Weekly Comics Roundup: James Bond, Superman, Avengers

Hi, this is Kyle Higgins and you're listening

to the Geek Patch Radio Network. This is one

of my weekly roundup episodes where I talk about

the week that was in comics and give you my thoughts

and opinions on some of the most notable issues

that came out last week. Do know that I do get

into some slight spoilers. I will try to avoid

the biggest surprises, but if you want to know

absolutely nothing about a book before you read

it, go to the show notes and I will put a timestamp

with each book I will be talking about and I

do start each week with my recommendation of

the week and To be aware, my recommendation week

is a little bit different in the sense of this

is not necessarily what I think is the best book

of the week, but the best jumping on point. A

book that anyone can read and appreciate whether

you've been reading books every week or you've

never read a comic before. A good jumping on

point that doesn't feel redundant. This week

had a number of contenders that I was about to

put recommendation a week. I'm like after reading

certain books that I'll talk about my call that

stuff. We can be recommendation of the week that'll

be recommendation of the week. But at the end

of the day, I ended up going with James Bond

the body number five and for a number of reasons.

It's written by Alex Cot and I will pronounce

this name horribly and it's Lusa. Castle guide

as the castling guide as the actual artist and

I'll put the actual name in the show now So you

can see how it's spelled because I can barely

pronounce my own name let alone someone else's

but ultimately the reason I picked this book

is because it Encompasses what I try to get to

when it comes the recommendation of the week

What's great about this issue is that there is

a continuous story that's being told throughout

the series but it never feels that way in the

sense of It's never Relying upon the plot of

the previous issues like I can read this issue

Never reading a James Bond comic before in this

series never reading a James Bond comic book

maybe even watching a James Bond movie and You'll

get everything you need and the story of this

issue is pretty straightforward and simple. It's

legitimately just a chase sequence and this Specific

issue is focusing on James Bond lungs This is

a series I've been talking about for some time

now and the premise of this mini series is that

each Individual issue focuses in a different

part of James Bond and what makes him who he

is. There's been ones on the mind of James Bond

on the body on the heart and this now on the

lungs in the sense of he's making this this chase

across the city landscape trying to stop this

terrorist from taking this bomb out and I think

it's also great for someone who maybe never read

a comic before because it showcases that comics

Is not a static medium and in the sense of people

may not maybe not think of action sequences or

things of that nature when it comes to comics

But the showcase is how you can really make that

work how you can really make a chase sequence

work something that reminds me of is a few years

ago Chris Omni and Mark Wade had the Black Widow

series and that first issue was just gigantic

chase sequence Chris Omni is a better artist

But it got across the same premise and how you

can kind of tell a story. I will say though this

actually As a story piece, it has more to it.

It gets really into the character of James Bond,

and there is a little bit more at stake here.

And I do think Alex Koch has been really good

at utilizing the action to get into the character

of James Bond, getting into his mindset, who

he is, breaking it down in a way that... you

understand the minutiae of all the different

decisions he's making, putting you in the headspace,

which is something like a movie really can't

do per se. Movie often is really visual, and

so are comics, but the benefit of comics, which

I think is what makes them such a powerful medium,

is that they can also get you into the headspace

of characters as well in a way that a movie can't

without feeling odd or misplaced. So... I will

highly recommend picking up this issue and if

you really liked it and enjoyed it and appreciated

what it was offering, go back and read the other

issues. And each issue so far has been a different

artist for the most part. And I thought the art

here was good. Where it excelled the most was

with the actual paneling which obviously is important

when it comes to a book That's all about a chase

sequence because you need to make the pacing

feel on point It's got to feel like there's movement

from moment to moment You feel like you're understanding

the layout and have comprehension of where all

the different players are and there's a lot of

like shots from like satellite shots you would

say legitimate satellite shots at some moment,

but I think they did a good job of just showcasing

what was at stake here and everything that Bond

had to do. And I also thought the ending was

really fitting as well. It shows just the different

layers of this type of concept. Yes, this is

a gimmick, but I think when it's structured like

this, you can see you can get a lot out of it.

And the idea of why lungs are important to a

character of James Bond, it's like building the

six million dollar man, but it's... Ultimately,

he's human but just the combination of all these

things make James Bond and I usually don't love

licensed books and I'm starting to turn the corner

on them because I think there have been a number

of occasions in this past year where some writers

have taken characters and franchises that often

would get books that are just put out because

hey, here's a Name we can put things on people

love this cartoon love this movie we can make

a comic about it and doesn't necessarily have

to be that good but I feel like people that's

really changing as of late now the James Bond

series started with more analysis that was a

lot of fun and. Now I was caught who is not you

know to the level of foreign Ellis obviously

is not a legend in the business he's got a lot

of great current series out like generation gone

and days of hate. But he's I think. Taking the

idea taking the opportunity of doing a book like

bondage would probably be his highest selling

comic and It's still finding ways to be creative

or approach it in an interesting way. Now, I

talked about the recent RoboCop series that Brian

Wood is doing. I thought that was doing something

similar. Dark Horse has had a lot of great alien

series as of late and James Bond the body. I

know there's some people out there like me that

may just dismiss it because of it being a James

Bond comic or not thinking it could be to the

level of the best comics out there. And maybe

it's not a Mr. Miracle or one that's going to

go up for an Eisner, but It's still I think a

solidly told story that doesn't rely on its namesake

or the fact It's part of the franchise. You can

remove the James Bond title from this and Even

though it's all about the character of James

Bond and it's still a good comic it's a weird

like difficult balance to make there where you're

looking and getting into a character that's been

around, you know for generations and finding

a new ways to approach it but at the same time

not just trying to Rely on those same common

tropes that we know of this franchise Showing

that James Bond can be more than you know, what

we see him in the movies There can be a little

bit more of depth to him that you really made

me not get in a huge action blockbuster and some

of them you do in the best James Bond movies

like a senior Royale they're able to Make James

Bond into more than you know, a quippy playboy

and that's something that happened here and each

issue I think has been able to With it having

such specific focus expand upon the character

in that way. So again looking for a book this

this upcoming week want to get into something

the great jumping on point you don't necessarily

have to read anything previously which is the

ideal situation next issue is the very last issue

i don't know how successful this has been if

there's any chance it'll be a sequel series or

something like that but with that said it'll

probably be coming out in trade probably in a

few months so if you want to wait on that you

also have that option but uh Alex Cot is a writer

that I think is building up steam and is putting

his name out there more and more and I could

see him Being you know right now dawning cage

for example is one of the biggest names in comics

and if Alex Cot seems on the same trajectory

Keeps doing the work that he's been doing I could

see him being, you know, getting attached to

Marvel or DC if that's his desire and doing something

special. Like if he can do this with a character

of James Bond, I'd love to see what he could

do with other names, same characters, other superhero

characters. You know, I think this concept, this

gimmick, whatever you want to call it, could

work for a number of different characters. And

hopefully, you know, I don't want to pigeonhole

him into this has to be his idea, but it's effective

and I've been really loving it. And I'm actually

going to do something a little bit different

with the structure of these episodes where the

start each episode I'm going to be talking about

every issue that was in the running for my recommendations

a week before I get to the other books that came

out from different publishers and another book

that was very much. Almost my recommendation

of the week was Superman special number one written

by Patrick Leeson and Peter Jay Tomasi also had

some backup stories by Mark Russell and Ian Flynn

and that the writer the artist of the main story

was Scott Gillespie and This is basically Peter

Gleason and Peter Jay Somosie swung song to Superman,

although I felt like this is like the fifth song

song we had about the last issue of Superman.

There is that Action Comics Special, Action Comics

1000 as well, and now in Superman Special, but.

This act ties back to one of the first story

arcs in their Superman Reborn series from Superman

8 and 9, where Superman and Superboy Jonathan

go to Dinosaur Island. And why I almost recommended

this, well, going back to that issue, that issue

specifically was a tribute to Darwin Cooke. And

for me, he may be my favorite artist of all time.

That was recently, that was about the time he

passed away from lung cancer. it was this tribute

to him that you didn't realize or fully realize

was a tribute into the very end of that book

and I thought was fitting that the Superman special

Went back to that storyline and in that storyline

they left the character behind Based upon his

wishes and now they were going back to save him

And it's fitting for a few reasons, you know,

I think it's showing that you know Superman doesn't

forget and actually in this case Jonathan and

they're fulfilling their promise and that was

like one of the dangling plot threads from this

superman reborn series but also you know we around

the two -year anniversary mark where when darwin

cook did pass away so the timing of it did feel

right the reason i didn't go with it for recommendation

of the week was mostly because it was so tied

into that past storyline and also past darwin

cook work as well with justice league frontier

which i for my money is the best comic book story

superhero story i should say specify superior

story of really this this century since the 2000s

really i don't know it might it's possibly up

there of my favorite of all time it's darwin

quick's magnum opus really and if you read this

and enjoy it or i would say just read frontier

if you like things that are good new frontier

if you like things that are good But I just thought

this was, again, getting back to the Superman

Reborn stories that I love when the series first

launched. I thought near the second year it went

downhill a little bit for me. I think it got

a little too big. And even in this issue, reference

some of those when Manchester Black came back,

it just, I think, lost something. It lost the

thing that made it special. It got away from

the family element a little bit. But I think

Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Leeson put together,

throughout their time on Superman, a really special

story. You know, we're talking about rebirth

refresh. And for me, a person that gave up on

Superman for some time, reading what they put

into the character, knowing that they have a

lot of history with the character to begin with,

it's like they get what makes Superman special.

And to make Superman work for today's generation,

you don't really have to change all that much.

And this is that again. The relationship between

Jonathan and Clark Hanna, Jonathan and Superman.

It's just something about it that works. And

I hope it doesn't go away. I hope when Brian

Michael Bendis takes over this story and takes

over this title, he doesn't leave that behind

and doesn't just try to do the same old same

old with Superman because it just makes him such

more of a reliable figure. That whole family

dynamic has been really special for this book.

And I also really love the backup stories. Mark

Russell, who I had the opportunity to speak with

a few weeks ago. Talked about how he had a chance

to write some Superman stories. He had one for

action comic special and this one I think this

was actually I enjoyed this more than his other

one that was about the president's correspondent

sooner But this it was more just a simple Superman

story about him saving an old man from a building

and it tying back to Superman's Origin and his

childhood and how memories shape us I thought

it was a well told story and only a few pages

Which is quite the skill and the final story

by Ian Flynn was good as well Not to me as good

as the other ones, but really solid so I know

they've been doing all these different specials

as They're buying time for Venice to come in

and take over this book and this could have been

just a filler that Didn't give you much and maybe

it is a filler But it's a filler that was really

good and highly enjoyable and I should also mention

that the artist on my mark Russell's story was

Brian Hitch, and I love Brian Hitch's art. I

hope he gets more Superman work. So I was surprised

to see that he was in the backup story because,

you know, Brian Hitch is, I think, anyway, one

of DC's most notable artists currently. But hey,

I'm glad he's getting some work. But I would

recommend this. Again, I think overall, if you

haven't read Anything previously from Superman

I think you can understand it enough just the

premise of it and where it goes But as I indicated

some of the bits and pieces where it's coming

from do lie with beginnings of the series Another

book that was almost recommendation of the week

was bloodshot salvation number and and this issue

kind of came out of nowhere for me bloodshot

salvation has been a pretty solid series from

Jeff Lemire and We saw you know bloodshot literally

go through hell and it seemed like last issue.

He was pushed into their future But oddly enough

this book goes into the past and then is not

even showing bloodshot at all he's not even in

this it's more on the dog of bloodshot bloodhound

and his origin and where he came from and with

that we get a world war one story a world war

one comic and what's great about this is to it

ties in to you know bloodshot but. All this is

brand new, and with it happening before Bloodshot

actually occurred, you really don't need to know

anything about Bloodshot or any Valiant book.

It was very close to making my recommendation

a week because of that, because similar to James

Bond the body, you've never read a comic before

in your life and get everything you need from

this one issue, and this takes place during World

War I, as I mentioned, as the French and German

armies are at a standstill and there seems to

be no way of gaining ground on either end. Come

in the bloodhounds to help solve that problem

as they have been medically altered so they can

withstand gunshot wounds and all this. They're

basically Frankenstein the dog and how they're

used to kind of try to drive out the opposing

forces. So that was it was just really a big

World War One battle sequence that had dogs tearing

people to shreds really. It was brutal. The art

by Renato Greatis, I pronounced that wrong again,

probably, had a good look to it. He's done a

lot of work with Exo Manowar. There is a little

bit more of a digital look, especially with the

coloring that may not work for everyone, but

I thought it was effective and the story was

telling. It's not the greatest art of the day,

but I think he is one of Valiant's most consistent

artists, and I just thought this was a really

solid story that was self -contained. I'm always

for... Dog centric stories it's funny reading

this and then something like lock job which is

the opposite of one another once more kind and

cuddly and this is brutal and as pretty graphic

as you can get for the most part but if you're

someone that was like looking for a good end

to the world of valiant this is a good example

that it's not one of the most deep stories it

does have an ending I thought was fitting that

shows you just how. Insane the war of World War

one was the world the end of wars as they indicated

and just how even when you're winning you're

end up losing and just how tedious and have a

lot of the tactics they had were and Even though

people were like little legitimately just being

killed in the most grotesque in horrific ways

possible You know, we don't get a lot of movies

about World War one something like wars recently

and you know, we had Wonder Woman that took a

part in it, too But I don't know if just because

the combat in World War One was so universally

in the way it was portrayed where you don't have

aerial combat and things like that you do with

World War Two, just the variety, which is a weird

thing to say about war. But I don't know why

it is that we seem to collectively try not to

focus on World War One as much. But I love how

superhero stories can tie into the real world,

you know, with Captain America in World War Two

and now Valiant with... with some of our historical

elements, and they've done that a lot with, you

know, Britannia and even Axe of Man Award. And

I'm not sure I would title this a jumping on

point per se, because it's not like this is tying

into anything or I see the story continuing.

It's just a self -contained solo one -shot series

issue that gives you a Solid story within itself

that I don't necessarily think you'd read this

and have some other place You would go if you

really liked it to get something similar Maybe

the other bloodshot books, but considering the

main character is in it. So it's a interesting

divo -divulsion Maybe there are pieces of this

that will come back later on that's possible

Jeff I trust Jeff Lemire as a writer But I know

he's got a lot of great books out and bloodshots

one I think it gets kind of lost within it because

it's coming from valiant and doesn't necessarily

feel like a Jeff Lemire book But since he's been

working on this book since Bloodshot Reborn and

he did Bloodshot USA and he's been building this

Bloodshot for some time now. And I think it's

underrated when you look at the best current

runs going right now for a writer on a character.

I think this is up there. I don't know where

exactly, but I think he's been able to, similar

to what Alex Cotton did with James Bond, do something

new with the character of Bloodshot who could

easily be this generic action hero. Terminator

Robocop Wolverine hybrid, but he's added depth

to the character and similar to Superman giving

him a family to work with both in human and dog

form and yeah again if you want to see a War

story that involves killer dogs that are Frankenstein

like monsters You finally got a book to read.

So there's that All right, the last book that

was in the running for recommendation of the

week was a new series by Aftershock Comics, a

walk through hell number one written by Garth

Ennis and an art by Gordon Suzuka. If I was just

going to rank the most shocking or jaw dropping

openings of a book this week, this would win

that award because it only took a few pages and

my jaw was a little bit on the floor because

of what happened. I wouldn't say something came

out of nowhere, but it was certainly letting

you know right away this Book is not going to

be afraid to be dark. Not that you would not

expect that from someone like Garnet Venus You

know, he's again another legend in the industry

Some of his work is late has not been I think

all that great though I will say that he's had

some really good series like Punisher the Platoon

that just came out even liked his book last year

for more World of Tanks which was again a World

War two story but this is more of a horror book

and And also this crime story as these two partners

are trying to investigate what happened though

the one piece that Was hesitant for me and in

the sense of why I didn't make it recommendations

of the week since the new series was there were

certain aspects and political commentary social

commentary that I thought within this first issue

seemed a little bit misplaced. There are specific

page we get some commentary and some like Twitter

responses or things that happen and I I don't

think it's wrong to include elements from current

day or today politics are used. comic books as

a reflection of society today, and I don't mind

it even if it's heavy -handed I think at times

that can work something like Transmetopolitan

was a heavy -handed book, but it worked because

of Just how genius it was here though. It wasn't

as tactful. I think it may end up turning the

corner. It's clear that It's getting to something

where there's just something in the atmosphere

or something going on that is driving people

insane or driving people to do some horrific

things and looking into what exactly that might

be. People are acting out a character and it's

almost as if the personalities that people often

Utilize in their virtual lives are somehow impacting

actual life in some way There are some like specific

sequences in this that I thought were mighty

powerful as I mentioned the opening There is

another sequence with SWAT soldiers inside their

car that was really well done So there are bits

and pieces in this that I thought were handled.

Well some of the connecting tissue though. I

thought was where it Wagged a little bit. I will

be interested though in keeping this going and

seeing it where it ends up and Seeing if that

those pieces make a little bit more sense I just

felt that in between some of those highlight

moments the story drag just a little bit and

the main characters I think could use a little

bit more development moving forward but as a

concept as an execution of tone the ability to

build suspense and having moments that really

kind of shook you shake you to your core it had

that I think it has a lot of potential, of course.

Garthineus is another writer that I think has

done some amazing things and can do them on occasion

again. So if you're a fan of his and it's a horror

book that fits into the more psychological horror

area that doesn't always get as much attention

as some of the more gory and ghostly type of

books that some of which we'll get to. Actually,

it does make me think of something like Gideon

Falls a little bit, though I think Gideon Falls

is a stronger series and we'll be talking about

that later. but if you like that book like Garth

Enas his overall sense of humor that can show

up a lot is toned down here and I think it's

fitting for this story but again I really like

this there were just a few pitfalls here and

there that made it to me a little bit on the

lesser end when I was looking for new recommendations

of the week when it comes to a new series it's

an obvious go -to but I try to limit to it when

I feel like this is a new series that is 100

% worth your time or there are no Or there's

nothing about it that I'm a little bit Concerned

about so that's why I went with some of the other

series again though I think this is definitely

worth your time and worth picking up. It's not

a must read by any stretch of the imagination

I thought the art was good. It's nothing fantastic.

It's not one that it's driving the story or going

to be the seller I think obviously it's Garth

Ennis, but there were some effective sequences

like I mentioned the sequence with the Swatch

soldiers that I don't want to give away what

happened, but the how it was depicted I thought

was tasteful and even where it could have been

overly grotesque or sometimes I feel like even

Garth Enos's best stuff does get a little bit

juvenile even something like preacher at times

this felt a little bit more sophisticated and

so there's something to look forward to moving

on. Alright, well, let's take a look into the

world of Marvel and get into infinity countdown

again as a new series came out in this countdown

with Daredevil number one infinity countdown

daredevil number one and these titles are getting

longer and longer and This is really setting

the stage for what's to come. We learned in one

of the infinity books It's hard to remember there's

been a lot of them the different players that

had the different stones and this is about Turk

Everyone's favorite low -level criminal who has

suddenly found the mind stone and is now utilizing

it to try to create his own empire. And here

comes the air devil to try to stop him. And I

thought as an issue, this was OK. I felt like

this only needed to be a one shot. It's going

to be there's going to be a couple issues of

this. And as of. By the end of it, I already

felt like this was being a little bit too stretched

out. I do like the idea of getting a criminal

and giving him this all -powerful weapon, and

even though he could do so many amazing things

with it, he's still stuck and utilizing it in

a way that fits into the world he already knows.

Like he could easily use this to become President

of the United States, run the country, but he

still just wants to... Go for the gold goals.

He's already have like he wants to stay within

this world of the crime And he wants to be the

next kingpin even though like he doesn't need

to and I hope it explores that moving forward

We do learn how he came about and found this

stone. I thought that was a little bit disappointing

I don't know if there'll be more to it moving

forward, but just felt like I thought there would

be something more unique or funnier Intriguing

about the way he came about this stone, but that

didn't really occur. I do like turk as a character

You know, we've seen a lot in the daredevil TV

shows. So his dynamic with their double is kind

of fun, but this was okay I don't know if this

is something you're gonna definitely need to

read whenever the new infinity Major comic comes

out, but uh, I've enjoyed the other countdown

issues a little bit more We're getting other

things. I think Dark Hawk is getting his series

as well So I'll see how those favor and I know

when Annihilation came out a decade ago They

did this a lot to where each a lot of bunch of

different characters got their own solo series

from Silver Surfer to Super Scroll and That really

built it into the main event. I really liked

what they did with that This isn't as strong

as those so far at least this one isn't And speaking

of Daredevil, one thing I feel like I failed

to do with this podcast is I've not given enough

attention to Charles Soule's current run on Daredevil.

I've been really liking it, but for whatever

reason, when I've been making the schedule for

each of these podcasts, I just felt like I didn't

have anything specifically to say about it, so

I didn't talk about it. But I felt I should give

it its just due because it's been really good.

It's been, I think, again, underrated. Now, I

wouldn't put it on the level of Bendis' run or

Brubaker's run. but I do like what he did in

the sense of he did something that not many people

can do and he built some new characters in the

sense of we have the character at Blindspot who's

been this little sidekick for Daredevil that

I really loved his story and how that's been

developing and how he's been playing into his

own story and he's been able to really form his

own identity and how it's also a reflection of

One of the better villain characters that's been

developed in some time with Muse, who is a character

I hope we get more of from his design to his

idea of the character. It's really cool. He's

this guy who utilizes paintings, but makes it

out of blood and he's got a really cool look

to him. He looks like, you know, a street artist,

but with no face. I don't want to Google it and

see the image of it, but I really like those

two pieces of it. This run to this current run,

this Mayor Fisk run, and yeah, talking about

how I'm okay when people utilize real -life politics

into their comics, if it's done okay. And yeah,

the idea of getting a figure like William Fisk

and making a mayor, clearly, you know, there

are some applications there to what's going on

in society today. I get that. And I like the

fact that that's there, but it's never specifically

pointed out. And if anything, it was almost like

a red herring because it has really flipped the

script in the fact that the last few issues has

been focusing on the hand. And now we see that

Matt Broderick as mayor of New York City and

he's trying to deal with that being mayor and

a superhero at the same time makes me think of

something like Ex Machina but the difference

between Brian K Vaughn's Ex Machina and this

daredevil is that this daredevil is still having

his secret identity so it's kind of this how

do you find time in the day to be a superhero

when you're mayor of the biggest city in the

world or one of the biggest cities in the world

and they've touched upon that a little bit but

I'm hoping that They get into that even further

foggy nelson makes his appearance and clearly

he's gonna be a player moving forward But he's

really building something fun here with a good

cast of characters, you know, new york has always

been this Big piece of the marvel universe, you

know, it's always been where the majority of

characters are located that's utilized here as

well. So having this gigantic hand invasion and

the hand is a force that can be a little bit

too weak at times where they don't feel like

a threat here they do feel like a threat and

again it goes back into the development of the

character of blind spot and how he's really the

cause or the catalyst for much of what's going

on so again not a great jump jumping in point

for the most part but i think if you go back

to where souls series has begun or at least the

beginning of the merry fish storyline i think

you'll pretty much enjoy this if you're a daredevil

fan and uh it's much different than i think the

tv show and i appreciate that he's just trying

to replicate what's been successful on netflix

and what people have done before daredevil is

one of those characters has had a lot of legendary

runs even though he's not like an a -list character

i don't call this one of the best runs but it's

been really one of marvel's most consistent books

since soul took it over and i don't know if this

is in line for a refresh or a new writer coming

in I don't think it needs it, I think this can

continue and move forward, so I wanted to give

it some attention because I think it's one I've

failed to really talk about nearly as much as

I should. Speaking of Marvel's Refresh, Restart,

whatever they're calling it, probably the launching

title of this entire movement has been Avengers.

The first issue came out a few weeks ago, actually

the week that I missed and didn't get to talk

about it, but now I do get to talk about Avengers

number two. I did really like the first issue

of Avengers, I thought it - Did a good job of

reestablishing these team and I thought it was

a good way of getting things back to what I love

about the Avengers and seeing characters like

Tony Stark, Steve Rogers and Thor interacting.

I do find the idea of this BC Avengers intriguing

and like where it's going to go. I hope we get

more of that as well. And anytime you being in

the Celestials, I'm a happy guy. I know if some

people don't love the art of that and my Guinness,

it is very cartoony. Some may say it's a little

bit dated, maybe a little bit. Needs a little

bit more of an updated look. I don't know. I

felt like it worked, especially the inking. I

thought made it really well done and it had a.

Great tone to it that was fitting of this story,

so I don't know. I could see why some may not

like it, but I do. Personally love the more contuni

style. I could see where it may be an issue because

Jason Aaron's writing may not say. Translate

exactly into the style of in McGinnis, but I

feel like in McGinnis did a little bit to maybe

mature his look a tad. It's much different than

something like Nova that he did a few years ago.

That was about like a kid becoming a superhero,

especially in the way like he draws Thor and

I thought the way he draws the Celestials is

really effective. This issue we learned more

and we kind of find out where this is all coming

from It's I love the use of the narrator in this

and I think you know If you're paying attention,

you know, who's actually narrating the story.

It works as a good meta device as well as You

hear this the iterator talking about the Avengers

the creation of them the different pieces of

them what makes the Avengers who they are and

What I've also loved about it is that I felt

like each character has a purpose within this

each character is doing something of note for

them, at least within the first and second issue.

And the second issue was a little bit more chaotic

because you see these Celestials falling from

the sky, this new host coming in, these giant

bugs attacking. And it does have that feeling

of things are going to hell really quickly. How

are they going to get out of this? Which is like

the key to all, I think, starting Avengers thinking

about of like the breakout with new Avengers.

Where it was just ordered chaos with all these

criminals going around and it felt like you know

There was no way of winning that has that same

feeling like how in hell are these characters

like Captain America Thor and Iron Man gonna

stand a chance against something that can kill

Celestials No idea, but I'm really finding it

a lot of fun. I thought no surrender was a good

Reshuffling of the pieces of the Avenger brand

and got it back to what Avengers should be and

this is continuing that I love Jason Aaron as

a writer. I you know, I thought this was like

I said, I thought this was really good and I'm

like worried and it's going so it's fun to really

enjoy an Avengers book again. And with that,

we know we got the recent announcement that West

Coast Avengers will be starting to with Kelly

Thompson, which I think will be working well

because it will be very different from this book

in this style. And you know, last time we had

a ton of Avengers titles, I think there was too

many. But if they just have Avengers and West

Coast Avengers and the fact that you will be

able to easily distinctly tell which one's which

because the writers are very different the characters

are very different i think that makes sense so

if you're a person who was looking to get back

into the adventures Book go ahead and read this

it does have a lot of ties into that legacy one

-shot from back in october I don't necessarily

think you need to know every piece and there

are certain things We don't know yet like tony

stark is tony stark again, but that really hasn't

happened yet in the iron man book So we're a

little we're a little far ahead than certain

books and we don't know why thor has his hammer

yet That story book is still coming out. So there

are pieces of here that we don't yet know a lot

of pieces really and we still like you know,

how the 10 ,000 BC or whatever we're calling

them Avengers playing the role and this these

two issues also didn't have or this specific

issue didn't have Black Panther and Doctor Strange

all that much So most likely they'll be the focus

next issue But yeah, I'm liking how this team

is coming together and it's your classic bringing

all the pieces together to have that first story

And if this is how are you gonna kick off an

Avengers book? This is how you're gonna kick

off your new Wine with a new CEO or whatever

they're calling it like editor -in -chief. This

is I think the way to do it You get your best

writer put it on your biggest book and you go

ahead and move forward I do wonder maybe if some

people will be hesitant to pick it up because

I know there are some people who don't love McGinnis

Hart Like I mentioned if you if that is you I

think give it a chance Like I think yeah, this

may not be your DC house style. It may not be

Jim Lee but I feel like this is a style that

we need more of in comics. I'm okay when comics

look like a comic book and that's the case here.

Let's keep this going as the hunt for Wolverine

continues with the Claws of the Killer number

one. The thing with these hunt for Wolverine

books is that it's a gigantic fake out that's

really designed to take the idea of hunting for

Wolverine and ultimately the purpose of this

really is to get all these teams together to

tell different stories that all fit into different

genres of storytelling like the daredevil team

that is very much a crime story the new avengers

team that was like a classic new avengers story

with iron man and spider -man and now this week

we have the hunt for wolverine the claws of a

killer number one and this is much more in the

horror genre really and it's not 100 % certain

what exactly is happening like the way this opens

I was confused of overall what Wolverine who's

shown in the first page is doing or where this

is going exactly it's a little bit weird but

where it ends up it's like okay I kind of like

this idea like if you ever thought you know what

would be really cool if we saw Wolverine in a

zombie movie that might be where this is heading

so I, you know, this involves the characters

of Sabretooth, Daken, I have no idea how we were

supposed to pronounce his name, and Lady Deathstrike,

and they also find out that Wolverine is perhaps

back alive, and now they're going to try to hunt

him to kill him again, because you know what?

He can't. be alive because we want to kill him.

I wonder why exactly that they want to kill him

because some of them have been somewhat reformed

recently like Sabretooth was on like the X -Men

and Avengers but I don't know I guess you're

getting these characters back to what they once

were again and maybe the hatred for Wolverine

overrides anything else in the world so that

may be a little bit inconsistent I personally

don't care all that much about it and not the

hugest fan of the character of Daken I do like

Sabertooth and Lady Deathstrike, but their dynamic

together is a little bit fun. The back and forth

between Sabertooth and Daken is really cool because

it's like, I know they're, they obviously don't

like each other very much, so seeing them try

to work together is interesting. So I would say

this is out of the three so far. To me, maybe

the weakest. I think a lot of it is just the

fact that the characters aren't as interesting.

They're too similar, but... Where it ends up

I thought okay this can be a lot of fun so I

like I said it ends up being this kind of horror

book that seems like they'll be fighting against

zombies and that could be kind of cool yeah I

know the zombies are overdone but and we've seen

Marvel zombies books previously but this is a

little bit different because it's actually taking

place in the Marvel universe so it was good enough

and again I mentioned when I talked about some

of these series previously like my issue was

that This seems all for not because we kind of

already know the answer to this mystery a little

bit, but I'm kind of being able to put that aside

more and more and just appreciating this for

what it is and not caring by the fact that yeah,

it may say hunt for Wolverine, but it's really

not the purpose or that's really just to set

your expectations for one thing and then give

you another book that The ultimate story here

will be something different, so I don't think

any of these books will lead to the discovery

of Wolverine. Who knows? But anyways, at least

they've been good. They've been actually much

better than I ever anticipated. Alright, well

let's move over to the Punisher. I haven't talked

about this in a little bit, but the Punisher...

224 as the Punisher War Machine storyline continues

as he returns to the United States New York City

with the Punisher armor and now he's trying to

tack down and take out some villains, low -level

villains, now that he's super overly powered.

Unfortunately, that also brings the attention

of some of the heroes as they also try to take

out Frank Castle before he can cause too much

havoc and I thought this again, this is a really

good issues. I really love the storyline up to

this point. It's been a lot of fun like how they've

basically been treating Frank Castle like this

horror villain. That continues here where he's

like a Jason seeking out his prey and trying

to take out these villains There's a specific

sequence where you see them running away in a

car and they're you know That type of scene that

we see a lot with horror films where they're

trying to get in the car and run away really

fast But in this case, we're actually cheering

for the person that's going to be killing all

these people oddly enough, but I thought my one

concern though was going into this and what I

really liked about the last one was that you

know, he was this unstruck unstoppable force

but eventually that can get tiresome and i thought

okay maybe i'll become the regular punisher again

but that didn't happen here you know it was cool

seeing the idea of him in new york city but with

the heroes showing up it does Up the stakes now.

He does have some people that can match his power

level even though he has the warmest human armor

So there are some things here There are some

stakes here that maybe didn't exist in the previous

story arc and I do know this is actually getting

a relaunch though Matthew Risenberg is staying

the writer in August So it seems like this only

has maybe one or two more issues left before

this idea comes to its conclusion It's very full

conclusion. I think it makes the most sense if

anyone's gonna take Frank Castle out of the warmish

to Marmor It would be fellow heroes and I you

know Tony Stark hasn't showed up yet though technically

I don't know when this takes place and Tony Stark

may not be conscious because it's weird knowing

where what's going what in the world of the Marvel

Universe But my only one issue was this is that

I didn't really love the arc There was a lack

of definition at times and speaking of that chasing

sequence. There was a moment where we see like

Punisher getting closer and closer to this van

speeding away and suddenly like he stops and

the the panels aren't really clear like what

happened and Next page we see that Captain Marvel

showed up But what exactly happened what she

did was it felt like a lot of it happened off

paneling off -screen and I kept going back and

forth to figuring out what occurred also the

way that Captain Marvel was drawn to just again

similar lack definition. She looked kind of odd

in this and I think that's partially because

I feel like no one has agreed upon the way Captain

Marvel should be drawn both in her costume and

hair design it. Seems that every artist has their

own idea of how exactly they should depict her

on the page. It wasn't awful art It just felt

like it was a little bit weaker compared to the

previous issues And I think like if this had

a more high profile artist, it might have been

even better But what I like about this issue

is that we do get that hero interaction and I

tend to like that when it comes to the Punisher

more So is seeing how we interact with different

heroes Daredevil shows up and we know their history

and even him and Captain Marvel have a really

cool back and forth that I thought was really

effective and tells you a lot and There was a

piece of this they were talking about how Punisher

worked with Hydra and I was really confused by

that. I'm like What did this happen in that story

line? I think Nick Fury is a person that gave

him the armors. Nick Fury now working with Hydra

again? Is that what's going on? And realizing,

oh, that was talking about Secret Empire. And

I was reading in the letters in the back that

apparently that might be something that the story

focuses on again. That wasn't Rosenberg who came

up with the idea of putting Punisher with Hydra

during the time of Secret Empire. But I'm glad

he might be addressing it. I don't know how exactly,

because I stopped reading Secret Empire, so I

wasn't really sure if there was ever a reason

in giving of why the Punisher would do that outside

of the fact that he respects Captain America.

But the idea that they may take that piece and

do something with it could be cool, especially

with the relaunch. I think this story arc maybe

has one or two more issues what I think would

be perfect and Put it to a nice bow on it and

then let him take this into a new direction with

his next arc So I'm looking forward to it. I

like Matthew Rosenberg as an author He's not

necessarily the person I would first think of

the Punisher, but I do like the direction he

took this First major arc really it's been going

on for about six seven issues now and I thought

it would spend a lot of fun and I think it's

winding down here or speeding up as We now get

Punisher facing off against other heroes, and

that's always fun. Now he's not overpowered for

a chain, so that at least ends a little bit different

of a dynamic to it. With the hunt for Wolverine

continuing, that also means that we have the

Classic Wolverine is going to be coming back

to the world of the Marvel Universe, which may

be why All New Wolverine is finally coming to

its end. Also because it did not get as much

attention or sell as many books as it really

should. All New Wolverine number 35 is the end

of the old woman Laura storyline and the end

of this series that Tom Taylor has been writing

since its onset and One of the most underrated

and under talked about series and Marvel and

I feel like Marvel has a lot of great books but

people tend to get a lot of them get lost in

the shuffle for some reason. Maybe people just

want regular Wolverine which I think is unfortunate

because you're really missing out on a good story

here that Tom Taylor has been building and. This

old wooden woman Laura storyline was a good way

to end it and yet people may thinking are you

trying to ape old man Logan and I think what

Tom Taylor is doing and saying. No, I'm gonna

show you what makes Laura different and the story

and the characters that I'm building different

compared to that of classic Wolverine and this

is a future that is a future worth fighting for

a future where Not the world isn't awful and

the villains didn't win. However, doom still

does exist because he's doom and that's what

he does So Laura Maria Hill and a cavalcade Gabby

and some of her other Allies are going into the

world of Latveria to try to rescue Laura's other

sister who was previously kidnapped by Dr. Doom

and it's been a really fun series. I think it's

encapsulated everything. It's made this book

work really well. I love the bookends to this

issue where you see that it Begins and ends with

the embracing of Laura and Gabby and I love their

relationship and I'm glad that Tom Taylor is

writing x -men red Because it will continue that

and we'll still get more of that even though

this book is ending The x23 book is coming out

with a new team. I you know, I might pick it

up and see but it's gonna be hard I think to

put together what Tom Taylor did and he did a

lot of things that should Should not have worked

but but did he took Laura x23 a clone of Wolverine

and gave her sisters that were also clones and

they ended up being really captivating characters

Gabby's grown into a great character. Yeah, she's

called honey badger, but she's actually been

a lot of fun I love seeing this future where

she becomes this now pseudo Wolverine herself

and I thought this was a touching story and I

like this idea that they've been putting together

and Well, it was actually quite strong as well

You know sometimes with the Marvel books that

don't sell as well you tell that they get the

artists that you know aren't as Quite as talented

as their best people but art here was really

good. So Again, not a great jumping on point

because this is the end of a story arc But if

you're a person who did not give this the attention

it deserves, I would at least advise reading

the old woman Laura storyline, you can pretty

much understand everything you need based upon

that and enjoy it. It's been a lot of fun. So

I'm excited to see what Tom Taylor does next.

Hey, he may not be the top echelon of writers,

but I think he's proven himself time and time

again that he does get superheroes and do some

good superhero stories. Still think X -Men Red

is the best X -Men book currently on the shelves.

And I will be continuing that. And I'm glad at

least he'll get to talk about and work with the

characters that he created here. Alright, let's

move over to World of Cable for Cable 157, which

is this ginormous shot of nostalgia, 90s nostalgia,

because it's a story that takes place during

Cable 50. 3 that came out back in 1993 and Zach

Thomson the writer is showing his love of this

character or certainly love of that era of Cable

and I haven't loved Zach Thomson's work on Cable

so far. I like Zach Thomson as a writer a lot.

His work on the dregs was really great. He also

did recently his her referral descent for Aftershock,

but for some reason Cable just didn't work. His

debut arc about the Eternals just seemed to be

lacking something and I think a big piece of

it honestly had not as much to do with his writing,

but more to do with how weak the art was. And

when we learn more about that artist, his lack

of talent seemed to show through not only in

his work on the book, but his way of communicating

with other people. But that's a story for another

day. This, though, I think has an art style that

is reminiscent of the 90s. It doesn't feel overly

dated, but do have some of the classic costumes.

And yeah, as a person who's loved cable sentences,

you know, he's... Came out back in the nineties

and I fully meant he may not be the greatest

character in the world, but there pieces of him

that still can work. This also has X man in it

and you know another 90 creation another character

I loved at the time and who can work here and

there anything great pops up every so often.

I can never tell if he's dead or alive. I feel

like his. Status always changes no matter every

month or so. It's like, oh he said no He's actually

been alive this entire time. I have no idea but

and this there's this monster that's chasing

down all these different cables and what we get

are these different cables from different time

periods all sitting in a room trying to ward

off this evil monster that's trying to be that's

apparently attracted to cables for some reason

though, I thought it's pretty fun as it's I think

a mass improvement over his first arc. I do love

all the different approaches here and this idea,

especially how it exists back in the previous

story arc. That's kind of cool and welcome. And

I think if you're going to do cable, just go

for it, right? You know, it's a character that

is very much a 90s character. So why not go back

to a story that actually exists in the 90s? So

very much mean, I think, for cable fans. I think

cable fans would really like this if you're not

a cable fan. not really much here to offer overall

for the most part. But I do think Zop Thompson

is one of those writers that may, is just waiting

the pop. I think just getting the right story,

getting the right character and it may work.

So yeah, I'm glad this is an improvement over

his first arc and getting some better artists,

at least in my opinion. Alright, well let's move

over to DC for Batman number 47 as the booster

gold storyline comes to its conclusion and this

storyline involved booster gold trying to get

the ultimate present for Batman for Bruce Wayne

and Catwoman For their upcoming marriage and

things just went haywire a slight spoiler as

I've indicated up front But he tried to save

Batman's parents to show him that he needed to

become Batman and it of course Just evolved in

some truly epic whore -ness. I've been loving

what Tom King has been doing with the character

of Batman and I love the story arc. Honestly,

I thought this was fantastic. I look at some

of the reactions that some people have of it

and it just honestly boggles my mind a little

bit, but I get it because I'm a person I could

care less about continuity. I just like reading

the book that I'm currently reading give me a

good story that fits in and I care much more

about structure and theme than I do about continuity

and I think some people seem to get really caught

up with that stuff but I'm not a person that

cares at all. In my personal opinion, it'd be

better if you just let writers be writers and

not care at all about continuity and just let

people have that freedom. Comics did exist like

that at one period of time and I think that's

why often some of the best books exist. Out of

continuity when it comes to even superhero stories

or independent creator own series that don't

have to carry about 60 years of storytelling

they can just do their own thing but that's a

tangent for another day but I thought structure

wise this was brilliant the way it bookended

its start to its end the build up it had in the

way it evolved the character booster gold in

these three issues super depressing because it's

Tom King and man you can have a twist in mind

for sure. Seems like what he's been trying to

do is showcase Exactly what it takes to be the

character of Batman or why is Batman the person

that he is? What was weird is that I always felt

with Tom King's run on this book so far is that

Batman is finally the main character his own

book in this arc He was barely in it. Well Bruce

Wayne for the most part Batman wasn't there But

it made sense in the sense of if you take away

the thing that defined him Who does he end up

becoming? And it is a much different person that

desire a need to have that parental connection

and the fear of that going away and what that

could lead someone to do. I thought that worked

really well throughout these three issues and

it may be milking the wedding story for all it's

worth, but it does make that wedding to me make.

Mean feel like it's more important when you are

building up to it and you are kind of showcasing

that this is not just impacting the characters

of Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle, but also everyone

is Connected in some way. It just makes it feel

like a bigger deal. So I have been loving Tom

King's run on Batman and It's not your typical

superhero story or Batman story and it's inventive

and I feel like too often when it comes to comics

we just get the reshuffling of stories we've

seen before and I appreciate it when it's someone's

like now I'm gonna do something new and different

and exciting and I find this much more appealing

and much more satisfying read than the majority

of superhero comics out today. Alright, well

let's move over to Justice League No Justice

number two and I was very concerned about this

Justice League No Justice storyline. Specifically

because I was not the hugest fan of metal and

Knowing this was coming out of that knowing this

series had like a trijillion different writers

It was a weekly series it to me had a lot of

signs that wasn't gonna work had a ton of characters

But then how so think about the fact that Avengers

just recently had no surrender very similar situation

that ended up working and I think this for the

most part is working as well I do, you know,

there are some problems in the sense of I do

think it still feels a little bit overly bloated

with as many characters as there are here. It

feels like no one gets a huge amount of time

to do much of anything. I think there are some

bits and pieces that are strong, like there is

a great beat within this with Beast Boy and I

love what they're doing with him. I think he's

actually gonna stand out. character in this storyline

so far. Starowa had a few good lines here and

there, but that's the thing for the most part.

It's just been each character has had a thing

here and there that doesn't feel like there's

a focal point of any specific person in either

any issue so far and it feels like you're going

from one thing to one thing and it's a lot of

talking about everything they have to get done

and it's you know a lot of dialogue about okay

we need to do this thing and turn this thing

this do this thing and it just get a little bit

Tired with that for the most part but I do think

within that they are able to get the dynamic

of these characters down and The interaction

of all these people especially, you know the

villains and the heroes which I mentioned last

time I think it's a little bit tiresome but Here

it's done. Well, especially because like something

like sorrow was so bizarre working with someone

like Batman but but they got it to work I so

I thought this it's been fun. I Don't think it's

fantastic, but it's working and I am liking it.

I do think that once these teams split up and

there's a little bit more room to breathe will

probably get for me a lot better because you'll

get a little bit more truer sense of how these

people are interact right now. Like I mentioned,

it's a little bit tough. There's not. a lot of

opportunity for anyone to really shine and it

does to this does also leave off of this huge

cliffhanger that didn't personally impact me

all that much and I feel like that's been a consistent

thing with me with Scott Steiner for some time

where I feel a lot of his biggest story beats

are references to past characters and haven't

been around for a while or past plus points of

major storylines that people thought went the

way of the dodo because of all the different

relaunches and for me that's not all that satisfying

like it especially when it doesn't feel like

it fits into the fabric of the story this though

i would say that the character that does show

up in the end makes a lot of sense considering

the story that they're telling it doesn't come

out of nowhere and hopefully they do something

with it because i felt like with metal there

are a lot of these Hey look at this characters

here now and oh my goodness what's gonna happen

and then nothing really all that much happened

with it so who knows where it's gonna lead but.

Gotta say I was worried and I'm having a lot

of fun with it. Some of my apprehensions and

issues are there It's not perfect. It's still

a little bit messy, but it's fun And it's kind

of a very much similar to me to something like

no surrender which had suffered from this little

bit of the same thing I think that that was structured

in my mind a little bit better because they did

make it a point that Like every issue I felt

like you had you came from a different perspective

of a different character So it wasn't as overwhelming

and there was a little bit more growth per issue

But that was also a little bit different because

that was what weekly series that went on for

much longer Where this is a weekly series that

will then break up into different series where

no surrender was a little bit more self -contained

So they had the ability to do that, but it's

really weird that these Avengers and Justice

League stories are so very much similar and I

you know something again something must just

be in the water but they're good and that's ultimately

what you want so as long as they're good even

if you can pick out the similarities that's fine

it's uh you know I'm happy to read comics that

are fun all right well let's get out of the world

of DC and the big two and get to image comics

and go to the dead hand number two the dead hand

number one was a previous recommendation of the

week I thought it was a Good first issue that

had a fantastic ending swerve and it started

as this like cold war spy thriller morphed into

a different take on history of violence and then

ended up being something very different and that

continues here and the best way I describe it

is like It's like a twilight zone episode that

ends on this twist But then the story keeps going

and then you get to see okay. Well after that

twist what happens and we get that answer in

this Issue also ends on a twist that I'm like,

okay now I really want to know what's happening

And it's hard to talk about this book Especially

people haven't read the force first issue and

I want to give people the opportunity to do that

before I get into more spoilers But so I will

say if you've not read this Skip ahead to the

next book. I'll be talking about because I feel

like you will ruin that first issue if you if

i give you more information about what occurs

in issue number two so go to the show notes look

at when i get into gideon falls which i'll be

talking about next so you won't ruin it for yourself

so you can't blame me but at the end of the very

first issue we find out that what seems like

a middle america town actually is existing in

russia and why and how and we don't know and

this book doesn't give us that much answers but

it does seem like there's a lot more involved

in here than we first think and what we see is

that uh We get more of the history of what brought

them here. We see that the main character has

brought in other people from his past to live

in this town as well. So he's not the only person

that has ties to this past spy life. And this

reporter who has stumbled upon this area keeps

trying to convince them that no, he's not here

to hurt them. This is what he's been trying to

do. And they're trying to figure out what exactly

is occurring. And that's really the main conflict

of it. And the rest of the town is unaware. They

have no idea that They're living in actual Russia

or at least that's what it seems like and they're

questioning why exactly does no one ever leave

this town it's so isolated why don't really people

come and go so a lot of these questions are starting

to get raised and it does make you wonder a lot

of things like how can they make this work how

can a town exist in Russia and no one. Ask these

questions. It's like Truman show ask in a way.

So I'd be curious how that they explore it But

I just thought they also see when these art was

been really fantastic as well there's so many

of these pages that he draws especially when

you get into the Spy era where it looks like

almost like Cold War era movie posters that are

telling this great story the inking I think does

differ in a good way to differ the past from

the present has a much more darker look to it.

And when you flash forward to present day, the

palette is a little bit brighter. It's not as

overpowered with these dark blacks as the past

flashbacks are. And I think that does a good

job of distinguishing these two separate timelines.

So I really highly recommend this storyline.

It's been a lot of fun, as I indicated. And if

you love the first issue and you're like, well,

where is this going next? This to me is just

a fascinating mystery that I am really looking

to learn more about and as good mysteries go,

every answer leads to another question and a

bigger and broader question. So this even seems

like it might have more of a science fiction

twist to it which I was not expecting. Alright,

well, let's take a look at Gideon Falls, which

this first issue was pick of the week as well

recommendation of the week and this series continues

just to be fantastic the team of Andre Sorrentino

and Jeff Lemire just work really well together.

There's just something special about the mood

of this story this psychological horror thriller

where No matter what's happening, there's always

this feeling of dread that percolates every sequence

within this, even when it's just a general conversation.

And what I really find fascinating too is that

The characters here have been really strong as

of late, like the main character of this preacher

and his storyline we see here that there's a

possibility that he used to be an alcoholic and

that's still kind of haunting him and he's just

trying to figure out how exactly to work with

this new congregation, this new people, these

new people that he's now in charge of in a way

that they just had their previous pastor pass

away and now finding out that he's possibly a

murderer and also knowing that he murdered one

of the piece of their congregation and just,

he feels lost. He's a lost soul and how that

correlates to the other storyline of this person

in Canada who might be schizophrenic. He was

seeing these possible images in the trash, but

knowing that actually he's seeing things that

are actually there. And last issue ended with

someone breaking into his apartment and now he's

setting up all these different traps. I loved

how that went about, like how Andre Sorrentino

showcased him. in the direction that he made

and Sorrentino's art is just so inventive. He

comes up with new and crazy ways to utilize panels

and to have this look of it be something that's

unlike anything else. Like it's almost as if

he took a fine -tooth knife and scratched it

here and there so there's always this grainy

look to everything. It's almost as if things

are out of focus in a way where there's no specific

definition to characters for the most part except

when There are moments that are in extreme focus

that almost feel like are designed to be standouts

for different reasons. So I just thought how

he utilizes that it's really effective. And there's

one page in particular that stood out to me where

we see the preacher who is on the bottom of the

page and on top is actually what he's looking

at and how he's looking down at all these different

articles that talk about kind of what's been

haunting him. In all these news about this area

and what what has happened and how that is actually

on the top of the page as well as if it's lingering

over him having this power over him that is those

stories that news what's occurring is always

there it's haunting him from from above it's

so much bigger than he is in the frame I just

there's so much storytelling going on in the

actual panels as well and it's interesting seeing

how Sorrentino and. Lemire work with one another

because Lemire is so minimalistic with his storytelling

ability and also usually his art where Soratino

is much different than that and sometimes opposite

track and it's really been working so I can't

say this is Lemire's best series which is not

a knock on the series just because Lemire has

so much great stuff out right now but it's one

of the best books Image has it's always fantastic

is one of the best books of this week and I would

highly highly recommend going back and starting

with the first issue and working your way through

or at least waiting for the trade because it's

been fantastic it had high hopes for this series

and it's they have been met. Another great horror

comic that's been out from images infidel number

three and this series two has been fantastic

there's a lot of great series that have just

started in the last two weeks or so and I really

go back and forth in which one I enjoy more infidel

or giddy and follows and their stories are much

different but I feel like their tone sure something

very similar and with infidel though I think

it's more apparent what's haunting these characters

and what I really love about this series is that

it's really getting into. What is kind of decaying

the society we have today but in a way that is

inventive and has some subtly to it as well and

it's looking at the nuances of the way we interact

with one another and how bigotry and hatred aren't

as always as apparent and how times even when

people try not to be. Prejudice towards other

people it can actually lead them to be more prejudiced.

It's a tough balance to strike but I thought

within this series that that has been a consistent

theme throughout and it's been developing further

and further with each issue and this issue in

particular and really what this specific issue

focuses on is how people often see things that

they want to see or how just because you witness

something and you think you saw something happen

doesn't mean that's actually what happened but

And that's inside of that is this ghost story

and I gotta say that man the ghost in this the

imagery the designs of these ghostly figures

is just grotesque and haunting like just looking

at the page and I'm a big scaredy cat all mid

and if this was a movie I'd probably look away

but it being a comic I don't have that opportunity

or option so I'm stuck looking at the page and

there's just something about it just the the

coloring is just off -putting especially because

the coloring in general has a more realistic.

tone to it but there's these purples and yellows

and greens and the design of the character and

ghosts in general they're just oddly shaped and

they're not like graphic in the sense of they're

like broken bones but they just have a shape

and look to them that just is extremely off -putting

and similar to Giddy Falls it just continues

this tone this sense of dread that is always

there and it's inescapable. And i think some

people might look at this series look at its

name look at it covered and think i know exactly

what the story is trying to say and who its target

is and what is trying to say about the world

we live in but i think it's. Doing much more

and it actually has a lot of perspective that

is trying to approach and I wouldn't give it

you know give it a chance because I think people

often like hate the idea of comics having anything

to do with real life and being heavy -handed

and I don't necessarily think this is heavy -handed

anyway There are certain at first it seemed that

might be the case especially with a first issue

But as this has gone on more and more it has

kind of taken that idea and and shown that there

are Complex cities to everyone but that is also

not to say that prejudice doesn't exist against

certain people based upon actions I had nothing

to do with and ultimately though. I think it's

looking at just the heat and anger that is destroying

people on an individual standpoint as well as

a cultural standpoint and how that's almost like

bubbling up and causing this type of Supernatural

activity to occur and in a way that's not like

Ghostbusters 2 with it's got a little bit more

tact to it But I found this book to be quite

good, and I hope that this discontinues and gets

the attention and love it deserves alright Let's

move over to the world of Dark Horse for the

return of the series ether and the copperhead

Golem is number one And I mentioned this a lot

when I talk about different Dark Horse series,

but they have the model currently where Instead

of having series continue with their numbering

every new story arc gets its own new number one

Which I understand from a marketing standpoint

because that may open the door more people are

more willing to start with a number one then

a number 13 and that may Up your sales, but I

do wonder if someone picked up ether the copper

had gone number one if they would feel extremely

lost I'm a person that has read ether and it's

been keeping up with it But it's been such a

long time since the last read it that it took

some time to really even remember where exactly

we are We are and it's a story about this scientist

who found a way to go to this other dimension

The way to get there that was that you have to

go through this portal where you are willing

to kill yourself You have to get into the mindset

to do that in order to travel to this other world.

The other piece about this other world is the

fact that Time moves differently. It's you know,

that relatively type of story where as he's spending

time here a day There is a month in the real

world. So when he comes back home, his family

has age his kids has aged He's missed out on

a lot. He's been basically an absentee father

and he's been dealing with that throughout He's

having the conflict of feeling the responsibility

of having to do this But at the same time feeling

that he should be there from his family who now

basically hate him in a way especially his wife

and this continues that thread, but also he's

forced to go back there because there seems to

be something going on in the ether that is seeping

into the real world and is possibly losing to

its destruction. So he's the only person that

can do it. He's the only person who can save

it. So he's stuck in a situation where he's forced

to go back. And what I really love about this,

the art by David Grum is really on point and

especially the coloring. great example of how

coloring can differentiate two separate worlds

where the real world is much more darker in tone,

the character design is even a little bit more

dour, when they go into the ether it's bright

and vibrant even though that world is not necessarily

Cheerful, it's it's caught its own problems,

but it certainly makes it seem much more fantastical

even the design of the characters Tend to be

a little bit more fantasy looking so I really

do like this series I do think though that this

is not a great jumping on point I don't know

I could be wrong, but I would feel like some

people would feel a little bit lost with everything

going on But I really like this series by Matt

Kent and it's interesting reading this in something

like dr. Starr, which is by Jeff Lemire and seeing

how they relate to one another and how both of

these gigantic stories involving these science

fiction concepts but ultimately it's a story

about family and you know, Matt Kent and Jeff

Lemire are friends and I do find it interesting

when they often have series that tie thematically

in together really well. It'd make a really good

double bill. It's like reading this and then

reading Dr. Starr. It's a good approach to a

story in my opinion. So alright, well let's move

over to the world of Boom Studios for Mighty

Morphin Power Rangers number 27 as this Shatter

Grid storyline is Continuing and continues to

be a whole hell of a lot of fun and it's just

gigantic war story dealing with other dimensions

multiple Power Rangers teams a great villain

Stakes that you would not expect in a Power Rangers

story and it all works and it's all been fantastic

I'm not a person who knows everything about Power

Rangers. I watched it as a kid, though this deals

with a lot of different Power Ranger teams that

I know nothing about. There are a lot of groups

that I like. I have no idea what team that is

or what character that is. Without that though,

I don't feel lost. I think it is able to juggle

all those pieces really well, and yeah, it goes

hopping from different dimension to different

dimension, but I think it gives you a character

or two to... anchor onto so you have an idea

of like okay this is who's going to take me through

this overall story and I just love the approach

they have with some of these uh the colony technology

of the power rangers where they are utilizing

it more as a these warlike creatures you know

mega swords I think of giant robots but how they

feel like yeah these are tanks really and this

is all out war and you can see it in a situation

where People are literally in trenches and I'm

like, this is a cool way to approach it. And

I usually hate the idea of maturing up something

that's designed for children. It seems a little

bit ridiculous, but it feels right for the Power

Rangers just because you couldn't approach it,

approach the Power Rangers with the same type

of tone that the show has and make it readable

in my opinion. Cause I don't think it's all that

great sacrilegious for those that are huge fans

of it. I understand. But as someone who liked

it as a kid, it hasn't returned to it. I couldn't

think I would be able to read. a Power Rangers

book that was like the actual TV show of its

time but here it works and it feels right and

it feels like it's showing that there's a good

framework with all these characters and all this

idea and when you get a writer that has a capability

of someone like Kyle Higgins you can get something

really special so if you're not a huge Power

Rangers fan never cared about the characters

don't know necessarily if this would work for

you but if you are I don't think Shadow Grid

is a great place to jump right in honestly because

it actually goes back into a storyline that happened

prior to it. Maybe just pick up the first volume,

see if you like it. I thought even from the get

-go it was pretty strong. So if you're especially

someone who was disappointed by the Power Rangers

movie and it didn't give you what you want, that's

a bad way to approach the idea that they're actually

doing right here. So yeah, been a lot of fun,

been loving this, and it's great to read a great

Power Rangers story. It's something I never thought

I would ever love a comic about the Power Rangers

as much as I am now. Alrighty, well that'll bring

us to the end of this week's episode and recently

I had a number of episodes come out I spoke with

Jason Michael of the Atlantic Screen Connection

podcast about the Dark Horse series Lady Killer

have some more other things planned up I'll be

talking about March soon and the comic by John

Lewis from Top Shelf and a number of other weekly

episodes coming out also some of the things that

work I might be trying out with this so let me

know what you think of them and you can do that

in a number of different ways I'm on Twitter

at movie revolt the podcast is also on Twitter

at common concierge podcast and also on Facebook,

you can go to the episode post at geekcastradio

.com or nerdy .co .uk. And if you've been liking

this podcast, enjoying it at all, if you go to

iTunes, leave a review, that'd be fantastic.

It would go a long way to get more years and

get us to more people because there are a lot

of comic book podcasts out there and I by no

means the best one out there, but I do think

we're trying to do a little bit different approach

here. I've had some really great guests on I

think that. But I'd love to get the feedback,

hear what people like, what they don't like,

what books you'd like me to cover more. Is there

anything out there I should be giving a chance

that I'm not? I'm always open to try new things.

But for now though, remember, comics are for

everyone. The key is finding the right one. Until

next time, thanks for listening.