0:00-7:32: Greetings from a very relaxed Graeme McMillan and a perhaps somewhat less relaxed Jeff Lester. But, relaxed though they may be, they are still reading some of the books they discussed last week: Graeme is still making his way through Hostage by Guy Delisle, and Jeff is still making his way through (deep breath) Abandoned Cars by Tim Lane, Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth Saga Uncensored by Pat Mills, Mike McMahon and just about everybody, and although he finished vol. 1 of West Coast Avengers by Englehart, Milgrom, and Sinnott, he’s just barely dug into volume 2 (which actually starts seven issues after volume 1. Boo, Marvel!)
7:32-21:46: The discussion about 2000 A.D. pacing in the 70s leads fittingly into Rob Williams’ current writing on Suicide Squad with art first by Jim Lee and currently by John Romita, Jr. (and a plethora of artists for each issue’s back-up strips, such as Eddy Barrows and Eber Ferreria in issue #14). Also discussed: the combat banter of Steve Englehart; the use of shtick and the back-up story structure in Suicide Squad; and more.
21:46-29:52: Jeff was a bit bummed to hear one of his favorite comics, DC’s The Flintstones, is ending after issue #12. And asking about this is a very fine way to get Graeme to talk about the upcoming DC/Hanna Barbera crossover annuals for which Graeme has read the review copies. Discussed: Flintstones/Booster Gold by Mark Russell and Rick Leonardi; the Snagglepuss back-up; the Batman/Top Cat crossover; and more.
29:52-35:28: This episode was recorded on the day the new Justice League trailer was released (see above), so it made sense to transition from talking about the latest DC comics to DC’s latest attempt to build a franchise. What’d we think?
35:28-59:47: And from the DC movie trailer, to the latest Marvel (non-Marvel Studios) movie, Logan. Please note this is a full spoilers discussion—pretty much every bit of it gets spoiled so stay away from this section if you still haven’t seen it.
59:47-1:02:46: From there we pivot to discusss…the other Wait, What? podcast! (Wait, what?) We are many, and we contain multitudes, apparently?
1:02:46-1:12:12: And hey, here we are discussing this Marvel retailer conference thing that’s happening kinda/sorta of the downlow. Jeff is wondering what Graeme has heard about, and if he thinks the Marvel Leopard can change its spots.
1:12:12-1:23:11: What should’ve been a discussion on what Graeme’s reading becomes a longer discussion about Tom King’s Batman—Graeme is enjoying it tremendously, but Jeff is so far behind, will he ever catch up? And if so, how?
1:23:11-1:35:50: Graeme is also very impressed with what Joshua Williamson (with a raft of artists such as Carmine Di Giandomenico, Jesus Merino, and others) is doing to reinvent Barry Allen for The Flash, by taking the TV Barry Allen and doing an even better job with it. And that gets us into a discussion of characters that we care enough about that we’ll check out no matter who is on the title.
1:35:50-1:57:08: Graeme had linked to an article on Medium by Meg Downey about fanfic and although Jeff still hasn’t read the piece (he fav’d it for later), we discuss a bit about fanfic’s ability to give audiences what they want on certain properties better than the corporate owners of the properties. And then there’s some more talk from Jeff about Englehart and West Coast Avengers because, hey, who can stop him?
1:57:08-2:02:05: Also, thanks to another A+ manga recommendation from a Whatnaut, Jeff just finished the first volume of Interviews with Monster Girls by Petos, and wants to talk about it.
2:02:05-2:09:43: And Graeme wants to talk a bit about Terms and Conditions by R. Sikoryak which he is, uh, coolish about. He also wants to discuss Boundless by Jillian Tomaki, which he loves. And then…
2:09:43-: Closing Comments! Look for us on Stitcher!Itunes! Twitter together and separately: Graeme and Jeff! Matt! Tumblr, and on Patreon where a wonderful group of people make this all possible, including the kind crew at American Ninth Art Studios and Empress Audrey, Queen of the Galaxy, to whom we are especially grateful for their continuing support of this podcast. Oh, but before we go, Jeff has a theory about the Cursed Earth Saga, a certain creation of Pat Mills, and a certain creation of Jack Kirby.
Only 40 minutes into the episode, but Jeff’s metaphor about the ending of Logan making him feel like he was a cow being shuttled through a Temple Grandin designed slaughterhouse is such a wonderfully specific, weirdly evocative description of the experience of watching (even a good) big studio film these days.
Not directly germane to the new episode, but I finally tried out a few of the things Jeff has been discussing.
Monthly Girl’s Nozaki-Kun – Definitely enjoyable, but I feel like my lack of familiarity with shoujo tropes is holding back the fun a little bit. I can recognize what the creators are poking fun at, but it’s not so familiar that I find it hilarious. Unlike, say, the recent issue of Nick Spencer’s Ant Man where a bunch of villains sit around a poker table and dissect the cliches of their jobs. On the other hand, been working my way through Goodnight Punpun – that shit is simultaneously brutal and absurd.
Skull the Slayer – Finally read this on Marvel U, and found it enjoyably bananas. I liked that Skull is such an unrepentant dick throughout the series and loved that Wolfman essentially said “Hey, if I need to throw some Thing in here to finish up the series, so be it.” I’ll go back and read your posts.
Platinum End – I’ve been reading this since it started, and it’s still not doing much for me. Though at least the recent issues are leaning into the silliness a bit (fetishy cat suit on the love interest? puzzle box death trap plotting?) which makes it slightly more entertaining.
Got that Son of Satan issue queued up for reading this week on MU.
Hey, sorry to be that guy again, but could you post the direct download link please?
Had to get it for myself anyway, so here you go:
http://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts2/WaitWhat221.mp3
Thanks!
Ack, my apologies to you both–I was a little wiped by the time I got the ep. wrapped. Thank you for the reminder, Alan (and thank you for also providing it, Cass)!
Download link, you say? But, of course!
https://waitwhatpodcast.com/wait-ep-221/
I posted this in the wrong episode but here it is again
Are neither of you reading Ultimates by Ewing and Foreman?
It is an incredible book and the most excited anything Marvel has put has made me in I can’t remember how long and is beginning to do some deep pulling for the secret best Grant Morrison comic (Marvel Boy)
Graeme, you are so jaded. Jeff says “Dies of Red Kryptonite Syphilis” and you’re like “meh.”
Regarding Generations, I refuse to believe that anyone wants a Captain Mar-Vell ongoing. I love reading those old issues, but I think everyone has moved on. I would be shocked (OK, not shocked, it’s Marvel) if they start a new Mar-Vell ongoing with any optimistic belief in success. A single story makes sense, but I doubt they’re all getting ongoings.
So much agreement! I got on the Captain Marvel/ Starlin train with #26 of Captain Marvel, when I was 14, so if anyone should be feeling some heady mix of nostalgia and excitement, it ought to be me. Instead it’s cynical foreboding.
Mar-Vell is one of those characters, like Barry Allen, who’s quite a good character *so long as he’s dead.*
Everyone remembers the Starlin stuff fondly, but the good stuff there isn’t tied to Mar-Vell in particular.
I went and read the very first material on Marvel Unlimited a while back, and although it’s not great as a set of actual stories, the basic idea is pretty strong. Undercover agent from an Alien Space Opera Empire, in a classic Cold War military base setting doubles as superhero, and can’t decide who he’s really loyal to.
It’s very much of its time, and if you revived the concept you’d practically have to do it as a period piece set in the ’60s. But I have a real soft spot for classic Marvel that’s not set in New York.
I agree completely. I love the ideas (although not the execution). If they had a little more focus and Roy Thomas didn’t blow up the whole thing to recreate the comics of his youth, there were a lot of cool ideas they could have fleshed out – particularly with the original Walter Lawson and the mystery behind him.
I never know whether I should comment here with my thoughts on a subject brought up in the podcast, email, tweet, or what, but since I’m here…
I both agree and disagree with Graeme’s point about fan fiction and canon fiction, referencing Meg Downey’s article.
I agree in the sense that modern media give fans innumerable, easily-accessible outlets for and sources of fan fiction, so there’s a such a proliferation and volume of it that in a way the canon can’t compete. The canon becomes stodgy and restricted by market considerations, while the fan fiction can explore anything and everything.
On the other hand, we have DC a few years ago showing us Batman and Catwoman “doing it” on a Gotham rooftop – the kind of thing that until that point would have solely been the purview of fan fiction and fan art. It’s difficult to know how much of that is just changes in the culture in terms of what is allowed on-panel or on-screen, and how much is the influence of the proliferation of fan fiction which by its nature depicts things the canon source would consider unacceptable.
Anyway, just a thought.
I love LOve LOVE the show. Never stop being you!