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On this week’s Stack podcast:
Batman vs. Robin #1
DC Comics
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Mahmud Asrar
Midnight Suns #1
Marvel
Written by Ethan Sacks
Art by Luigi Zaharia
Ten Thousand Black Feathers #1
Image Comics
Written by Jeff Lemire
Art by Andrea Sorrentino
Vampirella: Mindwarp #1
Dynamite
Written by Jeff Parker
Art by Benjamin Dewey
The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1
DC Comics
Written by Kenny Porter
Art by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz
Daredevil #3
Marvel
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Rafael De Latorre
The Least We Can Do #1
Image Comics
Written by Elsa Romboli
Art by Iolanda Zanfardino
Maskerade #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Kevin Smith & Andy McElfresh
Art by John Sprengelmeyer
Judgment Day #4
Marvel
Written by Kieron Gillen
Art by Valerio Schiti
Wonder Woman #791
DC Comics
Written by Becky Cloonan and Michael W. Conrad, Jordie Bellaire
Art by Marguerite Sauvage, Paulina Ganucheau
Love Everlasting #2
Image Comics
Written by Tom King
Art by Elsa Charretier
Predator #2
Marvel
Written by Ed Brisson
Art by Kev Walker
The Jurassic League #5
DC Comics
Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and Juan Gedeon
Art by Juan Gedeon
Above Snakes #3
Image Comics
Written by Sean Lewis
Art by Hayden Sherman
The Amazing Spider-Man #9
Marvel
Written by Zeb Wells
Art by Patrick Gleason
Superman: Son of Kal-El #15
DC Comics
Written by Tom Taylor
Art by Cian Tormey
A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #11
Image Comics
Written by Rick Remender
Art by André Lima Araújo
Castle Full of Blackbirds #1
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Mike Mignola and Angela Slatter
Art by Valeria Burzo
The Silver Coin #14
Image Comics
Written by Pornsak Pichetshote
Art by Michael Walsh
Young Hellboy #2
Dark Horse Comics
Written by Mike Mignola and Thomas Sniegoski
Art by Craig Rousseau
Do A Powerbomb #4
Image Comics
By Daniel Warren Johnson
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Full Episode Transcript
Alex: What is up, everybody. Welcome to The Stack. I’m Alex.
Justin: I’m Justin.
Pete: I’m Pete.
Alex: And on The Stack, we talk about a bunch of books that came out this week. Let’s kick it off with a big one, Batman vs. Robin #1 from DC Comics, written by Mark Waid, art by Mahmud Asrar. This is spinning directly out of Mark Waid’s Batman, Superman, and pitting, as you could tell that from the title, Batman versus Robin versus Damian Wayne. But the big event here, this is not a spoiler because they put it out in the press, is in some way,-
Pete: Come on.
Alex: … somehow it seems like Batman’s butler, Alfred Pennyworth.
Pete: Don’t-
Justin: What was his name again?
Alex: Well, I am not demeaning him.
Justin: Did he have a name? Did he have a full name?
Alex: They love that so much they changed the name of the TV show Pennyworth, to Pennyworth: The Origin of Batman’s Butler. So that’s show important-
Pete: Alfred’s alive, motherfucker. Stop being weird about it. Alfred is alive. Nobody knows how. Nobody cares. We’re just so happy that he’s back and alive. This is great fucking news.
Justin: First off, Batman, Robin, these guys shouldn’t be fighting. They’re friends, traditionally. Second off, his butler shows up at the door, where are the cucumber sandwiches? He’s awful slow on the cucumber. You know what I’m saying?
Pete: Oh, come on, man. Putting him to work. He comes back alive and you’re already upset there’s no sandwiches? I mean, come on.
Alex: Obviously we’re at the very beginning of the story, and I trust Mark Waid as a story teller, implicitly.
Pete: You should, he’s a great writer.
Alex: He has 100% earned that. But at the same time, reading this issue where Alfred returns, it’s great. They deal with it emotionally. They deal with it contextually in terms of the plot. The stuff with Batman fighting Robin is great, but the way that they imply that Alfred kind of returned as a side effect of whatever Damian is doing is very weird to me. There’s got to be some sort of twist there because-
Pete: There is [inaudible 00:02:08], you’ve got to be careful.
Alex: … “Well, the universe wanted Batman’s butler to return,” is crazy.
Justin: Yeah. I mean, it makes you feel bad for Batman. He’s like, “Oh, universe, you brought back my butler? What about my parents? Remember them?”
Pete: Oh come on.
Justin: “I’d surely like them too.”
Pete: Come on, dude.
Justin: Maybe the butler then the parents, or the parents first and then the butler?
Pete: Oh my god, unbelievable. All right, all right.
Justin: But that’s the universe’s choice.
Pete: Let’s get into the issue though. This is a really great first issue. Really crazy, fucked up. Really exciting. It’s awesome to have a Zatanna, Batman team up. Very excited for this. Amazing art. Exciting-
Alex: What sort of team up are you talking here? Because spoiler-
Justin: She’s dead.
Alex: … she’s hung with her neck snapped and she’s only able to talk in the moments before she dies.
Pete: Well, we still get some Zatanna. You know what I mean?
Justin: It’s a very light team up.
Pete: I feel like there’s going to be more.
Alex: To be fair, Justin, I don’t know if you know this because you were out of town. Pete and I actually went to a cemetery over the weekend. He looked down at all the graves and he was like, “Classic team up, me and that guy.”
Justin: That’s it. You go to a funeral, you’re teaming up with a corpse. That’s what it’s all about.
Alex: Yeah, when I go-
Justin: Classic team up.
Alex: … please don’t call it a funeral, call it a team up.
Justin: I will.
Pete: Yeah. We will. We will.
Justin: And it’s going to be one of those classic team ups where we get in a fight, and then eventually team up to save the day.
Pete: Yeah, and it ends with us pissing on your grave.
Justin: Not necessary. Very few team ups end with that, I will say. But I love Mark Waid as a writer. Any comic he’s bring to the people, I’m along for the ride. This comic goes hard. I love seeing Tim Hunter in here. Did not expect that. Books of Magic, shout out to that. I guess it’s part of the full-on DC universe, which I’d forgotten. And then he’s got his screwdriver wand, which was always happening in the most recent art.
Alex: There you go. Good fun stuff. Next up, Midnight Suns #1, from Marvel, written by Ethan Sacks, art by Luigi Zagaria. This is teaming up a bunch of magic characters in the Marvel Universe with Wolverine, as they deal with a threat that has come directly from Strange Academy. Pete, how do you feel about this? Some of your favorite characters in here.
Pete: I mean this is very exciting. It’s just a whole bunch of my favorite characters all in one issue. I mean, you’ve got Doom in here. You’ve got Ghost Rider. You’ve got Wolverine.
Justin: [inaudible 00:04:47].
Alex: Sorry, sorry, just to check, Wolverine is number three on your list of characters here?
Justin: [inaudible 00:04:52] right?
Pete: No, you’ve got Blade.
Alex: Number four.
Pete: There is just a lot of… I’m not ranking them, asshole. I’m paging through the comment and just naming the ones that you see here.
Alex: I got page one. You got page two. You got page three.
Pete: Oh my god.
Alex: Classic.
Pete: You’re such a fucking asshole, man.
Justin: I like all these characters. It’s sort of a throwback to have a Wolverine just hanging. Even Wolverine’s like, “What am I doing?”
Pete: Wolverine’s the one where you’re like, “This doesn’t belong on this”? Are you fucking serious right now.
Justin: What?
Alex: No, he says it. To Justin’s point-
Justin: He says it. Wolverine says it.
Alex: … he’s like, “Why am I here? I didn’t have any of the visions that you guys had.”
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: You need Wolverine. That’s why he’s here.
Justin: I mean, I guess we’ll see. I mean, other characters have knives they can cut stuff with. But I do like this team up-
Pete: Oh my god, that’s not all he brings, you fucking asshole.
Justin: He brings just a surly attitude and some light cigar scent. But let me also say-
Pete: Oh my god.
Alex: Yeah, anything to related to there, Pete?
Justin: It’s quite interesting how Strange Academy has become such a jumping off point for so many books. It’s really carving out a place in the Marvel Universe. I think that’s cool. I like this mystery. I like the way it was a vision that everybody had. Curious how old Doc Doom hangs with this. You don’t see Doc Doom and Wolverine being like, “Oh, here we go again.”
Pete: Drinking buddies.
Justin: You think?
Alex: Does Doctor Doom drink? Does he take off his mask to drink? Or does he have a soda and it just sort of spills down his mask a little bit and gets stuck in his chin?
Justin: No.
Pete: No, no. He’s got a little kind of filter on there so he can just dump the booze right in.
Justin: Yeah, he funnels. He’s a funneler.
Pete: Yeah. He’s [inaudible 00:06:39].
Justin: I play beer pong against Doctor Doom. He’s pretty good, but the metal’s loud, you know?
Alex: Ten Thousand Black Feathers #1, from Image Comics, written by Jeff Lemire, art by Andrea Sorrentino. As well as re-teaming this classic team of writer and artist, it’s also the kick off of their Bone Orchard Mythos, which seems like a big deal that they’re leading into. What did you guys think about this new horror inflected comic book?
Justin: I’m curious, I don’t get a lot the bone orchard. It is fall, great time to go to an apple orchard. I didn’t understand if this was like a bone tree, where you pluck a bone down and make some sort of [inaudible 00:07:19].
Alex: Bone cider?
Pete: Bone broth?
Justin: Yeah. A bone pie. Thanksgiving, love a bone pie.
Alex: Here’s my problem. You guys have been to the bone orchard. My problem with going to the bone orchard is it always sounds like a nice idea, and then you have this huge sack of bones that’s just sitting in your house, staring at you. You’re like, “What am I going to do with them?”
Justin: They just sit at the back of the fridge and then you end up throwing away all those bones at thanksgiving.
Pete: What are you doing? You’re not using all those bones when you get them from the orchard? What kind of-
Alex: Well, you use them but there’s so many of them.
Pete: Why go to the orchard if you’re not going to use them?
Alex: You’ve paid so much money to get into the bone orchard and you’re like, “Oh, this is fine.” You’re picking the bones off of the bone tree. You’re taking bites of them. But then you have sacks and sacks of bones and it’s just… It’s too much [inaudible 00:07:56].
Pete: So you’re bone rich. What’s the problem? I don’t understand.
Justin: Bone rich. Pete loves going to the bone orchard and watering the bone trees with his pee, which is a grave yard.
Pete: What the fuck? All right, let’s talk about the comic here. This is creepy as fuck. I mean any time you’ve got children here-
Alex: I love walking into a cemetery and being like, “Sir, can I pick everything? It’s one price to just take whatever I want, right?”
Justin: Yeah, exactly. You just grab a bag and just take whatever I want, you have to weight them on the way out.
Pete: If we get to talk about the comic again…
Alex: No problem.
Pete: It starts off super creepy. You’ve got kids in there and they’re creepy as fuck. I had some real problems continuing to read this because it was so creepy. But I managed to go through. It gets less creepy as it goes on, but then more creepy as the twist at the end. But man, very interesting. I think it’s a solid first issue. Really awesome art choices they make in here really setting up a tone, an atmosphere type of feel. Yeah, I think it’s very interesting.
Justin: I’m really interested for the Lemire, Sorrentino universe that it feels like we’re getting into. It has a nice dark undertone. We don’t learn too much about what’s actually happening here, except the story’s generally back and forth between these two kids who meet and become friends. And then later one of them comes back to the home town and something horrible seems to have happened. It’s good setup for the mystery. Beautiful art by Andrea Sorrentino. Looking forward to more.
Alex: As long as they establish in issue two, how you can carry all those sacks of bones back in the Metro North. That’s the main thing I want to know. But fingers crossed they get to that.
Pete: Metro North?
Alex: Yeah, Metro North.
Justin: It’s a great place. You’ll see a lot of people with big old packs of bones. Pick a pack of bones.
Alex: Vampirella: Mindwarp #1 from Dynamite, written by Jeff Parker, art by Benjamin Dewey. In this issue, Vampirella is going on one of them classic Vampirella adventures before she gets sucked, spoiler, back to the 1960s. Hence the Mindwarp of the title. What did you guy think about this?
Pete: It’s a fun setup. I liked the way it kind of started and she is more clothed, and it being a little bit more appropriate. And then kind of fun cast of characters that we get a long the way, and then kind of build up to the big time jump at the end there. Interesting story. Kind of fun that it’s not T&A based, it’s story based. Yeah, interesting.
Justin: I like Jeff Parker as a writer. I feel like we haven’t heard too much from him in a while. This has a nice take on the classic underling trying to capture the hero situation. I really like the way their relationship, Vampirella and Ren, I think is his name.
Alex: Mm-hmm.
Justin: The way they move through the story and the reveal at the end. Not what I expected and I was pleasantly surprised by this one.
Alex: Yeah. I agree with you guys. Jeff Parker is always reliable as a writer, and I enjoyed this. I got to say, I don’t know why it was specifically this issue that made me think of this, but I feel like the T&A covers are a legitimate detriment to Dynamite as a publisher, because they have good books that they publish. But every single time that we talk about something, we’re like, “Wow, that was better than the cover.” You know? And I wish they would just take that out of the conversation.
Justin: And even to be on them, it feels like the books have gotten better recently, but the covers are just variations on the same thing that they’ve done for so long, so agreed there.
Alex: Yeah. Next up The Flash: The Fastest Man Alive #1 from DC Comics, written by Kenny Porter, art by Ricardo Lopez Ortiz. This is a fascinating comic, I think, to talk about because it is a three-issue lead up to The Flash movie, starring Ezra Miller, which so far is maybe never coming out. It was obviously timed for when the book was supposed to come out, but as is, right now it’s supposed to come out at some point next year. I guess that’s TBD with everything that’s happening in the background, both with Warner Bros Discovery as well as Ezra Miller. But that all said, it’s still a comic book that does exist, so what’s your take on it.
Justin: Well, to respond to that, why did they choose to release this right now? It feels very strange.
Pete: Because they made it.
Alex: Yeah, they had already made it.
Justin: But you could hold on to it.
Alex: They had already solicited it I guess. And this way, I guess, you have three issues coming out over three months, then it’s going to be collected in a trade at some point after that. And ostensibly, if we imagine a world where The Flash movie is coming out in 2023, then you have this prologue collection exists on the shelf that they can sell before the movie comes out. But at the same time-
Justin: Sure. That makes sense. That all makes sense. Not complicated at all.
Alex: Yeah.
Pete: I just think that I liked the art style of this book. I think they did a different choice in the art, which I thought was really cool. It’s kind of a different take on the DC style that we see, so I enjoyed that. It was nice to have kind of a Batman team up and some touching dad stuff in here to kind of pull it away from the Ezra Miller bullshit for a little bit.
Justin: Yeah. I thought the story itself… Girder was a cool visual villain here. The educational bit that The Flash goes through with Batman, I don’t know what this speaks to in the movie, if we’re going to get this scene or something similar, but I liked the way it played out. It feels weird that this is just existing in its own movie continuity that we may never see. But as a standalone story, I thought it was an interesting Flash tale.
Alex: Yeah. I think Kenny Porter, as a writer, did a really good job here. Though the Batman that we see here, which is supposed to Batfleck, is nothing like anything that we’ve seen on screen. He’s much kinder, he’s much more considerate and thoughtful. He’s not the guy who’s just growling and shooting things up.
Justin: Now eating Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee.
Alex: Yeah, exactly. That marrying Jennifer Lopez, a very specific thing that Ben Affleck did as a human being.
Justin: Yeah, [inaudible 00:14:39].
Alex: But as a comic book, and as a fan of The Flash, I think this worked totally divorced from everything else, so there you go. If it worked as a one-shot comic book, who cares about anything else we’re talking about.
Alex: Daredevil #3 from Marvel, written by Chip Zdarsky, art by Rafael De Latorre. In this issue, Daredevil is reeling from the revelation that maybe his entire life is kind of a lie. Just like a little bit of a lie. Of course, he goes pretty hard on trying to recruit people in his fight to join the Fist. He finds out some revelations here that tie over into what is going on in The Punisher. He tangles with Luke Cage a bit, and there’s some big moves in terms of the world of crime in New York City.
Alex: I love this. I think Chip Zdarsky is just knocking it out of the park every single issue, but what did you guys think?
Pete: I agree. I think this is really cool. I like the Luke Cage mayor stuff, which is great. Yeah, I like what Daredevil’s doing and the moves that he’s making. I’m interested to see how this all pans out. But really amazing art and panels, and some interesting reveals. Very excited to see where this goes. This is a really cool book.
Justin: Yeah. The way that Chip Zdarsky’s putting Daredevil through his paces is really cool and really different from what we’ve seen before. The connection to The Punisher side of it, I’m really curious to how that’s going to play out, because it feels like two separate ideas and I don’t exactly know how they fight each other. Who wins there?
Alex: I don’t think anybody necessarily.
Pete: We do.
Alex: I think we talked about this on a podcast where you were not here. I think Pete and I talked about. But it feels-
Justin: What? You guys still do it when I’m…
Alex: We do another podcast. It’s a totally different podcast. We mostly talk about our experiences at the cemetery together, to be perfectly honest.
Justin: Clearly.
Pete: Or how about how we’re going to buy up Funko Pop! and become a partial owner.
Alex: Stop crossing the streams. That’s a different podcast where we talked about that, Pete.
Justin: Nice.
Alex: But I think we are heading towards something here. There’s already some initial teases in terms of what’s going on with The Fist and The Hand. You have Daredevil leading The Fist with Electra. You have Punisher leading The Hand. I feel like we’re heading towards some sort of event type thing where you have all of these heroes leading these villain organizations. How does that come together? How do they clash? We’re already getting a hint of that, but I feel like it’s only the beginning potentially of something bigger that maybe hasn’t been announced yet, if I’m reading the tea leaves right.
Justin: Yeah. No, that’s probably true. It’s just the way that… And I’ve been enjoying The Punisher book too, and The Punisher feels like he doesn’t really want to be in The Hand, but he has to. There is a connection there between he will have to sacrifice his love, something Daredevil does every weekend, basically in these comics. Maybe there’s a strong point there.
Alex: The Least We Can Do #1 from Image Comics, written by Elisa Romboli, art by Iolanda Zanfardino. This is a new magical book, showing a very different sort of world with a very unique art style. What did you dudes think about this comic?
Pete: Did Pip have something to say or?
Alex: Pete, why don’t you talk about this book.
Pete: Okay. Yeah, some really cool art style choices happening here. I really appreciated some of the adorable choices that it felt like fit with what’s happening. We see the notebook sketches and stuff like that. But I love the action. Interesting kind of setup for this world. I thought the art style was great. The panel layouts are really cool. I’m interested to see… It starts off with this character that’s got a Little Red Riding Hood look a little bit, so see what it all means and how it fits together. But I think as a first issue, it does a great job of setting up this world.
Justin: Yeah, I like this too. It does a good job of just immersing us in the world without having to introduce it in a pain staking way. A lot of show versus tell here.
Alex: Yeah, yeah.
Justin: I’m curious, the way the magic works is after an apocalypse or the world falls, different objects are imbued or seem to be conductive or a person’s power of life force or something. I like that as a premise for a guiding power set principle, so I’m curious to see how we exploit that.
Alex: Next up, Maskerade #1, spelled with a K just to be-
Pete: Masquerade.
Alex: Oh my god. From Dark Horse Comics, written by Kevin Smith and Andy McElfresh. Art by John Sprengelmeyer, and letters by the Phantom of the Opera. Right, Pete?
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: Nice.
Pete: The glorious restart, phantagously [inaudible 00:20:03].
Alex: So, a lot of stuff-
Justin: Wow. By phantom, by phone.
Alex: A lot of stuff-
Justin: What year is it? What year is it in this book? In this comic book, what year is it?
Alex: Great question. I don’t know. There’s a lot of stuff going on here.
Justin: Yeah, because this comic… Yeah, you go.
Alex: No, no, no. Go ahead, Justin. You’ve clearly got a thought.
Justin: I was going to say, this comic feels like it’s written in the ’90s, from a very, “Bros, we’re going to make some comics.” It doesn’t treat people in the right way, I think in this comic. There’s some interesting things with the hero… Or main character I guess, hero’s not the right word.
Pete: No.
Justin: … that I’m curious to see where they would go. I like the visual nature, but there’s so much not good sex stuff and exploitation here that I was like… It was sort of a turn off for me.
Alex: Pete, what about you?
Pete: Yeah, I hear. It’s kind of like a Jennifer Aniston ripoff moment here. It’s kind of like a Face Off situation-
Alex: Jennifer Aniston? You’ve got specify what you’re referring to here.
Justin: Oh, because of her hair.
Pete: The first character that-
Justin: The Rachel.
Pete: … kind of looks exactly like Jennifer Aniston in the beginning there.
Alex: All right.
Pete: Then we have this Face Off situation where different people are wearing different faces and taking on different people’s roles. It’s kind of like a Face Off, but with robots a little bit. I don’t know what’s happening, but I would like to be able to trust Kevin Smith as a writer and what’s going on. Instead of the Detroit Fist, you’ve got The Foot. You see what they did there? But I don’t know, I’m interested to see what else happens.
Alex: The plot of the book, as far as I can set out, is there is a social media influencer, who, as it’s revealed at the end, and there’s a spoiler here, was clearly abused by a bunch of men. Her face cut up and slashed, potentially by one guy, potentially by multiple guys. She has gained some sort of technology that lets her impersonate people, hence Maskerade of the title, and is capturing them and putting them in cages and is going to punish them. Meanwhile, there is a guy who gets fired from his company for some sexual misconduct and is potentially going to be hired by her or maybe by somebody else.
Alex: My problem with the book… even though I do think John Sprengelmeyer’s art is very good and very clean throughout. The action is super clear. There’s a big action sequence that happens in the middle here with the main character that I thought was pretty well executed across. … is like we’re saying, first of all there’s too many things going on in the issue to hold onto any particular character as well as the plot. But also, as Justin was getting at, it’s very retrograde in terms of its feminism, I would say.
Justin: Yeah.
Alex: It feels like a sort of thing like, “We are making a feminist statement. Also, we are men by the way. I don’t know if we mentioned that.” And granted, we’re all three men here on the podcast, but reading this book definitely feels like that. I’m willing to give them the second issue here to see where it goes, to Pete’s point. I think Kevin Smith has written some good comics in the past. But this is not selling me enough on the concept in the first issue I would say.
Justin: Yeah, agreed.
Alex: Why don’t we move onto another one that we’ve been very split on. Judgment Day #4 from Marvel, written by Kieron Gillen, art by Valerio Schiti. The, I keep wanting to say Eternal, Celestial that was reactivated by the Avengers and some of the Eternals is continuing to judge the entirety of the human race, the entirety of Earth and trying to find out whether they’re worth it or not. At the mean time, Druig is continuing to attack the X-Men.
Alex: I’ll tell you what, I’m still not 100% sold on this crossover. But I think this is my favorite issue by far, and part of that is the focus on the judgment, but also the fact that it actually got somewhere in terms of this overall conflict and the title of the crossover. It sounds like you guys felt the same. Go ahead, Pete. What did you think?
Pete: Yeah, yeah. Things finally happened. We’re finally getting some stuff that it’s like of like, “Okay.” But I mean how this comic starts, there’s so many word balloons and there’s so much dialog, it kind of gets in the way of the art. Really, it’s kind of messy a little bit. It’s hard to get into. At least that’s how I was feeling about it. But then once you get into it, we do get somewhere, so it kind of becomes worth it. But I feel like now this is finally starting, this event, so I’m hoping for some cool stuff moving forward. But overall, the art is really cool.
Justin: Yeah, true.
Alex: A little bit of an up at the end of the sentence.
Justin: I thought you were starting a song of some sort. (singing). Look, I agree the art is very cool. This issue was my favorite of the four because it does just… It’s like, “Here’s some judgment,” which is half of the title. But it’s just so dense. I think Kieron Gillen, a lot of his stuff lately has been just incredibly dense when I just want to set down the plot for a second and just take a look around at the world and to really show us that. You really have to buckle up for that when you’re getting into a book like this. But great art.
Alex: I don’t know if this is how it was meant, though I kind of suspect that maybe it was. But this is the most I have felt like this is an issue to launch a bunch of one shots and miniseries and tie into them, that I’ve read an event in a very long time. And even when we’ve been critical-
Justin: And that is what’s happening I think technically.
Alex: Yes, exactly. That is a little frustrating because it feels like it’s very, “Read Judgment Day X-Men to find out more about this panel that’s happening over here.” Versus the pure idea of the crossover is really interesting in and of itself. The idea of the Eternals and Avengers accidentally activating a Celestial who judges the human race, and this is a spoiler for the end, but ultimately the Celestial’s like, “Nope, not worth it,” and decides to destroy the Earth. That should have been issue one, in my mind.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: And that would track more with a crossover, like the Infinity Gauntlet, something I think we go back to as executing at a super successful level, bringing a ton of characters together to do one thing and deal with one situation. This is just a little chaotic because of so much of what’s going on.
Alex: And I do think, not to spend too much time on that, but I do think part of that is Valerio Schiti’s art, who I like Valerio Schiti as an artist but the action sequences are necessarily tying with each other. The panels aren’t necessarily tying with each other. It’s a very… One of you, I’m sorry, used the word chaotic. But it’s a very chaotic reading experience, and part of that is the panel layout. Which it’s frustrating because I like both of these creators. I feel like there is more to get out of this but it’s not quite getting to it right at the moment.
Pete: Yeah, it’s all right-
Alex: We’ve got one issue to go.
Pete: It’s all right to keep us… Who says what, you know I mean?
Justin: I think there are two more.
Alex: Are there two more? There’s an Omega. I don’t know at this point if we count the Omega or not?
Justin: No, no. There’s a five and six, and in the middle there’s 10 to 15 other books, and then the Omega.
Alex: Cool. I’m very tired. Let’s move on and talk about Wonder Woman #791 from DC Comics, written by Becky Cloonan, Michael W. Conrad and Jordie Bellaire. Art by Marguerite Sauvage and Paulina Ganucheau. We’re kicking off a new arc here as Wonder Woman heads to the jungle to investigate somebody who was experimenting on animals and figure out where that’s going. Because the cover spoils the end of the book, in classic comic book fashion. Real bummer there. But as usual, this team is turning in such a solid comic book. And Marguerite Sauvage, who is iconic at this point, adds such a nice flavor to what they’re doing.
Pete: Yeah, this is breathtaking art. I mean the tripped out skeleton flower was just unbelievable. Amazing panels. I’m not going to be surprised if we see, at comic conventions, people tattooing some of this stuff because it is just that stunning-
Justin: Oh wow.
Pete: … and that absolutely…
Justin: People like Pete?
Pete: No. I’m just saying it’s just so good that people are going to want to hang onto it and want to have it for their own, because it’s so good.
Justin: When are we going to get a CBC tattoo?
Pete: Yeah. When are we going to do that?
Alex: CBC tweet, we those all the time.
Justin: We get a lot of those. CBC tat.
Pete: I think this is really fun last page reveal, even if it was spoiled. It built up to it nice. Love the moment with her mum. This is some great Wonder Women comic that we’re getting right here. I’m having a good time.
Justin: What I love about this run is it’s not event based for the character. It really is just a run, like, “Let’s tell these stories.” I feel like when Becky and Michael get together, even for the backup story, and Jordie Bellaire, it really feels like they’re just like, “Hey, what do we want to do next?” “Oh, lets do this thing. We’ll get a Cheetah in this.” It feels really collaborative and organic in a way that a lot of comic runs just don’t anymore.
Alex: Love Everlasting #2 from Image Comics, written by Tom King, art by Elsa Charretier. This is continuing the journey of our character who is probably trapped in a romance comic book, though it’s not entirely clear yet. Unlike the first issue that focused on three different stories, here we’re really focusing in on one that is very Jane Austen style romance that she is trapped in. Things are breaking through, they’re developing in certain ways. I love this book, love Elsa’s art. I think it’s absolutely gorgeous. I mentioned this with the first issue. It’s very reminiscent, although not derivative of Darwin Cook.
Pete: Yes.
Alex: Great book. What do you guys think?
Pete: [inaudible 00:31:06].
Justin: I love this book too. It feels like it is treating the romance genre as the medium, and then invading it with some other genres. We have some western elements here, some horror elements. I think that’s really cool. We’ve all been in a romance where at the end of the day it’s really just a gun fight, so I think it was really great to really feel the scene here.
Pete: Wow. Yeah. I mean I think the art is the real king here. Don’t get me wrong, Tom is writing the heck out of this, but-
Justin: Oh, are you talking about the Queen’s passing, like the real king?
Alex: RIP.
Pete: Oh no. No, I’m not.
Alex: QE II, you know?
Pete: I’m not being that. I’m not getting into that. But what I was trying to do-
Alex: But we should just mention, just for clarity, we are royalists on the podcasts. Go ahead.
Pete: We are what?
Justin: 100%. I will be in London next week for the Queen’s funeral, so I’ll be sure to lay down some lilies or whatever.
Pete: Oh, wow.
Alex: Yes, I will be sure to lay down.
Pete: But I agree with you guys, this is some-
Justin: Good take, because she’s going to the bone orchard, and I’m picking.
Alex: Wow.
Justin: The Queen’s bone orchard.
Alex: She would have loved that.
Pete: This is some beautiful art. It’s interesting mashup of story telling here. It almost kind of had a Cinderella feel to it a little bit in this. I’ll be interested to see how this all comes together. Intriguing first couple of issues, but again, the art’s the real winner here.
Alex: Predator #2 from Marvel, written by Ed Brisson, art by Kev Walker. In this series, The Predator has become the predadated.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: I don’t know if that’s the [inaudible 00:32:54].
Pete: Wow.
Alex: That’s probably not correct. Whatever it is that somebody who is hunting the Predator throughout the universe because the Predator killed their parents. And in this issue, she gets closer than ever to it. I fricking love this story. I’m not-
Pete: I fricking love it.
Alex: I fricking love it, man. I am not the biggest fan of Predator. Alien is much more my thing, if we’re going to break it down.
Pete: Oh, okay, douche, all right.
Alex: This is so good.
Justin: Have you watched Prey?
Alex: I love Prey. I thought Prey was awesome.
Justin: Great.
Alex: But this comic is so good. I love this story. Kev Walker’s art is amazing, which is probably part of the reason that I’m loving this so much. But it’s great. Are you guys on the same page or are you like-
Pete: Yeah, I agree with you.
Justin: I’m on [inaudible 00:33:42] for it.
Pete: [inaudible 00:33:43]. I agree with you. I fricking love this art, Mr. Bigglesworth. It is just really… They’re taking something that is clearly be, “All right, another Predator story.” But it’s really intriguing and pulls you in in all the right ways. I’m really impressed with not only the action that we’re getting, but the story. It’s impressive what they’re doing with this comic and I’ve been enjoying the heck out of it.
Justin: To me, it shares a lot of DNA with the Alien comics we’ve seen, Marvel’s doing, as well as just the Alien movies in general. We have sort of a Ripley type character who is alone, trying to get to the bottom of a mystery and get some justice dealt out. So yeah, it’s really good.
Pete: Nothing like dealing justice.
Alex: The Jurassic League #5 from DC Comics, written by Daniel Warren Johnson, Juan Gedeon. Art by Juan Gedeon. This issue, our dinosaurs are fighting against the Dark Side dinosaur. Pete-
Justin: Our dinosaurs.
Alex: Our dinosaurs. Pete, take it aways.
Pete: Home team dinosaurs. All right, yeah. This is just so much freaking fun, all right? I loved it. The Superman dinosaur also flexing as he stomps, just so… I was a little upset that they had to kind of take a moment for themselves, but it’s important to work on yourself. You know what I mean? You have to do-
Justin: Nice
Pete: Yeah. The even dinos need to do a little self work to get to the place where they can help out their friends. This is what-
Justin: There are a lot of dinosaurs that were fossilized on a therapy couch.
Pete: Oh man, so close. You know who I mean? They were just so close.
Justin: Really close to a breakthrough.
Pete: Close to a perfect form.
Alex: Sorry, this is a little bit of a side note, but have you guys seen, on HBO, In Treatment – Asaurus?
Justin: I love it. It’s a lot of growl, like loud noises. A lot of roarers. Jurassic World In Treatment. Genius. I’m putting it together.
Alex: I’ll Alan Grant you that one.
Pete: Wow.
Justin: Wow. Everyone thinks I’m a clever girl, but I just struggle to be clever in the situations, you know?
Pete: Hmm.
Alex: Pete, anything else you wanted to say?
Pete: No. I was going to say things but…
Justin: I guess we covered the same things that you were going to say. You were going to say the things that we said?
Pete: Yeah, I was going to say the exact same things that you’ve said.
Justin: This book is like shaking up a toy box and-
Pete: In all of the right ways. Don’t say it like it’s a bad thing, fucking dick.
Justin: No, it’s fine. But if we’re talking about two Daniel Warren Johnson books on this comic book podcast, I’m ready to talk about the second one.
Pete: All right. Take it easy because this is-
Justin: Of course I’ll take it easy.
Pete: Just because it’s the toy box, doesn’t mean it’s not fun and enjoyable. You know what I mean?
Justin: I’m not saying it’s not fun and enjoyable.
Pete: All right, well…
Justin: But it’s dinos bumping into each other.
Pete: Yeah. But it’s also a little deeper than that because these dinos are going through some growth and trying to figure out who they are inside. Okay? So don’t fucking just make it a toy box.
Alex: You know what I’ll say? It extincts. No, I actually like it.
Justin: Wow. The Critic [inaudible 00:37:04].
Pete: It doesn’t suck. It doesn’t stink.
Justin: That might be a joke from the television program.
Alex: It’s from The Critic, I’m sorry. Above Snakes #3 from Image Comics. I want to be clear, I like Jurassic League. Above Snakes #3 from Image Comics, written by Sean Lewis, art by Hayden Sherman. This continues this weird, wild western that is happening where… I love Sean Lewis but I think the real standout here is Hayden Sherman. The way that he’s drawing these characters, the way that he’s drawing the old West is so interesting and so sparse. I love looking at every panel in this book. Pete, I know you’re a big fan. What do you think about this?
Pete: Yeah, this is weird and creepy in a lot of different, interesting ways. I think one of the greatest things about this book is how it’s kind of unveiling what it’s about. It’s taking its time. It’s confident. It’s not explaining itself. It’s having enough confidence to just sit with the characters as the characters are wandering through this crazy forest. I’m really impressed with what we’re getting and how we’re getting it here. This is some weird stuff but I’m really enjoying it. I think it’s super creative.
Justin: This book reminds me of Bone a little bit, with our bird characters, mashed up with a pretty gritty western that takes some risks. And that’s cool. I’ve never seen something quite like this, the cartoonishness mixed with the grit. It is a one of a kind book and I like it.
Alex: The Amazing Spider-Man #9 from Marvel, written by Zeb Wells, art by Patrick Gleason.
Pete: Boo! Boo!
Alex: This issue-
Justin: What?
Pete: Boo! Bullshit.
Alex: … is not only Spider-Man dealing with Mary Jane, one of Pete’s absolutely favorite things-
Pete: Fucking bullshit.
Alex: … but it’s also set during the Hellfire Gala, which is when… Oh my gosh, I’m blanking here. … Moira MacTaggert took over Mary Jane’s body. So we’re dealing with the fallout from that. It’s a couple of months later, which is a little bit of a bummer I kind of say.
Justin: Stinks.
Alex: It’s also coming in the middle of a run on Amazing Spider-Man that I’ve really dug quite a bit. So taking this seeming side trip over to X-Men land was also a little bit of a bummer for me. But at the same time, Zeb Wells, good writer. Patrick Gleason, great artist. And so I wasn’t too mad at the book, but I’m excited to get back to the main narrative now, personally.
Pete: Yeah, I just think it’s rubbing salt on a fucking open festering wound to just fuck with our emotions with the MJ, Peter Parker stuff. I didn’t appreciate it, the kick in the nuts that we got in this issue. But I guess some people at Marvel enjoy-
Alex: Can I just say something, Pete, if you have a festering wound that has been open for the past 10 years or more-
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: … you’re in the [inaudible 00:40:13], man.
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: Okay, well yeah, I am.
Justin: You’ve got to get that treated or you’re just going to be bones, picking bones [inaudible 00:40:19].
Pete: Well, Marvel’s not treating it, you know what I mean, so why should I? They’re going to leave this fucking opening corpse just lying there festering. Why should I treat it if they’re fucking treating me like shit.
Justin: Just real quick, just to define that, are you saying that open corpse is you, Spider-Man or the Spider-Man/Mary Jane relationship?
Pete: The Spider-Man/Mary Jane relationship.
Alex: Is it a literal open corpse?
Pete: No. It’s the-
Justin: What do you mean by open corpse? Is that like an open house where it’s like anyone can take a tour?
Pete: Yeah. Everyone can come and spit on something that they really worked too hard to see.
Justin: I want to have an open corpse funeral.
Pete: Ventricle that gets a lot of sun. You’ve got to check it out.
Justin: You’re going to love it. I understand, Pete, that this relationship frustrates you and we’re in a run in this book where something bad happened between them and we don’t know what it is, so we’re only getting the fight. But on the positive side, and let me make this case for you, there’s some heat here. There is more spark in their relationship than there has been since the Mephisto birthday cut, I think. Page 19, this panel that is full of bugs eating people, there’s just a great moment where they say hey to each other. That’s the comic that you want.
Justin: But like a lot of relationships, it’s complicated.
Pete: But they’re not giving me-
Justin: Yeah, but they are giving it to you. You just have to look a little bit beyond the pane. We end the issue with them. Mary Jane, she has a great line which is… It’s about responsibility, and of course something that Peter Parker-
Pete: Something you should-
Justin: Yeah. I like the way that Zeb Wells is really coming at the continuity in a way that I haven’t seen before. The fact that we did this through a deep X-Men continuity situation, with Wolverine again hanging out for a not super germane reason it feels like, is awesome. We’re burying a great Mary Jane and Peter relationship moment in the Hellfire Gala. That’s wild. There’s great action in this book. I think this run is really cool. I’m curious if we’re going to get to the reveal sooner rather than later.
Alex: We’ll move on from that poignant silence there.
Justin: Did I make the case for you. The defense rests, Pete. Come on.
Pete: Well, I just-
Justin: Fall in love again.
Pete: … want them to get back together so fucking bad, it hurts to see them fight.
Justin: They were together in this. That’s what love is.
Pete: [inaudible 00:42:55].
Pete: They were together before. Wait, what are you saying, Justin?
Justin: I said that’s what romance is. It takes a while. That’s what heartache is, and you got to feel that heartache.
Pete: It’s been years, bro.
Justin: Peter Parker’s whole thing is feeling these emotions and not being able to deal with them because he has to go fight crimes. You’re doing the same thing, except you’re not fighting crimes, you’re reading a comic. At least you don’t have to catch a purse snatcher.
Pete: I’ll take it because you compared me to Spider-Man, so that’s super cool.
Alex: Superman: Son of Kal-El #15 from DC Comics, written by Tom Taylor, art by Cian Tormey. In this issue, we’re bringing a ton of arcs… I would say probably the first 15 issues maybe not to a close, but certainly to a climax here as Superman and his pals take an assault on Genovia? That’s not it. That’s the movie from the Princess Diaries, so probably not that.
Pete: Wow. Wow.
Alex: But whatever it is, it’s Henry Bendix’s country.
Justin: Maybe it’s the same continuity as-
Alex: You guys know. You’ve read this book. Anyway, it’s a big fight going on there. There’s big emotional moments. I love, love Superman and his boyfriend. I think they’re great and the way that Tom Taylor is writing this is so romantic throughout this book.
Justin: Yes.
Alex: They are absolutely crushing it. Honestly, I’m a little bummed that Kal-El is coming back to be frank.
Pete: Yeah.
Justin: And I’m curious how that will affect everything. The name of the place is Gamorra, which is very similar. But I agree with you, the romance is so strong and I do think… I trust this team so hard, so I think bringing Kal-El back will, I assume, bring us a little bit of a new direction. It feels like we’ve included a lot of just Henry Bendix stuff in general here and introduce maybe a new power situation for this Superman. Lots to look forward to. At the same time, a lot of stuff coming together.
Pete: This is really great comic books. I love what they’re doing with Kal-El in this Son of Kal-El. I think it’s just one of those things where it’s a very touching side to him and I really appreciate the fact that they’re leaning into this. Robin’s slap meme kind of switching it instead of the Batman slap, was such a great panel. So fun. Yeah, that whole line of Robin being like, “I heard you’ve been trying to constantly hurt my best friend.” I’m having a blast with this comic. I don’t want it to end. I don’t want them to change this up. This is up the most fun I’ve had in Superman in a really long time, and I’m really impressed with this take on it. I feel like this is just great, great comics.
Justin: Agreed about that, except for the Warworld book, which I also have been loving in a huge way.
Alex: Oh yeah, yeah. That-
Pete: Phillip Kennedy Johnson, I don’t want to take anything away from what he’s doing. It’s fucking really great, but this is a little different.
Justin: Shout out to the Lex Luthor work in this book as well, which I thought was awesome. Reestablishing him as the-
Alex: [inaudible 00:46:11].
Justin: … supervillain.
Alex: Such a great issue. And the last thing that I’ll say about it is it really drove home to me that I kind of love these sub-in characters that happen just because it elevates the game of the writing and art team, that they feel like they need to meet up to these iconic characters. It’s not necessarily about switching it up so much as legitimately having like, “How is John Kent going to live up to the legacy of his father? Let’s figure that out.” Or same thing when Dick Grayson became Batman. How is he going to live up to Bruce Wayne now that Bruce Wayne is dead? Same thing with Bucky, when Bucky became Captain America. All three of those runs were so good, and a lot of them it’s about having that conflict, having that striving, having that, “How do I live up the memory of this person who I love with every inch of my being and I want to be worthy of with every inch of my being, but I don’t know if I can”? And then they get there, and it’s such a satisfying, wonderful arc to read.
Alex: We’ll have Kal-El back. Like you said Justin, Phillip Kennedy Johnson is killing it.
Justin: Hell yeah.
Alex: Tom Taylor is killing it on Superman: Son of Kal-El, so I don’t expect that to change. But this is great. If you haven’t picked this up, pick up the first 15 issues in trade or otherwise, because it’s phenomenal.
Alex: Let’s talk about a run that is ending here though for real, A Righteous Thirst for Vengeance #11 by Image Comics, written by Rick Remender, art by André Lima Araújo. We jump forward in time here, and this is a spoiler, but we get to see the little kid that our main character was taking care of, kept safe, getting his revenge on the man who kicked everything in motion here. There’s really a lot of answers, or answer, that happens in this issue that really justifies and explains a lot of the things that have happened throughout this series. But what did you guys think about this? Pete, I’m curious to hear from you. I know you’re a big fan, of course, of Rick Remender. How do you think this tied up?
Pete: I was really impressed. Immediately after reading it, I wanted to go back and read all of it again just because with the way it comes out monthly I was just kind of like, “Oh man.” Because I haven’t seen this bad guy in a while… I thought they made it super clear who the kid was but I wanted to see the start of it again. But man, I’m really happy that I’m walking away from a Rick Remender book not as heartbroken. You know what I mean?
Justin: Yeah.
Pete: He gives us a little bit of sunshine on a rainy day. He still fucked us over, and I’m trying not to spoil it for people so they can go and read it. But man, I feel like Remender’s making some changes in his life. You know what I mean? He’s giving us a little bit more sunshine, so it’s enjoyable. The art’s bananas. This is a great, great comic that should be collected and should be held up by one of Remender’s-
Justin: I bet it will be.
Pete: … great runs.
Justin: There is a positive ending in that some murder happens to someone who maybe deserved it. The fact we spent a lot of time just riding a long with the villain and just privy to all of his power and excess in a way that I feel like Remender was like, “look, this is what happens with these people, and only in this case do we get vengeance dispensed to them.” It was great art, as always. Great story. I know it was a more winding end to a series from Rick Remender, but it still left a horrifying taste in my mouth for the reality that Remender has shown us.
Pete: Yeah.
Alex: Castle Full of Blackbirds #1 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Mike Mignola and Angela Slatter.
Justin: Angela.
Alex: Angela.
Justin: Ooh, you love her.
Alex: Angela.
Justin: Angeler. Samantha. Who’s the boss?
Alex: Art by Valeria Burzo. In this issue, we are exploring further the Miignolaverse and focusing specifically on some witches, I guess is what we call them?
Justin: And you know, we’re about to talk in a second about the other Mignola book that came out, Young Hellboy. Both of these books are almost all ages Hellboy Universe books in an interesting way, with dealing with some maybe larger things. We talk about this a lot. I made a thing like, “I wish there was more Hellboy.” Now it’s just like, “Okay, now there’s a lot of Hellboy coming out all the time.” And this is not the flavor of Hellboy I expected. This is like a Lunchables Hellboy that you can just take on your way to middle school I guess if you want to. But Castle Full of Blackbirds feels like a full on all ages Hellboy world book.
Pete: I agree. We kind of get a different main character other than Hellboy, which is nice. But also, the way they deal with magic is really cool. The artist is killing on this book. The cold, her learning to use her powers kid of thing was really an impressive couple of pages to watch that all happen. Yeah, this is a nice, “I love Hellboy but maybe if it would be a little more kid friendly or more accessible.” This definitely does all that, but still has that wildly creative tripped out Hellboy stuff. It’s impressive what we’re doing here, and it’s all under the umbrella of Hellboy, so super cool.
Alex: The Silver Coin #14 from Image Comics, written by Pornsak Pichetshote, art by Michael Walsh. In this issue we are dealing with what life was like in Hollywood during the pandemic. You remember those days, right? Back in those days.
Justin: I was certainly reminded of them in this comic.
Pete: Oh man, he just was the headline producer at the time in Hollywood, so he knows.
Alex: This is taking place in multiple timelines, jumping back and forth to slowly fold out this story that only eventually loops back to the silver coin of the title. This is one of the books that I feel like we’re now two issues in a row where I was like, “Oh Jesus Christ, this is too much. I don’t know about this one.”
Justin: It’s just-
Pete: Finally. “Finally,” is where I’m at with it.
Justin: Well, this one especially. I was like, “This is stressful because of the way they’re talking about the pandemic.” I was like, “That’s how I talked about it. Am I going to end up murdering some close people in my life?” And then secondarily, a lot of touching eyeballs with sharp objects, something I don’t enjoy.
Pete: Even in comic book form, it’s still fucking creepy as fuck.
Justin: But don’t let me say those are negative comments because as a horror book, this continues to nail every issue. I thought this issue was great and it gave me little butterflies in my stomach just when I wanted them.
Pete: What the fuck? You got excited butterflies from this book?
Justin: I mean more like, “Whoa, that’s unsettling.”
Pete: Okay.
Alex: And to be fair, I got butterflies like, “I want to ask it to marry me.”
Justin: We’ve all had different butterflies in our stomachs.
Pete: I didn’t have any of the butterflies.
Alex: Pete, the butterflies in your stomach, you went to the Museum of Natural History and ate those butterflies, right?
Pete: No, no. I had more silence of the lambs butterflies. I think-
Justin: He ate a caterpillar and it turned into a butterfly instead.
Pete: This book was too fucking sweary. This issue was way too fucked up and way too scary. The coin reveal came a little too late for me.
Justin: You wanted an earlier coin reveal? Why?
Pete: I needed to know or what was going on. It was just so scare and fucked up. Horror’s not my genre. If you like horror, this is probably great for you, or this is very enjoyable.
Justin: Yes, it is.
Pete: It was too fucked up for me, but the art is great.
Alex: I want to give a shout out, and I don’t know why this was the issue that this specifically struck me, but shout out to Michael Walsh on this book because most titles are author driven. They’re like, “Well, the writer can write the script pretty quickly, so we’re going to put that out every month.” But Michael Walsh has put out the Silver Coin 14 months in a row, I think, with killer very different stories. The art has been consistently awesome and terrifying every issue. Just on the base of being an amazing comic book project, it’s super, super impressive regardless of what you think about it on an issue by issue basis.
Justin: Honestly, it’s made me like coins less. I’m like, “Keep the change. You can’t trust these little silver circles.”
Pete: Don’t trust it.
Alex: Let’s talk about the other Mignola book, Young Hellboy #2 from Dark Horse Comics, written by Mike Mignola and Thomas Sniegoski. Art by Craig Rousseau. This is a little bit more of a classic Hellboy book, as we get young Hellboy going on a mysterious adventure. What’d you guys think about this one?
Pete: This was adorable, but also a little kind of tripped out and scary because we switch perspectives on what’s actually happening here based off the young Hellboy’s point of view. Great art. I’m a little worried about Hellboy and what’s going on, if he’s going to be okay or if he needs to talk to somebody and explain about his reality versus the real reality. But cool and fun, young Hellboy.
Justin: I do think Hellboy, he’ll be all right because of older Hellboy is.
Pete: Oh right, right. Yeah, yeah.
Justin: So yeah. Bot otherwise, I like… This masquerades as an all ages book, but there’s a dark underbelly to it happening the entire time. There’s a reveal to be had here that I won’t really mention too much about what is actually happening or who is leading young Hellboy down this path.
Alex: Last, but certainly not least, Do A Powerbomb! #4 from Image Comics, written and art by Daniel Warren Johnson. In this issue, our main characters are getting further into their Mortal Combat style wrestling elimination challenge on another world. They’re finding out more about other competitors as well as the stakes here. It was great.
Pete: First off, you’re pronouncing the title wrong. It’s Do A Powerbomb! There’s an exclamation point.
Alex: Oh, sorry about that.
Pete: It’s all squeezed together like you’re yelling to somebody like, “Do a powerbomb!,” so you got to say it like that.
Justin: Like you’re shouting it in a crowd.
Pete: Yeah. You can’t say enough about Daniel Warren Johnson’s art style, his heart that he brings to every one of his projects. It is not only beautiful, but touching and moving how he can take something like wrestling and make it so much deeper and more relevant. It’s really impressive. I mean the stakes, everything that’s going on. There isn’t enough words to describe how great this is and how much fun. I’m excited about wrestling. It’s weird. I didn’t know I would be in this place, but, man, this is just great comic book story telling and art and combination in such a great package. Holy effing shit, if you like comic books, check this out, you won’t be disappointed.
Justin: Holy effing S, I agree. This book is great. Quickly risen to the top of the stack. We talk about we love some great superhero action, this has all that and more and it’s just wrestling. It is so visceral watching these wrestlers land these special moves that they’re doing. It’s body horror in a way, but it’s awesome. It’s great top to bottom. Definitely highest recommendation.
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 on Crowdcast and YouTube. Come hang out. We would love to chat with you about comic books. Apple, Spotify, Sticher or the app of your choice to subscribe, listen and follow the show. @comicbooklive on Twitter. Comicbookclublive.com for this podcast and many more. Until next time, we’ll see you at the bone orchard.
Pete: Oh boy.
Justin: Pissing in the bone orchard.
Justin: (singing)
