Batman , Batman and Robin , Nightwing , and Batgirl

The voice kept calling me Bruce. In my mind,

that's not what I call myself. What do you call

yourself? Oh yeah, I suppose you would. But that's

my name now. Hmm, tell that to my subconscious.

Oh my gosh! This is so great! Welcome to... The

Polebag! 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 whole bag Spoilers

Hello and welcome to the pole bag episode 16

I'm your host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining

me as always is Dave Joan like hello. Hello.

How are you good? That's good. We've had a it's

it's been a while since I've been on the show.

Yeah, well You work a lot. You've got a you know

growing family that you need to Catered to and

whatever else but the other thing is I noticed

that we're about a month and a half or so behind

on the bat books And I kind of like it that way

because even though at the beginning of this

show We would have had the Joker telling us about

spoilers Right now we're oh god almost we're

pretty much the last week of May and all of the

Batman books proper have come out by now We're

going to stop here in the pullback, at least

with the bad issues, even though it does tie

in. We're not going to talk about injustice.

It hasn't come out as of this recording. By the

time this is published, it would have already

been out. Actually, I think issues five and six

might have already been out, but I love reading

that series, but it's not worth having to wait.

To have to do it And I'm sure once that series

concludes we will you know, you and I will do

a whole overall on that eventually but Yeah,

we are here. We're talking Batman number 20s

It's very interesting month Yeah, I would definitely

say so especially with some of the tie -ins that

they did in a couple of comics Yeah, very very

interesting month Loving where the main stories

that I'm reading are going Just every time I

read one of these books whether it's Batman whether

it's Batman and Robin whether it's Nightwing

or Batgirl those those are the main four out

of the new 52 stuff that I read Obviously, we've

known for months now about zero years starting

an issue 21 for Batman but um you know I'm just

looking forward to like every time I finish reading

one of those four titles it's like ooh what are

they gonna do next ooh what are they gonna do

next at the same time with Batman and Robin specifically

I have no interest in going backwards with that

Blake with Batman the main Batman title I'm gonna

go back and get court and night And City of Owls,

I'm gonna get all those first stories. I'm gonna

get those eventually. But I have no interest

in going backwards with Batman and Robin. I love

what they're doing now with him teaming up with

Red Robin, with Red Hood, which is what we'll

talk about here. Next month, he'll be teaming

up versus Batgirl. So I love what they're doing

with that and I think that's cool and great But

I don't think I can go back and read those first

issues. It's nothing against the writing or the

art Everybody knows I'm no fan of Damien Wayne

so Yeah, no, but I'm still loving that I'm actually

there. I don't know what they're doing with and

we're gonna talk about Batman Beyond 16 at the

into the show today when we close out the show

but I don't know what they're doing with that

title I seem to think that they're separating

it like originally we reported that and everybody

knows this until I you know I didn't know it

at the time but currently Batman Beyond Unlimited

comprises the three digital issues of Batman

Beyond Unlimited Justice League Beyond Unlimited

and Superman Beyond Think they're going away

from that and Batman Beyond is going to be its

own title because I saw somewhere and DC solicits

that The book is kidding a retitle Hmm. It's

gonna be Batman Beyond Something I forget what

it is. I'll have to look it up and maybe by the

end of the podcast You know I can You know find

that for you guys and and let you know but I

found it the other day and I actually tweeted

Kyle Higgins cuz he's gonna be the new writer

on the book in a couple of months and I never

got a response from him but that's fine that's

not that big of a deal but I just thought it

was interesting that they're gonna retitle the

book because I think they're making it its own

individual book without having the other two

stories in there so yeah what else have you been

reading before we get into the actual show I

would say that for the most part just Batman

The Batman issues the detective comics I kind

of unanimously with you decided I was done with

The Injustice Not not that I didn't like it.

I just I just decided I didn't really want to

spend the money anymore It's not that I'm done

with it. It's for me. The decision was I'm done

with it, talking about it along with the other

bad books in this section of the pull bag. As

far as these themed episodes, I'm still reading

it. I'm still enjoying it. I'm still going to

write up my reviews of it, you know, of issues

five and six, like I did with one and two and

three and four. It's not that I'm done with it.

It's just that I just don't feel as if it belongs

here in the bad books proper, even though it

does have Batman in it. It's it's more about

the league than it is an actual definitive Batman

story And I definitely see that that's I Just

yeah Yeah, but all right, but in beyond I'm kind

of hoping that they Like you said make it a separate

title. I'm I believe they are I'm not a fan of

having the the league in that at all well I will

tell you right now. You're gonna like Batman

Beyond when it's collected in trade. Currently

the first trade came out earlier this month or

late in April. Something like that. Batman Beyond

10 ,000 Clowns. It's just the Batman Beyond books.

Batman Beyond 10 ,000 Clowns, the first trade

for Batman Beyond Unlimited is the first 13 issues

of the book. So... It's very, very awesome. It's

very fluid. It's not gonna be like when we talked

about Batman Beyond 13 over on GCR where I was

like, wait, what are these other stories? What

the hell is going on here? Why is this split

up like this? So, it's not like that in the trades,

so thank God for that. Today we're going to start

off with Detective Comics and we'll be back after

this word from Batman. Well first up tonight

is Detective Comics 20. This issue was of course

with the cover of Emperor Penguin or Ogilvy's

is the villain that took over for Penguin, and

he's some kind of a weird dark bluish purple

with almost man bat type of appearance. And he's

putting the chokehold on Batman. I found it interesting

that Batman's kind of gone up against him in

this this issue. underestimated him really yeah

like majorly so oh Gil the comes up to him and

ties a chain around his neck and just kind of

lets him dangle from a tree which I found again

to be kind of interesting that he was about to

take down Batman that simply. When every other

villain has tried all kinds of other things and

he just chokes him with a chain. So after beating

Batman's ass and hanging him that way, he goes

back inside to let him to die and Penguin comes

by and cobble pot and shoots the chain, breaking

it. And Batman's basically saying to him, you

know, Things or whatever he's like I didn't do

it for you. I did it so I can get my stuff back

And he needed Batman so the two of them go basically

up against a Gilby in there This issue I thought

was kind of an interesting twist you see cobble

pot helping Batman for a minute and Batman kind

of in a sense doing the same and Cobble pot ends

up basically Shooting him in the face a guilty

I mean Wow knowing that it wouldn't kill him

anyway and I Just found it interesting they go

back into the entire origin of the character

Right and It goes back to when he's like a kid

and showing that his dad got you know in trouble

for Being involved with crime and then he kind

of learned what not to do and kind of rode coattails

all the way to the top and He just was happy

that he got to the top and he took down everybody

so that he could gloat about it and He pretty

much after getting shot by penguin ends up in

jail where he's talking to the big crime boss

there and Pretty much Chokes the guy to death

Kills him and then he takes over as the head

honcho in the jail Wow, but um, so they kind

of left it hang into where he can come back But

Yeah, he was kind of hopped up on some kind of

a man bad or or venom serum which was kind of

weird. Interesting. But Batman, he had a funny

line in here. He's surprised when Penguin shoots

Ogilvy in the face and he's like, Gobblebot!

Like, surprised that he would do such a thing.

But it was, I mean, again, it was kind of stupid

because it was a point blank shot right to the

face. He should have been dead. Venom or no venom

a point -blank shot in the face Would have killed

him but yeah, he gets sent to Blackgate and Kills

the the other crime boss and it's just kind of

left it, you know, it's a wonder but He when

they visited his childhood. It was also to the

Monarch Theatre around the same time that Wayne's

parents were killed So I mean again they kind

of tied him and kind of got him deeply in the

Batman mythos, I don't know if he had a pre new

52 existence Because I'm not too familiar with

a lot of the pre new 52 other one I created or

other than what I read in the early 90s, but

I again I'm not sure but yeah overall I would

say it was it was a good issue had I think Batman

driving the tumbler in this one too. Oh sweet

yeah that's that's cool so yeah so I mean it's

still got a little bit of a modern touch to it

but I thought it was kind of nice you know getting

Cobblepot back in his throne as the penguin and

Then because I never really cared for the ogilvy

character even though I knew what his thing was

which was to create unrest between everybody

and Kind of take out all the other mob bosses

by pinning them on the Joker during that whole

incident So it's I understood his reasoning for

being there, but I was glad that he was gone

or locked up for now Interesting so yeah Very

cool, very cool. Alright, well, we're gonna hear

from a certain claymation villain, and then we'll

come back to talk about the next issue. And as

if Ron Perlman's docile tones couldn't tell you

what exactly we're talking about here, it is

Batman number 20, part 2 of 2, The Dark Knight

Battles Bruce Wayne. How can you say that happens?

Well of course, it's Clayface. This is the conclusion

to last month's story for Batman 19. hmm this

is pretty cool actually I really like this I

thought it was great and I love that that first

that that title page when you first open the

book DC Comics presents Batman in nowhere man

part two of two and it's basically Bruce Wayne

slamming into a shattered bat signal nice yeah

Very, very awesome. The only thing... I understand

what Snyder's going for here. The only thing

that kind of took me out of this issue is when...

I don't mind if Clayface talks as other people,

like if he talks as Lucius or if he talks as

Bruce. What really threw me though was when he's

talking like the Joker. It's over, Brucie. I...

I just don't... It's not a slight against Snyder's

writing. It really isn't but it just That just

doesn't It's too weird for me. It's over brucey

Yeah, too weird And then the um what I can only

assume is some sort of Lamborghini Clay face

throws that at Bruce This is basically clay face

versus Bruce But this third page here, you're

looking at that big, stinking pile of, you know,

that page there where all the bat -bots are around

Bruce and Clayface. What I don't get is, at first,

when I first read this, what I didn't get was,

does Clayface know he's Batman? That's what I

didn't understand. Obviously, later on in the

issue, they basically... right away saying that

clay face thinks that Bruce and Batman are two

different they basically turned Batman into Bruce

Wayne's bodyguard essentially a la Iron Man type

of storyline thing I don't have a problem with

it I think it's cool the fact that click is it's

like you know how many people know Bruce Wayne

is Batman there are some continuities and some

stories where Jim Gordon knows you know You know

everybody freaking knows that Bruce Wayne is

Batman so I Honestly didn't mind that. What do

you think of these first couple of pages? I Was

kind of surprised at what was going on yeah right

off the bat Overall I was surprised at the angle

they were taking at the start. And then after

I'd figured out what was going on, I was kind

of like, oh, yeah. But yeah, it was kind of funny

seeing Playface's Bruce. I got grossed out to

all hell when I think it's page five or so. And

again, I would be able to tell you indefinitely

that this is page five or not, but just like

every other comic book that I get, DC doesn't

number their pages. Um, I got all kinds of creeped

out when Clayface essentially puked Bruce up.

That was awesome. It was awesome, but it was,

it's so disgusting. So gross. He's like, blah.

And then he's like, well, he should be dead.

He was, uh, unconscious for seven minutes. You

know not breeding. Yes, and then Lucius goes

to save them and then they find out they're an

independent rule Garbage disposal garbage shoot.

Yeah from Star Wars Yeah, I trash compactors

we're gonna kick in and you know, they're around

a bunch of batbots and Yeah, Lucius is like well,

there is this prototype armor sitting down here

Yeah, Bruce is like, you know, you could have

brought that to my attention earlier And you

threw this out why because it'll be at least

20 years before the thing is cost -effective

But there are other reasons I'll follow you in

some time. I Love seeing an early prototype of

the bat beyond suit. That's just awesome. Well,

I think that that was just epic I I mean, yeah,

it was all metal and everything which you know,

whatever it was like an Iron Man Batman Beyond

suit. Yeah But I still love the homage Yeah,

no, it's so awesome. It's so cool the funny thing

is On that same page When he goes to turn to

Lucius? at the bottom right The lines on the

suit on the on the facial thing even in the main

picture of the suit It almost looks like he has

a face of a cat like it almost looks like the

suit has whiskers It doesn't but just the way

that the facial lines are drawn Just the way

Capolo drew them it almost makes me think it's

feline Welcome to the cat suit And then we have

the police chasing Bruce Wayne on a motorcycle

him basically saluting them as they all crash

And then we have an ad for Zero Year and after

that we have, oh, it's your stop and it's basically

Batman versus Bruce Wayne. What I love about

this particular image here is that see where

it looks like it's blood coming out of Bruce's

mouth? It's not, it's clay. I love how they worked

around that. like normally you punch somebody

hard enough in the mouth or a metal fist from

a batman suit hits you in the mouth you're gonna

you know bleed yeah i love that they just i love

that capolo distinguished it as clay versus blood

i thought that was great yeah they they simply

did a nice touch with that i mean i i just wish

you would have got to use the suit longer oh

i know it and he switches back to a generic suit

later with face mask cover yeah like like the

like Batman and Robin he's wearing you know a

cover over his mouth and yeah that's that Joker

clay is just creepy as all hell well it's they're

all creepy no I know but I mean especially the

Joker one because it's all twisted Yeah, that's

all twisted. And it's pre -face rip. Yep. No,

it's post -face rip, isn't it? That's after he

ripped his... No, no. It is pre -yeah, you're

right, you're right. Because Clayface never saw

him with his face ripped. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're

right, you're right. Otherwise, I'm sure that

would have been there. Yeah. Yeah, this, um...

This whole suit -within -a -suit thing, because

he's actually... Batman is in his regular suit

under them the art I Don't I don't get that okay

sure you look at Iron Man Iron Man had at least

in the first movie he might have or well in Avengers

he had there there were times where he had like

a I Don't want to say long John's on but he had

a kind of like a space suit like a space uniform

on Yeah, when he put the armor on i think it's

strange and silly that bruce has the the real

bruce has a batman suit on under the metal batman

armor that's just weird i understand why obviously

he's batman he's not supposed to find out that

he's batman but that was just a little strange

to me i'm batman under batman And they eventually

trapped Clayface with a cylinder. What the? I

thought that was cool though. They tubed him.

Yeah. They really did tube him. Now, if Clayface

just came back, how does he know about Damien?

It was broadcast across the news. That's that's

true. Yeah, because everybody was like, oh Bruce

Wayne's son's been killed Yeah, everybody's like,

oh Robin's been killed it's like, um, hello put

two and two together people Yeah, well, I love

this whole panel here, you know this whole page

this whole two page spread of Lucky for us Bruce

Wayne is so paranoid. You mean you're so paranoid

Wayne. We all know your secret now Which again

begs me to think Does clay face does Carlo really

know that they are one in the same? Hard to say

Yeah, cuz they kind of write around it and again.

It's not I'm not saying it's bad writing on Snyder's

part It's far from it, but they he kind of puts

the question in your head whether he knows or

doesn't know And then of course Clayface just

had to go for you know He's like the rest of

you know He's like the rest you know Wayne doesn't

care about anyone, but himself not his friends

Not even his own damn son, and then of course

that's gonna set Bruce off to no end Yeah, that

was kind of a messed up panel, but you know they

don't care very Very messed up panel. It's like,

oh what too soon? Yeah, really And then we have

the end where it's it's Alfred and Bruce sitting

there with like hollow projectors over their

eyes. Well, it's it's basically VR kind of glad

it's VR looking glasses like yeah and then they're

watching some uh some old footage of he and damien

as batman and robin um and then next zero year

the origin of batman i am so stoked for that

i did not i tried reading this backup story the

ghost lights part two of two i tried going back

and rereading the first part and um in uh uh

issue 19 but i just i can't get I'm hoping with

Zero Year, with Next Issue and Issue 21, I'm

hoping that I can get into the backstories there,

because I'm assuming that the backstories with

that, I think Snyder had said that they're going

to kind of give you more info on what's going

on during Zero Year, so I'm hoping I can get

into them there, but overall, since I've been

reading Batman from Issue 13 to now, I've never

gotten into the backstories. They just... Backstories

of who? The backs the the backup story not backstory

the back up stories the Story at the end of this

issue That's after the clay face story ends.

Yeah The backup story in the back of the book

ghost lights Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of those

one two three four five six seven eight Nine

ten 11 12 Including the channel 52 stuff. That's

11 pages with ads with with ad pages. That's

11 pages of this book waste of a fort I Don't

think it's wasted. I think the backup stories

the secondary stories that come after the main

tale I think they have a place but I think they

need to be in their own book like like all the

separate back. Yeah all this back ones should

be in their own issue right yeah exactly that's

that's the way i think of them so um i'm kind

of the same opinion there overall what did you

think of the conclusion to the clay face story

um not bad i'm i'm kind of uh... i'm glad that

they left it plenty open and that it was an interesting

take on him that you know there's no humanity

left of him basically he's kind of just a man

of clay yeah which i thought was a nice take

and playing the uh the completely original card

with him for the fact that he's mutated so many

times that um he doesn't even have a real persona

yeah so i i like i definitely like that take

on him um but again that's not saying much because

I like the rest of what they've been doing with

all the New 52 reboot versions of all the characters.

Yeah, out of the ones that I'm reading, I'm loving

the stories. And I think for me, as you said

earlier, when you're talking about pre -New 52,

you know some of it, but you don't know all of

it. And I think that's the thing. Unless you're

someone who grew up reading pre -New 52, Unless

you're someone that at some point jumped on when

they did a reboot or a relaunch or of a certain

title It's like I always say and I've said it

many times in this podcast I know we're 16 episode

in people are probably tired of hearing me say

this but You know you get an issue for example,

let's just say Batman number 900 So you mean

I have to go back and read all 899 issues to

catch up to what happens and not you know what

I mean? It's one of those things where Why I

love the new 52 so much is that yes sure I haven't

read the court of owls storyline stuff yet But

I'm plied as I said before I plan on doing it,

but I love how they spread the stories out where

Like death of the family the parade Batman 13

was a perfect jumping on point for me Yes, Court

of Vowels is still there, but, you know, Batman

13 was a whole new story involving the Joker.

The same thing with Nightwing. You know, people

that want to jump on the Nightwing don't necessarily

have to go back and read the previous 18 issues.

If they jumped on at issue 19, perfect jumping

on point for that book. You know, so I like that

fact, whereas it's not... And of course, granted,

you know, four, five, six, ten years down the

line, if DC is still doing, you know, the whole

new 52 thing, which I assume they would be. Well,

it may depend because again, the the the 900

issue storyline was actually issue 19 of the

new 52 of Batman, which leaves me to believe

that. They at some there, they're still counting,

but in keeping track, just in case. All right,

no, I know what I'm saying like You know two

three four five ten years down the road. I hope

they don't reboot again No saying saying hey,

it's the new 53. You know saying hey, it's the

DC area 50. You know what I mean? It's Right

now This is the only time they've ever rebooted

their franchise granted Batman and Green Lantern

didn't get full -on you know redo reboots, but

As a reader who is just coming into this stuff

or as you know getting people in like as new

readers I think with the format that they have

now where Zero year is supposed to be 11 issues

so 21 to I think it's 32 of Batman Say 33 they

do something completely different someone could

jump on with issue 33 soon I'm saying so where

yeah, they should read the previous 32 issues,

but they don't actually have to Overall I thought

Batman 20 was absolutely amazing. I love the

bat beyond homage Now that you pointed out. I

didn't realize it at first, but I do like and

I do enjoy the Star Wars Trash compactor thing.

I thought that was cool So all right we are going

to move on to the next issue. Up next is... Batman

and the Red Hood. Yes, that's right. The Batman

and Robin title is still going through all these

characters. This is issue 20 of Batman and Robin.

The cover is Batman with a shattered red hood

mask. And the title of the story or the title

on the cover is Shattered by Rage. You did not

get a chance to pick this up, did you? Actually,

I think I did. You just won't even remember.

I can't remember when they all come out anymore.

Even though I tell him every single month, ladies

and gentlemen. It is true. So this one starts

out with Bruce looking into something. He's...

He's asking the computer about man -made structures

within a half mile radius And as he's doing this

Carrie Kelly shows up And Bruce's line is I see

your party's over can I help you Tell me did

I do something wrong? What makes you say that?

Union drops off the face of the earth and you

drop off an envelope filled with cash in my hand.

That's what I love this whole thing of the two

of them going back and forth, back and forth,

and apparently the lessons that she was giving

Damien were acting. Were acting and music lessons,

which was so very interesting. I don't understand,

what I don't understand about this book, and

I, you know, don't get me wrong, Peter J. Tomasi

is doing an amazing job in the writing he is.

I don't get why Bruce just doesn't tell her.

That Damien died Like she's still under this

whole impression of oh Damien drops off the face

of the earth and he tells her he went you know

across you know He's studying abroad for the

next several years seeing the world doing things

most ten -year -old boys only dream about And

then she retorts Damien never mentioned it But

it's just one of those things where it's so interesting

seeing her If she is going to become the new

Robin eventually Which I doubt Yeah, they're

just beating her in there as fan service like

because I mean Theoretically she's about the

age she would have become Robin in the Dark Knight

Returns Right and Bruce is nowhere near his uh

Older age yes But still it's it's it's interesting

and what I really love even though I like it

and I don't like it the next panel is A dog with

a red collar a Black dog with a red collar comes

up to Carrie and Alfred goes Titus usually doesn't

take to strangers very well I'm sorry The bat

hound will always be ace. I don't know why they

named the dog Titus No clue new continuity. They

can do whatever the hell they want. I Know but

still would have been nice to To have his his

name be ace So she leaves and then we get Jason

in the Batcave and He and Batman go on an adventure

stopping these these terrorists and whatever

else and basically after this battle with these

these terrorists that Batman has tracked down

he and the Red Hood get into an argument because

where they where he took them was pretty much

where he died where he died yeah Batman's like

I need to figure out the mystery of your death

So I can basically resurrect Damian. And then

Jason and him getting a fight. Yeah, which is

cool and interesting. Because that was kind of

a dick move on his part. Very much so it was,

yeah. It's like saying, hey, you know, and Jason

thought, hey, we're, you know, the old gang again.

And then Bruce is like, no, we're just trying

to figure out what happened to Dave, you know,

how to fix Damian and, you know, to hell with

you. I'm using you. Yeah, which was not a cool

move at all. And... Wait. The ending is... Wait

a minute. That's not Two -Face, is it? I don't

think so. It's supposed to be Bruce. Why is he

flipping a coin? I'm gonna go back to the page

previously and find out why he's... Now. I'm

taking the car. Goodbye, Bruce. And Jason...

basically steals the car, or... abscons with

the car. And then the next page is... Bruce and

Alfred, I assume. Or... it might be two... I

don't know. Well, there's a gun in his hand,

so... It's probably two -phase. It almost has

to be, but it's... The other thing I don't particularly

care for is that with a lot of these issues,

I mean, I know that not all of them are going

to get hit by the zero year. Right. But a lot

of them are, and they're just leaving, you know,

this plot line hanging, and they're like, ah,

to hell with you people, we'll get back with

you in a year and a half. Well... The next issue

is Batgirl and bargain so her in in in the bargain

so I don't know this this last panel has me kind

of stunned because This whole page it doesn't

even like the guy's face It it looks scarred,

but it doesn't like if you look at that top left

panel where it's showing the right side of his

face Mm -hmm and the right panel is it's still

it's showing you the right side of the face,

but at a different angle and it's hiding, it's

always hiding the left side and it kind of looks

like a mangled left side. It could be Two -Face.

I would assume it is. I don't know why Bruce

would have a coin and a gun, so I assume it is

Two -Face. But that's just strange that they

that they leave the issue with Jason driving

off leaving Bruce in the middle of the desert

and then you cut to it image of Two -Face flipping

his coin for the final page and then at the bottom

obviously it Teases back girl being an issue

21 That was really strange if you have insights

on this send it to feedback at geek cast radio

comm Yes, we're talking about the last page of

Batman and Red Hood number 20 Batman and Robin

number 20 The very last page send send your emails

to feedback at geek cast radio comm we're stumped

ladies and gentlemen So we're gonna head to Chicago

next yay Up next, ladies and gentlemen, is Nightwing

number 20. Blinded by the Prankster. Written

by Kyle Higgins. Art by Brett Booth. Additional

art and cover by Norm Rapmund, I believe is how

you say his name This basically picks up where

19 left off Nightwings out in the city and Doing

his nightly thing and it's it's daybreak. He's

back home with his sublet apartment And he takes

off, uh, you get a lot of monologue here, he

takes off his nightwing stuff and basically tosses

it on the chair, gets into bed, and he's gonna

go to sleep when a woman attacks him. His new

apprentice! I'm just joking. But it could be.

Whoever you are, if you're so much twit, I swear

to God I'll bash your head in. Joey, wait! He's

renting your room. I don't care if he's... Wait,

what? This is Dick Grayson, he's subletting.

It's like, bitch, please, I'm trying to get some

sleep. So basically, the person he sublet from,

Michael, the roommate, was supposed to be out

of town for a month, but apparently she came

back. We then cut to the Chicago Steelworks,

where the police are investigating... I believe

a dead body. No, it's not. Oh, yeah, it is. Well,

no, it's a half dead body. It's some politician

saying, help me, help me. And the title for this

story is DC Comics Presents Nightwing in Flying

Blind. I'm blind. I love what Kyle is doing with

the writing in this book So you have more with

the roommate Dick gets a Nightwing gets a text

from Johnny Spade who is his little informant

asking him if he's ready to play and he goes

out and deals with that and Looking for the prankster

and then we get We get the sheriff and the mayor

talking because the mayor wanted the sheriff

to look into Tony Zuko even though the mayor's

driver is Tony Zuko because they want to see

if all reports are still saying that he was dead

and apparently Tony doesn't want to be called

by his own name anymore so he's like it'll be

fine you heard racing even he couldn't find anything

you're still dead Tony He says, I told you, stop

calling me that. You know, so we still don't

know what's going on with Zuko yet. Obviously

Kyle's gonna keep writing and playing this out,

but this whole issue after this is basically

Nightwing searching for the prankster. And he

does eventually meet up with the prankster and

boy is it an awesome battle. It is so cool. there's

a splash page on here where Nightwing crashes

through the window and it looks like it's electrified

and whatever else and the prankster goes Nightwing

I wondered when we'd meet though at the risk

of sounding impolite your timing sucks what can

I say it's a gift and then the next panel is

um now then this can end for One of two ways

for you prankster either you give up and we walk

out of here together Or I drag you out by whatever

those tail flaps are you're wearing? Oh I love

Dick Grayson as Nightwing and actually it's funny

as soon as I read this issue Last month when

it first came out in May As soon as I saw that

page I'm like I need that I have to find that

and that that panel I cropped out and that is

my my Facebook image is basically Nightwing looking

the cropped image for Facebook is basically Nightwing's

face you don't see if you're just looking at

my profile you'll see the you'll just see the

eye if you click on the picture itself obviously

you'll see the full square but it's basically

just Nightwing's eyes so it's like every time

I comment on a post I'm watching you so no it's

oh man this issue is so awesome and the writing

is so good it basically ends with the prankster

capturing Nightwing in what looks to be a giant

Electro rumors it kind of looks like a score

like a scoreboard like if it like if a scoreboard

was all clear glass It looks kind of like that

and that's kind of where it ends and it says

next issue Nightwing and the prankster allies

Question mark question question. Hmm. So it was

very awesome. I can't say enough How much I'm

enjoying Nightwing and what Kyle is writing with

that because it's so cool. It's so it's almost

like Because he's in Chicago now. It's almost

like Nightwing and You know your your who'd done

it murder mystery type of thing. That's the feeling

I'm getting from the book. He did it. Yes. Yeah

It was him in the hallway with the wrench, you

know, it was you know, it's that kind of Stuff

because you get some emotional stuff from dick,

especially with the whole fighting the thing

with the roommate. That was cool I love how Kyle

blends Dick's personal life and his superhero

life. It's just so cool and so awesome and very,

very interesting to read. With that, we're gonna

head back to Gotham and see what Batgirl's up

to. I never thought I'd hear myself saying this,

but where's the Bat? We're handling this. And

finally up today in the main issues that we're

going to talk about is Batgirl number 20, Doverne

Triloquist. She gives a voice to death. Ah, this,

like, don't get me wrong. I love Snyder's Batman,

but I don't know how many times I can say it

that for me, Death of the Family was very anti

-climactic. I enjoyed the Clayface story, but

so far reading Nightwing and Batgirl have been

two of the best. I'm not saying they're better

than the Batman book. They're not, but they're,

you know, I'm like really invested in these two

characters more so than I am in Batman, and it's

so cool. This one starts out with Gotham Suburbs,

nine years ago. there's a birthday party and

there's this dark haired girl who's frowning

obviously she's not the birthday girl you know

and this ventriloquist shows up and says turn

that frown upside down and she oh I didn't even

notice that oh wow okay That's what happened

to know like Yeah, I will it shows on the first

page The ventriloquist tells her come on turn

that frown upside down and then she the next

bottom left panel is turn my frown upside down

she's staring at the punch bowl and From out

of nowhere. She gets a bottle of weed killer

Guess Guess where that went in the punchbowl

so she basically kills everybody at this party

because they're making fun of her and she turns

them into her all her personal puppets well she

steals the puppet that the ventriloquist had

and then the parents the parents come and pick

her up and she says took you guys long enough

sorry honey we didn't know you'd leave early

how was the party Shauna did you have fun I guess

all the girls got real sick for some reason wow

yeah and the mom goes are they are they are they

gonna be all right i don't know i guess i got

this thing his name is ferdy and that's what

she named her her doll and she the parents ask

is that juice on his face darling i don't know

i guess obviously It's not juice, ladies and

gentlemen. It's that red sticky stuff. That's

what she said. And then we cut to Gotham City

this morning, which is the current timeline,

and Barbara Gordon is going into her psychiatrist,

psychologist, Dr. Andrea... Scratch and sniff.

...Late Mendy, clinical psychologist. now it's

very funny that um how the psychologist is drawn

and whatever else because it looks just like

someone I follow on Twitter and she even mentions

it that hey I show up in Batgirl so I thought

that was really really cool um what I love about

the Barbara Gordon Batgirl stuff is as I mentioned

last issue with issue 19 where she revealed to

she all but revealed everything to her roommate

Alyssa when Alyssa told her that Alyssa was a

transsexual. I love how Barbara talks around

the fact that and is able to tell people the

stuff that's going on in her life without actually

coming out and saying, hey, I'm Batgirl. And

she kind of does this with the therapist. And

I think that's just amazing writing how Gail

Simone is able to write that character and have

her write around. What's going on now you kind

of see what's gonna happen? You kind of see what's

gonna happen the upcoming issues because she

I Don't know if it's I'm trying to see what it

is. It's I Don't think it's the hand soap. It's

some she uses something Barbara's using something

on her costume where she's blackening out the

yellow bat So that's interesting and that's gonna

lead places in the future issues We then cut

to her monologuing and going out patrolling and

we then cut to Shawna auditioning for some American

Idol style show And they just hate her No, seriously

So, how did your date go last night Ferdy? oh

well it's still is it still a date if i'm paying

cash she said we had to practice safe sex she

did i said i wasn't so scared that she'd give

me cooties is that i'd give her termites this

is my life folks stop that's enough more than

enough sweetie i love your energy but i just

don't think this competition is for you so basically

they're shutting her down it's basically like

an american idol reject letter uh... and uh...

you know one of the judges there's three judges

there's a black man there's a white woman and

another white male uh... the white male says

and worst of all darling i could totally see

your lips move and if you look at my back girl

review that i did last month on geekcasterhero

.com i actually screen capped this picture And

then she goes, she's got her eyes shut, she's

kind of sullen, and when he says that, she goes,

what did you just say to me? She's all wide -eyed,

she's grinning like a Joker grin type of thing.

And the next thing you know, she goes crazy,

and the dummy, she has control rods for the dummy,

and apparently her dummy has little knives or

screwdrivers in his fingers, and basically she

kills the guy. Oh wow. Yeah, it's very, very

deep and dark. But it's such good storytelling.

The art in this is so well done as well. I love

the art. Daniel Sampuri, I believe, is doing

the art again. Very, very awesome. Of course,

Batgirl comes up against this new ventriloquist

and they fight. Whatever else and and the ventriloquist

the doll This is no scarface. Ladies and gentlemen.

This is no Arnold Wesker. This is this is nothing

like that This is something completely different.

The doll is completely a man as far as like hey

red I kind of like you all the things I can do

to you, you know all this and all that It's so

very awesomeness so Very very creepy the um So

Shona kidnaps the white woman she killed the

black guy and the other white guy for the judges

and she kidnaps the white woman and it ends with

At the Gotham Aquarium They're not finding the

but you I mean your son sir there basically Commissioner

Gordon is looking for the body of James jr Who's

not actually dead? Well, he's not yeah He's in

the in another comic series now, oh is he yeah

What series is it? It's um, I think it's like

the seven or something like that. It's some it's

it's some secret task force that Amanda Waller

runs She's got a bunch of ex -cons or either

that or he's in Suicide Squad or something. I

don't know. He's in one of those type groups.

Oh, the series. Yeah, one of those two that it's

all villains. Basically, the issue ends with

it doesn't matter what anyone thinks Batgirl

is going to pay next. She's a death star. Haha.

I see what they did there But no again, I loved

all I loved reading all these issues this month.

It was just absolutely awesome Just between Batgirl

and Nightwing specifically just amazing amazing

writing Don't get me wrong as I said before Scott

Snyder is doing an amazing stuff with Batman

and as I said I'm super stoked for what he's

gonna do with zero year But I'm just more invested

with the other two characters at this moment

It's it's like I've said before for me Batgirl

and Nightwing are Quote -unquote the everyman

characters where you can kind of relate to them

Whereas Batman is the legend and you did it's

kind of like that episode of BTIS Legends of

the Dark Knight where everyone has a different

opinion on what Batman is And while I do love

the character of Batman, I'm just so far, while

I love reading the stories that Snyder is doing,

I'm just not... I enjoy it, but it's just, it's

not hooking me. It's not that I don't enjoy it

that I won't buy the issues and read them. Obviously

I'm going to do that. And they're amazing stories,

for the most part, but I'm more invested in the

other two characters. I myself am more into the

the the regular Batman line, but that's just

because that's My primary main character that

I like you know All right, we're gonna take a

quick break You're gonna hear a couple of ads

and we'll come back to close the show and talk

about one more book We'll be back after this

Hello pop culture connoisseurs to gain a dark

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No, you need to fucking pay attention to the

fucking movie. You want kick -ass guest interviews?

How about Mike Baron and Tom Jane? No, I like

a little bit of them. Like a little bit of grit

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and listen today. I suppose I still can't say

something about Transformers, can I? Come on,

man. Good grief. What about sports? Yeah, that's

alright. Well, Batsy, it's been a ho - as always

but i really must run may the floss be with you

we are back and before we close out the show

i thought i'd bring up um batman beyond number

16 the cover is uh shriek um batman somebody

else looks like one of the superman villains

and the under cloud villain from batman beyond

Of course, it's written by Beechin, Archer, Fridolphs,

Caldwell, Krull, Porter, and Livesay are the

other artists on it, other staff on it. And it

says, Shriek Strikes Back. And basically the

Batman Beyond story is that it's Batman versus

the Shriek. And then the underlying story is

Max is being held captive by this under cloud

person. It's interesting I'm gonna have to wait

until more of these get traded Because I just

like I'm glad the Batman Beyond story is front

and center as far as Like it's the first story

you read and it's the only story you have to

worry about Because like I said the rest of it

is Justice League and Superman so but it's cool

it's a it's a good story I think I'm I think

we're almost gonna stop mentioning Batman Beyond

until it does get traded further I know at some

point in the future Steve and I will do an episode

about the first trade 10 ,000 clowns but I mean

at this point even though it is the Batman mythos

it's I would rather do it in the all -encompassing

way that we do trades here at the pull bag then

Than just constantly say every month. Hey, I

like the story, but it's still collected with

the other way basically repeating myself Yeah

So yeah, there's that Anything else you want

to bring up before we close? No, I think that's

about it Yes, and I did find out the I had to

go back through my own tweets about I don't know,

half the month of May. And I did find out what

the Batman Beyond thing is going to be retitled.

Batman Beyond Universe number one comes out August

21st. It's when Kyle Higgins, Christos Gage,

Kyle Higgins and Christos Gage are already the

first issue. And art is going to be by Tony Silas

and Ivan Coelho. I believe that's how he says

his name. The new series begins here with all

new creative teams and all new adventure. Now

a freshman at Gotham University, Terry McGinnis'

role as Batman threatens his education and his

life as a teenager. And when the mayor is murdered,

Terry's life is thrown into even greater turmoil.

Meanwhile, the Justice League must stop Superman

when his powers rage out of control. so they

are still going to be collecting them but it's

a new it's the same book it's just a new title

and new numbering so strange but whatever it'll

work I'm still gonna read the story I'll read

whatever as long as it has something to do with

the Pat family I'll read whatever Kyle Higgins

has to write because he's just that amazing of

a writer so Yep, and as far as what's coming

up next on the pullback? I'm not sure you guys

just have to be surprised as well as to what

we're doing in episode 17 I'm not sure exactly

what it's gonna be yet, but it'll be awesome

like always Yes, it will Yes, it will So for

now I am TFU and Mike with Steve Megatron Phillips

Make your great escape into comics. We will catch

you next time. I give the punchlines around here.

Got it? You just heard the latest episode of

the pullback GCRN's comic book review podcast.

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