Comic Industry Disruption, Marvel’s Modernization Missteps, and Content Standards

You are tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips joining me in this

adventure into the geekdom is Someone who hasn't

been on one in a while Hi, I'm Mike. I'm a retired

prod -prodcaster. There you go. I prod the cast.

Yeah, he's he prods it he He cattle prods it.

That's right Yes. So welcome back, sir. Hello.

Hello. Yes. It's luckily the plague of the century

has not made an impact on podcasting other than

the fact that everybody talks about it now. And

that's the most popular content on social media.

Well, for obvious reasons. I mean, look, we all

have to social distance. There's no reason none

of us. I understand that. And I'm like, it's

physical distance. Yeah. Well, because like social

distancing is like, I can't talk to you. I'll

catch the plague from talking to you. Physical

distancing, physical distancing is more accurate

of a term because you're staying physically distant

from someone. You're not staying socially distant.

I mean I guess you kind of are in the sense that

you're talking through a you know like when we

have meetings at work it's through zoom calls

so we're all socially distant but it's we're

still conversing. I think it's because of the

whole gathering thing and honestly I don't even

know where it really where the term it just popped

up like immediately as soon as COVID -19 was

a thing social distance or social distancing

is now the term for 2020. And it's like, what

the heck, man. And the thing of it is, is the

reason why I think it's, it's termed that is

because look at all the gatherings, look at,

you know, concerts and sports and all of that

are social events where sports not necessarily

talk to the next guy next to you, concerts, maybe

not either, but like parties and, and weddings.

And that's all In real life socializing. Yeah,

I think I get it in that in that aspect of when

you when you kind of boil it down that way because

you had literally everything from comic cons

to like films to Conventions of any kind Conferences

all of it gone. Bye. Bye world shut down go home

kids You know, it's like going to Wally world

and then you know, John Candy comes up. He's

like, we're sorry. We're closed And then you

just want to punch the moose in the face. Like,

no, we're not closed, but you kind of have to

stay home now. Otherwise, the law will come after

you. Where's Robocop? I know, right? I saw a

meme recently. I don't know. Okay, Judge Dredd.

Yeah, that's right. I don't know where it was

or what it was or whatever, but basically I saw

a meme. with our favorite, Adam Sandler and Bob

Barker, Happy Gilmore. Next to Bob, they have

listed like seven up, ginger ale, soup, blah,

blah, blah, blah, blah, all the things we used

to do to get rid of illnesses when we were kids.

Next to Adam, next to Happy's character, COVID

-19. Hey, but but the thing is, is Bob Barker

did. Punch him. That's true. And and just beat

the living crap out of him. So technically, that's

not as accurate as it should be. It should be

like switched because COVID -19 is not taking

anything without a fight. Granted, they're they're

saying that there's like. Four or five different

vaccines that are floating around for testing

right now that were used for other illnesses

that are that they're claiming can have the same

effect of clearing it up or helping but Yeah,

anyways anyway Yeah, cuz that's so apparently

people that do listen to these shows of ours

anyway They don't listen for this. They listen

for the fun and the arguments and the bickering

and, you know, the complaining. And oh, wait,

we've been doing that for 11, almost 12 years

now. Yes. Yes. And people still show up. So something

that's been impacted. By COVID -19 is the comic

industry, among other things. Now, we'll have

a separate either episode or. on the second half

of this one possibly a conversation about movie

theaters but for the moment we're going to talk

comic books and the industry as a whole with

with some of the biggest distributors shutting

down due to the virus and being you know told

that cease and desist you know it's against the

law right now because it's not a an exception

to their rule. It's not something like food or

health care or or media or something in that

realm. So it's it's been ordered to shut down

temporarily for obvious reasons, for not spreading

it, not getting the employees sick and kind of

just just in that that fashion. But there's a

ripple effect. And this has been happening for

a number of years anyway with the comic industry.

And this just kind of is not helping its case

at all. Not really. So lay it out for us, Mike.

So basically, Diamond Distributing, the distributor

that does comics, they are shutting down. orders

for new product, basically taking new shipments

of new product. They're not doing that anymore

because of the virus and everything else. Diamond

confirms that it will cease shipping new products.

However, reorders will continue to be filled

from a secured warehouse. The head of Diamond

urges retailers to look for creative solutions.

The move is also in the face of stoppages from

shops and publishers alike, according to the

president of Diamond and Diamond is aware of

the many problems facing shops in the midst of

the COVID -19 pandemic. Who knows when it's going

to be able to move again? You know, it's just

it's it's one crazy thing. Yeah, I mean, a lot

of this virus is killing a lot of industries.

And and it's not just killing industries like

I wish I could find the link I had pulled up

the other day The people that have died from

this thing It's the number is astronomically

large Well, and the thing is too is Yes, majority

of people myself included didn't take it very

seriously when it first came out and to be honest

like I definitely feel for everyone that has

lost a loved one in this or has gotten it or

been sick. And this is just throwing it out there

because, you know, I'm going to be transparent

and honest about it. I do think that there is

a portion of it where people are blowing it extremely

out of proportion. And I say that in the manner

of the idiots that are hoarding things from the

grocery store, like the toilet paper, like the.

like the food, the, you know, things that if

they just got what they needed for like the possible

two week span, they're going to be on lockdown

because they're not going to block you from going

to the grocery store. That's just not going to

happen. But but the thing is, is if people just

bought, you know, just regular instances where,

you know, they're not hoarding the stuff, we

wouldn't have all these problems we're having

right now. But You know, I don't take it seriously

in the sense, too, because whatever the president

says aside, not going there. No, no, no. Or what

the Democratic side says, I'm not going there

either because you have Pelosi and Schumer who

are just as between the three of them. They can't

crack a walnut because they're all old and. not

of sound mind, just like our presidential candidates

that are running. So I'm going to leave that

there. But what I'm saying is that the whole

system is basically crippled at this point. And

it's the comic industry has been struggling for

years between multiple reboots going on. I'm

looking at UDC and Marvel not knowing what direction

to go with their content and trying to be woke

on everything. And I feel like both companies,

out of all the comic companies, because I feel

like the other ones are growing because these

two are faltering so bad. And I think it's because

they keep rebooting and they keep trying to re

-innovate or trying to stay relevant and play

to the different social aspects that are going

on in modern day. And in catering, and so they're

looking very cheap about how they're going about

it. Whereas the other companies like IDW, Boom

Studios, they're looking, they're looking what

Marvel and DC did 20, 30 years ago. And so I

truly feel for those two companies because they

put out some really good stuff. To see, you know,

the local comic shops having problems. And that's

personally because of digital, but it's partially

because people just don't have the expendable

income that they used to have. Very true. Very

true. Um, yeah, the comics industry is ever changing.

And I've been doing the pull bag has been around

officially seven years as of this past March.

fifth or sixth I forget what the original date

was eventually of it but you and I had started

back in 2012 on GCR to get the the pullback idea

kind of rolling on with whatever and uh so we've

been talking comics on the GCRN for at least

eight years and in that time what I miss is something

like insert comic name here, having a starting

point, and then going for at least a hundred,

if not more, issues. You know, you mentioned

the DC Marvel constant reboots and whatever else.

Yes, I understand. Number ones make the money.

I get it. But in specifically DC's case, they've

done some wacky things in order to end their

main continuity the new 52 continuity and Now

the rebirth continuity. I don't know I just want

writers and artists to be able to tell the stories

that they want to be able to tell and People

be able to read them You take a look at IDW TMNT

has been going strong Since I think 2011, 2011,

2012, somewhere around there. They're over 100

issues now. They've had multiple miniseries and

other things that help not have them needing

to reboot to number one. Just like Transformers.

Well. They start different divisions, but I would

argue your case that Ninja Turtles is probably

the strongest. And I would also argue that Star

Trek, that they handle it really well. Yeah,

they do. They do also handle. They take aspects

of it and they splinter it off to miniseries

for something that's not necessarily something

that could drag onto a full series. But the things

that do, they keep well within their means and

don't have to reboot. Right. I mean, the only

reason why IDW, quote unquote, rebooted the Transformers

universe in their comics is because it was cataclysmic.

No. Well, I mean, it was a chaos bringer, but

they started out in, I think, 20, 2005, actually,

maybe most likely. I don't know. That was Dreamwave.

They didn't get to around 2009 or 2010 or something.

Okay, 2010, whatever. The point is, they had

13 years of comics at IDW for their version of

what they originally started to do. And that

universe had an endpoint. That universe ended

with Unicron showing up and potentially destroying

everything, obviously. Not the spoil it for anybody,

but the day was saved and yada yada yada So they

then went to a new series a new this a new that

their read They're telling a whole new story

Kind of thing they're starting a whole new universe

Huge difference in going back to number one and

trying to start a whole new universe Then some

companies just ending one universe For the hell

of it because they want a new number one well

in both marvel and dc are notorious for that,

especially in the last 15 years because I remember

reading dc before it rebooted to the new 52 Yeah,

and it was faltering and they were kind of running

out of steam and they needed to bring some characters

back And then they came out with the new 52 and

it started going strong and they started pulling

some pretty heavy punches and then For whatever

reason, they had way too many comic series going

simultaneously and different plot lines in multiple

Batman issues, multiple Superman and multiple

of all these other people that were interrelated.

And then they made too many crossovers, I think.

And it kind of blew itself out really early.

So it went on like two, three years. And then

they rebooted again to the. What was what did

they call it after they rebooted it from the

new 52? Rebirth. Rebirth. Yeah. And that's what

we're living in now. And now they're in like

they're going on all kinds of weird, wacky locations

and concepts now because I follow it enough to

keep up with some of the news, but I don't follow

it enough to really pay attention to what the

storylines are other than I don't care. And and

they've both tried to pull some, you know, some

modernism. things to both of their franchises

of the DC comics and Marvel. But I just I feel

like Marvel tries too hard to cater to different

different special groups of people. And I'm not

denouncing the people whatsoever. Not trying

to start that can of worms. But for instance.

And I'm going to bring this up. I'm not going

to bring up what I said about it, but I'm going

to bring this up. They had debuted their first

non -binary superheroes to each their own. I'm

going to leave that my personal thoughts aside.

They had made this big announcement that they're

going to do this and then they rebooted the new

warriors to the new new warriors. and they named

one snowflake and the other one they named safe

space, which is like total, like woke social

justice warrior garbage. And I feel like that

was like, not only are the names ridiculous,

but I feel like they're trying too hard. And

the funny thing is, is this one over, you know,

cause they're trying to get you know a younger

audience to pay attention to them because nobody

pays attention to them they watch the movies

um and the whoever it is that came up with this

concept um thought that this was going to be

you know really cool to have teen characters

who felt as now you know and um so he chose to

make one of them you know non -binary and all

this other So so what happened is the videos

and the comments on YouTube. Do you remember

the when Call of Duty and Battlefield one came

out like a number of years ago and there was

that joke of like they use the office where they're

like burning the office down and it shows like,

you know, Call of Duty and Activision just like

actively burning and destroying stuff. Because

when the Call of Duty trailer came out, it had

hundreds of thousands of thumbs down. And the

battlefield one had hundreds of thousands of

thumbs up. The same thing happened with this,

the video of this guy trying to make these new

woke, you know, comic lines with these characters.

And there were so many there's I think the last

time I looked, there was like eighty four thousand

thumbs down on like the guy talking about it.

on a YouTube video, which is astronomical. And

it just goes to show you that maybe you shouldn't

try so hard. Maybe just write good characters,

good storylines. If they happen to have that

aspect about them, you know, great. Kind of like

the Cassandra Cain with the Batwoman thing. Okay,

she's lesbian, you know, whatever. It goes with

the character, but the character was around before

that. And it was a strong character before that.

So maybe instead of trying too hard to cater

to people, maybe write good characters. And then

have that as another facet of their personality.

And that was more so what I was getting at when

I was beating on. I inadvertently said something

that caused fandom and some other places to unfollow

me and give me rigorous hate. And I used gifts

like as memes. to comment because i used i used

those to comment rather than physically saying

anything because i was like it's less damaging

if i use a meme because then it's you know it

didn't matter people still attacked me but i

had to lock down the twitter account um last

week because i did that but what it was getting

at is like it was more so a dig at marvel it

wasn't a dig at the people so But it's funny

because an article I'm reading about this it

says Marvel's decision to incorporate You know

these characters in line with its decision to

make its newer comic arcs woke is a decision

that hasn't proven fiscally responsible and according

to screen rant the entire comic book industry

is now close to failing so Yeah, it's In a roundabout

way like I'm trying trying to say that you know

for one with diamond being closed down, who is

a major player in the distribution game. If they're

closed down, that means that the local comic

shops are going to hurt, which in turn is going

to hurt sales on comic books themselves, because

people are going to be hoarding their money in

the event of you know, having to spend $100 on

toilet paper that they shouldn't have to spend

because people hoard it during this time. But

I don't know, like I feel like I feel like they

just don't know what to do anymore. And I think

it kind of partially boils down the fact that

they've got inexperienced writers. Which is the

same problem that's plaguing like the Star Trek

TV shows right now. Mm -hmm, because we were

we had a discussion on future imperfect which

if you haven't listened to that it's Gonna be

out before this I'm recording this the day after

but I haven't released the other so We were talking

about how poorly Picard is written and we had

all these theories of how we thought things should

go and It was more so It was more so like this

this whole thing about how they have multiple

writers per episode Mm -hmm when it's not again

not needed And the problem with again with that

is they You don't get a cohesive storyline like

with Picard there's trying to make it like this

Serialized show kind of like Deep Space Nine

was towards the end and how they've made Discovery.

Well, the problem between both Discovery and

Picard are they're both dystopian. There's nothing

uplifting about either show, so it's depressing

from the get go. Right. Because you're either

dealing with a war or a war on AI, which season

two of Discovery and Picard are both a whole

war on AI. um with another faction involved like

discovery has section 31 and Picard they created

the secret secret police to the tal shiar which

is the jot vash um whatever um but the whole

problem i'm seeing is like there's no original

ideas they're just like pulling crap like uh

dodd was like it's mass effect he's like picard

is basically the storyline of mass effect he's

like do they not have any you know and they they

rip things from like Babylon five and um you

know some of these other sci -fi franchises and

it doesn't really feel like Trek and I get it

like most of the characters don't feel like how

they would have portrayed their characters had

they evolved and and I get that it's 20 years

later but the stories feel like they're hitting

these like they got to hit these beats like they

do in a movie but they're not actually There's

no stakes in it in a sense like yeah, we kill

off tertiary character from the original airing

of TNG, but it doesn't really Affect anything

like there's there's there's a lot of throwaway

somehow in this this 10 episode Season that could

have easily been like seven episodes if they

cut the filler Out of the episodes of it that

I've seen The only one I really enjoyed was when

Ryker shows up Mm -hmm. Yeah, that was the only

one I fully enjoyed because again, it felt like

TNG and I worry like I don't know if you've seen

episode 9 yet. I have not okay. I'm not gonna

spoil it but They do something in that that is

very obvious and It's not There's like not a

lot of intelligent writing, but everybody's doing

the best with what they've been given. And so

I'm wondering how they're going to wrap this

up in the 10th episode, which again, by the time

of this recording, the 10th episode is not out

yet. But again, it still circles around to the

comics. You have people that are inexperienced

at it that probably shouldn't be like your head

writers. for the program, like maybe they should

be consulted by people that have actually written

for the for the franchise before before you let

them loose and do whatever they want. And I feel

like that's what's happening with the comic industry.

And it's what's happening with the television

industry is you're getting a lot of garbage pumped

out just for the sake of saying, oh, we've got

new content. We've we've pushed this envelope.

We've we've done this and it's revolutionary.

It's different. It's new. But it's garbage. And

so ultimately, it's not going to be remembered

very fondly. Whereas, you know looking back at

deep space nine People hated it from the get

-go 20 years later people love it because it's

actually good writing I Liked DS 9 because again

like like I've said in this show and other shows

You're the die -hard or more the casual. Yes.

I grew up with TNG, but I never saw all of it

I mean I honestly I probably still have not seen

every episode of all of the series. I periodically

like I sit on Netflix and I will. Yes, I'll watch

some of the same episodes numerous times, but

I look for the ones where I can see that because

it shows your progress bar of what you've watched.

Purposely will seek out the ones I have not watched

or if I remember it's a really crappy episode

then I'll skip it But if I can't remember it

at all, I'll watch it give it a shot and then

be like, okay I'll never watch this episode again,

but at least I've seen it and And so that's kind

of the boat I'm in with some of this and it makes

it really difficult when you're watching a serialized

Show because you have to watch every episode

to understand everything going on Even though

they give you a five -minute recap at the beginning

of every episode anyway But it's I don't know.

I like I feel I feel like we shouldn't have to

feel like we're getting through stuff. And that's

kind of why I don't buy comics anymore. I felt

the stories were just blah. Like I love the art

on the covers. I love the art and the pages.

But the story just sucked. And so like I quit

doing it. Aside from the fact it was a cash strap.

I can point you in the direction, and I know

I've tried to point you in the direction of several

things that I think you would enjoy, that you

don't have to spend 80 years trying to catch

up. Again, like we mentioned earlier, TMNT, perfect

thing. I can get you the chronology of how you're

supposed to read it and whatever else, and I

think you will really enjoy it. I mean, Joe and

I have been doing that. I would be down for for

trying that, at least at least for a couple of

volumes, just to kind of see how it goes. And

probably the new Transformers, too, just to kind

of see, because ever since Dreamwave lost the

license because the guy embezzled money and didn't

pay his artists. Douchebag. But ever since that

happened. I never really gave IDW a clear shot

because they had cleaner art. They didn't have

that like shiny, like aesthetic and kind of boxy

feel that I was getting from Dreamwave that I

really enjoyed. So I never really gave them an

actual shot like I gave them some here and there,

depending on what it was. And I kept some. And

obviously the Beast Wars stuff was by far my

favorite content because it was Beast Wars. If

they ever wrote that again, I would So love to

help write it because I know Beast Wars in and

out unlike people that you know, cbr .com Love

how I'm just bringing this full circle, you know,

I just I just love how plant -based that that

comment is You know, I just I can't believe that

you know, she's so mystical and you know, she's

in the Beast Wars and and you know, you know

I and for those that are wondering I'm referencing

someone who wrote an article in December of 2019

of Transformers the ten lamest secondary modes

we can't believe exist or they could have just

said the ten lamest transformations because They

only have a one or two modes. There's no like

alternate like there's not a third mode Unless

you're a triple changer. Yeah, and that doesn't

happen to be stories unless you're like Optimus

Primal or a transmetal But you know he he references

rap bat and it kind of runs down like very vague

information And then starts saying sound wave

in his cassettes are lame, you know says, you

know, he's cool But and says that, you know,

if you're in the 80s, he's the coolest idea ever.

And he says, the only thing is, how useful is

this after a single espionage mission? If the

Autobots are smart, then he says, you know, who

put the boombox there? You know, and then all

the different cassettes and I've just like, really?

He's espionage. Yes, he's, you know, more than

likely they're not going to notice a very tiny

cassette player. But. um my favorites of the

botchings on here were the beast machines related

content because none of it was beast wars in

here but they reference beast wars every time

and what's hilarious is the botanica one that's

on there it says sure every universe kind of

needs a plant -based villain first she's not

a villain which tells me they've never watched

the blasted show exactly Because she's a hero.

She's a maximal that happened to crash on a plant

-based planet and came back and had to be reformatted

by optimus primal by the Oracle But anyways,

this is for Batman. It's poison ivy for our Autobots.

It's botanica. They're not Autobots. They're

maximals get it, right? Botanica is a transformer

that can turn into a plant has some mystical

capabilities and personality traits She's a scientist

that sometimes doesn't know when too much work

is too much Okay, I'll give them that She was

introduced in Beast Wars, which is notably not

a high point for the series. No, she was introduced

in Beast Machines and Beast Wars is what saved

the franchise and made it so that it still exists

today. But then he concludes with while she is

a pretty boring character definitely worlds away

from the guns and supersonic jets of the Transformers

world She does have some really cool powers like

being able to interface with the afterlife She's

essentially like a much less interesting badly

animated version of DC swamp thing Seriously,

though Beast Wars looks absolutely awful. And

while some transformers got in to turn into cheetahs

she's a plant and then they spell cheetahs wrong

and again in reference Beast Wars and Beast Machines,

I could see where people would not like it if

they were used to the aesthetic of Beast Wars

for the smooth and the styles that they went

for because they weren't blocky anymore. But

again, wrong series. And then they talk about

how lame. Cheetor is, you know, they reference

Supreme Cheetor, which again, it's a toy. It's

not the series. It's the toy that they're referencing

and says, again, Beast Wars here is a wreck or

is here. Beast Wars is here to wreak its unholy

havoc on us. Again, Beast Machines, not Beast

Wars. Cheetor is a young apprentice of Optimus

Primal. OK, yes, he kind of was. And then he

says, you read that right, Optimus Primal, like

he's never heard of Optimus Primal and Beast

Wars or Beast Machines. Cheetor is an incredibly

boring looking character with Supreme Cheetor

being the toy incarnation of the character He's

not boring. He's actually like quite intelligent

and evolves throughout the entire series from

a hot -headed hot rod And it says he's a hot

rock hot -headed young character who really doesn't

know how to control himself yet a blank slate

that really shouldn't exist He's a yellow background

with black spots all over him and that may be

the case in Beast Wars, but as he evolved and

changed forms and transformations and then through

beast machines he became as wise as primal was

at the beginning of beast wars yeah exactly i

this is going to kind of transition into my wanting

to talk about my google feed because i saw that

story on my google feed and i sent it to you

or i sent it to whoever it was we dropped it

in our facebook group yeah so um I understand

that CBR is kind of like the go -to thing when

it comes to comics and whatever else, and they

generally have fairly reliable news sources and

whatever else on certain things. However, whomever

this person is, I don't know, I don't even care.

Like, please. Do your research first. This is

the funny thing. They primarily write about Dragon

Ball Z and other manga and anime and Fullmetal

Alchemist and things like that. They have no

idea on any other kind of content, like literally

nothing else. Like all of their other content

is like is anime based, like solely 100 percent

anime based, which tells me this person has never

seen it but was was assigned This article and

had no choice but to do it Which Is strangely

telling like and it's the only non anime article

that they wrote Out of the ten that are on there

that this person's written written we're okay

Whereas this website could have hired someone

who knew about it watched it Yeah, exactly. Here's

the funny thing. I saw that article and Well,

yeah, exactly do your own research, but here's

the thing I saw that article and I'm like, oh

you've got to be friggin kidding me And as soon

as I read it, I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna

go over here to to be which to be is a An app

that I have it's a TV app to be has G1 to be

has Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Nice. That

you can watch all the episodes for free. Yes,

there are ads here and there, but it's not bad.

I mean, considering these shows aren't on Netflix

or Hulu or whatever, like I think Transformers

Prime is the only one that's left on Netflix

right now. Anyway, point is I'm like, oh, I love

Beast Machines. I'm going to rewatch Beast Machines.

I think I'm on like the fourth or fifth episode

of season one right now. and that's when i started

looking back at that article and i'm like this

person doesn't know what they're talking about

well that's not a good thing well and especially

for the ones that i don't know reviewed the series

still to this day to my knowledge you'd have

to do some research but i'm still claiming claiming

to fame that um we're the only in -depth beast

wars damn There's there's one there's one other

show that's that's doing it now. And they break

each episode, they break down one episode of

the program. They don't do it like how we did

it, which which is different. They're they're

putting a different spin on it and they're a

little bit more sarcastic and they they kind

of do things differently and then they do their

show on YouTube. Granted, it still doesn't get

any better downloads than what we did 10 years

ago. But but nevertheless, uh we were first and

we did deep dive and we got to talk to some of

the writers and some of the people that were

involved that a few are not among us anymore

um or accessible so yeah yeah well i was talking

like larry datilio larry yeah but yeah so i mean

when you kind of bring it all down um again it's

It I don't know. It's just it's it's something

that drove me nuts when I worked for Writing

articles for tech websites They want you to pump

out garbage as quickly as possible They kind

of give you your guideline and I'm not dissing

websites that give freelancers work and I understand

that they're just trying to pump stuff through

the machine for Google for Google purposes and

for viewers, but The problem I had and it depends

on the site you write for. I wrote for a couple

of different ones. One of them I could pump out

six or seven a week. If they gave them to me,

the other one, it was kind of like you got assigned

it, but half their stuff was like too difficult

to write about. You had to do like an obscene

amount of research and their website was so clunky

on the back end. It was not worth the effort.

But the other side. You could put in some effort.

to do some research and then you write it and

then it was in a wordpress background so you

could write in that again perfectly fine i usually

knew a pretty decent amount of stuff although

the only thing i didn't like is that they would

still assign you articles for things that you

knew nothing about so for instance every now

and again i would get an iphone or an ipad question

i don't own them and i hate them so i had to

write about them So I felt so disingenuous writing

about them about products. I'd never tried because

they were stealing them from the other side.

I ended up writing for later. And I felt disingenuous

writing about it or like I had to write one of

how to podcast. OK, I was assigned that one because

one, I asked for it and two. I was like, I could

do this with my eyes closed. Yeah. And they were

like, we want you to push these two combo packs

that are on on Amazon. And mind you, they're

like a XLR microphone with, you know, a mixer

with, you know, a headset with a pop screen filter

and some of this other crap in a stand and something

else. And I was like. It was supposed to be for

beginners, people that are novices that don't

know anything about podcasting. Like that was

the whole purpose, because whenever I got too

in -depth in an article, because there were times

I wrote 1 ,000, 1 ,500 words, and I was told

to keep it under 1 ,000 on occasion. And they

would tell me I wrote too in -depth that it would

go way over the listener's heads. And it's like,

well, how do you expect to have accurate information

on an article that you're handing me of this

nature? Because I'm not going to write garbage.

And I'm not going to leave things out because

then otherwise it's not a complete article. It's

not a complete how to. And so I felt I don't

know. I felt like I was riding the line there

and it kind of drove me nuts. But I wrote it,

you know, because that's what I had to do. But

looking back on it, you know, much later, the

podcast article. With writing it I would have

never included those combo packs because I personally

use a Blue Yeti microphone I have a pop screen

filter. I have a Retractable arm that's on my

desk that holds them at the Blue Yeti. I have

a USB headset that was $20 from Logitech and

It's all USB and it cost me $200 round trip and

over a span of 10 years and I still am using

all of it. I mean, this isn't my original headphones

because those snapped and technically these are

broke too, but I just glued them. And I was able

to include the Blue Yeti and I was able to include

a couple of, like the Samson and there's another

brand too that is pretty high up there too. But

I included those three in there for the single

setup. And I didn't feel disingenuine writing

about those or the rest of the process of podcasting

or software Because I had to include software

as well and I that I would completely I was like

audacity Adobe audition and you know, if you're

inclined to use Pro Tools, but Other than that

like, you know, it was pretty cut and dry, but

I had to include those other two things because

I was told to not because I wanted to um because

it was an affiliate sponsor link thing and so

um so again like it depends on the website and

their integrity and whether they actually proof

your material or whether they actually have a

writer that cares about the material whether

it's actually accurate or not or whether they

put the effort into it you know even if i didn't

know something about ipads or or iPhones there

were times that i spent ridiculously a long time

trying to figure out how those things worked,

because I had to write about it. And again, you

would do the research on it. Yeah. And it would

sometimes take me half a day to do all the research

on it for something I knew nothing about. You

know, like apps. They wanted me to write about

apps, too. And again, I didn't know about them

because like certain apps, because I didn't use

them. I didn't have an iPhone or even if I had

it on an Android, I didn't use the apps because

I didn't want to download them. So like I would

do enough research that I didn't need to download

them unless I actually wanted to try it like

Google Pay I learned about from writing one of

those articles and I actually tried it and I

actually use it but but again like it's kind

of boils down to that I feel like a lot of sites

are doing clickbaity stuff with their topics

and their titles and recycling old content so

that it filters back through, which I get they're

going to do that because it's it makes the most

sense for SEO. But you shouldn't see something

that's like six months or older, because, you

know, if you're on a pop culture site, you'll

see, you know, an article that was maybe from

six months to a year ago about something that

happened in the show that's no longer relevant

now. But it's somehow still in the latest posts

on the website. Yeah. Mean there's a huge difference

in doing that and doing what I normally do is

I'll be like Hey remember this from like ten

years ago when we first started kind of like

I'll find and I've gone like the pull bag I've

I think fixed almost all of this is audio back

-end issues folks. Don't worry about it But basically

the end of last year I was fixing all the pull

bag stuff so I could eventually like right now

actually It's a perfect example when this episode

supposed to be released Friday Friday is that

day of the week. The 27th. Okay. So as of this,

we are three or four days away from March 30th,

2020, which is the 20th, no, not the 25th, 30th

anniversary of when TMNT came out in 1990. So

I just went back to the pull bag and I found

the two commentaries, the two commentary tracks

Joe Reed and I did for the original 90 Turtles

film and Turtles 2. And I'll be posting those

on the anniversary saying hey it's the 30th anniversary

go listen to our commentary on these movies kind

of a thing. There's a huge difference in me doing

that versus what you're talking about these websites

continuing to put and have listed in their most

recent posts stuff that's older than a week.

Yeah, and the only the only case I could see

for doing it. Is if you wanted to highlight the

most popular or frequently at access content,

because I recently put a slider on GCRN site

of the frequently accessed posts of the website

and one of Dan's top 100 comics of 2019 comes

up, the pull bag Tony Stark episode. Altergeek

326 with podcast and AI tech and stuff. And then

several interviews come up, which John Delancey

is one of. But it comes up in the frequently

accessed, you know, which, OK, cool. You know,

it's it's stuff that people have resonated with,

apparently. And so some of its evergreen, some

of its not. But. But it's still like it's it's

labeled old. Mm hmm. It's not it's not labeled

as like cutting edge, brand new. Come to the,

you know, and pay attention to me because I'm

new and it's not. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's a little

crazy, folks. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't know

if you have anything else to add to this part

of the conversation. It's just again it like

These algorithms for Google the Google feed that

I mentioned earlier or whatever it like right

now I'm currently in the middle of refreshing

on my phone here Come on. All right Samsung Galaxy

skip the galaxy s20 that was posted 16 hours

ago Something on per card was posted a day ago

but like My point about bringing this up is I

want, and this also goes to Facebook too, I want

my news feed or my feed that is chronologically

whatever. I want it in the terms of when it was

posted. I don't want to go on Facebook and see

an article or see somebody post something that

was from yesterday or four days ago or last week

and Facebook is more notorious for this than

than Google is but like I will see stuff like

that like I've had people comment on my stuff

that's at least five days old and I'm like seriously

this is five days ago what's going on here and

then I realized Facebook's algorithm is doing

stupid crap. Well Facebook and Twitter both are

notorious for that especially if you're on the

apps. I have my Twitter apps set to You know

most recent whatever I don't have it. I do too,

but periodically when it updates it changes back

I've noticed because like I'll look at the the

time of when something was posted and at times

it will come up and say oh This was posted seven

hours ago, and I'm like okay. This isn't doing

what it's supposed to anymore So yeah, I don't

know it's it's really annoying to be honest and

I just I don't I don't I don't like the little

sneaky games that they all like to play. Mm hmm.

So that aside. Yes. Got some feedback on a. Previous

episode. We had. What was it? I think the last

episode we did was beginning of March for this

show. We did our top five favorite films right

now. And Brad on Facebook goes, I don't think

I could give you a top five, more so five of

my favorites. And that's kind of what my boat

is most of the time. And then we were talking

about in the previous one, some of the feedback

he said. Because this one was on Disney podcasting

elitists and in voice acting. I think I was so

low on that Yeah, he goes Criticisms of films

you don't want to see I agree Hunger Games don't

want to see it. So can't criticize it I think

he was talking about the top five films if you

want to criticize something watch it first then

crap on it and then he says One last thing with

everyone indoors now, I've seen some podcasters

creating extra content for listeners. I fear

in an already bloated market, comedians, artists,

etc. will now turn to podcasting and inflate

the market even further. As you've said previously,

Steve, it's already hard getting listeners without

radio stations and celebrities making their own

shows and taking the listeners. Well, here's

the thing to that. And he's right. It's not he's

not wrong. Right before COVID -19 happened, a

local radio station that I followed for years

in Boston, 1073 WAAF, went off the air. And then

COVID -19 hit. So now all those people are out

of jobs because the parent company, I guess,

wanted to go in a different direction or whatever

else. Basically, it's a Christian radio station

now. So the people that work there are now doing

other things or figuring out what they're going

to do next kind of thing. And for me, and I meant

to bring this up whenever the heck I was on this

show last in my semi podcast retirement thing

here, I've been listening to a lot more shows

lately. I've tried to listen to certain things,

but I've also tried to find new things. Like

I've tried to like, I've listened to several

of your things. and whatever else, and I've listened

to other stuff as well. But I've tried to find

other things that I am not associated with or

whatever else, and the people that were on the

afternoons and middays for that radio station,

one of them has a podcast called Breaking the

Ice. Originally, I guess it was a hockey podcast.

I don't know, whatever, anyway. but you know

I listen to that and I listen to a few other

things I'm starting to listen to shows again

and I haven't done that like I said last time

I talked about this when you're someone like

me who can't have or can't maintain a real job

because of my physical because of my physical

disabilities and you have all this time on your

hands you want to put it that's why I even started

podcasting was I had all this extra time on my

hands when I was doing the job i was doing back

in 2005 or whatever it was um you know i would

listen to a whole bunch of stuff and then i started

producing producing a podcast even as a novice

let's any podcast it doesn't matter if it's a

comic podcast like if you especially if you're

someone like me who wants to review stuff you

have to either read watch listen and then do

additional research before you even hit that

record button, you have to have some sort of

format for the show, that kind of thing. It's

not just hit record and say whatever the frack

you want kind of a thing. So I stopped listening

to all the stuff I was listening to because I

was the one doing the producing. Well now that

I'm currently not producing anything, not on

a mainstream level like I was, I have more time

to listen to stuff. So I've mentioned on the

show before Music Talks with Terry Smith. I love

that show. Part -time nerds, full -time dads.

I think you should, you'd get a kick out of it.

It's Mike Laidman from Twig and formerly of Twig

or whatever you want to call it. It is Buddy

Chris. And it's a dad podcast, but it's also

a geeky podcast. I think you should check that

out. Like I said, this new one that I'm listening

to behind Breaking the Ice. I've even listened

to several episodes of Michael Rosenbaum's show

because of Get. Like I listened to that Stephen

Amell one that he had. I recently just listened

to the Brandon Routh one he had on because he

had Brandon Routh on the show recently. So, you

know, it's one of those things where In listening

to some of the stuff, I'm getting more and new

and different ideas to where I want to go further

once I get back to full production. Yes, I still

want to finish producing stuff like Powers of

Grayskull series with Optimus Solo. I still want

to do other things with other brands that we've

created over the like. You know. It's so old

at this point, which probably shouldn't even

release it, but I started doing my. um was it

50 years of scooby -doo spotlight on tune cast

last year with optimus solo and neil and we didn't

even i didn't even get the the first episode

edited and released it tune cast basically stopped

at episode 230 even though i still have episode

231 recorded it just life has just been strange

and it's even more strange now because of the

virus Yeah, it's definitely changed the world

and I'm not certain if it's good or bad Either

way, it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

I mean that is for sure But it's I mean it's

basically skyrocketed now, but they've they slowed

it down as much as they can at this point. It's

just the numbers game is just not going to play

out the way they see it going. Everyone is going

to get infected at some point. It's just that's

just the matter of how it's going to be. But

I think I think for this episode, though, I think

we've about wrapped it up. So we'll be back on

another episode. To discuss the cinemas and streaming

And I know you don't have anything to plug right

now But what are some of your go -to comic episodes

of the pull bag that you would recommend people

to go check out if they want to hear Some of

your thoughts on the comic industry. I Know it's

kind of throwing you out there, but you usually

know well, yes, I know Any of our TMNT episodes

that we've been doing since 2014, I believe,

any of those, the Batmite episode that, you know,

you know, you talk about how DC really doesn't

have anything for us, whatever or anything that

we're super interested in. Yep. That six issue

Batmite miniseries was hilarious. The Batman

Beyond stuff is the main title that I've kept

up with for DC because it's so, it really is

really good. You can check out all of our Transformers

and TMNT coverage in the pull bag. I think it

was episode 337. You can listen to that. I'm

kind of on it. I'm not really on it. Ryan, The

Uneven Flow, Merkley, Lady Rek, and Jen apparently

talked about 13 years of Transformers comics

at IDW. So if people want to get a general overlook,

they're probably going to be spoilers on that

episode. But if you want to get a general outlook

of or overlook of what IDW has done, you can

listen to that. What I'm really proud of, though,

is what I did at the end of last year. I did

several episodes on Geekcast Radio with several

different people. Episode 194, I believe, is

with myself and Tom DJ talking about how fandom

is broken and how we can fix it. We also talk

about his modern fandom manifesto. It's these

little rules that he wrote down about how fans

should, you know, behave amongst each other.

Just because somebody likes Lord of the Rings

doesn't mean I have to. Just because, you know,

just because you love Star Trek. And I, you know,

like I said, I have a passing enjoyment of it.

But you know, if we all like the same thing,

the world would be boring. So you can check that

episode out. Even though it's more timely to

Thanksgiving, my interview with local restaurateur

Big Ed from Big Ed's Barbecue back in Illinois,

that was really fun. I love doing that. He actually

has, I'm hoping, I'll have you get it later.

I had him record a GCR promo for us. Basically,

this is Big Ed from Big Ed's Barbecue from Waukegan,

Illinois. You're listening to the GeekCast Radio

Network. And at the end of it, he's like, sucka.

So I recorded that for a while. That was kind

of fun. Just a whole bunch of stuff, you know,

I've been doing this for going on 12 years this

December and I've done a lot of content. Whether

it's new or old folks, just go listen to it.

And with that, where can the good people find

you on the internets at the moment? I'm on Twitter.

Don't really do too much with it, because apparently

we both get in trouble when we're on Twitter.

Yes, we do. Art is subjective, folks, and no

one is going to say, no one single no -name artist

is going to save the comics industry. No, and

and anyway because he he clamors for somebody

to call him doesn't mean it's gonna happen so

I'm doing if you and Mike on Twitter I'm at SCP

21 at altered geek so until next time get altered

get geeky with the altered