Ender on Comic Reading Origins and Transformers Fandom

Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with the rotating

panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy

this week's Pull Bag. Me Grimlock not Podcaster,

me Grimlock King! What is this I sense? The taint

of Primus? Hello and welcome to the poll bag

here at GeekCast Radio Network. This is our comic

book review slash discussion podcast and in the

poll bag this week I have Ender of Radio Free

Cybertron Tformers .com. What other affiliations

do you have? Right now I'm writing reviews over

at Full Metal Hero. And I was on the underbase

this week. Oh, really? Awesome. I don't think

it's out yet. At least as of this recording.

Yeah, I don't think it's out yet as of this recording,

but I'll have to check that out because I like

listening to that one. Yeah, I used to be on

there. We used to do comic books down again like

a year ago. I've been out for a while principally

because I had another kid and I forgot there

was such a thing as the rest of the world. Three

kids will do that to you. Really number you it's

it's all over, but I'm like a bad penny. I always

come up. Oh So you're the bad penny that Batman

has in the Batcave, huh? from two faces adventure

So as funny as I'm making an Indiana Jones reference

I think but but it works both ways Yeah, yeah

Well, you know You keep stealing the cross of

Coronado and wanting it to be enemy damn so many

times There's only so many times you can do that

in your lifetime, you know I still think and

we are often as just extreme tangent ladies and

gentlemen, but I still think for me personally

Last crusade is my Indiana Jones. I know everyone

loves Raiders and oh my god. It's the best Indiana

Jones movie ever I don't you know actually kind

of like Temple of Doom I couldn't it's Temple

of Doom is for me is almost like a horror film.

Yeah, there is that But like the ending I still

live in a world where there are only three Indiana

Jones movies because I've never seen the last

one the only thing in and again with them and

so sorry that we're all off all this movie tangent

on the public uh... comic book podcast but i

think that i was just that this isn't my fault

i we had a bunch of it's all the time with me

inside out it's final uh... honestly the only

good thing about kingdom of the crystal skull

is at the very end when i haven't seen it on

the spoilering it for me and then i may want

to work Tell them afterwards. But I'm trying

to save you the agony of having to watch it happen.

I already said I haven't done it. I'm holding

myself off. It doesn't mean I want spoilers.

You're gonna spoiler me? I write non -spoiler

reviews. When I get spoiled... Do you ever read

my reviews? They're like extra short. I always

say they shouldn't take longer to read than the

comic. That's well unless you're ready people

there's a review and there's like there's an

analysis analysis you can go on and on and on

for like ten hours, but That's true. I think

a review is meant to be like is it good or should

I buy it? Without yeah eating it to me Yeah,

I didn't see just to kind of curtail this so

Raiders came out in 81. I was a year old then

So by the time I was nine and eighty nine with

Last Crusade. Yeah Yeah, I did get to see Last

Crusade in the theaters at the same age so I

was kind of I'm on the same page there with you

You know Last Crusade is the refined Indiana

Jones like they've really got what they need

in there They understand, you know, it's all

understood the hat jokes the Nazis that everything's

all in place You call this archaeology Only the

penitent man the penitent man will pass All right,

so we're talking about comic books and since

you mentioned you were a kid in watching Indiana

Jones What who or how did you get into comics

as a kid or did you not get into comics as a

kid? Oh, I've you know, I really To be honest,

I don't think I can specifically remember a time

I wasn't reading comics. I read pretty early

and my parents were, you know, keen on that.

That was a good thing to get me to keep reading,

in their opinion. Expressly, that's why my mother

would let me buy comic books was so I would read.

Not that I felt like I needed help, but I can

remember her being upset at a G .I. Joe comic

that was during the like enough said. thing that

Marvel would do sometimes that had no dialogue

in it. She was like, what the hell? So you'd

read it. But I can remember reading Return of

the Jedi adaptation comic books, even though

I'd seen it in the theater when I was three.

And I started reading comic books at about three

years old. Wow specifically to transformers I

can say I remember Getting the number one issue

off of a rack in a drugstore That's pretty I

mean my early comic book reading that's what

it would have been off of isn't like, you know

Supermarkets, you know corner stores when they'd

have a still circular rack. I'd yeah, I just

get what I could Yeah, there's um buying transformers

number one because the kid on it looks not unlike

me It's one of those things where when we were

kids like for me the only place I ever saw comic

books and I said this way back in episode 3 of

the show Was in like you said supermarkets on

you know the comic books back then at least in

my opinion were a kids version of The tabloids

today like that's the way that the stores like

the like the grocery store So like that's the

way they treated them was oh, hey, this is comic.

Oh, it's a tabloid Let's put it on this revolving

lazy Susan rack. Yeah But the other place I had

seen them and really got into them was in which

I think the business is long gone now Walden

books that's where I first saw them and What

were you reading as a kid? Do you remember? Yeah,

I remember. I have a great deal of the comics

I read when I was a kid. Oh, so you're a Brody

then, huh? Yeah, I'm a little bit of a Brody.

I got a rack downstairs, the little touch -not

-let -you -be -touched set of comic boxes. Most

of which is actually in order right now, which

is kind of crazy. Read a lot of Spider -Man.

I read a lot of Batman. Little bit of Superman

here and there. Mostly Spider -Man and Batman.

I was a big Spider -Man and Batman kid. And I

was tremendously into the Adam West 66 Batman

show. The reruns they had on were kids. I could

not get enough of those. I love those. I still

love those. I totally got... That really worked

for me, and you know I totally you know the theater

the absurd part of it went right over my head

until I was older and I still love them for being

so ridiculous now but um and so I was I was you

know very into I It was very haphazard that my

younger comic book reading because it was just

on those racks I mean those are it's not like

they restock each book every month you know you'd

be lucky if you know i think i think i'd missed

one of the first four transformers comics and

then just after that it was whatever was there

you know i had no by the time it had skipped

headmasters i had like no idea and stuff like

that like it's time rolled on i was very lost

in those because they changed so rapidly i'm

actually rereading all of the original marvel

right now yeah and including the uk just so i

actually have it in my head in order because

it's always been so scattered but i read a You

know, and I, my interesting comic characters

was always really avid. You know, I'd watch the

cartoons, spider friends, I had a lot of spider

friends watching. And that's probably the only

thing I knew the X -Men from at that time. And

as time rolled on, I think I read less comic

books for a while, like eight, nine, 10, somewhere

in there. And not none, but just more sporadically.

And we... we moved. And in my new, when I was

like 13, we moved. And in my new grade school,

you know, I found the dorks, which were naturally

who I was going to be hanging around with. And

they were all trading X -Men cards. And that

show had just come on and was kind of popular.

And I don't think I've ever seen it first or

the cards first, but I decided this trading of

cards was going to be my, you know, into making

friends in my new school. We like moved in the

middle of the year. And so I found the comic

shop out there, which was like the second one

in my whole life. There was one before that I'd

seen that was just like, oh my god, there's such

a thing as a comic book store? But the one after

we moved, it's still my local comic shop these

days. I've moved and come back and all sorts

of stuff. Then it was Quantum, now it's called

Dreamland in Libertyville. I started, you know,

I started to get really into the X -Men because

of the card stuff. I became a very avid Magneto

fan. And I just, I've read tons and then for,

you know, around then that's when my biggest

reading of comic books was going on. I was reading

like every X -Men title and there was like seven

or eight of them then. And, you know, I'd read

random stuff. Yeah. You know, I never, this is

a big Batman fan and I can, you know, my knowledge

base is decent in Batman. I've certainly probably

watched all the media that there is to watch,

but I've never really read the comics consistently.

I've not read none, but I know my Marvel better

than my DC is kind of what I was getting at.

I don't know the man comics so well, but you're

probably hard pressed to tell a Batman joke I

didn't get. I know what's going on. I've certainly,

in cartoons and stuff, seen versions of a great

many things. But mostly I was big, big X -Man

fan. Age of Apocalypse was like my big favorite

way back when. And a little bit after that, a

little round after Onslaught, I kind of peered

out again. It just got to be expensive. I wasn't

as into a lot of it. I read a lot of Deadpool

back in the original runs before it was oversaturated.

And I don't not read it because it's oversaturated

now, but it is like more than I've been able

to reasonably keep up with. It's like, okay,

there's like seven Deadpool books and I'm not

sure which one I was in the middle of. Oh, that's

so funny. That original run that Climax, you

know, kicking Captain America in the nuts. That

was a big favorite. Transformers wise, I've kept

up with just about everything. When it died out,

It's in like what 91 and then came back his generation

to a little while later, which was not I was

listening to your interviews correct us Steve

it they didn't transition into one into the other

it was like it died and then it came back and

it was still the same writers in between this

and To and ongoing. It's all the same. It's all

Simon Furman. It's all the same guy Let's see,

but I you know, I didn't I picked up I read all

the Dreamwave stuff, and I was very excited about

that. Those were the two phases of the early

resurgence of Generation 1, I think. First, there

were these bootleg shirts they were selling.

That was the first time I saw it again. It was

all excited. And it was funny because I'd really

kind of forgotten about the Transformers. Yeah,

yeah around 93 94 there was I don't know about

comics but like in in other media There wasn't

really anything going on until you know Megatron

stole that golden disc in 96 right exactly and

and I you know these stories I think My father

showed me there was a show to go with it, but

I was a little I wasn't like totally turned off

by the animal thing But I wasn't like super into

it either. It wasn't especially For some reason

I didn't see the gorilla version of prime for

a long time. I just saw the bat one That's not

right, you know, it's a little pretty far off

of you know Optimist primal are you kidding me?

You know, and then the cartoon, you know in abstraction

Shows like okay that was alright for a cartoon,

but at the time I was what you know 16 17 I was

I was deaf feeling too grown up. Yeah, you know,

stupid kid thinks he's grown up, you know, realize

I rather watch cartoons. But at the time, it

was like, Okay, that's all right. I wasn't like

down on it or anything. But I wasn't that interested,

particularly. I know it wasn't until frankly,

it wasn't until I think my father actually kept

watching it. And when he was like, they found

the arc. He was like, Okay, that's interesting.

Yeah But there wasn't a lot of that media around

at the time and I'd really just kind of you know,

okay, it turned into Beast Wars and at least

it lived on as something, you know, I had memories

of it You know, I used to joke I think when uh,

you know, I'm totally one of those kids like,

you know from the broken home It's like Peter

Cullen was my dad, you know, I'm one of those

I felt one of those set, you know I used to joke

that uh, when I heard my conscience and conscience

in my head You know, my Jiminy Cricket was Optimus

Prime. Yeah, that got shattered for me in 85,

86, though, before the movie even came out because

Peter Cullen was everywhere back then and he

was the voice of Carr in Knight Rider. I was

like, oh, my God, an evil Optimus Prime. No,

it was cool. I was happy. Remember in the in

your 80s? Villains line up. I would I was rooting

for venture. Oh You're really? Yeah Megatron

cuz then it would be Peter Cullen versus What

I was going for I was like come on venture Yeah,

that's um For Skeletor cuz I was like star streams

just gonna shoot Megatron in the back So true

and of all battles in the Transformers are lost

by Starscream betraying the Decepticons essentially

Even in the cartoon he knocks the arcs of the

auto so Optimus Prime falls into the little healing

beam Yeah Constantly doing something screws up

their plans I was thought that if the scene had

gone on for like two seconds longer before Galvatron

shoots Starscream during the coronation He would

have been like Say we surrender to the Autobots

the war is over because he is like the ultimate

Autobot spy It's like so clear if you watch that

cartoon he is not on their side All right, so

what? What are you reading these days? Are you

still a Marvel guy or have you hopped over to

DC or do you like them both or these days I tend

to For my part, I'd rather pick up a trade I

still try, to some degree, and I'll read the

occasional Deadpool stuff. Really, it's almost

to me, for most stuff, the series has to have

passed and everyone has to say it's good and

worth reading, and then maybe I'll go pick up

the trade of it. With the Transformers stuff,

I read all the IDW stuff, or not, sorry, Dreamwave

stuff. I didn't like the beginning of Infiltration.

I thought it was... kind of dull. And comics

were just kind of an expense at the time, so

I really... I was like, oh, I'll get back to

that later. And it wasn't until I started reviewing

comics for T -formers that I went back and caught

up with all the Asians and everything, somewhere

in the middle of all hail. And now I think I've

read everything, you know, from that... I read

everything from that period before I started

reviewing. And I got up to the ongoing with Kata.

I don't want to call Kosta a bad writer for all

the crap I give him. He writes G .I. Joe just

fine, from what I've read. But the problem is

when he started writing Transformers, he just

kept writing G .I. Joe. Wow. And he just did

not get the Transformers at all. Not one little

bit. And it was like, even within his story,

it didn't seem to keep up with what he was trying

to do. I felt like his own characters were thwarting

the things he was writing, because he was trying

to write decent characters. And even they were

like, this story makes no sense. And I ended

up kind of stopping. I had my third child, and

it was during that run. And it was actually like

Correspond, Andy Schmidt, at the time, Transformers

books about it, because I was writing all these

really negative reviews. One of my favourites

being suggesting that they had to transform his

continuum. It was meant to be a, like, the story

so far. I don't know if that turns right off

the wiki or something, but it was just terrible.

Just awful. I said that nothing is right in this

book except the page numbers. I'm not hearing

this! My IDW history. I initially picked up some

of the infiltrations. You know, I was, like,

a lot of people was left on the hook with after

the... uh... dreamwave fiasco and i'd just i

would it was at a time when comics were a little

expensive for me and they just weren't doing

it for me so i figured i'd catch up later and

it ended up being a lot later uh... several several

of the asians later and of it was actually because

uh... uh... t -formers asked me if i'd be interested

in reviewing comics and i said sure and today

when furiously caught up with everything i had

read And it was better than I'd given it credit

for, I think. Not entirely my cup of tea, but

not flawed in and of itself. And I came into

the middle of All Hail Megatron, which I think

I like better than most people. I think partially

because I came into the middle and didn't have

to sit there and wait through the first six months

of it. And there was some good stuff after that,

the coda and that, good and bad, but some amazing

stuff. And last Stand of the Wreckers, I think

was around then. which is just one of my all

-time favorites and I'm very happy that got Nick

Roche and James Roberts are currently working

on on the Transformers books from that and that's

a very good thing and yes joined by John Barber

who is equally up to the task I think but in

between then there was the ongoing which I think

was just a calamity from start to finish Costas

not a bad writer, but he just kept writing GI

Joe. The cast just wandered in from GI Joe with

different names and the Transformers were like

bad background color that made no sense. The

emo Optimus Prime wanting to paint his cell black

in, you know, sort of like, we're killing Ironhide

the day they killed Ironhide. I wrote up a review

and I think it was like, they're not going to

kill Ironhide. They killed him so explicitly.

They'll probably, you know, give him a You know

his own mini in 10 minutes, and I literally got

a rudder was like who told you that? It was like

I was making fun of you And You know there with

the off other things that struck me right away

the awful character changes Prowl turned back

into like Wet Noodle second stringer Sunbow character

after having been like tremendously awesome and

some of the coda stuff and They didn't, they

did a spotlight probably to explain his character

change and we're like, there, is that better?

And I was like, no, I don't want you to tell

me why he sucks. I want you to make him stop

sucking. So that just, that continued to go nowhere.

And around issue nine, like I really dropped

it. They, you know, they were having humans taking

out transformers with hand weapons. And really,

if like humans can take out transformers with

hand weapons, the Autobots could have stayed

home. It makes the it defeats the whole purpose

of their universe every little bit It doesn't

matter which humans or badgers or whatever is

on that planet if they can't physically fight

the Decepticons themselves when Megatron's like

I'm gonna take over the universe Prime could

have like put his feet up on the desk and been

like good luck with that You know, it's just

makes no there's just no point to it and I was

thinking to cut You know, and when I stopped

reading it, I kind of felt like I was bluffing

second couldn't review anymore at the time but

i and i as i left the six i'm not reviewing anymore

as suggested by a d w since i don't like it i'm

not going to read them anymore and i really kind

of thought you know i'm full of crap i'm saying

that but you know i've been reading these things

forever i'll probably i'll probably keep read

it but just didn't get around it really was like

it really couldn't be bothered I just kind of

forgot about it for a long time. And just when

I was thinking of peeking my head back in to

see what was going on, it was like, and now we're

going to fight the D -Void. I'm serious. You

don't know what I'm talking about. You don't

want to. It was so stupid. It was just ridiculous.

That name, the D -Void, he sounds like a Masters

of the Universe reject character. It was literally

D slash avoid, or dash avoid was its name. I

just have been envisioning like, I don't know,

the big muscular figure from He -Man toys, but

it's all like a Starfield, but then with furry

panties and a cape. You're like, D -Void! That's

invoked to me. So D -Void is Transformers version

of Beast Man. Yeah, it sounded like it to me.

And that's not what I mean. It was this desperate

attempt to not do Unicron. And it was this giant

merge thing they called Deceptic God, which just

looked... Ridiculous and it struck me, you know,

a lot of writers do this when they're leaving

a book I think like Grant Morrison can be very

guilty of this. It's this like Attempt to write

the last story in Like something that's been

going on for 30 years. It's just like don't do

that I'm gonna break all my all the toys on my

way out the door I'm gonna kill Magneto. I'm

gonna cut his head off. Yeah, I just you know,

it's funny how the the reaction is always so

you know equal and opposite to that but we're

going to cut Magneto's head off it's like comic

book two days later it's like that wasn't even

Magneto it was like congratulations you've like

taken your character out of the continuity good

job and you know it just it just gets ridiculous

congratulations Wolverine but your Magneto is

in another castle that's exactly it Can get to

this later the complaint well which we'll talk

about these comics and I'll complain about how

people talk about Megatron's character, but So

You know, I knew I knew who was coming in to

write the new comics that are out right now robots

in disguise and Well, let me see which are you

know, I know they're like these big phrases Don't

know why they call the comics these things Really?

I mean it doesn't really the title doesn't mean

anything to do with the books It's just old phrases,

and I really kind of feel like those are the

two phrases the transformers really need to start

forgetting a little more Their gimmick, and it's

sort of like I think it's been 30 years in terms

of g1 Literature at least I think we're over

the gimmick, so would you rather have it be transformers

maximize and terrorize? It might as well be as

well be for all those for all those titles mean

and At least it wouldn't be You know robots in

disguise or more than meets the eye because that

you know I've ever been like thinking about that

when they talk about the movies and stuff like

you know Or maybe even the new prime show you

always get some you know New creative whatever

person in charge of it like we really do like

robots in disguise Whatever reason for them to

be in disguise, and it's like you know It's okay.

That's just you know, the gimmick should stay

but like focusing on it just is seems ridiculous

to me and With the comics the new comics don't

actually do that, but they still bear those monikers,

you know, yeah button centers like Well, they

need to at least the way that I see it because

you know, I'll tell the listeners this now the

only reason uh... besides the fact that i enjoyed

talking with you the only reason why we're even

here today is because it's all your damn fault

of me getting into more than meets the eye because

you said on twitter on dot about a month ago

i think are a couple weeks ago something about

oh my god i would bet that origin of shockwave

is changed miss scarred me for life for you said

something about shockwave's origin i think it's

an issue eleven or twelve idea it's it's it's

in the section called shadow play of more than

meets the eye. It's a... Again, like, here's,

you know, more than meets the eye ostensibly

being a comic about the crew of the lost light

looking for the Knights of Cybertron way out

in deep space. But this is set in the past on

Cybertron. They're literally, they're like telling

a story about pre -hist... pre -war history.

Right. So, I mean, like, the thing about more

than meets the eye is it kind of can be about

anything. Right. Right. Yeah, and I I was like,

ooh, and then I had asked you I was like So,

uh do I need to catch up in order to even get

this you were like, yeah kind of so I went out

and I sought out the as of then two volumes that

were on sale Actually a buddy of mine Jeremy

fine actually got me a volume one because my

comic shop apparently It's back ordered for some

stupid reason I don't know why volume one of

more than meets the eye would be back ordered

when I found that I found a link to it on Amazon

for $12 and 16 cents no problem. I got bad news

for you on that front, too You need to just at

the end of the ongoing Mm -hmm. There are a couple

issues that you need to read Okay That also that

are set in the past now. It's kind of funny When

I went back through and re -read, you know, because

I caught up on all this stuff, I, you know, didn't

want to read. You know, I feel like as a reviewer,

I should know what's going on. And, you know,

there were a couple issues in there that I thought

like, wow, these are really good. Maybe I judged

these too harshly. This seems to really get better

towards the end. And I checked a little closer

and it wasn't, those weren't written by Costa.

It was either Barbara or Roberts who wrote them,

but I was like, oh. Or maybe I was like completely

right That could be too I'm trying I'd have I'll

look it up for you. Maybe somebody could tell

us who's listening if they know there are two

episodes set in the past of Cybertron that involve

the characters that you're gonna see around the

shockwave origin thing and You know again, you

don't have to have to read those but it would

Yeah, but it was one of those things where you

know, I might as well get into it And I I see

why they did the whole I agree with you They

can kind of they should probably step away from

those monikers, but at the same time. Hey, why

not? Why they've done it is One book tells one

story more than meets the eye tells one story

than robots in disguise is apparently is that

completely other because I'm not reading rids

so is that completely different characters yeah

that's everyone who stayed behind on cybertron

uh... whole other shits happening there that's

all all other thing it's very good too they're

they're both entirely worth reading i've been

given really good reviews to uh... the the last

few days that i've read of only have only been

reviewing again on full metal hero since like

i don't three four issues ago but uh... There

they've all been really good. I've actually been

a little embarrassed because I'm used to being

kind of a harsh reviewer Give a lot of fours

and fives and I've been doing that I actually

wrote my review today that I wrote I wrote a

little apology at the back that I'm like I'm

sorry When they start to suck more, I promise

I'll be harsher You know, it's funny I see some

the other reviewers are much harsher than I am

but I'm you know, I don't know if it's just They're

they're a little more detail oriented but you

know, I You know, when Kosta was putting me into

a coma, you know, I tended to notice things like

if the backgrounds were bland or something like

that, but when the comic's really good, you know,

if there's not, you know, if the mezzanine scene

isn't quite up to par, I'm not as likely to notice

if I'm really caught in the comic. Oh, this is

my son coming in to interrupt me. Hey, Alex,

you got anything to say about the Transformers?

No? he always takes all his place he's my little

clone here this kid and he uh... he is do not

show him the movie until he's at least nine i

know i was having i was having big you know wondering

about that uh... last couple years what i used

to do around easter is i uh... i watch the movie

on good friday and then i'll watch the return

of optimus prime on easter uh... you know at

least you know at least you haven't shown zombie

prime yet. Right! Oh man. Dark Awakening. I wrote

a version of like, I think it was called the

Nicene Creed or whatever that has a reference

to Prime was like buried and then zombified.

I do a nice like sacrilegious thing for Easter

around. Because literally that's when I got my

Power Master Prime after I thought he'd been

dead. I was so one of those kids who cried like

a baby when I found out he died in the movie.

And uh... So I got my power master prime for

Easter one year. So for me, I always say Easter

is when prime rose from the dead a Zombie transforming

Easter bunny nice. Yeah, there we go. You know,

they make a surprising array of Transformers

related Easter jive yeah uh... in future episodes

and then i will be reviewing uh... i'm going

to be doing a trade style i don't know about

you but we're going to be reviewing each of these

uh... more than meets the eye trades at least

and i have not gotten in the robots in disguise

i don't know if i can get into robots in disguise

you don't have to read what comes before frankly

especially what comes immediately before is cannot

garbage visit what would take me I didn't get

immediately into robots in disguise and more

than meets the eye for the simple reason even

though I really liked all the writers involved

I Was wary of it because there was just such

a hole to be dug out of What I would at the time

what I would have liked to see with that set

of writers I would have said Screw it reboot.

Let these guys build a nice g1 Transformers universe

that we can all live in happy That's what I would

have liked to see Now now that's been you know

over a year, and they've built a universe that

they've been digging out of that hole I wouldn't

say you know that would make any sense to do

now because you know they've got a universe going

we can enjoy it It's fine, but it is it is sad

that how much you know crap. They've had to dig

out of To get here But it is it's Really good.

These are some of the best comics. I've really

read in a long time and actually I mean I would

I just reviewed Thank You Alex He's that's Alexander

Magnus, by the way Chris Ah For a second there.

I thought it was like, you know the stepson of

mad Stan from Batman Beyond No Alexander Magnus

and Was it a more than meets the eye 16 I just

reviewed that comes out tomorrow and It makes

me proud to be a transformers fan. It's actually

very kind of socially conscious book and I can't

spoiler anything yet I shouldn't but right, you

know, it really I Don't know it It's very character

-driven it is, you know people talk about the

Transformers derogatively saying so that's just

giant robots hitting each other and like this

is a great comic book that's worth reading It

is definitely like not somewhere to jump in you'd

have you know, it needs a lot of backstory But

it's giant robots talking to each other about

their feelings You know, but I always said this

is my driving theory about the transformers I

say this a lot so you know get used to it No

one gives a crap about what giant robots from

outer space would be like Not one little bit

what brings us to the transformers what makes

it interesting and what keeps us coming back

is what? The transformers is about is what we

would be like if we were giant robots from outer

space You know anthropomorphic They more like

us. They are the more interesting they are You

know the more you separate them out the duller

they become Yeah, I think lots of transformers

media has fallen into that trap so This this

isn't these these coming, you know, that's what

Simon Furman discovered that made his comics

great back in the day and That's what makes more

than meets the eye and robots in disguise truly

worthy reads and the only comics I am reading

right now consistently With my long and storied

history reading comics. That's what I keep up

with So you haven't picked up Actually, you probably

could pick it up next month when it comes out

Rage of the Dinobots trade paperback. I've read

most of Rage of the Dinobots already. I think

I might have read the whole thing. I just got

back into it. I've been playing a little catch

up in some of the recent stuff. Yeah, that's

where I really started with Transformers comics

was that four issue miniseries Transformers Prime

Rage of the Dinobots and by the end of that I

was like I think it's issue four that before

you even get to the end of the book you turn

a page there's an ad the transformers prime beast

hunters coming in may i'm like what because they're

starting yeah a new ongoing for it and i was

like hmm this is interesting my only complaint

about rage of the dino bots is there's too much

brimlock not enough swoop i love don't get me

wrong i love the guy he's awesome but uh... i

want more focus on some of the other done a lot

of that's the thing if they're all through all

through comic book history with dino bots if

there was a if there was a dino bots comic it

would be like those g i joe comics that were

snake eyes focus for a while that would be like

the dino bots and little letters and be like

featuring grimoire you know across the whole

topic of the book it's just that's how they would

be at eight years he is the big name character

there It's sad how few toys, you know are correspondingly

made I have like there must be like seven eight

Grimlock toys that are essentially the same toy

And you know rare nary a swoop to go with them

and of course now now they always have to call

a slag slug I can't stand it either. Okay, you

know why it is I know why it is because they

turn slag into a essentially a curse word in

this room You can't use the curse word either.

You can't say slag because in the UK it is a

curse word It means like whore. It's like saying

whore Slag now, this is the thing You ruined

it damn it ruined it for the Brits But that's

I don't blame them because it's like like we

didn't have a TV show for like five years called

TJ hooker You know weak that the word can mean

something else. I think we can get over it You

know, and I I love that. I love that his name

was a swear. I thought that was hysterical I

I wrote like a fanfic II anim script for an animated

movie like ten years back and you know I had

them run into slag. They were looking at a note

peg on slag Your name is slag. What's wrong with

slag? Nothing my bad I Love that it was a swear

And I love how now in in because in my opinion

And again, I know that we're not really talking

comics at this point We've gotten into other

medias, but in my opinion transformers prime

is This generation's G1 That is just my personal

opinion, I know you probably don't agree with

it by that horrible sigh you just let out. We

don't actually know what Optimus would have done

because he's not here! You're pretty good at

stating the obvious, Bulk. Anything else you'd

like to mention that we already know? Nothing

I can say in front of the children. Where were

we? We were on yet another tangent, and in my

personal opinion, and heaven forbid that Primus

smite me for this, I truly believe that Transformers

Prime is this generation's child's G1. And I'm

saying no, because there's a couple of reasons.

I just think it's too serious and a little too...

Dull for kids for kid kids. I think it says a

lot that it needed to have a companion show in

rescue bots That was like this is the transformers

for kids show You're saying it's like gonna be

the g1. I think about g1. Okay, our g1 Yes, the

transformers were superheroes from outer space

who lived under a volcano Okay Transformers Prime,

they're refugees from outer space with post -traumatic

stress disorder who live under a rock. I mean,

they just don't like, oh, the ongoing nightmare

of being an Autobot. To tie this all back into

comics, I cannot wait. I cannot wait to see what

happens. Next month in May with the Beast Hunters

ongoing I cannot wait to see what that how that

happens and because that's continuing the adventures

of the Dinobots from Rage of the Dinobots and

they're still on Cybertron and doing whatever,

you know fighting shockwave and whatever else,

but Nothing happens until issue three or four

nothing Thanks for the spoilers nothing yeah,

and the only good part about critiquing the crystal

skulls the very end grandfather would have been

proud you bastard uh... so the whole point here

is ladies and gentlemen is that trance or what

what i'm interested as i said david niven i'm

interested to see if i've heard the under base

uh... we reckon her other courts interview Margaret

Scott twice, and Margaret had said that their

thing on the book with her and Mike Johnson as

writers, they want to be able to tell their own

stories, but if it does tie into the show and

the show brings the Dinobots on, then they'll

run with that and go with that. I'm interested

to see if they do that, even though this is the

last season of Transformers Prime. I'm really

interested to see what they do there and I'm

really crossing my fingers that they get Greg

Berger and Michael Bell to reprise Grimlock and

Swoop. That would be cool. I want to clarify,

I don't dislike Transformers Prime. I think especially

the second season really picked up. But I just

don't think it's much of a kid's show. Well,

no, it's made for our It is made for you know

people our age as fans of a 30 year old franchise

I agree with that and I agree that the rescue

bots thing is the kids but what I'm saying is

like Watch these shows. Yeah, I mean I do have

some kid, you know Right, but that's what I'm

saying like You're showing your children both

of these cartoons. So technically both of them

are their g1 If that's my only no, I'm not so

my kids g1 is G1 do you want called Netflix everybody?

Not that I didn't have the DVDs my kids watch

1980s Transformers they watch he man All right,

so I think This is going on long enough. This

has been hilarious This was so fun even with

all the technical difficulties we've had today

But this has been so fun. Like I said Ender will

be back and I think how we're gonna do this is

We're gonna review more than meets the eye in

trade form because that's how I have it. I don't

have it single issue I have the first three volumes.

It's probably better that way. Yeah, I think

almost everything these things are written to

be trades It's pretty the industry's racking

these days. Yeah, I wish they just release a

trade every six months or something I know what

pisses me off because I'm a huge I'm more of

a DC guy than a Marvel guy Yeah, oh boy. I almost

made a bad Grayson joke there for a second What

makes me so upset and I don't I don't want to

just go to DC and say hey, how does this work?

What makes me so upset is when they release trades

the release and hardcover first and then they'll

release trade paperback three or four months

later and I'm like, ah No, cuz I don't I don't

have to get a hardcover and then oh my god I

might ruin the binding cuz sometimes like specifically

to more than meets the eye volume to there are

some times where there's a word and my eyesight

even with glasses is not that great but uh...

i don't even have a silly pisses me off a lot

of these comics is half of them don't even have

page numbers anymore i hate that but like see

there's a panel that that goes so far into the

fold of the binding of the book where you have

to basically pry it open to see what a character

is saying i think so i think they're gonna kill

me you know yeah That's why I prefer the the

soft cover trades versus a hard cover where the

hard cover the you know Stretch it far enough

the binding will break on it Yeah, I you know

I gotta say too with with the releasing the hard

covers first I really dislike it when someone

is trying to bilk extra money out of me by virtue

of exploiting my impatience It doesn't work for

me on me anyway, I mean I'm not Deli American

with oh man. I have to buy the hardcover because

I don't want to wait the extra however many months

frankly if I've waited that long You know a few

months already. Yeah I'll wait the extra couple

With the transformer stuff. I want to review

it, you know at a timely fashion with the the

releases I don't have that luxury so it's nice.

I can you know get some of those in advance,

but I vastly prefer to buy a trade, and I realize

that maybe that's not what's best for the industry

and whatnot. It's just for my own preference

and the way I operate, I would much rather just

get a complete story. And I feel like half the

time, they're writing them for the trades anyway.

So there's this really weird, superficial, episodic

structure being imposed on something. And sometimes

it works and sometimes it doesn't. And I'm just

like, oh, forget it. Just write the trade or

don't. Yeah, well specifically to something like

Batman where, like in Batman 19, and I'm not

going to spoil this, but it shows, like the cover,

the splash cover of Batman 19 is basically, you

know, who can make Batman, you know, who can

make Bruce Wayne use a gun. And the splash out

cover, it shows Jim Gordon, and I'm not going

to spoil who the villain is in that issue, but

it's one of those things where... What I hate

about single issues and I understand how the

comics industry has to do that in order to pay

them You know to get paid and to make money when

I'm reading a story and all of a sudden the next

page is hey coming up in May Jeff Johns just

as an example Justice League or Aquaman or whatever

the hell he's writing these days. It's like the

story stops and Sometimes there's two ads per

page and it's like Oh my god, I'm still gonna

get single issues because I have that same need

that a lot of other people have where it's like,

oh my god, I have to read this now. But with

the Transformers stuff, I most definitely can

wait for volume four for more than meets the

eye because I've pretty much got everything now

and I don't know if I'm gonna start collecting

singles for that. I don't know yet. I haven't

decided. Batman's gonna use a gun? I'll tell

you all the proof. Yeah, we should get over I

love my Batman jokes. I thought Batman's gonna

use a gun It should not be like, you know, he

fires a shot and falls down crying. It should

be like it's like, okay, everybody I'm sorry.

I can't think of any other way. It's like, you

know busts out two of them is like BAM BAM BAM

BAM is like, you know Russell Crowe at the end

of the quick and the dead Like oh my god, you

can use a gun like of course I can use a gun.

I just don't I'm Batman I could do anything I'm

the goddamn Batman. Yeah, goddamn Batman. Of

course I can shoot the gun. Look, I'm the best

marksman in the Northeast. This is my ass. You

have seen Batman Beyond, right? Oh, yeah. Second

time in the DC animated universe that he actually

used a gun. The first time was in Justice League

because Deadshot possessed him. Or not Deadshot.

Is it Deadshot or Deadman? I don't know. Floyd,

I don't know. I forget. One of them stupid characters

possesses him. You know, DC characters, that's

always been part of my... Every time someone

says chillax, I think it's an obscure DC frost

villain. That's so funny, but but yeah, there

is only two times he actually used it gone But

anyway, so Ender will be back We will be reviewing

the more than meets the eye trades volumes one

two and three in separate episodes here in the

future in the pullback You want to tell people

where they can follow your comedic genius? Yeah,

most of the time these days if you go to a fullmetalhero

.com I've been reviewing comics there and that's

that's the principal place I am I'm being funny

if you go to I've had a follow me on Twitter.

I'm at a Ender hates One word, capital E. Capital

H. Is it capital H? I don't know. Yes, I think

so. It was at one point. Yeah, I'm there somewhere.

All right, so that is going to do it for this

episode of The Pull Bag and we will catch you

next time when Steve and I will be reviewing

the 19 issues for the Bat Books from DC. Keep

reading those comics. Coming to Grand Rapids,

Michigan on September 21st. And 22nd is Grand

Con Gaming and Comics Convention presented by

Celebration Cinemas. Join us in playing or chatting

it up with fellow enthusiasts in a community

that understands your passions. Get lost in the

adventure of your favorite role playing game.

Admire costumes and art from vendors and attendees.

Meet the creators behind your favorite mainstream

and independent games and comic books. Check

out unpublished games and sneak peek at things

to come. You can get all this and more at GrandCon.

For more information, please visit www .grand

-con .com. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate our

show on iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback.

Call the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please

remember to tell us the show you were leaving

the message for and your name. Become a fan of

us on Facebook by searching Geekcast Radio Network.

You can send us an email feedback at geekcastradio

.com Follow us on twitter at geekcastradio So

until next time Unleash the geek in you