final beats in there seeing the character

saying goodbye that gets to me every time it's

just a beautiful series i can't recommend it

highly enough what is your favorite run of a

series so stuff like batman 775 to 780 or whatever

that kind of thing i'm gonna have to say it's

probably a cheat to call it this but i'm gonna

have to say that the giffen de matteo's maguire

Run of justice league would be one of my favorite

runs of a series if you consider justice league.

To be. All the volumes of justice league that

have been out there which i think is fair because

that's really what they are they all kind of.

Are the same team even though the name changes

slightly and the memberships can change dramatically

it still is kind of the same thing so going from

volume one justice league of america to. post

legends, Justice League, and then international,

America, et cetera, et cetera. I'd still would

call that part of the same series. And then going

on from there, you know, Grant Morrison's JLA

comes along and then there's another Justice

League of America and more and more like that.

But I would say that, you know, the JLA era,

by being a workplace comedy and very character

focused, brought something different to superheroes

that hadn't been seen in a long time. And i can

reread that series. Without blinking i can finish

reading the whole thing and want to start over

again from the beginning. So that's a favorite

of mine what is one comic you can read over and

over again single issue or trade that's a tough

one there's a little so many actually that i

can think of. Well i'll put there should be so

many i can think of my mind of course is gone

blank just from from that just gone boop and

i'm just. not spacing on it i've already answered

a couple that i've read repeatedly in other questions

but i'm trying to think of something else from

that like from one example from justice league

would be issue number eight just like international

number eight moving day that issue is easily

one that you can reread because it's so funny

it's just so funny and the characters come through

so great so how'd you do batman's voice precise

muscle control plus i have a pretty good ear

Don't do that again. Are there comics you avoid

altogether? Honestly, I'm not really into horror

comics. Those just don't really have much appeal

to me. I've seen them before And I've read a

few things like that. It's it's fine. But honestly,

I'm just too positive a person and I'm I'm too

much of a of a Boy Scout to like horror and seeing

bad things happen to people. I just don't really

care for that. So it just doesn't really work

for me. So it's like that means I've missed out

on like all the zombie genre because zombie is

really like a part of horror and just like, I'm

not interested. It's fine. I'm glad. I'm glad

that there's people out there who are loving

it. I'm really glad for the creators that they're

finding success with that, but I don't have much

interest in that. Are there any comics in the

past or currently that you wish you hadn't read

them? That's a really challenging question. My

problem there is that even with books that I

don't like, I never really feel like I'm sorry

I read them. I always feel like there's something

I get out of them, and I just like the medium

of comic telling too much to really think that.

I might think that one was a waste of my time,

maybe. But I haven't really been sorry that I've

read it So I don't know I don't I really have

a hard time saying that I just I'm such a fan

just such a fan of comics and The creators involved,

you know, whatever they bring to it. How large

or small is your physical comic book collection?

Yep, as I said before it's been it's been very

large at one point of over 70 long boxes and

now it's about 35 long boxes Plus assorted shelves

of trades that. Kind of keeps growing without

meaning to or more like out by graphic novels

that come out or trade paperbacks that come out

from Kickstarter campaigns of things that I find

interesting. So I'll support those as well, and

that gives me another physical comic. What is

the one comic you could never live without ever?

OK, boy, I'll have to say that. I'm going to

jump to my man Spider -Man again and go to Amazing

Spider -Man number 248. If I've got the number

correct, then I think I do. Because that's the

issue that has half of the book, only half, with

the story The Boy Who Collects Spider -Man. Because

that story spoke to me from the very first time

I read it. And you know, I defy anybody to read

that and not cry. It's a beautiful story. It

does also speak to kind of us as collectors and

fans because that's who we are. And not so that

we should place ourselves in the situation or

equate ourselves with the tragic character who's

that the boy himself who's in the story. But

that's what's for it we are we are the fans of

spider man here. And we get to be his friend

in the end of the story. And i just love that

i just love that one to death i could i i definitely

cannot live without that one what was the most

money you spent on a comic or a comic item comic

item could be green lanterns ring batman spatter

egg center now see there there's my bad memory

coming into play again because i am not sure.

I don't buy a lot of merchandise or collectibles,

so I don't have an easy answer from that front.

It's just not one of the things that have interested

me. I can see the things out there and they're

fun and they're neat, but somehow the money on

them just didn't click as something to invest

in. Like it likes an investment. I know it's

not an investment It's just for fun But you know,

that's what I could be spending on new comics

instead that I could read So I guess that's just

where my brain goes. This is taking away money

that I could be spending on reading material.

I Think that's where I've always been. So it

just never really became a thing to buy collectibles

So that leaves out that is an easy answer. So

I've got to actually like think about the books

themselves move well Well, that makes it's probably

Was there ever a moment when you were done with

comics altogether? I have never had a moment

when I was not into comics. I always wanted to

keep going. I have not wanted to stop. I've been

into them for, you know, 50 years now, just to

be, just to put a point on how my age, you know,

give you an idea of my age. Yes, it's 50 years.

And it's like, no, I have not gotten tired of

it. There's been, or done with it. There's been

points when I've had to back off financially

and also looking at the logistics of how many

comics are in my house i would back off on that

and you know try to sell some of the comics but

i always want to keep reading i always want to

see what's going to be in the next story i know

there's all such a good stories out there and

i really do enjoy the fact that on the digitals

i can read lots of older stories that are new

to me and that's just been fantastic that's been

a rediscovering eras What are you reading right

now and what do you think our listeners should

check out? Well, my reading right now is probably

pretty boring because what I'm reading in physical

comics is Amazing Spider -Man and Avengers and

whatever Captain America series is out right

now. Those ones I just can't quit in terms of

physical books. Mostly because for Spider -Man

and Avengers, They were my first two mail order

subscriptions back in 1980. And honestly, I've

never been able to stop buying them since then.

I know it and partly I see the different creators

that come along as what helped keep the story

fresh. Even though the characters are going to

stay the same, the creators can keep things going

differently. So I just haven't been able to cut.

quit them in all this time. But on digital, that's

where I'll have a bit more variety because I

can read older stuff. So my thing for 2022 is

I've been reading Justice League of America volume

one from the very beginning and I haven't read

most of these stories. So I started all the way

at the beginning with Brave and the Bold and

their three issue appearance there, right into

volume one and I've been just doing one issue

a day. of justice league i call it jla a day

just because that's fun to say and that's been

really fun that's been really fun some of the

early issues were a slog i will freely admit

the early silver age issues were a slog but they've

gotten better as we got closer to the bronze

age and now i'm firmly in the bronze age with

jerry conway and it's been really fun and i read

Other things like i find things on the marvel

unlimited app to read like. The marvel two and

one is my current binge so i'm going through

that for the first time so again good stuff there.

For my podcast though that's where i also read

things i still i'm re reading batman the outsiders

for that podcast that's great i love that i can

never get tired of reading that one. And some

bad girl cassandra kane stories for the other

podcast. And we're reading right now the series

Batgirls that's brand new. And I'll tell you,

I'm enjoying the heck out of that. It has been

great fun. If you like any versions of the Batgirls

from Modern, if you like Barbara Gordon or you

like Stephanie Brown or you like Cassandra Cain,

they all get a good spotlight to shine and they're

all treated very well. So I do enjoy that series

and I recommend that. The artwork has been very

nice. And I think even the most recent issue,

issue nine, has a different artist. And I dare

say I think it might be my favorite one in this

book so far. So yeah, check out Batgirls. Welcome

to Gotham. Heroes, heroines, anti -heroes and

heroines, or villains, what archetypes are your

go -to reads? Oh, I'm a Jedi. I'm a Gryffindor.

I'm a Boy Scout. So heroes are the way to go.

I'm not going to go for the other ones. I will

read the stories of the other ones on occasion.

It's fine. I do enjoy the occasional villain

focus in a story, but I want to see the heroes.

So that's where I'm going to be focusing on.

That's my preference. Do you have a my parents

get rid of my comics story? Thankfully I do not.

But my mother does. And that might be why I don't

have a story like that. My mother collected some

fun humor books when she was a kid. They might

have been like Little Lulu or Nancy and other

humor books like that. And one day her dad just

gathered them up, took them outside, and trashed

them. Threw them in a pit, burned them up for

no... noticeable reason other than they bothered

him. So that was pretty bad. And I think as a

result, when I got into comics, my mother was

very understanding and wasn't going to give me

any trouble. She never gave me any trouble about

reading them. She was relatively supportive.

And I think that she was going to look out for

the fact that nothing was going to happen to

my comic books as long as I was taking care of

them. I could keep - What is one item from a

comic book you'd love to have in the real world?

Again, Batman's Batarang, Green Lantern's ring

with battery, and all that stuff. Ooh, that's

a toughen. I am a bit of a fan of Blue Beetle,

so having his bug would be pretty awesome. Because

it flies, you can drive it around any place you

want to go, and has that awesome swing line that

comes down from it. You know, the bug would be

pretty great, yeah. Yeah, I don't know what the

insurance would be on it from my car insurance

company, but that would be pretty great. If you

could create any comic story line, what would

you want to create and what characters would

you want to create it with? Oh, see, I am terrible

at writing and creating and stuff like that.

This is just not my wheelhouse at all. If I was

to, I'm afraid that my main thing is that I love

the crossovers between the companies. So I would

love to see a crossover. And I've had this nugget

of an idea for a while that just keeps kicking

around of Captain America and Wonder Woman. I'd

love to see a pairing between the two of them.

And honestly, it almost writes itself where instead

of Steve Trevor crash landing on Paradise Island,

Steve Rogers crash lands there following some

mission as Captain America. and kicks off Diana

becoming Wonder Woman in this story and in this

version of the characters. And thus, you know,

beautiful things unfold. And it even can continue

into the present day after Steve gets frozen

in ice and gets thawed out and Diana reunites

with him there. I don't know if it necessarily

needs to be a romance story. I don't know if

that necessarily is a requirement for it, but

the two of them have obviously complimentary

looks and costumes, and I think there could be

some interesting stories with the two of them

and their rogues galleries. So I would like to

see something like that. And finally, what is

the one piece of advice you would give the comics

fandom? It's probably been said a lot lately

and I just agree with it so much is that love

what you love and let other people love what

they love the way they do. There's no criteria

for being a fan of something. There's no rules.

There's no test or quiz to take. And you don't

have to have read a particular number of things

or no particular backstory to be a fan of something.

There's room for all of it. There's room for

all levels. And we should be welcoming each other

and using it as an opportunity to grow and expand

the community. and make friends. But if we're

constantly sniping at each other or putting people

down for what they do like, it's just splitting

us apart, you know? And I'm more than old enough

to have lived in the era when it was hard being

a comic book fan. You were constantly being made

fun of. And this was not the... the hobby to

have. Being bullied was just the mildest of problems

that you had. So I just don't understand how

it's turned into the comic book fandom bullying

each other. That's just not where we should be.

We should be celebrating each other's loves for

these things. Now, I'll put it this way. Can

we tease each other for things that we love?

Can we make fun of each other for like, oh, gah,

you know, in a friendly way? Sure. I mean, it's

only human nature. I mean, if you really don't

like something and you want to roll your eyes

at it, it's, I mean, I'm not going to say you

can't. Obviously you can. And can we give each

other a good -natured ribbing for loving things?

Heck yeah. I get ribbing plenty for my Batman

and the Outsiders love. And I don't mind. It's

fine. Because if you don't like it, it's okay.

You don't have to like it. But I've had people

who are like, have fond memories of it and enjoy

it just as much. So it's okay. And we even can

unite in talking about the differences, about

our different points of view. We can have fun

talking to each other about why we don't like

something versus why we do. That's fun too. you

know, why should that be why should that be pulling

us apart as well? I mean, why does why do we

have to pick sides and make it and make it animosity

as opposed to just enjoying that we both love

the medium and talking about our different points

of view? You know, let's just let's all just

love our things together and support each other

and support each other in loving our things.

Thank you so much. Those were a lot of great

questions and they hurt my head. So I'm gonna

have to go lie down for in a little while. Alright

folks, that's Tim's comic origin story. We're

gonna take a quick break. You're gonna hear some

ads and some other stuff and we will come back

to close the show after this. So she smoked you.

We put up a fight. And lost. I never thought

I'd hear myself saying this but where's the bat?

We're handling this. Oh, that's reassuring. Don't

let that donut dungar get to you. We're gonna

have this whole thing sewn up before Batman and

Superman get back Sure, how hard could it be

two against one right right? For over six years,

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- Hello, Julie, what the heck are you doing?

Trying to make our spots 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. I'm sure your insurance company

will cover that. No, they won't. No, they probably

won't. Guess it's time for the world to get acquainted

with the all -new, all -improved Spider -Man!

This year's fully loaded model features nanotechnology,

discreetly borrowed from the lab of Reed Richards.

This scientific marvel features billions of microscopic

robots working in harmony to make one spiffy

set of duds, complete with optional anti -symbiote

devices. Alright, folks, we are back here on

The Pull Bag. This is episode 493. I'm of course

to you, Joe and Mike, as I have said throughout

this episode. And you might have noticed, folks,

this episode was a little bit different. And

there's a reason for that. And it has to do with

internet and wires and crossings and blackouts

and country roads and line dancing and square

dancing and rectangle dancing and... Intertubes.

Yeah, those dinotherms just weren't connecting

were they No All right, Tim So go ahead and give

everyone wherever they can find you on social

your podcast your Twitter all that stuff Okay,

we'll do so the best place to find me is on Twitter

at Tim price one seven and you can find my show

the outcasters of Batman the Outsiders podcast

on Twitter at bat outcasters. And you also can

find us on the right on network. If you look

for that, it's right spelled with a W and you

can find our website at the huntresspodcast .com

because it shares a feed with the Huntress podcast,

the Batgirl Cassandra Cain podcast and Feathers

and Foes, a birds of prey podcast. Very cool.

Thank you for joining us here inside the pull

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not now you see me Zuckerberg to stop doing stupid

things join us next time the next two weeks folks

it is Tom Zoller weeks we've got my buddy Jesse

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will be episodes 494 and 495. For now, I am TFU

and Mike with... Nobody, apparently. Tim Price.

There you go. As always, make your great escape

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