[SPEAKER_01]: What is up, everybody?
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome to the stack on the Alex.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm Justin.
[SPEAKER_01]: And on the stack, we talked about a bunch of books that have come out this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is a big week.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's Superman week.
[SPEAKER_01]: Superman.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm the movie theater.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: Forers coming out in a few weeks.
[SPEAKER_01]: And honestly, there might be some comics that are coming out as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: I honestly don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we often talk about how comics actually are what make the comic book movies.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this week, we're showing up.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're showing out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody bring your stack to the movie theaters, carry them wherever you go.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's our time.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is our time and it's also the fantastic fours time so why don't we get into it with fantastic four first steps number one from Marvel written by Matt Fraction art by Mark Buckingham.
[SPEAKER_01]: The conceit here is that this is a comic from inside the MCU.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is a retelling documentary style of the origin and first mission of the fantastic four.
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, I don't want to spoil it too much.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not actually what it is.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it is this team giving us a lot of groundwork that presumably
[SPEAKER_01]: we won't see in the movie or we'll see in like smattering of news footage to set things up because by the time the movie starts the team is already established and it's four years on from when they were first introduced so that all said we got a great team on this matter action doing some comic book writing he's only sporadically done that over the past couple years mark buckingham already great so given this in the universe thing uh... how to strike you Justin
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, it's an interesting book, especially coming out before we've all seen the movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because this book is one of those classic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like you tell a story where you had a, there's a comic book novelization that came out before a movie and you picked it up and it spoiled some stuff from back in the day.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do talk about the crawl adaptation a lot, but I don't think, I don't think that spoiled too much.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, this one, I feel like I'm like, it's giving me a little too much of a window into the movie when I'm not ready to do that right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: So like, there's a little bit of that, but that's, you know, something that we can be a little bit mad about, but not super mad about because it's
[SPEAKER_00]: This comic is interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's telling a story.
[SPEAKER_00]: It has the matte fraction vibe that I feel like we've been missing.
[SPEAKER_00]: In comics ever since he's been sort of stepped back from the business a bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a fun sort of series of pull quotes throughout this that give us a nice window into these characters which since we haven't seen the movie yet, it is we have not gotten yet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, like I said, I really like this tea, but I think this is a well put together package throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: They do it magazine style, so we're getting the comic book retelling, but we're also getting interviews with Mr. Fantastic.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get like a very tiger beat style interview with Johnny Storm, other little interludes and ads there, so it's very cute.
[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that weirdly didn't quite hit for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Mark Buckingham.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was something not working about his celebrity likenesses at this book that felt a little unattotty to me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like the actions get the layouts are good, but I don't know, it didn't quite look like Vanessa Kirby, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, whatever the thing looks like the thing, so we can't really complain too much there.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, but I feel like this is like the thing is like the classic comic booky thing and then everyone else is movie versions and then we get some some real life photography of them in here as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's sort of like it's that thing of crossing over where you're like, I'm not comfortable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not here with them yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, these aren't my guys yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we're we're a little bit on the outside here.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to throw out one other thing and I know it feels like I'm a love big of this book, but generally I liked and I enjoyed it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think if you are interested in the movie it's well worth the pick up, but there is a story on the comics beat that I've hardly agree with about the visual design of the advertising for first steps that is supposed to be this retro future thing, but I think what Heidi at the beat was getting at is
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all like a little too modern.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they didn't get, she keeps pointing out throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: They did not get Alex Ross to do any of the advertising for the movie, which feels like such a no-brainer.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's just this iconic artist that really captures the classic look of the characters.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think it's the same thing with the visual design here in this book where
[SPEAKER_01]: it's supposed to feel like something that comes out of the nineteen sixties but if it looks too modern it's too glossy there's too much like Photoshop filters going on and some of the backgrounds of things like that where it doesn't feel like a lost artifact from nineteen sixty four whatever year right supposed to be it feels like it came out today and that's more which is what did happen that's what happened out
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm saying.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, it feels like a slight miss on the follow-through of something like this from a tie-in perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's interesting because I also, I do think there's another book that I would call fantastic four number one in this stack that we're going to talk about that I feel like is nailing that, but I don't want to spoil myself.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we'll see what that is.
[SPEAKER_01]: Could be fantastic for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone could be number one fantastic for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a big win.
[SPEAKER_01]: This part of the stack.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're not at that part of the stack house.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, what do we move from a fantastic for back to Superman who is celebrating this week?
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going nuts.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's beginning.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is he's personally cutting pretty loose.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_00]: That guy's super troll.
[SPEAKER_01]: Super Bad Treasury, twenty twenty five hero for all number one from DC Connoxert by Dan Jergens, art by Bruno Redondo.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is an oversized original story by this team that actually has nothing to do with the movie.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just like a very classic Dan Jergens throw an absolutely all of the iconic Superman stuff into.
[SPEAKER_01]: That was wood jipper, but that's not really negative.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a little woodchipper in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a little woodchipper.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, but it's a classic superman adventure.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's fighting cyborg superman.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're fighting proxibal.
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that who it is?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, madam.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, that's not proxibal.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Maxima.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maxima.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of X's go out of the dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, uh, I was pleasantly surprised by this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought this would be like ten pages of a danger.
[SPEAKER_01]: Goods breedow down to a story and then we got a couple of like pin-ups and news about the movie and then filler stories and like here's another reprint of action comics number one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nope, it's like full-eyed.
[SPEAKER_01]: made lighting, dad jerky, this classic writing alongside some really beautiful, as usual, breeder would down to art.
[SPEAKER_01]: So honestly, I was very pleasantly surprised and pleased by this.
[SPEAKER_01]: How about you?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, same.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it, the art is spectacular in this and something that we, you know, Bruno Rdando with everyone is on to
[SPEAKER_00]: to be very blunt about it like he's out there as an artist everybody wants to see we're amongst those people to have him on a big Superman story that crosses through a lot of continuity but to use your woodchipper analogy if I make all of that please don't
[SPEAKER_00]: it does take um it takes a lot of bits and pieces from Superman and and puts them together in a way that definitely kept me guessing and if this is like the official tie-in week for all of comic them
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is very much a let's bring back some comic readers that haven't read comics in a while type time because it's just a great Superman story that you do have to know enough about you can't just walk into this like you can the fantastic for issue we just talked about it is like deep in continuity but because it's rooted in that we get a lot of great emotionality
[SPEAKER_00]: Something that people also struggle with with Superman I feel like who aren't reading something some of the best stuff they're like what this character he's too strong where's where's my in on it this this comic has that I feel like
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Why don't we talk about the return of one of our favorite books.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pete, our co-host is not here.
[SPEAKER_01]: He hates this book because it scares him too much.
[SPEAKER_01]: Too scary for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Just the right amount of scary for us.
[SPEAKER_01]: Beneath the trees for nobody sees right of spring.
[SPEAKER_01]: Number one from IDW by Patrick Horvath.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now if you didn't read the first series we focused on a serial killer adorable bear named Sam who just got away with murder.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now we're picking up a couple of years later and turning the focus for most of the issue to the sister of the duck who was killed back at the first issue of the original beneath the trees.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, Justin.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a not a character we're like, we've been waiting for.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, a lot of ways.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's not someone we've met.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, exactly, but I thought this was phenomenal.
[SPEAKER_01]: It flips the perspective to this new character, but shows she is as set in her ways as Sam is.
[SPEAKER_01]: It builds the tension over the course of the book.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to spoil too much, leading to a last page that I was like, giddy over.
[SPEAKER_01]: The art is gorgeous throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is just continues to be one of the best books on the stands.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so excited.
[SPEAKER_01]: So excited to see back.
[SPEAKER_00]: For those of you watching on YouTube, I'm in a murder place about to be killed.
[SPEAKER_00]: And even though I'm at the hands of a serial killer's like a attempt to kill me, I still have been given the ability to read a lot of comics here and of way to stick to the routine, my killer.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this book is awesome.
[SPEAKER_00]: We loved the first series so much.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about it a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this continues it on, but comes at it from a completely different perspective, which is hard to do to do what you've done, but come at it from the opposite direction.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's great.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get the same sort of malaise or melancholy look at this world, this sort of murder, Richard Scary's universe type thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I actually think I'm curious what you think Alex, this feels like it's taking a step away from that sort of first take premise that was there in the first series.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I think so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think what Horavath is doing here like I touched on a little bit before is
[SPEAKER_01]: the idea of patterns like we already saw Sam's patterns she builds up a need to kill goes out of town does it very methodically breaks these people apart a lot of the first series is about shaking that up thanks to the introduction of a new serial killer here we get to see this duck lady who does the same thing an ostensibly she's trying to find her brother and what happened to her brother and gets a closure there but she's been stuck in these patterns in the same way so
[SPEAKER_01]: It flips it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It gives us this new window character that we can identify with and we could brute for.
[SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, it jubbles things up, at least in terms of my feelings.
[SPEAKER_01]: Because you, I don't know, as a reader, you feel very conflicted with your following a serial killer.
[SPEAKER_01]: You want Sam to get out of this one, but at the same time, she should it.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, yeah, she kill it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it makes you, she kill him, she be killing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's also especially tricky to come upon serve our, our central character, the murder to duck, that everyone's talking about that the sister's chasing.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that person we know is dead.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we know more about what's happening than the characters on the page.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's often like not a great place or a difficult place to tell a story, but this just, it just ramps up the tension for where we get.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it also does a lot of great,
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like I said, melancholic world building as we get to the big reveal on the last couple of pages.
[SPEAKER_01]: Great book.
[SPEAKER_01]: Do not mix it and you're not going to believe this just in our next book is fantastic for number one for the market.
[SPEAKER_01]: But now it's we've already covered this.
[SPEAKER_01]: No, this is never one.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a different one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Written by Rye North, art by Emberto Remos.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rye North is a little cheeky about it in the back matter, but
[SPEAKER_01]: It was basically a continuation of the run that he was already doing on Fantastic Four.
[SPEAKER_01]: However, one thing that we were a little worried about that we talked about with the last quote, unquote issue of his previous run was that was for the most part done in one issues.
[SPEAKER_01]: They present premise, a science, something science fiction based, follow it through and at the end.
[SPEAKER_01]: They had a couple of two partners in there, but for the most part it was these one and done, which is great.
[SPEAKER_01]: With that work here, spoiler.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not a what it does.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is kicking off an ongoing story where we get the fantastic for our attacking doom.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's in continuity, so he is the emperor of the Marvel Universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: They lose and doom shoots them to four different places in times and other lost in time and they got to figure out a way back to each other.
[SPEAKER_01]: Justin seemed like you had some thoughts about this when we were talking about the first temps comic.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're going to give one fantastic for one issue to a new comic reader on this, a couple weeks before the fantastic movie comes out, I think this is the comic to give them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this does a great job of setting up the characters, giving you the relationships, but also giving you just a great story that feels like a classic early run fantastic for story.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hooked into a big adventure.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't need to know too much about the Emperor, Doom stuff that's going on in the main comics.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it also is has enough of the flavor of Ryan North's run of rooted in science or, like, at least an interesting idea that these characters can rally around.
[SPEAKER_00]: In this case, it's something called the Forever Stone that I won't spoil.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I thought was awesome and able to have that sort of science-based thing without it being
[SPEAKER_00]: feeling a little more all ages, which I feel like is something that a lot of people criticize the previous Ryan North run for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think that's a valid criticism.
[SPEAKER_00]: I loved it, and this is even better though, I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: I totally agree with you.
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, a drum that I beat pretty often is that you do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is so hard to get you to put it down to podcasts.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Stop it with the drum.
[SPEAKER_01]: I paid so much money for the drum set and the lessons.
[SPEAKER_01]: I kind of like get my money back somehow.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_01]: I, I, it drives me up the wall when there is a new movie or TV show coming out at the comic book industry always says this tendency to be like, oh, great news.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a whole movie coming out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Hulk is now a red and he just works at a coffee shop.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It has like literally nothing to do with the movie.
[SPEAKER_01]: So they launch a new number one and it just does not tie it.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's this wall for readers.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think instead of inviting them in,
[SPEAKER_00]: The coffee shops at hell, readers and seconds.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know how to make this with.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was worried about this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was worried because when I heard the premise of like great news, there's a new fantastic form movie coming.
[SPEAKER_01]: We have a new fantastic for number one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pick it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: The team is fighting Emperor Dube for the one world under Dube storyline that is eight months in at this point.
[SPEAKER_01]: and also they're going to be separated and time and not working together as a team.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think are what I just said, right?
[SPEAKER_01]: Because all you need to know is they're fighting Dr. Doob, like the one world that they're doing stuff really doesn't matter at all for this issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it just sets up who each of these characters are, what their skill sets are, what their about nails their personalities.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you're absolutely right.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not the circumstances of the movie at all, but it tells us who these people are.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, I would be hooked on this.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd be like, Oh, these are cool.
[SPEAKER_01]: I want these characters to get out of this situation that they're stuck in because it's fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's emotional.
[SPEAKER_01]: The art's great from Roberto Ramos, so great for a station.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would be hooked.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am hooked.
[SPEAKER_00]: How do you feel about this cover?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, it's a very, honestly, I feel like this is the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: There should be the cover of the other book.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has very like magazine cover vibes to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I feel like, I don't like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's so many things that I don't love about it not to love about it too much, but like Reed Richards in the background, I guess is fine, except it really seems to be emphasizing the fact that he has a lack of genitals and visible woman is way too front and center and covering too much of the cover.
[SPEAKER_01]: I also don't know why there's a big red sun behind her.
[SPEAKER_01]: Thing seems to be like stuck at some pushes on the bottom and be like, well, check out her crotch.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's
[SPEAKER_00]: to his busy and a classic quote from the thing he has like three quotes it's clover in time low check out her crotch and something about yancy street I will find out what that is later I guess yeah
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to move on to talk about Trinity daughter of Wonder Woman number two from DC Comics, or by Tom King, art, by Bell N. Ortega.
[SPEAKER_01]: There are three trinities at three different points into her history who have lost a bunch of super powered corgi's in time.
[SPEAKER_01]: This issue, the middle trinity goes to visit Jason Todd right before he dies in death of a family to get a bat corgi very awkward.
[SPEAKER_01]: But here's something I was surprised about.
[SPEAKER_01]: The first issue ended spoiler here and I should put a blanket spoiler warning for this.
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything ended with the reveal that this book is going to probably be about Steve Trevor returning to life.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's actually like the big thing that's going on in the background here.
[SPEAKER_01]: This issue is not about that.
[SPEAKER_01]: In fact, you know, is a really cute sweet romance between Ted Jason Todd and Ted Triddy.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's adorable.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is, and you know, I love, first of all, I love this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this continues the Trinity tone that we've gotten all of the backups and the Wonder Woman stories, something that I didn't think this book was going to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that leaves me with, can this book just be this?
[SPEAKER_00]: Can this character that has so much potentiality or so much continuity weight on her shoulders?
[SPEAKER_00]: Just keep doing these like really sweet, interesting, light-hearted adventure stories?
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think probably not because it's Tom King, you know, and even in this issue, he creates a level of pathos and poignancy based on the fact that like we know Jason is about to go and get killed something that they're very explicit about.
[SPEAKER_01]: throughout the issue, but it is still sweet.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's still very delightful throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we are, even with the Steve Trevor thing though, in the first issue, though it's still, there was a lightness to it, even though he was approaching the three fates.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I hope so.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I think there's really a place for all ages, comedy, YA focused book on the stands.
[SPEAKER_01]: And it may be that what I know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I'm pleased and like always in podcast and say your punctuation period because people really like to hear come from us.
[SPEAKER_00]: Come I exactly what we mean exclamation point.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what I was trying to say is maybe that is the idea behind this issue specifically.
[SPEAKER_00]: that Jason Todd is a character that is just like literally ripe falling off the branch continuity wise and that's where our story is set and this is romance is in the shadow of that and the same way that Trinity a character is in the shadow of Diana Wonder Woman in a way and how she came to be and what she means for the DC universe that that's sort of what Tom Kings playing with.
[SPEAKER_01]: Archie meets Jay and Silent Bob, number one from Archie Comics, written by Kevin Smith, Art by Fernando Ruiz, per the title, exactly what you think happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: Archie gets a job at the quick stop.
[SPEAKER_01]: They go to a Josie and the pussy cat.
[SPEAKER_01]: concert.
[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that I was not expecting is this is way more in the Jay and Silent Boba universe world than the Archie world.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's cursing, there's runchiness, there's drugs.
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought we were going to get them like cleaning it down a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: They did not, and you know, it's like, you ever, like, what's a movie that you, when you were a kid, you watch for their parents and you're like, oh man, I don't like this, I'm watching this with my parents.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have this sexy, or this like horrifying violence is making everyone uncomfortable because we're watching it together.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what this book feels like to me and not to be like a prude about it because I like both of these things.
[SPEAKER_00]: But together,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a total mismatch in a way that I feel like Archie versus Predator, they fix that.
[SPEAKER_00]: They got that one, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: And this one feels wrong in a way that I'm like, ah, yeah, be a key.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, I'll full disclosure, Kevin Smith is somebody that, I don't know, I would say, whatever clerkscape, like, twenty years ago is like, this, the best I love this.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, it's not for me anymore.
[SPEAKER_01]: I've sort of grown away for that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know there are a lot of people, particularly in our comic book club.
[SPEAKER_01]: Discord who are super psyched about this book, and I hope they enjoy it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But definitely go ahead to it.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, I don't know about this one.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if this is for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will say it's pretty packed with jokes.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Kevin Smith does get the Archie Comics multiple jokes per page thing going on.
[SPEAKER_01]: The thing that threw me more than anything else is the deep continuity with the universe of the clerk series, particularly like
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess this is a spoiler, but Dante died, I guess.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's three.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something I have not seen clicks.
[SPEAKER_01]: Something I was not aware of.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, I got to the actor die.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't know about it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I looked it up.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, he's not dead.
[SPEAKER_01]: What is going on here?
[SPEAKER_00]: It has the human died energy to the whole story.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, oh, God, I feel awful.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, wait a second.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, no, I don't need to do this in that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Why isn't that a character?
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm not sure why they needed to do that necessarily because the Archie thing is clearly like iconic and timeless.
[SPEAKER_01]: So why not hit the most iconic and timeless version of the Ascutea vs. Well, I don't know why we need to pay tribute to Dante in particular.
[SPEAKER_01]: Confusing.
[SPEAKER_00]: Confusing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say the art was really cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was cool to see the clerks, the skew of verse, sort of Archie eyes, as we get in this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And there is some fun stuff in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think we read a Kevin Smith book a couple weeks ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think in the spider first, adjacent thing, he did as he had a story and maybe it was a spider annual.
[SPEAKER_00]: but it was really funny and I highlighted like oh Kevin Smith sort of still has his swing when it comes to writing comedy in comics and this you can feel that a little bit it's just it's turned the continuity to his turned up so high on the skewer stuff that it feels a little strange especially mixed with the total mismatch of archie yeah
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move on, talk about Marvel's swimsuit special friends' foes and rivals, number one from Marvel, written by Tim Seely and Tony Flies, art by Nick Bradshaw, and Roosinburg.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got a framing story from Celie and me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Big time framing story about how Roxanne has put out a AI version of a swimsuit special in the heroes decide to fight back by creating their own authentic swimsuit special.
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course you get pin-ups peppered throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the positive I'll say is I thought the framing story was a lot of fun, Celie and Felice.
[SPEAKER_01]: clearly know there's stuff here like they went in on this sort of thing in local ban over at image comics so they're definitely playing all of the beats correctly right here and setting up ridiculous things like cloak dagger being like I don't know should we do a swimsuit not which is very funny the punchline with the puttershire at the end was great I thought maybe laugh out loud
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to throw something out about the pit ups and I know this is probably going to come off wrong.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm actually very happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pete is not here because he would take this entirely the wrong way.
[SPEAKER_01]: This book is dangerously levels of unhorny and should be way hordier.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like you can store it.
[SPEAKER_01]: or the pit of the pit ups very specifically like there's one or two in there I thought my mood is rarer's pit up of wow cat and spidey love there's about to highlight that my guy is good yeah that's great these things should be like
[SPEAKER_01]: hilariously over the top, ridiculous, ronchy.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what we should be channeling with a swimsuit special.
[SPEAKER_01]: This feels so, I'm blanking on the right word to use, but like, it feels so homogenized, and I think that comes through it particular, the one that stood out to me, and this is not to lump on an artist, but there's a pin-up of Elsa Bloodstone doing the classic like,
[SPEAKER_01]: What's the centennial baby thing?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, the sort of pulled bikini bottom by a dog.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, in this case it's Jeff the Ledgehark, pulling her bikini bottom down with Deadpool in the background kind of being blocked.
[SPEAKER_01]: But she has like full on total swimsuit.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just Jeff sort of like pulling it a little bit.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't to be clear.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do not need to see Elsa bloodstores butt.
[SPEAKER_01]: But there's a level of like, well, we can't show that.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're Disney.
[SPEAKER_01]: We can't show that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That everything is like, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just like, great.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm glad you guys are having fun by the pool.
[SPEAKER_01]: Good.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another classic Alex Allen review of a comic, not a horny enough America to leave.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do disagree.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I really like the framing story here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with you specifically for the joke that they're setting up here that I think you're right.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this, this strikes me as something where the pin-ups sort of came first, perhaps mostly where they were like, let's do a swimsuit issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's get out of these artists to do great like one page swimsuit.
[SPEAKER_00]: pages, splash pages, and then the story came around it so that it is like about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will say the Elsa Bloodstone image you're describing.
[SPEAKER_00]: They weirdly have very strong tan lines on her without showing her butt.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know how about those tan lines Alex.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is that doing it for you?
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess not.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not about doing it for me or anything like that like it okay thinking back I this was a prime thing if the nineties and two thousand's when They were trying to chattel like backs of an FHAB and all of this stuff to bring it back now in the current era that Marvel is in I just I do not think they could do it right that's all
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's fair and it is funny to take something that was unabashedly just horny taking characters that like are not the Punisher famously that is what they're playing with here with the joke and doing that and finding a way to still do it but they've since softened their stance on the idea of a swimsuit issue is I think what you're highlighting is like oh there it is again something here that doesn't quite match up, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I still like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think the framing story helps just comic readers enjoy this more than just being like, wow, that is one hot cloak and dagger.
[SPEAKER_00]: But that cloak and dagger pin up is also very good.
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you want to, if we will be out with our horny rankings here in a couple of weeks,
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, can I make one for it not to belabor this, but just a contrast it with what DC does on their variant covers, which we've joked about a lot, but like the sweater weather covers or coming up on October.
[SPEAKER_01]: They have this thing called pumpkin spicy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think
[SPEAKER_01]: They do it the right way.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they do it where you have like you laugh out loud at the audaciousness of what they're doing and they are a little sexy but it's also silly because you count them in these tiny little bikinis and everything.
[SPEAKER_01]: They're outrageously over the top and that's what that's channeling this is not.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, what are we saying?
[SPEAKER_00]: Put it on the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: We both said that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pete isn't here, but I do want to speak for him.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pete actually sent me a text being like, me horny, me wanting toward your comic, yum yum is what?
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know it's Pete when he signs off with his signature yum yum.
[SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely super bad number not from DC Comics written by Jason Arad Art by Rafa Zavall and Fiko Asio.
[SPEAKER_01]: In this issue, Calel has been taken in by the Omega Man after getting hit with some kryptonite bullets and is maybe joining them to fight back against the Lazarus Corporation.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think Justin?
[SPEAKER_00]: I really like this comic.
[SPEAKER_00]: Continue.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the most like dangerous or fraught of all of the absolute books.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like absolute Superman was straight up dying at the end of last issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it continues in this issue, but he's able to get out of it in a while.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I'm going to start talking because the dogs are barking.
[SPEAKER_00]: My dog is, but my dog is saying not horny enough.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what he's mad about.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what I was saying is like, this is, the stakes are always so high in this comet both philosophically and emotionally for the characters and the danger that the callll is in always in this comet.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the way they've been able to put Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane, and Calel in different places, and they still get to come together.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, yeah, I don't know what's going to happen every issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really like this as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is really well done.
[SPEAKER_01]: My one little quam with it is, even though I really like both Rafa said, Devol and Pico Asio, it was a bummer to see something from the absolute line, which is such a art-forward line where they were having essentially fill in artists.
[SPEAKER_01]: I understand they need to make a monthly schedule, and that's going to happen, but I think... It's summer at Alex, everyone's taking a break.
[SPEAKER_01]: everybody's taking a break.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, over at absolute Batman, like they've had this very intentional switch-up of the artists where we've talked about this before, like Gabriel Walton came in for a flashback issue, or Marcos Martinez came in for a two-part Mr. Freeze arc.
[SPEAKER_01]: Here, getting it in the same issue, their Rafa and Fiko, I don't know either, but
[SPEAKER_01]: Roth and Vico are a little bit of mismatch in terms of the art.
[SPEAKER_01]: So that threw me when they went from page to page, particularly because it's not like switching between flashback sequences.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not changing it up in any way.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I hope this is a one-time thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope going forward we get consistent artists for the issues because that's been a really standout of the absolute line so far.
[SPEAKER_01]: Rick and Morty versus the universe number one for motie press written by Daniel kibblesmith art by Jared Williams the big headline here is this the first event series from the Rick and Morty franchise over at only press I will say it's like a lighter of that where we're getting
[SPEAKER_01]: I think four issues series that a couple of one shot spit offs all written by Daniel Kibble Smith.
[SPEAKER_01]: But this is very fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: We get Rick and Morty taking the universe, the little prescives of vacation of the universe to his bachelor party because he's bearing another universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it gets crunchy, it gets bad, things go bad.
[SPEAKER_01]: It really channels the tone of the TV show.
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the real plus-up that Daniel Kibblesmith does here is he leans into it being a comic book, like he's definitely riffing all crisis on infinite Earths without specifically aping it.
[SPEAKER_01]: But he really plays with the form here in a nice way.
[SPEAKER_01]: So I had a really good time with this one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, yeah, it's able to do be very comic bookie, but not get caught up in creating a bunch of continuity for a crossover, the way we don't really need that at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and it's also really funny, like you said, um, channels to show, but there is a lot of some pathos here that I think is really working, um, in a great way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, I don't watch the show a ton, uh, but especially this season of Rick and Morty has been sort of very quietly
[SPEAKER_00]: taken in, I feel like by fans, but you don't hear a lot news about it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even the fact that there wasn't there a James gun, Zack Snyder crossover episode that just, yeah, that was just this week.
[SPEAKER_01]: It was in my opinion, not great.
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I mean, maybe that's why.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is very much side to this issue, but it was bothering me a lot because like Rick and Morty has been pretty good about advertising, where whatever they do, some sort of advertising thing, they basically they hate to be there.
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that is clearly like working against it.
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously they're advertising the thing, but at the same time they're like, this is gross what are we doing.
[SPEAKER_01]: This episode felt a little sweaty like it was definitely the most kind of the village of the episode, but it was definitely like, hey, there's a big movie coming out.
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you guys do an episode featuring James God and Zack Snyder talking about Superman?
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, no problem.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's do it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know, just the whole thing made me very
[SPEAKER_01]: very uncomfortable watching it, but yeah, it's definitely been like, even beyond that, very quiet.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was also thinking about seven years ago, people were having riots and McDonald's over a tie-in sauce and now you would not know that they are seven episodes into a new season.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is weird, but this comic, I think, is if you're feeling like you need something different and you're a fan of the show, but having one of the comics, I think this is a great issue to dive in.
[SPEAKER_01]: Ultimate Spider-Man Incursion number two for Marvel by Dennis Kappin Cody Zekeler, art by Jonas Sharf Miles Morales, is tracking his baby sister who has gotten lost in the ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: This issue, excuse me, he has with Wasp and Antman to Wakanda.
[SPEAKER_01]: So of course, encounters the characters from Ultimate Black Panther there and the well as some more twists and turns.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like the tea on this and I really want to like this, but I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not working for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with you and here's what I might take away from it was like the ultimate universe is such a clock it's such a like tight package moving in one direction and this comic feels like it's just right
[SPEAKER_00]: at a slightly different party than the rest of the comics in this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Or it's coming in late and it feels like it wasn't part of the plan.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's the danger when you make a story that is so time-dependent each issue in the ultimate universe, it happens as the months are progressing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's building toward something.
[SPEAKER_00]: When you try to add something in that wasn't there in the original plan, it feels hard to match.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels hard to slot in.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's what this book is suffering from for me.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is a little bit external, but I think like, I don't know how this helps Miles Morales' story necessarily, particularly because the first issue out of just like, check it Windows in New York City with the two Spider-Man and the two other Spider-Man, and this issue very casually has Black Panther being like, oh, the ultimate, so I've always wanted to beat them.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just this like,
[SPEAKER_01]: Do we do they talk like that is like these are two writers who know this stuff which is the real part to me The other part which I think you are getting at is these books are so separate and we know they're gonna crash together at some point, but this feels like a little too early
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's just off a little bit in it's the way that it's sort of positioned and it's like it's a shame because I feel like this is a great miles is a great character to inject here because he's someone who came from the ultimate universe into the regular universe now he's back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's an interesting thing there.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's he's in cursing in the opposite direction.
[SPEAKER_01]: always and so that's that's a cool idea but they don't they don't quite have the space to get there I don't think yeah that man dark patterns number eight from DC comics written by Dan Waters art by Hayden Sherman this is continuing the oh my god I blocked the name of the arc but a new arc where he's trying to have the red hood gang great book this is maybe the best Batman book on the stands I think
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, strong take.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do enjoy this book as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: The art specifically is unbelievable.
[SPEAKER_00]: The perspectives that I think we're getting all in even though we're getting different arcs.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like the different, the perspective interest in Gotham City perspective stays true.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get so many like wide panels of featuring Batman with Gotham like blowing out in the background.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: From the story perspective, we were focused on just these a series of murders is what this book's all about, but we keep going back to this mortician, this guy in the morgue who is being weird and even later they're like,
[SPEAKER_00]: Have you heard about him?
[SPEAKER_00]: He did a bunch of fucked up stuff in Florida.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was like, ooh, what's that?
[SPEAKER_00]: And they're like, never mind.
[SPEAKER_00]: No, have time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like, what?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I want to know about.
[SPEAKER_00]: But so that's straight.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit wooly from covering some different things.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's a great sequence where Batman gets shot that is like really well done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like a textbook way of showing something in a very Batman way.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we get, I like the, where this is going, the last story.
[SPEAKER_00]: This one's called,
[SPEAKER_01]: uh... parry doly uh... uh... part two i don't know what that word means but uh... i will know that was they described it in the last issue it was seeing patterns that may or may not be there so it was a little harder to parse how that ties into this issue versus the last issue other than batman is going crazy and he's taking the same route every night uh... this was
[SPEAKER_01]: In a book that's very good, I think this is the least issue so far, but it's still excellently done.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and see, I like, sorry, real quick, I actually like the way where the story ends and I'm curious how it's going to go, talking about like revisiting legacy and being stuck in a place, like you're saying Batman is stuck in this pattern, dark pattern, I mean, and it seems like the character we meet here is also doing that, and their patterns are about to meet.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's a cool idea, and that and the art makes this not anything I felt like was a downbeat on the series as a whole.
[SPEAKER_01]: The toxic Avenger comics, number one, from a white comics written by Matt Bores, art by Fred Harper.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a new book set in the same continuity as the ongoing toxic Avenger comic book, where each issue they're going to focus on a different genre.
[SPEAKER_01]: This one is a horror genre with a little riff on something as killing the children, except toxic Avenger style.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think about this, Justin?
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this this comic her that this area of the universe here has been really growing well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I feel like they're making a lot of strides issue by issue even though it's not this is a number one.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the same exact thing.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I just like the way this universe is moving I feel like
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels topical, it feels like there's some fun in here and a comedy focus while even though it is horror or a horror focus and a horrifying story all the way.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like this issue specifically is like super dark, but I do think it's really bringing in the different tones that are always there for the toxic adventure and finding a way to make it really compelling in a comic.
[SPEAKER_01]: I really like this as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, if you're likely the odd-going toxic venture comic, this is more of that.
[SPEAKER_01]: I was surprised they did horror for the first one.
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it was way of easing people into the series because, totally, it only feels a couple of degrees away from what they're doing anyway.
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I would have liked maybe even a bigger, weirder swing for the first issue, but that's coming, and that's what they're going for.
[SPEAKER_01]: The Oncati X-Men, number seventeen from Marvel by Gal Simone, art by Luciano Vecchio, this issue, a new movie called the Murder Me Mutina comes out, which causes a lot of panic in the mutant community.
[SPEAKER_01]: The kids, the outliers, I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, I should have another day by now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Go to see the movie and end up tangling with Mutina herself introducing this new character.
[SPEAKER_01]: What'd you think, Justin?
[SPEAKER_00]: I continue to like this series.
[SPEAKER_00]: This issue is different than what we just had a four issue arc really getting into sort of bigger ideas for this series in general and these new characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I really like the way they've carved out this little corner, this weird corner of the X-Men universe for these characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: And this reminds me of classic X-Men stories where they go on like a little
[SPEAKER_00]: John and things get crazy after that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Something that I feel like has been missing from so much of crico and from the ashes and all of that.
[SPEAKER_00]: This has some nice flavor to it and I just I just like the way this is developing.
[SPEAKER_01]: I like this as well, and I like the focus of this issue occasionally this title has been tackling too many things at the same time, but it is very funny to me that we have the made X-Men Wolverine, Rogue, Gambit, Knight Crawler.
[SPEAKER_01]: Pretty much every issue you're like, whew, what's going on with those kids?
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, well, time to keep working on this farm.
[SPEAKER_00]: So much there that like what's going on those kids like oh, they're all the way across the field.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I hope they're okay and I'm like, Oh, check on that.
[SPEAKER_00]: To us they're your friends.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're also your student sort of so like what go hang out with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is it's shocking how much of this book just isn't focused on that core team of X-Men.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's weird while though and like I feel I'm sure it's going to rebalance it a little bit and it's going to be like a team but this is really if you haven't reading it and you like say new mutants or any of the or classic X man kiddie pride era like this is that just a modern version of that like get in there and because it's good and it's introducing new characters that are working I think
[SPEAKER_01]: Action Comics, ten, eighty-eight from DC Comics, written by Mark Wade, art by Skylar, Patrick, this takes place in the Smallville days.
[SPEAKER_01]: When Superboy has just been introduced to the world, he's wrapping his head around that and meanwhile dealing with some big things going down in Smallville leading to some interesting revelations that I wonder will have implications for Superman's future.
[SPEAKER_01]: I guess we'll see what you think about this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like this stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you know we there's so much about Superman we're getting a lot of Superman stories that are like being definitional right now because of the movie and because of just it's a it's the summer of Superman we're all living in it and this is this is doing that as well from the from the super boy side of things and we still this what I like about this comics that finds new stuff there's so much in here of him being like
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't let this bully get me because he will break his hand on my face.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have to diffuse this situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: You get this sort of like anxious young Superman trying to be everything all at once, which is a big part of the character and something that I don't think we touch on a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's seeing him develop into the guy who's feeling bad that he can't be everywhere all the time, which I think is a big defining quality of our modern Superman economics.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, this is a great team book.
[SPEAKER_01]: Mark Wade knows exactly what he's doing both a Superman and this style of storytelling, scather patrises art is great, just like very iconic and classic like you're getting at.
[SPEAKER_01]: So really good book.
[SPEAKER_01]: The unshused in number one from image comics by David Mark has this focusing on a world where it's basically like an X-Men world where a bunch of people have powers.
[SPEAKER_01]: There is one girl who has powers that when they woke up, they basically caused the apocalypse.
[SPEAKER_01]: We're jumping, I think backward and forward in time throughout this issue to tell the story.
[SPEAKER_01]: Interesting debut from
[SPEAKER_01]: the writing and art perspective by David Marquez previously we know him from art on and on Kenny X-Men among other things.
[SPEAKER_01]: What do you think about this one, Justin?
[SPEAKER_00]: This book feels like a nineties image comic like a sort of top cow style comic and that's a that's a strong flavor of comic so I feel like if that's something you especially in the summer it reminds me of being a kid and
[SPEAKER_00]: When image first started, we had this, my brother and I were like, had ordered the image first comics coming in the mail.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we didn't realize how long it takes for them to come in the mail.
[SPEAKER_00]: So every day we would run out to the mailbox and be like, they're here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, no, it's just not anything we care about because we're kids.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we don't understand mail.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this book has that exact vibe to it, I feel like.
[SPEAKER_01]: David Marcus's art is always great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Storywise, this was a little hard for me to follow because of the time jumps, because I don't know these characters.
[SPEAKER_01]: It feels like this is not necessarily a knock, but it's jumping right into the middle, so you're doing a little bit of catch up throughout the issue, but the powers are interesting and the art is clear.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little sling-shotty.
[SPEAKER_00]: I agree with you there, but it's, and the characters you're like, they're being coy, something that I think can be hard to deal with, and they're not telling everybody everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I do think with a little more time, it will be a little more clear what's happening and how to get on board.
[SPEAKER_01]: Magic, number seven, from Marvel, written by Ashley Allen, art by German, Paralty.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is kicking off the second arc of this title as Magic Visits.
[SPEAKER_01]: A secret society that Denny Moonstar is part of that is devoted to taking down this character, Liminal, who we thought was eliminated in the first arc.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oops, not exactly.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's actually possessed one of Magic's friends.
[SPEAKER_01]: I can tell you really like this title.
[SPEAKER_01]: This issue is a little more complicated because it's dealing with a lot of continuity from the previous arc, but there's still so many interesting ideas on the table.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd curious to follow it more going forward.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, I love this comic.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is right up there with the storm comic as top tier X men book on the stands and I like the continuity because I'm in it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm a fan of it, but this book also introduces a lot of new characters and new ideas that I do think I hope they stick with because first off, I feel like they are.
[SPEAKER_00]: They take the time to really we really meet everybody from a
[SPEAKER_00]: Mickey Mouse Club stand point of like, hi, I'm blank and here's what the part of this is scary thing that I do.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's cool and and this book also takes takes creative swings in a way that I think really are needed in the X-Men universe right now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Batman and Robin number twenty three from DC comics written by Philly Kennedy Johnson art by Miguel Mendoza.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had PKJ on the live show just this past week so go and listen to that talk quite a bit about this book, but if you haven't been keeping up, Batman is fighting an old enemy from his past name, Memento, and it all really comes to a head here as we find out or I think we find out what Memento is meant to wants.
[SPEAKER_01]: Great book, very trippy.
[SPEAKER_01]: I always find it interesting when Batman is fighting super natural things because he's like, I don't believe in that.
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though he's clearly seen with his eyes one billion times.
[SPEAKER_01]: So it's always like there's a good bit of tension going on there with that sort of thing where Batman is refusing to believe what he definitely sees with his eyes.
[SPEAKER_01]: What he should know is true based on all of his experience with the universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, he's in over his head, which is always a good place to put Batman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and this goes deep on it.
[SPEAKER_00]: What Philip Kennedy Johnson does best is committing hard to a big premise.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the thing that works here, especially when it comes to Batman dealing with supernatural, is having the demon be there and really like be the window there where that he can be sort of like, no, no, this, I assure you this is real.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because the thing I don't think we need here is Batman being like,
[SPEAKER_00]: What is this about?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is this real?
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, because I think that can get really, uh, monotonous.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it just goes right at it and puts Batman in this place.
[SPEAKER_00]: And another thing about this, uh, not to be the Pete of the podcast today, but this cover really starts the story.
[SPEAKER_00]: The story is happening on the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get some word of blue and something I feel like we don't see very often.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it got me, it was such a nice ramp into what was happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep.
[SPEAKER_01]: The power fantasy, number ten from image comics written by Karen Gillen, art by Casper, Windguard, picking up out for the cliffhanger of the last issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: We know that one of our characters died many years ago and has been replaced.
[SPEAKER_01]: So over the course of the issue, we deal with what that means and a very to call back earlier, the podcast, very hoarding matter.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is hit the horny spot on Alex, which is what he calls it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was so relieved.
[SPEAKER_00]: Relief is exactly the feeling you want to have next.
[SPEAKER_00]: Really?
[SPEAKER_01]: Meanwhile, the rest of the super power cast is dealing with the revelation that we have potentially a new superpower entering the mix.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I got to tell you, you know, we talked to Garrett and Casper back into your Comic Con about how they had a pretty long plan for this title.
[SPEAKER_01]: This issue it feels like
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all going to fall apart like in the next two issues or something like that.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the thing that I got from that and that's that tension is great that nervousness is great because we know that if these characters meet the world dies and they are heading towards a meeting.
[SPEAKER_00]: A big, big confrontation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, this feels like the chest pieces, not a chest player, but when the chest pieces are all gathered around one particular thing, that's bad, right?
[SPEAKER_00]: That means you're about to lose, and the whole game's gonna get blown up, I believe.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's what we're getting to here.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a comic, though, that I also feel like I need to reread from the beginning and just see the lattice a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And as I was reading, I was like, before the next issue,
[SPEAKER_00]: go back and re-read all of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you know it's there, the matrix surrounding this book is there.
[SPEAKER_00]: And to re-read it, I feel like you'll get more out of every single panel here.
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a couple of issues back in the first page of the title page.
[SPEAKER_01]: They put like a little explainer about all the characters on their status quo.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I was like, oh, this is great.
[SPEAKER_01]: Now I can get right into it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And they've never done that again.
[SPEAKER_01]: They really had to put that every issue.
[SPEAKER_01]: It would be very, very helpful.
[SPEAKER_01]: just because like this title is great and but I agree with you that like we read a lot of comics this comes out once a month or so it is hard to remember exactly who everybody is and where they're coming from so this is something that needs that little recap at the beginning
[SPEAKER_01]: or go back to every single pump.
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm going to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: Fire and ice went hell freezes over number four from DC Comics, written by Joanne Starrer, art by Stephen Bird.
[SPEAKER_01]: Lots of stuff going on in this book as everybody has had their minds switched.
[SPEAKER_01]: Except for fire and ice, who are supposedly back in their bodies, but also in hell tried to put everything straight.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some twists and turns in this issue, leading to a big competition.
[SPEAKER_01]: I could do you really like this book.
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's fun.
[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny.
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but they're working in a nice bunch of emotion with some of the characters at the same time.
[SPEAKER_01]: And there's even an appearance by Grilla Grond that doesn't make sense continuity wise with what's going on in Justice League, which would normally bother me, but I really liked it here.
[SPEAKER_00]: they do the dance that we get the references to like here's what's happening here really grab super power that's why he's looking weird and being weird why he vanishes in the middle of an out of nowhere uh... but i i think this book is doing a lot uh... and is able to come in quickly on a lot of big ideas like the fact that we jump in and i remember everyone's freaky friday and a lot of the sort of
[SPEAKER_00]: supporting characters in this title are where we learn that and then we get into the bigger emotionality happening with fire and ice on their own side of the calm make in hell just like that whole book we talked about earlier so this stuff is it's working it's fun and it's balancing the tones really well
[SPEAKER_01]: Uncanny Valley, number-ted for Boom Studios, written by Tony Fleece, art by Dave Walker.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the final issue of this title about the cartoon world trying to take over the real world.
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got some wild swings in this book, like Public Tobade, Mickey Mouse, or Steamboat, Willie, if you will, showing up.
[SPEAKER_01]: But it all comes down to this as our main character deals with his cartoon, human mixed heritage.
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a great series, really impressed.
[SPEAKER_01]: Nothing gets totally fleece, but I continue even in this last issue to be wildly impressed with what Dave Walker pulled off here, art-wise, mixing different cartoon styles and characters with more realistic style, sometimes on the same page.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's some huge battle scenes in this last issue that I'm saying the impressive as well.
[SPEAKER_01]: So just, I really like the story here, but visually this blew it out of the water.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, we even get sort of the real world characters being Cartoonie in this, which is like the ultimate combining of styles that I think works.
[SPEAKER_00]: Great reveal here that I'm sure we all had when it comes to who the main character's father is, especially Pete, really missing Pete to have his take on the idea.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here I won't say it, but it is really fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: And really sweet, like this comic,
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard on its sleeve in a great way from beginning to end, and I think this ends in a really nice place.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would like to come back to this world and do sort of a more... I do think this story has the like... He's the one we have to get him that type of framing for the story, and something that I think we've seen a lot before, so I think a new story that pushes in a different direction would really pop, I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: Transformers number twenty two from skybound and image comics written by Daniel R. Johnson art by Jorge Corona.
[SPEAKER_01]: I will no tears is the last time we talked about transformers officially d w j is leaving the title twenty four is his last issue and starting with issue twenty five.
[SPEAKER_01]: Robert Kirkman and Dan mora are taking over as the new
[SPEAKER_01]: which should be interesting not to keep talking about Pete.
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the one who loves this, talks about it, it's bringing back to his childhood, aka the only time he was ever happy, puts him in a stouture bed, aka the only place he's what were happy.
[SPEAKER_01]: In this issue,
[SPEAKER_01]: Uh, we're, we're the rockers.
[SPEAKER_01]: Talk about this, I guess.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_01]: There, there's a bunch of stuff that happens with the trends, with the Autobots and the Decepticots.
[SPEAKER_01]: And at the end of the issue, they're like, it's all come down to this.
[SPEAKER_01]: The final show down in Chicago.
[SPEAKER_01]: And legitimately, my reaction is like, I don't show down for what?
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, yeah, it has been a happening here that they're showing down about in Chicago.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't understand.
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm so sorry.
[SPEAKER_01]: I know so many people like this book, but like I just, there's something here that, there's a lot of things here that are just not working for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, and I think it's just feels like the book has been one big conversation that's just been Optimus being like, I'm dying, but we got a really fight and then everybody keeps dying and then another Autobot shows up.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, I'm here and they're like, great.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he's murdered or she's killed.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, we have to go back and they'd say, where would it go to the portal?
[SPEAKER_00]: The wrong guy went to the portal.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh no, and it's like, it feels very,
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess it's, maybe it's in, it works if you are literally sitting in the nostalgia bath and can speak to all of these moments just as you have a working knowledge of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I don't feel like I don't know what's happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just feels so similar or one-note.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like in this issue, Optimus is like dying again.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then another, another dude who's like Optimus, but with a different trailer, stands up and I'm like, what's he doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's he doing?
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like a slightly more optimist, more prime and we do get some things about like he's goes to the prime world where primes go after they die I guess and we get a human who's taking the mantle so there's like moves happening here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a bit of a wash to me
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me why I'm wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Tell me why I'm wrong world.
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I thought you wanted me to tell you why you're wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, you agree with me on fire.
[SPEAKER_01]: So you can't say something horrible that'll make people instantly unsubscribe from this podcast.
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think it's that's a dream better, but this comic makes me miss at least the mission-based plot of the Michael Bay Transformers movies because like it just wow there.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a nasty statement.
[SPEAKER_01]: It is, they're awful movies, but at least they'd be like, we have to get to the, we gotta get it to Stonehenge because they're going to open a portal to bring you to Cron to Earth.
[SPEAKER_01]: At least I'm like, okay, I understand this is nonsense and it's terrible and it's terribly filled with the characters are all terrible.
[SPEAKER_01]: but at least like there's a clear thing I could hold that to and I like Daniel Warren Johnson that I like Corey Corota and there's nothing like that like I was saying at the beginning I don't know why they're going to Chicago I don't know why they're having a shoe down other than the hate each other there's a lack of stakes and focus there that I'm hoping Robert Kirkman brings to the title most likely which I will also like he'll bring some weird little guy that he focuses on every couple of pages that I'll be like that good
[SPEAKER_00]: But you want your little void rival in here.
[SPEAKER_01]: I do my own scuckside, but I guess we'll see what happens.
[SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, dark regards number three from Odie Press written by Dave Hill, art by Art Young, Topeland.
[SPEAKER_01]: We are following the semi true story of Dave Hill, the time he started a
[SPEAKER_01]: metal band called Witch Taint, a bunch of Norwegians to a small town to take him down.
[SPEAKER_01]: We had Dave Hill on the show a bunch of months ago, Eddie talked about the book, so go listen to that interview.
[SPEAKER_01]: But very fun, but very ridiculous.
[SPEAKER_01]: I love the comedy that it just keeps leading into.
[SPEAKER_01]: And I also love, I mean, this is just my preferred type of comedy taking metal people and having them deal with like very banal sweet little things that is such by preference versus like let's make it ultra violent just in terms of comedy.
[SPEAKER_01]: So this is hitting me exactly the right way.
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... yeah agree and there's no comic out there that where you can hear the the authors voice as strongly as Dave it helps because we know Dave and i've had them on the show recently but like he's it's just present in every line and that's really fun and funny he has a great sense of humor a weird sense of humor and you see it uh... played out perfectly in this comic uh... it's a great read
[SPEAKER_01]: And last but not least, Radiant Black, number thirty five from image comics written by Kyle Higgins and Joe Clark, art by Eduardo Ferragato and Marcelo Costa.
[SPEAKER_01]: Radiant Black is dealing with a baddie who comes from the alternate universe that was destroyed during the last big catalyst war arc.
[SPEAKER_01]: He wants to take him down for what he, his alternate double did in that universe.
[SPEAKER_01]: He blames him for it.
[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, last issue, it's just nice to have a villain here.
[SPEAKER_01]: who is more than a match for Radiant Black that not to contrast it with Transformers has like a very clear mission statement and purpose and what he wants to do.
[SPEAKER_01]: It builds really nicely throughout.
[SPEAKER_01]: Makes things dangerous.
[SPEAKER_01]: There's often, even though I really like this book, often bit of sets of like, whoop, that bad guys doing a thing.
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, he's gone now.
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's go back to the action.
[SPEAKER_01]: This like really focuses it up in a big way and this arc has been great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the book really refocused after their big event last year.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess that was early ended early this year.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this book continues to move at a crazy pace.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like this book, the characters, everything changes quickly in this comic.
[SPEAKER_00]: The villain goes from being this scary mystery to like you're saying very clear in his mission and someone that they're like
[SPEAKER_00]: calling bullshit on, like pretty quickly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's refreshing to have a comic that can confidently move quickly through what's happening and keep the action at the same pace as the storytelling.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where this book does the best I think.
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is it for the stack.
[SPEAKER_01]: If you'd like to support this podcast and all the podcasts we do as well as for ad free versions of the podcast, patreon.com slash comic book club.
[SPEAKER_01]: Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at seven PM to Facebook and YouTube coming out.
[SPEAKER_01]: We would love to chat with you about comics, Apple Spotify Android or the app of your choice to subscribe.
[SPEAKER_01]: But listen and follow the show comic book club live.com for this podcast and many more until next time we'll see you at the comic book club.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think I speak for both of my coes when I say, stay horny, yum-yum!
[SPEAKER_02]: They sit on crappy couches and they left the secret loop And he's showing up the day of like fast, special destiny To grab your ring, hammer, don't relay, or it'll fail, fail