Weekly Comic Roundup: The Dead Hand, Thanos, Oblivion Song & More

Hey guys, this is Rob Paulsen and you're listening

to the GeekCast Radio Network. Welcome to the

Comic Concierge Podcast, the podcast that believes

that comics are for everyone, the key is finding

the right one. And this is one of my weekly wrap

up episodes where I go back through the weeks

that was in the world of comics and talk about

some of the most notable issues and give you

my thoughts and opinions on them. A slight spoiler

warning, as I do get into some plot details,

I will try to avoid the biggest surprises that

happen, but in order to talk about them in a

cohesive manner, I do have to talk about some

plot elements. But if you don't want any of those

plot elements ruined for you, go to the show

each comic I'll be talking about this week. And

I do start each week with my recommendation of

the week, and my recommendation of the week is

a little bit different in the sense of it's not

necessarily the best book of that week. Obviously

it's a good book because it's why I'm recommending

it, but it's also a good starting point, a good

introductory issue for new readers, old readers,

a starting point that doesn't feel redundant.

The benefit of this week's choice is that it's

a brand new series, so everyone's starting at

the same location, whether you're new to comics

or older comics, and that is The Dead Hand, number

one, written by Kyle Higgins and drawn by Steven

Mooney. brought to us by the wonderful world

of image comics, which seems to have a lot of

new series coming out these last few weeks as

is typically the key. I'll be honest, this was

kind of a weird week when it came to the recommendation

of the week in the sense of there was a lot of

new number ones this week that I thought going

into it, okay, that's definitely gonna be the

recommendation of the week, but it didn't end

up working out that way and we'll get to that

shortly. The Dead Hand number one, ultimately,

the reason why I chose it as my recommendation

of the week was one key factor and that was the

way it built Intrigue to me the biggest goal

of a number one issue for a series is building

intrigue getting you Super excited to where this

book can explore next it's a simple concept obviously

But I think it's ultimately important and sometimes

left out some focus too heavily on character

building some focus too heavily on world building

Usually the best bet is to find a way to get

a good balance of both so you know the characters

that the story is about but also understand the

world that they're in and the Dead Hand number

one does a really good job of that and in fact

I was actually impressed by the amount of character

building and world building they did but I think

what really makes it work and I don't want to

spoil it is where it goes to by the very end

it very much sets itself up as something that

you kind of expect like it starts almost like

a Cold War era spy thriller comic and I was really

excited for that idea I mean that's what the

cover is kind of selling you that is obviously

a piece of it but then there was a small switch

in the sense of We move move ourselves from the

Cold War do a little bit of a flash forward and

now we're in this everyday town kind of the Middle

of America town where not much seems to happen

and I thought okay Is this kind of going something

similar to where we had you know, the history

of violence something like that. It focuses on

this agent of Carter Carlson and in the majority

of the opening is focusing on his backstory who

he was during the Cold War he was this basically

kick -ass assassin who has an awesome costume

by the way like I do love the costume designed

by Steven Mooney in the art overall and we'll

get that into a moment but then we see where

he becomes After that war after the Cold War

is over and he's no longer that secret agent

what occurs there But I just loved how this subverted

expectations from the beginning and you think

okay? This is where we're going but that last

page was like wow okay now I have no idea where

this is going next and as I indicated in the

beginning built a whole lot of intrigue I'm interested

in the character of Carter Coulson to begin with

because you want to know why would he leave that

life or make such a drastic change we don't get

exact answers, but There are some hints into

why he's now the sheriff of this small town.

And ultimately, too, one of the biggest things

I am excited to see more of is the art of Steven

Mooney. Man, he has some amazing splash pages

in this. There's so many pages that you can pick

out and be like, that would be an amazing poster,

or that could have easily been the cover. It

has that James Bond almost quality to it. A lot

of story done within those pages. A lot of use

of reds and blacks is obviously the color palette

that the colorist Jodie Belair was using. And

if you know anything about colorists, Jodie Belair

is probably the best in the business or one of

the best in the business. So it's a really great

combination of art that is accentuated by this

great coloring that really sets the mood, especially

how it differentiates the early beginnings, those

spice scenarios, those action sequences I mentioned

to the present day, like the... Past scenes are

heavily saturated with blacks and reds. The backgrounds

are almost universally have a black background.

When you flash forward, it's much more brighter.

It's a lighter tone and it really sets the mood.

It shows a juxtaposition of those two worlds

and kind of how they combine. And as the story

progresses, they kind of almost mold back into

one by the end. Also have to mention Kyle Higgins

who I think is building a really strong career

that people are not talking about nearly enough.

Really made a name for himself a few years ago

when he took over Nightwing but I think he's

really found his own with a lot of his creator

own stuff or at least his stuff outside of the

world of DC. The license material that he's doing

for Power Rangers has been a lot of fun. He had

the Magnus series last year. He had Hadrian's

Wall which is another great noir futuristic story

and I think he's the really been good at showing

how he can tell a variety of stories that really

don't coalesce that much with one another. Now

this has nothing to do with Power Rangers, Magnus

was this futuristic story about artificial intelligence.

Power Rangers is Power Rangers, Hadrian's Wall

is much different, much more dramatically focused.

They're those writers that when you're reading

their work you know it's them. Like you know

when you're reading an Alan Moore comic, you

know when you're reading a Grant Morrison comic

or even like Jeff Lemire comic. It's Kyle Higgins

that's not necessarily the case, which is not

a bad thing. I think it shows his versatility

in his storytelling methods where he He molds

his style to fit the story. He's telling rather

than vice versa. It's like that coach who has

a certain team members and he has a certain system

he uses, but the team members that he has don't

fit that system. Does he get new team members

or does he adjust his system? Some coaches will

get new team members, some coaches will adjust

their methods to fit what they have, and I think

Kyle Methods is the latter. I also think this

story can appeal to a lot of different Readers

if you're someone who loves spy level stories

like Cold War spy thrillers of a yesteryear James

Bond much more muted It's not nearly as like

over -the -top or you know that this Hero is

not as charismatic as James Bond but also if

you're one of those people that likes the idea

of seeing everyday normal life being interrupted

by Forces are not normally expecting like these

the juxtaposition of being what would be a town

that you would see in like a 1950s sitcom. Combined

with like the spy intrigue you would get in like

a mission impossible series or something of that

nature I mean there's still a lot to unpack with

this because we are only one issue in and it

leaves a lot of questions to be answered which

is a great thing but Ultimately, you know if

I look at all the new series all the new arcs

that I read this week and said which one am I

most excited about like if you told me I can

read the next issue of any of them right now

which one when I pick it ended up being the dead

hand number one, so kudos to this team looking

forward to it i think image has really put a

lot of effort in and try and create the next

big hit for them and there's a lot of comics

that could fit that build and i think this is

one we can add to the pile Speaking of major

new series that recently came out, we have Gideon

Falls continues with Gideon Falls number two.

This was another recommendation of the week when

it first came out and again another fantastic

issue by Jeff Lemire and Andre Sorrentino. For

those that don't know, this is a story that focuses

on two major storylines. We have this, again,

middle of America town where this Father Norton

was transferred for reasons we don't know fully.

as well as a corresponding story with Norrin

who lives in this urban Canadian setting. What

we're seeing with this story is kind of the combination

of rural horror and urban horror and how they

correlate with one another. Specifically with

this, it's picking up a lot of the major pieces

that happened in the last issue and without spoiling

it, something majorly happened to end that issue

and it jumps right to the end of this and we

see father quinn being questioning by the police

where norton is spending most of the time with

his therapist as they work out some of the issues

that he's facing what he has been doing is collecting

trash because he thinks that there are pieces

in the trash that are giving hints at this conspiracy

that's being hidden and he's been collecting

them and trying to figure out where all these

dots go and ultimately it's all centered on at

this black barn that people are seeing or think

they're seeing but no one can truly find out

so What I really love about this book so far

is the atmosphere and that's so important with

a horror comic or horror in general and It's

not necessarily where it's always feeling on

edge necessarily, but you do feel like something

is off There's just something that feels wrong

and even just in the way that Andre Sorrentino

constructs his figures where there's almost like

an uncleanliness to the characters where you

don't get like a crisp looking. There's more

of a messiness to it. It's not sketch quality.

It kind of exists in both of those worlds. It's

just a really unique look to the book, as you

expect with someone like Andre Sorrentino. And

this, though, a little bit more straightforward

than the last issue for the most part, where

Sorrentino is a type of... artist who puts a

lot on the page and sometimes plays a lot around

a lot with paneling design and does some unique

and crazy things. This one was a little more

subdued as it was more plot focused than the

previous issue as a lot of major developments

happened regarding Norton and Father Quinn. And

I'm actually kind of surprised by how a lot of

the questions that were immediately raised were

getting some answers but as is the case, every

answer seems to lead to more questions. I'm just

really fascinated by this little puzzle that's

being built It is very clear from the beginning

that there is something here that there is a

mystery here This is not in the character's head

Some things are going really wrong and Norton

deals with some of that fallout himself But I

think if you enjoyed the first issue or if you're

looking for a new series to get into Gideon Falls

is certainly that I think it's even appealing

to someone who's not a super horror fan because

It's not necessarily one that is about scares

or graphic violence per se. It's about mood,

it's about tone, it's about these hidden fears

that seem to exist in both of these worlds even

though they're not fully connected. But I don't

know, it's a haunting book that really sticks

with you and I've really been enjoying it. I

love it when Tor Dino and Jeff Lemire get together

and loving that they're getting into... the horror

realm or the realm outside of superheroes. They

worked on Green Arrow and Old Man Logan previously.

This is something much different for them and

it's really been fantastic from the beginning.

So as I talked about Image having a lot of new

number ones or new series that have a lot of

promise, this is on the top of that list. Also

on the top of that list would have to be Oblivion

Song and the second issue of that also came out

this week. Weird that Oblivion Song and both

Gideon Balls are released on the same day. I

feel like They might be two series that go down

as some of the best images put out in some time.

Oblivion song coming from Robert Kirkman, the

creator of Walking Dead. Also What's Invincible

Now over. This was his next big series. And I

enjoyed the first issue. I had some problems

with the way it ended because I felt like it

set itself off with this really interesting exploration

into how society deals with tragedy. years after

it has taken place, and the first issue seemed

like it would steer away from that, but my apprehension

actually proved to be incorrect. What's intriguing

about this issue, the second issue of Oblivion's

song, is the fact that legitimately it is nearly

all exposition. Which should be awful, but I

think it's handled it in such a way where you

don't really even notice it, or it's interesting

enough that you don't mind. At least I didn't.

We learn more about what happened in Philadelphia

a decade ago where 300 ,000 people lost their

lives and how these creatures suddenly appeared

and people seemed to disappear in this other

dimension that occurred at a different frequency.

And it's a lot of that backstory, some of the

imagery that came out of it. And again, I like

how it focused in on kind of the way we deal

with tragedy as a society, how we memorialize

different actions, even showcasing some photos

that became synonymous with that event and the

heroes that helped save lives. And it's very

much, obviously, corresponds with tragedies that

we have actually dealt with in real life without

directly attributing to it. But ultimately, I

think why it works, though, is because that backstory,

that exposition that we're getting, it's with

the character of Nathan walking through some

of the people that he previously just rescued

through this museum and letting them see and

understand where we are now at. And within that

though, what we see is that Nathan still very

much has not let this go in the sense of he still

believes that there are more people he can save.

He gets more reason to believe that with this

issue last issue left off at a big cliffhanger

that raised a lot of questions or at least indicated

that there's more to the world of Bolivian that

we realize and There was a question of like okay

How much will this information be kept from Nathan

and we find out pretty soon that? that information

is given directly to him in the sense of yeah

there are he may be more right than people want

to admit but still it doesn't solve his problem

because the idea of credibility and how can you

trust or fully validate the word or the stories

of people who are dealing with continuous tragedy

or basically in a state where mental stability

was probably questionable so Again, I really

like this idea and how it's approaching it and

on top of the fact that he is in this insane

world and then have to really commit, uh, Luenzo

Di Felincchia's art within this. The first page

is the first series that showcased all the crazy

creatures he designed. We get some more of that

too. I love how it utilizes scale here, but this

was a really story focused issue. One that was

more about the people and the acting within it.

I think he showed that he can Make that interesting

as well. Yeah, it's one thing to make crazy creatures

look fun but when it comes to more of the dramatic

sequences when it comes to more of the dialogue

driven scenes How does he work as an artist and

knows and the fact that that was the bulk of

this issue and it you know flowed really nicely

and you could really understand the feelings

of all the characters through his acting. It

shows that I think this this series is in good

hands both on a script standpoint and as an author

standpoint. So I don't know if this will ever

reach the heights of The Walking Dead in popularity

but I think it's really starting off strong and

I think you really see how much more seasoned

of a writer that Kirkman is. Because his characters

even feel more real or unique within this and

I think he's approaching a lot of his themes

in More fascinating ways than he does in the

past I still enjoy walking dead and invincible

really good But I think it took a little bit

of time after the first issues to become something

that wasn't just the stereotypical zombie story

or superhero story With this I feel like he even

has a clearer idea of where he wants to take

this and has more control of the story in a way

where I think he kind of knew what he was setting

up and what people would expect from him, but

is saying okay I know you want this, but I'm

gonna give you something that is a little bit

different, but But I love how the foundation

of it is the idea of how we as a community as

a society deal with tragedy and How the center

character is kind of in this unwinnable situation

where is he allowing his selfishness to cloud

his judgment? Does he have a legitimate point?

Is it selflessness that is leading him to do

what he does or is it selfishness? We see how

his inability to let things go is impacting his

relationship with his family members, his co

-workers, but we also see the importance of what

he's doing and the fact that he might actually

be right and if that is the case what does that

mean so I really love this I think there's obviously

crazy monsters and a lot of action but there's

much more to it than that and I think that's

always was walking dead's thing to it you know

it wasn't the zombies it was the people and this

to me even has a little bit more sophistication

to it as well and again a lot of social commentary

here without it being a criticism of the world

we live in rather it's more of an observation

and taking Events that we can relate to and just

putting it through a lens of comic book world

and crazy monsters So there's a lot of fun within

it, but obviously there's something it's saying

which is I think the key to a really good comic

So again, I think that image has a lot of great

material that's currently out right now and oblivion

song Gideon falls the dead hand just to name

a few All right. Well, let's keep looking at

some other image titles with Dry County number

two and I think this book is a good example of

how just because you don't fail doesn't mean

you're necessarily going to succeed and what

I mean by that is I don't think there's anything

necessarily wrong with this book or anything

I would look at as a glaring issue or problem

but at the end of the day within two issues it's

still not necessarily grabbing me there are pieces

of it that I think are well done but ultimately

there's something I think a little bit missing

from this and the first issue of this was about

a writer and this love affair he kind of strikes

up with one of his neighbors who is tangled up

with this kind of garbage boyfriend and how that

ends on a positive note but then with this issue

we see that positive note doesn't last long as

she's kidnapped and now he's trying to get her

back or find out what happened and assuming it

was the ex -boyfriend that caused caused it to

happen and I think what is missing from this

is that there's nothing about it that seems all

that different from similar stories. You know,

it's kind of hitting the beach you would expect

it to hit, going around town, interviewing people,

trying to figure out what happened. But there's

something I go into this and thinking, OK, this

is something special. This is a unique perspective.

This is unique world. Even characters don't necessarily

jump out at you. I could see this being one of

those books that is much better in trade. And

one thing that is often key with Anwar. This

isn't really noir, but a crime story or something

that would fall in this mode is the world it

builds, the characters in it, making the area,

in this case Dry County, feel like a character

in itself, even though that may be cliche. And

it feels like there are the early makings of

this, like we're learning more about the characters

that make up this, like apartment, motel complex,

and we get little snippets here and there, and

I could see that becoming something the story

focuses on more and more. But so far, there's

not enough there to really drive it. I do like

the... art in this and I do especially like the

lettering choice where it's looks like snippets

of an actual like notebook like an old yellow

has done a lot in first person narrative and

it gives it that intimate feel because of that

and the art style itself doesn't necessarily

feel like a regular new art it takes place in

Miami or Florida and it you feel like it It has

an art style that's synonymous with that. When

you think noir, you often think dungy and dirty

New York type of setting, but this is the opposite.

It's a little bit more brightly colored. So that,

flipping on its head... is probably something

that is a little bit different, but at a narrative

standpoint, there's really not much here that

makes me really excited for what's coming next.

I might continue on just because I think there

is some potential that just could grow and become

something better, or I could also see this something

that I kind of give up on and maybe return to

it when it's finished in trade or at least have

a bunch of issues that stack up on it. Again,

there's nothing say anything wrong with this.

There's not anything that I would point to as,

oh, that's a problem or. It's not that it's poorly

executed per se it's just middle -of -the -road

executed which ends up making it and ultimately

forgettable So but you know if you were someone

who loves this art style I could see it continuing

and you really liking it, but outside of that.

There's not much more I can recommend regarding

my point of view Alright, well let's take a look

at what I think was probably one of my favorite

books of this past week and that is Captain America

number 700 brought to us by the great team of

Mark Wade and Chris Samney including also Jack

Kirby oddly enough as there is a Backstory that

is drawn by Jack Kirby and penned by Mark Wade,

which is honestly something that was really weird

to read Seeing Jack Kirby's art with a more modern

ish type of dialogue I don't know. It was okay.

It was a fun experiment. It's not why you would

probably buy this issue. What this is, it's a

continuation of the story arc that's been going

on for the last few issues with Captain America,

the one where he was frozen in ice again into

a future that was not too far from now, and it's

been basically a UC America that is pretty much

destroyed. Atomic weapons have kind of wiped

much of it away. It's been ruled by this evil

class of people, and Captain America and the

rebels have... taking back that world and now

they're kind of dealing with the fallout scene

just because that evil dictator that was controlling

everything is no longer there doesn't mean things

are now finally going to start working out so

you see him trying to repel forces that are trying

to take over America now and along with kind

of quell all the rebellion that's going on and

it's not going as well as they would hope so

and things happen but I think you know the narrative

here is pretty good the story is a lot of fun

but really what makes it work is Chris Namne

in his art. It is absolutely gorgeous to witness,

to look at. I am so sad that this is the last

issue of Captain America. He will be drawing,

because he was born to draw Captain America or

superheroes to begin with. Mark Waid and Chris

Namne also did the Daredevil run. They also had

the Black Widow storyline. This might be, and

it's hard to say because it's a smaller run.

It's not as long. Much more episodic in its nature,

but I maybe it's more so because I'm a huge Captain

America fan But I I loved his work here. This

the fluidity of action is phenomenal There's

a specific sequence where Captain America is

like fighting against these agents of as you

would expect and this the way he uses the shield

the the motion of it like you you fully comprehend

where he is where how everything's moving and

it like it's almost as if the page itself is

moving with his motion lines just the crispness

of the action it's fantastic to look at you know

it's great cartooning and i know a lot of people

prefer like the more realistic take on characters

i mean the jimmy art per se that we'll get to

i i love this i mean this is the There's not

many artists that can do this, you know, a Darwin

Cook, for example, someone that comes to mind,

but those that can do it right. It's almost like

becoming more and more of a lost art form. Is

this worth its price tag? It's a little bit more

expensive because it's a 700 issue. I think so.

And I think, like I said, the Kirby piece at

the end was fun enough. It's a nice novelty,

not something I think would be worth it separately,

but I can't wait until we get. complete set of

this arc or this run altogether because it's

going to be a lot of fun. It's sad that it's

ending. Mark Waid is staying on for the next

few issues with different artists and I'm interested

to see how the story is affected because so far

I think Chris Hamney's art has been really doing

a lot of the heavy lifting. The script has been

okay. It's done its job. You know, it's been

a lot of episodic issues, a lot of, you know,

very old school storytelling. So will that work

with different artists? I'm not sure and it's

really just holding it That's not the only thing

that I'm sad to see end as Thanos number 18 also

brings us to the end of the Thanos Wind storyline

that Jeff Shaw and Donny Cates have been putting

together and again, this has been a hell of a

lot of fun this idea of Future Thanos bringing

in present -day Thanos to help him defeat the

ultimate enemy and in this we find out who that

ultimate enemy is it's been this crazy what -if

alternate reality with Characters like the cosmic

gore's writer that's getting his own miniseries

soon, and it's just been a lot of fun It kind

of the over -the -top insane storyline you'd

want that centers on a character like Thanos

with world -ending stakes. And this ultimately

comes down to, as you would assume, the present

Thanos and the future Thanos battling out to

win the affection of death. And the way it plays

out, I don't think it's necessarily all that

surprising. Think it goes where you would expect

to a point and then it does open the door up

for more storylines to come I think this is a

good example of how you can end the one arc,

but also open the door up for the future arc

That's coming. You know, there's a big event

coming up with the infinity gems and this ties

into that but but does so rather indirectly in

a way like this could exist within itself without

that future storyline coming it's hard to explain

without giving in anything away but ultimately

what it means is this is a satisfying ending

that also opens the door for more storytelling

which is exactly what you want when it comes

to comic books but it's been a lot of fun and

also have to give major kudos to Jeff Shaw who

man I love his figure design when it comes to

someone like Thanos because Thanos is a character

that is I think a little bit hard to make work

on the page especially when he's there by himself

or he's only there with another Thanos so It's

hard to get that larger -than -life, that epic

feel of him as a character, but he makes it work.

The action is crisp. I love his interpretation

of death. It's beautiful to look at. This is,

again, a gorgeous book, even though it's rather

destructive with everything that's going on,

but it's been a whole hell of a lot of fun. I

know it's been selling out of stories, and so

a lot of people are aware of it. It's probably

the most... well -regarded Thanos story in some

time, and I think that's a good thing. I like

Jeff Lemire's run on this book. I thought that

was a much different story than this, though,

where this is just balls to the wall insanity,

which is what we kind of expect with what Donny

Cage, he seems to be, does that a lot and has

a knack for it, and it works. He's moving on

to his Venom run. He also has some other things

he's working on. And I'm excited to see where

he goes I think this is the end of this there's

gonna be a Thanos annual coming out with what

different writer a different team see if that

ties into this or When you look at this run,

I think the question becomes of what was this

about? Like what did this run say? What was it

getting towards and I think it's pretty apparent,

but maybe not that apparent No, it's called Thanos

wins. And I think what this run was asking is

what does it look like when Thanos wins? What

does that? resemble and You think that it is

Where it begins where you see this future where

that Thanos is king and he is ruler of all but

is that really Thanos winning? What does that

actually look like and this gives us an idea?

but again that goes back to what it is opening

the door for because Just the one line we get

from death. I think says it's all and I know

it's just been a well -crafted story this is

the book that's made on occasion even into a

bigger name he was doing a lot of great things

with God country and Renek on the indie level

baby tooth and then this came out and I think

has launched him into a new echelon And I think

I could see him becoming the next big name in

Marvel. It really has already become that so

Excited to see what he does with venom Excited

what he's going to be do with some of the other

he's got and human series also coming out So

when it comes to Marvel, I think Marvel's actually

putting out some really great content with some

really promising writers And I think Donny Cage

is on the top of that list Another storyline

that's nearing its end but is not there yet another

run that's coming to a conclusion but it's not

quite there yet would be the despicable Deadpool

278 as Jerry Dugan is closing in on his final

issue of Deadpool that he's been writing for

a few years now and This again was another pick

of the week a few weeks ago. This issue was a

lot of fun It I don't think had the same type

of depth that some of the other issues in this

run have had as of late it's there a little bit

but it opens up with Deadpool and Juggernaut

going toe to toe and I was really hoping like

that would be the major focus just Deadpool and

Juggernaut going off and Juggernaut like tearing

in the pieces him coming back I thought that

would be like the major focus unfortunately that's

only a small bit and I will say I feel like Deadpool

Got away or was able to get rid of juggernaut

a little too easily. Maybe his powers has changed

But I felt like I don't know I feel like they

punked out juggernaut maybe a little bit too

much in this but that's really a minor point,

but What we've been seeing is that now there

is this 20 million dollar bounty on the head

of Deadpool because of last issue he stole, or

we assume because he stole all this money from

this insane cruise. And it's just, again, showing

Deadpool going off the deep end, fighting some

crazy characters like Taskmaster, who I love,

Bullseye, another fun character, and it is that

Deadpool's sense of humor that you expect. Again,

a very heavy action. Oriented issue with a slight

twist that goes to show you that yeah, Gary Dugan

Gary Dugan is really trying to add in some new

layers to this character Yeah showing that Deadpool

is really near the end of his rope and for a

lot of different reasons, but it's a lot of fun

And getting to the point to where I think this

is leading to its logical conclusion and there's

only a few issues left and you can tell that

like it just seems like there's not as much room.

It's made me stretching it a little bit because

as I mentioned this was mostly all action oriented.

You probably have shrunk this this storyline

down a little bit but it's still kind of what

you want with Deadpool with the added flavor

of the kind of the miserableness that he's been

undergoing for these last since Secret Invasion

but I know that Scotty Young will be taking over

this title soon. I can't wait to see what he

does with that bully. I think he has a good sense

of humor for it, but I think that shouldn't...

Detract from Jerry Dugan's run on this which

I think is if I mentioned multiple times is overlooked

But it may not be a great jumping on point right

now because this storyline has been building

for some time So if you've not been reading Deadpool

not a good place to start right here Give it

a little bit and once this does relaunch You'll

probably have better luck of jumping on with

a new story arc that kind of begins anew as Deadpool

keeps moving on Alright a new series that did

come up for Marvel this week was also Domino

number one and written by Jale Simone who previously

has written Deadpool in the past and reading

this you can kind of tell Deadpool does show

up in this issue and the sense of humor does

feel at times Deadpool -esque in tone not necessarily

in execution there's no really fourth wall breaking

or anything like that but it just has like a

sarcasm to it that you would you know kind of

correlate with that of Deadpool, but Domino has

been a character that's been around for some

time. She was a big part of X -Force and Cable

have a pretty long relationship. She's not had

a lot of solo books. She's always been kind of

an add -on character for my opinion, like she's

had some good runs here and there, but she's

never been a character that I gravitated towards.

Her power, I feel, is... ill -defined at times,

and it seems like depending on the writer, sometimes

it's forgotten about completely, sometimes it

is overly powerful, and I think Gail Simone is

tackling that head -on. This issue I thought

was okay. It was a little bit uneven for me.

There's like this birthday surprise aspect of

it. I don't know. I just felt like it kind of

went all over the place for first issue, and

it was hard to really get grasp of what exactly

the point of this is, but Ultimately it ends

at a point where it seems like someone's going

after Domino for reasons we don't know but the

sense of humor I think was a reason that it didn't

work for me as well because it just felt out

of place for a character like Domino But again

my lack of history. Maybe I am mistaken in that

even though I didn't read a lot of X -Force But

there are a lot of callbacks to her past storyline

and there's a use of a dog So if you're a dog

lover, this has plenty dog usage in it and a

very cute dog I must say but I don't know I thought

there's okay. I thought was a decent start I'm

not clamoring for the next issue But I think

I'll keep with it because I like Gail Simone

and I do like some of the side characters that

she's using They seem like a lot of fun. But

uh I think with a few more issues, there can

be more clarity of what ultimately the goal here

is or what they're trying to achieve. But if

you're a huge X -Force fan, if you're a huge

Domino fan, I'm guessing you're getting what

you're expecting. I can't say out of experience,

but I don't know. Like, it was kind of indifferent.

I thought going into this, I was really excited

for it. I thought, oh, you know, I like Domino,

I like X -Force, and I just walked away thinking,

eh, that was okay, and nothing really jumped

out of me, which is kind of the lamest type of

review to get, but sometimes that happens, and

that's what happened here. Another new series

that came out was Exiles Number One, and this

was a book I was highly anticipating being my

recommendation of the week. For one, I'm a huge

fan of the series from when it first debuted,

when it was first coming out in early 2000s.

It was one of my all -time favorite series. It

still is. And I just love the idea. I love alternate

dimension storylines. I love what -if storylines.

I love the character of Blink, and this had it

all. And I was sad to see it eventually end.

It kind of got... a little bad near the end when

Chris Claremont came on and kind of took it in

a different direction and it just kind of ruined

the title in my personal opinion. Once it became

the new Axiles, for example, it was just, eh,

it just didn't work. A few years later and a

new team is coming on and Saldin Amman is the

writer who I love. He's right now doing Abbott.

He did Black Bolt as well. I love him as a writer.

And the penchelor Javier Rodriguez, he's done

some good stuff. I have not. Read a lot of the

stuff he's drawn, but I do like the art style

in this and a lot It's very different for a Marvel

book so I could see it not working for a lot

of people especially for an x -men title It's

more it's almost an indies type of look to it

in certain cases, but the reason I think This

wasn't my recommendation of the week and let

me be clear first in the sense if I did like

this issue I did enjoy it I'm really excited

for where it goes next was mostly because it

was an issue that was really really heavy on

exposition it opens up with the new Nick Fury

who is like the watcher but not really kind of

which is not a story decision made up by solid

I'm on but he sees into other dimensions and

sees like there is something that is destroying

time in dimensions and feels like there's got

to be a way to try to stop it and it is this

pretty long silky of what he's going after the

meaning it gets into a lot of different things

and and it starts off there which was fine enough

but it kind of continues from there and we go

from world to world and we end up getting every

world we get into we get a lot of exposition

for you know we go to another world that's another

futuristic world where we meet up with another

character which is miss marvel but in the future

but a different type of miss marvel and that

was actually i like that a lot i like con in

this is what she goes by she's like Little bit

more grizzly looking. She's got a gigantic gun,

which is out of the norm So I do like her as

a character and then go to another future where

iron lad shows up and again That's where we we

just get a lot of back Story with every character

and it is your classic go bringing the team together

type of issue that you get with most team books,

but because we're dealing with a lot of alternate

dimensions, because we're dealing with characters

or different versions of characters, what you

end up happening is that you end up getting a

lot of background to explain the world that they're

in, and then a lot of background to explain the

character itself and his motivations, especially

our Inland. I felt we spent a lot of time learning

about Ironland, his backstory, who he is, how

he's different than the Ironland that was in

the Young Avengers book, but has a similar background.

Again, that's not necessarily bad, but when it's

packed into one issue, and it just felt like

it was just overly done at the point where it

did detract a little bit from my enjoyment. Ultimately,

at the end of the day, I liked the characters

and the thing that they're just... Running from

and I don't want to give it away. It's a lot

of fun and really cool and there's so much Eliminate

potential with this title and with this team.

So that keeps me going So I don't want to say

I was disappointed in it But I only didn't think

when I'm looking at like the best recommendations

of this week I could see a lot of people especially

if you're not someone who was really Up on the

title like myself or know the past history find

a little bit of it too much and it just packed

again too much and maybe they should have just

focused on one character or two characters or

or make that threat that was ever there a little

bit more present because it became a little bit

repetitive by the third time. It's like, okay,

I know the song and dance and I'm just waiting

for it to happen. But I think maybe also my expectations

just may have been really too high. So I was

super excited for this. I couldn't wait. And

again, I like it. I like where this team is going.

I mean, the cover gives us an idea of other characters

that are going to appearing, like a cartoony

looking Wolverine. I really want to know how

that's going to work out. And also Valkyrie,

which is a Valkyrie very much depicted. on the

based on the character that was in the movie

so now that they do have the mcu i do wonder

if that's something we see more of which is i

think a really cool thing like seeing different

mcu inspired characters would make sense in a

book like this because you know they can exist

without having to worry about cotton annuity

or anything like that which is why i tend to

really enjoy this the other piece of it too is

like this is the first major threat this this

time eater or what have you and Is that going

to be the continue of this? What is the ultimate

end goal? This is going to be only a mini -series.

I don't know how long the plan is, but I hope

it goes on for a while. The other Exile series

went over around 100 issues and then we got new

Exiles, so there's potential for this book to

go on. I just know that 100 is not a number we

often see. We rarely see 20, let alone 100, but

I don't know. If you like the past Exiles, if

you enjoyed it, if you love Blink as a character

like I do, I feel like you'll get a lot what

you like. Do... know that this is a different

type of art style and so that might draw some

people away personally I did like it but I know

I saw some people complaining that it looks awful

I don't think it looks awful it looks it looks

great but it's a certain style that has an aesthetic

to it that is not as common within superhero

books which is what I like about it I like that

Marvel does at least attempt to Break the mold

of the typical superhero from time to time like

they did with power man and iron fist and now

with exile So I give it a recommend for sure.

It just wasn't strong enough for my recommendation

of the week We'll stay in the world of the X

-Men for X -Men Red number 3 and this is the

X -Men title for me. Just main X -Men titles

looking at X -Men Red, X -Men Blue, X -Men Green,

Yellow, Purple Dot, whatever other colors they

have. X -Men Red is far and away the best X -Men

main title book. Better than Astonishing, better

than Blue, better than Red. And I think it's

because it very much feels like an X -Men book

without feeling derivative of everything that

came before. To freely admit, I stopped reading

Blue and Red a while ago once they got into like

the Venom storylines and a little bit before

that the crossover is a mojoverse. It was just

like I was not enjoying it at all. So I might

go back to it, but I think X -Men has had a much

stronger start. I like Tom Taylor a lot. I like

the characters' voices that he has and It continues

here. Like I was never a huge Jean Grey fan.

She was never one of my favorite characters,

but she's becoming them She just has a command

to her in this that I find really appealing like

she is becoming the leader that you know You

would expect Cyclops to be and they're actually

adding a lot to her character and this continues

where we have The X -Men fighting in India with

Sentinel, which I'm always a fan of Sentinels

anytime they show up, but you have a new mutant

and a new member of the team that seems to have

the ability to control the machines a little

bit, but there's some other storylines going

on. What we see is that some sort of force and

it's a classic X -Men villain, maybe not classic,

but a fan favorite or... X -Men villain has shown

back up and seems like it's trying to cause more

trouble for mutants as Jean Grey is trying to

start this mutant nation. This villain is trying

to basically undercut and cause the world to

hate mutants. When again, we see that a lot.

And if you look at the cover, you see that Gambit

makes an appearance as we get some look into

New Orleans. And overall, I really like this

issue. There was one small problem I had specifically

within Gambit storyline. The way it ends, it's

kind of Tragic there's there's some a major event

occurs and then it shifts right to The other

storyline that was going on and it's a quick

joke And I thought it was totally a little sharp

of a turn from you know What basically is death

to kind of like a punchy little joke that was

thrown in and it wasn't I don't know The joke

itself wasn't offensive or anything like that.

It was just like wow That was kind of a powerful

moment, and then you undercut it by this quick

shift. It's hard to do in comics, especially

when you have a moment like that happen in the

middle of a book rather than at the end. but

I will say though within this, Tom Taylor's going

some places and some people may not like it.

I think it makes sense when you look at the history

of the X -Men that the storyline is going with

and it's always been a team that is about the

now and is politically motivated because the

mutant allegory has always been there and he's

not shying away from it, but at least approaching

it in somewhat a different angle. There are a

lot of timely references which I know I'm indifferent

about sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't

and I think the problem that you get with that

is that we're in a world where things change

so quickly that We move one thing to the next

to the point where you're if you're making a

call out to something that like there's let's

just say There's tiki torches in this and that

was obviously a huge thing in the news not too

long ago It's just that we shift as a culture

so quickly that if you're making a specific call

out to that it may seem outdated by the time

this book comes out it's not a big thing it's

just a small piece but it's just something that

was like okay that's there I get where you're

going I don't mind it but it's something you

think you have to tread relatively carefully

because a timely point can seem outdated really

quickly and then you wonder if it's like okay

that if you're using the real -life references

to bolster the claim you're trying to make or

bolster your themes by connecting these dots

rather than Constructing your own idea. I don't

think that's happening I think what Tom Taylor

is doing is working really well and it falls

in line with what we expect from the mutants

It's just sometimes when something is there that

you want to make a reference towards whether

it be like You know current protests or the current

discourse in the world construct a narrative

where it feels right and that's what he's been

doing So I think for some people that tried to

do similar things. It's not it's not as effective

but considering you're dealing with the Axeman

that have Ben this figurehead for some time now

since their creation in the 60s Continuing it

with today's politics makes the most sense and

ultimately I think too like what it comes down

to is that This use of character is relatively

strong and it's a good mixture of different personalities

that have all come together And I love where

it ends off And I also have to throw a lot of

praise, and I'm probably going to say this name

and butcher it really badly, so I do apologize,

is Mahmud Azrar. Probably not even close, but

the artist of this is phenomenal. Like, I knew

nothing of his work beforehand, but I'm loving

what this is happening. Especially the last page

that I don't want to give it away was like, man,

that's gorgeous. That's great to look at. A lot

of the X -Men books have been plagued with some

really poor art and man this is on another level

when it comes to that so kudos all around. So

I'm glad we have a really good X -Men book to

clamor towards now and I don't know what the

future of the X -Men is going to be but I really

hope this book stays around or at least Tom Taylor

continues working on the X -Men because I think

he's doing a fabulous job with it. All right

let's make our way over to the world of DC with

Immortal Men number one and this is another issue

out of the new age of heroes and it has one of

the most infamous artists of all time at least

in the world of Marvel and especially in my day

and age and that is Jim Lee and I like Jim Lee

a lot But I don't know, like, I feel like we've

gotten to the point where his work is so inconsistent,

it doesn't really show up as much. Whenever he

makes a book, it's supposed to be this huge gigantic

deal. If it's not like the best looking book

that I saw that week, I'm like, I don't know.

I don't know if it really deserved all the praise

up to this point, or if it's really worth the

wait. And I thought Immortal Man number one looked

good, but I have to say, like, I feel like reading...

Captain America 700, I like that art a lot more.

I thought the art in Dinos number 18 was phenomenal.

And Andres Sorrentino in Gideon Falls. I just

feel like Jim Lee's art is such synonymous with

DC where so many people try to copy it, where

it doesn't stand out as much as it used to. It's

still great to look at. But when I pick up an

issue with his name on it, if I didn't know it's

Jim Lee, if he didn't give me all the fanfare

beforehand, I wouldn't think he was one of the

greatest artists of all time. I say that having

no artistic skill whatsoever, but I just think

because DC is so set on keeping a certain house

style that kind of resembles his overall look,

it almost dilutes it in a little bit. Overall,

I thought Immortal Men number one was okay. This

is taking straight out of the world of Dark Knight's

Metal and if you heard me speak about that previously,

I wasn't the hugest fan of it and ultimately

I guess I was still somewhat lost with this.

Perhaps it's hurt by the fact that I'm not as

up on the lore of DC as I am with Marvel or other

companies, so I don't know if a lot of these

immortal men are established characters. I'm

not sure. Really, you know, outside of some of

the obvious, it seems like Vandal Savage is playing

a part in this, and also the Batman Who Laughs

makes appearance, but I thought the structure

here was good. James Teenean, as a writer, I

tend to like, but... I do think he overwrites

a lot and I think that does happen here where

at times where it gets a little overly verbose

But I do ultimately like the character at the

center of it is this kid who seems to be having

all these Dreams or possibly nightmares and he

seems to be the centerpiece of this the one that's

going to shift the focus as you will or Tip the

scales and I guess I like that idea. I like you

know it taking this kid and putting him in this

world of the immortals but there is a lot of

extraneous dialogue or narrative regarding kind

of the seriousness of it and I just the tone

I guess didn't work for me overall and it just

seemed it felt like an interpretation of like

an Alan Moore or something like that where it

was trying to go for these deep poetic siliquis

or diatribes that didn't completely work for

me it's not necessarily bad it just it reminds

me of what the issues I had with Dark Nights

Meadow where I feel like I am the outside looking

in and I'm not as well aware of some of the references

that they're being made or some of the characters

that they're talking about. So I feel lost in

a way. This doesn't seem all that welcoming.

This is like part of the New Age of Heroes, but

it doesn't feel all that new. It feels like it's

very much within the old. And if you're aware

of that old, a fan of that old, you probably

really like it. But myself, I'm just a little

bit lost. And I have appreciated the other New

Age of Hero books that are much more separated

in their own thing. like silencer so for me this

is again similar to something like dry country

that i talked about where it's not bad it just

may not be for me and i think for a lot of people

they probably do love this as why something like

exiles works a lot for me because i have that

background knowledge for those that enjoy these

characters they probably will if that's you i

could see you loving this if you love jim lee

you get that here you don't always get that so

that is something special but i was just left

cold by it so it's a mild recommend or i recommend

with an asterisk. And speaking of the new Age

of Hero books, another one that continues is

Sideways number three. And this one I am liking

a lot. Again, similar to Silencer, it is its

own thing. It's not really tied to anything.

Sideways is a very new character. This does touch

upon some stories that existed within Flash,

but it's such a small piece. It's not that important.

But I just like this character of Sideways. He's

it's again, it's these new age of heroes, a lot

of them books have been taking the format, the

tropes of Marvel characters, in this case Spider

-Man, and changing the power set, slightly adjusting

them and making them into the DC world, and sometimes

that works, sometimes it doesn't. I think why

Sideways works is because I really like the power

set and how it's utilized, the ability to teleport,

and how he comes about it, and there is also

a big piece in this where he goes toe -to -toe

with his maybe his major villain, Kills kill

speed or I forget the exact name but when you

learn her backstory You find out where motivations

come from and how she's not this evil type of

character And there's a little bit of tragedy

with what she is doing. I think that was appreciated

I felt like oh man. This is kind of a Generic

setup another speed character. There's so many

of those but this one actually ended up working

out decently well Because it wasn't the power

set that made her interesting. It was the story

that Made her interesting and almost in a way

felt very similar to something like that is going

on with the mighty thor i don't know if that's

purposeful or if it wasn't but it certainly has

certain elements that that tie to one another

and i guess i didn't expect that really and i

thought this was just going to be a stereotypical

hero faces real first villain storyline and it

added a little bit more and how it ended up had

a little bit of a shock to it too it's like well

that escalated in violence in ways i wasn't expecting

so i want to see how this Develops moving forward

and in the background there was this mysterious

force that was chasing him that hasn't shown

up But I want to see what happens when that moves

forward I don't know if this is a character that

can last like 50 67 issues or something like

that Because again, ultimately it's falling in

the same lines of other characters, but I'm just

gonna Enjoy this first arc for what it is see

if it continues but uh of all the new age heroes

books This is on more on the positive than negative

for me, you know I think this and silencer are

the ones i've enjoyed the most where the immortal

men that I talked about and Damage, I have not

loved all that much. So they've been really hit

or missed The ones that have worked for me are

the ones that were able to instill some sort

of wrinkle to make it a little bit different

than your stereotypical, okay, let's take this

character that exists with this publisher and

put him in the DC world and call it a day. When

they've added a little bit more, it's made it

a little bit more fun, a little bit more enjoyable.

That's happened with Silencer or Sideways. And

this is to me probably the best issue of it so

far. And that's a good thing now that it's continuing.

Usually... I give each series at least three

issues, and I was debating about dropping this,

but after this third issue, I'm gonna keep going

and seeing where it goes next. The next DC book

I wanted to talk about was How Jordan and the

Green Lantern Corps, number 42. This is becoming

one of my favorite series that is out in DC right

now. I loved the last arc. I thought it was a

lot of fun. It was sad to see it end where we

saw the Green Lanterns going up against Todd

and his family. So I was like, okay, can that

continue? Will the next story arc be as fun?

Still time to tell, but I like where it's starting

with this. We're seeing the characters of the

Dark Stars. I don't know much about them. I don't

know. I know it's something that exists within

the Green Lantern Corps. I'm not as up with my

TC knowledge as I am with Marvel, but they're

these robot -like creatures. It reminds me of

something like Exo Manor War that would combine

with the Green Lantern Corps. But what really

works for me in this is a conversation that is

happening between Hal Jordan and the former Green

Lantern of Toomaroo, who is this alien -like

creature. He looks like a combination of a bird

and a fish put together. But he was a Green Lantern,

but no longer is because he ended up murdering

someone. And it's a conversation over basically

what does true justice actually mean? And it's

a type of conversation you see a lot in comics,

right? A conversation that happens between...

Daredevil and the Punisher all the time about,

you know, is it right to kill those people when

they get to the point where a justice system

is unable to stop them, or is murder wrong? What

is the right justification for going off their

people where it's not like you can put in some

of these galactic beings in jail? Is it right

to kill them, especially if you have the power

to do so, and ultimately will lead to better

things for certain individuals when you have

a tenorical, all -powerful leader? destroyed

rather than put aside and only to come back at

a later time and it's a conversation that goes

back and forth about what's right and right what's

wrong living up to being a hero as Timurus has

a replacement who was a Alien from his same race

who used to look up to him, but now doesn't because

of what he did I just thought it was an intriguing

conversation again, it's not necessarily something

that's brand new but I thought it was approached

really well and how it overall fits into this

story in the dark stars and what it means going

forward so it does what a good first story arc

should do. It provides the ideas it's going for,

the characters, the pieces, and a fantastic hook

by the end. So it's, you know, it's not good

comic books sometimes to just take the recipe

that has been created and execute it well, and

that's exactly what this did. It wasn't running

for me for pick of the week, but I thought that

the Deadhead number one just offered something

brand brand new, and I was a little bit more

intrigued by the ending of that than I was this.

But still, it's really good. I thought, you know,

after that last arc, this would be a drop off

and not be as good. The art is also fantastic.

It looks really great when I talked about how

some of the DC books look a lot like Jim Lee

in general. This and Immortal Men, I mean, it's

a different style, but... It's not that different

in quality when I look at it, which I know may

be sacrilegious for some people, but just in

the execution, I thought, you know, this looks

great. It's beautiful to look at, great coloring.

It fits the Green Lantern world really well.

So I've not loved Green Lanterns, but this has

worked. I love the how it's utilizing all the

different lanterns, and I'm excited to see where

these dark stars and how it escalates from here.

So I highly recommend for me if you're looking

for... Good starting point. This is another one

if you want something that's more in the traditional

superhero realm All right. Well, let's move over

to the world of Dark Horse for Resident Alien

an alien in New York number one And this is a

series that has had a number of different miniseries

There's been welcome to Earth the suicide blonde.

I've read a few of them I'm not super up on Resident

Alien, but I know enough of it to understand

the concept and the premise of it is it's fun

It's this idea of this alien who was shipwrecked

on earth and it's just really biding his time

until he can find a way home and doing so he's

able to disguise himself so no one realizes he's

an alien and he plays the role of a doctor for

this small washington town also though he likes

to you know dabble in some crime mystery and

be his own little detective so it's like a layer

on top of a layer you have your you know science

fiction alien trying to solve crime it's a lot

of fun in that way and uh this is a little bit

hard I think for a new reader if you've not read

any of the previous series because it does tie

in story wise into some beats that occurred.

I think you can enjoy it well enough in the sense

of he's really worried that other people will

find out that he is in fact an alien he's trying

to hide his identity he's worried that the government

is going to be out there trying to get him you

know for reasons that are understandable and

so he's heavily debating leaving this town because

it seems that there are On occasion people who

can actually see who he is outside of his disguise

So when you read the pages, he looks like an

alien to you as a reader But all the other people

in that universe view him as a normal human being

except for a select few and Unfortunately, one

of the select few was a child who is also was

patient who doesn't have a problem with it actually

really likes him But of course, you know when

one person knows there's a risk that others will

so it's kind of picking up from that thread line

and then The big ending piece of this actually

is weirdly about this artist who goes missing

in New York City, kind of like a Banksy type

of artist, street artist. And it seems like the

next issue will be him trying to figure out what

exactly happened to him and try to solve that

mystery. So it is the fact that I am giving away

pretty much everything that happened in the book,

but... This is not necessarily a book that drives

on plot anyways. It's really the communication

within the characters, the character development

that is really the king here, the relationships

of those characters. And I guess the only downside

is this issue very much is 100 % set up to what

is going to be ultimately the main storyline.

So it's almost like the cold open to what will

be the actual film. So that might take things

away, but I just really enjoy this book. Like

I said, it's just got a lot of... It's got an

intriguing perspective, and it's just the fun

idea of this alien dressed up as a detective

solving crime. It's an oddity, and that oddity

I really enjoy. If you have any interest in that,

maybe go back and check out some of the other

mini -series. There's plenty of them out there,

and they're only usually a few issues. That's

usually like kind of Dark Horse's method where,

you know, each series tends to have different

multi -series or mini -series. Like you see that

a lot with Hellboy. This is the same thing. So

even though this isn't super new reader friendly,

I think there's enough here that you can enjoy

the bulk of it. And maybe by issue two, those

pieces that I spoke about really won't even be

playing into the plot because it seems like he

will be taking that trip if the title tells us

anything. New York City to figure out what happened

to this mysterious street artist, which I don't

know. I'm intrigued. I'm going to keep reading

it. Alright, well let's move over to the world

of boom studios for the comic Robocop citizens

are asked number one and the big reason this

caught my eye I do like Robocop. It's one of

my all -time favorite films But mostly because

the writer Brian Wood was writing it who I'm

also a really big fan of he's not someone I would

necessarily immediately associate with Something

like Robocop, but I guess I guess it can work.

He's done some other licensed material, you know,

he's done Conan he's done aliens in the past.

So maybe maybe he does make sense Yeah, most

recently to me like with some of his best series

has been breaks land which has been I wouldn't

say fun has been it's a really well constructed

story and DMZ was another major title from him

and with this what's Different about this issue

was the fact that even though it says Robocop.

It doesn't really use Robocop a lot much. He's

he really didn't only has Almost a cameo appearance

in a way within this and what it's about it takes

place in the same world as Robocop But in the

future New Detroit is dealing with a huge new

set of problems if you watch Robocop in the previously

You know, it's a pretty awful city with a lot

of crime now crime has really much been fixed

and on the outset It almost looks like a paradise

where what's cleaner brighter looking Detroit?

people seem to be prosperous and somewhat happy

but what has happened is there is this new app

that people use to report crime there are these

robots that will come around these drones just

to sniff out any expected crime and you actually

will you pay amount of money to report crime.

And if you're right, you get paid. If you don't,

I guess it's taken away from you. But it goes

into the idea of sit -ins for the rest, where

people begin reporting on each other. And the

more you report on each other and the more more

you are right, the more points you get. Almost

this crazy incentive program to be nosy with

your neighbors. And it's been effective in the

sense of, yeah, there's less crime, but there

are still pockets in communities where it has

negatively impacted them as you would expect.

And much of this story is on a normal everyday

comp and it begins when his son is first born.

Fast forward five years and his son's a little

bit older and he stumbles upon Robocop and he

thinks that Robocop might have some of the answers

to his problems and all as you would expect.

when a company is in charge of stopping crime

with some crazy actors, some evil people behind

the scenes that are, you know, pulling strings

to the benefit of themselves. So this is really

just a major setup issue. I did like, you know,

some of the ideas that was going for as a Robocop

fan. I feel like it falls in line with original

Robocop, but it doesn't just try to replicate

the same messages or ideas that happened there.

And I was actually somewhat impressed by the

fact that this was called Robocop, but they,

you know, they Brian Wood is like, OK, I'm going

to do a Robocop book, but I'm not going to have

Robocop didn't that much at least for the first

issue so that makes the second issue to me all

that more exciting because what happens when

he shows up does it change the dynamic of this

world all that much differently or what exactly

happens so I would highly recommend this if you're

a huge Robocop fan I think you would like it

it would it would kind of scratch that itch especially

if you hated the recent reboot movie which was

to me as disappointing as you would expect, but

I know it's fun. It's good. Boom Studios has

some nice stuff that I like, some I don't. This

one is falling into the one that I like. All

right, one more book for today, and that is Bloodshot

Salvation Number Nine. And the last issue of

Bloodshot Salvation was, I would say a gutsy

move because it had very little art. It was just

kind of a combination of black and shadow as...

Bloodshot became blind. It was trying to make

his way through hell. It was super claustrophobic.

So I thought it was an effective issue I did

like it I could feel a lot of people hating it

because it's like this is cheap There's no art

here, but I don't know I thought Jeff Lemire

did a good job utilizing that gimmick in an effective

way This is an issue that's much more straightforward.

You can now see but it's still bloodshot in hell

and with a baby and a dog And I don't know, that

to me is a lot of fun. It's insane to me how

different Jeff Lemire's work can be comic to

comic. You have Essex County, you have Gideon

Falls that I talked about. And then you have

Bloodshot Salvation, which doesn't seem like

a Jeff Lemire book at all, but I like this approach

that he's going with. And I thought this was

a lot of fun. I think it's an effective story.

Anytime you give a character like Bloodshot a

kid or a baby to take care of, you got me hooked.

And it's similar to other issues. This is, again,

a big setup to what's coming next as Bloodshot

is. given a choice to make in order to save his

daughter from dying. And, you know, it works.

And I love how this is actually tying in a lot

of the different work Jeff Lemire has been doing

with Bloodshot since he began. I still think

it was fast when it started, when he started

with Bloodshot Reborn. This is still really good.

I like that it's tying back into the 4001 universe

without even getting anything away, because I

like the... The approach that he took there.

So I'm excited to where it's going next again

I love the idea of bloodshot and a dog and for

those that don't know bloodshots like this combination

of like Terminator and Wolverine and the Punisher

all thrown into one and I like when you have

a character like that who can seem unstoppable

you need to do something to make him appealing

make do something that there are actual stakes

there and Giving him a kid It's a good way to

do that. If you're a Bloodshot fan, this is a

good story arc. This is not at all a jumping

on point by any stretch of the imagination because

this has been really building for some time now,

but I really like what Valiant's been doing and

they have their major event that's coming up

with Harbinger Wars 2 really soon. I don't know

if this is going to tie into that, but I wish

if anything we got a little bit more time of

Bloodshot in Hell and got a little bit more exploration

there. There's a chance that can still happen,

but I didn't like the little bit that we did

get. Alright, that'll bring us to the end of

today's episode, and I want to give you a hand

up with some things to be looking forward to.

This Thursday... I'm really excited by the fact

that I got the opportunity to speak with Mark

Russell, the writer of Snagglepus, the writer

of Flintstones, the upcoming writer of the Judd

Stredge series, and we talked about a lot of

things from the Flintstones' current work, his

background being an author, so you can look forward

to that on this episode feed coming out Thursday.

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

tons of ways to do that. Obviously, you can get

me on Twitter at movierevolt. You can send an

email to the show at movierevolt at keycastradio

.com. The Comic Con Sierra is also... on Facebook

and Twitter, just search Comic Concierge. And

you can also comment on the episode post, getageecafrio

.com or nerdly .co .uk to find that out. Also

some other episodes planned that I'm excited

about. I've continued my conversation with Matt

from Slipistic Reviews regarding Harrow County,

and that'll be coming out soon as well. And some

other special guests that I think you'll really

enjoy. But ultimately, if you want to really

support the show, go to iTunes, leave us a review,

because it would really help us out a great deal.

But that's it for this week. Remember that comics

are for... everyone the key is finding the right

one. Until next time, thanks for listening.