Podcast appearances and mentions of Shaun Simon

October 2024 Solicits (DC, Image, Mad Cave, Boom, Vault) Comic Reviews: DC o        Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter 1 by Jay Kristoff, Tirso; Tom Taylor, Riccardo Federici, Arif Prianto Marvel o        Daredevil: Woman Without Fear 1 by Erica Schultz, Michael Dowling, Dee Cunniffe o        Deadpool Role Plays the Marvel Universe by Cullen Bunn, Michael Shelfer o        Immortal Thor Annual by Al Ewing, David Baldeon, Federico Blee; Derk Landy, Sara Pichelli, Mattia Iacono o        Namor 1 by Jason Aaron, Paul Davidson, Alex Lins, Neeraj Menon o        Phoenix 1 by Stephanie Phillips, Alessandro Miracolo, David Curiel o        X-Men: Blood Hunt – Laura Kinney the Wolverine by Stephanie Phillips, Robert Gill, Nolan Woodard o        Marvel Unlimited §  Marvel Mutts 12 by Mackenzie Cadenhead, Takeshi Miyazawa Dark Horse o        Paranoid Gardens 1 by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, Chris Weston, Dave Stewart Image o        Witchblade 1 by Marguerite Bennett, Giuseppe Cafaro, Arif Prianto IDW o        Rocketeer Breaks Free 1 by Stephen Mooney, Staz Johnson, Len O'Grady, Marco Lesko o        Star Trek Annual 2024 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Rachael Stott Mad Cave o        Last Wardens 1 by Amit Tishler, Elliot Sperl, Rui Silveira, Francesco Segala, Angese Pozza Dynamite o        Powerpuff Girls 1 by Kelly Thompson, Paulina Ganucheau Oni o        Biker Mice From Mars 1 by Melissa Flores, Francis Portela Archie o        Chilling Adventures Presents: Truth or Dare 1 by Ron Robbins, Laura Braga, Ellie Wright Titan o        Michael Moorcock's Elric: The Necromancer 1 by Julien Blondel, Jean-Luc Cano OGN Countdown o        Old Willis Place by Mary Downing Hahn, Scott Peterson, Meredith Laxton, Sienna Haralson o        LastMan Vol 5 by Balak, Michael Sanlaville, Bastien Vives o        Tig and Lilly Vol 3: Up Late by Dan Thompson o        Spirited Vol 3: Greenhouse of Horror by Liv Livingston o        Warriors: Prophecies Begin by Erin Hunter, Natalie Riess, Sara Goetter o        Louder Than Words: Actions Speak by Sergio Aragones o        SCRAM by Rory Lucey o        Whodunnit by El Torres, Vicente Cifuentes o        Sparks Vol 1: Portals by Revel Guts o        Youth Group by Jordan Morris, Bowen McCurdy o        Gamerville by Johnnie Christmas o        Goblin Vol 2: The Wolf and the Well by Eric Grissom, Will Perkins Additional Reviews: Twisters, Thor by Jason Aaron, Acolyte finale, MAWS s2 News: Omnibus shutting down, Arcbound by Snyder and Tom Hardy moves to Dark Horse, return of the Russo brothers to MCU, DC All-In and Absolute DC, new OGN from Michael Conrad on ComiXology, more Conan from Jason Aaron, TMNT/Naruto crossover, Halo canceled, new Dark Horse book by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Tom Scioli Godzilla, DC graphic novel by Ben Hed Trailers: Terminator Zero, Alien: Romulus, Beetlejuice 2 Comics Countdown (17 July 2024): 1.     Fishflies 7 by Jeff Lemire 2.     Man's Best 5 by Pornsak Pichetshote, Jesse Lonergan 3.     Nightwing 116 by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas 4.     Dark Knights of Steel: Allwinter 1 by Jay Kristoff, Tirso; Tom Taylor, Riccardo Federici, Arif Prianto 5.     Usagi Yojimbo: Crow 4 by Stan Sakai 6.     Superman 16 by Joshua Williamson, Jamal Campbell 7.     Undiscovered Country 30 by Scott Snyder, Charles Soule, Giuseppe Camuncoli, Leonardo Marcello Grassi, Matt Wilson 8.     Wonder Woman 11 by Tom King, Tony Daniel, Jay David Ramos; Tom King, Belen Ortega, Tamra Bonvillain 9.     Redcoat 2 by Geoff Johns, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Brad Anderson 10.  Lawful 2 by Greg Pak, Diego Galindo, Irma Kniivila

It's another week, and that means even more new books and new events happening at the store!    Events this week: Tuesday, March 8th: Margaret Dilloway  Wednesday, March 9th: Gretchen Felker-Martin, in conversation with Lee Mandelo Thursday, March 10th: Thomas Olde Heuvelt, in conversation with Chris Golden  Friday, March 11th: Remi K. England, in conversation with Britta Lundin  Sunday, March 13th: Romance Book Club  Monday, March 14th: Aaron Philip Clark, in conversation with Curtis Ippolito    New this week: Where the Sky Lives by Margaret Dilloway  The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories edited by Yu Chen and Regina Kanyu Wang  Crowbar by Anne Bishop  Sam Gunn Jr. by Ben Bova  The Future is Yours by Dan Frey  Last Exit by Max Gladstone  Voices from the Radium Age edited by Joshua Glenn  The Damage Done by Michael Landweber  Constance Verity Destroys the Universe by A. Lee Martinez  The Circus Infinite by Khan Wong  Front Page Murder by Joyce St. Anthony  Shadows Reel by C.J. Box  The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-Mo  Booth by Karen Joy Fowler  Like a Sister by Kallye Garrett  The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen  Hideout by Louisa Luna  The Lightning Rod by Brad Meltzer  The Truth About White Lies by Olivia A. Cole  Killing Time by Brenna Ehrlich  Blood Scion by Deborah Falaye  Daughter by Kate McLaughlin  Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore  From Dust, A Flame by Rebecca Podos  The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux  A Far Wilder Magic by Allison Saft  Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron  Squire by Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh  Those Kids from Fawn Creek by Erin Entrada Kelly  The Girl in the Arcade Volume 1 by Okushou, illustrated by MGMEE  The Kingdoms of Ruin Volume 4 by Yoruhashi  Sundome!! Milky Way Volume 3(ADULTS ONLY) by Kazuki Funatsu  Do You Like Big Girls? Volume 3 by Goro Aizome  Fantastic Four, Eternal Flame Trade Volume 9 by Dan Slott, illustrated by Nico Leon  Marvel's WandaVision: The Art of The Series  Moon Knight by Jeff Lemire and Greg Smallwood  New Teen Titans Volume 13 by Marv Wolfman, illustrated by Eduardo Barreto  Teen Titans Academy Volume 1: X Marks The Spot by Tim Sheridan, illustrated by Rafa Sandoval DC Horror Presents: The Conjuring: The Lover Sonic The Hedgehog Volume 10: Test Run by Evan Stanley, illustrated by Adam Bryce Thomas and Bracardi Curry  Jim Butcher's Dresden Files: Bigfoot by Jim Butcher and Mark Powers, illustrated by Joe Cooper  Animal Crossing New Horizons Volume 02, Deserted Island Diary by Kokonasu Rumba  Dick Fight Island Volume 02 (ADULTS ONLY) by Reibun Ike  Electric Century by Mikey Way, Shaun Simon, illustrated by Toby Cypress  Kirby Manga Mania Volume 04 by Hirokazu Hikawa  Mao Volume 04 by Rumiko Takahashi  Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Volume 00 by Aidalro    Subscribe to the SciFi & Fantasy Book Crate or the Cozy Mysteries Book Crate now! You can now find us on Patreon! Unlock exclusive content by subscribing today! Special thanks to Austin Farmer for letting us use the track "Kill the Farm Boy", from his album Bookshelf Symphony Orchestra!  Send us your questions to mystgalaxypod@gmail.com Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook,  YouTube, and TikTok!  And support the store by ordering books at mystgalaxy.com!

Look alive, Sunshine! It's time for another Book Club episode. Gen and Jette discuss The True Live of the Fabulous Killjoys: California by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, and Becky Cloonan. It's a great conversation about storytelling, graphic novels, and dystopian aesthetics. Show notes: Killjoys may have begun as an idea for a comic book series, but it first came to life on My Chemical Romance's album Danger Days. The graphic novel picks up where that story leaves off. Watch the music videos for "Na Na Na" and "SING" for more Killjoys content and to see the where the aesthetic of the comic was born. The sequel to Killjoys: California is available in a collected edition called The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem. We came up with about five different essays we could write based on this book and had a great discussion about the use of colour. Gerard Way was cofounder of the DC imprint Young Animal, but both Killjoys and Umbrella Academy were published by Dark Horse Comics. For more graphic novel goodness, listen to Episode 21 where we discuss Shade, the Changing Girl by Cecil Castellucci. Our next book club book is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. We'll be discussing this one in our first episode of 2022! Other Media Mentioned Neverboy by Shaun Simon Collapser by Shaun Simon and Mikey Way The Umbrella Academy The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon Mad Max: Fury Road Blade Runner 2049 Illuminae by Amie Kauffman and Jay Kristoff Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook or email us at hello@anotherbookontheshelf.com. We'd love to hear from you! Sign up for our newsletter and add us to Pinterest!

Our season 2 premiere is here! The topics for this episode are: -!- by Dead Poet Society, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, You Look Like Death by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, and My Life with the Thrill Kill KultFollow OWP on Instagram, Twitter and TwitchFollow Chris on InstagramFollow Kat on InstagramPodcast cover art by: Dyna MoePodcast theme song by: Ell!psis

Our season 2 premiere is here! The topics for this episode are: -!- by Dead Poet Society, Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World, You Look Like Death by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, and My Life with the Thrill Kill KultFollow OWP on Instagram, Twitter and TwitchFollow Chris on InstagramFollow Kat on InstagramPodcast cover art by: Dyna MoePodcast theme song by: Ell!psis

Shaun Simon is the Founder & CEO of ServiceGanja based in Dallas, Texas.Shaun is a serial entrepreneur who started ServiceGanja in March 2020 after working early at several tech startups and his other ventures. Shaun is one of the natural entrepreneurs that started very young. Through his experiences, he was able to learn from his examples and mistakes to improve. ServiceGanja is a technology platform for cannabis dispensaries to manage their retail operations with an all-in-one platform that includes point of sale, guest marketing, digital ordering, and delivery.About the Host Royston A CumberbatchComing from a humble background and going through depression in his early 20's means he knows what it feels like to have little or no money at times.He transformed his life and built a property portfolio worth £2 Million+ by investing in himself. He as has also set up and owns several successful businesses.It is now his mission to empower you to grow your business and become highly profitable, tax-efficient, and sustainable – building up reserves to withstand any recession.About The PodcastFinancial intelligence mindset is about understanding more about money and how to make more, manage it and maximise it in your business and personal life. It is about having the right attitude and beliefs about money.By enhancing your financial intelligence, you can make decisions in the best interest and your business.It enables you to understand more about money and ask the right questions to the right people to make the best decision and keep you on track for success.Free Resources:https://www.thebusinessgrowthmastermind.com/ebook_cashflowhttps://www.thebusinessgrowthmastermind.com/manage-assets Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 76, Gen and Jette discuss their latest book club book, Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich. This dystopian story follows Cedar Hawk Songmaker, a young pregnant woman who finds herself having to hide in a world where pregnancy has become a matter of state security. Evolution is moving backwards and society as we know it is no longer. You know we love a good dystopia, and Erdrich packs so much into this relatively short book. We had such a good conversation about these characters, the end of the world, and the possibility of never seeing snow again. Show Notes: Louise Erdrich's next book, The Sentence, is set for release on November 9, 2021. Check out this article about Future Home of the Living Gods in The New York Times Our next book club book is a graphic novel, The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: California by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, illustrated by Becky Cloonan. The novel serves as a sequel to My Chemical Romance's album, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, so make sure you listen to that first! Books Mentioned The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Firekeeper's Daughter by Ageline Boulley (Listen to the episode!) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Don't forget to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook or email us at hello@anotherbookontheshelf.com. We'd love to hear from you! Sign up for our newsletter and add us to Pinterest!

Shaun Simon is the founder and CEO of ServiceGanja, based in Dallas. Shaun started ServiceGanja in March 2020 after working at several tech startups in sales.  Shaun is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma. ServiceGanja is a software platform for cannabis dispensaries to manage their retail operations with an all-in-one platform that includes point of sale, guest marketing, digital ordering, and delivery. Service Ganja has grown fast without outside investment funding to serve hundreds of cannabis dispensary customers in their first year in business. In this episode, Shaun shares his startup journey that started the first week of the COVID shut down in March 2020, then rewriting of their software after testing with early beta customers, to their fast growth without outside funding, and his vision to grow a big software company in Dallas that serves the growing cannabis industry.

Mikey Way joins us over Zoom to talk through the new self-titled album from Electric Century, his project with David Debiak, which features the single 'Til We're Gone' and an accompanying graphic novel. We talk having his My Chemical Romance bandmate Ray Toro behind the production desk and how his time in MCR led the way to this musical project. Plus, we discuss working with comic writer Shaun Simon, his UK musical influences, his upcoming comic collaboration with his brother Gerard Way and look back on performing live with Waterparks.

Shaun Simon is the cofounder of ServiceGanja. With ServiceGanja, achieve your Cannabis Dispensaries sales goals using our easy-to-use and agile software that delights new and repeats customers.

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

In today's episode:Avatar: The Last Airbender's Toph gets solo graphic novelMikey Way and Shaun Simon's Electric Century graphic novel finally has a release dateInterview with artist and musician Conner BarrettBlack History Highlight: Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun and first African-American female author to have a play on BroadwayFedEx grants $5 million to HBCUsBIC sells French headquartersWinnepeg man runs 3 km barefoot in -30C weather in attempt to evade arrestSupport the show (http://paypal.me/barefootsierra)Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched! Start for FREEDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Children of the Grave by Ben Roberts & Sam Romesburg Artist: Gioele Fillipo from Scout Comics. Crossover, Home Sick Pilots from Image ComicsThe True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem From Dark Horse Comics Black Bouquet: Haunt Me Once More EP Out now on Spotify, Bandcamp, iTunes. Want to Contact Us Twitter: Daniel @Dantichrist_Twitter: Colby @Hellhoundf5

On this week's comic book review podcast: Captain America #25 Marvel By Ta-Nehesi Coates & Leonard Kirk Back-up by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho Rorschach #2 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Sea of Sorrows #1 IDW Publishing Written by Rich Douek Art and colors by Alex Cormack Marvel Indigenous Voices #1 Marvel By Jeffrey Verge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo & B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles, and David Cutler Barbalien: Red Planet #1 Dark Horse Comics Script by Tate Brombal Story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal Art by Gabriel Hernández Walta Commanders in Crisis #2 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davide Tinto The Amazing Spider-Man #53 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Mark Bagley Dark Nights: Death Metal #5 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Seven to Eternity #14 Image Comics Written by Rick Remender Drawn by Jerome Opeña Venom #30 Marvel Written by Donny Cates Art by Luke Ross Usagi Yojimbo #14 IDW Publishing Written, art and letters by Stan Sakai Batman #103 DC Comics Written by James Tynion IV Art by Carlo Pagulayan & Danny Miki and Guillem March Black Magick #16 Image Comics Written by Greg Rucka Art by Nicola Scott Juggernaut #3 Marvel Written by Fabian Nicieza Art by Ron Garney You Look Like Death: Tales From The Umbrella Academy #3 Dark Horse Comics Story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon Art & Colors by I.N.J. Culbard Stillwater #3 Image Comics Written by Chip Zdarsky Art by Ramón K. Perez The Immortal Hulk #40 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett Big Girls #4 Image Comics Story & Art by Json Howard Widowmakers #1 Story by Devin Grayson Pencils and Inks by Michele Bandini Ice Cream Man #21 Image Comics Written by W. Maxwell Prince Art by Martín Morazzo X-Force #14 Marvel Written by Benjamin Percy and Gerry Duggan Art by Joshua Cassara Hellions #6 Marvel Written by Zeb Wells Art by Carmen Carnero Cable #6 Marvel Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Phil Noto 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 we have the pack stack for you today. We've got so many comics to talk about. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:00:19] that there is a lot of comics on Stack's before this. This is a whole another level of Stack. Justin:              This is serious. Alex:                 I got a timer going, we're going to do 25 seconds per comic. 100%. Definitely, no fat on this show is what I like to say [crosstalk 00:00:35]. Let's cut all the X-Men book if you're cutting fat. Come on. Justin:              Those are nice and leam. Those are very fun. Yeah. They're right in the right length. We will not do any sort of deviation, no tangents, for God's sakes. Alex:                 No bits. Justin:              No bits. Pete:                Wow. Justin:              Who's got time for those. Alex:                 Nobody has time for bits. Speaking of bits, have you guys ever tried alphabets? Because that's a good series, surprisingly. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:01:02]. Justin:              Yes. What I do is I start the day with alphabets, jump right into some alphabet soup for lunch, and then I have a dinner of my own choosing. Pete:                Wow. That really fall off there at the end. Alex:                 Man. You're on Alpha Watchers, right? Justin:              That's right [inaudible 00:01:19]. Alex:                 Let's talk about, speaking of letters, specifically the letter A and whether it stands for France or not. Let's talk about Captain America, number 25 for Marvel by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk, backup by Anthony Falcone and Michael Cho. It was a big anniversary issue for captain America. So I figured it was worth talking about, but this is right in the middle of a huge arc that they've been doing for this title for a while now, as captain America is basically fighting against all of his villains along with the daughters of Liberty, is that what the group is called? Justin:              That is correct. Alex:                 Big things go down on this issue. I got to tell you, I liked the main story. I thought it was fine as part of the continuing story, but I thought the backup was real good. Justin:              Yes. That's when I was reading this, despite the fact that it is a number 25, the first story, I was like, “This is pretty good. This is just Ta-Nehisi Coates as both this Captain America and Black Panther is always writing sort of one uber story and so each arc is the next piece of that. I've been really enjoying this story and Captain America. But the backup story, I was like, “Yes, this is the real… It's such a good… Just comment on what America is. It's captain America speaking at a funeral for a guy he met in Red Hook at a diner and it's just a great… It's like a speech and it's really- Pete:                I got choked up during this comic. It was really great and really well done. I was really impressed. Alex:                 The art is very good. It's very reminiscent of Darwin Cook in particular, I think- Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 From Michael Cho and the story spans the history of Captain America. So if you're looking for something anniversary-wise again, the first story, very good. It's a good story. Ta-Nehisi Coates is a good writer. We know that. Justin:              Great writer. Alex:                 Leonard Kirk is a great artist as well. So there's good stuff going on there. But the backup is definitely where it's at. Let's move to another run, Rorschach, number two from DC Comics written by Tom King art by Ori Fornace. I think it's fair to say we're two issues in, and I still don't know exactly what to expect personally from this title. I thought the story was fascinating, well laid out. The art is really good. I have no idea how any of this connects to anything yet, but I'm definitely on board for the ride. Justin:              This felt almost like a standalone issue, which I think is odd as a second issue. So it's a detective trying to track down this attempted assassination. In this issue, it's the characters that we think are sort of the Rorschach and are the main characters of the subjects at least of this book are just sort of side characters in this. It's about the mystery of a murder that happened in this building. I don't know, I really liked it, but I agree with you, Alex. I felt it was an odd place to put an issue like this. Pete:                I disagree, I think this a very interesting kind of like, who done it, I'm really liking how this is unfolding in a classic Kings fashion where we're getting a little bit, each issue a little bit, trying to put together this bigger picture. Art's unbelievable. Storytelling is really great. I really liked the voiceover stuff at the beginning and I think Rorschach is one of my favorite characters. So this is very interesting to kind of like, you get this story and to see how this is going to unfold. Alex:                 This is something that even while I'm reading it, I feel like my antenna is on wrong for it because I read it and I try not to do this when I'm reading it, because the story is good, the art is good, but I keep reading it as, okay, how does this connect to Watchman? How does this connect to Watchman the TV series? How does this connect-? Pete:                Wow, that's weird. Alex:                 Well, and it does Tom King said on Twitter, that it is in “the same universe”, because of course they're seeing the same universe, but it's not in the doomsday clock universe necessarily. It's taking place in the same universe as the TV show. So I feel like I'm focusing on that too much [crosstalk 00:05:34]. Pete:                Yeah. Why are you [crosstalk 00:05:36] harder on yourself. Alex:                 Well, this is what I'm saying, I am owning the fact that I'm reading this incorrectly, and it's something that I feel like I'm going to have to read through and then go back and read again to really read it the right way once it's a complete story personally. Justin:              That's fair. Alex, honestly, when it comes to antennas, you need to upgrade to a mental wirelessness so you can just not have to have this. Pete:                Get the WiFi bro. Justin:              Get the WiFi dude. Alex:                 It keeps going down though. I don't know what's going on. Let's move on to another title. Sea of Sorrows number one from IDW Publishing written by Rich Douek, art and colors by Alex Cormack. Man, I loved this book. I thought this was so good. This is about a bunch of treasure hunters exploring a sunken sub. There is some weird stuff going on there. I don't think it's too much of a spoiler because it's on the cover or one of the covers, but there's a weird bunch of stuff coming on there with potentially some mermaids. It flashes back in time to previous time- Justin:              Just potentially some mermaids, just a high mermaid potential on this book. Let me just say, no spoilers, but the potentiality of mermaid-ness is high here. Alex:                 Yeah. Certainly our mermaid antenna was like [inaudible 00:06:41]. Justin:              Was blazing. Pete:                Yeah. I wouldn't say this is splash two, but there's definitely some mermaid action. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 Sure. Most people with that in fact say this was splash two, but there is some really good, like dark horror crime fantasy stuff going on. We've had Rich Douek at our live show before talking about previous book he's done and I think Rich is just a really smart, precise writer. I was very surprised how much I enjoyed this, both from the art and the writing perspective. Justin:              Yeah. I think it's a nice, like sort of everyone's out to get everyone situation and then they encounter something horrifying. The art I think is really, really great. The undersea stuff is drawn. So with such darkness to it, and then the surprise of the potential mermaid that we've discussed and giving some- Alex:                 I don't want to say is a mermaid, I'm just saying it's a potential mermaid. Justin:              It's a potential mermaid. It's an undersea maid, I guess we could say. Pete:                I think this does a great job as a first issue, is setting up this fucked up world, putting all the pieces in place to get you excited for the bigger story. I think this is a really solid first issue. I can't wait for more. I'm all in. Alex:                 It's very reminiscent of the way of the Hill house Comics that came out of DC, just in terms of seeing like a contained horror story. But I like it quite a bit. Definitely pick this one up. Next up, Marvel Indigenous Voices, number 1 from of course, Marvel Comics by, here's a long list, Jeffrey Veregge, Rebecca Roanhorse, Darcie Little Badger, Stephen Graham Jones, Taboo and B. Earl, Weshoyot Alvitre, Kyle Charles and David Cutler.As you could probably figure out from the title, this is a bunch of short stories that focus on Marvel's Indigenous characters. I thought this was nice theology and I'd like to see more of this. What did you guys think? Pete:                I agree. This was really cool, very creative. I liked the way this set up with the watcher in the beginning. Just setting things up as like, we're going to get a bunch of stories here. Yeah. I'm completely on board. I want more, I think this is a great idea and I'm glad Marvel is doing this. Justin:              I love, I think this is such a great variety of stories here. The first story focuses on Echo and great character from Daredevil back in the day. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              I miss seeing more of Echo, and it's sort of a straight up action adventures. She takes on the [inaudible 00:09:17], Loki shows up. Then we get a Dani Moonstar, Rahne Sinclair, story, which is good, very classic. X-Men short. Then the last story is this super interesting silver fox story that really fits into Wolverine history and is so dark and disturbing. But it was great. That was my favorite of the three and it really popped for me that last one. Alex:                 Yeah, I definitely agree. I think, we talk a lot about how anthologies are hit and miss, of course, because you're getting a lot of stories, but this is an issue that I think is well worth picking up based on the three stories in it. Justin:              Before you move on real quick, there is in the sort of back matter here, there's a note at the bottom, look for an exhilarating new series from Taboo and B. Earl in 2021. The Apache Warrior, [Kashiwa 00:10:12] the Sorcerer Supreme and the Ghost Rider of the mid-1800s berms her way into the future and brings disaster with her. I read that and I was like, “Shit, this looks awesome.” Pete:                Hell yeah. Yes. Justin:              I can't wait to check that out. Alex:                 Good stuff. Let's move on then to Barbalien, Red Planet, number one from Dark Horse Comic Script by Tate Brombal, story by Jeff Lemire and Tate Brombal, art by Gabriel Hemandez Walta. This is continuing to flesh out the Black Hammer Universe, which it is wild. How many books are coming out of this and how exciting all of them are. But this one is focusing on the world's Martian Manhunter Amalgam. Alex:                 The main thing that frankly, makes him different is he is gay and here he is dealing with a big situation on Mars where he's been sentenced to death. While back in time, he is discovering his sexuality at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 80s. This is great. Just another fantastic Black Hammer book. Pete:                Yeah. I was really impressed with this. Art is fantastic. Lot of heart, great storytelling, very interesting. I was really impressed by this and there is literally like an, oh shit, moment here, where you think maybe someone's going to die. I was really impressed by this. Justin:              Yeah. The Black Hammer Universe is so smart, the way it… This is a little bit cheap to say, but it brings like an indie sensibility to the Justice League characters or Justice League analogs, I think is so great. But what really does is flesh out these characters, make them more interesting and take the tropes of the top tier heroes like that and make the ground them, give them like a context and a historical place. It's just makes for rich storytelling. It's really good. Alex:                 Totally agree. It's just crazy that this is essentially a Martian Manhunter story, but with some tropes changed around, but it works completely and it shouldn't work outside of Jeff Lemire writing it. But it absolutely does. He's clearly guiding this whole universe. It feels like the best new superhero universe or new type of universe that Dark Horse has done since BPRD and Hellboy. They're doing such a good job with it across the board. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Moving on to another big new one, Commanders in Crisis, number two, from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando, art by David Tinto, as we found out in the first issue, empathy is dead and not only that, but one superhero from the remaining universe has taken a bunch of presidents from a bunch of other universes, save them, given them super powers, brought them here. They're all working together as a team. There are so many insane Steve Orlando ideas that are all working at the same time. We really liked the first issue. How do you think it held up on second take? Pete:                I think this is very cool. I love the ending. Yeah. This is Steve Orlando, just have a lot of fun kicking butt. This is very cool. Although there are a lot of ideas you can still follow what's happening. Art's great, ton of action, a lot of fun moments. Yeah, I've been really impressed with this book. He's taking big swings with this and I've been impressed with it. Justin:              Yeah. We just talked about sort of taking, coming at Justice League style storytelling in a different way and I think Steve Orlando here does it in an even different way. It's like fully idea and concept driven where you're getting into these multi-versal, true this and finding a way to have these heroes being heroes while at the same time combating an idea. It's good. It feels topical. It feels like it's also has good super hero action. I like it as well. Alex:                 The second issue spent a little more time with the individual characters, which I thought was really nice as we get to know them, because they're all new, they're all fresh, they've got different powers. So it's interesting stuff. Next up, The Amazing Spider-Man, number 53, from Marvel written by Nick Spencer, art by Mark Bagley. This is picking up on the cliffhanger of the last issue where Spider-Man died. He was killed by the character Kindred, who we know is Harry Osborne, but Spider-Man doesn't know that. This issue is coming around to the big surprise that Kindred is Harry Osborne, is the reveal at the end. Justin:              Yes. Alex:                 What did you think about this? Because I've been very on board with this storyline, but felt a little mixed about this issue, personally. Pete:                What I really liked about this issue was, in the past issues, there's been so much happening at once. It seemed like a little bit of overload. I liked how the slow down a little bit to deliver who this is and the got you kind of moment at the end was cool. I thought it was earned. I've been a little like, “I haven't been enjoying myself on this book.” But at least I enjoyed the pacing a lot more on this and it felt like, “Okay, we're now on the same page.” We can move back to crazy time with Nick Spencer for this. What's going to happen next? Justin:              As always, I agree with Pete completely with nine caveats. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              Because I agree with you. I think this issue was paced really nicely and Mark Bagley's aren't… I feel like I first came to reading Spider-Man comics when Mark Bagley was drawing Spider-Man and Peter Parker and so seeing him, I'm like, “Yes, I really like this. I recognize this.” If we hadn't known that Harry Osborne was underneath the bandages, this would have been a great reveal. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              But the fact that we know it, meant this was weird. Now it makes me be like, “Is this the reveal?” Pete:                It's got to be. Justin:              We were doubting it before, but now it feels like it is, but it also feels like, why do it twice? Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Why reveal that in advice. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:16:29]. Alex:                 It's just a strange choice. It completely undercut that last page for me when he looks and says, “Got you.” Because it's not a got you, because we already knew that and Spider-Man [crosstalk 00:16:39]. Pete:                Yeah. But Spider-man doesn't know it's a, got you. It was [inaudible 00:16:42]. Alex:                 Nobody did. He's like, “No, you can't be Harry Osborne.” Then he takes off his mask and says, “Got you.” But it's not. It's also another and a long line of Marvel masks that were definitely not masks until they took them off. Pete:                Right. Alex:                 Like Kindred, Taskmaster. It's like, “Come on, you're not wearing mask. Taskmaster, you've got a skull face.” Justin:              Another mask under that where it's going to be the next issue, he's like, “Got you.” Pete:                I'm Uncle Ben. I'm Peter Parker. Justin:              You should eat my rice. Pete:                Yes. That's what I meant, is that Uncle Ben from the rice brand. Alex:                 Of course, very controversial lately as they've taken that mask off. But thank you, Pete, for bringing that up. Pete:                Anytime. I like to make it weird. Justin:              At the end of the day we're journalists and that's the big reveal. Alex:                 Stop saying that. Cool. Dark Nights, Death Metal, number five, from DC Comics, written by Scott Snyder and art by Greg Capullo. In this issue, I don't know, a lot of stuff goes on. Pete:                Yeah, it does. Justin:              Yes, that is correct. Alex:                 I'll tell you in the middle of everything while this is like Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have their wildest really channeling The Justice League run where it's like, “We've got to use this nth metal to fight back against the dark multi-verse and take the positive anti-crisis matter. Just all of this insane thing, all of this insane mythology that they're putting in there. But my main takeaway is it has the single funniest penguin panel I've ever seen in the history of comics. Justin:              That's 100% fair. Alex:                 So good. Everybody is lined up, everybody's ready to fight the dark multi-verse. Justin:              The villains. Alex:                 They have all the villains. They have all the heavy hitters there, everybody's ready and it feels to be like, Greg Capullo drew the penguin in there and then Scott Snyder wrote a line for later because the line is, “I have a sharp rock.” Justin:              Yes. To be fair. He says, “I have a very sharp rock.” So pretty [crosstalk 00:18:40]. Alex:                 “I have a very sharp rock.” Which made me laugh out loud. Pete:                I really enjoyed the army of Lobo's, yeah, this is just fun. The touching moment between Batman, Superman or Wonder Woman here, yeah, I think it's just, I've said this before, I'm going to say it again, it continues to be a lot of fun and really over the top and all metal doubt and why not? Why not have a little fun? Justin:              Yeah, I agree. It is fun. It's why they fight Castle Bats, they lose to a giant Gotham City basically, which was cool. Really finally proving that Gotham City really is a character in this Comic. Alex:                 Finally proving it. Justin:              Now here's my question for you. Lex Luther in this issue sort of comes through and rescues our heroes and is sort of the person who comes together with the plan at the end here, is he fully doing this for good? Or is he going to betray them in that [crosstalk 00:19:45]. Alex:                 Man, I don't know. The way Greg Capullo draws him, he seems pretty ernest, but it would not be true to Lex Luther if he didn't have a plan on top of a plan. Justin:              hat's what I'm saying. The way we sort of quickly move past the fact that it's Lex Luther who is the architect of their plan, makes me think that he will eventually become the true villain at the end of this once the Batman who laughs, despite the near infinite power he has, is defeated. But I love the getting all the heroes together. It feels like they're finally coming together to do their business. Pete:                Yeah. To get a business. Alex:                 I'm glad they finally got down to business. I agree. Justin:              Well, it does feel that way. They've been fucking around too much. Alex:                 Yes, they have. This is great. Like Pete said, every issue of this is just a blast to read because it's so purposely dumb and fun and over the top, every single choice. Does it make sense that Lobo could create an infinite army of Lobo's out of his own blood? Probably not. I hope they never follow up on that in any way, but it's fun to see. So that's fine. Justin:              Do you think one of them is actually Wolverine? Pete:                Stop. Just stop with that old [crosstalk 00:21:01] you do every time we talk about Lobo. Justin:              Eventually, one of them is like, “Hey guys, have you guys looked at us? I feel like we're just a Wolverine in space. Anybody else seeing that?” Pete:                That's just so dumb. Justin:              “Does anybody else…?” “Hey, Lobos, let's have a little Lobo huddle. Anybody else think we're Wolverine in space?” Pete:                Wolverine doesn't talk about himself in the third person and have a whole different language. It's not… Alex:                 Wolverine is constantly talking about himself in the third person. Justin:              No, he's not. Justin:              Yeah. If you can point out a couple other differences between Wolverine and Lobo, I'd love to hear it. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:21:38] talk about Seven to Eternity, number 14, from Image Comics, written by Rick Remender and drawn by Jerome Opena. So excited. This title is back. This takes place in a fantasy world where a dude who is dying has teamed up with the big villain who basically destroyed his world and is now tracking down eternal life. This issue, we get a very classic Rick Remender scaring of Disney world and Disney Land and things like that as they get to the place where eternal life is granted. As usual with Rick Remender book, things get real dark real quick. But it's really Jerome Opena's, character designs that carry this book in how wild and how creative they are throughout the book. Pete:                I would like to say, you got to pick this up for the art alone. It's worth it. Justin:              Nice, great, quote, from quoting yourself, Pete page. Yeah, to that point, I am the asker section from the back half of the book is really cool. But Rick Remender talks about this a little bit in the back matter on this book, he's like, “Hey, we took a real long time to get this done.” But I think his focus on quality of his comic book work is amazing. He made a choice years ago now to stop doing Marvel and DC work and focus on all of his creator owned books and he takes so much care with every issue to make them, in his mind, perfect. Justin:              He does such a good job of just making high quality comics that really everything is super unique, super creative from the writing to the art, to the character design all the way through it's dark, like all of his work, it definitely has his point of view, but it comes at you in such a different way. Pete:                I had to read this twice just because I didn't want to miss anything in the panels. It's just so detailed and so amazing. You can read this comic and then you can just page through it and be amazed at the paneling. Alex:                 It's great stuff. Let's move on to talk about Venom, number 30 from Marvel written by Donny Cates and art by Luke Ross. This is the final issue of Venom before the Big King in black crossover kicks off. This is the end of the Venom beyond storyline as they are in an alternate universe where Venom sun has gone bad, become a bad guy called the Codex, lots of Venom, lots of symbiotes stuff happening here. What'd you think about this, both as a issue and as a lead in to this big event? Pete:                Well, I… Go ahead. Justin:              I would say it's wild. It is like the way that Donny Cates has taken, a sort of one-off at least at the beginning Spider-Man villain. Now this is so far from being related to Spider-Man. It's such a, like expanded mythology where you've got Eddie Brock and his son going into this different dimension meeting his ex who is has the son from this multi-verse. They all have their own symbiontes. They are all the different symbiontes, have different languages and controlling which ones are which, and all building toward… I got to read Richard's who has googly eyes? He's got googly eyes. Alex:                 Yeah, he does. He has a paste it on. Justin:              Yeah. What's the deal with this guy? He's got googly eyes. He's a little bit. He's not as smart and he's got googly eyes. Pete:                Well, he can move and he's very flexible and bendy, and we were just going to have googly eyes every once in a while. Why is that weird? Justin:              No, I think he's just a little off. He's lost a little bit here, and you can tell that because of googly- Pete:                Okay. I'm just- Justin:              The google in his eyes. Pete:                You can Google his eyes? Justin:              You can Google his eyes and then setting up this next thing, it comes out of nowhere and it's fine. Pete:                I agree with Justin and I have a lot of caveats. I think that it is fun. It's really fun. The art and the characters designs are a lot of fun. There's some great action sequences where you're like, “This is really bad-ass.” But also what I really like about it is the heart. There's a lot of heart in this book, which I really appreciate. If you're going to go into all this action, it's nice to know what the thoughts and the feelings are before all this goes down. I'm excited to see this next big arc. I like where this left off. I feel like Donnie Cates did a good job of wrapping this up and getting it ready for the next thing. I think this was a really good issue. Alex:                 I agree. Let's move on to a give me for Pete, Usagi Yojimbo, number 14 from IDW publishing, written art and letters by Stan Sakai. In this issue, our Bunny Warrior does some bunny warrior stuff. Pete, take it away. Pete:                Okay. First off is [inaudible 00:26:36] sent the bunny warrior bullshit. Okay. Don't try to make him more cutesy. This is an action oriented book, about a serious ronin samurai who travels the land and helping people. So don't put that fucking bunny shit on there. All right? Alex:                 Okay. So would you call him a whittle, whittle rabbit, samurai? Pete:                You're the worst. Alex:                 Would you call him a adorable squish [inaudible 00:27:01]? Pete:                No. Did you just turn into your son for a second? I like this. I love all the characters. Alex:                 Don't you slam my son out of entirely separate podcasts. Pete:                I'll slam them. He needs to get some fucking musical talent is what he needs to do. Alex:                 Jesus Christ. Justin:              Wow, unnecessary Pete. Pete:                Don't ask from the hit if you don't want it. Justin:              Don't ask for the Pete hit if you don't want it. Anyway, get back to reviewing your peep Samurai book. Alex:                 Hey, can you name the three comic book writers who are female to your girlfriend, Pete? Pete:                No. That's why we had to do it on the show. All right. Justin:              This is unnecessary. Pete:                But I never get tired of this. These are all very similar stories about a traveling ronin, but I love his heart of gold and how he always is doing the right thing. This is just in a fucked up world, it's nice to have staples like this book that you can always depend on. You always know Usagi is going to do the right thing. He's going to try to save the day. It's just fantastic. I love all these stories. I love all the action. Even though that people are getting like cotton stabbed, they don't really show the blood and guts. Pete:                They focus more on the action, what happens than the blood and the gore. Yeah, I just think it's really cool, and this one, we see a lot of focus on family, which is nice and also poignant and sad. But I liked the old black and white version. I know people like color for some reason, but if this sells more comics and gets it in more hands, then I'm all for it. Justin:              Pete, are you threatened? Do you think that the even smaller cuter rabbit warrior with a bow and arrow is going to be a threat to Usagi, the cute, the sword bunny? Pete:                Well, hopefully the older Usagi will have somebody to hand over his swords to, you know what I mean, just to continue the story. Justin:              He does seem to love his swords. Just which one of these is the Easter Bunny? Pete:                I fucking hate you. Justin:              A very fun book. Alex:                 Yeah. Delightful. I would love to see this fluffy wuffy eat some carrots [crosstalk 00:29:20]. Batman, number 103 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV, art by Carlo Pagulayan and Danny Miki and Guillem March. In this issue, Ghost-Maker is having it in for Batman. Ghost-Maker is a old frenemy of Batman from back in the day, they both trained the exact same way, constantly fought throughout history and now has come to Gotham City to make things right, because he thinks Batman is doing a bad job. In this issue, he is trying to kill Clown Hunter who is trying to kill Harley Quinn. Alex:                 So things get really messed up. I really like this. I think this is, again, just a really good story from James Tynion. He clearly likes Harley Quinn a lot in particular, and I love having her in here. He writes really good Harley Quinn. It's good stuff. He's building his own Batman mythology rather than just picking up on what got left off on whatever happened with Tom King's run. That's great. I'm excited to see what's going forward. Pete:                Yeah. It's nice because he does a good job of giving us a little bit of Batman's past with some humor. Like the fact that we see Batman in the desert and Ghost-Maker rolls up on him and he's like, “Not tonight, man.” They're kind of back and forth, the way that Ghost-Maker and Batman kind of go back and forth, the repartee is very enjoyable. I really like it. Yeah. Seeing Poison Ivy… Not Poison Ivy. Seeing Harley Quinn talking to Poison Ivy made my skin crawl, because she's like kissing the plant and I'm highly allergic. But I think that, I liked the outer monologue of it. It felt very Harley Quinn. Pete:                I think they do a great job of capturing her voice and I like their characterization of her. Also this Clown Hunter thing is very interesting the way that this is still sticking around. I'm very curious about what the end game of this character. I'm not sick of Clown Hunter, I'm just wondering what the bigger game is. Yeah. I also liked how this Ghost-Maker is more of a psychopath than Batman and thinks that the recent Batman is doing a bad job with Gotham is because he cares too much, which is an interesting psychopathic thing to say and I can relate to it. Justin:              Lots of information there. Really love Guillem Marches art here in the back half of the book. I agree with you, Alex, Harley is a really well used here. Ghost-Maker reminds me a lot of Azrael taking over for Batman after Bain broke his back. So I'm curious what sort of hole this character will fill down the line, because as of now I think Clown Hunter really stands out a little bit more as the unique Jame's creation. So I'm curious to see how that unfolds. Alex:                 I agree. Let's move on and talk about Black Magick, number 16 from Image Comics written by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott. This is the last issue of Black Magick, I believe for a little while now. But it ends on a big… Cliffhanger isn't exactly the right word, but our main character is presented with an impossible choice. Is she going to seem one of the two people in her life that she truly loves, spoiler, she ends up saving both of them, which is actually a very bad decision in terms of things that are going forward. The thing that is fascinating to me about this book is relatively speaking, so little happens in every issue, but it has such import, it feels weighty anyway. Justin:              Yeah. I agree and the art is just beautiful. The way that the villains eyes are drawn is really haunting and it's such a simple thing giving each of the sort of demon characters, this yellow, black energy to them. Really great. Yeah, and in the back matter, we see that the next issue of Black Magick won't be until late summer 2021. Pete:                Yeah. That's tough. That's a long time to wait, but I've really liked the characterization of like, it's not something that you've seen before where it's like, “I'm a cop, but I also do magic.” The back and forth that we learn about this character and what she stands for and with her background and how she goes about her day is very interesting. I like the dilemma and the choices that she makes shows how much he cares. Pete:                So I think this is a very interesting book. I've been really enjoying it and I agree with Justin, the art is phenomenal. They pay a lot attention to details to make things extra spooky. When you're reading something and you're scared, it really says a lot about the art and how well they can draw you into the story. Alex:                 When you say that thing where, “I'm a cop, but I can do magic.” That we've seen before. Where have you seen that before Pete? Pete:                There's just been many stories where somebody struggling with their day job and their identity, which they would rather be doing, like, “I'm this, but I'm also that.” “I'm Bruce Wayne, but I'm also Batman.” The secret kind of identity thing is where I was going at. Alex:                 Sure. You don't need to go beyond Bruce Wayne and Batman, the most relatable of situations. I get what you're talking about. Juggernaut, number three from Marvel Comics, written by Fabian Nacieza, art by- Pete:                Don't ask me questions if you're not going to like my fucking response dick. Justin:              Yeah. It all comes back to Batman. Alex:                 Written by Fabian Nacieza, art by Ron Garney. We were very complimentary of this title for the first two issues and had Fabian on the show to talk about it. So check out the live show with him. We get some big answers here. What happened to Juggernaut? How did he get into his new costume? What's going on with him? I love this take on Juggernaut. This is nothing I would've ever expected or asked for, but I think it's so smart and so well done and of course, Ron Garney's art is impeccable throughout this. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Great title. Just a blast to read. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. The Ron Garney is such a great artist. I wish he was doing more books on a regular basis and yeah, it's such a unique story that really both explores the backstory of Juggernaut and also drives it forward at the same time, which is hard to do. Then just tells a fun action adventure going on in the present day. Pete:                Yeah. I also like how they were also making fun of the fact in the book that he's fighting sand. They're making fun of itself as it's going on. Yeah, I've been really- Justin:              Every time I go to the beach, I feel like I'm fighting sand. Pete:                Man, I tell you, when you're done going to the beach, you're still fighting sand, finding it all over the place. Justin:              I'm fighting sand. Pete:                This is such a great surprise. This book as Alex was saying, and also just like the art is so bad-ass. Ron Garney is such a bad-ass. We've seen Juggernaut in a lot of different ways, but like see him power up with this suit, with all the red, it was just so cool. Yeah, I've never been more impressed with Juggernaut. Justin:              You can't stop this. Pete:                You can't. Alex:                 It's fun to see him do the Superman thing, opening up his shirt and turning on his costume. It's just a fun riff that I'm really enjoying. Let's move on and talk about, You Look Like Death, tales from the Umbrella Academy, number three, Dark Horse Comics, story by Gerard way and Shaun Simon, art and colors by I.N.J Culbard. As you can probably guess from the title, this is focusing on Klaus from the Umbrella Academy. His adventurous in Hollywood got mixed up with a bunch of shady characters, including a vampire monkey and some other folks. Pete, you have a question right off [crosstalk 00:37:30]. Pete:                Yeah. I just wanted to ask Justin something because he's a classically trained actor. When you go on auditions and when you're being aligned producer, you have to see this a lot, right? A lot of people channeling demons and stuff like that. That's got to be a nightmare for Hollywood to comb through all of this all the time, right? Justin:              There's a famous actor manual called an actor prepares by, Uta Hagen, I believe. A lot of the technique focuses on channeling a demon into your body before you step out into the audition room or onto the audition stage. So it's really great to see this play down person and of course, Pete, always a grasp of my career and personal life that I am often auditioning to be aligned producer. Alex:                 Right. This is a fun book. One of the things that I really like about it in particular is the push and pull between Klaus doesn't care about anything, just wants to get high, just wants to get drug and actually being forced into situations where he is going to have to cause something to happen. It's just this enjoyable push and pull as the action coalesces and spirals around him getting him to a point where he's going to have to do something eventually, but he's not quite there yet. Right now he's just eating relish out of a jar and having a good time. Justin:              Relish is good. It just slides right down your throat. Pete:                The art in this is just fantastic. They do an amazing job. This is a really fun story and worth checking out for sure. Justin:              I love the little section where this writer who died, but hasn't moved on is sort of reckoning with his life, is really fun and it's just a little side bit of the story. Alex:                 That's good stuff. Stillwater, number three, from Image Comics, written by Chip Zdarksy, art by Ramon K. Perez. This title focuses on a small town where nobody ever dies. They can get hurt. They have to recover from that, but they never die and there's a man who has found out that he was actually the son of one of the women from that town. He is now trapped there. His mother is buried near the gazebo at the center of the town and he's trying to figure out a way out as he slowly works himself in the way of the society. Alex:                 This is really good and it doing a good job of slowly building up the mythology of this book. I like this issue in particular, just because it sets up the dangers going forward, but also explains a little bit more about the, how the concept works. Just smart writing across the board, I think. Pete:                Yeah. This is my favorite issue so far. In this issue, they do a good job of really spelling out everything that we've learned as we move forward. Yeah, I'm really impressed with the artwork. This is a cool idea and it's one of the reasons a lot of people are scared of small towns. Justin:              Yeah. Most people are scared of small towns because they'll have to live forever there and never get sick. Yeah, I think this issue really sets the level for what the series will be, I think in a good way and Ramon Perez's art is so good. Alex:                 Let's move on and talk about the Immortal Hulk, number 40 from Marvel, written by Al Ewing and art by Joe Bennett. After spending the last couple of issues with the leader, fighting the Hulk inside of his own head, potentially inside of hell, potentially a lot of stuff going on and that was absolutely horrifying to witness. We finally move outside there and things really move forward as Alpha Flight finds out what's going on. They figure out what's happening to the leader. Thanks to… My gosh, what's his name? I heard it's the body of Walter Langkowski. Pete:                Sasquatch, Joe Fixit, who are you talking about? Justin:              Abomination? Alex:                 No. The strong guy, Samson? Justin:              [crosstalk 00:41:31]. That was the body Sasquatch and fills them in on everything that's going on. In the meantime, Joe Fixit, make some moves of his own. There's still plenty of gross stuff that happens to the comic. Pete:                Sure is. Alex:                 But I love how much we're moving forward here and that last page, not just in terms of the writing, but also in terms of the way Joe Bennett draws it, is perfection. Justin:              Yeah, it's really good. I'm sort of bummed because I had a long standing pitch at Marvel where I was like, I wanted the Hulk to give birth to a mustachioed version of himself and they did it in this issue. So I guess [crosstalk 00:42:10] back to the drawing book. Pete:                Yeah. Salvin I couldn't agree more of that last panel was just such a classic comic last panel that gets you really excited. This is horrifying and amazing and all sorts of everything in between. This ride has been fantastic. When this thing is finally collected, this is going to be one of those ones that stands the test of time. It's really impressive. Alex:                 I wanted to ask you, Pete, because you were really against this for a while, you kept asking for your Hulk to come back. You wanted your Hulk back. What turns you? Because you now see him 100% fully on board with this. Justin:              You were like, “I want my Hulk back.” Pete:                No. I still feel that way, guys. I still want my Hulk back, but this is an interesting time out take on characters that's been around for a while. It's a very fresh, very new take on it. So you've got to respect something that's great. But yeah, I can't wait for my Hulk to come back and I can enjoy Hulk books more. This is a scarier version of something that I love and it's a little bit over my head, a little too smart, but I respect the fact of what it's doing. Alex:                 Right. It's like ginger beer instead of ginger ale. Pete:                Right. Yeah. Why would you… I don't sure. Alex:                 It's like, “This is too spicy on my tongue, no thanks. Give me some Schweppes, please.” Justin:              It's hard to feel where you're landing in here Alex. Are you landing on ginger ale? Because I think you're positioning yourself as a ginger beer. Alex:                 No, I love ginger beer. I'm just talking about from Pete's perspective. He wants ginger ale, but he's getting ginger beer. Justin:              I think this is your mistake. He wants Mountain Dew. Pete:                This is true. Justin:              I don't know what all this ginger ale [crosstalk 00:43:58]. Pete:                Do you know, Mountain Dew came out with a cookbook. Glorious. Justin:              Yep. You've mentioned to us a lot and I look forward to your potluck dish that you'll be providing to our next meetup. What do you think next issue when the Hulk just totally murders the thing? Pete:                Man, that's going to be crazy. Justin:              Yeah, that'll be fun when he just rips the bricks off of him until he's [crosstalk 00:44:20]. Pete:                I don't know because Joe Fixit doesn't look like he's in good shape. I don't know if he can take on the thing. Justin:              He's going to rip the bricks off. Alex said it. Alex:                 We'll see what happens. Next up, Big Girls, number four from Image Comics, story and art by Jason Howard. This is a book about a world where girls are gigantic and boys are monsters. AKA the [crosstalk 00:44:43]. Pete:                Sorry. Alex:                 Wait, what? What are you sorry about? Pete:                Sorry for all the damage that dudes has done to this world. Alex:                 Thank you for apologizing for a millennia misogyny. I appreciate it, Pete. I think your statement here at our comic book podcast, solitary. Pete:                Thanks man. Do what you can, you know. Justin:              This book keeps moving forward. I liked the story. The girls just keep getting bigger. Alex:                 Yeah. That's what I love about big girls, man, they keep getting bigger [crosstalk 00:45:16]. Pete:                No, but we're slowly getting more and more of what this mutation is and how they're going to stop it and a little bit more about this evil mastermind behind this. I think Jason Howard is doing a good job of giving us just a little bit more information each issue surrounded by a ton of action. I appreciate the storytelling, I think this is a classically great Image book. Alex:                 Next up, I know this is one that Justin, you were super excited about. Widowmakers, number one, story by that Devin Grayson, pencils and inks by Michele Bandini. This is clearly setting up the Black Widow movie that'll come out at some point, maybe, we'll see what happens. But you got Yelena Belova, teaming up with Red Guardian. Justin, why don't you like this book so much? Pete:                Yeah, Justin? Justin:              It has- Alex:                 What's your fucking problem? Justin:              I've got a big problem with how great this book is because this book has no business being this good. It's a standalone issue featuring characters- Pete:                Don't say that. Justin:              People aren't crazy in love for. Well, I mean that as a compliment. It's such a, we follow mostly Yelena Belova, former Black Widow, who is technically a villain in a Black Widow arc and she's been on her own. What's great about it is, it's her being contracted by this rich dick to go do something for him and it ends up going wrong and she's just meant to test these facilities and then be murdered by these people. It's a great action book throughout the whole issue, but the internal monologue going on in Yelena's head is so good about her life, her place in the world, Russia's place in the world, what it means to be a citizen of the world and from a nation and freedom. Justin:              There's just so many great ideas here, but it really tracks with this character. It puts you really in her point of view. Then she meets Red Guardian later on in the issue and he has a very different point of view and we get to sort of just take that in without having them jam some sort of idea down our throats. I just thought it was one the smartest issues I've read in a long time. This is my favorite book of the week. I really liked it. Pete:                Yeah, it is really great. The art is fantastic. Also this is the best versions of these characters that I've seen. Yeah, it was really impressive to see when somebody tastes and has a great idea for some characters, what they can do. Justin:              I love it at the end, the idea of how she gets the villain in the end, I thought was truly [crosstalk 00:48:03]. Pete:                Yeah. That was glorious. Justin:              It was great. Alex:                 Awesome. Just to mention, it seems like they're teeing up that this ties into the Black Widow series that is currently running, which is great as well from Kelly Thompson. So definitely check that out. Let's move on to Ice Cream Man, number 21 from Image Comics, written by W. Maxwell Prince, art by Martin Morazzo. I got to tell you, coming into this book, I was like, “Okay, I get it. They're doing their [inaudible 00:48:29]. That's not what it was at all. This is straight up a Watchman riff that they are doing this issue, which was so surprising and so shocking and as dark and messed up, as you would expect from Ice Cream Man. What'd you think about this issue? Justin:              When I looked at the cover, I was like, “That's a funny cover idea.” Like a Watchman take Ice Cream Man. Then I was like, “Shit, that's the whole thing.” Which I was really surprised by. Then the way it ends is… Because it plays sort of a slight spoiler, like the very rare, more positive ending for any sort of character in Ice Cream Man. I thought that is a interesting subversion of what Watchman is, but it left me thinking like, “I need to read this a couple more times and really get into what's happening here because it's so good.” But I'm almost being fooled by the positive ending, I feel like. Pete:                Yeah. Because the Ice Cream Man has been so dark and horrifying throughout. This issue was just me going, “Shit.” I was like, “Why is this so familiar?” Then slowly getting it and it was the coloring and the panels. I'm like, “I know why this is so familiar.” Then the upside down frowny face was just the nail that kind of put in the coffin where I was like, “This is amazing.” I immediately went back, like Justin said and reread it to be like, “How did I not get this earlier?” Pete:                But every issue I'm so nervous before I read it, because I'm like, I don't know if it can keep going at such a high level of creativity and constantly amazing me and torturing my mind with what is happening. We still really don't know what's going on with Ice Cream Man and every issue we find out a little bit more, but it's just still such a crazy, interesting book that is… I cannot wait for it to finish so I can go back and reread it all again and enjoy it all again, because it's just really impressive. Alex:                 Well, feels like they did a similar sort of thing with All-star Superman, a couple of issues back. We had W. Maxwell Prince on our live show. He talked about how it's not necessarily connecting the story. Maybe there's an Ice Cream Man multi-verse, this feels like one of those tales out in the multi-verse that rifts on or reverberates off of what's going on with Ice Cream Man, because I read most of it thinking, okay, we're getting some real answers in terms of mythology here. That's not what happens at all necessarily. It's more just like, there are echoes of what's going on in the book usually, but it's still, Martin Morazzo's art is so gorgeous and so well laid out. The watcher risks are fun. It's weird to do a positive Watchman to your point, Justin, but I think if you're going to do anything that ends happy, that you're parodying, sure, do it Watchman, have a happy ending for Watchma. Why not. Justin:              Well, and the ultimate way to subvert Watchman is to have the Rorschach character go live a happy life and make his world better. That's what I think the point is, is like, “Hey, let's just take small steps to make our lives better.” That's what I think the last page with the end is near with [inaudible 00:52:14] crossed out on the dude's sign. I think it's like, “Hey, it'd be a little easier if we just had it be near.” He does. So it's like, “Let's all make small steps to have a better life.” Which that would solve Watchman as well. Justin:              Watchman's all about tricking the humanity to be nicer to each other by creating a squared that is threatening the planet. It's like, “Okay, now you don't have to kill each other because there's another enemy.” This book is maybe saying, “No, we could also just be nicer to each other on a day-to-day basis.” I think that's a very cool idea. If that's what the intention was, this is very good. Pete:                Yeah. I also liked the idea of, instead of having a character go down a dark path and be like, “I'm too wrapped up in this.” Having the character stop and realize like, “I need to be a better partner.” It's doable. It's “If I put some time and energy into this, I can save this fucking thing. I can turn it around.” It was really great and the midst of all this craziness of this Ice Cream Man world, it was very surprising and goal. Alex:                 Lastly, we're going to move on to our X of Swords block, which Pete is very into it, very excited about. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:53:32]. Alex:                 Hold on, buddy. Justin:              That's why we do it at the end because you log off. Alex:                 Yeah, we save it right for the end here. But this is the second to last week of extra service. We're going to be wrapping it up all next week. Okay. Calm down, buddy. But we got X-Force number 14, written by Benjamin Percy and [Jerry Dougan 00:53:50], art by Joshua Cassara. [inaudible 00:53:52] number six, written by Seb Wells and art by Carmen Carnero. Cable, number six written by Jerry Dukin and Phil Neto. Here we are very much into the tournament of [Arocco versus Kakoa 00:54:02]. They are fighting battles, often not with swords, but with other beings throughout this. Justin:              Eating contests. Alex:                 We get a bunch of them fleshed out. Some of them happen shorter than others, but by the end of it, we move on to the main event. Spoiler is you could have predicted this even call out that you could predict it. It's apocalypse versus annihilation as Arocco and Kakoa are tie. That's what this has been leading all up towards. Pete, I know you're against this. I know you're not loving this. Justin, let's go to you first. what'd you think about these issues? Justin:              Well, it's funny to Pete's point of being frustrated by it. It's there is a little bit of a trick here with this whole event where they set it up to be this Epic sort of age of apocalypse style crossover. When what it really is, is like X-Men playing baseball on a grand event scale. It's very playful. It's very light and fun. Despite the fact that the X-Men are losing, which is, I think stressful in general, but it's these fun lighthearted events punctuated by horrible murder. The back half of the X-Force issue where we see the Storm, the stuff that- Pete:                The storm fight is glorious. Justin:              The drink that Storm and Wolverine were drinking, the Blight Swill is actually a pretty strong poison, like a soul poisoning and then Storm still beats her dude, and then lets him get slaughtered. That was bad-ass. Pete:                Yeah it was. Alex:                 Well, in the Hellions issue, it takes a little bit of a side trip. Early in the event we found out that Mr. Sinister was leading his team to try to get the swords of Arocco before they could use them. Turns out as usual, Mr. Sinister is being an evil fuck and- Pete:                Surprise. Alex:                 He tricked his entire team in order to get genetic information from the mutants of Arocco, that's all he really wanted to do. His entire team dies in absolutely horrible ways. It's a little unclear which one of them are going to come back or not because if you die in other worlds, your personality dies, but you might be pulled from another personality. So may getting some new rifts out a bunch of these characters. Justin:              Well, I feel like we got Havoc and Quantum survive in that may be it. Alex:                 Yeah. I think Empath also makes it through, right? He gets stabbed, but he crawls his way through. So maybe he's coming back. Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 But that's super dark. The rest of it is, like both of you guys are saying, there's a point to the fact that it's frustrating that they're never getting to the sword fights. You're watching it and you're reading it, you're like, “They're doing a puzzle fight. That's insane.” It is insane that Iliana is doing puzzles right now to try to beat these people. But I think, Justin, you said it last week, we were talking about these issues, this is [inaudible 00:57:07] setting up fairy magic to trick Arocco in order to win. Alex:                 There's even a point in one of these issues where they're like, what is she doing right now? What side is she on? What is the game that she's playing? But it ultimately comes clear when Gorgon ends up fighting and ties up the score, so it gets to annihilation versus apocalypse. That was the whole point of what [inaudible 00:57:31] was doing. She was getting it to this point of whatever is next to even up the score. I am still very much on board with this. I understand the frustration with the lack of sword fights that are happening in X of Swords, but we got three issues left here. I think the story has been so fascinating audits own both from a writing and an art perspective that I'm still very much enjoying it, personally. Justin:              Yeah. The Cable issue that we didn't talk about, the art's great and there's some great emotional mo

Vi goes solo this week and bites off more than she can chew! Comics covered are Punchline #1 by James Tynion IV, Sam Johns with art by Mirka Andolfo, Detective Comics #1030 by Peter J. Tomasi and art by Bilquis Evely, The Marked #9 by Brian Haberlin and David Hine, and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem #2 by Shaun Simon, Gerard Way with art by Leonardo Romero! Want us to cover a specific comic next week? Let us know! You can follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, and Youtube @CourtofOwlets! You can also follow Joe on both Twitter and Instagram at @JoeCoOwlets! Follow Vi on Twitter and Instagram at @SelinaCoOwlets! You can follow Muse only on Twitter @muse0ica! Music was Ethereal Mountains by Killigrew, provided by Epidemic Sound

Episode 2 Killjoys make some noise! Mike is back,and its time to get the gang back together Intro Music Black Bouquet - Just Kids Outro Black Bouquet - Until Your Gone

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

Episode 1 Killjoys never die! In one of the greatest twists of 2020 the Killjoys have returned......But not the ones you know. In our super secret (not so secret) pilot episode for Dangerous Humanz,we nerd out on all our favorite things, Punk Rock,Gerard Way,My Chemical Romance, and of course all things from the dangerous lives of these fabulous killjoys.

Comics Bad Mother #3 of 5 from Artists Writers & Artisans | Writer(s): Christa Faust | Artist(s): Mike Deodato Jr. | $3.99   Once and Future #12 from BOOM! Studios (W) Kieron Gillen (A) Dan Mora $3.99  The Vain #1 from Oni Press (W) Eliot Rahal  (A) Emily Pearson $3.99 Commanders in Crisis #1 from Image Comics (W) Steve Orlando (A) David Tinto $3.99 Stealth #6 from Image Comics (W) Mike Costa (A) Nate Bellgarde $3.99 Dracula Motherf**cker HC from Image | Writer(s): Alex De Campi | Artist(s): Erica Henderson | $16.99 We Live #1 from Aftershock Comics (W) Inaki and Roy Miranda (A) Inaki Mirana | Colors: Eva De La Cruz | Letters: Dave Sharpe | $4.99 Red Mother #9 from BOOM! Studios | Writer(s): Jeremy Haun | Artist(s): Danny Luckert | Letters: Ed Dukeshire || $3.99 Grendel Kentucky #2 from Artists Writers & Artisans | Writer(s): Jeff McComsey | Artist(s): Tommy Lee Edwards | Letters: John Workman | $3.99 Atlantis Wasn't Built For Tourists #2 from Scout Comics | Writer(s): Eric Palicki | Artist(s): Wendell Cavalcanti | Colors: Mark Dale | Letters: Shawn Lee   $3.99 Bleed Them Dry #4 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Hiroshi Koizumi Eliot Rahal | Artist(s): Dike Ruan | $3.99   Devils Red Bride #1 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Sebastian Girner | Artist(s): John Bivens | $3.99 Seven Secrets #3 from BOOM! Studios | Writer(s): Tom Taylor | Artist(s): Daniele Di Nicuolo | $3.99 Vampire the Masquerade: Winter's Teeth #3 from Vault Comics (W) Tim Seely (A) Devmalya Praminik  True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys:  National Anthem #1 from Dark Horse Comics (W) Gerard Way and Shaun Simon; (A) Leonardo Romero - $3.99      Upcoming Comics Big Girls #3 from Image | Writer(s): Jason Howard | Artist(s): Jason Howard | $3.99 Family Tree #9 from Image | Writer(s): Jeff Lemire | Artist(s): Phil Hester Various | $3.99 Gideon Falls #26 from Image | Writer(s): Jeff Lemire | Artist(s): Andrea Sorrentino Dave Stewart | $3.99 Stillwater from Zdarsky & Perez #2 from Image | Writer(s): Chip Zdarsky | Artist(s): Ramon K. Perez Mike Spicer | $3.99 Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina Presents Madame Satan One Shot from Archie Comics | Writer(s): Eliot Rahal | Artist(s): Julius Ohta | $3.99 Edgar Allan Poes Snifter Of Blood #1 from Ahoy Comics | Writer(s): Paul Cornell Dean R. Motter | Artist(s): Dean R. Motter Russell Braun | $4.99 Engineward #4 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): George Mann | Artist(s): Joe Eisma | $3.99 Heist Or How To Steal A Planet #7 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Paul Tobin | Artist(s): Arjuna Susini | $3.99 Sera And The Royal Stars #8 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Jon Tsuei | Artist(s): Audrey Mok | $3.99 Shadow Service #3 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Cavan Scott | Artist(s): Corin Howell | $3.99 Something Is Killing The Children #11 from BOOM! Studios | Writer(s): James Tynion IV | Artist(s): Werther Dell Edera | $3.99 Vagrant Queen Planet Called Doom #5 from Vault Comics | Writer(s): Magdalene Visaggio | Artist(s): Jason Smith | $3.99 The Scumbag #1 from Image Comics (W) Rick Remender (A) Lewis LaRosa, Moreno DiNisio $3.99    Trades   Family Tree Vol 2 Seeds TP from Image | Writer(s): Jeff Lemire | Artist(s): Phil Hester Various | $14.99 November Vol 3 HC from Image | Writer(s): Matt Fraction | Artist(s): Elsa Charretier | $16.99 Bitter Root Vol 2 Rage & Redemption TP from Image | Writer(s): David Walker Chuck Brown | Artist(s): Sanford Greene Sofie Dodgson | $19.99  

Top 20 September sales, DC Solicits Comics Reviews: Rorschach 1 by Tom King, Jorge Fornes, Dave Stewart DC: The Doomed and the Damned by John Arcudi, Brandon Thomas, Kenny Porter, Amanda Deibert, Garth Ennis, Marv Wolfman, Amedeo Turturro, Saladin Ahmed, Travis Moore, Riley Rossmo, PJ Holden, Tom Mandra, Mike Perkins, Daniel Sampere, Leonardo Manco, Max Fiumara, Dominike Stanton, Baldemar Rivas, John Kalisz, Andy Troy, Adriano Lucas, Ivan Plascencia, Marissa Louise, Sian Mandrake, Mike Spicer, Alejandro Sanchez Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater, Morgan Beem Amazing Spider-Man 50 by Matthew Rosenberg, Nick Spencer, Federico Vicentini Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar 1 by Kieron Gillen, Jacen Burrows, Java Tartaglia Commanders in Crisis 1 by Steve Orlando, Davide Tinto Die!Namite 1 by Declan Shalvey, Fred Van Lente, Justin Mason, Vincenzo Carratu True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem 1 by Shaun Simon, Gerard Way, Leonardo Romero, Jordie Bellaire We Live 1 by Roy Miranda, Inaki Miranda Vain 1 by Eliot Rahal, Emily Pearson, Stresing Devil's Red Bride 1 by Sebastian Girner, John Bivens, Monahan, Powell Villainous 1 by Stonie Williams, Jeferson Sadzinski, Lafuente, Birch Dracula Mother Fucker by Alex de Campi, Erica Henderson Concrete Jungle 1 by Sheldon Allen, Karl Mostert Dragon Prince: Through the Moon by Peter Wartman, Xanthe Bouma Lumberjanes: True Colors by Lilah Sturges, polterink Avatar: Katara and the Pirate's Silver by Faith Erin Hicks, Peter Wartman, Adele Matera Additional Reviews: Bly Manor, Breeders s1, Kipo final season, Last Kids on Earth s3, Discovery s3 ep1, Manapul Detective, Politician s2 News: Future State, Jason Aaron writing Valkyrie King in Black tie-in, Gwenom returns, Thunderbolts King in Black mini, Crossover #1 image book since 1998, Sarah Shahi playing Isis in Black Adam, return of Dexter, new series from creative team behind Ice Cream Man, Batman: Adventures Continue renewed, Xochitl Gomez cast in Doctor Strange 2, Michael B. Jordan producing Static Shock film, DC minimum order decree, Ms. Marvel ending in January, Willow sequel coming to Disney+, Larry Hama Iron Fist, Marvel Unlimited changes, new Lemire and Jock series coming soon Trailers: Mank, Stand, Invincible, Empty Man, Soul Comics Countdown: Seven Secrets 3 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte Redneck 28 by Donny Cates, Dee Cunniffe, Lisandro Estherren Usagi Yojimbo 13 by Stan Sakai Strange Adventures 6 by Tom King, Mitch Gerads, Evan Shaner Immortal Hulk 38 by Al Ewing, Joe Bennett, Ruy Jose, Paul Mounts, Brabo Rorschach 1 by Tom King, Jorge Fornes, Dave Stewart Avengers 37 by Jason Aaron, Javier Garron, Jason Keith Wonder Woman 764 by Mariko Tamaki, Steve Pugh, Romulo Fajardo Jr Once & Future 12 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain Dark Nights: Death Metal 4 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, Jonathan Glapion, Ivan Plascencia

On this week's comic book review podcast: Rorschach #1 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Jorge Fornés Commanders in Crisis #1 Image Comics Written by Steve Orlando Art by Davids Tinto The Immortal Hulk #38 Marvel Written by Al Ewing Art by Joe Bennett The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys: National Anthem #1 Dark Horse Comics Story by Gerard Way & Shaun Simon Art by Leonardo Romero Dark Nights: Death Metal #4 DC Comics Written by Scott Snyder Art by Greg Capullo Stealth #6 Image Comics Written by Mike Costa Art by Nate Bellegarde The Vain #1 Oni Press Written by Eliot Rahal Illustrated by Emily Pearson The Avengers #37 Marvel Written by Jason Aaron Art by Javier Garrón Once & Future #12 BOOM! Studios Written by Kieron Gillen Art by Dan Mora DC The Doomed and the Damned #1 DC Comics Written by John Arcudi, Saladin Ahmed, Kenny Porter, Amanda Deibert, Marc Wolfman, Amedeo Turturro, Alyssa Wong, Brandon Thomas, Travis Moore and Garth Ennis Art by Mike Perkins, Leonardo Manco, Riley Rossmo, Daniel Sampere, Tom Mandrake, Max Fiumara, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Baldemar Rivas, Travis Moore and PJ Holden Redneck #28 Image Comics Written by Donny Cates Art by Lisandro Estherren Amazing Spider-Man #50 Marvel Written by Nick Spencer Art by Patrick Gleason Strange Adventures #6 DC Comics Written by Tom King Art by Mitch Gerards and Evan “Doc” Shaner Marvel Zombies: Resurrection #3 Marvel Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson Art by Leonard Kirk Seven Secrets #3 BOOM! Studios Written by Tom Taylor Illustrated by Daniele Di Nicuolo Hellions #5 Marvel Written by Zeb Wells Art by Carmen Carnero New Mutants #13 Marvel Written by Ed Brisson Art by Rod Reis Cable #5 Marvel Written by Gerry Duggan Art by Phil Noto 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. Pete:                What's up? I'm Pete. Alex:                 And we are talking about comics. What? What? Pete:                It just sounds like you're barely making it, man, you're like “What's up everybody, this is the fucking Stack?” Alex:                 “Oh, God, week 52 of our comic book review.” We actually have a ton of titles queued up for you today, kicking it off with a big one from DC Comics. Rorschach #1 written by Tom King and art by Jorge Fornes. This is a highly anticipated slash, highly dreaded, I think, comic book because it is- Pete:                Highly dreaded? Alex:                 Highly dreaded, it's following up on Watchmen which is always a dicey proposition. Pete:                Okay, I see what you're saying now. Alex:                 In this book we get introduced to a very Manchurian Candidate type scenario. As a Rorschach, I don't want to say the Rorschach, but a Rorschach and somebody else try to assassinate a presidential candidate, maybe. There's an investigator who's looking into it. And by the end, spoiler, three, two, one, but it seems like this assassin may be none other than Walter Kovacs, AKA Rorschach himself. That out of the way, what do you think about this book, Pete? What was your takeaway? What were your thoughts? Pete:                Well, I think it did a great job of grabbing the reader. It starts off with Rorschach kind of getting murdered, which is interesting jumping on point. And then you kind of… It's the classic kind of Tom King storytelling where you're getting little pieces of information as you go along. But he does it so well. And yeah, I mean, I think it's… It's weird to say I'm a fan of Rorschach. But there are aspects of Rorschach that I like, and I love the “Where's your gun moment?” I thought that was really awesome. I mean, it's great art, interesting story. I think it's just kind of the election balloons and the stuff with everything that's happening right now. I think it's a very well timed book. And I'm on board. But I was going to be on board when you had a Rorschach #1, so I'm not upset about it. I'm very much enjoying it. I'm looking forward to more. Alex:                 Jorge Fornes's art, and I believe it's Steve Stewart's colors are great throughout the book. Just very, very good across the board. Clearly delineate what's happening in the past versus what happens in the present. There are a couple of things that I think are kind of fascinating about this book. The biggest one is that Tom King has so clearly been influenced by Watchmen and Alan Moore, down to his panel grids. The way that he lays them out. But he purposefully avoids the nine panel grid here in this book, to the point where there's one page that I think is like a 12 panel grid, or maybe a 15 panel grid or something like that. Alex:                 But he never goes into that basic Watchmen breakdown of the page at any point, which almost seems like a no brainer for somebody who has built a lot of their career on building his work off of what Alan Moore did. So that's curious to me, the other thing that's curious to me, is the choice of setting. Because it very purposely feels like The Manchurian Candidate meets All the Presidents bad down to the feathered hair that everybody has, and the fashion they're wearing. It seems like it said in the 70s. But Watchmen itself was set in the 1980s. So, when is it set is my question. This is supposed to be now, but have fashions come around to the 70s? Again, what's going on? Are they only doing it because it's supposed to feel like a 70s conspiracy thriller? There's something about that and the lack of clarity there in the world, though I'm sure King, because he's meticulous writer, has thought through it. And we'll find out eventually. I'm just not quite sure with this first issue, there's a wall there for me in terms of where it's at. Pete:                Okay, well, it's a weird thing to get hung up on, but I understand what you're saying. But it's just weird to me, because Tom King is kind of famous for, “You're going to have to keep reading to figure out the story.” Alex:                 Sure. But I think that's important because we're dealing with Watchmen and we're dealing with an ongoing world and we know this is continuing. There are things that are teased here and thrown into the background, whether it's through billboards or advertisements or other things that let us know, “Okay, this is kind of where the world got to from 1985 to here.” And interestingly, some of the things whether it's quite sensitive Not dovetail with Watchmen the TV series. Alex:                 So that only raises further questions in my mind of is this in continuity with the comic book? Is it going to continue with the TV show? Is it in continuity with the both? Is it's own continuity? And I know that's not the only thing I should be thinking about, I know I should be concentrating on the story which taken on its own, totally divorced from Watchmen is a good conspiracy thriller story. But those are the sort of things that I do think are important to understand, in some sense, when you're saying here, “This is a continuation of Watchmen.” Pete:                Yeah, just you kind of sound like me when we were talking about Tom King's Vision. I was hung up on one little thing, and you guys were like, “Hey, get over it.” Alex:                 I think this is a big thing, though. I think this is a big important thing. It is a big thing. Pete:                That will be explained. Sure, but it will be explained. Tom King is piecemealing- Alex:                 It's a gorgeous comic book, like the best of Before Watchmen, which was a dicey project to begin with, but still had some good comics come out of it. Yeah, this is a dicey project that still seems like a good comic. So I'm happy to follow it along. But I have questions. Pete:                My question is, do you know if this is monthly or weekly? Because the election's coming up? And I need to know. Alex:                 I assume it's monthly. Pete:                Oh man, we're in trouble. Alex:                 All right, let's move on then to the second comic, we're going to talk about, Commanders in Crisis #1 from Image Comics written by Steve Orlando. Art by David Tinto. We talked to Steve about this on the live show a couple of weeks back. And it is basically him doing a Crisis comic book, but with totally original characters. What do you think? Did it pay off on the premise that he sold us on, on the pitch, Pete? Pete:                I think it did. I think, I'm in. This is very interesting. This is a cool team. It's fun to kind of see his take on a big crossover event like this. It's fantastic art. I like the team that is kind of in this thing. And there's like a cool kind of like superhero moment where we had the kiss. That was great. Yeah, I'm on board. I think these characters are interesting enough that even if I don't… It's not like a Avengers crossover event where I know every single person, I got enough here to go by. And yeah, I'm excited to see where this goes, it seems like he did a good job of selling it and I'm in. Alex:                 What's really fascinating about this, to me, is that it avoids any of the archetypes. I expected going in with it, we'd get a Superman, a Wonder Woman, a Batman etc. We don't get any of that these are completely as far as I can tell original characters. There's no analogues from any particular universe. And that only makes Steve Orlando's job harder going into this. But it does make it more interesting to read because their powers are so weird and so interesting. And the hook of it, which he talked about on the show, this is the reveal at the end of the issue. So if you don't want to know turned away, but I still think it's fair to talk about because he mentioned to us is the death of Empathy, which is going to be an interesting thing to see going forward. The other detail that is so weird, but such an interesting specific thing is all the members of the team in the book are from different parallel universes where they were all presidents. Pete:                President. Alex:                 Which is very weird. Pete:                Commander in Crisis. Yeah. Alex:                 Commanders in crisis, they are commanders. They were all like the first Latinx president, the first woman president, the first, etc. resident. But it's a bunch of presidents with superpowers fighting a crisis, which is such a bizarre detail, but it makes so much sense for the title. And yeah, I'm definitely on board. I think like he's set up a weird, interesting, very different world here. Pete:                Yeah. And it's even like when you get the kind of splash page introduction of the superheroes it's like “Prizefighter, as strong as the crowd hopes he is.” I was like, “What?” And then it's like “Sawbones, Action Surgeon.” I've never seen those two words next to each other, action surgeon. What is that? Yeah so it's very interesting. Alex:                 It's intriguing. Pete:                Yeah, it really does a good job of like, kind of sucking you in. And then there's the fun kind of like, oh these minions aren't very smart. They have their brains in a backpack. Okay, this is crazy. It's doing a great job. And I think this really ought to be interesting to see how this unfolds. Alex:                 I agree. Let's move on. Talking about the Immortal Hulk # 38 from Marvel written by Al Ewing art by Joey Bennett. In this issue, the Leader is dominating the Hulk and all of his allies. He is in the Hulk's mind-scape and controlling things from outside when a rogue element comes in and turns around the balance of power. Pete, I know you've been down on this book, but this issue by the end like in the right way, personally, I was like, “What the fuck is happening here?” Oh my God. Pete:                Yeah, this is great. This is really great. You got a lot of the kind of horror aspects that's been happening, but this like really gets into kind of the story and action. I'm very happy with this issue. It's really impressive. Very cool. It's got a lot of twists and reveals but man, it's glorious. It really is a great issue of comic book. Alex:                 Yeah, it's still horrifying, everything that's going on and the visuals that Joe Bennett draws. But everything that Al Ewing has been building up over the past 38 issues is really finally coming to crest here. It feels like the Leader is probably the sub-villain that we need to deal with in this run. But it's still such a good Leader story. And it's such a good Hulk family story that it feels dangerous in the right way. Just great. Gross. Pete:                It's really impressive how this book has grown and changed and done so many different things. It's really… I can't imagine the pitch meeting for this fucking thing. Alex:                 “Okay, so get this. Rick is very long.” Pete:                It's a horror hulk. Alex:                 Yeah, Rick is long, and he kind of bends in a weird way. And that's the pitch. Pete:                Has the grossest neck you've ever seen. Alex:                 Just it's horrible. It's absolutely horrible. Yeah, a great book. Moving on to the True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys, National Anthem #1, from Dark Horse comic, story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, art by Leonardo Romero. If you've never read this book, this is basically about a bunch of folks. It's sort of like an extrapolation of, what was the movie? Them. The Kurt Russell movie where he puts on this… No, Rowdy Roddy Piper, puts on the sun glasses, and could see the truth about the world. It's essentially that, but in comic book form, and here, they've beaten the bad guys, they have one as far as they know. And then things start to go horribly wrong from there. Really good book. I like this, it's esoteric and strange, as most of Gerard Way stuff is. If you read Doom Patrol, if you read Umbrella Academy, but it still feels very prescient and timely in terms of the storytelling, which I like quite a bit. Pete:                Yeah, it's really impressive. The art and the storytelling is gorgeous and fantastic, and really moves the story very… It moves through this kind of crazy world. And you're kind of really piecing it together. But it's very unique. And just when you think you've got a handle on it just kind of surprises you again. And I love all the different groups that they kind of break down in the middle of it. Yeah, I think this is a great issue that really kind of gets you excited for more in this world, it really sets things up and gets you wanting more. I think it's a great first issue. Alex:                 And I think you could understand it even if you haven't read the first series, you could jump right in here and go ahead with it. Obviously you're going to have a richer experience, but it's good stuff regardless. Next up, this is what we talked about in the live show a little bit, Dark Knights Death Metal #4 from DC Comics. Written by Scott Snyder art by Greg Capullo, wild stuff happening in this issue. This is bringing together a bunch of the one shots and miniseries that have been running along. We find out what's been going out with the Flash Team, we find out what's been going on with Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman as they sink deeper into the Crisis Dark multi verses, and things- Pete:                And- Alex:                 Yeah, Pete. Pete:                It still starts with Uncle Rock in this one. But, you know. Alex:                 Sergeant Rock. Pete:                Sarge Rock. Alex:                 You call him Uncle Rock. Pete:                [crosstalk 00:14:48]. Yeah, I call him uncle Rock. That's what he calls himself in this, which is a funny moment. Alex:                 He married your aunt. Pete:                Yeah that's how that technically works. You're right. But yeah, I mean, this is just amazing art, over the top fun. Darkseid in that chair is unbelievable. It's like Green Lantern's ring chair. So that means the Green Lantern has to sit there and keep thinking about the size and weight of that chair. That's a very intense little thing that doesn't get much attention. It's just they're killing this. This is just so much fun. Each one of these books is really fun to see what mashups of characters they're going to use, and how crazy it's going to look, and it hasn't disappointed yet. Alex:                 This entire book feels like the dialogue break in a metal song. When somebody's like, “And then Superman is sunk into a pit of fire as Darkseid watched.” The whole thing. Just it's absolutely, really ludicrous. The whole thing is crazy. We talked about it on the show, but it ends with the Darkest Knight aka Batman who laughs winning, turning the universe into the Last 52, a bunch of dark multiverses, it's only going to go from there. Who knows how they're going to win. But it's funny for the insanely highest stakes, that is, honestly just fun the entire time. Pete:                It really is. Alex:                 Let's move on to something that's a little bit grimmer but in the right way, Stealth #6 from Image Comics, written by Mike Costa and art by Nate Bellegarde. We've been loving this series on the show. Pete:                It's too bad Justin didn't want to talk about this book. Alex:                 He got out of here, was like “No thanks. Don't want to talk about Stealth.” Pete:                Yeah, he was like, “Listen, guys, I love Stealth. I said it was my pick. But I'd rather watch a football game right now. So fuck all, y'all.” Alex:                 I don't think that's what's happening. But the other Stealth, if you haven't been reading the book, it's about a guy who's in sort of a all powerful armor [inaudible 00:17:01], who also may or may not have dementia. He's been fighting against a guy called the Dead Hand who can kill people by touching them with his hand. Everything is revealed in this issue. They loop everything back. We finish it up. This is the end of the miniseries. What did you think about the conclusion, Pete? Pete:                I was really impressed with this. Like this kind of started and it was like, “Wait, what's happening?” I love the story. I love the action, the art's unbelievable. But I was kind of like, “But man, does this all come together in such an amazing way.” It's one of those books where you read it. And at the end, you're like “God, I want to go back and read it all over again.” It's really great. Really impressive. And I can't compliment the art enough. Alex:                 In a surprising way too, it's nothing that I think you could have predicted from the first five issues, but it makes total sense at the same time when it's explained, which is a difficult feat to go through. Pass off, whatever the word is. Pete:                Yeah, especially us, we've read so many comics, it's hard to surprise us. And this really did a great job of that. Alex:                 This is a great miniseries, definitely pick it up when it's in trade or individual issues. Next up The Vain, #1 from Oni Press, written by Eliot Rahal, illustrated by Emily Pearson. This is about a bunch of vampires around the turn of World War II who are robbing blood banks. Get it? Pete:                You see what they're doing? Alex:                 And when war breaks out with the Nazis, and then everything changes. I was very surprised and impressed by this book. I thought this is a really fun concept. The characters were good. I liked how the world was laid out. And there's a good nice twist at the end. How'd you feel Pete? Pete:                Yeah, I really liked it. I thought it was very cool. Kind of like bank heist, but they're robbing a blood bank. And also like, fun kind of like, the way the vampires kind of handled the crowd and fuck with them a little bit, very enjoyable. And what's also nice is even the undead are like “You know what's really fucked up? Nazis, man. Racism is awful. I'm a fucking undead vampire. But I know this is wrong. So let's go end this.” That was great. Alex:                 It's a little shaggy in terms of that because it feels like okay, the concept is bank robbing vampires. I get it. And then next issue it's going to be like, okay, it's vampires fighting Nazis, I get it. So I'm wondering if it's going to change every single issue and that's going to be the rhythm of the book. Or if it is something else. Whatever it is, I'm definitely onboard. I had a fun time reading this. I think it's a fun take on vampires. Like I said the characters are good. So definitely willing to follow it. And Emily Pearson's character designs are very good as well. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Next up the Avengers #37 from Marvel written by Jason Aaron, art by Javier Garron. This is kicking off the end of the Age of Khonshu. Pete:                Yes, the Age of Khonshu. And this is the finale. Alex:                 This is the finale. So Khonshu, who is the God of Moon Knight has taken the powers of the rest of the Avengers. This issue they're fighting back as well as Moon Knight who now the Phoenix Power is fighting back. This is playing with toys in the best sense of the phrase. Pete:                Well yeah, and that's a great way to put it. Because you do have like a super baby here who is like, “Yo, give me back my toys.” So that was kind of well put there. But yeah, this is a fantastic art. And it kind of reminds me of Snyder's just over the top fun, where a lot of different characters are getting to play with different powers and stuff like that. And I think this is a great kind of finale. And it's cool to kind of see somebody get powered up like this, and then kind of like spoiler, but de-powered, and where those powers go. So it's, again, a writer and artist, having a lot of fun with the different kind of powers and different perspectives. So yeah, I really enjoyed this. I thought it wasn't a huge kind of event. It was just kind of big enough. And I thought it was great. Alex:                 Yeah, it's playground rules. It feels like every page, and I say this in the best sense, because it's fun to read. But it's the sort of thing where somebody is like, “Oh you're going to attack my pyramid. Well, my wolf men and my mummies are going to attack you.” And they're like, “Fine. Well, now I have the Iron Fist…” That's great. Like, there's not enough of that in comics, where it just feels like people playing and having fun. It all has to mean something. It all has to lead to the next thing. This is the sort of thing where it's like, and I'm probably mis-remembering this, where She Hulk can very briefly get the Iron Fist, and it has no bearing on anything whatsoever, other than a fun splash page that they draw. And that's fine. It's refreshing to read something like that. Alex:                 Here's another thing that is almost the opposite, where it's fun, but everything means something. Once and Future #12 from Boom Studios by Kieron Gillen, art by Dan Mora. Pete I know you love this series. This is wrapping up the Beowulf arc. Listen, I think textually pretty big revelations for the mythology of the book, as teased to us by Kieron Gillen when we chatted with him a couple of weeks back. How'd you feel about this one? Pete:                This just continues to be one of my favorite things on the stands. Art is unbelievable. You have these unbelievable monsters these great kind of stories and fables intertwined here, and then you just got one badass grandma who's not going to take shit from nobody. And this is just such a glorious comic book that is worth your time and money. And it's entertaining, it's smart, it's touching. It's stories that you've kind of know, that kind of are told in this new kind of messed up way and it's very, very enjoyable. Alex:                 Yeah, Dan Mora's art and character designs and monster designs in particular are so good across the board. But this issue is Kieron Gillen doing his Kieron Gillen thing and wrapping stories together, figuring out how they fit together, figuring out how the mythology of England as an entity fits together. And it's fascinating to read, but it's nowhere near as dense as say Die, for example, but just good, good stuff and so much fun to read. Alex:                 Let's move on to an anthology DC the Doomed and the Damned #1 from DC Comics, written by John Arcudi, Saladin Ahmed, Kenny Porter, Amanda Deibert, Marv Wolfman, Amedeo Turturro, Alyssa Wong, Brandon Thomas, Travis Moore and Garth Ennis. Art by Mike Perkins, Leonardo Manco, Riley Rossmo, Daniel Sampere, Tom Mandrake, Max Fiumara, Dominike “Domo” Stanton, Baldemar Rivas, Travis Moore and PJ Holden. As you can probably guess, from how I introduced it, as well as the lineup this is a series of short stories teaming up DC Comics characters in spooky situations. As usual, how'd you feel about this one, Pete? And were there any stories that jumped out to you? Pete:                Yeah, this was a really nice collection. I had a lot of fun with this. I mean, the Batman versus the kind of monster in the mirrors is great. This is what I want Halloween comics to be like. I want to see heroes taking on the kind of monsters. And this is the classic like if you say a name in the mirror three times, so it was cool to see that. The Raven Wonder Woman story was great. I'm a sucker for a Grundy story. I love the look of Superman in that one store. I thought like he really looked fantastic with the Swamp Thing. It was just super fun. I think there was a lot of cool stuff and even the Green Lantern team up I enjoyed. Alex:                 Yeah, I like this as well. I mean, if you can't tell from the title this is riff on Brave and the Bold but Doom and [inaudible 00:25:31] instead. So it's a team up book- Pete:                Oh, I just put it together. Alex:                 Which it gives it a very different flavor from other anthologies. I think it gives it more focus, particularly because you usually get a non-supernatural character teaming up with a supernatural character. The best one for me, which you mentioned, is Saladin Ahmed's story, which I just… I love Batman dealing with the supernatural because he does it all the time. But he never believes it. He's always like, “Scientific explanation for this. I got to figure this one out.” And it's great here. He deals with essentially like a Candyman, Beetlejuice type figure, except in Gotham City. And it's a lot of fun. But this is a good collection if you want to pick it up. Next up Redneck #28 from Image Comics written by Donny Cates, art by Lisandro Estherren. This is a title we have not checked out that much, I think, right, Pete? Pete:                Well, so this is weird because I saw Redneck and I thought it was Jason Aaron's book called Redneck and it's not. This is a different kind of redneck, not what you think because it's about vampires. Alex:                 No, Jason Aaron wrote another book. I don't remember what it's called. But it's not Redneck. Pete:                Okay. Alex:                 No, he's, what is it? Southern Bastards. That's what he wrote. Pete:                Oh. Right, right, right. Yeah. I thought… But anyways, so this is a very kind of… The art is really fantastic. I love the way they kind of draw the action. And a very interesting, kind of like tale throughout time here that we're dealing with. And I love the way it kind of ended on this cliffhanger for more. I think this is very interesting book, very kind of unique and creative. And I didn't know what I was getting into. And I was pleasantly surprised. Alex:                 So Donny talks about this in the end matter a little bit, but it is wild reading the first couple of issues of this books, which I think I read the first couple and I just got away from it for no particular reason. But it was what the title said, it was about a bunch of swamp folks dealing with vampires. I was like, “Okay, I get it. Rednecks cool. I'm on it, I get the concepts of this book.” To here where we're like Dracula war, which is a very different sort of thing. Alex:                 But Lisandro's art in particular is epic throughout the book. As you mentioned, it spans through different time periods. I enjoyed this quite a bit. And it's certainly the sort of thing that makes me want to be like, “Okay, I read the first collection, I read this issue. Now I actually need to read what happened in between, because clearly, I missed a lot.” Alex:                 Next up Amazing Spider-Man #50 from Marvel, written by Nick Spencer, art by Patrick Gleason. This is picking up right on the last issue, but kicking off a new storyline, where we finally learn the identity of Kindred as well as why he has it out for Spider-Man. Why he has it out for Norman Osborn, what happens to the Sin Eater? Big things happened in this issue. Spider Man is a very dire straits. We're definitely going to get into spoilers here. So Pete, as you feel about this reveal, what do you think about this? Pete:                Cool. I mean, when I saw the tombstone reveal, I was like, “All right.” Alex:                 But so let's walk through this and this is spoiler time. But Kindred pulls up the tombstone, you're supposed to think as a reader, “Oh, okay is he Captain Stacy?” Gwen Stacy's dad. But he's not. Instead, what Kindred has done is he's pulled up the corpses of Captain Stacy and Gwen Stacy, and put them at a dinner table for Spider-Man, classic villain behavior. But it turns out the Kindred is none other than Harry Osborn. Pete:                Yeah, at the end there's another twist, where you think, “Okay, we don't know, here's the reveal of the tombstone. That's who he is.” But then at the end, it's like, “He's my son.” And then you're like twist again. Alex:                 I don't love that. I feel like we're going to have to do a lot of explanation to get why Harry Osborn is this. Pete:                Especially when Spider-Man sits down to that dinner and he sees the two dead people. And then he's like, “Wait, but what's this got to do with Harry Osborn?” You know what I mean? Alex:                 Yeah, I mean, first of all, indoor dining very dangerous right now. Second of all, if you ever get in that situation, just be like, “Check, please.” Pete:                Yeah, also, you got to put masks on those corpses, you know what I mean? You can't just [crosstalk 00:30:16]. Alex:                 I mean come on. Absolutely. They could spread disease. Pete:                They're inside. Alex:                 Yes. Think of the servers. Pete:                Yeah, exactly. Alex:                 This is a good issue. Nick Spencer is doing an intriguing job of the storyline. But like I said, I think though this fills in a lot of holes in what's been going on I need to get to how this happened, which I assume is going to happen soon. This seems to be a big storyline. But why is Harry Osborn Kindred? What does that mean? How did he become Kindred? Are all big open questions here but we're just at the beginning of this storyline right now. Alex:                 Next up, another Tom King book Strange Adventures #6 from DC Comics written by surprise Tom King art by Mitch Garads and Evan ‘Doc' Shaner. In this issue, as usual, we're jumping back and forth between the planet Ron and what's happening on Earth, as Mr. Terrific investigates the death of Adam Strange and Alanna's daughter. In this issue Mr. Terrific Alanna kind of go on a date a little bit, and parry and check each other out and sort of probe each other's weaknesses. Ends in a very different, very interesting place. I like this issue quite a bit, particularly, because it made me doubt Alanna being the bad guy of this series. How'd you feel about it Pete? Pete:                Yeah, yeah. Also, we had a little Seth Meyers sighting. Little talk show clip here. And as we all know, Seth Meyers came on Comic Book Club, big fan of the show. So it's nice to see that. Alex:                 It was nice to see it finally pay off for him. Pete:                Yeah, yeah. Really nice to see Seth Meyers get his due, poor guy, he works really hard. But yeah, I mean, this is just waiting, each Tom King book, you get a little bit more information, a little bit more information. You're trying to piece together this whole story. So it's unbelievable, Tom King, kills it as a writer. And I'm excited to see how this unfolds, and we get a little bit more. And I love the Terrific stuff in this. So yeah, I can't wait until the final kind of domino falls, I can kind of look back and see what we've done here. Alex:                 I agree. This is definitely a mystery book. It's going to make you reevaluate everything when we finally get to the end there. But every issue just gorgeous to read and gut wrenching and heartbreaking across the board. Another one, very sad Marvel Zombies Resurrection #3 from Marvel written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson art by Leonard Kirk. Spider-Man is taking Franklin and Valeria to the Galactus hive to try to find a cure for the zombie virus that has afflicted the Marvel Universe. Things go predictably, very, very wrong, including a favorite of Pete's, who gets caught in the struggle. I love the twist that Philip gives to the whole Marvel Zombies thing here. It's so smart. So well done. I'm a little hesitant to spoil it. But every issue of this is so dangerous, so harrowing. And it's amazing that he has found a totally different twist on the zombie mythology in the Marvel Universe. How'd you feel Pete? Pete:                Yeah, this was really crazy and intense to kind of like, have these kind of reveals of kind of like how this all unfolded. Love the Galactus stuff. Magic stuff is really cool. The character that we're not talking about I was like… All right, but- Alex:                 We can talk about him. We can spoil it. Pete:                I think it's- Alex:                 We spoiled so much this podcast. Pete:                This continues to be a really fun book and if you would have said- Alex:                 It's Wolverine. Pete:                Wolverines. Wolverine. But yeah, I mean, you would think like okay, Marvel Zombies all right, how long we doing this, but this really is a fresh take on it. And it's very enjoyable. Alex:                 I agree. I'm very nervous, concerned about what will happen at the last issue when we get to that. Moving on to Seven Secrets #3 from Boom Studios written by Tom Taylor illustrated by Daniela De Nicolo. This issue we're following who we still think is our main character but we're not 100% sure, as they go on a mission to become the new secret keeper for this organization. Still don't know what the secrets are, still don't know what's going on. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 We just know somebody evil is gunning straight for them. Another great issue of this book as Tom and company continued to build out the mythology. How'd you feel Pete? Pete:                Yeah, I liked this. Again, we kind of don't know. I mean, if I'm risking my life over a briefcase, I might take a peek. But I think that this is very creative in the way that it kind of tells his story as it unfolds and the touching like 15 gifts from the father for the 15 years he wasn't there. That got me, that got me a little bit. That was pretty awesome. I've been really impressed with the characters in the book and their story and kind of how this is all moving forward. A lot of great action. Yeah, this continues to impress. Alex:                 Yeah, great book and Daniela De Nicolo's art is also real good, it's very anime… Excuse me, manga inspired. Yeah, but it feels like the halfway point way point. Pete:                The mustache guy reminds me of the guy from Voltron. The new Voltron [crosstalk 00:36:07]- Alex:                 Interesting. I don't know what you're talking about, but I appreciate it regardless. Before we wrap up here, let's do it. Let's get into the X/10 of Swords block. Three issues out this week. Hellions #5, written by Zeb wells and art by Carmen Carnero. New Mutants #13 written by Ed Price and art by Rob Price. Cable #5 written by Jerry Duggan and art by Phil Noto. Versus last week, where we got a little more of an overarching story each one of these is very much its own thing. Alex:                 In Hellions we get that team heading off into other world to basically cheat the whole sword contest that's going on by stealing Arakko's swords. In New Mutant's we find out how Cypher is dealing with fact that he's supposed to be a sword bearer. Answer is not very well. And in cable, he is dealing with a sword of his own. When the last we left him, he was with Cyclops and Jean Grey on Sword, the actual space station the people, we find out what happened to them, and what happens next. This is great. I was a little worried that this crossover was going to be just one thing after another just following up on it. But I love that each one of these individual interweaving stories, and I thought each of these issues was a ton of fun all on its own. Pete I know you liked last week's issues. How'd you feel about this one? Pete:                I did. I really liked the break from the stacking insane idea on top of insane idea and like here we're just going to have like a showdown you bring your best, we'll bring our best, bring a sword, let's settle this. But this gets a little derailed by the Lollipop Guild where they sit around a table and makes insane decisions like “Hey, we're going to do this big battle to the death, but why don't we cheat? Right? Because we're on our own island by playing by the rules so fuck it let's just cheat, and just throw a wrench in the whole fucking thing.” Alex:                 So this is in Hellions by the way just to clarify what's going on here. I love this issue. Zeb Wells writes the crap out of these characters. His Empath is such a horrible asshole in a hilarious way. Mr. Sinister is great. Pete:                The cape bit is just glorious. It's really fun. Alex:                 Oh my god. So funny. Just, it's a funny book. And I appreciate that in the middle of this like… Particularly coming off of, I think, the last issue was Storm being like, “I need to potentially destroy a relationship with my husband because it's the head of the world and I need to invade Wakanda.” And then this issue, Mr. Sinister's like wrestling with a horse most of the issue is great. That you could have these different tones of this world is so much fun. Pete:                Yeah, it's all right. Alex:                 And then of course, there's New Mutants, which is I think one of the greatest issues of all time that really just really digs in on Cypher as a character. One of the greatest characters of all time. Gives him his due in the sun, shows up what was going on with Warlock, trains with Krakoa, plays on his insecurities, but in the right way, and fleshes out his relationship with Krakoa, just a great issue across the board. And I know I'm using a sarcastic voice, but I also actually think that. Pete:                The art in this book is glorious. The Krakoa, trying to stop him and talk to them but like “If something happens to you I won't be able to…” I thought that was great. But at this point, I'm like, “Okay, guys, a lot of build up to the sword fight. Can we get to this goddamn sword fight.” Like, do I got to sit there and see everybody's origin story to how they got their sword. Alex:                 There's 10 swords. They're not even halfway through. They'll get halfway through, they'll have all the swords and then they'll have a bunch of fights. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Come on. Pete:                Now hopefully I make a [crosstalk 00:40:12]- Alex:                 And Cable, also fun with like some terrifying weird alien enemies, that was super fun as well. Just a fun month across the board. Right Pete? Pete:                Sure. Yeah. What a month. What a year. Everybody's having a blast. Good times. Alex:                 Yeah, I just ordered a shirt online, actually, they said “2020 having a blast.” Pete:                Oh, man. Yeah, I mean, I'll look forward to hopefully getting to the fight. Just, I don't know, I think the last month with the three titles or last week, whatever it was, I thought was better, getting me hyped for this thing, but after this week, I'm kind of like, “All right, get me there already.” But hey, people like reading stuff in between their comic books pages, apparently, because man, they're doubling the fuck down on that. Alex:                 Oh my gosh. Pete:                And at this point I'm just to do it. Alex:                 Well, I liked these quite a bit. I had a fun time this week. And I'm glad to read all three of them. Pete:                Did you like reading about the sword instead of seeing it? Just reading about how much it weighs and that kind of stuff? Alex:                 You know what they say, do you bring an essay to a sword fight? Pete:                Ah right, right. Alex:                 If you'd like to support this podcast, patreon.com/comicbookclub. Also we do a live show every Tuesday night at 7:00 PM. Pete:                We sure do. Alex:                 We do Crowdcast and YouTube, come hang out and check it out. iTunes, Android, Spotify, Stitcher or the app of your choice to subscribe and listen to the show. At Comic Book live for this pod. You can, I don't know, socially or whatever. 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: Rorschach, Commanders In Crisis And More appeared first on Comic Book Club. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/comicbookclub See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dec Solicits New Comics Reviews: Detective Comics 1027 by Peter Tomasi, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Dan Jurgens, Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, Mariko Tamaki, James Tynion IV, Marv Wolfman, Lee Bermejo, Chris Burnham, Jamal Campbell, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, Walt Simonson, Brad Walker, Chip Zdarsky, Riley Rossmo, John Romita Jr., Andrew Hennessy, Kevin Nowlan, Joe Prado, Bill Sienkiewicz, Hi-Fi, Jordie Bellaire, Tamra Bonvillain, Nathan Fairbairn, Marcelo Maiolo, Laura Martin, Trish Mulvihill, Ivan Plascencia, Arif Prianto, Alejandro Sanchez Catwoman 25 by Ran V, Juan Ferreyra, John Paul Leon, Fernando Blanco, Ivan Plascencia Amazing Spider-Man: The Sins of Norman Osborn by Nick Spencer, Federico Vincentini, Edgar Delgado Giant Size X-Men: Storm by Jonathan Hickman, Russell Dauterman, Matt Wilson Immortal Hulk 0 by Bill Mantlo, Peter David, Al Ewing, Mike Mignola, Adam Kubert, Mattia De Iulis Iron Man 1 by Christopher Cantwell, Cafu, Frank D'Armata Marvels Snapshots: X-Men by Jay Edidin, Kurt Busiek, Tom Reilly, Chris O'Halloran Stillwater 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Ramon K Perez, Mike Spicer Edgeworld 1 by Chuck Austen, Pat Oliffe, Lee Loughridge Danger Devil 1 by Tong Doug Wright, Joseph Haemmerle, Magnus Dry Foot 1 by Jarred Lujan, Orlando Caicedo, Warnia Sahadewa Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp 1 by Marieke Nijikamp, Yasmin Flores Montanez, Rebecca Nalty Heavy by Max Bemis, Eryk Donovan, Cris Peter Riptide: Draken 1 by Scott Chitwood, Danny Luckert You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy 1 by Gerard Way, Shaun Simon, I.N.J. Culbard, Nate Piekos Vampirella: Trial of the Soul 1 by Bill Willingham, Giuseppe Cafaro Additional Reviews: Frankenstein, White House Farm, Doctor Who: Supremacy of the Cybermen, Adult Life Skills, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous,  News: Jonathan Majors cast as Kang for Ant-Man 3, another new Snyder creator-owned book, Leinil Francis Yu retires from interiors, WandaVision in 2020, Stumptown cancelled, Tatiana Maslany cast as She-Hulk, secret X-Men launch in December, Tom Hardy might be Bond, Emily Pearson, Archie goes day-and-date w/ Comixology Unlimited, SWORD by Ewing and Schitti, Peacemaker series by Gunn/Cena for HBO Max, all MCU movies pushed back to 2021, Supergirl cancelled, Harley s3 Trailers: Baby Yoda s2, WandaVision Comics Countdown: Stillwater 1 by Chip Zdarsky, Ramon K Perez, Mike Spicer Detective Comics 1027 by Peter Tomasi, Dan Jurgens, Tom King, Grant Morrison, Scott Snyder, Dan Jurgens, Brian Michael Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, Mariko Tamaki, James Tynion IV, Marv Wolfman, Lee Bermejo, Chris Burnham, Jamal Campbell, Emanuela Lupacchino, David Marquez, Dan Mora, Ivan Reis, Eduardo Risso, Walt Simonson, Brad Walker, Chip Zdarsky, Riley Rossmo, John Romita Jr., Andrew Hennessy, Kevin Nowlan, Joe Prado, Bill Sienkiewicz, Hi-Fi, Jordie Bellaire, Tamra Bonvillain, Nathan Fairbairn, Marcelo Maiolo, Laura Martin, Trish Mulvihill, Ivan Plascencia, Arif Prianto, Alejandro Sanchez Thor 7 by Donny Cates, Aaron Kuder, Matt Wilson Head Lopper 13 by Andrew MacLean Money Shot 8 by Tim Seeley, Sarah Beattie, Rebekah Isaacs, Kurt Michael Russell Seven Secrets 2 by Tom Taylor, Daniele Di Nicuolo, Walter Baiamonte Marvel Snapshots: X-Men by Jay Edidin, Kurt Busiek, Tom Reilly, Chris O'Halloran Batman 99 by James Tynion IV, Jorge Jimenez, Tomeu Morey Finger Guns 5 by Justin Richards, Val Halvorson, Nalty, Esposito Once and Future 11 by Kieron Gillen, Dan Mora, Tamra Bonvillain

On today's Stack podcast: Iron Man #1, You Look Like Death: Tales From The Umbrella Academy #1, Batman #99, Thor #7, Stillwater #1, Detective Comics #1027, Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp #1, Giant-Size X-Men: Storm #1, Big Girls #2, Justice League #53, Seven Secrets #2, The Immortal Hulk #37, Dryad #5, Catwoman #25, Once & Future #11, X-Men #12, Faithless II #4, The Amazing Spider-Man: The Sins of Norman Osborn #1, and Head Lopper #13. SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, ITUNES, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, STITCHER OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON. Full Transcript: Alex:                 What is up 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 comics that have come out today. Pete:                Sure do. Alex:                 We review them, unless they're DC comics, those rap scallions, they come out on Tuesdays. They go out for 24 hours. You already know about them. Justin:              Yes, but you can read them today. You can read comics whenever you want. That's the freedom of the comic book industry. Alex:                 Right. And if you break into writer's brain, you can read comics that haven't even been made yet, man. You know what I'm talking about? Justin:              Yes. I know what you mean by breaking into a writer's brain too. You talk about with like a hammer? Alex:                 Yeah, man. But six feet away, keep your safe distance. Let's get into this because I don't know where I was going. Pete:                Wait, what? Yeah, what the fuck. Alex:                 I don't know where I was going with this, Pete. Iron Man, number one from Marvel written by Christopher Cantwell, art by Cafu. This is, as you can imagine, another new start for Iron Man, a back-to-basic start after the big robot war. And this book spends quite a bit of time with Tony Stark, the man, before it puts him in a classic Iron Man costume, throws him up against a new, old threat. What'd you think about this book? How'd you feel about this versus the last couple of years in Tony's life? Justin:              I don't know if I'd call it an Iron Man costume, but other than that I think this is a fun book. I feel like Tony Stark is popping a little bit more here. He feels a little bit on his own, less tied up in a sort of the galaxy brain, worried about everything, stuff that he's mostly been in for the last few years and more just like the guy who puts on the suit. Pete:                It's nice to see him not being a robot or a dead version of himself or whatever it is. It's nice to see Tony being Tony, but there's a lot of interesting things in this comic. I didn't really get past the sad girl playing her violin outside of an Apple store and then asked to leave where she was crying and walking away, that was fucking heartbreaking, man. That was cold as ice. But I'm interested to see what happens. The problem is what I didn't like was there was this moment where it was just like the movie where Tony Stark's like, “Oh yeah.” And then someone comes out to him at a party and was like, “Hey Tony, I got this thing to pitch you.” And he's like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, later.” And then that person becomes the villain. And that was like we saw that in this comic as well. And I was like, “Well, it's kind of played out, but all right, I'll see what's up.” Alex:                 But it plays out differently, right? Because he turns around to the guy- Pete:                A little differently. Alex:                 I mean, that's a classic Iron Man, Tony stark scenario. What I liked about this book is I spent most of the running time thinking we were going to be running out of time that I was like, “Jesus, why are they spending so much time on Tony Stark out of armor? Get to it already, you're going to run out of the page length here. But this was well paced. It was well thought out and they clearly gave it a little bit of extra time to breathe. You could spend time with Tony Stark before putting him in an action scenario. I don't know if it's going to pay out with the page length every issue necessarily like that, but it's refreshing and nice. Like you were saying Justin, to see him on a back-to-basics level, Tony stark, because we haven't really seen that in a very, very long time. Justin:              Yeah. Reading this I was like, “Oh yeah, he used to be sort of a dude who dealt with his own stuff. And now he's been trapped in the Neanderthal age in a cave for a while.” Also a couple more details I love, Terrax as a villain. One of my favorite villain characters, cosmic villains, who you don't see hardly ever, like cool acts, cool look, cool looking dude. And I love the triangle shield in the first couple of pages and the Iron Man armor. Alex:                 I agree. Good stuff. Art by Cafu as well, yes. Pete:                Yeah. The art was great. The moment where he, spoiler alert, flies through a helicopter blade was pretty bad ass. Alex:                 Yeah. All very cool stuff. Let's move on and talk about You Look Like Death: Tales from the Umbrella Academy, number one, from Dark Horse Comics, story by Gerard Way and Shaun Simon, art and colors by I.N.J. Culbard. This of course does not have the regular artists Gabriel Ba on Umbrella Academy. And that's because- Pete:                Yeah, what the fuck. Alex:                 Hold on. You can probably tell from the title, this is a spinoff. This is a side story focusing on Klaus as he gets kicked out of the Umbrella Academy and heads off to Hollywood. Man, there's just a lot of fun. You got to love this, Klaus high on drugs. Justin:              You know Alex is going to love this. The original Klaus head. Alex:                 I love Klaus. I also love going back to the Umbrella Academy after being so deep into the show with Umbrella Podcademy our Umbrella Academy podcast, to revisit the characters in the original format. It's like, “Oh right, Kraken's actually a badass and not just a sad sack. That's nice to see, that's fun.” Justin:              Yeah. What's your favorite type of hero, bad-ass or sad sack? Alex:                 Great question. It's very much a toss up. Pete, you got to love the vampire buggy, right? Pete:                Yeah. [crosstalk 00:05:44]. That was really fun. First of, [crosstalk 00:05:47]. Justin:              Wait, hold up, Why'd you go to Pete for the vampire monkey? Alex:                 Because I was reading the book and I was like, “Pete's going to hate this, but he's going to like the vampire monkey.” Justin:              Is that true? Pete:                Well, I didn't hate it. I mean, what's upsetting is the father just kills me in this, just how cold this fucking dad is, it's hard to get past and it's just hammered all the time during the book, so it's tough. If this father had any compassion, these kids would have such a better chance in life, and it is just heartbreaking. Justin:              Pete shitting on fatherhood, going after the whole enterprise. Pete:                That's right. Just you guys better fucking get your shit together and fucking [crosstalk 00:06:33]. Alex:                 I just kicked out my son. I told him he was cut off. Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 He headed to Hollywood. He got crazy high. Justin:              Nice. He's going to love it out there. Pete:                Yeah. Anyways, Klaus is fun. It's nice to revisit this a little bit, but I like Gabriel Ba. Justin:              Are you crying, Pete? I love, the art really pops in this, especially once the story moves out to the West coast, I feel like the scenes are really great, really fun. Great all around. Alex:                 Yeah. Let's move on then to Batman number 99 from DC Comics written by James Tynion IV and art by Jorge Jimenez. This is the I think penultimate chapter of the Joker war storyline- Justin:              It seems that way. Alex:                 … this is the Joker has basically destroyed Gotham city, taken over Bruce Wayne's fortune. Finally Batman and the crew are fighting bad Batman by appealing to his family saying, “I messed up, get back together with me all. Let's take this town.” Catwoman meanwhile is attacking financially trying to get the funds back. Man, this is the stuff that happens in this issue. And I almost don't want to spoil it, but particularly towards the end made me exclaim out loud. There are two moments towards the edge of the issue that I went, “Haha,” just like that, out loud. What'd you guys think about it? Pete:                Well, I was really … This is a lot of fun. This book is great. Part of me does really want to kind of get back to the bat and cat stuff, that was kind of set up before this. So seeing them kind of a part is driving me crazy a little bit. But man, the whole start of this, like Joker rolling in his fucking limo, this is really insane to kind of see where things are right now. And it really does get you kind of like hyped for that and in such a great way. I mean the panels where Batman just kind of lands in front of the spot where he's supposed to be, so epic, so well done. I love this kind of show down kind of atmosphere that is being set up. And the reveal at the end was holy fucking shit. Justin:              Yeah. James Tynion is such a tactical writer. He comes at the full story and the individual scenes with different angles than we've seen before. We get to spend more time with the Joker than I feel like we get to see normally. Normally the Joker is just cackling and plotting against Batman. In this we get to see a little bit more of him doing the logistical bits of his plan, and then executing in the way leading up to that last page reveal. And that stuff is fun and smart and makes this story seem fresh despite the fact that we've been … I want to say drowning in Joker for the past couple of years. Alex:                 Yeah. Well that, and also that it is another Gotham city is in flames story, but it's still … which we've seen a million times. I don't know why anybody lives there, but to your point, it's still feels dangerous. It still feels like it could go either way at the end of the day. Great, great stuff. Pete:                Just before we move on, we were talking about some oh shit moments towards the end. But also some touching stuff that happens in this too just before Batman kind of gives his speech or right after it, someone gets a gift, very touching. Alex:                 You're talking about the Nightwing costume, right? Pete:                Yeah, I am. I'm trying not to spoil it you fuck, but cool. Alex:                 Well, I mean, I think that's okay. We've already seen him in the costume several times because of the publishing schedule. But yeah, it's good bad family staff, James Tynion gets it. It works really well. This is a great issue. We went on to another one, Thor number seven from Marvel Comics written by Donny Cates and art by Aaron Kuder. This is pick it up after the death of Galactus last issue. And Thor's big vision, that some bad things are coming not just his way, but the Marvel universe's way. And he is throwing [inaudible 00:10:52] down on Broxton once again, because he feels like he is not worthy to pick it up. Turns out more people might be worthy to pick it up. As usual Donny Cates just find some fun, unique angles on his characters. And I love Aaron Kuder's art so much, just I love it. Every time it's just a pleasure to see his name. Pete:                Yeah. It's very enjoyable. The art is fantastic. Sorry, Justin, I didn't mean to cut you off. Justin:              No, please, it's your time to shine. Pete:                Well, this is such a fun back and forth between Tony and Thor that I love very much. Yeah, this is what a cool kind of setup for this new kind of arc. Very excited to see where this goes. A little kind of twist on the unworthy. But I'm very much on board and it's also great to see the kind of blanking on his name there [crosstalk 00:11:55]. Yeah, thank you. I'm just going to say horse Thor. Justin:              Speaking of Beta Ray Bill, when he takes his helmet off that dude's fucked. Alex:                 It's weird. Scary. Very weird. Yeah. I don't like it. He looks much less like a horse without his helmet. Justin:              Yeah. And much more like a nightmare that I'm going to have tonight. I mean, this book reminded me of a conversation we've had a lot about Batman. Thor is a character that is often pretty serious. Like God dealing with God level things speaking in very heightened language, yet Donny Cates finds a way to make this fun. There's a lot of humor here and that Thor can play around, something we've been talking about a lot lately with Batman is like, why does it always have to be doom and gloom, there's room in our ability as fans to take two sides of a character, someone who takes their job seriously, but also likes to play around a little bit with his friends. And this book does a great job of keeping the action fun, the stakes high, I mean two issues ago, everything was hell. And now here we are where we're having fun with words on [inaudible 00:13:04]. Pete:                Yeah, just leave words on the hammer, man. Alex:                 Words on the hammer, that's what I always say. Moving on to one that I know Justin is super psyched about, Stillwater number one from Image Comics written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Ramon K. Perez. Now this is a bit of a spoiler because they only eventually get around to it in the second half of the book, but it is the concept of the book is about a guy who loses his job, gets an inheritance or so he thinks, that brings him to the small town of Stillwater. And it turns out in the small town of Silverwater, nobody ever dies. Things get darker from there. Justin, talk about this book a little bit. Justin:              I mean the art by Ramon K. Perez is so good. I love his work on everything that he does. I think the first book that really caught my eye he did was I think called Tale of Sand, I want to say, based on a Jim Henson script. And great book and this just art really shines. The story itself reminded me a lot of Lovecraft Country actually, the first two episodes of that, except with none of the race elements and it's just sort of spoiled white dudes doing the … going on a similar journey. But the way the story ends is exciting and curious what the next move is, if that make sense. Pete:                Yeah, this is the new like, hey, I'm a prince, and if you send me money I'll send you money tenfold. When you get the letter that somebody died and there's inheritance, you don't fall for that. All right. That's a trap. It's clear. If you didn't know that person- Alex:                 Wait, sorry. Pete, did you just say somebody died and left me money? Let me know where I need to go to pick it up. Pete:                Oh, okay, well you got to go to Stillwater. Justin:              And let me say on the other side, Pete, your rich great uncle did die and you have to go get that money. You can't just leave that hanging there just because you're scared. Pete:                I'm not going to fall for that, all right. It's some creepy town where- Alex:                 No, I back up what Justin is saying, this is true and accurate. And if you give us $50 right now, we'll tell you where to go. Pete:                Oh, okay. All right. Well, I'll just Venmo you guys then. Alex:                 Yeah, that sounds great. Actually, you know what might be easier is if you gave us your credit card number. Pete:                Oh okay, sure. Yeah, why don't I give it to you right over here? Alex:                 All right, go ahead. Pete:                Five, five, five, five, five. Justin:              It is weird it's all fives. It is crazy. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Wait, actually I had a question just to step back. Thor, I didn't try this yet. The phone number he puts down on me on [inaudible 00:15:52] for Tony, that's just like a regular two on two number, right? That's pretty weird. Justin:              Yeah, let me, I guess you're right here. Two, one, two, nine, seven, zero, four, one, three, three. Alex:                 Ooh, I don't get any phone service down here. You want to give it a call? Justin:              Yeah, I'll give it a call. Alex:                 Okay. That sounds great. Pete:                Oh man, that's exciting. Alex:                 Yes. Meanwhile, I'll talk about Stillwater. This reminded me a little bit of Revival, the Tim Seeley book, just in terms of concept, which is a great book that everybody should check out. It does feel a little more [inaudible 00:16:26] and a little more focused on this character. I'm also sure Chip Zdarsky is aware of revival and trying to do something different in that. But I'm curious to see how it delineates itself from that going on, just in terms of the pure people coming back to life. You're about to call the number Justin? Justin:              Yes. We have not planned this, so we truly have no idea what's going to come up here. Alex:                 There's going to be an old lady that's going to be like, “Hello.” Speaker 4:        Yes, this is Iron Man. However, due to some big blonde jerk, I no longer use this number. But hey, nice try anyway. For all things Tony stark, please visit www.tonystarkironman.com, and try and stay safe out there, yeah. I'm busy enough as it is. Alex:                 Ah, that's fun. Justin:              Is that Downey? Alex:                 That's cool. Maybe. Justin:              It could be, it sounds like him. Alex:                 Yeah. Fun stuff. Good [inaudible 00:17:22] comic books. Pickup Stillwater number one, moving on to, this is going to be a mouthful, are you ready? Detective Comics number 1027 from DC Comics. This isn't an anniversary issue, so it's a bunch of stories. It is written by Peter J. Tomasi, Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka, James Tynion IV, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marv Wolfman, Grant Morrison, Tom King, Scott Snyder, Dan Jurgens and Mariko Tamaki. And the art is by Brad Walker, David Marquez, Chip Zdarsky, Eduardo Risso, Riley Rossmo, John Romita Jr., Emanuela Luppachino, Chris Burnham, Walter Simonson, Ivan Reis, Kevin Nowlan and Dan Mora. Justin:              You read so fast, it sounded like you said Snot Snyder. Pete:                It did sound like Snot Snyder. Alex:                 Oh man, thank you for picking on the thing that I screwed up out of 20 names. Justin:              Alex, I just wanted to say, you really nailed it when you said Peter J. Tomasi, Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, Greg Rucka and the rest. Alex:                 I like this package. I know we talk a lot about short story [inaudible 00:18:30], this is like- Pete:                Justin loves talking about nice packages. Justin:              Wow. Alex:                 This is a good set of Batman stories. I was fully prepared to be like, “Yeah, I don't know, I like this one.” But I like most of them. Justin:              Yeah. No, it was hard to pick a favorite as well. I really liked the masterclass story was a good use of the bat family where everyone really got to pop for a second. The Grant Morrison detective number 26 story was like- Alex:                 So funny. Justin:              So fun. And I was like, “Oh, Grant Morrison. Yes. I haven't seen that Grant Morrison in quite a while.” Where it's just like finds a little fun bit and just needles it into a story. Alex:                 I mean, I'll mention with the idea of the story is as you can figure out, it's the guy who came to the issue before Batman and he's already to be the next big vigilante. He's going to be the silver ghost. He has the whole plan. He has his origin story. He has his motivation, everything. And then he goes out of his first mission and he sees Batman and he's like, “Ah, shit.” Justin:              This guy's got good branding, good ears. Alex:                 To your point it's great, I want more of that out of Grant Morrison. I don't need crazy musical notes from Superman saving the universe anymore, just give me that fun stuff. He did that on Klaus as well at least at the beginning where it's just the simple idea of what if Santa was battle Santa. That's great, more of that fun stuff. Pete, which ones did you like? What are you into? Pete:                I really loved the fraction happy returns, the Rocco rookie story was really great that we've had an eye on you was a awesome moment. Justin:              That was cool. Pete:                Love the shout-out to the old costume and generations fractured and the Dan Mora art and the gift, yes please, just fantastic. Alex:                 Yeah. Just such a good package across the board. Pete:                It really is. It's one of those ones where you're like, “All right, a collection,” but then you're like, “Holy shit, this is worth it.” Alex:                 Yeah, pretty much every story is good. The art is great, definitely pick this up. Next step, Goosebumps: Secrets of the Swamp, number one from IDW written by Marieke Nijkamp, and art by Yasmin Flores Montanez. This is a new story, I guess, set in the Goosebumps universe. This is honestly something that is very much out of my wheelhouse. I never read Goosebumps as a kid or anything like that. But it's about a kid who is a gamer. She has one prosthetic arm, so clearly she feels uncomfortable about going outside. But she meets another friend who's a prominent gamer and they begin exploring their town that has some spooky monsters in it. What'd you think about this book? Pete:                Well, yeah, I'm not really a big Goosebumps head, but I really like the start of this. This is a solid first issue. Does a great job of introducing interesting characters and then throwing into a shit show. And I understand like you look up to some hero, somebody you admire and they're like, “Oh yeah, kid, you want to roll with me? Guess what? We're going out into the nightmare that is this world.” Alex:                 And I appreciate you explaining all ages, mostly kids book as throwing them into a shit show. Pete:                Well, what would you call that fucking swamp land that they live in? Justin:              There's nothing wrong with swamp. Pete:                I'm not saying that, but the swamp with monsters- Justin:              What's so scary about a swamp, Pete? Because it feels it's moist. Pete:                No, they have straight up monsters in their fucking swamp. Justin:              But you seemed like hung up on the swamp. Pete:                You're the one hung up [crosstalk 00:22:03]. Alex:                 Fill the swamp, fill the swamp. Justin:              That is what you always cheer. Even your time cheerleading at Cornell University, you were a huge fill the swamp. Alex:                 See you, go big red. Pete:                Oh my God. Justin:              Just building out some of our background on the show. I liked this a lot, I also didn't read Goosebumps, so I don't know what Goosebumps brings to this story. It's just like a creepy story I guess, the branding on it, because this story of these people coming together sort of through gaming and then the gaming becoming real. And then they go on the swamp to face a monster, could stand on its own in a fun way. Pete:                Yeah, it's a fun- Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:22:51] a story, like you said, I like the character, so I wanted a little more out of the story. But I feel like obviously we're going to get that in the second issue. Pete:                Issue two is a good spot to look for that. Justin:              Yeah. Wait for it. Alex:                 There you go. Let's move on to another one, Giant-Size X-Men: Storm, number one from Marvel, written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Russell Dauterman. Now we have talked incessantly, but these Giant-Size X-Men books about what is going on here, these seem like half finished stories. What is happening? Well, [inaudible 00:23:21] as one might say. Pete:                Nope. Alex:                 No, but I would not say that. This issue- Pete:                I also wanted to say though that this Jordan D. White said that this issue would change things for Storm forever. So there was a lot of hype going into this issue. Justin:              Well, and can you pinpoint what that is? Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              What? Pete:                Turns out Storm is sick and she's got some things going on, and it makes me very sad. Justin:              Well, but she- Alex:                 No. Justin:              But she's cured by the end, spoiler. Pete:                Yeah. Is she though? Because it seems like that demon they pulled out of her is just going to grow. Alex:                 The only thing that I was going to say, just to kind of finish up the thing that I was saying that we can turn over to the rest of it, is this is finally bringing together some threads specifically from the Giant-Size X-Men issues. We get the Nightcrawler one, which focused a little bit on Cypher. We get the Storm one obviously which, or I guess it was the Jean Grey one maybe- Justin:              I think so. Alex:                 I honestly don't remember. Whatever it was, it was a Storm story and they're finally picking up on that. And we also get the [inaudible 00:24:31] one picking up with that as well and started to loop all of these disparate threads together. Justin, what did you think about this? Because you've been very, critical is probably the wrong word, but I would say dubious at least about [crosstalk 00:24:44]. Justin:              Yeah, surprised just in general that these have been sort of off the main character standalone stories or seemingly standalone stories. But to your point where you were just saying, I do think this amounts to a lot, it feels like, I don't know if maybe it's faded in our minds because of how much has happened in the X universe since the Dawn of X. But so much of those first issues were about sort of the artificial intelligence that will eventually destroy not only the mutants but the humans and be the real enemy. If humans and mutants can get over their shit and face AI. Justin:              And it feels like maybe this is the moment where it starts. That being in the world which the whole premise of the world is that it accelerates time, it accelerates evolution. They pull this techno organic virus that Storm picked up in a recent issue where they went into … what is the place they went into? Alex:                 The orcas, I think. Justin:              Yeah. Orcas and The Children of the Vault is what I was trying to think of. And she pulls this techno organic virus, The Children of the Vault also a hyper evolving hyper time place, and takes it to this other even more pocket dimension where the time extends, it happens even faster. And I think that is the AI evolution that will eventually lead to some of the real monsters that the X-Men face in the Dawn of X issues. And the people we have at the end of this issue, sort of being there are Phantom X, Phantom X's sort of twin, I guess. And then a random dude from AIM. Alex:                 Yeah. And the other thing that's kind of messed up about it, particularly as of a fan of the character is Cypher and Warlock seem to know what's going on and seem to be kind of cool with it, which is not great. There's definitely been some weird, potentially dangerous stuff going on with Cypher and Warlock over the course of this entire run. And that certainly seems to be the clearest tip of the hat to what's happening here. So yeah, I 100% agree with you, Justin. This is like, I think the important thing, it's surprising you said Storm, because I think the important thing is to the overall plot of what is happening with the X-Men line since the very beginning, versus necessarily Storm. Justin:              Yeah. It feels like a bigger thing. That's why I always say, “Don't trust the guy that speaks all the languages.” He's up at the bar, he's talking to the bartender, ordering you a weird drink because he knows too much. Alex:                 But yeah, good issue. Particularly if you've been reading these Giant-Size X-Men books, if you've read House of X and Powers of X, you really like those. I think this is a good thing to pick up on to kind of get potentially the ongoing story. Let's move out to Big Girls Number two from Image Comic story and art by Jason Howard. I think we were pretty into but a little reserved on the first issue of this book, takes place in a post apocalyptic world where women grow to gigantic size, men also grow to gigantic size, but become monsters and are attacking one of the last remaining cities. We've been following one of the so-called Big Girls who was fighting back against them. We get more fleshed out about the world, this issue. I like this issue a lot more personally, because of the details and the nuance that it added. How'd you guys feel? Pete:                Yeah, this is good because it's like, all right, now we're kind of really getting understanding of who's who, where's what type of situation. Justin:              Who's big, who's little. Pete:                Yeah. Men are monsters, women are saving the world, it's great. I do think though that the kind of reveal at the end is really what's going to kind of take this concept and kind of push it. But the art's great, the action's phenomenal. It's a interesting world, so I'm excited for more. But I'm glad that and agree with Zalben that issue too kind of like solidify things a little bit better. Justin:              Yeah, I agree. I mean, it's nice to sort of, like you're saying, Pete, see the sides of where everyone is. We have our main character who's a little bit dubious about the status quo. And then we have this sort of rebel faction in the back half that is maybe- Pete:                Also I was a little worried about how slow that one main character was to pull the trigger to save that other person's life there. I was like, thought that would be a bigger issue and might come back. Alex:                 We'll have to see what happens. Justin:              I love the double page spread in the middle of the book of our main Big Girl being operated on, and sort of repaired like really- Pete:                Oh yeah, that was fun, some of the like- Justin:              Cowgirl as she's known. Pete:                Yeah. Alex:                 Very Gulliver in that moment. Pete:                Yeah, Gulliver, and I was going to say like, Fraggle Rock reminded me of the dozers a little bit. Alex:                 Yeah. [crosstalk 00:29:49]. Justin:              You say Fraggle Rock a lot, just in general. Pete:                Down at Fraggle Rock. Down at Fraggle Rock. Alex:                 Down at Fraggle Rock. Justin:              That's not a criticism, that's just an open ended statement. Pete:                Every time I walk by a construction society, I want to take a bite out of it, what? Justin:              Every time I walk past a pile of garbage, I want to talk to you. Pete:                Yeah. Justin:              You walk past a construction site and you're like, “What up dozers?” And they're like, “Get the fuck out of here.” Alex:                 We're trying to build radishes here, come on. Justice League number 53 for DC Comics written by Joshua Williamson and art by Xermanico. This is tying into Dark Nights: Death Metal. This arc is called Doom Metal, and focuses on one mission of … I think it's fair to call them sub Justice League members, slash- Justin:              Woo, spicy. Alex:                 Yeah, I'm sorry. [crosstalk 00:30:43]. Justin:              Shots fired. Alex:                 It's Detective Chimp. It's hot girl. She's a member of the Justice League. But they are going after Perpetua's throne. Pete, you raised your hand, what would you like to say? Pete:                I would say cute start, what a touching adorable start. Little Robin trying to sneak up on Batman [inaudible 00:31:05]. Justin:              Great. I guess I agree with Pete technically. But I do like- Pete:                I mean the POV angles, it really was a kid looking up at these heroes. I thought that was such great attention to detail that really gives- Alex:                 This really is not helping my theory that you don't read beyond the first page or two, Pete. Pete:                Okay, fine. Justin:              That's one conspiracy theory I can get behind. Pete:                How about they born on a Doomsday panel that was later your dick, that was awesome. Alex:                 I mean that was page four. Justin:              Oh, he's flipping through the book right now. Alex:                 How about this thing at the last page that I just looked at. Justin:              Yeah. You see this UPC code on the back cover? Woo, did not see that coming. That's how you buy the book, they scan it. Alex:                 What were you going to say, Justin? Justin:              Ah, yes. I thought Pete was going to have a slight rebuttal. Pete:                No, I'm just enjoying how much you guys enjoy shooting holes in everything I'm trying to do. Justin:              Trying to do? Alex:                 Oh man. Justin:              What are you going to do? Pete:                I don't know, give my opinion, but apparently it's not good enough because it only is stuff that happens in the beginning. Alex:                 It's a very good opinion. It's a very good opinion. I'm just doing a classic comic book club La Zalben. Justin:              That's why they call him Alex La Zalben. I agree with Pete. There's a lot of fun of this book. I love this sort of … it feels like a side quest in a fantasy game or a fantasy series in a fun way. I could read a lot of this Death Metal stuff for maybe a long time. It's fun. [crosstalk 00:32:48]. Alex:                 It's surprising, right? Justin:              Yeah. Alex:                 Because it's silly. Pete, you did bring up the born on a Doomsday, [inaudible 00:32:56] who are also Doomsdays, it's the sort of thing where you get to this point you're like, “This is so stupid, but it works at the same time.” It's just mashing your toys together, that's all it is. But they're having such a good time with it. It's fun to read. Justin:              Aaron and Garney arm falls off, you put a Doomsday on. Alex:                 Exactly. All right. Let's move on to Seven Secrets number two from Boom! Studios written by Tom Taylor and art by Daniele di Nicuolo. We really like the first issue of this though. I think there's a little criticism from some of us about the end perhaps being a little confusing or not sure where it was going necessarily. But it is about a world where there's a secret society. They hold seven secrets. We're focusing on one character who's part of that, who is the son of two of the characters who hold two of those secrets. At least one of those characters dies in the last issue. And that there's a big villain who's trying to take them all down. We flash back this issue and get an origin. I thought not only was this issue great, but the cliffhanger was superb. One of the best that I've read in a really long time, the last sentence of the book, and made me even way more into this book than I was before. Pete:                Wow. I read that like last part and was like, “Oh man, that's more heartbreaking than we need. You didn't need to do that at the end.” But I agree, this is information that we needed and it's important. Moving forward I'm glad they kind of took a breath to give us this kind of flashback type of thing. Yeah, I'm really into this book now. This issue got me more hyped about it. Justin:              Yeah. Especially in an issue that felt like he was laying a lot of groundwork, it felt like sort of an exposition issue. A lot of like sort of drama in the King's court style drama. And then to end on that emotional, just build up to that last panel was really well done. Pete:                I can't even look at … I'm sorry. Alex:                 No. All I was going to say was that I'd be really fascinated to hear how Tom Taylor structured this, because it almost feels like you have this very Harry Potter sort of training section that potentially would come first. Then you go out to the inciting incident, which is the thing where the society gets messed up. And then you follow through from there, but he flipped it. He went from first issue, the second issue and he reversed the order of them and it works so well, it's very, very smart. Justin:              Yeah. The words I was trying to come up with earlier were palace intrigue. This issue is so much palace intrigue, and ending on a real strong emotional beat. Pete:                I was just going to say that I can't look at a gold little ducky without getting choked up anymore. Alex:                 Oh man, sad stuff. Let's move on to something that probably creeps you the fuck out, Pete, the Immortal Hulk number 37 from Marvel- Pete:                Oh, Jesus Christ. Alex:                 … written by Al Ewing Alan and art by Joe Bennett. The door is finally open. We finally know who the big villain of this book is. It's the leader of course. Pete:                Yeah, of course it is. Alex:                 Or maybe it is. There might be something behind that. But the leader is looking to manipulate the green door the way that the Hulk and other gamma radiated heroes have been resurrected constantly, hence the Immortal Hulk of the title. While the Hulk is outside fighting in the real world, the leader is inside this hellscape or whatever is going on there. He has taken over Rick Jones. He has taken over … who's the second one he's taken over? I don't remember. Oh, he's taken over the irradiated guy, whatever the irradiated guy from the early on the run. Pete:                Yeah, from the [crosstalk 00:36:57]. Alex:                 And there's nobody else that he's taken over as well that he hits at, we don't know who that is yet. But, oh God, I cannot say enough about how terrifying it is to read every issue of this book. Pete:                Yeah, it's too much, man. It's too much. It's gone too far. It's gone too far. Justin:              I love this book and the way, the sense of dread that's been building from issue one and it just keeps extending to end, not only with the writing, but the art, despite all of the body, just disaster that's happening on all these pages. You still get references too older Hulk artists. The last page feels like right out of the Hulk history, and so much of it, it feels just so big, every issue big and horrifying, just like I want everything to be. Alex:                 This is a very meta way of looking at it, but it is very exciting to be reading an all timer. You don't get that often when you're reading a book, but you read this book and you're like, “This is a Hulk run that people are going to talk about for decades.” This is going to be talked about in the same breath as Peter David's run, as the original run, as all these other classic runs of a Hulk and other characters. And I don't know how this is going to add up, I don't know where this could go. But being in the middle there between Al Ewing's writing and Joe Bennet's art, which is like Cronenberg-esque in exactly the right way. It's very exciting to read every issue of this book. Pete:                Yeah, 100%. Alex:                 Great. Thanks. Glad you agree, Pete. Just [inaudible 00:38:50], no thanks. Pete:                Well, I mean, I'm glad you guys are having fun. Alex:                 That's nice. Justin:              Pete's scared. Pete:                This is a horror book with one of my favorite characters, so you guys enjoy your time, I'll wait until we get Hulk. Justin:              Is there another book you could read where the Hulk does something like, I don't know, like smash. Pete:                No, I don't think there is. [crosstalk 00:39:13]. Alex:                 Dryad number five from Oni Press written by Kurtis Wiebe illustrated by Justin Osterling. I'll give a little pluggy plug here. Go check out our bonus episode where we talk to the team behind this book in the comic book club feed, it was a blast and a pleasure to talk to them about the last issue of the book, as well as the run. But Dryad number five, we have our main characters now in the city, they are battling folks, they are trying to figure out what's going on, the kids have no idea. There's a big twist as usual towards the end of this issue. What'd you think about this one? Justin:              This book continues to go its own way. You cannot predict the storytelling here and it's fully into sci-fi, big sci-fi, Blade Runner-esque, corporate intrigue. And did not see that coming, curious with some still fantasy elements popping through. But it's one of the few books I feel like we read where it's like, “I have no idea where we're headed.” Pete:                Yeah. It's very interesting. Each issue is kind of like its own thing, and what's great is you don't know what you're going to get when you pick up this book, but it continues to tell a story just somehow more creatively in different ways. It's impressive to kind of see this thing move forward. I continue to be impressed by the art and the storytelling. This one, we get a lot more action. And then some of the stuff that Zalben likes at the end, but like it's … Alex:                 What does that mean? Pete:                You know what I'm talking about, that hot tub shit at the end, got a little weird that you're into. Alex:                 What? No, come on, Pete. I mean, that was pretty hot. Justin:              I mean, I love a hot tub. I wish there was another book you were talking about [crosstalk 00:41:07]. Alex:                 You know what's best about that is the hot tub scene. The hot tub scene being cut between the guy who had his legs blasted off, I was like, “Fuck yeah. Give me more of that, inject that into my veins.” No, it was good, that was fine. That was a good Ted scene and fleshed out more about the world, but I'm way more into what's going on with the kids and what's happening at the end. Great, great stuff. Alex:                 Catwoman number 25 from DC Comics written by Ram V, an art by Fernando Blanco. This is a bunch of different things. This is tying into the Joker War. Almost an essential chapter of it, as we find out what Catwoman does with Bruce Wayne's money. But also setting up a new classic status quo for Catwoman that I thought was great. I like this book across the board. I had a little burp there at the end, I'm sorry. Justin:              How dare you. Pete:                Okay. I really love the amazing flashback sequences with the kind of tiger stuff that was almost like this orangest type painting kind of thing, that was really cool. Plus the way they kind of drew the action with Catwoman was really a lot of fun, where you're kind of on the same page, you see her kind of doing different moves. To me that's kind of like old school comic book style and I really enjoyed that. Justin:              We talked about this a little- Pete:                I also burped at the end, that was weird. Justin:              That is weird you guys, gas management, gas management bros. Alex:                 Justin has covered for you. Justin:              No, I am fully in charge. Pete:                Oh God. Justin:              I think we talked about this a little bit earlier when we were talking about the Batman books. But I want some resolution on the Batman Catwoman relationship, because it feels like we've been in this space because of whatever happened with changing up the creative teams when they did. We're in this place where it's like, wait, she's just moving his money around and sort of not hanging out, what's the deal? Want to know about their relationship. But aside from that sort of unrelated bother, this was an essential chapter I think. Seeing Catwoman doing this makes you understand the main story a lot more for the Joker War. Alex:                 Yeah, I agree. All right. Let's move into a little part of the show. And this is the end of the show here, which I like to call the Pete sandwich. And the reason I call it the Pete Sandwich is because we got a book Pete really wants to talk about, three books Pete does not want to talk about, and then a book Pete wants to talk about. Pete:                Yeah, sandwich. Alex:                 Pull back the curtain a little bit. But let's get to it. Justin:              And the best way to eat a sandwich is you start with the piece of bread that you really like, then you eat the middle, and then you get to the other piece of bread, which is the other thing you really like. Pete:                Bread's nice, man. Sometimes nice, fresh bread makes everything better. Justin:              You just mash the sandwich bread first into your face and chew your way up. Alex:                 Whenever I go to a deli, I'm like, “Hey, I'll have a Italian Hero. Then take the Salami and the pepperoni and the Capocollo, you throw that out, [inaudible 00:44:20] you throw that out.” Justin:              Capocollo, I love it. Alex:                 You get rid of it. [crosstalk 00:44:24]. Justin:              Just some slightly oily bread. Alex:                 [crosstalk 00:44:28], no, you put it out there and you throw it out. I don't like it. Oil and vinegar, you throw it out. Once & Future number 11 from Booms! Studios written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Dan Mora. Holy shit, the end of this issue is fucking insane, not to curse too much. But they have been fighting Grendel of the Beowulf myth, they took care of Beowulf. This issue, they fight, they take care of Grendel. You can kind of see where this is going. You know where this is going. But the way Dan Mora draws this is so horrific and so perfect. This issue is great. I like this series anyway, but this is one of my favorite issues in a while. Pete:                Yeah. This is really just kind of back to what started this thing and made us love it so much, just unbelievable action. This amazing grandmother in the heart of it. I can't, I mean, if you don't like this book, I don't know what to tell you. This to me is great comics, unbelievable art, unbelievable storytelling. The action and violence is mwah, chef's kiss, just fantastic. I'm having so much goddamn fun with this book. Justin:              Yeah. Shout-out to our interview with Kieron Gillen, where we talked about this book a lot. Because it really informs a lot of the process and it makes it so much richer to read this book, hearing him talk about it. Because you get to see in this issue the story that they're sort of caught up in and fighting catch up with them simultaneously. It feels like they've been sort of alongside the story or ahead of the story a little bit. And this last panel, last couple of panels or pages, you really see the story come up and be like, you're done, we got you here. And that's really satisfying to see on top of the fact that it's just a great action story and sequence and wildly bloody in a fun way. Alex:                 Yeah. So good. This is just great. Let's move on to the … sorry, I got a little sick there even thinking about a Capocollo of the stack. X-Men number 12 from Marvel Comics written by Jonathan Hickman and art by Leinil Francis Yu. In this issue- Pete:                What the fuck? What the fuck is going on? Justin:              Uh-oh. He's in [crosstalk 00:46:58]. Alex:                 This is a classic. Pete:                No, no, no, no, no, this, okay, all right, fine. You're going to have fuck island, you're going to … you can't keep adding crazier shit on top of crazier shit. Alex:                 No, man. This is classic- Pete:                You have to deal with it, you can't keep just fucking adding crazy shit. Justin:              Can't you? Pete:                How did Hickman say … how did he pitch [inaudible 00:47:22]. Okay guys, I'm going to change X-Men forever. And just when you think it can't get crazier, I'm going to keep adding crazier … I'm not going to deal with that, I'm just going to keep going to crazy town and then walk away. Alex:                 The reason I said this was the Capocollo is because it has the surprising, sliced peppercorns in the middle where you're like, “Whoa, where did that come from?” Justin:              Woo, spicy. Alex:                 Yeah, classic X-Men book. As we all know, Apocalypse originally came from the dimension of our Rocco separate Island next door to- Pete:                What the fuck. Alex:                 That has since had sex with and enjoyed with [inaudible 00:47:59]. His grandchildren have kept on his legacy. There is the opposite of apocalypse, the evil apocalypse, because as we all know, the apocalypse is good now. Justin:              Famously heroic. Pete:                What is happening? Alex:                 I don't know. Pete:                This doesn't make any sense. Alex:                 This is definitely like, it's funny to read this after the past couple of the issues where Jonathan Hickman was like, “I don't know, [inaudible 00:48:26] is killing shit out of the moon or whatever,” I don't know what's going on. This is fun. They're just killing some plants. We're having a good time, isn't this fun? Pete:                Is he throwing darts at a board? Alex:                 Yeah, this is fun [crosstalk 00:48:35]. He's like, “Did you forget that I'm Jonathan Hickman?” [crosstalk 00:48:43]. Justin:              I think I can shout out everyone's favorite panel from this issue, for everyone's favorite page, excuse me. The info page sort of two thirds the way through where we list the [inaudible 00:48:54]. And it's an infographic where we find out about the summoners from the school of [inaudible 00:49:01], this world that we just invented and arrived at, and how you can either be a shitty summoner, a decent summoner or a kick ass summoner. And can summon Pete, this [inaudible 00:49:12] is fun. You can summon our hoard of elementals, and up to three major [inaudible 00:49:17]. Alex:                 It is wild that at the course of one issue Jonathan Hickman is like, “Oh yeah, Apocalypse had a wife and also a evil opposite Apocalypse who is going to kick off his Ten of Swords type thing or whatever, because there's all these powerful swords. It's not big deal. Anyway, let's go into a hole, it's all good.” And then it picked up this random game that he introduced and that got away from in the last issue is insane. Justin:              Yeah. And he's like, “Oh, don't worry. In case you're of worry this isn't an X-men book focused on the heroic X-Men, don't worry because we got Banshee and Unus the Untouchable coming along for the ride.” Alex:                 Also they're all mutants and one of their powers is to never lose, which is crazy. Justin:              That's a hell of a thing to say. Alex:                 Yeah. I mean, this is saying a lot. This was the most Jonathan Hickman issue of X-Men so far. Justin:              I mean, it's a full on fantasy story at this point. That's why I think this issue is a real, is pointing us to what Ten of Swords is going to be, and it's going to be this. It's going to be epic grand scale battles with people and places that we don't know too much about and may never.” Alex:                 But that's okay. Well, all I'm going to say is, I've been enjoying this enough and this has been crazy enough that I'm willing to follow them down this rabbit hole into your insaneville that I don't understand. Justin:              100%. Alex:                 But I also think … Hold on. Pete, I do want to hear what you have to say, but the only thing that I want to say is you think back to nineties, two thousands, X-Men they were like, “Oh yeah, there's a mega level mutants. Oh yeah, now there's externals.” All of these things that we 20, 30 years down the road are like, yes, yes, that's part of canon and I get that and I understand that. That's what they're doing right now. That's what he is doing is he's adding in these insane details to the X-Men Mythos that decades down the road we're going to be like, “Yes, I remember that. That is Arakko. That's what happens there.” Justin:              Alex, what are you crazy? Immortal mutants that don't know they're immortal that's normal. Ten Swords, that's insane. Can you imagine Ten Swords? Alex:                 You're right. I'm sorry. That's too bad. I apologize. Pete:                I just want to start by saying I'm not willing to follow them into this crystal anus that they're walking into. All right. This is too insane. It's not an X-Men book. I don't know what the fuck's going on anymore. Justin:              I guess I'm changing your birthday plans, Pete, because it's very similar to that. Pete:                Okay. Well, I have no idea what the fuck is happening, who fuck is doing what. Cool. I'm glad people are having fun, but wake me when the X-Men show up. Alex:                 I don't usually like to talk about further episodes of The Stack, but next week we're going to be reading Dawn of X of Swords, Enter the Crystal Anus number one. And I hope you're going to read it, Pete. Justin:              I have a feeling you're going to love it. I feel bad because the Crystal Anus is on my favorite bars in Brooklyn and it closed because of COVID. Pete:                Oh, it's too bad. Alex:                 All right, let's move on to the … let's say salami of this particular Stack. Faithless number two, number four- Pete:                Here we go. Alex:                 … from a Boom! Studios written by Brian Azarello and art by Maria Llovet. I feel like we were a little down on the last issue of Faithless. Justin, I'm talking specifically to you because Pete doesn't want to talk about this at all. This issue I thought was very good. This is, Faith finally shows off her art. She goes on a tour of Turin I believe, with maybe a demon or a fallen angel or something like that. Very weird, very dark. What were you going to say? Justin:              I was going to say, I feel like what we've been talking about is it feels like this book has been spinning its wheels for a couple of issues where it's like, “We get it. She's an artist.” There's all these like dark clouds gathering around her with demonic intentions. But I think this issue, especially the back half for the back third, we get sort of what the book is about a little bit. And it's about her being this conduit through sex to connect with ghosts and sort of use them in her art. And that feels, knowing that is great, is helpful to maybe giving her a power in the story to guide it as opposed to just be this innocent washed up in all this chaos. Alex:                 Yeah. I mean it's interesting because it's kind of a battle for her soul type thing, right? They've been pretty clear about that, it's [inaudible 00:54:12] et cetera. But you have this master artist who is coming in, who is encouraging to go further in the darkness, versus she has this guy who comes out of the devil's door, but he's good in a way, he inspires her to be better. But it's fascinating, this is … Pete, you must've loved this issue, right? Justin:              The devil's door was actually the back entrance to the Crystal Anus and again it closed forever. Pete:                Yeah. I mean, what sucks is I thought we were going to kind of get away from all the madness a little bit and then it's like, “Oh, this is a nice date.” But then it's like, “Oh yeah, of course the dead person with an open head wound is going to still get some, because this is a fucking weird ass book.” Alex:                 It gives you hope though, right? If you ever [inaudible 00:55:03]. Pete:                Yeah. I had a little hope and then the douchebag showed up at the end again. Alex:                 No, I mean if you ever get a head wound, you might still be on the market. Pete:                Yeah, still bangable. Yeah, it's true. Just because you got an open head wound doesn't mean you still can't get some I guess is the moral- Justin:              That's the spirit. Alex:                 That's what it says on my Tinder profile. Justin:              Alex, you've been married for so long, you got to shut that Tinder profile down. Alex:                 I did actually not to veer into a true story. I don't think we're married yet, but we're definitely for like- Pete:                How the fuck. Alex:                 No, I had a Nerve profile and four years into dating my wife right before I proposed to her I was featured on nerve as a single. And I was like, “Oh shit, oh no.” Pete:                That's hilarious. Justin:              Bummer, metal pocket the ring for a couple of weeks. Alex:                 Yeah. I honestly went on only like three or four dates before I shut it down off of that. But yeah, then we got married. Justin:              That's a beautiful story and was a great toast at your wedding by the way. Alex:                 Thank you. All right. Let's move on to the serrano ham of The Stack. The Amazing Spider Man- Justin:              Oh, this is a high-Class sub. Alex:                 It's a good sub. It's a brooklyn style sub. The Amazing Spider-Man, Sins of Norman Osborn number one from Marvel Comics written by Nick Spencer and art by Federico Vicentini. This is another essential chapter of the storyline it feels like, that I don't understand why it's a one shot other than them trying to maybe hit the timing right for anniversary issues or something. But Spider-Man is trying to save Norman Osborn. The spider family is trying to decide whether to stop him or not from the Sin-Eater. I thought this was very good. I've been liking this storyline quite a bit. Justin:              I mean, I agree. I've been loving the Sin-Eater stuff, like such a departure from what Nick Spencer was doing before. This storyline is wild. There's so much happening here touching on a ton of continuity- Alex:                 So much stuff. Justin:              The fact that the Sin-Eater kills negative man, and then adapts his powers, it's like, oh, you have to know, you have to have been reading Spider-Man for a long time to know what the fuck is happening. Pete:                Yeah. Also it's just so much like stuff that you're like, oh, that could have been an ending, oh, that could have been an ending. And then the whole juggernaut thing is just such a couple panels that could have been such a huge thing. I was just really surprised at how much shit is jam packed in this issue and what the actual like oh shit reveal at the end is. There's just so much stuff packed in here, it's kind of surprising a little bit. Alex:                 Yeah. But it's a good issue, particularly if you've been reading Amazing Spider-Man, definitely pick this one up. Last one, back to the bread as we expected. Head Lopper number 13 from Image Comics story and art by Andrew Maclean. Pete, I got to say, there is no head lopping of this boo

DC Solicits, SDCC News Jimmy Olsen, Collapser, Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me, Batman 75, Orville: New Beginnings, Quiet Kind, Vampirella, Age of X-Man: Omega, Loki, Punisher Annual, Secret Warps: Ghost Panther, Spider-Man: Life Story 5, Blade Runner 2019, Resonant, Bags, Sera and the Royal Stars Reviews: Midsommar, Lion King 2019, Archie v3, Fleabag s2 News: SDCC and more! Trailers: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, IT, Cats, Creepshow, Picard, Watchmen, Harley Quinn, Maverick, She-Ra s3, Steven Universe Comics Details: Superman's Pal: Jimmy Olsen 1 by Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber, Nathan Fairbairn Collapser 1 by Shaun Simon, Mikey Way, Ilias Kyriazis, Cris Peter Wonder Woman: Come Back to Me 1 by Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, Chad Hardin, Alex Sinclair Age of X-Man: Omega by Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Simone Buonfantino, Tree Farrell Loki 1 by Daniel Kibblesmith, Oscar Bazaldua, David Curiel Punisher Annual 1 by Karla Pacheco, Adam Gorham, Andy Owens, Matt Milla Secret Warps: Ghost Panther Annual by Al Ewing, Daniel Kibblesmith, Carlos Gomez, Ig Guara, Carlos Lopez, Matt Milla Orville 1 by David Goodman, David Cabeza, Michael Atiyeh Quiet Kind 1 by Chuck Brown, Jeremy Treece, Kelly Williams, Michael Cho Vampirella 1 by Christopher Priest, Erqun Gunduz Blade Runner 2019 1 by Michael Green, Mike Johnson, Andres Guinaldo, Marco Lesko Resonant 1 by David Andry, Ale Aragon Jason Wordie Sera and the Royal Stars 1 by Jon Tsuei, Audrey Mock, Raul Angulo Bags Or a Story Thereof by Pat McHale, Gavin Fullerton Comics Countdown, 17 Jul 2019: Black Science 41 by Rick Remender, Matteo Scalera, Moreno DiNisio Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen 1 by Matt Fraction, Steve Lieber, Nathan Fairbairn Unstoppable Wasp 10 by Jeremy Whitley, GuriHiru Gideon Falls 15 by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Dave Stewart Outpost Zero 11 by Sean McKeever, Alexandre Tefenkgi, Jean-Francous Beaulieu Daredevil 8 by Chip Zdarsky, Lalit Kumar Sharma, Jey Leisten, Java Tartaglia Batman 75 by Tom King, Tony Daniel, Mitch Gerads, Tomeu Morey Silver Surfer Black 2 by Donny Cates, Tradd Moore, Dave Stewart Sonata 2 by David Hine, Brian Haberlin, Geirrod Van Dyke Superior Spider-Man 9 by Christos Gage, Mike Hawkthorne, Wade von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire  

Doomsday Clock 8, Shazam 1, Martian Manhunter, Defenders: Immortal Hulk, Defenders: Namor, Killmonger, Merry X-Men Holiday Special, Star Wars: Age of Republic: Qui-Gon Jinn, Winter Soldier 1, X-Men the Exterminated, LaGuardia, Ralph Breaks the Internet: Click-Start Your Own Adventure, Die, Prodigy, Self/Made, The Freeze, Grumble, Snap Flash Hustle, Giant Days: Where Women Glow and Men Plunder, Wizard Beach, Steven Universe OGN, MMPR: Soul of the Dragon OGN   Reviews: Glenn on Heroes in Crisis 3, Brandon on Daredevil 612, Deadly Class HC 2, Doctor Star, Spencer & Locke, Doctor Who s11 finale   News: Shang-Chi movie, upcoming Batman, Outsiders adaptation, Darth Vader: Dark Visions, Avengers trailer, Umbrella Academy teaser, Plastic Man movie, Conan in Avengers weekly, Black Hammer ‘45, Sara by Ennis/Epting, Top 100!   Comics Details: Doomsday Clock 8 by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson Shazam 1 by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham, Michael Atiyeh, Sen Martian Manhunter 1 by Steve Orlando, Riley Rossmo, Ivan Plascencia Immortal Hulk: The Best Defense by Al Ewing, Simone Di Meo, Dono Sanchez Namor: The Best Defense by Chip Zdarsky, Carlos Magno, Ian Herring Killmonger 1 by Bryan Hill, Juan Ferreyra Winter Soldier 1 by Kyle Higgins, Rod Reis Merry X-Men Holiday Special X-Men The Exterminated by Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Neil Edwards, Jay Ramos, Chris Claremont, Ramon Rosanas, Nolan Woodard LaGuardia 1 by Nnedi Okorafor, Tana Ford, James Devlin Die 1 by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans Prodigy 1 by Mark Millar, Rafael Albuquerque, Marcelo Maiolo Self/Made 1 by Mat Groom, Eduardo Ferigato Freeze 1 by Dan Wickline, Phillip Sevy Wizard Beach 1 by Shaun Simon, Conor Nolan, Meaghan Casey Giant Days: Where Women Glow and Men Plunder by John Allison, Whitney Cogar Grumble 1 by Rafer Roberts, Mike Norton, Marissa Louise Snap Flash Hustle 1 by Patrick Shand, Emily Pearson   Comics Countdown, 05 December 2018: Doomsday Clock 8 by Geoff Johns, Gary Frank, Brad Anderson Venom 9 by Donny Cates, Ryan Stegman, JP Mayer, Frank Martin Die 1 by Kieron Gillen, Stephanie Hans Shazam 1 by Geoff Johns, Dale Eaglesham, Michael Atiyeh, Sen Deathstroke 38 by Christopher Priest, Fernando Pasarin, Jason Paz, Jeromy Cox Dreaming 4 by Si Spurrier, Bilquis Evely, Mat Lopes Doctor Strange 9 by Mark Waid, Jesus Saiz Harley Quinn 55 by Sam Humphries, John Timms, Alex Sinclair Giant Days: Where Women Glow and Men Plunder by John Allison, Whitney Cogar Justice League 13 by James Tynion IV, Guillem March, Arif Prianto

Shaun Simon joins the dynamic duo this week to talk about his new comic book, Wizard Beach, coming out this week from Boom Studios. The post Wizard Beach, Fallout 76 review, Castlevania on Netflix appeared first on Cult of George | Pop Culture, Tiki Bars & Rock & Roll.

NYCC, Batwoman, WildStorm, Iron Fist, Power Rangers, TMNT, Champions, Death of X, CAGE, Jessica Jones, Enchanted Tiki Room, Deadpool: Back in Black, Shade the Changing Girl, Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love, Midnighter & Apollo, Death of Hawkman, Moonshine, Cannibal, Green Valley, Angel City, Archie Meets the Ramones   Details: Champions 1 by Mark Waid, Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba; Death of X 1 by Jeff Lemire, Charles Soule, Aaron Kuder; Cage 1 by Genndy Tartovsky; Jessica Jones 1 by Brian Michael Bendis, Michael Gaydos; Shade the Changing Girl 1 by Cecil Castellucci, Marley Zarcone; Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love 1 by Sarah Vaughn, Lan Medina, Jose Villarubia; Midnighter & Apollo 1 by Steve Orlando, Fernando Blanco; Death of Hawkman 1 by Marc Andreyko, Aaron Lopresti; Moonshine 1 by Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso; Cannibal 1 by Brian Buccellato, Jennifer Young, Matias Bergara; Green Valley 1 by Max Landis, Giuseppe Camuncoli; Romulus 1 by Brian Hill, Nelson Blake; Shipwreck 1 by Warren Ellis, Phil Hester; Angel City 1 by Janet Harvey, Megan Levens 05 October Comics Countdown: 10. Midnighter/Apollo and Deadman (it's a tie!) 9. Dr. Strange 12 by Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo 8. Amazing Spider-Man 19 by Dan Slott, Giuseppe Camuncoli 7. Shade the Changing Girl 1 by Cecil Castellucci, Marley Zarcone 6. Clean Room 12 by Gail Simone, Jon Davis-Hunt 5. Paper Girls 10 by Brian Vaughan, Cliff Chiang 4. Art Ops 12 by Shaun Simon, Mike Allred 3. Superman 8 by Pete Tomasi, Pat Gleason, Doug Mahnke 2. All-New Wolverine 13 by Tom Taylor, Nik Virella 1. Moonshine 1 by Brian Azzarello, Eduardo Risso

DC News (Justice League vs Suicide Squad by Joshua Williamson, Justice League of America by Steve Orlando, Jetsons by Palmiotti/Conner, Deathstroke vs Batfleck, Black Lightning TV series), Monsters Unleasher (Bunn, McNiven, Yu, Kubert, Land, Larroca), ResurrXion, Boom, Klaus, Civil War II (Ms. Marvel, Rocket Raccoon and Groot), Ghostbusters controversy (again!), Vertigo Spotlight (Sandman Overture, Unwritten, House of Mystery, Fairest In All The Land). 31 August 2016 Comics Countdown: 10. Amazing Spider-Man 17 by Dan Slott, RB Silva, Adriano Di Benedetto, Marte Gracia 9. DC Bombshells Annual 1 by Marguerite Bennett, Elsa Charretier, Hi-Fi Colour Design 8. Howard the Duck 10 by Chip Zdarsky, Joe Quinones, Marc Deering, Joe Rivera, Jordan Gibson 7. Art Ops 11 by Shaun Simon, Rob Davis, Kelby Allred 6. All-New Wolverine Annual 1 by Tom Taylor, Marcio Takara, Mat Lopes 5. Legend of Wonder Woman 9 by Renae de Liz, Ray Dillon 4. East of West 29 by Jonathon Hickman, Nick Dragotta, Frank Martin 3. Spider-Gwen 11 by Jason Latour, Robbi Rodriguez, Lauran Affe 2. Afterlife With Archie 10 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Francesco Francavilla,  1. Gotham Academy Annual 1 by Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher, Adam Archer, Msassyk, Michael Dialynas, Rob Haynes, Christian Wildgoose, Sandra Hope, Serge LaPointe

All about the DC Rebirth creative team announcements, Marvel solicits/pricing, Gwenom, Hyperion 1, Batman v Superman, Dubious Tales, 23 Mar 2016 Comics Countdown, Clone Saga, Wacky Race Land, Robbi Rodriquez. Rebirth Teams: Batman - Tom King, Brian Fitch, Mikel Janin Detective Comics - James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows, Alvaro Martinez Nightwing - Tim Seeley, Javi Fernandez, Marcus To Batgirl - Hope Larson, Rafael Albuquerque Birds of Prey - Julie Benson, Shawna Benson, Claire Roe All Star Batman - Scott Snyder, John Romita Jr, Jock, Sean Murphy, Paul Pope, Afua Richardson, Tula Lotay, more! Action Comics - Dan Jurgens, Patrick Zircher, Tyler Kirkham, Stephen Segovia New Superman - Gene Yang, Viktor Bogdanovic Supergirl - Steve Orlando, Brian Ching Trinity - Francis Manapul, Clay Mann Superwoman - Phil Jimenez, Emmanuel Lupacchino Superman - Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason, Doug Mahnke Wonder Woman - Greg Rucka, Liam Sharp, Nicola Scott Justice League - Brian Hitch, Tony Daniel, Fernando Pasarin Flash - Joshua Williamson, Carmine Di Giandomenico, Neil Googe Hal Jordan and GL Corps - Robert Venditti, Van Sciver, Rafa Sandoval Green Lanterns - Sam Humphries, Robson Rocha, Ardian Syaf Cyborg - John Semper, Will Conrad, Paul Pelletier  Aquaman - Dan Abnett, Brad Walker, Jesus Merino, Phil Briones Titans - Dan Abnett, Brett Booth Harley Quinn - Palmiotti/Conner, Chad Hardin, John Timms Suicide Squad - Rob Williams, Jim Lee, Philip Tan Green Arrow - Ben Percy, Otto Schmidt, Juan Ferreyra  Red Hood and the Outlaws - Scott Lobdell, Dexter Soy The Hellblazer - Simon Oliver, Moritat Deathstroke - Chris Priest, Carlo Pagulayan, Igor Vitorino, Felipe Watanabe Batman Beyond - Dan Jurgens, Bernard Chang Blue Beetle - Keith Giffen, Scott Kolins Teen Titans - Ben Percy, Jonboy Meyers Super Sons - ???? Justice League of America - ???? 23 Mar 2016 Comics Countdown: 10. Superman: Lois and Clark 6 by Dan Jurgens, Lee Weeks, Scott Hanna, Jeromy Cox 9. Totally Awesome Hulk 4 by Greg Pak, Frank Cho, Sonia Oback 8. Hyperion 1 by Chuck Wendig, Nik Virella, Romulo Fajardo Jr 7. Secret Six 12 by Gale Simone, Thomas Derenick, Dale Eaglesham, Jason Wright 6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 56 by Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Mateus Santolouco, Ronda Pattison 5. Art Ops 6 by Shaun Simon, Eduardo Risso, Laura Allred, Mike Allred 4. Star Wars 17 by Jason Aaron, Leinil Francis Yu, Gerry Alanguilan, Sunny Gho 3. Bloodshot Reborn Annual 1 by Jeff Lemire, Kano, Joe Bennett, Belardino Brabo, Jay Fabares, Pete Pantazis, Ray Fawkes, Michel Fiffe, Benjamin Marra 2. Klaus 4 by Grant Morrison, Dan Mora 1. Batman 50 by Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, James Tynion IV, Yanick Paquette, Nathan Fairbairn

Brubaker's Cap, Worst X-Man Ever 1, Favorite Superhero Runs, Kickstarters (Alter-Life, Morgan's Organs), Snarl by Kelly Bender, Salvagers by Bob Salley, Timely Comics, Iron Fist Casting, Extraordinary X-Men by Lemire, X-Line in general and the Comics Countdown 24 Feb 2016. Favorite Runs: Uncanny X-Men by Claremont/Byrne, FF by Stan/Jack, Avengers by Busiek/Perez, Green Lantern by Johns, FF by Hickman, Batman by Snyder, JLI by Giffen/DeMatteis/Maguire. Honorable Mentions: Black Panther by Priest, Spidey by JMS/Romita Jr, FF by Waid/Ringo, DD by Frank Miller, Dini Detective, Flash and JSA by Johns, Alias by Bendis, DD by Bendis Comics Countdown for 24 Feb 2016: 10. New Avengers 7 by Al Ewing, Joshua Cassara, Rachelle Rosenberg 9. X-Men: Worst X-Man Ever 1 by Max Bemis, Michael Walsh, Ruth Redmond 8. Wild's End: The Enemy Within 6 by Dan Abnett, Nik Abnett, Ian Culbard 7. Batman and Robin Eternal 21 by James Tynion IV, Scott Synder, Tony Daniel, Sandu Florea, Tomeu Morey 6. TMNT 55 by Tom Waltz, Kevin Eastman, Bobby Curnow, Michael Dialynas, Ronda Pattison 5. Superman: Lois and Clark 5 by Dan Jurgens, Neil Edwards, Scott Hanna, Jeromy Cox 4. Goddamned 3 by Jason Aaron, R.M. Guera, Giulia Brusco 3. Bloodshot Reborn 11 by Jeff Lemire, Lewis LaRosa, Brian Reber 2. Art Ops 5 by Shaun Simon, Mike Allred, Laura Allred, Matt Brundage, Rob Davis 1. Cry Havoc 2 by Simon Spurrier, Ryan Kelly, Barbara Guttman, Nick Filardi, Lee Loughridge, Matt Wilson  

Hanna Barbera meets DC, Scooby Apocalypse, Future Quest, Flintstones, Wacky Race Land, Riverdale on CW, Old Man Logan by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, Locke & Key by Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez, Jeff Parker, Doc Shaner, Keith Giffen, Howard Porter, Dan Didio, Jim Lee, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Umbrella Academy, Gerard Way, Kevin Smith, Daredevil, Green Arrow, Dead No More and Spider-Man, Men of Tomorrow by Geoff Johns and John Romita Jr, Teen Titans, Legion of Super-Heroes Comics Countdown for 27 Jan 2016: 10. Cry Havoc 1 by Simon Spurrier, Ryan Kelly, Nick Filardi, Lee Loughridge, Matt Wilson 9. Art Ops 4 by Shaun Simon, Mike Allred, Laura Allred, Matt Wayne Brundage, Rob Davis 8. Omega Men 8 by Tom King, Barnaby Bagenda, Romulo Fajardo 7. Old Man Logan 1 by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino, Marcelo Maiolo 6. Negative Space 3 by Ryan K Lindsay, Owen Gieni 5. Black Canary 7 by Brenden Fletcher, Annie Wu, Lee Loughridge 4. Deadly Class 18 by Rick Remender, Wesley Craig, Jordan Boyd 3. Bloodshot Reborn 10 by Jeff Lemire, Lewis LaRosa, Brian Reber 2. Grayson 16 by Tom King, Tim Seeley, Mikel Janin, Jeromy Cox 1. Southern Bastards 13 by Jason Aaron, Jason Latour

For their first publisher spotlight of 2016, Andy and Derek focus on the new wave of titles from Vertigo, those being launched between October and December of last year. As you might expect, this is an extra long episode of the podcast because the guys discuss twelve new series, and some of them already with three and four issues released. These include: The Twilight Children, by Gilbert Hernandez and Darwyn Cooke Survivors' Club, by Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen, and Ryan Kelly Clean Room, by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt Art Ops, by Shaun Simon and Michael Allred Unfollow, by Rob Williams and Mike Dowling Slash and Burn, by Si Spencer, Max Dunbar, and Ande Parks Red Thorn, by David Baillie and Meghan Hetrick Jacked, by Eric Kripke and John Higgins Sheriff of Babylon, by Tom King and Mitch Gerads New Romancer, by Peter Milligan and Brett Parson Last Gang in Town, by Simon Oliver and Rufus Dayglo Lucifer, by Holly Black and Lee Garbett Both Derek and Andy enjoy almost all of these titles, but there are a few that really stand out for them -- and they spend a disproportionate time discussing -- including The Twilight Children, Unfollow, Jacked, and Sheriff of Babylon. They also use their analysis of Lucifer to segue into a brief coverage of The Sandman: Overture, Deluxe Edition. The first of that six-issues miniseries was part of the guys' earlier Vertigo spotlight back in November 2013, and a central component of that publisher's previous wave of new titles, but the collected edition was just released late last year. Although it had an unusually long incubation period, The Sandman: Overture does help Andy and Derek juxtapose Vertigo's two big release efforts, leading them into a discussion of possible new directions the publisher may be going.

This week: Star Wars FA revisited, the Oscars, Martian by Andy Weir, Matt Damon, Patsy Walker Hellcat, Vision by Tom King, Red Wolf, Marvel's diminishing returns, Web Warriors, Squirrel Girl, Tom King, Green Lantern, DC Bat Talent (James Tynion IV, Marguerite Bennett, Genevieve Valentine, Steve Orlando, Brendan Fletcher), Gotham by Midnight, Gotham Academy, Peter David, Spider-Man 2099, Amazing Spider-Man 1.1 by Jose Molina and Simone Bianchi, Deadpool 3.1 by Gerry Dugan and Mike Hawthornw, Saga and Esperanto, Captain America, Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, Mighty Thor by Jason Aaron, Russell Dautermann and Matt Wilson, replacement heroes, Nameless by Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham, and DKIII Issue 2.   Comics Countdown for 23 Dec 2015: 10. Star-Lord #2 by Sam Humpries and Javier Garron 9. Wild's End: the Enemy Within #4 by Dan Abnett, Nik Abnett, and Ian Culbard 8. Astro City #30 by Kurt Busiek an Brent Anderson 7. Daredevil #2 by Charles Soule and Ron Garney 6. Darth Vader #14 by Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen, and Salvador Larroca 5. Gotham by Midnight #11 by Ray Fawkes and Juan Ferrera 4. Art Ops #3 by Shaun Simon and Mike Allred 3. Bloodshot Reborn #8 by Jeff Lemire and Jackson Guice 2. Deadly Class #17 by Rick Remender and Wes Craig 1. DC Comics Bombshells #7 by Marguerite Bennett and Mirka Andolfo

Geekmom and Ray, Dark Knight III: Master Race, Brian Azzarello, Batman: Year One, All-Star Batman and Robin, All-Star Superman, Loise & Clark, Supergirl, Doctor Who, Batman Eternal, Robin War, Tom King, Marvel Events, John Layman, 52, Mark Waid, Ms. Marvel, Tom King, Marguerite Bennett, Scott Snyder, new Marvel Launches (Silk, Venom Space Knight, Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur), Super Dinosaur, Robert Kirkman, Invincible.   Comics Countdown for 25 Nov 2015: 10. S.H.I.E.L.D. #12 by Mark Waid and Joe Bennett 9. Fuse #15 by Antony Johnston and Justin Greenwood 8. Batman and Robin Eternal #8 by Genevieve Valentine and Scot Eaton 7. Groot #6 by Jeff Loveness and Brian Kesinger 6. Archie #4 by Mark Waid and Annie Wu 5. Ivar Timewalker #11 by Fred Van Lente and Pere Perez 4. Art Ops #2 by Shaun Simon and Mike Allred 3. Robin, Son of Batman #6 by Patrick Gleason 2. Ringside #1 by Joe Keatinge and Nick Barber 1. Fade Out #11 by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips    

Mike and Jay recommend you read "Plutona" and "Art Ops," but let's face it, we know why you're here. There's a "Star Wars" movie on the horizon, so in honor of "Episode VII - The Force Awakens," Mike takes us back to the earliest Star Wars comics, when Marvel retold "The Magnificent Seven" but with Han Solo. Trust me, it gets much weirder than you think. Then, we play "Would You Rather," and find out if we'd prefer a loveless relationship with a superhero... or a passionate relationship with a supervillain?   Pull List:  Jay: "Plutona" (Image), written by Jeff Lemire and Emi Lenox, art by Jordie Bellaire and Emi Lenox.  Mike: "Art Ops" (Vertigo), written by Shaun Simon, art by Mike Allred.    Main Segment:  "Star Wars" #8-10 - "Eight Against a World!" (Marvel), written by Roy Thomas, art by Howard Chaykin, inks by Tom Palmer.    Game: "Would You Rather... be in a loveless relationship with a superhero, or a passionate relationship with a supervillain?"   Listen to full episodes at PartialArc.com  Email us at becausecomics@gmail.com, and find us on Twitter at @partialarc  Read Mike's columns every Tuesday and Thursday at PartialArc.com, and follow him on Twitter at @supergeekmike

This is the Vertigo panel from New York Comic Con 2015 OCTOBER THE TWILIGHT CHILDREN #1 (Gilbert Hernandez, Darwyn Cooke)
 SURVIVORS’ CLUB #1 (Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen, Ryan Kelly)
 CLEAN ROOM #1 (Gail Simone, Jon Davis-Hunt)
 ART OPS #1 (Shaun Simon, Michael Allred)
 NOVEMBER UNFOLLOW #1 (Rob Williams, Mike Dowling) SLASH & BURN #1 (Si Spencer, Max Dunbar, Ande Parks) RED THORN #1 (David Baillie, Meghan Hetrick) JACKED #1 (Eric Kripke, John Higgins) DECEMBER SHERIFF OF BAGHDAD #1 (Tom King, Mitch Gerads) NEW ROMANCER #1 (Peter Milligan, Brett Parson) LUCIFER #1 (Holly Black, Lee Garbett) LAST GANG IN TOWN #1 (Simon Oliver, Rufus Dayglo)


We talk Cloonan and Dillon's Punisher, Millar/Immonen's Empress, and new Iron Man, Hyperion and Nighthawk! Plus, we review all these books: Angela Queen Of Hel #1 - Marguerite Bennett & Kim Jacinto & Stephanie Hans Art Ops #1 - Shaun Simon & Michael Allred The Astonishing Ant-Man #1 - Nick Spencer & Ramon Rosanas Black Magick #1 - Greg Rucka & Nicola Scott Cognetic #1 - James Tynion IV & Eryk Donovan The Uncanny Inhumans #1 - Charles Soule & Steve McNiven The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1 - Ryan North & Erica Henderson Welcome To Showside #1 - Ian McGinty

Issue #208: Death Vigil and Star Wars Trailer Reactions Death Vigil Vol.1 y Stjepan Sejic is one of the best series out there and Bobby, Steve, Bob and Mara breakdown why you should be reading it and what they hope for a possible second volume. We also dig into some delayed Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer reactions and jaw about how The Flash and Supergirl TV shows are doing. LIGHTNING ROUND: Justice League #45, Invincible Iron Man #2, Batgirl #45, Amazing Spider-Man, New Avengers #2, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #1, Power Up #4, Manifest Destingy #18, Chewbacca #2, Princeless vol. 4, Lady Killer Vol. 1. BOOKS OF THE WEEK Black Magick #1, Star Wars: Kanan #7, Two Brothers, Henchgirl SHARED BOOK OF THE WEEK: Art Ops #1 by Shaun Simon and Michael Allred. Next week’s #TCBOTW is James Bond #1 by Warren Ellis FYI: the crew have gone all superhero on the world, thanks to the wonderful Hanie Mohd. Like them? Make sure to follow her and let us know what you think of our superhero pictures. The Comic Book Podcast is brought to you by Talking Comics (www.talkingcomicbooks.com), a blog dedicated to covering the latest and greatest in comic book releases. The editorial staff is composed of Editor-in-Chief Bobby Shortle (Fanboy Remix, Doctor Whocast), Stephanie Cooke (Misfortune Cookie) and Steve Seigh (JoBlo.com contributor) who weekly dissect the releases and give you, the consumer, a simple Roman yay or nay regarding them. Our Twitter handle is @TalkingComics and you can email us at info@talkingcomicbooks.com.

The Supergirl TV premiere, Arrow, Flask, the lack of a Supergirl comic series, Matt Fraction, Aquaman, Cullen Bunn, Peter David, Jeff Parker, Gail Simone, our favorite horror comics (Batman Endgame and Court of Owls, Severed, Death Note, Eerie/Creepy, Purple Man, Harrow County, Nailbiter, Ghosted, Locke & Key), Political controversy in recent comics (Captain America Sam Wilson, Prez), Runaways, Young Avengers, Jessica Jones.   The Comics Countdown for 28 October 2015: 10. Robin, Son of Batman #5 by Patrick Gleason 9. Batgirl #45 by Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, and Babs Tarr 8. Justice League: Darkseid War - Batman #1 by Peter Tomasi and Fernando Pasarin 7. They're Not Like Us #9 by Eric Stephenson and Simon Gane 6. Wild's End: Enemy Within #2 by Dan Abnett, Nik Abnett, and Ian Culbard 5. Rumble #8 by John Arcudi and James Harren 4. Book of Death #4 by Robert Venditi and Doug Braithwaite 3. We Are Robin #5 by Lee Bermejo and Jorge Corona 2. Black Magic #1 by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott 1. Art Ops #1 by Shaun Simon and Mike Allred

- Angela-Queen of Hel #1. Marguerite Bennett con Kim Jacinto y Stephanie Hans. (Marvel). - Art Ops #1. Shaun Simon y Mike Allred. (Vértigo). - Black Magick #1. Greg Rucka y Nicola Scott. (Image). - Cyrus Perkins #1. Dave Dwonch y Anna Lencioni. (Action Lab). - Howling Commandos of SHIELD #1. Frank J. Barbiere y Brent Schoonover. (Marvel). Brevísimos vistazos a: - Captain America-Sam Wilson #2. Nick Spencer y Daniel Acuña. (Marvel). - Chewbacca #2. Gerry Duggan y Phil Noto. (Marvel). - New Avengers #2. Al Ewing y Gerardo Sandoval. (Marvel). - Spider-Man 2099 #2. Peter David y Will Sliney. (Marvel).

- Angela-Queen of Hel #1. Marguerite Bennett con Kim Jacinto y Stephanie Hans. (Marvel). - Art Ops #1. Shaun Simon y Mike Allred. (Vértigo). - Black Magick #1. Greg Rucka y Nicola Scott. (Image). - Cyrus Perkins #1. Dave Dwonch y Anna Lencioni. (Action Lab). - Howling Commandos of SHIELD #1. Frank J. Barbiere y Brent Schoonover. (Marvel). Brevísimos vistazos a: - Captain America-Sam Wilson #2. Nick Spencer y Daniel Acuña. (Marvel). - Chewbacca #2. Gerry Duggan y Phil Noto. (Marvel). - New Avengers #2. Al Ewing y Gerardo Sandoval. (Marvel). - Spider-Man 2099 #2. Peter David y Will Sliney. (Marvel).

Stephanie takes over the podcast hosting duties as she has gone ahead and fired the heck out of Bobby. Steve and Bob join her via Skype and derail the heck out of the show with the boss kicked to the curb. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! LIGHTNING ROUND: Sam Wilson: Captain America #1, Astonishing Ant-Man #1, Kinski, Black Hand Comics, Black Canary #5, Secret Six #7, Gotham Academy #11, I Hate Fairyland #1, The New Deal by Jonathan Case, The Shield #1, Spider-Gwen #1. BOOKS OF THE WEEK: Regalia by Eliza Frye, Secret Wars: Agents of Atlas (One-Shot), Alias Vol. 1 SHARED BOOK OF THE WEEK: Clean Room by Gail Simone and Jon Davis-Hunt Next week's #TCBOTW is Art Ops #1 by Shaun Simon and Mike Allred

Sam talks with the creative team of Neverboy for Dark Horse Comics. Find out what writer Shaun Simon, artist Tyler Jenkins, and colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick think about making comics as well as their opinions on wizards and eggs.

This week, Under the Comic Covers is about one comic and one comic only (not counting the three different comics we discuss in Top of the Stack, which really makes this a four comic issue, but not really because we only do a top three on The Walking Dead and only one of the other three are actually part of Top of the Stack because Mr. Blahg decided to throw in another book because... uhhhh... I don't know), The Walking Dead #138: Confrontation. This issue of The Walking Dead gives us ample opportunity to take our time and really go over every detail, to think about actions and consequences, and we spend plenty of time going over the issue. Our Top of the Stack picks are diverse as can be... Mr. Blahg goes with a new Dark Horse comic, Never Boy by Shaun Simon and Tyler Jenkins (and manages to slilp in a pitch for David Lapham's recent Stray Bullets series, Killers and Sunshine and Roses), while Grace tackles the sweet levity of Image Comic's Oddly Normal by Otis Frampton. Chapters Intro   (0:00)     UtCC News of the Week   (6:15) The Walking Dead #138: Confrontation   (10:16) The Whispering Mail Sack   (50:17) Top of the Stack: Never Boy; Oddly Normal   (1:00:08) End  (1:11:44)   Any questions, comments, or a new set of zombie skins sized for a teenage girl, petite, can be sent to feedback@utccovers.com You can also leave us a voicemail at (678) 796-UTCC, that's (678) 796-8822 Download and subscribe to this podcast in iTunes here We can also be found on the Stitcher Radio app for both iPhone and Android users. Look for us on Facebook at facebook.com/underthecomiccovers Follow us on Twitter @UtCCovers   And visit our Tumblr page underthecomiccovers.com

Andy and Marc are joined by Shaun Simon, Mark Viales and Michael Halepas to let off some much needed steam after the trouncing by Liverpool. Anyone got a plan AV...B? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to another episode of LIFE WORK BALANCES! Today I sat down to chat with Shaun Simon. We met each other a few years ago while attending the Social Justice Training Institute, and it was great to catch up with her and see how her career has been going in those last few years for […]