Weekly Comic Roundup: Immortal Hulk, Batman, Catwoman, and More

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geek Patch Radio Network. Welcome to the

comic concierge podcast the podcast that leaves

comics are for everyone. The key is finding the

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

where I go through the week That was in comics

talk about some notable issues and give my thoughts

and opinions on them I would you want to say

and apologize for being offered longer than expected.

Unfortunately, some things came up Scheduling

wise life wise I was on vacation for a while

So it's been a while since I've had a weekly

recommend podcast and took a little bit of a

break there But hopefully we'll be back in full

force moving forward Luckily this is a week to

come back as there's tons to talk about, a lot

to discuss. If this is your first time listening

to this episode, do know that I do get to some

spoilers. I do try to avoid the big surprises.

This week is gonna be really difficult to do

that, but in the show notes you will see time

stamps for each book I'll be talking about. So

if you wanna skip spoilers, you'll be able to

do that by checking those. Do know I also start

with... each week my recommendation of the week

and my recommendation the week isn't necessarily

what i think is the best book of the week but

what i think is one of the best starting points

for that week because you know if i recommend

a great book but it's halfway through the arc

may not be a great spot to start reading it uh

it's an idea if you're walking into a comic book

store want to read something whether you've been

reading for years reading for the first time

what would be that book that came out this week

and for me it was immortal hulk number two by

alley ewing and joe bennett And I really enjoyed

the first issue of Immortal Hulk, the approach

that Al Ewing is taking with this, this more

horror -esque atmosphere type of style with the

character of the Incredible Hulk. We saw in the

No Surrender series Hulk come back from the dead,

and we got a little glimpse into how he'd be

approaching the character, but this is really

diving deeper into it. The first issue was good,

I think a good... Did a good job of setting the

stage, but I think what I really appreciate about

this series. It's as if someone Took the bill

bigsby series in the you know in the 60s and

decided let's have that episodic nature Of telling

the story with each week. We tell something new

Each week is you know a story that is not necessarily

connected to what came before specifically But

this approach like I said, it's more of a horror

ass Approach to it. So with this Bruce Banner

finds himself in another small town where mysterious

deaths appear to be happening. Begins to investigate

it and he senses danger and leads them to the

discovery of what's really been happening and

I love the theme within this and what we see

is this idea of the fear of death the fear of

mortality which makes a lot of sense considering

this book is called the immortal Hulk and a character

basically fearing death not only for himself

for his loved ones doing everything he possibly

can to avoid it, but ironically Quickly learning

that there are fates much worse than death and

having to deal with that and I just make I think

it's really cool idea and It's really appropriate

for a character like the Hulk to see that because

Hulk is all always You know Bruce Banner is that?

Character that's always been Dealing with this

curse of being the Hulk dealing with the weight

of it in a way and how he in for him, you know

He's always been looking for escape himself,

but like having this almost he's almost like

a vengeful s character in a way I was more gorse

writer or the Punisher finding these individuals

who've done some horror horrific things and The

Hulk then comes out to enact that punishment

seek vengeance, even if it's not for himself

and what? Also kind of odd with this is we're

two issues into this series already, and I don't

think we've seen on the page the Hulk throw a

punch. There's been no smashing whatsoever. The

biggest action piece is where we see the Hulk

dish out damage. We see the after effects, but

the actual damage itself, it's been done off

the page. Now, for many people that want their

classic, you know, punch them in the face Hulk

smash type of character. You may not really like

this, you might find it dull or uninteresting,

but if you want a different approach to it, if

you want to see... Hulk is one of those characters

that seems every time you have a new person take

on the character, they all have their different

approaches to how they want to take it. You know,

especially in the 90s, we had Joe Fix -It type

of Hulk, we have Great Hulk, we have Smart Hulk,

Dumb Hulk, and we've had the same type of Hulk

outside of the fact we had, you know, on Desus

Cho as Hulk for a while, but Bruce Bader has

been relatively the same type of... for some

time, so it makes a lot of sense to take that

and, okay, let's try to, again, re -event him

for a new generation. Considering he was dead,

we learned a little bit more why he gave Hawkeye

that arrow and why he thought, like, he basically

at one point would need to be killed, and that's

still permeating in the background, but if you've

never read Secret Empire, don't know that story,

if you're not super familiar with the Hulk, this

does work as, I think, a good lead -in issue.

Everything you need to know for the most part

is... self -contained within this book. It's

really been welcoming to new readers and looking

at all the fresh start books that have come out

over the last two months or so. A lot of them

have changed writers, creative teams, and things

of that nature. There have been different approaches,

but of any of them, of the one I think is probably

the biggest fresh start, quote unquote, is easily...

The immortal hulk it's refreshing in the sense

of it does feel like something new even though

this approach has been done before But at the

same time it also is really exciting to read

and I think ultimately it's you know still only

two issues in but All the titles of when I would

probably recommend the most I think it's the

height highest quality as of so far But there

have been a number of other ones I've enjoyed

a lot as well but there's something different

about this compared to Most of the other superhero

books and most of the other Marvel books that

makes it really stand out and part of that too

is the art of Joe Bennett who you know has done

some good work in his work in his career, but

I don't know if it's just the inspiration of

this title just finding the right medium or the

right theme for his work but he seems he's really

standing out to me and if he was doing work at

this level his entire career he probably would

be a more notable name he really designs the

Hulk well and gives him that monster like feel

I think that's really it starts and begins with

the way he approaches the character. And it's

interesting because this is a Hulk that was verbose

when it comes to his dialogue. He's talking a

lot and it's strange to see a Hulk talk like

that. It's also very hard to draw because you

have to make it seem like he's emoting in a way

that he has that viciousness in his nature. And

he gets that across the page. And there's a lot

of great examples of just that haunting nature

of that whole showcasing it in the windows, the

reflection, some key elements you always would

expect with the whole comic. But he's really

establishing that atmosphere extremely well.

And kudos to this team working out. I know when

it comes to Marvel books, We don't tend to see

an artist on it for you know for issues at the

most and I one thing I do wonder is if new orders

comes in will this maintain itself is his work

a big part of why it works now because you know

approaching a book like this having that type

of feel to it I don't think you can just put

any. Artists on this and it will work as effectively

like right now. We have Ed McGinnis on the Avengers

I could not imagine his style working with this

type of Hulk story, even though and McGinnis

has done plenty of Hulk books before Just the

cartoony nature wouldn't work. I like cartoony

style, but doesn't necessarily work fit every

story So I hope that Marvel is keeping that in

mind as they're choosing artists for this and

I don't know if this is a book that will go on

for 12 issues, 24 issues, what have you, but

I'm really liking it. Highly, highly advise picking

it up. Like I said, even if you're not a huge

gigantic Hulk fan, I think this might actually

be a good one to pick up because I could see

many Hulk purists not enjoying it because they're

getting a very different approach to a character

and not getting a lot of the things that you

would expect with a character that is stronger

than everyone and angry as... could be not a

lot of punching which is kind of odd but welcoming

for a Hulk series so I like to start each week

with the number of books that almost mean recommendation

of the week and you know Immortal Hulk was number

one but another book that came relatively close

to nabbing that title was The Quantum Age number

one by Jeff Lemire and art by Wilford Torres

and this is another spin -off book of the world

of Black Hammer and I've been liking pretty much

all things connected to Black Hammer to the main

series, to Sherlock Frankenstein, to the Dr.

Star series that I thought was on par with that

of Black Hammer, to now the Quantum Age number

one. I will say, I think of all of the things

that have come out for Black Hammer, this is

probably, I would rank this near the bottom of

it, but the bottom is still quite good, still

better than most books. And what this is, is

telling a story about the future world of Black

Hammer taking place. thousand years or so into

the future with characters that are indirectly

connected with some of the Black Hammer characters,

and I hear a lot of people connect this to something

like the Legion of Superheroes for DC, and as

someone who's not read a lot of Legion of Superhero

books, I've experienced them here and there,

mostly with things like the cartoon series and

stuff like that, so I can't speak of how well

it connects to something of that nature, but

I can definitely see where that approach is coming

from, and I like where this is going. We see

a future where some Things have happened where

the earth is in a big brother like situation

where there are a lot of soldiers on the streets

a lot of control over who can be who begins with

a new team of heroes that is dealing with a threat

and suddenly things go haywire as you would expect

for the work world of black and that's what I

really like about Jeff Lemire's take on. These

characters is as if as if you give it gave him

a lot of classic characters a lot of notable

characters But gave him the freedom to do pretty

much whatever he would want to do with them And

I think that's the case here some horrific things

happen to some characters very quickly dealing

with the Martians and Dealing with kind of the

aftermath of a major battle that took place and

what that means and our heroes are are in a disarray

disarray the quantum plague that was the heroes

of their day no longer are and we're seeing a

Character pop up that tried to bring them back

together for his own reasons. So if you've not

read any of the black camera stuff Any of the

spin -off series in the main series? Could you

pick this up and enjoy it and understand everything?

I think so. I do think you'd get a little thing

a little extra special for you if you have read

that and like I said, I don't think it's necessarily

at this point up to the par of the other books

like doctor star to me had a very huge emotional

hook especially with the first issue this doesn't

necessarily have that it's kind of fun and interesting

but it's a little bit more surface level at least

so far with its approach compared to the other

series so it's probably more like Sherlock Frankenstein

than it is like Dr. Starr but it still has time

to develop and change and add more to it don't

know how many pages this is or how many issues

this is expected to go. Most of the spin -offs

have gone around five issues or so, so I would

assume that is the case as well. I'm just simply

amazed by the fact that Jeff the American to

write as many books as he does. The art from

Wilfred Torres is pretty strong as well. Different,

very different aesthetic than any of the other

books, and that's kind of interesting about the

Black Hammer universe is that even though it's

a self -contained universe, unlike something

like Astro City, they're the... art style does

very very very much like even within the book

itself like in the normal Black Hammer universe

the when they're showing the town they're stuck

in compared to the Black Hammer universe they

came from the style changes very rapidly and

this is kind of somewhere in between uh Taurus

has a very distinct line uh with his work Which

is different. It's a little bit, you know more

stylized than the other Black Hammer books which

have more true -to -life type of type of drawing

But which may be why it's a little bit more surface

level. We'll see but again I would recommend

it and good coloring by Dave Stewart not as overly

dark as You would expect with his work, but still

another recommend for me Another book that was

almost recommendation of the week for me was

Lowlife's number one, which is a book I didn't,

I went into not expecting that much from, honestly

because the cover didn't really catch my eye

that much. Obviously that classic saying, you

know, don't judge a book by its cover, but with

comics it's hard not to. And partially because

the cover has a certain aesthetic to it that

it didn't necessarily Convey the type of story

that we ended up getting partially because when

I quickly event looked at the cover I did it

looks almost like and we see this woman with

a shirt open the way she's posed but if you pay

close enough attention you see others actually

blood there and and as we get into this book

we find out it's a story about a cop who is dealing

with the fact that his wife was assaulted and

Unfortunately, because of certain things, the

person that assaulted her sexually has gotten

free and he's on the street. And it begins with

actually a flash forward where we see him end

up and we take a step back, get an understanding

of where we're going. And then we see that clearly,

but some bad things have happened to push him

over the edge. And we're going to basically watch

that journey of him going down. This destructive

path. I'm trying to basically seek revenge for

his wife But of course as often as the case with

revenge not necessarily go the way it expected

So this is not like rewriting the book it on

storytelling, but I thought it was handled quite

well I think again what really surprised me was

the Book ended up being a lot more street level

a lot more human drama than I was expecting,

especially for IDW, which would do a variety

of really good books, but this feels much more

like an image title than it does an IDW title,

and in a way that helps it stand out a little

bit more. There's been some crime stories when

it comes to IDW, but there's no supernatural

element to this. I don't think it's based upon

any type of property, so it's not the type of

book that I would say, you know, expect. IDW

to put out. I'm glad that they are showing that

they can be more versatile but also if you're

if you're kind of putting it aside or dismissing

it because it you Don't like IDW's typical stuff

or you just stick with their license property

Maybe give it a shot if you like the noir type

of story. It's not super atmospheric. And again,

it's dealing with type of story we Perhaps seen

before but you know, it could always go in a

different direction that you're not expecting

and it was at least well executed I will say

so I definitely would recommend picking that

up in addition. The art was good wasn't Not to

me the selling point But if you like that recipe

of the revenge gone wrong you I think this is

a potential good example of that You know, it's

the first issue it got my intention and i'll

be reading it They're trying to read it continuously

to see if it can maintain that Alright, I've

been holding off talking about it, but eventually

had to get there and that's Batman number 50

Probably the one of the most talked about books

of the year. I did do a YouTube video on this

as well so if you want to check that out go to

the Keycast YouTube page and Often much of the

discussion about Batman 50 has been everything

surrounding it You know the the spoiler spoilers

of a New York Times article the hubbub and insanity

that that caused but and also people vehemently

upset about the outcome and again, I tried to

avoid spoilers when it comes to these reviews,

but in this case, I think it's a impossible because

Saying there was a spoiler kind of allows you

to know that something happens. That's unexpected

But at the same time, it's you know in a way

to have a coherent discussion about this book

specifically I will spoil it. So if you've not

read Batman 50 or don't care about it being spoiled

Do be do note that I'm gonna let you know that

Catwoman decided not to show up for a wedding

because you know She does what she wants to do.

She's a free woman, but now it's I Ended up liking

Batman number 50 I know there's a lot of people

who disliked it for a variety of different reasons

and I think there are some valid criticisms in

the sense of That you know it the pro it's a

pro sex style where we get a number of pen ups

and two letters being written one from cat one

by Catwoman one by batman and their connection

to one another um, and all centered on this metaphor

of the eyes and what it means and perhaps it's

heavy -handed and perhaps The two letters don't

necessarily feel like they're coming from two

different people Certainly you can see that the

writer especially they would say, you know The

writers voice is prevalent throughout both of

them Tom King's voice is there But what I like

there's what I liked about this I think outshines

that and and I seem to be I don't know I feel

like I'm taking a different perspective when

it comes to the outcome of this and malice where

yeah a lot of people are focusing on the fact

that Catwoman did not show up because She's afraid

if she does and she marries Batman That means

Batman will be happy and Bruce Wayne can't be

happy for Batman to coexist And I took much of

this in evidence of this book saying that Batman's

interaction, the way he's speaking to Catwoman,

that that's actually not in fact the case. That

yes, Catwoman's justification might be right.

Her reasoning for doing what she's doing is for

a place of mercy in a way. But she made the wrong

choice for the right reason. And we're seeing

evidence that Batman, in fact, Can be happy and

it may maybe need to be happy in order to do

what he's doing or he's going to lead to an eventual

path of self -destruction You know the idea that

the idea of being Batman is his suicide and will

eventually kill him and There's a line for example

where he's speaking with Alfred and he asked

if he could be happy now for it indicates You

know based upon everything he's doing everything

he has to do Doesn't have to be and you know,

there's a great interaction between him and Alfred

where he asked Alfred to be his best man And

I think what we're seeing is a Batman coming

to realization that he can have both that he

can Balance that life in a way he has like he's

had family connections. He has had an element

of happiness Yes, the you know his the death

of his family has been there that drive but even

with you know Alfred by his side. He's had a

father figure. He's had more than most Even though

his parents have been killed in front of him

not just because of his you know money connection,

but he's had the bat family Alfred where many

people haven't had that and I took a lot of the

The indication a lot of the what batman was saying

to catwoman as him coming to that realization

that he you know He was hiding much of this from

himself. He was he's taking the character Coming

to assumptions about who batman is and what batman

needs to be and maybe that's not the case and

perhaps having someone by his side can make him

into some someone stronger. And I think a lot

of that, like I said, was indicated in that line

about how he has to be happy in order to maintain

this, because eventually it would kill him and

it would be his suicide because he can only go

that path for so long. And then looking back

at the Batman annual where we got a type of future

where They do end up together and he is able

to be that hero. So Tom King has indicated that

he has, you know, got a hundred story run. And

I think a lot of people are focusing on the fact

of what Catwoman's decision, the reasons for

it. And I think that makes sense. And, you know,

of course she's the person that decided to leave.

But at the same time, I find that really, I find

that fascinating, that idea, at least what I'm

taking from it, that, you know, we're. Thinking

of something like you know classic Romeo Julie

Juliet where you have two characters who make

a decision You know basically to base upon the

lack of knowledge that they have there's a thinking

that they're killing themselves because They

won't be there with the other person, but not

having the full knowledge of no. He's actually

not dead, but now because of that vicious cycle

of them ended up not being together. And, you

know, there's a line where Batman and Catwoman

both indicate that they didn't finish their letters

and perhaps, you know, just showcasing the lack

of communication and how that can be your detriment.

How, you know, if they were able to finish those

letters and kind of go that extra step, maybe

they wouldn't end up in different rooftops on

that night. I will say the one thing that has

me concerned was the last panel, the last page.

Of us finding out that perhaps much of this was

orchestrated by bane. I I think that really undercuts

pretty much everything if that's the case because

You know, it it's been a very character centric

journey that i've enjoyed in this big piece of

what i've liked about this run And if much of

it was not a self journey of self -discovery

but one of kind of forceful You know manipulation

I think that hurts a lot of what the book was

getting at now We may not be seeing what we think

we're seeing it may not Was this just a case

of Bane taking advantage of a situation that

was in front of him? Was that perhaps an illusion

of some sort because we're seeing some things

that are rather on like Joker working with anyone

I think that was the Batman from Flashpoint also

the booster gold thing So it I don't know that

that is the one thing more so than Catwoman's

decision, which I you know eventually I think

her saying no is still, I hear people saying

it's a lead up to nothing, nothing happened.

Saying no is to me more dramatic and more, you

know, tragedy breeds better comedy or beats better

drama than that of complacency. But the, just

that large page is the thing that has me the

most concerned, but I'm waiting to see if that's,

I have a feeling that there are. There are things

being manipulated there at least that's my hope

because I don't want to find out that Noah's

actually Bane who's the one that drove Batman

to try to marry someone and then be it that seems

a little bit too It's like the trope of like

they were dead the entire time of the trope of

like oh they were uh, it was all a dream like

that is like It can be hokey. So I hope that's

not the case. But outside of that, I thought

like besides my things that I thought weren't

as effective. Michael Jannon, the art, I liked

his art, but perhaps he maybe wasn't the best

choice for all the different sequences. I think

someone with more expression could have perhaps

done a better job of conveying some of the key

moments, but outside of that, I thought it was

a cavalcade of pretty much anyone who's ever

been on Batman, which was an approach I wasn't

expecting. Maybe that's kind of why. I tend to...

Gravitate towards people taking chances with

things and even if doesn't fully work. I appreciate

people trying to work with a medium and and Experiment

and even even a failed experiment to me is more

enjoyable to read than just something that is

kind of run -of -the -mill Your typical story,

but I'd be curious to know other people's take

because I know there's people who swear off reading

Batman ever again It reminds me similar of what

happened with Spider -man with one new day a

lot of reaction, but I think one thing that people

are missing out the fact is People actually cared

about the results of a wedding in a comic book

story, which is usually never the case usually

when a wedding happens, no one really cares all

that much but Perhaps it was all the buildup.

Perhaps it was just the story that was being

told but people wanted to see this happen and

That to me is a sign of a good story. If you're

wanting to see an actual marriage, even if you

know this is fictional, it's impacting you in

that way. But who knows? I know there's many

people that feel very differently, which they

are certainly free to do. Also coming out this

week on the heels of Batman 50 was Catwoman number

one Which is written and drawn by Joel Jones

and I was super excited for this because I've

enjoyed Joel Jones her work that she's been able

to do with Batman and Especially her work on

lady killer and I have talked and talked about

that series previously on this podcast with Jason

Michael You can check that out. It was a really

fun discussion that we went in depth about that

series and her work there and now seeing her

Work within a DC main title. It's kind of crazy

exciting to see that turnover I do think with

Catwoman number one is a seem like she's trying

to certainly fit her style into a character That's

on her own which maybe takes a little bit of

time and I thought this was a good first issue

Maybe not great It's ended better than it started.

It was a little front -loaded perhaps too much

and the I thought the first page was a good opener.

It kind of really catched the attention as we

see Catwoman, or who we assume is Catwoman, shooting

a cop using a gun. It's like, okay, well, clearly

Catwoman has changed very drastically within

the last time we've seen her. It seems a little

out of character, but then we learn to see, you

know, what exactly is happening there. I think,

you know, it actually had a really great 60s

aesthetic. You can see Selena Kyle in this casino

like Dan very James Bond ask and in the background

we get the introduction introduction into who

will eventually be the new villain for this series

and great introduction a great panel where we

see this woman who is very you know looks like

a politician's wife all done up drastically turned

into something that is not that joelle jones

mentioned that she has seen pretty much every

villain when it comes to comics tends to be overly

sexualized great looking and wanted to create

a character that was not that which is exactly

what she did, because once you take off, something

about not having a nose just really brings that

to the next dimension when it comes to just being

grotesque. And we do see a little fallout regarding

the events of Batman 50, not a lot. little bit

that was there I thought was rather effective

gives us a little understanding of how Alfred

and Batman are taking what happened along with

just the the hold it still has on Selena and

just where she is in life and how you know it's

the emotional reaction and realization a lot

was said without without much words on the page

which what you would expect with someone like

a Joel Jones who can write and draw her own stuff.

And that's the only thing I worry about is, you

know, can she maintain a pace of a major book

like this? Hopefully she was given a lot of time.

It probably means we won't see her in the pages

of Batman all that much, which is kind of sad

because I did like a lot of the issues that she

did. But her getting her own series is, I think,

really great because it certainly... And she

certainly has earned it, especially being able

to write and draw, which is a rarity. I can't

really think of any other curtain book right

now in the big two where we have the same writer

and the person writing and drawing it is the

same. So that's a feat within itself. So even

if I think you hated Batman 50, maybe give Catwoman

number one a chance. It's certainly its own thing,

which was one of my concerns, which it would

be just Catwoman dealing with. whatever the ramifications

of her marrying Batman was or not marrying Batman.

But that doesn't seem to be the case. It's certainly

there in pieces, but the major focus is this

other issue that's going on. Perhaps they will

deal with it more moving forward than or the

pages of Batman. Also coming out from DC this

week was Man of Steel number 6, the end of this

series from Brian Michael Bendis's introduction

into the character of Superman as we gear up

for Superman number 1 in Action Comics 1001 to

come out shortly and I have to say this ended

better than it started. I liked issue one, but

it really felt like it became this elongated

mystery the more and more it went on. And finally,

with issue six, where we get answers to the question

that's been plaguing this book from issue one,

it feels like things are finally coming together.

It felt like at the end of this book, it could

have been three issues would have sufficed to

tell this story. I don't think it needed six.

And I do like some of the answers that we get.

Overall, what I really like about Bendis' approach

with Superman is that I do like his voice for

the character. This is very much a thinking man.

Superman, I like how he's had to, even in the

pages of this book, Bendis points out that, you

know, he's put him in situations where he can't

punch his way out of, and I did love that little

remark on this issue. As, you know, it was something

I was thinking, it is very cliche to say, and

that is kind of a Bendis S - element of this

of this issue which is something that became

more and more apparent as the series went on

where it didn't feel like Venice to begin with

but by the end and it felt like his voice was

coming more and more prevalent. I do say I care

less about this new villain and what he may or

may not have connection to regarding Krypton

and all that history. I still don't care a great

deal. I don't love the idea that Jonathan and

Lois will be gone from this book. I'm interested

to see how it does impact Superman and Clark

Kent. I hope it's not just something that is

just forgotten about and Just put to the side

and we just deal with Superman Basically his

new status quo, but without having to actually

get rid of the characters I'm gonna miss that

I believe because I really enjoyed that element

of Superman having being a father having him

interact with Jonathan And I don't love the idea

of Kal -El existing that wasn't Bendis is doing

in the normal DC universe So any interaction

with him? I just was hoping he was a character

people Go away people would forget exist but

still I In I do like the the way that penises

writes a supergirl as well. So I don't know if

she will play a role in action comics Maybe who

knows but at the end of this am I more excited?

Going into the penises Ron and Superman than

I was before this started. Yes, mainly because

I did not love his Issue or his story in Action

Comics 1000. So I guess that way it's a success

I know for many that may not be the case this

may have detracted from their excitement up and

is taking over this book but for me I at least

hoping with the issues coming up being more focused

and hopefully not just having this mystery that

is unnecessary it loggated with a panel each

issue coming up it will be better and hopefully

he'll build on some of the benefits and strengths

of this run and become able to bring this all

together by the end of it. I am hoping that it

doesn't harpen too much on this new character

and he's forgotten about, but who knows? It's

a good chance he'll be popping up once again

in not too far future. Also coming out this week

from the world of Marvel was Captain America

number one. Ta -Nehisi Koch is beginning his

run in this character with art by Linus Francis

Yu and I enjoyed this issue for the most part.

I was surprised by how much of this was still

dealing with the aftermath. of Hydra taking over

the United States in Secret Empire. We see a

world that's very splintered, a world that still

doesn't fully trust Captain America, him fighting

against it, him himself feeling disillusioned

in a way, because not only has Hydra taken over,

or not only did they only take over the United

States by force, but they in a way won over the

hearts and minds. So is there something actually

deeper wrong with the country he loves? Causing

that and causing that problem at the same time.

We were seeing Celine who I think is a mutant

from the Hellfire Club and her interactions actually

in Russia of all places and what I like about

this is certainly dealing with the political

climate up today Certainly some allegorical implications

that can be made. However, it's not direct and

it also deals with I think Some of the ways we

dealt with World War two in its aftermath forgiving

a lot of Nazi scientists of their wrongdoing

to betterment of our own and We see people like

Baron von Strucker for example where his sins

have been forgiven because he helped bring down

Hydra even some other element characters as well

where it seems like you know a lot of On the

borderline, villains of Captain America's past

are now in positions of power. So that could

be a cool dynamic moving forward. Tony Sikocz

has worked a lot at becoming a better comic book

writer and it has shown on this. His pacing is

better. He's trusting his artists more. Lin's

French issue is a good choice for an artist.

He has a good stoic aspect to his writing. The

only confusion I had for it was this. had a lot

of these characters of Nitro or Nuke I should

say and at first I thought it was the same character

on the page just represented in a few areas to

show motion but then I realized oh no there's

a bunch of these so there was some confusion

at the beginning but that was I think more so

myself than the execution of the art and he Is

an artist I haven't seen a lot of recently. So

it's kind of good to see him here I do like the

way that he drives cap. I love that caps in his

classic uniform again and this also had a great

sequence that were just a conversation between

steve rogers and Sharon carter and use art is

not usually very full of expression, but he was

able to I think nail that conversation In those

pages pretty well, uh, and their dynamic has

been you know, it's kind of interesting now that

they're built both dealing with uh the fallout

of some horrific things that happened to them,

where even things like the Remender Runner still

permeating throughout this Captain America. And

there's a lot of elements from past Captain America

runs that are showing up here and there, even

from Edward Baker's run. So Coach is certainly

a student of the game when it comes to comics.

He knows his comic history sometimes too much.

especially showed in Black Panther that there

was just too much of, I think, things that happened

in the past that were hard to read for a new

reader, but in this it's a little more new reader

friendly and if you've not read all those other

Captain America runs, you should be fine. It

is tied a lot into Secret Empire, but if you

don't know the details to that, I think you'll

be okay as well. Scottie Young is continuing

his run on Deadpool with Deadpool number two.

I wasn't in love with the first issue of Deadpool

that he put out. I was anticipating it a great

deal. Maybe my anticipation got the better of

me. The first issue seemed a little messy. The

design of it, it was put up with like three separate

stories that were somewhat connected and it was

a little bit, it was almost being too cute and

it ended up being undercutting itself I felt

like by the end of it. This is much more straightforward

and I feel like Scottie Young is... Developing

a cool little world for Deadpool. We see he's

working in this mall and it opens up with his

interaction with I'm guessing his friends from

the mall Big diatribe against what is kind of

ready player one, but not officially ready player

one but also ends up being a joke against Deadpool

himself and much of this issue is just the Avengers

trying to get Deadpool's help because this crazy

celestial has come to earth. No, not the ones

from Avengers But a different one and he has

some weapon and he got way back when That is

the only thing that can take it out. So it's

cool seeing Deadpool the wacky crazy Deadpool

that you know, we haven't gotten in a while because

with Jerry Dugan's run, it was a little bit more

low -key, even for Deadpool's sake, but this

is the insane Deadpool that, like, you can just

tell that, you know, the Avengers have no desire

to be dealing with him at all, and just having

to interact with him in any form is just annoying.

So that was a lot of fun, and also seems like

there's just something in the water at Marvel

where... They're just going for it with insanity

You see that a lot with Donnie Cage stuff and

we're seeing that with this man when you have

a celestial like being that comes to earth and

like a Harley and then land and is legitimately

like puking out different things like it's just

green vomit coming from I'm like, this is just

this is insanity This isn't a Deadpool book that

you know, usually Deadpool is more street level

crazy wacky things but here we're dealing with

like a little god that barfs so a little juvenile

but if you're going to do juvenile it makes sense

to do it in a deadpool comic so i think true

like big deadpool fans will like this if you

you know if you like deadpool movie i think you'll

like this if you enjoyed the you know the more

well -rounded take that jerry duggan had may

not because it's a little bit more classic uh

quippy Deadpool the sarcastic, you know breaking

the fourth wall type of situation. So I find

it fun at least it's an enjoyable It's a good

palate cleanser for dealing with some of the

more serious books It's a good thing to kind

of just read and when you want a few jokes here

and there Speaking of just wanting a few jokes

here and there, that comes in with Cosmic Ghostwriter

number one. I was really anticipating this book.

This is coming from the pages of Thanos Wins,

Donny Cates' work on that. He's writing this

again with an artist, Dylan Burnett, who's an

artist I'm not super familiar with and I really

don't know anything he did before this, which

is surprising because he came on rather strong

in this issue right away. And I gotta give Donny

Cates credit, like he... Can write visually really

well. He trusts his artists and he's been bringing

on interesting artists. You know, we have Jeff

Shaw Doing Thanos run and now Dylan Burnett doing

this and the first few pages is just a quick

recap of everything that came up to that point

and it was done Well was effective. It was great

to look at and then we're kind of in the heat

of battle where we see the aftermath of the classic

gross writer who's now dead and in Valhalla because

he was killed by Thor's hammer so I guess being

a warrior Odin you know he goes into why he brought

the Punisher there however Frank Castle is not

content for a variety of reasons he likes you

know because some of the Vikings you know are

not great people and when you have the Punisher

around people that are not great people and have

done some more reprehensible things so he'll

Spare no expense and go straight after them.

I'm also though I think more meaningful like

his family's not there and for him the afterlife

For it to be truly heaven he would need his family

So it makes a deal with Odin who sends them to

any place he wants at any time He does that but

with that though, he sends them as cosmic ghostwriter

and I do like how we see how coats Differentiates

how he writes ghostwriter in Frank Castle Cosmic

ghost writers a little bit more crazy a little

bit more manic He doesn't have all those things

together And because of that maybe makes choices

that ends up making things more difficult than

they need to be this was a little bit, you know,

it was very much a setup issue. This is only

a five issue mini, so I think it's gonna be a

fun when and done type of thing. I don't think

Cosmic Ghostwriter would have his own ongoing.

Who knows? We've had worse characters with their

own going, so maybe that can happen, but again,

it's similar to Deadpool where it's a fun, enjoyable

read. Not much here beyond just what's on the

page, you know, and unlike in Thanos, which I

thought got into deeper themes, We can do that

with a character like the Mad Titan. He gives

a lot more to unpack. Where with Punisher and

Cosmic Ghost, where typically what they are is

what they are. And there's not much underneath

that. But maybe there will be as this continues

and moves on. But it's fun and just adorable.

It's crazy. Again, it's Marvel going out and

just doing crazy epic big things. It may not

be everyone's cup of tea, but if you like people

that just like, you know what, I'm going to have

someone punch a baby and that'd be okay. You

have a comic you can now read and that happened.

So kudos from for Kate's for somehow getting

that approved I guess when you don't really have

the comic book authority anymore. You can get

away with things like that Also coming from Marvel

we had Doctor Strange number three and I liked

the first two issues of this run I didn't love

it. I get every felt like everything I liked

there was something that I kind of bugged me.

I still weren't not a huge fan of the idea of

Dr. Strange going on a journey to reclaim his

magic because he just recently lost it. But part

of me thinks that, you know, where he lost magic

before because of this outside force that took

it away from him, I feel like there's something

here that is being hinted at where he lost his

magic for more of an internal reason. There's

a lot of use of this omniscient narrator speaking

a lot of the past. Strange is talking a lot about

regret and I don't know if it's dealing with

the past Series in his what he did with Zelma

or more to the more if there's more to the store

We don't know but I feel like you know with a

lot of callbacks of him being a doctor with him

still dealing with the fact that he can't drive

because of That is the thing that took his power

of being a doctor away from him I wonder if there's

just something there This issue feels like it's

actually gonna get into what more the series

is gonna be like the space adventure with this

new friend you found space alien friend so you

go to different planets the planets searching

for artifacts so and when you have creatures

like your characters like The Super Scroll show

up. I'm all for it. I do I do I did fight Feel

like the writing of Super Scroll. He was a little

bit too one -note I've appreciated what they

did with him with like the Annihilation run where

Super Scroll felt a little bit more complete

as a character This is more, you know 60s crazy,

you know scroll that's straightforward which

was a little bit disappointing, but It did lead

to one of the better moments of the series so

far where we see what makes Dr. Strange a unique

hero. Now, he's a hero dealing with godlike characters

where Rally's not very black and white. People

do things that he's dealing with characters that,

you know, good and evil. Those are just words,

really. go with both sides of the spectrum in

dealing with artifacts to do the same thing and

here he has to do some things that perhaps other

avengers wouldn't do that perhaps are not morally

right but necessary or maybe they're not necessary

but also like the what's that doing to him how

we can never fully Embrace someone because something

always comes up where he has to do something

questionable that they may not be aware of where

you know the idea of trust and how it's nearly

impossible for him to Gain that with an individual

for a long period of time because eventually

I'll have to do something that will you know

Provide some distance between them. So I found

that It's a good promising start. Like I said,

this is probably the best issue of it so far

i'm hoping this we get more of this and And the

aspect of him losing his magic becomes more,

you know more second tier when it comes to the

story But if you're i've been debating about

should I continue with the series should I not?

And after this I feel like i'm going to continue

with at least for the next for the end of this

first arc I do like seeing dr. Strange dealing

with cosmic like characters help more of that

happens like we deal with characters like eternity

or the living tribunal don't know if that will

happen but when you have a character like strange

in space it feels like a great opportunity to

to approach some of those characters that don't

often appear in the pages of most marvel comics

also coming from marvel we had star wars number

50 so always as a series i tend to read the first

issue or two of an arc and then after that decide

to stick with it or not stick with it i like

really jason aaron's run on it but sometimes

the arc to me can really bring it down a great

deal and if I'm not loving the story I intend

not to bother with it. I picked up issue 50 because

it seems like Star Wars is now, it's been talking,

it's been in between A New Hope and Empire and

now it's on the other side of that getting closer

to the events that happened in Empire Strikes

Back. And I gotta say it's gotta be tough to

write Star Wars books. in between two movies.

You are put in a huge bind where you're really

limited on what you can do. You know there are

certain characters that you certainly can't kill

off. They can't really change that much from

book to book. You know what's happening in between.

So you're dealing with a very limited space to

tell. Galactic level story. So anything that

is at all, you know enjoyable to read it takes

a lot of work Star Wars shifty as I said, it

seems like we're gearing in and to the events

of Empire It starts with the rebels are in a

good spot. They have resources. They are friends

It seems like they're ready employees to take

on the Empire like never before but knowing this

is Star Wars knowing what's to come things don't

go really well again, I have to say the art Salvador

Larocca, I mean I'm sure he's a great person,

but his use of facial recognition when it comes

to Star Wars is super distracting. Now it's one

thing when you do it with someone like, you know,

Mark Hamill for Luke Skywalker, I can somewhat

forgive it within that, but when you have side

characters, new characters, people in the background,

and you're utilizing actors and characters from

completely different mediums, it just feels a

little bit lazy and takes you out of the story

unnecessarily when you're looking at it's like,

That guy wasn't Game of Thrones. Why is he in

the pages of a Star Wars book? It just feels

a little unnecessary. I know, you know, it's

gonna be tough trying to keep up all these Star

Wars headlines. Maybe that's the reason why,

but I really miss Steward Eminem on Star Wars.

It brought a new life to it. When the book is

more space battles and dealing with ships and

things like that, it's not necessarily as hard

to deal with. And to me, the story here was strong

enough that I could at least go with the art.

But I do do think that Star Wars would be such

a better book if they had more consistent art

on it. And I have to say, though, this has an

amazing Darth Vader moment, which was rather

cool. I don't want to spoil it, but it shows

you just how big of a badass or how much control

Darth Vader can have as one of the greatest villains

of all time. So if you're someone who has not

been reading Star Wars and maybe gave up on it,

I think this might be a good jumping on point

like it was for me. because I think it's finally

getting into some different stories. It was kind

of treading water there for a little bit, but

now that it's gearing up towards the Empire Strikes

Back storylines, it feels like it's finally pushing

forward and getting into some new territory for

the first time in quite some time. Alright, well

moving on to the world of Dark Horse. We have

sword daughter number two I picked up the series

because it's written by Brian Wood who I'm a

fan of he's done a lot of great work He's on

other similar stories like this. This is a another

Viking story taking place in year 991 something

like Black Road I loved his word work on Briggs

land and with this its premise is that it's a

father and sons father and daughter story where

Their village was attacked by this Viking gang

and after that nearly everyone was killed but

the father and the daughter and the father was

in the comatose like state for some time and

the daughter ended up raising herself for the

most part. Now he's out of it and they're traveling

to seek revenge and I'm all for good revenge

stories especially when you have the focus of

it of a relationship between the father and the

son or a daughter. Uh, and it seemed like what

this might be, it's going to be a long journey,

of course. And here they stumble upon a village

where people have been killed and they're blamed

for it. But, uh, the father indicates he'll actually

find out who did it. And we're learning a little

bit more and more about who he is. And we see

that he ends up, you know, he doesn't want to

take life unless he necessarily has to. And he's

a little bit more pacifist than you would expect

for someone of this, of this timeframe. No, I

do like this era because, you know, it's like

civilization is still. Just on the precipice

of coming together, you know a lot of small villages

It feels like there's what like 500 people in

the entire world but With that, you know morality

is still very much a choice He could easily kill

someone and there's really no repercussions for

it. So being a good person It truly is just your

nature and you know what that means and then

how that is interaction with his daughter We

don't get a lot of that here and his daughter's

new all the communication happens through symbols

through the lettering it's an interesting trick

but I do wonder if it ends up being more of a

hindrance and They still feel very distant, and

their interaction is almost non -existent at

this point. So, for this series to remain strong,

for it to have a hook beyond just a revenge story...

There's more focus there. It's you know, it's

got to be a slow build of course because they

were separated for such a long time She's still

kind of probably recovering from that fact that

is there does dot his her father was absent basically

for you know, most of her life and she's it's

an interesting struggle because He's still trying

to protect her even though she was on her own

for such a long time It's like why suddenly now

though is taking up his role, but I've enjoyed

it. Not to me as strong as what's best stuff.

So I will continue with it, but it does seem

like it might be a story best fitted in trade

because there's not been a lot of story for these

two issues. that could change moving forward.

I don't know if the design of it's going to be

this, you know, they go to a town and they, there's

a new thing they have to deal with. If that will

be the continuous journey, I would assume it

would have to be because unless this is only

a six issue series, you know, they can't, you

know, jump right in and fight this other Viking

gang right away. So I'm guessing it's going to

be a slow burn. And if you enjoy that stuff,

I think you might enjoy this. All right. Well,

let's move on to the world of image for death

or glory. Number three, the new series by recommender

and art by Ben Gall. I've liked the series so

far, but I think this is probably my favorite

issue of the series overall. It is a very...

Exposition heavy issue the beginning of it is

just learning about glory story her parents story

where they came from the life that they live

that like this off -the -grid Adventurers type

of family. She didn't really go to school. She

learned through experience and how that all often

led to some problems and and now a great deal

difficulty is there people that don't have You

know any type of health insurance and with her

father dealing with his health rules. It gives

us like idea of okay why glory in this deep narration,

and you can cover a lot of ground in that way.

Some people might not like it because it is taking

a step back, it is slowing down a great deal,

but I think it's necessary to give us some understanding

of who Glory is to give us really invested into

her plight and her story, because at this time

we just we have a little bit of why she's doing

what she's doing, but this gives us better perspective

and especially regarding some of the other players

and how they fit into this. I do think though

that the second piece of this, as it gets into

more of the present day, I like Ben Gold's art,

but I find at times it's hard to fully comprehend

everything that's on the page. There's like a

moment where they're in this factory, meat factory,

and there's a lot of things going down, and just

the composition on the page, it's... Unclear

I think at times what exactly is happening. I

will say I mentioned when that the first issue

It was a little more straightforward than I expected

that is changing rapidly especially with this

issue as we're finding that there are more and

more notorious things going on and dealing with

body parts and selling of refugees as they're

going throughout the the country and how it's

more than just a drug story we thought at first

it was just this person looking to get drugs

and then it ended up being a trafficking situation

and then it ended up being even more than that

so the end of last issue it did seem to like

there's this gang war that was about to break

out it didn't touch upon that i'm guessing that

will be coming up soon But it's been a fun book,

it's been different, and you know, it's not to

me at this point the level of Remender's best

stuff, but it's on its way. I'm glad we got a

little bit more character background in this,

because that was the one thing I thought was

missing. And now with that, I hope some of the

more titular characters, some of the other characters,

we get them built up a little bit too, to really

expand this world. Overall though, I would recommend

this series. It's been a lot of fun, and a nice

little... Change of pace weren't released when

it comes to stylistic standpoint art wise when

it comes to remember stuff last but not least

we have Judge Dredd Under Siege number two. I

picked up the series because I'm not, you know,

I'm not a huge Judge Dredd fan. I've not read

a lot of Judge Dredd comics, so if you're a huge

Judge fan and maybe you don't like this series

for whatever reason, know that as a novice for

that world, I am enjoying it a great deal. I

picked it up because of the writer Mark Russell,

who's on Flintstones, he's on Snagglepus, and

was interested to see what he would take. away

when it comes to work like Judge Dredd more of

a straightforward type of superhero like character

and He's still bringing his type of style and

storytelling to this this issue specifically.

We don't get a lot of dread It's more of building

that of mega city one and this Patrick Swayze

block that was created how it was designed to

be kind of a mecha a place of hope and How it

was going to change and provide opportunity but

that ended up not working and how that fallout

occurred but also So a lot of social -esque commentary.

It's weird reviewing this next to Death or Glory

because both are dealing with the idea of organs

and the selling of organs, giving of organs,

and it almost felt more trans -mental -pal -pal

-ton than it did Judge Dredd. Taking the insanity

of that type of well just things would people

would have to do in order to get by and more

of the Street level normal citizen, you know,

that's not a judge that you know has to just

do what they can to make a living and links people

would go to in order to have that accomplished

so I did like that and I do like even though

we're getting that at the same time in the background,

we have this story of all these citizens just

trying to, you know, with the help of the judges

fight for their lives. So there's a lot going

on in this five issue mini series. And again,

if you're not a huge... If you are a huge Judge

Dredd fan, maybe you're not loving the fact that

it's not more straightforward, but as someone

who wants a little bit more, I've appreciated

it. If you're someone who did like Mark Russell's

work on other things and wanted to know what

it'd be like if he took over a general comic,

this is a good idea of that. I hope it's kind

of like a proving ground showing he can take

his style. take his ability to provide commentary

in a meaningful and comedic way that's smart

and engaging and placing it into your typical

comic book character. This type of story may

not work for every character. I think it works

for Judge Dredd because you're dealing with this

insanity of Mega City 1 and certainly within

Dredd, even if it is an action -based comic,

there's always been that idea behind it, I would

assume just based upon my limited experience

with it. So yeah, I would definitely recommend

this. It's only the second issue and it may not

be the best jumping on point, but it's not like

a lot of story happened the last time. So I hope

this gets some notoriety or gets some attention

because if this ends up becoming an ongoing or

it keeps up with this book, I think it could

bring in some new readers, myself included, to

the world of Mega City 1. Alright, well that

brings us to the end of this week's show, and

if you want to interact with the show, there's

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recommend reading that, and hopefully enjoying

my little discussion about it as well. And like

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Radio for a variety of other topics, other podcasts

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that is anything really, go to GeekCast Radio

and you'll find it there. But that'll be it for

this week. Tune in next week as I get into more

weekly comics. Remember that comics are for everyone.

The key is finding the right one. Thanks for

listening Hey, Montevideo, oh, oh, oh, oh. Hey,

Montevideo, yeah, yeah. Hey, Montevideo, you'll

be the end of me. Should have been in bed hours

ago, where the time goes when you're having fun.

My knees are weak. Getting light outside but

it's too early to sleep. They all go crazy when

the sun goes down. But it's a daylight anyway.