Podcasts about future state superman

Bearded Comic Bro got to sit down and talk with Mark Russell who is the creator behind the hit comic series by AWA Upshot "Not All Robots".  Mark is also known for his work with DC on One Star Squadron, The Flintstones, Wonder Twins, Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex.  Mark is also currently writing Fantastic Four Life Stories from Marvel. Make sure you watch the video and check out all the links below that we mention in the videoFollow Mark Russell on Social Media Twitter: @ManrussInstagram: @manruss

Sean Lewis is back on TLDR! Last time, he joined the show to talk about his DC Comics project, Future State: Superman of Metropolis. This time, Sean is talking about his newest project, King Spawn. How'd he get brought in on this major Image Comics project? What's it like to work alongside Todd McFarlane? And those questions are only the start of the conversation Doc and FryGuy had with Sean. PLUS: Doc and Sean have a great conversation centered around Bliss, the latter's series with Image Comics that just ended. Find the guys @TLDR_pod (IG/Twitter), @Fry_Guy1 (Twitter) and @BackCrackah (IG/Twitter) and with the rest of the #DORK shared GUniverse on Facebook. Sean can be found on Twitter @SeanChrisLewis and Instagram @seanlewis6026. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Sean Lewis is back on TLDR! Last time, he joined the show to talk about his DC Comics project, Future State: Superman of Metropolis. This time, Sean is talking about his newest project, King Spawn. How'd he get brought in on this major Image Comics project? What's it like to work alongside Todd McFarlane? And those questions are only the start of the conversation Doc and FryGuy had with Sean. PLUS: Doc and Sean have a great conversation centered around Bliss, the latter's series with Image Comics that just ended. Find the guys @TLDR_pod (IG/Twitter), @Fry_Guy1 (Twitter) and @BackCrackah (IG/Twitter). Sean can be found on Twitter @SeanChrisLewis and Instagram @seanlewis6026.

¡Esta noche en #LosCómicsDeLaSemana: King in Black está llegando a su fin, DC sigue sorprendiéndonos con Infinite Frontier, y tenemos unos indies consentidos! DC COMICS - (11:11) The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries #1. The Flash #768. Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #3. The Other History of the DC Universe #3. Batman / Catwoman #4. Strange Adventures #9. MARVEL - (89:24) Beta Ray Bill #1. Silk #1. X-Men #19. X-Men: Legends #2. Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #5. King in Black: Ghost Rider #1. Black Cat #4 INDIES - (164:34) Giga #3 (Vault Comics). Decorum #7 (Image Comics). Crossover #5 (Image Comics). The Department of Truth #7 (Image Comics). Usagi Yojimbo: Wanderer's Road #5 (IDW). Young Hellboy & The Hidden Land #2 (Dark Horse) COMENTARIOS FINALES - (198:47) FICHA COVACHA Mesa: Francisco Espinosa, Bernardo Arteaga y Valentín García Síguenos en Twitter, Facebook, YouTube y ¡ahora en Twitch! Fecha: Viernes 02 de abril, 2021 Música Midnight City by c152 feat. chirrrex Forgot About Me by DreamHeaven License Lofi Chill Hip-Hop by WinnieTheMoog License Vlog Lofi by RamolPro License

Today we are joined by superstar artist and creator Cully Hamner! He comes on to talk about Future State Superman

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs return to Smallville to talk Superman and Lois! Diana takes on the Blue Snowman in Sensational Wonder Woman #8. Tim Fox goes after human traffickers in The Next Batman: Second Son #1. Andy reunites with Jackson in Future State: Aquaman #2. Batman and Superman take on the Magistrate in Future State: Batman/Superman #2. Batman takes on Peacekeeper-01 in Future State: Dark Detective #4. The true villains of the galaxy are revealed in Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2. Lois Lane visits Lexor in Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2. The Red King invades in Future State: Superman: House of EL #1. Gold Beetle joins the fight to save time in Generations Forged #1. All this plus, DC News, DC TV, Cletus's pick of the week, and much, much more! ------------------------ Table of Contents 0:00:00 Show Open 0:02:17 DC News 0:10:07 Sensational Wonder Woman #8 0:13:27 The Next Batman: Second Son #1 0:15:37 Batman Black & White #3 0:19:52 Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #5 0:24:52 Future State: Aquaman #2 0:27:52 Future State: Batman/Superman #2 0:30:11 Future State: Dark Detective #4 0:37:22 Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 0:39:58 Future State: Suicide Squad #2 0:51:43 Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2 0:55:37 Future State: Superman: House of EL #1 1:00:49 Generations Forged #1 1:06:33 Batwoman S2 Ep5 -- Gore on Canvas 1:13:16 Black Lighting S4 Ep3 -- The Book of Reconstruction: Chapter Three: Despite All My Rage... 1:18:43 Superman and Lois S1 Ep1 – Pilot 1:32:04 Show Close   Links Sensational Wonder Woman #8 The Next Batman: Second Son #1 Batman Black & White #3 Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #5 Future State: Aquaman #2 Future State: Batman/Superman #2 Future State: Dark Detective #4 Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 Future State: Suicide Squad #2 Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2 Future State: Superman: House of EL #1 Generations Forged #1 Superman: Rebirth #1 (Cletus's Read More Comics Pick) Superman: Reign of the Supermen (Drew's Read More Comics Pick) Earth Station One Tales of the Station Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2 The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn Want to Donate to the Show or Sponsor our Comics Talk for this week? No problem! Just click on the donate button below! If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

Doc and Friar were joined by the writer of Future State: Superman of Metropolis, Sean Lewis, to discuss his DC Comics project. Find them @TLDR_pod (IG/Twitter), @Fry_Guy1 (Twitter) and @BackCrackah (IG/Twitter). --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

¡Es hora de echar el chisme con los cómics de la semana! ¡Finalmente superamos las 4hrs! No sabemos si es motivo de celebración DC COMICS - (8:37) Future State: Batman / Superman #2, Future State: Suicide Squad #2, Future State: Dark Detective #4, Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2, Future State: Aquaman #2, Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2, Future State: Superman: House of El #1, Batman: White Knight Presents Harley Quinn #5, Batman: Black and White #3, Generations: Forged #1. MARVEL - (79:31) Symbiote Spider-Man: King in Black #4, Maestro: War and Pax #2, The Amazing Spider-Man #60, X-Men #18, Black Cat #3, Captain Marvel: Marvels Snapshots #1. CÓMICS EN ESPAÑOL - (140:00) Panini México: Panini HC (2017-) 303: Las Planicies de Afganistán Televisa - DC Comics México: DC Clásicos Modernos (2019-) Batman & Robin: Batman vs. Robin, Wonder Woman (2020-) #2. Televisa - Vertigo: Antología: Magia, Fantasía, Ciencia Ficción (2020-) #6, Sandman (2020-) Sandman: Los Cazadores de Sueños (Prosa) Televisa - Marvel Comics México: King in Black (2021-) Web of Venom: Empyre's End #1, Marvel Básicos (2019-) Falcon & Winter Soldier: Corta una Cabeza, Marvel Deluxe (2011-) Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars INDIES - (184:53) Two Moons #1 (Image Comics), Stray Dogs #1 (Image Comics), Usagi Yojimbo: Wanderer's Road #4 (IDW), Something Is Killing The Children #15, The Department of Truth #6 (Image Comics), Ice Cream Man #23 (Image Comics), Rain Like Hammers #2 (Image Comics), Crimson Flower #2 (Dark Horse Comics), Serial #2 (Abstract Studios) COMENTARIOS FINALES - (237:20) ... y con chisme sobre La Mole. FICHA COVACHA Mesa: Francisco Espinosa, Bernardo Arteaga y Valentín García Síguenos en Twitter, Facebook, YouTube y ¡ahora en Twitch! Fecha: Viernes 26 de febrero, 2021 Música Intro: Midnight City by c152 feat. chirrrex Background (Looped): Forgot About Me by DreamHeaven Link: https://filmmusic.io/song/6519-forgot-about-me- License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

The end is here! The eighth and final week of 'Future State' is here. After finishing out reviews of the last titles, the boys discuss the event as a whole and give their final assessment of the two-month publishing experiment. Books discussed:"Future State: Aquaman" #2"Future State: Batman/Superman" #2"Future State: Dark Detective" #4"Future State: Superman House of El" #1"Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes' #2"Future State: Suicide Squad" #2"Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex" #2

On this week's Stack podcast, we've got reviews for: BRZRKR #1 Boom! Studios Written by Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt Illustrated by Ron Garney Stray Dogs #1 Image Comics Written by Tony Fleecs Art by Trish Forstner The Amazing Spider-Man #60 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Pencils by Mark Bagley Two Moons #1 Image Comics Written by John Arcudi Art by Valerie Giangiordano Future State: House of El #1 DC Comics Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art by Scott Godlewski Future State: Aquaman #2 DC Comics Written by Brandon Thomas Art by Daniel Sampere Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #2 DC Comics Written by Brian Michael Bendis Art by Riley Rossmo Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2 DC Comics Written by Mark Russell Art by Steve Pugh Future State: Suicide Squad #2 DC Comics Written by Robbie Thompson, Jeremy Adams Art by Javier Fernandez, Fernando Pasarin Future State: Dark Detective #4 DC Comics Written by Mariko Tamaki, Joshua Williamson Art by Dan Mora, Giannis Milonogiannis Future State: Batman/Superman #2 DC Comics Written by Gene Luen Yang Art by Scott McDaniel, Ben Oliver & Steven Segovia The Department of Truth #6 Image Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Elsa Charretier Faith #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Jeremy Lambert Illustrated by Eleonora Carlini X-Men #18 Marvel Written by Jonathan Hickman Art by Mahmud Asrar Something is Killing the Children #15 BOOM! Studios Written by James Tynion IV Art by Werther Dell'edera Nailbiter Returns #10 Image Comics Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Mike Henderson Firefly #26 BOOM! Studios Written by Greg Pak Art by Pius Bak Crossover #4 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Geoff Shaw Skulldigger: Skeleton Boy #6 Dark Horse Comics Written by Jeff Lemire Art by Tonci Zonjic Ice Cream Man #23 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art by Martín Morazzo Crimson Flower #2 Dark Horse Comics Written by Matt Kindt Art by Matt Lesniewski Post Americana #3 Image Comics Story and Art by Steve Skroce You Look Like Death #6 Dark Horse Comics Written by Gerard Way Art by Shaun Simon The Scumbag #5 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Wes Craig Rain Like Hammers #2 Image Comics Written and art by Brandon Graham 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's 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 have come out this week, or do we? Or do we? Justin:              Way to create some intrigue. That's right. Alex:                 Because the first book that we're going to talk about is a book that doesn't come out until next week, but we're going to do a spoiler-free review of it. It is- Justin:              A preview review. Alex:                 Preview review. It is Berserker #1 from BOOM! Studios, written by none other than Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt, illustrated by Ron Garney. Pete:                Oh, no wonder. Justin:              I've been following Keanu Reeves's comic book work for a long time, and it's great to see just a brand-new book with his name on it. Alex:                 Yeah. It was great. Pete:                That was driving me fucking crazy. I did not notice that he wrote this. Alex:                 Wait. Really? Pete:                That's hilarious. Yeah. I was like- Alex:                 You were like “Oh, it looks like Keanu Reeves in this book?” Pete:                … “Why does the guy look so much like fucking Keanu Reeves?” Oh, that's hilarious. Alex:                 Well, I mean, I got to say, I mean, who knows how much he was sitting down at his typewriter being like “Scene one. Berserker. Open on me”? But a lot of times, I feel like there are these insert-style comics that just don't work. They're star vehicles. They're trying to set up a movie, and they just … They're not comics. They're pitch sheets, and that's pretty much it. That's not what this is at all. Not only do you have Ron Garney's phenomenal art throughout- Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              I love Ron Garney, and I feel like he hasn't been doing enough stuff lately. So it's great to see his work here. Alex:                 So that's great, but also you got Matt Kindt, who knows his way around an intrigue storyline, a sci-fi storyline. Again, we're going to skirt spoilers but not get into any here. But even though the main character is clearly Keanu Reeves, this is a really interesting sci-fi story. It's a great action story. A lot of times, they just step back and let Ron Garney do his thing. I was very surprised and very impressed by this book. Justin:              Yeah. It's one of those books that when you're reading the first bit of it, it's like “I see what this is,” and then by the end you're like “I was completely wrong. It's totally different, and I am excited by where it landed.” Alex:                 Pete? Pete:                Yeah. I mean, I've been reminded numerous times not to give away anything, but man, that ending. Am I right? Oh, shit. No, but yeah. The art and action is phenomenal. This is definitely in my wheelhouse, less dialogue, more action. Come on. Alex:                 It's really good stuff. I mean, this is already a huge selling comic book. I think they sold 600,000 copies, making it the best-selling original property comic book in like five years or a decade or something like that. I'm forgetting what the exact stat is. Pete:                Wait. It hasn't come out yet. What are you even talking about? Alex:                 Well, the way comics book work, Pete, is that people pre-order them through their comic book shops in order to guarantee that they're going to be there. So that's what they've been doing. So they sold that many copies to comic book shops. So obviously, big deal. People are really excited. The thing that I think is not a happy accident, but happy surprise about it, is that they're going to get what they paid for. They're going to get a good, very cool comic book. So I'm excited for everybody to check it out when it hits stands next week. Justin:              Exactly. Next week. If you love The Lake House, you're going to love Berserker. Alex:                 I'm sending that directly to BOOM! Studios. That's their pull quote. Justin:              Two great Keanu [crosstalk 00:03:36]. Pete:                I don't know if I've seen that, but okay. Justin:              It's not a spoiler when I say the mail is in the mailbox with this comic. Alex:                 Hold on. Hold on. Let me try this. Pete:                Oh, my god. Alex:                 If you love Always Be My Maybe, check out Berserker #1 from BOOM! Studios. Pete:                Wow. Wow. Justin:              The comic book club bump is coming for Berserker right now. Alex:                 Has he done any other movies, Keanu Reeves? Justin:              Keanu Reeves? I can't think of any. Pete:                A ton. A ton of movies. Justin:              Well, there was Bill and Ted's Excellent Lake House. Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Bill and Ted's Excellent Always Be My Maybe. Justin:              Yep. There's that. I think that's the whole thing. Alex:                 I think that's it. Anyway, this book is great. Definitely pick it up if you haven't, or pre-order it if you haven't already. Next up, here's a book that's actually out this week, Stray Dogs #1 from Image Comics, written by Tony Fleecs, art by Trish Forstner. So this is about, as you can tell from the title, it's not like stray … I honestly thought, because it was an Image book and it was called Stray Dogs, and it's like “What's up? We're a bunch of criminals called the Stray Dogs.” No. It's literally stray dogs. There's still a crime element. There's still a mystery element, but I was surprised about this. I'm curious to hear what Pete thought in particular. Justin:              Yes. Pete:                All right. So first- Justin:              Because he's a cat guy. He's a cat guy. So- Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. But I saw that cover, and I was like “Oh, this is going to fucking break my heart,” and it did. It's got some feels in this thing, and I was really impressed with the story. I thought maybe it was just going to be cute dogs, which would have been fine, but yeah. I thought it really ended well. It sets up this whole arc. I'm impressed with this, and I can't wait for more. I'm really on board here. Justin:              This book also surprised me, and I did … The last third of it is so good. They assemble like an Avengers: Endgame level group of mid-period Disney dogs here. This is like your Fox and the Hounds, your 101 Dalmatians, your Lady and the Tramps. They're all here, and I don't think we want to spoil it, maybe, but I think there's going to be some bad dogs in here. There's going to be some good girls and some bad dogs. Pete:                Oh, my god. Love it. Alex:                 Yeah. Good stuff. Again, a nice surprise. Let's move on with our next book, and I'm going to tell you what it is, and then I'm going to give you a little peek behind the curtain here. Okay? So our next book, before the shouting begins, is The Amazing Spider-Man #60. Pete:                Oh, fuck you. Justin:              Oh, no. Alex:                 Hold up. Written by Nick Spencer, pencils by Mark Bagley. Now, we've been talking a lot about Amazing Spider-Man, the Last Remains storyline, this whole thing about Kindred, this villain that turns out to be Harry Osborn, who's been [inaudible 00:06:18] Spider-Man in the background. Pete:                But- Alex:                 Hold on. Let me just finish what I'm saying, and then I'm going to allow you to shout, Pete. But I think we kind of agreed that it sort of started to fizzle at a certain point. They're dragging out the Kindred reveal for too long. I've still been reading it. I've been reading each issue because I like Spider-Man and I enjoy reading it, but I haven't felt like … We don't need to talk about the same story [inaudible 00:06:43] again and again. So before I set down the stack for this week with the choices of issues, particularly Marvel, I was like “Well, let me just read and see what happens in Spider-Man,” because the cover of this is Mary Jane and Peter surrounded by the centipedes from Kindred, and I read this book, and I was like “Oh, we got to talk about this.” Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 We have to talk about this, because I want to hear Pete shout. Go ahead, Pete. Pete:                Okay. So first off, to kind of peek behind the curtain a little bit, Zalben has been pushing the envelope for how many fucking comics we talk about, and he sends out this ridiculous list that we have to read all these comics. Alex:                 Nobody is forcing you to do that. Pete:                Hey. I love reading comics, but I got a full-time job. We got other stuff going on, and he keeps pushing the number. He said “Oh, we'll cap it at 20.” Alex:                 I never said that. Pete:                Hasn't been capped at 20 in a long time. Alex:                 I never said that. Pete:                So then he gives us this giant fucking list, and then goes “Oh, two more,” and guess what one of the fucking two is. Amazing Spider-Man, and I was like “You motherfucker. Always pushing.” Justin:              This is not the shout I expected to hear, just FYI. Alex:                 Not at all. Justin:              Imagine tiny- Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:07:50]. Justin:              Imagine- Pete:                I was saying that “Oh, there has to be a reason he pushed this,” like “Oh, just these two Marvel. No big deal. We're just going to just do two Marvel because we got so many other comics,” and I knew. I knew Spider-Man had to be a fucking doozy. Otherwise, he wouldn't have fucking pushed it through, and yeah, and here we go again. Here we fucking go again. You want to open a fucking wound and fucking relive some nightmares? Well, guess what. We got fucking Mephisto, and it's going to fucking relive some god damn nightmares. Justin:              Here's the thing though, Pete. First off, let me say, imagine little Pete LePage, Petey, as we call him- Pete:                No. Justin:              … dreaming of his future as an adult, and your biggest complaint right now is that your friend is making you read too many comics? Little Petey LePage would drive his little big wheel right into a brick wall if he heard that. Alex:                 “You're telling me this is my job?” I mean, well, let's not go that far. Justin:              Well, not technically a job, but it's like- Pete:                You get paid to do a job, asshole. All right? Alex:                 That's what I'm saying. Pete:                We're not … Yeah. So I do have a job where I work and get paid, and then we go this out of the love of our hearts, and then one person keeps fucking pushing the envelope by overloading us. Justin:              I love comics. I would read more. Give me more. Alex:                 I agree, and to clarify, we said we would cap it at 50 to 75 books a week, tops. Justin:              Let's talk about this Spider-Man book, because let me see- Alex:                 No. I don't think so. Can you also give us a peek behind the curtain, Justin? Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Yeah. Give us a peek behind the curtain, Justin. Justin:              Sorry. The only curtain I'm behind is a shower curtain, and it's sheer. It's invisible. I'm nude in front of you all, all the time. I'm [crosstalk 00:09:33]. Pete:                Gross. Justin:              Just a little imagery to preface this review. So this book though, Pete … It's got Peter and Mary Jane being as close as they've been in a decade. Pete:                Yeah, and then it does the classic bullshit where Peter leaves and then Mary Jane's got some weird shit going on with the villain. Justin:              Well, here's the thing. To your point, Alex, I actually didn't really like a lot of the lead up to the reveals here. I feel like Nick Spencer used to have a really good Spider-Man and a really good Peter Parker. It felt like it was back to the very core of the character, struggling to get by, has a bunch of roommates that he shouldn't be hanging out with, messing up all the time, and now it's like it's so sentimental. It's this sort of sanctimonious Peter Parker that we see a lot over the course of the years, but it's not the fun Peter Parker, and it's too melodramatic for me, and then by the end of it, I was excited about the reveal at the end of the book and even the stuff that Pete's talking about with the villain. At least that's interesting, because this Peter Parker's not a person I'm loving right now. Alex:                 Well, and that's the point of the book, right? I think they're taking a really long time to get around to it, but what is nice about this issue is it feels like one of those classic Ultimate Spider-Man issues that Brian Michael Bendis would do, where it's just a conversation, and in this case, it's Peter talking to Mary Jane. She's trying to help him through the stuff he's going through, and he says exactly what you're talking about, where he's like “Why is my life like this? Why am I still in this place that I'm in? What is going on here?” and by the end … Spoiler, but we've already spoiled it. The revelation is it's probably Mephisto all over again fucking with Peter Parker's life. Probably, there's no way around. If they don't loop back to One More Day at this point, I don't know what he's doing in this storyline, but that's fascinating to me, what direction they're going in. It's nerveracking, but it's fascinating. Pete:                Yeah. Well, I'm not fascinated, but I did really like the part of MJ talking about this exercise that helps you kind of work through shit, and I thought that was very cool to have a superhero kind of do a therapy exercise and be like “Hey. Therapy's okay. It's okay to talk about your feelings in a safe space and get it out and see what it feels like to say these things out loud.” I thought that was very powerful and very cool, but then you got to fucking ruin it with Mephisto shit, and it's like, either we're moving on and that bullshit happened and somehow we have to live with it and move forward, or you better fucking undo that bullshit and then we can get back to our lives. Fucking make a choice, man, because I'm sick of this shit. Alex:                 All right. Well, let's move on to Two Moons #1 from Image Comics, written by John Arcudi, art by Valerio Giangiordano. This is set in the Civil War following a soldier who starts seeing some demons or something. We're not 100 percent sure what's going on, but the art in here is terrifying and scary. Pete:                He sees the monster from Critters is what it looks like. Alex:                 But it's just somebody's head, to be clear. Justin:              Yeah. He's got a critter on his head. Pete:                Yeah. It's a critter head. Alex:                 Classic critter head. Yeah. Yeah. Justin:              You guys both sort of felt like you were saying something that you shouldn't be saying, for a second. Alex:                 I mean, in my family, when I grew up, we were never supposed to say critter head. Justin:              Yeah. Say it three times, and then you have yourself a critter head. I like this book as well. This was a good sort of scary story in a time we don't see very much, especially from this perspective. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, the art's really unbelievable. This is a very interesting story. It's also the take about the nurse getting upset about the fact that when you run out of ammunition, they'll use whatever scraps of metals they can, and then kind of her reaction is very interesting and very intense. So I think this is a really kind of interesting, original idea set in a shitty time period. Alex:                 Sure. There you go. Couldn't disagree with that. Let's move on to our Future State block, as we've been doing all the past couple of weeks, talking about everything that's come out from Future State. I'll list the books, and then we'll talk about some of our highlights. We've got House of El #1, Aquaman #2, Legion of Superheroes #2, Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2, Suicide Squad #2, Dark Detective #4, and Batman/Superman #2, and to give you a little peek behind the curtain here, it's interesting that Pete was complaining about too many titles being in our stack, because at least the past two weeks we've talked about the Future State block, Pete has read extra titles from DC and then talked about them on the show. Justin:              Yeah, and dropped them in. Alex:                 There you go. So Pete, any extra titles you want to talk about here? Pete:                No. No, but if we would like to peek behind the curtain, I think you're a piece of shit. Alex:                 All right. That's fine. Justin:              Again, here's me, nude behind a very crystal-clear sheer curtain. Alex:                 Pete, what jumped out at you? What did you like this week? Pete:                All right. Well, I liked a lot of things, but the one book I didn't want to like, but then the sappy ending kind of got me in the feels, was the House of El #1. Sometimes we get in the house of stuff. I don't know. Justin:              Yeah. You don't like houses. Pete:                Yeah. I don't like houses. I don't like the kind of historical Superman shit where everybody is talking about their logos and all the weird shit. It doesn't get me excited, but I was really impressed with this book because I read it like “Harumph. I don't want to like you,” and then it won me over. I would say one of my favorites was Batman/Superman- Justin:              Here. Wait. Can we talk about that real quick? Pete:                Sure. Sure. Justin:              Sorry. Sorry, but I loved this book. I know I feel like I've been on a Phillip Kennedy Johnson love fest, but man, this is another great book by him that is just a hundred percent fun. It's mixing a lot of the stuff he does in The Last God with a Superman-focused version of the Legion, and it reads like just a great Legion book with all these different version of Superman kin that are out there trying to just save the world and maintain their household and mix in with these sort of light fantasy elements. It's just a great book. Alex:                 Pete, what about you? You were about to call out Dark Detective, I believe. Pete:                Well, I have been enjoying that, and yes, I did love Dark Detective #4. Very intense. I love this no more shadows, like “Oh, shit. What does that mean?” Also, great backup story. I thought this was a very intense, cool Batman book. I'm very excited to see where this goes. Anybody else want to jump in on this one? Alex:                 Yeah. Sure. Was that not the one you were going to call out? I thought that's what you started saying. Pete:                No. It was Batman/Superman #2. Alex:                 Oh, okay. Sorry to put you on the spot there, but I do really like the backup. We talked about this last time, this Joshua Williamson and Giannis Milonogiannis, and they're doing basically Red Hood, but Akira, and it's super fun. I had a blast reading that. But you want to talk about Future State Batman/Superman #2? Justin:              Real quick. Alex:                 Oh, yeah. Justin:              It's very funny seeing the Red Hood hood on him, where it just goes right to the … It's just such a weird looking thing, but this has been one of the best version of Bruce Wayne that I feel like we've seen in Batman comics in a long time, this Dark Detective series. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. It's really cool. But Batman/Superman #2, really unbelievable action. I really am loving the kind of mystery and the kind of who-done-it with this team up. I love it when Batman and Superman get along, but I also like it when they fight, and I feel like this was a really cool, great kind of fight between Superman and Batman, and I thought this was really cool. Alex:                 Yeah. It's a good book as well. For me, man, it's tough. Again, a very good week for books from Future State. All of this stuff has been really good. It's a little bit of a tie. There's one that eked it out a little bit more. Future State Superman vs. Imperious Lex #2 is kind of my number two here, written by Mark Russell, art by Steve Pugh. Super fun. Great Lois Lane in this book. As usual, just hilarious and pointed satire from Mark Russell. So really enjoyed that book, but the one for me that killed it was Aquaman #2. Justin:              A hundred percent. That was mine. Pete:                Yeah. That's what I was going to … Yeah. Alex:                 Everybody was leading up to that, written by Brandon Thomas, art by Daniel Sampere. Again, like I said with the first issue, I am not an Aquaman fan. I don't usually like an Aquaman story. This is god damn amazing, and if you didn't tune in to the first book, the first issue of the book, it was all about this confluence of oceans from the universe that former Aqualad, now Aquaman, and Aqualass, who by the end of the book, spoiler, is Aquawoman, have gotten trapped in. They get separated. Aquaman is imprisoned most of the last book and then finally finds out that Aqualass is alive at the end, and then we loop back and find out what happened with her. The action is so big. Everything that happens is so emotional and creative. I was blown away. Justin:              I agree. This book was so good. Of all the books in Future State that I would want to replace the main title going forward, it's this. I want to see these characters going forward and seeing where they go next, because it's so good. Pete:                The let go moment was so nice. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, I don't know how cool a water leg would be, but man, they really sold it in this book. Alex:                 It's a fish leg. It's not a water leg. It's a fish leg. Pete:                Oh, okay. My bad. Justin:              I mean, a fish leg would be much worse, because that shit … You've only got like two days max on that things. Pete:                Before it starts smelling? Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Don't microwave it. Not in the office. That's all I'm saying. Justin:              Oh, definitely. Alex:                 That would be gross. Justin:              [crosstalk 00:19:49] case of scallop- Alex:                 All right. Let's move on and talk about some other books. Justin:              One last thing I want to shout out. Alex:                 Oh, yeah. Please. Justin:              We didn't talk about Legion of Superheroes #2. Want to shout out Riley Rossmo's art on this. I'd love to see a Legion book with Riley drawing it. Alex:                 Absolutely. Moving on, one of your favorites, Justin, The Department of Truth #6 from Image Comics, written by James Tynion IV, art by Elsa Charretier. Justin:              Oh, what an accent. Alex:                 This is a switch up of artists for the book- Pete:                Yeah. I was going to say. Alex:                 … and also a switch up of time periods, as we jump back in time and find out the origins of The Department of Truth. This is a awesome issue that continues, personally, to remind me of a vintage Vertigo book, where it'd be like five issues, take a break, show us some times passed thing, and then go forward with the ongoing story. So good. Justin:              So good. This book is doing just such a great job of fleshing out the world of the series sort of slowly and really easing into it, and this book does a great job of sort of bringing into focus in the sort of micro with the flashback story. It's sort of a double flashback. We flashback to right after the Kennedy assassination, and then flashback to Doubting Thomas and sort of the origin of rewriting the world with a new truth, and this book is one of my favorites on the stand right now. If this were a religion, I would believe in it. Alex:                 Wow. Pete:                Oh, shit. Wow. Justin:              I'm not a religious guy, but this is the closest. I'm like “I could buy this. I could buy this fully across the board.” Pete:                Wow. That is crazy. I think it's really impressive that this book can look so different from kind of book to book and still feel like a part of the same story. It's really impressive what they're pulling off here creatively, artistically. They're taking some big swings at some big ideas, and they are killing it. It's really impressive. Yeah. The paneling, the art, the way this story flows. This is a really, really impressive book that is tripping me the fuck out. Alex:                 This employs a technique that I usually hate in storytelling, but it completely works here, where they have a story in a story in a story. In this book, Lee Harvey Oswald, who in our current time is the head of The Department of Truth goes to his first day there, finds out the origin, so you have one … I think this is the reason it works is the art style changes with each level of the story, where it goes back in time, he's reading the origin of the story of The Department of Truth, and then one of the characters in the story starts telling the story to the other character, and then the art style changes again. It's just these multiple layers that feel very purposeful versus the usual accidental employment of that technique. Fantastic book. Definitely pick it up. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about Faith #1 from BOOM! Studios, written by Jeremy Lambert, illustrated by Eleonora Carlini. This is a weird book that I was no expecting- Justin:              This is a weird book. Alex:                 … that follows Faith as she's trapped in a movie theater, and there's some Watchers watching her, strange stuff going on. What'd you guys think of this one? Pete:                Yeah. It's fantastic art. It was a little confusing because we kind of had this shadowy figure behind the main character. So I was having a hard time follow what's happening, because I was so worried about her present, in-the-movie-theater self. So it was hard to kind of let go of that and follow the story, but yeah. This is interesting. Unbelievable art. Some great action. I'm not quite sure what's happening though. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I agree. Really expressive art, I thought was … There were so many good little horror moments, and Faith's reactions throughout are great. I don't know much about Faith in the background. I don't have faith. Alex:                 You got to have faith. Justin:              Yeah. That's the thing. Pete:                The faith, the faith, the faith. Justin:              But I believe in the comic book we just talked about before this one. So yeah. I didn't know much about the character, but it was a good read. Alex:                 Yeah. Moving on, X-Men #18 from Marvel, written by Johnathan Hickman, art by Mahmud Asrar. Give you a little peek behind the curtain. I felt like Pete would be pretty mad about Amazing Spider-Man. This one involves Laura, Wolverine, which Pete likes a lot. So I thought this would be kind of like a gimme, like balance the scales a little bit. So this is as three of the X-Men characters wander into a weird future place, as they usually do in this run of X-Men. What'd you think about this one? Justin:              The Vault. Pete:                Well, I'm curious about something. So why is she called Wolverine now? You know what I mean? I know Wolverine died for a little bit, and I know she was X-23, and that's cool, but then when they were referring to her as Wolverine, I was like “Why? What's-“ Justin:              Well, because Wolverine doesn't … He's on the moon popping something else besides claws. So he's not really … Pete:                You don't have to be an asshole when I ask a question. You could just answer it. Justin:              I mean, I think there's some truth to that. Alex:                 There's more than on person named Pete. Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. Justin:              That's true. Pete:                Got that, and there's also more than one person named Pete LePage, but what's your fucking point? Alex:                 My point is, when I search for Pete LePage, the other one comes up. Pete:                Okay. So it's okay that she's called Wolverine is what you're saying? Alex:                 Yeah. It's fine. It's not a problem. Justin:              I like it. I like her as a character. I like her as the Wolverine. I think Logan can just be Logan now, and he can go do all of his Logan stuff. Pete:                That's cool. I just didn't know. I was like “Maybe I missed something,” like the passing of the Wolverine mantle or whatever. I love X-23. I have no problem with her being Wolverine. I was just like “Oh, they're straight just calling her Wolverine now.” Justin:              Well, I think they're both called Wolverine. I think it's just like they're both Wolverines. There's no reason to differentiate. Pete:                Then I was like “Is Wolverine a title of the fucking muscle when you going on …” I don't know. I was just wondering if maybe I'd missed something that you guys knew about, but usually, as usual, I ask you something and you just make fun of me. So all right. Alex:                 Oh, Pete. Justin:              I'm not making fun of you. We're explaining an important plot point in the X-Men universe right now that Wolverine fucks in the moon. Pete:                Cool. Cool. Alex:                 It did stand out to me too, to be totally- Justin:              The gravity's only one-sixth. So he's floating a little bit. You know what I'm talking about? Alex:                 To be totally fair, it stood out to me too as son as they called her Wolverine, and then I was like “All right. They're calling her Wolverine,” and I kind of moved on from there rather than sticking with it. This is a good story. It's crazy that they introduce this whole villain team to eliminate them in one issue, but that's classic Johnathan Hickman at this point. Justin:              Well, these guys have been around. The Vault was introduced a while ago. In fact, I feel like Hickman is oddly … He keeps sort of edging on the Vault. He's like “Look. The Vault. Watch out for them,” and then in this issue, they go in there and wreck shit. So it's weird what's happening here. I thought this issue was great. This issue reads like an annual standalone issue where they're just like “Let's have a fun mission,” and it's a great tactical mission. I love Darwin and Synch. Great. It's all so smartly done, but I think, in general, I'm like “What's the next move here with the X-Men?” and there are no clues. It's hard to read the tea leaves. Alex:                 No. It's definitely the sort of thing that I think we're going to look back at it in 15 to 30 years when Johnathan Hickman is done with this run and be like “Okay.” Pete:                Yeah. “Oh.” Alex:                 “I get it it.” Pete:                “I see now.” Yeah. Yeah, but- Justin:              “Oh, The Vault.” Pete:                The art's amazing, and the kind of thinking-man Sentinel thing was really awesome to kind of see as well. Yeah. I think it was really cool to kind of like “Oh, we're going to send you on this mission. You guys sweep the Vault,” and you're like “Okay. No big deal. How long will that take?” and then they realize a Vault is a whole fucking city. Pretty cool kind of “How are we going to do this?” moment. I don't know how any of this makes sense, but I thought it was a cool issue. Alex:                 I agree. I'm glad to hear that too, Pete, because you've been very down on the X-Men. Let's move on and talk about another James Tynion book, Something is Killing the Children #15 from BOOM! Studios, written by James Tynion IV, art by Werther Dell'Edera. Justin, I'm curious to hear from you because this is the end of the story that they've been telling for 15 issues at this point. They wrap things up. They leave things open for the next story, but that's kind of where we are, and you've been very back and forth about it. So how do you feel about this as a whole? Justin:              James Tynion's a great storyteller, but I guess I still have the same feeling where I'm like “Oh, that was the whole story.” I thought there was going to be, I guess, more of a crescendo in here. I like all of the storytelling. The art in this book is fantastic. The eating of gummy worms has never been so gross. Pete:                Oh, man. Yeah. Alex:                 Maybe you want some gummy worms, I'll tell you what. Pete:                Yeah. You're so creepy, dude. Justin:              Yeah, but you see regular worms, you're like “Yum, yum, gummy.” Alex:                 Put those in my mouth. Give me some of those sweet dirt dudes. That's what I call them. Justin:              But yeah. That's my- Pete:                I don't know. This felt like a ending that wasn't an ending. It felt like an ending that's like there is a bigger story to tell here- Justin:              For sure. Pete:                … and hopefully they will get to tell it, because this is a really great world. I've loved every single issue of this. Art's unbelievable. Love the character designs, and this cool … I feel like this is what our life is going to be like eventually. Since we're all going to be wearing masks, it's going to be just down to what does your mask say, and that's your gang affiliation or your kind of tribe, if you will. So I feel like this is a book of the future before we even know it. Alex:                 It's surprising to me because a lot of this specific issue was them talking about houses, which you've already got on record as not liking in this very podcast. Justin:              Yeah. This guy hates houses. You want to see the apartment of El, the condo of El. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Nailbiter Returns #10 from Image Comics, written by Joshua Williamson, art by Mike Henderson, another surprising ending for a series here as we wrap up Nailbiter returning with some big revelations for the series. How'd you feel about this one? Pete:                I loved it. I thought this was a cool kind of end but also tease to the to-be-continued thing at the end. That was pretty neat, but I mean, you guys have kids. So you tell me. When you guys sit around the fire to tell stories, do their faces go blank like that? Is that a normal thing that happens? Justin:              Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pete:                Oh, man. That's got to be tough. Alex:                 Every parent knows that. When you're about to have the kid in the hospital, they talk you through the birthing process. They also talk you through the fact that, hey, when you sit around a fire, kids are going to have no faces. Pete:                Oh, wow. Well, I'm glad that you had the heads up on that, because as somebody who didn't know that, that was pretty scary. Justin:              Well, that's because they're listening so hard, and so the rest of their features just fade away because the ears are really the focus. It's just using your resources. Alex:                 This book was fun. I had a blast reading it. It's definitely a big action movie versus the overall dark mystery that the first one was. Super fun, and I'm glad that they kept it to 10 issues and pretty much done, kept the story really focused. I had a good time. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              I agree, and it really got into some dream logic dreaminess that I really appreciated throughout this whole series and in this issue as well. Pete:                Also, it's great for people who collect eyeballs, you know? Alex:                 Mm-hmm (affirmative). Justin:              Yes, which I think we all do, and great nail biting. We got some biting of nails. Alex:                 Good stuff. Pete:                Finally got some nail biting in this one. Yeah. Alex:                 Next up, Firefly #26 from BOOM! Studios, written by Greg Pak, art by Pius Bak. The last issue we called a fresh new start for Firefly. It was taking us after Serenity, the movie, moving us forward here. The cliffhanger at the end of the last issue was it looked like Wash was alive. Here, spoiler, not exactly. There's a good twist on it. I loved the twist with Wash, actually, and I think this is a great … Without spoiling exactly what happens, this is a great way of pushing the story forward, and it feels like a tried-and-true sci-fi idea that's going to pay really good dividends with the characters. I think it's neat. Justin:              It's so- Pete:                I'm going to go out … Oh, go ahead. Justin:              You go. Pete:                I was just going to say I'm going to out on a limb and just say Greg Pak is a fucking phenomenal writer. He makes great choices. I've just not yet read something from him and not been impressed by it. Even though we knew what kind of happened, the whole thing needed to be explained to us. I was really impressed. I thought this was a fun book. Amazing art. Really cool. Justin:              How is it on that limb, Pete? Because I feel like you've been out on the Pak limb for years. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. It's just me out here. Loving the Pak. Justin:              I think your parents conceived you out on the Pak limb, and you've just been birthed there. Your parents heard about the facelessness around the fire, out on the limb, and now here you are, still living on the limb. Pete:                Nothing like limb living. Justin:              Limb living. I think it's so smart that they did a long story in the past. It was great. Greg Pak really understands the characters and really put them out there, and then to jump forward in time where we get to sort of collect them again is super fun. Well done. Alex:                 Yeah. I agree. Next up, Crossover #4 from Image Comics, written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw. In this issue, we're picking up with our adventurers who met Madman, the character, from Mike Allred and Laura Allred, last issue. He is going to help them get inside the dome that has covered Denver, I believe, if I remember correctly, and locked in a bunch of comics characters. We again get a bunch of cameos and fun stuff in this issue. We also get some shout outs to Donny Cates and, I believe, Geoff Shaw's own work as well. This is great. This is a blast to read, and even Donny Cates self inserting himself here is super fun. Justin:              I mean, it's great to see Madman in action. That guy can yo. Alex:                 Yeah. Yo, yo. Pete, you got to be happy. There is a Stay Puft Marshmallow Man in this issue. Pete:                Oh, yeah. You got to love that. I also impressed with the art here, because it has the kind of dot, kind of old-timey kind of comic book style, which is really interesting with Madman, with kind of more vibrant characters as well. It's just really cool to see them all standing in a room. So I'm glad we got that moment. The kind of torture shit freaked me out a little bit, but man, really great story. Fun stuff. Alex:                 Good stuff. Next up, Skulldigger Skeleton Boy #6 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Jeff Lemire, art by Tonci Zonjic. We've been talking about a lot of the Black Hammer books. We kind of missed this one in terms of reviewing. So I figured it was worth catching up with the last issue here. I'll tell you what. I … This is all me … forgot about Tonci Zonjic. Amazing artist. Justin:              Yeah. Great art. Alex:                 I was so happy to read this again. I was like “Oh, my god. I'm sorry I forgot you. You're so good.” Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Yeah. It's so dynamic. It almost has a little Darwyn Cooke to it, but a little bit of just great, I don't know, Greg Capullo style action. Really good, and the story was great. I feel like the Black Hammer universe is just prime time right now. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I agree. The panels, the layout, the way the action flows. Really, really fun and impressive, but also some really touching moments, like the look on the kid's face. They just keep just showing the kid's face, so different in each panel in the way that it's just kind of colored. Really impressive, the way they can kind of show emotion through this still panel here. Yeah. I was just really kind of moved by this. I thought it was a really solid issue. Justin:              The last page, which is almost like an epilogue to the book, just a standalone splash page, was so emotional and great. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 We're not really talking about the plot here, because we didn't read the previous five. This is the last issue, but the fact that they can get across enough of the emotion and story in one issue that is the last one to people who have not read the previous five is very impressive. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Next up, let's talk about it, Ice Cream Man #23- Pete:                Oh, here we go. Alex:                 … from Image Comics, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martín Morazzo. I know Pete is scared of this one. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah? Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 So another standalone issue of Ice Cream Man, as a lot of them are, mind you, but in this one, it's text pages interspersed with splash pages of essentially our main character, the Ice Cream Man, going on a talk show with a bunch of animals, until a snake bites the shit out of the talk show host's face. The thing that is so terrifying about this is the text pages takes place after it. So you're reading the story of the horrific things that happen to him, and you're like “Oh, we're going to see this. We're going to see this at some point. It's coming. It's coming. It's coming-“ Pete:                I was like “Don't show me. Don't. You wrote about-“ Alex:                 “… It's coming. It's going to happen,” and the entire issue, and finally they pulled the lid off, and it's great. Another incredible one-shot issue of Ice Cream Man. Not enough good things to say about this book. Justin:              I feel like W. Maxwell Prince is just sitting at home tactically trying to break down how to engineer scares in the paper and the printed medium. It's wild that he is able to continue to find new ways to stress us the fuck out. Pete:                That's what's so impressive about this is each comic is so different but has that same tension, and they've done so many different creative ways to scare the shit out of us, and you think “All right. Well, how's this going to stack up? It can't be as great as the last issue.” It continues to deliver. Unbelievable, and I don't know. It seems like shots fired at Jimmy Fallon in these, but this is a crazy book that made me read, and I don't want to read, and it's still so well done I read and didn't hate it. Alex:                 It's good stuff. Moving on to Crimson Flower #2 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Matt Kindt, art by Matt Lesniewski. Pete, you seem to like this book. Pete:                Oh, my god. Alex:                 This is about a bounty hunter, I guess, who is going crazy, something like that? Pete:                Well, yeah. It's about a lot of things, but it's mainly about this person trying to get revenge, trying to find out who killed their father, I believe is what she's freaking out about, and just the fact of she's just driving angry, just chomping pills and half seeing reality, half seeing this tripped-out evil shit is really crazy but also very impressive what goes down, and then the whole fact of she's not going to do well but keeps kind of playing this trickery and then kind of reveals, throughout, she's telling a story within the story … I was just really impressed with this. Very creative. Very fun. Amazing art. Just really fun story. Justin:              Yeah. I really liked this as well. It feels like fairy tale stories. She's like a Little Red Riding Hood but who grew up to become an- Pete:                A badass. Justin:              … assassin out for revenge, who crosses over with some other dudes who are sort of giants, maybe, but also just shit-head other assassins. It's really fun. Pete:                What's awesome is it starts off and it kind of reminds me a little bit of Locke & Key, the paneling and just the different kind of character designs, but then just kind of goes off into its own completely different thing, and yeah. I just think it really worked on a lot of levels. Alex:                 Next- Justin:              That art's sort of reminiscent of … Sorry … of Black Hole. Alex:                 Oh, yeah. I can see that. Justin:              In a good way. Alex:                 Next up, Post Americana #3 from Image Comics, story and art by Steve Steve Skroce. As we've been talking about with the last couple of issues of this book, this is a satirical, post-apocalyptic tale about a guy who's kind of trying to save the world but mostly messing it up. Continues to be gross and funny in exactly the right way. I'm enjoying this book. I'm having a fun time reading it. How about you guys? Justin:              I agree. The art, I feel like, really took a step up in this issue. We get a lot of close-ups on the characters, and it really … I think the earlier issues were a little wild, and it's like cannibals fucking around. So it was a little loose. Everything really tightens up in this issue. We get a lot of back story, and I think the art mirrors that in a way that I thought was just very smart. Pete:                Yeah. I agree. I think the art is great. There's amazing action, and the story does tighten up, and things start to kind of make more sense, and we're able to kind of follow things a little bit easier, which is great, but the classic … When somebody comes to visit unannounced, you almost kill them. So you really got to be careful when you go to somebody's house, guys. Justin:              Yeah. By the way, Pete, we're coming to your house at 4:04. So put your ax down when we stop by. Pete:                Yeah. You might want to text me, because I just want to not accidentally ax you. Justin:              Ax-identally. Alex:                 Ax-identally. Thanks for [crosstalk 00:42:27] audio podcast. Justin:              It'll work in court. Pete:                Yeah. No problem. Alex:                 You Look Like Death- Justin:              Joke heard and acknowledged. Alex:                 You Look Like Death #6 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Garard Way- Pete:                You look like death. Alex:                 … art by Shaun Simon. This is a tale from the Umbrella Academy. We are wrapping it up of Klaus's time in Hollywood. It wraps back to the beginning. You had to love this, Pete, another mention of relish, your favorite topping. Pete:                Well, I don't know about that, but I do love the characters in this. Klaus is one of our favorites. So it's just very kind of interesting to kind of see it in this kind of art style, and I'm just so used to the show. It's almost weird to read the comic, but yeah. This is a really cool story, really fucked up. Spiders scare the fuck out of me. So this is kind of a nightmare, but yeah. This is just great Umbrella Academy fun. Justin:              I love relish. I love- Pete:                Really? Justin:              Yeah. Relish is one of my favs. Pete:                Have to have it on a hot dog? Or what's up? Justin:              A hundo percent. Pete:                Really? Justin:              Yeah. I'm a mustard- Pete:                Get that shit away from my dog, bro. Justin:              Mustard, relish. I'll do sweet. I'll do dill. Pete:                Oh, wow. Justin:              If you pickle anything, JT's there. If you want me to pop by, pickle something, and this book is fun too. Alex:                 Yes. It's like the pickles of comic books. Moving on to the The Scumbag #5 from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender, art by Wes Craig. Get the old … Oh, my god … Deadly Class team back together again for this issue, so a switch up of the artist, but we're still following the same old Scumbag as maybe he finally grows a little bit of a heart this issue. This is super fun. I really liked seeing Wes Craig's take on this book in particular. I enjoyed that quite a bit. Yeah. This book is a blast. It's fun to read. Justin:              It's very fun. The characters, our main characters … I love watching their relationship between the Scumbag, his handler, and the sex android who drives them around and refuses to have sex with him no matter how many times he asks. It's all very fun stuff in that sort of reverent Remender tone. Pete:                Yeah. I think what's nice is I was getting a little tired of Scumbag being a scumbag. So it's nice to see the Scumbag evolve a little bit so we can have somebody to root for in this, but man, Remender, dude. Holy shit. You think you're like “Okay. I know what this is about.” Nah. He loves the twists and turns. He loves to keep you guessing, and then when you're not ready, he'll break your heart if you're not careful, but man, guys, don't listen to magical Christmas trees that smile way too much. All right? Alex:                 Very fun bit though. Justin:              Good advice. Alex:                 Last but not least, Rain Like Hammers #2 from Image Comics, written and art by Brandon Graham. I'll tell you what. I was very surprised to find out this was an anthology with this issue. That's not what I was expecting. Justin:              Well, I feel like a lot of Brandon Graham's stuff are loose anthologies where there's some connection, there's a lot of tonal overlap and everything. I definitely like sort of the rules of the world are the same. Man, I love this book. Of any issue this week, this was the most just transporting book that I read. It's so funny. It's beautifully drawn. It's so interesting. There's just a ton of ideas at play here all the time. Great, great book. Can't recommend this highly enough. Alex:                 That's it. If you can't recommend us highly enough, then hey, support us on patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. @comicbooklive on Twitter. Comicbooklive.com for this podcast and many more. Alex:                 Until next time, we'll see you at the virtual comic book shop. Justin:              Just pull back the curtain, and we'll be right there, fully nude, as usual. The post The Stack: BRZRKR, Stray Dogs And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode, we get into:Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1Future State: Legion of Super Heroes #1 Future State: Dark Detective #1 and 2Stake #1It Eats What Feeds It #1WandaVision (all the way at the end, if you're avoiding spoilers)The Zach Snyder cutThe MandalorianSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs are wishing for some Bat Girl Magic! Diana is hanging with the sharks in Sensational Wonder Woman #5. Jo is arrested in Far Sector #10. Black Mask makes his move in Future State: Harley Quinn #2. Jon and Kara must stop Brain Cells in Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2. Can Swamp Thing stop the great darkness in Future State: Swamp Thing #2. Barry attempts to save Wally in Future State: The Flash #2. Can Jace save the couple from the Magistrate in Future State: The Next Batman #3. Yara must survive Hades and the Netherworld if she is to save her friend in Future State: Wonder Woman #2. All this plus, DC News, DC TV, Cletus's pick of the week, and much, much more! ------------------------ Table of Contents 0:00:00 Show Open 0:01:45 DC News 0:12:05 Sensational Wonder Woman #5 0:16:56 Far Sector #10 0:21:50 Future State: Harley Quinn #2 0:24:49 Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2 0:30:09 Future State: Swamp Thing #2 0:32:50 Future State: The Flash #2 0:36:44 Future State: The Next Batman #3 0:49:49 Future State: Wonder Woman #2 0:55:30 Batwoman S2 Ep3 – Bat Girl Magic! 1:08:29 Show Close   Links Sensational Wonder Woman #5 Far Sector #10 Future State: Harley Quinn #2 Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2 Future State: Swamp Thing #2 Future State: The Flash #2 Future State: The Next Batman #3 Future State: Wonder Woman #2 Earth Station One Tales of the Station Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2 The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn Want to Donate to the Show or Sponsor our Comics Talk for this week? No problem! Just click on the donate button below! If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

On this week's comic book review podcast: Radiant Black #1 Image Comics Written by Kyle Higgins Art by Marcelo Costa Sweet Tooth: The Return #4 DC Comics Written and art by Jeff Lemire Eternals #2 Marvel Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Esad Ribić Low #26 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Greg Tochhini Rorschach #5 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Daredevil #27 Marvel Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Marco Checchetto and Mike Hawthorne Birthright #46 Image Comics Written by Joshua Williamson Art by Andrei Bressan Black Hammer: Visions #1 Dark Horse Comics Written by Patton Oswalt Art by Dean Kotz Future State: Dark Detective #3 DC Comics Written by Mariko Tamaki, Matthew Rosenberg Art by Dan Mora, Carmine Giandomenico Future State: Teen Titans #2 DC Comics Written by Tim Sheridan Art by Rafa Sandoval Future State: Robin Eternal #2 DC Comics Written by Meghan Fitzmartin Art by Eddy Barrows Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman #2 DC Comics Written by Dan Watters Art by Leila del Duca Future State: Green Lantern #2 DC Comics Written by Geoffrey Thorne, Robert Venditti, Josie Campbell Art by Tom Raney, Andy Tong, Dexter Soy Future State : Justice League #2 DC Comics Written by Joshua Williamson, Ram V Art by Robson Rocha, Marcio Takara Future State: Kara Zor-El Superwoman #2 DC Comics Written by Marguerite Bennett Art by Marguerite Sauvage Critical Role: Vox Machina: Origins: Series III #1 Dark Horse Comics Written by Jody Houser Art by Oliver Samson Thunderbolts #2 Marvel Written by Matthew Rosenberg Art by Juan Ferreyra Undiscovered Country #12 Image Comics Written by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Leonardo Marcello Grassi The Last Witch #2 BOOM! Box Written by Conor McCreery Art by V.V. Glass American Vampire 1976 #5 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Rafael Albuquerque Black Panther: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Geoffrey Thorne Art by Germán Peralta Bliss #5 Image Comics Written by Sean Lewis Art by Caitlin Yarsky Orcs #1 Kaboom! Written and art by Christine Larsen Home Sick Pilots #3 Image Comics Written by Dan Watters Art by Caspar Wijngaard 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 come out this week, kicking it off with Radiant Black number one from Image Comics written by Kyle Higgins, art by Marcello Costa. This is of course, as you could probably tell from the number one and totally new book. And the premise is a Downer's luck author who has not gotten jobs for a while, heads back home, encounters something weird and may or may not become some sort of a superhero, pretty typical setup. But I really liked how this was executed personally. I thought the designs were great and I'm very excited to read this going forward. What did you guys think? Pete:                I agree. I was really impressed with this setup. I mean just seeing this guy cry when he goes through early, really makes you, “Oh, you're rooting for this person.” And then just the way he falls into is very interesting. And the design of the suit and stuff is really fantastic. I think this does a great job of getting you excited for a new series. Justin:              Yeah, this had some vibes of invincible to me very much Early Kirkman stuff. Pete:                Sure- Justin:              And both in the writing and the art. And yeah, it was an interesting launch. I was very triggered by a writer who struggles to work- Pete:                Wow- Justin:              Because that's a constant stress. Pete:                The douchey friend reminded me of you. Justin:              Oh, that's so interesting. The animal, I think it was some hamster or rat that was dead next to the tracks. It reminded me of you. Pete:                Oh, wow. That's really fucked up. Alex:                 So in the back matter, Kyle Higgins talks a little bit about how he was inspired while he was writing Power Rangers- Pete:                Yeah- Alex:                 And that really firmed a bunch of stuff up in Bye-Bye and for the- Pete:                Yes, big time- Alex:                 About the world what is going on here. But I think what he's done is he found a really grounded way of taking this Power Rangers concept, making it feel afresh, make it feel new. And it's a lot of fun. I'm excited to read more of this. Alex:                 Next up Sweet Tooth return number four from TC Comics so written and art by Jeff Lameer. We get some big answers here about what's been- Pete:                Yeah- Alex:                 Going on with this rebooted- Justin:              Yeah- Alex:                 Sweet Tooth. Justin, I know you've been concerned about the end game here. So how did you feel about this issue [inaudible 00:02:34]? Justin:              This issue did a lot for me. I think we got to learn a lot of the backstory here and what I love about the take here, and it reminded me of a lot of the later stuff. The later arcs on the original Sweet Tooth. The way that Jeff Lameer combines in the writing, the ideas of scientists who become religious fanatics, breaking that dichotomy between science and religion and showing that the real danger is when fanatical people actually have the tools they need to cause real problems for the planet. Justin:              That's when we as a society get into trouble. I think it's on display again here. And this is such a great issue to really flash out the mythology. We get to hear a little bit of why the people in charge of this newer world are motivated to do what they do and it's great. Pete:                I thought the stuff about the shirt was very sweet and touching. Alex:                 There's some stuff about Sweet Tooth shirt, particularly that was such a big thing back in the old book. And that gets called back here. I agree, really good issue, very excited to see how this all starts to wrap up, going over to a Turtle's number two from Marvel written by Karen Gillan, art by [inaudible 00:03:48] where we left off in the last issue, Thanos was attacking some of the members of the Eternals. So one of the Eternals had been murdered. Usually not a problem. It turns out it is a little bit of a problem here- Pete:                There's a problem- Alex:                 But you get some big revelations and explanation of what's going on. One- Pete:                Yeah- Alex:                 Of my favorite things about this book is it is revealed. I don't know if it was real to the first issue, but it's revealed here in a very funny and very Karen Gillen way that the person who is narrating this, is the eternal machine that helps resurrect the Eternals, but that machine is broken. And just the way that is executed, the way that tells the story of the series feels so unique and exciting to me. Pete:                Yeah. I was- Justin:              Totally the narration is funny, it's sort of irreverent. It feels like you're hearing the Karen Gillan, basically make fun of the characters in the book that he's currently writing, which I think is so great. Pete:                Yeah. I was really impressed with this. You got a big Eternals movie coming out from Marvel. So I feel like this does a great job of getting people excited for that. Eternals to me never really was something I could latch onto, but I'm really into this book. I think it's a really cool setup of a what's the problem is and what's going on and what's going to happen. And I'm really looking forward to it. Art's fantastic. A really fun time jumps stuff here. Yeah. And even there's sweet touching moments where they make mistakes. And I was really impressed with this. This is a really solid book. Justin:              And their R is so good. It feels so big mythology while also having great comic book action at the same time. This comic is really just delivering on all the fronts you want. Alex:                 Well, on that note, let's turn a bit to low number 26 from Image Comics written by Greg Takini- Justin:              Oh, here we go- Alex:                 This is the last issue of this book. Justin, this has been one of your favorite books for a very long time. How do you think it wrapped up? Justin:              Great. Just so good. Rick Rimenda. I don't know how, I mean, we talked to him about this book a few weeks ago and it was on the podcast. And I don't know how he writes his books. When does he think of the ending? Because he really does such a good job with endings in a lot of his work. He's able to tie up the character arcs, the emotional arcs as well as just the central theme and leave you thinking and feeling a certain way, in his last issues, it was same with Black Science. Justin:              And this issue is just beautifully done. You see that… And I don't want to spoil too much of it. Because I think you really need to read this and take it in. And I want to reread the entire series to really get every ounce of story out of it. But it's about a family at the end of the day. And you get to see that land in a way that is tragic, heartbreaking, but beautiful and sentimental at the same time. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is the sweetest most moving way Rimenda could kick you in the nuts. He's still going to get you, but this is done so well. And it's so moving. It's really impressive. The art is just… A lot of times when you're dealing with different worlds, different ideas, the art can get too crazy, but it's done in such a way that it shows grace and beauty and different things. Pete:                The layering to it is really impressive. There's different characters that aren't human that are very humanized, it's really amazing and impressive the way this all ties in. This got really weird at times, but man, does he land this so well. Justin:              And he- Pete:                He does it so well, it really does make you want to be like, “Wait, I want to go back and see that beginning again.” Justin:              If I may just get your jacket book quote correct. I think it's a beautiful kick in the nuts that makes you turn and say thank you to the nut kicker. Pete:                Right. Justin:              Peel the page. Alex:                 Next step Rorschach number five from DC Comics written by Tom King art by Hori Fornace. I hesitate to say it was my favorite issue so far, but this is the one to me that really felt like- Justin:              Yeah- Alex:                 It pulled back the veil on what's happening potentially where this book is heading. We've had this guy investigating this mystery. There was an attempted presidential assassination, but somebody dressed as Rorschach and somebody dressed as a cowboy. Alex:                 The first couple of issues have been really building up, was investigator looking through this mystery. And if I was to purely speculate for a bit, we found out that this cowboy character has been going up to people and telling them, “Hey, you are the reincarnation of Rorschach. His energy with Dr. Manhattan Blue is hemp, has gone into various people. You and Rorschach, come with me, let's do vigilante justice.” Pete:                That'll pick up line. Alex:                 That'll pick up line. I think whether that is true or not, that's what's happening to our main guy, right? He is going to get to a place where either he becomes Rorschach or even thinks he is Rorschach and maybe starts to think this is true. Justin:              Well, he believes that he's Rorschach at the end of the day. I think that's just smart. Alex:                 Well specifically because the theme that Tom King is dealing with here is conspiracy theories. And I think this is a little bit about how the deeper you get into conspiracy theory, the more things start to look like conspiracy, and the more it starts to become believable, whether you're investigating it or whether you're the one who's putting it out there. Justin:              Yeah, I think that's such a smart take because my takeaway from this issue specifically… I mean, last issue, we talked about this a little bit because it was tricking people into believing certain things and them taking it to the extreme where they end up- Alex:                 Right- Justin:              Believing it above everything else in their lives. Also very topical thing going on in our real world. And in this, this issue is about masks. And then we have this character who's running for president to try to take down a Robert Redford who's won for like five terms in a row. And he's shitting on wearing mask because he is so comfortable believing a bunch of nonsense maskless. Justin:              And the people that wear masks are quote unquote, hiding their beliefs, their identities, whatever, yet this person is so brazen and out there saying nonsense. He doesn't have to hide even the craziest opinions that he has. That was my takeaway from this, is just, the people that wear the mask are maybe the people to trust more so. Pete:                I agree with… It's all been, a lot more is solidified, click into place here. Tom King, just piece meals information as he twists and turns stories. But this is one of my favorite issues for sure. And the last couple of panels, just absolutely fantastic. And so cool. Yeah, I thought this was a great issue and I'm very excited for more. Alex:                 I agree, next up Daredevil number 27 from Marvel written by [inaudible 00:11:20] who is on the live show this very week, talking about this book, art by Marco Maketto and Mike Hawthorne. This book we're dealing with the King Black crossover while Electra is filling in for Matt Murdock fighting on the streets of New York. Matt is trapped in prison and has been infected by [inaudible 00:11:36] the God of the Symbionts. So we're getting these dual stories going on and they're both very good. Justin:              I was really impressed with this. I thought the way they handled Matt Murdoch's belief in religion and God when it came to, what the fuck is, the King of black, what's his name there? Alex:                 Knull. Justin:              Knull, thank you. Yeah, I thought that was so great. And so well explained in such a way that really felt like Matt Murdoch character. I was really impressed with that. It was crazy to hear, to be like, “Yeah, religion, I don't know.” Because it really felt like he was coming from a place, for this, but I guess he just really gets in the head of his character so well. Justin:              But yeah, I thought this was really a great, fantastic, hold it up over time issue of Daredevil, really interesting. It's all of the characters really doing their own thing in their own way, right down to kingpin and a lecturer as Daredevil. I was really impressed with the art and everything that happened in this issue. Pete:                It's really rare when a book can continue its story through a crossover and the crossover actually enhances a lot of the themes that we're dealing with. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                And this book really does it. And the only thing that was missing was a scene where Foggy was sitting alone in his apartment, which is what he does a lot. And a symbiont comes up, jumps on him and then the symbiont is like, “Eh nevermind.” And just goes on to just someone else or just to wrap around a mouse or whatever. Justin:              Yeah. Well, Foggy wins again. Alex:                 Next up Birthright, number 46 from Image comics written by Joshua Williamson and art by Andre Bresson. This is kicking off the final arc of this book. As we start to wrap up this story here, everybody's picking up the pieces by finally taking down the God King Lore. We get some flashbacks back to the world that Mikey and friends were living in for a very long period of time. What'd you think about this? I think we felt like everything wrapped up really nicely in the last couple of issues. And now we have more Birthright. Justin:              We have this and four more issues. This is another one of my favorite books coming to an end in a great way. The fact that we had the big battle the land of the last arc, we get to see a nice epilogue an emotional- Alex:                 Oh yeah- Justin:              Epilogue, which is what again, about family and about what it means, despite all the crazy shit going on in our lives. What do we chase after when the going gets tough? And in this case, family, I love this book. Pete:                It's really dawning on me that family's important. I think comic books might be right. It's crazy. No, I agree, Justin, this is really impressive. What they're doing afterwards, this huge thing, it's kind of like, okay, onto the next adventure. No, they're really sitting in this aftermath, exploring other things that maybe they could have talked about more while all this madness was happening. I was really impressed with the relationship stuff in this, very moving, this book continues to be amazing. Alex:                 Next up Black Hammer visions never went from Dark Horse Comics written by Patton Oswalt art by Dean Cots. This is the first issue of course, of this anthology telling stories about the Black Hammer characters from creators. Other than Jeff Lameer, we've been really big fans of the miniseries, they've been rolling off here. These are these one-shots. Alex:                 I thought this as usual was absolutely great. This is a one-shot story that mixes up Black Hammer and Ghost World of all things and awards as a coda to Ghost World while still telling a story of Gail for the Black Hammer universe. Absolutely wonderful. I was completely surprised by this. Did not see this coming from Patton Oswalt at all. Really good one-shot comic book. Pete:                Patton Oswalt, really getting into the comic book game. Justin:              Yeah, I was really impressed with this. This wasn't just a comedian doing bits. This was really smart, very moving stuff, such a cool story, the way everything tied in and fit with this world. I was really impressed with this. I really liked the setting of it. I thought it was great. The art's glorious. Alex:                 Yeah, really good stuff. Next, oh God. Pete:                I agree as well. Sorry. Really got into the fact that he was able to bring Ghost World into it, was clearly something that he loves. He's got some Amy Mann quote lyrics from at the end of the book and still be telling a story that fits seamlessly into this world and is fun, funny with good reveals. It's really great. Alex:                 Let's jump into our Future State block, where we talk about all of the books that have come out for future change. Justin:              Oh yeah. Alex:                 And just to read down the list this week, we've got Future State, Dark Detective, number three. Future State Teen Titans, number two. Future State [inaudible 00:16:38], number two. Future State Superman and Wonder Woman, number two. Future State Green Lantern number two. Future State Justice League, number two. And Future State [inaudible 00:16:46] Superwoman, number two. I got to admit, I'm a little slightly with Pete here where they definitely hit me this week where I was like, “Oh, there's a lot of books we're reading, oh boy.” Justin:              Yes. It is a lot, but- Alex:                 Fuck this guy- Justin:              The stories are, so they get to- Alex:                 [inaudible 00:17:01]- Justin:              Go off in a lot of different directions. And if we're going to dive into our faves I'm going to give it up for Future State Justice League number two, which I really liked the way they went here by having the white Martian takeover. And it became about all the different heroes identities, and the fact that they need to connect with each other or else nothing, or else they're just weaker as a team. And I liked that as a theme, it was something I didn't see coming really in the last issue they laid it out and this really paid it off. I thought it was just really well done. Pete:                Yeah. I completely agree. I love Justice League, amazing art, The White Martian story was great. And also having Joe, the new Green Lantern, he was the best Green Lantern of all time. It was just fantastic. And it made the book so much better and the backup story was great. Magic is hope motherfuckers, I thought that was great. I thought [inaudible 00:18:03]- Justin:              The Justice League dark story. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 The other thing I mentioned that I thought it was interesting about this week is we're getting two things here, right? One, we're getting the wrap-up of these future state stories, but also we're getting teases for what's down the road. And DC has started to announce that some of these titles are continuing in different forums. For example, Wonder Woman is continuing as Wonder Girls, or we're going to get that there. Alex:                 I think, I'm forgetting which other ones are going to continue, but certainly there's teases at the end of a couple of these for how they're going to flesh out in different storylines. Green Lantern number two ends with the tease of Green Lantern 2021, which does seem again, Joe, from- Pete:                Oh, yeah- Alex:                 Fire sector is going to be fighting Hell Jordan in the subway. So that should be fun to watch. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 The one that- Justin:              Great crew- Alex:                 Really jumped out to me, I love the first issue of this, and I love the second issue of this too. Future States Superman, Wonder Woman, which is of course, teaming up the characters, but sending them off on these very different stories, Superman fighting Solaris, [inaudible 00:19:00]. Wonder Woman trying to have a race around the universe with the Sun God from her culture. I just really liked how these characters related. I thought there was a fun tone to it. The art was really nice as well, and it felt like an enjoyable all ages title, but with these new Superman, Wonder Woman characters and it made me really delighted to potentially follow them going forward. Justin:              I agree. And this felt really mythological, the whole thing felt it could have been something in the back of an Edith Hamilton book that you read in school and were pleasantly surprised how much a comic book it was. Pete:                Oh, wow. I really liked Kara Zor-El Superwoman, number two. The art was just so phenomenal and I really liked the character design for Superwoman amazing, just cool [inaudible 00:19:57] like dragons. Very enjoyable. I've been enjoying that series as well. Alex:                 Now let me ask you Pete, at the end of this book we leave Kara Zor-El buried next to her dog Krypto. Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Would you feel if you were awesome shared a grave with them a dog, would you be like, “That's it.” Or in your case, I guess it'd be a cat. Pete:                Well, currently, I mean, don't put shit like that out there. I don't want my cat to die, but- Alex:                 I'm not saying your cat's going to die, but someday it will. Pete:                Oh, that's fucking heartbreaking, man. Justin:              Is your cat like a [inaudible 00:20:32] where if your cat dies, you have to be buried alive with the cat? Alex:                 Yes. Pete:                I hope not. I don't want to do that, but yeah, I love that. I thought that was super sweet. Alex:                 Sorry man your cats live at will, it's going to happen. I have your cat's [inaudible 00:20:51]- Justin:              You can't sign it with a [inaudible 00:20:52]- Pete:                My cat can't read. So it's going to be fine. Justin:              The cat doesn't have to read, [inaudible 00:20:57]- Alex:                 I explained it very clearly to your cat, your cat agreed- Justin:              Put a little ink print. Pete:                [inaudible 00:21:03] my cat then, I'll see you in court. Justin:              Lapage versus Whiskers of some sort. All the way to the Supreme court, what's your cat's name? Pete. Pete:                It's a very long name. I call her Caboots. Alex:                 Why are you being secrective about this? Justin:              Do we not have time to get into this? Pete:                It's a very long name. Justin:              Okay. Are you worried about threading tape on it? Because I talked to the engineer and we actually have the tape. We can run it. So go ahead. Lay out the whole name, I guess. Pete:                Okay, fine. It's kitten NASCA of the Valley of the wind Lapage Thomas. Justin:              Aw, that's very cute. Alex:                 That's very cool. Pete:                I call her Caboots. Justin:              Well, I look forward to visiting your grave in the Valley of the wind. Pete:                Nice. Justin:              Your shared grave. Alex:                 Alright. Why don't we move on from Future State and talk about critical Role Vox Mac- Pete:                Wait- Alex:                 Oh, there's other things you wanted to talk about? Pete:                Yeah it's- Alex:                 We've got also Dark Detective. We've got Teen Titans. We got [inaudible 00:22:07] Turtle. Pete:                Yeah. I wanted to talk about Dark Detective. I really thought it was a great issue. Justin:              It's great. Pete:                I love this tech Batman versus future Batman. The two designs are really cool and it's fun to see them go head to head. And to [inaudible 00:22:27] guys so drones are scary and I'm just putting that out there now. Drones are going to be very scary in the future. Justin:              Yeah. You mean the nano drones that are hovering right around your head even as we speak. Pete:                Yeah. I'm sure they're out there, but also I checked out a DC Love is a Battlefield. [crosstalk 00:22:47]. There was very durable. They did a lot of coupling up for Valentine's day. And Tim Seeley did a Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn love story. It was just so great. So touching. Justin:              It is amazing how you do this every week and in such an odd way. I really liked Dark Detective as well. The front story has been one of my favorites of this run. And just a quick rundown of the rest, Green Lantern too, I thought the setup for the next issues, I was really into the Green Lantern 2021 coming forward with how Jordan felt like a nice starting point going forward. And I liked the Robin Eternal issue here as well with Tim Drake, really suffering from some juicy Lazarus problems. Alex:                 I agree. Next up, critical role [inaudible 00:23:37] series three, number one from Dark Horse Comics written by Jody Houser, art by Oliver Samson in this book, we're getting a bunch of fantasy stuff is happening. What did you guys think? I'm sorry. I'm just not very familiar with critical role. So I read this and I was like, “Yes, this is a fantasy world.” But funny. I get it. Pete:                Yeah. I think this is a fun adventure book, a bunch of people teaming up going on adventures. Joining fight clubs. I thought the arts fantastic. Some fun storytelling. I thought this was a cool team to get behind. I'm very excited to see where this goes. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I was concerned with the fight club that they fight in teams and how do you really judge on a team? If we were to fight another trio, how would we know we were an evenly balanced team? Pete:                If we won, we would be good. Alex:                 So Pete is the tank, right? Justin:              Yeah, that's what we say off mic. Alex:                 Justin, you're the thief, you're quick and sneaky. Justin:              That's okay. Alex:                 And I'm white like [inaudible 00:24:45]- Pete:                You're the evil mastermind. Justin:              You're the baby hands- Alex:                 Baby hands. Justin:              Every trio has them- Alex:                 Crucial. Pete:                The tank, the thief- Justin:              Yeah, you're a boss baby [crosstalk 00:24:55]- Alex:                 I'm a muscle. Pete:                Justin's [inaudible 00:24:58]- Alex:                 I'm a boss baby back in business. Justin:              Now streaming on Netflix- Pete:                Justin's a face man. He can talk his way into anything. Alex:                 There we go. Justin:              We're quite a trio. None of those things we're fighting by the way just so we're clear. Alex:                 Thunderbolts, number two for Marvel Comics written by Matthew Rosenberg, art by Van Ferrari. This is tying into the King and Black event. Lots of goopy stuff going on this week- Justin:              Goopy- Alex:                 More [inaudible 00:25:21] to come. Here we get a bunch of villains, have tried to rescue maybe, or work with Norman Osborn to find out some information from him. So they spent a lot of time in Raven Croft. I always want to say Arkham, but it's not Arkham, it's Raven Croft. Justin:              It's close. Alex:                 And it's super fun as usual. Justin:              How could you mix those two up Alex? How would you mix those two things up? Alex:                 They're two- Justin:              It's impossible. There are two very different in [inaudible 00:25:45] in two very different universes. Alex:                 You right, I'm sorry. Super fun bits in here, in particular. And I feel Matthew Rosenberg is just writing for the bits for some of these things where just, what is it? Mister Fear says something to Kingpin. He doesn't realize he's of the zoom and Kingpin is, “Hey, Taskmaster you're here.” And he's, “Yeah.” He's like, “Okay, punch Mister Fear.” And he punches Mister Fear, Norman Osborn getting too close to the zoom and his whole face filling it, just fun, it's a fun book to read. I had a blast reading it across the board. Pete:                Yeah. I think he does great on team books. This was fun. I also really to see Taskmaster around, so I thought this was a lot of fun, great kingpin stuff. The art's great. This is just a fun book. Justin:              Yeah. It's a great mix of real good comic storytelling, good fights. Character-driven stuff, even characters we don't really see a lot. I really liked this new star character that the series that we read six months ago now. Seeing her hair, it's great. Really well-written but also very fun, funny, and still tying into this goopy old crossover. Pete:                And also, you got to be wary if you just find… Nobody's just taking a nap in the bush. You got to be careful. That's all I'm saying. I don't want to give things away, but that was creepy. Alex:                 I hope this comic continues. I don't know if it will, but this is the sort of thing where I could see Wilson Fisk having a bunch of villains going on disposable missions. Most of them getting killed, not coming back alive, betray each other. It's suicide squad without the bombs in the head, but it's fun to read and he's writing the hell out of it. So I'll definitely read more. Alex:                 Next up Undiscovered Country, number 12 from Image Comics written by Scott Snyder and Charles Soul art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Leonardo and Marcello Grassi. This is tying up the second arc of this book, unity in a huge fashion, propelling us into the next arc of the book. This is a wild ride as usual, incredible visuals throughout. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Particularly with this issue, we had Scott on the show a little while ago and he was talking about how he and Charles are writing the movie. I do not know how they're writing a movie of this. It's just so big. Everything that happens. Justin:              It would be crazy to boil this arc down to one set piece. Because that's what it would have to be, sort of. I would think. Pete:                I don't know how- Justin:              The comic, you get the emotional beats are here, it's wild storytelling. There are so many ideas here. I mean, it's the same stuff we always compliment this book about, but they just continue to really find the balance of giving this… In this book, there's this very wild escape. It plays a Super Mario kart race for a portion of it. But then you get this really great heartfelt moment where to the main characters, the brother and sister are talking to their images of their parents and it's great. Pete:                Yeah. There's so much to this comic. There's so much happening. It can be a little crazy, but man, does it deliver? And the big monster aspect in this issue was just glorious and so cool that a six shooter was really crazy. This was really cool also, they thought this place that they're out was one thing and it turned out to be something different, really great ideas going on in this book. Pete:                I mean, I did think it was a little bit like, “All right, when it's these young kids.” And they're like, “This is old technology, the first iPod, how do you even use this?” I was, “Okay. All right.” But really impressive fun stuff. Art's really unbelievable. This continues to be such a scratch your head, what's happening, but then delivers really well. Justin:              Yeah. And the last page reveal is just a hundred percent fun. Alex:                 It's great stuff- Justin:              It's like, “Okay. Yeah, let's get fun.” Alex:                 I'm in, I'm on board. Love it. Can't wait for the next arc. Next up, The Last, Witch, number two for BoomBox written by- Justin:              Oh man- Alex:                 Connor MCcury art by [inaudible 00:30:09]. You guys have been buzzing about this book. Pete:                [inaudible 00:30:13]. This book is buzzing. This book is so good- Alex:                 Buzzing. First. So we got a girl in a small town heading off to a witch's tower. Just wants to check it out a little bit, things pick up and this issue where I was, “Did I miss an issue? Is this issue, number three, what's going on here?” Because this is insane from the first page with witches eating people and powers and everything. What do you guys about this book in particular? Pete:                Well first off, the art is really unbelievable. It feels like an amazing animation and still form… The characters designed in the witches and the faces and the different kind of glowing things in them are really cool. This is moving, it's intense, it's sentimental. The little part where the kid is like, “I told you, it was so awesome.” Yeah, I'm really impressed with this book. I didn't think I would like it so much. The grandma smoking a cigar is glorious. Justin:              You love a good grandma, who doesn't love a good grandma? Alex:                 You love a grandma. And you Pete, you know that's a blunt dude, you know she's [inaudible 00:31:20]. Justin:              She's far from [inaudible 00:31:22] bro- Alex:                 She even says, she's like, “Let's get this Juniper going around the room.” Justin:              Honestly. I know we're joking about it, but Pete, you are very into grandma's and comics from this to watching Future. I'm sure there's a couple of others I'm forgetting- Alex:                 And real life. He loves a grandma. Justin:              You should release your own podcast where you count down the top 10 grandmas of all time. Pete:                Oh that'd be cool. I could do it. But yeah, I think this book really took me by surprise and is really impressive. I cannot wait for more. Each issue continues to give us such a great movement for the story. Yeah. I'm really impressed. Justin:              I love the art in this a lot. It reminds me of some classic Ralph [inaudible 00:32:08] animation style getting in like, the old habit series back in the day. And to your question earlier, Alex, why we think it's such a buzz, buzz, buzzy book. It moves quickly. It's both fun, lighthearted, welcoming us into this world. It's scary at times. But it's always just driving the story forward in a well done, confident way. It's just a good book. There's a little mystery going on at the end. We get a lot of mythology building here and cabins in the woods. Watch out. Alex:                 Yeah. All right, everybody that has been our buzz-buzz busy [inaudible 00:32:48] book of the week. Let's move on and talk about American Vampire 1976, number five from TC Comics written by Scott Snyder, art by Rafael Albuquerque. Talk about things getting big- Justin:              [inaudible 00:32:59]- Alex:                 In this issue, our heroes are fighting a bunch of giants, encounter a council of vampires, tons of mythology dump in this issue are going on here as we're on to the end game, seemingly of American Vampire. Another great issue, but it's just wild to me that we are so far into the road of this book and they're still laying down huge pieces of the mythology. It's very impressive. Justin:              Yeah. And it all fits. It all feels very deliberate and they've done a great job of setting up a villain that is worse than everything else we've seen it before. And the way that they're able to keep, Skinner's such a central part of this character just by the fact that he's been devamped and he's just sort of, “Ah, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just hanging around.” And he's still such a fun character, is great. Pete:                Yeah. Scott Snyder knows what the fuck he's doing when it comes to writing comic books, because this is really impressive, so well done. After all these arcs you would think that maybe the ideas would get a little, “All right, we're going to try.” But man just delivers hard on every issue. The last panel reveal on this was really unbelievable. I can't say enough about the art. These two teaming up is just magic. Alex:                 Next up Black Panther, Keegan Black, number one written by Jeffery Thorn art by Jermaine Peralta in this issue, as you can probably imagine these symbionts are attacking Wakanda and they start to fight back. What'd you think about this issue? Another book that feels it was inspired by, “Hey, what characters have black in their name? Let's put them in the Black King and Black Event.” But personally I think it panned out a lot better than you might expect based on that. Pete:                I was really impressed with this book. Also, I didn't expect to get choked up but there was a moment where Black Panther and Siri see each other and give each other a hug. And I got a little choked up because I was, “That's never going to happen in TV or movies and we're never going to get to see that.” And it got me a little bit, which I wasn't ready for. Justin:              It's funny you say that Pete, because I was thinking the same thing. It's so rare, I think in a comic book, where from the adaptation to the movie has such an effect on reading the comic book going forward. Because I do feel, when I see Black Panther, I'm just, “Oh, there's a loss there.” Pete:                Yeah, It's tough yeah- Justin:              I view the character in the way that it's never happened to me before. And I just can't imagine it has happened before. And to see this, I don't know, does that harm the Black Panther character in the Marvel universe? The fact that Chadwick Boseman was such an icon for the role and then died. And is it going to stay with us for forever? I guess would say. Pete:                I wonder because it's like, the comic came first. They should be able to do what they want, but man, it was just… I was having a hard time reading it. I was really getting choked up and being, “Ah, I don't know, what did you just say? Series Black Panther and not kind of deal with it just so you don't have these kinds of reactions.” But that doesn't seem fair. Alex:                 I do think there's something to be said. I agree with you guys. I had the exact same reaction emotionally and there was a brief thought of you're saying, Pete, should they retire to Tchala as Black Panther for a while? Which sounds insane. But just to get around that uncomfortable sad reaction that you have, but I would say no, you keep it going because it is a tribute to how powerful he was as the character that even though he passed away in a very untimely manner, the character continues and it does pay a tribute to him by continuing to exist, by continuing to have these ventures. And as long as they keep being good and they keep treating the character in a good way, that does pay tribute to Chadwick Boseman's performance in a back way as well. Pete:                Now I do want to talk a little bit about this issue, not you know talking about that. I thought this was a great issue of Black Panther, lot of cool things and the call back to one of Black Panthers enemies was such a cool idea to help stop this menace. I was really impressed with the writing on this and there's really cool, beast showdowns here. Yeah. Wow. What an awesome issue. What amazing art. This was really cool. Alex:                 Next up Bliss, number five from Image Comics written by Sean Lewis, art by Caitlin Yarsky. In this issue, we're getting a bunch of backstory about what's going on with our father character who was going up against the main antagonist of this book. We find out how he broke out of the hold of this drug. I guess you can call it a drug. Bliss, how he worked his way forward. Meanwhile, we're following his son as he is trying to track down his dad, I believe. Still some incredible imagining coming out of this book, even five issues in. Justin:              This reminded me of, and maybe this is a stretch. Do tell me. It's a reverse never-ending story? Alex:                 Oh wow. Interesting. Justin:              I guess it's just like the never ending story. The dad is going on the adventure and the kid is [inaudible 00:38:35] hearing the dad adventure. Pete:                That's a way to reverse Everett Dick story, as [crosstalk 00:38:43]- Alex:                 You said, the kid being directed to the drug, it's the dad and then- Justin:              What I was thinking about was the fact that it's the dad going on the adventure and the kid is hearing this stories- Pete:                Riding a dragon means drugs. And then- Alex:                 I always describe, I don't know if you guys do this too, but I always describe 13, going on 30 is a double reverse pig. Pete:                Exactly. And you talk about that a lot, especially in your work as a critic. Yeah. Alex:                 I try to relate everything back to 13 going on 30 if I can. Pete:                Seven a movie. Yeah, I thought this was a really beautiful issue. Unbelievable. This story continues to move forward in a great way. You go from absolutely hating this dad to maybe there's something that could be done. Yeah, I'm just really impressed with this story. And then fun kind of join us next time. And they got the AOC with the scales of justice. I thought that was crazy cool. Alex:                 What? Pete:                The character designs are very interesting. Justin:              I will say to Pete's point, I don't think it's actually AOC, but the woman in the preview for next issue looks just like AOC. Pete:                It's AOC dude. Alex:                 Next step Orcs, number one from Kaboom written by and art by Christine Larson. This is pretty much you could do that you could expect from the title. It's a bunch of adventure in Orcs. [inaudible 00:40:07] it's Kaboom, it is very all ages. I thought this was a delightful, fun book to read with some great character designs. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Pete, I imagine given its similarity to other things like Head Lopper and whatnot, you might've liked it as well? Pete:                Oh, I really loved it. I especially loved the first story, thought it was really cool. It's fun to see things that are cute be violent. But man, it was fun- Justin:              Yes. Are you Soggy or Jimbo that little bunny? Pete:                Yeah. I think that… Don't call him little. You [inaudible 00:40:41]- Justin:              Oh, I thought you weren't going to take the bait and then you did. [crosstalk 00:40:45]- Pete:                It was like that fish that swims by, and you're, “Wow, I missed it.” And then it's, “What's that? Is that a worm?” Justin:              [crosstalk 00:40:53]. Fish. I love worms. I'm a fish. I love worms even though I never encounter them because I live in the water. But let try that worm it's exotic to me, because it lives over the ground. Pete:                Yeah. The arts in this is really cool. It's all ages, but really it doesn't feel it's pandering to children or anything like that. There's a lot of cool action and adventure. I think this is a cool book. Alex:                 What I like about this is, it's an Orc, never ending story. Pete:                I thought it to be more of a 13 going on 30 myself. Oh wow. Justin:              I really did like this. Especially the first bit that ends up being the grandma Orc telling a story, Pete. Grandma Orc you must be just basically coming in your pants because you've seen grandma here. Pete:                I wouldn't go that far, but then I like how the grandma trips out a little bit. That was fun. Story times over, I'm getting fucked up. Alex:                 I'm sorry, just to ask, would you not let me go that far to edge her about grandmas. Let's go down. Pete:                What? What did you say? Alex:                 Nevermind. It's not important. Justin:              [inaudible 00:42:24] broke man. Pete:                Anyway. Good book. Justin:              [inaudible 00:42:27] book. Pete:                [inaudible 00:42:28], I'm fine. Justin:              You're trying to take the baton, Pete? Pete:                I don't know. Yeah. Justin:              Some are homesick pilots- Alex:                 Yeah. Go for it. Number six, Pilots Image Comics written by Dead Waters, art by Casper Winguard. We've been really enjoying this book, I think it's so many things at the same time, but essentially it's about a girl in a punk band, maybe a heavy metal band who discovers a haunted house has to recover a bunch of ghosts, but it's so much more than that. So many different things going on. It ramps up the premise at exactly what's happening. Every single issue ends with a wild visual at the end here. This is great. I really enjoy reading this. Justin:              Yeah, me too. It was one of my favorite new books out there. Talk about visuals, the visual of the sort of videotape ghost. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              It was haunting. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              I want to see that for sure. I want to see that in some movie or film or TV show. So good. Pete:                Yeah. I also really liked lessons in this, they're like, “Yo, if you're going to join a band, it is hard, it is grueling and you might get trapped in a house and not be able to make it out.” So you got to be ready for that. Also don't fucking go into other people's houses. All right. It's not going to end well. Justin:              Two lessons. Pete:                But the art is just fantastic and they really try different, the crackly, black panels that they have that look an old book in the middle of the comic is just really cool and creepy and sets this cool tone. They keep using this shot of this window in this creepy house almost looking like it's about to explode. I'm really impressed with what they're doing with this book creatively and how they're telling this story. It keeps being just fantastic every issue. Alex:                 Great stuff. If you'd like to support our show, patrion.com/comic book club, also we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and more at comicbooklive on Twitter. Until next time. Keep those grandma's coming, Pete, can't get it up. Pete:                What are you doing? Justin:              Enjoy your marathon of Golden Girls Pete. You're going to fucking love it. Pete:                You're weird man. The post The Stack: Radiant Black, Sweet Tooth And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome back! We have a packed episode this week! We discuss Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2, Future State: Wonder Woman #2, Future State: Swamp Thing #2, Future State: The Next Batman #3, Star Wars: The High Republic #2, Avengers #42, The Legend of Shang-Chi #1, King in Black: Marauders #1, King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #2 and Hellions #9. This week's Panel topic is all about love! We discuss comic book relationships and talk about which we like and which we don't. We definitely have different lists! We are back with Another Relaunch! LZ gives some ideas for a forgotten robot and Keenan relaunches one of his favorite characters! Thanks for listening! We really appreciate all the support! Feel free to contact us! Twitter - Another Relaunch - Keenan -LZ or via email anotherrelaunch@gmail.com

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs look into prior criminal history. Mongol is not happy that Diana did not kill Artemis in Sensational Wonder Woman #4. It doesn't matter if your black or white in Batman Black & White #2. Starlet's identity is revealed in Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #4. Mr. Terrific and Batman uncover the truth about the Pykkts in Strange Adventures #8. Mal Duncan and Karen Beecher-Duncan tell their story in The Other History of the DC Universe #2. Jackson and Andy go swimming in the galactic ocean in Future State: Aquaman #1. Superman comes to Gotham and learns about the Magistrate in Future State: Batman/Superman #1. We learn what happened to Bruce Wayne in Future State: Dark Detective #2. It' time to get the gang back together in Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1. The Suicide Squad must bring back Amanda Waller from Earth-3 in Future State: Suicide Squad #1. Superman goes to Lex Luthor's planet in Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1. All this plus, DC News, DC TV, Cletus's pick of the week, and much, much more! ------------------------ Table of Contents 0:00:00 Show Open 0:02:02 DC News 0:14:05 Sensational Wonder Woman #4 0:16:22 Batman Black & White #2 0:26:38 Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #4 0:28:27 Strange Adventures #8 0:32:44 The Other History of the DC Universe #2 0:36:44 Future State: Aquaman #1 0:40:12 Future State: Batman/Superman #1 0:42:24 Future State: Dark Detective #2 0:49:00 Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 0:52:00 Future State: Suicide Squad #1 1:26:00 Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1 1:04:54 Batwoman S2 Ep2 – Prior Criminal History 1:10:48 Show Close   Links Sensational Wonder Woman #4 Batman Black & White #2 Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn #4 Strange Adventures #8 The Other History of the DC Universe #2 Future State: Aquaman #1 Future State: Batman/Superman #1 Future State: Dark Detective #2 Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes #1 Future State: Suicide Squad #1 Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex #1 Hawkeye by Matt Fraction and David Aja (Cletus's Read More Comics Pick) Earth Station One Tales of the Station Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2 The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn Want to Donate to the Show or Sponsor our Comics Talk for this week? No problem! Just click on the donate button below! If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

The best thing about a late episode is that the next episode comes sooner! Episode #238 is light on comics but that's ok because it's heavy on everything else. Chad brings up George Lucas, Jean-Luc talks about his new Lego stream and Alex shills for Liquid Death Mountain Water! The comics they do talk about are a mixed bag because they include Future State: Aquaman #1 and Future State: Superman vs. Imperius Lex, but there's also Department of Truth #4,#5 which more than makes up for the mediocrity. Also we miss Emily and await her return in two episodes time.

¡Es hora de echar el chisme con los cómics de la semana! Esta es la edición más larga del programa en un sólo respiro... tuvimos que ir a sentarnos en un hilo de cortar queso porque se nos borró la rayita de tanto estar sentados. Como todas las cosas buenas, mejor consúmanlo por partes. DC COMICS - (3:35) Future State: The Next Batman #3, Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2, Future State: Wonder Woman #2, Future State: The Flash #2, Future State: Swamp Thing #2, Future State: Harley Quinn #2, Man-Bat #1, Far Sector #10 (Young Animal), Hellblazer: Rise and Fall #3 (DC Black Label) MANGA - (64:44) Demon Slayer #12 (Panini México) Menciones: Oyasumi Punpun #4 (Panini México) MARVEL - (77:47) Venom #32 y #33, King in Black: Marauders #1, King in Black: Gwenom vs. Carnage #2, Legend of Shang-Chi #1, The Immortal Hulk #43, Runaways #33, Strange Academy #8, Hellions #9, X-Factor #7 (Dije un spoiler. Si quieren eviten el final

The best thing about a late episode is that the next episode comes sooner! Episode #238 is light on comics but that's ok because it's heavy on everything else. Chad brings up George Lucas, Jean-Luc talks about his new Lego stream and Alex shills for Liquid Death Mountain Water! The comics they do talk about are a mixed bag because they include Future State: Aquaman #1 and Future State: Superman vs. Imperius Lex, but there's also Department of Truth #4,#5 which more than makes up for the mediocrity. Also we miss Emily and await her return in two episodes time.

The best thing about a late episode is that the next episode comes sooner! Episode #238 is light on comics but that's ok because it's heavy on everything else. Chad brings up George Lucas, Jean-Luc talks about his new Lego stream and Alex shills for Liquid Death Mountain Water! The comics they do talk about are a mixed bag because they include Future State: Aquaman #1 and Future State: Superman vs. Imperius Lex, but there's also Department of Truth #4,#5 which more than makes up for the mediocrity. Also we miss Emily and await her return in two episodes time.

The boys encounter their first 'Future State' week without a #1, and begin to lament the rushed nature of most of these second issues. Issues discussed:"Future State: The Flash "#2"Future State: Harley Quinn" #2"Future State: The Next Batman" #3"Future State: Superman of Metropolis" #2"Future State: Swamp Thing" #2"Future State: Wonder Woman "#2

We are at the final week of (mostly) new titles! The boys dig into the titles of the week, as well as reflect on the April Solicitations and the overall shape of DC in 2021.Titles Discussed:"Future State: Aquaman" #1"Future State: Batman/Superman" #1"Future State: Dark Detective" #2"Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes" #1"Future State: Suicide Squad" #1"Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex" #1

This Week on Earth Station DCU! Drew Leiter and Cletus Jacobs realize the future is now! The Clownhunter turns to Leslie Thompkins for help in Batman Annual #5. Diana becomes a wife in Sensational Wonder Woman #1. Endless Winter ends in Justice League: Endless Winter #2. The heroes fight their dopplegangers in Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1. Wonder Woman takes on the Dark Knight in Dark Nights: Death Metal #7. Kamandi, boy of the future, must take on a mission as he rescues heroes from time in Generations Shattered #1. Harley Quinn helps Jonathan Crane catch some bad guys in Future State: Harley Quinn #1. Jon Kent bottles up his problems in Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1. Swamp Thing goes searching for humans in Future State: Swamp Thing #1. Powerless, Team Flash must stop Wally in Future State: The Flash #1. Gotham has become a very dangerous place for those with masks in Future State: The Next Batman #1. Yara Flor goes on a mission to save her sister warrior in Future State: Wonder Woman #1. All this plus, DC News, Cletus's pick of the week, and much, much more! ------------------------ Table of Contents 0:00:00 Show Open 0:01:55 DC News 0:07:31 Batman Annual #5 0:11:25 Sensational Wonder Woman #1 0:15:02 Jutice League: Endless Winter #2 0:20:53 Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1 0:23:20 Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 0:27:32 Generations Shattered #1 0:35:14 Future State: Harley Quinn #1 0:37:22 Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 0:41:31 Future State: Swamp Thing #1 0:44:55 Future State: The Flash #1 0:47:24 Future State: The Next Batman #1 0:58:07 Show Close   Links Batman Annual #5 Sensational Wonder Woman #1 Jutice League: Endless Winter #2 Dark Nights: Death Metal The Last 52: War of the Multiverses #1 Dark Nights: Death Metal #7 Generations Shattered #1 Future State: Harley Quinn #1 Future State: Superman of Metropolis #1 Future State: Swamp Thing #1 Future State: The Flash #1 Future State: The Next Batman #1 Future State: Wonder Woman #1 Earth Station One Tales of the Station Earth Station One Tales of the Station Vol. 2 The Chameleon Chronicles: Colors of Fate The Chameleon Chronicles: Sisters of the Thorn Want to Donate to the Show or Sponsor our Comics Talk for this week? No problem! Just click on the donate button below! If you would like to leave feedback, comment on the show, or would like us to give you a shout out, please call the ESDCU feedback line at (317) 564-9133 (remember long distance charges may apply) or feel free to email us @ earthstationdcu@gmail.com

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

It is finally here! 'Future State' has begun in earnest, and the boys dig into the first six books.Titles discussed:"Future State: The Next Batman" #1"Future State: The Flash" #1"Future State: Harley Quinn" #1"Future State: Superman of Metropolis" #1"Future State: Swamp Thing" #1"Future State: Wonder Woman" #1