Ryan Porter of Positively Nerdy on Getting into Comics

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The Pole Bag. How am I supposed to fight advanced

alien technology with a stupid stick? Hello and

welcome to The Pole Bag. This is one of the Origins

episodes. I am your host, TF2, and Mike, and

if this is your first time tuning in, the Origins

episodes are a... It's a discussion episode.

It's something that I was interested in doing

when Steve Megatron and I first did episode three

of the show way back. when in twenty thirteen

discussion based on you know friends of mine

or people that i've come across to on the internet

people that actually will respond if i send them

a message unlike super famous guys with glasses

and all that other stuff but anyway uh... origins

episodes are myself and my guest me asking them

how they get into comics Which do they prefer

which company whether it's the M or the D or?

Others like IDW or etc etc etc and this time

coming to us from Positively nerdy is Ryan hello

Ryan. Oh Mike. Thank you so much for having me

on Yes. Ryan, this is his first time on the GCRN,

but he's actually met members of the GCRN because

he's up where Grand Con happens. Yes, the Great

White North of Michigan, especially the last

few weeks. And actually, it was a bizarre story

because I knew they were going to be there from

looking at the Grand Con stuff. And I was like,

well, that's great because I know people that

know them. So that'll be fun. Basically, that's

what it was. And I'm walking by the booth and...

I see this guy I know, like has lost a hundred

pounds, but I still recognized him as none other

than Art Danner from Off the Cuff. And he was

my supervisor. I worked at a movie theater in

college and he was my supervisor. And it just

blew me away. I had no idea he was part of a

geek cast. It was just, it totally floored me.

And I spent a good chunk of the day at the booth

with the guys, just... Just talking and it was

awesome. So I've met a few of you and actually

introduced myself to you. Even though it was

the other Mike I got really confused Yeah, when

you get too many of us in a room it's like which

one they're like, yeah That's nothing like you're

thinking of and I was like, oh, well, it's still

nice to meet you. That's fine It was a good time

though at Grand Con, but yeah, it looked like

it was you know Those guys are having a really

good time up there Your show positively nerdy

I think the Only and I said this to you off air.

I think the only episode I've listened to is

the interview with Bobby Kernau from IDW Yes,

yep for the turtles because it was right around

the time I And you can correct me if I'm wrong

It was like writer like maybe a few months or

maybe a few weeks after free comic book day last

year or something like that I know it was after

free conflict. I know it was in the it was in

the build -up to Cityfall We were... Right. Right,

exactly. It was just starting City Fall for the

TMNT ongoing. And I listened to it because I

wanted to know more about the new adventures.

Ah, okay. I'm so far behind on the regular ongoing

for TMNT. It is actually just after Free Conflict

Day. I'm just looking it up right now. It's about

two weeks after Free Conflict Day. So that was

very, very cool. uh... we did actually talk to

eric bernham who wrote the issue from free complex

a all together also we also talk to him and that

was a blast to his he's a really really fun guy

and he does the ghostbusters comic and for idw

as well and uh... i mean the the free complex

a new adventures issue was just terrific and

then like that next saturday uh... it was almost

the exact same story in the cartoon and uh...

oh yeah yeah it worked out i worked out pretty

well It didn't work out. Well, I think the comic

pulled it off a little bit better though. That's

what we told Eric man. We were like I love I

love the new TMNT from Nickelodeon. I really

do I don't get a Hair up my ass about Oh Rob

Paulson will always be Raphael blah blah blah.

Don't get me wrong. I love Rob Paulson I loved

him as Raphael, but he's doing a new character

now and he's made donnie really really always

killing it as as donnie i love i was like is

donnie more than a raft so don't worry about

rufflin feathers i'll roughly the more i think

i think i like is donnie better than his raft

uh... it's just one of those things like uh...

all the the episode i don't know which one it

was but i have the clip it's uh... how was supposed

to fight highly advanced alien technology but

a stupid stir yeah I think that was early on,

because that's always been a... Yeah, it was

very early on. That's always been a fan thing,

right? How does he do it with a wooden stick

when everybody else has got bladed weapons, or

at least nunchucks. So, let's jump back into

the comics here. Normally the first question

I ask everybody, was there a certain person in

your life, your mom, your dad, your uncle, your

grandparents, was there a certain someone that...

said here ryan read this and go away and leave

me alone so they're going to have to be uh...

well that's not quite how it happened but it

would absolutely be my dad my dad read comics

so i read comics uh... the the doing things my

dad did stopped at a certain age obviously but

as as a youngster i was just fascinated by all

the comics that my dad had and he was a huge

spider -man a fantastic four fan he had polls

for anytime those characters showed up uh...

he got those issues so i i through spider -man

a fantastic four that's when i got introduced

to x -men or avengers because they'd show up

or spider -man would show up in avengers or vice

versa so that was i mean it was all marvel all

the time as far as i know i did not read a dc

so i totally grew up on marvel i'm probably one

of the few people who knew about all of the characters

before those early nineties cartoons that uh...

i knew who all those characters were before those

cartoon started uh... and in addition to just

the comics my dad brought home and you know i

got to read after he was done with them kind

of thing uh... they the human many comics they

came with the kid the the action figures i love

those things that would reenact them i do you

know i'd read them and then i get as many toys

like that reenact what it just what i had just

read that kind of stuff so i don't ever remember

they're not being comics even if i wasn't quote

-unquote reading them i was just looking at the

pictures i've always been exposed and surrounded

by comics and it was a was a wonderful wonderful

day when my dad was like i want to say more and

i got all of his comments i like saying here

at them but that implies my father died so i

started people always tell me they were sorry

to my wait what oh no no no he's still alive

i just he gave them to me he passed them down

i guess is better than inherited so i've got

some early fantastic foreign amazing spider -man

gems in my collection and uh... hasn't stopped

i've got a little bit of a gap between where

my dad stopped or i started uh... to fill out

but other than that that's i've got almost every

single uh... amazing spider -man issue so yeah

i don't have the really early stuff my first

one is little upper forties and from there on

so ive it's a little too expensive to start filling

in lower than that though yeah especially when

you have an amazing fantasy fifteen that's yeah

yeah well my dad loves to tell the story about

how he had it and grandpa put it in the fire

because it's just some dumb old comic book oh

my dad never tires of telling that story wow

and i think i shed a tear every single time i'm

like the vision just that one little tear just

that's that's kind of like my dad's selling off

Have I've told this story many times before but

it's new to me Mike. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah, I

know It's not new to the geek cast radio network

listeners. It might be new to pull bag listeners

though here in the pull bag, but As it you know

as all 80s kids were we loved having toys and

playing with action figures and giant robots

that turned into two things and you know blonde

guys with swords and loincloths for clothes and

you know, gray castles and or green castles in

that case, but um because my parents were divorced

I had my castle gray skull and all for some reason

I don't know why I had all my heroic warriors

at my mom's house And I had Snake Mountain and

all the evil warriors at my dad's house. It's

like, how the hell are they going to fight if

they're at two different places? Freud would

have torn that one apart, man. I think you were

trying to say something about your mom and dad.

Yeah, probably. I went down to my dad's one time.

Mom and I were living in Massachusetts at the

time, because I'm originally from up there. And

Dad was living in Rhode Island. at that time

and went down there and went into my room expecting

to play with all my toys. I was six years old.

He sold them all. Said I was too old for toys.

That's rough, man. My dad took the opposite approach.

He packed them all up. Once he thought I was

too old for toys, he just packed them all up.

He wasn't going to get rid of them. Maybe give

them to the next generation, which is what I'm

going to do. But I mean, I still have almost

all of them a while ago i foolishly went through

and got rid of all the broken ones uh... probably

should have tried to do something with them but

those are the those are the loved ones right

those ones you played with the most of the number

of here if you broke a toy that's the one you

banged up and played with the most exactly but

yeah i mean it's the same thing with it you know

with your dad's comic story it's like uh... god

parents at least you sold it so just thrown in

a fire yes sister uh... all right so Later in

life, as you're growing up, are you still reading

Marvel stuff, or had you decided to explore outwards?

It took a very, very long time until I got into

anything other than Marvel. Especially because,

I mean, being a kid, like, I was, again, in the

80s, I was born in 82, so I was quote -unquote

reading comics all through the 80s, and then

you had that Marvel explosion in the early 90s.

with the like of, I mean, Jim Lee's, Chris Claremont,

Jim Lee's X -Men, number one, holy cow. I mean,

I have vivid memory of getting in trouble in

class because I was trying to read my X -Men

comics instead of whatever the hell I was supposed

to be doing. I mean, we would read them on the

playground and, you know, play with the secret

wars toys and all, you know, I mean, the spawn

toys were right around the corner from there

too. So I mean, I had a little bit of exposure

to spawn through the toys because somebody would

bring in a comic that wasn't Marvel. I'm like,

what is this? Because my only exposure is most

kids is what your parents provide you. You know,

you might get a little bit of exposure from other

friends or things like that. But most of my friends

also read Marvel because what nine, 10 year old

wasn't reading X -Men or watching the cartoon

or playing with the toy. I mean, X -Men were

everywhere and that was Marvel. And then. You

had the clone saga with Spider -Man, which I

know most people like to crap on. I love it.

I mean, that was like when I actually started

was legitimately reading comics, not just looking

at the pictures, not just reading it and forgetting

about it, but really reading it and getting into

it and becoming invested. That was the clone

saga for me. I was hook line and sinker on the

clone saga. I loved it. And I understand its

flaws as an adult, but I still look back fondly.

on it like there's this adage in in collecting

or reading or whatever you wanna call it that

uh... whatever you started reading is your golden

age well i was kind of always reading but that

was when i got invested and so that early to

mid nineties boom that everybody wants to crap

on all the time i mean that that's just right

in my wheelhouse and i just can't not be so in

love when i think about that early nineties stuff

especially especially x -men and spider -man

i just i mean the scarlet spider were a hoodie

with the sleeves torn off how cool is that guy

i still think he's amazing the scarlet spider

series that marvel just came unfortunately uh...

with uh... cain is the you know scouts better

now i thought i mean that's all going right back

to the clone clone saga and when again i first

became truly invested in those stories in those

characters uh... and then you know junior high

kinda rolled around and i got the impression

it wasn't cool to be reading comics and i spent

a lot of miss spent years trying to fit in or

be normal or whatever was in high school and

i i mean look back on that and i mean i wasn't

I don't want to complain about high school because

I had friends and you know somewhat of a social

life and stuff but it was easier to hide my what

became my Star Wars obsession than it was my

comic book obsession. I don't know how that is

the case but that's I kind of shifted from comic

books to Star Wars because the EU explosion and

all those great novels we had during the quote

-unquote dark times. That was kind of where my

focus went and I just I mean I read any star

wars not only put out i just tore up i love those

things uh... as i discovered star was very very

late actually speaking of x -men in fifth grade

i didn't discover star wars till fifth grade

i grew up a star trek it is again that was what

my dad liked nothing in like star wars but he

was a star trek guy first and foremost and i

grew up uh... next generation i lost to this

day i love next generation and one day we were

in class or at recess or wherever we were arguing

about who could be who write those great little

kid superhero discussions you have and we got

on to wolverine verses darth vader and i was

like you're out of your mind i don't know who

darth vader is but there's no way he could be

more free i had no idea who darth vader was but

i wasn't be based on how all the other kids are

talking i wasn't about to admit that You know,

I kept my mouth shut. And I got, I went home

and I was like, Dad, who's Darth Vader? And he

just gave me this blank look like I failed you

as a father. And that night we popped popcorn

and we watched Star Wars and it was awesome.

uh... and i i i don't know i know i watched star

wars first but i always have memories of jedi

i think that i was just my favorite that was

the one i watched over and over again as a kid

and then when the books came out because there

was nothing else we just had those three films

at that time and then there the empire comes

out and boom this is huge explosion so i could

hide reading star wars novel easier junior high

and in the high school uh... i didn't let my

you know my nerd flag fly didn't say a lot didn't

say a product i kinda hid that from anybody on

fear of death or social death anyway and then

when I got went to college I kinda got back into

that stuff a little bit just because I mean there's

college is that great atmosphere that there's

whatever you can think of there's a group on

campus into it or dedicated to it or or both

and you kind of get exposed to I mean even things

like magic again like I never really played it

all that much but it was like look at these people

playing magic out in the open they're not afraid

of You know, whatever. Like, I'm sure they were

getting made fun of by somebody walking by, but

they weren't, they didn't care. And that was

a huge thing for me, like, oh, they don't care,

neither do I. The only problem was I couldn't

afford any of it because I was in college. And,

you know, what little money I had went to beer

and pizza and trying to get laid. So... Not that

I spent money on that, but you know what I mean,

it costs money. It costs money, you know? It's

a good thing you saved yourself from that one.

Yeah, I realized how bad that sounded. But my

last full year of college, my roommate was just

a huge nerd. I mean, I say that in the best way

possible. And we became such good friends. And

we both kind of... Fed off each other. We both

got back into action figures because we had each

other to share the love with and bounce ideas

off of and Concepts ideas and hey, do you remember

this comic? Oh, yeah, there's got to be a comic

store around here somewhere, right? Let's go

to it And we both like totally just fell in love

with comics again fell in love with action figures

again And that was 2004 and that finally brings

us up to my exploring of DC It was identity crisis

identity crisis was the book that got me into

DC uh... before that i'd maybe read a superman

here and there like batman nightfall i know i

read or at least look through when it was coming

out uh... but it was identity crisis i was blown

away by that story despite the fact that i had

no idea who these people were like despite not

knowing i mean i i didn't know and you know green

arrow was i didn't know i knew that uh... i'm

trying to think it was wasn't buried that story

well a little bit because the flashback but Like,

I didn't know who this other Flash guy was. I

only knew Deathstroke the Terminator was in it.

I only knew him because of an old X -Men Teen

Titans crossover from back in the day. I don't

know if you're familiar with it, but if you're

not, you need to track it down to read it because

it's amazing. So I knew who Deathstroke the Terminator

was, and I knew he was not to be trifled with,

and I wasn't surprised when he took out that...

little faction of the justice league and uh...

it was the second or third issue that story uh...

but i didn't i didn't know who you know why did

man was knows who was all about i didn't get

any of the nods are in the references to what

was close coming really was a lot of it and that

is that let into infinite crisis and i i mean

again i eight that thing up i was so engrossed

in dc at that time uh... rebirth I didn't know

how Jordan was dead, much less coming back, but

everybody was talking about it because I was

going back to comic book stores again. And that

community and that awesomeness. I was like, all

right, I'll read Rebirth. Sure, why not? I didn't

know what the hell was going on, but it looked

pretty. And the countdown to Infinite Crisis,

though, that $80 page, $1 countdown special they

put out, that thing blew me away. I fell in love

with Ted Kord in those... pages only have been

taken away from me at the end of it uh... spoiler

alert for a ten -year -old comic And then that's

like driven me nuts now. And actually, I'm glad

now apparently he's coming back in Forever Evil

number seven. But like they had so many chances

to bring this character back who I met and fell

in love with and had taken away from me in the

course of 80 pages. And they didn't bring him

back in Brightest Day. They didn't bring it back

with New 52. And I'm going out of my mind about

it. But apparently now he is finally, quote unquote,

coming back. But we'll see what kind of capacity

it's going to be in. So that was when I finally

got into DC to very long windedly answer your

question. all right so now it is are you still

marvel or have you jumped ship to be i am still

marvel especially now i am just in love with

almost everything marvel is doing i've not been

this excited about x -men since those fifth -grade

playground discussions i was just talking about

i think what marvel's doing the x -men right

now is beyond phenomenal i love the schism i

love the split i love all new x -men is probably

one of the best comics being published right

now in my opinion and this goes from a lifelong

die -hard spiderman fan who is in love with everything

the dance lot is doing a good lord is all new

x -men is just is just absolutely terrific and

insane i tried really hard to get on board with

new fifty two because i'd always kind of since

infinite crisis i kinda came and went with dc

whether or not the story interest me like i went

back and i read crisis and things like that and

i try want to be a dc fan so much it sounds weird

to say like go out and do it right but it's just

it's overwhelming it really is so i go to new

fifty two thinking this is my clean slate this

is it and it no not a clean slate they kept this

they didn't keep that they did this they did

that a lot of it was just plain bad regardless

of continuity uh... so i started off reading

twenty something of the fifty two books and within

six months i was down to nine and now i read

wonder woman aquaman i stopped reading batman

during the whole crop the the second time they

tried to crossover event that's not really an

event i just got pissed at that batman so i stopped

reading that but i'll come back soon um don't

it's not worth it well as soon as this uh uh

zero year whatever it's called as soon as that's

done i'll come back and see what's going on uh

i actually really like you batman and robin or

what batman and two face whatever that's become

i really i really like gleece and tomasi as a

creative team uh way back from their days on

green lantern core um so i'll read anything those

guys are working on together uh... what else

do you see we're reading right now i can't believe

that they're not the second aquaman series i

love the for i love the the the main book but

i cannot believe for what they're coming out

someone uh... earth to i really like uh... because

it's the characters and kind of familiar with

not really so i don't get all it is the about

the continuity it's the book local gold age characters

but now they're modern and yada yada i appreciate

the nods without getting upset about the nods

if that makes sense i know enough to know oh

that's a reference to this but not in love with

that reference enough to be upset by it um and

then what's the other well the world's finest

i guess is kind of the companion to or to sort

of uh batman superman i'm i'm loving batman superman

especially that first arc with the the j -lee

artwork god that was amazing I tried two issues.

I was out. Was it the art? Was it the story?

What was it? No, it was this issue one was the

story because I didn't okay I understood that

there was some sort of dimensional shift or some

sort of time shift But issue one just ends on

this unknown villain to me at least unknown villain

and I was like What the hell's going on? I read

issue two and I'm like, okay, I get it there

Two different worlds there for four characters

two Superman two Batman and each of them are

from different worlds I get it at this point

I just don't care to me the interaction was just

so much fun the parts the parts that didn't make

sense didn't I didn't care because the interaction

between them and what what Greg pock did with

that dialogue and stuff was just Amazing I did

I love the dialogue and issue one. I love the

the monologues between the two of them. I thought

that was great, but just, I don't know. I just...

No, it's, hey, not everything's for everybody.

I hear you. I think that's about it. I can't

think of anything else I'm reading. Unchained,

but that's turned into be a miniseries, apparently,

because Jim Lee's schedule, you know, can't keep

a schedule. I'm kind of glad, though, I was waiting

on it. But now that I know it's a miniseries,

I'm like, oh, they're just going to wrap up this

story. I can deal with that. um what else do

you see that might be it i guess masters counts

as a dc book right yeah masters counts as dc

i'm actually kind of liking that this last issue

was god -awful but for the most part i've really

enjoyed the the horde coming and totally invading

and what they've done with the dora and stuff

i loved all that actually so it's it's new and

different and i'm glad yeah and we'll see masters

okay you really have to start with that you have

to start in 2012 with the mini Cuz the mini is

really setting it up. Right. It really, really

is, cuz you can only guess who the blue -handed

orange -robed guy is at the end. We all kinda

know and kinda think in the back of our minds,

but wait, how is that, what's going on? This

isn't filmation, ow, ow, ow, my head. But then

they do the 2013 ongoing, or what I assume is

going to continue to be an ongoing. If it's still

going, it's gotta be an ongoing. Yeah, I know.

Well, you know, they said that somebody said

something was going to be an ongoing, and then

it turned into an 8 -issue mini, and then it

did this, and then it did that, and then it did

whatever. It happens, yeah. Yeah. With Masters,

I love it, because it's like, this is what the

cartoon, this is what any new cartoon should

be now. Something that pays homage to filmation,

but isn't filmation. Basically takes everything

you know about these characters and turn I love

I love and hate the fact that there is no secret

What I love about it is the fact that Randor

knows Teland everybody friggin knows right what

I hate about it at least recently is No one ever

calls him he man anymore. Oh Yeah, I can see

that no I have in the land from issue 6 to issued

9 I think is the most recent one that's out I

think so I think 10 comes out in a couple weeks

or is Whatever, but you know it's like no one

is calling him he man, and it's like oh my god

come on now Yeah, um but no I'm you know the

art I don't I don't dislike it It's because I

what I hate what I'm hating about comics now

is Keep the damn creative teams Where they're

supposed to be yeah, stop changing Artists every

four or five six seven. It's not just Masters.

It's it's any comic don't I don't get why? That

they have to change all of the time You know

Take my favorite DC book which is Nightwing and

Yeah, we'll be here all night The focus will

be off of you and back onto me, but it's just

one of those things where what I don't get is,

okay, I said this is someone in my local comic

shop a while back, right after the announcement

of that Nightwing 30 would be the final issue.

I said, I get that they have to, that creators

have to work on things in advance. Like they're

working on Batman Eternal now to have it release

in April. I get that. I understand that, but...

why wouldn't you let the guy that relaunch nightly

and made him so awesome finish it out instead

of pulling him off at twenty a why pull kyle

higgins off at twenty nine not let him finish

his own damn story uh... did they pull him off

or did he leave he's or i don't know if he left

but he said on facebook that nightwing twenty

nine would be his last issue i don't know if

that's him leaving or if that's dc saying hey

you need to go over here now. Right. I don't

want to put words in his mouth that doesn't sound

like a happy camper when he says that's going

to be my last issue. He was very respectful in

the thing that he posted on Facebook. We got

to be professional sooner or later you end up

back in DC. If that's the case I have no idea

so I'm just I shouldn't be speculating if I don't

know what I'm talking about Well, it's just one

of those things that kind of makes me mad that

what why if they I don't I don't know if they

pulled them off Maybe I'm speaking incorrectly,

but why? Well, they've developed a pattern though

of pulling and or upsetting their creative talent

and making them walk out So I'm just I'm just

going off of that pattern. I'm guessing that's

that's that's very true uh... all right so what

else you're reading besides the dc stuff in the

marvel stuff is anything i i know you're reading

turtles of course reading turtles love turtles

that's definitely a top five book for me uh...

it's just it's so good and that's what we're

just talking about the something that that pays

homage to what came before while blazing completely

original new trailer or trail excuse me trail

yeah it's I mean you got new characters you have

new concepts you have new I mean new dynamics

things that I would uh... you had said to me

hey a new terms comes going to contain this and

i want to say because you're behind i would i

would have thought you're out of your mind i'll

never read that and yet i'm up to the first mini

so for the first micro i should say okay uh...

i'm up to issue eight of the ongoing so if you

have told me that they're going to include reincarnation

look at you like you're crazy that's pretty much

as good and and and and they kind of solidify

it later on so yeah um yeah they they do for

at least as far as i've gotten um because they

solidify it by leo having all these visions and

dreams and mutagens a hell of a drug you don't

know uh but you know who knows that doesn't that

doesn't mean anything but there are some things

later on that kind of uh definitely cement that

and i i especially as this like i don't know

if i like it The way I put it in the in the podcast

where we've covered it I don't I'm kind of on

team Donnie like I don't know if it's the legit

or the real thing But from a storytelling like

as a reader, I love it I mean it's very compelling

and it's very different without again, you know

treading badly on what came before Reading a

lot of image saga rat Queens was reading Manhattan

projects. I'm a little behind on that way behind

on morning glories uh... but was loving both

of those while i was reading them uh... i'm gonna

draw a blank now what else am i reading uh...

star wars and star trek both liking both of those

star trek from i d w i think i'd have you can

almost do no wrong at this point i think they've

had success after success they do things with

license properties that as a lot of lifelong

comic reader i didn't think you could pull off

license comics the way they do uh... it's kind

of amazing I didn't pick up any, I haven't yet

to pick up any other Star Wars stuff. Well, Star

Wars is Dark Horse, right? Star Wars is Dark

Horse, for the time being. For the time being,

and then it will be going back to Disney. I saw

an article about that. But with IDW and Star

Trek, I'm not the biggest Trek in the world.

Like you, I grew up watching Next Gen, and then

like... You know from 88 somewhere around 93

94 my dad tried to sit me down and watch classic

Okay, yeah new didn't know work for you, huh?

Didn't didn't work whatsoever. I like all the

classic lines. I like all the classic characters

in general So I'm not I'm a casual Star Trek

fan so I can go into a Star Trek movie with an

open mind, right? The first one I liked I really

enjoyed it I thought it was cool The second one

was okay, I think they were going for a little

bit too much homage to all the different incarnations

of Star Trek and certain things, and yes, I understand

it's a ripoff of Wrath of Khan, essentially.

It's almost more of a ripoff of Space Seed if

you really want to get into this right now. Yeah,

that's true. That's very true. It's one of those

things, though, either right before or right

after I saw the movie. I saw IDW announce or

say that Issued I think it's issue 25 or whatever

it was of their series was going to be Star Trek

after dark Learn what happens after the film

that arc was awful. I Got it. I only got that

one issue. I got Star Trek 25 and After dark

and Yeah, it's Spock going through Vulcan puberty

Okay, that story can be somewhat alright. I didn't

like the art. That's the main reason why. I ranted

and raved about that in the issues I reviewed

it, or the episodes I reviewed it definitely.

I'd agree with that. Because they basically tried

to comicalize, and I don't mean as in funny,

I mean as ripping something off the 3D screen

to 2D comic. The movie characters and the actors

and it just didn't work the the images of the

enterprise loved them Absolutely great the character

designs and the art for those. Oh god. No. Yeah

Not to mention at that point you had I mean,

it was it was that like painterly 3d style, but

then you had these obnoxious bright white word

balloons totally in contrast to the art they

look terrible just to look at it looked terrible

yeah like aesthetically just like why would you

have such a muted color palette and then BAM

these giant white dialogue and then I get they're

supposed to be white but you don't have to make

them white white like you could you could mute

that a little bit too put a little beige on under

something just so it doesn't pop off the page

and look disgusting Uh, positive. Let's go back

to something positive. Uh, not reading Transformers

or G .I. Joe. I hope you don't disconnect me

after saying that. No. Well, G .I. Joe. I don't

care. Why are you not reading either one of the

Transformers ongoings? It's it's just it's mostly

a lack of familiarity. Okay, I watched the cartoon

as a kid. I only had like maybe one toy transformer

toy as a kid I mean I watched the movie I loved

the movie we cried when optimus died who didn't

right, but it's it's the total lack of familiarity

for me And then there's like three of them right

now. There's at least two ongoing There's the

there's the two ongoing so the robots in disguise,

which is bumblebee and everybody on Cybertron

Okay, and then there's more than meets the eye

right where it's Rodimus and a rag tag of ragtag

group of Autobots and others that jump on the

lost light and go try to find the Knights of

Cybertron. None of that makes sense to me, by

the way. Basically, James Roberts, the writer

of More Than Meets the Eye said, screw you guys,

we're leaving. And he just took them off Cybertron.

More Than Meets the Eye, other than knowing characters

like Chromedome and Rewind and Rodimus and Ultra

Magnus and all that stuff, you don't need to

know anything else. Because it's all new. It's

a whole new story. You should start with Death

of Optimus Prime. If you're politically inclined,

read Robots in Disguise, because the first 14,

15 issues of that is Bumblebee trying to set

up a new government on Cybertron. If you want

a space adventure, go with More Than Meets the

Eye, because it is just amazing. It really, really

is. Maybe I'll try. I'm always advocating to

just jump on, right? So maybe I'll take my own

advice and see what happens there. Let's see

here. All right. So what would you say is your

holy grail single issue? If you could ever have

it, what would it be? Just because He's my favorite

character and I'm such a Marvel guy. It'd have

to be Amazing Fantasy 15 Not not the biggest

surprise answer I know no Spider -man is far

and away my favorite character and I I mean that's

that's got to be the holy grail So I love Spidey

don't get me wrong and kind of like you I grew

up on the the the x -men and Spidey cartoons.

Oh, yeah And the Fantastic Four cartoon, as bad

as it might be, it really made me want to seek

out the comics that started those characters.

Well then it did its job. Same thing with Spidey,

same thing with Iron Man. Now, Iron Man I will

defend to a certain extent. The Iron Man cartoon

series I will defend Season 2. because it had

a really awesome theme song. Gotcha. I really

like the Fantastic Four cartoon they launched

in, was it like 2004, 2005? It only ran like

13 episodes or something like that, but I really

liked that cartoon. I thought that was awesome.

For me with Spidey, after watching the original

94 series and Unlimited, I know Unlimited gets

a rare and unfair shake. I saw Unlimited as a

continuation of the original series, and I saw

the MTV series, and it was alright. Oh, I hated

the MTV series. It was alright. They were trying

to go off of the first film. They were trying.

Come on, it's MTV. You're supposed to be showing

music on your television, not Spider -Man, you

idiots. Really? You're one of those guys that

still complains about... music not being on the

TV not very vocal except for now let's see i

haven't seen all of spectacular but i don't know

if i can get past the animation style i'm willing

to give it a more honest try but i do remember

seeing like the first three or four episodes

and i'm like no this animation is just It's definitely

a unique style. I can't disagree with that. I

am really enjoying Ultimate Spidey, though. That

was really good. With Spider -Man, though, my

whole point here is there's only so many times

I can see him fight Shocker, Doc Ock, Green Goblin,

Hobgoblin, Venom. There's only so many times

I can see that or read that in a comic. And I

jumped on Amazing. the last possible minute.

I read $698 to $700 and went straight into Superior.

Superior is amazing. It's amazing. It's superior

is superior. It's It is amazing. It's one of

those things where they took a concept flipped

it on its head and basically tore Peter Parker's

life apart with being in his body. But at the

same time, not only did Doc Ock tear his personal

life apart, he succeeded for Peter in his professional

life. Yeah, he's now docked. I mean, Now has

his doctorate, now has his own business. I'm

loving Dan Slott's writing. I generally don't

say negative things about the man, but I'm sorry.

I read something online, him saying that the

plan all along was to have Superior End when

it's at issue 31 or whatever else. No, he's playing.

He's just being a good company man. He's full

of it. I don't believe me there. That's what

I read. I read. Yeah, I'm sure you did. I'm just

saying. I don't believe it either. That's all

I'm saying. You know, it's one of those things

where he says that the plan all along was to

end it at 31 and then bring Peter... I was...

As soon as the Spider Superior launched, I was

like, great. This is so awesome. This is such

a fresh... breath of fresh air, change the pace,

love it, love it, love it, but we all know that

Peter's gonna be back in his body before Amazing

Spider -Man 2 hits theaters. That's just the

way they do business. Because there's this imaginary

group of people out there that Marvel and DC

can't seem to get their head around doesn't exist.

They think they're gonna go see Amazing Spider

-Man 2 and then rush to the comic book store

to buy all the Spider -Man and they don't want

them to be confused that Peter's not there. Those

people don't exist. I mean I don't understand

it what I don't understand is how is it that

Okay, and I'm not counting superior team up and

whatever other other all the Spidey books are

so good right now though Okay, right, but what

I'm saying, okay. All right. How many Spidey

books are there currently? Well Venom and Scarlet

ended so there's superior team up superior foes

superior There's at least one more missing Okay,

so let's say there's four Spidey tigers. Sure.

You mean to tell me that you cannot keep Dr.

Octopus as Spidey and bring Peter back as a clone

so the regular general audience that only wants

to see the film can see that, okay, it's Peter

back in his... Want it to be a split where superior

can continue and amazing can kind of limp along

its little path They did that they did that 13

years ago. It's called ultimate spider -man Sorry

to get all snarky on there, but no it's fine

I just that's pretty much what ultimate spider

-man started as was that jumping on point for

people who went and saw the movie Yeah, I just

it's just one of those things where it's like

why are you going to take away from us the regular

readers who are like you and I who are really

enjoying this new twist for this group of people

that doesn't exist yeah just because they want

to bring in new readers and make sure that the

new readers know hey it's Peter Parker because

it's Peter Parker in the friggin you know what?

Amazing Spider -Man 2 okay really and I know

they weren't gonna do this but if you had found

a way to finish up Amazing 700 before the first

film You could have lined it up with having superior

be a film I would love superior. Oh, yeah. Yeah,

that would be awesome The only complaint I really

have with superior is black cat wasn't in it

enough Well, you could say that always it was

like like was it five pages of issue 20 less

than that Maybe a page and a half. She gets punched

like her beautiful face I'm sorry, I cannot stand

violence against women. It makes my blood boil.

But man, that page cracked me up because it was

such a, that's what Otto would do, right? She's

a criminal. Like he's not gonna go for this whole

little repartee the two of them have at all.

So I thought it was brilliant actually. And I

will say the peak coming back was inevitable.

I hate the timing of it, it feels like this superior

thing is just getting going, but, and one of

my favorite things about Spider -Man, and always

has been, is the fact that Spider -Man is really

one of the few heroes who still deals with an

alter ego problem. Nobody cares what Bruce Wayne

does with his time, nobody cares, you know, most

of these heroes don't deal with the alter ego

issue, Spider -Man still does, and it's been

the core of his character from day one. You know,

he's fighting with the Green Goblin, but Aunt

May's sick across town in the hospital. He needs

to get her the medicine, but he can't because

he's up to his neck in pumpkin bombs. I mean,

he's always dealt with that. And now, I mean,

it's going to come to a head when Pete comes

back. His life is effed because of all these

things. I mean, everybody's going to hate him,

and people are dead, and all these things that

he's going to have to deal with now, both as

Spider -Man and Peter Parker. I can't wait to

read those stories. I just would have preferred

to wait two or three more years to do it. would

see this the thing it's like why not wait until

you get to okay outside of the whole oh hey we

need to market because of movie yay outside of

that why couldn't these series have at least

gotten 50 issues if if superior got 50 issues

I would have been happy if Nightwing would have

gotten another story arc and Kyle was allowed

to do the story that he wanted to do for because

I think with Dick being in Chicago Kyle's next

kind of story after the The prankster was gonna

be exploring Chicago's past with superheroes

and all this on you know, why kid And I know

these books sell fairly well. I mean, you know

Dick has a huge following. I can't believe that

that's not selling well enough to you know, justify

its continued existence it just Anyway, what

are you gonna do? All right, so Yeah, yeah, so

is there Anything that you will recommend to

the listeners that they check out that they may

not already be reading um Something that kind

of I guess to go I mean I love superheroes obviously

right anybody that's listening to me this this

last chunk of time We've been talking it should

be pretty clear But to go like recommend something

kind of off the beaten path Saga I mean there

there are a couple volumes in at this point,

but man saga is good. It's adult So just know

that going in. There's a new series. It's only

two issues in. I think it's only two issues in.

Manifest Destiny from Image Comics. This is a

retelling of Lewis and Clark's expedition to

the Pacific, except the unexplored territories

west of St. Louis are filled with monsters and...

which is and all sorts of creepy supernatural

stuff and it's only two or three issues law deep

at the moment but man is it a lot of fun anybody

who likes the alternate history kind of thing

with the lot big sci -fi fantasy twist definitely

would recommend that uh... as long as it's not

a vampire hunter or no vampires release not yet

Or a hobo with a shotgun. I'll be... No, I said

that wrong. As long as it's not a dead president

as a vampire hunter or a hobo with a shotgun,

I might check it out. Nope. Buffalo Minotaurs

is what they've dealt with mostly so far. Oh,

wow. Yeah, it's pretty badass. uh... really really

really really off the beaten path the todd the

ugliest kid on earth they just finished up their

second volume sub both the trades are going to

be out very soon uh... i don't even know how

to describe this it's the most perverted depraved

hysterical comic i've ever read my life uh...

something similar to kick -ass but it's not it's

more demanded the kick -ass It's the most depraved

thing I've ever read in my life. It has Charlie

Rose as a leader of a satanic cult. Just to give

you an idea of where they're at with that. And

then a little more family -friendly, Skyward

from Action Lab Entertainment. Love it. Love

it. It's so like old 80s fantasy, like Black

Cauldron, Labyrinth, even Masters of the Universe.

And it's got a really... cool young uh... protagonists

like a little kid it's very family -friendly

young all ages kind of comic uh... it's so it's

so much fun to read it's at the top of my stack

every time that that would be my recommendations

kind of off the beaten path so for me uh... did

you how far did you follow the dc and universe

uh... i didn't really make it much past batman

in the series we also know Yeah, just I mean

here and there I love it I watch it all the time,

but you know I watch it all the time meaning

when I catch it But it wasn't it wasn't anything

I ever felt the need to sit down and watch all

of it kind of thing so Between now and the next

time you're on this show got it check out Batman

Beyond That is definitely the one I've seen the

most of other than animated series, okay, but

But no, I'm way behind, though. Don't start grilling

me on it. I'm not... No, no, I'm not grilling

you. I'm telling you. You have to watch all 52

episodes, I think it's 52 episodes of Batman

Beyond, because the current line of comics that

started last year going into, actually started

in 2012, going into what's going on now, Kyle

Higgins is writing it now. Okay. And he loves

that universe and he's doing all kinds of cool

things with it. And the storyline prior to it

that was written by, oh, I've got the trade over

on my shelf. What is it? Adam Beecham. I think

it's Beecham. He started the 2012 run, and the

first arc is 10 ,000 clowns, and it's really,

really amazing what Kyle is doing, because Kyle

is an amazing fan of the DCAU. He's tying all

kinds of stuff in. It's very, very awesome. I

would highly recommend that. Well, I'm going

to have to at this point, because our friend

Sweene Hollick, who co -hosts with me on our

Turtle, Comic podcast loves Batman Beyond and

has been pressuring me to do it for a while now.

So That's that's that's one more. You know harping

on me to do it. So I'm gonna have to do it at

some point Awesome. Awesome. Alright, so where

can the folks interact with you online? Where

can they find your podcasts any of that good

stuff? well uh... we just came out we being pretty

much me you know i do have various co -hosts

for certain things just came out with uh... and

so one sixty one which was all about star wars

speculation on episode seven and the upcoming

rebels which i'm insanely excited for a few listen

to it you will understand uh... is uh... over

all of that is over at positive energy dot com

not quite all one hundred sixty one episodes

but i'm working on an archive to get the rest

of them up on the website i have uh... written

comic reviews there i do a weekly time five list

every Tuesday of whatever I feel like. We got

a new box office time machine feature coming

up pretty soon too. All of everything I do is

at PositivelyNerdy .com. It's your one -stop

shop for everything. Of course you can subscribe

on iTunes or Stitcher to listen to just the podcast

and you can always find me on Twitter at PositivelyNerdy.

Awesome, awesome. So next time on the pullback

I think it's going to be... It's probably gonna

be the start of Marvelous March, our March event

that we're gonna be doing. So I don't think Ryan

will be able to get his homework done in time,

but it'll be alright. You don't think I'll be

able to get it done? I don't know, 52 episodes

in less than a month? Oh, I have to get that

homework done on top of the other one? No, not

happening, but I'll start. I'll definitely start.

We'll discuss my progress. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

So yeah, coming up next on the poll bag will

be Marvelous March, where we talk about five

of the core Marvel characters. We're going to

discuss two trades per episode. First one being

a team up of Captain America and Hulk, and then

Spidey, Iron Man, and Wolverine. After that,

closing it out. For now, I am TFG1Mike with...

Ryan Porter. And we will catch you next time.

Make your great escape into comics. It's action.

It's drama. It's comedy. It's Decian the superhero

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girls. Catch updates weekly at Decian .com and

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