Michael David Sims on Comic Reading Origins and Creative Inspirations

Hello, ladies and gentlemen, this is The Pullbag,

episode 500, and I wanted to come before the

episode just to let you know that we recorded

this back in September of 2022, way before all

of the news of Kevin Conroy and Jason David Frank

dying. I loved them both. I got... opportunities

to talk with them both, and they're awesome,

awesome people, and they will be missed. I still

love using Kevin Conroy's promos that he sent

us, so that's why I am coming to you beforehand

to give you a little bit of a bumper here in

the Pull Bags 500th episode. Now, on with the

show. Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You've just jumped

inside the pull bag. Join TFG1 Mike and the rest

of the comic crew here at the GCRN as they make

their great escape into comics. From DC, Marvel,

and Image to IDW, Boom Studios, and Xenoscope,

we have everything right here. We cover things

like Transformers, He -Man, Superheroes, 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,

folks. My name is Michael Allen Blanchard. I

have been a podcaster for nearly 14 years. As

of this coming December 8th, 2022, I go by TF2

and Mike on all my podcast endeavors. and everywhere

online and everything else. I mean, my Instagram

is tfg1mypresents, but that's just because I...

For some stupid reason, anyway. But somewhere

around late 2006, early 2007 is when I first

started listening to podcasts, and I had found

earth -2 .net. So that's earth -2 .net. And on

April 25th, 2007, World's Finest Podcast debuted.

It has been... 15 years this year since that

podcast debuted. And it is when I first found

it, I thought it was originally, I thought it

was Bruce Timm and his people doing it. I was

like, oh, no. It was much more than that. After

listening to all of that, my 500th episode's

guest and his friend, James Doe, go through just

over their first year of this show on September

6th. 2008, 14 years ago this month, I sent him

an email asking for podcasting advice. Of course,

it was three months before I started my own show,

thanks to another best friend that I owe everything

to, Steve Megatron. But Michael David Sims of

earth -2 .net was the person who got me going

on my podcasting journey. It has taken me somewhere

between 14 to 16 years to get a chance to record

with Mike. And now, after nine and a half years

of the pull bag, which started on March 6, 2013,

and just before our 10 -year anniversary next

year in 2023, we have hit 500 episodes, something

I never really planned for this podcast. So I

am thrilled, excited, ecstatic. Elated, overwhelmed,

because one just cannot be whelmed. It's either

over or under. You just can't be whelmed, according

to Robin. To introduce you to the person who

was the inspiration behind me starting the TF2N

podcast, finally, after all these years, I get

to say, Hi, Mike, how are you? I'm good, Mike.

How are you? I'm glad I made that through in

one take, because holy crap, that was a lot of

writing. Let me say something to your listeners

just real quick here. The power of persistence,

people. The power of persistence. Mike here,

he's not joking when he said it's taken him a

long time to nail me down. I am, to a fault,

very hard to nail down. Despite what you might

hear in this episode, in my own podcast. I'm

very, I have social anxiety. So it's very, very

hard for me to commit to things and agree, not

agree to do them, but then do the follow through.

And Mike. Bless you, Mike. Bless you. Because

you have, as you said, 14 to 16 years. I'll just

say 15 years. Yeah. Really tried to get me on

one of your shows. And you kept asking and asking.

And I always wanted to do it. And I'm sorry if

it ever felt like I was blowing you off, like

I wasn't following through on commitments. It

was nothing like that. It was just my social

anxiety always getting the best of me. But you

were persistent. And I actually thank you. For,

for, for that, because this is, this is going

to be super fun and I can't wait to do this.

Yeah, absolutely. And it's one of those things

where when I started listening to you guys, I

freak, it was one of the early episodes. I forget

which one it was, but it was one of the, because

for those that don't know Mike's world's finest

podcast that he did with James Doe is a hundred

episodes. And. They went through every single

episode of the DC animated universe cartoon series.

So BTS, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Static

Shock, Superman, Justice League Unlimited, that

show that shall not be named because it is not

in continuity. Teen Titans counts. If Teen Titans

counts, then Robin was before Batman and that

makes no damn sense. No. No, it does not. It

counts in its own continuity. It doesn't count

in the Timverse. Well, let me say this without

covering Teen Titans, we wouldn't have gotten

to a hundred episodes. It would have ended. I

think it like, what was the math? Like 80 something.

I forget. Yeah. It was like 88 or something,

but yeah. So that's, yeah. So that's where I

got my, cause you guys used to do five cartoons

per podcast. which usually made it anywhere from

one and a half to three and a half hours long.

And I remember one night I was listening and

listening and listening. Next thing I know, it's

the next morning. I'm like, holy crap. And this

was back in 2007, 2008. Back then I had an iPhone.

Now I'm just like, Apple, no thanks. Don't care.

So we are here to take Mike through the 25 questions

all about how he got into or out of reading comics.

And just how does he have such a photographic

memory when it comes to comics? I remember every

episode you would be like, oh, you know, Dan

would say something or James or whomever you

like. Oh, I remember when was that was 1975 and

it was Batman doing. So let's go ahead and make

our greatest game in the comics and kick it off

with. Did you? Obviously you did. But did you

grow up reading comics and what? At what age

do you first remember reading or noticing comics?

Yeah, definitely grew up reading comics. I want

to say, I think maybe around age six, I started

reading them. I definitely know I had seen comics

before that. They were definitely something that,

I mean, I knew how to read, but helped me learn

how to read, how to comprehend stories. The first

ones I ever remember reading, so this will kind

of mark it, are the very earliest episodes, excuse

me, you'll see why I said that, issues of G .I.

Joe, A Real American Hero. I remember seeing

those comics on the spinner rack, on the magazine

rack at the local grocery store, and I just would

pick them up because G .I. Joe was a cartoon.

I think that started in 83, right? So I knew

what G .I. Joe was. If it was 83, I was five

at the time, being born in 78. So I had the action

figures. I had the toys. I'm like, there's a

comic book? So it was really through G .I. Joe

that I got in. That was my gateway into the broader

world of comics. At that point, of course, I

knew of Superman. Of course, I knew of Batman

and Robin and Wonder Woman. But it was G .I.

Joe that opened the door for me. From there,

my mom and my grandma, whenever we would go just...

out. We inevitably wind up at antique shops and,

you know, there's these dusty old stores and,

you know, my mom and Graham, they're looking

at lamps or chairs or whatever the hell. And

I'm like, I don't, what do I care? I'm five,

six years old. So I just roam around the store

and I have very vivid memories of any time we

went, it was not always the same store. Sometimes

it was, but of going to like the, the darker,

like the back of the store, not literally the

back. of the store, you know, out of bounds area,

but the back of the store and the lights were

sort of dim there and just finding boxes of comic

books. And the ones I found were world's finest

comics starring Superman, Batman, and Robin.

And that's how those became some of my favorite

comics of all time. Um, and is ultimately why

that podcast was called world's finest comic

podcast is because of my love of those comics

of seeing them in antique shops. And you know,

I think in 83 comics would have cost maybe 75

cents, maybe a little less than that. But, you

know, you go to an antique shop, you're paying

whatever the owner wants you to pay. Right. So

we're talking a buck, two, three, five sometimes.

But I would ask my mom, can I get one of these?

Because it gave me the opportunity to read Superman,

Batman and Robin together in one book in like

some weird zany adventures. Like there would

be covers of Superman and Batman like being.

I think it's Batman burning Superman at the stake

or vice versa, or them running from wolves being

let loose. It's like, well, I got to see what

that is. And they were just fun, crazy books.

So there, there you go. It was GI Joe and classic

issues of world's finest comics that got me in.

Wow. Very cool. Very cool. So you mentioned your

mom and your grandma. So I assume the answer

to this will be that, but. As a kid, was there

a parent, a friend who just said, here, kid,

read this comic. Go away. You bother me. Not

so much with comics, but definitely when it came

to the Batman TV show from the 60s. If that was

on, I can guarantee you my mom or my gram was

like, oh, thank God I can take a breather. Because

it didn't matter if I had seen the episode before,

because, of course, they were in reruns all the

time. Or it felt like to my little kid self that

they were on all the time. I would just be like,

oh, my God, it's Batman and Robin. And inevitably

during the intro, if Batgirl on her motorcycle

zipped by, I was like, oh, now you really have

my attention. Oh, yeah. Big time. I mean, yeah,

yeah, yeah. Yvonne Craig. Hello. But it, you

know, but it was also like it meant there was

something different. It was like reading an issue

of World's Finest Comics. You get Superman, Batman

and Robin. You know, it's like you get Batman,

Robin and Batgirl. Like it added something else

to it. So but they never. told me i couldn't

read comics let me answer the question that way

yeah um i don't remember any of them ever saying

at that age here's a comic go away but definitely

once i was into comics and started i won't say

so much collecting them at that age but stockpiling

them would probably be a better phrasing they

definitely as kids we were hoarders people right

that's a great way to put it they definitely

would Get me just random stuff. Like here's the

comic from Radio Shack that's promoting the Tandy,

you know, or something. I remember I do know

someone gave me like a random issue of a Captain

Marvel comic, like the Mar -Vell, you know, version,

not the Carol Danvers version that we have now,

but just some random issue from like. I guess

it would have been the 70s. I'm not entirely

sure. But if it wasn't a promotional comic or

that one comic, I really don't remember having

parents or my grandparents give me them. I will

say for one of my birthdays, maybe about my 11th

or 12th. Yeah, that makes sense mathematically

because it would have had to been after 1990.

You'll see why in a second. My aunt, my mom's

sister, gave me a Batman comic because the Batman

movie would have just come out. It would have

been like that summer. Yeah. And she what she

did was she took white out to the comic on like

Batman's word balloons and wrote some story about

like, you know, it was it was it was a fun birthday

present about, you know, like Mike having adventure

with Batman when he was a little kid or something.

And then she taped money in the comic for me.

But I was so incensed that she ruined a comic

book with and tape to put money in there that

like. I was grateful. I was like, thank you,

Ant. Thank you for this book. But secretly inside,

I was like, you ruined a comic book. Now I can't

actually read the comic. Yeah, it's kind of like,

oh, well, if you're going to return all of these,

we're going to rip all the covers off and then

give them to Walden Books or something. Right.

And I'm two years younger than you, and I remember

comics. I wasn't a comic kid. I was a cartoon

kid. I mean, comics were there, but they weren't

like – I don't know. So for me, it's like, Oh,

Walden books or, this, I never knew you could

call up whatever, like, you know, diamond or

decent, whatever. It's like, Oh, I'd like these

mailed to my house, please. Or whatever. I didn't

know about comic shops back then when I was a

kid and stuff like that, because yeah, it was

just one of those weird, crazy things. So when

you were a kid, which characters were your favorites?

Um, I definitely, Any of the G .I. Joe characters,

you know, I definitely like I know a lot of people

will say that they were like a storm shadow or

a snake eyes fan. But I was huge into Flint and

Lady J and Quick Cat. Those are some of my favorite

characters in the comics and in the cartoons.

Beyond that, I've always been a Robin guy. I

mean, nowadays, I absolutely adore Nightwing,

have since pretty much his solo series in the

90s. So I've always been a Dick Grayson fan,

but I'm also a big fan of just the idea of Robin.

That's why I'm a fan of Jason Todd, of Tim Drake.

I didn't really read Stephanie Brown, the brief

run where she was Robin, but I like her as a

character. But then, of course, Damian Wayne.

So Robin as a whole, but specifically, I've always

gravitated towards Dick Grayson because as a

kid, whether I was reading the comics, Or watching

the cartoon. Robin did exactly what Robin was

created to do. I didn't want to be Batman. I

wanted to be the Kid Pale of Batman. Well, and

that's the thing. Batman is the legend. Dick

Grayson Robin slash Nightwing is the relatable

character. Is the character that you can look

at and be like, oh. Sure, some people can't relate

to his parents being murdered or anything like

that in the circus and all that, but with what

Robin does, with what Dick Grayson has done over

the years, whereas Bruce Wayne Batman, it's like,

oh my god, he can do this, this, this, and this,

and this, and five seconds has gone by. That

kind of thing. Same thing with... Spider -Man.

Spider -Man is the more... I don't think Marvel

really has. They never really had a... Yes, their

characters are legendary. I'm not going to not

say that. But specifically comparing them to

DC, Batman is a legend in that universe. Whereas

the Marvel characters, there's Iron Man, there's

Spider -Man, there's Captain America, there's...

Hulk, Thor, whomever. But there is no overall,

like, you know, DC, oh, the Holy Trinity with

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Those are

three legendary characters. They are their essentially

core characters. But Marvel went out and did

it and was like, oh, we don't want to have just

one. We want to have multiple. And there have

been multiple versions of all, like, it's not

just Tony Stark. It's not just Peter Parker.

Even with Batman, I mean, for a while, Grayson

was Batman and all that. But you want a character

that you can look at and see yourself in their

shoes. And I don't know of anyone that has ever

said to me, as I was reading whichever Batman

you want to say, I saw myself in Batman. Yes,

maybe certain characteristics, but like... To

my knowledge, at least in my friends group, no

one's ever really said, oh, my parents died.

I'm going to go out and avenge them and dress

up as a bat. You know what I mean? Like, I don't

know if I'm describing this correctly or not.

But again, going back to repeating myself because

I repeat myself a lot, folks. Legend status versus

an everyday and every man, every man, every person

character that you could actually feel like you

could be them. Yeah. All right. The age -old

question. DC or Marvel? Well, it switches all

the time and throughout the years. My website

is called earth2 .net. That's a pretty big marker

that when I created the website, I was more of

a DC person. Quite literally, when I was coming

up with the site, I was sitting at my desk, sitting

at my computer. going, what URL do I want to

buy? What do I want to do? I looked over at my

then collection of trade paperbacks and hardcovers,

and right there was Grant Morrison's Earth 2,

the graphic novel. And I was like, huh, Earth

2, I like that. So yeah, so as a kid, I would

say up to about high school. I just, whatever.

If it was at the grocery store or the drugstore

on the spinner rack, it didn't matter to me.

Marvel VDC. Then I get into high school and there

was a high school friend who helped shepherd

me more into being a comic collector. Earlier,

I called myself, you said hoarder. I forget what

I had said. You know, stockpiling, I think is

what it is. Stockpiling is what you said. But

when I really started becoming a reader, a collector,

there was this friend that got me into it. And

I was definitely buying Marvel stuff because

I was getting into X -Men at that time. There

was the 92 cartoon, of course, which you had

mentioned off the air. But I got into X -Men

around the time of, what was it called? The one

where Wolverine loses his adamantium. Whatever

that story, Fatal Attractions. So I was getting

into Marvel at the time. But shortly thereafter,

DC just started trying new things. They would

introduce Impulse. They would introduce Young

Justice. There was a book called Aztec. And there

was a lot of these comics where it just felt

fresh and new and like it was for me. Yeah. Marvel

Knights comes around in the very late 90s. And

we get Daredevil by Kevin Smith, Joe Cassatt,

and Jimmy Palmiati. We get Black Panther by Christopher

Priest. We get Inhumans by Jay Lee and Mark Miller.

And those books very much sang to me. So I became

a Marvel guy. Now, this is all between like 1993

and 1999, where I'm sweeping sides. Then the

2000s come along. And I would say up to maybe...

2010 ish. I was definitely more in the Marvel

camp because I didn't necessarily like what DC

DC was going in a very dark path with your identity

crisis and all that. I didn't, that just wasn't

for me. The stories were good. Don't get me wrong,

but that wasn't quite what I wanted. And I sort

of kind of fell out of comics at the time. And,

and really up until the last couple of years,

I wasn't reading. Most of the comics I was reading

would have been for Earth 2 at the show, doing

recordings with Dan. So then we're looking at

traditionally older comics. But now, as of this

moment, I'm very much back in the DC camp. Based

on just what I'm reading, I'm enjoying their

output a little more than I am Marvel's. So it

very much flip -flops. And despite a certain

perception of me from maybe like 10 years ago,

where I was very much, it seemed like I was a

Marvel guy, I think overall I am more of a DC

person. Yeah. Well, I mean, like you said, Robin

is at – you feel that Robin is at your core.

So that's – yeah. And for me, it's always – it

hasn't – the loyalty has not been to either of

the companies. It has never – for me, it has

never been about that. It's always been about

what characters do I enjoy from either of them

or what stories or whatever. That's just always

what it's been. And with, with Grayson, it's

like, you know, I started on starting on gates

of Gotham and I was like, Oh, he's Batman now.

Well, that works. And this story is amazing.

And I started on Batman. I actually read them.

I had to read them backwards. But when, when,

when the shows, when the podcast started, we

started on Batman 13 because a new 52 Batman

13, because hello. The Joker's face was on there.

I'm like, oh, okay. All right. And then I had

to go back to Court of Owls, and I went forward.

And I don't know if I ever finished the Snyder

run. Of course, then again, I jumped over to

Gail Simone's Batgirl and Kyle Higgins' Nightwing.

And since we're talking about DC versus Marvel

and colors and everything else. In comics, Nightwing

blue or Nightwing red? Which color do you prefer?

Blue. I get the appeal of red, but it ain't for

me. I mean, Nightwing, even if you go with his

original design by George Perez, he's blue and

yellow. And then you get the Chuck Dixon ongoing

series. He's blue. And then all of a sudden,

New 52, he's red. And I'm like, what the fuzz

is this? I'm like, oh, it's so good. I get the

appeal of it, but no, it's blue. It's so blue.

So what other publishers do you enjoy reading

outside of DC and Marvel? There's not too many

I'm reading. right now admittedly but idw always

has my attention um they i think it was early

this year or somewhere in 2021 they published

um the series ended is what i'm getting at but

there was a star trek year five yep comic that

they did that very much so if you're a fan of

the original star trek series You know, seasons

one, two, and three are supposed to be years

one, two, and three of the five -year mission.

So we never got to see years four and five. So

what they did, and I think IDW might've done

it. Did they do a year four comic? I actually

don't know if they did, but they do this year

five comic that does a couple of things. It brings

in the continuity of Star Trek, the animated

series, which I think they're assuming was year

four of the adventure because it brings in characters.

from that cartoon into what would ostensibly

be the TV show, right? And then the series, I

won't spoil how it ends, but it leads right up

to where the characters are before Star Trek

The Motion Picture, the first Star Trek movie.

So it continues the television show into the

cartoon and then right up to that first movie.

And it was really good. If I recall correctly,

each two issues would make up like one episode.

I'll put in quotes there. Okay. And they were

just very solid. On top of that, these are a

couple years old now, but IDW and DC did two

Star Trek Green Lantern crossovers. Oh, yeah.

called The Spectrum War, the second one called

Stranger Worlds. They are so good. They're a

spinoff of the J .J. Abrams movies. They're that

continuity, but they're also a spinoff of The

Blackest Night. Blackest Night? What's the one?

The Green Lantern storyline where everybody comes

back from the dead. That's Blackest Night, right?

Blackest Night, Brightest Day? Yeah, it's a spinoff

of that because basically what happens, this

isn't a spoiler, the heroes of the DC Universe

lost. The DC Universe is dead. And a few of the

Green Lanterns got shunted over into the Star

Trek universe through comic book means. And now

they're teaming up with the Star Trek characters

from the J .J. Abrams movies, those versions

of them. And the way, and I will not spoil this,

the way the sequel Stranger Worlds ends, it's

like, please give me a part three. Please give

me a part three. I don't think one. I'm going

to assume sales weren't high enough to warrant

that. But, oh, my God, I want a part three. On

top of that, Boomin DC did Justice League and

Power Rangers. Enjoyed the heck out of that.

That's right. And if you've ever read Injustice,

there's a joke that Tom Taylor continues over

from Injustice to that crossover. And lastly,

Boom and IDW did a Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crossover, which,

you know, it was just fun. They just did one.

Where the Power Rangers crossed over with Godzilla.

I've not read it yet because I think it just

finished within the last two, three weeks. So

I haven't sat down and read it, but that is very

near the top of my to -read pile. So the common

denominator there is pretty much IDW. Star Trek

stuff, their weird crossover stuff, just the

crossovers you wouldn't expect. Who expects Green

Lantern and Star Trek? That makes sense. It makes

absolute sense. So yeah, IDW and Boom. I might

not read their output consistently, but they

are on my radar. Yeah. So episode 372 and 373

were when we covered both the Star Trek Green

Lantern. Those two episodes of this podcast is

when we covered that. And the Mighty Morphin

crossover, yeah, we had to cover that, so we

covered that. And yes, you're right, there is

a Star Trek Year 4, and it is done by... See,

IDW is, like, they are the... It's not franchise,

it's... They're just the IP pro... You know,

they are the IP kings because they have, or they...

Well, at this point, at the end of this year,

they won't have it anymore. But they've had the

Transformers and G .I. Joe license for so long.

They've got Star Trek. They've got this. They've

got that. It's all this other stuff that you

remember loving. They did Star Trek Transformers,

basically taking, like you were saying earlier,

they took the Star Trek animated series characters

and design and combined them with the Generation

1 cartoon designs of Transformers. It was like,

holy crap. It was so, so good. All right, so

we are living in an age of digital stuff, but

print or digital, which one both, either or,

and why or why not when it comes to you reading

comics? Digital, just because it's so much easier

these days. I definitely do have print comics

in my collection, but my collection used to be,

I used to have over 20 ,000 comics. And, you

know, that had to get pared down and pared down

and pared down over the years. To the point where

now I only have a handful of collected editions

and actually only have one full comic book run

still in print because it means something to

me. And that's What If, the second volume of

What If. So with digital, though, it's like I

can just grab my iPad and sit on the couch and

read. Or I can do it on my computer or whatever

room I happen to be in. Print is amazing. I love

cracking open an old trade paperback and just

getting that comic smell. There's something very

visceral about that. Just for where I am in my

life right now, it's definitely digital just

for the sake of convenience, honestly. I am not...

Okay, yes, we can still... I wish it was on the

Microsoft store. It isn't. I've looked. We still

have the Comixology app, but ever since that

idiot Bezos bought them and folded them into...

No. Like, the whole point of me having a... That

32 -inch monitor is so I can read the stuff on

my computer without having to zoom in. That was

the whole greatest thing about comiXology was

that guided view where you just arrow over and

it takes you where it wants to go and it brings

your eye in. But now this new crap with Kindle,

it's like, oh, you want to zoom in? You can zoom

in. And I'm like, no. Let me ask you something.

What's your setup? This is the IT geek in me

coming out. Okay, so it's very, well, the monitor's

new, but the overall, it's an old HP Pavilion.

I bought it in 2010, so it's really old. I have,

like, when I originally bought it, I wanted something

that I could have for X number of years, upgrade,

blah, blah, blah, and it has all that. I just

never did upgrade any of it. But it's like, it's

not on its last leg, but it's getting there.

And I need to get a new one. What about your

monitors? So you have the 32 inches. Do you have

one monitor? Do you dual try? What do you do?

No, I just, I tried doing dual and I just couldn't.

I had an old 27 inch monitor that I was going

to use for just general what I'm doing now with,

you know, having the document up, having Chrome

open, being able to record this and all that

and everything else. And I couldn't – and originally

the reason why I got this, I have the Samsung

M7 because it has Wi -Fi and it has apps and

it has whatever. Oh, it doubles as a TV. That's

great. That's awesome. And then I just couldn't

concentrate on two different – I'm one of those

laser people. If I am focused, I need to be focused

on one thing. I can't – besides my cerebral palsy,

that's one of the reasons why I don't drive is

because you have to focus on so many different

things driving. It's like – Oh, this car is over

there. That car is over there. Oh, I need your

phone. I can't do that. So, yeah, no, it's just

one monitor. Okay. The reason I ask is can I

send you a picture real quick? Yeah. Through

the chat? Okay. I don't know if you can. Okay,

well, no big deal. Then I won't do that. But

the reason I brought this up is because you mentioned

the 32 -inch so you could use the guided view

and make it easier to read. So I have a three

-monitor setup. And so I have the main monitor

in front of me, a secondary monitor to my right.

I have a third monitor to my left that I keep

in vertical status. And that's the one I do all

my comic book reading on. So it's like having

a giant comic book page. open right there so

if whenever you upgrade your computer and if

you want to you know you decide i understand

what you're saying about needing to focus but

if you can do a second monitor on that machine

i highly recommend to you and anybody who reads

digital comics on a computer to get a second

monitor and put it in you know just turn it 90

degrees that's all you have to do It's not only

great for reading, it's also great for writing

because you can have the whole document open

right in front of you and you can see the whole

page. So this is the end of my IT nerd section.

We're going to go back into my comic book. Sorry

to hijack the show there. No, no, no. I mean,

you know, you're the professional here. I'm just,

you know, the host. It's okay. Where the hell

were we? Oh, yeah. Okay. Let's put digital. Yes,

yes, yes. Who are some of your favorite comics

writers and why? Right now, and I hinted at him

a few moments ago, it's Tom Taylor, for sure.

Right now, he's writing Nightwing, Superman,

Son of Kal -El. And he ended, he had an independent

series, I want to say through Boom, called Seven

Secrets. He just... When he gets his hooks into

characters, he just makes you believe that they're

real. The most recent issue of Nightwing that

came out, Dick faced a moment where it's not

a spoiler to say a villain. And Dick was like,

oh, no, that means I can't have personal relationships.

So he tries to break up with Barbara and Barbara

looks him in the face and she goes, dude, I'm

Batgirl. Get this toxic BS out of your system.

Batman raised you wrong. And we are going to

be Dick and Barbara forever. And it was such

an honest moment where Dick was trying to do

something that he thought was right and honorable.

But it was also a very toxic, self -centered

decision. He didn't consult Barbara. He was making

a unilateral decision. And just have Barbara

be like, dude. Dude, think about what I've gone

through. I'm okay if a villain knows your identity

and knows mine. We'll get through this. But he's

also, for DC, he had a Suicide Squad series.

It didn't last that long, unfortunately. I think

it only lasted about 12 issues. It was a very

solid series. He did the entire Injustice run,

you know, based off the video game and Injustice

2. I've never read that whole thing, but I've

liked what I've read for the most part. There

are some iffy bits. But for Marvel, he also did

a short -lived X -Men Red series. There's a current

X -Men Red series going on, but that's not him.

But this is the one that focused on Jean Grey

creating a team to just be more proactive. I

forget what they were doing, but it featured

Laura Kinney, the all new Wolverine. That was

another series he wrote where Logan was thought

to be dead. And, you know, one of like Laura,

his clone daughter. came around and took up the

mantle of wolverine and she found out she there

were clones of her so she had a couple of sisters

and they introduced honey badger in that which

is like imagine wolverine but it's like a 12

year old girl and it's the most adorable thing

ever because all she wants to do is like wolverine

everything to death she's also a 12 year old

girl and so she's awesome If we're going to go

classic, I say classic. I mean, like the 90s.

I got to go with Kurt Busiek of Avengers and

Astro City. In the 90s, Preacher was my comic,

so I got to say Garth Ennis. And Mark Waid doing

Impulse. I know he did Flash, but I never really

read his Flash run. I got into him through Impulse.

honestly chuck dixon um who was like pretty much

wrote all of the bat books in the early 90s you

know robin nightwing i know he did some of the

main batman books so that's a hodgepodge but

those are like a lot of my like mount rushmore

comic book writers yeah I'm probably going to

edit this out, but I'm going to ask you this.

Was there something recently in the last four

or five years about like something came out about

Chuck Dixon where people were like, oh, no, he's

not like it's one of those. Yeah, you find out

about something or you find it's kind of like,

you know, oh, me, me posting on Twitter 10 years

ago, Nightwing read forever. And then that coming

back to bite. Was there some scandal with Chuck

Dixon? Yeah, he is extremely right wing. Um,

and I don't know if he said, I don't know if

there was like one thing he said specifically,

but yeah, he definitely has political views that

a lot of people do not get along with. I don't

know if he's part of comics gate. Okay. That

group. But I, I believe he's tangentially related

to them in some ways. And I never, like, I mean,

I've tried looking into what comics gate was,

but. If I remember correctly, they're basically

they want comics to be the way they were and

no change, no new things, no this, no that. Yeah,

they are primarily straight white men who are

angry that women and people of color are comic

books. And heaven forbid if you're a female of

color and queer, because they will go after you.

They will dox you. They are not good people.

And the person who leads them is a grifter. That's

all he is. He's just an absolute grifter. And

he believes what he says, but he's really just

in it for the money and to scam his followers

out of money. And that's it. But yeah, they're

the people that want it. A lot of them... the

followers are people who wanted to make comics

and never, never did. For whatever reason, never

got, never made it all the way in. And so when

they see other people doing it, especially again,

women, people of color and people in the queer

community, they feel like they're taking seats

away from them. And it's like, no, they just

worked harder, but they think it was given to

them because, you know, Oh, they're women, they're

of color, they're queer or whatever, where it's

not, not that at all. They just. They worked

hard and they got their shot and they ran with

it. So yeah, they're just a hardcore hate group.

I can't stand crap like that. Like, you know

what? If somebody wants to write a story, and

this is strange, but if somebody wants to write

a story, and I know this has happened, where

the Waynes don't die, you know, whatever, and

it's like, oh, comics is big enough. For everyone,

whether you're a reader, whether you're a creator,

whatever it is, there's something in comics for

everyone and you don't have to, Oh God, that's

just, and that's one of the reasons, because

the reason why I'm asking you about the Chuck

Dixon thing is because I have this plan for this

podcast at some point. And this is crazy. And

this is like Mike Sims, crazy 90 nights of nightwing.

So 90 days, 90 nights, starting at the beginning

and going up to whatever the current current

is. Yeah, I know. I'm crazy, folks. What does

a story have to have to draw you in? It has to

be, the characters have to feel lived in. They

have to feel real to me. Even if the plot is

a little iffy, you know, and maybe not entirely

to my liking, if the characters grab me, I'll

stick with the comic. And that's really the long

and the short of it. You know, I want to believe

in the characters you're asking me to follow

for however many pages, you know, you're going

to dedicate the story to. That was a very clunky

sentence. Ultimately, it has to be the characters.

I will stick with dodgy stories. I absolutely

will. If like, oh my gosh, the way this character

is being written, I absolutely understand that.

If the characters are just very surface level,

I'll probably stay with the comic, but I won't

like love it. I'll just sort of be like, yeah,

whatever. That was a comic I read, but I maybe

won't remember it. Let me put it that way. But

you remember everything. You pull the strangest

thing. It's like you're just grabbing them out

of thin air. Yeah, sometimes I can do that. Unfortunately,

those memories are definitely fading now. No,

no, no. Come on now. We got to keep that going.

We got to, you know. We've got to get your Blanche

going over there. But yeah, straight up, it's

characters. And I don't even have to know who

the characters are. I mentioned Tom Taylor's

Seven Secrets before. That was a brand new independent

book. No, it wasn't a Batman comic or a Spider

-Man comic. I had no idea who anybody was. But

I bought into the characters, so I stuck with

the book to the end. You know, so, you know,

if if someone says, hey, there's this really

great Iron Man comic story you have to read,

I'll pick it up. And if, you know, Tony or Pepper

or whoever is believable to me, I'll I might

not stay with the series beyond that story. But

I'll think, oh, that's a really good that was

a really good run. Thank you for recommending

it, because whatever Tony did, I was into, you

know. Yeah, absolutely. So on the flip side of

that, what defines a good story to you? What

keeps you there in that moment and following

that comic, that character or that creator? Assuming

the characters have hooked me relatively quickly,

it then is incumbent on the story to hook me.

I want to. I want to believe that the events

that are transpiring, even if they're crazy superhero

events, right? Galactus is coming out of nowhere

to eat the planet. I'll buy into that because

I've been reading since I was a kid. You know,

that's absolutely no problem with me. But, you

know, I have to believe that it fits the world.

And I have to believe that the characters are

reacting to that situation as they would. If

all of a sudden Galactus shows up and Ben Grimm

just decides, hey, I'm just going to sit here

and do nothing and just eat this sandwich as

he eats the planet. Well, that's not believable

to me. Ben Grimm is going to go up and punch

Galactus in the toe because that's what he does.

So it's a combination at that point of the characters

and then the story that have to come together

to keep me moving throughout that story and hopefully

beyond it if it's not a limited series or a miniseries.

to continue with the book after that particular

story is done. Sometimes I will follow creators.

I don't do that so much nowadays, but definitely

when like Brian Michael Bendis was like the guy

in comics, right? If he was on a book, I would

follow him over. He was the hook. So I follow

him wherever he went, but I don't so much. I

mean, Tom Taylor, you know, if he's writing it,

I will read it. Yeah. I don't so much follow

creators anymore, but for a long time, that was

another way to like really hook me with a comic.

If you know the writer, the artists or anybody

on the creative team was someone that I had enjoyed

before. Boom. You got me. Yeah. Yeah. That's

the same thing with me, with Dick Grayson and

Nightwing, because a few times Kyle Higgins had

Lauren Lester do Nightwing lines, like Nightwing

lines of stuff that Kyle wrote and things like

that. And it's like, Oh, my God. It's like the

DCAU, but in comic form. And that series, man,

I'm sorry. I don't want anyone to lose their

job or not be at work. I know things transition,

but I'm so thankful that Dan DiDildo is no longer

at DC. I hate that guy only for the fact that

he killed Nightwing. Yeah. Don't do that. Don't

do it. Right. Sorry. No worries. I'm twitching

over here. What are some of your favorite comics

artists? Currently, we're going to continue this

Nightwing trend with me. It's one of the artists

on Nightwing, Bruno Redondo, I believe is how

he says his name. If you get a chance, this is

for you, Mike. This is for all your listeners.

Pickup number 87. This is the 2016 series, the

one that's going on right now. I think it's at

about issue 96 -ish. I think that's the most

recent one. Yeah. But that issue, number 87,

it's just one long splash page. If you were to

take screen caps of every single page or, heaven

forbid, rip the pages out of the book and put

them side by side, it's one nonstop action sequence.

Slash page to the last panel slash page. It is

amazing how they're able to just keep the story

flowing from start to finish and how you're able

to just follow Dick across the pages as he's

doing whatever he's doing. And it reads really

quick because it is just 20 something splash

pages. I'll admit that. But. I enjoy looking

at the little background characters. And, you

know, I like to create stories in my own head.

So I'm looking at them going, oh, what's that

hot dog vendor doing? I bet he has an interesting

life. And then I just think about him for five

minutes, right? So Bruno Redondo is a big one

for me right now. But if we're going to go, and

earlier I used the phrase classic, and then I

corrected myself and said 90s. But I'll say that

again. Definitely, I'm a huge fan of Rick Leonardi.

If you're a 90s kid. Spider -Man 2099 is the

book that, for me, made me a fan of him, but

also a big fan. I've got a lot of time for Ron

Lim. I pretty much discovered him on issues of

What If, but I was just looking this up the other

day. It turns out he only did a few issues of

What If, but for me, that was like... He was

like drawing every issue, but that's clearly

not the case. But I know with Ron Mars, he had

a pretty decent run on Silver Surfer in the 90s.

I've never read it, but it's one I am going to

get into just for the art. And then, of course,

also George Perez. You know, his run, I know

he said multiple, but his run on the Avengers.

But again, the Heroes Return run, which is when

I got into the Avengers, is just epic. It's just,

I mean. oh like what do you say about a man who

i mean he just passed but when he was alive was

a living legend like what do you say about that

if you're a fan of nightwing It's because he

helped co -create that character. I mean, Dick

Grayson existed before, but, you know, he co

-created him and turned him into Nightwing. And,

you know, if you're a fan of the Teen Titans

cartoons, no matter if it's the one that is in

continuity or Teen Titans Go or so on and so

forth, you know, it's because he helped co -create

that. Not the Teen Titans as a whole, but again,

modernized it in the 80s. You know, if you're

a fan of Wonder Woman, it's very much because

he laid some groundwork in the 80s that's still

being used today. The dude was just an absolute

legend and his, you're like, Hey George, I want

a page with let's, let's say like five, 10 superheroes

on it. Can you do that? And he's like, yeah,

yeah, here you go. Turns in a page with 180 superheroes

on it just because, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

no, absolutely. And yeah, I'm looking at, and

this is so awesome. The, as of this recording,

the Nightwing number 96 issue cover a by Bruno.

It's a Brady Bunch. Yeah. I was like, oh, so

they've done two things. And I don't know because

I haven't read this whole series yet. I need

to get into it. But so far as I've noticed following

this series, just the news of it, they've done

the Brady Bunch one for 96. And it was either

79 or 80 where they did the 66 where you had

all the Robins. All of Dick Grayson from his

first costume to Robin to this to even Red Nightwing

is in there. And it's like, oh, God, that's such

a cool cover. Yeah. Yeah. They're having a lot

of fun with their coverage. There's one that's

coming up where they're introducing like a Batmite

type character. Is it going to call? I forget

what they're calling him, but they're taking

a previous cover and just updating it with the

bat might type character. And that looks kind

of fun. Just cover wise. Cause it's like, if

I had the other one, I see what they did with

this one, you know? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, absolutely.

And, and man, I don't, for me, it's all about

the entire piece of art. So I don't get too far

into the weeds of like the line that is drawn

or this or that, or like, as much as I appreciate

pencils and everything else for me, it's like,

I like, I want to see the finished image and

just be wowed by that. And man, there's so many

artists that do so many great things. Do you

have a favorite non superhero title? I'm not

none that I'm reading at the moment, but I would

definitely. Say for me, it's Preacher. I know

there are some parts that are problematic. They

were problematic at the time. But, you know,

that comic meant a lot to me when it was coming

out. It just hit. It resonated with me in a way

that other non -superhero books just quite, they

weren't landing, you know. Like for a lot of

people, you know, my age and even a touch older,

like Sandman's, their big DC slash Vertigo book.

Right. And I've struggled with Sandman. I've

really, I've really tried. And one of my reading

goals of 2023 is to finally read the whole thing

and really get into it and then potentially try

to enjoy the Netflix series that, you know, the

first season just dropped. So even though I struggled

with that, you know, Preacher hit something.

It just connected with me. And so. like I said,

if you've never read preacher and you're going

to go pick it up now and this guy's recommendation

do it, but definitely know there's some, there's

some stuff. It was the nineties and early two

thousands. Yeah. And you know, the characters,

the characters themselves would apologize for

some of the stuff they do. And yeah. And, but

again, it's one of those things where it was

made at that time. And I do not. subscribe or

subscribe or however you want to say it i do

not believe in the whole thing of does it hold

up today no it's not supposed it's not meant

to it was written you know in the in the time

that it was written whether it was the 60s 70s

80s 90s whatever like you know Some of the stuff

that, you know, whatever it is, like, that came

out X number of years ago, of course it's not

going to hold up to today the way society is

today because it's a commentary on the way society

was then. And it's issues that were happening

then. And it may be problematic today. But if

you look at it. in the way it was like 30, like

whatever it is like, like I don't remember what

you'll probably remember this one. Once I describe

it, but wasn't there a cover of Batman peeing

on somebody? It was like this all yellow cover

or something or other. I don't remember. Somebody

said that. There's a Frank Miller all -star Batman

and Robin the Boy Wonder that's an all -yellow

issue, but that's all paint, not urine. But there

might be one that I'm just not aware of. I don't

know. Yeah, I don't know. But it's that kind

of thing where, oh, they're trying to make a

point, but that point was written at a time where

society isn't where it is now, where it was then,

if that makes any sense. It does. No, no, it

does. And with Preacher specifically, a huge

point of a comic is that Jesse, the lead character,

was raised by awful, terrible, toxic people.

Like after his, non -spoiler, after his father

is murdered, his lead, his sole male influence.

is just a murderous son of a... And who flat

out tells him that men don't cry. He teaches

him to be a brute in and of himself. So Jesse

has to shed all of this toxic masculinity that

is baked into him by the people who raised him.

And when you get to the final issue, which I

won't speak about... there's a moment where you're

like, oh my God, Jesse does something where you

see that he's starting to finally shed the bullshit.

And again, pardon the language. I know you said

it was okay. Pardon it. But to shed all that

stuff and to try to live a better life. You know,

so even though a lot of it won't hold up to today,

Garth Ennis was trying to say that this stuff

that we've seen Jesse do and say wasn't right

from the first issue. And it's definitely not

right now in 2022, but he's going to try. And

that's what counts, you know? Yeah, exactly.

I mean, we all have. No one has a perfect life.

There's always. trauma or events that happen

that may change you or may not change you or

may you know throw you in a different direction

and sometimes we go on a path that is not right

does that mean we're overall bad people no it

just means that we're in a place that holy shit

like i like i The easiest thing I can equate

it to is drug abuse or alcoholism. It's like

if somebody goes that far down the bottle and

then they break, just because at that breaking

point they may say some stuff that they wouldn't

normally say, that's them screaming for help

kind of thing. I don't know. What is your favorite

run of a series? This is the best thing I can

think of. Batman 61 to 75 or something like that.

I can't give specific numbers, but I'll give

it. You don't have to mark it out, but yeah,

it's going to be Batman when. Greg Rucka and

Ed Brubaker were, and when I say Batman, I'm

also including detective comics in that, were

leading those books. I haven't gone back and

reread it in a while for fear that it wouldn't

hold up, right? You don't want that, oh, I loved

this movie as a kid. Oh my God, this movie is

terrible. You don't want that kind of experience,

but very much that era, the Greg Rucka, Ed Brubaker

era of Batman and detective, It just it felt

like they were taking Batman back to basics.

This was after Nightfall. This was after Cataclysm

and all of those events. I can't remember. I

think they did Officer Down. In that one where

it looked like, I think this was during this

era, where someone shot Jim Gordon. I think they

did Bruce Wayne murder again in that general

era, whether they had a hand or not. But that's

the general time where I'm talking about. But

yeah, it was just back to Batman being a detective,

solving crimes, and going from there. And then

that would have been around the same time when

Gotham Central would have been launching, which

of course was... co -written by, I think both

guys at first and maybe Brubaker, just Brubaker

by the end. I can't remember, but yeah. So that

sort of era of Batman comics, it's just, that's

like the tippy top of balance for me. Yeah, absolutely.

It's just, and I need to get it. I need to get

into that era. I have not, I've, I, before comiXology

got bought by an idiot and his company, I went

and looked at Nightfall to see how the hell I

could, because the way we cover comics is we

ascend. Again, we were going by comiXology, we

were going by guided view, we weren't necessarily

going panel by panel, but we were going through,

whether it was a trade or a single issue, we

go through everything and discuss every point,

and I specifically say it at the beginning of

every episode, this will include spoilers, so

if you haven't read it yet, stop here, kind of

thing. And Nightfall is too big. It's massive.

The same thing with, I mean, Gotham Central might

be easier to cover because you can, it's, what

is it, four or five overall trades or whatever?

I don't know. But I've always wanted to cover

those and I just never have. One of these days,

I guess. So, heaven forbid anything happens,

but the apartment, the house, whatever, all the

people, all the pets, everything is safe. What

is one comic you can read over and over again,

single issue or trade? Hmm. That I'm looking

around the room, looking at the shelf, which

is presently blocked. Single issue. You know,

you know what it is? It's let me get the exact

number. Let me Google it for you. Oh, Lord. Adjective

list. Spider -Man from the 90s. I think it's

Spider -Man 17. Where, yes, it's Spider -Man

17. It came out in the 1990 series. But when

did it come out? December of 91 is the cover

date. It's got Thanos holding a battered and

beaten Spider -Man. And it says, you believe

a man can die. And the whole point of the issue

is that while attempting to save a little girl.

Peter Parker, Spider -Man dies. He legit dies

in the comic. And he then has to convince death,

literal death, to resurrect him. And it isn't

because he has unfinished business with Mary

Jane or he doesn't want Aunt May to suffer another

death in her life or anything like that. He convinces

death to allow him to live so he can save that

precious little girl who also died on that roof

because he died trying to save her. So she died

and it's just, it's heartwarming. It gets at

the very core of what Peter Parker is as a character

of who Spider -Man is like, he knows he'll probably

die in the line of battle. He's made, you know,

he's, he's come to terms with that, but heaven

forbid, he can't save. that last person he was

trying to save. And it's, it really just gets

to the core of the character. It's one I've read

maybe, maybe something like 10 times, which in

the grand scheme of things, there's other comics

I've read more than that. But that's the one

where it's like, if, if, if that one's, if that

one's out in the open and that's, that's being

grabbed as I head out the door. Yeah. I kind

of combined those questions, but because it's,

that's, I screwed that up. But anyway. Are there

any comics you avoid altogether? So you go into

the comic shop and you know, you're going to

grab like the latest Batman or the latest Nightwing

or Robin or whatever. But you know, as you're

looking through them, you just see something

like mad balls or this. Are there any comics

you have completely avoided altogether? Um, yeah,

I'll say, you know, not to disrespect the guy

cause he's done so much for the industry, but

a lot of Frank Miller's more modern stuff, you

know, I definitely flipped through the sequel

to the dark night and I was like, what is this?

This is not for me and quickly set it down. And

you know, he, what was that one? I wouldn't,

I wouldn't name check the other one he did. Cause

that was like extremely problematic. But yeah,

when it comes to his, his, more recent. And I

put that in loose air quotes there, Batman work.

I'm like, you know what? I'm good with just the

dark night returns and year one. And just leaving

it at that. I don't need to read a lot of his

more modern takes, be it just the writing, like

with all -star Batman and Robin, the boy wonder,

or, you know, the sequels to the dark night.

I'm like, no, no, I'm, I'm definitely good. I,

the thing with Miller is. He has, and I mean,

he's written Batman, and look, I'm not trying

to speak ill of the man, but he has a huge Batman

complex. So, back, I think it's episode, is it

episode 375? I don't know. I start when Superman

is an unbounder, unchaineder. There was a Frank

Miller, there was this thing where it was a three,

it was when DC started doing Black Label. And

they did this Superman series and it was just

a three issue mini series thing. It was this

three arc thing. It was this new origin. It wasn't

to set up a whole new, it was just this whole

self content, like, like the dark night returns

as a self contained story. It was the same thing.

And I read the first two issues and we covered

them on the show. And I read the solicit for

the third issue and I'm like, Oh no. This is

Superman's origin. Stop, Frank. Just please stop.

If you're going to tell a Superman, and I know

Superman and Batman, they're connected. They're

this, they're that. They're, you know, whatever.

But, like, oh, God. And we've never, I think

I just bought that issue to finish covering that

thing eventually on this show. Yeah, once I saw

that solicitor a few years ago, I was like, oh,

Batman and the Superman origin story. I don't

know how that's going to work. I just walked

away from it. Yeah, I think it was Superman year

one. That's what, yeah, that's what it is. That's

what, yeah. It was, I always get, because they've

had so many other, like, obviously there's Superman,

there's Man of Steel, there's Son of Kal -El,

which is fine. That's all well and good, fine.

But then there's also like Unbound, which I think

is. I think Unchained is Snyder doing it, but

there's Unbound, there's Unchained, there's this,

there's that, and I was like, oh, God. Right.

And, of course, it's Superman year one. It's

Frank fucking Miller. Why didn't I remember that?

Everything has to be year one. Oh, God. All right.

Are there any comics in the past or currently

that you wish you had not read them? Countdown.

That's your antithesis, huh? Yeah. I mean, Des

and I were doing that and we got to the midway

point and we were set to do whatever the next

batch of issues were. And we just, like, had

we been in the same room, you know, we just would

have looked at each other and it just would have

been unspoken. It just would have been like,

no, we're not doing this. But we sit down to

record and we had a long talk. We're like. Like,

what are we doing? This is not good. It's not

enjoyable. We're spending three to four hours

an episode digging into this book that was just

objectively terrible. And I don't like saying

a comic or any media is objectively bad because

people can like what they like. But dear God,

that was terrible. And I mean, years later, we

did wind up finishing that run just more as like.

It was like the lead up to episode 1000 of Earth

2 .net, the show. And it's like, yeah, let's

just do it. Let's get this unfinished business

out of the way. Additionally, I would say the

DC crossover, I think it was three issues, but

they were like oversized issues called Invasion.

Yep. Dan and I. We were like, hey, let's like

we have a spreadsheet where it's like, oh, yeah,

here's like all the events that like comic book

events that we would like to read and talk about

on the air at some point. And Invasion was on

there. And I don't remember which one of us put

it on there and chose it. Doesn't matter. But

we're reading it. And I remember I'm like, man,

these issues are taken like they were a slog

to get through. And they just were, again, objectively

terrible. And I remember. I'm like, I'm feeling

distracted at home. So I grabbed my iPad. I went

over to the coffee shop around the corner. I'm

like, let me just sit here and read these comics.

And I cannot get through. I got through the first

issue. I don't remember if I got through the

second of three. And I emailed Dan and I'm like,

Dan, I can't do this. I'm like, I cannot do this.

These are. Horrible. And he was like, oh, thank

God. I didn't want to be the one to say it. And

we never covered it. It's the only thing that

either of us called an audible on and said, no,

we are not doing this. Because it was just so

hard to get through the material that if we just

sat down to talk about it, we would have just

said, it's terrible. It's over. Roll credits.

And that's it. So, yeah, I hate to choose two

DC books, but really those are the two. Hey,

you know, I mean, it is what it is. I mean, there's

just something about those that, like you said,

objectively terrible. And I've never read either

one of them, so I'm not going to even say anything.

But it's like. Yeah, that's your breaking. Just

like Superman. And for me, like I already said,

it was just the solicit. I didn't even read issue

three of the Superman. As soon as I saw Batman's

name on the Frank Miller Superman, I'm like,

but you're writing a Superman. How large or small

is your physical comic book collection? Now it's

pretty small. Like I said earlier, at one point

it was over 20 ,000 issues. But now the physical

collection is the complete second volume of What

If, which I think is like 120 issues. My brain

is saying 140, but I don't think it got that

high. And then looking over at my shelf, I maybe

have... 30 to 40 trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

So whatever that comes to, you're looking at

maybe 200 physical copies because I just switched

to digital at some point. It's like, as you said,

you got Comixology or I've got external hard

drives where I could save the books and just...

Read them. So we're talking digital collection.

Jesus, I don't know. Yeah, no, no. That's why

I said physical. Much larger than it was ever

physical. But yeah, probably about 200 issues.

When I say issues, of course, that means collected

editions. Yeah. Right now, because I just don't

have the room for long boxes or even short boxes

anymore. In fact, my old drawer boxes. are now

used. They don't store comics anymore. They just

store random stuff for the house. Yep. Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, I've always been

like, when I started this show almost 10 years

ago, I was doing the thing. Everyone does every

week. You go to the comic shop, you get the new

book, you read the, like, like I said, Batman

13 through 17 of new 52. It's like, Oh, okay.

I'll get that. And then I found trades and I'm

just like, and this is so funny because I apologize.

I've over the years, I've ended up stealing a

few of your ideas, but it's only, you know, imitation

is the greatest form of flattery, right? Like

I've always rather waited for the trade. Because

I want the full – like I get the cliffhanger

in this but I don't want to wait a month. I want

to just turn the page. I mean that's how I consume

TV. I wait for the whole series to be over and

then I'll – I mean I don't – dedicate too much

time to TV anymore, but that's how I did it for

a long time. It's like, I wait for the whole

series to be over, and then I get it all, and

then I'm good, because I don't want the summer

breaks. I don't want the mid -season breaks.

I don't want none of that. I want it now. Yeah,

and I do not like any of the models that insert

streaming service here. The only one that doesn't,

to my knowledge, that doesn't do this is Netflix,

but like Disney +, specifically, oh! you're going

to have six weeks of insert this star Wars or

this Marvel series here. No, I don't want six

weeks of it. I want six days of it. Like I'll

watch an episode a day. Like give me all of it

in. It's just crazy. But yeah, I will wait. I

will like she Hulk. I saw the first episode.

Okay, cool. But I, I'm not. I don't do appointment.

I do it on my own schedule. What was the most

money you spent on a comic or a comic item? Comic

item could be like a lantern from Green Lantern,

like a physical lantern or a prop or a statue

or that kind of stuff. On a single issue of a

comic, maybe something around like $25. I haven't

gone that... Back when I was collecting single

issues, I just wouldn't spend much more than

that. But even though I wasn't reading the Claremont

X -Men at the time, this is long after Claremont's

X -Men had ended, but I would get the first...

x -men comic that jim lee drew the cover of so

i would drop like 25 bucks and that just to say

i had it in my collection right when it comes

to like a trade paperback or something easily

over 100 bucks on like an absolute edition yeah

i'm trying to think there was like a wolverine

adamantium collection i believe they called it

i think it retailed for like 200 but through

dcbs i pre -ordered it and got it for 50 off

so i got it for 100 And then I flipped it. I

bought it to flip it. So I flipped it for like

$250. So I made $150 on it. On top of that, there

was a period where I was collecting comic book

art. I didn't have a lot, but my holy grail at

the time was the cover to Cable No. 5. This is

the 1990s series. I remember when that comic

came out, and I was buying it month to month

at the time. So I picked it up off the shelf.

I always wanted this cover. And it's just...

cable diving at us as there's like some dude

in the background shooting little like orbs that

are like shooting lasers at them. And on the

cover, it says the gentleman's name is sincere.

And I'm like, this is so cool. Of course it's

stupid, but it's so cool. And I always wanted

to own that. And I found it on eBay at one point,

this would have been circa 2009 ish, maybe 2008.

And I don't remember how much I spent on it.

Probably. probably like 200 bucks, but then it

got to a point where I needed these, I needed

some money and I was able to sell it for like

600. So it was a really good investment. Um,

but yeah, so I would say like there's different

tiers per issue, trade slash collection versus

comic book art. Those that, that's how that would

sort of play out. Yeah. Yeah. Comic book art

is, is a whole other Avenue of things. It's,

it's a whole other, you know, section of it.

I'm look, I assume this is the right one. I'm

looking on Amazon here. Wolverine, the animatium

collection. It's, uh, him on the cover with saber

tooth and Hulk is at the top. Uh, there they

want for the hard cover $623 and change. Yeah.

The used, the used ones are from three 49. The

new ones are from six 20. I'm like, yeah. That's

from, this is from June of 2013. And I was like,

wait, what? It's only that old crap. That book

is huge. Like absolute collections are even bigger.

Now I don't mean just in thickness. I mean, overall

size, it is unreadable. You, I mean, even if

you lay it on the floor as an act, like you're

like, you know, just lay on the floor, read the

comic, like a little kid or whatever. Like it's

still unreadable. I don't think Marvel ever did

anything of that size after they did that. Well,

thank God for that because, I mean, for me, so

when we did back in 2013, 2014, we did a Punisher

month. And at one point I went out to my local

comic shop at the time in Louisville, Kentucky,

the Great Escape, and I grabbed the, oh, it's

the 12 -issue maxi. Welcome back, Frank. Yes,

that's, yeah. Welcome Back, Frank nearly ruined

me. And it wasn't because of the content of the

comic. It's because of the weight of 12 issues

in one hardcover. Like, I'm sitting here reading

this book in my comfortable chair. Next thing

I know, I'm snoring and the book crashes to the

floor. And I'm like, whoa, what the hell was

that? Like, I fell asleep under the weight of

how heavy that book is. Oh, Frank, you are not

welcome, Frank. Get out. So you mentioned earlier

that at some point you were out of comics, but

what was that moment when you were completely

like, you were like, nope, I'm out, I'm done,

and you just stopped? It was event fatigue. It

was literally and I'm just I'm just naming events

specifically. These aren't necessarily the ones

that kind of pushed me away. But it's like you

had Civil War. Then you had Secret Invasion.

Then you had what was the one after that? Dark

Rain. And it was just one on top of the other.

And it was like, you know, of course, you don't

have to read them. But if they tie into the book

you're reading, you're being pulled into them

tangentially, unwillingly. Right. And I just

got tired of. Just that of just event after event

after event where I was just like, I'm good.

You know, at the earth to that forums, we have

the, you know, the comic, you know, like what,

like, what is it like every comic you've read

and then you put in the year. So right now, 2022.

And it's like, there was one years. There were

a couple of years where I had like next to nothing,

if anything, because I, again, if I wasn't doing

it for the show, I just wasn't reading comics.

you know, or, you know, new current, then current

comics. And so, yeah, it was just event fatigue.

So, you know, when I got back into reading them,

it was just sort of just dipping my toe into

the pool, seeing what I liked, you know, and

I'm not reading a ton right now in terms of,

again, current comics. Yeah. Because I just,

I don't want to get sucked into the latest mega

super event. Like when I really want to read

Marvel's most recent secret wars. because i hear

it's really good but i don't want to feel like

i have to read the entire the entirety of jonathan

hickman's avengers run that leads up to it or

all the groundwork he was laying when he was

doing um i think it was the shield book he did

where there were hints and you know and that's

on me saying hey i have to read the whole thing

to understand what's going on i really could

just pick up secret wars and just dive in but

i know there's going to be elements that there

were seeds that were laying over here that I

feel like I'm going to have to know to get over

here, you know? So it's, it's, I want to try

them again, but I do fear them because I don't

want to get burnt out again. Well, yeah. And

again, with, and most of us, you know, most of

this episode is, is the big two. Cause that's

what you're into and that's fine. But it's like

the problem with Marvel and DC is, is exactly

what you said. There's so much. They set up so

much to lead into something that is supposed

to be this big, giant world. Marvel and DC do

Endgame every five years. They have an Infinity

War slash Endgame kind of thing. But when I started

reading back in 2013... I said to Steve, oh,

issue 13, does that mean I have to read issues

0 to 12? Oh, and don't even get me started on

the new 52 .0 issues. That was just dumb. They

should have released the 0 issues at the beginning.

So it's 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, not, oh, here's issue

6 to 12 and number 0 at the end of 12. And I'm

like, don't do that. So when I asked him, I'm

like, okay, death of the family. Do I need to

read the first 12? He's like, no, it's a whole,

like the jumping on point kind of thing. And

it's like, but now I feel like I have to read.

Like, Batman might have said something to the

Joker in those 13 to 17 that goes back to whatever

Court of Owls was. And I'm like, oh, I'm missing

that. And that's on us. But it's also on these

two companies that set all this up that make

us want to read everything. And you just can't

read everything. Right. Yeah. It's just crazy.

So you said you're not reading much currently,

but what are you reading right now? And what

do you think our listeners should check out?

I've mentioned it a few times now, but definitely

check out Nightwing by Tom Taylor. The thrust

of the series is that this is a few years ago

now, so it's not a spoiler, but Alfred was murdered.

He got his neck broken and was killed. And he

left Dick Grayson a ton of money. Like, Alfred

just saved up from whatever Bruce was paying

him. And he leaves. They never define what it

is. But the idea is that he left Dick billions

of dollars. And he isn't one to just sit on money.

He wants to do something good with it. So he

creates the Alfred Pennyworth Foundation or something

along those lines. And he wants to use that.

to fight the corruption in Bloodhaven. And, you

know, the police commissioner pushes back, politicians

push back, Blockbuster is there, you know, the

longtime Nightwing villain. So he pushes back

because he's ostensibly his kingpin, you know?

Yeah, yeah. And it's Dick just trying to... as

Nightwing and as Dick Grayson make Bloodhaven

safer for all the citizens, especially, you know,

the youth who. are living on the streets because

if not for Bruce Wayne, when Dick's parents died,

what would have happened to him? You know, he

might have wound up living on the street and

become more of a Jason Todd type person, or he

might've stayed with the circus, but how would

his life have turned out that way? So he's definitely

trying to help the kids who are living rough

out there on top of everybody else. So that run

again, Tom Taylor, Superman son of Kal -El is

Jake. It's about. You know, like the 16 year

old young man figuring out who he is, you know,

his father, the greatest superhero of all time

in the DC universe is disappeared. And now he's

trying to navigate life as a young queer man

calling himself Superman. you know, and how the

world reacts to him. And it's, again, it's, I

said it earlier, it's all about the characters

and, you know, are they believable? Are they

honest? And I think they are, you know, so those

are the two I recommend to anybody and everybody

who will listen. Yeah, absolutely. That's awesome.

Heroes, heroines, anti -heroes and heroines or

villains. What archetypes are your go -to reads?

Villains who are trying to reform. That is a

huge, like, you put any story that has a villain

who's trying to reform, and I'm not sure if that

makes him an anti -villain or an anti -hero.

I don't know what category that would slot that

type of character into. But any character who

is in the middle of a redemption arc, I am all

in. A few years ago, I think it was written by

Colin Bunn, there was the Magneto ongoing. I

don't remember how long it lasted, maybe 20 -something

issues, and his powers were diminished. And despite

that, though, he was incredible Hulk TV show

style, just roaming the land, trying to do right

things. But he's Magneto. He doesn't always choose

the gentlest of ways to do them. But it's really

about this man just trying to come to terms with

his very bloody past and the damage he's done

to the reputation of mutant kind just by being

him. And it's him trying to be better. But again,

he's on radars. He's on watch lists. He does

very bad things while trying to do good things.

So that's just one example. But yeah, for me,

it's any character that is trying to be better

than they were the day before. And so, yeah,

the anti, I think like anti -villain would technically

be the name for that. But sometimes they start

to cross over into anti -hero. One of my big

ones in the 90s was when I got into X -Men. And

Wolverine, as I said earlier, had the adamantium

ripped from his bones. He left the X -Men and

they brought Sabretooth over to the book. And

that's why I'm a big Sabretooth fan, because

during that era, initially he was like in chains,

literal chains in the X -Men's basement as they

were trying to use their various psychics to

like ease his mental pain to make him a better

person. So maybe he could join the X -Men. And

I was very much into that because. Initially,

he hates it because, again, he's chained in the

basement. But then he sort of starts being into

it, if I recall correctly, like being into being

an X -Men and trying to do better. Of course,

he's Sabretooth. He can't forever be a hero.

But throughout the years, he goes back and forth

between being a villain and an antihero. There

was an Iron Fist story. From a few years ago,

maybe four or five years ago at this point, where

he teams up with Iron Fist and they track down

an old running buddy of Sabretooth. Or his buddy's

been killed, but someone's pretending to be him.

And they want to track him down to say, why are

you pretending to be my buddy and I'm not cool

with that? Villains who are trying to be better.

Again, I've said it a couple times now, that's

my go -to. You know, all characters, whether

it's superheroes or whatever, the way that they

are created and written is you have a story that

starts from some trauma. You look at Harley and

everything that she's been through over the years

and her turnaround. Harley isn't just evil. She's

never really been evil. I mean, I'm sure she's

obviously done bad things, but she was traumatized.

You know, the, the Joker is the evil Harley,

not necessarily, you know? Yeah. But yeah, I

mean, that's, that's awesome. I mean, it's, if

you can find enjoyment in a, again, again, it's

all about the character. It's all about what

the character goes through that journey. And

sometimes you can follow them. And sometimes

you get to a point where it's like, Oh, they

wrote that. I'm going to set this book down and

step back about five feet. Right. Well, you mentioned

Harley and she's like the perfect example. Yeah.

Because, you know, no matter what your opinions

are on the Injustice comics, that series did

a lot of heavy lifting. And I'm not putting down

the Jimmy Palmiati, Amanda Connor run on Harley

Quinn, but that did a lot of heavy lifting to

shift her from villain to hero? Question mark?

maybe more anti -hero because it did it for me.

And I know a lot of people in the moment, there's

a very, I say famous, but you know what I mean?

Moment where she's in injustice. She's beating

up Black Canary. She's got Black Canary dead

to rights with like a mallet or something. And

Black Canary goes, well, wait, hang on. And she

turns around and vomits. And like Harley makes

fun out of her. And then Harley susses out. She

goes, wait, you're pregnant. That's morning sickness.

Black Canary is like, no, no, no, it's not. And

I'm not talking about this with you. I am not

talking to you about this. And Harley Quinn sits

down and she goes, look, I can't fight you now

that I know you're pregnant. I can't do that.

She's like, I remember what that was like. And

Canary takes a beat and she goes, I'm sorry,

what? It reveals that she was pregnant with the

Joker's child. And one of the things that helped

her break away from him was realizing that that.

she did not if the joker had a child that would

be terrible that would be horrible and that allowed

her to kind of break away and then harley goes

in different places in that series in that continuity

but a lot of that the fandom that found her there

bled over to the main dc continuity so dc started

pushing her more and more in a heroic again or

anti -heroic um So she's, she is like the perfect

example. I mean, she starts out as just the Joker's

unnamed hench girl in the animated series. And

now she's like one of the most popular characters

in comic book history. Hell, she's got two, she's

headlined two movies, three movies at this point

with Margot Robbie. And that's awesome. Yeah.

Yeah. That is, that is amazing. Have you read

the Sean Gordon Murphy universe, the, the white

knight universe? I started reading some of the

white night and it just wasn't totally for me,

but I do want to get back into it. Cause I know

a lot of, because I like him as artists and I

know a lot of people praise that series. What

about it? Oh my God. Like for me, like, like

you were saying earlier about, you know, the,

the Gotham central, the, that, that era for you,

for me, his, the Batman universe, he is created.

It's like, yeah that's my batman he's doing he

does things in that that's like oh i really almost

every issue that you see a batmobile most of

the batmobiles at least one of them are going

to be the 89 batmobile because that's his favorite

yeah or he puts his own spin or this or that

and it's just between white knight curse of the

white knight von freeze Now we have Beyond the

White Knight, and then there was the Harley.

What was the Harley book? White Knight, Harley,

or whatever. But all of that stuff that he has

written and drawn, and his wife did the Harley

book with him, or she did it, or whatever. You

know what I mean? All of that is like, this is

the Batman comic I have been waiting for for

30 years. Ever since TAS. Oh, God. TAS started

30 years ago this year. Mm -hmm. Holy crap. Too

many anniversaries this year. I know, right?

Like, seriously. Like, 2022, it's like, oh, when

did this come out? When did that? X -Men. Batman

the Animated Series. And now, because I'm doing

this, and I don't know why I'm doing this, but

I'm re -watching the classic Melrose Place, and

I'm like, holy shit. X -Men, Batman and Melrose

Place came out in the same freaking year. Like,

oh God. But his, the way he approaches it and

the fact that, and I find this so funny and he

tells this story and I've heard him say it in

many podcasts. He either didn't know or forgot

or something and he flipped the Robins. So Jason

was first and Dick was second. Oh, okay. And

it has taken me. I'm just going to say 30 -something

years to actually – I don't give – I was too

young. I didn't know about it. I wrote a whole

article on geekcastradio .com about this. The

phone number, the vote, all of that. I was too

young. I didn't know and I didn't – so I never

actually cared about Jason Todd as a character.

I never cared about Red Hood as a – like I didn't

– whatever. And then Sean in his universe does

this thing where he flips it and – He tells this

whole story of how he got away and how he stayed

alive. And now we've gotten other things with

him. And it's like, oh, God, I kind of like Jason

Todd now, but specifically in that universe,

not necessarily everywhere else. It's just so

good. And obviously now that they're doing Beyond

the White Knight, so they're bringing in Terry

and the entire. You say Batman Beyond to me and

I'll be there in a heartbeat. Right. It's like

it doesn't matter who it is or what it doesn't

matter what story they're going to tell. It's

like I'm there. I'll show up no matter what.

Do you have a my parents got rid of my comics

story? No, I really don't. I think that is by

virtue of the fact that I didn't go away to college.

I lived at home when I went to college, so my

mom wasn't like, oh, well, Mike's dorming it,

so we're going to clear out the room. Right?

So no, no. None of my comics, none of my toys,

like my Jejo action figures, none of that got

chucked. I know a lot of people have those horrifying

stories, but no, not me. Not me at all. Awesome.

Absolutely. The short version of my story is

I kept the good guys at my mom's house and the

bad guys at my dad's house because I come from

divorced parents. And one time dad sold, just

said I was too old for toys and sold all the

Skeletor and all the bad guys. And I had everything.

And it just like, oh, bye. I was only six. Like,

how can you be too old for toys at six years

old? Yeah. Like, come on. Yeah. What is one item

from a comic book you'd love to have in the real

world? So the easiest, the easiest two examples

I can give you is a batarang or a green lantern

ring. But like, what would be the item you would

want in the real world from a comic? It would

probably be the flashes ring where he stores

his clothes. Cause I think it'd be cool just

to have a ring and a change of clothes on the

go. Or if not that it's another ring, like a

Legion flight ring. Yeah. With this little ring

on and yeah, you know, I can fly, you know, you

know, I'm not a ring guy, you know? Yeah. I think,

I think one of those. You know, if I were to

give a third, it's from Preacher. It's the Fuck

Communism lighter that Jesse's dad had. Not that

I'm against communism. I just thought, and they

did make it a real item. I think they did. Maybe

they didn't because the F word is on it. But

I know people were pushing for it for a while.

But I know people have custom made them. That's

what I'm thinking of. But, yeah, I just, yeah,

I would definitely say the flashes ring. Just,

oh, change of clothes. Poof, I'm good now. Don't

have to worry about being soaking wet from the

rain. Cause I forgot an umbrella, you know? Yeah.

I would need that ring to be some sort of technological

Marvel because I would want it to be a washer

and dryer. So you can do your laundry all at

once. Second to last question. If you could create.

Any comic, any storyline, any anything, if Marvel

or DC gave you the keys to the kingdom, what

story would you want to create and what characters

would you want to create it with? I would go

with, okay, so recently DC, this isn't going

to be a DC comic, but hear me out. DC did Superman

78, which was a continuation of the Richard Donner

movies, and they did Batman 89, which was a continuation

of the Tim Burton movies. Which, you know, had

Billy Dee Williams as Two -Face and they introduced

a different kind of Batgirl. They introduced

a different Robin, all that. So I would want

to do Punisher 89 or Old Man Castle, a continuation

of the Dolph Lundgren movie. Because I adore

that movie. I think that's the best. Punisher

movie there's ever been. It really gets the character.

And I've actually... I'm just going to say it

because I'm never going to... Hollywood is never

going to pick it up and actually the actors are

getting too old. But I've started writing it

as a script, as a screenplay. And I just have

this whole idea where Dolph Lundgren's Punisher

is in jail. Time caught up with him. The cops

caught up with him. He's been convicted of his

various murders. He's in jail. And... I don't

know if you've ever seen the Punisher 89 movie,

but one of his best friends in there is played

by Lou Gossett Jr., who's a detective. And I

would have it where some... People, for whatever

reason, doesn't matter. They go after Detective

Berkowitz. That's gossip. And they go after him.

I don't know if they kidnap him. I don't know

if they kill him. But whatever they do, they

hurt him real bad. And it makes the news because

he's a much respected cop. And he was the former

partner of the Punisher before he became the

Punisher. It's not just a cop got hurt or killed,

a retired cop got hurt or killed. It's this broader

story in that world. Frank gets word of this

in jail, breaks out. And he just goes on a bloody

murder spree trying to track down whoever hurt

his one and only friend. And there would be more

to it. It would turn out like the villain did

it on purpose because they wanted Frank to break

out because they wanted him to do something for

them. I've never really fleshed that out. But

yeah, I want an old man castle or Punisher 89.

That's why I brought up the Batman 89 and the

Superman 66 or 78 thing. Yes. Yeah. Thing because.

I think it's right there. They're never going

to do a sequel to the movie as much as I would

love them to. So there's people who like that

movie. Why not do it in comic form? That would

be a dream project for me. Yeah, exactly. And

I mean, yes, Dolph has gotten older. But I mean,

he kicked ass in all three Expendables movies.

I mean, come on. You look at those Expendables

movies and you tell me that these stars can't

still kick ass. You know, that kind of thing.

So, hey, it could happen. Maybe. Yeah, it all

hinges on, honestly, if they were going to make

it a movie, it hinges on the health of Lou Gossett

Jr. Because you need him to come back. Even if

it's just for one scene to get killed off, you

need him because he's, like I said, he's the

Punisher's really his only friend. So if you

don't have that connection, then what's he breaking

out for? You have to set up some other continuity

that could have happened between the movie and

that comic, sure. But if people who saw the movie,

they understand, oh, that's... who it is. So

that's why I'm pitching it more as a comic than

as a movie. Yeah. Then you can play with it and

everybody's alive and healthy and willing to

do acting. I don't know if I doubt, I don't know

if Lou Gossett Jr is still doing anything. I

doubt he is, but you know, you don't have to

worry about it. Then you just get his likeness

approved and you go from there. Yeah. He is 86

years old. Like, wow. Yeah. And you know, according

to, you know, take Wikipedia with a grain of

salt. They say, Years active, 1953 to present.

I don't know what he's doing, like, you know,

recently. Let's see, what do we got here? Oh,

interesting. Supposedly something, some movie

called Three Months in 2022, next year, supposedly

the color purple? Huh. Are they redoing that

film? Yeah, I don't know. Oh, wow. Musical coming

-of -age period drama film director. Huh, interesting.

And then something called If in 2024, but there's

no link for that. It's currently filming. So,

I mean, he's still kind of active. So, sure,

why not? I mean, you know. All right, final question,

number 25. What is the one piece of advice you

would give the comics fandom? Don't gatekeep.

Just let people like what they like and leave

them be. If someone likes a comic that you don't

and you have very strong opinions that it's the

worst thing ever and the creators are awful,

good for you. Have that opinion. I mean that.

That's not snark. Go with that. But don't tell

someone they're wrong for their favorite run

of Wolverine is all new Wolverine with Laura

as Wolverine. Don't tell them that they're wrong

because... you know, their favorite Spider -Man

is Ben Reilly because that's when they got into

the comics, you know, don't just don't do that.

I think gatekeeping is terrible. You know, I

mean, if people, there are so few people that

actively enjoy comic books or whatever your thing

is, not you specifically, Mike, but so few people

that enjoy that thing. Why would you limit it?

The more voices, the better. If you're a Star

Trek fan. Let someone enjoy Star Trek. Let them

enjoy. You might not like Enterprise, but let

them have Enterprise as their favorite thing

and don't tell them they're a terrible human

being because they like Trip, you know, or this

and that. So just don't gatekeep. Just don't

be a D -back. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's, I

mean, that's what almost everyone says on any

of these things that I do because that's honestly,

that's the best advice because, you know. Just

because people have an opinion. I forget who

said it, but I say this all the time. Opinions

are like assholes. Everybody's got one. Opinions

can't be right or wrong. They're opinions. Sure,

we can agree or disagree. That's one of the things

I set out doing podcasting. I set out to do it

with like mind. Okay, not that. we're going to

do this, but let's just say I somehow map out

a, I don't know how long it would be, but Sandman,

if I mapped out a journey for us to cover everything

in Sandman, like two, three, four years down

the line, like if there's a point where, well,

like you were saying with you and Des and you

and Dan, it's like, if there's a point where

it's like, Oh, this turned and let's not do this

anymore. You know, it's like, it's okay. It's,

it's fine. You know, Why can't we all get along?

Right. I don't know. Yeah. Like earlier I had

said, I, I use the word objectively and I try

not to do that too often, but I said. Countdown

is objectively bad. But if you like Countdown,

then just dismiss my opinion on it. Dismiss my

opinion on it one way or the other. I don't care.

I'm not trying to tell people not to read it.

I just think that's what it is. Yeah, that's

what it is. If that's what got you into comics,

if you're like, no, this is really good. I really

like this particular aspect of it, then great.

That is amazing. I'm not trying to tell you not

to like it. I don't want to tell people not to

like what they like. Like it, enjoy it, spread

the good word of it out there on Twitter or wherever

you are. And, you know, if someone doesn't like

it and they want to tell you that you're wrong

for it, well, that's their problem. Yep, absolutely.

All right, folks, that's going to do it for us.

We're going to take a quick break. You're going

to hear some ads and some other stuff, and we'll

come back to close the show after this. Give

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The Powers of Greyskull series has covered every

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That's right, everybody. We're the Star Joes.

We host a podcast called Star Joe's Podcast,

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right, we are back here inside the pull bag episode

500. It's taken us nine and a half years to get

to 500 episodes. I didn't think this was going

to be this long, but it is. All right, Mike,

what do you got? What do you want to promote?

Really, you know, earth2 .net, earth -2 .net.

There are forums, forums .earth -2 .net. If you

want to follow me on Twitter, I'm just going

to promote two of my Twitter accounts because

I have a couple. But earth underscore the number

two because you can't use dashes in Twitter handles.

That's why it's an underscore. So that's just

my general geeky stuff, you know. But if you

want to follow me. As I read comics, one of the

things I've been doing since the start of 2021

is I tweet about every comic that I am reading

in that moment. I'm sort of like how people live

tweet movies. I live tweet comics. And that is

Mike Reads Comics. All one word, no spaces, underscores

or anything like that. Just Mike Reads Comics.

So, yeah, those are the things I would promote.

Very cool. Very cool. What podcasts? I know you're

still doing earth2 .net, the show, but you mentioned

your show, Bigger on the Inside, which is your

Doctor Who show. What else are you doing in podcasting?

Is that it? Are those the only two that you're

doing currently? Nope. There's earth2 .net, the

show. There's Bigger on the Inside, as you said,

Doctor Who. There is The Edge of Forever, which

is the Star Trek show that Dan and I do. It's

been big gaps between episodes. That's my fault.

I'm sitting on several episodes and I've just

not had the energy to edit them. Not that they

require a lot of editing at all, but it takes

time. And Dan launched a new podcast that he

hosts that I'm just one of the co -hosts on called

Channel 37's Midnight Movie Show. And that one,

we go through... How do I want to describe it?

I want to say we go through B movies. and we

just talk about them. And we do two per show.

There's often a theme. The one that just came

out this week as of this recording, so this will

be a touch out of date by the time this drops,

is episode five in which we cover New York Ninja

and Ninja 3 The Domination. And if you are a

kid of the 80s, there is a very good chance you

have seen Ninja 3 The Domination. For anybody

who is like, wait, have I seen that one? That's

the one that spends 20 minutes on a golf course

with a ninja just kicking. all kinds of ass.

So that's it. It's a really fun show. We do it

with Wendy, Dan's wife. We do it with Dave Probert

and Will Ackerman. And sometimes, you know, because

it's a larger cast, you know, if I wasn't there

for episode two, Dave's missed one, Wendy's missed

one. So it allows for the host to kind of drop

in and out as their schedule, as their schedules

determine, we'll say. And the show... It doesn't

wind up being late, but that comes out every

other Friday. And we're going to kind of, I say

we, I mean, it's Dan's baby, but it's going to

be in seasons. There's going to come a point

coming up where we're going to stop for a while,

take a little break, and then there's going to

be a second season. So we're clouding that out

as we speak. I would think Rollerball is kind

of a B movie. Yeah, I've got it on Spotify. I'm

now following it. It has five episodes so far.

Yep. So check that out, folks. All right, we

are going to get the heck out of here. Like I

said, 500 episodes. I have no idea what I'm doing

in episode 501. I know what I'm doing in episode

502. So my buddy, Carter Mann, he came up with

a comic called Immortal Orphans, and he has,

I think, the first arc, the first five issues.

We've covered four of the five. It's been a few

months. It might have been a year since we last

covered it, but I was like, ooh. And the reason

why 502 is because for 25 years I lived in Louisville,

Kentucky, and he has lived in Louisville, Kentucky

for the longest time, and 502 is the area code.

So it's kind of like doing a Kyle Higgins, I

think, for – yeah. Episode 312, I did one of

Kyle Higgins' cowl books, either Volume 1 or

Volume 2, because Episode 312 is the Chicago

area. Or one of them, anyway. All right. Thank

you for joining us here inside the Pull Bag.

If you'd like to get in contact with us or leave

feedback for the show, there are several ways

to do so. Visit the website geekcastradio .com

where you can listen to and comment on all of

our content. Send us email to feedback at geekcastradio

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Bag for the show. I am at TFG1Mike. Become a

fan on Facebook. Go to facebook .com slash geekcastradionetwork.

You can also search out The Pull Bag over there

as well. Join us next time when we will be covering

something. It could be a comic review. It could

be an origins. I have no idea what I'm doing

next because I haven't planned past this yet.

Life. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with... Michael

Sims. As always, make your greatest game into

comics and we will catch you next time. Gentlemen,

it's been an honor. Be sure to leave us feedback.

Become a fan of us on Facebook. Facebook .com

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your great escape into comics and unleash the

geek in you.