The Kill Lock: The Artisan Wraith

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the comics we're reading right now here inside

the pull bag. Hello and welcome to the pull bag.

This is episode 527. I am of course Dave Jones

Mike and today we are Gonna be kill locking it

again because we have the artisan wraith now.

Of course. I'm here with ha he prime. Hello.

Hey, oh Yes kill lock the artisan wraith. Oh

boy. What a comic this is It is very much the

Empire Strikes Back of this series pretty much.

Yeah Pretty much. Yeah, so we got six issues

here and Man, I'm loving the art. I love that.

I love the trade cover I love the inside cover

how it's all just purple with the white text.

That's so cool and Yeah, so Yeah, he's got some

good graphic designers working for him. See does

So we start out with new characters that we have

never seen before Who are totally not tailgate

and cyclonus Well, we all know Nicole is Cyclonus,

but I've never seen you as a tailgate. No, probably

not. No, probably not. Oh, man. Yeah, no, I think

there's just this one particular part where I

was just like, whoa, give a massive tailgate

Cyclonus vibe when the cred, what's his name?

The lurk was not having a good day. Yeah. And

I don't know how much spoilery we're going to

get, but yeah. We'll probably talk about everything

most likely. It's been out for a while, I think,

at this point. Yeah. So we can just be like,

guys, go read it. Exactly. Although I do sometimes,

one of the reasons why I think these podcasts

are valuable is I sometimes frequently actually

will get a lot more out of a comic book or comic

series along with or after listening to Podcast

where people talk about it and bring up things

that maybe I hadn't noticed or maybe hadn't Seen

with the same Emphasis and it I always appreciate

just listening to people really talk about books

and so it's fun. I'm Hopefully everybody listening

is like oh, yeah, I didn't even think about that

or yeah, I like that too. Yeah, exactly. That's

the Whole reason why we've been doing this for

a decade. Hopefully people listen and enjoy what

we say about it and hopefully Like you said it

makes them go back and reread something To the

point of oh, hey, right they pointed that out

But I completely that went over my head kind

of thing because that happens to me all the time.

I know huh? So yes, we have these new characters

and they're basically like It's almost like a

brand new comic it I mean it is it's continuing

the story, but like we don't see the artisan

we don't see Any of the original characters that

were in the first? Story like we see the Wraith

we see the Yeah, we see the Wraith's body here

in these in these opening shots, but it's pretty

much these two These two new characters whose

names I forget off the top of my head the resolve

and the learn. Yeah the resolve and the lurk

and Yeah, once again Livio with his colors This

book is I don't know how he gets it to be dark

and colorful all at the same time That's interesting

because the thing I noticed most more than the

colors is the textures Yeah, I think of it as

Like honestly, I think of it as a fairly monochromatic

book even though obviously it does have bright

colors and you know, we can think of things where

it's like Oh dang that one purple page or that

one, you know, but the colors are not what really

hit for me for me What really hits is just? His

bonkers textures. Yeah, and so it's really kind

of fun that we each have hooked into different

aspects of the art to really sink our teeth into.

But I do like how he uses color to tell story

and set mood. Yeah, that's the biggest thing

for me with the background color specifically

is how it sets up what is going on in the foreground

with the characters. Like I'm not going to jump

too far ahead, but we have like the first, what

is it? The first. let's say 21 pages or so where

it's all like a green background kind of or it's

an all like it actually starts out different

it starts out with like a blue but like i'm up

to page starting on page 15 of the trade it starts

the green background and then by like page 23

it it switches to a red background because it

switches the the area and the background colors

really bring out everything that's going on in

the foreground. Yeah, it helps you kind of keep

your sense of place using that color language.

Go Livio! Yep, absolutely. And I didn't notice

that again, you know noticing things because

for me when I'm reading this I'm reading it to

get the story I'm not really it's why I end up

going through the comic in each episode of the

podcast So I can see things that I didn't notice

before yeah on on one of the pages which page

15 where The resolve and the lurk where she says

we require your footage When I film, my mission

is to document without judgment, even when I'm

watching an army like the Legion do that to a

planet. What I notice is the swirls on their

faces. Like in the purple, there's two swirly

lines down her face or her helmet or whatever.

Same thing with the other character, the tan

character that's next to her. There's these swirls

in the armor or in the helmets, and that is really

cool. That's awesome. I am realizing that I should

have gotten I only have the individual issues

Have gotten them all out so that we wouldn't

be subjected to crinkle crinkle crinkle crinkle

Perhaps we have a brief interlude of crinkle

crinkle crinkle and I get I mean I like I got

him out and And I was like, well, I can't even

really refer to them because I'll be doing a

lot of, you know, flippy doos and crinkle crinkles,

but I forgot about the fact that if you get them

out of their little envelopes, they're not loud.

You're going to remix this. It's going to be

a cool EDM hit. Yes, it is. Oh man. That's the

beauty of digital comics, folks. I don't have

to worry about crinkling pages. But then you

can't hold them and smell them and have Livio

sign them. That's true, but yeah. We just have

to have this argument every time, you know. Well,

you know, it is what it is. I don't leave my

house half the time, so. Wouldn't have him so

I would love to have like I love the mail it

to hey sign this please But yeah, there's no

way I'm running into him at a convention or anything

Yeah, that's a Real thing. Yep, can we talk about

the designs of the resolve and the lurk because

I think they're really interesting. Yeah, sure

just like Because Livio can do this thing where

he'll come up with You know, basically child

drawings and you know, I don't Say that to be

mean. I'm saying, you know, he has chosen this

style of very Kind of simplistic in an imperfect.

Mm -hmm sketches Yeah, but he's really good at

choosing wisely his shapes Yep, so like the lurk

looks like a little rock man, you know and the

resolve is this tall like with kind of a flowing

cape shape on her arms and Very much like a a

knight. Yeah cool night, but like a fantasy version

with a cape, you know and Definitely like a you

know, the just across -the -face eye slit so

Very very sort of futuristic robot night Yeah,

absolutely with this little short kind of crunchy

guy Is also just kind of short and crunchy in

the way he talks to you know, and they they have

the way they communicate matches the way they

are Not matches the way they're drawn, but like

it they their looks and their personalities Kind

of support each other. Yep Yeah, it's a panel

where they're talking to the the guy with the

footage Yeah, I see what you're talking about

the little I remember when I was reading it because

I read it through when it first came out and

then I read it through again before we Discussed

it and I remember coming to this page and going

whoa shiny. It's a it's a neat way to Just portray

quickly that she's super shiny. Yo Yeah, but

the scene as that scene progresses the guy that

they're trying to get the footage from If there's

one thing I'm not objective about, it's actively

helping assassins. And the lurk is like, careful,

son. We operate on a full authority from the

forges. And she doesn't like that word. I hear

KC Case and Cliffjumper in my head. Like when

Cliffjumper would get angry, or no, Gears. When

Gears had his emotion chip before he had it taken

out. when, you know, Gears was really, really

angry in Generation 1. That's what I hear when

I read the lurk saying stuff like that. Yeah,

you can definitely imagine him with kind of that

accent and that, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely.

But yeah, I mean, this first issue is just so

good. Yeah, and it's so... My experience, you

know Reese of you know getting this series an

issue at a time was interesting in that You know,

I'm really looking forward to you know reading

more about these characters that I've come to

you know absolutely love and know and like they

are real little dudes and then I Would you know

my first? Response was gosh dang it. Livia. Oh,

how dare you? You know, I'm like I didn't come

here to read about these weirdos and then by

the end of it You're like, I also love them.

Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah, exactly Yeah, like that's

good. You know, that's good writing. Yeah, absolutely

I mean you can create a whole universe on on

almost anything He introduced us to four or five

six characters in or more than that but the main

characters four five or six of them and then

you know now we get these two new characters

we kind of get the the Wraith dude here and and

Yeah, I mean it's just so great that The story

is progressing in a way that you didn't really,

you expect to, you know, if you leave a previous

story on a cliffhanger, you expect sort of resolve

or sort of like, hey, this is what happened last

time on this episode of blah, blah, blah. And

then you pick up kind of, but no, this is like,

hey, look, this is still the kill lock. You still

see the wraith, but. These are two new characters

that we want you to get to know and get to love.

And pretty much, I mean, they're cool. I like

them. I will say I very much enjoyed the meta

aspect of when at the very end of issue one,

you finally go to the planet where the Artisan

Wraith is and you see that font that you know

what it means. You know, you know it means the

Wraith is talking. And it feels like it's Livio

talking to the reader. Oh, absolutely. Along

with, you know, just and so there you are, you

selfish jerk. And it's wonderful to see you again.

And I'm like, yeah, good job, because that's

that's totally Livio talking to us and us kind

of talking to the Wraith, the artisan Wraith.

And he's just talking to the moon. And at that

point, it's like, Almost let down. I'm like we

were having this conversation Yeah, absolutely

that's exactly and this is why I'm glad I waited

for the trade because if I read this in single

issues I would be pulling my hair out waiting

for the next I'm just glad I can turn the page

and and go to the next part of the story is you

do yeah issue one was a nice Story wise it's

a nice setup of the new characters we get to

a point where we see the old character or at

least one of them kind of thing at the end and

it's a nice introduction to what this story is

going to be and what this story is going to focus

on yeah so issue two let's see here we start

off with i actually love this character a lot

yeah the little he's like basically carrying

Basically, the first character you get introduced

to in issue two is this just the block character.

And he's this big, you know, just very geometric,

simply simple shapes dude who's carrying sort

of a doll. But then you find out later it is

not a doll. It's a piece of his friend. And I

love the introduction. Want money, money for

gamble. We'll kill anything for money for gamble.

And I'm like, nevermind. I love this dude. Yep.

And everybody else is like, why do you bring

him? He's, um, they're like, well, he will stand

in front of things. We're good. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. And then he's all, we'll die before stop

gamble. And I'm like, Oh dude, you, you just,

um, signed your death warrant, sir. Yep. Absolutely.

Yeah. the way the negotiations are happening

like friend come or no go and okay fine yeah

it's just so good sorry I was like what are you

talking about but yeah the fact that he's like

I'm not leaving my little poor piece of dead

dude behind emotional support doll. Yep, everyone

needs a friend. Yep. So dark. So dark. And then

we get to them being on whatever, being at whatever

place this is. Don't they have, so here's a question

I have. There's a second character that they

recruit, the one with the finger needles. Uh

-huh. And they look so much like the resolve

that sometimes I would get a little confused

the first time through. Yeah. But they're very

similar. They're kind of another knight -looking

character. Yeah, it's a little... And I don't

remember what class they are. I don't either

and I'm trying to find it, but I'm looking to

I Do not remember Let's see here. I Haven't met

a class that didn't burn screaming from the inside

when it when exposed to it That is wait a minute.

No, that's him saying I Have this horrible poison

on these syringes, right? Right, right bought.

Yeah They don't I feel like I don't know anything

about this character. Yeah, like, you know the

introduction of the block I'm like, oh, I know

that guy that guy lives in my brain now. Yeah,

and this other character is much more nebulous

Yeah, I don't think we get a true introduction.

Yeah Not yet anyway, yeah But the idea that the

Wraiths have these little tiny crevices at the

edge of their I Face shine the slits. Yeah, that's

cool Yeah introduction of a possible weakness

or a possible weak point, you know, absolutely

Yeah to watch Olivia just be like I'll take that

from Star Wars and I'm not and I'm not like I'm

not faulting him for that. It's just kind of

yeah. No. Yeah, absolutely No, it's not a fault.

It's more of a like hey We recognize that. Yeah.

Yeah. Take, you know, take these two torpedoes

and blow up the Death Star. Yep. Yep. You got

one shot, kid. Now let's blow this pop stand

and go home. Yep. Oh, man. I hadn't realized

how big the block is until he walks up to the

Wraith and he's way taller than the Artisan Wraith.

Yeah. He does absolutely get destroyed with one

finger, but he's like, Oh dang, you are a large

boy. Yes. Very much so. And then we are reminded

that artisans are terrifying. Yes, they are.

Especially in the Wraith's body. Yeah. It's party

time for him. Yeah. The one thing I miss in this

is actually the artisan himself Like I know he's

here. I know he's you know kind of in the driver's

seat of the Wraith body But I missed that design

of the artisan It's not a bad thing I'm just

saying I kind of miss seeing that because yeah,

that was a very very cool design I don't think

I've seen a design like that It is a cool design

and I did I also felt like I'm like, I miss seeing

my buds. Where are my buds? And so I was glad

at the end of this when you finally, or at the

end of issue two, when you finally kind of get

to see them all sort of ghosting around by this

sort of ghost lake. Yeah, it's, it's kind of

like going, you know, back in the memories or

kind of like how Did you ever read transformers

galaxies the first four issues of transformer

the construct icons rising issues? Okay, so not

remember the details of that story. All right.

Well, it's fine I just want to make sure you

you know what I'm talking about. Yeah in in that

Each of the individual six construct icons have

their own personality when they go to combine

to form Devastator, it's kind of like this where

the artist in Wraith could be in the driver's

seat, or the kid could be in the driver's seat,

or whatever the other characters were. I don't

remember the other character, but that's kind

of the same thing. With the Constructicons, where

Bonecrusher could be in the driver's seat, you

have this seventh personality, but you have the

sixth Constructicons actually piloting Devastator

kind of thing and that's what I'm thinking here

with the the Wraith body because It's essentially

a body even though there's a personality to it.

The artisan has taken it over Completely. Oh,

yeah have these so you have the original characters

from the first volume all inside of this giant

Armored body and it's so cool like the the the

lake pages that you're talking about I I'm assuming

that's the inside yeah of of the the Wraith like

that It's their shared mindscape. Yep. I imagine

yep and that's why like you see the artisan sort

of talking to them as Just a face in the sky,

you know And with like this huge font so you

can like hear his voice booming out across this

sort of vast empty Mindscape and you get a sense

of of how much more powerful he is Yeah, cuz

everyone else is literally just sitting around.

I mean except for the kid who's running around

because he has wiggles, but Yeah Yeah Also The

kid is the only one still trying to improve himself.

The race is just sitting there. The labor class

is still trying to use his, you know, I'm gonna

talk to you and we're gonna try to figure, I'm

gonna try to use my people skills to get what

I need. And the kid is just running and trying

to get faster. And he's like, hey, I'm faster

than yesterday, you know? that it is interesting

that they all have different responses to their

powerlessness. Yeah. And the way they are so

powerless inside this giant body of power with

the armor of what the Wraith's body is. And what

I find interesting, you're talking about the

kid, how he's running around continuing to improve

himself, and all the other characters are just

kind of sitting there. The artisan's doing his...

I don't want to say egotistical, but I'll say

egotistical. He's being the artist in that he

is. But the kid, what I liked about issue two

and seeing them on the inside of this armored

whatever with the Wraith is that all the adults

in the room don't care about improving themselves.

The kid wants to improve wants to continue to

grow and improve himself because he's still a

kid I am 43 years old. I've gone through some

major major crap in the last two years and I

have zero interest in a lot of things in general,

but like I'm not putting any effort into anything.

I don't want to do If I don't want to do it,

I'm not going. You know what I mean? Just those

everyday like, yeah, I know I can still learn

stuff. I could still learn crafts. I could still

do this. I could still do that. I could still

learn new skills and everything else. But I'm

more focused now on the skills that I've gotten

in the last 15 years of podcasting than I am

on doing anything else in the world because the

person that Was supposed to spend the rest of

my life with is no longer here. It's been two

years this November and I just don't So that's

the interesting thing for me looking at the adults

versus the kid in this second issue where they're

just all kind of sitting around Yeah, the kid

is up and moving and doing and wanting to and

that's good because he's a kid He still needs

to learn he still needs to get life lessons.

I'm not saying as an adult I'm not gonna still

learn things or whatever else I just choose not

to right now. That's a that's a good catch, Mike.

Like and part of it is I get the sense from the

storytelling that kids are unfinished, have not

settled into a certain class yet. Right. Whereas

all of the adults have settled in, have become

a class. And so they have, you know, a defined

purpose. Like you're saying, you know, my Purpose

right now is to be a podcaster So, you know super

simplify things you have settled into the podcaster

class and you're like I'm gonna be a great podcaster

Whereas, you know The kid would be more someone

who hasn't figured out who they are yet. Yeah

and so just kind of still that sort of Pinballing

around between different ideas and It's interesting

to see that contrast. Good catch with the adult

versus kids thing. Yeah, because I mean, you

know, you see the one big panel in this before

the two pages that end the issue. You see the

Wraith and the kid sitting there and then the

kid is up and around, but you just see the Wraith

sitting there and he's got his... Shoulders slumped.

He's got his legs kind of whatever and the kid

is kind of sitting there, too But the kid is

like hmm. I wonder what can I do? to further

myself Versus yeah, that's interesting. I interpreted

it completely differently. I'm cuz I interpreted

as I Mean, I'm not saying you're not valid. I'm

just saying yeah. Yeah, I interpreted as he runs

around He's like yay. I got better and then he

just sees that the Wraith is not responding and

is just feeling sad. So this is him learning

emotional intelligence of, you know what? Okay,

now I'm just going to sit and be with you as

you grieve. Yeah. And I, and I agree with you.

I'm, yeah, yeah, no, yeah, but that's still self

-improvement on his part. Yeah, exactly. We get

to issue three and your favorite cover. Yeah.

Wonder when he did this As far as like in the

story when the kid did that drawing cuz that's

I found that I found that out Oh, did you because

and here was what was trippy the kid our kid

didn't do that art And now I'm gonna have to

flip around and do stuff. There's um, uh Maybe

when we get there, I'll remember but there's

a whole bunch. Oh, yeah, okay That is a drawing

of the artisan Wraith done by He's got like a

kindergarten on his planet now. Yeah, and Because

he you know is part our Wraith He loves them

and so they're constantly there's this one panel

kind of right in the middle of the issue where

there's a bunch of little kids and they're literally

crawling all over the artisan Wraith and they're

all showing him pictures they've drawn And one

of the pictures is the one that's on the cover.

Oh, right. That is so cool. Yeah, I just found

that page. That's wow. That is cool. Yeah. I

mean, it's just one of those things where, you

know, you see a compa cover and you know the

care you think, you know, the characters that

have been there before. And you think, oh, the

kid drew that and it's somebody else's hand touching

the. Yeah. So issue three. um Can I just like

vent really fast about why I cover so much sure?

Because we know I love bad guys, right? but and

you know bad guys with hearts inside but this

is such a powerful image because it's exactly

like if you saw a little adorable kid drawing

with hearts all over it of like the Joker or

Like just any sort of villain that we know as

horrible unpredictable, selfish, and bad. And

yet the kids are, you know, we assume it's our

kid, because he does know that the Wraith is

great. But the fact that the kids are able to

see that this character is not just evil chaos.

Yeah. And so yeah, anyway, I love this cover.

Yeah. Anyway, sorry, as you were. No, I mean,

no, you're right. I mean, absolutely. You know,

you put any kind of character in there that,

that, yeah, absolutely. It's all about that hero

worship or that villain worship, whichever you

choose to do. It's just a startling image. And

then the resolve and the, what's the, the lurk,

they, they get a message from their bosses. Wait.

No, I think it's them trying to Yeah, they're

they're sending out a message. Yeah Yeah, that's

what it is. Yeah, cuz they figure out a way they

do some you know quick hot wiring of the the

satellites broadcast system and transmit to The

Wraith Legion. Yep, and they're talking to Legion

envoy and Legion Viscount Which, you know, one

of the things I appreciated about Livio's commentary

tracks that he did that was the most helpful

to me was the way he really brought out these

two's different personalities and focuses because

that hadn't come through to me in the comic.

And so, you know, Maybe that's a weakness. Maybe

that's a weakness in me of not just picking up

on subtleties But I really appreciated hearing

Livio's take on on these guys and how Like I've

and I cannot keep straight but one of them isn't

sure I think it's Round and one of them were

sky. Yeah, so Legion envoy top military enforcer

among an army of military enforcers commander

of their ground forces So that's envoy and then

this count what passes for diplomacy and communication

to outside parties deemed worthy to Deemed worthy

commander of their sky forces. So envoy is the

ground this count is the sky Yeah, so basically

it's like if I'm trying to think. Starscream

is, you know, the king of the Seekers, and...

Yeah. Or just, like, I think of them as generals.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, God. What? Oh, God. One

of them is Strika, and the other is Obsidian.

Yep. True. Back it out. There you go. The Wraith

Legion. Oh, boy. It wouldn't be a full -back

episode without Transformers references, folks.

Yep. And gender -bending. I love this a lot.

Okay. Well, we don't know. We don't know what,

like, I don't think it is said what their genders

are. I don't think they even say it to, like,

I don't think that you, I don't think Livio writes

in, like, which, like, Vista Envoy. I don't...

I don't know. All is I know is, is that the resolve

is a female and the lurk is a, is a male. I think

I could be wrong about that. I'm pretty sure

they use pronouns. Yeah. And that's fine. Fine.

I've always wanted to know if they're, you know,

we always have pronouns. Are there negative nouns?

Oh my gosh, Mike, you're kicked off the podcast.

It's my podcast. So they have a conversation

with these these Wreath people We will attempt

to argue this matter on your behalf because they're

wanting to have an audience or they're wanting

to Because they want to be able to find the artisan

Wraith. I Think that's what that was all about

Let's okay. Hang on. I'm trying to remember is

a another Star Wars reference this resolve class.

That's super powerful kneeling to the race Projections

very very much like Darth Vader kneeling to the

Emperor Let's okay. So this is the resolve saying

hey, I found the artisan race and Basically because

she brought in a team to destroy him and they

got destroyed. She's now saying okay Wraiths,

you need to take care of your dude, right? Yeah,

that's what it is. Yeah and Seeing if there's

anything interesting I'd say the appearance of

the artist and Wraith is is interesting How so

what what do you mean well, I mean they're So

we go from Where they were The lurk says they're

gonna release us from service soon That's what

I'm gonna build my farm and then she and I are

finally gonna Be away from all you mucks just

a few more jobs and then we get to live free

Yeah, and you and you believed them blah blah

blah So it's the next page where she or he says

your protector comes to visit and it's this big

looming Image of the artisan ring Reminds me

of Was it revenge of the fallen man, whichever

movie Megatron had the Dark of the moon. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, it was dark of the moon. That's right

So, yeah Yeah, that is one area where I felt

actually like the writing was a little heavy

-handed, where Livio makes sure you understand

that the the artisan Wraith is wearing a cape,

which is a kiddish thing to do. He drinks now,

which is the influence of the labor class. And

he so just, you know, showing that these these

souls within him are influencing him. And I'm

like, I get it, Livio, I can tell. But. I feel

like we should not totally skip over this scene

where the resolve runs into the axial and she

has the capacity for sarcasm, which is really

funny because there's this happy little labor

class guy who's like, hey, friends, you know,

welcome to this great utopia we have and introduces

the resolve to the axial and resolve just like,

oh, my gosh, hands to mouth, like wonderful new

friends. and then just absolutely just throws

the axially at the wall because she's like you

created the kill lock and the resolve is another

survivor of the kill lock by doing exactly what

the artisan Wraith has done by taking her three

counterparts little sparks for lack of a better

word I know there's a different word but I can't

think of it and putting them into herself It

was really painful process that you see at the

beginning of issue one and she's just like I

am NOT a fan of the kill lock at all and Yeah,

it's interesting to because doesn't at the end

Doesn't our race Tell the axial you know what

actually this was a good system this kill lock

thing So what yeah, so He says I haven't set

off fireworks for the town in a while so they

might enjoy the show and She asks him is the

kid all right? And he says to her and so the

Axial's heart shows up to the conversation. Did

you ever even see? so Scoria and so they have

that conversation and I You know and then the

resolve says a kid period not a question mark

a statement So the resolve says a kid and then

she and the axial have a conversation Yeah, which

is really nice So because so the conversation

I feel like I have to read this because it's

just it's just so good So the resolve says a

kid the forgers didn't tell you of course they

didn't The resolve class do their homework, but

the forgers provide only the material they want

you to study. The artisan has a young, unfinished

in there. The drunk is a labor class. I love

the lurk. I didn't sign up to kill no drunk.

Yeah, that is really good. Good catch on the

the forgers provide only the material they want

you to study when you do your homework. I really

hadn't Caught the full impact of that Phrase

before yeah, like yeah, no, I know I know you

do your research but you basically have the the

Great firewall around what you can what you can

Google There's a limit to what they let you find

out That you target and the resolve asks Why

did you come here the group the artisan was linked

to the Wraith the laborer the kid they came to

me for escape I sent them into a horror when

I learned They had a kid with them. I did everything

I could to help to save the kid But in doing

so I gave the artisan all he needed to take that

body So really it's all the actuals fault Well,

the actual is a character a character that seems

to Take on that sense of fault, right? Because

she's already kind of left society after feeling

like Yeah, kill lock invention has not been what

she had hoped and now She feels like because

the next panel she's like I I let for years I

let logic blind me from compassion and the lap

this last time I let compassion blind blind me

from logic and so she's feeling now responsible

for what happened to the group that she sent

to the horrible, everybody comes here, dies planet.

You know what I just realized based on this page?

I've met so many who wore the mark that I helped

to make. The cover, it's her hand. It's the Axial's

hand on the child's drawing. Because if you look

at this page... Yeah, good catch. Yeah. Wow.

Nice. That's, yeah, that's good. That is cool.

Well, she's also dealing with the fact, like,

so we know that the artisan slash artisan wraith

is really good at getting in people's weak spots.

Yep. And so back previous page, when the Axel's

like, is the kid all right? He responds basically,

Oh yeah, you know that horror planet you sent

us to? The kid is the only one that saw the mass

grave. Have him here. He's safe Just really sticking

the knife into her like yeah You sent a kid to

this horrible planet and he had the worst experience

of seeing the mass grave And we get we get back

inside the the the Wraith's body with all the

characters and the drunk is apparently skipping

stones Mm -hmm. Trying to get the attention of...

And the artisan's like, will you knock that the

fuck off? Oh, sorry, is that distracting? Our

kill lock is frozen while we're in this body.

All I need to do is pull out your processor and

drop it in my drink. That's a lie. Yeah, I'm

like, I don't think that's real. Again, I wasn't

so at the start of this series, I was not sure

because we were being introduced to the new the

the resolve and the lurk. I wasn't sure how the

previous characters were going to come into the

story and how they've come into the story and

now Livio has. Has given them to us with this

kind of like mental insight of these personalities

in this body It's really cool. Yeah and I get

so sad because the the labor class becomes a

Character that I really really love because I

identify with his way of going through the world

of I'm gonna form emotional connections with

people and Get what I need that way. Yep. And

so where he ends up at the end I only hope that

he's doing it To be in a position where he can

still help and not that he's just doing it too

because he feels like hey This person will give

me free drinks. Yeah, don't know And then everything

goes red And we meet the Zenith. With a dead

person's arm stuck to him? Yeah. Oh my god. Oh

wait, no, that's not the Zenith. That's the,

um, Viscount. Oh, that, yeah, that's right. Ground

Forces dude, right? Yep, yep, yep. Yeah, yeah,

yeah, it's the Viscount. So that's why he's got

gut time. No, yeah, cause, so we meet the Zenith

basically holding up the Iron Giants. Like limbs

chopped off body with one hand just being like

hey big giant dead guy I'm just kind of waiting

for you to die Doing you this honor of holding

you up while you die Man it's yeah, it's a really

dark image it is and the way this ends. Oh my

god the way it's not funny but he says browse

the legion from this world of ash we leave now

and it's all these legion ships with basically

the wraith face as the as the windows for the

that's a cool image well that one of the coolest

just ideas design ideas is that you get the sense

that everything Wraith is run and powered by

this sort of Sunfire within them. Yep. And so

it's almost like Those aren't windows. Those

are slits into the like nuclear power source

that runs the ships and I mean, they also feel

like windows other I'm like, I don't know how

you guys see out of these rocks these big floating

stalactites, but But yeah, this is just a cool

idea of a You know for lack of a better word

robot character Yeah, but I really get the sense

that they are armor over like lava Oh, absolutely

there same thing with the Wraith body. It's it's

armor over lava with with the Wraith face and

the fact that depending on which person at like

again like we mentioned when the artisan took

Back in episode 490 of the show when we did the

first one when the artisan took over the body

the Wraith's face went from the fire orange and

red to purple because apparently the artisan

likes purple which is fine with me because Really

feels like being polluted by Dark Energon Pretty

much. Yeah Well, should we go to issue four?

yes ma 'am let's do it uh so we start with then

so this is in the past show yourself you think

i'd visit this shitty lake if i didn't have to

i know you've been watching me show yourself

and uh when i'm not on assignment when i'm not

on assignment that is You've been trying to kill

me. I've been told to kill you. There's no trying

to kill when your resolve class. Yeah So this

is the the lurk and the resolve and kind of like

their first it's showing us Their first meeting

I think or one of their first meetings I know

I'm pretty sure it's their first time they talk

to each other because It's the resolve saying

I can tell that a cloaker is hunting me And the

Cloaker's like, yeah, I was told to kill you,

because the Forgers found out that you survived

the Kill Lock, and they can't ignore that. And

the resolve, instead of saying, and this is before

she's resolve class, this is just when she is

a Kill Lock survivor of I don't know class, she's

like, I want to become a resolve class like you.

Will you train me? So she's basically asking,

the hit man hired to kill her to take her on

as an apprentice. That's awesome. And I think

that's why he instantly just likes her. He's

like, okay, you're fun. Yep. And then we get

to now. So we get to the present. Do these lines

look crooked? So they're drawing he's drawing

something And it apparently is the symbol of

the raciest Yeah, I remember it from the last

series. There would be people who had There's

like that grandma character on the planet. That's

been just you know, destroyed by the Wraith Legion

She has drawn a Ray theist symbol on her door,

right? And so it feels like sort of that Resistance

Graffiti that you'll see in war zones of you

know down with the Nazis or whatever, but it

feels like we dare to Have a sign that says we

are against the Wraith Legion. I mean, obviously

we find out that's not what it is at all, but

that's what it feels like. And so it feels like

the Lurk is drawing this because they know that

the Wraith Legion is on their way to come to

this planet. And they're like, well, about to

die. Might as well get this out of our system.

Yeah, absolutely. It even says that neither of

them really understand what that means Yeah,

and and that's that's good that that Livio has

the characters point them out like we're just

drawing this on ourselves for protection At least

we think it's for protection. Yeah, and then

they find out later what it actually is. It's

like oh shit Yeah, I know But I just now caught

this this is interesting. So the lurk has drawn

a Raytheus symbol on his left chest It's like,

here, I'll draw one on you. And the resolve is

like, heck no. I'm done with having marks on

me. Thank you very much. Yeah. Because that's

going to do some serious Kill Lock PTSD. Oh,

once you have the Kill Lock on you, you don't

want any other tattoos. The Kill Lock is everyone's

last tattoo. Yeah. We probably shouldn't be laughing

at that, but it's kind of true. I love this philosophy

that the lurk has of, Oh, he's talking to the

axial. Yeah. And just kind of saying, yeah, you

know, the resolve does hate you. Um, the kill

lock was miserable and she basically, you know,

had some meltdown when she was deactivating it.

And I love what he says. Yeah, she's got a right

to hate you. But you know, I've done a lot of

terrible stuff. Lots of people have. You just

got to make sure your terrible stuff isn't the

most terrible stuff being done. What profound

logic. But that's such a good insight into his

character. Like you get another sense that he's

another, you know, character who's done bad things,

but still has a heart and is still trying to

be the most the goodest person that he can be.

Yeah. and has had to shut down a lot of morality

because he's just had to do a lot of killing.

And he's like, OK, so my my my anchor is I'm

not being the worst person in the world. Like,

OK, bro. Well, I mean, like we all have things

in our lives that. Everybody makes mistakes the

path that they are on as even though she doesn't

like the word as assassins. Yeah, that's that's

wrong Absolutely, it is wrong and no one should

be assassinating anyone but at the same time

you have a character like the Wraith who basically

Comes to a planet stomps his foot and just he's

a planet killer. He's a you know, he's you know

It's he's the he's the friggin Death Star in

robot form. Yeah, you know kind of thing so there

my point is that Just because sometimes I may

have an opinion that nobody agrees with or just

because I may have made a mistake in my life

Most of the time except in some of these instances

because they are killers Some mistakes you can

come back from some mistakes. You can't come

back from But there's always gonna be something

worse Yeah, there's always gonna be something

better in the future at some point or another

at least we hope there is you know, but I mean,

I don't know it's it's a tough Tough balance

beam. Yeah to be on especially in this world

where you have all of these different like Between

the forgers and the and the race and the this

like it's crazy yes, it's a fun world to be exploring

and reading and Getting this cool cool story.

This is what I wish Certain company any come

insert whatever you want has bro whatever Marvel

whatever like come up with a new, this is why

I wish certain TV networks would invent new stuff

like this. I would love to see this as an animated

series. The previous volume and this, this would

be, but you would have to keep Livio's style

of, but it would be so cool to see this in animation.

Yeah, but that's never gonna happen and new and

yeah exactly Yeah, like this is why I like comics

the most that I can come to sir. Yes. We have

the Transformers comics. Yes, we have the Whatever

we have the Batman's we have the the GI Joe the

whatever the whatever whatever whatever we have

all the stuff in comics, but we also have comics

that create new stories and TV shows and movies

don't really rely on a Lot of them don't rely

on new stories. A lot of them rely on the pre

-existing last while unfortunately, yeah Yeah,

so we get To protector they are here The right

the artist and wreath just kind of looks back

Nice to finally meet you. I know you can hear

me. I trust your trip was boom Yeah Damn Yeah,

I mean, you know What were we expecting? Although

it is a cool image and I I truly had not noticed

this so it's nice that Livio brought it up The

little shields that go up over the little city

areas. Yep. That's cool. Yeah, that is very cool.

It's like, he's not just letting all of his guys

die. Yeah, yeah. And again, the change in color

where characters are, where the shield part is,

where the shields go up, it's all like green

and stuff. Yeah. I love that there's this guy

who's just named Orange Guy. The little sort

of, what would you call it? Like IT dude who's

wearing shields. He comes up to the artist in

Wraith and he's like, hey, you know, just say

no, the shields are holding, protect her. And

the artist in Wraith is like, orange guy, I know

you're trying to help. I'm like, on the one hand,

that's such an artist in the thing. You know

have an agenda But not really know people as

individuals because he doesn't really care. They're

tools exactly They're tools in his tool shed.

He's very Tony Stark in that way. Yeah, I Love

where he says were you able to get some sleep?

I worry about you. Sometimes I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I just saw the overnight They use the smoke they

knew how to use the smoke They meant to bomb

too much and use the smoke to overload the sensors.

Oh boy. Yeah, you know what though that Undoes

what I just said about he doesn't really care

about people He does he's like hey were you able

to get some sleep I worry about you and then

also he does say orange guy. I know you're trying

to help and I appreciate it. So maybe it's Once

again the influence of the other characters in

his soul They does actually care about people.

He just can't be bothered to remember their names.

Yeah, exactly that his name is not orange guy

It is now it is now But yeah, so just the report

that the Wraith Legion has managed to land and

tunnel through and get into some of the shielded

areas and They're about to Come where oh man,

they're just ripping through a bunch of poor

little guys. It's like, you know, it's like Megatron

always used to say, cannon fodder. Oh boy. And

they're ripping through a lot of them. Wow. Yeah.

But then it's, it's, it's a good, it's a good,

just very artisan way of delivering this next

bit. He's like, Hey orange guy in the fictional

future I'm imagining for you if you can try to

stockpile two great inventions So they've just

had their cities tunneled into and everybody's

getting eviscerated and he says now tell the

labor class to bring the gravity plexus online

target the ships and pull them to the ground

and So he's basically saying yeah But now I'm

gonna make my other my next move and take out

all their ships Yeah, that's gonna Changed the

tide of the battle again just when it looked

like they were about to absolutely get creamed

He's like yeah, okay, and I take down all your

ships Okay, yeah, so he's like they're not gonna

bomb where I am because they don't want to hurt

the race body right, but he's trying to talk

to the Legion envoy and the Legion Viscount yeah,

so that they can tell the the zenith to chill

because he's like you and and he uses the emotional

blackmail of you know you guys are going to be

marooned here on a dead world while the galaxy

continues to spin out of control as innocents

continue to die so he's basically like you guys

let's talk i can pull all of your ships to the

ground and then you'll be stuck here it's cool

it's cool to just watch him be that was that

was one of the things that That was so real about

the artisan is that he just is this scrawny little

guy but with terrifying power and understanding

of the world and this is basically another instance

of The artisan understanding how things work

and being able to just destroy them. Yeah So

anyway cool stuff absolutely it is and we get

him and the Viscount and the other guys talking

and And we even see the the resolve here, too

Yeah, I know I was like wait, we better not skip

this. It's just the like no It's like Armageddon,

right? Yeah, pretty much all around the fact

that these two characters that we know are incredibly

powerful are just kind of huddled next to a wall

holding each other and saying, you know That

thing that you say when you know, you're gonna

die like yeah, we'll be home soon. You can sleep

in your chair and The the axial kind of catching

them and being like, oh man, like I'm having

feelings but that's just a very good quick way

to show that This is Armageddon level serious.

Yep Absolutely And what I love is the issue kind

of ends on the inside of the artisan wraith where,

as all this Armageddon is going on the outside,

where they say, the Legion will accompany you

to the home world. The Legion will kill the forgers.

And we go inside the artisan wraith and we see

Oh, yeah. The Wraith that's in there say no.

No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, just like stand up

and just... Yep. Yeah. So even though our characters

from the last one, the artisan, the kid, the

laborer, even though they took over the Wraith

body, the Wraith personality is still in the

body. He's just not in the driver's seat when

the artisan is. Yeah. Yeah. He's he's sort of

abdicated for a little while now you see him

kind of being like poked enough you have to to

take in and an action that the storytelling here

is so Interesting because it keeps up ending

what you think is gonna happen, right? Like you

think he's just kind of trying to take out the

Wraith Legion or something But no, he's like,

hey my bargaining chip is I'll give you I'll

give you back your wraith. Yeah, and But then

I need you to do for me He basically says I want

you to kill the forgers They were your allies,

but then they started asking you to kill children

Yeah, which he knows because he's got you know,

the raise him. Yeah and Just the the manipulation

of your brother wants to come back to you. He

whispers to me. Yep, and he manages to get them

to agree to take out the forgers in return for

getting the Wraith back, you know, without, and

to have him be, you know, uncontaminated or undesecrated

again. But the fact that you know, you see this

and it seems like, yeah, this would be great.

You know, we don't really like the forgers. They

do, you know, they give people a kill lock and

they seem to be just this really hyper, um, controlling

fascist, like guys who just tell the armies where

to go and, um, not good people. And so to have

the race, our race, Have his response to be like

no, you're like wait what? There's a lot of wait

what? Yeah Storytelling it's great. All right.

I'm opening up issue five Yeah, it has the two

it has the Viscount in the in the in the envoy

On there and that's kind of where we start we

start with them And it's so funny because I say

Viscount because Livio says Viscount, but I always

was saying Viscount. And so now I'm doing that

thing of like, uh, after this, I'm going to Google

how to pronounce this word because I thought

I was right. I got, this is a total side story,

but I got in an argument with my youngest who's

14 because I said Fungi and he was just like,

wait, what? He's like, no, it's fungi. And I'm

like, I'm pretty sure that there are a ton of

valid pronunciations for that word. And so I

go on like a dictionary delve and I'm like, see,

you can say fungi, you can say fungi, you can

say fungi, you can say fungi. And they're like,

this is all the etymological origins for all

these different pronunciations and they're all

valid. And I'm like, yeah, see, I can do what

I want. It's just really funny to get in arguments

over semantics. Okay. Uh, Legion. They're about

to do cool stuff. Mm -hmm. Wong has he demonstrated

great care for his army. He saw in me value,

though I am a rare weak of our kind. That's interesting.

It's so... He's so good at having somebody say

like a few words And have it be like oh, I'm

having feelings. Yep, cuz this is this guy This

is the and I truly can't keep them straight.

I don't know why It's one of the he's the sky

dude, but I can't remember what is that's miscount.

That's thank you And it's he says he's weak and

I'm like, why are you weak? You're a huge dude,

but then I realized he does have the smallest

amount of sort of face light piping. Yeah. And

I'm like, okay, maybe he doesn't have quite as

strong of a sun inside his tummy or something.

And the envoy says, nothing of you is weak save

for your last utterance. Yeah. And I'm like,

oh, dear bros. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well, that's what

I'm a slave to. Big, strong, tough guys being

like, oh, so I have feelings. When they look

to their zenith bring to me your true voices,

oh yeah, I love that That moment too of the zenith

being like hey, I can see that you guys are are

concerned I need you to talk to me. Tell me the

truth. Yeah and That makes you trust the zenith

more that he is not just a dictator, but that

he is close with his generals and values their

advice. Yep. And they are concerned about the

directions that he's taking. Oh, yeah, they are.

Yeah. Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. So we got that.

You know, you're watching these members of the

Wraith Legion talk, and the way they talk in

this elevated, you know, sort of medieval font,

and then having someone in the same font show

and be like, yeah, seriously, I mean, look at

this crap that's been happening to your Wraith,

dude. Like, ah, that's so, it's, having... Having

the artisan walk around in a wraith body, it

really is like someone just going around pooping

in a church. Pretty much, yeah. Yeah, it's so

good. Yeah. I deserve a medal for even being

able to tell you guys apart. Cease all banality.

Yeah, exactly. Oh boy, good old artisan. The

legion arrives at the homeworld. Dun dun dun.

Space, a bunch of bullshit if you ask me. This

is another bit where the storytelling is a little

bit clunky to me. Where it's basically people

just lampshading stuff. So it's the the lurk

being like And the resolve saying that you know,

we haven't been to the home world in so long

we don't necessarily even Or at least the lurk

may not even remember what it looks like and

then the fact that he says why did they even

bring us on board and The resolve guesses that

it's because they know we aren't aligned with

the artisan race and then another thing is lampshaded

where the um the lurk is like hey why are these

bodies here and it's all it's the artisan's body

the kid's body and the laborer's body just kind

of lying there on these rocks in this cave ship

thing and then the um you see the the axial kind

of looking over them And so it's basically saying,

yes, I put all of these characters into one room.

They are going to remark upon it. This is the

reasoning they're going to give. It's kind of

weak because they don't really understand what's

going on. But it felt very it just felt a little

bit clunky there. I don't know how you would

do it better because you've got to tell this

story quickly. But I was just like, okay, I am

now aware that all of these chess pieces, that's

what it is. It feels like saying this is where

these chess pieces are. Instead of kind of an

organic, and they all happen to wander here,

but we know that they are chess pieces in the

artisan's game, so. Oh yeah they are. The artisan

is the ultimate chess master in this. in this

universe. But there's just, oh, the Axial is

looking out and seeing just a bunch of dead kids

on the ground. There's also a bunch of dead artisans.

Yep. And it's interesting that they're so, um,

crud, what's the word? What's the word for when

there's colored only drinking fountains? But

like, they're segregated, there we go, they're

all segregated. Holy cow, I'm struggling. I'm

like, hold on. How did we go here? So, but there's

just a pile of only dead artisans and a pile

of only dead kids. Yeah, because the foragers

- It's another sign of how this is just kind

of a messed up society where it's like, you're

this cast, you stay with these people. Yeah,

I mean, it's very similar to how - So, the Foragers

are the overlords. They decide who's what class

or who's whatever class, blah, blah, blah, like,

you're this, you're that, blah, blah, blah. It's

very similar to IGW Cybertron. Yeah. Where you

have certain class. I remember there were...

Oh God, what is it? There used to be a class

system on Cybertron. I think it was under it

was under Nova Pro. I don't know. Yeah Yeah,

again, that's what it is. It's a class system

So of course, you're not gonna put the artists

and dead bodies with the kid dead bodies because

they want to make sure that you know Look, these

are different classes of these People oh interesting

I hadn't even thought of it that way. I just

I thought I assumed it was that The only people

in this area of explosion were artisans and the

only people in this area of explosion were kids

Maybe it's that I don't know but yeah, I don't

know. Let's be like Livio. What did you mean?

Yeah the I For some reason even though it's a

huge splash page Because we have been surrounded

by just explosions and horribleness this whole

time It doesn't land for me as a big surprise

when they come to the home world and it's just

completely destroyed It it was just like well,

I mean race, of course It's a destroyed place

and it didn't it didn't really hit for me Until

like way later my oh They got to the homeworld

and it was already everybody was already dead

and they were surprised. Okay. Yeah, I don't

know why that didn't Well because again you're

you're expecting the homeworld you're expecting

the forgers to have this Utopian society, even

though they split up all the people into class

systems. Yeah, you know you're expecting this

to be you know And then they bring in the artists

and the Wraith Triumvirate. Oh great. Oh boy.

I think the resolve and the axial are my two

favorite characters in this. That's interesting.

It's hard for me to choose because I end up liking

all of them. Well, yes, but like just where the

resolve started out to where she ends up versus...

Also, where the Axial started out in the previous

series and where she is now. Yeah. There's a

lot, there's a lot, Livio is good at characterization

in a few words and images. Absolutely, he is.

Yeah. Alright, I'm going forward to where it's

basically the the lurk and the Axial kind of

wandering around trying to figure out what the

heck happened. Yep. and finding the advanced

weapon design, artisan entry only, and the resolve's

like, oh hey, Christmas, I'm gonna go grab me

some guns. Yep. Absolutely. And yeah, so they

go grab the guns, and let's see here, where are

we? Well then it's the artisan race talking to

the Axial. talking to her as an equal like no

hey we are science we're engineers we're scientists

and basically like so he's basically saying axial

I'm gonna have you put everyone's chip back into

their body yeah and saying yeah I know the kill

locks gonna reactivate I'm counting on it a little

insurance policy to make sure you don't get sloppy

during surgery and accidentally drop my chip

into the trash can. Interesting use of your little

horror creation, right? As a way of ensuring

life? Yeah. Exactly. And he's even trying to

get her on his side, like I'm trying to make

a better world that's fairer. and just trying

to recruit the Axial, which is gutsy. But that's

just how he thinks. He's like, if people are

tools, how can I use them? Yep, pretty much.

And then as this issue kind of comes to a close,

the artisan gets his eye blown out. Oh, man.

Yeah, that was creepy. Well, yeah. So A, we see

again the the discount an envoy, um, talking

via hologram, but they're still uneasy, like

trying to figure out what's going on. And they,

they're like, it's, it's going to be us, even

if we have to go against the, the Legion on board

or the head guy. And then you see all of the

race hugging their dude and he's back. And yeah,

like you said, the, oh wait, what's happening

here? Oh Yeah, the lurk having to cloak again

and the resolve being like and you need to stop

doing that it's bad for you Yeah, and the forgers

have disappeared. I'm just like Trying to help

people remember what's going on is because it's

it's hard to listen to a podcast when you can't

follow What's happening in the story? Yeah, people

are talking about something. Okay, but yeah,

the end is the fact that The Wraith fire is so

Powerful that it burns out the artisan's eye

and yep To go from at the beginning of this issue

in this story having him be this Incredibly powerful

character in a Wraith body to choosing to give

that body back be back in his little scrawny

body, and then he loses his eye, which is the

source of all his power. It's like, wait, what?

And then they basically see the symbol of Unicron

on their world. Pretty much, yeah. And just being

told that the Wraithiest symbol is a face as

a final page is incredibly cool. Just it has

never been a symbol. It is a face. That's cool.

I'm getting the next issue This was one where

I truly was I really struggled with this issue.

How did you feel about it? This issue I'm looking

back on it and I'm thinking How are we gonna?

Get our two main characters that we started with

this second series. How are we going to get them

to an end that is satisfactory for their story?

What I find is that you have not necessarily

the introduction of the Axial, because we got

introduced to her in the last series, but the

introduction to the Axial to these two new characters,

and then you have all the Wraith stuff. the artisan

stuff, you have all that. It's a lot in issue

five. It's really, it's almost like it's a double

comic because you have so much story. So much

is going on. I actually, um, I didn't struggle

so much with issue five. I struggled with issue

six. Issue six. Okay. Yeah. Um, I mean, yeah,

no, you're right. It's a lot. It's a lot in every

single issue, but what the the Huge shift from

the the world that we we've been used to to all

of a sudden we see basically this creepy red

Ray theist guy and get to know it it It up ends

our entire understanding of the universe Yeah,

and so we're I just felt Like the rug was pulled

out from under me and I felt like I never quite

got my bearings again This is this is like my

first time through right? This is my experience

of my first time through you know And then it

was helpful to have Livio's commentary and then

to read the whole thing in one go and to get

kind of a sense of it but I still feel like at

the end of this series I feel confused and upended

because it's very like Empire Strikes Back where

everybody's kind of going off in different directions

at the end and and everything that we thought

we managed is just kind of falling apart and

and I felt I felt really dissatisfied and confused

and like I was missing something so just in case

there's anybody else who had that same experience,

definitely go listen to Livio's commentary and

get a sense of what he's working towards. And

it was much more coherent to me the second time

through. Yeah, and I've read this two times and

I followed the story and I understood it and

all of that. I might have missed a few things

here or there, but When we get to issue six and

we're not going to go through that. We probably

won't go through this whole thing. Cause it's

basically a double issue. It pretty much is.

Yeah. But by the time in issue six, when you

have the, I don't know what page it would be

for you in the single issue, it's page 181 on

the trade for me. When basically when it, when

it kind of gets to like turning into like the

snow planet, the very top of the page is the

resolve and the artisan or the resolve and the

um um axial kind of hugging each other and then

it switches to kind of like the snowplow by that

time i was like oh wait what's going on here

and we see the artisan holy hell what the oh

god and we actually see more uh like the artisan

the the laborer And they come up against the

Wraithiest Yikes this guy We thought the Wraiths

were bad as again going back to what I was saying

earlier Yes, there is bad shit in the world then

people do bad things, but there's always some

like You and I can agree that Megatron and Galvatron

are the same guy right yes, okay Megatron turns

into Galvatron Megatron was bad Galvatron was

much worse than Megatron because He didn't wait

for another season to take all the Starscreams

bullshit you die And then by the end of the movie

you have this giant planet transforming into

a giant so Galvatron was bad Unicron is worse

same thing here. Yeah, the race same. Yeah, the

race Society and all of the wreaths that's bad

The Wraithiest guy is worse than all of that.

Yeah I did find it as a concept Really fascinating

once I realized that it was literal the the concept

that the Wraithiest is a force of corruption

in the universe Mm -hmm, and that the Wraiths

are trying to prevent him the Wraithiest doing

the cycle of let things evolve, then completely

corrupt and destroy them, wait for a while, let

a new civilization evolve, corrupt and destroy

it. I'm like, wow, it is Unicron. But it's an

interesting idea, something that just loves to

watch the world burn and is just endlessly patient.

Yeah, dang, the Raytheist is creepy, but almost

ludicrously creepy. Oh, yeah Yeah, yeah, he's

very much ludicrously He's pretty much ludicrous

speed at this point. Yeah, I wonder if I wonder

if in the next Series we're gonna find out that

a lot of these assumptions that we're making

are on are on incomplete though You know, I imagine

I don't know I mean this this one just absolutely

flips our understanding of this universe Upside

down backwards puts it in a bucket and shakes

it around for five minutes. Oh, yeah Especially

when the Raytheist is talking to the laborer

close to the end of the issue. And the Wraithiest

basically points at the kill lock on the laborer

and basically burns it off. And the laborer just

kind of smiles. The Wraithiest says, you're now

free of it. Free of them and everyone. For the

first time, make your own choices. What kind

of life you want. Come with me and you will never

thirst again. Yeah, and the artist and the artisan

says and me aren't you going to ask what I love?

He's just like, you know, please say the word

Yeah, exactly But again, it's It's about the

choices that we make in our lives. It's about

making decisions Yeah This is this is the part

I was mentioning at the beginning where I got

really mad at the labor class for Going off with

the Ray theist and I'm really hoping that he's

doing it To be in a position of knowledge and

power not because he's like cool free drinks

forever, but it could go either way And it is

Really poignant that the kid decided to stay

with the artisan is like you should stay too

and then the labor is just like I'm leaving and

Yeah It's a cool story. I think the time jump

at the very end Where you see sort of Jedi the

kid? Yeah It threw me a little bit just emotionally.

Yeah, so the last so this is interesting to me.

So the kid On the last few pages. So I'm starting

where The artisan says why did you stay with

me? Yeah, the kid is gray with a red kill lock

and green eyes and he says the Wraith told me

to trust the strong ones and you see the kid

kind of grimacing and then the artist and puts

his hand on him and then you see It just kind

of fades Fades away to nothing, but we jump to

this this area of and in the years since the

disease of the Ray theists Rule has now spread

from this world to all others The kid is I assume

this is a different. No, it's a different kid.

Yeah. Yeah, okay So so the green kid with the

blue eyes is a different kid. Yeah, and then

we see that our kid is now this adult where he

says don't let any of that bother you it's good

to have questions and enjoy being a kid while

you can because take it from me it doesn't last

forever yeah so yeah the time jump is a little

weird but I like it because we're not going to

be stuck with I'm not saying stuck to be negative,

but we're not gonna be stuck with a third volume

of further adventures of our kid that we started

with in the first volume. He's now grown up,

he or she, or however I forget. I know, he looks

a lot like the Axial and presents female. Yeah,

a little bit. I, you know, I don't know. Yeah,

I don't know either. I just don't know. So, I

mean... Presents either female or wizard. Ain't

no attention to that man behind the podcast.

Yeah. But yeah, and again, you know, we leave

off with this lesson of enjoy life while you

can. I think this is why it bothers me. Okay.

Because everyone departs like they're gonna go

do missions, right? Right. Yeah, or especially

the Wraith is like I'm gonna go do a mission

and I'm like wait. Where are you? Why are you

leaving? Yeah, and then So what what what makes

me feel frustrated is this? Time jump shows that

in the intervening time which I'm imagining is

you know years nothing has Changed and no one

has done anything against the Wraithiest's power?

Right. And I'm like, what were you guys doing

all this time? Because we've, you know, we've

spent the previous whole section of the series

watching huge stuff happen in very short time.

And so I have this sense that all of these characters

can move the universe if they put their mind

to it. Yeah, and so the fact that they It feels

like they just gave up and went into hiding and

I find that disappointing and anticlimactic and

that I think is The main reason why I really

struggled with the ending of this series Yeah,

it seems like they went into hiding but didn't

they face off with the forgers? Wasn't that was

a battle right? I'm not just no the forgers when

they get when they get to the homeworld It's

already been destroyed and what they learn is

that the forgers had been keeping the Raytheist

prisoner So the Raytheist broke out and destroyed

them all the Raytheist got out they either that

or they let the Raytheist out because he does

you know gradually corrupt minds, right and Yeah,

so homeworlds destroyed by him and He's now free

to you know, destroy this universe again Yeah,

and you know the all of the things that you know,

because we've seen the Wraith Legion as this

unstoppable destructive force and they're all

always saying yeah, we're here to purify and

you assume that they are just, you know, zealots

with this made -up creed. And then you learn

that, no, they're actually trying to prevent

this Raytheist character who is bent on corruption

and destruction of the universe. Yeah. They're

trying to prevent his influence from getting

out. And so they basically kill anyone who falls

under the influence of the Raytheist. which makes

the whole conversation with the Rathiest grandma

in the Whoa Wait a minute was she really corrupted

or is it just It messes with my brain, but I

forget where I was going with this but it's it's

this huge thing and No one has done anything

to stop unicorn for like, you know 20 years 40

years. Yeah It's okay, he's just ahead now No,

and this one he's a bat person flying around.

I know I know but I'm saying yeah. Oh Man, this

was this was good. Yeah, and the fact that it

says and at the bottom of the font I'm like,

okay. I know you have a third story in your head

Livio I know you want to continue this universe

and I'm just Waiting to see how you continue

it, but this was really interesting It was This

was really fun challenging. It's not a story

that just goes Dun -dun -dun -dun big fight dun

-dun -dun -dun big revelation dun -dun -dun -dun

bigger fight it like it didn't Have that kind

of predictable structure. Yeah. No, I mean, you

know, we always make Allusions to care, you know,

we're looking at this go. This is Optimus Prime

or like or this is this like but really though

like these characters are original they They

go through things that are more humanely really

like hello The fact that you know, they've lost

people or they've whatever it's like I've lost

people everyone in our lives we've all lost people

at some point or another or the fact of going

through a trauma of something and just It's so

good. I cannot recommend the first kill lock

volume and then this one enough to Everyone who

is listening to the sound of my voice that reads

comic books because this is so good. Nothing

is like this No. Nothing is like this visually,

nothing is like this story -wise. Yeah, no. Yeah.

It's really cool. Absolutely. All right. Well,

I think we're going to take a quick ad break.

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I can we are back here inside the pull bag with

ha he prime as we Come to the end of the kill

lock the artisan Wraith. So when's volume 3 Livio?

Yeah, he's like I'm my hand is cramping. Let

me draw Patient I need a drink It's crazy, but

this comic Wow this was great if So we always

talk about like How you would in like somebody

that's never read comics before how you would

introduce them to comic books and most people

will say like a Classic Batman story or a classic

Iron Man or spider -man or whatever. I'm like

no here read this Yeah, you I agree. I want to

come next year like superhero stories, but I

really connect to comics that approach things

from kind of a Messier or unexpected Direction.

Yeah, I mean I've told you that I got into comics

by reading issue one of the max and I was like

this is amazing. Yeah Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I

would recommend the first volume and this volume

to anyone Who wants to start reading comics?

I would tell them read this first and then I

would probably tell them to go read sex criminals

Yeah, just you know, there's such a May we are

lucky to live now there is an amazing variety

and quality of comics now Yeah Yeah, and and

this is like if I was making a If I was making

my personal top 100 list of comics this would

easily be in the top ten Yeah automatically in

the top ten both both this and the - Which is

saying a lot. Yeah, because it's so, again, we

always have these character tropes of, oh, this

is the drunk, or this is the this person, this

is the that, whatever. We live in a society where

the 80s kind of gave us all these tropes, because

they're really, I mean, there probably were tropes

before the 80s, but let's face it - Oh yeah,

there were. In the last 40 years. the tropes

in the character arts in the character this and

the character that they've kind of really generated

full blown from that decade and gone forward

over the past you know the 40 years that have

you know past but like it's just such good storytelling

and the art oh my as much as I would love to

see Livio do interiors on every single trans

because he does great transfer art, his own original

art for his original characters, his background

color. Oh, God. The man can do no wrong. I mean,

yes, there are a few hiccups in the story, like

you were saying. There are a few times where

you kind of felt like you lost it and whatever,

but it still brings you back. You still find

your way through the story, and it's just so

damn good. I mean, that's actually the reason

why I bring up times where I do struggle or fall

out of the story, because I feel like that's

important to not just say, this is the best thing

ever, but to just say, here's where I struggled,

if nothing else. So that just in case, since

you can be like, oh, OK, that's good to know.

But just, and so that also anybody who's reading

these with us. Cannot feel like a total idiot

if they're having the experience of reading a

comic and being like what I didn't understand

that because Everyone has that experience. Yeah

comics are not like reading a novel where If

you don't understand the meaning of a word you

go look it up and that's it This is you have

to be visually literate with like understanding

and parsing pictures and understanding and parsing

very limited verbal information so like just

inferring a lot from a little bit and because

it's harnessing our imagination so much that

is what makes these comic books so powerful is

because it is allowing our minds to fill in the

gaps rather than just spelling things out and

saying this is the parameters of the world, this

sentence right here. And I say that as a person

who loves to read, but like, this is, yeah, I

always say comics are what happens if you combine

all the strengths of writing and all the strengths

of movies and go, here you go. And also a little

bit of holodeck. Yeah, pretty much. There's so

much you can do in the comic book landscape.

You know, he's had two six -issue series. So

he's got we've got 12 issues to this universe

so far and That is a lot but he also uses it

to a point where it's overflowing of story and

art we're not in a bad way, but in a way where

it's like Okay, I have this amount of whatever

whereas in movies and TV shows you have like

movies. Okay generally, let's say, two hours

for a film. There's only so much you can fit

into two hours. But 12 issues of a comic that

is usually, let's say, 20, 24, 28 pages per comic,

you can fit a lot in there, especially reading

it in trade form. Single issues are great when

you want to read something immediately and learn

about it, but to actually enjoy the Fullness

of the story. That's my biggest thing. I want

to read it from the beginning to the end I don't

want to have to wait 30 days. I Really think

both formats are really valid I compare them

to do you want to binge the whole series or do

you want to watch it as it comes out every week?

binge and Different stories are better experienced

in different ways. There are some comic series

that should absolutely be binged. For instance,

I read the Unicron stuff that came out at the

end of the IDW thing, and I really wish that

I had just waited and gotten that in trade, because

I couldn't keep hold of the story when there

was month in between each issue. A lot of times,

though, I really enjoy experiencing things in

issue at a time. I think that's actually part

of sorry, really quick side thing. I think that's

part of why I struggled with issue six in this

because they for a long time were saying there

are seven issues to this series. Yes. And what

happened was they combined the last two into

issue six. And so I got to the end and went,

OK, now what's going to happen? And waited and

waited and waited and waited. And I'm like, oh,

crowd, I think that was the end. Wait, what?

Yeah. I like that he was able to make issue 6

a double issue because, I don't know, if you

get 8 issues, let's say you have a mini -series

where it's anywhere from 5 to 6 issues, sometimes

it's 7, sometimes it's 8, sometimes it's 10.

I don't know what it is about me and my brain.

I would rather have a series end on an even number

of issues, not an odd number. just weirds me

out when things end on odd numbers. But again,

so much story in issue six, and it just went

so well. And I don't know where he's going to

take this universe now. I will subscribe. Absolutely.

Yeah, most definitely. All right. Zero to five.

What are you going to give the artisan race?

Five. Yep. Same here. As much as certain things,

like you were saying, certain things in the story,

I still overall enjoyed the story, I enjoyed

the characters and the art just blows anything,

any other negativity stuff out of, it just destroys

it because the art is so good. I still can understand

people who find his art illegible. Because it

is it is a little bit more difficult back to

you know reading images It can be difficult to

parse Yeah, but it's it's a fun journey to go

through once you get literate in it I had a thing.

I was gonna say a thing. Well, that's not been

that important Okay, a thing Livio should be

proud of that in this sequel He's taken, you

know, what was a very very good Well -founded

story like well just like grounded the kill lock

is really solid and he takes it and he doesn't

so he manages to do the sequel thing where you

just Absolutely expand the crap out of the you

know formative story I mean he like I was saying

he just like takes the entire universe expands

it out massively and then shakes it around and

Yet it still feels under control Thought out

planned you never feel like it is just absolutely

spinning out You know just kind of flying everywhere.

Yeah, so that is a really really good accomplishment

on Livio's part Most most definitely All right

folks coming up so we are at by the time this

releases we are the second week the end of july

end of june uh coming up we've got radiant black

volume two team up with joe reed and myself and

then in july in july uh steve megatron and i

are going to do more star trek stuff there's

radiant black volume three and then we will most

likely be doing autobotly august with tf classics

us volumes five six and seven Oh God, Marvel

Transformers, ugh. But it is what it is. So that's

what's coming up. Thank you for joining us inside

the pull bag. If you'd like to get in contact

with us, we'll leave feedback for the show. There

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pull bag for the show. I am at TF2 on Mike. Are

you still on Twitter? Or did you give that up?

I'm still on Twitter. I just never actually look.

Wherever you see Hockey Prime, it's me. But I

may not see what you type to me. That's hey truth

hurts donut Yeah, well, you know you got all

the kids stuff and all your stuff. Yeah, you're

busy Become a fan on Facebook go to Facebook

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So check out the pull bag over there as well

Join us next time when we will be discussing

radiant black volume to team up with Joe Reed

and myself For now, I am TfQ and Mike with Ahi

Prime. As always, make your greatest game in

the comics and we will catch you next time. All

right. Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle. This part has

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