Comic Book Rundown: Gideon Falls, Oblivion Song, & More

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geeks -Radio Network. And welcome to the

Comics Concierge Podcast, the podcast that believes

comics are for everyone. the key is finding the

right one. This is one of my weekly rundown episodes

where I talk about the comic book week that was

some of the most notable titles and I give you

my thoughts and opinions on those that I read.

And it's been a really busy week in comics, a

lot to get to, but first do want to let you know

that I do get into some spoilers. I try to leave

out the major twists and turns, but if you're

someone who wants to know nothing about the actual

comic they're about to read, check the episode

be spending on each comic I'll be talking about

on this episode. 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 of the week. Sometimes

it ends up being copacetic, and it is. More so

what I try to do is pick out what I think is

the best starting point for that week, whether

you're a new comic reader, an old comic reader,

and it's a starting point that doesn't feel redundant

or unnecessary. There's a lot of books that will

start over again, but if you read it before you...

you feel like, well, I know all this. Obviously

helps when it's a brand new issue for a brand

new series no one's read before. So this week

was quite easy, and it's Gideon Falls, number

one by Jeff Lemire and Andre Sorrentino. If you

listen to this podcast at all in its infancy,

you know that I'm a huge Jeff Lemire fan. I feel

like I talk about him each episode, in large

part because he has so many huge titles out right

now, so many notable titles. I don't know when

this man sleeps. He puts out so much work and

so much work at a high level. Royale City, Black

Hammer, and now adding to the list a new series

with longtime creative partner and Andres Sorrentino.

They've done different work before. They worked

on most recently Old Man Logan, and they are

two people that just seem to go together really

nicely, which is interesting because I think

why they work so well together is how different

they are in the way they tell their stories,

which may seem like... That should be the opposite.

If they're so polar opposite, they shouldn't

work together. Jeff Lemire to me is very minimalistic.

type of storyteller from the way he does draw

to the stories he tells. He tends to get the

most out of the least, where Andres Sorrentino,

he puts so much on the page. It is his innovative

panel stylings. He does some things that no one

really has ever done before. For me, looking

at comics right now, he is the most inventive

artist we have going. Every time I pick up his

one of his books, I'm like, I'm going to see

something that I've legitimately never seen before

in a comic. And I can't really think of many

other artists. that I can say that to, really,

anyone else. And that's the same here. I think

they just complement each other well. Jeff Lemire

knows how to stage a story. He knows how to get

at the human drama. of any type of situation,

whether it is a more straightforward story or

if it's like this, which is a very horror based

atmospheric tale. And then Andre Sorrentino just

takes it from there, puts everything he can on

the page, really gives you something to sink

your teeth into on every level. You know, horror

is a genre that is so much built upon just feeling

and emotion or intensity. And it's hard to do

that in a comic and do it effectively. There's

a lot of horror. comics out there and they tend

just to put a lot of darkness or a lot of gore

in order to get that type of feel. This isn't

that. It's more cerebral in its execution. The

story itself centers on two really major characters.

One is a man who is certainly mentally unstable

in some instances or maybe he's not and we are

the ones that are all mentally unstable but he's

finding different patterns in the trash and a

part of the comic is him having a conversation

with his therapist and what he's doing and his

method behind everything. The bulk of the story

is on a priest who comes to this town who was

coming to replace a police who passed away and

he was placed in this small little a book in

town that you think that nothing bad ever happens.

He meets some of the people that work at the

church. He had this nice old lady in a cat sweater

and she looks like everyone's favorite grandmother

or person that you would just get cookies from

every weekend or something of that nature. And

though there is just this sense that something

is wrong, based upon a lot of what Sorrentino

does. And by the end of the issue, There is something

off like you know that there are things afoot.

It is a slow burn But it's not one of those stories

that leads you questioning in the sense of is

this in someone's mind? Is there anything really

going on here? you know, there are things going

on because the the final page is a A revelation

that will have you know, huge consequences moving

forward and overall it's just like it's so much

wets the appetite for what's to come and the

overall concept is not revolutionary, the idea

of like a priest and, and some sort of psychotic

person trying to determine what's the secret

meaning behind everything. But the execution

is brilliant. This is one of the best new series

of the year, or sorry, first issues of a series

in quite some time. And I just really can't wait

for what it has to offer. If you're at all looking

to get into something this weekend, if you're

looking to get into a new series, this is a great

jumping on point. There's nothing you need to

know beforehand, even if you never read a book

from these people ever before. This, I think,

will get you excited to remourn for them because

there is so much here. I highly recommend it.

If I was just going based upon what I thought

was the best comic of the week, this would probably

be up there, probably be number one, honestly.

It was just such an effective story and highly,

highly recommend it. This was actually one of

the biggest weeks for Image in some time. Not

only do they have a new series debuting with

Jeff Flamira and Andre Sorrentino, the man that

really revolutionized Image these last few really

years, Robert Kirkman also has a new series debuting

with Oblivion Song, which is also drawn by Lorenzo

Di Felicia. And his art is fantastic. Really,

that's the first thing that is noticeable. The

first opening pages, you see this character in

this crazy looking town. It ends up being Philadelphia.

It's got this insane vegetation growing off of

it and this gigantic monster. It's super colorful.

It really catches your eye considering Robert

Kirkman's known for something like Walking Dead

or Invincible. It's a very change of pace when

it comes to just the presentation of the book

right from the get go. And the overall story

is this idea that Some time ago, there was this

event that occurred in Philadelphia that caused

a large chunk of people to be transported to

this other dimension. It's hard not to think

of something like the upside down or from it

or sorry from Stranger Things or something of

that nature where it's the framework of where

you're at looks like your normal location, but

everything else is distorted and there are it's

almost it's like a hell on earth, basically.

And this dimension occurs. different frequency

and a lot of people were lost. It's now a decade

later and they have developed technology that

were able to go back to this and get people and

bring them back to the regular earth. The opening

of the story indicates that right away. I think

what's intriguing about this is that it certainly

has a lot of allegorical implications to today's

world. This idea that it is a society that is

reeling from a disaster that happened over a

decade ago and some people People are still holding

on. Hope, the main character, is still attempting

to free more people. He's trying to bring more

people back, but his funding isn't there because

people think that everyone they couldn't get

back, it's time to let go and move forward. There's

no one really left to get. That then does beg

intriguing question in the sense of when is the

right time to let go? How do you move past an

event like that? Is it right to move past it?

Is it part of the healing process? Completely

changed the world. It was devastating. People

lost their lives. How long do you let that stick

with you? Do you get to a point where as a society,

as a person, that the correct decision is to

say, okay, that happened, we've dealt with it,

we're still gonna remember it, and still... think

about the people that we lost, but we can't allow

it to dominate our overall behavior. We can't

let it dominate our lives. We have to be able

to move forward. That's an intriguing conversation

to have. That's like a different thing to take

a comic at because we see a lot of comics that

have a dystopian future where everything's gone

to hell. There's no fixing anything. It's all

about surviving. And this isn't so far. It might

get to that point, but this first issue to me

was more about how do you emotionally move forward

when you are... Set as a society. Do you when

when is the right time to do that? It's a good

question. It's almost an impossible question

to answer and Added to that you have the personal

stakes of the fact that the main character's

brother still has not been found yet so he has

his reasonings for not wanting to let go and

then is he allowing his personal feelings to

Cloud his actual judgment. So is he being heroic

or is he being selfish? This is just immediately

great setup for a good story. This is Robert

Kirkman doing what Robert Kirkman does. As a

writer, he tends to really excel at character

development and subverting the expectations of

the genre that he's residing in, or getting you

to care about the characters, getting you to

feel for them and then destroy their lives, basically.

It's hard to do that with one issue. You're not

gonna have a lot of growth with a character in

one issue. So I was wondering how it would work.

There's probably not another creator out there

that has as much pressure on a comic than he

does because of who he is, his name is out there,

he's part of the biggest TV show in the world

right now still even if it's not as popular as

it once was. And I think it was a really strong

issue. My one issue with it was the ending and

I don't want to get everything away but I'll

just say that I felt that set up that I loved,

that set up I thought could lead to a lot of

great stories. storytelling that is very different

than the typical way a situation like this is

handled is almost is very much undercut and I'm

worried that It'll go a different direction and

go kind of the direction that is more stereotypical

I don't necessarily expect that with a Robert

Kirkman story But the ending that was supposed

to be this oh my god, that's happening would

have the opposite effect It's never great when

a book ends like that for you and again, that's

more of a personal take for me I mean, I'm certain

some people loved it and thought it would like

it only increase their anticipation for the next

issue. And one of the best things about this

book, although that ending didn't make me as

exciting as I wanted to, one thing that didn't

make me really excited is the letter that Druckmann

has in the end. And one of the biggest issues

with image in really all indie titles is you

get really invested into a book and then it's

gone for six months, sometimes a year. There's

often delays and it happens when you have any

creators or creators who that their day job may

not be writing books and they have to build time

in order to maintain the quality they want to

maintain. The good thing about this is that they're

already working on issue like 13 or so. So they

are far ahead of the game. And that's what happens

when you have someone like Robert Kirkman who

has the pull to say, I'm going to make this comic.

I know it's going to sell well. So much so that

we'll be able to just keep going with it. Not

many people could do that. And people are probably

wondering like, why doesn't every creator do

that? Why doesn't every indie creator do that?

It's a lot in order to put that pressure on it.

There's no guarantee for a lot of creators that

their book is going to sell the way they want

to. So to spend that much time and end up not

being able to actually capitalize on it would

be devastating for most people. So Kirkman doesn't

necessarily have to worry about that. So he has

that flexibility. I wish more creators did have

that flexibility and think comics would be better

for it if more people would support more creators.

But for now, I'm just happy the fact that we

know the first trade is done. So there's no expected

delays. And that's the case with most Kirkman

series that we'll talk about more later. That

we rarely get to lay she tends to always get

a stuff done on time and it's it's regular It's

white walking dead like a top ten comic for forever

now And yeah, so oblivion song and getting involves

two new great series coming out at the same week.

It's great for image It's great for comics go

out and support them because they deserve your

money. They deserve your time You won't be you

won't be upset about it. So Image was not the

only indie title with a brand new comic this

week. Also, Oni had the Ballad of Sang number

one. And right off the bat, I will say, if you

are a martial arts fan, you love kung fu films,

you love the idea of one person literally kicking

the crap out of a bunch of people, if Kill Bill

is your favorite Tarantino film, you're gonna

like the Ballad of Sang. It's about this young

kid... who may not look like much, but he packs

a kick and a punch for sure, and he's not to

be messed with. And we see opening that he is.

an enforcer, not an unlikely enforcer, but he's

a forcer nonetheless. Although sometimes his

actions have major repercussions and we see that

here. For an overall first issue, what I think

this does well is that it makes saying into a

character that is one that you want to know more

about. You see that he's actually deaf, or at

least mute, and he utilizes sign language and

he has this master that he has somewhat of a

relationship with. And the events of the plot

unfold in a way that gets you invested into what

he needs to now do or how he needs to survive

moving forward. The overall story plot was okay.

Like it's not anything that, if anything, I felt

like it could do a little bit more to establish

these characters in a way where right now they're

a little morally irrehensible. And yes, they

may be the lesser to evils, but considering the

things that happened, you're like, well, that's

kind of... Yeah, that should have happened based

upon the choices that you made as a character

again. I'm not against characters making wrong

decisions or leaving opportunity for them to

grow and become better people. I think that's

what's happening here. But if you're a person

that, when you read a new comic, you want to

have a good feeling for where the character is

and what his motivations are outside of just

the narrative motivations, I don't know if this

really had it. But in the simple idea of a book

that was full of a lot of fun and action and

the art was fantastic, it had a lot of that kinetic

energy, the parallel paneling out really made

the martial arts feel like you were watching

a classic martial arts film. The way they utilize

knives and it was very fun. It was an enjoyable

read and I think it has a lot of potential to

Continue to grow but there are pieces of here

that I think it could have made it a stronger

first issue that weren't So a solid recommendation

for sure. But if I'm looking at all the new number

ones that came out this week This is the one

I'm gonna tell you to go out and rush and get

immediately this is one that probably maybe even

be better for trade based upon what happened

here and Yeah, I'm gonna pick up the next issue.

So if that says anything about it, but that also

because I do love martial arts and I love the

idea of just seeing where the story goes. So

we remove ourselves from some new series for

a moment and talk about a character that's been

around since really comics has been in their

infancy with Batman number 41 written by Tom

King. I've been loving Tom King's run on Batman.

I know there is a large contention in the internet

that is not a fan of what he's doing with this

character. I love what he's doing with Batman.

To me, he is one of the few creators that I've

read. Do a Batman story where I feel like Batman

is actually the main person the main character

in his own book It's not about the villains It's

not about whatever situation he's being thrown

into. I feel like I'm learning more about him

as a character. And even with this relationship

with Catwoman that's been going on, I've loved

this relationship. It's been a relationship story.

For some, that may not be what they want for

a Batman title. They want more punching and kicking.

I want great character study. I want great storytelling.

I want great structure. And that's what Tom King

excels at no matter who's drawing this book.

This I Love Ivy story though has been... Different

for him. It's it's more of a massive story bringing

in characters from all across the DC universe

as Ivy somehow is can gain control of the entire

world and the only people that aren't under her

control are Batman and Catwoman and It seems

Batman's trying to play his games that show that

poison Ivy is not benefiting the world the way

that she thinks she is it seems to be his attempt

to try to showcase her hypocrisy in some way.

So this is him being a detective, him trying

to figure things out, him in a situation where

punching and kicking is not gonna lead to success

because you have Superman literally floating

above you, ominous presence just waiting to strike

because I was able to control him. And what I

also like about this, too, is it showcases just

how much Batman knows about all these different

people. Not only does he know their powers, but

he knows how well they know their powers and

things they do to overcome their weaknesses.

And he's utilizing that to kind of get under

Ivy skin or find ways to outsmart her or beat

her at her own game. So this is I like this idea.

There's some some. Interesting developments here.

I think this issue to me was better than the

first issue that Just laid out the scenario and

it almost felt like like in prologue that was

pushed out into the entire issue here There's

much more development still not 100 % certain

everything that's going on I do think there is

an underneath layer to this that makes me wonder

if we are experiencing reality at all, if this

is actually not more of a game than we realize.

And yeah, I mean, Batman continues to be really

great. I don't know if this issue is going to

be one that will convert someone who is not like

Tom King to become a Tom King fan. I'm sure the

things that they don't like about the book are

here as well, but I like what he's doing with

his character. And it continues just to be in

one of my favorite books DC is putting out since

he took it over. Not to be outdone with Batman

we have Batman late night number six and Sean

Murphy man You are you are a gift to the world

of comics. You're a gift to the world of Batman.

Yes I love what Tom King is doing but this is

Sean Murphy writing and drawing his own story

and I just From the way you draw Batman he draws

Batman from the way you draw Batmobiles. Oh my

goodness Batmobiles in this too iconic batmobile

is one of my favorite batmobiles makes in appearance

and I'm not a person to get really excited about

that by that but just the way it plays out in

the story and and this for those that know this

Batman white knight story the overall general

concept was the idea of the Joker trying to do

good in order to finally defeat Batman at his

own game basically where he is Turning, you know

doing a 180 where Batman is more looked at as

the villain and he is looked at more as the hero

by pointing out all the Moral quandaries a character

like Batman can cause and the ones that we've

come to just accept as a norm as a society and

then also going on though you have the neon Joker

who is a different who's Harley but a different

Harley with this plot to really take revenge

on everyone because she feels like she's been

forgotten. This actually has a lot of strong

female characters in it. You have Neo Joker,

you have Harley, the regular Harley, and Batgirl.

And Batgirl seems like to be the only one that

is looking at this and thinking, we are all crazy,

why aren't we doing this? We need to take a step

back and figure things out where everyone else

is just being... Stubborn and not listening to

her but this was a great addition. This is six

of eight So we only have two more issues left,

which makes me really sad because I've been loving

this series I love the idea of someone playing

with the world of Batman and Charmorphers taking

like every different form of Batman in doing

an amalgamation of everything from Batman 89

to Batman the enemy series to classic cart cartoon

Batman to just the batman comics this is his

own world really i know i don't know what world

it would be or what have you but it's not necessarily

your typical dc universe no other character has

shown up that's not a batman character and Just

love what he's doing. It's coming certainly from

a person who loves Batman but also can view the

character in a different light and Has a more

freedom to tell a story like this since it's

not tied to continuity or anything like that

And I love stories like this I love when a creator

can cut loose and not have to care about where

this story is going in 30 years from now because

it's self -contained and DC really does excel

at that I think also our Superman for example,

this is Batman's version of all -star Superman

where all -star Superman was probably more earnest

and uplifting. This is much more depressing Not

that it's a sad book. It's really exciting and

enjoyable, but it doesn't necessarily have the

the earnestness or the optimistic viewpoint of

something like All -Star Superman, but it's great,

it's fantastic. If you're a Batman fan, you're

not reading this, go ahead and do that. You have

a few more issues so it gets in trade, so you're

better off just looking for it in trade, but

if you're looking for a great book, this is an

awesome series to start reading, and I highly,

highly recommend it. One of the best series of

last year and continues to be one of the best

series of this year. Staying in the world of

DC, but going in a very different direction with

Exit Stage left the Snagopus Chronicles. And

for some people who maybe have not read the Flintstones

comics from last year or the last few years and

wondering why there's a Snagopus comic, you may

want to go back. You definitely want to go back

and read Mark Russell's Flintstones book. It

was an amazing comic, one of the most sharply

witted, best examples of social commentary of

any medium in some time. Sad to see it end, but

I ended up being rather excited for this book,

Snagopus. I never thought those would be words

that would come out of my mouth, but hey, they

showed they could take a concept out of really

much anything and do a wonderful comic about

it. And the twist with this or the concept with

this has been that... Snagelpus is this playwright

during the Red Scare period during the Cold War.

He's a Tennessee Williams -like playwright who

was also a homosexual but not in public eye,

obviously, because at the time it was very taboo

and really forbidden. So he's living this life

and the U .S. government has been trying to utilize

him as a propaganda piece to promote American

nationalism of the time, knowing that they're

so scared about this communist red scare. And

if you know anything about the history of Hollywood

at the time, a lot of writers were blacklisted

and were never able to really write again. Some

of them were... Basically, you know shunned and

did some work that they were never credited for

used pseudonyms Some just were shoot out of the

business forever. And you know, it led some really

depressing lives It was a really gigantic scandal

that dominated Hollywood for some time and it

took a while for some people to come back There's

a lot of movies about it. The comic the fade

-out touches upon it movie trembo with Bryan

Cranston talks about his part in it the character

the person of trembo he was a influential figure

at the time so this is seeped in history again

not seeped in really presente commentary but

i think in a way it does relate and This book

has been much different than the Flintstones.

There's not as much humor, really. It's much

more dramatic and depressing, but considering

the fact that you're dealing with a lot of these

heady topics, it makes sense. It also doesn't

really focus in on the snagglepuss aspect as

much as the Flintstones. The Flintstones book,

even though it was much different than the cartoon

of back in the day, it still had a lot of those

tropes you would expect for the Flintstones.

A lot of the punny jokes, a lot of the elements

of Fallen Stones that have been utilized since

the beginning, you know, using different animals

for vacuum cleaners, for example, which was one

of the best characters in that series. But this,

for the most part, Snagglepus and everyone...

Huckleberry Hound, they're treated as normal

people or normal beings even though he's a gigantic

purple cat and Huckleberry Hound's a gigantic

dog. But I think the reason why they don't have

a lot of those other pieces is because the world

of these two characters, or the world of Snaggleblast

is not as distinct as that of the Flintstones.

I think Flintstones certainly has its own type

of aura about it compared to Snaggleblast, who

honestly I knew nothing about, really, outside

of the fact he said even all the time. and most

people can't talk about this book without trying

to do a snanglepus impersonation. I will not

attempt, because I cannot succeed at doing that.

This issue was, I think, my favorite of the series

so far. The title of it is... actors and stars

and a through line between it is how snaggle

puts or his viewpoint about how there's difference

between the theatrical acting or on the play

versus TV acting and how you have stars and actors

and what they mean like stars or who we idolize

actors who are who reveal who we are and I think

it's a really poignant point that does get to

how art is consumed in different ways and the

question I have though is if If the book itself,

if Mark Russell, the creators are in the same

boat as Snagelpus, or are they being critical

of him, or they think his viewpoint isn't correct,

I think that's gonna be a big piece of this moving

forward. There's a lot of things circling in

the background, everything is kind of okay right

now, but there's hints that things will be going

very dark very soon for the life of Snagelpus.

We also have some big cameos in this, and I don't

want to ruin them, but some iconic people of

the time, a great scene with a former or current

Yankees baseball player in a diner that I thought

was quite hilarious. This is a really smartly

written story. I think there are probably a lot

of things that it's pointing to, a lot of references

that it's making that go well beyond my head,

but I just love the way it's approaching this

idea. It is so sophisticated in a way that I

was not expecting. I love the Flintstones, but

I think I like the Flintstones more compared

to this, but it's a much different beast. This

is a little more subdued, I would say, which

is weird to say about a book starring a gigantic

pink tiger, but it is, and I don't know, I could

see this not working for a lot of people. I could

see a lot of people who even love the Flintstones

book, reading this and being let down because

it doesn't have that comedic element as much,

or it's not as overt. But I think I just love

this. They're really making me a fan of Sagopus.

I love the look of this book, how he, his dress,

he's the sharpest dresser in the world. And I

love just, I'm a big fan of the Hollywood story

that it's telling. Like I love the fade out cause

it tied into there. I just find that time of

the world really full of intriguing. dilemmas

that they were facing, how you had people trying

to placate to the government, but also be artists

at the same time. There's a lot to really go

into it. And then there's a lot of course, allegorical

implications to today's society, seeing how a

lot of these topics are certainly brought back

to our world that we're living in today. But

it's never overtly done. It's never done to the

point that it's... too heavy -handed. I think

we have seen that with some of the other Hannah

Barbera books that have come out. I'm thinking

of like the Jetsons, which I was not able to

get through after the first few issues, and a

lot of the other Hannah Barbera stuff was much

different and not nearly as good, but this has

been pretty fantastic. Okay, let's move out of

the world of DC for the moment and go to the

world of Marvel. Marvel had a lot of big books

this week as well and start with X -Men Red number

two. I like the first issue of X -Men Red a lot.

I actually have given up reading X -Men Blue

and Gold. They just were not doing it for me.

They got bogged down a lot of crossovers. There

was a Mojo Universe crossover, then they had

a Venom crossover and none of the stories really

grabbed me. I liked Blue for a while, but eventually

that ran thin and then X -Men Gold has just felt

like a comic that was trying to replicate something

that is no longer there rather than trying to

carve its own identity. So I was apprehensive

regarding X -Men Red. I thought, okay, where

is this going to go? How is this going to work?

I'm not a gigantic fan of Jean Grey as a character,

but this is really Getting me into being a fan

of her as a character, Tom Taylor, who has done

some great work, his work on All New Wolverine

has been a lot of fun, bringing in some of the

key characters from that into this book, and

this continues to build the team, bringing the

team back together, dealing with the ramifications

of the ending of the first issue, and now they're

also looking to possibly break out. another mutant

who is being targeted by the Indian government

due to actions that she took to try to, as she

explained, replicate the pay gap that exists

in her country. And it's an X -Men book through

and through. It has a lot of allegorical implications

about how mutants are being treated. Of course,

that's what you expect from the X -Men. That's

what's been their bread and butter from the beginning.

I just like how Tom Taylor writes a lot of these

characters from Nightcrawler to to Laura at X

-23 Wolverine, and even Gabby, who's a honey

badger, which I never thought I would actually

have to say the name of a character being called

Honey Badger. I guess that was a big thing back

in the day, that bringing it back, who knows?

But I liked the dynamic. I actually like Honey

Badger a lot as a character. She has a lot of

decent quips, and she adds a nice sense of humor

to the book that's desperately needed. This is

a good, I think... ragtag group of characters

that all have distinct personalities and I'm

liking what he's doing with the book. This issue,

I think, was a decent setup issue. Plot -wise,

there's not much. I was just trying to really

move things forward to the next piece as we're

still trying to find out where exactly Jean Grey

wants to go. We know they're in Wakanda now after

the actions of the end of last issue where Cassandra

Nova showed up and did some evil things. So I'm

liking this. I like where they're going with

it. Again, this doesn't feel like it's trying

to be like the 90s X -Men. It doesn't feel like

it's trying to be like Claremont's X -Men. It

feels like it's a natural progression for these

characters. It's staying true to what you want

with an X -Men book. but at the same time not

trying to just do what was done before. Though

there are some classic characters that show up

in the end, but I feel like those are the type

of characters that you can bring back over and

over again for the X -Men because they're so

simultaneous with mutants. So I'm glad I'm enjoying

an X -Men book again. It's been a while, so this

has been a lot of fun and I'm hoping it's continuing.

I don't know what the future holds for the X

-Men when it comes to Marvel's fresh start. There

hasn't really been any... titles announced for

Marvel when it comes to the X -Men line. I don't

know if they're just continuing as things are

or if they're going to be doing a shake -up as

well. If that's the case, I hope they just keep

this moving along because I'm liking what they're

doing here. This is a great X -Men book to me.

It's really only the X -Men book worth reading

at the moment in time, unfortunately. Minus some

of the solo X -Men books, like Aldni Wolverine

and things of that nature. Even like Cable, which

I'm a huge Cable fan. That book has been somewhat

of a disappointment. So, solid stuff. If you're

an X -Men fan, you're looking for a good jumping

on point. This did start off of the events of

Phoenix. rising that came out that was written

by Matthew Rosenberg. You don't necessarily need

to read that to understand this. It may be helpful

because it gives you an idea where Jean's coming

from, but I just like how she's handling this.

She's really growing into a leader. I'm liking

just the way she's approaching this issue and

she just has some some sort of diplomatic feel

to her as a character unlike some of the other

Marvel characters. She does feel like the natural

progression from Charles Xavier. Like, she does

have her own identity, but you can see how much

the influence of someone like Charles Xavier's

status has had on her and has had on what she's

trying to accomplish. So, staying in Marvel,

but going over to Captain America with Captain

America 699. getting ever so close to that 700

number. So you know what that means. After 700,

we're going back the one, though. Yes, of course,

that's how it's all Marvel roles. You can't blame

them. They love their anniversary issues. So

what happens before the big 700? We're getting

a continuation of this story by Mark Waid and

Chris Somney. And I since they took this book

over, this is what everything that Captain America

needed as a character after Secret Empire, which

I didn't hate like a lot of people did. But in

order to or we gain just the credibility as a

character, a run like this is perfect. It's simple,

classic storytelling. And I think there's an

indication to think it's not sophisticated or

that it's thematically light. Because I feel

like people tend to... Length sophistication

or quality storytelling with tone rather than

actual execution if its story is darker and grittier

people think it's more adult It's more grown

-up. You see that a lot with like Marvel and

DC films It's like Marvel movies are for kids

DC movies are for adults because they're dark

and gritty and it's like that's not that's only

a piece of it it's about what you are and what

you're representing and how you telling your

story and yeah Captain America's story right

now is not the most complex but it's just classic

storytelling and there are some great character

moments within all this. With that said I was

not the huge fan of the 698 issue I just felt

like this it was a very different turn. These

were a lot of one and done stories and it was

the first time we actually had a story that's

lasted more than one issue and last issue it

introduced us to the fact that Steve Rogers is

now in the future again because he was frozen

in ice once again brought back and this is dystopian

future that's run by evil mutants upper -class

and it just felt a little overly heavy -handed

for a book that I thought was that represented

more universal truths that were poignant for

the character of Captain America. I didn't love

the way that they brought in a lot of those for

the last issue. It felt clumsy. Their heart was

in the right place, their motive was in the right

place, but the actual execution of it was a little

bit clumsy. But now that that's settled in, this

issue, I think, really won me over. We get some

introductions from some major classic Marvel

characters. It's no surprise that it's a right

under cover with Hulk and Thing. I love the moment

that we get with Thing in this, talking about

how there's sophistication within this series.

It's a great character moment that it can overlook

just exactly what it's saying. It tells you a

lot about characters, a thing, and there's an

element of tragedy with certain knowledge he

becomes aware of that was pretty devastating

when you think about what he was doing in the

sacrifices he was making. So I think something

like that can go unsung. Chris Samney too is

just killing it on this title. I love his cartooning,

his art style, his way to depict movement. I

can just watch him utilize, draw. Captain America

throwing his shield or using his shield in the

event of waves all day long. I'm so sad that

he's leaving this book I'm excited for what he's

doing next, but he's just born to draw Captain

America like this It just reminds me so much

of the classic Captain America like it. It's

so reminiscent of his early days, but still feeling

modern This is this team has been doing some

phenomenal work. Mark Wade's done a lot with

Captain America before this He's bringing that

to this book So if you're someone who stopped

reading Captain America because you were not

a fan of Nick's but what's Nick Spencer did with

a character and you'd love more your classic

cap This is exactly that we know soon that Tanihashi

coach is gonna be taking on the book Excited

to see what he can do. I don't know. I didn't

love what he did with Black Panther But I'm much

more knowledgeable of the character of Captain

America. So I know when he approached the character

of Black Panther, he brought in a lot of history

of the character that I felt like if he didn't

know, it was hard to follow. Hopefully that won't

happen with with. Captain America, plus he's

a more seasoned comic book writer than he was

when he first started, and he even admitted that

he had a transition in learning exactly how to

write for comics. So I am hopeful. Sad to see

this run end, because this has been one of my

favorite comics since Chris Samney and Mark Waite

took it over. I'm just gonna enjoy why it lasts,

and I am loving it. So we'll see where this goes

next. All right, well, we talked about... Captain

America, so let's go over to Doctor Strange,

Doctor Strange, Damnation number two. And this

is number two with the third part of this story

because the first part start with Doctor Strange,

Damnation number one, then the next issue of

Doctor Strange, but now Doctor Strange, Damnation

number two. And this Doctor Strange book didn't

have much Doctor Strange in it. It was Wong going

around and bringing a team together to deal with

the events of what happened with the last issue

of Doctor Strange and the fact that Mephisto

is now on Earth due to Dr. Strange trying to

bring all the people back who were killed in

Las Vegas during Secret Empire, and doing so,

Mephisto is now on Earth. runs a casino and is

a demon mob boss, basically, and has been cultivating

his own gang of Avenger Ghost Riders. Marvel's

been doing a lot of things like this with Thanos,

now with Doctor Strange, just having crazy ideas

that I'm actually really liking. And I love a

good band come together stories when it comes

to team bucks. You see it a lot with the first

issue of series where this team finally comes

together. It's a very comic cliche. Notable trope,

but when done well, it can be very effective

and I thought it was done Well here the interactions

between the characters where it was a lot of

fun Wong going around and his interaction with

blade and Bloodstone and even like man thing

and by the voodoo It's a very cool team and it

was what intriguing about it was like he had

to pick characters that could help him but he

felt if things went awry and they too fell under

the spell of Mephisto he could hopefully take

them down if need be. So it's a great dynamic.

I love the way that Nick Spencer writes Blade.

He's got some of my favorite lines in this. Basically,

you know, sometimes they say, you know, if you

do things right, People will think you've done

nothing at all and that kind of comes up as a

piece of conversation with train blade and in

bloodstone So and then it goes off from theirs.

It's been i've been just having a lot of fun

with with this series It was very different compared

to the last arc of dr Strange that donnie cage

took over and this is nick spencer and both of

them approaching the character and It's a little

bit more fun. I would say not as heavily emotional

as that book was but there's also a ghost dog

and can't go wrong with a ghost dog so I don't

know knowing this is so tied into a lot of what

happened previously with secret empire with the

previous doctor strange arcs if this is a great

jumping on point for someone who's never read

doctor strange before but I think there's enough

here that even if you don't get everything, it's

not like it's the most complex story in the world.

You know the general gist of it. He's trying

to do the right thing, but it's always coming

to bite him in the butt because he's taking shortcuts

or he's being too arrogant. It's what Dr. Strange

has done since the beginning and never continues

to learn from it because that's really how superheroes

are. They can't grow too far because then they

no longer are who you want them to be. But yeah,

great stuff. I'm enjoying this a lot, so. Sometimes

good things do have to come to an end and that's

the case with Hawkeye with Hawkeye number 16.

Kelly Thompson has been taking over this title

now and it's sad to see this title end because

I don't think it was designed to end here. Unfortunately,

it was cancelled to bad sales and I don't get

why because it's been a great book since she

took it over. You know Hawkeye had the matte

fraction run with David Aja and this is nothing

like that in a good way and it shouldn't be.

There are elements of it but It never feels like

a continuation or direct continuation. Kelly

Thompson succeeded at making Keith Bishop her

own character with her own private eye. It felt

like a lighter version of Jessica Jones or someone

who wasn't necessarily as damaged as Jessica

Jones as she was her own private investigator.

This wraps up a lot in this last issue and it

doesn't necessarily feel like this was again

designed to be a last issue so it does try to

push in as much as it possibly can within this

book to Wrap up some loose ends have some decent

character moments And with that, maybe not everything

gets the intention that it deserves. It's not

the best way to end a book. I don't think it's

ending on as good as it started. And I think,

in large part, it's out of the hands of the creators,

because you have plans, you have ideas, you have

wishes, and unfortunately they don't always come

to the flourishing. But... I'm glad we have this

series. I'm excited to see what Kelly Thompson

does next. I enjoyed a lot of her writing. This

is really the first time I've dived deep into

one of her series, but I just love her writing.

She's really witty and has a good sense of humor.

And it's a quality book, so it's obviously unfortunately

over at this moment in time, but maybe pick up

the first trade if you're looking for a good

Hawkeye book. Or if you love what Mad Faction

did and want to see something like someone take

those characters and do something different or

put their own stamp on them, that's exactly what

happened here. So kudos to everyone that was

a part of this series. You did phenomenal work

and hopefully whatever you do next gets the attention

it deserves because this book certainly did not.

Okay, I think we spent enough time with the big

two, time to give some more attention to those

indie publishers and let's move over to Image

as we talked about a couple image titles that

just started there's a lot of great image series

that are still continuing and still deserve a

lot of attention. And let's go to I Hate Fairyland

number 17. And if you listen to episodes of The

Pullback, which is also on Keycast Radio, TFT,

one Mike and myself went through a lot of the

different issues of I Hate Fairyland. We'll probably

do some more of those coming up shortly as well.

So if you listen to those, you know, I'm a huge

fan of this book. I love Scottie Young. This

is like the book I feel like he was born to make.

And I didn't think this would last after the

first volume. I thought this was a really solid

story. It'll be a great four issues for six issue

series, but this is a joke I don't see can last

much longer after that. It's gonna get tired,

it's gonna get tedious. Now there's not much

here beyond that. It's very cotton candy -ish

with its style and look, but. Kudos to Scottie

Young, man, because he keeps this thing rolling

and it never feels old. He's finding new ways

to approach this. It does seem like it is nearing

its end with some of the things that happen in

here, and I'm sad to see if that's actually the

truth, because there are a lot of major series

within image that I've been loving for over the

last few years, and it feels like that they are

nearing their end, and it's, you know, it's like

letting a friend go, unfortunately. We'll talk

more about some of those very shortly, but this

issue doesn't have its start. character in it

it's she is no longer in fairyland for facts

that i don't want to get into a spoiler for anyone

who's not read those previous issues because

it's a recent development but we're seeing fairyland

try to go on without her and an old friend duncan

dragon does show up and he is really the key

character in this issue he's in what it looks

like UPS slash mail room for our fairyland. He's

got a new job and he's learning the ropes and

I with that he gets kind of caught into a situation

where It might end up leading to the end of fairyland

as we find out. So it's just like a Person that

is just can't buy any luck. There's a lot of

great gags in this seeing what is Basically the

devil standing in line at a mailroom it makes

it feel good in a way because it's like yeah

Yeah, he has to wait too. And yeah, so this is

a Setup issue for the most part because it's

getting into the I think what may be the final

arc or at least the next main arc And it still

works though. It's not one of the ire fairlands

best issues so far, but it just Operates as a

necessary piece to keep this story moving like

I mentioned because it could quickly feel redundant

So building up some of these characters making

them keep key figures And we saw a lot of the

side characters get their own issues get their

own origins story. This isn't dragons origin

story It's more so his life his attempt to get

back to normal life Now that Gert's gone and

maybe he doesn't have to worry about her wrath

anymore But even with that he seems to just can't

get out of his own way So this is such a fun

series that it's a good one to read after you

read more of a heavy story, or you just want

something that you know, like, okay, I just need

to feel good. I just need to have a few laughs,

enjoy myself, not think overly too hard, and

that's exactly what this is. Scotty Young is

a... type of creator that doesn't go out of his

way to impress you. He just knows what he does

well, and he does it well. He wears his influences

on his sleeves. If you're a person who loved

Looney Tunes of the day, loved Ren and Stimpy,

or kind of that gross out humor, that isn't so

much in this. This is more subdued because Gerd's

not there, so you don't see someone trashing

or destroying anyone or shooting down moons.

But it's a fun world that I enjoy being part

of, and I'm glad every time this comes out. Yeah,

and we know now that Scottie Young will be also

taking over Deadpool very shortly, and I'm loving

waiting to see what he does with that. He's not

drawing it. He's only writing it. I do prefer

Scottie Young when he writes and draws his own

stuff because I think his sense of humor is best

executed by himself. But for him to grow as a

writer, that's something he's gonna have to do.

And I think his sense of humor, if you read this

and you could see, okay, A lot of jokes in here

could usually work with a character like Deadpool.

You know, he's done Rocket Raccoon and Deadpool

does seem like a very smart fit. I think, you

know, it's one of the major Marvel titles that

I'm really looking forward to. So, you know,

Gary Dugan has done a fun job with that title,

but I think Scottie Young could bring some new

life to what that's desperately needed. Speaking

of long -standing image series, East of West

has come back and is now on issue number 36.

This is a series that tends to take a break,

come back, take a break, come back, and I have

to credit the series for getting me into a lot

of different titles. It was like the one of the

first. books that I read in a while that broke

me from my Marvel DC mode. And ever since then,

I've been diving deep into more and more indie

books. This and Deadly Class have held a very

special place for me. So knowing this is nearing

its end, I think it has around 10 issues or so

left. And then knowing Jonathan Hickman and how

verbose and how thick his narratives can be.

even only with nine issues left or having nine

issues left, you know, things are starting to

take turn a corner because there's so much within

this title. This is not an issue that you can

pick up and start reading if you never read anything

that came before. Honestly, it's challenging

to read issue to issue because there are so many

moving pieces, there are so many characters,

but I tend to save them up or go back and reread

them and enjoy them a lot. This issue, though,

I think even if you haven't done that, if you've

been keeping up for the most part, will work

because it's the endless nation going in and

taking over what's left of the Confederacy and

positioning themselves as the end is near. The

prophet is focused on most of this issue as he

is coming up with a plan to get this done because

in order for the endless nation to be able to

set foot on the Confederacy land, they have to

do some roundabout things to make it happen.

We also seeing death and his son interact. And

there's you see that things are starting to tie

together. All these major threads that have been

happening are starting to work. I tend to link

Jonathan Hickman books to like running them.

If you run a marathon, it's a lot of hard work.

You have to push yourself often to limits that

you don't expect, and it's everlasting. But with

all that hard work, by kicking yourself, keep

pushing yourself, there's that ultimate runner's

high with all that hard work, all that dedication

you put in. and you get that euphoria that comes.

And I feel like that is happening now with this

East of West. It's been building for these 36

issues. All the pieces have been put in place

and now the conclusion is coming. And now the

things we've been waiting for are happening and

I'm loving it. It's been one of the best books

since its debut. It's a gorgeous book to look

at. It does not shy away from some... Truly heady

theories and themes for sure. There's a lot going

on this title in general. It's a sci -fi book

It's a Western book. It's a disaster book. It's

about the end of the world. It has relationships

It's hard to explain this book completely within

just this time period we have now. I hope to

do some more deep dives into different volumes

in future episodes of the comic concierge because

there's a lot here with the series to look into

and it's one you can spend hours talking about.

That's the case with Hickman's story. So if you

loved Hickman's run on the Avengers, you like

what he did on the Fantastic Four, go back, maybe

pick up the first volume and see if you'll enjoy

it. I think if it doesn't get you right away,

it probably won't for the long haul. But if you

like the characters that he's building he's building

it only gets better from there So knowing that

there are some image series that may be nearing

their end We obviously talked about some that

are now beginning but are there any other major?

image titles that are out there to be enjoyed

that can continue on and replace some of these

and One title that's not getting nearly as much

attention as it should is scales and scoundrels,

which is this classic fantasy story of these

characters that come together, go on a quest,

very Lord of the Rings -esque, but not as brooding,

a little bit more cartoony in its execution,

a little bit more all -agey, I would say. It's

a weird thing to say, but it does feel like this

is a book that could work for all ages, and with

that still be a quality story. This is the beginning

of the second volume, but really feels like the

end of the first major arc. a lot of secrets

or a lot of plot elements are revealed in this

that have been hinted at since the beginning.

One of them felt obvious. The other one was a

little bit surprising, as Liu and Akai, who are

thought dead, are trying to find a way out, really,

and they keep falling into different traps. It's

a good character piece, because I love their

interaction back and forth, and it's a... good

way to end this this first story if you see a

lot of the growth all these characters had it's

a tale of a crew of people that everyone had

an opportunity to grow everyone feels like a

full character and everyone's very distinct from

one another so i really like this series a lot

if you are a fantasy fan and want something of

that nature there's other fantasy stories that

are in image right now like seven to eternity

that's a much darker and grittier story this

is much more upbeat and joyous and much more

fun and it's not as serious. There are some more

emotional moments, especially last issue, but

for the most part it is fantasy stories in the

realm of, you know, Harry Potter or something

of that nature, but good book and one that I

think deserves more attention than it's getting

and maybe because it's just the genre that it's

in that it's not everyone's cup of tea. Another

major image book that is ending is extremity

with issue number 12 and This book has been man.

It is a gorgeous gorgeous title brutal the epic

in every sense of the world word. It's the scale

of these battles that have been in this book

are some of the things I don't think I've ever

seen in a comic before. It exists in this different

universe. It's hard to even explain the type

of world that it's in. It's not, it's futuristic,

but it's not like it feels like Earth in any

way. I just, I don't know. It's hard to really

quantify without - reading the book and this

brings a lot of the elements to the end and pieces

that have been building and there's a lot of

like crazy creatures gigantic robots everything

you can want if you've been reading this book

this is i think a book that i'm selling it as

this huge action adventure but it's much more

than that it really has been getting into more

the Horrors and ramifications of war and you

have these two factions that have been endlessly

fighting in this vicious cycle That's been keeping

on and how it's just lot led to more and more

loss on both sides and just the moral Degrading

that's going on with these two people trying

to seek revenge and how it's just not it's not

winning. No one's winning It's just this continuous

bloody affair where lives are lost, friends are

lost, family members are lost, and people are

trying to, you know, they say eye for an eye

leaves the world blind, and I think that's certainly

a piece of this book that comes into play. So

this is, you know, now that it's over, what an

epic adventure. I do feel, though, if I had one

takeaway or one negative takeaway is that I don't

think it completely stuck the landing as much

as I was hoping for, just because this book was

such at a high level for its entire run. The

last you pay... where it ended up, it just felt

like it didn't have that satisfactory ending,

that really emotionally impactful ending that

I was hoping for it. And that's kind of the point

of the book, the lack of satisfaction or the

lack of closure is where much of the themes are

playing out. But I thought they could handle

it in a little bit more of a way to better...

put a cap on that point in a way where it just,

where it ended up, the point it was trying to

make felt very rushed within the last few pages

or so. So what it was trying to say got lost

in it for the most part. But everything leading

up to this point has been nearly flawless. And

again, the art in this has been fantastic. I'm

pretty sure that's probably why it's ending because

it must take days upon days, months upon months

to get some of this work done because the detail,

the colors, the creature design, character design,

everyone feels distinctive yet of one because

you have all these different tribes that are

coming together. I see this book just gaining

in popularity as more people come to it and I

can easily see this becoming something else,

whether it be a series, a cartoon series, it

feels like it's designed to be... Transferred

into some other medium. It might be a little

bit more difficult just because of the scale

of much of the story But it's worth it because

it's been one of the better Image titles and

it's been putting a lot of great books This has

been one of their best ones and sad to see it

end But I think it it is ending at the right

point in time Also coming back this week was

the fix number 11 written by Nick Spencer and

drawn by Steve Lieber and the fix has been a

series I've had a lot of fun with it's hard it's

hard sometimes to be honest with you because

there are pieces of this that make me kind of

grown a little bit the the sense of humor here

can be sophomoric and a little bit crude but

that's also kind of the point it's taking that

noir framework in saying what would happen if

you took these stories and the characters that

were in them were really reprehensible garbage

people, because this is a book about bad people

doing bad things. There's, you know, there's

no one really to root for. Even the mayor is

kind of a twat and these are detectives that

have no moral high ground regarding anything

they do, they'll break the law, so do whatever

they can to get ahead. And when some awful things

happen, they're not thinking about the ramifications,

they're really thinking about how it benefits

themselves. And that makes this issue a little

strange because a major piece happens, really

the first, I would say, not emotional, but...

It takes a different turn. It's been mostly a

comedic series for the most part and here something

happens that that turns that sharply it reminds

me a lot of like lethal weapon or something of

that nature, but If you did it with a modern

sensibility or sense of humor and then you would

still have you know If you watch lethal weapon

and it has some darker moments and this has one

of those darker moments or You know has things

that happen where you feel like oh there's actual

real -life stakes in this not just everyone's

gonna get out okay because this is an issue without

spoiling anything where not everyone gets out

okay. So I was surprised by that because I didn't

expect it with this book so far and even with

that they take a tragedy and get a lot of humor

out of it specifically one character who finds

out the loss of one of his close allies or friends

and goes on a bender that is a sight to behold

to say the least but it does up the stakes, it

does add new tension to this, because now we

know that, okay, that things are real here. There

are ramifications to a lot of these actions,

even though there's a decent amount of silliness.

I mean, you have... You're dealing with ISIS

oddly enough and I don't know. It's been a good

book I could see this turning off a lot of people

because it can be crass and I think some people

will think well This is really immature at times

and I get that but like I said, I think it's

it's almost like how South Park can be ridiculous

and raunchy and a lot of people can focus on

that, but there's actually an element of intelligence

of sophistication there. I don't necessarily

think this is commenting anything like that.

There's I don't think there's much social or

political commentary, but I do think that it's

not as blatant or as shallow as it may seem.

but not by much. I think what really makes this

is the humor. And if it doesn't work for you,

you know, Nick Spencer, who we talked about,

I talked about already in this podcast, does

write this book. And I like his sense of humor.

This is where it's raw and unedited. You see

it a little bit with like Ant -Man he did previously

and Superior Foes. This is much more the R -rated

version of that. And I think it works for me.

I could see for a lot of people though, it might

not. but we might dive deeper into this series

also in the future. So if you've read this, I'd

like to see what people think of it, because

I don't know what the overall consensus is. I

know Nick Spencer tends to have a lot of people

that do not like him, at least in the sense of

his social media presence. I don't know what

they think of this actual title. but maybe many

of them don't know he writes it, I'm not sure,

but I am a fan and I feel like it is a title

that could work for a lot of people and myself

included. Before we move on to other publishers,

let's talk about one more image title with The

Walking Dead, 177, that book that just keeps

on going. Talked about Robin Kirkman earlier

with Oblivion Song. Hey, his classic series is

still going with... 177 and I got to give this

series a lot of credit last week I talked about

Saga and how sometimes we can take it for granted

because it is consistently good. This is a hundred

and seventy seven issues in and still finds ways

to keep this story moving and find ways to develop

these characters and I think what's been working

for this current arc is that there's actually

been a level of pleasantness in this book, some

actual happiness for a change and as we find

out, we found out a few issues ago that Michonne's

daughter is actually alive and now they have

some interaction with one another and their interaction

of course is emotionally charged but it gets

even deeper as we learn they talk to each other

regarding how they got themselves there we learn

more about the tragedy or the horrors that her

daughter had to face and how it very much parallels

many of the tragedies that Michonne herself faced.

There's also different pieces of this arc where

there's a new character is introduced and since

it's a new character introduced in The Walking

Dead, I'm sure this is like going for gangbusters

on eBay because anytime that happens the price

just shoots up the roof. Mercer though, he's

a soldier in this new... a compound that we found

ourselves in. It's a compound that's like bigger

than any of one we've seen before. It's almost

the size of a normal sized city and operates

as such. We don't know what's really going on

here though. It seems like we're getting an idea

of where this next big story is headed. And that's

gonna be the major question for me. Like this

Michonne daughter part has been very satisfying.

but ultimately, like, I don't know how much more

the series can go because we tend to, there is

some repetitiveness where we have, you know,

we had the Whispers, I thought that was inventive

and new, but is this just gonna be just another

villain for Rick and the others to fight? Is

this gonna actually work out okay? I'm not sure.

Every time, I think the series can't really go

on any further or do anything new. they find

a way to do that, so I almost wait and see where

this is headed. I love that we are getting some

new characters introduced, and Robert Kirkman

is a king at introducing characters and developing

them quickly, making you care about them either

because you hate them or because you love them

or vice versa, so knowing that there is this

Mercer Laring in the background. It does though

tend to reveal itself a little too much because

now you feel like okay Well, if he is on the

cover if he's a big push of a character clearly

he's gonna be playing a major role and Right

now he's just really a security guard. So if

he's playing a bigger role than that Things need

to happen. So is that tipping its hand a little

bit too soon? I'm not sure we'll see Kirkman

does like to do that and make you think, okay,

oh, you figured me out. No, you didn't. And here's

the thing. It's even closer to issue 200, which

is crazy. The fact that this book has been around

as long as it has and still remains this high

level. I still think there have been some bad

issues of The Walking Dead. I mean, you're at

177 issues and it's gonna happen. But Robert

Kirkman's really good at just making you feel

like the story never ends, how it picks up from

one issue to the next. If you're reading it in

graphic novel form, there's no obvious breaks.

The pacing is pretty impressive. I don't know

how he keeps it going, but he does. So yeah.

I mean, if you're reading Walking Dead or you're

not reading Walking Dead, I don't think my opinion

will change much, but I think it's cool to kind

of see how this is actually one of the stories

that has a different start than many of the other

Walking Dead arcs that we've seen in the past.

We talked a lot about Image, and there are other

indie publishers out there, so let's talk about

some of those. We'll go with the Boom Studios

first, with Mactet U, number seven. And the way

I describe the series is that comics are better

with having this series in it, for a variety

of reasons. It's a series, I think, that can

work for someone who's seven or 70, which is,

you know, kind of cliche to say, but it does

work. Probably maybe not 70, but if you're someone

who enjoyed Anything like Voltron or Power Rangers

or any giant robot types of stories Pacific Rim

or something like that This has a lot of that

in it, but it never feels derivative. I think

that's even for someone who really loved Pacific

Rim I don't necessarily feel like it really strived

in creating good characters. Mad Catet U has

and it's a different format Obviously, they have

more time to do that. But this group of kids

is going into something special. I love how you

have all these different archetypes or sounds

as archetypes but no one fits into anything specifically

or the tropes are not exact and I love how you

have all these kids and there's no forced in

love story there are kids that are allowed to

be like kids and that's so rare when it comes

to comics or movies or really any type of medium

where if kids are in a story they're They're

often wise beyond your years or a plot device

or something of that nature. Here, they're the

main piece. They are what's driving this story

and do so in ways that I wouldn't expect. They

make mistakes. They're mature for their age,

but in a way that makes sense considering the

situation that they're in. And you have giant

robots fighting giant monsters. It never gets

away from that all too much. But what we're also

seeing is that there are a lot of politically,

uh, palticking. There's some... Shady things

going on with the government as you would expect

and these characters these young kids are put

in situations where they have to make some really

hard tough choices and determine what is right

now sometimes it's right not to listen sometimes

it's right to break the rules and for adults

we kind of know that but for kids I could see

why this is teaching a very important lesson

on all different factors. So Greg Peck writes

this book and this issue, it's really, things

are heating up. You know, there is a looming

threat coming closer and closer. It seems like

the end may be near. The Mechadets are right

away from their own robots and we've learned

some things that are happening that make you

wonder, okay. Humans may be not the most trustworthy

creatures in the world, and some of their actions

may lead to their ultimate demise, as you would

expect. You have humans who see a piece of technology,

and they can't respect it. They want to make

it their own, and they want to improve upon it,

and somehow. This was one of the biggest pleasant

surprises from last year and this year's still

working well. I don't know if this is a book

that can go on for, you know, 20 more issues.

I don't know if we'll get Matt Cadet U 177 like

we have with Walking Dead, but for now it's working

and not every book needs to have 177 issues sometimes.

15, 20 is enough, sometimes six is enough. So

sometimes eight is enough, as they say. I don't

know how many issues this is gonna go. I like

to not know because I think if you know the end

point, it could really kill tension in a story

if you know where it's going. So if, you know,

okay, this can't be the last issue because there's

four more or there's two more. But when you don't

know that, it gives you, I think, a much more.

a piece of enjoyment than you would expect. So

for some series, that's impossible for that to

happen because they're never gonna end, they're

never ending Batman. But for others like this,

it does hold the door open. All right, staying

in Boom Book, going to a different book with

Dodge City, number one. Yes, Boom has a book

about dodge ball. They have a book about fencing

I talked about a few weeks ago that I liked.

So I was wondering, would I like this book about

dodge ball? And the answer is, Not really all

that much unfortunately, but I'm not necessarily

the target audience for this book. This does

seem like a very kid -centric book. Unlike something

like Met Cadet U, which I think could work for

all ages, for middle -aged men or kids, Dodge

City is squarely designed for children, and that's

okay. I think sometimes it's good to have books

that are designed for kids, meant for kids, and

only for kids. Like there are books that are

for adults, only for adults, but still I think

this book could have been better even with that

said. You know, I have a son, so I do read a

lot of kids' stories, and there are great kids'

stories in there. are bad kid stories and this

is a thing in the middle story it is what it

is it's a dodgeball story where all centered

on dodgeball and you have this after school activity

with these different teams that are going off

against one another a lot of characters in it

and that's kind of the problem I thought there

were maybe too many characters got a little bit

lost especially if this is meant for a kid's

audience when you pack the story that full with

different people and never feels like There are

many memorable characters outside of really seems

like to be the key kid who was this new kid in

town is put on the team. It's very bad a dodgeball,

but finds ways to be good. So it was weird that

the entire issue was the dodgeball game and nothing

else. When I talked about fence, I think part

of it was fencing, but you also allowed the characters

to grow outside of that. This was just within

the dodgeball. Medium and game there was nothing

else outside of that and maybe seeing a piece

of that would make it a little bit More effective

because you learn more about these characters

I don't know, maybe that's the premise of this

book. We do find out the team we think is good

may not actually be good, so we'll see how that

goes. I'll probably pick up the next issue, because

I do like to support all Aegis comics, and it's

a good thing to have if my son wants to read

something that's not curious storage. Hey, in

a few years, this might be a good book for him

to read. Though I think probably when he's in

school, they'll outlaw dodgeball, so it'll be

a moot point anyways, but I don't know, I was

a kid, I was a fan of dodgeball, but. Maybe I

was just a sad gym class hero. Who knows? All

right. Well, let's go over the world of Dark

Horse and specifically the world of Black Hammer

with Dr. Star number one. I actually recently

talked with Greg Beppler, former member of Talking

in Circles podcast or current member of Talking

in Circles podcast regarding Black Hammer. That

will be out. as an episode very shortly so I

spoiler alert we talk about it and say many good

things so because of that I've been picking up

a lot of these spin -off series with Black Hammer

there's Sherlock Frankenstein and now Dr. Star

and from what I can remember Dr. Star is not

a character that really got utilized much or

we are learning much about within the pages of

Black Hammer. I love how much Jack Flamira is

expanding this world, getting all these different

characters. It is very reminiscent of something

like Astro City that I've read a little bit of.

I need to read more. This is his story, Dr. Starr's

story, his origin story, and this entire issue

he is writing to someone or we think we know

who it is and it's... split between his past

and his present and his past is you know drawn

and acted more like the classic story where his

present is a lot more drab and you see that he

has a lot of regret regarding a lot of decisions

that he has made and the problems that it caused

and I don't want to get anything away, but I

love this. It's a great origin story. There's

a lot of things here that I really enjoy, but

what this issue did for me, where it really hit

me, was in the final pages when you find out

just exactly why he is not as happy with some

of the choices that he made in the past and why

he doesn't think being a hero was worth the cost

that it laid upon him. It has you hinted, it

hints at what you think is gonna happen, and

it hints at what you think, okay, oh, this is

a really personal problem that happened with

him. This is certainly causing some problems

here. We can see where this is going, but I don't

know. That final page was one that's gonna stick

with me for some time. And that's because, you

know, Jeff Lemire's an amazing storyteller. And

we talked about Kirkman twice. We're talking

about Lemire twice. And it's very different than

Gideon Falls. much more of a straightforward

superhero story, but with a more realistic human

element to it as you would expect, just like

with Black Hammer. Not as good as Black Hammer,

but much different than Black Hammer. I just

love this world, what he's doing with it. So

it's becoming its own little universe, and with

a style that's certainly reminiscent of Golden

Age. So if you wanna see deconstructive storytelling

that is... working really well within the pages

of comics. That is Black Hammer, and that is

all the miniseries, including this one, Dr. Star

number one. Alright, well we have Dr. Starr number

one. We also have Green Hornet number one from

Dynamite and Green Hornet is not a character

I have a huge history with. I watched some of

the TV show mostly when it had like reruns when

FX was like first starting. It had a lot of those

shows that would have fun reruns with this and

I think the 66 Batman would go back to back.

So I don't know much about Green Hornet. I did

watch the Seth Brogan movie if that helps, so.

I will say that this is green hornet number one

and the green hornet is missing out the green

hornet people have been trying to take his place

in the crime world causing chaos and Destruction

and death and crime to run rampant throughout

the the society I don't know if there's mystery

here time to pass green hornet series. I just

picked this up from stage one I don't know if

this is continuing a previous story. It doesn't

feel like it per se but As a first issue, it

was fine. The big thing is the fact that who

is Green Hornet? And I'm not getting anything

away because it's right on the cover. Kato's

daughter is actually turning into Green Hornet.

And that was really what this issue was leading

towards was that big reveal. And it's tough when

that is the purpose of your first issue of the

comic to get to the point where Your covers at

it. It's not a satisfying ending really. It's

like, oh she's gonna be greek hornet Yeah, I

knew that before I read this and yeah, I get

you did some more things here But I don't know

as someone who's not a lover of this world not

not a connoisseur of green hornet This didn't

do a whole lot for me in the sense of making

me want to go back and read a lot of green hornet

It's it was okay. Nothing about it really shined

through it. It you know, it's the classic idea

of okay what happens if you take one figure head

away what what are the repercussions these are

the repercussions i don't feel like i learned

much about i keep saying uh kato's daughter because

i honestly don't remember her name and there

wasn't really much to her outside the fact that

she uh she could beat up her dad i guess that's

cool i don't know i mean we all want to do that

but we'll see i I might continue it, but I probably

won't, to be honest with you. So if you're a

huge Green Hornet fan and you want something

a little bit different, it's there, but probably

not for me, unfortunately. So for now, let's

go with a complete left turn into Jughead the

Hungrier number three brought to us by Archie

comics. Archie comics has been doing a lot of

inventive things with a lot of their properties

recently or over the last few years. We've had

the afterlife with Archie that was much more

of a horror book. We also had Sabrina that took

a darker, more realistic tone with that character,

much different than the classic TGIF series that

I grew up on in the nineties. Sadly, sad to say,

but hey, you know, I was a TGIF devout fan, and

you know, one of us had little crushes on Melissa

Joan Hart. It's hard not to. I was a teenager.

What are you gonna do? But anyways, that's way

off topic. For Jughead, the hunger number three,

and the idea behind this is the fact that, you

know, Jughead, the person who can't stop eating

hamburgers, well, what if the reason he is so

hungry is because his family comes from a long

line of werewolves? And that has been this story.

This issue, though, Jughead is nowhere to be

seen. It's a backtrack issue. It's a origin story

or big bringing ups to the fold as we learn more

about the mysterious aunt of Betty Cooper and

her story and her linkage to werewolves in the

past and how she had a similar Romeo and Juliet

situation where she fell in love with someone

that maybe she should not have and this has been

Okay, I don't I think it's maybe one too many

in the sense of okay. They got after life to

Archie the work Oh, what could work now? Oh,

here's a pitch Jughead and as a werewolf and

I don't know. It's not really working for me

as well Maybe because I'm not as huge into the

werewolf lore or it's not a thing that attracts

me as much I just have a hard sense of getting

an idea of where these characters come from or

really the purpose behind all this. We see that

as werewolves, they're much more vicious than

they mean to be, and there's been a lot of basically

inconsistencies with the behavior of characters,

and I don't know if that's just because, hey,

this is part of what happens when you're a werewolf,

but it just seems to be somewhat of a contrivance,

I'm not sure. It's been fun, I guess, but...

I was having high hopes because I thought Afterlife

with Archie was really fantastic and really hit

that genre. And that's the other thing, it doesn't

really feel like a werewolf story, it just, I

don't know, it feels like... almost reminiscent

of From Dusk Till Dawn, but with werewolves in

a way. A lot of people love From Dusk Till Dawn,

and I enjoy it myself, but it's a little all

over the place. And I walk away just thinking,

well, this issue was a little off beat. I don't

really care that much about the aunt of Betty

Cooper. I'm reading Joghead the Hunger. I want

to see this concept with those characters. If

you take me away from those characters, then

what I like about this, what I wanna see about

it is no longer there. It's like, well, this

is the whole idea behind this is taking classic

Archie characters and putting them into situations

in which you would not expect that universe to

be. Once you remove that, once you get far away

from that, it doesn't work as well. Once you

put the focus on other characters, it's like,

well, that entire point is lost in a way. And

I don't know if Betty Cooper's aunt is a major

player in the... comic or the regular only archie

universe i've read some archie the current series

she's not really been A character so far maybe

she's more of a classic character but i'm a little

disappointed with the series so far there's just

been some problems with it but you know it could

just be one that like is better read in trade

or a lot of the issues that i've seen by the

end might be might be fixed but i I highly kind

of doubt it so i'll report back with next issue

to see if it if it gets back to what I wanna

see with this book, because I do think, I like

the concept, or like, okay, that's actually kinda

clever, if that's the reason that Jughead's a

werewolf, but I feel like after that, anything

that's come after that idea has not really lived

up to the potential it's created for itself,

unfortunately. All right, well, one more issue,

and then we are outta here. Not last, but not

least, but also not best. Another number one

brought to us by IDW is the Spider King number.

one in talking about genre mashups. This is another

genre mashup where you have Vikings fighting

aliens. Why not, right? I mean, we've had cowboys

and aliens. Why not Vikings and aliens? And this

is a book, though, I think that was a graphic

novel series first, and now it's being released

into serials, which explains why it's a much

thicker book. It's like around 40 pages rather

than the normal 22 or 32. And I don't know if

that's a reason why this first issue pacing wise

just felt off at times centers on this one Viking

who sees his dad get killed and then he has to

try to pick up that mantle and what we've seen

is that he's kind of failed his army is not as

strong his land is being taken over by the rival

Vikings and do you have this major Viking Conquest

going on with these two these two factions and

that's been the that was a bulk of the issue

for the most part and By the time we got to the

end. It felt like almost like an afterthought

I thought there were just perfect points in which

that alien looming fat would have would show

itself but it just continued on with with the

Viking story and like I said the pacing itself

felt odd where it and where it ended where certain

events occurred it just felt like certain moments

were went on beyond their means, and by the end

of it, I was just a little bit lost. The art

style is really cartoonish, which makes the violence,

or the blood and gore, you won't be as taken

aback with it. But I do feel sometimes that the

art is all over the place. It is very busy at

times, overly busy, and to the point where it's

hard to really fully comprehend everything that's

here. At the end of the day, it is Vikings fighting

aliens, and I like that idea. The alien design

and alien creatures were... I think, you know,

that can make or break your alien story, what

your aliens look like, and these were okay. We'll

see how it goes from here. But, you know, it's

fun. The actual character designs work, and like

I said, I do like the cartoonish nature of it.

Just, I hope that. panelize or being able to

put enough on the page that the story can be

told and not be overly cluttered for the most

part. But yeah, it's by IDW. And like I said,

this was a over original graphic novel, I believe

first. And with that, you know, you're just really

trying to find an artificial cutting off point

and put it within within the series. So that

could be why it doesn't flow as well. It's you

know, it's trying to take a movie that's already

been made and then like sequelize it. That's

kind of hard. you're not gonna have a legitimate

cutting -off point or have a place that really

feels like you're going through that traditional

structure of a comic or a movie, and that somewhat

feels like that's happening here. But again,

I would still recommend it if the concept interests

you, if you're a huge Vikings fan, or you wanna

see... some cool Viking action. Hey, have at

it. That's Spider -King number one. So, man,

it was a busy, busy week in the world of comics.

I honestly even had more to talk about, but I

just felt like I could only go so far with this

episode. So if there are a major book that you

felt like I missed, well, that's okay. I'll try

to catch up with it here and there. You can contact

me at movierevolt at geekcastradio .com. I'm

also on Twitter at movierevolt. You can go to

the episode page at geekcastradio .com as well.

Well, coming up on the docket this week, I will

be talking with Matt from simplistic reviews

on the series Howell County by Colin Bunn and

produced by Dark Horse. So we talked about Dark

Horse a little bit here today. We'll be going

into that later as well. In addition, I have

some articles out. If you wanna look at what

I ranked as the best. comic books of February.

I did a list at keycastreader .com. I did the

top 30, and I'll be doing one for March as well.

And I think we have a lot of contenders this

week that can end up being some of the best books

of March. If they don't make it, that means this

is one fantastic book month for comics, and I

would be completely okay with that. But... Thanks

for listening to this episode. I appreciate you

hearing me go on this rambling rampage each week.

If you enjoy the show, subscribe on iTunes, leave

us some reviews, share. I'm really trying to

get this podcast off the ground now that we're

a few weeks in. I've been enjoying it. I hope

you've been enjoying it as well. But from now,

remember that comics are for everyone. The key

is finding the right one. Thank you and we'll

see you next time. They've got the American Jesus

almost