Destro and Scarlett #3 Review

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How goes it, Mike? Well, I'm better than this

dismal Destro series. I know we'll get into it,

but first impressions of issue three. Some of

Mr. Waters' writing is really worded badly. You

are only their assassin, but to ensure these

coordinates are forgotten, I will scour the memory

of the cerebral cortex of your corpse. I'll use

steel wool. This is something Destro actually

says in the comic. Who talks like this? I feel

like this writer is a George Lucas type, big

idea person, but can't execute those ideas well

and needs others to polish everything up. Yes

folks, polishing a turd. I get that there are

only 20 pages of story, and that this is Destro's

story, but I hope we get more with Chameleon

at some point. potential issues slash complaints

about this. So if you couldn't tell, our first

topic for this podcast is gesture number three

by Dan Waters, Andrea Molana, Adriana Lucas and

Russ Wooten. I think we got it that time. All

right. Quick synopsis. I don't know how many

takes that took us. Quick synopsis from ImageComics

.com. Stranded in the mountains without any weapon,

Destro must survive the Chameleon's wrath. But

who is the Chameleon? And why do they want to

layer Destro's dead? I don't know. My quick rundown.

We open where we concluded issue two in the Scottish

Highlands. That was my really bad Scottish impression.

With Destro leaving the Destro clan tomb, he

spots Chameleon, a blonde haired female sniper

dressed in red with a white coat who takes a

shot. Destro attempts to use his own electronic

missile weapon, but discovers that a local EMP

is preventing it from working. Destro is hit

by the bullet, a fight breaks out between the

two of them. The chameleon breaks in sermons

to help with their attacks. We smash cut to Destro,

handcuffed at a table, telling someone to start

with how the Destro clan came to wear a metal

mask. We close with Destro explaining how he

came to be handcuffed as it is revealed that

he is sitting across the table from General Flag.

Now that I've made it through that, what are

your thoughts and review of Destro number three?

I need more chameleon and less Destro. I want

to know more about Chameleon. Like I said earlier,

this is only 20 pages of story, which is fine.

That's the standard comic pages for story. That's

fine. I need to know more about Chameleon. I

don't necessarily need her backstory, but I want

more with her. I want more action with her. I

want more story with her in the current day.

I like that they did the backstory with Destro

and I like the surprise that he's talking to

General Flagg. But other than that. I don't know.

This issue is just kind of there. Yeah, I mean,

overall, it wasn't as bad as the first two issues.

It's not improved, but it's not like horrible.

Some of Mr. Waters is wording needs help. But

other than that, like, you know, other than that,

I didn't walk away from this, like feeling like

I want to give up. Whereas the first two issues,

I really wanted to give up. I'm almost hesitant

to say that that's a potentially positive review.

All right, well if you're on the positivity train

I'm going down the negativity alley here because

I hated this issue Hated everything about it

from start to finish like literally everything

I don't race of the Issue two they talked to

talked up the chameleon, right? It was like,

oh right this chameleon this chameleon character

He's coming for Destro writer. She's coming for

Destro. I guess at the time we didn't know if

it was a here She now we know it's a female Yeah,

but uh, I like why am I supposed to care about

this again? They played up the character and

they sold it as being like this big I don't know

fight between the two of them by the simple fact

of there's a couple of different covers that

feature them They're fighting. I just saw some

in person today when we went to the local comic

shop But I this fight just ends it just ends.

We don't know how We don't know how it concludes.

We don't see the end of it. And the chameleon

is just out there. Still don't know who the chameleon

is. And at this point, I don't care anything

about the character. If this was supposed to

make me care about that character, I don't. So

they failed in that regard. And then the smash

cut to him just being handcuffed and talking

to General Flagg, it's like, what? Why? Why is

that there? Yeah, but the smash cut. I mean,

he's given this backstory about does not even

about him, right? It's about some answer. Yes,

it's about his ancestor. But before that, we

get the cut to Tomex, Zeimats and everything

they're doing. So, yeah, that's no, no, no, they're

not in this. They aren't. That's no, no, they're

not. Mars. Oh, that's yeah. Oh, that's right.

We're at Mars. OK, so it's like. She brings in

the the drones he starts fighting a drone then

he's riding a drone and it crashes and somehow

he survives that and then we just see him walking

through the snow and then it's like But again,

that's kind of told through like the story that

he's telling general flag Like we don't actually

see that in quote -unquote real time in the comic

is sort of like retelling that and then he's

riding in the back of a truck on some hay bales

just walking into a base and it's like And now

I'm handcuffed here and I'm talking to General

Flagg. It's like I don't. This whole thing just

seemed like a jumbled mess to me. And the funny

thing is, as I'm cycling through these pages,

this does not feel like 20 pages. It feels like

10. I know it's not 10 pages. I know it's 20,

but. Like, I mean, there were several several

pages, though, with, like, no words on it, right,

is just just panels of, I guess, in this case,

action, right, because he's fighting the chameleon.

Or we're seeing him fight the drones. But it

just seems like it's an all over the board mess.

I don't know any other way of saying it. Yeah.

Well, this whole comic series so far has been

an all over the board mess. I mean, the first

two issues are trash. But you gave it a positive

review. Yeah. Well, this one. Yes, this one.

Yes. But only because like it's OK. again it's

his story it's not any it's not supposed to be

anybody else's story but his so we need to follow

it from his perspective but at the same time

like i said i want to see more like i'm liking

like i get it the not necessarily the feminine

mystique but i'll use that term but like the

whole super secret My god, she's a mystery kind

of mystery woman kind of thing with her with

chameleon Makes me want to see more of this character

because I actually like her design. I like how

she's fighting him. I think that's cool The art

is amazing in this it really really is it's just

the writing that makes it suffer But the thing

is is that we have two separate things here.

We have the snow battle we have well technically

three the the stuff at Mars and then we go into

the backstory and Thank God they did the backstory

here because they tee that up They keep teeing

up the backstory in the first two issues when

he's talking about clandestro clan this clan

that Ancient spirits of evil transform this decayed

form into Destro blah blah blah And then we finally

see the backstory of his ancestor And then the

twist at the end is that he's at like, I like

the twist at the end. Like literally I'm like,

okay, where's number four? So we can go ahead

and get one issue closer to finishing this off.

So my question to you then would be like, what,

what about it is, is interesting that he's sitting

there across from across from the general flag.

It's, I didn't expect like, okay, we know he's

telling the story to somebody, right? like we

see the the one page where it's the six panels

where he's talking because it's or is that part

of the flashback anyway the point is is that

it's one of those story beats where you know

that destro is talking to somebody but we don't

know who it is and when we find that like general

flag would be the last person i would expect

like i would not expect like yeah we saw him

go into the base but He could have been talking

to anybody else in that base other than I mean

general flag is kind of the obvious choice I

guess but like I don't know I just kind of like

it felt different to me it. It felt like this

felt like a better cliffhanger than either of

the first two issues have I mean maybe. Like

I don't again I don't know really very little

about GI Joe. And what I do know is just comes

from the G1 Cartoon episodes I've seen. So I

did look up General Flag at Joepedia Wikipedia

here, or Joepedia's pedia? Joepedia, yep. Yeah.

So it says, before Hawk ever came to lead the

G .I. Joe team, there was General Flag. This

military man was known for his ability to select

the right men for any mission, applying the right

strategy. He was never the field commander type,

is willing to do what is necessary should the

occasion that he is placed in the field arise.

So Question we know there are quote unquote going

to be two separate teams. Right there is the

Duke team and then there's this other team. Do

you think general flag plays into that at all?

Oh, I'm sure he will at some point. I don't know

when, but I'm sure he will. Do you think you

had a head up one of the teams? See that's the

that's the funny thing because normally that

and again, I'm Just as GI Joe illiterate as you

are when it comes or ignorant I should say, you

know We're both coming from and I probably have

seen more of the GI Joe series than you have

even 100 % Even though I haven't watched it in

like 40 years Uh, I really need to get out those

DVDs and start watching it because whatever,

but I, the reason why I haven't started watching

it yet is because I want to see what Mr. Waters

and my good friend, Kelly Thompson over on the

Scarlet series does with these characters without

having too much of a influence or an expectation

of what came 40 years ago in a cartoon. And that's

the only reason why I have not dug those DVDs

out yet is because. I want to see where they're

going. I know enough of GI Joe to wear, okay,

Cobra this, Cobra that, Cobra la, blah, blah,

blah. You know, and I know Destro and I know

General Flagg and I know General Hawk and I know

Flint and Lady J and Duke and Scarlett and all

these other characters. But that's why I'm kind

of liking going into this fresh and making up

my own mind without 40 years of baggage is less

or technically. 42 years away. Oh, 41 years of

baggage. 83 was G .I. Joe. I don't know. I don't

freak. Yeah, I don't freaking know. One of them

years, one of them damn years. Eighty three and

forty five. It all blends together. 85 technically

for those for the cartoon I think but anyway

It's just one of those things where yes the first

two issues We had a lot of issues with it But

as I've read both of these comics Destro and

scarlet number three. I've read them multiple

times Since we were going to do the recording

whatever just to make sure I had it straight

in my head. And as I read Destro right before

this recording again, I looked at it and I'm

like, like everything I've already said, I want

to see more with Chameleon. I like the twist

of sort. It's not really a super twist. It's

not like, oh my God. Most shocking but it kind

of felt shocking to me that he was talking to

general flag I I figured he would be talking

to some flunky like they would stick some flunky

in his way Like normally you see someone like

Destro. I want to speak to general flag now Well,

sorry, sir. General flags kind of busy. So we're

gonna have you speak to intern number seven or

whatever kind of thing so but yeah, no, I'm I'm

kind of turning around on this series. Lord knows

what the hell is going to happen in issue four.

But here's here's hoping. Well, oh, if it wasn't

for this podcast of mine here, I wouldn't be

here. You'd be out at all. I've been done after

the first first issue. So what do you find interesting

about General Flag here? Because, again, a hawk

is the one kind of leading G .I. Joe in the Energon

universe. The General Flag here, if I'm can count

correctly, and I think I know how to count to

one. He's only a one star general, which seems

kind of odd to me, but. Yeah, that's a. Wait,

do they even show his? Yeah, it's up on his.

It's up on his shoulder there. Oh, yeah. Oh,

well, I mean, hmm. I don't know how they're starting

this. Maybe he is. And he doesn't look like normally

again. Usually you have general hawk and then

general flag is above him or whatever. But I

mean, we all know the energon universe is futzing

with time, like, you know, Doc Brown with Mr.

Coffee, but, uh, or Mr. Insta -future, whatever

the hell. I don't know. Mr. Coffee, whatever.

Like maybe he did just get promoted to general.

Maybe it, maybe he's only in his. Mid to late

40s. Maybe he's not he's not see doesn't look

super old here He looks like he's I would say

somewhere between 39 and 45 Well, but I can say

what I can say is the fact that we've spent the

most amount of time talking about the last page

of this issue You should tell you everything

you need to know But yeah, overall, I continue

to be disappointed by this series. Again, if

we weren't recording this podcast, we weren't

covering the Energon universe, I would have stopped

after issue one. So not a fan. So there's only

two left. I am curious to see how General Flagg

plays into any of this and whether or not we

see or hear any more about Cobra Commander, right?

He showed up in the first issue and we haven't

seen him since. So kind of curious to see if

he shows up anymore at all. Yeah, but there's

there seems to be he seems to be having this

back -and -forth battle with Xamet and Tomax.

So I don't know. All right. Anything else on

Destro number three? Don't think so. If I was

given it one to five, I would probably give it

a. How about this? What if you don't give it

a rating? How about a how about a a buy a maybe

or a no buy? I I. As much as I kind of came around

on issue 3, I still would not recommend the series

overall to anyone to read it, because it's just

such bad writing. Okay. I think the best thing

about this particular issue is the cover. And

maybe that last page of the story. But the cover

shows more action between the two characters

than I think we really see in the issue itself.

It continues to be a no buy for me. But even

if you find it for free, be like, no, I'm going

to set that over here and just ignore it. I mean,

if you got to do a podcast about it, you might

as well find it for free if you can. Yeah, well,

find it for free if you can. Well, I didn't find

it for free. I paid for it. So that's why I said

you can. Moving on to topic number two, which

is Scarlet number three. That's by Kelly Thompson,

Marco Ferrari, Lee Luffridge, and Ross Wooten.

Did I get those names right? Yes. All right.

So quick synopsis from ImageComics .com Scarlet

has fought her way to the Arashikages. Look at

that. I remember how to say that. Final test,

a death -defying mission that could change the

Klan's fortunes. But where did Jinx's loyalties

truly lie? In my quick rundown, so we open with

Scarlett swimming around with fish in a tank

she landed in after jumping at the end of issue

2. Scarlett continues her way through Sato 2,

fighting off security forces left and right,

while planting a bomb and security envelope.

Meanwhile in Sato 3, Jinx and Stormshadow take

on forces of their own. Scarlett detonates the

planted bomb and eventually makes her way to

the roof of Sato 2. Once there, she swings her

way over to Sato 3 where she rendezvouss with

Jinx. We close with a weapons buyer landing on

the roof of Sado 3 in a helicopter with a Cobra

logo visible on the side. Who could that be?

Thoughts in review. Scarlet number three. Alias

Scarlet, Mission Impossible. Alias Jennifer Gardner,

whatever you want to call it. Like, oh my God,

I love this. This is fun. Unlike the other comic,

this is actually fun and it is written well.

And I think I had mentioned this to you off air.

About the voices and you're like, yeah, I don't

I don't see that and I was like, yeah I think

this is where I'm more the GI Joe person than

you are on this because the whole time I'm reading

Kelly's words I'm hearing classic scarlet voice

from BJ Ward and I actually sent Like the whole

screen cap that I had sent you I sent that to

Kelly I sent her an email and I said I can't

wait to finish the issue Obviously which I was

doing at the time She says, thanks so much, Mike.

Really glad you're enjoying it. And I am. I'm

very much enjoying Scarlet. Scarlet is fun. Scarlet

is interesting. We have, again, you know, her

infiltration into this building. I love the panel

on page 11, because it's just one, I'm pretty

sure, yeah, it's just one panel of her. just

taking out those guards that that swing motion

in the art of how she takes out those guards.

That's amazing. And literally the whole time

I'm reading this, I'm thinking, yeah, this is

very Mission Impossible. And this is very awesome.

You sound like the slice kick and stab. Yep.

The slice kick and stab. Yep, yep, yep. That

was amazing. She's got basically Spider -Man

type quips with high -paced, you know, action

moves and things and whatever else and all that.

And it's just fun. And I love the panel. And

I don't know if you've ever seen this movie.

I don't know if you've seen the Adam project

on Netflix. It's a Ryan. OK, it's a Ryan Reynolds

vehicle. Well, they have to go. It's a time travel

movie. They have to go back in time to save his

future wife or whatever else. And the future

wife is played by Zoe Saldana, and she's a badass

in her own right, but at one point she's waiting

for the villains to come in the movie, and she's

planted an explosive on the bridge that they're

going to be driving across. So the panel on page

location 18 of 31, the very bottom panel where

Scarlet's like, click, and then we see the explosion.

That was the first thing I thought of was the

Atom Project when Zoe Saldana's character did

that. Uh, yeah, I'm absolutely loving this. It's

just so fun The art's amazing. The writing's

amazing. Everything about this book is like I

don't think they're gonna do I mean scarlet will

obviously be in the GI Joe ongoing, but I don't

think they're gonna do more Solo stuff, but if

if kelly was to write a solo Scarlett series,

I would be reading that all the time with or

without the same artist. Well, you keep the same

team Mean you can you could do what transformers

is doing and what most comics will do you could

change the artist over time and things but No,

I like I like Marco I like Lee and obviously

Russ is the letter letterer for everything with

with skybound which is fine Oh, I'm not saying

that is a bad thing. I'm just saying like yeah.

No, I like Marco Ferrari. I like we lockers.

That's fine I have no problem with that Because

I love the art. The art's amazing. I mean, the

fact that she's swimming with jaws. I mean, come

on, man. That shark doesn't look fake. Not in

this comic, anyway. Uh, all right. So my thoughts

here. So, uh, I'll fully admit to this. I did

not purchase this when it came out because it

was delayed so long. Uh, and then I finally picked

it up. I just picked it up a day ago. So I just

read it yesterday. And i'm like well if they're

if cuz again i'm purchasing purchasing this digitally

on amazon so i'm like well they push it back

so long i'm just gonna wait to buy it. So finally

got it reddit and i didn't know what to make

of it at first cuz i was very confused about

the story i need to recall from issue two with

how it concluded that the whole point of going

to this the sato buildings was to recover some

sort of weapon. Right and it was like going to

be like her final test before Right if she was

successful she was gonna be part of the iraq

shikha gi right and and From my knowledge of

the end of issue two She was kind of doing this

alone obviously someone was flying in a helicopter

or flying her in a helicopter And then she kind

of repelled down from that on her own yeah, so

as I was reading this I was confused as to what

the hell was going on because Right, we jump

into, I don't know, let's see, what page is this

on? On location 1431. Right, there's just Jinx

and Storm Shadow just in the building right next

to her. It's like, how did they get there? There

was no mention of them being part of any of this

mission. Right, the last we knew they were inside

the... Jinx was fighting inside the dojo or training

someone. And Storm Shadow was meeting with the

master and Scarlet to talk about kind of her

final mission or final test here. So when I started

reading this, I'm like, well, how the hell are

they part of this at all? I was so confused.

And then I just before we started recording here,

I went back to reread the end of issue two. And

I'm like, did I misremember this? And I didn't.

It just seems like there's There are certain

story elements here that are introduced. Kind

of like midway through the story of like you

know what's what's going on with these characters

without any sort of information as to how they

got to this point. Was it that there are many

buildings are there three right yes one two three

right one is like the actual real business. Right

out there to ended up being Kind of where the

yeah kind of where security is and then start

to a three is kind of like where the the The

gang the gang is located. Okay, so it's three.

It's essentially three video game levels And

I'm not I'm not saying I'm not saying that to

diminish it at all. I'm saying it's it's three

video game levels I'm saying it in a in a positive

light whereas maybe Jinx and storm shadow were

in one building and then they went to the other

building kinda like how she's making her way

through the. Endless levels of these buildings

maybe that's it I could be again I could be wrong.

I don't know but that's the only way I can conceive

of jinx and storm shadow even being. Where where

scarlet is because the whole point of this issue

is part of the issue of this entire issue. Is

them trying to catch her and they're like she's

on floor this of building this and she's on floor

that of building that. And i'm like wow she's

descending very very fast into madness and i

don't mean her actual. Mental madness i mean

read the madness of the building in the violence

and the tick tick boom and. Click click boom

and all that stuff and everything else and i

just overall enjoyed it because i don't know

maybe i suspended my disbelief a little too much

on the whole why storm shadow and jinx are there

because well if they're in the dojo building

yeah that's it that has to be it if they're in

the building with all the guards in the dojo

and the whatever yeah so that's and if yeah so

so where the irasha kage were which is where

jinx was, which is where storm shadow was, which

is where scarlet was, which is where the master

was in issue two. That's like a completely separate

location, right? Cause that's up on the mountains

in the snow. And this is like, uh, this is, this

is in, where is this at? Is this Hong Kong? Is

that what this is looking at? It's someplace

in China. It's in like the main city though.

Is it Hong Kong? I don't know. I thought the

first page would tell me, but I don't remember.

I don't know. It doesn't say in this particular

issue. I think it's Hong Kong, without going

back to look at issue two while we're recording

here. In any case, it's a large metropolitan

area which is complete, not at all the area where

they were in issue two, except for the end, right?

Where Scarlett gets to the building. So my issue

was not knowing why Jinx and Storm Shadow were

there. Like it wasn't said or told that they

were gonna be part of this mission. At the end

of issue two, it was stated that this is Scarlet's

kind of final test. And if she completes it,

she's going to become part of the Arashikagi.

Didn't say that Storm said I was going to be

part of it, Jinx was going to be part of it,

any of it. My assumption was, because they were

talking about the weapon that was going to be

or that is housed in these buildings, that that

was kind of her test. She was going to get that.

But now it's a... There's three of them? Is it

her test? Is it their test? Whose test is it?

It's her test. It's her test to become a part

of the Russian Kage. But Jinx and Storm Shadow

have been in the other two issues. Storm Shadow

and Jinx were an issue too. And all that. I think

they just changed location. I think they went

to... I'm assuming... I'm assuming it's Hong

Kong as well. Again, Kelly, if you're listening,

I'm sorry. But yeah, I just assume just like

she flew there, they flew there. So if they were

at the other location, she's in. That's all I'm

assuming. Because heaven forbid, I assume anything.

But well, yes, I guess my main issue with it

was it wasn't stated they were going to be part

of the mission. And now that they're there, it

just seems like, oh, they just showed up out

of nowhere. And I don't know why. So that aside,

another issue I had, and this is just me as I

was reading through it the first time, was I

was having a hard time keeping up, like keeping

up with what level we're the health of the building.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like any time she changed levels,

it was state kind of at the top of that panel

of like, here's the building she's in, here's

the level she's in. But then you would also get

get characters. I just can't stop talking you

know through what's your ideas what the talk

is about what level she's not oh she's not on

this level she's down this level i'm like what

the hell i'm sure i have a hard to keep it up.

Okay so the easiest thing for this that i can

tell you going further if we go if if issue four

is more about. Going further in the levels or

vision force just about the fight is this the

location fifteen. where it says sato to the tiger

floor six. Okay, so from that page forward, as

long as they say levels lower than floor six

or lower, it's basically as she's running through.

So the same thing when she was on the higher

levels. you read it in descending order. So when

it starts at the top of the page saying it's

floor six, my thing is, okay, she's gonna be

going down floor five, floor four, floor three,

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So as long as the

people on the walkie -talkies are saying the

right thing, I'm good. And I think they are from

that point. And I think they have been the whole

issue. It's just, I agree with you, sometimes

that can be confusing. But you gotta remember

where she starts and then where they say she

is because her goal is to reach instead of Instead

of going instead of having a spy mission where

you start at the bottom Of the building and have

to go up to meet the boss level kind of thing

in a video game You're doing that. It's it's

again. It's like tom cruise in one of the mission

impossible movies where he has to Slide through

the louvers on the roof to get into the oh, it's

a mission impossible 2 one of my favorites where

he has to go down the atrium and hit on the glass

floor, which doubles as a ceiling for the lab

to get the chimera. And that's essentially, honestly,

that's what issue two and three are. It's mission,

or yeah, issue two and three. I shouldn't be

looking at issue four on imagecomics .com right

now, even though it's up on my computer's screen

at the moment. But issue two and three, actually

the whole thing. so far is essentially mission

impossible too and i again i'm not saying that

it's a bad thing i'm saying it is a good thing

whereas you start at the top and you make your

way down so these sometimes maybe conflicting

reports where it's because she's moving so fast

they can only report it so fast. So if someone

on the eighth floor says she's on the eighth

floor, and then two seconds later, or two panels

later, she's on the seventh floor, she's on the

sixth floor, is because she's moving so fast

to get down to where she needs to be. Does that

make any sense? I mean, only in the sense that

I follow what you're saying, but she started

on the main floor. It works her way up, so it

confuses what you're saying about descending.

Wait, she did? Yes, it says Sato to the tiger

floor one. Oh, I thought she was still dropping

down. I don't know. No, so she's at the end of

issue two. She jumped and then she ended up in

this this fish tank, which was at the main floor

and then we're here way back up. So then she

ends on the roof and then swings over to Sato

three and ends up on floor forty seven, which

just happens to be. That's what it is. That's

that. Yeah, that's what it is. That's That's

what it is. She starts going down in Sato one,

I think. And then she goes up in Sato two to

get to Sato. OK, half folks. It's evil. Now,

as far as I know, Sato one is not in here at

all. Whatever it says, Sato to the tiger ground

floor. That's like, OK. And then she goes up

for. Yep. Yep. OK. So she's just going up. In

any case, I had a hell of a time following what

the hell floor she was on between what the page

was telling me and what the people were communicating.

But I stuck with it and made it through. I think

the action in this series is fantastic in the

way that it's drawn. Really, really great. I

think of the three issues, this one was my least

favorite simply because I feel like there's story

that I'm missing, like I said, with Jinx Storm

Shadow. Why are they there? It wasn't stated

they were going to be part of this mission. I

think that's my biggest my biggest issue with

this. I did find it funny. And this is interesting

in terms of like a piece of clothing, I guess,

if you go to the last page. So again, location

2431. Yeah. Look at those. Look at those shoes

that Jinx is wearing. Yeah. High heels with claws.

Yeah. I feel like if she kicks someone, she can

just slit their throat. Yeah, pretty much. I

learned a long time ago in podcasting, folks,

I cannot talk about fashion or hair because people

will come after me. Well, she could give you

a haircut, too, if she kicked it. So, um, so

helicopter, is this Cobra? Who is this? No, it's

Joe, probably. It's most likely Joe. It's Joe.

Yo, Joe. It's Yo, Joe. Probably G .I. Joe in

the Cobra helicopter. Oh, oh, I don't know who's

in that helicopter. Alls I know is next time

is Soul of the Arashikage. But you don't think

it's Cobra Commander? It might be. It would be

interesting if it was, considering he started

in his own series, went to Destro, and now he's

wherever. I mean, so Jinx here says on this last

page, Storm Shadow, we have movement on the roof.

The buyer has landed. Do you recognize them?

And then it ends, and then it says, yeah, next,

the Soul of the Arashikage. The helicopter's

black with the Cobra logo. It might. Well, I

mean, Bayer says to me Destro, but why would

I mean, I know Destro is a part of Cobra, but

he's also his own entity. Who knows? I don't

know. Who else is recognized as Cobra at this

point? Just Cobra Commander and Destro, as far

as I know. A lot. I'm trying to find Cobra Commander.

Issue five here. Let's see. We've got, yeah,

so on the last page here, right? It's like, or

not the last page. It's the last panel with Cobra.

It's like, yeah, the people who are living in

the town that he's established here. And other

than those people, it is Destro, Mercer, and

one of the guys from I'm getting too old for

this shit. Hold on one second here. What do they

call? They are called the Dreadnocks. Oh the

Dreadnocks. Yeah, those those guys right, right.

Okay, so I think that's it So it's got to be

Cobra commander. I would think I would assume

So yes But yeah, so overall again, I enjoyed

it it was a little hard for me to follow I still

wish there was better explanation for Jinx and

Storm Shadow, but I still think I still much

prefer this Over anything coming out of the Destro

group. Yep. So issue four previews. What do you

got for us coming? Okay, so folks, I don't know

if it's image comics I don't know if it's skybound

under image or if it's Amazon screwing with us

But as of this recording, arriving September

4th, 2024, Scarlet number four of five, or $3

.99, Scarlet has infiltrated the Arashikage for

one purpose, locate and extract Jinx. But the

true purpose of her best friend's mission becomes

clear. It's an enormous game changer for the

entire Energon universe. And they have an alternate

cover here listed here so the main cover is scarlet

versus storm shadow. It's a black fade to black

kind of cover with their swords kind of clashing

in the middle of the alternate cover. Is scarlet

standing outside the building in the snow i love

the alternate cover more than the main cover

for that that's so cool and then dismal desk

row arriving september eighteenth twenty twenty

four supposedly depending on what. What. Image

Comics, Skybound, and Amazon end up doing as

far as that goes. There is no real solicitation

for this. Destro's kill list, Chameleon, Tomek,

Zaymott, anyone who gets in his way. That's it.

Sounds like a winner to me. Yes. I mean, that's

stupid, right? Because I can't imagine any one

of those characters is going to be killed. Okay,

wait a minute. Yeah, no, I don't think so. And

so the main cover for issue four, at least on

the Image Comics website, has Destra... Wait

a minute. What was on the main cover of the thing?

Hold on a second here. Wait. There's nobody.

They blacked out. Yeah, I know, but... Oh. Well,

for half a second I thought it was all gonna

be like the original main cover to number three

with him and... Million but it's not it's so

that's stupid as hell in the Destro comic It

shows that it's it's chameleon, but on the solicitation.

It's blacked out. Oh So so kind of kind of on

along those lines I'm wondering if because if

I pull up my scarlet Sorry one second if I pull

up scarlet number three Inside of the kindle

app on mine when it's when it's showing me the

the library view I can see all the comics it

says on mine not final art on the cover for scarlet

number three Yep, it doesn't mind to and then

if I actually open it and then look at the you

know Look at the full cover. It does not say

that Yeah, what I can tell it looks like it's

the same artwork. Yeah, it's the same artwork

So I'm wondering if what we're seeing there for

Destro number four on Image Comics is like the

same thing. They just don't have the text on

there. They don't even know the image on there.

Well, the text of not final art. Oh, yeah, yeah,

yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, they don't have the

they blacked the character out. Yeah, see that

this makes no image comics skybound. You guys

above the creative team, you guys who are in

charge, all you editors. What the is going on.

Get your together. Yeah. So again, I know you

said arriving at whatever such and such a date.

September 18th for Destro, September 4th for

Scarlett. So going back to Destro number three

here, right. So we typically purchase it from

Amazon Comics or whatever it's called from Amazon.

Read in our Kindle app. This has been pushed

until, is it next week? This coming week. Nestor

number three has been pushed to this coming week.

But it was out physically on September, or sorry,

physically on, what is it? August 14th. August

14th. Just click on it, yeah. Yeah, so what they

did was originally it was supposed to be out

August 14th for issue number three. They have

now pushed it. To this week august wednesday

august twenty eight twenty twenty four which

is also what rivals day which we're getting what

rivals number twelve so gesture number three

an image comics is august twenty first. Yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah

yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Last week and then put

but no, they're just pushing Destro to But but

here's the thing this only occurs on Amazon.

Yeah, this is available in the Google Play Store

This is available in Apple Books. You can obviously

purchase this physically So I don't know what

keeps happening with the digital releases on

Amazon, but it's pissing me off Yeah, it's pissing

me off too. And I think it's an Amazon thing

because I don't think Amazon has their ish together

At all because it's amazon and you know what

the hell they're doing but it's like what. What

could the hold up be like what is what is the

answer yeah that's what i'd like to know it again

that's why i'm coming down on the side of i don't

think this is an image comics or skybound entertainment

issue i think it's an amazon issue because amazon

doesn't know what the frig they're doing because

this is happening with scarlet this is happening

with gastro. Did it happen with void rivals?

I think it did. Yes, it did. It's it's happened

with all of them. It's happened with transformers

too. I think that's right. I think I think it

has. Yeah. So yeah, I don't I don't know what

the issue is. So for for getting a copy of this

for Destro for this particular episode, I actually

purchased it from the Google Play Store. And

again, it was available. I was able to get it.

and it pisses me off because it doesn't integrate

into the Kindle app and show up with the rest

of the Destro comics, but I was able to export

it from the Play Store as a PDF, import it into

Kindle. It looks terrible in terms of the icon

that shows up in there. And obviously it doesn't

have the guided view, but I'm able to read it

inside the Kindle app. It just does not look

as good as what it would be if I downloaded it

natively. Hey, maybe Amazon is saying screw all

you guys go back to buying physical books That's

what they're trying to tell us with all these

and it and I think I could be wrong People out

there who are comic book fans who might be listening

to this. Let me know. Let us know Is it just

image comics and skybound entertainment because

I don't think I mean, I know DC and Marvel have

had their delayed issues, but that's usually

because of, uh, a deadline was missed or a writer

couldn't finish in time or an hour or the art

had to be redone or it wasn't like, that's what

I'm trying to think. If like, because this is

an Amazon exclusive issue. Hey, look folks, an

Amazon exclusive, but it's a problem. Uh, it's

gotta be with Amazon. Cause if this stuff is

ready for everywhere else and it's digital. Why

would it be yes like I just don't know if there's

like a I don't know what the process is for them

receiving a digital file and then like implementing

the guided view like is there some sort of hiccup

there that keeps delaying it I don't know but

at least in comics I'm interested in when new

comics come out on Wednesdays I'm not seeing

anything on there that is being delayed. that

I would be interested in seeing or that I'm looking

for when I go to the local comic shop. It all

seems to be coming out on time. But with the

Image Comics series, at least for the, you know,

the Energon Universe comics, for whatever reason,

it seems to just keep happening month after month.

And I'm not quite sure what's going on. I just

know it's pissing me off. It's really weird.

It's really, really weird. Yeah. So once this

series is done, I'm deleting it from my Kindle.

So it's gone. I'm not going to look at it again.

Never going to revisit it again. It's just going

to be gone. So all right. I think that's it for

the previews, right? That's it for the previews.

Did want to touch on one other thing really quick.

So Daniel Warren Johnson, you showed me this

over the weekend. I read his AMA as well. He's

going to be on board through issue 24 of Transformers.

Yep. So that's four story arcs and two years

worth of comics. Yep. What are your thoughts

on that? That's a good run. No, that's a good

run. Like most people don't get 24 issues. Most

people will get like a single issue arc, like

a one through six or a seven through 12 or whatever.

Commerz writers unless it's like the the current

Nightwing run at DC Comics that's currently going

it's had several writers over time and It changes

it changes a lot sometimes It changes less on

the writing in certain aspects. Where is the

artist will change? Almost every story arc kind

of thing because I think that's a good thing

with the artist I don't know necessarily about

the writer but with the artist it's good because

you get to see Different art styles as much as

we want it to be uniform and all together but

if they're all different story arcs everybody

gets a chance to play in the playground play

in the sandbox kind of thing, but Yeah, I don't

know who they're gonna get after him. It's gonna

be injured. That's the interesting part to me

is who's next Well, hey, if once Destro ends,

you got a writer looking for some work, maybe.

OK, never give that guy a job again. I'm sorry.

That's the only. Well, I'm super happy to see

that he's going to stay on board for another

year. I'm all for it. I love his writing. I love

his art as well. I know we're going to switch

when we get to issue 13 and 14. I guess there's

a kind of a fill in artist and then we're going

back to Jorge. So I'm curious to see how the

change of artists works as well. But I'm happy

that Danny Warren Johnson sticking on for another

year. And like you, I'm very curious to see what

happens when the series picks up on your writer.

I want to see if it kind of carries the same

tone, if they go in a different direction. I

think they're going to go in a different direction.

I mean, I think because it would probably be

a fully new story arc type. It's kind of like

when DC does a new number one. Batman's been

around for 85 years this year. So Batman, over

the last 85 years, has always had every once

in a while, every few years, a new number one

to get the story restarted. And that's the way

DC has always done the Batman stories of, here's

your chance to write Batman. Here's your chance

to write Batman. And then new number one money

means, because it's a number one, that means

that DC gets the Big Mac, Large Fries, and Chocolate

Shake. I can only throw this out there as the

only comparison. that I know, because I've recently

looked at it, but I believe with the new Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles, right, it is, I think a,

or no, no, no, maybe that's not what I'm thinking

of. I'm thinking of the G .I. Joe series, the

Larry Hama series, right? They started with quote

unquote 301, but it was it was labeled as the

first issue. So it didn't ignore everything that

came before. But it kind of was a new series

one yeah new number one so do you think again

this this is just speculation just want to hear

your thoughts on this if they do have a new writer

they don't say all right we're going back to

quote -unquote number one it'll be number twenty

five but it's a new jumping on point right for

all yeah that's what they'll say it as long as

they keep the numbering that's what they'll always

say is hey new story arc new jumping on point

come check out the new writer and yes you can

actually use tmnt because for the last x number

of since what was it 2012 so 2012 to 2024 for

the last 12 years not longer than that jesus

i don't know anyway for the last however to hell

long years for tmnt it's always been tom waltz

bobby kernau and Kevin Eastman on the TMNT book

at IDW and then now with them ending their historic

run at issue 150 and then Jason Aaron taking

over with the new number one. It's IDW saying,

hey, we gave you 150 issues over this many years

of all of this awesomeness because all of that

is very awesome. We're starting a fresh new chapter

with a whole new thing here. Which means we're

bringing in new writing blood and I like, you

know, we've, I think we've talked about this

off air. I'm really excited to see what Aaron

does with turtles. So I'm excited to see and

to find out who Transformers, who Skybound gets

to write Transformers after Daniel Warren Johnson.

I'm enjoying it. I'm enjoying his writing. Like

you said, I'm looking forward to the next year

of, of having more issues with him and having

more. Stories to read from from his his mind.

So that's that's cool But at the same time I

am very interested to see a year from now or

however, how long it's gonna be who they get

next I guess one more question for you. I know

at some point I did read some of the IDW series

and we're not talking about more than meets the

eye or robots in disguise I guess I'm a little

poor that Yeah, it was due to do. I don't know.

This is the 2019 to 2022 line. It just says,

oh, that's a bold era. Yep. Yep. Yep. So again,

I had not read anything prior to that or after

that because I bailed on that series. But did

that is that something similar where it was like

it kind of followed stuff that came before it

or did this was Yeah, no that was a brand new

thing it was okay so again With IDW with turtles

and transformers when IDW had the transformers

license. Yep transformers lasted from 2005 until

2019 at IDW So you do the math on the years on

that but long ass time They did Death of Optimus

Prime as a re-, not a reboot, but a re -telling

into, hey, you can read this, and then you can

go to either More Than Meets the Eye, or the

law-, er, yeah, More Than Meets the Eye, More

Than Meets the Eye, and Robots in Disguise, which

then became Lost Light, and Transformers know

nothing after that, and then after those two

ended, the historic run at IDW. uh, rebooted

with the bold new era. So the bold new era stuff

is a whole different separate. It's supposed

to be a whole different thing. It's supposed

to be a whole new thing, but with turtles specifically,

it is a whole, I think it is supposed to be a

whole new thing. And every interview I've heard

and read with Jason Aaron is that he's putting

his stamp on it. He's, he's doing the story differently

than what it had been done. the past 12 13 14

years or however the hell long it's been okay

because with turtles and the reason I switched

over to GI Joe was because I couldn't remember

what the turtle numbering was if it started with

the number one or if it kind of picked up from

what it was before but with turtles I was just

saying with turtles I thought it was didn't wipe

away everything that came before it because right

again I have not read all the IDW turtle stuff

I do have the comics now that I'm going through

but from my understanding right it's This new

series is kind of picking up from where the old

one left off in the sense that the turtles were

apparently separate and now they're The new series

here. They're trying to come back together I

know so I have so my buddy Joe and I who do the

turtles comics over on the pull bag on the geocaster

network geocaster .com Slash the pull bag or

it might be slash podcast the pullback. I don't

know. Anyway geocaster .com folks My buddy Joe

and I have been covering it since 2013 when the

pull bag started So we started when I was initially

like, because for me, I've always been a cartoon

kid with turtles. I was never, I was four years

old when Eastman and Laird started the comic.

I didn't start turtles until I was seven with

the cartoon and then the toys and all that and

everything else. So I've never really cared about

the whole. black and white, the whole everybody

wears a red bandana no matter what, blah blah

blah blah. So when I started reading Turtles,

I immediately messaged Jordan like, red bandanas,

really? He's like, no, dude, it's okay. There's

a reason. I was like, okay. I reluctantly continued

on. I opened up my mind and spoilers for you

specifically in case you're going to read those

anytime soon with the IDW starting at number

one with the Turtles. The reason why they're

all wearing the red bandanas is because in the

beginning of the original IDW run, Raph is missing.

So it's an homage to the fact that he's missing.

And then they go through the next 100 issues

and do all this amazing stuff. And then Joe and

I just, let me actually look, pcastradio .com.

We just, what was the last turtles book we did?

Oh, I think it was issues one, one 51. No, not

one 51. Cause it doesn't go past that. Um, one

21. I don't know. We did something recently,

uh, Timothy, the law, we did that last run on

separate, uh, cause the last run on his own story.

Anyway, um, Yeah, we, okay. So we did reborn

volume four. So basically what, what IDW did

with it is, uh, they kept the same numbering,

but the trades they renamed. So that way the

ongoing can have the same numbering. So TMNT

reborn is the new trade collected edition title

for. the ongoing but it still issues 118 to 123

so the next episode Joe and I will do soon it

will be issues 124 to 127 or no 124 to 131 or

so something like that I for you know 124 to

130 that's what it is so it's a whole thing where

IDW has this way of continuing stuff but also

rebranding it for certain things. Like I said,

reborn, blah, blah, blah. And we're, we're only

at issue 124 about the start. So we're 25 issues

left of the original IDW run. Yes. I have read

the number one by Jason Aaron only because, and

Joe has to, I know, and I know you have only

because I knew it was a new number one that wasn't

going to affect me. having not read the end of

the historic run at issue 150 with the previous

writing team. Does that make any sense? My old

man brain's about to fart, folks. We're totally

off the rails now. Yeah, we are pretty much.

We're talking about all the comics we actually

enjoy, folks, instead of the ones that are dismal

and we don't want to watch them or read them

or do anything with them. So on that note, Plugs,

what do you got? Well, I think I've plugged it

enough, haven't I? I mean, I can't. Geekcastradio

.com, Geekcast Radio Network. We are celebrating

our 15th year this year. 15 years ago, Steve

Megatron and I debuted the Geekcast Radio Network.

Right now we've got, I have been publishing our

past episodes that we've done here. I've been

doing those in the pull bags, so right now we're

up to... Episode 555 for the pullback, which

is our discussion of Duke and Cobra Commander

Number 4. So if people want to go over to the

pullback and catch up there. Over on Studio 2009,

we have got Episodes 88 and 89 out. Episode 88

was a double feature film review of RRR, which

you can watch on Netflix. It is a foreign film.

I am not a foreign film fan, but that's just

me. Along with Indiana Jones and the Temple of

Doom, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this

year. I forgot that film was released in 1984.

And then in episode 89, how fitting, because

1989 was 35 years ago, we celebrated Ghostbusters

2 and Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, because

those films are both having anniversaries this

year. Other stuff on geekcastradio .com. I don't

know. Go check it out. Altered Geek. Steve has

got a new episode of Altered Geek out. We've

got Markhu42's Universe. They just released their

380th episode. I've been doing a lot of writing.

I actually need to catch up on the writing. We've

got a whole bunch of stuff over there. Sounds

like a lot. Yep. Well, I mean, in 15 years, just

under 4 ,000 podcast episodes. So, you know,

I'm a machine. I'm a podcast machine. I'm still

waiting for you to do a live 24 hour podcast.

And I'm still waiting for your check for $2 ,000.

That's the only way that's going to 20. No, $2

,400. That's the only way that's going to happen.

It could be fun. It could be fun. No, it will

not be fun. No. I would need a hell of a lot

of alcohol, which I don't drink regularly and

at all. And a lot of food, like a lot of food.

Well, I can order you a pizza. Well, if you want

to, you know, cater the whole thing from Pete

to Hutton, just have a whole pizza buffet in

my apartment. I mean, you're more than welcome

to drive on down here to Anderson, Indiana. This

is why we need to start a Patreon so we can raise

the money. Nobody's going to pay. I've said this

for years. Nobody's going to pay me for my content.

There's no way. My plugs you can find us at another

comic review comm maybe that's where you're listening

to this now Maybe it's not if you're not head

on over there You can find me on YouTube at YouTube

comm slash matrix underscore prime. I guess I

will pimp it this week You can find me on blue

sky. I'm at Jesse early. You can find me on there

And you can find us on Instagram at another comic

review as well. I think that's it I think we've

run this show into the ground anything else.

That's it. All right, that's it Ah, so this is

Jesse's signing off. All right folks, well that's

going to do it for this episode of The Pull Bag.

Check us out next time when we'll be doing more

syndicated episodes here at the end of 2024.

Make your greatest game in the comics and we

will catch you next time. Facebook .com slash

The Pull Bag. Send us an email, feedback at geekcastradio

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in you.