Robyn Hood Volume 1: Riot Girls Review

Hi, this is Pat Shan, writer of Robin Hood, and

you have jumped inside the pull bag. Welcome

to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out our latest

comics and discuss them with a rotating panel

of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy this

week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome to The Pull

Bag. This is episode 141. We're about 40 episodes

behind alter geek which Yeah, I could easily

make up for that if I wanted to I'm of course

TF2 and Mike Joining me since I don't know when

Steve Megatron. Hello, sir Jello Jello putting

pops God, we are here, we are back. It's episode

141 of The Pull Bag. Kicking off our June spotlight

theme month, whatever you want to call it. We're

going to be going back to Xenoscope's Robin Hood.

The ongoing series. Two years ago, Steve and

I covered the first three trades in Pat Shan's

Robin Hood run. And you guys would have already

heard the new interview with Pat Shan where I

asked him about his two Kickstarters, DestinyNY

and Clonesters. Clonesters is kind of like a

combination of ah, real monsters and Adventure

Time. It's a collaboration between he and his

future wife, Amy Grandfors, soon to be Amy Shand.

Very cool, fun little project. It looks really

awesome and interesting, so everyone go check

that out. Go check out the interview, all that

good stuff. So we are here, we are back talking

Robinhood. Where we left off, as I said, was

at the end of volume three of the original three

trades. and now we're going to start they had

a Robinhood ongoing series for 20 issues plus

an annual so over the next four weeks or so we

are going to be reviewing one trade per podcast

or we may do two trades per podcast depending

on how i decide to edit this i have no idea at

this point when After we did the original run

a couple of years ago, were you wanting to read

more of this immediately after we finished or

how was that for you getting into the ongoing?

Yeah, I mean, I was kind of wanting to check

out more. The character was definitely something

that was... interesting, to say the least. Just

because of the struggle the characters had to

go through, and the art was good, depending on

which set of issues you're looking at. But no,

I thought it was an interesting twist on the

whole story. Absolutely. Yeah, same here. I went

when I first saw the Robin Hood ongoing I was

like, oh cool more Robin Hood. Yay. Cool. Very

cool. And we actually had a preview I believe

at the end of the At the end of the volume 3

legend trade I think I could be wrong, but we

didn't actually talk about that But this is grim

fairy tales Robin Hood by Xenoscope Entertainment

written by Pat Shan art by Larry Watts Tony Bressini

and the summit I'm sorry if I am butchering that

name. Also it says here on the inside of the

trade that the art direction and design was done

by Christopher Cody and Pat was on editing. How

they break the trade up is interesting. They

break it up into chapters one through six. Chapter

one outlaw for hire chapter two riot girls chapter

three the ball Chapter four city lights chapter

five grudge match and chapter six a maid Marian

mystery We are not because this is a trade paperback

folks We are not going to go through all six

of these issues individually because we would

be here longer than We would need to be normally

But I will say that I do love how the first volume

opens up and basically brings in any new readers

Fairly quickly within the first page of the story

so far Without having to have had gone back and

read like the final the volume 3 legend trade

When you looked at this were you caught up enough

with this story so far page. How do you feel

that that? What caught you up? No, I mean, I

think that it did pretty well in that sense.

I can't really remember the end of the third

trade, but it's still somewhere in there. Yeah,

the end of the third trade is Robin saves Marion

and they go to New York. So they leave missed.

So with the ongoing starting, we're actually

in New York City at this point. And I absolutely

love the covers for this series. The cover artists

do such an amazing job on this series. It's so

good. Some of my notes going through the first

issue here. I love seeing Robin outside of her

element. because she's at this party, she's here

to stop this corrupt politician type thing, and

this is your standard, you know, work -for -hire,

private eye, Nottingham investigation, because

the firm that she and Marion have started up

is called Nottingham Investigations, and it's

your standard PI gig. As you were reading through

this first issue, what were you thinking of the

story and how it played out? How it started out

was kind of interesting. I was like, who was

that? And then I was like, oh, it's her. And

I'm like, why is she in this situation? I was

like, OK, so she's doing it as, you know, because

I thought to begin with that she wasn't there

for the private eye initially. And then when

I saw the stuff about the private eye and then

her going back to looking like her. I was like,

OK. And then I like how they did that little

bit of deception with the eye cover with the

lens that goes over her magic eye. So that was

kind of interesting, too. I do have to say that

the art looks like it's improved since some of

the early trades, not only in color tone, but

in Just the level of detail. Yeah, and it seems

like it's a little bit more glossy like on the

panel where it gives the story for the first

issue for the first issue here Outlaw for hire

when you zoom out to that full page of Robin

in the in the green dress It seems like there

is more detail to the characters there to the

facial features to the hair to the dress to the

everything else And I am really digging that

and I love how they basically give you like pop

-outs, you know, you know, glamour lens and it

shows that she actually has a magic eye and what's

actually in her green bag. I got the pop -up

video from VH1. I know! I wish I had asked Pat

about that and maybe I will. How's old folks

remember that? Pat just turned 30, so he's right

there around us. Oh, I'm 32. I mean, I'll be

31 later this month, and I've... To me, VH1 was

that back in the day, not whatever it is now.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. But I'm saying Pat just

turned 30 at the end of May, so happy belated

birthday to Pat. I actually wished him a happy

birthday on the interview. So he just turned

30, and I'm, of course, 37 in a row. So yeah,

we old folks have to stick together. What I love

about most Create our own or independent comics

and and I'm not saying that regular Publishers

don't like Marvel and DC don't do this IDW does

this with their license things I love looking

at some of the backgrounds and seeing what kind

of things they put in it like we go to another

panel here and like I said We're not gonna go

through this whole issue, but try our super dog

JJ's redhots So I'm absolutely loving Larry's

art. I think Larry is an amazing artist. I think

he is doing very well As we meet up with Marion

Apparently Marion and technology do not get along

because Marion is originally from mist and Just

seeing that just oh wow, it's just so funny What

do you think of the interactions between Robin

Marion and the new client Sam here? As we go

through this it looked like your typical kind

of Private I type of thing but it also kind of

reminded me a little bit of like supernatural

of you know person has a problem comes to the

two people that understand and can fix the problem

and It's a very similar trope that was used there,

but it works. Absolutely. In the beginning of

Robinhood's run, when Pat was doing the first

three trades, she used to actually just rob banks.

You know, Robin Hood, Robbed to the Rich, Gift

to the Poor, that kind of thing. And she would

keep part of the take that she took. But now,

you know, being the reluctant hero, I guess you

could say, you know, they have to find a way

to make money and, you know, paranormal investigations.

I mean, it's not like she and Marion are going

to, you know, put a bunch of proton packs on

their backs. Although that would have been cool.

Ghostbusters! Xenoscope would do really well

with Ghostbusters. IDW does well with it. I mean,

I have yet to read the Ghostbusters stuff from

IDW, but I hear nothing but good things about

it. I hear nothing, so. Dude, come on. I had

to throw that in there, because I don't. I really

don't hear anything. maybe halloween this year

we'll do it oh no wait that's out of time october

we can't do that this year we'll do that next

year um yeah because there isn't the time to

do it yes no matter how many delorians we get

um so robin goes looking for answers about this

priest guy about this guy who is stealing witches

souls um and she goes into this barn basically

uh you know I think her line here is, one of

her lines is, let's see, I don't know, it was

the, I don't know, it's in the second issue that's

my favorite line. I do love this first issue,

it gives new readers the events of the past stories

at the same time setting up a whole new thing

for Robin. I think that's great. And the action

and the art are, very very well done and we have

a little bit of a mystery kind of here at the

end where she's got somebody following her which

is kind of crazy and she and Marion are trying

to figure out where you know where this priest

is and what he's doing of course you know by

the end of the issue the priest oh he's he's

he's in a church where else would he be of course

you know um absolutely love that i love the way

robin takes care of this guy peter i think that's

great um as the story goes through and continues

it's just so fun and it's such a different thing

it's when most people think of Robin Hood they

think of the male version they think of him and

made Marion and little John and all of that and

I Like that. This is so different and so out

there while still keeping with certain You know

traditions of of the characters Yeah, it's kind

of an interesting take on it, I mean they've

already killed off the other characters and yeah

in missed so So by the time issue two starts

we get Robin Hood versus the priest Which is

really awesome. We find out what the priest is

gonna want to be doing and that he's working

for You know a bigger consortium called the cabal

Why is the blacklist in here why is the black

wait the cabal oh Yeah, that's that's true I,

well, they can't go back and do it now, but,

you know, you put, you know, a giant guy with

a red brimmed hat or something as, you know,

I don't think that would work, but still. I don't

know, they could have called it something. I

mean, a cult, a consortium, just something. So

cabal isn't that bad. I love Robin's, and I know

this is bad, but I love her black trench coat

over her traditional green uniform. I think that's

just hilarious. I just absolutely love that.

So we have a really good fight scene with her

and the priest as that goes along. The line that

I liked that she said earlier was the... So what

do you think he's doing here getting promoted

to the top of my shit list? That's what it is

And then the other line was so tell me what the

hell is going on before I make you Absolutely

love that What were you thinking up to the end

of this fight and after she threw him through

the window? It was funny I almost got kind of

a was that show It's, uh, man, I can't remember.

It's Van Helsing -ish kind of fight. Like, you

got the person, lone person fighting, you know,

whatever kind of demon creature. So I kind of

got that out of it. But I mean, it was your typical

fight. I mean, there really wasn't anything spectacular

to it, which was kind of nice to see because

we've had a lot of people with magic. Yeah. I

think what's spectacular about it is how Pat

writes in the dialogue and writes in Robin's

quips. She's not as quippy as like a Spider -Man

or a Dick Grayson Robin or a Deadpool. Yeah,

or Deadpool. But she is quippy enough to where

it makes the fight go. It makes the fight scene

go not too fast or too slow. It's very well paced

out. We have a hospital scene with Marion and

Sam and we find out that the priest escaped.

We also find out that Sam's friend that was in

her coven with her comes in here and this is

the person that, you know, was... You know supposedly

tweaking off this stuff that the priest gave

out But they were giving it to everybody and

now they're gonna go find and figure out what's

going on with these With this priest guy and

then we have a home scene from Robin and Marion

and I love this I I think my favorite thing and

this is this actually surprises me because I

was never really I reviewed two trades a couple

of years ago the Hawkeye the matte fraction Hawkeye

series where it's Hawkeye on his day off is that's

the basic premise of the series for those that

don't know and honestly even though I love the

Robin Hood fight scenes and the actual plot of

the story I think what shines here is the home

the the home life the home time stuff with her

and marian because they're even though they're

best friends they are two very different people

obviously um and i i love the scene here where

where ramen says and i know your idea no way

but it's brilliant i'm not doing it and then

the very next scene i can't believe i'm doing

it okay I guess the cat wanted to be on the podcast

then yep so we've got the roller rink stuff going

on here with Robin and Marion and they're watching

that and just because these are the girls that

are in trouble from the priest and as we go through

this we get the two of them on skates and We

get to meet the entire team here. And I like

how Pat and the letter people and all of that

in the creative do the individual introductions.

I think that's very well done on the panel where

they're like, who are you? And then for us, the

reader, it introduces everybody. And then they

all make kind of introductions and explain the

situation. I like that. What were you thinking

up to the? girls locker room scene not really

sure where they were going why were you not sure

where they're going well i mean i knew they were

watching the roller derby but i didn't really

know what the point of it was well the roller

derby is these are the girls these are the coven

girls from um sam okay So these are Sam's friends

because Sam is on the roller derby team. So these

are her friends and their souls are being sucked

out of their bodies. And as we get through the

rest of the issue here we find out that this

guy Peter has been following Robin all the time.

We have a nice little scene with them where Robin

falls on her ass on the skates. I thought that

was great. Peter kind of explains where he is

and what he's doing and the fact that he's a

librarian and we have June's character come in.

That's the freaking guy. That's the guy that

was following me and I was only following you

to save you kind of thing. We kind of close out

the issue with everybody. in the locker room

that's a witch losing their souls and we find

out that the priest is actually right underneath

the locker room. That was actually a pretty cool

shot. Yeah. That was an amazing shot. Absolutely

love that one. Overall I think issue two is very

well done. for this first volume. I think that

it sets everything up nicely. We've already had

one fight between Robin and the priest, so this

one is more of finding out more about this villain

and what they can do to stop him to get this

to end. Of course, we have the ending kind of

cliffhanger thing. By the end of this issue,

what were you thinking? They're going to have

to figure out what's going on. Yeah. No, I mean,

I thought that the interactions were really well.

And it's amazing how well they captured the female

brain in this, like the thought patterns. Right.

Because a lot of the jumping between different

stuff that they're conversing about, which that

comes up more in the beginning of the next one.

But. I'm still wondering what's going on with

this guy that keeps showing up. Yeah, I was too

at first. And then when I realized that I'm like,

oh, OK. It's a soul sucking thing to bring back

some beastie demon guy. I think what I love by

the time the third issue opens is, and I've always

loved this about Robin Hood and how Pat writes

her, her internal monologues are amazing. That's

what I mean. They capture the essence of the

female brain in those. In the opening of the

third issue here, part of her opening monologue,

Or is it because I'm twenty -two years old and

I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do

with my life? Stupid brain. So we get the priest

starting this one off with his urn and Robin

interrupts that, punches him in the back of the

head. The guy Peter picks up the urn and basically

bolts. We have Sam, not Sam, Marion and the other

witches in a circle who are going to cast a spell

to stop the priest and to basically take away

his magic. Meanwhile, Peter runs away with the

urn because that's what he wanted in the first

place. I love... I love Robin's line here. Chuck

one up for the sinners. And we have another fight

between her and the priest. The action here is

great. It's basically her with her bow versus

him with a gun. I'm not sure you want to bring

a gun to a fight with a chick who's got a chip

on her shoulder with a bow, because she'll put

an arrow right through you. Oh, yeah. Oh yeah.

We've got Peter with the urn and the spells happening

here. We've got the priest trying to defeat Robin,

and of course that doesn't really happen because

they eventually suck out his powers. He's not

dead, but... Because these witches are healers

so they're they're basically healing him of whatever

is you know possessing him The vibe I got from

from that guy though were like he was very like

John Constantine ish. Yep Even in some of his

appearance. Yeah. Oh absolutely You mean the

priest or Peter Peter Peter, yeah. Peter, most

definitely, yeah. The priest, he reminds me of

Leslie Nielsen and Dracula didn't loving it a

little bit. I don't know why, but that's just

the first thing that kind of popped into my head.

We have, we've got Robin. telling peter that

it's over and the priest is down and of course

peter has run away with urine because that's

what he wanted all along and I love the next

scene on the street where they open sewer cradius

the cop is like are you messing with me you know

it's illegal to mess with cops right swear on

my mother she jumped right down there and then

obviously they jump right back up Yeah, that

that was pretty funny. Mm -hmm I think my favorite

thing at this point in the trade is all of Robin's

expressions both hers and Marion's but just like

the look on Robin's face after Sam says we never

actually settled on a price and Robin and Marion

just look at each other like Hmm, but Robin is

looks like she's more angry than Mary So they

come up with a deal and we go back to them at

home. We have a nice little scene between Robin

and Marion where they say about the situation

with Peter that Robin says Marion's too trusting

and Marion says to Robin you're too cynical and

they just kind of veg out. uh... you know become

you know they're still friends and all that stuff

and whatever and you know and this is when marian

tells her she'd like to give derby a try something

normal something different you know something

that isn't magical uh... we get back to the priest

with the black eyes and he obviously survives

and this is where we meet the cabal Hey, the

Court of Owls. You know, you're right, but I

was gonna say, wow, too many black mask impersonators.

No, it's the Court of Owls, because if you've

ever seen the Court of Owls, they don't have

the teeth thing, but... I know, but because they

do have the teeth thing, I was thinking of the

villain, the black mask. Their upper part looks

like the talons, though. Yeah, that's true. Yeah,

you're right. Wow. That's a little crazy and

creepy. So we get introduced to the cabal which

is kind of funny and cool and My question is

because I don't see any strings where Where the

guy says pity what a waste of resources he's

taking his mask off. Oh, yeah I see the strap

now I was gonna say how are they holding those

on their faces, but I saw where the where the

strap was Overall, issue three, I enjoyed it.

I thought it was very well done. I think the

action is going great. I think the story is progressing

nicely. There isn't anything in issue three or

any of the first three issues that jumps out

at me as kind of like a WTF moment. By the end

of issue three, what were you thinking? I want

to know who these people are. Yeah. and he's

like stop monologuing just do your job villains

you always get them with the monologuing I can't

wait for Incredibles 2 whenever the hell that's

coming out yep anyway issue 4 starts with a cat

this one doesn't have as like sharp of That is

the previous ones It's yeah the the art does

That's because this issue for the artist on here

is Tony Brasini. So it's not Larry Watts on this

one And I like bits and pieces of the art in

issue four Like this opening with the cat and

the woman that doesn't want to deal with the

cat and wow that poor cat Geez, I can't wait

till Robin gets a hold of that girl. Oh my god

So we get this woman going after the cat again

and it looks like her looks like our apartment

has been really messed oh that's why because

there's demons in the walls like hey it's uh

it's dana's apartment from ghostbusters that's

two ghostbusters references in one podcast wow

so we flashed back to earlier where um uh robin

is facing off with this lady about the cat and

She calls the police and Marion drags Robin away

But Robin still goes to jail And she says I really

thought they'd be on my side So they get out

of jail We go back home with them Marion is getting

ready for roller derby and Because she's new

on the team. She is fresh meat What I love about

this issue because it's the it's the it's the

storyline city It's the story is called City

of Lights, but it's Robin and red again. It's

Robin and red riding it. Oh, I love Brittany

She is my second favorite character next to Robin

when it comes to Xenoscope stuff that I've already

read So what were you thinking up to the point

that we've met red at this point I thought it

was interesting that she got arrested, because

I didn't expect that from the previous panel.

But no, everything seemed to just be a normal

story, just waiting for something to happen.

And of course, it did. Yeah. Brittany shows up,

and she tells Robin and Marion about... You know

Rod Robbins says I ask what's new but mass murder

kind of puts a damper on small talk And they're

going after this this vampire type cult club

thing Where this chick is you know raising a

vampire cult or a monster cult here and yeah

She tells me the story quickly. Brittany never

really dwells on the details. For the past few

months, she's been working undercover with a

gang of monsters that had been planning something

huge involving Manhattan and an uprising. So

is your traditional uprising story. But again,

what Pat does to make this cool is how he writes

the characters. So I absolutely love that. And

I love the scene here where they... Where she

met where Robin Marion and red are all like getting

suited up. I thought that was hilarious I thought

that was great It was a very arrow ask Okay,

I'll take that arrow season 5 finale was was

done very good The sad thing is the first thing

I thought of was Batman forever and that beginning

of the suit all the The shtick, shtick. Yep,

yep. That's the first thing I thought of. So.

It's still cool, I mean. Yeah, oh, it's still

very cool. I'm not saying anything against it.

I'm just saying that was the first thing I thought

of. And then they ride the subway. Yeah. The

most lame way for a superhero to go through,

like, wearing their costume and everything, and

everybody's like, eh, just cosplayers, and they're

just, like, not even paying attention. Well,

it is New York. I mean, how else are you gonna

get around? You know, I mean you walk or you

take the subway not a lot of I know people have

cars, but I Seriously doubt they can get from

Robin's apartment on that to where they need

to go. I mean, come on now You should set up

an extensive set of Trying to think of the name

of that too, but it's not coming to me Yeah,

well, you know zip lining zip lining there you

go Yeah, that would be kind of cool or a monorail

this is the same thing it's almost the same thing

as a Subway, but still I Love how when they get

to where they're going even though they have

somewhat of a crappy plan that the crappy plan

gets even crappier as they have to improvise

on on everything. I love how the action scenes

between Robin and Red are done. How Red is down

there fighting the people and Robin is up on

the rooftop still kind of like being a sniper

with her bow and arrow which is really friggin

cool. So what happens when your when your first

shitty plan fails you move on to an even shittier

one? Yep And we have I love how this almost you

know this kind of it doesn't come to a very fast

end, but I like the the quote though You know,

if I'm going to end, I hope they at least kill

the Cat Lady. Yeah, that's... That's absolute.

Yeah, absolutely. I hope they at least kill the

Cat Lady. Now, I am wondering, because we kind

of go past this, because what they've set up

here, close to the end of the issue, is they've

captured Robin and Red, and they're going to

force them into a grudge match. which I think

is absolutely fantastic. I love the art on this

page. The panel where the lead female vampire

chick says, Robin Hood versus Red Riding Hood

in a fight to the death. In a fight to the death

where they're kind of crouching down, facing

off against each other. I absolutely love that.

And that's how issue four ends. I like how issue

four, we come to a conclusion almost on the priest

stuff for now. We kind of meet the cabal at the

end of issue three going into issue four and

then it sets up. somewhat of another case with

bringing red in so this It's just four and five

almost feel like a two -part story to me like

they are meant to butt up against each other

Which I'm sure that's what Pat wanted to do in

the first place By the end of issue four. What

were you thinking? That it's gonna be interesting

watching them fight Absolutely Getting into issue

five We have Marion and Sam fighting off some

more of these monsters outside of this place.

And I love how Sam wants to step up. Like we

haven't really seen yet Marion and Sam's relationship,

but we see it kind of as a friendship early here

and we see them kind of teaming up and I like

that. I think that's fun. think that's interesting

and We have you know You know Marion's like you're

the cat from today and The cat's kind of possessed

and then we go back to the grudge match between

Robin and red These two are fairly evenly matched

and what I like about this grudge match between

them is They don't seemingly have They're not

seemingly on the same page but Red knows Robin

knows that red has a plan and when she finally

sees that plan that is what is interesting to

me That they're not actually obviously fighting

each other they are but they're not you know,

they're not gonna kill each other obviously We

so what were you thinking of this first part

of the grudge match? of the the fight between

the two of them yeah I was like oh no all over

again absolutely we go back to the cabal penthouse

with the two Brendan's father and son and they

have you know quite a discussion here and we

actually meet Dracula Which that was interesting.

Looks nothing like Leslie Nielsen. Damn. And

Dracula has some sort of a plan which we don't

yet fully understand. We get back to more of

a grudge match. And this is where Robin finally

sees... Red's plan. I think my favorite part

about this part is Robin's inner monologue where

she's like, some people like the former therapist.

Some people like the former therapist I'm beating

with a compound bow. For example, I like to talk

about their feelings. And then we go to a panel

where it's... Kind of like a chibi Robin and

Red. And Brittany's like, talk to me about your

feelings. No. I love that. That is so hilarious.

So fun. We even have Marion and we even have

another chibi shot of Marion and Robin. So that's

cool. I love that. I think the best panel in

this issue is where she says, I hit things with

my face, and it's the two of them headbutting

each other. And this is where Robin sees where

Red has the plan of shooting through her arm

to hit the creepy scream face thing to basically

end all of this. I think it was funny how They

figured it out, you know, and they blew away

the creature. Absolutely. I mean, that is some

amazing art. The panel where the creature kind

of, you know, the red splilch, all the blood

stuff and then, you know, all the souls coming

out of the creature, because it's all the power

because the city is in a blackout. So the power

gets restored. So I like that. We get Robin and

Red coming to terms with each other, which is

great. And she's going to destroy the main villain

and she's gonna wolf out because that's part

of Red's curse is that she turns into a werewolf.

That's a whole new way of telling the Red Riding

Hood tale. And the easy way, not necessarily

the easy way out, but the interesting way out

is Robin just throws a grenade down the sewer

with the rest of the monsters in there. Britney

finishes off the chick, which is, actually no,

the chick disappears. Yeah, she just leaves.

Yep. And then they're eating at a, or drinking

at a coffee shop. Yep. And the cat is brought

to her as a token of Hey, here it is for you.

Yep Absolutely. Yeah Marion has the cat so Marion

and Sam are there and Marion's like surprise

and That's how this one kind of ends with the

cabal kind of watching Robin read Marion and

Sam Absolutely love issue 5 I think issue 5 is

very well done it Doesn't necessarily wrap up.

It's still introducing the cabal story to us.

We're still finding out more about them at the

same time issue five is Giving us more of Robin

and especially with the team up with red. I love

that I've said to Pat shand and he actually told

me that you know He and Jeff Massey, who wrote

the 10th anniversary Robin Red Riding Hood one

-shot, they were actually going to do a Robin

and Red Team Up series, but it never actually

happened, which kind of sucks. What were you

thinking by the end of issue five? It'll be interesting

to see how they make everybody connect together

with Kabal and Robin, who's too concerned over

the cat to pay attention to anybody else. Yep.

And issue six is the final issue for this trade.

We have Pat Shand on writing as always. We have

Jamie Sala Sang Sang Jr. I could be totally butchering

that name. I'm sorry. I am so sorry. But that's

just the way it is. And this is a made Marion

mystery. We focus on Marion, which I like. I

think this is cool that that you know the first

four issues are mainly focused on Robin and her

issues and her problems and what's you know they

said in the very beginning of of of this first

arc that you know Robin is the one that goes

out and gets stuff done Marion is kind of the

one that stays back and does all the computer

stuff and and everything else but I like that

this one is solely not really solely focusing

on Marion but it kind of is You know, I like

the line where Marion's like, like most cases

dealing with the finicky bits of witchcraft,

Robin is sitting this one out, because I mean,

after the first four issues, Robin is really

tired. Sleepy, sleepy time. Yep, pretty much.

So Marion is working on this case about this

husband and wife, the husband wants to, you know...

Keep the wife from getting the bank account.

She's entitled to half this that and the other

thing We get to a dream sequence with Robin because

as I said Robin's asleep, so we actually get

to see will scarlet again Briefly so that's a

nice nice little flashback dream sequence and

Obviously Will's not exactly alive anymore, which

sucks. And then this prompts Robin to wake up

because she assumes that Marion is in danger.

And Robin gets up, she goes over, because apparently

the wife of the guy who they were investigating

for the wife, everything has gone wrong with

the witchcraft stuff, and the wife is really,

really pissed. So Robin has to go out to take

care of it. She and Marion are actually going

to very different places. Robin's actually going

to her therapist. Marion is going not to the

coffee shop but to a mystical store. I like the...

I think what I like about this part of the issue

is the therapist office scene where... These

people are kind of talking to each other and

they the woman kind of starts talking to Robin

and I Thought that was cool. What are you thinking

for this issue so far? It's interesting it's

I mean, it's definitely turning into the you

know whole private I think again Yeah, in a sense,

I mean it hasn't like they're getting repercussions

for doing like I mean she had the the dream telling

that you know something's gonna happen to Marion

and then getting reprimanded by the crazy lady

yelling at them yeah I mean I don't mind it being

the PI thing I think that's cool there aren't

oh I'm sure there are listeners don't go off

on me I'm sure there are plenty of non superhero

detective stories PI stories out there, but again

We had how many? You know, we had three trades,

you know a lot of issues of all of the stuff

and missed and everything else So I like that

they're doing this in New York. I think that's

fun. I think it's it's cool We get said we get

Marion going to this kind of I guess soothsayer

or something because she wants to find out about

some stuff we go to back to the therapist office

and the therapist calls her her full name whoa

middle name alert love that they are introduced

to each other and they start talking when a giant

monster starts climbing the building hey look

it's the lizard or it's Doc Ock or I don't know

who the hell that is As soon as anything starts

climbing a building, I just think of Spider -Man.

So we get a go -between between Robin's therapy

session and Marion's session with the mystic

here. I like that. I think that's interesting

because we get character builders for both of

the lead characters in the story. Did you have

anything that stuck out in your mind in this

back and forth between the two scenes? No, just

both of them getting advice from two different

people. We have the monster breaking into the

office window and we go back to the mystic and

the whole thing with Avella and how Marian has

her magic. And basically the mystic telling her,

oh well, Avela is either dying or dead and in

time your magic will be gone. And we go back

to Robin fighting the monster and the therapist

like, okay, so that's your line of work. It looks

like she pulls the thing's heart out and then

she pulls its tentacle out and stabs it with

its own tentacle. okay and it doesn't look like

actual blood it looks like energy it looks like

energon dark energon spewing out of that thing

because it's all purple and stuff hey anytime

I can get a Transformers reference in right we

go to the Mesopotamia and we find out that the

cabal was the one that sent the lurker They're

still trying to figure out who this girl is and

they all agree once the shift is complete we

take care of our Robin problem. So that's what

they're planning. They're planning some sort

of shift and one of them says maybe Malik's captive

will be some sort of use and we see that Malik

has Avella tied up and chains and yeah she doesn't

look too good she looks like she's needs some

sort of medical attention there we go back to

the apartment we have we have Marion telling

Robin that she lied to her and that she's gonna

lose her magic and Robin's like you know magic

doesn't make you who you are right You know,

but it's a part of me and then Robin says, you

know I lied to you too and I know and they kind

of they make up there I Don't see Marion and

Robin ever really kind of you know going their

separate ways Of course, I haven't read further

into this series yet so You know and we We end

on on that where they're like, you know, I you

know Mary's like I think everything's gonna be

okay This first trade I think was very well done.

I think the story is progressing nicely. Each

issue has a specific thing with the underlying

storyline being the cabal and being the mysterious

thing where Robin and Marion don't know much

about them, where the cabal doesn't know much

about Robin. Meanwhile, you have these. It's

actually the perfect way to do a one hour television

show where you have a running through storyline

and the underneath, and you have basically a

one off episode type deal on the surface. So

that's what I liked about this as far as the

writing. What were you thinking on the writing

by the end of this trade? It's very promising

in setting up for something much larger in the

future. It tied up this return to the universe

very well and then you know set up the what's

to come Absolutely And Xenoscope is so good on

I know a lot of comment companies do this they

do the the multiple covers, DC sometimes does

it, Marvel sometimes does it, IDW does it a lot,

Xenoscope is by far one of the more independent

publishers that does so many covers and at the

back of this trade we have a cover gallery of

various covers from all six of these issues and

I just love looking at them all. I'm sure I have

favorites, but just all of the various ones are

just so fun to see. I think my favorite one out

of the ones that Red Riding Hood is in is the

one where it's her standing on the car with her

sword. It was number four, cover C, done by Johnny

Desardens. Again, probably butchering that name,

but absolutely think that was a great, great

cover. What did you think overall for the art

for this first arc? No, the art was was really

good I only had issue with like that little bit

at the beginning of that particular issue Yeah,

yeah, that's what I noticed is some of the issues

had the artist change like Larry Watts wasn't

working on all six issues And I understand that

you know Maybe they wanted to give somebody else

a shot on the art. I'm not sure. Maybe Larry

was busy doing something else. And that's fine.

Would I have liked a consistent art style throughout

all six issues? Yes, but I don't mind the art.

The only time I mind artist changes is if you

have more than one artist on a book. Transformers

from IDW is a good example of this. If you're

doing past and present and you have one, like

the main artist of the book on the present stuff

and the guest artist on the past stuff, that's

fine. But a couple of times they had, I think

when they were doing the Dark Cybertron event,

they had like six artists on each issue of that

comic as it was going through. And that's not,

that to me is a little too jarring. But this

one was fine, I didn't mind that at all. Closing

this out, what would you give volume one, Riot

Girls, zero to five? I give it about four. Yeah,

I'm right there with you. I'll give it about

a four. As I said, I love the story. I think

Pat's writing is only improved since the first

three. Yeah, I agree. Since the first three trades

of Robin Hood. I think his comedy works with

Robin. when she's in Iraq. I love it when he

has her up against strange people, because that's

when she can really get quippy. And then I also

love it when he writes her and Brittany together,

or her and Marion together, because you see the

friendship between her and Marion as we go along.

So I'm also on board with a four. Join us next

week, folks, for Robin Hood volume two. which

is called Monsters in the Dark. So that's issues

7 to 12 of the series. And where can the people

find you online, sir? Mostly on the Twitters,

at SCP -21. I am at TF2 and Mike on Twitter.

You can follow The Pull Bag on Twitter, at The

Pull Bag. Please do so. Also follow at GeekCastRadio

for all the other network updates. Make your

greatest game into comics and we will catch you

next week with more Robin Hood. Hope everybody

enjoys. If you have not read this series, if

you've not read this character from Zinescope,

people, please do so. It is so fun, so refreshing.

Pat Shan, Larry Watts, all the other artists,

geniuses. Just damn geniuses. You've just heard

the latest episode of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's

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