Welcome back, friends, to the Worst Comic Podcast Ever, episode number 539.And it's been a busy week for us in the world of comic book news.New York Comic Con is still going on as we record this.And the news has been rolling in left and right.
And our nerdy hearts are happy.So we're also going to talk about Agatha all along with the focus on teen.Maybe we know who he is now.You are listening to the Worst Comic Podcast Ever.
Baby, if you ever wondered, wondered whatever became of me, I'm talking on the web in Kansas City, Kansas City WCP.Got tired of talking comics by my lonesome, called some high school pals to podcast. Maybe just us three, whatever meant to be.
You should check out our show pretty fast.We're at WCP in Kansas City.In Portland!
Hey there, hi there, ho there.Good to see ya.
Yes, been a good seven days.I think for the most part, all of us have come through the past week unscathed, so we will take that at this point.Everything's kind of week by week for each of us, but this was a good week for us.
We've got a lot to talk about this week, so let's go ahead and jump right in and get our bills paid first.And we do that by talking about our friends down at Clint's Comics, 3941 Main Street in the heart of Kansas City.They've been in business for
55, 57 years now, just insane.They're at the corner of Westport Road and Main Street in the heart of Midtown.I mean, they've been selling books since 1968, so someone smarter than me can do the math on that.
But whether you need new boots, old boots, t-shirts, hardcovers, trades, toys, other collectibles, they've got it there.And if they don't have it, they can get it for you.Send Sharon an email at clintsboots at gmail.com.
She can get you on her weekly email list that'll give you a list of the new boots coming out on the following Wednesday.
you can take that list with you to most any comic book store in this country and you can pull out the books that you're looking for.
We take a look at that list and we try to identify at least one, if not more, key book from the upcoming week that we are most excited to read about and I'm gonna go with
I want to go with Cullen first, because I knew John's pick before we even got started talking about the picks.I knew what John was going to take, but Cullen's pick kind of.
You know, you know me too well, baby.
You know me too well.Cullen surprised me with his pick.
I'm steadfast.You know, I'll have to say this.I remember once Meg and I have this ongoing joke where there was an episode of the Simpsons where they were kind of implying they wanted to get more young people to the church.
And they were talking about how church under Reverend Lovejoy was kind of boring.And they're like, no.And Marge is trying to tell him, no, it'll be great.He goes, this week's sermon is about Constancy.
And so Meg always jokes that she's changed jobs several times.And I've been Mr. Constancy.I've been Constancy.That's also one where Rev.Lovejoy, they're having a meeting, and he's like, you can get more kids.
I think they told Lisa she could have a pony.She decided she was going to be not a Christian, and he's like, you can get more kids with a pony than you can with this 50-pound sleeping pill, referring to the Bible.
Anyway, constancy, Jerry, that's a virtue.
Yeah.Yeah.It, it, it makes my job a little easier this week.So let's go with Cullen's pick first, because again, you surprised me with your pick.Sometimes you pull these, uh, uh, wild cards out.
I really thought you were going to go with Zatanna the way you've been hyping up the other issue during this series.Yeah.
Spoiler, spoiler alert for, uh, um, our next segment.But yeah, no, that's been a wonderful book.But yeah, no, I'm glad you picked me.Yeah, the curveball that I threw this week was from Image Comics.It's Dead Eyes, The Empty Frames.
And I'll tell you why I gravitate to this book.So when I first moved up here to Portland, within six months of getting here, Image Comics, which is headquartered here in Portland, had like a one of a kind sort of
Um, like a media day and they rented this giant, really cool warehouse space.And they brought in all this talent, uh, for these books that they were getting ready to launch.And, um, it was, it was a really cool event.
And part of that event was, um, uh, John McRae, who is the artist. showing up and going up on stage in this dead eyes mask.And he did the whole pitch with Jerry Dugan on stage.
And and finally, after they got it done, he pulled the mask off and he was like, it was super hot.And anyway, everyone had a good laugh.They talked passionately about the series.
So what was interesting is when this series first came out, it was called Dead Rabbit. And the problem was, and the reason it's not still called that, is there was a restaurant in Boston called The Dead Rabbit, and they sued
image and Dugan and McRae and said, Hey, this is a copyright infringement.We already have this name.And so they had to pull everything back, rename it.This was in the middle of the first volume.
And so, um, I got cause cause even publishers or a comic store owners had to hold back on putting issue two out that had been shipped to stores.
Exactly.And then the news of the lawsuit had broke.So so anyway, so then I got to see Dugan at Rose City Comic Con a few years ago, and I just let him know how much I really liked the series and told him about the image event and everything.
And to say that he was both upset and extremely bitter would be an understatement.
His message basically to me was was that when they had to put the brakes on it and take it back to printing again Basically now again for the most part a number one sells X amount all of the following issues are not going to sell that much they will actually more than likely decline eventually over time and
Yeah, usually usually issue two is about half.
Yeah, exactly one and it kind of continues that way for a little bit and then until it reaches some kind of of equilibrium But but but yes, absolutely and so all of the legal mess that this book found itself in basically like split the momentum in half and and so he you know, he told me he's like John and I have
years of stories that we've been putting together for this and we basically have to start the brand over from beginning and try to build this up again.So anyway, so I've always enjoyed it.
The first volume was about this man who found himself in a predicament where his wife was needing
healthcare for a terminal disease that he couldn't afford, and so he had to return to sort of a life of crime, a little bit of a Robin Hood-esque approach. keeping it for himself to serve, you know, taking care of his wife.
And so this is just an extension of that.We actually in this issue are going to learn that there have been other dead eyes from previous eras.And so we'll learn a little bit more about the back story of maybe just the character itself.
So I'm really enjoying it.I really like McCrae's art.It reminds me a lot.I still I need to get with Phil Hester.I really don't know what sort of art style this is.But McCrae's art style reminds me of Hester's in this blockish
It has motion, but it's this very unique sort of, I don't know what it is.Maybe John or Jerry have a better term or genre that they fit in.But anyway, I really like the art.The story resonates with me, and I've been there literally from day one.
So it's been a fun ride. Um, to catch up.So dead eyes, the empty frames number two from image is my pick.
Okay.Excellent choice.John, uh, your pick for this week is going to be absolute wonder woman.
Number one.Uh, there is a, I mean, there's some honorable mentions this week as well, but this is, this is a book that I've been excited about.Kelly Thompson has been.
one of my top writers for the past few years, her work on Captain Marvel, who's a character I've enjoyed in the past, but I don't think there's been a run of Captain Marvel that I loved beginning to end as much as I did Kelly Thompson's run on it.
Her Birds of Prey current run blows me away every month, I love it.And so I'm really excited for her take on Absolute Wonder Woman, I think they are You know, with New 52, I know I'm going back here a second.
I think there was sort of an effort to inject some newness and some exciting changes, but I don't feel like it either went not far enough or too far, but it took like a step to the left, but it didn't really change.
And some heroes didn't change at all.Like it was just a weird combination.It didn't figure out what it was.This, feels like we're going to really shake things up.That first issue of Batman feels much different in some ways.It still feels familiar.
There are still bat elements there, but a lot of the ancillary stuff is very different.
Um, I think the names and places have been changed to protect the innocent or the guilty.
Um, in this, in this case, I feel like absolute wonder woman status quo is going to be even more different.Then absolute Batman's status quo is like, he's still from Gotham.He still had a parent die tragically.He still dresses up like a bat.Um,
You know, he doesn't have the millions of dollars, which is funny because he still has a whole lot of stuff that seems like it would be really expensive to make.But whatever.
Custom one off costumes that have properties that I don't find in my normal clothes.Yeah. And Absolute Wonder Woman, though, she's not even from Paradise Island.She apparently was from Hell.And so we're going to see a whole lot of different stuff.
I did see also our friend Andy Parks got to see an early release preview release of Absolute Superman. And had really good things to say about it, so I'm excited for that one as well.
But now the artist on this one, Hayden Sherman, has had some books out here and there, but it's certainly not a huge name. in in comics, not not like not one of the biggest names around for sure.Right.And I think that's kind of similar.Absolutely.
Batman, though, you know, the artist there is is not somebody who we've seen a ton of.I did see some pages he's done and some other stuff that are pretty, pretty slick.It's a little different style, but I my big hope.
And this is a question I always have with a new artist is Can they keep up?And that was an issue with Birds of Prey, where I love the artwork, and they've done a pretty good job with some fill-in artists who I think have done well.
But that's always that question with the new artists is, are they going to be able to keep up with a monthly book? especially one that's going to be as high profile as Absolute Wonder Woman.So we'll see.
I have no doubt that the quality of this storyline is going to be awesome.That's my only initial concern, is that.But I'm in.I'm in.I've already reserved the first five copies.
I'm gonna just be grumpy, grumpy old man yelling at clouds for a second.If any of these books have to have fill-in artists, I think the editors should be held responsible.This is an event book.These are big books, right?
There's launches all over every month, but this is supposed to be a big deal with top talent.If they've gotta fill in with somebody, Man, what a swing and a miss.
You've got to get through the first, like, I don't know how long the first story arcs are going to be.Absolutely, Batman, the first story arc is five issues, right?You have to get through five.
If you can do a five-issue story arc, do a one-off with a fill-in and then back or whatever, I'm OK with that.
Or take a break like Saga did.
They don't do that.I don't.I agree.I agree with you.Yeah.Yeah.I don't think they will do that either.I don't think they'll say, okay, let's take a month.
We're going to like, I would be totally okay with if you did five month off five month off, I'd be totally fine with that schedule.If you told us that ahead of time, that that's the plan.
Give us 10 issues, you know, 10 issues a year, um, but keep the same creative team.
As much, you know, and obviously you can have a situation where you know, somebody's sick or whatever happens like those things can happen But then but then you just announce another month off or whatever.
Usually people aren't most people aren't sick for a you know, I don't know Things happen.
I totally get it But I do I I do think you got to do a look when you're doing something like this You've got to have a couple of books in the can before you an absolute Batman number one was even a bigger it was a longer issue.Right.
Let me offer up a counterpoint here.Oh, because because I I totally get Colin's point.And I know that this is a hill that he's going to die on someday.But there's obviously a couple of those that might.Yeah.Yeah.Yeah.But I really feel like right now.
The comic book era that we're in is completely dominated by the writer. And if you look at these absolute books that DC is coming out, you know who the writer is, but could you have told me who the artist was without looking at the credits?
Could you have told me what else that artist has done prior to this book?They're, they're using a lot of unknown artists.And I think if the, if the need comes up, they can fill in with an unknown artist and still meet, meet their deadlines.
People right now are buying the books for the writers.
I think it's only not like that.I think it gets up from a sales, from a sales perspective.I don't disagree with what you're saying.I think DC can sell this book with another artist.
I think from the reader, from the reader perspective, from the person who is serious about, I want a reading experience that's different.
I want a whole story, not just an issue to buy, but like a whole story at the end, when I read the collected, read the collected edition, like I'll go back to. Um, the, um, you know, the new 52 Wonder Woman, the Brian Azarello Wonder Woman.
I loved that story.Cliff Chang.I loved it, but man, the fill in art was rough.It was, it was hard.It was hard to look at.
And, um, and if it had been again, a one-off issue, but it's tough when you've got a, you know, and that was also tough because it wasn't just five issue works.It was a 50 issue story. And so it was just a lot different.
But I don't disagree with you, Jared.I think DC could slap in another artist and no one's going to know until they open the book.And some people are going to be like, I didn't even look at it.I just put it in a bag.
Or I'm just reading it, but I don't even pay attention that much.So whatever.
You're reading it for the character or for the writer, not necessarily the artist.
I, again, these particular issues, especially I feel like I feel like there's, there's plenty of comics that you, you know, I remember New Teen Titans where I think issue four was drawn by Kurt Swann.
And I love, I grew up with Kurt Swann, but I was still like, this ain't George Perez, right?Oh, this feels like a real shift in this, in this book.And so
You know, there are times, yes, I agree with you, where the writer definitely overshadows the artist.And there are times where it's not.
You know, if you're reading Ultimate X-Men, I mean, she's writing and drawing, but you want that Peach Momoko artwork that's super distinctive.
And it would be a real shift if you said, okay, for this issue that's just right in the middle of our storyline, we're going to have John Romita Jr.do the artwork for this issue.
It's going to be like, what?Unless there's some tone, unless there's some tonal reason in the story for it to have that shift.
Right.Yeah.I guess I just, um, I have a little extra energy about the abs, this absolute line, first off, because by its very title, this should be the highest profile book DC is publishing.It is the absolute version of all of these characters.
And when you say, OK, we're going to launch this world with separate Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman books, I mean, I know that we collectively go and make decisions all the time about, I'm gonna buy this one lane or book of this event.
I'm not buying the whole thing.But DC's packaged this absolute event pretty tight.And I'm thinking to myself, if each of the first Trinity books or series are five issue series, You're in for 75 bucks to get this thing going.
I just think there shouldn't be any, there better not be a fill-in artist for $75.I just feel like we get acclimated to comics are hard, which they are.This isn't any sort of rant against the creators.Making a comic book is hard.I get it.
I've also been through a lot of events, and I just want a tight event that has a full set of creative teams from the beginning to the end.That's all.Okay, sorry.I took us way down the path.
Back to you guys.But I will say at least four in the solicits, Absolute Batman 3 at least still has the same, 1, 2, and 3 have the same artist. And Absolute Superman 1 and 2 also do.Absolute Wonder Woman 1, 2, and 3 do.But those are the solicits.
Although usually by the, I actually, I don't even know the timeline.These are solicits for December.I don't know how complete a book it is for December by this point, but it's got to be getting It better be close.
It's got to be pretty close.Generally, they've got the cover image set at that point as well. All right, interesting conversation.Now we're going to turn this over to the guys where they're going to try to guess what my pick is for this week.
And, you know, there's a lot coming out this week, but not a lot screaming my name.There is, I think I could probably use just one hand counting the number of books that were really Exciting me this week.Colin, I will start with you.
What is going to be your first guess as to my pick for this week?
It's going to be the only guess.It's going to be the Avengers number 19.You are correct.
Hey, that was my first pick for you, too.OK.
All right.You know me so well.Yeah. Uh, yes, Avengers number 19, uh, continuing Jed McKay's run on this title.Um, you know,
we're done with the with the blood hunt storyline dr doom is now sorcerer supreme of earth and not giving up that title anytime soon and the avengers are going to go right up against them to see what they can do to bring them down and i i like this i like doom being a uh
all-powerful threat beyond just the scope of the Fantastic Four to a point where you're bringing in the Avengers where you've got gods and mutants and androids and knights in shining armor that he's going up against the best that Marvel has to offer.
So I'm looking forward to this.
Yeah, I think I mentioned to Jerry in the past week, I feel like with all this build up around Dr. Doom, like if he is truly a menace and Jerry had a good comeback, there's only really one menace and that's J. Jonah Jenison looking for Peter.
But I kind of feel like Dr. Doom, like there ought to be as many Dr. Doom books out on the shelves as there are Batman books. Like he's an iconic character, everyone loves him.
He actually has this really rare crossover appeal into the rap and hip hop world because of MF Doom, who has passed away.But like, I don't know what more I feel like Marvel's like, OK, we can't overexpose Dr. Doom.
But then I'm like, my God, you've got 17 Spider-Man books, right?Like, doctor, you could really do some cool things and make him a global or universal menace and keep him busy.
But anyway, well, especially following DC's lead.I mean, how many of Batman's villains have their own right? And it's crossing over into Superman now too, with the General Zod book and all of that.I think Doom could carry his own title at this point.
I mean, obviously he had a 10-issue series a couple of years ago by Christopher Cantwell.We had that Doom one-shot that just came out earlier this year that's probably gonna get a lot of Eisner noms along the way, David Walker,
and forget who else was involved with that.Samford Green.Samford Green, thank you.But yeah, I mean, Doom is one of those that he crosses over and he can make for an interesting opponent against pretty much every other Marvel character.
i've said for years that i think doom is a more natural foe for iron man to be going up against at times than the fantastic four so i get the only thing is iron man how many different armored villains has he had i mean you know like if you throw another armor yeah
I'm the dude who fights armored guys, you know, is you got to be a little careful.
Yeah.But I think that's the case where the person inside the armor is just as smart as you in that case.Right.
Sure, sure, sure.Yeah, that's smart.That's a good point.
OK.All right.So those are our pick three for this week.Did we have any honorable mentions? Oh boy, a stack.
I'll throw out a couple.Um, you know, I've got action 1072 the blurb.This has been a phantom zone story and the blurb now specifically mentions Mon-El.We saw him on the cover of 1070.
Um, as a little bait and Mark Wade bait and switch me, uh, on that one.Uh, but that's fine. Mark Waid did have a comment on Facebook about some movie he'd seen that was the worst movie he'd seen in decades.
I'm like, so you haven't seen, you didn't see Madam Web?So we've also got over in Superman, Lois Lane, at least temporarily, has some superpowers.
So we're seeing her as Superwoman, which is interesting because we kind of did that with Lana Lang for a while.Over in Detective, we've got Tom Taylor. starting his run in detective comics.And one other one I wanted to mention, oh, a couple actually.
Green Lantern Dark, number one, could be interesting.This is sort of the, if I remember right, this is the Stan Lee.No, no, no, we're in the right era.It was the Tangent.Tangent, yes, yes, yes, thank you.Okay, right, right, right.
And this is more of a horror title.
Right, right, which kind of fits with the time a little bit.I know there's a couple that you guys might mention, but I did want to mention also real quick here.Gosh, where did I see it?It was, there's a new Usagi Yojimbo in space.
Space Usagi, White Star Rising No.1 from Dark Horse.So that's an interesting... I did not have that.
With choice of covers from Stan Sakai or Peach Momoko.
Yeah, yeah.We'll see if anybody's fighting over... You just buy both.Yeah, yeah.We'll see if anybody's fighting over that one.But I... Yeah, you always... You gotta love some Usagi.And so... But... in space even better, so yeah.
All right, what do you guys think?Yeah, yeah, yeah.Speaking of Doom and Iron Man, and how does Robert Downey Jr.and the MCU, how is this all gonna fit together?
There is a new Iron Man book out this week, Iron Man number one, which looks to focus on a Stark-Roxxon war. But the thing that's interesting to me is a couple of things, again, could be total red herrings.
But I think part of the fanfic in many of our heads is that Robert Downey Jr.is going to play Tony Stark.But Tony, something's going to happen to Tony Stark to turn him into Dr. Doom.
I don't know if it's possible that he could be Victor Von Doom, but he could be the man inside the armor and be Dr. Doom.First off, this book really focuses on new armor, old enemies, blah, blah, blah.
But then it's like they're ready for the old Tony Stark.This one, he's a lot angrier than he used to be.And so I'm wondering if we're beginning this path where he's going to
be angry, lose his sense of his moral compass, and now we find ourselves in Dr. Doom's armor.
But not only that, but then you go to look at some of the variants, and one of the variants that's in here is a Dr. Doom sitting on a throne with Iron Man's armor splayed out in front of him. I don't know, like I said, could be red herrings.
But I Marvel, I think we talked last week about how after the fifth episode of Agatha, while they were still trying to make teens backstory a little bit of a mystery, you could go to the Marvel Unlimited app and see an entire section on the front page for Wiccan.
And it's like, Maybe you need to tighten up the overall editorial reins of some of your storylines.But anyway, Iron Man number one, that looks like a very interesting book.John brought up the Green Lantern.
Elseworlds, the Green Lantern Dark, number one, that was really interesting to me. I have that DC horror cover.John and I both mentioned that.That's a scroll stopper.I got to that cover and I was like, whoa, I've never seen Superman like that before.
So there's a story in that issue from a friend of the show, David Dosmachian.
And David's got another book out this week, keeping with the horror theme, in October, over at Dark Horse Comics, he's got a piece in that Headless Horseman Halloween Annual.
Nice.Good to see David continuing to lean into the horror genre. Um, fun to see him there.And then, uh, maybe the last mention for me will be, uh, Chitara, uh, number four.
Um, and this is from dynamite and, um, yeah, I've really just loved everything about it.Uh, the author, Sue Lee has been writing a really interesting story and, um, the artist Domenico Carbone sort of has a peach Momoko, uh,
ethereal, foggy sort of color wash approach to their style.But it really works for Chitara in this book.I've really enjoyed it immensely.And they've got some cool variants there as well.So that'll be it for me for Honorable Mentions this week.
A couple of mentions for me that we haven't yet touched on.Nightwing number 119 kicks off the new creative team on this title after the run from Tom Taylor and Redondo.So be interesting to see what direction this book goes in.
Green Arrow number 17 is also legacy number 350.
So someone's been doing the counting to get get to that There's lots of Halloween books out this this week and that's so a good time to get your fits with that and then Just because we're gonna be talking about Agatha all along I will throw out Scarlet Witch number five is out this week and for this volume of Scarlet Witch Russell Dauterman's been doing the main covers and just killing it so
Yep, been looking really good.And also, I had one other last I'd like to just throw on the end.Mark Russell's X Factor number three is coming out.Still a enjoyable tongue in cheek.Look at this.Waskley Mutants.
I've also got to mention Tom Scioli's Godzilla's Masterpiece Theater, in which first of all, just the cover.I love it.But in this one, Jay Gatsby
who you may know from The Great Gatsby, is trying to impress his love, Daisy, but Godzilla interrupts things.And it looks like they've got the greatest, he combines forces with the greatest men of the 20th century to stop its greatest monster.
I can see on there, for instance, we have Sherlock Holmes is one of the people and some kind of time traveler.
Yeah, so anyway, it looks like a little bit of a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen sort of thing versus Godzilla a little bit, is the vibe I'm getting.
But Scioli or Scioli, I'll find out how you pronounce that.He's part of that Pittsburgh indie scene that Jim Rugg and others have belonged to.
He's got a very unique- And Jim Rugg's working on this Godzilla book with him.
Oh, okay.Well, there you go.Very much an indie vibe, but should be a lot of fun.
All right.Well, all of these books are going to be available this Wednesday, October 23rd in your local comic book shop.Stop in, pick them up, make certain you're keeping your whole pile nice and clean for your retailer.
Uh, cause that's a lot of money just sitting behind the, behind the counter in their pull boxes if you're not picking those up.So, uh, keep, keep your local comic shop and business and buy your books.So.
Uh, and big thanks to our friends at Clint's Comics 3941 Main Street for helping to keep the lights on here.Um, I did mention Scarlet Witch, so let's go ahead and talk about Agatha all along.
Um, because we're finally starting to get some connections made.Um, this week's, uh, episode that came out kind of focused on Teen, who we can now also refer to as Wiccan. Amazing how that happened.
Um, what are your guys thoughts about this episode and where, where do we think things go from here?
Well, I thought, I thought it was good in that it broke out a little bit of the mold that we've had of the, um, trial, an episode, uh, thing that felt like it was getting into a bit of a rut.Um, you know, we did see supposedly the,
uh, the death of, of everybody.Like, I actually, we don't even know what happened to Rio as far as I know.She just never came out of the last trial and they didn't even mention her.
Like I was a little bit confused that they just seemed to have moved on.
Like they talked about the other two, uh, which is that he threw into the, well, we saw three, which is supposedly died in, in the last episode for, we thought maybe Agatha had, but she gets out.Right.But the others we never see come out.
But most of this episode is flashback on how Billy, who we now can call him Billy, got from where he was at the end of Westview to the present day and sort of filling in his backstory.We learned that it's maybe not, it was not who I thought
would have put the sigil on him that put the sigil on him.So that was, that was to me unexpected.I thought the actor who played teen, I thought he did a great job in this episode.I thought his parents were really good.
I thought we saw a lot of really good acting.Um, the most awkward scene was the garage scene to me cause I, it didn't feel like it sort of had a, like kind of pick a lane a little bit on that scene.Um, but, um,
But yeah, I mean, I think there was some sadness and some intensity and a whole lot of stuff going on there.And we now understand more about why is, why does Billy want to get to the end of the road?We understand his motivation now.
Yeah.Yeah, I I agree with all those points.I think last week I said, please don't let this show fall into a formula of every week.There's a trial and we lose a witch.And right.And then they knocked off four in one episode.
So a way to take the take it and run with it.But Yeah, I thought all of the story elements were relevant.I agree.Once you get past the shock and awe factor of Tommy showing back up, It was just like he sort of existed.He wasn't even a good MacGuffin.
There wasn't anything that they springboarded off of because he was introduced.But I'm hopeful.But I also get that that was such a weird character and how they put a spirit of somebody in him.And it's not really that whole thing.So we'll see.
There's a part of me that thought at the time, They brought him back, but it's not for anything.In my head, I was like, well, they've brought Billy back.If Billy's back, where's Tommy?Well, we got to come up with some sort of way to bring Tommy back.
And it was sort of, to John's point, this directionless introduction, and then it didn't seem to go anywhere.But all that aside, I still enjoyed it.I'll be honest with you.Six episodes in, I did not put together the
woman's body who is smashed flat in episode one, right?Like the witch, like I got all the other Wizard of Oz things, but I did not put together the flattened body and then the missing house off of the foundation.And I'm like,
Well, they flipped her over.Surely if they saw her, even in whatever state she was in, they'd be able to tell if it was Wanda.
Anyway, so I didn't even put the smashed person and the witch's house and the whole Wizard of Oz, I didn't put that part together till this past episode.So I don't know where it's going.
I'm actually, I got to the end of this episode and I was like, damn, I don't know what's going on right now. where is this show going?And I love it.I love that I can't see where we're headed for the last few episodes.
Yeah, that with three episodes to go.I mean, it's kind of hard to pinpoint I still I really want to see Scarlet Witch make an appearance in this.
Even if it's just the final episode, or even at this point, the Vision.I mean, because we haven't seen Vision since the WandaVision series.Right.And we know that he's got his own series coming up here at some point.
So maybe this is where you reintroduce him to people and remind everyone that he's still out there. Yeah, I enjoyed this episode.
It was a refreshing change of pace compared to the prior episodes in that it broke the formula and it kind of expanded the story outwards beyond just the Tale of the Witches.
So I'm definitely curious to see how things are going to wrap up over the next two weeks and, you know, do the math here.We've got Two weeks to go with three episodes.
We are going to get two episodes coming out with episodes eight and nine on October 30th.So something to watch over Halloween night coming up next week.So I'm excited for it.So
The other thing that I'm excited for is all of the stuff coming out of New York Comic Con this week.Oh, man.The last couple of days, it's been like, did you see this?Did you hear about this one?Did you see these toys?
I mean, so much has come out over the last couple of days.And I know we're probably even missing some of this. Even as we're recording right now, I'm sure there's been like five or six more announcements of awesome stuff coming out.
What is something that has really got you excited?An announcement that has come out that you can't wait to get your hands on or to consume or to watch?
Well, I'll start off with some action figures.So McFarlane on Friday, dropped a image of the new superpowers three pack, which is going to include our man, Uh, who else is in there?Oh, uh, uh, Alan, who was the one you said here?
I was thinking wild cat, but is it star man?
And, um, uh, so amazing, amazing, amazing.
Um, that's wild cats in one of the other lines that was announced.
Right.So so we got the three pack announcement and everyone was kind of like, oh, that's a little lackluster from McFarland.We would have thought we would have got more.
And then Saturday morning rolled around and it was like he had like a panel and started unveiling new lines, including
Batman or Justice League versus Godzilla versus Kong line introduced another line of Batman animated series figures and then unveiled a whole nother wave 10 of superpowers figures that includes
What do they call Superman's black suit is regenerative or is I can't remember.Anyway, it's the 90s era Superman post death of Superman black outfit with what looks to be a fully monetized hairpiece.
So you're getting some of that 90s mullet action, a lobo. I believe it's Tim Drake, Robin.And just to, you know, I mean, I was kind of freaking out about the Lobo.I thought that was pretty cool.
But just another, and then he brought a whole other set of DC Direct figures that he'll be releasing.It's been, I don't get too deep into it, but the, extracurricular activity, round the like.
gold and platinum editions of these McFarlane figures, like they're flying off the shelves, highly collectible, which, you know, Todd's never going to miss an opportunity to figure out how to catch the collector market.But yeah, I've been surprised.
But anyway, lots of fun toys coming out here.
There was there was one image from his panel.It was Batgirl with the bat cycle. And it was both the comic book version of Batgirl and the Yvonne Craig Batgirl from the Batman TV series.And like, oh, be still my beating heart.
So I know, I know.And then Hasbro announced that out of it, you don't even have to go through their has lab program, which is their thing where they put a project together, but it only moves forward if it reaches a certain
threshold a dollar threshold This you can just buy off the shelves right now.
It's a hundred and seventy five dollar Sentinel that is sized to the Hasbro six-inch figures So it is so big that some of the still photos you can put a six six inch figure into its hand and it looks
like it's you know sized properly it is uh enormous and really cool uh if you hadn't ever seen it the has some of the early haz lab projects they did a galactus that is this giant like almost three foot tall galactus it's amazing anyway high quality products and this uh giant sentinel uh i didn't
pull the trigger.There's a giant man that came from HasLab, a giant man action figure, but I didn't pull the trigger on that, but that Sentinels got me one.
Going back, speaking of the Sentinels, Um, images were shared.There is a new Lego set coming out on November 1st.That's going to be the X-Men mansion that Xavier mansion with like nine of the X-Men and a Sentinel attacking the mansion.
And the Sentinel is sized appropriately given the size of the Lego figures.And yeah, that looked pretty cool.I I'm, I'm going to be hard to say no to that.So it looked pretty amazing. All right, John, was there anything that got you excited?
I did see a few things.A lot of it was some DC news.We did get some stuff from James Gunn.Probably the thing that got me most excited this week was a picture of Superman and crypto on the moon.
And James Gunn's announcement that crypto will absolutely be in this movie.So I love it.I have a science question for you.I'll mention one thing.Ty Templeton commented, you know, there are two kinds of people, people who don't like, people who
But in that photo, right, it's definitely a recreation of that Frank Quietly cover.
or image or panel, but it has in it in the one that they released the James Gunn image, it has crypto with his ear, his left ear, perked up like in he can hear something.Yeah, in in Superman and crit, can they hear in space?
They should not be able to hear in space now. the moon does have a very, very, very thin atmosphere.That's true.Super, super thin.And so it's possible that maybe, maybe though, Crypto's confused because there is no sound and he's trying to hear.
We don't know that he's hearing anything.All we know is that he's raising his ear.Maybe he's trying to hear something and, you know, he can't.
Or maybe it's like one of those things where you're underwater or like you put your fingers in your ears and you can hear your own, like the sound from inside your body because everything else is so quiet.I, I don't know.
I didn't, I didn't worry too, too much about that one.We've already granted that they're not breathing and everything else.So, um, so I can sort of, I can sort of let that, let that go.Um, but you know,
As long as it's not Superman 4 where he's flying, carrying Lois Lane in space.It wasn't Lois Lane, but it was another character, but yeah.But yeah, there's some liberties taken for sure.I like the vibe.I liked the vibe of the picture.
I'll also mention, sorry, a couple other little things.We did get some new stuff about DC is going to do, surprising maybe no one, a Justice League vs. Godzilla vs. Kong 2.And given the success of that series, I am not terribly surprised.
I enjoyed that series more at the start than I kind of did where it ended up.I thought it just kind of ended up a little bit weird. But I thought the covers were cool and it was a cool thing.I thought they had a lot of fun with it.
We're going to get a Batman Hush 2 written by Jeff Loeb and drawn by Jim Lee starting in March 2025.My understanding is that, speaking of artists, my understanding is a lot of that is already done.
Yeah, and it's going to be within the monthly Batman title.
Which the original run was the same way, yeah.
Yeah, that was something that Jim Lee insisted on because he wanted to drive people to the original, you know, the Batman monthly book when they did it back in 2004 or 5, whenever that plush came out.
And that's why they want to do it again, is put it in the main monthly title And it, they know what, what that next year is going to look like for that title already.
Well, it's kind of funny in a sense because Batman, um, is already, I mean, Batman and detective comics are already two of the biggest selling books from DC forever.I mean, Batman's been one of the top books, you know, people get Batman.
I don't even know if they care about Batman, but they still buy that book every month.And so, um, you know, I don't, I don't know.I mean, maybe you're pushing some extra people or whatever to the book.
I'm sure, you know, I'd be more likely to pick it up with Jeff Loeb and Jim Lee, uh, working on it.Um, I'd also did want to mention, we talked a little bit about the absolute, uh, line.We got, you know, some, uh, uh, notice about absolute,
Absolute Green Lantern and Absolute Flash, we talked about those.Those both follow a little bit.Absolute Green Lantern's gonna have Al Ewing writing.Big name writer.Artist is Genoy Lindsey.Not a big name artist.
And- I believe Absolute Flash is being written by Jeremy Adams.
Oh, I thought he was doing the Green Lantern.
Al Ewing is doing Green Lantern.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.Sorry.Yep.Yep.
Martian Manhunter, absolute Martian Manhunter is going to be Dennis Camp is writing it.And Javier Rodriguez is doing the art.Easily the biggest name, I think, and one of the most unique artists
um around who's got a super unique style talk about somebody you can't throw a you can't easily slip it you can't you couldn't slip in a a fill-in artist and not have anyone notice like oh it just flows in with anything i mean his style is super unique but you know we saw him on the that defender's book which i thought was super mind-blowingly cool so but i think he's gonna i think they're gonna make
Martian Manhunter, a super far out funky thing.And, you know, I'm I'm super looking forward to that.You know, the more I hear about James Gunn's Superman, the more excited I am about it.
We did get a little more a new trailer for Creature Commandos, which looks super cool.It definitely feels like Suicide Squad. Um, you know, they didn't make it feel super, but in a sense that kind of was what Creature Commandos was.
It was a bunch of characters who, you know, we're going to throw them into dangerous situations because they're sort of, they're super powered and they're kind of, um, disposable.Right.
And so thematically making it feel a lot like Suicide Squad is what, it's just what it was.Um, it was a lot like Suicide Squad.So, um, But I do think that's going to be an entertaining watch.
So those are some of my big takeaways from... Oh, and then a new DC Vertigo imprint.
Yeah, Vertigo is coming back.
And it's going to focus on the creator-owned projects.
Right. And so some things it's a little interesting because Black Label kind of felt a little bit in some ways like Vertigo, although more superhero-y than horror.And, you know, a lot of the Vertigo stuff was sort of, was magic stuff.
And in those kind of corners of the DC universe.So I'm curious to see what all we get
the out of out of vertigo yeah i think you're going to see the james tinian boats going there right nice house on the lake and and whatever else and it may be that tinian starts bringing more projects back to dc now that the vertigo labels there versus starting them up with boom or idw or image or whoever else so
Yeah, I mean, I think for him, if the rights contract stuff makes sense, DC Vertigo is going to be a bigger label than an IDW is, especially with that new logo of theirs.
I don't, I don't, I don't love it.I don't love it.
I will say this, you know, this hobby found us, but the people who create so many of the things that we digest and have for decades, it's a caddy group.And that is true too.
I mean, they will eat, they will eat their own.
Oh my God.Like look, Making comics, drawing pictures ain't easy.And you redo a design of a logo for a publisher, I guess you better get it right.Because if you don't, the people in your industry are literally going to tear you apart.
And the worst part with that is that IDW paid someone to come up with that logo.And IDW still has some outstanding bills of creators that haven't been paid on projects.
And for it to be less than stellar logo that they're spending money on, I think some creators would have rather gotten their paycheck that was owed.
Yeah, the details details.Yeah.We also heard I do.
I do agree, though, that sometimes something like something up to me does.I didn't you know, the D.C.logo that was the D with the kind of folded over.Yeah.I didn't I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it.I could see it.You know,
And I get that every once in a while you got to kind of shake things up or whatever, you know, but, and DC hadn't gone through some huge change like IDW has, where you feel like we got to kind of rebrand a little bit because we're not really the same company we were, you know, a couple of months ago or whatever.
All that said. It doesn't look like IDW.I could never look at that and go, I wouldn't have even gotten IDW out of it.I would not have at all.
It took looking at it like four or five times before I could see all three letters.
I could look at the DC folded thing and kind of see DC.Okay.I can still see that.But the IDW one's like, I even like, oh, that's IDW.I look back at it like, I'm not 100% sure I'm getting the W out of here.But you're right.
The creatives online that I saw, they did eat that one alive.
Yeah, that was brutal.I also saw something called Women of Marvel, She Devils. which looks like it might be a story led by Shanna the She-Devil.I haven't seen her hanging around in the Marvel Universe recently.Inclusive of Elektra, Echo and X-23.
That's a good lineup.Yeah, it is for sure.
Uh, some of the things that got me excited, uh, daredevil born again, it's going to hit Disney plus on March 4th and spring, uh, starting in March.Um,
or starting in February, Marvel's going to be putting out their answer to the DC Compact Comics with a new Marvel Premier Comics line.They've got four volumes scheduled to start it off.
Daredevil Born again, coming out just weeks before the Disney Plus series.The first year of the Jonathan Hickman Fantastic Four run, you're going to get the first year of Ed Brubaker's Captain America Winter Soldier in a storyline.
And what was the fourth one that they also announced there? Oh, Black Panther by Ta-Nehisi Coates.Oh, nice.First year of that.
So these are going to be kind of like the smaller compact size, almost manga size, although they did make a point to say that they're going to be like half an inch bigger than the DC compact Comet.And these are going to be priced at $15.
So an affordable way to get your hands on a year's worth of stories. So, they did announce, I think Colin made reference to it earlier, that Doom is going to be the focus of a lot of the storylines in 2025.The big Doom event coming up.
I think they're trying to get us to forget Kang. Yes.I think you're right.I think you're right.Thank you.Right?
And for those readers of a certain age like us, on the Marvel logo that was on their booth at New York Comic Con, it had a lot of images primarily from the MCU.So we get to see a look at Harrison Ford as the Red Hulk.
But we also got to see Herbie from the Fantastic Four.And it rather warms my heart that Herbie is going to be part of the MCU.
So kind of hold a certain fondness for that character, even though he was kind of lame in the comics when he was first introduced.
He's one of those sometimes, you know, sometimes there are characters that are annoying at first, and then you kind of come around.
on them.And then there are other characters who are annoying, who you don't.Jar Jar, for instance, I think is a character who we really never, we never really came around to Jar Jar.Maybe there hasn't been enough time.
I think that Ewoks can still be a little divisive, but I think most people kind of came around on the Ewoks a little bit.They've become, I think we remember them more fondly than maybe we all did, than everybody did at the time.
I don't think the Ewoks were universally loved at the time.
I still contend that Lucas missed an opportunity in episode three to have Jar Jar named as Naboo's ambassador to Alderaan. If they had put that in, I think that would have been the best love movie in the entire franchise.
You've got an excellent point.
One thing that we've been seeing, and maybe it timed with New York Comic Con or just the way it came out, but the powers that be at Warner Brothers are really embracing tie in DC Comics with the AEW wrestling.Right.
There's been a ton of that.
Yeah.And if you watch the AEW, you see the DC Comics logo and branding.They are airing commercials for DC products during the shows.Um, and in the comics there's, there was a backup feature in some of the books this month.
A lot of, yeah, different ones.There's been some different ones this month.Yeah.
Yeah, and I mean we've always commented about the, you know, the Venn diagram of wrestling crossing over with comics and that basically your wrestling is telling stories about different characters that gets you to follow the week-to-week matches.So,
I'm curious to see where this goes.I like the fact that they're getting DC Comics advertising and branding into a market that's not normally there.Right.If we can have commercials for DC publishing projects on there, I'm all for that.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's constantly been the problem, right, for decades, which is if you don't know there's such a thing as a local comic shop, where can you go to find comic product?Yeah.Right.And so, hey, let's, you know, get into wrestling.
Let's put, you know, we've already talked this one to death.Why are there no comic book pop ups in movie theaters? Right?
Like they're, you know, I, every time I go to Costco and I pass the book aisle and I'm like, why aren't men, maybe this is where the compact editions will come in or this new Marvel line or you know what I mean?
Like, I'm like, I feel like there's just some simple places we could be putting comic product and people would be interested to pick it up.Yeah.
The compact line is a great, is a great way.Cause I think that's something a lot of people might look at and grandma or grandpa is kind of like, it's not, it's a book, right?It doesn't feel like a, like a comic book.It feels like a book.
And that's the thing you give a kid, right?A single issue comic, you're kind of like, I don't know, was this a thing?Like, how do you wrap it?What do you do?
Like, and it's flimsy and the compact line books feel more like a book, but they also feel kind of kid sized.And it's more than like, some ultimate or absolute edition thing that's giant, right, that you're going to crush a child.
And those are the same size as a lot of the boots like you get at this classic book fair.So it would be a perfect line to put those Marvel and DC boots into to try to reach those new audiences.Yeah.
You know, to your to your point, too, about comic shops, it's interesting because, you know, we didn't when we started collecting comics, and I know when we started collecting comics, we didn't go to comic book shops.Yeah.
Right.We went to the easy shop.We went to the grocery store.You know, those are places where you saw, where you saw comics.Right.And there were places that people went, like you were there all the time.The actual exposure,
the average person had to comic books was a lot larger in a sense than because the comics were places that people that people went.Yes, you had comic book shops, but people who go to comic shops are the people who go to comic shops.
They're going there to get comics as opposed to mom.Can you buy me a comic book?Cause I see it right here in front of me, um, or a candy bar or whatever.They're the things that you, you didn't go to the grocery store to get comic book.
We, the regular person didn't know that they would see it. And the interaction, the chance that a regular person has, and Walmart had a little bit more there for a while.At my Walmart, they were a little easier to find now.
They're really not as much up by the cashier area.At least I don't see them like I did before.Now, if they have anything, it's back. in the back with magazines.
Um, and they're not the magazines that are on the, you know, the people or whatever the, you know, the tablet stuff.So the, the Venn diagram of locations where a regular person is going to run into a comic book is not very big, um, at, at this time.
So I think finding that, you know, whatever you can do to find a way to, um, to make the average person, to make regular people kind of aware of comics is smart and you got to do it.
All right.Anything else from New York Comic-Con that we want to bring up?No, no.I think we've all seen the headline.I don't know that we've read the details, but is a Peach Momoko spawn variant worth getting into a fight over on the show floor?
not for me, um, to be a hundred percent honest, I don't, I don't know that there's anything I'm just at age where it's like, I'm not fighting over a thing.Like that's, that's a thing I haven't even paid for yet.
Like I might get in a fight about something that's mine that somebody tries to steal.And even then, honestly, I might not like, listen, okay.Like, I don't know.I might make a stink about it or raise or yell or whatever, but
I'm not really, my fighting days, I was going to say were over.I don't know that they were ever really here.I'm not a big, like, it's just not worth it.But yeah, that's crazy though.Like,
I don't, I don't know how much that's worth or what it's like, where they, I haven't read it, so I don't even know.I assume no one had bought it yet.And two people were fighting over the opera.
It's like the old things we used to see with cabbage patch dolls or whatever, and people running, trying to force their way into the store early to be the ones to get the cabbage patch.They, that, that, that one thing that your doll, what was it?
Wasn't there an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie or something that last all the jingle all the way.
or yeah so yeah i think that was it yeah yeah where they were hunting down the one the ultra man or whatever right totally right yeah all right let's go ahead and put a pin in this i'm sure we can cover some more new york comic con news next week um but yeah this has been a fun show i'm always so happy to get together with you guys each and every week
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