Joe Reed on Comic Origins and Current Reading

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please visit www .grand -con .com. Ninja Pizza?

What do you know? Rock, dudes! Do you realize

what this is? The crucial piece of evidence we

were looking for? The clue which will lead us

to the heart of the evil ninja empire? Not even

better! It's a place where we can get some pizza!

Right on! Okay, I'll head up there and check

it out. No, no, April. It's too dangerous. You

wouldn't last five minutes in a ninja pizza parlor.

I love saying lines like that. We better go with

you, April. That's right. And besides, we're

hungry! Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we

dig out our latest comics and discuss them with

the rotating panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back

and enjoy this week's Pull Bag. Hello and welcome

to the pull bag. This is episode 29. I am your

host tfg and Mike and we're doing yet another

origins episode This is the second of three before

we hit the transformers robots in disguise Volume

arc and joining me this time around is three

the third out of the four Chairs over there at

off the cuff is mr. Joe Reed. Hello, sir. Hello

there internet radio. How are you? I'm well,

yes This episode, even though I told Joe off

air, might only be 30 -40 minutes, it might run

a little longer since this is the first time

Joe and I have actually got to talk and I've

listened to you on Off the Cuff, formerly XRG,

formerly The Lunchroom, formerly whatever the

hell other name. That's great because I haven't

listened to me. That's right, ladies and gentlemen,

some people don't listen to their own podcasts.

But when I've listened to you, you are... The

retro out of that crew and that's pretty much

what I Gravitate towards as well, but this is

a comic podcast. Well, we might break into some

games on a little bit, but Where did you was

it a family member your dad your grandfather

and uncle? How did you get into comics as a kid?

Well, I think growing up between four to ten

years old I was aware of comic book people characters,

but I didn't know about comic books. I mean,

I know who Superman was and Spider -Man and Batman,

and I grew up watching Nick at Night had reruns

of Adam West Batman on, and so I knew about this

stuff. But my first memory of actually holding

a comic book and reading it came from the Ninja

Turtles. We went over to a family friend's house

and my mom's boss, he was a 50 -year -old kind

of grandpa. Sort of guy and he had a Ninja Turtle

Michelangelo sitting on his end table and it

was you know, the old the old version this was

1990 maybe 1991 and I didn't know what a Ninja

Turtle was but I played with that thing and the

nunchucks were great and and our friend Todd

the older guy was just yeah, I got this my grip

and proud of it and showing me and playing with

me with it and at some time after that maybe

after the cartoon I ended up at comic book store

that was relatively close to where I lived and

I found the Archie Ninja Turtles comics and I

started buying those things and when I came on

it was issue 15 maybe in that neighborhood and

So between that and me and my friend we'd get

on our bikes and ride a mile down To the busy

street with the gas station on the corner and

at this time in 1992 or 93 you could still buy

comics on spinner racks in the gas station and

I will start writing down there every month to

get the new issue of Ninja Turtles and and That

was really where I got into it. But beyond that

I mean after that it didn't it didn't Spontaneously

caused me to start buying Superman or anything

else. I kind of kind of pittered out. I don't

know as I went into middle school and Ninja Turtles

were for little kids, you know, I think we all

go through that phase a little bit but I'm glad

I grew out of that and realized that it's okay

to be a nerd and collect things and read comics

Yes, yes Were there any at any point whether

it was high school or college like in your young

adulthood was there anything that you Were you

still into him or did you had you just completely

dropped him? When did you pick him back up? Yeah,

I come I would say that I completely dropped

them and probably in college or thereabouts and

you know honestly it was probably the Transformers

it was either the Transformers reboot the ID

was it no the Dreamwave series it was the Dreamwave

series or the Daredevil movie one of those two

things got me back into the comic book shop and

since then I've been a regular weekly kind of

guy going in there to get it So the Dreamwave

Transformers run, I got into that because man,

I'm a huge G1 fan and when they were launching

that and kind of picking up where the TV show

came off but doing its own thing, the art was

beautiful in that. I really got into that and

got that weekly in a pull bag. And the Daredevil

thing, I think the Daredevil movie was coming

out and I wanted to be familiar with the source

material before I... went and watched it and

I think that was about the time that Bendis and

Malieve were doing their Daredevil run and I

picked that up and didn't stop until they were

off the books and between those one of those

two things or both of them at the same time I

started getting into other books here and there

and taking suggestions from friends and buying

trade paperbacks from this story or that story

yeah yeah 2003 Daredevil the theatrical cut gets

a really bad rap I understand there are problems

with the theatrical cut, but I still enjoy watching

it. The director's cut is a much better story

as far as how it's laid out, but... Even the

theatrical version of that, the one thing that

they needed to do, and I just had this conversation

with... Oh, it's because of the Ben Affleck Batman

thing, and everybody started complaining about

the Daredevil movie again. The one thing they

needed to do to make that... whole movie better

was to get rid of that ridiculous fight scene

in the playground where she's fighting Matt Murdock

with his stick and I'm going can't she put two

and two together like this guy's not normal he's

a blind guy and yeah that's exactly what everyone

says why isn't she putting this together yeah

now the I don't know if you know this I know

most of the listeners will know the director's

cut removes all of the romance stuff Everything,

all of the romance stuff that's in the theatrical

cut, director's cut, it's gone. And the director's

cut is rated R versus PG -13 for the theatrical.

I've seen both versions, but I didn't. Oh, you

have? Okay, I wasn't sure. I didn't catch the

part cutting out. I didn't realize that they

had removed the love scene from it, because I

wouldn't have missed something that was unnecessary

like that. That's something that a studio exec

says, we need this in there to get the girls

to come to the films. Yeah, well, and I think

that's what the playground scene was. Was you

know they it needed to they needed to show kind

of like a courtship before you start dating kind

of thing but Or they couldn't just go out to

lunch. They had to fight in a playground Well,

technically they already went out to lunch. She

she nearly She basically insulted him. What are

you blind? All right, so reminding me Electra

Yeah, real don't even get me started on that

character. It's like Okay, folks. I know we've

moved off comic books and off Joe's origins and

stuff like that, but it's like That's the hugest

problem I have with the the movie universes that

do this like she died in daredevil That's how

I choose to see her the 2005 film with her in

it that oh she's magically alive and I guess

that's part of her origin I don't know I don't

I've never read an Electra comic so I'm not saying

that you know I'm making an unfair judgment I've

seen the Electra movie several times and it's

bad but it's the same thing with Avengers I prefer

I'm sorry I don't care this is just my opinion

I Will give agents of shield a chance but the

only thing in my opinion saving that show or

the only draw power to that show is the fact

that they magically have Colson back alive and

I know that's kind of what Joss Whedon does.

I mean he did it with Fred in Angel becoming

Illyria, but it's like I prefer like to me agents

of shield makes the Avengers lose its magic.

The whole point of Colson dying was so the team

could unite. And I look at Colson's death in

that and think, we never saw the body and that's

comic book. I don't buy that. I totally read

that they were manipulating him and he's going

to show back and they're all going to be pissed.

Like, hey, you told us he died. Not really. Well,

I hope he shows back up in the Marvel universe,

the cinematic universe, because... If he's gonna

do a lame TV show on the kids on the kids WB

on the WB. It's like, you know Come on now if

he can appear on TV he can appear in another

movie Alright, so what do you read? What is what

are you currently reading now? Are you more Marvel

more DC? Honestly, I'm very, I read more independent

books than the main, than the main two. And I

honestly, I think it's becoming the main three

with what IDW is putting out lately. If I had

the choice between DC and Marvel, I've always

enjoyed the stories in the Marvel books more,

but I think the DC heroes are more iconic. And

when you get a story right with a DC character,

it's legendary. When you get a Marvel character

story right, it's good. But when you get it right,

it's legendary with those DC characters. And

I'm thinking like Long Halloween with Batman.

That's a great story. If you read Superman for

All Seasons, that gets Superman right and it's

legendary. And I'm sure there are others I haven't

read. But I always, I'm much more drawn to the

Marvel Universe, which doesn't seem to get caught

up in reboots and in ending the world and starting

it over. And yeah, they have their Civil War

events and I usually, after Civil War, I stopped

paying attention to them. I didn't bother collecting

anything anymore. That was a big... Event I have

every issue of civil run a civil war and all

of the little side issues and that was a pain

in the neck to do But I'm a completionist. I

have to do it. I had to do it But there was that

and then That's how I'm totally done because

they end up retconning it or and there's always

like the daredevil story or the the ultimate

spider -man when they had there when the ultimate

universe had its giant weird world ending reboot

it doesn't really seem to affect that book and

That just happened to be the book that I was

reading and so I never bothered doing anything

else, but then we have IDW who right now I'm

reading They have I think one or two ongoing

Star Trek series one of them is kind of tied

up with pre and post the movie And then there's

the ongoing where they're tackling the television

shows. They're entertaining I don't mind them

and I like seeing their take on the episodes

of the old television series done with the flair

of the new universe But what I'm most excited

to read what I buy in the store and then read

while I'm sitting in the car with my air conditioning

running not driving anywhere is the Ninja Turtles

series. I've been very entertained with that

and it comes full circle. You know I start with

Ninja Turtles and I'm still doing Ninja Turtles

now. Right, so you are reading the current ongoing?

Yeah. What about the new animated adventures

that just started? Picked it up. It's um my one

of my Other stores in town. I came there and

today I held this for I didn't know if you wanted

it and and I used some store credit to pick it

up I didn't think I wanted it wasn't going to

collect it but and it's not exactly a good book.

It's it's really aimed at kids Kind of deliberately

hoping that they'll get it into comic books through

this. Maybe it's a gateway drug. I doubt it but

One of the things well, I don't know it maybe

it's a topic for later one of the things I'm

doing is trying to complete some of the old Ninja

Turtle runs and I've taught myself the lesson

of By every Ninja Turtle book that comes out

because in ten years you're gonna want it. So

stop right by it Exactly. I I have the first

two volumes of the current ongoing I need to

get the other, well right now it's at five but

it'll be six soon because they just, I just saw

a solicit the other day for the CityFall volume

six trade so I've been collecting but I want

to be able to get because my thing is we're going

to be doing a turtle spotlight here on the pullback

eventually which Sounds like you're probably

going to be the co -host for that one. I know

several Turtle Comics fans, but they have their

own show that they talk about Turtles Comics,

and I'm like, okay, well that's cool. But it's

one of those things where I want to make sure

that I have all the necessary reading material

before I sit there and start a spotlight. You

know, a four, five, six episode arc of the show

without you know without actually having the

material right now like I said I have the first

two and I want to get into it and I do I have

been collecting it uh singly since issue 22 I

believe oh my god what issue are they on it hasn't

been that long oh my god it's up to 25 26 something

like that oh it's been such a good series yeah

yeah it doesn't seem like it doesn't And maybe

it's the way that, and this isn't a jab at IDW

at all. I love IDW and I love how they do their

trades, but maybe it seems longer because of

the way they put their trades. Cause it's like

the first four issues in volume one issues, the

next four issues, the next four, they basically

four issues per trade. And that's, that's good.

I mean, that's, that's, you know, that's not

like just giving away. A trade and it's not over,

you know, it's not overbearing and showing us

that Hey, there's like ten issues in this trade.

Why am I how can I sit here for the next five

hours and read all this? You know what I mean?

If I can't if I can't get the whole story arc

and one trade paper back I'm usually less likely

to and I think that's also the way they do it

Because I know that Volume five is crank war

Yeah, so so I think that's how they do it is

they also they do it by story arc And they also

do it by hey every every four issues or whatever

it is. I don't know I could be wrong, but you

know IDW they're doing I enjoy reading their

single issues more than any other company Because

they put their solicits at the end and they're

except except maybe the front and back cover

there are no ads It's one continuous story in

a single issue never noticed that You know what

else is really good from IDW? The Ghostbusters

series. Have you been reading that? No, I can't.

What? I put my foot down when the new animated

adventures came out. Dude, my list? Batman, Batgirl,

Nightwing, Superior Spider -Man, Injustice Gods

Among Us, Turtles, three of the four Transformers

ongoings. I have so many books that I'm buying.

Yeah, that makes sense. Once I saw the new animated

adventures on free comic book day this year,

I was like, ooh, OK, this is it. That's it. I'm

done. Unless one of these series ends at some

point in the near future, I'm not adding any

new titles. I can't. I don't mind. But there's

a difference in me adding new titles to do singles.

And me going back and get, I don't mind going

back and spending extra money on trades. That

has nothing to do with me collecting stuff singly.

And the reason why I do it both ways, and I've

said this before on the show, the single issues

I do because I need to know what's going on now.

And the trades, you know, cause what I'll do

is I'll take all the single issues, trade them

in for credit, and then get the trades. So I

can't bring myself to do that. I should it would

be very handy for a lot of my books probably

the ultimate spider -man I think I should do

that. There's they're just taking up so much

space I Mean I've got those going back to issue

40 30. Oh wow Yeah, no, but IDW is doing amazing

amazing work way any franchise that you can think

of that isn't the big two pretty much any friend,

you know, like you said, they've got Ghostbusters,

Turtles, My Little Pony, Transformers. Lock and

Key? Is that IW? I haven't read that, but I hear

it. I don't know. I'm not sure. But they've got

so many different, like, fandom franchises that,

you know, most kids of the 80s remember as, you

know, like you said, as cartoons. And it's so

good. It's just so good. They do it with so much

love. Like, this is the attention that every

geek property that gets made into a movie needs

to have. I mean, this is what the movies need

to be like. Oh, yeah. Yeah. It just does. I mean,

it's just, it's so, so good. It's like, yeah,

sure, Transformers Prime, the cartoon is over,

but they're going to bring the cartoon characters

into the Beast Hunters ongoing. And the art in

that, for the most part, is just damn good. The

story, they actually give, I don't know, because

I haven't read anything. before with the Dinobots

in comics, but Prime Beast Hunters actually gives

the Dinobots real characters and not just me

Grimlock want to smash brains. The Dreamwave

Grimlock was an awesome character. They explained

the speech impediment but that he was actually

a relatively smart guy and had motives and motivations

and I liked what they did with the character

quite a bit. He was in line or he thought he

was in line to be the next prime But then they

picked the librarian and there's that jealousy

between the two of them that was kind of a neat

angle to take that I was Simon Furman writing

all those I think yes Furman loves his Grimlock

and that's, and I've said this before on the

show too, but that's one of my main complaints

about the Dinobots. It's been, it's always been

all about Grimlock. It's like, it's not the Dinobots.

It's Grimlock and friends. That's really what

it is. And with this Transformers Prime ongoing

Beast Hunters, they're focusing on... each of

the Dinobots and actually giving them character.

And I'm not trying to take anything away from

the Dreamwave stuff. I haven't read it, so I'm

not going to judge that stuff. But like right

now, if you've ever been a Transformers fan of

any of these characters, I would highly suggest

getting all of the ongoings that they're currently

doing because they're just just amazing, amazing

stuff. I didn't want to hear that. I was reading

some of the Transformers series and Oh, I got

so lost on it because I think there were a lot

of splits happening where the story went two

different directions and two different comics

went two different ways and the characters weren't

together. If you're talking about the two main

ongoings, More Than Meets the Eye and Robots

in Disguise, the split happens in the Death of

Optimus Prime one -shot which is collected in

More Than Meets the Eye volume one trade. Where

the split happens is Rodimus and his crew, the

crew that he's gonna take, board the Lost Light

and go in search of the Knights of Cybertron,

whereas Bumblebee and the rest of them stay on

Cybertron to have some sort of quote -unquote

government. Who's prime now that Optimus is gone?

Bumblebee is in charge. Bumblebee is the leader

on Cybertron. Man. That was a quick promotion.

Last I heard he was a scout. It's not as bad

as it sounds it really isn't I've read the first

three volumes of robots in disguise and it's

it's You don't really see Like you think transformers

you think Autobots Decepticons you think some

sort of giant battle or giant war going on? Well,

the whole point of this is the war is over. Where

do we go from here? And you don't I just I cannot

see politics mixing in with Transformers, but

John Barber does a damn good job of making the

world of Cybertron on that planet an entire political

nightmare with robots. So if I were to start

reading that I could read from the split on and

maybe get confused but still get something out

of it? You should actually be reading both titles

because they're going to be starting what's called

Dark Cybertron later this year, but if you want

to start I would say, if you find it singly,

get the Death of Optimus Prime one shot. And

then if you just want to do RID, which is Robots

in Disguise, go ahead and do that. Like I said,

the first three volumes trades are out, and I

think volume four is coming. And Robots in Disguise

has nothing to do with that horrible anime thing

that I pretend doesn't exist. Horrible anime

thing? Yeah, the Robots in Disguise with the

little sidekick with the siren lights. You're

talking about the... Horrible anime cartoon.

car robots, yeah, no, no, no. Has nothing, it's

just the title. That's all it is. It's just the

title. You'll see characters like Bumblebee,

Starscream, Blur, Prowl, Wheeljack, Jazz. I mean,

you'll see all characters that you know. If you

want something slightly different in characters

you've never seen before, but that you'll really,

really enjoy, try More Than Meets the Eye. Because

that's Rodimus, Ultra Magnus, and a bunch of

other ragtag Autobots out in the middle of space

in a ship. And it's both of them are so damn

good. They really, really are. Okay. I'll give

it a try. I do need another book. I canceled...

I'd been reading Invincible from... Oh god, Dark

Horse. And I'm just kind of tired of that because

it seems like... every 12 issues or so somebody

gets beat up and there's blood and go everywhere

but then it's all hunky -dory for a little bit

and then another universe ending thing happens

it's just kind of repetitive and I like the way

it started out with that kind of new take on

the superhero genre and they were pushing definitions

and boundaries and making it not not realistic

but I don't know Robert Kirkman writes good dialogue

and good conversation so I like that but I dropped

that I'm dropping a few other things and so I

have room for two Transformers titles. He says

reluctantly. I'm not twisting his arm here. I'm

just telling him that it's, you know, it's some

of the best comic writing I've ever seen with

these, with Transformers characters. What's Simon

Furman up to? Is he gone? He's not on the ongoings.

John Barber is writing Robots in Disguise and

James... Oh crap, what's his name? Jesus people

are screaming at their iPods right now. I guarantee

it's James Roberts James Roberts is writing more

than meets the eye You've got Alex Milne on art

For more than meets the eye and I believe Andrew

Griffith is on art for Robots in disguise, but

it's they're just damn good Sidenote yes a couple

of years ago I spontaneously get the desire to

go to Chicago and I surprise my wife and we go

drive and we get on the train and we go Chicago

and we get off the train in Chicago and like

all right great let's go shopping and walking

around and we start walking down Michigan Avenue

and there's construction signs and go this way

everywhere and I get up that close and I recognize

one of the Autobots from all of the leaked spy

shots for the Transformers three thing and they

happened to be shooting the downtown Chicago

part when we went there. My wife looks at me

and says, you knew this was happening. This is

why you wanted to come down here, isn't it? Like,

I had no clue, honey. We were just here and wow,

I get to take all these pictures now and snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap, snap,

snap, snap, snap, snap, Decided hey, you know

spur of the moment. Let's go to Chicago We got

on the train and drove into Chicago and got off

and my wife's on the phone And she says there's

a paramount movie shooting down here What what

could be shooting and I'm going through my mind

like what well Star Trek? No, but and then she

said it's Transformers 4 and I totally you knew

this was happening No, I had no clue and this

time it was on I think a different part of town

We didn't to take any pictures, but yeah, that

was cool That's awesome. I'm getting to the point

where you are now where you're like, you know,

if I'm not really liking this, I'm not going

to get it. But at the same time, it's like right

now, I have the Batman and ongoing in my pull

bag by Peter Jay Tomasi. It was Batman and Robin.

But since they killed Damian Wayne, thank God,

I hated that. Such a horrible idea. I mean, to

have him in the story. Yes, thank you. Thank

you. Well, Batman took a turn for, oh, it shouldn't

go here, with two things. And one of them was

bringing Jason Todd back as Hush. Hush should

have been his own thing, and I don't know, come

up with a different answer than making it frickin'

Jason Todd, who the readers killed off. uh...

don't bring him back that should be the one cockroach

that doesn't survive the apocalypse is jason

totty does not come back from that uh... uh...

and batman incorporated i didn't know and i'm

saying this i didn't read it but that just from

the outside seemed like a real goofy idea and

grant morrison should be allowed near anything

the only issue of batman ink that i read that

i can speak of is issue nine where i believe

is usually issue eight or issue nine or damian

dies and first of all and I've said this before

on the show so for the listeners I'm sorry you're

getting the same story again uh Damien Wayne

is the spawn of Talia Al Ghul who is the spawn

of Ra's Al Ghul the guy that wants to take over

the world and also Bruce Wayne the guy who wants

to save the world I just like I just don't get

it and that's you know the whole thing is like

Why did Damien's clone or Batman's clone or whatever

else have to kill him? Why couldn't they just

have let the Joker friggin' kill him? Again.

Another Robin bites the dust. Yeah, really, I

know. And it's like... But, um... Oh, yeah, no.

So I was, you know, so I've been reading this

Batman and series, because since Damien's death,

they've had Batman and Carrie Kelly, Batman and

Catwoman, Batman and Batgirl, Batman and... Whatever

bat character they can think of coming up. There's

gonna be a whole arc Batman and two -face Springing

out of the villains month two -face one -shot

And I'm honestly probably gonna drop the book

after that and I didn't just slowly coming back

I tried Batman Superman that new Ongoing that

they have I'm gonna keep giving that a shot.

It's on issue 2 right now, isn't it? Yeah, it's

on issue two. Well, it's immediately suffering

from what I think DC screws up when they do these

things. Like, hey, it's an issue one, it's a

jumping on point. Anybody can come read this

story and the first thing they do is bring in

multiple universes and versions of the character

that... I'm sorry, I love how Jai Lee... Jai

Lee, right? Is that the artist? All the ropes

and wires everywhere. I love his art. I love

looking at the pictures, but I can't tell who's

who when he draws them like that That was it's

just it's been confusing, but I'm gonna stick

with that when it's not gonna go on forever I've

Well, I've stopped I I read the first two issues

and I immediately took them back up and traded

them in and I and I took it off my list because

the issue no Batman Superman number one By the

end of the you know I was following up. I'd really

really enjoyed the the monologue between Batman

and Superman like the oh that that devil looking

thing and oh the guy that has a red You know

I enjoyed all their internal monologues, but

When it got to the point where I didn't know

who the fuck the villain was or what the fuck

was going on at the end of that first issue I

was like yeah, I'll give this one more issue

if it doesn't hook me then I'm done red issue

2 and I'm like Okay, I see so there's two different

universes here two different Superman and two

different Batman and I'm like Yeah, no No, just

no What I think DC and it's too late now with

the new 52. I think they've messed up their chances.

I think They need to do what Marvel did with

Creating it like an ultimate universe let's reboot

it right now in the contemporary times but for

everybody who still cares we're gonna leave the

original universe intact with action comics number

nine hundred and god knows what. We're gonna

leave all that continuity in the crisis and everything

is still in place But we need someplace where

people can actually jump in on and that's what

they advertised All -star Batman and all -star

Superman could be an all -star Superman was a

mess where oh Superman's dying but then they

don't bring it up for 11 issues and an all -star

Batman was was Frank Miller going around masturbating

all over his Batman dream and killed goofing

around with robin and you're in a war son like

no you're gonna scare away new people doing this

dc come on yeah They need an Ultimate Universe

where they can reboot it and they don't have

to worry about continuity. They don't have to

worry about doing everything the same way that

they've done it before. Then they need to leave

it intact for seven to ten years like Marvel's

somehow managed to do even though they reset

it or something. I don't know what... I don't

even know what the Ultimate Universe resets have

been because I didn't buy them. I just kept reading

my Ultimate Spider -Man. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I...

at this point and i've said this before on the

show to one of the main reasons why never get

into comics was go to a comic shop iron man number

six hundred and something and i'm like okay do

you mean i have to read the previous six hundred

and something issues to get caught up that was

one of my main complaints but now that i can

go back and single out stories like uh... greg

ruck is running punisher i can single out those

technically four volumes since interwar zone

is the end of his run um... i can single out

that one run and be okay beginning middle and

good you know so that's again why i'm really

enjoying trades and all that stuff when it comes

to that but as far as like ongoing single issues

uh... i'm really really thinking about cutting

back on a lot of stuff i get because it's just

i'm not Don't want to say I'm not enjoying it,

but I'm not satisfied enough Take zero year for

example the the 12 month Event that takes place

six years before the current events in the new

52 if that makes any sense Scott Snyder Scott

Snyder is doing a zero year the new or new 52

origin of Batman They're telling you different

bits and pieces and whatever else that you've

never seen or heard before Along with obviously,

you know, you can't do a Batman origin and not

have his parents die That puts him on the path

to becoming Batman. We're three issues into that

arc He's so slow So slow haven't died yet No.

Well, no, his parents died. It's not that slow.

His parents died, but it's like the issue 23

that just came out, we just talked about it on

Pullback about two weeks ago. It just didn't

do anything for me. Yeah, there are a couple

of cool moments with Bruce and Alfred, but it

was just like, wow. What is this? I don't know.

Yeah, I mean, it's like, I'm really re -evaluating

what I get, because most of the stuff I can get,

I can just wait for trades on at this point now,

because it's just, it's getting to the point

where it's not enjoying, like, the two titles,

well, let's see, no, I take that back. The five

titles that I save for last every time I get

them, Batgirl, Nightwing, Transformers Prime

Beast Hunters, New Animated Adventures of Turtles,

He -Man Master's Universe, and I take that back,

there's seven, Robots in Disguise, and more than

meets the eye. Those are the seven books that

I'm absolutely... Like, really, really enjoying.

Injustice Gods Among Us. The game's already released.

Why is the comics... The game has been released.

The comic series says these events take place

before the game. Why not just have it as a five

or six issue miniseries? I know they're doing

this whole digital thing now. And all that. But...

That's probably gonna end up... I'm gonna probably

end up getting... cut on that one too because

it just... I'm just not enjoying it. So what

else? What else are you enjoying? This is supposed

to be an episode about you. What else are you

reading that you enjoy for comics? I brought

it up a couple times. I'm really impressed with

Ultimate Spider -Man and the new not Peter Parker

Spider -Man and I've always liked Most of what

Bendis does and and he's another guy like Kirkman

whose dialogue is why I keep coming back And

I don't mind that it takes Peter Parker Seven

years and he's still in high school because the

story is intriguing and interesting and cool

and now they've done something completely bonkers

and and spoiler alert I'm sure you already know

they killed off Peter Parker and now it's this

new kid miles Morales and I've just absolutely

loved what they've done with him and and and

kind of Yeah, they've done a decent job at bucking

a few stereotypes, and I think it also gives

Bendis a whole heck of a lot of freedom to mess

with this character that he Obviously cares about

I don't think they'll ever take spider -man away

from Bendis Yeah So that's been that's been really

good I'll get comic book thing of note you might

have seen the post on Facebook Mike Couple of

days ago I was two issues away from getting the

Archie Ninja Turtles run complete Bought the

one on eBay, and I just ordered the other one

from Amazon. This is the first time I've talked

about it out loud Anywhere and so I have it has

been the hardest thing that I have ever had to

collect I'm sitting behind a gigantic collection

of vintage video games going all the way back

to 1970 two and I collect action figures and

things and other comics and heck even the original

Mirage run from 1984 to what 92 I found all of

those issues including issue one second printing

that's okay before I found all of the Archie

Ninja Turtles those issues especially from 50

on are impossible to find they printed so few

of them I've had to dig and scrounge and call

and I've finally managed to do it. That's just

one of the... Right after marrying my wife and

having my son, I think this is what I am most

proud of in life, is collecting the Archie Ninja

Turtles run, and that's a total joke, but that's

okay. I mean it. They weren't good comics. There

were a couple of good runs in the middle, a couple

of neat story arcs, but holy crap, that's been

hard to collect. You know there there's one and

I've got a guy he's supposed to be sending them

to me, but There's one comic series that I Could

ever go back to my old self and say what is wrong

with you hold on to these damn things the Nintendo

Comics system Oh my god, I've got a few of those

but not enough to go crazy about all as I want

is all of the Captain N run, all of the Zelda

run, and all of the Mario run. I don't want the

books that reprinted, because I know there are

several collection books that reprinted the other

Mario, Zelda, Captain N in one book. I just want

each of the series individually, I want the...

Want those issues and it's like I can't find

them to save my life There was one awesome listener

that sent them to me sent some of them to me

in a CBR file But it wasn't everything and that's

never the same. I I can't For me, I need a conversation

on Facebook as well. I need a physical copy That

away from me and I can't you know break it Well,

I guess you kinda can, but no, not really. I

will say there's one digital series that I absolutely

have to... I also buy it in print to have that

physical copy, but the Batman Beyond 2 .0 series

currently, but written by Kyle Higgins, just

started last... earlier in August. And that,

because no one told me... You know everybody

always talks about comixology and comixology

is damn great. It's damn great site No one told

me you could use it on your desktop. Everyone

always said. Oh, don't you have a mobile device?

No, I don't and that's one of the reasons why

I've been against doing digital stuff is because

I Didn't think I could do it on my desktop, but

I can so I've been getting that And I'll probably

go through them to get a couple of the other

things that I need to get that I just can't find

in the comic shop and probably can't order But

yeah, no, that Nintendo comic system, that's

like, at this point, out of my comic collecting,

the Nintendo comic system comics are probably

my holy grail of, oh my god, I want these now,

I don't care how much. Was the Captain N run

before the television show? I thought it was

running at the same time. Because if that was

before, that's awesome, but I don't know. I thought

it was running at the same... I think I could

be wrong because I haven't read them in a long

time. So listeners, if you know, you can email

me tfgmikeatgmail .com or send an email to feedback

at geekcastradio .com. I could have sworn they

were going on at the same time as season two

because I thought Game Boy was in both places.

Oh yeah. the cartoon, but I could be wrong, I

don't know. I know the Super Mario Bros. stuff

was running when Super Show was on. Yep, yep.

Because I remember, I think it was either 90

or 91. It might have been right as the super

show ended But I remember getting three or four

or five different Nintendo comics from my mom

for I don't know birthday or Christmas or something

Where did you go to buy those back in the day?

I? Don't know I Don't all as I know is there

were four issues. They were all um Like you would

hold a glossy photo. They were all like super

gloss uh -huh and The ones that I have aren't

glossy there Lindsay newsprint Then maybe maybe

I don't know you're probably right, but I got

it I could be wrong. I don't know. It's been

so long and I haven't seen those things in years

I've seen them. Like I said, I've seen them online

and stuff briefly But I don't even remember if

it's the same stuff all as I remember I could

have sworn it was like it was a comic book It

wasn't a rig I don't think they were regular

storybooks because I don't think they did storybooks

for the animated shows. Did they? I do not but

not well probably but I bet those were on Children's

book racks and destroy see this. I know I I know

exactly the comics you're talking about Yeah,

I had I know that I currently have well at least

one of each the Captain and the Zelda and the

Mario I know I've got them Somewhere within 15

feet of my current location. I just need to dig

them up but We'll have to dig them up and take

pictures for me or something just so I can see

because I could have sworn Do you haven't seen

any of them like recently? I haven't seen I've

seen like I've seen different covers of them,

but like the cover I really remember is Super

Mario Brothers It was a blue cover, but it was

I don't I think it was Mario and Luigi on the

cover But I don't remember what was actually

on the cover I just remember the book being blue

and I remember it being super gloss Like really

super glossy on the cover. So I'm not sure I'll

know within a week. Yeah That's That would be

one thing out of me collecting comics or getting

comics. That would be one thing I would Run anybody

over and I don't drive, you know, it's just one

of those things where holy crap. Give me my childhood

back in it, you know All right, um anything else

you want to bring up comic wise my final point

I can say is that With all of these wonderful

superhero movies that we're getting You know

the the good and the bad they're all you know

at least somebody made us these superhero movies,

and they're pretty cool I think especially with

Marvel being in charge of it that Marvel and

DC are doing a miserable job of Using the movies

to promote the comics. Oh, yeah, and I think

all you need in the front of your next Avengers

movie is something that says Go down to your

local comic book store here. You know what the

crappy slideshow of your your local comic book

store's address. Go to your local comic book

shop here and pick up Iron Man Extremis, which

was the comic that was used for the basis of

that movie that you saw last year. Go do that

and enjoy it. Here's, you know, flash some pictures

of it and read the continuing adventures of Superman

and the Man of Steel. This is going on right

now. And I think a 30 second ad in the beginning

of that would fix a lot of their nobody's reading

comic book issues. And see, that's so funny you

say that is because every time, like right when

Man of Steel came out, every DC book I had, and

I don't read Superman, but any DC book I had,

had an ad for go to your comic shop on this specific

date to get a free copy of this Superman comic.

Like they were advertising, they're advertising

the movie and the comics in the comic book. And

that's the same thing with Marvel. At the end

of there was a two -issue mini -series. It wasn't

even a mini -series. It was a two -shot thing

the Iron Man 3 Prelude two -issue comic at the

end of that It said go see Iron Man 3 in theaters

May 3rd 23rd, you know, whatever it was and it's

like, yeah, you're right They really do need

to instead of you know, you know what? I would

actually like to see a comic ad in a movie theater

over Hey, you can go home and watch what's on

ABC tonight. Yeah, or come here and we'll paint

your car at this local car wash. What? I don't

care. Or there's a terrible, terrible commercial

up here in our theater. There's some tanning

location and it's midnight sun and there's this

creepy voice that says, meet me at midnight.

Yeah, like who in this theater watching the Iron

Man movie is gonna go get a spray tan at three

o 'clock in the morning after this movie is out

Like why are you bothering and what's Batman

doing in an Iron Man movie? I don't know That

would be a movie. I'd like to see I Know Marvel

in DC have always been rivals and they've come

together on several occasions like that old nineties

now them no not before the amalgam six of the

four five six issue miniseries with the two gods

red god blue god whatever the hell they're called

uh... it was dc versus marvel before the amalgam

uh... if they just come together Eventually maybe

by 2021 or something like that to actually have

a DC versus Marvel movie I mean DC and Marvel

both like team up with Capcom and Mortal Kombat.

Come on You can team up with each other for Christ's

sake. Well, I think they're gonna need to work

out DC's incredible jealousy for having a successful,

you know Marvel knows what they're doing when

they're making their movies and DC has no clue

apparently Well, apparently bat fleck in his

13 picture deal 13 picture deal I I've only seen

it reported one place. It was buried in the Bryan

Cranston as likes Luther story Six I thought

did I read that right? Cranston you mean it's

either six seven or eight. I forget easy crazy,

but I saw that I saw that buried under the Bryan

Cranston thing in the same story. It said, reportedly,

Batfleck has signed on for a 13 -picture deal.

Now, if DC can actually pull off, like if they're

actually going to start competing with Marvel

and pull off their own universe movies, because

that's one of the biggest things and one of my

biggest complaints over the last 20 years, Marvel

does movies damn well. Animation, touch and go.

DC it's either a Batman or Superman movie and

chances are you're not gonna like how Superman

returns yet in animation they did extremely well

with the DC animated universe so which Teen Titans

is not in continuity but it's just one of those

things where I I don't know I I just don't know

I I originally thought Because I've been watching

Breaking Bad, people have twisted my arm to make

me watch the show, and it's a good show, I like

it, but I'm not, like, hyped up as much as most

people are. Maybe it's because I'm only on season

two at this point, but I liked it, and at first

I thought, oh, Cranston could play the next Commissioner

Gordon, that would be awesome, and then oh, the

cancer, oh, the baldness, oh, here comes Lex

Luthor. Yeah, he, um... What if I oh if I had

a choice between him playing Commissioner Gordon

with hair or Lex Luthor? That's a really good

That's a harsh Yeah That's like put a gun to

your head pick a company. It was kind of harsh.

Yeah Which one's your favorite? Alright, where

can people interact with you if they so would

like to do so online? Oh, they've got to try

so hard because I don't have Twitter and I don't

know how to do anything I actually I run a an

organization called geek stuff garage sale. You

can find us on Facebook typing that in with no

spaces It's a local Michigan thing, but we get

a bunch of geeks together and we all sell our

Geeky duplicates and things we don't collect

anymore for reasonable prices. So we kind of

get together and set up a shanty town of geekdom

and but but through that through the Facebook

page that's where I announced dates and what

we're doing and what people are bringing and

you can message me there and I will be excited

to to get it and respond awesome awesome alright

well next up in the pull bag we are going to

hear From Mike the Birdman Don from This Week

in Geek as he does his origins episode and then

like I said the beginning of this show after

that we will Be starting the three arc episodes

of reviewing the Transformers robots and disguise

volumes volumes 1 2 & 3 or episodes 31 32 & 33

For now I am TF2 and Mike with Joe Thank you

for listening make your great escape into comics,

and we will catch you next time Did you say Clang?

Hey guys, Raphael here at the Teenage Mutant

Ninja Turtles. Did you say podcast? Goose, do

it! You're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. You just heard the latest episode

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