Interview with Jesse Ras on Comics Origins, Green Lantern, and the State of Superhero Media

Hi, I'm Phil Lamar, voice of Green Lantern and

Justice League, and you're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Welcome to The Polebags Origins

episodes. Join TFG1 Mike as he grills this week's

guest on just how they got into reading comics

and more. So sit back, relax, and enjoy The Polebag.

These guys at the GCRN would make great Green

Lantern Corps members. Seriously. Who are these

guys? Hello and welcome to The Pull Bag. This

is another Origins episode here in The Pull Bag.

And for those of you that don't know what the

Origins episodes are, I, TF2, and Mike basically

just talk to whoever the hell I can find about

comic books, how they get into comic books, how

they get out of comic books, how they love DC,

how they love DC, whatever, rebirth, reboot,

whatever the hell you want to call it. And this

is a very special... Pull back origins because

the guest is actually live in the studio right

now. We have From 1069 play here in Louisville,

Kentucky Jesse Razz Hello, yes, so you are here

Why don't you give the people a little bit of

background on yourself really quickly um so I'm

a I'm a local radio guy Here in Louisville, Kentucky.

I've been a huge nerd from birth. I walk around

wearing a green lantern ring. That's my hero

of choice. I'll get into more why that is in

a little bit. I'm most known for, though, dressing

up like Captain America. I go visit children's

hospitals, make -a -wish kids, things like that,

with another group of people, and that's kind

of what I've become known for as far as Captain

America. What's funny, though, is I've grown

to like Captain America, but originally I just

liked him because I wanted the shield. Everybody

wants the shield. And then I have the Avenger

Accurate suit. I'm working on upgrading it to

more Age of Ultron because that looks a little

bit less spandex -y and more comfortable. Have

we seen the Civil War suit yet? No, but I can't...

Well, we've seen some and we haven't seen like

full -on like trailer. We've seen some concept

art form it, but... The age of Ultron when I

can't imagine they're gonna change it too much

because they've changed it every movie But they

went from full spandex to full like leather sort

of espionage, and then they combined the two

From the Avengers and the second one and then

took some aspects of the original movie the World

War two era outfit And I really liked what they

did with it because it looks more functional

It looks less spandex II and it just it just

looks cool last thing we need is cat nipples

this is this is true this is this is totally

true so usually the first question I ask anybody

is as a kid was there a parent a friend an uncle

who just said Here kid read this comic go away

you bother me. I Hey, I had a lot of parents

there a lot of people say hey go do this You

bother me, but I did have one relative he gave

me a box of Some of his old comic books most

of them were wolverines a few x -men The I got

a really nice copy of the death of Superman and

then his rebirth and it was signed It's got the

certificate all that I think it's worth like

50 bucks because there's a bunch of those out

there But I got it, you know, I got a whole bunch

of those some spider -man New York City If only

everything down there was really as peaceful

as it looks from up here Carol is not going to

be happy. Let's worry about liability later.

Shall we and concentrate on the fact? Sounds

like you missed me. Hal! I'll think... I thought

you were dead. Are you okay? What happened? I'm

fine. I'm fine. When the shockwave from that

shaker hit, it locked my instruments. There was

nothing I could do. I had to eject and... That

bridge came down an hour ago, and you let me

think you were dead all this time? Well, I landed

in the desert. I had to hike to the freeway.

Typical. So... You were worried about me. You?

You're replaceable. That was a billion -dollar

fighter jet! I'm sorry about what happened to

the plane, Carol. But you weren't the only one

who was worried. When I saw how big that quake

was, well... I may be replaceable. But you're

not. Hal... I've told you a dozen times why this

will never work. Tell me again. Over dinner.

What is it? It's the hard drive. I left it in

the wreckage. If one of your competitors got

a hold of the operating system. Go get the drive.

I'll pick you up after work. I promise. Mind

if I ask what this is all about? Green Lantern

of Sector 2814. Report immediately to EWA. Priority

1. Hey, Bub? I keep telling you... DON'T CALL

ME WOLVY! Snicked so I started reading some of

those but those were like heavy 90s comics and

and so everybody had a mullet Everybody was edgy.

Everybody was just dying or this and that I mean

I think one of the first ones I read out of there

that I thought was cool was the the issue of

x -men were Wolverine and gets all the adamantium

ripped out of his body by Magneto Which was cool,

but for the most part I really got into it started

getting into comics because of the spider -man

animated series. Yeah So that cartoon show kind

of got me interested. So I bought some Spider

-Man stuff here and there, but I wasn't what

I am now. That didn't come. So there was sort

of a hiatus between like real serious comic stuff

after I stopped playing with toys. So it was

just, you know, and I said, Hey, hey girls, I

love. That kind of fell by the wayside. Yeah,

your teenage years. That's where most people

usually say they've fallen out is their teenage

years. They know certain girls play sports, that

kind of stuff. Well, I certainly didn't play

sports. But I mean, I watched a lot of the cartoons.

So I kind of kept up with the characters in that

aspect. But then it was like when I was 18, 19.

I was living in New York City. And there's a

comic book store, Midtown Comics. And I walked

in there because I was like, man, this place

looks really cool. And I started looking around

and there was something about, it was right,

I don't know, maybe six months after Green Lantern

Rebirth, where Jeff Johns went through and kind

of cleaned up the Green Lantern universe. And

there was some issue that just kind of caught

my eye, something that jumped out, so I bought

it. And the guy behind the counter was like,

wow, actually this is a first run, we found extra

in the back. So I was like, okay, whatever. And

so I really started getting into Green Lantern,

and then this was when 52 started kicking off,

which wasn't a bad run. It had its good moments.

Countdown was atrocious. But 52 52 was fine and

but a lot of that stuff that started tying into

that so I really started getting into DC which

then was my gateway drug back into Marvel I started

really following the Avengers Captain America.

I was in New York for Captain America's death.

I remember buying Because I was stupid and I

had money back then, so like, oh, there's three

variant covers? Yeah, sure, I'll buy all three

of them. Whatever, I don't care. Yeah, that's

the thing nowadays. The variant covers, oh my

god. They get obsessive. They get crazy. The

variant covers very well might be the death knell

of the comics industry. It just released, well,

this episode will go up next week, but on March

2nd... boom studios released money more power

rangers number one I want to buy them all and

there are like like 30 or 40 or I don't even

know how many different variant covers for this

one issue and When IDW did their back to the

future number one there was like 35 different

covers for that and I'm like Seriously, I love

variant covers. I do and for me and I've said

this on the show before if I'm You know, if I

have a pull bag or a pull list at the Great Escape

over there on Barstown Road, and... Nice drop,

by the way. It says, yeah, I know, right? So

it says that, you know, with the common companies,

it says if you have these on your list with your

shop, you get a subscription cover. Yeah. I had

to explain to them... about getting the subscription

cover, because I'm like, okay, if they're telling

me I can get a different cover for the same price

as the regular cover, then I feel entitled to

get that cover. Yeah, and it's so tricky, because

the ones that end up being worth anything are

usually a variant cover. Are the retail -incentive

or retail -exclusive, yeah. Or they start out

at, they don't start off at normal comic price,

they start off at about 12 to 15 bucks sometimes.

So I ended up grabbing, because I did that, so

I grabbed the Ed Brubaker, and then the original

Civil War one, where he's got the blood and the

handcuffs. And I bought them both, and I'm walking

out of the comic store, and there's a news crew

out there, and I'm like, this is really weird.

And somebody holds a microphone up to my face

and goes, so how do you feel about Captain America

dying? And I just looked at her and I was like,

whoa, whoa, whoa, y 'all, spoiler alert, I just

bought the issue. And so, I mean, that was, that

was just a, it was a crazy time and I was, I

mean, I was buying probably 25 titles. A week?

A month, I would say, but I mean, I was going

in and I had, you know, I pull this weekly and

then when I'm, you know, when I moved back here,

I was still buying online because you get like

30 % off when you buy online. I tell you, the

best place, if you're not using any of the local

comic shops here, DCV service calm I've seen

them they are like I looked at I looked at it

for a buddy of mine Because I he likes Batman

and a bunch of other stuff And I was trying to

show it to him whatever else and it was like

Batman 51 40 % off right off the top So I'm like

that's that's the best deal honestly because

what with DC service you can get You can get

them shipped weekly, you can get them shipped

twice a month, you can get them shipped monthly.

Monthly is probably the cheapest because you

get one giant box of comics. So what I would

do is if every order, if it's over X amount of

dollars, you get free shipping. And I was buying

so many, but usually every order was, so every

week I would get something. But I loved it because

you get free bag and boards with that. So it

was like I would literally pull it out, read

it, put it back in. It's in the bag, and it's

in great condition. Unfortunately, most of my

comics survived the trip from New York City,

but not all of them in mint condition. All right,

so characters. When you were a kid, who was your

favorite character? Oh, Spider -Man. hands down,

it was just the Spider -Man, the animated series

started coming out. I liked Batman a little bit,

the movie kind of, but I was never like running

around going, I'm Batman. And when I was little

little, there's a great picture of me, my dad

flying me a Superman. And because I wanted to

be that one year for Halloween and so... They

had Superman costumes, but it was like pajamas.

And it didn't come with a red underwear, which

was stupid. So my parents went out and bought

like little underwears and dyed them red. And

it's just, it's a cool photo. And I just had

a little boy, so I can't wait for him to be a

little older, so I can kind of recreate that.

But so probably Superman and Spider -Man. I mean,

really, growing up, I mean, kids now, not to

sound old, but kids now. They have exposure to

a lot of different characters in pop culture.

It's a lot more diverse nowadays than it was

30, 40 years ago. I mean, Superman, Batman were

really, when it comes to movies, that was really,

if you weren't reading comic books, that was

what you got. And then you got some cartoon series

with Spider -Man, X -Men, they try to throw Silver

Surfer in on there occasionally, and that just

kind of, fantastic four for all the hokeyness

it was. Well, the Fantastic Four one wasn't...

It is bad, but it's not as bad as something like

Silver Surfer or Hulk. Or Hulk. Hulk can never

catch a break. The Iron Man 90s cartoon had its

moments. Season 2 had its moments. It got me

interested in Iron Man. That's where I learned

about that. Most of it was cartoon based. Like

I said, I had Spider -Man action figures. I had

Iron Man. I had an Iron Man that was the space

armor. My dog chewed the head up and my parents

wouldn't... wouldn't buy me another one, so it

became Battle Damaged Iron Man. So it's like,

all right, that worked out really well. Yeah,

that's awesome. For me, in syndication, in the

80s, we had Adam West and Bertman and all, because

even though that show only lasted three years

back in the 60s. But they played the heck out

of it. Oh, absolutely. As a kid, I thought it

was an ongoing show. Must be new. Must be new.

It's new to me. and you know, we had I think

it was Adventures of Batman, this was before

BTA, but the K .C .K., some Adventures of Batman

and Robin and all that and Scooby -Doo team ups.

Super Friends. Super Friends. Meanwhile, in Mike's

bedroom. The only problem I ever had with Super

Friends is. Wendy and Marvin. What, the Wonder

Twins? Oh yeah, no, Wendy and Marvin. There was

a season or two of Super Friends where they had

like, kid sidekicks. Because every executive

that's ever done a cartoon is like, well, if

kids like cartoons, kids are going to love kids

in cartoons. That's why Robin got tacked onto

Batman the Animated series. Because Fox was like,

well, we need a kid in there. Yeah, well, Robin

wasn't exactly a kid in that series. Well, that

was sort of the compromise that they got. Based

on content like that if Robin was a kid in that

series. I don't think I've interviewed the guy

twice So but you know we had that you know we

had the Scooby -Doo mystery thing with the team

ups and the Harlem Globetrotters and all that

but the only thing but I think it's specifically

the challenge of the Super Friends series only

problem I have with that now is Looking back

on it every episode that deals with dark side.

He just wants to get one woman's pants Pretty

much, and can you blame him? Well, no, but I'm

just saying, it's like, you know, I'm just saying,

it's like one of these things where, wow, that's

the plot, that's the plot for a cartoon, for

a kids show. Well, you know what's funny is the

comparison between comics and cartoons. Comics,

for the most part, were designed for kids. and

the superhero stuff kind of came along that cartoons

didn't originally start off being meant for kids

your Warner Brothers stuff that was all airing

before like Gone with the Wind so that was very

adult so it's weird to see the overlap with that

and maybe even said before you know I've seen

in previous interviews with Chuck Jones and all

those guys they said we're not making these for

we're making these for us we're making yeah to

make each other laugh Exactly, and so it's so

weird now that comics and cartoons are so intertwined

and the history behind the two of those. You

know, the 90s, it was, you know, I go back and

I read 90s comics now and everybody had the mullet

and everything had to be edgier and every, oh

my gosh, the muscles. The muscles upon muscles

upon muscles. It's ridiculous. Have you ever

seen Phineas and Ferb? Yes. Okay, there's an

episode of Phineas and Ferb where they get sent

these x -ray vision goggles and it's the cheesy

gimmicky goggles thing. So in this episode, he's

like, oh, Oh man, just like that bodybuilding

thing we tried to do last summer, you know, as

Phineas looks away, Ferb just kind of stands

over and just all these muscles, it's all these

muscles that fair out of him, and I'm like, oh

my God, that's hilarious. I mean, they look like

tumors. It's what they look like. Like, I really

liked Cable in the 90s, but I mean, even he,

it was just like, oh, this is so much. See, with

the Spider -Man in the X -Men cartoon, and...

to a lesser extent, Iron Man, but Spider -Man

and the X -Men specifically, those two cartoons

tried their damnedest to basically rip the characters

from the pages. You know, and growing up, I didn't

know that, and then, you know, I went back and

I read some of those comics, and just, I'm still

surprised at how accurate a lot of that stuff

is. And sometimes it's funny, because if you

watch the cartoon first, and then you watch it

and you read Spider -Man, you get a little disappointed

and you're like... No, that's not how it's supposed

to be. That's not how it's supposed to be at

all. But they were, I mean, they were pretty

truthful to the characters, I think. They were.

And X -Men, I mean, the Phoenix Saga, for the

most part, was, I mean, it had some changes,

but it was pretty close. Then there was the Dark

Phoenix Saga. Yeah. See, the problem I had with

the, and I know we're not really, we're talking

comics, folks, but we're not really talking comics

here. Sorry, my fault. It's alright. You're a

local radio star. You can do whatever you want.

Gee, thanks. The problem I always had with the

X -Men cartoon was that fifth season. Because

season four ended with Beyond Good and Evil.

That four -part with Apocalypse and that big,

giant four -part story. I always thought that

was the series finale. And then, hey, guess what?

Here's season five. And I'm like, what? Well,

it comes down to internal struggles with Saban

and Fox. And heck, a lot of those episodes didn't

even air in the right order. You know you get

you get you know one episode of the phoenix saga

and then you go to get a one -off And they didn't

air in there when it has to do with you know

the 90s animation and foreign countries and going

back and forth and so so it You know finance

got in its own way with that all right, so today.

What are you? When did you start getting, after

you got out of it when you were a teenager, when

you found girls and all that stuff, when did

you start getting back into it again? About when

I was 18, 19, I stumbled into that comic shop

and I really started, I went to school for television

and film acting, and so reading scripts and stuff,

but I had a lot of down time and there's so much

good writing in comics, there's a lot of bad

writing, but there's a lot of good stuff and

a lot of good stories to be told. Civil War I

jumped in right around the time Civil War was

really getting in its heyday And so I started

18 19 years old I started reading the Avengers

Civil War did exactly what it was designed to

do got you interested in some of these other

because you know I would buy I buy this issue

of this series because it added just an extra

nugget to the story Final cry or infinite crisis

that was going on in DC So I started jumping

in on that that got me interested a little bit

more in Captain Every Power. I mean Superman

Green Lantern I was Still enamored with I'm still

on board with that they aggravate me at times,

but I think the Jeff Johns run is solid completely

and I read Animal Man for a little while, which

was weird, but that came out at 52. I thought

that was okay for a little bit. I just jumped

on all these money -wasting side issues and things

like that. See, that's where they get you. They'll

say, oh, we're doing this super -giant event.

Universe -spanning event. Universe -spanning

event. when they relaunched with New 52, they

did Death of the Family with Batman. And I still

haven't finished all of that because you had

to buy seven issues a week to continue the story.

I mean, you can just buy Batman 13 to 17. Yes,

and I did. To get just the crux of the story,

but... you know, there's Batgirls 15, there's

Nightwing 15, there's all, and for me, that's

how, and people would know this, because this

podcast has been going on for years now, that's

how I got into character, like, I looked at characters

from the DC and the universe, and I'm like, okay,

I love Batgirl, I love Tara Strong voicing Batgirl,

I love Lauren Lester voicing Robin slash Nightwing,

so I kind of read forwards and backwards. I went

from, I started at Nightwing 15, which was his

Death of the Family issue, I went all the way

to the end of the run. I'm the same way. And

then I went back to issue zero to read up to

issue 14 to see what the first couple are. I'm

such a sucker because I'll get in there. Like

right now I'm trying to catch up the Secret Wars,

whatever that was with Marvel. So I'm trying

to get through that, but I'm like... haven't

read issues that go up to that so I have to go

back and I'm like alright I need to read this

run of the Avengers I don't have to understand

but I'm like I want to because I like I like

the full scope of the story so I end up getting

so bogged down and all the stuff before and and

like I said I am a comic buyers dream because

they're like that guy has that guy's gonna buy

a lot of comics today but I just I like the stories

and I like I used to radio whenever there's a

remote broadcast there's usually some guy that's

sitting back in the studio just pushing buttons

that's all he has to do listen make sure it sounds

good so when I was doing that I would bring about

20 to 25 comic books in because you're being

paid to be there for 20 or for for two hours

and you have to push buttons four times an hour

or four times total. And so there's a lot of

downtime. So I'd sit there and I'd tear through

a whole thing of comic books. But I'm sort of

in that regression. So I decided I wanted to

get married or my wife decided that we had to

get married. And so I quit buying comic books

so I could afford a ring. And so I've jumped

back in in a limited capacity. I'll go, in case

you don't, I'll go to the comic book store and

just drop a big chunk of money. and just buy

a whole bunch of trades. I love trades. Trades

are great. I love individual issues, but one

of the draws of buying individual issues usually

for people is, oh, they're going to be worth

something someday, which is a travesty. Don't

do it. It's not like it used to be, folks. No.

It really isn't. This isn't 1941 where you can

find Action Comics number one. You're not funding

your kid's college on your comic book buying

habits. If you love them, buy them, maybe eventually

one issue will be worth something someday, but

it's doubtful. But I love the trades though because

I can throw them in my backpack and throw them

around. I don't have to worry about, oh man,

I kind of damaged that comic book. Because even

to this day, even if they're not going to be

valuable, I'm a stickler. And I still want when

I was collecting trades and stuff, because we'll

talk about this in a minute, I've gone digital.

You know some I do some I don't well see once.

I went digital. I was like oh my god. I can never

not Because I would hang you know when my mom

was still alive we were in different apartment,

and I'm sitting here It was just a single issue

actually I bought like I don't know what it was

whatever week it was I bought like five or six

one Yeah, said okay. I want to read this one

first this one first, and I'll save that thing

for later I'm sitting there, and I'm trying to

read it next thing. I know the thing falls out

of my hand on the floor and I fall asleep. And

it's not because of the comic. It's because I

was tired that day or something. When we did,

we did Punish a Month, the first annual Punish

a Month when we did that, when we were doing

Warzone and all this, the Greg Ruck -a -Run and

all that stuff. I was reading Welcome Back, Frank,

in trade. I'm sorry, the trade of that thing,

because it's 12 issues, it's like, people can't

see this because there's this radio. I mean,

it's about, it's an inch thick. pretty friggin

thick and I'm sitting here holding it in my hand

trying to read and I'm just nodding off nodding

off well I mean that's the joy of comics and

it's serial form is you get issue to issue and

you can pick up and you can stop this and stop

that and it's and I like buying comics there

is no replacing the tactile sense of and the

smell and getting that sort of thing But there's

some I do buy digital because I'll have my computer

with me and I can pull up my account, or I'll

have my Kindle with me and I can pull up my account.

And it's great because I can have most of a run

with me in one thing. Because living in New York

City, there's a lot of public transportation.

And that's what I miss the most about it. You

ride buses, subways, you kind of have something

to read. That's one thing Louisville has needed

for the past 20 years, 20 some odd years that

I've needed. It's reliable. It either needed

a monorail or an underground subway. Yeah, wow.

This is the main reason, comicsology .com, this

is the main reason why I have switched to digital

because they go panel by panel. They do a really

good job with it. And it is so amazing. That's

the main reason why I've pretty much stayed digital

at this point. Yeah. It's a great app and look,

I'm not one of those people that are purists

about it. I think it's fantastic because it keeps

comics relevant and keeps it in... the hands

of the average user. And I think there's always

gonna be a place for printed comics. Oh, absolutely.

I love it. There's nothing better than going

into a comic book store. No, yeah, it's great.

Especially when you have a well -run one, because

there are some comic book stores, and I'm not

naming names, but there are some comic book stores

where the owner can be, I mean, they can be a

little exclusive, and you have to almost prove

yourself when you go in there, which is a shame.

Yeah. It's like, oh, well, what's... What was

so -and -so's name at issue 143? Which usually

I can answer their questions, but it's like you

know I come in here because I'm one of first

off I want to buy something from you, but second

I go there because I want to talk shop. Yeah,

exactly You know I wanted that I want to talk

with the people that love this Absolutely You

know you're saying earlier about you know jumping

back and forth in the storyline and stuff like

that for me like because I As a kid, I wasn't

even that into it. I mean, I got a comic here

and there, but I wasn't deep into it. I was more

with action figures and all that stuff. But when

I started getting back into it, or when I got

into it full -time back in 2012, I was like,

I don't know if I want to dive a year after New

52. Yeah, it's hard to jump into that continuity.

Well, because it's one of those things where

it's like... My biggest thing was before, like

right after New 52 launched, my buddy Steve did

a written review of issue 13 of Batman, which

is the start of Death of the Family. After I

read it, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna jump in, I'm

gonna jump in with Batman and it'll be fine,

whatever, I'll catch up with Court of Vowels

later and all this and all that. But before that

happened, I was like, why do I want to go into

a comic shop and pick up... issue number 675

of Batman when I have to now read the past 670.

That was my biggest issue because I'm one of

those types of people that I want to start at

the beginning of the story. And that's, I mean,

that's the constant debate Marvel versus DC because

DC, I mean, has recently just said, you know

what? Screw continuity. We don't care. You know,

and that's not true for every... for every series.

I mean Green Lantern holds onto that pretty quickly.

It's in sort of its own bubble out there because

of what Jeff Johns was doing and it was successful.

As long as Johns is still at DC, Green Lantern's

always going to be in its own bubble. Which is

great, but Marvel has kind of done that too and

that's why they relaunch titles, that's why they

renumber, that's why it's issue one, volume seven.

And all that stuff to make it less daunting,

which is good and bad. I just think they want

more money off the number ones. well that there

is something to that too but that was that was

been one of the major complaints through throughout

the years is it's so hard to jump into spider

-man 683 and you haven't been in the storyline

so that's why you get issues every every like

10 to 15 issues the origin is sort of rehashed

in the beginning or something is you're like

I've just been I've been reading this why do

you need to go over this again and it's because

you know there's some parallels to radio I'm

on for I'm on from five to ten, so I'm on for

about five hours in the morning. Every quarter

hour, every half an hour, I got a new audience

because people are getting in and out of their

cars. And so, you know, it's hard for me to remember

that, that we have to reintroduce something that

we were talking about or reintroduce ourselves.

Comics are the same way. Every couple of issues,

they have to reintroduce a concept or something

like that. It's just, with Marvel specifically

and their renumbering, It's kind of it gets kind

of confusing well, okay, so it's not that it's

confusing to me It's why did you do this when

you already when you just reached okay, so take

yeah takes silk or spider gwen or the Undefeatable

undefeated whatever the yes world book this world

girl comic is yeah those three titles They started

off a couple of years a year ago or so with number

one They gave them their run and then all of

a sudden like The next year, hey, guess what?

Another all -new number one for these three.

And I'm like, why would you do that? A lot of

that has to do, too, with you have artists and

you have writers that want to put their spin

on it. So a lot of times, I would imagine squirrel

girl, I don't know this, so don't email it if

I'm wrong. But this is an example because this

happens. So you'll get a deal, and it's like,

we're going to do 13 issues for this with one

writer. So he signs on to that, and he knows,

hey, I got 13 issues with this. So while he's

doing this, he's still looking for work. So he

signs on to do something else. Well, that 13

issues went really well. We're either going to

extend it or do a whole new run. Well, some of

that rider's not there. So now you're faced with

a choice. Do we want to get somebody to pick

up the pieces, or do we want to start over? And

there are great things with both sides. But I

agree with you. It gets confusing sometimes,

and it gets kind of daunting with that. You know,

it's still exciting, and there are good stories

to be told. Oh, there are, absolutely. I'm not

saying the stories aren't good. I'm just saying

the editorial crap that goes, the behind -the

-scenes stuff that goes into... The technicalities

of it. Yeah, all of that stuff. Well, I'll tell

you one prime example. So I was on the invincible

Iron Man for a long time before Marvel just went

through and sort of, they did their own sort

of 52 and kind of just rebooted. like the historic

age, and I forget how they did it, but that really

good solid chunk of invincible Iron Man where

he got the extremist powers. Well, there is a

stoppage where it stops being invincible Iron

Man and it becomes Iron Man director of SHIELD.

There's that fallout from Civil War and it got

renamed that and the numbering was off, and then

as soon as that arc ended, They jump back to

the invincible hair man. And so if you've got

any comic collecting software, it is really hard

to find that section in there because of the

numbering system. And it's like, I know this

occurred. And people are like, no it didn't.

She goes from here to here. And I'm like, ah!

Yeah, it's yeah, it's crazy that one and that's

gonna happen again with DC because with DC and

their Rebirth I don't care what anyone says.

It's a reboot. They're only mixing in their continuity

with the new 52 in the old continuity It's fine.

I'm gonna try some of the titles. I'm not gonna

try them all but I'm gonna try some of them but

with rebirth They said the detective It's gonna

go back to the original rubrics. It's gonna be

like 97 and you know, that's the thing The thing

that's been bugging me about DC here lately is

they have all of these so like they'll have five

Batman titles, which You know you every so often

a character will get so popular that you'll have

fought like spider -man will be in that He'll

have four or five and then all of a sudden the

character Popularity starts to weigh in and they

can't sustain five so they'll go back to three

but DC's been doing kind of like what we talked

about earlier these Big Batman storyline so it

goes from detective it goes from Batman or Robin

from Batman And then it so it goes to all these

and so you're forced to buy all of them, but

I miss when Detective Comics was kind of in its

own world. You know, this story was great. It's

still Batman. It still holds true, but Batman's

over here doing this in Detective Comics. And

then over here in Batman and Robin, they're kind

of doing this other thing. And I like that they

didn't always necessarily have to cross because

it allows you to explore different aspects of

that character. And it's same with Superman and

Action Comics and all that stuff. It was... And

now Superman's gone beyond... just beyond ridiculousness,

because you got the main Superman title, you

got action comics, you got Superman American

Alien. Yes. You got super, you got... I'm not

reading that right now. You got Superman, Lois,

and Clark. Now, okay, when I first heard that

title... Yeah, you're like, where's Dean Cain?

That's right. I was like, wait a second, where's

Dean Cain? Where's Terry Hatcher? Oh my God.

If it's really going to be that kind of thing,

I'm like, gimme gimme, and then it's not even

that. But I loved that Superman had its... astronomical

title and number it was like you know 683 but

I liked action comics and detective comics always

to me seemed like that's the cloud that's the

one that's continue on that's the continuity

that's going on and doing its thing and then

you can kind of play around with Batman or Superman's

sort of banner title but I don't know like I

said I I got when I got into a comics it was

at a time when It was before the big 52 reboot,

but it was the 52 universes. And I got kind of

used to the way they were doing things, and I

liked it. I thought it worked. You know, there's

some crossovers, like there was the big Doomsday

crossover with all of them, and it's the Doomsdays.

And I was like, well, they tied in Supergirl

with that, and so I was like, okay, that's fine.

I read that, but it just gets daunting when there's

five titles. Alright, so age -old question. You're

probably not going to be able to pick DC or Marvel.

If you took out Green Lantern, I would go Marvel.

Green Lantern is the one character and it's the

one series that always pulls me back to DC and

then usually I end up getting sucked in via that

because of something else. There's something

else that's going but I tend... So what is it

about Green Lantern and which Green Lantern?

Because we know there are multiple. Oh, yeah.

No, no, no. There are multiples of 2814 Green

Lanterns. Oh, yeah. No, I know. You know, I'm

a purist. I go Hal Jordan. And I have my reasons,

but Green Lantern as a whole, I wear a Green

Lantern ring every day. I've had a few. I bought

this the day that I proposed to my wife because

I figured the ring I gave her was a hundred times

more expensive than the one I wanna buy. She

can't say a word. But for me, and I found Green

Lantern at a time, I was trying to figure out

who I was as an adult, those things were cementing.

And the concept of the Green Lantern ring, you

have to overcome fear, willpower. Just really

sort of gravitated to me at the core. And that's

always been a philosophy for me. I never want

to let fear dictate what I do or don't do. I'm

a firm believer in overcoming fear and don't

let fear of the guy next door Make you prejudiced

and you can carry that parallel out there, but

I'm not a big believer in fear I think that is

one of the biggest hurdles in society and all

this stuff So that when I wear the ring, it's

a constant reminder to me. Hey Don't let being

afraid to do that stop you from doing that. I've

done stand -up comedy. I've jumped out of an

airplane These are things that are very scary

things. Which is worse? Stand -up comedy is much

scarier. Just so you know, I'll jump out of a

plane any day. But tanking on a stage full of

people is tough. But so that's always grabbed,

and then on top of that, Jeff Johns has done

a fantastic job, and I think they're still doing,

I really like the renegade storyline with Hal

Jordan and his sort of departure. I think it

was really stupid, how they launched it. Like,

hey, Hal Jordan, you've done a fantastic job

keeping the core together, making sure the universe

doesn't die, but we got a PR problem, so we're

just gonna blame everything on you, and you go

rogue. With pretty much how they launched that,

I'm like, you couldn't come up with anything

better. Not a huge fan of Jon Stewart. Jon Stewart

should be the ideal guy, core member, because

he's a military guy. But he's just so dry and

he's so stiff and that's why he can't hold a

comic book by. In the Justice League cartoon,

he was fantastic. He was written well, he was

voiced well. Phil Lamar did a great job with

it, but it doesn't translate over to the comics

as well. They've always got him. Oh, I blew up

the planet. I did this. Oh, and it's like, I

get it. He's got to overcome something. But when

he was first introduced, he stood for something.

I'm not going to wear a mask. I'm not going to

hide. I'm an African -American. I'm proud. I'm

not going to let prejudice. He had stuff to stand

for. He doesn't have that same sort of oomph.

Guy Gardner just gets on my nerves. I think he,

they flushed him out a little bit and he's better,

but I think he's still a little two dimensional.

He's fun to have in there as an ancillary guy,

and he's tough. And then Kyle Rayner is interesting,

because in the 90s, he was the Green Lantern

of the 90s, and he's a different kind of guy,

and I like him for it. He's the dreamer, he's

got that imagination, he's the artist. Like him

as the white lantern. I really liked what they

did with him in guardians of the new guardians

of the universe I thought he was really well

Scripted out because when how it came back he

he kind of had the same problem as everybody

else. What do we do with him? He was the torchbearer.

He was the savior of the core and I thought they

did a lot of great stuff with him as ion and

the entities in the spectrum I thought they did

a lot with them and then moving him As one of

the new guardians in the white lantern, I thought

was really good And I think he fits that role

really well, but as just headstrong hardcore

leader you gotta go out Jordan You know because

I haven't had a chance to read any of the Green

Lantern stuff, the New 52 stuff. For me, with

John, it's all about the cartoons. Oh, of course.

If anyone says anything negative about John Stewart

in the cartoons, there's something wrong with

that verse. No, they didn't. At first, I was

like, oh, man, we don't get a Hal Jordan, but

I watched him. They did a great job, and he...

fit that dynamic really well in there too. We

got it once. Yeah, we got it for about half a

second, and then the episode, once and future

thing, and yeah. No, that was a nice nod. I appreciated

that. But if you, quick parallel to the comic

books, I love the DC straight to DVD cartoons.

Some of them as of late haven't been great, but

my one problem with them is they can't do a good

Green Lantern one. Emerald Nights was kind of

okay, but it was like Training Day. Green Lantern

style. Yeah. Christopher Mulan, you know, so...

Well, yeah, it's... I'm sorry. They won't pick

up one of the John stories and do it. I don't

need another origin story. I don't need that.

Pick up Blackest Night and do that. How badass

would that be? And you can do that in a straight

-to -DVD animated feature. You can totally do

that. We probably will never get that movie version

of it. It's kind of like Civil War. We're getting

a Civil War in the movies, but it's not what

it was in the comic books. It's not going to

be... It's condensed. Yeah, they'll have like

40 heroes, but you're not going to get Mr. Fantastic

running the portal. You're not going to get that

entire universe, which is fine. The movies are

limiting in a way that comic books aren't. But

I just wish it's like, man... Well, they're supposedly

doing a killing joke and it's supposedly going

to be rated R. And that's great. But I don't

know how much of it they're going to be able

to fit into the timeline of an animated feature.

Batman keeps getting shots because Batman sells.

I get it. Superman keeps getting shots because

Superman sells. And unfortunately, the worst

thing that happened to Green Lantern is the movie.

the Ryan Reynolds movie because they put so much

into it and now people don't want to take a chance.

People make fun of it. You know, I wear a Green

Lantern ring, I wear a Green Lantern hoodie.

People make fun of that all the time because

of that movie and it's a shame because from a

consistency standpoint, that title is one of

the best and consistently good throughout DC

because when they did the new 52, got a little

touch up here. Hal got a new role in the Justice

League and that was different. But the Green

Lantern story, yeah, it went back to one, didn't

change. It just kind of picked up. We got a little

bit more sinestro. We got a different thing with

that. But that story, the continuation, the continuity

from that run has remained consistent. Right,

yeah. I mean, the thing with the Lanterns is,

and they've tried so many things. They tried

the Larflees miniseries. Which was good, again,

but he's not a guy. It was good for a few issues.

And you know, larflis and the orange lanterns

and the red lanterns have this problem in that

they're on the opposite ends of the, they're

on that one far end of the emotional spectrum.

So they're so extreme, so really you can't have

an intelligent thought and truly be a red lantern.

You know, you've got these cold, like Guy Gardner,

when he originally was a red lantern, he was

berserker. You couldn't control him. And now

you've got these red lanterns that can kind of

simmer their rage a little bit, and you kind

of lose a little bit when you start exploring

that. And with Larflees, it's like if you want

to do any further in -depth character of him,

that's great, but you kind of lose some of that

extreme greed. I remember it was Nathan Fillion

did the first voice of Hale in... Oh, it wasn't

Emerald Knights. What was the first one? First

flight. And then you brought in Stabler. As much

as I love Chris Maloney, he's not a voice actor.

But they made it Space Cop. And then they had

this weird round circular lantern coming out

of nowhere to just pew pew pew. It was so not

true to what it is. And so it's always hurt me

that we have good stories. Just pick up the comic

book. animated and it's like Bruce Tim come on

buddy they tried they tried with Green Lantern

the animated series you had Josh Keaton as Hal

and Josh Keaton was great and that series was

good you know why it got canceled toys yeah that's

that's the age -old problem because the Green

Lantern movie tanked All the stores had all those

toys left over. They wouldn't take any animated

toys. So they canceled the thing. Young Justice

is another one. We got another shot at that for

Netflix. That show was just coming into its own

when they panned it. And it's like, these were

great. These were great series. And the animated

Green Lantern, the animated series was not without

its flaws. The 3D animation, I wasn't on board

with, but they were doing... Good job with telling

what I thought was was a true -to -the -spirit

Green Lantern story and Josh Keaton as Howe Jordan

was was great. I mean heck I liked him to spider

-man and Peter Parker That's the one spider -man

series I've never seen all the way through is

spectacular I've just never that style of animation

was hard for me to get used to Same with Teen

Titans. Oh don't even get me started Okay, so

there's a podcast that's done now. There's a

podcast I found right before I started podcasting.

It's about 2007, 2008. It's called World's Finest

Podcasts. It's two guys from, you've heard of

it? I've heard of it. I haven't listened to it,

but it pops up in my searches. It's Michael David

Sims and James Doe. They did this 100 episode

podcast where they reviewed every single episode

of all of the DCAU, including Teen Titans. There's

this joke. Throughout that whether it's in continuity

or not in continuity based on the Bruce Tim universe

continuity because technically Technically if

Dick Grayson is that Robin and Teen Titans that

means Teen Titans came before Batman the animated

series so I am one of those firm people anytime

anyone says Teen Titans to me. I immediately

say not in continuity I even have Raven Tara

strong nice You know what's funny, speaking of

Teen Titans, that run in, I'm gonna say it was

the mid to early 2000s, where they really, like,

really developing Superboy when he got back,

Wonder Girl in there, and then they started bringing,

they had Titans, and then there was Teen, and

they started bringing some of those guys in.

That was actually a really good run. I have those,

I gave those trades to my sisters at the time

they were in their teenage years, and I was like,

pretty good I mean there's a couple of things

in there that I was like you might be a little

young for this but there's some really good sort

of angsty teen stuff but I thought it was a good

adaptation for comics I got into that kind of

late because I got into it via the Connor Kent

Infinite Crisis Wonder Girl I was like well that's

kind of cute so I went back and read a whole

bunch of that stuff but I thought that was a

great run I still like those Jericho and the

one Character that I always wanted to have its

own series after new 52 started was Tim Drake

I wanted red Robin to have his own Yes, I really

really wanted that and then because of the whole

brother I think yeah all this and all that they

had the Batman be and they brought Batman Beyond

into Which I like that show and that comic was

great. I love that universe. Yeah, the so there's

two Batman Beyond titles There's well, there's

more than two. It was like Batman Beyond Unlimited.

There's well, there's Batman Beyond Unlimited

which was the Adam Beeching run. Yeah 10 ,000

clowns all that stuff and then Kyle Higgins took

it over to became Batman Beyond universe which

they had you know mark of the phantasm and did

he did his whole his whole his Return of the

Joker kind of thing. Yeah, and now I don't know

if it's still I know I know it's still going

because issue 10 is supposed to come out at some

point but it was on that it's Dan Jurgens and

Bernard Chang on art It's basically coming out

of futures and yeah where It turns still I still

am trying to figure that out. I I can't even

try to imagine Basically the Batman Beyond series

it throws Tim Into the tip Terry dot and to spoil

it for you Terry dies And so it pulls Tim in

there and it sends Tim into the future So it's

it's an old Tim Drake not old old. Yeah, but

older. Yeah with Barbara Gordon and Max, and

it's a really cool series. I like to, he's one

of my favorite Robins. I like Dick, but I like

him as Nightwing, but as far as, yeah, you're

gonna take that sound light. I like Dick Grayson,

but I loved Tim Drake. And I felt, man, he really

kind of got hosed. And they kind of addressed

it in the comics when Damian came along. He's

like, the heck. when batman supposedly died but

he was in the time war tim drake was the only

one to say hey i know he's still alive and then

of course damien comes along and tim's like hey

i'm still here i'm not ready to be not robin

well here you go off and do your own and so red

robin was okay but it wasn't it wasn't what Nightwing

had become. No, but at least it was Tim growing

up into his own hero and into his own thing.

And I like the Red Robin suit, actually. It's

not bad. Yeah, it's not bad at all. It's not

as cool as Nightwing. No. Although it is still

better than Nightwing's original costume with

the flair and the fuzz. No flair, no fuzz. The

circus came out a little bit. Alright, not counting

the DC animated universe because that's completely

separate. Red suit or blue suit for Nightwing?

I like basic blue. I really do. The red is a

nice touch, and I didn't hate it, but I just

love that basic blue and black. It's a classic

look, and when they went through and kind of

took away his, hey, I'm Dick Grayson sort of

suit, and they retooled it. I like it. You know,

just based on the animated series, I like that.

I like it blue in the animated series, but in

the comics, because I started reading the Nightwing

stuff with the New 52. It's all red for me. Well,

the red sort of invokes some different emotions.

And I think in that series, it does go well,

especially when you look at like, you know, when

they launched Batman and Robin, the new Batmobile

had kind of a red tinted windshield. So I think

it went well with that. But man, I, basic blue

all the way, the blue and the red. One character,

I'm kind of jumping here, but one character I

was having a discussion with about somebody that

I love from DC. I know I chose Marvel over DC,

but they're... Booster Gold. Oh God, I can't

stand that guy. Did you read the stuff that came

out of 52 with him in Rip Hunter? Read it, it's

good. I will, but the only reason why I can't

stand that guy is simply for the episode... the

greatest story ever told. Yes. That's the reason,

one reason. But we got, oh, we got Billy West

as he's, oh my gosh, it was great. That was awesome,

but Booster himself, it wasn't even the voice

acting, it was just the characterization and.

Just the arrogance to him, and I get, that's

his character. The thing is, I was never a big

fan of Booster before, but he really came into

his own, and that run after 52, the greatest

superhero you've never heard of, and being behind

the scenes, and he totally grew as a character,

and I'm talking about him because, and again,

this isn't comic, this is TV, but. You know legends

of the of the DC universe Legends of tomorrow

legends of tomorrow if you brought booster gold

in there with rip hunter I think that show would

be magnitudes better. It's not a tear. It's not

I don't think it's a terrible show I watch it.

I think it's okay, but I think it should be better

for me And I'll ask you your opinion on this

as well only counting Network tell not counting

Netflix stuff because that's that I count that

as separate so for me number one flash amen number

two Legends. Number three, Supergirl. Number

four, Arrow. And number five, Gotham. The only

reason why Arrow is at number four is because

season one and two were great. Season 3, you

might as well put him in a mother -friggin' batsuit.

Yeah. I mean, the whole... Well, Green Arrow

is a character! He's just a liberal Batman with

a bow! That's all he was! I know, but you could

give him a little bit more character, and they

played the Count Vertigo stuff to death, so I

know they did the Deathstroke stuff, and... I

just don't think, and I'm gonna say this properly,

folks, and people need to learn how to say this,

because the television universe doesn't know

how to say it. It's not Roz, it's Raish. Raish

Al Ghul. Raish Al Ghul, yes. They set, Bruce

Timm set it in the animated universe with that.

You know, bringing him into that and all of that,

I'm like, we might as well just have that man

on TV again. The two I watch consistently, because

I'm off and on. I watch Arrow when I feel like

I have to for continuity purposes. Well, yeah.

because there's some great episodes in there,

but there's a bunch of muck in between the episodes.

They said last year with Flash and Arrow, you

could watch one or the other. Stephen Amell actually

said this, the actor who plays Arrow, people

that don't know, he said last year you could

watch one or the other as far as the crossovers.

If you're watching Flash, you didn't have to

watch it. He said this year with the crossovers,

you have to be watching all of them. Oh, yeah.

No, I will say you don't. but for really it to

make sense. And for you to get the maximum enjoyment,

you really do have to watch both. So I kinda,

I'll bounce back and forth, but The Flash, hands

down, is one of the best comic book television

adaptations out there. Live action. I mean, I'd

put it up against some of the animated ones too.

I think they've done a fantastic job. I've stayed

away from Supergirl. they find every time I see

something about it I just they find a way each

week to adapt a Superman story to fit her in

which is my problem with Supergirl fine she is

a strong woman and she's a woman in this society

Where Superman exists surely there are great

stories to be told and I used to read the Supergirl

comics And there are some great stories in there

about her. I mean it She's a woman growing up

in a man's world, but she's not only in the shadow

of her cousin from you know Hey, I'm younger

and I'm the but she's in it. She's in that fee

So there's a there's there are things that you

can you don't have to rehash Superman stories

and gender bend them It's like those it's like

the new Ghostbusters. You don't have to Anyway

that but I'm not getting into that but so that's

I'm waiting to jump onto that because I'm like

I I hope it gets better they for the first five

or six episodes they kind of Constantly elude

constantly elude. They'll show a shadow the only

time I haven't liked not the only time I've enjoyed

them saying yeah, you know Clark or Superman

or is when She was texting him back and forth

because me personally, I know this will never

happen, but me personally, I'd like to think

that's Tom Welling on the other phone. I do know

that they are crossing over between her and Flash.

Yeah, no, I knew that. No, I knew that. Which

is interesting, and I like the cooperation between

the networks. Yeah. Well, CBS and CW, they...

CW is Warner and CBS, isn't it? I don't remember

anymore. They go through some of those things.

But, you know, bottom line, they're hoping it'll

be great for Supergirl to have the flash on.

The Supergirl isn't going to do much for the

flash. But, you mentioned Gotham. And I'm going

to say something that's going to really just

tick you off. I'm sorry. I don't care. Go ahead.

I'm tired of Batman. I am. I'm tired of the Batman

universe. We've had three, for the most part,

decent movies. Some have been better than others.

We're getting a reboot with Batman versus Superman.

We have Gotham. Which Gotham really isn't even

a Batman show. But it's in the universe. It's

law and order with Batman characters is what

it is. That first season, I got bored with it

and I jumped off of it. But I'm just burnt out

on Batman. No, I completely, yeah. I have not,

I am so anti DC and Marvel right now. I'm reading

comics from every other publisher I can, other

than DCM. I just do not, I just have no reason.

And I'm impressed, you know, Legends of Tomorrow.

I'm really happy that they're trying to explore

the atom. who's not traditionally super exciting.

Hot Man and Hot Girl, you know, they're not always,

Hot Girl is more known because of the cartoon,

but those two, Firestorm, who's one of the most

powerful superheroes in the Justice League, and

he's often overlooked. I mean, I'm glad that

they're exploring that, and I hope that that

show gives the avenue for maybe a booster gold

in there, or... I don't know, I'd kill for even

a mention of Green Lantern at this point. Some

of those other characters that don't necessarily

get the attention that they should. But I'm just

burnt out on Batman. Everybody's Batman. And

Batman is the new Chuck Norris. Who's winning

a fight versus Batman? Batman, because he's Batman.

Batman used to be and can be an interesting character.

But let's put him down for a minute. If you're

going to explore the Batman universe, let's do

it through the eyes of Dick Grayson. Let's do

something where Batman's dead. You don't even

have to do a whole death of Batman. But Batman's

not around. So we've got Dick Grayson, we've

got Robin, or even a Teen Titans -esque sort

of situation where you've got Nightwing, the

protege of the Bat, operating in a different

city. You want to talk about... Bloodhaven. That

to me is a little bit more interesting than everybody

living in the shadow of the bat. Well, for me,

if I wanted something like that, if I wanted

to see something like that in a movie or animated,

they need to go to Snyder and Higgins' Gates

of Gotham. Gates of Gotham was basically Dick

Grayson as Batman and it was almost like a...

What if Batman was in Back to the Future? Because

they went back to the 1880s when Thomas Wayne

and Alan Wayne and all that stuff and they went

into the current day and all that. Man, but I

am so... So far out, like I said earlier, I do

plan on trying some of the rebirth titles, but

I'm not gonna sit here and try them all. Well,

you know, it's funny, you mentioned, and I guess

this is a good segue toward the end there, you

mentioned you're reading titles outside of Marvel

DC. There are some really, really exciting titles

that are outside of the Marvel DC. Well, one

that I forget the publisher, but it involves

Green Lantern. There was the Spectrum Wars with

Green Lantern and Star Trek. That's IDW. That

was a phenomenally well -told story. And what

impressed me the most is the way they started

out and they sort of justified it. It was an

offshoot sort of parallel universe from Blackest

Night. And I was like, that was... I got such

a kick out of it and I was really disappointed

that Chris Pine chose to be Wonder Woman's boyfriend

and not Hal Jordan because I was like, I want

that cover signed by Chris Pine because then

I've got Kirk and Green Lantern in one signature.

But that was a great crossover series. I've read

issue zero of the new Power Rangers series. Like

that, I think that has a lot of problem. Outside

of comics, I love Power Rangers. Huge nut on

that. And the new Star Wars stuff that's come

out. Have you been reading any of that? I didn't

get on the main title. I tried Leia, and as much

as Mark Waid is an amazing writer, he's always

been, I just didn't feel... The Leia series I

wasn't... The new Star Wars is fun. The Darth

Vader offshoot. Really good. That is really good.

The only complaint I had about that, because

I was writing reviews for that for the site,

issue four and five, something happened. I don't

know what happened. Issue four and five, it did

not feel like Karen Gillian was still writing.

It still said. It was a little disconnected.

Yeah. And then issue six came along, and the

cover with the emperor and all that. And then

you had all that stuff. And then you lead it

to Vader Down, which I have not read yet. I want

to eventually. I am telling you, it's so good.

Have you read Canaan the Last Padawan? No, I

haven't. Are you watching Star Wars Rebels? No.

It's a great show. Honestly, it's a lot of fun.

I've seen the first season. I haven't finished

all of the second season, but Canaan the Last

Padawan... Sort of the lead into that you don't

obviously have to read it's like a six -issue

you don't have to read but it's really cool to

see how he escaped order 66 and A little bit

of his backstory leading into that that was a

really well done one There was that four issue

series leading into the force awakens that I

thought was really good empire I thought it was

gonna be really awesome because it's supposed

to tie from Jedi to force It doesn't fully tie,

but it's in between. It's like they introduce

all these new characters and I'm like, what does

this have to do with it? None of the new characters

in Shattered Empire end up in... I wish they

would have continued that series on a little

bit more, because it was a limited series. I

wish they'd have gone at least six. Yeah, something

like that. You ever watch Prison Break? No. You

never watch Prison Break. Okay, so there's a

series from a writer that I've interviewed, Ryan

Ferrier. It's a new series he just started called

Kettle Block Blues. It's basically anthropomorphic

animals in prison. It's basically prison break

with cats and dogs. The first issue is hilarious.

Another one you might like to try out is called

Dave. It's another one of his, Dave 1 and Dave

2. It basically takes place 500 years in the

future, the robots have destroyed humanity, and

they're now becoming human -like. So it's these

giant... So they're falling into sort of the

same habits that they were eliminating. Right,

so it's like they're getting jobs, they're having

commutes, and the language that he uses, it's

not for kids. No. But the way he works around,

like, you know, people say, God damn it, every

now and then. Yeah. Every now and then. He translates

that to jobs, damn it. Nice, nice. Or instead

of, instead of for the love of God, for the love

of Woz, that kind of stuff. It's, the first series

is four issues, the second, no the first series

is five issues, the second series is four issues.

It's a really, really fun series. Have you read

The Boys? No, speaking of comics not meant for

kids, it's concluded. But a buddy of mine got

me on this, and it's a little hyper -realistic

view of superheroes. So you have this Justice

League, and they are total pricks. They do whatever

they want. So it's kind of like the authority.

A little bit, but they like run, you know, they're

run by this corporation and all superheroes apparently

stem from this one like drug that's given. So

you've got this, you've got this like - Velocity

tan. A little bit. So you've got this one group

of superheroes that are not, they're not really

superheroes. They're like anti -superheroes.

They sort of keep them in check and it's got

this guy who is basically Simon Pegg. Oh jeez.

In there and - It's freaking hilarious. It is

graphic as all get out. I mean, there are boobs,

there are... There's a lot of stuff. There's

like a little offshoot mini -series of their

called Herogasm. And it's basically this one

time of year where all of the supers get on this

one island and go crazy. So that was a good series.

I really liked Why the Last Man. I still have

yet to get into that and they're now re -releasing

it in trade. It is awesome. I met, got to meet

the guy who did that. I got him to sign the last

issue. Oh, sweet. And it's really crazy because

the last issue is him in a straight jacket and

he's got a little monkey named Ampersand next

to him and he's just, he's old and he's gone

a little crazy and I always keep him by my desk

at home and I tell my wife, I'm like, that's

how I'm going out, just so you know. I'm gonna

be, I'm gonna be old and crazy. And then the

other one that I really like outside of the DC

Marvel universe was... Oh, what was it? It was

the fairy tale one. I hate Fairyland. No, no,

no, it's not that one. It's Fables. Fables, okay.

I mean, that thing has like... 30 to 40 volumes

of they just ended it. I mean, it's one it's

one great awards But it's a really cool concept

where you have all of your your storybook characters

all your fables come from these various worlds

and There's this mysterious Emperor They basically

conquered all of them, and they all fled to our

world, which is called the Munday world. Mundane

world. And they're all living in this secret

community in New York City that's hidden. And

so, like, the mayor is Nat King Cole, or Ol'

King Cole. The deputy mayor is Snow White. Big

B, the Big Bad Wolf. It's a really well done,

and it's run forever, but if you get a chance

to pick up those trades, do it. It's just a great,

you gotta get over the fairy tale aspect of it,

but it's not kidding. Well, when it comes to

fairy tale aspects, Xenoscope Entertainment and

the Grim Fairy Tale, oh my god. Robin Hood from

beginning to end when they because those first

three volumes and there was the ongoing they're

about to wrap at the ongoing I'm just starting

it get to get into some of the red riding hood

stuff. They've got Wizard of Oz stuff They've

got see and they tie a lot in fables. They tie

a lot of that like the show Once upon a time

it feels like a rip of that a little bit Cause

my wife likes that show so I've tried to get

her to read that cause she doesn't read comic

books and she won't do it but I'm like if you

do you'll like it. Like the whole first trade

is this sort of murder mystery who done it sort

of thing between Snow White's sister Rose Red

which most people don't remember and Jack. Jack

the Jack and the Beanstalk and he got his own

offshoot Jack of Fables and it went for a while

and he's this sort of hyper aware Trickster I

was I did not like Jack as much as I like the

normal fables, but he was kind of a fun Player

in all of that, but I'm telling you if you get

a chance to pick up those two why the last man

in fables I Have the trades if I can ever remember

I might let you borrow But just some great stuff.

Love comic books. Best series for me right now

as far as franchise. Hands down, Turtles from

IDW. I want to get on that because I liked Ninja

Turtles as a kid but I always see them as a cartoon

so it's really hard for me to picture it. It

is by far one of the best, if not the best incarnation

of the Turtles. Ever. I've heard you talking

about it. Yeah, I know. I talk about it a lot.

I've been reviewing the series with my buddy

Joe for the last two years, and the series has

been running for five, well three years now.

The series has been running for five years. They're

just about to start the Leatherhead arc at issue

56. Nice. It's going to be a three issue run

of Leatherhead. Alright folks, we've been talking

long enough here about comics. We gotta get out

of here. Jesse's gotta go do some more radio

stuff, more radio grunt work. Eh, you know, I

gotta pick up my kid. Yeah. You know, introduce

him to comic books, so. Yeah, as long as he doesn't

go anywhere near the Guy Gardner stuff, you're

alright. Oh no, no, no. If you find me on Facebook,

it's easy, facebook .com slash Captain Jesse.

You'll see some great pictures of him, me holding

the Green Lantern power battery with him, him

on the Captain America shield, starting early.

Isn't there one where you photoshopped him in

a Green Lantern suit? Oh, yeah, I have this.

It's on my phone. It's this great one. He made

this total, I've got the fist in the air thing,

and I totally photoshopped him into space as

a little mini Green Lantern. That's awesome.

You've got to pass this stuff on to your kids.

Anyone who lives in the Louisville, Kentucky

area or southern Indiana, you can catch Jesse

Monday to Friday, 5 to 10 on 106 .9 Play. Make

your greatest game in the comics and we will

catch you next time. You've just heard the latest

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

and discussion podcast. There are several ways

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