Podcast appearances and mentions of ryan dunlavey

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Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2021 66:42

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S05.E07: First Names First

The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2021 54:08

Things are extra tuneful on this week's new episode! Jim, James, and Gerald all face off for pop culture games and trivia that really test their musical minds. A cello-themed round of My Champion gives way to a round one filled with some unexpected movie-singing (though some of these examples are VERY expected if you have been tracking the types of movies Taylor likes to put in games). Gears shift in round two where players try to un-confuse pop culture properties that each have characters who share a first name. And as always, it's not over until everyone gets a crack at the lightning round! NOTES ⚠️ Inline notes below may be truncated due to podcast feed character limits. Full notes are always on the episode page.

tiktok weddings names back to the future gears coldplay suits michael j fox olivia rodrigo my best friend tony danza match game little prayer charles nelson reilly close ties ryan dunlavey

S05.E07: First Names First

The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2021 54:08

Things are extra tuneful on this week's new episode! Jim, James, and Gerald all face off for pop culture games and trivia that really test their musical minds. A cello-themed round of My Champion gives way to a round one filled with some unexpected movie-singing (though some of these examples are VERY expected if you have been tracking the types of movies Taylor likes to put in games). Gears shift in round two where players try to un-confuse pop culture properties that each have characters who share a first name. And as always, it's not over until everyone gets a crack at the lightning round!Support Us On Patreon

weddings names acast back to the future gears coldplay suits michael j fox olivia rodrigo my best friend tony danza match game little prayer charles nelson reilly close ties ryan dunlavey

140. M.O.D.O.K. : Episode One Feat. Ryan Dunlavey (Hulu/ Star)

The Episode One Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 2, 2021 55:51

This week we are back with another Comic Book Show. And we've got a guest! Ryan Dunlavey (https://www.ryandunlavey.com/) wrote a 2009 M.O.D.O.K. One Shot for the Dark Reign crossover that served as one of the inspirations for the new HULU MODOK show, brought to us by Jordan Blum and Patton Oswalt. We talk to Ryan about all things MODOK, including the pilot! We also get a little bit into Erie PA, Comic conventions slowly returning and some great Crossovers and 30 second pitches on more shows Stoopid human (the group behind Robot Chicken and MODOK should do next)

hulu comic one shot patton oswalt crossovers modok robot chicken stoopid erie pennsylvania dark reign ryan dunlavey

On this week's comic book review podcast: Infinite Frontier #0 DC Comics Written by Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Brian Michael Bendis, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Geoff Johns, Geoffrey Thorne Art by David Marquez, Jorge Jimenez, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Joelle Jones, Stephen Byrne, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter, John Romita Sr. and Klaus Janson America Chavez: Made In The USA #1 Marvel Written by Kalinda Vazquez Art by Carlos Gómez Batman #106 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV, Joshua Williamson Art by Jorge Jimenez, Gleb Melnikov Demon Days: X-Men #1 Marvel Story and Art by Peach Momoko Suicide Squad #1 DC Comics Written by Robbie Thompson Art by Eduardo Pansica Wiccan and Hulkling: King in Black #1 Marvel Written by Tini Howard Art by Luciano Vecchio The Swamp Thing #1 DC Comics Written by Ram V Art by Mike Perkins Nocterra #1 Image Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Tony S. Daniel Crime Syndicate #1 DC Comics Written by Andy Schmidt Art by Kieran McKeown, Bryan Hitch Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters #1 Oni Press By Chris Samnee and Laura Samnee Sea of Sorrows #4 IDW Written by Rich Douek Art by Alex Cormack The Comic Book History of Animation #4 IDW Written by Fred Van Lente Art by Ryan Dunlavey 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 come out this week, and we're going to kick it off with a big one. Infinite Frontier, number zero- Pete: Oh, man. Alex: … from DC Comics. Nice, simple lineup of names here. So let's go through it. Written by Joshua Williamson, James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Brian Michael Bendis, Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad, Joelle Jones, Tim Sheridan, Phillip Kennedy Johnson, Jeff Johnson, Geoffrey Thorne. Art by David Marquez, Jorge Jimenez, Alitha Martinez, Mark Morales, Joelle Jones, Stephen Bird and Rafa Sandovall, Jody… Oh, there we go. Jordi Tarragona, Jamal Igle, Alex Maleev, Todd Nauck, Dexter Soy, Howard Porter, John Romita Sr. and Klaus Janson. Alex: Now this is your requisite, post-event check in with the entire DC Universe. What's going on? What's happening with everybody? What's everybody's new status quo now that the continuity has changed. So we kind of know how this one goes, but the framing here is that Wonder Woman has maybe ascended to be a higher being, she's trying to decide about that. Alex: And so she's taken a look in on the new state and the multi-verse post Dark Nights: Death Metal. How'd you feel about this book? How'd you feel about the status quo? What jumped out at you? Pete: For me, I thought the Bat cycle was sick. Cool green Lanterns thing. And love the last page, but what is happening now with DC? Alex: Wait, what do you mean Pete? Pete: Well, like we were really enjoying these DC kind of what if books, and now it's just all over and- Alex: Well so- Pete: … and it all- Alex: … Phillip Kennedy Johnson, when he was on the show, talked about this a little bit. He said that the Future State things are, and they talk about this in this book a bit as well, but not as explicitly, that they're a possible future or a possible futures. These are places the continuity may be going or may not, but they're not ignoring them. Alex: And you can see that a little bit in the Batman story that teases the magistrate storyline. That plays later in The Stack Podcast where we're going to be talking about Batman 106, where that plays in a big way. But that's what we're getting here is these new status quos, these new setups, they might head towards these disasters that we've seen in Future State, but also maybe not. We'll have to see what happens. Justin: … And I really like that. I liked the confidence with which DC moved forward through Future State and into this where it's like, “Okay, all that stuff happened, you read it, and then we're not going to dance around it. We're just going to jump into the books and we're going to start to pepper those things in, those things that we like, those things that-“ Pete: Maybe though? Justin: … I appreciate that though. It really- Pete: Why do you appreciate that? Because they're saying, “We may do something that you really enjoyed, we may not. Go fuck yourself.” Justin: … I love that. I like- Pete: Really? Justin: … I enjoyed what we saw, and then if they- Pete: I very much enjoyed it, but I would like to know if I'm going to get some of it or not. Justin: Well, then you continue being a fan, I think is the real… Like, if you keep talking about the things that you loved, I think they will do those things. And the things that people didn't like, they won't do those things. And we [crosstalk 00:03:21]. Alex: You heard it here first, true believer. You're going to have to check in every week to find out whether the adventures of your favorite superheroes are going to turn out good, bad, or something in between. Excelsior. Justin: I can't. Pete: Mr. Magoo? I can't hear anything you're saying. Alex: Just imagine. Me, Mr. Magoo. Imagine this in the DC Universe, Future State. Pete: All I see is The Lost DVD thing. And I don't hear anything you're saying, because I'm just focused on The Lost DVD question that popped up. Alex: Here's the big twist, Pete, that Lost DVD thing behind me has been here the whole time. Justin: Wow, I don't know if that's- Pete: Well, that's not true. Justin: … a direct quote from Lost- Pete: That's not true. Justin: … but even if it's not, I don't want to hear it. I like the Batman stuff I think is really fun here. It's interesting that Grifter is now just fully part of the Bat Universe. The Bat Universe feels fairly large right now. Alex: Yes. Justin: And- Alex: Well, and you get to see more of that in Batman 106 as well. It's a big cast, but I agree with you. I like how James Tynion is playing with it. I like the potential threat of The Magistrate. I love the reveal at the end here of what Scarecrow looks like right now. That's pretty terrifying. What's up Pete? Pete: So you guys are just okay with the fact that we just got two months of amazing stories and now like, “Eh, done.” “Maybe we're going to do something-“ Alex: They told us. That's exactly what was happening going in. Pete: … You can tell us that. But then when you fall in love with it, as you're reading it and buying these, and then have it maybe show up or maybe be taken away, it's just- Alex: This is the same thing that happened to you with Titania when you went to Europe, Pete. It was supposed to be two months. And then you were like, “Okay, let's head home, baby.” And she's like, “No, I live here. I cannot come with you, Pete.” Pete: Did you say Titanita? Alex: Titania. Pete: Oh. Alex: Come on. You know the name of your ex-girlfriend, Titania, who you met in Belgium. Pete: Yeah, sure. Justin: Titania. Famous. Famously, a real person's name. Read a little Midsummer Night's Dream over there? Alex: Titania. Pete: No, I don't know? Alex: Oh, man. Justin: I'm curious what Green Lantern's going to do. They introduced the Teen Lantern here, which, okay, a little up in the air there. Flash really puts a flag in like, “We're fully back to Wally West as the main Flash,” which Alex, you must love. Alex: Great. Feeling a little conflicted after the past couple of years of storyline there. But I will say one thing that I was very happy about was Geoff Johns and Todd Nauck, back on Stargirl. They've been going all in on that since the series came back. They're going to another story I think, coming up, another comic. That's great. It's just fun. They capture the tone perfectly. I'm really enjoying it. And I really like what they do here. Setting up Pat as connected to The Seven Soldiers of Victory, which is something from the TV show, where they're doing the very smart thing of creating stories that work in the DC continuity, also work for fans of the TV show. I think that's very, a nice thing to do. Justin: How hyped were you when Darkseid's knee-high boot slammed on The Spectre's head? Pete: Ah, spoiler dude. Jesus. Alex: Let's talk about the end of the book. Always. Great to see John Romita Sr. and Klaus Janson's art on stuff. Pete: Yes. Alex: That's awesome. Justin: Agreed. Alex: Who cares about Darkseid? To be totally- Pete: What are you talking about? Alex: … blunt about it? There's been so many Darkseid stories. I appreciate the idea that like- Pete: There's a ton of Joker stories. Alex: … “We're bringing it back to basics. It's Darkseid versus the whole DC Universe. None of this crazy perpetuous stuff. We're just going to clean it up. It's just going to be a slam bang slab fest. Let's have a little bit of a fun time here guys.” That's great. But at the same time, I've read so many stories of Darkseid versus the DC Universe. If he had been away for a while, that would be a different thing. But we've had so much Darkseid in different iterations. He's been on a justice league team. His daughter has been hanging around. If it was a character that was gone for a while, I feel like the impact would have been much greater. But as is, I was like, “All right, this is very nice art, happy to read this. I'm sure this will be fun.” But this is not the cliff hanger I think it was meant to be. Pete: Oh, I completely disagree. I was so happy to see Darkseid at the end of it, because I was just… First off, it's a zero issue. So fuck you for putting all that shit in a zero issue. Fuck you. That is not a Zero Issue. There is so much important that happens in that issue. It's unbelievable. Justin: Oh, I thought you were going to drop a beat, drop a little rhyme there. Pete: [crosstalk 00:07:50] It was a spam phone call. Alex: We put it in a zero issue. Don't blow it in a tissue. Pete: Please don't be the white guy, beat-boxing and trying to rhyme. That's just awful. Alex: I mean I think- Pete: Stop it. Alex: I think that was- Pete: Stop. Alex: … I think that was really good. Pete: No. I… In all this madness, to see Darkseid, I was like, “Yes. Okay. Now we can get to a storyline. I understand what's happening here. I don't know why there's all this other madness going on, but I can understand this.” So I felt really good about that ending and it got me excited to read the first issue. What the fuck? Justin: Does Darkseid always look like he's crumbling to you guys. I feel like he's like a gritty sidewalk. He's like concrete that's slowly just crumbling out. Like, he needs a good moisturizer? Pete: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Alex: Do you think that's how to stop him? Pete: We all need a good moisturizer. Alex: Send him to a spa day? Justin: Yeah. A solid pressure washer would really take him down I feel like. Pete: No, man. Alex: Just give him a cream called The Pro-life Equation. It would just really smooth him out. Let's move on and talk about America Chavez: Made in the USA, number one from Marvel. Written by Kalinda Vazquez. Art by Carlos Gomez. So this is, of course, bringing back a solo title for America Chavez. It is revamping her origin quite a bit, adding some new details, some new threats. What'd you think about this book? Justin: I like this. America Chavez is such a unique, her power set is so weird. And so I like… And her origin is so specific with her coming from another earth and sort of wandering into our world. And then most recently on the Avengers West Coast team. Very fun. I think this book's great. Pete: Yeah. I agree. I really thought this was a fantastic first issue. Gets you excited for this world and what's going on. I really like the character. Also, super nice of her, in the middle of a mole battle, to answer questions from somebody with just a camera that… like an old camera, not even like a cell phone. So I was very impressed with her and how she handles herself. Yeah, I think they did a great job of getting me excited for more. I think this was a really solid first issue. Love the art, love the writing. Alex: It probably helps that this starts out in Los Angeles, but it definitely feels of a piece with the work that Kelly Thompson did on the West Coast Avengers title, on the Hawkeye title as well. You got Kate Bishop cameo in here. But it moves off into its own thing, but it has that sense of fun, that sense of weirdness. It's great. I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. Alex: Let's move on to the book that we talked about a little bit earlier, at least teased a little bit earlier, Batman, number 106 from DC Comics. Written by James Tynion IV and Joshua Williamson. Art by Jorge Jimenez and Gleb Melnikov. This is the new status quo for Gotham City, Batman chilling out in a basement with Ghost-Maker, fighting crime. Until some new and old villains are coming for him and things are tightening quite a bit. This is, I thought, great. Justin: Yeah, I agree. I really- Alex: Pete, you have a question though. You raised your hand. Pete: Yeah. I just… You love a good commercial in the middle of the comics. So I was just wondering what you thought of The Oracle eating Ruffaloes? I thought that was a nice nod to Mark Ruffalo who may, or may not be- Alex: Dude sadly died and was made into potato chips? Is that what you're talking about? Pete: … Yeah, exactly. Justin: Tragic. Pete: I'm just wondering, because you love when they change the, instead of ruffles, they… So they were cute with that. Just wondering usually, you enjoy that. So I was just wondering… Alex: Yeah, I wish there was a little bit of a Hulk crunch on there, that would have really nailed it. But I guess, wrong universe, you couldn't go do that. Justin: Hard to do that, yeah. Alex: Yeah. But yeah, that was my big takeaway from the book as well. So thank you, Pete. Pete: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was cool to see Batman working with Oracle. Just, she's super caszh that she can fight crime and eat chips. I mean, that's pretty awesome. But it was also interesting, this Ghost-Maker and Batman dynamic. To see how casual they are sometimes is a little jarring, but it's fun. It's a new kind of dynamic. And I like the new villain who didn't get their reveal out before they got punched in the face, was cool. Yeah, I think the Demon or Detective was fun. So it should be interesting to see how this all unfolds. So I'm in. Justin: Yeah, and the way that this spins directly out of the Future State stuff to have this villain, this scientist setting up the Magistrate program, that they really used a ton in the Future State, but never really resolved. So I think that's cool. And we get to see that build up. I do miss… I think it's strange that Ghost-Maker is replacing Robin, basically? In a weird way. We get a Robin backup here in this issue, which I also thought was cool. Pete: Oh, that was awesome. Justin: Now after you've had a long day of fighting crime, do you go home and spar with your buddy? I think I'd be like, “Come on, man. Let's [crosstalk 00:13:09].” Alex: Sure, if you're a chef, you're cooking all day and then you go home and you eat. Same thing. Justin: Cooking and eating is actually two very different processes, Alex. Alex: No, I don't think so. I don't think so. Pete: Maybe a chef goes home and orders food, because he's so tired of cooking. Alex: We talked about this quite a bit, but James Tynion's run has had these weird stops and starts. It's been so good across the board, but it was supposed to be a very short storyline. Then it got expanded. Then it got interrupted by the Future State and Dark Nights: Death Metal stuff. So, this feels like a new fresh start for him. And I'm really hoping this time it gets to be whatever ongoing story he wants to tell, because he's such a good storyteller. I don't want to see another event come in, or another switch, or something like that. I want to see what is the long form story that James Tynion has to tell about Batman. Pete: I was very confused, because the Batman one was the first time I saw the cover and I was just like, “What happened to the last event?” The cover was… I was just like, “What is going on?” So, I'm glad we got in, in the Zero Issue. Alex: Well, let's move on to something you probably like, Pete. Demon Days: X-Men, number one from Marvel Comics. Story set by Peach Mamoko. This is a very different take on the X-Men. What'd you think Pete? You like this book? Pete: Well, yes, I did very much the art- Justin: Huge X-Men fan, Pete LePage. Pete: … Normally, yes. The art is absolutely glorious. It is just almost like a painting here. I'm a sucker for watercolors. I just love it. The character designs are so cool and unique. It's got this kind of like old style [inaudible 00:14:53] meets new. I'm very, very much into this. It was really cool. And the wolf is Wolverine named Logan. I was in it to win it, and they really delivered on this first issue. Justin: I agree. The art is very… it's really beautiful here. I thought it was interesting for an X-Men book to have Venom be the villain, and Hulk be here? Is what I took the big red demon to be. Pete: They're two characters in Marvel, so. Justin: Yeah, but I don't know if you follow the X-Men really, but they're traditionally not associated with them. Alex: Well, that was the thing that was- Pete: Sure. Alex: … confusing to me. I read this book and not once did any island fuck another island. So it didn't feel like an X-Men book to me, to be honest. Justin: I think it was implied that Japan was fucking another- Pete: Go on. Go on- Justin: … the Philippines. Pete: … name one other island. Alex: I was going to say, yeah. Justin: I was trying to name a neighboring island, because the islands don't travel to fuck, they fuck the neighboring islands. Alex: I can picture the map. See, we got into your head. It's just Japan, and there's nothing around you except ocean. [crosstalk 00:16:02]. Pete: Absolutely nothing. It's nothing. Justin: A lot of ocean. Pete: Oh, yeah. Justin: Right. Alex: There you go. Yes. Very good book. Let's move on to talk about Suicide Squad, number one from DC Comics. Written by Robbie Thompson. Art by Eduardo Pansica. This is bringing in a little bit of the upcoming movie with Peacemaker. The thing that I thought was kind of fascinating about this, we didn't talk about this- Justin: Kind of? Alex: … this happens in Infinite Frontier, number zero. Continues in the Batman issue. But big event, pretty much everybody in The Arkham Asylum is killed. Seemingly by Joker Gas. Turns out later it's actually the Scarecrow faking Joker Gas, including most of the inmates, including potentially Bane, among other folks. But the Suicide Squad issue takes place the same time as that. They're trying to break Talon out of Arkham Asylum when The Gas comes, and that's what we're playing with here. I like this. I thought Robbie Thompson writes a good Suicide Squad. I think the danger is there. The unnecessary deaths are there. So it hits all the bases. And Eduardo Pansica's art is real good. Justin: I can't believe we lost Film Freak so early on in his career. Pete: Yeah. Justin: RIP. Pete: I mean, I agree. I thought this was really great issue, and hopefully, the movie will be just as enjoyable. It's fun because all the Peacemaker dialogue in my head, it was John Cena speaking those lines. I didn't like the Superboy reveal, did not like that. That was scary. I thought it had a really great ending. And then it was also weird how Waller was like, “I'm tired of losing.” Alex: She loses a lot. Justin: She loses a lot. I love the page of Superboy was great, I thought. The kryptonite shackles and the- Pete: It made me sad. Justin: … It's sad. It is sad. Because Superboy is a hero and he's entrapped. Alex: Sorry about that, Pete. I hope you get past that. Let's talk about Wiccan and Hulkling: King in Black, number one from Marvel. Written by T.D. Howard. Art by Luciano Vecchio. This is following up on the Empire event. They are married now, they're ruling space, and of course, some goop dragons bash their way into their honeymoon and they have to deal with that. Lots of fun stuff in here. I always like a good Wiccan and Hulkling book. And I think T.D. Howard captures their voices quite well. Justin: Yeah, and this book- Pete: Agreed. Justin: … I liked that this was just a fun book. It wasn't trying to do a bunch of stuff. It was like, “Okay, we've seen… We know where these two characters are, but we haven't actually seen them be married and be ruling. So let's just do that and have it be a fun tie-in.” And I think it was very successful at that. Pete: Yeah, I completely agree. The lightheartedness added to this big kind of a King in Black event was really cool. I really love the interaction of the guy who's holding up the little orb. And there are a lot of really cool moments, fun, little moments. I also like how, when they get the robot present, they think it's just a champagne delivery robot, which is just a fun thing. Pete: And then just to see them together is great. I think this is just… The art's fantastic. There's just enough action. The balance with fun and give us some good relationship moments. This is just a great book from start to finish. You kind of know what you're going to get a little bit, and they really deliver on it and don't let you down. I was very happy with this book. Alex: Next up, The Swamp Thing, number one from DC Comics. Written by Ram V. Art by Mike Perkins. This is a new Swamp Thing with a new M.O. New villains, new weirdness, same old horror. Justin, I think you'll love this one. Justin: [crosstalk 00:19:49] loves plants, that guy. Alex: And we should mention, on the Future State beat, this is the team that wrote The Swamp Thing: Future State book that was so excellent. Here, they're dealing with an entirely different Swamp Thing, entirely different story. But I think if you like that, and that book was great, it was very exciting to see them taking on this one as well. Justin: Yeah, I agree. The Future State book was very sort of clinical. It got into some… It was about Swamp Thing building his children and how he did it in this future Earth. And this brings some of that clinical wraparound to this series. And then we just get into some brand new characters, some mythology building. I think it's the same sort of green versus the rot situation in a good way. But a brand new character, who's Swamp Thing. We don't, he doesn't seem aware of that he is Swamp Thing. And we're getting that slowly told over the course of this first issue. Really nice art. This book reminded me of early Starman, both in- Pete: Ooh, really? Justin: … the writing and the art style. So I'm here for it. Pete: Couple of things Justin, if you don't mind, since- Justin: I do mine, so let's just do one thing from you Pete, if possible. Pete: … Oh, okay. All right. Great, great. So if it's just one thing, I guess I'll just pick the… It starts off with a plane being grabbed out of the sky by a giant, let's say, beanstalk. Like, that's really high up. I mean that- Alex: No, no, no, no. Pete: … I mean, to grab a plane- Alex: Okay, so the guy- Pete: … out of the sky- Alex: … Can I clarify this one? Pete: … I'm talking to Justin. Alex: Oh, okay. Pete: I'm having a conversation with Justin. He's the Swamp Thing expert. Trying to get some clarification here. Justin: Are you familiar with- Pete: No, go ahead [crosstalk 00:21:34]. Justin: … one of the other major beanstalk storylines, Jack versus Beanstalk? Pete: Right, right. I'm very familiar. Justin: That beanstalk went very high up. It went so high up there were giants living there. Pete: Yeah, that's what I thought. Justin: So, beanstalks- Pete: That's why I said beanstalk, because that's the only thing that I know that could reach a plane in the sky. Alex: There are big, tall, terrible giants in the sky. Justin: That's true. That's the point Alex wanted to make. Alex, not very religious, but he does believe that giants dominate, live in the sky in the clouds. [crosstalk 00:22:04] Alex: The lyrics I know from Into the Woods, I say out loud, whenever I can. No, it was not a beanstalk, Pete. The new Swamp Thing was riding on a plane. He was having nightmares. And in his nightmare, he pictured himself exploding into plants out of the plane, not a beanstalk- Pete: No. Alex: … rising to the plane. Pete: I thought [crosstalk 00:22:23]. Alex: No, but then basically, Swamp Thing powers exploded outwards while he was still on the plane, causing it to break. Fantastically drawn panel. I love that. So terrifying. But it turns out he's just having a nightmare there. Pete: Oh, okay. All right, so- Justin: He's made of plants though? Alex: Yeah. Pete: … All right. So question number two then will be for both of you guys, since you both seem to be experts. Alex: Okay. Pete: One of the reasons I had to move out of New York City is because anytime you're walking in central park, there's always people popping out of the trees. And at first I thought it was like a [inaudible 00:22:54] of elves, just when the elves got too big, they got kicked out of the trees. Justin: Yes, this all- Pete: But it turns out it's Swamp Thing. Justin: … this all checks out so far. Pete: I just… That part… The book to me was a lot creepier and scarier than I was ready for. I'm just wondering, have you guys, in Central Park, seen the people popping out, or? Justin: The people popping in the park, people popping in the park. Let me say Pete, I feel like, so you wanted a book that was more focused on beans and elves? And this book just didn't really have that for you. Pete: Well, no. I mean, Swamp Thing can be kind of a horror story type of thing, but there's also a lot of great stories that Swamp Thing does where it's got a little heart, a little love, that kind of stuff in it. But I was just… They weren't straight horror for this issue. So I was a little- Justin: Well, I think they're going to… Pete: … taken aback. Justin: Once we get to know the character, I think that you'll find the heart there. And The Swamp Thing, also a great history of horror. Have you guys ever grown beans? Pete: Yeah. Alex: No, but I will say that when you're walking out and somebody pops out. That happened to me one time, and he showed me things, many beautiful things that I hadn't thought to explore. Justin: A hundred percent. Let's let that hang in the air for a little bit longer. Nice. Alex: Pete, any other questions? Pete: Nope. No, thank you for filling those. I appreciate it. Alex: Absolutely. Justin: Anytime. Alex: Anytime. Let's move on to talk about Nocterra, number one from Image Comics. Written by Scott Snyder. Art by Tony S. Daniel. Now we had Scott on the live show a couple of weeks back to talk about this very book. He teased it. It's all about a post-apocalyptic world where there's no sun and a girl who lives in it, who used to be blind that is now the only one who can lead them. Justin: I'm just a post-apocalyptic girl living in a post-apocalyptic world, Alex. When will you understand that? Alex: I thought it was great. This is Scott Snyder's big wild storytelling matched with Tony S. Daniel's superhero art. There's… I love the idea of a post-apocalyptic world where it's 13 years later and people are like, “Time to dress crazy now. Let's do this.” Justin: I can't wait for the apocalypse when it's like- Alex: What? Justin: … “All right, dude. Now you can wear lights on your head and stuff.” Like, “Get loose with your fashion.” Alex: We're living in an apocalypse right now and I'm dressed the same as I always have. Pete: Oh, boo. Justin: Exactly. You're not taking advantage. Alex: I'm not. [crosstalk 00:25:21]. Pete: I tell you, the truck lights in this is amazing. I hope that catches on and truckers start really lightening up their trucks like that. So that's magical. Justin: Yeah, when will the truckers catch on? I like this book a lot. Really fun world that's created here. Scary. You ride along with your, this, our main character here, and really feel for her. It's fun. Pete: Art's great. Really think it's a very interesting, cool story. And they do such a great job of getting you excited for this world and trying to figure out all the things that have gone wrong. A lot of really cool, interesting moments. I did want her to look a little bit more like a trucker and less like a superhero, but then whatever, that's cool. Alex: No, but I think that's what you do with Tony S. Daniel. He's an amazing superhero artist. So you lead into that, and you get wild designs, and you give people superhero costumes, and you make that work. It's Scott playing to Tony S. Daniel's strengths, the same way that he does to Jock, or the same way that they do in Undiscovered Country to Giuseppe Camuncoli. Just leaning into those artists and what they can do. And then following this pass down. I think that's what works here, and it's fun. Justin: I don't think I've ever heard anyone utter the phrase, “I wish that person looked more like a trucker.” And I appreciate it. Very rarely said thing. Alex: Next up, Crime Syndicate, number one from DC Comics. Written by Andy Schmidt. Art by Kieran McKeown and Bryan Hitch. Here we're getting a semi-satirical look at the crime syndicate and their world and how they come together on the newly revamped Earth-3. What'd you think about this one? Justin: These people love crimes. It's our heroes, but they love crimes. Alex: This didn't really hit for me to be honest. There's some bits that I liked it at, but- Justin: Maybe you didn't get it Alex, but it's the heroes that you know and love, but then they love crimes. Alex: My favorite page is the backup story for which is, I don't remember, Ultraman? Is that what he's called? The Superman add-on? Pete: Yeah. Alex: Ultraman's origin, it's a riff off of All-Star Superman. And you get the first three panels are kind of the same. And then the last one is, it shows the Kents and it's like deranged psychopaths or something like that? Pete: Yeah. Alex: That's funny, that made me laugh. But then I feel like it didn't quite follow up from there, the rest of the story. I wanted to go wilder and darker this book, personally. Pete: Really? Alex: Yeah. Pete: I thought it was too dark for me. Seeing a Superman figure, this Ultraman guy, be so douchey and so… Abusing, his power in such an awful way, it was just so scary and against everything that I want out of a superhero. Like throwing a newspaper truck in a high rise of a skyscraper, through the office glass, just because someone wrote a story about you? Go fuck yourself, you fucking superhero. I have thicker skin, Jesus' age. But yeah, I think that's the point of it to just show how evil and douchey people can be I guess? But yeah, to me, it was a little too dark and I wish they took it back a little bit. So I guess a little different from [inaudible 00:28:39]. Justin: I agree with Alex, I wanted to go further. It felt like it was heading for that tone of a Mark Russell book, but it doesn't quite go that far with the satire. I agree with you also, I did like the backup. Felt like a little bit more in that sort of fun, irreverent tone taking on the Superman origin. Alex: Let's move on and talk about one that I bet Pete liked, Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters, number one from Oni Press. By Chris Samnee and Laura Samnee. This is a- Pete: Aww. Alex: … all ages title. Pete: They're writing a comic book together. Alex: They've been working together for a while. Pete: Sure. Great. Alex: Pete, talk about what you liked about this book. Pete: First of all, words, don't need them. This book proves that. A lot of amazing panels with barely any words. The art's unbelievable. Love the character design. Such a cool, interesting world. And also kind of a nightmare, I'm sure, for you parents to yutes over there, that has to be like your worst nightmare. You're watching your kid, then all of a sudden you get taken out or get a bump on your head, and now you don't know where your kid is. I mean, that has to be like your worst nightmare come true. But yeah, I really, really enjoyed this. I think it's such a solid first issue. I can't wait to see where this goes. Justin: I agree. This was very fun. It reminded me, maybe I have Bone brain, given what we've talked about lately, but they reminded- Pete: Yeah, you do. Justin: … me of Jeff Smith's Bone. Alex: Come on, everything can't remind you of Jeff Smith's Bone. Justin: That's not, the times I've mentioned Bone in the last couple of podcasts we've done have not been because something reminded me of it. And this legitimately does. It has that really smart paneling, good storytelling, some heart to it. I liked it a lot. Alex: I thought this was really good as well. Just classic storytelling. Like you were saying, Pete, from the Samnees. I think they did a great job. If you're looking for something fresh and new, check this out. Next up, Sea of Sorrows, number four from ITW. Written by Rich Douek. Art by Alex Cormack. This is continuing a increasingly bloody and deadly- Pete: Oh, man. Alex: … mermaid saga. Bunch of folks trapped on a ship. It's like Under Siege, but with killer mermaids. I think that's a fair way of putting it, right? Justin: Ooh, that's nice. When does she sing, Part of Your World? I just feel like I just don't know how they're going to work it in? Alex: It just hasn't come yet, but there's a couple of more issues to go in the mini series. So I'm sure it's coming. Justin: I like this book. It's got such a great tone to it. I mean, obviously, Under Siege is… A lot of huge fans out there of Under Siege, especially Under Siege Two. Alex: Dark Territory? Yeah, of course. Pete: Oh, my god. Justin: A hundred percent. Way to drop that you're a huge train fan. So the fact that those- Pete: Are you guys talking about fucking Seagal movies over here? Alex: Yeah. Justin: Specifically- Alex: Always. Justin: … Under Siege Two. Alex, when you got into Under Siege Two, did you come at it as an action movie fan, or more about from a train fan? We were just wondering. Alex: No, I was more of a people-popping-out-of-a-cake fan. That's kind of where I started with Under Siege. Pete: Oh, come on, man. Alex: Then I sort of went from there. Pete: Nice. Justin: A lot of people come to it from there. Alex: So, yeah. You should check out my letter box list of that. Pete: Oh my God. Yeah, this- Alex: Movies with people popping out of cakes. Pete: … Anyways, back to the comic. So this is like- Justin: Back to the comics? Never! Pete: … It's very scary, very intense and the paneling, and just the action, and the design of this really does such a great job of really getting into this frenzy like, “Holy, what's going to happen?” All these things are kind of happening at once to this ship. And just when you think like, “Okay, I got a handle on this evil mermaid.” It keeps getting heightened levels and levels of how scary she actually is. This is really just a horrifying, amazing comic that really creeps me the fuck out and makes me never want to go on a boat again. Justin: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Alex: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Justin: Yeah, I agree. It's good horror. When the mermaid opens or body mouth, do you feel like it's very Little Shop Of Horrors and perhaps the song coming out of the mouth is some sort of Suddenly Seymour style song? Alex: No, it reminded me a little bit of the end of the first act of Into the Woods. When they're saying, “Into the woods, we have to go, I hate to leave a have to though.” That's mostly what it reminded me of. Justin: Interesting. [crosstalk 00:33:11]. Alex: Not related, but just always, that's always in my head. Justin: It's true. Alex: Last one to talk about, The Comic Book History of Animation, number four from IDW. Written by Fred Van Lente. Art by Ryan Dunlavey. This is a guinea for Pete, because not only is it about the rise of the Studio Ghibli films, it's also about the rise of animation on Saturday mornings with GI Joe, with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, She-Ra, all of that good stuff. As usual- Pete: Yeah, don't forget She-Ra. Alex: … super well-written, super fun to read, super informative. This is just a great- Pete: Gem. Alex: … book. Pete: I mean, Fred Van Lente is just knocking it out… It's so informative. And the art is so creative and cool. This really does such a great job of teaching you things about things that you already know and love in such a fun, creative way. I really want this to be like an animated podcast or something. This is just so- Justin: Ooh, yes. Pete: … so cool that I don't want this to stop. I want to learn all things in this format, and I want to learn it from these two. I was just so impressed by this. I grew up in this time and just learning all of this stuff is really crazy. As a kid I just love Saturday mornings. And yeah, this is just so hilarious. The Superman sitting down at like a Hollywood place with Fred, from Scooby Doo doing the finger guns? Hysterical. I love Skeletor in this. Just I just so many amazing, cool things. I [crosstalk 00:34:42]. Alex: Well, and Pete, I have a question for you. And this is an honest question, given that they do spend a lot of time talking about the very dark side of this, and the very negative ramifications and reasonings for doing these Saturday morning cartoons. Does that color your viewing of them at all? Pete: No. I mean, unfortunately when you learn about things, especially things that happen back more in time, you're always finding out racist fucked-up bullshit things. So it's, unfortunately that's life. But as a kid, those kind of Saturday mornings were amazing. So that doesn't… It's hard to go back and watch some of those things because they really don't hold up. But yeah, this didn't, it didn't hurt reading about it and learning about that, which I think- Alex: Well now, now that you're an adult, your Saturday mornings are a fucking nightmare, right? Pete: … Yeah. Justin: You got to watch your Saturday morning documentaries. Pete: No, man. Justin: With a big bowl of cereal and a bunch of serious movies. Alex: Oh, here we go. Another murder doc on Netflix. Justin: What I love, I think Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey do so well is, they add the little details that you just, they're so hard to find, it's so well researched and then well illustrated by Ryan. And a couple of them that I really liked here were just how everything was sort of made up on the spot. All of these things that feel so important or particular like, “Yabba dabba doo,” and the name of Scooby-Doo and it's just like, “Oh, hurry up. This is doo.” Name… Or like, “Hey, say Yahoo.” And instead he said yabba, dabba doo. And then it became this super iconic thing. And it just feels like stuff like that doesn't happen anymore in the creative process. So being able to read this and see this is so cool. Pete: I take offense to that, because we usually make stuff up in the moment and it becomes comedy gold. Justin: No, we do, yes. I'm speaking more, I guess, television. I mean you can't script Netflix. Classic. Alex: If you'd like to support our podcast, patrion.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. Comic Book Club on YouTube. Comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, we'll see you at the virtual Comic Book Shop. The post The Stack: Infinite Frontier, America Chavez And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The Professor Frenzy Show #136

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 17, 2021 46:35

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The Professor Frenzy Show #135

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 10, 2021 59:48

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Drink And Draw With Walt Simonson, Brereton, Oeming Hamner, Hardman Hester and More

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Play Episode Listen Later Feb 9, 2021 105:51

From Dec 30th. An epic artist hang out with proceeds supporting The Hero Initiative Featruing Cartoonists Dan Brereton, Ryan Dunlavey, Tom Fowler, Cully Hamner, Gabriel Hardman, Phil Hester, Ibrahim Moustafa, Michael Avon Oeming, Jules Rivera, Walt Simonson, and Taki Soma!

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The Stack: Runaways, Man-Bat And More

The Stack

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 3, 2021 38:55

On this week's Stack podcast: Runaways #33 Marvel Written by Rainbow Rowell Art by Andrés Genolet Man-Bat #1 DC Comics Written by Dave Wielgosz Art by Sumit Kumar Specter Inspectors #1 BOOM! Box Written by Bowen McCurdy Art by Kaitlyn Musto The Immortal Hulk #43 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Future State: Superman of Metropolis #2 DC Comics Written by Sean Lewis, Brandon Easton Art by John Timms, Valentine De Landro, Cully Hamner Future State: Wonder Woman #2 DC Comics Written and art by Joëlle Jones Future State: The Next Batman #3 DC Comics Written by John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins Art by Laura Braga, Sumit Kumar, Jack Herbert Future State: The Flash #2 DC Comics Written by Brandon Vietti Art by Brandon Peterson and Will Conrad Future State: Swamp Thing #2 DC Comics Written by Ram V Art by Mike Perkins Future State: Harley Quinn #2 DC Comics Written by Stephanie Phillips Art by Simone DiMeo and Tony Infante Deep Beyond #1 Image Comics Created by Mirka Andolfo, David Goy, Andrew Broccardo and Barbara Nosenzo The Legend of Shang-Chi #1 Marvel Written by Alyssa Wong Art by Andie Tong Chained to the Grave #1 IDW Written by Andy Eschenbach & Brian Level Art by Kate Sherron Far Sector #10 DC Comics Written by N.K. Jemisin Art by Jamal Campbell Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures #1 IDW Written by Daniel José Older Art by Harvey Tolibao Luna #1 BOOM! Studios By Maria Llovet The Comic Book History of Animation #3 IDW Written by Fred Van Lente Art by Ryan Dunlavey King in Black: Marauders #1 Marvel Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Luke Ross Transformers: Beast Wars #1 IDW Written by Erik Burnham Art by Josh Burcham King in Black: Black Knight #1 Marvel Written by Simon Spurrier Art by Jesús Saiz Fear Case #1 Dark Horse Comics Written by Matt Kindt Art by Tyler Jenkins Sea of Sorrows #4 IDW Written by Rich Douek Art and Colors by Alex Cormack 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 y'all. 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- Justin: Yes. Alex: And we're not running away from this many reviews. In fact, we're running towards them, starting off with Runaways number 33 from Marvel- Pete: Oh, I see what you did there. Okay, I see. Alex: Written by Rainbow Rowell. Justin: [crosstalk 00:00:25]. Yes, that's what we thought. That's what we knew. Alex: I know, it was a little tricky there, but there you go. Justin: No, we're running toward them. Alex: Yes, this title has been sporadic to say the very best, but I think it is always welcome when it returns. We're cutting in on our kids. Some of them are going to high school, some are not. They're trying to balance responsibilities. This run by Rainbow Rowell has been so good and I am so happy whenever it comes back. Justin: I agree, it's so well, each scene really stands out. The characters are so well thought through, the art's great. I love this story. It captures adolescence and also the superhero side of it at the same time. It's one of my favorites. Alex: Pete. Pete: I mean, I really liked it until the man-handling of Wolverine. And then I was like, “Eh, right.” But the art's unbelievable. It's some really great storytelling. I think it is fun. I really liked the gib. Justin: You think Wolverine could beat a Doombot? Doombots are so strong, there's no way. Alex: They really are, and Wolverine's so short. Justin: He's so tiny. Pete: Oh, I hate both of you. Justin: Doombots are robot dooms, which is good, doom's good and robots are cool. Alex: One of the things that I think is particularly impressive about this book is usually you don't see this sort of second resurgence. I mean, not to get too lofty about it, it's maybe not quite on the same level as bringing back the X-Men or anything like that. But you certainly had Brian K. Vaughan launching Runaways, petering out after a little while. Sorry, Pete, I know you don't like me saying that. It just came out. Pete: Yeah, use a different expression. Justin: No problem, it LePage'd out a little. Alex: LePage'd out. Pete: It's not funny. Alex: And then they took the characters and they split them up and put them on other teams and use them in different ways. It's kind of amazing that they're taking them back and making them work so well and it makes me very happy. Let's move on to another book, Man-Bat number one from DC Comics written by Dave Wielgosz, art by Sumit Kumar. This is following the Man-Bat, some bad stuff is happening to him. He's trying to be a hero, but it just doesn't work because he's just a Man-Bat. Justin: He's just a Man-Bat. Alex: What'd you think about this book? And as a follow up, who asked for this? Pete: Yeah. I mean, it's a little weird. I mean, also it's kind of, he's a scientist that doesn't do science. He just thinks that flying around like a Man-Bat is going to win the day. And I don't see how that works, but the art- Alex: You walk around as a human all the time, Pete, what is that doing? Justin: Good call. Pete: Burn? I don't think so. But yeah, the art's great. Alex: Justin, what'd you think about this one? Justin: Thought you were going to say more. I mean, this strikes me as a different … Man-Bat in the DC Universe right now feels very much like the Justice League Dark character. And I really liked that iteration of Man-Bat who's this sort of loopy scientist who's obsessed with darkness, but also trying to make his science into sort of mad science. And so this take is different. And I missed the other one reading this, but I do like the art and it feels very much like a classic Batman: The Animated Series take on Man-Bat. Alex: I do think I was obviously being very glib with who asked for this because I don't think anybody was necessarily demanding a Man-Bat series. It was confusing. Pete: I'm sure there's people out there who love the Man-Bat. Alex: I'm sure. It's the sort of thing that felt to me like if it came out at Halloween, I'd understand what was going on here, as is I think well-written good art. I like it. I don't know what its long-term prospects are necessarily. But as an individual book, if you like the character, I think you'll be happy. Justin: But here's the thing, if you go up and you're like, “I love Batman.” You're like, “Let me try this other version of the words.” Alex: Yeah, that's true. There's also a book coming out next week we're going to be talking about called Bat Bat and a book after that called Madman. Pete: Wait, wait. Justin, let me just, so if somebody walks into a comic book shop and they say, “Hey, I like some Batman,” and they say, “We're sold out, but would you like to try some Man-Bat?” And you think that's how Man-Bat sells? Is that what you're saying? Justin: I mean, yes. Pete: Okay. I think so. Justin: All right. If you walk into a grocery store and you're like, I'd like some pineapple and they're like, “No, we have regular apples and some pine nuts.” You'd be like, “I'll take it.” Pete: I don't know if you would. Alex: Yeah. You can make them at home. Look at it on Epicurious. All right. Specter inspectors number one for BOOM! Box, written by Bowen McCurdy, art by Kaitlyn Musto. This is I think another win for BOOM! Box, just a fun story of a bunch of ghost investigators who encounter something even more terrifying than what they expected. This book is a delight and I am completely on board. Pete: Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I love this book. I really thought it was cool set up, took some great turns. I was really impressed with this. The art's storytelling is really a lot of fun. Yeah, I think it's great. Justin: I agree. It really surprised me with how like it's … I think there are a lot of books like this in this art style where it is sort of character driven, like these people are trying to do this and they haven't figured it out. But this really like, the art pays off on the comedy side and the character and relationship side. And then the story itself is super fun as well. I really like this. Alex: Yeah, good stuff, excited to follow this book. Next up, The Immortal Hulk number 43 from Marvel written by Al Ewing, art by Joe Bennett. In this issue, a lot of stuff going on, but Joe Fixit is on the run hiding out, the U-FOES are training and getting ready to fight the Hulk. And of course it all goes down by the end of the issue. I don't know what more to say about this book than it is great. Justin: Well, let me say, to me this was a good reset issue, where if you've been a little lost lately with all the different sort of stretchy Hulk with eyeball hands and stuff, this is a good restating of what the premise, where it's like, at the beginning of the issue Joe Fixit says, “All the other Hulks are gone. Now it's just me, Joe Fixit, and dumb Hulk, we're in the body.” It's back to sort of the basic whole premise, except instead of being a smart scientist, he's not a smart grifter and he's on the street. Pete: I would say he's doing pretty good. Justin: He's not as smart as Bruce Banner though. Pete: Oh, well, sure. Justin: And I think he is doing good, but his whole thing is being a good grifter as opposed to being a scientist, and he is. Pete: He is a good grifter. Justin: And I love this. He's a good grifter. And would you rather be a scientist? Pete clearly hates science and loves grifting and that's what he worships. Alex: I mean, this book is great, it's fantastic. But I really liked the Joe- Justin: When you're sick, Pete, you don't go to a doctor, you go to a three-card Monte person. Pete: Yeah, exactly. You see a guy in the back of a restaurant who take a look at it and he can tell you what's going on. Justin: He's like, “Right here, follow the diagnosis, follow the diagnosis. Here we go. Here we go. Here we go. Here you go. Here we go. You have a irritable bowel syndrome.” Pete: I think that I could have used more Joe Fixit on the streets. I thought this was fun. But that being said it was very cool to see him still have to kind of fight for the underdog and do what was right. So yeah, I very much enjoyed this. Also Alpha Flight cameo was great. I mean, this was a lot of fun, it continues to be amazing. Justin: Doc Sampson is Sasquatch somehow. Alex: Good stuff. And just to work off of what Pete said, as I always say, Joe Fixit in the streets and loose Hulk in the sheets. Pete: Oh my God. Justin: You do say that too many times. Alex: Too much. Justin: I love the U-FOES and they do a great job here as being the villains. And we get to sort of actually find out who they are and what they do. Alex: Let's move on to our future state block. We've been doing this for the past couple of weeks, as DC has been trucking through their look at a possible glimpse of the future of the DC Universe. As usual with this, these are the titles coming out this week. There's Superman of metropolis number two, Wonder Woman number two, Next Batman number three, The Flash number two, Swamp Thing number two, Harley Quinn number two. And we read all of those, but call it what you like. Pete, what was your favorite title of this bunch this week? Pete: Ooh, favorite title. Alex: This is a big surprise because we've only done it for the past four weeks. Go ahead. Pete: Yeah. Big surprise. Big surprise. Justin: I have an answer if you want to think. Alex: Yeah, go ahead, Justin. Pete: No, Harley Quinn number two. I'm really impressed with the writing and the art on this. And it continues to be really great. Alex: This is written by Stephanie Phillips, art by Simone DiMeo and Toni Infante. In this book, Harley Quinn is working for Scarecrow trying to take down Black Mask. There's plenty of twists and turns throughout the book. Justin: Scarecrow is like a cop essentially. Jonathan Crane on the side, the quote unquote good guys. And Black Mask is the bad guy and that gets a little confusing. My take on this book, these two issues felt like an episode of Batman: The Animated Series if Harley Quinn were the central character. [crosstalk 00:10:03]. Pete: Or Harley animated series. Justin: That's sort of what I'm saying in a lot of ways, but it's not like the Harley Quinn animated series, it's like Batman: The Animated Series [crosstalk 00:10:13]. Alex: I thought it was sort of like Scarecrow. It was sort of like a Scarecrow the animated series, is what I'd say. Pete: It's nothing like that, how dare you Zalb? Justin: A lot of hard takes. I just think there was sort of a lesson at the end. The characters are having fun, even though they were fighting each other. I enjoyed this. Alex: What about you, Justin? What was your favorite title of the week? Justin: This- Pete: Justin if you need me to go while you're thinking I can do that. Justin: Do not need you to go, you just went. Pete: Oh, okay. All right. Well, if you just need some time, I could- Justin: No time necessary. I'm ready to talk in three, two, one, talk Justin. I really enjoy, there are a lot of weirder titles out this week. And the two that I want to highlight are The Flash, Future State: The Flash number two and Future State: Swamp Thing number two, are my two picks. Alex: Flash number two written by Brandon Vietti, art by Brandon Peterson and Will Conrad. Swamp Thing number two by Ram V, art by Mike Perkins. Take it away Justin. Justin: Flashed number two just like heartbreaking. These two issues were so good, so unexpected. You have Wally West as this villain who is maybe possessed by this spirit and Barry Allen who's lost his powers to trying desperately to track it down and save him while also stopping the killing spree that's going on against the other speedsters. And it was just such a good two-part story. I think this is a great standalone just Flash story that is absolutely tragic, but really gets to the core of what Flash's powers are. It's not just running fast, it's hope. Alex: Hmm, interesting. And Swamp Thing, what about that one? Justin: Swamp Thing, totally different like this post-apocalyptic parable about Swamp Thing who created his own offspring through the green, built them. We get to see through both of these issues how meticulously he built them and even their biological features. And then at the end, this is a spoiler, but he sacrifices them for the sake of humanity because he knows that humanity has a soul and the plant children he created do not. And another like- Pete: That part was heartbreaking dude, what was that? Justin: … [crosstalk 00:12:28], heartbreaking thing. Pete: What was that dude? Justin: It was great. It was just like both, that's why I put them together, both the Flash and Swamp Thing did what you want across over like this to do, take your characters, get to a core value that they have and show it in a new way, a new unexpected way. And I think both these books did that super well. Pete: Oh, go ahead. Alex: Go ahead Justin, bearded Justin. Pete: Pete. I'm Pete. Justin: I'm shaved Pete. Pete: I just wanted to say I'm still enjoying the new Batman. I really liked the backup, so the Black Lightning, Katana and the signal. Justin: Yes. Alex: I was going to call this out. I haven't gotten to talk yet, Pete. Justin: He hasn't chosen yet Pete. Alex: But [crosstalk 00:13:10] whatever, take all your picks. Pete: Justin got to say two. Alex: Sure. Future state: The Next Batman number three written by John Ridley, Brandon Thomas, Paul Jenkins, art by Laura Braga, Sumit Kumar, and Jack Herbert. I agree with you, the outsider's backup has been excellent. Justin: So good. Alex: And that's one where it ends, it's not quite as apocalyptic as Swamp Thing or anything like that. It definitely feels like, what I want out of these where it feels like, oh, this is a pilot. I want to see more of this. I want to see more of this world. And the big one for me is Future State: Wonder Woman number two, written in art by Joëlle Jones, which obviously has a lot of heat at it. We talked about this before. Was this something that was a kind of adapting- Pete: It's so hot right now, it's so much heat. Alex: It's so hot right now, they're adapting for [crosstalk 00:13:53]. But this new Wonder Woman heading to the underworlds rescue, whatever compatriots. And I know I said this the last time, but I'll repeat it as well. It feels revolutionary to the Wonder Woman mythos in the same way the brand Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's run did. And it's the sort of thing that I absolutely want to follow going forward. Pete: I just, the one part that bothered me about that book was she rips off the bones of the arm of the boat person, taking them across. Doesn't say sorry, nothing. Alex: She does, she says, “Oops.” Or something like that. Pete: Oops is not sorry, you know what I mean- Alex: It's fine, there was such a [crosstalk 00:14:31]. Pete: … you still got to roll the boat. Alex: She takes Sharon's bone hand off, throws it to [inaudible 00:14:35] to distract him because he's a dog, it's a very cute funny bit. Pete: It's funny but that guy still has to row a boat with now less bones and only one arm and she doesn't help out at all, doesn't even offer to row or nothing. Justin: Rowing a boat with less bones is a problem, I agree with you. And she doesn't offer to row. He is an undead spirit. But let me also say Pete, once you don't have skin, your bones are up for grabs. Pete: Wow. That's a rule? Justin: That's a rule. Watch out, keep [crosstalk 00:15:04], keep your skin. Alex: I don't know the last time you'd been to a cemetery, but if you look they have a sign outside that says up for grabs. Pete: Wow. Alex: Every sector. Justin: Bunch of loose bones in the cemetery. They got a bone box. Pete: They shouldn't have loose bones at the cemetery guys, it doesn't make any sense. Justin: It's like give a penny, take a penny, but you just take bones. Pete: What? Justin: There are extra bones. Pete: What? Give a penny, take a penny, oh my God. Justin: Are you using all your bones right now, Pete? I don't think so. Alex: You have so many head bones. What are you using them for? Justin: So many bones. Alex: Are you playing piano? Pete: The piano? Alex: The piano. Justin: We got fucking Mozart over here using all his bones. Alex: That's what he was known for. All right. Moving on from Future State, let's talk about Deep Beyond number one from Image Comics created by Mirka Andolfo, David Goy and Andrea Broccardo and Barbara Nosenzo. I'll tell you.,I really liked a lot of what Mirka Andolfo has been doing an Image Comics, but this comic is bonkers. I don't think bad bonkers, just hard to hold onto exactly what's happening in the plot bonkers. Pete: Yeah. Justin: There's a lot going on here. This book to me read like a Rick Remender book where … read like two Rick Remender books both happening at the same time. Alex: Yes. Justin: And that's not to say I didn't like it. It has a lot of elements that I like. Pete: Also there's weird soap opera in there as well. Alex: It takes place in maybe a post-apocalyptic future where the sun or gasses outside or something killed people. Justin: Pollution. I think pollution fucked us up. Alex: Yeah, pollution fucked us up. And we're explaining it much more straightforward than it actually is. But there's a bunch of different characters that get involved there. Some of the characters you're following at the beginning don't survive, even a quarter way through the book and then it jumps over to another situation. It is the sort of thing that feels like by the second issue it might've calmed out a little bit and focus, but there's so many ideas at play here. Again, it's hard to hold onto something. The art, very good and gross though. Justin: Beautiful. Yeah. I liked the art and to your point, Alex, I like the sort of propulsion into the second issue. Alex: Yes. Justin: But yes, a little confusing. Alex: Agreed. Moving onto The Legend, and I'm going to pronounce this wrong, Kevin Feige pronounced it a different way and now it's really gotten into my head. We've called him Shang-Chi, but it's something else where you actually pronounce it, Shang-Chi or something like that, number one from Marvel written by Alyssa Wong. I'll look it up. Art by Andie Tong. This is a one-shot focusing on the character, clearly teeing up the movie that's coming at some point. And this pits him against Lady Deathstrike. I thought this was a lot of fun, just a good actiony book. Justin: A 100%. This feels like if you are excited about the Shang-Chi movie, then you can read this and feel. I think you're going to get a lot of the elements of the movie right here in this book. Pete: Yeah, I love this. The art's unbelievable. The action of course is fantastic. Great to see Lady Deathstrike, not associated with Wolverine kind of doing other things. And yeah, I'm very excited for this and more of it, so I hope this does well. Alex: Let's move on and talk about another book that I think was a little hard to hold onto, but there's still some exciting elements into it. Chained to the Grave number one from IDW written by Andy Eschenbach and Brian Level, art by Kate Sherron. The thing that I really like about this book is it's mostly about a dude who died, sort of probably bad cowboy, is resurrected by his wife. And is like, “Hey family, let's go on a voyage of vengeance to take out the people who killed me.” That's the straightforward part. There's a lot of other stuff happening in this book, but the art sale is good. Pete, you had to love the big guy. He's a big hulking guy with half a face and he wants to kill people, right? Pete: Yeah, I thought it was great. I mean at start it was a little weird, the blow job in front of the kids, but we'll move right past that. And just kind of talk about a lot of the twists and turns. The art's really unbelievable. But the character design is really cool. I'm excited for more action and to kind of find out what's really going on. Justin: This reminded me of … I forget the title of the book. And I think we've talked about it a lot. The woman who lives in the house and the house has a bunch of … there's blood everywhere all the time. Alex: Oh, yeah. We consistently forget the title of this book. Justin: Yes. And I knew it last time when you didn't know it, and I now don't know it. It was- Alex: Murder house. Justin: Yeah. Pete: [crosstalk 00:19:41] murder house. Justin: It's like House of Sorrows or something like that. But stylistically the art also reminds me a little bit of Chew in a good way. And yeah, this is, it's fun. I agree. It's a good read and I really wish I could remember the name of that book that I try to think of. Alex: I think I read about House of Sorrows or something like that. I'll introduce the next one, you can look it up if you want. Far Sector number 10 from DC Comics, written by N. K. Jemisin, art by Jamal Campbell. We gush over every issue of this book. I thought this was a particularly good one. And it jumped out to me once again how important it is that not just the writer, but also the artist has stayed consistent for 10 issues on here. It's made it a really cohesive package following our main Green Lantern. She has been imprisoned and shit goes down this issue. This feels like a lot of what this title has been leading towards. There's been a lot of stuff happening in the background on this weird planet that she's been living on. And it's all coming to head in terms of a revolution. It's all coming crashing down. Great stuff. This was honestly I think one of my favorite issues of this book so far. Justin: Agree, to get all these answers. Pete: And that's saying a lot. Justin: Yeah, it is. To get all these answers in this book is so good and sort of restating the thesis, we get a nice lead in page at the top of this issue to really remind us of exactly what's happening. So many great ideas, so many just … The premise and the philosophies on display here are so good. Pete: Yeah. I mean, it's hard to keep coming up with different things to say about how amazing this book is, but the stories continues to impress. The art is so creative and unbelievable. Just every time I pick it up, I'm like, I'm worried it's not going to be as good as the last issue and it continues to be dope as fuck. Alex: Next up Star Wars: The High Republic Adventures number one from IDW written by Daniel José Older, art by Harvey Tolibao. We talked about the first issue of Marvel Star Wars: The High Republic. This is part of that expansive overarching story set much earlier in the Star Wars timeline. This one is for all ages readers, which is what IDW does with the adventures one. I thought it'd be interesting to check in with this particularly compared to the Marvel book. What did you guys think about this one? Pete: Well, I really liked it. I thought it was really cool the way it was kind of split and the story kind of comes together, very, very cool. I liked the art, it was very interesting kind of fresher take on Star Wars. We're used to a certain style and seeing people a certain way. It was a nice kind of like creative take, it felt like it was a grittier Star Wars which I appreciated. Yeah, I thought it was really cool. Had a great ending that got me excited to read more. Justin: Well, you know we love this timeline page. But the last book we talked about extensively where they list all the movies and TV shows in timeline, it's very satisfying to just look at that. Alex: Speaking of satisfying, what do you guys think of hot Yoda? That's something we've got a little sense of in the Marvel book, but definitely more here. Pete: What? Alex: This is a buff Yoda. He's a little jacked, probably has some abs under that robe going on. Pete: What are you talking about? Where's the robe? Alex: And he is ready for action. He's young. Justin: He's got abs on his forehead. He's got abs above and below his lips. He's all abs. Alex: He's young, dumb and full of [inaudible 00:23:17]. Pete: Oh my God, that was awful. It was weird how people were like, “Hey, maybe we should think about this.” And Yoda was like, “No, fuck it, we're in too deep, let's roll.” Alex: It was surprising for a kid's book that he said fuck it in the text. Justin: Let me say seriously about this, what I like about the choices here, the art is very … it feels very much like a fantasy book. And I think that's a smart choice for a comic about Star Wars. We've seen this sci-fi version of the Star Wars world a lot, to see the fantasy version of it is worth a lot of the roots of the Jedi and everything are, there have laser swords. And this was a very cool version of that. And I like the ongoing monologue from our young force sensitive character that we meet through in this book. Alex: The other thing is we get a sense of the bad guys, which we didn't really get in the Marvel book yet. There's this overarching force of evil. They seem to be augmented in some way that are going to play into this whole high republic story that they're telling, so that was kind of neat. I assume you guys have not as well, but I haven't read the novel by Charles Soule necessarily yet, which I think deals with them a little bit more, but that should … it's interesting. And it's not as young aiming as you might think. Justin: A 100%. Alex: Speaking of things that are not as young aiming, let's talk about Luna number one from BOOM! Studios by Maria Llovet. Now, Pete, you're a huge fan of the book Faithless by Brian Azzarello and Maria Llovet. This is following a different girl who also gets fucked by some magical creatures. Pete, what did you think about this one. Pete: So Zalben you're like, “Listen, I got to find something that's creepy enough, but artistically driven enough where I don't feel so dirty reading it.” Alex: Here's the thing, we are still in lockdown. I can not go to the museum of modern art and jerk off there anymore, so I got to find out. Pete: You mean the museum of sex to jerk off. Alex: I can't go there. Justin: I sadly know he goes to the museum of modern art or the natural history museum. He goes to any museum. He just loves naked. Alex: I go to the [inaudible 00:25:28] sometimes in the temple of [inaudible 00:25:30]. Pete: Oh my God. Alex: There's room in this tube I shout. Pete: Oh my God. Justin: The publishers of this book are like, let's listen to Comic Book Club, see if we have a good quote for the book. No, they mostly talk about one of their hosts jerking off at a museum. I really liked this book. I think Maria Llovet's art is great. And yes, a lot of her books focus on an innocent woman getting slowly deeper into some sort of mystical- Pete: Sex cult. Justin: … thing where there's sex involved. But it plays really well and I think this one makes sense. She's the writer and artist so it feels very much like she's taking ownership of this story. And the tone that her art sets is so good. And so I want to watch it. I want to put it on the wall of the museum. Alex: Well, I'll do something to that. Pete: Oh my God. Don't do that. Justin: See you there. Alex: Yes. I agree with you, her art is fantastic. It is particularly psychedelic here. It's about this character that travels, I think to the desert though, it's not 100% clear and maybe take some LSD or something like that. It goes into some very weird visuals. It's not dark and devilish like Faithless is necessarily, it goes in a different direction. But it's gorgeous stuff, it's a little sketchier. I mean that literally like the lions are a little looser than say [inaudible 00:27:07] or something like that. But great, I really enjoyed this book as well. Let's move on, talk about the Comic Book History of Animation number three from IDW written by Fred Van Lente and art by Ryan Dunlavey. And this one we're continuing- Pete: We should get them on the show because I'd love to talk to them about this book man. Alex: Pete, we just have them on our live show which is available as a podcast. Pete: We should have them back, I want to talk about this issue. Alex: All right. Well, in this issue, we're continuing to deal with the Disney revolution, delving deeper into Looney Tunes, as well as Fleischer creator of the Superman cartoon and other things. Another great issue of this book, imperative, fun. I'm having a blast reading this. Justin: Yeah. Getting into all these characters that we know you got some Mr Magoo in here, you got your [inaudible 00:27:55], you got your Daffy, you got your Wile E. Coyote, just all your favorites are here. The anecdotes that they incorporate into the story are so good. And this is getting into prime time of this type of cartooning. Pete: Yeah. And what's great is not only is it amazing art and fantastic storytelling. We're also learning stuff and it's cool. Good to find out about all this, this way. Yeah, I'm having a blast with this, really impressive. Justin: [inaudible 00:28:26]. Alex: Let's move on and talk about [crosstalk 00:28:28] King in Black: Marauders number one from Marvel written by Gerry Duggan, art by Luke Ross. In this issue, the marauders are heading to New York sensibly on a mission to rescue the X-Men who have been taken over by Knull the King in Black, but they run into a couple of snags along the way. I thought this was really well done. This is a great book that stands as a one-shot story, tells you enough that you need to know about the marauders while feeding the ongoing story there. You don't necessarily need to be reading King in Black, but you get enough of a sense of it. That's a really hard balancing act, but I think they walk it perfectly here. Justin: Does all that, also telling this tragic story about human trafficking. It covers a lot of bases and it's just a testament to that, really heads up storytelling to be able to do all that in an issue seamlessly. Pete: Yeah. I was really impressed with this book. This I think so far is my favorite X-Men book that I've read of this new kind of era. And I really enjoyed it. I thought there was a lot of great action, a lot of great kind of commentary by the quote unquote heroes. I thought this was really fun, amazing art, great action. And I love the ending, I thought was so powerful and cool. Man, Magneto dude, that was really crazy with the whole skipping a rock thing and talking, that was unbelievable. Justin: I also love Magneto at the end. He sort of like laying down in the air hardly. He's not hovering in a menacing way. He's feels like he's sort of reclining in a way. I was like, “Yeah, of course he's going to sort of lay down a little bit. He's just tired superhero.” Alex: Yeah, he's got a lot of stuff going on. Justin: Sort of. Alex: Speaking of a bunch of tired superheroes, let's talk about Transformers: Beast Wars number one from IDW written by Erik Burnham, art by Josh Burcham. This is a reboot of the classic Transformers: Beast Wars franchise with the transformers heading to earth in dinosaur times, taking the form of dinosaurs. Most of the book though is spent with robots- Justin: And other beasts. Pete: Yeah, other beasts. Alex: Other beasts, sometimes fruit bats or whatever, I don't know, gorillas, anyway- Justin: Optimus Primal. Alex: If this is what you're into, this is the fuzziest the transformers have ever been. Pete: Yeah. Beast Wars were big kind of like bringing the transformers back to popular kind of like cartoon Saturday's styles. And I was a little, I missed Beast Wars. I was kind of done with transformers at that point. Justin: You grew up, you grew out of it. Pete: I grew out of transformers little bit although- Justin: You're a big boy, you don't like it anymore. Pete: I don't know about all that. But yeah, Beast Wars kind of missed me. But I kind of felt like Zalben when he was reading a transformers book and you were like, “I don't know who's who,” and it was a little confusing because I wasn't as familiar with these transformers. It was a little hard in the beginning with them. By the end I thought it was pretty cool. Alex: Like Optimus Prime and Megatron? Pete: No, there were other versions. Alex: I knew who they were Pete. Everything was very obvious. Pete: Well, there was a book that you were like weren't … I don't know if it was Power Rangers or- Alex: No, I couldn't tell any of them apart, they were all robots in this book. Justin: Well, they're in disguise. They're in disguise as cars, so it's hard to tell who is who. Pete: Not in this one. Justin: If I could turn into a car you'd be like, “Who's that car? Is that Justin?” Pete: I would know. Justin: I don't know. Alex: I always do that when I'm walking on the street. Justin: You're like, “Which car is Justin and which car Pete?” Alex: I try to start a podcast with every car. Pete: Oh man. Good luck. Justin: Yeah, good luck. I loved Beast Wars when the show is on. Pete: Okay, here we go. Justin: Of all the cartoons, Beast Wars got into this very philosophical place with the transformers, they were chasing their sparks, they were trying to find out if essentially they had souls, it was so good. And this comic feels like it's maybe going to get there, I hope it does. This issue really set the stage for that, and I hope they really honor the depth of storytelling they did on this cartoon that Pete was too good for. Alex: Next up, here's what I'm sure Justin enjoyed a whole lot. King in Black: Black Knight number one from Marvel written by Simon Spurrier, art by Jesus Saiz. The reason I call it, you like the Black Knight, right? Justin: I like him. I like his role in The Avengers, and I feel like he … and I do like him, I'm not saying I don't. But back in The Avengers he was this sort of like, ah, I don't know what I'm doing. I think he was sort of a precursor to the Hawkeye-effication of so many Marvel characters where he was like, “Yeah, I'm sort of a shit head, I don't shave, but I put my helmet on and I have my glowing sword. What are we doing today?” And this is a little bit that, but a little bit not that. It sort of had a wobbly beginning, it felt like the premise was really in your face and I didn't really buy into it until about halfway through the issue. But at the end of it, I thought it was a good issue. Pete: Yeah. I really love the way this ended. It got a little bit weird at some points, but I love the action. I loved kind of like the whole backstory and why Knull is after the swords and all that kind of stuff like that. I very much by the end of it and I'm very excited for the next issue, I thought this did a great job of laying the groundwork to get you pumped for more. Alex: Yeah. I mean, to that point, the next issue is I assume ongoing series for Black Knight that is going to pick up here. So to your point, Justin, to me it felt like this is probably stuff that Simon Spurrier is going to deal with more heavily in the series once he gets to it. But he's kind of playing around with ideas of throwing there, but can't go all the way, because it was just this one crossover issue where somebody was like, “Hey, what are the characters that say black in their name, have them do a King in Black thing, let's go.” Alex: But it's good issue. And the art is good and it brings us fun characters. And to your point there's some fun action by the end. Last but not least, Sea of Sorrows number four from IDW written by Rich Douek, art and colors by Alex Cormack. We had Rich on our show a couple of weeks back. What? Pete: Did you say the last one? Alex: Yeah. Pete: We didn't do Fear Case. Alex: What is Fear Case? Did you make that up? Pete: No, that's the … are you serious? Justin: What is Fear Case? Pete: Fear Case number one by Matt Kindt. Alex: Oh, no, I missed that one. Do you want to talk about it, Pete? Pete: Yeah, I would love to. Alex: Great, go ahead. Pete: Okay, I'm sorry. Just I've been waiting to talk about this book. I'm very excited about it. This is cool. This is like the setup of this kind of like FBI hazing of like, okay, here is this case that nobody can solve. We'll let you rookies work on it for a little while. And it really builds it up as like this epic all-time thing that nobody can figure out. And you're like, “How can this thing be going on for so long?” But really kind of lays out this interesting mythos and very high stakes. I love the art. It's like sketchy, but cool in this way, that is kind of great. I feel like fits with the story because it's a little dark and telling this kind of epic tale. I was really impressed with the art and storytelling. This is a fun who done it, what's going on? How are we going to all figure this out? I thought this was amazing first issue that really got you excited for a bunch of stuff. Justin: And I want to talk about Hat Dance. Pete: Oh, okay. Sure. Hat dance number one or which one? Justin: Number 607. You guys haven't been reading Hat Dance. Alex: I want to talk about [Miles 00:36:35] Friends number one. Pete: Oh, Miles' friends. Yeah. Justin: I think you're talking about Cinderella and I'm here for it, [inaudible 00:36:43]. Alex: Two movies honestly. There's a whole thing going on with Cinderella, there's a thing going on with the mouse and the cat. I don't know, bring it together some way guys. Sea of Sorrows number four from IDW, written by Rich Douek, art and colors by Alex Cormack. In this issue, we are finally getting some hardcore, absolutely gross mermaid attack action here, spoiler, but they reveal what these mermaids look like and it is absolutely horrifying. The slow tension has been building for three issues. The lid is off here and it's awful. What'd you guys think about this issue? Justin: Great reveal. This is what I've always wanted to see in The Little Mermaid. Alex: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Pete: Yeah. I thought it was- Alex: Pete, did you want to read Fear Case or what's going on? Pete: No, first off the art is so creepy in all the right ways- Justin: So good. Pete: … it's great. And they've been teasing on what's going on with the kind of what the bad force is driving behind it. And we finally get to really see it in all its glory in this issue. And it is really creepy and messed up, but really interesting to see how they're going to kind of make it, how these ships are going to do out in the middle of nowhere. Alex: Awesome, good stuff. And if you'd like to support our podcast, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM to Crowdcast and YouTube. Coming up, we'd love to chat with you about comic books at Comic Book Live on Twitter, iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher, or the app of your choice. To subscribe and to listen to the show, comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, bye. Justin: Ooh. Short. Hat Dance number 607 guys, check it out. The post The Stack: Runaways, Man-Bat And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Comic Book Club: Fred Van Lente And Ryan Dunlavey

Comic Book Club

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 27, 2021 73:23

On this week’s live broadcast, we’re welcoming guests Fred Van Lente + Ryan Dunlavey (“The Comic Book History of Animation”)! SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. The post Comic Book Club: Fred Van Lente And Ryan Dunlavey appeared first on Comic Book Club.

The Professor Frenzy Show #129

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2020 50:43

The Stack: Dark Nights Death Metal, King In Black And More

The Stack

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2020 49:52

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.

god america love jesus christ new york spotify history black children new york city art disney starting man moving star wars truth story marvel reading rich batman stars dc barack obama jewish spider man color skills sea killing superman android washington post caribbean avengers cat doom stitcher comics letters pokemon xbox wikipedia thor prime fuck regular priest mart smash ravens ash venom wolverines animation walt disney aquaman dc comics reynolds mad u2 stevens ipods conan labyrinth stack amish seas fantastic four adds woo firefly mando torre lobo anthology delorean scrooge sorrows desktops illustrated oh god hickman image comics adventure time clark kent john malkovich idw eastman black hat master chief namor marty mcfly chilling adventures claremont scumbags valerio doc brown geoff johns conan the barbarian brian michael bendis scott snyder future state firebird ice cream man chris claremont undiscovered country bendis jason aaron kevin eastman charles soule jimmy olsen decepticons donny cates boom studios eddie brock roy thomas kurt busiek john romita jr saiz rick remender james tynion iv daily planet cavan scott greg pak crowdcast hill valley bedford falls eric powell fred van lente pottersville christopher cantwell dark nights death metal ryan stegman jerry ordway comic book club steve mcniven phillip kennedy johnson salvador larroca king in black remender francis manapul giuseppe camuncoli archaia deknight paul pelletier pete woods dan panosian rich douek king conan superboy prime steven green nick roche georges jeanty alex cormack pkg ryan dunlavey last god martin simmonds dan mcdaid lara elena donnelly metal king pius bak

The Professor Frenzy Show #128

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2020 50:10

future finale dead boom comics vain family tree stillwater sleeping beauty scumbags big girls ice cream man tartarus resonant oversized gideon falls girl walks home alone at night david aja miskatonic jason howard something is killing the children emily pearson leonard kirk department of truth nick roche we only find them when they're dead andrea mutti alex cormack ryan dunlavey martin simmonds alison sampson ramon k perez post americana professor frenzy

The Comic Book History Of Animation pt 2 With Ryan Dunlavey

animation comic books comic book history ryan dunlavey

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2020 64:39

The WIZARD Files | Episode 9: Ryan Dunlavey

WIZARDS The Podcast Guide To Comics

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2020 28:10

For episode 9 of The Wizard Files we’re joined by Ryan Dunlavey who first became part of the Wizard magazine staff in the 90’s, then returned years later to provide humorous original illustrations in the 2000’s. Hear tales of working shoulder to shoulder with Gareb Shamus on cover design, getting chewed out by fanboys for trying to sell ToyFare exclusive figures on eBay and how one of his drawings became the basis for a set of Mini-Mate figures. Plus learn how a former Wizard co-worker got him a job drawing M.O.D.O.K for Marvel and more!

marvel comics wizard ebay files comic books 1990s 90s wizard magazine gareb shamus toyfare ryan dunlavey

The Stack: Home Sick Pilots, Venom And More

The Stack

Play Episode Listen Later Dec 9, 2020 40:30

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

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Episode #2 - Estérelle Payany, journaliste à Télérama Sortir, autrice culinaire et femme engagée

Girls in Food

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2020 44:49

Dans ce 2e épisode de Girls in Food, Adeline Glibota reçoit Estérelle Payany, journaliste gastronomique à Télérama Sortir, autrice culinaire, et femme engagée, qui a récemment co-écrit "Cheffes : 500 femmes qui font la différence dans les cuisines de France".Dans cet épisode, Estérelle nous raconte comment on passe de la communication corporate au blog de cuisine, puis au statut respecté d’autrice publiée, et de journaliste gastronomique.Avec une leçon à retenir de son parcours : l’audace paye toujours !Retrouvez Estérelle sur son site et dans Télérama. Notes de l'épisodes :L’herboristerie du Père Blaize 4 et 6 rue Méolan et du Père Blaize, 13001 Marseille Les femmes qui ont inspiré Estérelle Payany :Vérane Frediani, documentaire « A la recherche des femmes chefs », Patricia Wells,Ruth Reichl, Garlic and sapphires : the secret life of a critic in disguise, ed Penguin BooksLesley Chesterman, pâtissière, autrice et ancienne critique gastronomique de Montreal GazetteClaudia Roden, Le livre de la cuisine juive, ed Flammarion, The new book of middle eastern food, Le Festival dont Estérelle Payany est la marraine :Festival culinaires Cheffes ! , organisé par l’association Ernest Circuit court-Solidarité – prévu le 30 mars 2020 et reporté à cause de l’épidémie en cours Un restaurant recommandé par Estérelle Payany :Restaurant Dame Jane et sa cheffe Julie Caute – 39 rue Ramponeau - 75020 Paris Les réponses d’Estérelle Payany au questionnaire Girls in Food :Son dernier coup de cœur food :Pâtisserie Emma Duvéré, 41 rue Sedaine – 75011 ParisLe restaurant de sa vie :Restaurant Le Coquillage, La Table des Maisons de Bricourt au Château Richeux, Le Buot - 35350 Saint-Méloir-des-OndesLe restaurant où elle rêve d’aller :Dirt Candy, 86 Allen Street, New York, Etats-Unis, qui est à l'origine d'un livre de cuisine sous forme de BD Dirt Candy, a cookbook : a flavor-forward food from the Upstart New York City vegetarian restaurant, d’Amanda Cohen, Ryan Dunlavey et Grady Hendrix, ed Clarckson PotterLa femme qu'Estérelle nous recommande d'interviewer :Trish Deseine Illustration : Isabelle Lagneau

Episode 489 - Take That, Ayn f/ Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

War Rocket Ajax

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2020 96:37

The writer and artist behind the new Comic Book History of Animation join us this week to discuss the drawing that inspired the book, doing research, finding the cut-off for a history book, Walt Disney, cartoons of the 1980s and a whole lot more! Plus, Matt and Chris take a listener question about Batman's origin!

batman animation walt disney fred van lente comic book history ryan dunlavey

Off Panel #246: Flashdance with Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

Off Panel: A Comics Interview Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2020 78:55

In this week's episode of Off Panel, the writer/artist pair of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey join the show to chat about their partnership and current Kickstarter for The Comic Book History of Animation. Van Lente and Dunlavey discuss their meet cute, how they became "history guys," how they pick their subjects, making history comics pop, why they wanted to tell the history of animation, how they split the eras, the process for them on projects, why they went with Kickstarter, the volume of comics being released today, marketing a Kickstarter, and much more.

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The Comic Book History of Animation With Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey

animation comic books fred van lente comic book history ryan dunlavey

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 6, 2020 85:32

The men behind The Comic Book History Of Comics are back and need your kickstarter support!

The History of Animation, with Fred Van Lente

That's The Issue

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 3, 2020 46:11

Welcome to That’s The Issue! I’m Matt Lune, and I’ll be joined every episode by guests to discuss their love of comics by looking at the comics they love. Today on the show, I'm joined by writer Fred Van Lente ( “Amazing Spider-Man” “Archer and Armstrong” “The Comic Book History of Comics”) to talk about his new Kickstarter with artist Ryan Dunlavey, “The Comic Book History of Animation!”We discuss the early days of animation in Hollywood, finding the human stories within the history, the hidden figures behind the legends, and so much more!Support That's The Issue by donating to their Tip Jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/thatstheissueFind out more at https://thatstheissue.pinecast.coThis podcast is powered by Pinecast.

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Arc Reactions - 127 part 1 - Denver Pop Culture Con 2019

Arc Reactions Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Jun 9, 2019

Part 1 of our coverage of Denver Pop Culture Con. We talk to creators David Pepose, Dylan Edwards, Scott van Domelen, Ryan Dunlavey, Fred Van Lente, and the 501st Legion's Jeff Rodriguez.Interview 1 - Dylan Edwards (1:38)Interview 2 - Jeff Rodriguez (19:35)Interview 3 - Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente (29:51)Interview 4 - Scott van Domelen (44:54) Interview 5 - David Peopse (Spencer and Locke) (57:42)If you would like to download the episode, right click and Save AsARP-127-1-DPCC2019.mp3Our next podcast will be our coverage of Denver Pop Culture Con part 2 on June 16th.We are also on Comics Podcast Network. Please go over there and check out our section as well as some of the other podcasts they host.We would like to thank Packie Wambaugh for recording our intro and outro music for us.We look forward to hearing from you.Contact us with any feedback or suggestions you may have and subscribe to us on your favorite platform:

Comic Book History- Stan Lee An Unauthorized Bio With Writer And Comics Historian Fred Van Lente

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2018 77:14

Stan Lee RIP . Fred Van Lente joins me to look at Stan's life and career. Fred is the co-author of The Comic Book History Of Comics from IDW with artist Ryan Dunlavey so he is a perfect guest to talk about all the facets of Stan's career. We also talk about Fred's new mystery novel set at a San Diego Comic Con called The Con Artist from Quirk books, with illustrations by Tom Fowler

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Comic Books Stan Lee An Unauthorzized Bio W Comics Historian Fred Van Lente

Thinking Outside The Long Box

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 13, 2018 77:14

Stan Lee RIP . Fred Van Lente joins me to look at Stan's life and career. Fred is the co-author of The Comic Book History Of Comics from IDW with artist Ryan Dunlavey so he is a perfect guest to talk about all the facets of Stan's career. We also talk about Fred's new mystery novel set at a San Diego Comic Con called The Con Artist from Quirk books, with illustrations by Tom Fowler

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TOTLB 082 For Sure!

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 25, 2018 174:27

What is going on Longbox listeners!! Episode 82 is out and ready for your listening pleasures!! Our #popcultureclassic for this show is the 1982, Arnold Schwarzenegger movie, Conan the Barbarian!! We talk about this "cult classic" with 1 sequel done, and 1 coming sometime in the future!! Our first interview for this episode is the awesome comic book artist Ryan Dunlavey!! "He is best known for drawing the humorous non-fiction graphic novels Action Presidents, The Comic Book History of Comics and the Xeric Grant and ALA Award winning Action Philosophers, all co-created with writer Fred Van Lente." He is funny and there might be someone hiding in his closet! Our second interview comes from the one and only, Jonathan Blackshire! For those who don't know, Jon hosts his own podcast, the LAMMP Show podcast! Jon is the one who send us all of the hilarious voicemails that we get! We recorded a segment that worked both for his show and our show, leaning more towards music, as that is what the LAMMP show is all about! "The LAMMP Show is a music podcast that gets musicians together for every episode to form a band for a day. Each musician leads the group through song and discussion and we explore the depths of music, philosophy, news, and hilarity." Remember, you can ALWAYS let us know what you think! We can only think of so many things to talk about every other week, and would LOVE to get some feedback and ideas from all of you out there who are listening!! You can send mp3s and email to our email address. Also, join the conversations on our Facebook Page and Twitter Page. Also, if you have good feedback, please leave it for us on iTunes and Stitcher!! That's one way to help us climb the ranks into podcast glory!! You can ALSO leave us voicemail!!! Call the Michael Kuyrk memorial 970-573-6148 and leave us a hilarious message!!! Hall of Justice Comics & Collectibles Our Stitcher Our iTunes Patreon Amazon Credit - Jonthan Garnett, Juan Muro, Gabe Llanas

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Fred Van Lente On Action Presidents The Comic Book History Of Comics and More

action comics presidents comic books fred van lente comic book history ryan dunlavey

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2018 105:23

Fred is back to discuss Action Presidents, the new spin on history entertainment from him and Ryan Dunlavey. They remind us how great some of our leadesr have been , starting with true adventures of the Father Of Our Country. We also discuss The Comic Book History Of Comics now in color with additional material covering the women of comics and the international contributions to the medium.

Fred Van Lente On Action Presidents The Comic Book History Of Comics and More

action comics presidents comic books fred van lente comic book history ryan dunlavey

Play Episode Listen Later Feb 7, 2018 105:23

Fred is back to discuss Action Presidents, the new spin on history entertainment from him and Ryan Dunlavey. They remind us how great some of our leadesr have been , starting with true adventures of the Father Of Our Country. We also discuss The Comic Book History Of Comics now in color with additional material covering the women of comics and the international contributions to the medium.

Episode 162 Interview with Crystal Skillman

Beyond The Trope

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 26, 2017 31:50

This week comic writer and playwrite, Crystal Skillman, joins us to talk about her amazing projects! Mentioned in this episode: Boom Studios Adventure Time (Comic) Fred Van Lente 10 DEAD COMEDIANS by Fred Van Lente King Kirby (Play) by Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente Off The Quill Marion Max Stafford Arima Bobby Cronin Ghostbusters (Movie) Ryan Dunlavey ACTION PRESIDENTS by Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente ACTION PHILOSOPHERS by Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente NATASHA, PIERRE & THE GREAT COMET OF 1812 (Play) by Dave Malloy INDECENT (Play) by Paul Vogel Halley Feiffer Jules Feiffer POPEYE (Movie) PAPER HEROES (TV in the works) by Crystal Skillman and Fred Van Lente MAD MAX (Movie Franchise) MAD MEN (TV Show) Francine Volpe Primary Stages (http://primarystages.org) GEEK (Play) by Crystal Skillman Bob Dylan Comic Con DUNKIRK (Movie) MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY (Play) by Anne Washburn THE PILLOWMAN (Play) by Martin McDonagh EQUUS (Play) Peter Shaffer AMADEUS (Play) by Peter Shaffer Alec Baldwin RICK AND MORTY (TV Show) LAST 5 YEARS (Movie) SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (Movie) Hallmark Channel Defying Gravity (Song from Wicked the Musical) SPIDERMAN (Play) Lynne Shankel BARE THE MUSICAL (Play) by Damon Intrabartolo http://crystalskillman.com http://twitter.com/crystalskillman http://facebook.com/crystal.skillman http://instagram.com/crystalskillman Thank you to all of our supporters on Patreon at http://patreon.com/beyondthetrope Denver Podcast Network http://denverpodcast.net Jon of All Trades http://jonofalltrades.us

writing comics wicked burns rick and morty musicals all trades crystal skillman ryan dunlavey denver podcast network damon intrabartolo

Major Spoilers Podcast #703: What timeline are we on this week?

Major Spoilers Comic Book Podcast

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2016 87:26

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: There's something wrong with your alternate dimension offspring! Inhumans get small, Comic Book History of Comics #1, Reggie and Me #1, Brigands #1, and Transfatty Lives! Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron. It will help ensure The Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Inhumans headed to the small screen REVIEWS STEPHEN "Comic Book History of Comics #1 Writer: Fred Van Lente Artist: Ryan Dunlavey Publisher: IDW Publishing For the first time ever, the inspiring, infuriating, and utterly insane story of comics, graphic novels, and manga is presented in four-color glory! The award-winning Action Philosophers team of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey turn their irreverent-but-accurate eye to the stories of Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Alan Moore, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Fredric Wertham, Roy Lichtenstein, Art Spiegelman, Herge, Osamu Tezuka – and more!" MATTHEW "REGGIE AND ME #1 Script: Tom DeFalco Art: Sandy Jarrell, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Jack Morelli $3.99 U.S. There is no one more loved, revered, admired and adored in Riverdale than… Reggie Mantle? Well, at least Reggie doesn't think there's anyone as loved and admired as himself. And his best friend can back that idea up—his best friend, of course, being his dog, Vader. The unstoppable duo is known around town for pulling the funniest pranks, getting the hottest dates and throwing the best parties. And if anyone even dares to compete with them, there is going to be hell to pay. Come take a look at the life of your hero, the handsome, hilarious Reggie Mantle." RODRIGO "BRIGANDS #1 Writer(s): Ram V Artist Name(s): Nick Barber, Jason Lewis, Kel Nuttall Pulled from death row and recruited by the secretive inquisition to steal an artifact called The Myros Pendulum, Stilian Desault now paired with an old colleague, Veina must put together a group of Brigands for the heist of their lives. But there are no happy endings or quick deaths for battle-forged blades. Stilian will soon discover that things are about to go very wrong. ASHLEY TRANSFATTY LIVES Directed by: Patrick O'Brien At 30, Patrick O'Brien was TransFatty, a New York City DJ, internet personality, and filmmaker. He spent his days as a beer-drinking creative force, making art films about perverts, vulnerable souls, and Howard Johnson's restaurants. Then his legs started shaking. MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK Favorite Harry Potter Movie If you want to suggest a trade paperback, you need to send an email to podcast@majorspoilers.com. That suggestion will go into the hopper and at least once a month, we'll pick a number of suggestions for you to vote on, and at the end of the polling period, the book with the most votes will get the Major Spoilers Podcast treatment. Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends! Closing music comes from Ookla the Mok.

comics timeline stan lee vader riverdale alan moore jack kirby inhumans crumb major spoilers art spiegelman howard johnson osamu tezuka will eisner jason lewis mok roy lichtenstein fred van lente brigands ookla comic book history herge harvey kurtzman fredric wertham kelly fitzpatrick ryan dunlavey nick barber action philosophers jack morelli reggie mantle major spoilers podcast major spoilers hotline

Major Spoilers Podcast #703: What timeline are we on this week?

Major Spoilers Podcast Network Master Feed

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 15, 2016 87:26

This week on the Major Spoilers Podcast: There’s something wrong with your alternate dimension offspring! Inhumans get small, Comic Book History of Comics #1, Reggie and Me #1, Brigands #1, and Transfatty Lives! Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron. It will help ensure The Major Spoilers Podcast continues far into the future! NEWS Inhumans headed to the small screen REVIEWS STEPHEN "Comic Book History of Comics #1 Writer: Fred Van Lente Artist: Ryan Dunlavey Publisher: IDW Publishing For the first time ever, the inspiring, infuriating, and utterly insane story of comics, graphic novels, and manga is presented in four-color glory! The award-winning Action Philosophers team of Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey turn their irreverent-but-accurate eye to the stories of Jack Kirby, R. Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Alan Moore, Stan Lee, Will Eisner, Fredric Wertham, Roy Lichtenstein, Art Spiegelman, Herge, Osamu Tezuka – and more!" MATTHEW "REGGIE AND ME #1 Script: Tom DeFalco Art: Sandy Jarrell, Kelly Fitzpatrick, Jack Morelli $3.99 U.S. There is no one more loved, revered, admired and adored in Riverdale than… Reggie Mantle? Well, at least Reggie doesn’t think there’s anyone as loved and admired as himself. And his best friend can back that idea up—his best friend, of course, being his dog, Vader. The unstoppable duo is known around town for pulling the funniest pranks, getting the hottest dates and throwing the best parties. And if anyone even dares to compete with them, there is going to be hell to pay. Come take a look at the life of your hero, the handsome, hilarious Reggie Mantle." RODRIGO "BRIGANDS #1 Writer(s): Ram V Artist Name(s): Nick Barber, Jason Lewis, Kel Nuttall Pulled from death row and recruited by the secretive inquisition to steal an artifact called The Myros Pendulum, Stilian Desault now paired with an old colleague, Veina must put together a group of Brigands for the heist of their lives. But there are no happy endings or quick deaths for battle-forged blades. Stilian will soon discover that things are about to go very wrong. ASHLEY TRANSFATTY LIVES Directed by: Patrick O'Brien At 30, Patrick O’Brien was TransFatty, a New York City DJ, internet personality, and filmmaker. He spent his days as a beer-drinking creative force, making art films about perverts, vulnerable souls, and Howard Johnson’s restaurants. Then his legs started shaking. MAJOR SPOILERS POLL OF THE WEEK Favorite Harry Potter Movie If you want to suggest a trade paperback, you need to send an email to podcast@majorspoilers.com. That suggestion will go into the hopper and at least once a month, we’ll pick a number of suggestions for you to vote on, and at the end of the polling period, the book with the most votes will get the Major Spoilers Podcast treatment. Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com Call the Major Spoilers Hotline at (785) 727-1939. A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends! Closing music comes from Ookla the Mok.

comics timeline stan lee vader riverdale alan moore jack kirby inhumans crumb major spoilers art spiegelman howard johnson osamu tezuka will eisner jason lewis mok roy lichtenstein fred van lente brigands ookla comic book history patrick o'brien herge harvey kurtzman fredric wertham kelly fitzpatrick ryan dunlavey nick barber action philosophers jack morelli reggie mantle major spoilers hotline major spoilers podcast

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 338

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 15, 2014 127:29

It's our New York City Comic Con 2014 wrap episode, featuring Tony Fleecs, Ryan Browne, Daniel Govar, Marc Laming, Marcio Takara, Tom Raney, Sara Pichelli, Serena Guerra, Jim Cheung, Cadence Comic Art, Yanick Paquette, Tom King, Matt Kindt, Pier Brito, Ron Richards, Erik Larsen, Vince Colletta, Paul Mounts, Andy Belanger, Philip Tan, Wes Craig, Garry Brown, Eric Talbot, Aaron Conley, Robbi Rodriguez, Nick Dragotta, Dean Kotz, Cory Smith, Mark Morales, Ramon Perez, Rob Liefeld, Ryan Stegman, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Brent SChoonover, Aaron Kuder, Lee Weeks, Russell Daughterman, Mike McKone, Tom Richmond, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, James Harren, Declan Shalvey, Robert Kirkman, Scott Kolins, Terry Moore, Jeremy Haun, Sara Richmond, Bill Sienkiewicz, Rachel Richey, Tim Seeley, Dave Bullock, Dexter Vines, Ed McGuinness, Freddie Williams III, DMC, Greg Capullo, Rich Johnston, and a whole mess more!

art rich richmond comic rodriguez dmc robert kirkman tom king rob liefeld terry moore greg capullo tim seeley matt kindt jimmy palmiotti erik larsen bill sienkiewicz declan shalvey fred van lente cory smith ryan stegman amanda conner new york city comic con ryan browne tony fleecs jim cheung nick dragotta sara pichelli ron richards jeremy haun ramon perez ed mcguinness yanick paquette lee weeks wes craig robbi rodriguez james harren andy belanger philip tan scott kolins aaron kuder vince colletta tom richmond mike mckone brent schoonover marcio takara ryan dunlavey rich johnston garry brown marc laming dexter vines aaron conley dean kotz rachel richey daniel govar o'clock comics

Episode 99 - The September Previews Catalog

The Comics Alternative

Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2014 90:30

It's a new month, so that means it's time for Derek and Andy to take a look at the new Previews catalog. September's holds a lot of solicits that the guys want to discuss, comics that they're looking forward to in the coming months. Some of the upcoming titles they highlight include Resurrectionists #1 and Vault of Horror Vol. 4 from Dark Horse; The Kitchen #1 and Howard Chaykin's Twilight from DC/Vertigo; Shadow Show #1 and Ditko's Shorts from IDW; and ODYC #1, Tooth and Claw #1, and Intersect #1 from Image. There's also a whole slew of comics from the back half of the catalogue that the Two Guys discuss, including Derk Backderf's True Stories #1 (Alternative Comics), Hung Hung and Chioi's The Train (Conundrum), Lynda Barry's Syllabus (Drawn and Quarterly), Grady Hendrix and Ryan Dunlavey's Li'l Classix: Little Women (Evil Twin Comics), Dylan Horrock's Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen (Fantagraphics), Jamie Coe's Art Schooled (Nobrow Press), and Derek Van Gieson's Eel Mansions (Uncivilized Books)...among many others. All in all, it's another jam-packed Previews, and it's all the guys can do to squeeze everything into this one show.

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Interviews - Fred Van Lente

The Comics Alternative

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 13, 2014 63:27

On this episode of The Comics Alternative Interviews, Andy and Derek speak with writer Fred Van Lente. They begin by asking him about his work on the recent Dark Horse title, Brain Boy — a revamp of the short-lived 1960s character — and how he translated the title for a contemporary audience. Van Lente also shares a bit of insight into his upcoming reboot of Magnus: Robot Fighter, part of Dynamite Entertainment's new Gold Key line, as well as his plans for the new Action Presidents series. The Two Guys also talk with Fred about his run on Archer and Armstrong and the early humorous titles he created with Ryan Dunlavey, the comics that really put him on the map: Action Philosophers and The Comic Book History of Comics. They spend a lot of time focusing on Fred's special sense of humor, his meticulous research, and his melding of abstract thoughts and tangible — and very entertaining — storytelling. All in all, Derek and Andy had a good time talking with the acclaimed author…and their conversation ended right when Fred needed to take his shepherd's pie out of the oven. The Two Guys are nothing if not timely!

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Episode 68 - A Review of Six Digital Comics

The Comics Alternative

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2014 95:58

Happy New Year, and welcome to another episode of The Comics Alternative! To start off 2014, Andy and Derek discuss six relatively recent digital comics: Tim Gibson's Moth City, Chris Sheridan's Motorcycle Samurai (Top Shelf), Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari's The Bunker, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's Action Presidents, Brian Winkeler and Robert Wilson IV's Knuckleheads (Monkeybrain Comics), and Jeremy Holt and Chris Peterson's Pulp. They begin by focusing on the two titles that utilize the digital format the fullest, Moth City and Motorcycle Samurai, and how the authors use the technology to enhance their storytelling. Derek and Andy discuss the unique nature of these works and how much would be lost if these titles were offered in print form. From there they move on to The Bunker, Knuckleheads, and Action Presidents, appreciating how the creators use digital technology yet noting that these titles could easily be adapted into physical format without losing much of anything (and as we will see soon, when The Bunker is released by Oni Press). Finally, the Two Guys with PhDs look at the one-shot, Pulp, admiring not only its complex narrative structure, but also the fact that Holt and Peterson chose to market their comic as a “pay what you will” title, much like Brian K. Vaughn and Marcos Martin have done with The Private Eye. Along the way, the guys discuss the general state of digital comics, issues of cost and distribution, the pros and cons of the technological layout, the marketing potential of the format, and how what we now call “digital comics” or “webcomics” is a hybrid form that is challenging our understanding, and our definitions, of “comics.” Much thanks to the creators who contacted Andy and Derek about their digital works, as well as to the many listeners — and you know who you are — who recommended certain titles and lobbied for the Two Guys to finally do an episode devoted to digital comics.

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Episode 17: Fred van Lente & Ryan Dunlavey

Robots From Tomorrow!

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 12, 2013 57:48

With the release of Action Presidents #1 this week, we take this opportunity to bring you a chat with the creative team behind that book, as well as Action Philosophers, Comic Book Comics, and a whole host of other titles from publishers as diverse as Valiant, Marvel, IDW, and Clarkson Potter: Fred van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey! Greg managed to carve out some time from their busy schedules to talk past, present, and future with the duo. And since technical difficulties have presented this talk from being broadcast since its March 2013 recording, their future is our present! None of that pesky waiting around for stuff to happen....it already has! All manner of van Lente/Dunlavey work is discussed, including the aforementioned edu-tainment titles, as well as Ryan's cook book with vegetarian chef Amanda Cohen (Dirt Candy) and, of course, Action Presidents! Bon appetit! Robots From Tomorrow is a weekly comics podcast recorded deep beneath the Earth's surface. You can subscribe to it via iTunes or through the RSS feed at RobotsFromTomorrow.com. You can also follow Mike and Greg on Twitter. Music is John Hughes by Anamanaguchi. Enjoy your funny books.

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11 O'Clock Comics Episode 246

Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2013 143:56

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

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 188

Play Episode Listen Later Nov 23, 2011 147:40

Happy Thanksgiving! Franky DeJesus and Alan White help us give thanks for Comic Book Comics by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Bill Mantlo (incorporating David Yurkovich and Mantlo: A Life In Comics, Micronauts #1 and Micronauts Annual #1, ROM, Steve Ditko, Questprobe, Pat Broderick, Michael Golden, Jack of Hearts, Jackson Guice, and more), Paul Grist and Mudman #1 from Image, many issues of Amazing Spider-Man including the Spider Island event, John Severin, Joe Kubert and St. Johns Publishing (including 3D comics, TOR, Strange Terrors #7, Matt Baker, Comics Journal, and the prototypical "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust), the Mid-Ohio Comic Con, Marc Sumerak and All-Ghoul's School from IDW, Back Issue #38, 48, and 52 from TwoMorrows Publishing (touching upon Bernie Wrightson, Sergio Aragones, PLOP!, EC Comics, Vampirella, John Byrne, Charlton Comics, Madame Xanadu and Michael Kaluta, and a whole mess more), Low Concept: The EOC Community Anthology, Mahmud Asrar and Supergirl #3, Skottie Young and Magneto: Not a Hero #1, and lots more!

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 183

Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2011 165:54

It's our giant-size NYCC 2011 wrap-up episode featuring chatter on Jim Cheung, jam pieces, Brian Azzarello, Ben Templesmith, Bob Layton, Ramona Fredon, Marie Severin, Kevin Maguire, Mahmud Asrar, Tim Seeley, Tom Fowler, Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, Mike Norton, Greg Capullo, Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld and the return of the mighty Extreme!, Matt Wagner, Ryan Dunlavey and Fred Van Lente, Andy Lanning, Jeremy Haun, Kagan McLeod, Top Shelf, Jeff Lemire, Chris Claremont, Image Comics, Dan Didio, Jason Aaron, Cliff Chiang, Matt Kindt, Michael Dooney, Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, Tony Moore, Erik Larsen, Scott Snyder, Bill Sienkiewicz, Herb Trimpe, and a whole mess more! Plus, after Chris bails, we stick around for close to another hour to chew the rag on Juan Doe and the Legion of Monsters #1, Neal Adams and the greatness that is Batman: Odyssey V2 #1, the Batman: Year One animated film, Habibi, Love and Rockets: New Stories #4, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1, DC's Jackie Gleason and the Honeymooners and Mike Roy, the first episode of the second season of Walking Dead, Top Cow's Pilot Season: The Test, and much more!

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 153

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 23, 2011 117:12

We wrap up this year's C2E2 in static-drenched style, incorporating talk on All Star Superman Vs. The Dark Knight Returns, Kyle Latino, John Siuntres, sketchbooks and original art, Lance Kizer, Gil Kane, LEGO minifigs, Spongebob, Mahmud Asrar, andy Jewett, HERO Initiative, Steve Bryant, Geoff Darrow, God Hates Astronauts, Cliff Chiang, Jeremy Haun, Adam Hughes, Jason Howard, Jamal Igle, Mike (Battlepug) Norton, Chris Burnham, Batman Inc., Hilary Barta, Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Will Pfeifer, back issue dealers, Robert Atkins and G.I. Joe, Richard Corben, Brian Stringer, Skottie Young and Deadpool Team-Up, Yildiray Cinar, Stuart Immonen, Halcyon from Image Comics, Tardi, Chris Samnee, and a whole mess more!

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 151

brothers modok hit me ryan dunlavey

Play Episode Listen Later Mar 9, 2011 129:16

Sandwiched between a meaty look at Erik Larsen's long-running Savage Dragon, we take long looks at Comic Book Comics #5 from Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey, Miracleman/Marvelman, Bleeding Cool and the Kirby depositions, Generation Hope and Akira, Larry Lieber, Vertigo's Finals from Will Pfeifer and Jill Thompson, more on Annihilators #1, Bongo Comics (Simpsons, Futurama, Hilary Barta, and more...), Plastic Man, Paul Pope, Zatanna by Paul Dini and company, John Byrne's landmark Alpha Flight, Heavy Metal, Bendis' Powers, Young Justice, Marineman, and a whole mess more!

man young generation dragon flight comics metal thompson alpha pope powers comic savage simpsons plastic heavy metal akira futurama young justice dini john byrne pfeifer sandwiched zatanna plastic man paul dini alpha flight savage dragon erik larsen fred van lente bleeding cool jill thompson annihilators paul pope generation hope larry lieber ryan dunlavey will pfeifer marineman miracleman marvelman o'clock comics

Episode 27 - Brother Got Ta Rap f/Ryan Dunlavey

War Rocket Ajax

Play Episode Listen Later Apr 26, 2010 100:21

Hit Me! Back at it, talking about a ton of comics, and rapping with guest writer and artist Ryan Dunlavey about philosophers, MODOK, and new jack swing. All of you go to your rooms.

11 O'Clock Comics Episode 105