Podcast appearances and mentions of danny miki

Comic Reviews: DC Secret Six 1 by Nicole Maines, Stephen Segovia, Rain Beredo Teen Titans Go 1 by Sholly Fisch, Dario Brizuela, Franco Riesco Marvel Doctor Strange of Asgard 1 by Derek Landy, Carlos Magno, Espen Grundetjern Star Wars: Jedi Knights 1 by Marc Guggenheim, Madibek Musabekov, Luis Guerrero Web of Spider-Verse: New Blood 1 by Mat Groom, Luciano Vecchio, Rachelle Rosenberg; Greg Pak, Alan Robinson, Yen Nitro; Jordan Morris, Sumit Kumar, Dee Cunniffe; Mat Groom, Federico Vicentini, Matt Milla; Chris Eliopoulos What If…Mickey and Friends Became the Avengers 1 by Steve Behling, Luca Barbieri, Alessandro Pastrovicchio, Lucio Ruvidotti Marvel Unlimited Beastly Buddies 9 by Steve Foxe, Armand Bodnar, K.J. Diaz Dark Horse Sister Imperator 1 by Corinna Bechko, Puste, Thiago Rocha, Tobias Forge Usagi Yojimbo: Ten Thousand Plums 1 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi Dynamite Darkwing Duck Vol Two 1 by Daniel Kibblesmith, Ted Brandt, Ro Stein, Dearbhla Kelly Herculoids 1 by Tom Sniegoski, Craig Rousseau, Omi Remalante Jr. IDW Mothra: Queen of Monsters 1 by Sophie Campbell, Matt Frank Image Monkey Meat: The Summer Batch 1 by Juni Ba Mad Cave Blade Forger 1 by Inaki Miranda, Roy Miranda, Eva de la Cruz OGN Countdown Star Wars Hyperspace Stories Qui-Gon by George Mann, Andrea Mutti, Gigi Baldassini, Vladimir Popov Cloud Puppy Vol 2: Game On by Kelly Leigh Miller Speak Up Santiago (A Hillside Valley Graphic Novel) by Julio Anta, Gabi Mendez Nat a Chance by Maria Scrivan Legend of Korra: The Mystery of Penquan Island by Kiku Hughes, Alex Monik, Diana Sousa Strange Bedfellows by Ariel Slamet Ries I Survived the Great Molasses Flood 1919 by Lauren Tarshis, Karen De la Vega Kirby's Lessons For Falling in Love by Laura Gao You Belong Here by Sara Phoebe Miller, Morgan Beem Harley Quinn's Bud & Lou: Trouble Times Two by Ben Hed A Song For You and I by K. O'Neil Additional Reviews: Daredevil: Born Again Mickey 17 Shadow of Kyoshi Monkey News: George Lowe (voice of Space Ghost) has passed away, Sales Top 50 February, new Runaways mini, BRZRKR movie directed by Justin Lin, Kevin Smith Archie book Comics Countdown (05 March 2025): Nice House By The Sea 6 by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire Two-Face 4 by Christian Ward, Fabio Veras, Ivan Plascencia Batgirl 5 by Tate Brombal, Takeshi Miyazawa, Wayne Faucher, Mike Spicer Hyde Street 4 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Wynd: Power of the Blood 3 by James Tynion IV, Michael Dialynas Ultimates 10 by Deniz Camp, Juan Frigeri, Federico Blee Space Ghost 10 by David Pepose, Jonathan Lau, Andrew Dalhouse Usagi Yojimbo: Ten Thousand Plums 1 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi Tin Can Society 6 by Peter Warren, Francesco Mobili, Chris Chuckry Immortal Thor 21 by Al Ewing, Jan Bazaldua, Matt Hollingsworth

April 2025 Solicitations Comic Reviews: Marvel Doctor Doom and Rocket Raccoon 1 by J. Michael Straczynski, Will Robson, Andrew Dalhouse What If… Galactus Transformed Rogue? by Ann Nocenti, Stephen Byrne, Dono Sanchez-Almara X-Men: Xavier's Secret 1 by Alex Paknadel, Diogenes Neves, Arthur Hesli Marvel Unlimited Alligator Loki 45 by Alyssa Wong, Bob Quinn ComiXology Budding Crisis 1 by MK Reed, Jonathan Hill, Allie Drake Dark Horse Ripperland 1 by Steve Orlando, John Harris Dunning, Alessandro Oliveri, Francesca Vivaldi Star Wars: High Republic Adventures 2025 Annual by Rosemary Soule, Charles Soule, Andy Duggan, Dan Jackson; Alyssa Wong, Liana Kangas, Diana Sousa; Zoraida Cordova, Juan Samu; Cavan Scott, Nick Brokenshire, Vladimir Popov; Justina Ireland, Colin Craker, Kelly Fitzpatrick Image Patchwork Girl of Oz 1 by Otis Frampton Mad Cave Kill Train 1 by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Martina Niosi, Simone D'Angelo Valiant Resurgence of the Valiant Universe Finale by Fred Van Lente, Tomas Aira, Diego Giribaldi, Julio Azamor, Ludwig Laguna Olimba, Lautara Ftulli OGN Countdown History Comics: Ellis Island Immigration and the American Dream by Felipe Galindo Feggo, Tait Howard MegaGhost by Gabe Soria, Gideon Kendall, Julie Peppito, Michael Robinson Operation Cover Up by Tate Godwin Are You Afraid of the Dark Vol 2: Sinister Sisters and Other Terrifying Tales by Roseanne Brown, Shazleen Khan, Bill Masuku, Gigi Murakami Mixed-Up by Kami Garcia, Brittney Williams Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson Fortune and Glory: The Musical by Brian Michael Bendis, Bill Walko, Wes Dzioba Mister Muffins: Defender of the Stars by Ben Kahn, Georgeo Brooks Song of a Blackbird by Maria van Lieshout Bowling with Corpses and Other Strange Tales from Lands Unknown by Mike Mignola, Dave Stewart Additional Reviews: Hobtown Mystery Stories Vol 1: Case of the Missing Men by Kris Bertin, Alexander Forbes Agency Case Files by Colin Craker Table Titans Club by Scott Kurtz Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick Pearl Blue Lights Mechwest ep2 Northern Tails News: Jules Feiffer, Omninews, Sinestro cast for Green Lantern on MAX, Dark Horse cancels all Gaiman books, Oscar nominations, Diamond problems, Robert Eggers next two movies Trailers: Opus, Sinners Comics Countdown (22 January 2025): Absolute Wonder Woman 4 by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire Godzilla: Monsterpiece Theatre 3 by Tom Scioli Ultimate Spider-Man 13 by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matt Wilson Hyde Street 3 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Superman 22 by Joshua Williamson, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sanchez Metamorpho: The Element Man 2 by Al Ewing, Steve Lieber, Lee Loughridge w0rldtr33 12 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire Time Waits 3 by Chip Zdarsky, David Brothers, Marcus To, Marvin Sianipar, Matt Wilson Black Hammer: Spiral City 3 by Jeff Lemire, Teddy Kristiansen Drawing Blood 7 by Kevin Eastman, David Avallone, Troy Little, Ben Bishop, Jason Moore, Luis Antonio Delgado  

Comic Reviews: DC Batman/Santa Claus: Silent Knight Returns 1 by Jeff Parker, Lukas Ketner, Marcelo Maiolo Black Canary: Best of the Best 1 by Tom King, Ryan Sook, Dave Stewart Justice League Unlimited 1 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain Marvel West Coast Avengers 1 by Gerry Duggan, Danny Kim, Arthur Hesli Marvel Unlimited Marvel Meow 24 by Nao Fuji It's Jeff 37 by Kelly Thompson, GuriHiru Dark Horse Serpent in the Garden: Ed Grey and the Last Battle for England 1 by Mike Mignola, Ben Stenbeck, Dave Stewart Welcome to the Maynard 1 by James Robinson, J. Bone, Ian Herring Image Hornsby and Halo 1 by Peter Tomasi, Peter Snejberg, John Kalisz Mad Cave Synap 1 by Chris Moses, Andrea Giannini, James Offredi OGN Countdown Timing/Luck by Gerry Duggan Flash Gordon Adventures by Art Baltazar, Franco, John Patrick Green Whatever Happened to Frankie King by Jay Neugeboren Heretic by Robbie Morrison, Charlie Adlard Additional Reviews: Savage Avengers Omnibus Once and Future Geiger Life of Pi First four issues of new DC webcomics Skeleton Crew ep 1 & 2 Orion and the Dark His Three Daughters Moana 2 Dear Santa News: Omninews, Sweetpea renewed, double-size Simpsons special coming to Disney+ in December Comics Countdown (27 November 2024): Absolute Wonder Woman 2 by Kelly Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Jordie Bellaire Black Canary: Best of the Best 1 by Tom King, Ryan Sook, Dave Stewart Hyde Street 2 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 4 by Jason Aaron, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber Feral 8 by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner, Tone Rodriguez, Brad Simpson Superman 20 by Joshua Williamson, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sanchez Welcome to the Maynard 1 by James Robinson, J. Bone, Ian Herring Justice League Unlimited 1 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain Hornsby and Halo 1 by Peter Tomasi, Peter Snejberg, John Kalisz Uncanny X-Men 6 by Gail Simone, Javier Garron, Matt Wilson  

Longbox of Horror 2024 Part 1: Battle Pope Comic Reviews: DC o        Absolute Power 4 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora, Alejandro Sanchez o        All-In §  Batman 153 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey §  Birds of Prey 14 by Kelly Thompson, Sami Basri, Adriano Lucas §  Shazam 16 by Josie Campbell, Dan McDaid, Roberto Poggi, Trish Mulvihill §  Poison Ivy 26 by G. Willow Wilson, Marcio Takara, Arif Prianto o        DC All In Special by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez, Wes Craig, Mike Spicer o        DC Horror Presents: Creature Commandos 1 by David Dastmalchian, Jesus Hervas, Alex Guimaraes o        DC's I Know What You Did Last Crisis by Cavan Scott, Ario Anindito, Carrie Strachan; Nathan Cayanan, V Ken Marion, Andrew Dalhouse; Ashley Allen, Jose Luis, Jonas Trindade, Big Doors Studios; Matthew Levine, Jordi Tarragona, Luis Guerrero; Dan DiDio, M.L. Sanapo, Hi-Fi; Rachel Pinnelas, Will Robson, Andrew Dalhouse; Dave Wielgosz, Sid Kotian, Patricio Delpeche; Rex Ogle, Adam Graphite, Ivan Plascencia o        Justice Society of America 12 by Geoff Johns, Todd Nauck, Matt Herms Marvel o        Ghost Rider: Robbie Reyes Special by Carlos Hernandez, Moises Hidalgo, Jorge Cortes; Felipe Smith, Daniel Bayliss, Luis Wences; Melissa Flores, Jan Bazaldua, Luiz Zavala o        Star Wars: The Battle of Jakku – Insurgency Rising 1 by Alex Segura, Leonard Kirk, Stefano Raffaele, Rachelle Rosenberg, Alex Sinclair o        Storm 1 by Murewa Ayodele, Lucas Werneck, Alex Guimaraes, Fer Sifuentes-Sujo o        Marvel Unlimited §  Alligator Loki 41 by Alyssa Wong, Robert Quinn §  Lovable Lockheed 5 by Nathan Stockman §  Doodlepool 1 Boom o        Creeping Below 1 by Brian Azzarello, Vanessa Del Rey, Hilary Jenkins Dynamite o        Barbarella 1 by Blake Northcott, Anna Morozova, Magnus Arts, Werner Sanchez IDW o        Godzilla Rivals: Mechagodzilla vs. King Ghidorah by Tom Waltz, Casey Maloney Image o        Hyde Street 1 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Magma o        Night of the Slashers 1 by Cavan Scott, Paul Fry Oni o        Skin Police 1 by Jordan Thomas, Daniel Gete, Jason Wordie Valiant o        Shadowman: Soul Eaters 1 by AJ Ampadu, Sergio Monjes, Exequiel Roel, Ludwig Olimba Vault o        Goobers 1 by Cody Ziglar, Ryan Lee, K. Michael Russell o        Lilith 1 by Corin Howell, Warnia Sahadewa o        Barbaric vs. Deathstalker 1 by Tim Seeley, Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, Fabi Marques OGN Countdown o        Satan's Swarm by Steve Niles, Piotr Kowalski, Betsy Howitt, Lovern Kindzierski o        Midnight: Shadows by Zack Kaplan, Stephen Thompson, Jahnoy Lindsay o        Please Be My Star by Victoria Grace Elliott o        Dragon Prince Vol 4: Dreamer's Nightmare by Nicole Andelfinger, Felia Hanakata o        Blacking Out by Chip Mosher, Peter Krause, Josie Weaver, Giulia Brusco o        Tegan and Sara: Crush by Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, Tillie Walden o        Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash o        No Rules Tonight by Kim Hyun Sook, Ryan Estrada o        Hoops by Matt Tavares o        Drafted by Rick Parker o        Monster Locker by Jorge Aguirre, Andres Vera Martinez o        Strange Case of Harleen and Harley by Melissa Marr, Jenn St. Onge, Jeremy Lawson o        This Land is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story by Julio Anta, Jacoby Salcedo Additional Reviews: Joker 2, Agatha ep4, Black Hammer: The End, Little Monsters, Digital Circus ep3, Poison Ivy: Thorns, Do Revenge News: new DC graphic novels announced, odd Robin animated movie, Digital Circus planned to be a one season mini-series, rumors of Loeb/Lee returning to Batman, Princess Diaries 3, two more minutes of Over the Garden Wall, more streaming cartoon nonsense Trailers: Companion Comics Countdown (02 October 2024): 1.     Deviant 8 by James Tynion IV, Josh Hixson 2.     Nice House By The Sea 3 by James Tynion IV, Alvaro Martinez Bueno, Jordie Bellaire 3.     Hyde Street 1 by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson 4.     Batman 153 by Chip Zdarsky, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey 5.     DC All In Special by Joshua Williamson, Scott Snyder, Daniel Sampere, Alejandro Sanchez, Wes Craig, Mike Spicer 6.     Birds of Prey 14 by Kelly Thompson, Sami Basri, Adriano Lucas 7.     Justice Society of America 12 by Geoff Johns, Todd Nauck, Matt Herms 8.     I Hate Fairyland 16 by Skottie Young, Brett Bean 9.     Redcoat 6 by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Brad Anderson 10.  TMNT: Nightwatcher 2 by Juni Ba, Fero Peniche, Luis Antonio Delgado

Comic Reviews: DC o        Absolute Power: Task Force VII 7 by Dan Watters, Fran Galan o        Batman: The Long Halloween – The Last Halloween 1 by Jeph Loeb, Eduardo Risso, Dave Stewart o        Lobo Cancellation Special by Kyle Starks, Kyle Hotz, Dan Brown Marvel o        Avengers Annual 2024 by Derek Landy, Salvador Larroca, Guru eFX o        Venom War: Daredevil 1 by Chris Condon, Lan Medina, Yen Nitro o        Marvel Unlimited §  Jeff Week by Gustavo Duarte §  Alligator Loki 40 by Alyssa Wong, Robert Quinn §  Lovable Lockheed 4 by Nathan Stockman Boom o        Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Usagi Yojimbo 1 by Ryan Parrott, Shawn Daley, James Fenner Dark Horse o        Magic Order Five 1 by Mark Millar, Matteo Buffagni, Giovanna Niro o        Masters of the Universe/TMNT: Turtles of Grayskull 1 by Tim Seeley, Freddie Williams II, Andrew Dalhouse o        Survival Street: The Radical Left 1 by James Asmus, Jim Festante, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright DSTLRY o        Missionary 1 by Ryan Stegman, Jason Howard IDW o        My Little Pony: The Storm of Zephyr Heights 1 by Jeremy Whitley, Andy Price, Heather Breckel Image o        Creepshow Volume Three 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Kagan McLeod, James Stokoe o        Knights vs. Samurai 1 by David Dastmalchian, Fede Mele, Ulises Arreola o        Manchurian (Horizon Experiment) 1 by Pornsak Pichetshote, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson o        Old Dog Operations 1 by Declan Shalvey; PJ Holden, John McCrea, Mike Spicer; Declan Shalvey, Matias Bergara, Sofie Dodgson; Rory McConville, David O'Sullivan; Sumeyye Kesgin; Declan Shalvey, Luke Sparrow, Dee Cunniffe; Leonardo Romero, Triona Farrell; Alex Paknadel, Chris Sprouse, Dexter Vines; Charles Soule, Gavin Guidry, Chris O'Halloran o        Violator 1 by Marc Andreyko, Piotr Kowalski, Brad Simpson o        Violent Flowers 1 by Maria Llovet Mad Cave o        Revolution 9 1 by Mark London, Carlos Reno, Jao Canola Valiant by o        Black, White, and Bloodshot 1 by Luciano Saracino, Ariel Olivetti; Marc Guggenheim, Agustin Alessio; Matts, Guillermo Fajardo; Tim Seeley, Rodrigo Rocha Magma o        Hell's Half Acre 1 by Denton Tipton, Jack Jadson Indie o        Yuletide Flame by Hayden Fryer OGN Countdown o        Transplants by Dave Collard, Domenico Carbone, Josh Rodriguez o        Grinch Takes a Vacation by Kaeti Vandorn o        New Adventure of Turning Red Vol 2: Panda Power by Sloane Leong, Sergio Algozzino, Sara Galanti o        Moosicians by Steve Behling, Jeff Crowther o        Inventor Vol 2: The Secret of the Scrap Goblin by Lars Henrik Eriksen o        A Quick and Easy Guide to Coming Out by Kristin Russo, Ravi Teixeira o        Spinal Cord by David Brana, Pahito o        Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens o        Amazing Grapes by Jules Feiffer o        Holler by Jeremy Massie Additional Reviews: Wild Robot, Justice League International, Wilderness, Agatha All Along ep3, Penguin ep2 News: rumors of a James Gunn/Jim Lee Superman comic in 2025, Justice League x Sonic, Hellboy: Crooked Man going straight to digital, superhero trademark Trailers: Sinners, Caddo Lake, Dream Productions, Killer Cakes, Sweatpea Comics Countdown (25 September 2024): 1.     Helen of Wyndhorn 5 by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Mat Lopes 2.     Spectregraph 3 by James Tynion IV, Christian Ward 3.     Ultimate Spider-Man 9 by Jonathan Hickman, Marco Checchetto, Matt Wilson 4.     Lobo Cancellation Special by Kyle Starks, Kyle Hotz, Dan Brown 5.     Action Comics 1069 by Gail Simone, Eddy Barrows, Danny Miki, Jonas Trindade, Rex Lokus 6.     Standstill 2 by Lee Loughridge, Andrew Robinson 7.     Drawing Blood 6 by David Avallone, Kevin Eastman, Troy Little, Ben Bishop, Luis Antonio Delgado 8.     Detective Comics 1089 by Dan Watters, Ram V, Guillem March, Christopher Mitten, Luis Guerrero, Triona Farrell 9.     Batman: Brave and the Bold 17 by Michael Conrad, Christopher Mitten, Miguel Mendonca, Mike Spicer; Zipporah Smith, Mike Norton, John Kalisz; Alex Segura, Andy MacDonald, Patricio Delpeche; Troy Peteri, David Baldeon, Veronica Gandini 10.  Universal Monsters: Frankenstein 2 by Michael Walsh  

Comic Reviews: DC o        Absolute Power: Task Force VII 1 by Leah Williams, Caitlin Yarsky, Alex Guimaraes o        Action Comics 1067 by Gail Simone, Eddy Barrows, Danny Miki, Rex Lokus; Rainbow Rowell, Cian Tormey, Romulo Fajardo Jr. o        From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives 1 by J.M. DeMatteis, Rick Leonardi, Rico Renzi o        Primer: Clashing Colors 1 by Thomas Krajewski, Jennifer Muro, Gretel Lusky Marvel o        Giant-Size Silver Surfer by Mat Groom, Tommaso Bianchi, Andrew Dalhouse o        Hulk: Blood Hunt 1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Danny Earls, Matthew Wilson o        Kid Venom 1 by Taigami, Mattia Iacono o        Star Wars: Ahsoka 1 by Rodney Barnes, Steven Cummings, Wayne Faucher, Rachelle Rosenberg o        X-Men 1 by Jed MacKay, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Marte Gracia o        Marvel Unlimited §  Marvel Mutts 11 by Mackenzie Cadenhead, Takeshi Miyazawa Dark Horse o        From the World of Minor Threats: Barfly 1 by Kyle Starks, Patton Oswalt, Jordan Blum, Ryan Browne, Kevin Knipstein, o        Kill All Immortals 1 by Zack Kaplan, Fico Ossio, Thiago Rocha Image o        Domain 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Rachael Stott, Eren Angiolini ComiXology o        Endless by Curt Pires, Rockwell White, Diana Nguyen, Mark Dale, Micah Myers IDW o        Hunger and Dusk Book Two 1 by G. Willow Wilson, Christian Wildgoose, Diana Sousa, Michelle SassyK o        TMNT: 40th Anniversary Comics Celebration by Kevin Eastman, Edgar Allan Poe; Jim Lawson, Steve Lavigne; Tristan Jones, Paul Harmon; Gary Carlson, Frank Fosco, Adam Guzowski; Chris Allan; Erik Burnham, Sarah Myer, Antonio Delgado; Lloyd Goldfine, Khary Randolph, Emilio Lopez; Ciro Nielli; Andy Suriano; Tom Waltz, Michael Dialynas; Ronda Pattison, Pablo Tunica Mad Cave o        Gatchaman: Galactor 1 by Steve Orlando, Kath Lobo OGN Countdown o        The Change Jaime Paglia, Whoopi Goldberg, Sunkanmi Akinboye, Alexandria Batchelor o        Cryptid Club vol 4: You Don't Know Jackalope by Michael Brumm, Jeff Mack o        Loud: A Story to Make Your Voice Heard by Anna Cercignano, Eleonara Antonioni, Maurizia Rubino, Francesco Torre, La Tram o        Yahgz vol 1: The Craynobi Tales by Art Baltazar o        Carmilla the Last Vampire Hunter vol 2 by Amy Chu, Soo Lee o        Spider-Man: Cosmic Chaos by Mike Maihack o        Dungeons and Dragons: Dungeon Club Vol 2: Time to Party by Molly Knox Ostertag, Xanthe Bouma Additional Reviews: Dungeon Flippers, She-Hulk by Charles Soule, Acolyte ep7, MAWS 2.9, Longlegs, surprise comic News: Robbie Robertson cast in Spider-Man Noir series, more Absolute DC details, Boom acquisition by Penguin Random House, Emilia Clarke joins Criminal, First Second launching an adult imprint, new Iron Man creative team Trailers: Gladiator 2, Perfect Couple, Captain America 4 Comics Countdown (10 July 2024): 1.     Ain't No Grave 3 by Skottie Young, Jorge Corona, Jean-Francois Beaulieu 2.     Primer: Clashing Colors 1 by Thomas Krajewski, Jennifer Muro, Gretel Lusky 3.     Green Lantern 13 by Marc Guggenheim, Matthew Clark, Matt Herms 4.     Action Comics 1067 by Gail Simone, Eddy Barrows, Danny Miki, Rex Lokus; Rainbow Rowell, Cian Tormey, Romulo Fajardo Jr. 5.     Spider-Boy 9 by Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Nathan Stockman, Erick Arciniega 6.     Crocodile Black 3 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Somnath Pal, Patricio Delpeche 7.     From the DC Vault: Death in the Family – Robin Lives 1 by J.M. DeMatteis, Rick Leonardi, Rico Renzi 8.     Ice Cream Man 40 by W. Maxwell Prince, Martin Morazzo, Chris O'Halloran 9.     Domain 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Rachael Stott, Eren Angiolini 10.  Batman and Robin 11 by Joshua Williamson, Juan Ferreyra

Comic Reviews: DC Batman and Robin Annual 2024 by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Rain Beredo Batman/Superman: World's Finest Annual 2024 by Mark Waid, Cullen Bunn, Edwin Galmon, Lee Loughridge; Dennis Culver, Travis Mercer, Andrew Dalhouse; Stephanie Williams, Rosi Kampe, Jordie Bellaire; Christopher Cantwell, Jorge Fornes, Lee Loughridge DC Power 2024 by N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell; Cheryl Lynn Eaton, Asiah Fulmore, Ruth Redmond; Lamar Giles, Sean Damien Hill, Anthony Fowler Jr., DJ Chavis; John Ridley, Edwin Galmon; Deron Bennett, Denys Cowan, John Stanisci, Christopher Cantwell; Shawn Martinbrough, Tony Akins, Moritat; Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Romulo Fajardo Jr.; Jarrett Williams, Domo Stanton, Andrew Dalhouse; Greg Burnham, Jahnoy Lindsay; Brandon Thomas, Khary Randolph, Serg Acuña Power Girl Uncovered Titans: Beast World 6 by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Lucas Meyer, Eduardo Pansica, Danny Miki, Julio Ferreira, Brad Anderson, Romulo Fajardo Jr. Trinity Special by Tom King, Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey Marvel Dead X-Men 1 by Steve Foxe, Bernard Chang, Jonas Scharf, Vincenzo Carratu, Frank Martin Marvel's Voices: Legends by David Walker, Eder Messias, Jonas Trindade, Andrew Dalhouse; Justina Ireland, Karen Darboe, Carlos Lopez; Ezra Claytan Daniels, Sean Damien Hill, Oren Junior, Espen Grundetjern; Sheree Renee Thomas, Julian Shaw, Carlos Lopez Marvel Unlimited Alligator Loki 34 by Alyssa Wong, Robert Quinn Image Moon Man 1 by Kyle Higgins, Scott Mescudi, Marco Locati, Igor Monti Boom Power Rangers Unlimited: The Morphin Masters 1 by Ryan Parrott, Rachel Wagner, Daniel Bayliss, Arthus Hesli Dynamite Lilo and Stitch 1 by Greg Pak, Giulia Giacomino Titan Dark Souls: The Willow King by George Mann, Mann House Oni Jill and the Killers 1 by Olivia Cuartero-Briggs, Roberto Ingranata, Rebecca Nalty OGNs Shook! A Black Horror Anthology by Shawn Alleyne, Alverne Ball, Rodney Barnes, Brandon Easton, Bradley Golden, Kevin Grevioux, John Jennings, Evan Parke, Marcus Roberts, David Walker, David Brame, Roberto Castro, Flavio Cortes, Daniel Gorman, Charlie Goubile, Alessio Nocerino, Adam Seats, Jamal Williams Jr., Jermel Williams, Phillip Williams Jr., Beezzz Studio, Bruce Cherin, Mickey Clausen, Oladayo Kemi, Iwan Joko Triyono Adventures of Invisible Boy by Doogie Horner Alterations by Ray Xu Spirited: Day of the Living Liv by Liv Livingston, Glass House Graphics Additional Reviews: Giant Days, Hazbin Hotel, Star Trek Defiant Annual, Flight Attendant s1, Orion and the Dark, Self, surprise review News: Alyssa Wong leaving Dr. Aphra, Suicide Squad vs. Justice League choices, Kristen Ritter confirmed for Sonic 3, Ahsoka comic adaptation coming, final Canto chapter announced, Omninews, new Image anthology from Sabir Pirzada Comics Countdown (30 Jan 2024): 1.     Alan Scott: Green Lantern 4 by Tim Sheridan, Cian Tormey, Jordi Tarragona, John Livesay 2.     Dark Ride 10 by Joshua Williamson, Andrei Bressan, Adriano Lucas 3.     w0rldtr33 7 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire 4.     Titans: Beast World 6 by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Lucas Meyer, Eduardo Pansica, Danny Miki, Julio Ferreira, Brad Anderson, Romulo Fajardo Jr. 5.     Batman: Off-World 3 by Jason Aaron, Doug Mahnke, Jaime Mendoza, David Baron 6.     Avengers, Inc 5 by Al Ewing, Leonard Kirk, Alex Sinclair 7.     Avengers: Twilight 2 by Chip Zdarsky, Daniel Acuna 8.     Local Man 9 by Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, Felipe Sobreiro, Brad Simpson 9.     Spider-Boy 3 by Dan Slott, Paco Medina, Erick Arciniega, Ty Templeton, Dee Cunniffe 10.  Doctor Aphra 40 by Alyssa Wong, Minkyu Jung, Rachelle Rosenberg

Comic Reviews: DC Batman '89: Echoes 1 by Sam Hamm, Joe Quinones, Leonardo Ito Titans: Beast World 1 by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Marvel Amazing Spider-Man: Gang War – First Strike 1 by Zeb Wells, Cody Ziglar, Joey Vasquez, Julian Shaw, Bryan Valenza Howard the Duck 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones, Jordan Gibson, Stacey Lee; Daniel Kibblesmith, Annie Wu, Ian Herring; Jason Loo, Derek Charm, Dee Cunniffe; Merritt K, Will Robson, Pete Pantazis Luke Cage: Gang War 1 by Rodney Barnes, Ramon Bachs, Andrew Dalhouse Marvel Zombies: Black, White, and Blood 2 by Gail Simone, Dale Eaglesham, Yen Nitro; Erica Schultz, Nelson Daniel; Doug Wagner, Juan Gedeon, Dee Cunniffe Spider-Woman 1 by Steve Foxe, Carola Borelli, Arif Prianto X-Men Blue Origins 1 by Si Spurrier, Wilton Santos, Oren Junior, Marcus To, Ceci De La Cruz Marvel Unlimited Marvel Mutts 1 by Mackenzie Cadenhead, Takeshi Miyazawa Spider-Man Unlimited 13 by Jody Houser, Nathan Stockman Image Crave 1 by Maria Llovet Boom BRZRKR: Fallen Empire 1 by Mattson Tomlin, Keanu Reeves, Rebekah Isaacs, Jordie Bellaire Dynamite Jennifer Blood: Battle Diary 1 by Fred Van Lente, Robert Carey, Dearbhla Kelly Vault Barbaric: Wrong Kind of Righteous 1 by Nicholas Eames, Michael Moreci, Nathan Gooden, Addison Duke OGNs Melody Vol 1: The Other Me by Rosalia Armenteros, Lylian, Montana Kane Nunuche: Fluffy Like Cotton Candy by Guillaume Bianco, Marie Kerascoet Loneliness of the Abyss by Dimitris Vanellis, Nikolas Kourtis Street Angel: Princess of Poverty by Jim Rugg, Brian Maruca Ellie in First Position by Brian Freschi, Elena Triolo Additional Reviews: Refrigerator Full of Heads, Doctor Who, The Killer News: Loki showrunner is writing Avengers movies, next Ms. Marvel mini by same creative team coming in 2024, Ivan Reis heading to Ghost Machine, Iron Heart by Stephanie Williams pre-canceled, Black Cat and Jackpot get new team-up book, Millarworld to Dark Horse Trailers: Furiosa, Fallout, Godzilla x Kong, Carol and the End of the World Comics Countdown (28 Nov 2023): 1.      Alan Scott: Green Lantern 2 by Tim Sheridan, Cian Tormey, Matt Herms 2.      Penguin 4 by Tom King, Rafael de Latorre, Marcelo Maiolo 3.      Action Comics 1059 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Matt H erms 4.      Swan Songs 5 by W. Maxwell Prince, Alex Eckman-Lawn 5.      Wild's End 6 by Dan Abnett, I.N.J. Culbard 6.      Howard the Duck 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones, Jordan Gibson, Stacey Lee; Daniel Kibblesmith, Annie Wu, Ian Herring; Jason Loo, Derek Charm, Dee Cunniffe; Merritt K, Will Robson, Pete Pantazis 7.      Detective Comics 1078 by Ram V, Jason Shawn Alexander, Dave Stewart 8.      BRZRKR: Fallen Empire by Mattson Tomlin, Keanu Reeves, Rebekah Isaacs, Jordie Bellaire 9.      Kaya 13 by Wes Craig, Jason Wordie 10.   Something is Killing the Children 35 by James Tynion IV, Werther Dell'Edera    

NRC Reviews after a lengthy time away to talk about The Titans' first starring crossover event, Titans: Beast World #1 by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, and Brad Anderson! Fall by Ross Bugden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bln0BEv5AJ0 THE BIGGEST THREAT TO THE DC UNIVERSE IS…BEAST BOY?! CAN THE TITANS SAVE THE WORLD AND THEIR TEAMMATE? SUPERSTARS TOM TAYLOR AND IVAN REIS TEAM UP FOR AN UNPRECEDENTED TITANS CROSSOVER! Clawing its way out of the pages of Titans comes an unprecedented threat to the DC Universe. Superman, Wonder Woman, Starfire—all are powerless to stop the Necrostar from ending all life on Earth. The only hero who can save the world is…Beast Boy?! With Nightwing, Raven, Cyborg, and the Titans beside him, can Garfield Logan rise to battle an ancient evil? What will Amanda Waller do to take advantage of the situation as millions of people are changed into rampaging creatures? Can humanity survive all-powerful heroes and villains transformed into ferocious beasts? Friends will fall. Heroes will rise. And nothing will ever be the same again. Earth is about to become…Beast World. DC proudly presents the Titans' first crossover as the world's premier superhero team, with universe-shattering repercussions. Brought to you by the all-star creative team of writer Tom Taylor and artist Ivan Reis, this story promises to be an epic one that sets the stage for what's to come for the DCU!

Comic Reviews: DC DC Pride 2023 by Grant Morrison, Hayden Sherman, Marissa Louise, Leah Williams, Paulina Ganucheau, Nadia Shammas, Bruka Jones, Tamra Bonvillain, A.L. Kaplan, Josh Trujillo, Don Aguillo, Jeremy Holt, Andrew Drilon, Mildred Louis, Rex Ogle, Stephen Sadowski, Enrica Eren Angiolini, Christopher Cantwell, Skylar Partridge, Dearbhla Kelly, Nicole Maines, Rye Hickman, Bex Glendining Power Girl Special by Leah Williams, Marguerite Sauvage, Marissa Louise, Joanne Starer, Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain Marvel Amazing Spider-Man 26 by Zeb Wells, John Romita Jr., Scott Hanna, Marcio Menyz Edge of Spider-Verse 2 by David Hein, Luciano Vecchio, Brian Reber, Benjamin Percy, Marika Cresta, Ruth Redmond Punisher 12 by Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz, Paul Azaceta, Matt Hollingsworth Infinity Comics Cosmo the Spacedog 3 by Jason Loo, Jim Campbell Image Savage Strength of Starstorm 1 by Drew Craig, Jason Finestone IDW Cat Fight 1 by Andrew Wheeler, Ilias Kyriazis Rocketeer 2023 Special 1 by Danny Bilson, Paul Demeo, Robert Windom, Kelvin Mao, Adam Hughes, Craig Cermak, Robert Windom, Jae Lee Star Trek Annual 2023 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Rachael Stott, Charlie Kirchoff TMNT: Saturday Morning Adventures Continued 1 by Erik Burnham, Tim Lattie Dynamite Pathfinder: Wake the Dead 1 by Fred Van Lente, Eman Casallos OGNs Books of Clash Vol 1: Legendary Legends of Legendarious Achievery by Gene Luen Yang, Les McClaine, Alison Acton Tegan and Sara: Junior High by Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, Tillie Walden Knee-Deep Book One by Joe Flood Jurassic Jeff Vol 1: Space Invader by Royden Lepp Additional Reviews: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Killing Eve overall thoughts, Jury Duty News: new Brubaker/Phillips, Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland and a live action Miles Morales movie in development, Steve Rogers Captain America book from JMS, Superior Spider-Man returning from Slott, Omninews, Moon Girl s2 villain revealed, Kelly Thompson relaunching Birds of Prey, Sixth Gun returning via Kickstarter Trailers: TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, My Adventures with Superman Comics Countdown (30 May 2023): Friday 7 by Ed Brubaker, Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente Deep Cuts 2 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Helena Masellis, Igor Monti w0rldtr33 2 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire Punisher 12 by Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz, Paul Azaceta, Matt Hollingsworth DC Pride 2023 by Grant Morrison, Hayden Sherman, Marissa Louise, Leah Williams, Paulina Ganucheau, Nadia Shammas, Bruka Jones, Tamra Bonvillain, A.L. Kaplan, Josh Trujillo, Don Aguillo, Jeremy Holt, Andrew Drilon, Mildred Louis, Rex Ogle, Stephen Sadowski, Enrica Eren Angiolini, Christopher Cantwell, Skylar Partridge, Dearbhla Kelly, Nicole Maines, Rye Hickman, Bex Glendining Doctor Strange 3 by Jed MacKay, Pasqual Ferry, Heather Moore, Amy Chu, Tokitokoro, Fernando Sifuentes Traveling to Mars 6 by Mark Russell, Roberto Meli Tegan and Sara: Junior High OGN by Tegan Quin, Sara Quin, Tillie Walden Local Man 4 by Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, Felipe Sobreiro, Brad Simpson Detective Comics 1072 by Ram V, Dan Watters, Ivan Reis, Stefano Raffaele, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson, Lee Loughridge  

Comic Reviews: DC Green Arrow 1 by Joshua Williamson, Sean Izaakse, Romulo Fajardo Jr Marvel Alien 1 by Declan Shalvey, Andrea Broccardo, Triona Farrell Guardians of the Galaxy: Blastaar by Ralph Macchio, Davide Tinto, Yen Nitro Sins of Sinister: Dominion by Kieron Gillen, Paco Medina, Lucas Werneck, Bryan Valenza Star Wars: Darth Vader – Black, White, and Red 1 by Jason Aaron, Leonard Kirk, Romulo Fajardo Jr., Peach Momoko, Torunn Gronbekk, Klaus Janson Infinity Comics Marvel Meow and Pizza Dog 4 by Jason Loo Alligator Loki 24 by Alyssa Wong, Robert Quinn, Pete Pantazis Image Deep Cuts 1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Danilo Beyruth, Igor Monti w0rldtr33 1 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire Dark Horse Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures – Quest of the Jedi by Claudia Gray, Fico Ossio, Sebastian Cheng, Candice Han CEX Seven Years in Darkness 1 by Joseph Schmalke TKO Sacred Lamb GN by Tim Seeley, Jelena Dordevic Witches of World War II GN by Paul Cornell, Valeria Burzo, Jordie Bellaire Vault Money Shot Comes Again! 1 by Tim Seeley, Gisele Lagace OGNs Cosmic Cadets Vol 1: Contact by Ben Crane, Mimi Alves, Priscilla Tramontano Black Cat Social Club by Christopher Painter, Bob Quinn, Fred Stresing, Meg Casey Last Comics on Earth by Max Brallier, Joshua Pruett, Doug Holgate, Jay Cooper 4 Town 4 Real by Dirchansky, KAlfee Hungry Ghost by Victoria Ying Ray's OGN Corner: Midwinter Witch by Molly Knox Ostertag Additional Reviews: Rassle Castle vol 3, Reckless, Black Hammer: Last Day of Black Hammer, Right On, Up to No Ghoul, Peter Pan and Wendy, MMPR: Once and Always, Spectators (first 150 pages), Book of Gogor News: Kraven is rated R, Nimona cast, Green Arrow extended to 12 issues, Blue Beetle ongoing, Power Girl and Fire & Ice series announced, Stegman continues Vanish without Donny Cates, Chris Pine playing leading role in Disney's new musical Wish, Amazon expands its DC animation lineup, Stephanie Phillips writing a Ben Grimm/Venom What If, Spawn coming to Killadelphia, new Transformers animated movie, IDW slash ‘n' burn, DC and Marvel Pride details, dumb fake rumor about FF movie, Adam Samberg voicing Scarlet Spider in Spider-Verse 2, dumb Zack Snyder reveals, Barkham Asylum, new Blade movie writer Trailers: Flash, Black Mirror s6, A Haunting in Venice, Wish, Next Goal Wins, Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Hailey's On It Comics Countdown (25 Apr 2023): w0rldtr33 1 by James Tynion IV, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire Action Comics 1054 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Dorado Quick, Dan Jurgens, Max Raynor, Yasmin Flores Montanez, Norm Rapmund, Brad Anderson, Elizabeth Breitweiser, Matt Herms Daredevil 10 by Chip Zdarsky, Marcho Checchetto, Matt Wilson Detective Comics 1071 by Ram V, Ivan Reis, Stefano Raffaele, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson, Si Spurrier, Caspar Wijngaard Wasp 4 by Al Ewing, Kasia Niemczyk, Carola Borelli, Kike Diaz Kaya 7 by Wes Craig, Jason Wordie TMNT: The Last Ronin – The Lost Years 3 by Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman, SL Galant, Ben Bishop, Maria Keane, Luis Antonio Delgado, Ifan Noor Grim 10 by Stephanie Phillips, Flaviano, Rico Renzi Deep Cuts 1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Danilo Beyruth, Igor Monti Unstoppable Doom Patrol 2 by Dennis Culver, Chris Burnham, Brian Reber  

⭐I BELLISSIMI⭐Lo spazio dedicato alle nostre storie preferite direttamente dall'archivio di Marvel e DC. Per la prima volta nel ruolo di sceneggiatore e illustratore, la leggenda di Daredevil Joe Quesada crea un mistero ambientato durante l'ondata di caldo più mortale nella storia di New York. Un serial killer è in libertà, spingendo una città già sull'orlo di una crisi di nervi oltre il limite, e Daredevil deve combattere il caldo e la paura per tenere insieme una Hell's Kitchen sempre più fatiscente con ogni mezzo necessario!Daredevil FatherGiugno 2004 - Febbraio 2007 W: Joe Quesada A: Joe QuesadaI: Danny MikiC: Richard IsanoveL: Chris Eliopoulos LINK UTILI:Joe Quesada - Scheda Tecnica CONTATTI: Gruppo Telegram - Linktree - Spreaker - Twitter - Instagram - Gmail - Mastodon Cover: Daredevil Father #1 - Joe Quesada, Danny Miki e Richard Isanove Sigla e musica: Uncharted Planet - FormantX Un podcast di: Giorgio Ceragioli, Filippo Torta, Alessandro Negri e Giorgio Crico.

June 2023 Solicits Comic Reviews: DC Batman: One Bad Day – Ra's al Ghul by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson DC's Legion of Bloom by Ashley Allen, Isaac Goodhart, Cris Peter, Zac Thompson, Hayden Sherman, Patricio Delpeche, Julio Anta, Jacoby Salcedo, Allen Passalaqua, Cava Scott, Atagun Ilhan, Mark Morales, Hi-Fi, Kenny Porter, Brian Level, Jay Leisten, Jordan Boyd, Calvin Kasulke, Vitor Cafaggi, Travis Moore, Eren Enrica Angiolini, Dave Wielgosz, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plasencia Milestone 30th Anniversary Special by Chuck Brown, Evan Narcisse, Stephanie Williams, Nikolas Draper-Ivey, ChrisCross, Atagun Ilhan, Yasmin Flores Montanez, Denys Cowan, Norm Rapmund, Dexter Vines, Juan Castro, Chris Sotomayor, Noelle Giddings Marvel Doctor Strange 1 by Jed MacKay, Pasqual Ferry, Matt Hollingsworth Women of Marvel (2023) by Rebecca Roanhorse, Caroa Borelli, Ruth Redmond, Victoria Ying, Jodi Nishijima, Brittany Peer, Melissa Flores, Stacey Lee, Rachelle Rosenberg, Shawnee and Shawnelle Gibbs, Giulia Gualazzi, Giada Marchisio Infinity Comics Marvel Meow and Pizza Dog by Jason Loo Image Dead Romans 1 by Fred Kennedy, Nick Marinkovich Dark Horse Order and Outrage 1 by Jim Starlin, Rags Morales, Hailey Brown Boom Neighbors 1 by Jude Ellison S. Doyle, Letizia Cadonici, Alessandro Santoro Valiant X-O Manowar: Unconquered 1 by Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Liam Sharp Archie Chilling Adventures Presents: Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe of Horrors by Ryan Cady, Jordan Morris, Amy Chase, Chris Panda, Liana Kangas, Federico Sabbatini, Matt Herms OGN Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, Boulet Extincts: Flight of the Mammoth by Scott Magoon Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa Travis Daventhorpe for the Win! By Wes Molebach Colonel Weird and Little Andromeda by Jeff Lemire, Tate Brombal, Ray Fawkes, Andrea Sorrentino, Tyler Crook, Ariela Kristantina, Dani, Yuko Shimizu, Nick Robles, Marguerite Sauvage, Shawn Kuruneru, Dave Stewart, Jordie Bellaire Kings of Nowhere Vol 2 by Soroush Barazesh War Birds by Geoffrey Wessel, Steve Parkhouse Ray's OGN Corner: Ephemera: A Memoir by Briana Loewinsohn Additional Reviews: Mandalorian 3.4, Picard 3.6, Luther: The Fallen Sun, God of War: Ragnarok, Death or Glory, ScreaIV, Huntress: Year One News: Omninews, Gold Key comics returns with Michael Conrad and Kelly Williams on board, more wacky WB fun, Jonathan Majors arrested, Aristocats live action remake by Quest Love, final Dug Days short will be theatrical release in front of Elemental, Ike Perlmutter shitcanned, Secret Invasion release date Trailers: Owl House final episode, Power Rangers: Once A Ranger, Big Shark, Black Demon, Elemental Comics Countdown (22 Mar 2023): Batman: One Bad Day – Ra's al Ghul by Tom Taylor, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Brad Anderson Swamp Thing: Green Hell 3 by Jeff Lemire, Shawn Moll, Doug Mahnke, David Baron Punisher 10 by Jason Aaron, Paul Azaceta, Jesus Saiz, Matt Hollingsworth Colonel Weird and Little Andromeda GN by Jeff Lemire, Tate Brombal, Ray Fawkes, Andrea Sorrentino, Tyler Crook, Ariela Kristantina, Dani, Yuko Shimizu, Nick Robles, Marguerite Sauvage, Shawn Kuruneru, Dave Stewart, Jordie Bellaire Superman 2 by Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell Wasp 3 by Al Ewing, Kasia Niemczyk, Kike Diaz Immortal Sergeant 3 by Joe Kelly, J.M. Ken Niimura Mighty Morphin Power Rangers 106 by Melissa Flores, Simona Di Gianfelice, Raul Angulo Grim 9 by Stephanie Phillips, Flaviano, Rico Renzi Belle of the Ball OGN by Mari Costa

In which our heroes jump into the way back machine and talk about their childhood (and adult) favorite Star Wars. And even though it was written in the 70's Charles refused to betray his inner child and had nary a negative thing to say about it. Then they talk about everyone's favorite superhero Batman Zero Year and Jav damns it with his most vicious scorn “It was good just not great”.Star Wars Written by Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin Art by Howard Chaykin and Carmine InfantinoBatman Zero Year Written by Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV Art by Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, and Rafael Albuquerque

Comic Reviews: DC Batman: White Knight Presents – Red Hood 1 by Sean Murphy, Clay McCormack, Simone Di Meo, Dave Stewart Black Adam: The Justice Society Files – Cyclone by Bryan Q. Miller, Cavan Scott, Tony Avina, Marco Santucci, Maria Laura Sanapo, Norm Rapmund, Michael Atiyeh, Arif Prianto Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths 3 by Joshua Williamson, Daniel Sampere, Danny Miki, Daniel Henriques, Alejandro Sanchez New Champion of Shazam 1 by Josie Campbell, Evan Shaner Sword of Azrael 1 by Dan Watters, Nikola Cizmesija, Marissa Louise Harley Quinn 18 by Stephanie Phillips, Georges Duarte, Romulo Fajardo Jr Marvel Demon Wars: The Iron Samurai 1 by Peach Momoko, Zack Davisson Edge of Spider-Verse 1 by Dan Slott, Alex Segura, Karla Pacheco, Dustin Weaver, Mark Bagley, Pere Perez, Martin Coccolo, Caio Majado, DJ Bryant, Brian Reber Who is She-Hulk? Infinity Comic by Rainbow Rowell, Ig Guara, Ian Herring Marvel Meow 12 by Nao Fuji Image 20XX Transport by Jonathan Luna Dead Lucky 1 by Melissa Flores, French Carlomagno, Mattia Iacono Golden Rage 1 by Chrissy Williams, Lauren Knight, Sofie Dodgson Dark Horse Frankenstein: New World 1 by Christopher Golden, Mike Mignola, Tom Sniegoski, Pete Bergting, Michelle Madsen Survival Street 1 by James Asmus, Jim Festante, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright IDW Godzilla Rivals II: Godzilla vs. Batra by Rosie Knight, Oliver Ono Dynamite James Bond 007 1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Marco Finnegan, Dearbhla Kelly Oni Aggretsuko: Out to Lunch 1 by Josh Trujillo, Abigail Starling AfterShock Vineyard 1 by Brian Hawkins, Sami Kivela, Jason Wordie Ablaze Elle(s) 1 by Bastien Vives AWA Sacrament 1 by Peter Milligan, Marcelo Frusin American Mythology Two Gun Terror 1 by G.O. Parsons, Jason Craig, Konstantine Paradias, Jorge Pacheco, S.A. Check, Horacio Domingues Zorro: Black and White Noir 1 by Jordan Gershowitz, Gerardo Gambone, S.A. Check, Guilherme Raffide, Alex Toth Black Hammer: Visions by David Robertson and Scott Henderson Ray's OGN Corner: Miss Quinces by Kat Fajardo Additional Reviews: Sandman, Thor by Jason Aaron Omnibus Vol 1, Colorado Kid, Bullet Train, Lego Star Wars Summer Vacation News: Flash officially ending after next season, Riverdale season finale, Nemesis returning next year by Millar and Jimenez, Batgirl movie cancelled, WB nonsense, She-Hulk schedule shift, new Keanu role, Gaga in Joker 2, Valiant woes, Omni news, Dublin Con reporting, Samurai Rabbit returns for s2 in September, Bryan Hill Black Panther series in October, MJ/Black Cat ongoing series, Punisher returning to the MCU?, First Kill cancelled, Planet Hulk mini-series, Kal-El returns one-shot, Anthony Ramos cast as the Hood Trailers: Andor, Little Demon, Cars on the Road Comics Countdown: X-Men Red 5 by Al Ewing, Stefano Caselli, Federico Blee Stillwater 14 by Chip Zdarsky, Ramon Perez, Mike Spicer Twig 4 by Skottie Young, Kyle Strahm, Jean-Francois Beaulieu New Champion of Shazam 1 by Josie Campbell, Evan Shaner Aquaman: Andromeda 2 by Ram V, Christian Ward Time Before Time 15 by Rory McConville, Declan Shalvey, Eric Zawadski, Chris O'Halloran Batman 126 by Chip Zdarsky, Belen Ortega, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey, Luis Guerrero Batman: Killing Time 6 by Tom King, David Marquez, Alejandro Sanchez Little Monsters 6 by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen Dead Lucky 1 by Melissa Flores, French Carlomagno, Mattia Iacono

TJ Disavowed - Fantom (Wraith Origin) Backup story from 31 - 33 Mark, Tim and Jay continue their look at the Disavowed era with the Wraith backups story - "Fantom" part 1-3 from 31,32,33. Attached is the column in the back of the book where Devils Due Creators are asked what damage they inflicted on their GI Joe toys. Questions asked: - How long can the Talking Joe team possibly talk about a story that is just 12 pages long? - What relevance could the inking style of Danny Miki possibly have to the issue at hand? - How did we mutilate our own GI Joe toys when we we young? - And what does the team think of this new crazy cat on the GI Joe scene, Wriath? Story: Brandon Jerwa, Art: Talent Caldwell, Inks: Jason Gorder, Colors: Christina Strain Publicity Blurb from 2004: Devil's Due Publishing has chosen Aspen Studios to design WRAITH, a new major villain for the G.I.Joe comic book series. The studio will create a 3 part BACK UP story starting with G.I.Joe #31 . Devil's Due has worked with Aspen in the past (on covers for G.I.Joe #22 and the COBRA REBORN incentive cover) and is happy to expand the relationship between the two publishers. Talent Caldwell will be providing the designs for the character, as well as art for the back up stories and two covers. Michael Turner will be illustrating the cover for the finale, with issue #33. Brandon Jerwa, who will provide the script for the story (entitled FANTOM), created WRAITH. Devil's Due President Josh Blaylock is certain that the innovative new character will excite fans, while simultaneously acquiring new readers. “Brandon pitched this character to us over a year ago, and we've just been waiting for the right time. By bringing the Aspen guys on board, we're sure to have a hit on our hands, and create a character that will be around for years to come. It's gonna rock.” When asked about working with Devil's Due and helping to design Wraith, the new G.I. Joe character, Talent Caldwell said, "I'm really excited to be working on this project. I've always been a huge Joe fan, and being asked to design a new major character like this is really flattering. I've been wanting to do some work on G.I. Joe for a while, and this special story wound up being the perfect fit. It's been a lot of fun and I hope everyone enjoys what we have in store for them!" Talent Caldwell Talent Caldwell went to a Charlotte, NC comic con in 1997 and showed off his artwork for the first time. He was told to become more like the established artist like Michael Turner and Marc Silvestri. He took the words to heart. He moved from his hometown of Clarksville, TN to move to L.A. to try to get into his passion of film. Talent only did music videos and his first was in 1999, Sevendust “Denial” and then later Destiny's Child “Bug-a-boo”. Talent realized he didn't enjoy dancing and went back to drawing. At a comic con Talent was discovered by Michael Turner and offered a chance to show his stuff to Marc Silvestri. On January 12, 2000, Talent officially started working as a professional artist. He did background work on Fathom. Only to move onto the creation of the miniseries Fathom: Killian's Tide. Later Talent left Top Cow to join Michael Turner forming Aspen Comics. After a lawsuit between Top Cow and Aspen comics, Talent's Fathom: Dawn of War miniseries was published. He co-wrote and drew the artwork for it to be published in 2004. After the release of the miniseries, he broke away from Aspen comics to do freelance work. He has done artwork for Marvel and DC comics. Talent worked on Wildstorm and Gen 13 comics during his freelance career.

Spawn #58 - Story - Todd McFarlane, Pencils - Greg Capullo, Inks - Todd McFarlane, Danny Miki, & Chance Wolf, Letters - Tom Orzechowski, Colors - Brian Haberlin & Dan Kemp The return of two characters we didn't expect to see again. Brothers Eddie and Andy, whose father abused them, and the argument could be made that Spawn did not do enough to protect, have arrived in NYC. Spawn is not there to protect them this times as they are quickly caught up in the crime & corruption of the city. Ultimately they do see their "savior" again, but much like other things in Spawn's life, it does not go well.

Spawn #57 - Story - Todd McFarlane, Pencils - Greg Capullo, Inks - Todd McFarlane, Danny Miki, Jason Gorder & Chance Wolf, Letters - Tom Orzechowski, Colors - Brian Haberlin, Dan Kemp & Jason Gorder The battle is finally here, Spawn takes on Cy-Gor and we learn the identity of the brain inside the beast. Plus we learn of a connection between the cyborg gorilla and Major Forsberg who in turn links the behemoth to Jason Winn.

Al, Ben and Lee talk about their favorite gimmick comic book covers from the 90's. Listen and let us know which one is your favorite. ----more---- The Dark Age of Comic Books was the culmination of a gradual move towards an older audience for Comic Books, particularly those featuring superheroes that had started in The Bronze Age of Comic Books. Sometimes, to follow the Gold/Silver/Bronze progression, at other times it is jokingly called "the Chrome Age", owing to the frequency of publishers selling comics with holofoil covers as a marketing gimmick during the period, but "Dark Age" is the much more common and accepted term. Usually characterized as a Darker and Edgier period featuring an increased focus on sex, violence and dark, gritty portrayals of the characters involved, much of the content produced during this era is very controversial among comic book fans.   It's not the world's most exciting cover, but 1991's Silver Surfer #50 gets the nod for being the first comic in industry history to feature the chromium embossed effect, and for how it utilizes the gimmick in a sensible manner.  As the 90s chugged along, publishers were seemingly embossing every other comic without much rhyme or reason. But Silver Surfer #50 adds the embossing to the Mr. Radd himself. And that makes sense since the character's name is "Silver Surfer" – so some silver chromium embossing is neither excessive nor inappropriate. Yes, I understand that I'm essentially awarding points here for lack of excess, but considering we're talking about the 90s here, why not applaud Marvel's show of restraint.  Tom Chirstopher  Cover Art  Tom Christopher Inks  Ron Lim Pencils - Cover Art  James (Jim) Starlin  Scripts  Tom Vincent Colors  Als first pick: Marvels Silver Surfer #50 1991   One of the biggest selling comic books of all time, more than 8 million copies of X-Men #1 were snatched up in the 90s, primarily because of the gimmick – five variant covers that interlocked to create a beautiful Jim Lee-illustrated landscape of the X-Men fighting Magneto (there was also a special edition gatefold version of the comic which contained the entire image). Sure, needing to buy five copies of the same comic in order to see Lee's entire image was annoying and an inefficient use of funds, but the iconography of this issue and its gimmick cannot be denied. Plus, in terms of its historical significance, this was the comic that cemented Lee as one of the industry's best young artists, which of course led to the "Image Revolution" in 1992 of which Lee was one of the core founding member of the company (alongside Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld and Erik Larsen). Chris Claremont-Scripts  Jim Lee Pencils - Cover Art  Tom Orzechowski Letters Joe Rosas Colors  Scott Williams Cover Art - Inks Ben's 1st Pick: Marvels X-Men #1 Oct. 1991 Great interior art from Jim Lee. Look at Magnetos glorious mane. Another amazing interior fold out page The X-Men gather for Illyana's funeral. Magneto brings Avalon to Earth and offers the X-Folk a chance to join his dream. Colossus says "Yes."  Script Scott Lobdell  Pencils John Romita Jr.; Jae Lee; Chris Sprouse; Brandon Peterson; Paul Smith  Inks Dan Green; Dan Panosian; Terry Austin; Tom Palmer; Keith Williams  Colors Mike Thomas  Letters Chris Eliopoulos  Lee's 1st pick: Marvels Uncanny X-Men #304 September 1993   Writer(s)  Dan Abnett  and Andy Lanning  Penciler(s)  Doug Braithwaite  Inker(s) Josef Rubinstein  Colorist(s)  Kevin Tinsley  Letterer(s) Mike Higgins Als 2nd pick: Marvels Punisher #75 Feb. 1993   Nails     Ghost Rider Writer: Howard Mackie  Penciller: Mark Texeira Cover Artist: Mark Texeira    Bens 2nd Pick: Marvels Ghost Rider #15 July 1991     Est. Print Run:, 935,000  Cover Date:, Apr '93  Cover Price:, $2.95  Current Value:, $3.00  Blood Brothers: Prelude. Story by Rob Liefeld and Eric Stephenson . Art by Rob Liefeld, Dan Fraga, and Danny Miki. When the government needs a job done, they call in the best, they call in Bloodstrike. An elite group of metas and efficient killers who accomplish their missions with deadly precision. Created out of Project: Born Again, Bloodstrike consists of Fourplay, giantess with four arms of terror, Deadlock, psychotic ex-member of the nefarious Four, Tag, the lassie with the freezing touch, Shogun, robotic killing machine, and Cabbot, their leader who has a mysterious connection to Battlestone, the leader of Brigade. Story continues in Brigade (2nd Series) #1.  Dan Fraga Pencils - Cover Art Kurt Hathaway Letters Rob Liefeld Pencils - Cover Art  Danny Miki Inks Brian Murray Colors  Eric Stephenson Scripts - Editor Byron Talman Colors Lees 2nd pick: Image comics Bloodstrike Apr. 1993 Typical 90's and Image comics artwork Is that Snake Eyes? Spiral and Wolverine? Remastered version     Links from the episode: Omug Comics Covert Nerd Facebook Covert Nerd Website Covert Nerd Instagram Covert Nerd Twitter Covert Nerd Merch Proud member of the podcast Arcade Network

Comic Reviews: DC Batman 119 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina, Tomeu Morey, John Rauch Detective 1047 by Mariko Tamaki, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Matthew Rosenberg, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, Brad Anderson Dark Knights of Steel 3 by Tom Taylor, Yasmine Putri, Arif Prianto Marvel Darkhold Omega by Steve Orlando, Cian Tormey, Roberto Poggi, Marc Deering, Walden Wong, Jesus Aburtov Wastelanders: Doom by Torunn Gronbekk, Julius Ohta, Bryan Valenza Elektra: Black, White, and Blood 1 by Charles Soule, Declan Shalvey, Leonardo Romero, Mark Bagley, Simon D'Armini, John Dell, Edgar Delgado Infinite Possibilities Infinity Comic by Geoffo, Dee Cunniffe Image Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Denys Cowan, Kent Wiliams, Chris Sotomayor Monkey Meat 1 by Juni Ba Dark Horse Apache Delivery Service 1 by Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, Hilary Jenkins Dynamite Pantha 1 by Thomas Sniegoski, Jeannine Acheson, Igor Lima, Adriano Augusto AfterShock Bylines in Blood 1 by Erica Schultz, Van Jensen, Aneke Fearbook Club by Richard Hamilton, Marco Matrone AWA Fourth Man 1 by Jeff McComsey, Mike Deodato Jr, Lee Loughridge Red 5 Download 1 by Scott Chitwood, Danny Luckert Behemoth Knight Janek 1 by Robert Sienicki, Jan Mazur, Spell, Igor Wolski Cryptids 1 by Justin Paul, Team Diamant Additional Reviews: Boba Fett ep2, Star Trek Prodigy, Bad movie review News: Arkham Asylum interactive experience in London, CW for sale, Bad Idea bad idea, Lemire signs deal with Image, new X-Men Red by Ewing, JSA by Johns and Hitch not happening, Picard s2 delay, Haunting of Skeleton Town, Turning Red goes straight to Disney+, Brubaker involved in the new Batman animated series on HBO Max, the absolute stupidest Doctor Who article Glenn asks some X-Men questions 2022 Comic Predictions Comics Countdown Batman 119 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina, Tomeu Morey, John Rauch Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Denys Cowan, Kent Wiliams, Chris Sotomayor Thor 20 by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson Superman: Son of Kal-El 6 by Tom Taylor, John Timms, Hi-Fi Fearbook Club by Richard Hamilton, Marco Matrone Dark Knights of Steel 3 by Tom Taylor, Yasmine Putri, Arif Prianto Black Widow 13 by Kelly Thompson, Rafael Pimentel Not All Robots 5 by Mark Russell, Mike Deodato Jr., Lee Loughridge Inferno 4 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel Justice League Incarnate 3 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Mikel Janin, Andrei Bressan, Todd Nauck, Ariel Olivetti, Nicole Virella, Hi-Fi

Comic Reviews: Batman vs. Bigby: A Wolf in Gotham 1 by Bill Willingham, Brian Level, Jay Leisten, Lee Loughridge Deathstroke Inc. 1 by Joshua Williamson, Howard Porter, Hi-Fi Wonder Woman: Black and Gold 4 by Sina Grace, Andrew Constant, Nnedi Okorafor, Paul Azaceta, Andrew McLean, Nicola Scott, Leonardo Romero, Jack Cole Wonderful Women of the World by Laurie Halse Andersen, Mikki Kendall, A.D'Amico, Sarah Kuhn, Lynne Yoshii, Carrie Strachan, Corinna Bechko, Anastasia Longoria, Louise Simonson, Nicole Goux, Melissa Marr, Marcela Cespedes, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Sharee Miller, Silvana Brys, Traci Sorell, Natasha Donovan, Lilah Sturges, Devaki Neogi, Triona Farrell, Marieke Nijkamp, Ashanti Fortson, Jadzia Axelrod, Michaela Washington, Magdalene Visaggio, Emma Kubert, Cecil Castellucci, Carina Guevara, Dr. Sheena C. Howard, Laylie Frazier, Kami Garcia and Igzell, Jody Houser Michiums, Danielle Page, Brittney Williams, Caitlin Quirk, Amanda Deibert, Cat Staggs, Son M., Safiya Zerrougui, Amanda Deibert, Hanie Mohd, and Shari Chankhamma Beast Boy Loves Raven GN by Kami Garcia Darkhold Alpha by Steve Orlando, Cian Tormey, Jesus Aburtov Extreme Carnage: Omega by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Manuel Garcia, Cam Smith, Guru eFX Inferno 1 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, David Curiel Infinity Comics: Deadpool 1 by Gerry Duggan, Lucas Werneck, Geoffo, Rachelle Rosenberg Infinity Comics: It's Jeff 6 by Kelly Thompson, Gurihiru Spider-Ham: Great Power No Responsibility GN by Steve Foxe, Shadia Amin Die 20 by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans Children of the Plague by Robert Love, Jeffrey Kimbler, David Walker Stranger Things: The Tomb of Ybwen 1 by Greg Pak, Diego Galindo, Francesco Segala Firefly: River Run by David Booher, Andres Genolet, Mattia Iacono 10 Years to Death by Aaron Douglas, Cliff Richards Gun Honey 1 by Charles Ardai, Ang Hor Kheng, Asifur Rahman Human Remains 1 by Peter Milligan, Sally Cantirino, Dearbhla Kelly, Tim Daniel Verge 1 by Bryce McLellan, Silvo Db Impossible Jones 1 by Karl Kesel, David Hahn, Tony Avina Corset 1 by Jurii Kirney, Elina Kiyushnikova Soulstream OGN by Saida Wolf Night of the Cadillacs 1 by Jake Hearns, Jeff Marsick, Kirk Manley City of Dragons Vol 1 by Jaimal Yogis, Vivian Truong Market Day 1 by James Sturm Verse Vol 1 by Sam Beck Garlic and the Vampire GN by Bree Paulsen Life of Melody GN by Mari Costa Growing Up by T.S. Luther, Monica Aldrin, Kuen Tang 99 Cent Theatre: Notes 1 by Matthew J Burbridge Saah by Syd Fini Life of a Step-Dad Vol 1 and Vol 2 by Sam Hudson Additional Reviews: Midnight Mass, What If?, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Babyteeth, Amphibia season premiere, new cartoon (The Ghost and Molly McGee) Longbox of Horror: Gotham High News: Kami Garcia's next two OGNs announced, Babylon 5 reboot, Kelly Thompson to substack, Scarlet vs. Disney conclusion, Steve Orlando takes over Marauders, Batman '89 sales, Gene Luen Yang's American Born Chinese picked up Trailers: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Encanto Comics Countdown: Die 20 by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans Batman/Superman 22 by Gene Luen Yang, Paul Pelletier, Ivan Reis, Keith Champagne, Danny Miki, Hi-Fi Department of Truth 13 by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds, Bidikar Thor 17 by Donny Cates, Michele Bandini, D'Amico, Matt Wilson Robin 6 by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov, Luis Gurrero Undiscovered Country 16 by Charles Soule, Scott Snyder, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Matt Wilson Inferno 1 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, David Curiel Good Asian 5 by Pornsak PichetshoteLee Loughridge, Alexandre Tefenkgi Life of Melody GN by Mari Costa Locke & Key/Sandman: Hell and Gone 2 by Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez, Jay Fotos

Your heroes awake from their slumber to discuss Marvel's Eternals by Neil Gaiman and John Romita Jr.!This episode features your heroes discussing the deep lore of Eternals, diving into the history of Jack Kirby, and talking through what worked and what didn't. As always, you'll find the History of the Creators, Favorite Lines, The Art Awards, and Adaptation Alley. Eternals is written by Neil Gaiman, pencilled by John Romita Jr., inked by Danny Miki and Tom Palmer, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, lettered by Todd Klein, and published by Marvel Comics.Follow ComiClub on Instagram @ComiClubPodcastComiClub is hosted by Blaine McGaffigan and Adam Cook.

Your heroes return to give their first impressions of Neil Gaiman's comic series Eternals!"Against the backdrop of a superhuman Civil War, the Eternals are awakening one by one from a strange, waking dream - suddenly coming to terms with the fact that they are far more than the normal people they have thought themselves to be. But there is little time to commiserate about such things, because a life-and-death struggle looms - one that will span both time and space! Experience the wonder as the Eternals are re-established as a vital part of the Marvel Universe!"Tune in for the bare bones, who this comic is for, and listen as we judge the book by its cover.Eternals is written by Neil Gaiman, pencilled by John Romita Jr., inked by Danny Miki and Tom Palmer, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, lettered by Todd Klein, and published by Marvel Comics.Follow ComiClub on Instagram @ComiClubPodcastComiClub is hosted by Blaine McGaffigan and Adam Cook.

Comic Reviews: Robin 1 by Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov,  Batman: Black and White 5 by Jorge Jimenez, Lee Weeks, Mariko Tamaki, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Jamal Campbell Infinite Frontier Secret Files 2 by Stephanie Phillips, Joshua Williamson, Inaki Mirandi Spider-Man: Curse of the Man-Thing by Steve Orlando, Marco Failla, Minkyu Jung, Guru eFX The Marvels by Kurt Busiek, Yildiray Cinar, Richard Isanove Helm Greycastle 1 by Henry Barajas, Bryan Valenza, Rahmat Handoko Summoner's War: Legacy 1 by Justin Jordan, Luca Claretti, Giovanni Niro Reckless: Friend of the Devil by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jacob Phillips Dejah Thoris: Winter's End 1 by Dan Abnett, Roberto Castro Cyberpunk 2077: You Have My Word 1 by  My Little Pony/Transformers: Cybertron is Magic 1 by  Galactic Rodents of Mayhem 1 by Gilbert Deltrez, Sebastian Navas, Tiago Barsa Snatched 1 by Sheldon Allen, Mauricio Campetella Cold Dead War 1 by George C. Romero, German Ponce Maiden 1 by Michelle Sears, Bart Sears Shadowman 1 by Cullen Bunn, Jon Davis-Hunt 20 Fists 1 by Kat Baumann, Frankee White Additional Reviews: 22 vs. Earth, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Invincible s1, Control, Palm Springs News: Haunted Mansion reboot, Brian Wood, casting for Paper Girls, Marvel's JLQ by Steve Orlando?, Omninews, Invincible renewed for s2 and s3, Guy Gardener casting, Amphibia delay, Disney animation PR disaster, John Paul Leon Trailers: Sweet Tooth, Luca, Vivo Oscars! Comics Countdown: Reckless: Friend of the Devil by Ed Brubaker, Sean Phillips, Jacob Phillips Crossover 6 by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, John Hill Once and Future 18 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain Batman/Superman 17 by Gene Luen Yang, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Sabine Rich Department of Truth 8 by James Tynion IV, Martin Simmonds Beta Ray Bill 2 by Daniel Warren Johnson, Mike Spicer Deadly Class 45 by Rick Remender, Wes Craig, Jason Wordie Black Widow 6 by Kelly Thompson, Rafael De Latorre, Jordie Bellaire Batman: Black and White 5 by Jorge Jimenez, Lee Weeks, Mariko Tamaki, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Jamal Campbell Shadecraft 2 by Joe Henderson, Lee Garbett, Antonio Fabela

Comic Reviews: Action Comics 1029 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Phil Hester, Eric Gapstur, Hi-Fi, Becky Cloonan, Michael Conrad, Michael Avon Oeming, Taki Soma Batman: Black and White 4 by Joshua Williamson, Riley Rossmo, Karl Kerschl, Chip Zdarsky, Nick Bradshaw, Daniel Warren Johnson, Becky Cloonan, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson Batman/Superman 16 by Gene Luen Yang, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Sabine Rich Detective Comics 1034 by Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Jordie Bellaire, Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov Harley Quinn 1 by Stephanie Phillips, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia Teen Titans Academy 1 by Tim Sheridan, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Alejandro Sanchez Batman and Scooby Doo Mysteries 1 by Ivan Cohen, Dario Brizuela Alien 1 by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Salvador Larroca, Guru eFX Carnage: Black, White and Blood 1 by Tini Howard, Ken Lashley, Juan Fernandez, Benjamin Percy, Sara Pichelli, Mattia Iacono, Al Ewing, John McCrea King in Black: Scream 1 by Clay McLeod Chapman, Garry Brown, Rachelle Rosenberg Firefly Brand New 'Verse 1 by Josh Lee Gordon, Fabiana Mascolo, Lucia DiGiamarino Vampirella vs. Purgatori 1 by Ray Fawkes, Alvaro Sarraseca, Salvatore Aiala Gert and the Sacred Stones GN by Marco Rocchi, Francesca Carita, Jaime Richards Rabid World 1 by Todd Cinani, Oleg Okunev Wild Bull and Chipper 1 by Richard Rivera, Dwayne Biddix Akuto 1 by Norm Chung Additional Reviews: Falcon/Winter Soldier ep2, Invincible ep1, The Simpsons, Mighty Ducks pilot, Dr. Strange by Jason Aaron vol 1 News: Superman and the Authority by Morrison/Janin, Black Widow to premier access (and Cruella and Luca), DC collection news, William Shakespeare's Avengers, Keanu Reeves starring in BRZRKR movie on Netflix, Cary Fukunara directing Tokyo Ghost adaptation, Pierce Brosnan as Dr. Fate, Marvel leaves Diamond, Jed McKay relaunching Moon Knight Indiana Jones comic discussion Trailers: Suicide Squad Comics Countdown: Barbalien: Red Planet 5 by Tate Brombal, Gabriel Hernandez Walta, Jordie Bellaire Batman/Superman 16 by Gene Luen Yang, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Sabine Rich Gert and the Sacred Stones GN by Marco Rocchi, Francesca Carita, Jaime Richards Detective Comics 1034 by Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Jordie Bellaire, Joshua Williamson, Gleb Melnikov Batman: Black and White 4 by Joshua Williamson, Riley Rossmo, Karl Kerschl, Chip Zdarsky, Nick Bradshaw, Daniel Warren Johnson, Becky Cloonan, Terry Dodson, Rachel Dodson Usagi Yojimbo 17 by Stan Sakai, Hi-Fi Stray Dogs 2 by Tony Fleecs, Trish Forstner Once & Future 15 by Kieron Gillen, Dan  Mora, Tamra Bonvillain Harley Quinn 1 by Stephanie Phillips, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia Power Rangers 5 by Ryan Parrott, Francesco Mortarino, Angulo

It's a big review Stack podcast this week as we discuss: Star Wars: The High Republic #1 Marvel Written by Cavan Scott Art by Ario Anindito Dark Nights Death Metal #7 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo With Yanick Paquette and Bryan Hitch Crossover #3 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Geoff Shaw Eternals #1 Marvel Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Esad Ribić Future State: The Next Batman #1 DC Comics Written by John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins Art by Nick Derington, Sumit Kumar, Jack Herbert Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 DC Comics Written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton Art by John Timms, Valentine de Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon Oeming Future State: Swamp Thing #1 DC Comics Written by Ram V Art by Mike Perkins Future State: The Flash #1 DC Comics Written by Brandon Vietti Art by Dale Eaglesham Future State: Wonder Woman #1 DC Comics Written and art by Jöelle Jones Colors by Jordie Bellaire Future State: Harley Quinn #1 DC Comics Written by Stephanie Phillips Art by Simone Dimeo The Amazing Spider-Man #56 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Mark Bagley The Last Witch #1 BOOM! Box Written by Conor McCreery Illustrated by V.V. Glass Generations Shattered #1 DC Comics Written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt and Robert Venditti Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna, Ferbabdo Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Aaron Lopestri, Matt Ryan, Emanuela Luppacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, Bernard Chang, Yanick Paquette, Kevin Nowlan, Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Doug Braithwaite, Rags Morales and Mike Perkins Backtrack #10 Oni Press Written by Brian Joines Illustrated by Jack Elphick Return of the Valkyries #1 Marvel Written by Jason Aaron & Torunn Grønbekk Art by Nina Vakueva Getting It Together #4 Image Comics Co-written by Sina Grace & Omar Spahi Art by Jenny D. Fine & Sina Grace The Vain #4 Oni Press Written by Eliot Rahal Illustrated by Emily Pearson Venom #32 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ivan Coello Inkblot #5 Image Comics Created by Emma Kubert & Rusty Gladd SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a big review Stack podcast this week as we discuss: Star Wars: The High Republic #1 Marvel Written by Cavan Scott Art by Ario Anindito Dark Nights Death Metal #7 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo With Yanick Paquette and Bryan Hitch Crossover #3 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Geoff Shaw Eternals #1 Marvel Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Esad Ribić Future State: The Next Batman #1 DC Comics Written by John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins Art by Nick Derington, Sumit Kumar, Jack Herbert Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 DC Comics Written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton Art by John Timms, Valentine de Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon Oeming Future State: Swamp Thing #1 DC Comics Written by Ram V Art by Mike Perkins Future State: The Flash #1 DC Comics Written by Brandon Vietti Art by Dale Eaglesham Future State: Wonder Woman #1 DC Comics Written and art by Jöelle Jones Colors by Jordie Bellaire Future State: Harley Quinn #1 DC Comics Written by Stephanie Phillips Art by Simone Dimeo The Amazing Spider-Man #56 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Mark Bagley The Last Witch #1 BOOM! Box Written by Conor McCreery Illustrated by V.V. Glass Generations Shattered #1 DC Comics Written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt and Robert Venditti Art by Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna, Ferbabdo Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Aaron Lopestri, Matt Ryan, Emanuela Luppacchino, Wade Von Grawbadger, Bernard Chang, Yanick Paquette, Kevin Nowlan, Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Doug Braithwaite, Rags Morales and Mike Perkins Backtrack #10 Oni Press Written by Brian Joines Illustrated by Jack Elphick Return of the Valkyries #1 Marvel Written by Jason Aaron & Torunn Grønbekk Art by Nina Vakueva Getting It Together #4 Image Comics Co-written by Sina Grace & Omar Spahi Art by Jenny D. Fine & Sina Grace The Vain #4 Oni Press Written by Eliot Rahal Illustrated by Emily Pearson Venom #32 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ivan Coello Inkblot #5 Image Comics Created by Emma Kubert & Rusty Gladd SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. This week's episode is sponsored by Shape & Foster. Visit www.shapeandfoster.com for your free 14-day trial. Full Episode Transcript: Alex:                 What is up everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. What it is. Justin:              What it is, he says. Alex:                 What it is. Justin:              T I Z. Alex:                 On The Stack, we talk about a bunch of comics that have come out this week. Lots of big stuff here. We're going to have a big chunk in the middle to hold that all we'll get to in a moment, but first, let's talk a bit… A big kickoff that happened this week. Star Wars: The High Republic #1 from Marvel, written by Cavan Scott, art by Ariel Anandito. This is a comic, but this is also a megastory that is going to be told over comics, books, games, probably TV shows. I don't know what else, but it's all set at the height of the Jedi. They're facing down a new threat. This is the first salvo hero. I believe the first two things that were released were this comic book today and, yesterday, Charles Sol, comic book writer, wrote a book called Star Wars: Light of the Jedi that touches on a lot of the same plot lines. Alex:                 This is a big deal. This is [crosstalk 00:02:08] part of it again. Pete:                He also writes really good novels, okay? He's not just a comic book writer, okay? Alex:                 No, this is a novel that he wrote, that I was mentioning, Pete. Pete:                Yeah. Oh. I thought you tried to just pigeon-hole him as only a comic book writer. Alex:                 No, I'm just trying to pigeon-hole him as a lawyer. Justin:              Pete hates pigeons, and he hates the holes that they live in. Pete:                You're god damned right, I do. Justin:              He's coming for you. Alex:                 The thing that I'm curious about with this book is, does it work, first of all, as its own comic book, as its own thing? What do you think about it as part of this Star Wars: The High Republic megastory? Pete:                I just have a question real quick. The lizard guy with one arm, that's not the guy from the bar who loses an arm? Justin:              No. Pete:                Okay. Just making sure. Justin:              That would be a crazy coincidence. Pete:                Well, that's the thing. It's a lizard guy with one arm. I mean, I don't know. Justin:              This takes place before that. Alex:                 No, this takes place, yeah, hundreds of years before, I believe. Pete:                Oh, okay. All right. Just checking. Just making sure. Justin:              Let me throw out, I love just seeing the timeline infographic they did for the cover. Alex:                 Oh, yeah. Justin:              That's just fun. It's just fun to see all those things and be like, “Oh, look at all the good stuff, and then look at all the bad stuff,” all on one page. Alex:                 I stopped reading there, so I think we can move on to the next title. No, I actually like this. I was a little trepidatious, frankly, going into here. I think, sometimes, it's a mixed bag with Star Wars books, particularly when you're not focusing on the main characters that have an established voice, but I think this new character that we're following, this young Jedi, this Padawan, who goes on a mission, gets elevated, spoiler, to the level of Jedi knight, gives you a really good setup for the stakes and everything that's going on. There's clearly some danger coming her way, but I enjoyed it. I thought it was a fun Star Wars book, independently of anything else that's going on. Pete:                Plus the double-sided sabers. That's always badass. Justin:              Yes, always badass. Never not successful. Justin:              I like this, too. My favorite parts were where I felt like there was some new ground broken. I feel like these new characters, it feels a little [Star Treky 00:04:20], a bit. Alex:                 Yes. Pete:                Whoa! Alex:                 I think very much so Justin:              Which I think makes a lot of sense in that the height of the Jedi would be a much more organized society, like Star Trek is. I thought that was cool. Justin:              The parts that I don't like are when they're just referencing shit that we've already seen, like, there's a lot of splash pages later on where the only species we see are species we've seen in Star Wars. I'm like, “I see why you did that, but throw some other people in there. I want to see some new stuff. I'd like to see the Force used in a different way,” was my takeaway here. Alex:                 What'd you think about hot Yoda? Because we kind of get a hot, younger Yoda here, like a little more ripped. Justin:              He's sort of a teen, like an angsty teen. This Yoda fucks, and I love that. Pete:                Yeah, but he's still- Alex:                 Yoda's the kind of guy, Yoda, you'd want to grab an IPA with, like plug his mind, find out what's going on there. What are his ideas? Pete:                Well, first off, he's still got- Justin:              Yoda, put away that joint! We can't get high now. We have a big council meeting. Pete:                Yoda's got a walking stick, so he's not that young. Alex:                 Smoke, you will. Justin:              Relax, we must. Alex:                 Meeting dot 420 minutes, it is. Pete:                Oh my god. Nice. Nice. I mean, I can't believe I'm not in on these bits, but really impressive, Alv. That's the smartest 420 bit I've ever heard. Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Yoda's still got a walking stick, guys, all right? He's not that- Justin:              But he's not using it. He's not leaning on it. It's sort of more of a fun stick. Pete:                No, he's not. Yeah. Justin:              That's [crosstalk 00:05:53] a bowl. Alex:                 It's a pimp stick. Justin:              It's a bowl. Alex:                 That's a pimp stick. Justin:              It's a very long bowl that he smokes out of. Pete:                It's a bowl. Yeah. Pete:                Yeah, it's cool. It's nice to see him. I also am more interested in the horned Chewbacca character next to him, like Justin said, that it's like, “Oh, this is interesting. This is new.” Yeah, I think, with all the Star Wars, I agree. It would be nice to be like, “Let's just go away from what we know for a little bit and really just kind of get lost in some new shit,” but I enjoyed this. I very much enjoyed this. The fun timeline with all the symbols in the beginning was great. Love the action. This is just some good stuff. I feel like it's a great setup for this world to get into. Alex:                 I'm not laughing at you. I'm actually laughing at us, the fact that we were like, “Love that timeline.” Justin:              We do. Alex:                 First few pages. You open it up. Timeline. Close it back up. Justin:              Yeah. All I want, just the context. I love context. Pete:                Exactly. Just give me… Where are we? Alex:                 Yeah, I also did love the timeline, though. Pete:                What are we doing? Justin:              Yeah, exactly. As I say, everybody loves a timeline. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:06:59] disagree with you. Wording wasn't like- Justin:              I think what Pete's saying is, he wants more of his comics, like the X-Men specifically, with pages in the middle, where they just have information. Pete:                Fuck you. Justin:              Especially symbols. Pete:                Fuck you. Alex:                 Don't worry. We'll get there. We'll talk about another Marvel book that has that, but first, from the beginning to an ending, let's talk about Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo with Yonic Bucat and Brian Hitch. This is wrapping up this mega, wild saga of the DC Universe versus the Being, the Batman, I don't know what you call him, who laughs. Here, as has been not wildly rumored but put out there, the entire DC Universe, the cosmology of it, gets completely redefined at the end, really characterizing this, in case you weren't clear, as the level of a crisis in terms of redefining the universe, which is, I think, a big deal. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 What'd you think about how this book wrapped up as a whole but also where it leaves the DC universe? Nobody say anything, please. Justin:              No, Pete, I thought that was yours. There was a perfect lane for you. Alex:                 Yeah, you sort of bent back as if you were winding up for like, “Here it comes.” Justin:              A real haul-off. I thought a haul-off was coming. Pete:                It got kind of crazy in a way that I was like, “What is happening?” but I'm the first guy to get lost in stuff. The Wonder Woman mirror thing was a little weird. It got kind of meta. It was cool, the way it kind of started with Skeleton Head Rock, and then we got to see kind of like a young Sergeant Rock that was cool. Pete:                I think this event overall was a lot of fun. I wasn't like, “Oh, shit! DC Universe is completely changed!” You did a thing about a hand that kind of shows up. It got weird in spots, but I thought this was fun. I like the Batman talking shit, calling somebody a punk. Yeah, this was a fun event. Justin:              What I love about this, and I thought this ended really strongly here. There were a lot of titles throughout Death Metal that felt like, if you were reading everything, it was like, “Wait. Where are we? We were off the main plot here.” This book really landed all of the planes together in a great way. It was funny, while at the same… Every character was really playing their character game, the thing that make their essence at a high potential the entire time. I love that the focus never shifted from Wonder Woman. I thought for sure it was going to shift back to Batman at some point in this, because it's such a Batman-focused event, and I love that they didn't. Batman and Superman had their fights, and they were sort of off, but it was all about Wonder Woman. I appreciated that so hard, because the themes of this crossover are her themes. It's like truth, ultimate justice, be direct and simple to your truth. That's where we end up. Wonder Woman wins by not knowing the consequences but still just doing what she thinks is the right thing. The fact that that paid off, I thought was great. Justin:              The philosophy at the end of this, where the DC Universe is landing, where it's like, “Let's bring these characters back to their cores but, at the same time, let everything go wild. Let's push this universe into any direction we want.” I just love that creative potential. The event, from the premise to the endpoint, that was the idea. I love that it's taking over the whole line now. Alex:                 Yeah. I completely agree with you. My only two tiny, little quibbles that I don't even completely agree with but I'll say out loud anyway, one of them is that it felt like this was leading up to a point where Wonder Woman was going to die, right? Justin:              Mm-hmm (affirmative). Alex:                 I appreciate the fact that they didn't kill her off, which is why this is a dumb thing to bring up, because that would have been very frustrating, but it felt like they did the thing that they did with Tony Stark over in Civil War 2, where it was like, “Well, story-wise, we have to kill off Iron Man. That is the only option here. Instead, let's come up with this weird middle point where he doesn't die so we can keep him around, so we don't just rely on, ‘Oh, and then we're going to bring him back anyway.'” They do the same thing with Wonder Woman here, where it's like, she should have died. That was the natural ending point of this thing. It would have been a huge bummer and frustrating, so instead, they did this weird middle point that's going to lead to something else. A lot of that depends on whatever story they're about to tell with Wonder Woman going forward, I guess. Alex:                 The other part is just the idea that everything matters, which is the same as, I think, the Hyper Time idea that they tried a little while ago, that is confusing to think about. I think the way to approach it and the way that I'm approaching is, don't worry about it too much. We've been reading comics for years. None of it makes any sense when you lay it out linearly, so just allow yourself to remember the stories you like and ignore the things that don't necessarily make it cohesive. That's fine. That's how I'm getting past it, but there's certainly times when I'm reading this book where I felt like, I don't know how everything can matter. That just doesn't jive up in any sort of way. What does Superman remember that happened right now? What was his life like in a linear fashion? You know? Justin:              I think that what I like about this is, that's the problem anyway. Continuity is a fluid thing. You believe enough parts of it so you're like, “This is the story,” but every specific detail isn't important, because they start to conflict. Then you're left with mush, so I like the idea that they were able to play a little bit faster and looser with it, where it's like, “Yes, he was married. He has this kid. The kid was aged up in the future. All those things are true. Then, now, we're shifting into Future State, where we're really exploring extrapolations on those themes. Then we'll see where the main stories land,” but the fact that there are lanes where new stories can be told are great. Justin:              I just want to say to your point, Pete, how did you feel…? I thought Alfred looked great in this comic. Pete:                Fuck you, you fucking fuck, bud. Justin:              I think he looks better. Pete:                This comic brings up an interesting point. I'm wondering if you guys have thought about this at all. If you see a different version of yourself, the mirror version of yourself, do you just assume that it's you, because it looks similar? Do you kind of quiz yourself to make sure it's you? How do you react to seeing kind of like a different version of you in the mirror there? Justin:              You can always tell with a kiss. Pete:                You're going to kiss yourself? Alex:                 I agree. I agree. Pete:                You're going to kiss yourself? Alex:                 Exactly what I was going to say. Pete:                Why would it…? How would…? Kissing yourself, you would know it's you? How would that…? That's… Justin:              It is intimacy. You just know. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              Sometimes, you just know with a kiss. Pete:                What? Oh my god. Alex:                 You can just feel what's in the other's heart. Pete:                Oh my god. All right. Alex:                 Let's move on to another crossover, [inaudible 00:14:11] Crossover #3 from Image Comics. [crosstalk 00:14:12] Shaw. Pete:                Oh, I see what you did there. I see what you did. Alex:                 In this issue, a lot of the story threads are starting to come together as our main characters are trying to bring a comic book character back to the dome that is over Denver. They run into some trouble along the way. We get a reveal at the end of a character they've been teasing that is a big deal at the end of this issue. I thought the reveal was great. I cackled out loud when I got to it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I don't know if we want to spoil it necessarily, but what did you think about this issue and the story as a whole? Pete:                We shouldn't. I thought this was great. I really love the reveal. I thought it made a lot of sense. You kind of get a hint of stuff along the way, which is cool. Yeah, I'm really impressed with the writing and the creativity on this book. It's very interesting. It's really cool to see how things are going to unfold. I love the kind of action stuff that happens here. I think I'm completely on board. This has been a lot of fun. Justin:              Yeah, I like it, too. It's amazing how meta and comic book [insidery 00:15:27] this book is, but it doesn't bother me. It's just a book for a very specific audience, and that's because- Pete:                Your review is, this book doesn't bother you. That's what you're saying? Justin:              I guess what I'm saying is, my expectation was that, if someone was like, “Hey, we're going to do this book where we reference all this very insidery things and sort of call a character Dr. Strange in a very winky way and then back off of that idea, I would be like, “I don't know if I would like that,” but I thought it's really handled in a very smart way. The reveal on the last page, I thought, was very fun. A couple characters, the guy's dad is the male love interest, is drawn like John Goodman from The Righteous Gemstones, like so hard. Alex:                 Yes, 100%. Justin:              Which I thought was fun. Alex:                 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Justin:              It's good. It's really striding a line that I think is difficult to stride. Pete:                I just don't understand, if you have a comic book, why you wouldn't put John Goodman in it. You know what I mean? Alex:                 Exactly. I completely agree. I think he was in Dark Nights: Death Metal somewhere. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I also like the fact that Donny works in, I think it's The Paybacks, which is a book that he wrote back in the day, that he very cheekily is like, “Well, nobody read it, but it was very good,” which I thought was a fun, little detail. Again, you get that character at the end that I think is definitely a swerve but is perfectly- Pete:                Did it bother you, though? Alex:                 Should we just talk about it? Pete:                No, no. I just want to know if it bothered you at all. Alex:                 What bothered me? Pete:                Some things didn't bother Justin. I just want to know if you wanted to say, anything didn't bother you. Alex:                 What? No, nothing bothered me. Justin:              Yeah, do you want to talk about the reveal at this point? Alex:                 Yeah, sure. Let's talk about the reveal. Spoiler if you haven't read it already, but Mad Man shows up at the end. We got this tease in the first issue. The character drew somebody who has been taking people, helping get in and out of the dome. It looks like it's a picture of Superman, so the implication is, “Holy shit, did they somehow get Superman?” No, they did not get Superman as of yet, but it turns out, it's actually Mad Man, Mike Allred's creation. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 That is just a perfect character for this sort of dimension-hopping weirdness sort of thing. That's the thing that I really liked about the reveal, is it's not the biggest swerve you can think of from Superman, but it's certainly something you're like, “I never would have predicted that character would be coming here, but it makes perfect sense for the story they're telling.” It definitely doubles down on, “Okay, we're going for this. Here's the crossover. This is not just original characters that we're doing here.” Justin:              That's what I think. It really served the crossover premise so strong. Pete:                Yeah. I think my big takeaway is, this comic doesn't bother me. Justin:              Good. Go ahead and throw that on the cover. Alex:                 Let's move on- Justin:              One quick thing in the credits. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              Mark Wade worked on this book, as a… It says, “Story edits.” Alex:                 Ooh. Justin:              Yeah, interesting that he's there, helping craft the final book here. Alex:                 That is very interesting. Alex:                 Let's move on to one that may or may not have bothered Pete. Eternals #1 from Marvel, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Esad Ribic. As Justin mentioned on the live show, we talked to Kieron about this on our podcast a couple of months back. He teased this. I still think, even based on his teases, I didn't know what we were getting into here. This is a wild ride. This seems very clearly influenced or perhaps just parallel to what Jonathan Hickman has been doing over on X-Men in this book. There's a lot of back matter and integrated matter. We've certainly talked about how that works sometimes with the X-Men books, sometimes does not. Here, in my mind, it definitely does. I thought this book was great. Again, great last page reveal. I loved it. Justin:              Yeah. Great. I mean, the art by Esad Ribic is just stunning. It really… I think it serves sort of the tone of this book, which feels very postmodern superhero book that's owning, like a lot of books we've talked about, about continuity. This owns all this continuity. It feels like these characters, these Eternals, have been alive forever. They have done everything. They're a little bit cold about everything. It's still the world. Iron Man shows up here. It feels like a comic book reader. I've seen hundreds and hundreds of stories. Where's the new ground? It feels like we're going to get there. It's sort of like the, “God is dead at the end of the world. Who did it?” I love that. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, I've never really been a big Eternals fan, and I'm wondering if this movie's going to be any good or not, but- Alex:                 Did you say, “Eternals,” or, “A-turtles?” Never been a big a-turtles fan, huh? Pete:                No, Eternals. Alex:                 The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They love the pizza. Pete:                I don't know what's going on, but you know I'm a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, so I wouldn't say that. Alex:                 Oh, okay. Pete:                Yeah, I have a hard time where the characters are eternal. They live forever. They're these all-impotent beings that have lived life forever, whatever whatever. Nothing's new for them. They get bored and do stupid shit. Pete:                I was impressed with the head butt. I thought that was glorious, calling your shot, which was great, but other than that, the art's fantastic. There were some weird pages of symbols that I didn't check out on purpose, but we'll see how this wraps up. Alex:                 Interesting. Pete:                Last page, saw that coming a mile away. Alex:                 Wow. Justin:              What? No way. Pete:                Yeah, dude! Justin:              Wow. Okay. Pete:                Get to the planet, and it's basically his name. I mean, what the fuck? Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 All right. Justin:              Okay. Alex:                 One of the things, just to- Justin:              Why did you call the ending of the second issue, then? Pete:                What's that? Alex:                 Yeah, Pete. If you know it so well, what's happening at the end of the second issue. Pete:                He gets the fucking gauntlet. I don't know. I don't fucking know what that's going to happen in the next one. Justin:              All right. The thing with Pete is, it probably will happen. Pete:                I mean, they dropped him. [crosstalk 00:21:36]. Alex:                 One thing that I wanted to respond to, that I think Kieron Gillen does so well here, is deal with the idea that these are Eternals. These are immortals. They think they have this purpose, and they found out their purpose is not necessarily wrong but just doesn't mean anything, so what do they do next if they're never going to die but their lives don't mean anything? What does that mean for the lives they continue living? To me, he almost treats it like office worker drones, right? Like you're going into work every single day. You're doing the same thing. What is the end result? For them, there is no end result. There's nothing, so what is their purpose? I think that's the setup here. We're going to find out, do they have a purpose? Who has a purpose? What do their lives mean going forward? I think that's a very exciting and interesting and very esoteric, mind you, thing to talk about. Alex:                 The other thing that I really loved about this book was the description of Deviants. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 That really popped for me, because there's this setup at the beginning of, the Celestials came down. They created 100 Eternals. They created 100 Deviants. They left. Then there's a little shruggie emoji beneath that. That's the perfect setup for the book. What he talks about with the Deviants in there, there's this comparison of like, yeah, not all Deviants are bad. Some of them just go bad, but they look at human beings as like, “Well, some of you are serial killers.” You know? I thought that was just such a good sequence of dialogue, aligning us with Deviants when the rest of the book is aligning us with Eternals. Just great writing, great art across the board. I really like this book quite a bit. Justin:              Now, one follow-up I know we talked about. Do you think, if the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lives under, in the sewers of other cities, they would like different stuff? Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah, sure. Justin:              Like if they lived in the sewers of Seattle, would they just be like coffee drinkers? Alex:                 Yeah. They live under St. Petersburg, and they're like, “I love being a turtle, and I love borscht.” Justin:              Yeah. “Borscht time!” Alex:                 If they lived in Rochester, they would love garbage plates. Pete:                There you go. Justin:              Wow. If they lived under Philadelphia, they'd be sucking on a cheese stick. Pete:                Ah man. Alex:                 Wrong podcast. Alex:                 Let's get into our Future State block here with a ton of books that were released off of the end of Dark Nights Battle from DC this week. Pete:                Here we go! Alex:                 They all take place in an indeterminate future of the DC Universe. However, as we found out when we were talking to Phillip Kennedy Johnson on our live show, they're all interconnected in some way, and they all do matter in some way as well. They're going to take elements and work them back, so this isn't just Elseworlds. This isn't just like what if or anything like that. It's something else. We don't know fully yet, but I figured the best way of approaching this, I'm just going to read through the titles. We don't need to talk about each of them individually, but I'm curious to hear you guys shout out. Then I'll read off the creative teams as well. Alex:                 We've got Next Batman, Superman of Metropolis, Swamp Thing, The Flash, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn. Justin, you were super into the Swamp Thing one, which was written by Ram V, art by Mike Perkins. You want to talk about that? Justin:              Yeah. This one is sort of post-apocalyptic Earth. Swamp things are the only things alive, at least at the beginning of the issue. Pete:                I like what you did there. I like what you did there. That was nice. Justin:              Yeah. It's just really nice. It's an issue about, oddly, like being a parent here. Swamp Thing intermittently walks us through the construction of a body of his children, basically, as he's going. Then bad things start to happen. This is the kind of story that I hope DC does more of with Future State and beyond, where it does feel like an Elseworlds that matters. Alex:                 Pete? Pete:                The art's glorious. I thought it was okay. Justin:              Great. You weren't bothered by it? Pete:                Yeah, it didn't bother me. I think there were other ones in the stack that I really like more, but you know. I'm not a parent, so I didn't really- Alex:                 I will say, reading these in the order of Next Batman, Superman of Metropolis, Swamp Thing; Next Batman brings up this new villain for Gotham city. Superman of Metropolis brings up a new villain for Metropolis, so I started to feel like, “Okay, we're getting kind of this interconnected thing.” Swamp Thing, I could not figure out how that gelled with that, so it took me a little while to get into it because of that, but I agree with you, Justin. I thought this was really nice storytelling and very interesting and weird. It reminded me a little bit of a Jeff Lemire take on Swamp Thing, almost like Sweet Tooth in a certain way. Justin:              For sure, yeah. Alex:                 I like this one quite a bit. Justin:              Swamp Tooth. Alex:                 Swamp Tooth. If you weren't into this one, what was your jam? What did you like of the Future State books? Pete:                I thought The Dreaming was cool. Batman was great. Alex:                 We're not talking about The Dreaming. Let's talk about Next Batman, though, written by John Ridley. Pete:                The backups were great as well. Alex:                 Hold on. Let me just say the writing staff on Next Batman. Pete:                Okay. Alex:                 You got John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins, art by Nick Derington, Sumit Kumar, and Jack Herbert. This is the big deal. This is like their shout across the bow, because this is a black Batman. This is Luke Fox, I think? Lucius Fox's son who was taking over, I think. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Am I wrong about that? Justin:              I think you're wrong about that, because Luke Fox- Alex:                 Maybe it's his brother? Justin:              Yeah, Luke Fox was the other Batman family character. Alex:                 Okay. All right. I think it's part of the Fox family. Justin:              Definitely that, yes. Pete:                Yeah. Agreed. Alex:                 It's probably like the Simpsons. Justin:              Oh, no, you're right. It is Luke. It's Luke. It's Luke. It's Luke. Alex:                 It's Luke Fox. Okay. This is a big deal. We get a couple of backups to show us other things that are going on in the world of Gotham City as it's under this tyrannical rule, this fascist rule. Pete, what did you like about this book? Pete:                Well, first off, the villain that kind of gets attacked has some sweet knives. You don't see the combination of like brass knuckle and knife very much anymore, so that was great, to see that again. Some good action sequences. Then also liked the kind of like bubble that we got inside Batman's head a little bit, and Justin really likes that. Then we kind of got a little of the Fox residence. Then there's this kind of interesting thing about masks and putting on masks in Gotham, which is cool. Yeah, there was some really cool ideas going around here, so it got me very excited to see where this is going to go. I really like the design of Batman. The action of Batman in this comic was really great. This had a real cool feel to it, and I liked it very much. Alex:                 Yeah, I thought Nick Derington's art in particular was very good here. It feels like a classic Batman tale, which is probably transgressive in and of itself, that it's not a Batman who is black first and foremost, but it is a Batman first and foremost. Then it has these other layers to it. I think it was very purposeful on John Ridley's part and works really well. Alex:                 The one that jumped out to me, Future State: Wonder Woman #1. Pete:                Yes. Alex:                 This was written and art by Joëlle Jones, colors by Jordie Bellaire. Pete:                Wait. Alex:                 Yes? Pete:                Before we move on, we should talk a little bit about the backups in the Batman issue. Alex:                 Sure. Go ahead. Pete:                Okay. Katana was great. Alex:                 Yeah. Pete:                The design was really awesome. Sometimes, Katana is done not too well. This was really great. I really appreciated all that we got from this character. I'm very excited to get more. I hope these cool backups continue. Then we kind of got these team-up stuff as well. We got the Outsiders stuff in there. That was done well. I'm very excited to see, in this future state, how the Batman team is going to work, so I feel like they did a great job of getting us excited in this Next Batman Future State issue for the, not only Arkham Knights but the Outsiders as well. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I hope this is the format of these books, where we get to see little snippets of the other characters. Great take on Outsiders and just really great across the board. Pete:                Yes. Sorry, Alex. I didn't mean to cut you off there. Alex:                 No, that's fine. Back to Wonder Woman. This Joëlle Jones art alone, to heat it up a little bit, on this book is so phenomenal. Justin:              Yes. Yes. [crosstalk 00:30:42] alone! Alex:                 This is a book that… I definitely went into it with preconceptions, only because it isn't out yet. It's already in develop by the CW as a TV show, so I was like, “All right. How is this going to work? What is this TV show about?” That was the critical lens I was looking through it. I still have no idea, having read the book, but once I was able to get past that, this is the boldest reinvention of the Wonder Woman mythology since Cliff Chiang and Brian Azzarello, and I love it. Love it. So good. It's a completely a different character. It feels consistent with the name Wonder Woman as she goes down to the underworld on a mission. We get to see different aspects of it. It's funny. It's weird at points. There's interesting mythology that's mixing different mythologies than just the Olympic mythology that we're used to, with Diana. This is so good. I think it is, actually, but this is one that I hope is ongoing, beyond the two to three issues that they're going to be doing over the course of these months. Justin:              Yeah, I mean, I agree. Pete:                Yeah, this… Oh, go ahead. Justin:              It's a young, brash Wonder Woman. Just comparing this Wonder Woman to the Wonder Woman from Wonder Woman 1984 is just like… This is so much more exciting. This is just all in one issue. Pete:                Yeah. This is just a great version of Wonder Woman, who is very action-forward, which is great. The kind of villains and the cool characters along the way doesn't feel like Wonder Woman, but it works in such a nice way that it makes it feel fresh. Yeah, I was like, “Okay, what's this going to be?” and then didn't want to leave this world. I loved the last splash page at the end. This is very exciting stuff. Alex:                 Let's touch on some of the other ones real quick, sort of do little capsule reviews of them. We got Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 from DC Comics, written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton, art by John Timms, Valentine De Landro, Cully Hamner, Michael Avon Oeming. One thing that I really liked about this one is how weird it was. Justin:              It was very weird. Pete:                It was super weird. Alex:                 Yeah, this is weird, sci-fi Superman tales, something that I don't think we've seen in a very long time, and I appreciated that. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. It was almost a little too… I wanted more of like, “Oh, I see what this story is, and I see where it's going.” It was very grim also. It felt like I was… I'm not confident things are going to work out, which is an odd tone for a Superman book. It's funny. In the Batman book, I thought the first story was the strongest, and in order, that's how I liked them. In this, I feel like it was the reversed order. Pete:                Yes. Justin:              I liked the Guardian story at the end the best. Pete:                Yes! Justin:              Then, second, the Mr. Miracle, and third, the Superman [crosstalk 00:33:51]. Pete:                Exactly, man! The Guardian was badass! It was really great! I was surprised how much I loved that. Yeah, Superman was all right, but what are we doing with Superman? You know what I mean? Are we changing things up, or is this just like anime Superman? What are we doing? Alex:                 I don't know. I can't get too mad at a ball of teeth. That's a pretty weird, cool villain. Alex:                 Let's talk about Future State: The Flash #1, written by Brandon Vietti, art by Dale Eaglesham. Love Dale Eaglesham's art, one of my favorite artists ever, so great to see him draw the Flash family. Justin:              Yeah. Dark take. Alex, are you saying you don't love this? Alex:                 I didn't love this. Justin:              Because it's so dark. Pete:                Whoo! Justin:              Flash, mostly a bright- Alex:                 No, I don't know. There was something a little stilted about the language, to be honest. Just the writing, the dialogue was a little weird to me. It didn't feel like as bold of a swing as some of the other books that we read in some of the Future State stuff. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 It felt like, if the assignment was what happens in 40, 50 years down the road in the DC Universe, this was what happens two, three storylines down the road. Justin:              Interesting. Pete:                [inaudible 00:35:09]. Alex:                 You know what I mean? Justin:              Mmm. Alex:                 I wanted something bigger and weirder with the Flash, and that's not what we got here. Pete:                I read this- Justin:              Interesting, because- Pete:                Oh, go ahead. Justin:              Go ahead. Pete:                I was just going to say real quick, I read this one. I was like, “Well, I hope that Alvin liked this.” Justin:              I read it, and I was like, “Oh, I think Alex won't like this,” because I do think it's a bold swing, because it's a very not… The Flash is so bright and shiny and, “I'll fix this by running.” This is the opposite of that. Pete:                That's his move. Justin:              I think you also don't like it, Alex, because Wally's the bad guy. Alex:                 It makes no sense. Pete:                Shots fired! Alex:                 He's the good guy. Come on! Pete:                Shots fired. Justin:              He's the bad guy in this one, Alex. I want to pick up the next one, because I really was surprised by the tone and the vibe of this. I like the way that the heroes change. Heroes die, and the heroes change their tactic in the middle of this book. I thought that was interesting. Alex:                 Last- Pete:                I think one of the things I realized reading this is like, I've tried doing the Flash philosophy, just run harder, and it doesn't always solve your problems. Alex:                 Oh, go ahead. Oh, really? Pete:                Yeah. I think this book kind of falls short. Justin:              Pete, maybe you need to run a little harder. Pete:                I've tried. I've tried that. Alex:                 Okay, but run even harder. Pete:                Yeah, I- Alex:                 Last, we're going to talk about Future State: Harley Quinn #1, written by Stephanie Phillips, art by Simone Di Meo. This one, to me, almost had the clearest setup of a book. The rest of them felt like they were cutting in in the middle, but here we get, Harley is captured. Scarecrow is basically working as her Charlie-style, from Charlie's Angles, style handler, sending her off on missions to take down other villains in Gotham City. I thought this was a fun setup. I liked it. In particular, I thought Simone Di Meo's art was very good on the book. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I like the setup here. It is the most… I see what this book is, and we're going to see more of this style story. Pete:                Yeah, that's what I liked about it, was like, “Okay, this is what it's going to be.” It gets you excited for what's going to happen next, so I feel like it does a good job of, “All right. Here's our take on Harley Quinn. This is her new look.” Cool, great. Awesome. I don't hate this at all, but I felt like I wanted a little bit more, but I feel like I'm excited to see where this could go, because it has a lot of possibilities. Alex:                 Let's move on to talk about some non-Future-State books, starting with The Amazing Spider-Man #56 from Marvel, written by Nick Spencer, art by Mark Bagley. Somehow, we're done with the Last Remains storyline and have moved on. We see here how the Kingpin and Norman Osbourne captured Harry Osbourne, AKA Kindred, and what starts to happen next. Alex:                 I know we talked about this with the last issue. Mark Bagley's are always good. He's always a good Spider-Man writer. I am starting to lose my patience with this storyline, to be perfectly honest with you. Justin:              Interesting. Alex:                 I always hesitate to say things like this, but we need to get to it. What is Kindred's deal? He can't stand in the corner and be like, “You know what you did,” for another 15 issues, because I am going to go insane. Justin:              It's funny you say that, because I think the story is sort of moving on. There's a ton of setup in this book for what the next things that are going to be happening. I will say, I liked the little moment where Kindred has little tears running down his weird eyes, his empty, pumpkin head eyes, but I think I've shifted… The coin, I think, is just part of this. We're getting some story. I think what the issue is for me now is, Spider-Man is not the main character in this book, and we're not in Spider-Man's head. Spider-Man is a side character. We're just observing him. It's about the Osbournes, Kingpin. We're in all these other heads. We need Spider-Man to be the center here. The Sin Eater story was about Spider-Man and Sin Eater and what was happening there, and I feel like we've been on Kindred's side of it, and I hope we're going to flip back as we go forward. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Also, sorry Pete. The one thing I was going to say about the Sin Eater thing is, so much of this issue is consumed with talking about how cool the Sin Eater storyline and how interesting it was and the fallout of that, to the point where I'm like, that was more interesting. I like that. That was fascinating, and that really brought Spider-man to the brink, in the way that I just don't understand what Kindred means to him, even though he's a character that we've known for decades at this point. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                I kind of, as Alvin said, might be a little bit nicer. When you've got a character talking about cool shit that happened before, that's not a good comic book. You're not in the moment in a way that's exciting. You're like, “Man, you know what was really cool? Couple issues ago. That's when shit was exciting. I don't know what's happening here, but I'm going to monologue as I walk circles around this cubed villain. Cool.” Yeah, I didn't like this at all. I want Nick Spencer to be off this book so I can go back to enjoying fucking Spider-Man. Justin:              Not necessary. Alex:                 No, you don't want to take somebody off of a job. That's mean, Pete. Alex:                 Let's move on, though, talk about The Last Witch #1 from BOOM! Box, written by Connor McKeery, illustrated by Vivi Glass. In this book, we meet a young girl who is very interested in sneaking up on, maybe, a witch's castle on her birthday. She is stymied because of a couple of different things. Alex:                 Really like the art here. There's some good all-ages stuff. I wanted a little more in the plot, and we finally get there by the end, so I am excited enough to read issue two. Justin:              Yeah, I thought this was a sock-fixing book for a good portion of it. Pete:                Oh man. Justin:              Like, “Yeah, fix these socks.” Pete:                You can't have your fun until you've fixed some socks, Justin. Everybody knows that. Justin:              Darn those socks. Darn, darn those socks. Justin:              I will say, I liked this. I think the dread that is set up throughout the story is good. It really pays off at the back end. It feels very Blair Witch, if I may reference an old movie. Alex:                 No. Justin:              Okay. Alex:                 The movie we talk about on this podcast is Blair Witch: Book of Shadows. Justin:              Retracted. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              Yeah. That's the bummer. We refuse to mention any movie but the current sequel that's out there. It really makes a lot of our movie conversations horrible. Alex:                 What's more current than Book of Shadows? Justin:              Yeah. Justin:              I thought this was good. Definitely going to pick up the next issue. Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. Good stuff. Pete:                I agree that I thought this was a lot of fun. The art's fantastic. You got a badass grandma who's smoking a cigar. That's good times. Justin:              Is there anything you like more, Pete, than grandmas? Pete:                Nope. Justin:              All you talk about is grandmas on this podcast. Pete:                Plus you got a little kid, uses gap tooth well. I'm excited to see where this goes. There was a lot of kind of walking in place, if you will, a little bit, but I'm glad we got to see the tower and what's going to… I'm excited to see what happens after that. Alex:                 Yeah. I agree with you. There were a lot of points where they weren't focusing on the grandma, but then, there were a couple of pages where they focused on the grandma. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Yes. That's what Pete's interest… Really, Pete? Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about one more DC book here, Generations Shattered #1 from DC Comics, written by Dan Jurgens, Andy Schmidt, and Robert Venditti, art by… Are you ready? Ivan Reis, Joe Prado, Scott Hanna, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Aaron Lopresti, Matt Ryan, Emanuela Lupacchino, Wade van Grawbadger, Bernard Chang… I like that you're both taking drinks of your beer. Yanick Paquette, Kevin Nowlan, Dan Jurgens, Klaus Janson, Paul Pelletier, Sandra Hope, John Romita Jr., Danny Miki, Doug Braithwaite, Rags Morales, and Mike Perkins. Alex:                 This is a book that I included here on the stack, because it certainly seems like, okay, you go Dark Nights: Death Metal. You go Generations Shattered. Then we're into Future State. It even says on the cover, “Spinning out of the pages of Dark Nights: Death Metal.” It doesn't have anything to do with that. Justin:              No. This book is a bit of a fever dream. Alex:                 Oh, yes. I didn't mind it once I got past realizing, “Wait, this has nothing to do with anything else going on in the DC Universe,” because there's just a fun thing about Kamandi building a team to take down another time-threatening villain. There's some good, fun art in it. There's a weird team that he puts together, has Dan Jurgens leading into his Booster Gold stuff, which… Justin:              Loves Booster Gold. Alex:                 That's cool. Loves Booster Gold. Justin:              I know people love Kamandi. I've always just been like, his only thing is he's the last boy. It's sort of like, “Well, he's just the last one.” Alex:                 No, man, he has long, blonde hair. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 He wears cut off jean shorts and no shirt. Justin:              I feel like he's cold. He's traveling through time with no shirt on. It's got to be cold. Alex:                 Yeah. Put on a shirt. Justin:              Yeah. Put on a shirt, Kamandi. Justin:              I do like Wave Rider. I like a lot of these weird characters that they pulled together for this. There's a lot of fun, weird… Like fighting Hector Hammond's big head in this middle bit, the young Booster Gold versus old Booster Gold. Alex:                 I think the problem is the timing of how this comes out more than anything. This feels like there's this weird, other event that's been going on during the big event, that is trying to do a lot of the same things that Dark Nights: Death Metal is doing but in a more conventional way. It's fun to read but confusing to read this week. Justin:              I think that's fair. Pete:                I really love the Remuter Jr. bit. That was enjoyable, but the other shit was really kind of fucked up. Justin:              The other shit was fucked up. The woman's doll in the fridge, I was like, “Is that…? Are you recalling out fridging here?” Pete:                Ooh. Alex:                 Oh, I don't even remember that. I think I missed that entirely. Pete:                Oh, yeah. Batman, yeah. Yeah, it was kind of crazy. Justin:              It was a weird thing. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Then the very end, I liked the last couple pages, but I don't know what it means. Alex:                 The black and white? Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. Who even knows? No idea. Alex:                 Next up, Backtrack #10 from Oni Press, written by Brian Joines and illustrated by Jake Elphick. We've been following this title all along. This is the last issue, I believe, of this death race through time- Justin:              Yes, for now. Alex:                 For now, death race through time book. It ends on a little bit of a question mark note, but how'd you feel about how it wrapped up? Pete:                I really liked the emotional choices that were made in this. It's really interesting how great the relationships are. There's this insane race going on, but then as the story goes on, we get little pieces of people's lives in such an interesting way. I thought this was a great somebody sacrificing their wish for somebody else, a classic thing but done really well, kind of in the backdrop of Fast and the Furious. I think this is a great book from start to finish. I was really impressed with this insanity, but it was done in a way where you could follow. Justin:              Fun art. Cars. If there was one of us on this podcast that loves cars, you know it's JT Sizzle who is really always checking what's under the hood and kicking the tires. Alex:                 What?! Yeah, you're a real gearhead, man. Justin:              That's exactly right. This guy gets cars. That's why I mentioned a Ford truck earlier tonight on another podcast. Alex:                 Cool. Justin:              I agree. This is a fun… I did like the emotional- Alex:                 Do you just want to flex about how you do other podcasts, too? Justin:              With you. It's not a… It's with you. It's not a flex to say that. Justin:              I like the emotional turnaround we got at the end of this. It's fun. Alex:                 Yeah, good stuff. This is one that I think is going to read really well in trade in particular. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 Moving on, Return of the Valkyries #1 from Marvel, written by Jason Aaron and Torunn Gronbekk, art by Nina Vekueva. As the title implies, this is Jane Foster, slowly, potentially building the Valkyries back up. In this case, she is ferrying the sentry to the Underworld after the events of King in Black and runs into some trouble. We start to bring in a character that is not exactly but very similar to Tess Thompson in the MCU and hook back up with her. As usual, they just do a great job of the Jane Foster book. This is more of the same. If you like that, you're going to like this. Justin:              Agree. I love the sentry stuff. There's so much nice, down-to-earth stuff where his life flashes before his eyes with the good parts. He remembers a good joke with his wife. Really good stuff. Pete:                Yeah, there's nothing like a good bit. You know? I think this is a lot of fun. A lot of cool stuff going on. Art's fantastic. Some good storytelling. Yeah, I think this is solid. Justin:              I really hope, when my life flashes before my eyes, it goes back to this moment, when I said that Yoda fucks. Alex:                 Getting It Together #4 from Image Comics, cowritten by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine and Sina Grace. This is also the last issue of this, at least for now. This issue, we get to watch one of our main characters travel out to LA, find her solo music career. Alex:                 I got to say, I like this last issue in the story. They told quite a bit, but I was bummed that it only included one of the main characters for the most part. Pete:                Agreed. Alex:                 Bless you, Pete. Pete:                Agreed. Yes, was very cool that we got this, but you did miss the rest of the band. You know? You did want to know what was going on with them. I think this is a great book, a cool take on what it's like to be in a band, where all these people with different ideas and what they want to do and how you manage that, but I think the art and the storytelling in this is just really nice. Justin:              I hear your criticism, Alex, but what I liked about this book in general is that it's about a time in your life ending or a time in these characters' lives ending. When that happens, especially when it's a group, when you're young and you have a group of friends, and everyone just sort of splits off and goes in their own separate way, I felt like it was spot-on to only follow one character, because that's what happens. Everyone falls away, and you then go on with your life. For this book, we ended up just following her as she went to LA and sort of sorted out her solo music career. I appreciate it, but I do agree. I wish there was more. It felt like it ended right when I wanted to just hear her just go. I hope they do more of this, because I really love the tone and the setting of this book and the humor, the way the characters are built. It's really good. Alex:                 I agree. Next up, The Vain #4 from Oni Press, written by Elliot Rahal, illustrated by Emily Pearson. In this issue, we're in the '60s with our vampire criminals. They are building up a cult. Some of them are on board with it. Some of them are not. Alex:                 It is wild to me how much this book jumps forward every single issue, time-wise. Justin:              Yeah. Yeah, it jumps around in a wild fashion. It's funny. I feel like we compared it to American Vampire a lot. It's just such a different-type book. The pacing's wildly different. I still like it. I like the way vampires are rising, then they're falling, then they're all killed. The story is just innovative takes on what being a vampire is. Alex:                 Yeah. Pete, what do you think about this one? Pete:                I'm not sure. It's okay. Alex:                 Thanks, Pete. Pete:                I liked other issues more than this one. I don't know what to tell you, man. Alex:                 Great. Thanks for coming on the podcast. Alex:                 Venom #32 from Marvel, written by Donny Cates, art by Iban Cuello. Here, we get to see what happens after Eddie Brock hits a car and dies. Turns out, Eddie Brock, his body is dead, mind not quite dead because he's part of the hive mind that has been created by Knull, the god of the Symbiotes, starts to fight back here in a certain way. What do you think about this? Pete:                I love the message here. When you're falling to your death, you

On this week's comic book review podcast: Black Cat: King In Black #1 Marvel Written by Jed MacKay Art by C.F. Villa Blade Runner 2029 #1 Titan Comics Written by Mike Johnson Art by Andres Guinaldo The Expanse #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Corinna Bechko Illustrated by Alejandro Aragon Locke & Key: …In Pale Battalions Go… #3 IDW Written by Joe Hill Art by Gabriel Rodriguez Commanders in Crisis #3 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davide Tinto Rorschach #3 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Decorum #6 Image Comics Written by Jonathan Hickman Art by Mike Huddleston New Mutants #14 Marvel Written by Vita Ayala Art by Rod Reis Post Americana #1 Image Comics Story & Art by Steve Stroke Batman #105 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez & Christian Duce Stillwater #4 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K. Perez We Only Find Them When They're Dead #4 BOOM! Studios Written by Al Ewing Illustrated by Simone Di Meo Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #2 Marvel Written by Vita Ayala, Saladin Ahmed and Chris Claremont Art by Greg Land, Kev Walker and Salvador Larroca Head Lopper #14 Image Comics Story and Art by Andrew Maclean Dark Nights: Death Metal #6 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Seven to Eternity #15 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Drawn by Jerome Opeña The Immortal Hulk: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Aaron Kuder The Immortal Hulk #42 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Once & Future #14 BOOM! Studios Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's comic book review podcast: Black Cat: King In Black #1 Marvel Written by Jed MacKay Art by C.F. Villa Blade Runner 2029 #1 Titan Comics Written by Mike Johnson Art by Andres Guinaldo The Expanse #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Corinna Bechko Illustrated by Alejandro Aragon Locke & Key: …In Pale Battalions Go… #3 IDW Written by Joe Hill Art by Gabriel Rodriguez Commanders in Crisis #3 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davide Tinto Rorschach #3 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Decorum #6 Image Comics Written by Jonathan Hickman Art by Mike Huddleston New Mutants #14 Marvel Written by Vita Ayala Art by Rod Reis Post Americana #1 Image Comics Story & Art by Steve Stroke Batman #105 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez & Christian Duce Stillwater #4 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K. Perez We Only Find Them When They're Dead #4 BOOM! Studios Written by Al Ewing Illustrated by Simone Di Meo Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #2 Marvel Written by Vita Ayala, Saladin Ahmed and Chris Claremont Art by Greg Land, Kev Walker and Salvador Larroca Head Lopper #14 Image Comics Story and Art by Andrew Maclean Dark Nights: Death Metal #6 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Seven to Eternity #15 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Drawn by Jerome Opeña The Immortal Hulk: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Aaron Kuder The Immortal Hulk #42 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Once & Future #14 BOOM! Studios Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Episode Transcript: Alex:                 What is up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. Alex:                 And on The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that came out this week, kicking it off with Black Cat, King in Black number one. I wish that rhymed, but it didn't. Marvel, written by Jed MacKay, art by C.F. Villa. This is of course tying into the King in Black event, but it's also bringing back the Black Cat title that I know Justin liked ever so much. This one, Felicia Hardy is dealing not only with Knull, the king of the symbiotes, but she's about to pull off a heist of her own. What did you think about this issue, Justin. Justin:              I think this is a great issue. I love this black cat series. I think Jed MacKay has a really great understanding of the character, the way that she speaks and we're in her head for a lot of the earlier series. Pete:                You love being in the characters heads. Justin:              I love. Isn't that the dream? God, if I could be in the head of Pete LePage and Alex Zalben on a daily Basis. Alex:                 Oh, that's delightful. [crosstalk 00:01:09]. Pete:                No, no way. Would not be good for you. Justin:              I spent a couple of weeks in Pete's head. I don't know what happened, if there was a lightning strike. [crosstalk 00:01:17]. Yeah, it was just as you'd expect. Pete:                Well, it was like what women want situation, but just with Pete. Justin:              I finally know what Pete wants, and it begins and ends with a meatball sub from the subway. And this issue, really great art, some fun stuff. Her and her team steal the Spider-Mobile and get to drive that one a bit. Pete:                Yeah, the Spider-Mobile was fun bit. I loved seeing that. Justin:              And this crosses into King in Black in such a fun, great way. It feels important and real, and the reveal, or the sort of mission at the end of the first issue is super fun. Pete:                I got to say, this is a great example of tie-ins done right. We've been reading a bunch of kind of tie-ins to this and it's like, “Wait, what? Is that really a tie-in?” This is done really well. It fits, it makes sense. It's really cool for the character. It gets you excited about the event. I was really impressed with this book. Alex:                 Well, it's also really good in on the Black Cat book, because clearly a lot of stuff has gone on there, which frankly I have not been reading. I think we only talked about one issue maybe at one point on The Stack or the live show. But this fills you in on everything you need to do very ably. You're able to jump in on her supporting cast and understand what's going on with them as well as her previous adventures over the course of this book. I agree, really fun stuff. I was very surprised how much I like this, and I'll definitely be reading more. Pete:                Also I just want to say the art is absolutely fantastic. Justin:              Yes. Thank you. Thank you guys for getting on board with this. You've really made my 2020 a perfect year. Alex:                 Even better than 2020 though is going to be Blade Runner 2029 number one from Titan Comics written by Mike Johnson, art by Andres Guinaldo. This is of course- Pete:                That's why you get paid the big bucks Zalbs. Alex:                 Thanks man. I do get so much money off of the show. This is clearly taking place in the very near future in the Blade Runner universe. Justin:              You make it sound like it's real. You're like, “This is our future.” Alex:                 I'll be upfront and honest about something. Justin:              Ooh. Alex:                 I've never seen Blade Runner. I've also never seen Blade Runner [crosstalk 00:03:33]. Pete:                No of the movies? Alex:                 I know what's going on because I live in the world and you can't avoid understand what's going to go on Blade Runner, so it wasn't a big surprise. I actually liked this despite not having ever seen those movies. I thought it was a pretty solid story of tracking down replicants. The main character was interesting. Pete:                Sorry, Alex. Alex:                 The character was interesting. I like this quite a bit. Pete:                I'm sorry, Alex. Alex. Alex:                 Hold on. Mike Johnson is a good writer of tie-ins, so clearly he knows what he's doing here and I think that works. Yes, Pete. Pete:                Because you've never seen any of the movies, no one gives a fuck what you have to say about this comic now. Justin:              Wow. Yeah, exactly. Pete:                Because if you haven't, if you don't know the material, shut the fuck up. Alex:                 No, I know. It is the ice skating competition movie. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 Where they have to do [crosstalk 00:04:21] the cutting edge. Oh, yeah [crosstalk 00:04:23]. Justin:              Oh, that's [crosstalk 00:04:25]. Surely you've seen the director's cut of Blade Runner then. Alex:                 No, I've seen the directors kind of cutting edge. Justin:              You just have seen the theatrical release. Alex:                 They called it the director's cutting edge is what they call it. Pete:                Oh, wow. Justin:              Yeah, the director's cut. Alex:                 I've also seen Cutting Edge 2049. Pete:                It keeps getting better every time you see it. Justin:              It's crazy, they're replicants. They're all replicants. I have seen the Blade Runner films. Pete:                Thank you. Now I want to know what you think of this. Justin:              Well, yeah, we shouldn't be allowed to comment on something if we haven't seen the underlying material. Hold on to that thought for anything else we're talking about this year. I thought this was really good and I agree with Alex, you don't actually really need to know a ton about Blade Runner except for Harrison Ford's theological underpinnings to his character when you're watching the director's [crosstalk 00:05:21]. Pete:                Yes. Thank you. Yes. Alex:                 I have seen Firewall, does that help? Justin:              No. If you've seen Air Force One, you've seen Blade Runner, my man. But the art of this book is really- Pete:                If you've seen Regarding Henry, then you have seen Blade. Justin:              Regarding Henry, I think that movie was fine. I look forward to the comic book adaptation. This book was good. It's a good story. The art is great. I love the tone of the art they have here. Pete:                Yeah, I really agree. I love the tone that the art sets up. It does a great job of really fitting into the world. Yeah, I was really impressed with this book. It really has a great pace to it, a lot of awesome action, some really fun moments where the replicate kind of gets their haircut and stuff like that. I thought the whole wall thing was really impressive. Always really thought this was a great, great comic, even though I've seen the Blade Runners and like them, this comic was kind of above and beyond that. Justin:              Classic flex. The art is almost Moebius like, I really like that. Pete:                Ooh. Alex:                 Yeah, this is very good stuff. Easy to get into, even if you haven't watch the stuff. Let's move on to another one and talk about The Expanse number one from BOOM! Studios written by Corinna Bechko, illustrated by Alejandro Aragon. Now I got to say this is another one, I've seen the first season and change of The Expanse. And of course I've seen The Expanse 2049. But I'll tell you without slamming it too much, this felt like the complete opposite of Blade Runner 2029 to me where I had no idea what was going on for most of this book. And it felt like you had to have watched the show to understand the characters, to understand the settings. And that was a real bummer to me because I enjoyed the first season. I would be happy to pick up an Expanse comic books, see more of this world, but I don't want to have to have watched every episode of the show to necessarily get into it. Did you guys feel the same way? Justin:              I've never seen The Expanse, but I understood every aspect of this comic book. Pete:                I have seen every episode of The Expanse. I have read the Bubblegum comic book series that Joe Blow did for a little while. I have read fan fiction. I am very well-educated in this and I thought it was spot. No, I haven't read any of it [inaudible 00:07:50]. Alex:                 It's funny that you did. I was pretty sure you were lying, but the fact that you didn't mention the novels that it's based on. Bubblegum first. Justin:              Joe Blow. Alex:                 But given that we don't necessarily have a familiarity with The Expanse. How do you feel this worked as a comic book? Justin:              No, I mean, I agree with you. This is definitely for fans. It is so rooted in … You have to know, I think you have to fully know the characters when you come into this book, there's not even a preamble to get us into the world and what's happening. And I think that's fine, it's definitely just not a book for someone who's never read or watched the show. Pete:                Yeah, it's tough if you're just kind of at a comic book shop or buy it however you do, because you're like Boom! Studios because they do great books. It's definitely a deep cut. I was definitely lost for a little bit. But kind of getting an idea of what's happening and by the end of it, it won me over. Art, I thought was fantastic. A lot of talking, but I'm kind of into it. I liked how it ended. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              And this ties into the X-Men. Alex:                 Yes, it does. It's a direct spinoff of X-Men: Dark Phoenix, everybody's favorite X-Men movie. Next one we're going to talk about Locke & Key, In Pale Battalions Go number three from IDW written by Joe Hill, art by Gabriel Rodriguez. Of course, this is a series that we're all in on. But this is wrapping up [crosstalk 00:09:18] the mini series before the mini series, which is kind of fascinating thing that they've been doing. Initially was supposed to be the sad man crossover which we're about to get into called [inaudible 00:09:28] that's going to be, I believe two issues long at this point. Alex:                 But then very slowly, they expanded outwards the amount of issues they were doing for this prequel that leads directly into it after this issue. And I think after the last issue we kind of know what the setup is going to be for the sad man Locke & Key crossover. But this is still wrapping up this three issue mini series. The story of what happens when one of the old timey Locke family members goes to war in World War I, comes back, brings some German soldiers back with him. Things go very, very badly. And in this issue Key house fights back in incredibly graphic and bloody ways. Pete, there were attack teddy bears in this issue. You have got to have loved this. Pete:                Oh my God, yeah. I love that whole teddy bear scene. This was just classic Locke & Key, amazing storytelling, the art going above and beyond in all the greatest ways. There's a moment where she's shutting the door, but it's like disappearing. It's just, Gabriel Rodriguez is a goddam legend. The moment where it was like, welcome to Key house motherfucker, it was just … This comic continues to be amazeballs every time these two team up is just absolute magic. It's just gross and fun and over the top and all the great ways. Yeah, I don't get tired of watching German soldiers die, and there's a fun little kind of ad in the back where it's Kinsey's comic corner, fantastic. Justin:              This was so upsetting as a story, just so well done and heartbreaking. And especially the fact that this is connected, it's the same family from among the stars story from back in the day, the one where they are- Alex:                 Is it over the moon? Justin:              Unlock the moon, sorry. Alex:                 Unlock the moon. Justin:              Unlock the moon, among the stars is what's written on his grave, it's just so tough. But the art in this book is so good. It's just so intense. And there's just dread throughout. We talked about this a lot with Locke & Key, the way that they're able to sort of have this low level hum of great narrative stress as you're reading this, because you feel for the characters and you know bad things are happening is so good. Something I noticed while reading this, and I don't know if this has been featured in any other thing or if it's maybe something to curb in the future. They feature the graveyard a couple of times in this book. And one of the characters, Fiona Locke, there's a little key hole in her gravestone. Do you feel like that's a … maybe there's something to be done there? Alex:                 Yeah, potentially. I mean, maybe it's like a zombie Key or something like that, or it'd bring back the dead Key. I mean, I think we could delve into spoilers here, but certainly the goal seems to be the current Locke patriarch in this continuity potentially heading down to hell to try to rescue his wife or something like that. Justin:              Yeah, maybe that's the doorway. He opens the door and goes down a pair of steps, a set of steps sort of Legend of Zelda style. One other thing I want to say real quick, the character- Alex:                 It's dangerous to go alone is what I have to say about that. Justin:              You are the guy that hands in the wooden sword. The character, one of the main characters here, the kid that goes to war is named Jonathan Tyler Locke. Jonathan Tyler is my brother's name. When I saw that in the grave, I was like, “Yo.” Pete:                Oh man, you should send them a screenshot, man. You know what I mean? Just be like, “Thinking of you bro. Hope you're good.” Because what's great is that you could cut it off because it says Jonathan Tyler, and then says Locke underneath. So you could totally do a little cut in there and just make it nice. Alex:                 Yeah, that'd be great to really fuck with your brother. To the point you were saying though Justin, I really liked that this story was in a very different mode than the Locke & Key title that we knew. It felt like it tells its own story with its own tone. It's a tragedy as opposed to the other one, which is a horror adventure story, and that's great. I'm really excited to see what they do with Helen gone. But the more different types of stories they can tell in this world, I think overall the better for its longevity, particularly as we know there is more coming. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about Commanders in Crisis number three from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando, art by Davide Tinto. So Empathy is dead or is Empathy, because Empathy has come back to life and the commanders are trying to figure out exactly what's going on. I think we were pretty high on the first two issues of this book. Do you think it continues to hold up here on the third? Pete:                Yeah, I mean, I see Orlando as having a lot of fun with this. This is really cool the way it's written in the way that characters are. I love the voices and the different stuff. It kind of starts off really grody and kind of crazy in the beginning. But yeah, it gets a little emotional, but then kind of right back into the kind of humor and action I was impressed with how this ends. It does a great job of giving us a little bit of getting excited for the next issue at the end of each comic. Yeah, I continue to be impressed with this team and the different voices and stuff on it. This is a lot of fun. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. Steve Orlando is such an idea generator, you can see in all of his work his stories are super complex, calling on so much continuity. And I feel like with this, he sort of put it all, all of his just wild ideas in full throttle going forward. He's created all these characters and he has him just driving through all these different ideas. There's the multi-verse, there's superheroes just fighting on the ground. We have the villain here is the social callers. It's some sort of social media slash cell phone tech vampire or tech zombiefication for the situation. And it's just fun. It's a lot of new ideas all the time. Alex:                 From new ideas to old ideas, let's talk about Rorschach number three from DC Comics written by Tom King, art by Ori Fornace. In this issue we find out more about the cowboy character that we've met in the first two, who was actually assassinated in the first issue of the book. We go back in time, find out about her backstory as the main detective investigates further, what was going on with her, this new old Rorschach. I really liked the sushi quite a bit, not just in terms of fleshing out Tom King's take on the world, but also how the story purposefully unfolded confusingly in terms of the timeline at first, but became clearer as it went on. I still don't know how this connects to the main narrative or exactly what our overall dramatic thrust is here necessarily, but as a one-shot one-off issue, I thought this was very well done. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I'm really impressed with how crazy this is, but how this issue we're getting specific information about this main character that we're dealing with in this issue. And it's really impressive. There's just so much going on, but it's done in such a kind of cool way that keeps the story moving in such a creepy, but good way. Art and pace is phenomenal. This continues to be a very interesting, cool book, but it brings up this interesting point and I'm interested to get your guys' take on this. Sometimes to love your father, you have to shoot him in the head. How do you guys feel about that? Justin:              As fathers? Pete:                Yeah, as fathers with daughters. Alex:                 I have my kids sleep with a gun every night. Pete:                Smart. Alex:                 And every night I go to bed praying that they'll shoot me in the morning and so far it hasn't happened. Pete:                Wow. Alex:                 I just run right into the rooms and go [inaudible 00:17:43]. But then they say, “Good morning, daddy.” Pete:                Oh man. Alex:                 Disappointments, both of them. Justin:              What a startling vision of Alex's home life. Pete:                Same thing for you, Justin? Justin:              What's that? Pete:                Same for you with your daughters? Justin:              Yeah. No, I'm always waving a gun around the house. They're going to get there, I don't need to tell them quite as hard as Alex does. I want them to come to it on their own. Pete:                Okay. Yeah. Justin:              But I like this a lot. It's funny the last, this issue and the one before felt like a standalone issue with just lightly touching the events of the first issue. Pete:                Agree. Justin:              And I think, I mean this time, King does this a lot where you only realize the story he's telling a little bit into it. And I think it often works, I think it's working here. It's interesting that the characters we're learning about here are sort of conspiracy theorists. They believe that the squids affect your brain. And I wonder if that's, if Rorschach is going to believe that as well. Because it makes these characters maybe probably delusional. If he's commenting on believing in conspiracy theories, it feels like these characters are not understanding reality. Which Rorschach's whole thing was believing these outlandish things. But this one happened to be true in the watchman. Justin:              So to have Rorschach believe something that isn't true is an interesting take. I'm very curious, it makes him less of heroes, less of a character you can get behind if he's totally on this crazy path. I don't know, it's just like a lot of time King stuff, it's really interesting to see where it's going. Pete:                Agree. Alex:                 Next up, Decorum number six from Image Comics written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston. We're finally bringing together this issue, which is wild that we're doing it in issue six. But we have this courier character that's been training to be an assassin. At the same time these weird [inaudible 00:19:52] beings who've been doing something, who even knows what. But in this issue they finally come down and hire the assassins and say, “Hey, can you find this egg for us?” And then we kind of avoid that in the back of the issue, but it's still- Justin:              They're prepping for their egg mission. Alex:                 Sure, they're prepping for egg mission. There are points particularly on the assassin side of things that are so funny and so fun, particularly because they're coming in the middle of this wild, very dead sci-fi and Saturday. I am finding myself loving this book more and more with every issue. Justin:              A 100% agree. I thought this issue was great. And all of the things we've talked about with Hickman, both in this book and with his X-Men work where it's like, what's he doing? What's all this information like. It was all worth it to get to this where it's super fun the whole time, the story's coming into focus, we're seeing the mission. And the characters are set up in a way where it's going to be exciting to watch them bump into each other. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. This was a really solid issue. Justin:              Yeah, Pete. Pete:                I felt like this clicked into place for me. The art is phenomenal, a lot of different styles mixing here, but done in such a great way, it doesn't feel like a separate story. It's really, really impressive how well the art kind of makes this all work. Yeah, I'm excited for more. I'm a little worried about Hickman fucking me because there's all these weird symbols everywhere that don't need to be. But so far the art is really winning me over, so this is great. Justin:              Pete, the original Hick maniac coming around for Decorum. I got to say though, the symbols and all of the extra pages, I think they do serve a purpose. They let you digest what you've seen before and see that it's all sort of a picture frame that holds the story. Alex:                 Because their chapter breaks is essentially [inaudible 00:21:49]. Pete:                I thought you were going to say a palate cleanser, Justin. Justin:              Maybe, I don't know. You're supposed to have a little bit of sorbet when you see the Decorum, just a light sorbet. Alex:                 Every time I get to one of those picture pages I eat an entire pint of Chunky Monkey. Pete:                Nice. Justin:              Chunky Monkey picture pages. Pete:                I'm more of a, what is it? Chunky hubby or what was that? Hubby- Justin:              Chubby Hubby. Alex:                 Chubby Hubby. Pete:                That's the one that I like. Alex:                 Chubby Hubby is very good. Pretzels in that, always love pretzels in an ice cream. Justin:              I don't like [inaudible 00:22:24]. Alex:                 Here's a couple of tastes that go great together, the New Mutants number 14 from Marvel written by Vita Ayala, art by Rod Reis. This kicks off Vita Ayala's run on the title, bringing a bunch of the original New Mutants together minus Cipher, which is a huge missed opportunity of course, I think we can all agree on that. But man, I love this issue. I thought this was so smart, so well done. As a lot of the recent X-Men stuff has been in terms of focusing in, here you have the older New Mutants teaching the younger New Mutants how to use their powers. They come up with a creative thing that I don't think we've ever seen on the X-Men before, where the new mutants characters combine their powers to figure out new ways of using them, which was paced out so well, it's so fun. Alex:                 There's a thing where I think it's two pages earlier, Rahne and Magik by their powers where they're one teleporting Wolf in, and then two pictures later, it's five teleporting Wolfs out, which is very funny. It was just perfectly paced out. The other thing that I loved about this book, and this is obviously very much on purpose, but bringing the Amahl Farouk, The Shadow King here, who also seems to be in some way on Krakoa, which is very suspicious. But clearly Rod Reis is channeling Bill Sienkiewicz, who is the definitive Shadow King artist here, also the definitive New Mutants artist. But it very much feels like its own thing. I love this from top to bottom. Pete, I know you're probably going to have some anti X-Men bias going on here with this book. Pete:                Yes. Alex:                 But I thought this was really good. This is one of my favorite books of the week. Justin:              Because you hate mutants. Alex:                 I thought this was so well done. And I was so happy with how it was executed. Justin:              You call them flat scans, right Pete? Because you're a mutant hater. Alex:                 Pete by the way, since you guys can't see on Skype is wearing one of the smiley robot suits that the right has. Pete:                I don't even know what you're talking about. All right. So the art in this is phenomenal. It's like some parts are almost like water color, it's so beautiful. Magik is just glorious in this, some really fun paneling. There's some stuff that's going on that I don't understand. But I do like the idea of bringing The Shadow King into this. I mean, if you've got fuck Island, you might as well have The Shadow King. Justin:              That's your excuse for everything. Pete:                And also it makes me want to rewatch Legion. Justin:              Yeah. I feel like there's definitely some channeling of Legion here, which is great. And I agree with you, Alex, combining the New Mutants powers in that way, it's very like Final Fantasy, the video game in a cool way. And I really appreciated that. Great book. Alex:                 Yeah. Just super fun across the board. Next up, here's a wild one, Post Americana number one form Image Comics, story and art by Steve Skroce. This is a future society where everything has fallen apart in America. We start off with some sort of militaristic remnants of America who seem ready to take the country back. But of course, or maybe they're actually fascistic, we don't really know. One person escapes, encounters some insane people that are in the bad lands, including cannibals and other people, find a bad-ass woman who's ready to take the back. It is wild. It is bloody. It's over the top. It's often funny, like when chickens just rip apart a dude. Justin:              That was funny. Pete:                Don't fuck with chickens man. Alex:                 The art in particular reminds me a lot of Jose Von Ryp I think is his name, the guy who does a lot of stuff for Valiant, and he did Crossed as well. Pete:                Oh, yeah, reminds me of Crossed. Justin:              This feels very Crossed to me both in substance and style. Alex:                 But I enjoyed this, I enjoyed the tone of the characters and the dialogue a lot. Just, they felt very different to me in fresh and ridiculous in exactly the right way. How'd you guys feel about it? Pete:                Yeah, I was really impressed with this. This was a lot of fun. It was really over the top, lot of action, lot of violence. You got to love that. This was a very cool interesting take. Yeah, it's hard to know who to kind of root for here with what's going on. I mean, America kind of looked like the evil empire but we'll see how this all unfolds. But man, what a great first issue to get you pumped up for what's going to happen? But yeah, man, it's exciting and fucked up. Justin:              You don't know how to root for it Pete, so you're maybe rooting for the cannibals. Pete:                Yeah, you don't know who to root for here, man. Justin:              Because let me say the cannibals who we meet at the end of the book- Pete:                Maybe rooting for the chickens. Justin:              Lot of human skin fashion in this last page. Alex:                 A lot of them were wearing hair suits, I would call them. Justin:              Like our facial, like faces sown into [crosstalk 00:27:16]. Pete:                Or skull in front of your junk. Justin:              The leader's wearing a button-down made of human faces. It's wild. Alex:                 Maybe they're good. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              So you never know. Alex:                 Maybe they're the good guys. Justin:              They clearly have a strong sense- Pete:                Because you've got to use everything. You've got to use every part of what you're using. Justin:              Well, let me ask you, don't you think- Alex:                 Just like I said to Jeanine back in the day of the comedy club, you got to use every part of the [inaudible 00:27:39]. Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              Wow. Sorry, I'm still stunned by that. Do you think, if you're a cannibal and you're butchering the meat. Pete:                Sure. Justin:              Do you cut the skin off? I feel like if I'm eating Turkey or if I'm eating some other, sometimes I eat the skin. Pete:                Yeah, definitely. Justin:              Why are these people leaving all the skin behind? Alex:                 It's probably too thick, right? Humans whose skin is too thick. Justin:              Not Pete skin. Pete:                Only one way to tell Zalbs. Justin:              Pete's very thin skin. Alex:                 Great point. I'll tell you what, after my children shoot me to death, I'll tell them to cook me and eat me and let me know how it goes. [crosstalk 00:28:27]. Pete:                Yeah. Let us know how it goes. Justin:              Yeah, let us know. And we can come over. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:28:32] podcast. Justin:              Let me work … We'll work out the menu. Alex:                 Yeah. You got to start with some survey I think between every dish. Good book, definitely pick it up. Batman number 105 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki, Alvaro Martinez and Christian Duce. This is the final part of the Ghost-Maker story, and it doesn't end I think quite how anybody necessarily expected. It also seems to maybe be the end of James Tynion's run on Batman- Pete:                What? Alex:                 … which is surprising in and of itself. Well, I don't know. I mean, he seems to be tying stuff up before a future state. Pete:                Well, maybe he's just cleaning, getting a fresh start for his new story arc. I think this was a really great … It's nice to see Harley Quinn open up, get a little emotional here with the kid clown on her. I really liked the kind of flashback with the Ghost-Maker and Batman stuff, nice to get all that. And then we kind of had a nice moment. I don't know how much we want to spoil here, but reading I was like, “Aw.” I thought it was … you don't get to see as much. It was nice to see a little Batman being a little soft. Justin:              I was sort of surprised about that choice at the end. I expected Ghost-Maker to be either a villain that is someone who bothers Batman in Gotham or someone who leaves and maybe works in the shadows to cause a problem for Batman. The way it ended, I was surprised by, and I don't know if I love it. Pete:                Oh, come on man. Justin:              But the everything else in the book I thought was great and I've really liked the art in this book and the way they're able to sort of seamlessly transition between artists. Alex:                 I liked it more for Batman than Ghost-Maker, if that makes sense. I like the idea that Batman is trying to be more compassionate [inaudible 00:30:29], but Ghost-Maker at the end and saying, “I've tried to kill you most of my life, but you know what, let's be friends.” Seemed a little- Justin:              Let's be coworkers. Alex:                 Yeah. Which I don't know, I guess we'll have to see how it plays out. But I agree with you, I think it was a little quick there even though I enjoyed the issue. Pete:                I mean if Batman can be friends with like Damian and a bunch of other people who are at different stages of maybe being evolved. Justin:              Well, he's his father. Pete:                Yeah. But still he's kind of a psychopath. And so I feel like this works, Batman's opening up to this person and might as well try to work with them to hopefully get Ghost-Maker to a better place. Alex:                 All right. Fair enough. Let's move on and talk about Stillwater number four from Image Comics written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Ramon K. Perez. This takes place in a town where nobody ever dies. One guy comes into the town, finds out about it from the outside, but turns out he was actually born there. This issue, we flash back and find out that his history, how he was taken outside of the town and exactly what happened. I like this issue quite a bit and particularly coming in issue four, I think that was a smart place to put this because waiting much longer to parse out these mysteries might've kind of frustrating. But I liked the answers that we got personally. Justin:              I agree, and I love the … Ramon Perez's art is so good. I've been a fan of his for a long time and really like it here. This book has such a good tone. It feels like it's ready-made to be a TV show. And the characters are really well-made. Pete:                Yeah, this is very interesting. We kind of have this … we're finally getting pieces that kind of make sense, clicking into place here about our main character and why he's coming back to this place and what it means and what he's a part of. And it's too bad they didn't kind of push this, I think earlier a little bit, because they could have had like a baby boss tie-in real easy. You had a very- Alex:                 Boss Baby. Pete:                Boss Baby, yeah, sorry. But like that smart baby in the beginning, that could have really tied in nicely. Alex:                 Cool. All right. Let's move on and talk about We Only Find Them When They're Dead number four from Boom! Studios written by Al Ewing, illustrated by Simone Di Men. Di Men, Is that right? Or did that auto correct? Di Menco I think. Justin:              Simone Di Men. Alex:                 Simone Di Men. Justin:              Simone Di Meo. Pete:                Di Meo, yeah. D-I-M-E-O. Alex:                 Thank you very much. My auto correct is out of control. Justin:              That's crazy that it changed that letter from O to N, it's crazy. Alex:                 Nuts, it's disgusting is what it is. Justin:              They're right next to each other in the alphabet. Alex:                 This book is fascinating to read because I think the art and the coloring in particular almost overpower the story of everything that's going on. It's beautiful to look at, but sometimes honestly a little hard to follow at this point. Justin:              Yeah, it's funny, it's a book that I wish I had the hard copy of. Pete:                Yeah, exactly. Justin:              Because I really think that would make it a little cleaner. It's a book that I want to just be further away from when I'm reading it, because it is such a wash of color. I appreciate the choices. I think it is really cool and different. And I don't know enough about what's happening to know where we're headed. But I still trust the storytelling here. It's Al Ewing who I think is great. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I don't mean to kind of echo the old demand of what we're saying, like, “Oh, it makes it hard to read.” But I think it's- Alex:                 Did you guys look at it with your spectacles on? Pete:                Yeah. I had one of the bifocals gone and it still didn't work, but yeah, it's really cool. The art, the paneling, the really pushing stuff, making the story move, helping the action, which is great. But just sometimes because the layouts are so intense, it's a little tough to kind of follow so it takes a couple of reads, but if we were holding the physical comic, I think it wouldn't be an issue. Alex:                 Next up, Wolverine: Black, White & Blood number two from Marvel written by Vita Ayala, Saladin Ahmed and Chris Claremont. Art by Greg Land, Kev Walker, and Salvador Larroca. As with the first issue, there's three stories of Wolverine, three different adventures. I got to tell you, I thought the first issue was pretty good. It was well done. I didn't love absolutely everything in it. This issue is great. Just really well done. And in particular, one of the things I was so impressed by was Greg Land takes a lot of knocks for his art and potentially rightly so. But stripping all the color out of it and all the metallic wash and shine that usually goes over his characters. And just in that story, focusing on the black and the white and the occasional splashes of red really emphasized how good and dynamic his art is. And Vita Ayala leaned into that with a story, which I thought was great as well. I was really impressed overall with nearly every story on this issue. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I think this issue is really kind of clicking. This makes a lot more sense, this whole black, white and blood. I was just blown away by the art, the action, the violence, it's beautiful, absolutely beautiful, a lot of fun, a lot of great Wolverine kind of stuff, that if you're a Wolverine fan, you know about this character, so it kind of bounces all over, which is great. I was really impressed. Two or three really solid stories in this book. Justin:              I thought the art was great across the board, I love, it feels like they put them, these stories in a particular order where it's sort of the most black and white, the first story, and it gets redder as the issue goes on. [crosstalk 00:36:36]. Yeah. It's funny on the live show, Alex, you talked about the cliche of Wolverine being in a bar and then having an adventure. And it felt like especially the first two stories were very like Wolverines in the woods and then somebody gets him. It felt like it was dealing with those tropes, living in those tropes a bit. But the Chris Claremont story I thought was … it was my favorite of the three, which I was surprised about. But in general I like the book. Alex:                 Well, I mean, to that point, I think the things that worked about both of these to me, the same thing that didn't quite work about the first two stories in the first issue of this, where that they stood back and let the art do their thing, that they were like, “Yeah, we're going to do classic Wolverine setups,” but it's all about setting up Greg Land. It's all about setting up Kev Walker to do the thing that they do, which I thought was really nice. Next up, Head Lopper number 14 from Image Comics, story and art by Andrew MacLean, continuing the Pete block we have here on The Stack. Justin:              Pete block. Alex:                 In this issue some heads get lopped, I think a head. Pete:                Yeah, maybe [crosstalk 00:37:45]. Justin:              A head finally gets lopped. Pete:                Huge head. Yeah, we get a Medusa, old head lopper goes up against Medusa. This is just glorious. I mean, plus it starts with a double page spread of a map, which I'm a sucker for. And yeah, this is just a fantastic story of kind of like Conan the Barbarian type of thing, wandering the earth, having adventures, hanging out with the witches as you do. And yeah, this is kind of a fun day, head lopper has a little bit of a team working with them now. This is just continues to be a bad-ass fantastic book that doesn't try too much and just stays in its fucking wheelhouse. Justin:              That's the dream, stay in your fucking lane artists. But I do, this is a fun book. This is like a modern Usagi Yojimbo. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Did we say that last time? Because I see why Pete likes it, it's very good. I like it as well. I thought the witch head was going to get turned to stone, I really did. Pete:                Oh yeah. Justin:              I was worried. Pete:                That would've been crazy. Justin:              Yeah. I also liked that this is clearly a huge universe, a long adventure that we want to be able to go on for a long time, and I hope we get to. Alex:                 Next up Dark Nights: Death Metal number six from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder, art by Greg Capullo. We are getting towards the end here as the United forces of every single hero and villain in the DC Universe, fight back against the Batman who laughs and his united sources of dark Batmans and dark planets and things like that. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman is off on her own mission to try to save the universe at the universal forge, I believe it's called. I continue to be struck by not so secretly, but how this is almost secretly like a Wonder Woman series, which I think is kind of great. It gets away from Superman and Batman always being the leads and turns the focus on her. And the solution she figures out towards the end here. I thought it was really fun and really simple and really great. And just overall, again, just a fun issue of this wildly over the top series. Pete:                This continues to be a lot of fun. I really, really love this issue. Things are starting to finally maybe go in the good guys direction, which is very exciting, epic pages, some old school shout-outs and some touching moments with Clark and Lois and then Clark and Bruce. I fucking love this shit. Justin:              I'm just waiting for the space Wolverine to pop his claws. It's about time he popped them and got into the action, you know what I mean? Pete:                You're a piece of shit. Alex:                 If there's a low bow, why isn't there a high bow? Justin:              That's so good, or a tie bow. Pete:                Oh boy. Justin:              I think it's very funny to me that in this book, the Batman who laughs has been elevated to a god. And it's funny to think that it's just a Bruce Wayne. That's just a regular Bruce Wayne under there, who's just had a couple bad days. Alex:                 The weirder part to me, there were two weird things in this issue. Not necessarily bad things, but seeing Barbatos' face finally whereas I was like, “Oh, that's not a weird looking dude in there, under that giant cloak. That's pretty strange.” And then the other one was Superman and Lois saying goodbye to each other. Everybody else was great. I loved everybody else. And even- Pete:                What is your problem there? Alex:                 Then said goodbye, what did Superman say? Superman was like … Lois was like, “Superman, you're always the son that I looked towards.” And Superman is like, “You're the lead of my story.” Justin:              Yeah. You're always my number one lead I think she says. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. That was the point where I was like, “Shut up.” Pete:                Why? Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Why you cold hearted motherfucker? Alex:                 It's stupid. That's a stupid thing to say when you're about to die, don't say that. Justin:              I have it here, “Lois, thank you for this life, for our son, for being my true home planet.” Pete:                Yeah, that's fucking beautiful. Justin:              Very sweet from a long haired mostly dead Superman. And then she said, “Thank you, Clark.” Pete:                [crosstalk 00:42:02] complimenting his hair was hysterical. Justin:              Thank you, Clark, for being the best lead a girl could ask for. And then someone off panel, get a room. Pete:                All right. First off, Zalben fuck you man. I thought that was a great thing for Lois to say. Alex:                 I don't know. That was kind of like, and I worked in a newspaper. Pete:                Fuck you. Justin:              She doesn't love him. She just is with him to keep the news flowing. Alex:                 Yeah, exactly. Also, what is she doing there? Where has she been the entire time? The fact that she is [crosstalk 00:42:34] to be like, “And I'm also here.” Justin:              She's covering the end of the universe for the daily [crosstalk 00:42:40]. Pete:                You know what Zalb, she doesn't have tO prove shit to you. She can come and go as she pleases. Alex:                 She's just hastily writing out a newspaper on some dead Robin Skinner or something like that. Justin:              Yeah, exactly. This just in, holy shit, [inaudible 00:42:56] dead. Pete:                If you're reading this congratulations. Justin:              Bear with me readers because this is confusing. So there's a dark forge of … Alex:                 There's going to be a lot of bi-lines on this one, but fun book. Let's move on and talk about Seven to Eternity number 15 from image comics written by Rick Remender, drawn by Jerome Opena. This is a huge issue for this book. Our protagonist has slowly been working way towards a place that potentially could make him immortal. We think it has been for reasons of helping his family. In this issue it becomes clear, 100% absolutely is not. And he goes from, I would argue being the hero of the book to turning out to be the villain the whole time, which I think is phenomenal in the best Rick Remender way of doing things. What'd you guys think about this? Justin:              And conversely, the villain from the book, the Mud King is sort of becoming the hero. Alex:                 Yeah, 100%. Justin:              And I would guess that was Rick Remender's perhaps goal for the series. And he's done a great job of really just slowly leading us away from our expectations from the very first couple issues of the series. But really this issue, the art is so good. It's a real like everything is just really well done from the beginning to the end, a lot of big splash pages, it's so good. Pete:                This is classic Remender, just like you think you understand, you think … I was so excited. I was like, “Oh, this is great. Okay. We're finally going to have,” and then at the end I was like, “Wait, what? Goddam Remender, man.” He is a very impressive writer. This continues to be a ton of fun. And the twists and turns are very enjoyable. I'm very nervous about what's going to happen moving forward, but man, the art and the action are just glorious. Alex:                 Great stuff. Let's move on and talk about our Immortal Hulk block two issues [crosstalk 00:45:05]. Justin:              Hulk block. Alex:                 The Immortal Hulk King in Black number one written by Al Ewing, art by Aaron Kuder. The Immortal Hulk 42 written by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett. Starting with the first one, this obviously again is a tie into King in Black. Here, so many things going on at the same time. There's no reason this should work with the amount of things they have happening. But it's not only an Immortal Hulk book, which is a thing in and of itself. It's not only a tie into King in Black. It's not only a Christmas story. It's also a completely silent issue at the same time. And it is phenomenal. Pete:                One of my favorites. This is like, when people ask you like, “Oh, what's your favorite Christmas story?” This now goes to the top of the list, black Christmas. This is just so cool. And so much is said about Hulk without any words. This really is just a classic Hulk story. Oh my God, this is so great, so much fun. Justin:              This is your favorite Christmas story now, more than the movie Christmas story. Pete:                No. It's one of my favorite Christmas comics, [crosstalk 00:46:15]. Justin:              If you have children, you'll read this aloud to them on Christmas. Pete:                Yes, I will. Justin:              Which will be [crosstalk 00:46:21] reading. Alex:                 Say, “Hey kids, gather around, it's time for the horrifically wildly smiling Hulk story.” Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 The way Aaron Kuder draws, this is these … If you haven't been reading Immortal Hulk, Hulk is kind of split into different personalities. He keeps morphing between different things. Here we mostly get the skinny childlike Hulk, who's been showing up. He also shows up in the next issue we're going to talk about. We also get Joe Fixit shows up for a little- Justin:              Yeah, he does. Alex:                 … die hard style action at one point, which is super fun. But yeah, man, this is just great, just a great story. So well-drawn by Aaron Kuder, so well written by Al Ewing. Justin:              The art is so good. Alex:                 Again, there's no reason they should work with the amount of things they have going on here, but it's a wonderful one-shot. Justin:              Yeah, it's really, truly great. One of the best issues on the stands right now. Alex:                 Let's move on then and talk about Immortal Hulk number 42, which is the ongoing story of the Immortal Hulk. Here we get a little break as the Hulk fights The Thing, actually lays out everything that's been going on with him, which I think is the first time in 42 issues any of the superheroes have kind of found out what has actually been going on with the Hulk here, even though he understands the only part of it. And Thing figures it out too, understands the different [inaudible 00:47:38] Fixit and the other Hulk and everything that's going on, they eat some hotdogs at Coney Island. Pete:                You're goddam right. You got to do it while you're there. Alex:                 Delicious. And it ends with of course, a very typical terrifying paddle right at the end there for what's coming up next. But again, a fantastic issue of this book. And I love seeing The Thing, Hulk rivalry in a new light, it's great. Justin:              Yeah. You really get to see the tender side of The Thing coming out here, which I thought was really good. And their conversation at the hot dog shop was really nice- Pete:                The hotdog shop. Justin:              … getting into like, yeah, sandwich shop, hot dog I guess being a sandwich in that case. Pete:                Oh man. Justin:              Hot dog is not a sandwich. Pete:                Yeah. And the way they talk about the afterlife, The Thing coming back and being bar mitzvah'd and rediscovering some sort of spirituality or having a second spirituality 13 years after they got bombarded with the cosmic rays, I thought was an interesting take. I'll talk about Joe, but just a really smart issue touching on a bunch of ideas and really sad watching the whole fight and cry. Alex:                 I mean, I'll just mention just on the whole thing story where he's talking about how the 13 years there that was him being reborn. I know that's something that [inaudible 00:49:02] covered and is one of the thing. But from a Jewish perspective, I got a little choked up, that's something that they don't really talk about a lot in the books is that aspect of The Thing. And I think Al Ewing wrote it in a really sweet way and paste it out in a really sweet way. That was very nice to see. It meant a lot. Justin:              Now we talked about this on the live show, but the podcast just turned 14. Should we have had a bar mitzvah for you since we've been doing this for 13 years? Alex:                 Yeah, no problem. I'll shoot you guys a tow report and we could read that in the next live show. Pete:                Oh, that would be great. Justin:              I would love to. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Plus we get to go play video games and stuff or something, right. Alex:                 Sure, that's how that works. Justin:              Isn't there some fun thing? Alex:                 Yeah, you get to have a party afterwards. Justin:              Okay. I'm in. Pete:                Yeah, this continues to be amazing. Really great use of The Thing in this, love The Thing's new kicks, glorious. Also really fantastic cover, really love the cover. Yeah, just when you think this story, it gets so weird and so grotesque, but also the heart in the story is really phenomenal, it's very touching. The humanization of these kinds of grotesque characters if you will is fantastic. I cannot believe what they're doing in this whole comic. It's really unprecedented. Alex:                 Last but not least, let's talk about Once & Future number 14 from Boom! Studios written by Kieron Gillen and art by Dan Mora. In this issue, we're wrapping up a couple of things as I believe they fight Guen, or they are Guen. I don't know, I honestly missed the last issue, so I'm not [inaudible 00:50:47] keeping up. But there's some bloody stuff, it's a fight continuity stuff that happens and this title continues to be a ton of fun. Pete:                Yeah. I mean this whole game thing that it starts with, and I mean to say the art is spectacular is an understatement. It's just so breathtaking and makes things … you're feeling the stuff that is happening. It's just so intense and amazing. And then you just have this bad-ass grandmother right in the middle of it. Every issue is just glorious and it continues to be. I don't know why they don't turn this into a goddam movie or TV show. It's just so good. I want to see it in all the different iterations, if it could … Just so many great characters, so much fun. This is really just glorious. Justin:              There's a lot of stories about stories, particularly in comics. And I think this one does a great job of making it more complex and it's a little bit trickier, it really feels like a heightened version of so many things are touched on, where it's like, no, the story's, the thing we're inside a story. And in this our main characters are inside multiple stories at once and they're competing, they're juggling them. But it's also like they're having a great time, the art is so like high-octane action movie. It's really fun. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Great stuff. All right. That's it for this week's episode of The Stack, if you'd like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube, come hang out. Chat with us about comic books, iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. At comic book live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, this has been The Stack. Justin:              This will always be The Stack. You're inside The Stack. We're all part of The Stack. Alex:                 Oh, my kids are coming in. Let me see what they want. Pete:                Is that that creeping- Justin:              Bam. The post The Stack: Black Cat, Blade Runner And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Stack we've got reviews for: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ryan Stegman Batman/Catwoman #1 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Clay Mann Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1 BOOM! Box Written by Shannon Waters & Kat Leyh Layouts by Brooklyn Allen Illustrated by Alexa Bosy & Kanesha C. Bryant The Union #1 Marvel Written by Paul Grist Pencils by Andrea Di Via w/Paul Grist Justice League: Endless Winter #1 DC Comics Written by Andy Lanning & Ron Marz Art by Howard Porter That Texas Blood #6 Image Comics By Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1 Marvel Written by Christopher Cantwell Art by Filipe Andrade Unearth #8 Image Comics Story by Cullen Bunn and Kyle Strahm Art by Baldemar Rivas Batman #104 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Ryan Benjamin & Danny Miki, Bengal & Guillem March Backtrack #9 Oni Press Written by Brian Joines Art by Jake Elphick M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #1 Marvel Written by Jordan Blum & Patton Oswalt Art by Scott Hepburn Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20 BOOM! Studios Written by Jordie Bellaire & Jeremy Lambert Illustrated by Ramon Bachs Far Sector #9 DC Comics Written by N.K. Jemisen Art by Jamal Campbell Dryad #7 Oni Press Written by Kurtis Wiebe Illustrated by Justin Barcelo Black Widow #4 Marvel Written by Kelly Thompson Art by Elena Casagrande and Jordie Bellaire Strange Adventures #7 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Mitch Gerards and Evan “Doc” Shaner Inkblot #4 Image Comics Created by Emma Kubert & Rusty Gladd Daredevil #25 Marvel Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Marco Checchetto The Boys: Dear Becky #7 Dynamite Written by Garth Ennis Illustrated by Russ Braun SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. This week's show is sponsored by the Just Been Revoked podcast. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's Stack we've got reviews for: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ryan Stegman Batman/Catwoman #1 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Clay Mann Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1 BOOM! Box Written by Shannon Waters & Kat Leyh Layouts by Brooklyn Allen Illustrated by Alexa Bosy & Kanesha C. Bryant The Union #1 Marvel Written by Paul Grist Pencils by Andrea Di Via w/Paul Grist Justice League: Endless Winter #1 DC Comics Written by Andy Lanning & Ron Marz Art by Howard Porter That Texas Blood #6 Image Comics By Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1 Marvel Written by Christopher Cantwell Art by Filipe Andrade Unearth #8 Image Comics Story by Cullen Bunn and Kyle Strahm Art by Baldemar Rivas Batman #104 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Ryan Benjamin & Danny Miki, Bengal & Guillem March Backtrack #9 Oni Press Written by Brian Joines Art by Jake Elphick M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #1 Marvel Written by Jordan Blum & Patton Oswalt Art by Scott Hepburn Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20 BOOM! Studios Written by Jordie Bellaire & Jeremy Lambert Illustrated by Ramon Bachs Far Sector #9 DC Comics Written by N.K. Jemisen Art by Jamal Campbell Dryad #7 Oni Press Written by Kurtis Wiebe Illustrated by Justin Barcelo Black Widow #4 Marvel Written by Kelly Thompson Art by Elena Casagrande and Jordie Bellaire Strange Adventures #7 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Mitch Gerards and Evan “Doc” Shaner Inkblot #4 Image Comics Created by Emma Kubert & Rusty Gladd Daredevil #25 Marvel Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Marco Checchetto The Boys: Dear Becky #7 Dynamite Written by Garth Ennis Illustrated by Russ Braun SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. This week's show is sponsored by the Just Been Revoked podcast. Full Episode Transcript: Alex:                 What is up, everybody? Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. Alex:                 And in The Stack we talk about a bunch of big comic books that have come out right here at the beginning of December. Very exciting times to be alive in. Everybody is very happy, excited, doing a great job. Justin:              We're all doing a great job. Let's take a second and chill. Pete:                I don't know. Let's not pat ourselves on the back. Alex:                 Pete, you're doing a great job. Pete:                No, don't patronize me, all right? Fuck you. Alex:                 No. Man, you are. Justin:              Don't patronize him. Alex:                 Do you know who else is doing a great job? The King in Black. He's really just really putting himself out there in the Marvel Universe, really inventing a bunch of stuff with his wet dragons, I like to call them. Justin:              They are moist dragons. Pete:                He's not doing anything moist during- Alex:                 King in Black#1 from Marvel written by Donny Cates, art by Ryan Stegman. This of course is the … I don't know if it's the final storyline, but it's certainly the peak of everything that they've been building up over the past couple of years, through Venom and other storylines. Pete:                … Venom. Alex:                 As the King in Black, Knull, the god of the symbiotes invades earth. And man, it goes basically about as bad as things could go. And I don't know that I have read a kickoff to an event where the heroes lose so thoroughly as they do in this issue, which in my mind was very impressive. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. The way they go hard here. The Donny Cates goes hard with this story. It's a ton of big emotional beats and then heroes just losing, every plan failing instantly. And setting up Knull as this like truly terrifying villain, despite the fact that he's fighting with wet dragons. Pete:                Yeah, what an entrance the King made here. I think it was a great start with the nicest building and everything that's been going on. And then the twist where you think, “All right, he's after Venom,” and it's like, “No Venom's kid,” and it's like, “Oh, shit.” Justin:              Oh, shit. Pete you're riding with the King, is what you're saying? You love the King and- Pete:                Yeah, I'm riding with King. Alex:                 Yeah, I got to be honest. Even though I've really enjoyed what Donny and Ryan had been doing on this title, I was a little trepidatious about this event just because Knull to be the design of it, it was like, “Ah, he was very big teeth.” I don't like that. And the whole Venom thing I always feel reticent about in general just because Venom is not my favorite character, but I should have known better. Pete:                Venom. Alex:                 Venom. Justin:              … You like a drier character like Sandman. Alex:                 Yeah, like a nice dry character. Like a Sandman is more my style. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 But I should have known better, because they'd been, like you said, Justin, they've been doing emotionally based work on this title throughout the entire time. This is based on Eddie Brock's relationship with his son, that is the emotional crux of the issue, even though there's a good Tony Stark stuff in here, there's some good other character stuff in here. But it's great. I am also fascinated to see what happens over the course of five issues because this is, like we said, as bad as it can get, and it seems like there's four more issues where it's only going to get worse. Justin:              Yeah. What Donny Cates does a great job at is really including a bunch of other aspects of the Marvel Universe, like you were saying, Alex, and they feel very real. It feels very current. We get some X-Men in here and it feels like they just stepped out- Pete:                Oh yeah, that was fun. Justin:              … of the current X-Men books. It's really good. And touching on continuity where all the characters know about what's going on in their universe, which I think is rare in comics to have a real deep understanding of continuity for something that is a standalone event like this. Pete:                I'm glad you brought that up, Justin, because I was very excited when I saw the X-Men show up and still be kind of like heroes. They're not just island fucking. You know what I mean? They're not just trading swords and half-assing a bunch of games, they're actually still stepping up and being heroes. Justin:              It would have been great if there was just a cutaway in this to a bunch of X-Men having sex on an island. I would have loved where they were like, “Wait, what did you say?” Pete:                I would have lost it. Alex:                 It's weird that they saw that much black goo and do nothing. This is prime fucking material. Justin:              “This is fucking material,” says Alex. A couple of follow-up questions I'm going to ask off-mike. Before we go too much further, I do think the fact that Pete and I are agreeing so hard on this book, there will be one book later on I predict where Pete and I will have a subtle disagreement. Pete:                … Yeah, it will be very hard to tell. Justin:              See if you can spot it. Pete:                Yeah, it will be tough to tell. Alex:                 Let's wait and see. Next up, Batman/Catwoman #1 from DC Comics written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann. This is the continuation of Tom King's abbreviated run on Batman, now focusing or continuing to focus on the Batman/Catwoman relationship. It's a little hard to tell whether this is a direct continuation or they rejiggered it in any way to make a new title. But regardless, we're jumping around in time periods here. Spoilers, we're introducing the Phantasm from Mask of the Phantasm into the main Batman continuity. Pete:                Yes. Alex:                 That's big stuff happens here. We talked about this a little on live show. I got to tell you, it took me a little while to hook into this because I could not remember the rhythm of the Batman book the way they did it. But there is a point, and this is a big spoiler, but the page, the reveal of the Joker about halfway, three quarters of the way through the issue was such a classic Clay Mann page. So terrifying that it immediately sucked me back in emotionally. And that was the point- Pete:                You're talking about- Alex:                 … where I started to feel like, “Okay, I'm really on board with this book again.” Pete:                … Yeah, but it wasn't just regular Joker, that was Miami Vice Joker. Did you see the way the wind was taking his shirt and he had the over the kind of shoulder holsters rocking? Come on, that was like- Alex:                 He could feel it coming in the air tonight, that's all I'm saying. Pete:                … Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. People talking about three Jokers, there's a fourth one and that's Miami Vice Joker and he's the best one. Justin:              See, I would consider him more Miami-Dade County Retirement Home Joker. Sure. Pete:                Oh wow, shots fired. Alex:                 Trump voter Joker. Justin:              Exactly, this dude votes Trump. Clay Mann's art in this issue is so, so good. All of Tom King's work I feel like is so writer-driven, but man, he works with such great artists, and this one, and this issue specifically I feel like is so, so good. And I love the pace and the way that he's telling the story is really rooted in the romance. Justin:              There's so many big romantic splash panels in this, and it's great, and it's still setting up a bunch of mystery elements and great action. Just so much going on in a great way. And it's romance, it's sexy, it's horrifying. And then the Phantasm reveal, it's like … I feel like this book is just doing everything all at once in the best way. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I'm really just happy to have T King back on Batman. Justin:              T King. Pete:                I'm excited to see how this story unfolds. And I also was really impressed at how much was in this first issue. There was so much going on. But it was also cool the way kind of Nightwing gave us, instead of it being like flashbacks to see somebody's story, to see kind of Nightwing telling the story of the Ghost-Maker was really kind of a cool discovery. Alex:                 Ragnarok. Pete:                Oh, my bad. Alex:                 That's Batman, this is Batman/Catwoman. Pete:                Ah, my fault. Alex:                 It's okay. Pete:                I'll wait for it. Justin:              Good idea. Pete:                We talked a lot about the art. Just that first title page, really setting up the different cadence, the different kind of art that really focuses the story, I think it's very interesting. And I'm very excited for Mask of the Phantasm, my favorite Batman movie of all times, so I'm very excited about this. Alex:                 Not Batman Forever? Pete:                No. Alex:                 Hmm. All right. Let's move on and talk about Lumberjanes: End of Summer #1 for Boom! Box, written by Shannon Watters and Kat Leyh, art layouts by Brooklyn Allen, illustrated by Alexa Bosy and Kanesha C. Bryant. I figured this was really worth talking about because of the last issue of Lumberjanes, a book that we've only sporadically reviewed, and I've always appreciated, but always personally had a little bit of a hard time hooking into. What did you think about this issue, and how do you think about it as a wrap-up to the Lumberjanes saga? Pete:                I was really impressed with this issue. I thought they really did a great job of wrapping things up. But also we see so many different ways of characters struggling with the, “I don't want to kill. This person should die, but why is it on me?” I felt like this was kind of handled in an interesting way. And the art does a great job of really telling this story. The art is so good. There's a ton of action, but it's a little cartoony to give it that heart that the kind of story has. Pete:                I just really impressed with the characterizations. And it's a lot of over the top fun, but also it's got a lot of deeper meaning stuff going on. And yeah, I mean, just, it goes back and forth between these absolutely hideous, evil looking things and these adorable characters, and they all fit into the same realm. Lumberjanes is a great read, it's really creative. I feel like there's something for everybody. This is a good book. Justin:              Yeah, it's very fun. It dips into some wild sort of fantasy realms in a series of different ways. And I'm sort of in the Alexa's boat where I'm like, “Oh, right. Oh, yes. Okay.” And then the way it's sort of, to Pete's point, is sort of everything at once. Sometimes it's a little flashy, but it is also very fun and a great read. Alex:                 I agree. And I appreciate the fact that it exists, even if I don't quite get it all the time, because I know so many people who love this book so much. I believe it's also being adapted into an animated series by Noelle Stevenson who also did the She-Ra series that was phenomenal, so I'm very excited to see that. Even if I don't quite get the comic, I'm glad it exists, and I'm excited that it wrapped up on its own terms. Alex:                 Next up, The Union #1 from Marvel, written by Paul Grist, pencils by Andrea Di Vito with Paul Grist. This is a bunch of British superheroes getting together and then ultimately crashing straight into the King in Black event. This reminded me a lot or felt a lot to me like a Garth Ennis book that was not written by Garth Ennis. And I made that complimentarily. What did you guys think about this one? Justin:              Yeah, this reminded me of, and I feel like maybe I made this comparison already recently, of the Ultraverse book, The Exiles. Do you remember that back in the day, where a team of superheroes gets just straight up murdered in the first issue and then reforms in a sort of different way? And this has that same vibe of like a doomed team. And the fact that it's crashing into a big event makes me wonder what this book actually means. It's a fun book that's a good story. I like the characters. Union Jack is very cool. And there's a little bit of a mystery here. I was surprised by how much I liked this in relation to what kind of book it is. Pete:                Yeah, I agree with Justin, this is a fun book. Some great action, some cool stuff is happening and it ties in. Not like a must read for everything that's going on, but very cool kind of dealing with stuff kind of from the fallout of the X of Swords or 10 of Swords. Alex:                 Wait, what? How is this a fallout of 10 of Swords? Pete:                Because of the Britain, the choosing of the kind of who's going to be the next kind of- Alex:                 It's a different character. It's a different character, Pete. Pete:                … Cool. Justin:              You're killing his vibes. Pete:                I'm killing it today. Alex:                 You're doing a great job. Yeah, it is interesting that it ties in, particularly given we had Dennis Hallum on the live show last week, I think at this point. And he was talking about how Spider-Woman was stuck in the Spider-Verse event, and I couldn't help but think about this the entire time where I was like, “You're launching a book, but it ties into King of Black, kind of, but not really.” Alex:                 But it was cheeky enough and sort of skewering of superheroes enough that I'm intrigued to check out a second issue of this. Next one, Justice League: Endless Winter #1 from DC Comics written by Andy Lanning and Ron Marz, art by Howard Porter. Alex:                 A bunch of seasoned vets getting together for a Justice League event, where as you could probably tell from the title they fight a frost giant and the entire world is plunged into non-stop winter. I liked this kickoff a lot more than I thought I would, and I think that is all to the fact that Andy Lanning, Ron Marz and Howard Porter all know what they're doing around a superhero event. Justin:              Yeah, I agree completely. There's a bunch of stuff in here where they're like, “How do you really manage your work-life balance?” Alex:                 Yeah, that was weird where the flashing Green Lantern and like, “Work-life balance is a hard thing, right?” In the middle of this event, we got time to talk about it. Justin:              But I appreciated it. It felt like a Marvel book featuring DC heroes in a good way. And I got to the end and I was like, “Oh, this is an event. Right. Where is this going to go?” Because to me it felt a little bit like a one-shot, like a classic DC one-shot for the holiday season. And I do think that DC goes to the whole the earth is freezing a lot, where the sun gets extinguished, was a few years ago, so I was like, “Oh yeah.” But it was a good read for this again. Alex:                 I mean, I don't want to jump on your spot and everything, but the whole sun gets extinguish thing was several decades ago. Justin:              That was a long time ago, but I feel like there was another thing after that. There was like- Pete:                Stop not flexing on us. Jesus Christ. Alex:                 Yeah, that's true. Let's … Oh, go ahead, Pete. Pete:                I was just going to say I really loved the last page. I think this does a good job of really getting you excited for more. And yeah, the kind of reveals of who else is in this is very exciting. Alex:                 Also fun stuff with like Secret Six types super villains that could feel disposable in terms of like they could have brought in the Royal Flush Gang and just have them do their thing where they get beat up in the Justice League, but more fun that. I had a good time reading this comic book, much more fun than I thought I would have. What happens when a robotic overlord imprisons a rant god and a humble narcissist? Alex:                 You get this week's sponsor of the Comic Book Club, The Just Been Revoked Podcast. Join Chris G, Tom Legaci and Mr. Rhace as they discuss the origins, the ends and everything in between of all things film. Episodes are released weekly on Apple, Spotify and all other major podcast platforms. Looking for a film podcast that has fun and doesn't take things too seriously, then check them out at justbeenrevoked.com. Alex:                 Next up, That Texas Blood, excuse me, #6 from Image Comics, by Chris Condon and Jacob Phillips. This is the end of the first arc. It is as bloody and as sad as you might expect. I really liked how this tied up. How did you guys feel? Pete:                I've really been loving this book, but they've been giving us like little bits. It was crazy to get so much in this issue. I almost felt like, “Whoa, this is too much information,” because it's been so little, but now we really kind of get the who done it kind of stuff behind it. So it was a little bit of a shell shock for that. But you can't say enough about the art and writing, this continues to be a really great series. I'm excited to see where it goes. Justin:              … Yeah, I agree. This is good. It feels very … I mean, there's a bunch of sort of mentions of this in the back matter. It feels very of the place of Texas where the story takes place. It's right in the title. And it's just a series of sort of tragic mistakes by so many different people. A lot of the characters feel very real, there's some nice emotional moments here. It's a great first start. Alex:                 Very good stuff. Either pick up the individual issues or pick up the collection when it comes out. And it should be back next year. I'm very excited and intrigued to see how they continue it, particularly given Chris Condon told us this was initially a movie script that now he is doing into, not an ongoing, but at least continuing it for a little while, so that will be curious to see. Next up, let's talk about my favorite book of the week, Pete. Fantastic Four: Road Trip #1- Pete:                Come on. Justin:              Yes. Pete:                You are not serious. Alex:                 … from Marvel. I'm 100% serious. Pete:                This was- Alex:                 Written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Filipe Andrade. This is a one-shot that shows the immortal Hulkazation, I think, of … Hulkamania if you will- Justin:              Yeah, [crosstalk 00:18:01] Alex:                 … of the Marvel Universe, as we get a absolutely horrific story involving the Fantastic Four taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon of the [crosstalk 00:18:09] title gone horribly wrong. They literally start falling apart. Love the metaphor here, love the art. I screamed out loud several times reading this book, it was so horrific, but great. Just fun to read, horror story involving with Fantastic Four like nothing that I had read before. So exciting. Justin:              This was also one of my favorite books of the week. Agree with everything you're saying, like we get to see all of the tropes of the Fantastic Four used against them in the best way, especially Read. The art was fantastic. It's truly I was worried for the gang here. The cover I- Alex:                 This is- Justin:              … was like, “Oh, that's a fun sort of horror cover.” And then you read the book and it's like, “Holy shit, this is way more horrifying than you ever saw it before.” It was great. Pete:                … This is everything I hate about the Fantastic Four all in one issue. The things that happen to our characters are just awful to watch. Justin:              No, they really come together as a family to save the day. Pete:                They literally like glue together, and it's creepy. I don't want to see two kids melting into each other, that's so creepy on so many levels. Alex:                 … My kids do that all the time. You don't have kids, you don't understand. Pete:                Nobody asked you about your goddamn kids, all right? Alex:                 They do that, and I respect them and their choices. Pete:                Wow. That's good for you. Justin:              All right, unmelt, it's time for bed. You sleep in separate beds. Pete:                Now, and then it's just Reed Richards is being a fucking awful father, an awful husband, the shit is just ridiculous. At one point even as soon as like, “Yeah, you're a horrible person. I'm going to go do the good things in life while you sit there by yourself just ignoring your family and making something worse.” Just, ah, this issue drove me nuts because the art amplified how much I don't like this family in the way they're kind of put together in all the wrong ways. And it was just not only a stressful read, but horrifying. Don't pick up this book. Don't encourage this shit. Justin:              You hate how this family is put together? Pete:                I hate the fact that you have- Justin:              They're the first family of the Marvel Universe. Pete:                … you have someone who's very smart, but then treats his family like shit. And then you've got a beautiful person in Sue Storm, who's ignored mostly by her husband and post aside. And then you've got- Alex:                 Okay. I see where this is coming from. You think you could be a better husband to Sue Storm than Reed Richards. Pete:                No, I'm not trying to- Alex:                 And you want to marry Sue Storm. Justin:              Exactly. Pete:                … No, that's not … Don't try to shrink me you fucking piece of shit. Justin:              Don't shrink me. Let me say this, Pete, let me put it in this perspective. Don't you think that to your cat you're the Reed Richards who's too busy recording his podcasts to spend time with the cat, and maybe the cat needs a little bit more attention? How does it feel to be the Reed Richards of your cat? Alex:                 It is kind of interesting not to backup Justin's point, but your goopy arm is in a bucket right now, Pete. What do you have to say about that? Pete:                I think you guys are assholes and I can't believe I've done a show with you for this many years. That's what I have to say there. Justin:              We're the first family of the Comic Book Club Universe. Alex:                 I'm the Valeria. Justin:              Oh, interesting choice. Pete:                Wow. Alex:                 Great book, definitely pick it up. Next up, Unearth #8 from Image Comics, story by Cullen and Kyle Strahm, art by Baldemar Rivas. I think we talked about the first issue of this which was like, “Ooh, going into cave and other monsters of the cave,” it's evolved since then. Justin:              Yes. There's a lot of different things happening in this book, really like the art. It's just like a series of vignettes from a horror TV show or like an outer limits type TV show. Alex:                 Yeah, it feels very like Clive Barker Books of Blood to me. Justin:              Yeah. But it's good, I'm into it. Pete:                Yeah, it's scary. The arts, the real hero, very cool issue, kind of sets things up. I thought it was solid. Alex:                 All right. Let's move on to a book with the thing that happened that Pete mentioned earlier, Batman 104 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Ryan Benjamin and Danny Miki, Bengal and Guillem March. This is the book where Nightwing fills in Bad Girl about everything that's been going on with Ghost-Maker. Pete, what did you think about this one? Pete:                Yes, thank you. Sorry about earlier, but I thought it was- Alex:                 No, it's all good. It's funny we talked about in the live show, how do you keep all the books straight, sometimes it's hard. Justin:              Sometimes we don't. Pete:                … Sometimes we don't. Yeah. Sometimes you think you're talking about one book, but you're actually talking about another. But yeah, like I had mentioned, I thought it was really cool the way we kind of got Ghost-Makers backstory from the perspective of Nightwing. Also really cool, kind of scary moment where Batman wakes up in Arkham. Pete:                And I love the kind of like moment where they're like, “The plants told us …” I loved that. I love the Bad Girl's joke. Yeah, and I also liked this kind of trap. Our heroes get stuck in the trap and you're like, “Ergh,” but this is very interesting to see how this is going to work between Clownhunter and Harley Quinn, and how this is all going to kind of go down. But yeah, great issue of Batman, amazing art. This whole kind of Ghost-Maker thing is very interesting. Justin:              I have a question for you, Pete. There are so many different artists in this issue, does that bother you? That often bothers you when a single issue has multiple artists. Pete:                Yeah, but when they're woven into the story in a way where it's like if you're kind of showing something that's back in time or whatever, I think it can work if it's done well and it doesn't feel too jarring. Justin:              I agree with you. And it's done really well here, because I do think it works. And when I read the number of artists on the page, on the title page, I was like, “Huh.” And then it really flowed nicely, which is weird because these artists are pretty distinct when stylistically. But I thought it really worked. And I agree, this book is fun. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Good stuff. Next up, Backtrack #9 from Oni Press, written by Brian Joines, art by Jake Elphick. We're getting towards the end here, I believe this is the penal explanation of the book. If you haven't been picking it up, it is a car race through time here. We're leaving pirate times and finally getting some answers about what's been going on in the back. Definitely a exposition issue, but I think it was well done and tied into the characters. I continue to enjoy this book. This is going very well in my mind. How did you guys feel? Pete:                Yeah, I really am impressed because a lot of times, sometimes I feel like when characters are standing around talking about their feelings and past and stuff, it can get a little not enjoyable, but this has done really well. And I really liked where we have a character kind of talk about the stuff that she's going through and she's like, “You know what? I'm going to stay here. I'm going to live the life that I want to lead.” And I thought that was really cool, and I thought this issue ended really well. I'm very excited to see how this all wraps up. So far this has been a really fun book. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, every issue of this, I feel like this feels like a movie, it feels like sort of a sci-fi Fast & the Furious just ready to be made and- Pete:                Too fast. Justin:              … Too fast. Pete:                [inaudible 00:25:59] Justin:              Oh, interesting. Jump right to the sequel. That's the move, it's to make the sequel first. Pete:                First. Yeah, exactly. Justin:              But yeah, this feels ready-made for that. Alex:                 I 100% agree. Let's move on to something that is going to be a TV show, kind of. M.O.D.O.K.: Head Games #1 for Marvel, written by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt. Pete:                Head Games. Alex:                 Art by Scott Hepburn. This is very clearly setting up the new M.O.D.O.K. show that's going to be coming to Hulu with Patton Oswalt doing the voice of M.O.D.O.K. I don't know how much it ties into that necessarily, but this is a fun lack with MODOK. He's having some weird memories that are popping up in him, and he is fighting with the rest of A.I.M. As the same time as I say it's a fun lack, much more serious than I expected personally. Justin:              Yeah, I liked that M.O.D.O.K. is really given some emotional underpinnings in this, and he's … The sort of premises that he's struggling with some memories, because he has a bunch of different memories from all the different lives that he's had because he's a genetically engineered being. And there's this one where he seemed to be a happy family man, and I'm curious where that's going to go. I really liked that sort of heartfelt background to this, and it feels like M.O.D.O.K., you have sympathy for him and he's trying to just his shit figure out. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, first off the title made me think there was going to be maybe some Locke & Key tie in, but that didn't happen so I was a little disappointed. But I thought this was fun. I really liked the kind of M.O.D.O.K. falling into an armory where he gets to kind of play with all the cool, that was really fun. But because we see Patton Oswalt's name on it, I wanted it to be funnier, I wanted it to be heavier on the jokes. It was a good story, so maybe I kind of put that on that too much. But yeah, I thought it was good. Alex:                 I bet Patton Oswalt listens to this podcast and says, “I wish Pete was funnier and more on jokes.” Pete:                He could say that and that would be fair. That man is a professional comedian. Justin:              But you would say, “I'm a journalist and I don't … I'm not some sort of clown.” Pete:                No, I would never, never say that. Justin:              Huh. Alex:                 You write an editorial every week for the New York Times, Pete. What are you talking about? Pete:                It still doesn't count. Alex:                 All right, fair enough. Justin:              Yeah, when people write a letter to the editor of the New York Times, Pete's the one that reads it. Alex:                 Buffy the vampire Slayer from Boom! Studios, written by Jordie Bellaire and Jeremy Lambert, illustrated by Ramon Bachs. I just realized I didn't mention the number of the issue here. Pete:                20. Justin:              20. Alex:                 20. Thank you very much. There you go. But in this issue, the Scooby Gang is dealing with multiple new slayers, Xander who is a vampire and lots of other things going on. We've checked in on this book now and again. Justin, I know you've been a little back and forth on it. So what do you think about this one and where we are at now? Justin:              I do think I'm sort of on the downside of it a little bit. I like when they get away from the sort of continuity a little bit in a deliberate way, and this feels a little like all over the place to me. But again, I'm not a crazy Buffy head that is like, “I got to know what happens,” I just want to read a fun story and this feels like it's a little lost in the middle. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I'm not sure if it's in between seasons or trying to touch on something and be its own thing. I kind of was hoping we'd be past this little bit, but I feel like it's interfering with the storytelling and I just kind of want to get this thing off and running. It feels like a lot of standing around talking and then people kiss, and I'm like, “Who are these people? What is happening?” Yeah. Alex:                 It sounds like I liked it a little bit more than you guys. Particularly I think what they're doing with Xander is interesting, turning him into a vampire. The emotional step between him and Willow is really nice. Also the twist at the end is cool, there's a new villain that I don't think we've seen before. That's pretty interesting, given a motivation that is very different than we've seen on the TV show, which is good. Alex:                 The one downside to your point is there are a lot of slayers going on at this point, which potentially needs to downsize. But maybe they're being set up as cannon fodder, so I guess we'll have to wait and see. Next up, Far Sector #9 from DC Comics, written by N.K. Jemisin and art by Jamal Campbell, AKA the best Green Lantern title going on. Pete:                Hell, yeah. Alex:                 We have kind of wrapped up the first mystery of the book or at least part of it and are moving on to a new mystery evolving the digital world that our Green Lantern is finding out more about. Pete, what's going on? Pete:                Well, I just wanted to say I love this book, but one of the negative things I have to say about this is I was really grossed out by this digital food. If this is what's going to happen in the future where people are eating food digitally and not real food, I'm not going to fucking do it. All right? I'm not going to be a part of your fucking evil future with your fucking robots running shit. Go fuck yourself. That was really upsetting to watch that happen. Other than that though- Justin:              Oh, sorry, Pete. We're actually we're downloading lunch today. If you're not going to have any, then I guess you just won't get to eat anything. Pete:                … Yeah, because you're- Alex:                 Yeah, I downloaded you a cobb. Pete:                … Yeah, well, you can fuck your cobb salad. Alex:                 All right. Justin:              Actually don't worry too hard about it, Pete, because I feel like subway meatball sandwiches will be one of the last downloaded foods. Alex:                 I will say I loved the joke that they've created downloadable food that feels like food and stimulates your taste and so it tastes like food. Pete:                Awful. Alex:                 But it tastes terrible because it's made by robots that don't know what things taste like. So fun. Pete:                No, it's not fun. This is where we're headed and it's awful. Justin:              Well, we're a couple of beats away from that, I think, as a culture, as a people. But I think that example is so indicative of just how imaginative the series is, and how there's so many great details, and the world itself is so fully understood by the writer and the artist that it makes for just such a great read. Especially, this issue goes off on a totally new place that we don't- Pete:                Yeah, it's a new read, it's very exciting, a crazy last page. I can't say enough about the art, it's the real hero of this. And the story just keeps getting better. It doesn't kind of set in a pattern and stay there, it keeps exploring it, it's as creative as it looks. I'm just constantly impressed by this. It was great. Justin:              … It reminds me a little bit of the comic book Die, the Kieron Gillen book in a good way. So if you're a fan of that book and aren't reading this, which seems crazy, you should come check it out. Pete:                Yeah, read more comics. Alex:                 Let's move on to another fantasy sci-fi book, Dryad #7 from Oni Press, written by Kurtis Wiebe, illustrated by Justin Barcelo. This is dealing with the massive twist from the last issue, turn away if you don't want to know, that the kids that we've been following the entire time are in fact adopted, is to put it lightly. Basically they were discovered in tubes by their parents and then speared away from there. They're dealing with that ramification. The parents are dealing with the fallout as well. In particular what I loved about this issue is the kids finally embracing and moving on with their lives and finding a fun time in the cyberpunk city. I thought- Justin:              Finding other teens. Alex:                 … And finding other teens. Just a fun montage sequence that I enjoyed quite a bit. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, it's tough to find out you're a tube kid, that's got to be tough. I felt like they handled it well. But yeah, this continues to be like every time you get an issue of this book, you have no idea where it's going to go, what it's going to do, it's very creative. The storytelling is very interesting and fresh. Yeah, this continues to surprise in a good way. Justin:              Yeah, I liked this book a lot too. It's a common, it's almost a cliche at this point that, oh, science and magic, they're the same thing, man, just different energies man. And- Pete:                Yeah, everybody knows that, man. Justin:              … I feel like it's all tubes, man. Everything is a tube. Your body is a tube. Pete:                Sweeping tubes earlier, man? Justin:              A sub is just a tube. A beer can is a tube with beer in it that you open on one end and drink out of the inner tube of the outer tube. Pete:                What? Justin:              So anyway, what was I talking about? No. Pete:                Dryad #7. Justin:              Yes. No, this book really walks the walk of science and magic being the same thing in a way that other books sort of tell, but don't show. And this book really feels like one of the first books I've read where science and magic are the same thing, and these characters are trying to use them and control those two, those singular forms of energy and failing a lot. Alex:                 Yeah. Great stuff, definitely pick up this book. Next up, Black Widow #4 from Marvel, written by Kelly Thompson, art by Elena Casagrande and Jordie Bellaire. This title has been phenomenal from the get-go. Justin:              So good. Alex:                 … As Black Widow had her memory wiped, we finally find out exactly what happened in the past in this issue. She's been captured by Arcade working for shadowy cabal of Black Widow's enemies, given a husband, given a baby. And this issue she's finally trying to take it all back. As usual, Kelly Thompson's book equal mounts of characterization and absolute heartbreak by the end. This has been a Banner run on Black Widow and I cannot get enough. Justin:              It's a Bruce Banner run and I- Alex:                 Yes. Pete:                Come on. Justin:              … I agree, this is my other favorite book of the week. So good. The art's fantastic. The covers by Adam Hughes, both the cover of this issue and the next issue cover, I was blown away by. And yeah, the story is just excellent. It's- Pete:                I mean, this is just- Justin:              … You really feel for the characters. Pete:                … It's just Marvel being smart, like, “Okay, we got Black Widow movie coming out, let's put some great talent on the Black Widow book and get people excited.” It's just a phenomenal story. The art's unbelievable, storytelling is fantastic. It's really great. Alex:                 Such a good book. Next up, Strange Adventures #7 from DC Comics, written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan ‘Doc' Shaner. In this issue, we're dealing with a little bit of the fallout that it turns out that Adam Strange's wife might not actually be the bad guy of the story as we have suspected for most of this time. It turns out it might actually be Adam Strange himself. Alex:                 And in this issue, we get the usual dual timelines for the book. We see Adam Strange being tortured by an agent of the Pykkts. And in the present he reveals that he's made some mistakes, but maybe doesn't reveal all his mistakes. Man, again, such a great issue, gorgeous art throughout, but it really changes a lot what I personally thought about what was going on in this series. And like a lot of Tom King's stuff, it makes me feel like, “Okay, I've got to have to read this and then go back and read the entire thing again to really get what has been going on.” Pete:                You got- Justin:              Yeah, this is my other favorite book, I think. I feel like this issue really sort of pops the cork on the series, I think. In a way, Tom King is often … You don't quite know what sort of emotional or psychological area he's exploring for a bit, it's like, “Oh, this person is dealing with some sort of trauma.” This gets compared to Mister Miracle a lot, where Mister Miracle was sort of depressed, but his adventures gave him the next emotional truth that he needed. Justin:              And it feels like this is almost the opposite where Adam Strange has been so hardened by his adventures that he may have become a villain. And I think it's about trauma, it's about what it's like to actually be in war. This feels like it takes some of the themes from Heroes in Crisis and maybe uses them in an easier to deploy way, a more clean way as opposed to that book which a lot of people criticized for being a little obvious, I guess. Pete:                … Yeah. I mean, a lot of crazy things happen in this issue. You want to talk about the tubes, this gets real trippy in this issue. And- Alex:                 I would love to talk about tubes. Yeah, let's do it. Pete:                … Well, make sure they're milky. If you're going to do it, make it a milky tube. But yeah, the Batman, I don't care, the tyranny line was unbelievable. Justin:              Are you talking about an ice cream cone? The milky tube? Pete:                No, I'm not talking about an ice cream cone. Justin:              Rocket pop. Pete:                No. And I'm not talking about Choco Taco either, just to cut you off there. Justin:              But yeah- Pete:                Are you talking about Choco Taco … Oh, yeah. Got you. Justin:              … But yeah, there's a lot of snapping necks in this issue, which I appreciated, a lot of action that we finally kind of get some information that really turns the story on its head, if you will. That's a snap a neck joke. This continues to be weird in all the right ways and keeps you wanting more, that freaking T. King, I tell you. Alex:                 T. King. “Spill your tea, King,” that's what I always say. Next up, Inkblot #4 from Image Comics, created by Emma Kubert and Rusty Gladd. I got to say, I've been warming to this book after not initially liking it that much. Love the art. Thought that the character design of the cat was great. But understanding that each issue is kind of its own adventure involving the cat has made me appreciate the book more. And in this one, a bunch of dudes are fighting as fags, I guess. But it's fun. It has a nice, weird light tone throughout. And I know it took me four issues to come around, but I'm enjoying quite a bit more. Pete:                Wow, that's funny because it's like the reveal on this was kind of almost a letdown for me because it was like, we kind of got a little bit more of what the cat stealer is in this issue. And I liked it kind of being its own thing, so I was almost a little disappointed when it made a little sense, so that's funny that it got better for you. But yeah, the art is unbelievable. The cat is just super cute and fun to watch go on adventures. Justin:              Pete, do you think, and I'm theorizing about your cat a lot, but do you think that this is what … When you're ignoring your cat and being like a bad cat husband- Pete:                First off, how dare you? I am a fantastic cat husband. Justin:              … No, you're being the Reed Richards. Your cat looks over at you and is like, “Oh, there he goes again with his podcasting experiments, trying to solve the podcasting mysteries.” Alex:                 His goopy arm is in a bucket, as usual. Justin:              His arm in a bucket. And then your cat travels through time and encounters different adventures of their own. Pete:                It would be quite amazing. I mean, it would explain why my cat is so tired all the time. Justin:              There you go. I like this book as well. Alex:                 Great. Moving on to Daredevil #25 from Marvel, written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Marco Checchetto. Daredevil is in prison and Elektra is not happy about it. We're kicking off the next arc here as Elektra has a plan of her own of course as to what she needs Daredevil for. Big stuff goes down here. Pete, I know you were a little mixed about the last issue, how did you feel about this one? Pete:                I like this. I really like getting the kind of Elektra Natchios side of things and like … Sometimes when she's written, it feels like it's not a real person, but I kind of liked this perspective in her trying to be Daredevil for Daredevil. I thought that a was very cool take. I mean, of course the art's unbelievable, but I'm really getting into Daredevil more, and I'm hoping Chip does Foggy right. Justin:              Foggy seems to be losing his spot, and I think the sun is finally coming up and drying up the fog, which I'm fine with. Pete:                No. Justin:              Marco Checchetto's art is excellent. You got that wild Elektra hair. This lady's hair is going every which way. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              She's got zero-G hair. It's a lot of flyaways, which she needs some Pantene Pro V. This podcast, as always, is brought to you by Pantene Pro V. Alex:                 By Pantene Pro V. Pete:                Wow, dude. Alex:                 You got flyaways, Pantene Pro V. Justin:              What I give Chip Zdarsky credit for with the writing of this book is moving past the parts we've sort of done a bunch before. Like Daredevil putting himself in jail and going into court and all that, we've seen that a lot in the past couple 15 years say. So he sort of moves past it and Daredevil is in jail, leaving Elektra on the streets to become sort of a new Daredevil, and setting up this new sort of hand mystery, getting back with Stick. There's a [crosstalk 00:43:47] Pete:                Yeah, the Stick comeback. Justin:              This is a lot of fun. Great pivots, and a book I've really been enjoying lately. Alex:                 Last but not least let's talk about The Boys: Dear Becky #7 from Dynamite, written by Garth Ennis, illustrated by Russ Braun. This is the last issue of this new The Boys series focusing on Wee Hughie as he finds out an unknown tale of Butcher's past, specifically the death of Becky, his wife, as you could probably figure it out, and how he dealt with that and how he became the Butcher that we know when The Boy starts. What did you think about this wrap up here? Pete:                It's an interesting take on Thanksgiving. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Really kind of like I know I'm not the only one who's kind of felt that way of like you just wish you could take an axe to a table full of people you don't like. But I think The Boys does a great job of giving you a little bit of heart and then fucking around and being insane. And Garth Ennis is twisted in all the right ways, and this is kind of a crazy fun read. Justin:              That's a life motto I think we all stick by, a little bit of heart and fucking around. All right, Pete? It was very chatty. I was surprised by how much of this book was about exploring the backstory of Butcher in a way that didn't feel … Maybe watching the TV show has sort of tried this territory already that we're covering here. Not necessarily in the content, but in the performances and the way they sort of play these roles, that I wasn't surprised by but I love the information in it. I wanted a little bit more out of just the storytelling in general, I wanted more to happen. Alex:                 Yeah, I could see that. I think as usual with Garth Edison stuff, he writes great dialogue, he does good characters. I don't think this takes away from The Boys in any way. It's not one of those sequels, prequels, whatever that feels like, “Ah, why did you go back to the [inaudible 00:45:53]?” It's something that if I read through The Boys I would be happy to read this volume as well. Alex:                 And in fact, it might read better as a complete story verses in the individual issues. And Russ Braun's art is very good, it fits in well with Derek Robinson's art. So that was nice to see. All in all I think this was a solid series. To your point, not 100% necessary with The Boys, but it doesn't take away from it either. Justin:              Indeed. Pete:                Agreed. Alex:                 All right. We're all- Justin:              Agreed. Indeed. Agreed, agreed, indeed. Alex:                 … Agreed. Indeed. Agreed, agreed, indeed. And if you want to hear more of this song that we're singing- Pete:                No. Alex:                 … patreon.com/comicbookclub- Pete:                Don't. Alex:                 … to support the show and other shows we do. We also do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM at Crowdcast in YouTube. Come hang out, we'll chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. @comicbooklive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, this has been Comic Book Club, goodbye. The post The Stack: King In Black, Batman/Catwoman, And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's comic book review podcast: Captain America #25 Marvel By Ta-Nehesi Coates & Leonard Kirk Back-up by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho Rorschach #2 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Sea of Sorrows #1 IDW Publishing Written by Rich Douek Art and colors by Alex Cormack Marvel Indigenous Voices #1 Marvel By Jeffrey Verge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo & B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles, and David Cutler Barbalien: Red Planet #1 Dark Horse Comics Script by Tate Brombal Story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal Art by Gabriel Hernández Walta Commanders in Crisis #2 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davide Tinto The Amazing Spider-Man #53 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Mark Bagley Dark Nights: Death Metal #5 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Seven to Eternity #14 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Drawn by Jerome Opeña Venom #30 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Luke Ross Usagi Yojimbo #14 IDW Publishing Written, art and letters by Stan Sakai Batman #103 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki and Guillem March Black Magick #16 Image Comics Written by Greg Rucka Art by Nicola Scott Juggernaut #3 Marvel Written by Fabian Nicieza Art by Ron Garney You Look Like Death: Tales From The Umbrella Academy #3 Dark Horse Comics Story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon Art & Colors by I.N.J. Culbard Stillwater #3 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K. Perez The Immortal Hulk #40 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Big Girls #4 Image Comics Story & Art by Json Howard Widowmakers #1 Story by Devin Grayson Pencils and Inks by Michele Bandini Ice Cream Man #21 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art by Martín Morazzo X-Force #14 Marvel Written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan Art by Joshua Cassara Hellions #6 Marvel Written by Zeb Wells Art by Carmen Carnero Cable #6 Marvel Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Phil Noto SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's comic book review podcast: Captain America #25 Marvel By Ta-Nehesi Coates & Leonard Kirk Back-up by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho Rorschach #2 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Sea of Sorrows #1 IDW Publishing Written by Rich Douek Art and colors by Alex Cormack Marvel Indigenous Voices #1 Marvel By Jeffrey Verge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo & B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles, and David Cutler Barbalien: Red Planet #1 Dark Horse Comics Script by Tate Brombal Story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal Art by Gabriel Hernández Walta Commanders in Crisis #2 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davide Tinto The Amazing Spider-Man #53 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Mark Bagley Dark Nights: Death Metal #5 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Seven to Eternity #14 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Drawn by Jerome Opeña Venom #30 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Luke Ross Usagi Yojimbo #14 IDW Publishing Written, art and letters by Stan Sakai Batman #103 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki and Guillem March Black Magick #16 Image Comics Written by Greg Rucka Art by Nicola Scott Juggernaut #3 Marvel Written by Fabian Nicieza Art by Ron Garney You Look Like Death: Tales From The Umbrella Academy #3 Dark Horse Comics Story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon Art & Colors by I.N.J. Culbard Stillwater #3 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K. Perez The Immortal Hulk #40 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Big Girls #4 Image Comics Story & Art by Json Howard Widowmakers #1 Story by Devin Grayson Pencils and Inks by Michele Bandini Ice Cream Man #21 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art by Martín Morazzo X-Force #14 Marvel Written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan Art by Joshua Cassara Hellions #6 Marvel Written by Zeb Wells Art by Carmen Carnero Cable #6 Marvel Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Phil Noto SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Episode Transcript: Alex:                 What is up, everybody. Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete Alex:                 And we have the pack stack for you today. We've got so many comics to talk about. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:00:19] that there is a lot of comics on Stack's before this. This is a whole another level of Stack. Justin:              This is serious. Alex:                 I got a timer going, we're going to do 25 seconds per comic. 100%. Definitely, no fat on this show is what I like to say [crosstalk 00:00:35]. Let's cut all the X-Men book if you're cutting fat. Come on. Justin:              Those are nice and leam. Those are very fun. Yeah. They're right in the right length. We will not do any sort of deviation, no tangents, for God's sakes. Alex:                 No bits. Justin:              No bits. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              Who's got time for those. Alex:                 Nobody has time for bits. Speaking of bits, have you guys ever tried alphabets? Because that's a good series, surprisingly. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:01:02]. Justin:              Yes. What I do is I start the day with alphabets, jump right into some alphabet soup for lunch, and then I have a dinner of my own choosing. Pete:                Wow. That really fall off there at the end. Alex:                 Man. You're on Alpha Watchers, right? Justin:              That's right [inaudible 00:01:19]. Alex:                 Let's talk about, speaking of letters, specifically the letter A and whether it stands for France or not. Let's talk about Captain America, number 25 for Marvel by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk, backup by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho. It was a big anniversary issue for captain America. So I figured it was worth talking about, but this is right in the middle of a huge arc that they've been doing for this title for a while now, as captain America is basically fighting against all of his villains along with the daughters of Liberty, is that what the group is called? Justin:              That is correct. Alex:                 Big things go down on this issue. I got to tell you, I liked the main story. I thought it was fine as part of the continuing story, but I thought the backup was real good. Justin:              Yes. That's when I was reading this, despite the fact that it is a number 25, the first story, I was like, “This is pretty good. This is just Ta-Nehisi Coates as both this Captain America and Black Panther is always writing sort of one uber story and so each arc is the next piece of that. I've been really enjoying this story and Captain America. But the backup story, I was like, “Yes, this is the real… It's such a good… Just comment on what America is. It's captain America speaking at a funeral for a guy he met in Red Hook at a diner and it's just a great… It's like a speech and it's really- Pete:                I got choked up during this comic. It was really great and really well done. I was really impressed. Alex:                 The art is very good. It's very reminiscent of Darwin Cook in particular, I think- Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 From Michael Cho and the story spans the history of Captain America. So if you're looking for something anniversary-wise again, the first story, very good. It's a good story. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a good writer. We know that. Justin:              Great writer. Alex:                 Leonard Kirk is a great artist as well. So there's good stuff going on there. But the backup is definitely where it's at. Let's move to another run, Rorschach, number two from DC Comics written by Tom King art by Ori Fornace. I think it's fair to say we're two issues in, and I still don't know exactly what to expect personally from this title. I thought the story was fascinating, well laid out. The art is really good. I have no idea how any of this connects to anything yet, but I'm definitely on board for the ride. Justin:              This felt almost like a standalone issue, which I think is odd as a second issue. So it's a detective trying to track down this attempted assassination. In this issue, it's the characters that we think are sort of the Rorschach and are the main characters of the subjects at least of this book are just sort of side characters in this. It's about the mystery of a murder that happened in this building. I don't know, I really liked it, but I agree with you, Alex. I felt it was an odd place to put an issue like this. Pete:                I disagree, I think this a very interesting kind of like, who done it, I'm really liking how this is unfolding in a classic Kings fashion where we're getting a little bit, each issue a little bit, trying to put together this bigger picture. Art's unbelievable. Storytelling is really great. I really liked the voiceover stuff at the beginning and I think Rorschach is one of my favorite characters. So this is very interesting to kind of like, you get this story and to see how this is going to unfold. Alex:                 This is something that even while I'm reading it, I feel like my antenna is on wrong for it because I read it and I try not to do this when I'm reading it, because the story is good, the art is good, but I keep reading it as, okay, how does this connect to Watchman? How does this connect to Watchman the TV series? How does this connect-? Pete:                Wow, that's weird. Alex:                 Well, and it does Tom King said on Twitter, that it is in “the same universe”, because of course they're seeing the same universe, but it's not in the doomsday clock universe necessarily. It's taking place in the same universe as the TV show. So I feel like I'm focusing on that too much [crosstalk 00:05:34]. Pete:                Yeah. Why are you [crosstalk 00:05:36] harder on yourself. Alex:                 Well, this is what I'm saying, I am owning the fact that I'm reading this incorrectly, and it's something that I feel like I'm going to have to read through and then go back and read again to really read it the right way once it's a complete story personally. Justin:              That's fair. Alex, honestly, when it comes to antennas, you need to upgrade to a mental wirelessness so you can just not have to have this. Pete:                Get the WiFi bro. Justin:              Get the WiFi dude. Alex:                 It keeps going down though. I don't know what's going on. Let's move on to another title. Sea of Sorrows number one from IDW Publishing written by Rich Douek, art and colors by Alex Cormack. Man, I loved this book. I thought this was so good. This is about a bunch of treasure hunters exploring a sunken sub. There is some weird stuff going on there. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler because it's on the cover or one of the covers, but there's a weird bunch of stuff coming on there with potentially some mermaids. It flashes back in time to previous time- Justin:              Just potentially some mermaids, just a high mermaid potential on this book. Let me just say, no spoilers, but the potentiality of mermaid-ness is high here. Alex:                 Yeah. Certainly our mermaid antenna was like [inaudible 00:06:41]. Justin:              Was blazing. Pete:                Yeah. I wouldn't say this is splash two, but there's definitely some mermaid action. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 Sure. Most people with that in fact say this was splash two, but there is some really good, like dark horror crime fantasy stuff going on. We've had Rich Douek at our live show before talking about previous book he's done and I think Rich is just a really smart, precise writer. I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this, both from the art and the writing perspective. Justin:              Yeah. I think it's a nice, like sort of everyone's out to get everyone situation and then they encounter something horrifying. The art I think is really, really great. The undersea stuff is drawn. So with such darkness to it, and then the surprise of the potential mermaid that we've discussed and giving some- Alex:                 I don't want to say is a mermaid, I'm just saying it's a potential mermaid. Justin:              It's a potential mermaid. It's an undersea maid, I guess we could say. Pete:                I think this does a great job as a first issue, is setting up this fucked up world, putting all the pieces in place to get you excited for the bigger story. I think this is a really solid first issue. I can't wait for more. I'm all in. Alex:                 It's very reminiscent of the way of the Hill house Comics that came out of DC, just in terms of seeing like a contained horror story. But I like it quite a bit. Definitely pick this one up. Next up, Marvel Indigenous Voices, number 1 from of course, Marvel Comics by, here's a long list, Jeffrey Veregge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo and B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles and David Cutler.As you could probably figure out from the title, this is a bunch of short stories that focus on Marvel's Indigenous characters. I thought this was nice theology and I'd like to see more of this. What did you guys think? Pete:                I agree. This was really cool, very creative. I liked the way this set up with the watcher in the beginning. Just setting things up as like, we're going to get a bunch of stories here. Yeah. I'm completely on board. I want more, I think this is a great idea and I'm glad Marvel is doing this. Justin:              I love, I think this is such a great variety of stories here. The first story focuses on Echo and great character from Daredevil back in the day. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              I miss seeing more of Echo, and it's sort of a straight up action adventures. She takes on the [inaudible 00:09:17], Loki shows up. Then we get a Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclair, story, which is good, very classic. X-Men short. Then the last story is this super interesting silver fox story that really fits into Wolverine history and is so dark and disturbing. But it was great. That was my favorite of the three and it really popped for me that last one. Alex:                 Yeah, I definitely agree. I think, we talk a lot about how anthologies are hit and miss, of course, because you're getting a lot of stories, but this is an issue that I think is well worth picking up based on the three stories in it. Justin:              Before you move on real quick, there is in the sort of back matter here, there's a note at the bottom, look for an exhilarating new series from Taboo and B. Earl in 2021. The Apache Warrior, [Kashiwa 00:10:12] the Sorcerer Supreme and the Ghost Rider of the mid-1800s berms her way into the future and brings disaster with her. I read that and I was like, “Shit, this looks awesome.” Pete:                Hell yeah. Yes. Justin:              I can't wait to check that out. Alex:                 Good stuff. Let's move on then to Barbalien, Red Planet, number one from Dark Horse Comic Script by Tate Brombal, story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal, art by Gabriel Hemandez Walta. This is continuing to flesh out the Black Hammer Universe, which it is wild. How many books are coming out of this and how exciting all of them are. But this one is focusing on the world's Martian Manhunter Amalgam. Alex:                 The main thing that frankly, makes him different is he is gay and here he is dealing with a big situation on Mars where he's been sentenced to death. While back in time, he is discovering his sexuality at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s. This is great. Just another fantastic Black Hammer book. Pete:                Yeah. I was really impressed with this. Art is fantastic. Lot of heart, great storytelling, very interesting. I was really impressed by this and there is literally like an, oh shit, moment here, where you think maybe someone's going to die. I was really impressed by this. Justin:              Yeah. The Black Hammer Universe is so smart, the way it… This is a little bit cheap to say, but it brings like an indie sensibility to the Justice League characters or Justice League analogs, I think is so great. But what really does is flesh out these characters, make them more interesting and take the tropes of the top tier heroes like that and make the ground them, give them like a context and a historical place. It's just makes for rich storytelling. It's really good. Alex:                 Totally agree. It's just crazy that this is essentially a Martian Manhunter story, but with some tropes changed around, but it works completely and it shouldn't work outside of Jeff Lemire writing it. But it absolutely does. He's clearly guiding this whole universe. It feels like the best new superhero universe or new type of universe that Dark Horse has done since BPRD and Hellboy. They're doing such a good job with it across the board. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Moving on to another big new one, Commanders in Crisis, number two, from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando, art by David Tinto, as we found out in the first issue, empathy is dead and not only that, but one superhero from the remaining universe has taken a bunch of presidents from a bunch of other universes, save them, given them super powers, brought them here. They're all working together as a team. There are so many insane Steve Orlando ideas that are all working at the same time. We really liked the first issue. How do you think it held up on second take? Pete:                I think this is very cool. I love the ending. Yeah. This is Steve Orlando, just have a lot of fun kicking butt. This is very cool. Although there are a lot of ideas you can still follow what's happening. Art's great, ton of action, a lot of fun moments. Yeah, I've been really impressed with this book. He's taking big swings with this and I've been impressed with it. Justin:              Yeah. We just talked about sort of taking, coming at Justice League style storytelling in a different way and I think Steve Orlando here does it in an even different way. It's like fully idea and concept driven where you're getting into these multi-versal, true this and finding a way to have these heroes being heroes while at the same time combating an idea. It's good. It feels topical. It feels like it's also has good super hero action. I like it as well. Alex:                 The second issue spent a little more time with the individual characters, which I thought was really nice as we get to know them, because they're all new, they're all fresh, they've got different powers. So it's interesting stuff. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man, number 53, from Marvel written by Nick Spencer, art by Mark Bagley. This is picking up on the cliffhanger of the last issue where Spider-Man died. He was killed by the character Kindred, who we know is Harry Osborne, but Spider-Man doesn't know that. This issue is coming around to the big surprise that Kindred is Harry Osborne, is the reveal at the end. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 What did you think about this? Because I've been very on board with this storyline, but felt a little mixed about this issue, personally. Pete:                What I really liked about this issue was, in the past issues, there's been so much happening at once. It seemed like a little bit of overload. I liked how the slow down a little bit to deliver who this is and the got you kind of moment at the end was cool. I thought it was earned. I've been a little like, “I haven't been enjoying myself on this book.” But at least I enjoyed the pacing a lot more on this and it felt like, “Okay, we're now on the same page.” We can move back to crazy time with Nick Spencer for this. What's going to happen next? Justin:              As always, I agree with Pete completely with nine caveats. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Because I agree with you. I think this issue was paced really nicely and Mark Bagley's aren't… I feel like I first came to reading Spider-Man comics when Mark Bagley was drawing Spider-Man and Peter Parker and so seeing him, I'm like, “Yes, I really like this. I recognize this.” If we hadn't known that Harry Osborne was underneath the bandages, this would have been a great reveal. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              But the fact that we know it, meant this was weird. Now it makes me be like, “Is this the reveal?” Pete:                It's got to be. Justin:              We were doubting it before, but now it feels like it is, but it also feels like, why do it twice? Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Why reveal that in advice. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:16:29]. Alex:                 It's just a strange choice. It completely undercut that last page for me when he looks and says, “Got you.” Because it's not a got you, because we already knew that and Spider-Man [crosstalk 00:16:39]. Pete:                Yeah. But Spider-man doesn't know it's a, got you. It was [inaudible 00:16:42]. Alex:                 Nobody did. He's like, “No, you can't be Harry Osborne.” Then he takes off his mask and says, “Got you.” But it's not. It's also another and a long line of Marvel masks that were definitely not masks until they took them off. Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Like Kindred, Taskmaster. It's like, “Come on, you're not wearing mask. Taskmaster, you've got a skull face.” Justin:              Another mask under that where it's going to be the next issue, he's like, “Got you.” Pete:                I'm Uncle Ben. I'm Peter Parker. Justin:              You should eat my rice. Pete:                Yes. That's what I meant, is that Uncle Ben from the rice brand. Alex:                 Of course, very controversial lately as they've taken that mask off. But thank you, Pete, for bringing that up. Pete:                Anytime. I like to make it weird. Justin:              At the end of the day we're journalists and that's the big reveal. Alex:                 Stop saying that. Cool. Dark Nights, Death Metal, number five, from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder and art by Greg Capullo. In this issue, I don't know, a lot of stuff goes on. Pete:                Yeah, it does. Justin:              Yes, that is correct. Alex:                 I'll tell you in the middle of everything while this is like Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have their wildest really channeling The Justice League run where it's like, “We've got to use this nth metal to fight back against the dark multi-verse and take the positive anti-crisis matter. Just all of this insane thing, all of this insane mythology that they're putting in there. But my main takeaway is it has the single funniest penguin panel I've ever seen in the history of comics. Justin:              That's 100% fair. Alex:                 So good. Everybody is lined up, everybody's ready to fight the dark multi-verse. Justin:              The villains. Alex:                 They have all the villains. They have all the heavy hitters there, everybody's ready and it feels to be like, Greg Capullo drew the penguin in there and then Scott Snyder wrote a line for later because the line is, “I have a sharp rock.” Justin:              Yes. To be fair. He says, “I have a very sharp rock.” So pretty [crosstalk 00:18:40]. Alex:                 “I have a very sharp rock.” Which made me laugh out loud. Pete:                I really enjoyed the army of Lobo's, yeah, this is just fun. The touching moment between Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman here, yeah, I think it's just, I've said this before, I'm going to say it again, it continues to be a lot of fun and really over the top and all metal doubt and why not? Why not have a little fun? Justin:              Yeah, I agree. It is fun. It's why they fight Castle Bats, they lose to a giant Gotham City basically, which was cool. Really finally proving that Gotham City really is a character in this Comic. Alex:                 Finally proving it. Justin:              Now here's my question for you. Lex Luther in this issue sort of comes through and rescues our heroes and is sort of the person who comes together with the plan at the end here, is he fully doing this for good? Or is he going to betray them in that [crosstalk 00:19:45]. Alex:                 Man, I don't know. The way Greg Capullo draws him, he seems pretty ernest, but it would not be true to Lex Luther if he didn't have a plan on top of a plan. Justin:              hat's what I'm saying. The way we sort of quickly move past the fact that it's Lex Luther who is the architect of their plan, makes me think that he will eventually become the true villain at the end of this once the Batman who laughs, despite the near infinite power he has, is defeated. But I love the getting all the heroes together. It feels like they're finally coming together to do their business. Pete:                Yeah. To get a business. Alex:                 I'm glad they finally got down to business. I agree. Justin:              Well, it does feel that way. They've been fucking around too much. Alex:                 Yes, they have. This is great. Like Pete said, every issue of this is just a blast to read because it's so purposely dumb and fun and over the top, every single choice. Does it make sense that Lobo could create an infinite army of Lobo's out of his own blood? Probably not. I hope they never follow up on that in any way, but it's fun to see. So that's fine. Justin:              Do you think one of them is actually Wolverine? Pete:                Stop. Just stop with that old [crosstalk 00:21:01] you do every time we talk about Lobo. Justin:              Eventually, one of them is like, “Hey guys, have you guys looked at us? I feel like we're just a Wolverine in space. Anybody else seeing that?” Pete:                That's just so dumb. Justin:              “Does anybody else…?” “Hey, Lobos, let's have a little Lobo huddle. Anybody else think we're Wolverine in space?” Pete:                Wolverine doesn't talk about himself in the third person and have a whole different language. It's not… Alex:                 Wolverine is constantly talking about himself in the third person. Justin:              No, he's not. Justin:              Yeah. If you can point out a couple other differences between Wolverine and Lobo, I'd love to hear it. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:21:38] talk about Seven to Eternity, number 14, from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender and drawn by Jerome Opena. So excited. This title is back. This takes place in a fantasy world where a dude who is dying has teamed up with the big villain who basically destroyed his world and is now tracking down eternal life. This issue, we get a very classic Rick Remender scaring of Disney world and Disney Land and things like that as they get to the place where eternal life is granted. As usual with Rick Remender book, things get real dark real quick. But it's really Jerome Opena's, character designs that carry this book in how wild and how creative they are throughout the book. Pete:                I would like to say, you got to pick this up for the art alone. It's worth it. Justin:              Nice, great, quote, from quoting yourself, Pete page. Yeah, to that point, I am the asker section from the back half of the book is really cool. But Rick Remender talks about this a little bit in the back matter on this book, he's like, “Hey, we took a real long time to get this done.” But I think his focus on quality of his comic book work is amazing. He made a choice years ago now to stop doing Marvel and DC work and focus on all of his creator owned books and he takes so much care with every issue to make them, in his mind, perfect. Justin:              He does such a good job of just making high quality comics that really everything is super unique, super creative from the writing to the art, to the character design all the way through it's dark, like all of his work, it definitely has his point of view, but it comes at you in such a different way. Pete:                I had to read this twice just because I didn't want to miss anything in the panels. It's just so detailed and so amazing. You can read this comic and then you can just page through it and be amazed at the paneling. Alex:                 It's great stuff. Let's move on to talk about Venom, number 30 from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Luke Ross. This is the final issue of Venom before the Big King in black crossover kicks off. This is the end of the Venom beyond storyline as they are in an alternate universe where Venom sun has gone bad, become a bad guy called the Codex, lots of Venom, lots of symbiotes stuff happening here. What'd you think about this, both as a issue and as a lead in to this big event? Pete:                Well, I… Go ahead. Justin:              I would say it's wild. It is like the way that Donny Cates has taken, a sort of one-off at least at the beginning Spider-Man villain. Now this is so far from being related to Spider-Man. It's such a, like expanded mythology where you've got Eddie Brock and his son going into this different dimension meeting his ex who is has the son from this multi-verse. They all have their own symbiontes. They are all the different symbiontes, have different languages and controlling which ones are which, and all building toward… I got to read Richard's who has googly eyes? He's got googly eyes. Alex:                 Yeah, he does. He has a paste it on. Justin:              Yeah. What's the deal with this guy? He's got googly eyes. He's a little bit. He's not as smart and he's got googly eyes. Pete:                Well, he can move and he's very flexible and bendy, and we were just going to have googly eyes every once in a while. Why is that weird? Justin:              No, I think he's just a little off. He's lost a little bit here, and you can tell that because of googly- Pete:                Okay. I'm just- Justin:              The google in his eyes. Pete:                You can Google his eyes? Justin:              You can Google his eyes and then setting up this next thing, it comes out of nowhere and it's fine. Pete:                I agree with Justin and I have a lot of caveats. I think that it is fun. It's really fun. The art and the characters designs are a lot of fun. There's some great action sequences where you're like, “This is really bad-ass.” But also what I really like about it is the heart. There's a lot of heart in this book, which I really appreciate. If you're going to go into all this action, it's nice to know what the thoughts and the feelings are before all this goes down. I'm excited to see this next big arc. I like where this left off. I feel like Donnie Cates did a good job of wrapping this up and getting it ready for the next thing. I think this was a really good issue. Alex:                 I agree. Let's move on to a give me for Pete, Usagi Yojimbo, number 14 from IDW publishing, written art and letters by Stan Sakai. In this issue, our Bunny Warrior does some bunny warrior stuff. Pete, take it away. Pete:                Okay. First off is [inaudible 00:26:36] sent the bunny warrior bullshit. Okay. Don't try to make him more cutesy. This is an action oriented book, about a serious ronin samurai who travels the land and helping people. So don't put that fucking bunny shit on there. All right? Alex:                 Okay. So would you call him a whittle, whittle rabbit, samurai? Pete:                You're the worst. Alex:                 Would you call him a adorable squish [inaudible 00:27:01]? Pete:                No. Did you just turn into your son for a second? I like this. I love all the characters. Alex:                 Don't you slam my son out of entirely separate podcasts. Pete:                I'll slam them. He needs to get some fucking musical talent is what he needs to do. Alex:                 Jesus Christ. Justin:              Wow, unnecessary Pete. Pete:                Don't ask from the hit if you don't want it. Justin:              Don't ask for the Pete hit if you don't want it. Anyway, get back to reviewing your peep Samurai book. Alex:                 Hey, can you name the three comic book writers who are female to your girlfriend, Pete? Pete:                No. That's why we had to do it on the show. All right. Justin:              This is unnecessary. Pete:                But I never get tired of this. These are all very similar stories about a traveling ronin, but I love his heart of gold and how he always is doing the right thing. This is just in a fucked up world, it's nice to have staples like this book that you can always depend on. You always know Usagi is going to do the right thing. He's going to try to save the day. It's just fantastic. I love all these stories. I love all the action. Even though that people are getting like cotton stabbed, they don't really show the blood and guts. Pete:                They focus more on the action, what happens than the blood and the gore. Yeah, I just think it's really cool, and this one, we see a lot of focus on family, which is nice and also poignant and sad. But I liked the old black and white version. I know people like color for some reason, but if this sells more comics and gets it in more hands, then I'm all for it. Justin:              Pete, are you threatened? Do you think that the even smaller cuter rabbit warrior with a bow and arrow is going to be a threat to Usagi, the cute, the sword bunny? Pete:                Well, hopefully the older Usagi will have somebody to hand over his swords to, you know what I mean, just to continue the story. Justin:              He does seem to love his swords. Just which one of these is the Easter Bunny? Pete:                I fucking hate you. Justin:              A very fun book. Alex:                 Yeah. Delightful. I would love to see this fluffy wuffy eat some carrots [crosstalk 00:29:20]. Batman, number 103 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki and Guillem March. In this issue, Ghost-Maker is having it in for Batman. Ghost-Maker is a old frenemy of Batman from back in the day, they both trained the exact same way, constantly fought throughout history and now has come to Gotham City to make things right, because he thinks Batman is doing a bad job. In this issue, he is trying to kill Clown Hunter who is trying to kill Harley Quinn. Alex:                 So things get really messed up. I really like this. I think this is, again, just a really good story from James Tynion. He clearly likes Harley Quinn a lot in particular, and I love having her in here. He writes really good Harley Quinn. It's good stuff. He's building his own Batman mythology rather than just picking up on what got left off on whatever happened with Tom King's run. That's great. I'm excited to see what's going forward. Pete:                Yeah. It's nice because he does a good job of giving us a little bit of Batman's past with some humor. Like the fact that we see Batman in the desert and Ghost-Maker rolls up on him and he's like, “Not tonight, man.” They're kind of back and forth, the way that Ghost-Maker and Batman kind of go back and forth, the repartee is very enjoyable. I really like it. Yeah. Seeing Poison Ivy… Not Poison Ivy. Seeing Harley Quinn talking to Poison Ivy made my skin crawl, because she's like kissing the plant and I'm highly allergic. But I think that, I liked the outer monologue of it. It felt very Harley Quinn. Pete:                I think they do a great job of capturing her voice and I like their characterization of her. Also this Clown Hunter thing is very interesting the way that this is still sticking around. I'm very curious about what the end game of this character. I'm not sick of Clown Hunter, I'm just wondering what the bigger game is. Yeah. I also liked how this Ghost-Maker is more of a psychopath than Batman and thinks that the recent Batman is doing a bad job with Gotham is because he cares too much, which is an interesting psychopathic thing to say and I can relate to it. Justin:              Lots of information there. Really love Guillem Marches art here in the back half of the book. I agree with you, Alex, Harley is a really well used here. Ghost-Maker reminds me a lot of Azrael taking over for Batman after Bain broke his back. So I'm curious what sort of hole this character will fill down the line, because as of now I think Clown Hunter really stands out a little bit more as the unique Jame's creation. So I'm curious to see how that unfolds. Alex:                 I agree. Let's move on and talk about Black Magick, number 16 from Image Comics written by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. This is the last issue of Black Magick, I believe for a little while now. But it ends on a big… Cliffhanger isn't exactly the right word, but our main character is presented with an impossible choice. Is she going to seem one of the two people in her life that she truly loves, spoiler, she ends up saving both of them, which is actually a very bad decision in terms of things that are going forward. The thing that is fascinating to me about this book is relatively speaking, so little happens in every issue, but it has such import, it feels weighty anyway. Justin:              Yeah. I agree and the art is just beautiful. The way that the villains eyes are drawn is really haunting and it's such a simple thing giving each of the sort of demon characters, this yellow, black energy to them. Really great. Yeah, and in the back matter, we see that the next issue of Black Magick won't be until late summer 2021. Pete:                Yeah. That's tough. That's a long time to wait, but I've really liked the characterization of like, it's not something that you've seen before where it's like, “I'm a cop, but I also do magic.” The back and forth that we learn about this character and what she stands for and with her background and how she goes about her day is very interesting. I like the dilemma and the choices that she makes shows how much he cares. Pete:                So I think this is a very interesting book. I've been really enjoying it and I agree with Justin, the art is phenomenal. They pay a lot attention to details to make things extra spooky. When you're reading something and you're scared, it really says a lot about the art and how well they can draw you into the story. Alex:                 When you say that thing where, “I'm a cop, but I can do magic.” That we've seen before. Where have you seen that before Pete? Pete:                There's just been many stories where somebody struggling with their day job and their identity, which they would rather be doing, like, “I'm this, but I'm also that.” “I'm Bruce Wayne, but I'm also Batman.” The secret kind of identity thing is where I was going at. Alex:                 Sure. You don't need to go beyond Bruce Wayne and Batman, the most relatable of situations. I get what you're talking about. Juggernaut, number three from Marvel Comics, written by Fabian Nacieza, art by- Pete:                Don't ask me questions if you're not going to like my fucking response dick. Justin:              Yeah. It all comes back to Batman. Alex:                 Written by Fabian Nacieza, art by Ron Garney. We were very complimentary of this title for the first two issues and had Fabian on the show to talk about it. So check out the live show with him. We get some big answers here. What happened to Juggernaut? How did he get into his new costume? What's going on with him? I love this take on Juggernaut. This is nothing I would've ever expected or asked for, but I think it's so smart and so well done and of course, Ron Garney's art is impeccable throughout this. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Great title. Just a blast to read. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. The Ron Garney is such a great artist. I wish he was doing more books on a regular basis and yeah, it's such a unique story that really both explores the backstory of Juggernaut and also drives it forward at the same time, which is hard to do. Then just tells a fun action adventure going on in the present day. Pete:                Yeah. I also like how they were also making fun of the fact in the book that he's fighting sand. They're making fun of itself as it's going on. Yeah, I've been really- Justin:              Every time I go to the beach, I feel like I'm fighting sand. Pete:                Man, I tell you, when you're done going to the beach, you're still fighting sand, finding it all over the place. Justin:              I'm fighting sand. Pete:                This is such a great surprise. This book as Alex was saying, and also just like the art is so bad-ass. Ron Garney is such a bad-ass. We've seen Juggernaut in a lot of different ways, but like see him power up with this suit, with all the red, it was just so cool. Yeah, I've never been more impressed with Juggernaut. Justin:              You can't stop this. Pete:                You can't. Alex:                 It's fun to see him do the Superman thing, opening up his shirt and turning on his costume. It's just a fun riff that I'm really enjoying. Let's move on and talk about, You Look Like Death, tales from the Umbrella Academy, number three, Dark Horse Comics, story by Gerard way and Shaun Simon, art and colors by I.N.J Culbard. As you can probably guess from the title, this is focusing on Klaus from the Umbrella Academy. His adventurous in Hollywood got mixed up with a bunch of shady characters, including a vampire monkey and some other folks. Pete, you have a question right off [crosstalk 00:37:30]. Pete:                Yeah. I just wanted to ask Justin something because he's a classically trained actor. When you go on auditions and when you're being aligned producer, you have to see this a lot, right? A lot of people channeling demons and stuff like that. That's got to be a nightmare for Hollywood to comb through all of this all the time, right? Justin:              There's a famous actor manual called an actor prepares by, Uta Hagen, I believe. A lot of the technique focuses on channeling a demon into your body before you step out into the audition room or onto the audition stage. So it's really great to see this play down person and of course, Pete, always a grasp of my career and personal life that I am often auditioning to be aligned producer. Alex:                 Right. This is a fun book. One of the things that I really like about it in particular is the push and pull between Klaus doesn't care about anything, just wants to get high, just wants to get drug and actually being forced into situations where he is going to have to cause something to happen. It's just this enjoyable push and pull as the action coalesces and spirals around him getting him to a point where he's going to have to do something eventually, but he's not quite there yet. Right now he's just eating relish out of a jar and having a good time. Justin:              Relish is good. It just slides right down your throat. Pete:                The art in this is just fantastic. They do an amazing job. This is a really fun story and worth checking out for sure. Justin:              I love the little section where this writer who died, but hasn't moved on is sort of reckoning with his life, is really fun and it's just a little side bit of the story. Alex:                 That's good stuff. Stillwater, number three, from Image Comics, written by Chip Zdarksy, art by Ramon K. Perez. This title focuses on a small town where nobody ever dies. They can get hurt. They have to recover from that, but they never die and there's a man who has found out that he was actually the son of one of the women from that town. He is now trapped there. His mother is buried near the gazebo at the center of the town and he's trying to figure out a way out as he slowly works himself in the way of the society. Alex:                 This is really good and it doing a good job of slowly building up the mythology of this book. I like this issue in particular, just because it sets up the dangers going forward, but also explains a little bit more about the, how the concept works. Just smart writing across the board, I think. Pete:                Yeah. This is my favorite issue so far. In this issue, they do a good job of really spelling out everything that we've learned as we move forward. Yeah, I'm really impressed with the artwork. This is a cool idea and it's one of the reasons a lot of people are scared of small towns. Justin:              Yeah. Most people are scared of small towns because they'll have to live forever there and never get sick. Yeah, I think this issue really sets the level for what the series will be, I think in a good way and Ramon Perez's art is so good. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about the Immortal Hulk, number 40 from Marvel, written by Al Ewing and art by Joe Bennett. After spending the last couple of issues with the leader, fighting the Hulk inside of his own head, potentially inside of hell, potentially a lot of stuff going on and that was absolutely horrifying to witness. We finally move outside there and things really move forward as Alpha Flight finds out what's going on. They figure out what's happening to the leader. Thanks to… My gosh, what's his name? I heard it's the body of Walter Langkowski. Pete:                Sasquatch, Joe Fixit, who are you talking about? Justin:              Abomination? Alex:                 No. The strong guy, Samson? Justin:              [crosstalk 00:41:31]. That was the body Sasquatch and fills them in on everything that's going on. In the meantime, Joe Fixit, make some moves of his own. There's still plenty of gross stuff that happens to the comic. Pete:                Sure is. Alex:                 But I love how much we're moving forward here and that last page, not just in terms of the writing, but also in terms of the way Joe Bennett draws it, is perfection. Justin:              Yeah, it's really good. I'm sort of bummed because I had a long standing pitch at Marvel where I was like, I wanted the Hulk to give birth to a mustachioed version of himself and they did it in this issue. So I guess [crosstalk 00:42:10] back to the drawing book. Pete:                Yeah. Salvin I couldn't agree more of that last panel was just such a classic comic last panel that gets you really excited. This is horrifying and amazing and all sorts of everything in between. This ride has been fantastic. When this thing is finally collected, this is going to be one of those ones that stands the test of time. It's really impressive. Alex:                 I wanted to ask you, Pete, because you were really against this for a while, you kept asking for your Hulk to come back. You wanted your Hulk back. What turns you? Because you now see him 100% fully on board with this. Justin:              You were like, “I want my Hulk back.” Pete:                No. I still feel that way, guys. I still want my Hulk back, but this is an interesting time out take on characters that's been around for a while. It's a very fresh, very new take on it. So you've got to respect something that's great. But yeah, I can't wait for my Hulk to come back and I can enjoy Hulk books more. This is a scarier version of something that I love and it's a little bit over my head, a little too smart, but I respect the fact of what it's doing. Alex:                 Right. It's like ginger beer instead of ginger ale. Pete:                Right. Yeah. Why would you… I don't sure. Alex:                 It's like, “This is too spicy on my tongue, no thanks. Give me some Schweppes, please.” Justin:              It's hard to feel where you're landing in here Alex. Are you landing on ginger ale? Because I think you're positioning yourself as a ginger beer. Alex:                 No, I love ginger beer. I'm just talking about from Pete's perspective. He wants ginger ale, but he's getting ginger beer. Justin:              I think this is your mistake. He wants Mountain Dew. Pete:                This is true. Justin:              I don't know what all this ginger ale [crosstalk 00:43:58]. Pete:                Do you know, Mountain Dew came out with a cookbook. Glorious. Justin:              Yep. You've mentioned to us a lot and I look forward to your potluck dish that you'll be providing to our next meetup. What do you think next issue when the Hulk just totally murders the thing? Pete:                Man, that's going to be crazy. Justin:              Yeah, that'll be fun when he just rips the bricks off of him until he's [crosstalk 00:44:20]. Pete:                I don't know because Joe Fixit doesn't look like he's in good shape. I don't know if he can take on the thing. Justin:              He's going to rip the bricks off. Alex said it. Alex:                 We'll see what happens. Next up, Big Girls, number four from Image Comics, story and art by Jason Howard. This is a book about a world where girls are gigantic and boys are monsters. AKA the [crosstalk 00:44:43]. Pete:                Sorry. Alex:                 Wait, what? What are you sorry about? Pete:                Sorry for all the damage that dudes has done to this world. Alex:                 Thank you for apologizing for a millennia misogyny. I appreciate it, Pete. I think your statement here at our comic book podcast, solitary. Pete:                Thanks man. Do what you can, you know. Justin:              This book keeps moving forward. I liked the story. The girls just keep getting bigger. Alex:                 Yeah. That's what I love about big girls, man, they keep getting bigger [crosstalk 00:45:16]. Pete:                No, but we're slowly getting more and more of what this mutation is and how they're going to stop it and a little bit more about this evil mastermind behind this. I think Jason Howard is doing a good job of giving us just a little bit more information each issue surrounded by a ton of action. I appreciate the storytelling, I think this is a classically great Image book. Alex:                 Next up, I know this is one that Justin, you were super excited about. Widowmakers, number one, story by that Devin Grayson, pencils and inks by Michele Bandini. This is clearly setting up the Black Widow movie that'll come out at some point, maybe, we'll see what happens. But you got Yelena Belova, teaming up with Red Guardian. Justin, why don't you like this book so much? Pete:                Yeah, Justin? Justin:              It has- Alex:                 What's your fucking problem? Justin:              I've got a big problem with how great this book is because this book has no business being this good. It's a standalone issue featuring characters- Pete:                Don't say that. Justin:              People aren't crazy in love for. Well, I mean that as a compliment. It's such a, we follow mostly Yelena Belova, former Black Widow, who is technically a villain in a Black Widow arc and she's been on her own. What's great about it is, it's her being contracted by this rich dick to go do something for him and it ends up going wrong and she's just meant to test these facilities and then be murdered by these people. It's a great action book throughout the whole issue, but the internal monologue going on in Yelena's head is so good about her life, her place in the world, Russia's place in the world, what it means to be a citizen of the world and from a nation and freedom. Justin:              There's just so many great ideas here, but it really tracks with this character. It puts you really in her point of view. Then she meets Red Guardian later on in the issue and he has a very different point of view and we get to sort of just take that in without having them jam some sort of idea down our throats. I just thought it was one the smartest issues I've read in a long time. This is my favorite book of the week. I really liked it. Pete:                Yeah, it is really great. The art is fantastic. Also this is the best versions of these characters that I've seen. Yeah, it was really impressive to see when somebody tastes and has a great idea for some characters, what they can do. Justin:              I love it at the end, the idea of how she gets the villain in the end, I thought was truly [crosstalk 00:48:03]. Pete:                Yeah. That was glorious. Justin:              It was great. Alex:                 Awesome. Just to mention, it seems like they're teeing up that this ties into the Black Widow series that is currently running, which is great as well from Kelly Thompson. So definitely check that out. Let's move on to Ice Cream Man, number 21 from Image Comics, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo. I got to tell you, coming into this book, I was like, “Okay, I get it. They're doing their [inaudible 00:48:29]. That's not what it was at all. This is straight up a Watchman riff that they are doing this issue, which was so surprising and so shocking and as dark and messed up, as you would expect from Ice Cream Man. What'd you think about this issue? Justin:              When I looked at the cover, I was like, “That's a funny cover idea.” Like a Watchman take Ice Cream Man. Then I was like, “Shit, that's the whole thing.” Which I was really surprised by. Then the way it ends is… Because it plays sort of a slight spoiler, like the very rare, more positive ending for any sort of character in Ice Cream Man. I thought that is a interesting subversion of what Watchman is, but it left me thinking like, “I need to read this a couple more times and really get into what's happening here because it's so good.” But I'm almost being fooled by the positive ending, I feel like. Pete:                Yeah. Because the Ice Cream Man has been so dark and horrifying throughout. This issue was just me going, “Shit.” I was like, “Why is this so familiar?” Then slowly getting it and it was the coloring and the panels. I'm like, “I know why this is so familiar.” Then the upside down frowny face was just the nail that kind of put in the coffin where I was like, “This is amazing.” I immediately went back, like Justin said and reread it to be like, “How did I not get this earlier?” Pete:                But every issue I'm so nervous before I read it, because I'm like, I don't know if it can keep going at such a high level of creativity and constantly amazing me and torturing my mind with what is happening. We still really don't know what's going on with Ice Cream Man and every issue we find out a little bit more, but it's just still such a crazy, interesting book that is… I cannot wait for it to finish so I can go back and reread it all again and enjoy it all again, because it's just really impressive. Alex:                 Well, feels like they did a similar sort of thing with All-star Superman, a couple of issues back. We had W. Maxwell Prince on our live show. He talked about how it's not necessarily connecting the story. Maybe there's an Ice Cream Man multi-verse, this feels like one of those tales out in the multi-verse that rifts on or reverberates off of what's going on with Ice Cream Man, because I read most of it thinking, okay, we're getting some real answers in terms of mythology here. That's not what happens at all necessarily. It's more just like, there are echoes of what's going on in the book usually, but it's still, Martin Morazzo's art is so gorgeous and so well laid out. The watcher risks are fun. It's weird to do a positive Watchman to your point, Justin, but I think if you're going to do anything that ends happy, that you're parodying, sure, do it Watchman, have a happy ending for Watchma. Why not. Justin:              Well, and the ultimate way to subvert Watchman is to have the Rorschach character go live a happy life and make his world better. That's what I think the point is, is like, “Hey, let's just take small steps to make our lives better.” That's what I think the last page with the end is near with [inaudible 00:52:14] crossed out on the dude's sign. I think it's like, “Hey, it'd be a little easier if we just had it be near.” He does. So it's like, “Let's all make small steps to have a better life.” Which that would solve Watchman as well. Justin:              Watchman's all about tricking the humanity to be nicer to each other by creating a squared that is threatening the planet. It's like, “Okay, now you don't have to kill each other because there's another enemy.” This book is maybe saying, “No, we could also just be nicer to each other on a day-to-day basis.” I think that's a very cool idea. If that's what the intention was, this is very good. Pete:                Yeah. I also liked the idea of, instead of having a character go down a dark path and be like, “I'm too wrapped up in this.” Having the character stop and realize like, “I need to be a better partner.” It's doable. It's “If I put some time and energy into this, I can save this fucking thing. I can turn it around.” It was really great and the midst of all this craziness of this Ice Cream Man world, it was very surprising and goal. Alex:                 Lastly, we're going to move on to our X of Swords block, which Pete is very into it, very excited about. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:53:32]. Alex:                 Hold on, buddy. Justin:              That's why we do it at the end because you log off. Alex:                 Yeah, we save it right for the end here. But this is the second to last week of extra service. We're going to be wrapping it up all next week. Okay. Calm down, buddy. But we got X-Force number 14, written by Benjamin Percy and [Jerry Dougan 00:53:50], art by Joshua Cassara. [inaudible 00:53:52] number six, written by Seb Wells and art by Carmen Carnero. Cable, number six written by Jerry Dukin and Phil Neto. Here we are very much into the tournament of [Arocco versus Kakoa 00:54:02]. They are fighting battles, often not with swords, but with other beings throughout this. Justin:              Eating contests. Alex:                 We get a bunch of them fleshed out. Some of them happen shorter than others, but by the end of it, we move on to the main event. Spoiler is you could have predicted this even call out that you could predict it. It's apocalypse versus annihilation as Arocco and Kakoa are tie. That's what this has been leading all up towards. Pete, I know you're against this. I know you're not loving this. Justin, let's go to you first. what'd you think about these issues? Justin:              Well, it's funny to Pete's point of being frustrated by it. It's there is a little bit of a trick here with this whole event where they set it up to be this Epic sort of age of apocalypse style crossover. When what it really is, is like X-Men playing baseball on a grand event scale. It's very playful. It's very light and fun. Despite the fact that the X-Men are losing, which is, I think stressful in general, but it's these fun lighthearted events punctuated by horrible murder. The back half of the X-Force issue where we see the Storm, the stuff that- Pete:                The storm fight is glorious. Justin:              The drink that Storm and Wolverine were drinking, the Blight Swill is actually a pretty strong poison, like a soul poisoning and then Storm still beats her dude, and then lets him get slaughtered. That was bad-ass. Pete:                Yeah it was. Alex:                 Well, in the Hellions issue, it takes a little bit of a side trip. Early in the event we found out that Mr. Sinister was leading his team to try to get the swords of Arocco before they could use them. Turns out as usual, Mr. Sinister is being an evil fuck and- Pete:                Surprise. Alex:                 He tricked his entire team in order to get genetic information from the mutants of Arocco, that's all he really wanted to do. His entire team dies in absolutely horrible ways. It's a little unclear which one of them are going to come back or not because if you die in other worlds, your personality dies, but you might be pulled from another personality. So may getting some new rifts out a bunch of these characters. Justin:              Well, I feel like we got Havoc and Quantum survive in that may be it. Alex:                 Yeah. I think Empath also makes it through, right? He gets stabbed, but he crawls his way through. So maybe he's coming back. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 But that's super dark. The rest of it is, like both of you guys are saying, there's a point to the fact that it's frustrating that they're never getting to the sword fights. You're watching it and you're reading it, you're like, “They're doing a puzzle fight. That's insane.” It is insane that Iliana is doing puzzles right now to try to beat these people. But I think, Justin, you said it last week, we were talking about these issues, this is [inaudible 00:57:07] setting up fairy magic to trick Arocco in order to win. Alex:                 There's even a point in one of these issues where they're like, what is she doing right now? What side is she on? What is the game that she's playing? But it ultimately comes clear when Gorgon ends up fighting and ties up the score, so it gets to annihilation versus apocalypse. That was the whole point of what [inaudible 00:57:31] was doing. She was getting it to this point of whatever is next to even up the score. I am still very much on board with this. I understand the frustration with the lack of sword fights that are happening in X of Swords, but we got three issues left here. I think the story has been so fascinating audits own both from a writing and an art perspective that I'm still very much enjoying it, personally. Justin:              Yeah. The Cable issue that we didn't talk about, the art's great and there's some great emotional mo

Buckle up, kids because things are gonna get dark as we look at Astro City The Dark Age. We also review Superman #27, Mighty Morphin #1, Barbalien: Red Planet, and The Mandalorian Chapter 10. Plus, Pokemon GO! earns a billion dollars. Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at http://patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure the Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) NEWS https://deadline.com/2020/11/tenet-christopher-nolan-movie-dvd-blu-ray-release-date-1234609819/ https://youtu.be/i1vrJB5_H4E http://majorspoilers.com/2020/11/10/marie-javins-promoted-to-editor-in-chief-at-dc-comics/ REVIEWS STEPHEN Superman #27 Writer: Brian Michael Bendis Artist: Ivan Reis Publisher: DC Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Release Date: November 10, 2020 A cosmic-level threat has come to Metropolis! Synmar has traveled across the galaxy to unleash hell on Superman-and our hero must learn that this creature is so alien that he will have to reinvent how he's going to fight! To that end, Superman goes to the source to learn where this new nemesis came from, only to find himself in a corner of the galaxy he's never seen before, way off the map-and he may find the return journey even harder than getting there in the first place! Featuring an appearance by the Justice League and a new foe unlike anything the Man of Steel has ever faced, this epic slugfest is brought to you by Brian Michael Bendis with art by Ivan Reis and Danny Miki! [rating:4/5] MATTHEW MIGHTY MORPHIN' #1 Writer: Ryan Parrott Artist: Marco Renna Publisher: BOOM! Studios Cover Price: $4.99 Release Date: November 4, 2020 Two New Series, Two New Teams -- The UNLIMITED POWER Era Begins HERE -- but who is the NEW Green Ranger and are they friend... or foe? Superstar writer Ryan Parrott (Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and rising star artist Marco Renna send the Mighty Morphin team on a collision course with an even deadlier Lord Zedd, who has a new mission and a new motivation -- one that will change everything you thought you knew about our heroes! But even if the Mighty Morphin team can all find a way to survive Zedd and their mysterious new enemies, they may discover the greatest threat to their future is the shocking secret of Zordon's past! The next big epic begins here, perfect for longtime fans and new readers alike. [rating:3.5/5] RODRIGO BARBALIEN: RED PLANET Writer: Jeff Lemire Artist: Gabriel Hernandez Walta Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Cover Price: $3.99 Release Date: November 18, 2020 A groundbreaking new sci-fi action series in the world of the Eisner Award-winning Black Hammer universe, about prejudice, honor, and identity. Mark Markz has found his place on Earth as both a decorated police officer and as the beloved superhero, Barbalien. But in the midst of the AIDS crisis, hatred from all sides makes balancing these identities seem impossible--especially when a Martian enemy from the past hunts him down to take him back, dead or alive. [rating: 3.5/5] ASHLEY THE MANDALORIAN CHAPTER 10 Starring: Paul Lee, Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal Director: Peyton Reid Writer: Jon Favreau Streaming Service: Disney+ Release Date: 11/6/2020 "Chapter 10: The Passenger" is the second episode of the second season of the television series The Mandalorian. The episode was directed by Peyton Reed, and aired on Disney+ on November 6, 2020. [rating: 2.5/5] DISCUSSION Astro City: The Dark Age Writer: Kurt Busiek Artist: Bret Anderson Publisher: DC Comics Today, Astro City is a shining metropolis on a hill where super-heroes patrol the skies. However, things were not always as bright as they are today. In the early 1970's, in the wake of a global catastrophe, two brothers, one good and one evil must deal with family secrets and social upheaval, involving heroes from Jack-In-the-Box to the Blue Knight and the unsettling events leading to the final fate of the mysterious Silver Agent. Find out why this era was so troubled through the eyes of two men who survived the depths of it! CLOSE Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends!

Happy Batman Day enjoy this minisode edited together from two interviews with Kevin Conroy the iconic voice of Batman for the last 20 years and Danny Miki the current inker of All Star Batman who both talk about all things Batman Day!

Join us for a new episode of the Waffle Press! Hosted by Gene, and Diego. We cover the this year's Academy Awards talking the winners, the snubs, and especially the flubs! Also included in this episode are interviews with Danny Miki the inker of All Star Batman and Sam Jones Flash Gordon himself!