Radiant Black Volume 1 Review

This is writer Kyle Higgins and you've jumped

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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,

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right here. We cover things like Transformers,

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

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

all inside the pull bag here on the GeekCast

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

time to talk about the comics we're reading right

now, here inside the pull bag. Hello and welcome

to the pull bag. This is episode 525. Holy crap.

I am, of course, TF2 and Mike. Joining me in

this radiant discussion is my turtle brother,

Mr. Joe Reed. Hello, sir. How are you? Hello,

sir. I am well. This is not a Ninja Turtles podcast.

No, this is not a Turtles podcast. I don't know

how many people have listened to us in the last

nine and a half years do the Turtles comics podcast

from IDW, but this is something very different.

for you. Indeed. I appreciate it, though, because

this is the first non -Turtles thing I've bought

in a very long time. I need something else to

add to my pull bag at my shop. Not that IDW doesn't

keep my comic store open already by all of Turtle

variants and spin -offs and crossovers that they

produce. It was kind of nice to read something

a little different. Yeah, absolutely. So the

main reason why, and we've done this before,

so Radiant Black started two years ago in 2021.

I remember it like it was yesterday because issue

one came out the day after my 41st birthday.

It came out February 10th. I almost said, wow,

I almost said 1998. Yikes. 2021. And the reason

why I got attached to it or latched onto it was

because I know the writer and I've actually interviewed

the writer on the podcast. I interviewed Kyle

Higgins about 10 years ago now. It was April

or May of 2013 that I interviewed him. Back then

he was doing stuff for DC with Nightwing and

other things and all that stuff and since then

he's done so much more. with creating the black

market narrative and All the stuff he's doing

over image comics with radiant black and everything

else. So We have covered. Oh crap. I should mute

my phone. Yikes. I can't believe I didn't do

that I feel like I'm riding in a sidecar. I can't

even fit in the sidecar anyway So yeah, Radiant

Black launched back in 2021. We have covered

the first five issues in the past with other

co -hosts. Sadly, those co -hosts are not going

to be returning. So since I think right now,

as the sound of my voice is coming through your

speakers or whatever you're listening to this

on, we have three full volumes. I think volume

four is coming soon. I don't have that date in

front of me, but we have three full volumes of

Radiant Black and we're going to talk about it

in trade. And the back of the book basically

says Nathan Burnett has just turned 30 and things

aren't great. He's working and failing at two

jobs. His credit card debt is piling up and his

only move is moving back home with his parents.

But when Nathan discovers and unlocks the ethereal

cosmic power, Radiant, he's given the power to

radically change his fortunes. There's just one

problem. The powers don't belong to him, and

the cosmic beings who created them want them

back by any means necessary. So, Radiant Black,

wow. I mean, obviously we're going to start here

at the beginning. But what were your initial

thoughts after reading this trade? Well, I I've

had this on my radar for I guess as long as it's

been coming out. Twenty twenty one doesn't seem

like that long ago, but I guess it has been.

But the the logo jumped out at me and because

I love space and science and the black hole thing

like, oh, all right, I can see. I expect that

to be pretty good. OK. And when I went to my

store to pick it up, And and looked at it the

front of the cover has a robert kirkman of invincible

and walking dead fame a little quote there that

says the perfect superhero comic for anyone missing

invincible. And i read invincible for a very

long time until i predicted or until it got predictable

that whenever the big bad climactic battle was

going to happen. Invincible was gonna have his

head crushed and his eyeball would fly out like

that literally happened like three times and

then he puts himself back together and heals

but I was like, you know I but what I do like

about what I did like about invincible was that

it was very down -to -earth in the beginning

kind of realistic day -to -day. This is my life

And Robert Kirkman, I think does a really good

job of writing dialogue and characters and so

that part about it I did enjoy And so I guess

to get that praise from Robert Kirkman comparing

it to Invincible, like, okay, after the logo,

I'm on board to check it out. After the Robert

Kirkman comparing it to Invincible comes up,

okay, now I'm a little more on board. And so

that's kind of the attitude I went into reading

it. And just to get the rest of the creative

out of the way before I forget, Kyle Higgins

on writing, Marcelo Costa on art. He's done some

Transformers stuff. I think Marcelo has also

done a couple of Turtles issues. I recognize

that name, yeah. Co -writer is Cherish Chen.

She co -wrote on issue six, I believe. Guest

artists are Eduardo Ferragato and Darko Lafuente.

I wonder if that's any relation to Joanna Lafuente

over at IDW who does a lot of the colors for

Transformers and stuff. Guest colorists, Natalia

Marquez, Miguel... Murto, Rod Fernandez, the

letterer was Becca Carey. The series logo was

designed by Rich Bloom, editor and designer is

Michael Basudu, and the production artist is

Deanna Phelps. So I guess everybody over there

at Image, you have Rich Bloom to thank for me

deciding that this was a book that I wanted to

read. Absolutely. We start with chapter one,

parentheses, not so, parentheses, secret origin.

And we start out with $46 .98. However, we are

in the red for $38 ,486. Yikes. So yeah, the

whole day -to -day life thing. I'm sure that

is a situation that some of us can relate to

as being in debt, credit card debt or otherwise,

student debt, not having the money to make it.

I think this is very much a millennial story.

It kind of feels that way a little bit, but it

also kind of feels like when I first read this

two years ago and even now reading it again for

the issues one through five, I have read three

times. Issues one through six, I should say,

I've read three times because I read it the first

time when we were going to do the podcast. I

reread it when we were going to do something

else. about the first six issues and now I re

-read it now for obviously us covering it here.

And initially two years ago, and obviously we'll

get to the second character here in a few moments,

but Nathan Burnett, I'm like, okay, he's Dante

from Clerks. And then later when we'll meet the

other character, I'm like, okay, that character

is Randall from Clerks. Oh my God, you're right.

So Nathan here is drivering or whatever. I think

it's called driver. It's basically an Uber, Lyft,

whatever. So he's doing that. Economy driver,

yeah. Yeah. And we get another shot of the logo

here. I love the logo. It's so cool. I absolutely

love it. And we go back to Lockport, Illinois,

one week later. Nathan has come home, and his

mother could not be more happier to see him.

And then we meet his best friend, Marshall. I'm

gonna have to keep, I wanna see what his shirt

says. His shirt says, Crisis Couture. Who is,

yeah, Crisis Couture. Yeah. Who is the band that

plays the Radiant Black theme song. Oh, you sent

me the soundtrack to this and I forgot to listen

to it while reading the book. I had that planned

out and I forgot to do it. That's okay. Yeah,

I sent you the score that Sam Ewing did. For

the six issues. However, I don't think I sent

you the the video or the audio for the crisis

couture state It's a kind of a rocky metal kind

of it's really really cool. I'll have to send

you that after the show uh, so yeah marshall

is here, uh tonight you and me and You and me

and mcgee. No, just like old times. I want to

hear about all the cool stuff. Mr Big time writer

has going on And they go to a restaurant or bar

or something and Marshall's like, $38 ,000, what

in the hell? And they go back and forth, back

and forth. Marshall is clearly drunk. Sort of.

And then they start seeing this blue and black

hole kind of thing in the sky. And wow. Yeah.

This is something that I would like to see in

live action because I have a feeling you can't

really capture what that thing is because, yes,

it looks like it's in the distance. But the three

panels here, dude, check this out. It looks like

it's the same from every angle. And you see that

it's not actually far away. Right next to their

face. Mm -hmm as he reaches out to touch the

thing. I Think it would be best in animation

Return of the spider verse whatever that yeah,

that's abstract Expressionism in in film and

I absolutely loved that and I think you're right

that that would this would kind of capture that

and Yeah, so Nathan touches the radiant it kind

of imprints and infuses on him He gets a anime

magical girl kind of pose, and then he gets all

suited up as Radiant Black. Of course, we don't

know what the name is going to be just yet because

they haven't done that. Marshall's like, holy

shit. I don't feel, I feel different. I got news

for you, buddy. You look different. I love this.

This is so cool. Can you feel that? Yes, I can

feel it. Oh god, I think I'm gonna puke. Don't

puke in the helmet. Yeah, don't puke in the helmet.

You have no mouth hole. How are you doing that

without a mouth hole? And the police show up.

Oh yeah, we're great. My buddy's just preventing

a hangover. So Marshall's not too thrilled with

police officers. Yeah, he's kind of pulling that

sovereign citizen stuff. Pretty much. And the

train is coming. The train is coming. Oh, my

God. Get off the tracks. They're private tracks.

Are you out of your goddamn mind? There's a train.

Nathan sees the train, dives after Marshall to

get him out of the way, somehow levitates the

cops and the train. That's a lot of power. I

didn't realize he levitated the train. I thought

those were like container boxes or something.

But no, that's the train. No, that's the train.

That's the train and the police car. Yep. At

the same time. It isn't going to hit him. Nope.

And like Marshall said earlier, holy shit. Marshall's

like, are you going to arrest us? What? Are you

going to arrest us? If you promise not to arrest

us, we'll let you down. That's extorting an officer.

Okay. Josh, what did they do? How do you even

write this up? I'm not equipped for heights,

man. And yeah, they fly off. What do you think

of the art? The art's all right. I think there

were a couple of times where I had a hard time

telling the difference between the characters.

I got to look more closely at the hairstyles.

I don't know if that's not a criticism. I think...

Generic white dudes look like generic white dudes

in comics, right? Well, the best way to tell

them apart is Marshall's hair is kind of like,

you know Just flat. Yeah short hangs down. Whereas

Nathan's hair the front of his hair kind of like

shoots out like some sort of anime character

a little bit we have them talking and you know,

Nathan is like what if I screw this up too and

Have this and whatever it is. I know it's important.

I mean I can fly and lift trains and oh man It

felt so amazing that the stakes just got a lot

higher. I can't God I can't screw this up, too

and Marshall's like I won't let you Meanwhile

in another part of Chicago radiant red is Robbing

a bank and that's how the first issue slash the

first chapter ends. I heard one of them Yeah,

there's more than one of them. I remember when

issue one came out and I'm like, damn it, I have

to wait a month to find out what happens. That's

my world, Mike. That's how I feel. I know. I

pay money to experience that. Yeah, I used to.

It's been an interesting and ongoing conversation

with my wife because we took our two kids to

see the Spider -Verse movie and that ends on

a very episode five like cliffhanger and My kids

were just Totally upset and it's because they

come from the YouTube generation and the Netflix

generation where you just click next episode

And they had they never had that I don't I don't

like calling it delayed gratification Because

that that's slightly different and it implies

something else But my kids have gotten used to

being able to just go to that next Episode issue

page And you know like what happens now when

you have to wait a month for them to actually

draw the book Or make the movie. Yeah, exactly

a pretty solid first chapter. I would say yeah,

it's interesting and I I don't know if I'm I

should say this now and then I'll figure it out

as I'm reminded to the book but I Having a hard

time feeling sympathy for the characters Because

And yeah, see generic white dude number one who

gets the superpowers Nathan is he's kind of Washed

up and I don't want to say lazy, but he's not

He's not all there for like going after his future

and he's reluctant with the power suit and he

doesn't have a lot of confidence and then generic

white dude number two Marshall Marshall is obnoxious

and pushy and Overly confident and great like

he's the one that never left town. He doesn't

have any room to talk So I don't have a lot of

sympathy for those characters and then in a radiant

red who's wearing a similar super suit is robbing

a bank Like okay, I don't like anybody but see

let's see what happens because You know, well,

I mean I think people yeah. Yeah people change

people grow but I think starting off as a As

a comic, like you said, kind of real world, kind

of like, this is a guy who's down on his luck,

who is a writer, who isn't getting paid to write

stuff yet, or he has written stuff in the past,

but it's dried up, and he's in debt. We've all

been in debt. I mean, everybody can relate to

that. Whether it's $38 ,000 or not, it doesn't

matter. If you're in the red, you're in the red.

Anyone can relate to that. Then Marshall is just

this guy who kind of He measures success by his

own ruler. Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean Yeah, it's

going through life. Yeah He's in his hometown.

He's you know doing what he loves. He's Watching

all these movies. He's doing all this stuff that

you know, he's he's fine being where he is. He

doesn't have the desire to go travel or go see

the world or whatever. He's just this character

that is okay being where he is, I think, at least

at this initial chapter. Issue two, chapter two,

better off red. And we start in Lockport, Illinois,

with Nathan coming home at the crack of dawn.

and thinking he's not gonna see his parents,

but he sees his dad, his dad makes him oatmeal,

they have a conversation. This is where I mentioned

about him not being paid for writing, and his

father is like, what is your plan to have money?

Yes, you can stay here with us, but the deal

is you have to have a job, kind of thing. And

that's, hey, you know what? Same thing anybody

goes to their parents and says hey, I'm 30 grand

in debt Well, you can stay here. That's fine.

You can stay with us. We had you know, your room

is still here It's whatever but you have to be

working you have to have some sort of plan and

that's the Conversation that they're having here.

So yeah tough love tough love and all that which

is again This feels like a real -world comic.

This does not feel like your normal everyday...

Alfred gives Batman some advice and Batman ignores

it because Batman knows. You know what I mean?

Like, it's not a... It's an overall superhero

book kind of thing, but it's also more than that.

Actually... One of the jokes in the radiant black

community in the Kyle Higgins black market narrative

image comics community is Nobody really knows

what this comic is. Nobody can really define

it define it. It's not it's not really superhero

It's it's kind of sci -fi but like so one of

the jokes is that nobody knows what the comic

is yet, so I've been a little upset Not upset.

That's a joke. I've been bothered or upset by

both this book and Robert Kirkman's tech jacket

because between those two books if you like mashed

them together you'd end up with the character

that I invented for myself way back in high school

and that I've constantly been drawing between

then and now and It's in my head is like I want

to make this a comic someday if I didn't draw

so slow and so inconsistently but I see everybody

doing my idea, but doing it so much better than

I could do it. And I'm like, dang it. Here it

is again. This guy did it. Man. Now if I do it,

it'll be like I'm ripping Robert Kirkman and

Higgins off here. So we go to the movie theater

or the movie rental place or whatever this is.

And Marshall is trying to sell bath bombs. And,

uh, so he has a more, more conversation with

this customer and the customer is like, any shot

we could swap this out for another bathtub movie,

Arthur or Maverick or maybe Lebowski. I don't

like Harrison Ford. I have no words right now

is what Marshall says. And then the police show

up again. Oh boy. Well, that's gotta be a first.

The police show up and then we see all this radiant

language. It's a weird kind of like a sensation.

It's kind of showing that Nathan is dreaming

or he thinks he's dreaming and there's a knock

at the door and then all of a sudden he's levitated

like three feet above his bed. Makes the Ghostbusters

reference. Anybody seen the Keymaster? Yeah,

exactly. That was pretty quick. I'd be a little

more scared than to think of a reference. And

he tells the radiant, all right, come on, you

got to go away. And he answers the door. The

cops and Marshall, hello, Nathan. And they have

a conversation. And then Nathan's mother. Comes

up and yeah, they basically Faked the whole thing

for you know to for her So they're gonna figure

out what What these powers are but the cops tell

them about radiant red and the bank robbery and

there's another Radiant person out there somewhere

At this point, they're not calling him or the

red radiant anything yet. Yeah, what we're using

Yeah, because they haven't decided or they don't

have that language yet But yeah this for your

convenience fans that and good listeners that

we are using that Absolutely. Hey, it's been

two years. We're gonna spoil the hell out of

this thing. So If you haven't read it by now

stop listening and go read it. So Nathan has

an idea of doing his drivering and talking to

his passengers and This does and does not work

and man Some of the people in this these the

on these car rides with him. Holy crap. I I had

a friend who drove uber out in California LA

And yeah, it's as bad as you could imagine and

and this this is tame compared to some of the

things he was telling me went on he did have

the person who got sick in his back seat and

he had to fight fight fight for uber to um clean

his car to pay for that yeah so we finally get

to a meeting between radiant black and radiant

red as one of his writers tells him yeah there's

this weird stuff going on at the junkyard and

so he and nathan go out there he powers up the

suit yeah Please still be there. Please still

be there. Please still be there. And so he chases

radiant red who's driving this car and he basically

flies after her, levitates the car. And yeah,

very again, I love the art. I love the color.

Yeah, this was this is some good stuff here.

Yeah, sure. So good. Very dynamic. Yeah. Yeah.

So like it's a it's this suit like he grabs this

little black hole puts it into his chest and

now they're fighting and the way that the puke

worked where the The mask just kind of got out

of the way. It's like techno -organic. It's like

a part of his skin, even though it kind of looks

like a helmet and Radiant red knees him in the

face and cracks the helmet and there's like this

little glint of light escaping through the helmet

beautifully colored as well, too but I'm interested

in seeing kind of the nerdy science stuff about

what these suits are. I'm looking for those things

as the story goes through. But yes, Red is escaping

in a car. Radium Black catches the car as it

goes off a bridge and levitates it back up. He's

like, I got the train. I can catch a car. So

he lifts the car. and he gets the money back

and he returns the money. I don't know what happens

to Radiant Red, but at least not not yet. I do

love the note that he put on the bag. I think

we lost this. Have they had the conversation

about what his name is called or did he just

like draw this little simple logo? I think, didn't

they go train already? Or is that? Is it this

day? Yeah, I think it's this day. Yeah, I think

it's in chapter three Issue three I should say

So he has another conversation with his father

and Somehow some way he made $200 tonight Well,

then extra raisins chapter 2 was fun issue 2

was fun I like that he's getting to like, he's

still struggling with the powers. And that's

always a good thing when you have someone who

is just a normal human being doesn't have, you

know, isn't born on Krypton or whatever. And

they come into superpowers, you pace and you

figure out, you have them figure out how. Yeah,

this thing is supposed to work. So that is going

very well issue 3 chapter 3 writing day We started

life together. Yep. Start out at Lockport, Illinois

at his house It's snow outside And has another

conversation with his dad and then we get into

Big Time by Nathan Burnett. Oh boy I did not

read most of what the script is for this. I read

his thoughts about what he needs to do to fix

the book that he's writing. Yeah, we get a couple

pages of the book that he wants to write. I think

it's implied that it's starting as a short story.

Yeah. I think this character, Rob DeBank, lost

her partner but still has the money and Nathan

as he finishes writing what we just read is like

well I don't know if I want to write how they

robbed the bank or if I want to write who she

becomes afterward and he's just not sure about

where to take it. He's hit that writer's block

wall. My favorite panel on this is I think you

have the trade or the single issues? I have the

trade. Okay good. Page 65, where he's looking

at the, he says, you crack this, you get a chapter

or two done, take a little pause for lunch, another

chapter before dinner, maybe break the next two

before bed, and by this time tomorrow, and then

it's just the cursor and the blank page on the

Microsoft Word lookalike thing. And as someone

who has been, As of next year, writing off and

on for the last 20 years, I've got three books

of poetry published that nobody has ever read,

I don't think, other than some of my family members.

That thing, that blank Microsoft Word white page

with the black blinking cursor. Is a curse upon

curse. Like if you can't come up with an idea,

you stare at that thing for hours and you just

can't. So the radiant starts talking to him and

he's kind of shaking it off. And then they have

this really, really. This part has been edited.

Ha ha ha, you'll never know what was actually

here. We have this thing, it looks like it's

on the Microsoft Word page. It's part of a script.

He says, so what exactly did that mean? She couldn't

wait to find out. And then there's this big radiant

with the big helmet guy thing. And then, yeah,

he's like, throw it out, shred it, burn it all.

This is the opposite of radiant. Wait, what?

So that's interesting. Meanwhile, we go to Marshall,

who's trying to figure out names for... This

is where the name stuff comes in, and this is

where the training will come in later. The Vanguard,

Darkness, already taken, note to self, become

a logo designer. Circle guy, Mighty Morphin lawsuit.

Now at this time, I believe Kyle had just come

off writing his Mighty Morphin arc. He wrote

Boom Studios' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers from

issue one to issue 30 with a special Shattered

Grid number one issue as well. And that was one

of the things 10 years ago. or nine years ago

at this point but it'll be well no it is 10 year

yeah 2013 is when i interviewed him a decade

ago when i interviewed him i asked him i said

so what you know what you know you're working

on Nightwing now you absolutely love Dick Grayson

i love what you're doing with the with the character

and the story that you're telling and all that

what other things would you eventually like to

work on and at that time in that interview that

you can hear on geekcastradio .com He says that

he would love to do a Power Rangers story like

we've never seen before and At that I think Power

Rangers I forget if it was 2016 2017 20 it was

within the last five years That boom studios

launched Power Rangers They launched two books

go -go Power Rangers and then Mighty Morphin

Power Rangers and they do all kinds of things

the Power Rangers now, but He was on the Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers book and he wrote the first

30 issues leading up to shattered grid Which

is where we get Lord Dracon from which is an

evil Tommy Oliver and all that stuff That's interesting

I wonder it feels This feels like it could be

a little Power Rangers esque like people in colored

suits sent a little bit They become the suit

the suit is them Techno organically. Yeah, I

I can see that now Yep Yeah a little bit and

it's good. I mean, you know, it's his this is

his original idea and all that but it has yeah

homages and things and It rhymes George Lucas

George Lucas can't sue anybody anymore, but the

mouse can So they come up with the name Radiant

black and And Nathan's like, mm, come on, it's

amazing. It's no Batman. Dude, Batman wasn't

Batman. A name is just an empty vessel. It's

nothing until you fill it with associations.

I mean, I'll think about it. It's too late. I

already registered the social. Yep. Marshall,

what the hell? Radiant Black, hey, I'm the circle

guy who gave back the money. So this takes place

in 2020 December 1st 2020 is when that tweet

was made. Oh, yeah Oh my god, I just pinched

to zoom the comic cuz I can't read the date from

where I'm stall my god Yeah, it's a paper comic.

I can't do that See I didn't need to pinch to

zoom but I can still do it Can pick the book

up and put it closer to my face? I cannot believe

I did that No, I used to do that all I do that

all the time with books because my eyesight is

just I'm No, no, I mean just pinch to zoom. No.

Yeah. No, no, no Okay, can't do that. But putting

the book up to my face I used I do that all the

time with stuff if I can't read it Yeah, if my

if my face is not like three feet in front of

the text like I won't be like Like I'm sitting

at my desk my door is probably to my apartment

is probably 20 steps away from where I am maybe

15 steps if there was a stop sign on my door

I could know that it's a stop sign because it's

red and white and the and the the the Octagonal

or hexagonal shake it shape of it, but I probably

could not read stlp Sitting where I am sitting

right now, so it means you are Far -sighted no,

whatever it means something. Yeah, I always forget.

I always forget No, that makes no sense So Nathan

starts writing in longhand not not typing Elizabeth

Beckett didn't recognize her life I what I love

about this issue is that it's a mix of Him trying

to be a writer and then him trying to figure

out the suit and how to be Radiant black. I think

that is super super cool and awesome. Yeah, it's

a parallel Course. Yep And you can you can tell

by the look on his face that he's finally he

finally knows where his energy needs to go again

in both realms and Yeah, he doesn't recognize

his his his life So we get to a point where Some

fan on on on Twitter I'm just gonna say it's

Twitter because in the comic it does say it does

it doesn't have like the Twitter logo or anything

But it has the exact placement of where Twitter

posts have the time and the date and it says

tweet so from bulls hype account and now we've

got a flat on 355 could really use that radiant

black right about now hashtag lol Elizabeth Beckett

Elizabeth Beckett Elizabeth Beckett and we get

to the did you miss a page or am I looking at

something different what are you looking at there's

a dude with a cape that broke into his room while

he was writing Oh, yeah, I probably skipped that

this is his older self this is his This is radiant

black, but it's It's Nathan. That's Nathan. Yeah,

but but older I don't understand. Why are you

doing this and he can't understand him? Who are

you? I'm what you will never be Nathan Worth

breathing and it's basically older version of

himself and that's what when he wakes up and

he He starts god damn it. And that's when the

text message for the the couple comes in. Yeah

Yeah, big old dream sequence, yep and he shows

up and and helps them with the flat tire. They

have a conversation here. Let me get the jack

set up for us. And this wrench goes with the

nut lugs. You sure you know what you're doing

here? Oh, yeah, absolutely. Oh snap. Get back.

How does a superhero not know how to change a

tire? So he basically just airlifts them to mechanics

or whatever. He goes back home and crashes again

and falls asleep. And he wakes up and he starts

writing and what he writes is, Elizabeth Beckett

didn't recognize her life. She'd gone from working

at a banks to robbing them. But now her partner

was dead. She was on the run, a bag full of cash

and all the problems to go with it. Elizabeth

Beckett had nowhere to go. So she moved back

home. So it's a nice telling his life story pretty

much as a female character Nathan you up Nathan

and he's like, yeah, I'm writing and His dad

asked him a question. Yeah, sure. That'd be great

And we end with Nathan He says me too. Oh, he

says his dad says okay then glad it was a productive

day Me too this time All right, so the writing

day issue, what are your overall thoughts? Story

is progressing. We're seeing Nathan kind of get

himself in gear as a writer and as a helpful

hero person. Looking forward to seeing what he'll

become, but I don't know what's coming at this

point. Yeah. Nobody knows what's coming at this

point We get to chapter four everything changes

dun dun dun and we see Nathan in inside existence

where what what is this and the the robot I don't

understand this or what you're saying and now

the funny thing is They released a I think they're

sold out by now, but they released a radiant

black box where they put in various things. They

actually did make radiant black bath bombs. Sadly,

I don't have a bathtub to use it in, but it smells

nice. And inside of it, it has a card where you

can actually figure out what letters or what

numbers are the radiant text. Like, if I figured

out which squares and which squigglies these

were based off the, I could probably understand

what's happening here. The text, the key for

that is on the back. Yep, it's in the back of

the trade too. I saw that and I didn't even think

about coming back and translating the text in

here, but now I got something to do in this podcast.

Hello Nathan, welcome to existence and it's a

giant robot. Yeah, see this would look good in

the Tron aesthetic. Uh -huh, that's the first

thing I thought of. Yep. So we get to, we get

back to Lockport, Illinois and we see Marshall's

house. Marshall is eating black licorice. Ew.

Yeah exactly, shares it with his dog. Yeah, don't

feed the dog black liquors. It's gonna do something

really nasty to his poo You're gonna clean that

up later. Yep, pretty much And Nathan texts Marshall

you up you doing anything today? And Marshall

says there's a Soderbergh marathon on the Criterion

channel and you know, I will never miss out of

sight. What's up? I love that movie. I love out

of sight I don't remember what it is. Out of

Sight is George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, a bunch

of other awesome people where it's a kind of,

oh god, I'm gonna have to look it up, aren't

I? Out of Sight is a crime comedy film, 1998,

Stephen Soderberg directed it. It is the first

of several collaborations between Soderbergh

and actor George Clooney. It was released on

June 26th. The plot is basically bank robber

Jack Foley is caught after spur -of -the -moment

robbery in Miami sent to Glade's correctional

institution. He deduces that fellow inmate Chino

is orchestrating a breakout planning his blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah. You know them. I'm pretty

sure you've seen this at some point. Cast includes,

like I said before, George Clooney, Jennifer

Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Steve Zahn,

Albert Brooks, Dennis Farina, Luis Guzman, Isaiah

Washington, Nancy Allen, Keith Lokener, Viola

Davis, Paul Calderon, Wendell B. Harris, Michael

Keaton as Ray Nicolette, uncredited, Samuel L.

Jackson as Here Henry uncredited and Connie Sawyer

as old elevator lady There's a bunch of cool

cool cameos and stuff. It's a I love that I need

to watch that movie again. Thanks radiant black

Thanks a lot radiant black so so He said Nathan

says need to practice about time then out of

sight and then they go to the middle of nowhere

or whatever they they go out back where the snow

is and all that and and they are going to practice

and they are going to practice on some poor cowl

action figures so cowl is you still there yes

i'm gonna make sure my monitor did something

stupid uh okay so cowl is kyle higgins other

Universe that he created other other comic series.

He he wrote it was a creator own series that

he did about superhero labor unions in in Chicago

in I think this 50s 40s 50s and 60s and forget

off top my head Very very good. So yeah, they're

gonna practice on some cowl action figures those

poor action figures Boy We get a little blast

and the gray raven shall fly no more and And

Nathan starts starts practicing a little more

and because Marshall is kind of like He's not

he's being a best friend, but he's not he's not

intentionally being mean he's just He's just

saying stuff your prose sucks. The Oxford comma

is overrated Chandler wishes you never read him

and then he says the the final the last straw

he says Justine would still be around if you

knew how to conjugate And this triggers Nathan

like his his eyeballs just kind of bug out of

his head you mother I don't even need to get

the key to translate that. I know but like I

want to translate that because I'm thinking it

does say what I what we all think it says and

and Nathan lets out this big old blast from the

radiant and they are that's enough practice for

today. And then we go back to the radiant and

we go back to existence and Nathan with the giant

robot and the giant robot says communication

is fundamental to any parentheses all good relationship

parentheses S so relationships. Sure, yeah. And.

He says the robot says to Nathan our connection

is final Permanent for the duration of your life.

You are part of existence But war is near soon

for the radiant He will kill you and you your

entire planet to die is to lose everything Will

you do all that you all that is required to save

your species? Will you take his life? And we

go back I love the the back -and -forth here

between the scenes of the radiant and the real

-life scenes between Marshall and and Nathan

and Marshall I should say cuz it's At first I

thought it was gonna take me out of the story,

but it's more of like Like you said earlier like

his dream sequence that he like he has then he

wakes up and does the whole right? I like that.

I think that's that's cool. That's that's interesting

so They're they're talking they're they're basically

saying a bunch of stuff and they're talking about

You know then if it says I'm just being cautious.

I still don't know what this is and Marshall's

like counterpoint you lack vision What? So they

have more of a conversation and then boom Radiant

Red shows up. Hello Nathan. I think wasn't this

the conversation where he said like man you should

have been the one to grab Black Bull because

yeah Nathan he's reluctant he's unsure of himself

and I think there is something about the power

that's helping him kind of get his life back

on track and Nathan's been laid back and just

kind of letting life wash over him and go with

the flow But he's the one who's thought about

being a superhero before and those who do he's

already figured it out and so I think like that's

that's happened at this point where He said you

should have this power not me But you know, we're

there there they are and then yeah BAM radiant

red shows up here And they have one hell of a

fight Again, the art in this. This is where the

art really takes off. Oh man, so good. I absolutely

love it. So this big old battle scene. Marshall

tries to film it, but Radiant Red basically destroys

his phone and they figure out that she has absorbing

powers. I should also like to point out to our

listeners that you keep referring to radiant

red as a she but that is definitely a Masculine

musculature on this yes, and so we don't know

that yet. Yeah So that again in the radiant community

that was always a question of who is this radiant

are they a They them are they a he a she or otherwise?

And the reason why I keep referring to her as

she is because I know that that is a she Because

you know, I've read the these six issues so Radiant

red basically destroys Nathan Marshall has to

find him Marshall digs him out of the rubble

Nathan. Oh my god. Are you okay? Can you hear

me? No, don't do this to me, man. Come back,

please. You have to stay alive. And we go back

to existence. Our connection is final, permanent.

For the duration of your life, you are part of

existence. But war is near, soon. For the radiant,

he will kill you and your entire planet. To die

is to lose everything. Will you do all that is

required to save your species? Will you take

his life? And we see Nathan kind of like eyes

closed and and all that and and We have you know

like period parentheses then you our world you

will die He's not breathing he's got no pulse

help somebody help Nathan doesn't look so good

your friend is gone deceased Our connection is

final permanent for the duration of your life.

You are part of existence and Marshall is transported

to existence. Yep, and we have the same So it

gets the same speech from the staffed punk in

one of the robot. Yep, and he's like will you

take his yes, I will take his life and Marshall

gets gets Gets the radiant at the end of issue

4 chapter 4 however you want to call it chapter

4 for for the trade here What I love about this

story is that it combines so many Like we mentioned

like some of the references like you said you

wouldn't have been able to come up with that

reference if you were in the situation that they

were in kind of thing at the time or whatever

like it's a Story that feels homegrown like it's

like it's a natural people every day. Like if

I was writing a story about my own life and my

boring ass life of being a podcaster and not

really doing anything other than the podcasting,

you know, I'm not saying that's what this is.

I'm saying that there are two sides to this.

There are there's the real world. Nathan and

Marshall hanging out trying to figure out the

powers and then there's this other side with

existence and the robot and the supernatural

or the superhero or the sci -fi or however you

want to label it and it's so refreshing to read

a comic like this. Yeah and we just spent four

issues with this reluctant hero character and

now he's at the end of that issue. Appears dead

and yeah, the power's gone to the other guy that

we weren't really rooting for yeah to the wacky

sidekick who now is not the sidekick anymore

and there's a look of determination on his face

and confidence as he grabs the the black hole

and You know, it's it's it's yeah, I mean you

You that's a twist that does not usually happen

in the hero's journey Yeah, and so I'm excited

by that and like, okay now I see what's going

to happen and and and now at this point I'm wondering

well, is he gonna come back? Is he gonna give

is he gonna want to give the powers up when his

buddies better? Is his buddy gonna get better

or is the radiant black comic about? Nathan and

not Who? God dang it, I gotta write this down.

Nathan is white dude number one, Marshall is

white dude number two. Now is Marshall, yes,

the radiant black that we've been reading about

and will continue to read about for subsequent

issues. And don't spoil it for me because I don't

know yet. Well, there is a lot going on currently.

They are about to... Release issue 25 of this

series and we are about to get to the catalyst

war and there was this whole vote of who should

have the powers and I I'm not gonna say anything

more because like you said I you know don't don't

don't spoil it for you, but you can come back

and add an edit point later where you talk about

all the spoilers after I'm well I mean you know

we'll we'll talk about it when we get there we'll

get there uh because ladies and gentlemen volume

two and three uh volume two will be at the end

of june and issue episode 528 and then volume

three will be the second week of july uh for

episode 5 30 so we are full rate you know i wasn't

sure who was going to do radiant black with me

and i wasn't sure if anyone was that interested

in doing it with me and joe talked me into figuring

out that i love the ninja hurdles idw comics

when i initially was like All of the damn bandanas

I don't want red bandanas. I want these bandanas

I don't know what it is. You keep going about

that. Oh, you know You know, so, you know It's

just one of those things. Yeah obvious, you know

ten years later read all read it all and purpled

it all and Orange it all and everything else.

So and you're further ahead than I am reading

it Yeah, now I am at this point. Yeah Right now,

folks, it's probably going to be... I'm looking

at the schedule right now. It will be episode

543 and 544 when we get back to TM &T Reborn

in October of this year. However, we most likely

will record those before then. So at least I

have the content ready to go. I can just edit

it and just set it to be published and all that

good stuff. But Radiant Black... It's I Think

I said this earlier. I'll say it again. It's

refreshing it is We don't know what it is, but

it's a thing that It's like one of those things

where it's like this is the comic we never knew

we needed the kind of thing That's how I feel

about it. It's just so good And being four or

five issues in now, hard to tell with a trade

paperback. I don't know if I'm going to end up

liking these characters yet, and I'm really hoping

that I do or I like where the story goes. But

despite that, it was just a couple of weeks ago

I was in the shop talking to the owner. I need

more comics to read. I know there's like a million

and a half indie books and creator own books

that I'm not even aware of That I would absolutely

be loving because the the the DC and Marvel books,

you know, I love the characters I love where

they've been I love the the self -contained stories

But it's hard for me to do the ongoing with those

books because I haven't been reading them forever.

Yeah And and then they read number when they

try to invite me online with a number one Well,

then they revert and then I get confused and

then I get angry and I stop reading it So it's

really hard for me to get into those mainline

books. But at the end of the day Do I really

need to read more? I'd rather read from these

independent creators telling interesting modern

contemporary stories because in 20 years This

is where they're gonna get all of their movie

content, you know and do what we're reading now

Yeah, exactly issue 5 chapter 5 aftermath and

we start with Nathan oh he talk about great art

I mean those are some really well -placed drawn

and colored bruises yikes mm -hmm that's what

happens when you have a building fall on you

but they're trying to do CPR on him oh my god

he looks so He's not dead. He's not dead. He's

not dead. Marshall kind of like upends the EMT

guy or the police officer and Nathan, Nathan,

come on, man. This isn't it. God damn it. Can't

be. And he's in all kinds of denial and Nathan

kind of gurgles a little bit here. Was that a

breath? Did he just breathe? We've got a shallow

pulse. Oh, thank God. Thank God. He's okay So

like but I at this point I'm like, oh wait, he's

still alive man. The radiant just ditched him.

Yeah dead You said we were together till we're

dead, but nope. He just split and he saw his

out and that radiance like I'm out of here I'm

gonna go toward this guy who actually wants the

power. Yeah, a little cold -blooded. They're

very very cold -blooded So they transport him

to the hospital, we see them load Nathan into

an ambulance, and then Marshall just has these

facial expressions of, oh my god, and he starts

running down the hallway, or not the alleyway

there, hey man, you okay? And we see this black

and blue light, and we see The radiant flying

above Marshall, which I thought that was Marshall

but we see this crash land and it's it is Marshall

because he See that that's that's one thing that

did confuse me here. Mm -hmm. We oh, no, never

somebody Yeah, no what it is is I get it now

That's where I get confused. The guy, the Dreadlock

guy that says, hey, man, you OK? Marshall is

running down the alleyway. It's kind of like

a Power Rangers kind of move where it's like,

nobody can see us use our morphers in morph kind

of thing. Shazam. Yeah, yeah, yeah, shazam. Miss

Dreadlock guy sees Marshall do the thing, and

that's who's looking up. So it is Marshall as

radiant black and he is flying and flying and

he crash lands and no no No, I don't want it.

I don't want it. You hear me. I don't want it.

Huh Dude you just you just said you'd kill that

guy for me. No, he doesn't say that but that's

I Have to forget that I can't narrate this because

the listeners don't know that I'm not making

that up But yeah, he tries to he says he doesn't

want it but I think he does Yeah, he doesn't

want it, but he does. And he has all these facial

expressions as he lands in the snow and he just

says, fuck. Marshall dude, I sympathize because

I've had that, that just defeated kind of like,

like that, that moment of like he says. Fuck

it's just the only thing you can think of it's

the only thing that you can say to just like

Realize. Oh crap. There's so much going on in

my life that You know, this is all happening

and everything else and he's not ready for it

So we get a bunch of scenes with Marshall watching

the circle guys news these are I believe these

are from these guys are from the invincible comic

I think I could be wrong I remember them doing

something with that so I think that's where they're

they're they're from but it's circle guys news

talking about radiant black and Marshall just

like douchebags I knew those three had to be

somebody in the world that they're making fun

of. Marshall sees that Nathan's parents have

arrived. They have a conversation and we get

Nathan's father saying they're not seeing any

brain activity and Nathan's mother is just crying

and we see before we flip this panel here At

least on on the digital we see oh my god How

is he do you see did you see him? What are they

saying? We just came out Okay, I need to see

him right now Kathy. I'm his godmother So this

is for you Joe. This is not for everybody else

that knows this already Everybody has Kathy conspiracies

I like, even though she says she's Nathan's godmother,

they're like, she's the real villain of the series,

she's this, she's that, she's whatever. My biggest

problem with Kathy is number one, her attitude

and wanting to see Nathan and number two, the

fact that the character's name is Kathy. My mom's

name was Kathy and my mom passed back in 2015.

So I'm not really caring about Kathy here in

this book. Alright, I got it. I'll keep my eye

on Kathy as I continue to read forward. Yeah,

she shows up here and there. Marshall hears the

radiant, kind of sees the radiant, and we get

Marshall in the side of existence. Why do you

keep saying radiant? Our sink is progressing

faster than Nathan Burnett. Good. You are ready.

You're goddamn right I'm... and it says that

existence all that you are and are connected

to time space matter itself but war is near soon

for the radiant he will kill you and your entire

planet we will prepare it is my duty he will

try to shatter our connection but our connection

is final permanent for the duration of your life,

you are part of existence. So he has to kill

me and your entire species. What's his name?

Nothing. Yeah, they don't they don't answer that

question. And then he he asks all these these

these questions of of the robot. Again, the story,

the art, just the way that this looks is just

so like the whole like Marshall and the robot

the way that they're in existence of the facial

The split face the kind of two -faced kind of

look where half the faces Marshall half the faces

were I Absolutely love that Absolutely. Love

it. It's just so damn good so we get to radiant

red and She is saying stupid out of control wanted

to handle it etc etc and then and the final thing

she says you can handle anything well at least

we agree on something and radiant black shows

up asshole you're alive looking fist glowy is

because like yeah I know he's going to do it

better He's got the confidence that it takes

to do what he's doing. They look like he's holding

weights. It's not a barbell or a dumbbell, but

it looks like the weights that you would put

on to be that. the Tron desks. He looks very

Tron -ish in this panel here. You're alive. You

made it. And we see that it's Marshall. No, he's

in a coma because of you. And I want this. So

I have my phone turned horizontally and I see

this full image. And I'm not even zooming. It's

all the way through the regular panel of the

two of them just getting ready. I want this as

an argument. I want it on my wall, and I want

it now. It's so good. It's one of the best panels

of these six issues. It really is. So they have

a fight. And Marshall says to Radiant Red, hey,

eyes up. I'm not going to do like you did to

Nathan. I want you to see this coming. And he

just boom, boom. And they're fighting in the

middle of Chicago. Chicago, what a toddle in

town. And she's like, God damn it, stop it. Why,

Marshall, does it hurt? And she's doing, she's

absorbing or doing something to him. And they

kind of end up in either Lake Michigan or something.

And it's some sort of icy, iced over lake. And

he says, I've got a cape mode and it's dope as

hell. Check it. I This is so cool Yeah, so I've

gleaned that They each each of the color radiance

has a different power and radiance is gravity

Radiant red is absorbing matter. And so after

red goes into the water, I think Radiant is absorbing

Water to become what comes out of the ice Yep

Yeah, absolutely. That's that's what she's doing

and Marshall's like die and die die die die die

and he Helped buster busts out. Yeah. Yep. He's

They're both out of the water now And his helmet's

off, and I can say it now, her helmet's off,

and we see that I just wanted to scare him. I

didn't mean, I didn't... Hey, sorry, really,

seriously, don't ever show up anywhere uninvited.

But, you're legit in danger. And now we have

two more of them. Two more, we get radiant yellow

and radiant pink. I don't want, how many more

of these things are there? And the old guy says,

we don't know son. Oh my God, you sound like

a thousand years old. And it's an old man and

a young woman and you don't know what I can do.

And they kind of... talk and then they fight

a little bit and then this guy shows up and he

says well your planet will your planet die as

well and that's how issue five ends Yeah, that

dude's doing some crazy glitchy movement stuff

to pretty much I believe they end up calling

him glitch or something I forget what I think.

Yeah shift. That's what it is But that's issue

five and normally I Would say that trades usually

have five issues in them, but this has six and

You I don't think I I will Recommend it to you

now if you're interested in superheroes and labor

unions and like 40s and 50s kind of. Kyle volume

one and volume two, you can get them in trade.

It's so good, but the way that Kyle breaks up

that story is he'll write five issues for a full

like chapter of the overall story, you know,

a full kind of thing. And then he'll do issue

six as this kind of origin story of a character

kind of thing and that's what he's doing here

with chapter six Read but after issue five, what

are your overall thoughts? This is It's it only

took four or five issues to get here But like

this is what I this is what I paid for is this

stuff right here And by this point, I am actually

interested in Nathan. Wait. Marshall. Marshall.

Marshall. Marshall. Like the dog from Paw Patrol.

Oh, god. I'm so sorry. But now I won't forget

it. Yeah, now I want to see what's going to happen

with all these guys. And I wonder how many more

colors there are and what these two and their

powers are. So I'm involved and invested now.

Yeah, we will get all of that, because they're

up to, like I said, 24 issues at this point.

We're only at issue six now. Issue six is the

kind of origin story of Satomi, who ends up becoming

Radiant Pink, and she and her boyfriend are not

having a great time here. And the family is just

like, he says, I keep telling her we can always

look at postponing the wedding, oh, it's wedding

planning, that's what it is. And they're talking

back and forth and all of that with the family

on these first two or three pages of the, I think

it's either Christmas dinner or Thanksgiving

dinner or something. What I absolutely love in

this issue, we get to the panel where the grandmother

or her mom or somebody says, you two are going

to make a beautiful family. You have Satomi smiling,

you have him smiling, because I don't remember

his name off the top of my head. You switch the

panel to them in the car and it's the same panel.

You can't see this because you have the print,

but on the digital, it like melts into each other.

It's so, so good. So they're driving home and

they're arguing and not saying anything and holding

hands and all of that. And some guy is outside

their apartment and all that happens. And she

says, When did you start again? I didn't start

again. That was Lloyd from our MK branch waiting

on our dry way to our driveway I didn't start

and they're they're arguing back and forth and

And all of that and she says then why was Lloyd

in the driveway? I'm sorry. It's a Tony. I slipped.

Okay. I'm sorry Yeah, sure you did. His name

is Owen and Okay, so his name is Owen And looking

at his face, all I can see is, I forget what

her name is off the top of my head, but the lady

that played Mama in Throw Mama from the Train.

Danny DeVito was Owen, and her raspy voice, Owen,

get me my Medicaid! And she hits him with the

pan or he hits her with the dead. Oh man. That's

all I see now That lady was in everything back

then and she was awesome Okay, so besides that

movie which I maybe you and I will have to do

a podcast on that I've been trying to find somebody

to do a podcast on throw mama from the train

because I actually love that movie but That lady

was in An episode of Knight Rider She was in

Killer Kit. She plays a crossing guard. Oh my.

In Killer Kit, somebody reprograms him and makes

Kit evil. And if William Daniels, the voice of

Kit, Mr. Feeny, sounds evil. It's amazing. She

plays a crossing guard and it's like hot outside

so she's wiping her brow with the stop sign that

she's holding. and she puts the stop sign on

Kit's roof, and she goes to lean up against his

door, and she says, oh boy, what a day, and he

says, it's not over yet, lady. Puts the, oh no,

it wasn't on his roof, it was on the sun roof.

Throws the sun roof up, the stop sign goes flying.

hits oh does the automatic open door hits her

with the door hey young she thinks a school kid

or somebody a teeny she doesn't realize it's

a computer a talking car that is a computer like

do you want attention oh my god it's all to see

if i can find a clip on youtube or i'll have

to do screen share with you to later to it's

so good so yeah It's not over yet, lady. Who

did that? I did. And unless you want to meet

a similar fate, madam, I suggest you keep your

amble derriere off my hood. Watch your language,

young man, or I'll report you to the principal.

Every time I see any character named Owen, that's

the first thing I think of. Let that lady and

throw Mama from the train. Yeah, she was the

goonies lady, too. Yep. She was. I've never seen

the Goonies. I think I have, but I don't. It's

one of those weird things where there were so

many sequels coming out, like Beverly Hills Cop

2, Caddyshack 2. There were so many sequels,

and I swear there was a Goonies 2 that wasn't

as good as the original. And I don't ever, I

remember seeing some weird movie thinking it

was Goonies 2, and it wasn't. It doesn't even

exist. But Goonies was never in my zeitgeist

as a child at all. It holds up, I think, in my

opinion. My kids and I watched it. And I enjoyed

it. I'll have to give it a shot. So Satomi and

Owens, he says, ah, you see that. They're texting

me about the order now. Don't even worry about

it. I've got it this handled. Thank you for not

giving up on us. They hug and all that. They

go to bed. She's wide awake. She's, you know,

that that kind of state of thinking and whatever.

And she goes somewhere. Satomi, Satomi, Satomi,

what answers did you possibly think we're going

to you were going to find here? We are so screwed.

And then a shooting star comes out of the sky

and a red explosion. So this isn't a radiant

just like coming closer. This is like asteroid

level, Armageddon level, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck

level crash landing of this radiant. And we see

it next to her silhouetted body that's basically

upended. She reaches out for it. She has her

magical girl transformation into radiant red.

And I think she can control how the suit looks

on her. Because like you said earlier, they wanted

it to be a mystery of who the character was and

how it looked more muscular and male. When she

puts it on here, I can clearly see her rack.

Yeah. You know, it's a very, yeah. I noticed

that when this happened, like, oh, this is really

Red's origin story. Like, I didn't put that together,

that Red looked. masculine in those but I chalk

that up to her power of absorbing material and

Shaping it in a different way. So yeah, don't

that make sense? I'll buy that. Yeah, absolutely

I'll buy that for a million dollars And yeah,

she decides to go into the bank and kind of talk

to them and the stand kind of like It kind of

mirrors like what Nathan was doing on the phone

out in LA before he came home in the first issue

where they're like, yeah, we really can't. And

we see all this debt and he points out all the

computer stuff and, and, oh no, it's not debt.

It's, I mean, it is debt, but it's her credit

card. And what happens is Owen has, has maxed

it out and taken three more axles out to take

it more. So it's worse than it was last night

when she was yelling at him. And he comes in,

hey, honey, where's the money, Owen? What do

you mean? You forged my signature and emptied

my account, all of my savings for school. For

what? Where is my money, Owen? And she's yelling

at him. And you never seemed like you were actually

going to go, so I thought I could refill it.

I lost a lot. More than I ever told you and I

So he gambled it away. I guess I assume he sounds

like it. Yeah, he's doing something with it and

So tell me wait, please You're right and he says

please don't give up on me they hug she drives

away She sees her radiant red silhouette in the

window. She basically punches the window out

lifts the car and does all this stuff and then

she goes into the MK branch and Comes home bolted

up. I think she observed. Yeah, she broke the

car tore it apart and absorbed the engine yep,

she absorbed the engine of the car and That's

how you know like you were saying how she the

absorbing powers make her look like she's a Different

form than what she actually is goes in, robs

the bank, comes home. She says, I handle it with

all the money. Dun, dun, dun. What do you think

after the first six? I'm ready to buy the second

trade. You mean you haven't already on my original

recommendation? I mean, we are doing this for

the podcast. I'm a one at a time kind of guy.

Figured you'd buy all three just I have them

at one time Yeah, you always go into the conch

shop weekly. So it'll be there hopefully or they

can order it for you. Hopefully Text them after

we are finished. Yep Yeah, so volume one radiant

black. I Loved it two years ago. I love it. Now.

It's so good It's a story that Like I said earlier,

it's a story. We didn't know we needed and It's

refreshing to read a comic that has Like references

to other things or you know homages to other

things, but it is its own thing. It's not trying

to be I Mean people will make the allegory to

the Power Rangers because of the radiant black

radiant red radiant yellow pink and all that

and their multicolored suits and they Kind of

have helmets and they hide but that's just an

homage to it. But it's not you know, it's not

like they're Whatever, but we're not flirting

with super sentai tropes. Yeah Maybe that's where

we're headed and this is what it looks like when

real people encounter these powers and these

suits Yeah, it takes them a while to come together

We'll figure that out and that's kind of what

I'm excited to see is is where it goes. I'm not

yet ready to Say I love it or five out of five

I think I think I have to I have to see where

it's going To find out if I when I look back

like ah now I see Right, but it's definitely

worth reading. It's definitely worth having on

the shelf Yep We're gonna take a quick ad break

you're gonna hear some stuff and other things

from other podcasts and and Whatever else and

we'll come back to give you our ratings and close

out the show right after this My ice cream has

turned into a shake. Yay. Love it when that happens.

Just drink the damn shit. 131. 11. Edit. Alright,

we're back here inside episode 525. Inside the

pull bag. I'm of course JFJ and Mike. Joe Reed

is here. We have talked about Radiant Black Volume

1, not so Secret Origin. There is also a cover

gallery of all of the covers from the first six

issues, and I have so many favorites from this.

I really want that connecting cover. The connecting

cover, yes, the connecting cover is awesome.

The one I added, the two that I absolutely love

just as art pieces on their own. Is issue number

three covers seed done by Gani Montez. It's radiant

black, but he's all like in purple. Love that.

And then the other one. Yeah, the connecting

cover. The I think this is what you're talking

about. The issue for second printing by Marcelo

Costa with Igor Monte, where it's the two of

them firing their powers. Is that the one you're

talking about? Yep. Yep. I want that. I also

want the one that I absolutely love, the one

that was actually the last pod art that we did

for the previous issue, issue five is done by

Serge Akuna. Yeah, me too. That's exactly the

one I was looking at. Yeah, that one. I'm probably

going to have Steve combine a couple of these.

into what the podcast art will be this time around.

Oh, I have an idea. I need to find that connecting

cover. I need to find a large version of that.

Sorry, folks, I'm thinking inside my head. You're

thinking outside of it. That's why you're apologizing.

Yes, yes. I'm not paying attention to my podcast.

Yes. Yes, absolutely. That connecting cover for

us. That's where we were going. That would be

amazing. And yeah, Rainier Black, volume one.

It's got a few things that, but overall, I'll

give it a four and a half. I'm going to go with

a four. But why do you say four and a half? I

say four and a half because I was initially gonna

give it a five because I loved it I've loved

it so much for the first two years of this series

because really so when the other Co -hosts that

were with me originally when we did these because

originally we did them like you like You go to

the comic shop every week and get single issues.

We originally did them as single issue episodes

This time around with you, and I were doing them

via trade so I kind of fell off after issue six

and I ended up catching up and reading and and

whatever else and then I fell off it was one

of those things where I just So much has happened

in the last two years that I just didn't like

I wanted to be able to have the energy and Be

able to discuss it with somebody at, you know,

with me actually having the ability to record

a podcast about a series that I love. So I've

kind of been stuck on the first five issues for

two years. As I reread it this time, I saw it

a little bit differently. There were, you know,

it wasn't anything with the art. It wasn't it

was wasn't really Kyle's writing. But like you

said. this is your first time with it and you're

not really sure about the two white dudes kind

of thing you're not sure which of them you're

going to want to follow or which one you want

to have the radiant for radiant black yeah so

far the the characters that we know the hero

characters that they're all not exactly likeable

people Yeah, which is where which is why I think

I'm going with four like the story is good The

art is good. The character designs are good.

I can see that somebody cares about this story

Which is 90 % of it there for me, but I don't

like the characters I can't sympathize with any

of them and I'm not rooting for any of them yet

But character journeys and characters changing

and becoming different people is always interesting.

So I'm excited to see when and if these characters

learn lessons that make them better people and

better heroes. Yeah, I kind of sympathize with

Nathan though. I mean, you know, yes, he was

in debt. He was failing. He was whatever, but

he was going home to give it. Another college

try of restarting his life. He was in a you know

time of Transition and all of a sudden he gets

these powers. He has to learn these powers all

of a sudden He gets beaten by this girl and ends

up in a coma. So I kind of sympathize with the

guy but Yeah, I'm still I don't know, I just

love the concept of the series, and for me it's

also the additional things that have come with

the series, like the Sam Ewing instrumental score,

like the Crisis Couture theme song, which I will

have to share with you as soon as we hit the

stop button on this. Aw, yeah. But yeah, four

and a half out of five for me, four for you.

Coming up next on The Pull Bag, we've got G .I.

Joe Castlefall, which is the one -shot issue

closing out the G .I. Joe World on Fire storyline.

Eduardo will be back with me for that. And then

we've got Heather Hahi -Prime and myself talking

about Livio Remindelli's The Kill Lock Volume

2, The Artisan Wraith. And then at the end of

the month, Joe Reed and I will be back for Radiant

Black Volume 2. Team up! So that's that's what's

coming here in June on the pull bag Hope everybody

is doing well. We're Six months into 2023 the

year is half over So yay, it's it's summertime.

I need a pool. I need to go swimming I gotta

figure that out. Yeah, I I do not like the water

A shower is the closest thing I get to a pool.

I will get my ankles wet at the lake as I look

for cool geology in the water. I love picking

up stones. Nope. I thought you were a turtle.

Oh no, no. I'm a tortoise. Not aquatic. Oh, boy.

All right, folks, thank you for joining us here

inside the poll bag. If you'd like to get in

contact with us, or leave feedback for the show,

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but I still tag him anyway for Joe's Hawaiian

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name over there. You can find me there. I'll

get your messages eventually until that dirt

bag billionaire sells Twitter. We're boycotting

it in this household because I guys have twit.

But you can also find me on Facebook at geek

stuff garage sale We are looking at the last

Saturday in October or I'm sorry. Let me try

that again last Saturday in September First Saturday

in October first one doesn't work out. So we

got we gotta hear from your landlord, but we're

looking for early fall and Hopefully we'll see

some of you there Very cool. Very cool. Hopefully

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can also check out the pull bag over there as

well. Join us next time when we will be discussing,

like I said, G .I. Joe Castlefall with Eduardo

M. Freire. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with...

I was Joe Reed. He was? Why was he was? I was.

Oh, you know, whenever, that's how, the ending

of the podcast, that was here that, I have been

T1, T1, I have been, I was Joe Reed for that

podcast that you listened to for the past hour.

As always, make your greatest game of comics

and we will catch you next time. the crisis couture

song you just heard radiant was used by permission

from the band you can see the permission slip

on geekcastradio .com the pull bag episode 525

you've just heard the latest episode of the pull

bag the gcrn's first comic review and discussion

podcast There are several ways to get in touch

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