Despicable Deadpool, Mister Miracle, Deadly Class, & More

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Hello and welcome

to the Comic Concierge Podcast. This is a weekly

recommend podcast where I look back at the comic

book week that was and talk about the most notable

books of the week. Up front, you must know that

there may be some spoilers. I will stay away

from the biggest plot points, the biggest surprises

that occur in the books, but if you're someone

who wants to know absolutely nothing about what

happens in the pages of their comics, take a

look at the show notes and you'll see a listing

of each comic I'll be talking about with timestamps.

You can skip any issue that you don't want to

hear too much about. I do start each week with

my recommendation of the week, and my recommendation

of the week is a little bit different than most

in the sense of I'm not just picking the best

book. I'm picking what I feel like is the best

starting point or the best book for anyone who

is reading comics that week, whether you're a

new reader, an old reader, someone who's getting

back in the comics, or a book that anyone can

understand. A starting point that doesn't feel

redundant is what I like to say. And sometimes

a starting point is not just about what you're

looking forward to it gets you interested in

going back to see what you have missed not because

of plot or story necessarily but There's something

going so right with the book or so right with

the characters that you want to see more of it

You want to see what led to this and that really

led me to pick this week's selection Despicable

Deadpool number 296 and I know that pulls a type

of character that has a lot of popularity There's

a lot of people who love him. He's one of the

biggest characters in Marvel His books do tend

to sell well to the point where Marvel on your

overused him for quite some time put him in every

book and it gave him like 14 different series

it became too much and I think you So a lot of

people started turning on him as a character.

They found him overly annoying. And ultimately,

the quality of all of his books suffered. They

weren't as good as they should have been. Though,

over the last few years... Jerry Dugan has been

doing something really special with the character.

Now that he's leaving the book, I think it's

really hit a high gear this last year. Honestly,

since Secret Empire, I think I talked about this

previously when I talked about this book, how

this is one of the few books that has elements

of that story still playing out in a meaningful

way. What it has been doing is examining the

relationship between Deadpool and Captain America

and utilizing how we treat our heroes, the dangers

of heroism, and how if we put people on pedestals

and we tend to overly idolize them, it can lead

to... a lot of issues, and that's kind of happening

with Deadpool. During Secret Empire, he was sent

to kill Agent Coulson, even though that wasn't

really Steve Rogers. It was an evil version not

to go down that road. But Deadpool followed through

with the orders that he was given because it's

Captain America. It's a man he respected, a man

that he idolized, a person that he treated almost

as a god in a way that could do no wrong, though

what we're seeing is that all people can do wrong

in some form or another. And now he's dealing

with the repercussions of it. And this, we see

Captain America come up and try to stop Deadpool

because Deadpool's also dealing with the fact

that he's been forced to kill and attack all

these different people because someone has his

daughter. So he's just been put through the ring

here over and over again. And there's been a

lot of emotional weight to this book for some

time now. Really highlighted in this issue with

the back and forth between Deadpool and Steve

Rogers, both of them come at the argument that

they're having with some really good points and

the fact that Deadpool was told and had to do

some pretty shady things for S .H .I .E .L .D.

in the past that were morally questionable and

this was not much of a leap compared to those

and you see that he feels used in a way where

like he feels that he can do certain things when

they want him to but when things push comes to

shove they don't trust him the way they should

even though he's put his faith in them. They

lack faith in him because of the sins of his

past. But again, Captain America brings up some

good points when we're asking if this is something

that is more of his own doing and his own inability

to get out of his own way due to how he will

tend to make the wrong decision or just act on

emotion. With a character like Deadpool, of course,

there are some great comedic bits that are...

peppered throughout. It's not just this dour,

emotionally draining issue. There are some comedic

bits, especially how he tries to one -up Captain

America and bait him into certain things. And

these are two of my favorite characters, so it

may be coming off as biased because I do like

these characters. Captain America is probably

my all -time favorite character. I've loved Deadpool

since he was first created back in the 90s when

he wasn't really much of anything of a character.

He just kind of looked cool and could kick a

lot of ass but didn't really have much in the

form of a character then he became this kind

of comedic breaking of the fourth wall and now

there's like another evolution and to me this

is the most dynamic he's ever been as a character

because he still has that comedic charm he still

is able to push things to limits that other characters

can't but you actually care about the plight

he's going through. There's a story being told

here, and you feel sympathy for him, even though

he's not a character that you typically associate

those emotions with. And I think Gary Dugan's

done a lot of this throughout his run, and I

think it's been very underappreciated. There's

some other issues that he's had where... Deadpool's

been working with someone who was suicidal that

was a few months ago and that was a really actually

might be over a year ago that was a really solid

issue and the way he approached that problem

and I'm really excited to see where he takes

this it's he's nearing the end of this run Scotty

Young will be taking over this title and again

I'm super excited to see where Scotty Young takes

this book, but that doesn't undersell what Jerry

Dugan has been able to craft here story -wise.

He's really taken Deadpool and said okay, let's

let's take the core of the character and try

to Expand upon it in ways that was not been done

before so as someone who's never read a comic

before if you pick this up I think you'll see

a side of Deadpool and Captain America that you're

not necessarily expecting It's pretty much has

everything you'd want in a solid book There are

maybe some plot threads you want to understand

if you've never read a Deadpool comic before

but enough is within the context of the page

where it doesn't feel like you're getting a lot

of Exposition for exposition sake rather they're

utilizing what happened to few of the argument

that they're having so it feels like a natural

conversation while still informing you about

Different plot elements that took place to lead

to this moment It's a challenging thing to really

balance those two and I think it's handled really

well In the fact that there's also a lot of green

action going in between you know how caps utilizing

his shield how Deadpool has used uses his healing

factor to trick cap into one of the better moments

of comics this week. So I think if you've never

read a Deadpool comic before, Captain America

comic before, even if you are a fan or if you

got away from both of these characters or this

title, this I think will show you that, oh wow,

there's something special happening in the pages

of this series and I think it deserves a lot

more attention than it's getting. So highly would

recommend picking up this issue as it's nearing

its end, but it's going out strong. So that's

a wonderful thing to see. The book that came

really close to becoming my recommendation of

the week was Secret Weapons' Owen's Story, which

is a prequel story to the Secret Weapons miniseries

that came out last year by Valiant Comics. And

for those that don't know, Secret Weapons is

this team of mystic characters that all have

powers that aren't necessarily going to make

the Avengers, or in this case, Unity, since it's

a Valiant universe. They either lack a lot of

power, or in this case, for Owen, he just is

unable to control it. His power - is the ability

to conjure up random items and the key there

is random. He never really knows when it will

happen at some times and what it will give him.

Like he might be in the middle of a fight and

wanting to get some sort of weapon to help himself.

He'll use his power and he'll end up with an

umbrella. And what this is showing us is a really

good concept in the sense of setting the story

where he's selling these different items at a

garage sale and they're asking him where he got

all these different items and what we see is

each story bit is a different item. It's a good

episodic way to... Get this background story

told and with a nice hook because it has you

wondering. Okay? What's this item words to come

and play? What's the story behind it? And it's

a lot of fun And what we're seeing is maybe some

sort of indication that although his power may

seem random a may not be as random his life and

what led him to the point he was at the beginning

of the first issue of secret weapons and We get

some background about him trying to work with

his family he tries to get this job with this

tarot card reader who becomes almost like a pseudo

mentor to him by providing some insight to his

powers or at least he's a she becomes a sounding

board to have some conversations and seems like

the one person that he can talk to about what's

happening and i just end up really liking this

book a lot of due to the art. The art is just

really well paced. The art is done by Raoul Allen

and Patricia Martin and I'm not sure where one

begins and the other one ends. It does seem like

they did a joint effort here because it's not

like one of those series where it drastically

changes styles from one page to the next. But

what it does have, the panel layout, there's

a lot a panel so each page probably has almost

12 in a way where you never see more than one

person in each panel so it reads really quickly

each panel focuses on one small detail bit by

bit so there's a really nice rhythm to it you

follow along and it just feels like it's going

in sync over and over again and by the end you

get to the next bit it's just a really well -crafted

story within how it's designed, and it reminds

me kind of of David Aja's style in the Hawkeye

series where, again, he would have a lot of panels.

The screen would be filled with them, and that's

the case here, where conversations are typically

happening in one panel and in the next where

you barely see two people together at the same

time. really brings your focus in on that exact

moment and lets you see what's happening without

being distracted with some of the other things

in the background. It just feels really welcoming

in that. Velm and that's what I loved about the

original series that came out last year and that

style continues here today and again with this

being a Zero issue in a wire being an origin

story. You don't need to know anything going

in this book You've never you never need to read

a valiant comic or really any comic and everything's

here on the page There are some things that happen

the background that if you don't know you may

be wondering Okay, what happened there, but it's

not necessarily pertinent to the story or own

story. It's really just seeing how life affected

him, and what's really great about Secret Weapons

as a series is that it focuses on the people

that never get their story told, and you find

out they're really interesting characters. There's

a lot to them, and I just love this idea, this

power. It leads to a lot of funny moments, but...

also like how it all kind of comes together at

the end. It's a lot smarter than I was expecting.

So I would highly recommend this. I would highly

recommend Secret Weapons from last year. I'm

hoping we get more of this and I just really

enjoyed these characters. So I'm happy to spend

any more time with them. So another book I would

highly, highly recommend is Mr. Miracle by Mr.

Rard and Tom King, which is operating on an entire

other level with everything else on the shelf.

I think this is going to go down as one of the

best comics. in this generation. I know that's

a high price to set, but it just is remarkably

crafted from the story being told to the art.

Mr. Art's art has been great. I love the Insurer

of Babylon, but this is... something that i did

not expect from him he's just on his game it's

amazing just the things that he's doing with

his again talking about panel layout of course

it's home king so of course it's a nine panel

grid but the way mitch erard utilizes that is

pretty impressive there's such a texture to his

work it just feels photographic but not ultra

realistic if that makes any sense where I love

just the texture on each page from the shirts

to the the background and I don't think I've

ever seen an operating room or in this case a

delivery room look as realistic or true to life

as it does in this issue and with that said this

is the issue in which Big Barda and Mr. Miracle

are trying to have their child. And that's the

story. And what I love about this series so far,

and there's so many things, but I love how it

takes the mundanity of everyday life with the

insanity of the New God's world and characters

and combines them. As someone who had a kid,

well, it'll be three years ago, and in only a

short few months, I just related so much to this

story because what you see is just a lot of waiting

and a lot of just hoping things will happen and

just also some fear and concern over any little

thing that could go wrong or any little beat

that's not sounding and it just it was super

relatable and I believe Mr. R just had child

not too long ago so I don't doubt that much of

that maybe made it into the pages of this story

but that's legitimately the the bulk of this

issue is the back and forth between Mr. Miracle

and Brardaha and there's this great running joke

of them trying to come up with the name of their

kid and it does get a little bit serious and

some major tension by the end. I think for some

people, they might find this a tad dull because

there's not much action here. I don't know how

well this would play for the general audience.

I think for a lot of people, they're just like,

I don't get it. It's just kind of boring. There's

nothing happening. But I just love the characters

that are on the page. And again, the craft here

is remarkable. The rhythm of the dialogue, the

Sense that nothing is happening. But in fact

a lot of things are being set up without you

realizing it it kind of lulls you into a sense

of Vulnerability because you're not really looking

for some major plot element. You're just okay.

What's what's going on here? But in fact, it's

really setting up I think something that might

be ultimately devastating and I don't want to

give away anything Well, I can't really give

away anything to a book I haven't read yet But

I have the sense that knowing mr. Miracles biggest

gift is his ability to escape any trap or any

type of contraption I guess the the question

then becomes like how do you create something

that he can't escape from and I think the answer

is by creating a world that he doesn't want want

to escape from and I just wondering how much

of what we're seeing is real what is fake and

sometimes that could drive you crazy because

it feels like it's pointless ultimately if you're

just if it's a all dream by the end I don't think

that's the case I don't think we're gonna wake

up and find out oh he was dreaming the entire

time or he's inside Doc's dark side's head but

I do think there's more at play here than we

know, but ultimately that doesn't really matter

because if there isn't more here, that's okay

because I feel like there's enough here just

on its own without an additional piece to be

a satisfying series and just being incredible

in what they're putting together. I know this

is not necessarily for everyone. Again, this

is not a book I would say if you never read a

comic before, start with the Mr. Miracle series

because it's very much within the comic book

realm. It's very much commenting on the craft

of comics to begin with. and I think what it

does really well cannot be fully appreciated

if you've never really read the series or read

anything regarding the new gods before or read

a comic before. It's like Watchmen. I think Watchmen's

a bad idea to start there and a lot of people

do. Not saying it's up to that level, it may

be. In the future, it's hard to really quantify

something that's still going on compared to a

book that's been around for over 30 years and

has set the standards for a lot of different

things, but... When I'm looking at the best series

that are out right now, for me, it's Mr. Miracle

and then everything else comes after that, at

least when it comes to ongoing series. So I love

this book. I love what's going on here. It's

just remarkable. Every time it's a Mr. Miracle

week, I get extra excited because I know I'm

going to see something and read something that

just makes me realize the power of comics as

a medium, as an art form. All right. Well enough

of me lauding the praise and accolades of Mr.

Miracle. Let's move on to another book with coming

to me number one Written by Zach Thompson and

Lonnie Miller, Pencils by Piotr Kowalski and

published by Black Mask Studios, another new

series by Black Mask. So this is, I think Zach

Thompson was responsible for one of the best

series last year with the Greggs, which is this

trippy story about cannibalism and the homeless

person out to save the world in a way. It's hard

to describe, but I would highly recommend that.

And knowing that I was really excited for this

series and seeing if that type of success be

replicated with this book and overall for a first

issue it did not hit me nearly the level of that

book maybe my expectations were too high there

are pieces here that i think could lead to a

good book but ultimately i think what i was a

little bit down by was i felt like it didn't

sell its concept enough to get me invested and

the basic premise is that this new procedure

was created that allows people to share consciousness

like you can upload yourself into another person

that person is the host, you can see things they

see, you can feel things they feel, think through

their memories and you can share moments together,

but ultimately the host is a person that is in

control. And there's some early complications

with this process, but it goes throughout the

creator of this and someone eventually shows

up and wants to use this process, but the thing

is she doesn't have anyone she can hook up to

or... share this with, so he steps in to help

her out for different reasons. And I guess why

it didn't ultimately work as much as I was hoping

for was because I felt like I didn't see the

reason that a procedure like this would necessarily

need to exist. I feel like why would there be

this desire to go into the headspace of another

person? I mean, there's perhaps some reasons

for that. explanation that, you know, people

would enjoy that type of experience because it's

something that is remarkable, but I don't know.

Like, I had me wondering, like, what would propel

this type of thing from existing? What would

really make people interested in getting invested

in like this? And I think by the end we see pieces

of why that happens but as a first issue I was

like I don't I don't understand this it doesn't

necessarily have the same appeal as I was hoping

for but there are some good characters here I

think it ends on a strong no in the sense of

what what's coming next obvious comparisons to

something like the matrix because the procedure

very much looks like that but a little bit more

organic rather than technological but I don't

know I'm I'll we'll keep with this book I'll

keep moving forward again maybe There was something

there. I simply was not picking up but I liked

it. I didn't love it It wasn't really what I

was hoping for that doesn't necessarily mean

other people may not enjoy it So I like I said,

there's enough here to keep me going and I think

that ultimately my goal with most series is to

go at least three issues because Sometimes it

takes longer to tell stories like this because

this is a high concept. This is something that

you can't necessarily Explain within one issue.

So it's just really the first chapter I'll keep

going with it and I'll report back to see if

my enjoyment increases or maybe if my initial

apprehension was correct Speaking of books. I'm

keeping going with even though I didn't love

the first issue Cold War number two Brought to

us by the wonderful people over aftershock comics

who've been putting out a lot of great different

books with different publishing teams and the

reason I didn't love the first issue was Although

the concept had a lot of promise it was this

idea of people froze themselves for different

reasons and they hoped to wake up in a future

that got better but things actually got worse

and they found out that they've immediately been

drafted into this army and now they have to survive

among a lot of chaotic different creatures and

it seems like a world that's consistently at

war and it's it was An idea that I, you know,

I think we've seen obviously something like Demolition

Man comes to mind, but it's much different. The

thing that was hard for me was that comprehension

-wise when it comes to the art, it was lacking

in a lot of different ways. It was just hard

to follow what was on the page. A lot of the

character designs lacked a lot of detail, which

I'm fine with, but everyone... looked exactly

the same. They had the same helmet, same uniform,

so it was hard to differentiate people, and there

was a lot of people that you just met immediately.

You did have one major character that was this

ex -cop. And when the focus was on him, it worked.

But when it got off him, it was hard to really

grasp everything else. And I think that's similar

with this second issue. It gets better. There's

a different character that this focuses on. It's

an older woman who you would think would be one

of the first people to die, but she's actually

a huge badass. And we find out why we get her

origin or we find out her life before this occurred.

But again, everything else around that was a

little bit hard to follow. Same issues that I

had previously, like the art style I like. the

look of the art style for the most part. There's

a lot on the page and we switch perspectives

so much it's hard to keep things straight and

there's a lot going on and we get a sequence

where we get like this machine that they're wearing

shows them past memories which I like that moment

but overall when it's in present day it wasn't

working for me as well. I guess I just don't

know what's happening which is Ultimately what

you need for books to work is knowing the the

basic premise of things that are occurring It's

okay to have some mystery but when each page

or different pages lack a lot of comprehension

or there's just not enough detail to get you

to fully Understand what's occurring it can be

problematic and maybe that's the point behind

this. It's not always I think it's getting better

And I think I'll stick at least with one more

issue, but I just I don't know I ultimately I

find it a chore to get through which is not something

you want to say what the book it's just like

there's pieces here that work I love the backstory

that we get with this this woman and We see that

she's had a kind of a unique life and she becomes

like a mob enforcer in a way those pieces work

a lot so when it's working it's working really

well but when it's not working it is challenge

and the exact opposite what i want with a comic

book unfortunately so it's not one i necessarily

could recommend maybe by the third issue will

all click for me and again maybe there's something

i'm simply not picking up that i should be but

uh cold war number two is unfortunately not what

i was hoping for not the improvement i was looking

for for the second issue All right, let's move

over back to Marvel. We talked about Marvel with

Deadpool We're gonna have a little bit of a Marvel

block here with New Mutants number one dead souls

I should say written by Matthew Rosenberg who

has been doing a lot of great stuff for Marvel

So it had me excited for this book because I

am a fan of the New Mutants I'm glad to see them

getting another title I think it's very clear

that this was meant to kind of correspond with

a mute the movie that was supposed to be coming

out Because this time around the New Mutants

are this paranormal investigation team that I

think correlates with the Movie in how it was

supposed to be this horror film and I like that

idea though Even if the movie is not out even

if it's one that is a shameless plug for a Marvel

movie. Sometimes that can lead to a good comic.

I like the cast of characters. Magic, Strong

Guy, Wolfsbane, Richter, Boom Boom. You know,

if you're a new Mutants fan, X Factor fan, X

-Force fan, a lot of those characters are appearing

here. And the idea makes sense. It's like X -Files

with mutants. That's kind of cool. It starts

off strong where they go to this... Small town

that seems to be overrun by zombies but as the

story progressed I felt like it just made me

went a little bit too fast where we were going

from one thing to the next and I really wish

it made me stayed within that first story a little

bit longer because the how it's ended and the

kind of the Resolution was a little bit anti

-climactic. I will say but I do like this cast

of characters. I do like this overall premise

I think Matthew Rosenberg has a strong idea of

all the different voices for this group and It

takes this this group of characters that have

really not been used that much in the pages of

x -men comics and puts them together and puts

a Good team behind them. So I think this could

be something really great. I love how it ends

It seems like it's a almost like a stranger things

reference. It seems like we're getting a lot

of that recently, but If you are a fan of horror

books or you like paranormal investigation type

of things, this might actually work with you.

I was hoping it'd be a little bit stronger. It

wasn't maybe meeting my highest expectations

just because I've been liking so much about what

Matthew Rosenberg has been doing. But considering

how much X -Men are in need of some good X titles,

I think this is a good addition to that line.

It's probably the second best X -Men title right

now, which is more of a testament to the... current

state of the x -men books rather than the quality

of this series so yeah you can't win them all

but i'm at least getting having positive vibes

and i hope this maybe leads to an ongoing this

is only currently a mini so maybe if there's

enough success this ends up being something special

or without even the movie tie -in we can get

more of this and i like to see what matt rozenberg

can do with some of the other x -books he did

the phoenix miniseries as well. I'd like to see

them get an ongoing and really take over maybe

X -Men Blue or X -Men Gold or Uncanny X -Men.

I miss the fact that we actually don't have an

Uncanny X -Men title. Maybe that I'm changing.

We are getting a fresh start soon. Who knows,

but for now this works. So let's keep it going.

All right. Well, we had one Matthew Rosen book

for Marvel. Let's go to another with Punisher

222. The Punisher storyline with him having War

Machine's armor continues as he faces off against

an evil dictator and his army. I've been liking

this story a lot so far. It's been an enjoyable

romp just seeing the Punisher go to town on some

evil people. I don't know what that says about

me, but seeing the Punisher just annihilate some

evil military and corrupt politicians in a comic

book form just seems to scratch the right itch

at the moment in time. Who knows why that is,

but it seems to be working really quite well

and this seems like it's nearing its end. I will

say though that it is getting to the point where

this is getting somewhat tedious in the sense

of it's like playing a video game with the cheat

codes on where you feel like nothing bad can

happen to you. This does seem like it's nearing

its end though, because Frank Castle just goes

headstrong into an entire army and does what

you would expect Frank Castle to do. There are

some great facets to it. I love how he uses the

top of a tank in some fun ways. So that's a lot

of fun. I do think it ends in a point where it's

like, okay, well, it seems like this idea is

not gonna go on for much longer. It didn't overstay

its welcome too much. So that's a good thing

because it's guessing where it's gonna lead will

eventually be Punisher being the Punisher again.

I know there are some Punisher purists who thought

this. book maybe went a little bit too far or

wasn't true to the character. I can't speak to

that. I've read some Punisher. I'm not an aficionado

on the character, but when it comes to pure entertainment,

when it comes to enjoying a comic, this has been

consistent for me. This one was probably the

least enjoyable just because I felt like this

idea is going as far as it can. But I'm glad

to see Matthew Rosenberg on this title. And I

really hope we get to something next in the next

arc or where he takes it where now I want to

see Frank Castle just being Frank Castle again.

I like this idea, but eventually, you know, when

you're reading a Punisher book, you do want to

see the Punisher get to that point. So I want

to see, you know, how did the repercussions of

everything he's doing here play out moving forward,

especially, you know, pissing off Nick Fury.

He doesn't necessarily lead to good things in

most cases. Speaking of pissing off people, Doctor

Strange, it's almost his superpower. Doctor Strange

and his Damnation storyline continues. What we're

having is we have the normal Doctor Strange title

and also the Damnation title and there's two

stories happening concurrently where we get one

piece of things happening and last issue of the

Damnation story, Wong went around to construct

a team that... could go off and fight against

Mephisto, where this Doctor Strange is showing

the other half, showing us how Doctor Strange

ended up becoming what he did at the end of that

book. So it's a little weird taking one step

forward and going one step back at the beginning.

I thought it would get a little bit annoying,

but I feel like they do compliment each other

really well. Where things aren't getting overly

redundant, they tend to sum up each issue with

within one page which is good but I would say

like I just don't understand why they didn't

just have one continuous series or just make

this all into one arc like why they're doing

it the way they're doing it I don't know what

that benefits really except for having two different

titles but it doesn't seem like it's necessary

to to splinter them off so much when this is

just one general book Ultimately though, like

that's really semantics or that's just not as

important when it comes to the quality of the

story. And I just really like this story, Mephisto

becoming this mob boss, but here it's really

about strange and seeing him interact with a

lot of different characters. A surprise character

from his past shows up, along with some people

he's not truly fond of. but they're there to

help and I just like this idea. I love where

the voice that they're really crafting for the

character of Doctor Strange, he can be somewhat

formless. People don't necessarily know how to

write him at times and they tend to like overdo

his intellect or make him so much into the mysticism

where you don't feel like he's an actual person.

This I think has him have this sort of arrogance

to him. with a sly sense of humor, but it's not

like he's Tony Stark. He doesn't feel like he

is trying to be someone else. So I think he is

becoming his own character in a lot of ways.

There have not been a lot of great Doctor Strange

runs in until really recent memory. Jason Aaron

took the series and was doing great with it.

And now Donny Cates and Nick Spencer have come

have kind of continued it moving forward. And

I just I'm really looking forward to where this

goes next. I did the idea of Hell on Earth and

just I love what I love about Strange as a Character

is how he tends to take a lot of chances and

sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.

Sometimes they'll save the world and sometimes

they'll bring hell on earth and we're seeing

that here last story. He saved the world and

here you know hell on earth is literally happening

as Mephisto is taking over Vegas so maybe he

improved it who knows. So I love this book. This

is not really an issue you can jump in if you

have not read the other series so far because

so much of this like I said is built upon these

two books going back and forth but It's a lot

of fun, great art too. It looks gorgeous and

I'm really looking forward to where this goes.

I think it's nearly wrapping up. I think there's

probably only a few more issues. Sad to see Donny

Cage leave this title. I know Mark Wade will

be taking it over soon. For now though, I'm just

going to enjoy this for what it is. Alright,

I talked about how we're in the lack of great

X -Men titles, which brings me to Astonishing

X -Men Number 9. And I'm not going to say this

is an awful book, but I thought it started off

really strong or at least had Potential of being

okay. This is finally the X -Men book I've been

hoping for but I found a lot of the story choices

questionable at best But what I think is mostly

lacking from this book is the team itself feels

like there's no Cohesion here not in the sense

that they need to always get along or feel like

a team But their interactions aren't there what

I love about my X -Men titles or are the characters

and how they relate to one another Here everyone

feels so splintered and you know, I'd love the

idea Bishop and Gambit on the team, but I feel

like they don't even realize they're on the same

team as the story's been progressing. This idea

of Mr. X or how they're utilizing Charles Xavier,

I feel like it should be more important the idea

that we would have Charles Xavier back in the

fold in any form, but it doesn't feel important.

It doesn't seem like the story feels like it's

important. The other piece, the Prometheus piece

of the story, that element, I actually... do

like. It's weird where I'd rather the book focus

on the villain than the heroes of the X -Men

characters, and I'm picking up an X -Men book,

but Char -Soul is just not writing them in a

captivating way, or utilizing their dynamic as

a team in a way you would want an X -Men book

to be executed, where everyone has their space,

everyone feels like they're their own character,

and they use their differences to construct some

interesting dilemmas or relationships where this

has all been really pure action from get -go,

and with that, it doesn't really slow down to

let these characters converse with one another.

So we just keep moving from one thing to the

next, which at least keeps the pacing moving,

but when it comes to building the characters,

even though these characters have been around

for a while, still every X -Men book has a different...

idea when it comes to how the team comes together

or how the team executes on on the on the field

or on the playing field or Just as people and

that piece is missing for me So it doesn't have

me coming back like I don't feel like I get excited

as I should for a book like this nature You know,

they've had some amazing artists on the series

I like to our soul as a writer But the X -Men

are a unique set of characters that not everyone

can write like I love Jeff Lemire But when he

was writing X -Men, it just didn't work or something

about them, you have to kind of embrace the ridiculousness

in a way that doesn't shy away from how odd and

how just broken they are, but at the same time,

not allow the craziness to overtake your book.

It's a hard dilemma. Like when you go... back

and read Chris Claremont's book it's very soap

opera like in a way and that tends to actually

work best for these characters you know we have

a lot of relationships I mean the infamous love

triangle of Wolverine and Cyclops and Jean Grey

but that's a lot of what people remember regarding

the series and I think with this having no type

of interplay with the characters you don't get

what you want with an X -Men title so I don't

know if this is going to survive the refresh

but ultimately it's one of the other X -Men titles

that just is mediocre at best. All right. Well,

let's go away from Marvel and head over to the

land of DC with Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern

Corps number 40. And man, am I loving this story

arc, this idea of the Green Lanterns and Zod

and his family going toe -to -toe, head -to -head.

And here we see Kyle Rayner with the other Green

Lanterns who've rebelled against the Guardians,

facing off with one another. And this is full

of some fantastic art, some great action, but

also some great character moments. what we see

here is that Kyle Rayner actually has the ring

that Hal Jordan forged himself and is giving

him a type of attitude, a type of feeling that

is different from him as a character. He has

much more willpower than ever before. And what

we're seeing is these two teams face off against

one another. And what I love about this is that

There is some legitimacy in the gripes that Zod

is bringing up as a character. Like, he's making

points that, hey, you were not there for me and

my family and my planet. You failed us and we're

just trying to survive here. It's the Green Lanterns

are in a way in the wrong somewhat because, you

know, they're not necessarily going out and destroying

another world. They are ruling this world and

they're being treated as gods by these people.

These people want them there or perhaps they

think they want them there. That's the question,

but Obviously, it's still Zod, and he still has

some evil scheme behind this all. There's some

also great moments with Guy Gardner and the One

Punch gag that always is brought up here and

there, but I just think this is a lot of fun.

The art is phenomenal. It has the colors that

you want within a Green Lantern book, like the

greens pop off the screen. It just looks amazing.

I've been liking a lot of what DC has been doing

since Rebirth. This series started off strong.

But I think it's up there with the best books

DC is putting out week in and week out. This

storyline in particular is probably the best

the series has had thus far. It's just the idea

of them going against a villain that is not in

their normal repertoire makes it a lot more fun.

It's not like they're fighting another colored

lantern. It's them going against Zod in a powerful

Zod nonetheless. So I love this series. It's

been really a lot of fun. I cannot recommend

it more. Alright, let's keep it in DC but go

to their new age of heroes with sideways number

two I actually caught up with both of these issues

this week and I'm liking what this series is

doing the obvious allegory would of course be

that of spiderman where you have this young kid

get these different powers and he's dealing with

that high school life and of course keeping everything

secret from his friends and family for the most

part and This power though is different in the

sense of he's not having the ability to swing

or web swing but rather he can teleport and basically

create these rifts to travel to different places

and he's still kind of learning his power along

the way. Last issue ended up with this massive

being showing up saying that he is breaking the

laws of physics and must be punished and this

continues that moving forward. I was kind of

disappointed in the way that that resolved itself

rather quickly. Well, it resolved itself somewhat

as there's clearly much more to be told there.

It's building into something more. I thought

that would be, you know, the focus of this issue,

but it really isn't. I do like the fact that

this is a book that we see in a character of

this nature actually get injured there are some

repercussions from him making bad choices it

does feel like there are a lot of obvious choices

that they're making to try to make this today's

youth of course he has a youtube channel of course

he he is you know videoing goproing everything

he's doing i mean it makes sense if you're having

a character of this nature in today's world in

today's society we still don't know fully how

we got to this point it's coming off of the heels

of metal which we have not fully read yet So

that's always a problem, but it doesn't necessarily

matter We know he's getting secret powers because

of something that happened there and he's learning

how to deal with them But it's a very very familiar

setup in a way. It's not rewriting the book It

seems to be what they're doing with these characters

like like with damage She was a whole clone or

is highly related to that of spider -man I hope

it does break away from that a little bit more

where it where it can still forge his own identity

and not kind of rely on that comparison. But

at least the power in the character doesn't necessarily

feel like Peter Parker. He's not, you know, a

clone in that nature where he doesn't have exactly

the same setup. We also see that they are attempting

to build the rogue's cavalry for this sideways

character already. We're getting another villain

or another counterpart to that of sideways. And

that did seem like a little bit of a forced storytelling

moment where you have a hero and a villain Somehow

end up at the same time at the same place, but

that is comic book logic. You'll have that here

and there So I like this book. The art is fantastic

I know the big thing with these new age of heroes

books is it's supposed to make artists matter

the art does look gorgeous and a lot of the layouts

how it uses the powers and how a lot of the full

page spreads work for this type of story and

I Enjoyed those moments the most so I like this

I think It's probably one of the better new Age

of Heroes. Really the only one I have apprehension

towards is damage, which feels like it has not

formed its own story yet. Maybe issue three will

be better, but silencer. The terrific first issue

was okay. This has potential to be really good,

too. I don't know how long these characters are

going to last. They do feel like they'll be a

flash in the pan and eventually go away because

we have so many of these things happening. DC

has a lot of things going on with other imprints.

So do these characters get lost in the shuffle?

That's a possibility. but I at least appreciate

the attempt to create new characters because

it's something that's so hard to do in comics

to put an effort towards exactly that. Maybe

they work, maybe they don't, but so far so good,

so. Okay, let's leave the world of DC and go

to the world of Boom Studios and to one of my

favorite series from last year that is nearing

its end with Grass King's number 13 Matt Kent's

story about this Kingdom that existing in a small

town. It's just full people trying to get away

from the world But the world does not want to

get away from them and now everything is really

coming to a head the police and the grass kingdom

are facing off against one another. And I can't

help but read this and think back to things like

Waco or situations like that. Now, the difference

here is that the people of grass kingdom are

not a cult. They're not evil. Maybe some of them

have some moral quandaries that are less than

ideal. And maybe they do have some past that

they would rather forget. But these are not people

I think that are actively looking to do harm

or hide the various actions. They're just people

looking to get away. and maybe some of the things

I do are questionable, but it's really an explosive

issue. This is a book not full of action. It's

been mostly a character drama with some bits

here and there, but this was a full -on action

issue, which made those ones stand out so much

more in a way. Helicopters, getting involved,

it was really intense. I was not expecting that.

I thought this would be more of a slow build.

I didn't expect it really just to go deep in

as much as it did. We do get more background

with the serial killer that seems to be... going

around town and maybe in grass kingdom may not

and you see this conflict within grass kingdom

itself as they are trying not to be the aggressors

in one hand but some of them other people don't

feel that way so i just really love this book

it's a it reminds me of something like brig's

land or this idea of of characters trying to

find themselves in a world that they just don't

understand it doesn't understand them and each

issue is given a lot of background from different

characters it's something like scalped or Southern

Bastards comes to mind as well where there are

not a lot of heroes here, but you do have a lot

of dynamic characters that have Different motivations

and you really don't have one specific person

to overly root for because everyone has that

has their problems But certainly it's just a

captivating story and I think it's one of the

most underappreciated titles currently going

today I don't know why it's again again art style

that may not work for everyone almost watercolor

ask So that might turn some people off, but I

thought the characters themselves. I love the

design a lot of great beards It has a very 70s

aesthetic to it And I would again recommend this

and I would not recommend starting with issue

13 because this will not make sense whatsoever

But go back and read the first few issues and

this is it's nearing its end So you can probably

buy and trade and only a few months or so So

it's a great series sad to see its end But it's

been one of Booms best books and last year was

one of my favorite titles It'll probably be up

there again this year as well Another series

that is coming to an end is Judas by Booms Studios

as well written by Jeff Loveless and art by Jacob

Babelka. I apologize again if I am saying that

incorrectly but man this series again talking

about surprises this was another big surprise

for me I I didn't know what to expect with this

the idea of doing a Judas book and when when

religion is tackled in comics it's not necessarily

done in a way that is building upon the messages

within the text that it is talking about it's

often deconstructing those ideas showing kind

of problems or playing them out in a way that

makes you look at some of those passages differently

or in some cases goes to the extremes and does

things that are against many of the ideas that

they're based off of thinking something like

hot damn for example by idw which is this book

about hell and it is very outlandish and some

probably may say sacrilegious or something like

lucifer where they're not necessarily books that

about theology really they use obviously pieces

of that but it's more about taking that and trying

to force it into a real world not necessarily

looking at the text of the Bible or what have

you and teaching it or trying to see how it placates

in a different type of story where Judas is much

different it's something I don't think I've ever

read anything like this in the pages of a comic

before it's not a biblical story but it has a

biblical message but not in a way that you feel

like you're being preach to like I think a Christian

that is devout could read this or an atheist

that despises religion could read this for the

most part if both are at least somewhat open

-minded and get something out of it maybe those

what they get out of it is vastly different but

I think ultimately though they would walk away

from respecting the title as someone that finds

themselves in between that I just thought it

was a fascinating story and very moving by the

end of it it's just again I like Seeing something

like this exists. I don't know how boom this

out or why they put us out It doesn't seem like

something that would fit into their normal mode

but they do take a lot of chances and this book

it was something very different and how it kind

of looks into the idea of forgiveness looks into

that story of Jesus and Judas in a way that is

in line with the biblical text the biblical story,

but also expands upon it looks into you know,

what exactly is saying here what what is really

being done and even using actual scripture to

build much of its story, but not in a way that

feels offhand. It just, it increases it. It provides

almost more meaning if that's, again, I apologize

if that's sacrilegious, but providing more meaning

within this text. So I highly recommend this

series, like I said, if you're someone who can't

stand anything religion or you have a very specific

way you feel like religion should be handled.

Maybe that would bug you, but it's also a gorgeous

looking book as well. It's four issues. It just

ended. I think this is the definitive end. So

I don't see more coming. It should be coming

out in trade shortly and usually boom trades

aren't too expensive. So if you're looking for

something that takes the medium of comics and

tells a story that is not superheroes, not, you

know, this will be in futures. This is it. All

right, well that's it for boom studios for this

week We're gonna head over to the world of image

as image has a new number one series again this

week last week They had some huge titles with

oblivion song and Gideon falls Infidel may not

have the name recognition of those titles. This

isn't a Jeff Lemire series This isn't a Robin

Kirkman series, but I have to say Quality wise

it's an argument of being right up there with

them and hopefully that will Hold some weight

as well and that more people will get behind

this book because it's one that I think has potential

of being something special The premise is you

have a Muslim family, although their grandmother

is not Muslim and somewhat against them practicing

and but she does it in more subtle ways at least

we see in this book and they're living in this

town just trying to go along with their lives

and generally much of it is set up as that is

the major dilemma there are some horror elements

that creep in here and there especially from

the opening and we come to find out that they

actually reside in a building That had a mass

murder or a bomb went off within within that

location And because of that many have moved

out and many don't reside in there anymore But

you have a few families including this family

or a few people still are staying there Though

it seems some things may be lingering well beyond

or from beyond the grave as they say Overall,

it just has a creepy vibe to it. It has a good

setup. The characters seem interesting the characters

at least have a dynamic that is it. complex outside

of the horror element, which I think only adds

to that element where you can care about these

characters and feel like there is drama here

without the horror stuff with it. It also just

the art has a good look to it. It's unique. It

has a sense of realism, but there's a lot of

heavy shading, but it's not too dark and bleak.

So I'm liking what I'm seeing. A lot of great

imagery overall, and there's some imagery of

certain Monsters and ghouls or what have you

it's or ghosts perhaps, but it's very different.

It's not like the same type of Imagery we tend

to get over and over again. So not much sheer

story wise It's clearly a major setups just kind

of showcasing where exactly this will be going

But I'm liking where that's heading like is it

going to be the level of Gideon Falls? No, I

think those are two of the best people at their

game doing a great comic But this is really solid.

I enjoy this a lot if you're a horror fan You

could do much worse than this, believe me. Let's

go to another book that is sadly overlooked and

maybe because it is based upon a series that

existed in the 90s but is still going and that's

Matt Kent's Mage the Hero Denied issue number

seven. This series is actually my first experience

with the Mage books and I was hesitant to start

them because knowing it's been around for some

time and maybe that's why a lot of people aren't

reading them as well. They keep jumping in to

this. so many years later could you can understand

and follow everything that's going on and I'm

here to say that yeah you can I like I said I

I've never read another mage series but from

the beginning I get I've never felt lost, everything's

been explained enough, and it does feel like

this is the beginning of a new story. And yes,

there are elements of past stories that are lying

within here, but it doesn't feel like they're

necessary that you know them. In fact, this almost

could be its own thing. If this was the only

mage series to ever exist, I still think it would

just be as effective storytelling wise. This

is issue number seven, and things are starting

to get a little bit more real. As they say, the

quest is beginning as... Kevin Maschick is continuing

his search for the Fisher King while his wife

and kid are off in danger without his knowledge

and without their knowledge in some ways. And

what I love about this book, for those who don't

know, Kevin, his main power is the fact that

anything he grabs he can make into Excalibur.

He's a mage. He has magical powers. He's married

to a witch. They live in a fantastical world

and the other piece is that this feels like a

90s comic in a good way It has that old indie

style Similar to that of Mad Men back in the

90s where it doesn't feel like they're modernizing

things unnecessarily It has a good nostalgic

feel even though I don't have nostalgia for this

property But I like the characters and just the

idea of that aging superhero or the aging character

trying to get back in the game or trying to relive

his old days or Balanced the life of family with

the life of what he was in his youth for some

reason that that Retains to me that relates to

me. Maybe that's a sign of more things than I

like to admit But I've been enjoying this book

so far. It seems like at the end of this things

are getting a little bit more intense You know,

you could probably pick up this book and get

enough and see if you would enjoy it without

Reading the previous issues if you do I'd also

just say take a look at the art because it might

be a style like I said that for me I enjoy others

may feel like it feels too dated and isn't right

for today's world or what have you but I think

it's fitting on the story and something of a

departure from normal comics and sometimes that

can work and I feel like it's working here. Today's

theme seems to be underappreciated comics and

that theme continues with slots number six which

I think is the most underappreciated comic on

the stand today. I think this is one of the best

comics consistently since it has come out but

no one really is talking about it. No one is

mentioning it. It's not selling well even for

an image book. It's not selling well and I don't

know why that is. Dan Pazezian is a pretty...

well -established, well -respected comic book

artist. And he doesn't do a lot, but when he

does things, it usually is high quality. Maybe

people have forgotten his name, unfortunately.

And it is somewhat of a throwback type of storytelling,

throwback characters that maybe don't work for

someone today. It's also just straight drama

for the most part, though somewhat of a sports

movie, oddly enough. You know, there's no monsters

here. There's no magic. There's no fantasy. These

are just human characters dealing with human

- drama in a crazy world of Vegas and unlike

you know the Dr. Strange's damnation story. This

isn't a hell on earth, but we do see some characters

that you think are on their way there, for sure.

And it's full of despicable characters who don't

do great things. They're all super flawed. You

know, the main character is trying to reestablish

relationship with his song, and he tends to do

things the wrong way and ends up getting the

right result, no matter he locks himself into

things or he trips over himself, yet somehow

doesn't fully fall. And that has been portrayed

here. I just love the world it's been building

since the beginning. The art has always been

gorgeous. It looks fantastic. So much is going

on on the page, from the acting, from the staging

to just the locations. They feel real. They don't

feel like the typical Vegas. It's like Vegas

during the daytime, which in itself just feels

dirty looking at it. It has a grungy look. If

you took this and you looked at it, you're like,

oh, that's got to be Reno, right? Because it

looks so dungy and not as... Romanticized as

Vegas tends to be but this is I think more of

the old -school Vegas thinking like 70s era Whereas

like run by the mom though This is mostly taking

present in present day and in the backdrop you

have a lot of this boxing story going on But

it's not really a boxing movie or boxing boxing

comic. I should say it's not It's just a piece

of the puzzle as the father and son are trying

to relate with one another, and if anything,

an allegorical comparison to the way they are

as people where he's a boxer, his son is an MMA

fighter, and they don't necessarily get along

for a lot of different reasons. I'm not going

to spoil it, but there was a great moment in

this which involved the sports montage and the

outcome of it was worth the entire thing. I just

feel like it does wrap up rather Quickly and

there's not many loose threads or any story elements

that didn't come to their natural conclusion.

Just seems like it kind of hit fast forward in

the last bit. I don't know if there will be more.

This seems like it should be the last issue.

It could continue though if it really wanted

to, depending on how things go. But I do like

how it doesn't have easy answers to all the problems.

It doesn't, nothing, not out, not everything

is solved by the end in a good way. So I would

highly recommend once this is out in trade, which

should be shortly, there's only six issues as

well. So I don't think trade should cost too

much, but it's a gorgeous book, and it's something

that shows you how old -school storytelling can

still exist in comics today, so highly recommend

this as well, and probably will go down for me

as one of the best series of this year when everything's

said and done. All right, we go to one of the...

best series to one series that just continues

to disappoint me unfortunately and that's verse

number two the first issue of verse which is

harder to say than i thought it would be was

a book that looked gorgeous but had a story that

was so flat and hollow and offered not much of

anything. I was hoping that the second story

would give me more. It did give me more but not

nearly enough. I walk away from this still feeling

like the biggest thing that is missing from this

book is character. I don't feel like I have a

character I have yet to really care about or

really know much about. This at least gave us

more information about this world this takes

place in. It is chaotic. It seems like it's really

at its last legs. almost 1984 asked what the

type of control people have and these War games

you if you want to call them that or use almost

like a distraction or some almost like a currency

in order to get other things accomplished Really?

It's not necessarily a war to end Conflict it's

a war it for entertainment purposes And we've

seen things like that in the past which is fine.

But again, I think the problem is I don't really

care about many of the characters Everyone seems

very stereotypical that the main character is

like this kick -ass take no prisoners sergeant

Although the way this ends, it's like, okay,

maybe that was just purposely setting things

up in order to make this character into something

you wouldn't expect because by the end, he's

not who he was in the first issue. So that's

the benefit of the third issue, which I think

I'll still keep going with it because. It could

turn things around and really expand upon that

character make them make him into something That

makes this book worthwhile and at least lives

up to the art though This book didn't this issue

didn't look as stoic as the first issue. The

first issue just had this gladiator gladiator

quality to it this one didn't part of it because

you had actually gladiators with the crazy helmets

and stuff like that this one more futuristic

tack with without that so I'm hoping we get more

cool costumes which is I know kind of petty but

I did like that in the first issue still these

are Rupert's art still great to look at don't

get me wrong it I think there's not a stage here

for really to elaborate more on what happened

with the first book. And ultimately, even when

the art is working at all cylinders, the story

that's there doesn't come close to it. It's sad,

actually, to see a book which looks so gorgeous

and has good texture to it within the art not

have much when it comes to story. It ends up

just being a planned, generic type of book that

doesn't give you much outside of a familiar concept

executed. poorly. So yeah, this has to go down

as one of the more disappointing series. I loved

the previews of it. I thought this could be another

great image book that would be a huge hit for

them. But so far, not much here. Again, by third

issue, if this doesn't improve, I think this

is a book that is worth dropping. A book that's

definitely not worth dropping is that of Deadly

Class, and Day Class 32 has come out, and man,

I love this series. This series holds a special

place with me, similar to that of East to West

that I talked about last week. Both of those

opened the doors for me to new books and are

really responsible for me doing a podcast like

this. one of the people that would go to superhero

books first. East to West and Deadly Class just

opened the doors and I'm like, oh man, if there

are more books like this, I'll be Happy Camper.

I don't know if there's more books like Deadly

Class, I don't think there is, but this book

is still getting better and better 32 issues

in. It's now, things go crazy in this issue.

And what's great about this book is that it ends

up being this major love letter homage to Frank

Miller, especially in the 1980s. Both directly

and indirectly it's literally set in the pages

and the art of course Wesley Gregg's art has

a lot of homages especially to the Daredevil

run of Frank Miller and how did they utilize

the hand? It's very much similar to this book

but there's a lot going on a lot of chaos in

this issue as all these different threads are

coming together and really a lot of violence

in this book as people some people are taken

out in some brutal ways and I feel like it's

only the beginning as we come to what feels like

another conclusion but who knows what I love

about this book too is that not too recently

it added a bunch of new characters More than

halfway through the series and that's usually

a death knell trying to refigure a book add a

new characters Usually that's a sign that okay.

Well, this is not going well with those new characters

I think I like more than the original characters

in a lot of ways, but Seeing them all interact

now with issue 35, it just all seems to make

sense and I'm really loving this book. Wesley

Quegg's aesthetic is something that I will never

tire of. He can draw violence like no one else.

This has that 80s feel without feeling like dated

or out of place. So I highly recommend this book.

Do not start here if you never read an issue

of Deadly Class because nothing will make sense.

It's a story that's been building for years.

By the first rate, I think you can probably get

it for 10 bucks as most image first trades are

see if you like it if you don't love the first

trade I say hold on though because it gets better

as I mentioned it gets better and better and

these characters have really got into something

much more deeper than I anticipated and the more

it's gotten away from like the classroom setup

I think it's it's only improved Don't know how

many issues is left in the series I try not to

know because I feel like when you know the end

point in a way it can impact the way you're reading

a story because I know this is the last issue

or I know there's ten more issues when certain

things happen it almost takes me out of the book

not because of the series fault but it's like

when you're watching a TV show and you think

oh they have the killer but you look and see

oh there's 30 minutes left so this can't be the

killer because how else are they gonna fill this

30 minutes similar with that with comics with

superhero comics don't have that problem because

they're gonna keep going no matter what happens

with a book like this if I know 38 is the end

issue I think it could impact my knowledge of

it so that's really just my excuse if you're

wondering why I don't know when a book ends because

I really don't want to know let's go back to

Marvel and go into their Star Wars titles starting

first with Star Wars Darth Vader number third

I was against them doing another Darth Vader

series. I thought the first Darth Vader series

ended at a good note. There really wasn't much

more to expand upon. And what I liked about that

series is that Darth Vader was used sparingly

and really represented how much of a badass he

is. This goes back even earlier. This is a prequel,

but a sequel to the prequels because it happens

in between. Revenge of the Sith, but before New

Hope, as Darth Vader is establishing himself

as Darth Vader. And that actually is a great

idea when you think about it, because we know

Darth Vader, we know who he is. When we see Darth

Vader, he's already established as the biggest

badass in the galaxy. But how did he get that

way? How did people start respecting him? It's

not just because he showed up next to the Emperor

in this black... cape and helmet and people like

well that's a dude i need to respect he had to

earn it and we're seeing him do that with this

goes to the planet that ammo akmar is from which

ironically is also the planet that they're currently

in in the star wars series right now so i don't

know if that's on purpose if they're going to

correlate with each other storytelling wise or

happening in two different timelines so i don't

think so there might be pieces here that have

picked up but I'm liking this a lot more. Darth

Vader has visited the planet because it's not

behaving like it should. And there's rumors that

there is a possible Jedi that is helping them,

helping this planet out. And he's there to stop

that because it seems like his goal is to go

around and killing any of the remaining Jedi.

And I like this. This is, again, this is a stepping

stone issue. It's the end of the last arc just

ended, beginning of the first arc. Not a lot

happens here, but enough to get us ready for

the next issue. I like the surprise. It has me

wondering who exactly will Darth Vader be facing

off against? Is it someone we know? Is it a new

character? I don't know. This has been a more

later series than the previous one. More action

-based, not as heavy storytelling -wise. Which

makes sense because Darth Vader is the only real

major character in this outside of the Emperor,

where that Darth Vader series had Dr. Alphra,

who now has her own book. This has been just

Darth Vader for now, so I don't think you want

to have too much dialogue or too much drama because

Darth Vader is not designed to be this multi

-layered character. He's meant to be the most

evil person in the world, and that's okay. I

do love the opening though, and this series has

a callback to the ending. of Revenge of the Sith

and it's really phenomenal to look at and I think

a good parallel to what's happening here. So

I really like this book. I think it's one of

the better Star Wars books that are out right

now. Not loving the current Star Wars title as

much as I would like to, but this has really

whetted the appetite for more Star Wars books.

So this is probably the one I would recommend

out of all the ones that Marvel is putting out

right now. Another book I would love to recommend,

but I don't think I can is Star Wars Thrawn number

two I like the first issue well enough. I should

say I never read Thrawn novels from the 1990s

or whenever they were released and now they're

taking that character and putting him into the

comics and I know people were upset because the

Marvel Universe or the Star Wars universe said

all the extended universe stuff doesn't really

exist. We're doing it all over again But they

seem to be taking this wrong story and actually

keeping that piece of it, which is fine I think

I'm not a person who cares about that stuff on

all honesty continuity extending universes. I

don't really care tell me a great story I don't

care if it's continuity or not all that matters

to me is that I enjoy the book or enjoy the story

that you're telling with that said I think the

problem with this and it seems to be a direct

adaptation from that novel is that there is not

enough adapting going on you see this a lot with

people who write novels and come over to comics

they just don't understand the medium as well

as they think they should and they don't realize

that comics are a visual medium first and There's

a reason why that you need to allow the pictures

to tell the story. This is so bogged down with

so much unnecessary dialogue where everything

is being overly explained and it doesn't feel

like a story that's suited for a comic. It is

simply dialogue based and it's not exciting dialogue

to be honest with you. If maybe you're a huge

Star Wars fan and love all these pieces, it's

just a lot of things being explained and Thrawn

could be an interesting character, but every

move he makes has to be laid out in such detail,

it's hard to really get invested in what's being

said. It's one piece of expository dialogue to

the next piece of expository dialogue and not

much exciting underneath and not much again happens

with this. The art is kind of drab as well. There's

not much really going on. Most of this is taking

place in the confines of inside a spaceship,

which is not what I love Star Wars. I love Star

Wars. Love the worlds. I love things outside

of those spaceships. So it's just hard to really

get through this book, at least this issue. And

I think, like I said, ultimately, you just need

to know when to let the art tell the story. You

need to know when less is more. And maybe you

don't need to do everything directly. I just

feel like this is a book that has the intention

is in the right place, but it's execution is

just off because it's not understanding or fully

grasping how this medium works and because of

that the story is not nearly working for a comic

as it probably would for a novel or what have

you so it's it's not awful but it's not nearly

as remarkable as I would hope as someone who's

never read a throng book. I don't walk away from

this thinking, wow, what a great character. I

walk away from this thinking, man, that dude

likes to talk about every little thing that exists

possibly. It's like a bad Bond villain, but not

as exciting, so. All right. Last book for today

with Vampirónica number one. Man, Archie is going

all out with these type of books. Last week we

talked about Jughead the hunger number three

that made Jughead into a werewolf and now Veronica's

a vampire. Which, you know what? I'm thinking

I'm liking this more than Jughead being a werewolf

at least. This for a first issue is just kind

of going into why Veronica is a vampire. We see

here appear and kick the ass of what seems like

a zombie or some sort of vampire emerge and we

see oh wow she has a different look to her is

she a daywalker or why is she having sharp teeth

and we see the backstory of that has some of

that Archie drama of course that love triangle

piece that has made Archie such an infamous and

notable series since I don't know the 50s but

By the end of it, things are a little bit different,

and we have a little bit more of a monster feel.

It's fun, it does what it needs to do to set

the stage and say, okay, this is what this story's

gonna be, this is how it's gonna be executed.

It's not as gory as some of the other Afterlife

with Archie or even Jughead, The Hunger. It's

more old school vampires, which is kinda cool,

which I think is in sync with this Archie universe.

So I'm liking that. So I like this book, it's

not one that is ultimately amazing or anything

like that, but for first issue, the ultimate

goal is okay, provide a premise that has promise,

provide characters you can get invested in and

do it in a way that shows that there is more

room for this story to be told. All those checkboxes

are hit here with this first issue. So I'm liking

it. I'm going to keep with it. And as the other

Archie series like Afterlife with Archie and

Sabrina are itching out to every six months to

seven years, it seems like. I'm glad we're getting

something in between that's enjoyable to read.

And Vampironica number one is a pass for me and

a recommend for me. So ending this week off on

a high note with another recommendation. Alright,

well, this is the end of this week's podcast

to give you a hands up of what's to come this

week I'll be sitting down with Greg Bepler of

my own talking in circles podcast or our own

back in the day Which I promise you will have

new episodes out shortly sometime soon. I promise

don't hold me to that It might happen. Maybe

won't it probably will I think it will maybe

we'll see but we'll be talking about one of the

best comics out today Another Jeff Lemire book

who knew it's almost like there's a theme going

with this the series and this could this podcast

so far. We'll be talking about Black Hammer.

I'm excited about that. We have other podcasts

down in the works as well. So there's a lot to

be excited about. Again, if you're enjoying what

you're hearing, if you're enjoying what I'm talking

about, please send some feedback. You can do

that by emailing at movieorbolt .com. Rate us

on iTunes. Rate us on whatever... podcast app

that you use, the more we subscribe, gets more

people out there, share on Facebook, you can

go to GeekCastReady .com. I also plan on putting

out some more articles each month. I'll be doing

my favorite comics of each month, along with

some more catching up with the classics where

I'll be looking at some classic books that I've

yet to read and reading them for the first time

and giving my thoughts on them and seeing if

they are worth the hype that they've been given

or at least if they hold up as well as I think

they should or people think they do. And that's

been a lot of fun. I've had a lot of those art

in off -site already from Zaga the Swamp Thing

to Sandman to Iron Man Doom Quest and the ones

I'm currently working on are Walt Simonson's

Thor and there's some other things in the works

that I didn't want to get into quite yet but

get excited because it's coming. But as always

remember that comics are for everyone, the key

is finding the right one. Thanks for listening

and we'll see you next time. Can't let...