How Chuck from Star Joes Got Into Comics

Welcome to the pull bags origins episodes Join

us as TFG1 Mike grills this week's guests on

just how they got into reading comic books Hello

and welcome to the pull bag This is yet again

another origins episode for those of you who

are here for the first time and don't know what

the origins Episodes are first of all go back

and listen to all the other ones we've done Second

of all the origins episode is where I Pull some

decapitated bounty hunter out of my ass and Sit

them down and talk to them about their love of

comics how they get into comics and usually it's

either people I know people I've podcasted with

This episode is gonna be a little interesting

since this is the first time I've ever recorded

with this guy So it's gonna be kind of all fresh

and new for me He is one third. Yeah one third

of the uh... star joe's podcast uh... since you

guys and robert now uh... so he's one -third

he is one half of the original creation of that

team is star joe's chuck hello sir they like

what's going on it's going on doing thanks for

the nice intro i appreciate it yes uh... one

-third of the team now since robert came aboard

but like you said uh... founding member of the

service crew there I was told by another podcast

to ask you about your Larry Hama experience.

We'll talk about that on another show, though.

Nice, nice. What's on your mind, guys? We'll

talk about that on GeekCast Radio, though. Nice.

How old were you? Was there a certain person?

Was it your parents, mom, dad, grandparents,

aunt, uncle? Was it other family member? Was

it a friend? Who actually turned you on to comics,

if anyone? You know, usually how I word this

is they just say, here kid, go read this, leave

us alone. Nah, basically it was my mother. You

know, growing up, my parents were divorced. When

I was about six years old so I was either I Think

seven or eight years old and I was sick at the

flu and my mom went to go pick up my medicine

and She just you know got me a couple of comic

books, too so I you know figure I would read

them in bed since I was sick and One of the comic

books that I got was a GI Joe comic book, and

I read that and I was hooked You remember which

one was yeah Joe number 29 Interesting There's

a pretty cover of Destro on it and he's getting

shot I From I think it's Duke and Roadblock are

shooting at him and they're in the hovercraft

the whale Very cool. Very cool That's so and

though GI Joe number 29 for me and I've been

you know reading comics, you know off and on

ever since what were you reading as a kid did

you have a certain did you have certain interests

in certain genres certain heroes certain villains

did what was it something that you well yeah

growing up in the eighties you know like most

of us did who do these podcasts now um a large

part of it was the cartoons i was watching So

I was watching G .I. Joe cartoons, so obviously

I was into G .I. Joe comic books. Spider -Man

and his amazing friends, so I was totally into

Spider -Man. Batman comic books, Spider -Man

comic books. I read a lot of like Madhouse comics.

They're from like Archie and things like that.

But I got those, I would get those at like flea

markets and yard sales and things like that,

where I would buy older comic books. Because

they were ten cents and I think you know, you

know, they were you know older comics I didn't

know you know before like they came out with

numbers and they were in chronological order

or hey This one's from 83 and this one's from

73. I just knew they were comic books and I just

like to read them right So that was a good deal

if I could give the guy a dollar and he gives

me ten comic books I feel like I you know, I

pulled one over on some guy You can't do that

today! We'll get to that a little later, as far

as today's pricing. Alright, so 80s stuff. So,

outside of G .I. Joe, what other comics from

the 80s were you reading? Growing up I read Spider

-Man, Batman, Captain America. Those were mostly

my titles. It'd be kind of like a wacky comic

book, like I read Alf, a couple issues of that.

Mad Balls. I had a couple issues of that, just

some random air defenders? Air Raiders, Air Raiders,

I'm sorry. I had a couple issues of that. I also

read comic books like The Peanuts and Garfield

from Jim Davis. So I read comic strips like that

too, those are great. And I would go to the library

and check out those kind of books too. And I

would, you know, Garfield has those volumes of

comic strips. And I would get those all the time

and read those. Oh my god. I had no idea there

were elf comics. Oh yeah. Oh my god. I so need

these. They're actually not too bad. I actually

had the first issue of Sledgehammer 2, the comic

book based off the TV show Sledgehammer. Oh yeah.

I think I remember... Don't think it was with

the plush doll. I think it was it was with something

I forget what it was with though. I do remember

having Maybe I'm confusing it with the trading

cards. I see I remember having bullion baseball

cards. I had those Love those things those things

are so awesome, but I could have sworn I had

an elf toy or an elf I had an elf something that

either came with one of the magazines or what

they were came with a comic or something Well,

there were elf puppets that came as a premium

from Burger King with like your kid's meal, right?

Right. I remember having those And I had that

like you said the elf trading cards and the bull

you baseball cards I actually had the Gordon

Shumway card, which was pretty sweet Need to

some of the best cards really honestly Yeah,

I know we're talking about comics and stuff like

but I actually got some of the trading cards

for that too mm -hmm I remember you know and

you know if we veer off the comics a little bit.

That's fine. I would love to do a Show an episode

of gate cast radio solely based on franchise

trading cards. Not sports cards, not franchise

trading cards. I was obsessive over the Transformers

cards and I think I only had like six total cards.

And I always used to get pissed when I got the

cards because every pack would always have that

same stupid image of Ironhide. It was like, it

was like, every pack we have to give you an Ironhide

because he is also Peter Cullen and he just doesn't

get enough respect. Ironhide is Rodney Dangerfield.

Oh my god, I get no respect. I love Ironhide.

It's my favorite Transformer, my favorite Autobot.

love i had no alf uh... because something i'm

gonna have to hunt down as the alf comics because

that is something we will most definitely be

covering in the pulpit oh my god now that i know

about it it's like uh... you could probably find

those pretty cheap alright so outside of the

hero stuff uh... did you gravitate towards the

transformers at all did you gravitate towards

I don't remember if there were Voltron comics.

Yeah Basically anything outside of like, you

know superhero comics like capes and cows. It

pretty much was GI Joe centric I had a couple

of transformer comics as a kid, but they were

kind of wordy to me Yeah, and I didn't really

read them that much I have them now and I go

back and read them in trade but Growing up it

was mostly GI Joe that was my main title that

was my main book was GI Joe a real American hero

and then when it came with special missions I

naturally you know gravitated into that one too,

but GI Joe a real American hero was my go -to

comic book, but Other than that, I mean the outside,

you know random 80s goodness like, you know Alf

we talked about and I had a couple issues of

uh, you know Beas and butthead from the 90s and

things like that like Just random, you know,

geeky comics. Got some Mystery Under the Stairs

comics. I remember a couple of those from the

70s. I got the Tencent finds. But mostly I read

G .I. Joe and superheroes. You know, capes and

cows kind of guy. Alright, so... Marvel or DC,

and whichever one it is. Well, let me preference

it by saying I do enjoy both. That's a cop out.

That's a good pick. It's Marvel. It's Marvel.

Why? I find the Marvel characters to be a little

bit more, maybe grounded a little bit more for

my taste, for my, you know. That's what I like.

That's Marvel got me into comics reading G .I.

Joe. I got out of comics. Marvel brought me back

into comics with Marvel Civil War. But like I

said, I do enjoy DC Comics. My favorite superhero

is Spider -Man. That's Marvel. I read Spider

-Man now. I read Daredevil. I read Punisher.

I read Hawkeye. So I do enjoy a lot of Marvel

books. What do you think of the direction of

the companies now I Thought Marvel was headed

in a good direction until I hear they're planning

on trying to reboot like DC did Some kind of

trepidation with Marvel now, that's what I thought.

Yeah, that's what I thought I Was on board for

the whole back to DC though. I was on board for

the whole DC, you know the new 52 Because DC

was so heavy in the continuity, and I enjoy that,

don't get me wrong, but as a newcomer into comics,

you know, if you get pretty late in the game,

if you're not, you know, versed into all that

history, it's really hard to get into there and

enjoy them. Yeah. So when they relaunched and

redid everything in the New 52, I was on board.

I was loving it. If you'd asked me that question

a couple of years ago, I might have said DC.

It was very reader friendly. It got me to buy

a lot more titles than I ever would have bought.

But, you know, I do enjoy DC. I do buy DC title

books. But I'm a model guy. What I find with

DC is that it's not... They do... My biggest

problem with the old issues with the old continuity

and I and I've moved past this now because I

understand you can go at it in You know arcs

and runs and everything else like you know say

say you have a 12 -issue arc from Batman 676

to 689 or whatever you know I'm just using those

as as examples sure but originally I was like

One of the reasons why I never got into comics

I like never like I as a young kid Maybe try

a Transformers book here and there but I was

never never into comics as a kid I didn't start

getting into them until I was about 13 14 you

know in between the time x -men and spider -man

were on TV and My thing with DC a couple years

ago was before they did the the new 52 it was

like okay so batman x number this is out so you

mean to tell me i have to read the previous seven

hundred and something okay right right that's

where i was too it was a lot it was very intimidating

yeah well a better example for me is um but you

know well i guess oh okay so you know batman's

six seventy six is out so you mean i have to

read the previous six hundred seventy five issues

really uh... so is the new fifty two i was on

board with it's i actually didn't start full

-time until october of twenty twelve when uh...

Co -creator of the GCR and Steve Megatron Introduced

me to the death of the family storyline in Batman

number 13. Oh, that's good Yeah, and once I read

that I was kind of hooked and I'm like I need

I need I need to start getting these I'd you

know, I need to start getting into this stuff

and I went in full tilt and haven't stopped in

two years and I've come back on a lot of things

and yeah else DC is slowly killing off my interests

Quite literally with their characters. Yeah Well,

okay, here's the thing Well, I'm very optimistic

about now that I've actually read the first issue

of the Nick Fury agent of spiral I'm sorry, Dick

Grayson, Agent of Spy. Now that I've read it,

I'm kind of on board with it, but the whole thing

with Forever Evil and everything else, I was

like... Yeah, that drug on a little longer than

it should have done. Well, it wasn't even that

it drew out, it was the fact that because apparently...

Finches, you know, he takes his time. He just

couldn't get the book done on time, yeah. So,

um, but, like, I, like, after reading Batman

13, I started, you know, I started looking for

other characters that I knew I liked from, like,

the DC animated universe. Obviously Batgirl's

there, and it's Barbara Gordon, and she magically

has her legs back, and all that stuff. That didn't

bother me as much as it might have bothered some

other people, because they do a damn good job

of explaining how she recovered. So, and then,

you know, I kept listening to Fat Man on Batman,

and I heard Kyle Higgins on that a couple of

times, and they mentioned Gates of Gotham, and

I'm like, ooh, what's Gates of Gotham? And this

is right before New 52. and I read that and I

was like, oh, that's awesome. And I started reading.

I actually started Nightwing in the middle. I

started at 15 in the middle of Death of the Family

and then I went back and that was awesome. But

like, I'll tell you something that's dragged

on zero year. Oh my God. I thought the whole

point of them doing Zero Month way back when

was to go ahead and give the new 52 origins.

Like we don't need 12 or 13 or however many hell

issues. That's the one thing that I'm so down

on DC about when it comes to Batman is Zero Year.

I don't care. Yeah, it's wrapping up. I know,

I know. But that's the thing because it's wrapping

up. I'm very interested I'm interested again

to see where this post Batman and Charlie I love

Batman eternal Batman eternal is damn awesome.

Oh, yeah, I read the issues 13 or 14 today. Oh

Did you yeah? Yeah, I've been reading it every

time it comes out When I've been able to actually

get it when it comes out and usually I'll go

back and grab the ones I missed But I'm absolutely

loving that that whole arc I'm more of a future

sto - like, if you're gonna have a current continuity

and current day stuff, great. But, don't do origin

- origins are so overrated at this point. Everybody

in the world, everybody in the mainstream even

knows the origin of Batman. You don't need 12

issues to tell that, you know? I'm not saying

that Snyder and Capelo did a bad job on the book,

I just don't like that they went back in time

and basically screwed up their own damn continuity.

by saying it's six years, but you know. And now,

the last remaining light of hope that I have

for DC is kind of, it's getting a little bright,

and I kind of prefer it dark and gritty. If they

actually kept the writer on the book, I might

be a little bit more optimistic, but I'm most

likely, after issue 35, I'm probably going to

stop getting Batgirl. And I honestly did not

want to ever have to say that, because I love

new 52 Batgirl. Yeah, Gail Simone is actually

leaving that title, yeah. Yeah. Well, now with

this new thing, this... What do you think of

the new costume design? Have you seen it yet?

Yeah, the costume is fine. It just, she looks

like she's 13 or 14. Yeah. That's the only problem.

She looked a little young and I didn't really

care much for the the looks like combat boots

kind of thing, but you know yeah Yeah, it's a

little strange and The in the articles and interviews

I found with the new creators They said oh well

the first villain that she's gonna fight isn't

internet blackmailer My head nearly hit the desk,

and I'm like wait what? We go okay sure I get

it. It's getting stale with nightfall being her

basically main villain Yeah, and you know you

can only do so many you know that's the same

thing like that's one of the reasons why I kind

of stopped reading Spider -man after a while

when I was a kid because there are only so many

times I can see spider -man fight Doc Ock Fight

Green Goblin fight that you know there's only

so many times that you know I want to see new

and fresh things and I get that they're trying

to do that now with this but I just don't know

I think there's more behind it I don't think

Gail's leaving just because just because of the

like she wanted to go lighter and They as far

as I know and this is just my own personal opinion

I'm have no right speaking for the company just

from what I've seen online she wanted to take

the stories lighter and They basically what it

looks like to me is they took her idea Gave it

to new people and said See ya. Yeah, I mean at

least it wasn't the debacle. It was last time

being fired by email. Oh my god Yeah, yeah, at

least it wasn't that debacle, but it just Bat

girl in the like if you're if DC's gonna reboot

the universe again and have it the new 120 the

new 64 then The new 75, well whatever it is.

If they're gonna reboot the universe again and

start fresh with this new creative team on a

Batgirl title, fine. But if you're gonna continue

with what Gale started and what she's done, she's

written everything except for I think a grand

total of four different issues, two when she

was fired, and then I think there were 25 and

30 she didn't write because Marguerite, that's

the other thing. I've never read these new creative

teams, Cameron Stewart and whoever else it is.

I'm not looking at information online, so I don't

have to just do the other guy's name up. I've

never read them, so I'm cautiously optimistic,

but I would have loved to have heard news of

this taking Batgirl lighter if it was Margaret

Bennett doing it, because she wrote the zero

-year issue, and she wrote the issue number 30,

and I think she did an amazing job. So yeah,

I'm well the good news is I mean if you're stopping

this title a back girl You save yourself a little

bit of money. You can always go back in time

There's other back girl stories out there that

are traded and you can get those like my personal

favorite bad girl is Stephanie Brown Yeah, so

I've got this the last Issues that she was in

that um What's his name Miller did I think? Mm

-hmm. I've got those in trade So I got those

volumes in trade, and I had enjoyed that immensely.

Yeah, no, I'm more open to going back and looking

at Stephanie Brown now. Like I said, I'll be

cautiously optimistic. I'll probably give the

new creative team two issues to impress me. If

they don't impress me by two issues, then it

doesn't make sense, then I'll just stop. high

standard there, you know? Well, when the news

first dropped, I was like, yep, I'm out, bye.

Yeah, we all do that. Like, oh my god, I'm taking

my creative team, I'm taking my artist off this

book, I'm done with it. And that's the other

thing, I know... Not to overstep either, but

I try not to buy a book based on who's writing

it or whose art is on it. I might support some

of my friends in the industry that I know. And

if they write a book, I'll buy it. Or if they

draw a book, I'll buy it. But for the most part,

I try to pick just characters that I enjoy. And

if they tell a good story, they tell a good story.

If not, it's like, I'll just throw these up on

eBay. Yeah, but see, here's the thing with me,

though. It's one of those things where... Once

I get attached to a certain team, I don't want

the style of the writing or the art. I don't

want that to change either. Like there's some

issues that if you get a like a fill -in artist

or something to do an issue because somebody

takes a vacation or somebody falls behind. I

mean, I don't mind fill -in artists a little

bit if the art is drastically different. Yeah,

I don't mind a fill -in artist so much like and

you know Fernando pastor and Had done it for

the longest time on Batgirl at least recently

I know Adrian I can't pronounce his last name

sife or see for I he originally started it as

long as Batgirl stays this like Okay, Nightwing

is a perfect example. Nightwing had several different

artists after Eddie Barrows. They all kept within

the same kind of style. They kept in the same

kind of character design for Nightwing specifically.

There were a few times in the Nightwing series

that I was like, that doesn't look like Dick

Grayson is supposed to look. There was a few

times it was weird, but it was fine. But with

Batgirl, it just... I don't know. My main problem

is writing, honestly. Like, when we get to Batman

Beyond 2 .0, the digital series, I was perfectly

happy with what Norm Brayfold and Adam Beacham

did on the first part of the Batman Beyond digital

series, and now Kyle Higgins and Tony Silas are

coming in. But it's like, when you change artists

on that title, it really... really screws with

my head because I'm so used to Tony's designs

and his way of doing it and and Like I said with

the writers changing a writer in comics is like

It could be it could be the death of the you

know the title for a while I agree I want to

so get into a Superman book, but Right now there's

none that you know interest me Changing writers

on Batgirl or Batman Beyond 2 .0 is like, you

know, Theory of a Dead Man casting new lead singers

outside of Tyler Connelly or, you know, the other

four members of Nickelback replacing Chad Kroger.

It's just one of those things that you just don't

do. Because, you know, if you change the lead

singer of a band or if you change the writer

of a comic, it's just... It isn't the same and

I'm not saying that I'm closed -minded to new

things here. Yeah, like I said, I'm gonna give

the thing two issues but it just It just kind

of you know, once that news came out. It just

kind of ruins. Oh, yeah, you were a little disappointed

I get that but if you just use your music example

here Van Halen did change singers. Okay, they

went with Sammy Hagar Which, you know, if you

give it more than two songs, it's really good.

Man, and the internet cried out, there must be

justice! I know, right? But hey, I'm a Sammy

Hagar guy, so. Alright, so was there ever a point

that you kinda dropped off from comics, like

by the time you get to high school or college,

or? Yeah, that's pretty much when it was. Right

around high school, you know, the time you get

out of, you know, comic books, action figures,

you kind of look towards, you know, girls, things

like that. I kind of left it, kind of put all

that stuff away and left it. And I was fine.

I was okay. No regrets, no remorse. buddy of

mine he was still reading comic books not as

heavily as he once was but I was like oh yeah

comic books I used to read those and he showed

me the trading cards like you brought up earlier

and it was the Marvel versus DC trading cards

I'm like what are they doing this is like you

can't have you know Captain America and Batman

in the same book this is this is insane this

is crazy He's like, no, you need to check it

out. It's a, you know, a couple of issues are

doing like three issues. And, you know, I'm like,

okay, well, you know, it's a little story and

the, the packs of cards were, you know, nice.

So I got some of the cards. I tried to put a

whole set together. It didn't work, but I got

a lot of them. I bought the three issues, read

it. I'm like, well, that's good. That brought

me a little bit back into comic books, but it

wasn't nothing heavy. I was still, you know,

out. I was still free. Yeah. And then, you know,

Fast forward, you know, some years here, you

know, maybe like five years or so, ten years.

I end up meeting Ryan, which is the other host

of Starges, at... our previous employer we used

to work and we were introduced to mutual friends

and we just sat down at the same you know lunch

table together like you know high school kind

of stuff yeah and we were talking one day and

he said something about you know a comic book

or spider -man or batman or some kind of superhero

and i'm like oh yeah you know i used to read

comic books like they just i still read them

like yeah okay i was like yeah the gi joe is

a kid he goes oh yeah i like gi joe because i

have the the gi joe you know disks on dvd from

rino i'm a call the cartoon of my case a lot

of the kid and a to borrowing the cartoon disk

from him i watched him in like a week the whole

thing in like a week all kinds of nostalgia came

flooding back uh... then after that we were just

talking in you know inseparable and we got the

idea together to uh... you know put a podcast

together because we started listening to a podcast

uh... he was listening to uh... And he told me

about it, which was the Comic Geek Speak podcast,

and I checked him out. But I was into the Pop

Culture Network guys. Oh, really? I did not...

Well, I think I remember hearing you several

times over there, but I didn't know... How far

did you get into them? I got started with them

right at their inception. Oh, really? Yeah. So

it was like, you know pixel Dan and Jason Deval

and it was like Scotty cash they were doing the

New toy smell. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I got into

that podcast and I really enjoyed it I really

liked it and they did the videos for and everything

was really cool and then you know, I you know

other you know guys came in, you know killing

dirt Dave You know Draper and then uh, I think

intern Rick was Him and Sweene Halleke were like

when I started, you know, kind of getting out

because of their it get kind of weird at the

end there My opinion, you know Yeah, I guess

they're still going strong, but they kind of

you know broke off and do their own things and

now I big fans of David Duvall, they have their

own toy world order You know check it out. I'm

a big fan of those guys You watch do you watch

board I do I do Oh my god, this is the best YouTube

show out there. Oh my god And put a lot of work

into it and it's a it comes through and that's

You know the three guys which I thought you know

were the the heart and soul of the pop culture

network, and those three guys aren't there anymore.

It's kind of why I've drifted away from it. But

yeah, Jason and Danny and Dave, and Deval obviously,

he's the star. Don't tell him that, it'll go

to his head. How many comics are you actually

reading now? How many series are you actually

reading now? But I probably get anywhere between

15 to 18 comics a month Mm -hmm. Okay, nothing

too extravagant Well, it's a fair number I think

in my mind it keeps me abreast of what's going

on. Mm -hmm One thing on this preferences was

like I I know comic books are expensive we kind

of touched on that a little bit I Use a service

that delivers my comic books to me. It's a discount

comic book service DCBS DCBS out of Indiana and

They're great You just go on there you pick your

comics online. They ship them to you You can

ship it every week every two weeks every month

and they come to your house and they're great

They're discounted anywhere between in 30 40

50 % Yeah Yeah, DCB service is awesome. I've

known about them for a while. I Actually use

their sister site a lot in stock trade yet. Oh

my god in stock trades up to 45 % off all trade

paperbacks It's like I go into my local shop

is like this trade paperback is 1799 even with

a 25 % off discount Yeah, you're still paying

X number of whatever go to in stock trades. It's

like nine bucks That's how I afford to read all

the comic books I buy because right now, you

know currently, you know unemployed Looking for

work. I couldn't afford to read all these if

I didn't use DCBS And I you know, I get comic

books from other friends and stuff like that

through my friend Nick my friend Ryan we kind

of swap comics back and forth with each other

too, but uh Yeah, those guys that between that

DCBS my friends the library getting some trades

You know The library, you know my buddy Joe Reed

who does the the IDW turtles ongoing reviews

with me here in the pull bag He suggested that

to me and I tried it out for our first annual

Marvelous March this year. Yeah the If you've

got a good librarian who knows a little bit about

comic books they can order You know certain trades

and put them in their rotation if yeah, that's

not just problem. You know what they have Yeah,

but that's not the problem, though. The problem

is, I've picked up half these books and it's

like they've gone through a dryer. Oh, they just

beat the hell out of it? Yeah. I think it was

Spider -Man and Black Cat, which collects amazing

606 to 611 or something or other. It was Spider

-Man and Black Cat. The trade actually had a

page. completely the the very first page we open

the cover of the book was just sitting there

and i'm like seriously really i know a library

is not going to take extra good care of these

things but i mean come on take better care of

it than that yeah well a lot of times you gotta

look and see who's checking these things out

and it's you know Kids no, I know. Well, I don't

know why kids would be reading spider -man 606

and 607 considering Peter and and Felicia are

not exactly a kid stuff. They're you know Relations,

yeah. Yeah, I've got that trade Yeah, I love

that cover. Oh, yeah covers ever uh... one of

the uh... the the only cosplayer we've interviewed

here on gcr and uh... madmel madigan she actually

by far is the best black cat i've ever seen as

far as cosplay nice oh my god i saw a few at

some local conventions and some uh... comic book

conventions that are good and i've seen a few

that are but we'll just say not so good but what

she actually does She'll do photoshoots sometimes

where she'll mimic certain covers. Okay. And

she and she mimicked the, um, her and, uh, hero

fit. Mimicked 606. But it's her twice. It's her

as black cat and as marriage. Oh, it's very good.

Yeah, okay great Yeah, last time I went to Baltimore

comic -con there was some lady who was doing

some professional photography as cosplay and

she was doing it outside Dressed as a poison

ivy and stuff like that. So that's pretty cool

Outside of the superheroes Outside of Marvel

and DC. Are there any other companies you really

gravitate towards or well IDW They kind of like

a own a big chunk of my wallet at this point

Getting the you know, the transformer titles

the GI Joe titles They did you know, dr. Who

which I've picked up a little bit on that Star

Trek comic books, which I'm sort of getting interested

in a little bit So they do those, plus they produce

all the, you know, the collected volume, the

trades. They do the Ninja Turtles, which I'm

loving that. The ongoing and the animated series

that follows the cartoon. Love those. Yeah, the

animated adventures, yeah. The ongoing. Like

animated adventures, yeah. As of this recording,

the ongoing just released issue 36. And my jaw

nearly hit the floor with a revelation that's

in issue 36 It's a twist I never saw coming and

it's really really awesome Yeah, I mean IDW is

IDW is taking care of our childhood unlike certain

live -action film directors They you know, they

did the Rocky and Bullwinkle for issue many they

did the Dexter's lab for issue many they did

What else what else what else that they you know,

they're doing powerpuff Anybody that's a kid

of the 80s and 90s IDW is your place to go because

they've got powerpuff girls Dexter's lab samurai

Jack They've got this big thing going on now

Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War Yeah,

well there's doing a crossover too with Ghostbusters

and Ninja Turtles and Turtles coming up in October.

Yep. That's that's gonna be interesting I'll

tell you the one thing I didn't particularly

care for from them Maybe it's because I don't

care for the show or I didn't this show just

wasn't my style It wasn't my kind of television

show. I tried reading X -Files number one...

X -Files meets Transformers. Oh, okay. That was

a weird book. I never read it. That was a really

weird book. But no, IDW, those guys and gals

over there can do no wrong. I mean, everything

they've done that I've read has been amazing.

Yeah. Dark Horse, I get the ongoing Star Wars

book, which is ending, so... That's the only

one I get from them unless there's a good miniseries

that they're producing, but they're gonna be

producing the last, I guess, Star Wars comic

book in September, even though they have a license

until December. Well, the license until December

maybe will allow them to get out that final trade

or something like that, so that's probably what

it is. Yeah, I don't read too much Dark Horse.

I've read... I want to read more of it, but I've

only read the first issue of Gale Simone's Tomb

Raider based on... The most recent video game.

Okay. I like that I tell you one thing if you're

if you're into superheroes Something that's gonna

change your mind about the way superheroes are

is if you read image comics cowl by Kyle Higgins

It's based off of his characters from his short

film the league. It's What if there was a superhero

labor union in 1960 Chicago? Oh, nice. This is

a book that you should never show to children.

It's not a book for kids. It's like normally

in DC or Marvel's, unless it's Marvel, what's

that other one? The imprint that they have. The

ultimate universe? No, no, no, no, no. The Max

series. Oh, the Max series, yeah. Unless it's

a Max series, general Marvel titles because they

obviously want to cater to kids as well as adults.

And DC will do like, you know, and exclamation

point at sign, or they'll just put blank or cut

it off for curse words. Oh no. Cowell doesn't

do that. Nice. But it's, it's a really interesting

story. The first two issues are out as of this

recording. The third issue comes up at the end

of July. Um, and they're kind of, they're giving

you an overall story, but they're kind of also

each issue is focusing on one part of. the organization

and one specific character. So that's what's

really interesting. And it's just refreshing,

honestly. It's a superhero book, but it's not

a superhero book. I've heard people online say

it's the superhero version of Mad Men. I've never

seen Mad Men. Not that I don't have any interest

in doing so, but it's just a show that I never

really latched onto. But, I mean, it is... There's

a scene in issue two that I don't think I've

ever seen in comics. It is a really explosive

scene. I'll have to... You'll have to go back

and check it out if you want to, just to see

what I'm saying, because I really don't want

to... Because it really... It shocked the crap

out of me when it happened. Like, oh no, he did

not just do that to that guy. Wow. Yeah, I'll

have to check it out, yeah. And that's that's

one of the beauty things about comic books, you

know, whether you follow, you know, just straight

up indie comics or the, you know, more mainstream,

you know, there's something out there for everybody.

Oh, absolutely. If you want Detective Noir stories

or if you want Western stories, if you want,

you know, superhero capes and cows, if you want

espionage, if you want military stories, you

know, if you want My Little Pony, which IDW is

doing too, there's something out there for everybody.

Absolutely. The only thing IDW needs to do now

is they need to hire Kristy Marks and have her

write an ongoing gem series that picks up from

the end of the cartoon series. I would want to

read a Mask comic book. Yeah, let's hope it's

better than the actual cartoon series. Oh my

god. Mask mayhem. They're oh my god. I'm dying.

We're like 40 something episodes in yeah a 75

We're nearly halfway through and it's getting

worse and worse and the wars I found that I went

back to watch some of my old childhood favorites

They hold up as much as I remember them and they're

a little bit a little bit less than what I meant

to be out of all of them mask out of Voltron,

Transformers, G .I. Joe, He -Man, She -Ra, well

I can't speak for She -Ra because I haven't watched

it all, but most of She -Ra. Out of those kind

of five action cartoons, Mask is the only one

that at least once an episode I cringe. At least

once an episode. I cringe at least once an episode

and I also get Extremely pissed once an episode

because I really at some point I want to do a

top ten Worst sidekick characters of the 80s.

Oh, I was gonna say that is because a t -box

It's not just him Scott and T Bob would be number

one both of them. They each have their fault

like I There was one line out of 40 something

episodes so far where I actually literally laughed

out loud because of a line T Bob says and he

says Well, I guess I fell for that because he

falls down some - something. I was like, uh -huh,

that's - that's - that's good too, Bob. But the

rest of the time, there was two of them. Anyway,

uh, yeah, no, it would be interesting to see

a Mask comic because anything's better than the

show. Yeah, the - the older comic books from

Mask, not the ones that came with the toy pack

-ins, but the actual, you know, comic book, very

wordy. Very wordy. Like, it'll take you like

a half hour to read a - issue. They're very wordy.

You get kind of taken out of the book because

it's so wordy. Yeah, I don't like that. Yeah,

no. I tried reading the current series or the

upcoming, I think the first issue's out. On free

comic book day this year, I figured, oh, Transformers

versus G .I. Joe or Transformers... Oh my god.

Whatever it is, I tried it. The art, like, my

problem is... Well, that and the art I don't

like and I don't like how they're... I like when

they do parentheses and then at the bottom of

a panel it'll say translated from this language

I don't like how they did it in that issue zero

because they're like super giant wavy thing And

then over here in the corner, translated from

Cybertronian. What the? Just have them talk.

Yeah. Ugh. Oh my god. I got that free comic book

day issue, too. And I'm like, I struggled to

get through it. I'm like, I'm not reading this.

I'm not getting it for the show. I don't care.

We don't have to cover it. I never want to read

this. I just don't. It's not my G .I. Joe Transformers.

There are other way better G .I. Joe Transformer

stories out there. And I will read those. Dreamwave

did an awesome G .I. Joe Transformers comic.

You get the chance to go back and pick up those

issues. Beautiful art. Some of the Dreamwave

Transformers books on their own are some of the

most beautiful comic book pages you'll ever see.

The one that I really enjoy now of the franchises

that we had when we were kids, the big, you know...

is He -Man and the Masters of the Universe from

DC. That is a great comic book. We just released,

my buddy Adass Barrett and I are doing the reviews

for that series. We just released the first arc,

which is issues one through six, and I'm liking

it. I kind of got lost with what lies within

story arc. It gets better. Trust me. No, I'm

there. When I say I got lost, I don't mean I

stopped reading it. I mean, I just, as I was

reading it, I'm kinda like, eh, okay. And the

other problem I had, once again, is the same

problem I always have. It went from Giffen to

Abnett. The only thing, up until Masters, that

I read of Abnett was, I think, Punisher Year

One. Not saying that he's a bad writer at all.

I'm not saying I think the writing got better

I've read issue up to issue 13 though Well, yeah

Issue 13 is the prelude to blood of grayscale,

right? Yes Yeah, I've read issue 14 and it is

it is good. Yeah I'm not saying that what they're

doing now is bad. I'm just saying the changeover

and the story of what lies within was a little

weird for me because Abnett is obviously not

the same writer as... There are just certain

things that... certain... Well, I don't, yeah.

It's not the same kind of story that you know.

It's a new imagining, a new tale. I don't mind

that it's a new tale. I don't mind that it's

a new take. I actually love what Giffen did with

the 2012 series. the 2012 Mini going into this.

I love that. I thought that was great. And I

really enjoyed the crossover, the DC Universe

vs. Mochu crossover. It's just... There's certain

things, and I'm not trying to spoil my opinion

for later episodes of the pullback, but there's

certain ways that Abnet writes the characters.

There's certain things that he puts in their

word balloons that I just don't think that they

should say things like that. It's like... Wherefore,

you know, it's like he's trying to be a 21st

century Shakespeare with with he man and randor

and the whole reveal That it's been King hiss

the entire time. I love it. I It was awesome.

I love it. I love the fact they're bringing a

snake man in Well, I love the fact they're bringing

the snake man in I just Hope they explain at

some point what what the hell happened to the

real randor because that that's my only gripe

about the king hiss angle is Well, you don't

know yet. I mean did he kill him or did he have

him locked away? Is he you know in prison somewhere

who knows because the problem I have with the

king hiss angle is Something I absolutely loved

going into the series that they know We don't

have to worry about the friggin secret anymore

They all know. Randor knows. I didn't think I

would. I'm reading and I'm like, oh, they all

know. I'm like, well, it actually works. It works.

But the thing is, now that we get the reveal

that Hiss is Randor, my fear is that the real

Randor doesn't know. And now we're going to have

to go back to doing the whole secret thing again.

Well, I don't know because all the other masters

know. And I mean... Yeah, that's true. We now

have, you know, if I could spoil it a little

bit, but Tila is the new sorceress. I love the

angle they took with the She -Ra origin. I mean,

we haven't gotten it all yet. Love it too. No,

no, no. I mean, like the beginning of it, like

when the Horde first invades in the very first

issue. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Love the angle that

they took with that and I'm enjoying it I see

people on Facebook a couple buddies of mine posting

that they don't like it and then it's it's really

bad and they don't like what They don't like

what they did with orco and whatever else I like

it What they did with orco is the best thing

we've had out of orco in 30 plus years He's never

had this much character development. Oh never

No, I'm a big fan. Like I said, this is the first

book I grab and go to every month. First on the

stack. See, for me, I'm... Alright, let me ask

you this. I know we talked about trades earlier

and we talked a little bit about singles. Do

you prefer print or digital? Oh, print. Why?

I don't know. I just like to feel it in my hands.

Maybe I'm just a little old school in textile

like that, but... And see, normally I would...

have the same answer as you and now i find myself

i don't know if it's just the sheer fact of the

weather we've had this summer here in loyal kentucky

or anything like that but like every time i go

up to the comic book store i get my books and

i come home obviously i take the bus to and from

the store and by the time i get home i'm like

okay well i'm gonna take them all out of there

out of their sleeves and I'm gonna sit here and

I'm gonna read through them. By the time I get

to the middle of a certain page, I'm ready to,

it's not because of the content of the book.

It's because of, I guess, the adventure of going

to the store. I'm like, oh God, I'm falling asleep.

I have to read this later. Yet when I read them

digitally and I use Comixology's guided view

technology. It's so much more engaging for me.

Well, yeah, I do I do enjoy reading digitally,

but I you know, I just prefer the Old -school

print. Yeah, and like you said, I don't I do

still go to comic book stores because I like

them and I do frequent them But with DCBS, they

just deliver to my house every two weeks and

it's just great It's a big giant box, you know

on your doorstep. It's like Christmas, you know

And you order, you know a couple of months in

advance from what comes you're like, oh what's

in this box? What did I order now? Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, no, I mean, you know DCBS is great in stock

trades is great They're both great websites and

that's probably the best way to go when it comes,

you know Not that we don't want to support the

local comic shops. But yeah, I mean, you know

that 399 price tag even at a 30 even at a 15

% discount is still a little bit much and You

know, I really can't say anything because I'm

basically paying full price digitally Yeah, if

you wait a little longer, I mean the digital

prices do tend to go down Yeah, they do go down

But if you wait a little longer to the print

the actual hard copy if you you know go to a

convention They're usually on a dollar table

Yeah, that's true I think right now, let me just

look here, I have, in my subscriptions on Comixology,

I have one, two, three, four, I have six subscriptions.

Two of them are $3 .99 books. Two of them, no,

three of them are $2 .99 books, and then Cowl

is, yeah, Cowl is $2 .99, and then the Batman

Beyond digital stuff is 99 cents. So it's not

that bad. I think I'm spending digitally. I'm

spending 30 40 bucks a month Yeah, versus when

I was getting them the print copies from my local

shop. I was spending close to 85 90 dollars a

month. Yeah That's usually what I try to go to

is I try to keep my order under $50 a month,

which is that's a that's a high amount for me

Right now I'm hovering right around the 25 to

30 a month But if I buy a trade or something

like that, obviously it'll kick up the price

a little bit, which IDW does those GI Joe hardcovers.

And I've been buying the old Marvel stuff, so

those are like 32 bucks a pop. But again, it's

paying 50 bucks for it, and I want it, so I'm

going to buy it. You know what? I'll go on In

Stock Trades, and I'll spend just over $50 just

to get the free shipping. Oh yeah, yeah. I mean,

this is one of the coolest... I mean, granted,

the shipping by itself, if you buy under 50,

it's only like four or five bucks. That's not

bad. But free is free. Yeah, free is free. I

hear you with that. Do you have any recommendations

for people to check out as far as titles you're

reading you think others should check out? The

titles I'm really enjoying... Like I said, we

talked about the He -Man title. I'm really enjoying

that. I'm really enjoying the Marvel Punisher

title right now. I couldn't recommend that highly

or and The Ninja Turtles, you know, you're a

big fan of that one. I couldn't recommend that

highly either Those are those are probably the

three that I'm enjoying the most The Punisher

Ninja Turtles and the Masters universe. Yeah,

were you ever into the DC animated universe?

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I get the The DVDs when they

when they come out Mm -hmm. You ever watch Batman

Beyond? I have watched Batman Beyond. You need

to go get the trade for 10 ,000 clowns because

that's the beginning. Get 10 ,000 clowns and

get Batgirl Beyond. Those are the two first volume

trades for the comic series from 2012. Okay.

And then catch up on the current digital series

because it world builds. DCA use so well when

it comes to Batman Beyond I mean they are they

just finished the Justice Lords crossover yeah

I mean I wouldn't mind reading it but I must

preference this by saying Batman Beyond is not

one of the stories or cartoons I was really heavily

into okay I I get the premise it's a cool premise

Batman's a little older he picks a you know a

younger person to become the new Batman Don't

know. I still like Bruce. I mean Bruce is in

it and he you know, he still kind of Dictates

what goes on to a certain degree to a certain

extent. Yeah, I just really didn't like the costume

look costume design of the Batman Beyond mmm

Okay, well, but that's me, you know, everybody's

got the yeah. Yeah I like Adam West Batman, you

know, what does that say, you know? Worst police

force ever. There you go All right, we I think

we're gonna close it out. Where can the people

interact with you online sir? Well, you can follow

us. We're at starjoes .com over there. So you

can check us out over there www .starjoespodcast

.com I am actually on Twitter Facebook, it's

Charles Averitt, A -V -E -R -I -T -T. Twitter

is C .T. Averitt, so you just follow me there

on Twitter if you want. Facebook me, just let

me know, heads up, that you're from the show

or a fan, and I'll go ahead and accept that.

Basically, Ryan does all the tweeting for the

Stardews podcast. I contribute on Facebook randomly

here and there. Give us a listen, I will think

you'll like it. Awesome. Awesome. Alright, well,

that's gonna do it for this Origins episode.

I have no idea what's coming up next. Honestly,

no clue. Well, thanks for having me on. I really

appreciate it. I've been wanting to do it for

a while. Yeah, it's been a blast. It's been very,

very awesome. So, make your great escape into

comics and we will catch you next time. This

is Kevin Conroy. And I am the goddamn Batman.

You've just heard the latest episode of The Pullback,

the GCRN's comic review and discussion podcast.

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