Favorite Comics of 2016 (So Far)

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You are now on

the inside of what I like to call the circle

of trust. We are all connected in a great circle

of life. You know something, Bert? I think you

and I are going in circles. It feels like we're

going in circles. The circle is now complete.

When I left you, I was but the third. Now, I

am the last. Because it's a circle. Yeah, we

heard about the circle. Yes, we're familiar with

shapes. Hey, this is Greg. And no, Chuck. Yes,

and this is Dan. And we are talking in a little

smaller of a circle, Rocky Webkey cast, Radio

Network. Yes, we are chuckless this week, but

Greg and I are holding down the fort. And what

we're actually doing is in the second half today,

as of being a little bit over halfway through

2016, we're going to be talking about our favorite

comic books of the year so far. But before we

get to that, Greg, how's the week been going

with you so far? It's it's been pretty good a

little sad that I'm missing out on San Diego

comic -con this week Which when we're recording

this it just started last night on Wednesday

night with the preview night And it's been going

on all day Thursday I'm kind of sad. I'm missing

out on it. There's a whole bunch of Funko exclusive

that I would love to get in on but uh Making

it through I still got New York City comic -con

that I get to go to And the two others that are

a little bit but I'm braring to go for cons.

They're coming up for me and I just can't wait.

How about you, Dan? What have you been up to?

Not much, not much. Really slow week for me.

This is the time of year where my work gets kind

of crazy, so my life gets dedicated that mostly.

But you know, we talked about Pokemon Go last

week, and yeah, I think I'm ordering over it.

So I guess I kind of stopped playing. Oh, really?

Yeah. That was a quick love affair, Dan. It was,

it was. It's just, it's, I've... I'm not completely

done with it, but like it's kind of annoying

because I keep running out of the Pokemon balls

And there's not like a place for me to like refresh

refresh my balls. That's You know, yeah Exactly.

So there's no place to do that and so and it

like so they'll be like things to catch what

I can't catch them and then the servers for the

site or for the finger down so when I do go to

a place to like oh, I know this is where Pokestop

pokestop is the servers are down so it doesn't

work. So I've just been getting aggravated with

it So yeah, I mean I also play play a little

bit But I'm not as eager on it and I as I thought

I would and I had that feeling that it would

happen But uh, you know, it's it's it's nature

of the game, but you were expecting later rather

than sooner Exactly. Exactly. We never know.

Maybe I'll catch up with it again if I go You

know go sightseeing and there's a bunch of pokestops

to look up load up on my balls and then We'll

have that. But part of that, too, is I ended

up... Getting kind of addicted to something else,

you know addiction goes here one thing goes away

and something comes replacing it and it's one

of Netflix's like new hit series and I honestly

never even like heard anything about it until

You know, I just saw it on Netflix and suddenly

now it's like everywhere and it's their newest

series stranger things Yeah, I've like never

heard anything since past like maybe a week week

and a half ago a week and a half ago and all

of a sudden it's blown up And that's all I really

hear about I don't know what it involves at all

I just hear that it's got Winona Ryder in it.

I believe Yeah, it's so I think it just debuted.

I'm not sure what exactly came out, but it was

recently and I think it You know it picked up

steam. It's one of those you know Netflix shows

so It just kind of didn't really have the pedigree

of say like half the cards But you know we're

not a writer is probably the biggest star in

it, but it's basically like Like if you took

up all the genre films of the 1980s put them

in a blender and added in some new spices This

would be the show. It is like has like it's like

I think Stephen King tweeted out it's like a

Best hit novel of Stephen King and he meant that

in the best way possible. It's actually quite

good. It's you know the It takes place in this,

you know, kind of small town. It almost reminds

me of somewhat of E .T. of the town. Then there's

like two major storylines going on. You have

a storyline involving kind of like kids, I would

say, like Goonies age, you know, kids, younger,

and then like teenagers. And like you have their

story, which is... And they're kind of all intertwined

about this strange thing that's happening, some

sort of possible... I don't want to give anything

away, but it... The elves in the realm of science

fiction has influences from Nightmare on Elm

Street to even Kira. It's insane, all the different

things that go into it. In the first episode,

it's not really a spoiler because it's in the

title, A Kid Goes Missing. that becomes like,

why did that happen? Where did he go? And that

kind of sets off this type of, you know, it's

this mystery of like, what exactly is going on

here? Is there government involved? It's like,

what's causing all these strange things to happen

in the city, in the town? And what's really like,

what really kind of took me away or sorry, one

of the best things about the show is the casting

or the actors in it. The kid acting is like amazing.

It does remind me of Spielberg. It's what Spielberg

was able to do is really then capture kids that

make them feel like actual kids. The opening

sequence is like them playing Dungeons and Dragons,

and it does seem kind of pandering, but it feels

very like ET -ish. Exactly. It feels very much

like, okay, these seem like real kids the way

they talk. They, you know, they feel authentic

in that way. They all kind of have their unique

personalities, even like the way they look. Sometimes

I feel like with movie star kids, they all look

like, you know, like... uh they get like the

cutest kid possible it's you know but these kids

look like you know normal everyday people and

acting overall is pretty solid um and it's it's

enjoyable it gets i think the ending i don't

know i wasn't completely satisfied with the way

it ended it i think it like I don't know. It

was hard for everything to come together, but

it was just, it was the ultimate slice of life

in the 1980s. It reminded me a lot of like Super

8, but Super 8, it was nearly as derivative as

Super 8, where Super 8 felt so much like a Spielberg

film. This almost feels like it's its own thing,

but it's certainly being. referring to other

things. It's certainly a product of a love affair

with 80s genre films and Java TV shows, but it's

not, I think, mooching off them so much that

it doesn't become its own unique entity. So and

I've loved the score of it. It very much reminds

me of like a John Carpenter or Michael Mann score

with like the Sith soundtrack. It's quite good.

I think you would enjoy it a lot. It's it's not

necessarily like campy science fiction. It's

it's a little bit more serious than that. And

it sounds interesting from what you're saying,

because I really enjoyed Super 8. So if it falls

kind of into that and if you're saying it's kind

of taken away from its downfalls, it definitely

sounds something right up my alley. Yeah, yeah,

it's quite good. I would definitely recommend

it. If you have Netflix, if you're a geek, you're

in the show, I think you would like it for sure.

I know a lot of people have really been talking

a lot about it. Like you mentioned, it's been

everywhere. So my wife even liked it and she

doesn't really like that. She actually, the one

night I was like falling asleep and she's like

staying up finishing it. So she was a big fan

of it. She loves things of that nature though.

But talking about ghosts and things that go creepy

crawly, and other things people can't stop talking

about, you saw Ghostbusters, so I'm curious to

hear what you actually ended up thinking about

it. Yes, not only did I see Ghostbusters, but

I also saw this documentary on Netflix called

Ghost Heads, and I would totally avoid it at

all costs. It wasn't that great, Ghost Heads.

Is it better than that Back in Time documentary?

The the back in the future documentary yeah,

this is much worse than that Yes It feels very

amateurish To the production wise I don't know

why it just felt like that to me the people that

they go over They make me feel like Super cool

nerd I it's just kind of agonizing to watch sometimes

with with the the people that they have going

on in here Which I guess I feel bad for saying

because it's kind of like judging other people's

lives not just but it's agonizing to watch some

parts with how nerdy some of these people are

and it's like yeah, I kind of fit in the category

with these people and so I'm like It was it was

a bit of a train wreck to watch It doesn't go

over kind of like behind the scenes of the movies.

It really just deals with the fans and different

fans From different areas like you get Ghostbusters,

France you get Ghostbusters, New Jersey Sorry,

is anything like you have you seen Trekkies at

all have you seen Trekkies was much better i

felt production -wise you still agonizing tool

Watch for the fans and seeing how nerdy they

are I felt like that was much better done than

this I don't know I don't know why but it just

felt like it was done so much better, but it's

still agonizing to watch nerdy people and know

that I'm a part of The fan base and everything

so I guess that's why it's excruciating for me,

but there's nothing really there to be like oh,

I'm so I watched that it's just like yep okay

I watched a documentary it doesn't really fit

and fill any parts of your soul with like glee

or anything it's just like all right I feel like

all fandoms like have that like To the extreme

person like football fans with like the dude

who's go shirtless at like 13 degrees outside

with like yeah It's just like okay. Let's step

down step it down a bunch, but yeah Yeah Like

there's the the one guy and they had like these

weird cartoons in the middle of it of this just

the one guy They didn't have it for anybody else

They just had a cartoon animated for this one

guy and he's got like this like Brown splotch

on his front teeth that kind of grossed me out,

but he But it's just it's been there for his

whole life I guess and they animated that into

the cartoon Which I thought was just plain weird

there was like a bunch of weird touches like

that You don't even talk to they don't even really

talk to The creators that much like you got a

little bit of Dan Aykroyd in there And it's like

he's just talking about the fans that has nothing

really to do about the movie And it's it's just

so from seeing at the end. They kind of show

these Dedicated fans of Ghostbusters they kind

of show the trailer and everything to them and

like this little sneak preview and everything

and they're like oh It's gonna so great and everything

and now with going to see the movie. I'm like

you guys, they're probably so wrapped up in the

nostalgia of it all that they don't even realize

that it wasn't that good. The movie was... not

funny and I think that's what they were mostly

going on with this one. The original one it was

essentially three out of the four characters

playing straight -laced kind of every once in

a while throwing in some dry humor but then Bill

Murray is the one that's really tossing the humor

out in it but this one they have like a whole

bunch of SNL comedy people and so I think this

one was mostly a comedy genre. And I felt like

it was a big, big, big swing and a miss. There

was maybe like two things that I laughed at,

but I was in a theater with a lot of kids and

I kept hearing a ton of laughter from the kids

and everything. And then I think some of the

adults were still laughing. I'm not sure if it

just wasn't my type of humor. It was very slapstick.

but I felt weird about the humor in it because

if you're gonna have this over -the -top humor

that kind of takes you out of the world a little

bit then plus you're in a realm of ghosts and

everything so you've got this real slapsticky

humor of like Melissa McCarthy with a proton

pack flying all over the place trying to wrangle

it down because it's way overpowered for and

then you've got ghosts going on it's just really

taking you out of kind of a real -life world

that that you kind of need to sink into for a

movie. And the characters themselves were a bit

over the top, like some of them need to be dialed

back. I think Kristen Wiig needed to be dialed

up just a little bit. Kate McKinnon was just

going a little bit too eccentric with the role.

Melissa McCarthy and I don't know the name of

the girl that played that. Leslie Jones. Leslie

Jones, thank you. But theirs was like way over

the top, kind of screaming. They needed to be

toned down a little bit. My brother was even

saying, and I agree with him, you should throw

Melissa McCarthy out. Tom Leslie Jones down,

but put somebody else in there that wasn't as

high energy as Leslie Jones because both the

high energy from Melissa McCarthy and Leslie

Jones with the screaming, shouting, the very

physical humor, it was just too much. And I thought

Leslie Jones was selling it much better than

Melissa McCarthy. And Leslie Jones had one of

the funniest lines in the film where I actually

did laugh all the other comedy in it. It's just

kind of I was sitting there going, OK. Yep, that

was supposed to be a joke. Where they had a couple

of serious scenes, I thought the serious scenes

were really well done, and I wish it was a little

bit more of the serious scenes, especially where

Kristen Wiig's talking about her first experience

with the paranormal. I thought that was really

great. I love Chris Hemsworth, but he was definitely

way too over the top. Dumb how they were having

him play sigh It was it was a bit too much with

him. And the fact that before this movie even

got into production, there was a lot of talk

over the fact that the Ghostbusters were all

going to be women now. And so I felt like they

were really fighting against that during the

movie because they were harping on that they

were all women. And it was kind of like a girl

power situation. There were. Definitely different

times in the movie that they kept trying to sell

that like women are the best women are awesome

And that kind of stuff where they were just jamming

it down your throat Which okay once or twice

okay? Get away with that, but it was just a little

over the top and I feel like Not to get too deep

on the subject, but I feel like that's done a

little bit too much anymore Where it's so much

feminism that it's making guys almost Go to other

side of almost being feminine with how much The

ego is getting knocked down like I understand

here and there and not to get like political

or anything like that or or to preachy but especially

with this movie it felt like it was Demoralizing

for men to kind of watch I know they were fighting

back But like once or twice, okay, we get it

and we can move on with the rest of movie But

they I felt like they were kept attacking that

situation I guess the question like then is it

I guess you don't necessarily like hear that

point with something like, you know the hangover

very much, which is very much a bro movie, like

Wolf Pack type of thing. Wouldn't that just be

the equivalent of doing the same thing? Well,

no, because I think you've got your bro type

movies like Hangover, but then you've also got

your chick flicks, too. What was that one with

Melissa McCarthy and it was like all four women

kind of going out? Yeah, and I don't think Ghostbusters

is one that kind of falls into that kind of category.

It's kind of a for everybody kind of film. If

you ask me, yes, it was four guys back in the

day, but it was essentially I think two or three

guys with with their friends that was coming

up with the movie, essentially. So it just that's

how it kind of happened to be. I don't think

it was like thinking about, oh, we should have

got a woman woman in here or something. But also

they weren't harping like, yeah, there's no women

on the crew or anything like that. And this very

much felt like, yeah, there's no men on this

crew. We don't need no men like, for example,

in the commercial for the movie, they have Leslie

Jones do a stage dive. and nobody grabs onto

her, they just let her fall. But in the movie,

you see that Melissa McCarthy does the stage

dive, people grab her, and she does the fan surfing

and everything. But Leslie Jones' line is, I'm

not sure if it was a black thing or a woman thing.

And it's like, well, they just caught the other

woman, Melissa McCarthy, so like, why do you

even need to make that statement? like okay if

you want to say the black thing I guess but and

there were other points where they were they

were definitely trying to sell and I'm I'm running

a blank in my head of other things the like they

show shot the final baddie in the junk and so

there was a bunch of stuff like that and it was

just a bit too much over the top where it was

coming it came a blaring obvious thing for me

and I don't want to go too much on to the I guess

I don't know to me. I guess I feel like we as

guys we may have issues with that But there's

a lot of stuff that are done in guy movies Yeah,

the way women are portrayed and the fact that

there are very little if they give you hear the

Bechdel test Which is like basically at you know,

the task where it's like are there two women

on screen? that are talking to one another and

talking not regarding other men and nearly like

90 % of movies fail that so I think it's okay

if you have a movie that is one of the rare films

that is a major blockbuster that's female -centric

and they And they do kind of maybe there's a

balance you need to strike, but I don't have

an issue if they Yeah, I'd rather them strike

a balance than go one way or another like I I

could see like yeah, maybe we don't need the

bro movies But like I guess that's I guess my

like my response to that would be then why don't

we get that complaint with the bro movies? It's

like well, why aren't they striking about for

sure? People can complain about that. I I guess

be me being a guy. I guess I could allow it to

go a little bit more but especially with the

fight at the beginning of this movie that they're

Yeah, I don't have problem one way or the other

woman power guy power black power white power

Asian power. I don't give a shit who you are.

I just don't like being Yeah, exactly. I don't

care if If you're one way or the other well,

I don't like racist people or anything like that

that kind of shit But it's it's just I don't

like being sold something way over the top That

that always bugs me and this was kind of being

sold way over the top yay feminism kind of situation

and and this that wasn't even the main part of

the the movie or anything it was just Just like

kind of brought up everyone smile, so it kind

of bugged me, but whatever I thought the villain

was kind of cool I thought the ghosts I thought

the ghosts when they did like Slimer Like the

stilts guy and the final The balloons the like

the Macy's day balloons. I thought those were

kind of cool And I thought the final ghost was

cool. Rowan's ghost, which was, spoiler alert,

which was the Ghostbusters emblem ghost in there

kind of come to life. I thought those were all

really well done. And then I thought since they

did those and they were like these really neat

looking designs and everything to see then see

the other ghosts going on where they're just

like. Translucent got a mist going on and they've

got like this neon Blue going on I thought they

weren't very original compared to all the other

stuff that they had Going on in the movie. So

I wish that was it was more Creativity kind of

going on with the the ghosts and that they were

sticking more to that that slimer stay puff marshmallow

man feeling going on like they definitely I thought

they hit it home with the the Rowan's ghost.

My brother didn't care for it too much because

he thought it should have been misty but I thought

it was kind of cool because it did look like

this really old weird cloth situation going on

and how kind of like when he smashed a cab with

his foot there's like the cloth kind of stuck

to the taxi cab a little bit. had this little

grossness to it. He didn't care for it too much

because he said it looked like a person in a

costume, so kind of Godzilla style to him. But

I thought it was kind of cool and kind of struck

back to the old Ghostbusters. That'd be pretty

neat. I'd watch that Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

would probably go down pretty quick I love the

Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, but he would go down

pretty quick because he's just delicious And

I'm assuming Godzilla has a sweet tooth, but

it was it was better than I expected But it still

wasn't up to par there were a lot of cool appearances

by the old cast members I've heard mixed things

about the cameos. Yes, Bill Murray. I felt like

was just phoned it in which was terrible to see

because I love Bill Murray Dan Aykroyd I feel

like anything anymore he's always phoned it in

anymore which I feel sad about because I love

Dan Aykroyd and they had a bust a gold bust of

Ernie Hudson was at the end I thought he had

the best appearance And I think he had a funnier

line of the movie. I thought Ernie Hudson was

great. Annie McDowell, I think that's her name.

Her appearance was okay. What's the other? Scorny

Weaver. Scorny Weaver was a little strange. And

then the last Egon who passed away a couple of

years back. I forget the actor. Rick Moranis.

No, not Rick Moranis. That would have been awesome

if he was anywhere near that. That would probably

would have just been up because nostalgia and

haven't seen him in years. It was the guy who

played Egon Spangler and he passed away a couple

of years. And so they had like a gold bust out

in the hallway, which I almost missed him. Like

I like in retrospect, like a couple seconds after

his bus is on the screen. I'm like, wait a minute.

That was supposed to be Egon in the background.

Oh, Harold Ramis, not Rick Moranis. Yeah, Harold

Ramis, yes. That's the story. Late Harold Ramis.

Rick Moranis isn't still living. He stopped acting

because his wife got sick. And passed away, unfortunately,

because that also sucks with her passing away,

but also sucks that we don't get to see Rick

Moranis anymore. There was something else I wanted

to mention too, and it just passed through my

mind in one quick second and I forgot. Go ahead.

I know we talked about how awful the new song

was. Was it actually used in the movie or was

it just saved? There was a lot of the older songs,

riffs on that. And then it was just like a quick,

maybe 30 seconds use of that song. So it kind

of passed by quick. And it was like, oh, oh,

that was that was good. We passed by that one

real quick. It was kind of like pulling off a

band aid real quick. Like it hurts and then it's

gone. OK, we're good. We could breathe a little

bit. So otherwise, it was it was OK. Like I would

have liked to seen more serious scenes the jokes

really didn't Connect with any other jokes. They

just kind of felt like Little loosely based little

skits kind of going on to add a little bit meat

to the the bones It didn't feel like there was

a lot of story written for it. It was just like

okay Here's the basis for a story and then you

guys go. Well you ladies go out there and riff

This other stuff and their riffing was terrible

Do you think it would have been better like with

this being a reboot? Or what do you think it

would have been better if they just like a sequel

series? Oh, okay. That was the other thing I

wanted to say that though the weird weirdness

of dimension Like it's definitely a reboot of

the situation, but then they kept bringing back

stuff from the old one like hook and ladder kind

of referencing that and so that kind of made

it feel weird but um yeah i i think it's it's

character based where the problem is and not

rebooting I think if you had different characters

and actors that could whip out a better comedy

and I'm saying like it's easy and I've never

done it so I can't really but I felt like it's

more like they should have just had better comedians

in there, somebody to throw in better jokes if

they wanted to go that comedy route. I felt that

would have made it better and I wouldn't have

cared if it was a reboot or a third movie sequel

kind of situation. I think it was more that they

needed the right bones in a story and the right

actors, actresses, whoever mixed race, mixed

genders, whatever. I think they just needed the

right people and I don't think they really had

the right people, the right portrayal of characters,

the right tone and everything. So it was a lot

of different stuff on. So I'd want to get that

right before whether deciding whether it should

be your reboot or a sequel. If that made sense.

I mean, I mean it's all I mean, that's great

comedy sounding great character So if the characters

aren't working because I mean the original that

was what made it great where the characters the

story itself isn't anything All that nominal.

It's just you know, it is what it is But it's

I mean a lot of it is great because you know

the power of Bill Murray. So yes So I think that's

a big reason why yes, and and then you had Harold

Dramis was playing awesome So so straight and

so scientific Scientist with a stick up his butt

that that was great and that you always have

to have a great straight man with a great Comedian

to kind of make things works and there was no

really straight man in this movie Yeah, I mean,

that's probably that's a key. I think too I mean,

I think probably would help the original T was

like those guys they all like they were You know

friends for quite a while, you know, they like

knew each other. I think they except for Winston

again who yeah, Ernie Hudson. Yeah, I wish I

could see Ernie Hudson in more things He was

like his small little part. He did great with

that. I thought he was one of the the greatest

Of the original cast coming back in to do something

in here. I think he's he was great in Congo He

was great in a lot of other stuff. Yeah, I mean

that's one of the big failures of the original

I think is The Winston character is kind of just

given the short. He's just like yeah, I have

nothing to do which I guess Originally it was

supposed to be Eddie Murphy, but he canceled

last minute So yeah, they ended up like we were

writing a lot of that or redo reshooting it or

whatever. But uh But yeah, so I think that was

helpful too Because I think Dan Ackroyd to get

like can be the wacky guy or he can be straight

like he has like a range there Yeah, like he

was great in trading places and he was great

when he was playing Ray Stans in the Ghostbusters,

but his cameo in this movie was kind of terrible

because he was trying to do this weird character

thing. I don't know. It was just bizarre. I could

have done without him. And it wasn't Annie McDowell.

It was... I forget her name, I'm sorry. But her

character, she had some weird situation going

on too that was just bizarre. Yeah. Interesting.

I'll probably wait to see if that hits, you know.

DVD on Netflix or something. That's that's more

the way to go if you want to see it like I said

before in other episodes I felt obligated to

go see it because I was a fan back in the day.

I knew it was gonna be terrible It was slightly

better than I thought it was gonna be but it

was still Yeah, well, you know, it's it's getting

a mixed reviews for sure some It's like 70 %

and rotten tomatoes and pretty much what I hear

is like it's good I mean, it's what I kind of

figured with like a Paul Feige film because he

did like I feel most of his movies are They're

fine. They're they're they're where they are

and they're not amazing I mean, I really like

bridesmaids, but like spy was the other movie

I was trying to think of before his bridesmaids

with our whole talk about gender Yeah, like every

like bridesmaids, but like spy was okay. It was

better than I expected But wasn't anything fantastic

the heat was you know fine either way I find

it very weird that he now has a Funko pop really

the first yeah He's apparently the first director

to have a Funko pop figure really I would think

like Spielberg or Hitchcock or something like

that. Yeah, so I could even pick him out of a

crowd like if you gave me a picture of him I

wouldn't even know Like why is your well they

have them like Yeah, it's it's a guy a very finely

dressed in this pinstripe suit with this purple

dress shirt and this like umbrella situation

going on so it's Yeah, it's very bizarre. All

right. Well anything else before we take a quick

break? Um, no. I think I've talked out. I felt

like I talked way too much about Ghostbusters.

Hey, you know, now it's finally out so people

can talk about it and not like, you know, everything

else regarding it, so... Yeah, it's kind of funny

though because there's all this like Everything

about it like all this like hubbub and it ends

up making like 40 million dollars. We're just

like, you know, it's good It's not great. And

it's like seven. It's just like this movie that

ended up being it's fine And it was just all

that probably made its money back. I'm assuming

it will it'll probably make enough for a sequel.

I don't know Yeah, well, I also heard that even

before this came out that they're gonna do a

version with all guys and it's like seriously

Just pick out a good cast don't get okay. We're

gonna do a girls and a guys Just pick out a good

cast doesn't I don't give a shit who if it's

a girl guy black Asian Guy with blue balls constantly

going on the whole time. Just give me a good

cast I think well, I mean there's been a lot

of talk about different things They talked about

doing like a crossover with 21 Jump Street. So

who knows? There's a lot of things out there.

We'll see, we'll see. Well, when we come back

though, we'll be switching into a new topic as

we look at our favorite comic books that come

out this year so far. But we'll get to that in

just a bit, right after these messages. Hey guys,

this is JD from the In Session Film Podcast.

Every week on our show, you can join my co -host

Brendan and I as we review the latest films that's

out in theaters. It also inspires us to discuss

a top three list of some sort, and we have a

lot of other fun movie discussions as well. It's

always a blast. And we also have a show on Fridays

called our Extra Film Podcast. This is a show

that gives us the space to talk about the latest

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We'd absolutely love to have you. to talk about

some of our favorite comics that have come out

so far this year. It's a little bit more difficult

of a list, I think, for me to put together than

maybe movies because of the way you consume comics.

But Greg, overall, there's been a lot going on

in the world of comics this past year. We had

the Hubbub over Captain America. You had the

DC Rebirth, all the movies. So far, now before

we get to the top five, how you feeling about

the world of comics for 2016? as we see on right

now. Hopefully enough. There's the big two, which

we call it, publishers. I found that I definitely

favored the one over the other, and the other

didn't even really make it onto my list, which

this is kind of a spoiler. It's one of the ones

I haven't really read that much of, so I found

that to be completely bizarre. It's definitely

a different world out there when it comes to

comic books and titles and I feel like the indie

publishers are definitely higher on my list than

the big two at this point. Yeah, I'm about the

same. I will say that I have I have not read

any really of DC rebirth I read the first like

the 86 page, you know one shot, but I haven't

read anything else besides that I was kind of

gonna give it a few issues See what people are

saying are the best series and maybe pick it

up and trade So people is like where's Batman

rebirth? I just haven't read it yet There's also

some comics I didn't include because they didn't

have enough issues out. For example, my favorite

comic right now probably is Southern Bastards

from Image and Jason Aaron. And I love that series,

but it's only had two issues so far this year.

So I'd be like, I don't know if it's really a

fair thing to rank it. I have a couple on here

that it's just maybe max of four, but it's got...

either a complete storyline going on, it was

just a mini series, and then the other one, it

hasn't had a chance yet, but it was just so good,

I had to add it onto my list. All right. Well,

with that said, why don't you kick us off, Greg,

with your number five? Sure. Number five is,

I think, a creator who both Dan and I really

enjoy and has really this unique style that I

really enjoy. And this is his first own writing

and artistry possession. And it's I Hate Fairyland

by Scotty Young. He's done rock Raccoon, he's

drawn Wizard of Oz, he's done a Magneto miniseries,

he's done a lot of covers and stuff, very cartoonish

style, very graffiti style, and I got a little

summary here from, I believe I got it from the

image website. Superstar Scottie Young, Rocket

Raccoon, Wizard of Oz, makes his image debut

with an all -new series, the adventure time slash

Alice in Wonderland style epic that smashes its

cute little face against Tank Girl slash Deadpool

-esque violent madness has arrived. An adventure

that ain't for the little kiddies. Unless you

have a super cool parents, then whatever, you'll

meet Grr. a six -year -old girl who's been stuck

in the magical world of Fairyland for 36 years

and will hack and slash her way through anything

to find her way back home. Join Gert and her

giant battle axe on a delightful blood -soaked

journey to see who will survive the girl who

hates Fairyland. It's just a great story. You've

got this awesome fusion of the super kitty Fairyland

world mixed with this very hyper violence. that

makes an interesting blend, I believe, with Scotty

Young's unique style and definitely his unique

tone that he's he's got going on. It's super

like a very colorful, like very girlish fairyland

situations. And I just think it's great and humorous

the way that those those two styles have kind

of mixed together. And I've always been a fan

of Scotty Young's artwork. I have Awesome 90

Cyclops up on my wall that he's he had on his

blog a couple years back now that I was able

to get so He is number five on my list with I

hate fairyland by the way, I numbered all of

these so it's going five to one people Wow, that's

a that's a very special episode. Yes first time

in talking of cycles history I think it is a

rarity. So yeah, actually I Yeah, it was very

difficult not putting in this my top five, but

I do love this series actually TFG when Mike

from geocast radar and I have been we talked

about This and two episodes of the pullback so

you can check those out and yeah, I'm pretty

much We'll just say ditto to everything you were

saying about it feels like the comic book that

Scotty Young was born to write and draw the colors

on it like the thing that always comes in my

mind are just like The colors remember last week

you talked about like sherbert into the eyes

of what that looks like It's kind of like that

but in a good way. I love you see a lot of influences

It has like almost like a running sippy feel

at times. Yeah It's just unadulterated fun, and

it's a concept I think wouldn't usually work

more than an issue or two, and it's been great

so far, and seems like the second arc is... Go

ahead. Yeah, they just started the second arc,

and the second arc so far is pretty cool. He

realized quick. He put Gert in a situation where

she's not really meant to be, so he's instantly

fixing that with issue number six in the series.

Yeah, yeah, so it's continuing to go much more

than I thought it was. I thought it'd be like

a nice little mini -series, but it seems like

it might have a pretty long life, so it's great,

like it's amazing. I saw Scottie Young tweet

out something about like... How people ask, like,

how can you continue doing the style he does?

Like, that's not super dark, but then he's like,

well, why don't people who have super dark styles

get the same type of question? Why is it, like,

why can't I do my style the way I like it? And

I'm okay if he continues doing this, because

I love it. It's just, it's insane in the right

way. Yes. Alright great choice there Greg for

my number five. I'm also gonna go with another

indie publisher I'm gonna go with one from boom

studios actually a publisher I think that does

not get nearly the love it deserves we talked

about It's got I don't know if this is on your

list. Maybe it will be but this one's not on

mine, but you know, they Probably got huge notoriety

right now for the Money Wolf and Power series.

Yes, which I'm currently enjoying, and it is

not on my list, but it is definitely up there

so far. I'm waiting to see how this one pans

out a little bit more. It's good, but doesn't

have quite enough on its run and enough quality

to it yet, or I think it should be on a list

like this. Yes, I agree. I think it's enjoyable,

but it's not. Licensed property done pretty well,

but I wouldn't go beyond that but a series from

them And I actually quite like a lot and I really

they have a lot of really great small Noir miniseries

and one of my favorites They had the the last

contract that came out this year that was about

like an aging Clint Eastwood type of hit man

But the one I ended up going with was actually

one called snow blind It's written by all the

Masters and written by Tyler Jenkins and the

story behind it is it follows this one kid who

kind of finds out that his family is not what

it seems to be. He lives lives up in Alaska and

through a series of unfortunate events as often

happens he finds out kind of why they're living

there and it may not be what he expected it to

be. I love the art style it has that it's a great

dichotomy of this classic noir style with these

you know obviously white backgrounds these snowy

landscapes so it's you know it's a unique atmosphere

for a noir book like this and it's it's a familiar

story, but it's not derivative in that way I

just I find it quite interesting the very good

mystery and a knife enough Twist and turns that

you kind of don't know what's expecting and I'm

a huge fan of noir and I always like seeing it

taken in a different direction or put in a new

different format that I'm not expecting and this

is it so Very like I would say rough animation

style, but in a good way where it has that rough

roughness You would expect for a noir movie and

ended up quite enjoying it. So it's only five

issues I think it's only a miniseries or four

issues. I think it ended a few months ago, but

it's a it's quite good I would highly recommend

it. So that's my number five snow blind Cool,

I saw that one when it came out. I didn't pick

it up. It looked interesting, but I don't know

there was something about it that I didn't Bite

yeah, if you're not a huge fan of like crime

stories. I don't know if there's that much appeal

but For me, I quite enjoyed it. So All right,

Greg, so number four you had, I'm sorry, number

five, you had Hyatt Fairland, so what do you

got next on your list? Number four is actually

one of the big two, and it's a title that I just

recently got into. Not that long ago, I got it

mid run through, but everybody was talking so

much about it, and especially the artwork and

the design of the main character. And the main

character is Batgirl, and this title is Batgirl.

This is the Batgirl of Burnside series. And I

got from the DC website, and it's from one of

the graphic novels. I think it's second graphic.

novel. The summary is Barbara Gordon is no stranger

to dusting herself off when disaster strikes,

so when a fire destroys everything she owns,

she spots the opportunity for a new lease on

life and seizes it. Following the rest of Gotham

City's young adults to the hip border district

of Burnside, Barbara sets about building an all

-new back rail and discovers new threats preying

on her peers. As the new hero of Burnside, back

rail gets started by facing twin sisters bassins

on motorcycles. That collected apparently back

girl number 35 to 40. Art was by Babs Tarr and

written by Brendan Fletcher and Cameron Stewart.

I believe Cameron Stewart also helped out with

the illustration. But the artwork is definitely

this cartoony kind of style. I believe somebody

Harkin Babs Tarr's That's a tongue twister. Her

art style to a little bit more on the anime manga

side. I don't really know about that because

I don't really read any of those or watch any

anime. But it's definitely this very unique style.

And I think the character designs of Barbara

Gordon's new Batgirl of Burnside is definitely

this really awesome look that she's got going

on. And I definitely enjoyed the more modern

take that they've kind of given her. They've

kind of euthanized, not euthanized because that's

killing people. Yeah, they were not fans. It's

like I know they talked about doing a reboot,

but like come on They kind of younger up a little

bit and so it's kind of this new generation kind

of style to her and everything and you've got

these fun new villains going on and like these

weird strange new villains that she's going up

against and especially this last one that I talked

about and I forget the name of the villain yet

again, but that was very cool because Barbara

Gordon has this kind of photo. memorization kind

of thing going on where she like it's like taking

a photo and the photo is stored in her mind and

she could remember just about everything and

This last villain was really fucking around with

her mind where it's even going down the road

here now She kind of has to question what she's

what's going on in her mind and everything and

I just thought it added this awesome Cerebral

quality to the the comic and there's definitely

this technology thing going on and So I thought

it was a really cool take on the character of

Batgirl, and that's why I put her in at number

four. I've only read a couple issues of that,

but I've enjoyed it. Yeah, I see the different

tone they went. It's kind of as much opposite

as you can get from a traditional dark... tone

batman movie or batman comic than than than that

it's like you have dark knight returns on one

end and then back girl but it works i think it

lets differentiate itself from it yeah she's

she's a lot more fun she's a younger fun loving

girl and so this is more portrayed in it as opposed

to the barber garden of old where she was just

kind of nerdy but athletic yeah it's like the

tone of teen titans in a way i guess or um unbeatable

squirrel girl which yeah not on my list but actually

a book i like a lot i mean i don't know what

that's never right i yeah i would it's very i

love the humor of it it's it i think it's great

i actually quite like it it didn't make my list

but it's a very enjoyable read so uh i would

i would highly recommend that as well but it's

not on my list but you know what is on my list

again going to a different publisher going to

another indie publisher going to idw this time

and going with a horror comic, and I'm kind of

getting into horror comics, almost more than

I'm getting into horror movies, and it's coming

from the writer James Tinian IV, who has done

a lot. He's done some Batman stuff, the Wood

series for IDW for Boom, but this is for IDW,

and it's the Eighth Seal. I don't think this

has got much buzz much talk about I'm just picking

it up and seeing what it would be like I the

covers kind of got to me it the covers are like

these this guy they look like I'm most I Don't

know I get alien ask where you see this being

kind of taking over the body of a human Human

person taking this like alien creature type of

thing taking over a human body and it's really

deformed and like the artwork is kind of very

dark in a way and The way I would describe it.

It's almost Like species and Evasion of the body

snatchers. It's so cool. It centers on the president's

wife the first lady and She's having these visions

and the question are of you know, these these

creatures and that's the way it starts The question

is like are they real like what's going on? Is

she's being controlled is there is there? mysterious

forces going on basically the the short description

of it is a Woman's visual nightmares bleed into

reality as the struggles to live in a political

spot as I'm sorry one woman's visual nightmares

The first lady's visual nightmares bleed into

reality as she struggles to live in the political

spotlight. Is she losing her mind? Or do these

visions have some darker truth? And it kind of

goes, it gives you that idea, like what's real,

what's fake. It gets into that, you know, that

talking about like stranger things has a similar

tone to it. I love the artwork, especially when

you see these monster creations. It's just, I

don't know, just the... the combination of Jeremy

Rock is the guy who the artist and Tinian's like

imagination it's quite incredible and I don't

know I guess maybe when I went into the series

I didn't have much expectations I was actually

taken by it quite a bit maybe Like the small

political aspect of it gravity more than I thought

it would but I think it's again similar concept,

but I thought it's handled pretty well And uh

one I would again recommend. It's again the eighth

seal. I have not i'm not completely up to date

with it I think i'm a shoe or two behind but

everything i've read so far i'm quite impressed

with and i've Enjoyed some most of tinny and

stuff like I really liked his batman Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtle crossover. I don't know if

you read that I haven't read it. I've i've heard

good things though. I've also read other things

by him that had not come into mind, but I've

definitely heard the name before. Yeah, I don't

say he's like a top echelon writer, but he occasionally

puts out some really good stuff And I think this

is an example of it and cool. I've never actually

heard of the eighth tier I think he said it was

a seal a seal. I'm sorry. Yes it just I saw it

on a solicitation and like yeah, that looks like

it could be good and you know, I was looking

for something a little bit different and if you're

a fan of horror comics and you know, I know image

has a bunch and Dark Horse has a couple like

Harrow County, which is very acclaimed There's

Witches by Scott Snyder, which was a really interesting

take on Witches. Not sure that I really understood

all of it, but that was an interesting thing

too. They had another one called Negative Space,

which I loved. It only had like two issues this

year, which again, which is why I didn't include

that, but that was a great series too. But yeah,

that's all right. What's next? Next on my list

is another of the big two, and it's one that

you're all probably expecting because I've talked

a lot about it this year, I believe, and that

is Harley Quinn written by the amazing Amanda

Conner with help from Jimmy Palmiotti. And there's

a whole list of other artists that kind of come

in to do the art details. Chad Harden Stefan

Rowe, which is who's gonna be at Baltimore Comic

-Con, and I'm hoping I could get something from

him Alex Sinclair Paul mounts so there's there's

a Definitely changing of the guard all the time

on that comic the summary for it is fresh from

Batman death of the family and suicide squad

Harley Quinn returns to her first solo series

in the new 52 the writing team of Jimmy Palmiotti

all -star Western and Amanda Connor before watchman

silk spectrum Unleashed Tarly and an unsuspecting

DC universe as she encounters various heroes

and villains and leaves no one unscathed in her

wake with art by The blah blah blah slew of artists.

But Harley Quinn is amazing. I kind of went from

Spider -Man to Deadpool because Spider -Man was

kind of getting emo and everything. And now I

feel like Deadpool for me has been getting slogged

down with this whole family situation that he's

got going on, deciding whether he's good or bad

or whatever. And I feel like now Harley Quinn

for me has kind of taken over that spot in comic

form of kind of a comic. relief, good time, never

know what's going to happen. But then Amanda

Conner adds this whole bit of a little bit of

sexuality into it with the sexiness of Harley

Quinn character, but still being respectful of

all the lady stuff. And I just think it's so

crazy and unexpected of what's going to go on.

And it's just got this great amount of fun to

it. and violence. There's always got to be a

little I guess I'm very street and violent type

of violence kind of appeals to me in comics,

movies and the such. But yeah, Harley Quinn has

definitely done really great things, especially

with I believe a couple podcasts ago, Dan and

I were talking about the issue where she actually

confronts her, her ex of Joe and that was like

one of the best single issues that I think I've

read of the entire year where she confronts the

Joker and kind of lays down the law. Yeah, I

was actually gonna bring that up like I think

it's probably Quinn 25 where she she's in jail

where she's like breaking into a jail and yeah

to break out her new love interest and she confronts

her old love interest. Yeah, and the Joker and

that confrontation was amazing. Yes, and then

the added bonus is The conversation between harley

and batman at the end of that as well. It was

really spectacular Yeah, I agree like if I was

just ranking like my top Individual issues for

the year holly quinn 25 would be probably like

one or two It like and i'm not even a huge holly

quinn fan But it was just that what that like

situation did just for that character on so many

different levels. I think yes, it really humanized

her it i think it it uh showed it kind of i don't

know it showed that she had power is like as

a character like she seemed she wasn't like a

sidekick anymore and i think it did a lot girl

power done right exactly very true very true

all right very good like uh again that series

i enjoy but i i'm not caught up enough to feel

like i could And I'm hoping to get more stuff

signed by Amanda Connor. She was very awesome

to go up to at the Baltimore Comic Con last year

and get stuff signed by her. We had a nice little

conversation back and forth with her. That was

also talked about in another older podcast that

we've done. The Baltimore Comic -Con episode

if I'm not mistaken. Yes, but next for me is

actually coming from It's a it's a comic book

legend really comic book heavyweight But from

an unexpected publisher with aftershock comics,

which I think is only like a year or two old

They're not very yes. It's it's just brand new

in the in the publishing world I believe it's

the the first I've seen of it of that name They've

got they've got a couple good series so far second

site enjoyed American Monster I've liked a lot,

but I think they have black eye kids out too

Which I read the first issue and I wanted to

pick up the second but that just haven't found

that one on the shelves I've not read that one,

but the one I am very interesting premise the

one I have on my list is actually I guess looking

at my list I feel like it says less about comics

and just more about my personal taste But that's

I guess the way it is when comics you have so

many choices to choose from but it's dreaming

Eagles from Garth Ennis Garth Ennis has ton of

different comic books based on military aviation

in general. But I think Dreaming Eagles might

be his best one. For one of the main reasons

where the focus of it really isn't even on the

aviation concept, really. It's of the Dreaming

Eagles war, like a brand of African -American.

It's almost like the Tuskegee Airmen. And it

starts because it's this conversation, it takes

place, the story, the main story takes place

like during the 1960s during the civil rights

kind of movement. And it's this father and son

talking about basically... You know how they

feel like they should change the system and make

it for the better and you know They're kind of

talking about their lives and what they're going

through and it's just showing you know What's

going on during that time? And then the father

who was in World War two like his story of being

in the aviation being a fighter So it has a lot

going on to it. I mean the fights even themselves

are great or great but I think it just it's tackling

a lot and doing it in a very intelligent manner.

It's not going back to what we talked about,

it's not being preachy, it's just trying to examine

the ways in which different... People at different

times go about doing things and it's it's intriguing

and it's uh, you know i'm a huge fan I enjoy

war war two history a great deal. Like my dad

is uh, I know Grew up on aviation. He's a former

he was a member of the air force So we grew up

talking about all types of planes and went to

air show after air show War war two weekends

and it's uh, we went to a lot of different things

So i'm already kind of pre -programmed to like

something like this, but I just think it has

a lot going on to it. I ended up You know, it

ended up surpassing my expectations because I

just thought it would be another Garth Ennis

book about military aircraft, but it ended up

being a lot more than that. So again, it's called

Dreaming Eagles. It's out by, it's another Aftershock

book. So quite good for me. It's my number, my

number three, so. Very cool. I think I've heard

of that one. Just never really looked into it

because it's a... Kind of used to Garth enos's

style and nothing he's done in the past couple

years. It really struck home for me Yeah, he's

like he's kind of hit miss. He had a decent series

for for Marvel during the whole Secret secret

wars Yeah, the last thing he had for me was crossed

and that was very like violent Type of thing

and that kind of gone off the rails and been

hit or miss. Yeah Yeah, so very cool. All right.

What's wow, we're already at number two. So what's

number two for you? Uh number two is uh, once

again, we're back to image Uh, it's mostly it's

image in dc on my list. Uh, dan seems to be a

lot spread out a lot more spread out between

publishers But I have number two on my list.

It's one of my favorites It was only a mini series

i'm hoping they come back with another little

mini series on it soon Um, and it's from eric

powell Eisner award -winning creator of The Goon

and Tim Weisch, a guy who used to be a bricklayer,

comes Big Man Plans, a brutal crime drama with

a shocking mystery at its heart. Even the most

marginalized in society can exact revenge if

they don't care how they do it. Big Man Plans,

it was just... something I kind of took a chance

on because I've read a couple of stuff of The

Goon by Eric Powell and his artwork is Phenomenal

I think it's it's very caricature, but it also

has this This weird shading going on that he

does to the characters with which adds a lot

of depth and kind of adds to the realism of the

characters and I just loved them the main character

of the story and his His fight against kind of

adversity of being the the smallest guy getting

picked on and then just kicking a lot coming

back and kicking a lot of ass and Doing a lot

of things that you would never expect from a

character like this The artwork is definitely

the thing that brings it home for me And then

the the story is just this phenomenal thing going

on There it doesn't lay back at all. It comes

at you with a baseball bat with barbed wire wrapped

around it straight to your forehead. It doesn't

pull any punches. That's a good way to explain

it. I've read that series too and it is brutal.

Yes, especially the scenes where he's in the

Vietnam War and he kind of goes into the bunkers

of the Viet... Vietnamese Vietnamese Vietnamese

bunkers Viet Cong Soldiers bunkers the little

kind of like hole in the ground and he goes in

and he just kicks ass Definitely very bloody

very violent. Apparently I like that type of

thing. So big man plans Made my number two and

like I said, it's only a short little miniseries

with four comics, but it kind of Left me wanting

more. So that's kind of what made it so high

what made it get so high on my list Yeah, it

is like the ultimate for revenge porn if like

you like those, you know Seeing people get in

there come on come up into the worst way possible.

It's that's definitely a good choice to For sure

and I they did leave it open like it there's

possible, you know They could bring it back for

another series or make it a ongoing but Hopefully

we'll see some more from that. Very cool. Again.

I would recommend that as well. I enjoyed that

quite a bit Number next for me is also coming

from image and this is a book that I Ended up

reading because of you Greg because you sent

me like a awesome a text of it And I'm like like

this looks cool. Like, you know what? Greg, you're

right. That does look cool. And I read it and

I loved it. And it's my number two for the year

so far. And it's The Fix. Coming from image written

by Nick Spencer who is a guy. I just love his

style of comedy when it comes to writing He also

does ant -man, which I I love it's just I don't

know. It's hard to describe it Yeah, it's a very

hard to describe Comedy, but it's it's definitely

way funnier than the Ghostbusters movie He hits

it home and and I guess I'll just throw in that

actually the fix is my my number one for over

here. Yes So I guess I'll throw it in here with

you, Dan, but number one is the fix for me. Yeah,

for those that don't know, I'll go with the description

too. It's a story of crooked cops, scheming mobsters,

and corrupt politicians that run things and sex

toy, wait, sorry. And the sex toy that can bring

them all down. Yes. Oh, and a hero is a drug

sniffling dog. And the hero is a drug sniffling

beagle named pretzels bad people do bad things

to each other in this frenetic outrageous sometimes

off -putting new Caper if you like classic crimes

like criminal in 100 bullets We apologize in

advance for letting you down and that's kind

of the humor that goes on it. They are the worst

terrible cops in existence. And it's just hilarious.

Yeah, they are like, it's, you know, those like,

oh, they're bad guys, but still good. Like I

thinking, you know, the nice guys movies that

came out this year. Yeah, they have like no redeeming

qualities whatsoever. But somehow it's still

really enjoyable. It's I don't know. It just

it's a comic that takes it like to the like the

highest level it keeps going You know, it's just

like you just wondering like okay What will they

do next these reprehensible people and you think

they would you know? You would need someone to

root for but it's not really that in a way. I

don't know but You're rooting for them to just

see how far down the rabbit hole they'll go.

Yeah, you just you're it's more like Okay, how

are they gonna get out of this one? Like how

is this gonna work? Yes Yeah, it's it's hysterical

Violin hilarious. I love the the Essentially

the main villain that they're going up against

who is like this everyday kind of dorky kind

of like dad Oh, yes, but he's he's just randomly

comes in. He's like, oh, hey He seems so nice

and then all of a sudden he throws out the most

violent kind of Suggestion in there that he's

gonna do and it's just that also is freaking

hilarious. He's like a new age. Mr. Rogers with

Dexter's death streak and I'm like, he's like

Serial killer. Mr. Rogers. Yeah Ugh, so good.

And it's only up to issue four, I think, at this

point, but it was just so good that I had to

put it up at the top. Hopefully it doesn't go

anywhere downhill at all, because it's just great

the way it is so far. Yeah, I have you read I

heard really great things about people referring

it to the superior foes of spider -man Like it

has a sense of my tone to that but I have not

read that his spirit now I want to but No, I

haven't read that. It's about like the villains

of spider -man. So I have to check that out But

I would again recommend if you enjoy that to

check out the irredeemable ant -man because it's

not as to that level but there's there's some

fun aspects to that too and Just like it's self

-virtual. It's like meta without being overly

meta enough pop culture references, but not overdoing

it per se. So I don't know how well it would

age, but I've enjoyed it. It's like almost, it

almost feels like it should be taking place in

the 80s with just the style, but it's present

day. Yeah, especially with the partner and his

very like Hawaiian kind of florally shirts. But

it's great. I highly recommend people go out.

And check out that comic I like I seriously sent

it to Dan not knowing a thing just knowing that

he kind of likes noir kind of detective comics

and this seemed like it was Noir, but it's really

not but it was detective comic and I I'm so glad

I sent it to you because I was like I'll check

it out too and Just sent you without even reading

it I'm glad you would enjoy it and that I enjoy

it. Yeah, it's good. I definitely highly recommend

it So I'll go over my number one and I have not

had a Marvel book But this is my my one Marvel

book. It was hard to come up with my number one

to be honest I'm like nothing really is over

standing out too much like the hit could easily

be my number one I but I ended up being coming

from an unexpected source because as a character

I've never really cared about all that much but

The series is, I'm just really digging it, and

it's the current Spider -Woman series written

by Dennis Hopper, Hopeless, and it's been written

by a few people, but I think the best work has

been done by Javier Rodriguez. And again, it's

a Spider -Woman series that covers the character

of Jessica Drew. It starts off with her being

pregnant and kind of goes through that, and then

she eventually has her kid, but it... I first

our work Harvey are read we guys in some of the

issues this year we're doing things like I never

saw done like his ability to do this storytelling

and in using kind of The comic book panels in

new ways was phenomenal. There's the best example

was the issue in which she's stuck in the and

like this hospital that's taken over by the scrolls

and she has to do kind of going through all these

different floors and whatnot and the way that

he draws like how she moves from one location

to the next is just it's you know what should

be just a normal scene it is It's just unbelievable,

like what he was able to do with it. Just his

use of space, the creativity he would use. It's

just the detail, it's amazing. I would highly

recommend checking it out. And then too, it just,

I don't know if it just clicked for me, because

then you see after she has the kid, she kind

of goes into this of trying to balance the life

of being a mom and being a hero. And it's something

that we've seen a lot, but I just felt like it

hit with a different type of reality that I didn't

expect, bringing up points I didn't expect. Has

this great friendship with Carol Danvers, Captain

Marvel, and that's been a phenomenal like I just

like seeing that and Jessica Drew at Spider -Woman

is a character that I typically don't have never

really cared about like I felt like they've tried

to make her interesting when New Avengers Was

first released and trying to make her a major

player, but she was always been a character to

me that was missing Personality and major character

traits like it couldn't even give you any but

this to me is just showing how you can take any

character and make a great series and I don't

know. I would highly recommend it. I just think

it looks beautiful and it's a really well -toned

story and superhero comics can go a lot of different

directions, but I feel like this is doing something

new for a genre that can be stale. So it's my

number one for the year so far. Very cool. Do

you have any other ones that, you know, didn't

make your list, but honorable mentions? Rumble.

It's a very weird comic, but I love the art style

it's got going to it. I can't even really describe

it. It's more on the cartoonish side. It's got

this crazy like god, like gods of old and creatures

going on. I've been enjoying that. Low which

didn't start off great for me, but it's it's

been kind of picking up the stories aren't Fabulous

the artwork is tremendous though Syria Marvel

hasn't been really sticking out to me I want

to say Batman, but I feel like towards the end

of his run Scott Snyder kind of fell down a little

bit with everything I really liked the court

of owls and The whole death of family situation

going on Do you have any Dan while I sure a little

bit more well speaking more I do I do have some

Margo series that almost made it it was very

hard to leave out vision the new series I It's

great that the more I thought about the more

I felt like it should be on there and maybe when

I do my end of the year list It will be but that

is just One oddball comic in the best way possible

it feels like a Twilight Zone meeting with It

feels like a Twilight episode that is just off

its rails, but still somehow I don't know it's

just twisted and amazing like I don't it's the

fact that Tom King was able to do what he was

doing with that series is still boggles my mind,

but I ended up loving it quite a deal. Power

Man and Iron Fist, which is just a real fun series.

I've seen that one. I've never picked it up,

though. The covers look really cool. Very throwback

-ish. It's very cartoonish in a good way. Squirrel

Girl, like I mentioned. Howard the Duck. All

New Wolverine I've enjoyed. I'm yeah, that's

pretty good Also, I know you weren't a huge fan

of it, but I still really love old man Logan.

I've enjoyed it started off really good I feel

like it's been Peter and out lately But yeah

old man Logan would have been on there if it

didn't start to Peter out a little bit I felt

like yeah, I'm only I am three issues behind

with that so that might be why higher feeling

of it. Are you still on his revenge list spree?

Yes, yeah. Okay, yeah, it kind of fell down a

little bit after that for me. Others for me,

a bunch of DC stuff like Batman Beyond was really

cool. Bernard Chang had this really cool art

style for the Batman Beyond suit and it's not,

what's his name in it? Terry McGinnis. It is

actually Red Robin from this timeline. Definitely

a cool kind of what -if scenario of like this

weird different Timeline dimension kind of stuff

going on. It was very cool Black Canary had an

awesome art style Very punk rock feel to it with

Black Canary going around with their band I don't

know. I felt that the story fell a little bit

short to make it on the list I'm still trying

to think of stuff from Marvel. Marvel, I felt

like, just kinda sat average for me. I really

liked this whole, the Kingpin comic that came

out recently, but there's only been the first

issue of that. Have you read the new Daredevil?

I've enjoyed that a lot. I've enjoyed... Daredevil

has never really been a top character for me.

I've read a couple when Mark Wade kind of was

starting up with it and I thought that was really

good. I got that for cheap at the Baltimore Con

last year. I thought that was really good. I

haven't picked up any single issues of that or

anything. Yeah, I've been mostly reading X -Men

and Thunderbolts. Is kind of interesting so far,

but it's not really hitting home for me quite

yet. I'm still giving it chances Yeah, there's

there's nothing like just spectacular standout

II from Marvel at this point with their Comics

for me. I've been mostly going to image And to

DC so I'm I've been kind of switching sides.

I feel bad for it. But yeah, I mean, I think

there's like I didn't mention it but like Dr.

Strange, I think has also been really good for

me and uh the thor mighty thor anything really

jason aaron even anything like jason aaron really

he has like I mentioned southern bastards and

also this series The god damned which is like

a pre -apocalyptic. It like takes place in biblical

times I just feel I feel dirty reading it just

so it's like grimy and it's uh, it's it's Good.

It's like uh, like I said like pre -apocalyptic

a setting. You don't see very used very often

which is Why I've enjoyed it a lot and Jerry

Jason Aaron style, which I don't know. He might

be like my favorite writer going today With his

just like his vast amount of great comics. He

has out right now, but also on that should be

mentioned is anything by Brian cave on he didn't

really make the list for me for anything sagas

been out for a while now I think we all know

that we love that one haven't really read any

of the single issues. I've been collecting in

the graphic novels and I'm a bit behind on it.

That's why it really didn't make my list. I've

been keeping up on Paper Girls. I don't think

it's quite as successful or interesting as Saga,

but still really great to read. Anything by Brian

Kavon is really great. There was some other stuff

on there that was really hitting that. that spot

for me. Yeah, yeah. Same thing with me with Saga.

I feel like I could probably put that at number

one every year, but similar, I'm not caught up

with that. I also didn't include Deadly Class,

which is a series I love, but I have been moving

to trade with that, and East of West, which is,

that series is amazing. It's just, that needs

to be a TV series like now, or a cartoon or something.

I just feel like it, again, Jonathan Hickman,

another great one. I feel like he's like Christopher

Nolan of comic books like he makes these epics

that are like like something like secret wars

But are so still thematically rich like you can

take something that could be a blockbuster But

make it into something that actually is relatively

meaningful. So yeah, there's a lot probably that

I'm also missing that I should be talking about

but You know, there's a lot I think overall,

you know, there's a lot of there's always a lot

of great comics I love seeing that within with

more digital and comics and you're we're getting

more as pushing out title after title Yeah, every

every week. I feel like they have a new really

great number one So and I haven't talked about

valiant at all, but valiant's been killing it

with they have a new series the near their news

like summer event going on and Bloodshot reborn

which has been great i would you know if you're

looking if you're not enjoying wolverine it's

kind of a good go -to between wolverine and the

punisher so uh but yeah so i don't know anything

else before we and then you've you've also been

on archie comics lately yeah archie's been really

good i've i'm behind i haven't really caught

up with any this year uh i've been kind of binging

on that like i let them collect and then usually

read a good five or six in a row or so so but

All right, anything else before we bring this

episode to a close? No, I think we're like you

got a for the two of us we put out a lot of content

there. Yeah All right, so We'll be back. So,

but yeah, that'll be it for this week. We'll

be interested in hearing what you have to say

The best way to go is to go to GeekCastReader

.com, comment on the episode post. We're on Facebook

and Twitter, just search to talk in your circles

for your CRM. Greg, you're also on Twitter, what

is your Twitter name? I am at the Create Forge

and Chuck is at Haruk H. Chuck. Why don't you

go friend Tim and ask him what his favorite comics

are and find out what interested him. Yeah, definitely.

We'll see. Maybe we'll get his take on it when

he comes back next week. He's on special assignment

this week, so... And he's on a special mission.

No one knows. No one knows. I don't know. But

anyways, all right. But yeah, so that'll be it

for this week. We'll be back next week, same

time, same channel, same podcast, but for now.

This has been Greg, or Chuck with a mustache

and beard. And this has been Dan, and we've been

talking in a smaller circle, and we'll see you

next week. Essentially a line, two points. Really,

yeah. Talking in line. Plus if you're in a line

at a comic book convention like Comic -Con's

going on I had a guy there one year that wouldn't

leave me the hell alone Comic book hell that

you get to pay for and spend years