Danner on Comic Book Origins and Fandom

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-con .com. Welcome to The Pole 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 whole bag What's the

matter teachers pet got cold feet Cyclops I just

the setting on the back of my snowball. So that

may have helped that sounds so wrong I know what

I know what you're talking about, but I'm sorry.

I will never have a snowball my good it just

Freaking clerks Hello and welcome to the pull

bag this is episode 24 and no we will not be

pulling any 180s this time around That Xbox joke

never gets old never does And as you could hear

for those of you, maybe ten people that listen

to off the cuff. It's gonna be at least 15 Yeah

At least 15 30 something like that I am TfG1

Mike and I have with me one of the hosts from

off the cuff formally of XRG which is what off

the cuff originally was and of course he originated

with his buddy Mike Powers over at the lunch

table, room, gym, cafeteria, whatever that show

was called. We had an identity issue there, so.

Yes, very much so. Like, every time I saw that

podcast, I'm like, I want a sandwich. Yeah, I

know. I had that problem too. And it's the alien

intro confused me. It was like a mystery meat

sandwich every week. It was, we're getting there.

Whatever you do, don't have the blue plate special.

Yeah, you don't don't ask what's in the blue

plate plate special. Yeah, exactly So of course

I am TFG and Mike joining me is Danner from off

the cuff and formerly of extra gene all that

stuff And we're here to talk about comic books

for those of you. Hopefully listen to the pull

bag all ten of you We've been going 24 episodes

strong every now and then. I didn't want this

comic book podcast to just be, hey, we're going

to sit down and review this, this, this, this,

this, and then we'll do the same thing next week.

I wanted to kind of mix it up, and we do what

I call Origins episodes, where I'll bring in

someone that I want to basically put them on

the grill and, you know, frap another Barbie.

That's a bad shrimp joke. Are there going to

be a lot of food references? I am so floundering

right now. Should you have eaten before we started

this? Is this going to be a reoccurring theme?

Yes, yes. So pretty much basically what these

Origins episodes are is me getting together with

someone that I want to talk with and want to

find out more about. And it's finding out about

their comic origins. And Danner is in the hot

seat this time around. I'm sure at some point

or another I'll have Joe or Mike Powers or any

of the other Off the Cuff crew at some point

down the line. So why don't you just, first of

all, for those that don't listen Off the Cuff,

why don't you tell people a little bit about

yourself, why you're a geek, how you got into

being a geek in general. You're mostly a gamer,

right? Mostly a gamer. I mean, I grew up in a

very... geekily supported household. I was an

only child, which also kind of helped that whole

situation. I was incredibly spoiled. I won't

lie about that. My mom supported pretty much

any endeavor that I wanted to get involved with.

From early on, it was the twofold of video gaming

and comic books, which was only more equally

expressed with my father who's, you know, he's

a little bit older. He's, you know, nearing the

80 year mark. And there's a quite an age difference

between my mom and my dad. But my dad is of a

slightly older generation, but he'd never liked

to really talk about his childhood that much.

But it was one of those things that when I started

expressing interest in comic books he's like

oh yeah I used to collect comics too and I was

like oh really it was like what kind of stuff

did you read he's like he goes at one point in

time I owned a copy of action comics number one

I was like you're kidding me he's like no no

no he's like I had x -men number one also I'm

pretty sure anybody of his generation that was

in the comics would have owned a copy of those.

Oh yeah, and he told me about all these comics

that he used to read and all these comics that

he used to collect, but then of that era also,

when he got done reading them and they laid around,

when Mom took the trash out, all the comics went

in the trash. Oh no. But it was just of that

generation. They were never, at that point, they

were never seen. as collectibles like we see

them today. So just hearing these stories from

him telling me about all the old comics he used

to read and the first appearance of Lex Luthor

and you know the origin stories of Magneto and

just how into it he used to be and then just

like I cry on the inside just thinking about

like my god. If he would have just, even if it

was a terrible condition, had it just thinking

about like how much these things are worth today,

even in like 2 .0 graded material, they're still

worth, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars

for Action Comics number one. I mean, it's just

mind boggling to me. But it was, it was my dad's,

you know, kind of always kind of been the straight

lace hard. Working salesman type of a character

in my life and to see him kind of you know When

I started getting interested in comics kind of

you know showing that you know that was the kind

of thing he was into and you know coming home

days from school and finding him on my Nintendo

playing Super Mario Brothers 2 beating levels.

I've never beaten before it was just like My

dad's like a closet geek at heart, but he just

never would you know embrace it and show that

in an everyday type of situation with us and

it was just you know kind of a little bit of

something that kind of brought me and him a little

bit closer together was that fact that he helped

embrace it for me well back then when we were

younger because I'm I don't know how old you

are but I'm 33 so I was born in 80 back when

we were growing up it was like being a geek wasn't

a good thing well like and I you know and I was

born in 80 also Okay, well I so it's right right

there with you It didn't really start kind of

being embraced more until you know the late 90s

early 2000s is when it really started to come

to the forefront Yeah, and I would say probably

around 2003 2005 is really when it kind of like

between that two -year period is really where

geek culture kind of really came to the forefront

of pop culture and it's just one of those things

where I specifically remembered in school there

were like when we like when in elementary school

when we were told to write a journal or write

whatever for for part of our English class they

specifically told us there are certain things

you cannot write down in this book and I intentionally

wrote everything down that they told me not to.

I was gonna say, I remember in, man, it was in

middle school. We did, I'm sure like your school

probably did also, they did like a young author's

suite where you write, you write stories. I wrote...

X -Men fanfiction. I wrote an entire book with

X -Men fanfiction and then I gave it to my mom

who took it to work and then typed it up for

me. She, however, thought that every single one

of the X -Men's names were typed or written incorrectly,

so she corrected all of them to what she thought

they were supposed to be. So I got a typed up

version of my story back with all the names completely

wrong. I was like, who's Gumbo? Oh, that's not

right. I was like, no, it's supposed to be Gambit.

Who's boast? It's a beast. What did you do to

me? These were spelled correctly. She's like,

I thought they were wrong. They didn't. Those

were the word. The names out of context didn't

make any sense to me. It's like, Mom, you've

ruined everything. I love you, but you've ruined

everything. And it was it was just I mean, like

I was really into it. I from. in early age I

my parents gave me like the cutesy comic books

like I would get like Mickey Mouse comic books

and Donald Duck stuff and yeah Kool -Aid man

and Jello man and just like some super lame comics

but I remember in particularly in November of

1989 specifically My mom worked for United Airlines.

We did a ton of traveling back then. So we were

in... I want to say we were in Colorado at the

airport there and I was bored. I didn't really

have anything to do. I think the batteries in

my Game Boy had died at that point in time. And

we stopped by a newsstand that was there and

I saw... Batman issue 441 Never read a superhero

comic before in my entire life at that point

in time at the age of nine and my dad bought

me Batman 441 and that was my first superhero

comic ever and it was a Part three of a five

-part Series, which was a crossover between the

Teen Titans and Batman And it was a story art

called A Lonely Place of Dying. And the entire

issue is Tim Drake figures out who Batman is

and figures out who Dick Grayson is. And this

is right after Jason Todd got killed. And Batman

is going head to head with Two -Face and is basically

doing everything in his power to just go absolutely

apeshit on all the villains in Gotham because

he's grieving and doesn't know how to deal with

the death of Jason Todd and is just getting shot

at and is getting bones broken and is just pushing

through because he thinks he deserves the punishment

and the entire issue is Tim Drake convincing

Dick Grayson to put the Robin costume back on

and go help Batman is the entire issue and it's

a super dark very conversation heavy comic and

that was my first superhero comic and Okay, you

say that was your first superhero comic was that

your like what was it your mom? Was it your dad?

Who who was it that first took you into? Cuz

I don't I don't think back then there were comic

shops if there were they were very underground

They were at that point in time. There was like

I said, it was at a newsstand in Just at a new

stand in an airport and then like pretty much

when we got back to town I think my parents and

my dad I think realized that maybe Batman wasn't

the best thing for a nine -year -old to possibly

start with So you think so eventually like the

local grocery store Carrying comics so when we

went back home, you know, I started reading Comics

from there now. Everything was kind of sporadic.

There was no pull lists There was none of that

stuff at that point in time. It was basically

I knew every single week when the shipment came

in I Got to become friends with the person that

worked in the magazine aisle I was in there every

single week when the new magazines came in and

I was reading just I was reading Archie Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles. That was like the first

big series that I got into was Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles and eventually Mutantimals. I was

reading Defenders of Dynatron City mini -series.

So basically most of everything that I was reading

at that point was all based off of a Saturday

morning cartoon. I think every freaking thing

except for and for some reason which I came across

these in my collection the other day I Started

picking up just random stuff like I don't even

know what I like NFL Super Pro from Marvel Have

no idea why I was reading that I hated sports.

I still hate sports. I have no idea why I was

buying it I think it was because Spider -Man

was on the cover of one of the issues and I was

like, yeah Just pick it up and check it out So,

Spider -Man was on the cover of Spider -Man's

face on a lot of those older comics. Spider -Man's

face was on every comic. Well, I was unfortunate

that I eventually got into that string of, which

it took me a while to realize the trick, was

every time a Marvel comic came out and I saw

that they had a crossover and Wolverine or Spider

-Man was in it, I would pick it up. And then

I realized that they were doing that in every

fricking book, where they would just be like,

hey, readership's down on this book. Let's throw

Spider -Man in and then... I would like, oh,

I'll buy this and then read a couple issues of

Spider -Man's and then you continue on in the

series. And it was just, I, I, every cliche that

they get to pull people in when I was that, when

I was in my young teens fell for every single

one of those things. Um, and my parents were

just like, oh yeah, it's, it's, if you're reading,

at least you're reading, you're reading something.

So we'll continue to embrace it. I was like,

Okay, awesome. So every single time and then

it's I felt it got bad I mean like I was picking

up everything with like spider -man a Wolverine

in it and then every time a number one issue

of anything came out I just picked it up to check

it out Like if I had interested it or not, it

was like ooh number one. This will be worth something

someday I was I was naive incredibly naive when

it came to my comic book collecting So I have

like I have an entire box of books in my attic

that is literally just titled the number it's

the number one box or the last issue box which

every time there is a last issue of a series

that I never read I would pick up the last issue

every time I saw first issue of a series I'd

pick up the first issue so there's just this

box in my attic that is just filled with all

these series that I picked up the first or the

last issue of but I've never read any other portion

of the entire series My god. Oh, yeah, like I

said see this is why I love trades. Yeah and

and it was so it was a lot of like drug stores

and Grocery stores is pretty much where all of

my comics got supplied for you and then eventually

a comic book store opened up in Brighton which

was a Couple cities over and then I finally got

to embrace what a real comic book store was And

I was in there often. I didn't know what a pull

list was. I didn't know what a pull bag was.

I just assumed if you wanted your comics, you

had to be there every single day the comics came

out. So I made my parents drag me out there every

single day the comics came out. So, I mean, and

it was... It wasn't always Wednesdays, because

I didn't get... I've never... I dabbled when

I was a kid, but I didn't actually start... heavily

collecting until for certain death of the family

pulled me in last year but i've always wondered

if it if it is always been wednesdays for comics

and i don't remember always being wednesdays

because i think i want to say that i think the

grocery store got him late than what the comic

store would have gotten because they got every

every thursday was when they put the new stuff

out at the grocery store uh... by no one i started

going to comic shops it was wednesdays Yeah,

my readership was all over the place. I was reading

Superman. I started reading Batman regularly

right before Nightfall started. It was when I

first started reading Batman. The first issue

of Superman I ever picked up was the cameo appearance

of Doomsday. That happened to be the first time

I picked up a Superman comic and read it. the

last panel of the issue he shows up, which was

the first cameo appearance of Doomsday was my

first issue. And that's happened to be just when

I started was like, didn't even know the whole

Death of a Superman Doomsday thing was happening.

That just happened to be when I started reading

it. So I read Superman all through, I got into

Superman. I started reading that all the way

through Death of a Family and then the reign

of the Superman. And then you know the return

of Superman and then I The first issue that blew

electric energy Superman came in I dropped the

book I was done So I was gonna say I read Superman

solid for like three years I was gonna say the

first real big Batman story arc I got into when

I first started reading Batman was I picked up

a shadow the bat number one Which that was when

I got into really got into Batman and Yeah, that's

I want to say that entire storyline from shadow

the bat is Batman in Arkham Asylum as a prisoner

Is the entire is the entire like first I want

to say six to ten issues of shadow the bat is

just Batman as a inmate in Arkham and just crazy,

super dark stuff, really, really well written.

Yeah, I remember reading, I don't know what it

might have been Shadow of the... I honestly don't

know what the title was. I've told this story

many times on this show. When I was nine or 10,

my mom went into some... It wasn't even a thrift

store. It was some consignment. I don't know

what the hell it was. It was some store. And

she came home with this giant Batman comic, like

graphic novel, like giant, like the book had

to be at least four or five inches thick. I mean,

it wasn't your standard trade paperback size.

It was like, kind of like what the Nightfall

collections are now. It was huge. I don't remember

what the hell it was. I just remember it scared

the crap out of me. You know Batman has always

been and he's supposed to be he's supposed to

be dark. That's that's his point, but Yeah, I

don't know But it's good. I was gonna say yeah,

I started like I it was weird because I started

as kind of fairly heavy in a DC and then I Found

in an issue in a plastic bag of a man standing

over Another man with smoke coming out of his

chest and I was like, what the hell is this and

it says Executioner song part one. I was like,

huh? This looks interesting. I was like, huh?

It's an X -Men book I'm like I kind of know what

the X -Men are I'll pick this up. So I pick up

executioner song which is like a huge Marvel

X -Men crossover crosses over through like all

of the X books and I pick up the first issue

and the first issue is Cable assassinating professor

Xavier. Oh And I was like, I have no idea who

half these people are but this is pretty awesome

So I start collecting the executioner song series

and eventually I just get sucked into the x -men

universe and completely drop out of Batman, completely

drop out of Superman, pretty much turned tail

and ran on the DC universe and fully went into

the X -Men universe. And I say X -Men universe

because of the fact that anybody who's a hardcore

X -Men fan will realize that yes, there's a Marvel

universe, but if there's anything that is more

of a splinter... in the entire Marvel universe

is the X -Men line of stuff because it feels

like it's an entire comics universe within another

universe because nobody ever embraces or seems

to talk about the X -Men in any other book in

that entire universe and the X -Men are just

always seem to be off doing their own thing and

it just there's something about that universe

that completely dragged me in that to this day

I still read X -Men comic books and I've always

been very heavily into them. Throughout time,

I got into a lot of other books. I really got

into Spider -Man for a good long while. I was

really, really into Spider -Man until a brand

new day happened and then I just got pissed and

it was done. The moment they kind of undid everything

that they did in Civil War, I was like, are you

kidding me? I was like, what a damn copout. I

was like, they had the potential to do so many

cool things with the fact that Peter Parker was

known to the world as Spider -Man. And they were

just like, oh God, it's too difficult. We wrote

ourselves into a wall. How do we undo this? That's

kind of like people saying, like... When I say

people, I mean like movie directors, producers,

writers. That's like people going back and saying,

oh, no, Peter can't age. He has to be always

in high school. He can't go to college. He can't

grow up and become Spider -Man. He has to be

teenage Spider -Man. That's some of the coolest

things they did was when he's adult Spider -Man

and he's a science teacher at his old high school.

How awesome was that? I mean, it was like coming

full circle. It's and the fact that they were

embracing the geek element of things in that

book and celebrating people for their smarts

and their wits and it just always loved that

book because of that and it just drove me crazy

when they're like well if we break Mary Jane

up and Peter everybody should be okay with this

and put icing on the cake we'll even bring Harry

back and it was just like I was happy to see

Harry back But I'm like, it just it felt like

they just cut off at the knees so much potential.

I don't know if this is just my own brain thinking

this, but I always and I and I and I come from

watching. the animated series before ever reading

Spider -Man issues. So for me, Spidey and Black

Cat together, I always wanted to see them permanently

together. At least from the cartoon aspect, because

wow, was Black Cat hot in that cartoon. I know.

And trust me, even in the comic books, you kind

of wanted it to happen all the time. I don't

know. I've always been a Gwen Stacy guy. So I've

always liked the original. So like when Amazing

spider -man the movie came out. I was like oh

Stacey we've wanted not not Opie's daughter.

Thank you. I'm sorry. She was She might be a

great Bryce Dallas Howard might be a great actress

on her own writing something else, but as Gwen

Stacy she was the worst Outside of too many villains,

she was the worst part of Spider -Man 3 for me.

I try not to embrace the existence of that movie

at all. That movie hurt me on so many levels

I can't even describe. It was just, for a guy

who's been reading Spider -Man books for as long

as I have, just to watch that movie just tore

at my soul in every single possible way. Now

would you say that it hurt you more than Brand

New Day did? Yeah, I would definitely say that

that I spider -man 3 hurt me more the brand new

day did which is difficult for me to say but

I think I think it cut deeper Because I it's

it's the emo spider -man stuff. I think that's

really what that dance sequence It was just it

was that that's what didn't mean That was like

Sam Raimi. I know you're trying to add some kind

of wit and charm to it But oh my god, you're

killing me Witten Charm, he basically went back

to his horror days. Holy crap, that whole scene

was horrific. Oh, it was. Alright, so what are

you, like, so you've been with comics all along,

what, has there ever been a point where you said,

screw it, I'm done, and I want to move on to

something else? There was a big period, like,

towards when I got into high school, I started

playing, you know, sports, and I... But you hate

sports. It was more, okay, to back that up. It

was more so I became a very fat kid because of

my asthma. So I needed to do something and the

ability to the moment I got into sports, I realized

that my parents kind of got off my back and they

seemed really, really happy. And I was like,

Well, I can ride this wave. I mean, high school

is only four years, right? I was like, it makes

them happy when I'm doing sports and they let

me get away with more shit. So I concocted the

plan of I only got to play football for four

years and then I don't have to do it again. So.

I played football for four years they were happy

and they stayed off my back the entire time and

I embraced that and I I rolled with it and the

moment when the college offered me to go play

football I said no thank you I am done I am good

because my parents won't care if I play college

ball I don't need to so I passed on that um but

I just it made my parents happy I kept them off

my back and it kind of let you know me do what

I needed to do but backpedaling a little bit.

The times that I stopped collecting, my things

got tight at home and everybody was kind of cutting

back and I felt that that was the one thing that

I could do for the family at that point in time

is, I think it was my sophomore year, I gave

up comic book collecting to kind of help save

money for the family and trust me, at that point

in time, it was like an $80 to $90 a week habit

at that point in time. So me cutting back on

comics was a big thing. So I stopped collecting

about my sophomore year of high school and then

that I didn't collect again until I want to say

my freshman year of college. One of the first

things I did when I moved out to Grand Rapids

is I settled into my college dorm. and then I

jumped online and looked for the closest comic

book store the moment I got to college and then

found a comic book store and for 13 years now

I've been going to that exact same store. I've

had a pull bag there for, well I should say originally

I had a pull box there. But the the the I stopped

going there for a few years in that 13 year period.

And now I've been reduced to a bag because I

left them for a while. But that's OK. I'm working

my way back up to the folder file. So the. It

was, I mean. Every time that I've quit has been

basically for, you know, financial reasons, it's

like the first thing that I'll cut out if I need

to stop something or I need extra money. And

then. That also started the I didn't collect

for five years. So there was a five -year gap

in my x -men and uncanny x -men So I went back

and then I tracked down all the issues that I

was missing Which at some points in time got

a little pricier than I would have hoped for

but you know, sometimes you just gotta When you

say you collect, you went back and got all the

issues you missed. Do you mean single or trade?

Oh, no, I went for issue per issue per issue.

Oh, yeah, you really. Yeah. Yeah, that's a little.

Yeah, a little excessive at times. Well, see

with me, like, no, what I do now is I will get

the single issues to to cure my holy crap. I

need to read this now. Yeah. You know. aspect

of it and then down the line I'll say hey look

I want to actually collect this so I'll take

these single issues trade them in get store credit

and buy the trade when the trade comes out so

well I was I have I was gonna say in my attic

right now there are nine long boxes and about

seven short boxes filled all the way three of

those long boxes are just X -Men and uncanny

X -Men issues. It got so bad that when I was

recollecting that five -year gap, I kept forgetting

what issues I bought. So I'd go out and I'd find

a really good deal on back issues and then I'd

get home and I'd be like, holy shit, I already

got three of these. And I don't get rid of them.

They just keep, I mean, every... when we do the

uh I've slowly started to get rid of stuff now

um because when we do the uh the geek garage

sale um which we're in the third year of doing

the geek garage sale um which alls it is is it's

We bring people together in the community with

all their toys and collectibles that are trying

to get rid of their toys and collectibles to

buy other toys and collectibles It's right. It's

literally just a bunch of geeks getting together

completely geeking out for two days straight

and trading and selling their geek merch and

I finally you know pulled a box aside and I was

like I got all these extra issues I'm just gonna

put a dollar price tag on everything in the box

and If they go they go if they don't no big deal.

So I finally started to get you know some of

the excess stuff like I have a ton of GI Joe

image comics. I don't know why I don't even really

care for GI Joe that much but for some reason

I saw the new series came out and it took me

28 issues to figure out that I didn't care for

the series that much. So it's unfortunately I'm

stubborn and it takes me a lot for me to get

in it like I'll read something and then I'll

take me a long time to convince myself that I'm

not enjoying the series but I was just like well

maybe if I just get to the end of this story

arc yeah maybe it'll pick up and then I was like

okay that wasn't so bad and then I'll read the

next story arc and I was like it wasn't that

great and see for me that's that's kind of where

I'm at with well I'll get your opinions on this

in a moment but for me getting like going full

tilt into comics, because I've never done so

before, as I said last October. It was Batman

issue 13, Death of the Family, holy crap, the

Joker's back, oh my god, and me coming from the

background of loving and pretty much knowing

almost everything I can about the DC animated

universe, I'm like, oh cool, I can hear Kevin

Conroy in my head as I read this, you know, and

I was like, oh this is so cool, this is so great,

and I started reading other stuff and other stuff

and other stuff, and it's gotten to the point

now where I think, including trades, I'm spending

probably anywhere between 90 and $106 a month.

Yeah, that's a lot. But it's every like, between

Transformers, He -Man, Turtles, Batman, Spider

-Man, Superior, Spider -Man, we'll talk about

that later. You know, but like for me, I go by

character. Yeah, like, I don't go like, Like

when I first started reading Nightwing, it was

because of Death of the Family and I'm like,

oh I like Nightwing. I like Dick Grayson. Um,

I added the last name so no one can make a joke.

You know, so I go by the character. Sure, there

are certain aspects like when at the time DC

fired Gail Simone and there was a writer that

wasn't her on Batgirl 17 and 18. I didn't care

for those issues because I didn't like the way

the stories were written, but at the same time,

thankfully the online community came together

and DC did the right thing and hired Gale back,

and she's back writing Batgirl, and everything

I've read of hers to this point with Batgirl,

I've really enjoyed. haven't enjoyed the like

I keep as much as I enjoy the character of bad

girl I don't know what it is I went when that

other writer took over for those two issues I

just I just didn't feel any connection to it

whatsoever so i see what you're saying about

reading so many issues and then be like hmm i

really don't like this that's kind of where i

am with batman right now it's like hmm i'll continue

to read this there hasn't been any oh my god

i cannot read this anymore because it's pissing

me off so much moments but it's like i read it

to the point of i hope it gets better yeah well

there's There's very few writers that can come

into a series and totally just kill it for me.

There's two in particular that have done it,

though. And I may catch a lot of flack from this,

especially from most X -Men fans, but Chris Claremont

is a very well -known writer in the X -Men universe.

He's a very well -known writer, period. He used

to be really good back in the 90s, but when he

came back in the 2000s and started writing Uncanny

X -Men and it was just like Chris Claremont has

a massive hard on for Psylocke, a ridiculous

hard on for Psylocke. He just loves throwing

her in Books like she was dead for three years

before Claremont came back and the first thing

he did was bring Psylocke back. And it was just

like, I don't see why she's in here. The only

reason they seemed to brought her in there is

they had X23 join the X -Men and It's basically

they bring Psylocke in to make X23 look stupid

because it was obvious from the way Claremont

was writing, he does not like X23 at all. And

it was like, I really like that character. And

now, you know, Claremont's just shitting all

over. I was like, this is driving me crazy. But

I'm like, it's uncanny. I'm like, he's not going

to be on here forever. He'll do a story arc and

then he'll leave. It'll be fine. I got through

it. One of my other favorite books at the time

was Exiles, though, which I... always loved that

series. I've read it since I loved the character

of Blink in Age of Apocalypse and they brought

her into her own mini -series and then her mini

-series spun into Exiles and it's just a team

of alternative reality Marvel characters that

are jumping in from reality to reality fixing

things throughout time. It's like Quantum Leap

with X -Men. Wow. It's just it's a fun book because

the environments change all the time. It's a

new premise all the time. And it's there's no

rules to it. They just jump from reality to reality.

And then Chris Claremont got brought in and then

they ended the book and then rebooted the book

with Claremont and then brought Silak in as the

head of the team and took Blink out. And I was

like, what the hell? It's like Blake spent it

for a hundred and some odd issues that you're

just gonna, I'm done. I was like, I can't take

this anymore. It was like Claremont comes in

and just craps over everything I like. And then

there's Grant Morrison, who also, I know some

people love him. I know some people hate him.

His run on X -Men, new X -Men was one of the

most bizarre runs I've ever seen. Everything

felt like it was building to something and then

How he ended stuff, I was just like, I have no

idea what the hell just happened. I've been reading

this for the last two years and it's just an

amalgamation of crap. I was just, everything

was heading towards something and I have no idea

what happened. And I feel like I wasted two years

of my life reading this book. And it's, I know

you get, I know he's, is he still writing Batman?

He's still writing, um, Batman Inc. Yes. How's

that, how's that going? I don't. read batman

ink because i well one of the reasons why i don't

read batman ink and i'm one of these people and

i don't know how many like me are there out there

but um i cannot stand damien wayne yeah cannot

stand it's not the first time i've heard that

i just can't okay i've said this before i don't

know if i think i said it on this show i don't

remember i know i've told steve megatron this

um Damien Wayne is the son of Talia Al Ghul and

Bruce Wayne. Bruce wants to raise him to be disciplined,

to be, you know, the legacy, you know, so Bruce

can, you know, when Bruce eventually gets old

and gets sick and tired of taking painkillers

so he can survive every friggin night he goes

out and beats people up, you know, so he can

have something to leave his legacy to. Talia

wants to raise and have him become the next Ra's

Al Ghul. I don't. I just don't get it and The

first time I ever read the kid like was in that

early part of the death of the family running

Batman 13 14 15. I think it's in 15 Batman 15

where all the exposition is amongst the team

and that's kind of where the bat family rift

happened in that storyline and Damian is just

this snot nose little brat He tries to be that

upper crust, you know, you know It's just I just

cannot stand him. The only thing I wish would

have happened from death of the family The only

reason why I'm let down by that storyline is

that instead of actually the Joker killing somebody

Damien they will actually had grant allowed grant

to do it over an ink and had Talia send her Batman

clone guy. I don't even know. I just I don't

know Just don't care enough to read Batman ink

like I'm currently reading just this just the

bat books Batman Batgirl Nightwing and Batman

and whoever the next name it was but it's Batman

and Robin but since Robin died they've renamed

the book every issue like there was Batman and

Red Robin Batman and Batgirl Batman and Catwoman

so The one that Peter Jay Tomasi is doing I like

that it's okay, but I don't I don't know if I

could go into the like the beginning I started

at that at issue 15 when it was Batman versus

Robin before Damien died and I just I don't know

if I care to buy the trades enough to Just consistently

complain about a character. I don't give a shit

about yeah, I Mean I found that amazingly well

written and well done what they did on how they

memorialized Damian in the books, but as far

as like stuff with him in it, I don't give a

shit. I'll never forget when Joe goes, Joe was

collecting Batman like right when Grant Morrison

took over the book and he goes, who the hell's

Grant Morrison? I'm like, why are you asking?

I'm like, cause that was like, he's the guy that

kind of screwed up X -Men for me. He's like,

Uh, he just started writing Batman and it's kind

of weird. I was like, he's like, Batman has a

son now. I was like, what? A son? And he started

explaining Davey and he goes, The kid's just

a dick. And I was just like, really? And he just

went off on a tangent about just how much he

dislikes it. I was like, then why are you reading?

And he's like, because I keep hoping that he's

going to get killed at some point in time. He's

like, I just want to see bad things happen to

this kid. And I was like, well, if that's what

motivates you, that's what motivates you, man.

So I think my issue at this point, after reading

all of the bet from 13 to 22 now 21 22 whatever

whatever's out now. I think my issue with that

is the whole thing of Scott Snyder and Greg Kaplow

they're an amazing writing artist team They're

an amazing artist writer team and they're great

but the my issue with the bat book specifically

that deal with Batman directly Batman Batman

Inc Batman and whatever You know who whatever

character they're gonna put in all the new 52

stuff dealing with Batman. I just It's outside

of the main title everything else is continuing

on in the present and now Scott and Greg are

going back for an entire year doing zero year

So it's like back in the past and it's like how

did Batman get his origin? done you know and

I'm I'm enjoying the book but it's like why have

all these bad not counting Batgirl and Nightwing

because they're separate characters why have

all these other bad titles dealing directly with

Batman when you have it oh god time in the new

52 just warps my brain sometimes back before

the 52 that was one of the things that always

drove me nuts about Batman it's like they're

they treated each story arc like it's a separate

portion of the Batman story never felt really

intercut because a lot of times when I was reading

it like they were bringing on a lot of guests

writers and like one of the storylines they did

which was Broken City which was Brian Esrillo

who did 100 bullets and I really liked 100 bullets

but I read the Batman story the Broken City one,

and it was just so... such a departure from,

you know, what I knew of Batman and just... they

did this depiction of Killer Croc where he seemed

like he was a Russian gangster and it just didn't

make... Sense to what I knew of Batman and it

was just like it's such a huge departure like

I kind of see this is like an Out -of -context

miniseries, but they can include this in the

numbering. It just seems asinine to me It's like

it has nothing to do with anything that was going

on in the previous storyline and just everything

it was like a pretty much everything after hush

felt really disjointed and out of place in the

book because everything was like let's bring

on a guest writer after hush and do like these

two -shot stories and nothing's actually interconnected

and it was just it got to be a real mess it felt

like they didn't know what they were doing the

batman books after hush wrapped up yeah and see

that's one of the reasons why i love the new

52 because i can start fresh don't have like

and I've said this before many times on the show

and I'm sure people are tired of me saying this

and I will only say it for your benefit since

this is your first time on here is that The only

reason why I really love the new 52 is because

I don't have to go back, start at issue 600 and

something and be like, oh, I have to read the

last 600. Say I started issue 621. Holy crap,

I have to read the last 620 issues to catch up.

That's why I like the new 52. I was going to

say quite a bit later, I started When I was really

having a marvel I kind of sort of backpedaling

and like going into I got a really I Started

working at GameStop for a period of time. And

when I was doing that, their partner companies

with Barnes and Noble. So I got a disgusting

discount there. So I went graphic novel crazy.

And I was just like, I want to read every single

classic graphic novel that I should be reading

that I haven't. So I went out and bought Kingdom

Come. I bought The Long Halloween. I bought like

all the classic bat storylines. I bought all

the like big you know events for DC like Final

Crisis and Zero Hour and all of those and just

started like eating all all of those big massive

storylines in and um it's I liked DC in the graphic

novel sense because I liked those really chunky

meaty stories like Kingdom Come and just where

all the characters are there and just these beautiful

illustrations and these great fights and just

classic superheroes. But when it came to Marvel,

it was like I wanted it on an issue by issue

basis. I was into it all the time and I was always,

you know, there to buy those issues, but I was

never really, you know. there for the graphic

novels, where it's like DC to me has this rich

history of all these things that they've done.

But unfortunately, you know, I understand completely.

I know a lot of people got up in arms about 52,

but I completely got why it went to that point,

because they were the storylines were getting

so convoluted. It felt like they didn't know

where they were going with a lot of stuff. And

it felt like they kept on writing themselves

into certain walls. And then they kept on bringing

guest writers in to do like these one shots.

And it just felt like it was getting to be such

a mess towards the end. And I know some people

would disagree. Everybody's got their opinions.

And I appreciate opinions. This is just how I

feel. I think they needed a reboot. Now, when

Marvel now started, I don't understand because

it's like they tried to do a reboot. And I know

they've kind of put a fresh spin on a ton of

the books and renumbered everything. But I don't.

necessarily understand why they did what they

did. Now, don't get me wrong. The entire start

of the Marvel Now thing is what got me back into

comics. Uncanny, I'd been out of comic books

for, man, like three or four years. And the moment

I heard Avengers versus X -Men, I was like, my

interest has officially peaked. Went to a comic

book store. We were on a trip and went to a comic

book store in North Carolina. I went to Heroes

are Heroes are around the corner I think is the

name of the comic book store walked into this

comic book store and there's a giant statue of

Dr. Octopus and on the other end of the room

There was a giant statue of spider -man fighting

each other over top of the entire comic book

store And I was like I have never seen a comic

book store like this in my entire life. This

is amazing and I went in there and I bought every

single issue of every single single issue of

uncanny Of Avengers versus x -men and then bought

isn't that just a 12 -issue miniseries? It was

a 12 -issue miniseries and if I would have waited

two weeks I could have bought the trade paperback,

but I bought every single individual issue right

there in the store and then I bought the trade

paperback x -men schism, which is kind of you

know where the battle between Cyclops and Wolverine

and the splitting of the teams all started which

kind of eventually leads to all the events in

Oh my god, why am I now picturing in my head

the X -Men fighting in a tool video? It's kind

of like that and it was That you know, it's something

they've been building towards for years and that

book is just that it's always been Logan and

Scott always at the two opposite ends of the

spectrum. And just the way things ended up going

is genius to me. Where you always would have

thought that maybe Logan would have gone off

the deep end and Logan would have been the bad

guy. And then in the end of it, it's Cyclops.

Cyclops screwed everything up. Cyclops is the

one that kills Professor Xavier. It's nuts. And

just I loved like just those 12 issues of Avengers

vs. X -Men were enough to be like, I'm sold.

I'm in again. And I just, you know, and then

they were like, hey, we're bringing Brian Michael

Bendison to write All New X -Men. And I was like,

okay, well, I can totally get behind that. And

it's so it's like, it's, I feel like every time

I pick up an issue of All New X -Men and read

it, I feel like I'm 12 again. It's been the one

book that just brings me back. to the joy of

comic books because they, for those who are not

reading it, Beast is at a complete loss, doesn't

know what to do, feels the X -Men have gotten

completely out of hand, Professor Xavier has

been killed by Cyclops because he was taken over

by the Phoenix Force, lost his mind, just snapped

his neck, walked, tossed him a piece like a crumpled,

a side like a piece of crumpled paper. And then,

you know, expelled the Phoenix Force, and you

could really see the fact that Scott really didn't

feel bad about what happened. And Beast is at

a loss. Something's wrong with his genetic mutation

again, and he's dying, and as a last -ditch effort,

he goes, well, maybe if I go into the past and

confront my younger self and the original X -Men

while they first get to school, maybe I can show

them what's going to happen and This will never

happen. This reality will never exist. This will

fix everything right, so he brings them all to

the present and shows them what's happened and

what's become So all these people that they've

literally just had their first encounter with

Magneto in their reality and then they get brought

to brought to the future where Cyclops has just

killed professor Xavier And they get exposed,

these naive children and poor Iceman who still

looks like a snowman come into the future and

see what their future selves look like. And they

decide to stay until they can fix and restore

Professor Xavier's dream. And it's just the moment.

Just when Angel keeps going, why is nobody talking

about me? Why has nobody mentioned my name? Why

is nobody telling me what's going on? And Jean

keeps looking around and goes, where am I? Why

haven't I seen myself? And then Haight goes,

you need to look into my mind. And then shows

her what's happened to Jean Grey. And just Jean

freaks out. And it's the role reversals of how

they've changed the dynamics with the original

team is just so subtle, but great because of

the fact that nobody trusts Cyclops in the future,

which causes the team from the past distrust

Cyclops. And Jean Grey is now the leader of the

original X -Men and is basically taking control.

And Kitty Pride is their, uh, the, you know,

current, you know, the current timeline kitty

pride has basically become their uh their handler

and is in charge of them um and it's just the

dynamics are just so all over the place and then

you bring in the fact that scott has decided

to create his own x -men team with the new uncanny

x -men and they show up at the school with his

right hand man who's magneto And these kids have

just gotten done facing Magneto for the first

time and are like, why the hell Cyclops with

Magneto? And it's just all these things of what

they know in shattering their realities and completely

dismantling and putting these characters completely

out of time with how messed up everything is

in the current timeline is just the richness

of the stories and the dialogue are just fantastic.

For me with Marvel, I... Like I mentioned earlier

about single issue and then go back trade in

get the trade That's how I am with DC and IDW.

Yeah for me and Marvel I will always outside

of superior spider -man, which I'll bring up

in a second here, but Oh boy, that's gonna be

a fun conversation Outside of superior spider

-man the five issue I think it's five issue miniseries

that they've got going on just started last week

of the week before a couple weeks ago Superior

carnage outside of that. I am NOT getting anything

Marvel single issue. I will get Marvel in trades.

I am NOT I'm not that invested like X -Men for

me are the 92 series Spider -Man for me is the

94 series or even even Ultimate Spider -Man the

new series. I love it. I love the comedy in that

show. Yeah Like I just I'm so engrossed in DC

and now that IDW has Transformers Turtles and

What else do I get from them? I just it's too

much so I'll I'll slowly go back and like a like

I've got a whole bunch of Punisher trades now

because eventually we're gonna do Eventually

on the pullback. We're gonna do character months

where we take four or five weeks out of one month

and dedicate it to what like Punisher Batman

Superman spider -man and just review trades,

you know once a week for a month or so but I

just I'm not a Marvel guy anymore. And it's weird

because I've had conversations with people and

I don't know exactly what you started in, but

I know for a lot of people that my friend Tim

was huge into Wolverine when he was growing up.

But he's a huge DC comic guy. I was huge into

Batman when I was growing up. And I grew up to

be a huge Marvel guy and I just I thought it's

interesting is a lot of people grow up really

into One company or the other and it seems that

it kind of flip -flops when they get older for

some people I just you know, I you know started

out as a Batman guy and then I kind of became

a Wolverine guy I mean it just was kind of my

natural progression in my taste in comic books

Yeah But I mean, I still go back and read stuff.

I always kind of keep tabs on Batman. When the

bigger trades come out, I'll pick one up and

be like, oh god, this feels good. I haven't read

something like this in a long time. And I was

going to say, even when I got through all those

trades and stuff like that, I found myself getting

into a lot more of the independent titles. Like

the Mike Mignola Hellboy stuff, which I love

Like Frank Miller Sin City Which I love that

stuff and I think a lot of this stuff was I work

I worked in a movie theater for like nine years

So like every time I even heard a comic book

movie was coming up and I didn't know something

about it I was like, I'll just go buy all the

trades and yeah exactly before the movie comes

out I've read like all nine volumes of Sin City

and See, that's the same thing for me. But except

in reverse where remember all the old cartoon

series yeah and remembering all of those and

in certain cases watching rewatching some of

them on Netflix I'm like okay cool I'm ready

for this movie I'm ready to see Wolverine kick

-ass I'm ready I'm ready to see the Avengers

unite even though there are just certain things

in both companies DC and Marvel that I just Like

the whole like Hal Jordan thing don't get me

wrong. I like Helen certain things, but I grew

up on Knowing that Kyle Rayner and John Stewart.

They were my Green Lanterns and I just At as

of right now without going back and reading other

Green Lantern stuff with Hal in it. I just don't

Outside of the cool stuff. He's done it. He's

been in an animation. I just don't care about

Hal Jordan well I care more about Stuart and

and Rainer and the same thing with Marvel I I've

never gotten The event like I've never understood

the whole Avengers thing and I think my main

problem initially as a kid was That horrible

United We Stand cartoon. You know, I think that's

where it went wrong for me. I'm like, Ant -Man,

Wasp, what the hell is going on? I love what

Marvel did. I love what Marvel Studios did. They

built up a cinematic universe, and they built

up these characters. Yes, Hulk changed three

different times, even though crouching Tiger,

Hidden Hulk doesn't count in the Marvel cinematic

universe. But they built it up. They built it

up well and they have really great actors in

the Avengers movie and I liked that. However,

going back and looking at comics with Avengers,

I don't even know if I can get into it. I just

don't know. I would say I was never a big Avengers

guy. The first time I started reading Avengers

was... started the story arc before disassembled

I was gonna say if you get the chance I totally

recommend picking up if you could get a hold

on the disassembled trade paperback. That is

the storyline to read when everything falls apart

and they disband the Avengers. And then after

that is when they form the new Avengers. When

Marvel finally was like, you know, we should

take the Avengers and make it a team filled with

all of our popular heroes. And that's when New

Avengers started and they brought in Wolverine

and they brought in Captain America and they

brought in Spider -Man and they brought in Luke

Cage and they brought in, you know, the heavy

hitters. And. But it's if you haven't read anything

that Bendis has written, I recommend like I totally

recommend disassembled. But if you haven't read

that, you need to read his run on Daredevil.

Right Michael Bendis is run on daredevil is probably

one of the most beautiful things I have ever

read The entire the I think it's volume 2 of

daredevil starts off the first 12 issues I believe

are written by Kevin Smith and then Bendis takes

over after Kevin's run and then he runs with

it for like man I want to say he is on there

for almost like 60 70 issues and it's just Beautiful

what he does in the arts. The art is amazing.

The story is amazing and that's when that was

Daredevil was the first introduction I really

had in the Brian Michael Bendis as a writer and

it's like everything he wrote is just so well

thought out and put together It's sort of like

Ultimate Spider -Man the entire run of Ultimate

Spider -Man is all been Brian Michael Bendis

from day one He's written every single issue

of Ultimate Spider -Man and it is just beautifully

thought out and well crafted. And he's just a

he's a very, very talented writer. And I know

why Marvel put so many properties in his hands

and why so much goes in his direction. And that's

why he was in charge of the entire Avengers lot

of books for several, several years. I mean,

he was he basically he destroyed the team, then

he rebuilt the team and then he made like three

teams and wrote all the books at the exact same

time. Wow, it's crazy. And he's just not crazy

awesome writer and then on top of the fact that

he was doing all the Avengers stuff He was still

writing Ultimate Spider -Man on top of all that

And then he stopped writing the Avengers books

and that's why he's now he's doing the X -Men

Basically, they put him in with the X -Men Latin

and like, okay Bennis. Let's see what you can

do with the X -Men So, I mean, it's really interesting

to see him go from, you know, hey, he's riding

a daredevil to, hey, he's in charge of the entire

Avengers team and now we're gonna give him X

-Men. And he's, I mean, he's had a lot of input

with, you know, the series. He's had a lot of

input with, I mean, he helped with Amazing Spider

-Man. He's had input with the movies. So, I mean,

it's, and which I can also say I'm very happy

that... The cinematic universe is starting to

rely a little bit on the comic book writers.

I appreciate that. Yes, that's very cool. But

you know, but this is like the guy at Marvel

right now. He is he's, you know, they're kind

of he's they're, you know, Jim Lee now. Right.

And he's just kind of, you know, supporting and

helping bold everything that's going on with

that company. And it's it's nice to see him start

off. From you know his independent books of you

know powers and Jinx and now he's you know this

the big guy at Marvel What was that Kevin Smith

daredevil book oh god? The one he first did it

was right before the movie came out I guess I

don't know well I was gonna say the first the

first trade in that series. I know is all Kevin

and then yeah the moment No, I'm talking about

there was oh bullseye Look, yeah. No, I don't

know. It was a it was a single issue that I got

from a buddy Bullseye There was one issue. It

was supposed to be an entire run of a series

I believe and he just never got around to writing

the rest of it It might have been but the thing

of it was was the the villain at the end of the

book was fucking Mysterio No, that's the first

trade That's the first yeah, because he they

end up killing Mysterio in the last issue of

that in the last page of that trade Daredevil

kills Mysterio Okay, then that's yeah, I I don't

know like because the whole the whole thing was

With that issue it was like build up build up

who's doing this who's doing all this stuff who's

doing all this stuff and I guess the end I'm

like Serio, really? Take a Spider -Man villain

and put it in fucking Daredevil, are you kidding

me? There's so much crossover between the lower

tiered Spider -Man villains and Daredevil, it's

ridiculous. I mean, I still giggle every time

Stiltman shows up in a comic book. Or when Rocket

Racer. Rocket Racer is a personal favorite. of

mine because of the fact he's such an obscure

character from the 70s and when he shows up in

a panel of anything it was like yeah rocket racer

it's just a black guy with an afro on roller

skates that's his only power it's it's just like

like there's i mean i have a bunch of comics

from uh the 70s that of amazing spider -man when

like the villains are rocket racer and the big

wheel it's literally a guy in a big wheel I mean,

there's nothing super innovative about it. It's

just a big wheel. It spins. It looks like he's

riding around a miniature Ferris wheel. It's

really pathetic. But the kind of stuff that they

got away with back in the 70s, just to get issues

out, I was just like, how did comics not fail

back then? Why were people so complacent with

those types of storylines? Where now it's like,

with Batman, it's like every single major villain

ever. in like a 10 issue arc. It's just like

sometimes you get like those great story arcs

now where you just get hit over the head with

like every single major character and then they

do you know and then it's like every time they

try to give you a new villain it's like I don't

know how to feel about this it's like for me

it's My favorite character in the entire comic

universe is Green Goblin. I don't know what it

is about Norman Osborn I just love that character

always like that character always gravitated

towards that character I'm a villain guy. I like

a good villain And Green Goblin's my guy it's

I've just enjoyed the The craziness especially

when they gave put Norman in charge of the Thunderbolts

and gave him his own team, which was awesome.

And he's constantly, you know, fighting the split

personality of, you know, the goblin and himself

and trying to have a government position. And

the fact that at the end of, you know, the invasion

that they put him in a spot of power and made

him the hero of the story, and then make Tony

Stark the villain and the role reversal, bringing

the villains to the the foreground and making

the villains the heroes and making the heroes

the bad guys and Marvel was genius. The fact

that they made Norman Osborn one of the greatest

American heroes because he killed the Skrull

Queen and then they chastised Tony Stark and

made him the most wanted man in the world is

just awesome. I like it when the villains can

pull one over on the heroes. That's and that's

cool. I just I don't know I was like for me and

daredevil they got my only exposure before the

2003 film was Spider -man when he appeared briefly

was gonna say in the in that in that two episode

arc, but I'm one of those people that I like

both cuts of the daredevil movie. I do like the

directors cut the director cut is pretty good

It is it I mean it it doesn't It doesn't just

tie up everything in a, it tells a better story.

But I saw, I went to the theater and I saw the

original cut and I liked it. I thought it was

cool. I was like, oh, cool. Daredevil on the

big screen. Very awesome. And you know, of course,

Jennifer Gardner, you know, as Electra. And then

the director's cut came out and the director's

cut was so much better as far as a storytelling

point. But there's a lot of people that just

hate that mood, that original theatrical cut.

And I'm like, it's... Not as bad as what Mark

Steven Johnson did with Elektra afterwards, two

years later. And, you know, my thing was I really

liked Daredevil when I came out. I really liked

the movie. And even before the director's cut

came out, I enjoyed the movie. But because I

liked the movie, I went out and picked up the

trades. And when I read the comic, I go, wow,

that movie was pretty terrible. It's like when

I started just reading more and more of the comic

and got like. Got to know more about Matt Murdock

and his powers and about you know who he was

when it came all boiled down to it I was just

like It's was very hokey compared to the comic

and the comic book just felt the comic book.

It has just this noir Grittiness to it that I

just think that that kind of feel was just missed

in the movie I think they got a lot they got

a lot of stuff right, but they got a lot of stuff

wrong And it's one of those things that I think

the basic essence of it, if you read the book

and you come into the movie expecting the book,

you're going to be disappointed. There's very

few comic movies I've seen that I feel like it

captured the essence of the comic. Punisher Warzone

is one of the few movies I've seen I feel actually

captures the essence of the comic. I really enjoyed

Warzone. I'm in a very large minority. If they

had a different actor, I would have enjoyed Warzone.

And it's one of those things. I know not a lot

of people like that movie. That's fine. But I

just feel like to me, it felt like a comic book.

That was the big thing for me. I didn't enjoy

the Thomas Jane Punisher that much until I saw

the director's cut. I thought the director's

cut of that movie was far superior to the theatrical

release because the theatrical release felt like

an extended MacGyver episode. It felt like the

thing with the fire hydrant just pissed me off.

That just like I was like, oh, I mean, come on.

But that's something that. Okay, sure. He's doing

it late at night. I'm not sure if police regularly

patrol that area. Apparently they don't, but

you think that they would. And you think that

she would have noticed. I mean, what's her name,

Liv? She's not a dumb blonde. She's a powerful

woman married to a powerful man. Yeah, you can

probably look at it and and and think oh well

somebody's gonna notice that but for the point

of the story it It worked I guess and I think

a lot of my issues were as I found out what the

Thomas Jane Punisher was loosely based off of,

which was the Welcome Back trade paperback. So

I went out and bought that and read that before

the movie came out. I was like, oh my God, if

this is what it's gonna be, this is gonna be

phenomenal. And there's a lot of pieces of Welcome

Back Frank that is ripped directly out of that

book and put it in the movie like panel by panel

is in the movie. And the comic is just so well

done and it just... And the movie just wasn't

as good as the trade paperback was, is basically

what it came down to. So for me, that was a part

that was like, ah, so close, but not quite there.

But I mean, then there's other, you know, comic

movies that come out that just, you know, shit

all over everything, like Ghost Rider. Pick one,

one or two. They're both terrible. Just like,

I still don't... fully understand what the point

of Ghost Rider 1 was. And I made it 10 minutes

into Spirit of Vengeance and I was like, I'm

done. I can't do this. I just can't watch this

movie. I was like, I haven't had a single Marvel

movie where I just was like, screw it. I'm out.

I can't do this. Nothing has been too ridiculous

for me until Spirit of Vengeance. Wow. We're

gonna take a quick break here and here are some

ads and some other audio clips and everything

else we'll come back with Find out what Danner

is collecting these days and what he's reading

on a regular basis. We'll be back after this

If so, maybe you should get some therapy and

then subscribe to punish your body count then

that's best podcast concerning all things Frank

Castle I'm Dane Lamont. My co -host Jake Williams

and I cover the good, the bad, and the hilarious.

I'm the punisher of comics, movies, and news.

Do you like chummy co -host banter? We got that.

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 grit in my cigars. You want carefully

considered in -depth analysis? I mean, yeah,

just one best picture at the Oscars yesterday.

I mean, it's no Terminator. Good luck with that.

Punish your body count. Twice a month on DCast

Radio. All my work ruined! I hate Mondays! Come

here. I'm the best there is at what I do. And

what I do can't be imitated, copied, cloned,

or used without the express written permission

of the superhero squad in Marvel Entertainment

LLC. Batteries not included. All rights reserved.

Terms, conditions, or restrictions apply. We

clear, bub. Yes, sir. All right, so what are

you currently reading these days? My list is

very short right now. I am currently reading

All New X -Men. written by Bendis, like I've

already mentioned earlier. I'm also reading Uncanny

Avengers, which for those that aren't reading

it, they took the Avengers and they took the

X -Men and they made a team together. Avengers

feature the leader of the team is Havoc who is

by far one of my favorite characters and Heroes

in the Marvel universe I've always been a big

Havoc fan So it's it's been enjoyable the I didn't

know I was gonna like it until the first Issue

which also confirmed things for me Which is the

red skull pulls professor Xavier's brain out

of his head and melds it with his own so now

red skull has psychic abilities so it pretty

much solidified the fact that okay I guess Xavier's

completely dead now because I don't really it's

you know in the X -Men universe everybody comes

back I don't know how they're gonna pull this

one off because they pretty much solidify the

fact that Xavier's not coming back which I will

say And they can't do that whole Moira McTaggart

brain swap thing either. And it's pretty obvious

that it's Xavier's. And that hurts me deep down

because my first son, his middle name's Xavier

for obvious reasons. So it's one of those things

that... He's like, aw, no more Xavier. I was

like, I think I'm gonna tell my son about this

one when he grows old. I'll tell him about the

good old days of Professor Xavier. The other

book I just picked up is the new, I just started

reading Uncanny X -Men since that just started

up a couple months ago. Then I just picked up

the first issue of X -Men, which is just the

all -female team and I've Literally haven't even

had a chance to crack that one open yet, but

I'm pretty sure I'll probably end up staying

with that as well And I've a lot of stuff I've

been kind of dabbling in if like, you know I

come in and there's only like one or two issues

I'll kind of look and pick something up like

I checked out the first couple issues of the

new cable in the X -Force book which was pretty

good. I've always been a big cable fan. I picked

up the first couple issues of the Brian Posey

written Deadpool series, which is insanity. It's

pure insanity spilled on pages. The entire first

story arc is just Deadpool fighting zombie versions

of all the dead presidents. Sure. So it's basically

Deadpool in The Walking Dead. For the most part.

And if you're not familiar with Brian Popo saying

he's a stand up comedian and he is on the Sarah

Silverman show and is the gawkiest weirdest looking

guy I've ever seen but is absolutely hilarious

and it was like that was a big you know the moment

I heard Poseidon was writing the book and they

got a comedian to write Deadpool I was like okay

I gotta check this out and hasn't really disappointed

so far it has been just as insane and crazy as

I thought it was going to be and yeah that's

pretty much all I've really been reading right

now Well, I will recommend I know it seems like

you are more a Marvel than a DC guy But if you're

interested I I will highly recommend Nightwing

and Batgirl from DC the current new 52 versions

cuz man Between Gail Simone and Kyle Higgins.

They are at least in my eyes to a beast BC great

This is not rock line. Thank you very much between

DC They are the two At least in my opinion, Gail

Simone Callaghan's two best writers, they write

their characters as if they're, they just love

them and I know that they do. And it's just,

it's just amazing, amazing stuff. Um, all right.

Well, they, they, they, I can't talk. Where can

people interact with you online? They can find

me on Twitter at Art Danner, and that is probably

the best place to get a hold of me. You can also

find me on PlayStation Network at x51machineman.

And yeah, that's the best two ways to get a hold

of me, Twitter or on the PlayStation Network.

Awesome. Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't bring

up the Nintendo comics system at all seeing as

how you're a gamer I'm surprised you didn't read

any of those I did that's what that was followed

into the whole my parents got me started on Donald

Duck and Daffy comics. I also had Captain and

in the Game Masters and I had this did the Game

Boy comic book and the Nintendo Land comic book

and The Legend of Zelda actually still had the

trade paperbacks for those that the original

ones they bought me when I was nine I Still have

those sitting on my shelf Looks like I'm breaking

in the dinners house next week. I was gonna say

you never forget where you come from in comic

books You always got to keep those reminders

around that's right uh... this has been the poll

bag episode twenty four up next we are going

to be talking about an episode twenty five d

c pre and post new fifty two for the poll bag

i've been to do my can you are our dinner they

will catch next time and then i can't talk so

much uh... we will catch you next time be sure

to make your great escape into comics You just

heard the latest episode of The Pullback, GCRN's

comic book review podcast. There are several

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