Comic Book Origins with Delvin Williams

Hi, I'm Phil Lamar, voice of Green Lantern and

Justice League, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Hi, this is John Barber. You are

listening to The Pull Bag. You've just jumped

inside The Pull Bag. Join TFG1 Mike and the rest

of the comic crew here at the GCRN as they make

their great escape into comics. From DC, Marvel,

and Image to IDW, Boom Studios, and Xenoscope,

we have everything right here. We cover things

like Transformers, He -Man, 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.

Welcome to The Pull Bag. This is episode 541.

I'm, of course, TF Joe and Mike. And, ladies

and gentlemen, it's 2024. And I had plans to

go crazy with this show this year and record

about 160 episodes. And I don't think that's

going to happen. Because in a couple of weeks,

I'm probably going to have to go in for a second

brain surgery. Yay! More details on that at some

other time, at least after I get more information

on it. I'm sort of okay, but not really. Joining

me is one third quarter, whatever fraction you

want to call it. From Longbox Crusade and other

things he does, it is Mr. Delvin Williams. Hello,

Delvin. How are you? It's weird. I'm not used

to being called Mr. Anything, but I'm good, Mike.

Thank you for having me on the show. Absolutely.

Yes, this has been a long time coming, folks.

I watch a lot of his... Not Facebook. How the

hell do you do those? Stories and stuff when

he's out running and jogging and stuff. I'm like,

oh, okay. And I've listened to a few episodes

of The Long Box Crusade. Great show, as always.

But, yeah. Always trying to get the origins of

any and all comic fans that I can. 30 questions

all about comic books. And someone recently told

me that usually our first question that I ask

anyone is is a dumb one because why would I have

somebody on the show if they didn't do this but

some people start later than others so did you

grow up reading comics and at what age do you

first remember reading or noticing comics yeah

I mean for what it's worth I don't think that's

a dumb question at all because you never know

when like anybody has started their their journey

like so so I mean that's and Comic books in the

right way should be all inclusive. So, yeah,

like I mean, so whether or not you started when

you were four or 40, it doesn't matter. You know,

we are glad to have you along for the ride. Just

just want to mention that. But that said, I started

collecting comic books when I was nine and I

am a lot older than nine now. Yeah, it's been

a minute. I am not new to the game of comic books.

Yeah, 11 years for me. I was never, and people

have heard me, I'm going to try to tell this

story slightly differently. It's the same story,

but I'm just wording it differently. I was always

a cartoon kid in the 80s because I was born in

1980, so I wasn't really a comics kid. I tried

in the 90s, but I just, I was more, and 11 years

ago. 11 years or so ago, Steve Megatron was like,

yeah, new 52 Batman 13, look at the cover. I'm

like, oh, Joker with his face. Okay, all right.

And ever since that, for 11 years now almost,

we've 540 episodes in 11 years. That's a lot

of episodes, dude. I'm a machine. But yeah, man.

And it just, yeah, comics is, it's great. It's,

you know, you've got so many different things

for so many different people. And you don't have

to stick to one thing or the other thing and

try out a whole bunch of stuff. It's like an

early bird special buffet. I tell people all

the time that there's a comic book for everybody.

And I don't just say that condescendingly. I

mean it. Like, there are so many different types

of. comic books out there uh either mainstream

or creator -owned there is something that you're

into that you can find in comic book form that

is just simply a fact yeah absolutely and comic

books have the distinction of being able to tell

a story over a long period of time you don't

have to fit in a comic story within two and a

half to seven and a half hours depending on if

you're Zack Snyder or somebody else that likes

doing seven and a half hour films. You know,

but usually with movies or cartoons or television

shows, you have a finite 30 minutes, an hour,

two and a half, like I said, hours, whatever

it is, comic books, depending on how well they

sell and how well they do and all that, you can

tell multiple stories over multiple arcs. And

there have been plenty of, Comics in the history

of comics that have gone a thousand plus issues.

So, you know, it's infinite. Yeah, totally agree

with that. Now, I remember years ago when I was

in the Air Force, I mean, just starting out,

like I bring comic books on the cruise ship that

I was a part of and I would read them. And one

of my bosses asked me to read it. And it was

it was Ultimate Spider -Man. It had just really

come out. that annoyed him the most about it

was that he couldn't keep reading it and so like

what like i and i wasn't really trying to get

my uh boss hip to comic books or anything but

like i guess what i probably should have done

is recommend to him like a trade paperback or

something so that he could have gotten all of

the story but i mean again it was brand new at

the time so like who knew it was gonna take off

or anything but That was his annoyance with it,

but most people kind of like that. It's like

little bite -sized pieces that you can just consume

and just go forth with. Yep, absolutely. As a

kid, was there a parent, a friend, some sort

of adult that just said, here kid, read this

comic, go away, you bother me? No, but close.

When my comic book origin story started when,

again, at nine, I had in my head, it was like

about six dollars in my pocket. And I grew up

in the 80s, too. I'm a little bit older than

you are. And like so six dollars, I may as well

have been a millionaire. And I wanted to go and

buy like a new Transformer toy because like the

small ones, like, you know, the Bumblebee type

toys are relatively cheap. I was like, OK, cool.

I'm going to do this. Mom, please take me to

the mall. And my mom said, OK, I'll take you

to the mall, you know, if I get a chance. Well,

I'm sure she was doing something very important

and very grown up, but she was not able to take

me to go get a toy. And so I was like, you know,

a kid bugged the hell out of her and bugged her

and bugged her. So she wound up driving me to

the local drugstore. And I remember she said,

well, like, you better find something in here

and leave me alone. And I knew that there weren't

any toys in that drugstore. And so like, but

I also knew that I better leave my mom alone

lest I catch a backhand or something. And so

I went walking down the aisles and lo and behold,

there was a comic book rack. And lo and behold,

on that comic book rack was an issue or excuse

me, an episode of Transformers. It was Transformers

24, by the way. And that was the one where Optimus

Prime died. Do not grieve. Soon, I shall be one

with the Matrix. So. I say all this to say that,

like, my mom was doing a go away, you bother

me type thing. But it was more so I could just

leave her alone. And she wound up inadvertently

creating a monster. There you go. There you go.

When you were a kid, which characters were your

favorites? So, like, comic book characters, if

I started with Transformers. And so in Transformers

24, I don't know if you remember or not, Optimus

Prime died. he was blown to smithereens um and

so like i what really created the monster was

i spent like the next couple of months like no

they're kidding right surely surely he's coming

back surely he's coming back and he didn't but

like so like optimus prime was uh one of my guys

and i uh I appreciated the heroism of Blaster

as well during that run leading back up to Optimus.

And I also appreciated the conflict that Fortress

Maximus had going on. Now, mainstream comic wise,

I wish I could remember why. It was probably

looking at a house ad or something like that.

But I really like Spider -Man. And so Spider

-Man was my first mainstream Marvel comic that

I collected. Amazing Spider -Man. So, like, Spidey

now and forever will be my guy. He's my number

one dude. What did you think of Superior when

they switched it up and made Doc Ock Spidey if

you numbered a decade ago or so? It was a fantastic

idea. Like, I don't know what fever dream Dan

Slott had to come up with that, but it was, and

he snuck it in out of left field, too. They introduced

this whole, like, woe is me storyline. I'm Doc

Ock. I've been punched in the head way too many

times by freaking, like, overpowered freaks.

And I'm about to have my last call. And basically,

ask Peter. Or Spider -Man is like, dude, I'm

about to die. Like, tell me who you are. And

Pete's like, okay, fine. And pulled off the mask.

And then, boom! That's when they pulled the switch.

It was like, oh, what? What is going on? Oh,

it was great. It was such a great storyline.

Yeah, I love that run. We actually, it's how

one of the things the podcast started on was

we started on New 52 between Batman, Nightwing

Batgirl, and we started on Superior Spider -Man

because back in 2013 when we were starting the

show. 698 to 700 came out, so you get 700 issues

of ASM. And in 2013, I was tired. Like, I've

read or I've seen or whatever, every version

of every origin of Peter Parker that there has

ever been in the X number of whatever years.

I'm like, I don't want to read the same old Peter.

I want to read something different. And then

Superior comes along. I'm like, OK, you got my

attention. Holy crap. Yeah, it was so well done.

And at the end of the day, of course, Dan Slott

can say, I mean, it was. It was, no pun intended,

an ultimate Spider -Man story. It really was.

Because by the time that, like, Peter found his

way back and, like, Green Goblin had been sort

of in and out of the book. I think Green Goblin

figured out that it was Doc Ock in the body and

not Peter. But at some point, Doc Ock's body

was doing something and then Peter Parker replied

or whatever. No, no, no. I'm reversing it. At

that point, Peter Parker got his body back. And

Peter Parker made a quip or something to Green

Goblin. And Green Goblin just looks at him, just

goes, you. You. Like, I know exactly who makes

these freaking quips and insults, and it is not

Otto Octavius. No. Yeah, Dan Slott, that was

an absolute winner of a storyline. Absolute winner.

Absolutely. Yeah. The difference between Peter

and Otto is Peter will do the quips. As we all

know, we've known since 1962, Peter is a quippy

teenager. Otto is punch first, say things later.

Right. Like, I mean, like that number he pulled

on Black Cat was just like, I mean, just ran

and socked her in the mouth. Like, oh my God.

So yeah, you're right. Like they were just like,

and so. actually did because you know he was

literally in peter parker's body and brain he

sort of tried to live up to the world of peter

parker sort of but like no one can do it quite

like peter can and that's what makes him so special

absolutely the age -old question the thing comic

fans fight over the most dc or marvel man ultimately

i'm team comic book that's a compound Like, it's

not, though. Like, man, like, because I get asked

this question when it comes to the movie universe

a lot. You're like, you know, Team Marvel or

Team DC. And I'm like, why does it have to be

Team anything? But now how I will answer the

question is by saying I have more Marvel comic

books in my collection than anything. I have

thousands of DC comic books, but I have more

thousands. of marvel comic books uh and i think

that marvel maybe it's just that you know mighty

marvel way or mary marvel way or whatever you

want to call it maybe it's because spider -man

is my number one dude and that branched me off

into a lot of other things but if i had to choose

it would be marvel because i do just appreciate

their content a little bit better but that said

the dc universe is Obviously. Oh, it should be

obvious to anyone. Rich in history. And I know

these questions are coming up, but to the degree

that I wish that DC had never done any retcon

whatsoever, I wish they would have stayed true

to what they were, because that heritage really

means more than revamping the book back to issue

one every other month or every time that a creator

switches out. That continuity is what looms the

largest to me. So since you said that, I'll put

this here because I don't know where else we're

going to fit it in. But if they did not do the

new 52 and we did not get Kyle Higgins' Red Nightwing,

this comic book podcast would not exist. Yeah,

I heard about your love for Kyle Higgins' Nightwing

run, which I didn't read any of it. Wow. Yeah,

like it just so happens when New 52 kicked off,

I was deployed overseas. So I was getting comic

books sent to me. Great. Thankfully, but I didn't

add any to my pull list or anything at the time.

So I missed out on that run. Well, thank you

for your service, number one. And number two,

as much as I like the blue costume, red superior,

blue inferior. Oh, my God. No, no. Yeah. You

are good stuff, sir. Boy, ain't no way. All right.

What other publishers do you enjoy reading? I

am mainly a mainstream guy, mainly Marvel and

DC. You know, that said, I have collected Image

comic books. I was with Image from the start

where. You know, oh, my God, every issue is going

to be a collector's item. It's every issue is

going to be worth a million dollars someday.

So, yes, I absolutely will get three issues of

Spawn and whatnot. But I've got plenty of plenty

of image, decent amount of IDW. And I have collected,

I'd say, a semi decent amount of the independent

books, too. Like you start by doing podcasts

and stuff like that. And what happens? You meet

friends. And stuff that do podcasts or they're

using podcasts as a vehicle to sell their wares

one way or the other. So like and so you wind

up like, OK, I'll pick this book up or I'll pick

that book up. And but it usually is. I like doing

that, though. I like saying that other people

have a love and affectation for comic books so

much so that they want to create their own stuff.

That's really dope. Yeah, absolutely. And it's

one of those things where, for me, quickly going

back to number four, it's never been about company

loyalty for me. It's been about character loyalty.

What character? So if Marvel has characters I

love, I love Marvel. If DC has characters I love,

I love DC. Same thing with the other publishers.

If IDW or... Skybound or Image or any of those

people have stories with characters that I enjoy

that's what I gravitate towards and I try my

best not to I don't believe in and I don't do

the whole because it's just consuming energy

that I could do with this whole idea of hate

doing things like I'm going to hate watch this

blah blah blah I'm going to read this. I'm like,

no, don't know. Don't do that. Don't waste your

time doing that. Focus on what you love. And

so like, if people recommend something to me,

I'll look into it. If it's something that I think

I might be interested in, I'll try it out. I

may not always stick with it, but when I recommend

stuff to people, it's because I've enjoyed it.

And I think they would enjoy it. Like, I'm not

going to tell you to read whatever. thing that

everyone absolutely hates or what it's just not

no yeah i i would i would i would not hesitate

to say that there's too many people on this planet

right now that like seem to get off on unifying

people and what they hate and it's like nah i'm

good on that no no i mean i mean it's perfectly

fine to hate certain things but don't do it just

because everybody else is doing it or just because

it's a thing to do. If you love a movie franchise

or if you love an artist that has this album

or that album or comics, do it because you enjoy

it. Don't do it because you feel like you need

to be like everybody else. I would much rather

somebody... I saw some... a reel or something

recently and it was about this guy um who loved

the library i think he was a librarian and he

was just talking about all the awesome things

that you could find inside of a library and like

i saw it under somebody retweeting it and talking

about how weird this dude was and i'm like i

think this dude's pretty awesome he absolutely

he's sitting there talking about a positive thing

and how it can help people and how it excites

him to help people That is awesome. Like, I need

a million more people like that rather than somebody,

oh, I'm going to tell you why this thing sucks.

Yeah, because everybody tells you why this thing

sucks. Like, that's the thing. And look, I can

be a negative person just like anybody else can,

and I can dislike things about, like, you know,

I can grade harshly if I need to on anything,

movies, comics, cartoons, whatever it is. But

at the end of the day, like, you take the original

US 98 episodes of the Transformers cartoon. Out

of those 98 episodes, more than half of them

probably are really, really bad. And I know they

are because I've seen them all multiple times.

Like, there's a handful of episodes in that entire

series that are bad. However, that does not take

away me enjoying the episodes that I absolutely

enjoy and can rewatch at any point in time. Right.

Yeah. Print or digital, which one, both either

or and why or why not? I have not given in a

digital yet. It's smart. It absolutely is a thing

that had to be done. You have to. If you're in

the comic book realm, you have to take advantage

of that. That said. I wish I could remember the

exact quote that Stan Lee made. It was something

to the effect of he sees digital comic books

much like watching pornography on the internet.

It's like, yeah, it's kind of fun, but you'd

rather have the real thing in your hand. And

I agree with that sentiment for the art. For

enjoying the art of the comic book. Yeah. I,

as the audience for the past 11 years know this,

you may or may not know this, I was born legally

blind. And even with correction, I still have

really bad eyesight at times. So for me, and

I've told this part of the story plenty of times

before, folks, so if you're tired of hearing

my Punisher thing, fast forward a couple of minutes.

I was reading Welcome Back, Frank, the compendium.

The omnibus version of it. And I fell asleep

in my chair reading Welcome Back, Frank. Not

because the book was boring, but because the

book was so goddamn heavy, it fell out of my

hand and woke me up. The next day at the time,

I went on to Comixology and I have not looked

back for reading the stories. Do I still enjoy

it as far as the art in the digital realm? Yes.

But... You're absolutely right. Having the physical

book, and Stan's right too, having the physical

book is amazing because you get that new or old

comic book smell and other things, whatever else,

but for actually consuming the content of the

story, that's why I like digital the best. Yeah,

I got you. And it most certainly has its, I mean,

again, it has its place. One of the things that...

We use it for a long box crusade, you know, come

out to play. For instance, Jared will bring up

screenshots and we'll talk about the screenshots.

And it's nice to see that as opposed to just

talking about it and having someone who may want

to listen to the show, but not really have any

idea about New Warriors. They can at least visualize

it. And that's really cool. And let's be honest,

like every comic book that people podcast about,

they don't have the physical copy in their hand.

Chances are they're using the digital media in

one form or the other and using that digital

media to talk about the book. So, yeah, absolutely

useful. It has to be a part of how comic books

are made going forward. Absolutely. Who are some

of your favorite comics writers and why? I'll

give a shout out at first to my very first one,

right? Bob Budiansky. As we go back through Transformers

Chronicles, like we have recorded 45. We have

43 out right now. I was impressed at how he took

children's toys. You know, these are children's

toys. And he made a coherent story. And over

and over again, there were times where like I've

sort of left the book. Like with a goofy smile

on my face, like that was much better than it

even needed to be. It was selling kids books.

It didn't have to be good. What eight year old,

what nine year old is going to be like, you know,

I saw some plot holes going on. You know, like

it's just not going to happen. So I give him

a world of credit for making a book that had

a. Pretty coherent storyline going that an adult

could like and that kids could like. So I like

that type of writer. I'm a big fan of Brian Michael

Bendis. He seems to be super polarizing for whatever

reason. But we already talked Ultimate Spider

-Man. Ultimate Spider -Man was a revelation.

It breathed absolute new life into Spider -Man

at a time where Spider -Man needed it. And, like,

thankfully, you know, kept Amazing Spider -Man

afloat, too, because, like, a couple of years

before that, like, I love Amazing Spider. That's

my dude. That book was suffering. It was not

doing as good. Like, Brian Michael Bendis, as

an indie guy, came into Marvel and breathed new

life into it. The Avengers, like, I know, like,

I'm not trying to trash on the entire run, but,

like, by the time Brian Michael Bendis took over

the Avengers, Thor was kind of wearing this S

&M suit thing. And the Wasp was a butterfly.

They had reverted Tony Stark to a teenager. Like,

they were all over the place. They just had no

idea what to do. And Brian Michael Bendis came

in and completely breathed life into the Avengers

and sort of turned them into an A -list team.

The Avengers were always around, but they weren't

really an A -list team. They're kind of B -list.

And so, I mean, not only that, but, like, I appreciate

it. Brian Michael Bendis, because of how much

he breathed life into other characters, too.

He had an amazing run on Daredevil, even though

it was dark. I shouldn't say even though. It

was dark and gritty and crime noir. Breathed

life into Spider -Man. Luke Cage. He loved Luke

Cage and literally took Luke Cage from the scrap

heap and turned that dude into, at minimum today,

B -list character. Before, he was like F -list.

And for him to take this character and was like,

this is a really cool dude. And at one point,

Luke Cage led the Avengers. And it was credible.

It was believable. Do you watch wrestling by

any chance? Any pro wrestling? I used to. I stopped

at the beginning of the pandemic. Well, the reason

why I bring it up is because in wrestling, a

lot of times, there is a world building element.

Like you can have a dude who looks like chewed

bubble gum and is simply like not believable

as like a hero or villain. And then all of a

sudden through weeks and months, you look back

and all of a sudden you're like, holy crap. Yeah,

I absolutely hate this guy. He's a great heel.

And it just took time and development. And that's

what I saw Brian Michael Bendis do like with

a lot of characters. He just kept working at

them and making them into believable characters

that you cared something about. And sure enough,

at one point, I can't remember because he wrote

a lot of Avengers and New Avengers, like Norman

Osborn was being a menace, as Norman Osborn is

wont to do. And he had threatened Jessica Jones,

who Luke Cage is married to. Luke Cage snatched.

Green Goblin off of the glider and beat the piss

out of him. And that is not something that you

would have believed in 1997. But in 2007, you

absolutely would believe it because Brian Michael

Bendis put him through the character beats. So

anyway, I'm a fan of his. Very cool. Very cool.

Anybody else you want to mention? Man, there's

plenty. I mean, since I've read comic books for

30, almost 40 years at this point, like Kurt

Busiek sticks out. Geez, who did I just blank

on? Jeff Johns sticks out. Jeff Johns is another

amazing world builder. He completely rebuilt

Flash and made Flash in the rogues gallery something

to fear. It was great. Man, I know there are

others that I'm blanking on right now, but those

are just a few that just stick out to me as like

fantastic. I'll give Dan Slott his credit to

Dan Slott started out writing freaking Beavis

and Butthead. And he worked his way up and he

took over the flagship character of Marvel comic

books and wrote it for over a decade. So like.

Big ups to him, too. There's a lot of writers

that I'm appreciative of, but those are a few.

Yeah, absolutely. What defines a good story to

you? I think a good story can have a lot of things,

but ultimately, like I've mentioned with the

wrestler and the wrestler beats or Luke Cage

and the beats that Brian Michael Bendis put them

through, you have to care about the characters.

A few... We haven't... I don't think it's come

out yet, but we do on the show a series called

Amazing Spider -Man Chronicles where we cover

Amazing Spider -Man and then another issue later

on. Well, we just read an issue of Amazing Spider

-Man, Mike, where they have had this character

in a book called Lonesome Pincus. And the dude

was like this country. western singer that was

like that couldn't sing a lick and he was keeping

pete up like at nights because he was his next

door neighbor and he was singing all this terrible

music and finally and i don't know at the last

episode that we read the last issue that we read

like lonesome pinkus was the one like he got

booed off of stage but like there was like the

crowd wound up getting like influenced by this

chemical that some bad guy put in the drinks

and the bartender told him that he had to stay

up there and keep singing while Spider -Man ran

off to find an antidote and came back and saved

the day. And at the end of it, Lonesome Pincus

is sitting there like he literally helped save

the day, but that may be the last show that he

ever does ever because he was so bad at it. And

I was random issue of Amazing Spider -Man, but

I cared about Lonesome Freaking Pincus. Which

is to say, if it's a story that brings out a

character and you wind up caring about that character

at the end, that there's some emotion at it,

then you've got yourself a good story. Yeah,

absolutely. And the story that you're talking

about reminds me of the... Is it in Spider -Man

1 or 2? I think it's in 1. the subway musician

where he's singing the classic theme. Yes. It's

in one of the first two Tobey Maguire movies.

I forget which, I think it's in the first one.

I want to say it's in the first, like, that's

really what that story reminds me of. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, man. Lonesome freaking pink is dude. Like

I saw that and was like, it was, it was blown

away. It's nice though. Like that you can kind

of get that story that makes you feel that way.

Um, and so like, That, to me, is what a good

story needs. It doesn't always have to be super

action -y. It doesn't always have to be just

heavy on the exposition, but you have to care

about the characters at the end of the day. Yeah,

you have to care about the characters, and I

preach this all the time in any media. It has

to have balance. You can... I've been trying

to teach a buddy of mine about comics lately,

and he knows, but he doesn't know -know kind

of stuff. And his biggest thing is, oh man, this

issue was too much action, or the next issue,

this is too much story. And I'm like, yeah, but

they have to find the balance in them. If you're

reading single issues, that's how it usually

goes if you're reading singles. Issue number

one might have a combination of both story and

action. Yeah, especially if you are – I don't

– I actually don't mean this term flippantly.

If you're casual and you just the trade paperback

is absolutely the way to go for many reasons.

It's relatively cheap. You don't have to worry

about like you can read the whole story in one

bite or two or depending on how long you just

want to sit there and read it. And if you want

to give it away, it's easy to give away. It's

like it's a win win for sure. Yeah, absolutely.

So what does a story have to have to draw you

in? So you go into your local comic store, you

go online or whatever, you pick up the new number

one or the next issue. What is that, whatever

story that they're telling, what does that have

to have to keep Delvin coming back for more?

If it's coming back for more, it's going to go

back to, do I care about the character? Is there

something in that character that has some sort

of trait that I care about? Spider -Man's an

easy one. Like when I think the first storyline

I collected was called was powerless. And in

that, as you might imagine, Peter Parker lost

his powers. And yet he still was driven by his

responsibility to go out and fight these villains

like Tarantula and stuff. And he had no athletic

anything. And he was still out there trying to

do it, almost getting killed. But he had to eat

in his head. He had to try. So there has to be

some sort of reason to care just to keep me coming

back to get me to the book. There has to be a

spectacle of some sort that has me interested

in it. And I can come in any number of ways.

A lot of times, like I, I don't go to a local

comic book store to get my books. Now I've had

the same. company or same store, Atomic Empire

in Raleigh. And I live in North Carolina and

I still haven't been there live, which is a shame

on my part. But like I used to love going into

comic book stores and your comic book guy would

always like have some book that they're ranting

and raving about. I learned about Kingdom Come

in the mid 90s as a result of my comic book guys

like, dude, this is something you want to collect.

This is this is good. And I'm like, OK, I don't

know. I didn't know I was a teenager. And he

was right. It was good. It was damn good. So

as long as it has that spectacle in it, then

I am OK. That's going to get me, especially if

a friend recommended it. I'm very easily swayed

by a friend's passions. We talked about that

already, too. If somebody is telling me about

something that they love. and they thought enough

of me to tell me about it, then chances are,

like, what is it going to hurt for me to listen

to a song? What is it going to hurt for me to

buy one comic book? And if I like it, then cool.

I got something to talk to my friend about. If

not, there's like, you know, I wasn't the craziest

about it, but I really do appreciate you recommending

it to me. Yeah, absolutely. Who are some of your

favorite comics artists? My number one guy is

Mark Bagley. I fell in love with him from New

Warriors, where I just, there's something about

his, His lines, how crisp and clean they are.

I've never seen him draw a character where he

just looked uncomfortable drawing that character.

And he, at this point, has gone across the Marvel.

He dabbled in DC for a second and came right

back to Marvel. They had him on Batman. I'm talking

about for like 30 minutes. And they took him

off of it. Like, why? You couldn't make Mark

Bagley work? How? I have collected several books

simply because Mark Bagley was drawing it. Let's

see. Umberto Ramos has a unique, distinct style.

And not surprisingly, he has drawn a ton of Spider

-Man. I have gone back just staying on the Spider

-Man vein through some of the books that we've

discussed and looking at older issues. Like I

did a. Fire and Water, a podcast with Ryan Daly,

where we talked about Captain America back in

the day. And Sal Buscema drew it. And man, as

a kid growing up, I did not like his style. And

going back and looking at it, I'm like, holy

cow, this man can draw. He just drew fun comics.

They were just fun to look at. I could talk about

my Transformers days, like Jose Delbo was an

absolute prince. Like I loved how he came on

and breathed new life into the book. Let's see.

I was a big fan of Joe Quesada's when Joe Quesada

drew like he drew a fantastic daredevil run that

I won't forget. A big time fan of his. Back in

the day, I loved, loved, loved Todd McFarlane.

I loved him. I was so mad when like I swear he

drew Spawn for like a year. And Dan was like,

I'm bored. I want to make more money, so I'm

going to do trading cards. As an adult, I get

that. It makes sense. But as a kid, you're like,

no, just keep drawing the damn comics that I

love. Yes, keep drawing Spawn. Spawn is cool.

I'm not interested in seeing Greg Capullo draw

anything. Quick correction, Greg Capullo can

draw his ass off. I was I was wrong. But like

but man, at the time I was upset because I was

like his he his Spider -Man was so dynamic. And

then, of course, Eric Larson came along and did

the same thing, by the way. And that was he was

the artist when I was drawing Spider -Man. I

mean, again, like with artists, I since I can't

draw Mike, I like have trouble drawing the stick

figure. So like to see someone. have an idea

and they're able to bring it to life on the paper

like they have even if you're the worst artist

like just someone whose art that I just like

I don't like this the most that I'll say is like

you know what I'm not a big fan of the art but

you know what at the same time I can't I can't

do it like if you listen to any amazing Spider

-Man Chronicles you'll hear me say that like

man I can't draw for anything so I'm not going

to spend too much time crapping on anyone's work.

But those are a few that I'm a big fan of. Absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, I'm no artist either. And I took

art classes in elementary school. I can't draw

for nothing. But there's just certain times where

you know, as a comic book reader, the style you

like, no matter which artist it is. But you know,

for me, I like a lot of polished stuff with a

lot of color. So, Marvel, Transformers, US, just

five colors, really? That's it? Five? I need

more than five damn colors. And white I don't

count because that just is used everywhere. But,

yeah, no, it just depends on what you like. It's

not, yeah, there's no shade to any. at least

on my part there's no shade to any artist if

it's art that i don't like i'll just say hey

this is just not my my cup of tea but the story

is good yeah and i mean you know that phrase

you know it i don't know art but i know what

i like yep and i think that applies here like

it's and as soon as like you're going to be that

person like oh this person or this person's art

sucks like okay well let's see you do better

Mm hmm. Let's see you become critically acclaimed

and in your field, you know, or whatever. So,

yeah, I'm always careful to say to caution myself

of saying, you know, this sucks or that sucks.

But yeah, but plenty of artwork I do like. Yeah,

it's just the way I phrase it. Either if it's

something I really love, I'll say, oh, I really

love this or this is awesome or that's awesome.

And maybe this isn't my favorite kind of like.

But yeah, but I'm never going to say this. specifically

sucks kind of thing, because that's just too

finite of an opinion. Yeah, I agree. Do you have

a favorite non -superhero title? I was listening

to the one that you showed me, and Transformers

was used as an answer, so I would like to use

Transformers as probably my best answer. given,

because since I'm mainly a Marvel DC guy, most

of the comic books that I collect are superheroes.

So with Transformers, how much of Transformers

comics have you read? I read all of the first

series that came out, the 84 series. I remember

seeing Transformers Generation 2 come out and

I was in full sulk mode and was like, I'm not

reading this. Because they even advertise it

like, this isn't your father's Transformers.

Which shouldn't have upset me. I was like 15.

And yet I did. It bothered me. And so I didn't

read Generation 2. And by that time, like Beast

Wars, the cartoon was coming out. I didn't really

watch any of that. I collected some Dreamwave

when they had the book. It was Dreamwave first,

and I swear they had a run going, and they just

stopped. Well, they just stopped because the

whole company went bankrupt because the CEO did

some nefarious... American Greed type stuff I

think if I remember correctly without looking

it up which I'm probably not remembering it correctly

but yeah Dreamwave shut down oh yeah well that

would explain it because I tell you what man

I was I was digging it I was digging the art

the artwork and the style and everything and

then all of a sudden it just disappeared and

I didn't know what happened to it and at the

time the internet wasn't as huge as it is now

so like yeah I could have found that answer out

in like five minutes now And I collected some

Transformers spotlight that I think IDW came

out with. There was a character I thought was

cool. I picked that up. But I haven't collected

any main series until just recently, the Daniel

Warren Johnson series that came out. I saw a

lot of hype about it, and I said, well, hey,

let me give it a shot. And I've read through

the first two so far, and it's been really, really

good. He has stripped it down and just made it

very relatable, and I'm interested to see where

the storyline goes. So it's been really fun.

Yeah, it has been very, very fun. It's going

to be interesting to see. And I love the way

that Skybound Under Image is doing, because Skybound

Entertainment is Under Image Comics. I love how

they're doing their arcs. So the way they're

doing their arcs, for the people listening to

Sound of My Voice, you probably know this by

now, six issues and then a new arc. Issue 7 to

12 will be an arc. Issue whatever to whatever

will be an arc, I guess. I just think that's

great. That's also great for trades because that

way you don't have too many issues in a trade

paperback. Somewhere between 5 and 6 is usually

average for trades. That's good and that's fun.

That series has been a lot of fun. I think you'd

like IDW. I don't know. The way it was recommended

to me was start with the death of Optimus Prime.

This is IDW 2 .0. So this is after their earlier

stuff. Start with the death of Optimus Prime

and then either go more than meets the eye or

robots in disguise. More than meets the eye takes

place out in space. Robots in disguise is on

Cybertron and it's dealing with Starscream being

a political leader. I can imagine how that would

go. Yeah, it doesn't go so well for Starscream.

Yeah. But no, we spent a good number of years

on the show doing IDW 2 .0. I think we've covered

all of it at this point. And it was, overall,

I really enjoyed it for the most part. And one

thing, somebody said to me something about Shockwave

and how he became Shockwave from being Senator.

I'm like, oh, okay. Oh, right. Okay, I guess

I'll have to. because that has me you know kind

of intrigued like how did the oh damn so it was

one of those moments and you see like that spectacle

is what drew you in you're like like shock like

they they gave the origin story of shockwave

being a senator i kind of want to i want to see

that yeah well it's how he becomes shockwave

the the shockwave we know the design we know

and love over the year is how that happens it's

like holy shit Nice. Yeah. What is your favorite

run or story arc of a series? Favorite run could

be, like, Batman number whatever to whatever,

Spider -Man number whatever to whatever. Story

arc, obviously, is whatever story arc it is.

So, going with my guy Spidey at first, like,

I will start with J. Michael Straczynski, who

was, he was sort of the hot name at the time.

But man, oh, man, did Spider -Man need a breath

of life? Because like what happened was right

after the Clone Saga. Well, the Clone Saga was

supposed to be like a six month in and out thing.

And like the writers had it. They were going

to do it in and out. And the editors were like,

hey, the numbers of Spidey boosted. So you need

to keep the storyline going. And they're like,

we don't want to keep the storyline. And they're

like. you will do it or you'll get fired. And

so they kept it going and it got so convoluted

that they wound up having to bring back Norman

Osborn and fans were leaving the book in droves.

And so they finally renumbered the book. But

they kept basically the same creative team on

there. Howard Mackey and I think John Byrne was

on the book for a second and it wasn't good.

It was not good. Then they finally got like,

well, they did two things that over in Adjectiveless

Spider -Man, Paul Jenkins and Mark Buckingham

started doing the book, which I mean, they just

did these great slice of life stories that were

just fantastic. And then J. Michael Straczynski

came on the amazing Spider -Man and he started

the Moreland storyline where he tied Spider -Man

to like this whole ancient totem. of how we got

his powers, and Moreland's job was basically

to cull the entire universe of the Spider Totem.

Fascinating stuff. It went from Spider -Man just

being dead in the water to holy crap, it was

so good. At one point, one of the cliffhangers

in the book, and they retconned it, because of

course they did, but Spider -Man had like been

being chased by Moreland all over the place.

He barely escapes and he goes, he was so exhausted.

He basically gets into his like apartment and

to the bed and passes out. Well, guess who's

coming through the door about that time? Aunt

freaking May. And the look she had on her face,

like, oh my God. It was like, what? Like he,

absolutely just breathed new life into Spider

-Man and I'm forever grateful to him for that.

When I was listening to the show you provided

me and this question came up, that was one of

the first runs that I thought of because it made

me stay in love with Spider -Man because I was

dangerously close to falling out of love with

Spider -Man. And what I've always told myself

is if I stop reading Spider -Man, I'm going to

stop collecting comic books, period. And I didn't

want to stop collecting comic books, but Spider

-Man at the time was just ghastly. It was not

good. Yeah, I need to go back and rediscover

some Spidey stuff because after Superior, I just

moved on. It wasn't that I didn't want to read.

uh what is it the nick spencer run or whatever

i don't know i don't think nick is still doing

it is he i don't remember no uh he he did his

run about about 75 to 80 issues or so and and

he's done yeah so when that happened when dan

moved on and did other things i was like oh well

let me like i love even though it's a short story

thing tony stark iron man i love that series

because it's dan slot writing iron like holy

crap that was cool But yeah, I need to rediscover

Spidey and I just need to get back to it and

all that good stuff. He did a good job on that,

too. And I started reading his Fantastic Four.

I read a decent amount of it, but I haven't I've

let my comic book stack up. So. So I need to

read the end of it. But he was doing some good

stuff there. He does very good story building,

but he also understands the main character of

the book very, very well. And that's always been

his driving strength. Sometimes people make the

books more about the villains or the rogues gallery,

but he never forgets the hero and what they're

about. And I appreciate Dan Slott for that a

lot. Yeah, absolutely. What is one comic you

can read over and over again, single issue or

trade? I don't get to do this enough, man. Like

it's one of those where I started podcasting

six, six plus years ago, Mike. And I, and since

then, like I look up and I realized like, I'll

like, I still get my pull list, but I don't get

to read my pull list a ton. Because a lot of

times I'm doing things for assignment for Longbox

Crusade. I don't mind that. That's not a complaint.

I still get to read comic books. But, like, I

very rarely get to stop and think, man, you know

what? This was a good book. Let me go back and

read the whole run again. I wish I had time to

do that. And I just haven't made the time to

do it. But that said. Since I podcast, one of

the like it has allowed me to go back and started

reading some books episodically like I have with

New Warriors. Like I remember and I've said over

and over again how much I adore the run of New

Warriors. But it's like, huh, I haven't read

New Warriors in decades. Why don't I do a podcast

about it? And so I get to rediscover it and I'm

already thinking. Like, especially because like

I got Jared into it. I've given him some new

words and stuff. Once we get through the run,

which will happen in a couple of years from now,

I if we want to keep this going, I would probably

do something like pick up like Darkhawk because

I read Darkhawk as a kid and I enjoyed it because

it was new and it was different. And like and

so I absolutely would read that again, because

like the whole thing that I think that I. am

trying to recapture at this point was just how

I felt about it as a kid and where was I at the

time and what memories that come from that. But

also, you know, a book is really good if it still

holds up. Like, if you can take a book now, I

mean, much like characters, like, you know, for

every person who incorrectly says that Superman

is boring, it's like, well, how boring is he

if They're still going to make movies about him.

And it's 2024. And Superman has been around since

the 30s. Yeah. Like that is a character that,

you know, has stood the test of time. So people

want to continue to hear his story. And so that's

one thing that I have enjoyed about at least

podcasting is that I get that opportunity to

at least do that with some books. I wish I had

more time to just. Read more books in their entirety

as far as the run goes, though. Yeah, absolutely.

Part of my 2024 initiative with the podcast is,

number one, to get us to 600 episodes. So right

now we're at 541 in this episode, so I got 18

to go after this. And number two, starting with

episode 600, I've had this planned for years,

folks, but... Unfortunately, I need to figure

out more books to include in it because I only

have 67 out of 90 Nights of Nightwing, starting

at the beginning, going to whenever current is

with that character, wherever he is. And the

only thing I'm not counting is some of the Teen

Titans stuff and that horrid Agent 37 Grayson

bullshit. Oh, God, give me a break. I read Grayson.

I read the first two trades and I was like, you

asshats should not have killed him. I don't even

see, I don't even remember him dying. So like

that tells you what I, the, the, the lasting

memory that I have of the Grayson book is they

kept on with the joke about him having an amazing

ass. Yeah, that's, well, I mean, that's really

the only thing that counts from Grayson, really,

honestly. So, at the end of Kyle's run, because

Kyle got five volumes, he got five volumes, Tony,

like, he got 30 issues total. At the end of that,

they go into Forever Evil, and Forever Evil,

spoilers, they kill him. because Dan DeDildo

is a DeDildo, and he wanted to kill him because

he's never liked Dick Grayson. I remember that.

He tried to kill him in Final Crisis, too. Yeah,

they always just want to kill him. But yeah,

that's been an ultimate goal of mine for the

last couple of years, and I'm finally going to

hopefully be doing it this year. 90 Nights of

Nightwing, folks. Daily podcasts. Oh, God. So

much editing. So much editing. God bless you.

If I can pull it off, yeah. If I can pull it

off. We don't like to be negative around here,

but are there any comics you avoid altogether?

So you go into whatever, if you, you know, I

know you said you don't go into comic shops,

but let's say you went into a comic shop, you

see this character, this character, this character,

this character, which one is the one that you

just don't care to read? Well, the long -lasting

joke in Long Boss Crusade, and I think I was

the one that brought it out, was about Spider

-Man Chapter One that John Byrne did. And it

was a John Byrne production. John Byrne wrote

it. He drew it. He inked it. I think he put the

staples in the book. It was at that time where...

He was he had just been overextended. And so

he had the idea before Bendis did, I suppose,

of, hey, what happens if we do a retcon of of

Amazing Spider -Man? That should be cool, right?

What happened was. Like he he he made these cosmetic

changes and then. He got lazy with how teenagers

talked, which immediately zoned. You could tell

it was like a man in his 40s or 50s, or however

old Byrne was at the time, writing dialogue that

he thought teenagers said. One of the revelations

that Brian Michael Bendis, when they were like,

your dialogue is so good, he's like, I literally

just sit in the mall and listen to teenagers

talk. What a novel idea! So, one of the reasons

that I wasn't the hugest fan of Spider -Man Chapter

1 is that it just got lazy. It got so lazy and

uninspired that I'm a completionist, and that's

what made me complete the run. But by the time,

and it was supposed to go 12 issues, and they

extended it to 13. And by the time they did it,

I was just like, why? It was... It was torture

for me to read it. And that's not something that

I usually say with Spider -Man anything. So that'd

be my choice. So question slide aside here, since

we're talking about Spider -Man, I've always

been curious because I kind of like his writing,

but I wish he would not use so many explosives

in people's brains. How was the JJ Abrams Spider

-Man? J .J. Abrams, Spider -Man. I swear, he

had a small run. Not on Amazing. No. He did a

miniseries. Yeah, that's what it was. It was

a miniseries. Yeah, I didn't read it. Oh, okay.

Well, there we go. New York City. If only everything

down there was really as peaceful as it looks

from up here. Are there any comics in the past

or currently that you wish you had not read them?

Like, oh my God, why did I waste my time with

this? Well, we already talked about Spider -Man

chapter one. Yeah, there's that. The only, it

falls along the same lines because I really did

listen to what you sent me. And I remember hearing

this question and my thought was, I remember

I collected the first full run of Deadpool. And

the first run was by Joe Kelly. Oh, my God. Amazing.

Freaking, like, side -splitting funny. Like,

absolutely what Deadpool should be. And then

Christopher Priest took over. Chris Priest did

a very cerebral but hilariously funny run of

Deadpool. And then Jimmy Palmiati took over.

Not good. I remember by the time that it got

to where Deadpool fought these Britney Spears

twins or something, it was like, man, no. No.

This isn't it. I felt like I was basically wasting

my time through it. And again, because I'm a

completionist, I didn't feel like just dropping

the book outright because I either thought the

next issue was going to be better or was going

to turn the ship around. But it says a lot that

I got through that entire run of whenever he,

I think by the time he was done, that initial

run of Deadpool ended. And I remember nothing

about it other than. derision and that's not

good yeah yeah i've only i think the only palmiati

stuff i've ever read is his original series that

he did it was a four -issue miniseries um pop

kill it was kickstarter campaign stuff and then

his batwing run with luke fox batwing volume

four and five from New 52, and I have not read

anything else that he's done. I liked Batwing.

I actually loved Batwing. I thought it was great.

I just haven't. He's not a writer that I've really

followed all that much. Yeah, I was going to

ask. I was like, was it good? Yeah, yeah, no,

it was good. So in New 52, somebody else, Batman

of Africa or something, was Batwing for the first

three volumes. And then in volume four, they

make it be Luke Fox, who is the son of Lucius

Fox, et cetera, et cetera. And because I like

Lucius and I like Luke, it was a really good

run. It was two volumes. Episode, oh, it was

back in 21 we did that. I don't remember which

episode. I usually have all 540 episodes. I can

pull them out of a hat. And unfortunately, I

can't with that. I'll get that after the show

for you. But, no, it was a good run. It's just

I haven't really, like, I know he does a lot

of stuff with Harley. And while I like Harley,

she's not number one on my reading list at the

moment. Yeah. So, yeah. But, yeah, that kind

of sucks. You'd think with his sense of humor

and how he writes that he would do better on

Deadpool. Yeah. Yeah, I came across, like, The

Man Show. Okay. And, like, it is one of those,

like, if you're in a certain type of mood or

if you're ready for a certain type of humor,

then it's good. Like, burlesque humor. But, like,

that wasn't really Deadpool at the time. Like,

he was more slapstick and winking at the fourth

wall than he was burlesque. And he turned it

more burlesque, and I just didn't like the direction.

Yeah. How large or small is your physical comic

book collection? I should be creeping up on 15

,000 comic books. Where do you put them all?

Like, I would ask you not to ask personal questions

like that. I'm kidding. So I have a comic book

room where I have, like, these big containers.

Called tombs that most of them are in. And like

when I initially got those big, ridiculous containers,

my thought was it was going to house all of my

comic books. It housed 70 percent of them at

the time. And so now I have like 70 percent of

my comic books in there and like 30 percent of

them sitting in long boxes of how like I think

of the comic books I collected over the past

probably six years or so. So maybe more, maybe

seven or eight, but either way, like so that's

where they are. And at some point I'm going to

sell off enough comic books that they just fit

inside of those five containers just so the room

looks a little bit better. And like, you know,

there's there's going to be books that even if

I have all the time in the world, I'm never going

to go back and read. Right. Yeah. Like so like

I would rather. Put them in a public library

or sell them to somebody who actually will get

value from them or pass them along to their kids

or something like that, rather than them just

sitting in my room collecting dust. Ladies and

gentlemen, he calls those bins tombs. I guess

you could say he's a vulture for reading. Oh,

I guess I'm with you there. So everybody is safe.

Wife, kids, pets, whatever. The house is on fire.

What's the one comic you could never live without

ever? See? Yet another one I remember, and this

one I'm absolutely ready for. That's easy for

me. Amazing Spider -Man 1. Interesting. Very

cool. Yeah, because chances are I could sell

that Amazing Spider -Man 1 and basically buy

the rest of my collection. Yep. So I'm picking

up one and probably two right after it if I can.

If the carbon monoxide has not completely overwhelmed

my brain at that point, then I would go after

two as well. That's funny. What is the most money

you spent on a comic or comic item? Comic item

could be art, print, statue, etc. I don't know.

It's comics. It would be that amazing Spider

-Man 1. It hasn't quite been a year since I picked

it up. I picked it up at Heroes Con here in Charlotte.

I have the name of the guy, but I got the card

somewhere, but I don't have it on me now. I did

a panel. For whatever reason, I was asked to

do a panel on podcasting. And so I did the panel.

Of course, my buddies Jared, Pat, Jason were

with me along with... like Ruth and Darren from

Rad Adventures and several other people, Derek

William Crabb as well. And from Fan Holes. And

we had a blast. It was a great time. And so I'm

walking down. And at that point, Mike, I was

I had been on a mission and had gone on for a

couple of years. That's like, you know what?

I'm at a good point in my life, financially stable.

Why? So I'm going to start looking up every amazing

Spider -Man comic book. And I want to get the

full run. So by that time, I was down to three.

Wow. Which were one, two, and nine. And I was

feeling good. And I just happened to go down.

You know, I saw the first set up that I went

to. It's like, you know what? Let me just see.

And sure enough, I'm talking about, like, I'm

6 '3", so I'm a tall dude. Like, right in my

eyeline, Mike, there was one, two, skip, skip,

skip, nine. And I'm like, you have got to be

kidding me. Like, so I checked the credit card,

and I'm like, and then called my wife, like,

honey? I'm about to do a thing. My OCD is about

to ruin us financially. And she said, go for

it. So, like, I'm not going to give, like, the

full money amount, but let's say it was low five

figures that I spent on Amazing Spider -Man 1.

Wow. Bro, like, I'm still paying for that. Well,

of course you are. I am still paying for that.

It was, it was not like I bought amazing Spider

-Man one and then was like, Oh yeah, you know,

I'm going to go and like, cause I'll tell you,

I want amazing, amazing fantasy 15. I want it

and I'm going to get it. But like, I first have

to let my credit card cool off. Yeah. And then

one, one of these days I will be getting amazing

fantasy 15. Very cool. Very cool. You mentioned

earlier about wanting to sell some of the stuff

off or give it away to kind of quell your collection.

But was there ever a moment when you were just

completely done with comics altogether, pack

it up, walk away? No, thankfully. The closest

that I got was during those down times in the

late 90s, early 2000s, when Amazing Spider -Man

was just awful. And I had always had the adage,

if I quit Amazing Spider -Man, I'm going to quit

collecting comic books entirely. So I have not

done that. The closest that I've been to that

moment would kind of be now, actually, and not

for any loss of love for comic books, but more

that like I haven't made time in my life now

to sit down. And just read them. I don't feel

like I'm appreciating them like I should. Now,

that said, anytime that I sit down and I'm reading

something that's non podcast related, like I

could be having a stressful day. It like winds

me down. It brings me peace. And that is what

will keep me collecting them. But like, I don't

feel like I'm. I don't have that enthusiasm like

I had when I was in college. And it would be

comic book day, and you'd run and get comic books,

and you'd immediately go home and start picking

up. And at the time, I would arrange them by

the one I was most excited to read, all the way

down to one that I could maybe wait a little

bit. But sure enough, in the span of a couple

hours, they were all devoured. And I'm not doing

that anymore. And it makes me wonder, is my love

for comic books still the same? I think the answer

to that is probably no, but it's only because

I've just had other interests is all. But thankfully,

there's not been a point since I started collecting

comic books at nine that I have stopped collecting

comic books. Yeah, absolutely. And for me, I

can't read them just to read them. I read them

for the show because I know as soon as I'm done

reading them, I'm going to want to talk about

them, and I can't have conversations with myself.

I have too many of those already. You know what

I mean? I do. It's like, yeah, the IDW Turtles

run that's about to end with issue 150, and they're

relaunching with Jason Aaron at the writing helm.

My buddy Joe and I have been covering that since...

The show starts since the podcast started back

in 2013 and we are TMT reborn volumes three and

four, which I think is issues one 12 to one 23

out of 150. So yeah, when I read those, I was

like, okay, Joe, let's record. We haven't had

a chance to record them yet. We're going to hopefully

record them soon. But yeah, for me, it's like,

I love reading comics in the moment. And then

either later that day or the next day or the

next night or whatever, it's like coming on here

and talking to somebody about what we've read

and just having a discussion. That's how I love

reading comics. Yeah. And read them just to read

them. I'm like, I'm not doing anything with this.

Like, like I'm enjoying it. I enjoy reading it,

but like, I need to do something else with it.

And see, that's like back in the day, like that

was what the local comic book shop was great

for. Yep. Like you knew you were going to go

in there and you were going to have some fellow

geeks and nerds and you were going to talk some

damn comic books. And it was something to look

forward to now. we've condensed it a little bit

more. Like you want to get on a podcast and talk

about it to one of your friends. And then you

want to broadcast it out to the world, to the,

you know, and to the worldwide web. And, and

every now and again, I know your show has followers

that, that void comes back and starts talking

to you. So you've just sort of changed the forum.

Oh, you're talking about comic books. Yeah, absolutely.

What are you reading right now, and what do you

think our listeners should be checking out? I'm

still, like, now and forever a fan of Amazing

Spider -Man. Zeb Wells is writing the book right

now, and the artwork has been fantastic. The

main artist has been Ed McGinnis, even though...

There have been several other artists and Ed,

as you know, like he does, like, I don't know

if you like his style or not. He has that cartoony

style in a sense, in the style of like an Eric

Larson in a way, if you think about it. And like,

it's just, it's fun to look at. And like in the

storyline, I think they're embroiled in right

now is a gang war that was very carefully laid

out and built up. So I appreciate that a whole

lot. So Amazing Spider -Man has been the book

that I've kept up with and appreciated the most.

So I'm going to recommend that you go check out

some Amazing Spider -Man. Very cool. Very cool.

Heroes, heroines, antiheroes and heroines or

villains. What archetypes are your go to reads?

Heroes. I'm especially nowadays, man. I'm a big

fan of the story of the hero and. sorry to anyone

who doesn't like Spider -Man. Like, like you

might want to listen to another show, but I'm

talking, I'm going to talk Spider -Man some more.

The thing that I like Spider -Man is he's flawed

as hell. He's very flawed. Like his origin story

was a loss. Like he lost his uncle, the guiding

light in his life. And he's going to spend the

rest of the time that he's Spider -Man or on

this earth trying to make up for that mistake.

But that's compelling stuff. Like, That is what

a true hero really is. There has to be some sense

of tragedy somewhere and some reason that keeps

them going. They pared it down really simply.

Amazing Spider -Man just recently went over 900

issues for the entire run. One of the side stories,

I think, doesn't even matter, but a kid asked

him, why do you do all of this? Like, what's

your motivation? And he says, I can. So I do.

And I saw that. I'm like, oh, you know, you don't

have to make me fall in love with you all over

again. I already love you, man. Like to hear

that like means so much to me. And and to me,

like that is the purest distillation of what

a hero should be. Just, you know, you take they

take some tragedy and they spend the rest of

their time trying to recover from that tragedy,

even for their own good or for what they feel

like they need to put back in the world by karma

one way or the other. Yeah, that reminds me of

New 52 Nightwing number 29, where same the exact

same thing happens. A little girl that he's trying

to rescue. asks him a similar question to that

and he goes through and tells her in no uncertain

terms his origin and why he feels the way he

feels and why he does what he does and man stories

like that just tug at your heartstrings and just

make you want to love the character even more

and if in what i would also hope because i have

no issues in saying that like a lot of My moral

and value set comes from like Amazing Spider

-Man. It means a lot to me to say with great

power comes great responsibility. Or actually,

Dan Slott actually corrected this on Twitter.

With great power must come great responsibility.

Like you absolutely have a responsibility if

you have the power to use it responsibly. And

like I absolutely have taken that to heart. and

try to apply a lot of that to my real life. So

there's that too. Absolutely. Do you have a,

my parents got rid of my comics story? Man, no.

I'm so grateful. Like I have heard so many stories

about people having their stuff thrown out. My

mom is an awesome woman and she would never do

that. Like the thing, like, because she knew

what they meant to me. So even if I left them

at home, Like she would ask me, like, like, I

need you. Like, I got to clear out space, honey.

I need you to come get them. She would not just

give them away. So I'm very, very fortunate.

I don't have one of those stories. Very cool.

Very cool. What is one item from a comic book

you'd love to have in the real world? I think.

Well, for me, an easy answer is Green Lantern's

Ring. That's everyone's easy answer. Right? Right?

Like, because, like, I could say something like

Batman suit, but, like, I'm in pretty decent

shape, but one, everyone's going to know it's

me instantly, right? And two, like, would I even

fit in that suit? It's like, you have people,

like, whispering, is Batman supposed to have

a beer gun? Hey! Hey! Shut up! So, like, yeah,

I would rather have something like... magical

that like you could you wouldn't be able to like

replicate and like it it wouldn't be something

that would be common to the earth like that we

live in now so i'm gonna go a green lantern's

ring who's your favorite lantern character john

john stewart yep that's the right answer they

they remade him into an absolute badass i collected

a green lantern and a green lantern or excuse

me hal jordan and a green lantern core And the

leader of the Green Lantern Corps was not Hal.

It was John. And John was just he was the man

that you wanted in charge because he was always

just like one step ahead. He knew how to plan

on that battlefield. And like since I heard he

used to be like an architect or something, but

they retconned him. And he's now like a former

U .S. Marine, which just makes much more sense

to the character and how they have them now.

Yeah, John is the dude. Yep, absolutely. We are

now entering the comic book fantasy fun land.

If you could own any vehicle featured in a comic,

which would it be? I'm going to go with the spider

buggy. Of course he is, folks. Duh. It's fun,

you know? Like, I mean, yeah, cool. I think a

more practical answer, a more man answer would

be like the Batmobile, right? You know, like

to me, the spider buggy would be fun. And I could

like ride around like town with my buddies and

people point at it. It's like, man, that's really

cool. And it would just be a good, fun time to

have. And of course, it would have to play the

Spider -Man theme song either through the speakers

or a honk the horn and it plays one or the other.

You know, that's right. So I'm going to go with

the spider buggy. Yeah. I mean, you are right.

The Batmobile usually is the number one answer.

But for me, I would probably take it one step

further and go the beyond Batmobile because we

all need a flying Batmobile, folks. And heck,

you know what? Like a good answer for the previous

question would be the Batman Beyond suit because

the Batman Beyond suit was so cool. Yes, it was.

If you could live in any comic book world that

you wanted to, where would you live? Man, I tell

you what, like the way that my life is now, like

the way my life is now, like I always joke between

comic book movies and or between movies in general

and comic books. You know where I would want

to live on something like Independence Day? I'm

going to just go to Birmingham, Alabama. Ain't

nobody going to attack Birmingham, Alabama ever.

You're going to go to the New Yorks. You're going

to go to the Los Angeleses. You're never going

to Birmingham, Alabama. I kind of like my life

being quiet and peaceful, Mike. So you can give

me regular Marvel 616, but I'm going to be somewhere

off grid where I don't have to go and worry about

like, okay, I was just going to get ice cream.

And next thing I know, you know, like Spider

-Man's punching me in the face or like my building's

exploding. Like, can you imagine the PTSD the

average New Yorker has in the Marvel 616? Insane.

Insane. Who would be your top three comic pals

to join you and become a barbershop quartet?

Ooh. I want to pick Bruce. Bruce Wayne. He's

got to have a deep, gravelly voice, right? So

that would play well in a barbershop quartet,

especially if I were trying to do something cool

and Viking -themed. So I'll go with him. Got

to have Dazzler, because Dazzler is literally

a rock star. So, like, she could also, like,

if I had, like, a really cool, like, metal band,

she could be, like, a front woman from it. Like,

the light display point. And I know she has to

have pipes. So, like, there's that. And, hmm.

See, I can't pick Peter. I don't think Peter

can sing. But you know what? I'm going to go

with another woman then. And since I've been

very Spidey -centric, I'll say Mary Jane. I don't

know if Mary Jane could sing, but guess what?

If you already have someone who could perform

and be the main show, like Dazzler, and you got

somebody with a gravelly voice like Bruce Wayne,

I could just put Mary Jane behind the drum set

and have her learn some simple drum beats, and

I think we'd have a pretty good band going. I

want to say at one point or another, in the 94

cartoon, she sang one or two lines. I swear I

remember hearing a Mary Jane voice actress singing

somewhere in some alternate reality, whatever.

I could be wrong, though. You might be getting

that confused with Jason Albrecht's impression

of Mary Jane from Longbox, per se. Oh, boy. Let's

hope not. I was going to say, like, don't talk

about your dreams if that's the case. Get past

that nightmare fuel. Uh, if you could, so, you

know, flashback to when you were single, et cetera,

you're not married, all that stuff. If you could

date any comics character, who would it be? Just

said it. Mary Jane, Mary, Mary Jane Watson is,

she is a pistol in, in, in the way that you would

want your woman companion to be a pistol. Like

she is. She is smart. She is capable. She is

beautiful. Like literally was a model. But at

the same time, like the most down to earth human

being that you'd ever want to meet. Like when

she said all those years ago, face it, Tiger,

you hit the jackpot. Like she did. She absolutely

is the freaking jackpot. She is. She is money.

And there's a reason that like. Oh my God. I

hope they, they, in the Nick Spencer run, I'm

not spoiling it because, but in the Nick Spencer

run, they came so close, Mike, to, they flirted

with retconning the one more day storyline. They

flirted with it. Oh no. And I was like, oh, they're

going to do it. They're going to do it. They

didn't. Damn it. They didn't, they didn't do

it. And so, and so like, But Peter and Mary Jane

are still close. They can just never like there's

always going to be something in a way that prevents

them from being married until they retcon it.

But like, yeah, Mary Jane is just she is like

she is somehow simultaneously that girl that

your mom warned you about. But that girl that

you want to settle down with, that's Mary Jane.

Yeah, I've said this for. 11 and a half years,

folks. Almost 11 years, because this episode

will be up before our 11th anniversary. Felicia

Hardy, Black Cat, and Marvel. Man, I have had

a crush on Jennifer Hale's voice since 19. I

was 14 years old when I heard Black Cat talk

for the first time. Oh, my God. Just, yes. care

what she does to me. I don't care whatever. I

don't care what I have to do to keep her. I would

follow that character to the ends of the earth.

I know you don't watch wrestling and you can

keep this in or not. I don't care. If the character

Rhea Ripley, you need to look her up, Mike. I've

seen her. She's got black cat energy. Yes, she

does. She's got that black cat energy to where

it's like, And I love how they brought her along,

too. Like at an Amazing Spider -Man Chronicles

that we do at this as of this recording, we are

back in like 1981. And the character Black Cat

was introduced. But the last time that we saw

her, she was kind of like this lovesick puppy

for Amazing Spider -Man. And they gradually grew

her character like to where like they were dating

Spider -Man and Black Cat. And Spider -Man's

like, well, I want to show you who I am. And

she's like, no, I don't know. I don't care about

none of that. Like, I care. I want to see what

that spider do. And now they've involved her

more because they recently dated. And but they

broke up because it was like because they both

kind of like they're like, you know, like we're

not what either one of us need. But they're still

very good friends. But like, man, like. Can you

imagine? Like, I know it's a comic book. Just

imagine, if you will, for a second, that you

are a guy. You are a dude. And you can claim,

like, at the end of the day, like, I hate this

term, and I'm using it very loosely, body count.

Your body count included Mary Jane and Felicia

Hardy. Face it, Tiger. You just hit the jackpot.

And maybe more. Catch you later, spider. You

know, I think my life just got a lot more interesting.

You're going to be sitting in heaven. Oh, my

God. What does she smell like? She smelled amazing,

didn't she? Oh, absolutely. She smelled like

lilacs and dandelions all the time. Even after

she sweat, that's exactly what she smelled like.

Oh, my God. What a great story. Tell us again.

So another one. Yeah, Black Cat's awesome. Another

one that I want to eventually get to. I know

J. Scott Campbell was doing the covers. I don't

know if he was doing the – they did a Black Cat

Mary Jane book. Yes. I forget how many issues

it was. It was supposed to be just a miniseries.

I don't think it was supposed to be this long,

drawn -out thing. I love J. Scott Campbell's

art. I always have. And some of those covers,

oh, my God. That series. Just amazing. There

was a very famous. Well, that was Mary Jane.

It was a Mary Jane cover that it was a alternate

cover for one of the amazing Spider -Man. And

it's like she's nude, but like she's covered

herself with like the Spider -Man costume. And

I remember that it's like J. Scott, bro. Yeah.

Yeah. Stop playing. Stop playing like that. Absolutely.

Alright, last question before we exit the comic

book fantasy fun land. What is the holy grail

of comic book artifacts? The Batarang, Matrix

of Leadership, Kryptonite, Green Lantern Ring,

etc. Probably the Fortress of Solitude. That

would be a place that I would want to go. Because,

one, Superman, the most powerful hero that's

ever existed, like lives there and he comes there

when he wants to chill out and get away from

it all. And then the other part of it is like

he has such an appreciation and a love for his

planet and other worlds that he's been to. He

keeps artifacts all over the place. Unlike the

Batcave where like Bruce Wayne keeps a lot of

his stuff, but it's like dark and gritty and

all that. Like you get the feeling that Clark

or Superman would have a more hopeful view and

you would see happier and and wondrous versions

of certain things across the universe. So not

only would you get the perspective of such an

awesome hero, you get to see. like parts of the

world and universe as he sees them which is through

a positive lens i think it'd be i think that'd

be really cool yeah the only thing he cannot

keep in there though is starro because the last

time that happened shooter mcgavin showed up

and became evil superman all right folks we are

exiting the comic fantasy fun land if you could

create any comic storyline, what would you want

to create and what characters would you want

to create it with? So Marvel gives you the keys

to the kingdom. You can do whatever you want.

What would you do? I'm keeping on the same line.

Like if they gave me carte blanche, I'm, I am

doing the Spider -Man universal favor and I'm

retconning one more day. And, and I don't even,

and it's not even that far, like, because this

is giving away a little bit of the Nick Spencer

storyline, but at one point, like, Doctor Strange

steps in and that was when I really got my hopes

up Doctor Strange stepped in and was kind of

like okay this whole thing right now something's

not right I'll be back and I'm like oh and he

even he found Mephisto and he started talking

to Mephisto and I'm like oh but they didn't do

it and so like at some point like all it would

take is for somehow like at the end of like some

big high pitched battle that involved the Avengers

or all the world's heroes or whatever. Like Dr.

Strange sees Pete and it's like, you know what?

There's something I forgot to tell you. Yeah.

And that's all it would take. So, all right.

Who would I want on this team? Man, I think Dan

Slott could write this. I trust his writing.

I have like a decade's worth of his stuff. I

would go with slot. I'm absolutely putting Mark

Bagley on the book for for pencils as well. And

and for the heck of it, for New Warriors, I'm

going to go with if he's still around, Randy

Emberlin. No, Randy Emberlin was a spidey was

one of his main spidey ones. Larry Malstead was

in New Wars, his anchor. So I'll go with Larry

Malstead as his anchor. And I think like, man.

Five, six -part storyline, that's all it would

take, and we could get Pete and Mary Jane back

together. Or, you know, it's 2024, folks. You

could put them on TV and make them get married

in the fourth season. Look, say what you will

about the guy that plays that character, about

him in his real life, I still love Dean Cain,

Clark Kent. I didn't I don't think I watched

enough of Lois and Clark. Like so like, you know,

I'll just leave any opinion that I may or may

not have about Dean Cain out of it. But like

I remember being excited about the show when

it came out because I mean, it's a comic book

show. And it was just it was a good idea. And

it had a market to my people really liked it

for the few years it was on. So a thumbs up to

that. What is the one piece of advice you would

give the comics fandom in general? Chill out.

Everything doesn't have to be a, no pun intended,

crisis. Oh, my goodness. There are so many companies

and Twitter followers and Instagram feeds, and

they need you constantly in a state of outrage.

And it's exhausting to even read. Like, okay,

such and such happened. What do you think about

it? Like, dang, the thing just happened. Can

I take a day or two to marinate on it and think

about it? Like, do I need to really comment five

minutes after a trailer came out what I feel

about the whole movie? No. And the same thing

with comic books. It's like, hey, this storyline

is going to come out. And people are like, oh.

fucking hate it it sucks it's like it hasn't

come out yet just like actually let the writers

and creators cook for like two seconds before

you decide it unilaterally that you've hated

something like that's i just don't get that it's

exhausting to me yeah see that's going back to

the conversation we had earlier where for me

I've always viewed trailers and trailers for

anything, comics, music videos, movies, TV shows,

whatever it is. It's an advertisement to either

get you interested in whatever the thing is,

or it's something you look at and say, yeah,

that's me. I'm not like you can take any horror

movie trailer and show it to me. And I still.

would not be interested because I'm not a horror

movie person. And that's perfectly fine. But

at the same time, I'm not going to sit here and

say, like we said earlier, I'm not going to say,

oh, that sucks, or oh, that's too much. It's

too much stuff in the wrong direction. So, yeah.

All right, folks, we're going to go to a quick

break. I'm sure you will hear Delvin or other

long box people in here because I'm sure I'm

going to have to get an ad from them at some

point because I get ads for everybody that are

on my show. So we're going to hear some ads and

some other stuff. We'll come back to close the

show right after this. Because the world needs

another movie podcast. You can find us on iTunes,

BlogTalkRadio, or geekcastradio .com. Hey, welcome

to the last comic shop podcast. A comic book

podcast that actually talks about comics. Yep,

each week we open the shop up and read and discuss

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it's just comic books. And sound effects. Oh,

yes. Definitely lots of sound effects. So tune

in on all the major podcasts and platforms to

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this transmission from The Rod Pod. Upload pending.

Stand by for soundtrack transfer. I am Maggie.

And I am John. And we are trapped, hurtling through

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ship, for reasons we haven't been able to determine,

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Stand by. Upload complete. Now. The Rod Pod.

Look for us at marriedwcomics .lipson .com, at

iTunes, at Stitcher, or wherever good podcasts

can be found. So, uh, till all are one. Till

all are one. Hey, Jared, I have this idea for

a new show for the network. Yeah, what is it?

You know how I liked the 1990s comic book series,

The New Warriors? Yes, yes, yep. And you know

how at the Longbox Crusade we're trying to get

the YouTube channel going? Yes, also correct.

Well, thanks. So how about you and me do a live

stream show about The New Warriors? You've never

read the books before, and I have them, and so

that's a great setup. We could give it a catchy

name like Come Out to Play. Don't you think that's

the greatest idea? Sure, sure, sure, Delvin.

That's a great idea. Just one question. Yeah?

Why do you have me dangling off this ledge holding

me by only one arm? Oh, yeah. Well, you'll get

it soon. I hope. Come out to play. A new Warriors

podcast comes to you live on YouTube every second

Tuesday of the month at 8 p .m. Eastern on the

Longbox Crusade channel. If you can't watch it

there, we replay them on the Longbox Crusade

Network podcast feed available anywhere podcasts

can be found. We invite you to come along for

the ride, or in other words, new Warriors. Come

out to play. We are back here inside the pull

bag, Mr. Devin Williams, sir. Thank you for taking

the time to talk with me all about comics. What

do you got going on? What projects are you working

on? Promote yourself. Absolutely. I will promote

Longbox Crusade more than just me because it's

me and three other lads over there and actually

a crew of other zany misfits that are talking

about all sorts of things. from comic books,

of which I've mentioned quite a few times throughout

this conversation, movie serials as well, movies

too. We've got a lot of cool stuff going on on

the network. I personally host Transformers Chronicles,

where we're covering the entire first run of

the 1984 Marvel's comic series, The Transformers.

I also host a show called Come Out to Play, which

is about the first volume of the New Warriors.

That was a 1990s series. It's available on YouTube,

live stream every second Tuesday of the month

at 8 p .m. Eastern. Would love to have you on

a live stream as well, just listening along.

But we would also like your like or follow on

Longbox Crusader. Anywhere you can find podcasts,

you can find us as well. We just try and keep

things at a positive light. And we have a good

time, so we would love for you to come along

with us. Absolutely, absolutely. Any final thoughts

before I run through the closing, sir? No, man,

other than just to say thank you for allowing

me to come on. This was a blast. Hopefully it

didn't talk your ear off too badly or anything,

but I really did enjoy it, and I just wanted

to say thank you. Yeah, absolutely. No, man,

these are always fun. That's why I created this.

We've said this on this episode, and I say it

in every other episode. Look, there are a million

and one comic book podcasts out there. There

have been a million and one comic book podcasts

out there for the last 11 years or longer. When

I created the pull bag, yes, we do comic reviews,

but I also wanted to have something else extra

to it, and that's where the origins came from.

which originally it was 25 questions. In 2019,

we rejiggered it to be 30 questions. And then

that has spawned off into other. We've got a

Transformers origin stuff. We've got a He -Man

origin stuff. We've got cartoons. We've got podcasting.

We've got video games now, which just launched

this year. So, yeah, no, I love doing these things.

It's always fun hearing people's stories of how

they got into or out of whatever it is that they're

either in or out of anymore. Heck yeah, man.

All right. Thank you for joining us here inside

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

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

are several ways to do so. Visit the website

geekcastradio .com where you can listen to and

comment on all of our content. Send us email

to feedback at geekcastradio .com. Mr. Dave McIlvenny,

I know you sent John M. Wilson and I an email.

I will read that in a future episode. since it

was feedback for us on John's one -year 1 ,000

comics episode we did last time. I don't know

how he finds the time to read 1 ,000 comics in

an entire year. So many comic books. Yeah, he's

a machine. You can check us out on all the podcasting

clients you choose to use, Apple, Google Podcasts.

Leave us reviews, please, on those, Spotify,

and any other ones you choose to use. We are

on X because, unfortunately, that's what it's

called now. I actually am starting to call it

Twix. Somebody said it was Twix the other day.

I'm like, oh, okay, that works. At Geekcast Radio

for the network, at the pull bag for the show,

I am at TF2 and Mike. Are you still on the old

Twitter there, sir? Yeah, I am. DE underscore

RAY1977. There you go. Become a fan of Facebook.

Go to facebook .com slash geekcastradionetwork.

You can also check out the pull bag over there

as well as the long box crusade. Join us next

time when we will be probably doing another Origins

episode or it might be Superman Unchained, which

is the Scott Snyder Superman run. We've done

so many of Snyder's Batman run over the years.

I figured, hey, why not try reading this Superman

run? So that's going to be coming up soon. I

do know. The show will probably be going on a

hiatus after episode 542 because Joe Reed and

I have to get to the point of being able to record

543 and 544, which is IDW's TMNT Reborn Volumes

3 and 4. The banner arts for those are already

done, so I'm not using the banner arts for those

episodes. For now, I am TF2 and Mike with...

Delvin Williams. As always, make your greatest

game into comics, and we will catch you next

time. You've just heard the latest episode of

The Pullback, the GCRN's first comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

get in touch with us and leave feedback for the

show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate and

leave a review for the show on iTunes. Be sure

to leave us feedback. Become a fan of us on Facebook,

facebook .com slash thepullbag. Send us an email,

feedback at geekcastradio .com. Follow us on

Twitter at thepullbag and at geekcastradio. So

until next time, make your great escape into

comics and unleash the geek in you. Who is that

exotic lady? Oh, her? She's my ride. It's been

great meeting you. Take care of yourself. You

too, Spider -Man. Farewell and good luck. Wow,

I wonder how I'm supposed to get down from here.

I suppose I could wait for the Fantastic Four

to drop by and give me a lift. That Stan Lee,

he's quite a guy. I think he's truly special.

Well, Madam Webber, where to now? Face front,

true believer. We are going to find the real

Mary Jane Watson. What?