Pick of the Week #1016 - Nova: Centurion #5

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And then this last issue? Just enveloping all the crud into one final crud epilogue?

Hello, you listen to I fanboy pick a week episode 1016. My name is Chronicle Patrick. This is my co-host under the weather, Drashlan again.

I look better than I feel if I'm going to be honest with you.

You've lost some weight. I'm sick and injured off and on for the past two months.

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Welcome to the show where we talk about the comic books from the week. We're doing for 21 years and every week,

one of us picks the book they like the best with a stack of comics they've read. They call the book The Pick of the Week.

Talk about that book on the books of the week. The patron picked Listener mail. All the fun stuff.

And let's just jump in. Let's just get to it. Josh, you have to pick this week.

I did have the pick of the week. I actually found I generally enjoyed my comics,

but I did have a thing where I was like, I really know what my pick of the week is.

But what I did was I went with Nova Centurion number five, which I think was slightly

slightly elevated from the fact that like this is pretty much going to go away.

And it didn't, it didn't really an experience, but I had the back of my head going.

Is anything is going to wrap up? When is the last issue? Is it next week? Is it next month?

Like, I don't even know. And then we were, we were

Stephanie Williams said that all the, all the books that came out of imperial are ending. And so

I had that thought back in the head as like, you know, when it was, it just kind of kind of ruined the

I just wish I didn't know it was they were being, I wish I would have gone away.

Right. Well, but just for me, I thought, you know what? I've really been enjoying this book.

So we've got another one now. I'm going to enjoy it while we can.

And it's funny because this is the thing is sort of tying it back into the imperial thing

where it started because in imperial Peter Quill and Rich Rider were sort of teamed up.

And then I literally don't remember like what happened, but Peter Quill basically kind of

double-crossed Rich so that he could take power because he thought he was doing the right thing.

But, you know, then we have a landohan situation here, which is very obvious, you know.

It's been a long time Richie and then he punches him in the face.

And I just, you know, in terms of what I want out of a Marvel comic that features Nova,

this series has been it and it's been really consistent and fun.

They've actually found something to do with Peter Quill in comics, which hasn't happened in years.

Like he's been in comics, but you could take him out and put anybody else in there.

So I thought this was really cool. I liked, I don't know, it's just a bunch of fun moments

spending time with characters who are interesting and it's not like reinventing the wheel or anything.

And it's funny because there's a fight at the beginning and I'm looking at it and I was like,

this is not how John Buesema said to draw fights.

Well, that's funny you thought that because I had almost the exact same thought.

I'm not kidding. Nova's insurance had two different artists.

Alvaro Lopez and then another one whose name is like three letters, three words.

And I love the other one and I don't like Alvaro Lopez and I thought,

this issue, I like this issue because the story is great, the character is great, but I love

the issue suffered from the art. That's why I was so stiff and boring like that first punch was

like the one of the worst drunk punches I've ever seen. 100% and I agree with you.

However, sort of later as we got to the big space monster and stuff like that,

I was like, all right, you know, wasn't awesome at the beginning.

Well, we should go back to what you said though. I talked to myself.

Someone sent Alvaro Lopez had a drug promise the more of a way.

I literally had to call it reading this. So it's funny that we both had to talk because I was like,

this could be so much more dynamic and it's the most boring thing I've ever seen.

I could say, and I, this should be giving an artist credit, maybe the deserved or not,

you know, there's an argument to be made that there's a visual choice to keep things small and

keep the camera in close and you're not turning everything into a big epic-e thing because it's

really just like a scuffle between friends or brothers or something like that.

I think that there's a happy medium and they don't need to necessarily make it boring without

turning it into like the fight of all time. There's something in the middle that could have

been done better. It's a pretty, it's one, two, three, four pages. It's a four-page, you know,

dust them up and it, I don't know, it's, most of that one panel's really bad. The rest of the

panels aren't so bad. It's a, right, they work with that. I just, the body language is just like,

he's just like, that first punch on page, whatever, I'm sorry, it's not popping up for me for,

is really unimpressive. You know, that could have been done. You know, you don't always think of one

of my favorite panels, but one of my favorite punch panels. The flash punches somebody in new frontier

and it's just his hand going like, this is my desktop for a really long time. It's just like that

would have been a much more effective page turn, close up on the fist and the face or something

like that. Because he used to over star load shoulder with his face coming, you know, turning towards

the camera with the fist coming like it's just there's so many ways to do it than just that three quarters

and there's a way to do it without necessarily making it look like the epic be all and all two people

fight to the death, which I think would have been too far, but you know, there's stuff that the

page after this actually. This one's very similar. You're talking about this flash panel, the next,

the very first, the next panel is just very similar to that flash panel, which is the fist and a

face. That could have been this is a way more dynamic shot than this one. And this is great page

because it had the fifth page if you're looking at home, you know, you've got two punches left

right cross and then an interesting sort of white panel with with Peter holding, you know, the bent over

I'm sorry with Rich holding the bent over Peter. You know, like there's good stuff there. That said

I really liked the story aspect and their relationship. There was a bit and I'm trying to find it,

but where the one alien guy just goes, I'm a combat accountant. And I was like, that doesn't combat

account doesn't get less funny. No, no, Albert, any idea what the hell we're looking at? Richard,

I am a combat accountant. That's I don't know if that exists anywhere in other comics or something,

but if it's brilliant, it's so funny. And he looks like he's in our one combat to accounting.

Not seeing a biology. He's not, you know, he's not telling tales. That's the case.

Then there was the the surprise of sort of the monster in the girl, which I've seen in

10 other books. But what I do know is that I didn't really I don't really know her story. I knew

she was up to some shit. And so she says, I'm sick and I can only use the mysterious, which sounds

like complete bullshit. But then that turns out to be true. And I was like, all right,

let's let's go on this. And I just and I actually felt the artwork through that hole when she

gets sick. You know, the coloring is really nice. You know, I want this book. I want a book

like this to exist. And they're so short for this world. And it's going to happen again. Like,

we've had all these like, you know, it really hasn't been since 20 years ago or maybe 15 years

ago when when there was all that great guardians and Nova stuff. Yeah. But since then, it's been,

you know, fits and starts and nothing really. Which is weird because the guardians get movie was

like a huge deal based on that stuff. And they managed to come up with like no worthy guardian

stories since then at all. Right. There should be a great Nova movie. Yeah. Sorry.

Um, they have a series, but none of them meant anything and none of them stuck and none of them

were related. I like this art art complaints aside. I like you said, I thought the

stuff, you know, the reveal of the girl who we thought with first was stealing the mysterious

just for a profit stealing it for her own health was interesting. It felt like it came on

a fast. And now this again, the knowledge of the book being canceled is playing with my mind.

Well, I read it. Did it come on fat or is just that's how he always planned it? I don't know,

but now I think he's at it. In either case, in this kind of story, I'm fine with it coming on fast

because if not, what else are we going to do? I mean, like it would have been more standing around

waiting for something. A one or two issue, you know, resolution to the thing that they introduced.

And I just, and again, it's just my own brain going, you know, while reading it going, wait,

it's just, was this going to happen now or was this going to happen in five issues? You know, like

and I just, that's just not, I just can't help it. But they're all, they're all flying around in

space. The combat account, I know, and they have little jet boots, which isn't how that works in

space, but it's great. Like the, I mean, honestly, we, I like credit where do we bitched about those

first couple pages, but men, the last, you know, from, from the, when all the tendrils and things

break out of the space station, all the pages after that are fantastic. He does, he does excel with

the monster, the space monster stuff. Maybe that's why he did this issue because they've been

alternating, they've been, they've been splitting issues, they've been alternating. And I think the other

artist is like Matea, Dale or something. Um, he's really good at the character stuff. And so maybe

Alvaro Lopez is better at the monster stuff. And that's fine because the monster stuff is really good

here. And I still love the Creas scroll, scroll war gang. I think it's a great concept. I think

it's a funny name. And I think the characters are interesting. And like you said, all these things

are great. It's a bummer this book can't exist. And I, I, I, I just have a, a larger Marvel

thought while reading the books and also I'll say for later the show, we talk a lot more.

So then one other thing that's happening here, though, is that I mean, so really end of the day,

what's just a great, you know, good, you know, good old superhero comic. What's a good gosh

comic that I really enjoyed. And then two, the incredible contrast that I feel between books written

by Jed McKay, I, I cannot get over how much I like some things. And how much I continue to grow

in my dislike for other things. But we'll get to that later. It is interesting. It's kind of

it's a, you know, it's just, well, let's talk about that. We get to that book. Let's move on to

the next book, which I thought for sure I was going to see as your choice was beneath the trees

where nobody sees writer spring number six, the final issue of at the very least this mini series.

It's not the whole series. It could be, it could be a series finale. It could be a volume finale.

We'll see. I guess what happens. I mean, it would be very weird to end this this way and then

never do anything else. But I would also be fine with that. So it's very much a end of the story

ending where she moves on and finds a new set of victims. So that makes sense. But they could always

get back to it. So what we have is the the ending of the second arc of this busy town bear serial

killer story, which is very odd. And as I started it seemed very calm. And Samantha is describing

these cool remote switches. And then she starts to light the entire town on fire. And then she's

in sort of a warehouse or something with the duck girl who is the sister. She was investigating

the death of her brother who was who was eviscerated literally in the first issue of the first series.

And I thought, wait a minute, wasn't there a big firefighter or something?

Because I thought she was in her store. She was with the cops. Right, there was a huge, but so

apparently they got out of that and she found another. There was a machine gun. She came out of the walls.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she'd already set up and send the area devices all over the place.

I, you know, and basically the town starts to go to hell as she blows everything up. But in the

middle of it was this beautiful, like touching sort of scene with that one mother who got addicted to

her, her anxiety pills. And like there's a line in here that's like this would probably be the

hardest thing you've ever done. But if you can't make it, your son will be removed for your home

and placed in foster care and then walks out. And I was like, that's from quality writing.

I mean, just like writing a jet, I just like, I felt like an ER kind of.

And then the next panel was her reaction to it. And it's just very, and she's not even in a close-up.

She is seen through the door from the hallway. So she's not even like, it's not even a long shot in the

room. She's in another room. Then we watched, I was going to say we watched her go to the bathroom

on the next, but it's not about like she's going to like just a hand flushing a toilet and then

washing her hands and looking at herself in the mirror. And it's just, it's great drama. And I

was thinking about this. I've read in this whole time. I was like, fucking, these are cute-ass

animals. Samantha's a cute-ass bear animal. But they've done this thing. And then, and then I guess

finally, this will be your spoiler bit is that like first of all, the duck lady burns alive from

what I can tell. So yeah, she'd tell it is for her. And then Samantha gets away. And I was like,

wow. And the reason that I don't make this pick of the week is because I don't know how to feel

about that. And that could be, I could, that could be a virtue. But the other cute-ass bear, and you've

been doing it the entire time. So I think you, last week you were talking about how you didn't understand,

you didn't know how you felt about the heroes having sexy villains in your, and here you are talking

about the cute-ass serial killer. Not cute-like-hot. Just like a such animal. I know what you mean.

I know what you mean. You used to be someone you want to knuzzle. But I do, I do also want to mention

the, the turtle story. Yeah. Was the turtle, I have a heart-dum-cupid track because I read the

first volume in the trade and it was easy to contract with everything. I remember reading this

in issues. Was the turtle agor-phobic or something or not? Didn't go outside. Yeah. I now remember

the turtle, but I don't really remember where he came from. And so the turtle ends up saving

your moment. Yeah. An entire old folk song because everyone sort of bends it. The whole town's

of fire. He, he, uh, is it steel a bus or something? No, he's, it's like the, it's the bus that's

outside of the, the nursing home. Right. And you just left it there. So he goes and saves all the

people. But he, he evacuates all of them who have not, they're, they're all too scared to leave

their building, which is a sketch of fire. And so he, I think that was really nice. And in the midst

of all the terribleness, and there's a lot of it, I mean, Samantha shoots someone to steal their car

and burns a duck woman alive. Like he said, um, somehow she doesn't kill one person though, right?

Isn't there one person she doesn't kill? It's the, uh, she, well, she doesn't kill the, the kid.

Not for lack of track. She shoots at the kid. She killed the kid's father, which drove the kid's

mother kind of insane. And then the kid was working for her. And he just happens to pull into the

alley. I guess that she was like, wait, do you kill my dad? And then she starts shooting at him.

Right. I do like that. And it's the correct choice is that, um, Patrick Corvath never wavered

in the sociopathy, I guess, of the killer. Like there wasn't a point where she, you know,

thought, oh, I do kind of like him. No, everybody is a victim is a target.

I would say this issue ends in very much the way it sounds with the lambs ends. It's not like

an unusual thing in a serial killer story to, to let the killer live another day to find a new

town. In this case, the, in a desert town with the hardly any people in it. I would go so far to

say though that in, in that instance, um, Hannibal Lecter in that movie, while evil has elements

about him that he does some of the heroic things in it. He doesn't just kill anybody. He has,

but like, he does some of the right things. And you kind of like him, which is, you know,

a little more than this character. It's like, he doesn't kill really is Clarice, right? Everyone

narratively though, but everybody mistreats it like narratively though he's the hero in that story

in a way. And I don't mean like he is a hero, but like within the function, I don't know, like,

I don't know if he's like Samantha's the protagonist, but there's no, we don't like her.

I think the fact is because of what she looks like and because of the small town stuff, like,

you keep thinking you should like her and then you can't. And I think that that's interesting.

You know, and he certainly sets up again, like this can very easily be the last issue ever

of the story and be totally fine. But the narration in this issue takes place from the future.

Yeah. And she says in the years that followed the world found that about everything I did,

well, almost everything. Um, and then another panel says, I just ever expected that once they found

out, I'd have so many fans. So he can totally do a third volume in which she is caught.

Sure. And then the societal obsession with serial killers and murder and true crime

and everything. Um, and that might be really, really interesting or that could live forever in our

heads as a story that happens in either way. I think you'll have a satisfying two volume story here.

Yeah. And I've said it, I've said it, you know, from the beginning, you know, like the art is,

they are so fantastic. This the lizard guy in the desert at the end. I was like, what an awesome

design. You know, what great character acting is sort of the body language you get from the turtle

guy and his eye like just it's so far. It's, it's a lot like black sat or something is like,

you've used the cute fuzzy animals, but you made them come alive, you know. Um, I mean, it's not

just the drawing. It's, it's his coloring color, color-esque colors. Um, it gives it like a

parchment paper feel. Um, and we, we, we read this digitally. I don't know how it prints,

but it does feel like you're reading on an old paper and not old comic paper, but old like,

watercolor paper. And it's really, it's a really nice look that he's given to this,

this whole book. Um, he's really, he's, he's a really talented cartoonist.

Yeah, it's a hell of a thing. All right, let's take a quick break. We'll be back for more comics

right after this. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Here's a fun fact about me, you might

not know. I love the Olympics. I love the Olympics. And with the summer Olympics coming to LA,

where I live in 2028, I wanted to get some gear, t-shirts, hat sweatshirts. So I started shopping

around and imagined my excitement when I found out that so many of the online retailers that I was

visiting had that little purple button. Oh, that magical little purple pay button that has all

my information saved, making my various purchases as easy as a simple tap on the screen. Goodbye,

shopping stress. Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise and everything

from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. But what if people

haven't heard about my brand, you might be asking. Shopify helps you find your customers with easy

to run email and social media campaigns. And what if I get stuck? Shopify is always around to share

advice with their award-winning 24-7 customer support. Tackle all those important tasks in one

place from inventory to payment to analytics and more. No need to save multiple websites to try

to figure out what platform is hosting what tool you need. Everything's all in one place,

making life easier and your business operations smoother. So see fewer carts go abandoned and more

sales go with Shopify and their shop pay button. Set up for your $1 per month trial today at

Shopify.com slash I fanboy. Go to Shopify.com slash I fanboy today at Shopify.com slash I fanboy.

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All right, we're up with the third in the run is the big book from DC. DCKO number five.

This wasn't pick of the week. Honestly, when I was going back to figure out what it is I wanted

to make pick of the week. I was like, I should give that consideration. And I realized I was like,

I don't quite remember what happened, which is not great on the same day. I enjoyed this whole

event. I would not put it in the pantheon of DC events or any comics events, but it was enjoyable

enough in a way that these days most events are not. And it didn't go on too long. However,

this issue, and it depends on how well you know this movie, this issue felt a lot like be sure

to drink your oval team, which is reference to a Christmas story where Ralphie spends all the time

waiting for his decoder ring from the secret message from the radio show he listens to. And he

finally gets his decoder ring and decodes the message and it's a commercial to buy the oval team.

This book basically ends with a commercial for all the new DC books coming out. So it doesn't feel

and in some ways all events do that, but this one was sort of blatantly doing it. And it's just

sort of like two-page bread showing all the new books coming out in art form, but they don't usually

they're not usually that crass about it. It's usually more implied characters go off for new

adventures or things that happen, but this is like a two-page spread of. Here's the Tana,

and here's Deathstroke, and here's Lobo, and here's Firestorm, and it just it felt very sort of

crassly commercial. These are all very commercial products, but this is all very crassly commercial.

What I didn't like is that it had the ending had the sense of it being an epilogue that was being

told to me after the fact instead of having me be along for the final fight. And it is actually it

is actually narrated in present tense, but it felt like it had happened and now we're just

getting the recap of it instead of there wasn't much suspense in it. And so it just felt like

for a series that, and this was the thing when this first was revealed to us, you know, we're like,

all right, yeah, let's lean to this thing. Let's have the big fights, and this should have been

that. This should have been, and the crottie kid, this should have been blood sport, this should

look at any of the like rocky, that's what the ending should have been, and it was not that. And

like if you think about, um, was that that black canary book that Tom King did recently, Ryan's

took, you know, like, that whole thing was a fight. You're in the ring for it. This is called

DCKO. It's Superman versus dark side at the end, like, make all those awesome things, you know,

you know, like planet size punches a fight, but like, man, if that is not something you can do with

with the DC comic superhero, about a one-on-one fight, what are we doing here? Yeah.

It felt like wrong. It very much felt like an epilogue where, again, it sets up the post event

status quo. It felt like we missed the climax, like we skipped over the fights. This is issue six,

the fight was issue five, but we didn't do, we didn't do five. So in essence, this was a

initial pointing issue. I, again, I thought I thought the entire thing was, was pretty fun.

I liked a lot of things that happened. I loved, um, certain scenes in here. I really like the

epilogue scene, which in which, uh, which is drummer Westcrag where, uh, Barry Allen comes home with,

it looks to be a thousand dollars with the comics. Um, he's got like 12. Those are comics.

Yeah. Square shaped. I thought they were, I thought they were record singles. He loves when

days. He's a comic nerd. And he's got a giant comic book stack. And it's just that he's got a million of

them. Um, so it was also a little confusing what exactly did happen in this book. And also that

they found a way to be like, you beat dark side, but guess what? His absolute characters are still around

because you're all blind. Okay. So further complain. What, what, what, what are, what do we do

him in these absolute characters? Well, that's the, I think that's he's dilemma because they're

selling so well, whatever they're applying to them, they can do. They came out there were going to be

like the dark bad versions, but now they're just the same super has they're not really in a

horrible world. They just beat dark side. So like, there's a version of them here that I was like,

oh, maybe this is what they were going to be. But are you also then telling me that these super

powerful characters who be spent all of this time getting to know for the last two years? Like,

they're all just able to be corrupted by dark side and turn evil. Like, what, why,

the, what story are you telling me? It's, I think, I think they got a few people on their own

success. They, they didn't expect that. And now they are, they have to keep these things going,

in a way, they probably didn't plan on it. But, um, so all this is leading to what seems to be

absolute crisis sometime in the future, which will they'll figure out what to do with those absolute

characters probably there. But, um, there was some sort of like explosion. I swear to

not a thing. Miles Morales, these cause these characters into the two universes. What, you don't

think having force enough? Like, now we got out of fifth one to the DC universe. So, um,

there was some sort of explosion of omega or alpha energy, whatever it was. And so,

apparently a lot of characters are going to have this like new new amp up powers or new abilities

going forward. This is the same thing they did a couple years ago. It's that same thing.

When they do the power swaps, uh, Superman seems to be missing. And the implication here is that

the, the, the, the Superboy Prime will be the lead of his book for the, for the time being.

I don't want that. That seems, I don't need that. I don't need that. I don't either. And that

seems to be what they're applying here. Um, then there's like the thing like they did the,

try to do the Marvel endgame thing. Like, I'm just tagging them in and all the other superheroes

showed up. Nothing happened though. Yeah. Again, this was a mess. This, this was, this was a,

this was a mess of a specific issue. Um, so again, so, so Clark Kent's missing. Um,

if you look at the all and aftermath art, Guy Gardner now wears a robe. Uh,

again, Superboy Prime is prominently there next, you know, in the Trinity, in the Trinity image. So,

I don't know. This, this, um, could have been a lot more fun than it was. It was fun, but it

could have been a lot more fun. It just feels like a huge mist. Like, like, I don't understand

the thought process at all. My, I wonder, you know, we don't, we don't really seem to have time

to dig in anymore because I feel like we have to move so quickly because they're afraid of,

of attrition and readership. And so all the stories happen very fast. They all feel like outlines.

You know, we get these five issues. This would have, you know,

this would have been a 12 issue story many years ago. You really would have dug into the story.

Now it's a five issue. I would have complained about 12 issues being too long back then.

But now it's a five issue story. You can't, you can't do it in five issues.

Well, here's your problem though. It used to be that stories were how many issues they took.

And now everything has to, I know, but like, to a certain extent, there was like a set number of

issues. Right. I get it. But like, even just in, in series arcs, you'd have one issue one,

two, three or four. And now they all have to be the same length. And that is so limiting.

That makes things seem to feel too short or too long or whatever. Like,

and again, I understand why there's an after, there's a trade market. There's, but I just think

once again, over and over and over, I think publishers aren't giving comic book readers any

fucking credit at all. They think if we like, oh, if you get a trade that had, I used to do this,

I'd get a trade back when you couldn't get many trades. And it would have two stories in it.

One was three issues and one was, and like, we got by like, you know,

so I'd add that up. Yeah, I just, it's, they're like, they think that we're so fickle,

but I have the feeling like, you know, this bulk of comic book readers are the same goddamn

people who've been buying them. They're going to keep doing it until they die. They're us.

Yeah. It's just, it's just, I think it's been capped us a lot. That's what's, what's wrong. And again,

I don't want to knock to knock on not KO, but it was a fun mini. It was a fun thing, but

it just sort of collapsed at the end into a commercial firm. Yeah.

Endings are hard and named these very smart talented people. I think made the wrong choice.

I think final crisis was like eight or nine issues. You just, you need that many to tell a big

universe-wide story. Five is not enough, especially with the way that they tell stories now,

like they just, there's not enough real estate. And it's a problem. Let's talk about Batman number seven

from Matt Fraction, Jorge Menez. We were correct. That is dad bod Joker. It was funny. I was

anticipating your complaint. So I asked, this is my first mistake. I asked AI when the last time

we saw Joker in a comic was, and it told me DCKO, and I was like, well, that was my own fault.

That was, that's exactly true, but not what I meant. So we find out here that the, the, the man in

the tube from the final page, the last issue is the fact that Joker being held in, in the back,

the back to tank by the doctor that Bruce went on the date on. And I thought this was really good.

I mean, I like the joke. I know you don't, I know you're sick of it, but I thought this was a

similar to Fouls of the Lambs. This was a really good, you know, TED, the big reveal that he

knows, he's Bruce is not a big reveal. That's been stupidly the case for a while. I don't know why

that was so so shocking, but, um, I don't think that's telling the story that way. If you just imagine

you've never, you know, like, this is just your Batman story and it's like, okay, in this one,

he didn't know we knew, but he knew whatever. I like the little details of the special floor that you

can. I thought that was really smart. I move from and then she makes Batman take his boots off. So

he said, he's standing there. I'll talk with his bare feet the whole time, which is both the

funny and a strange image. Um, and also him in this really well lit room, really highlights the

difference of the costume. Like he's in the slight blue outfit. And it's very different. I don't

not think it's bad. It's just, it's just really highlighted it. And I'm, I thought about this too.

Like the old ways of drawing the old blue Batman suit always had the black outlined face.

They were trying to give it texture, shadow, whatever. And they don't draw like that anymore. So

this like light blue Batman face is so much startling still to me. Yeah. Um, I'd like

you to give him like a little eyebrow action like Spider-Man's eyes. You know, I just thought this

was really interesting and fun and really like how we drew the cape and this, especially

the kind of all the standing shots. Like it's just this one where he's, there's this one where like

he's sort of from the side and the capes wrapped all around him. And he's got his like bare feet out.

It's like it's weird. Um, I don't know what to think of the lady. I was, I was like, wait, so

is she stupid or bad or like I don't, which I don't, I'm not complaining. I don't need, I don't

need to know now. Like that's the deal. Um, well, she's, I don't think she's bad.

Based on what we've seen here, she, we've seen what we've seen. She could be bad. But

she seems to be following the trap that everyone falls into is I'm going to be the one to fix the

Joker. Right. And there's no, no one can fix the Joker. But, um, there was bits in here, though,

that specifically, what's it to beginning? The brain uses less than 500 calories a day and

generates around 12 watts of electricity. His burn brain, his brain burned through 8,000 calories

and could light a Christmas tree. And shouldn't he be thinner? Yeah, why is he, if he's burning 8,000

calories just in his brain activity, he should be a stick figure Joker, not, not this one. But I

was going to say, I don't feel like we've ever been like had his, his meta power or whatever

delineated like that. And like, so he's a genius or like, we've always done

some kind of genius. Yeah. But maybe, I mean, I was almost like, yeah, but don't explain it.

It's great comic book explanation, by the way, I'm 100% fine with that. I think that

explanation can be just, he's really smart or it's a power. And you can decide for yourself what

it wanted to be. I'd rather not be a power. So I just assume he's, he's a smart batman that's

just an evil, an evil, I mean, he has to be. But it's one of those things like the more we know

about him, the worse, totally more we don't know about him, the better. So every time you explain

anything specifically about him, I think you're taking something away from the character.

Absolutely. That said, it's totally a subjective choice. And it fits in the comic book. And it's,

I don't fault them for doing edge to preference. Totally. I'm just looking through the, I mean,

we talk about every issue, but the hor, the horning of his book is a gift to everyone. I mean,

fractures doing an amazing job, putting his spin on the book and his own, you know, in a way that

feels very fresh. But man, the, the flashback of classic Joker by come in is in that one shot

where we see, you know, him deal with the cop, like it's such a good drawing of classic Joker.

And there's a, I guess when it, when she bought the issue, there was like a five page pullout,

which for us is a tiny little page. Right. But he changed up his style for that. It's a totally

different, you know, look and feel and much more like Wilson Cavitch's like it. I thought that

was amazing. And Tomo Moray, 100%, you know, contributed to that.

He's talking about all this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the, this, I, I don't know, because I, I'm not,

I feel like this would have been fun as a colorist to do. That's, that's my instinct here.

Because you get too much with, with the reflections and shadows and the colors and just all the

tents going around everywhere. Yeah. It's a great book. And I, I mean, do you think that Joker has

hairy arms in a chest? I don't think he does. I think the Joker has nobody hair, even if he's

getting technical burns it all off. He's like a baby seal down there. He just looks like somebody's

uncle here. I, they said something about how something that happened changed his body shape. But

like, again, if he's burning 8,000 calories, just in thought, and he should have, he should be,

you know, on the skinny side of life. But what do I know? That we look upon you with my own eyes.

Let's take a quick break. We'll be back right after this.

Or Macho. Try it today at Starbucks.

Okay, let's talk about Briar. Nights, terror number three.

Still on this? No, I just, Christopher Cantwell. I don't, I don't blame you one way or another.

I think this is the, I think this is the third mini series. It is from, um, of, uh, sleeping beauty,

basically, uh, as written by Christopher Cantwell, uh, with Art by Alex Linz.

And I think the beginning of this, this has to be the end of it. It's definitely,

like, it feels like it's the third arc and they were sort of closing in. I thought, I don't

know if I want to read this anymore, but I've actually been really enjoying, uh, this, this last,

uh, I really like this issue. I've been joining the last three. It's just kind of fun,

inventive things in here. And, you know, I can never forget that Christopher Cantwell,

it's gotten, he's done so many comics that I almost forget. It's a Christopher Cantwell,

you know, co-wrote one of my favorite shows ever. And so I, you know, I instinctively

have to be like, no, this guy is, you know, he's doing things that I don't particularly love. I,

I like the way he does it. Um, you know, there's a, a relationship that has sprung up, uh,

between the blue spider lady and, and sleeping beauty. And it, it's very organic and actually

worked really well. And you believe it because you can't, I kind of didn't see it coming. And, uh,

it's, it's satisfying in a way. And then the, the witch kid, uh, who's, who's a, they, I don't,

I don't remember the character's name. Right. Uh, goes to hell, uh, meet somebody there and

introduces love to hell. So then he becomes the king of hell and all the demons are like, this

is great. This love thing you brought here. Then, you know, shows up at the end to, to help,

you know, it's got that culmination of a bunch of stuff happening at the end. It's over the top.

It's a fairy tale. It's an adventure story. And Alex Lins is great. Um, so this is one of those,

this is one of those comics that like, I'm going to really enjoy when I'm reading it. I'll

probably never remember it existed. And somebody will probably never bring it up again. But

this is a comic book story. And I cherish the, like, just a, just a comic book story. This is,

this is like a vertical book. This is what a vertical book, this would have been one before,

like a original, right, but yeah, I really enjoy it. Well, that's nice. Um, I like, I like the first

two ball. I just, I just, I just, I just, I just, um, the Avengers 802 or 36, the final issue of

Jed McCays run on the Avengers 36 issues, drama for read Karami, who gives everyone a little bit

extra padding. Um, uh, on all the right places, just for everybody, not just the ladies,

the men to, um, and so in this issue, it's, it's truly an epilogue in which Carol Captain Marvel

goes around to each member of the team and says that she is resigning as chairman and she thinks

that this involved, this volume of the Avengers should also disband. And so that she's going around

doing that while interest first with Kang in prison, getting beaten up at first and then turn

the tables and be being Kang again. That's sort of the plot of this. And this issue, um, there was a,

in this run of Avengers, there was a couple of things we liked. There was that heist little two issue

story we liked a lot. But overall, I'd have to say it ends with a thud as, as it was the entire time,

kind of a thud, um, as much as we love Jed McCays' other work, this, just, again, the Avengers claims

another scout. It's just like no one can figure that out. How much do I appreciate Jason

Aaron's run that I wasn't sure about while it was going on compared to this

puddle of crud? This thing that I tried my best to enjoy the entire time making mental excuses for

what was sporing me on a deep level. And then this last issue, just enveloping all the crud into

one final crud epilogue of, of her going around going, what do you think? And then go to somebody

and say, what do you think? He's fucking Captain Marvel. She does not need to ask everybody's

opinion on it. I don't even know who Black Panther is supposed to be. Is he a dicknet? Was he all,

like, I don't understand. I'm sick of, can Tony Stark do the thing and, oh, he was awful.

They make it like, you know what? I liked the city. The city was the only thing I liked out of

this, the impossible city who became like a Warren Ellis kind of character who spoke to them. And

he's taken off. I was like, all right. So that's, that's the thing with these other characters who

I don't want to see again, but there's going to be a mini series. No, I don't think so.

This just didn't worst you wait five years from now. Well, maybe there's a mini series going on

right now that's an extended like that world world thing. And we just thought never that would

have never come back. Super michuens with Tony and Carol initiating a new vote for the new

Avengers chairperson, which apparently happens, goes to everyone's card and they can somehow vote

through the guard. And so all the active members, which is basically everyone, the Marvel universe

votes. And that's the cliffhanger is, is who the new chairperson of the Avengers is. I don't

believe that Marvel has announced a new Avengers series yet. The next thing they've announced is that

the next Marvel event is Armageddon. And there's an Avengers Armageddon book in that mix. And

that's a chipset, our ski run thing is doing all those things. So I don't know that we know when

or where there'll be another Avengers series. So they will have to have to be one by the time

Doomsday or the fuck it's called comes out in December. But I was sure this is the same Jed McKay.

Because the stuff, the stuff with the court of Camelot characters so bad. It was so it was like

one of the many maybe unformed kick starters that have been pitched to us over the years. It was

that level of inconsequentially boring and just nothing about it was interesting.

There were four pages in this issue that dealt with them. And if I'm being 100% honest with you and

the viewers and listeners, I skimmed those pages. I don't say they haven't said anything the entire

time. They had one little bit was we were made to be new Avengers and then we weren't but now we are.

We love Avengers. We're great. You are great. We did that last issue. What was this?

This wasted my time. Thank God we got a little bit of Kang on either side of it by the way.

It's unfortunate because again we love we really are big fans of Jed McKay's other work. I like

his ex-man book this week. I like his moon night book. We really like his the book we just talked about.

No, but I mean I gave this writer back in a week. Yeah, I mean just

Well, you know how you know how everyone suspects that Dan Moore employs at the studio. Maybe

this is maybe Jed McKay has another writer who he probably pops off his other work. It's his brother Ned.

Ned McKay gets to do the Avengers book. That could be it. It's possible.

I'm hopes brings eternal for the Avengers. I'm an Avengers guy group reading Avengers. I'm hoping

the next thing will work and I'm excited for chips story. We'll see what happens.

So Josh is going to he's going to bring his blood pressure down. I'm going to talk to you really

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usually the books below the posts and we appreciate all of you thank you very much and let's talk

more comics let's talk about narco number one one of the hot new books from image or two of them

this week i only read this one this is a Doug Wagner on art story and Daniel Hill you're at an

art and look Dave Stewart i was like how how they how do these how who are these people who they

rope in Dave Stewart right if they can pay his page rate there you go um so the the cover looks like

it's going to be some sort of monster story because there's a good kid with a pop tartist mouth

and there's a red woman behind him looking all sinister while he types out it's reading pop

tarts it's raining pop tarts but it's not it's a crime story about a kid with some sort of a

narcolepsy disease where if his blood for his his heartbeat reaches 200 heartbeat for minute he passes

out i mean while his neighbor who gets a crush on his murdered um and this is kind of fun actually

i really kind of liked it um you know it uh was surprising i didn't know what to think i

advice the cover i was expecting some sort of supernatural thing and i was pleasantly surprised

in the other direction that there was no supernatural thing into it really so you

thought what they should do here is have a kid sitting on a bench talking himself for six

fucking pages to start your story thank god Dave Stewart showed up then then after that why

do they just sit in a fucking restaurant and talk to each other for another eight pages

i was so annoyed at the like i i think there was something interesting there but i think that

like you forgot you were doing a comic book because i the art was great but like if i'm the artist

and i got that scribes or you just sit here on the bench and talk so like do you got to use the

format a little more Daniel Hill you're really good i don't know where i don't know if i've seen

that name before and i couldn't think of who here's art reminding me of but it reminded me of

somebody yeah yeah i didn't think of what it was but i think it got better as it went on but as an

opener i you know like we read new comics all the time we are i i've i want to read new things but

i also get my guard up about like well what's gonna bore me and i just was like all right on the

bench on the bench on the bench also maybe in a tiny part of me was like what does this have to do

with the drug uh the drug trade of the 90s for example in latin america and this not what this

book is about oh narco in fact i don't know if you can use narco in that context now because it's

it's a different word but whatever what's right it's missing a letter so i i didn't like i

i agree with you that the first couple of pages were long but it gave you a lot of context i think

the story really kicks off when he gets to his friends even though it is more talking scene and

and we know this every indie creator is really just writing a movie they hope to get made but

um i thought the characters were interesting that i like this friend group but i thought once

especially once you got to his house and if it came sort of this locked room murder where he's

on the inside the murders all the stuff's happening outside through his people i have those

really interesting device that he you know he sees first he sees the help the boyfriend show up and

he manages to get him away but all again through the people it doesn't actually interact

i think i think the artist did a beautiful job rendering that also like when he passes out and the

swirly stuff happens yep but seeing the guy through the people there's a sort of overhead shot of his

room where he's sort of like mcsherist or whatever yeah some great stuff in there so i like like

i said i think in the beginning he had to do her herculean work because he was being wasted um

but that might just be i don't know who these comic book writers i don't know maybe they're great

uh but they're just learning i don't know so i'm looking forward to more i did i did find it

engaging now you know you expect the story to go one way and he's like he's his neighbor he likes

the neighbor like him but then she's murdered and so that's that take you know now it's going

in a whole different direction and i thought it was interesting i the other thing i think is that

like it just at the end of the day i was like oh it's this guy who's not sure of himself you know

i was like i don't i don't i'm over this this is i love this when i was 25 but now i'm like i

don't want to watch some young kid him and haw about whether she talked to a girl oh great i'd

love to watch my own failures in dramatic form i'm good thank you let's talk about lands

unknown the skinless man Ben Stenbeck story and art uh with again the incomparable Dave Stewart on

colors two Dave Stewart books in a row i was very happy about that i believe i read them right in a row

and uh clem robins uh veteran supreme man lettered my favorite comic book of all time so he's

must be doing something good um this was a Ben Stenbeck i know had been an artist on

hellboy minulaverse stuff over the years as they've had that sort i think he i i don't remember

what books he did but i do remember that i liked i was like that name is a name i like he did books

that were good and so what he's doing here is good frankenstein he did baltimore yeah the

baltimore like great artist and just like the books he read the the freckstein underground book

yep yeah uh but this is not related to hellboy it looks like he did it in 1953 yeah uh oh yeah

that was great it's a little bit of a cheat to use the same the same cover treatment that the

hellboy books get and even including the little bar at the top saying from the world of like

i nearly read this because i thought it was a hellboy book and then i saw it wasn't and i just

said not to i saw Ben Stenbeck and Dave Stewart and i was like all right let's give it a shot

and what we've got here is the fantasy story uh you know there's a witch there is a skinless there's

a skinless man who was a legend uh and they he led a band of warriors and they found a golden-eyed

baby and he was all written in that you know fantasy language and i just thought wow this guy's

rate at this like he didn't write any of those other books i read but in terms of just sort of

owning this format and so alkoober went in search of a giant sympathetic to his needs

believe in the king of kerf i had such a beast in his possession i don't know if you listen to

hardcore history but i just did that guy's voice um didn't mean to but it was just like it was exactly

what it should have been um you know it looked like a hellboy book it was colored by Dave Stewart

but it was not it was its own thing which i thought was better in the end like i don't

i only want my vanilla to hellboy i was it was for what it was i thought it was great i i really

enjoyed it and i thought it looked great and um you know like a guy who i've never seen i've seen

draw but i've never seen read a book i just thought this is there's another book this week

we're gonna talk about actually it's gonna yeah it's coming up where an artist wrote something

and i was like this is not as good as the drawing is on its own whereas this i felt was the opposite

so there's been other lands unknown books okay it was Erie Tupka and the gods

um i think that was his own universe here bowling with corpses and other strange tales from lands

unknown there's been a bunch of them but they're from dark horse yeah uh is it related to mic

minule at all not that i can tell other than you know like yeah and it says the skinless man

marks tenbex first story in the horror fantasy lands unknown universe co-created by mic minula

maybe he created the whatever the world so there was a skinless man before maybe this is the skinless man

what i'm talking about yeah i don't know so this is this is my this is my minula adjacent it's

what we're saying it's but it was just you know fantasy monster story whatever like i enjoyed it

that was really well done those are the books we're gonna talk about by the patreon.com slash

fanboy every patreon the show gets the vote to add a book to the rundown this week the winner was

exman annual number one written by ryan stegman with art by steve scroch

the scrocheman with stanford greens and ryan stegman i that i make that dumbass joke airtime i see

his name now i'm so sorry it's it's it's it's it's made him into an 80s movie character and it's not

his fault uh come on i think i think i think that he's uh like a folk singer from the 70s i think he's

jim scrochee jim scrochee right sorry i see him with those sunglasses he hangs out with styles colors

by martha hesley and letters like thing cows and this is he can't hang out with styles because styles is

the he is the styles he is the style of movies and boner can't hang out with the scroch he's got to be

with like Alex or you know whoever the the regular dude is go on okay so i am 100% understand

what you just said about this book the previous book mm-hmm what i did like about this a lot was

the art and the the sort of the overall goofy nature of it um and so in this story

uh the x-men are attacked phoenix comes back because she senses the servers and the force and

the x-men are attacked by essentially imagination because there was an x there was a mutant in the

Xavier school who could basically manifest anything he could think of but the problem was he had no

imagination this is the patreon and uh so he basically got bullied out of the school um and left

and the and then kid that the bunch of comics artists to have them mind meld with him through

big to comic book head the you know helmet device to make their ideas come to life and those artists

are sanford green and ryan stegman ryan stegman writing him drawing himself here um well they all draw

various versions but um i like that goofy nonsense bit i like that i like the the reveal of him and the

artist at the table and that very much looks like ryan stegman um i assume stanford green i have

never met him but um i thought that was fun and i like the art the the monster coming through the portal

but being a sketch and then you know you know merging into a fully colored like i'm a sucker for

the process being revealed on the page um but i agree with you the writing wasn't incredibly sharp and

that kind of thing but overall i thought this was you know fine i like the pages of the day

where they become drawings themselves and we'll reign freaking that because it's like what am i

you know a sketch now i that kind of stuff is fun you get to play with the medium in a way that no

other medium can play with yourself yeah it did it reminded me a lot of what was that

Avengers book we did in the books below last year with um oh um yes the event is very similar to

the showbook yeah very similar to that so right away i was like oh we're doing we're doing this

where you're the character and the thing and i can see why it would be fun for the artist but

i just was like all right you know that i've been through this before i did like

visually i thought it was pretty strong i really did like the the you know the pencil drawings

the unfinished drawings i guess um and sort of the idea that they had to you know they they

the drawing became more finished as it came more into the world of the people like at one point

you know there's there's sound effects that are written in pencil i think visually it's very

interesting mm-hmm i think the concept's not terrible from for like the the mutant you know

whatever his deal is i'm kind of glad that he was at least a mutant and not Ryan Stegman you know

right you know specifically i guess that's that's the scrosh i don't really know um i couldn't tell

either and i said that's a google but then like the bit where he's like oh man you want to get pizza

yeah i guess like say i laughed at that page i thought it was i know i know six you should we go

help it's like why why how would that help anything i just go get pizza that was funny to me

this has more this has more to do with sort of what i think i was looking for in stuff but also like

this isn't for me you know like i don't care about any of these characters i don't what the

fuck is wrong with phoenix's outfit now anyway um that's her new cosmic outfit yeah i think it

accomplished what it was supposed to do and it was probably fun to do and i think if you like

this stuff you probably would have liked this a lot i read it i was i didn't want to read it i knew

it was coming up as the because i just don't want to read an x-men annual why does every annual

get to be number one now fuck off um it's always been that way i know but uh yeah it was fine

but i was gonna say is like read it because i was like oh i have to read it and i like i was like

okay it wasn't it wasn't i wasn't mad reading it doesn't uh i can't get through this but i guess

i guess the guy could be scrouch i mean why would you have two of the creators on here and not the

other i mean i don't know what of him he's he's just i mean he's a white guy with glasses in a beard

and so i guess that could be him i mean so if you're gonna just draw a comic book artist at random

we got a good chance like you're getting the over on that one so it's like i would

draw a movie or a comedy yeah it could be real harvin um so yeah i mean look this was not the

best thing i read this week or you know or even in the top half of the books are this week but i

thought it was enjoyable enough and i liked looking at the pages where they you know got to play

with the form and that's going to be and i enjoyed the fun of it so i'm gonna give x-men annual

number one out of five stars a three star review our rating ratings i was gonna say three

but my three is different than year three that's what we've learned to a certain extent

because we'll do this world we'll be like oh it's pretty good i'm like i was off and then we'll

say the same number at the end this has happened a lot i used an epics system this is a three

star for me as i liked it two point seven five then that's great on you turn me whatever you want

that's the that's gonna be out of it uh so the second question we answered here was would you

read this if it wasn't a patreon pic i had already read it you were not going to no and uh

sticking with it well there's nothing to stick with it's just a one off issue so

cannot answer that there you go x-men annual number one the patreon pic if you thanks

to read a patron pay every page is the vote to add book to the rundown but if you give it the five

dollar a higher level you get a patron power live on the show like the script says it's me but it's

Josh yeah that's totally me Rebecca Kroninfeld Rebecca Kroninfeld knows right away and without doubt

what everybody really thinks of her upon needing somebody it's full consciousness of what this other

person's opinion of her is and it affects all of their dealings as such is it something like it's

just like they Rebecca knows is it like does she hear the thoughts as a pertains to them or is it

is it no Rebecca has like a oh this person likes it doesn't like me for these reasons it's like

you know like it's just you just know just like you know like if you were to say to me like if you

were less somebody's like Josh what does Connor really think of Ron Richards like I could tell you

what you really think of Ron Richards with Ron this week i know but i know what you really

i know how you feel about Ron Richards it's like it's kind of it just knows this it's a new one's

complicated thing yes so that is just instantly understood so the idea that like this person at the

at the bank kind of doesn't trust me or isn't even interested or oh this person is really being

the ageful because i don't know how useful this is for Rebecca but the ageful question

does this stripper really like me no i mean like you know

they just know no i know it that that's that's the thing but Rebecca sure

you know like and it's it's a it can be really nice and it can be really lonely you know but

there's no falseness so everybody who you know if you if you like her she knows

you never have to worry about the you know should i ask this person out or not yeah you'll know for

sure what kind of answer you're gonna get yeah all right Rebecca thanks for your Patreon patreon.com

slash i fanboy that's where you get your patient power let's um do an email we have for the one

ear so let's do it okay i'll do don k of falcon colorado it's cool that name yes absolutely

uh i've been reading comics since the 70s as a small child i have taken the breaks like most readers

have in college etc i got back into comics completely around 2012 i devoured everything since

that time my interest has waned but recently i've almost completely stopped reading anything new

when i started back in comics i found so many stories and writers that interested me

that seems lost and i have little to no interest what does i fanboy do to keep

interest during the valleys how do you find the fire to keep on with this every week i emphasize

this he didn't it feels like i am about to end my comic reading potentially for good

it's interesting i thought when i saw the scene when i came in and when you picked it i thought

there was a time it was uh maybe a year or two ago where we got to see him like every week

our variation of this email and we haven't had a while at least we answered him a lot

but it's been a long time since it's done so let's do it again uh i do not remember doing that when

i picked it no no no no no i'm just saying you know we we get we could have gotten it 15 years ago

i mean the same thing that we went through a period where a lot of people were feeling

you know down i don't remember i don't remember it isn't fixing it

i can easily answer in digital comics get yourself a show that you have to do every week

yeah we're not good we're not going to be good at answering this for you because we literally

have a deadline and people well it's not that it's because we lost we love doing the show

yes so even if the book suck the act of doing the show is super fun so we have that extra added

uh thing that makes comic reading more enjoyable because we know we get to come on and do the show

and we have a good time doing it so that's it's true when i was on when i was away when i was on

vacation like i read books and i was like i don't get to talk to Connor about this and it wasn't

it wasn't like oh we don't i don't get to put it on the show like i've lost content but i was like

and then i thought can i talk to Connor about this like i was like i know i can but would they just

i don't know that that i mean that's our specific to us answer but the you know um

it's i mean if you you you've got to find something that you enjoy and it's not the characters

in the stories and it's the cut then it's the craft and the art of the making of a book

um you know maybe that's not something you're into and you just like the characters in the stories

and you find them boring and that's that totally happens because comics are are cyclical by nature

and and i mentioned at the top of the show that i was that i had thoughts of marvel and that was

gonna bring up during adventures but i just forgot so you know i think marvels are really really

really fallow creative period i think yes so many of their books are really boring and and not doing

anything interesting and they need to get out of it quick it's been a while and so we

it but that's a sick secular secular six cyclical thing that's the word wow i don't know what the

fuck that other word was circular and cyclical yeah it you know all in the time we've done this show

every major company has gone through peaks and valleys and it seemed like they're never gonna

get out of it and then something happens and they do and it's more interesting and fun again but

um at the same time understandably this is not a cheap endeavor these are expensive items and

so if you're not enjoying them it's hard to say keep at it they'll get better eventually when you're

spending five you know five bucks an issue so they're kind of not going to get better they're

going to be what they are and sometimes you'll be into it and so no i know but like

it's not going to marvel get better no i know that but like comics themselves aren't going to

change they're going to be that thing and maybe you're not into it for a little while and then

something happens that's interesting or some new creator comes along that strikes some cord

and you're whatever but it's gonna like this is the flow this is how it goes do you look what i

would ask you then you you said it like because i definitely go through this where sometimes like i

you know if i wasn't if i am i guess if i'm into Marvel superheroes right now i've had

a rough time as i just have hadn't like it like it's been everything in the world for you know

18 years now and like like people people still talk to me about like the movies or whatever

and i'm like i don't know like how do you even care anymore to a certain extent now i can

care about the comics because of the other element of it that i like so much which is the craft

of the thing and to me that's made a really big difference is trying to appreciate that and like

when i tell you what we're i don't know something we're you know like something like

uh beneath the trees in order to seize you know like something like that comes that's exciting

like look what this person's doing this is new you know or or just these little things all the time

that i can find myself but the superhero stories like i come and go on those i because we know

them so well and we talk about them like there's a like having to think about what you think about

them and make like that is a mental exercise that actually brings my brain happy so that's good but

there's going to be other stuff that you were interested in that have come and go on going

about i feel like you're pretty stoward with those things but like other things because i have

several avenues in i i love the craft of it in the art and finding a new and exciting artist but

i also really love the characters and the stories and that's my primary driver for me so i don't

think of it but i would say for dawn that no go if i was going to say like if there's something else

not comics is the thing that you like we're into and then you're like i don't get like i mean i

know you like there was a sport you watch for a while yeah i'm not getting i'll be honest i

was getting on i was getting on the fence on but baseball for a little while because the game

we got really boring you know for reasons that we just cannot get into but they've got they've

pulled out of it because again everything everything will eventually pull out of it or it goes away but

um and and the what i enjoyed about watch baseball was was something that the the game itself stopped

valuing and so i would you know there was there was about two seasons a couple years ago where i was

like i'm not really enjoying this and it's and that feels bad yeah because the thing that you like

it's more exciting now but yeah but also the thing that you liked isn't doing it for you anymore

yeah and and like that like i'm reading between the lines with dawn like that's what i'm hearing

is that like this thing that i liked isn't giving me joy anymore right you know in your position if

you're dawn stop buying comics for a while find something else that makes you happy or you know

like i've been i've been reading pretty much whatever i have a spare time i've been reading

usagi or jimbo and then japanese manga comics from the 70s that's what i read from joy that's

i was gonna say so here's my my several things for advice for dawn is one think about what it is

about the hobby that you enjoy is it is it the art and the craft is it the characters and the stories

and and try to focus it on those like okay maybe it's the characters and all everything maybe

you're a big marvel guy and you think all the marvel comics are boring right now which i agree with you

and i'm putting thoughts on your head but then then then you might have to just take a break because

they'd come back when things get better or you hear things are better but if it's the art and the

craft then maybe you just sort of look around for other publishers or fall look follow the people

that you really like and look for those things or if you really like the form and the function

in the comics and the characters themselves no one says you got to keep reading the new ones

you don't have to go every Wednesday there's there's 80 years of back issues and older comics

spend your time and money checking out some of the classics that maybe you never read

you've been reading so much like you've been reading a lot of your back in jimbo because you

love that book and you see you've been going back and reading all of them and yeah long wolf and cub

you've been reading all of those like you know find some things from the past that maybe you never

read or it's been 20 years and you forgot and then go every read those and see if that kick starts

your love of of it back you know into into overdrive or maybe it's just you're done and then this

you know i'm not saying you you have to find a way back in if if you're really not enjoying

anymore then then you shouldn't be spending your time and money on something you're not enjoying

i was just you know but you don't know comics anything like and like whatever you're gonna invest

like i don't i don't know what you've read but like this is not an exact you know but like you're

like man i have i've always been thinking about reading preacher like don't buy weekly comics anymore

because there is a thing where like all the weekly comics that come out now they're all a little

related everybody's going through the same thing and it tends to come in waves and so like

you know a lot of them start to feel see me you know you'll see like we'll go through the thing where

there's just like oh all the all the indie comics are apocalypse comics now all you know they're

all about you they they all tend to follow a trend but like read something from 20 25 years ago

we're just like go like pick up watchman read watchman again and be like oh this is what it's

supposed to make me feel like it might not be that story but you know like i'm reading um

the the guys i can't remember the names off the top my head i'm sorry the guys who did lone wolf

and cob i'm reading another series they did concurrently these motherfuckers uh bath of the assassin

and i i cannot put it down you know i just like i as i'm going through lone wolf and cob i was like

i i think that this is my favorite artist now i you know like that's the thing that i said

me but like at the same time like i have a hard time finding movies i want to watch at this point

like they're not exciting me and you know so whatever i'll find one then when it doesn't

but i even even even if you've been reading since the 70s as a small child which is basically

similar to us i mean i started in the 80s as a small child there's gotta be runs of books you didn't

read and some already you've heard about maybe you're an Avengers fan i mean go back and read

their 80s Avengers comics or go back and read the Perez p690s Avengers run and i go back and read

the classics of the of the characters you like or the characters you like and

and read those you don't have to go every Wednesday to the store and read new books i'm gonna

i'm gonna make one more point and i'm sorry but saying you don't feel like reading comics anymore

like no one ever says oh i don't like to read books anymore but if you're always buying

the same kind of books from the same three companies that come out every single week at the same time

like this there's uh no you know people don't get tired of reading books they get tired of

reading a type of book and weekly right weekly mainstream comics are a type of book there's

just don't like you don't i don't think you're talking about the medium i think you're talking

into the universe you don't buy into that yeah i'm going shared universe anymore and that's fine

they'll go read other things there's tons of great standalone stuff that you don't need to you don't

have to buy into that self perpetuating ecosystem are you always come back there's no reason why just

just find something to make you happy yeah nothing makes sense the matter you can jump back on it's fine

we're here from a very short time like just just enjoy as much as you can it's not making you happy

finds something else that makes you happy and it's right i'm sure she doesn't really like you

that's the bad news so uh we want to hear from you if you've got your your your therapy you need

just like like Don did or just whatever you want to get on the show right as a contact at

contact.ifamboi.com or if you want to be a media slow show put media slow in the subject line

usually we bank those for them for the for the mailbag episodes but you never know let's uh

plug some things and get going so the rest of this month of March somehow i don't know how that

happened we have two extra shows beyond the pick of the week on March 19th we'll have our media

split show we're talking about Star Trek Starfleet Academy season one and we're also going to have

our uh 2016 Academy Awards reaction it'll be the week after the Oscars so we'll talk about that

a little bit too and then a few weeks later we'll have our books blow to March 26th talking about

Darwin Cook's the complete spirit connoisseur edition speaking of great runs by creators we love

from from the past uh week we're gonna talk about that i'm i have not read this any of this

probably since it came out 20 almost 20 years ago so i'm very excited to do this one so those

those are shows coming out uh this month you can check those out at ifamboi.com because

that's where we have over 1,500 shows you can find them all out ifamboi.com we're podcast or sold

and never miss a show find out what the big week is before the show comes out by following

said ifamboi.com on instagram and threads or at ifamboi.com.com on blue sky individually we are

csclpastric on instagram and jflanagan instagram and don't miss former i think my writer Jeff

reads video deep does to comic book history every Tuesday and friday across our social channels and

on youtube you know i didn't really suspect when i got that print up there on the wall that what

i would feel like was that robber redford and paul and we're checking me out all the judge

i got yeah no no no it's like that meme he's like oh like that's like redford it's like i like what

i see that's what i'm saying um so uh you can find wait you said that part uh these letters are

wrong that's my fault so uh consider right i brought it like that on purpose and then you just

kept going so i didn't think about it please consider writing a review for this show uh on any

of the places where you can do that i don't know where they are i know that people have done it

before uh i know they have them on apple still probably i don't assume that there's other things

so if you if you listen if say that you're you're downloading or watching this where it is

if it needs a review or a star rating of the ability to do that do that that helps us that's great

i'm not gonna keep asking many in the world next week but not today you can go to youtube.com slash

i fanboy you can watch the video version of this show if you're not already watching it um and all

our special edition shows that exist there jeff reads videos and then our archive of uh original

video comic book content years before it's time uh which is not as bad as we remember but not as

good as we wish it still was uh and finally join us on the i fanboy after show exclusively on

patreon uh where we share our thoughts on all the books that we read this week that did not make

this show uh that is for uh the patrons at the ten dollar or higher level patreon.com slash

just just to make this enticing for the non-patrions

archery because of your candy talk last week's show was our longest ever it was over 30 minutes

really i missed a week so i was in i was into it and i was i was a good amount of show if you're

not a patron that you get from the i wasn't sick or injured yeah it was it was fun i didn't even

notice it took that long but it did uh because you asked to the deep dive about the candy he bought

when he was on vacation so in addition to the comics which yes yes we talked about this all right

so we're done here organic mint crunch it's good it's the end of this show we'll be back next week

until then i'm gonna i'm Josh see you next week

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