Podcasts about remender

C. Brennan Knight joins Jimmy on the Cryptid Creator Corner to chat about the current Kickstarter campaign for Tyrant Fall #3, which launches today, April 1st. You can hit the link below to check out the campaign. Brennan describes Tyrant Fall as if Dragon Ball Z was published by Heavy Metal Magazine. He has a long plan for the series and discusses the origins of the series with Jimmy, along with working with artist Max Davenport. Brennan also talks about being a natural introvert and how the promotional part of the crowdfunding experience is particularly exhausting. Tyrant Fall is a great series and Jimmy says fans of Remender and Opena's Seven to Eternity will love, plus the remainder of the creative team is the extremely talented Roman Stevens and Rob Jones.   From the KS page for Tyrant Fall #1: Thousands of years ago, the elven Fae Lords benevolently ruled over the world, overseeing an era of peace. Witnessing the ascend of human civilization, the Fae Lords returned to their home realm, the Fae. To mankind, they bestowed two final gifts: dominion of the world and the ancient knowledge of magic. The Fae Lords peace ended at the hands of the Dragons, tyrants who rose to power as they warred amongst themselves. Their strength, inhuman. Their rule, absolute. None have escaped their oppression. But there are those ready to fight the impossible fight to free the world from tyranny. Enter Myrta, warrior of the Rebellion, humanity's last resistance against the Dragons. As a child, she could only watch and run as the Red Dragon destroyed her life. Now, fifteen years later, she has returned. Armed with the power to get her vengeance, Myrta readies to attack the Red Dragon's citadel. Little does she know what fate awaits her within. Tyrant Fall KS campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tyrantfall1/tyrant-fall-1-3 Follow Brennan on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/cbrennanknight.bsky.social PATREON We have a new Patreon, CryptidCreatorCornerpod. If you like what we do, please consider supporting us. We got two simple tiers, $1 and $3. Want to know more, you know what to do. ARKENFORGE Play TTRPG games? Make sure to check out our partner Arkenforge. Use the discount code YETI5 to get $5 off your order. THE LANTERN CATALOG Created on the premise of creating light in the dark, this is the the go to resource to keep you up to date on the indy projects and the creators you love. You can find them at https://www.thelanterncatalog.com/. Make sure to check out our sponsor 2000AD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Featuring RomezGuide check him out @RomezGuide on Youtube and Tik Tok! Marvel/MCU & DC/DCU news!! Intro 02:30 Comic book recommendations: Captain America, Remender, Ennis, Ghost Rider 9:10 Sadie SInk cast in Spiderman 4 (ft. Shang Chi?) 13:20 Bernthal Punisher Disney plus Special 16:20 Avengers Doomsday/Secret Wars 25:18 Building a theoretical current MCU Avengers roster 29:20 Thunderbolts (*Dark Avengers) expectations 32:40 DC/DCU - Zack Snyder James Gunn elseworlds movie 36:50 Superman movie & Lanterns series expectations 42:15 Constantine 2 Keanu Reeves & Hellblazer comics Follow us on social media:  Twitter/Instagram/TikTok: @whysosidiouspod  YouTube: www.youtube.com/@whysosidiouspod?app=desktop  Email us questions/requests: whysosidious@yahoo.com  Subscribe, Rate, and Review! Send us your questions/comments!Support the show

On the newest episode of Comics and Chronic the guys cover the second half of Rick Remender's X-Force Omnibus. Rick Remender puts the "Uncanny" into X-Force in an epic, critically acclaimed run! Psylocke, Archangel, Deadpool and Fantomex sign up for Wolverine's secret squad of assassins, but their first mission - to find and deal with the reborn Apocalypse - casts a long shadow. As the members of X Force struggle to come to terms with their actions, one among them unravels in what could only be called the "Dark Angel Saga." Startlingly familiar Deathloks; a return to the Age of Apocalypse; a warring Otherworld; and the all-new, all-deadly Brotherhood of Evil Mutants await in Remender's extraordinary exploration of the ethics of execution. "One for the record books." - Newsarama But first are the guys trying to end up on DIY Tok? Cody's son is growing up before him. Cody talks Wicked. Does the art dip in the second half? Anthony fills us in on canon post X-Force. We talk Evil Iceman. Is this one of the best wrapped series in comics? How does this book dissect morality of heroes? The guys assign themselves characters. Do we think Immortal Hulk is a better series than this? What characters don't we care about? Find the answers to this and more on the last Comics and Chronic episode of 2024! Check out Superguy on Kickstarter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mrtonynacho/superguy-1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/ComicsandChronic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Check out our website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.comicsandchronic.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠New episodes every THURSDAYFollow us on social media!Bluesky // Instagram // Twitter // TikTok : ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@comicsnchronic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.youtube.com/channel/UC45vP6pBHZk9rZi_2X3VkzQ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠E-mail: comicsnchronicpodcast@gmail.comCody Instagram // Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@codycannoncomedy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter: @Cody_CannonTikTok: @codywalakacannonJakeInstagram // Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@jakefhaha⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠AnthonyBluesky // Instagram // Threads // Twitter // TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@mrtonynacho⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube: youtube.com/nachocomedy

Jan 2025 Solicits (DC, Image) Longbox of Horror 2024 Part 3: JLA by Chuck Austen Comic Reviews: DC o        All In §  Catwoman 69 by Torunn Gronbekk, Fabiana Mascolo, Patricio Delpeche §  Titans 16 by John Layman, Pete Woods o        Batman and Robin: Year One 1 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes o        Batman: Full Moon 1 by Rodney Barnes, Stevan Subic Marvel o        Blade Red Band 1 by Bryan Hill, Carlos Villa, Javier Tartaglia o        Crypt of Shadows 1 by Steve Orlando, Claire Roe, Luiz Zavala; Chris Condon, Djibril Morissette-Phan, Mattia Iacono; Benjamin Percy, Raffaele Ienco, Bryan Valenza; Jason Loo, Carlos Magno, Espen Grundetjern o        Moon Knight: Fist of Khonshu 1 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, Rachelle Rosenberg o        Mystique 1 by Declan Shalvey, Matt Hollingsworth o        Marvel Unlimited §  Astonishing Spider-Man 1 & 2 by Scott Aukerman, Salva Espin §  Beastly Buddies 1 by Steve Foxe, Armand Bodnar Boom o        Vicarious 1 by Ryan Parrott, Eleonora Carlini, Mattia Iacono, Luca Mattioni Dark Horse o        Jupiter's Legacy Finale 1 by Mark Millar, Tommy Lee Edwards o        Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos Halloween Special by Tate Brombal, Morgan Beem; Soo Lee, Patricio Delpeche; Nick Robles; James Tynion IV, Isaac Goodhart, Miquel Muerto; Tate Brombal, Fernando Blanco, Patricio Delpeche o        Where Monsters Lie: Cul-De-Sac 1 by Kyle Starks, Piotr Kowalski, Vladimir Popov IDW o        Exorcism at 1600 Penn 1 by Hannah Rose May, Vanesa Del Rey, Jordie Bellaire Valiant o        Eternal Warrior Resurgence 1 by Fred Van Lente, Alvaro Papagiana, Camila Jorge, Nobi, Exequiel Fernandez Rosel, Ludwig Olimba Vault o        Godfather of Hell 1 by Cavan Scott, Pius Bak, Raul Angulo OGN Countdown o        Kids Are Still Weird and More Observations From Parenthood by Jeffrey Brown o        Spirited Vol 4: Fangs for the Memories by Liv Livingston o        Noodle and Bao by Shaina Lu o        Girlmode by Magdalene Visaggio, Paulina Ganucheau o        Squire and Knight Vol 2: Wayward Travelers by Scott Chantler o        Halfway There: A Graphic Memoir of Self-Discovery by Christine Mari o        Boy vs Shark by Paul Gilligan o        Big Jim and the White Boy: An American Classic Reimagined by David Walker, Marcus Kwame Anderson Additional Reviews:         Agatha All Along ep6         Plume by K. Lynn Smith         Flintstones by Mark Russell, Steve Pugh, Rick Leonardi         Lego Avengers: Mission Demolition News: Mad Cave picks up Pop Kill from Palmiotti/Conner, IDW hires new EIC, new announcements from Image and Dynamite at NYCC, DC joins GlobalComix, Krypto confirmed to appear in Superman movie, new Iron Man Disney Jr. series, Many Deaths of Laila Starr opera, new Image series from Aaron and Remender, IDW new logo, Ultimate Wolverine, new Marvel collection line ala DC Compact, DSTLRY announcements, No One movie, Doctor Doom event, Justice League: Atom Project, Aquaman by Adams and Timms, new horror line from Tiny Onion, John Ridley next up on Action Comics, new IDW horror line including Event Horizon comic, Absolute Martian Manhunter, Magic the Gathering/Marvel team-up, return of Vertigo, Hush 2 confirmed, DD: Cold Day in Hell, Eddie Brock: Carnage, Venomverse/Spider-Verse crossover, another Flanagan/King project, Blade probably canceled Glenn's Continuity Corner Trailers: The Monkey, Invincible s3, Cross, Wolf Man Comics Countdown (16 October 2024): 1.     Wonder Woman 14 by Tom King, Daniel Sampere, Tomeu Morey 2.     Radiant Black 30 and 30.5 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Clark, Eduardo Ferigato, Marcelo Costa, Rod Fernandes, Raul Angulo 3.     Ultimate Spider-Man 10 by Jonathan Hickman, David Messina, Matt Wilson 4.     Department of Truth 26 by James Tynion IV, Alison Sampson, Jordie Bellaire 5.     Local Man 25 by Tim Seeley, Tony Fleecs, Felipe Sobreiro, Brad Simpson 6.     Nightwing 118 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Caio Filipe, Adriano Lucas 7.     Batman and Robin: Year One 1 by Mark Waid, Chris Samnee, Matheus Lopes 8.     Batman: Full Moon 1 by Rodney Barnes, Stevan Subic 9.     Green Lantern 16 by Jeremy Adams, Xermanico, Romulo Fajardo Jr 10.  Flash Gordon 3 by Jeremy Adams, Will Conrad, Lee Loughridge

Episode #538! Houses of the Unholy, Kommix and Uncanny X-Force! This week DL has comics by Charles Burns, Rick Remender, Ed Brubaker and Sean Phililps. First up, Charles Burns gives us plenty of fake magazine covers in his new book Kommix, Houses of the Unholy is Brubaker and Phillips' newest book with crime (of course) and Satanic Panic. Also brought to the table this week is the Uncanny X-Force omnibus written by Remender and illustrated by many of the top artists working today. Check it out!  

***DISCLAIMER the host of the episode lost audio half way through the episode. So if the episode feels disjointed during the end and ends abruptly, its Riverside's fault and we did our best to edit the audio into a cohesive episode. We chose Rick Remender's X Force because of a certain big new MCU movie on its way. Deadpool & Wolverine are lead characters in this comic along with the rest of the team. Their banter, their combat, all of what makes them both great characters is on display in this comic book. It's also a great read. Covering issues #1-19 Intro Overall thoughts and Summary 11:30 Deadpool comics vs Ryan Reynolds movie portrayal 13:40 Psylocke and Archangel's Jeckyll & Hyde dynamic Open Conversation Follow us on social media: Twitter/Instagram/TikTok: @whysosidiouspod YouTube: www.youtube.com/@whysosidiouspod?app=desktop Email us questions/requests: whysosidious@yahoo.com Subscribe, Rate, and Review! Send us your questions/comments!Support the Show.

CAPÍTULO #375… Nos despedimos de la temporada X enfundados en los trajes de ninjas para el muy esperado programa especial de Naruto. Repasamos toda la obra del maestro Masashi Kishimoto, que se ha consolidado como uno de los shonen más referenciales de la historia, además de comentar su adaptación en Anime y productos derivados. Por otro lado, nos visitará el director de cine y guionista David Galan Galindo, para hablar de su reciente trabajo en PRO, la historia de un superhéroe español al más puro estilo Capitán América. También nos pondremos al día con toda la actualidad del mundo del cómic, desde nuevos anuncios, el rodaje de Superman y hasta los próximos avances editoriales. Y como no podría ser de otra forma, os traeremos las mejores reseñas de novedades. Hablaremos de lanzamietnos tan destacados como el Pingüino de Tom King, los Imposibles X-Force de Remender, un bombazo BD con Días de Arena, la Patrulla-X de Claremont y muchísimo más. Muchísimas gracias a todos por acompañarnos durante estos diez años, volveremos más pronto que tarde con más fuerza que nunca ¡Nos oímos! NOTICIAS [00:08:05] Tomos y Grapas Podcast cumple 10 años Joe Kelly será el nuevo guionista de Spiderman Ram V y Joëlle Jones se unen para Through Red Windows Acaba la actual era de Star Wars Reaccionamos a las fotos del rodaje de Superman Reacciones a la cuarta temporada de The Boys Próximos avances editoriales NOVEDADES Y RELECTURAS [01:21:22] Transformers Perros atados En los vestuarios La Doble Vida de Max Fridman Luz Negra Ultimate Black Panther La Imposible Patrulla-X. Marvel Gold Imposibles X-Force. Omnibus El Pingüino Flores de Piedra Días de Arena Corto Maltés. La Reina de Babilonia Parque Chas Meadowlark Black Squaw Smiley Felpa ESPECIAL: NARUTO [04:12:49] Invocamos a los habitantes de la villa de la hoja y activamos el sharingan para sumergirnos en uno de los mejores especiales de la historia de Tomos y Grapas. Hablaremos de Naruto, el shonen referencial de Masashi Kishimoto que ha marcado a toda una nueva generación de lectores y que sigue la historia de un joven aprendiz de ninja, en cuyo interior vive encerrado el antiguo espíritu del zorro de nueve colas. Una obra que ha trascendido y se iguala a otros grandes nombres como Dragon Ball y que repasaremos al detalle, tanto el Manga, como en su serie de anime, así como todos sus productos derivados. ENTREVISTA: DAVID GALÁN GALINDO [07:10:01] Una vez más, abrimos las puertas de la Sala Kirby para acoger al director y guionista David Galán Galindo. Responsable de producciones como Orígenes Secretos o la reciente Matusalén, esta joven promesa del cine y el cómic viene a presentarnos su trabajo en PRO. Un cómic que, junto al artista Manuel Vidal, nos sumerge en la historia del Español de Pro, un antiguo superhéroe que protegía nuestro país hace 50 años, y cuyos secretos están a punto de salir a la luz. CORREO DEL AGENTE [07:54:55] Leemos todos vuestros mensajes dejados en las redes y nuestra sección de la voz de los Agentes de Hydra, ¡Habla pueblo Habla! ¡Muchas gracias por escucharnos y todo vuestro apoyo y participación! Nuestro PODCAST ya está en el CANAL SECUNDARIO ¡Inflate a contenido comiquero aquí! https://www.youtube.com/@tomosygrapaspodcast Tomos y grapas es un medio de comunicación transmedia, disfruta de nuestros contenidos también en nuestra web, YouTube y redes sociales. VISITA TAMBIÉN NUESTRA LIBRERÍA En la Calle Alcalá 211 o nuestra TIENDA ONLINE con el mejor servicio y atención tiendatomosygrapas.com

Votre émission comics favorite devient mensuelle, et retrouve son format d'origine : une sélection de 3 comics. Pour le début de cette troisième saison, l'équipe est heureuse de vous présenter une sélection aux petits oignons !On vous en parle depuis plus de 6 mois, Ame Augmentée débarque chez 404 Graphics. Sans doute l'une de nos plus belles lectures de ces dernières années. Un récit de science-fiction intelligent qui nous amène naturellement vers une réflexion aussi logique que dérangeante. L'éditeur livre un objet à la hauteur du récit qu'il publie.Tom King, encore et toujours. C'est notre favori chez DC Comics, on se devait de vous parler du lancement de la nouvelle série Wonder Woman. Tom King revient sur une série régulière, toujours là où on ne l'attend pas aux côtés du dessinateur Daniel Sampere. Ils s'imposent avec un premier volume impressionnant sur bien des points.Et retour sur une série ayant marqué nos jeunes années de lecteurs : Uncanny X-Force de Rick Remender. Avec un florilège d'artistes de renom, Remender livre LA meilleure série de comics X-Force. Impressions impactées par le goût de la nostalgie ? Cette relecture a été un moment de vérité qui a permis de réfléchir le regard que l'on peut porter sur ces lectures qui ont marqué notre expérience de lecteur.Comics Pick a désormais 3 ans. On vous remercie infiniment pour votre soutien et votre fidélité. N'hésitez pas à nous rejoindre sur X  et Instagram.Retrouvez également les recommandations vidéos sous le nom de Comics Stuff sur TikTok.Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Just in the nick of time, with days to spare, it's time for Previews! Ian, Murd and Chris crack open Image Catalog Issue 8, DC Connect issue 46, Marvel Previews Vol 6 issue 30, and Diamond Previews issue 426 as their sources of selections, with comics mainly set for May 2024 release. Highlights include Jonathan Hickman and Sanford Greene's Doom, Garth Ennis' return to Nick Fury, Space Ghost is back at Dynamite, Mark Russell's Death Ratio'd, Remender and Pesehn's Grommets, I Can Count to Ten and much more! (2:51:23)

Welcome to the Rick Remenaissance! In this episode: the Cosmic Longbox salutes Giant Generator’s Rick Remender! With this week’s release of Napalm Lullaby #1, it seemed fitting for the CLB to focus on eight issues from throughout Remender’s career. As usual, we use the THN “Buy It,” “Skim It,” or “Leave It” rating system, which […] The post Back Issue Comics Reviews #734: The Cosmic Longbox Salutes Giant Generator’s Rick Remender! appeared first on The Two-Headed Nerd Comic Book Podcast.

We're doing it folks. We've finally read one of the bugbears in the MMM canon: 'Castaway in Dimension Z' aka the first ten issues of Rick Remender's 2012 "Captain America" run. We do a recap on all things Remender, JRJR, and Cap once more before talking about this very divisive arc. Will Elias admit it's not as good as he thought it was? Will Jaina find more worth in it (and in the art?) Listen on, true believers!And for a bit of a fun time capsule, read Elias' review off issue #1 from our "Now That's What I Call Marvel" 2020 spectacular.Next time, it's time for "The End." Which end? A lot of them, apparently.

Cette semaine, on voyage à travers les infinis dimensions de la bande dessinée américaine dans ComicsDiscovery votre podcast comics favori. On discute de Black Science de Rick Remender et Matteo Scalera qui ressort en intégrale chez Urban Comics. ComicsDiscovery Review Black ScienceSuite à un “accident” Grant, sa famille et son équipe sont transportés dans une dimension parallèle sans possibilité de retour. Le “Pilier” qui les a téléportés est cassé. Ils doivent alors sauter de dimensions en dimensions, espérant revenir dans leur monde. Un postulat de base qui n'est pas sans rappeler la série des années 90 Sliders. Drame interdimensionnelAvec Black Science, le duo Remender et Scalera utilise les possibilités offertes par les différentes dimensions pour parler d'un drame familial.Entre les batailles, des créatures étranges, les trahisons au sein de leur propre groupe et les conséquences inattendues de leurs actions, Rick Remender et Mattéo Scalera explorent également les limites de l'ambition humaine. Ils parlent également des sacrifices nécessaires pour réparer les erreurs commises dans le passé. Si vous avez aimé Black Science et que vous voulez découvrir d'autres comics.Nous vous conseillons l'écoute de ces épisodes de ComicsDiscovery :ComicsDiscovery S04E14 : Fear Agent https://jamesetfaye.fr/comicsdiscovery-s04e14-fear-agent/ComicsDiscovery S04E02 : Death Or Glory https://jamesetfaye.fr/comicsdiscovery-s04e02-death-or-glory/ComicsDiscovery S02E11 : Seven To Eternity https://jamesetfaye.fr/comicsdiscovery-s02e11-seven-to-eternity/ Le mot de la finComme toujours, nous vous invitons à venir partager votre avis avec nous, que vous soyez d'accord ou non, cela nous fait toujours plaisir d'échanger avec vous. Si vous avez envie de nous écouter en direct, c'est le mardi soir à 21 h sur notre chaîne Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/jamesetfaye Retrouvez nos chroniqueurs sur leurs réseaux sociaux :Sophie : https://linktr.ee/sophiahautrice?Spades : https://linktr.ee/SpadesOnAirFaye : https://linktr.ee/fayefanelLena : https://linktr.ee/lenainlive? Vous pouvez nous retrouver sur nos réseaux sociaux :Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/ComicsDiscovery/Twitter : https://twitter.com/comicsdiscoveryInstagram : https://www.instagram.com/comicsdiscovery/TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@jamesetfaye Vous pouvez nous écouter sur :Spotify : https://spoti.fi/2Qb8ffDAusha : https://podcast.ausha.co/comicsdiscoveryiTunes : https://apple.co/2zw9H1QDeezer : https://www.deezer.com/fr/show/55279 Sans oublier le replay en vidéo sur :YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/@ComicsDiscovery/Twitch : https://www.twitch.tv/jamesetfaye Pour nous soutenir :Tipeee: https://fr.tipeee.com/james-et-faye Vous pouvez venir discuter avec nous sur notre serveur discord :Discord : http://discordapp.com/invite/GsBTkDS Et Retrouvez nos autres productions sur notre site :Le site de James & Faye : https://jamesetfaye.fr/

Bryan, Peter, Shane, Kevin and Adam gather to discuss: Colonoscopy Geek Speak, the defunct Warner Bros. Studio Store, Where were you when Superman died?, Golden Eagle memories, G.I.Joe 301, Low by Remender and Tocchini, Killadelphia by Barnes and Alexander, '90s X-Force comics, Happy Days 50th Anniversary trivia, an in-depth review of Ultimate Spider-Man 1 by Hickman and Checchetto, celebrating 25 years of Batman Beyond, Earth X and Batman No Man's Land, raving about Godzilla Minus One, Peter Jackson's King Kong, Zom 100 by Aso and Takata, and a quick post-outro chat with Pants! (2:08:21)

Comentamos las mejores noticias de actualidad del mundo del cómic de la semana: Próxima firma con Idiocracia Próxima firma con Paco Hernández Remender y Bengal se reúnen para Napalm Lullaby Alien se suma a los White, Black and Blood Novedades Astiberri Diciembre 2023 Dos títulos se unen al sello White Noise de Image Vuelve Invencible en su segunda temporada en Prime Video Análisis:Superpowered la Historia de DC en HBO Max Debate sobre el Universo Cinematográfico de Marvel Próximos avances editoriales

Writer Rick Remender joins the podcast to talk about his life, career, and work at his imprint at Image Comics, Giant Generator. Remender discusses New York Comic Con, collaborators, the evolution of cons, what he loves about comics, his art brain, learning from projects, what writing is for him, evolving the work, idea generation, his artist lean, signing an Image exclusive, what Giant Generator is, this creator-owned moment, following the story, why he's leaning into comics right now, and more.

Comic Reviews: DC Batman: City of Madness 1 by Christian Ward Wesley Dodds: Sandman 1 by Robert Venditti, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia Diana and the Hero's Journey GN by Grace Ellis, Penelope Gaylord Marvel Captain Marvel: Assault on Eden 1 by Anthony Oliveira, Eleonora Carlini, Ruth Redmond Capwolf and the Howling Commandos 1 by Stephanie Phillips, Carlos Magno, Espen Grundetjern Superior Spider-Man Returns by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, John Dell, JP Mayer, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado Marvel Unlimited I Am Groot 6 by Chiya Image A Haunted Girl 1 by Ethan Sacks, Naomi Sacks, Marco Lorenzana Destiny Gate 1 by Ryan Cady, Christian Dibari, Simon Gough Nights 1 by Wyatt Kennedy, Luigi Formisano, Francesco Segala Midlife or How To Hero At Fifty 1 by Brian Buccellato, Stefano Simeone IDW Sonic the Hedgehog: Halloween Special by Mark Bouchard, Jack Lawrence, Matt Froese, Gigi Dutreix TMNT: Saturday Morning Adventures: Halloween Special by Erik Burnham, Sarah Myer, Dan Schoening, Luis Delgado Dark Horse Operation Sunshine 1 by Marcus Parks, Henry Zebrowski, David Rubin Space Usagi: Yokai Hunter by Stan Sakai, Emi Fujii Dynamite Army of Darkness: Forever 1 by Tony Fleecs, Justin Greenwood, Brad Simpson Garbage Pail Kids: Trashin' Through Time 1 by Hans Rodionoff, Adam Goldberg, Jeff Zapata, Chris Meeks ComiXology By A Thread 1 by Scott Snyder, Jack Znyder, Valeria Favoccia, Whitney Coga Archie Chilling Adventures Presents: Welcome to Riverdale by Amy Chase, Liana Kangas Scout Cissy 1 by Charles Chester, Alonso Gonzales OGNs Look on the Bright Side by Lily Williams, Karen Schneemann Brooms by Jasmine Walls, Teo DuVall Cereal: Sweet Darkness by Mark Russell, Peter Snejbjerg NYCC Fae and the Moon by Franco, Catherine Satrun, Sarah Satrun Redcoat by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Brad Anderson Additional Reviews: Loki s2e2, Pram by Joe Hill, Lego Jurassic Park, Excavator novella by J.M. DeMatteis, Once Upon A Studio, Mysteries by Bill Watterson and John Kascht News: NYCC, Mags Visaggio details her failed DC pitch, Universal/WB purchase rumors, comic from Snyder/Tieri/Tom Hardy, Daredevil show overhaul, new home for Star Trek Prodigy, Netflix shuts down animation department, Joseph Quinn cast in Quiet Place: Day One, Wagner and Jones creating a series of Dracula OGNs, new Remender series with Bengal, Jody Houser adapts Thrawn novel, Mike Hawthorne goes Image exclusive, Bunn writing Gatchaman for Mad Cave, Wonder Man TV show may be dead, Omninews, Remender signs several artists to exclusives at Image, Alien: Black, White and Blood by Stephanie Phillips, It's Jeff season 3, new Gargoyles series announced by Dynamite, Greg Pak writing Lilo and Stitch, Dynamite WB cartoon licenses, Ennis to be next James Bond comic writer, DC Elseworlds, Ghost Machine, Jeremy Adams writing Flash Gordon for Mad Cave, Superman Superstars, scandal of the year, Jackpot one-shot, Sabretooth War, new vampire war event showrun by Jed MacKay, Infinity Paws, new Hellblazer series, Ultimate line-up, Kate YA novel Remembering Keith Giffen Trailers: Iron Claw Longbox of Horror Part 2: Cage by Azzarello and Corben Comics Countdown (10 Oct 2023): 1.     Fishflies 2 by Jeff Lemire 2.     Batman: City of Madness 1 by Christian Ward 3.     Superman Lost 7 by Christopher Priest, Lee Weeks, Carlo Pagulayan, Jason Paz, Bettie Breitweiser, Jeromy Cox 4.     By A Thread 1 by Scott Snyder, Jack Znyder, Valeria Favoccia, Whitney Coga 5.     Superior Spider-Man Returns by Dan Slott, Christos Gage, Mark Bagley, Ryan Stegman, Humberto Ramos, John Dell, JP Mayer, Victor Olazaba, Edgar Delgado 6.     Cull 3 by Kelly Thompson, Mattia De Iulis 7.     Undiscovered Country 26 by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Matt Wilson 8.     Danger Street 10 by Tom King, Jorge Fornes, Dave Stewart 9.     Brooms GN by Jasmine Walls, Teo DuVall 10.  Midlife (or How to Hero At Fifty) 1 by Brian Buccellato, Stefano Simeone

Season 3 Episode 38-Justin and Zack answer community questions. Justin talks about his experiences at Baltimore ComicCon. Rick Remender on his exclusive comic deal. Hickman's Ultimate Spiderman in 2024. Tony Daniel Edenwood and more. Follow us on IG Email us at THECOMICCOMPODCAST@GMAIL.com

Volvemos con uno de los sospechosos habituales, hablamos de Rick Remender y una obra que casi nos ha acompañado durante toda nuestra trayectoria. Clase Letal nos narrará las desventuras de una escuela dedicada a entrenar a los hijos de asesinos, sicarios y delincuentes, para convertirlos en armas de matar. Unos alumnos, que por otro lado, abrazarán el más puro estilo sexo, drogas y rock n´roll y se desmelarán en un mundo donde cualquiera de sus dias podría ser el último. Además, Remender cuenta con un titán como Wes Craig, cuyo acabado y estilo narrativo, no hace más que incrementar el descontrol de estos jóvenes.

CAPÍTULO #342… Esta semana volvemos a la escuela, pero a una muy diferente y peculiar para hablar de Clase Letal, el trabajo de Rick Remender y Wes Craig sobre un colegio para los hijos de asesinos y sicarios. También nos pondremos al día con toda la actualidad y las últimas noticias del mundo del cómic, además de las próximas novedades y avances editoriales. Y como no podría ser de otra forma, visitamos las estanterías de la librería para reseñaros los mejores lanzamientos, así como el tochazo de Tierra X, el integral de Batman/Catwoman, el cierre de BRZKR, el rescate del Conan de Dark Horse, lo nuevo de Hellboy y muchísimo más. Gracias por estar al otro lado agentes ¡Nos oímos! NOTICIAS [00:06:08 ] Where The Body Was es lo nuevo de Brubaker y Phillips The Sacrificers es lo próximo de Rick Remender Primer avance de Marvel´s Spider-Man 2 Batman y Catwoman se enfrentarán en Gotham City War Marvel rescata la publicación original de Rom Denuncian a un instituto de Mallorca por un cómic Destacados de Norma Editorial para Junio Destacados Panini Junio Próximas Novedades Editoriales NOVEDADES Y RELECTURAS [00:54:30] Tierra-X Alfa Omnibus ¡Para ti, que eras joven! Estela Plateada: Parábola Batman / Catwoman ZVRC Hellboy y los huesos de los gigantes Aldobrando Roncesvalles Hawkmoon Afrikakorps Expediente Warren Hypericon Lady Snowblood BRZRKR Biblioteca Conan. Las crónicas de Conan Alice in Borderland ANÁLISIS: CLASE LETAL [03:33:43] Volvemos con uno de los sospechosos habituales, hablamos de Rick Remender y una obra que casi nos ha acompañado durante toda nuestra trayectoria. Clase Letal nos narrará las desventuras de una escuela dedicada a entrenar a los hijos de asesinos, sicarios y delincuentes, para convertirlos en armas de matar. Unos alumnos, que por otro lado, abrazarán el más puro estilo sexo, drogas y rock n´roll y se desmelarán en un mundo donde cualquiera de sus dias podría ser el último. Además, Remender cuenta con un titán como Wes Craig, cuyo acabado y estilo narrativo, no hace más que incrementar el descontrol de estos jóvenes. CORREO DEL AGENTE [05:33:57] Leemos todos vuestros mensajes dejados en las redes y nuestra sección de la voz de los Agentes de Hydra, ¡Habla pueblo Habla! ¡Muchas gracias por escucharnos y todo vuestro apoyo y participación! 🎤 Nuestro PODCAST ya está en el CANAL SECUNDARIO ¡Inflate a contenido comiquero aquí! https://www.youtube.com/@tomosygrapaspodcast Tomos y grapas es un medio de comunicación transmedia, disfruta de nuestros contenidos también en nuestra web, YouTube y redes sociales. VISITA TAMBIÉN NUESTRA LIBRERÍA En la Calle Alcalá 211 o nuestra TIENDA ONLINE con el mejor servicio y atención 👉👉 tiendatomosygrapas.com

Commander Colson and Riccardo discover a twisted new horror series from the mind of Cullen Bunn, something truly epic from the pen of Szymon Kudranski and the latest addition to the Batman White Knight pantheon.Our 'What Do You Mean You Haven't Read This' is another must read from Rick Remender and Jerome Opena.

Yoshinaga!  Remender!  Miyazaki!  Guillory!  Hill!  Fujimoto (x2)!  AND MORE!

Bentornati sul Friday Comic Book Podcast! In occasione del lancio italiano grazie a saldapress, quest'oggi parliamo della nuova, adrenalinica serie di Rick Remender A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance, illustrata dal portoghese André Lima Araújo. Definito da Remender come un mix tra The Road to Perdition di Max Allan Collins e Léon di Luc Besson, A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance è un titolo che corre costantemente sul filo del rasoio e non lascia spazio ad altro fuorché all'azione. Una crime story dal ritmo serrato, un turbine senza sosta di azione e pallottole che non permette di porsi domande, ma solo di essere risucchiati in questa spirale interminabile di vendetta e sangue. Contatti Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friday_comic_book_podcast/ Tik Tok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRPWgaXQ/

Ashley & Ed are back in action this week to continue our celebration of 30 yrs of Image Comics with a dedicated, and sentimental, discussion about one of our favorite writers of all time: Rick Remender. The video version of this podcast is available on YouTube We're also partnering with the Shortboxed app to give away a Deadly Class #1 CGC 9.8! Click here for contest rules TIMESTAMPS:Rick Remender spotlight start  (00:13:07)Discussion: Image Comics 2012 Renaissance (00:25:32)Roundtable: What are Remender's best comics (00:31:29)The story behind this week's episode art (00:54:51)Champion picks of the week (01:07:30)SUPPORT THE SHOW: Buy merch from our store, and use the discount code "YOO" to save 10% (Shop here)Join our Patreon Community to pick the topic for future episodes and get access to bonus shows (Join here)RELATED LINKS:Write in and email us at theshortboxjax@gmail.com Subscribe to our YouTube channelJoin our next live show on WhatNotMusic by: DJ Crumbz, & Mecca Tha Marvelous Episode artwork by: Ashley Follow The Short Box, and Badr, Cesar,  & Ed, on IGSupport the show

As voted by YOU over on our Patreon page, for June's Book Club we read Rick Remender's Uncanny Avengers! In this post Avengers vs X-Men story,  the two factions reluctantly agree to join forces in order to show the world that humans and mutants can co-exist. But what are the consequences if they can't? Find out in our conversation about one of Remender's best Marvel works! Subscribe to our channel:  youtube.com/thecomicspals?sub_confirm... Watch us LIVE on Twitch every: Thursday at 6 PM EST for Pals Pulls Saturday at 10:15 AM EST for The Comics Pals Support us on Patreon at patreon.com/thecomicspals Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/6RAX3sT The Comics Pals is a weekly comic book podcast where a group of comic book journalists and friends get together to talk comics. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PodBean: https://thecomicspals.podbean.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecomicspals  Instagram: https://instagram.com/thecomicspals  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/6RAX3sT ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Pals: Sean: https://twitter.com/SeansSoapbox Tyler: https://twitter.com/TheTylerOlson Cale: https://twitter.com/Totointow Marco: https://twitter.com/mrmarcoanimoto

The Other Side Sexcastle The Me You Love in the Dark Seven to Eternity Monstress Strange Adventures - SPOILERS A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance Snow Angels Night Hunters Kick Ass: The New Girl Vol 2 Strangehaven Flashback: Fables Vol 1

Bentornati sul Friday Comic Book Podcast! Dopo tanto tempo torno a parlare di Rick Remender analizzando per intero la sua run (controversa) su Captain America. Frutto del Marvel Now, il Captain America di Remender si distacca subito rispetto alle precedenti pubblicazioni, virando verso un atipico contesto fantascientifico. Puntando più sull'uomo che impugna lo scudo piuttosto che sul simbolo, questi venticinque numeri decostruiscono la figura di Cap in un'analisi graduale con cui arrivare all'essenza di Steve Rogers e dello stesso Captain America. Contatti Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friday_comic_book_podcast/ Tik Tok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMRPWgaXQ/

CAPÍTULO #295… Llamad a ariel y a Poseidón para que escuchen esta historia sumergida en un tiempo futuro, Low de Rick Remender, serie indie que hoy toca analizar y que supondría uno de los trabajos de Remender que impulsaría la nueva Image que ahora todos conocemos. Además, esta semana hablamos de Moztros que nos empieza a traer las primeras cosas que anunciaron y las próximas novedades de Panini. Y como no puede faltar, nuestro paseo por las estanterías de novedades con cómics como Los Malditos, Caballero Luna, Hellblazer o La muerte de la familia. Gracias por estar al otro lado agentes. ¡Nos oímos! NOTICIAS [00:07:42] Por fin aterriza Moztros en España DC anuncia la Crisis Oscura Novedades de Panini Cómics para MArzo 2022 NOVEDADES Y RELECTURAS [00:39:09] Las guerras Asgardianas Must Have La muerte de la familia Opus La mujer del espía Batman Serenata Nocturna Marvel Saga: Caballero Luna Kent State Clapas Los Malditos El Asombroso Spiderman: Beyond Veneno Wonder Woman: Frontera Infinita Kids with Guns Hellblazer Pecados Originales La Imposible Patrulla-X: La caída de los Mutantes Sazan y la Chica del Cometa ANÁLISIS: LOW [02:50:25] Fue una se las series con las que Rick Remender aterrizaría en Image junto a series como Ciencia Oscura, Clase Letal o Tokyo Ghost. En Low se desarrollaría una historia cyberpunk donde los que queda de la raza humana se refugia del sol en el fondo marino. Una madre coraje con la esperanza y el optimismo como bandera, sería quién tira del carro de esta historia y su familia. Ahora que ha pasado un tiempo, pondremos en contraste esta serie de ciencia ficción pura que el autor nos ha estado dando estos últimos años. CORREO DEL AGENTE [04:13:12] Leemos todos vuestros mensajes dejados en las redes y nuestra sección de la voz de los Agentes de Hydra, ¡Habla pueblo Habla! ¡Muchas gracias por escucharnos y todo vuestro apoyo y participación! Tomos y grapas es un medio de comunicación transmedia, disfruta de nuestros contenidos también en nuestra web, YouTube y redes sociales. VISITA TAMBIÉN NUESTRA LIBRERÍA En la Calle Alcalá 211 o nuestra TIENDA ONLINE con el mejor servicio y atención 👉👉 tiendatomosygrapas.com

E aí, jagunçada! Está no ar o derradeiro Pilha de Gibis de novembro e já estamos entrando oficialmente no último mês do ano. Mas antes de você se empanturrar com a ceia de fim de ano, […]

Remender grinds another of his protagonists down, but in some interesting and beautifully-rendered ways.

Tokyo Ghost vol. 1 Story: Rick Remender Art: Sean Gordon Murphy Publisher: Image Comics Publication Date: March 6, 2016 Welcome to a dark and bizarre future, where everyone is addicted to technology and fresh digital content is beamed directly into your dome every second of every day!  The Comic Dwarves are down two men, but Sean, Michael, and Jon are bringing you the latest and greatest -- that's right, we're talking about Remender and Murphy's Tokyo Ghost!  The fellas duke it out on whether this grizzled, murky work is worthy of our new readers' attention.  How much does Sean love Murphy's artwork?  What kind of things do they have in Tokyo?  And who escalates the Haunted House War?  Find out in the latest episode of Comic Dwarves! Hosted by Michael Brown, Jon Butler, Sean Corbin. Music by Polynova. Sound Effects by Aaron Corbin. Produced by Tom Bevis and Sean Corbin.

October solicits Comic Reviews: Blue and Gold 1 by Dan Jurgens, Ryan Sook Shazam 1 by Tim Sheridan, Clayton Henry, Marcelo Maiolo Superman and the Authority 1 by Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin, Jordie Bellaire Superman: Red and Blue 5 by Judd Winick, Ibrahim Moustafa, G. Willow Wilson, Valentine De Landro, Joshua Williamson, Chris Sprouse, Karl Story, Hi-Fi, Mark Buckingham, Lee Loughridge, Daniel Warren Johnson Extreme Carnage: Phage by Steve Orlando, Gerardo Sandoval, Victor Nava, Chris Sotomayor Moon Knight 1 by Jed MacKay, Alessandro Cappuccio, Rachelle Rosenberg Thor Annual by Aaron Kuder, Cam Smith, Chris O'Halloran Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters: Jabba the Hutt 1 by Justina Ireland, Ibraim Roberson, Luca Pizzari, Edgar Delgado, Giada Marchisio M.O.M.: Mother of Madness 1 by Emilia Clarke, Marguerite Bennett, Leila Leiz Syphon 1 by Mohsen Ashraf, Patrick Meaney, Jeff Edwards, John Kalisz Mawrth Valliis by EPHK Bermuda 1 by John Layman, Nick Bradshaw, Len O'Grady Dejah Thoris vs. John Carter of Mars 1 by Dan Abnett, Alessandro Miracolo, Dearbhla Kelly Tales From Harrow County: The Fair Folk 1 by Cullen Bunn, Emily Schnall, Tyler Crook Dark Blood 1 by Latoya Morgan, Walt Barna, A.H.G. Everyone is Tulip by Nicole Goux, Dave Baker, Ellie Hall One Line by Ray Fawkes 99 Cent Night Jackal by Heath Michaels, Philip Renne, Falk Hansel Additional Reviews: Batman the Adventures Continue vol 1, The Empty Man, Washington Black, Masters of the Universe, Fargo s4, Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans, Schmigadoon, Sexy Beasts, Owl House ep7, Fear Street 1666, How the Best Hunter in the Village Met Her Death by Molly Knox Ostertag News: Millar's new comic King of Spies, Batgirl casting, Larime Taylor TV series in development, Blade director, Anansi Boys adaptation, All-Nighters comixology series from Zdarsky, Michaela Coel cast in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina returns, Michael B. Jordan black Superman project, All-Nighters, Remender is a naughty boy, Eisners, Amphibia season 3 release date, Ms. Marvel and Hawkeye confirmed for 2021, odd Legends news, Snyder signs massive deal with Comixology/Dark Horse, Astro City returns to Image Trailers: Malignant, Nope, Doctor Who series 13, Dexter: New Blood Ray Asks A Question Comics Countdown:  Many Deaths of Laila Starr 4 by Ram V, Filipe Andrade Black Hammer Reborn 2 by Jeff Lemire, Caitlin Yarsky, Dave Stewart Superman and the Authority 1 by Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin, Jordie Bellaire Ascender 17 by Jeff Lemire, Dustin Nguyen Usagi Yojimbo 21 by Stan Sakai Undiscovered Country 14 by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Matt Wilson Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow 2 by Tom King, Bilquis Evely, Mat Lopes Snow Angels Season Two 2 by Jeff Lemire, Jock Tales From Harrow County: Fair Folk 1 by Cullen Bunn, Emily Schnall, Tyler Crook Radiant Black 6 by Kyle Higgins, Cherish Chen, Darko Lafuente, Miquel Muerto, Becca Carey

Benvenuto sul Friday Comic Book Podcast! In questa puntata facciamo un salto indietro fino al 2015 per parlare di Avengers: Rage of Ultron. Con questa Original Graphic Novel Rick Remender torna a collaborare con l'amico Jerome Opeña per indagare sul rapporto tra Hank Pym, Ultron e Visione. Un titolo fortemente legato alla produzione Marvel di Remender, dove le dinamiche familiari e i quesiti sulla natura delle Intelligenze Atificiali si fondono, portando a compimento un discorso iniziato già sulle pagine di Secret Avengers.

Our next back issue is on the table and under the microscope! We have Death or Glory by Rick Remender and Bengal which has a prestige hardcover coming out late May 2021! We look at the Remender’s way of creating characters and storylines along with the astonishing art and difference and importance of colors!    Ihttps://imagecomics.com/comics/series/death-or-glory

This week on Talking Back we're getting on the Deadly Class train again and digging into Volume 6!! It's another fantastic volume full of the things we love about Deadly Class.  Join us as some new storylines cross, we learn an interesting character backstory, we take another classic road trip, and find ourselves once again getting Remender'd! You won't want to miss this one! Click Here to sign up to receive the Talking Back free monthly e-newsletter where we share our monthly wrap up, some favourite moments, recommendations, behind the scenes and more!  Feel free to reach out to us on Social Media at Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook This podcast is part of the BFOP Network 

On this week's Stack podcast: Alien #1 Marvel Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art by Salvador Larroca Harley Quinn #1 DC Comics Written by Stephanie Phillips Art by Riley Rossmo Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Josh Lee Gordon Art by Fabiana Mascolo Teen Titans Academy #1 DC Comics Written by Tim Sheridan Art by Rafa Sandoval Once & Future #17 BOOM! Studios Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora Action Comics #1029 DC Comics Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad Art by Phil Hester, Michael Avon Oeming HAHA #3 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art and Cover by Roger Langridge Batman/Superman #16 DC Comics Written by Gene Luen Yang Art by Ivan Reis Crimson Flower #3 Dark Horse Comics Written by Matt Kindt Art by Matt Lesniewski Detective Comics #1034 DC Comics Written by Mariko Tamaki, Joshua Williamson Art by Dan Mora, Gleb Melnikov The Scumbag #6 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Bengal Barbalien: Red Planet #5 Dark Horse Comics Script by Tate Brombal Story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta Stray Dogs #2 Image Comics Written by Tony Fleecs Art by Trish Forstner Post Americana #4 Image Comics Story and Art by Steve Skroce SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Episode Transcript Alex:                 What is up, y'all? Welcome to The Stack. I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. Alex:                 On The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that have come out this week, kicking it off with a very scary book called Alien #1 from Marvel, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, art by Salvador Larroca. This is a big deal because this is the first of the Fox properties that is coming to Marvel. We have Predator coming down the pike. Alien is here now, and we had Phillip Kennedy Johnson on the live show talking about this book a couple of months back now when he first got on it. So he teased that, if you want to go and listen to it, but all of the teasing aside, what'd you think of this one? Justin:              I thought this was great. Really captures the vibe of the Alien movies while being a compelling new story where you really feel alongside the characters. Mistakes are made. Classic Alien thing where somebody really fucks up with these things. You don't get a lot of mistakes with the alien people. Alex:                 The thing that I thought was really fascinating about this as a fan of the Alien franchise, and to get into spoilers for the book a little bit … It's about a military guy. He ended up getting captured by aliens, escaped. We don't know exactly how yet, but this is years later. He's retiring, trying to reconnect with his son. Definitely a theme Phillip Kennedy Johnson is playing with with his books right now with fathers and sons and connecting through this and through Superman. Alex:                 So that's interesting, I think, just from a reading perspective, but here, the son is a civilian, and for fans of the Alien movies, it's such a big deal when they go to Earth in this book. When they go to Earth, you see very little of it, but you see people on Earth. You see what's going on with society. You see civilians involved, and just from that fan perspective, I kind of geeked out about that beyond the fact that it seems like they're doing really interesting, weird stuff with the mythology in this comic book. Salvador Larroca's aliens in particular are terrifying. The pacing of it is alarming and upsetting in the right way. I really dug this book a lot as well. Pete, what did you think? Pete:                Yeah. I agree with you. I thought the aliens looks amazing. There's a lot of great kind of splash page shots that are really powerful. The Bishop. I'm always creeped out by Bishop, and so it was creepy to see Bishop back. Yeah, and it was a very interesting story that we got to kind of see the son's side of why he doesn't care about what his father's been doing, and then we know the father's side. So it was very interesting perspective, and I think that's a cool way to, as Justin said, to put kind of a fresh spin on something that we've seen a lot of. So yeah. I thought this, as far as the first issue is concerned, does a great job of giving you something that you know and love with a little bit of newness to it. So I think well done. Justin:              What I think they capture well here is the sins of the corporation in Alien are always what keeps making people act poorly, and that's what gets everyone in trouble. In this, it's all about human mistakes, and it's just the aliens are there as the force of nature that makes them pay for their mistakes, and it's just really great. Alex:                 Absolutely. Really bowled over by this book. Next up, Harley Quinn #1 from DC Comics, written by Stephanie Phillips, art by Riley Rossmo. This is a great team for this book, Riley Rossmo in particular on a Harley Quinn book. So much fun. Really like the tone here. Very different from the past couple of runs of Harley Quinn. I thought this was very enjoyable. What was your guys' take? Pete:                Yeah. I agree. I thought the art was amazing. Really great story as far as the first issue goes. Does such a great job of grabbing the reader and getting kind of this take on Harley, and I think it's a nice take. I'm a huge fan of the animated series, but I don't want every comic to be like that. So this is, I feel like, a different enough take where it still feels like Harley Quinn, and I love the art and the storytelling. I think this is a fantastic first issue. Justin:              Yeah. I think what this book … I mean, the art is so cool. It's fun how Batman is such a presence in it, and it's a little bit more of a Batman that is likable and sort of like just “Look. I'm just trying to keep an eye on you, Harley. So don't screw around.” Pete:                He's like a dad. Batman's like a dad of Gotham. Justin:              Yeah. Uncle Batman, and I really like this Harley because it's not like it's a huge change where she's like “I'm good now.” It's the same character who's just like “I'm trying this out. I don't know. Let's just see,” and she's sort of having fun with it, and I feel like that preserves the original spirit of the character. We talked about this on the live show this week about how Harley Quinn spun out of Batman: The Animated Series and how wild it is that a character like that can just explode and have so many iterations in all these different mediums, and now to see her back here sort of having that spirit of the original while also being the new character is great. Alex:                 Totally agree. Next up, Firefly Brand New Verse #1 from BOOM! Studios, written by Josh Lee Gordon, art by Fabiana Mascolo. We've had effusive praise for Greg Pak's run on the main title. This is a different artist, a different team, and it's jumping forward, I believe, 25 years in time to showing us the descendants of the original Serenity crew, what's going on with them now. So what'd you think about this? Does this hold up to the high quality of the other Firefly books? Justin:              Well, I think, what I like about it is that they're taking a lot of swings. They keep moving with the Firefly story, just like “Hey. Let's tell the most interesting story no matter what the continuity really is. Let's just keep moving,” and for them to move from the past to the present into the future, or I guess, not in that order, but it's great to see, like “Oh, yeah. I'm so curious about this. What's going to happen where? What are these characters like?” They feel spiritually like the old Serenity crew, but they're all new people. Alex:                 Pete? Justin:              It's like meeting your friends' friends, and they're nice. Pete:                Yeah. I thought- Alex:                 Pete, I know you're probably put off by the fact that Greg Pak wasn't on this, who you love, but go ahead. Pete:                Yeah. I was kind of like “Wait a second. What's going on here?” The Pak was killing this, but yeah. I like the way it kind of starts. I think it's a great kind of story, a good take, but it's one of those things where it's like when you have a to-do list and you just sleep instead of doing what you're supposed to be doing, you're putting everybody on the ship in jeopardy. That was just kind of crazy, but yeah. I enjoyed it. I thought the art was good. I thought it was fun. Justin:              So you're bothered by the chores, that no one's doing their chores. Pete:                Well, I'm just bothered by how casually they woke up, and they were like “Hey. Did you fix the engine?” and they were like “Well, I thought you were going to fix the engine.” Then it's like … We're on a spaceship. You can't just be that casual. Justin:              What's the chore wheel like in your household? Pete:                It's a lot of chores, man. All right? It's a lot. Justin:              What happens if you don't do it? How does it break out? Did you get your chores done today, for instance? Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. Just barely. Just barely. Alex:                 Oh, boy. Justin:              Stakes high. Alex:                 Teen Titans Academy #1 from DC Comics, written by Tim Sheridan, art by Rafa Sandoval. This is exactly what it sounds like. The Titans are opening up a school in Titans Tower. Meanwhile, the Teen Titans are off doing Teen Titan stuff, and these are the Teeny Titans who are signing up. Maybe some day they're going to be Teen Titans or Titans. I said all of those words quite a bit. What'd you think about this book? Justin:              Great enunciation from Alex. Hit all of his consonants really well, and that was borderline tongue twister. Pete:                Yeah. I thought this was a fun story. I ship Nightfire. So I feel I'm happy that they're still out doing- Alex:                 Just trying to slip that in there, Pete. Justin:              Dropping that knowledge. Pete:                I feel like it was a little busy, but they have so many people on Teen Titans. I kind of feel like that's going to happen, but overall, I thought it was a really solid first issue. Justin:              I'll tell you what, Pete. I ship Nightfire, especially in this issue. I would normally definitely be a Batwing or Nightgirl, Nightacle. Is that the right- Pete:                [crosstalk 00:08:57]. Alex:                 Nightacle. Justin:              Nightgirl is not the right answer, I don't think. Alex:                 Nightacle? Justin:              Oraclewing? Alex:                 Orwing. Orwing. Justin:              Orawing. Alex:                 Batdick. Justin:              Good. But I agree. I feel like there have been a lot of books like this. Marvel does this a lot where they're like “Let's take our magic characters and make a school about them. Let's have all these young mutants be in this school,” and often it feels like the stories feel very next door to the main storyline, and this feels like a Titans books, and it's just now there's these gradations between all the different Titans. There's the Titans, the Tiny Titans, and the Teeny Titans, and there's the tall Titans, the tiptop Titans. Alex:                 What did you think- Pete:                Guys, stop. Alex:                 What did you think about them having to be called Mr. Nightwing? That was pretty weird, right? Justin:              What I liked about it was it felt like kids who hadn't made a plan about “Oh, what should we call ourselves?” and then someone was like “Oh, you're Mr. Nightwing,” and they're like “Okay,” and then they have to go with it. Alex:                 What's your first name, Mr. Nightwing? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Uh, Dave? Alex:                 Oh, god. I'm Dave Nightwing. Yeah. This is okay. I'm usually a sucker for these books. I thought this was all right. I liked Rafa Sandoval's art, just good superhero art across the board. Always very appropriate for Titans. I don't really know anything about the Red X, which is the big mystery here. So felt like a bit of a deep dive for anybody who is outside that continuity, but I like some of the characters. I'm definitely going to tune back for issue two and see what happens. I don't know what I'm talking about. Justin:              Another binge read. Alex:                 Once & Future #17 from BOOM! Studios, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Dan Mora. Pete, I was a little worried about you this issue, because not as much grandma as there usually is- Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 … but still- Pete:                Yeah, but you still- Alex:                 … there's a dragon. There's a lot of action. Pete:                But you also got smoking grandma. Grandma's smoking in this. So that's- Alex:                 Smoking hot is what you're saying, right? Pete:                No. That's not what I'm saying. Alex:                 Okay. Pete:                But yeah. I like this- Alex:                 I ship Petema. Justin:              Petema. Pete Smokingma. Smoking Petema. Pete:                A lot happens in this issue. We kind of get all the pieces on the board. It was great to kind of finally see plans collides and everybody else kind of come together, kind of revealing what's going to happen moving forward. This is just non-stop glorious. Every issue is unbelievably drawn. The stories are fun. The characters are great. The art's unbelievable. I don't know why you aren't reading this book. Justin:              I am, because we all read. We read a lot of comics, and I like this book, but I will say I think I need a little gear shift. I feel like we've been in this- Pete:                What? Justin:              I feel like we've been in- Pete:                I'm not going to stand here and let you … This is an unbelievable comic. Okay? End of story. You can't put in your bullshit. This comic is fantastic. Justin:              I- Alex:                 Well, hold on, Pete. Just to jump in, Justin, I hear what you're saying. I actually think they got there with this issue, because I've been feeling that as well. It's a lot of the grandma wandering around and being like “You don't know what's going on with these stories. There's a lot of stories,” and the son being like “Stories? Come on,” and then everybody's kind of wandering around and yelling at each other about magic stuff and stories, but this issue, what we got … It really feels like it's heading towards the endgame here. We finally know they're looking for the Holy Grail. The bad guys wanted to essentially wipe everything clean and destroy the world. The good guys, of course, want to stop them. They get a dragon, and we get this very propulsive ending of them on a dragon chasing after … I'm honestly forgetting whether it's Gawaine or Galahad who has been turned into a centaur, and I think that's part of the issue you're getting at, where it's a lot of these names being thrown out there, but I like this ending, and I'm very excited for the next issue off of this. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I like where it's going, and honestly, the stuff with Rose felt like the most interesting. She feels like she's operating sort of on her own, but it's just like you're saying. It feels like grandma and her son, #PeteMissesGrandma, #SmokingHotGrandma … It feels like they really are just like “Oh, here we go again. This story's crazy, but we have to keep doing it,” and so I'm just ready, and the Merlin stuff was interesting. I liked that, but even he's a little like “I've already got this all figured out.” So I think I just need a little refreshment with that. Pete:                Unbelievable. You're unbelievable. Alex:                 Well, let's move on then and talk about Action Comics #1,029 from DC Comics, written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Becky Cloonan, and Michael W. Conrad, art by Phil Hester and Michael Avon Oeming. In the front story, we're getting a tale of Superman and his son, as we talked about a little bit earlier. In the back story, we're finding out what's going on with Midnighter after Future State. This directly picks up on that in a very surprising way. What'd you think about this one? Pete:                I thought this was a very touching story. Love the kind of like Superman taking about being a human and this whole father-son back and forth stuff. It's really speaking to me. I very much enjoyed this. The Midnighter story is freaking me out. Justin:              It's different Midnighter. Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. I love how stylized the art is. I think it's a cool take on Midnighter, but I'm nervous to see how this is all going to unfold, and I don't like the fact that they're not talking to each other. You know what I mean? You're supposed to be able to talk to your partner. Justin:              Are you talking about him and the computer in his brain? Pete:                No. Him and Apollo. Justin:              Yeah. What I will say is it is a very different take on Midnighter, but it feels like Apollo is still the one who's knocking on the door at the end. Pete:                Still the one. Justin:              That's what I'm saying. So that must give you some reassurance, and the front story, I thought, was great, really keying in on this idea of fathers and sons, and sons losing fathers, and fathers realizing that the sons are realizing that they're eventually going to lose their father. It's just great idea and echo storytelling, and then the last couple pages, setting up the sort of creepy Warworld Rising stuff, I'm into. Alex:                 I'm into it too, and I like how they are tying in the DC Future State stuff. Now, the other thing … This is news that I believe leaked early this week before they were going to let it out, but it seems clear now in retrospect how they're setting this up with Superman potentially being taken off the board so that John Kent is going to move into the Superman role. We got this Midnighter backup which seems like it should be unrelated to a Superman thing, but it turns out that DC is going to be launching some sort of a Superman and The Authority series by Grant Morrison with art by Mikel Janin- Pete:                What? Alex:                 … which this seems to be setting up directly, in my mind. We don't know much more about it other than that, but that certainly seems to be where they're going, and that is very cool. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, Grant Morrison back in the game? Not sort of existing on the periphery being like “Hey. Did you think I could make this Green Lantern book weirder?” and then he does. That'll be interesting. Alex:                 Yeah. That's great. It's also great to see Michael Avon Oeming on a regular book as well. I really like his stuff on Midnighter, and that's a lot of fun. Let's move on, talk about Haha #3 from Image Comics. Justin:              Haha. Pete:                Oh, here we go. Justin:              Hoo-ah. Alex:                 Hoo-ah #3, following the adventures of Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman land. It's been a great ride. I can't believe we've gotten here. The continuity has been very dense, but really getting that back story of how did he find the scent of a woman? How did he come up with hoo-ah? It's been a wonderful ride, and [crosstalk 00:17:04]. Justin:              How did he come up with hoo-ah? Alex:                 It is written by W. Maxwell Prince, art and cover by Roger Langridge. I love this team. I was so excited about this. This is a anthology book where W. Maxwell Prince is taking his regular creepiness from Ice Cream Man and applying it specifically to different types of clowns. This issue, we get a mime issue, a mime who is friends with a robot. Justin:              Love a mime. Pete:                The worst. Alex:                 Roger Langridge, one of my absolute favorite creators. He did Thor: The Mighty Avenger. He did Snarked is the book that he did that was all a riff on Lewis Carroll stuff. That is awesome. He did an amazing Muppets book, if you never checked it out. It's definitely much more surreal and fantasy based than the previous two issues that were very realistic and dark takes, but man, I love this book. It was so good. Maybe my favorite of the week. What did you guys think? Justin:              Favorite of the week? Pete:                I hated it. Justin:              You hated it? Pete:                Yeah. I don't like mimes. I think they're creepy, and this proves my point. Justin:              Wait. Rank sort of the clowns, the different genres of clown, in sort of least scary to scariest. Pete:                Well, first off, I think … No offense to Alex's wife, but I think that [crosstalk 00:18:21]- Alex:                 But I hate your wife. Pete:                Yeah. I think- Alex:                 No offense to your wife. I hate your wife. Pete:                No. Your wife is an unbelievable person. I don't know how she puts up with you. Justin:              Wait. You're considering wife a different genre of clown? Pete:                No. I just don't want to speak poorly of clowns, and Alex's wife was an amazing clown. That's a separate category. I want to try and make that clear. Alex:                 Just to be clear before you get to into it, Pete, of course we're going to break this into the four types of the clown, the Whiteface, the Tramp, the Auguste, and the character. So go ahead. Pete:                I don't know what- Justin:              Dropping clown husband knowledge. Pete:                I don't know what was just said- Justin:              Auguste. Pete:                … but- Alex:                 The Auguste. Pete:                … to answer your question, Justin, clowns do freak me out. I think, sometimes you can see the sadness in their eyes, and that can be very painful, and then mimes- Justin:              So give me the power rankings. So you got your mimes. You got your- Pete:                Yeah. The mimes are the creepiest of them all. Justin:              Really? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Why is that? Because they're not talking? Pete:                Yes. I don't trust people who don't talk, and I also … Well, and you have some- Justin:              Too skinny. Pete:                But also, they're- Alex:                 Wait. Sorry. Is it that they wear stripes so they look like they just got out of prison? Pete:                No. No. That makes them look French, but I think that- Alex:                 All French people just got out of prison. Go ahead. Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Oh, that's an awful thing to say. Yeah. I don't trust mimes, and clowns can be scary is my long-winded point that you kind of dragged out. Alex:                 Justin, what about you? What did you think about this issue? Justin:              It was great. It's very fun. it's like- Pete:                Wait. It's fun? That was fun? Justin:              This whole issue is very fun. I would love to see this- Pete:                People died. I don't know what … What do you mean? What's fun? Justin:              Hey. I got news for you. People die all the time. Pete:                Oh, don't be that guy. Justin:              But not robots. Think about that. I'd like to see the script of this comic to see the process, really, how they put this together, because the visuals are so good. They do so much of the storytelling, and it's just a fun, nearly silent issue where we touch on, I don't even know, just how the world sucks, finding moments whenever you can despite the weird circumstances of developing an act and becoming friends with a robot, how the dancing frog can live, can truly live if you do it right, and it's- Pete:                The poor WB frog. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Great book. Definitely pick that up. Next up, another one of my favorites of the week, Batman/Superman #16 from DC Comics, written by Gene Luen Yang, art by Ivan Reis. In this book, we're getting two tales told simultaneously of Golden Age, I think, I would say, Superman and Batman through film … not strips, but old-timey film reels. On the top, you got Superman. On the bottom, you got Batman. Like they say at the beginning, you can read them separately. I kind of recommend reading them together, because, spoiler, they actually start to tie together at the end there. This is a very cool, really fun issue that I enjoyed quite a bit. Justin:              Yeah. This issue, I feel like, really just stands alone. I mean, I know it is tying into a larger story, but it really is just a super innovative way of telling these two stories, and you sort of think one thing, and then there are some reveals later on that you're like “Oh, huh. Okay,” and like Alex said, things sort of come together in the end. Just a really innovative issue, I thought. Pete:                I'm glad you guys liked it. Alex:                 Pete, you're so negative this week. Pete:                Not really. Alex:                 Okay. Well, let's move on then to Crimson Flower #3 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Matt Kindt, art by Matt Lesniewski. Pete, lots of people die. There's a lot of blood in this one as our main character hones in on her target. What'd you think about this? Pete:                I very much enjoyed this. I thought this was a really great villain reveal. We thought it was kind of like one villain, and then kind of through the villain monologue, you got to see kind of how dark and twisted this villain actually was. So yeah. I really liked it. I like these scarf powers, and I think the art's creepy and twisted in all the right ways. It's a very interesting, cool book, and again, it's like there's not a lot of … There isn't too much dialogue. So it's not a heavy read. I very much enjoyed this. Justin:              Yeah. I like this a lot. The art is really cool. I wish we had talked to Matt Kindt about this book. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 We messed up. Justin:              Yeah. We messed up, because we had him on the live show recently, and this would have been a good one, because I think maybe we had just read the previous issue, which I think we all enjoyed. Yeah. It's hard to pin this story down. It's a really unique story. it's a revenge tale, and the art really just really showcases the storytelling that's happening here in a way that is really surprising. Alex:                 This is probably the wrong thing, but the art almost feels like a medieval tapestry come to life in a certain way in terms of how- Pete:                Oh, interesting. Alex:                 … it's laid out and the way that they have these stories inside of stories inside of stories. Very fascinating book. I highly recommend picking it up. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Next up, Detective Comics #1,034 from DC Comics, written by Mariko Tamaki and Joshua Williamson, art by Dan Mora and Gleb Melnikov. This is telling a story of a kind of poor but still doing okay for himself Bruce Wayne. What'd you think about this one? Pete:                I- Alex:                 I mean, he's doing fine. They're making a big deal about “I don't have my money. I only have 18 Batcaves and this really nice apartment in a good part of Gotham. That's it. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Yeah, and he's like “It's crazy. I have neighbors now,”- Pete:                Yeah. It's- Justin:              … and it's like “Yeah. I know. We all have neighbors, asshole.” Pete:                Yeah. It's weird to see Batman kind of dealing with people, but I do really love the art. I really loved the moment where the bad guy sees Batman and is like “Crap.” That was just fun. Yeah. I think it's an interesting story. I really like the backup as well. I feel like it's a great package. Justin:              It's a great package. Pete:                You love a good package. Justin:              Yeah. I like this a lot too, and oddly we've talked a lot about Batman: The Animated Series, but this feels like Batman is warming up a little bit and becoming more like that Bruce Wayne from Batman: The Animated Series, where he has to talk to people and he has to be like a normal person sometimes, and maybe that's what it's like when you lose money and come back down to Earth and get with the people. Bruce Wayne, get with the people. Meet your neighbors. Alex:                 Oh, I thought you were going to say something else after that. You said “Meet your neighbors.” You went up, and then- Pete:                Yeah. Yeah. I thought- Justin:              Meet your neighbors. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:25:49]. Justin:              That's what I'm saying. Do it. Go do it. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:25:50]. Alex:                 Oh, that was it. Okay. It was a punctuation point. Justin:              Meet your neighbors. Alex:                 Yeah. Good story. Let's move on, talk about The- Justin:              Alex, go meet your neighbors. Alex:                 I would love to, but coronavirus. The Scumbag #6 from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender, art by Bengal, dealing with the last arc. Here, we got our main Scumbag is now a super celebrity. He has blown the lid on all the things he's done to save the Earth while having a big party in his new mansion, and then new threats come his way. What'd you think, Pete? Pete:                Yeah. I feel like this is Remender having a lot of fun, a lot of cool metal references going on here, which was fun. Yeah. I mean, talking crack pipe. I mean, who doesn't love that? But yeah. It was just tough because I felt like we had gotten somewhere with Scumbag as a character. It seems he regressed a little bit. I felt like he kind of did some things where he was doing things for the better of him, himself, and the team and moving towards being a hero, but now with this, it's kind of like he went backwards a little bit. So that part's a little frustrating, but a lot of really fun art, crazy, over the top, just stupid stuff. Justin:              But what I like about this is Remender knows to bring this character back to sort of what he is, and yes, there's a hero in him, but we don't want him to be the hero yet. He has to continue to be the hard partying Scumbag, and that's what he is as he's thrown into a different superhero situation, which I'm excited to see how that plays out. Alex:                 Next up, I know this is one of Pete's favorite Barbalien, Red Planet #5 from Dark Horse comics, script by Tate Brombal, story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal. I cannot say that last name. I'm so sorry. Art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta. This is about the Martian Manhunter-esque part of the Black Hammer universe. He is gay. He is dealing with that. He is also dealing with being trapped on his own planet at some point. Pete, talk about this book. Why did this one strike you in particular? Pete:                Well, it's a very powerful book. I mean, you got people fighting for their rights, what they believe in. There's a lot of great protest moments. There's very powerful page with blood spilled on it. They're saying a lot of great stuff in this book. They're talking about the collective. They're talking about us as humans trying to grow and fight for things. It's very, very powerful, very cool. Love the imagery and the art, and it's just really well done. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I agree. I feel like we've been talking up the Black Hammer sort of side universe so much lately, and it really is just like this great, creative explosion that's happening over in the Dark Horse universe, and this story … We've been talking a lot about the sort of episodic series, and this is just a great standalone story that has blown out that really takes you along for a great ride. Alex:                 Really good book. Definitely agree. Next up, one of the darkest books of the week, Stray Dogs #2 from Image Comics, written by Tony Fleecs, art by Trish Forstner. So we reviewed, really liked, I think, the first issue of this book, which took a bunch of dogs, brought them together, and it turns out that maybe their owner is murdering women and stealing the dogs. We get deeper into that mystery this issue. I think you kind of called this out last issue, Justin, but it very much feels like Law & Order Don Bluth or something like that, and it's kind of upsetting to read, in a certain way. Justin:              It is upsetting, because these dogs are witness to this killer who is continuing to kill. I mean, we don't know that for sure yet, I guess, but the way it's like all these dogs, definitely drawn in the style of the Don Bluth Disney, very cute, lovable dogs that are just like “We're in a dog story about dogs just trying to get by and then fall in love and then eventually go home and have Lady and Tramp children,” but instead it's like this super dark … The dogs are witnessing and realizing that their current owner is a killer. It's so dark, and I was so surprised by this, and it's great. Pete:                Yeah. It's very interesting, kind of this thing of what if the person who is raising you, taking care of you, feeding you, all these things, is a horrible, horrible person? It's like, what do you go on? Do you go on the fact that “Oh, but they provide for me, and they're nice, and they take me out,” and all these things, and then “Oh, but I don't see the murders”? It's very interesting perspective. It's very messed up and done in this adorable art that makes it even darker, but it's this tale that hopefully these dogs can hopefully get to the bottom of and make a difference, but man, it's a crazy start, for sure. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I say this a lot. I hope these dogs can solve that human murder. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Last but not least, Post Americano #4 from Image Comics, story and art by Steve Skroce. In this issue, our heroes, I guess, have been captured. One of them has reconnected with their mom, and entering the fray is what looks like a superhero and a werewolf. I love this book so much more than I think I would every single time out of the gate, because it's just so weird and funny and violent in exactly the right way, and I keep going into it thinking “This will be the issue. This will be the one that turns me. This is when they'll go too far,” and they never do. It just skirts that line perfectly. Justin:              Well, and I think this issue does a great job of having this heartfelt reunion between our mother and daughter characters here, and it's really sweet and taken very seriously, and then the back half of the issue or back third of the issue is this wild nonsense superhero showcase. Pete:                Yeah. It's completely over the top, tons of violence. Each issue is crazier than the last, and you're like “Oh, they can't top that,” but then this issue does, and it kind of makes fun of itself in the process, but man, really fun. Great read. The art's fantastic. A lot of cool characters. I mean, I love the car. I thought the car was so great. Such an awesome entrance, but it did hurt when that mint issue #1 got trashed by the guy in the tie. That hurt. Alex:                 Good stuff. If you'd like to support our podcast- Justin:              Heartbreaking. Alex:                 … patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. On iTunes, leave us a comment and rate us. We would appreciate that quite a bit. @ComicBookLive on Twitter. Comicbooklive.com for this podcast and more. Until next time, we'll see you at the virtual comic book shop. Justin:              Send in the mimes, those cooky, spooky mimes. The post The Stack: Alien, Harley Quinn And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

Rick Remender, a comic book writer, artist, and animator who has worked at Marvel, Image Comics, and Electronic Arts, among others, joins Vikram, our writers’ co-op coordinator, to talk about his creative journey and inspirations. For the book list and transcript for this episode, visit hhlitandlib.ca/endnote.

Comic Reviews: Future State: Aquaman 1 by Brandon Thomas, Daniel Sampere, Adriano Lucas Future State: Batman/Superman 1 by Gene Luen Yang, Ben Oliver, Arif Prianto Future State: Dark Detective 2 by Joshua Williamson, Giannis Milonogiannis, Jordie Bellaire Future State: Legion of Super-Heroes 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia Future State: Suicide Squad 1 by Robbie Thompson, Javier Fernandez, Alex Sinclair, Jeremy Adams, Fernando Pasarin, Oclair Albert, Jeromy Cox Future State: Superman vs. Imperious Lex 1 by Mark Russell, Steve Pugh, Romulo Fajardo Jr. Batman: Black and White 2 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Sophie Campbell, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko, Dustin Weaver, David Aja Eighth Immortal 1 by Jake Murray, Alice Li Barnes, Letter Squids Warcorns: Combat Unicorns For Hire 1 by Garret Gunn, Kit Wallis Wax 1 by Diane Huffman, Claudia Cangini Ferryman 1 by Daniel Bell Stray 1 by Eric Gay, Andy Poole Riverdale Presents: Southside Serpents 1 by David Barnett, Richard Ortiz Additional Reviews: Gigantic by Remender and Nguyen, Game of Thrones, Two Weeks to Live, What We Do in the Shadows, WandaVision News: Heroes Reborn, Potter shows to HBO Max, Bendis no longer DC exclusive, Kong and Tomb Raider animes from Legendary on Netflix, Spider-Ham graphic novel, Sandman casting, Molly Ostertag's Witchboy to Netflix as animated musical, Batman and Robin and Howard graphic novel, Titans TV casting, some new film Comics Countdown: Colonel Weird: Cosmagog 4 by Jeff Lemire, Tyler Crook Something is Killing the Children 14 by James Tynion IV, Wether Dell'Edera, Miquel Muerto Batman: Black and White 2 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Sophie Campbell, Gabriel Hardman, Corinna Bechko, Dustin Weaver, David Aja Daredevil 26 by Chip Zdarsky, Marcho Checchetto, Mike Hawthorne, Adriano Di Benedetto, Marcio Menyz Department of Truth 5 by James Tynion, Martin Simmonds We Only Find Them When They're Dead 5 by Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo, Mariasara Miotti Strange Adventures 8 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Doc Shaner Other History of the DC Universe 2 by John Ridley, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Andrea Cucchi, Jose Villarrubia Nailbiter Returns 9 by Joshua Williamson, Mike Henderson, Adam Guzowski Future State: Dark Detective 2 by Mariko Tamaki, Dan Mora, Jordie Bellaire, Joshua Williamson, Giannis Milonogiannis

On this week's comic book review show: King in Black #3 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ryan Stegman Future State: The Next Batman #2 DC Comics Written by John Ridley, Vita Ayala, Paula Sevenbergen Art by Laura Braga, Aneke, Rob Haynes Future State: Superman Worlds of War #1 DC Comics Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Brandon Easton, Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad, Jeremy Adams Art by Mikel Janín, Valentine de Landro, Gleb Mlenikov, Siya Oum Future State: Catwoman #1 DC Comics Written by Ram V Art by Otto Schmidt Future State: Shazam #1 DC Comics Written by Tim Sheridan Art by Eduardo Pansica Future State: Nightwing #1 DC Comics Written by Andrew Constant Art by Nicola Scott Future State: Immortal Wonder Woman #1 DC Comics Written by Becky Cloonan & Michael W. Conrad, LL McKinney Art by Jen Bartel, Alitha Martinez Iron Fist: Heart of the Dragon #1 Marvel Written by Larry Hama Art by David Wachter Rain Like Hammers #1 Image Comics Created by Brandom Graham Rorschach #4 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Abbott 1973 #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Saladin Ahmed Art by Sami Kivelä Black Cat: King in Black #2 Marvel Written by Jed MacKay Art by C.F. Villa Batman/Catwoman #2 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Clay Mann The Scumbag #4 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Eric Powell Once & Future #15 BOOM! Studios Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora Maestro: War & Pax #1 Marvel Written by Peter David Art by Javier Pina Stillwater #5 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K Perez Seven to Eternity #16 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Jerome Opeña SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Episode Transcript: Alex:                 What is up y'all, welcome to The Stack, I'm Alex. Justin:              I'm Justin. Pete:                I'm Pete. We're The Stack. What is up? Justin:              Oh, he wants a little editorial time at the beginning. Alex:                 Pete, do your what's up section, go for it? Pete:                Hey, everybody, what is up? Alex:                 [inaudible 00:00:30]. Justin:              What a fun way to Kick it up? You sound like [inaudible 00:00:38]. Pete:                He's my guy. Alex:                 We're going to talk about a bunch of comics that came out this very week. We're going to review them, we're going to talk about them, we're going to offer up our unfiltered opinions. We're going to kick it off with King in Black number three from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Ryan Stegman. This issue spoilers Venom is dead. And what remains to the Marvel heroes are going right up against Knull, that includes Venom's son, but also includes Thor, who is finally come back to take on Knull. There's some brutal stuff that happens in this issue. We're almost through this event, I think at this point. We're definitely at the halfway point. What do you think about it so far? Would you been thinking about this issue in particular? Justin:              What I really like about this event is, it has a unique structure. I feel like so many events are built around the idea of heroes having normal lives, problem emerges, everything gets bad, heroes rally, they win. And in this, it was for everything is bad immediately out of the gate. And then now we're seeing some things getting worse. We're seeing little pops of different hero moments. And in this issue we get Thor popping, and it's really good. I love the last page reveal, the arts fantastic in this issue. And it's also funny how little knull, knull it's just sort of hovering at the center of it, but we haven't seen a lot of Knull doing stuff. Alex:                 Yeah, I mean, this issue it definitely mixes it up though. I think this is just a lot of fun, a really a great kind of event. I've been really happy with the action and this, it keeps things getting worse, but there's little glimmers of hope. I've been very much enjoying the over the top action adventure and fun that they're having on this. This is just a really cool, very bad shit going on here, giant dragons and flaming monsters, and the last page reveal is just bad-ass. This might be the goop on the Chrysler building, but this is starting to remind me a lot of Inferno, the crossover from back in the day when demons took over New York. Partially… Pete:                Wait, was that Ghostbusters II reference with ooze on the… What do you mean the- Alex:                 100% absolutely not. It was a reference to the X-Men: Crossover Inferno. We just had… well, it's very iconic thing of the Empire State Building to be taken over by the demons from LeBeau, and it just got bigger and bigger over time, and people would be like, hey, that's weird. The Empire State Building is bigger than I remember it is. This reminds me a lot of that, but it also reminds me a lot of that because you have these disparate elements from these other mini-series and other things going on, and kind of starting to come together in this issue, different threads. Alex:                 Justin, you mentioned this couple of issues back, but I think that one thing that Donny Cates is doing very well, is giving the spotlight to other characters. Like there's a great Iron Man moments of this issue. Thor knocking Knull's jaw off is very bad ass. It's high octane thriller in the same way that Dark Nights: Death Metal was. And I think that's fun. It's fun to read right now. Justin:              Agree. Donny Cates is a big used the whole Buffalo writer and he does it here. With a lot of the stuff he's been setting up across all the titles he's been working on, and just stuff that goes on with the other characters in the Marvel universe. Pete:                Justin, I appreciate your Buffalo reference and go bills. Justin:              That's right. I've said use the whole Buffalo bills. Alex:                 Now, as we were doing for the past two weeks, on to week three, let's talk about Future State over at DC Comics.[crosstalk 00:04:33]. This is an interesting week because we bought a bunch of number one Future State issues, but we're also getting our first number two with Future State, the next Batman number two. There's also a lot of developing story at some big points that we start to get about what's going on in this future world. As we have been doing, why don't you guys call out the things that you particularly liked, that you thought were interesting? Pete, let's start with you, at all offer up the writing to you as we go through. Pete:                Alright, great. I really liked the next Batman. I think this is kind of a fun Batman in the future with tack and kind of shit that he's up against. I'm enjoying this. Alex:                 Well, let's talk about that one first, because that is as mentioned the first number two of this Future State slate. This is written by John Ridley, Vita Ayala, and Paula Sevenbergen, art by Laura Braga, Aneke and Rob Haynes. Pete, what did you like about this one in particular? Pete:                Well, I like where we're kind of picking up here. This feels like a Batman book, kind of in the middle of things picking apart who's doing what to whom, we've got some bad guys kind of closing in on Batman, and yeah, I also, Batman's hurt. It's nice to see it's not this Batman that has no flaws, or can't be hurt with the tech armor that he's got on. So it feels like a Batman book. It's a new kind of take on Batman. So I'm excited about it. I think it's I'm enjoying it. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I mean, I like this a lot. It definitely, just the voice is different with Batman throughout here, and that's just great to see. And it really feels like it's paying off the promise of Future State. Like we're doing new versions of these characters and let's see. And then I also thought [inaudible 00:06:29] is it Gotham city sirens at the end which plays like a… The art is almost like Dan Parent Archie Comics, which I thought was really fun and just a different sort of vibe to the whole thing. Alex:                 Is that, we read a lot of these, so forgive me if I got this wrong. Was that's the one was Spoiler and Cassandra [Canaan 00:06:52] in jail, right? Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 That was great. Justin:              I love that. Alex:                 That was one of my favorite things this week. I thought that was really fascinating. That picks up on some of the threads that we've gotten on some of the other books with Spoiler in particular. And just this idea that the magistrate, whoever the magistrate is, who is running Gotham City now, is throwing good guys and bad guys in jail, just because of his zero-tolerance policy. I think it was a really fun idea. I mean, I don't know if I completely buy this, but I'll just throw something out to you that was my impression halfway through reading all these Future State books, I almost wish DC had gone for it and said, “This is the DC universe now, this is what we're doing going forward.” Like to be- Pete:                That would be too big of a shakeup, that would be- Alex:                 It would be huge. I understand why they did it, but if you remember back in the day, there was the one year later stuff, I believe after 52, where there's apocalyptic event that jumped forward a year, and then they kind of filled it and stuff later. The idea of doing that and just jumping forward in unseen unspecified amount of time later, I kind of loved that. Particularly because, well, a lot of what we got this week, was the idea that we're told in week one Batman is gone, Superman is gone, Wonder Woman is gone. They're not gone, they're just in kind of different status quos at this point. So instead, it does feel like the DC universe just, there are some holes to fill it at this point. Pete:                What I like about this event is, I feel like they are shaking things up. They're getting different people on different projects, and you're getting new takes on it. And it feels like a fresh take, which is great. I think they're doing it smart. If things start to do well, maybe it takes over the regular title. I think that's a smart way to do this. Alex:                 They are continuing next Batman. I mean, that's clearly seems like the one that they're all in on, they have John Ridley on it, that's a big deal. They're continuing that title that you've heard of the universe. So to your point Pete, I think there's a couple of others that could roll off of. Before we get two other leads here though Justin, any other titles that jumped out at you? Justin:              I'm going to give it up for Superman – Worlds of War. Alex:                 Yeah, gladiator Superman. Justin:              Which yeah. And I really like this because it takes Superman, to your point you mentioned before, about how the main trinity are sort of off the board. Here we get to find out where Superman is. And he's on war world, and there's a bunch of bad shit happening there. And I thought- Alex:                 It's… Let me just interrupt with the creative team for this one, written by Philip Kennedy Johnson, Brandon M. Easton, Becky Clinton, and Michael W. Conrad, Jeremy Adams, art by Miquel Janine, Valentine Delondra, Glib and Melnikov and [inaudible 00:09:47]. Take it away Justin. Pete:                I would, Justin, if I could interrupt you for a moment. I'm really hoping it's going to be like planet Hulk, and Superman comes back and he is so pissed, and blows up New York. Justin:              Yeah, that's a solid guess. I really liked the Phillip Kennedy Johnson story that kicks it off is so great. Focusing on Smallville, he talked about this a little bit when he was on our show a few weeks ago, and just a great sort of retrospective about what Superman is, what he does, it's so good. Alex:                 I also really liked the Midnighters story in this book. This is great and very key to everything that's going on in Future State, because unless I misinterpreted it, and this is a spoiler here, but we find out the identity of Trojan, the person who's been running Metropolis in Superman's absence, and it is none other than Apollo. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 What do you think about that Pete? You love Apollo and Midnighter, so what was your take on this twist? Pete:                I was very a gasped, I clutch my pearls, I wasn't ready for it. Justin:              Those pearls look lovely by the way. You look gorgeous. Pete:                Thank you. [crosstalk 00:10:55] Justin:              They really accentuate your neck. Pete:                You guys. Justin:              Beautiful neck. Pete:                Becky Cloonan is writing the crap out of this, this is… I really want more of this. This is a very, very cool kind of story that we have here in this book. Justin:              I like this quite a bit as well. Like you said there, a bunch of them they're really good. I like…What's up Pete? Pete:                I was just going to say the art across the board has been really impressive. It's because for me, DC seems very certain style of art, and I've been really impressed with how they're pushing that out a little bit. They're not as cookie cutter as they normally are. So I'm really impressed with that. Alex:                 I thought a mortal Wonder Woman was the one that I was really looking forward to, and art wise and in particular, I thought it was really gorgeous, Justin:              Really nice art. Alex:                 I like the stories quite a bit, written by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, L.L. McKinney, art by Jenny Bartelle and Alitha Martinez. You have two stories, one about Wonder Woman kind of an end of time Wonder Woman thing going on, and then another one about Nubia, who is Wonder Woman's twin sister. I thought this was a really solid book, particularly on the Wonder Woman story, which was really fascinating though I liked a Nubia as well. But the other one that a lot of call out that I was very surprised by it.[crosstalk 00:12:20] Pete:                Justin before you say anything, I thought this was going to be your pick, because you were inside the head of Wonder Woman at the start of that, and you love that shit. Justin:              I love being inside people's heads. I'm still trying to crack my way into that [inaudible 00:12:39]. Pete:                [inaudible 00:12:39] this. Justin:              I feel like in this story, it's sort of positioning Wonder Woman, almost like Superman. Almost like Jor-El on Krypton in the last days trying to save it, while everyone's like, “Nope, we got to do this other stuff.” And I thought that was an interesting sort of blending of Wonder Woman and Superman's [inaudible 00:12:58]. Pete:                The ghost Batman moment with Wonder Woman was very touching. I thought that was very nice. Justin:              Yeah. So good stuff but the other one I [inaudible 00:13:09] call was Future State Shazam number one written by Tim Sheridan, art by Eduardo Pansica. This is the one that really drove home for me. What I was saying earlier about feeling like, oh, they just could have done this. This doesn't need to be Future State because there's going to be a thing. This is what we get here is Neron, has separated Shazam and Billy Batson. Billy Batson is, big spoilers, but Billy Batson has been chained to the Rock of Eternity, to lock in some prisoner we don't find out what it is, but it's very bad. And Shazam has left on his own and basically spiraling out and becoming a merciless killer of villains. And this just feels like such a clear Shazam idea at a very different way. It's something that's like, you don't need to do this 40, 50 day years down the road. This is just a good dark Shazamm idea, that I like quite a lot. Yeah, I also really liked Legion. I thought that was… Alex:                 Legion? Justin:              Yeah, Legion number 12. Was that not part of the Future State? Alex:                 No, [crosstalk 00:14:18]. Pete:                No, but great that you're reading. Justin:              Yeah, sorry about that. Alex:                 That's all good. Justin:              But I liked the end, the reveal and Catwoman, I thought they also had great art and I liked the last page reveal very much. Alex:                 That was super fun as well. That was written by Ram V, art by Otto Schmidt and that is just Catwoman going on a great train robbery in this magistrate run Gotham City, super fun. Justin:              I agree, I really liked the Catwoman one. It was a good use of genre to really tell an interesting story. And the other one we haven't talked about yet is the Nightwing, which I also thought was cool as well. A lot of different takes. Alex:                 Yeah, written by Andrew constant, art by Nicola Scott, and this finds Nightwing kind of getting fed up with the status quo of Gotham City and decided to make a big move there. I'm more excited for the second issue of this one. I think that the first issue, but very solid done the less. Justin:              Yeah, I really, I thought all of these books from Future State this week really had something to really enjoy in them. And that was exciting. Alex:                 Yeah, I think what they're trying to do is cool, it's fun to mix things up. Pete:                I'm definitely at the point and I know I'll change my mind in a couple of weeks, but I'm definitely at the point where I'm like, I kind of don't want to go back to whatever the status quo is. Alex:                 Oh, wow. Pete:                I'm enjoying it, I'm having a fun time. Justin:              Maybe there's no status quo ever again, in the world. Alex:                 There's no status quo baby. Let's move on to shock one that I think is probably a gimme for Pete Iron Fist, heart of the dragon number one from Marvel written by Larry Hama, written by David Wachter, Pete, what'd you think about this? Pete:                First off, the Hamas writing this book is really fantastic. Touches my heart in all the right ways. Hama, who famously writes a ton of G.I. Joe, this makes a lot of sense, putting him on this book. And this the issue was just glorious. Really a lot of fun, some cool characters. I loved it. Plus anytime you got Luke Cage and Iron Fist together, I'm a happy camper. Art's unbelievable. This is just a really cool bad-ass story, and I want more. Justin:              I mean, is there any more G.I. Joe type story than this with guys named Iron Fist, Taskmaster? It's right over the gate. If we're going to get snow jabbing here, I think we have a full set. Alex:                 Yeah, this is fine. This is Taskmaster is stealing a bunch of dragon hearts and messing up the seven kingdoms. So Iron Fist has to go after him. There's a bunch of other things- Pete:                Heart of the dragon. Alex:                 Yes. Lady Bullseye is in there, like you mentioned, Luke Cage, yeah, it's fun. Justin:              Yeah, and I will say it did take some fun turns. I liked seeing Luke Cage in here really getting up and doing some fighting here. Pete:                Yeah. Also daddy Luke Cage, he starts off so lovable, but he's not scared to throw down, you know what I mean? Alex:                 Exactly. Justin, let's move on to one of I believe your favorites of the week, Rain Like Hammers, number one for, which comics created by Brandon Graham. This is a, I don't even know if it takes place in the future. It's definitely a sci-fi book but… Justin:              This is present day. Alex:                 It follows a guy… its present day. Follows a guy who works, he watches TV, he eats, then things go terribly wrong. Justin:              This is the prequel to Wally, is what this is. Alex:                 This book is gorgeous, but Justin, you go ahead. You talk about it. Justin:              I love Brandon Graham's art and storytelling. They'll… One of the books that really first turned me on is, he was doing the art on profit, the image book that it used to be just like a Rob Liefeld, like a knife and pouch situation, and then took on this trippy Sci-fi space take in the latter issues. And this sort of feels very much in line with that. This could be a stand-alone issue. And what's the other book that Brandon Graham did, is it Warheads? Something Warhead? Also very good, but this, in the back batter, he talks about this was inspired by him sort of being at home and feeling a little like just in a rut. Pete:                Yeah, bro. Justin:              So it's, in the end talking about healing Manga, a processing comic and how this sort of is- Alex:                 Yeah, multiple Warheads. Justin:              Multiple Warheads. This comic is a little bit about processing the stuff that he was going through when he was writing it, and I love that. To be able to take something you're going through and really make a beautiful piece of art out of it is great. Alex:                 It reminds me a little bit, it's almost like sad idiocrasy in a way. It's not funny, it's just sort of people sitting, ingesting TV, eating things, honestly things have pretty good that the guy's eating, but he's just living his life- Justin:              They did sound good. Alex:                 Right? And being a drone and kind of going through it, but gorgeous, gorgeous book. Highly recommend picking it up. Yes Pete? Pete:                The art alone is worth it. It's just the way it starts off, and like sets this tone, and the paneling of just this kind of vast thing that he's on, is really just, it's very moving and powerful. Alex:                 There's a panel towards the end of the book where the main character is standing outside finally at the place that he's living in, there's sort of a massive tank or whatever it is. It's double page spread, and it's so sad and awesome, and just so many things at the same time. It's wonderful to see, definitely pick up this book. Next up, Rorschach number four- Pete:                It's just like a cruise ship that has elephant legs on it. Alex:                 Sure. Rorschach number four, from DC Comics written by Tom King, art by Hore Fortes. In this issue, we're getting a bit more of the origin of the kid. And if anything, this used to be pivoting to be less about Rorschach, and more about the kid, this kind of cowboy character that we met over the course of it. In here we find a man that she- Pete:                Muscle man. Alex:                 I mean, it's arguable, I think. But tricked into thinking he was the reincarnated soul of Rorschach after Dr. Manhattan destroyed him, a lot of what we were dealing with in this title and also here, is about conspiracy theories, which I think really gets to the theme of what Tom King is doing. Another fantastic issue, I don't know what the thrust of this title is, and I don't think we will know until the last issue, but man, every issue individually is so impeccably done. Justin:              You go ahead Pete. Pete:                I was just going to say, if Tom King wasn't a good writer, I'd be so pissed. Because I have no fucking idea what is happening, but I'm still having a great time. And part of me is like maybe muscle man was, I mean, how do we know? Justin:              I think that's part of the take here, and what my… I've really loved reading this series and really love sort of thinking about it after I finished each issue. And with this one, it feels like Tom King is taking some of the Rorschach stuff that's happened since Watchmen ended, where Rorschach is sort of being put in as like, oh, he was a precursor to a lot of the way people are feeling now politically. Like isolated, believing conspiracy theories, and just chasing them up all that kind of stuff. Justin:              And so to take that sort of version of Rorschach and then remix it again for our age where she makes this guy believe that he is Rorschach, believes this sort of fake news, this conspiracy stuff, and then he acts on it. I mean, it feels so prescient given the politics that have been happening in the last couple of weeks with the January 6, insurrection and all that. This feels like it's all speaking to these same issues and to be able to write something that feels that topical when it comes out, is amazing to me. Alex:                 Pete? Pete:                Yeah, I just think that, I kind of said how I feel about it as far as it's impressive, but it's also confusing. But the way that the kid is portrayed is very, very interesting. And I think it's really great kind of personification of somebody in this way, but also as I was kind of reading it, I wrote down in my notes. I think I'm crazier now after I've read this book. Justin:              Yeah, you're next. I mean, the kid is like a charismatic sociopath who believes in this stuff and convinces other people to believe in it. Alex:                 And it's funny too, because there's a line in here where it's like, What's the kid's name?” And it's like, “I don't know, we call him the kid.” And I have a friend like that, if they knew that I didn't know his actual name, we just call him the kid. He'd be pretty upset. I will say, and I don't know if I can completely believe this premise, but I do feel like there's a certain hesitance on King's part to touch Watchmen. And I say that fully knowing there is a scene in here, that shows the characters and Watchmen interacting in a new way. But there's something about it that feels like you have a book called Rorschach. You're not actually focusing on Rorschach. What exactly is going on? Pete:                Is it all about Rorschach? Justin:              See, I disagree. I think what this book does, it takes the ideas of Rorschach, and really puts them on the table, and looks at them with a modern eye, in a way that I think gets deeper than just having Rorschach be like, hey, what's up? Hey, what's up blue guy? Alex:                 Classic Rorschach line. What's up dudes? Pete:                What's up? It's me the Rorschach, [crosstalk 00:24:25]. Alex:                 I'm hanging 10 in here with you. Pete:                Yeah, I just think it's like a classic inkblot scenario. We're all bringing our own things to the story and it's just reflecting our own bullshit. Alex:                 I don't know how that connects it anyway to what we're talking about. Justin:              Yeah, exactly. What is that in relation to? Alex:                 What are you even talking about Pete? Justin:              Are you trying to test us? Alex:                 [inaudible 00:24:53]. 1973, number one for Boom! Studios written by Saladin Ahmed, art by Sami Kivela. This is pick it up, of course, on previous series of Abbott. She is an investigator, She's got some supernatural powers. I feel like I've only read one or two issues of Abbott, but this was a good jumping on point anyway. And I felt like as a pulpy, 1970s, supernaturally inflected mystery, it was very enjoyable to read. Pete:                Abbott. Justin:              Abbott. I agree. I mean, we don't get much of the supernatural side of it. Just little gestures to it until the very end, but I really love the table setting in this issue and the sort of, just the vibe, it's got a good sort of irreverent vibe throughout. Pete:                Abbott. Yeah, I think that first off give a nod to, this is the year [inaudible 00:25:56] was born. So just want to give a shout out to that there. Justin:              Not true. Pete:                I know, I'm just messing with you [crosstalk 00:26:02]. Justin:              Pete loves telling lies about us. That's what his bit for quite some time. Alex:                 Pete was born in 1942. Yeah, that's right. Sailed the ocean blue. But what I do… What's nice is it's an interesting way to deal with this kind of the creepy feeling of someone. I liked the Reveal at the end, and it kind of made sense with the things that happened. It's one of those things where you're like, you read it and you're like, oh, okay. So I'm enjoying it. It's weird, but I like it. Let's move on to talk about Black Cat, King In Black, number two from Marvel, written by Jed McKay art by CF Villa. Of course, we had Jed McKay on our live show this week. So definitely- Pete:                We did? Alex:                 We did Pete, you were there and everything. So Black Cat is been tasked with stealing Dr. Strange from Knull, the king in Black, we get to see that heist this issue, this is so much fun. Justin:              So much fun. I've said this, I said this a lot on the live show. I love this book. This book is so smartly done. It's rare for me to see a character where she has multiple sides. So many superhero characters are… It's like they do their one thing and we just see it a bunch of different ways. But the Black Cat really gets to be different things to different people, she gets to feel things, be very serious, be a little bit more lighthearted. And then just the heist of it all, is just so well done. Throwing on an antivenom suit to dive into the goop is such a smart idea, and it's dramatic, it's tense, there's some spider immobile stuff. Pete:                Really plugging the hell a lot of goop on the show. Yeah, I really… There's also a lot of fun nerd stuff in here. Like the fact that she gets to fly on the goblin glider, and then the spider-buggy later. This is just… They have a lot of fun with this character, which is great to see. I love the baby bjorn with the Ghost Dog. I mean, this is just good shit. And it's cool to kind of see this. I'm not a huge Black Cat fan, but I'm having a lot of fun. Justin:              You love cats. Pete:                It's true, it's a good point. Alex:                 Speaking of which, let's move on and talk about Batman/Catwoman number two from DC comics, written by Tom King, art by Clay Mann, and this issue, we're jumping through multiple timelines here. We're getting to see Batman and Catwoman do some stuff where the tracking down the Phantasm, I believe, who is killing the edge man of the Joker. In the future timeline, Cat woman has come to kill the old Joker. And maybe there's another timeline in there. I got to be honest with you. Clay Mann's art, gorgeous. Tom King's write, good. I like reading this book. I am having a very hard time following what is happening in these issues. Justin:              Well, it's only the second issue. So, because I do sort of agree with you. It's hard to connect the plots as it's going. Pete:                No, it's too early. I don't try to do that, this is Tom King guys. Just let's lay off a little bit, enjoy the ride. Alex:                 The thing is like, there's not enough of an artistic or textual indicator for the timelines right now where, I understand part of the idea is that all of this mashed together. It's all happening at the same time. It all connects to each other. But just from a reader perspective, there are some pages where it's jumping between three timelines, and it takes me a second or two to realize, oh, okay, this is taking place at the middle timeline. This is duplicate of the first timeline. And that takes me out of the story a little bit. Justin:              Well a second or two, you don't have that kind of time to spare [crosstalk 00:29:58]. You were born in 1973. Pete:                Easy speed reader. You don't have to just plow through everything. Sometimes you got to stop and think about what's happening a little bit. Alex:                 I was a child of the love generation man. Justin:              It's true. Conceived in wood stack, born in the back of the Crosby Stills Nash and Young van. Pete:                [inaudible 00:30:21] with all due respect, I disagree. I'm having a lot of fun on this book because I miss that Catwoman/Batman relationship. Alex:                 This is a bizarre mirror world that we're in, but go ahead, Pete. Pete:                Yes. And so also I thought it was touching the way Joker wish Catwoman a Merry Christmas. I thought that was very nice. But yeah, we're getting a lot of different worlds and different timelines mashed up. We've been getting an old villain from Batman, the animated series. But Tom King does an amazing job on Batman, and I'm going to let this breathe a little bit before I start getting to what timeline are we in. I'm just enjoying the ride, and the artwork and man is it great? Justin:              Clay Mann, is he great? I do think part of it was, I think this book was, the expectations for this book were fun romance between Batman and Catwoman. It's just not that, it's like a whole new storyline and- Pete:                No, but they're dealing with stuff though. You can tell the [crosstalk 00:31:26] back and forth. Justin:              Of course I think they are… Pete:                Well, if you make it, it's not always sunny, beaches, you know what I mean? Sometimes relationships get real. You got to have tough conversations man. Justin:              I've never had a difficult conversation with anyone. Its all smooth sailing for old JT. No, my point is, you're walking into this book and it's just a different, it's a whole different thing. There're multiple timelines. There actually is very little romance in this. It's about the Joker pretty exclusively so far, and the introduction of the Phantasm. Justin:              But what I do think is amazing about this, it feels like Tom King is really writing toward Clay Mann. Every panel in this book feels like it's so specific, it's so curated. And it is just something to behold. Even the small panels are just perfect. There's this section where the… It's a close-up on the Joker with a candy cane, everything is so deliberate. And I think it's great. Pete:                Now I don't know about you guys, but the part where the subway scene and getting a little spoilers, someone dies in the subway. I was like, oh man, that is the worst. You finally get a subway car all to yourself, and someone murders you, oh man, classic New York. Justin:              You sound almost nostalgic for it, Pete. But I actually don't think you live, you're a new Yorker anymore, so you get that name out of your mouth. Alex:                 The Scumbag, speaking of Pete, number four, [inaudible 00:33:02]. Its written by Ric Remender, art by Eric Powel. In this issue, our main Scumbag is heading on a discreet mission to eyes wide shut style orgy that is going on, things go predictably wrong. We had Remender on the show last week where we talked about this title. So it was fun to get his input, but what'd you think about this issue? Pete:                Yeah, this is just insanity. But I do like how everybody's skeeved out by The Scumbag, and that's kind of funny how he can't get himself into the one place he wants to be. But yeah, this continues to be amazing storytelling, fantastic art, creepy ass fucking dude that I don't know why we're rooting for, but we are. And just kind of this scenario keeps getting more and more intense. Justin:              Yeah, I mean, I think the Pete bag is sort of one of Remender's real good another great book from him. The art is fantastic and the way that he is just, you could tell, he's having such a great time writing The Scumbag, for who he is. And I think Ric Remender with this, and another book we need to be talking about very soon, Seven To Eternity, it's really playing with, why does the protagonist have to be good? And why is the villain bad? Maybe we can mix those. And I think he just does that really well. And same thing here. This guy's a scumbag, but we still root for him. But he does a bunch of bad stuff, but he seems inherently good. And the bad guys seem like they're just trying to do what everyone's doing, getting by as best they can. It's interesting storytelling. Alex:                 Once & Future number 15 from Boom! Studios written by Kieron Gillen. Pete:                Sorry, Justin. Alex:                 Sorry Justin? Pete:                Yeah, he was clearly teeing up Seven To Eternity, but you were like fuck that, we're going Once & Future. Alex:                 So I said out a list. Pete:                Here we go, behind the scenes. You can't stray from the list. If something comes up organically, we got to stick to the list here. Justin:              Looking back, I don't think we should have given Pete that much power at the beginning to have his little what's up corner, because I think it's really gone to his head. Pete:                Yeah, I think the vodka is what- Alex:                 You wanted to talk about Once & Future, I'm sure Pete, because the grabba is in this a lot. In this issue we find out about Lancelot, we also find out more about the backstory of what was going on, a great issue, fun as always, high octane drama and action, with some terrifying things going on as usual. Just another good issue of Once & Future. Pete:                Good is an understatement man, this is great. The art's unbelievable, the action is over the top, this continues to be one of the must pick ups of the week. Every time there's an issue of Once & Future, it's just continues to be phenomenal. The drama keeps getting more and more bad-ass, and we get to kind of see the other half, the why we're kind of in this mess, in this issue. And I also really love the, I'm going to tell you a story, you're going to tell me a story moment, and that first story is fucking really powerful, especially when you reveal scars. Justin:              Yeah, I do… I like that we're getting to really learn the rules of this comic as it's going on. And this is your especially where, it's a story about stories. But in this it's about sort of who's taking power, and who's the storyteller, and which story are they telling? It feels like that's the hat that everyone continues to pass over. Like, wait, who are you? Who are you in this story? Oh, I'm this? I started telling this story. I think that refreshes that sort of trope of a story about stories in a fun way. And the artists fantastic. Lancelot screaming in French, I mean, I'm here for it. Alex:                 Yeah, absolutely. Let's move on, talk about Maestro: War and Pax, number one from Marvel written by Peter David and Javier Pina. This picking up on the first Maestro mini-series here, the Hulk finally fully as the Maestro, but he hasn't consolidated all of his power as of yet. So he's going past the remnants of the Marvel universe. I think we talked about the first issue of the Maestro mini-series previously. So I thought it was worth checking in with this one. How do you think it's holding up? Pete:                Well, it's kind of upsetting to see kind of a evil Hulk. So, Justin:              Really? Pete:                Usually I'm on the green guy's side, so this is, it's a little tough to see how this guy goes about business. Justin:              Wow, heartbreaker. I like this a lot. I really like seeing the Pantheon from Peter David's run way back in the day, characters that no one else has really touched since. And I like them. I also liked that the Hulk and… The Maestro and his squad just jump onto the Staten Island Ferry, and drive down to DC to go confront them, which is just a fun visual choice. And it's great to see that the Maestro sort of messes up. You expect him to just dominate and it's about him sort of not doing so had. Alex:                 Yeah, I mean, Peter David is a baster of the comic book form. Just everything is perfectly paced out. His jokes work, everything works. The action works. It's always a joy to read one of his books because they're just, they're firing on all cylinders every single time, even decades into his career as is at this point, and it's great. Let's move on talk about StillWater number five from Image Comics written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Ramón K. Perez. Pete:                He's really going to make you wait, Justin. Sorry buddy. Justin:              I'm fine, I wasn't [inaudible 00:39:14]. Alex:                 Oh my God. I mean, for those of you listened to the podcast, Justin is furious right now. You can see it just like flames coming out of his head. StillWater number five from Image Comics, this is a big issue here, as our main character has taken residence in StillWater, the town where nobody dies. Everybody has taken this as an opportunity to let the judge, the guy who rules the town know that, hey, they want to change things. They want to leave, they want to let the outside world know about stuff. Things go terribly wrong, and then they get more wrong from there. Then even then there were five issues in, it feels like this is whipping through story at this point. Justin:              Yeah, but I think it's really coming into its own. It's starting to remind me a little bit of Southern Bastards. [crosstalk 00:40:12]. I think the judge has some coach boss vibe to him, and I just think the energy has that Southern Bastards is a great book by Jason Aaron and Jason Latour from years ago, that to sort of think was left open-ended, that I just wish we could see more of. But this is fun, it really is like, I don't know what's going to happen. It's feels like bad stuff is happening all around in this town that [inaudible 00:40:37]. Pete:                Yeah, it's unfortunate that at this town, there's a kind of a power hungry judge who's not willing to hear the people. I think that this book continues to, with the twists and turns. We're kind of finally getting everything all out on the page here in this issue. So we kind of know where everybody stands and what the kind of moving forward is going to look like. But man, even with all that, the kind of twists and turns that happen in this comic, we're still pretty powerful and pretty crazy. Alex:                 Yeah, last and definitely least. Pete:                Sorry, Justin. Alex:                 Seven To Eternity number 16, from Image Comics written by Rick Remender art by Jerome Opena. This is the second to last, I believe issue of this title as we talk to Rick Remender about. Here, we're starting to wrap things up at an enormous battle way. This feels to me, I mean, they're obviously very different stories, but it feels to me very much like the end of low, where we're just getting these insane over the top battle scenes with all of our characters as he starts to wrap things up. But it's great. I mean, in particular Jerome [inaudible 00:41:53] art is stunning on every page. Justin:              Very good. And he's managed to tell a story, like following up on what I was saying, honestly so long ago, but to flip the hero and the villain here and still surprise us. And at the same time telling like an epic Avengers or justice league style, like cosmic stakes battle with all original characters, it's just really excellent comic making. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, I can't stop paging through the art. I mean the splash pages with the kind of waterfall, fallen giants thing is just, it's really unbelievable. The monsters, it's just really, really impressive. Yeah, the twists that happened, man, what a great book. I cannot wait to see how this wraps up. This is really, really great comic book, right here where we get to read. Alex:                 Well, and I'll tell you how The Stack is going to wrap up. It's going to wrap up right now. If you'd like to support us patrion.com/comic book club. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube, come hang out. We'd love to chat with you about comic books. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice, just subscribe and listen to the show at Comic Book Live on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and more, until next time, we'll see you at the Digital Cottage Book Shop. Pete:                What's up? The post The Stack: King In Black, Future State, Iron Fist And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on Talking Back we get back into the Deadly Class series with volume 5. After a shocking ending to the last volume we're excited to get back into this one to see where it goes!It's a new school year and a new class of students have arrived. How will they fit in? What trouble will they find themselves in? What brilliant thing will Remender write in this volume? Find out all the answers as we dig into this fantastic volume!Click Here to sign up to receive our free monthly e-newsletter where we share our monthly wrap up, some favorite moments, recommendations, behind the scenes and more! Feel free to reach out to us on Social Media at Instagram, Twitter, and FacebookThis podcast is part of the BFOP Network 

On this week's comic book review podcast: Dark Nights Death Metal: The Secret Origin #1 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns Art by Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, Ryan Benjamin & Richard Friend, Paul Pelletier & Norm Rapmund King in Black #2 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Ryan Stegman Firefly: Blue Sun Rising #1 BOOM! Studios Written by Greg Pak Art by Dan McDaid Ice Cream Man #22 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art by Martín Morazzo Labyrinth: Masquerade #1 Archaia Written by Lara Elena Donnelly Illustrated by Pius Bak, Samantha Dodge and French Carlomagno King-Size Conan #1 Marvel Written by Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Kevin Eastman and Steven S. DeKnight Art by Steve McNiven, Pete Woods, Roberto de la Torre, Kevin Eastman and Jesús Saiz An Unkindess of Ravens #4 BOOM! Studios Written by Dan Panosian Illustrated by Marianna Ignazzi Sea of Sorrows #2 IDW Written by Rich Douek Art and Color by Alex Cormack The Last God #11 DC Comics Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art by Riccardo Federici The Department of Truth #4 Image Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Martin Simmonds The Comic Book History of Animation #2 IDW Written by Fred Van Lente Art & Letters by Ryan Dunlavey Doctor Doom #10 Marvel Written by Christopher Cantwell Art by Salvador Larroca Sea of Stars #8 Image Comics Written by Jason Aaron and Dennis Hallum Art by Stephen Green Transformers/Back to the Future #2 IDW Written by Canan Scott Art by Juan Samu Action Comics #1028 DC Comics Written by Brian Michael Bendis Art by John Romita Jr. The Scumbag #3 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Art by Eric Powell Scarenthood #3 IDW Story & Art by Nick Roche Color by Chris O'Halloran U.S.AGent #2 Marvel Written by Priest Art by Georges Jeanty Undiscovered Country #11 Image Comics Written by Scott Snyder & Charles Soule Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli & Leonardo Marcelo Grassi Something is Killing the Children #13 BOOM! Studios Written by James Tynion IV Art by Werther Dell'edera 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: Speaker 1:        Three, two, one. 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 Comics that have come out this week and woo boy, did a bunch of Comics come out this week. Justin:              Oh, and we're going to talk about them all. It's like Pokemon, but for comics and talking instead of collecting and it's us instead of a kid named Ash. Alex:                 Yes, but- Pete:                What? Alex:                 … we do still keep our comics inside of a ball. Starting with Dark Nights Death Metal The Secret Origin number one from DC Comics written by Scott Snyder and Geoff Johns. Art by Jerry Ordway, Francis Manapul, Ryan Benjamin and Richard Fred, Paul Pelletier, and Norm Rapmund. This is not what I was expecting at all. Justin:              Agree completely. Alex:                 But what it turns out to be is a deep dive into Superboy-Prime and in a weird way, the last ever Superboy-Prime story, it also I don't know if it spoils or shows us or jumps ahead of a huge moment in Dark Nights Death Metal, but this is not just a throw away one-shot, this is an important part of the overall story. I was very hesitant going into this, but completely won over by the end both by the emotion and the storytelling and the art throughout, I was very impressed. Did you guys feel the same? Justin:              Yeah. I mean, this was written by Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder. A collab, a classic collab, and it really shows. I feel like this… You hear both of their voices in a nice synergy in this book. I've never been a huge Superboy-Prime guy, but this story I thought was really good. It takes the character and really humanizes him in a way that I didn't see coming and was just a great book, great little standalone story focusing on the character. I love where it ended. Pete:                Yeah, the title was a little misleading. It is kind of a Prime story which I did not see coming. Yeah, I mean, it's Supeboy-Prime still being a dick, but then he kind of gets a little bit less annoying and it's amazing art and then of course dogs are awesome and dogs can make any asshole a better person. Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 100%. Couldn't agree more with that. Like you said, you got Geoff Johns who invented Superboy-Prime coming in, Scott Snyder who has been the maestro of Dark Nights Death Metal and they're working together. The thing… It is a huge spoiler, but the thing that surprised me that I could not believe happened in this book is Superboy-Prime beats the Batman who laughs and essentially wins in this issue, which is wild. Justin:              It was wild, but- Pete:                Is that it? I mean, is it going to happen in another book. Like it just seemed crazy that this was it. Alex:                 I don't know. Justin:              It did feel weird that it would come down to this. There's has to be a ton more story to be told in the main book, but I do think like the Space Wolverine focused book who'd colloquially known- Pete:                Fuck you. You don't know anything. Justin:              He's known as the Lobo- Pete:                Thank you. Tell people what you're talking about because that doesn't make sense. Justin:              No, I think that's a perfect description. Pete:                No. Justin:              Like if I were to describe you, I would say regular bones Wolverine and I think that makes a lot of sense. I just see the world through Wolverine tinted glasses. Pete:                That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Justin:              Regular bones Wolverine? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              But the Lobo book… I forget what it was called, but it really told the Lobo side of the story, but it all was a part of the main story, we just got to see this little fragment fully told in the side book. So I think this is real. This is part of it. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:04:03], said frag. Alex:                 I mean, I'll tell you what. This is an event that really could have used a checklist in the back of every book, which seems like such a dumb thing but we're about to talk about King in Black in a second and a lot of those tie-ins kind of matter, but maybe not as much as the main King in Black book matters, but it's very handy to look through and go, okay, have I read that? Have I checked that off yet mentally in my mind yet or does that come after this other thing? There's so many different spinoffs and other things that it would be very easy to skip this issue and discount it as, Oh, it's just another tale of the dark multi-verse or something like that, which mind you those books have been good as well, but I think there would have been a better way of executing that instead DC seems very allergic to recap pages and ways of letting people know how to follow their events and I wish they would do that a little better because I think ultimately that would be even more rewarding for the constant fans. Justin:              The constant fans. Pete:                I mean, that's the thing though [crosstalk 00:05:02], by not kind of making anything about it, they're really rewarding the people who read every DC book. Alex:                 They just need to put a note be like, Hey, this one's important. Justin:              [crosstalk 00:05:17], strategically fraud choice if I may. Alex:                 All right. Well, let's move on to another big event. King in Black, number two from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Ryan Stegman. This is picking up split seconds after the end of the last issue of Venom, which I know I said mostly King in Black is important, but we got to watch Venom falling down a building for 32 seconds in the last issue of Venom. That he's been tossed off by the King in Black by- Pete:                [crosstalk 00:05:44], don't say he's been tossed off. That's not- Alex:                 What are you talking about? Justin:              I mean, that's- Alex:                 What do you think that is? Justin:              … exactly. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:05:52], like. Justin:              Is that degrading? Alex:                 You can't say you toss somebody off. That's not good. Justin:              [crosstalk 00:06:00], he had his salad tossed off the building. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:06:06], Oh my God. Is that what you want me to say? Pete:                No. Justin:              Yeah. He got- Pete:                No. I'm trying- Justin:              Someone brocked his world. Pete:                Somebody brocked his world. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:06:18], is dealing with the fallout of the last issue where the world has been taken over by [crosstalk 00:06:24], or at least New York city. Some of the Avengers are trying to rally to get Venom, and unfortunately spoiler, by the end of the issue they fail at Eddie Brock dies. Oh, I couldn't believe that… I was like, Oh, this will cut and then [inaudible 00:06:41], will swoop in and save him. He's not going to hit the ground. Smash. Justin:              It's about time somebody killed this maniacal Spider-Man villain. Pete:                Oh my gosh. Alex:                 So where do you think this is going from here? Do you think Eddie Brock is actually dead? He's going to come back to life, is his son Dylan going to be the new Venom? What's the goal here, granted that we're only a couple of issues through the King in Black event at this point. Justin:              I like this event a lot because it's going hard yet we're still getting the emotional bits. I think Donny Cates is very tactical. Like the issue of Eddie falling did feel like a sendoff and then to have him die in this issue feels like maybe he is dying, but I'm pretty confident he's going to come back. He'll become a full symbiote or some version of that will be where he goes. Pete:                I hope so because I really got into the father son relationship here and it was weird that while he was going through all this… Like they just had his son playing video games in another room, I was just like… I feel like someone should have- Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:07:45], a son? Pete:                Ooh. Wow. That's [crosstalk 00:07:51], like a jilted father. A jilted dad. Justin:              No. Pete:                Yeah. Jesus Christ. Justin:              The other day Alex's son, it was bring your father to school day and he brought in his Xbox. That's true. Pete:                He was like Master Chief is my dad. Alex:                 Great book. Next up let's move to the end of an event Firefly: Blue Sun Rising number one from Boom Studios. Written by Greg Pak. Art by Dan McDaid. This is as I just indicated wrapping up the Blue Sun Rising event where now Reynolds and the crew of Firefly are taking it to Blue Sun, the evil organization at the heart of a lot of things in the Firefly universe. Even if you haven't been reading this event religiously this is great. This is a good- Justin:              So good. Pete:                Fucking Greg Pak man. Alex:                 … chapter in the Firefly universe. Love this stuff. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, Greg Pak has done a great job of really… Took the characters from Firefly and Serenity and put them in a very different place at the start of this run and then he's really brought them back. It really feels like a great episode of Firefly or even the sort of climax of the Serenity movie. Like really great action puts the characters in a situation where they know how to succeed by fucking everything up. Introduces these other characters that aren't part of the main crew, but still fit really well. I think this event is just such a great run on this book Pete:                I've kind of been an outsider for this world, but this book did such a great job of bringing me in getting to care about these characters. This was an emotional ending. I thought it was really, really well done, and so well-written. This Greg Pak guy is unbelievable. I just really love that last panel and the let no one take the sky from you. Oh, just beautiful. Alex:                 Great stuff. Definitely pick that up. Moving on to another surprisingly emotional issue, Ice Cream Man number 22 from Image Comics written by W. Maxwell Prince. Art by Martine Morazzo. Now we've talked about every issue of this book. Pete:                Every goddamn issue. Alex:                 Well, every goddamn issue because it's fantastic. The art is absolutely gorgeous. It's terrifying in exactly the right way. All these small or big heart tales that parse out may have a loose continuity with them, but this one is very different. This is a advent calendar focusing on a character who's trying to deal with the fact that she's pregnant, her parents are over religious, what should she do about it? And it ends up having kind of a sad, but very hopeful ending for Ice Cream Man. This was a very refreshing change of pace and I really liked this quite a bit. Pete:                Well, that's the thing. Like I couldn't enjoy the refreshing because I was so worried about how this was ending. I was just like, “Oh God, what are we doing in this issue? Is the horror going to go too far? Like holy fucking shit.” But I was really impressed with the ending. I thought it was very touching and a nice turn. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, this was so refreshing that you might as well call it Lemon Sorbet man, because- Pete:                There we go. Justin:              … it's such a nice bright change of pace. I do think that it's sort of fitting at the end of a long difficult year to have even one of the darkest comic books on the stands really have a bright ending, but still able to talk about really interesting stuff, bring us to the edge of that horror. It's great. This book is always great. Pete:                I also really like how the house in the last panel, the way the windows are opened. It almost makes the house look like an advent calendar. It's just really, really impressive. If you haven't checked this out, please do. Like every panel it's just… They're really playing chess with this. It's just very impressive. Alex:                 Totally agree. Let's move on to one that I was pleasantly surprised by Labyrinth: Masquerade number one from Archaia. Written by Lara Elena Donnelly. Illustrated by Pius Bak, Samantha Dodge and French Carlomagno. What Pete is alluding to is Labyrinth is one of my favorite movies of all time. Pete:                You're, goddamn right it is. Alex:                 But I've been kind of iffy on the whole idea of continuing Labyrinth at all. What I really liked about this book is I feel like it found a fresh angle on the whole thing. We're told a story that takes place semi in parallel to the movie, has some new things to say with some new characters. Has some good things to say about memory. Adds some stuff to the continuity, and just the whole mythology of it and the art is really good as well as the coloring. I like this quite a bit. Again, I know it seems like I should be in the tank for this, but I definitely came into it being wary and was won over by the end. What was your guys' take? Justin:              I think that Alex is fucking tanked, is what I think. He's in the tank, he's on the tank. This guy has tanked for this book. Pete:                He's under the tank. Justin:              Yeah. He's swimming in the tank. He's Scrooge dunking ducking the tank. I remember Labyrinth not perhaps as much as you. I remember if someone peeing into a fountain because we watched that in school and [crosstalk 00:13:15], a very salacious moment in my life, but this played like a book. If you're not familiar with Labyrinth, but want to give it a shot, it's very much like an issue of the dreaming in the same end universe or even an issue of fables. It plays by those same rules, it's a great story and you get to just sort of explore this world following this character. I thought it was fun. Pete:                Yeah. I mean the whole time I was just thinking about how much [inaudible 00:13:43], loves this. Justin:              There you go. Pete:                But yeah, it was impressive. It was a new take on something that we've seen a ton. So it was nice to kind of like… I was impressed that it was fresh and the art was different, but it felt like it fit in the world. Yeah, I wasn't really a huge fan of the Labyrinth, you know? I mean, I respect the Bowie and stuff like that, but I was really impressed with this take and with this story. Alex:                 All right. Let's move from a book that Pete was sure that I was all over to a book that I was sure Pete was all over. King-Size Conan number one from Marvel written by Roy Thomas, Kurt Busiek, Chris Claremont, Kevin Eastman and Steven S. DeKnight. Art by Steve McNiven, Pete Woods, Roberto de la Torre, Kevin Eastman, and Jesús Saiz. So this is a tribute to Conan. It is a bunch of short stories about different parts of Conan's life. As usual the short story collection, I think mileage may vary, but for my money I thought the last story by Steven S. DeKnight was awesome. I love that one. I thought that was great. The rest of them were like your standard hack and slash fair, but that was the one that I was really into personally. Pete:                All right. You don't have to shit on the other ones [inaudible 00:15:06]. Alex:                 The other ones were pieces of shit. Pete:                No. Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 Is what I definitely think. They're not good art and good writing through out. Pete:                Yeah, the Claremont one I enjoyed, but the Eastman one, it was like I got into a cozy sleeping bag from the '90s and just wrap myself self in nostalgia and was just so happy. It's just great to see his art. I mean, it's a little weird in color, but it's still just it's so grimy and fantastic in all the right ways and I think it fits with Conan. It's cool. Alex:                 Did you find any poggs at the bottom of your sleeping bag? Pete:                No. Justin:              Get out of that sleeping bag dude. Pete:                I was never a pogger. Justin:              Okay. Pete:                Never into the poggs, but yeah, I think this is great. A lot of great stories. Yeah, and the last one was cool. Also the art themselves we're very different, but really worked. It was impressive. Justin:              Yeah, I liked this a lot too. Conan's one of those characters that has these three iconic eras. Then I think if you haven't read Conan, Jason Aaron's run on Thor sort of echoed in a really good way, where it's like young Thor, young Conan, middle sort of Thor, that's confident and a great warrior and it sort of seeded all and then King-Conan who is sort of a little bit over it, and I like all these stories. The first one I thought it was really cool because it dovetails so nicely with the original publication of Marvel's Conan: The Barbarian, which that was a cool little note and then my favorite version of Conan the more recent books of the last decade or so are the ones when he's with Bêlit his pirate queen. So it was nice to see her again here. Alex:                 Yeah. Good stuff overall. Next up An Unkindness of Ravens number four from Boom Studios written by Dan Panosian and illustrated by Marina… Marianna, excuse me, Ignazzi. Here we're finally kind of getting some answers about what's been going on, but this book there is a teen witch not named Sabrina who has come to a small town, find some weird goings on. There seems to be two warring factions who were both gunning for her, and here a lot of the things that we have suspected since the first issue come out. I like that they aren't wasting a lot of time on this mysteries in this book and they're finally pulling the lid back on them so to speak. Justin:              Agree. Though that I will say the beginning of each issue has some good mystery building stuff where we're getting a totally different sort of art style and some backstory stuff that I think is really cool. Dan Panosian who we had on the show is the writer of this book and he… The Panosh as he has never- Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:17:56], calls him that. Justin:              As he's never been called in his life. He illustrates the beginning of each book, which I think is very cool and then the main story it's really good. The art style is sort of in that Archie world, but telling a story that sits right alongside Sabrina, if you're a fan of the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Pete:                Yeah, I agree. It's cool. It's almost like making fun of the Archie style in a way, where it's just like a little edgier. Also I think it works great. I'm impressed with this story. Also you shouldn't take old timey pills in a paper cup and then drink. You know that's just a bad combo. Justin:              What are the oldest pills you think are safe to take? Are you talking about… Like when you say old timey, do you mean like… Because the oldest pills were just little pebbles that people would take. Pete:                Oh, thanks man. Just the- Alex:                 Yeah. OG pills? Pete:                OG pills- Justin:              Yeah. Pete:                Yeah. The original gangster of pills. Yeah, it looked like those old little paper cups that you see and he was just kind of tossing back some classic red and white pills there, and yeah. The art style is kind of like this Archie, but different, but the facial expressions are really great and especially in the main character. I think this is fun and different and cool. I like it. Alex:                 Next up Sea of Sorrows number two from IDW written by Rich Douek. Art and color by Alex Cormack. We had- Pete:                [crosstalk 00:19:38], we had Rich on the show. Justin:              Yes. Take it easy guys. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Yeah, not too rough. This is a story about a bunch of treasure hunters who encounter, or maybe some deadly mermaids. This is great. This is terrifying. This is the scariest issue I've read all week easily. Justin:              Yeah, the tone of this book is just so good. The way they draw the depths of the water is scary. The way the art is from, it's so much… Like this is a very specific note, but it's like so much up and down like vertical when they're under water. Like when you read an issue of Aquaman or Namor. It's sort of a scene like you'd see on any other book except under water. With this I could see these real long angles of these people under water and just add so much tension to it. All the characters are sort of greedy, up to no good. It's great. Pete:                Yeah, this is dark on top of dark and then scary as fuck, man. This is like a crazy book and it's intense to read because there is no hope, there's no chance. It's all going bad and the sea is a dark, dark place in this book and it's filled with things that are going to kill you. So this is intense and definitely worth picking up if you're into that type of shit my man, but get ready. Justin:              Have you guys ever been in water before? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              You guys are like really- Alex:                 Oh, man. No, I haven't tried it yet. Pete:                Well, it was funny because Rich was talking about like… You know he's from New York City and he would go to the beach, but there's a real big difference. The first time I went into the ocean off of a boat where there's no land in sight, it's scary as fuck and I think this book kind of does a good job of really kind of grasping that. Alex:                 I panic when I get into the deep end of pools because I imagine there's a shark under me if I can't get to the bottom, so. Justin:              Wow. Pete:                Yeah. I'm ready to go to the ocean. Let's do this. Alex:                 No, man. You will- Justin:              You really don't like the ocean? Alex:                 No, I really… Like I get an overactive imagination when the water is too deep and I can't see the bottom. We used to go snorkeling when I was a kid quite a bit and if we were on the low part, we're kind of swimming up to a reef or something like that. All good, but once we got past that where I couldn't touch the bottom with my feet, it really became like, “Okay, something is going to bite me. Something is going to eat me. What's coming? What's going to happen? Oh God.” And I would just get this spiraling panic until I got back to the shore. Justin:              Oh, man. I can't wait for our triple Caribbean vacation. We're going to have a blast. Pete:                No way, man. Alex:                 Good times. Let's talk about The Last God number 11 from DC comics written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson. Art by Riccardo Federici. Another guest that we had on the show this week. We had Phillip talking about this issue. This is the second to last issue of the first series in Felspire Chronicles. Yes. Pete, do you have a question or a statement? Pete:                I have something I wanted to point out. Usually you do such a great job with your transitions, but I just feel like you really missed an opportunity from going from Seas of Star Wars to Sea of Stars. I just wanted to point that out real quick. Alex:                 You know what? I purposely separated them because I kept confusing them. Pete:                Yeah. [crosstalk 00:22:58]. That makes sense. Alex:                 There you go you are absolutely correct. Later in the podcast, we're going to be talking about Sea of Stars number eight, but I kept them separate because I thought it was weird. All right. So let's talk about The Last God instead. This is a big dark issue where things go down. Justin:              Holly shit. Alex:                 I don't think they're going to get out of this one. Pete:                There's plucky kids. Justin:              It doesn't look great. I mean, every time we talk about this book, it's all about there's just so much depth here of the fantasy, the mythology it's so well thought out. The art is amazing. It feels like the… Every page feels like the cover of a fantasy novel in the best way, and it does feel like a new take. It's like a ruined fellowship as Phillip said on the podcast and to get to be in that with them and still have it, it's not so stiff as it might come across. It's not like these people aren't saying we must continue. Like sometimes the sort of the token characters come across like they're still joking around, they're still like being real people and that's great to see. Pete:                I got to tell you hearing PKG get worked up about this in how… And do it, he gets with just seeing the back matter in the songs and stuff in this issue really lets you know how deep this rabbit hole goes. Like you think you have an imagination of what you want to have happen. He has it worked out tenfold and it's really impressive. The art is just phenomenal. Each issue kind of takes you to this kind of creepy magic place. Yeah, this was a fantastic issue. Great ending. I really can't wait to see how this is all going to kind of go down. Yeah, man, the battle stuff is just glorious. Alex:                 Next let's talk about The Department of Truth number four from Image Comics written by James Tynion IV. Art by Martin Simmonds. Now earlier I said that Sea of Sorrows was the scariest thing that we read all week, I think I lied. I think this actually was. This book is incredible and this issue in particular is so expert at getting under your skin and making you feel uncomfortable. The writing is phenomenal. The art is phenomenal. If you haven't been reading this, this is about a organization, a part of the US government maybe devoted to not debunking conspiracy theories, but stopping conspiracy theories before they could become true based on everybody's belief. Here we get the belief that the characters of the organization is having challenged on their own as we find out more about Black Hat, the organization that's fighting against it and the stuff that they lay out here is so upsetting to read in exactly the right way. A fantastic book, but as I said very scary and very uncomfortable to read at the same time. Pete:                I want to hear Justin take because he was saying this is his pick of the week. So I'm excited to hear what he's going to say. Justin:              Yeah. I love this book. Like I'm a big news junkie and this book is like, Oh, this makes me feel so much better to have someone sort of digesting these things and making it make sense in a fictional context, but it actually is quite stressful to really feel these beliefs that real people in our world believe, and have it… The premise of the book is that if enough people believe in a very simple idea that is false, it still manifests in the real world and I think that is such a smart premise and scary and feels real to us. Like the book does this just great sort of loop-to-loop mentally for us as the reader, because the premise is about flies becoming real, but that's also happened in our world. It's such a smart book. Pete:                That whole thing about Barack just blew my mind. I- Alex:                 And you believe it now, right? Pete:                Yeah. It was just one of those things where they in this book were able to pull off kind of like a trope that we've seen in a lot of horror movies and spoiler, but the whole like “The room in the next room.” I was like, “Oh shit.” But like that's such a thing that I should have seen coming. It's just… Oh, man. It's intense. It uses real life that makes it scarier. Yeah, the art's phenomenal. This is a crazy read and it's really impressive. Alex:                 Two things that I wanted to mention about this book in particular. One, a couple of issues back they introduced these… Issue two actually I think, they introduced this star face man who are our main character that we are following who is new to The Department of Truth was maybe, or maybe not tortured by this being years back, wants to track him down and wants to stop him and it uses a lot of antisemitic tropes and as a Jewish man myself, I was very uncomfortable about it. Reading this issue the targets conspiracy theories around birtherism and Barack Obama made me realize in retrospect that, “Oh yes, of course they are trying to make me feel uncomfortable with this plot line. They're trying to make me feel this is upsetting.” And so to elicit that reaction, I think is the right thing. Alex:                 The other thing that I wanted to mention is the end of the book, and this is a big spoiler, but by the end of the issue our main character is told, okay, this Washington Post reporter and presumably his editor, you got to kill them. You got to just shut this down because even if they say they're not going to follow this up, at some point they're going to mention it and it's going to take on a life of its own and the Washington Post reporter I believe says something to the effect of, “Hey, you're one of the good guys, right?” And while he's crying, he says, “I think so.” And shoots them, and that in essence kind of defines and redefines the entire series because we realize, Oh, okay. We have a predilection to think that people we're following the heroes, maybe they're not. Justin:              Yeah. And I think I had that same feeling of dread reading this about just controlling the truth is a slippery slope to be on. So that's a great tension for this book. One of the things I want to mention, there's an ad on the back of this book for the new Anthology series from W. Maxwell Prince, the writer of Ice Cream Man called HaHa, coming out in January. Very excited for that. Alex:                 Me too. Pete:                I don't know if I'm ready for that. Alex:                 Neither am I. I feel like my wife, who is a clown is going to be hypercritical of it. We'll see what happens. Maybe we'll have her on the show. Next up [crosstalk 00:29:52], History of Animation number two from IDW written by Fred Van Lente and arts and letters by Ryan Dunlavey. Just a little note, we're going to have him on the show I believe next month or maybe February. Pete:                Fred. Alex:                 Have a chat about this book, so that should be a lot of fun. This book is great. I know we talked about this the last time, but here we're finally getting to the point where Disney is ascended and Walt Disney at least in this world and probably in ours as well is a sociopath. Justin:              Yes. Pete:                Yeah. It's super crazy to read this. You know that Fred Van Lente just did all this off the top of his dome. Like this guy knows so much about Animation. Alex:                 He made it all up, right? Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 He made up all this shit? Pete:                No, no. He just knows it- Alex:                 The Department of Truth. Pete:                … because he lived it, man. He lived it all. Alex:                 Oh, God. That's crazy. Justin:              He lived it. I love that little facts you learn every time you read any books that these guys do together, and this is so interesting. Like just one from the beginning here Marjorie Sullivan I think wife of the creator of Felix the Cat, notable drinker fell out of her window and died trying to hail her chauffeur while she was drunk. Just those little details, these little stories that are just so interesting, and then the way they incorporate imagery from the actual cartoons and animated projects they're talking about is really cool. Alex:                 And it's also funny. You know it could just be a history lesson that feel like reading Wikipedia, but they make it engaging, they make it fun as they have done with every comic they've done across the board. This is great. I'm very excited to keep reading this book and see how they get up to modern history. It's really fascinating so far. Next one Doctor Doom number 10 from Marvel written by Christopher Cantwell. Art by Salvador Larroca. This is the last issue of this title. I believe the last one we read was the first issue of this title. So I figured it was worth checking in. Part of the criticism I believe we had with the first issue was it seemed a little light and fun for a Doctor Doom book. This issue was not light and fun, [crosstalk 00:32:00], but definitely very dark in exactly the right way. I thought this was a great ending for the series. How'd you guys think? Justin:              I agree like the first issue I think was called Pottersville last issue called Bedford Falls, I think those are two references to its wonderful life. My favorite movie at the holidays. So this felt very timely and it's just a great character study of Doctor Doom that we get to see played out here, cementing him as a straight up villain. He gets played a lot in Fantastic Four as sort of a little bit of a softie. He has a connection with Valerio thanks to Hickman's run, but I think this is the best Doctor Doom. He's a petty, very powerful super villain and we get to see that on display. Pete:                Yeah. Just to me the way it ended was great. When it started, I was like what are we doing here? I don't want a different Doom, but just the way he's like never was, never will be good. Like that was just so bad-ass, such a great Doom kind of like ending. So I was really impressed with how this ended. Justin:              You were like here comes the Doom? Pete:                Yeah. “Here comes the Doom.” Alex:                 Well from Sea of Sorrows to Sea of Star number eight from the Image Comics written by Jason Aaron and Dennis Hallum. Art by Steven Green. So we had Dennis Hallum on the show, live show a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was really fascinating frankly reading this now knowing that… Unless I got it wrong, Dennis writes the dad stuff and Jason Aaron writes the kids' stuff and knowing they kind of write on their own tracks, definitely redefined how I read this book, but still another good weird issue of the story of a dad and his son trying to find each other in the universe. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, really knowing that about the book it definitely changes how you read it. This book reminds me so much of sort of last season late episodes of Adventure Time where it's like a little bit trippier it's a little bit like you don't quite know where the deeper underpinnings are blending with the fun mythology stuff and I'd love that. So I love this. Pete:                Yeah. This continues to be just kind of like I'm worried about the kid and if they're going to find each other, but I'm also having such a great time with the amazing stuff that is happening and to see that the dad kind of get to have some fun in this issue was great. Before he was just kind of just scared shitless for his son and kind of panicking. This was I feel like a cool kind of turn where now both characters are kind of like looking for each other, but they're all both also kind of having fun out here in the Sea of Stars. Alex:                 Next up Transformers/Back to the Future number two from IDW written by Cavan Scott. Art by Juan Samu. I got to tell you I was fine with the first issue of this book. I thought it was fun, but okay. We get of course time travel story where the Decepticons take over the past of Hill Valley, turn it into a despotic future. Marty McFly has left there, but the reveal at the end that the DeLorean is a transformer was like, “Great. Now we're into it.” This issue paid off of that promise. It was a blast to read, super dumb and silly and fun in exactly the right way. Like I said, I had a blast reading this. I had a lot of fun. Pete, I'm sure you had fun as well. Pete:                Yeah. This is just a ton of just kind of like mash up fun. You know like what's better than DeLorean being a transformer, spoiler also the goddamn skateboard is a transformer. Justin:              Yes. Oh, you're not a fan of Skills. The transformer who's also a skate board. This makes me think like, can any wield object be a transformer? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Like- Pete:                Well, also I got to say the ending was also a lot of fun. Doc Brown, looking like he's got the Mando gun going on and I tell you what, I don't know what future those ties are, but I can't wait to get there because that's a fun looking tie and I'm hoping to rock one, one day. Justin:              Yeah, sort of the bandolier tie? Pete:                Yeah, man. Justin:              Here's what want to pitch given what I just said sort of an Amish wagon transformer series [crosstalk 00:36:46], wheelbarrow, there's a Turner, there's- Alex:                 My name is Rumspringer. I'm an auto bot. Pete:                Rumspringer. Alex:                 Yes. There's more than meets the eye. Yeah, this is a blast read. It's very silly but it's very fun the right way. Next step action comics number 1028 from DC comics written by Brian Michael Bendis. Art by John Romita Jr. This is the last issue of Brian Michael Bendis's run on the title. He's wrapping everything up with the super family before he move on with Phillip Kennedy Johnson, who again we had on the live show talking about his new run so go check that out- Pete:                [crosstalk 00:37:22], key guests. Justin:              We're topical. Pete:                Man. Alex:                 But what do you think about this issue? What do you think about Brian Michael Bendis's run on the super family as a whole? Pete:                I thought you were going to be like, what do you think of this Brian Michael Bendis guy? Alex:                 Do you think he's going to do well? Pete:                I thought this was very swing issue, cool ending, love the thank you notes by the desk cubicle, amazing art, touching story. I thought this was a great Superman comic. Justin:              I mean, this is Bendis doing what he does best and Bendis writes great sum up issues for his runs, where he… Because his whole thing is like really bringing characters down to earth, having them having a take and really connecting with the other characters in their universe and that is what this is all about. We get to see this stuff from the Jimmy Olsen series where he has purchased The Daily Planet. Perry's very fun, we don't get a ton of time with actual Superman stuff happening here which I thought was interesting, but I love the family stuff. That's what I really liked about the run before Bendis took over so I'm glad we're sort of landing there because I hope that we'll play a lot in going forward and honestly, I don't feel as burnt by the Superman and Clark Kent revealing themselves to the world as I did initially. Alex:                 Yeah. I think that's a fair estimation of it and overall, this is a good fun issue. It doesn't feel particularly essential necessarily. It's been weird reading the sum-up issues before they move on to Future State where it's like well, see you later, is kind of what they feel like, but John Romita Jr art, it's good. He's drawn a good superman. It's a nice time. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Next up The Scumbag number three from Image Comics. Written by Rick Remender. Art by Eric Powell as considering the story of the worst guy on earth who can save the earth. Here, I think we kind of complete the first arc and move into the second arc or at least the second villain for our dirt bag hero naturally saves the world, but does some terrible things in the process. This book continues to be very timely in an interesting way and funny at the same time. Justin:              Yeah. I mean, I agree. It's a classic Remender book where it's like a strong, good premise for a story. It's very funny, but there's always some stuff underneath. It's really like commenting on our world in a way that is really nice. Pete, give me your take on this 1978 Firebird trans in. Pete:                Come on, man. I mean I was a little disappointed with the sex doll edition, but that is like, Woo-hoo, baby. Justin:              Now that's a transformer, right? Pete:                Yeah. it should be. Justin:              I do like the last page that sets up our next field and as you said Alex, the sort of accolade looking people hundreds of them on laptops typing on the bright side of the moon with a mysterious villain watching over them is a great setup. Pete:                I also like how there's this line with the scumbag, you know what I mean? Like okay, the scumbag gets to be a scumbag at different moments, but it's also like, “Hey man you can't be a piece of shit and have superpowers. That's not how it works, you know?” And that really kind of comes back to- Justin:              Oh wait Pete. Actually, have you ever met villains? Have you ever met any supervillains? Pete:                No, I haven't. Cause I'd probably be dead if I did, but thank you for asking? Justin:              No. I mean, have you ever read about them, because those people are mostly assholes who have super powers. Pete:                Oh, okay. Interesting take, but- Justin:              And I'll also mentioned Eric Powells art, which is like what if Mad magazine, but super fucked up, which is fun to read. Alex:                 It's just a fun book across the board. Let's move to a slightly more serious one Scarenthood number three from IDW. Story and art by Nick Roche. Color by Chris O'Halloran. In this book we've been following a father and his friends, who have to deal with some weird going on in their town, around the school that their kids go to. Here a lot comes out about our main character that makes him I think in a really interesting way less palatable as well as we get the lid blown off when it comes to the supernatural storyline. It was definitely a big issue. Justin, you've been really liking this book in particular I think. Justin:              I like this book a lot because of those swerves that it keeps taking. It's interesting we've spent the first two issues really in the head of our main character and then the perspective totally flipped. I love being inside people's heads except for the year that I was trapped inside Pete's head being John Malkovich style. That was a weird ride. Pete:                Yeah. You almost didn't make it out, man. Justin:              That's true, but boy I learned a lot about your schedule, what you do on your private time. Check out the upcoming memoir- Pete:                Yeah. I think this is definitely what it's like to be a parent. Justin:              … if I did it the page story. Pete:                You know, like you've got your responsibilities to your kid and then you have a group of parents that you get together with and you solve crimes and ghost stories and stuff like that. So I feel it's nice to have a representation of what it's like to be a parent in this world. Alex:                 Yeah, I agree. Let's move on and talk about US Agent number two from Marvel written by Priest art by Georges Jeanty. This is continuing a story where US agent is dealing with a lot of things. I'll tell you what, I honestly had a little bit of trouble following this issue even though I remember what happened to the last issue which I think we all liked quite a bit, but the Georges Jeanty art still reliably very good. Justin:              Yeah. I agree. It is. I don't quite know the full take of this story, but I do like it. I like the scenes, I like the issues we're touching on here and I just like US agent as a character. Like what if captain America was sort of a jerk, but really had an inferiority complex, but was always trying to do the right thing. So I like where this book is living. Pete:                Yeah. I had a little bit of a hard time following what was happening, but it's cool. Alex:                 All right. Well, next stop then Undiscovered Country number 11 from Image Comics written by Scott Snyder and Charles Soule. Art by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Leonardo Marcello Grassi. In this issue we're starting to get into the, if not wrap up, at least the back half of the unity storyline. We are in the second ring of a closed off America that has all followed focused on tech, turns out it's terrible. They're powered by baby brains. There is a basically dead woman living in a giant vagina who runs everything and she wants our heroes brains to join them. Alex:                 Here's something that I thought was fascinating about this issue, and this is definitely a spoiler for the issue, but I certainly realized this and the characters realized in this book, they're given a challenge. There said Aurora, who's the person who runs America wants you to either choose a ring of America or keep moving to the next ring until you choose one, and by the end of the book they all realize they say, “Hey, you know what I think we need to do is we need to see all of these rings and get to Aurora and then bring what we've learned. That's the challenge here.” And that's certainly what I thought. I was like, “I'm ahead of this book. I know what's going on here.” But the fact that they said that out loud, that is 100% wrong, right? Pete:                Yup. Justin:              Yes. I think that was a classic bait and switch move that we get a little bit of a pay off right here. Pete:                But also we're plug for the first-generation iPod in the middle of this. Alex:                 Still good man [crosstalk 00:45:23], click wheels are really good. [crosstalk 00:45:27], plus all crazy bass they had for songs on those things. Justin:              You can listen to one whole U2 album on there, and that's the only thing. If I remember correctly, that's the only thing you can listen to on it. Yeah, I really liked this arc especially. Like we talked about it before, but it really focuses up a lot of the ideas and you have more of a sense of the characters coming out of the first arc. So it really moves in a nice way, and so many ideas. Pete:                I think it's an interesting idea just like, Oh, you just got to give up your second born. Not your first born to be a floating brain just your second born, you know what I mean? No one really cares. Alex:                 I think I can do that. Justin? Justin:              Yeah. Wait a second. Are you a first born or a second born? Because I think- Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:46:16], I'm a firstborn. Justin:              I'm a first born. Pete, aren't you this younger brother? Pete:                Nope. I'm a firstborn as well. Alex:                 Oh, great. Well this is all working out so well. The book is really good, definitely pick it up. Next up at last something… Oh yes. What's up Pete? Pete:                I did want to say though that every time I think I have a handle on what's going on, they're like nope, not even close. Which is not really frustrating, but impressive that I could still be confused after this long, but man the art and the paneling it's just really impressive. Okay, sorry. Alex:                 No. It's all right. Last but not least Something is Killing the Children number 13 from Boom Studios written by James Tynion IV. Art by Werther Dell'Edera. We're finally getting an event that's been promised pretty much since the first issue where our main characters compatriots come to town and start killing everybody. She wants to shut down the monsters that are killing the children as quickly as possible. Every issue… I know I say this every issue, but so little happens but it's of such import to the characters, it still feels media at the same time and Werther Dell'Edera art is phenomenal. Another great issue of this book. Justin:              Every single issue of this is just so great and the art is just… There's at least one or two panels where you're like fuck man I would love to have that. It's like a desktop background or a poster or something. It's just glorious. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:47:49]. That would be so cool to have it as a desktop background. Pete:                Yeah, because you get to stare at it every day you fucking dick. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:47:57], a laptop. I don't want to brag or anything. Justin:              Mr. Desktop over here. I would love to have it just as printed on my sheets. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:48:05], to have it on my van. Justin:              Yeah. The inside or the outside are both? Alex:                 Inside. I don't want other people to see. Justin:              Nice. Alex:                 It's for me. Justin:              That's for you. That's for daddy. Yeah, I like this book a lot. I will say the pace of this book is gotten, it's pretty… Not a ton of story happens each issue, and I'm curious if that will change. Because I think it needs to make some larger moves. So maybe- Pete:                So you're saying this wildly popular book that is really impressive they should just change it? Justin:              I think it could pace up a little bit. I feel like we've been in this narrative moment for quite some time. Pete:                Yeah, but if you read in the trade then you're fucking fine, they don't have to change anything. Justin:              Don't tell me what to do. Pete:                Well, don't tell it what to do, enjoy it for what it is. Alex:                 Well, I'll tell you what I'm going to tell those of you listening what to do. If you'd like to support us patrion.com/comicbookclub. Also, we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comics. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app is you are trying to subscribe and listen to the show @comicbooklive on Twitter, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time we've been Comic Book Club, peace out. Justin:              Oh, when I lived in your head Pete, I told you what to do all the time. (singing). The post The Stack: Dark Nights Death Metal, King In Black And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

أهلا يا شعب رجعنا لكم بحلقة دسمة نوعا ما لكن لأسباب معقولة و نتوقع انكم راح تتفهمون ليش. قبل فترة تكلمنا عن بعض الكتب الشبه معروفة او مظلومة و كان من ضمنها كوميكس للكاتب ريك ريمندر. فقررنا في هذه الحلقة نستكشف و نقرأ بعض الكتب الي كتبها و قد ايش هي فعلا كويسة وليش هو معروف ببناءه للعوالم بشكل رهيب. الكتب الي تكلمنا عنها في هذه الحلقة هي: - Devolution - Fear Agent - Seven to Eternity - Uncanny X-Force وش رأينا في هذه الكتب؟ وش تتوقعون ردة فعلنا؟ ليش عبدالعزيز تفلت في هذه الحلقة؟ كل هذا و أكثرراح تسمعونه في ذي الحلقة. لتعليقاتكم و اقتراحاتكم، تابعونا على حسابات الجبهة في السوشال ميديا: تويتر: https://twitter.com/JabhaVerse انستقرام: https://instagram.com/jabhaverse?igshid=vulklvmemtkj

Time Codes: 00:00:32 - Introduction 00:03:09 - A few words (and a gripe) about the 2018 Eisner Award nominations 00:11:02 - Terminal Lance Ultimate Omnibus 00:37:29 - Death or Glory#1 00:47:28 - Black [AF]: Widows and Orphans#1 01:03:08 - Wrap up 01:04:46 - Contact us This week Paul and Derek focus on three titles that are strikingly different in nature. They begin with Maximilian Uriarte's Terminal Lance Ultimate Omnibus: The World's Most Popular Military Comic Strip(Little Brown and Company). This is a hardbound volume of the entries included on Uriarte's webcomic, and it collects strips published between January 2010 and December 2016, most of what you'll find on the site. Terminal Lance Ultimate Omnibus also include the strips published in the Marine Corps Times. Although the guys know next to nothing about military (specifically Marine) life, they approach this text on its own terms and with a full awareness of its intended audience. Next, they look at Rick Remender and Bengal's Death or Glory #1(Image Comics). Both of the guys marvel over Bengal's art, pointing out that the visuals are what largely drive the narrative in this first issue. But both are also fans of Remender's work, and as Paul points out, this new title bears many of his stylistic stamps. This is a title that has a lot of promise, and it's yet another Remender series for the guys to keep up with. Finally, Paul and Derek discuss something never before covered on The Comics Alternative: a title from Black Mask Studios. The first issue in Kwanza Osajyefo and Tim Smith 3's Black [AF]: Widows and Orphanshas recently been released, and the guys speculate on this ancillary tale in the Blackstoryworld. Although Paul is familiar with this universe, this is Derek's first foray into Black. As the guys discuss, this is an action-packed first issue, although at times a bit chaotic. Some of this confusion, in fact, may be due to the visuals. Nonetheless, it's a title worth checking out.

This week the Two Guys with PhDs Talking about Comics explore four new titles, each quite different one from the other. They begin with the new graphic novel from New Zealand creator Ant Sang, The Dharma Punks (Conundrum Press). On the surface it is a story about coming to terms with death, but there's much more going on in this 415-page book. In fact, this is one of the most ambitious narratives the guys have encountered so far this year, and certainly the most philosophical. Its protagonist, Chopstick, tries to comes to grips with the suicide of a close friend and what that loss means in his own life, while at the same time participating in an anarchist act against a corporate franchise. The events in the book take place roughly over a two-day period, but one of strengths of this narrative is how Sang manipulates time in a Faulkner-like manner, making the past ever-present. This is a rich and complex text, and at times Gene and Derek feel at a loss trying to put the gist of The Dharma Punks into words for an audio podcast. Next, the guys take on a much more constrained narrative, but one that is nonetheless multifaceted in its own ways, Noah Van Sciver's My Hot Date (Kilgore Books). This is an autobiographical comic, and as the title suggests, it's about a date that the fourteen-year-old Noah has with someone he met via America Online. Van Sciver has written short memoir-inspired stories in the past, but this is the longest, and definitely the most humorously self-deprecating, that he's produced to date. This is just one of the many comics that Van Sciver has released over the past year, many of which are published through Kilgore Books...a growing presences in the Two Guys' arsenal of go-to small publishers. After that, Derek and Gene turn their attention to the first issue in Rick Remender and Sean Murphy's new series from Image Comics, Tokyo Ghost. This is a futuristic story that takes as its premise the overriding and ever-present impact of on-demand digital culture in our lives. This inaugural issue does a fine job of setting up this narrative world, but Gene wonders if the nonstop action and complex visuals may be too much at times. Lastly, the guys take a brief look at an issue of an online zine they have just discovered, Jackie Batey's FutureFantasteek! Issue #16 was released at the beginning of 2015, and while the latest installment can stand on its own, Derek and Gene suggest that the title can best be appreciated when read over the course of its run. For those with a diverse taste in comics, this episode is definitely for you!

This week on The Comics Alternative, Derek and Andy W. discuss three new titles. First they look at the reissue of David Lapham's Murder Me Dead (Image). Originally a nine-issue miniseries that was later collected as a trade in 2002, the book is now back in print with a new reissue. The guys discussed Stray Bullets‘ return back in April, and now they're just as excited to see this release. This is Lapham's tip of the bristol board to the classic noir films of the 1940s and 1950s. Next, they turn their attention to two new number one issues: Frank J. Barbiere and Victor Santos's Black Market (BOOM! Studios) and Rick Remender and Greg Tocchini's Low (Image). The first is a twist on superheroes, looking at them from the street-level and with a more jaundiced eye. In this  new miniseries, Barbiere is asking us who the real heroes actually are. Low, Rememder's third ongoing title with Image, is a new sci-fi adventure that begins with this premise: what would happen if our sun were going supernova, and we had to live undersea to escape radiation, all the while searching the universe for another inhabitable planet? With Tocchini's stunning art, we get a fascinating answer.

Better late than never again! Jermaine, Stephen and Riley are back with a vengeance to answer the Indoor Kids' call, go over all of the new books announced at the ImageExpo, provide advance reviews of Batman '66 and Collider, and lead us all in a lively session of Comics at the Table! Show Notes: Elm St. Center photos on Jermaine's Instagram! Get an idea of what the framework of Comic Book City Con will look like! The Indoor Kids podcast on Nerdist.com, specializing in video games! The movie Joe said Stephen should lose his nerd card for having not seen was Unbreakable! "Image 2013: New Comics From Brubaker, Epting, Remender, Straczynski, Sienkiewicz, Aaron And More" at Comics Alliance.com. "Image Comics Now Selling DRM-Free Digital Comics From Its Website" at Comics Alliance.com. Batman '66 and Guardians of the Galaxy Tomorrow's Avengers' "Infinite" Comics on Comixology! "Like" Acme Comics Presents on Facebook to keep up with all of the latest reading events! Comics at the Table! - Satellite Sam #1, Superior Foes of Spider-man #1, Catalyst Comics #1, Avengers A.I. #1, What If? AvX #1, Batman Incorporated #12 and Legends of the Dark Knight #10!

In which The Off-Panelists plot to send an asteroid heading towards Earth in attempt to rid them of a constant nuiscence, before realizing that they've actually got comic books to talk about. Once the confusion settles, the Spic, the Hick, the Prick, and SICBA Award Winner John Lees decide that Rob Liefeld is the true d-list of the comic book industry, before commencing the circle jerk for a Marvel book, getting onto eachother for not reading their own recommendations, complaining about the lack of a certain costume feature on one of DC's most recent reinventions, and fight against the dreaded menace of bald testicle lumps. Die, Scot Kimball, die!Download Here!Kickstarter Campaign For "Oxymoron", A Graphic Novel By Tyler James, Joe Mulvey, and even SICBA Award Winner John Lees!Pledge now, and receive special incentives for donating!"Spent" - A Comic NOT Endorsed By SICBA Award Winner John LeesWith ApologiesRussell Crowe Replaces Javier Bardem For "Dark Tower" LeadRandom Text AccompanimentNew Creative Teams For "Marvel NOW" Revealed, Including Aaron, Waid, And RemenderFurther Random Text AccompanimentRob Liefeld Demotes "Deadpool" Talent To D-ListOkay, Seriously, I've Got Nothing

This episode we get Rick Remender, writer of Uncanny X-Force on the phone to talk X-Force, Fear Agent, Bulletstorm and many other things.  

Remender is here just in time to talk about Uncanny X-Force. Issue 2 comes out tomorrow. We also talk about his Punisher finale In The Blood, wrapping up the Fear Agent saga, and more

On this edition of Word Balloon, creator Rick Remender joins host John Siuntres in a conversation about FEAR AGENT.The 1950's style sci-fi adventurer's origin is being explored in FEAR AGENT, THE LAST GOODBYE , from Dark Horse Comics.DHC has also released the first two collections of FA stories.They also discuss Rick's upcoming projects through the end of the year...SORROW The new Image Comics series, co-written with Seth Peck, Francesco Francavilla on art and covers by Kieron Dwyer, XXXombies with art from Dwyer and Fear Agent co-creator Tony Moore, and more information on The End League, Rick's epic in progress with artist Mat Broome.Read Rick's first teaser including Broome art examples about End League here http://www.newsarama.com/general/Remender/04/endleague.htmland if you haven't  read Fear Agent, read the first issue herehttp://www.newsarama.com/ImageComics/FearAgent/FearAgent01issue.htm