Mars Attacks Transformers Review

Welcome to The Pull Bag. Join us as we dig out

our latest comics and discuss them with a rotating

panel of the GCRN crew. So sit back and enjoy

this week's Pull Bag. Hello ladies and gentlemen

and welcome to the pull bag this is episode 93

we are celebrating Halloween and what better

way to sell weight so sell a weight Wow God this

sucks already what better way to quote unquote

celebrate Halloween with with aliens and giant

robots yes aliens and As you can hear by the

laughter, I'm joined by Nicole Hailstorm. Hello.

Hello. Originally, I had planned to do, for a

Halloween episode here in the pullback this year,

I'd planned to do Batman the Long Halloween.

But due to financial reasons and other reasons,

I just couldn't get that done. And I had asked

you, is Mars Attacks Transformers a decent Halloween?

It would work because it's one of the most awesome

comics ever created And every time I say that

to people they look at me like yeah, right. You

read it. Am I wrong? Episode 93 originally was

going to be He -Man Masters universe 2013 issue

7 of 12 a desk Baron and I are still gonna do

that That will be episode 96 coming up in November

Most likely there won't be a Punisher Month this

year for November. I'm sorry Punisher fans. It's

just... There's just way too much stuff going

on. Amy, stop distracting us. She talks about

sea spray and how he's real. There's just too

many things going... in my life that I don't

have the extra fundage for additional comics

that I'm not already reading. I do wish I could

have gotten... Punisher month off the ground

this year. I might change Punisher month to maybe

April Maybe that way we can do it at the beginning

of 2015 but we are here to talk about Mars attacks

Transformers which came out a year ago and I

am just now getting to Yeah, wow, yeah almost

two years ago Let me tell you, it goes with Halloween

because there's a lot of tricks that are played

on the sides. Yeah, there's a lot of tricks,

not a lot of treats. Oh, the treats for me. My

gosh. Well, yeah. Did this have multi -covers?

It did. The thing, this is the only... The only

thing I could probably find negative about this.

It had two other covers, but the covers had nothing

else to do with it. They had two retail incentive

covers. Now, when this was going on, they were

having crossovers with other comics. But Mars

Attacks, for the retail incentive, they wanted

to put more covers out with their characters.

even though they had nothing to do with the issue.

So with this issue, let me go in the back here,

it had Mars attacks with Spike. Spike from Buffy,

vampire. Oh, yeah, somehow I can't envision Spike

the vampire with rubber boots on. And then the

other one was It was a strangers in paradise.

It was just the covers to it. It had nothing

to do with With with what was it the insight?

They just want to get more Characters crossing

over like with the Popeye one. That's another

excellent Mars attacks Popeye loved it They had

Miss Fury and opus Yeah, which which all the

opus one if you go google it It's one of the

best covers out there. It's so awesome. It's

kind of like Opus morphing into one of the Martians.

It's really cool. And then, like, with Mars Attacks

Kiss, they had Judge Dredd and the Star Slammers.

And so, yeah. I mean, this was a really fun event.

It really was. So many good things. But this

issue right here with this event was the best.

Transformers it was awesome so the main cover

cover a has Optimus and Megatron fighting alongside

each other to stop the Martians and it says attack

of the bots 84 yeah because before anytime you

got a Mars attacks comic it would come with like

a little trading card and so this is supposed

to like look like the trading card Very cool,

very cool. I used to read the Mars Attacks comics.

I still do. But when this came out, I was reading

Mars Attacks with it as well. The book's creative

is Shane McCarthy on writing, Matt Frank on art,

Josh Perez on colors. Neil, I can't pronounce

his last name, is on the letters. Thank you.

And Carlos Guzman is the editor on this, and

this has a really cool background on this page

with Optimus versus Megatron. I thought that

was, yeah, that was awesome. Love it. And the

bumblebees in the corner there, if you look at

it. Yeah. Bumblebee and Ravage, actually. It's

Bumblebee versus... Wow. Hey, wait a second.

That's the only time... I didn't notice that

until now when I read it. That's the only time

a Caseticon is on this... in this book. I don't

think Soundwave's troops or Blaster's troops

are in this, are they? Uh... No, Ravage is in

a couple panels. Oh, okay. Um... So, we get the

first page here. It's basically Optimus punching

Megatron in the jaw Okay, I go to start off here

because when you first open to this up it is

beautiful the artwork the coloring it's It's

not it's it's not your Alex Milne. It's not sure

Sarah Stoner anything it's it is Matt Frank and

it is beautiful especially the very last panel

with Megatron he almost kind of looks like animated

Megatron in the face there but it's just beautiful

you open this up you're like okay this is cool

I don't like it this already I mean this honestly

could have been an episode of the old G1 cartoon

series oh this is so this is so G1 I mean granted

Mars attacks Mars attacks. I only know the movie.

I haven't read the comics. So are some of the

most violent Hilarious, I mean the violence is

like Kill Bill violence. It's like so over -the

-top and it's hilarious Just some of the things

that happens in Mars attacks it really is I assume

you've seen the movie, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah

This isn't a complaint against the comic but

I was kind of hoping to see the the Pierce Brosnan

head so So we got Optimus and Megatron they're

they're duking it out and it's the Autobots versus

the Decepticons age -old battle and the next

page the Autobots they all It's like G1 just

popped out of the cartoon Well, it's beautiful.

It's just so beautifully drawn again You open

it up and Megatron not Megatron Optimus is just

standing there telling Megatron you lose and

it has Look, there's ravage in Grimlock's mouth

right there That's right. And Thundercracker

is in a building with his butt stickin' out.

It's... I mean, the art... Poor Ravage. I mean,

it looks like Obama carrying their little kitten

around. It's pretty much... Oh my god. All I

can think of is the movie line, me Grimlock want

to munch metal. I mean, I love the expressions

that they have. I mean, look at Bumblebee. He's

just grinning ear to ear with this battle. I

love this paddle so much. There's so much...

Decepticracker's butt sticking out of the building

is awesome. It was very hilarious. You got Astro

Train, poor Astro Train. Yeah... You know, that's

one of my favorite Decepticons, and he just...

He doesn't get enough. He doesn't, yeah. in the

spotlight. He just really doesn't. So as the

story continues, everyone's least favorite human

shows up. Oh, I'm sorry. No, he's cool in this

one. Yeah, he's cool in this one. Spike is G1

Spike, the Spike that we all know and love. Young

G1 Spike. He plays a good part in this. He does.

He does. Apparently, the general of the United

States Army, one of the generals of the US Army

here, is complaining to Spike about his... Well,

he's not just a general in the Army. He's the

fashion police. He complains about Spike's yellow

boots. Again, it's one of these things like,

why would he spend the time talking to us about

his yellow boots? There's a reason, people. Yeah,

there is a reason and the general ends up dead

and we enter the Martians Between the between

wanting to see the Pierce Brosnan hit I also

wanted to see one of these Martians in a dress.

Oh You could see that if you read the comics

they dress up all the time They're horrible at

doing so So the Martians arrive, they blow stuff

up, and this is one, this page here where we

have Ironhide and the Martians and at the bottom

of the panel is Optimus. I read this on Comixology's

Guided View and they do, they zoom in on Optimus

where he says, see cover. Everyone always says

Transformers need to have mouths and noses so

they can emote. Optimus emotes fine with his

eyes in this bottom panel. Like I said, the art

is just amazing. The art is just amazing. The

only complaint I have about this book, and it's

a minor, minor thing, Optimus's neck just doesn't

look right. This bottom panel it looks like his

head is on a swivel like it's about ready to

just fall off it just It's a very minor nitpick

on my part Well, yeah, because he's not moping

finally I don't this is the iron hide I like

because he's like we're gonna battle these guys

they're so tiny they ain't nope and then he gets

blasted and then you just hear him scream i love

it he's like and the panel before look at all

the different emotions that they have uh on all

the different autobots look at blaster's face

it's so cute it's just it's just so strange it's

just it's awesome but it's It's very, very strange.

I love it. So we get Megatron and the Decepticons

and what eventually ends up being, you know,

the team -up. I love how they did this, though,

with the team -up. I thought that was awesome.

He's like, no, don't say it. Don't say it. We

should say the Martians actually capture him.

Yeah, all the transformers. It's so I Love this

I love it I'm not sure what I like better than

just the art or the story. I It's great overall.

Yeah, it really is. The thing is it's just like

This is the writing Shane did a great job with

right because what we always thought when we

were younger or even recently like It's said

in this, just like Optimus is being the boy scout.

He's like, you know what we gotta do? He's like,

don't say it. Don't you do it. He's like, we

gotta team up. He's like, oh, you said it. Why?

I love it. The facepalm. I just like it. Don't

say it. Don't do it. Don't. And then I love the

interaction with them afterwards where more Megatron

says fine I'll put aside trying to Tear you two

pieces if you can put aside being pathetic and

weak for just two seconds We join forces get

ourselves out of here Deal You know it just it's

so awesome then you have blaster and and sound

wave oh my god It's they have dimple clamp together

I'm not kidding people. That's what it looks

like. She's not lying. She really is not lying.

It is so strange. I love it though. I love that

look on Sadway's face. Blaster's enjoying this

way too much and Sadway's giving him the look

like, I so want to kill you right now. It's a

thing of beauty. Thing of beauty. It really,

really is. Oh man, I absolutely love this and

it's one of those things where the the The the

the Martians pretty much underestimate the Transformers

Because they but you gotta understand it they

underestimated the Martians beforehand I mean

look at what happened to Ironhide. Look what

happened to Megatron. Yes up that happens to

Megatron here and Poor Megatron. And Starscream

tries to take over again. You know, it's just,

it's a vicious cycle. That's par for the course

though, I mean... Since this is so ingrained

in G1, Starscream not attempting a takeover is

just, it would just be wrong if he didn't try.

Of course he's going to fail, but... Yeah. I

mean, I love... I love the look of Little Megatron.

He's just giving... There's so many... Every

single panel, there's something beautiful in

this. Whether it's the wording, whether it's

the art. I just love it. I just love it. And

I posted it up on my Facebook. Saying how I think

this is such a beautiful artwork Matt Frank said

he did this all this in less than two weeks because

he was on such a deadline I'm like you did all

this in less than two weeks. It's crazy And it's

just absolutely awesome it really really is like

I cannot get over the the panel where Soundwave

and Blaster open their chests side by side. I

just can't... Can't get over that. I love it.

I mean, look at Blaster again. He is just loving

it. This is one of your fine plans you got here,

Megatron. No one asked you, idiot. And I love

how Cliffjumper's like, uh, he always takes the

credit for himself. That's a thing. Yeah, Thundercracker,

that's a thing. I mean, there's so many wonderful

things about this. So they shrink Megatron. Yeah,

the Martians shrink Megatron. Yeah, they shrink

Megatron, but that doesn't stop Megatron from

killing one of them. Nope. That's just awesome.

A mini Megatron. He looks like... He's like a

little play girl. Like a little play doll. What

did they say? Oh, I have shrunk your message

to the size of a small girl's plaything. Well,

you know, the funny thing is I remember back

when I was collecting toys and I was really excited

for Reveltech Transformers because... But the

pictures show them bigger than they actually

are this is essentially a rebel tech Megatron

when he's shrunken So optimus orders all the

Cybertronians to attack We really need an astro

train one shot nice shot. Thanks. I still hate

you likewise Oh my gosh, I wonder if they'll

ever meet up in IDW now I wish that'd be awesome

Unfortunately, this isn't part of it the ongoing

or the continuity So fun so fun so after the

after the Astrotrain Prowl team up we get Starscream

and his takeover plan and it's just so... I don't

think I've ever seen Starscream actually scream

like this when Megatron jumps at his face. Get

him off! Get him off! That little panel of Megatron

is probably one of my all -time favorites. That

one though he's just looking at him like Are

you kidding me? We're going to do this now. There's

no words. It's just him, this little inset of

his face looking like, no. And it just goes for

Starscream's face like a ravaged Wolverine. I

think Soundwave's enjoying it. So Soundwave reverses

the thingamajig to get Megatron back to his normal

size. And then we have giant ants and the insecticons

show up. Now the ants are a real thing in Mars

Attacks. Is there like horses, you know, that

they use? So it was nice for me to see that they

actually use that for this as well. Right. I'm

not sure. I'm not sure how I feel about The insecticons

writing because it just Stand back. We got this.

I'm so I can't hear bombshell saying that my

I just it's too weird for me Oh, I can cuz they're

showing off they're showing off, you know, and

they are pretty arrogant They are but I guess

I'm more used to the whole speech impediment

with the three of them So the aliens the the

Martians surround spike in a I Didn't notice

that there was a fire hydrant. I didn't know

I saw the water. I just didn't notice it was

a fire hydrant so a fire hydrant has burst open

and there's water all over the street and the

Martians are going to kill spike and they all

end up fried the marshes have one of the best

lines in comics okay die weak yet stylish dressed

human scum because they have the same boots on

people i love it oh my gosh when i read this

battle for the first time i was cracking up like

no other i like wait a second if they have yellow

rubber boots why did they die and spike didn't

because they're hitting each other Oh, okay.

I see. Wow. So they get electrocuted and... They're

kind of like stormtroopers. No. And Spike says,

rubber boots. Yeah, in your face, General. It's

kind of, okay, it's funny, but it would be a

little more funny if the guy actually lived.

I mean, the General died. Oh, that's right! You

know, it's a little insensitive. It's it's one

of those jokes where it's like oh too soon too

soon You know, so the Autobots and Decepticons

win because of a character I didn't think they'd

put in this reason why this comic is one most

awesome comics ever. Here's a big spoiler people

if you don't like it The big hero of our comic

comes to save the day is Cosmos! We haven't seen

Cosmos in the IDW for years until now. And awesome!

Awesome, awesome. It's so good to see him as

the hero. It is, it is. And then Prowl, you know,

I never really saw... a point to his old form

until now. Exactly. But I mean, OK, if we're

going to get analytical on this, how does that

Martian ship not see... It sees another alien

ship, but how do you not see the giant red glowing

Autobot insignia and realize that it's not your

ship? Maybe they're not looking for that. They

didn't know the Transformers had... Maybe they're

thinking, hey, it's a new design. We got a new

design ship. Yep, yep, yep. And I love the exchange

between Optimus and Megatron. Because this happens

all the time when Optimus and Megatron team up.

But this comic finally explains it, and it's

awesome. You're just gonna go back to trying

to kill us, aren't you? Absolutely. And that's

the end. There's a lot more of this team up,

it's one of the best. Crossovers ever if not

my favorite crossover ever It it is a damn good

comic it really really is Like I said before

My only exposure to Mars Attacks was the film,

and the film had some funny moments. I mean,

it's got Michael J. Fox, it's got Pierce Brosnan,

it's got Jack Nicholson. You know, it's got all

these people and everything else, and it is an

interesting film. I don't know if we would call

it a good 90s movie, but it's a good 90s comedy,

I would say. I enjoy Mars Attacks. But the comic,

it's... If you've enjoyed this, you'd probably

enjoy the ongoing. Just because it's so out there

crazy. Funny stuff, I mean stuff that most people

would think about putting in. The issue of Mars

attacks that came, just the issue that came on

after this. It was a Valentine's special Exactly

It's one of the most awesome things ever so I

mean it Mars attacks really is a fun fun comic

I think you guys would enjoy it, but this one

alone stands out to be one my all -time favorites

Yeah Yeah, now that I've read it. It is awesome.

It really is awesome Because I told you I'm like

would I tell people I'm like this is one of the

best comics ever I'm talking ever I it's up there

with like killing joke. Okay, I This is just

a lot more fun. It's not as grim. It's it's just

Especially if you're a Transformers fan, you're

gonna find this just amazing Absolutely, it is

so yeah, I mean that was the interesting thing

you you have the Autobots and Decepticons fighting

on earth the age -old battle and this is so This

is so the G1. I mean the art in this is You know

some comics don't like some comics that try to

emulate G1 Don't always do it justice because

they may change certain colors and they may do

certain things that are not from the cartoon

This is like like I said the only thing I can

really Complain about is that optimus's head

looks like it's on a pike. It doesn't look like

is and it's just a minor minor gripe I mean,

you know, it doesn't you know ruin my enjoyment

of the comic overall because the writing it McCarthy's

writing is great like I don't understand why

this isn't a series, honestly. I would love to

have this as a series. I mean, it is just so

awesome. Oh, I just sent you the Valentine's

Day cover. Oh. You got to go check this out.

Oh, my God. Isn't that one of the most beautiful

things you've ever seen? That is one of the most

strangest things I've ever seen. That's Mars

Attacks right there. It was just awesome. Oh,

my God. So strange All right, I assume you're

giving this a five, right? I'm giving it a six

because it's even better than just a five star

Because I've read this so many times that I still

crack up at some parts like iron hide hit a Cliff

jumper in the head with his own arm. That's been

people Mini Megatron, I mean Like I said, there's

something in every panel that I find joy in whether

it be the artwork or the wordings. There's nothing

Wrong. There's I can't you that neck thing. That's

really reaching man It's a minor gripe Just looks

a little strange to me. It's just a minor gripe

The entire team did a great job Great job the

writing the art the colors all of it. It is so

good Really I know we've spoiled some things,

but that's not gonna hinder your enjoyment of

this comic. It's Like I said, this was my number

one comic of last year out of all the comics

I've read and I pick up at least ten a week This

is my favorite of all last year. It's so good

Absolutely Alright, I think that's gonna do it

for us here inside the pull bag. Where can people

find you online to interact with you, Miss Nicole?

Well, you can find me on Twitter at Beatles Diva.

That's Beatles like the band, not the bug. And

just Google Beatles Diva. That's me. Really?

You can link onto my Facebook and my blog that

is two years outdated. I don't know. That's me.

I don't think there's any other Beatles Diva

out there. Don't know I kind of want to check

out I kind of want to do a Google search for

the bug and see Coming up in the pull bag right

now as of this recording We're gonna do a giant

sized episode 94 and 95 in one podcast where

I believe it's going to be Jeremy fine and I

talking about Gotham Academy and Arkham Manor

number one And then episode 96 will be Masters

of the universe 2013 ongoing issue 7 to 12 Which

is the what lies within Ark as I said Punisher

month probably not gonna happen if we do have

a Punisher month this year and might only be

two episodes so I'm not sure how that's gonna

work right now like I said it's just been a rough

end of the year for me financially so anything

that I'm not already reading I don't have the

extra funds to you know put into more stuff but

yeah so we got some DC superhero stuff coming

up we will be doing more of layman and Gilhori's

chew since I know you You love the weird stuff.

Oh wait, should we explain this? Okay. No. I

gotta explain this. So the other day we're recording

another podcast, Mike and Amy and I, and he actually

asked me, he's like, you like weird and crazy

stuff? And I'm like, yeah. Next thing that comes

out of Mike's mouth is how do you feel about

cannibalism? How do you react to that, people?

What do you mean? Do I want to participate in

it? I think it's very wrong. What are the rudest

conversations I've ever had? So yeah, we will

be doing more coverage of Chu. I do have coming

up the end of the year, I will be doing coverage

for Image Comics other series called Cowl, which

is Kyle Higgins, Alex Siegel, and Ron Rice. It's

basically a what if there was a superhero labor

union in 1960 Chicago, so we'll be doing that.

Ah, and then I don't know what else is coming

up for the rest of the year in the pullback.

I do know we will have a top, some sort of countdown

episode for comics of 2014. I'm not sure how

that's gonna work at this moment, but yeah, that's

what's coming up. Make your greatest game into

comics and we will catch you next time! Aloha!

Oh my gosh! You've just heard the latest episode

of The Pull Bag, the GCRN's comic review and

discussion podcast. There are several ways to

get in touch with us and leave feedback for the

show. You can visit the website geekcastradio

.com, where you can comment on the episode and

all of our different podcasts. You can rate our

show on iTunes. Be sure to leave us feedback.

Call the voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please

remember to tell us the show you're leaving the

message for and your name. Become a fan of us

on Facebook by searching Geekcast Radio Network.

Send us an email feedback at geekcastradio .com.

Follow us on Twitter at Geekcast Radio. So until

next time, make your great escape into comics

and unleash the geek in you.