Podcast appearances and mentions of mike huddleston

On my weekly livestream, Comic Book Herald Live, I review the week's most interesting comics and related news, and answer your big questions LIVE. This week: Today, we go all in on Three Moons / Three Worlds, the new sci-fi comics universe from Jonathan Hickman, Mike Del Mundo and Mike Huddleston. This is year 3 […] The post Hickman’s 3 Moons/3 Worlds Comics Deep Dive w/ Spike Stonehand! | CBH Live appeared first on Comic Book Herald.

Continuing what seems to be an unintentional trend on our podcast, we're here to discuss yet another science fiction comic. This week, we're talking about Decorum, by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston! This is a story about the most well-mannered assassin in the known universe. Beyond that, we initially struggled to figure out what this comic was really about. However, throughout the course of our conversation in this episode, we eventually wrestled through the text and came to a general understanding of it. (We think.) If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or corrections, we're here. Feel free to hit us up on our socials, or email us! We have a Linktree here: linktr.ee/betweenthegutters Thanks again to Corey J. Beats for producing our theme music. Check out all of his music on various platforms here: linktr.ee/Coreyjbeats

Mike fell on the sidewalk, and wasn't able to get up on his own. Then a kind stranger asked how he could help. Do you have your own story of an unsung hero? We'd love to hear it! Record a voice memo and email it to us at myunsunghero@hiddenbrain.org. Some guidance:--Focus on ONE moment that you will never forget. --Make sure you're in a quiet, non-echoey room.--Speak conversationally, like you're talking to a friend.--Let us know why this person continues to impact your life.--If your hero were standing front of you today, what would you say? Address them directly.-- Here are some tips on how to make a great recording on your phone.Thank you! 

For 55 more minutes of this episode, which includes our discussion of Avengers #101 and Amazing Adventures #13, as well as our HOT TAKES about Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston's Decorum, support us at patreon.com/marvelbythemonth. Subscribers at the $4/month level get instant access to our bonus feed of content that contains nearly 60 extended and exclusive episodes — with more being added every week! Deep Dives in this Episode: "The Birth of... the Gibbon!" - Amazing Spider-Man #110, written by Stan Lee, art by John Romita, ©1972 Marvel Comics Quick Summaries in this Episode: "Panic on Park Avenue" - Captain America #151, written by Gerry Conway, art by Sal Buscema and Vince Colletta, ©1972 Marvel Comics"Crisis!" - Daredevil #89, written by Gerry Conway, art by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, ©1972 Marvel Comics"The Return of the Monster!" - Fantastic Four #124, written by Stan Lee, art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott, ©1972 Marvel Comics"The World, My Jury!" - Incredible Hulk #153, written by Gary Friedrich and Roy Thomas, art by Dick Ayers, Herb Trimpe, and John Severin, ©1972 Marvel Comics"The Fury and the Inferno!" - Iron Man #48, written by Mike Friedrich, art by George Tuska and Vince Colletta, ©1972 Marvel Comics"The Incredible Shrinking Doom!" - Marvel Feature #4, written by Mike Friedrich, art by Herb Trimpe, ©1972 Marvel Comics"While the World Spins Mad!" - Marvel Premiere #3, written by Stan Lee and Barry Smith, art by Barry Smith and Dan Adkins, ©1972 Marvel Comics"Armageddon -- At Fifty Fathoms Full!" - Sub-Mariner #51, written by Bill Everett and Mike Friedrich, art by Bill Everett, ©1972 Marvel Comics"Resurrection!" - Thor #201, written by Gerry Conway, art by John Buscema and Jim Mooney, ©1972 Marvel Comics "Marvel by the Month" theme v. 3.0 by Robb Milne, sung by Barb Allen. All incidental music by Robb Milne.Visit us on internet at marvelbythemonth.com, follow us on Instagram at @marvelbythemonthand Twitter at @MarvelBTM, and support us on Patreon at patreon.com/marvelbythemonth.Much of our historical context information comes from Wikipedia. Please join us in supporting them at wikimediafoundation.org. And many thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics, an invaluable resource for release dates and issue information.

On this episode we gather around the mic to talk about Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston's Decorum. Before that we also talk about the return of Bad Idea comics as well as what we've been reading including Twig, Chip Zdarsky's Batman, Step By Bloody Step, 8 Billion Genies, Orphan and the Five Beasts and more.

The Three Worlds/Three Moons crew of Mike Del Mundo, Jonathan Hickman, and Mike Huddleston join Off Panel for a chat at this year's Emerald City Comic Con about their Substack-based concept universe. The 3W3M crew discusses the first year of the experience, how different it feels, live creation, what guides their decision making, letting the work speak for itself, crediting themselves as 3W3M, being unleashed as creators, interacting with the community, and more.

Journey with us as we review an original, creator owned graphic novel: Decorum by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston published by Image Comics. Known for writing galaxy spanning stories in the world of Marvel with Secret Warriors, Fantastic Four, Avengers and the X-Men Hickman takes on a new quest with rich detail and interesting plot development. Decorum follows the story of Neha, a young delivery girl trying to take care of her family who gets rescued from by Imogen an experienced assassin who recruits her to train in the art of assassination. However, the scale of who, what and the stakes of their missions evolve over the course of this epic journey. This 8 issue Eisner Nominated series goes on a wild cosmic thrill seeking ride and we're here for it.

Episode#302-Hector, Ian, Matt and Jason answer the question to life, the universe and everything! Also discussed on this episode: Star Trek Strange New Worlds, Obi Wan Kenobi trailers, Decorum #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Mike Huddleston, Barry streaming on HBO Max, an update on our Rotten on the Vine game...and a whole mess more!For all things Mind Grenade: MindGrenadeStudios.com Leave us an e-mail at MGTwenty14@gmail.com 

Mike Del Mundo and Mike Huddleston, part of the 3 Worlds/3 Moons collective from Substack, join Off Panel this week to talk about bringing that concept universe to life. Del Mundo and Huddleston discuss the 3 Worlds/3 Moons experience, the extra things that come with Substack, managing a business, designing for other artists, how design informs the story, the origins of 3W3M, little details, how big the plan is, freedom, their approach to design, working with Jonathan Hickman, casting guest artists, biggest surprises from the experience, how it feels from the inside, and more.

Cari Lettori

Brennan joins Bobby Brujah and DJ Deava in this weeks review of Damnation City!CreditsWritten by: Justin Achilli, Russell Bailey, Stephen DiPesa, Ray Fawkes, Will Hindmarch, Howard David Ingham, Robin Laws, Robert Vaughn, and Chuck WendigDeveloper: Will HindmarchCreative Director: Rich ThomasProduction Manager: Matt MilbergerEditor: Scribendi.comPrince of the City Designed by: Mike NuddArt Director: Matt Milberger and Craig S GrantBook Design: Craig S GrantCover Design: Matt MilbergerInterior Art: Sam Araya, Tom Biondolillo, Avery Butterworth, Craig S Grant, Will & Sara Hindmarch, Mike Huddleston, Becky Jollensten, Mathias Kollros, Patrick McEvoy, Justin Norman, Nick Stakal, Arend Stührmann, Andy Trabbold, Chad Michael Ward (with Justin Erickson), and Fred & Rachel Yelk WoodruffCover Art: Tomasz Jedruszek Purchase it here: Damnation CitySupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/25yearsofvampirethemasquerade/posts)

In this week's episode of Off Panel, writer Jonathan Hickman returns to talk about what's been happening in his world as of late. Hickman discusses this time of change, excitement levels, evolving how he does things, the recent X-Men retreat, his position at Marvel, his Substack for Three Worlds, Three Moons, the origins of that project, the greatness of Mike Huddleston and Mike Del Mundo, community, where things are headed, the positives and learnings from the X-Men experience, where Inferno fits in everything, and more.

Happy Friday everyone! This week's episode 11B starts off with my comic book picks of the week! I discuss what was so great about the premier issue of Silk vol.3, Tom King's Batman/Catwoman #4 and Strange Adventures #9, Beta Ray Bill #1 being a pleasant surprise, Johnathon Hickman's X-Men #19 and Decorum #7 (phenomenal interiors by Mike Huddleston!), and Black Cat and her new nemesis! It was such a great comics week, there's certain to be something for everyone.  I actually do NOT discuss Superman and Lois ep. 6 this week, because it's been pushed back to May 18th, and I discuss why in the podcast!  In the news and rumors segment, I talk about the greatness that would be Beta Ray Bill in Thor: Love and Thunder, Bart Allen being cast in the Flash TV series, some rumors about characters who might make it into the Eternals movie, and a fun (if somewhat pointless) exploration of who Rihanna would play in the MCU.  The bad news of the week comes in the form of a DCEU announcement that we knew was coming, but it still hurts to have it confirmed. Finally, I talk about the new Bad Batch trailer and the Suicide Squad's second trailer, both of which look like they'll be a ton of fun! The episode wraps up with a note about my website, sensationalshegeek.weebly.com, where I will be uploading my Podcast Notes to later today, in case anyone prefers to read than listen to me, or for anyone hearing impaired. In any case, I'll be back Monday, April 5th to discuss the new episode of Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the next week's comic book pull list, and more industry news! In the meantime, stay sweaty, and love animals. 

On this week's comic book review podcast, we've got: Beta Ray Bill #1 Marvel Written and art by Daniel Warren Johnson Shadecraft #1 Image Comics Written by Joe Henderson Art by Lee Garbett The Other History of the DC Universe #3 DC Comics Written by John Ridley Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli Silk #1 Marvel Written by Maurene Goo Art by Takeshi Miyazawa Crossover #5 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Geoff Shaw Strange Adventures #9 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Mitch Gerards and Evan Shaner Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing #1 Marvel Written by Steve Orlando Art by Francesco Mobili The Department of Truth #7 Image Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Tyler Boss The Flash #768 DC Comics Written by Jeremy Adams Art by Brandon Peterson, Marco Santucci, David Lafuente Ghost Rider: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Ed Brisson Art by Juan Frigeri Two Moons #2 Image Comics Written by John Arcudi Art by Valerio Giangiordano Future State: Superman vs Imperious Lex #3 DC Comics Written by Mark Russell Art by Steve Pugh Decorum #7 Image Comics Written by Jonathan Hickman Art by Mike Huddleston Batman/Catwoman #4 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Clay Mann 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 y'all? Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Pete:                I'm Pete. Alex:                 And on The Stack we talk about a bunch of books that have come out this week. Kicking it off with one I know that Pete is very excited about. Beta Ray Bill number one from Marvel comics, written and art by Daniel Warren Johnson. Now, D.W.J., As I like to call him, he is the creator of Murder Falcon, which is one of your favorite books ever. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I don't know how you feel about Beta Ray Bill though. So how'd you feel about this book? Pete:                Well, yeah. I'm not the hugest Beta Ray Bill fan, but this was a lot of fun. This was really awesome. Art style [google 00:00:54] gave Beta Ray Bill a grittiness that was nice. Yeah, I very much enjoyed this. This was sad. This was not just badass Beta Ray Bill. Alex:                 You okay? Did you die there for a second? Pete:                Yeah. There's some real pain going on. And yeah. Also, Fin Fang Foom, one of my huge favorites in this as well. So, this was a real treat, this book. And the back matter is magical. Alex:                 This very briefly and tangentially ties into the King in Black storyline, which has symbiotes attacking the Marvel universe here. They attack Asgard, Beta Ray Bill fights them off, kind of. And sparks up, or re-sparks up a little bit of a romance with Lady Sif. But I agree with you, as he did in Murder Falcon, he brings big action with big monsters, but also a deep well of emotion here. It's very sad for Beta Ray Bill. Art is great, the writing is great, the emotion is great. I'm all in on this book. I am a sucker for Beta Ray Bill, and I think D.W.J. does right by him. So, I'm very excited to see this going forward. And like you said, there's a great interview that he does with Walter Simonson in the back of the book, which is super cool as well. Pete:                Yeah. It's nice to see him geek out about this and hear about New York in the seventies and the different kinds of people working on stuff. It was a pretty awesome interview that they put in the back and yeah. I mean, the art, the storytelling is really unbelievable, but Beta Ray Bill… Kind of a cursed character and they're really tugging on that and playing with that. And he's not cool with Thor. It's not a fun relationship right now. So I'm glad they're getting to air that out a little bit. I'm very interested to see how that all unfolds. Alex:                 I agree. Next up, Shadecraft number one from Image comics written by Joe Henderson, art by Lee Garbett. In this new comic book, a girl finds out that shadows aren't quite what they're cracked up to be. It ties into an emotional thing from her past that you find out towards the end of the issue. I really liked the setup. I thought this was a good, fun horror book. The art from Lee Garbett was particularly good. The shadow creatures were interesting. I'm curious to see where this goes going forward, because it feels like it really gets to the setup by the end. But I'm in, what was your take Pete? Pete:                Yeah, I agree. I think the art and the storytelling is fantastic. Setting this up in a very interesting way. I really love the last page reveal twist. Very cool. And yeah, as this kid, I was scared shitless of… if you saw a shadow move by the… or a branch at the window or something. This really plays on that fear of moving shadows and how it's hard, especially at night, to get away from shadows. I mean, that's just… That's tough. Alex:                 I got to be honest, Pete, it sounds like that wasn't just a problem when you were a kid. Pete:                I don't think we have time to get into this, but- Alex:                 No, Pete- Pete:                It's a great book. Alex:                 That's been the long game on this podcast this whole time, is to finally get you to confront this fear that you have. Shadecraft number one, check it out. Next up, The Other History of the DC universe number three from DC comics. Written by John Ridley, art by Giuseppe Camuncoli. The first two issues have dealt with the black American experience in the background of the DC universe. Here, we're dealing with the Asian American experience through the lens of Katana and her whole history. What did you think about this one, Pete? Pete:                This is very powerful, really amazing. I was very moved by it. I thought it was really done well. The storytelling is so powerful. The art… Yeah, just kind of the balance of these stanzas, these powerful stanzas, that really hit you versus the comic book art. Really creates this moving, powerful stuff that DC is doing with these books. I've been really enjoying this series. The Other History of the DC universe stuff has just been really impressive. Alex:                 Giuseppe Camuncoli's layouts in particular, are really excellent. John Ridley's writing is great. It's super, unfortunately, timely, given that we are discussing the Asian American experience and violence towards it, in particular, right now. But it's a necessary- Pete:                Stop Asian hate. Alex:                 Yeah, it's a necessary read, like the other two issues of this book, but also very entertaining and weird in a certain way. I don't know much about Katana's history, necessarily. There are little bits here and there. I was like, “Oh yeah, I guess I do that kind of thing”. But what John Ridley is doing here is, like with X-Men: Grand Design, I think was the name of the book, he's taking the entire history of the character and trying to make narrative sense out of it. Which is nearly impossible, but he does it here in a very emotional way. And that's nice to see. Pete:                Yeah, Katana is one of my favorite characters. Always a big fan of Katana. So it was nice to see, all the different stories paid homage to, with this interesting narrative running throughout all of it. It was really well done. Alex:                 Moving from one timely book to another, in a very different way. Silk number one from Marvel, written by Maureen Goo, art by Takeshi Miyazawa. This is a all-Asian team working on a Korean American superhero, which is something that I don't think we've seen before for Silk, necessarily. I could be wrong. Nobody jump into my mentions if I got that incorrect. But at the very least, it's great to see that, as Silk is in a new status quo here. Working for J. Jonah Jameson, at whatever his latest rag is. But I thought this was really fun. I don't have too much affection, necessarily, for Silk as a character. I'm fine with her. She's been fun before. There's been some good storylines, but I thought this was a really nice, very clear setup with a good supporting cast. And I'm interested to see where it goes in issue two. Pete:                I completely agree. I feel like this is a great use of Silk, the character. I feel like they really do a great job of giving her a lot of fun action splash pages, as well as setting up a very cool, interesting story arc. And the fashion stuff is fun and pulled off well, and what's not to like about sitting down to have tea with a giant cat like creature? I think this is a very interesting, cool book, and I'm excited to see where it goes Alex:                 Next up: Crossover number five from image comics written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw. In this book, we're getting towards the end of the first arc here, as Madman and Power… house. I don't remember the name of the other team. Basically. It's Donny Cates taking all of his books, mashing them up together with tangentially other books. They're all heading towards this big dome where the crossover event has happened and it's all coming down. What did you think about this issue? Pete:                Well, first off you got- bless you. You got Madman with a giant sword. So what's not to love. This is- Alex:                 A sword. Pete:                It's a lot of action, it's a lot of over-the-top stuff, but also, a lot of intense shit goes on here. Oh man, I don't want to spoil anything, but man, it gets, it gets real dark, but- Alex:                 I want to hear it. Spoiler warning. What was the thing that, you thought in particular, got really dark? Pete:                Where the guy shot the girl? Alex:                 Oh, that hasn't happened yet. That's the cliff hanger at the end of the book. He hasn't necessarily shot her. Pete:                Well… He's crying. It says, “I can”. And it looks like it's seconds before the bullet is released out of the chamber. Alex:                 Yeah. Well, we'll see what happens next issue, I guess. Pete:                Oh my God. Alex:                 I guess we'll see what happens. One thing that I really… that I thought was super fun in the book, is Donny has come up with this concept, where all of these different superheroes have been cut apart and mashed back together by scientists on Earth, quote-unquote. And they're called amalgams, which is very funny to anybody who knows about the Amalgam universe. He's having a blast here and it's so creative and so fun. There's a great splash page laid out that mashes up panels from God Country and Madman comics. Very neat. I liked it quite a bit. Alex:                 Next up, Strange Adventures number nine, from DC comics written by Tom King, art by Mitch Gerads and Evan Shaner. Here, a report has come out about Adam Strange from the Justice League. Not exactly indicating that he is a villain, but certainly not precluding that fact. That's what we're dealing with here. As the Pykkt invasion of Earth continues and lots of questions swirl in the background. I'll tell you what, I think we talked about this with an earlier issue. It's interesting this is coming out now, but it seemed very clear to me that, at least tangentially, King is writing about the Mueller report in this issue. Did you get that sense as well? Pete:                I have no idea what's going on and when it comes to King, ever. But it was crazy to see Superman and Batman in this issue. Alex:                 So, this report comes out and it's the vague sort of indictment that Mueller did in the heavily anticipated Mueller report. Where there were a lot of crimes mentioned, but ultimately there said, “Well, it's up to the people who prosecute to do it”. Right. And that's exactly what happens with Adam Strange here. It's very interesting, particularly given now we're past the Trump presidency, though, obviously not the aftereffects of it. To see him take Adam Strange and put him in that place. To the point… there's a panel late in the issue where they zoom in on Adam Strange's face on a TV screen and it looks almost exactly like Trump on the television. So that was kind of fascinating to me. I think it's sort of part of the publishing schedule that has gotten pushed back so far. But I am curious to see where this hits on, given that it is skirting those ideas. You're looking at me like I'm a crazy person right now. Pete:                I am looking at you like a crazy person, because we're on issue number 9 of 12 and we still don't know what the fuck is going on. Alex:                 Well- Pete:                Nine issues deep. Alex:                 I mean, that's how a mystery works Pete. Pete:                Yeah, but let's talk- Alex:                 Unless it's Columbo, in which case they reveal it first and then he figures out how it happens. Pete:                Okay. But, regardless, just thinking about how great of a writer you have to be that, for nine issues of a story, you have no fucking idea what's going on. That is very impressive. Alex:                 Well, I just got one more question for you, Pete. Pete:                Oh my God. Alex:                 All right. Next up, Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing number one from Marvel. Written by Steve Orlando, art by Francesco Mobili. In this, we are getting a new threat to Man-Thing who, spoiler, beats Man-Thing right at the beginning and the Avengers have to take him down. This is one of these new formats, limited series that Marvel has been doing, where a new hero is going to interact with Man-Thing or this story in a different way. Here we get the Avengers. Next issue is going to be Spiderman, presumably the X-Men after that and other things. But this is also Steve Orlando moving over to the Marvel universe. What was your take Pete? Pete:                Well, Orlando is always a fun, crazy creative person. So this book, I thought did a great job of representing himself here. Man-Thing, getting ripped apart here was so over-the-top and very interesting. Especially because you realize, these chapter things are like parts of his skin that maybe was ripped off. But I think this is a very interesting, unique kind of cool event that's happening and I'm digging it. Alex:                 I like it too. I thought it was super fun. And it's Orlando doing his regular weird ideas, but infusing them into the Marvel universe. He brings in some fun stuff from Jonathan Hickman's run on X-Men and mixes it in here in a fun way. This is good. I like this. Pete:                I agree. Alex:                 And he seems to be redefining what Man-Thing is in the Marvel universe. That should be interesting to see going forward. Next up, The Department of Truth number seven from Image comics, written by James Tynion IV, art by Tyler Boss. In this- Pete:                You think we should even talk about this, because Justin's not here? You know what I mean, maybe we should- Alex:                 Justin does love this book. Pete:                Maybe we should skip it. Alex:                 So we're getting another flashback this issue as Lee Harvey Oswald continues to find out more about the Department of Truth. Here, we find out about the foil guy, the doc who wears foil on his head. We find out about the men and black and the little gray men and their play into the history of the secret history of America. As usual, great stuff in this book. I am loving it. Pete- Pete:                Yeah, I agree. Alex:                 You took off your headphones, what is going on right now? Pete:                Hey man, sometimes you wear headphones for too long. It can start to get like… Feel like you're [crosstalk 00:14:37] Alex:                 Are you listening to me through your forehead. What is going on here? Pete:                Dude, it's a podcast. Take it easy, all right. I can hear you just fine. Alex:                 All right. Pete:                All right. So I really am like… This is such a kind of thing we've heard about the men in black, we're familiar with this kind of tinfoil thing, but this is done in a way that makes sense. I really appreciate all the details and all this stuff going on in this book. I think it's done in such a kind of way with the stylized flashbacks, with the shading and the info. I think this is really a great mix of genres and telling the story. I'm continued to be impressed with this. It's too bad Justin's not here to get his thoughts on it. I'm having a blast and I might just start wearing a tinfoil hat. Alex:                 Hey, speaking of which, this is more of a note for Pete's forehead than his ears. And Pete's forehead, you're looking great. Don't tell his ears, okay? Because they're looking a little busted, to be honest. Pete:                Don't you say shit about my ears. Alex:                 You couldn't hear that. That was through your forehead man. All right. Moving on to the Flash 768 from DC comics. Written by Jeremy Adams, art by Brandon Peterson- Pete:                Here we go. Alex:                 Marco Santucci… What does that mean, “Here we go”? Pete:                Here we go. The fucking Flash. Alex:                 Well… So we've been talking about these books that have come out of DC Future State. A lot of the teams from Future State were giving previews of what's going on in their main books of their return. So I think it has been interesting to talk about them as they have come back. This one is weird. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. We're still talking about it. Flash and that tricky Speed Force, man. [crosstalk 00:16:28] Sometimes you run so fast, you run out of your clothes and then that's a whole thing and- Alex:                 It happens. So here's the deal with this book. So the thing that confused me for the first half of this book, is we have the setup of Barry Allen is giving up being the Flash. So we could work with the new multi-verse people and explore what's going on with there, after the fallout from Dark Nights: Death Metal. All makes sense. Now, Wally West is the new Flash, he's been promoted. The first half of this book, reverses on that in a very weird way, where Wally says, “Nope, actually… Forget about that tease. I don't want to be the Flash. Barry Allen. You're the Flash”. Barry's like, “Sounds good. Let's have a race. I'll take all of your speed”. Alex:                 So that's fine, but very confusing, given everything that's happened previously. It isn't until the second half of the book that we get to the real concept. That's where things, in my mind, start to get really fun, where Wally West is lost in time. We basically get this quantum leap thing, where he's jumping to major points in the Speed Force, he's inside of their bodies. Pete:                How are they- Alex:                 And Barry Allen is the Iggy. Is it Iggy from Quantum Leap? Pete? Pete:                I don't know. Alex:                 Ziggy. Ziggy. The Ziggy, Dan Hedaya. Who's like, “Oh man, you've got to turn back, Wally. What are you doing? Ah, if you change this, that'll change everything”. And then Wally says, “Oh boy”. Pete:                That show came out in the fifties, I think, bro. Alex:                 It's a great show, with a perfect finale, and you watch your mouth Pete. Pete:                I'll have to take a time machine back. It was just insane to me that these, all these fucking Flashes and there's the Speed Force, but nobody can figure it out. And it's so tricky yet. They're running the whole time and you got a fucking treadmill, but… I don't know, man. Alex:                 I enjoyed the second half of the issue because I am a sucker for Quantum Leap and I want to see more of that. So we'll see how it goes. Next up, Ghost Rider: King in Black number one, from Marvel. Written by Ed Brisson, art by Juan Frigeri. This is also a very weird, interesting issue because, technically, it's a King in Black tie-in, but really it's tying up everything that's been happening in Ghost Rider for the past couple of years and wrapping a bow on that. It's much more about that to the point that, the Ghost Rider characters, at certain points, are standing in the middle of symbiote-stricken Manhattan being like, “Eh, let's figure out this other stuff instead”. Pete:                Yeah. There's still a crazy amount of standing around talking for all the demons that are trashing the place. Alex:                 But still, pretty fun, I thought. What did you think about this one, Pete? Pete:                Yeah, it was fun. I mean, they're having fun discussions about their names. Mephisto blows, but still, some fun stuff in there with that. Yeah. It was nice to see Ghost Rider up in this… the Penance Stare, with the old damnation stare. That was cool. Fun little twist on trusting, not trusting the devil. It's just fun. It's a good book. You know what you're going to get into with it. And it's over-the-top in all the right ways. Alex:                 Next up, Two Moons number two from Image comics written by John Arcudi, art by Valerio Giangiordino. This book, we love the first issue of. I might be getting this wrong, but I believe it's basically taking indigenous myths and mixing them with the Civil War for a very horrific, supernatural tale. How do you think the second issue held up to the first one? Pete:                It's really tripped out in all the right ways. It's very magical. Spooky, cool. The Native American stuff is amazing. It's very, very well done. Some interesting storytelling stuff. And I really loved where it ended too. Alex:                 This is a absolutely gorgeous book. Absolutely gorgeous. I like the writing, but really, the art in particular and the designs of the… I don't even want to call them monsters. They're more mythical creatures, is stunning throughout. Highly recommend picking this up. This is one that, it feels a little bit like, I don't know. It's very Vertigo to me, I think. And it's the sort of thing that I think would be good to jump in on in the early issues to really get a sense of it because it's that good. Alex:                 Next up, Future State: Superman VS. Imperious Lex, number three from DC comics written by Mark Russell, art by Steve Pugh, not Florence Pugh, like I initially thought. It's Steve Pugh. This is the very last, I believe, of the Future State books. Probably cutting in a little late here, but so fun and such a good story. Love Mark Russell. This is a future Superman, as you could tell, from the title. Battling Lex, who has taken over a planet, as usual. It's very satirical as you'd expect from this team. If you read the first two issues, you know exactly what to expect here, but I loved it. This is one of my favorite Future State books. I'm so glad they got to finish it off, even if it was a late. Pete, you're nodding your head. What's going on? Pete:                I mean, this is just like, what if Lex Luther was stuck in the Wall-E movie? It's a little too crazy for me, but I appreciate what they're doing. Alex:                 It's so funny. The characters are so funny. Louis Lane is so funny. Lex is so funny. It's great. He just sets up these Rube Goldberg machines of ridiculous satire and pays them off in such a fun way. I like it quite a bit. Next up, Decorum number seven, from Image comics. Written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston. Alex:                 This is really bringing together everything that's been going out in the book in a big way that these weird crystalline creatures that showed up that seemed, at first, unconnected from the Assassin's Academy that was going on in the other side of the book. Last issue, that finally came together, where the crystalline creatures gave a mission to the assassins to find this egg that was being hidden, which I believe was the third element, that was just thrown in there. Here, our main character stumbles on that egg, opens up the egg, finds a hot dude with no head. Very funny. This is great. I can't believe how well this has come together. And Mike Huddleston's art is stunning across the board. The way that he's bringing all of these different art styles together, often on the same page, is ridiculously impressive. Pete:                I agree with you, Alex. It's worth it alone for the art. It's really unbelievable. Sometimes… Just a dude with part of your face. But I think this is really tripped out, weird, in all the right ways. And it's really telling a very interesting story, but the real hero here is the artist. The pages and everything are just amaze balls. Alex:                 And in classic Pete fashion, I got to bring up a book that we didn't throw into the stack, because I didn't want to get into a fight about it. But, X-Men number 19. Also by Jonathan Hickman, it is a master work. It is so good. It's one of the best issues of the series ever, it's amazing. You get the X-Men trapped in this vault, traveling through time. This incredible X-23 Laura story throughout. So good. Read it. Just pick it up right now. Don't listen to whatever Pete has to say. And moving on to our last book- Pete:                Wait, that's so unfair that you didn't even put it out there. Like it was something we could read- Alex:                 Here's the thing, Pete. [crosstalk 00:24:25] I've got to be honest. I'll pull back the curtain here. I got to be honest. I read the book because I was like, “Ah, I want to read it anyway because I liked the X-Men books, but I'm not going to send it out to Pete because Pete's just going to be like, ‘Fuck X-Men. These islands are having sex. Stupid. What's going on? I don't like it'”. That I would just set it out. It would just be a big argument. So I was like, “I won't send it out”, but then I read it. I was like, “This is legitimately one of the best issues of the series ever. Would Pete like this, because it's about Laura X-23, who he loves”. And I was like, “I don't know. I got to weigh that against Pete just yelling because it's X-Men. What do we do here?” Pete:                Why wouldn't you trust me to appreciate a good X-23 story? Alex:                 Trust you? I've known you for 15 years, Pete. Pete:                Oh my God. You're the worst. You didn't believe in it enough to put it out there for us to review. You were like [crosstalk 00:25:20] yeah, you didn't believe in it. So it's hard to take your recommendation after you didn't believe in something enough to send it to me and just- Alex:                 I'll tell you what. I will send it to you. You could read it, and then you can tell me off-air what's going on. Pete:                Okay, great. That'll be great for everybody. Alex:                 I think so. Tell you what, check out our podcast off-air, where you visit me and Pete in person and ask us comic book recommendations. Last but not least, Batman/Catwoman number four from DC comics. Written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann. Pete, sounds like you're loving this. You got to explain to me what's going on. I feel like the Pete of this particular book, because I'm lost. Pete:                Okay. First off, love the bat and cat double page, spread title page, mansion, advent calendar thing, that just sets up the mood for this creepy, fun world that we're in. And then starting off with Batwoman beating up Penguin and wanting to know where mom and the Joker are. What an interesting start, just grabs the reader all the right ways. But bat and cat are fighting. You know, cat's been doing some things without bat's knowledge, she knew he was going to get mad, but she didn't tell him until last minute. Now bat's mad. So how are we going to move forward? I also really loved how the Penguin is drawn like Danny DeVito. That makes me very happy. What do you want to know? I think it's great. Alex:                 Listening to you talk about it is my experience reading it, because I just cannot keep track of the timelines. Pete:                There's like three different timelines happening at once. Alex:                 No, and I know that. You've got the Mask of the Phantasm timeline. You've got the very early bad cat stuff going on. Pete:                Right. Alex:                 And then you've got the future cat stuff where she's killed the Joker and is dealing with it, with Penguin. And there was their kid, who was the new Batman. So I get all that. Pete:                Batwoman. Alex:                 There's the transitions between them that just throw me, and I'm sure there's a point to it. Maybe they're doing something about memory and how memories are very fluid and go from one time period to another- Pete:                Yeah, because it's also like cat and bat always have this thing about a disagreement about when they first met. Alex:                 Yes. So I get all that, but you look at a book like Strange Adventures, also from Tom King, where you have- Pete:                Also confusing. Alex:                 But, even if it jumps between timelines of the same page, you've got Evan “Doc” Shaner and Mitch Gerads. So there's a delineation between the timelines. So you're able to follow, okay. Here's where we are at any given point. It is disorienting for me to read this book, and I still, and I know I'm harping on this. I don't know what the Phantasm has to do with this. Pete:                That's going to be the fun, but also it is going to make sense. And I think it's going to be one of those things where it will be very interesting to get the trade, because there could be… it could make that much more sense, reading it all together. Alex:                 Absolutely. And I'm more than willing to follow it until the end. It's just- Pete:                And you should follow it, because it's amazing art and writing and like such a fun, interesting story with these two characters we know and we've heard stories… for all time about them. Alex:                 I trust these creators. So I'm going to follow it until the end. I'm just having a hard time comprehending it as of now, that's what I'm saying. Alex:                 And that's it for The Stack. If you'd like to support our podcast and other podcasts we do, patrion.com/comic book club. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night to Crowdcast at YouTube. Pete:                Sure do. Alex:                 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. Comic book club live.com for this podcast and more. Until next time, we'll see you at the virtual comic book shop. But I'm saying that just to Pete's forehead, not to his ears. The post The Stack: Beta Ray Bill, Shadecraft And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Visuellement bluffant, Decorum est le comics SF de ce début d'année à ne pas rater. Scénarisé par Jonathan Hickman et illustré par Mike Huddleston, ce roman graphique indépendant ne cesse de surprendre. Mélan gunfight, space opera, tueuses fashionata et sororité, Decorum est une oeuvre a part. Les auteurs ont accepté le jeu de l'entretien pendant une cinquantaine de minutes.  Résumé : S'il est vrai que le meurtre constitue un dénominateur commun entre toutes les espèces, il n'en va pas de même pour l'assassinat, qui relève plutôt de... la vocation. Pour retrouver l'album chez Urban Comics : https://www.urban-comics.com/decorum-tome-1/ Les albums cités pendant le podcast : Homeland Directiveet Nightly News   Une traduction réalisée par Maxime Le Dain, traducteur de Decorum. 

Fecha de Grabación: Domingo 28 de febrero de 2021Algunas de las noticias y temas comentados:Secret Wars y otras sagas cósmicas de Marvel.¿Debieras leer la Justice League International de Keith Giffen, J.M. de Matteis, Kevin Maguire y otros artistas?.El Fondo de Cultura Económica de México, anunció cuatro de los títulos que formarán parte de su colección "Popular Cómic", entre ellos "Los Años de Allende" de Carlos Reyes y Rodrigo Elgueta.Estaría en pre-producción una nueva película de Superman escrita por Ta-Nehisi Coates y producida por J.J. Abrams.Respondemos bastantes preguntas de los auditores.¡...Y muchísimo más!Comentario de cómics:Decorum, serie regular escrita por Jonathan Hickman con arte de Mike Huddleston. (Image Comics)Black Widow, escrito por Kelly Thompson con arte de Elena Casagrande y color de Jordie Bellaire. (Marvel Comics)Comentario de Libros:Meddling Kids, de Edgar Cantero.Pueden escuchar el Podcast a través del reproductor que está en la columna lateral del Blog o en este reproductor incrustado.Descarga Directa MP3 (Usar botón derecho del mouse y opción "guardar enlace como"). Peso: 75.3 MB; Calidad: 128 Kbps.El episodio tiene una duración de 01:22:11.Recuerden que ya está otra vez activa nuestra campaña en Patreon. Cada episodio del podcast se publica ahí al menos 24 horas antes que a través de los canales habituales, y cada mes grabamos un especial temático que es exclusivo de esta plataforma. Puedes sumarte a nuestros patreoncinadores™ con aportaciones desde 1 dólar al mes, y no existe un mínimo de tiempo para mantener su suscripción.También puedes encontrar nuestro podcast en los siguientes agregadores y servicios especializados:Comicverso en SpotifyComicverso en iVooxComicverso en Apple PodcastsComicverso en Google PodcastsComicverso en Amazon MusicComicverso en Archive.orgComicverso en I Heart RadioComicverso en Overcast.fmComicverso en Pocket CastsComicverso en RadioPublicComicverso en CastBox.fm¿Usas alguna app o servicio que no tiene a Comicverso? En la barra lateral está el feed del podcast, mismo que puedes agregar al servicio de tu preferencia.Nos interesa conocer opiniones y críticas para seguir mejorando. Si te gusta nuestro trabajo, por favor ayúdanos compartiendo el enlace a esta entrada, cuéntale a tus amigos sobre nuestro Podcast, y recomiéndalo a quien creas que pueda interesarle. Hasta pronto.Deja tus comentarios o escríbenos directamente a comicverso@gmail.com

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

Did you know that 30 million residents now receive informed delivery updates from the post office? The digital preview of what’s in your mail box has quickly taken off but nonprofits still have a lot of questions about how it works and what the potential benefits are. In this episode Mike Huddleston, National Accounts Representative @ MWI Direct, joins Dan to answer those questions about this valuable low-cost digital touchpoint that accompanies mail delivery. Topics include: The history of informed delivery and a 101 overview of how it works, why it’s FREE and will likely stay that way, how to get started and set up a test, tracking / response data that the USPS provides, and recent nonprofit case studies. Based on his 20 + years of experience, Mike also shares his thoughts on recent mail delivery delays, the impact of the 2020 Election on the post office, and future challenges that the USPS faces. Our discussion with Mike is a valuable listen for any fundraiser or organization who is looking for all of the information they need to know about informed delivery.

On this week's Stack podcast: Batman #100, Locke & Key: …In Pale Battalions Go… #2, Amazing Spider-Man #850, Transformers/Back to the Future #1, American Vampire 1976 #1, Getting It Together #1, Wolverine #6, X-Force #13, Marauders #13, Sonic The Hedgehog: Bad Guys #1, We Only Find Them When They're Dead #2, Far Sector #8, Adventureman #4, Backtrack #7, Black Widow #2, Exosisters #10, DCeased: Dead Planet #4, Inkblot #2, Champions #1, and Decorum #5. 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 Transcript: Alex:                 What is up? You're all welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. And on The Stack, we've got it packed… Alex:                 … stack for you today. We've got [crosstalk 00:00:17], use. Justin:              It's a packed stack. Alex:                 Big issues is coming out, so let's jump right into it. Talking about Batman number 100, from DC Comics run by James Tynion IV, art by Jorge Jimenez, Carlo Pagulayan and Guillem March. This is the culmination of the Joker world. Justin:              Culmination. Alex:                 It's all been coming down to this. Big stuff happens here as the Batman takes on Joker [Mono-e-Mono 00:00:44], for all [crosstalk 00:00:49], translators. For all the [inaudible 00:00:52], there's some twists, there's some turns here, there's backup stories. What [inaudible 00:00:56]… Oh God. Pete:                Oh no, Alex. Justin:              Oh, wow. Don't die. [crosstalk 00:01:01]. Alex:                 That's a [inaudible 00:01:01], Joker guest. Justin:              Joker mist. Alex:                 Joker mist. Pete:                Oh, man. Alex:                 Yeah, I'm a joker mystique myself. Pete:                Smart. Justin:              Oh, nice. Just to clear up your throat? Alex:                 Mm-hmm (affirmative). No, you got to build up a tolerance, so that way… exactly. Justin:              Yeah, that's smart. Pete:                Oh, yeah. Alex:                 What do you guys think about this issue and what do you think about the storyline as a whole? Justin:              I liked it. Especially the battle, the Joker, bat uniform and that Joker becoming Batman, I thought was a nice thing here. There's some funny lines in here of Alfred's Corp saying he wishes he was the [crosstalk 00:01:40], butler. Had it up for [crosstalk 00:01:42]. Alex:                 That's not funny. Justin:              No, man. Alex:                 That was painful. Justin:              An underwater butler, so fun. How do you make tea? All the waters. It's all water. Pete:                Yeah, I felt like, first off the art's fantastic. I feel like the landing didn't stick as hard as I would have liked it. Normally, when we have these big buildups, these huge fights. The wrap-up is great, but there was a lot of weird stuff that happened. I felt like there was this epic showdown and then it wasn't between the Joker and Batman because Harley Quinn showed up and then made it be like, “Yo, one of us are going to die tonight,” which is holy shit, raising the stakes, but it wasn't like the classic showdown. It was a real switch of status of Joker trying to be Batman. I did like the things that Joker was saying during the fight. I thought that was classic cool Joker shit. Pete:                But the stuff I was a little disappointed with was the wrap-up and the Batman talking to the Clown Hunter, I felt like that could have been a little bit better. I had a weird feeling after that was over. Also, it was crazy to me that Catwoman seemed to be making moves, but then there was just a shot of her watching fights, which was weird to me. But I really think that overall, this was a really cool arc, very awesome twists and turns, a lot of fun. The Alfred shit to me was a little too rough, too soon. Seeing the corpse shit was really hard, but I- Justin:              I was going to say, it's great to see Alfred back in his good shape, in perfect form. This is the Alfred I want to see. Pete:                The Nightwing shit was bad-ass. Nightwing got a lot to do a lot of respect in this. So that was cool. Alex:                 I love the Oracle stuff. It was so much fun having Barbara back as Oracle. That was great. It just really shows the deep well of love that James Tynan has for DC Comics history that really came out on this issue. I agree with you that the execution of the ending felt a little asterisky, particularly given how big everything is built over the past couple of issues. But James Tynan came out on Twitter and said, “This was supposed to be as ending.” This was supposed to be his last issue of Batman, and then when he found out he would be ongoing on it, he had to scramble and change his plans and changes all outline to serve some other masters and serve some other storylines that are happening. Alex:                 So I think it's not purposeful, but that is a victim of circumstances, more than anything that rather than making it this big exclamation point, it became the dot, dot, dot in the middle of the ongoing Batman story. And I do like the place that he finds Batman at the end of this, I actually did really like Clown Hunter story. The idea that he- Pete:                I like Clown Hunter story, for sure. I felt like Batman just lectured Clown Hunter in a weird way. Alex:                 What I think was different about this, this almost pivots off of what Jeff Johns is doing over in three Jokers, is this idea that Batman keeps bringing in these orphans, breaking them, ruining their lives, and then being like, “Well, time for new orphan,” that he's doing something different here, which is similar to what they did with the signal as well. Is I think smart, and it's a progression of the character that personally I like. Yeah. Justin:              I mean, I agree. I also think despite the change in plan for James Tynion, I feel like his point was rather than have Batman play Joker's game the entire time in the end of this is like I haven't been… I'm not going to take the bait. And I thought that was a nice… Batman's usual tactic or at least for the past few years is he takes the bait and then suffers horrible consequences, but he endures because he's Batman and I actually liked- Alex:                 He got stabbed in the back-up bunch. That's suffering. Justin:              I know, but rather than be like, “All right, I'm going to give it all up for the corpse of my butler,” he's like, “You know what? I'm not going to do that.” And I liked the different take on that for one. I agree the Clown Hunter stuff, I thought what was actually good. I agree with you, Alex. It's nice if we're going to walk away with this new character, I think that's cool. Clown Hunter is a cool character. It's like if Damian Wayne took the other path and didn't become a Robin, it feels like. The one thing with the Joker little epilogue at the end, Joker, he's become this chemist. Why is he such a chemist? I don't know why that makes sense. It's like [crosstalk 00:06:31]- Alex:                 I appreciate your- Justin:              … gas that perfectly turns you into a Joker so much so that no one will be able to tell the difference in my body versus your body. Pete:                But also he's really into newspapers and likes to get his news, old timey, just sitting down, stacking newspapers, go through each one, see that headlines, soak it all in. So it's this mix of, he's up to date on all the latest chemical stuff, but likes to get his news old school. Alex:                 It's crazy. It's crazy stuff is what I tell you, but [crosstalk 00:07:06]- Justin:              Yeah. A lot of fans are definitely going to identify with Pete's point he just made the with the newspapers. Alex:                 This is a very good issue though. And I think this whole arc was good. Definitely pick it up in trade or individually if you like. Alex:                 Next up, Locke and Key in Pale Battalions, going number two from IDW storytellers, Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez. This is continuing a story of back in the day from Locke and Key as we follow John Locke. But a different John Locke, the last, as he goes to fight in the war, he has aged himself. Yup. He's using one of the magical keys. And this issue, we see things from the German perspective of the war as they are tagged. Justin:              Creating a way to put that. Alex:                 But again, we talk about this every time. There were two different World Wars. One of them was the World War, the second one with Nazis. This is the first World War, which was also with the Germans, but it's not creepy in exactly the same way. Pete [crosstalk 00:08:04]. Oh my God. Pete:                Different Wars. Justin:              DC, Wolverine one, Pete. The Balkans were powder gig. And then all of a sudden the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand really set off a series of chain of events within tangling alliances that led all of these different countries to declare war on each other. And then of course, a further countries guy, eventually entangled. And here we are with John Locke, [AGM 00:08:26], self up to take part. Alex:                 There you go. So this comes from the German perspective, which is not a creepy thing to say. And we see John [crosstalk 00:08:33]- Pete:                It's a creepy thing to say. Alex:                 Stop it. John Locke is attacking them. Just again as with the first issue, a bunch of classic Gabriel Rodriguez pages in here, this page with… and this is getting into spoilers, but there's a page where he uses the crown of shadows to attack that is just terrifying in exactly the right way. The twist at the end, which I won't spoil, it's so smart, so well done and clearly points to not just where they're going with this series, but also with Helen Gun, which is the Sandman Crossover. So I love seeing that path there. Pete, what do you think about this one? Pete:                It's really fantastic. I mean, the art is unbelievable. It's crazy storytelling. I mean, the fact that I'm caring about these fucked up soldiers is way back to the days. It's really impressive to the art and the storytelling. But this is really interesting what happens at the end and how it makes sense to why we are seeing this in such a cool way. I'm very impressed with this comic. It's just so excited when there's a new Locke and Key comic, because you're like, “What the fuck is going to happen? How scared or freaked out am I going to get?” And it constantly delivers. Justin:              And the fact that they were able to just tell a legit war story, I mean, this is a straight up war comic. There's not a lot of Locke and Key bells and whistles to it. We get a little bit of that, but it really is just a war story being told from the Locke and Key perspective, and obviously the German perspective, which I think we all find totally normal. And it's just a really good issue and the way they do find another, especially the art finds another angle on horror, war horror is so smart. Pete:                And it's interesting that, it seems like in this issue, we got to shout out to the TV show with that fire key that I don't think was from the book. I think it was from the TV show, right? Alex:                 Yeah. The matchstick key. I can't remember honestly the continuity there. I think it was something they came up with, but didn't use, that they ended up using on the TV show first, versus in the comic book itself. I could be wrong about that. But yeah, that is interesting to see. And it's great, it's just good stuff. Always- Justin:              It's great stuff. Alex:                 … an incredible issue out of the gate every single time. Next up, one I'm very excited to talk about, Amazing Spider-Man number 858 AK number 49, from Marvel written by Nick Spencer, Kurt Busiek, Tradd Moore and Saladin Ahmed, art by Ryan Ottley, Humberto Ramos and Mark Bagley, Chris Justin:              Bachalo, Tradd Moore and Aaron Kuder. So this is a conclusion of the Sin Eaters storyline, The Return of the Green Goblin and also a couple of backups stories. Justin, I'm curious to hear from you. You seem to really like the Sin Eater storyline in particular, but what's your take on the ending here? Justin:              It got a little muddled with the Green Goblin stuff. I thought the first couple issues of the Sin Eater Arc I thought were so good, so smart, felt very timely and responding to the world. It was such a total change from Nick Spencer jokey Spider-Man into this like very serious Sin Eater storyline. So it felt like a hard right turn into Peter Parker dealing with the Green Goblin stuff and so much more historical and it felt far less present to the modern world. And weird the way that he becomes like a juggernaut but with no… like a [crosstalk 00:12:24], hair. Alex:                 Could you talk about that for a second? So the- Justin:              Just a raged out, no neck dude. Alex:                 Well, the weird thing is, so the Sin Eater, when he shoots people, now he gains their powers, right? So he shoots the juggernaut and then I liked generally speaking, just the voice of anything, the design of this, because he gets this juggernaut- Justin:              Sorry to hear you [crosstalk 00:12:45]- Alex:                 … Vini head, which is pretty gross. But the juggernaut doesn't have a head like that. He has a normal head and he just wears a helmet. So what was going on there? Justin:              I like the idea that maybe juggernaut just smooshed a little bit into his old- Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              The clothes fit the man. Pete:                I think that how he starts to… your body forms to the helmet after a little while, and then it's like, you take a turtle and it looks like you still are wearing it a little bit. And I think that's what happened here. Justin:              Pete, at this point, your feet have taken on the shape of your punisher's slippers, right? Pete:                Yeah, exactly. Exactly, yeah. Alex:                 I did like the Green Goblin's stuff in this issue. I think Nick Spencer did a good job of driving up the, and I'm using this word appropriately here, creepiness of the character. Justin:              Especially once all the other spider family characters were there, I was like, “Woof.” Alex:                 Oh yeah. That whole Gwen stuff was crazy. Justin:              Gross [crosstalk 00:13:40]. Alex:                 The exact right way though. The way that Norman Osborn is gross that I don't think we've seen him this way in a very long time, but it's weird. I'm curious to see what happens to the next issue, because it seems like we're finally getting into all of the kindred stuff, which is this villain that he's been building up over the course of all the issues. Justin:              But I got to say the fact that the reveal wasn't an issue. I was like, “Come on, man.” Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              It really felt like now is the time to do it and it feels like we've missed our shot to finally get the reveal. Alex:                 Particularly the way the end… sorry, Pete. I was just going to add that particularly the way the ending is paced and obviously the spoiler for the ending, but in the mix, everything that's happening with Spider-Man, with the Green Goblin, with everybody, with Kindred walking towards this grave and walking up. And it definitely felt like this is the point where we see kindred walking, looking at a grave and now we know who Kindred is, and instead we still have no idea. What were you going to say, Pete? Pete:                Oh, I was just going to say, yeah, there's nothing like the old, “Hanging out next to a grave. You don't know who I am, moment,” that everybody loves. Yeah, it's a little frustrated. We don't have more information, especially after all we've been through, but I also really liked the backup stories. I'm a sucker for Chris Bachalo's art and also- Justin:              [inaudible 00:15:06], wars are also very good. Pete:                Yeah. The Ford shoes store with that art is so glorious and fantastic. Alex:                 Pete, Doug Wizard. Do you love a good Doug Wizard? Pete:                Yeah. I mean, come on, dogs and wizards together. What's not to love? Alex:                 No way. Could I throw out at you before we talk too much about the backup stories? Theories about the identity of kindred. Pete? Pete:                I'm trying to think of… What was the care bear with the little cloud on it? That's who I think it is. Alex:                 Okay, great. Great. Justin, do you have any theories? Justin:              I mean, what are the third rails we're going to touch here? It's been built up so much, it has to be a big character. Is it the dude who killed uncle Ben? Alex:                 Hmm. I guess I can do that. I'll throw out one. This is not my theory. I read this today. What? Pete:                I think it's Doc Cock. Alex:                 Doc Cock? Joe Chill. It's Joe Chill. I love this theory. I read this, I think it was on Nerdist or something today. They had a bunch of theories of who [crosstalk 00:16:22]. Justin:              I've heard of that. Alex:                 The theory was, Pete, you are going to 100%, absolutely hate this theory, but I'm so excited about it. The theory is, it's Peter Parker, but it's Peter Parker from the pre one more day continuity because they fucked up the Mafesto curse by Maryy Jane and Peter Parker getting back together. So it split up the reality, and so Peter Parker who made that deal is now kindred tried to get it back. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              If we can finally undo that bullshit- Pete:                That would be glorious. Justin:              That feels so arch and unnecessary. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:17:09]. But I love the idea. I love the idea of it being Peter Parker, baby. I think that would be interesting. Pete:                Or Peter Porker. Justin:              Ooh, interesting. But here's the thing. So much of Kindred is like, “I was buried. I was under the ground.” It has to feel like it has to be a dead character come back to life. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 And it sounds graves. Justin:              Maybe it's their marriage. It's like- Alex:                 Yeah, there you go. The physical representation. As we all know, marriage is covered in giant centipedes. Alex:                 Let's move on to another title. Transformer is back to the future, number one from IDW, written by Ken and Scott, art by Juan Semeru. So this is exactly what you'd expect from the title. This is the Transformers, muck it up the back to the future continuity. And I'll get into a huge spoiler here, but I was getting very worried that they wouldn't do the thing that they do on the last page for most of the issue, but when they did, I was like, “Ah, thank you.” Pete:                Yeah, glorious. Glorious last page reveal. This was fun. This was cool. I liked how they took the things that we know. We got different perspectives, a little POV and the mall scene. I thought that was really fun, and great use of clashing these two worlds together in a way that made sense. Justin:              Yeah. I think this makes perfect sense. No one would ever be like, “This is an unnatural blending of two different properties.” Pete:                Yeah. I mean, who doesn't love seeing [crosstalk 00:18:45]- Alex:                 Oh, go ahead. Justin:              No, as they say in the famous line, “One point 21 megatrons.” Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I do [crosstalk 00:18:54], think we're doing a good job here. I think when they finally get to it, to spoil a little bit of the book, but they do a back to the future too, with the transformers weaving their way through back to the future continuity saying, “Ooh, we could use some time travel to really take down the autobots,” and then of course, they finally do. We get the classic view of Hill Valley Square, except transformers have taken over the entire world. Beef Tatton, of course, is working for them. And Marty has tried to get away. It's just silly fun stuff. I had a much better time once they finally got to it, in the second half of the issue versus the first half of the issue- Pete:                Don't fucking do that. Don't break it up [crosstalk 00:19:35]. Alex:                 But I do. Justin:              It definitely felt like mashing up your toys when you're a kid in a fun way. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I agree. Next up, American Vampire 1976 number one, from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder and Rafael Albuquerque. And we talked to Scott Snyder about this when he was at our live show a couple of weeks ago. So definitely go and listen to that podcast. But this is, as you could imagine for the title continuing and finishing the saga of American Vampire now in the '70s, there's disco, there's big Afros, everything that you'd expect going out on the title. This is also, I will say as much as I love this, and as much as I love Rafael Albuquerque's art in particular, this is definitely a deep dive into my subconscious to be like, “Who's that character from American Vampire?” I haven't read this in a while. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, personally. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, speaking of the Albuquerque's art. I mean, it's just so nice to be back in his warm embrace. I mean, this art is glorious. They're having fun. The classic, killing vampires with disco. I mean, you don't get tired of that, that's just fun stuff. Yeah, I think this was a cool wrap up. There's a lot of tie ins that I didn't remember, like you were saying solves, but I still enjoyed them. And yeah, I think it's a great saying that comes out of this book, “Fuck history, shred it and forget it.” You know what I mean? Justin:              Yeah. And that's how you failed social studies, right? Pete:                Hard, failed hard. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I mean, seeing this altogether, the team back together that is, is so nice. Skinner is such an iconic character, even though he's not really in American Vampire anymore. It's just great to have this book back. There are so many great shots, the moment where Travis Kid is looking over his shoulder, it's just such a good blend, Scott and Rafiel working together, you don't get anywhere else. Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. It's great. Yeah, they're really getting it together. And so is our next book, Getting it Together, number one from [crosstalk 00:21:59]. Justin:              How did you come up with that? Wow. Alex:                 I mean, it was just up here. It was just up here in my brain and it came out of my mouth co-created and written by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny Define and Sina Grace. We of course had Sina Grace and Omar Spahi on our live show. Justin:              Oh, when? Alex:                 Just this very week. Justin:              Oh, weird. Alex:                 So go back to this [inaudible 00:22:20], interview, despite the unfortunate tech problems. But I really enjoyed this book. If you did miss our live show, it's basically a more modern friend set in San Francisco. That's a little sexier and a little more inclusive, both from a cultural and sexual standpoint. And I thought it was fun. I enjoyed this book quite a bit. What do you guys think about it? Justin:              I agree [inaudible 00:22:46], a lot. I talked about this my comparison on the podcast of, Being a Bit Like Scott Pilgrim, a more modern and more, I guess, real, version of Scott Pilgrim where the characters are fun and interesting. They're making jokes and they're dealing with their mistakes in their lives. And I liked it a lot. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, unlike Friends, this is a little bit more, less shiny and more real, they get into things. So it's enjoyable. It's nice to just see a great image comic that focuses on relationships and the ebbs and flows of life and how we'd put up with each other's shit or don't and yeah, I think it's really well done. You got some interesting characters, some really fun, cool moments. Yeah, it's a solid book. Justin:              And who's your favorite friend? Real quick. Pete:                Oh, yeah. Alex:                 Good question. Pete:                Favorite friend on the TV show [crosstalk 00:23:49]- Alex:                 Go with Joey on this. Pete:                I'm going to say Alex. Alex:                 Gunther? Pete:                Nice. Alex:                 Wow. Justin:              Again, makes sense. You're the Gunther of this podcast. I got to say Pete was right. It's Joey. Joey is the best friend. [crosstalk 00:24:00]. Also, the seasons, he's the only one that isn't deeply unlikable by the end. Pete:                Well, I do like the Power of a Good Hug here. It's a nice thing that's in this book here, and [crosstalk 00:24:15]- Alex:                 I mean, I just want to follow up though what Justin said, that's why Joey was the perfect spinoff and works so well. Justin:              Yes. I can't believe it's still going strong, 15 seasons later. Alex:                 Incredible. Just a quick shout out before we move on. Jenny Define's art is great. In particular character designs are very good in this book. They're very unique, they're very different. They seem more realistic than your typical character designs and I think she does a good job here. Alex:                 Let's move on to our 10 of Swords Block. Three books came out today. We are going to talk about them as a little bit of a block, because this is an interesting event. And Justin, you haven't really been here to talk about this too much yet. Pete:                Wait- Alex:                 Yes, Pete, what's up? Pete:                Wait, I just wanted to point out, it's important that you read these in order. I fucked up the order [crosstalk 00:25:00]. Justin:              Like a lot of things, it's important you do them in the correct order, like breakfast, lunch, and dinner, putting- Pete:                No, you can have breakfast any time, mother fucker. Don't pull that shit. Justin:              Okay. Alex:                 Matter of life, death? Justin:              That birth, life, death. Alex:                 Yeah. Man, I'm very excited to hear what order you read these in. But just to read off all three titles right now. Wolverine number six written by Benjamin Percy and art by Viktor Bogdanovic. X-Force number three, also written by Benjamin Percy and art by Viktor Bogdanovic. Marauders, number 13 written by Vita Ayala and art by Matteo Lolli. So as you can probably tell here, the first two issues are basically one story. They're showing how Wolverine gets his sword. He's going after the Muramasa blade, which of course is the only thing that can kill him, as we learned from that very weird storyline, where he comes back from hell all the time. But that's sword he needs to go and battle for other worlds. And then Marauders 13 is a little more of a one-shot as it's showing how Storm gets her sword from Wakanda, which of course is a very personal mission for her. What do you think about the storyline so far? How'd you feel about these issues in particular? And Pete, what order did you read the bid? Pete:                Well, I'm just noticing now there's the part three of 22, part [crosstalk 00:26:20]. If I would have taken the time, I could have paid attention and then not read it, but I read it. Justin:              You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can read the cover to know what you're doing. Pete:                Yeah. I read part five first. I did the Marauders and then I did Wolverine and then I did Acts of Swords. Justin:              So that's all right. [crosstalk 00:26:44]- Alex:                 Not as bad as it could have been. You could have read Marauders in the middle or X-Force first and then Wolverine. Justin:              The Last page of Marauders gives it away a little bit for Wolverine and then you [crosstalk 00:26:56]. Justin:              Yes. Wolverine, it does get it together. See, I read the fifth panel on the sixth page of Marauders and I jumped over to X-Force and read the seventh panel on. [crosstalk 00:27:05]. Yeah, I know. Alex:                 Now, wait. Do you want to hear from Pete because you've been pretty dead on the exponent general and down on that storyline for the first two parts? Well, I think pretty positive about everything so far. I've been really enjoying this storyline. But you like these issues, right, Pete? Pete:                Yeah. So yeah, I guess what you wanted to talk about how you're a more positive person than me and you can see the sunshine. Alex:                 Yeah, I'm like ray of sunshine and you're not. Pete:                Yeah. I got a clouded like a ping pang thing going on. So yeah, what I like about this is, it's not 80 different fucking things happening at once. It's not fuck Island and you can't kill anybody anymore and golden eggs of humans, as well as the fact that you're no longer a part of everything. You give humans drugs on the side. It's just dealing with this 10 of Swords, like, “Okay, there's a showdown coming up, you've got to go get your weapon of choice and go get in your spot so that when it's go time, you're ready to go.” So it's like, “Great, this is what I want. I don't want this.” There's so much shit happening in X-Men right now we can just deal with this side story. And I was so happy, we just got three stories that make sense, that kind of like, okay, it's each person's journey to get to their place, so the raid to try to save the world. Justin:              It's like a prequel to the Choose Your Fighter screen on Street Fighter II. Pete:                Exactly. You're choosing what weapon and why. [crosstalk 00:28:49]. Yeah, I love it. Alex:                 I liked that you refer to this Wolverine story as nice and simple and straightforward where it's just classic Wolverine goes to Japan, goes down to hell, burns all of the flash off of his skeleton, meets a guy from other worlds who killed people who were the children of apocalypse. And has come back to getr an immortal blade that contains a person's soul that is also wanted by the beast who runs the hand, who wants to give them as wedding gifts, except the beast also hates Wolverine and Muramasa, so wants to eat their souls. Just classic which is very simple [crosstalk 00:29:31]. Pete:                Yeah, give me straightforward story that I can fucking follow, man. Alex:                 Totally. All you need to do is read every expert book and every Daredevil book, and you got it. Pete:                But if you don't know that Wolverine, when he dies, goes to hell and have to be reborn every time. I like the fact that they were picking up on that and playing with it a little bit here and… yeah, it sounds insane, but with Hickman's, all the stuff that he's changed, it's nice to just have a simple and say [crosstalk 00:30:02]- Alex:                 Go back to basics. Yeah. Justin:              Let me ask you, how many of the text pages did you read? Pete:                None. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Not a fucking one. Justin:              I actually liked a lot of the text pages, especially in the Marauders book, which feels like a good way for them to keep the more fantastical aspects of the Hickman, X-Men world in these books. These much more straightforward titles where we are just assembling the Circle of Swords characters back on Krakola. And yeah, it's like these are two shot in a one shot where fun stuff happens. Alex:                 I enjoyed these. I had fun. I still like this crossover. My only little qualms- Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 … with the Wolverine one- Justin:              Of course, I like something you fucking [crosstalk 00:30:55]. Alex:                 No. I mean, here's the thing. Is that, I don't like the Wolverine Goes to Hell thing at all. I do not like that as a part of Wolverine mythology. Justin:              I don't like that he can be- Pete:                I also don't like that Spider-Man made a deal with the fucking devil. [crosstalk 00:31:09]- Alex:                 Hold on. Wait, Justin, are you to call out the skeleton thing? Justin:              Yes. I don't like that either. Alex:                 What is that? Justin:              He can't just go back to skeleton and grow back. He's not Lobo, another Wolverine. Pete:                You don't know, that's not true. Alex:                 Yeah. That bothers me as well. I think Benjamin Percy, a great writer, the art is great. Justin:              I'm sorry about this [crosstalk 00:31:27]- Alex:                 I love having this new, a [oracco 00:31:32], opposite to Wolverine. This person, new has adamantium skin or armor or whatever is going on there. Justin:              Let's just say it's a microfiber. Alex:                 It's a great Wolverine villa. It's just a really good setup there. But those little things are just like, “Oh, this is so annoying to be,” but I pushed past them. Anyway, the Storm story I thought was very good. It's such a very smart thing to have her be like, “Goddammit, I got to go back to Wakanda with my ex-husband and ask for a sword somehow.” Vita Ayala puts great history of Storm in there. The art is excellent to the change of [inaudible 00:32:07], styles are great. I thought this was a very, very good issue in particular. So overall I'm a big fan of this storyline so far. Pete:                Yeah, me too. Yeah, and- Alex:                 Moving on… Oh, go ahead, Pete. Pete:                It was really cool to find out about the sword and the way they gave us the story. And yeah, and it was also tough because we're in Wakanda, rest in peace, Chadwick, Bozeman. There was that still, the amazing tribute thing. And then he didn't show up till later was cool and well placed and just caught her red-handed in the worst possible moment. But the conversation they had was great, and then the ending of the book with the other two waiting there was really fantastic, really setting things up and again it's excited for this 10 Swords event. I'm very excited for this and I hope this event can propel the X-Men into a place that is, I don't know, a little cleaner and less insane. Alex:                 I 100% guarantee you they're going to celebrate winning the 10 of Swords challenge with a big old fuck party at both ends. Justin:              Yes. And oracco fuck party is wow. Alex:                 That's fucked up. Justin:              I just hope they're not bringing 10 knives to 10 different gunfights. Alex:                 Oh man. That'd be bad. Son of a Hedgehog Bad Guy is number one from ITW story by Ian Flynn and art by Jack Lawrence. This is well outside of my wheelhouse. Justin:              What do you mean Alex? Alex:                 What I mean is Son of the Hedgehog is one of those characters, I was like, “What is he doing? He's running fast and spitting rings out of his body. This is dumb, and I hate this game. I'm not going to play.” Justin:              You don't like… because were an Nintendo person? Alex:                 Yeah, I was a Nintendo guy. Justin:              See, I was Nintendo too, and I feel the same way, because I was like, “He's just so fast.” Mario is not fast. He jumps, that's his whole thing. Pete:                First off, I was a Nintendo guy as well, but Sonic was fun. It was crazy, but it was a fun game. You all are [crosstalk 00:34:18]- Justin:              Alex and I are like Sonic, too fast, slow down. [crosstalk 00:34:22]. Why are you obsessed with rings? Be happy with the simple life, be happy with the simple life Sonic. [inaudible 00:34:29], all these golden rings, Pete:                All that aside, I felt like this was a very clean, fun idea of like, “All right, let's set up some villains. Let's set things up in a way that makes sense and moves things forward.” And I thought it was cool to see this team come together. Alex:                 Yeah. Ian Flynn knows what he's doing with these licensed properties. And like you said, taking a bunch of bad guys, even if I don't know a lot about them, he writes them well, he delineates them. Jack Lawrence's art is cartoony in front of the right way. Pete:                Perfectly, yeah. Alex:                 I'm just getting fun, all ages title. Even if I don't personally feel a connection with Son of the Hedgehog. Justin:              Now, Pete, how do you like this hedgehog when he's basically the flash with spikes? Pete:                No, he's nothing like that. There's no bullshit speed force or a fucking one of the treadmills- Alex:                 The screen force is like a bunch of rings that he spits out when he's hit. It's the same thing. Pete:                No, it's not true. Alex:                 Same concept. Pete:                No. Alex:                 Okay. Pete:                Yeah. I have no problem with Sonic, unlike you guys. I think this is a fun book, really well drawn. It's cool. Alex:                 We don't have a problem with it. It's a problem with you, Pete. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 We Only Find Them When They're Dead. Number two from Boom! Studios, written by Al Ewing and illustrated by Simone Di Meo. This is continuing the story of a bunch of salvagers who fly around the universe, carving meat off of gods. They want to find a live god, they only find dead gods. I got to say that carving meat thing is probably my favorite part of the book right now, just in terms of how weird and gross it is. How are you guys feeling about it, two issues in? Pete:                Well, I'm definitely going to change my will. And I want people to carve meat out of me and eat it. Justin:              Oh yeah. I can't wait for a filly Pete steak. Pete:                It's going to be fun. Justin:              Suck it up at Pete steak. Pete:                Oh boy. Justin:              Suck it up on Pete Steak. Pete:                Yeah. The art is fantastic in this book, it's very interesting as we piece together what's going on and this world where they live off dead gods. Yeah, this is very interesting different fun, space book, cool characters, good relationships. It'll be interesting to see how this goes, but I'm on board. I think this is a fun book. Justin:              Pete, when we do eventually eat you because you asked in your will, would you mind if I use regular cheese instead of cheez whiz? Pete:                No. You got use whiz. Also, I'll have a specific condiment, like the old country suite, [inaudible 00:37:20], dipping sauce, you know what I mean? Justin:              And that'll be made from your hair or something? Pete:                No, from the country [crosstalk 00:37:28]- Alex:                 No, of course, you're going to be a French dip. You got the [foreign language 00:37:30] Pete:                Oh, yeah. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Nothing like the good old you. Justin:              This reminds me, I've been watching the show, Raised by Wolves. [crosstalk 00:37:41]- Pete:                God, how many times are you going to talk about [crosstalk 00:37:44]? What the fuck? Alex:                 No, keep bringing it up, I want to talk about it every time. Let's do it. Justin:              [crosstalk 00:37:46]. I haven't quite finished it yet. Very excited. Two episodes left. This reminded me of that in a good way, a nice- Pete:                Save it for a weekend geek, you asshole. Justin:              Okay. But anyway, this is very similar. Totally, I think. Alex:                 Yeah, this is good stuff. This is just a big, hard Sci-Fi and I'm very impressed with this new world here. It's sometimes difficult to get through exactly what's happening, but I'm always intrigued to find out what's next. Alex:                 Talking about another hard Sci-Fi book, Far Sector, number eight from DC comics written by new MacArthur, genius grant recipients, N.K. Jemisin, art and color by Jamal Campbell. Yeah, take that other DC comics writers. This is tying up the storyline, but opening up some new mysteries. We have Green Lantern on this planet. She is fighting some digital beings. Finally, shuts them down, but as mentioned, it opens up new histories here. Every issue is just very good. How do you guys feel about this one? Pete:                Yeah. I mean the art is amaze balls. Every issue is very impressive. I love the aliens reference, little George Carlin quote. I mean this book continues to impress. The main character is fantastic. You root for the whole time. This is a fun mystery, who done it thing, that's slowly unraveling. I just constantly impressed with how different this is from Green Lantern books and how much more I like it than Green Lantern books. Justin:              Yeah. I think, in this issue, it occurred to me just the sense of place and characters is so unique in this book. You really feel like this city is difficult for the characters to understand or the main character to understand. That's as much of a part of the mystery as anything else. And I think it's very rare for a comic book to give that off. Alex:                 Yeah. Particularly when you have a Green Lantern comic book where they're usually flitting from planet to planet or going to [OA 00:39:54], and they're going somewhere else and then back to OA and then over to earth, that we're sitting here and living in this place is I think very smart and very good. This is a don't miss book every month. Alex:                 Next up, this is what I know you were excited about Justin, Adventure Man, number four from Image Comics. Script by Matt Fraction, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson. In this issue, we're having our new adventure man, is dealing with the fact that she is much larger than she was previously. Justin:              And denser. Alex:                 And denser. Pete:                Denser. Alex:                 And we find out a lot more about the history of what went on with the previous Adventure Man. How'd you feel about this one? Justin:              I like this book a lot. Obviously, the art by the Dodsons is fantastic. And the way the story really takes its time, I said this on the main podcast as well, it really takes its time- Alex:                 You sure did. Justin:              … and we get to really explore the powers and origin of the character that so many books have to blow pass in one issue. And with this series, we get to really be like, to her discovering her powers. It reminds me of the first couple of Spider-Man movies and really like languishing in the origin and enjoying it, which is something that I've missed in a lot of new comic books. Alex:                 Yeah. I mean, some people might just say, “Get to it already,” but I see what you say. Justin:              I hear you on that. But with this, it feels like we get to see the characters really enjoying the world that they're in and enjoying this. This is moment of discovery of- Alex:                 Enjoying the journey. Justin:              Yeah. And enjoying the beginning of the journey. As for this character, I think it's cool. Alex:                 I agree. Pete:                The arts, fantastic. You've got some great action, some fun storytelling, great character development. This is a really pro comic that is just taking it's time and being confident in the art and the storytelling. Alex:                 Well, and it's also, I don't know if it's going to pan out this way, but it's a really good all ages comic book at the same time. This is something that you could read with kids and have no problem. It's a little complex, but it's fun stuff. It gets a little dark, but good book across the board. Next up, Backtrack, number seven from Oni Press written by Brian Joines, art by Jake Elphick. We had Brian Joines on the live show a couple of weeks back. [crosstalk 00:42:20]- Justin:              Wait, did you did you say Backtrack or Backstack? Alex:                 Backtrack. Pete:                Okay, [inaudible 00:42:25]. Justin:              Backtstack. Alex:                 So this is a car race through time. And in this issue, they find their [inaudible 00:42:30], cells not back in time, but forward in time, in the future, dealing with some big stuff here. I really like this issue a lot. This is a big mythology issue, building out exactly what's been going out of the background while they were doing this race. And I enjoyed finally getting to that stuff, as well as this glimpse of this future timeline. How did you two feel about it? Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is just over the top fun, the art is unbelievable and it's nice to see even in the future, you can just cocky robots, you just shoot them down. You know what I mean? Don't let those robots talk shit to you. Just shoot them in the face until they fall down. It's good stuff. Justin:              Wow. Bad attitude when it comes to [inaudible 00:43:18]. You're the kind of guy that would shoot up C-3PO in Empire Strikes Back. Pete:                No, come on. Oh, well 3CPO, yeah. [crosstalk 00:43:26]. Alex:                 As will Smith said in the classic movie, I, Robot, “Oh, hell no.” Justin:              Yeah. That's what we were all thinking. Thanks for saying it, Alex. Alex:                 Anytime. Justin:              When we had Brian on the show, we talked a lot about how the racing, the balance between the racing and the other side of the story is really well handled. And even in this issue, where there's so much about the mythology and just developing the world around these characters, we still have a lot of time for the energy of the race. And I think that the momentum behind the book is really part of that and I appreciate that. Alex:                 Yeah, they do- Justin:              The colors in this book are also really exciting. Alex:                 Yeah, they do a great job of bouncing my story and action and it keep things grounded, even though it's such a chronic crazy over the top idea. Justin:              It makes me, just when I'm driving my kids to school in the morning, I just feel the same way. I'm just going crazy. Pulling to a stop at a red light and slowly, getting in traffic and then stopping again. Alex:                 Oh, man. That's really cool. You should try going through time. Next up, let's talk about one of my favorite Marvel books that is rapidly going to the top of my stack, Black Widow, number two from Marvel, read by Kelly Thompson, art by Elena Casagrande. We've got a little hint of what's been going on with Black Widow in the last issue as something happened to her. And now she's being manipulated by Arcade. This issue Hawkeye, and with the soldier tracking her down. They find out she's living a happy family life, but of course, Black Widow still got a Black Widow with some hero stuff. This is great. This is such a great twist on Black Widow. This is such a different story for her, and I'm very excited to see where this goes. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. Our expectations that we talked about at the first issue where it's like, “Oh, it's not the Black Widow book. Oh, she's dealing with her past, she's being taken advantage of. She's going to kill people to get back on top,” and to find that new spin on it like this. And I love the perspective shift, switching to Hawkeye and Bucky, Winter Soldier, just like trying to figure this out. And I do hope they get to the Winter Soldier Black Widow over relationship that was such a great relationship back in the Edward Baker run, and was just untimely dispatched with at the end of that run. And I would love to see that become a thing again, despite the fact that she has no memory at all. Pete:                What do you guys think? This is the kind of the question. Do they interfere here or do they literally let her live this happy life that she seemed so pleasant and content with? Alex:                 Well, since she's being manipulated by Arcade and the Kabbalah villains, I would say they probably should get her out, but they don't know that part yet. Pete:                They don't. I just wanted to go on record here and say if you guys see me living a brainwashed life, please don't hesitate to pull me out of that. Alex:                 Oh, I thought you're going to say let you stay in it. Pete:                No. Justin:              Do you think some of the younger henchmen that deal with Arcade are like, “What are you named after, dude?” Pete:                Yeah, definitely. Justin:              What is it? Core quarters? You put quarters in the machine? Alex:                 Apple Arcade. Come on, that's a thing. Everybody loves Apple Arcade. We are all subscribers. Justin:              That's 100% true. Alex:                 Yeah. What's your favorite game on Apple Arcade? Real quick. Don't even look it up. Just mention one. Justin:              Sorry. I'm just running through my favorite quippy shows. Let me just list those. Alex:                 Exorsisters, number 10 from Image Comics written by Ian Boothby and art by Gisèle Lagacé. This is the culmination of illustration [crosstalk 00:47:18], of the firsthand issues. We talked about this series on and off. This is about two sisters, as you probably figured out from the title. One of them is real, one of them is not. And they're battling forces of heaven and hell. Great climax in this issue. I thought just like a big, fun battle that didn't lose the sense of humor that it has throughout. I enjoyed this title quite a bit. How do you guys feel? Justin:              Yeah, I feel the same way. The art has the classic Betty and Veronica, Archie vibe to it, well dealing with these big demonic characters, heaven and hell coming together around these sisters, these not technically sisters, sisters. It's very fun. Alex:                 Yeah, it's fun. Even in the middle of the fight, she's like, “Do you want to tag in?” It's just, they're having a good time, even though there's big stakes and things happening and I really liked the sister's relationship. Yeah, I think this is really a fun book that makes an interesting turn at the end. But yeah, this is well done, well drawn. You can run those ones when you look at the cover, you're like, “Oh, I get what this is.” And then you're pleasantly rewarded for that. Alex:                 Next up, Deceased, Dead Planet, number four from TC Comics written by Tom Taylor, art by Trevor Harrison. If you haven't been following along, we've been loving this title. This takes place in a world ravaged by the anti-life equation. They have found out that cyborg holds maybe the cure to the virus that it has going around. So this issue they're tracking down, Metron trying to get information from him to put it all together. Another great issue of this title. What'd you guys think about it? Pete:                I mean, this comic is insane. This is so much fun. It's nonstop action and fun moments between heroes, great kiss. Some bad-ass reveal at the end, last page. Tom Taylor is killing this book. Justin:              Yeah, I really liked the way the Superman and Batman are done in this storyline. It's one of the rare Elle swirled these storylines where I really think the heroes stand on their own. I could see these characters continuing on outside of this comic or just really living in this deceased world for a long time. Alex:                 That's great. I agree. Next up, Inkblot, number two from Image Comics written by Emma Kubert and art by Rusty Gladdest. Pete, you're a big fan of this one. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 It's a fantasy book with a tiny little black cat. This issue takes a very different bed. Introduces subdue characters, keeps the same cat. How do you feel about this? Pete:                This is fun book. I don't know what it is about this adorable cat, but- Alex:                 Is some of the cat is very… I can't stop looking at it. Pete:                I don't know if it's the eyes or the cuteness or just the way it's drawn. Alex:                 It's probably the eyes, because the eyes are the only distinguishing features. Pete:                But I really love it. I know it's ridiculous, but just seeing this guy who just says ‘Meow,” is just great and saves the day. Guys, just because dragons are big and scary doesn't mean they have big and scary problems. Sometimes you just have a small problem kike your old rat stuck in the nose. Alex:                 You worshiped the cat? The weight of the cat. Pete:                Let's weigh the cat guys. Alex:                 You're a cat guy though, Pete. That's the thing. That's a secret that nobody knows. Pete:                Well, I was a dog person my whole life, but now I have a cat. And so it's just me and Inkblot living the dream. Alex:                 I like this issue. I just want to know what's going on with this book, because as far as I can tell the second issue wasn't really connected to the first issue, [crosstalk 00:51:24]- Pete:                Yeah, one and done type of scenarios. Alex:                 Yeah. But the first issue ended in a cliff hanger where they were going to continue the story. So I'd love to get back to that. No, that'd be cool. I think the art is very good. I like the world. There's a glorious picture of a bunch of [ellis 00:51:42], standing in front of this, I don't know if it's a portal or what it is in these tree branches that is gorgeous. So I want to know more about this world, but I feel like we're two issues in, and it's not quite giving me enough information at this point. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Well, I don't know what more you need. You got adorable cat who's solving crimes and helping people out. I mean, what the fuck else you want, man? Justin:              [crosstalk 00:52:08]. Getting that rat. Pete:                Got to get that rat. Justin:              Got to get that rat. That's what I said to my coffee mug in the morning, I drink my cup of coffee and I'm like, “Ah, time to get that rat.” Champions, number one written by Eve L. Ewing, art by Simone Di Meo. This is picking up on the champions outlawed storyline that I think began 35 years ago. I'm not 100% sure, but the champions have been… they're not allowed to be superheroes anymore. Kids aren't allowed to be super heroes and being a little mean, but this is obviously a victim of the pandemic where things have gotten very, very delayed. Justin:              Finally, we are picking up on this though. What do you think about this take on Marvel's Young Heroes? Pete:                I mean, it just sucks that they're no longer allowed to be heroes and they're trying to be… there's sting operations to get them. I mean, it's heartbreaking stuff, you know what I mean? They earn their stripes, they should be a part of the team. Justin:              Exactly. If I were in living in this world, I would want to [crosstalk 00:53:14]- Pete:                You are living in this world. Justin:              … 11, 12 year olds running around, shooting stuff through lasers. Alex:                 Yeah, being in charge of things, making big time decisions. I love it. Justin:              Once the team comes together and this book starts moving, I like this a lot. I'm the Van [Astervicks 00:53:32], formerly Marvel boy, former new warrior. The fact that he's the bad guy here, now he's called Justice. I don't know if he's just this way now. That was interesting. And I guess, I'm not super familiar with the dynamics of this team. I like the way the reveal at the end, and I'm curious how, if this book does have that same vibe of the new warriors that I liked back in the '90s. Alex:                 Yeah. It's not quite there yet. It feels like the middle of whatever happened previously, whatever's coming next, but once it comes together, I am interested to read it as well. Alex:                 Last but not least, Decorum, number five written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Mike Huddleston. This might be my favorite issue of Decorum, so far personally. Justin:              100%. I like how we always save this book for last. Alex:                 All right, so at this book, who knows what really is going on? But in this issue, we are following our former courier character was now training at a school for assassins. And we follow her as she trains at that school over the course of many, many years. Man, this issue was great. Just a ton of fun, perfectly relayed out by Mike Huddleston phenomenal. Like I do, it's taken us a while to get here, but just a joy to read from beginning to end. Justin:              Yeah. I agree. I think Hickman, especially on his non big to work really pops when there's a very clear format to the story so that he can live in that format and tell the wildest stories he can think of. I like to imagine that right after Krakola finishes, making love to a neighboring Island, Krakola falls asleep and dreams the comic book, Decorum. Alex:                 Wow. Justin:              Hmm, wow. Alex:                 There's some- Justin:              Delilah will be here all night, listening to your heartbreaking story. Pete:                There's some amazing art, some amazing coloring and shading in this book. Really beautiful stuff, but it's also repetitive and it's also like you're getting these symbols, the graphics, the [crosstalk 00:55:56]- Justin:              There's some amazing shading. There's some amazing shading right there for people to pick. Pete:                I get it, man. You like symbols now, and now every book has to have these little pages, in between pages that don't have much, but have a little bit whatever- Justin:              Dude, dude, dude, it is not now. He's been doing that same shit for years. Alex:                 Yes. Pete:                Okay, cool. I guess I'm just catching on to it, but I don't know. I guess if you like it and it's in every book, you get used to it or grow to expect it. But I think the art is glorious, especially with… even though it's repetitive of the same shit, the kind of goriness of it is fantastic. And then you get the, okay, she finally steps up and what that means and the aftermath. So interesting, cool storytelling, but really took its time and art's great. Alex:                 Alright, there you go. No better place to wrap up than that. If you would like to support this podcast, patrion.com/comic book club, also do a live show every Tuesday ni

We love comics and if you are listening so do you. We want to give you guys something positive, a cosmic ray of light in these tough times! We might all be locked in our homes, our local comic shops may be shuttered, but there are still tons of ways to read and enjoy comics! In this episode, Greg, Leon and Rahul discuss the following comics: KING OF NOWHERE #1 (https://www.boom-studios.com/archives/w-maxwell-prince-and-tyler-jenkins-announce-new-original-series-king-of-nowhere/) DECORUM #1 (https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/decorum-1) STRANGE ADVENTURES #1 (https://www.dccomics.com/comics/strange-adventures-2020/strange-adventures-1) ALIENATED (https://www.boom-studios.com/archives/simon-spurrier-and-chris-wildgooses-alienated-1-second-printing-sold-out-week-before-release/) X-RAY ROBOT (https://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/3000-872/X-RAY-ROBOT-1) BENEATH THE DEAD OAK TREE (https://www.shortbox.co.uk/product/beneath-the-dead-oak-tree-by-emily-carroll) Send any questions or feedback to (mailto:acecomicals@gmail.com) acecomicals@gmail.com. And also please subscribe (http://www.acecomicals.com/subscribe) and leave us a review! If you like what we do please consider donating to us (https://ko-fi.com/acecomicals) at https://ko-fi.com/acecomicals. All contributions will be used to defray the cost of hosting the website. Ace Comicals, over and out!#

*Spoilers* Decorum (22:00): Jonathon Hickman, Mike Huddleston, Rus Wooten, Sasha E. Head, Image Comics; Punisher Soviet #5 (51:30); Nicnevin & The Bloody Queen (1:01:30); King of Nowhere (1:12:30); Batman's Grave #6, Reaver #7, Moonshine #17, Detective Comics #138 Facsimile Edition, The Man Who F'd Up Time #2, Rise of Kylo Ren #4; The Avengers #32, Lois Lane #9, Red Sonja #13-14. NCBD Picks: Artemis & The Assassin #1, Ascender #10, DragonFly & DragonflyMan #8  

CW: Racism, child abuse, regular abuse, misogyny We read Matt Wagner's Grendel a story of crime, violence, bad bad art, misogyny, a pretty cool vampire, and deep trash. Grendel Omnibus v1 by Matt Wagner, Tim Sale, David Mack, Duncan Fegredo, Mike Allred, Guy Davis, Teddy Kristiansen, Ashley Wood, Mike Huddleston, Dean Motter Grendel Omnibus v2 by Matt Wagner, Tim Sale, Arnold Pander, Jacob Pander, Bernie Mireault Also in this episode Jessica's illiteracy While editing this I went through all the art in v2, there are no monsters or aliens, just ugly 80s fashion, easy mistake to make The RWA is collapsing into a blackhole of racism Turns out the RWA probably objects to the colour of the hole Baby Yoda feelings Panelists: Jamie(@thatcomicfan), Ashley(@sierradean), Andrew(@knowhwerenorth), Scott(@goddamnitscott), Jess (@GeekyChicky87)

Skottie Young finally returns to the EOC Clubhouse to talk about Middlewest with Jorge Corona and Jean-Francois Beaulieu, Bully Wars with Aaron Conley, I Hate Fairyland, Deadpool with Nic Klein and Scott Hepburn, Jason Aaron, Avengers, Mike Huddleston, plus a whole mess more!

The great Skottie Young sits in to help us deliver our 2017 HeroesCon recap with style, reminiscing at length on Jonathan Hickman, Neal Adams, James Harren, Terry Dodson, Jasons Aaron and Latour, Fabian Nicieza, Jim Rugg, Daniel Warren Johnson, Aaron Conley, Erik Larsen, Mike Huddleston, Darryl Banks, Chris Visions, Andrew Robinson, DMC, Khari Randolph, Felix Lu, and a whole mess more!

This week James and Nick discuss the problematic Riri Williams variant cover, Nick throws shade at a number of popular franchises, and more! Totally Whelmed Twitter: @whelmedpod Facebook: facebook.com/whelmedpod James: @Iamvonblum Nick: @SPD4649 Dr. Comics & Mr. Games Twitter/Instagram: @drcomicsmrgames Facebook: facebook.com/drcomicsmrgames Tumblr: drcomicsmrgames.tumblr.com Marvel Pulls Campbell Variant http://www.cbr.com/marvel-pulls-j-scott-campbells-riri-williams-iron-man-cover/ Discussion on Fashion in Comics (NSFW langauge) https://twitter.com/toastasaurus/status/788770194193690624 Mary Elizabeth Winstead (yes she did play Ramona Flowers) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935541/ Sofia Boutella http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1154749/?ref_=nv_sr_1 Sienna Miller http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1092227/?ref_=nv_sr_1 The Strain by David Lapham, Mike Huddleston, and Dan Jackson https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/20-194/The-Strain-Volume-1-TPB Robot Dreams by Sara Varon http://www.firstsecondbooks.com/uncategorized/in-praise-of-sara-varon/

Teen Titans: Earth One by Jeff Lemire and Terry and Rachel Dodson, Memetic #2 by James Tynion IV, Eryk Donovan, Adam Guzowski, and Steve Wands from BOOM!, Valiant-O-Rama: Archer and Armstrong: The 1% by Ray Fawkes, Joe Eisma, Ulises Arreola, Dave Sharpe, Juan Doe, and Rian Hughes, The Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel #1 by Peter Milligan, Cary Nord, Brian Reber, Dave Sharpe, Hitch, and Rafael Sandoval, Punk Mambo #0 by Peter Milligan, Robert Gil, Jose Villarubia, and Dave Lanphear, Ivar, Timewalker, and more, The Strain by Guillermo del Toro, David Lapham, Mike Huddleston, and Dan Jackson from Dark Horse, ODY-C by Matt Fraction and Christian Ward from Image, Ghost Fleet #2 by Donny Cates, Daniel Warren Johnson, and Lauren Affe from Dark Horse, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Robert Hack, and Jack Morelli from Archie, Adam Warrock, Jack Davis, more on 1976: New Rose from Daniel White, Rasputin by Alex Grecian, Riley Rossmo, and Ivan Plascencia from Image, Drifter #1 by Ivan Brandon, Nic Klein, Clem Robins, and Tom Muller from Image, Trees, porn stars, recent trailers, and a whole mess more!

On Day 4 of DELTOROCON, Parker Lyons and Greg Kishbaugh talk to Mike Huddleston - illustrator for the Dark Horse STRAIN comic books.  We talk about how Mike's career has crossed path with Guillermo's more than once, as well as LOTS of talk about THE STRAIN.

Soap and Hot L Baltimore, Kickstarter, the Bad Karma team, Jason Latour, the Dirt Candy Cookbook and Ryan Dunlavey, Tom Yeates and Al Gordon's The Once and Future Tarzan, Mark Crilley and Akiko, Blackest Night: Teen Titans, Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, Judd Winick, Jeph Loeb, Mark Waid and Chris Samnee's Daredevil, our 2012 comics disappointments, Avengers Vs. X-Men, the (not so) New 52, Cartoon Network's Green Lantern and Young Justice, Windsor McKay, Jack Kirby, Masamune Shirow and digital art, Steranko, Will Eisner, Butcher Baker by Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston, Nancy in Hell on Earth by El Torres and Enrique Lopez Lorenzana from Image Comics, Jacques Tardi, Peter David, Mark Waid's Thrillbent and Insufferable, Hickman's Avengers, Planet of the Apes from BOOM!, Brandon Graham's Multiple Warheads, and a whole mess more!

Benedict Cumberbatch and Star Trek: Into Darkness, listener gifts, Will Pfeifer and Dial H for HERO, custom bound editions, DC/Marvel crossovers (Superman Vs. Spider-Man, X-Men/Teen Titans, JLA/Avengers and George Perez, and many more), Ross Andru > Walt Simonson?, Hideshi Hino's Lullabies from Hell and The Comics Journal Special Edition 2005: Seduction, Revival volume one by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton from Image, the Walking Dead comic (maybe spoilers), Action Comics, Fantastic Four, New Titans, Clone Saga, Peter David's Hulk, Iron Man, X-Men Legacy, Avengers, Greg Rucka's Punisher, Spider-Man + Daredevil + Punisher = GOLD, the Grateful Dead, Arthur Magazine #33 and Rick Veitch, Avengers Vs. X-Men: Consequences, Butcher Baker and Mike Huddleston, Mad Men, Skyfall, The Wire, the Thin Man series, and a whole mess more!

C2E2, Walking Dead, Will Pfeifer, Quentin Tarantino, original art faves, Spawn, Amazing Spider-Man, Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaa in the Valley of the Wind, Sandman, Hellboy, Starman, Invisibles, Brendan McCarthy, Parker, the effects of social media on the comics industry, The Homemand Directive and Mike Huddleston, Miracleman and the greatness of Rick Veitch, Salvador Larocca, time machines, Jim Cheung, Bill Mantlo, Neal Adams, Dave Cockrum, Herb Trimpe, Larry Stroman, Mike Allred's Madman and The Tick #101, Randy Gentile, Thor: God of Thunder #1 and Jason Aaron, Adventure Time, Michael Golden, and a whole mess more!

Smut Peddler, Tony Moore and Deadpool, current artists transplanted to Bronze Age Warren books, Uncanny X-Force, Pendelton Ward's Bravest Warriors from Kaboom!, Iron Age from Marvel, Lee Weeks, Juan Doe, Walking Dead, Ande Parks' Lone Ranger from Dynamite!, Paul Pope, Will Pfeifer and comic book crushes, Wendy Whitebread, Zachary Holmes Case One: The Monster by Carlos Trillo and Juan Bobillo from Dark Horse/Venture, falling behind, Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicca, Disney and Star Wars, Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Plastic Man, Hellblazer, Mike Huddleston, music and comics, Chuck Rozanski, Sam Raimi and Evil Dead, Godzilla: Half-Century War by James Stokoe, American Vampire, Angry Birds Star Wars, Fraction's Mighty Thor and Pascual Ferry, and much more!

Et nous voilà repartis pour ce troisième et dernier jour de Paris Comics Expo. Au programme, pas mal d’interviews et quelques exclus. On commence donc par un habitué, Mike Huddleston (dessinateur de The Homeland Directive, Butcher Baker et The Strain) puis on enchaîne avec Sean Gordon Murphy (dessinateur de Punk Rock Jesus, …

The Iron Man 3 trailer, creators that have surprised us, Tradd Moore, Darick Robertson, Fiona Staples, Mike Huddleston, C2E2, our dream Artist's Editions from the '90s, Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Bachalo, Todd McFarlane, Joe Mad, Sleeper, Tim Seeley and Mike Norton's Revival, JLA/Avengers, Steve Gerber and Howard the Duck, Chris Ware's Building Stories, favorite Disney movies, Archer and Armstrong by Fred Van Lente and Clayton Henry from Valiant, Neal Adams and Warren's Thrill Kill, Walking Dead, Locke and Key, The Blob, Jaws, Halloween, Twilight Zone, Creepshow, Daredevil: End of Days by Brian Bendis, Klaus Janson, and Bill Sienkiewicz, Cerebus and Dave Sim, Fathom, Soulfire, and Michael Turner, Jason Pearson's Body Bags, Jeff Nicholson, OG villains (Kingpin, Bullseye, Lex Luthor, DOOM, Joker, Ozymandias, Kid Miracleman, and more), the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series, Homeland, the best and worst costume redesigns, Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #18 from Bongo, Two Morrows' Modern Masters, Steve Rude, and a whole mess more!

Et c’est parti. Comme promis, nous réitérons le défi cette année en vous enregistrant un reportage chaque jour, publié le soir même. Voici donc notre compte rendu de cette première journée de salon, avec notamment une interview de Mike Huddleston, que vous avez déjà découvert lors de l’émission 25. Un …

All the pieces are back in place as we ramble through Revival by Tim Seeley and Mike Norton from Image, Mike Schwartz's Oceanverse, Won Ton Soup volume one by James Stokoe from Oni Press, Alejandro Jodorowsky's Weapons of the Metabaron with Travis Charest and Zoran Janjetov from Humanoids (incorporating Frank Herbert and David Lynch's Dune, Moebius, H. R. Giger, Sienkiewicz, Flash (Aaaaaaaaaaah!) Gordon, and more), Ron Garney and Fantastic Four #606, Jeff Parker and Dale Eaglesham's Hulk #53 and Alpha Flight, Jonathan Hickman and Ryan Bodenheim from Image, The Homeland Directive by Robert Vendetti and Mike Huddleston from Top Shelf, David's tale on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Detective Comics #526, trade dress and Dark Horse's Creepy and Eerie Archives, Juxtapoz #137, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's Comic Book History of Comics from IDW, Terry Moore's Rachel Rising, Fury MAX by Ennis and Parlov, Dynamite!, and a little about Before Watchmen: Minutemen #1. You'll live.

Coucou. On a un peu de retard sur ce numéro, on voulait tout bien vous sortir dans l’ordre et on a mis un peu de temps pour cette avec Mike Huddleston. Ceci dit, on devrait reprendre le rythme assez rapidement. Et sans plus de simagrées, voici le sommaire : Dossier …

Cette semaine, on a un invité de qualité, Mike Huddleston. Pour des raisons pratiques, l’interview s’est faite en VO mais est disponible en deux versions pour vous. Tout d’abord, la version doublée, disponible dans cet épisode, mais également la version originale, disponible ici. Enfin, pour ceux intéressés uniquement par l’interview de Mike, …

Cette semaine, on a un invité de qualité, Mike Huddleston. Pour des raisons pratiques, l’interview s’est faite en VO mais est disponible en deux versions pour vous. Tout d’abord, la version anglaise, disponible dans cet épisode, mais également la version doublée par nos soins. Enfin, pour ceux intéressés uniquement par l’interview de …

En ce samedi, troisième journée de Comic Con’, le programme était plus léger. Une projection des DVD bonus d’Adult Swim, une conférence sur les comics et la provocation, avec Rufus Dayglo, Mike Huddleston, Brian Azzarello et Lee Bermejo ainsi que la projection d’une bonne partie de la saison 2 du …

Comic book and storyboard artist extraordinaire Gabriel Hardman joins us in an extended discussion on the visual storytelling media of which he is well-versed and their similarities and differences, plus, in the second hour, we find time to touch upon Butcher Baker, the Righteous Maker #1 by Joe Casey and Mike Huddleston, Nonplayer #1, Xombi #1, Incognito: Bad Influences and Sleeper, Captain America .1 and Thor .1, Fear Itself #1, Deadpool Team-Up, Night of the Living Dead: Death Valley #1, Alan Moore and Jacen Burrows' Neonomicon #4 from Avatar, FF #1, Detective Comics and Batman Inc., the Bomb Queen - Hack/Slash one-shot from Jimmie Robinson and Image, Black Panther: Man without Fear #516, Fish Police volume one, Dark Horse's Creepy #5, The Cardboard Valise, Archie #153, Mike Allred's Ginchy Madman one-shot, and a whole mess more!

AroundComics.com Comic Books Culture Podcast Ep. 50Around Comics celebrates our 50th Episode! Join us for Part I of this fantastic event, as we record from the first ever Chicago Mini-Con. Chris, Sal and Tom are joined by Wordballoon's John Siuntres as we welcome Bill Reinhold, Franchesco!, Mike Huddleston, Doug Klauba, Mike Oliveri, Dave Wachter, Len Kody, Jason Millet, Scott Johnson, Tom Kelly, Tony Akins and more. We also hear from Matt Fraction, Ande Parks, Phil Hester, Tony Moore and Jim McCann. Don't miss a terrific night of fun, comics and talk.Support the show