Creator-Owned vs. Licensed Comics

Oh well, looky what we have here. Welcome to

the Joker Cave. Certainly not any jokes around

here. What with all the seriousness of putting

geeks in a round table about comic books. You're

listening to The Pullback After Dark. Hello and

welcome to the pull bag this is the first of

hopefully two or three of these in 2016 this

is an after dark the last after dark we did DC's

universes were imploding on each other Because

they couldn't decide whether they wanted to be

the new 52 or the DC you Why oh you? Am of course

TF2 and Mike and joining me for the first time

since I think the first annual Marvelous March

when we covered Man on a time and Planet Hulk

is comic revolt then hello. Hey, how's it going?

It's going and you really have turned into a

comic world at this point, haven't you? Yeah

more movies for you user a fine time to read

comics it is to find time to Go to the movies

nowadays. So yeah, yeah so we We did do an Origins

for you, didn't we? A long time ago. Yeah, a

long time ago. So since then, what have you been

reading? What have you been looking into as far

as your comic habits? Well, I've been reading

a little bit of everything, really. I find myself

currently getting kind of hooked on certain creators

and certain artists and writers and going there

right now. Geez, the book that Probably I'm reading

I look forward the most each week is southern

bastards by by Jason Aaron image book. It's this

crazy book about this This town it just it's

it's kind of hard to explain it But it starts

as like a walking tall type of story turns into

something a lot different But yeah, so I'm reading

that I am reading some Marvel and DC stuff as

well Getting it here and there. I've enjoyed

a little bit a few of the new Titles for Marvel

they relaunched their all -new all different

and sticking with a few DC stuff as well but

yeah, so I kind of just look at and see what's

what's I have my my new method is seeing what

is being reviewed really well and Checking it

out or if I see you new issues are coming out

I'll try them see if I'll like them enough to

stick around so I've been doing now a monthly

well I just did the first one for January monthly

blog at geek ass radio .com. We're just gonna

kind of go down the comics I read that month,

the ones that stuck out to me for good or bad

reasons, and then the new series that I feel

that are notable and should be recognized. So

it's been enjoyment so far getting back in the

comics. And in this first After Dark of 2016,

you guys over at Talking in Circles did your

top five comic book writers of all time in...

episode ninety five uh... that this past week

and uh... conversation gets started between you

and i and the comments of that podcast post about

creator own verses license properties so that's

pretty much of this after darkness folks it's

creator own verses license uh... uh... you know

just looking back at this conversation i don't

think you give idw enough credit Because one

of your comments was that the license properties

usually only happen around a movie or no, what

I was referring to is that To kind of set this

up. Basically. Yes, we were going back and indicating

what's Comic companies we tend to gravitate towards

and I mentioned I'm you know image right now

is probably I think kicking butt compared to

everyone else I think that's pretty synonymous

and valiance up there for me boom and you brought

up IDW and my response was my issue with IDW

use I think They rely too heavily on licensed

products and don't do enough to promote their

own individual creative titles Compared to that

of an image and that's why I wouldn't put them

on the same level and what I was referring to

when it comes to Licensed properties and it's

that often those licensed properties come with

restrictions especially if it is a licensed property

regarding a movie that is Within context like

if you're doing a Star Wars movie or Star Wars

book and it's referring to the Abrams verse There

you have to stay have to sign off on that They

have to sign off on pretty much everything you're

doing yet You end up getting a comic that has

to create characters that are the likenesses

of those of those people and when you do that

as an art when you make artists do that to try

to recreate real people I it tends to not work

for me. It tends to be really inconsistent. And

I think that's an issue that Marvel had when

they launched their Star Wars books was that

they were too bent on trying to make these books

Look like the real -life people and then you

ended up getting some really inconsistent art,

which was fixed I think when soon soon and it

even came on and it's been better since then

but My main point is that I think when it comes

to license properties The reason I tend to have

an issue with them not that it's is that majority

of them more often than not aren't very good

They often are just kind of latching onto a name

that people know and Usually names that are put

on those books are not the best names not the

best graders at the moment They're just whoever

and you get a product that is, you know mediocre

often not saying it's impossible to have a good

book That's from a licensed property. It has

happened You know, it can occur but more often

than not I find it that that's not the case You

know, I have to disagree in IDW's case because

they've had Transformers for god knows how long

and yes, they did screw it up in the beginning

But since I believe it was been about 20 at 2010

2011 with their two main ongoings the book formerly

known as robots in disguise which is now just

transformers and more than meets the eye those

two books have been doing amazingly well and

The only thing as far as I can tell on the Transformers

side for IDW that they really, that Hezra really

asks them to do is maybe change a title or to

incorporate a few toys as characters. And it's

very rare that that happens. They have a whole

separate line for movie comics that they did.

So it has nothing to do with that on the Transformers.

Same thing with Turtles. As far as I know from

talking with the editor Bobby Kernow, talking

with the writer Tom Waltz, the only thing you

know they basically bring ideas to nickelodeon

yes you're right nickelodeon does have to sign

off on that stuff but they've it's been almost

four or five years that the tmnt book has been

going and they started out with a recreation

story or not not recreation reincarnation story

where splinter and the turtles uh you know hamata

yoshi and his four turtles four sons whatever

else instead of being you know Four turtles in

a glass jar getting mutated by shredder you have

them being killed by him and then they get reincarnated

as the animal selves that we know them as and

The whole storyline progresses and progress and

they just it's a whole love letter to the franchise

It really is same thing with I can't speak GI

Joe because I haven't read any of the GI Joe

comics same thing with with my little pony a

lot of that stuff is is is pretty much you know

separate from the actual cartoon the gem comic

the gem comic came out before there was a friggin

movie and we have an and it had an animated to

gem series in thirty one years at this point

It's I mean, yeah, you're right with certain

names I will agree but with a lot of the IDW

stuff a lot of the franchise stuff that they're

doing It's not and they are spreading out to

do create more creator on Tom Zoller who I interviewed

he has he had a four -ish miniseries called long

distance. It's basically a story about a long

distance relationship it and It it's very very

geeky. You've got Ryan Farrier uh, doing Dave,

Dave two, uh, coming up in April, he's got hot

damn from IDW and those are all creator own.

Um, I, I just think that you're personally, I

just think you're, I don't, I don't know if it's

cause you haven't read them, maybe that you're

just shafting the license properties at IDW a

little bit. It's what's more so the history,

uh, that it's I have read. The Turner series.

I think I'm up to issue like 30 and it's been

good, but it's good It's not the idea question

that like it started was what's the best or what

do I? Veritate towards more when it comes to

companies and those stories are good But they're

not to the level of the best sagas like the best

stories for image The saga is the last year the

fade -out Deadly class like I just like the amount

of amazing titles like image puts out on a regular

basis airboy in the fact that they do it and

their original content and I think that's much

harder to do because you're creating a story

out of nothing you have nothing to go off of

you're not Recreating a retelling you're you're

making something original people scream about

it with movies all the time, right? They're yelling

and saying why are we getting more reboots? And

why are we getting more sequels and rehashes

and everything like that? That to me is a similar

thing with comics. I'm not saying it's impossible

to make good stories out of them I'm saying i'm

gonna dismiss them outright what i'm saying is

I don't see Those licensed properties getting

to the level of the best comics going. They're

enjoyable. They're fun. I read some, you know,

I I do read a good amount just that um When you're

looking at the best comics, I don't know if they're

there and I kind of prefer what boom did Where

they where they have a better mixture like yeah,

I'm glad that IDW is more moving more towards

that They are getting more creative content.

But for a while there they you know, I can't

really think of You know, what's what is there?

You know, what title would you look at for IDW

and say this is their flagship original? Content

title because I don't know one. You know, you

know, you named a few They're really That that's

the thing different comic companies have different

edicts and different different ways about going

about it in IDW Their main thing is the licensed

properties. If you look at it and you look at

us, you know as kids the 80s they have Every

single 80s almost every single 80s comic, you

know cartoon as a comic like I mentioned Transformers

GI Joe Jim My Little Pony uh... you know those

those those just five minutes all different fan

bases you may not get somebody who's reading

turtles to read mobile you may not get someone

who's reading transformers to region uh... and

they do have Because they're all about the franchise.

I mean they they've done x -files crossovers

like x -files meets transformers or x -files

They do all kinds of crossover things that they

have They've done like angel TV show angel comics.

They've done that kind of stuff That's where

that's their bread and butter is the license.

That's there is no It's not like Marvel or DC

where, you know, DC has the trinity of Superman,

Batman, and Wonder Woman, or where Marvel has,

you know, let's face it, Marvel's main flagship

character for the last 70 odd, 80 odd years has

been Spider -Man, but I mean they also have others

in the X -Men and Wolverine and all that kind

of stuff, but most people will agree and say

Spidey is their overall flagship character. IDW

doesn't have that because they rely on... the

franchise To be the cake, you know to say hey

you remember watching that turtles cartoon in

1987 -88 And you remember how good it was then

but here's a whole different thing that where

They're not just retelling a turtle story. They

are taking What has been for the last well? 32

years at this point because the original Mirage

comics were back in 84 I think They're taking

various things from different things and basically

telling you said you read up to issue 30 So that's

the Northampton arc that oh you're in the middle

of Northampton, okay? If you get to 41 to 44,

that's the attack on technodrome mark And it

leads up to issue 50, which is the big battle.

Issue 44, something happens that no one saw.

I'm sure you've seen the news about it. I'm sure

you've heard about it. So I don't think this

is going to be a spoiler because it was everywhere.

Everybody thought they killed Donatello. Everybody

thought that, oh my God, Donnie's dead. Holy

crap. What the hell? And I'm not going to tell

you how it happened or what happened or how he

came back, but I mean, that's the... And it's

not just me having an emotional connection to

the turtles. It is partly that, but I mean, you

take that and you take that storyline. Those

guys, those creators made me cry twice. I have

never cried over a comic since I've been reading

comics since 2012. What if you didn't have that

basis of knowing the turtles beforehand? Would

that have the same effect on you? Maybe I don't

know I couldn't say And I have to give the give

IDW a credit They do also have like, you know,

the the top shelf production line, which has

a lot of original stuff last year They they did

give release March book book one or book two

last year and that that is like legit and I Brink

that's like my third best book last year. It

is done by John Lewis and it's a great book,

but My point more so is yeah, they do all these

different titles. They do it a frame basis and

that's fine It's good that they do that but I'm

personally more impressed and I gravitate towards

more original content because I think I'm going

to see something I'm not going to see before.

Yeah, I like that stuff in the 80s, but that's

fine. That's something I enjoyed in the 80s and

maybe I'll read things here and there. I'd rather

read a saga. I'd rather read a Deadly Class and

see a book that is going to take me in. I have

no idea. I don't have a reference point. Beck

that more because that's a harder job to do when

you're taking you're trying to get someone's

attention in a world of comics in a world that

is dominated by known properties and trying to

shine through by quality content and Not that

licensed properties can't do that as well, but

they kind of have almost in a way they have an

unfair starting point because they have that

fan base, but they also That if you're not in

that fan base, you're probably not gonna be going

to that book And for me though, the majority

of licensed properties, not just IDW, I don't

want to pick on them, but even like looking at

Marvel, when they do their, it's kind of licensed

if you want to say like their movie books, like

their movie preview books, their movie tie -in

books, they are downright awful because there's

little thought put into them. They just, you

know, they're not to the same level. They're...

They don't put the quality talent on them, you

know, same thing with DC if they if they do any

movie time and stuff It usually is not very good

What movies there hasn't been a DC movie in years?

Well, wait, well, you know No, I know but I'm

just saying it's like, you know DC they have

you know, let's look at them The licensed properties.

I mean they have the whole vertigo line, which

is pretty much all Original as far as I know

like the only the only series I know From that

that company that DC had taken over is now DC

vertigo was coffin hill It's basically about

witches in Salem, Massachusetts as far as I know

I know I want to get to reviewing that this year

at some point in the pullback I will do it before

you know if it kills me I will get to that but

But DC there, you know DC and Marvel their main

things are their superheroes and stuff in dc

like i said does have some license stuff uh...

they have they've had the man since twenty twelve

but that just never never lasts post masters

universes again also getting the shaft from people

because the stories have been good i'd just don't

think the money is there i don't think the selling

power is there because We had an eight -issue

digital series. We had a six -issue mini series.

We had a 19 -issue ongoing from 2013 to 2014

or whatever. Last year, we had Eternity War come

up. That's just ended, which it only got 15 issues.

And you get into DC and you try to see if they're

going to tell. all new stories or all different

stories or try to turn your head or whatever

else and I'm sorry I am not this again one of

the things that happened on the comments on talking

in circles 95 I am so not a Scott Snyder fan

I liked court of vows I thought that was great

for the most part I thought death of the family

was all right but the ending to that was just

so anti -climactic um end game was pretty damn

good but I'm just, you know, you talk about new

ideas and new things. Well, with DC and Batman

and whatever else, give me a fresh writer. That

guy's been writing that shit too long. Yeah,

I'll, we, I disagreed with you on Scott Snyder.

I think that the anticlimactic thing, I think

is, I think that's people being ridiculous because

I think the only way to tell a big story is by

it, by having some sort of ridiculous big ending

where it's more of a personal, um, more of a

character moment, which I prefer. I think that's

a better story choice. And I've enjoyed, I haven't

read all of Scarsnider's stuff. What I have read,

I've enjoyed a lot. But I guess my question,

I just don't, yeah, that stuff is good. My major

point is, though, is that if I'm looking at the

best of the best of the best, when it comes to

comics, I don't see... Any licensed properties

getting to that level? I just don't like I don't

see them It's not just that it's new and fresh

is that it's good. You can you can take a like

a well -known character like for example, dr.

Strange right now by Jason Aaron Dr. Strange

is a character has been around forever but Jason

Aaron's just an amazing writer and he's been

able to Make that character great again and make

put out one of the best comics currently going

so it's just it's that for me it's just how great

are your stories and More if I'm gonna if I read

50 license copy comics my almost guarantee to

you is that 35 of them or we got awfully bad

Maybe 10 would be good and maybe five would be

really good, but I don't know if I would see

any of those Even the ones that are like good

known as good Because for them to reach that

level you need to me You need to be able to appeal

people that aren't just the core fans that aren't

just the gi joe fans that aren't just the transformers

fans that aren't just the turtles fans if you

need to be able to You know get people that aren't

that and that's usually when Batman's at its

best that's when spider -man's at its best when

they're kind of going on all cylinders and currently

or Previously and I think turtles is different

though because turtles is a comic book Characters

first and foremost. So I think that's different

to me and when I think like since properties

I'm not thinking into turtles I'm thinking like

X files like they're like you mentioned. I'm

thinking something that doesn't really Doesn't

really seem like a comic book when it comes to

it like Cartoons like Transformers makes sense

because it's not that big of a transition But

when you're taking Star Trek and making that

into a comic, yeah You know, I I haven't read

a lot of the Star Trek stuff that IDW has done.

I when I when When Wrath of Khan redux came out

they had an issue saying oh, hey, this is the

aftermath of of, what the hell is the name of

that stupid movie? Into Darkness. Yeah. They

said, oh, this is going to be events taking place

after what happened in the movie. And there's

like one reference to what happened in the movie

in the, I think it was issue 45 or 40. I don't

even know what issue number it was. You know

and yeah, I will agree with you on that and I

don't know because I I can't I can't speak to

the Star Trek stuff because I have not read the

Star Trek comic You know talking about the creator

on stuff I've recently gotten a lot into the

creator not a lot of not as much as you have

because I just have There's too many cutting

you know you say there's too many movies or there's

not enough time to go see movies There's too

many comics people One person can't go through

everything. And if you do, you're more of an

encyclopedia, you're more robot than man at that

point. But recently I found Dave. Dave is a series

that originally started at Monkey Brain Comics

and came over to IDW. IDW didn't want to... Ryan

Ferrier, the writer, thought, oh, yeah, they

just want to put out the trade. No, they put

out the first series, you know, five -issue run,

because the original Dave series is five issues.

And this is a story about what happens if robots

destroy humanity and then they live on planet

Earth. They then, because it's set in the future

and whatever else. So at that point, they have

all the internet stuff and whatever else. And

they're like, oh, they start to become like humans.

They did Dave 2, which was a sequel series. The

first series is kind of like a robots took over

the world, now there's going to be an alien invasion.

And the second series is pretty much dealing

with more emotional storylines than anything

else. I really think you'd like those two series.

I am getting into some boom stuff. Boom. just

launched or will be launching in i think march

or april i forget when when issue one comes up

but they did just launch power rangers number

zero um i did actually yeah i i like the main

story I like two of the writers on the series,

Kyle Higgins and Margaret Scott. I know I've

read a lot of both of their stuff. And I do remember

when I did interview Kyle way back when, I think

three years ago at this point, I did ask him

if there was any book, any series, any license,

any anything that he would want to write, what

would it be? And he did say Power Rangers. So

it's kind of funny that he is now writing Power

Rangers. My only issue with the... With the zero

issue for Power Rangers from boom is they start

off with the main story and it's darker than

what the show is We're just fine with me every

every Power Rangers fans the last 20 odd years

now has been craving for a darker Power Rangers

thing Which is fine the adventures of bulk and

skull as a separate story is fine that third

story though That was just weird because it felt

like like art style was all off it felt like

oh What what are they doing now? Is this another

part of the the Higgins story? And it's not it's

some other thing Don't think they're gonna be

doing that for every issue for I I don't know

for sure but But I don't know to me like those

I tend to often often with those I tend not to

read if there's additional stories Very rarely

because I do that a lot with annuals. Actually.

I've been reading Archie net right now, which

is quite good with Mark Waid and if you know

staples and at the end of each book they have

like a classic Archie that kind of Corresponds

with the issue that they just did and I tend

not and I tend not to read it like I'm like I'm

reading What this is that extra stuff is great,

but it's like yeah, I tend not to not to go with

it But mostly for me like right now, like I said,

it's just I'm going towards craters like John

anything Jonathan Hickman's doing I'm tend to

go and Jason Aaron right now is I think Kind

of on fire and he is doing licensed properties

like he I guess Star Wars You know and I've been

reading Star Wars. I didn't like it at first.

I thought it's gotten a lot better One suit and

like I mentioned when the arts kind of gotten

a lot better and it got in the Vader down Which

picked it up? But a lot of the a lot of the miniseries

have been kind of hit and miss like Lando wasn't

very good Leia was okay But leo was i'm sorry

i know everybody and their uncle and sister and

brother love mark wade but i'm sorry i only made

it through three out of the five issues on leo

leo was horrible i wouldn't say it was horrible

oh my god uh by the third issue i was the first

two issues i thought were great i thought it

was an interesting storytelling from her point

of view and all that stuff but by the third i

don't know what the i don't even remember what

the hell happened on the third issue but it just

like yeah no i'm not even finishing this the

vader story I found it to be, when it first started,

the first three issues were really good. Issue

four and five, it felt like Gillian had either

done something to the writing, or I don't know,

it felt like it was all disjointed, and by issue

six, it was back on targets. I think I've read

up to issue 9. I still have to catch up on that

one. That's one I have to catch up on. Yeah,

that one has always been kind of back and forth

to me. I felt like it was a series that maybe

should have been a mini -series, and then it's

gone on too long. But once you started doing

the Vader Down, which was really an extended

action sequence, but it worked well. It was fun.

For those that don't know Vader down was the

big crossover they did between the Darth Vader

title and the start the main Star Wars book Yeah,

it's exactly what it sounds like Vader was down

and in planet and they tried to attack him Yeah,

so I guess like the takeaway what I'm saying

I'm not just to clarify for people I'm not saying

just because your license property you're bad

I don't respect you or I won't read your title

because I do I'm just saying that Great writers.

I don't think you great great writers who maybe

want to do a licensed property here and there

but I think most of them rather crank kind of

create their own stuff or you know or right for

an iconic character here and there but I'd like

that's why I think image has been kicking butt

so much because every like it feels like every

week they're giving putting out a new number

one issue for a miniseries that is great. They

feel like they're doing the HBO model where a

lot of their books are only going for issues.

Six issues, but that's kind of the story they're

telling and then they're moving on to something

else So it's you're not getting those prolonged,

you know stories that go on for years They have

a couple of those but I just think they're such

an abundance of it's insane Like it's a golden

age right now. I think of independent comics

IDW included Valiant 2 is kicking butt I think

like I'm really impressed what with what they're

doing building their universe and how it's connected

but not completely tied into with one another

just connected enough and they've They've been

doing a lot of great stuff as well. So I think

there is like you mentioned just an overabundance

of really great comics out there It's hard to

keep up. I also want to mention the Xenoscope

Entertainment They are and and Lion Forge as

well Lion Forge comics the Xenoscope basically,

they do the grim fairy tale stories And they

take the classic grim fairy tale characters,

but they put them in all original store like

they're not retelling They're not fully like

you're not gonna see a comic adaptation of the

1991 Kevin Costner Prince of Thieves Robin Hood,

you know, no, no, but no, no, no, but I'm saying

you're not gonna see that with them Yes, they

do have a Robin Hood character But it's you know,

I spent five weeks last July going through the

first part of the Robin Hood story I even interviewed

the writer Pat Shand It's a female they do Have

Sherwood for us and they do have that kind of

thing and they do have certain things but it's

moved away and it's become Its own evolving story.

They do have similar characters and character

names to what we already know But it's not it's

not even close to anything of The actual male

Robin Hood. Yeah Story that people have read

or seen the Disney movie or it's it's just so

is in a scope is doing great things with their

Grim fairy tales characters That's a company

that I will be getting more into as as I can

because they have wizard laws stuff they have

Read writing hood stuff and it's really like

I they just started, you know, you talk about

Five or six issue miniseries. They just launched

red agent. It's Brittany Waters red riding hood

and She is going to be working for some super

secret good it's basically a mission impossible

type of thing but with a fairy tale character

instead of Tom Cruise and It's only had one issue

to this point It's supposed to be a five issue

series and it's really well written and the art

is really really good Lion Forge, I've read their

Knight Rider stuff. I enjoyed it. It wasn't,

you know, again, it's a licensed property. It's

a known property. I, you know, everybody should

know by now. If you don't, I did a whole podcast

reviewing the all three Knight Rider television

shows that that middle show. God, Team Knight

Rider, no. But anyway, the story that they're

telling in the Knight Rider comic at Lion Forge,

it's Kind of twists the origins and whatever

else, but they're continuing to write it fresh

as well You know going back to boom and And Ryan

Ferrer it just actually just came out the first

issue. It's called kennel block blues It's basically

imagine if prison break was with animals Yeah,

I thought I actually picked it up. I haven't

read it yet, but oh my god. It is so good I loved

every second of it. It's awesome It's like prison

break meets cats and dogs. Thank God. There's

no Jeff Goldblum character in this though Yeah,

and I know the ones that one out I guess another

one to mention to just kind of more something

else put aftershock comics which just kind of

debuted last April or 2015 yeah, and it last

April They they've been they've kind of they've

started off with some crazy talent like Garth

enos is running for them and he's doing a few

things that they've Last month I read two great

books from them American Monster and Flying Eagles

or sorry not like Eagles, but um Dreaming Eagles

and they only have like five books right now,

but they're you know, they're on their way I

think to being something if they can kind of

get their momentum going But yeah, like you're

like with all these things you're mentioning

and like other ones that are out there there

I think What you're also seeing are some of the

best writers aren't necessarily always running

for Marvel or always ready writing for DC They

are kind of able to go to these smaller companies

and write whatever they want create these crazy

stories like a dog that's in prison like prison

break and and do that where You may not have

had that before where when you had Marvel and

DC having such a dominant kind of hold in the

industry They you didn't get a lot of that nearly

as much or was harder to find but with today

and things like Comixology and online comics

you can get access to it You don't have to worry

about your store having it or not having it or

not ordering it and you can get it instantly

with I think it's been a huge reason why You're

getting a lot of this independent comic independent

comics kind of expanding further and further.

Oh absolutely, I mean, you know just the Just

even going on to comics ology's website. There's

no way you can look just looking at everything

they have they have Thousands and thousands of

titles you can search by publisher you can search

by title you can search by all this stuff you

search by creator, but You know I mean you know

going back to to image I mean two of the series

that I love from them were cowl and chew and

I have not had a chance to go back and read more

chew lately at all, but I wish Kyle would have

stayed on a little bit longer, but I'm, you know,

hey, I get it. You know, they ended the story

and that's fine for now. And Kyle Higgins has

said he'll come back to it eventually. He's launching

a new series from Image this summer called Hadron's

Wall. It's kind of like a space type of story

as far as I can remember. Gail Simone is gonna

be working with image. I don't know exactly when

I thought this was supposed to have already come

out It might not be out yet. It's called crosswind.

I remember when they did image expo 2015 the

end of last year. They're like, hey Gail Simone's

coming to image and it's gonna be called crosswind

and it's basically gonna be what if a Hitman

and a housewife have a freaky Friday moment quite

literally That's what it is. That's the way they

explained it a hitman and a housewife switch

bodies Nice nice so Yeah, I don't think there's

ever gonna be a clear -cut winner when creator

own versus licensed no, I don't think Well, I

think the clear cut is creator own but anyways

But what it's just it's obviously personal personal

preference and I get like especially if it's

a Licensed property that doesn't really exist

anywhere else or your you know, you want you

don't have a really good GI Joe Cartoon right

now. So the cartoons are the comics the next

best thing I get that but I think the Eventually

like the problem you'll see with licensed properties

is look what happened to Dark Horse and Star

Wars It can be taken away from you. So that's

I seriously doubt Disney is gonna buy Hasbro

You've seriously doubt to buy anything at this

moment in time. I'm pretty sure I'm not saying

I'm just saying that I just seriously doubt Disney

is gonna buy Hasbro or gonna buy Nickelodeon

or gonna buy Whatever. I mean don't get me wrong.

I know the mouse has deep pockets, but I mean

come on now Yeah, I you but it might not be Disney

but it could be you know It could be someone

else or you know that company could go bankrupt

and you know There's what the talk of a Hasbro

and toy biz No, no, no, not Toy Biz. They bought

out Toy Biz. No, it's Hazmat. It's going to be

Hasbro Mattel merging. Oh, God. As long as, if

that happens, as long as they get rid of Digital

River as their online shop for Mattel, that'll

be fine. See, that's kind of the risk. If a merger

like that happens, that can affect a digital

comic or a licensed property. So now that licensed

property you're listing could no longer be owned

anymore. So now it's going to a different company.

And that's always troubling. It'll be fine with

me if He -Man goes to IDW and somebody picks

it up. And don't get me wrong. He -Man's stories

have been great. They just don't last long enough.

Because I don't think DC puts enough faith in

them, honestly. I think a lot of times what you

see is that for some properties, they just create

a story to keep the IP, keep the copyright going,

and then they're done with it. And then they

move on for the next six months, you know, whatever

they have to do. So, yeah. Did you see what they're

doing with Scooby Doo now? Oh yeah. The new,

all the hair and the hair and the Barbera stuff.

Yeah. Oh my God. Don't yeah, I I know I'm supposed

to be outraged, but I really just don't care.

Oh I I just I'm just like, you know facepalming

i i don't really carry the way what i did like

about their scooby -doo stuff that they have

a dc is the scooby -doo team up series where

you have him and the gang teaming up with like

jetsons in the flintstones and several different

times they've teamed up with the justice league

and there is a couple issues where they teamed

up with teen titans there's i think two issues

where they team up with secret square like i

like that kind of stuff because again it's it's

the hannah berbera or it's the dc characters

with scooby because that's obviously what scooby

movies were away back in the day and everything

else, but I'm just not sure of a radical redesign

on the Scooby Gang is what we need at this point.

You don't need Shaggy looking like a hipster

barista. You know, I don't need I don't need

Shaggy smoking a joint while serving coffee at

Starbucks I don't know but I gotta I gotta say

I think the rocky Wacer racers looking like Mad

Max could be kind of cool I think that could

actually be kind of that can actually work out

But I think people freak out about that type

of stuff and here's the thing if it's not successful

It'll go away and I'll come back like you originally

liked it I know people are freaking out because

Archie was getting rebooted and they were doing

different stories and like how can you do that

and then the book ended up being really Good.

So just because like the appearance may be striking.

I know the Flintstone one looks really weird

I'm not saying it's gonna be good. But like I

I tend to like, you know Let's let's just see

and if it stinks it'll go away and they'll bring

back the classic one It's not you know, it'll

be like the new coke all over again, but it'll

be like new skooby -doo Yeah, I mean I mean I

don't have like a freak out reaction to that

kind of stuff I the one freak out reaction I

had about and this is actually DC's own character

DC's own title that that they changed was bad

girl Just pissed me off so like I get it they

wanted to have her do a brighter thing and whatever

else but To me When Gail Simone was writing Batgirl

was when Batgirl was at her best of the modern

day. And yes, Batgirl, while Gail was writing

it, was very, very dark. But she had even said

she had plans to make it lighter and whatever

else. Then all of a sudden, Cameron Stewart and

Brendan Fletcher come in and basically say, hey,

here's Batgirl Teeny Bopper book. No, thank you.

And Gotham Academy, don't even get me started.

It's the US version of Hogwarts. Ugh. I just

I think sometimes you got to recognize that it's

okay if they I think it's a smart move for comic

books to be honest with you because So far so

for so long comic books tended to appeal to one

type of audience one type of tone One type of

reader and I think they're realizing that there

are more women read read than men For such a

long time comic books kind of ignored that fact

and they didn't make books that were female centric

or they were female centric It was very much

geared towards the you know to the guy mentality

But I think those books have been good like unbeatable

squirrel girl for Marvel has been really good

I've not read a lot of back girl, but I thought

it's been fine. I think it's going for something

that's different but Like you like you just were

saying that Batman you want something fresh and

new Well, then you get something fresh and new

you're like, but I like the old one better. Yeah.

Well, yeah, but see this thing they I'll tell

you about that off -air this behind -the -scenes

stuff that should not be aired on the show, but

it's one of those things where I Was liking the

direction of where Gail was taking it and then

all of a sudden she's no longer on the book and

it's like Girl the birds of prey book I think

now and I know what's the whole rebirth are doing

a lot of different things I think I have what

I read there, you know night wings being nightwing

again and all that good that stuff but Yeah,

that was I still I still can't find a new that

was leaked the the the nightwing thing was leaked

some I think it was our but my buddy scanner

51 said something on on Twitter about that they

have an article regarding it they had like a

it was well I couldn't even find the article

because it had to have been a leak because I

searched Nightwing new comic series 2016 I searched

every different thing that I could when when

scanner 51 on Twitter said that to me and I could

find nothing not even the bleeding cool article

so if anyone can find that for me that'd be great

because I'd like to at least see what what the

thing said Mean I'm glad they're bringing nightwing

back. I think it was a damn shame that they had

to get rid of him in the first place and that's

another whole other story thing, but I Mean yeah,

you know I'll Like I said right now for my creator

own tastes like I said, I'm I'm going to be reading

Kennel Block Blues from Boom, which is only going

to be a four -issue series. I'm reading more

of the Xenoscope stuff. I know, was it you or

was it Chuck or Greg that mentioned, I hate Fairyland,

I forget who mentioned that. Greg and I both

did. It's Scottie Young. I pretty much love anything

Scottie Young does. Yeah, I do want to check

that out as well. I think you'll like that because

it is like... Like a more mature version of crazy

Looney Tunes cartoon, so But yeah, I mean there's

just so much stuff and there's just so much good

like There's some so many things that I've been

meaning to get to that. I just haven't gotten

to like, you know Last two years we were doing

marvelous March. I don't even think I'm doing

marvelous March this year. I just Don't know

like I I pretty much had it with spider -man

Honestly, I have not read any of the new stuff

since it went from superior back to amazing So

I I'm not gonna sit here and judge it But I will

say that I've read and seen enough Peter Parker

stories that at least with Doc Ock in Peter's

body It was more refreshing than anything else

I do know they had that was a one or two issue

series for renew your vows I don't even know

was it a two -shot or I think it was it was sure

it was for secret wars That was around but currently

like right now the amazing spreading work I haven't

been a big fan of the current amazing spider

-man mostly because it is That is actually a

book that is he's not even spider -man right

now He's more like a pseudo Tony Stark Iron Man,

but they are now just released this week, which

I haven't read yet. They're bringing Miles Morales,

which I'm excited because one thing, Bendis does

do Spider -Man really well, so that has the possibility

of being really good. All right, folks. Let us

know in the comments of this episode whether

you are for creator -owned or licensed properties

or if you're for both or whatever. Coming up,

we've got... Fiend ship is friendship February.

It's gonna be all pony comics all February long

somebody shoot me now You're a brave soul Yeah,

just hey laughing boy one bullet left. I know

Make your greatest scape into comic so we will

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