[SPEAKER_00]: What's up everybody?
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to the stack.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Alex and given there is nobody else introducing themselves today You may have noticed that I am here so though.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the second time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that I have done the stack So although unfortunately Justin and Pete had other obligations.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could not be here today We will be a bit back to your regularly scheduled programming next week
[SPEAKER_00]: So, thank you for bearing with me as I proceed to monologue for the next range of time talking about the comic books that have come out this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll also mention if you want normal ad free versions of this podcast and all the podcast we do patreon.com slash comic book club.
[SPEAKER_00]: Normally there are more people on this show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Other than me, just talking about comics and reviewing them, but that is where we're going to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to review some comics.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of comics came out this week.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots of big issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: up top here for everything that we're going to be talking about because we're going to kick it off with a big one absolute bat then number 20 from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder art by Nick Djurgoda.
[SPEAKER_00]: Lots going on in this issue and a lot was focused on the mecca robins that appear on the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, just a word of warning here.
[SPEAKER_00]: They don't really show up at all until the very end.
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like the big battle is saved for the next issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not a knock on this at all.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a really character-driven issue following Batman as he deals with the death of Jim Gordon last issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been blamed for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's being
[SPEAKER_00]: Now let's stop saying absolutely now, but Joe Chill among other characters and we also check in with his friends and this I think is one of the real strengths that gets underplayed about absolute Batman is you feel like there's going to be this inevitability of leading up to oh this is where these characters end up they're gonna end up in their classic iterations.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about this a little bit with the Jim Gordon Death thing twisting things in
[SPEAKER_00]: And the same thing is happening with the villains here.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we get Whalen killer crock is trying to rebound with Edward Digma, the Ritler.
[SPEAKER_00]: These aren't characters that got hurt by Batman or suddenly turning evil.
[SPEAKER_00]: Their friends of his that had a horrible traumatic things happen to them, and they are headed in different directions.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it makes it much more interesting to read.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very multifaceted.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of great character work going on in Scott Stider's writing.
[SPEAKER_00]: And of course, Nictigot is panel layouts, they're unlike anything else in comics right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the real strength of absolute Batman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sure, you're getting the monster versions of everything.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's an absolutely horrific two-page spread of absolute joker in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're getting your regular beefy Batman.
[SPEAKER_00]: Though I will note there's one panel where he's talking to Joe Chill in the jail where it feels like Nictigot drew classic Bruce Wayne Batman peeking through the bars.
[SPEAKER_00]: Which through me a little bit.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe the point is he is becoming the Batman.
[SPEAKER_00]: We all know and love for the mainline comics.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe maybe not.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, this is a must pick up every single month.
[SPEAKER_00]: Next up, Ultimate Endgame.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number four for Bartle written by Dennis Camp, art by Jota Sharf with Terry Dodson and Rachel Dodson.
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's take a place in two different points in the ultimate world, the ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: as the team tries to stop the maker the evil read Richards from escaping from the time bubble that he created two years ago in the real time of the ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the outside Captain America is leading forces against the maker's loyal lieutenant.
[SPEAKER_00]: While inside a small team is badly the maker who is
[SPEAKER_00]: turned into a tree and corrupted doom who is the other read Richards from this new ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: So lots of stuff going on plus Spider-Man died last issue and he continues to be dead, which they established right at the beginning when they're like, hey, just travel back in time and bring it back in Iron Man's like, I can't because of the croto, whatever, you know, sci-fi stuff it happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot going on here and I think we've been mixed to negative on this.
[SPEAKER_00]: Personally, I really want to like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I go in every issue thinking, okay, this is the one, this is going to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I don't know there were quite there yet in the penultimate issue of the ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: of ultimate ed game.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's one more after this.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it started to get there.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some big battles that happen outside.
[SPEAKER_00]: We suffer another big loss with one of the heroes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And things kind of end up in the places that said did this issue that I thought they were going to start at in issue number one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's the problem here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe it's expectations versus reality.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this has felt like a very small story up until now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe I brought this up on a previous podcast, maybe not, but this, I would never wish this out of anybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this would be a very different topic if it was Mark Belar and Brian Hitch doing it in the previous iteration of the ultimate universe.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it would be hitting what I expect and what a lot of readers expected in terms of we are ending a universe right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: rather than this big sci-fi story that Dennis Kemp is building up, and to that point there are big moments in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get a great sequence with the Guardians of the Galaxy that feels huge, this iteration of the Guardians of the Galaxy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We do get that big character death, which is actually much more shocking, I think, than Spider-Man dying.
[SPEAKER_00]: which felt a little perfunctory in the last issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we'll see, there's still a chance to turn this route in the last issue, maybe I'm being Charlie Bravo with the football here, but I want to like this, I want this to work, I like the team.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not hitting that high that I wanted to hit, but we'll see what I should go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Transformers number 32 from skybound and image comics written by Robert Kirkman, art by Jason Howard.
[SPEAKER_00]: This issue is set entirely on cyber-tron as a lead-a-prime leads her forces against the Decepticons.
[SPEAKER_00]: We do get some very fun cyber-trony and Decepticons in this issue led by dude that I'm liking the name odd.
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope Pete never listen to this because he's probably screaming right now that
[SPEAKER_00]: I like Transformers, it's fun, but I can't tell most of them apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sorry if I'm racist forage Transformers, I apologize.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's fun action in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jason Howard knows how to draw an action seed.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do get big battles throughout, and I
[SPEAKER_00]: I know I keep hitting on the same thing over and over month after month, but this is also my least favorite mood of transformers.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't get the character moments.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't get Optimus Prime interacting with humans and trying to protect them.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't get that heart there.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just boxy things banging up against each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if there is some cool sword action and cool action throughout here, you know, I think that's what it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's one of the biggest titles in the
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of things that are big, Godzilla versus America, Texas number one from IDW by Vary is.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is me being very rude, but the ComMP copy that was very nicely sent to over by IDW didn't have credits in it for the most part, and I usually try to look through the comic for the credits, but they weren't in there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: My apologies to everybody who worked on this.
[SPEAKER_00]: You're all wonderful people.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a part of a bigger series from IDW that sends Godzilla to different areas.
[SPEAKER_00]: And usually as local creators working on it, the thing that didn't quite work for me about this one, even though there's some fine Godzilla tells in here, is by broadening it out to the entire state of Texas, we're losing the specificity of said to Godzilla to cities like Los Angeles
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm blanking on the Kansas City as another one, where you have those local creators playing on very, very specific things about their cities and jokes in their cities and either you get it because you visit the place or you know something about the place or you don't, but either way, it only could take place in that city.
[SPEAKER_00]: Texas, you may be in where is a very large state and there's a lot of things going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, there is one story that's set in Austin and that got closer for me in terms of what I want out of this series versus
[SPEAKER_00]: Godzilla just trapping his way over some cattle, like he does on the cover, it's very fun cover here with the Texas flag flying in the background.
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, all in on this series, love that they're doing this, keep doing it, keep finding very specific cities and places, but maybe not states.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's too big, it's too big, it's too much going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unless I guess Rhode Island, Rhode Island is small.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, let's move on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Barbara Gordon breakout, number one from DC Comics written by Mariko Tamaki, art by Amon Kay at New Hulp and this is the latest next level title and it's spinning off of Batman number nine where Barbara Gordon, per the title of this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: was thrown in a supermax facility by Vandal Savage, who currently runs the Gotham City Police Department.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I love this team, Rika Tamaki, you can do no wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm okay with a whole plan, or we're really solid, really good artist, always delivers.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I was a little confused as why this is an ongoing series, instead of a mini-series because if the idea is, let's throw Barbara Gordon and Jale.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not going to be in there forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: She's eventually going to break out, like they say in the title.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you head into a situation which we all are going to get this reference.
[SPEAKER_00]: Prison breaks season two after they broke out of the prison where they're like, well, now we're broken out of the prison and we're on the run.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then that kept going for several seasons.
[SPEAKER_00]: So this doesn't seem like a ongoing concept to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm not necessarily convinced about that after the first issue, but that doesn't matter because it is taking Barbara Gordon stripping away all of her tools, all of her computers, everything throwing her into prison with some real jerks, including, oh gosh, I'm blanking in the
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if she was introduced, but she definitely showed up in Christian Ward's two-phase series, and she thinks she's the daughter of two-phase.
[SPEAKER_00]: She may or may not be, but she is the main villain at least of this first issue, as Barbara Gordon gets in a big fight in the prison yard.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd a lot of fun with this.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm excited to see how this goes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a good cliffhanger at the end here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So another win from the next level label, even though I'm still a little iffy about this
[SPEAKER_00]: maybe they'll change it into barber Gordon broken out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: They could do like pimple patches or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're just an impede.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, spectacular Spider-Man brand new day.
[SPEAKER_00]: Number one from Marvel, written by Dan Slot, art by Marcus Toe.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked to you, Dan, about this on the live show a couple of months back.
[SPEAKER_00]: So do go listen to that chat because he revealed a lot about this book, including that Marvel has been a little confusing about selling it as a five-issue bitty series or maybe an ongoing.
[SPEAKER_00]: He says they're doing five issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: He sees it as an ongoing.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you buy it, there's a big thing that happens in the second arc.
[SPEAKER_00]: So he wants this to be a big seller.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this is trying to do a couple of things at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: The most basic figure it's trying to do is give you a title that is Spider-Man brand new day, give it the original movie called Spider-Man brand new day that is going to be coming out.
[SPEAKER_00]: later this summer is not a one-to-one that because this takes place in the actual comic book brand new day era.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we're getting Kingpin in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of establishment of he is about to leave town as he does on TV.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mr.
[SPEAKER_00]: Negative is the big villain.
[SPEAKER_00]: Frank Castle the Punisher shows up as he does in the movie.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Hulk will show up later on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe Sadie Sink will show up
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see, I don't know, they haven't revealed their character.
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is a surprise thing about to set up in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we get an introductory page that introduces who Spider-Man is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that a couple of pages later, we get a, I believe, two-page spread that sets up, hey, here's what's going on going into the Spider-Man bread due day era.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's more set up that happens in the dialogue throughout.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's testament to dead slot that he knows how to throw all that in there and still make it an enjoyable story at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels like he has not physically but mentally aged spider-man down a little so that he matches the Tom Holland Spider-man on screen a little bit better, which honestly is smart, you know, I could see comic book fans complaining about this because they're like, oh boy, you're
[SPEAKER_00]: You're just catering, you're pandering to the movie audience, but you want something for the movie audience.
[SPEAKER_00]: You want the movie audience to see the movie be like, hey, that was fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: Go into the comic book store and then have the retailers be like, yeah, pick this up.
[SPEAKER_00]: You can just start with this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't have to go back 30 issues, you don't need to go back 1,000 issues to the beginning of the music.
[SPEAKER_00]: Spider-Man, you can just jump right in with this and get everything you need to know to read a fun Spider-Man story.
[SPEAKER_00]: And the story itself, which doesn't get delved into you too much in this issue is Spider-Man Steel's a codex that has the list of all the criminals in New York's name from the Kingpin.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Punisher is on his tail, Mr.
[SPEAKER_00]: Negative is on his tail, Marker's tail, draws a fun story, nice solid Spider-Man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do have questions on the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: How many times Spider-Man is
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, you may be wondering where Pete and Justin are at this point.
[SPEAKER_00]: destination kill number one from Odie Press written and drawn by Joe Palmer.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also talked to Joe Palmer a couple of weeks back of that interview is in the podcast feeds.
[SPEAKER_00]: So check that out.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is his first written and drawn book creator owned book.
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe creator owned book from Odie Press.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is very much in the mode of judge dreadset in a future hyper violent world.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's very funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a great cartoony style that Joe Primer brings here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not exactly, but Let's even reading Tigris Island, E.P.
[SPEAKER_00]: H.K.
[SPEAKER_00]: Does the art there?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's less slick and shiny, but it seems like kind of in the same genre.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very fun book.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very excited to read more of this.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were multiple poets where I laughed out loud that I wasn't expecting.
[SPEAKER_00]: Feels a little Kyle Starks in the humor sometimes as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: So definitely recommend picking this up.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's another winner from O'Neigh Press.
[SPEAKER_00]: It nerds number one from ignition press written by Rob Gillary art by Sam Lofty by Apologies to Rob if I've this pronounced your last day by always get worried about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: but this is like event horizon, but what if it was going to the center of the earth instead of deep into space?
[SPEAKER_00]: That's probably the best pitch of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of big sci-fi ideas going on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a new take on teleportation, but most of that is in the service of sending these deep crust of the earth diggers down below the earth to mine a new power source after
[SPEAKER_00]: They are not alone down in the center of the earth.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's more there.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a slow play, hard debut from Rob Gillary and Sam Lofty.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to sneeze right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Excuse me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, no way of cutting that out of a podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really apologize everybody.
[SPEAKER_00]: If Justin and Pete were here, they do all of the editing, so they could have cut it out.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: not me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, it turns as good.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a fun time with this one.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, lots of big sci-fi ideas.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no lack of innovation going on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess the best way of saying it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you like a slow play hard, if you like some weird creatures and good character dynamics, as people probably slowly get picked off and corrupted one by one, is one to check out.
[SPEAKER_00]: absolute Martian man on to number 11 from DC Comics written by Dennis Camp art by Havier Rodriguez this is the pen ultimate issue of this mind-bending title as John Jones finally comes face to face with Despero who is
[SPEAKER_00]: ripping apart his mind battling with the green martian cord just book absolutely beautiful something we were talking a little bit on our patreon discord of the comic book club discord a bit is how the story has gotten in some directions that have been maybe a little hard to follow and i think a lot of that is because
[SPEAKER_00]: of the introduction of Despero, who's the purple being, who is taunting John Jones, are detective here.
[SPEAKER_00]: And you really feel that in this issue, it feels like it's gotten away from the white Martian green Martian conflict that made the first six issues so strong and direct.
[SPEAKER_00]: even between everything else that was going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Desperos seems to be the main villain here, and I still love looking at this book, but I am hoping that it comes back together again in the final issue, and there's every indication it will.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a big revelation maybe in here about one of the characters that is super sad if it's true, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm holding on and waiting to see what happens with the final issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, there's a panel here, but they encourage you to cut apart your comic and kids don't do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: My kids very specifically don't do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Iron Man, number five from Marvel, written by Joshua Williamson, art by Carmen Cornero and Jan Baseldoa, who's the end of the first arc of the series that has found Iron Man battling Madam Mask and Aim who want to create their own Tony Stark for their own purposes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of big twisted turds this issue as first Tony battles the fixer who has built his own Iron Man suit.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, ultimately, we get a new villain reveal, we get a new setup for Iron Man.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really taking La Trascial Williams in his doing in this title.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels, maybe not innovative, but it feels like the next iteration of Iron Man that we haven't really gotten since, I would say, Matt Fraction was on the title.
[SPEAKER_00]: Many, many years ago, around the dawn of Iron Man, the movies.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I'm loving this.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really like how the team is drawing Tony as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: He feels a little shaggyer, a little looser.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's less the slick corporate jerk that we've been getting.
[SPEAKER_00]: And particularly at a world where I don't want to speak for all of our listeners out here, but certainly,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm anti-billionaire, getting a billionaire who is doing billionaire stuff being cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's maybe not a character I want to read, but reading the more science-focused Tony is very interesting.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm looking forward to more.
[SPEAKER_00]: Undiscovered country, number 36 from image comics written by Scott Snyder and Charles Sol, art by Giuseppe Kamen, Koleen, Leonardo, Marcelo Grosse, after 8, maybe 9 years, this is finally the last issue of this title about a future America that has been split into different rings or sections.
[SPEAKER_00]: each with their own focus on American innovation.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's all cut down to a battle on the mood with a giant statue of Liberty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, tell you about this book has gotten some wild, weird directions.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if they completely tied everything that I wanted up, but this was still a very satisfying final issue to the series.
[SPEAKER_00]: They definitely landed in a place where they say something about America,
[SPEAKER_00]: problems of America, but more talking about the promise of it, and what it potentially could be.
[SPEAKER_00]: So Charles Sol talks about this a little bit in the back matter how years ago, I think 2015, 2016, they started hatching this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: America is in a very different place now than it was then, and this title,
[SPEAKER_00]: Seems as relevant, maybe more relevant than it did back then, so this is one that give it a couple of years, I'm very curious to revisit as a whole and read through because it's come out so sporadically, it's been a little hard to follow the story sometimes, but always looks great and hats off to the whole team for making it through this one together.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hidden Springs number one from Dark Horse Comics written by Rob Williams, Art by Neil Vendrol.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is one of the bigger surprises of the week.
[SPEAKER_00]: You see this cover with a tiny little person facing off against an enormous monster with the shell.
[SPEAKER_00]: It kind of looks like something from the deep sea and a little bit of a spoiler.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is, but the best way of selling this is it's sort of like cocoon with a Kaiju?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is maybe what I'd say?
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some great characters that are set out here.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get a bunch of old folks who are lost in the woods.
[SPEAKER_00]: They encounter the Kaiju of the title, not of the title, the Kaiju of the cover.
[SPEAKER_00]: And some forces are coming this way.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll tell you, I kind of expect it like a return to your youth type thing, and maybe that is coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: But it seems like it's going to be these older people who thought they've
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whatever it is, it's a cool creature that's drawn in here, like I said, some good characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really enjoyed this one, I'm curious to see where it goes and issue two, and if like 80s movies, like Coo and check this out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Emperor Aquaman, number 17 from DC Comics, run by Jeremy Adams, art by John Timbs, and Paolo Villanelli.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now,
[SPEAKER_00]: Blackman is on the cover, but he doesn't really do much in this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's more focused on Aquaman pairing up with the jarrow, the little starrow who looks at Batman as his dad going into space and encountering a new riff on Starrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: We've got a lot of those in comics, and this is yet another one in terms of how Starrow works.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I like this adventure generally and I like that Jeremy Adams is focusing on one different like deep space slash sea type thing per issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some good adventure stuff here.
[SPEAKER_00]: My one little clip with this is Jarrow seems very serious and whatever Scott Snyder in particular.
[SPEAKER_00]: rights jarrow character that he invented.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so silly.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little starrow in a Robin uniform.
[SPEAKER_00]: This like, did I make you proud dad?
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're missing that here because he's pairing with Aquaman instead.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, it's not humorless as an issue, but there's not quite as much humor to the situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I want out of my jarrow.
[SPEAKER_00]: And Joey Jarrow, that's what I want.
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amazing Spider-Man venom death spiral body count number one for Marvel written once again by Charles Sol art by Kev Walker in this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: We finally find out how many people spider-man and venom have that sex with.
[SPEAKER_00]: We find out their body count.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's pretty sweet.
[SPEAKER_00]: if you've been wondering that the entire time.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm kidding, it's actually a prequel slash sequel to the really excellent death spiral event that went through amazing spider-man.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, and recently, we get an origin for torment, the character who was a serial killer was playing them.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's some surprising revelations here, specifically,
[SPEAKER_00]: he was talking in the event about oh I can see the spirals of your family and it already always felt like serial killer talk here in this issue it's framed up as it's an actual power like he literally can see how people's family lines are connected and
[SPEAKER_00]: gives him for a motivation for why he's trying to pair them back.
[SPEAKER_00]: It also, you could probably see this coming because the T is for, we may not quite be done with Torment yet, which is nice because this was a really interesting character to follow.
[SPEAKER_00]: As a one shot, I don't know how necessary it is for understanding what went into an death spiral, but as an addendum, a end note to the whole thing it works very nicely.
[SPEAKER_00]: And man, I love Kev Walker's art.
[SPEAKER_00]: He is doing one of the midnight hard titles, the Benjamin Percy one, which I want to say is fantastic for.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm really looking forward to that because he draws some good hard stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been doing the same thing on infernal Hulk as well for Philip Kennedy Johnson.
[SPEAKER_00]: So good looking issue, like tournament.
[SPEAKER_00]: Weird disturbing stuff going on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you like the death spiral crossover, pick this up.
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of serial killers, world tree number 10, 20 from image comics, run by James time of the fourth art by Fernando Blanco.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now we've talked about this title every single issue so far, and I think we brought up similar complaints, which is it's hard to follow the action because there's multiple timelines and enormous sprawling cast and
[SPEAKER_00]: And every issue that kind of just drop you in with, well, you know, these people are and what the relationship is to each other and the Undernet, the evil internet that lives below the internet and is haunted by horrible demons.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, at the same time, as all those things feel like a big impediment for getting in this title, it's still gorgeously drawn by Fernando Blanco in every issue, and this is one of the issues where it does settle down, it really focus for the most part on two characters.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also one additional character that is trying to rescue the other character who is bleeding out and interrogating and being interrogated.
[SPEAKER_00]: by one of our big villains who wants to bring the undernet out and bring it to the real world.
[SPEAKER_00]: We know from seeing the future, he's successful, so that's kind of laying over the entire thing, but as a character piece with a villain and a hero facing off from each other, well written as always by James Time and the fourth, very much for adults full of tons of nudity and ultraviolence, but this is one of the more fun ones.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, do not jump into this title with issued over 20 because you will be entirely lost.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as is, I keep reading it, man, I keep reading it, I keep writing it, I keep writing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I am James Titan surprise.
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't ever want to say that in front of Pete and Justin because I didn't want to.
[SPEAKER_00]: to know, feels like a conflict of interest when we talk about all of my great titles, like something is killing the children and exquisite corpses, but you heard it here first folks, I am Raider James Tyden IV, the tidy I didn't.
[SPEAKER_00]: Touched by a demon number four from Dark Horse Comics written by Kristen Goodsnuck.
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked to her on the live show a week back.
[SPEAKER_00]: Time has no beauty anymore.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the final issue of this title about a bunch of demons that open up.
[SPEAKER_00]: a self-help shop on earth, and they really do want to help people, but it keeps going horribly wrong every single issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: This issue, they kind of help somebody, but also end up paying tribute to their David Lord, very fun title.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love the art in here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hypercartuny, but there's a lot of emotion that comes through as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll laugh out loud while you're reading this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we talked to Chris about this, but it adds on a note where there's a million more stories you could tell here.
[SPEAKER_00]: It could be ongoing forever.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I do hope people pick up these issues.
[SPEAKER_00]: They pick up the trade so we can get more because I would like to be touched by a demon once again.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Fury of Firestorm, number two from DC Comics, written by Jeff Limeer, Art by Raphael de La Torre.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Firestorm is going through some serious changes in this series.
[SPEAKER_00]: Roddy Raymond and Dr. Martin Stein, something has happened to them.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a third entity in the Firestorm Matrix.
[SPEAKER_00]: that seems to be taking over and driving maybe Rani crazy.
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't exactly know, but he is attacked a small town and put them through a bunch of biological and chemical changes.
[SPEAKER_00]: The army and an old flame of his are trying to turn him back.
[SPEAKER_00]: But this issue, the third personality, I'm putting question marks here because a lot of this title is about the mystery of what's going on with Firestorm.
[SPEAKER_00]: emerges fully.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still think this is very similar to what we have had recently happened with Captain Adam, but Jeff Lamar is a solid writer, everything that he does.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do really like what Raphael Delitori is doing on art, and I'm a fan of Firestorm.
[SPEAKER_00]: So particularly this issue, we get a lot of exploration of the history.
[SPEAKER_00]: In a sense, we were thrust into the situation.
[SPEAKER_00]: The first issue, the second issue, takes step back, sets up, who's firestorm?
[SPEAKER_00]: What's going on with him?
[SPEAKER_00]: What is his origin?
[SPEAKER_00]: Why is this happening?
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you need that information, issue number one, and issue number two, really work like a pair.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't need that information, I feel like it probably still be on the fence about the series a little bit, but there's promise that a big things are coming.
[SPEAKER_00]: We certainly will see again as a firestorm fan.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm on board with this an interested see where this goes, but I know again on the Patriot discord some people have been like putting this to the middle to the bottom of their next level Back so I'm curious to hear what folks think about the second issue and whether it bumps up in their estimation
[SPEAKER_00]: The uncanny xman number 28 from Marvel Written by Gail Simone, Art by Luciano, Vecchio, tons of stuff going down in this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh boy, we're even to start.
[SPEAKER_00]: So over at Greybalkin' Prison, we get the reveal of Prisoner X.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mysterious avian, if I remember the term, basically Uber or Psychic, like Professor X, who's been held in there, and it's not lit.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think anybody predicted or expected because I believe it is, unless I'm wrong, a entirely new character who's real here, who definitely leans into the horror that Galsimon has been playing with all along.
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, Gambit is off becoming a dragon.
[SPEAKER_00]: The Louisiana X-Men are dealing with an incursion of what looks like the classic new mutants while the outliers are in some sort of AI simulation, a professor X's mansion dressed up like new mutants themselves.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll say I love everything that's going on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Send this with the past couple of issues, but this title I think Storywise has been on absolute fire as everything is going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Very intrigued by the reveal of Prisoner X and what it means for Grey Malkin Prison and our warden love everything with the outliers.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they have never been clearer as characters than when they're dressed in the classic,
[SPEAKER_00]: Dubuance uniforms, which probably says more about me and how my brain works than anything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: My one little quibble here is the layouts where I don't necessarily have a problem with the art or the way the characters are drawn, but there's not really a very clear delineation between these multiple,
[SPEAKER_00]: places where we're getting the action.
[SPEAKER_00]: So everything kind of bleeds into each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: So sometimes it's a little hard to follow when you have great market prison, the Haven House, and also this simulation going on at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a couple of issues back when we got the
[SPEAKER_00]: Ark and at the same time, the outliers were being told to tale of the old West.
[SPEAKER_00]: The arch style delineated it a little more clearly so you knew when those things were going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: On the same page, what we were looking at and what we were reading so you'd get the juxtaposition that Galsamon was going for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think this is clear here and it might ease what otherwise would be a really good and really interesting story.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still really like it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is probably the best of the X-Men books right now, and I'm all in, baby.
[SPEAKER_00]: Geiger, number 23 from Ghost Machine and Image Comics, written by Jeff Chons, art by Gary Frank Geiger, and then on a huge cliffhanger at the end of the last issue where he was sent back in time, seemingly, to visit his family who died previously in a nuclear apocalypse.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get that.
[SPEAKER_00]: Not too much of a surprise that he is a yanked out, and it was like, put me back in, boss.
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, the northerner who is our time traveler who's trying to keep the civil war on track gets a huge mythology dump here, and that sort of seems to be the point.
[SPEAKER_00]: building out the bigger unknown universe that Jeff Johnson's been playing with with these various titles.
[SPEAKER_00]: We get a tease of junkyard Joe coming back at the end and I'm into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like this mythology.
[SPEAKER_00]: Geiger is a pretty straightforward character.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants his family.
[SPEAKER_00]: He just wants his family back like Thomas Jane on a rested development.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's pretty much it and he gets angry and becomes radioactive and beats some guys up.
[SPEAKER_00]: But mixing him in with these more complicated
[SPEAKER_00]: and also simpler characters like John Kerry Joe really makes him pop out more.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's going to work well once he's part of a team versus having pleasing and pleasing to look at because of the Gary Frank art, but relatively repetitive adventures issue after issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Showdown number one from admission press written by Dave Wilds Ghost.
[SPEAKER_00]: I definitely pronounced that wrong.
[SPEAKER_00]: Art by Ted Kalusha, maybe I missed pronounce that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is maybe my favorite issue of the week.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is about a woman who's son, not son.
[SPEAKER_00]: Excuse me, brother died in an accident or seen accident years earlier.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is one guy she blames.
[SPEAKER_00]: She returns to town.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, hey, I'm gonna challenge you to an old West.
[SPEAKER_00]: style showdown only one of us makes it out alive and that's where we start.
[SPEAKER_00]: We see the showdown is definitely happening.
[SPEAKER_00]: Jump back in time, showing her arriving in town, showing why this other guy actually agrees to it, gives a lot of nice texture to both characters and explains why they even brought low to this place where they're like, let's just beat the hell out of each other and there's promise that it's going to be like,
[SPEAKER_00]: brutal and bloody and violent and probably very emotional at the same time.
[SPEAKER_00]: This, it's not that you say the exact same story and all, but it reminded me a little bit of southern bastards in terms of, well, just come back down and get a beat some asses with a baseball bat and that's pretty much what's going on here.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're looking for more than that, do not miss this book.
[SPEAKER_00]: I thought it was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very surprised and man, I can't wait to pick up the second issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bleeding Hearts, 4 from DC Vertigo, written by Dennis Camp, art by Stippin' Moriad.
[SPEAKER_00]: We are following the world that has been taken over by zombies and in particular, one zombie who has a beating heart and is starting to have some feelings towards the live ones.
[SPEAKER_00]: specifically a woman and her daughter who I say daughter question mark because I honestly can't remember whether she is adopted or picked up after the zombie apocalypse but I do think it is her daughter and in this issue they're having tea parties they're having a nice time they're having dance parties but there are forces specifically zombies who are encroaching around them on all sides
[SPEAKER_00]: What works really nicely about this issue is after jumping back and forth and perspectives over the first three issues we get both in this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: The character still can't communicate and I think a lot of this title or at least the first start is probably about communication and now we talk to each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're getting to see the human perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're getting to see the zombie perspective.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going back and forth.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's starting to feel like more of a, please excuse the pun, fleshed out story as we go.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was feeling a little iffy about this last issue if we were going to keep jumping back and forth.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I'm back on board with this issue and men, stipend warriors aren't as great.
[SPEAKER_00]: These zombies look like nothing else that we've seen.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're certainly not walking dead zombies, but they're little pockets of flowers.
[SPEAKER_00]: fungus and things.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also in this issue, I'm going to get the name wrong, but there's something character called skitters in the quarter of your eye that is very funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, Ed's Gary at the same time, so good mix of horror.
[SPEAKER_00]: We haven't quite gotten to the romance yet, but I think we're getting there.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, like I said, back on board with leading hearts as of this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Captain America, number 11 from Marvel, written by Chipsonarsky, Art by Valerio Shidi, the road to Armageddon.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is being walked in a big way in this issue as Captain America.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fights against various forces that are trying to take over Latvia, specifically this issue, the red Hulk and his gamma core, I don't know if they're called that, they don't call them that in the issue, but it's a bunch of Hulk's attack, Latvia, and basically,
[SPEAKER_00]: Work is a weapon of mass destruction, catabarca is caught in the middle of this as are the remaining agents of shield The other big revelation at the end of the last issue is the Dr. Doom cloned himself and has a younger version of himself Was being raised in Laud Veria to be a better version of himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't have the same memories as doom It has the opportunity to do better
[SPEAKER_00]: And be better, but it is still just a child and Red Hulk.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like, oh, why don't we just do me torture me?
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's just kill this child.
[SPEAKER_00]: So classic would you kill baby Hitler debate that Pete hates so much?
[SPEAKER_00]: So he probably would have hated this issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, but versus what I was saying earlier about ultimate endgame, this does give me the scale that I've been missing in the lead up to Armageddon.
[SPEAKER_00]: There is, it's still very busy, there's a lot of things happening, but the way in the Vilario Shitty draws this issue, there is a full-page spread of the Hulk's dropping on that very, that feels a little bit like that air drop, I'm getting the term wrong, but that air drop shot from Godzilla, the 2014 version, where just the red stripes coming down from the sky.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very cool.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels big.
[SPEAKER_00]: Red Hulk is really scary here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I am completely getting how we got to this point and I don't know how we're going to get to Armageddon from here or what's going to happen in Armageddon.
[SPEAKER_00]: But Captain America is really in the thick of it here.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some big things happened by the end.
[SPEAKER_00]: All I'll say is between this and ultimate end game
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, but yeah, I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm still if he about Armageddon, but if it does feel if Chips and Arskies can bring this scale there, it will feel event sized.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether the story brings it, we shall see.
[SPEAKER_00]: The foraged number ten from image comics written by Greg Raka and Eric Trump and art by Mike Henderson I honestly don't remember the last time this title came out is about a big universal war between humans who have been augmented into the forge basically have big battle suits and aliens that I think we finally see this issue I don't think we've seen the before but we get a sense of them here um...
[SPEAKER_00]: I just love Mike Henderson's art here.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is big sci-fi that feels on par with what will be a same company we're doing and like the incal and other things like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's similarly to the incal, it's hard to hold on to what exactly is going on on the story because everything is pitched at the umpteenth big broad sci-fi degree, but there's still little character moments in here that are fun and funny.
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, honestly, maybe I'm dumb.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know exactly what's going on here, but I still like reading it and in particular, like looking at it because of Mike Henderson's very cartoony art, but at the same time, big.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels, I don't know, it's like doing me something.
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll figure it out, you decide.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just brutal number three from Ignition Press written by Dennis Holtbliss, Art by Brahm, Rebel.
[SPEAKER_00]: Here's another person that we talk to a couple of weeks back to.
[SPEAKER_00]: Holtbliss about this very title, just brutal on the podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of things you can describe it about, but it's sort of like what if masters in the universe grew up, went back to Earth, got married, and then years later, Skeletor attacked.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Dennis Hopeless really is not pulling back from emotional hits.
[SPEAKER_00]: And man, the way that they play out a hit at the end, I really don't think I've seen something like this in comics before.
[SPEAKER_00]: It is, per the title, just brutal.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's really sad.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very upsetting how it happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: But, Gorgeously drawn by Brown Revel, which I know I've been using this word a lot at this episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: but it is very more cartoony art but doesn't hold back for the violence or the action.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a big battle scenes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's character scenes as well This title is great.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you haven't picked it up, definitely go back pick up the first issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: You pick up the second, get caught up between it for this one because really this title is like it
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a beautiful family drama stuff going on here between all the big fun ideas.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we'll see, there's a lot going on plot-wise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm really curious to see how this wraps up as it continues.
[SPEAKER_00]: The mortal Thor number 10 from Marvel by Alguying Art by Pascal Ferry, we are following a guy named Sigurd Gerrelson who may or may not be the mighty Thor in human form, but he does have a hammer on a string and is beating butts with it.
[SPEAKER_00]: This issue goes up against the great Gargoyelle in a brutal fight.
[SPEAKER_00]: not to keep using the word brutal as well, but oh my gosh, really doesn't hold back here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to know a little bit more about this Sigurd Jarlson because he really just feels like Thor of another name and is fighting Thor's enemies and despite the amount of blood on him feels like he's impervious himself.
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe there's something more going on there.
[SPEAKER_00]: We definitely know that in four issues time, I think
[SPEAKER_00]: I think.
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, not definitely, though.
[SPEAKER_00]: In four issues, time, I believe they are going to be wrapping up the mortal Thor and kicking into whatever is next, probably reveal that Sigurd is or isn't Thor, I guess we'll see.
[SPEAKER_00]: I still feel like there's a twist in the background there.
[SPEAKER_00]: But as is, if you want to, if you're wondering, like, what if Thor was the Punisher, but had a hammer instead of a gun, that's basically what this title is.
[SPEAKER_00]: And last but not least, the Department of Truth number 37 from image comics written by James Time to the fourth, who is me, Art My Ben Temple Smith, I did a great job in this book just kidding.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not James Time to the fourth.
[SPEAKER_00]: You do that.
[SPEAKER_00]: You figure that out.
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, this issue or rather this arc is focusing on dinosaurs in Florida mixed with religion.
[SPEAKER_00]: We said this was the last issue, but it is shocking that Ben Temple Smith hasn't been on this tale before because he is such
[SPEAKER_00]: perfect fit for absolutely everything that is going on here and if you feel like this is the worst possible commentary I can give but if you feel like Department of Truth gets to dense at times because sometimes it's just pages of text, pages of text that feels like James Titan and showing off like I did a lot of research on this.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you like it more paired back into a wild story that has some great dinosaur drawings from Ben Temple Smith is dealing with the division between faith and religion, the way that is executed in America today, as this title does so well, this is great.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really enjoyed this arc and I really can get into it.
[SPEAKER_00]: when I have felt like it's gets a little obtuse at times in this title, so good stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think you could probably pick up the last issue in this issue without reading anything else, a Department of Truth if you really want to, and you will understand what's going on.
[SPEAKER_00]: Basically, like how you can imagine dragons here, they imagine dinosaurs.
[SPEAKER_00]: There you go.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is it for the stat.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you everybody for tuning in with this and sticking with me in this non-co-hosted episode like I said Justin Peeth most both had Peeth I'm gonna call him Peeth from now on
[SPEAKER_00]: Justin and Peeth had conflicts in this episode, but hopefully they will be back next week.
[SPEAKER_00]: We will see what happens.
[SPEAKER_00]: Either way, thank you for your support.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for tuning in.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you would like to support this podcast on the podcast, we do patreon.com slash comic book club.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7pm to YouTube coming out.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'd love to chat with you about comics and usually there's more people than just me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Apple Spotify Android or the app of your choice to subscribe, but listen and follow the show.
[SPEAKER_00]: Comic Book Club Live.com for this podcast to many more.
[SPEAKER_00]: Until next time, we'll see you at the Comic Book Club.
[SPEAKER_00]: Justin, hit them with your pithy funny joke and it's a callback to something we said earlier.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not here.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just a male, let's see what we can And he's just a monkey, they are like a special destiny To wrap your brain palea Don't be late for it, hell's fair