0:01-7:35: A little bit of catching up, mostly about the unfortunate Penthouse Forum-ian aspect of Jeff’s work recently. And then…
7:35-15:16: We have a spoiler-free discussion of Avengers: Infinity War, as Graeme has seen it but Jeff has not. And then from that, it’s off to…
15:16-39:59: Graeme talking about the big stack of Jim Starlin Thanos stuff (Infinity War the comic, Infinity Crusade, the three Thanos graphic novels Starlin did, The Infinity Abyss, Marvel Comics: The End, and even more) he’s read in preparation for writing about the film. If you’ve followed us for a while, you know Jeff is a huge fan of Starlin’s work in the Marvel Universe with Thanos, while Graeme….eh, not so much. UNTIL NOW. We talk about these books, about Starlin, and about the possible future of Marvel Unlimited (where Graeme read almost all of the material mentioned).
39:59-1:00:56: And now it’s time for what is becoming a terrifyingly regular feature to our Wait, What? Episodes—more discussions about the Fantastic Four aside from, in addition to, or in spite of our regular Baxter Building podcast. In this installment, Graeme has read the first thirty issues of the DeFalco/Ryan run to come, and Jeff read vol. 4 of the collected Mark Waid/Karl Kesel/Mike Wieringo run, and here we are talking about it in our non-FF podcast. What is wrong with us?
1:00:56-1:12:47: But to discuss other stuff we’ve read or watched: Jeff spends some time blabbing about the first Master of Kung-Fu Epic Collection by Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, Al Milgrom, Ron Wilson, John Buscema, and *many* other artists.
1:12:47-1:34:45: How are the broilingly conflicted undercurrents of MOKF similar to those Jeff perceives in that Venom trailer? And how does that connect to Die Hard? Or the Netflix McG movie, The Babysitter? We’re so glad you asked!
1:34:45-1:50:18: And finally (sorta), Jeff had an epiphany about the new role Joss Whedon should play in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He felt it was worth sharing. Here’s your chance to listen and say to yourself (in your best Graeme McMillan voice) : was it, though?
1:50:18-2:11:16: “Graeme,” Jeff finally all but pleads. “Let’s talk about what you want to talk about!” And what does Graeme want to talk about? In no particular order: Bendis’s Clark Kent; Tom King’s Batman issues #45 and #46; “a metric shit-ton of 2000 AD stuff,” including Abnett and Winslade’s Loveless; and more, especially when Jeff decides to cut in and start talking about the digital Vampire Tales collections he’s been reading.
2:11:16-???: Technical difficulties give us the title of this episode, but also start steering us toward closing comments. How long does it take us to get there?
2:21:49-end: This long! And also: 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.
NEXT WEEK: Another installment of Wait, What? And if Jeff can gets his act, together—Avengers: Infinity War!
Need just the text of the link? Try this:
http://theworkingdraft.com/media/podcasts2/WaitWhat246.mp3
Joss Whedon has more of a fivehead than he does a forehead.
At least Whedon could keep the moustache for the role and if shaving the beard was a deal breaker for him, they could cg it out…
I actually enjoyed J.M. DeMatteis’s Six-Fingered Hand story. I know Jeff has mentioned enjoying Son of Satan, so I think he might like it. I mean, it’s not a good story, but it’s a wonderfully terrible story with Daimon Hellstrom, Patsy Walker, the Gargoyle – you know, iconic Marvel characters. No 99 cent sale, but you can get it digitally from Amazon for 12.50.
Graeme, do you plan to post recommendations for Free Comic Book Day once your embargo is lifted before Saturday? I know I would appreciate it.
I enjoyed this week’s conversation, though Jeff’s sound was low and clipped (and maybe also a little fast)… Not sure if that was the case for others. Probably maybe?
Regarding Klaus Janson’s early work, IIRC he trained under Dick Giordano, and his juvenilia has his mentor’s brittle line. Giordano offset his with hatching, whereas Janson tended to spot blacks. It made for some stiff early work, but it resolved into something pretty great.
The FF talk was a pleasant addendum to Baxter Building, and it’s been interesting hearing Jeff’s thinking turn in on itself over the past however many months. I say this as someone who could never enjoy the FF despite wanting to. As a kid it felt like that english teacher everyone said was super inspiring but left me cold. This would have been in the post Byrne doldrums, so that’s certainly part of it. But I’ve gone back many times and always come away underwhelmed or just sort of baffled. I’m about to try the Hickman run on Unlimited, so maybe that’ll be the trick.
I was sort of surprised that Jeff didn’t mention the most important feature of the Sales Force Building: It looks like it belongs in Mega City One.
So, thanks for making the time, especially after Jeff’s week from hell. Hopefully he gets some rest.
A second on the volume being off this week. I had my volume up to max in the car and could barely hear him,
Thirds on Jeff’s volume, it was low.
Lawless has been the best thing in the Dredd-verse for some time, and that is saying something. Consistently excellent, and with a constant sense of build.
Enjoyed the podcast a lot, as always.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen Die Hard, but I was a little surprised to hear that it’s not only “racist” but so self-evidently racist that its racism requires no explanation. I’m not as woke or as left-wing as you guys, which is fine, but I at least generally understand what you’re talking about or where you’re coming from even if I don’t quite agree. But this one has me genuinely puzzled.
If I remember correctly, it’s an action movie in which a white Ordinary American Joe hero fights an effete white European villain. The white Ordinary American Joe gets some help from a black Ordinary American Joe, and they become pals. The white European villain is accompanied by the usual villainous goon squad. I seem to remember the goon squad being mostly other effete white Europeans but there may have been some non-whites in there somewhere. It’s an action movie that follows genre conventions to the letter, so the goon squad’s role is to be dispatched by our hero in amusing and inventive ways.
I’ve watched my fair share of foreign-made action movies (mostly Asian) and they follow the same conventions. And the ethnicities of their heroes and villains follow the same pattern too (ie, the main characters are mostly the same ethnicity as the movie’s country of the origin, with other races/ethnicities thrown in sometimes as minor characters to spice things up – the role of any secondary character in any action movie is to either be killed or rescued by the hero).
If I were to take any message out of it at all (foolhardy perhaps) it might be that Ordinary American Joes (regardless of race) are awesome, and that everyone else (regardless of race) is a villain or, at best, a jerk. Not too surprising, considering the intended audience is… Ordinary American Joes (of any race: no reason to alienate potential ticket buyers). If there’s any “racism” in there, it sailed past me.
But then, I’m just an Ordinary American Joe.
Well, Jeff called Baby Driver “white supremacist”, which ranks as the most insane thing I’ve ever heard on this podcast.
There are two aspects of Die Hard that strike me as problematic (ymmv). The first is it’s very much a product of its time when it comes to portrayal of the Japanese – which is sort of a mix between admiration and yellow peril that they’re going to take over everything. Overall, I don’t think this is a major aspect. The other thing is a pretty strong anti-foreign aspect, which includes the villains, but it’s obviously not racist as we would expect the term.
I don’t think it’s as racist as Rocky, mind you, but I could see some criticism…
Jeff, your enthusiasm for both Gulacy and Mcgregor leads me to wonder if you’ll re-read Sabre in preparation for 2020?