Radiant Black Volume 2: Team Up

Hey, this is Kyle Higgins, and you've jumped

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Join TFG1 Mike and the rest of the comic crew

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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 528. Am of course

TF2 and Mike joining me is Mr. Joe Reed. Hello,

sir. Hello, sir Yes, we are back and we are not

talking turtles again. Sorry folks. It's gonna

be a while for that But we are back in radiant

black for volume 2 team up This I believe Yes,

it's issues 7 through 12 of the radiant black

series from Image Comics Let me get the creative

out of the way here. Let's see. Written by Kyle

Higgins. The artist is Marcelo Costa. The co

-writers, because they had some co -writers on

several issues in this, Joe Clark, who is the

musical maestro that I interviewed years ago.

He's done the radiant black scoring and things

like that and whatever else and all that good

stuff. Well, wait, no, he didn't do the radiant

black score. That was... God who was that? I'm

so sorry Brain freeze, but anyway, Joe Clark

has been a regular contributor best friend to

Kyle Higgins and Megan Camarena or Yeah, Camarena.

She is oh What's so she's big on twitch? I forget

what her name Strawberry 17. That's what it is

on twitch guest artists Eduardo Figueroa French

Carlo Mangano Carlo Mangano And Igor Monte and

a bunch of other people Becca Carey is on lettering

Michael Basuto is the editor Radiant black volume

two first things first. It's a very superhero

cover for the trade It bothers me that there's

four of them and I'm hoping and I cuz I I don't

exactly know what's coming up because I haven't

even been looking at covers for this but Four

is a very symmetrical number. Yeah, and you know,

we got to have five if this is gonna be a proper

Super Sentai team Well, there's only four for

now that we know of there's black pink red and

Yellow whether there is a fifth person. We don't

know I don't even know that yeah, I'm pretty

sure there isn't yet, but there could be So we

start with chapter 7 we pretty much pick up where

we left off at the end of issue 5 and the reason

why I say issue 5 is because issue 6 was the

radiant red origin issue and we will be reading

I got to put it in here somewhere the radiant

red mini -series that they did they do a file

to Find that for you. They did a radiant red

mini -series and I forgot to put it in here as

far as Origin was in the first trade wasn't it?

Yeah, it was issue 6. Yes, it was her origin,

but the mini -series for her basically tells

her entire story kind of thing. It's five issues.

I do have it, I think, and like I said, I'll

get you the link after the show and all that

good stuff, but I think we may have to... Steve's

gonna kill me for this. I think we may have to

change episode 530 to that. instead of volume

3 because I think all of that takes place before

issue 13 which is where volume 3 starts. But

anyway, chapter 7 we start where issue 5 left

off with Mr. Glitch facing off against Iranian

black, pink, red, and yellow and what a fight.

There is something that this book does that I

realized reading this trade where I have a real

hard time linking one panel to the next one page

to the next In and seeing what motion is going

on like, you know, the sword can be raised in

one panel but then it's at a resting period the

next panel and I've kind of with this with the

style of this book. I've relented and not so

I don't need to know what happens sequentially.

They're showing the chaos by how these things

aren't necessarily linking and I can't tell who's

shooting at who and who's doing what to who.

Right. No, it's just it's chaos. It's it's a

that's that's maybe perhaps the point. So let

me just see here what I can see in this battle.

All right. So we have the first page of the trade

where it's Mr. Glitch versus them. It's it's

Marshall at the at the bottom panel saying we're

saying what does he say? Right. Look the red

one in me are kind of in the middle of something

here. So if you don't mind and then a pink explosion

which I don't know where it comes from but I

assume it comes from mr. Glitch over there and

He's going forward Radiant Black is kind of coming

back, so it's a mishmash of the two of them blasting

at each other. And then Radiant Yellow starts

doing stuff. And that all happens. And then Radiant

Red starts, you know, she throws her red punch,

and the glitch guy throws his pinkish -purplish

punch at her. So, yeah, it is an all mishmash

kind of thing, but I think my favorite panel

is, it's on page, one of my favorite panels is

on page 13. Bottom left hand corner, just radiant

black, just looking up like, oh no, this is not

good. And that's one of the greatest things about

digital comics, folks, and it's something we

have to say every time. The guided view I have

a clear image of that like I can make this my

profile picture if I wanted to kind of thing

and glitch comes down with a sword and Then all

of a sudden portals portals and radiant black

falls through a pink portal what the and again

another cool panel at the the midsection of Page

14 Where he's like just holding his head again

another cool. There's so many cool close -ups

of radiant blacks You know while he's in his

costume when he's got his helmet on there's so

many cool things Then I'm like, ooh, this is

a profile picture. That's a like it's just so

good So he has to avoid a bus and then all of

a sudden they are in Tokyo And radiant pink is

drained of her powers from teleporting radiant

black throws up through his No mouth hole Yeah

And yeah, they kind of start sort of picking

on pink but she explains what's going on portals

teleporting its draining man I jumped us from

Sydney to Chicago and then Tokyo and two minutes

later. Come on. That's insane. I love this. Are

we really going to do this here? Hey, not one

goddamn word out of you. You don't get to weigh

in here. She's right. Fine. Whatever. Let's go.

Just give me a sec. Nah, take a break time to

try something else. I love that like he's I mean

Again, it this to me shows that because none

of them are really like they it's team -building.

Yep, it's I'm sorry to put you on the spot, but

I forget. I'm 43. How much younger or older are

you than I am? I am also 43. Oh, good. We're

the same age. Yay. So then you'll remember this.

Did you ever go to any kind of summer camp or

any kind of camp where they did the trust exercises?

I can say thank god, no. But there was also the

team building exercises of, hey, you need to

do this. Yeah, exactly. So I mean, you're a teacher.

Everybody knows you're a teacher that has listened

to us over the last decade of doing Turtles comics.

So you've seen this kind of stuff. this this

issue this start of this next arc here in volume

two is them team building they have to figure

shit out and I like how that is working here

where he's like no no no don't worry about it

we're gonna you know figure something else out

you take a break and I mean, he's kind of, he's

not being a dick, but he's kind of, I don't dislike

Marshall in this moment. I actually like him

in this moment where he's saying, okay, cool,

take a break. We're gonna figure it out some

other way. So what are you liking so far? The

whole book as a whole grew on me in the second

trade. First trade was decent. This is the one.

where I'm kind of enjoying the character growth

and the development, they're giving us a chance

to get to know each of those characters through

their interactions with each other. And it's

turning out that I'm liking all of these different

characters. We'll go through this whole trade

and I'll figure out the words for how I was feeling

while I was reading it, I'm sure. Absolutely.

So black and red kind of, you know, get into

a conversation after that. Red is the one that

put his buddy in the hospital. Yeah. So he's

angry at her. Yeah, he's angry at her. And she's

like, I didn't mean to hurt your friend. I was

just trying to scare him. That's all you need

to know. And he says, sorry about that. Absolutely

not all I need to know. Like, one, why rob multiple

banks on multiple nights? B, how the hell did

you find Nathan? Three, why the body dupe? And

she just kinda stares and... Eh, no. See, you

came after us. My best friend's on life support

and probably never gonna wake up. So unless you

want me to drop you off the side of that mountain

over there, feel free to answer me at any time.

And then they get ambushed. And then they get

ambushed. Because that's just the way glitch

is. Now you want to talk about action you can't

really keep up with. This is glitch attacking

them, but we have Pink in the middle of all of

this with her portals and she's portaling them.

Like, what's a good analogy for that? I'm trying

to think. I wouldn't say Avengers. Well, yeah,

technically she's the Doctor Strange of Radiant

Blast. She's not. But just in the sense of using

her portal powers, she's very much kind of in

the same vein as when Doctor Strange uses portals

in Endgame. So there's all of that going on And

then she portals herself and radiant black into

space Like how far into space we get to see that

yeah After they're done of being amazed that

they can breathe and survive in space. Yeah,

don't take your helmets off kids Seriously, and

then they see this like all -out war all these

spaceships all this stuff and explosions and

Holy crap all these other Robots robots and sci

-fi and so how far did she go? Yeah Hopefully

she went very far because if all that stuff is

relatively close to earth that's gonna be a problem

But that's gonna be a big problem. This is this

is where I I got I don't know not upset but Years

ago in high school. I invented this character

who's in armor suit alien suit and There is an

alien species out there that's responsible for

it and it's always about him learning his powers

and like man between this and and tech jacket

from Robert Kirkman's like they have all of my

I ever Decide to write this story down and draw

it. It's gonna be like I'm ripping these people

off but like dudes I made this up in 1996 I was

first But I built an action figure I customized

something, 3D printed my own parts, made my character

into an action figure, and that's what I'm fiddling

with here because I'm feeling jealous, a little

hurt, that I didn't actually get off my butt

and make a comic because this is better than

what I think I could have done for sure. I'm

enjoying it. But they robbed all my ideas. They

didn't. Everybody has a similar type of idea.

So we're on page 25 with the space battle When

I first read this way back when it initially

came out in a single issue form. I was like Okay

Radiant pink and radiant black like bug -eyed

image the second panel on that page That's a

Facebook featured photo. That's a that's a featured

banner on Facebook and I Screenshotted that at

the time way back then and did use that as a

Facebook featured image, photo, whatever. You

have to teleport us right now. It's too far.

Well, how'd you just do it? And I don't know

how. Right now, right goddamn now. You're not

helping. All right, new game plan. You got a...

Trust me on this, or we're both dead. When I

say now, you're gonna think about Japanese forests,

and I'm gonna hit you with everything I've got.

What? Now. Zzz. And they are... Somewhere. Oh.

Holy shit, we're not dead. They hug and all that

good stuff, and yeah, they're somewhere. We can

break again if you want. I'm okay. Feel free

to go helmet up too if you get cold. At least

you've still got eyes to look at it. I can't

believe we haven't found at least a shop by now.

They've been walking a while, but they found

Red and Yellow. I swear, I didn't plan this honest.

He's breathing! Good. And Red and Yellow found,

uh... Mr. Glitch there and That's how we that's

how we end issue seven. Let's get some goddamn

answers That's right, it's yeah, man there's

especially with what happens later in this book

it is I can feel I can sympathize for the characters

having no answers as to What is the nature of

their powers? What should they be doing whose

side? are these powers on? And even when they

have an opportunity to get answers, they're told

everything, but none of it makes sense yet. Yeah,

none of it makes sense. Yeah. Yep. It's a fun

situation. Absolutely. Chapter 8, issue 8, 001

is the title. Now, I still, to this day, maybe

you've figured it out. I don't know, since you're

the new guy on the block with this. I still haven't

figured out these numbers. Yeah. So on page 30

of the trade, where it says chapter 8, the title

of the issue is parentheses 001. and I believe

in this issue, is it this issue or maybe it's

issue nine, they start, maybe it's issue nine

that they do this, but they start doing this

whole like, zero zero four, zero zero 10, zero

zero this, and maybe it's the next issue that

they start doing this with, but like, in this

trade, I remember them doing all these numbers,

and I'm like, what the hell are these damn numbers?

I still haven't figured it out, and I've been...

Paying attention to this series for two years.

Yeah, it's and it's been I've been focusing on

trying to translate the radiant text in okay

in speech balloons and in the bubbles So far

nothing crazy has been like it makes sense what

they're what they're doing. I'm looking for these

triple zeros now. That's that's kind of fun.

I like that It's the mystery box, it's the breadcrumbs,

the breadcrumb trail and how it kind of breaks

the fourth wall and that there are other things

to see and notice in the book and then they pay

off later. So I'm ready and waiting for that

and I'm trying to be aware. I didn't notice the

001 until that was the, no my page numbers, I

don't have page numbers but I'm looking at chapter

eight title 001. I'm wondering if that 001 here

is referring to which member of the team this

guy's on. I think it's referring to the villain,

but I could be wrong. I just don't know, and

I just want to know. To the radiant black discord

people, the radiant black podcast discord people,

I'm sorry if you're listening to this. I just

haven't figured it out yet. I'm a dumbass. So

we start in space before. And yeah. So I interpreted

that, and I think it's right, I interpreted that

as this is where Pink, this is where he got dropped

out of Pink's portal. I think so, yes. And now

he's trying to find his way back home. He finds

a derelict starfighter thing and he jacks into

it to repair his armor, power it up and flies

away. I think it is implied that he's going to

come back and crash on Earth. Probably, yes.

That's where they're going to find him. Red and

yellow. Yep. We go back to Moscow now in the

present day. You sent us to Moscow. Why did you

send us to Moscow? We need to get out of here.

They go human for a while and they blend in,

not really. They blend in with the populace we

get back to red and yellow who actually have

him Trapped so either he obviously he's already

crash -landed. So we don't know what else Has

happened. Yep but they have him trapped in this

volcano thing and the villain says glitch says

the respectful thing would be to Emulate and

emulate As atonement for your stupidity, sinking

with that which you do not understand, what do

you hope to accomplish by drawing out your deaths?

Oh boy. Yeah, see, the bad guys be talking in

riddles and I have like, come on, talk straight

so we can get some answers, but that takes all

the fun out of it. Yep, yep, yep, so they have

more of a conversation. We go back to Marshall

and I'm just gonna say her name now Eva her near

real name is Eva and They're outside of a coffee

shop and he just kind of five -finger discounts

some some coffee cups Too bad the coffee is cold

and They have a nice little conversation Oh,

I'm sorry. Did you suddenly come into a bunch

of spare rubles? Cuz I missed that. It's 2020.

They take Visa. I'm an Amex guy. Of course you

are. I tried to wait for someone who used sugar,

but then I realized I don't know anything about

Russia. Do they use sugar? Probably. So, yes,

a lot of coffee talk. in this part of chapter

eight. She says to him, look, it's not like a

panic thing. It's things just build and then

there's so much and I can't, I can't. Hey, it's

all good. I meant I get it more probably than

more than you think. I'm really not an asshole.

God, that's actually funny. I mean all of this

black holes and superpowers and space robots,

it's all pretty hysterical when you actually

think about it, isn't it? And they just kind

of sit there and have this like moment of silence

kind of thing because they both realize how hysterical

it all really is. And in Japanese apparently

or something you stole our cough they get confronted

by the people that he stole the coffee from Feeling

any better a lot and then they they great then

they poured up. She portals them out of there

and Do they finally meet up with red and yellow

here is no red yellow or so time jumps here like

that It disorients me like wait. Wait, was that

them in the in the cuz of it? Mm -hmm panel in

the final. That's glitch. Yeah fighting red and

yellow. Yeah Yeah, that time jumps are my biggest

enemy in comics time at times Not just this book

or just any any comic book that does time even

when we were Mike as you know And at the same

point in time the listeners are probably getting

to me tired of saying this Between the red bandanas

and some of the time jumps that TMNT took, whoo

boy. Yep, time and location. And especially in

a book like this where it does tend to jump around

to show what happened before flashbacks to illuminate.

And I think this trade. And it's not a bad thing.

No, this trade was where it sort of taught me

that that's what's going on. The disorient. This

is disorienting feeling that's what the characters

are feeling all of them. Yeah And especially

with what happens later in the book I learned

to kind of just take my hands off the handlebars

and let the comic go where it needed to go And

i'll figure it out when it gets there because

that's what the characters are doing. Yeah And

I think if anybody else were doing it or if this

were happening in a different book in a different

setting that would be bad, but because of What's

going on in this the glitch character and how

these people are discovering their powers and

what the nature of their powers are It's it didn't

it's what we're supposed to be feeling as readers

Yeah, absolutely. Kyle Higgins does an amazing

job on the writing as well as the rest of his

co -writers They're doing an awesome job in the

art. Well the art in these books man is just

I Don't think I have a sing so far in Eight issues.

I don't think I have a really like unless I'm

nitpicking. I don't have a real complaint. I

love the art all of it We get back to this like

we're in this fight with glitch red and yellow

and he's kind of going after red and he kind

of slices her with his little sword there or

his big sword there and he says Survival mode

absorb and repair try to stop the loss of fluid

clever, but Too advanced. He stabbed her again

for good measure. Yeah. Maybe just need to absorb

something stronger. And she turns into her giant

robot form. Or she will. So yeah, he glitches

out. Yellow shows up to help her. And then she's

in her Hulkbuster armor. Sorry, Kyle. Had to

go there. We see glitch here. And he's... Don't

What is it with his powers he can just like tap

stuff and just make it explode I Mean I know

like sets off one of those terminator and not

terminator predator self -destruct things Yep,

and I think that's what he did. I think that's

a self -destruct not Some well, nope. He's back

Yeah, he's back for hares. He's still there.

But we get the explosion, they get thrown, and

then even though he's still there, we find out

how he actually gets his powers. He charges off

of the other Radiants. He charges his tech from

us. We are actually powering him. A reductive

understanding of the old ways and the new. You

tempt fate you dance amongst world's world Enders

in the shadow of Armageddon all the while unknowing

of the extent to which you are a mistake in Improbable

accident a doom to your planet now no more running

until we fix your mistake If that's how it's

got to be then stop pussyfooting around and let's

go you cosmic slash I love I love this panel

of the four of them Okay, this panel right here

if you're I know how you're looking at it. You're

not looking so the middle of This is page 48,

but it says location 48 actually, but the middle

of that page there I Don't think having a fifth

team member in the middle of black like so you

get pink on the far left, red in the background

on the far left, black in the middle, yellow

on the right. If you had another radiant next

to yellow, in between yellow and black, this

image wouldn't be as cool as I think this image

is right now. His logo is sparking and igniting

and glowing. Something's about to happen. I oh,

okay. Yeah, I am zero zero one marked for death

and I Translated that but I don't remember what

it was. Oh, yeah words on the top of my tongue

Catalyst that yes catalyst catalyst. Yes. That's

yeah catalyst now in service to the new way and

I'm gonna finish your ex if it's the last goddamn

thing I do And this giant, the robot's giant

hand reaches right out of Marshall's chest, right

out of his radiant logo. Oh boy. Um, and what

is the, the, so the robot or the giant hand is

grabbing catalyst and all of a sudden Marshall

is down. What the fuck was that? Eva says, Oh

my God, my chest again. I love that. that full

image wait were you bleeding I was this is this

is pink talking to red do you have any idea what

you just did I didn't do anything a giant god

damn robot stuck his arm out of my chest he's

been in there the whole time can you reach it

I'm trying but I'm trying but the line is kind

of one way then this might be over question mark

the immediate threat at least I say we go home,

Lilo, don't draw any more attention than we have

to. See if we can get the robots to give us some

more answers. I'd really like to know, blah,

blah, blah, means. And yes, folks, I know I should

translate it because I have the translator card

around here somewhere in this apartment. But

yeah, that's it. What else should we do? Oh.

I can think of plenty He still wants to figure

out red. Yeah what she did Yeah, I think what

I'd like to know is when he says I'd really like

to know what that means Are they are they saying

the word that that translates as catalyst or

are they saying something that they don't even

understand? That's I think okay, so I well the

Marshall Marshall doesn't under I mean he understands

things I'm not saying the man that the guy is

stupid or anything but like nobody really no

none of them really understand the text as of

yet nobody can really like Unless like they are

like directly connected to the robot. I don't

like if it's just something the 001 is saying

I don't think that he says I'd like to know what

means So I don't think he can understand it as

of yet. So when Marshall says, oh, I can think

of plenty. Yellow basically attacks 001. No,

no, that's Marshall. No, that's Yellow. Yeah,

Yellow is attacking Marshall because he was about

to start beef with Red. Hold on. 001 is gone.

The robot got him. He pulled him inside. Oh,

it is. You're right. Holy shit. And because yellow

says, all right, we're knocking this off right

now. You two have problems. You got baggage.

That sucks. It's also part of life. And now for

you, so is. So wait, wait, wait. Yeah. And now

for you, so is a permanent link to a black hole.

Yeah. And if you didn't hear, gentlemen, the

swords. With the swords, there are some bigger

fish to fry. You'd also want us dead. So yeah,

there he's yellows trying to talk the two of

them into putting their beef off to the side

for a moment while they worry about this world

ending gibberish. Yeah. And then we go to Cletus

Kasady's farmlands. Sorry, just I can't wait

to get back to something more normal. At some

point, you got to tell us how you actually heard

about this. I did tell you people. Cryptic. How

we doing, Jace? This bad boy gonna blank for

us again? Oh yeah, we've got his number now.

I think it's just about time. And he's for somebody

to open wide. And yikes. Looks like we're in

business. And that's how chapter eight ends.

Wow. I'm trying to translate that quickly here

in it. What is that letter? The hard part about

translating that read radiant is the kerning

the space between the letters like I can't exactly

tell where words end and words begin or are those

two symbols part of the same letter or is it

two different letters? But that's half the fun.

See folks, I got a radiant translator right on

my side. But yeah, no. So chapter nine. Oh boy,

I was trying to find, and I'm only saying this

until you're ready to tell us the translation.

I'm going to jump ahead just a little bit. So

with the Radiant Black box, I also purchased

at the time a physical copy of issue 10 of the

series, because the physical copy of issue 10

of the series, it's in the trade. But the actual

issue, and you can still do it in the trade,

probably. It's a Blacklight comic book. What?

Yes. So chapter 10 is Blacklight? Yes. Oh, man.

All right. I got to go to eBay or something now.

I'm sure my local stores don't have that, but

I'm going to, oh, you know what? I have a reason

to arrive to the comic store today. All right.

Issue ten was the first blacklight issue they

ever did to my knowledge. It's the first blacklight

comic ever in history I'm pretty sure and part

of the which I don't have it here. It's actually

on my keychain why I put it on my keychain I

have no idea also part of the radiant black box

was a blacklight keychain So it's a keychain

just like any other keychain you like, you know

a nintendo entertainment system keychain or a

well you know whatever keychain you know you

go to very you know whatever but it's an actual

blacklight that turns on it's a little mini blacklight

that turns on and off no way yes way dang it

yeah so that came in the box the funny thing

about that is is i've been getting more into

blacklight because Funko is doing Blacklight

on a number of their pops, and they're doing

it on a number of their sodas. I don't know if

I sent you the photo or not, but I have... I'm

gonna call them inaction figures, because they

don't do anything. I have Funko Sodas, TMNT,

Blacklight, Leo, Mikey, Donnie, and Raph. with

Blacklight, Bebop, and Rocksteady. And I actually

had to buy the largest and brightest and whatever

I could, Blacklight flashlights. So I know I

have the physical copy of issue 10 around here

somewhere. It's in a closet. It's in somewhere

else, blah, blah, blah. I could not find it before

the record. But that was the first one they did.

Issue 24 which is way down the road. Uh -huh.

It's also a black light issue Yeah, I I've in

all of my customizing and crafting and electrical

stuff I've Stumbled into the world of black light

LED things and I'm I would like to find some

paint or ink that is extraordinarily bright black

light but so I have the lights around the house

I have a couple and I think I might need to go

get that issue 10 yeah yeah you're gonna have

to find the issue to issue 10 and issue 24 are

so far the two the two black light uh black light

issues we are on to issue nine life and times

now this starts with 002 so this is the issue

I think that all the numbers come into play And

this is what confuses the hell out of me. Anyone,

Bash, or Matt, or Charlie, or Addy, or whatever,

anyone that's from the Radiant Black podcast

that may be listening to this episode of this

podcast, please tell me what the hell are the

numbers for? I'm taking a guess. Yes? I think

that Glitch is like the leader of this group

of five. OK. They don't have it figured out yet.

And number two is Radiant Black or Marshall here

that we're seeing. And so like this is, OO2 says,

this is Marshall's story. Okay. The, oh wait,

no, no. Because there's. See that's. Oh no, those

are day counters. Are you sure? Yes, they're

positive and negative numbers. So this is the

second day of something. Okay. Later in the book.

There's this is day 90. This is day 160 and then

they flash back and it's a negative number. Yeah

Okay That okay that makes sense. Hey, we figured

it out people don't have to yell at us now. Yay

And if I'm wrong, they'll still yell at us because

I'm just guessing here. I don't know Hey, it

makes sense to me Hmm So we start in Lockport,

Illinois with Marshall. He's waking up and he

has a PS controller next to him in his bed and

his shoes and clothes and everything else and

shower, breakfast, light a cigarette of course,

don't smoke kids. Don't smoke, don't do drugs,

don't drink, don't do any of that stupid stuff.

And then you have these kids from outside. This

is so much fun. These high school kids are on

their way to school and it turns into a running

gag He's sitting out on his porch having his

breakfast and they insult him he gets him back

They insult him back and he's like you're wasting

your life You're going to school to learn how

to be a machine and insulting each other's mama.

I hope he Definitely looks annoyed every time.

Oh, he is very I really think they you know They

would miss each other if they were gone. I don't

know about that. Are we sure they're even all

human? The yellow one doesn't have any eyes.

I bet the yellow one's a robot. Did you see the

way he moved in that helicopter shot? He is so

stiff. There's no way he's real. You actually

watch those guys. Circle guy news they make a

lot of great points now circle guy news. I'm

pretty sure Started in invincible, but I could

be wrong again Matt bash. I'm sorry Look either

way. I think we all agree after that Japan explosion

things have changed forever and not in a good

way and Somehow I'm the douche tool So, Marshall

goes to the hospital. Sits by Nathan, checks

on Nathan. We're going to hang out all the time,

dude. Same as before. Nothing's going to change.

004. That's really cute. Yep, absolutely. Lockport,

Illinois. 004. The best part's gotta be the powers.

Can you imagine being able to fly anywhere? Can

he go to space? Duh. Water shower cereal same

cereal same cigarette not same cigarette, but

you get the point and again. We get back to your

friendly neighborhood children And I this is

awesome. Oh look, it's the does nothing dick

ass Does the virgin graduating into a false economy?

How do you even live with yourself seriously

you're such a That's a really dirty word now,

isn't it? Yeah, yeah Sorry, I couldn't hear you

over the sound of everyone skipping your Instagram

stories Oh, hey, there's a new tick -tock challenge.

You should check it out. It's called go fuck

yourself That's another thing about this that

I enjoy and I wonder How this I wonder how a

book like this is going to read in? 30 years

or 20 years is it gonna hold up or is it gonna

be a picture of our time because it very much

is a picture of what it is to be alive right

now as a millennial as The new generation coming

up that you don't quite understand anymore. Well,

you're raising the new generation. Mr. Father

of the year Uh -huh. Uh -huh. How old are your

kids now six and twelve? Really? Yep They're

old farties. He's about to become a tweenie a

tee. Oh my god When did you we start we oh wait

13 he was wait a minute Yeah, I started reading

Ninja Turtles when he was under six months old

and that's why that issue four hit me so hard

because right right Oh God and and He was three

years old ten years ago? No, he was. Well, yeah.

Yeah. OK, you just bust out some crazy math.

He was born in 2011 and that was when I that

was when it was the same year that Ninja Turtle

started. Right, yeah, no. It wasn't me trying

to... Dude, I can't bust out any kind of math.

I'm just trying to remember, shit, the podcast

is 10 years old, 2013 to 2023, and if he's 13

years old, that means that he was three years

old 10 years ago. I can do simple math. You turn

one of those threes or one of those tens into

like an A or an X or a Z. I'm like, what the

fuck is that? Holy shit. But yeah, and I've always

been a proponent of look at things at the things

are a snapshot of when they were made. Things

are not supposed like. Pick your pick the worst

movie of the 80s, whatever that is, whatever

people think that is, that was made in that time.

That is meant to be looked at as a product of

the 1980s. It is not meant to hold up to any

of the whatever standards people have today.

But but I think that there there is a point and

we still are talking about radiant black here

Even though we're talking about everything but

radiant black. We're talking about how this comic

fits into present -day If you can take something

like Batman animated series, which was early

90s but that holds up because it's just different

enough and You don't even notice that all of

the television screens in that show are black

and white except for Batman's computers. Yeah

And that doesn't register as weird to anybody,

like because it's such a it's a picture out of

time. And when you make references to modern

day like Instagram and TikTok and millennial

and how movies are getting made, which Marshall

and his coma friend talk about, are you locking

this so firmly in time that in 20 years it won't

be relevant or. Because of the way that communication

works and there's instant Transmission of data

across long distances is Everybody gonna end

up on the same page and are things going to kind

of level off? like will people our aged in the

40s ever really be disconnected from The the

the new digital thing because we're not afraid

of the new digital thing. Yeah I mean, even AI,

which should be spooky to us millennials going,

everybody should have to write papers because

we had to write papers. We're like, no, no, I

get it. Technology changes. We'll figure it out.

My biggest problem with AI is that everyone seems

to think that artificial intelligence can replace

actual intelligence. you out there listening

to the sound of my voice and those of you out

there who use it as a tool, as an improvement

on what you're already doing, but I come from,

we both come from the generation of the 80s.

In the 80s, we learned to use, we were taught

imagination matters. And I think artificial intelligence

removes imagination because it's like, oh, say

these seven words into chat GPT and it'll spit

out something for you or How about you just kind

of go over there and create some? cool crazy

conundrums of your own kind of thing where you

know like I Would rather sit here and rack my

brain for an hour watching that black Cursor

blink on the white screen to think of something

to write up for an intro to like a future guest

on a podcast or whatever then Tell AI to do it

for me Yeah, and and this this might be I actually

would love to talk about AI on a podcast and

have that be the center of of like the conversation

I think with AI the the way that people are going

to end up using that properly going to be to

allow that thing to do the tedious work and It

like all technology It should free us up to do

the important work the actual creativity I think

people that go into chat GPT and say write me

a book report are not using it properly no, they're

not what I This year in fact our principal at

the school I work at said he went to a conference

and yada yada and they talked about AI and what's

coming and they All these new AI educational

tools are coming out. And because it's academia,

they're really encouraging us to do it the right

way, not the wrong way. And so, of course, after

my principal said, you guys need to know about

this technology so it doesn't take you by surprise,

I went to it and I did, I said, write me a lesson

plan about designers and architect, I asked it

to write me a lesson plan. And dude, that thing

did. an hour and a half's worth of work and research

for me. And then I got to look at that lesson

plan and say, well, wait, that doesn't make sense.

Let's change this. OK, the AI didn't know that

this would take three days, not one day. How

about if I did this instead of that? And then

my students would be. And it allowed me in 10

minutes to make that a crazy, creative, wonderful

lesson where I got to put my own spin on it.

Mentioned things that I hadn't thought of and

so it ended up creating this well through its

help it ended up allowing me to create a really

deep lesson plan very personal to my taste and

my sensibilities and It allowed me to do it in

far less time than if I had to sit and do all

of that tedious boring stuff And it would have

it improved the experience for my students It

allowed me to teach them more than I would have

on my own And I think that is the way that we've

got to use this AI. And image generators are

a different thing. The data that it's pulling

from to discover all of that stuff, to learn

all of that stuff, that's a different issue.

Yeah, that's a completely separate issue. You

should not be using it to write your poetry.

No. We should not be using it to write our comic

books. No, not at all. But it should be there

writing contracts. It maybe should be there writing

budgets and agreements that then we proofread

and we look at. It's my job as a teacher to make

sure that my students know how to use that the

right way. That's my ultimate job, especially

now. I think being fearful of any new technology

or dismissive of it is going to prevent us humans

from learning how to use it right and learning

how to teach the next generation what we see

from our porch. Waving our walking stick at him

saying your teenagers don't understand get off

my lawn like Everything you just said just now

is you using it as a teacher as a tool Yeah,

you're not using it Yeah, the way that a lot

of other general people in the public are using

it like you mentioned with yep, take a take an

apple and a parrot and and a Volkswagen VW Bug

and make me an image. That stuff is fun, kind

of kitschy, kind of whatever. It's a fun little

mashup thing. But like you said, you're not trying

to make it make your lesson plan for you. You're

trying to save yourself some time. You're a teacher.

you've been learning things. We've all been learning

things our entire lives, but you specifically,

Joe Reed, have been in education for years, not

only just going to school to learn, but obviously

going to school to teach others to learn, and

teaching them that yes, AI is good if you use

it. This way. Yes Wikipedia is good. If you use

it this way Yeah, you don't go you don't go write

your book report using the paragraphs from Wikipedia

You don't find the other sources to look at.

Yeah. Yeah exactly. All right back to radio Thank

you so much listeners for going with us on that

journey I don't know if it's gonna be edited

out, but that was that was fun. Oh, are you kidding

me? AI will be a subject in a future podcast

at some point. Ultimately the question is, especially

with this panel where Marshall's arguing with

the next generation and tossing insults at each

other, will this book hold up in 20 years when

the world looks totally different or will it

be a picture of its time? I'm going to say picture

of its time. But I had that's another that's

another whole podcast. I'd like to be on comic

books as modern -day mythology and in 300 years

500 years people are gonna look back at our comic

books and be studying them in English classes

Like we study the Odyssey and Iliad. Yeah Yeah,

absolutely. And then the funny thing is is that

You mentioned like 20 years from now all I can

think of Is a PlayStation 2 commercial Came out

Well when the PlayStation 2 came out, but it

was advertising the PlayStation 2 but it was

this Super virtual thing and we found out it

was the ps9 and it was you know, basically Plugged

into your head and it was basically you we all

got Matrix back in PS2 days, and it was advertising

for the PlayStation 2. And I'm like, that's what

the future is gonna be. We're all gonna have

plugs in our heads. We're all gonna be jacked

into the Matrix. And, you know. I'm gonna draw

the line of putting computer parts in my body.

That's where I'm gonna draw my old man line.

Well, they. They drained a bunch of stuff out

of my body, and I found out that I wasn't born

with a piece of my brain. Of course, I found

this out 39 years after I was living. But yeah,

I don't have robot parts in me yet. Hey, I learned

when you put a screw or bolt or a knee replacement

in there, you're officially an Android. There

you go. That's kind of cool. Radiant black, everybody.

Marshall is continuing to visit Nathan. Am I

right? Yes, every night in the hospital while

he's hooked up to his coma machine and I think

it was right about now on this page where his

parents come in and like thank him for talking

to him and it's glad that you're Doing something

that matters talking to your friend. Yeah, it

was right about here that I called the ending

about our where you know how Nathan's gonna wake

up because Well, well, no, we don't know that

yet. I mean he's in a coma and yes people tend

to wake up from sometimes I'm at this point I

was assuming he was going to wake up eventually

because I thought it was really suspicious that

the radiant left him because he he finger quotes

died but he didn't die he's in a coma yeah so

I thought something was up with that like if

and when he wakes up is the radiant going to

abandon marshal and come back over here but it

was reading this panel that I figured out Not

because they gave any clues, but I just I called

it. I called what happens in the end Nice, so

we get to the lovely police officers. Oh, I love

these guys I don't like you're probably look.

I don't like you. You're probably mildly annoyed

by me. We don't like you Pigs rolling shit. No

one ever accused him of having taste This is

that there's that strange mutual respect While

they're dealing insults at each other like hey

officers citizen approaching in broad daylight.

Don't be startled like So you help me look better

I help you get promoted just like before. What

do you say? Nah, call us if Nathan wakes up Cole

that was day eight. I'm just gonna say day eight.

This is day 16 Yeah, I have poor guy I'm sorry,

but I did not stop the comic guy who was threatening

our Entire world which you didn't even know about

you're welcome. Oh But I did stop I I did I read

that wrong Okay, I'm sorry, but crash oh My god,

oh come on crash pow crack All right fine in

your defense these roads should have been solved

Yes, they should have been salted yes, and here

gosh, I love it. It's it's still Kind of, again,

I feel like I had my idea ripped out from under

me. Like that's part of the fun of this book

is that he wants to be a hero, but isn't sure

how to do it and is kind of screwing it up. And

he's not even sure how to talk to the public

or talk to the police to make things cool. I

would say if I were a superhero, whatever my

powers were, understanding that I would be working

extra judicially, I would try to make friends

with an officer of the law to utilize my powers

in a way. I think that's a good approach in a

world where nobody's going to like Batman because

he's a vigilante. It's funny because I'm going

to say this here now even though we are an hour

into this podcast. I meant to say it at the beginning.

This will be released in the past, June 28th,

so a day ago from when we're actually recording

this, but currently here in the Midwest in a

lot of towns and a lot of cities between Indiana,

Michigan, and a few other places, Illinois, we

are under, because of what's going on with the

fires up in Canada, we are under a really extremely

horrible air quality level. I'm just going to

check it right now because... Blame Canada. Stop

it. No. No. We know it's not Canada's fault,

but there are some nasty wildfires up there.

And I woke up yesterday and peeked outside and

it was thick like the end of my block, which

is not that far away. I could see the haze. We

got in the car and there's this lovely hill,

giant hill that we drive down and we can overlook

the city, the whole of the downtown. with tall

buildings and we could not see the tall buildings.

It's less than a mile away. It was bad yesterday.

How's your air quality today? So right now we

are in the red. Yesterday we were in the purple.

I am going by the app Air Now from the EPA. Oh

man. Yeah, EPA told us yesterday that we should

be wearing KN95 masks if we're going to be outside

for any length of time. Yeah, you should. It's

funny because overnight we were super in the

purple as far as like very, very, very unhealthy

kind of thing. Currently, Anderson, Indiana is

at a 168 in the red, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

You guys are at 210 in the purple. Close your

windows. Close your doors. Hide your kids. Hide

your wives. Turn the fans on. Change your filter.

Change your air doctor filter. Change everything.

Make sure you're having clean air. If you don't

have to leave your domicile, house, apartment,

whatever you live in, don't. If you're in any

affected areas. This message brought to you by

Air Now from the EPA on the Google and Apple

stores. Back to Radiant Black with the snow and

the salts and the streets weren't salted. We

get to day 30 so we oh, so I like this. We jump

from 4, 8, 16, 32. Interesting. Seriously, what

are we doing with these bath bombs? Selling them.

They're not selling, and you ordered how many?

I'm buried in Bayleaf. But we should at least

give him some props for trying, right? Trying

to do what? Murder people on 355? It was a 10

-car pileup because of his stupid sign. Ten cars!

If only. Excuse me, Marshall. He's got this,

like, The biggest case of side. I I know it's

the way they're drawing it and I know back in

2021 and 2022 I mean, I don't know when people

started like using the term side I but seriously

he's looking out of the corner of his eye and

You happen to get a lunch break and this is Satomi

So what you come to admire your handiwork Why

would I want to know come on I just thought we

should talk why would I want to talk to you and

She says you told Wendell that things were fine

No, that's not what I said. I said fine for now

meaning I won't kill you for now Even though

I absolutely should kill you for what you did.

Hey, come on. Just come on look We all got off

on the wrong foot, okay? I never should have

hit him when I first showed up. I should have

taken his car, or his mail, or something, or

absorbed my phone. You took his mail, question

mark? It was just one of those junk loan offers,

like those fix anything. It had his address.

Look, the bottom line is, there's a lot I regret,

and I came to say I'm sorry. You're going to

have to do a lot better than that, Satomi. This

is Nathan. Hey Nathan, it's nice to meet you.

Negative 6547. So we're flashing back to teenage

years. I guess? I don't know. Okay, they're talking

about like a live -action comic movie That's

gonna get made and who they'd cast in that showing

the origin of their friendship wizard. Oh, man.

Was it magazine? Yeah, I remember that That used

to be a thing. Mm -hmm Yeah, right you crack

the spine on mine last month. I got you a copy.

Oh gosh Well, it's been an ongoing joke. I handed

a comic to my wife, it was probably that Ninja

Turtles issue five, I handed it to her to read

it, and she sits in the chair, oh, okay, and

she takes the front cover of it and puts it all

the way around the back, and I'm like, holy crap,

Jenny, I told you that was worth money, what,

you just, I mean, no, no, that breaks the glue

right here, you can't do that. And I told her

how to hold the comic book by cradling it in

your hand, and you don't ever press those pages

flat. And now she makes a joke about it Every

time I hit one of these days We're gonna have

to have Jenny on one of these shows because I

don't think she sounds like that at all I've

never heard her voice, but I'm pretty sure if

she doesn't sound like your imitation. No, that's

a that's also a lovely joke Married for decades.

So, you know, yep, that's absolutely insane idea.

We're absolutely fucking doing it and we go back

to 065 And this is this is the the glitch guy

versus radiant boy Yeah, you're wait a minute

who's the oh, oh I remember it's Doppler. Yeah.

Yeah wait Doppler like the sound dude from cowl.

So Yeah, whatever don't respect what came before

cool and So yeah But as long as I'm around we're

gonna serious we're going to seriously monitor

this knockoff Situation you have my word. It's

now my mission to be here in case this dick ass

ever shows Although I have a feeling after this

smackdown today, we won't be hearing pun absolutely

intended from her again anytime soon day 66 Seriously

trying it the day after. The very next day. Now

you're just trying to make me look like an asshole.

Day 90. Your parents resent you. Do you know

how many baths we'd have to take? Look at all

those bath bombs. Good lord. Marshall at the

bar. It's a sound app that scores your life.

Yeah, I can get a big iced coffee. Hold the sweetener

Hey, and this might be weird, but your armor

is kind of dope Working to serve you again soon

embers tap house looks like it's closed So nobody

is making any comments about where all of these

super powered Bad guys are coming from they all

have yeah, they're not they're not radiant suits,

but there's something there's something We're

gonna figure that out later, but it is awfully

strange Hey Marshall your mom around Why would

you order more? It's an investment gift more

like down shift Stuck in neutral broken clutch

stall. Also, how the hell are there so many people

with helmets and powers? There he goes. Somebody

should look into that. Day 160. Back to the hospital.

Uh, hello? Oh, hi, Marshall. And she didn't say,

oh, hi, I did that, but she's like, sniff, hi,

Marshall. I should have called you sooner. It's

not like Nathan and I stayed friends. Yeah, but

like, I don't know. I'm sorry, JJ. You guys were

together a while, if I had been thinking straight.

It's okay. I'm glad I got to come now and in

now and seems like there hasn't been too much

of a change. Oh, he's got a way dryer wit really

coming along as a straight man now. He barely

twitches when I talk. How often are you there?

I try to make it for at least an hour, a week,

a day. Wow. Good for him. Hey, there's important

stuff to keep the man abreast of, like his ex

-girlfriend planning to fly in. Oh, you told

him. Of course I told him. A guy needs a heads

up if his ex is coming to town. Although if anything

was going to snap him out of it, the shock of

you here might have had a shot. You've always

looked out for him haven't you somebody had to

that's sweet. He's lucky not everyone has someone

like that You mean not everyone has their own

design designated fan club, huh? I think I solved

it solved what? I'm gonna be late for work there.

Yep. Oh I wasn't complaining day 175 We get radiant.

Oh my god. He's yeah radiant black off -duty

in a Hawaiian shirt talking to the This this

cracked me up he tried to make a deal to work

with the cops trying to make a deal to work with

these guys How can we be impartial if we're working

with you? What do we get out of it access I meant

financially Yeah It's shit. You want us to turncoat

for shit? We can't be as in an independent news

outfit if we're selling your merch. Take us flying.

Literally never happening. You can just hover

us. Wait, so you and the red one are cool now?

It's complicated. Look, it's not selling out

if it's for a good cause. Sorry, how is this

a good cause and what actually is the cause?

A real argument could be made that you're causing

more problems than you're solving. Especially

if the rumor about where all this villain tech...

I will give you a percentage and follow you on

Twitter. One extra follow. And then this is where

we get the... at the time in issue 9... Radiant

black plus Circle guy news team up for the radiant

black welcome box now with bonus bath bomb As

the QR code the best way to welcome me to your

neighborhood red hit black and it has the QR

code which you scanned which I scanned I know

I don't I'm I'm a smart old fart I I know not

to scan random QR codes, but I figured since

this one was in a Book with a legitimate company

on the outside cover I thought I'd give it a

shot and it brings you right to the radiant black

merch page Yep, very very clever radiant black

people. Yes. Absolutely at the time Because this

is this is issue 9 at the time when you did this

You could go to there and you could spend 50

or 60 or however many dollars after shipping

and it is and whatever else and get the radiant

black box and in the radiant black box if I remember

correctly without actually looking at the website

because I kind of have the box right next to

me you have a Bath bomb which I do not have a

bathtub so I cannot I can just have it sit here

on my desk and I Think it's I read what it was

Don't do drugs kids. It comes with a bag like

a the standard It's not standard but You know

what I mean, like a tote bag kind of thing. What

is in here? Oh, it's just the things they put

in bottoms of things to keep it fresh. But it's

a nice radiant black tote bag kind of thing.

It also came with a radiant black black light.

It came with the radiant black text translation.

So Yeah, they're not even telling me about that

stuff on the website I'm looking for here. There

was some surprise in there. Oh, yeah, there was

a lots of cool stuff. There was a Where is it?

It's somewhere around it was ready a black USB

Drive with a bunch of cool things at the time

bunch of crime It just things and yeah, no, but

really seriously the coolest thing about this

box is The box itself, because it's just super,

super cool. It's all white for being a radiant

black box, but it is what it is. And then obviously

the bath bomb. I have searched eBay and the website.

It appears as though they are all gone everywhere.

I was trying to find it to buy it. Yeah, somebody's

going to have to sell you theirs or something,

because they're not going to. Really, I just

want the black light. But I have black lights.

I have enough. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, man. All

right. Where are we in issue? Oh, yeah. So we're

at the Radio Black, the QR code. Day 224. Yep,

day 224. Elizabeth Beckett had nowhere to go,

so she moved back home. There she was, a dame

to kill for if you were looking for a reason

to kill. But while home may be where the heart

is for Elizabeth Beckett, it was also where her

best friend lived. The kind of friend who'd do

anything for her if she was a dame too. So Marshall

is now writing Nathan's book. Poorly. Yes, poorly.

But Elizabeth was also haunted by the past claustrophobic

paranoid with faltering grasp on reality. And

she could never get the Venice blinds lighting

right. Oh, man. I actually dig this. This is

cool. He's trying. His best friend is in a coma.

He can't do anything about that, at least not

yet anyway. Dante or Randall has a heart attack

blah blah blah blah blah and yeah, I'll never

not say Nathan is Dante and Randall Marshall

is Randall and then all of a sudden boo. Oh Hell

miss me dude That's what you think Elizabeth

would do. Honestly, that's kind of amazing. I

totally should have thought of that dreaming

aren't I cuz huh yeah this place was destroyed

and you I'm dreaming aren't I yep I wish I wasn't

I know me too but that's not the way life works

I know you're hurting but it's okay man really

everything is gonna be fine you're going to be

fine I promise so the ghost of Nathan yeah I

don't think I don't think he was dreaming I think

this was Like I call I looked at this and said,

oh wait a minute. Wait a minute I Think he told

him what he needed to hear. Yeah, and then day

239. Oh They're saying it's time day 240 The

kids notice that me Marshall's not on the porch

to harass him. Yeah Because I think they're insinuating

that it's time to pull the plug on Nathan yeah

Though it'd be good to see you around more, Cowl

sure misses you. Cowl's not what it used to be,

what it was supposed to be. Well, nothing ever

is. Truer words were never... Bleh. Damn it.

God damn it. Fucking damn it. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

It's okay. Dude, it's all good sob why sob why

does this have to happen? I don't want to I know

but hey look at that. You were right It didn't

end up being Ralph Fiennes It takes a minute

right person to land the role God damn it. That's

the most you line ever You want to go for a walk

oh man I This is what I love about issue like

I remember issue nines and we'll get to the cover

gallery in a while folks because even though

there are 12 issues here we really haven't gotten

through a lot of this but I remember when issue

nine came out and it was the the main cover was

Marshall in the radiant black suit with Nathan

walking beside him and you see them for like

the their backs are facing the the the cover

so it's them from you know, they're walking away

from us kind of thing. And I was like, ooh, Nathan,

I remember like, I guess I didn't know a damn

thing. Like, ooh, Nathan, yay. And just seeing

them walk through Chicago here, walk through

Lockport and all that stuff is just so freaking

cool. And then we get back to the hospital and

we'll be asking a series of questions once the

breathing tube is out, et cetera, et cetera,

et cetera. Okay, okay. and then Marshall remembers

something. Elizabeth, can you hand me the scissors?

Wait. Wait. Hold on. I know I have it. Wait,

put it back. What? He's still, he's there. He's

still, there's still a chance. He's still alive.

I can save him. Stop it. Just stop it. Jesus

Christ, Marshall. Marshall, lower your voice

or I'm gonna need to ask you to leave. Hmm. So

Marshall, god damn it, god damn it, god damn

it, runs out of the room. He's alive, isn't he?

Talk to me, you son of a bitch. The writing dream,

the line about Elizabeth Beckett moving home,

Nathan wrote that back in December. I just pulled

it up, the story, it's right there, but I never

read it. How the hell did I dream it word -for

-word if I had never read it? Yep Which he's

actually speaking like that one's a curse word.

Yeah, I check that one. Okay good. I Know you

can hear me. They pulled him off life support

if there's a chance to save him We have to do

it right now. God damn it. Show yourself Alright

fine. We'll do it the hard way Stands in front

of a train Balls Okay, I know this isn't this

and I forget who I said I wanted to do this movie

with but eventually I do want to cover on a different

show throw mama from the train and This reminds

me of throw mama from the train just because

it's it's it's throw Marshall from the train

Even though he's not on the train, but obviously

he's dead throw the train onto Marshall. Yeah.

Yeah, you don't want to talk Cool. But I'm not

getting off these tracks until we do. Woo! Woo!

God damn it, if I die, it absolutely affects

you. Maybe somebody worse than me bonds with

this goddamn thing. Hello, Marshall. He's alive,

isn't he? He's in there with you. Can we save

him? How do we do it? It is possible you will

not succeed. What does that mean? There is only

truth in existence. To attempt this will come

at great cost. Are you prepared to lose everything?

Some things change, but the important things

never do. Let's fucking go. And we have this

cool shot of the train with the radiant above

it and... Zoop disappears, and that's how issue

9 ends. Thoughts? That's what I called. I figured

out he was in there, and I don't know why he's

in there. I don't know what the robot inside

or existence or something gets to gain from it,

but we'll figure that out later, I'm sure. We'll

probably figure that out in chapter 10 because

And I am just absolutely curious. I don't think

this is gonna work No, it doesn't it does not

work in my I don't my trade does not look like

it's blacklight infused No, you have to get the

special specific issue of issue the addition

of issue 10, which I'm hoping my store has Yeah,

I was hoping for some stupid reason that I could

use my lovely little black light my large little

black light here on my phone just shine it on

my phone no it's because of what they did with

issue 10 with the special edition version of

it it's it's black light colors pages everything

about it is is but it's an image I wish I could

freaking find my copy I mean I have my copy of

issue 24 here but we're not there yet And this

this is the issue that taught me to just go on

the ride Because in in this world which they're

they're calling existence. Yeah, this is like

a different plane this is like fourth and fifth

dimension stuff and They do what they can to

show it in this two -dimensional flat comic book

form But this would be like going in black light

neon 3d. Yeah, this is the scene where the little

guy comes up in the bottom of the screen and

says, put on your 3D glasses now. And after this

issue, I'm hoping we get to see this in the theater

someday. I hope they make this live action CG

something. I don't. Yeah. Again, like I mentioned

in episode 525, I want this in traditional and

I don't want this in like 3D animated or I want

it in traditional animation. And yes, you are

absolutely 100 % right. We need it in in black

light in cartoon form on the big screen. Yep

Like I think I think the the main issue should

be live -action, but as soon as this happens

it goes it goes Sideways. Yeah Because this is

not normal it's initially it reads very much

like Tron the tron to yeah tron legacy up mixed

with Dr. Strange worlds three -dimensional interpenetrating

planes moving But it's cool and of course the

robot is talking in riddles the whole time To

attempt this will come at great cost. You will

not succeed. Yeah It's these parentheticals that

are happening at the same time. I love those.

Yep. I love it because in my head Those things

are getting said at the same time the voices

are overlapping. Yeah, it's an over. It's yeah

Yeah, absolutely Karen always used to love using

parentheses and writing it at times and and just

yeah, absolutely Yeah, this is so freaking cool

So the robot sends him on this journey and this

is one like I Remember when I got my radiant

black box. I remember when I got issued I gotta

I'm not I'm not gonna stop the podcast I'm not

gonna get up and have to edit out me you hearing

me rumble through my entire Hallway closet to

find the damn thing but unless you want to know

Yeah, because it's running long. Yeah, it's not

that it's running well I don't I don't really

care but like I just I remember when I first

got this and even though back then I didn't have

the giant black light flashlight I have now I

have the little keychain which the keychain was

more than fine to check out the black light on

the book it was I'd love the little black light

radiant black keychain I'm not disparaging that

at all but man I've never done drugs in my life

and I have never had more of an a weird ass black

light acid trip in my life than reading that

physical issue with the black light. It's so

freaking cool. Hey, if I can find my issue, I

might just mail it to you so you don't have to.

I'll have it purchased before the end of the

day. Oh, man. That's hilarious. Find it. So this

is kind of like all over the place We have the

giant robot we have You know to attempt this

will come at great cost you will like you said

you will not succeed Yeah, you mentioned that

will you reconsider you will die He's my best

friend if there's a chance to save him I'll go

wherever I'll Wherever I'll do whatever I have

to I'll hit whatever You understand what I'm

saying? Understood. And yeah. Wait, what? You're

not coming? I cannot follow beyond this space.

Do not despair. You will surely die, but you

will not be alone. Remember, Marshall, there

is only truth in existence. Right. And as he

touches the black hole, it's teleported across

space and time. And I look at this scene like

it's the... Faster than light scene from 2001

space odyssey. Oh, like I see that and then he

lands in another place where the colors are completely

different The style is completely different and

he's met by who what are we calling this guy?

Glitch yeah, I call it. I think everybody calls

him glitch Welcome to existence. So that's where

he got pulled when the hands reached out and

grabbed him. You know, are you kidding me? I

already dealt with you No, your robot acquaintance

did. Then we made a deal, he and I. You are here

to attempt the impossible, to navigate existence

and retrieve your friend. I will guide you to

truth. When you fail, I will retrieve the radiant.

Oh, so you can sync with it and get more dope

powers no goddamn way. Even if I was going to

die, which obviously I wasn't, now I'm going

to make sure I don't, just so you never come

near this thing. I have no interest in sinking,

only protecting the radiant. You have no hope

in existence. Man, I love this book and I know

I'm reading it verbatim on this podcast and it's

taking us forever, but Jesus, it's just so good.

And this is where, like, I can't... I can't tell

what side this guy's on, what his goals are,

and what they're talking about, and I just kind

of let go and go on the ride with it. They're

speaking in riddles, and obviously they know

what's going on, and the creators know what's

going on, but we're just getting those glimpses,

like if we stuck our head underwater and expected

to understand how the fish are talking to each

other, it's overwhelming and different. Very,

very cool, though. The sunless shore keep your

wits there could be all manner of That's probably

a bunch of curse words Take stock before we go

any further. Oh, sorry. What do we have to do

before we go any further? If you don't pay attention

you will die. You already told me I'm gonna die

This place is alive and sentient and only cares

about one thing truth Sorry, I can't keep this

straight. Are we talking about the idea or the

place? Hello, Marshall. Welcome to existence.

Nathan's on fire. Yeah, and see I'm asking questions

like, why did the radiant pull him in here? Why

is he in existence? Does Nathan, does this Nathan

know what existence is? When he leaves does Radiant

know what existence is so I have so many questions

and I'm not gonna find out yet I'm pretty sure

like this is the it's I don't think it's Nathan

Nathan, but it's the robot or something. I don't

know and oh man starting out on this page when

the fiery Nathan shows up and going forward is

when my Brain just went all acid trippy because

get to like page 95 three pages from now Yeah,

yeah, so this page where Nathan shows up the

next page where they're all kind of like fighting

and whatever else and then the next page is the

the the yellow and pink page and orange and this

giant knit version of Nathan it's It's so good,

but it's so much of psych like set like this

is beyond 70s psychedelic like the 1970s psychedelic

stuff and all This dead ain't got nothing on

this. This is like psychedelic overload and This

is very my I'm glad that this came out years

ago and and that it this looks like the spider

verse where they're tripping through all these

different things. And it's not just a different

style of animation. They're mixing everything.

Whoa, hey, this black and yellow world. Wait,

I've got pink on me. And it's very flat silhouettes.

And everything changes from scene to scene. It's

such a cool way to do the work. Yeah, I want

to see this in motion. And I want to see the

Spider -Verse people animate it. That would be

awesome. That would be great. So we have the

page where the giant Nathan is like, there is

only truth and you're lying. There's only truth

in existence. And Marshall, what are you doing?

And it's all these panels. But if you, you know,

obviously you probably see it as maybe a one

or a two page. It's a giant panel of the radiant

symbol. It's broken like as they're doing all

these powerful things with the energies The way

the the art is it's a giant radiant symbol. That

is so freaking cool. Yep. Yeah There was another

page earlier where you had to rotate it to read

all of the text Yeah, I don't know how guided

reading does that but it doesn't it doesn't at

all I so I flipped the book around and it's more

of made me really feel like We're in a fourth

dimensional space. We're in someplace where we

don't have the ability to perceive what's happening

the right way. We just don't have the equipment.

Yeah. And again, why I initially wanted, besides

the fact that the issue 10 was Blacklight, why

I initially wanted issue 10 in physical form,

specifically because I knew it was Blacklight.

I didn't know what was in store, but I figured

because it is special. And I remember what like

you just did flipping it around And then yeah

having to read it all Upside right and left and

what yeah, it's so So cool So yeah, we then go

to the the sea of orange or whatever And we have

here Pant pant. OK, you're OK. Just just keep

going. And at this point, I'm just afraid he

is going to die. Like, I don't want to trade

Marshall for Nathan. Yeah. Yeah, more more more

radiant text. Why are you here? There is only

truth in existence. Why are you here? And only

in a few moments do we finally figure out what

that means. Yes. And again the just the colors

and just everything Just so good and Marshall

says I don't know I thought I did but I didn't

but I don't do you know why I'm here Yes, so

do you my best friend is still alive wherever

you have him He needs to come back. Please. I

just want to save my friend. Why? Because I care

about him. I love him. Stop lying. I'm not lying.

There is only truth in existence. He deserves

this, not me. Why? And again, reading this under

the blacklight was so cool. This specific. Oh,

so cool. He did it. His life has a purpose. He's

actually chasing a dream. He moved on moved on

from what? From his hometown from his family

from me you and He should have I'm nothing. I've

done nothing. Why cuz I'm a slacker I don't know.

I don't know because I'm not enough. Okay. I

am not enough. Why are you here? Because I hate

him. I hate Nathan No, I don't hate him. I hate

what he what he shows me he is Shows me as possible

what he is what I'm not I Hate me and then loud

scream, loud -er scream with another panel that

just is amazing under the blacklight, it really

is. Yeah, these frackle wave patterns. And that's

such as like, I was like, wait, did Doppler show

up? Because really these look like the sound,

you know how sound waves are projected in comics

and pages and on TV. It looks like one of those.

It's a combination of sound waves, and I hate

to say this, but 1970s Aquaman telepathic. Oh,

yeah. Oh my God, Aquaman. Fuck you. You might

think that's true, but it's not the truth. You're

not nothing. It's you. It's really you. Sort

of, yeah, I guess. So we have this whole exchange

with the two of them. Yeah, you can do this.

I can't. Of course you can. I know it. How? How

do you possibly know this? Because there's only

truth in existence. They hug it out and we see

the portal home and, well, let's go home and...

I love the like the final panel like the final

few panels here as they're going into the portal

I think my favorite is the first one when radiant

black kind of looks like Rick He's not ready

at pink but there's a pink outline on him and

there's an orange outline on Nathan and then

it just gets weirder As they get back and they

finally get back to their normal colors. It's

been one hell of an adventure You said it man

And holy crap Chapter 11 awake and that's what

this is what I'm saying Like I thought they were

telling him he had to die. He doesn't seem dead

yet. He doesn't seem dead yet And damn chapter

10 was just oh good Just so good so fun so just

That is a feat comic book art yep yeah there

yeah every single artist letters people who draw

it the anchors all all of you artists that are

working at image comics or for image comics that

worked on radiant black issue number 10 17 million

thumbs up because holy crap and like I've been

saying this whole time looking out under a black

light changes the percent, as cool as it looks

without a black looking, oh my brain. Issue 10

is pretty much the old, this is your brain. This

is your brain on drugs. This is your brain on

comics. Yeah, any questions? Yeah, like. Issue

10, you know, you were talking about earlier

about how things should or should, we were talking

about how things may or may not hold up or things

should be in the thing of their time. This thing

needs to be... There needs to be a super sized

version of this in Museums there needs to be

a radiant black black light for any issue that

they do black light I have not read issue 24.

I mean, I probably have read issue 24, but I

haven't really like dug into it dug into it kind

of thing but Issued any black light comic book

issue that radiant black does It needs to be

a whole exhibit, a whole wing in whatever museum.

I want somebody to build me a building that is

just for a comic book museum so Radiant Black

can have its own blacklight wing. It disappoints

me in a happy way that there's probably not physical

art to hang up on a wall. These pages weren't

penciled. and then inked in traditional ink.

They're likely... It's special, yeah. Yeah, digital

from here, from one step on. But what I'm getting

from that page and from this book is that there

is something interesting going on at Image. And

Image Comics as a whole got its start or its

theme, its direction, was these are comics where

the creator owns the character. It's not DC,

it's not Marvel where these people are writing,

people that the big corporations own. This book

is any media. When I love the media more, it's

because I can see the evidence of the artist

or the creator in love with what they're writing.

And I see how much love for the characters the

creator of this book has and with issues like

that, especially wanting to take it to a place

where we haven't quite seen comics happening.

And maybe I haven't read enough comics, but yeah,

this is probably the first Blacklight kind of

issue. They're trying something new. They're

breaking down barriers and walls, and it's all

done with this love and sensitivity for these

characters that I know that that continued to

grow on me. I did not like marshall After the

first trade, I liked marshall after this I didn't

I mean nathan was nathan. I didn't care. He was

kind of You know not having a good time and lazy

Or or stuck behind writer's block. That's not

an interesting place to be but now I like nathan

i'm glad that We I guess so far maybe have waken

nathan up. Um, yeah, but I like these characters

it took One and two thirds of a trade to make

me really start to care about this book and see

how much the writers and the artists care about

these characters and this book. Like this is

their passion project. That's cool. Yeah. Absolutely.

All right. Like you said, Eleven Awake. Lockport,

Illinois. Marshall's House. Home. That's convenient.

Oh. Oh. Nathan runs out of his house. All these

packs. So he's been gone. He disappeared for

like two weeks or however. They'll say in a moment

how long he's been gone. But all these packages,

he trips over the damn packages in the rain.

Oof. And he runs to the hospital. Sir, if you're

looking for the emergency room, don't. Just...

Nathan. Where's Nathan? He's being worked on

in physical therapy. Nathan? Hey, look who it

is. Ah, damn it. Careful, Mr. Burnett. Can I

take a quick break? I need to catch up with my

friend. Of course. Gosh, what a blessing to have

so many people looking out for you. Dude, where

have you been? What? Nowhere. I mean nowhere

else. I came straight here. Where is everyone?

And like, Jesus, they don't mess around when

they say start PT immediately. Marshall, I woke

up. Oh, it's been six weeks. I woke up six weeks

ago. Six weeks. So. We get all that. He checks

his phone and all. You okay? The robot did say

time worked differently. You talked to the robot?

Yeah. There's so much we gotta catch up on. Like,

do you even know about the glitchy guy or the

other ones? Red's maybe not as awful as we thought.

Pink is cool. Yellow sucks. Right. Sorry. We

don't. You know have to talk about all of that

if you don't want to if it's weird No, man, it's

cool. I'm happy for you. I'm just tired and Okay,

so they were out of the coconut, but I think

you're going to what? Oh Marshall hello Haven't

heard from you in a while. Hi, Mrs. Burnett.

Yeah. Well, how's it going? Since we last saw

you when we thought Nathan was dying and you

decided to fine. We're doing fine Nathan Honey,

we'll give you two some time Bye Marshall And

I've been telling her that you must have had

a good reason to leave but she's not buying it

Well, thanks for trying. I have my back at least

I could do well, maybe the most I can do now

Oh shit, what? Nobody knows where I am! Fail,

fail, fail. George, you startled me. Sorry, Dr.

Ronga, or Wonga, I don't know how to, I'm sorry,

I'm mispronouncing that. So this is the Doppler

guy, this is the Doppler chick, right? I forgot

about Doppler and this little jump here from

Uh -huh Marshall to her like it wait wait what's

going on and then I I had to read a bit to figure

it out, but yeah Okay, I'm sorry really sorry

I know I messed up here, but I didn't do it on

purpose I had to leave and it was legit for a

super important Some people thought you might

have you know wishful thinking I'm sorry is no

one gonna talk about her late fees You left your

dog here Marshall you're out leave now And Fine

I don't need this bullshit you run this place

into the ground Without me I can't I can't wait

Okay, totally started interrupt the heist the

the hissy fit But is now maybe actually the perfect

time for a killer job offer So this is radiant

pink coming out of one of her portals Remember

Doppler chew chew sound check fake cowl fan He

was seriously. How could you forget? How could

I forget? She's really been on one she's branched

out into Indiana and Wisconsin and even a third

Midwest town in Michigan. Hey, I Live there.

Yeah, so this is when they start talking about

Midwest Michigan Lake Michigan all that stuff

I start asking like I wonder where the creators

from I haven't looked that up yet, but I I bet

they're reasonably local. Probably. Well, Kyle

Higgins is originally from Chicago, Illinois.

Joe Clark lives in, I think Joe still is in Chicago.

Kyle currently is out in LA as far as I know.

But I mean, you know, Midwesterners got to stick

with Midwesterners, right? Like it's all between

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, all that

stuff. So you want me to be your Andy Richter

try again, I'm not a hundred years old dated

reference ouch You need help well not per se

but I was thinking a Satomi still has bad guy

on her Twitter and be Wendell is old but see

we could introduce your character to the channel

With a matchup against an old nemesis we live

stream the whole Quest the search the confrontation

the rehashing of old wounds hell we could even

make a Make the fight a patreon exclusive at

this point. Do we know that she's a streamer?

Yes, she mentioned it in the There was was an

issue seven or eight where She was streaming

from her radiant pink costume Okay, there was

a point where she said, okay pinkies. That's

all for this dream Gotta sign off for like I

remember. Yeah, so we do know she is a streamer.

I don't even like tequila So they go Well, no,

so yeah Marshall says I don't even like tequila

and we cut to Okay, so obviously we're going

to do a video about fire proofing the the mannequin

the mannequin shouldn't Fire proving the mannequin

shouldn't catch on fire. Yeah, I'm gonna try

another fender So I believe these are the villains

Yeah, these are the guys who found that yeah,

right? Okay, and that's where all the people

with the suits have been coming from yep. Yep.

Yep. Oh I got it now. Yep And this is where Doppler

is and all that and yeah, so cool. So very very

awesome I never thought I'd be able to play again.

I am the lucky one And yeah So then we get to

them going off and and and Radiant and we get

the stream and it literally looks like a twitch

stream like I love the again this comic series

is so cool with the way that they adapt like

from writing day and and you know the whole computer

screen thing with the blanks and all that to

now you know showing like an actual twitch stream

in a comic it's so freaking cool i don't i don't

sound like a moron saying that because i'm i

don't want to say anybody could do this but seriously

they have such such cool cool stuff that they

do in this comic. A question I had when I was

reading in the beginning and here I get to a

point where like, no, no, no, this is what it's

supposed to be. It's a relevant story for now

and it'll be a picture of what it was like to

be alive now. And I like that as what it's like

to be alive now from several different perspectives.

It's from the millennial perspective. I mean,

you and I fall into the very first possible year

to be a millennial. Where we are slightly disconnected

from the youth today that do this stuff. It's

just it's neat It's a it's a well -written book

in that way. I Still think of myself as a Gen

X or only because millennial just seems like

anyone that was born after 1999 to me, but that's

just me because That was the end of the old Millennium

and 2000 was the beginning of the new Millennium

kind of I just we are in that weird spot where

yeah I remember black and white TVs remember

record albums Yeah, but I also remember being

able to connect to the internet on a 14 -4 modem

through my phone line where you can't pick up

the phone and I remember a world before Google,

but I also Know how to use Google properly We

are bridging that gap, yours and my generation,

and that makes us different from Millennials

and Gen Xers. Gen Xers, in my imagination, they

are more fearful of technology, not to a great

degree. They did grow up with the Jetsons and

watching that, but they're not going to be watching

a Twitch stream. Yeah, we didn't have video phones

until way later. The Jetsons is fantasy land.

Oh, man. So I just I love this book for what

it is. It's such a. Absolutely. Mars Cheese Castle.

So we get to later. I drove by that not long

ago when I went to the M .G .C. gaming convention.

in milwaukee i think i we drove by that castle

on the highway there you go at the possum uh

at the possum wanter wow what an unfortunate

name uh in milwaukee wisconsin said at radiant

pink is this is that the guy you're looking for

no oh where the oh come on the possum wanter

saw her here Hey What are you no, no, no, no,

no, no the possum watcher was right Funny how

we keep meeting this way And again, I am If I

like yes, I'm actually looking at this and I'm

reading it, you know for the podcast and on the

podcast sometimes all the time but I've always

loved sound more than visuals. I love being able

to hear things Like I I think I said this in

episode 525 when we talked about volume 1 I Would

if it's a TV show that I've like watched a million

times like any any of the true crime shows like

forensic files I have seen every single episode

of all 14 seasons of forensic files more times

than I've been alive kind of thing. I can tell

you within two seconds of what Peter Thomas,

the narrator, is saying, which case it is and

who is actually going to be going to jail. You

were saying how you kind of saw the end of the

other issue. I can tell you within five seconds

of any episode of Forensic Files being on which

case it is and all that. I just love seeing sound

waves. Like, I just, I love that, you know, a

sound villain. You just don't get it. Boom! No,

I didn't mean to. Why was that? Go, go, go, go,

go, go! More explosions, more of this, more of

that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you an angel? No,

ma 'am. I'm a millennial. That's funny. You have

eyes on Doppler. Lost her, but we totally have

a lead. How do you know it's her car? Does this

look like the kind of car you'd steal? Buddy,

think bigger and look for clues. She's a student.

She's a this she's a that so they feed so again

more and more gimme gimme. Oh jeez she has She

has ever closed and jeez has she ever closed

an app got a name I love that people problem

exactly Anna Rana. Two Silent Jays. Oh, okay.

Well, that's one way to read it. Looks like musician

she has a SoundCloud. Um, RB, check it out. What

am I looking at? Epic Front. They're like Lifehacker

brand channel. They make videos to show you how

to make things in your life more epic. That glitch

remind you of anyone? Oh boy, here we go. No,

no, no get out of here. The news is just one

big loop of you blowing up those old guys. Oh

Boy so we have this fight we have her kind of

powering up and Now oh, yes. Yes. Yes where she's

he's the bad guys accusing her of like you're

making us look bad because you blew up those

old guys with the power that we charged you with.

And she's talking about, no, no, no, it wasn't

the battery. That's another hint. And they've

dropped three of them in this trade where I think

the other guys, the other the other radiant team

can feed off of radiant blacks energy like glitch

feeds off of all of their energy. Right. And

that's that's like a one way thing. So I think.

He accidentally supercharged her like he charged

radiant pink to do the teleporting right or far

away. And there is something interesting about

radiant black being possibly different from the

other three. Yeah. And and because radiant black,

when he supercharges, he can he grows the cape,

the cape. So I'm I'm just interested in seeing

what those little cookie crumbs are. Yes. Right,

that's the metaphor right crumbs cookie crumbs.

It's all kind of crumbs Jesus that hurts my ears

what No stone cold is not radiant black folks

what Now you're gonna get it Are they really

gonna try this? Yep What wait Did all this for

you. I I just wanted to play again you wanted

to play Play that oh this lot. Yeah Lately on

toy over on the toy podcast I Haven't been closing

the show with this but I kind of want to because

I want to make it sound more sinister but remember

in Toy Story When Sid tries looking at Woody

And what he's like, so remember kids, play nice.

And it's the first time Sid sees Woody and Sid

just freaks, like the whole play nice thing,

I'm like, I need to make that a thing that I

work into my podcast, intros and outros, because

I just love that. So he says, play nice. And

Doppler is just crying and crying and crying.

Uh, well, this doesn't feel right. Alright, Stream,

justice served. That's it for me, Pinkies, logging

off. Uh, please don't. Go, stop breaking the

law. So they let her go, essentially. They give

her a break. Um, and Pink and Black kind of discuss

slash argue about this. And this feels right

more and more. Right feels hard to find. Oh,

hey, JJ. How have you been? Okay. They're still

giving him the cold shoulder because he was gone

for six weeks. Yep. Despite my best efforts,

everybody's still mad at you for disappearing.

Well, except for your job. I fixed that. You

did? Nathan wants some sleep somehow and Marshall

tells him about He says So see you tomorrow Wouldn't

be anywhere else. Oh, and if you're having a

hard time sleeping I found a SoundCloud you might

dig and it's the It's the the Doppler SoundCloud

and We see Nathan just with his earbuds in and

the music kind of coming out of it and all of

a sudden ah Hello, Nathan The Radiance talking

to Nathan in his head, you know Like I'm gonna

go look up that artist on SoundCloud I You might

have to search radiant black, but I'm not sure

if I don't know if if she is actually on That

would be cool though if she was just to be able

to again anything these creators do that I'd

get my hands on if it's Music or if it's what

like music so far. We have the radiant song from

from crisis couture We Sam Ewing I forgot it

earlier Sam Ewing is the composer to the radiant

black score that I that I had sent you the instrumental

for the first six issues Why did I say I hate

when I say um you people stop making me say um

Not you not you know people not you Joe you people

out there Put a microphone in front of your face.

You say um every other word anyway Sam Ewing

is the composer for the radiant black score for

issues one through six. He's the one that did

all of that I want more of that like I'm waiting

for like This trade needs issues 7 to 12. They

need a Sam Ewing score. Please. Please. Because

as good as the first six are, they go with the

first six issues. And it's nice to be able to

listen to them by themselves. But I want more.

Please give me more. All right. Have you found

what you were looking for? She is not on SoundCloud.

I started poking around for some radiant black

things and sand ewing, but I either can't spell

it or can't find it. So it's out there, folks.

It should be a link in your Facebook Messenger.

Yeah, so yeah, you can get that. So all right,

we get to issue 12. Issue 12's title? Pink. This

was probably the radiant pink single issue. Yes,

it was the single again. So they have five issues

of story. The sixth issue is a character issue.

It's a it's kind of like a, hey, we're going

to give you a little break from this. This is

what Kyle did way back when he was doing Kyle,

Kyle, Kyle can rhymes. So, yes, this was her

character introduction. This is her story. This

is issue 12. So issue 18, I will, this isn't

a spoiler, I'm not gonna spoil the story, but

I'm just gonna tell you, issue 18 is the radiant

yellow origin, it's Wendell's origin. I like

him. Yeah, Wendell's cool. So we see Eva, and

she's doing all the streaming stuff, and thanks

BK for the... Resub 17 months strong enjoy the

new badge. Okay today. We're firing up the sweet

new game Stray, it's about an awesome little

cat who wears an awesome little backpack But

first is an awesome game folks. That's really

it's a real game and that's really good Yes,

it is very very good. So she is fully engaging

in the streamer culture thing. I Through no man's

sky that space game i play i discovered some

streamers on whatever the streaming twitch and

i watch it and it's i don't watch it regularly

i watch it when there's nothing else that i need

to be watching and it's such a weird thing as

an older person watching that and seeing what

engagement looks like and how you're encouraged

to build these parasocial relationships with

your viewers making them feel like you're the

they're the only one watching Engaging with them

when they comment it seems exhausting to be on

the streamer end of that I actually have a student

a former student who is a I don't know what yeah

I forgot what they call them because I'm old

now but the cartoon character that they that

animates over their body And that's how she makes

her living like she's been able to quit her real

job to do that Nice like I make my living as

a cartoon character. She sometimes says But it's

such a weird thing and radiant pink here, Eva

is fully engaging with that. How much more current

could you be by showing that right now? And her

grandmother is like, eat another orange. And

I hear the abuelita in the accent. You wouldn't

know it because skin tones change based on environment,

but she's obviously Latina of some sort. Miha,

you hit your sub -goal. She's like, oh, so grandma's

watching in the other room. It's so cute. Eat

another orange, Miha. You look hungry. Yes. You're

too thin. And of course, back in the 80s, folks,

Our grandparents would always tell us that like,

I was, I'm an old fat guy now, but back when

I was, you know, four, five, six, seven, eight,

nine, 10, 11 years old, I was a skinny kid. And

my grandmother, here, would you like some pizza?

You want me to cook you some French fries? How

about some hamburger? Like my grandmother, my

mom's mom, and I'm sure my dad's mom as well,

but I was more... In touch with and spent more

time with my grandmother on my mom's side. So

Nana she Every time I Walk in the door. Let me

get up. Let me fix you something. I'm like Grandma

Nana's please sit down. I was always like was

that the cookie jar Cookie if you're hungry,

no, no here have a carrot Have a carrot have

a carrot a celery stick and then oh by the way,

there's there's there's American chop suey for

dinner or or something So Yes, no, we're on the

same page. I know there's to be no Crumbles in

shot. Oh my god. I was kidding so she's going

through the whole streamer life and click click

click All of that, and we see basically her everyday

life, and we get to a panel where she's got another

tweet out there. December 6th. Hey, that was

the day Karen and I got married. Subathon starts

now. We max out at 12 hours, and I can't wait

to spend all day with you guys. Hey, I'm Eva

Plays. Welcome to the Subathon. And we see her

cat. And her cat decides to jump up. Hit the

microphone and destroy it No She runs to Best

Buy so pets oh boy Besides the fact that I don't

drive because of my cerebral palsy and everything

else and besides the fact that I don't like leaving

my house half the time and Nowadays as we're

recording this in the midst of having all this

bad air quality and everything else I grew up

with all kinds of pets. I grew up with dogs,

rabbits, and all kinds of stuff. I didn't grow

up with cats, but Karen had a cat named Lacey,

and slowly Lacey and I came to love each other

at some point or another. And when Karen passed,

because I couldn't, how am I gonna get a cat

to a vet? Like, you know what I mean? Like, yeah,

I could put her in the... in the in the cat carrier

I could call an uber and have but that's more

money I have to pay to you know for transportation

and I'm not saying I don't want to pay the money

for the transportation that's not the point the

point is yeah so by myself I don't deal with

any kind of pets or anything like that because

of not just because of situations like Eva just

found herself in but have any you guys have pets

don't you yeah we got a Cranky dog and three

guinea pigs. Okay. Does the cranky dog ever like,

you know jump up on you when you're recording?

I don't think the cranky dog does I've never

heard the cranky dog do that. Oh, no, he's he's

uh, he's sleeping somewhere. He's upstairs So

even runs the Best Buy And they're not afraid

to call it Best Buy I like that. Yeah, not afraid

and Pretty much. I mean they they got it I mean

it quite literally looks like what you would

see if you went into a Best Buy mm -hmm and Hey,

I'm Wendell. Can I help you find something? Yes,

I'm trying to find a microphone, but you're out

and Please tell me you have mics in the back

Y 'all are too good at what you do been sold

out for a while actually everyone wants to be

a streamer nowadays You've got nothing, not even

like a gaming headset. Last one went this morning.

What happened? Did it fall off the arm? Uh, yeah.

Honestly, I bet it looks worse than it is. If

the element's probably just loose, I'm sure I

could fix it. Seriously? Not right, as he looks

back at his younger bu - So Wendell is an old

guy. Wendell is, you know... He's got some age

on him, but his boss looks like he's 17 in that

panel. Not right this second, but I'm closing

tonight. You bring it by around 945. I can work

on it in home theater repair. No, no, no, no,

no. Tonight's too late. I need this right now.

I have people waiting on me. I could turn into

a mime. Isn't that supposed to be funny? I love

there. I love the way that we are introduced

to the two of them in this We're obviously this

is her story, but we get introduced to him and

we get their Interaction in there, you know how

they are with each other. It's a them origin

Yeah kind of thing and obviously Wendell's full

origin as I mentioned earlier will be issue 18

but it's yeah, it's it's very very cool and Eva

okay yeah a day to myself that does sound nice

hey do you want to get lunch it's 10 a .m. I've

been up since 530 I was thinking sunrise come

on we can get a spot outside with one of those

cool heaters Eva so apparently this is her girlfriend

Which is fine. That's it's not you know Wait,

what happened to the stream did seriously delayed

again? It's good for a relationship or something

Crap all the toys just fell over ladies and gentlemen,

I know it's a noise Alright, so what are we thinking

so far with this? How do how are we liking Eva

as a character? I was I was Minorly thrown as

I didn't exactly realize it was a radiant pink

origin issue until Further into the book and

so it was a little weird that they didn't Seem

to know each other that he wasn't willing to

fix it first. So like I thought this was sequential

Because I didn't buy the book separately it all

came yeah thing but it's neat to See them take

something so culturally relevant right now, which

is streaming and show you that behind the scenes

side of it. Oh, my microphone broke. My stream

is delayed. People can't get there. And then

now we're getting to see her figure things out

with her girlfriend who now we like maintaining

a real world relationship while you're trying

to also maintain these parasocial relationships,

these fake relationships you have with. the viewers

and how that can affect your relationship with

real people and how they don't understand it.

There was one time in a Louisville, Kentucky

alleyway where you and I met in front of a concert,

but other than that, we've never really hung

out. I don't see online relationships, whether

you call them parasocial or whatever, I don't

see them as fake. They're like Steve is my best

friend. He's been my best friend since we started

talking on Twitter back in 2008 Steve and I have

only ever met once in person when he was the

best man at my wedding in 2017 You know, but

it's like one of those things where I don't see

online relations like if we're sitting here on

a podcast discussing a comic book or if we're

Just sitting here shooting the shit and catching

up with each other and not recording anything

It's still a relationship. Yeah, and I think

I think where a real relationship like what you

and I have is different from the parasocial relationship

is like You and I we can we can talk and the

coolest thing in the world was when we met and

it Didn't feel like we hadn't ever met before.

Yeah, I like I think that's the That's really

kind of the difference of of that like I have

And I'm not just dropping this to drop it, but

I have Jim Lawson's email address and I have

him on Facebook and I have his wife's contact

information on Facebook, but that is very much

a parasol for relationship like he talks to hundreds

of people and and has other dealings and he's

living this completely other life that I don't

even understand but when I need to or if something

comes up I don't I don't have to worry about

texting him, but I do because he's like this

giant celebrity to me. That's not a real relationship

and it's his job as a content producer to maintain

that relationship because it's financially beneficial

for him to do so because I gave him money all

the time buying drawings and art and books. Thought

about this like it's it's hard for me to not

go overboard with that And to understand the

fact that yes, he's a different human being I

don't have to navigate that with you or With

Mike or with art with Mike you're on the street

for me. Yeah. Yeah, and you don't have to navigate

that with Steve. Yeah And and and that's that's

interesting, you know that that sort of thing

too and Gosh, yeah, there's a lot to do a lot

to do with that and but I see here in this comic

Eva's trying to navigate maintaining those parasocial

relationships, which She knows it's important

to her viewers that they know that she's okay

and that she's gonna be there But her real -life

real -world girlfriend does not understand These

people that really do not matter their income

if if she just if Eva disappears these people

will find another streamer to watch and to fall

in love with Barring the mentally ill but That's

what I think makes it the parasocial relationship

in this particular situation and The girlfriend

does not understand that at least I'm doing what

matters. She says oh ouch That hurts Yep, shit.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean yeah Well, you said

it though may not have meant it but you said

it Take your time unsubscribing what a waste

Yeah, and how these parasocial relationships

dumping her are affecting her as well as the

real relationships dumping her That has got to

create a lot of anxiety. Yeah Hey, oh, you're

early really early. Yeah, sorry tonight is Not

going to work. I I gotta figure this out. All

right, so people will stop Yelling at me and

the sponsors won't bail and like my girlfriend

is wrong. Okay So like could you please even

just tell me what to do. I'll go a different

aisle or your boss, so your boss won't even know,

et cetera, et cetera. And says, what do you want

out of all of this? Hang on a second. Sorry.

What do you want out of all of this? Want? I

don't like. What that what does that even mean

the world's on fire everybody's pissed off Nothing's

working for anybody. How could I want anything?

except to try and make some kind of difference

in Even just a little but I can't do that without

a microphone Because apparently this is all I

am and I was supposed to be so embrace it, right?

he smiles and she goes on and He I think works

his magic and I'm doing a favor for the owner.

I've got the site until next week and This And

we see a pink radiant Well, that's like the thingy

on the helmeted guys, this is an actual tiny

black hole is that possible? Scientists think

the smallest ones are just an atom, actually.

Although this one is a little different. Honey,

how did you find it? How did it get here? Can

I touch it? Two nights ago, it just appeared.

Then I saw you here right now. Well, not right

now, because you're early. I had no idea who

you were, but then you walked into my store this

morning. And you started talking and it made

even less sense. I mean, no disrespect, Eva,

but you're so young and these things, we've seen

how powerful they are. And he goes on and says,

you should touch it. She touches it and radiant

pink is born. Holy wow. And I see, I, in this

beautiful two page spread, I didn't. exactly

understand what's happening, but she's falling

through portals over and over and over again,

going from here to there to here to there. And

he finally nabs her and pulls her out of the

loop. Which is kind of funny. I'm channeling

my memories of playing Portal 1 and 2. Yeah,

OK, that was slightly unexpected. Where? Oh my

god, you don't have eyes. What the hell is going

on? Where are we? and Okay, so technically That's

a visor. He does have eyes. I mean I Don't know.

I mean his eyes are still there. Yeah, I don't

have a hard time looking at this It must just

really bother her. Yes Yeah Whoa, it's okay.

You're back in Indiana now What did I do the

whoa So again, I love as I've said in the past

two hours how they are showing each of them Figuring

out their powers like you don't just touch a

radiant immediately You know everything Mm -hmm.

It's a learning experience being a superhero.

It should always be a learning experience with

superpowers How great does my ass look in this

suit? What fuck oh Hey, it's me. Oh my gosh.

So sorry really thought that would be funnier

and her girlfriend just can't Can't deal with

it. Just can't can't take it at all. Sometimes

adventures have to end, and she sits out on the

edge of forever. Ah, you stayed local. Nothing

quite like Lake Michigan at night, huh? I guess.

Yay! What happened? My girlfriend broke up with

me. I'm sorry. Thanks! Honestly, though, it's

okay the timing was never right and maybe I'm

not where I'm supposed to be yet She says more

paraphrasing here And then window says hmm, I've

never been much of a believer in supposed to

I always lived in the present until this thing

showed up and he shows his radiant and and All

of that still something fulfills you So Yeah,

it's very very cool Very fun And man it just

it's so nice seeing the You know seeing how they

have they have this conversation and it the book

ends on so what's next? So very cliffhanger a

Unlike the the radiant red issue for issue 6

this was very like this is you know Pretty much

going to I don't think I don't if I remember

right issue 13 doesn't I don't remember Russia

3 We'll find out in episode 5 3 of the podcast,

but but yeah Before we get to the cover gallery

overall What are you reading? Well, do we want

to talk about radiant pink's issue or do we want

to talk about the trade as a whole? We can talk

about her issue first and then talk about the

trade as a whole. This book did a good job of

making me actually like radiant pink. We don't

know who these people are in the beginning and

lines are just getting spoken so I don't have

a relationship built with them, but this issue

drew the picture of who she is and now I actually

care. About her and and it's now the whole streaming

thing from that her helmet makes a lot more sense

For me because I guess I forgot she was a streamer

from the first trade. But yeah Yeah, I like that.

I mean, I think it was said in the first trade,

but I think it was also more so said When we

saw her earlier in this year, I think so But

yeah, what else Then my thoughts go to the entire

trade because I think this trade did a really

wonderful job of making me actually like the

characters in the first one. Honestly, I would

not have continued reading the book after that

trade if I bought it up separate from the podcast

but now that I've gotten through this, I see

the love for the characters. That the creators

have for doing the book the relationships are

finally really coming together and Through all

of that being able to take the time to do the

crazy things that that the writers want to do

with this I see how awesome it is to have this

Creator owned book, you know image that being

their thing They've given them the time and the

space to do what they're doing and all of that

is awesome Yeah, absolutely it is. It is so cool

Alright folks at some point in this episode You're

probably gonna hear a different ad break before

this but we're gonna take a quick ad break and

We'll come back to close the show with ratings

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If you think this sounds cool, check it out sometime.

I hope you do. We are back here inside the pull

bag with radiant black volume 2 Team up issues

7 to 12 0 to 5 sir. What are you gonna give it?

And an ironic 5 I think it is a totally worth

reading for just about anybody. I think books

that are Trying to be this current and doing

the things that they're doing in here. It's worth

being aware of For sure. Absolutely. Very much

so. It gives me a lot of perspective as to why

I do not enjoy reading ongoing Superman, ongoing

Batman. As much as I love those characters, it

doesn't feel like this book feels. Yep. Absolutely.

I am also going to give it a five. I love the

character development. I love that we have now...

Nathan back and he can be in the fold which actually

Will come into play way way way way way later

having both Nathan and Marshall Doing the radiant

thing but Yeah, it's still very cool fives all

around again I would give this trade a five simply

because of the blacklight issue even though you

know Whatever but that that issue 10 and when

we get to I think it's volume either 3 or 4 no

volume 3 is issues 13 to 18 volume 4 which is

now yet I think is 19 to 24 24 is another blacklight

issue which I actually have the physical copy

in my hand 12 and 24 today 10 10 and 24 Alright

folks, that's going to do it for us. Thank you

for joining us here inside the pull bag. If you'd

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for the network at the pull bag for the show

I am at TFU and Mike Joe doesn't use it anymore

But if you want to follow him, he is at Joe Reed

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also check out the pull bag over there as well

as geek stuff garage sale Have we figured out

details yet? uh i'm gonna that's i'm gonna use

that as an excuse to go up to the comic store

today because He's the host and will be in his

backyard. We we know it's uh end of september

beginning of october on a saturday Probably september.

I think of course he's gonna say yes. So last

saturday in september this year. Very cool. Very

cool for now. I am tfg1 mike with Joe Reed geek.

Yeah, as always yep something like that See you

later listeners. He's a turtle fan that that

that That doesn't like water makes no sense as

always make your greatest keep the comics. We

will catch you next time And you can look at

this later, not during the recording, if I can

find the stupid image. Of course I can't, which

obviously I will edit all of this out. Come on,

come on, come on, where is that stupid image?

Damn it, where is it, where is it, where is it,

where is it, where is it? Red and black, red

and black. Damn it, where'd it go? Anyway. Oh,

here they are, here they are. Oh, cool. You've

just heard the latest episode of The Pullback.

the GCRN's first comic review and discussion

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