Robyn Hood Volume 4 Uprising Review

Tune in next week for a much better episode.

For now, though, courage. Hello and welcome to

The Pull Bag. This is episode 144. I am TFG1Mike

and I'm alone. I don't do solo shows very often,

folks. I mean, I can sit here and, you know,

give an opinion piece on something if I'm angry

or upset about something and things like that.

But generally, I need a co -host to bounce off

of or to lean into or whatever to get their opinion

on top of my own. And Steve Megatron is on vacation

right now. So, well, he will be by the time anyone

hears this. This is Robin Hood Month, the end

of Robin Hood Month 2017. This is Robin Hood

Volume 4 Uprising. Generally... I've been having

these episodes go for about 45 minutes to an

hour. I'm not sure I can talk about five comics

in 45 minutes to an hour. I'm not gonna sit here

by myself going through each panel like I would

normally do with co -hosts. I almost want to

wait until Steve gets back from vacation, but

that would mean that the episodes would be out

of order and anyone that knows me knows that

I hate loathe and just generally cannot stand

when things are out of order. If I set something

up to have a specific number order or whatever,

I can move the stuff around that goes within

those numbers, but those numbers have to go in

order. Robin Hood volume for Uprising consists

of issues 17 through 20 and the annual as well.

Issue 17 was Red Death. This is all Pat Shand

on writing, Roberta and Granada on art with Salmet

on colors and all of that. Well except for the

annual the annual Larry Watts returns and draws

it but issue 17 through 20 is the final run for

Roberta I love Roberta's art. I'm gonna say that

up front. I think it's very well done It in these

final issues more so issue 20 than any of the

other three The the art and issue 20 and I'll

get to it a little bit but has an emotional openness

to it i think and they have a lot of fun which

is good you want a comic that you know can tell

a serious story but at the same time have fun

little bits in there and and all that uh... i'm

just gonna run down my notes for seventeen through

nineteen and then i will talk kind of more in

depth on issue twenty and the uh... in the annual

Issue 17 is called red death apparently that's

the the assassin apparently I missed that at

the end of the episode the end of the issue last

time When we closed out with issue 16 in volume

3 apparently I missed her name But that's who

the is because I remember Steve and I at the

end of that podcast last week. We're like What's

her name? Who the heck is this chick? But apparently

that's her name red death I did like how Robin

and her future team had a nice little sit down.

I love how Roberta designs each of the characters.

An emotional resonance, an emotional openness.

These are not hard line drawn characters. I like

that with the Cabal we finally get answers to

why they're doing what they're doing. and then

at the end of the issue I liked that everybody

had you know that one last day of you know do

something do whatever you want before we go into

the fight and at first I thought it was at first

I thought it was Armageddon like the 1998 Armageddon

movie but then I'm thinking oh wait no I know

what Pat Chan's going for here with everyone,

you know, go spend the last few hours you have

with who you love. I'm like, oh, it's Angel,

not Fade Away, the series finale of Angel, of

course. I thought that was hilarious. I thought

that was great. With issue number 18, it's called

Child of Darkness, and this is where Cindy comes

back. First note for this one, of course Dracula's

mansion is in Vegas. Of course. I mean, you know

Sin City and Vampires and all that of course

vampires would be in Vegas the Vegas vampires.

There we go. And I most definitely Can Understand

Robin's hesitation hesitation in trusting Cindy

because let's face it that bitch is crazy Oh

Cindy the psycho Who knew Cinderella would be

a psycho dang I did like the cliffhanger in in

issue 18. I thought that was a really nice thing

and the cool thing for me here folks is Because

as I told Pat in the interview and I think I

told him off air the most recent interview that

I did with him I Remember reading issues 17 and

18 But it had been so long since I read issue

17 and 18 the first time when I was reading this

single issue style that that's what I was gonna

go for with this episode with Steve if Steve

was here would be that you know okay so this

is my natural reaction this is my first reaction

because I had not read it before whereas with

the first three volumes of the ongoing I remember

reading them I remember those moments even though

I still relive those moments in rereading them

for the podcast now but this is all new all fresh

again issue eighteen has amazing art robert does

an amazing job uh... and some of on the colors

that the colors pops so much in in this issue

in the series issue eighteen i enjoyed it i thought

it was great i thought it was a good nice it's

a nice evolution to the story uh... it was a

really great cliffhanger as i was saying a moment

ago If I had been reading this month to month

I would probably be very much anticipating issue

19 and I still anticipated it and wanted you

know wanted to read it and things like that but

because I read this in the trade more so than

the single issue it's like oh okay so just turn

the page and boom there's you know there's the

there's the cliffhanger kind of resolution issue

19 is called in the glory and this issue wall

uh... this issue was a great we had all kinds

of fighting uh... we had a bill is death that

was something i was not expecting i was wondering

where and how of vela and marian and sam and

all these characters with robin and every i was

wondering how of l was gonna fit into the world

of New York City that Pat Shan has created in

the story and She doesn't have to Because you

know as I said she dies and all of her power

goes to Marion which again is great I think that's

that's super amazing That you know a villa gave

her power to Marion after she passed or Has she

passed her whatever I think what I enjoy most

about this issue is when Roberta and Salma do

the the art and the coloring on the shadow character

kind of things like There are times when all

as you need is that character standing in the

darkness I mentioned this last time when when

Liesl and and Robin were tied to the to the chair

when they get captured in the last trade when

you see them in silhouette I love silhouetted

slash shadow shots in comics specifically this

series because Roberta has done it so well with

the outlines and using the light from from the

rest of each panel to highlight the shadow in

the glass I guess you could say Yeah, so we get

into glory. It's kind of like the final fight

issue of the series and It was it was so so good

So so good I'm gonna take a quick break here

folks because I do want to go through issues

20 and the annual panel by panel Issue 17 to

19 were amazing and awesome, and I love them

But issue 20 in the annual are by far You don't

really I mean I understand why Pat Shan did an

annual and I'm fine with that I have no I have

no problem with an annual as long as the annual

makes sense to the story and I knew Pat would

do an amazing job with the send -off if You stopped

reading this series if you were already reading

this series at issue 20 you would be fine with

that send -off but The send -off in the annual

is wow so good so i want to take a quick break

we'll be back after this talking issues 20 and

the uh annual from robin hood the ongoing by

patch and see in a moment folks we brought the

entire convention center to the brink of an inter

-genre geek war okay michael if we're going to

tackle this podcast thing we've got to do something

really special it has to be cool daily in audio

form and undetectable by radar, something that

screams summer. I know, let's do a Phineas and

Ferb review podcast. We'll call it the Podcast

Organization Without a Quillacronym, or Pauka

for short. What do you think? I think if we're

not careful, Candice is gonna bust us. You can

find Pauka on the GeekCast, Radio Network, iTunes,

Blog Talk Radio, and all of the other methods

you find podcasts. Alright folks, issue 20 in

the annual. I tried going through this panel

by panel, but I just can't. Issue 20 is a great

send off. I love, love, love the art in this

issue. Roberta did amazing. Roberta and Simon

both are amazing here in the colors and the clean

lines. The battle scenes are just so good. Absolutely

love those. My favorite two panels in this issue

No, absolutely not these two panels are after

They defeat the four horsemen and they try to

come to a decision of how to contain them and

sacrifices and shifts and All that stuff and

everything else that the cabal was doing in order

to keep the four horsemen at bay underground.

The two panels that Roberta does, they're chibi

style characters of the Robin Hood. It's Robin

Hood in her traditional way she looks with chibi

versions and the very next panel is the chibi

versions all have the cabal masks on. I absolutely

love that. I think that is so fun and funny.

What a great quote -unquote ending to the series.

I think Pat really pulled all the stops on the

writing here. And Roberta's art was just killer.

The characterization was all very well done.

If you're really wanting something different

in your comic book world, folks, go pick up this

Robin Hood series. Go pick up the series, the

first series of Robin Hood that Pat did. Everything

came full circle. The villain had a hero turn.

The heroes saved the day. And then they celebrated

the night away. What I mean by the hero... The

villain had a hero turn Brendan Allen senior

Brendan the second's father, you know double

crossed everybody and You know all that and everything

else and thought thought that was great You know

for him to save him his son and everything else

thought that was cool Nikki's sacrifice, you

know for the pale, you know to be able to touch

the pale rider today I didn't know. When we got

the Nicky story in issue 16, I wasn't sure, you

know, the tale of Rod, I wasn't sure how they

were going to eventually solve the Rodder's problem.

And here we have the pale rider, which is the

incarnation of death. And Bob's your uncle, there

you go. But such a great, great ending. I wasn't

even sure if Pat was going to do an annual or

anything like that after that. I think, you know,

celebrating the night away. was a perfect way

to end this comic and then we get the annual

hard -hearted and this is basically Sam and Marion's

wedding but Robin has to you know she has to

deal with the situation but before we get to

that because she hasn't had her coffee yet poor

maintenance guy and of course much is back anyone

that remembers much he was one of the characters

from Myst uh... Julia Officer Gingrich is now

commissioner, so apparently a lot of time has

passed between the end of issue 20 and the annual

here. And then Pat Chand is so damn evil. Why?

Why zombie versions of the past characters? I

wanted to strangle the man so much when I saw

this. In a good way. Kinda sorta, not really.

But, like, seriously, I wasn't sure where this

was going. And then the children of whatever

the hell they are, the big -headed baby characters

come back. But seeing zombie versions of Tuck

and of little John and Gisborne and all that,

and I'm like, oh god. Dammit, Pat, really? Zombies?

Ugh. I love the ending to this. The whole series

was very well done. Pat Shan set out to tell

an amazing story and he did. I think this is

really cool. We even kind of get a sort of cliffhanger

ending with Robin not really knowing what's next,

but the fact that she and Marion are going to

get through it together. Marion and Sam's wedding

was a nice little feature to set the story around.

I thought that was great. It makes me think of

like how How much time has passed since the beginning

of the ongoing with issue one to the final issue

here Like how much time in the Robin Hood timeline?

Have they been in New York has it been two years

three years? Because at the beginning of this

in riot girls Marion had just met Sam So I'm

assuming they've been dating for at least a year

and a half before they get married. I could be

wrong. I don't know. Pat, if you're listening,

please comment and let me know. Overall, a very

well done series for Pat Shea and Roberta Ingrenada.

Larry Watts' art on the annual here, it's so

good. Absolutely love that Larry came back to

do the annual. I think that was very, very, very,

very good call. I'm not sure if I will continue

reviewing Xenoscope stuff. I do know that they're

doing, or they have been doing a new series called

Robin Hood, I Love New York. I'm not sure if

I want to read that or not yet. I may switch

over to the Red Riding Hood books, because I

like Brittany's character and I want to see what

adventures she gets into. So I may switch over

to that, but I'm not sure how much other stuff

of Xenoscopes I'm gonna be reading. uh... as

i said earlier you know check out pat shan's

robin hood stuff i'll put a link to the original

robin hood month i did two years ago in in in

in this post uh... i may even create a robin

hood month twenty seventeen post so you guys

can get all the links to to both robin hood months

uh... I'm not sure if I can make a whole month

out of Red Riding Hood content. I probably could.

I do know I want to talk the six -issue 10th

Anniversary editions that Xenoscope did with

the characters. So there's that. Overall, Robin

Hood Volume 4 Uprising. It's nice and refreshing

and interesting and crazy and fun and cool and...

all of that. I absolutely love everything. I

would probably say that if I had any gripes about

the last five issues of Pat Shan's Robin Hood

series is if you're gonna curse, curse. Don't

use, you know... Pound sign at sign to to bleep

a curse word if you're gonna curse curse if you're

not gonna curse don't curse That's just my own

personal opinion on it because I personally like

hearing in my head a character saying oh damn

it what the hell or I can't fucking believe you

did that or you know, whatever Oh, holy shit,

what are we gonna do now? I just, I love hearing

that in my head because I can come up with how

I think the character's voice sounds. And sometimes

with the stuff muted with the signs and all that,

it just doesn't have the same inflection. That's

really the only gripe I have about this trade.

It's a small nitpicky gripe, I know. Overall

uprising I'd probably give it a four and a half

out of five stars There wasn't too much here

that I didn't like at all. It is pretty much

nothing here. I didn't like You know the art

is great. The writing is amazing Maybe I'll take

a half point off for Pat Shane being the evilest

writer in the world with bringing back zombie

versions of the old characters, but That's just

a little jibe. That's just a little whatever

Can you tell folks I'm not used to doing solo

stuff anymore? I'm so used to playing off of

co -hosts I bet this is probably gonna be the

worst episode of the podcast in five years Coming

up next it is the month of July so you guys would

have gotten two episodes the first week of July

here the Robin this this episode and then on

the on the Saturday you would have got an episode

145 which kicks off Gem Jam in July that's right

we are talking about Gem for the final time at

least for now here inside the pull bag we're

gonna have a whole month of Gem comic coverage

starting with the Stinger's Ark issues 19 or

23 And then we're going to talk about the five

issue Misfits miniseries, which is episode 146.

147 will be the annual, along with the 24 to

26 truly outrageous arc of the ongoing. And then

episode 148 will be gem infinite parts one through

three. So the first three parts of the infinite

crossover. Event so that's what's coming up here

inside the pull bag find me on Twitter at TFG1

Mike You can follow the pull bag on Twitter at

the pull bag check us out geocastradio .com comment

listen all that good stuff Make your greatest

game in the comics, and I will catch you next

time tune in next week for a much better episode

for now though courage