Podcast appearances and mentions of omar spahi

Without question, the highlight of the 100th Episode of Bandwagon Nerds was the phenomenal interview that Patrick O'Dowd and Dave Ungar conducted with Omar Spahi. It was so good, in fact, that the guys wanted to release the interview as its own stand-alone, special edition of Bandwagon Nerds. So that's what the guys have done here on this BWN Special Edition: The Omar Spahi Interview. If you did not hear this yet, Omar talks to the guys about his tremendous career, comics, animation, writing comics, hosting his own comics based podcast, his thoughts on the MCU, DC, Star Wars, the comics industry as a whole, its trajectory and so much more. Even if you listened to this along with the rest of BWN100, this interview is clearly worth a second or even third listen. We hope everyone, especially Omar's fans, family, and friends, enjoys this special edition and thanks to everyone for the tremendous support you have given to Bandwagon Nerds through these first 100 Episodes. @WrestlngRealist@AttitudeAgg@itsReyCash@PCTunney@therealcplatt@ChairshotMediaAbout Bandwagon NerdsJoin Patrick O'Dowd, David Ungar, PC Tunney and Rey Cash as they keep everyone up on all things nerd, and maybe add some new nerds along the way. It's the Bandwagon Nerds Podcast!About the Chairshot Radio NetworkCreated in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts, including POD is WAR, Women's Wrestling Talk, The #Miranda Show, Badlands' Wrestling Mount Rushmores, The Outsider's Edge, DWI Podcast, Bandwagon Nerds, the Greg DeMarco Show, 3 Man Weave, Five Rounds, Turnbuckle Talk, Suwama's Station, The Reaction and more! You can find these great shows each week at theChairshot.com and through our distribution partners, including podcasting's most popular platforms.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chairshot-radio-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Patrick, Dave, PC, and Rey celebrate 100 episodes of the Bandwagon welcoming a plethora of guests, highlighted by a conversation with writer/producer/podcaster Omar Spahi! Listen as the Omar shares his thoughts on content creation, blockbuster comic book films and how comics continue to impact the world of entertainment! The guests don't stop there as the Kingpin of The Chairshot himself, Greg DeMarco joins the program. Finally, the guest list is rounded out by a return of one of the Bandwagon's own as the Scientist DPP returns to react to trailers from New York Comicon! #BWN100@WrestlngRealist@AttitudeAgg@itsReyCash@PCTunney@therealcplatt@ChairshotMediaAbout Bandwagon NerdsJoin Patrick O'Dowd, David Ungar, PC Tunney and Rey Cash as they keep everyone up on all things nerd, and maybe add some new nerds along the way. It's the Bandwagon Nerds Podcast!About the Chairshot Radio NetworkCreated in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts, including POD is WAR, Women's Wrestling Talk, The #Miranda Show, Badlands' Wrestling Mount Rushmores, The Outsider's Edge, DWI Podcast, Bandwagon Nerds, the Greg DeMarco Show, 3 Man Weave, Five Rounds, Turnbuckle Talk, Suwama's Station, The Reaction and more! You can find these great shows each week at theChairshot.com and through our distribution partners, including podcasting's most popular platforms.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/chairshot-radio-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Jason interviews Omar Spahi and Hannah Means-Shannon about the HELP: The Hero Initiative Anthology. Links: Kickstarter link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heroinitiative/help-the-hero-initiative-anthology Hero Initiative link: https://www.heroinitiative.org/ Hero Initiative's Twitter: @heroinitiative Omar Spahi's Twitter: @OmarSpahi Hannah Means-Shannon's Twitter: @HannahMenzies Email us at TheGuys@ComicBookPage.com Join the discussion on our forum at: http://forum.comicbookpage.com Join the Comic Book Page Slack channel: http://comicbookpage.com/cbp_slack_request.php This […]

Episode 650 - Jason Interviews Omar Spahi & Hannah Means-Shannon - Help The Hero Initiative Anthology https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heroinitiative/help-the-hero-initiative-anthology https://www.heroinitiative.org/ Support Our Patreon at Any Tier to Win CGC Prizes and Unlock More C4FaP Bonus Content https://www.patreon.com/comicsfunprofit Donations Keep Our Show Going, Please Give https://bit.ly/36s7YeL Get on the Kowabunga (Deep Discount Comics) FOC and Preorder list http://eepurl.com/dy2Z8D Email us at: Comicsforfunandprofit@gmail.com - questions, comments, gripes, we can't wait to hear what you have to say. Follow us on twitter.com/ComicsFunProfit & instagram.com/comicsforfunandprofit Like us on Facebook.com/ComicsForFunAndProfit Subscribe, rate, review on itunes, Spotify, Stitcher. Thank you so much for listening and spreading the word about our little comic book podcast. https://comcsforfunandprofit.podomatic.com/

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

Terry Huddleston talks about what it takes to make Thaniel and Terminarch for Omar Spahi's OSSM Comics. He talks about what it's like going to conventions and how he's able to be successful at so many Comic-Cons.

Noel, JD, Len and Brian discuss this week’s new books: 09:05 – American Ronin 02 – (W) Peter Milligan, (A) ACO 23:41 – Getting It Together 02 – (W) Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, (A) Jenny D. Fine, MX Struble 40:54 – Kick-Ass Vs HitGirl 01 – (W) Steve Niles, (A) Marcelo Frusin 53:50 – Miskatonic... The post CultPOP! 716 – American Ronin 02, Getting It Together 02, Kick-Ass Vs HitGirl 01, Miskatonic 01, Punchline 01, and Scarenthood 01! appeared first on CultPOP!.

On this week's Stack podcast, we're reviewing: Home Sick Pilots #1 Image Comics Written by Dan Watters Art by Casar Wijngaard Venom #31 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Iban Coello The Comic Book History of Animation #1 IDW Written by Fred Van Lente Art & Letters by Ryan Dunlavey Sweet Tooth: The Return #2 DC Comics By Jeff Lemire Scarenthood #2 IDW Story & Art by Nicke Roche Colors by Chris O'Halloran Vampirella: The Dark Powers #1 Dynamite Written by Dan Sbnett Art by Paul Davidson Seven Secrets #5 BOOM! Studios Written by Tom Taylor Illustrated by Daniele Di Nicuolo Crossover #2 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Geoff Shaw Spider-Man #5 Marvel Written by J.J. Abrams & Henry Abrams Art by Sara Pichelli American Vampire 1976 #3 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Rafael Albuquerque Getting It Together #3 Written by Sina Grace & Omar Spahi Art by Jenny D. Fine & Sina Grace Origins #2 BOOM! Studios Creat by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph Oxford Script by Clay McLeod Chapman Art by Jakub Rebelka King In Black: Namor #1 Marvel Written by Kurt Busiek Art by Benjamin Dewey The Vain #3 Oni Press Written by Eliot Rahal Illustrated by Emily Pearson Red Sonja: The Price of Blood #1 Dynamite Written by Luke Lieberman Art by Walter Geovani 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 new comic books that have come out this very week. We review them, we give our unfiltered [crosstalk 00:00:23]. Pete:                Just try to filter us. Good luck. Alex:                 It's never going to happen. And we're going to come out raw and hard on this first one. Pete:                What? Well, don't say things like that. Alex:                 Yeah, but no, I'll say whatever I want. Home Sick Pilots number one from Image Comics, written by Dan Watters, art by Caesar Wijngaard. I don't know, I probably should check that before we got on the air or anything like that. Justin:              I think Caspar, is Caspar Wijngaard. Alex:                 Yeah. This is a new title obviously from Image Comics from two creators that frankly I don't think I've ever heard of, but this is … I wanted to put this up front because there's been a lot of hype on this. And there is a very big, in my opinion, bold debut that is well worth that hype. This focuses on an indie band, one member who ends up in a haunted house, disappears, weird things go on, crazy things go on. And it almost feels like to me a spiritual descendant of like, I don't know, so many different things at the same time that it feels original. But the first things that came to mind are like Locke and Key a little bit, Paper Girls a little bit. Pete:                Paper girls. Yeah. Alex:                 And it's great. I was so happy with this book and I'm so excited to see where it goes next. Did you guys feel the same way? Justin:              Yeah, I agree completely. I thought this book was great. The art's really nice and it really makes you really feel along with the characters, especially in the first third, that when you're young and you're like, “Let's go fuck around. Let's go mess something up. Let's go … ” That rebellious vibe. They do a good job of expressing that in a fun way. And then it does a nice job also of being a horror story that also edges into comic book world. It's not just a horror story. And I really appreciated that. Pete:                Yeah. I think this is really a fantastic first issue. Does a great job of getting us set up with who's who and what's going on, and then tells a really crazy story. I also really love the use of the all black panels are really great. Just some really fantastic storytelling [inaudible 00:02:39] perspective. They really did a great, great job. I can't recommend this comic enough. It's really interesting. And I cannot wait to see how this unfolds, really, really impressive. Alex:                 There's a double page spread in the middle of the book that was laid out in a way that honestly as a comic book reader was kind of confusing for me, but once I realized what they were going for, I really appreciated and liked, where two different groups are coming to a haunted house at the same time, but coming from opposite ends of the house. So the way you read it is you follow one group and then they meet in the middle and then you follow the other group from the other side of the page. Alex:                 One is going the way that we read in America, the other is going the way that you read anime. But it took me a second for my brain to adjust to that. But I thought it was such a smart, fascinating way of laying out the page. And that's what plays throughout the book is just these top of mind choices that they're going for. Justin:              Yeah. It's just a book that feels very cool. They're all musicians, they seem like they're in cool bands. It feels like it's just a good- Alex:                 You want to hang out with them, wondering what they're doing. Will they give you a call? Pete:                Justin, it's okay, you're cool, man. You don't have to just want to hang out with the cool kids all the time. Justin:              No, I'm just saying like, “Hey nerds, I'm going to hang out with these cool musicians. I'm out of here.” Pete:                Watch you become a nerd. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about the opposite of a nerd, which as we know is jock with Venom number 31 from Marvel, written by Donny Cates, art by Iban Coello. This is picking right up off of the cliff hanger from King in Black number one, where Eddie Brock was thrown off the top. Love the sounds of coke being poured to the background. Pete:                Sorry. Making the last of my rum and coke here, so apologies. Justin:              Pete. Alex:                 It's okay. You got to listen. Justin:              Pete, it's 10:00 AM. What are you doing? Alex:                 Cook breakfast for your kids. Venom number 31, Eddie Brock has been thrown off of a building. And this takes place during 32 seconds, 31 seconds. Justin:              32 seconds, yeah. Alex:                 32 seconds, could have been 31 seconds, could match the number of the book, where he is falling to the ground and various things are going on. And he's thinking back on his life and the mistakes you've made. What'd you think about this issue as a follow-up to King in Black number one in particular? Pete:                Well, I thought it was really very interesting, this kind of using this kind of free for all to tell the story that's kind of insane and kind of, I think fits what's going on. This is a very over the top kind of insane thing that's happening in this book. I thought this was kind of an interesting way to kind of tell this story. The arts phenomenal, the action's very intense. Yeah, it's impressive how much store we get in as a person is falling to maybe their death. But the art I cannot say is just how creepy and weird and disgusting it is. It's really impressive the way they're doing it. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, especially after how big the first issue of this crossover was with so much happening, I really like this issue despite the fact that it takes place in 32 seconds really slows the action down. And it's sort of like setting the table, we're meeting a lot of the players that feel like they are going to be the core characters in this crossover. Eddie Brock, obviously his son, Dylan know. And we really get in their heads as we are moving forward. I appreciate this. And it's like one of those issues that sort of just like a show piece, it all takes place as this one quick thing is happening and the art's amazing. Pete:                Yeah. It seems like the son's going to be a part of this somehow. Alex:                 Yeah, I think so maybe, maybe a little bit. To what you're saying Justin- Justin:              Well, let me just say from the last issue was a huge broad strokes, you saw as much of Dylan as you did of Captain America. I do think this issue is important to be like, “Yes, Dylan is the linchpin of this crossover.” Alex:                 Yeah. Well, to your point Justin, I think what's really nice about this is creating different tones. It could feel since you're coming from the same writer, you could be getting big bombastic King in Black and then big bombastic Venom, but instead he's using them to hit two different storytelling modes to continue the same story. And it's very smart decision. Alex:                 Let's move on to talk about The Comic Book History of Animation number one from IDW written by Fred Van Lente, art and letters by Ryan Dunlavey. We have talked to Fred and Ryan about many, many series that they have done, Comic Book History of Comics, Action Philosophers, other things like that. They have been diving into specific histories forever, and this is no different, just a reliable duo. And I say that in the best sense that when you see Comic Book History of Animation at the front, you see who's doing it. You know what you're getting, it's smart, it's funny, it's informative, but it's a good story at the same time. I just had a blast reading this and it's so packed with information, is a good value for readers as well. Pete:                Yeah. I loved the kind of like, you've heard stories over the years, but this is really informative. The fact that there's a spinning house that rotates with the sun, that was really cool to find out. Yeah, this is really cool, very nerdy in all the right ways. The art does such a great job of keeping things action oriented and fun. It's not just like facts, facts, facts, they do a good way using the storytelling to kind of keep things fun and light. It's really impressive what they can accomplish. Justin:              Yeah. To your point, Pete, they really do a great job of just selecting the facts, details and just story points that they tell about these historical figures. What I got really excited about is the animation studio that was like basically the first Hollywood studio in Midwood, Brooklyn. I want to go drive out there and look around and be like, “This is the first Hollywood style studio, is right sort of 20 minutes away from me.” That's awesome. Pete:                Wow. Alex:                 Well, to that point, I think it's interesting the different things you can pick out. The thing that really drew me in was the story of Winsor McCay, who created Little Nemo in Slumberland, and how crucial he was to the development of animation as an art form, which I feel like was one of those facts that maybe I had heard at some point and kind of ignored or not really gotten stuck in my brain. And to hear it again in this way, and as part of the story that eventually leads up to Walt Disney while not necessarily getting into Disney Studios. It's good, it just really draws a narrative line between these things, which is what the best history stories do or the best history lessons do, and this is one of them. Justin:              There's another great panel where Walt Disney, who was sort of a dick, all of his animators that he had crossed are flipping him off wearing Mickey ears, that will really resonate. Pete:                I was a huge fan of Felix the Cat as a kid. And so that part where Felix is pissing on exec's desk really made me laugh. Alex:                 Good times. Justin:              Yeah, you'll laugh so hard your heart will ache, your sides will ache and your heart will go pitter pat. Alex:                 Sweet Tooth: The Return number two from DC Comics by Jeff Lemire. This is, as you could figure out for the title, the continuation, reverberation, whatever you want to call it, the original title. Pete:                The Return. Alex:                 Well, I think there's a lot of things going on here. With Sweet Tooth we don't necessarily know the full story or exactly what is going on with this new sweet tooth. But we find out a lot more about the world that he is in this issue, as well as potentially what's going on and how it maybe ties to the first series, or maybe not. It feels like there's more swerves going on. This is just great to revisit again in this new way. It's eerie. It's weird. It's dark. I am loving this series. Pete:                Yeah. This is a crazy issue. We're slowly kind of learning more of what's going on. And I really liked this kind of new friend that we meet. I think this is a very interesting character. I'm excited to learn more. This is very exciting to be back in this world kind of in a fresh way. And I really hate the creepy old church guy, but I'm excited to read more. This does a great job of getting you pumped for the next issue. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I'm curious how this is sort of going to roll out because it does feel like they're telling the same story in some ways, but in just a total different mashed up iteration. So I'm curious sort of what the point of that is. Why are we hitting these same characters again in the same way, very much in the like, it's happening again, that sort of TB trope. I'm curious what that will mean. And I just got to say nobody draws crusty old villainist dudes better than Jeff Lemire. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah. Next up, Scarenthood number two from IDW Story, and art by Nick Roche, colors by Chris O'Halloran. We had Nick Roche on the story, on a live podcast a couple of weeks back, really enjoyed the first issue of this one. I think in particular, Justin, you were probably the biggest fan of the first issue, which found a bunch of parents dealing with some weird going on at their kids' school. How do you think the second issue held up? Justin:              I really enjoyed it again as well. I think what I said last time is this comic does such a great job of simultaneously really being about the horrors of everyday parenthood, as well as touching on this supernatural horror that is really just boiling underneath this town and these characters. And this issue does the same thing. We get a lot of great scenes, their main character and his kid that he's raising on his own, and sort of the little mistakes you make when you're a parent, when you're distracted and you apologize. And it just felt, the detail work here is so good. And so I got to give it up for Nick for putting that together. Pete:                Yeah. I think this really continues to be a very interesting book. I love the kind of like almost scary things that kind of happen in this. We're getting a little bit more story and a little bit less of the kind of ghost, kind of stuff and more like, okay, this is the team that we're going to be kind of leading this expedition as we move on. I think this is a really great issue. The art is fantastic. It's kind of a cool world and I'm excited to see where it goes in the art. Again, I really like it. Alex:                 Like we talked about with the first issue, I think this does a phenomenal job of capturing the frustration and terror of being a parent, and then funneling that into actual horror things and ghosts. There are moments in here as Pete pointed out, there's less of the supernatural activity, but the moments that were really just made my heart beat faster were the things about being, thinking you're a bad parent, being a bad parent, acting like a bad parent. All of those things are very true to life in the best way. And on top of that, you do have this really nice art and this spooky story talk into at the same time. It was good stuff. Next up- Justin:              One thing that really resonated with me is multiple times in this issue he's doing something and his kid is like, “Hey,” and he looks at the clock, he's like, “Oh shit, I got to go do this thing.” That was very real. Alex:                 Yes. Vampirella: The Dark Powers number one from Dynamite, written by Dan Abnett and art by Paul Davidson. In this issue Vampirella is now teaming up with a super team made up of people from project superpowers, I think is what's going on here. And she's just got her crazy vampire methods and they don't like them. Justin:              They don't like them. [crosstalk 00:15:03]. Pete:                Oh, go ahead. Alex:                 Go ahead, Pete. Pete:                I was just going to say that that's a cool idea, right? It's like put the person who doesn't do well on a team, on a team. You know what I mean? Because there is this thing of like, oh, this is my arch enemy, and they keep coming back to haunt me. And it's like, well, if you took care of business the first time, it wouldn't keep going. So having Vampirella unleashed on these bad guys is very fun. She likes her work. She's very good at it. And so yeah, it's kind of fun to see her not trying to fit in, but being on this team and how they're going to kind of deal with her. Justin:              Let me ask you, what is the team that you would be put on that would be the biggest mismatch, and it can be like a Cub scout trip leader. What's the team that would be the biggest? Alex:                 Maybe a podcast or something like that. Pete:                Yeah. I'd say a podcast with two assholes is what my answer is. Justin:              And so you'd be the mismatch by being an asshole? Pete:                Touché or douche as I should say. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about Seven Secrets number five from Boom! Studios, written by Tom Taylor, illustrated by Daniele Di Nicuolo. In this we're dealing with the fallout of the attack on all the secrets they go to hide from their enemy, and things go very, very badly leading up potentially to finally finding out what these secrets are. This series is as usual very well-crafted by Tom Taylor. I like the anime inspired art [inaudible 00:16:39], I guess inspired art by Daniele Di Nicuolo. Just a good series through and through. Pete:                Yeah. Tom Taylor is a great writer and this is a very interesting, cool idea. In this issue though we kind of get this like … there's someone on the inside because they keep doing the wrong thing. And it's a little obvious where it's like, attacking us all at once, oh no, it's got … what should we do? Oh, let's all go to the same spot. And it's like, “Oh no, that's a horrible idea. But here we go.” But all that said, I'm really impressed with the art and the storytelling, I can't wait to see what happens next. Justin:              Yeah, I think the [inaudible 00:17:22] influenced art, I think it's really working. And I think the story really plays into that in a nice way. It feels like that was the intention throughout, which is great. And I just want to know a couple of the secrets. I don't want to be greedy. I just want to know two secrets. Alex:                 Yeah. Right. Justin:              Or maybe three. In general I don't know secrets. I keep secrets. I'm great at secrets. Pete:                Whoa, I don't believe that. Justin:              I've kept all of your secrets, Pete. Pete:                Whoa. Alex:                 Let's move on to talk about Crossover number two from Image Comics written by Donny Cates, art by Geoff Shaw. The first issue we found out that in Denver, I believe in Colorado, a big superhero crossover from every possible super year universe broke out, a dome appeared over Denver, locking it off. Some comic book characters were left outside, some were not. We found out different pieces of the story as we've followed a comic book shop worker has got embroiled with one of those rogue comic book characters. Find out a lot more about the state of the world in this issue, as well as having many, many teases for other things going on in this world, as well as the real world. What'd you think about this issue and how it picked up on the first one? Justin:              I mean, it's fucked up that there's all these dead actual comic book writers in the beginning. Alex:                 Yeah, they kill Scott Snyder, Brian Kayvon, Robert Kirkman, and somebody else. Justin:              Chip Zdarsky. And do you think CNN would be leading with these names, all these comic book writers? Chip Zdarsky, Scott Snyder, I don't think so. Alex:                 I did like the joke where they're like Brian Kayvon, Marvel comics writer. And I read that first page I was like, “Marvel comics writer,” and then the next page is the comic show crowder being like, “Marvel comics writer.” So well played. Justin:              That was very funny. And you could tell that this is all sort of, the winks here are strong and good. Pete:                Strong links for sure. Justin:              Strong links. And the story, it's such a good concept that it's one of those premises that almost feels like it's going to break under the weight of the story. But Donny Cates does such a great job of really straddling that line and keeping us just on the good side of like, “No, this is working, these people are going to enter the dome and encounter all of your favorite superheroes or maybe not.” We get the scene in the superhero prison where you see the arms of some of your characters you recognize. Pete:                Yeah, that's really cool. Justin:              Yeah, it's cool. Alex:                 It's like Batman's there, Spawn's there, Spiderman, bunch of others like that. It's definitely- Justin:              The Thing. Alex:                 … Easter egg heavy. The Thing, yeah. Pete:                I really thought the way that they intertwined different styles of art in this book is really impressive. A lot of the shading and shadowing and coloring really is impressive. And it fits well in this story, which is really cool. And then we got a really creepy reveal at the end. I think this is very interesting. Unfortunately, they lean a little hard on the comic book shop person is a lot of their god. It's like, I would just like one normal comic book shop owner, just one time, just one person- Alex:                 Doesn't exist. Pete:                … that's got their shit. But I really like the story. The Cates does good work. I'm excited to see how this unrails, unreveals itself. Alex:                 Yeah. Good stuff across the board as you mentioned, Geoff Shaw's art is really gorgeous as well. Let's move on, talk about Spider-Man number five from Marvel, written by J.J Abrams and Henry Abrams, art by Sara Pichelli. This was a huge launch I want to say a year ago at this point, something like that. Justin:              Ages ago. Alex:                 Yeah, ages ago, because of course, J.J Abrams and his son behind it, unclear how it fit into Spider-Man mythology, but it was very much its own thing. And of course, circumstances worked against it with COVID and delayed things. Seems like maybe it would have been delayed a little bit anyway, but who knows? But how do you think this wrapped up? Justin:              Sad. Sadly. I mean, we talked about this I think back when the first issue came out that seeing Peter Parker be a distant parent and a jerk or an absent parent replicating the mistakes that he suffered from where his parents died obviously and then uncle Ben died, seemed very out of character to me. So that was a hard pill to swallow. And then to have the way this issue ends up, I was like, “Ah.” I appreciate the sacrifice Peter makes. And I liked the reveal that we get at the end here, but I was just such a … it just bummed me out the way it ended. Pete:                Yeah. It's really kind of crazy and over the top. And it's got a little kind of like aliens meets Spiderman kind of vibe to it. But I feel like the heart of Spider-Man is still in this story, which is nice. At the end of the day still trying to do what he can, trying to do the best that he can. Alex:                 Whatever a spider can. Pete:                Yeah. Bu it's very gross and it's kind of scary, but there's some heartwarming stuff in it. Alex:                 This was kind of a bummer for me. I think Sara Pichelli's art is always great. And there's some phenomenal action sequences in here. But this is quippy even for a Spiderman book, everybody is joking all the time even in the middle of dire circumstances to the point where everybody kind of sounds the same. It wrapped up very quickly. I don't know if it was a victim of pacing necessarily, it certainly felt like that could be part of it. But after an intriguing start, I felt like this fizzled a bit at the end for me, even if it is worth picking up for Pichelli's art, who is only as good on Spider-Man personally. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 I thought you were going to say more. American Vampire number 1976, a lot of issues on that one. American Vampire 1976, number three, DC Comics written by Scott Snyder, art by Raphael Albuquerque. I just continue the storyline where Skinner Sweet and his pals are robbing an old train, great train robbery, a little bit of a twist on that as they fight the edge of the world and some other dark things go on as some of other characters track down Dracula. Man I love how much they're blowing out the mythology of this book. And just as always, Scott Snyder loves his details in a very good way, and Raphael Albuquerque- Justin:              Guy loves details. Alex:                 Loves details. Raphael Albuquerque just draws the hell out of a book. Pete:                Yeah, the Querque just kills it. One of my favorite artists on a book called- Justin:              Never heard him call the Querque. Pete:                But yeah, this was my kind of favorite. Alex:                 Hey, who's your favorite Star Trek captain, Pete? Pete:                Kirk. Alex:                 James Kirky. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Which favorite thing to eat on Thanksgiving, Pete? Pete:                Jerky. Justin:              Beef turkey. Pete:                Stuffing. No, but a really fun bit at the start. I really liked that. And then they had kind of … What I like about this is they're having fun, but there's also some crazy kind of ideas poke around here. I wrote this down, the world becomes a greenhouse and all the buried secrets will come poking up. I thought that was a very kind of cool line in there. I mean, the arts phenomenal, the action in this issue, this issue really moves. It's got a great kind of pace to it. Amazing last panel. Yeah, this is great issue. Justin:              I think this book is one of the most consistently successful comic books on the stand. Scott Snyder and the Querque know how to really just deliver the great action, great character moves, while at the same time pushing the story forward. The reveals at the end of the issue are super exciting. This book is just so good. Alex:                 Next step, Getting it Together number three, written from Image Comics, written by Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine and Sina Grace. Continuing our story of a bunch of friends if you will in San Francisco, mixing it up romantically. We get some big band stuff goes down in London. Justin:              A lot of big band music, classic 1950s big band stuff. Alex:                 I like this story. I'm into these characters. I like how they relate to each other. I do think the band drama is really good at particular and well done. There's a lot of nuance there in terms of how the characters react to the fact that their band might be falling apart, that I thought was very nicely drawn in terms of the characters. How'd you guys feel? Pete:                Yeah, it's weird, but I agree with you, Alex. I really love the band stuff. Justin:              Huh, it is weird. Pete:                And I feel like that's really kind of- Alex:                 Look at us, quirky in the turkey. That's what they always call us. Pete:                I don't know about that, but I think the art does a great with the paneling and the pacing to kind of really give it this tone. And I think this is kind of cool. You see texting and when it's done not so well in comics, but this is kind of a fun way to kind of have these texts conversations. And they did a good job of trying to be creative about it, which I think is impressive. But overall, I think this story really continues to move forward in an interesting way that does a great job of getting the reader excited for more information. Justin:              Pete, I thought you're going to say, “You see texting,” and I honestly hate these textings. Why can't you just give a call or just say hello, I don't want to get a bunch of words from you. Alex:                 Send a letter through the mail. Justin:              That's the way we used to do it in my hometown, letters. Alex:                 Back in the civil war, which I fought in. Pete:                Oh my God. Alex:                 Anyway, good stuff. Next up … Oh, go ahead. Justin:              I really like this as well. It's funny we have so many band based comics today, they approach it in a very different way. I said this back when we had the team on our show. But to me, this has some Scott Pilgrim fives in a very good way. If you like Scott Pilgrim, this feels like a updated version of that, where we get to explore those same worlds in a fun and reverent and visually interesting way. I love the way the issue ends with the music performance and into the drug stuff, really great. Alex:                 All right. Origins number two from Boom! Studios, created by Arash Amel, Lee Krieger and Joseph Oxford, script by Clay McLeod Chapman, and art by Jakub Rebelka. This is continuing a weird future story of a virus that's mostly wiped everybody out seemingly there- Pete:                Oh, no. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              Yeah, it happens. Alex:                 There is a guy who, as we find out, spoiler, but right at the top of the issue, has been cloned, who has been resurrected, potentially a bunch of times we find out a lot more about his past here. I think our general impression of the first issue was gorgeous, but confusing. Do you feel like it's more straightforward an issue too? Justin:              I do. Pete:                Well, I think for parts of it, yeah. We get the main characters kind of deal, which is interesting. But then it gets kind of really tripped out with what the main character is going through. But man, the art is fantastic. It really feels like this other worldly, which is very impressive. There's also some sweet small moments. Yeah, it's a little like, I got a little confused by the end of what's happening, but man, the art and storytelling are fantastic. This does feel very original and cool as far as the story goes, so I'm into it. Justin:              I feel like of all the books we've talked about and maybe in a while, this feels very much tailor made to become a feature film. And maybe that's the intention of this book. Because I do think this issue lays out some of the factors and sort of the places where the characters are a little bit better, and we get sort of locked in on our trio who begin this journey. So yeah, I like this, I think the second issue really pushes it forward in a good way. Alex:                 Next up, King in Black: Namor, number one from Marvel written by, Kurt Busiek, art by Benjamin Dewey. Right off the bat, I will say, I thought this was a great Namor story, it's Namor dealing with some issues in the present while he's flashing back to his past. So we get fun, young, shirtless Namor, kind of like a little skinnier, a little smaller, deal with [crosstalk 00:30:27]. Justin:              Tiny. Alex:                 Yeah. Justin:              Shirtless. Alex:                 Yeah, he is, it's cute. [crosstalk 00:30:29]. Pete:                Don't make it weird. Alex:                 He's like a cute teen Namor. Justin:              Now as you were saying his nipples are a little smaller. Pete:                what the fuck man? Alex:                 They're very hard because he's under the water. Justin:              Yes, cold. Pete:                Oh my God, what? Justin:              It's cold down there. Alex:                 Nothing's going on, you know what I mean? Pete:                Oh my God. Justin:              It's like from that song from The Little Mermaid like, it's always colder and your nipples are harder under the sea. Pete:                What the fuck. Alex:                 You got those [inaudible 00:30:53], doubt where [inaudible 00:30:54], under the sea. Pete:                All right. Stop. Stop. Alex:                 It's a good Namor book. I don't understand how it could actually King in Black. And this is a problem, I mean, I do want to talk about this book in a second, but I love the King in Black number one. As we talked about in this very Stack, I liked the Venom issue. Pete:                Oh, in this very Stack? Alex:                 In this very Stack. The other issues they've released so far have been weird. I don't know what this has to do with King in Black yet, this issue, the [crosstalk 00:31:27] which we reviewed last week also was like, here's this new concept? There's a wet dragon in here somewhere, don't worry about it too much. And then I don't know if you guys read the Atlantis Attacks issue that Greg Pak wrote, which was real good, but ended with the most red skies of red skies possible things where they're like, I wonder what's next for us. In the background there were some dragons and that was it. And it's just like, don't label it as an event if it doesn't actually have anything to do with the event. Pete:                Yet, they could be leading up to it. I appreciate the fact that Marvel was like, “Hey, listen, we need you to tie it in.” And they were like, “You go fuck yourself, I'm telling the story I want to tell. We'll put a fucking banner on the top, so everybody will be happy.” I think this is a good issue, Namor is usually a complete douche bag. So it's nice to see younger, less douchey version a little bit. I think there's a lot of cool characters [crosstalk 00:32:25]. I'm not going to fucking answer that bullshit. Justin:              Honestly I'm a larger nippled Namor guy. From the beginning I appreciate sort of Namor. Alex:                 Well, how he's grown into his nipples, right? Justin:              I mean, it's a thing that as he gets older, it's part of his history, that his nipples- Pete:                You two are the fucking worst. Alex:                 I always like to call them, I'd like to call him Namor the [inaudible 00:32:48]. Justin:              That's the way they originally created the character. Pete:                Don't laugh at that. Justin:              He was the nazi man. He wasn't even under- Alex:                 Stan Lee watches the [inaudible 00:32:57] days like, “I want a character with rock on nipples.” Justin:              I mean, that's probably a 100% accurate. Alex:                 Probably. And Steve Ditko was like, “I don't know, I'll draw some fucking bigger rounds nipples, we'll see what happens.” Justin:              In the far future Namor is mostly nipple. I think I agree with you. It is weird that these stories exist under this banner, but I also think this is a good way to launch new titles, new character, directions, everything, so I'm here for it. And I do think, well, there was Nereus [inaudible 00:33:32] in this issue. They do one of the characters that King talks about how there's some black rocks hidden underwater somewhere that probably are like, “Oh, a bunch of symbionts or something.” Eventually we'll get there. Pete:                Yeah, there you go. Zalbs, what are you talking about? Alex:                 I know. And again- Justin:              And also apparently this will tie into King in Black number two, which will then spin back into the Namor number two book. Because Namor apparently has something to do, because here's the thing, symbionts, very gloopy underwater. It's a weakness. Alex:                 There's a point to this book where somebody offers somebody piece of food. They're like, you've got to try this, this is really crispy. And that didn't track for me, because there's not a lot of things that are very crispy underwater. Justin:              That's fair. That is a 100%. I will say if you were to eat a lobster whole, it would be crispy. Alex:                 That's true. Or some coral, crunched down some coral, that might be crispy. Justin:              Depends on how good your teeth are. Alex:                 Points retracted. This is a good book. Let's move on, The Vein number three from ODI press written by Eliot Rahal and illustrated by Emily Pearson. We checked it on the first issue of this book, which is kind of turning into its own sort of American vampire story following a group of the empire criminals throughout history, throughout important moments in American history or world history I guess actually. Here we get them through several decades as they try to get blood, as they try to hide out. I think we're big fans of the first issue. Do you think this concept is still holding up three issues in? Justin:              I like this book. I do think this is like an American vampire that's coming at it from a totally different way. It's much more focused on the passing of time, the passage of time for vampires, which I think is fun. I like these characters. I like the action here. It's very funny that the back half of the issue focuses on the most gabagool, goofy ass gangster character. He's like, “Hey, I'm Johnny Boneno.” [inaudible 00:35:40]. That part was crazy. And then he's just like, “Yeah, I'm going to be a fun guy, okay, [Don Gambilino 00:35:47], I sell blood to vampires and I didn't mention that before. Pete:                No one killed old bananas yet. Justin:              No, just call me bananas, classic gangster name. Pete:                Johnny bananas. Alex:                 Good stuff. What'd you think about this issue, Pete? Pete:                I mean, it's interesting. It's great artwork. The subway stuff really made me miss New York. Because when you're living in New York, you can just wrap a body and a carpet and walk down the subway tunnels, no one will say shit to you. Alex:                 Yeah. Philly they're like, “Hey, what's that, a she steak? Give me a bite.” Pete:                They're like, “Guys, give me, you're going to eat that whole hoagie yourself?” But- Justin:              But in Philly- Alex:                 And they're halfway through and they're like, “Yo, is that a body? You got a body here?” Justin:              You seem to be painting New York as some sort of like Thunderdome. When in Philadelphia you can murder anyone at a sporting event and everyone be like, “Yep. It's the purge basically because our sports teams are playing.” Pete:                Hey, take it easy, all right, with that, like you're fucking all saints over there. All Right? Justin:              Okay. What are you, Mr. Philly now? You've lived there for four months, not even. Pete:                That's true. Justin:              We've got the Philadelphia Philly over here. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:37:01] with Gritty, what's going on with that? Are you friends with Gritty? Pete:                Gritty, yeah. Our next door neighbor made his own Gritty costume, It's a lot of fun. Alex:                 No further questions. Pete:                Great. Justin:              Well, everyone in Philadelphia has to have a Gritty costume, right. They come by and check. Alex:                 Last but not least, Red Sonja: The Price of Blood number one from Dynamite written by Luke Lieberman and art by Walter Giovanni. This started off with Red Sonja captured in a dungeon. She flashes back, tells the story of how she got there. Typical, crazy Red Sonja adventures, getting drunk, killing people, you know how it is. But how do you think this held up, was this a new fresh take on Red Sonja? Is this a story you want to read more of? What are your thoughts? Justin:              It's interesting. I haven't read a ton of Red Sonja, and I didn't know she was this sort of partying fun, loving. I thought she was sort of grim. When she cuts, she goes to the literal fire festival. I don't know if that was meant to be the same one that we've seen so many documentaries about, but definitely had that vibe. So yeah, it's hard to pin down exactly what the character is from this issue anyway. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is more of Red Sonja who likes to murder and party. But I think this is, I am excited for more in this story just because I like her the way she fights and just straight up attacks anyone who kind of tries to wrong her. I think that's one of my favorite things about Red Sonja. And I'm glad that like, yes, there was kind of crazy shit happening in the party, but they didn't focus too hard on that, it was in the background, which is good. I want Red Sonja to be more about action and story and less about like TNA. I think that this comic does a good job with that. Alex:                 I liked Walter Giovanni's art in particular in this book, there's a part in the middle where Sonja kicks a guy out a window that I thought was really active and nicely staged just in terms of the angles of everything. It was very cool. And just across the board, the action and the characters are very clear, which is good. The settings are very clear. I know that sounds like faint praise, but I thought this was a solid first issue of a Red Sonja book, if not necessarily a radical reinvention, say like the Vampirella book that we talked about earlier. Justin:              Yes, good comparison. Alex:                 Thank you very much. And that is it for The Stack. If you'd like to support our show, patreon.com/comicbookclub, also do a live show every Tuesday nights at 7:00 PM, Crowdcast and YouTube, come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. ITunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show at Comic Book Live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and more. We've been Comic Book Club, this is The Stack. We'll see you next time. Justin:              Yeah, that's the facts. The post The Stack: Home Sick Pilots, Venom And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's comic book review podcast, we're chatting: Punchline #1 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV and Sam Johns Art by Mirka Andolfo Taskmaster #1 Marvel Comics Written by Jed MacKay Art by Alessandro Vitti Kick-Ass vs. Hit-Girl #1 Image Comics Written by Steve Niles Art by Marcelo Frusin Resident Alien: Your Ride's Here #1 Dark Horse Comics Written by Peter Hogan Art by Steve Parkhouse American Vampire 1976 #2 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Rafael Albuquerque The Amazing Spider-Man #52 Marvel Comics Written by Nick Spencer Art by Patrick Gleason Scarenthood #1 IDW By Nick Roche & Chris O'Halloran G.I. Joe #10 IDW Written by Paul Allor Art by Chris Evenhuis Dark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme! #1 DC Comics Written by Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan, Sam Humphries Art by Tyler Kirkham, Rags Morales, Denys Cowan Marvel Zombies Resurrection #4 Marvel Comics Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art by Leonard Kirk The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem #2 Dark Horse Comics Story by Gerard Way & Shaun Simon Art by Leonardo Romero Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp #2 IDW Written by Marieke Nijikamp Art by Yasmin Florez Montanez Getting It Together #2 Image Comics Co-creators and Co-Writers Sina Grace & Omar Spahi Art by Jenny D. Fine Marauders #15 Marvel Comics Written by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy Art by Stefano Caselli Excalibur #14 Marvel Comics Written by Tini Howard Art by Phil Noto Wolverine #7 Marvel Comics Written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan Art by Joshua Cassara 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, and I'm not looking forward to talking about the Marvel stuff today. Alex:                 Oh, wow. Really? Justin:              Wow. What a way to plant a flag, Pete. Alex:                 Interesting. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Well, that's okay, because we're going to kick it off with a DC comic first, Punchline, number one, written by James Tynion IV and Sam Jones, no relation I think. Art by Mirka Andolfo. This is, as you could probably guess from the title, focusing on Punchline, new girlfriend to the Joker who is brought to the forefront during the Joker war, finally getting her own one-shot. Should we get your own series? I think starting next year at some point. Justin:              It certainly feels that way, yes. Alex:                 Yeah, but this is picking up. She is in prison. And in this issue, we get one of James Tynion's pet projects. Harper Row shows up again with her brother tracking down Punchline, is clearly setting her up as an adversary to her. We find out a lot more about her origin. I'll tell you what, I personally have been feeling very much like Punchline is the Pucci of the Batman side of the universe. Pete:                Oh, what? What the- Alex:                 Hold on, let me finish. But this issue went a long way to selling me on understanding what their take on her is personally. Pete, you're all in on Punchline, that is clear. Pete:                Yes. I think this is a interesting kind of way to come at this character. What I don't like is she's like, “Oh man, don't trust people of a podcast, they turn out to be psychos,” which, that's fair. Justin:              Truth. Pete:                That's fair. But I do think that this is an interesting villain. It's one of those things where like, she was kind of forced in the situation, almost helped “the Joker” and then kind of Batman interrupted them and then felt like, oh man, I was so close to being a part of something bigger, and this is kind of her pursuit of that. It's interesting. I feel like as a first issue, they do a good job of being like, okay, here's this character, here's a little bit of her backstory and what she's about. And I think it does a good job of getting you intrigued for more to see how this is all going to unfold and to see if she does claim her kind of like all the bad stuff that she does or tries to hide. Justin:              Yeah. First off, the art on this was great by Mirka Andolfo, really good stuff, and sort of had some flavor to it as opposed to just sort of getting it done which I thought was nice. But I think this issue made crystal clear what the whole idea here is, jumping off what you said, Alex. The whole thing with Harley Quinn was it always felt a little wild that Harley Quinn was the Joker's psychiatrist. And then suddenly she became his partner or his just fully onboard. And in this issue we get to see- Pete:                Wait, can I? Justin:              Yes, sure. Pete:                I just wanted to ask you, have you ever just really hated your day job before? Justin:              No, I've never. What is work? Because when you love your job, it's like you never work a day in your life. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              So don't know what you're talking about. Alex:                 If you teach a man to fish, you never work a day in your life. That's what I always say. Justin:              That's right. I'd rather be fishing says the seat of my jeans. What I like about this though, is it's sort of, we see the progression and it very much mirrors how many people go from being a regular person on the internet to being radicalized in our modern world, through social media. And I think this does a really good job of using that very real issue in our country slash world. And putting it into the comic book world and bringing us a character that we believe, I believe the way this story is told and having Punchline land where she does, I'm on board. I think this is a really good issue for getting us to like the character. Pete:                Yeah. I hope those punches do land, because it'll be interesting to see how this unfolds. Alex:                 Yeah. Like you said, very smart, very well done. Particularly if you've been on the fence about the character like I have, I recommend reading this issue. Let's move to another one that I know Pete is excited about, even though it's a Marvel comic, Taskmaster number one written by Jed Mackay. Pete:                I should have been more specific and said the X-Men stuff. Alex:                 God. Art by Alessandro Vitti. This is a new take on Taskmaster. He is just chilling out on a golf course, in one the [crosstalk 00:05:05]. Pete:                Yeah, just like everybody else. Alex:                 Ends up getting framed for a murder. I won't spoil who gets murdered, but ends up on the run for that murder as usual. Particularly given that we revisited Fred [Valenti's 00:05:18] excellent Taskmaster series just a few months ago here on this very show. What'd you think about this one? What'd you think about this new take here? Pete:                I thought this was a lot of fun, having bulls-eyeing him in this kind of celebrity golf tournaments, I just didn't expect this. I was really impressed with, just from reading comics and knowing this character like, okay, I know how this is going to go. But I was pleasantly surprised by the start of this and how different it felt from what I expected. And I think it was kind of a very cool story and also very interesting team up. I think this did a really great job of setting up this kind of new take on Taskmaster a little bit, and then kind of this arc of where this is going, and kind of laid out all the characters that are going to be involved. I think this did a great job of getting me wanting more and excited for this world. Justin:              Taskmaster has this weird spot in the Marvel universe where sometimes it's a little bit Deadpoolesque. But sometimes he's meant to be a scary villain who is very hard to beat. And in this he's sort of goofy dude who was fucking around. And that's why I feel like Fred Valenti's take we love so much because it really found the middle ground between those two. He's someone with a tragic backstory where he can't retain his long-term memory and because his brain is full of these fighting techniques that have overtaken his short-term memory. It's a little … I don't quite know where this book is going. Because I like the story and I like sort of the task that I hope he masters by the end of it. But the golf stuff felt a little, I was like, “Wait, what?” Pete:                No, but that was fun. Justin:              And I will say I loved that it was Black Widow. My guess was that it was Black Widow who was hunting [inaudible 00:07:24] and I love that it actually was by the end of the issue. Alex:                 Yeah. I mean, this seems like a pretty clear tee up for the Black Widow movie, right. I don't know when this was originally supposed to come out, but given that Taskmaster is going to show out there, Black Widow is going to show up there obviously. It seems like this is tying into that in a certain way, or at least going to be one of those things where, hey, now there's a trade on the stands. The other thing, I'll get into spoilers here. Alex:                 I don't love the idea of being ahead of a book, but I sincerely hope this is where this twist is heading. Because, again, spoilers, the thing is that Taskmaster is framed from the death of Maria Hill. And it feels like killing Maria Hill off screen is a very bad, very weird move. But what I think is going on here is Nick Fury Jr. recruits him to find the real killer of Maria Hill so he can get Black Widow off his back. It seems to be that it's probably Nick Fury Jr. is not who he says he is. It is in fact somebody else, has lied to Taskmaster the entire time. And that's the twist coming down the road. This is something that I felt very uncomfortable and sort of hated when they brought out, oh, Maria Hill is dead. When they get to that twist, say four issues down the road, I think I'm going to feel a lot better about this book. But as it is, Alessandro Vitti's art is really solid and fun and there's some funny bits in here. Jed Mackay, I think wrote the Black Cat book- Justin:              I love that book. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:09:01] coming out, which is super fun. So he does comedy, so it's good stuff. If you're looking for a fun, silly one, this might be one to check out. Pete:                Yeah. I just wanted to go back and touch on something Justin said, yes, Fred Valenti definitely did an amazing job. But I think other people should be allowed to do their takes, just because Fred did something that was so iconic. Justin:              No, one take and one take only I say, leave me. Pete:                I think there's room for other kind of take some people. But I think- Justin:              Pete, when you're making a movie, you only do one take, they just turn the camera on and everything rolls. That's how it works. Pete:                Justin, you know better than that, come on. Justin:              Then they just move the camera to different locations. The camera's rolling, the whole time it's traveling from Atlanta- Pete:                Every film is filmed live, right? Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Great. Justin:              It's why it's really hard, actors really have to run very quickly to different places. Alex:                 Kick-Ass versus Hit-Girl number one from Image Comics written by Steve Niles, art by Marcelo Frusin. This is following the new Kick-Ass who is in with some drug dealers and gangs. By the end of the book Hit-Girl is maybe coming for her. I got to tell you, I like Steve Niles. Though this art was very good, the violence was brutal. We were talking about this other live show a little bit, the idea that some number one issues don't leave it off on the table that they sort of just like get to it at the end. Frankly, this is the issue that I was thinking of when we were talking about it, because not enough happens here in this first issue necessarily to make it work for me. But I'm curious to hear what you guys think. Pete:                Well, I'm kind of like, you see it in movies and comics all the time, the person who killed somebody then goes to the funeral and that's just so insane to me that you would go to somebody's funeral that you murdered. Alex:                 Pete, you're going to come to my funeral, right though? Pete:                Sure, I am buddy. Alex:                 Okay. Pete:                Yeah. Can't wait to piss on your grave, it's going to be great. I just think that- Justin:              You don't have to piss on the grave at the funeral, the graves' going to be there, give it a day, come back. Alex:                 The [inaudible 00:11:17] says that, right. If I'd [inaudible 00:11:19] I would like to piss on the grave. Pete:                That's right. Justin:              Speak now or forever hold it in your bladder, hold it. You don't want to be caught holding it. Pete:                Well, yeah, I mean because we know these characters so well, so I feel like this isn't a … new telling is just kind of like, these are where these characters are and pretty soon they're going to clash. But it's always tough when it's Kick-Ass versus Hit-Girl issue one, but they don't ever meet in the comic yet, so that's a little like, meh. Justin:              I have a feeling they will down the line. Pete:                Oh, okay. So that's it's just setting it up. I do think the art here is great. Marcelo Frusin really takes on the Jr. vibe, but gives it its own sort of flavor in a nice way. That was cool. A lot of heads being cut off in perfect hot dog sections, which I was like, “Okay.” Justin:              Well, if you've got a really sharp sword like that, it's going to cut right through it. Pete:                So easy to cut through the spine. Alex:                 Well, that's actually how they make hot dogs. Justin:              Yep, a 100%. And I won't tell you what body parts of what animals are doing that. But otherwise it was a real quick read. Alex:                 Yes, I agree. Resident Alien Your Ride's Here, number one from Dark Horse Comics written by Peter Hogan- Pete:                Oh, my rides here. Alex:                 … and art by Steve Parkhouse. I have not been a religious Resident Alien reader, but as far as I can gather from this issue, it's about an alley that just kind of hangs out with people and I love- Justin:              He's a resident. Alex:                 Yeah. I kind of [crosstalk 00:13:05] casual it is. I thought there would be more alien stuff in this book, there's not. He's just going to hang it out. Justin:              It's very chill. No one even talks about how he's an alien. Pete:                No, guys, we've read this before. This is a thing where he doesn't look like that to other people. He kind of wears the disguise, but he revealed himself to that girl that's getting the haircut in the book. This had previous arcs before, and this is a really kind of cool thing. Justin:              Yeah, I know. Pete:                Okay. All right. Justin:              This reminded me, and I think this is perhaps why you like it, Pete, remind me a little bit of Concrete. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              The old series back in the day. And it is fun. It is almost too like Slice of Life for the first two thirds of it. I like the vision quest stuff at the end. And I would be curious sort of where this opens up to, but man, this issue ends with sort of like, oh, that's just it. Alex:                 It is funny though. I mean, even if you're not totally familiar with the series, and like Pete said, we've read a couple of issues here and there, but just kind of picking this up and not necessarily having a media reader call of what we talked about before. There's still good solid jokes characterization here that make this very engaging. I enjoyed it even if most of the time I felt like, I don't know what they're talking about. Pete:                Yeah. I'm very into this comic. I really am invested in this relationship. And yeah, I'm excited for more. This is kind of an interesting new arc. I'm hoping that the alien and this lady can work it out. Justin:              How invested in the relationship are you, Pete? Pete:                I'm very, very invested. Justin:              Heavy? Alex:                 10K, he put 10K on it. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              I like those odds. Alex:                 American Vampire 1976 number two from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder, art by Raphael Albuquerque. As you could probably figure out from the title, this is picking up on the first issue set in 1976 as Skinner Sweet and his gang were trying to take over a train that holds all of the relics of America, feels almost like a little bit of a leftover from Scott Snyder's undiscovered country's ideas in a certain way. But Skinner Sweet is forced to team up with his brother who he thought was dead. We get a little bit of flashback that explains that here. Man, it is so good to have this book back. I am loving every issue of it so far. Pete:                I really like the start of it. The fun recap of like, gather round kids, uncle Skinner's going to catch you up. I thought that was great. I really appreciated kind of the walkthrough, their history there. I mean, you can't really say enough about the art, it's really unbelievable. And I love the Butch Cassidy and Sundance reference. Justin:              See, Skinner Sweet is such a great character. It's just great to be able to read new stories where we can follow him around. I like these series as a culmination point of a lot of the American Vampire dangling threads and the tongue is gross and the tongues that we see in this book are gross and it's great. It's a truly daunting villain for a title that's been able to maintain such quality over the years. Alex:                 Great stuff, definitely pick it up. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man number 52 from Marvel Comics written by Nick Spencer and art by Patrick Gleason. Finally Spider-Man is facing down Kindred, the villain who has been taunting him pretty much all of Nick Spencer's run. We have gotten the reveal of who Kindred is, or at least who we think Kindred is. Personally I have some doubts there that the reveal is actually what we think it is. But in this issue, Spider-Man gives up, surrenders to Kindred to save all of his friends, all the men and the rest of the spider family. And it ends in a moment that I felt like such a sucker because I know this is not going to be permitted, but I legitimately gasped out loud at the end of this issue. I thought this was great. Pete is nodding his head. Yes, yes, yes, I can see him. [crosstalk 00:17:31]. Justin:              Yes, give me more. Alex:                 He loves it. Give me more. Justin, let's go to you first. What did you think about this? Justin:              We have never been closer to finding out how Kindred is than we are with this issue. And yeah, you could have said that for many issues in this run of 52. I really want to know now. Alex:                 Well, they've revealed that Kindred is Harry Osborn. That's been the thing that they've come out and said. Justin:              Yes. And was that the last issue or? Yeah, it was. Alex:                 There was two issues back, yeah. Justin:              And that feels, it feels weird to me. Alex:                 It feels wrong. It feels like a fate. Justin:              And I think you had the theory that it's Peter Parker from the future, like a dead Peter Parker or something who is very bitter about his life perhaps. And I think this issue I was thinking about theory a lot because it feels that Kindred is sort of like, you've wasted your life fighting for these people. And that's sort of the point. And I think that's a nice counterpoint for Peter, our present day Peter, to fight back and say, “It is worth it. You just took the wrong path or whatever.” My theory was that it was the robber who kills uncle Ben, the thief. That would be cool too, but I sort of like your theory a little bit better at this point, feels more on track with what the story they're telling. Because I don't know what Harry Osborn, while he is a big part of Spider-Man [inaudible 00:19:00], Norman overshadows him so much. And I don't know what the point of having Harry there does. Alex:                 I'll tell you also on that note, there's a big scene in here that is very reminiscent of what Scott Snyder did in death, not death in the family, Death of the Family. Justin:              Death of the Family. Alex:                 Joker, Hulk, where he gathered the Joker, gathered everybody around the dinner table. In this instance, what Kindred does is he digs up the skeletons of everybody who Spider-Man has let die and gathers some around. And the moment, it's so well paced and so horrifying because it goes around and it's like, here's captain Gwen Stacy, here's Jean DeWolff. Here's, what is it? Marla Jameson. Then he gets to Gwen- Justin:              Flash. Alex:                 … and Spider-Man and he's like, “Oh no, Gwen.” And then Flash, the last one was uncle Ben. And it's so upsetting to see that happen. Very well done in exactly the way that it should feel. I thought, Pete, again, nodding his head, yes, yes, yes, could not agree more it seems like. And Pete- Justin:              Before we go to Pete, who's opinion will no doubt really crown this review of the book. I want to give a shout-out to Patrick Gleason's art, it's so perfect for this run. To your point, we're seeing how horrifying this dinner scene is, Patrick Gleason's art is the perfect companion to this story. Pete:                I just can't wait for Nick Spencer to get the fuck off this book. It's just, he writes these fucked up twisted things and really fucks with you as a fan, who's loved something for many years and then makes you question that. I mean, to dig up these people and have their corpses sitting at a table, fuck you. And then have Spider-Man be like, “Fucking, I give up, kill me.” Fuck you, I'm sick of this shit. This just over the top fucking just bullshit to … It's grotesque. Justin:              I hear you Pete. Pete:                It's all ridiculous. Give me a fucking Spider-Man story, man. This is bullshit. Justin:              I want to see Spider-Man do something important, like catch a pulse snatcher. Has he done that? Has he stopped a purse snatching at any point? Alex:                 I think this is good. I'll also mention I know we did include this in The Stack. Pete:                You were like, when that moment happened, I yelled boo, and I closed my laptop and I was just like, I had to walk away for a little bit. Justin:              Boo. Good day. Alex:                 They're also releasing these 52.LR books, which I know I didn't send over for The Stack. But they're kind of taking place between the stories and focusing on the characters that are on Spider-Man. Also really good, really dark, this one focuses on Norman Osborn teaming up with Mary Jane, which is wild, and she hates it. Pete, don't worry, she does not want to work with him at all. But really good stuff. It just a very dark, it definitely feels like- Pete:                Spider-Man shouldn't be this dark. Alex:                 What is almost unequivocally the best Spider-Man story of all time, Pete? Pete:                I don't know. Alex:                 Kraven's Last Hunt. I think- Pete:                That's your opinion. I don't think- Alex:                 No. Justin:              What's your? Alex:                 I think if you ask almost anybody, if you asked what is the best- Pete:                I like a couple of Rhino stories, that are great. Alex:                 Sure. There's great Spider-Man stories, but the best one of all time is probably, obviously arguably Kraven's Last Hunt. Spider-Man dies, he's buried in that, Kraven takes over. He's covered in spiders, it's dark. And I think that's what Nick Spencer is going for here, and I think he's [crosstalk 00:22:49]. Pete:                Nick Spencer is just doing shock value shit. Justin:              I don't think so. And also like Spider-Man's origin is dark. His uncle dies and he lets him go. It's like guilt. Pete:                He doesn't know that at the time though. Justin:              Yeah, I know. Alex:                 Sorry. Justin, are you familiar with Spider-Man's origin story? Justin:              Yeah, he was there as a thief and he was like, “Should I stop this guy?” And then the guy was like, I'm going to go kill your uncle. And he's like, “Go ahead.” Pete:                Go ahead. Justin:              Get out of here you scum. Alex:                 As long as Caterpillar man finds my uncles corpse later, I'm good with it. [crosstalk 00:23:28]. Justin:              I'm just saying there's been a darkness to Spider-Man from the jump. I think this is well within the range to tell this. Pete:                No. Alex:                 Let's move on then to something that is perfectly purposely dark, Scarenthood number one from IDW by Nick Roche and Chris O'Halloran. We had Nick Roche on our live show this week. Let's be honest here. Let's be true to ourselves. What do we really think about Scarenthood? I'll come out and I've got to say it, this is the truth. I like this book. Justin:              Nice, bold. I mean, I raved about the book on the live show. But to boil it down, I really like how this book feels very like Slice of Life. It's about a father in Ireland, and I don't know what town it is, but in Ireland, he struggles with just the stress of being a dad, tries to connect with the parents. It's really funny. And then there's … we slowly get peppered in a couple of details about how the school is maybe a little haunted and it builds and builds and builds to a legit scary moment that combines the fear of the supernatural with the regular fears of being a parent in a way that I thought was a real great step forward. I'm very excited for more of this. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is more in you guys' sweet spot a little bit, because I was like, “I get it. You're a real dad in real life.” Okay. All right. Justin:              But Pete you're a cat dad. Think about it if it's a cat. Alex:                 Yeah. Your Twitter bio says cat daddy, right? Pete:                Yeah. That's exactly what it says. Justin:              I believe it's catty daddy if I remember correctly. Pete:                Oh my God. Anyways, I'm really- Justin:              The original catty daddy. Pete:                All that aside, I really liked the kind of horror ghost story elements. I thought it was really cool. I very much enjoyed this book, even though I'm not a parent and don't know the struggles that you guys deal with. But I thought it was really well done and interesting. And I'm very excited to read more. I think this is kind of like a cool team on this book. I think it's rich enough that I really want to kind of delve into it more. Justin:              Pete, being a parent is like your life, but with fewer cheesesteaks and fewer romantic comedies. Pete:                Boo, that doesn't sound fun. Alex:                 I really like this as well. The pitch that I didn't give on the show. Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Oh my goodness. I thought that was part of the pitch. Justin:              Oh, okay. You seem to be allergic to the pitch. Alex:                 Yeah. That was not part of the pitch. I just sneezed. This is like single parents meet stranger things is the way that I'd put it. Pete:                Oh, wow. Alex:                 We talked about this live show a little bit, but I was really impressed, particularly given we read a lot of first issues with how packed this was with details, and the fact that things slowly build to the supernatural, but it isn't the last page reveal. It's about halfway two thirds of the way through the issue that we get some weird supernatural stuff. We get even weirder supernatural stuff as it goes. And the character signs are really terrifying in the right way. This is a great debut. I was very happy to read this and I was glad that we got to chat with Nick for so long about it. Pete:                I agree. Alex:                 Let's move on to another title that we've been enjoying quite a bit. GI Joe number 10 from IDW written Paul Allor, art by Chris Evenhuis. Pete- Pete:                Yo Joe. Alex:                 … you got to like this one, because there's a bareness appearance in this one. But for the most part, this is about a secret lab that is trying to create half human half robot cyborg bats for a cobra- Pete:                Classic. Alex:                 … and how they end up taking it down. After being- Pete:                Classic Dr. Mindbender stuff, I mean- Alex:                 Classic Dr. Mindbender stuff. Justin:              Dr. Mindbender. Alex:                 After not being so crazy about the last issue, I was glad to personally just see this return to form for this issue. What'd you guys think about this one? Pete:                Yeah. I'm enjoying this. I'm having a lot of fun. Also kind of a crazy reveal because I'm used to … I'm sure you guys are the same. Lady Jaye, she used to roll with Flint or Snake Eyes. Alex:                 You don't need to tell us. Justin:              Yeah, we're right there. [crosstalk 00:27:56]. She used to roll [inaudible 00:27:58] with Flint or even Snake Eyes. Pete:                Yeah. Right. But then to see her with this new guy, and I know he's new because I was like, I'm not wrong in this. I went to the Hasbro website to look this up. Alex:                 We all did, you don't need to tell us. We all headed to the Hasbro website. Justin:              It's where I get my news. Pete:                Because I was like, wait a second, I wasn't … I don't remember [inaudible 00:28:19]. Alex:                 First stop, OAN. Second stop, [inaudible 00:28:22]. Third stop, Hasbro website. That's where I get my news. Justin:              Exactly. Especially if I'm like, what's my brother doing? I'm like Hasbro. Pete:                But yeah, I continue to have a lot of fun with this book. Some interesting stuff. Great art. I think they do a good job of sometimes doing fun stuff with names, sometimes holding it back a little bit more. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I think I've said in the past, I was never a G.I. Joe kid. Pete:                Yeah. You weren't allowed to watch as a kid, and we feel bad for you. Justin:              We're not allowed to watch because they used guns, yes. But these stories I like, I like the way they're sort of one-offs story of the weeks with different tones. This one sort of has more of the action figure animated show feel, I think. But they treat the characters in a realistic way and I appreciate it. Alex:                 It also feels like with this issue that this is starting to build towards something, even though we've been focusing in on these individual characters, maybe I'm wrong, but issue- Justin:              Castle fall. Alex:                 What? Justin:              I think there's something called castle fall coming up. Alex:                 Yeah, that's coming up. And that certainly seems to be a tease that we're just going to start getting all these individual plot points mixing together in some way. And that's exciting. I mean, if they're really doing, focusing in on one, two characters every issue and that it's building something bigger, that's very cool storytelling. I'm excited to see where it goes. Next up, another one that I'm sure was in Pete's wheelhouse, Dark Nights: Death Metal Infinite Hour Exxxtreme, with so many Xs, number one from DC Comics, written by thank Frank Tieri, Becky Cloonan, Sam Humphries, and of course, Lobo. Art by Tyler Kirkham, Rags Morales, Denys Cowan, and again, Lobo. As you can guess, this is what Lobo's been doing during Dark Nights, Death Metal, what's been going on with him. It kicks off with a very Frank Tieri story. Pete:                Yeah, Frank, come on. I mean, this is the guy- Justin:              Perhaps the most Frank Tieri stuff. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, this is the guy you want on this book. You want this kind of goon squad guy to tell a story about one of the biggest goons there is, Lobo. And let's not forget we should make a Lobo Batman. And yeah, I think this was- Alex:                 The Batman man. Pete:                Yeah. The bat, who frags. Yeah, I think this continues to just be a ton of over the top fun, just taking the DC Universe and being like, let's throw a bunch of Xs on it, say it's extreme, death metal, yeah, turn it up to 11. And the whole headbutt joke was hysterical, it was just great. Bat Grundy, I mean, what more do you want? Justin:              Let me just say it was probably a lot to read three back-to-back Lobo stories. It's like getting just a bowl of a hot fudge sundae after the hot fudge sundae served in a bowl that's also made out of hot fudge sundae. And so it's not as … I didn't need that much Lobo. Pete:                Come on man. Justin:              I will say I liked the back-end of the second story. The other heroes being Lobofied. Pete:                Superman Lobo or are you talking about Wonder Woman Lobo or? Justin:              All of them. I thought those were funny. Pete:                Okay. Alex:                 Lobo gets his hands on some death metal and remakes the universe to reimagine everybody's origin stories as all being Lobo. I think that was the Sam Humphreys, Dennis Cowan section, I could be wrong. Justin:              It's hard to tell, it's the one that's called, it says it's by Lobo. I can't tell if it's the second story or the beginning of the third story, sort of flows. And then I'm curious, it does feel like Lobo is going to play a large part in the resolution of Death Metal, which I find- Pete:                Well, he has been popping up. [crosstalk 00:32:24]. Alex:                 Go ahead, Pete. Pete:                No, no. Alex:                 All I was going to say is he's been popping up almost every issue of Dark Nights Death Metal doing something in the background. And this is to explain what he has been doing. Pete:                And also if you're going to do a Death Metal book and not talk about Lobo, I mean, you're not really talking about Death Metal then. Justin:              If you're going to have a Wolverine who just has a longer cigar and shorter claws, then yeah, have him be in this space I guess. Pete:                This is not Wolverine. Alex:                 Okay. Justin:              No? Pete:                No. Justin:              What are some of the big differences? Pete:                All right. First off- Justin:              The healing factor? Pete:                … Wolverine doesn't talk this much. And Wolverine isn't as in love with himself as Lobo is. Justin:              Wolverine doesn't talk as much, got it. Pete:                You're just a [inaudible 00:33:09]. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about Marvel Zombies: Resurrection number four from Marvel Comics written by Philip Kennedy Johnson, art by Leonard Kirk. This book has been, I say surprisingly great. Except Philip Kennedy Johnson has been consistently delivering excellent stuff across the board. Here, the main thing that I've talked up to multiple people who are like, “Ah, I don't want to read a Marvel Zombies book,” was the twist last issue, or at least the plot reveal last issue, that the excuse, the reasoning for the zombies is that it's a bunch of brood who have infested Galactus. So you get the reason they're infesting superheroes is they're the brood. The reason they have a cosmic hugger is because of Galactus. And here our heroes led by Spider-Man with the two Richard children and a bunch of other random folks are attacking the Galactus hive in limbo. It all ends here or does it? I really like this resolution quite a bit. What'd you guys think? Pete:                Yeah. This was just really unbelievable. Continually impressed with the twists and turns that this is taking. I didn't see any of this coming the way it is. Just action galore, some great story, a really impressive balance of story and action. And the art is just phenomenal. This book is one of those ones that I look forward to when I see it's on our kind of pool list, and it continues to impress. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I agree. There's a lot of smart choices in this story, like smart, creative uses of different Marvel characters. And Pete, you must have loved how this is a fun Spider-Man. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, well, he gets emotional and it's nice. But also love the magic stuff and the Wolverine blade stuff. I don't want to spoil stuff for people. Man, just really cool. Justin:              I was being sarcastic because Spider-Man is just so sad the entire time, he's not having any fun. [crosstalk 00:35:23]. But I love the end as well. Alex:                 And I really enjoy the fact that we're getting both DCs from Tom Taylor and Marvel Zombies: Resurrection from Phillip Kennedy Johnson. They're both smart reinventions of zombie mythos. We're not just getting the zombies in the Marvel Universe, zombies in the DC Universe. They're coming up with canonical reasons for why they exist based on what the specific universes could bring to the table. And that's great, they're both very different stories as well. They're not just zombie stories. And I look forward to hopefully more to come. I was surprised, it seemed like it was tying into whatever that Thanos story that Donny Cates had been teasing is. But I guess we'll see down the road. Alex:                 Next up, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem number two from Dark Horse comics, story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, art by Leonardo Romero. This is picking up obviously on the first issue. But as everybody is slowly regaining their mojo and fighting against the live type characters who are infesting the world specifically through the lens of cops who have been taken over by whatever is going out in this world. What'd you think about this one? I think we're really complimentary of the first issue. How'd you feel about the second? Justin:              I love the art on this book. It has such a good tone and vibe for the whole thing. And I mean, it's a little, like with a lot of Gerard Way stuff, you're not a 100% sure with what's happening. But it has a very musical vibe. This feels like a music montage from The Umbrella Academy TV show or something like that, very much like the action feels like there's a lot happening underneath it. Pete:                Yeah. I think the art is the real hero here. It's very stylized and kind of switches back and forth, which is really impressive and still feels about the same story. But yeah, this is … we don't know exactly, but we've got enough to kind of follow. It's interesting, action packed. You can kind of understand why the people are doing what they're doing. Yeah, I've been really impressed with this and I'm going to continue to keep reading it. I think it's great. Alex:                 Particularly with this issue, it feels like it's sort of thing that if you have acab in your Twitter bio, this is the comic for you. Let's move on and talk about Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp number two from IDW, written by Marieke Nijkamp, art by Yasmin Florez Montanez. You two in particular were particularly complimentary of this. This is a werewolf tale for the Goosebumps universe, I guess. You liked the first issue quite a bit as two girls teamed up to try to track down some werewolves. What'd you think about the second one? Pete:                Yeah, I was really impressed with the way this relationship kind of moved, because what I was worried about in the first issue is you have two characters who kind of force into this crazy scenario. And I was worried they were going to just fight the whole time and not be able to kind of move throughout the story and kind of take care of business. And I think they handled that in such a good way. I've been really impressed with the Goosebumps. This is a fun story. Art is unbelievable. I liked these depiction of werewolves and I thought it was endurable how that one werewolf just kind of curled up. I think this is very cool and interesting story. I'm excited to read more. Justin:              I have a feeling these werewolves are going to be people eventually. Pete:                What? Justin:              Not a ton habits in this issue as far as driving the story forward. It's mostly like we're scared in the swamp. But yeah, I'm curious to see, it feels like another shoe will drop next issue. Alex:                 Yeah. I still feel like it's not quite bringing all the elements together. The essential idea of two girls who are super into fantasy role-play games, tracking down real werewolves in the woods is a really smart idea, but it's not necessarily paying off with that premise. I hope we see more of that the next issue. Though, I do like the art. I think the characters designs are very nice. And I'm enjoying reading it. It's a nice light read. Next step, Getting it Together number two from Image Comics, co-creators and co-writers Sina Grace and Omar Spahi, art by Jenny D. Fine. We had Sina Grace and Omar Spahi on the live show a couple of weeks back talk about the first issue, which we like quite a bit. This is like Friends, but set in San Francisco and real. This second issue is picking up on that. As things only get more complicated for everybody's relationships. What'd you think? How did it pick up from the well-received premier issue of the title? Pete:                Yeah, I like this. I think being in a band is hard, there's a lot of moving pieces. I like how they're kind of diving into that a little bit, but mainly focusing on the relationships. The art's fantastic. You care enough about the characters to care about this story. It's relatable. I think it's very cool. I liked how they kind of handle it, going back and forth between the different people and their kind of sizes and stuff. I also thought it was very cool the way the art kind of pulls out and pulls in. Sometimes you see wider shots and other things going on and sometimes it's very close up. I think that's very cool storytelling. I also really liked the drinking that was going on there. I can relate to that as well. Justin:              I agree. I think this is a great second issue. First off, just reading this comic from a pandemic point of view, it is like reading science fiction. I'm so jealous of these characters. Pete:                Yeah. Oh my God. Imagine being able to go into a bar and just get a drink. Justin:              Oh, I know. That scene at the bar was like, yes, please, tell me more. How was it? What was it like? What did the bar smell like? Pete:                I even drove by like [inaudible 00:41:55] I was like, “Oh my God. I want to go in.” Justin:              I've never fallen that far. But outside of that, the relationships are really well done in this. And I want to say there are so many great standalone panels where you really see like a perfect encapsulation of a real human action in the moment. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 I like this titles willingness to make the main characters unlikable, which is not an easy thing- Justin:              I like that about us as well. Pete:                Shut up. Alex:                 No, I think that's really good. I mean, you have this main relationship that's broken apart. And the fact that you read both of these characters as they're talking about the relationship, they try to be friends. It just doesn't work. They're both really not very good at it. And there's always this temptation to make those sorts of characters come to some sort of resolution or one character to be better than the other, but it feels like a real relationship right at the middle of this where nobody's right, they just broke up. They are both assholes to each other. They shouldn't have been together. Things went horribly wrong and they continue to go horribly wrong. It feels very realistic in terms of the characterization. And I think that's very nice to see. Let's get to- Pete:                Also fun little story in the back as well. Alex:                 Absolutely. Last bit to talk about, let's get to our extra storage, [inaudible 00:43:27], which I know Pete has been eagerly awaiting. We're just talking about three issues this week. Marauders number 15 from Marvel Comics, written by Gerry Duggan and Benjamin Percy, art by Stefano Caselli. Excalibur number 14 written by Tini Howard and art by Phil Noto. Wolverine number seven written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan and art by Joshua Cassara. In the first issue, we get a resolution of what happened with the Wolverline after she stabbed. Let me just run through the plot here then you could complain to [inaudible 00:43:56]. Hold on. Alex:                 We get a resolution of the cliffhanger last week was that Wolverine decided to shut down the conflict between Arakko and Krakoa with other worlds stuck in the middle, by stabbing Saturnyne to death, we get [inaudible 00:44:11] to that, turns out she knows what was going on. She shuts it down. We could see the rest of the dinner party as everybody kind of feels each other out and figures out what the straights are. Excalibur 14, we finally get the first of the fights, and spoilers here, I'll go through these, but just to give you the rundown of the fights, the first one, Betsy Braddock, Captain Britain gets beaten up immediately. Pete has taken off his headphones, he is done, he is out of here. Betsy Braddock gets beaten immediately, then I believe the second fight is Doug Ramsey, which he is terrified about. Turns out the fight is to get married at [inaudible 00:44:51]. Justin:              The ultimate fight. Alex:                 The ultimate fight. The third one is a wrestling match between [inaudible 00:44:58] I believe, she loses that, which totally makes sense. At the beginning, drinking contest between Storm and Wolverine. That's a little bit of a tie over there. But then Wolverine gets sucked into a fight, a three-way fight. Pete, put on of your headphones, put on your headphones, Pete, you can hear what we're saying. Come on. Pete:                Can I rant now? Can I please? Justin:              Listen to what we're saying. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:45:21]. Why are avoiding spoilers? You got to at least hear what I'm saying. Pete:                I can't relive this bullshit again, that you're telling me and not react to it. It's so fucking painful the state here, and you recount the shitty fucking story. Justin:              You love sword fights. Alex:                 Here's what I think is phenomenal about this. I was going into this. Pete is taking off his headphones again. What I think is great about this, that I was not blown away by is probably too strong, but really impressed by, is I was going into this expecting, okay, then we're going to go through 10 sword fights, right? They start off with a sword fight that ends almost immediately. I was like, what the fuck is happening here? Why are we not getting a sword fight? This is, honestly, Pete put back the headphones. Put back on the headphones, Pete. I want you to hear this part. Pete:                Can I rant now please? Alex:                 No, I want you to hear this part that I'm talking about because my feeling when I was reading this, when Betsy Braddock immediately loses it like two pages, I was furious. I was like, “What is happening here?” And then when the second fight was marriage, it was like, where are the sword fights? I was promised sword fights. But by the time they get to the third fight and the fourth fight, I was starting to get really impressed by the structure of the storytelling here. Pete:                Oh, fuck you. Alex:                 Hold on. I was impressed by the structure of the storytelling here, because it's a total swerve. They're going for like, what are your expectations? It's going to be this gauntlet of Ted fights. Instead, we're coming up with different ways of hitting this, definitely getting into spoilers here, but it becomes clear through the storytelling what Saturnyne is doing. But our whole plan is not to have Krakoa beat Arakko, but to have Arakko realize, wait, we are the same as Krakoa and we need to join together. And we're not quite there yet, but that's such a fascinating, interesting, different swerve for the storytelling. I am very excited for where this is going, going forward. Pete, go ahead. Pete:                All right. Well, first off to address what you're saying. If you're going to do that, fucking do a fun issue where they're playing fucking volleyball or whatever, or having a barbecue and they can fucking get along or whatever. But you set up for fucking 14 issues, there's going to be this epic fucking battle. And the first epic battle is shit. The second battle is a marriage. What the fuck are you talking about? The third, fourth, fifth, they're not even fights, they're bullshit fucking side things that don't make any sense. People who won don't get points. Other people are getting random points. What the fuck is going on? You've teed this up for fucking, there's going to be 22 issues of this bullshit, and you've done nothing but rob us of good story with this bullshit where there's actual story that could be happening, but you're not addressing, not just sitting across from each other going, “Oh, you're doing well raising our children.” Fuck you. Pete:                If you're going to get into it, get into it, don't just fucking give us one piece of something to walk away. I'm so frustrated on so many levels with this fucking story. I've had it up to here. I was so pissed. Captain Britain, that whole thing … It's very upsetting when you build us something and then don't come close to even delivering it. You fucking piss in my face when it comes to the delivery and then walk away and go, “Yeah, this shit doesn't even matter.” Justin:              Pete, spoiler, the next issue is the two X men each other's faces for the- Pete:                Yeah, might as well. Justin:              That's the X. Alex:                 Pissing contest. Justin:              Oh, Pete, I feel like you might need to catch your breath for a second. Pete:                The art is very enjoyable. Justin:              Oh, nice. That's great. Pete:                Took a lot for me to say that. Justin:              I agree with Alex. This was such a surprise, but reading these three issues in particular, it really felt like, oh, they're doing like … even though it's not explicitly this, it feels like the fairy realm where nothing is what you expect. And so of course the battle is not going to be just a bunch of random sword fights. Everyone is being tricked. But I think what's smart about that is the Arakko. Pete:                We the reader are being tricked. Justin:              But in the same way that the best stories surprise you. Pete:                Out of our money. Justin:              You're not being tricked out of money. But let me say- Alex:                 Can I pull that [crosstalk 00:50:14] for a second. Justin:              The handful- Alex:                 You're getting these issues for free. Pete:                Yeah. I'm just saying, I'm talking about for the people who pay money for comic books, don't fucking shell out money for this book. You're going to be fucking pissed because- Alex:                 Hold on. Because this is … Obviously I have not read the issues beyond this week, but this is a build, right. And what we're building up to and I could be wrong is we're going to get a actually epic sword fight between apocalypse and annihilation, his wife. But if there were nine issues of sword fights before that, it wouldn't hit as hard when you finally get to that. Pete:                Well, then give me story and then just give me that last fight. Don't fucking promise me great battles along the way, and then fucking be like, no, two people are randomly going to get married for no fucking reason. And all of a sudden, a guy who all he does is talk to things can't talk. And that's the reason he falls in love with her. Are you fucking kidding me? Justin:              Here's what I was trying to say before. Pete:                Sorry Justin. Justin:              It is much more interesting to feel, to have these stories be surprising and interesting, especially at the beginning when like … especially Doug Ramsey, he goes in, either he's going to be straight up murdered or he's going to win randomly. Instead, it's something completely unexpected and I appreciate that. And it also like, as we've met the Arakko warriors, they're so intense, there's so much more, they've been raised in, they fought their entire lives for millennium. One of them has legit never lost a thing. The odds are stacked against the X-Men. And I think the X-Men, they're in one of these issues, they talk about this. They have had a happier world, a happier life. I think they can sort of figure out these games and win this without it being just a brute battle between different people that we've seen a hundred times in a hundred different comics. I think this is actually makes for some better storytelling. The fact that Wolverine issue, where he wins and also loses is fun. It's funny. Wolverine is outplayed twice in these issues. Alex:                 I love the Storm Wolverine drinking battle. That's great. Justin:              Did you see Storm leans in for a kiss? Alex:                 She does. There's so much … who did the art for that one? That was Joshua Cassara. The way that is laid out in that issue and it slowly builds until Wolverine disappears as they're about to kiss because they're completely wasted and they're going to hook up. That's great. I love the tension and inherited that scene. And the fact that Wolverine ends up in this three-way battle where he's just plastered the entire time is so much fun. It's good. Pete, you're upset. Pete:                Yes. I'm very upset because who the fuck … I don't understand why Wolverine is not acting like Wolverine. Wolverine, you know you can't just drink in the middle of a sword battle. You know you're going to have to fight. And also why are you trying to cheat beforehand? I have [crosstalk 00:53:34]. Justin:              They say that it's a drinking game is the battle, so he does it. Pete:                Listen, yeah, you know you can't smell, you're going to get fucked on that. I saw that coming a mile away. Justin:              I've never been fucked during a drinking game or I guess afterwards. Pete:                I don't know. Anyways, I just think that, hey, if you want to tell stories, great, but don't promise me one thing and then deliver another thing. I like a swerve, I like interesting stories. Yes, the marriage is surprising, whatever, great, great for you guys. But when you put me through these fucking origin stories of getting a sword and, oh, man, I got the baddest sword I can get. And now I'm going to go into a battle, the fight for my fuck island. Oh my God, and then you don't do that. You don't even come close to a battle. We haven't gotten one good one yet. And the scoring is all wrong. Justin:              You're really concerned with the score. Alex:                 Yeah, this is- Pete:                If you're fighting to the death and that- Alex:                 The title of the event is called X of arm wrestling. I don't understand what the problem is. Pete:                Fucking arm wrestling. Justin:              It's called ten of marriage. Alex:                 Well, clearly we have a disagreement here, and I think that's a great- Justin:              Two to one, we win. Later. Alex:                 There you go, Arakko wins. That's it for The Stack. [crosstalk 00:55:04]. Arakko, sorry, Justin. That's it for The Stack podcast. If you really like to support us, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. I choose Android and 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, keep getting married everybody. Justin:              Get out there, the ultimate sword fight. The post The Stack: Punchline, Taskmaster And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's November y'all, which means we've got a whole slew of new events and new books to talk about! Becca and Gary get right into it, before chatting about what they've been reading and working on lately.    Events This Week: Wednesday, November 4th: Ariel S. Winter Thursday, November 5th: Sara Wolf  Friday, November 6th: Virtual Author Chat Series - Mystery Panel  Friday, November 6th: K'wan, in conversation with Robert Arellano  Sunday, November 8th: Romance Book Club  Monday, November 9th: Lynn C. Miller    New This Week: The Preserve by Ariel S Winter  Send Me Their Souls by Sara Wolf  Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer  Working From Home With a Cat by Heidi Moreno  I Am C-3PO by Anthony Daniels  Lost Roads by Jonathan Maberry  Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich The Best of Me by David Sedaris  Dragon Blood by Mary Beesley  The Ravens by Kass Morgan and Danielle Paige  The Alpha Enigma by W. Michael Gear  Legacy of Steel by Matthew Ward  This Virtual Night by C.S. Friedman    Some plugs: Comickaze Continental Cryptid Anthology    What we're reading: How to Be Ace: A Memoir of Growing Up Asexual by Rebecca  Getting It Together by Omar Spahi and Sina Grace Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn  Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio  Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule    You can now find us on Patreon! Unlock exclusive content by subscribing today! Special thanks to Austin Farmer for letting us use the track "Kill the Farm Boy", from his album Bookshelf Symphony Orchestra!  Send us your questions to podcast@mystgalaxy.com Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube!  And support the store by ordering books at mystgalaxy.com!

In this episode Joey invites Omar Spahi into The House Of Indie Studio ...well virtually. Omar speaks about his books Getting It Together from Image Comics & Stairway Anthology from Top Cow. Omar is more than just a Comic Book creator he's also a Realtor, Producer , & Writer. Omar has recently worked on Code 8, Ben 10 ,& Shadow Hours. so stick around and listen to this one! Getting It Together is out now from Image Comics click here to purchase >>> https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/getting-it-together you can purchase Stairway Antology here >>> https://imagecomics.com/comics/releases/stairway-anthology-tp If you're looking for an alternative to purchase books online try My Comic Shop . Com click the link below to help our show by shopping pre-orders and new releases or whatever you may be looking for. https://www.mycomicshop.com/?AffID=1895487P01 https://143podcasts.weebly.com/the-house-of-indie.html https://www.facebook.com/groups/1508464392664597/ https://twitter.com/houseofindiepod https://www.instagram.com/thehouseofindiepod/?hl=en https://linktr.ee/TheHouseOfIndie ~The House Of Indie Is a proud member of The 143 Podcast Network A Partner of Age Of Radio- https://www.ageofradio.org Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

August Sales Comics Reviews: Batman 100 by James Tynion IV, Carlo Pagulayan, Jorge Jimenez, Guillem March, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey American Vampire 1976 1 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque Legend of the Swamp Thing Halloween Spectacular by James Tynion, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Vita Ayala, Ram V, Julian Lytle, Emma Rios, Christian Ward, Domo Stanton, John Timms, Mike Perkins, Jordie Bellaire, Gabe Eltaeb, Andy Troy, Jeremiah Skipper Super Sons Escape to Landis by Ridley Pearson, Ileana Gonzales Amazing Spider-Man 49/850 by Nick Spencer, Kurt Busiek, Saladin Ahmed, Tradd Moore, Aaron Kuder, Ryan Ottley, Mark Bagley, Chris Bachalo, Humberto Ramos, Cliff Rathburn, Victor Olazaba, John Dell, David Curiel Champions 1 by Eve Ewing, Simone Di Meo, Federico Blee Marvels Snapshots: Spider-Man by Howard Chaykin, Jesus Aburtov Getting it Together 1 by Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, Max Struble, Jenny Fine Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology 1 by Neil Gaiman, P. Craig Russell, Mike Mignola, Jerry Ordway, Dave Stewart, Lovern Kindzierski, Galen Showman Sonic the Hedgehog: Bad Guys 1 by Ian Flynn, Jack Lawrence Star Wars Adventures 1 by Michael Moreci, Nick Brokenshire, Ilias Kyriazis Transformers/Back to the Future 1 by Cavan Scott, Juan Samu, David Garcia Cruz Penultiman 1 by Tom Peyer, Alan Robinson, Lee Loughridge American Ronin 1 by Peter Milligan, Aco, Dean White Carmen Sandiego: The Chasing Paper Caper Riverdale Diaries: Hello, Betty! by Sarah Kuhn, J. Bone Bolivar by Sean Rubin Dear Rodney by Cris Trout, Peter Dalkner Over the Garden Wall: The Benevolent Sisters of Charity by Sam Johns, Jim Campbell Hollywood Trash 1 by Stephen Sonneveld, Pablo Verdugo, Exposito, Birch Space Battle Lunchtime vol 3 by Natalie Riess Additional Reviews: Fant4stic, Friday the 13th (2009), Haunting of Bly Manor, Being a Cosplayer News: Janeway returns to Star Trek, Doc Strange in Spider-Man 3, Marvel Action Captain Marvel returns - guest starring Spider-Gwen, Tom Taylor graphic novel series with Random House, Eternals delayed to January, Doc Shaner nonsense, NYCC news, Ottley off Amazing, Green Lantern Corps series details, Venom 200, Hellstrom and Marvel TV in review, two new Cates comics, Soul directly to Disney+, Gal Gadot Trailers: Mank, Invincible  Comics Countdown: Decorum 5 by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Huddleston Space Battle Lunchtime Vol 3 by Natalie Riess Batman 100 by James Tynion IV, Carlo Pagulayan, Jorge Jimenez, Guillem March, Danny Miki, Tomeu Morey Die 14 by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans, Clayton Cowles American Vampire: 1976 1 by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque We Only Find Them When They're Dead 2 by Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo Legend of the Swamp Thing Halloween Spectacular by James Tynion, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Vita Ayala, Ram V, Julian Lytle, Emma Rios, Christian Ward, Domo Stanton, John Timms, Mike Perkins, Jordie Bellaire, Gabe Eltaeb, Andy Troy, Jeremiah Skipper Bang 4 by Matt Kindt, Wilfredo Torres Black Widow 2 by Kelly Thompson, Elena Casagrande, Jordie Bellaire Thor 8 by Donny Cates, Aaron Kuder, Matt Wilson

On a packed live show, we're welcoming guests Ali Keller & Jim Fagan ("Zero Issue") + Omar Spahi & Sina Grace ("Getting It Together")! Plus prizes, Q&A and more. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week's 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

On a packed live show, we’re welcoming guests Ali Keller & Jim Fagan (“Zero Issue”) + Omar Spahi & Sina Grace (“Getting It Together”)! Plus prizes, Q&A and more. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. The post Comic Book Club: Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, Ali Keller And Jim Fagan appeared first on Comic Book Club.

In the latest episode, The Fanbase Weekly co-hosts welcome special guests Omar Spahi and Sina Grace (creators/writers - Image Comics' Getting It Together) discuss the latest geek news stories of the week, including John Boyega's frustration with representation in Star Wars, the impact of the pandemic on our mental health, IDW Publishing's approach to Spanish-translated comics, and our weekly trailer roundup featuring No Time to Die, Teen Titans: Beast Boy, and Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous.

This week for Bleav in Clippers host Jesse Kass is joined by Omar Spahi to take a look back at Game 7 of the 2015 series of Clippers vs Spurs. Jesse and Omar talk about being at the game, the atmosphere, and all the key moments from the game. They also talk about Chris Paul, Kawhi Leonard, and how the teams were affected following this series.

Spawn #14 & Wetworks Ashcan (1992)Listener Discretion AdvisedSpawn #14by Todd McFarlane“Myths” Part 1Dedicated To: Jim SalicrupIt was I! …Humble little ol’ VIOLATOR! …Now now, boys. I gave you the courtesy of hearing about your heroes. I ask only for a few moments of your time as I tell you about my adventures… Over 800 years ago…I hope Chief Banks is dying of an ulcer! We shoved it right up his rear! …The investigating board didn’t know anything about him. With us cleared, they’re antsy to find out what really happened.How could I be so stupid. I’ve let anger dictate my actions. Chapel now knows I’m alive… Wetworks Ashcanby Whilce Portacio & Scott WilliamsImage is EverythingEpisode Art GalleryPromotional MaterialDreamer Comics Podcast:Comic book show where Comics creators talk about their projects, theirprocess and the story behind their stories hosted by Omar Spahi.Punisher: Body Count: We’re Dane and Jake, co-host compadres on the net’s best podcast for all things Punisher!Wetwork is abi-weekly podcast about vocations. This is about intrigue. This aboutis what lives in the shadows. This is about war. This is dirty. Loveyour job? Hate it? It doesn’t matter. Occasionally it’s all Wetwork.Spawning GroundFacebooktumblrrolledspinepodcasts@gmail.comSpawnometer on BlogspotRolled Spine Podcasts on WordPress

Recorded 10/4/18 in Manhattan, today’s ep is our 6th and final NY Comic Con pod from the network. We’re gonna close this year’s con coverage with a crossover pod Beyond! Comics writer/podcaster, Omar Spahi, talks Batman Beyond; his comic, “Xenoglyphs;” and his “Dreamers” podcast. -Thank you to our sponsor, HelloTushy.com. Use offer code BEYOND at check out for 10% off your first order: HelloTushy.com. Join the clean butt club! -Don’t forget to check out our other podcasts for both NYCC and other coverage: “DC Collecticast,” “Update: Nerd Style,” and “Batyards Finest.” Also available on the Anchor app, iTunes, and ComicBookIntl.com. -Help support ABB and the rest of our pod network, just go to Patreon.com/BatmanBeyondPodcast. -Listen for more from Benjamin David, host of both “Above” and “DCC” and head of our podcast network, COMICBOOKINTL.COM. @ComicBookIntl on both Twitter and Instagram; @BatmanBeyondPodcast on both Instagram and Facebook; BatmanBeyondPod@Gmail.com. - Find new episodes of “Above and Batman Beyond” on iTunes and please write us a 5 star review if you like the show! Also available on SoundCloud and BATMANBEYONDPODCAST.COM. -This podcast is hosted and produced by Benjamin David. Our editor is Gary Baca @psychofreakinspace on Instagram. Podcast Art by Courtney Delenn Slater: @CDSGraphics on Instagram and @CDS_Graphics on Twitter. Theme music by Exsanguinator. -Above and Batman Beyond is not an official production of DC Comics, Warner Bros., Batman Beyond, or any other company, property and/or license mentioned on this recording or on ComicBookIntl.com. The thoughts and opinions shared by the participants of this podcast are theirs and theirs alone and therefore do not represent the companies or organizations they happen to work for.

Grunt is back from Worlds Without End and Omar Spahi, from the Dreamer Comics Podcast, is back too! We both enjoy watching ghosts explore the Lost City of Gold. More importantly, we break down what we'd like to see in a G.I. Joe/Scooby Doo crossover! The Filecard Feature is on the G.I. Joe Sky Patrol Audible Frequency Specialist... Airwave! Don't forget to listen to the Dreamer Comics Podcast and check out my Patreon to see how you can help support the show!

The Dreadnoks are back and dumber than ever! This time, though, they have Zartan's hologram bike and that only means trouble for 3 Joes on their furlough! A lot of fun this issue and some great foreshadowing of an impending fate! Don't forget to check out the Dreamer Comics Podcast, where Omar Spahi shows you how to break into the comic book industry! If you want to support the Joe on Joe show, you can check out my Patreon, at Patreon.com/joeonjoepod

The creator of the New Zealand mega hit comic book Blastosaurus, Richard Fairgray, joins me to talk about his childhood comics passions, his current comic book adventures here with Golden Apple Comics, and all things G.I. Joe! We watch the Joes protect the Chunnel from Cobra Commander and rescue the Queen!   The Filecard Feature is on the Iron Grenadier D.E.M.O.N. driver... Ferret!   Remember to check out the Dreamer Comics Podcast w/ Omar Spahi! Every week he explores the journey that comics creators take.   Don't forget to check out www.Patreon.com/joeonjoepod to see how you can help support the Joe on Joe show!

Reality meets the DIC episodes as Cobra attacks America and G.I. Joe via computer! What? That would never happen in real life! I'm pleased to be joined by longtime friend & comics aficionado, Mark Silgalis! The plot on this episode is pretty great, but the animation is way, way below acceptable. Let's get through this together! The Filecard Feature is on the Sky Patrol leader... Skydive! This week's episode is brought to you by the Dreamer Comics Podcast! The weekly show where Omar Spahi talks with a wide range of comic book creators on how they got into the business, and how they're making their dreams come true! Give it a listen today! Don't forget to check out the Joe on Joe Patreon, and see how you can help support the show!

Cobra and the Dreadnoks are making their move! Buzzer, Ripper, and Torch assault McGuire Air Force Base, thinking that's where the Joes are stationed! Meanwhile, the Crimson Guardsman Fred sets up shot across the street from the Ft. Wadsworth Chaplain's Assistant Motor Pool!   Thanks to all my Patrons for your unending support, and welcome aboard our great new sponsor, Omar Spahi and his Dreamer Comics Podcast!   Remember to visit Patreon.com/joeonjoepod to see how you can help support the show and become a sponsor!

Nick and Amarie sit down with comic book writer and film producer Omar Spahi to discuss some of his comic book publications, what inspired his stories, and how his Myspace profile got him kicked out of college. Check the Culture Talk.Follow Nick @NickofComedy, Amarie Lee @amarielee_comedy and @CPUPodcasts for information on new episodes

Nick and Amarie sit down with comic book writer and film producer Omar Spahi to discuss some of his comic book publications, what inspired his stories, and how his Myspace profile got him kicked out of college. Check the Culture Talk.Follow Nick @NickofComedy, Amarie Lee @amarielee_comedy and @CPUPodcasts for information on new episodes

Ed and Ron talk to comic creator Omar Spahi about his Nerd GOAT: The Flash! Omar is a writer, producer and entrepreneur who founded OSSM Comics in 2012. OSSM has published ten titles, including Omar's epic original series Xenoglyphs! OSSM is currently Kickstarting the complete Xenoglyphs collected edition – make a pledge and check out a book that combines myth, magic and globe-hopping adventure! Follow Omar on Instagram @ospahi or on Twitter @xenoglyphs.  QUOTES: "Ed, I like you, but if I could fly and had super-strength? Later bitch." "When he slows down and you punch him...He just gets knocked out." "You could meld redhead, freckle-faced Wally West with the African-American Wally West and make a Blake Griffin-looking dude!" "The next level of hipster douchebag names: just naming your kids concepts, like 'C'mere Teleportation! Get off the damn swings!'" "Flash doing Postmates, he'd be so fucking rich." "People just getting smacked in the face for being pieces of shit...And they'd call me the Ghost Smack!" — Catch Ed on Screen Junkies' upcoming Evolution of the Black Superhero panel! If you're in Seattle for the Emerald City Comic-Con on MARCH 3, 2018, catch Ron on the Sketch Fighter Panel, where comic artists pair with comedians to play ludicrous games of Pictionary! Subscribe, rate and review Nerd GOAT on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or your favorite podcast app. Drop us a line at nerdgoatshow@gmail.com Follow Bail Bonds Media on Instagram for behind-the-scenes looks at the show, and other great content!

This week the guys sit down with Omar Spahi the creative mind behind Xenoglyphs.  Xenoglyphs follows Steven James and his best friend Dom Jenkins as they try to stop Anubis, the master of evil, from collecting all nine Xenoglyphs. Omar also talks about his involvement with the Robbie Amell project Code 8. All this and much more, so sit back and enjoy! The post #245: Omar Spahi appeared first on Super Hero Speak.

Today, for the first episode, Omar decides to interview himself to break down what he knows from 6 years of creating and publishing comics including Xenoglyphs, Thaniel, Monomyth, Terminarch, Separators, Solestar, Foster, Sons of the Devil and Hadrian's Wall. Omar breaks down what to expect in each episode and how to make your own comic book from start to finish. Omar is all about turning comic book dreams into reality. Check out his Kickstarter here for his comic book Xenoglyphs: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1907290401/xenoglyphs-the-complete-series?ref=user_menu

We've got a fantastic episode this week, written by Carla and Gerry Conway, so who better to join me than Publisher of OSSM Comics, Omar Spahi! We talk about the Joes, comic books, The Flash, and get to watch Lifeline and his Dad reconcile!  The Filecard Feature is on the Cobra H.I.S.S. Driver!

Omar Spahi - CEO of OSSM ComicsMadeline Haydon - ‎Founder of Green Grass Foods, IncNish Patel - CEO of Clutch PointsEvan Strenk - CEO & Founder at Milo SensorsShannon Bloemker - ‎Founder of Glasshouse

Omar Spahi - CEO of OSSM ComicsMadeline Haydon - ‎Founder of Green Grass Foods, IncNish Patel - CEO of Clutch PointsEvan Strenk - CEO & Founder at Milo SensorsShannon Bloemker - ‎Founder of Glasshouse

We’re following up our one year anniversary with a revisit with our very first guest and super-awesome guy, Omar Spahi! Both he, and our good friend Siike Donnelly, came on to talk about OSSM Comics one year later, as well as do our usual thing of discussing the week’s comics, and telling some funny stories!...Read more →

In this installment... Comedian "Brett As-Is" joins the festivities. The guys recount the struggle for Comic Con pre-registration tickets. (The struggle is real!) They explore "Comedians that ruined decent films." SECOND CHANCE MOVIES- Chris hips the hipsters in the room to BEGIN AGAIN. Listener fave: DUMB SHIT OUR KIDS DID THIS WEEK. Guest "Brett As-Is" RANTS about Christmas. "Please Buy Our Comic" (Indie Comics) - "Thaniel"- by Omar Spahi and Terry Huddleston The fellas reminisce about last year's "Christmas Party of Doom" and how Ron gave everyone the RED AND GREEN DEATH.

This week, I introduce you to another rising star in the comics industry, the folks at OSSM (pronounced “awesome”) Comics. To learn more about them and their products, go to their website at this link! I talk with OSSM creators Siike (pronounced “seek”) Donnelly and Omar Spahi, who also are guiding the company into being another “up and coming” comics producer, ready to break into the mainstream by developing excellent comics filled with top-notch stories and art. We discuss their current books, Thaniel, Foster, Monomyth and Xenoglyphs, that latter miniseries leading into their ongoing Separators comic. You’ll want to learn about these terrific comics, so don’t miss it! Watch for my reviews of OSSM Comics here at MajorSpoilers.com in the coming weeks! Next episode, I’ll have another great interview with another terrific comics creator, so be sure to listen in! Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers VIP. It will help ensure Wayne's Comics Podcast continues far into the future!

Welcome back to The Flash Podcast! On this installment, Andy is once again joined by Omar Spahi, CEO of OSSM Comics, and together they do another character spotlight: Cisco Ramon aka Vibe! They discuss the character's comic series in the New 52, “Justice League of America's Vibe”, his pre-52 version and his role overall in the current continuity. In addition, they also speculate about what Cisco's character is going to be like on The Flash as well as on Arrow because tonight (April 16), the character will be making his live-action debut, played by Carlos Valdes! If you want to get a first look and feeling of the character before he pops up on The Flash, then make sure to tune in for his Arrow appearance, 8/7c on The CW as well as listen to this podcast episode! Facebook - Facebook.com/TheFlashPodcast Twitter - Twitter.com/TheFlashPodcast Stitcher - Stitcher.com/podcast/the-flash-podcast iTunes - goo.gl/J5XB4m Google+ - goo.gl/GnSdkE Soundcloud – soundcloud.com/theflashpodcast E-mail us at theflashpodcast@gmail.com

Welcome back to The Flash Podcast! On this installment, Andy is joined by his friend Omar Spahi, the founder and CEO of OSSM Comics and together they do a character spotlight on Hartley Rathaway aka the Pied Piper! They also discuss the complete look of Grant Gustin as The Flash that was released this week and they also check take time to read fan reactions about the suit from Twitter and a few e-mails as well. In addition, they also talk about the latest addition to The Flash cast with Patrick Sabongui as comic character, Police Captain David Singh You can find the podcast on: Facebook - Facebook.com/TheFlashPodcast Twitter - Twitter.com/TheFlashPodcast Stitcher - Stitcher.com/podcast/the-flash-podcast iTunes - goo.gl/nxaa79 Google+ - goo.gl/GnSdkE E-mail us at theflashpodcast@gmail.com

Welcome to a special edition episode of Helicarrier: The S.H.I.E.L.D. Podcast! On this installment, Andy interviews Siike Donnelly (great friend of the show who covered a good number of episodes, last fall) and Omar Spahi, the founder and president of OSSM Comics, which is also where Siike works. In depth, Siike and Omar talk about OSSM Comics, how and where it all started as well as what kind of books they offer and much more! Make sure to check them out on ossmcomics.com for additional information! Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns on Tuesday, March 4, 8/7c on ABC.

Welcome to a special edition episode of Helicarrier: The S.H.I.E.L.D. Podcast! On this installment, Andy interviews Siike Donnelly (great friend of the show who covered a good number of episodes, last fall) and Omar Spahi, the founder and president of OSSM Comics, which is also where Siike works. In depth, Siike and Omar talk about OSSM Comics, how and where it all started as well as what kind of books they offer and much more! Make sure to check them out on ossmcomics.com for additional information! Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns on Tuesday, March 4, 8/7c on ABC.

http://www.nerdlocker.com - This weeks episode offers a special treat. Kit and Jacob talk about their recommendations and picks of the week and end with an extra special interview with Omar Spahi and Siike Donnelly of OSSM Comics. We chat with them about their upcoming projects such as Thaniel and Monomyth, and get insight on creator owned projects. Enjoy!!!!! Check out their current work and new projects - http://www.ossmcomics.com/ You can Follow Omar Spahi on twitter @Xenoglyphs and Siike Donnelly @ExplodingBullet For more info on comics, video games, movies and anything else nerd, check out Nerdlocker.com, a place for your inner nerd. _____________________________________________________ Also check us out on: Nerdlocker: http://www.nerdlocker.com Nerdlocker Shop: http://www.nerdlocker.com/store YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/nerdlocker Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nerdlocker Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nerdlocker Email us at: info@nerdlocker.com

EPISODE 3 - THE NEVER-ENDING BATTLE      Siike & his super friend continue their daily countdown to the Man of Steel release with a new episode that covers Superman's Silver Age years.      Xenoglyphs and Thaniel writer, Omar Spahi, reviews his favorite story in the Superman mythos, War of the Supermen, which features an amazing confrontation between Superman and General Zod.      Siike talks about the Man of Steel Soundtrack, and Neil Kapit, writer, artist, and creator of the website, Ruby Nation, has a heart to heart with Siike about bullying, and how Superman taught him to stand up to bullies. 

It's our season finale! Party time! What's a party without music and a little drama, so Richard suggested Getting it Together by Sina Grace, Omar Spahi, Jenny D Fine, Mx. Struble and Sean Konot (Image) for our reading pleasure. We have a good conversation about this plus many other things including normalizing mensuration and our misspent Twenties. Hope you all enjoy.Other books discussed on the episode. The Bone Orchard Mythos: The Passageway by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, David Stewart, and Steve Wands (Image); Filth & Grammar: The Comic Book Editor's (Secret) Handbook by Shelly Bond, Imogen Mangle, Laura Hole, and Sofia Dodgson (Off Register Press); Pipette and Dudley Charming Dog Adventures by Charlotte Mei (Shortbox); and One Piece Chapter 1053: New Emperors by Eiichiro Oda (Shonen Jump).Comics Deserve Better is a weekly podcast hosted by Brian, Carrie, Darci and Richard which covers the world of Independent Comics. For a list of episodes, socials and emails, and to request a topic for a future episode please visit comicsdeservebetter.wordpress.com.(Episode Art by Jenny D Fine and Intro Music provided by https://www.bensound.com/)