Weekly Comic Roundup: Batman, Hulk, Doctor Strange, and More

Imari Williams here and you're listening to GeekCast

Radio Network. Hello and welcome to the Comic

Concierge Podcast. A podcast that believes that

comics are for everyone. The key is finding the

right one. This is one of my weekly wrap -up

episodes where I go through the week that was

in comics, giving you my thoughts and opinions

on some of the most notable issues that... came

out. Some slight spoilers as I do get into some

detail. I will try to avoid the major surprises,

but if you want to know absolutely nothing about

your books, check the show notes. I'll list all

the comic books I'll be talking about today and

timestamp so you can skip anyone that you are

worried about before you read it. I do start

each week with my recommendation of the week,

and my recommendation of the week is a little

bit different. It's not necessarily the best

book I read that week, but the best starting

point, the best book if you're going into the

store and you have a book you wanna read, but

you're not sure what, and it's a book that you

can read without reading what came before, or

in some cases what came after. In this case,

I'm actually going with Batman, number 48. Yes,

I know everyone knows that. We're all building

up to the wedding in Batman number 15. We've

had a lot of different prelude issues and things

of that nature, all kind of showing how all the

different characters have been impacted by the

idea of Batman and Catwoman getting married.

Well, one of the key people in all of that, of

course, is Joker. And we got a little bit of

this story in the DC nation zero where. Joker

is looking for his invitation for the wedding

that unfortunately never came so i would highly

advise reading that story although you don't

need it in order to understand this one. It's

again simply joker he's found out that batman

is getting married and you know it's is kind

of distraught over the fact that. He wasn't told

about it really and i think it. Obviously there's

a large amount of jealousy there of course and

i've been enjoying tom king's run on batman a

great deal his last arc the booster gold arc

i thought was okay i felt like it would probably

would have been stronger if that was maybe even

a one shot it just especially the way it was

framed and the. The ending of it i think would

have been a little more impactful that wasn't

a three story arc but this i thought was one

of the better issues you've had in some time

and i think he's really great at writing joker

and i want you to put a lot of different interpretations

of joker how to approach him and i think what

what's interesting about him in the way that.

King writes him he is very obviously unpredictable

there is just this black notice craziness to

him. that you would expect for a character like

Joker that's you know his that's what makes him

such a great villain especially with Batman as

Batman is a man of control and wanting to have

as much understanding of something as you can

with a Joker just basically is subverts that

every every possible way. Here he is sadistic

he is violent he is unhinged and even begins

with a rather brutal opening you know it's a.

Opening that I think was somewhat tasteful, but

it did take me back a little bit like there was

a large amount of violence in this opening few

pages You know he this is on a joker that holds

back. This is a joker that is willingly killing

a lot of people innocently he goes into this

church and There's a wedding going on and basically

he's killing all the different people sometimes

by accident Maybe who knows Joker even if an

accident is an accident But it's just a back

and forth between him and Batman and if you don't

have that read any of Tom King's work before

this or if you've never read a Batman book this

to me just surmises what's so great about the

relationship why Joker and Batman are looked

at as one of the best arch rivals or rivalries

in all of fiction really and because there's

there's something just. Intriguing about their

relationship they just they do complete one another

in a way and how much affection in an odd way

joker has for batman there's some interesting

scenes here and there he he. He understands batman

in a way i think no one else can and i think

that fact scares batman or something that batman

doesn't even want to admit in a way i know what

i was talking about. the relationship between

batman and the joker is that how joker is able

to hold his own against batman right batman is

this samurai he's one of the most well -trained

fighters in history yet joker who's by all means

not the most athletic man ever he certainly can

hold his own i guess seems to be able to get

the upper hand here and there and i think it's

a lot a lot of that is because of that relationship

and him being able to find holes in his logic

where others can't and this one it's a lot more

straightforward than that though it's simply

he has guns and he's not afraid to use them and

he also knows the lines that Batman won't cross

and why he will and you know if it's taking hostages

if it's killing life if it's killing himself

he'll do it in order to get what he wants so

I just I found this really intriguing just the

way that Joker was written I really I like what

he Tom King did with Joker in the. The past jokes

and whittles riddle storyline that we didn't

get a huge amount this to me just I know there's

a little bit more seasoned here this is where

the relation have as much more developed a lot

more. And I have that one of the moments that

really stuck with me is you see Joker near an

altar and he has the gun pointed to himself to

try to control Batman. And you see like Joker

and Batman just sitting kneeling and praying.

It's just an odd in a church. It's just an odd

image that I know I found the storytelling on

that panel just quite captivating and what it

was doing. And if you're I know there's been

a lot of controversy and a controversy is the

right word, but some people who have hated Tom

King's run for whatever reason, I think this

might be one that. I don't see anyone really

hating this. Maybe some people wouldn't like

it as much as I did. But I think the reason I

picked this as pick of the week is because it's

a good point to jump in right now, especially

with issue 50 probably going to be one of the

biggest books of the year. If you wanted to try

to find a good lean in point, this is a good

reason to do that. You don't need to really know

much anything else. It doesn't tie into a lot

of Batman's history. Catwoman is kind of in this

i don't want to give any spoilers but it's mostly

just batman and joker talking and that's what

talking i think does best his dialogue his ability

to you. Demonstrate the psychotic he can get

dark and twisted we saw that with the vision

with mr miracle he knows how to really find ways

to depict craziness and fun and interesting ways

and that's on display here so. I'm liking too

that he hasn't used the Joker all that much.

I thought Scott Snyder maybe did it. He went

to Joker's well far too often and then we had

also the three Joker thing that went on. I feel

like Tom King has just been peppering in really

villains here and there, which makes their presence

to me mean all that more. So that's why I made

my recommendation of the week. It's one of the

strongest issues that I think King has put out

in some time, maybe since the annual. It's probably

my favorite. king comic of batman since the batman

annual which i would probably say is maybe his

best his best work but i was curious to see what

people had to think about this uh and if people

are there are excited for the wedding as another

you know as that will be released i believe on

the 4th of july which is being built up as one

of the biggest comic book days in some time we're

getting a new cap in america then i think that's

also when the cap woman series debuts which i

am super excited for because that's going to

be done by joel jones but That's pretty much

it for this book so let's move on to the next

title. In their village when the daughter is

very young is attacked and pretty much everyone

is murdered and killed except for the father

and her daughter and then after that. He is basically

left nearly comatose for nearly a decade. The

daughter is basically sent to defend for herself.

He eventually wakes up and now that he's woken

up, he hopes to enact revenge to these people

that killed everyone he knew and indicates that

he was asleep. But considering the terminology

at the time, I'm guessing there was a nutshell

or some sort of depression or something of that

nature where he was just detached from reality.

It seems like during that time. His daughter

was the one taking care of him and they do have

an interesting relationship and the fact that

he wants to Go about and enact this revenge his

daughter wants to come along to He doesn't want

her to but at the same time it's like she's been

doing all this stuff already for him she's the

one basically raising herself all the all this

time. And now he wants to know parent so they

have a intriguing dynamic that daughter just

seems to be mute or when she speaks all the dialogue

bubbles or different symbols and designs so i

don't know. It's just just noises or what exactly

she is portraying or some sort of sign language.

It's not super clear I didn't really like the

artwork overall by Matt shader I don't know.

I've a lot of his work to be honest, but I like

what I see here Especially when he comes to the

facial acting is I really like what he was able

to design a lot of his landscapes are really

open You know, this is a world where it's farm

country and this is early civilization. So there's

not a lot going on. It's pretty Empty in there's

this like vast just draveness to it in a way,

especially with the coloring It's just like this

brownness Overall, like just everything just

feels like it's in in in mud or something like

that There's just the way that the colors are

muted. It's very affecting I think especially

for the mood of the story, but I thought overall

that he's got a lot of great storytelling Especially

there's a great scene between the father and

the daughter where he's kind of shape sharpening

is his Sword right before he's getting ready

for battle and kind of the eyes of the daughter

play a key role throughout It's what he really

uses to define her and know who she is But I

just felt this was really a strong opening there

isn't a huge amount of story here as indicated

This is pretty straightforward trying to seek

revenge for what happened to him when he was

younger What happened to his wife and all of

his friends and family basically and so? When

it comes to the general concept, it's rather

straightforward, but I think what's going to

be the key to this moving forward is the relationship

between the daughter and the father and how they

interact, which I'm always a huge fan of our

sucker for great father, daughter, sons, or basically

anything surrounding parental relationships,

especially when there's certainly a big divide

between these two, then that could lead to some

compelling storytelling. Another recommendation

of the week this was probably the closest and

it wasn't really till I read Batman 48 that I

was okay this is definitely going to be the recommendation

of the week it's actually to me probably the

best Marvel title in this refresh line I've read

so far and that's the immortal Hulk number one

written by Al Ewing with art by Joe Bennett and

Marvel's been doing a lot of these refresh books.

I've actually been enjoying them for the most

part and i think marvel gets a lot of slack and

sometimes it's due when due to the quality of

the comics in the sense of the physical quality

of it but i think they have a lot of good books

out there and. I picked up the mortal hulk because

the concept to me seemed really intriguing al

ewing having this more horror take on the book

we got a little bit of a hint of what he would

be doing with it in the no surrender storyline

where we saw. the first re -emergence of hulk

after he was supposedly dead back from civil

war 2 i believe although i think he showed showed

up in secret empire too so he didn't stay dead

for long and that's kind of the premise of this

is that hulk doesn't die or bruce banner or hulk

don't die it opens up with uh robbery that goes

wrong that leads to the death of a child at this

gas station along with bruce banner bruce banner

awakes In this great scene at the morgue and

then goes out and acts justice Against the person

that killed him in that and that girl we find

out a little bit more backstory about that criminal

as well Why he did what he did and what I will

find really effective about this the story so

far is the approach that Allie Ewing is having

with Hulk in Bruce Banner. There are two characters

that tend to be Approached differently based

upon the writer sometimes are looked at as two

opposing entities Taking up the same space where

there are. Basically fighting for control and

they're not they're not really connected their

choices are cognitive of the choices of each

other but no way to the influences choice of

each other in major ways my pressure with what

is doing is that he sees it differently where.

Bruce banner may actually have more control.

Or the whole maybe more of an extension of the

spanner the spanner likes to admit there is this

continuous question that pops up throughout this

book about you know am i a good person the reflection

of self basically where. There are these people

throughout this book that do some pretty bad

and twisted things, but they see themselves as

a good person. They can justify their actions

for whatever reason. And yeah, we could look

at a character that commits a crime like a murder

and robbery as obviously a bad person, even if

they did it because they have reasons, maybe

because they have a family that they're trying

to support or what have you. But. At the same

time what about someone like bruce banner is

he in fact a good person he does some pretty

horrific things in this he did you treat. The

whole very much like that monster even the depiction

of him how strong is what's more primal he doesn't

look like you're a figure that you would put

on the avengers he is this. Force of nature that

is just being unleashed he's smart though in

the sense this isn't dumb hulk is it hulk smash

hulk. He's got a little bit more intelligent

so i'm he's a little bit more sadistic than i've

really seen a whole he seems to take pleasure

and smashing or enacting punishment for people

that deserve it like almost like a pseudo ghostwriter

or something of that nature where he's doing

what he feels is right. because of what this

person did. You know, he has a line he won't

cross. I don't know, it's, I find it just really

intriguing. There's a lot of questions here that

I think could be really compelling and I think

put the Hulk in a cool direction. I've not stayed

continuous with the Hulk book really in some

time, really after World War Hulk, the last time

I really kept up with the Hulk book. But this

can keep me on. I did like the art of Joe Bennett

a lot. I really loved how he depicted the Hulk,

as I indicated, the way that he looks like, even

the way he stands. He's almost he's very animalistic

in that sense. So I'm curious to see where this

goes. My only issue is that regarding that question

of control that seems to come up here and there,

or the question of is this person good or truly

good? I think he maybe needs to, and this is

something that can go on in future issues. better

to find where that control lies like in this

case you have a criminal that is doing things

that are possibly out of his control so does

that question of is he's a good person is it

as poignant when he's kind of in a tough spot

or if our understanding of Hulk is that he is

able to do what he wants he's not a connection

to Bruce to Bruce Banner. Does that question

of it is he a good person are you putting too

much blame on the shoulders of spanner for things

he's not really. Able to impact again that's

a question that can be explored not necessarily

a problem but i think something that will need

to be clarified are probably where this book

will be going moving forward so this is probably

as i indicated the best marvel refresh book in

the sense of it is something very new for this

for the direction of hulk in some time. There

have been other approaches that have treated

the Hulk like a horror book like a monster before

But we haven't really seen it in some in I can't

remember the last time really So I don't know

if I'm gonna stay as Hulk is still around if

that books still going I did like I That character

when he showed up and I think I remember the

champions or something like that So I think there's

still a place for him and I think it makes sense

if he exists and is doing that more of the Hulk

smash type of stories or more the low -key stories

that you take this book in this direction So

you can actually kind of you know have both at

the same time Another big Marvel refresh book

that came out this week where it was dr. Strange

number one or 391 written by mark wade and art

by hazel sales and Of all the Marvel refresh

books that were coming out this week. This is

the one I was least anticipating I just wasn't

sure what the direction would be with Mark Waid

on Doctor Strange if he would basically have

a character that is backtracked and doesn't have

the great progression I felt that we had with

Jason Aaron and Donny Cates where I thought that

they were able to give. Strange a personality

that was a little bit more captivating a little

bit more intriguing than he typically is always

found strange to be very standoffish character

like he was a character that could show up here

and there and Work, but isolated by himself.

I can couldn't really ever get invested in in

his books Which is why I think he has not had

a continuous title all that much until they came

around and I was hoping that hoping this wouldn't

go back on that and It does in a way but i'm

still actually found this much more intriguing

night in ever anticipated and this is very much

old school book in a lot of ways he's even pulling

out the omniscient narrator that shows up which

is a. Tool that is barely ever use anymore it's

like the old has become new again can i seeing

that usage i felt like wow i miss that actually

like how is how he's doing this i feel like it

it's getting us into the character of mark. Dr.

Strange in a way that is different than what

Donny Cates and Jason Aaron did and you know

it's kind of a you know some people tend to not

the use of a narrator but I feel like in this

day and age it can work because it is so rarely

seen and it ends up being a little bit more wordy

than your typical Marvel book because of that

so it ends up having a lot more story than some

of the other Marvel fresh start books and The

the premise of this is that you know everyone

talking about that doctor strange goes in the

space and he's been in space before he is social

supreme is one of more powerful. Characters in

the marvel world but the reason behind it i didn't

know until reading this and the idea is that

he basically lost a step he is not the doctor

strange he wants what was seems to not be able

to. See magic again or use magic and it's not

a case where like in the. Early Jason Aaron books

where magic was taken from him it just seems

like he's lost it for some reason almost like

he's coming through like a. Midlife crisis or

you know when like the best baseball player who

has a great. Average for some reason just can't

hit the ball like there's something mentally

blocking them that they there's in a gigantic

slump and doctor strange is in a slump and he

feels like that he doesn't know what he can do

he even ends up going back to civilian life in.

and restarting, but still has that itch, eventually

seeking the help of Tony Stark, who advises him

to solve it by finding a new source, revitalizing,

you know, who he is. How do you do that? By going

out into space. And that's really where it leaves

it for the most part. I don't want to obviously

get into major spoilers, but I thought the characterization

of Strange was interesting there was like a bit

in this for example where we going up into space

and he makes the there's the remark that he doesn't

like to drive because driving is. The act that

took away who we previously was and i don't know

that ever been approached before knowing that

he has this. Adversion to who operating vehicles

and things like that obviously they really had

to being doctor strange but it makes sense like

why he would not want to get behind the wheel

of a. car or in this case a spaceship. And I

also have to say the art by Heizu Sias, who I

don't, again, another artist I'm not super familiar

with, to me was a big part of what worked with

this. There were some great, right from the opening,

like there was this crazy looking creature, other

dimensional being. It looked fantastic. And then

we see Strange try to sew up the world. Using

using basically kind of your cross stitch like

you would if you're sewing up a body Which may

be a little bit too heavy -handed metaphor. It's

like, okay, I'm gonna do this like a surgeon.

All right All right, maybe that's pushing it

a little bit, but I thought the actual depiction

of it was whether it was rather strong and It's

great seeing actually dr. Strange like in his

old classic getup because it flashes back and

in and then forward The other piece is that you

know We did just see doctor strange do something

like this previously we see him go through not

having any magic i really like that part of this

and Aaron's run it really show the ingenuity

of doctor strange you took away the one thing

that defines him. And now we have to find new

ways to solve his problems and i thought within

that we got to really know who doctor strange

was as a person outside of just being. This guy

who would come up with every day ZX Machina you

needed at that moment in time and now we had

to actually think things through. Any even in

Donnie Cage run we saw that to that questioning

of himself and I think that's the one thing if

you're asking if this is a refresh book it maybe

isn't in the sense of this is doing a lot of

things story wise narrative wise that a lot of

Marvel books have been doing for some time taking

that hero and taking away what defines them and.

Have them basically be someone else some cases

literally in some cases metaphorically and so

i don't know. If that might be the right choice

in the sense of your if you're trying to do a

different direction of the character of doctor

strange having a story thematically that falls

in line with a lot of what came before again

this is only the first issue so maybe by the

second issue this will change and it was just

a tactic to get him into space is we don't really

get that aspect of the story all that much but.

As going into this with little expectation of

how good it may or may not have been, I walked

away relatively happy and this is one I didn't

pull on my weekly or monthly pull list and if

the next issue is as strong or I like where it's

going I could see myself continuing this for

the long haul. So a present surprise for me as

this was probably the one of the refresh books

that was lowest on my list and now it's much

more near the top than I anticipated it to be.

One of the books that kind of disappointed me

was Deadpool number one by Scottie young and

art by Scott Klein and I was going into this

with a decent amount of anticipation So that

may be why but I've enjoyed a lot of what Scottie

young has done as a writer. I love I hate fairyland.

I Really enjoy his work. He did with loser of

odds. He had that rocket raccoon series previously

So I had some anticipation. I thought he would

have a good voice for for Deadpool and I will

say Ultimately, that is the case for this issue

and I think that you know this Does possibly

have some promising aspects to it that could

lead to a good series my biggest issue with it

was mostly with the structure of it and just

not understanding the purpose in which. It was

designed or what it added to this to the story

and I felt like in a way it almost attracted

in added unnecessary levels of confusion where

the other the opening was great it was a good.

cold open where that pull is being dead pull

acting like a jerk in the middle of a movie theater

leads to him taking out some biker gang and fun

ensues a lot of brutality a lot of good violence

is what you want for a Deadpool book good humor.

If you're a Deadpool fan I pretty much think

that the picks what you want but then it kind

of ends up fluctuating we get a continuation

of that story and then what felt like nearly

halfway through I guess two thirds of the way

through it says to be continue them like oh okay

well. So interesting place to end but there's

a lot of more space in this book I guess there's

a you know, maybe a backup story or something

like that which often happens with first issues

but no and actually it is a backup story or it

is a flashback to what happened beforehand so

we're now seeing the events of everything that

led us up to that spot and It's a little bit

maybe if it's a nitpick but saying to be continued

rather than just Doing the previously or it just

seemed unnecessary to split it up that way Then

in that in that piece it's that pull going around

trying to create his own more sympathetic origin

Taking different bits and pieces from you know

classic origins and putting the Deadpool spin

on it Which I thought was a joke that was effective

and worked well And then seems like it will tie

into things moving forward was not the hugest

fan of the art I thought it was a little kid

a little bit inconsistent that time especially

in the petition the depiction of Teenage Sonic

Warhead I can never say your name right but you

know the character that was in the Deadpool 2

film and Deadpool film she does show up in this

this is a book that very much is impacted by

the movies and it calls that out and I know some

people might have a problem with that but if

any book should do that to me it's Deadpool because

if Deadpool is someone who's breaking the fourth

wall it would then make sense to extend that

out to his own film to think that that nature

and be able to comment on those so I think it

would be. A mistake in a way to not extend out

his meta commentary to not only his comic book

but to his movies as well. If the movie is going

to comment on the comics it should probably work

vice versa but I know some people hate the idea

of cinematic universes impacting the comic book

universes and at this point it's unavoidable

but sometimes I have a problem with it, sometimes

I don't and this I think it makes sense because

I do like the dynamic between Megasonic teenage

warhead and Deadpool. I don't know why she's

partnering with him or why she's there It seems

like she would try to get away from him as fast

as possible So I think that's something they

need to clarify to think of okay She was basically,

you know in the film there for Deadpool just

because she had to be here She was very much

by choice. So I think they'll need to maybe explore

that further to kind of explain why that's happening

outside of the meta joke of They're doing it

because the movie did it maybe they want maybe

that's the purpose behind it but I just thought

the structure of it was a little bit strange

I didn't like Scotty Young's letter in the back

which I read sometimes I don't but I was intrigued

to see as with Scotty Young his connection to

Deadpool is interesting because. My first introduction

to him, or my first time noticing his work, was

actually the variant covers he did for the Cable

and Deadpool way back when. And now he's actually

writing Deadpool, so it's been cool to see him

tracking his career, seeing now he's much...

Pick a name in the world of comics so I and I

thought you know the humor here was good it won't

work for everyone I think Deadpool jokes they're

not as funny as to me as they were forever ago

when I was younger but younger little bit immature

little bit more immature today and I'm not laughing

at loudest as much but I thought the story telling

it. Was good what I really liked about Jerry

Dugan's run is how he was able to add a little

bit more weightiness to the character Scotty

young is basically not doing that and I guess

if you're gonna relaunch Deadpool and It makes

I guess the most sense to bring him back to really

what made him famous and what made him such a

big character So I think for a lot of people

this will work I don't see anyone who's a huge

Deadpool fan Deadpool fan not enjoying this at

least a little bit But if you're a person who

does not like Deadpool or maybe like the different

direction that was in the previous series maybe

this won't work for you because it is going back

to a more not not simplistic but a little bit

more one dimensional form at least with the character

Deadpool so far is something I'll again only

the first issue so we can build upon here but

we'll see also coming out this week not to be

done. This was a huge weekend with with marvel

and dc i usually try to mix up more between some

of the smaller groups but they had such big books

this week i felt like i had to take some time

to talk about them and. One of the big dc books

that came out was justice league number one that

i did read and i went into this and talking about

anticipation levels with very low anticipation

because i was not a huge fan of metal i. start

off okay with no justice but by the end it it

did lose me but it got overly bloated and just

too much plot and not enough character but i

gotta say justice league number one you know

it's to me this was better than any book i read

in metal this was better than any book i read

in no justice and i think a big reason for that

was the way that scott steiner did structure

it in the sense of at the heart of this i think

we have i have a little bit more to grab on to

as a reader personally for what i like in the

sense this is most of this nearly all the story

we. Are told it to the perspective are march

march and manhunter he's that that anchor to

all the crazy that's that's going on and i think

he's a good anchor to do that because you know

he's coming from a world in which he has seen

everything he knows new in love destroyed and

now he's seeing his new life under that same

type of threat or possible threat they know something

is coming because of the source wall being broken

they just don't know. What it is and if it's

here to save us or it's here to destroy us at

the same time. We also have the Lex Luthor and

Vandal Savage doing their thing and it seems

like Lex Luthor is going back to being the Lex

Luthor we all know and hate or love the hate

or what have you, which I'm glad for. I know

it's weird to see this character that became

a hero for such a long time go back to being

a villain, but I am Happy to see heroes be heroes

and villains be villains again. I know that there

are the other Justice League books that are coming

out. So I don't know how much they're gonna play

a part in this and this is just like team As

someone who did love the cartoon growing up in

the in early 2000s it clearly they're like, okay

people love that Let's get those characters with

you know, Hawk girl John Lantern greet John Stewart

Green Lantern Martian Manhunter Batman Superman

Wonder Woman basically all the big players that

occurred had that were there for that for that

TV TV showed cartoon are here now so you know

a little bit nostalgia there for sure maybe that's

part of why it worked a little bit more for me

but I think hopefully this was a really well

-structured book it did cover a lot in looking

at especially the depiction of what Justice League

we're doing at the same time as we see the you

know the The legion doing their thing or forming

the way that they form and much Luther basically

subverting that of Vandal Savage so I did like

the back and forth between those two groups and

I think this is much Better focus than what Snyder

was doing with some of the other books within

metal and no justice a little bit more focused

It wasn't as chaotic and things and just happened

just to happen. I felt like the revelations in

this More much more story driven than they were

in the past but you know like i said i did like

no justice when i started off and then it kind

of teetered out but. Overall i thought was a

very strong and promising beginning for this

new justice league relaunch justice league to

me since rebirth has been one of the biggest

disappointing titles it just hasn't really caught

on in an interesting way it's but now i feel

like they're giving it the attention that it

deserves. And giving it the talent that it deserves

as well. So I I'm still apprehensive about the

other Justice League, you know spin -off books

that they're gonna that they're gonna have we'll

see, you know if they can Stay consistent as

consistent as this we may have something special

and and I know it to me There's just so this

was a good week for comics in the world of Marvel

in DC a lot of promising books that were starting

and This was near the top for me Also coming

up for DC this week was the Man of Steel number

two as Brian Michael Bendis continues his weekly

Superman. I liked the first one well enough.

I thought it was a good introduction to Bendis

taking over Superman. This second one issue though,

it didn't work for me as well. There's some issues

about it that are concerning to me. First and

foremost, it opens up again with we see Krypton

exploding and there seems to be a mystery behind

if in fact That we're goal this new character

that showed up first in Action Comics 1000 was

behind all of it or what the case may be. Or

if it's what we always thought so what what I'm

kind of confused by is if I'm supposed to think

right goal did it or he didn't do it I know he's

indicated that he did so it just seems like it's

building a mystery that either has two options

it is. everything is basically what I thought

it was before I read this or it's a mystery that

that is asking a question that I didn't want

answered in the first place or giving an answer

to a question I didn't think needed to be asked

and I don't know it just seems like a weird way

to approach it to try to force in some of this

mystery and it reminds me a little bit of what

bendis did with iron man where of a parentage

of iron man to be different people and it seems

like there is this motive to want to change the

history of a character change like where the

beginnings come from but at the same time not

really change that character in a meaningful

way like the changing of the parenting for tony

stark didn't really impact him as a character

all that much it gave him a different backstory

but Nothing really came of it and maybe there

were plans, but he never got to it because he

left Marvel But again, it seems like his depiction

here of Superman so far is keeping what we know

was Superman Is this gonna change anything? I

don't know like how could it because it's again

My I have a sinking feeling that this actually

has to do more with the guardians of the the

The Green Lantern Corps and because the Guardians

are playing a key role in here and it seems like

maybe they had more to do with this than they're

letting on and perhaps that Krypton being destroyed

wasn't actually where goal is this gigantic red

herring and we fact we find out that perhaps

that Green Lanterns had more to do with it than

we even know at this point. It's just a hunch

that I'm having, but I, you know, we do see how

Jordan show up in this and I just, I'm curious

if that is where it's going. There's also this

other mystery that's surrounding this book of

where Lois Lane is because she disappeared in

the last issue. And I don't, I guess what's confusing

to me was the structure of this book as well,

where we see Superman, you know, he's flying

around. Doing what he's doing and at one point

though it flashes back to lowest being and in

him and Jonathan seeing this gigantic creature

and then again it's fun to the present time where

lowest is gone it's just was strange I was having

a hard time following where we were in this story

suddenly we're on the moon and we see. Kent there

and then we're flashing forward to our goal coming

to earth. It just seems the structure of this

is a little bit all over the place and it's hard

to find out where what we're supposed to know

and what we're not supposed to know. What's a

false mystery? What's a real mystery? It just

I'm not sure here. But again, I do like the voice

that when we just have the old Superman being

Superman, I'm liking that. So I'm hoping that

once we get this out of the way and we get we

can get to just our normal Superman story, what

we'll get to, you know, Brian Michael Bendis

really making the story his own. The other part

of this was that we did have multiple artists

on this and they had very different styles like

Doc Shaner who I'm a huge fan of. He had pages

1 to 13. I really liked his style. And then we

get Steve Rude who's very to me very different

and then finishing up with Jay Fabach for the

last two pages. I know this is a weekly series

so it's a little bit more tough for any artist

to keep up with it but I don't know. It just

seems like you had this much time, why not have

one artist on one book and another one on another

or something like that. I just find that when

you're changing styles so drastically from one

bit to the next, on the top of the fact that

you have these leading in different storylines

at the same time, it leads to a lot of unnecessary

confusion. And then everything else is lost in

the realm. There's some introduction to new characters.

So it just i don't know i i thought this this

has me a little bit concerned hoping with the

next issue things become a little bit more clear

and we can kind of focus on you know. What is

actually the direction of this man of steel series

but you know this is six issues is only issue

two. I don't know like i said like their pieces

here i think have potential but when it comes

to the execution of it at least for this specific

issue it was all for me. One more Marvel book

I wanted to talk about was X -Men red number

five and this to me continues to be by far the

best X -Men title on the shelves I You know,

I thought X -Men blue started off. Okay, then

I really lost track with it when we had all these

different crossovers X -Men gold to me never

really found itself It always felt like a book

that was trying to be something else. I didn't

really love astonishing X -Men I have somewhat

hope now that mr. Matthew Rowlands Berg will

be taking that over But to me, the person that

has had the most promising voice that's worked

with the X -Men so far in some time has been

Tom Taylor. I loved what he did with All -New

Wolverine. Sad that came to end, but I'm glad

those characters are appearing in X -Men Red.

And to me, he just has a fundamental understanding

of the X -Men and understands with that. It's

not about just trying to repeat what came before,

but finding new avenues of taking much of what

built the X -Men into what they are. and modernizing

it for today's world. And with that, I feel like

this issue is a great example of how to do that

correctly. He has built up, you know, this Cassandra

Nova as this main antagonist and how she's been

utilizing her power to manipulate the mind and

getting everyone to hate you and to an extended

level once again. And I felt like in this too,

they really showed that. There's ways to fight

that hate that are not simply punching and kicking

Jean Grey to me is Becoming into this character

that I can really care about I never bet a huge

dream Jean Green fan But she does feel like an

extension to that professor Xavier in a way maybe

even Approaching his dream in a more practical

manner than he ever imagined and also really

love how they utilizing name anymore and that's

who I'm still kind of find it kind of odd that

he is a mutant still kind of weird to me, but

I did thought I thought that in this book. He

actually had a pretty cool moment and also kind

of shit showcases why having him on the team

can be hugely beneficial when you have more of

a you know Have a piece of his kingdom At your

back, you have a lot of different ways to approach

massive global problems. There is more diplomacy

things that you can go after. And it's something

I really didn't consider, especially when we

think of how nations have to fly over other countries

and get permission. Well, when you're the king

of the ocean, that gives you a lot of power.

And I'm glad they're approaching that because

that's something I personally haven't really

seen before. And again, I just like this the

combination of these different characters that

he that they're building their voice up how the

message that's here about how people can are

I think at their core good but can be Manipulated

by outside forces into doing things They normally

want it and the message here too of just giving

people the opportunity to see each other as human

There's a great moment between these soldiers

and this Polish country that are trying to kill

all these mutants because they've been being

manipulated. And Jean Grey utilizes their, you

know, mental powers to allow them to view each

other and see the humanity in one another. And

it helps to quell the violence. And they have

a great, she then has a great back and forth

with Nightcrawler who questions utilizing that

tactic, you know, if it's going too far, if it's,

if it, you know, trying to change the minds of

individuals or trying to ethically Making people

do certain things when you have that power is

that you know Are you going then down the same

route of those people that you're fighting against?

I thought the back and forth between Jean Grey

and Nightcrawler was rather poignant in that

moment So I have a lot of hope that this will

be the X -Men book that continues I don't know

if they're doing a revamp if uncanny X -Men is

eventually coming back But if you're looking

for a good X -Men book outside of what could

possibly be with Matthew Rosenberg taking over

astonishing X -Men This to me is the event most

consistently good and it's most consistently

approachable X -Men title by far So I hoping

type Tom Taylor if an uncanny book does start

again that he's a person that's writing it Alright,

so move over to world of image for death and

glory number two and when I read the first death

and glory number one I thought you know, this

is a good issue this is a lot of not fun necessarily

but it's pretty straightforward for a Rick Remender

book you know there's no different science fiction

aspect to it you know it's not taking place in

the future it seems rather almost you know unlike

a Rick Remender style did love the Ben Gal are

there some great actions create sequences in

the first issue where it seems very kinetic you

know where that death or glory Title is coming

from this issue. It does dial it back a little

bit But also I feel like this is where the remainder

is starting to show it so it show itself a little

bit more specifically a sequence that involves

a Pepper of some some sort that was rather graphic

and unexpected. I'm like is that is this going?

No, he is going all the way then I don't want

to ruin it, but it was rather surprising I debated

if that's going a little bit too far. I do think

it's a little bit unnecessary, but I think that

is showing that remainder is Going to have his

type of outlandish and show itself here and there.

And this does, I think, give you a better understanding

of where this title is going and where it started

as this trying to rob drug dealers. Now it's

more of a trafficking issue and also utilizing

immigrants as for their organs and the brutality

and that there are some pretty brutal scenes

in this. So it really up. up the ante in issue

number two and I'm really looking at again the

Bengal art is rather solid in this he can really

depict some of those moments though it will say

though doesn't get too graphic there's not a

lot of blood and gore it tends to turn a turn

the camera right when things are gonna get super

super bad but you certainly see the effects of

it for sure so I'm really liking this book it's

gotten a good start with these first two issues

so it's good good Opportunity to jump in I debated

about having this as pick of the week But I think

much of what was the strength of the issue like

I don't think this issue is nearly as strong

without reading the first issue that kind of

set the stage I am liking the character of glory

though. I do like what she he's developing with

her So yeah, another solid title from a mention

another solid book for recommender Alright one

more book to talk about before we end today's

podcast and that is easily number three and I've

been enjoying the series a great deal since it

debuted first and foremost because of the art

and specifically the color palette I just seems

it's one of the most striking books when it comes

to its imagery that I've seen that I remember

the first few pages I was reading I was like

wow is blown away I remember thinking like I

feel like this is almost a misprint because of

how much it jumps off the page like today. Accidentally

put too much time into this little what's going

on story wise. I know it's been rather rather

lacking in a sense where It's really dropping

you into this world not giving you really any

Exposition whatsoever and just letting you figure

things out this issue. I feel like we get a little

bit more although We got much more story in this

and I felt like at the end of it, I was more

confused than I anticipated. Now, I knew that

we didn't understand every aspect of how this

world functions, but at the heart of it was really

just a story of the soldier trying to get her

queen to the safe location. So the surrounding

pieces of it and not making sense all the way

didn't really matter to me because that wasn't

the most important piece of it. It was. And I

figured we would learn more as we go. Remind

me very much of Haya Miyazaki film where you

start right off and you're like. Is this a sequel

to a movie? I've not seen yet. This seems like

we're supposed to going into this with a lot

of background knowledge But you then learn as

you go and by the end of it everything begins

to kind of fall into place a little different

Obviously with the comic book because you're

dealing with more of a serial, you know issue

by issue storytelling here This gives us more

background though. I'm not 100 % much more Understanding

everything that's going on. I was by the end.

I was like somewhat confused It did go in a completely

unexpected direction for me And maybe that's

why I thought that kind of had an idea of where

this was going and if. The final events seem

to be true it completely changes much about this

book so which is could be a good thing could

could be a bad thing what still remains is I

do find it visually breathtaking and when it

comes to the visual story telling it is on point.

The narrative I'm just looking. looking for possibly

a little bit more. I could see for a lot of people

this not working on an issue to issue basis rather

than getting the trade because you probably get

more of a full story there. But for me, I'm going

to continue with it because I've liked everything

I've gotten so far. And I feel like as I continue

to go, some of my confusion, which again could

be possibly user error, just things I'm not personally

picking up, will begin to lighten and all bit

better kind of understand it as it goes. I do

really love the world of lovely creatures. Although

this was a little bit more expositioning at times.

I still find that the conversations between the

characters rather strong I do wish though that

our main character had a little bit more to her

which seems to not have Much going on at the

moment that can change but right now she's really

a deer in headlights watching everything happen,

and I'm hoping Especially considering what happens

at the end of this issue that we get a little

bit more for her moving on but still it's a solid

recommend and continues to be just a really Engaging

read even if it's not getting me everything I

want All right, well that brings us to the end

of today's show and as always if you want to

interact with the show There's a tons of ways

to do so. I'm on Twitter at movie revolts You

can email the show at movie world at geecatsradio

.com also shows on Instagram and Facebook, just

search Comic Concierge Podcast. Also, I've been

putting a lot of video content on our new YouTube

channel that we're trying to revamp and get things

out there. So I've been doing reviews of all

the Marvel Fresh Start titles, some other books.

I'm starting some other series that I feel like

might be things people are interested in, doing

long box hauls or doing weekly hauls of all the

books I pick up. every so often when I go to

the comic book store. So if you want to check

that out, that's the Geekcast Radio Network on

YouTube. I'll put a link in the show notes below

as well. But for now, remember that the comics

are for everyone. The key is finding the right

one. Until next time, thanks for listening.